Why Romania?

What in the world?!!!

Today was so awesome. I got to see people be brave and donate to this cause- basically I got to see God move- how cool is that??

So I'm sure some of you are like, "Say whaaaa?" How random is this chick wanting to jetset to Romania!? Doesn't she have like a baby and kid and stuff?? What up with that!?

Let me explain a little more.

 I've been praying like I said in the previous post for God to point me in the direction of a mission trip. And it became clear to me through prayer that I should keep my focus on what is already a focus: ministering to young girls to let them know their true worth in Jesus and their God given loveliness. Check.

I've been looking at mission trips provided through my church and nothing hit home to me.

That's when God planted "Manna Worldwide" in my brain. I've always heard my "Bonus Dad" talk about the orphanages he's helped build in the Ukraine and Romania with this organization. And so I searched through their current offerings and this trip came up!

I saw these girls and immediately grabbed my phone!

Aren't they just so lovely!? YES!

The trip will take me to a "Gypsy" girls home in Romania as well as to a Bible Club for children there where lots of families with lots of kids like 150- will come to hear the Word and play.

I'm going solo from Houston to London and then will meet up with a church from Virginia along with the trip director from Manna Worldwide and one other person from Pennsylvania. I'm hoping she will be a she so I can befriend her. BEFRRRRIIIIIIEEEEENNNNDDDD HER. That was weird. Watch her hate cheese or sci fi or cakes (that has happened to me- it never went anywhere from there and it was a guy...) and then I'd have to reassess. Do you like how I've already pre-dumped my only future friend over a fake falling out over food differences!?

So I shared with the trip director my heart for girls-- specifically my mission from God- Blues Brothers reference- to let every girl know she is LOVELY because she is His through verses and lessons that are girl relevant in the Bible. And basically it will be me just pouring out Jesus love on these girls.

God has told me He would provide! He is going to have to provide even more than all the funds- but also confidence and courage!

I've never been on a mission trip.
Never been to Europe.
Had to look up exactly where Romania is on our Ol' School Globe (It says USSR y'all!).
Don't have a passport- applying tomorrow after I retake my pic (apparently tank tops are controversial!-- thank you friend who told me this!!).
My 7 yr old is none too pleased, but is coming around to the idea...
And I hate to raise funds or solicit money. I had a pampered chef party once and sweated like a popsicle in August in the Katy Mills Mall parking lot.

And I just gotta say thank you to everyone who doesn't think I'm crazy like a fox. I am and y'all are sweet. But seriously, thank you for your prayers- the best gift. Thank you for the encouraging words. And thank you for your donations!!! I'm giving away my coveted photography tips to anyone who donates $50!!!!

Here's my fundraising web page... Did I mention I only have 4ish days left to raise the rest!

So that's the news! Thank you for being a part of this journey with me!!!!

Talking to Our Six Year Old About Purity...

Yep. It's come to this. Today's the day. Let's talk about six.

We are going to tell Leelah all about how if God desires for her to be married, that He has the dude already picked out and golly bum willikers, he's where it's at because he's being prayed for already and he loves Jesus.
To quote my precious neighbor who said it beautifully to her 3rd grader:
"If he doesn't love Jesus, he doesn't love you!"
Does this boggle your mind that we are even touching the subject of our 6 yr old's future husband? Hey guess what.
The world is way ahead of us on this. They're already forecasting your daughter's future: "good time", "boyfriend", "girlfriend", the unattainable "soulmate", "best friend with benefits"- heck just have them stand in front of a Redbox for 5 minutes!!!, and their "last Friday night."

Why it's time:
As a photographer (thank you Jesus for healing my sight so that I can be!!!), I take photos of all sorts of beautiful people. To me, everyone I shoot is beautiful because they are created by a God who oozes with creativity and doesn't make mistakes.

Truly, truly I say to you that I love people and taking their portrait to display their beauty is something so special to me that I tear up as I write this. That is no joke.

This past weekend, I got to snap some shots for an actor.

 My daughter (she's 6 did I mention?) happened to note (while dropping her fake ice cream cone) that she "really liked his face." She then proceeded to mention, "When will I see him again?"

She is 6- turning 7 soon, but still, 6. And he attends high school.

Sidenote: Please forgive my punctuation mistakes and grammar 'ssues. I placed out of English. There's a lot of ", -, and ()'s in here and that is not my "wheelhouse!"

The Battle is On to Win Your Girl's Heart, Mind and Focus:
Have you taken a spin in Claire's or Justice or Walmart lately?
Do you not see the amount of Beiber shirts, posters, One direction, whoever's hot right now, all at eye level and marketed to our tiny girls? And have you seen anything remotely like that for boys? No. But they have their own set of challenges, which I can't even touch as a girl-mom.


