What's Next

The time we spent in Zambia was incredible.  It has etched pictures into our minds that will never be erased.  Pictures of God's beautiful creation in the area in which we lived.  Pictures of hope as we saw some of the good work being done in Livingstone.  Yet despite the beauty and hope we also have pictures of pain - children sleeping on the streets, begging, small children (about 3 years old) alone - scantly dressed.   These pictures have changed all of us and through this change we are sensing the Lord's leading for the next stage of our lives.

After adopting 6 children, we thought we had a heart for the orphan, but that was only partly true.  God has solidified and intensified that desire within us all, including the children and we want our lives to be dedicated to taking care of the orphan.  We want to adopt again!

We would love to return to Africa and work there.  We have tried to open the doors, but the Lord has kept them closed. 

We cannot adopt in England because all adoptions are processed through the Local Authorities and we have already been told by them that we have too many children!!!


So, what is next for us?  We will be returning to America where we can adopt.

We are not quite sure of the time frame in which this will happen as there are several hurdles we have to jump through.  First we have to get my paperwork in order.  I was a permanent resident when we left the States (I had my green card - not citizenship) and because I have been gone from the country for over a year I have lost my right to automatically return.  This process should take about 4 to 5 months. 

God seems to be opening the doors for us to return because the house we were renting when we left almost 18 months ago is still vacant and a friend of Gary's has some work for him that will help us out while Gary starts his business back up. 

Once we return, we have to set up our home again and work to build the business (so we can meet the government's financial requirements) before we can pursue an adoption, but while we wait for those things to happen we will continue to be a voice for the orphan. 

We would appreciate your prayers that the paperwork would come through fast so we can start our lives again in Missouri and begin our journey to adoption.

Michelle

Why are we here?

Gary

The Beauty of His Creation

Victoria Falls is situation just about 10 miles from where we stayed in Livingstone.  It is one of the the 7 natural wonders of the world, so of course we took the opportunity to go and see the handiwork of our Creator.

Despite what it looks like, it was a beautifully sunny day.  The 'rain' you see is just the mist from the Falls.

Next week I will give you an update on where we are and what we are planning to do next.

Michelle

Rejoice with those who rejoice

This week we rejoice at the news that two precious girls have been rescued from a Ukraine orphanage and are now in Colorado with their parents and 5 siblings.

As we watched the news clip of the girls' arrival (HERE) our whole family was overjoyed because we have prayed for Hailee and Harper and their parents as they journeyed through struggles of international adoption.  There's is an amazing story of God's leading and provision

Anthony and Adeye are an incredible couple who love the Lord and have truly shown what it means to take care of 'the least of these'.  If you would like to follow their story you can do so at Adeye's blog. 

Please join us in praying for them as the girls (who both have down syndrome) adjust to their new environment and for the whole family as they prepare to move to the East Coast next week.

Michelle

Jeremiah's Dream Come True

Long before we ever arrived in Zambia, Jeremiah had a dream.  His dream was to give candy to the orphans and we were determined to allow him to fulfill his dream before we had to leave.  

During our time in Livingstone we had met Mrs Chara who ran the Ebenezer homes and school.  She is a wonderful Christian lady who has done a lot to help the orphans over the last 9 years.  She currently runs a school which is the only one in the area which is totally free.  She also oversees homes for 30 orphans.  So we decided to call her and ask if Jeremiah could give some candy to the orphans that she knew.  She happily agreed so the day before we left Zambia we took the long trek to the orphanage.   And it was a long trek.  We had been there once before in a car but had forgotten quite how far it was.  After walking about 5km (approx 3miles) in 90 + temperatures we finally arrived - hot, tired and thirsty.  We had run out of water by now, so when the Lord brought a thunderstorm Elaina and Naomi took advantage of the rain.

Once Mrs Chara arrived she took us in to meet the children.  The children sang some beautiful songs for us and showed us around their home.  We were so humbled by how warmly they accepted us, total strangers - and made us feel so welcome.

Then Jeremiah got to fulfill his dream.  I was so excited for him as I watched him (and our other kids) hand out the candy to the children.

It really was the perfect way to end our time in Zambia, giving (albeit only a very little) to those in need.

Michelle

Reaching the children for Christ

One of the members at the church we attended ran a school in Livingstone. It started with only 3 children, but in the last 6 years has grown and now educates over 200 children and has others on a waiting list.

