Reflecting on 2013

The year of 2013 was a year of momentous decisions for our family.

We began that year with answering God's call to serve orphans and widows as full-time missionaries in Zambia, Africa through an organization called Every Orphan's Hope. This wasn't an out-of-the-blue decision as we had been serving in various facets of this ministry since 2010, but it was a leap of faith to depend on our Lord for every need we would have.

As I look back on this journey that we have begun, there have been some extremely exciting moments. The calling in itself sparked our adventurous spirits and at times, we found ourselves trying to outrun God's timing. But each of those moments, our Lord has either gently (or sometimes with a swift kick in the backside) put us back on His path and not our own.

The biggest lesson of 2013 for our family has been obedience. We have realized that our ways are not God's ways in very real experiences. Some of these have created extremely happy moments in our lives, while other instances have refined us to a point that were difficult to bear. Above all though we have found that God is present through each of these times.

We began our 2013 with a calling to prepare and that's exactly what we've done. Here are the highlights of our 2013:

We started that year with a new chocolate labradoodle puppy, Tobiah, and by the end of that year, we realized that Zambia wasn't the place for him. We found an amazing family who waited on us to make a decision and ultimately, he went to live with them in September 2013. We still have "visitation" times with him!

Preparation was the key to 2013 so that's what we did.

Looking through all those things that you have and no longer use is never fun. We made some decisions as to what would go with us to Zambia and what needed to bless others. We learned in that process that we are blessed well beyond what we deserve, and many of the items we had were never even used, being set aside for a special occasion that hadn't come. Looking at what you need is such a freeing experience. Lightening our load has given us a new perspective of ourselves; this lesson has been irreplaceable.

As the months passed, our preparation led us to another step: the selling of our house. Many have seen this as foolish but for us it was a lightening of our load we never anticipated. Part of the American Dream is to own a home. This is not a bad thing, but for us the home was a huge idol for us. We spent more time upgrading, manicuring and upkeep, which led to less time for relationships and serving. Selling our home of 13 years was an extremely freeing moment. We became completely untethered, able to go wherever God led us. What an awesome moment for both of us to be able to serve at a moments notice. So in September 2013 we became homeless.

Sadly, through all this preparation we did take a misstep and began to plan. We moved into a home with a lovely family, which I think they are still recovering from us. I've learned that our children are being raised as wild animals at times and I may need to actually step up a little on my structure of their behavior. I'm just joking, they are great, but we all act like a bunch of kids sometimes. We had a lot of fun the 3 months we lived with them, but it was during this decision we went ahead of God.

If you hadn't noticed this blog went silent for awhile. It wasn't until now that I was able to sit and write as I look back and see what has been of God and what has been our desires. I finally was able to realize what has happened through this Christmas holiday and this is the analogy I've come up with. I want you to imagine you have been given a present that you completely desire. For us, this present was to serve the Lord full-time in Zambia. We had prayed for God to show us how we fit into this picture and how He would use us. He did just that, but in the showing He never said exactly when; He just said prepare. So now pretend that this present sits on your table day in and day out. You look at it as a reminder of the plans He has for you but just like all of us, after awhile we want to just shake that box a little. For us, in the box is our departure date; I imagine it's the plane tickets, seat assignments and everything.

Well, we started shaking the box a little, then a little more. Everything looked like it was all in place for us to launch. Changes within the ministry showed us, undoubtedly, we were needed. A house in Zambia already furnished opened up for us. Fundraising was going well and so we set a date to depart. Huge mistake. We allowed the needs of the ministry to overshadow God's timing. Filling those needs are not wrong, but putting it before God's direction is not right. All of a sudden, we were leading the path and not letting the Lord lead us, thinking our ways were also God's. Not so.

We did set a date for the week of December 9th and we found God has a sense of humor. We saw that as we drew closer to that date, it was not going to occur. We realized that we went from "Preparation Mode" to "Planning Mode" something we were not asked to do. The week of December 9th we actually did move but not to where we expected. After living with the amazing Bell family, we realized it was time to move into a small apartment to readjust onto the path God sent us on and not our own. So we did move...

I love how God works with us, even when we take a misstep; He guides us back. With a loving hand, He picks us up, wipes our tears away and says let's start again. So 2013 ended with a new command from God, WAIT.

