tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71419810873412574352024-03-15T12:22:18.597-04:00A Mom on a Mission...unwrapping more of HIS love in this world!<p>
Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!<br>
---Micah 6:8</p>Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.comBlogger636125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-16894055687334350092021-07-10T14:23:00.013-04:002021-07-30T14:00:12.206-04:00Thank you for visiting!<p>Hello there, friend!</p><p>Thank you for visiting this little writing space of mine. These days, I'm not actively blogging on here anymore. Instead, I am writing <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">shorter thoughts and reflections over on Instagram</a>. I hope to see you over there!</p><p>However, please do feel free to look around and read my words. They are from a while back, but I do hope they still bring inspiration. My apologies for broken links that you may encounter. I did a bit of cleanup work recently, but may have missed removing or updating some broken links!</p><div>I started this blog in July 2007 and have written extensively on here about my faith, my family and my favourite things! I hope you enjoy your visit. You can learn more about me by visiting the "<a href="https://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html" target="_blank">About Me</a>" page.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02isj4mvaLsRXheWHEua_Fxzqf8VNzfHEbqoOLOU13a56w206X_qnmaBOHpHkAmXERubmjEjjCdf_-knOm1JkP1vKmm09d_NlXGapBcb1Mkj-1mRVz5THZ0kd0SqLgSqOvR5hfq_Te6A6/s1486/Screenshot+2021-07-10+141503.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="1486" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi02isj4mvaLsRXheWHEua_Fxzqf8VNzfHEbqoOLOU13a56w206X_qnmaBOHpHkAmXERubmjEjjCdf_-knOm1JkP1vKmm09d_NlXGapBcb1Mkj-1mRVz5THZ0kd0SqLgSqOvR5hfq_Te6A6/w640-h314/Screenshot+2021-07-10+141503.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">And, please do come by and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">say HELLO on Instagram</a>! I would LOVE to see you there!</span></b></p><div><br /></div>Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-58955075847034261062018-12-18T14:04:00.000-05:002018-12-18T15:24:21.897-05:00God incarnate, here to dwell...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Emmanuel, God with us...</span> </div>
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This Christmas, I've been particularly struck by the fact that God was silent for 400 years before that very first Christmas. 400 years sure is a long time for humanity not to hear from God.<br />
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<b>But was He silent? </b><br />
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You see, I've also been struck by the fact that our concept of time isn't at all in sync with God's, for in Galatians 4:4 it says, "When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son..."<br />
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And, struck by the fact that, when He was seemingly silent, He was orchestrating the details of a life-changing story and actively working everything out for good.<br />
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Isn't it comforting to know that God's timing is always perfect and that He is always actively pursuing us, even when He is seemingly silent?<br />
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When God chose to finally reveal himself to humanity again, He did so first to one of the most unlikely people, a young woman—Mary. He asked her to be the vessel, to bring Emmanuel into this world. And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."<br />
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Because of Mary's yes, the silence was broken by a baby's cry that very first Christmas, the singular event that would change the course of history and afford us the freedom we now enjoy as Jesus people!<br />
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<b>What then does this all mean for us, 2000+ years later?</b><br />
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</b> As Jesus people, we now have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.</div>
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As we continue to live in this broken world as people belonging to the New Covenant, we find ourselves also waiting, just like the people of the Old Covenant—waiting for that day when Jesus will once again make all things new. </div>
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Similarly, Jesus invites us just as He invited Mary, into a partnership with Him. Like Mary, we may not feel the most qualified or think we're the most likely candidate—yet we are to be like Mary and assume this posture, "Let it be to me according to your word." </div>
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We are to be a people who do not wait passively. As Jesus’ disciples, a people who know this Eternal Hope, we are to wait actively—working hard to see His Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.</div>
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<b>This is the true meaning of Advent.</b></div>
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This is the posture our family continually wants to hold: May we be vessels for Emmanuel to come into the lives of those who are broken and longing to be whole—that Good News to the poor, that freedom for the captives, that sight for the blind, that liberty for the oppressed, just as Jesus outlined in Luke 4:18.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">2018 family highlights </span><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">{the top 10, in no particular order}:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">1.</span> In January, Jon attached his name to the official North American Record single time for the 3x3x3 one-handed speedcubing event with a 7.57-second solve! Not only is it #1 in North America, it is also #2 in the world, just one under the World Record. You can watch that solve <a href="https://youtu.be/E5h2XIfgcow" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">2.</span> In February, I had the privilege of co-leading my very first official Pastors' Vision Trip with Compassion. We headed to Nicaragua. You can get a glimpse into this trip <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/pastorstripnicaragua2018/" target="_blank">via my posts on Instagram tagged #PastorsTripNicaragua2018</a>. Soon after we left the country, violent protests started and it's still ongoing to some extent. The beautiful people of Nicaragua have been on my heart and in my prayers!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">3.</span> Speaking of the beautiful people of Nicaragua, we now have a special connection to one of them—<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BffP5oin5OC/" target="_blank">our newest Compassion child, Luis</a>! I met Luis while in Nicaragua and couldn't help but fall in love with this witty and smart boy!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">4.</span> Alyssa turns 22 in the New Year... she is currently on her placement year as part of the International Development Studies program at the University of Toronto. She had initially planned to do her placement year in Rwanda, but things took an unexpected turn. She writes about that journey <a href="https://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2018/04/when-dreams-change.html" target="_blank">here</a>. As a result, she is doing her placement right here at home with Compassion Canada, as Writer and Communicator. I might be biased, but she is an absolutely stellar co-worker! This year, she's travelled the country and <a href="https://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2018/12/ethiopia-and-christmas.html" target="_blank">the world</a>, speaking and writing—lending her voice to those who don't have one. I can't be more proud of how she's stewarded this God-given platform, grateful for God's grace manifesting itself so beautifully in her life!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">5. </span>In June, Floyd and I <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkc0xtQgb9D/" target="_blank">celebrated 24 years of marriage</a>. Him and me, we’ve been through a lot of life together now. He truly has been my stego, described so eloquently by these words penned by Ann Voskamp: "Love bears all things like a roof bears the wind and the rain, like a roof that bears the burden of lashing storms, brutal heat. Real love is a roof. Real love makes you into a shelter, real love makes you into a safe place. Real love makes you safe. Stego. There is always a way forward that finds a way to love. We could be the ones who know that "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Galatians 5:6)."<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">6.</span> During the latter half of the summer, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5j0IBgbFW/" target="_blank">our church's 2nd Syrian newcomer family</a> completed their <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJ4TNTgQ2e/" target="_blank">one year of life in Toronto</a>! It’s been one of our family’s greatest joys to have walked this journey that’s so much outside of comfort zone, and one of my greatest privileges to lead this refugee sponsorship committee over these past three years! This family has grown wings to fly. We are extremely happy for them!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">7.</span> Jon turned 18 this year... time truly flows like a relentless river. This is the first Christmas that both our kids are adults! Talk about feeling old! Jon graduated from high school this year, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BkiqUfFApzK/" target="_blank">top of his class</a>! We are so incredibly proud of him!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">8.</span> Speaking of being proud of Jon, just before I left for my Nicaragua trip, this boy received <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BfRxZpsHdAs/" target="_blank">an early offer of acceptance to study Engineering Science at the University Of Toronto</a>, admittedly one of the toughest undergraduate programs in the country. As I tap out this Christmas update, he is on his way to write one of his final exams. By the end of this week, he will have successfully completed 1/8 of his degree! Have I already said that we are so incredibly proud of him?!?<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">9.</span> This summer, our travels brought us to Northern Thailand and Taipei (Taiwan). Our trip is <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/esparaz2asia/" target="_blank">well documented on Instagram as #Esparaz2Asia</a>. We were in Taipei for Jon to compete in the 2018 Asian Championship speedcubing competition. We then side-tripped to Northern Thailand in order to spend a week with our three Compassion children there—Eakkawin, Taeng-Mo and Lili. It was such an amazing and inspiring experience, one that has ignited our family's passion anew to see exponentially more children released from poverty in Jesus' name via Compassion's ministry.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">10.</span> Speaking of Compassion, we are celebrating with our global Compassion family for the milestone of now having <a href="https://www.compassion.ca/blog/celebrating-two-million-compassion-children/" target="_blank">TWO MILLION children registered in our programs</a>!!! This is only possible because of our partnership with the 7,000 frontline church partners across 25 field countries, as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BmZyslaAhhz/" target="_blank">we saw anew firsthand this summer in Northern Thailand</a>! As a family, we count it a blessing and a privilege to serve God via this wonderful ministry.<br />
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As this year comes to a close, we are celebrating 1200+ Compassion children connected with loving sponsors this year here in the Greater Toronto Area through various events and church services! We are deeply grateful for the dedicated and committed volunteers who so faithfully serve with us to grow Compassion's ministry in this region of Canada. I am personally grateful for the trust afforded to me by Pastors and church leaders across this region, as they continually open their doors to embrace Compassion's ministry and partner to see children's lives holistically changed! My family and I are truly overwhelmed and incredibly humbled… we truly serve a good, good Father.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">~ :: ~</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">As the calendar turns to 2019,</span> may we continue to live out the true meaning of Advent as we wait. May we be vessels for Emmanuel to come into the unexpected places—God incarnate, here to dwell.<br />
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What hope we hold this starlit night | A King is born in Bethlehem | Our journey long, we seek the light | That leads to the hallowed manger ground.</blockquote>
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Emmanuel, Emmanuel | God incarnate, here to dwell | Emmanuel, Emmanuel | Praise His name Emmanuel.</blockquote>
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The son of God, here born to bleed | A crown of thorns would pierce His brow | And we beheld this offering | Exalted now the King of kings | Praise God for the hallowed manger ground.</blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">From our family to yours... </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!</span><br />
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With much love + gratitude,</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The Esparaz Family:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">Floyd, Aimee, Alyssa and Jon</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-1995943641927371772018-07-02T18:44:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:13:32.847-04:00On Milestones, Medals and Musings on Motherhood...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Five days ago</span> my baby boy walked across that stage and <i>literally, just like they said it would be—<b>like a blink of an eye</b></i><b>,</b> he's graduated from high-school.<br />
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I don't think I was quite prepared for the emotions that would flood this mama-heart of mine, because I literally had to compose myself to stop a tsunami of tears from streaming down my face!<br />
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I guess there's something milestone-ish about the youngest child finishing high-school, isn't there?<br />
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It felt like one phase of life is ending.<br />
Like the page is flipping to a new chapter.<br />
With a bright future about to unfold.<br />
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<b>One that is much more vast than this mama can enfold in her arms.</b><br />
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<i>I guess that's why the mama-tears wanted to flow.</i><br />
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Where exactly has all that time gone to anyway?<br />
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<i>Don't blink.</i> Parents of littles, don't blink—<b>because time waits for no one. It truly flows like a relentless river.</b><br />
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</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I am incredibly proud</span> to be known as this amazing young man's mama. I am truly blessed beyond measure. I have recently started using the hashtag <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/motherhoodissanctifying/" target="_blank">#MotherhoodIsSanctifying</a> on my social media posts, because motherhood truly is that!<br />
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<b>Sanctifying.</b><br />
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Our gracious Heavenly Father has used my motherhood journey to sanctify me. To remake me into this better version of myself.<br />
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<b>God's grace truly is astoundingly beautiful.</b> For someone as broken as I am to have been gifted this extraordinary young man as a son to raise is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3%3A19-21" target="_blank">exceedingly more than I know to ask for or could ever even dare to imagine</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">He walked across that stage multiple times </span>and I beamed with so much pride and joy each time, as he shook his Principal's hand and she handed him multiple awards in recognition of his leadership, dedication and hard work...<br />
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The Lillian Evelyn Bloom Award—awarded to graduates who have demonstrated academic excellence and dedicated involvement in school activities.</blockquote>
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The Ontario Principal's Council Award—awarded to a graduate who has demonstrated academic excellence and involvement in co-curricular and community activities.</blockquote>
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And this one, reserved only for the top graduate—the <a href="http://archive.gg.ca/honours/awards/acmed/index_e.asp" target="_blank">Governor General's Academic Medal</a> and Dunbarton Scholarship—awarded to the graduating student with the highest average in his/her senior years of high-school.</blockquote>
<b>To God be the glory, great things He has done!</b><br />
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</b> This Fall, this boy is headed to the University of Toronto, Canada's top university, to study <a href="https://engsci.utoronto.ca/program/what-is-engsci/" target="_blank">Engineering Science</a>, one of the most selective and advanced engineering programs offered in the world.<br />
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These are undoubtedly incredible achievements and his dad and I are extremely proud of this young man.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BkiqUfFApzK/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ We paused today to celebrate this boy as he graduated from high school! Such a #proudmama moment to see him walk across that stage, be recognized for all his hard work & dedication, as he was awarded the Governor General’s Academic Medal (awarded to the top graduate) & the Principal’s Award for Student Leadership, plus a couple other awards! • This mama is truly so deeply grateful for God’s work of grace in this boy’s life! • My son, your future is bright! May you always continue to seek after our Heavenly Father’s heart, for His plans are best & His ways are higher! Your dad & I are SO VERY PROUD of you & know that you will continue to be @Genius4Jesus! • #MotherhoodIsSanctifying #TimeFlies #GrowingUpTooFast #ManAfterGodsOwnHeart</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Aimee Esparaz</a> (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2018-06-27T20:30:25+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jun 27, 2018 at 1:30pm PDT</time></div>
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkixr-xAKuO/" data-instgrm-version="8" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0px; width: 99.375%;">
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkixr-xAKuO/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">I am so unbelievably proud of this kid right here. He graduated top of his class today, while being recognized with two additional awards for his leadership, community involvement and academic excellence. Many will think that this comes naturally to him, without much effort. And while God has certainly gifted him with intellect, I have also witnessed Jon’s work ethic, perseverance, tenacity and dedication at work over these past four years. I have the rare vantage point to see just how hard Jon works to excel in everything he puts his mind to, and it is one of the most inspiring things in my life. Beyond achieving top grades and being crazy smart, Jon has built a world-class speedcubing career, volunteered countless hours, formed solid friendships, built his knowledge in a plethora of super interesting things, and become quite a photographer. And yet, all those things are even less important still than the ways that he has grown and bloomed into a compassionate, kind and courageous follower of Jesus. @genius4jesus - keep pursuing Jesus with your everything. Seek first His kingdom, and all these things will be added to you also. What a promise - I pray that you will always claim that in your life. I pray that you will always know and experience his deep love and extravagant grace. As you embark on the next chapter, may your solves be fast, your baskets be swishes, your studies be enriching, your compassion be expansive, and your faith be radical. I can’t wait to see what God does next in your life from this unique vantage point I am so privileged to have as your big sis. I will be here cheering you on every step of the way. I love you, Jon! 🎉💛🙌🏼👨🏻🎓🎊✨</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_godsgal4ever/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> alyssa esparaz</a> (@_godsgal4ever) on <time datetime="2018-06-27T21:34:47+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jun 27, 2018 at 2:34pm PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Many have congratulated us </span>on a parenting job well done and this is what I have to say in response: There is this quote by C.S. Lewis that has always informed and guided my motherhood journey, and it has proven to be true time and time again. It says: “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”<br />
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<i>You see, the goal was never medals, awards or academic achievements.</i><br />
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<b>The goal was always this, and this alone—a man after God's own heart.</b><br />
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</b> Of course, there is no magic parenting formula, but there are these words, from Matthew 6:33, that are strongly worth considering and taking to heart—"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."<br />
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As much as this mama-heart swelled with so much pride and joy seeing how much this boy has accomplished in his young life, <i>it overflows and bursts with even more pride and joy knowing how much he seeks for God's grace to be at work and manifested in his life.</i><br />
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Such as when he chooses to spend his day-off like this...<br />
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BiFSVB8AdZu/" data-instgrm-version="8" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0px; width: 99.375%;">
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BiFSVB8AdZu/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ This boy @genius4jesus & how he chose to spend this PA Day, investing in & pouring into the kids of @urbanpromiseto! #ProudMama #MotherhoodIsSanctifying . . . #Repost @urbanpromiseto. ・・・ THANK YOU Jon Esparaz for spending time with us at cubing club today! We love when you come to visit! #UPT20years</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Aimee Esparaz</a> (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2018-04-27T17:40:00+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 27, 2018 at 10:40am PDT</time></div>
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Or when he foregoes a significant Rubik's Cube competition which could improve his standings, so that he can do this instead—in order to see over 150 Compassion children released from poverty in Jesus' name...<br />
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjDiBSqH9Qb/" data-instgrm-version="8" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0px; width: 99.375%;">
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjDiBSqH9Qb/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ LOVE this recap video from @YCalberta! Can you spot @_godsgal4ever & @Genius4Jesus repping @CompassionCA? My #proudmama heart is overflowing with joy & gratefulness, as truly only God can produce beautiful masterpieces out of broken vessels. #twogreatsibs • • • #Repost @ycalberta ・・・ Thanks everyone for coming to YC! Remember to persevere in being #SoldOut for Jesus! #ycalberta</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> Aimee Esparaz</a> (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2018-05-21T21:52:05+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">May 21, 2018 at 2:52pm PDT</time></div>
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Or when he leads and rallies together his peers, and as a result they raise almost $10,000 for UrbanPromise Toronto...<br />
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjh2-YAAPw2/" data-instgrm-version="8" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0px; width: 99.375%;">
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjh2-YAAPw2/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">The @DurhamDSB’s @DunbartonDHS had a “Jazz in the City” fundraising event where they have a year-end class project to put this whole event together...from performances to donated food, raffles, silent auctions, programs, admission tickets, decor & more! ・・・ Special thanks to @genius4jesus in advocating for @UrbanPromiseTO. They raised well over $9000 & still counting. We also sold some of our shirts there & even gained a Promise Partner #PTL! ・・・ Special shoutout to @jaysean1200 for sharing God’s story in your life to help Multiply the Impact.</a></div>
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A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/juliusnaredo/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" target="_blank"> "Kuya" Julius Vincent Naredo</a> (@juliusnaredo) on <time datetime="2018-06-02T16:30:21+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jun 2, 2018 at 9:30am PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">My beloved son...</span><br />
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My heart overflows with so much love for you. More than words can ever express.<br />
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Mothering you has truly sanctified me. Each day, I thank God for you. <b>Because of you, I am a better human.</b></div>
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It has been and continues to be one of my life's greatest privileges to walk this journey as your mama.<br />
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As you boldly step into the future, may my prayer for you since the day you were born always hold true—that you will always be "<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+13:22&version=NLT" target="_blank">a man after God's own heart, doing everything God wants you to do.</a>" </div>
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</b> <i>My son, your future shines bright.</i><br />
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Yes, it is one that is much more vast than this mama can enfold in her arms.<br />
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</b> <b>But it is one that will always be covered with prayers from her heart.</b></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-20299226708944688722017-12-22T13:15:00.002-05:002021-07-27T21:16:00.530-04:002017 In Review {our family's year-end newsletter...}<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9-9g3hBTCaMYU184PVZP15x1Pvjh1tYuWypEjlVQkCUZRMqXqbikbCzpXdAC5ZQm14yjanrl1vhXI7Gcysm9rdcNaQWueTwGesZNWaspFGS3Wi5m5uhP0_Wru1B23qlKf2PuqMy0__Bl/s1600/Christmas+Letter+2017+Banner.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9-9g3hBTCaMYU184PVZP15x1Pvjh1tYuWypEjlVQkCUZRMqXqbikbCzpXdAC5ZQm14yjanrl1vhXI7Gcysm9rdcNaQWueTwGesZNWaspFGS3Wi5m5uhP0_Wru1B23qlKf2PuqMy0__Bl/s640/Christmas+Letter+2017+Banner.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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</span> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">We believe in Christmas...</span> </div>
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One merely has to scroll through social media or watch TV or glance at the headlines blaring from the newspaper stands to know that our world is becoming an increasingly dark place. Wars, natural disasters, political unrest, injustice, poverty, deep fissures in faith communities, racial tensions, gender-based violence... and the list goes on and on.<br />
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<b>These were the realities of 2017.</b><br />
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As Christ-followers, more so than ever, we urgently need to be "a wick to light hope in the dark."<br />
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You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. <span style="font-size: x-small;">- Matthew 5:14-16, NLT.</span></blockquote>
As Ann Voskamp writes in <i>The Greatest Gift</i>, "When you are a wick to light hope in the dark, then you believe in Christmas. When you really believe in Christmas, you believe there is really hope for everyone."<br />
