Catching up and heading out :)

Wow...

 

It has been far too long since I have been on here and sort of left things hanging.

 

I need to catch up quickly because it is a really big day but I do not want to forget what God has done.

 

 

Because this crazy family...

 

IS GOING TO MEXICO!!!!!!!

 

Our trailer is packed to the brim with goodies for some pretty special orphans and we can hardly wait to go and give them some kisses!

 

That is just how good God is,

 

He made a way where there seemed to be no way.

 

 

Late last week this little girly proved the doctors wrong....

 

and all her tests came back NORMAL!

 

My head is still spinning,

 

they had told us to be ready for a quick admit and surgery,

 

she had all the symptoms and they were pretty darned sure that Pheochromocytoma was what she had.

 

NOPE.

 

Not even close.

 

 

But guess just how good God is?????

 

Not only did her tests come back normal but I think we are on to what the source of her 'episodes' for the last 3 years have been.

 

It's crazy....

 

Low blood sugar.

 

Seriously.

 

My friend Joyce kept mentioning that Georgia's symptoms sounded like her daughter's when she had hypoglycemia...

 

and being the amazing friend that she is, she brought me over her daughter's glucometer :)

 

Sure enough,

 

the next morning I tested Georgia and she was super low.

 

The normal range for children is 70-100.

 

Georgia wakes up in the morning at about 50,

 

and has a hard time getting much above 70.

 

Low and behold, when she gets pale and fatigued...her numbers have dropped!

 

She has not had any sweating spells to test yet so we don't know what her numbers are during those.

 

Our doctor checked her out and said she is stable to go to Mexico as long as we keep her fairly calm and resting and feed her often. We will meet with an Endocrinologist when we get back to figure out WHY her sugars are so low.

 

BUT WE ARE GOING TO MEXICO!!!!!!!

 

I feel so overwhelmed by God's goodness.

 

It has been a long very difficult year and we are weary.

 

I don't know why but Mexico and the orphanage feel more like home than anywhere else on this planet and it feels like the biggest gift ever to get to go back and love those precious children, scrub toilets, stand in the dusty road hand out milk and peanut butter to hungry children, worship in Spanish with the staff...all of it....a total treat.

 

I feel like a kid in a candy shop that we get to go.

 

I promise to write more from the road but right now I've got a little more packing to do!

 

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:16-17

 



Beauty for Ashes (or how some orphans in Baja got crazy adorable with hairbows)

*****I know we have surgery coming up soon...but I just felt like today was the day to share what God did with my little girl's dream ****

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

Isaiah 61

 

 

 

So...

It all started with one little girl.

Wanting her friends down in Baja, who happen to be orphans

to know that they are beautiful...

That they are loved by God...

and breathtakingly beautiful to Him.

So she worked her little fingers off....

Making hairbows.

Because some of her friends were almost bald last year.

Because when they were found begging,

they had lice.

And Ravenna wanted them to know that it did not matter.

That they were still so beautiful.

and as a family we worked and prayed and tried to get the word out.

About these amazing kids, who happened to be orphans

that we love so much down in Baja.

Word spread and others jumped in to help!!!!

little girls from across the country and in our classrooms began giving up their own hairbows!

Friends sent ribbons and the pile grew!

More friends sent beautiful quilted fabric!

and we continued to pray and get so excited!!!

These kids didn't know what was heading their way!!!!

We made headbands...

stunning headbands with those quilted flowers and donated things!

and Parker jumped into the mix and said, "what about the boys? They need to know God loves them too!"

So he thought and he prayed,

and he decided they needed to know that God made them strong...

and started collecting jumpropes!

Boy did the jumpropes come in....

until we had 80 of them!

and friends sent school supplies,

little toys,

and all sorts of fun for the children in the villages!

and then came the shopping spree....

a woman we did not know let Ravenna shop for those girlies down in Mexico.

Tiaras and wings and more sparkly hair things!!!

it was like early Christmas as the packages came!

and they made sure things would really 'work' :)

and then...we packed it all up, boxes and boxes of donations miraculously fit in our little mini van.

and we drove

and drove,

and drove,

to the place that we dearly love.

It honestly felt like coming home.

It still makes me cry thinking about it.

Then the day came,

the day we had been dreaming of filled with all kinds of fun....

the kids started coming...

and we spread out the goodies between all of the kids on our trip to hand out...

they came shyly at first...

then Ravenna decided to set out the hair things for the girls to pick up. I wish you could have seen it. She was liked the pied piper of hairbows with a huge line of girls following her!

and she loved every minute...

and so did the girls!

The bigger girls helped 'do' the hair of the little ones...

and these children,

some who had hardly smiled all week...

blossomed.

