I’ve had so much fun this week reading my favorite blogs and their best of 2012 posts! It’s hard to believe we are celebrating the end of another year. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought we would be living in Haiti bringing in the New Year serving and loving and living out our mission-adventure! The next two days will be crazy here in Pignon. January 1^st is Haiti’s independence day and the entire country is ready for a party. The voodoo drums get louder, pounding through the night. It’s a reminder of why God sent us to this 4^th world country to share the gospel and love big the kids living at Haiti Home of Hope orphanage.

I wanted to wrap up this year of blogging with my top 10 best of 2012.

1. You!!!! You, dear friends have been the best cheerleaders, prayer warriors, supporters, encouragers, and dream launchers!! Without you, my family would not be living out our mission’s adventure on the mission field in Ethiopia, Haiti, or Nicaragua. You helped make the impossible possible. (I wish I could hug and thank each and everyone of you in person) Thank you for donating and giving big to our ministry, Simply Love and crazy projects. This year, we have had the honor of being your hands and feet sharing the gospel and serving the fatherless as missionaries.
2. Operation: Mercy- Thank you for helping pave the way for Mercy to come to the states and receive the best medical care provided with Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Mercy’s final medical reports were truly miraculous, every single test result was normal. We continue to pray for Mercy that God will capture her heart and bless her family with health and abundance. We were able to use the above and beyond funds raised to pour back into our Simply Love projects in 2012… Man Up discipleship, feeding programs for orphans, and paying rent for widows.
3. Officially launching our ministry, Simply Love. Roger and I prayed for the best opportunity to start our non-profit ministry to love and protect orphans around the world. For years, we loved doing humanitarian projects and spreading our message to Simply Love and Man Up on tee shirts, but we knew God was calling us to do sooo much more. We are grateful to the ministries who have partnered with us over the years with our mission trip giveaways, feeding projects, and short term mission trips. We both fell in love with missions making the simple decision to GO and love big with our church and can’t believe what doors God has opened the past 5 years for our family.
4. God sold our home!!!! Every time I think about what God has provided for our family, it wipes away any fears or discouragement as newbie missionaries. We resigned from our job, and jumped in faith to live out-of-the-box on the mission field. Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish. Quote from the best book of the year, The Circle Maker.
5. We led three mission trips with Visiting Orphans and our church, James River. Simply Love Haiti in January and Simply Love Ethiopia & Uganda with my best friend, Julie, and two Man Up trips. Over 65 mission-hearted people gave their best to love and protect the fatherless… living James 1:27.
6. Started Man Up Discipleship in Ethiopia & Haiti. Roger had the privilege of leading the best of 48 young men in leaning how to become men of faith, courage, and prayer.
7. Our son, Michael turned 18 and graduated from High School and also did his best at the Missouri’s HS golf state championship. We celebrated Hannah’s sweet 16 on the way home from Africa in Paris… she said it was the best birthday ever!
8. Roger was featured in a full length documentary movie called, Man Up & Go. This was my favorite, best film of the year.
9. Hannah and Zoie started off the school year “ home schooling” by joining us on our crazy mission adventure. It’s been so much fun watching the girls going to the best school – class without walls. They are learning more than we could dream and gaining life long lessons of the heart.
10. Best of all, Roger and I celebrated our 20^th year Anniversary. I can’t imagine spending my life without my very BEST friend in the world and living out God-given promises, God-sized dreams, and God-ordained opportunities together.

The best is yet to come! Dream big, pray hard, and think long.

I want to know your best of 2012 – leave your best moments of 2012 in the comments. Is your dream too big for you? Anything could happen. Anyplace. Anytime. (TCM)

Merry Christmas!!! Roger and I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for loving, supporting, praying, and donating to our crazy mission’s adventure this year in Ethiopia, Haiti, and Nicaragua. 2012 has been full of so many amazing miracles … it’s been the best of days, and some of the most challenging days of my life. You kicked-off the start of our new ministry, Simply Love with an explosion of support … helping us jump in faith straight to the mission field. Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish. The Circle Maker. God has used our faithful mission-hearted friends to support our dreams living and serving for 12 months to share the gospel to the unreached people groups … the best is yet to come!

