A Cupcake Testimony
We wanted to share with you a letter that was written to us last week by Julie Barrett, a teacher who mobilized her class to host a cupcake stand at their school. Read below how God moved in the hearts of the entire school to multiply their efforts and impact many.
Dear Cupcake Kids/Sixty Feet,
Y’all are awesome! We had a great time with our cupcake sale. I wanted to share the story with you because it was such an unbelievable experience for my students. I met some folks from Sixty Feet at the Created for Care retreat in 2012. I’m a middle school teacher at a Christian school, so I tucked the idea of a Cupcake Kids fundraiser away in my brain; I’m always looking for ways to expose my students to things happening around the world and open their eyes to areas of injustice. For one week during April, our school abandoned the normal schedule and had exploratory-type options for students to choose from. Teachers were asked to create five half-day sessions on one topic. I chose the topic of local and global social justice issues. As part of the week, the students decided to have a cupcake sale on Friday. We planned to make cupcakes in the morning and distribute them at lunch. We also allowed people to order ones to be picked up at the end of the day, too. There are a litte over 200 students in our school. In my head, I imagined we’d be making and decorating 100-200 cupcakes and make a few hundred dollars.
The students learned about Sixty Feet on Tuesday. They created a presentation to share with classes and spent time praying for Sixty Feet and for their sale. They presented to classes on Wednesday. Order forms were collected on Thursday. When we started looking through the order, it was evident that we were going to be making way more cupcakes than originally expected. Once we totaled all the amounts, it came out to almost 46 DOZEN cupcakes. I entered the teachers’ lounge at lunch, wide-eyed and wondering how in the world I was going to help orchestrate the execution of so many cupcakes. Teachers were excited about the sale and asked about how many cupcakes had been ordered. I laughed and told them over 500 cupcakes. They immediately responded with things like, “What?! How are you going to do that? You need to let us help!” I ended up sending out an email to all the teachers in my school saying, “If you wanted to throw a dozen or two cupcakes in your oven tonight, I certainly wouldn’t mind.” Staff more than rose to the occasion and baked an enormous amount of cupcakes that night. On Friday morning, cupcakes kept coming in and we ended up with more than enough. The students in my group decorated for a few hours and then distributed the cupcakes to all those who had ordered.
With all the decorating, we ran short on time, so I told the students that I’d count the donations after school and let them know how much it was. I started to count the checks and money and could hardly believe my eyes. The total came out to $1513!!! So awesome to see how God took one little idea and multiplied resources, time, energy, and donations to be so much more. I know we’re just one little story of God’s movement in the hearts of people to love, care, and provide for orphans around the world. However, I don’t think that this experience will be something that my students (or I) will quickly forget. The whole school has be abuzz about it for the past week.
Thanks so much for letting our community be a part of the greater work that God is doing through Cupcake Kids and Sixty Feet. We were so honored and blessed through participating with you all.
Julie Barrett
Rockford Christian School
Thank you, Julie, for sharing your story with us! We are so grateful to you, your amazing students and your entire school for such generosity. Your efforts will go a long way in loving and serving the precious children in Uganda.
Infectious
A year ago, 80,000 Aggie fans, clad in maroon, were rooting for their team, and I stood there thinking, “What if just $5 of every $80 ticket was donated to Sixty Feet?” Yesterday, I was driving our golf cart with my daughters around our neighborhood, and after taking a huge whiff of our clean air, I was reminded of the smoggy, polluted, diesel-fueled air in Kampala. Today, as I made sixty copies of work in just a few seconds for my 4th graders, I thought of the dedicated teachers in Bwerenga, who stay up late at night to hand-write worksheets for their students. No copiers for them.
That’s what Africa does to you. It infects every part of your life. It shatters any barrier to your thoughts, and like a crazy virus, starts infiltrating every area of your mind. It’s hard to even turn on the water faucet without thinking of jerry cans on top of tiny, ebony heads.
I also think of her. The girl at M1. I can’t get her out of my mind. The harsh “clack” of her words as she spoke sharply to a little boy, who was waiting to get food. She was a leader in her group, and there are no words for the guarded, angry way she carried herself. Working herself into a frenzy yelling at this little boy, I casually reached out my hand to touch her shoulder…hoping to calm her down. With a quick swat of her hand, she pushed mine away. Her eyes glaring, bent to show me that what I was trying to do was not allowed. She would not have love. Probably never has.
