Finished!!!!!

This picture says it all!! 

 WE DID IT!

13.1 miles all for our sweet future daughter!

But we did not do it alone!  We were joined by nearly 1,500 other runners all running for the purpose of adoption and orphan care!  Even more than that we were joined by some precious friends who sacrificed finances, time, and their bodies to help bring our Kenzi home!

Here are 10 out of 14 Kenzi for Keeps team members!!

We were especially surprised when our sweet friends Keith and Jennifer decided not only to come and cheer us on but to also join our team and go the distance with us!  They used a kid free weekend to bless our lives and the life of Kenzi...that is a sacrifice!!:)

I loved training with my hubby and then getting run together!  He did finish before me but he was waiting with a smile and encouragement when I came up to the finish line!

It was also such a treat to share this day with my sister.  She and her friend Val have been training just about as long as Nathan and I have.  It has been so fun to encourage one another from a distance!

By the way...Val smoked all of us with a time of 1hour 50 minutes!!  And it was her first half!

The race itself was just an amazing experience.  Just knowing that we were all gathered to run for our future children and for the children who remain in orphanages had me emotional from the start.  I spent time praying for our girl all along the way!

12 out of our 14 team members raced and finished!!

Keith encouraging Jennifer and Brandi as they finish strong!

Kasey blew us away and ran like a rock star!

Michelle, Chris, and Amy...finished!!

We ended our morning with a free massage...wonderful!!  And then headed to my parent's house where they had literally prepared a feast for us!

 

We are so thankful for all of you who have been apart of the Kenzi for Keeps race...from the prayers, to those of you who donated,  the sweet messages on race day, the friends who ran, my sweet parents for watching our kids AND preparing a post race meal,  to my sweet friend who knew she wouldn't be able to come and run but decided to do her own Kenzi for Keeps jar and added 5 dollars every time she walked a mile for our girl...this was totally a group effort and I hope that someday our sweet Kenzi will read this and know how loved she was even before we saw her face!!

Friends don't let friends run alone!  I am so thankful for these girls and their support and encouragement along this journey!  Our shirts are from the race and say...running with purpose!

Can I admit that I cried a little as I neared the finish line...it was lined with pictures of adopted children...reminding the runner why we were running.  I couldn't help but to think what it will be like to see Kenzi's picture there next year.  Really this race has been so much like the process to adopt.  There has been training and preparation, right now we are enduring as we continue to wait, and someday (hopefully soon) we will cross the finish line and bring our girl home.  I know that day won't even compare with the excitement we felt when we finished this 13.1!!!

Next up...training for another half!!!  Now that I have run one I have got to beat my time!:)

He funds what He favors!!

I have heard that saying many times since we have entered into the adoption world.  However, in the last year that has become more than just a saying to me.  I have seen God provide time and time again in the last year.

9 girls said yes to going to Uganda and God provided over $3,000 for each of us to go...even when we were all a little doubtful that it would actually happen.

This year our church set a goal of giving $25,000 towards missions on one Sunday...as I type this we have not only met that goal but we are surpassing it as people continue to give.

Over a year ago we answered God's call to adopt,  having NO clue how we would raise the nearly $30,000 it would take to complete the process.  God has provided in ways you might not believe if I told you.  Things like meeting a lady in Wal-mart who later gave a large donation towards our adoption.  Or ladies that I don't even know having a jewelry party and donating all of the proceeds towards the adoption.  Most recently He showed up at our garage sale.

Recently I have been feeling a little impatient.  I have begged God to let our referral come soon.  As I continued to beg I heard His small whisper in my heart..."Are you really ready?"  I knew that we weren't.  I knew that there was still more to do to raise the funds to bring our girl home.  From the very beginning of the process I knew that we would do a garage sale for Kenzi.  But, let me be honest...I HATE GARAGE SALES!  I have put it off and put it off.   Hearing that whisper from the Lord, reminded me that it was time to stop procrastinating.  So the planning began!  I kid you not...as soon as I started working towards the garage sale (obeying God's prompting) over $320 of donations came in out of the blue.  I love th way God confirms things for His children!

