Pink Sparkly Heels

I've been debating what to share here on our blog. Obviously, once we get to Bulgaria, we'll share about that, but life is happening here in the USA, now. I love to tell God stories. I love being a part of God's great, big incredible adventure.

This past week and a half has been hard. Marty's Mom is sick and in the hospital. We, nearly, lost her. Now, we're trying to negotiate her long-term care, because the road to recovery isn't looking like a short one. Then, our little boys got sick with strep throat. Not such a big deal, just exhausting, cleaning up vomit, running to Urgent Care and fighting over medicine. In the middle of all this, we're waiting on a signature, so that Klemi's adoption can be completed and she can come home to us. Sometimes, life happens fast and all we can do is hang on to Jesus and know, that this season will pass.

Last night, I was on the computer pretty late. I had been up with Sam, who isn't the best sleeper when he's well, throw in an illness and he's exhausting. God had a reason. He always does.

My friend, Jamie, messaged me and told me she had written a blog post and mentioned prayer in it. She was super nervous about what people would think. Jamie was not raised to believe in Jesus and has only come to know him in the past few years. She said it feels like I'm "coming out of the closet." Precious Jamie, made me laugh out loud and wake Marty up. Here's why.

About a year ago, Jamie and her husband, crossed the ocean to adopt a sweet little boy, named Eli (love his name). Eli has Down Syndrome and needed a family. Jamie was a very new believer at the time and didn't hesitate to do exactly what God was calling her to do. This year, Jamie and her husband are headed back across the ocean (to a place that's very near to my heart) to bring home two more little girls, both of them have Down Syndrome, along with other delays and needs. Jamie advocates for orphans, supports adoptive families and is a wonderful friend. It's very obvious to those of us watching Jamie's life that she loves Jesus, so I nearly fell out of the bed laughing when she told me she was "coming out" of the "I love Jesus" closet.

It gets better, because she linked me to her blog post and said, "It's subtle, but it's there. You know, I can't come out in my Pink Sparkly Heels, right away." I read her post. You can read it here: on Jamie's blog. I responded with get your Pink Sparkly Heels out, girl! She was so proud to tell me that, today, she moved from white shoes to tan.

Jamie, friend, I have to tell you that I love how you shine! You must not realize what your life says to everyone around you, each day. Jamie is struggling with something that many of us struggle with...finding her identity in Christ. She doesn't realize her own worth, value and Sparkle. When your life is lit with the fire of Jesus, you can't hide that shine. It creeps out into life, whether you realize it or not.

So, my question for the rest of us and the lesson God reminded me of last night, "Are we all out for Jesus? Have we put on love, above all else?" If we have, I think, we can safely say that the people around us are enjoying watching us follow after Jesus in our Pink Sparkly Heels!

Jamie and her family need help bringing home their girls. While you're over at her blog, pray and if you're able give. Let's love on Jamie a little and encourage her to keep shining for Jesus.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Breathless Expectation

To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways; we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.

Oswald Chambers

Lately, I have allowed the uncertainty of our future to bring fear and sadness. Many of you know that we're in the middle of an international adoption and, quite frankly, it's taking too long to suit this Mama. We've, also, taken a step of faith and let everyone know that we're heading to Bulgaria. Talk about uncertainty. How will we raise the money, where we live, who will God fill our days with? Questions are everywhere.

I have many friends, who are adopting from Bulgaria and they are all in love with the country, the people, the food. They have said, repeatedly, how jealous they are of this opportunity we have to go and live in Bulgaria.  I'll just be honest. It's adding to the uncertainty and fear. Are they only seeing the end of the story, where we live and minister in Bulgaria for 2 years? Are they overlooking the year long process to get us there? The questions...how will we raise the money, where will we live, who will God fill our days with, what will we come back home to?

We're not taking a vacation or a short-term mission's trip. We're leaving our lives behind. We're laying them down to follow after Jesus, to walk where He's calling. Our kids are leaving behind all of their friends, their activities, their lives. I'm just gonna be real, it's scary. We've been here before, though, on this road less traveled, the one where Jesus walks. We know that He will meet us here. We know that He has a plan. We have a certainty and a peace that comes from knowing this is what He called us to do. 

It's an awesome thing to find yourself in the middle of God's will. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm human, though and it's a lonely place, sometimes. If the Holy Spirit brings us to mind, please, remember we're just regular people and more than anything we need your prayers and support. Tell us that you're praying, that you love us, that you'll walk this path with us. Even if you don't we'll still go. "Though none go with me still I will follow..." The journey is just sweeter with friends in it.