It is this memory that rocks me to my core and infects my thoughts. The unloved. The unwanted. The least of these. God will build his church. And the foundations will be laid by the hands and feet of his people who are not afraid to show His love to these souls. Maybe for the first time.
A sweet friend of mine once said, ” The playground of His Kingdom is vast and there is Kingdom business to be had (everywhere).” This is one infection that I don’t mind spreading. The world needs it to spread from person to person. I thank the Lord for those who understand that mission.
In case you are wanting a little infection of your own, read up on a few of the other blogs listed on this site, or head on over to www.sixtyfeet.org to get better acquainted with the cause. Watch a video or two while you are there…. better yet, sign up for a trip to go see with your own eyes. You won’t regret it. In fact, you’ll be ready to infect someone else in no time. I promise.
Processing Uganda
Today’s post is by a dear friend, Stephanie O’Donnell, who is a great advocate for Cupcake Kids and Sixty Feet. She recently returned from a Sixty Feet mother/daughter mission trip. She shares thoughts about her her journey below.
Processing Uganda – The world goes round just like before
The much anticipated trip to Uganda is now over. I have absorbed and now I am processing all that I have seen, experienced and lived. Since the prayerful pen is the way I figure things out, I expect I’ll be posting a bit more than usual over the next few weeks. It is my prayer that as you read you’ll be encouraged, and maybe even motivated to stand up and go, love your neighbor in the name of Jesus, in some way that you have never done before.
The World Goes Round Just Like Before
It is April 15th, opening day of salmon fishing. The familiar sound of motor boats, travelling the river, echoes a constant groan from just outside my window. Geese honk and squawk all about announcing their annual return to a Canadian spring and the beginning of mating season. The sun rises and sets. The school bus arrives to pick up the kids at the same time. My job demands my time, the groceries need to be bought. The world goes on as usual.
And I stand amongst it all, this passing by of the world, and it seems a blur and is making me dizzy. I want to yell “STOP!” yet would anyone really hear? These words of Solomon come to mind as I stand still in a hurried world, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” Ecc. 1:14
Where are we going in all our hurry?
Two weeks ago today I stood in a tiny, remote fishing village in Africa. I stood amidst filth and poverty like I never imagined existed. I took the hand of a young girl as she led me through her village of mud and straw buildings of adjoining rooms, each room a home to a family. The buildings were separated only by a path big enough to walk through, the path was covered in water containing more than last night’s rainfall. I stood and prayed as the gospel was shared and then demonstrated. It was heart wrenching. It was surreal.
Two weeks ago I stood in the middle of a compound which is home to orphaned children, a government run orphanage equipped for less than half of the children it currently holds. Our team of 18 were surrounded by 170 children mostly under the age of 12, desperate to take a hand and receive a hug. I held a 24 month old who had been abandoned by her mother in a pit latrine. She rested her little head on my shoulder and began to tap a rhythm on my other shoulder. Then she sang me a song in her language. I sang “Jesus Loves You” and prayed over her for an hour; because Jesus’ name is power, and prayer is power, but I am nothing in the midst of this vast hopelessness.
I have seen darkness, despair, hopelessness beyond what I ever imagined, beyond my ability to translate into words.
And now I am home.
And the world rushes on, unaware. I stand still, lost in this rush, dazed by what I have seen, by the contradiction of it all; resisting the push and pull to resume life as ‘normal’.
Yet I know not how to go forward with the incongruity what I have seen and with how I live, except to cling to Christ; and to go back to where this wild adventure all began:
Isaiah 58: where the Lord says, through Isaiah, “Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Is. 58:1
A dangerous prayer: Where I have prayed once again, “Here I am Lord. Use me. Take me out of my comfort zone and put me in over my head. Then I will know it is you who has done this thing, and not me.”
And a new prayer based on Is. 58, “Lord, let this heart that You have shattered never view the world the same way again. Help me Lord, to love my neighbor and not to turn away from my own flesh. Show me how to spend myself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.”
For now that I know, I will surely be held accountable.
“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” Luke 12:48
Thank you to miss Madeline who first thought of the idea of selling cupcakes for imprisoned children. For it was the simplicity and hand-on idea of cupcakes which got Alli (my daughter) and myself involved in the first place. Little did we know our hearts were to be lost in the process.
Orange Crush Cupcakes
Today’s post is by Colleen Jobe, who blogs over at her Ugly Couch.
