Prayer Meeting of the Blogosphere (3)

Welcome to the third, old-fashioned prayer meeting in this space. Happy Friday! I hope you've had a good week.

Cade got home Saturday afternoon; a big thank-you to those of you who prayed for his safe return.

I've had the Owens family on my heart and mind all week. The seven of them have been in Kenya for just over a month, now. I can't imagine what it's like to acclimate to an entirely different country, culture, etc. Join me in praying for them?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the Owens family. Thank You for calling them to do Your work in Kenya, and thank You for their willingness to go all in: to up and move to Africa. Hold them in Your hands during this time of transition, Father, and continue to protect them. Draw them ever closer to You, to one another, and to the beautiful people of Kenya. Bless the Owens family, Father, and bless others through them. 

Help us to remember: we can serve You wherever we are. Thank You for calling us to do Your great work; make of us willing vessels. In Your Son's name I pray, amen.

Now it's your turn! Would you like to participate in an old-fashioned prayer meeting of the blogosphere? Here are some ideas:

• You can pray about my prayer request.
• You can share a prayer request by means of a comment.
• You can share a prayer request on your personal blog and direct me to your post by means of a comment.
• You can pray about a participant's prayer request.
• You can write a prayer about my, your, or someone else's prayer request (in comments hither or yon, on your blog, etc.). If your prayer is somewhere other than this place, please direct me as you can and will.
• You can join in praying my or someone else's prayer.
• You can share an update regarding a prayer request you've made here, in the past. 

Thank you for being here, and I hope to see you again next week, if not before.

(Sorry to those of you who read this before it was quite ready; Baby Chip helped me publish prematurely, and I didn't know for a good forty minutes! Oh, well.)

On Being a Couch Rebel

Bottom line: I wrote a story about stepping out of my comfort zone, and it's going to be included--along with 85 other, similarly-themed stories--in CausePub's Kindle ebook* Couch Rebels, which will be available for purchase through Amazon in three days, on Wednesday, August 14th. I'd like to invite you to purchase a copy for the same reason I'm going to purchase a copy...for the same reason I got involved in the project to begin with:

Every copy sold will provide clean water to 3 people in Africa via Blood:Water Mission. The goal of this Cause is to sell 15,000 copies and impact 45,000 lives.

This is my first experience with CausePub (a for-profit crowd-book-publishing company that partners with nonprofits to help them achieve specific goals within specific causes), and Couch Rebels will be CausePub's first book. So, I'll be honest: there are many things I don't know. I haven't seen the finished product, and I have no idea how many copies of Couch Rebels will be sold or if the goal of the Cause will be met.

What I do know, again, is that every copy sold will provide clean water to 3 people in Africa via Blood:Water Mission.

What I do know is that 50%+ of all sales will go directly to the cause for as long as copies are sold.

I know that 20% of sales for the first six months will be divided among authors. I've prayed about this and want to pledge: 50% of my personal, author royalties will go directly to Africa Inland Mission to benefit the Owens Family**. (I have not spoken with the Owens family about this.)

Finally, I know that the more copies sold this Wednesday, August 14th, the better. You would bless in signing up to buy the book here.

The irony in my asking you to buy a book about stepping out of one's comfort zone is this: asking you to buy something...anything...is outside of my comfort zone! I wouldn't ask you to do it if I didn't believe there to be great potential, here, to make a difference. Thank you for your time and consideration.

*If you don't own a Kindle but have an Android phone or tablet, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows 8 PC or tablet, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone, you can read the book using a free Kindle app.

**To read more about the Owens family and their work in Kenya, click here.

Family Vacation 2013: Indy, Pt. 2

Jim and I joined a small group Bible study about five years ago (when I was pregnant with Clementine), and we continue to study with four of the families. Two other families have joined, and sadly, one--our original host family--moved away: first to Hickory, North Carolina, then to the Indianapolis area. I reached out to Daleen to tell her we were coming through, and she asked if we'd like to stay with them.

So the Crews home in Avon was the next stop on our family vacation. We loved visiting with our friends and slept and ate (so!) well in their home. They knew they'd be out of town for our return trip but gave us a key and a code. "Make yourselves at home," they said and passed us one basket of clean laundry and another of divine, orange-flavored breakfast rolls. I didn't do a very good job of capturing their entire family of six with my camera, but the good news is: we're adventuring with them later this month; I'm sure to do a better job, then. Precious, precious, beloved people.

Cade and Me with Our Friend Daleen

Jim with Baby Shannon and His Own (Jealous) Redheaded Wonder

6/7 Kids

Sweet baby Shannon

From Avon we headed to Zionsville, where we met up with Nicole Owens of 70 Piggies and Owens to Africa: my one, true blog crush. I can't tell you what I fell in love with first: her eye, or her heart, but I couldn't stand the thought of our being so near one another and not meeting in person. Nor could I stand the thought of not hugging her before she and her family depart on July 11th to be about Our Father's business in Kenya. For four years.

In person, Nic is (and I have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, writing this) exactly who she is in words: a calm, quiet, small spark of brilliant-bright-white light. She's eat up with Jesus in that "still waters run deep" sort of way, and it hurt me--It hurt me!--to let her go; I tried my very best to squeeze the stuffins out of her. I don't know if she knew, but I stuck my heart real quick-like in her bag. I hope she'll take it with her to Africa; I hope she'll take it along.

I'm so grateful to her for driving down from Muncie to make a dream come true for me.

***

Jim's and Brandee's Travel Tips

If someone you know and love offers you a bed, a meal, a shower, a washing machine, etc., just say: "Yes. Thank you. I love you." It's taken me a long time (and a lot of kids!) to just sort of lean into the kindness of others, but honestly? I think that's an important part of the Lord's work in me. I believe God wants all of us to learn to receive love as surely as He wants us to learn to give love, and so much of all of it--of Him!--happens through other people. I'm not talking about mooching or taking advantage: just receiving with gratitude...and paying forward the kindness.

Also, if there's someone on (or near) your route you'd like to see: buck up. Ask the question. Give that person the opportunity to say: "Yes," and fellowship with you. You have nothing to lose and everything, just everything!, to gain.