Never Ending Journey Part 10

Last week I saw a video of a small child who won the chance to shoot a puck into a small hole at a hockey game. The odds were 1 in a Million.. this young boy (I think he was 9 or 10) hit the puck and straight in it went.. It was a $50,000 prize. 1 in a Million odds and a 10 year old did it..

That's how I feel this week. I have just had a 1 in a Million odds experience. Let me explain more.

In 2004 I started working in the orphanage in Somotillo. There were 17 little girls there on average. Some came and went but must stayed there permanently. My bond with the kids grew as I stayed with them a great deal of time. I grew a great love for these girls and in 2007 we started this adoption process for the first two girls because of that strong bond.

During 2007 there were two little girls there that soon left. Nessie and Francis. Nessie left in December of 07 and Francis left in March of 2008.

In March I came and brought all the girls Easter clothes. That day happen to be the last day Francis was going to be at the orphanage because she was leaving to be adopted by a family.

I gave her clothes and we took pictures of her. She was 5 years old. I walked her to the gate that day, hugged her, cried with her and prayed over her and sent her on her way. I was angry that day because they didn't tell she was leaving for good and the other girls didn't know either so there were no goodbyes.

This past week the enemy did everything possible to stop us from adopting. We were told due to something I said the adoption was denied. Praise God that my attorney The Lord of Lords has the final words. The director allowed me to share why I said what I said and soon her attitude changed because she realized her employees were wrong and I was right and she immediately took us to meet our daughter. When you have God as your attorney you don't need any other help....

The day before when we were there and they told me my daughters name was Francis I didn't think anything about it but then they told me she had a sister named Nessie. I started thinking what would be the odd of me knowing this same child. Impossible I said. Impossible that of all the children in the country that needs to be adopted the same little girl I already knew and loved would be the one. Just impossible because she was already adopted.

They brought Francis in the room and sure enough she is my little Francis that I have already loved and known. I have tons of pictures of her when she was 5 and 6.  The crazy thing about this all is that Terry has been praying this entire time for us to adopt a child from the House of Rose. To us it was going to be impossible. For God, all things are Possible....

The DSS director had no idea Francis was ever at the House of Rose and had no way of knowing we knew her. She picked a child from the list but God chose this child for her because He had a plan for Francis in 2007 we just didn't know it.

Today is the second day with her and already there is a bond I can't explain. It is truly a God given connection. It is a 1 in a Million experience.

My new journey has just begun...After 4 long years and many many hours of prayer our time has arrived to bless a wonderful young lady.. We are so honored he chose us..

God is so good....I stand in awe that we have a child now that we already had..

More to come..

To see photos of Francis on our first day together go to this website.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150261548906534.324168.510376533&l=2cdca49bf3&type=1

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us during this journey. It has only began so please don't stop praying for us. Living here for 3 more months will be hard. Today I took Terry to the airport and it's been a very sad moment for me. I'm lonely already..

For those asking what happen to Nessie, well she an Francis lived in that "home" for 3 years before the adoption was finished and when it was the family only took Nessie. They decided not to accept Francis and sent her back to DSS folks and they put her in the orphanage where she is now. She has been hurt so bad by this family. I stand amazed she is so willing to trust us. She has already asked if she can come and stay with me overnight. I should have her fulltime soon.

This is a true testimony to God's power and His grace and mercy.. We are going to name Francis, Francis Grace Honeycutt (assuming she accepts it).

Thanks again for joining me in our journey.

Angie & Terry

Never Ending Journey Part 9

Many things have happen since I wrote last. Things change around here so fast that I decided to wait until I had something concrete to say. For example, I have had a meeting with the DSS folks changed 4 times in a day.

What I am about to tell you will either shock you, encourage you or maybe both. Walking by Faith is really an awesome thing to do.

When I arrived here and went to see Karen I met almost a stranger. Not my Karen. She had changed physically so much I didn't recognize her. The physical change I can handle but the mental change I can't. Karen loves us very much but over the course of the last few months she has been completely brainwashed into believing she has to stay here in Nicaragua. That's what her "mom" would have wanted for her. The woman she lives with has made sure she knows that it was her "mom's" last request that she stay with her and not to come to the US.

After talking with Karen it was clear that things in her heart had changed and to be honest things had changed for me as well. I realized quickly I was now fighting for a child who didn't want me to fight for her. She loves us but she is confused.