I hope you will take the time, this holiday, to go back and read the amazing blog stories on My Crazy Adoption from our family to yours. Our lives have been changed forever, and hearing what God is doing in your life is such an encouragement to me. I LOVE reading your comments and emails .. it keeps me in fellowship and feeling encouraged. Let me know what you are learning about serving and how I can pray for you, too.

(Jesus Calling 12/24) I speak to you from the depths of eternity. Before the world was formed, I am! You hear Me in the depths of your being, where I have taken up residence. I am Christ in you, the hope of Glory. I, your Lord and Savior, am alive within you. Learn to tune in to My living Presence by seeking Me in silence.

As you celebrate the wonder of My birth in Bethlehem, celebrate also your rebirth into eternal life. This everlasting gift was the sole purpose of My entering your sin-stained world. Receive My gift with awe and humility. Take time to explore the vast dimensions of My Love. Allow thankfulness to flow freely from your heart in response to My glorious gift. Let My Peace rule in your heart, and be thankful.

Before the mountains were brought forth or ever You had formed and given birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
—Psalm 90:2 amp

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
—Colossians 1:27

Recipes From the Field:

Cinnamon Griddle Cakes (We made these this morning in Haiti!)

Rated: Submitted By: Emily C. Photo By: Cookies Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 25 Minutes Servings: 8

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup milk

2 tablespoons corn syrup 1/4 cup butter, melted 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 cups confectioners’ sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 tablespoon milk

1.	In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
2.	In a separate large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, corn syrup, butter and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture.
3.	Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium low heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
4.	While pancakes are cooking, mix the icing. Combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and enough milk to make a liquid frosting. Drizzle frosting on hot pancakes before serving.

 

 

I’m so excited to share a special post written by my husband, . You can follow along on our mission adventure from a man’s point of view on his facebook page

Roger shares: I’ve heard voodoo is the national religion of Haiti, but I never really believed it. Within the first four days of being in Haiti, I came face to face with a “real” witch doctor. I was with our missionary friend, Bill Campbell and their Pastor at the home of a family that we were building a new home. While we were there, the witch doctor that lived next door came over to say, “Bonjour.” Pastor Clebert whispered in my ear that he was a witch doctor, but when I looked at him, he didn’t actually look like a witch doctor. He was dressed very simple. Wearing tattered jeans, Hawaiian t-shirt, and a baseball cap. I was expecting a witch doctor to be dressed more like a … witch doctor. Wearing a grass hula skirt, chicken bones necklace, long dreadlocks, face paint and blood shot eyes. After I got past my disappointment of his wardrobe I wanted to learn more about him.

As Pastor Clebert walked toward the witch doctor, I quickly join him as he made his way over to him. As we walked up to the witch doctor, Pastor quietly said to me, “One of his girlfriends goes to my church.” As we approached the witch doctor, he instantly greets Pastor with a smile. Again, I wasn’t expecting a smile or a warm greeting. This was a meeting of good vs. evil. This was Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker. I wanted to see the light sabers drawn and a battle of good prevailing over darkness. Instead, I got small talk and laughter. Pastor in between sentences would translate as the witch doctor was said, “bonjour” to me and welcomed me to the community. I didn’t want to hear “how are you” and “good to see you” shallow type of conversation. I wanted a showdown!

In the hype of coming face to face with evil I wanted to fight, but in my heart I could hear the Spirit very loudly say, “Be quiet. Just pray.” I was promptly reminded to pray for the witch doctor’s heart, for Pastor Clebert, and the unseen forces at war for his very soul. As I started to praying silently, Pastor changed gears and began sharing the gospel with the witch doctor. After much talk between the two, pastor turned to me to share with me that the witch doctor said, “His time is not now.” I blurt out to pastor, “How will he know when ‘now’ is? He could die tonight and miss the ‘now’ .” Pastor asked him that question and they went back and forth in Creole with me just standing there between the two trying to decipher by their hand gestures how the conversation was progressing. Finally, pastor tuned to me and said to me that he said he will know when the “now” is, but the “now” is not today. In my mind, I wanted so bad to witness the witch doctor fall down to his knees in repentance just like at the end of movie with the bad guy begging for his life and the good guy gives him a second chance. Instead, he would remain in darkness.

