9 weeks and counting!

One fundraiser down, 3 more to go! I am so happy to report that the Lord is already showing his faithfulness to us in terms of meeting our financial needs. We have a balance due on December 20th and Kayla and I will be able to meet this financial deadline! YAY!
Our next fundraiser will be a Pancake Breakfast at the Applebees in Concord, NH on January 16th. Then on January 17th we will hold a meal auction and a silent auction at our church. Finally on January 23rd the team will be hosting a Father/Daughter Dance as our last fundraiser! I am confident that God will continue to provide!
We had a team meeting on Sunday and we had the opportunity to share with each other, laugh, learn some language and plan some event details. It was productive time...but I still feel like we need even more time together. January is going to be really busy for us with lots of fundraising going on, but it will be all worth it in the end. These 9 weeks are going to fly by and I am getting really excited to set my feet back on the ground in the land of a thousand hills!

Let the fundraising begin!

On Sunday we had our first training meeting for the team that will be heading to Rwanda with us. It was fun to get to know everyone and one of the coolest things about this team is that not all of them are physically GOING to Rwanda but they are so exctied to invest their time and energy to help the rest of us GO. What a blessing. These people want to come to all our meetings and hear all about what we plan to do, and where we plan to serve; they want to pray for us as we prepare for this journey and continue praying every day we are gone. They want to help us with fundraising. They are such an important part of our team and I am so grateful for their dedication to serve in this way. Kayla and I are ready to send out our fundraising letter to all family and friends...check your mailbox soon =0) And we have just launched our November fundraiser and will be selling holdiay wreaths.
So much to do ...so little time! God Bless...thanks for checking in!

A look back

I thought I would give you a taste of why I (Tina) am so excited to get back to Rwanda. In February of 2007 I was able to spend a week in this beautiful country ministering to some of the people and hanging out at the orphanage where JP ultimately came from! I was just looking at my journal I kept of that trip and thought I would share a little of my experience.
"We went to a little village of many orphans and widows. A message of hope was spoken to the children and one of the ladies began to sing, "Jesus loves the little children". It was sweet, but I did not have much of a role here...I just sat and smiled at the women and children. I did have my digital camera with me and the kids just loved seeing their faces on the screen. As we were about to leave, one girl begged us to come see her grandmother, so we followed her through this long, windy alley. It seemed the entire village was following us around. We finally reached her home, the tiniest living space I have ever seen. Their entire house couldn't be bigger than our small office at home. We asked the girl what her favorite food was and she said she would love to eat rice. This girl is so poor that all they can afford is corn flour mixed with a little water. This is all she eats ...EVERYDAY....only 2 times a day! As we were leaving her house and heading back to the car one girl told me that she loved me and a grandmother kept talking to me in Kinyarwanda. I finally found our translator and he told me that she was saying how grateful she was that we took the time to come visit them. I didn't even speak to this group of people, I literally just sat there and smiled at them and they couldn't stop thanking me and telling me how much they appreciated it. I am so humbled. It really is the little things that matter most."

It is hard to explain what that does to you, when you see poverty like that. In their eyes, you are "rich" and have far more than they could ever fathom, but yet they are so glad you came and just spent time with them. That was enough for them to be grateful. I need that perspective. I want to hear their stories and be changed and challenged by their faith, their hope and their trust in God. I can't wait to worship Rwandan style again, this time with Kayla by my side!

This video moves me every time I watch it. I hope you too are moved by it! Just be sure to scroll down to pause the blog music first. =0)

Some details

So I thought I would tell you a little about what we will be doing while in Rwanda, besides enjoying the beautiful scenery! Our dear friends Rich and Robin Smyth have been serving as missionaries there for about 4 years now. They have a variety of ministries that they are involved with. Check out their website www.tentmakersofrwanda.com to see all the things they do. It is quite amazing. Basically our team (11 people) will help them with some of these ministries. We will serve the street boys at a clinic run by Rich and Robin to mend their wounds...mostly foot wounds and we will also feed them and play and love on them as much as we can! We will also go to one of the hospitals and visit with patients to encourage and pray with them and some of us will speak at the chapel service. We will do some projects to help the local orphans and widows in the area. And on the weekends we wil do outreaches by traveling to different parts of the country and setting up a big screen and showing people the Jesus film and sharing our testimonies of God's love and grace. Hundreds of people show up for these outreaches....I am most excited about these! What an experience we are about to have. I think about and pray for our trip everyday. That's all for now!

The beginning

In 2007 I traveled to Rwanda 2 different times pursuing adoption. During those 2 trips I fell in love with Rwanda and its people. My children have come to love the country as well and talk often about wanting to go someday. We have dreamed about going as a family to share in the culture of our adopted son. Upon returning home with our Rwandan boy we have stayed very connected to the country and look forward to serving there whenever and however God allows. Well, we believe that God will allow Kayla and I to participate in a mission trip this coming February. We couldn't be more excited! Excited to experience God in a new way. Excited to be used by Him. Excited to share this expereince as mother and daughter. Excited to see our Rwandan friends. Just plain EXCITED! We are setting up this blog so that others can follow our journey with us. We know that it will take a lot of prayer and financial support to make this trip possible and this will be our way of sharing the experience with our prayer partners and financial contributors. Thanks for following.