Dear Birthparent

Dear Birthparent,

Hello! We are Josh (33) and Kelly (34) and we are so grateful that you are taking the time to read a little bit about us. We are so excited at the prospect of adding a little one to our family! We have been happily married for 8 ½ years. We met when Josh’s family moved to St. Louis to work at the church Kelly was attending. We quickly realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Josh is a foreman at a landscaping/lawn mowing business and Kelly is a student taking online courses.  She will be finishing school by September. Afterwards she will be able to work from home. Her desire has always been to stay at home with our children. 

For as long as we can remember we have wanted to be parents. We always knew we would adopt, as we have several family members, immediate and extended, that are adopted. Before we began this journey of adoption we tried for years to get pregnant. Through various tests and several doctor’s visits, we learned that we have less than 1% chance to get pregnant. While that diagnosis was hard to hear and difficult to digest, we are excited about the chance to become parents through adoption. We fully trust that God has a plan for us and for you and your baby through this process.

We live in a modest 3 bedroom, 2 ½ bath, raised-ranch home. It is approximately 1,200 square feet with a spacious, fenced in front yard.  The lower level is finished with a half bath, storage and laundry facilities. We live in a suburb of St. Louis and are within 15 minutes of 2 hospitals and various shopping centers.  We have one cat named Blue. He is two years old, neutered and is a medium hair cat. While he is shy around people at first, he soon warms up and is ready to play.

Both of our families are extremely supportive of our decision to adopt. Josh’s three younger siblings are all adopted, as well as his niece (from Haiti) and cousin. Kelly’s nephew is adopted and her cousin is adopted from Korea. Adoption is very common in our family and is, in fact, normal. We love it! We live within five minutes of Kelly’s parents and an hour and a half from Josh’s. We plan to see all of them as often as we can with our little one!

Josh’s parents were foster parents for most of his life. He was always around children, mostly infants, all with special needs. Kelly often babysat as a teenager and young adult, and now spends as much as time as possible with two of her nephews who live close by.

We love to spend as much time together as possible, but there are also things we like to do individually. Kelly loves to crochet, workout, and watch Cardinal baseball. Josh loves to play soccer, do yard work and watch baseball and football games. Together we enjoy reading, watching movies, attending baseball games, and going to dinner every once in a while.  Kelly would love to teach our child how to crochet if they are interested in it, and Josh would love to teach them all he knows about sports. We will read to our child and hope to instill in them the same love for reading that we have.

We are both very active in our church and we will raise our child in the church as well.  We were both raised in the Assembly of God denomination and now attend a non-denominational church with Pentecostal roots. We strive to live out our faith on a daily basis, and through love and grace we will teach our child to do the same.

Thank you for reading our story. We admire your courage and strength and we will continue to pray for you through this process. If you are interested in learning more about us, please contact us at kelly.salazar1981@gmail.com. You may also contact our our case worker, Mary Ann Hoeynck at 314-854-5700 or mhoeynck@ccstl.org.

Wow.....God

This entry is a little personal for me. In fact, I wrestled with whether or not I should write it. Some experiences are so intimate and sacred that to publicly share them seems to take away or diminish the experience itself.

But after much thought (my mind is consumed) I've decided to go ahead and write about it. In this case, it is one of those experiences I don't want to keep to myself. So here it is.

I took a trip to Nebraska to see my sister last weekend. I didn't leave for the trip until after I got off work which was about 4:00 in the afternoon. It was going to be about a 6 1/2 hour trip so I was ready to get on the road.

My road trips usually consist of a stop at Wendy's ASAP. So, when I was a little outside of the St. Louis area I pulled into the nearest Wendy's and ate way too much. I listened to the St. Louis radio stations for as long as I could until the static forced me to hit the "seek" button. I couldn't find anything good so I turned the radio off and decided to have some time with God just talking. For the past several weeks I've been feeling exhausted, sometimes overwhelmed, and just overall tired. It's not like there was just one thing making me feel this way. In fact, things are going great with us. But sometimes life takes you in the valleys and mountain tops, and as far as strength goes, I was walking through a valley. I found this quote the day I left and it perfectly summed up how I was feeling: "I'm exhausted from trying to be stronger than I feel." Again, I can't pinpoint one thing that was draining my strength - it's just a part of life.

