Call it a campaign, initiative, or project ... The name is not important, but the ACT is ... 147 Million Orphans is launching PRAY DOWN THE NUMBER AT 1:47 PM project Nov. 1st ... It is simply an invitation for us all to join together and allow God to to impact us through prayer for the orphans of the world !!!

Let me tell you how it happened ... I always know when God has a direction for me by the way he delivers the message ... IT SIMPLY POPS IN MY HEAD WITH ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS AND DETAILS ATTACHED ... I know it is ALL him when I have not been thinking of the idea, up late at night trying to figure it out, or even have it on a TO DO list ... IT JUST POPS IN MY HEAD (kinda like my first 147 Million Orphan's shirt for our adoption) ...

So the story goes like this ... Emily and I were on the phone talking about the wait for everyone in the adoption process ... We were talking about how the process is a MUST and when delays, road blocks, and mountains come our way that we can not lose hope in the FATHER'S PERFECT PLAN ... And then as soon as I hung up the phone God whispers - PRAY MY DAUGHTER PRAY ... GET ALL YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO PRAY W/ YOU AT 1:47 pm DAILY ... The orphan crisis is not a quick fix, but a long hard journey with the LORD trusting him and loving his people !!!

SO WE AT 147 ARE ASKING YOU TO COME ALONG SIDE OF US AND HELP US TO ASK OTHERS TO PRAY DOWN THE NUMBER AT 1:47 PM ... where ever you are just stop and lift up orphans to the FATHER - pray for friend's adoptions, pray for the orphan who is hungry, pray the for the orphan that is sick, pray for the families sitting on the fence about adoption, pray for orphan/adoption ministries, pray for those serving orphans, ... WHATEVER GOD LAYS ON YOUR HEART ABOUT THE FATHERLESS - pray pray pray !!!

put in on your calendar, make it an appt. on your phone, write it on your hand, put a sticky note on your mirror or do them all ... LET'S ALL STAND TOGETHER, WATCH OUR FAITH GROW AND THE NUMBER GO DOWN !!!

IF YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF THE NEXT ONE THEN PLEASE SEND YOUR PICTURES TO US AT TWOMOMS13KIDS@GMAIL.COM  ... thanks for helping us to love GOD'S CHILDREN!

I am a 41 year old wife and mother and DAUGHTER OF THE KING (who has a bad diet coke/diet mtn. dew habit)  ...  I met my husband when I was 14 years old and we are about the celebrate our 21st anniversary ... Our lives have had a lot of ups and downs ... I think almost daily now how thankful I am the LORD didn't give up on us and our marriage early on ... Before children we were self-absorb and selfish MOST OF EVERYDAY and unfortunately that is something that still creeps in ... We had been married almost 10 years before we had Jeremiah ... I will never forget going to my 10 year class reunion w/ a beautiful 10 week old baby boy and then by my 20th class reunion I had 6 kids ... I MEAN HOW HILARIOUS IS THAT !!! So thankful God got a hold of my heart and my plan to turn our eyes towards HIS PLAN for our life ... The thought of missing the ROLLER COASTER I AM ON RIGHT NOW WOULD BE HAVE BEEN SO SAD ... I LOVE MY LIFE !!!

I am one of those people that just needs about 60 seconds to really get mad, whine, or vent about something then I am over it, but boy during that 60 seconds I am shelling it out big time!!!  ... I am a GLASS HALF FULL kind of GIRL ... There is just no sense in dwelling on things I can't control or people who choose to have their own opinion of me and my family ... The LORD has way to much for me to do, be blessed with, and to see in a day to worry on the things HE HAS TOLD ME ARE NOT MY CONCERN ...

There are days when I experience every emotion that is out there - JOY, happiness, anger, SADNESS, frustration, envy, CONTENTMENT, satisfaction, and so much more ...It just makes me so aware of how easy it is when I am in the midst of certain emotions to take my eyes off the GOAL OF THE DAY and then I just reel myself back in ...  I am sometimes hard to keep up with (hee hee) - my mind is going a mile a minute ... If only I had about 5 administrative assistants to just carry out all the projects and thoughts in my head ... I can be a lot to handle in a situation because of my passion for orphans, my family, my friends, and the LORD ... I am not a complicated person, but simply a person who loves who I love deeply - SO MY ADVICE is don't mess w/ that !!! hee hee   When I am studying my bible or listening to someone preach I like for the simple truth of the word ... God didn't make it complicated and to make it anything other than what it is I just don't cater to  ... I know so many lost people and I want my words and actions to be clear and simple - LOVE EACH OTHER, SERVE EACH OTHER, AND SHARE GOD'S GLORY ...

