Brides of Christ Mother the World!

So, it has been a really long time since I posted any actually text. I have been a bit preoccupied with my new love ...the FLIP HD ULTRA video camera. My husband says he is a video widower...It has been one of the best gifts I have ever received (not counting my husband,kids and laptop-which I wrote a book on). I had received a gift for our ministry MOTHER THE WORLD (officially not yet launched 12/1/09). And prior to heading to the midwest to promote TO BE A MOTHER a dear friend gifted me with a check for the cam the day after I was in prayer and heard from the Lord to document and interview mothers. So, it has been a blessing but requires some editing time.

In the meantime, all is well here in the land of my beautiful Injera Guacamole Hotdog family. However, we are struggling through (so far) a light version of the flu. My son first had it and because there was only a light fever I misdiagnosed it as the IDONTwANNAGOTOSCHOOL strain...and sent him to school for two days ...NOW I FEEL AWFUL...but he is fine..The youngest two are home today with fevers..and coughs..and by 9:30 once the Motrin kicked in my 7 year old came down looking like a professional Ethiopian soccer player with a ball uder his arms...knee socks, shorts and a soccer jersey saying "HEY I AM GOING TO PLAY SOCCER OUTSIDE"...i quickly said UH NO YOU ARE NOT....My daughter Ella's glass has 10 kids out of the class....and she is coughing with no fever as is Grace...they have really really hearty bodies....Oldest was home from college and insisted no one breathe on her....the corner PEDS office is claiming 30 cases of swine flu a day. Still, we are hunkering down...I have a batch of homemade chicken soup on the stove along with ginger tea (which I SWEAR is why these cases in our household aren't worse) and italian ices that we bought as twofers....

Still, there is a lot of unknowns in our lives. OUr business is slow with our band so we are struggling financially and may be putting our new big house on the market....(sorry to put all of you followers through the house selling thing again)...but the Ministry is bearing much fruit...I cannot even begin to count on my hand how many incredible mother stories, adoption stories, stories of choosing life, stories of stepping into motherhood...incredible SHE-RO stories....and so much revelation...I went on my tour thinking I would impart so much to the people I would meet or speak to on adoption. I am in awe at the lessons I have already learned...

1. People need to be 'mothered" even when they are octogenarians...How many people in nursing homes etc long for someone to come to tell them they matter enough to them to spend some time making sure they are happy and cared for or given a hug.

2. Most mothers feel inadequate and God uses them anyhow...WHEW what a relief to discover this one. I had thought I was the only messed up clumsy mom out there and that maybe GOd somehow made a mistake...but looking at the clumsy characters in the bible that He used as well...now I say..."OH IT IS BIBLICAL FOR GOD TO USE PEOPLE THAT FEEL INADEQUATE and even ARE..."

3. Due to a lack of mothering we have many older teens and young adults who are confused and unsure of how to parent leaving them to carry on some of the abuse they encountered as kids with their own kids...we need more people like my friends Elaine and Cody Bateman to teach and mentor....

4. Our culture while financially blessed has a lot to learn about parenting from places like Africa where the mothers in the communities truly believe that IT TAKES A VILLAGE...in America many mothers feel isolated turning to books and HOW TO manuals rather than having mothering be natural simply by being around other mothers.

5. Children with HIV in Africa will stay healthy waiting to be taking to America where they will live a long life..if they know they have a new family waiting for them. CHildren with no hope will die...

6. Older boys and girls in Ethiopia still long for a mother but many times are thrown on the street to deal with all kinds of awful things if a mother doesn't claim them like Eileen Mestas my friend.

7. 30000 people starve everyday to death. Haiti has a huge starvation problem...food is spoiling.

8. 2.8 billion professed Christians in the world...if 7% of that number would adopt only 1 child we would solve the orphan crisis and all of the 143 million orphans would have a mother. BUt in Ethiopia for example only 1 one hundredth of 1 percent of the orphans are adopted annually..

OK...so the new campaign...website/network I am creating is called MOTHER THE WORLD...what that means is that MOTHER IS A VERB..to nurture, care for , save, love, feed..basically pick up on Jesus' message to take care of the orphans, widows and least of these.... my inspiration is that if we are BRIDES OF CHRIST (the church or even individuals in this case women-but does apply to men too)..then we are to MOTHER THE WORLD..find the children...adopt the children...care for the children...save the children...and CHILDREN doesn't only mean 18 and under...it means children of GOd..and that could be a 97 year old woman in INdia or indiana....

One random act of kindness this Christmas can save a life, change a mind and motivate a person to pay it forward....MOTHER THE WORLD..honor GOD and DO SOMETHING....

TO BE A MOTHER boo is still available at AMAZON