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<b>In our own small way, our family desires to be this Jesus-light to our dark world. </b></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">2017 highlights </span><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;">{the top 10, in no particular order}:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">1.</span> This year, we saw a couple of <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/our-sponsor-children.html" target="_blank">our Compassion kids</a> leave the program because their parents are in better positions to support the families. As a result, we've welcomed two new kids to replace them: Taeng-Mo from Thailand and Justine from the Philippines (who is Alyssa's sponsor child). We've also added three children to our Compassion family: Hannah, Krevin and Jethro, who are all from the same Compassion implementing church partner located in my dad's hometown in the Philippines!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">2.</span> In the summer, Jon's speed-cubing "career" brought us all the way to London, England and Paris, France! What a treat! Our trip was well documented on Instagram under <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/esparaz2europe/" target="_blank">the hashtag #Esparaz2Europe</a>!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">3.</span> Speaking of speed-cubing, Jon achieved two pretty amazing personal best solves this year: a <a href="https://youtu.be/ZBUJCEsVhmo" target="_blank">5.52-second solve of the 3x3 cube</a>, which ranks him at 24th in the world and a <a href="https://youtu.be/j1CyEmJWbf8" target="_blank">22.40-second solve of the 4x4 cube</a>, which ranks 8th in the world!!!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">4.</span> Jon turned 17 this year... just where does the time go?!? He is currently buried deep in university and scholarship applications. He is hoping to go into either engineering or statistics.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">5.</span> During the latter half of the summer, we <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5j0IBgbFW/" target="_blank">welcomed our church's 2nd Syrian newcomer family</a> to Toronto! It has been such a gift to lead our church's refugee sponsorship committee and to walk alongside this precious family as they navigate the complexities of resettlement to a new country.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">6.</span> Alyssa is half-way through her 3rd year of International Development Studies at the University of Toronto. She is currently exploring placement opportunities as she will be embarking on an 8-12 month placement in a developing country next year.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">7. </span>In addition to being a full-time student, Alyssa manages to work part-time as Compassion Canada's Advocacy Associate. This year, she worked on the <i><a href="http://www.eyestosee.ca/" target="_blank">Eyes To See</a></i> project which was released in September. She is also <a href="http://www.utoronto-idc.org/the-team/" target="_blank">co-chair of the International Development Conference</a> at her school. As if that's not already a full schedule, she also managed to do <a href="https://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/p/speaking.html" target="_blank">25 speaking engagements</a> over the course of this year!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">8.</span> Alyssa turns 21 in the New Year... just where does the time go?!? To celebrate this milestone birthday, she has set this audacious, bold and BIG goal—to see 21 Compassion children connected with sponsors! <b>Family and friends, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alyssa.esparaz/media_set?set=a.2026606904032563.1073741835.100000498204263&type=3&pnref=story" target="_blank">will you sponsor one of these children</a>?</b> Also, I'm going to be missing Alyssa's birthday this year—first time ever that I'll be missing her birthday—because I will be co-leading a Compassion Canada Pastors' Vision Trip to Nicaragua in February. So, if you choose a child from Nicaragua to sponsor, I'll be more than happy to bring them a gift from YOU! So... what are you waiting for? <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alyssa.esparaz/media_set?set=a.2026606904032563.1073741835.100000498204263&type=3&pnref=story" target="_blank">Click here now</a> and help Alyssa meet her audacious, bold and BIG 21st birthday goal!!!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">9.</span> Speaking of Compassion, our family is celebrating 1150 Compassion children connected with loving sponsors here in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017 through various events and church services! We are deeply grateful for the dedicated and committed volunteers who so faithfully serve with us to grow Compassion's ministry here in the GTA. We are truly overwhelmed and incredibly humbled… we truly serve a good, good Father. <br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">10.</span> After more than a year of looking, researching and shopping, Floyd finally found the perfect one—<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BcKwl3sncuv/" target="_blank">a new-to-us Subaru Forester</a> to replace our 14-year-old family van which gifted us with 307,000+ kilometres of memories starting from when Jon was only 3 years old!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">As we look towards 2018,</span> our family will seek to continue lighting this dark world and the unexpected places with a brave flame of joy; warming the cold, hopeless places with the daring joy that <b>God is with us, God is for us, God is in us. </b><br />
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<b>Because we believe in Christmas.</b><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">From our family to yours... </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!</span><br />
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With much love + gratitude,</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The Esparaz Family:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">Floyd, Aimee, Alyssa and Jon</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-79004637952170505172017-07-11T18:49:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:17:00.092-04:00On Unexpected Ways God Answers Prayers...<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">After a long hiatus from writing,</span> it took this <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/esparaz2europe/">#Esparaz2Europe</a> trip to break the silence on this blog.</div>
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As I tap out these words on my iPad keyboard, we are speeding across The Channel Tunnel, a.k.a. The Chunnel, towards Paris. The Chunnel is considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world, the longest undersea tunnel on the globe.</div>
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My family and I just wrapped up three days of being tourists in London and two days <a href="https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/persons/2013ESPA01" target="_blank">cheering on my boy</a> as he competed in the <a href="https://youtu.be/LsswwWdAntU" target="_blank">London Open 2017 Rubik's Cube speed-cubing competition</a>.</div>
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In store for us in Paris are another four days of being tourists and four days of my boy competing in the 2017 World Rubik's Cube Championship.<br />
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My boy often says, "Speed-cubing is a privileged activity." I would agree with him 100% and I'm grateful that he recognizes this fact. Our privilege and wealth is certainly not lost on me, especially during this trip.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">This is the first time, </span>in many years, that we are <b><i>not </i></b>spending our summer vacation in a developing country visiting one of <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/our-sponsor-children.html" target="_blank">our Compassion sponsor children</a> and immersing ourselves in their culture and way of life. These summer trips to the developing world have become <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">a sacred form of pilgrimage for our family</a>.<br />
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<b>I thought twice about embarking on this trip to London and Paris.</b></div>
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<i>Why? You might ask...</i></div>
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You see, I worried that my fickle heart would revert back into loving and craving these luxurious, self-pacifying vacations. I worried that our <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">now beloved family tradition of summer pilgrimages</a> to the developing world might somehow pale in comparison to this experience.</div>
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<i>Yet, I recognize that God uses all our experiences for His glory, if only we let Him.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Before leaving home,</span> I had a little chat with God. I asked Him to use this trip to continually open my eyes to the brokenness of this world, even in world-class cities like London and Paris.<br />
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We arrived in London last week late at night, after the long flight to Paris across the Atlantic and a lengthy delay with the Paris-London train.<br />
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When hubby googled how to take the "tube" to our hotel, he asked me: "Did you know that our hotel is right beside a mosque?" No, I didn't. We later find out that this mosque is one of the largest mosques in all of Europe!</div>
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We arrived at Whitechapel Station and proceeded to walk towards the hotel, luggages and backpacks in tow. We were definitely quite the sight... tourists! At the first stop light, while waiting to cross the street, a woman standing nearby proceeds to collapse to the ground... either drunk or high on drugs. <br />
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Upon arriving at our hotel, I spotted the mosque right away. I also noticed a facility across the street called Booth House, eerily similar in feel to Maxwell Meighen Centre back home. In fact, that entire walk from the tube station to the hotel felt eerily similar to walking along Sherbourne Street, where we do sandwich runs for the homeless back in Toronto.<br />
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With Google to the rescue again, I quickly learned that Booth House is one of the largest centres working with homeless men in London and is the largest Salvation Army centre in the entire country. <i>I knew it, I was right about it feeling eerily similar to Maxwell Meighen Centre! </i></div>
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Furthermore, Google said not to walk lengthy distances in this neighbourhood at night. Google can really scare the daylights out of you sometimes...<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">My mama-bear instincts kicked into high gear.</span> In hindsight, I must confess that it was paranoia more than anything else. I hastily called a family meeting. I said: "We need to find another hotel. I don't care if we lose the money we already paid for this 6-night stay. This is not a safe neighbourhood with a homeless shelter across the street. And with the recent terror activities in London, the last place we want to be sleeping at is right beside a mosque!"<br />
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<b>My rant was met with three bewildered stares and three logically wise minds. </b></div>
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<i>I really do thank Jesus for keeping my family's logic intact during my wildly illogical panicky moments. ;) </i></div>
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They gently explained to me that the touristy places we will be visiting the next day are more of a target for terror attacks than the mosque itself. If we aren't avoiding the touristy areas, why should this be a problem? As for the homeless shelter, well... as I pointed out myself, it feels no different from Maxwell Meighen Centre back home... so why would it suddenly be scary, just because it's in London?<br />
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Gotta love my family! I quickly came to my senses and realized that I was acting like a paranoid woman.<br />
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Don't get me wrong. We did take precautions and found a better tube station to depart from/arrive at the hotel... and we took an Uber when we were returning late in the night. <br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I must confess that </span>it took a while for me to fall asleep that first night. I lay awake and sensed God gently reminding me of my little chat asking Him to use this trip to continually open my eyes to the brokenness of this world, even in world-class cities like London and Paris.<br />
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<b>Yes, <i>that</i> little chat! </b></div>
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<i>I had to chuckle upon realizing that this is God's way of answering my prayer. </i><br />
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<i><b>Really... what answer was I expecting after a prayer like that?!? </b></i></div>
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What better way to keep my eyes open to see the brokenness of this world than a daily reminder, with each 5-minute walk from the hotel to the tube station and back, of the life that street-involved people live and of a community of people facing harsh discrimination these days.<br />
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... with each day of being tourists and seeing posh London in all of its royalty, riches and glory, then returning to the broken and battered neighbourhood where our hotel is situated.<br />
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... with each end-of-the-day walking past the open doors of the mosque and seeing evening prayers happen and being reminded of the imminent arrival of our church's second sponsored Syrian refugee family. In fact, I received a pre-arrival email notice from the Government of Canada just yesterday! <br />
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... with each day of trekking over to luxurious Canary Wharf where the speed-cubing competition venue was, then returning back to our hotel at night. I kid you not, when the light rail train pulled into Heron Quays Station, I said to my kids: "This feels a lot like arriving in The Capitol in the Hunger Games movie!"<br />
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Furthermore, my girl had the privilege and joy <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/" target="_blank">to share about Compassion's work</a> with a local Filipino congregation in east-side London and, as a result, saw 12 Compassion kids released from poverty in Jesus' name.</div>
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<b>My girl's speaking engagement was, in hindsight, another way God was answering my prayer during this trip. </b></div>
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It was a reminder to me that, even during a time of vacation, God can and will continue to use us to be His hands and His feet, <i>if only we let Him... </i>to not only <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/aimeeesparaz" target="_blank">release Compassion children from poverty</a> in Jesus' name, but also to release fellow first-world Christ-followers from the poverty of too much, in Jesus' name.<br />
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<i>Needless to say, posh London is certainly a place where the poverty of too much is clearly evident.</i></div>
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It reminded me of this quote by Shane Claiborne:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the worlds of poverty and wealth collide, the resulting powerful fusion can change the world.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">On our last night in London,</span> we casually stroll along Whitechapel Road to a local Punjabi restaurant for dinner late that night. I realized that this neighbourhood has grown on me over these last five days.<br />
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... and I quietly thanked God for taking our family <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">on yet another summer pilgrimage</a>, to a place where we least expected it. <br />
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<b>He truly is a good, good Father. Perfect in all of His ways, to us.</b></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-84913483319272120152016-12-24T11:11:00.002-05:002021-07-27T21:19:18.824-04:00Immeasurably More!<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Hard year. </span><i>Yes, that...</i> <b>it truly has been that.</b><br />
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<i>In big and small ways. In expected and unexpected ways. In joy-filled and profoundly sad ways. </i><br />
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<i>In ways immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...</i><br />
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Yet, in all of these different ways, one thing remained sure and certain in this hard year...<b> and that is God showing up in ways immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!</b><br />
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In hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised? After all, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2016/01/YouMakeMeBrave.html" target="_blank">the One Word that God impressed upon my heart to focus on this year is: <i><b>Brave</b></i></a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When you are brave, you give yourself the gift of facing and touching the torn places. The places where we're torn to pieces can be thin places where we touch the peace of God." <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift.</span></span></blockquote>
And all year, this has been my anthem: <i>"<a href="https://youtu.be/6Hi-VMxT6fc" target="_blank">You make me brave</a>. You call me out beyond the shore into the waves. No fear can hinder now the promises You've made.</i><i>" </i><br />
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Through tears, both happy and sad ones, I've sung those words countless times.<br />
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And this is what I've come to realized: <b>Through each hard thing, God's gifted us with this wild joy that surpasses all understanding. </b><br />
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<i>And the realization that these words are truer than ever before:</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.</span></span></blockquote>
<b>And with these realizations came the tenacity and resolve to keep doing the hard things — the important things, the things that stand for Hope:</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because when we’re unbending in what is important — <i>endings aren’t the thing that is important.</i><br /> <br />Because if we don’t always fiercely stand for Hope, regardless of risk, cost, or ending — <i>we steal all future Hope.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because if Hope isn’t worth it, no matter how it turns out — then it turns out, <i>that nothing is actually worth it.</i><br /> <br />Because when we say that one life has worth — we’re saying that <i>all lives have worth.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And a life that believes in the worth of all lives — <i>is the only kind of life that’s really worth living.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp, <a href="http://annvoskamp.com/2016/12/when-youre-weary-just-want-to-prepare-your-heart-for-christmas/" target="_blank">from this must-read blog post</a>.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">As we celebrate Christmas, </span>it truly is with deep gratitude that I write this blog post and share our family's year-end newsletter which lists our Top Ten news and hightlights.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMHgWs39xU09Bu76IO7uVGKRCrYK1dzyeYnldfssJw5fKzXZnBoJHhu5RJS0EvOIAi409U1g9L4HD0BozrZLCeq_8qzRsB4QAXo-B9f7_apiAPqAZ-jyqABEDA7FVWmrtADVQrNr2U4on/s1600/Christmas+Letter+2016.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikMHgWs39xU09Bu76IO7uVGKRCrYK1dzyeYnldfssJw5fKzXZnBoJHhu5RJS0EvOIAi409U1g9L4HD0BozrZLCeq_8qzRsB4QAXo-B9f7_apiAPqAZ-jyqABEDA7FVWmrtADVQrNr2U4on/s640/Christmas+Letter+2016.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To read our family's year-end newsletter, <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkbfwnjxm95hvla/Christmas2016.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">please click here</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As we look to 2017, the words from Ephesians 3:14-21 form my prayer, not only for our family, but for all of you as well:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is for this reason that I bow my knees before the Father, after whom all families in heaven above and on earth below receive their names, and pray:</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us, to Him be all glory in the church and in Jesus the Anointed from this generation to the next, forever and ever. Amen.</span></blockquote>
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From our family to yours, </div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas & a joy-filled New Year! </span><br />
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-23859508623170870362016-10-09T21:48:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:21:48.812-04:00A Letter to Haiti on this Thanksgiving Weekend...<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Dear Haiti,</span><br />
<br />
Simmering on my stove top is a huge heavy pot of <a href="http://www.cookingwithgrandmothers.com/grandmothers/mrs-lee-sin/" target="_blank">my grandma</a>'s signature dish, her <a href="http://www.cookingwithgrandmothers.com/recipes/braised-pigs-feet-soy-caramel-sauce/" target="_blank">braised pork hocks in soy-caramel sauce</a>, which I am attempting to make for the first time today because my dad is missing his mama's home-cooked meals.<br />
<br />
Holidays have their way of making one's heart miss departed loved ones. This weekend, it's Thanksgiving here in Canada.<br />
<br />
Soon, my sisters and their families will arrive at my house with even more food... and we will gather around the table to feast.<br />
<br />
So will many fellow Canadians throughout this entire weekend. We will eat and we will overeat and we will fill our stomachs... and come Tuesday, many of us will hit the gym to shed those excess calories gained over the weekend.<br />
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<i>Because that's how we are in the first world. </i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>We have way more than what we know what to do with.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The entire house is starting to smell delicious with the salty-sweet liquid slowly braising and the aroma of star anise and garlic fills our nostrils. I think I've successfully made <a href="http://www.cookingwithgrandmothers.com/recipes/braised-pigs-feet-soy-caramel-sauce/" target="_blank">my grandma's signature dish</a>! Soon, we will be eating to our hearts' content.<br />
<br />
<i>Yet, somehow... eating and feasting is the last thing on my mind on this Thanksgiving weekend.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Because, YOU ARE.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>You see, just over a month ago... my family and I stood on your soil and found new friends. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Today, my heart aches for them.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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On this Thanksgiving weekend, news is just starting to trickle out about how you fared after Hurricane Matthew hit you with its full force earlier this week.<br />
<br />
You... still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake... were the subject of Hurricane Matthew's wrath. </div>
<div class="tr_bq">
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<div class="tr_bq">
Headlines read...</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37596222" target="_blank">Hurricane Matthew: Haiti south '90% destroyed'</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/food-water-shortages-threaten-haiti-hurricane-victims-1476023087" target="_blank">Hurricane Matthew: Food, Water Shortages Threaten Haiti Victims</a><br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/haiti-hurricane-cholera_us_57fa4b6ce4b068ecb5df4b7c" target="_blank">Haiti Grapples With Cholera After Deadly Hurricane Matthew Hits</a></blockquote>
My heart aches as I await word on how our friends are, our family really: our Compassion sponsor children, Bradley and Linsey and their families; our host and translator Pastor Ephraim and his family.<br />
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How about George and Remy and Arnold who all live along the shoreline and peddle local crafts for a living? I wonder how they are?</div>
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On this Thanksgiving weekend, I am desperately wanting, more than ever, to turn my thanksgiving into thanks-living.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thanksgiving for God’s love always seeks to become thanks-living – a living and giving of His love.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christian hands never clasp and He doesn’t give gifts for gain because a gift can never stop being a gift — a gift is always meant to be given….</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God calls me to do thanks. To give the thanks away. That thanks-giving might literally become thanks-living. That our lives become the very blessings we have received.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></span></div>
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My dear Haiti, you see... those of us who live in this first world have been abundantly blessed with much materially. We have so much to be thankful for and it shouldn't, <i>it cannot, </i>end at merely mouthing our thanks.<br />
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If we call ourselves Christ-followers, the next step absolutely needs to be taken and that is the living out of this thanks...<br />
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Because <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12%3A48&version=MSG" target="_blank">to whom much is given, much will be required</a>.</div>
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<b>Because living out a sacrificial life of grateful holiness is the only appropriate response to grace.</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Go through His gates, giving thanks; walk through His courts, giving praise. Offer Him your gratitude and praise His holy name. Because the Eternal is good, His loyal love and mercy will never end, and His truth will last throughout all generations. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Psalm 100:4-5.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> ~ Romans 12:1.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I will not make an offering to the Eternal One, my True God, that has cost me nothing. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ 2 Samuel 24:24.</span></span></blockquote>
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My dear Haiti, on this Thanksgiving weekend... I am thankful for an organization called <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/" target="_blank">Compassion International</a>, a ministry my family and I love. <a href="http://www.compassion.com/about/where/haiti.htm" target="_blank">Compassion has been in Haiti since 1968</a>. Today, they are partnering with more than 270 of your churches and together they take care of about 80,000 of your beautiful children and their families, including our Bradley and our Linsey!</div>
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After a natural disaster such as Hurricane Matthew, I trust Compassion to help you rebuild <a href="http://www.compassion.com/news-releases/haiti-recovery-project-complete.htm" target="_blank">just like they did so diligently after the 2010 earthquake</a>.</div>
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<b>They will rebuild Haiti again after Hurricane Matthew. I know they will. </b></div>
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<i>My dear Haiti, on this Thanksgiving weekend... my prayer is that, as fellow Christ-followers in this vast country of ours sit down to feast on their Thanksgiving meals,</i> <b>you will be forefront in their minds.</b><br />
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<b>Just like you are in mine.</b></div>
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As I sit down shortly to enjoy those slow-braised pork hocks with its mouth-watering soy-caramel sauce... please know that you will not be far from my heart, my dear Haiti.</div>
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<b>On this Thanksgiving weekend, I am remembering you, my dear Haiti... because setting foot on your soil and finding friends there and seeing how beautiful you are in your brokennes has re-membered me in ways that are profound.</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Because when we remember how He blesses and loves us, when we recollect His goodnesses to us — our broken places re-collect. We re-member. We heal. In the remembering to give thanks, our broken places are re-membered — made whole. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></blockquote>
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<b>:: :: ::</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">Sponsor a Compassion child in Haiti:</div>
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<a href="https://www.compassion.ca/sponsor-a-child/?projects=&country=Haiti&gender=&minAge=3&maxAge=21&startYear=1995&endYear=2013&dayOfMonth=" target="_blank">Canadians</a> | <a href="http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/child-search-results.htm?cboArea=13%7cCentral+America+and+Caribbean&cboCountry=332%7cHaiti&ageMin=1&ageMax=22" target="_blank">Non-Canadians</a></div>
Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-62605188857134462442016-08-22T06:00:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:23:22.417-04:00On living a life of God-worship...<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">When I first became a mama,</span> my greatest desire was to give my baby girl and her little brother the best that this world could offer.</div>
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<b>Because I wanted the absolute best for them. Only the absolute best will do.</b></div>
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During the early years, hubby and I pursued this for our kids. Relentlessly and religiously pursued this. Because... only the best would do.</div>
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From babyGap clothes to StrideRite shoes. From Oxford Learning pre-school to Gymboree classes. From Disney vacations to Registered Education Savings Plans. </div>
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You get the picture. We're stellar parents raising stellar children! Or so we thought...</div>
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We entertained thoughts of moving from our nice neighbourhood into an even nicer neighbourhood with better schools, better than the already pretty awesome public school that's within walking distance from our more than adequate home.</div>
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We sought to top last summer's vacation with an even awesomer one next time.</div>
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We strove for more income because only then can we provide our kids with the absolute best.</div>
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It was the pursuit of more. <b>But... although we considered ourselves Christ-followers, we weren't living a life of God-worship.</b></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I am grateful that God, in His infinite grace,</span> found us early on in our parenting journey and removed the blinders from our eyes. He opened our hearts' eyes to see that the goal isn't to raise stellar human beings, <b>but <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/truly-great-kids.html" target="_blank">truly great children</a></b>... <i><b>ones whose lives exude Kingdom greatness and ones whose hearts break for the things that break God's. </b></i><br />