So I began to pour everything out to God. My frustrations, my struggles, you name it. I was emptying my heart. After some tears and much needed quiet, I decided to try out the radio again. I couldn't find anything worth stopping on, so I turned on the music I have on my phone. Since my car is equipped with Blue Tooth, I could listen to my music through the car speakers. I put my phone on shuffle and let the songs entertain me at random. I was jamming to Ace of Base, Carmen, Old School DCTalk, and more. Then a Chris Tomlin song came on. I was very close to changing the song because, while he is a talented singer/songwriter, he can sometimes be overplayed by Christian radio. However, I wasn't familiar with this particular song so I just left it on. The song talks about how Christ is our beloved and we are His. I was digging it and listening. Then I began to worship as I was learning the song. I am a visual person so sometimes I like to imagine God on His throne as we worship. Somehow it helps me focus and it's also fun to imagine what heaven might be like. :) Anyway, as I began to envision God on His throne, immediately I saw a picture of a rectangle with people walking on it, but it was so bright, almost blinding to the naked eye, but no one was squinting or blinded from it. They were walking around like normal. The Bible says there is no darkness or shadow in heaven. God is light and God is everywhere, therefore shadows and darkness cannot exist in heaven. While I wouldn't necessarily call this a vision, I would say God opened up my imagination just a little bit to see a tiny glimpse of what my earthly mind can comprehend heaven to be like. Immediately I started bawling like a baby. Bawling. Seriously it was a literal "Jesus for real, take the wheel" moment. I could hardly see the road. It wasn't so much because of what I saw, but because I tangibly felt God in my car. It was a presence so thick that my heart could see everything my eyes couldn't. I'm not sure how else to explain it.

Finally the song came to an end and I decided to just put it on repeat. At the same moment in the song, I began sobbing. Every time I listened to the song, at the same exact moment I lost it! There wasn't even a warning. No lump in my throat, no build up of tears. Just BAM! It was crazy - in an amazing way. It was as if God took everything I had laid before Him earlier in my trip and washed it all away. Everything I was struggling with seemed so trivial and still does. Not in a way that it doesn't matter anymore, but in a way that how I feel about it has changed. I felt like a completely different person, and still do.

If I could use a word picture to describe how I felt I would say this: whatever cracks I had in my foundation are completely filled. I feel that I'm standing on a solid foundation again. I feel that the Potter is molding me. I feel like God is real. I have believed in God for as long as I can remember. This was one of those moments where if I ever had doubts as to God's existence, they were washed away. God was clearly speaking to me on this trip. I am humbled, I am blessed.

God.....wow. You are so good.

Here is a link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGTJa-xZJiI

Reminiscing (warning...this one is a little mushy)

I heard a love song on Pandora today (When a Man Loves a Woman) and I started thinking about all the little things Josh does for me and it filled me with a feeling of overwhelming love and gratefulness for all he does.

One memory of him being amazing keeps playing over and over again in my head so I thought I'd write about it. :)

When we were living in South Africa, I got a staph infection in my hands that turned septic. It was horrible. I could hardly do anything. Shower, get dressed, use the restroom, brush my hair, eat. Josh had to help me with everything. And he did it without complaining. But that is not the memory that stands out. Because of the infection, when anything touched my hands it caused excruciating pain. Even sleeping became quite the task. When I finally was diagnosed and got proper medicine, slowly but surely the pain went away, along with all the other symptoms. I remember the first time I was able to interlock my fingers as I was praying. It was such a great feeling!

One day we came back to our house with our team and Josh and I were walking up to the door. He took my hand and held it as we ascended the stairs to the house. One of our team members turned around and said how cute it was that Josh held my hand even on really short walks (from the car to the door). He looked at her and said, "I have to make up for lost time." When my hands were hurt, he couldn't hold them. I never thought about him missing that. Those 8 words have found a permanent place in my heart. Josh meant what he said. He wasn't trying to be sweet or earn brownie points. He was just being genuine.

This made me think of all the other ways Josh is amazing. I will give just one more story. Last year I was visiting my sister and her family in Nebraska. I kissed my nephew goodbye the night before I left because I was leaving very early the next morning. Or so I thought. I guess my nephew wanted me to hang around a little longer because he passed on his stomach virus to me through that sweet little kiss. So I stayed a few more hours until I felt "well" enough to tackle the 6 hour drive home. By the time I got home that evening, my temperature was 101. I knew I had to eat something so Josh made some chicken noodle soup. I took just a few bites before climbing into bed.

