Family

Most of you know that we just returned from our trip to India. There are so many things we learned and want to share with you. I have learned that I can never travel to another country and meet new people with out them changing me in some way. Our view on sharing life, hospitality, family, and Jesus has been stretched and challenged. I will be sharing over the next few posts different stories of people we met and things we experienced.

When we first arrived in India we had an orientation for a couple days. We discussed different things like; being a social entrepreneur (will share more on that later), culture, and family. It is amazing how much in our holy book the bible we see the importance of family and sharing Jesus in the context of family. Many people I know come from broken families and there is so much hurt that can occur in families. This is so far from the way God intended and created families. I KNOW that Jesus longs to restore families. He longs for families to be redeemed. For many people that would seem like a huge miracle, luckily Jesus in a great miracle worker :) I am praying that God would teach me more about how he loves families and groups of people. So often in the West we limit our experience with God to being a very individualistic thing. Yes, we do make choices about following God as individuals, but I think we miss out on something beautiful when we forget the aspect of following God in community and intimacy with others. God longs to redeem families and communities, not just individuals. I have so much to learn about this. Anyways, I would like to share about a family that we met that really touched my heart.

As we wondered around the city, we met a man who took us to meet his aunt and her family. We drank chai with them and learned some of their story. They invited us back for dinner the next night. A few years ago this family lost their husband and father. This left the wife a widow with three boys. In any culture this is such a great tragedy, but here this makes things very hard because most of the women don't work in the society. Now two of the sons are older and are able to work, but I still felt so sad for their loss. Their father was an artist. He painted designs on plates and cups. He was a very talented. I loved the way this family interacted, they had such joy and love for one another. The boys loved and respected their mother and told us how she was so important to them. They also lovingly spoke about how they missed their father and how hard things had been without him. The mother didn't speak any English, but I quickly fell in love with her joyful eyes and beautiful smile. It is hard to explain. I don't really even know her and we couldn't even talk to each other, but somehow it seemed as if our stories connected and she reminded me of my own Mom. I could see in her how much she missed her husband, but how much she loved her children and longed for the best for them. I am sure when we live in India we will hear many more stories of widows and loss, but I think she will forever have a place in my heart. I hope one day to be able to hear her story in her own language and to share with her my story and the peace I have found in Jesus through losing my father. Oh, how I long for the day when death is no more and families are not separated! Please pray for this family that God would be near to them and that he would provide for them. I think Jesus has a special compassion for widows.... I read this passage the day after we met them and it really touched me:

[Jesus Raises a Widow's Son]

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

(Luke 7:11-16 ESV)

I love that Jesus SAW her and had COMPASSION on her. I pray he sees this woman we met and has compassion on her as well.

I think this post is kind of disorganized and kind of all over the place with my thoughts (Sorry!). I hope it wasn't to disjointed for you. I am still jet-lagging a little and have so many things yet to process from our trip :) My thoughts and emotions are all over the place :) I love ya'll, thanks for reading and praying.

Here is a pic:

this is lauren and me with the mother, isn't she so beautiful? the guy in the back on the left is a cousin we spent a lot of time with and the little guy on the right is her youngest son. oh my goodness, don't even get me started on how cute he is....he stole my heart. he had great english and was so adorable and so smart!

videos

Hey Everyone,

I realized that I said we would post videos here of our trip to India, but we ended up sending out the links via email. If you are interested in seeing our videos from our trip, please send us an email at:

celebratecovenant@gmail.com

Thanks so much for all your prayers, we had the most amazing time and have so many stories to share....so stay tuned and let us know if you want us to add your to our email list!

Guess where we are going?

Well the time is here! Tomorrow we are going to India for two weeks :) AHHH! We are so excited and can't wait to experience the people and culture.

We are planning on taking video's on Ryan's new iPhone(which he loves) and downloading them here. So "hopefully" stay tuned and we will post video's from all our adventures in India.