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He impressed upon our hearts that the way to true greatness isn't via wanting what the world dictates is the absolute best for our children...<br />
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<b>... because in giving of the world's best to our children, we are in fact giving them a whole lot of the detrimental gift of entitlement and afflicting them with affluence.</b><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or —worse!— stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Matthew 6:19-21, The Message.</span></span></blockquote>
We grappled with questions such as...<br />
<blockquote>
How is <i><b>true greatness</b></i> defined after all?<br />
What do <i><b>great kids</b></i> look like?<br />
How do we make sure we are <i><b>raising our kids to be great</b></i>?!?</blockquote>
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<a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/truly-great-kids.html" target="_blank">The decision to live a life of God-worship wasn't easy, definitely counter-cultural</a>... yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything! When confronted with research results such as the one I'm quoting below, I am especially grateful that God's grace confronted us very early on in our parenting journey:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 2003, George Barna wrote in his research that a child's moral development is set by the age of nine. He wrote, "Habits related to the practice of one’s faith develop when one is young and change surprisingly little over time. The older a child gets, the more distracted and vulnerable he or she becomes to nonfamily influences."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barna found that children who accepted Christ before their teen years are more likely to remain "absolutely committed" to Christianity. He stated, "It is during those pre-teen years that people develop their frames of reference for the remainder of their life." <span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_evangelism_movement" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Over the years, </span>since our family started answering God with this wild nod of a yes to live a life of God-worship, it is changing many things.<br />
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<b>In fact, it is changing everything.... </b>from how we celebrate Christmas and birthdays, to how we view corporate worship; from how we buy clothing and food, to the decisions we make when buying bigger tickets items such as vehicles; from the way we save money for the future, to the way we give.<br />
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I have come to love this quote by C.S. Lewis... <br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.</span></span></blockquote>
And also this quote by Joshua Becker...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Excessive consumption leads to bigger houses, faster cars, trendier clothes, fancier technology, and overfilled drawers. It promises happiness, but never delivers. Instead, it results in a desire for more… a desire which is promoted by the world around us. And it slowly begins robbing us of life. It redirects our God-given passions to things that can never fulfill. It consumes our limited resources. And it is time that we escape the vicious cycle. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Joshua Becker, <a href="http://www.becomingminimalist.com/escaping-excessive-consumerism/" target="_blank">10 Reasons to Escape Excessive Consumerism</a>.</span></span></blockquote>
Among other things, this decision to live a life of God-worship has changed the way we spend our vacation time... that's for sure!<br />
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<i>This year is no different.</i><br />
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<b>As I wrote in my previous blog post, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2016/08/as-this-summer-comes-to-close.html" target="_blank">we are headed to Haiti at summer's end</a>. </b><br />
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Tomorrow, we will fly into Port-Au-Prince... and this week, we will spend a couple of days with <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/our-sponsor-children.html" target="_blank">our two Haitian Compassion children</a>.</div>
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As Jennie Allen so eloquently wrote in a guest post on Ann Voskamp's blog:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... something is happening — not a feeling or love of adventure or desire for glory but something within us that is from God, a call to more: to die — to live. My heart is bleeding and I can’t make it stop. So we are praying and willing and dreaming of living for heaven instead of the American dream, and it is changing everything. And I am strangely okay with that.</span></blockquote>
Yes, I am indeed strangely okay... <b>strangely okay with this.</b><br />
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My baby boy, now a young man and almost a whole head taller than me, said to me the other day that he is grateful we chose to raise him and his sister in this way, to live a life of God-worship...<br />
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<b>... because if not, he doesn't know if he would come to the point of choosing it for himself. </b><br />
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Profoundly thought-provoking statement which made this mama's heart swell with joy! <b><i>I am deeply grateful and deeply glad.</i></b><br />
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Just last week, my kids and I spent a few days soaking up the <a href="http://www.muskokabiblecentre.com/summer/summer-ministries/chapel/inspire-hope-conference/" target="_blank">Inspire Hope Conference at Muskoka Bible Centre</a>. Compassion Canada's President/CEO, Barry Slauenwhite, said this during one of his teaching sessions:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Children are either afflicted by poverty or afflicted by affluence.</span></blockquote>
<b>Ah, yes! This statement is profoundly true. </b><br />
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Being afflicted by affluence, the poverty of having too much, is what God saved both our children from when His grace found us during those early years of our parenting journey and I will forever be grateful.<br />
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<b>Turns out, my kids did get what's absolutely best for them. The absolute best thing... </b><i><b>lives exuding Kingdom greatness and hearts broken for the things that break God's. </b></i><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/8RVOHaKRUl/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ Yes, this...</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-09-30T22:03:11+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 30, 2015 at 3:03pm PDT</time></div>
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<i>I'll be honest... some days, this journey is hard. Many days, the struggle is real and the sacrifices tough to swallow.</i><br />
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Yet, I will not have it any other way. Because <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010:9-11&version=VOICE" target="_blank">this abundant life in Christ</a> is worth the hard days and the struggles and the sacrifices.<br />
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<b>I would not exchange this deep gladness with anything else.</b><br />
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As we prepare to travel to Haiti for yet another one of <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">our family's summer pilgrimages</a>, these song lyrics have been constant in my heart and mind...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You live among the least of these | The weary and the weak | And it would be a tragedy | For me to turn away | All my needs You have supplied | When I was dead You gave me life | So how could I not give it away so freely?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And I'll | Follow You into the homes of the broken | Follow You into the world | Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God | Follow You into the world</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Use my hands and use my feet | To make Your kingdom come | To the corners of the earth | Until Your work is done | Faith without works is dead | On the cross Your blood was shed | So how could we not give it away so freely?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And I give all myself | I give all myself | I give all myself to You</span></blockquote>
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Have a listen to this beautiful song, friends...</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-22772491564274651582016-08-15T00:35:00.000-04:002016-08-15T13:25:19.870-04:00At summer's end...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Quiet blog. Quite full life. </span>So... life has definitely been anything but quiet since God called me into <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/12/nodding-yes.html" target="_blank">this full-time ministry role with Compassion at the start of this year</a>, taking care of Ministry Relations in the Greater Toronto Area for this amazing organization.<br />
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The song <i>You Make Me Brave </i>has been my anthem... <b>because since starting this role, I've had to wake up each day and ask God <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2016/01/YouMakeMeBrave.html" target="_blank">to help me with being brave</a>.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have heard You calling my name<br />
I have heard the song of love that You sing<br />
So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore<br />
Into Your grace<br />
Your grace</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You make me brave<br />
You make me brave<br />
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">And He has done just that. <b>He makes me brave!</b></span><br />
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I can say that stepping into this ministry role is, by far, the hardest "job" I have ever said YES to.<br />
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Yes, the word "job" is in quotation marks. <b>Because this truly doesn’t feel like a job. Truly, it doesn’t. </b><br />
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I feel so blessed to be working at Compassion… never in a million years would I have imagined that this would be the path God would lead our family on. Each day, I give thanks to Him for putting me in this role. It is such a privilege!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BH0I-Ochc98/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids)</a> on <time datetime="2016-07-13T20:14:55+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 13, 2016 at 1:14pm PDT</time></div>
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<b>Yet, it is not easy. It is downright hard. Everyday.</b><br />
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It comes with difficult losses and hard sacrifices and dictates changes to our family's life and our well-oiled routines...<br />
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<i>but it also comes with lots and lots of amazing wins and astounding joys!</i><br />
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I wouldn’t trade it for anything... because I know that we are working <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/11/those-outside-gate.html" target="_blank">for a greater purpose --- to see children and families released from all forms of poverty in Jesus’ name</a>.<br />
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<b>It has definitely required a lot of being brave. This is the truth.</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BACoIsiKRbq/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids)</a> on <time datetime="2016-01-02T15:05:26+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jan 2, 2016 at 7:05am PST</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">So each day I draw on that fount of grace and choose braveness as my anthem. </span><br />
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Each day I choose to do the hard thing and choose to stay hungry for fruitfulness.<br />
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Each day I pray and ask for God's favour and stand amazed that broken me is useful to Him.<br />
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Each day I put my hand to the plow, embrace new patterns of living and have since found this prayer to be intensely and fiercely true...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>May we <b>put our hand to the plow and work as those who have a higher calling. </b>In the days that come, Lord, reveal to us new patterns of living where our spiritual lives and work lives become an integrated whole. May all that we do be worship to You.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We acknowledge that out of the ashes of our lives You are bringing shalom. We believe You are calling us to be a part of Your shalom work in our own cities and across the globe. We ask You to lead us and guide us. <b>We are called to be Your hands and feet.</b> As representatives of Christ we believe we should carry Your message of love and grace into the dark places You came to restore, the places where disease and illness plague people. Lord, do not allow us to seek safe havens, to hide the news of Your gospel; instead, call us out so that Your Good News will be evident to all.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">- Chris Seay, A Place at the Table.</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BFz2xBlqRb3/" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ One of the many churches my journey as @CompassionCA's GTA Ministry Relations Representative has taken me to. This one is definitely #vintage, don't you think?</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2016-05-25T00:33:02+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">May 24, 2016 at 5:33pm PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The more I grow in this role, </span>the more I realize my need to fully be dependent on God and His all-encompassing grace.<br />
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<b>It is what sustains. It is what rejuvenates. It is what restores.</b><br />
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I have also come to realize that, more than ever, I need God to keep the eyes of my heart open. <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/11/those-outside-gate.html" target="_blank">To see and to be reminded about the bigger picture</a>...<br />
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<i>because it can be too easy to get sucked into the daily grind and the numbers and the spreadsheets.</i><br />
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<b>I have come to realize that <a href="http://compassionfamily.blogspot.ca/2015/07/our-summer-pilgrimages.html" target="_blank">our family's summer pilgrimages</a> are all the more important now.</b><br />
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<a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">These summer pilgrimages</a> have played a vital role in keeping our hearts' eyes open and continually aware... to those things that break the heart of God. It has shown us that "<a href="http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-tourism-vs-pilgrimage/" target="_blank">mutual embrace of life as it can be</a>." <br />
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<b>It is a truly beautiful, sacred thing.</b><br />
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This is why... next week, at summer's end, <i>we will pack our bags and we will head to Haiti...</i> and we look forward to the mutual embracing of life with <a href="https://www.compassion.ca/sponsor-a-child/?country=Haiti&gender=&minAge=1&maxAge=17" target="_blank">our two Haitian Compassion children</a>, Bell Bradley and Linsey...</div>
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<b>where the mystery of God intertwining our family's story with theirs will be savoured...</b></div>
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<b>where we will embrace the hard and the broken, as He calls us deeper still... </b><br />
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</b> <b>where we will see afresh the reality of our own brokenness...</b><br />
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</b> <b>where we will continue to draw on that fount of grace and continue to choose braveness as our anthem...</b></div>
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<b>where we will know anew that He truly is a good, good Father... perfect in all of His ways to us.</b></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-42690195970219435962016-03-25T14:31:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:27:05.799-04:00Good Friday Reflections...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Since the New Year, </span>blogging has definitely been relegated to the back burner as I <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2016/01/YouMakeMeBrave.html" target="_blank">stepped full-time into the role</a> of Compassion Canada's Ministry Relations Representative for the Greater Toronto Area.<br />
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It's Good Friday today and I'm thinking that one way to reflect on this day and <b>why it is called good</b> is to blog my reflections.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BDYTfEfKRUn/" style="color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ Ice storm remnants... beauty from the ugly on this #GoodFriday and reflecting on this... Jesus gave Himself to restore us from ugly to beautiful, from broken to whole... us, redeemed to be His hands and His feet in this broken world. "'Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me!" #deeplygrateful</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2016-03-25T14:42:28+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Mar 25, 2016 at 7:42am PDT</time></div>
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It is called good because... "'Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me!"<br />
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Salvation, yes. But, in His most loving and extravagant way, our God doesn't stop there. He pursues. Relentlessly pursues. Wildly pursues. All because <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+10%3A10&version=VOICE" target="_blank">He wants that abundant life for us</a>.<br />
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The other day I had an epiphany. I said to hubby, "I think I remember now the first time my heart broke for the things that break God's."<br />
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He and I just started dating. Exactly 25 years ago now. I was back in the Philippines for the summer and we found ourselves as part of a church visitation team. We were assigned to visit this man and his family. Because it was still the pre-Instagram days, I don't have a photo... but the image is still vivid in my mind.<br />
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I don't remember the man's name or even what he looks like, but I remember very vividly what his home looked like. Much like this one, our <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/07/wild-grace.html" target="_blank">Compassion daughter Florianlyn's home</a>.<br />
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Even though I grew up in the Philippines, up until that point in time, I've never been inside a "shanty" before. It broke me. I remember not being able to sleep well that night and feeling utterly broken the days that followed.<br />
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<i>Then I came home to Canada.</i><br />
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<b>And promptly forgot about that jarring experience.</b><br />
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My Heavenly Father... He was showing me that He's called His followers to so much more, that there's this abundant life to live, yet I chose the mediocre life --- content to have just my salvation.<br />
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<b>I am deeply grateful that He is patient and didn't give up on hubby and me and our family.</b><br />
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</b> Life took over and 15+ more years would pass before we were jolted out of living the mediocre life.<br />
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It has been a beautiful journey of discovering this abundant life that God calls each and every one of His followers to live.</div>
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It took travelling around the globe visiting our Compassion children for us to be wrecked and broken <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/08/thoughts-reflections-where-do-i-even.html" target="_blank">again</a> and <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/07/dear-fellow-first-world-christian.html" target="_blank">again</a> and <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/08/when-story-unfolds-differently-still.html" target="_blank">again</a>.</div>
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Like a full-circle moment, even though I didn't realize it then... <b>God brought me back to that place where, as a 20-year-old young woman, my heart first broke for the things that break His. </b></div>
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It was back there in the broken places where our family together heeded <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10%3A10&version=NLV" target="_blank">the call to embrace the abundant life</a>.<br />
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On this Good Friday, I am reminded yet again that God is still in the business of redeeming brokenness. <b>This is why this day is called good.</b><br />
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<i>Broken me, redeemed. You, too.</i><br />
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</i> <b>'Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me!</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BDYNrZTlsmT/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by Amazima Ministries Intl (@amazima)</a> on <time datetime="2016-03-25T13:51:43+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Mar 25, 2016 at 6:51am PDT</time></div>
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<b>On that cross, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19%3A28-30&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jesus said</a>, "It is finished." </b></div>
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I am deeply grateful that, on that cross, Jesus already redeemed everything. All He asks us, His followers, to do is to live it out... to live each and every day as redeemed people, as <a href="https://soundcloud.com/annmorton/a-call-for-the-people-of-the-cross" target="_blank">People of the Cross</a>.<br />
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To live the life of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+58&version=NIV" target="_blank">true fasting</a>...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.</span></blockquote>
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This abundant life... it's not an easy one to live. In fact, it's excruciatingly hard... with heartache, tears and lament. Sometimes, I just want to go back to that time when I didn't know better...</div>
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<i>But, I don't... and I soldier on. </i><b>Because we all only have this one life to live and it would be a shame to choose comfort and to coast through it with mediocrity. </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Our family's story as told in <a href="https://www.compassion.ca/curriculum/truestory/">Compassion Canada's <i>True Story: What God Wants Us To Do About Poverty</i></a>.</span></div>
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May this be our prayer, not just on this Good Friday, but always:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God, we thank You for being near in a world filled with selfish ambition, where too often our tendency is to turn inward and contemplate our own desires despite the suffering that surrounds us. We live surrounded by a wealth that defies the imagination of our poorer brothers and sisters, yet we live with the fear that we will never have enough. <b>Expand our hearts, Lord, that we may learn to truly love.</b><br />
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<i>May we <b>put our hand to the plow and work as those who have a higher calling. </b>In the days that come, Lord, reveal to us new patterns of living where our spiritual lives and work lives become an integrated whole. May all that we do be worship to You.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We acknowledge that out of the ashes of our lives You are bringing shalom. We believe You are calling us to be a part of Your shalom work in our own cities and across the globe. We ask You to lead us and guide us. <b>We are called to be Your hands and feet.</b> As representatives of Christ we believe we should carry Your message of love and grace into the dark places You came to restore, the places where disease and illness plague people. Lord, do not allow us to seek safe havens, to hide the news of Your gospel; instead, call us out so that Your Good News will be evident to all.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">- Chris Seay, A Place at the Table.</span></blockquote>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-21916327281552163792016-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:002016-08-15T13:38:58.550-04:00Embracing All That 2016 Holds...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">New Year's Eve </span>had us <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2016/01/dear-sweet-little-girl.html" target="_blank">face-to-face with our church's first (of two) sponsored Syrian refugee family</a>. My girl wrote a blog post about this day... <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2016/01/dear-sweet-little-girl.html" target="_blank">click here to read it</a> because it's definitely one that you don't want to miss.<br />
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This refugee family... four humans, who are just like us and equally loved by God, but who have been through more pain and violence and brokenness these last few years than we can ever fathom or understand.<br />
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Four humans whom our church family has committed to come alongside with for the entire first year of their life as permanent residents of Canada... an endeavour made possible by this tireless committee of people that I have the utmost joy and privilege of leading and of whom I am deeply grateful to serve alongside with.<br />
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And then... four days into this New Year, I will be embarking on an exciting new adventure and stepping full-time into the role of <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.com/2015/12/nodding-yes.html" target="_blank">Compassion Canada's Ministry Relations Representative in the Greater Toronto Area</a>.<br />
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<i>As full and awesome as our 2015 was, as is <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/12/2015-year-in-review.html" target="_blank">so beautifully reflected here by my girl</a>, </i><b>I have a feeling that, because of the two new beginnings mentioned above, 2016 will far surpass it... in small and big ways that are <i>very much brand-new to us</i>! </b><br />
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A photo posted by alyssa (@_godsgal4ever) on <time datetime="2016-01-01T05:10:56+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 31, 2015 at 9:10pm PST</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">For the last number of years,</span> at the start of the New Year, I have always chosen a <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing%3A%20One%20Word" target="_blank">One Word</a> to serve as an inspiration for me for the upcoming year... a <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing%3A%20One%20Word">One Word</a> which would give this New Year a name.<br />
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In 2015, I have loved this quote by Kristen Welch:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Our yes to God should scare us.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Not to keep us immobile, but to keep us dependent on the One who asks us to say it in the first place.</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fear keeps us moving towards God.<br />
<b></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Yes, there is fear in obedience. But peace keeps us on the journey.</b><br />
<i></i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>And the joy that follows our yes to God is wild.</i></span></blockquote>
Yes, there is definitely fear in obedience and these last few weeks, the word BRAVE kept popping up everywhere... <i>perhaps because of the out-of-comfort-zone ways that God is shaping this year out to be for me and my family.</i><br />
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</i> <b>The word BRAVE particularly jumped out at me in the verse from Joshua 1:9... </b><br />
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I hadn't told anyone, <i>not even my family,</i> what I thought my <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing%3A%20One%20Word" target="_blank">One Word</a> for 2016 was shaping up to be. Come Christmas morning, as has been our family's tradition for many years now, we share about our birthday gift for Jesus.<br />
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<i>What hubby shared floored me.</i><br />
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His birthday gift to Jesus --- <b>to boldly go where no man has gone before. </b><br />
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You know... it's taken from that famous line from Star Trek. ;) But, seriously, he meant <b>to boldly go wherever God leads.</b><br />
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</b> I quickly looked up Joshua 1:9 in another version and this is what I found...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. <span style="font-size: x-small;">- Joshua 1:9, Living Bible (TLB)</span></span></blockquote>
Amazing! Apparently, BRAVE isn't just *<i>my*</i> <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing%3A%20One%20Word" target="_blank">One Word</a> for 2016...<b> it is hubby's too! :)</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/65BXr8qRdK/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ Woke up this morning with this song in my head, so I decided to make a print for my inspiration wall. Photo is #TBT to a year ago when we were in the Philippines to visit our @compassion children.</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-08-27T14:56:34+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 27, 2015 at 7:56am PDT</time></div>
