Remember THIS?

So I just wanted to post a couple pictures of our PUZZLE! No, I haven't forgotten about it. Promise! It is all put together, glued, and I have finally finished writing all the names on the backs of the pieces that were purchased. Thank you so much if you purchased a piece!! The puzzle looks really cool with all the names written on the back, and I can't wait to add more so that it can be finished & framed. There are still plenty more pieces waiting for names, so if you are interested in helping us raise $ to go towards our Ethiopian adoption, click on the PayPal link on the left hand side of the blog. Puzzle pieces are $5 each and all proceeds go towards bringing our baby (or not-so-baby) girl home. Also, feel free to share this blog link on your FB pages/Twitters/etc.! The more shares, the more quickly we will sell the rest of our pieces. :)

Mercy

I was reminded by one of my sister's Instagram photos today that 1 YEAR ago today I ran in my first 5k. Most of my friends run  half-marathon's/marathons so this isn't really a big accomplishment, but it wasn't how far I was running that mattered but what I was running FOR. I ran to support girls in crisis situations that are looking to the Lord for healing and redemption in their lives. I ran to support Mercy Ministries, an organization passionately devoted to helping bring wholeness to young women battling with some of the junk that just comes with life. Here's a brief statement that I took off of their website that goes a little bit more in depth to their mission...

"Mercy Ministries’ free-of-charge, voluntary, faith-based residential program serves young women from all socio-economic backgrounds, ages 13-28, who face a combination of life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addictions, depression and unplanned pregnancy. Mercy also serves young women who have been physically and sexually abused, including victims of sex trafficking. Using proven methods, a holistic approach and professional counselors in a structured residential environment, Mercy has helped thousands of young women be restored to wholeness. Mercy’s goal is to help these young women find freedom from their issues and empower them to serve in their communities as productive citizens."

By the grace of God, last year we were able to raise over $600 for Mercy which was $100 over our original goal. Thank you to everyone who supported because not only were you supporting Mercy, you were supporting ME. It's so easy for girls that have a similar story as me to feel like an outcast. To feel like nobody is on their side, and last year it meant the world to me to have so much love and support coming from almost everyone I know. My story isn't one I typically talk about because it's just so draining to talk about... physically and emotionally. But what I know is that I've had so many one-on-one conversations with younger girls that hopefully I've been able to help or encourage in some way. Our Louisville pastor also told me last year that he was able to share my story at a CIY conference and had many girls respond and start speaking with youth leaders and counselors about what was happening in their lives. I wish I could have been there to talk to them... to tell them it gets better because it does. Mercy is an awesome ministry and there are always ways to support them prayerfully or financially. I may run another 5k in the future to help raise money, but for now consider giving by clicking on this link. I'm going to repost my support letter from last year below if you haven't heard my story or want to hear about how Mercy has impacted my life and the lives of so many others. Together we can make a difference... one person at a time.  

My biggest supporters... Love you all!

To my friends and family, 

         As I reflect over the first 8 ½ months of 2012, I realize how blessed I am to have experienced so many new and life-changing events. In the spring I completed 15 weeks of student teaching followed by a two week teaching trip to Belize followed by graduating from COLLEGE and vacationing in the beautiful state of Wyoming. Not to forget packing up our beautiful apartment and moving 90 miles north, near the bustling city of Cincinnati. After a “man trip” to Alaska in March, Alex was promoted and given his own Finish Line store to manage, a tribute to the hard work he put in for a year and a half at his store in Indiana.

         When I put it all together, I am just so thankful for everything God has blessed us with and all the memories he has allowed us to create together as a new family. If you had asked me a little over one year ago today, what our life would be like in this moment, I couldn’t have even come close to reality.

         The truth is, one year ago we were kind of in a rough spot. Experiences from my past were interfering with our present and I knew that I needed healing and peace that could only come from the Lord in order to wholly move forward with my life. Only a handful of people even knew about the rape I had experienced as a college freshman, and I was bound to keep it that way. The less people that had to know, the better.

         After trying to deal with it on my own for four years, I knew I needed to rid myself of all distractions and seek the healing that I trusted the Lord to provide. Mercy Ministries was a part of that healing process for me. Mercy is a Christian organization that provides residency, biblical counseling and support for young women choosing to deal with tough issues that they are experiencing in their lives. They have four campuses, which are located in Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and California. Each girl goes through a voluntary but very lengthy interview process in order to be admitted into one of the Mercy homes. After doing some research, talking to a past resident and going to the Lord in prayer, I knew that Mercy was where I needed to be.

         It took a lot for me to swallow my pride and admit that I couldn’t do it on my own anymore and that I needed help. Even harder was the decision to leave my new husband for six months. What young bride envisions that for her marriage? Thankfully Alex was 100% supportive and promised to be there for me every step of the way. He was my family now and wanted what was best for me, and more importantly, for us.