Special note: The photo of the little boy with red dreadlocks, is actually a child who has been dedicated to voodoo religion. When Haitian children are sacrificed as babies to witchcraft and voodoo, their hair grows in red. This is NOT a made-up story, it’s the real deal. Please pray for this precious boy to come to know Jesus as his personal Savior. We will continue to witness to his family in Pignon.

Arriving at Haiti Home of Hope orphanage I’m immediately swarmed and surrounding by kids. I have boys jumping into my arms, onto my back, and hugging my legs. The kids don’t let go they are holding on for dear life. As I try and make my way to the house I notice two boys quietly sitting on a bench. Instantly, I’m captured by the smile on their faces. This wasn’t just a smile, but a smile captivated by joy, happiness, and gratefulness. I changed my direction and headed over to the bench.

They are brothers, both blind, and have been living at the orphanage for about two months. Later, once we got settled and the other boys ran off, I learned that the boys were found naked on a dirt floor in their home that was made out of sticks and mud. Lemonez is 14 years old and weighed in at 38 lbs. and Cozo is 11 years old at 29 lbs.

Their family of nine was originally in the Haiti Home of Hope feeding program, but due to the lack of funds they had to cut the program for a short time. Once they got the program up and going again they noticed that a few of there families were missing. So, Bill and Jennifer Campbell went out to look for their “missing” families to check on how they were doing. Upon arriving at Lemonez and Cozo’s home, they immediately saw the circumstances … it wasn’t good. Picking up the boys, their father begged Bill and Jennifer to take them into the orphanage. He was an older man who was a widower. He just didn’t have the resources or the strength to take care of the boys. Without hesitation the Campbell’s took the boys up into their arms and put them in the back seat of their big 4×4 pick up truck and headed home.

The boys now have comfortable beds to sleep in, three meals a day, and a lot of fun. (I’m holding Cozo in the photo with Lemonez hanging on my shirt on the 4-wheeler.) Plus, they have Jesus in their hearts. They are so excited about what Jesus has done in their life that the first thing they want to do when they first meet you is sing. And, they sing really loud! That is what I want to see for the witch doctor, for the hopeless, for the fatherless. To be excited for Jesus! To be grateful. … thankful … happy … joyful for all he has done for us. Regardless, of the hardship we are facing right now or how many presents we have underneath the tree we can find love wherever we are.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalms 118:1

Year End Giving

We are currently raising support for the year 2012-1213 as missionaries with Simply Love. We have raised 30% of our support goal and thankful for our mission-hearted friends giving, praying, loving, and supporting our family’s mission adventures!

We ask that you prayerfully consider giving to our ministry, Simply Love as we serve on the mission field in Haiti, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia. We have our TOP 8 financial needs listed here for fundraising on the field.

You can subscribe to our Simply Love e-newsletter here or click on the icon email news on the home page.

Year End Giving: All checks must be postmarked by December 31st for 2012

tax credit. Contributions can be mailed to:
Simply Love Ministry
706 North Lindenwood Drive
Olathe, Kansas 66062

My Crazy Adoption bloggers “save the stamp” and donate online by clicking the following link:

• OPERATION:HAITI is our paypal donation link.

 

I had no idea how important an “inverter” is to run power to Haiti Home of Hope. I never really thought about how they pump water or how they get electricity here 24/7. I hear the generator running during the day and night, but honestly, it makes a great sound machine at night to drown out the noises. Four nights ago, that sound stopped. The inverter was toast, causing the ripple affect to happen immediately… no water, no lights, and no power. We all cranked up our lanterns and flashlights and hoped the generator would magically start back up again. Instead, the two husbands planned a quick trip to Port-au-Prince to purchase a new inverter. The Campbells had someone donate a week ago, the money ($3,000) to cover the cost of the inverter, most likely not expecting it to actually break a few days later. What a special miracle and I’m thankful and grateful for the person who made such a generous gift to the orphanage.