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<script async="" defer="" src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I have come to love </span>the song <i>You Make Me Brave </i>because it beautifully sums up what being brave is all about... <i>it isn't because I am capable of being brave on my own strength, </i><b>it's because HE is the One who makes me brave.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 16px;">I stand before You now<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The greatness of your renown<br />
I have heard of the majesty and wonder of you<br />
King of Heaven, in humility, I bow</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Your love, in wave after wave<br />
Crashes over me, crashes over me<br />
For You are for us<br />
You are not against us<br />
Champion of Heaven<br />
You made a way for all to enter in</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have heard You calling my name<br />
I have heard the song of love that You sing<br />
So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore<br />
Into Your grace<br />
Your grace</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You make me brave<br />
You make me brave<br />
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You make me brave<br />
You make me brave<br />
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way</span></blockquote>
<b>God has orchestrated 2016 to arrive with many new things in store for our family to embrace and I know that it's going to require a lot of being brave... </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. <span style="font-size: x-small;">- Isaiah 43:19, NLT.</span></span></blockquote>
<b>I think this song is going to become <strike>my</strike> <i>our</i> anthem this year!</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">And this our prayer...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God, we thank You for being near in a world filled with selfish ambition, where too often our tendency is to turn inward and contemplate our own desires despite the suffering that surrounds us. We live surrounded by a wealth that defies the imagination of our poorer brothers and sisters, yet we live with the fear that we will never have enough. <b>Expand our hearts, Lord, that we may learn to truly love.</b><br />
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<i>May we <b>put our hand to the plow and work as those who have a higher calling. </b>In the days that come, Lord, reveal to us new patterns of living where our spiritual lives and work lives become an integrated whole. May all that we do be worship to You.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We acknowledge that out of the ashes of our lives You are bringing shalom. We believe You are calling us to be a part of Your shalom work in our own cities and across the globe. We ask You to lead us and guide us. <b>We are called to be Your hands and feet.</b> As representatives of Christ we believe we should carry Your message of love and grace into the dark places You came to restore, the places where disease and illness plague people. Lord, do not allow us to seek safe havens, to hide the news of Your gospel; instead, call us out so that Your Good News will be evident to all.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">- Chris Seay, A Place at the Table.</span></blockquote>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-63235218856746980442015-12-24T09:54:00.001-05:002021-07-27T21:29:35.183-04:00Merry Christmas... this weary world rejoices!<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">This Christmas, </span><i>more than ever... </i>I am seeing everywhere and feeling in me the lyrics of this beautiful Christmas song <i>O Holy Night </i>--- "A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices..."<br />
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<a href="https://keziahereandthere.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/alternative-nativity/" target="_blank">This photo blog illustrating the Christmas story</a> is resonating with me <i>more than ever.</i> Haunting. Poignant. True.<br />
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Friends, our world is weary and broken. There are wars. People are displaced and oppressed. Extreme poverty is still a reality. Children starve. Mothers cry. Fathers are absent.<br />
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This Advent, <i>more than ever</i>... I am understanding its meaning in the truest sense as our family, alongside our church family, await the imminent arrival of <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/10/our-response-to-syrian-refugee-crisis.html" target="_blank">our two sponsored Syrian refugee families</a>. Each additional day we are required to wait is another day they endure living in a refugee camp somewhere in Lebanon...<br />
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<i>Yet, this...</i> <b>this is why I still dare to hope.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gaining hope, I remember and wait for this thought:</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How enduring is God’s loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here they are, every morning, new! Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have courage, for the Eternal is all that I will need. My soul boasts, “Hope in God; just wait.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is good. The Eternal One is good to those who expect Him, to those who seek Him wholeheartedly.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is good to wait quietly for the Eternal to make things right again.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">- <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+3%3A21-26&version=VOICE" target="_blank">Lamentations 3:21-26</a>, The Voice.</span></blockquote>
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<i>O Holy Night</i> goes on with these lyrics...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">:: :: ::</span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Truly He taught us to love one another;<br />
His law is love and His gospel is peace.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;<br />
And in His name all oppression shall cease.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;<br />
Let all within us praise His holy name.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">And so we sing sweet hymns of joy, </span>because our Jesus, He shines --- "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1:5&version=NLT" target="_blank">John 1:5</a>, NLT)</span>"<br />
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<i>And we continue to find ways to be His hands and His feet in this broken and weary world.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shall I give my first-born for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>He has shown you, O man, what is <i>good.</i> What does Yahweh require of you, but <i>to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?</i></b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A6-8&version=WEB" target="_blank">Micah 6:6-8</a>, World English Bible (emphasis mine).</span></span></blockquote>
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<b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year from our family to yours! </span></b>{Our year-end family update <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwg2c8su9nijz1p/Christmas2015.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">can be found here</a>.}<br />
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May you sense God's peace and His love, <i>more than ever</i>, this Christmas and throughout this coming New Year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwg2c8su9nijz1p/Christmas2015.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Click here to read</a> our Christmas letter.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Friends, will you sing this beautiful Christmas carol with us?</span><br />
O holy night! The stars are brightly shining; it is the night of the dear Saviour's birth!<br />
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we; let all within us praise His holy name.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-81131713025321343802015-12-14T19:46:00.002-05:002021-07-27T21:31:23.479-04:00Nodding YES leads to beautifully sacred places...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">I wrote this</span> at the <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/01/hello-there-2015.html">start of the year</a>... yet, never in my wildest imagination would I have envisioned what God would have for our family this year:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... and I have suddenly found myself, at the start of this New Year, in a place of seeking what God's next steps are for us this year and for the longer term.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so, I will seek... because...</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"When you seek Me in prayer and worship, you will find Me available to you. If you seek Me with all your heart and soul, I will make Myself available to you," says the Lord. </span></blockquote>
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Little did I know just how many yeses this resolve-to-seek-God would entail... and just how wild the joy is that would follow them. All year, this quote by Kristen Welch resonated with me: <br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Our yes to God should scare us.</i><br />
<b> Not to keep us immobile, but to keep us dependent on the One who asks us to say it in the first place.</b><br />
Fear keeps us moving towards God.<br />
<b>Yes, there is fear in obedience. But peace keeps us on the journey.</b><br />
<i>And the joy that follows our yes to God is wild.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">One out-of-my-comfort-zone YES</span> was followed by another and another and another...<br />
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In the spring, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/03/more-thoughts-on-lent-on-fear-on-babies.html" target="_blank">we saw these two adorable boys through open-heart surgeries</a> and experienced that wild joy of seeing <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/04/that-wild-joy.html" target="_blank">a beautiful mama choose Jesus as Lord of her life</a>! They are now back to their life in Mongolia.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/0N2LB4KRS2/" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids)</a> on <time datetime="2015-03-14T17:23:00+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Mar 14, 2015 at 10:23am PDT</time></div>
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In the summer, we found ourselves <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/08/when-story-unfolds-differently-still.html" target="_blank">in Guatemala and seeing a story unfold not exactly the way we expected it to</a>, yet finding joy in knowing God is in control of everything.<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/53HF1GKRfe/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ Emotional goodbye at the end of our visit with Esperanza. So thankful God orchestrated for us to meet. When we planned our trip, we didn't know this was going to be our final goodbye. Esperanza is with child and was recently married, so it's time for her to leave the @compassion program and our sponsorship of her is ending. Words will come to me soon, I'm sure, to tell you the story about this day. But not yet... still processing many hard things in my heart. I do know one thing for certain... the difference truly is Jesus! #esparaz2gua Photo creds: @papa2greatkids</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-08-02T00:36:41+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 1, 2015 at 5:36pm PDT</time></div>
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In the fall, we found ourselves <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/10/our-response-to-syrian-refugee-crisis.html" target="_blank">unexpectedly spear-heading a committee at our church to sponsor two refugee families</a> from Syria to come settle in Toronto. We are currently eagerly anticipating the news of our first family's imminent arrival!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/-6mBEUQ8rh/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">this is a creeper photo at its finest but I just felt that I needed to capture this moment. you see, these are my parents. up way-too-early on a saturday morning (sleep-in day!), up to their ears in emails and to-dos and paperwork... all because in a few weeks, our church family will be at the airport to welcome one, then two, refugee families into our city and our lives. but when those instagrams of happy new beginnings get posted on airport day, I wanted this one to exist. the one of these two people up on a Saturday morning, working tirelessly together in the PJs, so that that airport day can happen. this is the example that I am so thankful has been set before me for my entire life. also, this is what #refugeeswelcome looks like in the everyday - it's not a retweet or a fb post or lobbying our gov't. it is stinkin' hard work - work that I've seen not only my parents, but so many people in our church community put in already and I know I will only see increase after airport day. literally countless individuals giving up Saturday mornings, Tuesday evenings, Sunday afternoons or even their own vacation days from work to apartment search, make budgets, source furniture, meet translators, and so.much.more. this is what all those news reports and big numbers like 25000 look like in real life - it's not always glamorous and super warm and fuzzy. sometimes it's Saturday morning paperwork in your PJs. if you're still reading this, I'm wrapping up - promise. I'll just say this: the advocate in me wrote this post to give a small snapshot into what refugee sponsorship looks like in the everyday. but the daughter in me wrote it to say this: I captured this photo because I am so incredibly blessed.thankful.proud to call these two people my parents. #realrelationshipgoals #prouddaughter #wewelcomerefugees</a></div>
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A photo posted by alyssa (@_godsgal4ever) on <time datetime="2015-12-05T15:41:36+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 5, 2015 at 7:41am PST</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Yet, the biggest YES</span> that God is asking our family to say was still coming and it would come in the form of a big change for me... <b>in the form of a new job.</b><br />
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</b> I have always loved this quote by Frederick Buechner: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet."<br />
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<b>And, that's just where He has asked me to say YES!</b><br />
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-09-30T22:03:11+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 30, 2015 at 3:03pm PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I am beyond excited to share that,</span> in the New Year, <b>I will be stepping into the role of Ministry Relations Representative for the Greater Toronto Area for <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/" target="_blank">Compassion Canada</a>, </b>an organization that our family so dearly loves and supports!<br />
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I am still pinching myself... as sometimes I still think that this can't be really happening. It is a huge gift to be able to work for an organization where every.single.day I can <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A8&version=WEB" target="_blank">live out Micah 6:8</a> in the most tangible and realest way.<br />
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<b>This decision definitely didn't come easy... only after much prayer, contemplation and soul-searching.</b><br />
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</b> <b>It is a scary YES, but also equally exciting!</b><br />
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</b> In the early days of considering this opportunity, these verses from Ephesians 3:7-21 have been paramount as God used them to speak to me:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">There were also many markers,</span> <i>allowing me to see God's hand in all.of.this. upcoming change...</i><b><i> </i>markers that God seemingly put in place to let me know that He's got this!</b><br />
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</b> Little details such as the verse from Leviticus 23:22, the verse we found bookmarked, highlighted and underlined in our beloved Papa's Bible as we sifted through his earthly belongings after his home-going to heaven.<br />
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<i>We have since sought to live out the meaning of this verse in our family's everyday life.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.</span></blockquote>
And I don't think it's a coincidence that <i>this very verse is </i><a href="https://youtu.be/fI_FUdaMcLY" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">the explanation behind Compassion International's blue corner</a><i>. </i><b>I was absolutely blown away when I recently realized the connection. </b><br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/qwknlRqRWV/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ A new photo wall here at home with photos of us & our beloved Papa. The framed verse is the first verse I saw that he highlighted & underlined in his Bible when I flipped through it as we sorted his earthly belongings at his home in Cebu a few weeks ago. It is from Leviticus 23:22... "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am The Lord your God."</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2014-07-22T15:49:06+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 22, 2014 at 8:49am PDT</time></div>
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Or little details such as this video of Wess Stafford's story. Wess, or Papa Wess as he is fondly known to many, is <a href="http://www.compassion.com/press/wess-stafford.htm" target="_blank">President Emeritus of Compassion International</a>. In the video, he invites <i>everyone</i> to join him <a href="http://www.compassion.com/mission-statement.htm" target="_blank">as advocates for children</a>, <i>all children</i>. He says, "Maybe it's joining us at Compassion..." and "together, we can make the world a better place for these children."<br />
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His story caused me to look back to my childhood and it resonates strongly with me...<i> </i><i>once a damaged child, now entrusted with a ministry serving the world's most vulnerable children...</i> <b>evidence that God is in the business of transfiguring brokenness into something beautiful! </b><br />
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</b> And that question at the end of the video... "What about the rest of them?" <i>That question fuels me. </i><b>It is the reason our family tirelessly <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/aimeeesparaz" target="_blank">advocates for Compassion</a> for many years now.</b><br />
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Or little details such as God's hand in ensuring that the transition from my current job is done well and that I leave with a good testimony.<br />
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This is of paramount importance to me as my manager has been such a blessing to me all these years. I absolutely count these thirteen years that I've worked for her as pure gift because it has allowed me to stay home for my children <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/p/truly-great-kids.html" target="_blank">during their most formative years</a>. Not many mamas have had the same opportunity! <br />
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</i> <i>I have been utterly blown away at how impeccable the timing is and how seamless the transition has been.</i> <b>Only God could have arranged those details... for which I will forever be grateful!</b><br />
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</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Now, a new God-adventure is on the horizon... </span>one that is beyond what I've asked for or even imagined, just like <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3:20" target="_blank">the verse from Ephesians 3:20 says</a>.<br />
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How awesome is it that I get to have my family along (sometimes!) with me at work? <i>How awesome is it that they are all equally as passionate about Compassion's mission as I am?</i> <b>How awesome is it that we acknowledge this as God's calling on our entire family, and not just for me?</b><br />
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</b> <i>So breathtakingly awesome. More than words can even express. </i><br />
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</b> <b>I am utterly humbled and deeply grateful... can't wait to see what God has in store!</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmNexIJ96MZ5lfdwW4UBdpzZaxSm1PXG29dkwqOe4XAx6raE6qQEOCsNy3dchqinVC5dLv6TI5trLycp76p3IlddD0MBE9pT4Y34Kq3N0k12ZNKmuLGpVrwvYmi7VL5AKCwLpDv-JD3dT/s1600/10453032_10154763154940710_5736019107639131193_o.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmNexIJ96MZ5lfdwW4UBdpzZaxSm1PXG29dkwqOe4XAx6raE6qQEOCsNy3dchqinVC5dLv6TI5trLycp76p3IlddD0MBE9pT4Y34Kq3N0k12ZNKmuLGpVrwvYmi7VL5AKCwLpDv-JD3dT/s640/10453032_10154763154940710_5736019107639131193_o.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9yzkw5qRUm/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">#1000gifts ~ Awesome two days representing @Compassion Canada at #LProof15 with my girl @_godsgal4ever and seeing 90 children released from poverty in Jesus' name! #TheDifferenceIsJesus Photo Creds: my sister @airanlee</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-11-07T18:34:45+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Nov 7, 2015 at 10:34am PST</time></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This photo is special to me because it was taken at my last official event as an Advocate, just last weekend... <br />
but, once an Advocate, always an Advocate! I will always, <i>always,</i> <b>always be an Advocate at heart!</b> ♥</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And did I mention that I get to work with this amazingly crazy bunch of people?<br />
This awesome team represents Compassion Canada across this vast country of ours.<br />
This photo was taken just last week at this year's Christmas Party.<br />
They graciously invited this newbie and her hubby even though I don't officially start in my role until the New Year!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am blessed. I <i>can</i> bless. <i>Imagine!</i> I could let Him make <i>me</i> the gift!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I could <i>be </i>the joy!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In an endless cycle of grace, He gives us gifts to serve the world. This is how to make a life great and<i> eucharisteo</i> embarks us on the path: "Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave" (Matthew 20:26-27).</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's the fundamental, lavish, radical nature of the upside-down economy of God.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Empty to fill.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here I can become the blessing, a little life that multiplies joy, making the larger world a better place.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">God can enter into me, even me, and use these hands, these feet, to be His love, a love that goes on and on and on forever, endless cycle of grace.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-32471271549670988212015-11-11T11:26:00.002-05:002015-11-11T11:26:27.732-05:00Those Outside the Gate...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Recently, </span>I put together this photo collage to put up on my inspiration wall in my home office. It is now hanging on the wall right above my computer screen. It is the first thing that my eyes see when I look up from working on my computer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg3R-EVQO1gLH4g94r9BdA6ARDq3USG4F4bEn9aGr-2ToV-LSTDw0ZaOIkYyCFRpE9qXinatIwlLmbuZG-Bemuza0NXsKLvaT-WDaPCZmCTEB0qehLUdiZ0qLq73Y1OBDdCR7hZoLcobY/s1600/Outside+The+Gate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXg3R-EVQO1gLH4g94r9BdA6ARDq3USG4F4bEn9aGr-2ToV-LSTDw0ZaOIkYyCFRpE9qXinatIwlLmbuZG-Bemuza0NXsKLvaT-WDaPCZmCTEB0qehLUdiZ0qLq73Y1OBDdCR7hZoLcobY/s640/Outside+The+Gate.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>All four are images of </i><i>children outside the gate... </i><b>and they are the reason why our family tirelessly </b><a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/aimeeesparaz" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">advocates for Compassion</a><b>.</b><br />
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I am <a href="http://compassionfamily.blogspot.ca/2015/11/the-children-outside-gate.html" target="_blank">guest posting today over at the Compassion Family blog</a>. Come on over and <a href="http://compassionfamily.blogspot.ca/2015/11/the-children-outside-gate.html" target="_blank">read about each of these children</a> and also about how our family spent this past weekend and how this verse ties into it...<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let the little children come to me. Don’t keep them away. God’s kingdom belongs to people like them. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A14&version=NIRV" target="_blank">Mark 10:14</a>)</span></span></blockquote>
I hope to <a href="http://compassionfamily.blogspot.ca/2015/11/the-children-outside-gate.html" target="_blank">see you over at Compassion Family</a>...! :)</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-84560960785459017682015-10-30T15:16:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:33:20.335-04:00Our Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis... for such a time as this!<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">We all saw it... </span>that <i>heart-wrenching photo</i> of little Aylan Kurdi's body washing up on that Turkish beach.<br />
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It was a lazy summer evening in early September and our whole family was sitting around watching late-night television. Hubby is a self-proclaimed news junkie so he was characteristically scrolling through the news on his hand-held tablet as we all watched a show together.<br />
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I will never forget the look on his face as he handed me his hand-held device and said, "You'll want to read this." It was <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/europe/migration-crisis-boy-washed-ashore-in-turkey/index.html" target="_blank">this CNN article</a>. <i>I read the first couple sentences and was instantly undone...</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The 3-year-old lies face down, his head to one side with his bottom slightly up -- the way toddlers like to sleep.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the water is lapping around his face and his body is lifeless. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Source: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/europe/migration-crisis-boy-washed-ashore-in-turkey/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>)</span></span></blockquote>
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I am quite embarrassed to admit that, until that night, <b>I was oblivious to the Syrian refugee crisis that was ballooning out of control</b>. </div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">The next few days,</span> my eyes were glued to the news and to my social media feeds. The world, it seems, just like myself... <i>got jolted out of its obliviousness</i>. </div>
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I will forever be grateful for people like my friend, Ann Voskamp, who chose to use her powerful online presence to speak out for Syrian refugees. Within a few hours, she had set-up a Facebook page called <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AylansDreams" target="_blank">Aylan's Dreams</a> which ballooned into this movement called <a href="http://wewelcomerefugees.com/" target="_blank">We Welcome Refugees</a>, in partnership with organizations like <a href="http://worldrelief.org/" target="_blank">World Relief</a> and <a href="http://www.thejusticeconference.com/" target="_blank">The Justice Conference</a> among others.</div>
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That very night, my girl penned a letter to little Aylan even before we knew his name. <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/09/dear-nameless-boy.html" target="_blank">Dear Nameless Boy</a>, she writes... </div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We've filled churches on Sundays while you and your people filled boats and sailed straight to death - <i>and are we really <b>being</b> the Church or just filling steepled buildings hollow?</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Because we're full of empty good intentions and real-sounding excuses when we should be full of the love of Christ.</b><br />
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And sweet boy, this is my apology, this is my outcry, but mostly <b>this is my confession. </b></span></blockquote>
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I woke up to her words the next morning <b>and they pierced the very depths of my heart.</b></div>
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Later that day, Ann Voskamp <a href="http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/09/dear-alyan-dear-world-with-a-refugee-crisis-dear-all-of-us-who-have-needed-to-be-welcomed-in/" target="_blank">pens her own letter to little Aylan</a> and links to my girl's letter at the end of her own.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, <i>NOW</i>, is the time for the Church to be the Church. We cannot, <i>cannot,</i> afford to miss this opportunity — <i>and miss Him.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the past, the Church may have been defined by what the Church is <i>against</i>, but, in this defining moment in history, may the Church be clearly defined by <i>what it is for.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the Church has always been for <i>the stranger, the sojourner, </i>and for being like <i>the welcoming arms of the Saviour.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How can we not move heaven and earth to let the broken in — <i>when heaven moved and came to earth to let us in?</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Sunday came </span>and my heart was still heavy. My girl's words rang clear in my mind, but mostly in my heart: <b>"Because we're full of empty good intentions and real-sounding excuses when we should be full of the love of Christ." </b></div>