I am energetic and love using what God has given me to share HIS STORY in our life ... There is nothing special about our STORY except it is full of just being OBEDIENT to his call (even when it doesn't make sense) ... If I have said it once then I have said it 100 times -- this is not the life I had pictured ... And it is in the darkest times over the last 7 years that I have seen my HEAVENLY FATHER at HIS finest ... I have allowed him to pick me up, give me strength, be the great healer, and show me what it is to really LOVE someone no matter what they give back to you ... IT IS THE MOST PURIFYING thing ever ... My soul feels so focused these days and even though the selfish me comes out here and there, I know how to REEL her back in and dive back into to what the LORD has for me ...

I am a work in progress and know the LORD has so much more for me and that makes me GIDDY ... I love that he can us a MESS like me AND MAKE IT INTO A MESSAGE !!!

I am thankful for all the stories you have shared with me that has shaped and encouraged my days ...

Hoping the next 10 years are as eventful and full of the LORD's JOY as the last 10 years have been !!!

Me, the girls, and Anna headed up to Birmingham to be with Katie yesterday at The Church at Brookhills ... Suzanne and Michelle came also w/ a few in their clans ... I was in need of some CUP FILLING (seems to be the case when you are in the middle of walking up a hill w/ the LORD) ... I was excited to see David and Heather Platt ... David is the pastor at Brookhills and was going to be interviewing Katie for the morning services ... 


I wish you could close your eyes while you read, so that I could convey to you what I experienced at the service ... First, I want to start by saying how I felt the spirit moving just as I walked in the sanctuary ... I looked around a large building that was void of FLUFF - empty stage, nothing ordaining or hanging from the walls, and this simplicity was through out the entire church (children's area, halls, foyer, etc) ... It was as if they moved away all the road blocks, so you could get to heart of the matter and that is JESUS ... HE IS THE REASON FOR IT ALL ... 

When the music began the church entered worship ... We began the connection of our hearts to HIS and the singleness I felt in my worship to him in a room full of people was refreshing ... 


When David began to talk about Katie and recap his message from last week, I sat there - I am not gonna say HOW CHALLENGED I WAS, HOW MUCH I WAS SHOCKED TO HEAR THE STATISTICS, OR HOW BOLD HE WAS TO BRING SUCH HARD HARD TRUTHS ... I am simply going to say THANK YOU for preaching the word and saying what the bible says !!! David talked about how we are the wealthiest right now that our world has ever been, yet we are in horrible debt and economy is not thriving (what is wrong w/ this picture) ... He talk about the poverty - NO FOOD, NO CLOTHES, NO EDUCATION, AND NO HOMES FOR billions of people all over this world ...  He said how do we have such excess and pride in the MATERIALS that we are missing what God has called the church to do by NOT sharing our abundance ... SACRIFICE TILL IT HURTS !!! (that is a hard concept to imagine, but oh how I would like to try) ... That is the phrase that is sticking with me ... I am not gonna list the things I do, give, or share because that would just be to make me feel better about my family and that is NOT the point here and it is prideful and silly  ... I WANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS TO WRITE A BLANK CHECK to the Lord ... He has given it all to us, so why is it hard to OPEN UP THE SILOS OF RICHES WE HAVE and give more back ... David talked about how materialism can cause us to miss God's purpose ... I don't want to miss his purpose he has for me tomorrow, next year, or 10 years from now ... 

¹⁷ Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. ¹⁸ Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good ^[m]works, to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹ storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.  1 Tim 6:17-19 


He said we can't take it w/ us ... Which is something we hear all the time, but to think about each purchase and what is its purpose and is it really something that is needed ... I pray that my heart can take these words and share them with the rest of my family and we can make some MORE changes ... We can never OUT GIVE GOD, but it would be so fun to take some CHAINS that are binding us even though we at times can't see them and SHRUG THEM OFF so that we could be more effective for the Kingdom and grow closer to our FATHER ... 


