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Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20, NLT)

This is the scripture that repeatedly comes to mind when I think about the conference. He accomplished MORE than we even thought to ask or think!

I can't wait to hear stories back from conference attendees. Stories about how the Lord led them after they attended the conference. Stories about how they answered His call on their lives...how they were obedient to do their part.

Some stories we will never fully know until we reach Heaven.

But I do know of one story already. Mine and Jason's story.

We helped put on this conference to help raise awareness of the orphan crisis...and to educate and equip believers about what they can do to care for orphans here and around the world.

It never even occurred to me how totally impacted Jas and I would be also!

The Lord has been laying something on my heart for a while now. Years, actually. But even more so the past few months.

As Jas and I discussed the conference on Saturday afternoon, I literally had to bite. my. tongue. to keep from telling him what I was thinking. I was thinking I could just tell him one time, and then be quiet and just pray, but I felt strongly impressed to not even mention it. JUST pray. If the Lord was really talking to me about this...He would most certainly let Jason know also. So I would just wait....and pray.

The Lord rewarded my obedience on the tongue-biting thing...and He didn't even make me wait long!

24 short hours later, Jas came to me. To tell me what He felt the Lord was wanting us to do now.

Guess what???

Yep, He told Jas and I - separately - the exact. same. thing.

OHHH, I love it when He does that!

It's not time to share the details yet. But I just had to memorialize this. When we step out of our comfort zone, by definition, it is not comfortable or easy. If, or actually when, obstacles and challenges come, it will be priceless to remember and know that we know that we know that the Lord called us and led us down this new path.

Love The Least Conference

And - just like that - it is now over.

We couldn't be more pleased with how everything went.

O.k., there is one thing I'd change. I was a total Picture Slacker and only have this picture to post from the past two days:




But let me back up...
Amy and I picked up Suzanne and Mike at the airport...and then had them all to ourselves for the 1.5 hour ride home. Gwen and Scott drove themselves in from Tennessee. We all (16 of us) spent over 3 hours together last night at Vicki and Billy's house...eating and fellowshipping. At the conference today, Suzanne said that during the time together last night, all of our hearts "melded".

Our LTL Team could not agree more.

In fact, Kami said that after spending the evening with these two couples - hearing their hearts, picking their brains - it would have been worth getting them here, even if we hadn't had the Conference on Saturday!

But we did have the conference....and they came!


Early in the week, we had about 60 registered. When I checked our registration e-mail account last night right before going to bed, we had almost 90.

Reliable sources report that there were 150 people there today. (I didn't do the counting myself...but, boy, I trust Ms. Charlotte!)



And they packed out all the breakout sessions. And they heard Jesus magnified...and glorified. And they heard how to serve Jesus by caring for the least of these (Matt. 25:40)...just as He commanded us. (James 1:27)



Gwen's key idea for today was "Make God bigger...make 'me' smaller." Will we choose "Comfort zone and normal"? Or will we choose obedience...even if it is "Radical...and crazy"?

I had my eyes - that I thought were pretty experienced in the orphan arena - opened to new things. I'm still processing...


Where do we go from here? What do we do with what we've heard? With what we've learned? With what we've seen?

What will we all do with what we now know?

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act." Prov. 24:12

Prayers Please!

It's here.

Amy and I are heading to the airport in a little bit to pick up Suzanne and Mike Mayernick.

Gwen and Scott Oatsvall are driving in from Tennessee and should be here this afternoon.

Please pray for the conference. And please pray for us who are working it.

Things have been going on. Strange things. I almost feel like I'm in one of Frank Peretti's novels about spiritual warfare. Multiple illnesses, necessitating change in plans. Even deaths. Over the past 10 days there have been three deaths that have affected our organizers.

It definitely makes us think we're on the right track.

If Satan wasn't worried about us and what we're planning...now that would truly be cause for concern. If he wasn't trying to attack, then that would mean we're doing something wrong.

