I have never understood why Christmas is a huge deal in our culture, and Easter lasts a day- maybe three. The resurrection of Christ is what makes Christmas important. Christmas is a time where we celebrate family, help out the poor, and celebrate the God of the Universe coming and living among us as a baby....

Here is my challenge.... Celebrate Easter. Not just with colored eggs and candy, not just by planting flowers and chocolate.   Celebrate Easter.    Celebrate the Son of God being Resurrected from the grave.   Celebrate and obey His command to
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”     Mark 16:15

I came across the Ucherek’s blog a few weeks ago. I have followed Amy and Todd’s Block’s blog from early in our adoption. Amy Block’s posts about adoption were challenging. Then I followed their blog as they moved 7 of their 9 children to Guatemala to serve full time orphans there. The same place that Dan and Christi Uchurek will be moving to.

Christi’s name sounded familiar, so I check my e-mail and realized that I had interacted with Christi through e-mail last year. She was working at Lifesong for Orphans and we had e-mailed back and forth to coordinate our Both Hands Project.

I love their story, their honesty, and their hearts. It is soooo hard to ask for money. It would be so much easier to say forget it, and work for it and not ask. Trust me.... if someone is asking for financial help for adoption or to serve as a missionary.... they do not want to be asking for financial help. They ask because it is impossible without the help of others.

I am excited to share their story with you!

I returned not completely understanding HOW to process all that I had just experienced.  Through much prayer and seeking the wisdom of my pastor, I shared my desire to serve overseas as a full-time missionary and maybe adopt one day with my amazing boyfriend, Dan. We both knew that God was calling us to a life together, but Dan did not share this desire. I remember  something along the lines of, "that's great babe, but I'm a sender, NOT a go-er"...

However, my wise (future) hubby made a commitment that he would pray for these children by name, listen to my stories, help me process all that I had been through, and be supportive of whatever God called me us to... just as long as it wasn't full time mission work!

Upon returning, I went through a period of really wrestling with the Lord... wondering how HE could burden my heart so heavily to serve the people of the DR BUT at the same time make it so clear that now was not HIS timing! Dan was absolutely instrumental in helping me to process all that I had been through and encouraged me to continue to seek the Lord's timing and purpose.

During this time, we were both challenged to dig deeper into God's Word and use our gifts to further the Kingdom. While we were serving, we had grown comfortable and were more willing to serve where and when it was most convenient for us, not really being bold in the name of Jesus!

We soon both felt the Lord calling me to again serve the vulnerable overseas. We asked the Lord to show us where and He led me to a trip to Honduras which was later postponed due to political unrest. I was given the option to go to Guatemala or wait a year to go to Honduras. As we prayed, it was Dan that sensed the Lord was leading me to Guatemala. I vividly recall struggling with this decision and Dan telling me that this may be God's plan all along, for me to serve in Guatemala... 

God definitely wanted me to go on the Guatemala trip! THIS TRIP CHANGED OUR LIVES!

While many stories stand out in my mind, it was THESE two little girls in particular, God used to change our hearts, especially Dan's heart! Just like the DR trip, HE was using a small child to greatly impact our lives.

The first photo is Milagra- a precious little girl found in a dumpster and the 2nd is Yulisa- a sweet little girl with a big heart that was attached to my hip!

As God would have it, right after I applied to go to Honduras, we were sensing that the Lord was prompting me to serve in a ministry full-time... and I was THRILLED to leave corporate America! We prayed, researched ministries where I could serve, specifically in orphan care or adoption, and surrender this to the Lord and HIS timing! God then called us to my Lifesong for Orphans! God was on the move and we couldn't have been more excited to be involved in all that HE was doing in and through the Lifesong ministry!

In the same month I start working at Lifesong for Orphans AND serve the orphan and the widow in Guatemala... God is doing a MAJOR work in our hearts...

We set out on this trip knowing that God had plans for it... to spread the gospel, to love on some children without parents to call their own, to serve the widow, to encourage some teens from desperate situations, and to make an impact for the Kingdom. 

As I returned home and TRIED to process all I had experienced, I quickly noticed that not only was I lying awake at night crying myself to sleep thinking about the brokenness I had witnessed..... but Dan was too! He could not get enough of the stories and the photos... something was different this time!

God gave Dan this BEAUTIFUL song that he put to the video below which allowed us many opportunities to share and advocate for these precious lives -

She's got no one to tuck her in at night... does anyone care? Father, please, stir in me, OPEN my eyes to see.... GOD was opening Dan's eyes to the plight of the orphan... and it was INCREDIBLE!

We were BOTH so broken... people would ask us to share about the trip and we'd both break down... it was ALL we talked about.... we were physically ill thinking of doing anything but going back!

As we left Guatemala, our team gathered around in the airport and asked the Lord to show BOTH Dan and I how HE would have us respond and how we could serve TOGETHER defending the cause of the fatherless. That spot in the airport is so overwhelming to me!

Over the next months, we sensed the Lord calling us to adopt. We contacted everyone we could get our hands on to try to pursue these 2 sweet girls... and door after door was closed. We made a covenant with the Lord that we WOULD adopt these 2 sweet girls... whenever He called us to. We eventually received the news that ALL adoptions from Guatemala to the U.S. were closed... that we could do nothing, but pray. And pray we did. Fervently!

As we continued to call these girls our own and share them with everyone we knew... God made it clear that He was still calling us to adopt, even though these girls were unavailable right now.