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<b><i>I knew then that God was asking our family to act, to do something...</i> for such a time as this.</b></div>
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A quick chat with our Lead Pastor revealed that there were at least a handful of people in our church family ready to act, <b>ready to do something</b>. Without knowing what that something is, I told him, "Yes, I am willing to head up this initiative... <i>whatever it might be</i>."</div>
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That YES started a whirlwind week of fact-finding which resulted in our church community committing to sponsoring two refugee families from Syria via <a href="http://mcccanada.ca/stories/sponsor-syrian-refugees" target="_blank">Mennonite Central Committee</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFAir1BJPN1CfeK9kQl0xJur-r1qZ-clTrDN6lblVYW6w7fAAaD9ih3ZgQc2HfW0QiPY-4kMNEMN8fQYuo8nCjVnxzzAe9GB5ujwSd16LQJldPUK42LPH5BgxThiK-FY3gL1XMV8R_aGs/s1600/Photo+2015-09-12%252C+10+46+34+AM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFAir1BJPN1CfeK9kQl0xJur-r1qZ-clTrDN6lblVYW6w7fAAaD9ih3ZgQc2HfW0QiPY-4kMNEMN8fQYuo8nCjVnxzzAe9GB5ujwSd16LQJldPUK42LPH5BgxThiK-FY3gL1XMV8R_aGs/s640/Photo+2015-09-12%252C+10+46+34+AM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/09/12/small-acts-of-kindness-amid-syrian-refugee-crisis.html" target="_blank">this Toronto Star article</a>.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I wasn't prepared for the outpouring of support... </span></div>
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What started as an interest from just a handful of people <i>resulted in an outpouring of support that I have never experienced or seen before!</i> <b>It has been so heart-warming to see God working beautifully in people's hearts.</b><br />
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</b> Steve, a brother from our church family, shared his own family's refugee journey and many hearts were moved to respond. My girl consequently writes a second letter to little Aylan... in it <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/09/dear-aylan-part-2.html" target="_blank">she writes about just how blessed we are to have a church family whose response to this refugee crisis has been</a> more than what we have asked for or even imagined!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>This is community.</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is how we come together as the Body of Christ to respond to the worst refugee crisis since World War II.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We're smack in the middle of history and when it's all said and done <i>we want to be remembered as the generation who welcomed the strangers as if they were Christ himself, running into Egypt, fleeing Herod's slaughter as a refugee. </i> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Friends, this week </span>Mennonite Central Committee tallied all the donations that have come in for our fundraising registry and seeing the total dollars raised literally moved me to tears --- $68,190!!! <i>This is evidence of God beautifully at work in people's hearts. Only God...</i><br />
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<b><i>I am deeply grateful...</i> and deeply humbled.</b><br />
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Now that the hard work of raising funds is over, the even harder work of preparing and waiting starts. <i>I am deeply grateful for the privilege of leading an amazing committee of people that God has called together for this very purpose,</i><b> for such a time as this.</b><br />
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I saw <a href="https://instagram.com/p/9d2aViPZij/?taken-by=biancaolthoff" target="_blank">this Instagram photo by Bianca Juarez Olthoff</a> today and it drove home for me the significance of what our church family has committed to doing --- that is to bring these two families into the safety embrace of our country and our community, a safe place that we so often take for granted or don't even think about. As the caption on this Instagram photo so eloquently puts it, "It was nothing to me, but everything to her."</div>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/9d2aViPZij/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">"No mother puts her children in the sea unless the sea is safer than the land." -#SyrianRefugee I'm leaving Greece completely undone for the men, women, and children fleeing #Syria for their lives. Last night while passing out jackets in the cold, a mother leaned over the fence and called out over and over for jackets for her children. @tonysebastian1 told her repeatedly to form a line but she refused to move shouting louder and louder for what must have been her desire for jackets. I motioned repeatedly for her to get in line, but she didn't move. She wouldn't move. She refused to move. We didn't speak the same language but we were probably the same age. She has two kids, I have two kids. She was leaving her home, I am going home. When you're desperate, you do desperate things. Undone with her begging, I handed her two jackets and smiled. It was nothing to me, but everything to her. Her new life begins with her pleading still echoing in my mind. May I be a mother who fights for freedom in a way that she fought to be heard.</a></div>
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A photo posted by Bianca Juarez Olthoff (@biancaolthoff) on <time datetime="2015-10-30T15:15:30+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Oct 30, 2015 at 8:15am PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">As we wait and prepare,</span> please pray with us... for these two precious families that have been matched to us as they wait for all the requirements to be completed for them to be travel-ready. Please also pray for our committee members as we start to plan and prepare, that we will keep these words in mind:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Place your trust in the Eternal; rely on Him completely; never depend upon your own ideas and inventions. Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish, and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%203:5-6&version=VOICE" target="_blank">Proverbs 3:5-6</a>, The Voice)</span></span></blockquote>
<b>For such a time as this... </b><a href="https://instagram.com/explore/tags/wewelcomerefugees/" target="_blank">#WeWelcomeRefugees</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Related Reading: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/6137832-richmond-hill-church-helping-to-welcome-two-refugee-families/" target="_blank">Richmond Hill church helping to welcome two refugee families</a>, published in MetrolandMedia's YorkRegion.com, November 27, 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-15951509932722298382015-09-25T05:00:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:34:59.860-04:00Half A Century!<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">A very special man </span>is half a century <i>young</i> today! :) <b>Yes, 50 candles!!!</b><br />
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And when I say special, <i>I do mean <b>special</b>... </i><b>this man is <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2010/04/grace-of-my-life.html" target="_blank">the grace of my life</a> and <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/09/celebrating-birthday.html" target="_blank">is definitely a keeper</a>.</b><br />
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This is a man who “fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.” <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20112&version=MSG" target="_blank">Psalm 112</a>)</span><br />
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Each day, I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing me with this man, to do life with and to serve Him together.<br />
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I honestly don't remember a time when I didn't know hubby. Our families have known each other since we were children and since he is six years older than me, I don't remember not knowing him! Isn't that awesome?!?<br />
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We promised each other forever almost 25 years ago now and I can honestly say that who I am today, this better version of myself, is no doubt because of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+3:21-23&version=NIV" target="_blank">God's great love for me</a>... and packaged within that great love is this gift of a wonderful man whom He has given me to walk this thing called life together.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">... a marriage made in Heaven is one where a man and a woman become more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever have managed to become alone. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Frederick Buechner.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I couldn't have asked for a better life partner...</span><br />
God is gracious and He truly gives good gifts, <a href="https://instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">#1000gifts</a> --- "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201:17&version=NIV" target="_blank">James 1:17</a>)</span><br />
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Through his sacrificial love for me, I have been given a tangible example of just how much <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5:25" target="_blank">Jesus loves us, His Bride... the church</a>.<br />
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Through seeing him be a father to our children, I came to truly see, for the first time in my life, God as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+3%3A1&version=NIV" target="_blank">my Heavenly Father</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/7aw598KRZ3/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Love this photo that @_godsgal4ever took of @papa2greatkids and me "sitting around & doing nothing." ;) #LabourDayWeekend #latergram</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-09-09T17:26:52+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 9, 2015 at 10:26am PDT</time></div>
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</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Happy 50 candles</span> <b>to my best friend, the one my soul loves, the amazing life partner that this girl isn't deserving of, one who is <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%203:20" target="_blank">immeasurably more than I could have ever asked for or imagined</a>! </b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">I love you and I thank you because...</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;<br />
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;<br />
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;<br />
You raise me up to more than I can be.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;<br />
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;<br />
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,<br />
Until you come and sit awhile with me.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is no life - no life without its hunger;<br />
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;<br />
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,<br />
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Edited to add... </span>that true to his selfless character, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/floyd.esparaz/posts/10153749675075649?pnref=story" target="_blank">this is how he is inviting family and friends to celebrate with him</a> today:<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-83809669589704673532015-09-04T12:00:00.003-04:002021-07-27T21:40:20.064-04:00As Summer Draws To A Close...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">This boy's birthday </span>always signals the end of summer for us. Born on the evening of Labour Day fifteen years ago, we always celebrate his birthday on this long weekend before the start of school.<br />
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This year, it's no different. Tonight, we will celebrate at <a href="http://www.batonrouge.ca/" target="_blank">his favourite restaurant</a> --- one we head to just once a year on this very special occasion.<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/7Na4dIKRZk/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Happy 15th Birthday to my baby boy, my awesome speed-cubing son! At his birthday last year, we were the same height, this year... whoa... he's way taller than me! Jon, that I get to be your mama is a gift and a blessing from God that I will always be deeply grateful for. Being your mama has made me a better person. You are one awesome young man. Keep chasing after God's heart, my son. Because, there is no better way for a heart to beat than for it to be in sync with God's. I love you!</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-09-04T13:04:18+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 4, 2015 at 6:04am PDT</time></div>
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<i>Yet, somehow the end-of-summer this year feels different than previous ones.</i><br />
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</i> I'm not sure if it's because <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">this girl</a> is off to university and classes started yesterday, before the Labour Day long weekend... <i>or if it's something else.</i><br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/7LNg3vKRUv/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Just like that & my baby girl is off to her first day at university. Time truly flows like a relentless river... #GrowingUpTooFast #proudmama</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-09-03T16:29:00+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Sep 3, 2015 at 9:29am PDT</time></div>
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<br />
<i>Sadly, I do think it's something else. </i><b>My heart seems heavy as this summer draws to a close.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> It's been an eventful summer... both in our family's life and in world news.<br />
<br />
This summer brought us to Guatemala where we came face-to-face with <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/08/when-story-unfolds-differently-still.html" target="_blank">our Compassion daughter, Esperanza</a> <i>whose story unfolded <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/08/why-difference-truly-is-jesus.html" target="_blank">not quite the way we expected</a>. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> We came face-to-face with young girls who have been forced into child labour or experienced physical and/or sexual abuse <i><a href="https://vimeo.com/121705666" target="_blank">whose lives are being restored at Oasis Girls' Home</a>.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> We stood stunned, speechless, frozen... gazing at the scene in front of us, with a multitude of vultures circling above our heads. A scene so surreal it was as if it was playing on a TV screen... right in front of us is a massive pit known as the Guatemala City Dump with many, <i>many, </i><b><i>many people, </i>including children</b>, working and scavenging and l-i-v-i-n-g in it.<br />
<br />
One month after returning from Guatemala, the scene still haunts me today. The only thing that is a balm to my heart is <i>knowing that God is at work in that place <a href="https://www.compassion.com/about/where/guatemala-facts.htm" target="_blank">through the ministry of Compassion International</a>.</i><br />
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<br />
<i>Our world is broken, <b>very broken.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> We come home to atrocious news of leaked videos about body organs from babies being sold, to shocking news of leaked data from an infidelity site, its main office located right here in our city, that proves Christians not being immune to it.<br />
<br />
We are faced with a sudden and unexpected possible change in our family routine when God calls us to that oh-so-familiar outside-our-comfort-zone place where He seems to always call for our obedience, our yes!<br />
<br />
We receive news of childhood friends dying, both mine and hubby's... gone to soon, way too young.<br />
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<br />
<i>Our world is broken, <b>very broken.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> We are inundated with election news, with reports of a global financial crisis, and with trivial social media posts on one's political stance when in other news, there's this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=2" target="_blank">report of ISIS enshrining a theology of rape</a>, <i>a news article that had me in an ugly cry before I even finished reading the first paragraph.</i><br />
<br />
We were inundated with social media posts of people up in arms <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/opinion/in-zimbabwe-we-dont-cry-for-lions.html?_r=1" target="_blank">about a dead lion</a> when in other news, <i>there's a dead baby who has washed ashore in Turkey because the world has ignored the worst refugee crisis we've seen since World War II. </i>We knew the name of the lion faster than we found out what that sweet little boy's name is. <i>His name is Aylan Kurdi. </i><br />
<br />
<b>No wonder my heart seems heavy as this summer draws to a close.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <i>It just wants to scream, "Lord Jesus, have mercy! Lord Jesus, heal our land."</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">... if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ 2 Chronicles 7:14.</span></span></blockquote>
<b><i>It just wants to pray this prayer of confession...</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
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<br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">But as this summer comes to a close...</span><br />
My heart, though heavy, still dares to hope --- <i>"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Lamentations 3:21-23)</span>"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
His faithful love is evident when, on her very first day as an International Development Studies student at the University of Toronto, my girl pens <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/09/dear-nameless-boy.html" target="_blank">this letter to little Aylan Kurdi</a>, even before we found out what his name is... and I am one proud mama, proud of this young lady and of her brave and bold words.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/09/dear-nameless-boy.html" target="_blank">Dear Nameless Boy</a> -</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh, I squirm while saying this to you - we've been living mindless lives instead of loving you until you're <i>simply able to live</i>.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We've filled churches on Sundays while you and your people filled boats and sailed straight to death - <i>and are we really <b>being </b>the Church or just filling steepled buildings hollow?</i><br /><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Because we're full of empty good intentions and real-sounding excuses when we should be full of the love of Christ. </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And sweet boy, this is my apology, this is my outcry, but mostly <b>this is my confession.</b></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
His mercies are evident when, on this his fifteen birthday, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Genius4JesusCubing" target="_blank">my boy</a> is choosing <a href="http://mcccanada.ca/learn/what/relief/syria" target="_blank">to make a birthday donation to help little boys just like Aylan Kurdi</a> who, together with their families, are currently seeking refuge in refugee camps and to make a similar donation to help our sister church with the sponsorship of a refugee family so that they can come live in Canada... and I am one proud mama, proud of this young man and of his heart of gold, one that beats in sync with God's.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div><b>No wonder my heavy heart still dares to hope as this summer draws to a close.</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Because these two, my <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2013/05/28/generation-z-rebels-with-a-cause/" target="_blank">Generation Z children, though growing up in a very broken world... like many of their peers</a>, have hearts of gold and have their eyes set on making this world a better place. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>So yes, <b>a big resounding yes...</b> as this summer draws to a close, </i><b>this mama's heart smiles big and it still dares to hope. </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Because...</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>... love will run on.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And we could be like a river of that living water.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We could widen and deepen, we could course our way through hard things and plow fresh new ways.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And our perspective could reflect a Kingdom, our lives could be a refuge and our choices could be a courage that goes against the current.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can feel it in the air these days:</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Something beautiful is rising.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-1035900199630266122015-08-08T15:12:00.002-04:002021-07-27T21:43:25.841-04:00When the story unfolds differently, still Esperanza...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">We are home... </span>from that land of majestic volcanoes, lush rain-forests and ancient Mayan ruins <i>and from being face-to-face with <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2013/01/esperanza.html" target="_blank">our Compassion daughter, Esperanza</a>. </i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5NeaBsNjqKm_d6R-jfMYNgCiVddhn3vzwv5ZS3xwPKAqOkwooGE8mCJ2NAHRp_r_zsUTz8SkHlaWLlmN4pOji4lCQvHHXa7oCPvi4h6xbkrw7JfS4fHc7fopiszHND9hK1MmhChkDMaC/s1600/DSC_7810.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5NeaBsNjqKm_d6R-jfMYNgCiVddhn3vzwv5ZS3xwPKAqOkwooGE8mCJ2NAHRp_r_zsUTz8SkHlaWLlmN4pOji4lCQvHHXa7oCPvi4h6xbkrw7JfS4fHc7fopiszHND9hK1MmhChkDMaC/s640/DSC_7810.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These beautiful horses took us to the peak of Pacaya Volcano.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>When your desire is to see, to know, to touch, to understand — with an openness of mind and heart — that is a pilgrimage.</b> And like all pilgrimages, you cannot remain the same at the end of such a journey. Pilgrimages lead you to reflect on your own identity and purpose.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pilgrimage leads to changed and restored relationships. It’s a result of not visiting the poor, but visiting <i>with </i>the poor.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Visiting with the poor becomes another expression of the love of God and of community.</b> And this idea is deeply ingrained in God’s desire and gift for wholeness.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It’s a mutual embrace of life as it can be.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">- From <a href="http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-tourism-vs-pilgrimage/">this Compassion International blog post</a>.</span></div>
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<b>Friends, it truly was "a mutual embrace of life as it can be" --- </b><b>beautifully sacred, like being on holy ground.</b><br />
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Ten days before our departure date, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">I wrote these words</a>...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are beyond excited to hop on that plane. <i>I have a feeling that Guatemala will take a hold of our hearts in a very special way. </i><b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>We will meet our Esperanza and we will witness esperanza... hope.</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am excited, actually beyond excited. Yet, to be honest... I am, at the same time, scared of the many unknowns and of how our hearts will be broken afresh.<b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>But I am keeping my eyes on Jesus because He is our blessed esperanza and because <i><a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2013/07/damaged.html">broken is the most blessed you can be</a>.</i>.. and I am looking forward to that wild joy that will follow this yes!</b></span></blockquote>
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Little did I know just how true those words would ring in the coming days. A few days later, just one week before our departure date, I got word from Compassion Canada about some news they received from Compassion Guatemala.<br />
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<i>Our Esperanza, at age 17, is with child, was recently married, and will be leaving the Compassion program effectively immediately. </i><b>This visit will be our final goodbye.</b><br />
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</b> <b>This is <i>not</i> how I imagined the story to unfold.</b><br />
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</b> Aren't we supposed to still have a-year-and-a-bit before Esperanza turns 18 and graduates from the Compassion program to continue our sponsorship of her? Isn't this visit supposed to be the start of cultivating an even deeper relationship with our Esperanza before she launches into adulthood?<br />
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<i>Everything about this story's unexpected unfolding just seems to be wrong and unfair.</i><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">But I quickly snapped out of my pity-party </span>when God reminded me that... <b><a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">these summer pilgrimages of ours</a> aren't at all about our comfort and our preferences, it is all about our role in God's story of redemption --- His desire and gift for wholeness, for us and for all we come in contact with.</b><br />
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A few days before our departure, God impressed this verse from Isaiah 52:7 on my heart --- “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!” <br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/5kJ_2rKRZm/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Jesus, use these feet & make them beautiful. #Esparaz2GUA Isaiah 52:7 --- “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!”</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-07-25T15:56:30+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 25, 2015 at 8:56am PDT</time></div>
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How fitting as Guatemala is a country of beautiful mountains! Side note: My very sore legs sure were not impressed with me at the end of each day during our trip. ;)<br />
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With those words from Isaiah 52:7 in mind, we knew we needed to go with hearts ready <b>"to see, to know, to touch, to understand --- with an openness of mind and heart" --- </b>because that is what a pilgrimage is.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Visit Days, July 30 and 31...</span><br />
These days couldn't come fast enough. They were smack right in the middle of our 10 days in Guatemala. We left Guatemala City very early in the morning. After 8 hours of driving through winding mountain roads, <i>yes... e-i-g-h-t long hours!</i>, we arrived at GU-996, Palestina Child Development Center, in the mountainous community of Chisec, Alta Verapaz, during the mid-afternoon.<br />
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A large group of children lined a pathway towards the church building to welcome us. It was the most awesome welcome I've ever experienced!<br />
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This Compassion project serves an indigenous Mayan community whose people speak the Queqchi dialect and whose highest education level is Grade 6. It is run by the local church, Iglesia Bautista Palestina, led by Pastor Javier and Project Director Martin. Pastor Javier's vision for this Compassion project is "to show the way of truth in Jesus, teaching registered boys and girls how to generate income for their families." They have almost 300 registered Compassion kids!<br />
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Esperanza, her family and Pastor Javier only speak Queqchi. Project Director Martin speaks both Queqchi and Spanish. Our host from Compassion Guatemala, Ruth, speaks Spanish and English (very good English, in fact!) and we only speak English (plus understand a few basic words in Spanish). All that to say, there was a four-way translation going on which made for a very interesting way to communicate.<br />
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We came to the end of the children-lined pathway <b>and there was our Esperanza</b>. Also there was her mother Doña Maria and her husband of one month, Hernan. Hernan is 18, just a year older than her.<br />
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Everyone enjoyed a lunch of Pollo Campero and Domino's Pizza which we brought up from the City of Coban for them. Coban is a two-and-a-half-hour drive away so these luxuries are virtually inaccessible for the people in this community especially since the bus fare to go there and back is $10 per person and the average income is $3 a day! We would later learn that Esperanza has only been to Coban three times in her entire life!<br />
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We chatted over lunch and as I learned more about their way of life, I realized that when we are willing <b>"to see, to know, to touch, to understand --- with an openness of mind and heart" --- and when we don't overlay our first-world template on everything, we start to see things in a very different light.</b><br />
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</b> Esperanza belongs to an indigenous Mayan community. They still largely live <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/ancientmayancivilization/mayan-family-life" target="_blank">a typical Mayan life</a> --- they are farmers, most are not formally educated, the majority start a family at a very early age. Esperanza's grandmother, in her mid-60s, is already a great-grandmother to a teenage girl!<br />