The next day I was feeling better but still sick so I made some more soup. It was the same brand that Josh had made the day before, but this one had carrots in it. It dawned on me that Josh had picked out all of the little carrot pieces because he knows I don't like them. I'm pretty sure I started crying right away and had to call him and tell him how amazing he is.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to write these two memories down, but I just had a feeling that I should so I did. I am so blessed to have married such an amazing man. For these reasons and more I am so passionate about young women waiting for the man God has chosen for them instead of settling for what they think is the best they can do. There has been a blog brewing in my brain about this for some time so hopefully soon the time will come for me to write that one. But until then, ladies - wait for your man. Pray for your husband. I started praying for my husband when I was 15. When I finally met him, I recognized him. And I didn't meet him until I was 23 (almost 24). He's worth the wait!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0CxOTheRJk&list=RDh0CxOTheRJk

This is a link to my favorite version of "When a Man Loves a Woman". Enjoy!

Transparency

Since my last post, I heard from so many women who understood and appreciated the content of the blog. That support has inspired me to write more so maybe I can help those of you who are going through the same struggle I am.

It has now been almost a year since we began fertility testing and it has been a roller coaster of emotions. Through all of our doctors appointments, procedures, blood work, etc. there has only been one time that my doctor has said, "I have good news for you." One time. While I always try to hold my head up high, think positive thoughts, hold on to hope, I still have my bad days. Days where I ask God, "Why us?"

I titled this blog "Transparency" because I want to be as transparent with you as I can. I tend to be an open book anyway, but I want to be real with you about the struggles that women in my shoes and couples in our shoes face everyday when suffering with infertility.

Our journey with testing began with Josh having to have a semen analysis. This is where they analyze the sperm and determine if his sperm count is high or low, how the motility is and if there are any abnormal sperm. His test came back great which was a relief because I didn't want anything to be wrong with him. But then that left only one person who was "damaged"- me. Don't get me wrong, Josh never made me feel like damaged goods or that I was less of a woman or anything like that. But as a woman, it's just how you feel when you realize your body is the one who won't allow you to carry a baby.

So then I had to undergo all kinds of tests. First, my gynecologist ordered blood work in which they tested hormone levels, ovarian reserve levels, ovulation regularity and all of that. Those all came back fine. Then I had to undergo a hysterosalpingogram or HSG. This is where they inject dye into your uterus to see if there is any blockage there or in your tubes. I had heard horror stories about how painful this was so I asked my family to give me their favorite Bible verses that I could write down on index cards and bring them with me into the room. I read those verses over and over and they helped me stay calm and focused. Thankfully, Josh was allowed into the room (which we were initially told he wouldn't be). He held my hand and was there for me the entire time. The procedure didn't hurt nearly as bad as I was expecting or as I was told. It felt more like bad cramps that come on all of a sudden instead of gradually.

The HSG confirmed that my right tube was open but my left tube was either blocked or shut. There was also something in my uterus that wasn't supposed to be there. So the next step was to take that information to our fertility doctor and see what her opinion was. Through an ultra sound she found a polyp in my uterus and a cyst the size of a peach in my left ovary. She was amazed that I had not had any symptoms caused by the cyst, which she suspected to be endometriosis. From the outside I had not had any symptoms that anything internal was not right. I had very regular periods with cramping that wasn't debilitating. I took ovulation tests every month and I ovulated at the same time every month. There were no clear warning signs that anything was wrong.

We scheduled a surgery to drain the cyst and remove the polyp. During the surgery, my doctor actually found 4 polyps in my uterus. She removed all of them and drained the cyst and sent the fluid off to be tested. It came back positive for endometriosis. She said it is rare not to have endometriosis on both sides, but mine was local only to the left side.

Two weeks later I went back to the doctor for a follow up ultrasound and found that the cyst had grown back. She said sometimes that happens and she went ahead and drained it. Side note: I got to watch from the ultrasound screen and it was really cool to see her drain the cyst :) The cyst was filled with a chocolatey type substance that is consistent with endometriosis, so my doctor was discouraged that it had filled up again so quickly.

While all my testing was going on, our doctor asked us to have Josh's semen analyzed again. She said they like to check for any patterns. With this test, they determined that Josh's sperm count was almost half of what it should be, his motility was a little low and there were some abnormal sperm present. His motility and abnormal sperm isn't quite a concern to the doctor but the low sperm count is. (Don't worry-I asked him if he minded if I included this into the blog and he said it was fine :) )

I went back again two weeks later to find out that the cyst had not only grown back, but there were actually two 3 cm cysts in my left ovary. I felt like we could not catch a break! In the midst of all of this, I had to redo some of my initial blood work because the lab wouldn't fax it over to my doctor. The one piece of good news we received was when my doctor got the second round of results. She said my ovarian reserve should be at about a 2 for someone my age, and mine is actually a 3! I can still replay that conversation in my head and I do that often when I need to remember that we have heard some good news through this process.