When I went to Mi Familia (DSS) and was told by the Director that she just could not understand why I was fighting to love a child that may never be able to love me back I started questioning God because I agreed with her completely.

Prior to going to see Mi Familia I was praying and telling God that He truly knew the desire of my heart and even though we love Karen very much and we believe she was meant for us having a teenager who doesn't want us is not my desire. For 4 days I prayed asking God to show me what He was doing because I knew something major had changed in my heart and in Karen's. Now what about Terry.

I told no one of my feelings. Only God. Since we started to adopt Karen Terry has refused to even discuss adopting any other child. In his heart if he discussed it he would be giving up on Karen and he wanted God to see he had enough faith to believe for Karen. I told God that if he had other plans He better hurry up and tell Terry because that was going to take a while to change his heart.

Unbeknown to me God was already working. Terry went to Virginia and spend time with his sister who has a 4 year old little girl. During that time which was the same 4 days I had been praying that if God had other plans He would change Terry, Terry was also thinking about the fact that all along we have wanted a little girl. One we can bless with lots of love and one that will receive it in return yet here we were fighting to adopt a teenager who didn't even care how much she was loved.

On the night that I had the meeting with the Director Terry and I were talking (and remember for 2 1/2 years he refused to discuss another child) and in that discussion I told him what the Director had said about us fighting for a kid that didn't wants us anymore yet there are tons of children who do and out of know where he asked me "so what about those children", "how old are they". I was so surprised I didn't really know what to say so I said let's not talk about this any more. Let's pray.. let's see what God is saying because I was emotionally drained and could not handle any more changes in my life.

The next day came and went and we didn't even talk. Terry and I both were seeking God and looking for his direction.

On Wednesday of last week we have 5 confirmations of what God was telling us. Confirmations that could only have come from God since know one knew what we were going through. So...

As of yesterday we are now adopting a little girl. One we do not even know. One who is living in an orphanage here in Managua. We will be able to meet her on Thursday of next week. Terry will come on Wednesday and for 5 days we will be with her to see if there is a connection. Once that is over with if all goes well then I will have her for the next 3 months and then I will bring her home.

Right now we only know that she is between 7 and 9 years of age. They are investigating to determine for sure her age.  Even the child could change between now and then so we really won't know until we get to the orphanage.

We have also asked to adopt Karen. If for some reason she changes her mind after therapy we would still take her but as she gets older and more time passes and she is not allowed to talk to us that emotional connection will be gone even more. However, if she changes her mind we will accept her as well.

I know you probably think this is crazy and yes it is but I can tell you that I have seen God's hand in every minute of it and I am at perfect peace which tells me even more this is God's plan after all.

What a great testimony this child will have. She will be able to tell everyone that God used her to bless 3 other children's lives just to get us to this point to have her.

I am excited in this new beginning.. this new journey God has for us. I can't even believe it is happening but it is and it's God's plan for our lives.

So for now please continue to pray for Karen. Pray that she is taken care of and loved in this foster home. We love her very much and we will not give up on her. We will be here when she is ready for us.

I am so amazed at God. Amazed at how He has taken us down this path put up walls and doors to direct us to this point for such as time as this.

I will share pictures of our new daughter as soon as I meet her and I am allowed to. I can't wait to introduce to you the hand picked child God has for us.

Please continue to pray for my safety, my health (I am sick with a sinus infection now, surprise surprise), our finances and my family.

I will soon have to move from where I am living because they won't allow me to live with another family which we did not know about and did not plan for and we did not think Terry was going to have to come as well. We know God did not bring us here and will not provide but ask that you pray in agreement with us that our needs will be met.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us. I have felt your prayers and could not make it without them.

The living conditions here are difficult to say the least and the weather and dust is driving my sinusitis NUTS.

I'll update more as I have new information..

Rejoice in the Lord always..

Angie & Terry

Angie

Never Ending Journey

In 2004 I took my first mission trip to Nicaragua. During this trip I had the privilege of visiting an orphanage called the House of Rose. This home had 15 little girls who just melted my heart. Many trips went by and I still got to visit the House of Rose and the more I went the more they remembered me. Over the years several of the girls left the home and others came. It was so a blessing to be connected to these girls considering I have been praying for a girl since Terry and I got married.

