the matts:

THANK YOU to everyone who made the foster care backpack drive such a massive success!! We were believing for 100 backpacks and ended up with 159!!! That’s 159 kids in our local foster care system who are going to begin school with a pretty, new, fantastic backpack.They won’t wear their hand-me-down or reject bag, but will be able to be proud of having something new! What a huge win

Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus in a practical way for these kids!!

Chris & I are selling our living room furniture… Well technically, we have already sold it… And the little problem we now face is finding replacement furniture CHEAPER than what we sold out other stuff for.

We LOVE the furniture we have, but it’s big and oversized and our house is not. We are looking to find a sofa that will fit better in the space, has clean lines, and will fit well with my twisted style that incorporates vintage and modern.

We have found two that fit the mold, and now I cannot decide! It’s killing me! I need your help.

Option #1

This beauty is from Wal-Mart. What I LOVE about it is the tufting, the low-profile back, and that it can lay down and convert into a sleeper. My main concern about it is that some of the reviews online side it was too firm, and Wal-Mart doesn’t have the best track record of making high-quality items. You get what you pay for- yes- but I don’t want it to be total crap  (even though I love looking at it)!

Option #2

This one is from Target (already a plus)… And the reviewers all LOVE it, but say the color is actually mocha and not this caramel (I prefer mocha anyway). The downside is it’s 1/3 more expensive than option 1 (which means we couldn’t afford to buy a chair) and it’s a little plain jane. It does come up higher on the back than option 1, but it’s not as long so that makes up the difference. It doesn’t scream “The Matts” to me, like the other one, and Chris doesn’t really love it either.

Can you help? Which one do you like better? Which one do you think is the best decision?

There are SO many ways that we can fulfill the commission in James 1:27 to care for orphans and widows. There are children without fathers in every country in the world, as well as right down the street from us. One (of about 10 million) reasons I love Healing Place Church is our heart for the fatherless. One way we attempt to reach them is through service to our local foster children, and we have a great opportunity for you to play a role!!

We are trying to collect 100 backpacks for local foster kids by tomorrow and we need your help! We still need 45 more… Walgreens is doing a buy one children’s  High Trails or Urban Sport backpack for $9.99 and get one free sale (I called to confirm this). That means two families could spend $5 each and provide two children with a brand new bag for school.

These kids are often forgotten. They get the leftovers, the hand-me-downs, the rejects. THEY are “the least of these”… Let’s step up together and provide them with something we so often take for granted. You can deliver all bags to HPC, or if my house is closer you can bring them here and I’ll make sure they get dropped off.

And read more about my heart for foster kids here.

You may or may not know, but Chris and I feel called to be foster parents. I had it in my head first, but after the adoption conference we went to last year, God totally planted it in Chris’ heart and started the fire burning. We were going to get certified before I left for Africa, but as everything is in God’s timing, He held us back (and now we see why).

I ran across this blog through an awesome friend who is currently fostering some beautiful girls. This post really affected me. Here are some highlights:

It is time for the Christian community to put up or shut up regarding foster children. It is time for… the 130,000 children in the United States of America to quit languishing in foster care and find forever families. It is time that we put aside everything that is keeping us from stepping up to the plate, and step out in faith. It is time for the world to see more than a poster touting our views on abortion and see us in the throws of the 24/7 that IS adoption.

It is time for risk-taking and soul-searching and fact-finding and life-living. It is time that we-the Body of Christ- are more than just words…that we are the hair-combing, wound-binding, hand-holding, shoulder-bearing hands and feet of our Savior to children who, through no fault of their own, wind up in a system that sometimes could really care less.

Wow… I mean, wow. I love that last sentence; it has shaken me to the core. It’s never going to be easy or convenient, but it’s really time we quit acting like Christians and starting BEING like Christ. I wonder how it grieves the heart of our Father to see His precious children forgotten, neglected and abandoned, while we sit and enjoy our comfortable little lives.

It’s time to get uncomfortable. Are you with me?

Sometimes God puts people in our path to inspire, encourage, and uplift us… and to show us that we aren’t crazy. Amy Block has been one of those people to me.

She comes out with some amazing blog posts, and sometimes I feel like she’s reading my mind. This one… Well, it just describes a lot of things and situations in my life. It’s a good read, and very worth the 5 minutes

No Weapon Formed Against Us Shall Prosper

Our garage sale fundraiser is all set up and ready to go… Come check out our awesome deals on some really great stuff. See you there!!!

