Starting a new chapter...Our SOLACE journey

Starting a new chapter in "Our Love Story”! To get you up to speed on the previous chapters Lane and I met at The Cove Church 4 years ago. He says he saw me praying with Rhonda Touchette at an Easter service but did not approach me till Christmas. You will have to ask him for the details on why he waited so long! I had seen him serving on the Greeting team and noticed he always seemed to “show up” near me when I walked into the auditorium. He asked me to lunch January of 2008, we dated on and off and after praying and seeking God’s will for our lives Lane asked me to marry him in December of 2010 and we married April 29th 2011.

Now that you’re up to speed on how we got to “us”, allow me continue with the story. Lane and I both have a tender spot for serving, the least of these in our community and world. Lane works with the seniors at Churchill, volunteers with the USO and facilitates Grief share. My heart tends to go the opposite way, overseas missions, children and the homeless. We each have our individual ministries we support and feel called to, but for the past year we have prayed about doing ministry together and what that may look like as a married couple.

Okay here’s the EXCITING news!

We have prayed and made the decision to participate in a program called “Solace for the Children”, (www.solaceforthechildren.org) which brings Afghan children to the Charlotte/Lake Norman area for six weeks of medical treatment and peace building during the summer. We were introduced to this program 2 years ago when our friends Eric and Asheli Thompson hosted a little girl, Sahar, through Solace. She is in the picture to the right driving our boat. Although our time with her was brief she forever changed our lives!

Lane and I are extremely excited about welcoming an Afghan child into our home, and feel privileged to be part of the work God is doing within Solace for the Children. We have received so much love and support during our first year of marriage and are grateful for that outpouring. We now feel the calling to open our hearts and our home to a child in need.

As you may or may not know, Lane and I do not have children of our own. So you can imagine the leap of faith and obedience to saying “Yes” to God’s known, and our unknown. We are excited to follow God on this journey, but also a bit nervous.

The local medical community has agreed to donate their services to treat these special children. The host family donates their home, their time, and the expense of caring for the child for six weeks. However, host families must raise $4500 for transportation costs for the children (including transportation to and from the airport of departure, overseas airfare, passport and visa costs), a portion of the group interpreter, and the accidental insurance policy covering the children.

Visit the Solace website at www.solaceforthechildren.org to find out additional information OR join us tonight at Williamson Chapel Church in Mooresville 7 – 8pm for a SOLACE Host meeting. If you think this may be something for you and your family to get involved in come join us and many others in the LKN area on this journey! 

If this is not the ministry you are called to we invite you to continue on the journey with us through your prayers! We are asking that you lift up all of the children who will be coming to the United States, their families back in Afghanistan, and the host families as we prepare for the summer.

Let the journey begin!