River Run...and then some

Yesterday was the River Run for orphans. Phil and my sister, Ellie, and I ran most of the 5k
(only 3 miles, but felt like more!). And after we crossed that finish line, I wanted to cry. It wasn't because I was in pain, it wasn't because I was sad...I really honestly don't know why!! But then it seemed like things changed this morning after I got some sleep...

My heart aches sometimes and I don't really know why. Then my mind wanders to Mozambique and all the amazing memories both Phil and I had there. I believe when I visited Mozambique the very first time in November of 2005 that God placed a new sense of home and longing in my heart for Mozambique. Now that we haven't been back for 2 years, I feel like I'm going crazy. I find myself unable to focus at random times because I think of a fundraising idea. Or, as things have been lately, I am beginning to think about how many obstacles are in the way.

Financially speaking, we have debt that we must pay off before we can go to Mozambique. We have a car and student loans to pay off before our God - given dream can take flight. The planning stages have been amazing and frustrating and overwhelming - all at the same time! We are taking steps to make this happen by becoming more goal oriented and working backwards from our goals. Also, we certainly have also become more willing to accept God's timing in everything!

Now, I know that those nagging thoughts in the back of my head certainly don't come from the Creator because He placed this dream in our hearts. Satan sincerely can't stand what our dreams will mean for children in Mozambique and I do understand this. However, I am still human and I have MANY faults (just ask my husband:) and one of them is frustration. I easily get frustrated when I think about how far we have to go. I am discouraged!!

With that being said, I knew that I was getting my Eeyore face on when I realized how much God has done for me! I sat down for a few minutes when I got home tonight, and I wrote out all the ways God has cared for me and worked on my behalf over the last 5 years. And let me tell you all, my heart is different now. God has moved mountain after mountain in my life and in our married life. there is no reason that God would stop moving now!

So I come asking for prayers. We have to get Phil back to Mozambique as soon as possible!! We need to get his DIRE (the Mozambican Green Card) renewed, and apparently, the process has gotten quite expensive and lengthy. However, one of us must hold a DIRE before we can register our land. If we DON'T register our land and we build, the government can take it at any time. We HAVE to register our land in order to ensure Project Little Feet has a future!!

We have a little money from previous funds through many church members (such amazing people at the River Church!) and now we are hoping and praying that God will help us raise enough money to get Phil to Mozambique, renew his DIRE and register our land. Once we get these details out of the way, we can begin building!!

So I am offering up myself as a vessel to raise money. While the River Run was quite a challenge, as it always is, I was inspired by all the amazing runners. I have always enjoyed running, even now. (It's a great stress reliever!) I also have wanted to really push myself into getting more physically active. I have a wonderful friend who has encouraged me to do a half marathon! That's 4 - 5k runs, just in case you needed an idea of how HUGE this is going to be for me. I only have 12 weeks before I run, but I want to put myself out there for all to see. I am determined to succeed for myself AND for the orphanage.

Here's my proposal - I will go to Las Vegas, NV, on December 4th, and run my little heart out for Project Little Feet. I will mail out sponsor forms if you'd like to donate. For every mile I run, give me a pledge amount and I will GUARANTEE you a finishing time in return AND Phil & I will gladly give away a 3 night stay in our Timeshare - you pick the vacation - to the HIGHEST contributor! And, in the end, all the money raised will go towards Phil traveling back to Mozambique to sort out all our paperwork so we can start building.

This half marathon will be a great physical and mental challenge for me, but it will also be a great challenge to all of you, too. (Message us your email or mailing address and we'd be happy to send you a pledge form for the half marathon in December.)

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the next 3 years...I can only imagine!! But I DO know that God will move many mountains between now and January of 2014. This half marathon is a small obstacle for God, but it will be a great lesson of strength, courage, focus and spirit for me. And in the end, lives will be transformed, saved and moved in ways we can only imagine. What do you have to lose? (Possibly, a vacation!) For me, I have a few inches to lose, and a few miles to gain!

Blessings for now,

Laura

P.S. If anyone else would like to join me for the half marathon in Las Vegas and to help raise money for Project Little Feet, let me know! I'd love to have the company:)

Workin on it

This is Laura writing - I guess I should always clarify that! I have had quite an amazing week. In just 10 days we have gone from not knowing when we'd become a nonprofit to being a nonprofit, and then being a nonprofit with a website! Honestly, my own personal attitude has gotten in the way of our progress as an organization. If I'm tired or too busy or I have too many other things on my plate I end up shifting the orphanage to the back of my mind.

It was never like that in the beginning. I was so beyond excited and motivated that I couldn't WAIT to get home and get working on something for this project. And really, the only thing that as changed since then is having a baby! That sounds so easy, to just blame being busy on Jadon, but it really has altered our lives in ways that I never understood until I had a child of my own. We both have also changed jobs. I have gone from a regular 8-5 job, Monday through Friday, to an irregular schedule; I rarely have 2 days off in a row. Now while this is not a pity party, it has been an adjustment. Instead of having 2 days with my husband and my family, I have a day off during the week and then we both have Sundays off. The same goes for Phil.

