Ok...didn't see that one coming

Hummm...have you had those moments that come from nowhere and punch you in the gut ? It takes a while... A while to pull all of the energy back,your focus,purpose, direction and largely your PERSPECTIVE . Well, that's where I've been. September the 12th I typed out a mission to become current and photographically delivering again on our blog. With fresh vision that I had lacked for quite a while , I was committing to turn over a new leaf ...probably in respects to it being fall now in the states...I dutifully typed out my beginning post,hit the send button and received a skype call. The call was actually typed out and so there I was ....coffee,committed to better communication ,feeling pretty good about myself for follow through and read.....Have you heard about "dear friends" (names absent intentionally) ? No...! My first thought was the great ugly "D" word.. Divorce...no...not them too...Man!seriously Satan! .......typed back was..... " dear friends daughter was killed yesterday in an ATV accident....no details yet . Can you HEAR the pause ? Can you FEEL the vomit ? Oh God... Seriously?

A very generous gift was given to me... Two actually...My husband shewed me out the door for the next week to act on the other gift that was given me which was the ticket to be a part of......a piece of a family forever changing. Equally as beautiful but in the middle of the most intense pain I have ever witnessed personally. The LAST word they would ever chose would be "beautiful" ....I know...but they were and are. I don't know how two people and their son could give someone back to God more beautifully than they have.

Perspective piece : I can hear some now.... THIS is your Jesus? Who takes the life of a 15 year old girl only hours after arriving home from CHURCH ? Yes. THIS is who you radically and emotionally give your life over to ? This is the one you trust your children to?yes.

Sitting on the porch for a three day gift of time was sitting with Jesus for me.yea,yea...but HE killed her. He, your Jesus, snuffed a life of only 15 years...that's not fair! On ANY level.....to which I say," you are EXACTLY right! There is not one fair thing about it. But my decision, I will only speak for myself....I can and will stand on that, my decision to follow Jesus was a committment birthed out of rescue, redemption. It was not birthed out of a misguided idea that JESUS will rescue me from " life".... I make those decision...the "life" choices .... But who will carry me through this vommit causing,anger inducing ,head swimming madness of a life no longer here but there? Who? Everything else in front of me expired....my ticket to get home.... expired.The day light hours to sit at the feet of my precious friend.... expired, the coffee pot with it's false sense of energy.... expired,the time that I could allow being away from my children and husband.... expired.......ALL of it! Every earthly "out" of the hurt expired on me. A sweet friend gave me a CD by Ann Graham Lotz called Just Give Me Jesus. Water. Spiritual,eternal,thirst quenching ,madness raging squashing WATER......rescue.my answer for the furry...JESUS. Yes! Just give me Jesus ...." you can have ALL this world...just give me Jesus.". RESCUE.

Precious one reading this post....are you aching? Vommiting? Trying to function amongst the most intense pain you have ever known...known to man? I beg you to find a spot and say out loud....someone...ANYONE.....Give me Jesus! The beautiful thing is...well, ONE of the beautiful things is....you don't physically have to search out the "someone".just call out and he will come... I put my life on it AND the lives of my children. Precious person....you simply can't go wrong with JUST JESUS.

My love to you all and in regard to every hurt being endured today, may you find the pain being caressed,massaged ,stroked and cared for the one who answers to.....just JESUS.
M.E.

Going Back in Time....

Good morning ! I'm going to go "back in time" for the millionth time and get caught up on all of the going on's of our family of 8 living in Guatemala. Grace and Jacob just went to a 50's party and so I thought.... PERFECT place to start ~ enjoy your day.... enjoy your week.

I LOVE their spirit for life ! inspiring ...really . 

I DO....

I DID , I DO  and I'd do it again ....... Yes, I take this man to be my lawfully wedded husband ... to have and to hold.... for better , for worse, in sickness and in health ...until death do we part ~ Forever is a long long time and I couldn't  be more grateful ! 

Happy Birthday Jacob ! 