My doctor recommended us to another doctor who specializes in endometriosis and who performs minimally invasive surgery. We met with her in early November, and we fell in love with her! She took the time to answer all of our questions and was sensitive to our situation. We scheduled the second surgery for December 18th. In this surgery, she made 4 small incisions in my abdomen and she removed the cyst. She also discovered that there really wasn't a lot of endometriosis-almost none-but whatever she did find, she removed. She said my tubes looked good (although my left tube still appeared blocked, it wasn't damaged in any way) and physically everything looked ready for pregnancy.

Still....we have yet to get pregnant. My blood work also revealed that I have what is called Natural Killer Cells. This is related to auto-immune diseases and since I have a family history of auto-immune diseases, my doctor wanted to test me for these cells. You only need 10% of these cells present to be considered positive and I tested 9.9% and 10.9% (they run your blood twice). This means that were I to conceive, my body would recognize the fertilized egg as a foreign body and would attack it to where I would either miscarry or the egg would never implant in the first place.

That brings us to where we are now. All of the testing we can do has been done, all of the procedures we can do are done. There is nothing left for us to do except IVF. Josh and I talked about it and we decided that we are not going to do IVF. It is a very expensive procedure and because I tested positive for the Natural Killer Cells, I would need to have IV antibiotics before and after implantation which increases the price. While we know and understand that going through these procedures could result in pregnancy, the fact is they may not.

So as it stands at this moment, we have less than 1% chance of getting pregnant on our own. I thought I had dealt with that fact until this morning at church. We were singing a song with these words: "My whole life is Yours. I give it all. Surrendered to Your Name." It was all I could do to keep myself from breaking down and bawling my eyes out. I waited until we were in the car to do that :) I realized that while I would say I was okay and that I have handed everything over to God, the fact is I held a little bit back. I never grieved the fact that I may never carry a baby. I can't say that I am finished grieving or that I will be finished by tomorrow. But I can say that I now recognize the fact that I need to grieve and fully hand our situation over to the Lord. And I will do that....one day at a time.

Through all of this, we still have hope. We know that God resides in that fraction of a percent. And we have all confidence that if it is His will for us, we will get pregnant. In the meantime we have decided to pursue adoption and we are so excited about it! We found an agency that we feel is the right fit for us and we are in the process of filling out the application :) It is a freeing feeling to fully trust the Lord even if it means waiting awhile for the answer.

I know this was a long blog, but I hope it helps at least one person. I am praying for all of you women and couples out there who are going through the same struggle we are. You are not alone - even on those days when it feels like you are. I am always praying for you!

Thoughts From a Wannabe Momma

I've been thinking about writing this blog for awhile and I'm glad I have the time to do it now. This has been on my heart and mind for quite some time and I hope it all comes out right. :)

For past few months or so, Josh and I have been going through fertility testing. After 4 years of trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully, we decided to pursue further testing. As it turns out, I need to have surgery to remove some things that are in all likelihood preventing us from getting pregnant. Through blood tests and other tests we also found out that both of us have somewhat minor issues that could be preventing pregnancy.

With that in mind, I hope you can understand a little more about why I wanted to write what I am writing.

I can't tell you how many times I read Facebook status updates that almost make motherhood sound like a curse instead of a blessing. I read about parents who think it's crazy or even stupid for a couple to want two or more children. I read about parents offering to give their child away for awhile until they start behaving better. I read about pregnant women who can't wait to get their baby out of their belly. Women who complain about experiencing morning sickness and can't wait until the pregnancy is over. I could go on and on.

Please understand that I totally get the fact that parenthood is not easy and some days you just want a quiet day and sometimes you just need a break. And I agree 100%. And I know that every parent who has posted statuses like the above love their kids and would do anything for them. I just don't think they know how their words can hurt women like me.

I would love to be able to say that my child is cranky because it would mean I would have a child. I would be okay with sleepless nights if that meant I could cradle my newborn baby. I would throw up a thousand times a day from morning sickness with joy in my heart because I knew I was pregnant. I would smile as I watch the scale slowly rise as it would mean I had a life growing inside me.