Living room set- loveseat/huge chair and large couch. Great condition!
Beautiful dark wood dining table, seats 6
Ornate wood coffee table with glass top-almost brand new
2 wicker beds
Black changing table
2 light wood toddler beds w/1 mattress
2 strollers in great condition
Small tv armoire
Solid wood dresser
Large New Orleans street scene painting
Mink stole
Fur coat

TONS of kitchen/housewares
High-quality decor
Designer womens clothing and purses
Golf bag
Books
Luggage
Christmas decor
Beautiful throw pillows/linens
Loads of make-up and beauty products
Webcam

And loads more!!! You don’t wanna miss this sale!

8716 Norfolk Dr.
Baton Rouge 70809

Some of you know I have been going crazy for birds lately… Well, really all things bird-related… I’m obsessed with the beautiful flying creatures.

Bird paintings, bird statuettes, bird houses, bird cages… Geesh. It’s madness. The only way to make birds better is to make them vintage-related.

Anyway, I stumbled across this bird house today and oh.my.goodness. My heart did a little leap.

Enjoy

(And just in case you love it as much as I do, you can find it here.)

With all the craziness of life, stress, finances, adjustment, VBS and everything else, we never quite got around to throwing Pres and Mo a birthday party, or Moses a welcome home party. BUT, we ARE going to celebrate on August 1, and I.can’t.wait!!

That morning we will stand in front of our church and dedicate Moses to Jesus. We will promise to raise him (and Presley) in a Christian home where they will be taught the Word of God and learn all about the Lord. After wards we will have a light reception at my mom’s house to honor the occasion

I can’t help but lump a lot of things together in this one celebration… This is really so much bigger than us… We get to stand before many of the people who prayed us home, who gave to us financially, who fasted with us, who laughed and cried with us, and celebrate Moses being part of our family and our dedication to his life. It’s such an honor, and we’d love for you to be a part. Check out this invite for all the details!

God is a god of purpose. Nothing happens by accident, and He uses every event, happening, pain, day, moment and relationship for His glory. He put me in Uganda at a specific time. WHY it had to be THE WEEK the Embassy changed the rules, I still don’t know, but I do know He put me there with Jade Metz for a reason. She always kept me laughing and constantly had a positive attitude despite terrible circumstances.

She left Uganda after two months there to return home. She made the gut-wrenching decision to fight for her baby from home while taking care of her two beautiful young daughters. She returned three months later and after just two short weeks in Uganda, they are ALL home together. Jade, Nathan, Maddix, Sophie and SAMUEL EZRA!!

Check out her blog. Read her story. Share it. Love it. This testimony of how God orchestrated things on this trip blow.my.mind. It’ll remind you just how much He IS in control (I often need that reminder).

Here’s the link to her blog.

Adoption is costly. It costs time, energy, emotion and money. LOTS of money… Now let me tell you this, GOD HOOKED US UP! 95% of our adoption costs were completely covered. But while I was gone to Africa for three months, we got a little behind… and with Chris out of work it’s only gotten worse. He’s been busting tail trying to get us caught up, and I’m working a part-time job, too… But we are still stuck.

SO we are finally having this garage sale next weekend!!! We are hoping that God will bless it and help bring in the rest of the funds for us to be caught up to where we were before I left for Africa. A few people have been so generous to donate some items, but we are still looking for more!

If you have anything you could like to donate (besides clothes- we have plenty), please let us know and I will come get it from you this week. We are especially looking for bigger ticket items that will bring in more money.

Thank you all so much for your support throughout this journey. We are praying this is our last fund raising push for the adoption and that we are able to move on from the financial side and start concentrating on all the other exciting adventures of this great pursuit. It’s very humbling to have to ask others for help, but we believe that this is just a season, and in time we will be able to pay it forward to other families in need of a little boost.

Love, peace and yard sales!

Megs

Remember my friend Jade that was in Uganda for about 2/3 of my trip? She had to leave that time without her son due to all the legal guardianship wording mess, but is now back again for her visa appointment and to bring her baby boy home!!! Read about her journey here…

Looking at her pictures and reading stories of the people she’s seeing again there, it’s made me miss Uganda for the first time in the 65 days I’ve been home. Of course I have missed the babies at Sanyu, and the boys in the slums and the village. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of them.

But this is the first time in over two months that I have missed Uganda. I miss Robert, the groundskeeper at the orphanage who was ALWAYS there with a smile and a kind word. I miss Joel, the crazy and sometimes inappropriate guest house manager. I miss Lydia, Moses’ teacher and best friend’s mom, and my dear friend for life. I miss my little friend John who ran the internet cafe I frequented. I miss Amanda, who was an orphan herself, but spent countless hours every week volunteering at the orphanage. I miss the sweet mama’s who I grew to love and cherish during my time there. I miss Jessica, Brandy and Abby- the precious women who are changing the lives of hundreds of street kids every year.

I miss the opportunity to make friends from so many countries all over the world, and hearing about life outside my bubble. I miss riding boda bodas and weaving in and out of traffic. I miss riding out to the village in a crowded van full of people, listening to the chattering of all the different dialects. I miss the stillness of life in the little African village.