         After weeks of filling out forms, sending in medical records and completing homework assignments, I finally had my phone interview, the last step before placement into a Mercy home. The interview went great and it was finally time to come clean to my friends and family that I wouldn’t be there for the fall semester; that I wouldn’t be graduating in the spring; that I wouldn’t be there for my 22^nd birthday, Thanksgiving or Christmas. Those conversations were the hardest. Not only were some people hearing my story for the very first time {as some of you are now}, but everything about our friendships was changing. How close of a friendship do you have when you don’t know some of the most important chapters in someone’s life? Those relationships were definitely being re-evaluated.

         Well I got the courage to tell the ladies group from church what was going on, and it was the most nerve-racking yet beautiful moment to have all my guards down and to see them wrap their arms around me in love and support. After that, sharing my story became a little easier each time I shared it with others. I now had accountability and a wonderful church family that was mindful in helping me heal. I quickly realized that with this community surrounding me, a community drive by faithfulness to the Lord, and having mine {and Alex’s} well-being at heart, maybe I didn’t need to leave after all. Maybe I didn’t need a Mercy residence but simply mercy from those closest to me. And that is exactly what I received. My Avenue church family sent checks to pay for biblical counseling even though I could have received free counseling at UofL. They understood the vital need of receiving healing from Jesus rather than from the sources recommended through secular counseling.

         Because of what they did for me, I can joyfully say that the Lord has 100% healed my heart and has begun to restore and redeem those days, months and years that I lost to fear, insecurity, anger and hate. One way that I am choosing to praise Him through all of this is by running in my first ever 5K on October 20^th. The 5K is in Nashville and it is called the Run for Mercy, put on by the Mercy Ministries foundation.

         While I never attended Mercy as a resident, Mercy played a huge part in my overcoming the silence of talking about what happened to me. Because Mercy had doors ready and waiting, I had the courage to apply and raise my voice a little louder. Mercy will always hold a special place in my heart and although I absolutely HATE running, I am willing to run for mercy. I am willing to run for other girls who in the future, or even right now, are feeling completely overwhelmed by the circumstances of their lives or the choices they have made. The girls at Mercy are truly seeking the Lord’s healing and redemptive power in their lives, and I am so grateful that I can be a part of that healing, no matter how big or small.

         The Run for Mercy is on October 20^th in Nashville, and I am looking for others who might want to join my team. The cost is $30.00 to register to run/walk on my team {McCall’s for Mercy}. If you are unable to participate in Nashville, there are also races in other US cities that you can check out at MercyMinistries.org or you could help Alex and I meet our fundraising goal of $500.00 by making a monetary donation of any amount. Any gift would be greatly appreciated and would directly help support the ministry and the girls receiving services and care by the Mercy staff.

         If you are unable to make a donation, I ask for your prayers: for me, my family, Mercy Ministries and the girls that live (or will live) in one of the Mercy homes. Our God is great, and never forget that his mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23). Thank you for joining me on my run for mercy.

                                                      Sincerely,

                                                         Briana McCall 

                                                   { McCall’s for Mercy }

Natalie Grant - In The End (Official Video)

Natalie Grant sang this song at church today, and it was just an encouragement to me. Thought I would share it with everyone else who might need a little encouragement and hope! 

Re-Creation

When moving up to northern Kentucky, one of the decisions that I anticipated would be the most difficult, finding a new church home, actually was not difficult at all! Sometimes Alex has to work on Sundays, so we wanted to find a church that had a service early enough for him to be able to go to and then head straight to work. There were only two churches that had early services (8:30... yawn) and I was praying that one of them would be the perfect fit. There was a church only 1.5 miles from our apartment so we decided to check out that one first. It was The Bridge Community Church in Wilder, and honestly, we meant to look at other churches but we just never got around to it! The Bridge has been such a blessing in the past 1+ years we have been here, and we are blessed to call this place our church home.

When you've grown up in the church and attended private, Christian schools your entire life, it's easy to let yourself get into the mindset that you've heard it all. One thing that surprised me the most was that every time I heard our new pastor, Bo, speak, it was the gospel in a way I had never heard it before. It was such a fresh and unique perspective and that was new to me! I grew up at the same church my whole life and was involved in a church plant with people from my home church, so everything was so familiar and consistent... not a lot of change. After a few weeks at the Bridge, I really started to take notice of this pattern. Bo didn't just preach one amazing sermon and then the rest were "been there, heard that..." He consistently presented the gospel in a new light that challenged, convicted and guided me in my Christian walk.

Yesterday during church, we were learning about the purpose of the church... why it was created, and for some reason, everything I see and hear I somehow connect to adoption and this crazy process that Alex and I are going through. It's weird. It's different. To others it is not "normal." But our pastor made three points that just stuck with me.

Something even better than creation is re-creation. 

God created this beautiful world with these beautiful people. It's amazing and I notice this every time I see a beautiful sunset, take a nature walk or feel the seasons changing. The beauty of this world is beyond mere words. But when I look at what God has done in my life... how he has taken someone broken, hurting and in pieces that seemed impossible to put back together, and yet restored and redeemed me by only His power... now that is re-creation. That is what our God is best at. 