Today, I will choose breathless expectation. I will choose to look for God in each moment. I will choose to give it all back to him and let him do his marvelous work in our family. I am waiting with breathless expectation to see how God will meet our need. How he will answer the questions.

I'm especially thankful that, "He is God and I am not." We should all be able to find certainty in that statement, today.

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

The Big Question!

What will you be doing in Bulgaria?

The simplest answer we can give you...whatever God asks. Let's touch on that briefly, because that's really the most important part of this answer. The reality is this, God asked us to move to Bulgaria. We've said, "Yes" and everyday since, God has revealed another part of His plan for our family, while we're there. 

I know, some of you are bigger picture kind of people. I get it. I'm not one, but I get it. Let me try to share where our hearts are and a little bit of what we hear God saying...

The absolute, most important reason that we're moving to Bulgaria and this is the one I struggle to share the most, because I think, many won't understand. We're going to "do life" with our friend, Toni and her family. We're going to love on them, share meals, laughter, encouragement, time. We're going to build stronger relationships and hopefully, to be someone they can depend on. I know, that some of you will think it's crazy to move a family of 7 across the ocean to simply be available to our friends. It's what God said to do. We find it to be outrageous, as well, but we serve a God who loves extravagantly, gives generously and does amazingly, incredibly outrageous things...think Abraham, Noah, Paul, Jonah. Our lives really aren't supposed to make sense to the world.

All of the other "things" that we'll be doing are secondary to building relationships with Toni, her family and anyone else that God places in our path. Relationships are first and foremost, the most important part of this journey. 

Now, for my bigger picture friends, we'll be involved in orphan care. While we were in Bulgaria, visiting the boys' orphanages a couple of years ago, God really began to show us that the orphan problem is way bigger than we understood. Prior to that trip, they were numbers. We were doing our part by adopting and encouraging other families to join us on this journey of adoption. God began to show us that adoption is just one part of the solution to the orphan crisis. Many, many children will never be chosen, many will never even be listed for adoption. They will live their entire lives in orphanages, shut away, without love or the hope of Christ. Adoption just wasn't going to be enough. 

Our hope is to build relationships with orphanage directors that will allow us to build relationships with the children living there. We hope to love on them and tell them about Jesus. Jesus loves the little children. All of them, even the ones, shut away and forgotten in orphanages. We want to be his hands and feet and show them his love. We're praying that God will continue to open doors for us to do that. 

Another area, we really feel uniquely called and equipped to serve in, is helping change stereotypes about children with special needs and what they're capable of doing and becoming. We are the parents of three children with Down Syndrome, not American born children, but Bulgarian children, who were shut away in orphanages, because they are believed to be "less than." We're praying that God will allow us and our children to break down cultural barriers that exist in Bulgaria. We're praying that God will use us to encourage Bulgarian families to keep their children with special needs. We're believing that by offering to "do life" with them in a meaningful way, that they will feel less alone on their journey. 

Adoption is just one part of the solution to the orphan crisis. Partnering with families and educating them about our "extra" special kids is another. We're believing that God is going to open the doors for that to happen and for us to speak truth about how each child is fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of our King.

We hope to make much of Jesus. We hope to bring him glory. We long to live in a way that points others toward him, toward the cross of Christ. We're striving for obedience and complete surrender to His will for our family. Please, pray for us as God continues to work out the details of this great adventure.

Hidden in Christ,

The Rhodes Family

It's Gonna Cost How Much?

Second post and we're going to talk about money. I know, you can't believe I waited, so long...

Marty and I have run the numbers and run them some more and they keep looking the same...

ENORMOUS

However, we're not new to this. God has given us great big mountains of money to climb before and it seems He's doing it, again. We won't waiver. God has already proven to us, many times over, that He is FAITHFUL!

What will it cost to move a family of 7 from south-western Virginia to Bulgaria? We're so glad you asked.

We're looking at needing 2 different sums of money. The first will be our up-front costs. They include the cost to move a family of 7 to Bulgaria: flights, a vehicle, rental deposit, passports, visas, health insurance, the list goes on. The number is not as high as you might think, though. Or maybe on the tail-end of fundraising for 3 international adoptions in the past 2 years, it just doesn't seem that high to us. To leave the country (and have money for tickets back home, one day), we need to raise $35,000.

We'll have multiple fundraisers throughout this year to raise that amount. We have experienced God's favor during each of our adoptions and believe that He will continue to bless the efforts we put forward. There it is, we need to raise $35,000 by May of 2014 to get on a plane and fly to Bulgaria.