WAKE UP!

You might not understand or want to fathom that sex is selling to 6 yr olds, but it is.
And you might laugh when your daughter comes home and says "So and so has a boyfriend! *tee hee hee*" But you need to realize if you haven't already, that this is all setting the stage for her future in the arena of: dating, marriage, and waiting. 

As Christian parental units, we need to be praying for God to reveal and then casting God's vision for them and forming their minds- "training them the way they should go" to see that God's plan is so much greater than our theirs or even our own plan for them as parents!!!

We purposely don't have cable and don't watch live broadcasts of local TV because the ads are just disgusting. It's a very blurry line we tow between not over-sheltering her in a prayer closet a la Carrie's mom and not playing HBO in the background of our life. There's a whole mess of stuff in between.

But that's where prayer and seeking God in His Word comes in- SO YOU CAN SEE THE LINE and see the battle that's already being waged for her heart!!!

Even with our hawk-eye, laser-beam focus and all the lessons and all the pumping up we do of substituting the world's trash with God's treasures, Leelah still has eyes to see the beauty that God has made. As well, she should.

 But what she does with this is how we pray and hope to cast a vision for her. 

She has a little mind working overtime to process what she sees and hears at school. And John and I will be darned if we let the fallen world tell her what to do with all that.

Our hope is to attack the boy-crazy-mindset before it even begins. Not so much to talk about sexual purity at this stage, but to cast a vision for our daughter so she can have her sights set on God's plan for her as opposed to the flashing candy the world is shoving down her throat.

Why wait if you don't know what or whom you are waiting for? Am I right?

Let's set this up, Disneyworld style. Hey, I've waited in those lines as a kid for upwards of 2 hours. And it was worth every. stinkin. minute.


The Purity Plan. 
Tonight we are going to be prayed up. My husband and I are going to put on homemade, king and queen crowns. I will do my best to have some sort of special dinner made (and or purchased...).

With an invitation to come join us for a Royal Dinner awaiting for her when I pick her up from school, she will also receive a Princess crown and yes, we will let her bring her sword. She's hardcore like that. She caught a lizard yesterday and it bit the fooey out of her. So yes, this plan could work for a tomboy.

We will sit with fancyfied TV trays (We typcially only sit at the table as a fam) and watch as a family, the King and Queen's wedding video (thanks Uncle Ken!). Leelah's never seen this before. I know I will be bawling like a psycho when I see my dad (who's in Heaven) walk me down the aisle.

We will explain that this is what God has planned for Leelah. Do you see the vision that's being cast?

And then we will read this precious book lent to me from a precious friend:

http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Kiss-Story-Purity-Audio/dp/1593173806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367941798&sr=1-1&keywords=the+princess%27s+kiss

 
And then we will most likely answer a dozen questions or none at all - we never know what we are going to get with her!

And then, the key, we will pray with her. For God's Will to be done in her life and NO ONE ELSE'S.

Guys, you cannot let the world dictate to your daughter who and what her love life will be. Whatever "positive" or "negative" things you think the world can provide for her PALES IN COMPARISON to the blinding, sunshine light of truth in God's Word.
Period.

I'm not planning on talking about the deed to Leelah tonight. As I see it we are just discussing God's chosen prince for her if He decides that is the route He will have her take. Who knows, she might end up as a missionary/Dr. Dolittle type after it's all said and done!

And then, John and I will have to realize that if we are intentional in our hearts, prayers, actions, words, etc. and if she stumbles (It's a guarantee that "we all stumble.") that we know that that is also covered in God's plan of grace. However, we are praying that God would equip us to equip her to wear the right shoes so to speak so as to make that stumble a trip and not a full-out-fall.

Do you have an older daughter? Let me recommend this awesome book to you:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Young-Lady-Waiting-Developing/dp/076842657X

Vision Focus- What's the "The End" for your little girl?

Instead of our united focus being, "Well she's gonna do _____________ anyway, so let's go ahead and prepare with that end in mind..."
We are going full out in the other direction with this vision for her life based on God's Word.
How dare you parents who assume your child will do the worst!!!
I don't like to shame anyone here. God doesn't use shame. But seriously. You can do better than this! I'm talking to you FDA for making the Plan B drug OTC. And I better stop the ranting as I feel my heartbeat in my throat over that.

Focus on the Do's: 
Instead of focusing on the don'ts right now - which are actually for life saving and not fun stopping- we are going to focus on the do's.
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.- Jer. 29:11
"Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."- Matt 6:21
¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.- 1 Tim. 4:12

Have you Given Up?
Do you complain and lament as the lost innocence of girls today, but do nothing to counter that? You can. It's not too late. Please. Let's all unite on this and take our girls back. 