In 1992 when my oldest son was just a little over a year old (he's turning 21 this year..) Terry and I were wrapping Christmas gifts one night and saw a show on the homeless children in Russia. The show was about how they sniffed glue to keep from feeling hungry. It broke my heart and reminded me of my childhood. I didn't sniff glue but I went to bed many nights with no food. Needless to say this touched my heart to the core and I remember that very moment telling Terry that one day I would like to adopt a child and give them a better life, one much better than what I had. Surprisingly he agreed that would be something he would like to do also.

Several years later after we had lost a child and had been blessed with our Logan we started praying about adopting and even went through Gaston County's program to foster and adopt.  That process was not one I care for and I was left feeling empty.

Years passed and nothing happened with adoption but the desire was still there. Even after we had Jacob. I love all my boys and would not change them for anything but deep down wanted to have a little girl.

2004 finally came and here I found myself in a home for girls, beautiful ones, sweet ones, troubled ones, girls who had never been loved, who had been abused and neglected. Of course one would think here is my opportunity to adopt but oddly not once did I think about it. Not once did God show me or Terry that we had finally found our little girl.

Years passed by and still nothing. The desire was still there but was no longer the focus of my thoughts. By now I had a huge connection to several of the girls. A bond that was deeper than I would ever imagine.

I will never forget the day in July 07 when I knew in my heart that it was time to take a leap of faith and adopt from the House of Rose. I was on a trip with a team and Terry was home. He had never been on one of my trips yet and had never even met these kids. How was I going to convince him? I went home that trip dieing to tell him what I felt but knew that if this was of God then God would have to show him, not me.

I arrived home from the trip late that night and every muscle in my body wanted to tell Terry what I felt God had showed me but I remembered on the plane praying and asking God for a "burning bush". I told God if this is really what He wants us to do then He would have to tell Terry before I got home so needless to say I was dieing on the inside with anxiety of "did God tell him"? . I remember going to bed that night thinking God is this really you? Are you really telling us to adopt? Terry hasn't even met any of the kids?

The next morning came and the kids were out of school so everyone slept in since it was after midnight when I got home. I woke up first and starting praying that Terry would hurry and wake up. I just knew I could not hold it in much longer. He finally rolled over and we began to chat. I remember asking him if God has told him anything and he looked at me like I crazy. I remember asking him do you remember years ago us talking about something we wanted to do one day and out of his mouth came "To Adopt?" I then gave him the third degree, "why did you say adopt, you could have said anything, why did you say adopt". He then explained he had been thinking and praying about the girls I kept talking about and thought this could be the reason God sent me to Nicaragua. I had asked for a burning bush the night before and that very moment my hand was burning like fire, literally. I knew and Terry knew that this was the beginning of something great and God had clearly told us both what we needed to do. I agreed with Terry we would pray long and hard about it and not jump into anything but deep down I knew we were suppose to move forward.

I went back to Nicaragua just a month later and while I was there on a specific project I started investigating three of the kids that I had grown so close to. Carmen, Isamar and Karen. The director of the orphanage gave us the information I asked for and I started praying about those girls. Carmen and Isamar were sisters and Karen was their best friend.

If you have been on my distribution list for a long time you know how the rest of the story goes. For all those who are new to my blog you will have to hear the rest of the story on the next post. This is a very long long story with an ending that most of you will not even believe.

The Journey Continues..

I'll post the ending later, don't want to make you read a book today.

Angie

A Time for Rest...

I can see why Jesus made one day a time for rest. As busy as he was his body had to be wore out mentally, physically and spiritually. Today is our rest day before the girls on the trip head home. We will travel to Granada today to see an amazing volcano and do some shopping. To be honest, in the past I had not really cared for a day off. I figure I am spending all this money coming here I should get every minute out of it I can but this week has been so draining that even I need a rest day this trip.

It was been an amazing week for us. This is the first time I have gotten more than 2 minutes to write so I am going to bring you up-to-date.

At the beginning of the week as you remember we were delayed getting here. Still don't know why by the way but it happened. That made things really rushed and schedules much longer than planned.

We had 5 soccer games on Sunday. It was exciting to see them play and to get to know them. That's when we realized people were stealing the cleats. That made things really difficult for us for the rest of the week.

