Yours

Adopting Daughter of Purpose has been an experience that has changed how Nate and I view the world. We see the statistic that there are 144 million orphans in the world and we continually ask ourselves how we can do more. Yes, we have changed the life of one child and maybe if we were to adopt again in the future we'd change that life too, but it doesn't seem like enough. It bothers us to sit in our comfortable American home knowing that there are people out there who don't even know if they will eat today. Sending off a bit of money for someone else to fix it just doesn't sit right with us. So we have prayed that God will use us to be a part of the solution. No, we don't feel called to be missionaries in the dark jungles of Africa, but we are being called to go to Haiti this summer.

Nate and I have been asked to lead a team to Haiti to help get an orphanage off the ground. We are so excited that we are nearly busting at the seams because this what we've been praying for--an opportunity to be a part of something that will impact the lives of many orphans. On this trip we will also be taking our oldest daughter because we believe that even though she is a child, she has much to contribute. We want to work alongside her in ministry and share our heart for the nations with her. What we hope is that it is a life changing experience for her. Honestly, we hope it will be a life changing experience for all of us. May we think more like Christians than like Americans...

We share all of this with you because we have begun a new blog to journal how God has lead us straight into His heart for the fatherless. Although Daughter of Purpose was the jumping point for the passion God has given us for orphans...this blog--14 degrees--is HER story. This blog will be printed out into a book for her because it is a journal of the first year of her life. We don't feel like it would be fair to take this spot just for her and change it to ours. We will continue to write her story until she has been with us one year (in May).

If you are interested in reading our journal about our passion for orphans, you can visit it at http://www.journeyintohisheart.blogspot.com/. The rub is this though...we haven't fully decided yet if we want want our journal to be public or private. Right now it is private--you have to receive an invitation to read it. For now it will remain that way, but it may change in the future. If you are interested in following our thoughts and our trip to Haiti (and we pray more beyond that) then you will need to send us an e-mail asking for permission to read our blog. If you know us personally then you probably know how to do that. However, if you don't, but would like to read it you can e-mail us at nates5bs@gmail.com. Our new blog is titled "Yours" because our life truly belongs to the Lord and we desire for God to use what we perceive as ours to become His. It is still in the works so you will have to be patient as we develop it. From my graphic art eye, it's a mess right now...nowhere close to how I want it to look visually, but the reality is that "Yours" is not about what it looks like. It's a place to journal our thoughts.

See you in Haiti...