Check out this phenomenal resource list compiled by Kristen over at We Are That Family to see what is out there that breathes life and hope into your daughter in the form of music, books, magazines, fashion, etc. 

"But they're girls!"

Today we will be talking about my Quasi-Feminist-Wholly-Christian viewpoint on little girls serving.

This past Saturday was our little girls service organization's, Lovely Girls Club, monthly service project. Because you know, we are trying to let that light shine for the love of Benji:




And I'll be flat out honest when it comes to the whole women's lib movement- I am thankful I have a voice, get to vote, can wear pants- which I do by golly stretchy ones!, don't have to wear a corset, am equal, blah blah blah but you see it's not my main cause I champion every day, okay?
 As one of my BFFles and I say, "I'm just tryin' to do me."

But lately, I'm aghast and fleshy about how there are some Christian peeps out there that are hatin' on girls serving.


I'm going to reiterate this for you: For the love of Benji y'all, people don't come easy to the request for a project that little girls can serve at.

In fact, some service organizations straight up scoff at us!!!!!!
S
U
S
STRAIGHT UP SCOFF.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA???????

Yes. You mean to tell me that you are going to say no when a pack of adorably precious little girls want to help some folks out? Really.

And you wonder why there are so many complaints about the lack of humanity, lack of industriousness, and lack of character in our youth!?!?!?!!

HEY DAD WHO DOES MARIJUANA ON THAT COMMERCIAL THEY LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU SAY NO TO KIDS SERVING, ALRIGHT/?????!!!!!


Wait, let me digress and assess and back up.

I'm prideful. Okay. I'm a work in progress and completely imperfect. I have absolutely no right to judge anyone or thing. I'm thankful for service organizations and the service they provide.

But look.
 I just want my kid to be able to serve her community and go out and be the "hands and feet of Christ" to others, you know shine a light and your SERVICE organization is not going to let that happen, why? Here are the list of excuses we've heard for why places will not let us help out:
(Some I have omitted because they are in fact valid- some meaning 1).

"There are too many of you. And we don't have enough room."
My retort: That's lame. Have you ever heard of outside?

"We don't do anything on Saturdays."
My retort: Well, we are coming on Saturday can you please find something?

"They are too young."
Retort: Sometimes, I get it. We don't want 5 and 6 yr old little girls going into prison ministry, but sometimes this is completely wrong. YOU ARE NEVER TO YOUNG TO SERVE DANG IT.

And my personal favorite I heard this weekend when we told them we'd like to do actual manual labor so our girls could learn a thing or two about hard work AND service:
Get ready for it.
Are you ready for it?
I really don't think you can handle this bomb of jelly that I'm about to drop on your computer monitor viewing screen.
Here goes:
the guy says, "But they're girls!"

I wear 2 glasses in the sun.
One pair for seeing.
And one pair that fits over for shading.
I know unequivocally that that man saw me shoot a laser eye beam with such intensity that he might have felt a sting from me emotionally slapping him. How do I know? He immediately apologized. Phew.
I really didn't want to beat someone down at a service project.

Thank you Lord that our "girls" were out of earshot and were working on a project they thought was meant to sustain us: bag decorating which is a WONDERFUL thing do not get me wrong and needed for an AMAZING organization that provides lunches, but Mister we came here to work!

Yes, can you see my pride? I told y'all I'm gross.

But do you see how some people just don't get what we are trying to do here?

And with all that to say, there are some incredible organizations that totally could rightly have pulled the above reasons out but did not and we are so thankful for them allowing us to come and help out.

I'm going to wrap this up like a burrito by saying this:
God wants us to serve and He wants us our little ones to serve and to learn that life is not all that peachy for the rest of the world which is why they need our light.

If you see a chance to let a little one learn this concept and you are tempted to say no because it will put you out- please, fight against that and open your mind a little.

Pink Army

Not gonna lie which is always true for this blog, this week's been hard.

Nature Camp was such a gift. So very thankful to the Lord for that little adventure for my animal-crazy daughter. She came home covered in dirt and smiles every day. She lived up to being what I call a "Dirt Princess." The time I spent while she was at camp in Starbucks was my own little social experiment and I ate that up. I wonder what all those people in the leather chair circle will do without me studying them next week? What a life of leisure they have and don't even know it probably. Hope I'm not being judgey.

But all those fun deterrents aside, the enemy stepped up his game last week and brought so much doubt into my heart that I almost forgot how to fight back the siege. The Word. Prayer.