This post really isn’t so much about cupcakes, as it’s about why we made them.
If you know me at all, you know how much we love Sixty Feet. If you’re new ’round here, you can read more about it here.
This week my dear friend, Shelly, led a team on a Sixty Feet mission trip. Over the last few years, every time she’s been in Uganda I’ve been there with her. I was actually supposed to help her co-lead this trip. Alas, Lucas got some crazy-fast orders to move to Belgium and the timing just turned out to be bad.
So…off she went…without me.
Oh, I’m homesick for Uganda.
Lucky for me, she is stopping off at my house for a day on her way home. At least I can rub some of the red Ugandan dirt from her Keens onto my face.
Okay, maybe that’s a tad weird. And gross. I’ll have to think of something else that needs red dirt before she gets here.
So if you’re wondering what in the world cupcakes have to do with Uganda and Sixty Feet, then you need to know about The Cupcake Kids. The Cupcake Kids is a partner organization of Sixty Feet that gets kids involved with fundraising. Kids and parents across the world give of their time and resources, bake cupcakes galore, and then hold cupcake stands at churches, parks, garage sales, and parking lots all year long. They raise massive amounts of money in support of Sixty Feet and are a crucial part of this ministry.
Today we made Orange Crush cupcakes to sell to the few neighbors we have. (We have yet to figure out how to host a cupcake sale in this foreign country, but I have no doubt we will eventually.)
And by “we made”, I mean, the “girls made.” I put them to work, and they did a great job…
…while the pirate and his scallywag watched and waited for something to be licked.
Oh thank goodness…finally something to lick.
I could post a thousand pictures of cute kids (I’m biased, alright!)…
…and pretty cupcakes…
…but like I said earlier, this post isn’t really about cupcakes. It’s why the cupcakes are made and why they’re sold.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can receive basic medical care.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can get counseling for suffering they’ve had to endure.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can have their day in court.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can go to school and get an education.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They’re made and sold so that an imprisoned child in Uganda can have hope.
That’s why we sell cupcakes.
Won’t you consider hosting a sale of your own? Here’s the recipe that we made today, so now you have no excuse. If my girls can make and ice these, then anyone can.
Orange Crush Cupcakes
This recipe is from I Heart Naptime’s blog, recipe found here.
Cupcakes:
1 box white cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
6 T. orange Jell-O powder, divided
3 egg whites
1/3 cup oil
1 cup orange soda, room temperature
Frosting:
1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions:
Pre heat oven to 350. Combine cake mix, vanilla pudding and 5 tablespoons of orange Jell-O powder in a large bowl. Beat in egg whites, oil and orange soda. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Place batter in cupcake liners and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool.
For frosting combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. With a mixer beat until smooth. Add the remaining tablespoon of orange Jell-o powder, orange extract, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Mix until fluffy and frost.
Makes 18 cupcakes.
Together We Are Stronger
Today’s post is by our dear friend, Gwen Oatsvall. Gwen and Suzanne are the founders of 147 Million Orphans, a ministry created to care for the orphan through many programs, as well as help adopting families underwrite the cost of their adoptions. Thank you, Gwen, for joining with us in our efforts to care for the imprisoned children in Uganda!
I am honored to know Joy, Shelly, and Colleen !!! These 3 women are just a few of the many people God has blessed Suzanne and me with over the years of serving the hurting children of the world !!!
Their organization is called CUPCAKEKIDS.ORG and its mission is powerful … “little people with big hearts for God and the imprisoned children of Africa.” EMPOWERING our children to dream big and help even bigger is a blessing on so many levels … Just like 147′s “Donate your birthday program,” we have a desire to motivate our children to begin making a difference NOW … Helping them to use their talents to make a difference in another child’s life … A child much like themselves !!!
Jesus said that we all need child-like faith … You see children don’t see a box not to be climbed out of … They don’t see the obstacles before them … They don’t feel the heavy burden of the task … THEY SIMPLY DREAM OF PUTTING A SMILE ON A CHILD’S FACE !!! They see a need and are determined to meet it … I love the way a child goes about serving with a pure heart and a zest to make life better for someone else !!!
Allow your child to love on another child that is hurting and vulnerable … Empower and Encourage them to find their way to support a brother or sister around the world … Loving each other makes the world a much brighter place to be … And if we teach them now then when they grow older serving will be a part of their life always … What better blessing to give your child than the heart to serve !!!
