Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption
12 incredible raffles
2 sweet-sounding friends to disarm us and lead us to the throne
2 ridiculous men in costumes to make us laugh and remind us to lock our doors
2 faithful servants willing to share their story to help us understand our own
10 kindred spirits committed to loving each other and serving together as He has called
Over 200 husbands and wives committed to loving each other and their families well
ONE GREAT GOD BEHIND, IN FRONT, AND IN IT ALL
In just a few hours, this room will be full. The 200+ chairs that sit empty now will no longer be as men and women who are waiting for their first child or who have a dozen at home (for real) join us.
I feel like I should be clapping my hands and proclaiming, “Places! Places, People! Places!” But, the cool thing is that I don’t need to. They’re already there without me saying a thing. Folders are stuffed, name badges out, raffles are set up, our backup backup sound guy arrived (for real), resource table is looking good…all that typically makes me crazy right about now is pretty much…good…done…ready.
All we need now are the people to serve.
And, sweet potato fries. Yeah, I might need sweet potato fries yet.
April 8th-10th has been marked on our calendars for only about a year now. It’s the largest event we are a part of in terms of numbers and likely logistical effort as well. It was born at a cafe (do all good ideas start with a cup of coffee?). A group of women gathered there to talk about how we could better serve the needs of adoptive moms, how we could support women locally, how we could come together in unity to encourage and bless each other. We sipped our lattes and shared challenges and ideas in this faithful brain trust and landed on something big that kind of took all of our breath away. We needed something for couples, not women alone, not for simply a community of mamas; we needed something to build up marriages.
I think Mark may have done more than gasp that evening when I came home and told him that The Sparrow Fund may or may not have just added a marriage retreat to our repertoire. But, it didn’t take him long to catch the vision for it. It just made sense. The best way to serve families is to build up the partnership of a husband and a wife.
We started with 60 couples in 2013. In 2014, we added a few more couples, forcing us to have overflow housing at another hotel. In 2015, we moved to a larger place to open it up to a few more people while still keeping a small retreat feel. Now, this weekend, in 2016, we have about 100 couples coming–couples from 12 different states around the country representing 334 children born to them or born to others and adopted into their families from at least 16 different countries around the world. The magnitude of the impact of pouring into these 200+ parents who are in turn pouring themselves out is incredible.
As April 8th-10th has gotten closer and closer, the magnitude has become more and more apparent but also has the mess that often comes with that. Where there is a place for transformation, life change, and healing as these marriages are and can be, there is also opportunity for weariness and a sense of never, impossible, and stuck to creep in. We need prayer in a significant way as Mark and I lead the charge for a team of us–all of whom come with our own stories–to serve each one of these men and women and enter into their stories. We could ask you to simply pray; we know many of you would do that. But, we want to be intentional to have consistent prayer coverage over the course of the whole weekend. The needs of the couples coming are that great—our needs as a couple who is seeking to be an effective conduit of His mercy and hope are that great.
If you want to pray at any time however you are led, please do and let us know that you did because it will build us up and encourage us as we press on. If you want to pray over a specific time frame to be a part of consistent prayer coverage for specific needs that we’ll provide to you, then let us know via email and we’ll direct you as to how to do that.
This picture looked more awesome in my head. But, it’s still cool. The red card in the first picture says thank you in Mandarin. Like I said, it was more awesome in my head.
There’s a lot we do when we’re not in China. One of those things is think about our next trip to China. It’s true. It’s how we roll when we’re making a handful of China trips a year. As soon as we get home from one, it’s time to start planning the next one which in this case is in May and then October after that.
Sometimes that’s hard, the constant planning and team recruiting and training and ticket purchasing. Other times, it’s awesome as He keeps us forward thinking and dreaming about what could be next.
That’s where I was last week. I was dreaming. I was in the this-would-be-so-helpful and wouldn’t-they-just-love-if phase which resulted in me putting a number of things into an Amazon registry: (1) an instant camera that spits out the cutest little pictures that develop before your very eyes like magic (I know, I know, Polaroids aren’t new. I promise you I thought these were just as magical when my grandfather brought his fancy gadget over to our house 30 years ago), (2) a little portable printer to print 4×6 pictures wirelessly from a phone or camera or computer (instant gratification for kids and lots of gratification for me since it would save me about 5 hours of time I typically spend at a local copy shop struggling to get photos printed), and (3) lots of film and cases for both said magical devices. They would be so great in China, so so great.
With the hope that someone might enter into the this-would-be-so-helpful and wouldn’t-they-just-love-if… phase with me, I shared the link to the registry on Facebook.
They did.
That instant camera and that teeny little printer and paper for the printer and film for the camera and cases and other little goodies are all sitting beside my desk now ready to head to China in May, ready to be tools in our backpacks to make people gather close together and laugh, to build friendships and connections. I can already imagine a big crowd around one of those tiny little 2″ pictures watching it change from white to a color image all ooo-ing and ahhh-ing as they do.
The picture above—the one that looked a bit more awesome in my head—is a snapshot of provision, a snapshot of teamwork. My friend “P” can’t go in May, but she made sure the instant camera would. Our friends “B and J” have gone before and heard the stories of me spending my afternoon using my translator app to try to get pictures printed from my flash drive. They ordered the printer to help the kids and to help me. “J” made sure I’d have the cases I wanted to protect it all as we travel in planes, trains, automobiles, jump jumps, taxis, and e-bikes. “N” made sure I’d have paper and ink. “S” got other fun supplies as did “B and R.” In one day, every item on that “baby registry” had been ordered.
I’m in a different phase today. I’m still dreaming about how great these things will be in country and how that instant camera will make me some fast friends. But, maybe I’ve moved into a phase you could call the We-aren’t-working-alone phase. I look at all these things neatly stacked by my desk and am reminded that there are so many people standing with us to make all this happen and make it happen well. There are so many people who believe it’s important and worth an investment. There are so many people who He’s given us to listen to my crazy ramblings when I’m in those wouldn’t-they-just-love-if… phases and agree and urge us on.