Some of you may be thinking "That's all well and good but just wait until it happens and you will understand what I'm saying." Please believe me, I do understand. I know that any child I have will not be perfect and there will be days when I am trying to figure out how to get some time to myself and I will miss sleeping through the night and I will grow tired of vomiting. But after learning the fact that without a miracle, the chances of us getting pregnant on our own are extremely slim, I view pregnancy and motherhood a little differently. I am learning how much of a blessing it really is and how it is a privilege. Getting pregnant at all is not a guarantee for us, no matter how we go about it. As a woman, to be told that I might never have the experience of feeling life grow inside of me is extremely difficult to take in. As a Christian I absolutely believe in the sovereignty of God and I believe He works miracles everyday and I believe He could touch my body right now and heal me of everything. God also made me a woman. And as a woman, carrying a child is one of the most natural things we ever get to do on this earth. And it is something I have dreamed about all of my life. I have to face reality that I may never be able to carry a child. I may never be able to experience that positive pregnancy test. I may never get to experience feeling those kicks and stretches in the middle of the night. I may never get to hold my newborn baby in my arms.

Please, for the sake of the millions of women in my shoes, think twice before you post something negative about your children or pregnancy. Know that we would do anything in our power to experience what you are experiencing-good and the bad, because at the end of the day I would have my dream job-being Mom.

I know that there are other ways of becoming Mom. We still plan to pursue adoption whether we get pregnant or not. And when that day comes that we do get to adopt a little one into our family, it will be one of the happiest days of our lives. And when those tough days come, and I know they will, I will remember what a blessing and privilege it is to be chosen by God to mother this child.

For anyone reading this that is facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, please carefully consider adoption as an option. I am only one of millions of women who would be ecstatic if we were chosen as adoptive parents. Your child is a blessing and a gift.

So, those are my thoughts. I hope I didn't offend anyone. And I'm not one of those extreme people who think you can't express any opinion on social media. All I'm asking is that you choose your words wisely and be thankful for what you have.

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!

Summer is almost gone and fall is almost here! In England we have already felt the temperature dropping and the days getting shorter (our hearts go out to our family and friends in the midwest who have had a really HOT summer!).

The Creative Lab has been working hard on several projects. The primary project we are working on is Albania. We are almost finished with the Book of Hope for Albanian Teens and are in the middle of working on a book for parents. We can't wait to see the final product as the team has worked so hard for so long!

We have also begun working on a series of short videos for Germany. These videos, when put together will make one video 30 minutes long. But we have it broken down into five 6 minute videos that will be able to be downloaded as apps on smart phones. The idea is to have an edgy, relevant video series that German teens can show their friends. We are also doing something similar for Italy.

We are hoping to begin research in Hungary in the next few months and are praying for open doors and ministry partners to work with there.

We are still very much loving our time here and we are so thankful for all of our supporters who have prayed us here and have given financially for us to be here. We love you all and know that there are no words to express just how grateful we really are.

Until next time!

Josh and Kelly

Time in Germany

The Creative Lab is officially under way! Our first project is under way in Germany. We are here and have met with local pastors and church leaders to discuss new ministry ideas for German youth.

Our Creative Lab is made up of 5 young people: Adam-he is from the States, Giovanni-from Italy, Grace-From the UK, Faith-from the UK, and Darbi, who is with us just for the summer, is from the States. Each of these individuals are creative in different ways, and are excited to use those gifts and talents to spread the Word of God to all the children and youth throughout Europe.

Josh and I had the amazing privilidge to go to Italy 2 weeks ago to meet with local Italian pastors and church leaders. We discussed future ministry opportunities and are excited to begin the process of designing new programs.

2011 is flying by, and yet is still filled with incredible opportunities for our team to bring the Gospel to the youth and children of different European nations.

Spring is Coming!

It's hard to believe that March is almost over and April is almost here! 2011 is certianly flying by, and we have enjoyed every minute of it!

We have had a busy February and March, and we are excited to tell you about what the Lord has been doing during those months.

Our ministry partner here in England, United Christian Broadcasters (UCB), has a group of 4 interns. We had the wonderful opportunity to take these four interns to St. Andrews, Scotland to participate in a week long ministry called LIFE Week. LIFE Week is a week full of events with the main purpose of evangelism. LIFE Week is put on by the Christian Union at St. Andrews University. Each day was filled with activities and seminars and lunches that were designed to reach those who don't yet know Jesus. It was an amazing week, and we made friends there that we are still in contact with, and plan to continue to be in contact with for a long, long time. Each of the interns thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did we, and we were all stretched out of our comfort zones, resulting in a strengthened faith.

Two days after returning from St. Andrews, we flew to Albania, where we spent the first week of March. We met with new OneHope partners, and together we hosted 14 focus groups in two of the main cities of Albania-Tirana and Durres. The purpose of these focus groups was to gather information about the lives of children and youth in Albania. Currently, we are compiling all of the research, and we will send it to our research partners in the States, who will then put all the information in a nice packet that we will take back to Albania in May. When we return in May, we will be meeting with local pastors and we will brainstorm different ministry plans. The goal of these plans is to reach the children and youth in Albania in a relevant and effective manner.