Waiting is hard. I am far from the picture of patience, but sitting still is essential to being led by the Lord. This lesson is also essential in the mission field. Our western tendencies are to act; many of us do that before thinking. As we prepare to live among a different culture, sitting still and watching is going to be an important portion of that ministry. We must learn to do that at home so we can do that in Zambia.

Now as we look toward 2014, God has asked us to continue serving at home with Every Orphan's Hope. I will return to my former position as Program Manager for Missions and will also begin learning the Sponsorship side of the ministry as the Sponsorship Coordinator will be on leave in June/July. Peter will also continue to learn about the aspects of the ministry and will use his talents to participate as needed. Our blogging and newsletter will be reflecting less on our journey for awhile and will focus more on the ministry.

So we have completed our year of preparation and we begin 2014 with waiting. Quite a different journey we are entering upon still encompassing dependence upon our Lord and an air of excitement, as we do not know what we will encounter each day but to do His will.

May we also encourage you to find moments to be still in God and seek His desires for you, too.

Special Update

Dear Family, Friends and Followers!!!

We are excited to begin to announce our next phase in this journey our Lord is leading us on. As we have sold our home and placed our items into storage, God has blessed us with a family that has graciously taken us in "indefinitely." We love that they have no limits on their willingness to serve God through providing a home for our family, but ultimately we are being called to serve as full-time missionaries in Zambia.

So our next step is to actually begin the process of moving to Zambia. We have currently put together an anticipated budget, but as you know with all budgets, we really won't know until we arrive.

Currently, we have raised through monthly partners $1,620 which will cover our rent. Although we would like to be fully funded, we also know that this has been a journey of faith and our Lord will provide.

If you find that God has been leading you to become a monthly partner or even make a one-time donation, please click on the DONATE button to contribute toward our daily bread for Every Orphan's Hope.

Blessings,
Peter & Cheryl Greif

Our True North

Often, we get the question as to why we are willing to serve in Zambia. Is it because of Every Orphan's Hope or the relations we've built with the kids in the My Father's House homes? Or maybe it's just that we're going through some sort of mid-life crisis. (I'm actually saying that politely. I think most people look at us like we are nuts!) And that could be the case. When we had our next set of kids (Alyson and Brittan), everyone thought we were nuts too because as they said, "Danielle is 16 and you're almost free!" But our response was that we didn't have anything else to do and we were too young to have an empty nest; so why not?

So why are we doing this? Our dear friend and founder of Every Orphan's Hope, Gary Schneider, visited us a few days ago as he had returned from Zambia and he asked the same question. It was a simple question, why are you going to Zambia? Now, we could have come up with a whole array of different responses: We love the organization; we can see ourselves doing this; we love the kids; we get to further the kingdom, et cetera and so forth. But in the end as we sat there for a moment and tried to come up with one reason, Peter and I found the one that was at its core: We're being obedient. God has asked us to serve there so we are going. It's that simple. Gary calls that our true north, what we always need to point to when we get off center with the storms that will come as we transition to become full-time missionaries.

Obedience is an interesting process; it's like peeling layers. As Shrek said, "Ogres are like onions, they have layers." The peeling of each layer brings a new sting, some sweet and others sharp. Our newest layer of obedience is the sale of our house. Whoa!

Sorry, I couldn't resist putting him in here explaining how Ogres are like onions to Donkey!

One would think that this was a huge layer, but we actually found that this was one layer of many that has been occurring over the last few years. Ever since we had our first mission trip to Zambia we've simplified each year, not realizing how easy it would make things precisely for this moment.

Now, the actual putting the house on the market was a huge step because it is truly the first step of faith and what a step it has been. It comes with a sweet and sharp sting. The sharp one is obvious, there are memories in each room.

Alyson with Grandma just a few weeks old

I walked through Alyson's room today and remembered the hours Peter and I spent at Barnes and Nobles looking through room décor. I remembered sitting in the rocker in her room after it was complete admiring his handiwork. Then the picture of his mom holding Alyson in the same room rocking her to sleep. It was also in that same rocker that I watched her sleeping peacefully in my arms and realized Peter was right and we needed to have siblings. Hence Brittan came along.

