Everlyn
Goodness. We have been so busy lately I think we've legitimately forgotten what day it is multiple times this week! But I started out with "goodness" for a reason. Because most everything taking up our time, apart from minor frustrations at work, is all really good stuff. We're really enjoying this new semester of LifeGroup while we read through the books Captivating and Wild at Heart. It's offered such great conversation and the ability to connect with others who can identify with the this's and that's of life.
Jeff is soldiering on through the end of this quarter with his school work. He's doing well in my opinion but sometimes he's hard on himself when he realizes he needed/should have more time devoted to homework and stuff. In any case, I'm proud of him and we're thankful there's only a couple more weeks left until his break. If everything works out, I'll be able to start school in the Spring as well. We've planned it to where we can take at least one class together. The trick I learned when going to school is to not burden myself with a timeline. If in my head I believe I can do it and want to do it badly enough, then I will. Doesn't matter how long it takes. I actually had to retake two classes when pursuing my Associate degree. I may have earned that "F" in calculus but you better believe I finished it the second time with a high "B". I don't care how long it takes me (or Jeff), they key is to just keep going with it and don't view yourself as a failure. It's easy to let that lie creep in, but it's not true.
Anyway, though life has been pretty busy for us, we're getting really excited about some opportunities coming up throughout the rest of the year. We've recently been taking steps to get more involved in the outreach programs at FSCC. It's funny how your individual dreams often become each others dreams in a marriage. Our dream for a few years, which has evolved more clearly over time, has been to sponsor a child in a foreign country and eventually have the chance to visit him/her on a future mission trip. Our main hang up on pursuing it, however; was in the child sponsorship area of things. We've been to many events where an organization offers child sponsoring opportunities, but there's no follow up, no information. Some don't even tell you where the child lives! (Yeah, let me just write you a check...) I hate sounding reluctant toward any of these past offers, but Jeff and I want to know how we're impacting another life. We also want to be known! We want open avenues for relationship building, ways to express that we care and that we chose to invest in another person past the point of what money can say...
Ergo, the Zambia Project. The Zambia Project is where our church, Fountain Springs Community Church, and World Vision have partnered in the support of children and their communities to show them who Jesus is. I believe the project started a couple (maybe three?) years ago and the testimonies from the locations they've targeted to help are really awesome. The Zambia Project is about getting active in other parts of the world in ways such as: teaching people how to farm, not just giving them a bag of seed and wishing them the best. It's about providing things like water filtration and other resource along with the knowledge on how to use them so that people can provide for their families. It's about showing friendship to kids while you're in their presence, an opportunity to share what love really is or may look like. As we open our hearts up to God and learn about the ways He could use us, our money, our time (even when that seems to be in short some days), we're conforming to what we believe He'd have us pursue.
We're just in the beginning stages of all this. I spent a couple days flipping through pictures of kids who still need a sponsor. At this point, I think our church sponsors about 300+ kids through the Zambia Project. Which is awesome! But how do you choose? It's as if somehow all the children I passed up will know I didn't pick them. But that's silly and impossible. So I just narrowed my search, came across a 5 year old girl who melted my heart and showed her picture to Jeff while asking him if he'd agree that she's the one. (I think I was a little more emotionally invested at this point than he was so his answer was an easy [but not careless] "yes".) Her name is Everlyn and I'm glad we are her sponsors! Before inquiring about the missions trips, thinking they probably wouldn't take us on the next one (whenever it would be), we'd already decided to forgo an anniversary trip this summer and save up for any opportunity we might have to join future groups going overseas. Our names are on the list and meetings will begin in the next couple months. ("That was fast", was my first thought.) The next planned trip to Zambia will be in October of this year. ("That's really soon!", was my second thought.) We may have some fund raising to do in our near future!
Here's the video our church made. You'll see our pastor (if you recognize him without the beard) and a few other church members from trips they've made in the past, along with members from World Vision of course.
The Zambia Project
Jeff is soldiering on through the end of this quarter with his school work. He's doing well in my opinion but sometimes he's hard on himself when he realizes he needed/should have more time devoted to homework and stuff. In any case, I'm proud of him and we're thankful there's only a couple more weeks left until his break. If everything works out, I'll be able to start school in the Spring as well. We've planned it to where we can take at least one class together. The trick I learned when going to school is to not burden myself with a timeline. If in my head I believe I can do it and want to do it badly enough, then I will. Doesn't matter how long it takes. I actually had to retake two classes when pursuing my Associate degree. I may have earned that "F" in calculus but you better believe I finished it the second time with a high "B". I don't care how long it takes me (or Jeff), they key is to just keep going with it and don't view yourself as a failure. It's easy to let that lie creep in, but it's not true.
Anyway, though life has been pretty busy for us, we're getting really excited about some opportunities coming up throughout the rest of the year. We've recently been taking steps to get more involved in the outreach programs at FSCC. It's funny how your individual dreams often become each others dreams in a marriage. Our dream for a few years, which has evolved more clearly over time, has been to sponsor a child in a foreign country and eventually have the chance to visit him/her on a future mission trip. Our main hang up on pursuing it, however; was in the child sponsorship area of things. We've been to many events where an organization offers child sponsoring opportunities, but there's no follow up, no information. Some don't even tell you where the child lives! (Yeah, let me just write you a check...) I hate sounding reluctant toward any of these past offers, but Jeff and I want to know how we're impacting another life. We also want to be known! We want open avenues for relationship building, ways to express that we care and that we chose to invest in another person past the point of what money can say...
Ergo, the Zambia Project. The Zambia Project is where our church, Fountain Springs Community Church, and World Vision have partnered in the support of children and their communities to show them who Jesus is. I believe the project started a couple (maybe three?) years ago and the testimonies from the locations they've targeted to help are really awesome. The Zambia Project is about getting active in other parts of the world in ways such as: teaching people how to farm, not just giving them a bag of seed and wishing them the best. It's about providing things like water filtration and other resource along with the knowledge on how to use them so that people can provide for their families. It's about showing friendship to kids while you're in their presence, an opportunity to share what love really is or may look like. As we open our hearts up to God and learn about the ways He could use us, our money, our time (even when that seems to be in short some days), we're conforming to what we believe He'd have us pursue.
We're just in the beginning stages of all this. I spent a couple days flipping through pictures of kids who still need a sponsor. At this point, I think our church sponsors about 300+ kids through the Zambia Project. Which is awesome! But how do you choose? It's as if somehow all the children I passed up will know I didn't pick them. But that's silly and impossible. So I just narrowed my search, came across a 5 year old girl who melted my heart and showed her picture to Jeff while asking him if he'd agree that she's the one. (I think I was a little more emotionally invested at this point than he was so his answer was an easy [but not careless] "yes".) Her name is Everlyn and I'm glad we are her sponsors! Before inquiring about the missions trips, thinking they probably wouldn't take us on the next one (whenever it would be), we'd already decided to forgo an anniversary trip this summer and save up for any opportunity we might have to join future groups going overseas. Our names are on the list and meetings will begin in the next couple months. ("That was fast", was my first thought.) The next planned trip to Zambia will be in October of this year. ("That's really soon!", was my second thought.) We may have some fund raising to do in our near future!
Here's the video our church made. You'll see our pastor (if you recognize him without the beard) and a few other church members from trips they've made in the past, along with members from World Vision of course.
The Zambia Project
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