Weekend

We had a really fun time last weekend. We were able to meet Shane Claiborne and his fiancee Katy. (they are a part of http://thesimpleway.org/) Shane has written many books, including "Irresistible Revolution" and "Jesus For President". I have read both of his books and really like his different way of thinking and perspective on the world.

One of our mentors was meeting with him to hear about a trip he and a group of people took to Israel and Palestine. They were able to hear stories from both sides of the situation. It is a very sad situation....(that deserves our attention and concern).

I have to admit I was pretty nervous and a little star-struck at the thought of meeting Shane Claiborne, but it was a little anti-climatic for me. He was very friendly and laid back but also pretty busy, so as soon as we finished talking about their trip he had to leave.(we didn't even get a picture :) However, his fiancee Katy showed us around and she is so great, very down to earth and welcoming (she is from the south...I love hearing a good southern accent up here!)

That night we went to a gather of the simple way and some other organizations who work in Philadelphia with the homeless, refugees, immigrants, addicts, and the incarcerated. They shared all that is going on in their sphere's of influence. Different people in the organizations as well as people who they invited where present. It was so amazing. Everyone shared prayer requests, sang, shared the Lord's supper, and heard encouragement to keep working in these hard areas. Ryan and I both left feeling inspired to really be the hands and feet of Jesus among those who are hurting and who the rest of society often looks down on.

We were a part of a conference the rest of the weekend and felt extremely filled and encouraged. We had a house guest who was also staying with us for the conference(who we had never met.) It was so great to get to know him and his fiancee. I love having new people around, it is such a cool thing when you meet people and instantly connect. They hope to live overseas in the next few years, adopt, ect. So refreshing!!

On Saturday night we also were able to go to a Turkish coffee night just outside of Lancaster. There are many families from Turkey who organize this every month as a way to share their culture and get to know their neighbors. Our friend, Haidar(who is from Iraq) was invited to draw pictures of people and he invited us to go with him. They showed a video of Istanbul and had so much great food!

Our weekend was really full, but so life-giving for us! Here are some pictures:

After our convo with Shane, by the river in Philadelphia

posing for our drawing, i am not a good model i kept laughing

The finished product by our very good, talented friend Haidar

this is a painting by Haidar. it depicts the situation in the middle east right now. there is a struggle between two sides with an unsure outcome and the identity of who exactly is the man and who is the bull is also unsure. pray for the middle east!

Not Happy

I love this kid!

Boston January 2011

Transracial Adoption and MLK

Most of you know that Ryan and I feel very strongly lead to adopt one day. We know with adoption comes many different challenges/struggles/joys/ect. I follow many blogs of adoptive parents and love that so many of them are so vulnerable and real about their journeys.

I read this post a few days ago and it greatly moved me. I know I am a little behind on MLK day, but I think this is a message that does not only have to be shared on a holiday. There are so many things about this post that I love, I hope you enjoy it.

click here

Micro-finance

It has been an extremely long time since I have blogged! I apologize! Life has been busy around here.(as it is for everyone) Ryan and I are both working part time, we have been actively pursuing ideas about South Asia, and our intern load has picked up.

Speaking of pursuing ideas about South Asia, here is one thing we are really excited about:

We have been trying to learn as much as we can about micro-finance (lending) and savings among the poor. It is amazing how much this can affect communities and change people's lives. Before I began reading stuff I had no idea what micro-lending even meant(and my understanding is still really limited.) In a nutshell micro-finance is is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services.

Surprisingly, there is a really cool organization that is right here in Lancaster called Hope International that does micro-finance. (http://www.hopeinternational.org) We were able to participate in a really cool exhibit they have about poverty all over the world. Here is a video done by Hope International that helps explain the heart and vision of micro-finance.

We are hoping to be a part of something like this in South Asia. Do any of you have any experience or thoughts about micro-finance and savings or any connections to anyone that does?? We are wanting to learn anything and everything we can!