it takes a village...

It takes a village to raise a child.

-African Proverb

This is an African Proverb that I'm sure you've heard before. But it's not just a saying here... they mean it. Your child is not just your child. Your child is also your neighbor's child and the sweet lady down the street's child. Life here is lived as a community and that includes raising children. Community living involves caring for each other's needs even when someone may not have anything to give. It means being ready to strap your neighbor's baby on your back in order to put them to sleep for an afternoon nap because she needs you to. It means what's mine is yours... in everything. Community living is a very easy concept for us in some areas, and a very difficult concept in others. When it comes to being caring and hospitable, got it. But when it comes to possessions, or punishing another child, not so easy. But, we've learned a lot about community.

With the adoption process in front of us, we are approached with the daunting task of paying a large amount of money in order to bring home our kiddo. We don't mean buying our child. We mean adoption fees. These things include lawyer fees, orphanage fees, court fees, US government fees, passport, visa, travel, and many, many other expenses. Being in Benin, we're able to cut back on many of the expenses related to traveling across the globe, but that doesn't mean all the other fees are waived. 

We are doing things on our own - saving, watching our spending, putting aside birthday & Christmas money, etc. - but the amount we will need is much larger than we can do on our own. So, we've come us with a few different fundraising ideas. We want you, our friends and family and network, to be part of our village.

First, we have a t-shirt for sale. Our goal is to sell 100 of these! See the photo below for information and become part of our "village."

Family Update

Before Trey and I got married, we saw international adoption in our future. We didn't know when, from where, or which child, but we knew it would happen one day. We talked about it from time to time... the details, that is. And then we had Chandler. We are so blessed by her little presence and personality. Watching her grow over the last 17 months has been incredible. We began to talk about growing our family. We talked about when we'd start trying again. We counted out the months and when a new baby would be born. We talked about how old we wanted Chandler to be when she became a big sister.

Living overseas has continued to open our eyes to the heartache of this world. We've made friends who work at an orphanage (friends we've mentioned on here before) and have seen insight into their world. Also, insight into the children's backgrounds and lives. God continued to push international adoption to the forefront of our minds. We began to search out what it would look like to adopt from Benin. We've heard stories and seen people in the process here. It hasn't been easy, but then again, what adoption (domestic or international) is easy?

I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this... the family update we have.... we're in the process to adopt from Benin. We have begun and are taking it step by step, daily. There's still a lot of uncertainty in adoptions from Benin, which gives us a lot of uncertainty. But we know this is something the Lord has placed on our hearts for years. And we know He's giving us a peace about it now.

We are asking you to pray with us. Pray for ease in this process. Pray for judges and other officials to be compassionate. Pray for the child God has already picked out for us. Pray for their health and well being. Pray for those caring for him/her. Pray for Chandler and her adjustment to a sibling (and learning how to share!). And pray for us that we will be discerning in this process. And that we will be patient.

We plan to keep you updated on the process as much as we can. But know that often, we won't know what is going on! Feel free to write and ask us how it's going, too. We want to bring you, our partners in prayer and ministry, along on this journey.

not our plans...

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV

We had ministry plans while our team from Olive was here. They were giving Trey the opportunity to reach out to the surrounding community, to make our presence known there. He was going into the surrounding area, talking to people, sharing Bible stories, making connections, and letting people know he was showing the Jesus Film on Thursday night. Things went well. There was a village to the north that was welcoming and inviting. There's potential there. Everything was good. There was nothing bad about that week...

Registration at first village

Trey with Chief

And then Friday came. Friday morning we set out with the team to host an eye clinic in that village to the north. It was great. They were grateful hosts. Such sweet people and children. My heart broke as a little boy asked me what we were doing here. I explained to him it was glasses for reading and that mainly older people would need them. He looked at me and asked if we could fix this... pointing to his brother's club foot. That's a reality here. There are lots of medical needs and we can't fix all of them. I told him no, but that we would pray for someone to be able to come and help him. And then we continued to talk about their life. The team did great! Everyone who came to get tested for glasses heard the gospel. And all who heard, said they want to follow Jesus. I, being skeptical, don't believe that everyone truly means that... but I know that I know that I know they clearly heard the Gospel that day. And because of that eye clinic, we will be welcomed back with open arms. And we will be going back there.

Andrea checking glasses

Rachel & Tiffany testing eyes

Registration at second village

Friday afternoon we headed to a village to the south, one that our friends at Arbre de Vie have connections with. On the drive we passed a teenage girl walking the opposite direction of us wearing a Baptist shirt. We stopped and talked with her. We were shocked to see her since we knew there was only one Baptist church in this very vast area. We asked her about the church and she said we would see it if we continued ahead. So we continued. And we came upon a teenage guy wearing Baptist cloth. Again, we stopped. Shocked. He was going to same direction we were, so in a very African fashion, we told him to hop in the back of the truck and we'd drop him where he was going. As he got in a moto passed us carrying the teenage girl and her parents... going in our direction. We were confused and excited all at the same time. Finally we reached the church. Ashley, driving the car in front of us, pulled over to make sure we didn't miss it. We stopped, thinking we were dropping our new Baptist friends off there. They said no, we're going with you to the eye clinic!

Danny checking eyes for a pastor

We continued to the school where the eye clinic was being hosted. We got everything set up and then had a minute to talk. Trey quickly realized the two pastors had been at two of his trainings. Before when they told him where they were located, he hadn't heard of the town, so he wasn't able to keep the place in his mind. The teenage boy speaks great French, so he assisted us in the eye clinic. The pastors jumped in and helped share the gospel to everyone who came through. I spent time talking with the daughters and through them, talked with the wives. It was really great. It was not our plans to go to this village. It was not our plans to have someone announce the eye clinic the day before. It was not our plans to pick up random people in the village. But it was God's plan.

Kristen with pastors' daughters

Trey with pastor's son

Because of this clinic, we've developed a great relationship with these pastors. We've talked with them about church planting. They already have a vision for this and have already been working towards it. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside these two families in their ministry. We are grateful that we could not avoid His plans that day.

Anthony, Pastor Barnabi, Pastor Michel, Trey, Kristen, & Chandler

Photo Catch Up: July part two

Just because we've been rather inactive here, does not mean we haven't been active. In fact, that's the reason we've been inactive... so much going on. In an effort to get all caught up, here's some pictures (& descriptions) from the month of July!

The last two weeks of July were spent in South Africa. The first week we had doctor's appointments (their medical care is equivalent to American) and vacation time! Trey's parents joined us in Johannesburg for some fun, too! The second week was spend in a conference with other colleagues in their first term. It was a great time to catch up with friends, meet new babies, and be refreshed in the Word and worship in English!

Photo Catch Up: July part one

Just because we've been rather inactive here, does not mean we haven't been active. In fact, that's the reason we've been inactive... so much going on. In an effort to get all caught up, here's some pictures (& descriptions) from the month of July!

First, we celebrated the Fourth of July! We had friends coming in town on the 3rd, so we had a Third of July party - filled with red, white, & blue, and lots of American food, and country music.

Then we co-hosted a team from Olive Baptist. They worked with our friends at Arbre de Vie hosting a sports camp & Bible school. The last day they helped to host an eye clinic in two villages surrounding - both of which God is opening doors for new churches.