At this point David brings Katie up on the platform and begins to interview her ... Now Katie does not say anything I don't know or haven't heard a few times since she has been here (as we have gone w/ her on many events), but each time I hear her share a story and I picture all that I know and have seen while in Uganda, I am able to stick my SWORD a little deeper in ... I let the TRUTH of the LORD grow more roots ... My favorite story is about McCararay (sp) ... The drunk man w/ HIV that is shunned from his village and whose house was set on fire and his leg burn downed to the bone, because they just wanted him to go away ... He came to live at Katie's back yard brick square guest quarters as she tended to his leg daily ... He began to share is story w/ her and she began to share GOD'S story with him ... Suzanne and I got to meet McCararay in June ... His leg was healing, but what I remember most about him was his toothy grin ... There were JOY in his hard hard face ... You have no doubt when you look at him that he has had a really rough life filled w/ regret, rejection, and hopelessness ... But now he has a HOPE that can not be taken away no matter what his circumstances ... He has heard the story of Jesus from a white little American woman - who opened her home and heart to him ... Katie does AMAZING things, but you can tell they are normal to her now because there is NO clutter in her life in Uganda ... She sees a need and stops and meets it - she may stop teaching her girls in homeschool, take a pause from cooking dinner, or make a u-turn on her way to town BECAUSE THE NEED GOD PUTS IN FRONT OF HER TRUMPS THE OTHER MATTERS AT HAND ... I am thankful that Katie is my friend and that God has placed her in my life ... I am proud she told the story of dirty, homeless, sick McCararay with his burnt leg to so many on this trip ... HE WAS AS NEEDING AS ANY OF GOD'S CHILDREN ... 


David Platt and Katie Davis are everyday people telling the story of an amazing SAVIOR in its most simple format ... STOP AND LOVE THE ONE IN FRONT OF YOU ... IF YOU CAN MEET THEIR NEED OUT OF YOUR ABUNDANCE THEN DO SO ... AND ALWAYS ALWAYS TELL THEM OF THE STORY OF CHRIST ... 


This humbling morning was followed by a lunch w/ friends of the Platt's, the Stewart family (thanks Angelia for organizing this for us), and the Davis family ... It was so fun for the all the women to hunker down at ONE table and just gab, refresh each other and laugh ... We are all in prayer for the Platt family as they await news from China about bringing home their sweet daughter HOME ... 


IT WAS A BLESSED DAY ... full of the truth of the LORD ... can you ask for anything more !!! 

It is never about where you go SERVE ... just go !!!

It is never about how much you GIVE ... just give !!!

It is never about how you LOVE ... just love !!!

It is never about the kind of TALENT you have ... just use your talent !!!

It is never about ONE people group ... it is about all God's children !!!

My birthday was yesterday and I spent it at the hospital w/ Emily getting surgery on both eyes for a crazy thing that grew up in her eye lids ( I told ya crazy ... and they were not styes like ped thought) ... So it wasn't the best way to spend a birthday, but I was feeling pretty blessed and content in my life at 41 !!!  And then I got home and was looking at my calendar for the next day (today) and it said that I had another appointment back at Vandy again on Thursday ... I THINK THE WIND JUST WENT OUT OF MY SAIL ...  I was tired and just the thought of going BACK was to much to think about !!!  You see I was never a sick child growing up nor did I have a special disability that required CONSTANT visits to a doctor ... I don't even remember seeing a PED growing up (I remember my parents always telling me when I felt bad or hurt IT WAS GROWING PAINS ... hee hee)  and I definitely have NO idea what our doctors name were ... Can't remember anyone in my family spending time at the doctor when I was growing up either and yet I have 6 different specialist on my speed dial, have several nurses we see regularly as fb friends (who I ADORE !!!), I send my Vandy doctors 147 Christmas gear, and the VALET GUYS are my favorite people - they take good care of the MAMA MACHINE ... All this just confirms that GOD CAN DO AMAZING THINGS W/ ORDINARY MESSY PEOPLE !!! I was conditioned or prepared for NONE of this, BUT I AM WILLING AND ABLE to do it ALL !!!

This morning I received a picture from a sweet friend serving in Uganda ... I am so thankful for the people that I have met there and for the lives they have CHOSEN !!! They encourage me simply by being there ... They give and give and I know most of their stories and THEY TOO WERE NOT CONDITIONED OR PREPARED for the mission GOD HAS THEM ON, BUT ARE WILLING AND ABLE to do it ...

I am not sure if this picture will mean anything to you, but it put the WIND BACK IN MY SAIL today !!!