i've been dreaming about ada's birthday party for a while now, even though it's still a month away. after having a few hours last june with an old friend, howie, who works full time as a missionary building homes in mexican border towns, i realized that AMOR, a ministry that is dear to my heart and primarily "builds hope" by providing poor families with safe, dry homes, is struggling financially and therefore is only able to build half as many homes this year. That means that only 600 families will benefit from the two room structure AMOR builds so well instead of normal 1200 families. It also means only half as many volunteers are blessed by the experience of using their hearts and hands through AMOR to help build these homes and love on these families. It's been my experience that I gain way more than I give when I am serving in this capacity. I knew that the First Pres. group was taking a break from serving on the border due to the dangerous drug traffic and related crime, but it had not occurred to me that other churches were also choosing other avenues in which to serve. Fewer servant groups, in combination with low giving, has left AMOR with a long waiting list of Mexican families who pray for a home for their babies. I can't even imagine.
We have been conscious this year about supporting AMOR, and since Ada's birthday is at Christmas time, I thought that, with housing on our hearts, a gingerbread party would be fun! Because of that, and because of her interest at Daystar, at Nana's and at RuRu's with the dollhouses there, I decided this would be a fun year to get her a dollhouse, as a tangible reminder of God's grace in our lives and also as a prompt to teach her to "build hope," however God might call her to do that.
When I started looking for dollhouses, I was super discouraged. They are all pretty pricey (mostly over 3 digits) and seemed less than unique, much unlike my girl. I happened to look on craigslist Sunday night and found a cute, wooden, blue house in need of some loving that very much reminded me of the house my sister made me when I was little (only it's smaller). It was only 25 dollars, so I inquired about it right away, and was first in a line of many to get to stop by and look at it.
I told Ms. Paula, the homeowner, that I could pick the house up Monday morning, but would have to back into her driveway and sneak it into the trunk without the kids seeing it. We headed towards Franklin, which worked perfectly because Isaac had gymnastics in Franklin that morning anyway. When we passed the gym, he of course freaked out that I was going the wrong way. I told him that I had a surprise to pick up. He and Ada both got really excited and immediately started trying to guess what it might be. Isaac said, "It must be a pumpkin!" I decided to let him know that it wasn't actually a pumpkin, so he said, "I know! Maybe it's a cow! No, that's too big." So Ada said, "Then it's a horse." Isaac said, "No, Ada. It's a rooster." And so finally they settled on a new puppy.
I'm excited about giving this "new puppy" a new life. I think it needs a good coat of pink paint on the outside and some sweet little touches on the inside. I can't wait to work on it, and to give it to Ada for her second birthday. Hopefully she and Isaac will spend a lot of creative hours enjoying it together, and in the end, will be reminded that everything we have is a gift from God. I hope they will learn to give generously in response to his extravagant love.
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