Red Tent Project

***NOTE: I know that several moms read this with their children...this is a sensitive subject. Please use discernment reading about this ministry this with your kids.***

*UPDATE...the party is on SATURDAY June 5th! Sorry I got the day wrong (thanks Melissa!).*

I read the below blog post this morning and knew immediately God was calling me to this. I will be hosting a Red Tent Project party at my home on Saturday, June 5th if you can sew (basic knowledge) and have a sewing machine you can bring. We will have dessert, hot teas, prayer time for these beautiful young ladies, and make these projects. Please leave a comment or email me if you are interested in coming...frances@desertflowerministries.com.

Here is the original post from a blog friend...

our agency felt burdened by the young girls’ overwhelming need for sanitary pads in ethiopia.  i don’t think i need to explain what a HUGE problem this is.  many girls are considered “unclean” for a week each month and are unable to go to school or work.

here are some facts:

ordinary woman are unable to afford basic sanitary protection.
one pack of sanitary pads costs more than 50% of the average monthly wage for women.
millions of african women are forced to replace tampons/pads with newspapers and dirty rags.
     • this can lead to vaginal infections for which there is no available medication.
     • these vaginal infections are often mistaken to be sexually transmitted infections leading to social embarrassment and domestic violence.
wives and mothers are unable to work when they have their periods, further hindering already impoverished families.
girls are forced to take time off school, further jeopardizing their education.
     • because of the economic and cultural crises in africa, its schools serve as more than academic centers.  they provide community resources where young people receive basic care and services, such as food programs, clean water and counseling.
we are currently working on a project to provide the girls at our agency’s transition home with reusable menstrual pads.  we are starting with the older girls first.  there are about 30 girls who need the pads and we’d like to send 3 of the outer envelopes and 6 of the inner pads to each girl – so we’ll need 90 envelopes and almost 200 pads!

here is where i need your help…i don’t know a thing about sewing, but i am very passionate about this cause.  i am calling all my friends (adoption-related or not) to consider helping these young women have a safe way to protect themselves each month. 

if you are interested, i will send you the pattern and a photo of the pads.  i have been told that they are fairly simple to make.  there is a family that is willing to carry them to ethiopia next month, so if you have some time between now and June 15th and would be willing to help, please let me know (you can leave a comment here or e-mail me).  i will pay for the shipping once you are ready to send them off.

please consider helping these sweet girls.  it is a very simple way to make a HUGE difference!

**  and please feel free to re-post this information (or link to my blog) to help get the word out **

Let me know if God is calling you to this and if you want to come join the party! Even if you don't sew, but want to come and join the fun and PRAY with us...COME ON:)

Hmmm...

I'm having a hard time blogging right now...because hubby and I are praying, reading, seeking, talking, crying (OK...I'm crying!), and burdened for how our family can live more RADICAL this year. We were up until way late last night joining God in allocating our finances more in line with the Gospel. At the end we realized GOD had brought to fruition the prayer we had for our personal (not tithe or church giving) missional giving a year ago!!! Isn't HE awesome?!?!?!

It is going to be hard for all of us to live true Faith in the midst of an overindulgent, self-obsessed, balanced, and comfortable culture...and that's not just the world! Our church families are swimming right along...and in many areas of my own life I have felt the strong current leading me along with it. But, my daily prayer is that I will follow God's path in His Word today and every breath I breathe!

Today I was reading in John 13:6-17.

One thing that really stood out to me was Peter's responses...oh boy...do they sound like me:) Peter and I are VERY passionate about loving Jesus. And we are ready (we think!!!) to follow wherever He leads. Yet, as we see is this passage, he flies from one place to the other trying to figure out how to respond to Jesus washing His feet.

First he is the picture of humility...oh Jesus you will never wash my feet! I am not worthy and could never allow or accept that. I'll just do it myself. Then, once Jesus tells Peter that unless He washed him, Peter can have no part of Him. Peter then jumps to the other side into overdrive! Oh Lord...then not just my feet...but my whole body!!! Jesus reigns him back and shows all the disciples that his desire is that they follow His example in servanthood. They are to humbly serve one another in following Christ.

