Zambia part 2

This is the continuing story of our Zambian adventure.  You may need to refresh your memory of the first part of our story with my previous post.  And yes, "coming soon" is 3 months later. =O

This past spring after Brad contacted Poetice, they connected with him through phone calls, emails and a Starbucks meeting.  They asked us to just pray. Talk it over, and then pray some more.  And boy did we ever.  We asked many of you to pray with us about this decision.  Do we move forward? Is God calling us to this? And if yes, why? And if why then HOW?  So. many. questions.  But as we talked and prayed two interesting things happened. 

First, I asked God to just be VERY clear. I didn't exactly ask for a neon sign or a text message but that would have been ok.  One of the first days I prayed this, I took some kids to a park near us.  Being the talker that I tend to be I started up a conversation with the lady who was pushing her grandson in the swing next to Alenia.  Throughout the course of our conversation we ended up talking about adoption. Her daughter had just adopted 2 boys from Zimbabwe. "You know, that's southern Africa. Have you heard of it?" Well, yes, in fact I have visited Zambia before and my husband and I are praying if we should return.  She thought for a moment and then said "Yes! You should.  You and your family should just go."  Now, I'm not saying God dresses in housecoats and crocheted hats but that dear Grandmas' bold statement certainly gave my heart a start. 

The other interesting thing that began to happen in the conversations Brad and I were having about Zambia is that our sentences started to begin with "when we..." instead of "if we...".  It was such a natural shift that we almost missed it.  Our hearts were melting and the (very long) list of "ifs" and "hows" somehow seemed completely doable ONLY because God would be the one doing it.  

So, we said "yes".  And the rest is becoming HIS-story. 

I am a part of a bringing-tears-to-my-eyes- lovely group of woman from my bible study.  We were meeting through the summer for a study, fellowship and prayer in the midst of this decision making. What a tremendous support and challenge they were to me personally as I voiced my thoughts and concerns with them.  Then, they decided to do a garage sale fundraiser for our family!  

There were over 30 families that donated things for this sale! It totally blew me away.  We were able to raise $2500 which ... yeah. Just no words. Still speechless about that one.  

We have been mailing and labeling and sending our support letters (hopefully, to you!), working at getting these blogs and emails lists updated, Brad started the visa process (which we have likened unto the details of the fostering paperwork! Good grief!) the kids have their freshly made passports and we are in the process of contacting churches to ask if they'd like to join in God's work in Zambia too. *Whew*

This all reminds me of my bible study just this week.  Moses pleads with the Lord, "Do not take your presence from us! We do not want to move on from here without you!"  THAT is exactly what we are praying. Lord, unless your presence, your sovereign control over us is utterly with us we do NOT want to move (to Zambia) or anywhere else for that matter.  This is our plea. So while no housecoat wearing Grandmas bearing neon signs have showed up at my front door lately we are moving forward. One step. One day. One application. One detail at a time with absolute assurance in our Emmanuel. 

Our Zambia story part 1

Sorry if some of this information is old news to you but I have been asked by several to share our not-so-nutshell version of Zambia.
In 2009 our church participated in an instrument recycling drive designed to collect old, unused instruments and donate them to an Academy of Music in Zambia, Africa.  Being a band teacher Brad thought it was a great idea and helped them with what he could.  A friend of ours who went on the trip to deliver  these collected instruments suggested to Brad that he look into going to the Academy to teach there.

Seed planted.

That month was our churches missions weekend. They listed all of the upcoming mission trips and oh look! There was one scheduled to go to Zambia.

Hmmm.

In the same service the children were lead through the sanctuary each carrying a nations flag.  Quick, grab the camera because anytime my child is doing something I'm SURE it's got to be picture worthy! ;-)  Jaedon was carrying the Zambian flag.

Hmm. (and click)

Brad was feeling a tug about investigating this more deeply.  We came up with two "issues" in our conversation.  First being, the trip would have to be over Spring Break or Summer.  He cannot justify taking time off during the school year when there is already a time planned for breaks.  And two, what would we do with our kids if we were to both go?!  They were ages 18 months, 3 and 5 at the time.  I called my mom that afternoon just to chat.  The idea of Zambia came up and she automatically said "oh we would come take care of the kids!"

Hmm.

We also found out that the trip to Zambia was scheduled for early April.
During Spring break.

Hmm.

So after enough "hmm"s we opted to pursue the trip going in April of 2010.
The trip ended up being just Brad and I instead of a team of people and it certainly was a learning experience for us both.  Brad earned the title "Mister Energy" during our few days at the Academy.  There were about 30-50 students that he was able to meet and teach over our days there.  We left saying "we need to bring our kids here sometime."

July 2011 Brad was able to go back to the music Academy with a team of musicians this time.
Further heart tugging.

Brad decided to let Poetice, the ministry partnering with the Academy, know that we might potentially and possibly be willing to think about exploring the eventual option of maybe pursuing a shorter long-termish visit to teach at the Academy. 

How committal of us. 

However, Poetice was not in a place where that was a possibility and the idea got moved to the back burner.  

For two years.

In that time we became licensed foster parents to a beautiful little baby girl named Alenia.

Her adoption was finalized in December 2013. 

A few months later (this past Spring) Brad decided to check in with Poetice again and just let them know that our maybe sort of willingness-ish was becoming more and more resolute if there was ever a need and desire for him to come on board.

He was met with a resounding "YES!" 

Part 2 coming soon...

Where do I start?

I obviously do not rock at the blog maintenance part of life.  Somehow it seems like my family needs food and clean clothes a bit more often than I have time to talk about it. =)  Anyway, I'll try to give the best nutshell version of our boring life around here.

You may have heard something about a small undertaking we are pursuing lately.  That being a year of living and working at the Choma Music Academy in Zambia, Africa and partnering with the ministry named Poetice.

Boring right? =)

With that on the hopeful horizon we also have made the decision to homeschool Jaedon this year.  Oh the poor first born guinea pigs kids!   My thought process went something like this:
"Hmm... homeschooling in Zambia next year. 4 kids. Ok. Never did that before. Never lived in Zambia before. Huh. Maybe I should give this homeschooling thing a try in my own country first?!"

So we talked, and prayed then talked some more. A lot more.
I had a very sweet homeschooling friend of mine who gave me very wise words.
Stop talking and start listening.
Parenting is a gift. Homeschooling is calling.  And one thing we keep coming back to as we explore this whole Zambia thing is we do NOT want to be doing ANYTHING that is not led by God.  Been there. Done that. Will probably do it again but we are (slowly) learning to listen to the Lord in each decision...big and small.
So, I stopped asking everyone their opinions and starting asking God his.
Smart eh?
and I found the answer.
Peace.
That's the only way to describe it.
I should have felt completely frazzled.  Here it was 5 weeks until school starts and I'm making THIS decision now? What curriculum should I use? How does this even work? Is this legal? =)
But no... I felt peace.  Unexplainable unless you know the Prince of Peace right?

As for my social bug Jaedon? (who also is a HUGE one-on-one time, quality time kid) LOVES the IDEA of it.  I know right? It'll sink in soon enough.

So we've launched this week.  Not perfectly but well.  I believe the honeymoon phase lasted approximately 17 minutes but that's ok.   We will both be on a huge learning curve with lots of successes and mistakes along the way.
After all, failing sometimes is the greatest teacher. Lucky me!

 (We are studying the Books of Moses and Egypt was our focus this week.  This is Egyptian "candy"...dates, honey and almond meal or as Jaedon liked to say "gross" until he ate it. ;)