'Tis so sweet...

My alarm went off at 4:45am. As I rolled over I could already feel my heart begin to pound. I staggered into the bathroom where my gear was neatly placed on the countertop the night before. As I looked down I saw a tender note from my sweet husband. I smiled. As I began to put on my R4R "armor" I looked in the mirror and began to recite that all too familiar verse:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes [like human trafficking]. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph 6:10-12)

As we arrived and parked, Rich said a quick prayer and we all got out of the car ready to run for an in incredible revolution. I soon found myself standing there, elbow to elbow, in a mass of people i didn't know. The race was about the begin, but my heart had started long before my body. Next thing I knew i was jumping up and down. Finally- the sound of a gun! We were off. My first REAL half marathon- and what cooler place that Nairobi?! I tried hard to pace myself but the excitement was keeping me from succeeding. Just as I found my pace I passed a woman in a wheelchair who had started a good 30minutes before myself. She was pushing herself as hard as she could on uneven pavement. I looked down at her... elbows bleeding and she was only 2 miles into it. I felt my throat begin to tighten quickly. Tears began to form. I saw the determination in her face and knew she wanted no help or pity. I fought tears and begin singing to my ipod knowing I couldn't let myself cry because I wouldn't be able to breathe. Another 4 miles passed. Then I heard a familiar voice in both ears speaking, not singing. As soon as I heard this voice I knew I recognized it. But where? I didn't remember putting this on my "NBO marathon" playlist. After the first sentence, I KNEW that sweet voice. It was my very best friend and my favorite voice. My heart did a flip as my number one fan read scripture to me. And what better time than mile 6? Once again, I felt my throat begin to close. I told myself to: "Calm down and cry later. If you cry you can't breathe; if you can't breathe, you can't run. If you can't run, you can't fight..." So I kept on.

As the road doubled back I would see one of my team mates on the other side of the road. I LOVED seeing that beautiful shirt that made us part of team that is fighting for something so great and so beyond us. It really was an encouragement... even though he was 20 minutes in front of me.

Every 2-3 miles they had water stations. I guess because of the lack of clean water here they had 200ml bottles of water rather than paper Gatorade cups with 2 sips of water. I skipped the first several stations telling myself "you've never trained with water, why do you need it? Chris is at the end of this race- he'll have water." (Being thirsty usually prompts me to pray for the people of Sudan and my best friends team that just went in to build wells this past summer. It's a good reminder when I'm thirsty to pray for those people to find the living water.)

Finally I succumbed to the temptation of wetting my mouth, but quickly wished I hadn't. The ground was soaking wet from wasted water of several thousand people. Runners could only take a few sips then toss them on the ground. I was about to freak out: "People! This country is in a water crisis right now!" And there was no way I could finish my water or I would have made myself sick. I reluctantly sat my bottle on the ground (yes, upright just incase someone wanted to have some water behind me). The next time I was REALLY wanting water was about 3 miles from the finish and I had made a vow to either drink someone elses or not drink at all. It was the last water station before the finish. I ran by it starring at that luscious, clear, cool, goodness dripping from the hands of the providers. A man just to my left took a few sips as I watched, mouth watering. Then he just held onto it. After about a minute of thinking he had to be finished with it I said "May I please have your last sip, I didn't want to waste the water." I wondered if he spoke english. He said "What?" So I tried again in Kiswahili "Ninataka kidogo Maji Tafadali." He smiled and handed it right over to me. I had prayed I would meet at least one person I could tell about R4R and my passions. So 3 miles out, prayers answered. I met Steve, my water benefactor. We soon discovered we were both rookies. Our first half marathon. He was running in a pair of very flat Puma's with dress socks, me in my comfy, borrowed awesome Nike's and padded socks. I'd been training a few months; Steve trained 2 whole weeks. That's a Kenyan for you. We were about 3/4 mile from the finish line inside Nayo stadium and it began to rain pour. Steve said "Me, I am going to stop now." I grabbed his arm, pulled him forward not allowing him to stop and yelled "NO! YOU CAN'T STOP NOW! YOU'RE AT THE END!" As if he was running for the same reasons as I was. It might have been borderline rude, but I mean- it was the end! We'd come this far without stopping. He looked at me with furrowed brow and said "You are hard!" We continued on together. Several others were stopping as if they'd seen the words "Finish Line". As we entered the stadium the feeling of that nice soft track against my aching feet and sore knees was like heaven to me. I looked at Steve and said "Enjoy this moment." As we took our last 1/4 mile around the track I searched the stands for all my Mzungu's- they weren't hard to find. As I came around the curve they were the white ones, yelling and cheering as if I'd won the 1.5 million shillings. I again looked at Steve and said "Let's finish this hard." So we both sprinted through the finish and high five one another. What a beautiful feeling I will never ever forget. I'd won more than 1.5 M shillings. I had helped fight against slavery and free children...

