Dad's In Africa, And The Little Ones Finally Say "Da-Da"....Here Is Proof!

Chappy will be traveling to Cape Town late Sunday (our time). His reception should be much better once he is out of the jungle, so I hope he will get to see these videos. If you do, Chappy.....I'm not too happy that Hopey decided to say "Da-Da" before saying "Momma".....I'm just sayin'. By the way, Charlie, has become quite the over-achiever, hasn't he??? "Da-Da" at 15 months, wow!

Sunday will be a big day at the Hollis house. For the next four weeks, we plan to work tirelessly to raise money for the Reece's Rainbow Waiting Children, and from 2pm-4pm Sunday, we are hosting a neighborhood car wash! Hopefully we'll have several cars come through for a good wash and an excellent cause. At four years of age (Hope's age), children with Down Syndrome in other countries, such as the Ukraine and Russia, are removed from the orphanages and placed into mental institutions where they are sentenced to life in a crib. Even though they may have the ability to walk and run, these children are never allowed out of the crib for exercise. Even though they may speak, they are never spoken to again. And even though they may desire hugs and kisses, these children are never embraced again. Most die the first year. It is tragic. You saw the video of Hope above.....now imagine that sweet little pumpkin being thrown into a crib and left there to die, fed just enough food to satisfy but never enough to fill....just because she has Down Syndrome. That is what I think about, and it makes me sick inside.

Have you read the book, "Crazy Love"? (loved the book) Chappy and I hope to teach our children....and if successful, it is possibly one of the greatest lessons they will ever learn......be so recklessly in love with the Lord that you are willing to abandon "normalcy" and do crazy things to show His love to others. What doesn't make sense to the world makes perfect sense to the Father, doesn't it?

From Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost For His Highest":

"If you love Me, keep My commandments" (1 John 14:15) "Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it......The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to His is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience, thousands were blessed. When God's redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces."

What is He calling you to do? Are you crazy in love with Him today? Are you crazy enough to allow His love to flow through you in a way that makes no sense to the world around you? I am. He took me through a fierce storm to toss me around a bit and shake me up, but on the other side, seeing more clearly than I have ever seen before, I am ready to be that crazy person.....crazy in love with My Father......anxious to show love to others because of His crazy love for me!!!