Just like Harry

I have been trying for weeks to figure out how I wanted to share the information that I am about to share in this post. I am not one to share deeply personal things on the internet, and I somewhat despise social media for the mere fact that people use it for that reason. Also, my mind thinks in analogies and until I have a good analogy or word picture to explain the situation, I typically don't share it at all. 


In this case, some very wise people in my life have encouraged me to share my ongoing story and the Harry Potter books, of all things, provided the inspiration. 


Jay and I recently found out that we may not be able to have children. This news has caused a type of grief in my life that I have never experienced before; the helpless loss of hope and long held expectations. 


And no one gets it.


At least no one among my current interactions (including Jay) gets it. Everyone has a quick solution - IVF, adoption, foster parenting, etc . . ., and although I am excited to see where God is going to take us in this journey, something inside me has been altered and scarred forever. (Wait for it - Here comes the Harry Potter analogy).


The only way I can explain it is this: In the Harry Potter books, Harry witnesses the death of one of his classmates. When he returns to Hogwarts a few months later, Harry feels isolated, but to his surprise, he can now see the once invisible creatures that pull the carriages that carry the students up to the school. His friend can't see them, but it is explained that only people who have experienced death can see the Thestrals.

In my own way, I feel like I can see the Thestrals. My world view has changed and it seems like no one sees it the same way.


But I know this isn't true. Our God has prepared me for this in so many ways. He has given me so many friends who have struggled with infertility. He has created a longing in my heart to care for the widows and the orphans. He is teaching me what it means to be adopted into His family and how to open my life to children who need a family.


I am excited to see where we will go and who God will bring into our lives and our family and we would love your prayers as we move forward in this journey.

Fill 'er up!

A year ago, Jay and I were blessed with the opportunity to purchase a home . . . a big home . . . a home with 5 bedrooms! It is a little two big for our little family, but we love to fill up the extra rooms by having people come and stay with us. In the past month we have a had a lot of people make a temporary home here at Taylor Manor. Here is  glimpse of their visits:

Allison Zandarski (the name just drips with . . . ) was on our India team. She has a passion for the people of India and soon (Lord willing) will be attending medical school in India. She drove from South Bend to stay with us for 24 hours, so we gave her a whirlwind tour of the Metro Detroit Area.

She also was on a Danial Fast (Fruits, veggies, whole grains only) for her visit. I love to feed people, so this provided an extra challange to the weekend.

One of most unexpected part of the day was when we accidentally found ourselves serving at Mack Avenue Community Church's Saturday morning corner store.

The other surprising part of the day was all of the people who were openly upset that we were not wearing green on St. Patty's Day. One lady in Detroit actually pinched Allison and yelled, "B#@!h, where's yo GREEN?!"

A couple off weekends later our friends Levi and Courtney came to visit from DC. (We went to visit them this same time of year last year). We did similar tour, but since they were here longer than Allison, we were able to take things a little slower. 

A few weeks after that, we had 9 people from SpringHill stay at our house for the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast.

We feel blessed to be a blessing and thank God that we are able to provide a bed and food for the people God places in our lives.

P.S. This summer we are housing several people for several weeks: Bruce, our friend and Indian videopgrapher/photographer who is coming to work in the states for the summer, Danae, our friend and co-worker who is temporarily homeless, and April, a friend and (soon to be ex) co-worker and bride to be who will be crashing with us as needed until her wedding.

It's what we do . . .

I promised, now I will deliver, and finally answer what we did in India.

It has been about 110 days since we have returned, and, still, I miss it every day. I miss the people and the amazing example that they set of joy and hospitality. I miss the culture and the colors. I miss doing something everyday that completely was within the strengths that God gave me.

While we were in India we ran camp. We were asked to come along on the trip because a need was identified that the children of the Irula Colony needed to know that they are loved and created by God and adopted as heirs into His family.

As the people who were brought in from SpringHill, we programmed the week in the style of one of the day camps we run in the states. We themed each day, planned crafts, Bible stories and games. We trained the team on debriefing, songs, and small group team building. We invited the village, paid their wages so the adults could attend too, and we prayed . . . a lot.

Before we left, we heard a lot of  "Well, you could try that, but be ready to change your plans", and so we were ready. We had plans and back-up plans and they changed on a daily basis during the week.