THANKS JOY, SHELLY, AND COLLEEN for leading the way … hugs, 147 Moms !!!
Irresistible.
Today’s post is by our dear friend, Stefanie, otherwise known as Ni Hao Y’all. Stefanie and her husband have 11 children – 4 biological and 7 adopted from China. She and her husband are passionate about orphan care and we are thrilled to have her post here today!
Dang, y’all. I am so excited.
Because today, I get to introduce you guys – my orphan-loving, big-hearted friends – to something else that is close to my heart.
The Cupcake Kids.
If you’ve already heard about the Cupcake Kids, you know why I’m so smitten with what they do – and why they do it.
If you’ve never heard of them… well, you must. And because I love them and I love y’all, I’m determined for y’all to meet. Fall in love. And make cupcakes together.
To help make that happen, I’ve got a fun, and completely adorable, giveaway in store.
1. Go visit the Cupcake Kids website. Read all about the work they do to help imprisoned children in Uganda.
2. Get excited! This is a fantastic way to get your kids involved in caring for orphans around the world in a tangible way. I guarantee you, all you have to do is say, “cupcakes!” and your kids will be IN.
3. Pick a date and sign up to host your own cupcake sale. The Cupcake Kids website makes it so easy, y’all. So. Easy. And 100% of the funds you raise will go directly to fund their efforts in Uganda.
If you don’t like baking, or running, there is another way to get involved.
1. Go visit the I Run For Cupcakes page on the Cupcake Kids site.
2. Get excited! Running for imprisoned orphans in Uganda is one heckuva motivation to knock the dust off those running shoes and get going. If you’re not a runner – like me – get excited for someone else to run. Like your husband.
3. Register yourself, or your chosen participant (with their consent, of course) for I Run For Cupcakes. The site makes it super easy, you can even create a donation link to send friends and family. Join the IRFC team in Nashville for the half-marathon in late April, or you can join an event closer to home (or create your own!) on any day you choose. What a fantastic way to engage your friends, family and community on behalf of the orphan.
Okay, so here’s the giveaway part. We’ll be giving away FIVE super-cute-limited-edition Cupcake Kids t-shirt like Tallula is wearing above – available in kids and women’s sizes. To enter, just visit the Cupcake Kids site and sign up to host a cupcake sale or sign up to participate in an I Run For Cupcakes run. Then come back to my blog and leave me a comment to let me know what you’re going to do so I can jump up and down and celebrate you and your orphan-loving heart.
Winners will be selected randomly (or by a 3 year old) from all comments left between now and Friday, February 15th at midnight EST. I’ll announce the winners on Sunday the 17th.
I’m getting in on this too, y’all. No, I’m not running. But I am going to gather my kiddos and make some rockin’ cupcakes. And I can’t wait. Just picturing it – my Chinese-American kiddos, with their German-Irish-Scottish-American mama, making cupcakes for orphans in Uganda – makes me smile so big. It’s a pretty sweet picture of the gospel in action.
If you’re in the Birmingham area and have some ideas on a location that might work for spring/summer – I’m thinking maybe a big church or an adoption/orphan event? – please let me know. I would love to join forces with some other orphan-loving mamas and their kiddos to help raise awareness through something as simple and sweet as a cupcake.
Because seriously, who doesn’t love a cupcake?
So go grab your kids, take them to the Cupcake Kids website and pick a way to participate. Sign up to host a sale or Run for Cupcakes and then come back here and let me know. And then we can get our cupcakes on together.
H.U.R.U.
The author of this week’s post is Boog Ferrell. His wife Flo and their two daughters, Grace & Sophie, spent the summer of 2012 in Kampala, Uganda working with Sixty Feet. They reside in Texas where he teaches, coaches, reads, laughs, loves and runs. Since 2007 Boog has completed numerous 25k to 100k trail races and road marathons, while encouraging runners of all ages, that once you’re out the door, you’ve won.
Boog Ferrell
thechosenfast.blogspot.com
As far as running mantras go, H.U.R.U. isn’t bad. I picked this up from an article in Ultrarunning by Gary Dudney. It stands for: Healthy, Uninjured, Rested, Unafraid.
Last week at the USATF 100k National Trail Championships in Bandera, Texas – HURU worked, for me at least. In Uganda, in the centers filled with children forgotten by all but a few, in the streets and slums from which these children have fled or long for, and in the far hills of the Karamoja Region – HURU is an alien concept, and then again, it isn’t.
