Update on the following post: We had to remove the boys' pictures...we thought we could post following court, but found out we have to wait until their visas are printed and they are on the way home. 

Precious aren't they?

These are their given names by a courageous ghanaian woman who loved her children enough to give them a better life in America. Most people we meet here who ask us if they are ours and if we are taking them to America are very sweet and say something like, "Oh bless you", because you can't just leave Ghana. They do not give people here visa's to just leave if they wanted to come to U. S. 

In the pictures above, we are serving at an orphanage. The bikes the boys are riding are not "ride-able" bikes. They have 4 flat tires, and are terribly rusted. But they fought over time on the tiny rusted, not-working bike they scooted around. That's how all the bikes and play equipment are. Far too much to write here in one post but just a few things on my heart today....

I was surprised by how little the orphans have at the places we visited. (I know one would think-they are orphans...)Yes, their basic needs are met, but they still need so much more. For example, the power goes out here several times a day. They cook all their meals over an open fire with charcoal. The charcoal is very expensive. They need a stove-they want a cooktop similar to a coleman camping stove with a propane tank. They need a generator for when the power does go out. Many of these children need sponsors to go to school. They need momma's and daddy's most of all. 

This trip was about many things. Of course meeting our children, attending court to make them OURS, but also to serve orphanages and love on children and share the hope of Jesus. I thought about evangelism and what opportunites God might give us to share the gospel with the Ghanaians. 

But in my preconceived notions of what I thought it might be like, and what I thought God would have me do-"my agenda" God has gently shown me that it's all about the ORPHANS. Period. Please pray for them and consider if you are to go or to give. 

Broken, 

Karen

So Far to Find You

My heart is flooded with emotions as I sit here in the airport waiting to board our final plane to Ghana to meet our boys for the first time. It's all so surreal that God has allowed us to be a part of something so amazing. I've been thinking about our family and friends over the last few days and how much we have felt covered in prayer. I can't remember another time when we've needed such concentrated and specific prayer. We have been overwhelmed by friends that have called, texted, or messaged that they were praying for us, or that God had layed something specific on their hearts for us and shared it, or about which they have promised to interceed for us. I will never forget, and I hope I am equally as faithful in return.

We arrive in Ghana tomorrow Monday the 21st and will try and give as many blog updates as possible.
We will be doing missions work with Feeding the Orphans(FTO) during the time we are there visiting City of Refuge, as well as a few precious orphanages and strategic partners of FTO. So grateful to be serving and delivering supplies on their behalf. Please check out FTO and the amazing work they do for the destitue in Ghana and around the globe.

Please pray for our first encounter with the boys on Tuesday and immediate bonding. Also please pray  for favor with judge and passing court on Wed. the 23rd. I will update as often as I can.
With Love and gratitude~

Karen
"God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:6

Just you WAIT and SEE...

This is Jessica, the oldest daughter in the Boggs family. I am about to turn 15 (in 26 days! not that I’m counting). 

As I sit here and stare at the first picture we received of F. and O., I focus on their eyes. I just don’t like looking at it. I see sadness, loneliness, and fear.

They have no idea that there is a family waiting to take them in and love them more than they will understand. They don’t know that there is a brighter day if they just wait a few months. They don’t understand why they are in the orphanage. They are scared. 

I would do anything just to hold them and whisper to them, “It’s going to be okay! Just wait! Soon, your life will be completely changed. We are preparing for you to come home. JUST WAIT! Don’t waste your time worrying. It’s not worth worrying because what is waiting for you is beyond your imagination. We love you unconditionally! We want YOU.”

They have no idea. 

When I think about how much they must be worried and scared, I think of us as children of God. We are dirty. We are abandoned. We are unworthy of God’s grace and love. We are scared. We worry more then necessary. We don’t understand. But, if we stop and listen to our heavenly Father, HE is whispering to us:

“Its going to be okay. 

Just wait. 

Soon your life will be completely changed.

Don’t waste your time worrying. 

It’s not worth worrying about it because what is waiting for you is beyond your imagination. 

Just you WAIT and SEE. 

I am preparing for you to come home. 

I love you unconditionally. 

I want YOU!"

In our heavenly adoption, God CHOSE us in our while we were still sinners, dirty and opposed to God. He loves us more then we understand just like my sweet F. and my precious O. They don’t understand why our family loves them. Just like we are anxiously waiting day by day to bring the boys home, the Lord is waiting to bring us home- our true home. What we don’t understand is that their is SO much more waiting for us yet we waste too much time worrying about earthly things when all that does not matter. That is like the boys worrying about their life in the orphanage when in reality, they will be here, home, for far longer then they will be in the orphanage. 

The Lord has taught me so much in this adoption process and this is one of the lessons He has taught me. Stop worrying about the NOW, its simply not worth it.

Jess(: