I feel like I haven't even left my home in India.  It's funny how you adapt to your surroundings and embrace them.  Awakening to the sound of man under the window yelling "Chai, Chai."  Next time you see me ask me about a chai song that some participants wrote in the past.  I love India.  The faces the smells (I know odd), the random water buffalo in the street.  The herd of sheep you dodge riding through Chhaawla village.  The waves from the small children going to public school.  Not like any school you have seen.  The food stands where you can literally buy a entire meal for 8 rupies. 

All of that seems exciting and worhwhile enough, but it comes no where close to the feeling when you arrive to the gate at the orphanage.  With a couple of beeps of the horn and the babies come running!!  I know the overwhelming feeling God has for us when we come ready and excited to be in His presence.  With a skipped beat of the heart all you are left with is a SMILE on your face!! 

These are the emotions that I normally feel when returning home to India, but something is different this time.  The children are going through a very difficult time with losing, for some, the only father and mother they knew.  Mixed emotions are everywhere and they are trying to adjust to the way things have become.  There are new people running the orphanage who need your prayers.  I am not going to lie, it was a lot smoother in the past.  There used to be a lot more freedom, more laughter, way more smiles!  I want you to stand a pray with me that God be ever present in this situation.  With every child, comforting and showing them that they are not alone, their heavenly Father is here!  There are other complicating things going on that requires discernment in the actions to take place.  Please pray for His wisdom and peace as we follow His leading.

I leave on Saturday for Thailand.  Please pray that I am ruined for things that break His heart.  I want to be forever impacted that I can not just stand and do nothing.  Pray for His leading, His wisdom, safety and future partnerships!

  We had a carnival for the kids at the orphanage on Saturday, complete with camel, horses and elephant rides, clowns, balloons, face painting, music, dancing and bobbing for apples! It was so much fun! The day was a huge blessing for each one of us on the team as well as each child. Seeing the excited faces at the orphanage when the animals arrived was beautiful, and the entire day was filled with so much love and joy.

We played with the kids all day, and went to evening prayer, which we’ve never done before. I found such peace and joy sitting with them in the light of the church room, seeing the dark outside, and listening as these children prayed and sang and shouted out praise to God.

More and more I am finding that joy and fulfillment at the orphanage. Long days can be draining, but I am finding such contentment in strength at the orphanage. I still see faces everyday there that I don’t know. I still am left standing awkwardly alone in India sometimes, wondering what in the world I’m doing. But whenever I step off the bus at the orphanage I am overwhelmed with joy, this is what I have been looking for, the mystery of being filled to overflowing as I give, and with the kids I find that the more I give the more I have to give. I have so much more to offer them now that I did when I first arrived with all of MY ideas. I am so in awe of these kids and their joy and faith, and still the thoughts may come that I have nothing to give them. But I know that God has so much for them and that He is giving to them through me. Everyday I want to surrender to him, pour myself out completely and learn to rely on His grace and I know now, not just know but understand and trust, that in my weakness he is strong, how beautiful that is!

This was pulled from The India updates. Angel called me tonight but I missed her call. She sounded good. Please keep praying for Unity within Team, Ministry and times of rest and joy. Thanks Heather ( for Angel)

  I wanted to follow-up with this email that I sent out a couple of weeks ago.

We have had some praise reports for the Christmas Party scheduled on December 5th. We have had many people buy book bags for each orphan. As I write this a group of ladies are stiching their individual names on each bag. God is faithful and "personal". Please continue your prayers and we raise the funds for the orphanage. The $ is not just for a christmas party, the $ is used to get items the children need, such as combs, clothing, toothbrush, towel, sweaters, blankets and many projects at the orphanage including wells, water tanks, new bathroom doors, etc. 

  Dear All those I adore,
 I am writing again from India. The heart of our Father has been felt more and more as I have become less and less. My welcome at the orphanage is, "Angel Auntie, we've missed you." Oh the sound of their sweet voices. The angelic look upon their faces. Last night, as a team we were all praying for what Daddy has in store for the Christmas Party this year. And many of the team members have had updates of churches, schools, families giving to the fund. All I could to do was cry uncontrollably. I saw the orphans face, called out their name and knew the compassion I had for each child comes no where close to the compassion Daddy has for each one.

We have a goal for this Christmas party in December. The team has sought daddy continually for this goal. We know it has to be him, because it seems way unattainable and He is so BIG. 
He is moving and so are we......... Where He leads, we will follow.
If you are interested or have any questions please contact me. Looking forward to hearing from you.