I thought about that in my own life. I am totally like Peter! Many times, out of serious love for Jesus, take things and run with them! I used to think that God wants us to be "balanced" but He wants us to be BIBLICAL! Very different!

Jesus wasn't asking the disciples to be balanced between a lost and evil world and being holy...finding some kind of middle ground compromise. He wanted them to FOLLOW Him in RADICAL obedience! Is it balanced to get down on your hands and knees and wash feet? Um...NO! That was extreme which is why Peter, who loved Jesus, did not want Him to ever wash his dirty feet. That is NOT the role of Messiah to Peter...or the world.

Jesus was not balanced. He was seen as a madman. He was killed on a cross. People plotted his death ALL the time. He did miracles, raised the dead, and ascended into Heaven and is at the right hand of GOD! He is not some compromising balanced kind of Messiah!

I want to be BIBLICAL and not fling myself all over the place trying to either be falsely humble...or running way ahead of Jesus thinking I am super passionate. Jesus says to us..LISTEN to ME!!! READ my WORD!!! FOLLOW me!!! Stop chasing causes and chase ME...and in chasing ME you will find the narrow path of serving that changes the WORLD!

Let's let HIM define how following Him looks. Let's dive way down deep into His Word and See His face and listen to His voice and follow Him in crazy radical obedience. Let's stop living in our extremes...and throw balanced out of our vocabulary, and be BIBLICAL. I promise you...it won't get any more RADICAL than that!

As I have shared at numerous conferences...you CAN'T be in God's Word every single day and love Jesus passionately and NOT overflow. It's impossible! So, let's find our lives immersed in His Word! It's gonna get a little crazy around here:) I can't wait!

Love to the End

Good morning sweet friends! I pray that you have had time to watch the
two videos below that I posted yesterday. If not please scroll down or
go to the full blog (if you are here through the DFM website) and
watch them sometime. Powerful!

My husband and I began David Platt's book Radical last night together.
It was strong and at one point when it spoke of one church spending
$23million on a new building followed by all baptists raising $5,000
to send to the refugees of Sudanese war...I was weeping so hard that
Jay had to finish reading to us aloud.

Radical. We spend most of our lives wanting to be balanced...oh how I
have said that before!!! Our Christian culture has labels like fanatic
and radical and freak for those who step out beyond the Christian
culture normal. But once a friend said to me...a fanatic is someone
who loves Jesus more than you.

Wow...according to David Platt...we are not called to live a
"balanced" easy to digest kind of life here. We are called to RADICAL
obedience. And I believe Jesus said that first:) he said if we are to
follow him, we are to deny ourselves (not much of that happening in
our Christian lives!), take up an instrument of torture called our
cross...and then follow Him. That is pretty radical!

This morning, I was reading in John 13:1-5. It said that Jesus was
about to have the last Passover with his disciples. It said that
though one had already been swayed by Satan to deny him...he loved
them all to the end.

Those words hit me. To the end. Jesus loved radical. He loved
passionately and he loved the world. After it says he loved them...it
says he washed their feet and served them. 1 Corinthians 13 warns us
that serving without love means NOTHING! We must love...to the end.

We can not get all about a cause...even if it is good...because a
cause is all out US! We must be about real radical passionate love for
Jesus and OUT of THAT love, we can love others and serve them.

We can not love Jesus and not overflow to the poor, homeless, orphan,
widow, immigrant, and the LOST. It is impossible! But that love is not
safe or balanced or SANE by the world's standards...or even the
Christian standard.

I agree with Platt that our churches (and myself) have been happy with
just a Christian spin on the American dream. Oh how that breaks my
heart!!

Jay and I prayed fervently last night together about how we can be
more in love with Jesus and love others radically out of his love.
Will you join us?

Will you read God's Word for yourself and experience such JOY and LOVE
that you MUST overflow? True authentic love following Jesus will
require everything! It will be radical! And I am even more ready to
shed man's approval and run HARD after God's glory to fill my life, my
family, my country, and the ends of this earth.

The call is radical. God's love for this sinner is radical. Radical is
HIS idea...not a new book idea. HE is radical in that while I was
still in sin HE DIED FOR ME.

That is love. That is the example. That is the command. That is my
invitation. That is LIFE to the FULL!