I think of that TV show, Bad Ink. People come in with these horrible tattoos. These things are permanent... never going away. Ever. Yet these tattoo artists are able to take something so hideous and horrible to look at and turn them into something crazy beautiful. What was there before never goes away, but it is used to create something that resembles nothing of it's former "glory." The old is restored and the new seems to have come out of nowhere. That is what God does in our lives, and that is what he can do through adoption. He can take something so broken and restore it. And he uses those in the church to do that. To go out to the least of these and embrace them in all of their mess and restore them to the people that He designed them to be... His sons and daughters. 

As impressive as creation is, what is more impressive is what He can do with something that is broken.

&

God created the church to be the agent of change to which the gospel is spread throughout the Earth.

The Church is who God called to "go to the orphans and widows in their distress." It's not a choice, it's a command. When we obey this command He has given his Church, WE are the agents in which the gospel is spread. It is a visible act. It is an intentional act. It is an obedient act. And I truly believe that one visible, intentional and obedient act sparks the desire for someone else to act in obedience as well. It's a chain reaction, and together, as a Church, we can be this agent of change. 

I really feel that someone reading this blog is considering adoption. It's probably a crazy idea floating in your head, but it's there for a reason. God is calling His church to unite and to ACT. One of the reasons Alex and I are adopting first instead of trying to get pregnant is because I know myself. I know that after having 2-3 kids, life gets CRAZY. I don't need to experience it myself to know that that is what will happen. Life will get crazy and things will get in the way. At that point, adoption will seem like a long lost dream. I don't want that. A year ago we decided that we didn't want to put adoption on the back burner only to look back at our life and see that we never followed through. Adoption isn't Plan B. It wasn't Plan B for God. It was His Plan A. See for yourself...

in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6

Adoption was His plan all along, and our plans should be His plans. Adopt. Foster. Counsel women considering abortion. Help a family that is fostering/adopting. Make His plans your plans too. It is the most visible, intentional and obedient thing you can do. I'm so thankful God adopted me, and I can't wait to welcome one of his sweet daughters into my family. It's been a whole year since we made this decision, and we are getting there slowly but surely. It's emotional. It's costly. It's time-consuming. But I know she is worth it. It is all worth it to advance the Kingdom and display His glorious works for all the world to see. 

If you would like to support Alex and I prayerfully or financially, we welcome that support with open arms! You can leave a prayer in the comment section or donate via our GoFundMe page. Click on the Fundraising tab at the top of our blog for the direct link. 

Are you willing to act? I encourage you to lay your fears aside and jump in. Let Him take control. His will is the most wonderful place to be. 

10,000

I just had to post really quickly and tell everyone that this blog has reached 10,000 views!! Holy cow, that's a lot! 10,000 seems like a recurring number here... hopefully within the next 10,000 views we will have raised $10,000. Maybe? :)

Kickoff!

To Kickoff this long journey of trying to raise $10,000 to help bring our daughter home from Ethiopia, we are going to give away handmade bracelets to the first 14 people who donate on our GoFundMe page. I started making bracelets last fall because I just wanted to do SOMETHING once we decided we wanted to adopt. We hadn't even heard back from our agency, but I knew we would need money and I thought a bracelet fundraiser would be perfect. To be honest, I forgot all about them once we started the Puzzle fundraiser, but they're here and will be mailed to the first 14 individuals to donate towards our adoption! To make a donation, click {here} and then send me a message with the address you would like the bracelet mailed to. They are all able to be cut to fit your wrist appropriately so expect it to be big when it arrives. All you have to do is tie the knot and then cut the ends off! Alex wore one for months until it naturally fell off, so I'm going to have to make him another one. They are such good conversation starters! I'm curious to see how much the first 14 donors will help us raise. Any amount between $1 to $10,000 will help us towards reaching our goal, so whatever you can give, we thank you. It really means a lot... more than you will ever know. If you are unable to give at this time, you can help us by sharing the link to this blog! We also have a Facebook page where people can follow our adoption journey. Social media is the BEST for things like this and the more we can get our story out there, the better. You never know who is out there looking to help other people. Thanks so much!!

Think Pink!

Yesterday I volunteered with many of my sorority sisters at the Bengals/Patriots game to help PINK it out for Breast Cancer Education & Awareness Month! It was a lot of fun, and we passed out 40,000 pink ribbons to fans before the game. I love October and seeing everyone in pink, and I just want to remind any of my female readers to schedule a mammogram appointment with your doctor TODAY if you haven't already had one this year. Staying on top of your health is crucial, and it can never hurt to go to the doctor and make sure everything is okay. If you have any questions about breast health, you can click {here} for some extra info. Also, be sure to save your Yoplait Lids (they must be pink!) because every one you save is money that goes towards finding a cure for breast cancer. Did you know that you no longer have to mail your lids in order to help raise money for this cause? All you have to do is redeem the code on each pink lid {here}... it's that easy! Remember... Zeta Tau Alpha & the NFL want you to remember to Think Pink ALL year long!