The first night without Roger here sleeping in our La Belle Maison was a little scary, I hate to admit. We live across the soccer field from the main house, but close enough to the boy’s dorm. We are on the 2^nd floor, so I can hear and see everything from this height. I woke up at 5:00am to the sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking, voodoo drums pounding, and a terrible crashing sound coming from the Campbell’s home. I realized at once that it sounded like someone was trying to break into their garage door. The banging and crashing of metal bars made my heart pound. I ran to the window and couldn’t see a thing in the darkness. I could hear one of the guard dogs whimpering and that made me nervous, too. They had been barking ferociously a few minutes before, but now silence. I had an important decision to make … run out in the darkness to find help at the boys dorm or run to the gate to find the guard. I didn’t particularly like any of my choices, but I had to make sure the girls were OK in the main house. I woke up Hannah to let her know as soon as the sun breaks over the mountain, I was going to make a run for it. She was sleepy, but brave and watched me scramble outside. I was soooo scared, but ran over to the dorm and called for Wisley, a wonderful young man who lives at HHH, immediately came to the rescue. We saw the guard with his lantern and dashed to the house. The crashing noise had stopped … hoping whoever had tried to break in had already run away. Jennifer’s window was open, so we called out to wake her up. The garage is located at the opposite side of the house, so it’s hard for her to hear any noise. We all took off to check out the damage to the garage door, and saw big holes pierced in the structure. It looked like someone had poked a stick or sharp objects in the hard plastic. We could hear Freddy (the family guard dog) whimpering and realized he was inside the garage. The closer we looked we realized the dog was the culprit who had panicked and tried to get out. Freddy had chewed several holes and tooth punctures showed the evidence. Freddy was the one who was trying to break OUT of the garage. Their crazy dog scared us and all he wanted was his potty break. We laughed so hard when we realized it was the dog, Freddy who caused all the damage to the door and our fear buttons.

The next four days we lived without power, and every night I had to face my fears about the dark. It’s creepy waking up hearing the voodoo drums and ritual wailing in the distance. As my family peacefully sleeps inside, the lost are outside worshiping evil. For some reason, living in Haiti magnifies that fear in my mind imagining things in an unfamiliar place. God has been so faithful. We all have times in our life that forces us to depend on Jesus for His power. I’m reminded in 1 John 4:4 as I pray for strength every day. As a follower of Jesus, I have power over darkness, “… for He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world.” I’m learning so much about spiritual warfare missionaries face every day, and night in Haiti.

You may not be coming face to face with witch doctors or working with people involved in voodoo, but you are in a battle today. What is your battlefield? Depression, a marriage that is one argument away from asking for a divorce, or an adoption that is stuck because of a stubborn government. Yes, we are all in a battle of some kind. But, as believers we get to keep moving forward having confidence that our God is greater. He is able. He is faithful. He can move mountain. He can heals broken hearts.

Father, let me walk today with the confidence that a child of the King should walk. Take my fears and give me your peace in knowing that you have already gone before me to pave the road for me. I acknowledge your power over darkness and anything that is trying to get in the way of (insert your battlefield here). I thank you now for the miracle, for the victory over (battlefield). In Jesus Name. Amen.

My Life Is Crazy Too is a new series of reader submissions. This is your opportunity to share stories about life, love, and mommyhood to provide understanding, hope, and compassion in the unique situations each of us face every day.Today’s crazy guest is Mandy Campbell. Mandy is a freelance writer, editor and adoptive mother. Recognized as one of the youngest adoptive mothers in the US, Mandy provides support throughout the adoption community via blogging and other means of social networking.

