Background Part 2

If you follow me on facebook, you probably already know a lot of the background that I am laying in these first few blog posts. Because I am using this blog as a sort of personal diary as well as a way to share our experiences with you, I felt it necessary to 'start at the beginning' and get everything in the correct sequence. So, in that vein, today I am going to re-post a note that I posted to my facebook page. This note should pretty well complete the process of 'summing up' the how's and why's of what Camille and I are up to. If you've already seen my notes on facebook, you probably already know this stuff, but it will help me 'flow' smoothly into future blog entries (I am already gathering my thoughts for tomorrow's). If you haven't yet read the two posts before this one, you may want to go back and start with them. Thanks for reading!

(re-posted from facebook):
OK, I guess the time has come to stop being cryptic and let everyone know what is going on with Camille and I. A lot of our friends and family know that we have been quite restless for some time, knowing that God has been leading us away from good 'ole Seaside, Oregon and on to a new chapter in our lives and our walk with Him. We've had plans to live and do business in parts of the world from Central America to Indonesia to the South Pacific to New Zealand and beyond. We actually almost purchased a restaurant in Tonga. My dad at one point resorted to asking other family members if they knew what our 'flavor of the month' was! Funny thing about God - He's really patient! And He's a gentleman - He'll wait quietly for you to settle down and come to the point where you ask Him what HE wants and then actually listen for His answer. It took us a while, but that's what we finally did. We listened.

Another funny thing about God is that a lot of times, when you learn what His will is you find out that the answer that you were looking for was right in front of you the whole time. For as long as we both can remember, we've felt drawn to Indonesia. I actually spent some time there in college and fell in love with the people and the beautiful landscape. The fact that Indo has the best waves on the planet doesn't hurt its case, either! In the last couple of years, we have been able to renew a wonderful friendship with my good friend John Taylor and his wife Korie. John and I were buddies in college and now he and Korie are missionaries in Java. Spending time with the Taylors only helped Camille and I become more and more stoked about Indonesia. We have had a plan for a couple of years now to come up with a way to spend at least a couple of months a year in Indo with them, helping in any way that we can.

As we wandered all over the map with our plans to leave Seaside, our hearts kept coming back to Indonesia, particularly Bali. One day, as we were planning a trip to Tonga and New Zealand to look at a couple of business opportunities, we woke up in the morning and for no apparent reason started to look back into Bali for the umpteenth time. As we started to get more excited about Bali, the light came on. We had been looking at all of these business opportunities in all of these different places with the intent of making it easier to spend time in Indo. Maybe God just wanted us in Indo, period! We had been putting our needs (money, business) first and His will second. Maybe Bali wasn't a ‘part time’ gig for us. Maybe it was time to start putting God’s will before our needs and trust that if He wanted us in Indonesia, He would figure out a way to let us stay. That morning we made the decision that we would just go and we would let Him work out the details.

Two days later, God held up His part of the deal. My mother called me and told me about a friend of a friend who had just started a beautiful Christian children’s home for orphans in Bali. She thought that this may be the answer we were seeking. I immediately got on their website and knew in my heart that this is where Camille and I were supposed to be. I got off the phone with my mom and called Camille into the office to check out the website. When she walked in she almost freaked out. You see, the whole time I had been talking to my mom, she had no idea what we were talking about and had been in another room on the internet trying to find an orphanage in Bali that could use our help!

Long story short – the people who built the children’s home live up in the Everett, Washington area about ten minutes from my parents. I called them that day and told them we wanted to come to Bali and help, long-term. Kim, the director, completely freaked out because she and her husband Brian had just right then been discussing the great need for an American couple to go live at the home and help the children learn English! Can you see a pattern here? Camille and I went up to Washington last week and met with them in person and started working out the details for us to come and live in Bali!

So – now for the important stuff. The name of the home is My Father’s Home. It is located in Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia. This last April, 36 beautiful little ones, ages 6-9 came to live in this amazing complex. It's not an ‘orphanage’ in the traditional sense because of the simple reason that none of the kids are up for adoption. These children are the poorest of the poor. They’ve been abused, neglected, malnourished and forgotten about. My Father’s Home is now their home. The staff are committed to loving them, educating them, nurturing them, raising them to love Jesus and seeing them through to college, where they will be educated and hopefully return to their villages as doctors, nurses, pastors, teachers, dentists, civil servants, etc. who have the tools and the heart to change their homeland. This concept is not new and has seen great success in other areas of the world. The kids' stories up to this point are heartbreaking. Their future is exciting and bright. Camille and I hope to be a part of it.

The website for My Father’s Home is www.myfathershome.net – please check it out. You’ll be glad that you did (although you may want to grab a box of Kleenex first). Camille and I are planning on leaving this November. At this point we don’t know how long we will stay. We only know that we are supposed to go. That’s the exciting thing about following God – although He knows the big picture, He only lets you know the next step. You have to keep trusting Him to find out the next one. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our next step is to go to My Father’s Home and help love 36 boys and girls. God will show us the step after that when the time comes!

There is a lot that Camille and I will be actually doing there, and I will write about that in more detail later. For those of you who don’t really ‘get’ all of this ‘God stuff’, I especially encourage you to follow our progress. Hopefully I’ll be able convey honestly and accurately the unreal peace that comes with knowing Him and being right where He wants you to be. I won’t get preachy, I promise – I’ll just honestly put my experiences into words and let you come to your own conclusions.

For those of you who pray, Camille and I could sure use your prayers now. So could 36 beautiful kids and the staff who will be their family!

Thanks for joining us on this adventure. Like I've said in an earlier post - we're not selling anything here, except for love. We want you to watch first-hand as we act upon the love that our Creator has placed in our hearts. Hopefully you'll be inspired to act on love's behalf as well.