some statistics {Kisses from Katie}

It's no secret that AJ and I are open to moving across the world, completely changing our lifestyle and giving up the luxuries here in the US.  God had been working on our hearts long before he went to Uganda last year, and after that experience we were sure that our future would take us somewhere outside the US. At that point we knew we were willing to go. The question left to answer is when? Alongside that we have been trying to figure out when to adopt. We don't need to know all the details on how it will work, but again we were willing, able bodies to open our home and love another child like our own. We might not have all the logistics figured out yet, but we do know that we have love and we want to share that with other children who might not ever feel that.  Our hearts break for children who don't have parents to kiss their boo-boos, or tuck them in at night, but most importantly share the love of God with them. God the Father longs to show us His love. How can children understand the love He has for them if they don't have any tangible love on earth to help comprehend that? There is no doubt that AJ and I both are passionate about families and children.

I randomly came across this blog/book/ministry on the internet. Katie Davis just happens to be from the US and who happens to live in Uganda now (the same town AJ visited), and has a heart for loving children. I ordered her book KISSES from KATIE, and if I wasn't already convicted about loving on some kids...oh my. I haven't even finished the book but I wanted to quote a section from her diary she wrote on May 7, 2008 that she included in her book.

The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left.

Ahhhhh!

Here's another excerpt from her book.

But the Lord had also planted in me a desire to share the truth He had shown me in Uganda to the people who surrounded me now in America. I wanted to share with them the truth that while their children were alive today, more than sixteen thousand other children are not, because they died of hunger-related causes in the last twenty-four hours. I wanted them to know that another three thousand children in the world, mostly in Africa, will die of malaria today--malaria, which is both preventable and treatable. I wanted to share with them the truth that many of us seemed to have overlooked--that God wanted us to care for the poor, not just care about them, but to truly take care of them, and many of us were not doing so. God told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, but so many of our neighbors were starving to death while our tables were filled with abundance.

I keep thinking back to one part where she said a meal they splurge on costs about 60 cents a person. Wow. As much as I try to be mindful of how we spend our money, we still live in ridiculous luxury. I don't think luxury is necessarily bad, but what would happen if we tightened our budget and lived just a little bit more simply. Even if I couldn't physically love on a child right now, but us living more simply could save another child's life...wouldn't it be worth it?

Here's a question I keep asking myself...

What is it going to take for us to be proactive in our convictions?

Katie, as a young woman in her early 20's now, has a way of expressing the truth of God's Word--not just about how we should be taking care of "the least of these", but how our life can be turned upside down if we are just willing to say "yes" to Jesus. Of course I highly recommend reading her book, but if you want to look more in to her and what God has been doing through her life just read some of her blog.