In Part 1, I shared with you the joys of raising our teen girls. I think it's important to talk about the joys of teens because often our culture says that the teen years will be difficult and should be feared. You've heard it before, "Just wait until they're teens!" So encouraging to new parents, right?
If you are parents to little ones, don't be afraid! Pray that God will give you the wisdom to shepherd your children into God-fearing teens, and then adults. If you're parents to teens already, enjoy them. Talk with them and pray for them continually! If you have a teen who has rebelled, pray that God would turn his/her heart around, and trust that He is in control and has a purpose for their lives.
No matter how perfect we may perceive a family to be, we all have the same thing in common. It's called our sin nature. None of us are immune to it,so we can expect some tough spots along the way.
I don't often write about raising teens. My primary focus at Sacred Mommyhood is encouraging moms with littles. However, I do have two teens (one of whom is married now...she's 19), and would love to share a bit about our journey through 'teen hood'.
Tomorrow, my 16 year old daughter, Celeste, will embark on a journey of a lifetime. She will travel half way around the world to serve and visit orphans in two incredible countries....Ethiopia and Uganda.
She is traveling with an organization called Visiting Orphans. They travel to thirteen different countries to fulfill the biblical mandate given in James 1:27 of "visiting orphans" in their distress.
On this particular trip, Celeste will have the blessing of visiting several orphanages in both countries. She can't wait to go and love on these children, knowing full well that she will be the one blessed by them! She will also visit the Fistula Hospital in Addis. This is pretty exciting because before we even knew about this trip, our family had watched A Walk to Beautiful, a documentary about women who suffer from the medical condition, Fistula. This hospital was built specifically to treat the condition. It's a beautiful story, one I highly recommend watching.
Sisters (Celeste on left)
Celeste and the team will also go to Amazima, the ministry Katie Davis began at the age of 18. Amazima feeds over 1,600 orphaned and vulnerable children of the Masese community a lunch meal Monday through Friday, and also operate a school for the local children to attend for free. This is another exciting aspect of the trip. Again, before we knew about this trip, a friend had recommended a book to us called Kisses from Katie. We watched this YouTube video and were amazed by this young woman with so much love and compassion. It was through our visit to the Amazima website that we learned of Visiting Orphans, which led to finding this trip, which included visiting some of the very places we had already been studying as a family. God had clearly gone before us, and opened this door for Celeste!
The team will be very busy, serving in a different location nearly every day. I will try to give regular updates on my Facebook page if you would like to keep up with her travels.
I found this video on YouTube of another team that went to Uganda. I don't know if they were with Visiting Orphans or another organization, but Celeste will visit several of the places in this video.
If you wouldn't mind, please keep our daughter, the team, and the people they will encounter in your prayers. For Celeste, this will be her first trip away from home by herself. She's nervous, but even more excited about all they will do and see!
If you would like to know more about any of these organizations, please visit their sites. There, you also have the opportunity to sponsor a child and change a life.
Have you or any of your children gone on a mission trip? Where? Please share your experience.
