African Adoption Fellowship, Soccer AND a CRAZY Korah story (“It’s a Girl Thing” folks…YOU GOTTA read this!)

Okay…so Friday night we had LOTS of families over to our house…our sweet African Adoption families…I LOOOOVE these girls!!! Melissa is one of my dearest friends (far left) and they are waiting as patiently as they can for court dates for their PRECIOUS son, Charles Tucker, in Uganda. (She got her referral BEFORE we traveled for Isaac…and my heart is ACHING with hers to get. him. HOME. Please pray they will get a court date SOON! He is a 2 year old sweet one—and we are ALL ready for him to be home!) THEN her sister is pictured to the far right…and in the middle–that’s my Heath! I adore this momma! She went over to Africa to do mission work in her 20’s and fell in love with her little girl…and adopted her while she was doing mission work there. SO THANKFUL FOR THESE FRIENDS!!!

SOOO…to entertain the kids on this perfect weather October night in the South…we set up screen-on-our-green…Can you guess what movie it is?!?!?!

The kids LOOOOVED it!

And we of course had to get the fire-pit going…FORRRR…you guessed it…SMORES!

And guess what THESE 3 couples have in common (minus Candy’s counterpart…Chad was taking care of their little guy!)WELL…besides living in the same area…they ALL 3 will have 1st children from ETHIOPIA! The crazy couple on the left…they might even end up with TWO:).

Here is Frank with his new VBFF Miller Chaulk! FYI–if you help Frank with marshmellows (or any snack for that matter!) you are his new VBFF…

Here Frankie-baby is begging Miller for JUST ONE MORE…

And here Miller is trying to tell Frank he left his marshmellow in the fire for too long…(can you see how black it is?!)

Isaac is ALWAYS a light-weight at our Africa Adoption parties and crashes early…but he has good reason. He has work to do early on Saturday morning!He plays in this ball pit like it’s his job!

While his brother Frank’s job is ANYTHING to do with firemen, firetrucks or THOMAS!

And this, my friends, is how Frankie-baby got dressed and ready to go to P’s soccer game!

Chillin in Christy’s lap…

And lemme tell ya–we could have been THIS close to actually calling the fire department b/c during half time–our little fireman snuck away! I was feeding Isaac and all of the sudden we couldn’t find Frank. Someone shouted they saw him run in the woods…and sure enough…

Another dad making the exchange to Rico Suave…

And daddy comforting Frankie baby. He was really just upset that his adventure had quickly come to an end!

Then the focus was BACK on Parker man…who once again–kicked in the goals like a wild man!!! We are so proud of our little man!!!

I love watching him celebrate with his buds after he kicks in a goal! And lemme tell ya…with a goalie AND a blocker–it isn’t easy to get it past them…but he does!!!

ITY kickin’ it (literally) during the game…

And I ADORE how my boys are buds and how Frankie baby comes to sit with P when he is on the bench taking a rest!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST…A CRAZY KORAH STORY!!! Okay…soooo–Sarah Titus let me know this week that she has sent over all the kits she received for Korah but we were still 30 short. I had 30 at my house (we still need more for Wiphan–but we are getting there!!!). Anyway, Sarah asked me if I could mail 30 kits to Nashville this week because she knew a group was going over. NOW…I’ll tell you–the one thing that is hard for me to do is to get to the post office with huge boxes!!! With two 1 year olds…it just sounds dreadful. SO–I will confess…I told the Lord in passing a few days ago that I didn’t feel like going to the post office. You know…just how you talk to Him throughout the day–but I knew these kits needed to get there asap!!! I was worried a bit they might not make it in time–and I just prayed they would when I hit the FedEx store (yes—no time for the post office…2-3 day insured delivery is calling for FedEx!) this week to ensure they got there in time.

SOOO…here’s the God part–where you SEE how much the Lord cares for the orphans in Korah–how HE is in the details…and how He takes care of everything.

SO…I’m here in my little town–4 hours South of Nashville where the “It’s a Girl Thing Pads and Holders” need to be in 3-4 days. I had just walked out of worship with my little man at church–and I was heading to KidZone to pick up the older ones. A sweet lady stops me in the hallway and asks me about Isaac as she remembered he was from Ethiopia–and right when we came home she told me that she had a daughter my age that had just gotten back from a mission trip in Ethiopia. SOOO…she tells me this morning that her daughter just happens to be visiting her TODAY. In fact, she is in the parking lot waiting on her. THEN she tells me that her daughter (in the parking lot) is gearing up to take another mission trip to Ethiopia. I ask her where she is going…

“She’s going to Korah…with Project 61…they are delivering a bunch of stuff–like pads for this project called “It’s a Girl Thing”…”

“REALLY?? Well, I do believe they are missing 30 kits to complete Korah’s project!” I tell her!!!!

DO YOU THINK GOD CARES ABOUT THE DETAILS? DO YOU THINK GOD CARES DEEPLY FOR THE GIRLS OF KORAH THAT NEED THESE SUPPLIES?!

As I told this sweet lady that I was one of the coordinators of the project and I had THE 30 other kits just around the corner from the church at my house–she flipped out and called her daughter to join our conversation inside! THEN, I hoped in her car and we headed to my house to get the rest of the kits while Rico Suave followed us home (I wanted to make sure she didn’t get lost getting to our house). We loaded up the 30 additional kits into her van…and we had SO MUCH FUN talking about all the connections we had…so many similiar friends in Nashville!!! We couldn’t stop laughing at how crazy it all was–and how she had JUST ENOUGH room left in her bins to fit these kits!!! SOOOOO…if you were a part of Korah’s “It’s a Girl Thing” project—YOUR KITS will arrive THIS THURSDAY to the girls!!! This sweet friend is actually taking them herself TO THEIR SCHOOL!!!

HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Ok…now to complete Wiphan’s “It’s a Girl Thing”! I am soooooo amazed at how God is in the details of EVERY moment in our lives when we open our hands and say use all I have Lord!!! JUST AMAZING!!! And the icing on my cupcake is I don’t have to look like a crazy lady pushing a huge box into the FexEx store with my foot with two 1 year olds on my hips!!! Do you REALIZE all the things that had to happen for this interaction to take place??? I was stalled after worship with Isaac to talk with Karen Loritts (our pastor’s wife) about leading a devotional at the adoption momma retreat…I’d need to be a few minutes late in picking up the kids from KidZone…the mom from Nashville would need to still be here…and her mom would need to be in the hall at KidZone at just the right time—and our shining star on my hip would be the one that reminded her to tell me her daughter was going to Ethiopia this week!!! I LOOOOOVE how God works…ALL on behalf of the orphans in Korah!!!

AS IF the morning couldn’t have been ANY more beautiful—God made it even better!!! I had JUST finished holding back tears as I sang in worship with my precious Isaac on my hip “I am not forgotten…God knows my name!” These children are NOT forgotten!!! He knows them ALL by name!!! He will not leave nor forsake them…but people—here this…He may want to use US to let them physically see and know that they are NOT forgotten and that He knows their name!!! How will they know if we don’t tell them? How will they know if we don’t serve them?! They are not forgotten…and neither are YOU!? Can I get an AMEN?!

BUT…isn’t this performance WAYYYY cuter?!

AND on a sneak peak note…registration for the retreat will begin Monday at noon! Stay tuned!!! And please spread the word once we post it tomorrow!!!

P.S. This is the version ITY likes to watch and we dance to! We like to break it down in the Young house!!!