Oh, Jesus help me to love to the end...and strip away everything to
take up a towel and serve those YOU loved first. May it be so!

Thrive!
Frances

The following beach posts are now interrupted...

...by REALITY! Please take a few moments to watch two following videos by David Platt and The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham. I met his wife at the Georgia Baptist Convention Ministers' Wives dinner and they are adopting sometime soon:) Hold onto your hat, sweet friends...it just may get a little bumpy...and amazingly AWESOME as we follow Him to the least and the lost!!!

RADICAL from David Platt on Vimeo.

Next Five Minutes from David Platt on Vimeo.

Um...gonna get the book TODAY! Headed out right now. Who's gonna get RADICAL with me? Can't wait...

Just Us...

The last two days we just enjoyed being our own family of 4 and hung around the resort all day long! It was a gorgeous day with warm weather and lots of sunshine to be had. Here are just a few things that we did all week long around the resort itself...
Jay and Virginia loved to play chess with the giant plastic set at one of the tower water parks!

There was a playground for the kids...though our girls weren't interested:) It had lounge chairs all around so the parents could relax while the little ones played! There was also a sand volleyball court.

We enjoyed live beach music by the Tiki hut poolside one afternoon. It was great music and made it seem like we were on an island in the Bahamas:)

Every day there was a schedule for events with the kids. They had all sorts of arts and crafts, games, and activities to participate in. Our girls made keepsake boxes (my camera died...so those photos are on my iphone!) and these beautiful shells! They really enjoyed getting out of the pool and getting to do crafts in their swimsuit...then jump right back in!

The sweet lady who led the kids activities was super sweet to our girls. We got to know her all week and the last day she went and brought these amazing shells down for our girls to have as a gift! They are beautiful and Virginia was in heaven...she couldn't believe it!!

The girls made their own swimming pool:)

That last day we stayed on the beach most of the day...and made some awesome drip castles!

The girls...

The almost deserted beach...what a gorgeous view!

We had a miniature golf course there too...so we played a few rounds:) It was right off the beach...so cool!

Then, they had some fun games in the afternoons for families too! The girls loved the water balloon toss. They did really good...dad and I got in on the fun too. We all got a splash to cool us off:)

Then, we just had to get a refreshing fruity drink to cool us off! The girls loved this strawberry smoothie with whipped cream and a pink flamingo too!

Jay's favorite spot was the hammock. It was wonderful since you could hear the ocean and feel the breeze. We went on a cruise for our 10th anniversary and we had a spot almost just like this on one of the islands...ahhhh...paradise!

So...I decided to join him!

I LOVE this picture...it says it all!

PERFECT weather for the BEACH!

The next day was PERFECT! It was in the 80s...warm enough to swim and ride waves and relax in the sun...yet not hot enough to sweat! It was absolutely perfect...and these photos tell it!

I grew up going to both the Gulf and the Atlantic. My extended family owned 2 condos at the Litchfield Inn and everyone would gather once a year as kind of a family reunion. So, I grew up riding wild waves and loving every minute of it!

Anli has always been an adventure seeker and she would ride waves in with me when she was just a little thing. But, Virignia was gripped with fear at those big waves. So, little by little I would get her on a float and ride in with her. Then, I would "find" a little wave for her to ride in by herself! And now...my baby girl was riding those waves on a boogie board all by herself! I was SO proud of my baby girl and watching her "find" her own wave and ride it in...well, pictures are worth all my words!

And this big surfer girl...I can hardly take how grownie she is! She's almost 11...and I just love these photos that capture by big girl!

After the surf...it was time to hit the sand for some creative art time:) Every year the girls LOVE for us to bury them and create them into something. Well, Virginia always wants to be a mermaid...and Anli wanted to be a turtle. We all pitched in and they turned out so CUTE!

Then...it was time to run and wash off! Grammy was waiting and had found the long sought after...SAND FLEAS! Oh, I used to catch these as a little girl and my own girls loved it just as much! It made for many trip back and forth to show us their friends!

Then, it was time to hit the water parks to get all that sand out of our swim suits and to relax for a while. That lazy river was the BEST! We would just relax and let it do the work:)

This photo...cracks. me. up!

Day 3 - PERECT!