I can't believe that I have a 17 year old !!! Or .... maybe , it's that I can't believe that I have a 18 year old AND a 17 year old... hum.. maybe, it's that I can't believe that I have a child who is 17 today and giving "adoptional" ( is that a word :) birth to a 3 year old in 8 months or so..... life is funny.....NEVER dull and ALWAYS changing... Go out and change the world Jacob ! ~ God created you "for such a time as this". Can't WAIT to see who you become.

#7... We are beautifully blessed to share our newest ....

miss  Zheng Yu Xiang

you have a new name..... Naomi Rose  __?__Evans

Meet our newest addition... in our hearts she is already ours ! We are madly in love with our little white headed, blue eyed, pale skin angel waiting for us on the other side of the world ( talk about total torture!) 

Naomi is 3 years old and has albinism. That is why she is missing the "typical" dark hair, skin and eyes and instead has been given pearly white . We are just really learning about this genetic disorder ( blessing in our case ) . She captured out hearts literally the moment that we laid our eyes on her. Honestly, my heart stopped. I don't know how you could ever capture the voice of God and put it into words but without trying and simply putting it... the moment that I saw her.... she was mine. God said so. I've never needed to know about albinism (obviously we are learning so that we can give her the moon and back that she might need) , I never stopped to question that she is 3, I don't need to know what her correct vision is and the other things that come packaged with this box o treasure.... she's just mine... born in this mama 's heart the moment that I saw her. Our love for her allows us to wait until we gather money, paperwork, plane tickets and political approval. 

Naomi Rose, 

Our deepest love to you tiny angel .... you are no longer abandoned but found. No longer alone but part of a family. You have been given a daddy, mama and brothers and sisters. You have amazing grandparents who can't wait to spoil you rotten. You have a home instead of an orphanage..... you have the heart of a father placed inside of you and we can't wait to watch it all unfold... to watch you blossom into who you were intended to be... may you rest well tonight, have plenty to eat and be warm. Hang on.... we're coming for you honey. 

love you to the moon and back, 

Daddy and mama.

Hilarious! and We're growing !

Okay... gotta crack up ... apparently I am the only one plugged in here and that's okay... :) lol

Soo... word on the street is true! The Evans are growing. We are expecting #7 via adoption sometime this Spring. We are humbled that the Lord has pulled us out, sat us down and given us the chance to inhale the reality that he is trusting us to "grow" again! We received this little one's photo about 2 months ago and on my mama's birthday China sent us word that we have their permission to move forward and bring this little jewel into our home ! There is more to come but I'll leave it there for the weekend... Photos to be posted of our little one on Monday ( Lord willin' and the internet up ... )

I'll leave you with a photo of us currently ..... and then our little gift on Monday :) Ps... we are giggly thrilled to be parents again...

In regards to blogging, I am wondering lately where to go with it. This began as a blog of our family entering the mission field and what that looked like.. 

Our ministry is no longer what we are here to "do" but who we are here doing what we do. 

...and so, I'm looking to you Lord. I want this place to reach into the hearts of the people who come across it. I want to challenge, encourage, expose you through the journey that you have us on. 

As I sit here today, 

loving how you love me Lord....

falling crazy in love, every day more, with crazy people :)

who do crazy things ( ie, my father in law strapping up for the zip line) 

our posture is to wait with open hands for your direction in all that we do... even in the bloggy world. This blog has always been a blog for life..not to expose our ministry so much because of who we are reaching out to ... I have a huge desire to not put on display or lift up our own work to be "out there" so to speak... instead, to just photo, journal and laugh at life... 

Lead us Lord.... ,even in the bloggy world, ... what is your direction... our journey can be at times ...

wet, rocky, harder to discern, but there all the same... 

Lord, let not those that come by my way leave this place untouched by you... but instead, encouraged to look out their car window and get a better view... to stop and glean all that you have for them today, tomorrow and the day after that....should it come.... 

Soo.... homeschool, adoption, children with special needs, wife to an amazing missionary man, raw foody lover, cross cultural weirdness, crocheting (yes, my newest obsession... along with raw food) , mom with teens and littlies at the same time( a weirdness unto its own - no kidding) ... Any thoughts on direction would be appreciated...new blog title anyone? These are my thoughts on where we're turning... are you in?