We had to go in to touch up paint in Brittan's room the other day. She's our spirited one! God really has a sense of humor; I think He loves to laugh because she is comedic. If we had stayed in this house much longer, we would have had to repaint the whole room as she may have colored on all the walls or hit something up against them as she is known as "rough and tumble."

Danielle, our oldest, is quick to remind everyone that outside of the master bedroom, she was the first to occupy each room as her own in the house before we had the other two girls. We just kept moving her into the bigger ones. It was a good trade off.

What's interesting though is that it's sweet, too. We were placed in that house through a blessing. When we found the empty lot, the builders didn't even know they owned it. They had already moved out of the neighborhood and we wanted that particular builder. This home happened to be just down the street from our church, Preston Ridge Baptist Church, which is where we started our true obedience to the Lord. His fingerprints are all over that house. It reflects how He has grown throughout our lives for precisely this moment.

The sweetness of selling the house is how freeing it feels. We are able to serve the Lord with complete abandonment. Whether He says right, left or straight ahead, now we can say, "Yes, Lord." We don't have anything holding us down. We are truly portable to be His hands and feet. So Amazing!

Each step in obedience has actually not held us back but opened up a whole new world of opportunities. We are both finding that as we say "yes" there has been something on the other side of that response that is sweeter than ever imagined.

Is there anything you are holding back from saying, "Yes, Lord! Whatever you ask, it's yours"? It may sting a little or a lot, but ultimately it's freeing to give it all to Him. After all, it was all His to begin with and in the end it will be His again.

Please pray for us that we are able to continue to say YES each day as He continues to lead us to serve in Zambia and follow our true north of being obedient to Him.

In addition, please pray for how you can see yourself along with us in this journey. Our house received 4 offers in less than 24 hours, so we will officially be ready to leave in less than 2 months. As our layers continue to peel, do you have a layer in this too? We are still in need of committed partners like you to send us for God's work in Zambia. Can you see yourself peeling a layer and saying, "Yes, Lord, I will send."

Joining God in Zambia

Part of our extended Zambian family

Over the last few weeks, Peter and I have had multiple conversations about what we will be doing with Every Orphan's Hope and how someone can come in as a committed partner to support us on our daily bread. I'm amazed at all the opportunities that God has given us to speak about the work He is doing in Zambia to provide for the orphans and widows.

I am reminded of a conversation with a dear friend at church as to how depending upon God for our daily bread is possible and what his family's part is in this journey along with us. He was also concerned with the big picture and couldn't see how his small part could make a difference.

The answer was much simpler than one would have expected, which is always the case when you look at it from a different perspective.

So I posed this question to my friend. How often do you go out to eat? It was a rhetorical question, but it's a starting point. Now based on where you go, how much do you spend as a family? Well, that can range, whether you go to like McDonald's or to a sit down restaurant. So what, you're looking at anywhere from $25-$75 or more based on what you order and how big your family is; if you have teenage boys that makes a difference, too.

Many of you are already seeing where I'm going with this. Do you go to a restaurant once a week, some of us more than that based on our schedules? So I asked him, could you give up one of those outings to support a missionary family each month? And then as a family, could that just be your spaghetti night for the month and also in that time, could you pray for our family? What a blessing that would be to us to be remembered once a month by your whole family through your own sacrificial giving and your prayers.

Can you see a small picture of how you can be a part of this, no matter how small the amount?

By no means are we asking others to sacrifice their whole livelihood to support us. You have families and desires just as we do, but as with any path that God leads each of us on, a small sacrifice is what allows us to reflect the light of Jesus. Over the last few years God has grown us to this point to be His instruments and we have been exactly where some of you are now in regards to sacrificial giving. We have had the struggles to give wholeheartedly with tithing, sponsoring orphans through Every Orphan's Hope and sponsoring short-term missionaries from our church. As we take this big step of faith, will you also take a big step by joining us?

We know many of you are praying about this and God has been laying it on your heart to help us. Others of you are still not sure how this works so we thought maybe breaking this down a bit more would be helpful.

In order to raise what we need, not only for our daily living expenses but also the part we are taking to raise for the work of the ministry in Zambia, here is how you could fit in.