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<i>My first-world mind couldn't fathom how this ancient way of life is still in existence today. </i><b>But my first-world heart silently longed for the simplicity that this way of life seem to offer.</b> Though I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Esperanza owns a cell phone! :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These two young women... their worlds couldn't be more opposite from each other.<br />Yet both are infinitely, equally and uniquely loved by our Heavenly Father.</td></tr>
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So... while being married and having a baby at age 17 might be foreign to me as a first-world citizen, it is quite normal to them in this Mayan way of life.<br />
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<i>While being married and having a baby at age 17 would seemingly spell disaster for a teenager in this first-world which we call home,</i> <b>Esperanza is merely entering the logical next step of life as is expected of her in this Mayan community which she calls home.</b><br />
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<i>Logical?</i> <b>To Esperanza, yes!</b> </div>
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When you are only fluent in an ancient Mayan dialect that is only understood within your own Mayan community and when you don't know very much Spanish...</div>
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When you've earned just a Grade 4 education at age 17, even though it already is much better than those who didn't even get any formal education...</div>
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When you know your future is to live and work in this community which you call home...</div>
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<i>When all of the above is true, </i><b>the next logical step for you is to start a family. </b></div>
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<b>Yes, even at age 17.</b><br /><b><br />
</b> <b>And this is where the beauty of Compassion's ministry comes in: </b>Even though Esperanza is now leaving the Compassion program,<i> the church will continue to be there for her as she starts a family.</i> It will be just like she never left the program. Her support network remains intact.<b> The difference truly is Jesus!</b><br />
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After lunch, we had the opportunity to tour the facilities at this Compassion project. The children were in their classrooms being taught Bible truths, learning some Spanish, singing, dancing.<i> The facilities are honestly the poorest I have seen in all of our visits to Compassion projects... </i><b>but the joy evident on the children's faces and the enthusiasm of the teachers truly exude Jesus!</b></div>
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In fact, this region has the most extreme poverty we've seen in all of our travels. We were told that this region is known as the forgotten region... forgotten by the government, forgotten by humanitarian agencies. <i>Thankfully, not forgotten by Compassion International! </i> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Maya Q’eqchi’ in Alta Verapaz suffer some of the worst poverty and health conditions in the country. Nearly 90% of the very poor are indigenous, subsistence farmers living on mountainous terrain. </span></blockquote>
Then, we were invited to visit Esperanza's family home. I must say that it also is the poorest of all the homes we've seen of our sponsored children. Yet, the sense of family is so strong. Everyone gathered around when we arrived, several generations of family.<br />
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Grandma was boiling corn on the fire to make tortilla with. Father was just home from the farm. Sisters and brothers milled about. Children and babies played together. Like a little community in and of itself!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My boy was thrilled to be able to ride in the back of this pick-up truck on the way to Esperanza's house!</td></tr>
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It is Esperanza's hope that she and Hernan can build a house right there in her family's homestead so that he can help farm their land. Her homestead is also more accessible from the main road. Hernan's family lives in an even more remote area where one has to cross a river to get home so it is a less ideal place to raise a family. <b>It is our desire to help Esperanza's hope become a reality --- "a mutual embrace of life as it can be." </b><br />
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</b> Time flew and it was soon time for us to leave as we still had a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to Coban where we were staying the night.<br />
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I will always remember the goodbye hug that I exchanged with Esperanza. She clutched my shirt so tight and wouldn't let go. It truly felt like a last goodbye...<br />
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Hubby took this opportunity to counsel Hernan to love and take care of our Esperanza. That exchange made my heart smile.<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/53HF1GKRfe/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Emotional goodbye at the end of our visit with Esperanza. So thankful God orchestrated for us to meet. When we planned our trip, we didn't know this was going to be our final goodbye. Esperanza is with child and was recently married, so it's time for her to leave the @compassion program and our sponsorship of her is ending. Words will come to me soon, I'm sure, to tell you the story about this day. But not yet... still processing many hard things in my heart. I do know one thing for certain... the difference truly is Jesus! #esparaz2gua Photo creds: @papa2greatkids</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-08-02T00:36:41+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 1, 2015 at 5:36pm PDT</time></div>
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As we gathered around to pray, as is the custom of this community everyone prayed out loud all at once.<b> It was such a powerful moment, beautifully sacred, brought me to tears, like we were on holy ground --- </b><b>"a mutual embrace of life as it can be."</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">As I went to sleep that night at the hotel in Coban,</span> I couldn't help but be deeply grateful that God orchestrated to have us say our final goodbye to Esperanza in person. Not a final letter, but an actual face-to-face, skin-to-skin goodbye.</div>
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As our Compassion host, Ruth, so eloquently said, "I firmly believe that Esperanza’s life will not be the same and that there is a higher purpose for you being able to meet her."</div>
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So very true. And... I believe that our lives won't be the same either --- <b>"a mutual embrace of life as it can be." </b>As I laid on that hotel bed, utterly exhausted, physically and emotionally, from the day's events, my heart was overwhelmed with joy --- and I smiled, realizing... ah, yes... <b>this is <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/07/the-road-to-our-esperanza.html" target="_blank">that wild joy that follows our yes to God</a>!</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And like all pilgrimages, you cannot remain the same at the end of such a journey. Pilgrimages lead you to reflect on your own identity and purpose.</span></blockquote>
The next day, we had a couple more hours with Esperanza as we arranged for her, Hernan, Doña Maria and Juan, a Compassion project staff, to come into the City of Coban to join us for breakfast at McDonald's! Can you believe she's never eaten at McDonald's before?!? Perhaps that's a good thing, don't you think?!? ;)<br />
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After breakfast we took them to Paiz, a store owned by Walmart, so that we could get Esperanza some groceries. Very soon after, it was time for the actual final goodbye...<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Words aren't adequate to describe that final goodbye... </span>it was like a piece of my heart stayed behind there with Esperanza. Imagine leaving your pregnant teenager knowing you won't ever see her again nor will you know what her baby looks like. Yeah, that.<br />
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<i>But it was there, as I tearfully and fervently waved goodbye, that I saw esperanza.</i> <b>Yes... I saw hope.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Lamentations 3:21-23. </span></span></blockquote>
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Because we serve a God who is always good and we are all His beloved. He loves Esperanza infinitely more than I ever can. He holds her in the palm of His hand... and she knows that, largely because of Compassion's ministry in her life through the local church since she was just a little girl.<br />
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As she walked towards the store's exit, I watched her go. She turned around to wave as often as she could. As she disappeared around the corner, she waved one last time and tears started to fall from my eyes <i>and my heart was simultaneously overwhelmed with deep gratitude... </i><br />
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<b>Because, the difference truly is Jesus! </b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Compassion Guatemala office.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">With our Compassion host, Ruth. <br />
She served with the love of Jesus, going beyond what her "job" entailed and did it with such obvious joy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyEfMqTpZlv3xcOLvT_TpeMljnEXWyovyKRMSy-nIgK4jqXbtFnTGchv988mq6GWoUGPdskI2e3CBjUEcfD15r6hjS5hcIyMo5xdRVLzH7SfGjiymmGtgNtKwXqaHtDX7ES3F4xYo-tfhj/s1600/DSC_8960.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyEfMqTpZlv3xcOLvT_TpeMljnEXWyovyKRMSy-nIgK4jqXbtFnTGchv988mq6GWoUGPdskI2e3CBjUEcfD15r6hjS5hcIyMo5xdRVLzH7SfGjiymmGtgNtKwXqaHtDX7ES3F4xYo-tfhj/s640/DSC_8960.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Compassion Guatemala's Country Director, Jose Carlos Prem.</td></tr>
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<b>Friends, will you sponsor a child with Compassion today? </b><br />
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~ Canadian friends, <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/aimeeesparaz" target="_blank">please click here</a>.</div>
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~ All others, <a href="http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=133395" target="_blank">please click here</a>.</div>
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<b>:: :: ::</b></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Five days later, as our plane descended into Toronto, </span>I uttered this prayer of my heart...</div>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/6A9xSYqRY3/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Home, sweet home! Back to this first world which we call home after yet another enriching time in the third world. Praying that the memories will keep fresh in our hearts and minds as we re-enter routine... that we will constantly remember that "God has a heart for the poor." #TrueStorySeries #TheDifferenceIsJesus @compassion #esparaz2gua</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-08-05T20:27:38+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Aug 5, 2015 at 1:27pm PDT</time></div>
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<b>Until next time, Guatemala! </b>God has used this beautiful country and its people to impact our family in a very profound way. I think we're going to soon be looking for another Guatemalan girl to sponsor, a Compassion sister for our Esperanza!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-88211167714929180202015-07-14T21:30:00.002-04:002021-07-27T21:45:39.599-04:00The Road to our Esperanza... <span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">In just a little while </span>our family will be setting foot on a land of majestic volcanoes, lush rainforests and ancient Mayan ruins. <i>And... we are most excited to soon be face-to-face with <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2013/01/esperanza.html" target="_blank">our Compassion daughter, Esperanza</a>. </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Esperanza whom we didn't choose. <span style="font-style: italic;">Esperanza, whose name means hope,</span><b style="font-style: italic;"> whom <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2013/01/esperanza.html" target="_blank">God chose for us</a>! </b><br />
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<b>Yes, we are headed to Guatemala!</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LMrITsnMb_Um7jZvVDQ3UrWwiA9NsURluFHhDiydiZLyr5mvZaJzDx4RwAadMryEyxk_m1hHXq8PuQPtY2BZA844oTt1oiagEWIDA2inRw0e6k_qHVlY-E-HVrvZv9-48wYJb81fBupN/s1600/2015+March.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LMrITsnMb_Um7jZvVDQ3UrWwiA9NsURluFHhDiydiZLyr5mvZaJzDx4RwAadMryEyxk_m1hHXq8PuQPtY2BZA844oTt1oiagEWIDA2inRw0e6k_qHVlY-E-HVrvZv9-48wYJb81fBupN/s400/2015+March.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
Guatemala... where we thought we would go last summer until <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/06/on-going-with-my-eyes-wide-open.html" target="_blank">God changed all our summer plans and sent us back to the Philippines instead</a>, <i>where our hearts woke up and <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/07/dear-fellow-first-world-christian.html" target="_blank">broke afresh for those things that break God's</a>.</i><br />
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Guatemala... the first destination we are headed to, as a family, where we know no one and where we do not speak the language. </div>
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Ah, yes... that <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/04/that-wild-joy.html" target="_blank">oh-so-familiar <i>outside-our-comfort-zone</i></a> place where God somehow seems to always call for our obedience, <i>our yes!</i></div>
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<b>That yes that <a href="http://www.incourage.me/2015/03/be-brave-today.html" target="_blank">always leads to this wildest joy</a>.</b></div>
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Since our family started answering God with this wild nod of a yes over these past few years, <i>it is changing everything. <b>Among other things, it has changed the way we spend our vacation time... that's for sure! </b></i><br />
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As Jennie Allen so eloquently wrote in a guest post on Ann Voskamp's blog today, "<b>... something is happening — not a feeling or love of adventure or desire for glory but something within us that is from God, a call to more: to die — to live. </b>My heart is bleeding and I can’t make it stop. So we are praying and willing and dreaming of living for heaven instead of the American dream, and it is changing everything. <i>And I am strangely okay with that."</i><br />
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<b>Yes, I am indeed strangely okay... <i>strangely okay.</i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Our family vacations have turned into</span> a pilgrimage of sorts over the years. I wouldn't have chosen to use that word myself <b>— pilgrimage </b><b>— </b>nor did I know how to adequately describe our transformation, until I read <a href="http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-tourism-vs-pilgrimage/" target="_blank">this blog post on Compassion International's blog</a> recently.<br />
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It was only after reading <a href="http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-tourism-vs-pilgrimage/" target="_blank">that blog post</a> did I realize that God has been transforming the way we spend our vacation time in order to disciple us and grow us into the people He created us to be.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>When your desire is to see, to know, to touch, to understand — with an openness of mind and heart — that is a pilgrimage.</b> And like all pilgrimages, you cannot remain the same at the end of such a journey. Pilgrimages lead you to reflect on your own identity and purpose.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A pilgrimage leads to changed and restored relationships. It’s a result of not visiting the poor, but visiting <i>with </i>the poor.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Visiting with the poor becomes another expression of the love of God and of community.</b> And this idea is deeply ingrained in God’s desire and gift for wholeness.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It’s a mutual embrace of life as it can be.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">- From <a href="http://blog.compassion.com/poverty-tourism-vs-pilgrimage/">this Compassion International blog post</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Today, I was at my hairdresser's place</span> for a haircut. As we chatted about life, she shared some of her family's current struggles. She, being originally from the Philippines, knows poverty first hand. She said something to me that I think is oh-so-profound.<br />
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She said, "When one has never seen how poor people's daily lives look like, one can quickly become self-absorbed."<br />
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<b>Yes, this is so. profoundly. true.</b><br />
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</b> <i>And something clicked in my mind. </i><br />
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</i> It is why this pilgrimage of sorts has become an important part of our family's summer. It is to keep us in touch <i>with </i>the poor, so that we can mutually embrace each other's life.<br />
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</i> Mind you, we don't head to an international destination every summer. Some summers we've spent right here at home or near home, <b>yet they have been pilgrimages just the same</b> <b>— </b>sandwich runs for the homeless, painting homes in government housing communities, delivering snacks to inner-city summer camps, spending a few vacation days in an inner-city neighbourhood. <br />
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<i>These summer pilgrimages have shown us esperanza, hope.</i><b> It has shown us "... a mutual embrace of life as it can be." </b><br />
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</b> <b>It is a truly beautiful, sacred thing.</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">We are beyond excited</span> to hop on that plane. <i>I have a feeling that Guatemala will take a hold of our hearts in a very special way.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <b>We will meet our Esperanza and we will witness esperanza... hope. </b><br />
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In addition, we will also be visiting El Oasis Girls' Home, a <a href="http://www.kidsalive.ca/" target="_blank">Kids Alive International</a> ministry.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Oasis in Guatemala is an amazing ministry that comes alongside girls who have been abandoned or abused. Most were forced into child labour, experienced physical and sexual abuse, and, unfortunately, all too often all three.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At The Oasis, they come to live in a safe environment of family units with Guatemalan house-parents and begin the process of restoring hope. The girls attend school (many for the first time) and have access to therapy to heal emotional scars. Central to their restoration of hope is the knowledge that they are loved, protected, and they are introduced to Jesus who can provide the true healing that they need.</span></blockquote>
Since <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">my girl</a> started Freedom Creations a couple years ago with the hope of making an impact in the fight against modern-day slavery and oppression, and have since donated over $2,000 to International Justice Mission Canada, we have always had the desire to personally visit such a ministry.</div>
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And God has, literally at the very last minute, arranged for us to do just that! Check out this video to learn more about the ministry of El Oasis Girls' Home:</div>
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<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="298" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/121705666?color=ff9933" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="600"></iframe></center>
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I am excited, actually beyond excited. Yet, to be honest... I am, at the same time, scared of the many unknowns and of how our hearts will be broken afresh.<br />
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</b> <b>But I am keeping my eyes on Jesus because He is our blessed esperanza and because <i><a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2013/07/damaged.html">broken is the most blessed you can be</a>.</i>.. and I am looking forward to that wild joy that will follow this yes!</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Where will this summer be taking you, friend...? </b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-46097830170067994642015-06-25T08:04:00.002-04:002021-07-27T21:48:59.374-04:00As She Walked Across That Stage...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">This mama-heart of mine</span> exuded with so much joy I thought it might explode. My first-born child, my baby girl, the one who made me a mama... she walked across that stage and <i>just like that</i>, she's graduated from high-school.<br />
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Where exactly has all that time gone to?<br />
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<i>Don't blink.</i> Parents of younger children, don't blink... <b>because time waits for no one. It truly flows like a relentless river.</b><br />
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</b><a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/02/eighteen-candles.html" target="_blank">These 18+ years have flown by</a> and <b><i>this mama is deeply grateful to have had a front row seat to this God-story, </i>to my girl's life where God's grace has been and continues to be powerfully at work in. </b><br />
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So many beautiful memories... and so many more to look forward to!<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I am so incredibly proud</span> to call this amazing young woman my daughter. I am one blessed mama. <b>God's grace truly is astoundingly beautiful.</b> For someone as broken as I am to have been entrusted with this gift of such an extraordinary young lady as a daughter is beyond <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+3%3A19-21" target="_blank">all I have ever asked for or have even dared to imagine</a>.<br />
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<i><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201:17" target="_blank">He truly gives good gifts</a>.</i><b> This. astounds. me.</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Yesterday she graduated from high-school </span>with an award for her community service work and another one for her love of the French language.<br />
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<i>And, edited on July 2, 2015 to add this... </i>that, one week after her graduation ceremony, she got a call from her Principal letting her know that <b>she's graduated as the top student of the Class of 2015, thus is the recipient of this year's <a href="http://archive.gg.ca/honours/awards/acmed/index_e.asp" target="_blank">Governor General's Academic Medal</a>!!!</b><br />
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This award, along with all the other academic awards, wasn't announced at last week's graduation ceremony due to the unusual school year we had because of the teachers' strike, causing marks submission to be delayed.<br />
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<b>All glory be to God alone!</b><br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/42BIAfqReu/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ And, here it is... the Governor General's Academic Medal. So incredibly proud of my girl @_godsgal4ever! All glory be to God alone... His grace is astoundingly beautiful. #proudmama</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-07-07T17:53:55+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Jul 7, 2015 at 10:53am PDT</time></div>
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This Fall, she will attend the University of Toronto to pursue an education, and eventually a career, in International Development, entering Canada's top university {and ranked 4th in the world} as a C. David Naylor University Scholar and a President's Scholar of Excellence, to live out <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/p/about-me.html" target="_blank">her passion to speak out for those who are denied a voice</a>.<br />
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These are undoubtedly incredible achievements and I am super proud of her! Trust me... just check out my innumerable <a href="https://instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">#proudmama</a> posts on social media. ;)<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Yet, what truly makes this girl stand out</span> is her <b>God-given big heart for compassion and justice</b> and that <b>beautiful contagious smile</b> which lights up an entire room when she enters.<br />
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This is a girl who, since the day she could walk and talk, always had the desire to help others. "Mama, me help?" was a regular request of hers.<br />
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This is a girl who, at just 12 years of age, listened to God's prompting and ended up <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2010/01/meet-annu.html" target="_blank">propelling our family into a lifestyle of compassion and justice</a>.<br />
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This is a girl who, at age 16, was <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2013/11/lifes-gifts-his-grace.html" target="_blank">recognized by her peers as someone who embodies living out peace</a> in her everyday life.<br />
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This is a girl who, at age 17, agreed to collaborate with Compassion Canada to produce <i><a href="http://www.compassion.ca/truestory" target="_blank">True Story: What God wants us to do about poverty</a>, </i>in order to reach her peers across this vast country of ours and across the globe with the message of God's story of redemption.<br />
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<b>Best of all, this girl... my daughter, has changed the way I look at the world. </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In my daughter's eyes I am a hero. I am strong and wise and I know no fear. But the truth is plain to see, she was sent to rescue me. I see who I want to be in my daughter's eyes.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal. Darkness turns to light and the world is at peace. This miracle God gave to me, gives me strength when I am weak. I find reason to believe in my daughter's eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Martina McBride.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2015/05/to-mamas-everywhere.html" target="_blank">My story changed when this girl entered my life</a>... <i>and I have not looked back and I have been blessed beyond measure because of it. </i><b>God has used motherhood to disciple me in ways that I will always and forever be grateful for.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Eugene H. Peterson.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You don't realize your story is changing you until you look back. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.</span></span></blockquote>
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I am feeling all sorts of emotions as I realize that <b>the time has come for this story's next chapter to unfold. </b><br />
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</b> Yes, transitions and change have always been hard for this mama to face... so I am choosing to find comfort and strength in the reality that <b>God loves her infinitely more than I ever can! </b><br />
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</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">My dearest Alyssa...</span><br />
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Words aren't adequate enough to express just how much joy you have brought into your daddy's and my life. Everyday, I thank God for you. <b>You. are. a. gift... <i>a grace-gift.</i></b></div>
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I love you <i><b>so much</b></i>... and count it pure blessing to walk this journey as your mama.<br />
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And girl, have I told you lately<i> just how incredibly proud I am of you? </i><a href="https://instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">#proudmama</a> :) </div>
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You are an extraordinarily special young lady. No doubt. God has gifted you in ways that astound me. His grace is wild... His love is extravagant. </div>
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As an image-bearer of our Heavenly Father, may you continue to be Jesus' hands and feet...<i> to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release prisoners from darkness, to comfort all who mourn. </i></div>
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<i><b>May you continue to be an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour.</b></i></div>
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And may you know, with all your heart, <b>that... you. are. His. beloved! </b><br />
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</b> <b>That... you. are. eternally. His!</b></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:19-20&version=CEV" target="_blank">Go now into the world</a> and <i>dream God-sized dreams</i>, my baby girl... because <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%201:6" target="_blank">He has already blazed the way for you</a>!</b></div>
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And may this always, <i>always, <b>always be true of you...</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Galatians 6:14</span></span></blockquote>
