MercyHouse — We are THAT Family

Moms Loving Moms {Limited Edition Giveaway}

9:55 pm Bykristen

Congrats to random winner, Tracy.
I became a mother thirteen years ago. I spent five years before that longing to be one. Little did I know eighteen-something years ago, I would get to connect moms here with moms in Kenya through my mom blog. It’s one of my greatest honors.

So, motherhood is sort of my thing.

We now have 11 moms, 8 babies and 3 on the way in Kenya and hundreds and hundreds of moms in the USA and Canada and other countries who make their residence at Mercy House possible. It’s mind-boggling, really. And it’s just proof of a great big God.

For a very limited time, you can bless your mom or a m0m in your life, by purchasing one of our unique mother/daughter necklace sets, designed specifically to benefit Mercy House Kenya this Mother’s Day.

Set includes both necklaces for $44 Buy Here.

All the proceeds will go to help us help more moms around the globe.

Mother’s Day is fast-approaching and I can’t think of a better gift to give to a special lady in your life that will also bless a mom and child across the ocean.

Perfect for adult daughters to give or receive…

or little girls to wear….

We also have gorgeous matching bracelets:

Every necklace/bracelet order between now and May 1, 2013, will receive a FREE gorgeous photo Mother’s Day card from Mercy House to give along with a necklace/bracelet.

We only have 50 sets of our Mother/Daughter Pottery Bird/Nest Necklace Sets and 75 matching bracelets. And we cannot guarantee more by Mother’s Day, so order soon.

The set of necklaces is $44 each (2 necklaces).

Mother Nest Necklace is $30 (by itself)

Daughter Bird Necklace is $20 (by itself)

Matching Bracelet is $25

Today, I’m giving away a Mother/Daughter Set and a matching bracelet to one lucky reader. Tomorrow, I’m heading to Kenya to be with our moms and babies. Leave a comment about your mom or daughter as your entry.

[We have listed half of what we have. If we sell out quickly, we will restock. Please note: Jewelry will be shipped week of April 22, 2013]

Filed UnderGiveaways, MercyHouse 216 Comments

We are Building a Playground in Africa

6:00 am Bykristen

Do you want to know what the best thing about starting a maternity home in Kenya is?

First

Birthday

Parties!

Not only do we get to see young girls transform from scared, lonely, hopeless girls burdened with the world and child, we get to help them become mothers and watch them fall in love with their babies who were sometimes products of their abuse and usually unwanted.

We now have eight babies–six babies over 1 year old and two 10 month olds. (This past weekend we brought in new girls–more on that later, but please pray for this difficult transition for all involved).

Our adorable babies are healthy, beautiful and very mobile.

Because we have so many living in our home, space is often a challenge, as is keeping areas toddler-proof. Maybe it sound familiar? The weather in our area of Kenya is beautiful most months of the year and we’ve been dreaming of a playground for our babies to roam freely and safely, with a gated area to keep them from wandering off.

My sweet, pregnant friend, Stephanie (co-founder of (in)courage) is celebrating her miracle baby by throwing a baby shower over at incourage today with the help of Pure Charity! And Mercy House gets the gifts! You can be a part of building a playground for our babies and toddlers at Mercy House Kenya! You can learn more here.

I am leaving later this week for Kenya. I can’t wait to blog from our maternity home and share all that God is doing with your help!

Filed Underincourage, MercyHouse 5 Comments

When God Says Wait It’s For a Reason

9:18 pm Bykristen

I’ve been tentatively walking thru open doors lately.

Some I didn’t have the courage to even knock on.

Oh, life.

But if I’ve learned anything the last 3 years, it’s this: chasing the heels of Jesus leads you into the unexpected, saying the little yes’ everyday, often leads to more opportunities and bigger yes’.

When I wrote about the real estate situation in Kenya, it was to educate current and future donors. But really, I wrote because it was an oppressive weight on my chest. It made me feel better to explain all the impossibilities of owning a permanent home to continue to help pregnant girls and young mothers at Mercy House.

But just days after I hit publish, we stumbled upon a house that was about the same size as the one where we pay high rent, but instead of being priced at 1 million US dollars (like our current home), it was priced at a fourth, $250,000.

After we checked into the house and did our research, we were able to get the asking price reduced by more than $65,000 (the owner loves the mission of our maternity home and needs to sell).

And while that was a steal of a deal in the steep Nairobi housing market, the bottom line price was still more than we had.

Here’s that place I often find myself: the crossroads of I can’t and He can. It’s an uncomfortable gap in the road of life and the only tangible way to bridge the two is faith.

So, I did what all good type A control freak mothers who run a non-profit in a developing nation do, I tried to figure it out on my own. Without getting into all the financials, I asked a trusted generous donor to loan us the difference in good faith that we would pay it back and we tentatively began to move forward.

But just like that, my carefully manipulated plans fell apart and the Mercy House Board gave me one word: wait.

48 hours passed and nothing happened.

Except that I resisted the urge to visit a bank and email all the rich people I knew-which at the time took serious constraint. And I’m serious about that. Because even when you have the power to make things happen and go your way, it doesn’t mean you should.

Life lessons are hard.

I prayed and waited and as the sun set on the third day and the window of opportunity began to close, God showed up in way I didn’t expect or anticipate. It was big and beautiful and I cried knowing I almost missed a chance to see the Hand of God move.

Because instead of providing a loan, He gave us a gift.

When God says wait, it’s not because He’s not there, it’s because He’s getting ready to show up. We often miss it because we get in a hurry.