In regards to sponsors for our daily bread we need:

20 partners at $100 per month (already committed 1)

20 partners at $50 per month (already committed 4)

50 partners at $40 per month (already committed 3)

50 partners at $30 per month (already committed 1)

40 partners at $25 per month (already committed 1)

30 partners at $20 per month (already committed 2)

Can you see somewhere that you could fit into here?

As you are looking at your own way to sacrificially give, here is an update as to where we are in the process of serving in Zambia. Our house will officially go on the market next Thursday, August 15 and we anticipate a quick sale based on the market here in Frisco, TX. Once we move out, probably around September, we have been blessed by a family in our church to let us come live with them for an indefinite amount of time until we are funded. While we are waiting, we will be in the process of sending our household items to Zambia, whatever can fit in a 20-foot container. Since it will take about 3 months for it to arrive, our hope is that we will arrive around the same time as our furniture does. But we cannot even start that next step without a commitment from you towards our daily bread. Will you join us as a committed partner?

Please click on the "Donate" button on the side of this blog if you will join us as partners in Zambia.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17 (ESV)

Saying goodbye to our girls

Peter with one of our boys in Zambia sharing gifts from his sponsors

One of Many

I know it will just get tougher as we approach a move date, but knowing and actually experiencing are two different things.

I'm not an overly emotional person, but my heart received its first of what will be many moments of sadness to come.

We spoke with our relator earlier this week and made the decision that the time has come to put the house on the market. So the sign is going up today....

We are not completely funded, it's trickling in, but we still need others to join us on this journey with God. But...the timing in the market is right and ultimately we do not want to be unable to go once we are completely funded because we can't sell our house...so we are preparing for our transitional home until we set foot on Zambia.

It wasn't the idea of putting the house on the market that got me teary-eyed. We've been planning this for many months now. It's the afterwards....

Our home has always been open to anyone who wanted to just hang out. As a matter of fact, we have as many as sometimes 8 kids in our home at one time just playing. This is our life. We are a house of kids. This day was no different. The girls' friends came over to swim, just as they always do in the summer. I have the honor of playing lifeguard.

Right to Left: Alyson, Kamdyn, Kaden & Brittan

But on this day, I watched it differently. They stood on the spa and did one of the same old games they always do: "1, 2, 3 Jump" then they look to see who jumped. Of course, no one does until someone just gets too tired of standing there and jumps in. Then they all laugh. You see it enough times and you just become immune to any humor in it, but they don't.

1, 2, 3 Jump!

 I didn't find humor. I felt a great sadness and started to cry. As they sat there laughing at one another, memories flooded my mind instead.

I remember each of them not being able to or just learning to swim and now they race each other from one end to the other. 

Or just how they come up with little silly games that always seem to make no sense but their imagination running faster than they can keep up.

I think of how close Brittan, our 6-year-old and Kaden (5 years old) are; they are pretty close to inseparable. The biggest complaint of the other kids in the cul-de-sac is that they will only play with each other and no one else. I think if they could be joined at the hip, they would be. They rarely argue and Peter and I always watch them in awe about how they just function as one.

Brittan and Kaden out for an afternoon drive.

Brittan and Kaden, best buds.

Or Kamdyn and Alyson, our 7-year-old, who fight like sisters but are the best of friends. There are many arguments their mom and I have had to mediate with the two of them and they have learned to compromise, becoming closer friends each time and learning to work with others.

Brittan, Alyson and Kamdyn after Crazy Hair day at VBS

The list could go on. We've watched all our kids grow up together up to this point. We've each seen each child as babies and grow to become friends.

It hurts....After I watched all this, I went over to talk to their mom about putting these pictures up...I wanted permission of course. When I told her about the sign, we both had to not look at each other as we were beginning to tear up.

It's not that we don't want to necessarily cry, but we want to cherish each moment with happiness over the next few months.

Just the thought of not looking out my front door and seeing the kids playing together, or going over to talk to them tugs at my heart. Even mine and Stacy's (that's their mom) newest endeavor of morning coffee as I've bought a simple French Press to use in Zambia and have an 18-flavor sample of coffee packets to see if we like any. Each morning I've made the coffee, gotten her a cup and we've shared our opinions.