Needless to say, we are so excited about the doors the Lord is opening for us in Europe. In the near future we are looking to travel to many more countries doing research and begining ministry planning as well. Please continue to pray with us as we do more research and as we sit with pastors and plan how to reach these younger generations. Please also pray for us as we have sent off our visa applications, and we are hoping to be approved to stay until December.

We look forward to updating you further as more developments occur. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for partnering with us in prayer and financial support. We couldn't do this without you.

Many blessings,

Josh and Kelly

New Year, New Country

Hello friends! We trust you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's celebrations with friends and family. We were able to be home for the holidays, and thoroughly enjoyed the time we had with our family and our friends.

This new year brings with it a new season for our lives. We are now living in Stoke-on-Trent, England. We have been here for about a week and are still trying to learn the European way of life. We have met so many friendly people, and have settled in nicely to our new flat.

While here, we will be doing a lot of traveling to other Western European countries. Our goal while visiting these countries, is to find and establish new ministry partners with OneHope.

We are excited about the opportunities the Lord already has before us here. In just a few weeks, we plan on traveling to Albania to begin hosting focus groups to find out from the people what their needs are. The reason we do this is so we can be more relevent in our approach to ministry in that country. This also helps the local church as they plan outreaches in their communities.

Please continue to pray with us and for us as we will be traveling and meeting with community stakeholders. Pray that we will be full of God's wisdom and that we will be led by His Spirit as we enter new territory.

Peace and blessings,
Josh and Kelly

A New Season In South Africa

We have arrived safely for another 3 month term in South Africa. We landed on August 13 with 5 new interns. We have reunited with 2 interns that have stayed in South Africa throughout the year, so our total team consists of 7 interns.

The new team is bonding well and works together well. We have had a lot of fun getting to know them and introducing them into the South African culture.

Prior to our arrival, we had a plan to begin and establish new ministry within the local schools. However, within days of our arrival, the public service workers went on strike. This means that public schools have no teachers and hospitals have no nurses. Needless to say this has put a damper on our original plans of school ministry. We drove through the township after the strike began and we found children on the streets with nothing to do. One pastor said that this is part of the reason why children and youth get into drugs--because they have nothing else to do. We have felt an urgency to revamp our original ministry plan to meet the needs of the community as they are today.

We have begun training local congregations in using 17 Stories. 17 Stories is a tool that we have recently started to use in South Africa. Every set of 17 Stories consists of 16 picture cards, each telling a different Bible story. For example, the first card displays a picture of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Another card is a picture of Noah and the Ark. Throughout the 16 picture cards, stories from the Old Testament to the New Testament are represented. Each card is accompanied by a written version of the story for the teacher, along with discussion questions and a game to play that emphasizes the story. The 17th story is one big picture that the child can find when he/she puts all the 16 story cards together and flips them over. This last picture combines stories from the Old and New Testament. It serves as a reminder for the child of all the stories they learned and how it applies to their life. The goal of 17 Stories is not only for the child to learn what the Bible says, but we also want the child to be able to go home and tell their families the stories using the cards they are able to keep and take home with them.

Please continue to pray for us as we plan ministry for the next 3 months. Please also pray that the strike will end soon so we can reach as many kids as possible in the school system. Please pray for continued unity among our team and Spiritual growth individually and as a group.

The First Two Months...

It is hard for us to imagine that we have been back in South Africa for over 2 months now. Our time here keeps going faster and faster, and we are enjoying every minute of it!

During these first two months, we have learned how to successfully incorporate sports into ministry outreaches, and we are currently planning several events during the World Cup this summer. We are blessed to have been a part of distributing over 34,000 Books of Hope to South Africa's youth and children.

For the next two weeks, we will be in the Free State (a neighboring province in South Africa), where we will be holding more school assemblies and distributing more Books of Hope to more children and youth. We are so excited to be a part of such a vibrant and relevant ministry. We will be partnering with a local church that will do follow up with the students that receive God's Word, as well as continue the ministry once we leave.

Beginning in June, we will be hosting enough soccer clinics to last 5 weeks straight. This will take place during the World Cup. Please pray for us as we finalize all the details involved. Our goal is to reach over 13,000 children and youth with the Gospel. This is such an exciting time for the people of South Africa, and through the World Cup we have been given a platform on which we are able to share the Good News. God is good!

Last week, we were able to take a few days off and spend time together. We went to a town called Graskop, which is in the province of Mpumalanga. The scenery is beautiful there, and it was the perfect place for us to relax and unwind. We took one day to do some white-water rafting; that was a lot of fun!