The courtyard filled with giggles.

Boys swung galantly from the trees by their new jumpropes.

I still am amazed.

How did they know?

How could Ravenna know?

and Parker too?

Just what was needed to speak to their friend's hearts.

Maybe it was God speaking to theirs that did it...

Either way I once again stand amazed.

At how the littlest thing....

can speak so deeply...

of God's love...

Not only to them...

but to my heart too.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1

Wanna Jump In With Us???????

 So...we got a call from the orphanage today! They have more spots open and we can invite more people to come! Wanna come and love some amazing kids in one of the most incredible ministries?????? Wanna have Christmas mean more than ever before????? Wanna see the Gospel played out beautifully??????

Come with us!!!!!!!

So here's the details:

The orphanage is 4 hours South of San Diego

The cost is just getting yourself there

and get this....$10 per person. That's it.

We will be there December 11-17th

Being there has changed our life.

It is hands down the best thing we have ever done as a family.

It is the best thing we have ever done for our kids.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much we have seen them grow from the experience....

It's easy to say, "maybe next year..."

and maybe that is true...

but God has opened up some more spots...

but maybe God wants you to go now????

Curious? Email Me :)

shannon_miller72@yahoo.com

How to help right from home!!! Operation Notebook!

We leave for Mexico in just 3 weeks!!!!!
If you are new here you can read about our first adventure at the orphanage here

I couldn't sleep last night (well morning techniaclly)

I was up praying for our time down there and just so struck by this:

It is SUCH an honor to get to go back.

I am in awe of the fact that God would invite little sinful broken me to go and be His hands and feet and voice and arms.

and when you really get down to it, even then it is God who gets us there safely, gives us the strength to do anything, opens hearts of people to welcome us in...

It is all Him.

There is nothing better than stepping out and having to take God's hand,

relying and trusting that He will do what He says He will....

stepping into situations that knowingly will break my heart,

but trusting that God will put it back together again to reflect Him even more.

and...

In so many ways I learn while I am down there about what is true and good and right...

and so much of what our culture tells us is important just really isn't.

And there is something so amazing about stepping out and away from all comfort. I am so convinced that short- term missions are about helping but about something more.

God whispers to us to go away with Him...

because He wants to speak to our hearts.

Yes, we will get to help and that is beyond awesome...

but right now we are prayerfully asking God to prepare our hearts and minds for serving AND for listening.

Because as we step onto this Holy ground,

we don't want to miss even one tiny bit of what God has for us!

So...not sure those ramblings made sense to anyone else but I wanted to write them down :)

Why did I title this, "How to help right from home!!!"?

Because you can.

When we came back from the orphanage in December we felt like we were supposed to pray for two things:

Moving to Hood River (which we just did a few weeks ago!)

and

Going back to the orphanage and inviting others to come.

So when we head out in a few weeks our dear friends and their daughter will be joining us and two amazing college women from Pennsylvania are praying right now about coming too!

But I think that the inviting is supposed to include others, you.

Wanna be apart of this?

Well...here's the deal, this orphanage is a beyond amazing place where God is so very present.

and they have a ton of ways that we can help them.

More than I can list here.

I just prayerfully went through the list of needs that they have and came up with a thought.

If you want to see the whole list Click Here

We should have some room in our minivan...

So....

wanna help stuff if full to the brim to bless these kids????

Here are some things that they need:

* The school for the orphans in run by some amazing folks that make due with very little. They are in urgent needs of spiral notebooks for their students. How cool would it be if we stocked them up for the year?

When we were at one of the Casas (houses where the children live) last time, I will never forget one of the little girls leading me by the hand to take me to see her treasures. The things that she held so very dear? A few pieces of candy, a ragged stuffed animal and a torn letter someone had written her. It was all I could do to not burst into tears right there. Here she was, a beautiful little girl clinging to this worn message that someone out there thought she was special, someone knew about her, someone cared.

It may seems like such a little thing to us who are saturated by so much, so many messages. But what if, everyday, every kid got to open a notebook and glance at a message reminding them that they are prayed for and loved.

Not too long ago we got a letter from the little girl that we sponsor (who I am dying to wrap my arms around soon). You know what she asked at the end of her letter? "Pray for me to keep being strong and brave."

These babies, precious little ones, tender bigger ones have so many reason to have to be strong and brave. Some have come from horrific abuse, some from living on the streets with nothing, many with no family or ties beyond the orphanage staff.

Would you take a little time to help give them the strength to be brave?

How amazing would it be if everybody bought a few notebooks and took a few minutes to write a note on the inside letting the kids know that they are loved and prayed for?

How about making it a summer project for a day or two?

Get some friends involved!

Get the Children's Ministry at your church into it!