But we are children of the Most High God...the Overcomer.

So we don't fear Satan. The only One we fear is "the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

And the cool thing is, this One - the only one we fear - He's on our side! Or rather, we're on His side!


Please join us in prayer.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Katie

I always have about 10 posts percolating in my head...I just don't have the time to actually post them.

We have been extremely busy lately. Schooling, decluttering (again), fieldtripping...but mainly getting ready for the Love The Least Conference.

It's this Saturday. Finally. We. are. so. excited!

385 people "like" us on Facebook.

Two different newspapers have written articles about it.

We have over 60 people registered to attend right now. Mostly from Georgia...but some from Florida...and some from North Carolina also.

The couples that we're bringing in to speak at the conference founded the 147 Million Orphans ministry.

Proceeds from the "147 gear" they sell go to fund Katie's work in Uganda (the story behind their partnership is found here). I've had a link to Katie's work over on the right side of my blog for months (Amazima)...but I wanted to highlight it here. The God-things that she is accomplishing deserve to be highlighted.

Here is video about Katie, rough, radical...and real:

(the blonde woman in the video is Suzanne...who'll be here speaking this weekend.)



His word does not return void...it accomplishes what He wants it to. (Isaiah 55:11)...and I can't wait to see what He wants to accomplish through this conference.

Our Ansley

We had a very fun visitor Monday - "our" Ansley was home from college for a short fall break and she got to come and eat lunch and play with us!

Now "our" Ansley has the distinction of being the only babysitter my children have ever had.

Ansley did a great job breaking this new mom in 6 years ago. I distinctly remember writing her notes the first time she watched Elisabeth, something along the lines of: "Heat her milk for exactly 13 seconds, at 7:04 p.m. give her a bath..."

Ansley was on our "welcoming committe" when we arrived home with Elisabeth

She would take lots of cute pictures during her time with my children and look at them with me when we got back home...or even send them to us on Jas' phone while we were on our date! And then when we got home she and I would sit together and she would give me a blow-by-blow of their evening...things this mom definitely needed then. (I've chilled considerably since those early days of parenthood!)

July 2007

Now that Ansley is in college, we don't get to see her as often, but my kiddos practically mow her down in the hallway at church when she is home visiting. AND, we love it when she gets to come play and visit with us when she's home.

July 2008

This precious girl has such a heart for God. She's been on mission trips to Brazil and most recently to post-earthquake Haiti. Ansley plans to be a Speech Therapist (which she will be so good at!). She wants to glorify the Lord with her work and and right now is looking to travel on a medical missions team after she's done with school.

May 2010

And this precious girl has such a heart for orphans. She took it upon herself to "suggest" our Love The Least Conference facebook page to all her friends...and earned us a bunch more "likes" in the process! AND she is getting together a bus of people from her college to come to the conference!
















We love you, Ansley! We're so blessed to have you in our lives...and we can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use you in the future! Keep on living for Him!

Orphan Sunday

This is the video that our ministry is planning to show at church during our annual Orphan Sunday service:

(if you click on the video after it starts, it will open up another window so that you can see the whole screen)





Wow.

Enough said.

Viral Marketing

It is late and I'm tired...but jazzed all at the same time. How is that possible?

Ever since the children went down tonight I've been working on Love The Least Conference stuff.

It's time for us to begin our Viral Marketing campaign in earnest!

I've added a function on the top right of my blog over there. See it? If you have a blog, please "grab our button" and add it to your blog to help us get the word out. Even if you don't live close enough to attend the conference, some of your friends and blog-readers may!

Now that our Love The Least Facebook page is ready to go it was time to start spreading the news via FB. It has been so fun to watch this this evening! Everytime I go to look at the page, someone new "likes" us! If you're on FB, just search for "Love The Least Conference" and then click the "Like" button...it's that simple!

I'm going to try to go to bed now...I can't wait to see who else "likes" us when I get up in the morning!

