Maddix's 9th Birthday Project

Our oldest daughter Maddix is turning nine on Saturday!  This year she is celebrating in a special way.  About a month ago we received an email from one of our partners stating that she and her husband wanted to give Maddix some money for her birthday.  They encouraged Maddix to use it for her ministry here and said they want to continue to do this for each of our kids so they can develop there own ministry of giving.  Isn't that an awesome idea!?!  We were thrilled to share the news with Maddix and she knew right away that she wanted to spend her money on orphans.

With my help in the market (that was quite the 2.5 hour adventure!) Maddix purchased 30 kilos of rice, 30 kilos of posho (maize flour), 34 kilos of beans and 48 bars of soap. She prayerfully decided to split her money between the orphanage her brother was adopted from and the orphanage Pastor Wilson and his wife Grace started.

Last Wednesday she invited Pastor Wilson over for tea and surprised him with the news. I wish you were here to see the smiles on both their faces when she told him! Pastor Wilson shared with Maddix that they had been earnestly praying for the Lord's provision because they didn’t have enough food for the 80+ orphans they serve for the upcoming weekend. God knew and supplied for their needs! He is so awesome!

Pastor Wilson and Maddix's tea ready to be served

All grins!

Saturday morning we all piled in the Land Cruiser to distribute the other half of Maddix's birthday donations. When Maddix delivered the food and soap the momma's at the orphanage shouted with joy! It was such a fun morning loving on the babies together as a family.

Maddix held the babies our entire visit!

This photo with Ezra in it is so special to me. I can't help but think about the many times in 2010 when Ezra would run down this sidewalk to greet Nathan, my dad and I at the gate when we visited him. He was so chubby then and would almost waddle toward us! :) God knew back then that 5 years later Ezra would return to this very spot celebrating his big sister's 9th birthday.  God is so awesome! His ways are so much higher than our ways!

Happy Birthday Maddix! We love you and we are so proud of you!