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<b>With all the love that your mama has for you...</b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</span></div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-75155648293371038072015-05-26T19:00:00.001-04:002021-07-27T21:52:13.844-04:00Merely His Vessel...<div>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">She said these words facing the rolling camera... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God has used gifts and interests I already have to bring hope to dark places. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;">~ </span><a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2015/05/true-story.html" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: right;">Alyssa</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;">.</span></blockquote>
I listened to my girl say those very same words as I watched the pilot video clip a few months after that segment was originally filmed <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2014/10/when-oceans-rise.html" target="_blank">on that beach where oceans rise</a>, and this mama couldn't help but weep... deeply grateful for God's grace which truly is a beautiful thing!<br />
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Watch that same video segment with me here...<br />
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This motherhood gig, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.com/2015/02/eighteen-candles.html" target="_blank">it surprised me</a>... <b>it surprised my man!</b> And while many might say we did good raising <a href="https://twitter.com/_godsgal4ever" target="_blank">this girl</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Genius4JesusCubing" target="_blank">her baby brother</a>, I can't hardly even start to agree.<br />
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Because you see, <i><a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2015/05/to-mamas-everywhere.html" target="_blank">their Heavenly Father did good</a> <b>as it's only purely solely by His grace alone and He. is. always. good.</b></i><br />
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This motherhood gig, <i>it wasn't really my gig to start with</i>. I am <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+timothy+2%3A20-21&version=VOICE" target="_blank">merely His vessel</a>.<br />
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</b> <b>It was His gig all along! </b><br />
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And by His amazingly wild grace, He's allowed <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2015/05/true-story.html" target="_blank">my girl to be a huge part</a> of this amazing project called <i>"<a href="http://www.compassion.ca/truestory" target="_blank">True Story: What God wants us to do about poverty</a>"</i> --- a video-based curriculum made available <i>for free</i> by Compassion Canada to churches, schools, ministry groups, families... and anyone who wants to use it, <i>really! </i>And everything, I mean everything --- videos and accompanying resources --- are <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/truestory" target="_blank">all downloadable <i>for free </i>from the website</a>!<br />
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<b>Earlier this month, <i>True Story</i> officially launched!</b><br />
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The week it launched, I had the honour of <a href="http://compassionfamily.blogspot.ca/2015/05/true-story.html" target="_blank">writing about it on the blog, Compassion Family</a>. And that weekend, my girl and I embarked on a road-trip to represent Compassion Canada in promoting <i>True Story</i> at three youth conferences!<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/2v7C5GqRXg/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Road-tripping with @_godsgal4ever on this long weekend and driving through old downtown Cambridge. We are headed to three youth conferences where she will be speaking about Compassion Canada's #TrueStorySeries! #proudmama</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-05-16T16:02:33+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">May 16, 2015 at 9:02am PDT</time></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Event: <a href="http://www.pitchandpraise.com/" target="_blank">Pitch and Praise</a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/2wOBUhqRRt/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Super proud of this girl as she speaks to her peers this weekend challenging them to live a life of Biblical justice & compassion! #TrueStorySeries</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-05-16T18:48:22+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">May 16, 2015 at 11:48am PDT</time></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second Event: <a href="http://www.allontario.com/" target="_blank">All Ontario Youth Convention</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Third Event: <a href="http://www.overflowyouth.com/" target="_blank">Overflow Youth Conference</a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">I prayed and she bravely shared her story to 4,000 of her peers... </span><br />
Of once living a boring check-list faith kind of life and then experiencing an overwhelming helpless faith and <i>of finally discovering the beauty of living out God's story of redemption and being empowered to spread His love, light and hope to this broken world.</i><br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/2ygPk_qRdE/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ God is good! @_godsgal4ever did awesome sharing her story at #OFLO15 this morning. A few @compassion children sponsored already! Yay!!! #TrueStorySeries #proudmama</a></div>
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A video posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-05-17T16:06:05+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">May 17, 2015 at 9:06am PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">And God used her greatly over that weekend... </span><br />
More than what we asked for or even imagined... not only did many youth groups express interest in <i>True Story,</i> we had the immense joy of seeing 76 children, <i>yes seventy-six!!!</i>, released from poverty in Jesus' name at those three weekend youth events!<br />
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I am humbled. <i>Floored. </i><b>Deeply grateful for grace.</b><br />
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</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">On that same weekend...</span> </div>
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The men in our family were on a road-trip of their own for my boy to compete at the <a href="https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/c.php?top3=Top+3&competitionId=NationalCapitalRegion2015" target="_blank">National Capital Region 2015</a> speed-cubing competition where he got his very first FIRST PLACE podium finish since he started officially competing!<br />
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Here's the video of that first-place solve {wearing his <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/jonesparaz" target="_blank">Compassion shirt and lanyard</a>, no less!}:<br />
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You know that quote I started this blog post with above?</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God has used gifts and interests I already have to bring hope to dark places. ~ <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/2015/05/true-story.html">Alyssa</a>.</span></blockquote>
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It isn't only true in his sister's life. <b>It is also true in this boy's life.</b></div>
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<b>God's goodness and His faithfulness truly never cease to amaze me. </b>I am continually awed that He would invite us to join Him in life-changing Kingdom work. </div>
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<i>I am awed that He can use something such as speed-cubing to build His Kingdom!</i></div>
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In recent days, God has allowed my boy to be a part of an amazing initiative --- helping out at a Rubik's Cube club in <a href="http://www.urbanpromise.com/where-we-work/" target="_blank">an inner-city community</a>, inside a local public school, through <a href="http://www.urbanpromise.com/" target="_blank">the ministry of UrbanPromise Toronto</a>, a ministry that our family has long loved and supported!<br />
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And it is UrbanPromise Toronto's hope that such clubs can be established in all three communities where they minister at --- to help them <b>"reach a child, raise a leader, restore community." </b>And they would like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Genius4JesusCubing" target="_blank">my boy</a> to be a part in making that a reality!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To reach children in Toronto Community Housing with the love of Jesus, and raise them into leaders, who restore their community.</span></blockquote>
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Don't you just love <a href="http://www.urbanpromise.com/who-we-are/mission-and-vision/" target="_blank">UrbanPromise's mission and vision statement</a>? I do!<br />
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<i>I am excited for what this next season holds for our family in terms of being Jesus' hands and feet. </i><b>God has been intensely showing us, in more ways than one, how He would like us to continue joining Him in His Kingdom work.</b></div>
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And as He's clearly shown us in recent months and days, He is actively using gifts and interests that my kids already have to bring hope to dark places.</div>
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<i>And for that, this mama is deeply grateful and is thoroughly enjoying this wild ride.</i> </div>
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<b>After all, it's His gig and not mine.</b></div>
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I am <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+timothy+2%3A20-21&version=VOICE" target="_blank">merely His vessel</a>...<br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</span></i></div>
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Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-64282955347613305542015-04-30T20:30:00.000-04:002015-05-01T10:31:23.348-04:00One Proud Compassion Mama<div>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">When I woke up this morning, </span>I scoured my Facebook news-feed and stalked my email inbox with eagle eyes hoping for photos and perhaps even videos to either be posted or to appear in my inbox.<br />
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<i><b>You see, because April 30 is a very special day!</b></i><br />
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A couple weeks ago, I posted this on <a href="https://instagram.com/mama2greatkids/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>...<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/1ikEpaqRTB/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ Overwhelmed by Grace... just received our last official letter from Rechelle, our @compassion LDP student as she prepares to graduate from the program this month! We are so proud of her & so grateful to be a part of her life in such a meaningful way. My fave line in her letter... "You teach me how to give and how to live a life like Christ." She is now a school teacher & has received three job offers to teach in private schools in Cebu (Philippines) which she temporarily declined in order to fulfill her promise to God to serve one full year at the @compassion project she grew up in. So, so, so awesome... I am moved to tears!</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-04-16T15:00:18+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 16, 2015 at 8:00am PDT</time></div>
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<i>And yes, today is Rechelle's graduation day from <a href="http://www.compassion.com/student-leader.htm" target="_blank">Compassion International's Leadership Development Program</a> (LDP). </i>She will be among the last sponsored children to graduate from the LDP as <a href="https://www.compassion.ca/reaching-further-through-youth-development/" target="_blank">Compassion transitions from this program to focus on youth development</a> in order to benefit even more young people in the developing world!<br />
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And since Philippines is twelve hours ahead of us, when I woke up this morning the graduation had already happened {while we were sleeping}.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFBk6Ypucsn0fmXBlpcmk6njY7cyLIp6JJe3K_NMR5rIdI2dXu64Iep2WGTQhs_AEFK9FT60fMsBikAjvWNKNx4sVDBaHjKSNrx2CZquUYoXxrmWAAU1ppyv-33thXYLmmGr4NTvRrhIy/s1600/2011+May.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFBk6Ypucsn0fmXBlpcmk6njY7cyLIp6JJe3K_NMR5rIdI2dXu64Iep2WGTQhs_AEFK9FT60fMsBikAjvWNKNx4sVDBaHjKSNrx2CZquUYoXxrmWAAU1ppyv-33thXYLmmGr4NTvRrhIy/s1600/2011+May.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the first photo of <br />
Rechelle that we ever saw.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">We first met Rechelle</span> four years ago. It was during our first trip back to the Philippines after twelve years of not being back, <i><a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/08/thoughts-reflections-where-do-i-even.html" target="_blank">the trip that broke my heart anew... <b>for the things that break God's</b></a>. </i><br />
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One week before our departure date, God made our path cross with Rechelle's in a way that only He can. <i>You can <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/07/and-countdown-begins.html" target="_blank">read that story here</a>.</i><br />
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We arranged to meet Rechelle in person and at the end of that meeting, we knew that, despite the steep cost of LDP sponsorship as compared to regular child sponsorship, we would be sponsoring her. <i>You can <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/08/how-to-make-sense-of-this.html" target="_blank">read that story here</a>. </i><br />
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<i><b>I can truly say that sponsoring Rechelle has turned out to be one of the best decisions we've ever made!</b></i><br />
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</b></i> Then last summer, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2014/07/at-halfway-mark.html" target="_blank">we visited her again</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gg8IodKqwmc/Tk1rboQBbwI/AAAAAAAAD7A/O1DSMEDAgxI/s1600/287029_254156664613011_100000560382961_964453_3619703_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gg8IodKqwmc/Tk1rboQBbwI/AAAAAAAAD7A/O1DSMEDAgxI/s1600/287029_254156664613011_100000560382961_964453_3619703_o.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2011: At the Compassion project where Rechelle grew up as a Compassion sponsored child.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aMZdYsqXa8/Tjo0CIeiszI/AAAAAAAAD7I/R_l9X5ExeOo/s1600/DSC_0379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aMZdYsqXa8/Tjo0CIeiszI/AAAAAAAAD7I/R_l9X5ExeOo/s1600/DSC_0379.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2011: Inside Rechelle's house.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53nF6IgCCcWN_sVFRA8SDuYjCKP5oo3xPqKtIEupdPTskbu1wq0kEH1xV2PVtGEi7gP0XGu5h5MuqsCaa37KqB-swuY5j1a310nH3sIDNxuxYVyMuJc6oEK4M7VaR8acAIDNLErcV04Ay/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53nF6IgCCcWN_sVFRA8SDuYjCKP5oo3xPqKtIEupdPTskbu1wq0kEH1xV2PVtGEi7gP0XGu5h5MuqsCaa37KqB-swuY5j1a310nH3sIDNxuxYVyMuJc6oEK4M7VaR8acAIDNLErcV04Ay/s1600/015.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014: At the same spot, inside Rechelle's newly rebuilt house after it got destroyed by an earthquake.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmN0DdGUDS4iNf4f-NHdXhFtY0szaRR7Qa0GESDLrhePYOCXLJALbtRiDsrOpNmlDc3pVMbo5aNJfb8xBjRpnFJvxCaBpxAG7S545-q7E0vuaIuBymz1smg369A41UHNpqObwf9435nrVf/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmN0DdGUDS4iNf4f-NHdXhFtY0szaRR7Qa0GESDLrhePYOCXLJALbtRiDsrOpNmlDc3pVMbo5aNJfb8xBjRpnFJvxCaBpxAG7S545-q7E0vuaIuBymz1smg369A41UHNpqObwf9435nrVf/s1600/009.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014: At Rechelle's church.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">These four years</span> of journeying with Rechelle as her sponsor family have been <i>pure gift, </i><i style="font-weight: bold;">wild grace! </i>Being a part of her life has blessed us immensely... more than words can ever describe. We are looking forward to more of doing life with her... as we continue to correspond with her directly after her graduation from Compassion's program.<br />
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As details of her graduation date were released, <i>we were sad that we couldn't attend in person. </i>We wrote her our last official letter through Compassion and sent her a graduation gift, accepting that we've done all we can to make her graduation day special.<br />
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Little did we know, God was going to surprise us with so much more! We quickly realized that my parents are going to be in Cebu on Rechelle's graduation day. We submitted a request for them to attend the event on our behalf and it was quickly approved. <i>We were overjoyed!</i><br />
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</i> <i><b>But God wasn't done just yet with His surprises!</b></i><br />
<i><br />
</i> We were volunteering at a Compassion Sunday event not too long ago where Compassion Canada's President/CEO Barry Slauenwhite was the guest speaker. Upon chatting with him and his wife, I learned that Barry is going to be the guest speaker at Rechelle's graduation! How awesome is that?!? <i>I was over-the-moon tickled by God's lavish love!</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>Not only were my parents going to be there for Rechelle, Barry and his wife will be too! </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i><b>Only God can arrange details such as these... <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2011/07/and-countdown-begins.html" target="_blank">much like how He made our path cross with Rechelle's four years ago</a>! </b></i><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">So this morning...</span><br />
My eyes stayed glued to my computer monitor... and that first chime came. An email. Photos. <i>Another email. More photos. <b>Yet another email. Videos!</b></i><b> </b><br />
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I can't even begin to describe how much of a gift it is, being able to see the photos and watch the videos. <i>Oh my... I couldn't stop the tears! <b>I was beyond overjoyed!</b></i><br />
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<i><b>I am truly one proud {Compassion} mama!</b></i><br />
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Here she is, friends... our Compassion daughter, Rechelle, graduating from Compassion's Leadership Development Program.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Young people selected for the LDP have distinguished themselves in the Child Sponsorship Program through service, academic excellence and leadership. They have committed their lives to Christ and to serving Him. The LDP offers these students the opportunity to refine their gifts through a university education and targeted Christian leadership training. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Students who qualify for the LDP have demonstrated academic and extracurricular excellence and have successfully met the selection criteria established by the LDP Advisory Committee in their country of origin.</span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARImqAIVDskxx3hdVzWlY_eR_3a3UqbjHR6-PCNWS0Qgp2tBY9L0vPHoSwIWsy5k-05bmLZEX-ouiv13PUBqjIkIS9o7jO40QWcDTeu6_4u8pWd22IIfEnwyWINW2aozpf5s2v1HnuXzg/s1600/Rechelle+Grad+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARImqAIVDskxx3hdVzWlY_eR_3a3UqbjHR6-PCNWS0Qgp2tBY9L0vPHoSwIWsy5k-05bmLZEX-ouiv13PUBqjIkIS9o7jO40QWcDTeu6_4u8pWd22IIfEnwyWINW2aozpf5s2v1HnuXzg/s1600/Rechelle+Grad+3.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rechelle with my parents.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimg0ZAPGdeTDhbN4BZrIA6cb2eSm-Ykxcqjrf4aGwqi-hsFS6Zjf767gXPqWHwnv-dcgJqacqRHSTYhYuHFWq6qUSuw4zVxDai5ZBLBBCvJKg7ZhC8fVVheQDMHOPJaQxQx1nHEAbraxPs/s1600/11174784_10152914515452862_7114600036852912360_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimg0ZAPGdeTDhbN4BZrIA6cb2eSm-Ykxcqjrf4aGwqi-hsFS6Zjf767gXPqWHwnv-dcgJqacqRHSTYhYuHFWq6qUSuw4zVxDai5ZBLBBCvJKg7ZhC8fVVheQDMHOPJaQxQx1nHEAbraxPs/s1600/11174784_10152914515452862_7114600036852912360_n.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rechelle with my parents and her mama.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAyb07GzxJI-ch8djXOkBJKjgCF5QM93mjDO83lSLa9NX2oRibZXBKiQrvbftsqpq5SYztpQTbv_eCxDzCKH9mEJPTd33iT4fBtKAex6y0ELNb8ModeOAX-h6sy6L4EYPAvyeN0IAYHER/s1600/Rechelle+Grad+12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAyb07GzxJI-ch8djXOkBJKjgCF5QM93mjDO83lSLa9NX2oRibZXBKiQrvbftsqpq5SYztpQTbv_eCxDzCKH9mEJPTd33iT4fBtKAex6y0ELNb8ModeOAX-h6sy6L4EYPAvyeN0IAYHER/s1600/Rechelle+Grad+12.jpg" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rechelle with Barry and his wife.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT3BcG8BcrBluB11qPeK6_nsBnnk_rubM1gK4yZZwIWGA1tn0OxNK5msduEPSNCDS_bzde9ghopPNgT_0TUZbfZrMl0HFIKtrYQslWjOJGokYXnOeKex5tya1q8ZGyuiGcm2Dy8QsyyiS/s1600/10433263_10152914517502862_6743440064810305089_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPT3BcG8BcrBluB11qPeK6_nsBnnk_rubM1gK4yZZwIWGA1tn0OxNK5msduEPSNCDS_bzde9ghopPNgT_0TUZbfZrMl0HFIKtrYQslWjOJGokYXnOeKex5tya1q8ZGyuiGcm2Dy8QsyyiS/s1600/10433263_10152914517502862_6743440064810305089_n.jpg" height="640" width="360" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhdSGjQfNL46g_mdy0UGNkee98lNFaG3KPQUEbW4NUnorQTMbHEuzN9CzbBY2Ybnm6l_1joVTafH2Et9t_8_XC7pLYGlie978sge75g3ADefst5hLgG8987OUbKUCBth1g2OvQUI67NqI/s1600/11050120_10152914502507862_1016150532056297629_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhdSGjQfNL46g_mdy0UGNkee98lNFaG3KPQUEbW4NUnorQTMbHEuzN9CzbBY2Ybnm6l_1joVTafH2Et9t_8_XC7pLYGlie978sge75g3ADefst5hLgG8987OUbKUCBth1g2OvQUI67NqI/s1600/11050120_10152914502507862_1016150532056297629_n.jpg" height="640" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rechelle with her Compassion LDP mentor.</td></tr>
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And speaking of being a proud mama... here is Rechelle and her proud mama during the graduation march!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxIFMKSn_jFaVLMcEFGl-r01FPrVGB6kUac6J5r5n0bBBjGQYuFd8o9_72c9aTjRipWSGQ7ziBK5QV3Gr31pRqUfZTrKC28xIOKv5Qrj8wyF5Hmo_B947eusJHWYe2TC3PMBv70eC668X/s1600/11169945_10152914503952862_3224370764871140904_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxIFMKSn_jFaVLMcEFGl-r01FPrVGB6kUac6J5r5n0bBBjGQYuFd8o9_72c9aTjRipWSGQ7ziBK5QV3Gr31pRqUfZTrKC28xIOKv5Qrj8wyF5Hmo_B947eusJHWYe2TC3PMBv70eC668X/s1600/11169945_10152914503952862_3224370764871140904_n.jpg" height="640" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Friends, Compassion child sponsorship works!</span><br />
<i>Our Rechelle is proof... <b>a child released from poverty in Jesus' name! </b></i>Friends, do it --- <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/advocate/aimeeesparaz" target="_blank">sponsor a child with Compassion</a>. It will be the best decision you make!</div>
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It has changed our family's life in ways that are beautiful beyond my comprehension. <i>It is life-giving and joy-inducing. <b>It is a YES that you will not regret. </b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">God calls me <i>to do</i> thanks. <i>To give the thanks away.</i> That thanks-<i>giving</i> might literally become thanks-<i>living</i>. That our lives become the very blessings we have received.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I could <i>be</i> the joy!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This is what makes us content</i> - the contented, deep joy is always in the touching of Christ - in whatever skin He comes to us in.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.ca/2013/02/light-breaks-forth.html" target="_blank">your light will shine</a> out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. (Isaiah 58:10-11)</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's the fundamental, lavish, radical nature of the upside-down economy of God.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Empty to fill.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spend the whole of your one wild and beautiful life investing in many lives, and God simply will not be outdone. God extravagantly pays back everything we give away and exactly in the currency that is not of this world but the one we yearn for: <i>Joy in Him.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here I can become the blessing, a little life that multiplies joy, making the larger world a better place.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></blockquote>
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<i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</span></i></div>
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Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-14635415437942046282015-04-21T17:07:00.002-04:002021-07-27T21:54:51.565-04:00That Wild Joy<div>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">It has been a whirlwind month and a bit </span>since our family said <b><i>"Yes! Here I am... Lord, send me..."</i></b> to an opportunity to serve <i>the least of these</i>, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/03/more-thoughts-on-lent-on-fear-on-babies.html" target="_blank">one that is absolutely outside my comfort zone</a>.</div>
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This quote by Kristen Welch has been an invaluable encouragement...</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our yes to God should scare us.</i><br />
<b>Not to keep us immobile, but to keep us dependent on the One who asks us to say it in the first place.</b><br />
Fear keeps us moving towards God.<br />
<b>Yes, there is fear in obedience. But peace keeps us on the journey.</b><br />
<i>And the joy that follows our yes to God is wild.</i></span></blockquote>
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<b>And, throughout this month I have indeed experienced that wild joy!</b></div>
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I am currently sitting in the hospital's surgery waiting room as I tap out this blog post. After waiting for almost a month, little Ochro is finally getting his open heart surgery today. It will be a long five to eight hours of intense waiting but we are trusting our Heavenly Father to bring Ochro through this surgery safely and successfully.<br />
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/1vcbyYQ8i-/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">just coming up on hour #4 of ochro's 5-8 hour open-heart surgery... thanks for continued prayers everyone!</a></div>
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A photo posted by alyssa (@_godsgal4ever) on <time datetime="2015-04-21T15:03:41+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 21, 2015 at 8:03am PDT</time></div>
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As I sit here and wait beside his beautiful mama, as she takes a nap in preparation for a long night ahead... I am totally in awe of just how beautifully brave she is.</div>
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And this is why I am writing today. </div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Because...</span></div>
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This beautiful new friend of mine has taught me a few things about being brave and about having faith and about choosing gratefulness. </div>
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And... this beautiful new friend of mine is the reason for a big portion of <i>that wild joy that followed our yes to God.</i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSz6L0EL8qeg3i55osEtJ7f0q53Zo0K5zth0BNgqLkweS_ZH2NGeUqJHryc4w2_0zoC2Yvybwg332UD6M3EBK4abvKu4C582pQi88lcBvU_kNSfl9U55TZMoCxz93z6Kn_x1LNJAnHLhT/s1600/DSC_6832.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSz6L0EL8qeg3i55osEtJ7f0q53Zo0K5zth0BNgqLkweS_ZH2NGeUqJHryc4w2_0zoC2Yvybwg332UD6M3EBK4abvKu4C582pQi88lcBvU_kNSfl9U55TZMoCxz93z6Kn_x1LNJAnHLhT/s1600/DSC_6832.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Ochro, his mama and <a href="http://godsgal4ever.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">my girl</a>!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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You see, <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/03/more-thoughts-on-lent-on-fear-on-babies.html" target="_blank">when our family first said yes to this opportunity</a>, never in my wildest dream did I expect that, at the end of this journey, not only would little Ochro go back home to Mongolia with a new heart but that his mama would, too!</div>
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<i>This is the wildest joy... <b>because Jesus became real to this beautiful new friend of mine</b>,</i> this very brave mama, right here in Canada, thousands of miles away from the comforts of her own home, <a href="http://www.modernger.com/moderngerenglish/images/products/yurt_traditional/yurt_trad2.jpg" target="_blank">a traditional Mongolian ger</a>, in the middle of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.</div>
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Right here --- after she had the opportunity to watch the Jesus Film in her native language.</div>
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Right here --- where a Christ-following interpreter, a volunteer with <a href="http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/childrens-heart-project-2/" target="_blank">Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project</a>, invested in her and patiently answered her many questions.</div>
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Right here --- while being in community with Christ-followers who are being Jesus' hands and feet to her.</div>
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<i>A brand-new heart... for my beautiful friend. <b>Such wild joy. Such amazing grace.</b></i></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone — and see — a new life has begun! <span style="font-size: x-small;">~ 2 Corinthians 5:17, The Voice.</span></span></blockquote>
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I have literally witnessed this mama's transformation... from full of anxiety, to full of joy.<b> This is what our Jesus can do and is still doing today, friends! </b><br />
<b><i><br />
</i></b> <b><i>Just. So. Beautifully. Amazing.</i></b></div>
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To top it off, we will have the immense joy of seeing her baptised before she heads back home to Mongolia! </div>
