Break Through

The clouds look like a dark blue cotton candy, fluffy and soft. But they are just threatening and I keep praying the sky would just unleash the rain we desperately need. It doesn’t. The pattern continues – they clouds move together, dark and BIG, threatening to rain; the wind begins to howl, violently blowing dust into the hot, thick air. We race outside to pull the clothes off the line before they end up in the red, sandy dirt. The temperature drops slightly and then suddenly, the wind stops and the threatening rain never comes. The lightening and thunder continues for a few minutes and soon, the silence returns. In the morning, the clouds hang around for a bit, and then the heat & sun burn them away.

The lack of rain reminds me of anxiously waiting for a break through in life. It seems like the break through is coming and then…nope. It doesn’t work out, the break through doesn’t happen, and you’re left impatiently waiting.

The weather reflects exactly how I feel at this very moment. Everything we need to happen quickly isn’t working out. Our own efforts aren’t working because everything we are waiting on is out of our own control. We feel like we can help push things to happen – like the few things left to do so we can move into the children's home. The plumber keeps running away, our blocks aren’t ready so we can’t finish up the fence, and the water isn’t running in the house yet because once again, the plumber can’t seem to work a full day.

All of these things are so incredibly frustrating. We were hoping to be IN the children’s home this last weekend. We were hoping to at least be in the first floor, available 24 hours a day, watching over everything so the consistent theft we’ve been experiencing might actually stop for a while. But it’s not working out in our own time. Each day it seems like it will be weeks or months until we can get into the home and start preparing for the kids who will become ours.

While we know there are only 3 major things keeping us from moving in: sewer system hook ups, water hook ups, and raising our fence higher, it’s becoming difficult for me to have any kind of patience. I’m becoming anxious and I can’t seem to chill out. I’m trying to keep myself occupied with our end of year giving campaigns and Giving Tuesday that’s coming up next week, but it just isn’t enough.

As I was doing my daily Bible study (that I don’t normally get done DAILY) yesterday morning, I came across this Nelson Mandela quote:

Okay – reality check. It’s my CHOICE to feel anxious and annoyed that everything isn’t going my way. This is not some set fact that I have no choice in. I have the choice to make the most of the situation. Maybe God is allowing this time for me to rest a bit and to stop worrying. And, the world doesn’t revolve around us.

Yes, our motives aren’t because of something selfish – we want to prepare the home to receive kids who are orphans – but it’s not about our own timing. Waiting is really difficult but there is always a lesson to be learned during those frustrating times. I’m learning that I’m not as patient as I think I am, and I need to work on this. I’m also learning that it makes no sense for me to be focused on something I can’t control. Focus on something else!

So while we wait for the plumber today, I’m going over to visit our neighbors. One of our neighbors had surgery for prostate cancer and he’s doing really well but he’s not eating much. Another neighbor is fighting AIDS in its advanced stages & we're working together to make a plan for her children when she is gone. Another neighbor has a daughter with malaria who doesn’t seem to be getting better after multiple trips to the hospital.

I already know what’s going to happen when I go see my neighbors – I’ll forget that I’m annoyed. We’ll talk and they’ll laugh and correct my crappy Portuguese, and then I’ll ask questions, ask about their kids, we’ll talk about the weather and how the year is quickly coming to an end. They’ll tell me about those who are sick and in need, those who have lost children or relatives. And I’ll try to pray for them in Portuguese, I’ll end up praying in English, and then we’ll part ways. At the end of the day, I won’t remember how frustrated and anxious I felt this morning. And I hope that’s what happens because it’s not about me. 

Here's to making choices based on my hopes and not my fears - or my bad attitude. 

Hugs, 

Phil & Laura, and Jadon, too 

Waiting in HOPE

I’m sitting here at the dining room table, trying to get some paperwork done and I HATE it. Yes, HATE. Paperwork is a four-letter word in my mind. Ewwwww. I just can’t deal with it.  So what do I do instead of doing the paperwork I’m supposed to do? I check my email, and then, oops – I get on FACEBOOK.

That app is like the worst thing that ever happened to me. I need it to stay connected to the world and to communicate to the world how we’re doing here in Moz, but man…I waste a lot of hours stalking people, staring at cute babies and pictures of puppies and reading articles & recipes of stuff I’ll never make or find the ingredients here to make. Distracted much?!

I think it’s easy to be distracted when you don’t want to face reality. I don’t LIKE doing paperwork, but it MUST be done or there are serious consequences, both here in Moz and back in the States. Paperwork is just something I’ve never liked. I LOVE writing and journaling but actually filling out forms & answering cookie-cutter questions is so NOT my thing. But isn’t that SO similar to how this last week has felt? There are things happening around us that we MUST do but we don’t LIKE doing it, and many of these things are totally out of our control. Ugh.

Prime example: Cooking dinner. (YOU totally thought I was going to say something that rhymes with “Shmesidential Shmelection,” didn’t you?!) When you’re EXHAUSTED and it’s really HOT like it is here, turning on the oven just doesn’t seem right. But if you have a tribe of hungry ones on the verge of melt down mode, you light that stove and get to cooking, right? Well, at least I do because there’s no Pizza Hut around here!

I guess my point is this: there will always be things we don’t like and we don’t want to deal with. There will be times when we all feel frustrated, tired of waiting and tired of the crap that goes on in this world. There’s a lot that we cannot control, and that can be one of the most frustrating parts of a difficult season.

Recently, we’ve been experiencing a lot of things that are not in our control, but directly affect us. We’ve had a lot of construction materials stolen and with the exchange rate being very high, the cost of replacing these items is outrageous - three to four times what we paid for the same item only a few months ago.  