Now we are back, ready and refreshed for all of the upcoming ministry that is now upon us. We are thankful for the time we had to relax, and we are thankful for the time we have to spread the love of Jesus!

Update on South Africa

We can't believe it is already nearing the end of October. Our first 2 months here have been amazing! We have not had steady internet access, but it looks like it may be fixed now, so we hope to update you more regularly now.

The last part of September into the first part of October, we were able to participate in a program called Kids Games. Kids Games is designed to reach children ages 8-14 using active games and interactive stories.

The first day of Kids Games, almost 700 kids showed up! It was exciting to see their faces and meet them and play with them. Once the opening ceremonies were finished, the kids were divided into 8 different teams, with each one of our Nomads leading a team. Some teams had over 90 kids on them!

The rest of the week we had anywhere from 300-400 kids everyday. We played our games and then we sat down to hear a Bible story. Kids Games uses curriculum from the story of Joseph in Genesis. They use this story because it exemplifies emotions that Joseph must have felt: betrayal, confusion, unfairness. Kids are able to relate to those feelings. By the end of the week, the children heard the whole story of Joseph, and how God was in control from the beginning, even if Joseph was treated badly and unfairly. On the last day, we had an altar call, and dozens of kids responded! It was amazing! We loved being a part of Kids Games, and walked away from their feeling so blessed!

Once we returned to Mahwelereng, we continued our research. With the help of volunteers from the church we partner with, we completed over 300 surveys. Now, we will take that information and see what ministry we can do in Mahwelereng during the second half of our time here.

We are excited to plan and execute different ministry ideas here. Please pray for us as we plan, that we would hear God's voice, and that we would effectively minister to these people that He has called us to work with.

First Look at South Africa

Our dreams have come true! We are finally in South Africa, after almost 2 years of preparing and fundraising. We have been in our new "home" for a little over a week, and so far we are loving every minute of it!

Our first week was full of training and traveling around the town that we will be working in. We have learned more about South African culture and about the issues South Africans face every day. We have learned several dramas to do for little kids and for high schoolers and adults. We learned how to apply our testimonies to the dramas and make them relevent to the people.

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our interns better. They have already formed strong friendships between the 8 of them (they are all girls) and that has made these first several days enjoyable and entertaining!

On Sunday, we attended the church that we will be partnering with in ministry over the next few months. It was a new experience for most of the team members. We witnessed dancing, incredible singing and worship. We also saw a woman being released from an evil spirit. God's spirit was heavily there, and it was awesome to experience in a completely different culture than what we are used to.

We would like to ask for your prayers as we go into this week. We will begin holding focus groups with the people of a township called Mahwelereng (Ma-hal-er-ing). This is the town that we will be primarily working with. The ministry we do will be based on what we find out from these focus groups and door to door surveys we will do later in the week.

Thank you for your prayers and support! We look forward to updating you further from South Africa!

Until next time,

Josh and Kelly

First Trip-Nicaragua!

Hello friends! We are writing to you from the beautiful country of Nicaragua! We arrived late Wednesday evening, and began ministry Thursday morning. We feel so blessed already, and it has only been one day!

We visited 3 schools today, but each school we visted twice, so we did 6 presentations. We have a youth group team with us from Pennsylvania. The weather is really, really hot, but we have been drinking plenty of water (bottled) and standing in the shade when possible. Today alone, we have distributed 1,454 copies of the Book of Hope! Praise the Lord! This means that today, 1,454 children and youth have a chance to read about Jesus, and begin a relationship with Him. We know that the Word of God does not return void, and we are excited about that promsie being fulfilled.

So far, our Spanish has not improved much :) but we are trying! Josh played futbal (soccer) with some kids this afternoon, and they loved it! He then started shaking their hands in a funny way, and pretty soon, swarms of kids were coming up to him wanting to shake his hand! It is such a joy and a blessing to see the smiles on their faces when we love on them and when we hand them a Book of Hope.

We have been able to enjoy some great local food, also. Josh's favorite by far has been the freshly made flour tortillas! They are really good! Kelly has enjoyed the chicken, and surprisingly enough, she even enjoyed a little "sauce" made up of onions pieces and something spicy. Normally she doesn't like onions, but these were really good!

We have already gotten to know the youth group that is here with us, and they are a lot of fun. They have servant hearts, and have done a great job of talking to and ministering to the kids and youth of Nicaragua.

Please continue to pray for us as the week goes on. We will return to the States on Tuesday, the 18th. We appreciate all of your prayers and your comments!