Thank you to some very special people in my life my Inner Circle of Prayer Mavens, because I was broke down. I was even questioning hosting our precious students from China again. They arrive in a week. So I had 4 ladies talk me down and back into God's grace. Thank you Jesus.

His strength is perfected in my weakness. His grace is sufficient. And when I get befuddled I remember that I'm so silly to be fighting this fight like I'm alone. That battle's already been won by Him. And God reminds me that we have to keep strong and keep assembling our Pink Army.

The Pink Army is our sweet little Lovely Girls Club.
An army who's mission is to bring light and lovely back into the world and stand up against the world's message of girls striving for worthlessness. This little army wears bows and dresses (and in my daughter's case wolf graphic t-shirts).

Our prayer is this:
That these precious girls will hear and believe in their worth, which is Jesus. 
That they know they are LOVELY! They are His! 
They will see that they do not belong to this world and all it's trash, but that they are each princesses.
That as Christ followers, we will be putting our hearts where our mouth is and we will serve.
We are going out of the comfortable bubble and we are seeing the reality, the sick, the tired, the forgotten, the poor, the destitute and we are showing them love. 
If we say we believe the Good News, then let's BE THE GOOD NEWS! 
That our little Pink Army be MIGHTY for the Lord! 
And protected as we go forth to bring light into the darkness. 

We have 18 Little Lovelies as the members are called.
We are forming ranks.
Get ready world. Your message has no place for our girls!

Lovely Girls Club on Facebook!

Eek gads, we've got online presence! Remember that whole post about Lovely Girls Club a while back? Thanks for your prayers. We now have a FB page: www.facebook.com/lovelygirlsclubkaty.

And keep on praying for His Will, protection, guidance, logistics and leadership!
And just for funsies, here's our logo:

And here's our web ad:

Lovely Girls Club

What if we told our little girls who face elementary school everyday that they are lovely?
What if we had these little lovely girls go out to a world they don't see everyday and share that loveliness by being the hands and feet of Christ and serving others?

Well, you would have what my daughter and I are calling: Lovely Girls Club.
It's simple and so very uncommon. For 2 years I have searched. There is a lack of young girl clubs or settings where we start with Kindergartener girls--5th grade and just pour love on them and tell them their TRUE worth: they are Lovely because they are His! There is a wonderful organization: American Heritage Girls. But you have to have that chartered. If you attend a church that has 50,000+ members, that can be quite difficult to start up. So, alas, God is leading me to different options.

While I have an immense passion to tell young girls they are lovely and they matter, it is a scary venture. I have my past to consider and fear. Me, Lord? I'm so unworthy.
But that is where I trust that God will prevail.

Have you ascertained that this is not a frugalicious Friday post?
This homegirl is b to the zee right now, with what I hope is the Lord's work and not my own.

Bullying, promiscuity, and just plain yuck start planting their heart-bombs in Kindergarten. There are plenty of tweens/teen reactive measures, clubs, books, programs, etc. But what about our little girls who are forced to not be little? It's a shame. And they need good role models to make goodness cool again. And that's why we are recruiting older lovely girls as well. To serve their sisters and be a role model as well as get some accountability and learn about responsibility.

God has been showing me in big ways the need that everyone wants but simultaneously overlooks for their little girls:
-I saw a precious and gorgeous teenage girl looking for self help books at the Bookworm shop the other day. I wanted to cry with her. She was alone in her search. I should have said something.
-This year, a high school student in the Katy ISD, drove her car into a tree and ended her young life because of a band of bullies that wouldn't let her rest.
-In my Bible Study class, one of our teachers said that his son was approached by a girl in his school and propositioned for sex. A girl approached him. Thank God his parents are Christ followers and sat her down and prayed with her to shed His truth on her precious life.
-While taking pictures at my daughter's school, I spoke with a little girl and shared her picture with her on my camera and told her that she was beautiful. To which she replied, "Oh, I'm not beautiful." She is five years old and already has this in her heart.
And my sweet 5 year old is already befuddled about kids and what they are thinking.

I was inspired by the book, Captivating by Stasi Eldridge 2 years ago.

I don't want to give the entire message away, but the main point was how God made women with the question: "Am I lovely?" It's in our soul and we will do almost anything to get a positive response.

God won't let me say no, I've already tried.
So we are starting a small group. We are meeting once a week with one service project a month to get our girls out there serving and realizing it's not all Chick-fil-a and princess parties out there in the real world. We are going to have fun. We are going to learn that we are lovely girls who do not need acceptance from this world. We don't need to earn love. We are His. We are precious. We can show love to others.

I would so very appreciate your prayers for God to lead this and for His protection. That God's message would be heard loud and clear. We will see what happens with this!