After almost 13 years in this house, we have to start saying good-bye. Even now I choke up writing this. I love them.

So it begins, one of many. I won't be able to blog about all of these good-byes that are coming but many more are to come.

Official Support Letter

Just a quick note to share some very exciting news with you!

Thank you for prayerfully and financially supporting us as we served these past four summers in Zambia. Each year, God has been so faithful to us, and so have you. We have asked God to lead us in a direction that would allow us to serve and develop a deeper relationship with Him and He has answered our prayer.

God is growing our faith in ways we never imagined! As the needs of Every Orphan’s Hope grow and change in Zambia, we have seen God uniquely grow our faith and change our desires as well. We are faithfully responding to God’s invitation and calling to serve as orphan care missionaries. Our decision to obediently say “yes” came after much prayer. We are wholeheartedly committed to Christ and this journey of faith that He has for our family.

Serving as orphan care missionaries in Zambia will be full-time ministries for both of us. As orphan care missionaries our job will entail but not be limited to:

-          Outreach: Reaching orphans with the gospel of Christ primarily through the Camp Hope ministry and other types of community/local church-based activities.

-          Discipleship: Mentoring the orphans through the My Father’s House homes, Camp Hope participants and other orphans through community and church-based outreach programs.

-          Practical Help: Included would be maintenance of the My Father’s House homes, administrative support and organization.

In the past, you have graciously committed to our serving in Zambia with one-time donations. We are now coming to you with a different request. We ask that you join us as committed financial partners in this work the Lord has called us to accomplish through Every Orphan’s Hope.  

Will you join us as partners with what God is doing in Zambia? We thank you in advance for prayerfully considering how we can partner together for the sake of the Gospel of Christ and the orphans in Zambia.

We’ll follow up with you soon and look forward to sharing more details as well as answering any questions about our journey and our ministry!

In His Service,

Peter & Cheryl Greif

How can you join us in God’s work in Zambia?

VISIT:

Consider visiting us in Zambia! Quit laughing, you may have a desire to one day visit your sponsored child or just serve in the off season. We would love to have you come stay with us and serve alongside us.

PRAY:

For us, our extended family that we leave here in the states as this is a huge transition for each of us. Also that all the work we do here in our preparations and then serving in Zambia will always reflect God’s glory.

GIVE:

By your giving, you will be providing for us our daily living expenses. We anxiously wait to see God’s provision and see him saying, “Yes, I will provide for you!” Giving toward our Daily Bread through Every Orphan’s Hope will continue to confirm His desire for us to serve in Zambia as orphan care missionaries.

In order to give toward our Daily Bread:

Visit the Every Orphan’s Hope website http://everyorphan.org/

Click on the “Donate” tab at the top of the page.

Chose the selection “Peter & Cheryl Greif Daily Bread.”

Fill in your donation amount and frequency, along with your contact and payment information.

Although one-time donations are appreciated, by committing to a monthly pledge, you create a stability that enables us to focus more on serving and less on fundraising. Knowing that we will have a commitment throughout the year will also enable to set an official departure date.

Our initial commitment to Every Orphan’s Hope will be 3-year term which will be reviewed annually.

Follow us:

Facebook: Peter-Cheryl Greif

Blog: greifsinzambia.blogspot.com

Repeating Verse in my Head

Yes, you may think I'm talking about a Bible verse, but I actually keep hearing Tom Petty in my head. You heard me right. Tom Petty. And not just any lyrics, but one where he keeps repeating a sound, so I kinda hear a small whine in it. Which actually fits how we may be feeling, too. There's a bit of a silent whine as we too are in this process of waiting.

I don't know about you, but patience has never been my strong suit. As a matter of fact, when I was a teacher of elementary students, that was my constant prayer, to have patients for certain students. Now, if you are one of my former students reading this, then I'm not talking about you, I promise :)

Really, this is no shock. Western society has spoiled us. Yup, said that too. We're spoiled individuals. Every aspect of our society is immediate self-gratification. If I'm hungry and if I have money (and even if I don't but have a credit card) I can get pretty much whatever I want within minutes. It probably won't be healthy but I can satisfy my sense of hunger. And think of Starbucks. I can have coffee at any time of the day, hot or cold, latte or mocha; some of us have even replaced our old fashioned coffee makers for Starbucks because it just doesn't taste the same. Or even better, we have those fancy coffee makers where I can make one perfect cup of any flavor at any time of the day. Is it obvious I like coffee?