At It Again

The Lord is at it again.



He is working in the details of the Love The Least Conference in a very real - and reassuring - way.



He's got The Plan. He's providing The Money. He'll provide The People.



One of our most recent praises is an anonymous donation of $237. (I had the privilege of receiving the donation...and I'm NOT spilling the beans!)



This donation - combined with our previous donation from Abby - should just about take care of the transportation expenses to get our speakers here. Go God!



We're having almost weekly meetings now. A reporter came to our meeting last night and is going to write an article about the conference for the newspaper. Our information packets and promotional DVDs are about to go out to area churches. We've set up a Facebook page for the conference (don't be surprised if you get a request to "Like" it soon!).



And again and again, I can feel in my spirit God saying, "I've got this."



And, OH, am I ever glad I'm along for this ride.

One Radical Young Woman

We've recently had another visit with our sweet friend Abby that I first mentioned here a few months ago.

Having just finished her summer internship program at Show Hope in TN, she was back in town and she sent me a message on Facebook and asked if she could drop by...she had something for us.

I told her she needed to do more than stop by...we wanted her and her precious mother, Carol, to come and visit and play with us. I totally assumed that whatever Abby had was a little gift for the children.

We had a lovely visit and playtime, and talked about what they had planned to celebrate Abby's 20th birthday the next day. And when they were about to leave Abby said she had something for me.

Abby asked me if I'd read Radical. (The fabulous book that I mentioned here) I was almost done with it at this point. And I'm so glad that I was in the process of reading it because it helped me not be totally surprised by what this Crazy-in-Love-with-Jesus 19-year old did and said next.

Abby had read Radical over the summer. Twice.

It had a BIG impact on her.

After she got home from TN, she gathered some "stuff" and had herself a garage sale with the intent of donating all the proceeds to our upcoming Love The Least Conference .

Proceeds? $665

That precious girl handed me an envelope with six hundred and sixty-five dollars in it.

She didn't know that we had been praying and wondering how we were going to pay for the 4 plane tickets to get our speakers here.

Abby just knew what Jesus was calling her to do.

Some would say her actions were radical.

I agree.

Radically sacrificial.

Radically obedient.

Abby is radically devoted to a savior who beckons us to die daily to ourselves...take up our crosses and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)

I desire to be that sort of radical.

When we read the Word and know the Jesus of the Bible, this sort of "radical" response, well...it just. makes. sense.


Abby, I "see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

"There Are No Orphans of God"

We are continuing to plan for our upcoming Orphan Awareness conference that I mentioned here. Our website advertising the event is up and running here.


We're calling this event Love The Least ...based on Jesus' words in Matthew 25:40: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."


And we are continuing to pray for the Lord's direction with every decision we make...every step we take. This was His idea...we are simply striving to be obedient.

And we are growing more and more excited about what He is going to accomplish through this event.

This is the video that I recently added to the Love the Least Conference website.

See anyone you recognize???




Our Orphan Awareness ministry at First Baptist Church (Mission 1.27, so named after James 1:27) created this video last year for our annual Orphan Awareness service at church. Every single one of the photos in the video was taken by a member of either First Baptist Church or Bridge Community Church (in Africa, Russia and China).

As our the website for the conference states, it will not just be about adoption. It's about Orphan Care. Not everyone is called to adopt...but all believers are called to care. And there are lots of ways to care...




Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles...(James 1:27)

...and they will come

That cheesy, oft-quoted line from Field of Dreams keeps popping into my head:

"Build it...and they will come."




But it has changed a little...in my head, what I keep hearing is actually:

"Host it...and they will come."



We have many, many adoptive families here in our area...and we are planning to come together to speak up for "the least of these".

2 other adoptive moms and I have had a conference call with these women.

And they are coming here.

We are going to host an Orphan Awareness event here.

This is going to be a big event...here in our little town.



And we can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do.

More details to follow...



"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles..." (James 1:27)