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But as beautiful as this story already is, I can't hit the publish button until I tell you what my new friend has taught me in this short time that I've known her.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">She's taught me what it means to be a brave mama...</span></div>
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This is a woman who calls the Gobi Desert home, who herds animals as a livelihood, who lives a nomadic lifestyle. </div>
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At first, she couldn't fathom getting on an airplane, not to mention flying halfway across the world to a strange and foreign land where she doesn't speak nor understand the language. At first, she didn't want to come. At first, she wanted to send her son here with a relative. </div>
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Yet, she finally chose to be brave, to step out of her comfort zone... so that her son could have a new lease on life. <b>This is what brave mamas do.</b></div>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/1vM_4DqRRL/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">Please continue to pray for this little man. His open heart surgery started at 8am this morning and is expected to be 5-6 hours long. #SamaritansPurse #ChildrensHeartProject #Mongolia #1000gifts</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-04-21T12:48:48+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 21, 2015 at 5:48am PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">She's also taught me what it means to rely on faith...</span></div>
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In this First World which we call home, we rarely find ourselves in situations where having faith is all we have to rely on. Our overly educated brains are always one step ahead of us. If not, Google always has an answer to our questions. It is not so for my friend. </div>
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While I frantically google information so I can read about this particular open heart surgery for tetralogy of fallot, she just simply trusts that the surgeon will do his best job. </div>
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While I queried the ER doctor over and over about little Ochro's recurring blue spells (also known as tet spells) which were becoming intense last week before today's surgery and about the risks of stopping all of his medications, she just simply trusts that he is getting the best care there is.</div>
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As our pastor was saying a prayer over little Ochro and my mind wandered in a few different directions thinking about the surgery risks, I look over and saw her simply trusting and fervently praying along. <b>This is what simple faith looks like.</b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62nNTWpww7kFYhzLWEh9jEDKrnu087k6_QMlAS3SZJE6n48XvkBUbLP-NISF5AL69LhZcjZ3nkgI8tcAOLPSWh4-VVSp7DZmXhWYspBKtpZB2cfqMJS2EKxXl0c7zz3Y_TIWoi6A5n4U1/s1600/DSC_6689.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62nNTWpww7kFYhzLWEh9jEDKrnu087k6_QMlAS3SZJE6n48XvkBUbLP-NISF5AL69LhZcjZ3nkgI8tcAOLPSWh4-VVSp7DZmXhWYspBKtpZB2cfqMJS2EKxXl0c7zz3Y_TIWoi6A5n4U1/s1600/DSC_6689.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Ochro is not camera-shy at all. Here, he is having fun with CityNews camera man, <a href="https://instagram.com/stephenboorne" target="_blank">Steve Boorne</a>, <br />
as he filmed segments on behalf of <a href="http://www.citynews.ca/topic/herbie-fund-2/" target="_blank">The Herbie Fund</a>.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Lastly, she's also taught me what it means to choose gratefulness...</span></div>
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As little Ochro's original surgery date got cancelled and subsequently kept being delayed, days turned into weeks. I became increasingly impatient with each passing day and my first-world attitude of entitlement started to rear its ugly head. </div>
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My friend, on the other hand, waited gracefully and patiently, and regarded all the medical care that little Ochro is and will be getting as pure gift. </div>
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She exudes gratefulness... despite being away from home for almost two months now and will be here for yet another month because of the delay, despite being able to talk to her husband only once during these two months because their home in the Gobi Desert is not reachable via telecommunications, despite being terribly homesick. <b>This is what choosing gratefulness looks like.</b><br />
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<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5) 0px 0px 1px 0px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15) 0px 1px 10px 0px; margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0px; width: calc(100% - 2px);">
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/1OfG3TqRRr/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">Friends, please continue to pray with us for little Ochro & his mama. This coming Saturday will mark 4 weeks since their arrival here & he is still waiting for a surgery date as the hospital is very busy. Good news is that Undrakh is recovering & healing very well 2 weeks after surgery! #1000gifts #SamaritansPurse #childrensheartproject #Mongolia</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-04-08T19:52:06+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Apr 8, 2015 at 12:52pm PDT</time></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">After just four hours in the operating room </span>instead of the estimated five to eight hours, little Ochro is now safely out of surgery and his heart repair is a success. <i><b>Thank you, Jesus!</b></i> <i>Please continue to pray for him, friends... that his recovery will be swift and smooth so that they can return to their family soon.</i></div>
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As much as we would love to visit Mongolia one day, the reality is that we may never see each other again in this lifetime after our friends return home to Mongolia, <i>but I will always remember this beautiful new friend of mine and the joy that she's brought into our family's life and the valuable things that I've learned from her. </i></div>
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<b>And little Ochro will definitely forever have a special place in my heart. </b>I so love this little man... he gives the tightest, most endearing hugs! And I can always lay claim to the fact that I taught him how to take his very first selfies! ;)</div>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/0SpSLgKRdN/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_top">#1000gifts ~ My little friend Ochro is learning all about taking selfies! BTW, he's never seen an iPad before but within minutes has learned to swipe through our photos! #smartkid</a></div>
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A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on <time datetime="2015-03-16T14:06:35+00:00" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Mar 16, 2015 at 7:06am PDT</time></div>
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<i><b>And it is wild joy knowing that there will be a day when we will all be worshipping God together again in the same place on the other side of eternity!</b></i></div>
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Oh, yes! --- Yeses to God can absolutely be scary, <b>but the joy that follows is truly wild.</b> I am so glad our family said, <i><b>"Yes! Here I am... Lord, send me..."</b></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</span></i></div>
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Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-32081549070708322282015-03-12T12:39:00.002-04:002021-07-27T21:57:41.795-04:00More Thoughts on Lent... on fear, on babies getting heart surgeries and on saying yes<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Literally just two mere days </span>after I wrote <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/02/thoughts-on-lent.html" target="_blank">this blog post about my thoughts on Lent this year</a> and made this declaration...<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I want that — I want to be counted as People of the Cross, carrying around the Cross in my head — because that’s the only way there will be real love in my hands and feet and heart.</i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>So the People of the Cross will pray that our faith <i>in our Saviour</i> is worth laying down our life <i>for our Saviour</i>. We will pray that we don’t live lives of cheap grace but of costly Christianity.</b> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Too long The People of the Cross have crusaded for safe lives, too long we’ve wished for comfortable lives, too long we’ve wanted easy lives of Vanilla Love instead of Cross-shaped Love. </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>But the People of the Cross — we are done with safe lives of comfort instead of living dangerous lives that speak of the comfort found in Real Love who hung on a Cross.</b></i>" </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></span></div>
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... that God made my path cross with an opportunity <i>to serve the least of these</i> that is so outside my comfort zone that I literally cringed in fear. And then, I heard Him whisper, "My daughter, this is how I am leading you to make good on your word. Just trust me and follow my heart... for <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+11%3A29-30&version=NIV" target="_blank">my yoke is easy and my burden is light</a>."<br />
<br />
<i><b>Yes, that oh so familiar <a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/matthew/passage/?q=matthew+11:29-30" target="_blank">unforced rhythm of a grace</a> that can only come from Him.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> You see, I might not have made plans for what our family would do for Lent this year, <b>but my Heavenly Father had a plan already in place for us.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Friends, please meet Undrakh and Ochirkhuyag...</span></div>
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So, that opportunity to serve that made me cringe in fear? Yes, it's to take on the role of "hospital mom" for these two adorable baby boys from Mongolia, for these next eight weeks, as they come to Canada for heart surgeries via the ministry of <a href="http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/childrens-heart-project-2" target="_blank">Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project</a>.</div>
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Will you join our family in <a href="http://www.samaritanspurse.org/children/pray-for-the-children-chp/" target="_blank">praying for these two and also for the other children who have heart issues who are listed on this webpage</a>? The surgery dates have since been changed... Ochirkhuyag's surgery is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 24 and Undrakh's is still unscheduled. {Update: Undrakh's surgery happened on March 26 and <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/04/that-wild-joy.html" target="_blank">Ochirkhuyag's surgery was on April 21</a>. Both boys are doing very well after surgery.}</div>
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For more up-to-date information, you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ChildrensHeart" target="_blank">follow Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project on Facebook as well</a>.<br />
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<i><b><br />
</b></i> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">So, let me explain the cringing part...</span><br />
I asked, "Why me, God?" Why did that appeal-for-help email have to land in <i>my</i> inbox? Isn't there someone else more qualified to do this than me?<br />
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You see, those who know me in real life would tell you that I am an introvert... that being around people all the time de-energizes me. <i>Saying yes to this will require me to be constantly interacting with people, and <b>lots of them</b>, in these next eight weeks!</i><br />
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Also, driving all over this big city of ours isn't my most favourite thing to do. <i>Saying yes to this will require me to be driving all over this big city <b>a lot</b> in these next eight weeks!</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> I get easily queasy dealing with and hearing about medical procedures, let alone details about heart surgeries on babies. <i>Saying yes to this will require me to attend all the medical meetings and be in on <b>all of these details</b> before, during and after the surgeries during these next eight weeks!</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> I have literally not been sleeping well this whole week just thinking about these next eight weeks... <i>it literally feels like as if my own child is going to have heart surgery. </i><br />
<br />
Yet, God gently whispered this... <i>"for <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+11%3A29-30&version=NIV" target="_blank">my yoke is easy and my burden is light</a>." </i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i><b>And to that I say, "Yes! Here I am... Lord, send me."</b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our yes to God should scare us.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Not to keep us immobile, but to keep us dependent on the One who asks us to say it in the first place.</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fear keeps us moving towards God.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Yes, there is fear in obedience. But peace keeps us on the journey.</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And the joy that follows our yes to God is wild.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">~ Kristen Welch.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Honestly, I am just a small, <i>small part </i></span>of an awesome team of God's people who have come together to make these babies' surgeries a reality.<br />
<br />
As I take on the role of "hospital mom", on the ground here in town is an awesome family who is hosting both babies, their mamas and their translators... six people whom they hardly know, strangers really, in their home, <i>for these next eight weeks!</i><br />
<br />
Now, <i><b>that</b></i> is something that's <i>off-the-charts out of my comfort zone.</i> I am blown away by this host family's generosity, compassion and lavish love.<br />
<br />
I am also deeply grateful for the people who are on stand-by to help me with transportation, for our pastor who is willing to provide pastoral care, for people who have lent us baby car seats, for the hospital staff who has been so awesome already, and for an army of prayer warriors! <br />
<br />
My thoughts wander to more of Ann Voskamp's words that I quoted in <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/02/thoughts-on-lent.html" target="_blank">that same blog post that I wrote about my thoughts on Lent</a>...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The People of the Cross repent of wanting to be greatly known for anything other than for <i>loving greatly</i>.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The People of the Cross repent of loving our agendas more — instead of interrupting our agendas because we love Jesus most.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>We repent of loving You, Lord, so little because we have loved ourselves too much.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What if... The People of the Cross do more than <i>Give Up</i> something — but to <i>Take Back</i> something?</b><a href="http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/02/the-wake-up-call-to-the-church-that-is-isis-whos-answering/" target="_blank"></a></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take Back <i>taking up our Cross</i>,<i></i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Take Back our time so we can turn back to our First Love,</i><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Take Back our hypocrisy and our complacency and our apathy and Love Lavishly,</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take Back our excuses for not committing to <i>Give Back</i> every day in some tangible, real way — to the local food bank, to a woman’s shelter, to the refugees and the foreigners and the Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and to the forgotten neighbour next door with her meowing stray cat.<br />
<i></i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Maybe now is the time —</i><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Now is the time to Take Back what it means to humbly and genuinely live the love of The People of the Cross. </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
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Ah, yes... <i>yes, I remember what I wrote... <b>Lent is not going through the motions of the supposed-to-dos... of eating pancake dinners and of reading devotionals and of giving up something.</b></i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
It is more than that. <i>Way more than that...</i><br />
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<br />
<i><b>It is a time to repent, of loving myself too much... and loving God so little.</b></i></div>
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<div>
<i><b><br />
</b></i> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Two more days </span>and we will be at the airport to meet Ochirkhuyag and Undrakh and their mamas and their translators. As I run around today and tomorrow doing errands in preparation for their arrival, I am relishing in the fact that God would invite unqualified people such as our family to join Him in doing His work, to be His hands and His feet to <i>the least of these.</i><br />
<br />
It is sinking in now, truly it is... <i>that this,<b> this is exactly what it means to observe Lent and to live as People of the Cross... </b></i>{and I am paraphrasing Ann Voskamp}:</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we want <i>to be greatly known for nothing else <b>but for loving greatly</b></i><b>.</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we <i>interrupt our agendas because <b>we love Jesus</b></i><b>.</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we <i>repent of loving God so little because <b>we love ourselves too much</b></i><b>.</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we <i>take back <b>taking up our Cross</b>.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we <i>take back hypocrisy and complacency and apathy and <b>Love Lavishly.</b></i></span></blockquote>
As my son and I spend a big chunk of his March Break next week at the hospital with Ochirkhuyag and Undrakh attending a flurry of pre-op appointments, I will be holding on to this truth...<br />
<br />
... that <i>"the joy that follows our yes to God is wild."</i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</span></i></div>
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Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7141981087341257435.post-17318679564463240502015-02-24T10:44:00.003-05:002021-07-27T22:05:50.392-04:00Thoughts on Lent...<span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Lent kind of crept up on me this year...</span><br />
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Ash Wednesday fell on <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/2015/02/eighteen-candles.html" target="_blank">the same day as this young lady's 18th birthday</a>. We celebrated this milestone birthday by going out to dinner at a fairly new Korean-style restaurant in town. <br />
<br />
As we started chowing down on kimchi fries, mocha pork belly and Korean tacos... it dawned on me that it was already Ash Wednesday. In fact, Ash Wednesday was almost over by that time.<br />
<br />
The day before, on Shrove Tuesday, I read <i>a blog post by Ann Voskamp </i>and posted this excerpt on my Facebook wall: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On this Shrove Tuesday before the start of #Lent... this is my prayer and the confession of my heart...<br />
<br />
"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>People are <i>dying</i> for the faith we take for granted, that we take and <i>hide under a bushel</i>, that we take and paint vanilla </b>— <i>so we don’t get persecuted</i>. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Are we people who humbly take up the Cross and take our faith seriously — or people who seriously take and hide our faith under a humble bushel?</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s what we get to decide and carry home, carry in our heads, carry around in what we read, what we watch, what we support, what we cheer: <i>Cheap Plastic Commercialized Feel-Good Love?</i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Or Wood Passionate Cross Made-New Love? </b><i>Worth humbly laying down our lives for.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I want that — I want to be counted as People of the Cross, carrying around the Cross in my head — because that’s the only way there will be real love in my hands and feet and heart.</i> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>So the People of the Cross will pray that our faith <i>in our Saviour</i> is worth laying down our life <i>for our Saviour</i>. We will pray that we don’t live lives of cheap grace but of costly Christianity.</b> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Too long The People of the Cross have crusaded for safe lives, too long we’ve wished for comfortable lives, too long we’ve wanted easy lives of Vanilla Love instead of Cross-shaped Love. </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><b>But the People of the Cross — we are done with safe lives of comfort instead of living dangerous lives that speak of the comfort found in Real Love who hung on a Cross.</b></i>" </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
We read the entire blog post as a family after eating hubby's home-made pancakes for dinner... because that's what you're <i>supposed to do</i> on Shrove Tuesday right? Eat pancakes for dinner. :)<br />
<br />
As I read aloud, in my heart I said, <i>"Yes! Yes, I want to be counted as one of the People of the Cross..."</i><br />
<br />
Early the next day, on Ash Wednesday, I read Ann's next blog post, one meant to kick-off this season of Lent... <i>The Call for the Next 40 Days: To the Nations and People of The Cross, </i>but I didn't take the time to really absorb its message due to the busyness of that day.<br />
<br />
In fact, it has been such a busy season... that I hadn't even thought about <a href="http://mamaof2greatkids.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing%3A%20Lent" target="_blank">what we should be doing as a family for Lent this year</a>.<br />
<br />
It wasn't until Thursday when I really had the time to sit down and absorb this powerful, <i>powerful, <b>powerful Lenten message...</b></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>On an Ash Wednesday, The People of the Cross repent of wanting to be greatly known for anything other than for <i>loving greatly</i>.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The People of the Cross repent of loving our agendas more — instead of interrupting our agendas because we love Jesus most.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>We repent of loving You, Lord, so little because we have loved ourselves too much.</b><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What if the next 40 days is asking The People of the Cross to do more than <i>Give Up</i> something — but to <i>Take Back</i> something?</b><a href="http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/02/the-wake-up-call-to-the-church-that-is-isis-whos-answering/" target="_blank"></a></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take Back <i>taking up our Cross</i>,<i></i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Take Back our time so we can turn back to our First Love,</i><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Take Back our hypocrisy and our complacency and our apathy and Love Lavishly,</b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Take Back our excuses for not committing to <i>Give Back</i> every day in some tangible, real way — to the local food bank, to a woman’s shelter, to the refugees and the foreigners and the Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and to the forgotten neighbour next door with her meowing stray cat.<br />
<i></i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Maybe now is the time —</i><b></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Now is the time to Take Back what it means to humbly and genuinely live the love of The People of the Cross. </b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">~ Ann Voskamp.</span></span></div>
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Ah, yes... <i>yes, I do know it... I do! <b>Lent is not going through the motions of the supposed-to-dos... of eating pancake dinners and of reading devotionals and of giving up something.</b></i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
It is more than that. <i>Way more than that...</i><br />
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<i>It is praying this prayer... <b>it is repenting of loving God so little because we love ourselves too much.</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">{Please press the "play" button to hear this powerful prayer.}</span></div>
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Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that Lent kind of crept up on me this year. There are no meal plans prepared. There are no devotional plans ready. There are no plans to give up anything. There are no plans of any sort lined up at all.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Except for the above prayer. A call to repentance...</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> <i><b>One I am badly needing to pray. Everyday, for the next 40 days of Lent. In repentance, of loving myself too much... and loving God so little.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> <span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Refreshed anew with the right perspective on Lent...</span></div>
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Our family got ready to head out for the weekend. We were scheduled to serve as <a href="https://www.compassion.ca/volunteer" target="_blank">Compassion Advocates</a> at two events over the weekend, including a huge conference for youth and youth workers.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://instagram.com/p/zVt45FKRej/?modal=true">#1000gifts</a> ~ This SUNSHINE as we drive across the city to represent Compassion Canada at the Today's Teens conference this weekend!</td></tr>
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Upon arriving at the event on Friday night, we were surprised to learn that <a href="https://twitter.com/_godsgal4ever" target="_blank">my girl</a> has been invited to speak the next day about Compassion's ministry and to promote their <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/truestory" target="_blank">upcoming youth curriculum, <i>True Story</i></a> {<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23truestoryseries&src=typd" target="_blank">#TrueStorySeries</a>}, of which she is the host.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHn-WhSvGeh1knxJx9WGqeEwvEl2uiOrdeuNp0Yw3XaOlV_qAi6-5nrBClkFvRaCOc-JguMhrZG-PJo1rTuZbiFx-c1fczatk_mtkxWu0AC_EqigaS8qTMURAXCa3q83bAXt5OEnLFyr9C/s1600/Photo+2015-02-20,+7+23+14+PM.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHn-WhSvGeh1knxJx9WGqeEwvEl2uiOrdeuNp0Yw3XaOlV_qAi6-5nrBClkFvRaCOc-JguMhrZG-PJo1rTuZbiFx-c1fczatk_mtkxWu0AC_EqigaS8qTMURAXCa3q83bAXt5OEnLFyr9C/s1600/Photo+2015-02-20,+7+23+14+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://instagram.com/p/zV95eeKRZf/?modal=true">#1000gifts</a> ~ Excited to be promoting @compassionCA <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23truestoryseries&src=typd" target="_blank">#TrueStorySeries</a> at Today's Teens conference this weekend! Check out <a href="http://www.compassion.ca/truestory">www.compassion.ca/truestory</a> to watch the trailer. You just might recognize someone. :) #proudmama </div>
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As I watched my girl share her heart with hundreds of her peers that day and as I thought about why we have chosen to spend our entire weekend advocating for children living in extreme poverty, it dawned on me that <i>this,<b> this is exactly what it means to observe Lent and to live as People of the Cross... </b></i>{and I am paraphrasing Ann Voskamp}:<br />
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When we want <i>to be greatly known for nothing else <b>but for loving greatly</b></i><b>.</b><br />
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When we <i>interrupt our agendas because <b>we love Jesus</b></i><b>.</b><br />
<br />
When we <i>repent of loving God so little because <b>we love ourselves too much</b></i><b>.</b><br />
<br />
When we <i>take back <b>taking up our Cross</b>.</i><br />
<br />
When we <i>take back hypocrisy and complacency and apathy and <b>Love Lavishly.</b></i></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155270534800215">Post</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/aimee.esparaz">Aimee Esparaz</a>.</div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Let it be so... </span><br />
Let me be counted <i>as one of the People of the Cross... <b>one who acts justly, loves mercy and walks humbly with the God of Justice everyday and in all of my ways.</b></i><span face="proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif" style="line-height: 16px;"><b> This is my prayer.</b></span><br />
<span face="proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif" style="line-height: 16px;"><b><br />
</b></span> I recently came across this song, <i>God of Justice </i>by Tim Hughes. I love these words...</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We must go, live to feed the hungry,<br />
Stand beside the broken, we must go.<br />
Stepping forward, keep us from just singing,<br />
Move us into action, we must go.<br />
To act justly everyday.<br />
Loving mercy in every way.<br />
Walking humbly before You God.</span></blockquote>
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Have a listen here...</div>
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<i><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.</span></i></div>
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Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!</div>
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Aimee Esparazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924956964918744988noreply@blogger.com2