I think the biggest issue here is that I let my business take me over instead of grabbing my to do list by the horns and getting down to business. I am learning. It's not easy to be a working mom or even a stay at home mom; I've tried both! But I think I enjoy working and I feel that my family benefits more right now from me working. Also, when we move to Mozambique I will be a "stay at home mom" with about 20 kids! How awesome will that be?! I look forward to that time.

I think right now, I need to focus on the prize. That prize is allowing God to work miracles among our community so that we can raise this $100,000 we need to get everything in order. We know that our hearts are so willing to go that if someone wrote us a check today for everything we would need, we would be on a red eye flight tonight! The willingness is there, but our feet have to reflect how our hearts feel.

I am personally working on my attitude. I also know that I don't have as much energy as I used to but I'm also not taking care of myself like I used to! I need to eat healthier, work out regularly, and get plenty of uninterrupted rest!

Please pray for me to do some personal work on myself. I'd ask for prayers of motivation and good discipleship/mentors now that we are in Farmington. As always, thanks for reading!

Approved...

It feels like forever ago that we started on this journey to make Heart for the Needy a nonprofit organization. It has been about a year and a half of work, but we definitely didn't do it on our own! The amount of paperwork wasn't as much as I had first thought, but all the "additional information" that went along with every question was seriously tedious and frustrating most of the time.

The birth of this organization happened about the time I found out that I was pregnant with Jadon. About this time, we were going through so many changes as a family, like Phil getting a new job, me finishing school, and just being pregnant was a huge change! I was extremely tired and trying to finish school and Phil was learning so much at work that we weren't very motivated to really work on the nonprofit paperwork. Then Jadon was born and more life changes occurred and yet again, we put it on the back burner.

Thankfully, our board of directors has been amazing and so encouraging. Sandy Goodell really pushed me to get going on it. She was so helpful and so knowledgable that I couldn't help but get motivated. Finally, in April of this year, I sent in the first copy of our nonprofit application. From prior experience with the U.S. government and Phil's residencey paperwork, I assumed right off the bat that we would hear something about the status in about 4-5 months. Only 3 weeks later we received a phone call from the IRS. They needed one more piece of information in order to push our application through to the next level. After this was done, on May 31st, we received a letter from the IRS stating that we are now a 501 (c) (3) - in other words, we are now a NONPROFIT!!!!! YEAH!!

It was the best news I could have asked to hear. We were so blessed to have such wonderful people here and at the IRS who were fighting on our behalf. I truly believe that God's hand was on every piece of this process. How amazing!!

Now the only thing that is holding us back from fullfilling our God-given dream and mission is money - hey, if God can take care of the IRS in 8 weeks, I'm pretty sure he can help us raise the necessary funds. We really need to revisit our budget for the orphanage because we are using figures from 2 years ago and things all over the world have changed. I think if we could raise about $125,000 we could head back to Mozambique for good! Now that we are completely tax deductable, we are praying for donors to help us realize this dream. The great thing about Mozambique is that we need about 10% of what an organization in the U.S. would need to do what we want to do in that country. Thankfully, God has given us a heart for a place that so desperately needs an orphanage and we can't wait to get started!!

Our board will be meeting soon to get ideas solidified for some fundraisers coming up late this summer and in the fall. Feel free to send ideas this way! Or, if you'd like to get involved, stay tuned...we are working on getting our website up and running. More info on events to come!

Project Little Feet

Our story is not extraordinary, but it is certainly not boring! After meeting in 2006 in Mozambique, Africa, my husband and I have been plagued by a serious conviction from God to start an orphanage in Nampula, Mozambique.

How we came to be in this position as a family, only God knows. We have been called to live and care for the orphans we have encountered. Neither of us can ever feel content in the U.S. We are travelers - born to move and wander into the places that God needs us to go. We have only lived in the U.S. together for 3 years, and we are already making plans to leave!

The longing that each of us feels for Africa is overwhelming. We are inundated with information so often that we can become complacent, but neither of us has ever left church on Sunday with dry eyes because we are begging God to help us get back to where He wants us to go. We become impatient, frustrated, and overwhelmed quite often. More than anything, we become irritated that we have to live a "normal" life while planning for the rest of our life. We both work 40 hour a weeks, and our son, Jadon, goes to his 2nd mom (also known as a babysitter!) at least 3 -4 days each week. We have to survive by working until we are able to be mostly debt free & prepared, so we can move back to Mozambique.

The most difficult part of this process has been the paperwork stage, as I like to call it. We currently have a board of directors for our organization, and we are working towards becoming a non-profit. One of our board members is an accountant - Sandy - and she has been AMAZING in helping me get started in this grueling process. Finally, after waiting and revising and waiting and revising, I finally received notice TODAY that we are recognized in the State of Colorado as a "charitable organization." The majority of the Federal application is also complete, but I was waiting for this state recognition to be complete in order to send in our Federal forms. To make a long story short, we ARE making progress!

I will now spend every night this week revising the Federal application, and then meet with our accountant, Sandy, one more time to go over details. Then after one more revision, I will be ready to send off the Federal paperwork! This whole process has helped me to understand that God really wants this project to take place. No matter the challenge, God will never cease to be there for us.

If you would like to know more about our project, read on. We will explain more details as we go. We will share our hearts and will hopefully help to encourage others to live out their God - designed dreams! Keep your eyes and ears peeled for our website...coming very soon!

Blessings!

Laura