I knew I couldn't do it in my strength. I would have never made it out of the car. I truly felt the Lord was honored through this marathon and I have no intentions of stopping now. I am part of a revolution.

What a joy it was to run for such a time as this...

Sneak Peek- YAYA!!

Here is your sneak peek at the Yaya market for November 20th and 21st at Monkeez Brew. I mean, if nothing else you should stop by just to see me! Feel free to tell me what you like so i know if I need to get more of something.

Angel ornaments

More Magazine necklaces- lots more!

Nativities

A very random picture of our home group from church.

more nativities

Go on a safari every dinner with hand carved safari animal napkin rings

These are made from banana leaves- I love their legs! (I ordered more thats is why only 2 are pictured)

Plant something in these darling little pot things!

Hand carved, really skinny, wooden Africans. There is one mama that is pregnant...hehe

Assorted carved gords

Drums! Okay so we have 3 of these but I have no idea how we will get them back! We'll just have to see if they make it!

Earrings: Kazuri, magazine, animal, africa and more

Hand sewn African baby dolls

scarves

and a few more nativity scenes

coconut shell necklaces, knives, soap stone bowls and more!

I have 4 CUTE amani wallets- I bought one for myself!

I only have a few shillings left so I must spend them wisely- tell me what you like so i can make some money for my babies!!

Running... into old age

Okay my Michigan friends- I'm dying to know how the Detroit Marathon went!? Anybody out there?

The Nairobi Marathon is THIS Sunday!! My stomach is turning just thinking about it. I'm nervous. As I've been training I have chosen Saturdays for my long runs. I was so nervous the night before my 9 and 12 miles- that I couldn't sleep! I guess I can plan on running the NBO 1/2 marathon on ZERO sleep as well.

This past Saturday it rained poured the whole night before so I knew it was going to be a muddy mess. Sara is doing the 10K so she and I drove separate over near where Rich and Shauna live to run around there. There is little traffic and the hills aren't nearly as steep. The plan was to run 60 minutes together then head back to our mommy vans so she could head home to the fam. I was going to grab a quick sip of water then do another 40-50 minutes. (I was trying to take it a little easier b/c I have had some real aches and pains lately.) I was right about the muddy mess. We were slippin' and sliddin'! I just knew I was going to bite it before it was all over with. Running off-road is much better on the joints so I try to stay off the pavement (although Sunday will be nothing but pavement). We had to stop just to rake the mud off our shoes b/c they were getting SO HEAVY.

As we completed about 65 minutes we headed down a gravel straight road that ran next to 2 large fields. As we neared our vans we noticed 2 men climbing through the barbed wire fence to come "greet" us. (Kenyans always call it "greeting".) I was NOT in the mood to be harassed so I went straight to the van to get my water, not stopping to talk. I knew they wanted something. They started asking Sara for money saying they had watched our cars. I decided just to get in the van and I would finish my run at home. You see I knew that if we told them "no" and then I turned to go back running, sure enough I'd have pieces of my van missing when I got back. That's what happens here. Just ask Graig. As soon as I got in my van I wished I hadn't. Sara told them that she didn't have money to give them. I wished that I would have stayed outside the van to say: "#1- we both have alarms on our vans. #2- we have several friends that live around here watching them for us." That way next time I came back to run they would think we were friends with everyone so they wouldn't be tempted to piddle with our mommy vans. But I just got in the van and ignored their requests for money. I know what you are thinking: "She is so jaded." Yes, I admit that I am. I can be sensitive too, but sometimes it just gets old getting treated like you are a walked ATM instead of a real person with feelings.