Healthy is an exception in a place where a child may lose a hand from the combination of a scratch and lack of Neosporin, or clean water, or soap, or someone who cares.
Uninjured is inconceivable in a country where children will hitch rides in the wheel-wells of busses, holding their younger siblings, for hours on end, just to make it to the city so they can have a better life begging .
Rested is the exception – Kampala never sleeps. Concrete floors are hard and cold. Days are harried.
Unafraid – unlikely. Kony was not an anomaly. Uncles and step-parents have proven just as deadly.
The beautiful saints we met while working with Sixty Feet in Uganda this summer have experienced and are living in these same real and surreal circumstances, compounded by the fact that they are giving their lives to combat these realities on behalf of defenseless children. But there is a second verse. For while I’m absent from my Ja-Ja Catherine and brother Boaz in Bwerenga, I’m tempted to dwell on their utter-H.U.R.U.-deficiency, however, I know that this is unfair and incomplete.
Healthy is the faith that Sixty Feet’s Ugandan and American workers possess. It is a joyous, abiding, exciting, courageous faith, unlike any I’ve encountered in my life.
Sixty Feet has been uninjured by the numerous obstacles that beset the work and has consistently grown the presence of the Gospel in each and every market, slum, center, cell, clinic bed, welding class and church where their feet tread.
Although the work is not done by a long shot in Uganda, there is an abiding calm assurance that the Lord of the Harvest will provide all that is needed and is constantly at work in all His laborers.
Unafraid…I, honestly, cannot imagine the trembling of the enemy that considers standing between saints like our friends in Uganda and a child to be rescued.
Sixty Feet in Uganda and in the U.S. is taking H.U.R.U. and letting that light shine. It honors the Lord by lending His courage, confidence, immortality and life to those most in need. They do this by faith with your help. You can do this by praying for the work, workers and children. You can personally donate, or seek per mile and outright donations on your behalf as you try something crazy like running a Marathon, or Half, or to the store and back (you’d be surprised how eager your friends will be to induce you to suffer). You can talk! One of my favorite things about running is the community – runners tend to be chatty about running and ultimately life. Be real – runners are a warm group – let them know what’s on your heart and keep the H.U.R.U. – HEROES of Sixty Feet planted firmly there so that every child once hurt, left, lost and longing will, by the Grace of God be: Healthy, Uninjured, Rested and Unafraid.
I Am Not A Runner
I am not a runner.
I’ve never been a runner and I don’t like running.
It makes me hot and sweaty.
I get out of breath just walking up a hill.
I like my sleep, and I’m just too busy.
So why would I sign up to run a half-marathon?
Because it can change lives.
A baby, picked up by police for begging on the streets.
I run for her.
A little girl, abandoned with her two brothers.
I run for them.
A young man, in prison for 3 years.
I run for him.
Since August 2011, I’ve been living in Uganda and working for Sixty Feet. And now I’m moving home. Soon, I’ll be leaving the children and the people that I’ve grown to adore. I won’t be able to see their sweet faces and hug their necks every week. I won’t be here to love on them, learn from them, or advocate on their behalf anymore.
New interns will come and take my place and the Sixty Feet staff will continue to pour out their hearts and their lives everyday to help these children. And even though I won’t be on the ground in Uganda anymore, I can still do something to help.
We can do something to help.
We can run for them. We can raise money to support an organization that God is using to change the lives of imprisoned children.
The money can put a child in school who didn’t think they had a future.
It can pay for life-changing surgeries.
It can provide additional nutritious food to kids.
It enables Sixty Feet to have staff who help keep the ministry running.
And to me, this matters.
These kids matter.
So I run.
Running is hard; it takes time and commitment. But, to be honest, living in prison is harder and if I can do anything to make it even a teensy bit better for them, then running will be worth it. And let me tell you, when you see joy on their faces, hope in their eyes, and hear laughter from their lips, it is worth it.
So, will you join me and run for them?
“If you excuse yourself, saying, ‘Look, we didn’t know anything about this,’ doesn’t God, who knows what you’re really thinking, understand your motives? Isn’t your Protector aware of why you aren’t protecting the innocent? Will He not repay you in kind?” Proverbs 24:12
Cupcake Kids {Inter}National Sales 2013
Today’s post comes courtesy of our dear friend, Lovelyn, who blogs over at Moments With Love. We are thrilled for her to officially kick off Cupcake Season 2013!
calling all kids ready to make a HUGE impact on children’s lives on the other side of the world!
it’s time to launch Cupcake Kids season!