So back to Tom Petty and waiting. Once we started praying about serving in Zambia in the fall of 2012, things seemed to move fast. God was quick to confirm that this was what He wanted us to do and then Peter's trip in January made it even more obvious that we both had a place there to serve. Then the next step, after the holidays and telling family we began to purge our house and prepare it for selling. And except for some little odds and ends, we are ready. We could pack up our tent stakes in less than 3 months. As a whole, it seems that things have moved pretty quickly.

Now has come the last phase before we go and that's fundraising, waiting and Tom Petty. I keep hearing him whine it in my head....

Looking to others to help us now financially was not as easy as we expected it to be. We actually have to talk to people, send out letters, remind them that we are in need of their support once they have verbally agreed to commit. We had no idea how slow this process could be.

We are ready to go, have I already said that? We could actually leave in about a month as quick as the houses are selling in our area, but yet, we now sit and wait. Casting Crowns sings a song called "Somewhere in the Middle" and in the chorus it says, "Just how close can I get Lord to my surrender without losing all control. Fearless warriors in a picket fence; Reckless abandoned wrapped in common sense."

That's where I feel we are now. Ready to break down the picket fence and tired of being stuck in common sense. We have to remind ourselves constantly that to just sell it all and go will only sustain us for a year or maybe two, but as we are looking at a life change, that won't work. We need to accept
that we can't do this on our own means.

In a society where we are taught to be self-sufficient and have complete independence, this can be good but also bad. We are having to breakdown everything we've been taught to follow and remember that we can never be completely independent and self-sufficient. It's a fallacy, with one clean swoop it can be here today and gone tomorrow, but God and His character is constant. We are learning to throw off that self-sufficiency and independence and become completely dependent upon God's provision and the Spirit moving others to joining us in the work that He is doing in Zambia.

Abraham and Sarah tend to come to my mind often as I look at the promises God made to them. I think it was about 25 years in between the promise of Abraham's descendants to number the stars and the actual birth of Isaac. I hope we don't have to wait 25 years, but I then am reminded in Hebrews 11 that everything is by faith.

So even though I can hear Tom Petty in my head whining, "It's the waiting that's the hardest part," I also know that by faith we will wait on God's provision of our daily bread.

What about you? By faith, will you also join us in Zambia and help provide our daily bread? We would love to have you walk alongside us as we prepare for Zambia.

Please visit How Can I Help Part II in our blog to find out more.

So What Now?????

What a blessing today has been! As we officially announced joining the ministry of Every Orphan's Hope, it has generated a number of questions that need answering. What better way to do it then in this blog.

So the biggest question has been, when do you leave?
Since October, we have been in prayer and then preparing our hearts, home and family for this day. We have spent time visiting with family to prepare them for this announcement and we have done some major house cleaning so we could pack our home in the least amount of time when it was time to go.

There has never been a date on the table as to when we leave and that has been a bit difficult for family, friends and even ourselves to swallow. We are responding to God's leading and each moment we have proceeded in this journey has been upon His prompting, not ours. When we have tried to move ahead of Him, and set a date we realized quickly that was our will, not His, and we adjusted our will to His.

As with everything, there is a process and yesterday was the first of this process. We announced that we are committing to this ministry and letting God take complete control over every aspect of our lives...yes, every aspect, including our finances, which comes to the next big question, financial support.

So what does this look like financially?
After much prayer and visiting with the staff of Every Orphan's Hope, we have agreed to take part in every aspect of the ministry and that includes fundraising. Every Orphan's Hope is a 503(c) nonprofit organization, which means all of their finances come from individuals like you and me to join alongside them to support them. Individuals within the ministry do their part to bring awareness to others about the orphan crisis that is present in Zambia; we are joining with them to do the same. As Every Orphan's Hope has an operating budget, we will be part of that budget and have committed to raise at least $100,000 each year for the ministry. This will provide for our living expenses and ministry expenses while we serve in Zambia.