All education in Zambia has to be paid for by the parents. What makes this school special is that it is aiming to give 10% of their places to orphans and vulnerable children, without charging them a penny. It is also Christian school, one where Christ is freely spoken about and passionately taught.

We were invited to visit the school one morning and share at devotions with the children. What a privilege that was! Once we arrived the children filled out into the courtyard and they began singing praises to the Lord. You can only imagine the beautiful sound that filled the air.

After devotions we were shown around the school, which began in a 3 bedroom house - and is still there. Two extra schoolrooms have been built in the yard, but even with that extra space the children are crowded into every room and closet.

The government is requiring the school to move to a larger facility.  So the school is in the process of building.  The picture below shows the first 3 classrooms which will hold the older children.  Progress is slow as they can only build as they have the funds but they hope to have this first stage complete by the summer.

Once the school is fully built, it should hold up to 600 children, including living accommodation for children who have to travel in from the bush for their education.

Please keep this school in your prayers as they have the opportunity to reach so many of the next generation for Christ, as well as meet the physical needs of some of the orphans in Livingstone.


Michelle

He answered prayers

The first few days in Livingstone were challenging as we felt lost, not knowing anything about life in Zambia. The only person we knew was the manager of the Guest House in which we were staying, but she was busy and unable to show us around for several days.  We had taken a walk into the town center the day after we had arrived and had found a grocery store, but we felt like we were lost - which I guess we were :)

We also felt trapped, as we had no vehicle, but even if we had one I don't know how much difference it would have made because we still didn't know where to go.

So on the first Tuesday morning we sat down as a family and prayed.  We asked the Lord to provide us with someone who could show us around, show us where to buy food and large quantities of drinking water. 

After praying I decided to try and fix our problems myself.  On a previous walk we had found a Catholic Church, so I took the girls and headed over there, looking for someone who would be willing to take us under their wing and help us out a little.  I found no one at the church, but spotted a local clinic which was run by British and Zambians.   I did ask someone if they could help me and she informed me of where I could buy our drinking water, but that's all she could help me with.

I went back to the guest house a little discouraged.  But I should have never have doubted the Lord, I should have just waited patiently on Him because just 2 days later He began to answer our prayers.

On the Thursday our host had some time in her schedule and took us to a local children's village.  We spent some time with the Director asking questions about how we need to go about setting up our orphan work etc.  During the conversation he made a comment about how they received some equipment for their school and I responded with "The Lord always provides".  At this, his face lit up and he asked if we were Christians.  We told him we were, and he continued to ask where we went to church.  We hadn't found one yet, so he recommended his church.  He told us it was a reformed baptist church (which was the same type of church we had been attending).  We enquired as to the name of the Pastor.  When he told us, we were amazed.  You see, before we left England we asked someone in the church in Leeds if they knew of any reformed baptist churches in Livingstone, they did a little homework and came back with the name of one  - the only one in Livingstone - the one who the director had just mentioned.   What was even more amazing is that as we attended this Baptist Church we found it was only a 10 minute walk from the guest house.

We really were beginning to feel the Lord was directing our steps so we continued to pray that he would find us someone to help us with the culture etc.  We specifically asked if He would bring us westerners to help us find our way around, someone who knew what the culture was like where we came from and help us translate what we found in Zambia.  He answered our prayers that Sunday.

We attended Trinity Baptist Church and thoroughly enjoyed the teaching and people there.  We were the only white faces in the congregation, until about 15 minutes into the service, when some other people walked in.  We were curious as to who they might be but didn't think too much of it at the time.  After the service they approached us and we discovered they were two brothers and their families.  Not only were they Americans, but they grew up in the same area as Gary!!  They had lived in Zambia for a year and were working to reach the Lozi people in the Western province. (You can read about their work here)

We spoke with them for a few minutes, then they offered us a ride home - all 17 of us piled into the truck!!! 

Later that week they took me shopping, helped explain the culture to us and lent us books that the children could read.  They were such a blessing and encouragement to us. We are grateful that the Lord brought them our way.

Moving Mountains

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything.   It has been a time of living in a new house, getting into a new routine and a time of searching as to what the Lord would have us do next.  But, before I continue with what is going on in our lives right now I know that I need to tell you about the Lord's goodness and faithfulness during our time in Zambia.

The first story (that I had promised to tell you) was about how the Lord allowed us to get there.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when we had to arrive at Heathrow airport 5 hours before our flight was due to leave because of a scheduling conflict with the mini bus that took us there, but the Lord was in the details and He knew it would take just about all of that time to sort out the issues we had.