We’ve had some things taken right in front of our eyes, even when we thought we were being very vigilant. We have a team of builders who live on site, and there is still theft, almost daily. It’s something we can’t really control because there’s no way we can see everything that goes on until we are able to move in and be around the house ALL the time.

WAITING is also something neither of us deal well with and we’ve been waiting for almost a MONTH for the social action office to come and do a quick inspection. It’s not really even a REAL inspection – it’s more of a formality. But every 4-5 days, the director makes an appointment with us and then can’t make it or doesn’t show up. In his defense, the guy is SO busy and I feel for him, but waiting is difficult and annoying! I guess we’re learning patience.

So even though we’re mostly ready to move in - most likely by the end of the week, we have to wait on the social action office. And we’ll continue to wait, expecting to hear from them soon, knowing that we’ll get there. This is one of those things we don’t like to do, we don’t want to do, but we have to wait. Sometimes the reason we WAIT is because we’re being protected from something or we’re being propelled into something better than if we had JUMPED immediately and rushed through the process so we can have what we want, NOW.

In this time of waiting, we’ve had the ability to spend time doing what we LOVE – spending time with PEOPLE - with our construction team and with our neighbors. We’re taking this interim time to seek out anything we’ve been missing out on during our season of business and building. And it’s good, guys.

After this crazy week, take some time to WAIT. Sit back and look around you and look for those things that you might be missing when you’re too busy or too tired to see them.

Do me a favor – WRITE THIS DOWN! Take some time and log out of social media, shut down your email (after you read this!) and then listen. What have you been missing out on what you need to do or want to do? Write down something that you need to do during those seasons of waiting or frustration, especially if you're currently in one of these. Go see your neighbor, call someone you haven't talked to in a while, cook a meal for a friend, take your wife out for a glass of wine, make your hubby breakfast in bed. Then just chat – don’t talk about politics or what’s going wrong in this world. Just show some love and you’d be surprised how much hope you have when you’re finished.

Speaking of HOPE – help give our community HOPE by making a contribution to Heart for the Needy on Giving Tuesday, coming up in just 2 ½ short weeks! Learn more about Giving Tuesday HERE. If you haven’t already partnered with us, now is THE time! Help us finish preparing for the kiddos we will bring in and help us get a jump on our funding needs for 2017. You can give any time at www.heartfortheneedy.org, via PayPal!

AND – don’t forget every donation is TAX DEDUCTIBLE! Do some end-of-the-year giving AND get that tax deduction – we all win!  

We are in this waiting season for only a short time, and we love that you are walking alongside us, cheering us on. Often times, your encouragement and prayers are what remind us to keep going. It’s not always easy and we won’t pretend that it is. But we know that we have so many of you fighting for us, and we are overwhelmed

by your love. Please don’t stop loving us – we can’t do this without you.

 While we wait,

 Phil & Laura, and Jadon, too

Wait, October's over?

Well, hello there, NOVEMBER.......is it?! Just so November is aware, I'm in complete denial that you are here. Just FYI. Because if NOVEMBER is here, it means our team from the U.S. has already come and gone, just like that. POOF - here. BAM - gone. Did I miss something? Did they really come and then leave already? I feel like maybe I had a dream that our team was here and then I woke up and it didn't really happen.

Community outreach to families fostering children

But as I look back on the month of October, they definitely were here. I keep finding pictures of us with the team of 3 (including both my parents, Keith & Barb, and our friend, Marisa), finding little pieces of evidence in Jadon's stuff - seashells, Lego pieces, new clothes, new shoes - and we have some how acquired this amazing coffee from 81301 Coffee Roasters (Thanks Mark & Shelly!!), all the way from DURANGO, CO! So clearly, I've finally accepted that I wasn't dreaming and they were actually here - 10,000+ miles from their cozy little town.

Now that I'm slowly coming out of denial, I'm moving towards acceptance and realizing their trip here was a HUGE step for this organization. We were able to show a group of people our hard work, God's amazing provisions & grace, and the people who we serve each day. They were able to take away their own stories, learn the faces & names of the children who are suffering, and meet others who have the same passion and goals in mind - to prevent children from becoming orphans & eliminate the need for orphanages all together.

Giving beans & rice to families supporting orphaned children

Each team member was able to make their own case as to why this ministry and work in Mozambique is so important. They saw the water, the electricity and the soon to be children's home. They met our team of builders, our friends, our church family, and they became connected forever. This team became part of this great story, a great story full of failure, joy, success, peace and LOVE. This story is a great story because the Author loves us so surely, so deeply. He writes beautiful pages that often contain our horrid errors and lack of faith, but He knows that we are a beautiful mess because we are His.

Watching God knit this story together has been one of the most beautiful, trying, frustrating, faith building and life-giving experiences I've ever had. And now, three other people have witnessed the unfolding story that God started years ago. His timing is truly impeccable.

If you're wondering when we'll FINALLY move into the children's home and start operating, just know that we are CLOSE. We are about 2 weeks away from moving in. We start the inspection process and licensing planning tomorrow with the local social action office, and then we'll go from there.

Windows, doors & water - all that's keep us from moving in! 

Stay tuned for why November is a really BIG month for Heart for the Needy - it's historically the month where God surprises us and works HUGE miracles on our behalf. We know that November 2016 will be no different and we are expecting great provisions for 2017 from this month alone.

Keep walking alongside us as we get our heads back on straight and start into the next phase! And if it's been a while since you've heard from us, please understand this season has been difficult in more ways than we care to explain. We've experienced every possible human emotion, sometimes all at once and sometimes all in the same day. BUT! We know God is using every moment, every experience to prepare us for the years to come in Mozambique.

You'll soon get to hear more from our team and their experiences here in Mozambique. Follow us so you don't miss out!

Can't wait to get started in this next phase!

Tired but BLESSED,


Phil & Laura, and Jadon, too