At any rate, I got home and could hardly get these bones out of the van. I was aching... bad! I tried to go back out but didn't make it very far. I found myself guarding every single step with my shoulders tensed up to my ear lobes. I took myself inside and reclined with a bag of frozen veggies on my leg and knee. Lindsey's diagnosis is that I have already worn out the milage on my running shoes I got in May. :( It probably is time for new ones. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do in preparation for Sunday's race since I only did about 6.5 miles Saturday. All I know is that 27 is coming... HARD and FAST with a baseball bat swinging with no plans to miss me.

And can I just give a shout out to Linds for running a 5k with about 8 minute miles at 8 months pregnant! She told me she knew she needed to pass people so they would see her R4R T-shirt! haha! Not sure I'm going to do much passing Sunday... maybe I'll just do an occasional finger point to the back of my tank instead.

Sykes! Dat's really not funny Friday

You may think that this Sykes monkey is all cute and stuff...

You may even think that it is really cool that he frequents our yard...

Well, you know what's NOT funny?

What's not funny is me, in my bedroom minding my own business -when peeping Tom here decided to pay me a visit and ALMOST came in my room!!! Sometimes Chris and I leave our bedroom door to the balcony open when we've been out there, for the breeze and what not. That door is VERY noisy and I heard it slightly open more than it was. I look over and this is the face I saw checking me out!! I ran toward the door clapping and yelling "YOU GET OUTTA HERE!" Then I yelled for Chris to come. He just jumped up on the banister and starred at me (the monkey that is, not Chris). He was only 6 feet from me at eye level... so I yelled at him again and finally he jumped up on the roof like this peaking over at me. He sat there for quite some time checking us out. Chris went and got a broom and shooed him away, further up on the roof. He decided to hang out and chill on the solar hot water panels for a bit, then he went on. I guess to continue his peeping business. Creepy little booger...

Do-hickies, Chicks, and Scuba Steve...

Isn't this little do-hicky to the right so nifty? Don't you want it for yourself? I thought so. Well, it's REALLY easy to put on your facebook, blog or whatever! Thankfully Neil made it extremely user friendly! Probably did that for those of you like me... who are special when it comes to blogger and facebooky stuff. (Anyone know how to do that nifty thing where you write a word and then put a line though it. I've always wanted to do that.)

Any hoots- add it so we can get the word out about R4R.

Lindsey and I have already watched God BLESS this so much! We both get sweaty palms and almost wet ourselves b/c we get THAT excited about this! We both have faith it's going to be HUGE! Help us out!

Adoption News:

We have a meeting with Scuba Steve today at 11. I'm hoping to sit there with him and get the Home study reworked together. He told me to correct it and re-write it however I wanted to and they would be happy to sign it. So I did. I honestly think that we would have some difficulty ever getting it from them, if I didn't do it. So I'm very thankful they gave me that luxury. Hey- I could be a social worker after this!

Chris and I are thrilled that the Lord has given us the opportunity to keep on moving forward with this adoption. Though it has brought some frustrations and heartache at times, it is a privilege to be a part of. It's going to be SO worth it in the end! Adopting is not s right that we have... but a privilege. So we have to keep that in mind!

I went shopping yesterday at the market with Candice and Sara. Candice is adopting from Ethiopia. Sara and her family live with us and are adopting from Kenya. I bought a TON of stuff- so before you guys Christmas shop, check out all the cool stuff I bought. I was able to get it nice and cheap, so it would be a good price for you all! And it helps us to fund our adoption. We pinned down a date for the Yaya Market. It will be the day after we get back- November 20th, and the morning of the 21st. It will be at Monkeez Brew again, there was much success there and it seems to be central for many people. Soon I will post some pictures of all the stuff that will be there! Here is a hint: Nativities!