 Much love
 Angel Auntie

No Limits, no Boundaries, I see increase all around me.  Enlarge my Territory

What a surrender moment I shared with God as I walked with Him literally in the cool of the day.  (India's weather is getting cooler)  Why we were created, to have beautiful communion with Him in the coolness of the day.  When it comes down to it at the end of the day, that's still what makes His heart skip a beat.  Not everything that we accomplished in His name, but the intimate time we spent with Him.  Out of that His compassion and love flows out and the desire for others to experience that communion.

So there I was, walking and praying while listening to Israel "No Limits (Enlarge my Territory)".  It has been a theme here with the team.  Shattering the box we create for God to work in.  We can't just get out of the box, we have to shatter it.  If we just get out of the box, when things become unfamiliar we will run back to the box, where comfort lies within.  When we shatter it, there is no limits no boundaries.  There is increase and He enlarges our territory.

As I continued to walk and seek Him out, this beauitiful picture took place.  The children just finished study time and were running outside to play.  As I listend to the song, my eyes were amazed of what I was seeing.  Here were 260 so orphans inside a place that has visible physical boundaries set up.  A huge wall with a gate and watchman that protects them and keeps them in.  You can imagine outside these walls.  The hopelessness and despair, the pain and suffering that surrounds the orphanage.  But here is what I saw at the moment.  Every child playing and laughing with one another.  Jumping, chasing, laughter upon laughter smile upon smile.  As I continued to listen to "no limits, no boundaries" I knew at that moment that God was enlarging the territory.  In the orphanage and in my life.  I want to embrace the unknown with God and experience the freedom He has for me.  And even in the moments that there seem to be apparent boundaries just like the orphanage walls and gates, I want dance in His freedom as the children were this beautiful afternoon.

These past 3 weeks have been CRAZY!!  God is moving and it takes everything in me to hold on!  I arrived in Georgia on the 6th of September to help with training camps for First Year Missionaries and World Race.  What an AMAZING 3 weeks.  Tired. yep, but God has been tugging at my heart and revealing to me just how much I need Him.  I am so in love with Him!! 

The rest of the team left this past week while myself and Reecie, one of the girls from the team, drove to Washington D.C. to get a new passport.  Her passport got lost in the mail.  God's faithfulness and grace was definitely present.  Some how we made it to D.C. got a passport, sent it off to Houston for a visa on Tuesday and received the passport with visa back on Thursday.  CRAZY!!  But so GOD!!  We now leave on Tuesday to be with the babies in India!!  We can't wait. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support.  You mean more to me then you could ever know!

Another year come and gone.  It's hard to believe it has been a year since this chapter has begun in my life.  What God has been teching me can't be summed up in a paragraph.  He has been showing me it is not about me but about the Kingdom.  To constantly lay down my life and desires for others around me.  Ministry is all around us not just the people who make you feel comfortable.  It is everyone you come into contact with daily.  And this past summer He has made it more real to me what it means to suffer for Him.  And that we are called to suffer for Him.  That what partners us with Christ (1 Peter 4:13).

I've asked God to give me the compassion He has for people.  I believe in the past I knew who I was comfortable with and that is who I called ministry.  I feel comfortable going to India and holding the children in my arms.  Ask me to walk the streets of New Orleans with people where I would normally drive through the neighborhood with my car doors locked, now that's a different story.  I think we often walk in our comfort zone too much.  We stereotype people before asking if this is someone who Jesus would spend time with.  I believe we all have gifts and talents and while I find it easier to minister to youth and young adults is that all I am called to minister to?  When Jesus walked the earth, His compassion was so deep He ministered to everyone:  sick, children, elderly, tormented, rich people, outcast.  He was called to all!! 

Lord help me to have that same compassion.  To see people as you see them, to be an outstretch of who you are.

"May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God." Ephesians 3:18,19

It's been a few days since being in New Orleans and time to reflect has been daily.  I have travelled between Jackson, MS and Bossier City, LA to see family and rest.  It's good to reflect on what God has done and how faithful He has been, I am excited to see what the future has in store.  I also have spent the last few days reflecting on what God has done in my life.  I am my toughest critic.  I see where I could have been a better leader and where I could have sacrficed and served my team more.  As long as we can continue growing than God can continue to mold and use us.