Cupcake Kids was born of kids watching their parents be involved in helping the imprisoned children in Uganda, Africa and wanting to help, too. they came up with the idea to sell cupcakes and donate all the money to that non-profit, Sixty Feet. then, they asked kids all over the world to do the same and, through them, God has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the imprisoned children.
Sixty Feet is an action-based organization created to bring hope and restoration to the imprisoned children of Africa in Jesus’ name. We are not referring to a figurative prison of poverty or circumstance, but real places, with real bars.
the words above from their website are true. these are real places. several of them throughout the country of uganda. i’ve been there. i’ve seen the children. seen the hunger. seen the hurt. seen the pain. seen the bars. seen the prison cell. i’ve also seen God work through Sixty Feet to bring medical care, food, hygiene, clean water, education and even some fun to these kids’ days. most importantly, i’ve seen them bring the gospel and those children’s eyes
that had been filled with hurt? they begin to glimmer with hope.
now we have a chance to be Cupcake Kids, too! it’s simple. the official
[Inter]National Cupcake Kids sale day is:
May 4th, 2013.
Running with Purpose
Today’s post is the next installment in our series about running. Katie Seevers is a homeschooling mom of 6 littles, including two children recently adopted from Ethiopia. Katie will be serving as the Team Captain for this year’s I Run For Cupcakes Team. Read her story, get inspired and join her team for the Nashville Half Marathon this April!
Running really has become a passion of mine over the last 6 years. I was never into running. Sure I ran track in highschool, but not because I was fast or even good at it. Rather, because it was a social event. Everyone was doing it, and I wasn’t about to miss that boat. In high school, I ran short distances… like the 100 yard dash. and the 200. On practice days, I could barely get through the 1 mile warm up.
Fast forward 15 years, 3 kids and a few extra pounds, I decided it was time to get healthy. My girlfriend and I decided to train for our first half. I was amazed when I hit the 5 mile mark. Then 7… 10 and finally 13. I was ready for the race. It was a great race day and once I crossed the finish line, I was hooked.
As much as I love running and the benefits that go along with it, my love has really grown into so much more than just time alone and staying fit. Which is why in 2010, when I ran the Toledo Glass City Half, I did it in honor of our two kids from Ethiopia that we hadn’t even met. In fact, we received our referral call just 5 days before the race. This was something that I had specifically been praying for and many thought that I was praying for the impossible. In the months leading up to the race, I was on my face before the Lord asking Him to please allow us to have our referral of our child/children before race day, as it would be a great way to make it through those difficult miles, if I could envision my sweet kids’ faces. But the odds were against us as we were still pretty far down the waiting list, and things were slowing down drastically for international adoption in Ethiopia. We feared the country would close all together.
Every day I woke up saying, “Lord? is today the day?? Will we see our children’s faces today?” I asked this every day for about a month. I wrote about it in my blog posts. I talked about it as I was raising money for our adoption. It was bold. It was sure to fail. But isn’t that the best time to have hope, to believe? When all the odds are against you, many times that’s when the Lord shows up… to show off. And He did. It was 5 days before the race and I woke up again praying this prayer, “Lord there are only 4 short business days to receive our referral call before this race, today would be a good day to see our kids faces.” A few hours later, the infamous 703 area code showed up on my phone. It was our referral call. On race day, I ran knowing that there was a little boy and baby girl waiting for us in Ethiopia. The Lord had indeed answered our prayer.
I was able to be a part of their first annual team, raising a total of $30,000 for Project Hopeful. As I crossed the finish line, I balled my eyes out. Yes, I was physically exhausted, and drained, but my heart was swelling with love for my two kiddos, as well as the hundreds of other children who would benefit from this race.
I’m pleased to be joining IRFC (I run for Cupcakes) to run in the Nashville Half Marathon on April 27th, 2013, in an effort to raise funds for Sixty Feet. This ministry works on the ground in Uganda, “bringing hope and restoration to the imprisoned children of Africa in Jesus’ name”. I can’t think of a better way to impact the lives of children around the world who continue to be forgotten.
Who wants to join me? There are two ways that you can get involved… you can either run with me, or support Cupcake Kids financially by sponsoring me or another runner. Check out the deets here: http://www.
“…love is never stationary.” Bob Goff
You can also donate with Google Wallet.