We split the 100 or so people who showed up for our program into 5 color teams (Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, and Purple) and we divided our GCC team and ourselves up onto those teams as well.

God used the programming in ways we couldn't have imagined. He engaged a village through our activities, crafts and Bible study times. We watched 86 year olds engage in what we were doing with the same enthusiasm as the six year olds and no one who experienced that week will ever be the same.

Because an entire village was engaged, we know the impact of the week of camp will last longer. Whole families were impacted by the Gospel. If you think of our trip to India, please take a moment to pray for the missionaries who are planted in the colony, that they, through God's grace, would be able to continue to the share the Gospel to this group of precious people.

If you haven't seen the video of our trip yet, please check out this link to see our trip in action.

Irula - a Colony going from Darkness to Light

One of the most common questions I am asked when I tell people that I recently traveled to India, is "Where exactly in India were you?"

The short answer is a rural village near the southern tip. The long answer is the Irula Colony near the town of Kalavai three hours inland from the coastal city of Chennai in the state of Tamilnadu, India.


As you can imagine, I usually just give the short answer.


It has been over a month since I  returned the states and I find that the people of this Irula colony is on my mind more than ever. My prayers are focused on specific requests for the people there and I am also praying for an opportunity to return.

I was reading an old blog post written by Jack Magruder, the director of Life Mission International at Granger Community Church, I was drawn in by a post about Kasi's baptism (there is more about Kasi in this previous post).


This particular quote from Kasi  blew me away:

 "You know... the word 'Irula' actually means 'People of Darkness'. And for many hundreds of years, we have been People of Darkness. We have had no Hope. But now, that is no longer the case. Rather, since Pastor Sam (the indigenous church planter with whom we work), the teams from Life Mission, and GCC have begun to come and to help us... well... NOW, we are the People of Light! The Darkness is fading away, and the Light is coming!"

The Light is coming to the people of the Irula colony and to the people of India. The harvest is ripe and God is transforming the people of India in amazing ways. I was honored to be a part of that transformation for a short time.

P.S. - many people have wanted to know exactly what we did while we were there and I promise to post on that soon!

People of India - Babu

On my Blue team, we had an abundance of young boys. The most out-going of them was boy named Babu. With an infectious smile and a contagious enthusiasm for everything, his name was one of the first that I learned.

Babu took a self portrait on my camera.

He was one of my zoo buddies and we RAN through the zoo at the pace of an energetic 10 year old boy.

Babu and K-man, my two zoo buddies.

By the end of the week, Babu was a constant companion of mine.

At the end of the week, Babu received the boldness award. He is a natural leader and my prayer is that he grows up to be a man who uses that enthusiasm and energy to lead people to Christ.

The People of India - Kalavani

Do you have anyone in your life who has a beautiful and infectious laugh? Someone who has so much enthusiasm that they scream whenever they think something exciting is about to happen?

On our trip to India, that person was Kalavani. She was a ball of energy, enthusiasm, and laughter in a tiny package. Whenever you would walk up to her, she would scream and rush into your arms because she was anticipating fun and, possibly, a tickle fight.

Kalavani was maybe 5 years old, but she left her mark with her contagious laugh and big hugs. I did my best to capture her laugh in the video below - enjoy!

The People of India - Kasi

On the Blue team, we were blessed with the opportunity to have the village elder on our team, Kasi.

Kasi became a Christian because of Life Mission reaching out the village of Kalavai. He was the grandfather to most of the kids on my team, and he told us his most treasured possession is his copy of the Bible in Tamil. It was amazing to hear members of the GCC team tell stories of how Kasi was in the past. Apparently on past trips, he was not engaged and he even caused a lot of division between the Mission and the people of the village. We experienced the complete opposite of that.

Kasi helped to lead the Blue team all week.

Kasi was often seen moving his cow around the village and he would speak enthusiastically about the Lord and the Lord's blessings to our team. He loved the game of Little Sally Walker, and he made sure everyone on our team had a chance to play.

Kasi playing Little Sally Walker

When the blue team was given the van with the A/C on the way to zoo, he gave a sermon to our bus about how good Jesus is because He gave us A/C.

At the end of the week, Kasi sought me out to pray blessings over me in Tamil: an amazing God-designed moment that I will always cherish.

Kasi brought us a lizard to play with and they were preparing to eat it when we left.