That's not all, though. Once we're in Bulgaria, we'll need money to live on. Raising all of that up-front is what my sad, weak flesh would like to do. It's terrifying to think of moving our family to another country and depending on other people God to support us. It's what we hear God asking us to do, though. To trust Him to provide by nudging hearts and opening hands in this direction. Allowing other people to be a part of what He's calling us to do. We'll be asking for monthly sponsorship to cover our daily expenses. I don't have an exact number on that, yet. We're waiting to hear back from some families living in Bulgaria. If you'd consider praying about supporting our family in this way, we'd be grateful.

There's a YouCaring donation box on the right hand side of the blog. It's not tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we haven't found a way to set that up. We'll continue to pray that God will open a door for that. Meanwhile, we need to start raising this $35,000 and taking monthly commitments. If you want to make a monthly commitment, just message or email us with the information.

We're incredibly excited to be taking this journey. We're, also, thrilled to be able to share it with you. I hope to share some of what we'll be doing in Bulgaria this week and ways that you can pray for us as we prepare to go.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...Do Something!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy

Saved People Serve People

I read that a few weeks ago on a friend's Facebook status. Saved people serve people. At least, they're supposed to, right?

Our family has a friend. Her name is Toni. She loves Jesus and she serves people. She serves in a place where most don't see her. They don't know her name or her mission. She is quietly doing Kingdom work for the very least of these. Toni lives in Bulgaria, with her Mom and her two brothers, Alex and Marty. They run an organization that helps facilitate the adoption of orphans from Bulgaria with special needs. They have been doing this work for years. Faithfully serving the children the world has forgotten.

We met Toni and Marty at an airport in Sophia, Bulgaria in November of 2011. We were there on a mission to meet our sons, Vaylo and Sam. We never realized that God was about to change the very course of our lives, yet, again.

On that day in November, God began to tie our hearts to theirs. As we traveled the roads of Bulgaria over the next 15 days, we were heartbroken for the people there, for their history, for their forgotten children. We saw first hand and began to understand the effects that communism has on a country, her land and her people. It was devastating.

God didn't tell us then, to move to Bulgaria. I'm not sure we would have listened, if He had. He just planted a seed, nudged our hearts and wove another thread into this beautiful tapestry of life.

5 months later, I was back in Bulgaria, to pick up our sons. Our precious friend had done her part and now, the boys were ours. I spent 10 days in Bulgaria on this trip with my best friend, Daniell and the boys. We explored Sophia and learned all that we could about the city and the people (okay, and the food). I was sad to think that our time in Bulgaria had come to an end. We were leaving behind a precious friend and children, oh, so many children, that God had broken our hearts for.

Honestly, our plan was to get the boys settled and go back in a few years for a couple more children. They needed us and we had room for them, in our home and in our hearts. Again, God's plan was different. We had been home with our boys for less than 2 months, when God said, "Go!" again. Klemi, was available for adoption and she is Sam's best friend. We didn't hesitate. We filed the paperwork and began the process.

Around the first part of this year, with adoption paperwork and fundraising happening, I (Mandy) began to hear God saying the strangest thing. His sweet Holy Spirit was nudging my heart toward moving to Bulgaria to serve alongside Toni and help the orphans. I'm not one to keep secrets, so I immediately blurted it out to Marty (my husband, not Toni's brother). He looked at me like I had maybe grown two heads. We have a life, here. God is using us in orphan care and other ministries, here. We're building a house, here. Marty has a stable job that he loves, here.

Yet, I was sure God was saying for us to go, there. Marty, being the awesome man of God that he is, said he would pray about it.

A few months later, we found ourselves in the remotest part of the world, either of us have ever been in. I'm telling you, I have been to remote villages in Africa that had more contact with the outside world, than this little Bulgarian village that we found ourselves in. We were back to visit Klemi and fulfill the Bulgarian requirements of her adoption. For the first part of the week, we both thought, no way can we come here and live with 5 children, one who has mobility issues. There are no allowances in Bulgaria for people with disabilities.

Then, we journeyed back to the city and stayed with Toni and her family in their home. We spent 3 days sharing life. We heard all that her job ministry requires of their family. She never complained, but we could see the weight of what they were carrying and God began to pull back the veil and reveal a little more of His plan for our family.

Don't you love it when He gives a little glimpse of His glory to us?

This is getting long and there's so much to share and time to share it. For now, God has called and we are going. Our departure date is set for May of 2014. We have one year to get everything ready to move our family of 7 across the ocean for two years.

Many of you will wonder why? Why on earth would we leave what we have here and go there? We'll go because saved people serve people. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. As His disciples, it is our greatest calling to do the same. I'll share more over the next few weeks about specific ways that our family will be helping while in Bulgaria.

Pray, Adopt, Advocate, Support...

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy