This is how our house looks . . .

Yes, we are putting a new counter in our bathroom, repainting everything and sorting out our closets that junk seems to mysteriously breed in. WHY? Well, we are getting ready to put our house on the market next week.
Yes, we are moving.
Where?
We are moving to India . . . and No, we are not kidding and No, we haven't lost the few marbles we had left!

Let's back up a little . .. as many of you know, we have been blessed to grow our family by way of adoption from India. On our trip to meet Jaya (now 3 yrs old) and embrace her as a new part of our family, we arrived in Calcutta to a political strike. These strikes usually only last a day but everything shuts down from taxis to stores to schools. It was also a very volatile atmosphere for Westerners to be travelling along the streets alone. Well by divine appointment, we met a wonderful man who was kind enough to arrange a military escort to our hotel. He happened to be a close friend to the founder of Good News India (GNI). Through an amazing chain of events, my husband was was able to attend church in Calcutta and meet Dr. Faiz, the founder of Good News India.

Good News India (GNI) runs 25 Orphanages (called Dream Centers) with over 2500 residential children. Many of these kids would have been sold into bonded slavery in India if GNI had not intervened. One of these homes is a home for HIGH RISK GIRLS being trafficked into the sexual slavery markets of India. They have 55 girls who were on their way to a brothel, but were rescued by GNI. Although other ministries rescue these girls from the brothels, GNI gets to them before they ever get to a brothel, thus saving them from ever experiencing the horrors of a brothel. We had wanted to hook up with a ministry in India and now we had just found one. This connection proved to be a huge part of our life.

Last September, Peter went on a short term missions trip with GNI. He came home full of passion for these kids and what GNI was doing. Only his passion didn't subside like the usual "post mission trip glow" - it grew into vision which eventually became reality. He has accepted a support-based position with GNI. We have made a two year commitment and we will be leaving the US for Bhubaneswar, Orissa early March 2010.

We are very excited for many reasons and a little apprehensive. Let's be real here, the thought of going to a market and looking a little chicken in the eye and saying, "That one, I want that one" as they proceed to kill it in front of you is enough to make to make anyone a little apprehensive! There are so many unknowns but what an amazing opportunity! The girls will get to experience life in India and learn more about their culture and so will we. Wow - only God could orchestrate something like this.

We will be detailing our move and our time in India on this blog so hopefully, I will become a more entertaining writer so that it is fun for you to follow our journey. So to close, I will share a scripture that we have on our fridge at this very moment . . .

"Don't worry about anything; instead , pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7