The Joy Sounds choir singing at the Christian Berets event in Modesto

Presenting the Gospel

Just had to share this. I flew out to Modesto, Ca this past week with Donna to do a fundraising dinner for Christian Berets which is a camp that serves special needs people of all ages. It’s a special place with a great reputation, and I was honored to be there as their keynote.

The evening started with the “Joy Sounds Choir” which was made up of about 40 members, all special needs adults. They had all kinds of challenges, and a large percentage of them were cognitively challenged. They did a couple of songs and did a terrific job! After they finished, it was time for the banquet, so they sat them all down at tables on the floor closest to the platform.

After dinner, I got up to speak, and I had given the Gospel as part of my presentation and started to sing my song “God Loved the World.” We were using a video, so the lights were dimmed for it and as I was singing, I noticed that two of the women from the choir had come up on stage and were sort of wandering around on the platform. I didn’t think too much of it as I’ve done a lot of special needs events and this is not uncommon (I had a man come up on stage with me at one event and hug me and pet my hair in the middle of a song, so this was nothing), and I just assumed their helpers would come and get them.

Well, they didn’t! And here I was singing, so I couldn’t stop and ask them what they were looking for or help – they were obviously looking for something – so I thought I’d just finish the song and then if someone else didn’t help, I could talk to them. I was also praying the whole time, because I’d just presented the Gospel and didn’t want this to be a distraction!

So just as I was getting to the end of the song, the women came up right behind me, found a couple of chairs that were there which had been set up for the choir earlier, shrugged at each other, and then turned and knelt at the chairs to pray. That’s when I realized what they were looking for – they’d been looking for an altar to pray! I was blown away. I’m not sure if they were giving their lives to the Lord for the first time or just felt the need to respond to the Gospel that way, but whatever it was, it was beautiful. Such a picture of the Lord and His grace. Here I was praying that they wouldn’t distract from the Gospel, and instead, they were a picture of it to the whole event. Praise God!

As soon as I got to the end of the song, they got up and left, and I didn’t have any time to talk to them. I wish I knew what they were thinking, but they touched my heart! Hope that translates in the written word, but what a cool night, and a wonderful picture of the very ministry this organization does!

With Eagle Church in Indiana

Speaking at the Ohio retreat for the Evangelical Friends

The view out my window at the retreat in North Carolina – just beautiful in the morning!

Another catch up post here, but it’s been a really busy month! I’ve taught Esther for the last three weekends at women’s retreats in Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina, had a new article published for Sensory Awareness Month, and we’ve gotten US approval for our adoption and have moved on to the next step. Still don’t have a working kitchen (somehow I don’t think they’re going to make their projected completion date of Aug. 15…) but hey, someday, right? I don’t think our life would be our life without some serious chaos (or as my son pronounces it from reading too many books and not hearing it in person, cha-cos. Rhymes with tacos. Too cute to fix yet.)

The first weekend of October I was with the women from Eagle Church at a camp just outside Indianapolis. Beautiful weekend, and frankly, lovely, lovely women. I had so much fun with them! Mary Schumm, the coordinator, also works for Remember Nhu, a phenomenal organization that rescues kids in danger of trafficking. We went to Thailand with them a few years ago and I wrote this song for them when I can home on Micah 6:8. Mary rocks, and so did the rest of her team! Such a fun weekend.

The next two weekends I was with the women from the Evangelical Friends denomination. They do regional retreats, and I did the first weekend in Ohio and the second weekend in North Carolina for their southern churches. Both weekends also on Esther which I love, so that was fun! One great perk of two weekends with one organization was that I got to work with the same planning team and tech people at both, and it was so fun to get to know them and not have to say goodbye after the first weekend!

One interesting connection was that there was an Indian missionary couple there whose work is to rescue the children of the devadasi who are temple prostitutes. The children are usually from the lowest caste, and will almost certainly also end up as temple prostitutes if someone doesn’t intervene and offer them education and a different future which is what this couple is doing. We were talking about their work, and I said something about Nhu from Remember Nhu, and they said, “Wait, are you talking about Nhu? And Carl and Laurie? From Remember Nhu? They sponsor us!” I had no idea there was a connection! It was really wonderful to hear all that the Lord is doing through them and to protect them, and also to see how well the girls are doing at their homes! Please check out their ministry here, and make sure to watch the video at the bottom of the home page – it’s awesome. They need help right now to raise money to keep the home they are in; could you help them?

In the middle of all these weekends, The Christian Post published my article about Sensory Processing Disorder for Sensory Awareness Month. You can check that out here!

And, we were told (after our third fingerprinting!) that we were approved by the US government to proceed with our adoption! We thought that meant that we could send our dossier to China immediately, but there always seem to be steps we’re unaware of. In this case, I got all the documents for the dossier together and verified at the state level, but now they need to be authenticated at the national level and then sent to the Chinese consulate to be authenticated there before they can actually go to the Chinese government, a process that will take several weeks. This is discouraging for us, because it means we almost certainly won’t be able to get through all the other steps to go at Christmas time, but we know God holds the timing, so we’re just going to keep on keeping on! At least things are still moving. Keep on praying for our little guy! We want him here!