As I mentioned last night we went to Coffradia on Monday. It was amazing the reception we received. I have never seen anything like it. I can't wait to post the pictures of it. They are so thankful for the garden projects. Some of them have tomato plants 4 feet tall and peppers everywhere. They are making enough to sale them and eat them. They are truly loving it. I can say this is a huge success there. Mostly the woman are working together. The men are always in the fields working so it's up to them and I think they kinda like it that way.

On Tuesday we went to a new community. As soon as we got there it was obvious another group had been there. Kids has Crock shoes on and they were clean. That tells you something. Almost all the kids were in school, that tells you something else. We just didn't feel led to continue there so we sent my friend Evert on a search for another community.

Each day we had 2 or 3 soccer games in the afternoon and it was extremely hot this year making it hard to sit through 3 or 4 hours. Not to mention there was no bathroom around. Games were getting intense. Teams were starting to fight for all there rights. Literally...

We quickly found we would need a cop to hang out with us so we went to the police station and the Captain gave us one each day and on the final day he gave us 3.

On Wednesday we went to the next community called Sa Bieta (Say Beat ah) This is a prodimatially Catholic area. We visited with the community leader and about 27 families who had agreed they would be interested in signing up for the garden project. Immediately you could tell this community needed help. The kids were not in school, their clothes were rags, their shoes were bad and their houses were pretty bad also. Good signs of a poverty area. They were very friendly and nice. We took pictures of all the kids who could not afford to go to school. It is my desire to get them sponsored so they can start school in February, the beginning of the next school year.

Thursday was the longest day ever for me and the group. We went back to Sa Bieta and gave out tools, seeds, irrigation systems, clothes, toys and jewelry for the older ones. They loved getting the little match box cars and some baseballs. The parents were very pleased to get the much needed tools. Some of them have tried a garden before but have no tools so it just didn't work. All of them just kept saying, we are willing to learn, please teach us. Very willing hearts.

At the end of the day Alisha saw we had gospel bracelets. I had not planned on giving them out at this village but thought why not. I walked them through the colors on the bracelet and then shared with them about how important it is to have your name in the Lambs Book of Life. I felt led to pray over them and give them a chance to receive Jesus as their savior. I expressed this is no a decision to make just because you think it is going to please me, do it because you desire to live forever with Christ and you want him to be your savior. Over 50 people respond, all of the adults, many young men and many older children. It was amazing. You could tell this decision was something they desire and not just "let's make Angie happy".

The local church will be working with them, they have an awesome place to have church. A huge tree at the leaders home.

We left and immediately had to go to the final games of the tournament. It was a very nervous time for all of us. We stood the entire time from 1 to 5. It had not rained on us the entire week until NOW. It came a huge thunder storm. God moved the thunder and cooled everything off. It was great.

That night was the banquet. Over 180+ people were in attendance. A dance/evangelism group was the star of the show. They rapped, danced and preached. It was really nice. They truly stole the show. We were out of power for over an hour so it caused things again to be rushed and we ran out of time. We raffled off a lot of shirts and balls but not near as many as we could have.

The guy in charge of the group preached and had over 50 of the boys receive Christ. It was worth all the hard work and all the frustrations. I can't wait to show you pictures.

Yesterday we located 10 of the girls from the orphanage. It was so wonderful to see them. They were so happy to see me. I am so glad they didn't forget me. 5 of them are in an orphanage about 1 hour from Somotillo, one girl is in a community about 30 minutes the other direction and 4 of them live with their mom in just 5 minutes from the first 5. It was so sad to see them for me. To see them dirty and their hair all tangled up was sad. They all seemed happy to some degree but I assure you it is not the same as living in the orphanage.

Today was our rest day. We went to Montombo which has the highest volcano in Nicaragua. It was amazing to be so high up. Unfortunately by the time we took the hour ride up the mountain it was so cloudy we could not see anything. We had to walk through the rain forest for over an hour. It was quite an exciting thing to see. We also went to the Maysa market so the new girls could bring home a taste of Nicaragua.

Please pray for Alisha and Erin as they travel home in the morning. They have to go to the airport at 5am. That's really early after a long day and both of them are not feeling well. Actually as I write this Terry, Logan and I are all feeling like we are getting a soar throat and we have a cough. Please pray God's healing in our bodies.

Tomorrow we are suppose to have Carmen and Isamar for the day but you know how this "dad" is. I am not sure if he will or not. We will see. Pray we have a great day with them.