So...if you're in, here's the deal:

Go and get some spiral bound notebooks!

Write and note, a prayer, some Scripture, draw a picture whatever you want in it. It would be awesome if you want to put a photo of yourself or your kids in too.

If you want to put your address in you might get a thank you note back and start having a penpal...

Then, get those notebooks in the mail to:

The Miller Family

915 7th St.

Hood River, OR 97031

We'll load'em up and hand them out with tons of hugs!!!!!!!!

We leave July 8th so getting them here before then would be great!

Thanks for blessing these precious kids with us!
**** By the way we are going back again the week before Christmas if you wanna come****

Whatever...

   

 Our things are slowly getting packed up, paperwork organized, Spanish cheat sheet still to be made...but in one week we will be heading out on our "Whatever Project #2" driving to Baja to work in an orphange and then camp as a family for Christmas. It all kind of started when our church did this and that led to our first Whatever Project I honestly have no idea exactly what lies in front of us. Long cars rides...yes, missing family...yes, a crazy paper airplane party with orphans...yes, seeing extreme poverty with our children...yes, getting to know precious children...yes. More than any of these things, more than any of the fears, the one thing that rings in my heart (and maybe this is just plain selfish) is that I want to see and know Jesus more deeply. He says,

   The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

    Matthew 25:40

   So we are jumping in and going trusting that even though our kids may see really hard things that we do not have answers for, that seeing God's heart will grow them even more.

    It is such a strange thing to be stepping out equally as a family. As a Mama, I so want to protect, to channel, educate, control the things my kids see and the way that they see them. I think that is a God-given desire....but God has been VERY clear that as a family we are supposed to take this trip. I can give in to worry and fear (will they be safe? how will the girls deal with being at an orphanage for a week? How will I deal with it? Will they be willing to eat what is put in front of them? How do I truly answer the deep questions that they might have?) Ultimately, they are God's children far before they are mine...So I am leaning hard on this promise:

   

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

 in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

 



We have jumped ship from the traditional American Christmas...just stockings and one very small gift for our kids. We are bringing more gifts for the orphans and migrant children than for our own children... my prayer is that the true gifts they will find are compassion and joy, a hunger for authenticity and depth with God...but again, it is not in my control.

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the LORD

for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:1-3

 

How will all of it work? I have no idea. How will we ever come back once we have seen...I don't know. Will God use us in the lives of others, maybe. We are stepping out saying, "God, our hearts are yours. Do what You will, lead us...our greatest desire is to see more of You."

 

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

Such a Brave Little Guy!!!

   Thank you all for praying for Parker. He is on the mend! He was pretty darned sick by the time we got to ER but once he got a few nebulizer treatments in him he was talking up a storm and keeping the nurses station laughing! He started feeling sick on Friday evening and by last night had pneumonia, it came on crazy fast. So he and I are snuggled up at home for the next few days with steroids, antibiotics and an big inhaler thing. He is so excited about having his very own machine with "super cool invisible medicine"

I am again struck by just how blessed we are here to have access to life savings medicine when we need it. As I held him during his treatments I kept thinking about parents around the world who may be holding their children with the very same diagnoses but with no help at all...or the little ones who have no one to hold them as they battle to breathe. It is so easy to get caught up in what is going on in my own life and to forget, to forget just how priviliedged we all are and how much we CAN do to help others around the world. It doesn't take much to gie up a little bit of luxury (latte? new clothes? chips or pop at the store?) and to really make a difference.

Now....life has not been all medical around here. Mainly it has been filled with so much joy...

It was Grandma Juli's birthday so we had a little cake & ice cream party

andgot to meet one of our newest cousins little Lindsey (isn't she beautiful?)

My brother and his wife also had twin girls last week...they are stunning too!

and fill her up with kisses! Georgia hung out with her for about an hour, she loves babies!

Since we are going  to Mexico for part of December on Whatever Project #2 and spending 10 days serving at an orphanage there, we decorated our Christmas tree a bit early.

I came around the corner and found Ravenna dressed in only this

Now that is some Christmas spirit!

We made all of our ornaments

We've been doing this for the past 5 years and I love it

It is truly or whole family's simple tree

Not to be outdone by her sister...

and apparently I have been drinking lots of coffee

because this is Parker's latest portrait of me

and his other recent invention

Is a pancake truck...

He has been talking about it non-stop. He knows where every gauge is, how each lever will turn the batter into pancakes and where those golden cakes will come out!

We may be wading through deep waters here with lots of unknowns but I am so thankful that God does not leave us there. He has placed our feet on the firm foundation of His love and deep joy today.

Many blessings, lots of coffee and a truckload of pancakes from our family to your today!