Ministry News:

I can't wait until Chris posts on the ministry blog about our new chicken project. It's just he is so so so busy right now. But I will give you my little adoption bloggy people a sneak peek! Yesterday, 103 baby chicks were delivered to our house! They are nice and comfy in their little chicken house now. Thomas just sat inside their house with them for like 2 hours yesterday. He was SO cute with them! In 4 weeks we hope to sell 2.5 kg chickens! This is our first chicken house. If they all live then we will build more... lots more. This will help offset ministry costs and help our national friends become more autonomous!

Good News or Bad News?

Which do you want first?

Good News it is then.

Well, today we woke up and had an email from AWAA saying that we were accepted to their Rwanda program. So we're on the move... FORWARD finally!

I take it back. There is no "bad" news. It's just that i sit here this morning looking through all the "paperwork" (it's on the computer) and I realize it's not quite as easy as I thought it would be. Some of your adopt-y people are saying: "easy"?? I mean easier b/c we have done so much of it already with our Kenya adoption. Apparently it's been a while and I have forgotten a few things. Like getting papers notarized. For anyone living in the states, it's no big deal. For us, it is a big deal. Last time we ended up coming home to do a lot of it. I really don't want to wait until the end of November to get this going b/c I already have SO SO much lined up for when we come home. And the homestudy- I'm not even going there right now.

Ugh.... I am just so, so, so, overwhelmed. It makes me nauseous just thinking about what all we are re-doing. Guess thats my morning sickness. It is 9am...

Zofran please!

Slamming Doors...

If you haven't read the ministry blog I encourage you to do so now so that you are updated a little more about what's up with the adoption. The below post was written as it is dated. I wanted you all to know why we are no longer adopting from Kenya. I also wanted to give you a little glympse into what was happening in our hearts during all of this. I will try to be better about updating you all and answering as many of your questions as possible. Really, if there is something you don't understand or that I don't explain well, please just leave a comment and ask! I think I would rather be asked about them here on the blog than in person. Sound weird? Or does it sound like I am emotionally unstable? I guess I'm not sure how sensitive I'm going to be about it when we get back. We thought last time we boarded the plane to come back to Africa that when we returned we would meet all of you at the airport holding our child(ren). So here it is, raw as ever...

August 19,2009

Yesterday, it appeared a door was shut... to us it seemed as though it was slammed shut. I'm writing this as my emotions are fresh and my wounds are deep, however, the peace truly has surpassed my understanding.

As you may have read in my previous post I wrote Monday morning- we were scheduled to get our fingerprints done at the embassy Wednesday morning. I was a bit confused about filing the i800 in the US b/c that wasn't what I was told by our country coordinator. Monday night, I was so excited about Chris going to his first mens group meeting with our new church. I think he was a little hesitant, but I knew he needed to go so I raised his hand for him in church Sunday when they were doing a head count. Sara and I hung out at the house with the OSU group. Chris and Graig both came back so excited and pumped about their new found friends. Chris had a huge smile on his face and said "you aren't going to believe this! God is so great!" He told me he had met a guy who works at the embassy and was kind of a "big man" who knew all about the i800 b/c he works with human rights. He said we did need to file it in the US and said we could email him any time with questions. So you betcha- next day I sent him an email to check into what the lady had told me about "warning [me] about the delay of the i800." Later that afternoon (Tuesday), I decided to take my Sunday afternoon nap since I was cooking all day Sunday. I just wanted some time to read which usually leads to falling asleep. Chris had to run a few ministry errands so he left me read-sleeping. When he returned he gently woke me up and told me he needed me to sit up and wake up because he had something really important to tell me. He proceeded to tell me that before I emailed our friend, he had already been checking into this that morning. Then he got my email and knew he needed to call Chris and update him on what's going on with the whole situation. As painful as he knew it would be for us to hear it, he said he had to tell us.

It appears as though no one has been approved for the i800 (we were the first with our Kenyan and US agency). There are people who work at the embassy who have been waiting on theirs for almost a year now. Kenya wanted to be Hague accredited with the US, however they are noncompliant with Hague requirements which is "no contact with the child until after court process". Kenya says no way they are changing. Therefore they will likely be closing Kenya to the US. Unfortunately, we are caught up in the middle of all this. Fortunately, Our God is so big and has a wonderful plan for Team Thompson. This is brand new news that both of our agencies are completely clueless about. CAS is scrambling for answers. That night after our weeping session, we decided we needed to tell the Austin's as it could involve them as well. We were very concerned for our friends as they already were with their little girl. However they were grandfathered in with their old application and under the i600.