Don’t get me wrong. There are PLENTY of things I DO NOT miss about that place. I am so.crazy.glad to be home, and I am in NO hurry to adopt from there again anytime soon. But God planted some beautiful memories in my heart, and some amazing people in my life… For that, I am forever grateful and eternally changed.

One day my family will go there together- ALL together- and that will be a glorious day. Until that day comes, I’ll be dreaming of my sweet babies and beautiful boys, their songs and laughter dancing in my head. Thank you, Jesus, for the experience. I’ll never be the same.

Dreaming of Africa,

Meghan

News flash! Lebron James is a free agent! He might be leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for an even better “offer” (see: more money, more power, more fame)! So what should we do? We should devote HOURS every single day in our media to talking about it. Where will he go? Who will he choose? Who will pay him the most? Is$25 million enough? $30 million? In all likelihood, he’s about to sign the biggest sports contract in history. (Not to mention the $10-15 million a year he will make in endorsements.) Whoopdy. Freaking. Do.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good rags-to-riches story. Lebron’s mom was 16 when he was born and his dad was a convict. He grew up with nothing, but someone saw something in him, poured into him, believed in him, and put him in a position to succeed that he would have never had otherwise. Oh, my heart loves a good story like that.

What my heart HATES is the fact that 24,000 children die every DAY due to poverty. Of the estimated 2.2 billion children in the world, 1.1 billion live in poverty. Yes, that’s almost half. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide. You know what it takes to fix malaria? A $5 mosquito net. That net means LIFE to millions of kids.

Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhea. 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized.

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5), 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7).

(All these statistics came from here.)

Why as a country as we completely consumed by power and fame and money? Why do we spend hours a day talking about one man who makes enough money to feed, immunize, and provide clean water for MILLIONS of people in the world? Just ONE man? Why don’t we FIGHT harder? Why don’t we sacrifice more? Why don’t we care enough? Why do we value sports figures more than the kid down the street whose mom sells her body to put food on the table?

Why don’t we put our money where our mouth is? Luke 12:34 says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” We can’t take our stuff with us when we die. BUT we CAN leave an eternal footprint on this world, even by doing just a little. Sponsoring a child’s education and medical needs. Giving to a Bible-based, outreach centered church. Donating to clean water projects. Buying a homeless man a meal. It’s so easy. It costs so little. But it.changes.everything for those who are on the receiving end.

Today I am convicted. Today I want to do more. I want to kick the “American Dream” in the face, because it’s all about self. Why should we “have it all” when others have nothing.at.all. When children are bathing in the same water they use the bathroom in, day after day. When FOUR year olds are living on the streets, digging through trash cans for food, wearing rags for clothes that are in such bad condition we wouldn’t even clean our house with them? When women are being sold into sex slavery every.single.day? I know God wants us to be blessed, and we are blessed so we can bless others. Without those big donors at church who make the major dollahs, the big projects wouldn’t work. The Christmas giveaways wouldn’t happen. I love those guys, trust me.

It’s hard to find a balance when people make money, buy themselves really nice, expensive, unnecessary things, while at the same time doing amazing things for the Kingdom and donating tons of money to amazing causes. But after seeing what I’ve seen, it’s impossible for me to want to live that way anymore.  (I say all this as I type on my nice Apple computer, hooked up to wireless internet, in my 1700 sq. foot house with air conditioner, in my comfy, cushy little life. Trust me, I’m convicted.) I am NOT judging others… I’m really not. I have millions of planks in my own eye, so I won’t be judging that speck in someone else’s. I’m just sharing my heart, my experiences, my dreams… Our dream is to one day be able to give away more than we spend. I want to stand before Jesus the day I leave this world and be able to say, “Look, I cared for others more than myself. I gave everything I had- in heart, mind, soul, spirit, time, talent and money. I wasted nothing you entrusted me with.”

That’s a rather lofty goal, and if I died tomorrow, I couldn’t say that. But I am going to try my hardest to make that my reality. I don’t want to be a free agent. I want to have a life-long contract with this dying, hurting world we live in. I want to make it better. Only by the grace of Jesus…

Ok, so this post is two days late. I started feeling rough on Sunday night, and by Monday it had gotten a lot worse. Yesterday, I was in bed pretty much the entire day. Throat literally swollen almost shut to the point that I couldn’t swallow my own spit so I was constantly drooling. Yeh, it was ridiculous. To make matters worse, our sweet baby girl got sick on Sunday and has been feeling bad ever since. It hurts Mama’s heart to see her like that.