How much have you raised to date?
As of today, nothing. We have just started by announcing and letting you know there is a need. From there, you decide where God is leading you.

Will Peter still work in his current employment?
Only until we get ready to leave. We have continually prayed about this and each time we have felt God's leading us to follow Him completely. Once we move to Zambia, we will be full-time missionaries serving the ministry as needed. So currently he is working, but from the time we leave, our income will stop, which is why we will be solely dependent on individuals walking alongside Every Orphan's Hope.

What about moving, what are you going to do?
We have decided to sell our home–it's that simple. We know that many of you who read this may be groaning here and we have listened to everyone's advice, but we don't believe we can focus on what God is asking us to do if we have something that distracts us at home. So, we have taken our personal belongings to the point of what we would like to bring and are planning on getting a 20-ft. container to pack our items in. Now if you noticed, we said we are planning on this...if we feel God's leading to go and sell our items and just go with only our bags, then we will do that. Each step we take will not be done without prayer.

Is the $100,000 you raise part of your moving expenses?
Nope. We believe selling our house will cover moving expenses, outside of the taxes we need to set aside for it. With a container to move our items and airfare, we are looking at about an additional $15,000.

So what does that $100,000 cover?
We are going to Zambia with servant hearts. Although part of those funds will provide for our family (about $60,000) the rest will enable us to do the job we are being led to do. There are many things we can do that do not require funds, but the home repairs and administrative costs of Camp Hope will be part of our operating budget.

How long will you be there?
As of now, we are signing a 3-year commitment, but we are not saying that is all. Each step of this journey, God has led us and as we pray and listen closely to Him and receive confirmation, that will determine what happens after our commitment is over. If God wants us there longer, we will do that and if His will is for us to come home, we will do that, too.

What about your girls and their schooling?
When both of our girls were born, Peter began meeting other pilots that homeschooled. I was completely against the idea but he thought it was great. To tell you the truth, I was more about myself and getting my advanced degree in History to attain that dream of a university professor. In 2009, when I began to listen to God's urging to serve part time in Zambia, I knew that God was changing me. It was after that trip in 2010 that I felt His leading to homeschool, so we have been doing that for the last 2 years and will continue to do it. Although it is not necessary, it has been beneficial that I was an elementary and middle school teacher for 10 years prior to their birth.

What about your dog?
Right now, we are planning on taking him, but we actually have a waiting list of individuals that have offered to make him their own. If he doesn't go, we will give him to a family that is best for him.

Will Every Orphan's Hope provide a home for you?
That is part of our living expenses. About two weeks before we leave, Peter will go and find us a home to rent/lease for our time that we are living there. Rental property doesn't stay on the market long there, so we will know where we are moving right before we leave.

Where will you live in Zambia?
Currently, the plan is for us to live in Lusaka, which is the capital of Zambia, although we will travel to Chongwe (about 45 minutes outside of the capital) throughout the weekdays where the Village of Hope is located.

Will you have amenities like here?
Sort of...We will have Internet, running water (that's not to say it's constant, sometimes it does turn off), and electricity (although there are often rolling brown outs). There are grocery stores. We will sell our vehicles here and buy a vehicle there since they drive on the other side of the road.

So what can I do? How can I help?
First and foremost, pray. See how God is leading you to become involved with us. In missionary work, I have heard there are 3 parts: some pray for others; some are able to financially support; and others go. We have found, through the years, each is essential and neither is less important than the other. See how God is leading you to join alongside us and then commit, whether it be as a prayer partner, financially or both. Sorry, you can't go with us, that one's not on the table.
 
If you do decide to commit beyond prayer, then please visit our "How Can I Help?" page or click on the Donate button on any of our pages.

I'm sure there are a number of questions I have not answered, but these are the ones we have encountered thus far.

Please visit the Every Orphan's Hope website to learn more about what they do and their financial integrity.

Preparing for Zambia: 23 May

As a family, we have never expected a move like this. Peter and I are planners to the last detail; we even went to Disney World with an agenda and a map laid out so we could make the most of our 4-day visit with our girls who were 4 and 5 at the time. Some would call us a bit extreme in our planning. To buy a new appliance of any sort takes hours of research on the Internet and then more hours of looking at it in the stores. There are no quick decisions that are done between the two of us. We have some of the funniest stories about how eccentric we can be, but we freely admit and laugh at ourselves often. Now with this said, there are many times in our lives that one of us has been an anchor as the other one of us is running full speed ahead. We are thankful to God that he put us together in a way that we compliment each other like this or either nothing would get done or we would be doing everything without rhyme or reason. If you know us well, you can probably figure out who is the typical anchor.