Our friend told us to go ahead with our fingerprint appointment as scheduled. We awoke at 5:30 the next morning. As we got ready in silence and gathered our things I felt Chris sort of watching me and waiting on me. As we made eye contact he reached out his hand for me. We knelt before the Lord and commited all of this to Him. We asked for peace and guidance only from Him. As we sat in the lobby awaiting our appointment a familiar face walked in. It was Matt Mucher whose parents are part of our accountability team. He was so nice to take us to the cafeteria to eat while we waited. He then sent Elizabeth, whom our appointment was with, to fetch us in the cafe. Afterward our fingerprinting she called our new church friend to meet us. He was super busy (he is the #3 person at the embassy!) but took the time to take us back to the cafeteria and insisted on buying us a cup of coffee. We talked more and he kept saying how sorry he was to tell us all this news. He also told us horror stories of children having to be given back b/c they would never obtain US citizenship. What we kept trying to reinterate to him was that he was such a blessing! I can't imagine going so far in this process as to have actually met our child to begin raising him to later find out he would never receive US citizenship and they would have to take him back to the orpahage. I'm pretty sure that would be the end of Lindy Thompson's sanity.

As I grieved our loss I began throwing questions out "Does God EVER intend us to be parents?", "Will I ever know what it's like to love like my mother has loved me?", "Will I ever get the opportunity to raise little missionaries?", "Are God's intentions for it to ALWAYS just be Chris and I?", "I thought we heard right! I thought You said Kenya." I spoke aloud my raw emotions and began searching scripture asking God to show me His heart, though I knew it deep down. God's heart is definitely for orphans, widows, and the oppressed. His word is very clear about that. God wants us to be parents or He wouldn't have given us such intense desires. God DOES want us to adopt children for He has adopted us! Adoption is at the core of our savior's heart!! And maybe we did hear right and everything will turn around for Kenya. Maybe we did hear wrong, but God wanted us to learn from this. And I'm okay if we heard wrong, because I've also heard right before. Whether we heard right or wrong we are learning more how to discern His voice.

After talking to Sara, she also encouraged me by a simple reminder. She said that not everyone has a heart for orphans. And not everyone who has a heart for them brings them into their home to raise and bring up as their own. God is going to use our passion b/c He has given us these hearts for embracing orphans.

I am waiting to post this because Chris and I have decided to keep this to ourselves for the time being. We need much time to sit on the steps of our souls to pray about what God will lead us to next. We are apart now for 2.5 days to have alone time with the Lord. (which is virtually impossible in NBO)

We are praying in our time apart that God will give us some clarity as to whether to continue on with Kenya- risking more heartache, money, and disappointment; or whether we should change countries which, for us, would mean changing agencies and also loosing money. Either way we are loosing time and money, but praying God's answer will be in His supreme timing and not a minute sooner.

This is one truth I know:

Children don't come without labor pains...

...but where the heck is my epidural!

October 2, 2009

Now it's 6 weeks later and we have applied to adopt from Rwanda through AWAA. We are waiting to hear back from them. Then it's back to Little Angels to amend our homestudy. Then we will be able to file our i600a.

Why Rwanda?

Most of you who know me, know that I have literally wept for these countries who have fallen victim to genocide. I've just recently gotten to where I don't burst into tears when I meet sudanese people. Back in 2007 when I was reading numerous books about genocide in Sudan and Rwanda we were also looking into different adoption agencies. We found AWAA and at the time their Rwanda program was so new it wasn't even on their website. It really interested us, but we were turned off by the fact that it was a pilot program.

I am very impressed with how Rwanda has recovered from the genocide there in 1994. Which is more than I can say for Sudan. Rwanda has come SO far and worked hard for it. Maybe one day the war will truly cease in Sudan, they will build up an infrastructure, have homes for orphans and we can adopt babies from there as well!

Oh there are so, so many children all over this world who need families!