Starting to feel human again today after getting some meds in me, so it’s time to speak of the awesomeness of my birthday boy:)

First, let me proudly announce that Chris got the job at Cintas that we have been praying about for months! It was a rigorous interview process, but all the bosses loved him and are excited about having him on-board. He will hopefully get to start next week, and we couldn’t be more excited. The training process is about 3 months, so it’ll be that long before he can get out in the field, but when he does, he will be ready! Thank you, Jesus!

My love spent his entire birthday taking care of me. Never even once did he complain or comment about it. He cleaned the house, did the dishes, took care of the kids, checked on me, set the table for his own birthday dinner, helped my dad get everything ready… Totally went the second mile. I felt terrible and kept apologizing all day, but he just brushed it off. All day yesterday when I was miserable in the bed, he came and checked on me, kissed me, told me how beautiful I was and how much he loved me… And for the record, I was a lot of things yesterday, but beautiful was not one of them.

I am so grateful to have married Chris Matt. I am so honored that He chose me to be his partner for life. I am blown away that when God thought of me all those years ago, he paired me with Chris, knowing the perfect fit we would be for each other. I totally believe in soul mates, because I have found mine. He completes me. He loves and serves Jesus passionately. He is the most amazing daddy on the face of the planet. He puts others before himself. He loves the unlovable, remembers the forgotten, and chases after the lost. He puts purpose ahead of comfort. His dreams revolve not around houses or cars or worldly success, but around feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, adopting orphans, and being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Nobody’s perfect, but he is absolutely perfect.for.me. Thanks for doing life with me, baby. I love you so much!

Today’s my birthday… It started off rough. No sleep. Cranky kids. Lots of time-outs. Screaming. Whining. Headaches. By 10am I was spent.

Luckily, Mom came over to watch my munchkins and I got some super.duper.flippin.fabulously.fantastic thrift/retro/vintage/antique/amazingly incredible shopping time in with some of my most favorite girlies… Goodness that sentence had a lot of adjectives… Anyway, it was SUCH  fun day. I got a divine hostess apron (thanks, Linds) and these perfect little blue birdies to further my current obsession with the winged creatures. We found some delightful one-of-a-kind pieces, chatted, laughed, sipped coffee, talked hubbies and kiddos, and “ohhhhhhhhh”‘ed about lots of items in some amazing little shops. I love how my style has changed so much this past year… But now I kind of want to redo  my whole house… Today was 5 hours of fabulous, I will say that!

Tonight we went to my mom’s house and the day got even better! My FAVORITE meal (sashimi tuna salad with 3 different dressings from Cheesecake Bistro), homemade cake, Ben & Jerry’s, family, and some completely amazing presents. I mean, a blue/green/brown tea set with birds on it. My two most current and raging obsessions are tea sets and birds. I got them both in ONE! Be still my heart… A red & pink floral laptop sleeve. A gift card to Home Depot to redo my playroom flooring. Flowers. Cash. iTunes gift card. Teeth white strips. Fabulous earrings. Maya Angelou’s compilation of essays, Letter to My Daughter… Stunning perfection.

Yes, I am spoiled. Yes, getting all of that is ridiculous. Yes, that money could have fed a bunch of hungry people. Yes, I do feel guilty about that. But yes, I appreciate my blessings so much more having been through hell this year. Things don’t make me happy. They don’t bring me joy. But today these things and the people I was surrounded by brought a smile to my face, and made me remember how truly.crazy.blessed I am.

Peace, love, and tea pots…

Meg

I have some amazing friends- I would argue that they are some of the best friends and people on the planet. They took care of my baby and my family while I was gone. They’ve supported us the past 1.5 years through this wild ride we are on. They’ve given to us financially when we thought we were on our last nickel. They’ve encouraged me, loved me, prayed for me, been there for me, cried with me, laughed with me, and done life with me.

My dear friend Kellie agreed to watch Presley a few times during the 2 or so weeks we planned on me being in Africa… Two weeks turned into 3 months, and she kept her at least 3x a week that entire time. She picked her up in the morning and dropped her off in the afternoon. When Chris came and joined me in Africa for a week, she kept Presley at her house. When I needed help at BRDC this summer, she stepped up. She’s there every Tuesday and Thursday serving it up, anticipating needs and making things happen. When I need gardening or home project advice, she’s all over it. Anytime I need anything, she’s there. And today, she gave me the most beautiful, special, amazing birthday gift.

(click on the photo above to enlarge so you can get a good look!)

She took some of my favorite pictures chronicling our African journey, and displayed them beautifully on this canvas. Even the background of the collage is pictures of my room there, the corn fields, the markets, the beach where my friends were baptized… I will cherish this thing forever, and the time, energy, effort and love she poured into this project for me.

Thanks, Kell, and thank you to everyone who makes this life so.darn.incredible. I am crazy blessed!!!