On the Road!

Well, we are officially on our way to start our new career as missionaries! We began our trip by driving to Ohio to visit Josh's grandparents. From there we drove to Nashville, on our way to Alabama. In Nashville we were able to spend some time with Josh's uncle. Finally, today, we made our way down to Birmingham, AL where we will spend the next few days being a part of a conference at one of the local churches. We are looking forward to spending time with our collegues and learning more about South Africa and our work there.

So far we have learned a few things about South Africa that we did not know. First, the AIDS virus is spreading very quickly throughout South Africa. The need to educate the people about the seriousness of the disease and how the disease is spread is so great. OneHope missionaries are often called upon to teach teachers about the disease so they can teach their students. There is so much misinformation going around about AIDS, and the effects are devastating.

We also learned more about the place where we will be living. It is a lodge on a game reserve, and it is large enough to host many interns at one time. It sits on about 2500 acres of land, and is in a rural community. The closest small town is at least 30 minutes away. We have seen pictures, and we are excited to see it in person.

We will leave for South Africa on August 28. We will fly from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Atlanta, GA. From there we will fly straight to Johannesburg (15 hour flight!) Then, it is just a 3 hour drive to the Hope Lodge.

For now we will sign off. It is late and we have been traveling all day and are looking forward to a great night's sleep! We will keep you posted!

Let the Countdown Begin!

It's hard to believe that we are leaving St. Louis in 20 days! Time is flying by and it seems like we have so much to do in so little time. But, we know that the Lord will be with us as we prepare to make this transition, and that brings us comfort.

In order to downsize our things before we leave, we are having a garage sale this Saturday, July 11 at Kelly's dad's house. We are hoping to sell a lot of things, which will make it easier to pack in the upcoming weeks.

We have had 2 family weddings to attend over the past couple of weeks, and it has been so much fun to see family. We were very blessed to have the opportunity to say "See you later" to family that we won't see for some time. It was hard to leave them, but we must go where the Lord leads, and every one of our family members has been so supportive. We are truly blessed!

Please pray with us that the garage sale goes well, and that we will be well organized as we pack and prepare to head to Florida on July 26th. Thank you again for all of your support! We appreciate all of you so much!

God is Good!

It is with great joy that we report that all of our support has been raised! And then some! God is so good! We are excited as we looked toward the next few weeks that draw us closer and closer to South Africa.

That being said, these next few weeks we are at home will be very busy with packing and planning and sorting through everything we have. We are planning on having at least one garage sale to sell whatever we can. Since we will be gone for 2 years (with the potential of more), we don't want to rent storage space. We can't go to South Africa with much, so we'd like to sell as much as we can!

We plan to leave St. Louis the last week of July and begin our trek to Florida. We will have a few days there and then we will be attending General Council. After that week, we will be on our way to South Africa with a group of young people. Once we are on the field, we will begin on the job training. What better way to learn than to jump right in, right? :) We can hardly wait!

We know that when we leave St. Louis, it will be a bitter-sweet departure. We have wonderful family here and close friends and co-workers, but we know that we have to go where the Lord calls us. We go knowing full well that we are in His good will. We are extremely blessed to have family that supports us 110%.

Recently I (Kelly) was talking to my mother-in-law, and she was telling me how she heard from someone who lived in South Africa, that the hospitals there are wonderful and the staff treats the patients so well. This really eased her mind about if we have children while overseas. It eased our minds too! That thought was always in our heads, and we knew that if the Lord blessed us with children over there, that He would take care of us.

Thank you again to all of our supporters who made this possible for us. We serve an awesome God, and we are ready to get to South Africa and minister to their youth and children.

In the beginning...

Welcome to our blog site! Our goal in creating this blog is to keep you updated on our fundraising process, our transition to South Africa, and to let you know how things are going once we are in Africa.

As of today, May 21, we only need $200 in monthly support before we can make the big move! The Lord is so good! We have a tentative and hopeful departure date of the end of July. This would put us in South Africa by the middle of August. We are so excited to work with OneHope as we get the Word of God to every child and youth in the world!

OneHope is an organization based out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, whose ministry is to get the Word of God into the hands of every child and every youth in the world. This is a goal that is taken very seriously by every staff member of OneHope. We feel called to partner with this ministry and we are ready to take that step of faith!

If you have more questions about OneHope and what our role will be with them, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are more than happy to talk to you about the call God has placed on our hearts. You can reach us by commenting on this post or by emailing us at: joshsalazar@onehope.net, or kellysalazar@onehope.net.

Thanks for reading!