Just another birthday... or no? Post #3

(First, I realize this is a LOT... and a LONG story... but it's one worth telling...)
The next week after the retreat, we celebrated our Z-man's birthday! On his birthday, we celebrated with friends at our home. One of those friends, Amy Block, was over and we had a very short conversation that started with Amy asking "Do you think you live in Africa someday?" and I replied "Yes! Shane feels called to Zambia, but I LOVE Ethiopia! But not for a long time... we are adopting, and we LOVE where we are right now." The end of that discussion and the party continued.

2 hours later: I get an email from a sweet friend, but I'm not really "close" to her.. only through the adoption circuits and cyber adoption world. Sweet Christie Ucherek emailed me and just said that God had so clearly put me on her heart today and that she wanted to be able to pray specifically for me. That's kinda odd, because she has never done that before, and we haven't talked in a LONG TIME. So, I start to type out that the adoption wait is hard, and that's it. BUT, God convicted me that I wasn't being fully honest and transparent, and that I needed to share with her what was truly on my heart and what God was doing. I did this. I told her that we felt drawn to the poor, that we weren't sure if it was to just rent our house and move downtown or if He was preparing us to eventually be overseas: Uganda, Ethiopia, and Zambia are on our hearts heavy right now. But, I was careful to say that we were NOT unhappy with our current place in life and that really, the thought of leaving it made us very sad. She understood and said she would be praying.

Less than 24 hours later: I get a message from Christie Ucherek again. This time she starts with "Well, this is kinda crazy" ... great. That's what I need... CRAZY. ha. She proceeds to tell me that within LifeSong, their Zambia director has announced retirement and that they are going to need someone asap. LOL. and LOL. Well, let me list the 5 million reasons why this isn't the right time... NOR will it work. BUT, "I'll tell Shane" is my default. Surely, He can see this is insane. right??

30 minutes later, I get another message... from my friend, Amy Block, who was at my house yesterday. She had found out about the position (her family is and has done AMAZING work with LifeSong, check it out here) and that she just thought I "needed to know." pahaha. Only this time, it was a little more like my heart was racing and feeling a bit crazy. God must have known I would have ignored the first message, and piggy-backed one on top of the other just to get my attention. At this point... on one crazy Friday in February, He had the McB's attention...

stay tuned...