On Monday please pray at 12:30 as we will be meeting with the director of Mi Familia to discuss our adoption options. We would like to pursue at least one of the girls from the House of Rose. The problem is we are being told the last 5 are a total package.. There is no way I can handle 5 girls in my house all under 7 years old.

I'll keep you updated on how that meeting goes.

Again, please pray for our health and the girls health as both of them are not feeling well tonight and will be traveling home tomorrow.

Last thing is Oscar. We got to see him for a few minutes this week and will see him again tomorrow. He is doing well with all the drugs going in his system. We are waiting on the results of the blood tests. We hope to hear something tomorrow. His mom called today to say one of the test had to be redone. We'll deal with that tomorrow I guess. He is excited but scared. One of the girls in the hospital had her surgery and her body rejected it and sadly she passed away. He told his mom that her kidney was the best one and his body would not reject it. I told him to keep confessing that and we will all agree with him. I will see him tomorrow at the hospital.

God Bless and sorry if this does not sound right. Didn't have time to proof it.

Angie

Changing People's Lives

Each trip I travel to Nicaragua I can see the changes that are happening in the area I visit.

Somotillo is a town of 20,000 people (very poor people) and it is right on the border of Honduras. Over the past 4 years I have seen the travel time from Managua change drastically. Before this April it would take 1 hour+ to get to the next major town and now it takes about 30 - 45 minutes. The USA actually paid to fix the road and man it's really made a difference. Progress is coming to this little community one day at a time.

When I visit a village I can only hope I am making progress one smile at a time.

This trip we were able to visit the orphanage a lot and we ministered in two new villages that had not ever had a group come to love on them. Progress in the making..

We blessed 146 families with beans, rice, corn, sugar and oil. New flip-flops, toothbrushes, toothpaste and toys. It was so sweet to see the little boys playing with their little cars on the church floor making car sounds as if they were driving them. Memories I won't ever forget.

The most moving event for me this trip was giving the baseball team their uniforms and the soccer team their new cleats. Words can not describe their emotions. They were more than happy. As I mentioned before the baseball team gave me their trophy. It was so nice of them to want to give up their very hard earned trophy. I convenience them to keep it and remember what God had done for them.

The soccer team all met at church on Saturday and at the end of the service all came up front and presented me with their trophy. I really didn't know what to do. I didn't want to take it but I didn't want to reject it so I made them a deal that the Pastor needed to keep it in the church so that it would be a reminder to them also. It was so sweet but I did not want them to give me credit for something God did. I felt so happy for them.

Overall, however, the biggest event of the week was in the village called Coffadia. I had bought that morning a soccer ball for that village hoping that some teenagers would be there and sure enough 12 boys showed up. I sent them off with my friend Mario and the Pastor to play while we were playing with the smaller kids.

About 10 minutes’ later people are yelling for me to come. I was busy so I just said, Hang on a minute. That didn't work. “Hurry, Hurry”, they said. Pastor Jorge informed me that he had shared the gospel with these boys and all 12 had accepted Christ. I encouraged them by sharing my testimony with them and reminding them that their decision was going to change that entire village. Progress in the making.

We had a great experience with the 2nd village but the 1st one we visited was a little more reserve with us. We will need to work on them a little more.

Thank you for all your prayers while we were gone. 12 souls are going to heaven because of them. You may have not gone on this trip with me physically but you were there in spirit and God will honor your prayers and they’ll be crowns in heaven for you.

We are planning another trip in August because of the situation with Isamar. We have been told if you want things done you better come back soon so we will try to go before school starts. Pray the Lord provides.

I had a great team this trip. Bonnie and Thomas are starting the process to adopt Loriana. It was amazing to see God bond them together. It is truly meant to be. Please pray for them as they are just beginning this roller coaster ride I’m on.

I will be putting pictures on the site of all this as soon as I can get my wonderful husband to prepare them for the website. Stay tuned for some great photos.

Last but not least I want to challenge each of you to look at the people around you and ask are you changing people's lives? It doesn't take a mission trip, or a position at Billy Graham's ministry or something big. All it takes is a willing effort to make a change for the better for someone who can not. Maybe it's a neighbor who's lawn mover is broke or a friend's mom who is sick and needs a meal. It can be very small or very large but in God's eyes it's changing His people's lives..

God Bless,

Angie