We were totally blessed by 2 families who decided to donate lots of great stuff to the sale. However, we were still doubtful on Thursday night as we were pricing like crazy and trying to figure out where to put all the stuff...the last time we had a garage sale we made maybe $300.  Nathan said we may be lucky to make $500 this time...although secretly we were both praying for $1000...impossible or not.

We really have no way to explain it, but God answered our secret prayers and blessed our socks off by allowing the garage sale to bring in right at $1000!  That is so not typical for such a small town and a garage sale that really didn't have any big ticket items...in fact as we were pricing things I felt the only thing we were writing was 50 cents.  Our God is so good and He truly does fund what He favors.

Next up...13.1 miles in the Chosen Marathon for Adoption this weekend!!  Go team Kenzi for Keeps!!!

Kezni for Keeps Garage Sale!!!

The signs are ready...

The garage is filling up...

Tomorrow and Saturday from 7-11 am we will be having a garage sale with all proceeds going towards getting Kenzi home!!

Don't need any garage sale items???  Feel free to stop by for a homemade Butterfinger Blast cupcake...

Or how about some handmade Uganda beads...all the way from Jinja, Uganda...

Or maybe you need a copy of Chosen for Love the CD we recorded and are selling to raise the funds to bring our girl home!!

***We are still open to taking any garage sale items off your hands!!  Just send me and e-mail (jennalorick@hotmail.com)

and we can work something out!***

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all of your support and for being a part of this journey the Lord has called us to.  Sweet Kenzi has no idea how many people already love her all the way across the ocean!!  There is no way we would be able to answer this call without you!!

For Good...

I couldn't stop thinking about him on my run this morning.  A 17 year old boy in a prison in Uganda with a smile that captured my heart.  I was so nervous on this particular day because it was all older kids...and I am a little kid kind of girl.  I felt a little lost at first, not sure how to connect with any of the kids and not sure any of them really wanted to connect with a dorky muzungu (white person) anyway!:)

But Patrick made me less nervous.  He had a bright smile and loved to joke which helped with my nerves.  We spent some time small talking before I asked him about Jesus.  When I asked if he knew Jesus he told me yes.  He knew that Jesus was a prophet and good man but that he did not believe that Jesus was the son of God.  You see Patrick is Muslim...his entire family is Muslim.  But each week because of the work of SixtyFeet Patrick and others like him have the opportunity to hear the message of the gospel.  Each week the children in the prisons where SixtyFeet is working are given the chance to learn that Jesus is more than a good man...he is THE man...Jesus is God's own son who was sent to die for our sins.

As I thought of and prayed for Patrick this morning.  I couldn't help but to think of the story of Joseph where God used seemingly awful circumstances for Joseph's good.  My greatest prayer for Patrick is that God will use this difficult time in his life to draw Patrick to Himself.  The greatest good that could possibly come out of Patrick's time in prison is for him to meet Jesus for the real savior that he is.  I believe we serve a God who can change not only Patrick's heart but also the hearts of his family when he is able to finally go home...maybe even his entire village.

I am so thankful that we serve a God who is in the business of making beauty from our ashes.  Would you join in praying for Patrick and the other precious children who are imprisoned in Uganda and around the world?

A party for Karty!

It's hard to believe that our little red headed boy is 4!!  Last week on October the 8th our fiery little guy celebrated his 4th birthday.  Since it was a really busy weekend we decided to wait a week for a birthday party...but we couldn't skip our birthday morning tradition...donuts with candles!!:)

All three of my boys LOVE donuts (just like Daddy)  so it is the perfect birthday breakfast!  We had been to homecoming the night before and they were still sporting their tiger tattoos (or as Karter and Kolson call them...tad-a-toos)

We have never really done a big birthday for Karter so I knew that I wanted to do something special this year to celebrate our little guy.  So, I took his love for all things superheros and ran with it!  I may not have been born with the crafty gene but I was born with the copy cat gene!  Everything from the party was something I found on line...I am so thankful for all of the creative people that God created!:)

There were superhero cupcakes...