The first issue was that there was a problem with Deanna's ticket, that alone took an hour or so to correct.  The kids were great during this time of waiting, most of them waited patiently until someone (I think it was Daniel) had the idea of using the waiting area as a race track with the small suitcases!!

We were excited when the ticket was sorted and we thought it would be easy going from there - we were wrong!!  As the lady was processing our tickets a notice came up on her computer screen asking if we had return flights or valid visas.  You see, we had purchased one way flights.  We thought we would be in Zambia for well over a year before going anywhere and because we were told we could get our visa in the country we didn't think it would be an issue.  A couple of weeks before we left England someone had raised the concern that we may not be able to get in on one way tickets, so I had called the Zambian High Commission, explained what we were going to Zambia to do and asked if one way tickets would be okay.  I was assured that we would be just fine and could get our visas once we were in the country.  Why should I doubt what the High Commission told me?

So anyway, here we were at the check-in counter with another problem the message on the computer screen said that we had to have return or onward tickets or a valid visa before British Airways would allow us on the plane.  The reason being is that the Zambian government had the right to fine British Airways $7500 (5,000 pounds) per person if they allowed someone to come to Zambia without the return flight or proper visa.  I explained to the lady that I had spoken to the High Commission and was assured we would be okay.  But British Airways wasn't going to budge on their policy for us - and we certainly understood why.  Allowing this family of 8 to fly could potentially bring them a $60,000 fine!

So what were we to do?  The lady recommended we purchase return flights that were fully refundable.  She called the ticket desk and found out the cheapest would be $3,000 (2,000 pounds) a person.  WHAT!!!  She suggested that we put it on a credit card until we got to Zambia then get the full refund.  One problem - we don't own a credit card.

Several years ago the Lord told us to get out of debt, we did and also got rid of our credit cards.  If we truly believe that He will provide for our needs then we don't need a credit card which would only tempt us to rely of credit instead of Him.

I have to admit that now I started to cry, then I prayed "Lord, you didn't bring us this far to have us turn around and go home.  I am looking to You to move the mountains that stand in our way.  Please Lord let me see a miracle here."

Gary stayed at the check-in desk with the kids while the lady to took me to the ticket counter to see if we could find any cheaper flights.

She explained to the ticket agent that were going to Zambia to help the orphans and that we needed the cheapest refundable onward ticket that she could find.  They started looking.  The cheapest they could find was a flight to Johannesburg, but that would still cost us $400 (250 pounds) each which would have been all the money we had to buy food and set up life in Zambia.  I asked them to look again to see if there were any other options.  After about 10 minutes of searching the ticket agent looked up at me and said very seriously "If you tell anyone that we have had this conversation I will deny it - I will say I have never met you before"  "Okay?" I replied.  Then she went on to inform me (very quietly) that all we needed to satisfy British Airways was an itinerary of a flight on which we would leave Zambia so she would print us off an itinerary and - here's the best part - it wouldn't cost us a penny!! Wow!!  My jaw dropped and I realized that God had just moved a mountain for us.


The two ladies left me to find a place where they could print the itinerary and I walked back to Gary and the kids with tears in my eyes.  When I reached Gary I told him that God had just done the impossible and informed him of what the ticket agent was planning to do for us.


We waited for about 20 minutes before the first lady came back to us.  She apologized for taking so long and told us that they had to find another code to use on the computer so what they did wouldn't be traced back to them.  Also, during the time they were working on the itinerary a manager came in and asked them if they were having trouble.  She jokingly replied to him "You have no idea!!" Thankfully he never looked at what they were doing otherwise their jobs could have been in jeopardy.


Five minutes later the ticket agent came back out to us and gave us the itinerary which showed we had onward flights to Johannesburg in the beginning of April.  She handed it to me and again emphasised that she had not done this for us or spoken to us before.  At times like that a simple 'thank you' did not seem enough but that was all I could give her.  Then she moved back to her desk.

Amazed at what the Lord had done, we then gathered ourselves together and moved on to the departure lounge.

We have had people say things to us like 'you should never have gone to Zambia', 'it couldn't have been His will because you had to come home' but we know that the Lord is in control of all things.  If He didn't want us in Zambia at that time He never would have moved the ticket agent's heart to print us an itinerary, or make the eyes of the manager blind to what they were doing.  God, only God is in control of all things and He wanted us in Zambia for that time, so He moved the mountains. 



Michelle