With all  this said, as we have grown with God, our lives have changed completely. When the Bible says we will become a new creation, it wasn't kidding, although shedding off the old creation–that's a process in itself. As a family, we have decided to follow God's leading to move to Zambia and serve full time with Every Orphan's Hope. Some have seen this as an irresponsible decision, but if you have been walking along with us from the beginning of this journey that started over 4 years ago, you know that this has been far from reckless. God has led us to serve at a deeper level each year in Zambia, and as we entered this portion of serving full time, it wasn't without much prayer.

Many don't know, but we actually started joking around in 2011 after Peter's first trip to Zambia that "ONE DAY" we would serve full time when the previous full-time missionaries decided to "retire." We even talked about how we would love to have a house that would be big enough to house the interns when they came to serve, as we both enjoyed mentoring them over the past two years. "One day" just showed up a little quicker than we had anticipated and the joke became a serious prayer as to whether or not we were following our timing or God's timing. We have decided to follow God's timing...which, at times, has made no sense to our family, friends and even ourselves. We still return daily to the same prayer, "God, is this still the path you want us on?" On some days when we are shedding off our old selves and tying to yield to His will, it's hard to follow this path, we find our comfort in Him, our Lord, Jesus.

Preparing is difficult. We started by preparing our hearts, which was difficult as we told family and close friends. This preparation is an ongoing process as some days it seems fine and then other days, it is met with tears through strained conversations with our oldest daughter, siblings and parents. To say that we will miss each of them immensely would be an understatement; many times no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room, but it never leaves. So slowly, we've all started facing it head on; there's no other way. The more it was tiptoed around, the more it hurt; but no matter how painful, we have tried our best to keep everyone in the loop as to what was happening in our preparation stage. I don't think our hearts will fully be prepared before we leave, but we have had some wonderful mentors in our lives that have pointed out to us time and again that God loves our family and friends more than we do, and if we believe His ways are perfect, well, He's got them covered.

Looking at our girls, that's hard too. Will they like Zambia? They are young but they have a family they have grown up with right across the street since they were born. Often, there isn't a day that goes by where they don't play together. Over the years, they have created many games from "Mermaid Adventure" in our swimming pool to the one time they took a huge cardboard box from a couch we had bought and made their own clubhouse with it. That cardboard box got much mileage and the decorator in all of them came out as they made couches, a make-believe TV and a stove top. It was a sad day when we (the parents) decided to throw it out. Thinking of our girls not growing up with them as we prepare to move brings quite a tug at our hearts. Everyone moves, we get it, and it's not the end of the world. But it's hard to prepare your hearts and the hearts of two girls of 6 and 7 who know only of life in the United States, and as a whole their lives have been predictable. They have never been in need of anything, so what does it look like for them as we leave a man-made financial security and fully rely on God to provide and move the hearts of others to join along with us. Peter and I struggle at times with that too, but here is what we do know. He has always provided us with what we need and He has given to us abundantly, so He will provide in this too.

So in preparing our hearts, where are we...well, today is a good day. The girls have started to talk about Zambia with excitement and as they have had the opportunity to meet our Zambian director, Mama Margaret, well, they just love her. This morning, Alyson woke up and asked for us to make nshima, red sauce and chicken for lunch (Zambian meal). When I told her I really couldn't do that today and I needed to get the directions again before I made it, she told me to ask Mama Margaret to come over and help. She was floored when I told her she had already returned to Zambia. Then, she was a little upset when she realized she might not get that meal again until we moved there. Brittan, well, she has such a playful heart and will just go with the flow. As for Peter and I, most days are good but the shedding process can be painful at times. So we focus on the new creation God is turning us into and try to ignore the old selves that we know will continue to creep inside and give us doubt.

We pray each of you also find peace in the Lord as He grows you into the creation He desires you to be.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (ESV)