And super suckers!

And a super hero party just isn't complete without capes!

And masks!

And then it was time for the "academy"...each kiddo had to go through "super hero" training before getting their super sucker!

We started by scaling the city...

Then we vaporized the villains with silly string

Next up the bat!  The kiddos crawled through and got the kryptonite (glow in the dark bracelets) before it could harm superman!

Then they had to get through the web that spiderman left!

The official superhero academy graduates!

 I loved watching my big boy blow out his candles and open his presents.  Karter is a passionate little boy (wonder where he gets that from;) and he was so excited about each part of the party.  I can't wait to see what God has planned of all of that  passion!

After the celebrating the kiddos just had fun playing together and enjoying the beautiful day!

One of Karter's favorite presents was a superman costume...in fact he slept in it last night!

Even baby Chase got in on the fun with a cape of his own!

 Karter was so excited to have several of his grandparents there to celebrate his special day!

All together it was a great day...such a fun way to celebrate such a fun little boy!

Karter,

I want you to know how much I love you!  You are fire and ice and you love more deeply then most people I know.  Yes, there are some very challenging days...but like I tell you at night before bed...God has big plans for you sweet boy.  You have all the passion of your Daddy and the stubbornness of your Mommy.  I pray daily that God will give me the wisdom I need to help you grow into the super hero of a man I know you will be.  I love the light in your eyes and the way you get so excited about the things you love.  You are an amazing little boy and I am so thankful for you!

Happy Birthday Karty boy!

Get Ready, Get Set...

RUN!!!!

That is exactly what Nathan and I have been doing for the last few months!  When we started it seemed like we would never get to this point.  Running 1 or 2 miles was a huge challenge.  Just looking at our running plan and seeing numbers like 8, 11, and finally 13.1 made me want to quit right then.

But here we are 3 weeks from our first 1/2  marathon and Nathan and I both just finished an 11 mile run!!

To be honest there have been hard days.  Days when we did not want to run...days when our legs felt like lead weights...days when we had to push the other one out the door.  However, it has also been fun!  We have gotten to run together twice and I can think of no better partner than my handsome hubby, who by the way has dropped 25 lbs on this journey!  We have enjoyed a little healthy competition as we have tried to match the others time or distance.  Sometimes just knowing that Nathan has already run a certain amount of miles is all I need to push me to the last mile...I mean I can't let him out do me!!:)  And really there is just something about the sense of accomplishment after a  long run that is sort of addicting...not to mention not feeling guilty about what I eat afterwards!:)

The major driving factor in all of this has been our sweet  daughter to be.  I have thought of her and prayed for her on every run...knowing that each step, each mile is bringing us one step closer to bringing Kenzi home.  We are running with a purpose!!

When I read this verse this morning before my 11 miler all I could think about was my sweet girl...

1 Cor. 9:25-26 b (NLT)

All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step.

There is still time...if you would like to be a part of this purpose...this bringing a little girl into a forever family you can still join Kenzi for Keeps!!

You don't have to run, you can walk with purpose too!:)

Click on the link to register!

http://www.marathonforadoption.com/race/register/

The race is October 29th in New Braunfels...a great place to hang out as a family for a little getaway after the race!:)

And because some of you have asked...you can donate specifically to our team (Kenzi for Keeps!)

Click on the link to make a tax deductible donation!

http://www.marathonforadoption.com/donate/team/

Thank you again to all of you who have been a part of this journey to Kenzi!  Your prayers, support, and generosity have blessed us beyond measure!

*Special thanks to Boog for his wonderful training plan!:)