“This is how God works. He puts people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.” David Platt

Not only did He provide the immediate cash I wanted to borrow, He reminded me (again) what He’s able to do–exceedingly, abundantly more and this –this– renews and strengthens the weary (raises hand) to keep going.

Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:31

We are doing due-diligence, carefully navigating and negotiating the purchase of a 3,500 square foot residence in Kenya to house a dozen or so girls, plus their babies (phase 1). This is a small part of the big picture God is revealing to our slowly expanding organization.

I don’t know what the final outcome will be, God may close doors and open others, but I am confidant He will do something amazing.

If I wait and let Him.

Filed UnderFaith, MercyHouse 33 Comments

An Epic Love Story

9:44 pm Bykristen

Congrats to random winner, Kit Jordan.

Three years ago today, I traveled to Kenya for the first time to blog about poverty and found true religion.

I took many of you with me on the life-changing trip.

I’m still amazed at how God took a willing heart and sent it around the world and turned

a small, simple yes into a House of Mercy, brimming with happy babies, healthy girls and expanding every day.

God’s funny that way.

He gives us just enough information and protects us from the big dream we haven’t grown into yet.

Because I didn’t know finding Edith would stir my heart to help her orphaned siblings, living in a rural village so far from their big sister. I didn’t know Edith would mourn them everyday in our house. I didn’t know we’d find them in desperation and we would be able to help.

I didn’t know rescuing Cindy and baby Nicholas would give us the chance to help her family allowing her mother start a business and give her siblings an opportunity for the future.

I didn’t know that digging deeper, exposing ourselves to more work and pain, would present more opportunities to love and new chances to see Jesus.

I’m glad I didn’t know.

It makes the discovery so much more powerful.

There are still so many unknowns in my life and yours, but the beauty is in the journey.

God is writing a a great love story there and here. Because I also didn’t know a mom would sacrifice $3 every month faithfully for 13 months and on the 14th month, donate $1000. I didn’t know He would compel others to do the same over and over to keep this little mission afloat.

I didn’t know He would build Mercy House thru your generosity or give us a thousand miracles to get from there to here.

But He knew.

Love’s like that: a contagious, spreading fire that cannot be snuffed out by our inadequacy or ignorance. You would think the world would overwhelm this heart of mine, but instead it’s just grown bigger for the world.

Three years ago today, I didn’t know the end of my trip was really the beginning of an epic love story.

This month, my favorite art company, Show Offs Art is loving mercy with us. You can join them by showing Christ’s love and compassion by shopping their company this Easter season. Use the word MERCY to get a 10% discount and 25% of your sale will go to Mercy House. If you’d like to win my favorite beautiful canvas, leave the name of the person who needs a little extra love in the comments as your entry.

Filed UnderGiveaways, MercyHouse, My Life 67 Comments

The One Thing That Will Change Your Life

10:10 pm Bykristen

We have laughed our way thru her first automatic carwash and basketball game, introduced Chinese food and trampoline-jumping. We’ve exposed her to the wonders of marshmallows and s’mores, silly string and hammock-lying in our backyard. Oh, and laundry in a washing machine.

We’ve dreamed and planned, worked and played and cried our way through deep conversations, remembering the amazing, often hard road we’ve journeyed, nearly three years now.

For the last two weeks, Maureen and I have told our story, the story of Mercy House–together– it’s another first, and it’s been powerful.

How could I know, this, too, would change me?

How could I know seeing my life thru her lens would wreck me in a new way?

How do I explain why my country spends more on accessorizing pets in a year, than her entire country earns? She asks innocently without judgement, “Does your country know how we live in Kenya?” I don’t even have an answer. I’m just embarrassed.

How do I explain why she sees so few hospitals in my suburban town and so many in hers? I try to describe healthcare and preventive medicine and my words sound hollow because I don’t even say thank you for what I’ve always had. We take her to the doctor for a physical and blood work, another first.

Everything about my life is easy. From the laundry piles I whine about to the dinners I prepare, my life of comfort and convenience is the polar opposite to hers and millions of other. I know this. I have been to Kenya three times now and even as I prepare to go again in April, it’s startling to see my life thru her eyes.

It’s one thing to think about your life, comfort and convenience when you’re in the middle of extreme poverty. It’s hard not to. But it’s a whole different ball game when you bring someone from that background into your comfort and convenience.

She’s shared story after story of countless people who suffer more than I can fathom on a daily basis. Today, right now. Children who do not have enough food to eat. And I feel the old question welling up, tears with it. I still don’t have answers; it’s still unfair.

I’ve spent the last few weeks seeing my life as she sees it. I am deeply compelled to be a part of the answer.

She tells me more of her childhood story, so much that I can smell the sewage that ran in front of her family’s shack. I am moved with compassion at the suffering she endured. I ache for her family and her world and I long to wipe out the suffering of her people. “Don’t cry, Mom. Look how far God has brought me,” and she begins to name blessings. “Look at all I have,” she exclaims and spreads her arms out.

We are standing in my big, beautiful home and I quietly answer, tears falling now, “Look at all I have.” There is no comparison.

But then Maureen holds one arm up to Heaven and one down to the ground and gives me a knowing look. It’s the pose we created for moments like these. It means:

I want to live my life with one hand open to receive from God above and the other hand open to give it to others. I want to be a conduit, not holding anything too tightly, ready to open my hands to others, to give to those who can never give back.

This is our commitment.

This one thing will change your life.

I dare you to try it.

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” -John Bunyan

[photos by Suzanne Box Photography]