Simple Math

I remember when I was pregnant with Kelsey and I was an emotional wreck. Emma was not even two yet and she was just such a baby to me that it seemed like a complete betrayal of her to be birthing another child. I felt so guilty about what a new baby would do to her world and the ways she was going to suffer. I also worried terribly about the new baby because I was certain that she would always be in second place because there was simply NO WAY I could love anyone else the way I loved Emma. I didn't see that there could be enough love in me to divide by two.

 I also remember the very first moment I looked into Kelsey's (angry) (screaming) face and how quickly my fears about not loving her enough vanished because I couldn't imagine life without her from that moment on. Then my precious 22-month-old came in to see her baby sister and oh how my heart was full... No love was divided. As any parent of more than one child knows, it multiplies.

I started my summer of 2013 in my very favorite place on earth with my favorite people, serving my favorite cause-- Royal Family Kids' Camp. I've loved this ministry as long as I have loved Kraig. :) I've grown up with this ministry. And though the faces of the kids change somewhat each year, RFKC is my first-born. It's my heart.

As the summer wore on and we planned for our Cambodia trip, raised money, practiced (my first) stick drama, I'll honestly admit that I felt a little torn. I never doubted that I was meant to go but it's like my heart wasn't fully opened to the work God wanted to use us to do. I didn't see it this way at the time, but I think I was worried about the way my heart would respond to this new baby.

That distance lasted exactly a fraction of a second upon arrival at the first orphanage in Phnom Pehn. As soon as the first dark-haired beauty, sweet Rebekah, threw her arms around my waist, it vanished. I fell in love as deeply with those beautiful brown-skinned babies as if I had known them their entire lives. One smile gave way to dozens more and their easy acceptance of us was so beautiful.

This afternoon, I've been trying to make space on my computer for my trip pictures. Because I am always scared to delete things (even when they are burned to a hard drive), I finally had to sort my Royal Family pictures (all almost 6,000 of them) to download these new photos. As I have sat here and gone through the pictures from my first week of summer in order to make room for the pictures from my last week of summer, my heart is so full. I remember the awe I felt seeing B's face light up at Penelope's antics and the joy at the way H got off the bus so timidly and was hugging and holding by the end of the week and the sweetness with which A crafted a plan to make Royal Family last TWO weeks instead of one and the delight in reading the letter D sent to the church in the weeks after camp about how much he loves us and remembers us.

See, loving kids across the world doesn't take a thing away from the love I have for the ones across town. Love just multiplies!

I'm so grateful to God for allowing me to take part in these two ministries and for the heart He has for children. I hear (and read) discussion at times (often even from pulpits and on high profile Christian blogs and websites) that seems to indicate that international mission work somehow detracts from domestic or even that people should feel guilty for "getting on a plane to go across the world when there are people who need us right here in the United States". You know what's awesome about your hands and feet and heart? You aren't limited by anything but yourself. Want to work with foster kids in your own city? You can. Want to serve the poor in a neighboring state? You can. Want to get on a plane and present the Gospel to 300+ kids in a dark, hot school across the world? You can. Want to take purses and paper dolls to orphans in Cambodia? You can. God's love (and therefore OUR love) is not divided when we take part in multiple ministries and work for Him in various arenas... it multiplies.

So I officially end summer tonight with a whole new prayer list and a whole new treasure of memories and a whole new group of children who share my heart with those from Royal Family. And what a glorious blessing it is...