On May 10, 2001 my boyfriend of almost one year got down on one knee and ask me to marry him. I was a junior in high school he had graduated the May before and was already out in the work field. We started planning our wedding which would happen 7 days after I graduated high school the next May. With plans of a wedding came dreams of our life together which included babies. We wanted to start a family pretty fast even though everyone warned us we should wait and enjoy life with just the two of us for awhile. We knew every since the day we meet that we wanted nothing more than to be parents. Fast forward one year and on May 31, 2002 we were married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony with all our family and friends. As soon as we were married I had visions of what our nursery would look like, what we would name our unborn children and how I would tell my husband that I was pregnant. As we were getting ready to celebrate our one year Anniversary we were both surprised that I wasn’t pregnant yet. All the doctors told us to give it awhile longer after all we were at the young age of twenty-one. The whole month of May I researched infertility and was starting to fear the worse when I decided that we should pursue adoption. I meet my husband at the door one night as he walked in from a day at work and told him “we have to adopt!” Of course he thought I was crazy but I had a fire down deep in me that was telling me we had to do this and we had to do it now. I had never been impacted by adoption or ever really knew anything about it. I knew that I wasn’t getting pregnant but yet I felt like I needed to turn to adoption now and not later. After talking to my husband I did some research and found out that we weren’t even legal to adopt in our home state. At the time you had to be twenty one and married for at least 3 years. Instead of getting upset or down about this I just said that’s okay we will just go to another state. I knew that we had to do this now and not later. I decided to do a little research at the local library and online and I came across a dear birthmother letter and went ahead and typed one up for us that included family pictures, how important holidays are to us and how much we couldn’t wait to become parents. A couple weeks later we decided to tell our families that we were hoping to adopt. We got mixed responses and mostly the “you guys are to young just enjoy life and babies will come.” As we chugged along with research I also emailed everyone we knew and told them we were hoping to adopt. This was before social media had exploded so email and phone calls was the only way to go. Much to our surprise one month later we received a call about a birthmother that wanted to place with us. That call would make us parents to a beautiful baby girl that would be born in less than 30 days. Talk about a crash course in adoption. We had a rushed home study, made numerous calls to find out what the quickest way to get our fingerprints and FBI background checks done and back to us was. Our dreams of becoming parents was coming true and with that came chaos of getting ready for a baby in 30 days. As we were getting the nursery ready it was surreal, I packed the diaper bag and repacked it at least 25 times. I had no idea what all we would need to take care of a newborn in a hotel so I just took everything. I researched adoption in any spare time I had and prayed for the best. After all I was 21 years old and getting ready to drive half way across the USA to meet my daughter. In the midst of all the rushing we had mixed reactions from family and friends. We even had one friend tell us they knew a couple in their church that had been trying to adopt for over 2 years and we should pass the birthmother information on to them because they were older and deserved the baby more than us. We knew this was our baby girl and continued with everything we needed to do before her birthmother called and said it was time. On August 6^th, 2003 just three months after we celebrated our one year anniversary we packed our car down and headed on our journey. We were in New Mexico when we got the call that she had been born. I remember the nurse telling us how she had beautiful skin and hair. We heard that her birthmother was doing great and all we wanted to do was drive faster to get to the hospital. The most beautiful baby girl was born the next day and her amazing birthmother placed her in our arms when she was 18 hours old. We fell in love with her at first sight and she has been the center of our world since. I will never forget the moment the nurse handed her to me, I sunk down in the chair and time stood still, and I was a mother. I was everything I ever wanted to be. As we spent our first week as a family of three in the local holiday inn express we were in awe at this beautiful child that was placed with us. We spent our days waiting for the ICPC to clear by loving on a newborn baby girl, getting many questions as to why in the world we were staying in a hotel with a 3 day old infant and emailing pictures back to our family in Oklahoma. Once we got the call that we were cleared to leave we packed up and couldn’t wait to get home. As we turned on our road for the first time as a family of three I seen balloons and signs and people were standing outside just waiting to get their hands on the baby girl they had all prayed for. We settled into life back home and waited for the call to tell us when we would return to finalize her adoption. On the day she turned 9 months old she became officially our child. I walked into that court room with so much love in my heart for her that I couldn’t hold the tears back as we made it official. Standing next to the judge with our lawyer to take pictures was one of my favorite memories! Watching her grow up is the most beautiful experience in my life and I am blessed by not only her but her birthmother who choose us. Over the last 9 years we have became adoption advocates, meet several lifelong friends through adoption and continue to share our story. We love to give people hope that it’s okay to adopt as a young couple we are proof that it happens. We celebrate our daughter’s gotcha day every year with a dinner in her honor and at 9 years old she is a lover of adoption and has several friends she has made due to adoption. Last year she decided to raise money for her adoption day and donate the money to family that was hoping to adopt to help out with expenses. She raised 300.00 selling candy bars and had the time of her life explaining to people why adoption was so near and dear to her heart. In the end we became a family just the way we were supposed to and when we supposed to. Adoption completed our family!