WHAT? You break us with this trip.... we FALL in love with these girls... we call them our own... we are BROKEN that we can't get on a plane right now and bring them home... you want us to put ourselves out there again, knowing the same thing could happen again? Really God?!?!

Trust in ME, I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE!

So, we took steps in obedience. We started talking with agencies and began praying over every country on the map... we eventually read about the Ethiopia program through All God's Children International and their transition home, Hannah's Hope. We prayed that God would make it clear.... and He did!

The feelings of a piece of us missing started immediately! 

The thoughts of whether or not our child was being taken care of were intense! 

The guilt of doing anything BUT paperwork every second of every day took over! 

Dan constantly wondered if our child(ren) were safe! 

I constantly wondered if they were being loved!

We moved forward in faith! January 2010 the paperwork began and we tackled it with great joy knowing that God was in control of EVERYTHING... that HIS timing was perfect! By April we were ready to be matched with a child, which we thought would be quick.

Quick it was not! Easy to smile and look back on now, but HARD in the midst of it. Side note - if you know someone going through the adoption journey, their emotions are REAL, RAW, and need to be validated! Do not discount that they are expecting, whether you can see it in their not-so-growing belly or not! This journey is HARD... people do NOT understand... you get STRANGE comments... and everyone somehow thinks they all of a sudden are open to ask any personal question regarding your sex life and your uterus that pops in their head! Assumptions should NOT be made... just because someone is adopting does NOT mean that it was plan B for their family... adoption is OFTEN Plan A, just like it was for OUR family!

We waited... we prayed... we shared our hearts... we advocated... we served... we told everyone we knew... we fundraised...  we asked our friends to fundraise for us... to ask their friends to support us... it was humbling, it was overwhelming, and it puts you under a microscope. However, it is truly a MIRACLE to see the Lord work IN and THROUGH so many to bring HIS plans to completion! 

On February 17th, 2011 we received the call that would change our lives forever!To read the details of the call, see this post! Here's the video we put together to capture this sweet moment -

"Jesus we praise You and thank You for allowing us this opportunity... thank you for breaking our hearts for the fatherless... and for allowing us the opportunity to say that as of February 17th, 2011, there's ONE LESS orphan in this world!"

We walk through the rest of the process, fly to Ethiopia twice, and return home on Father's Day 2011 with this bundle of joy!

This little sweetie turned our lives inside out and showed us Christ's love in a whole new way!

You see, God tells us to love each other unconditionally... those that may get on our nerves, co-workers that we don't work easily with, etc.... BUT we've never before been challenged with loving someone that pushed us away, rejected us, and did NOT want to be in our home. This sweet boy has taught us more in the 9 months that he's been in our home about Christ's love for EACH OF US than anything else in our lives! He has blessed us more than we will EVER be able to bless him!

After our first trip to Ethiopia, we both knew the Lord was calling us to overseas mission work. Our hearts were once again broken by the plight of the orphan, the vulnerable, and the outcast...

As we returned home... we were broken-hearted. Not only had we left our son on the other side of the globe, but we also left a country and people that we had grown to love dearly in one short week.

We again prayed.... we KNEW God was calling us to serve overseas and we made a commitment that we would take steps of faith as He opened doors!

Four LONG weeks after our first trip we returned to be re-united with our son and bring him HOME forever. Our hearts and minds were consumed for many weeks with helping him transition, being the consistent in this life, and making sure we were doing all we could to bond and attach with this sweet boy. We still prayed for the Lord to reveal HIS plan. We could NOT return unchanged!

As the Lord does in HIS time, He started to open some doors and slam others shut... we soon knew that He was calling us to Guatemala to serve full time! We felt particularly drawn to Eagle's Nest International and the work that they are doing. You see, our hearts are to serve the orphan, show them what a family is, to reach out to a lost community, to bring hope to the hurting, and love like we've never loved before. We took a trip this past December asking the Lord to give us clarity as we served together and HE made it abundantly clear that we are to serve at Eagle's Nest.

For many of the children living at Eagle's Nest, it is the ONLY home they have ever known... it is where they will form their idea of a 'family' even though we all wish they could be in a family rather than an orphanage. For others, Eagle's Nest will be a refuge and a safe haven where they can learn about Jesus and His great plans for their lives!

We plan to move to Guatemala, Lord willing, this coming June to serve at Eagle's Nest International. Some of the ways we will be serving include providing holistic orphan care to the children living at the home and will continue to bring in more children as we are able. We have a fantastic opportunity to reach out to the community through the Manna feeding program, a sports ministry, and a new music ministry that Dan will be launching! In addition, we'll serve the Sololá community through outreach and evangelism, a Christian school, and New Birth Church. We're incredibly humbled that God has provided so many opportunities to minister to those in need! 

 

Along with this step of faith comes a lot of uneasiness if we are really honest! We're doing all we can to sell our belongings, sell our home, and prepare our hearts! We've asked many to consider reaching out to pastors, small groups, or Sunday school classed to allow us the opportunity to share this story... knowing that God can use it to plant many seeds! 

We need you! It's as simple as that! We can't go until we have 75% of our need in monthly commitments so that we can effectively minister to the Sololá community and care for our family! That's where YOU come in! 

Would you consider giving $10 and telling 10 of your friends? It's that simple! 

We need your partnership.... through prayer, through giving, and through telling others! 

Even if you can't give... do you have 10 friends that you could share our story with? 

To continue watching this journey unfold, follow us here. 

Love in Christ, 

Dan, Christi & Malakai Ucherek