The Big 3-1

In less than a month I will be turning 31. To be honest, I had been dreading this day for a few reasons. I thought it would have been easier than turning 30, but I was dreading this birthday as much as I was dreading turning 30 last year. But then I remembered what a friend of mine in South Africa said to me when I turned 29. She said that we should celebrate each year because it was a year that God has given us and we were able to experience so many things in that one year. To dread my birthday the way I was, began to feel that I was dishonoring God by almost rejecting his gift to me of another year of life.

So, in light of this revelation, I began to think about everything I've been able to experience and do between my last birthday and this birthday.

The first thing I thought of when reflecting back to last year was that I got to spend my 30th birthday in Germany with my wonderful husband. He bought me a beautiful bouquet of roses and took me to dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant. We then returned to the place we were staying and our team threw me a mini surprise party, full of cards, a cake and gifts. I was completely surprised!

After our trip to Germany, we returned to the UK and began working on different projects to be used throughout Europe. In September, I was able to fly back to the States to be with my sister as she gave birth to our nephew, Bentley. At the end of September I returned to the UK where we continued to work on our projects.

In November we spent 2 weeks in Albania distributing the brand new Albanian Teen Book of Hope. We finished off our time there with 2 back to back concerts with a UK band called Lifecolour. It was amazing and thousands of Albanian teenagers were able to hear and read about the love God has for them.

In December we spent 3 weeks at home with our families, which was such a blessing. We cherish and treasure the times we get to spend with them. We flew back to the UK in early January so we could continue to work on our on-going projects. A few weeks after returning to the UK, we went to Italy where we spent 12 days. Part of our time there was spent filming a short film series for Italian youth and part of our time was spent attending a conference about reaching youth in our communities.

After being in Italy we returned to the UK and continued to fine tune our projects and meet with people regarding future projects. March 2nd was our 5 year anniversary, and we were able to spend a weekend in London to celebrate.   It was a great few days where we got to put work on hold and just enjoy being together.  Later in March, I was able to fly home for 5 days to attend my step-brother's wedding. It was a wonderful few days and a beautiful wedding.

Just a few weeks after returning to the UK from the States, Josh and I left for Albania where we spent the next 2 weeks. The first week we were there, were spent preparing for a team called The Conquerors to come from the States. The second week we were there, the Conquerors were with us and they held meetings with university students and men in prisons and half way houses. The Conquerors do feats of strength and share their testimonies at every presentation they do. They were also invited on a live television show, where they were given a full hour to share their stories of how Jesus changed their lives. What an amazing trip!

On our way back to the UK, we spent two days in Rome and loved every minute of it. Italy  has become one of our most favorite places in the world. The food is amazing, the scenery is beautiful and the people were so nice. The day after we returned to England from Albania/Italy we traveled by train to Scotland to visit my mom for the weekend. It was a relaxing weekend and we were able to visit Stirling Castle.

Just a few days after returning to England from Scotland Josh and I officially moved back to the States. It was a bittersweet move for us, but we knew that we were in the center of God's will and that gave us great peace, and gives us great peace today. Before my birthday next month, we will have had our first meeting with an adoption agency. Words cannot express how excited we are! We have been waiting for this day for almost a year. We know that God's timing is perfect and we can't wait to see what he does in the coming days.

So this year, instead of dreading turning another year older, I will choose to rejoice and be thankful for the abundant blessings we have received over the past year; I will be thankful for the experiences I've had, the places I've seen and the people I've met. And I will look ahead with eager anticipation of all that the Lord has for us in the next 12 months.

Italy Trip 2012

If you have already read our newsletter, you know that we recently spent 12 days in Italy. It was an amazing time that we spent with friends and ministry partners as we created programs to reach the youth of Italy with Christ's love. I want to tell you a brief story that we learned while we were there.

One of the projects that we were helping to develop is called La Mia Storia (My Story). La Mia Storia is a program that aims to address issues that Italian youth face every day. This program isn't designed to sugar coat or give a lot of "fluff" when trying to help the youth. The program uses very real and personal testimonies of people that have gone through some pretty tough things in their life, and how God helped them through those times. Our team recorded several testimonies that will be shown on the La Mia Storia website (www.lamiastoria.tv). These testimonies came from people who were selling and addicted to drugs, a young single mother and her struggles with deciding what to do with the pregnancy; we even had the opportunity to record the testimony of the secretary of Italian Senate. These are just a few.

To accompany this program, OneHope designed a Book of Hope specifically for Italy, and it is called La Mia Storia. Our ministry partners in Italy distributed over 50,000 of these books in just a few days. They were allowed into the schools and talked with the kids about the hope that Christ offers.

In one of these schools was a 14 year old girl. The day the team spoke at her school and she received the Book of Hope, she sent an email to our ministry partners, using the email given on the book. She said that she was 14 years old and that she and her brother live with their grandparents, but that their grandparents didn't want them there-they are a burden to them. She felt alone, like she had no one to go to. She said that her family made her crazy. She had already tried to kill herself twice and was about to try for a third time when she received the Book of Hope. She decided to reach out to someone as a last attempt to find hope. Our partners in Italy scheduled a time to meet with her at her school and to talk to her about the hope she can have in Christ.

God is so amazing, and we rejoice that his message of love is reaching those who feel they have no hope left. Unfortunately, this story of this 14 year old with no hope is all too common. Please continue to pray not only for the youth of Italy, but for the youth in your community. They deal with things every day that some of us can't even imagine.

As we look ahead to the next few months, we are excited for what's to come. In March, Kelly is going back to St. Louis for a few days to attend her brother's wedding. In April we will head back to Albania to help lead a team that will be heading there, and we will also head back to Italy for a conference.

This will be a busy few months for us but we are excited about what God will do during our time here. As always, thank you so much for your prayers-we feel them and we need them everyday.

God bless!