Passion = Inspiration = Blogging With a Cause: www.kidmia.org

4:18 am isn't my best time.......I thought I'd given up the middle of the night feedings when Pickles started sleeping through the night, and again when we past the teething hurdle. Yet, here I am......my eyes trying to focus on the brightness of my laptop screen in the darkness of the night.

Inspiration has struck me at 4:00 am this morning......I've tossed and turned and finally figured out what God has in store for me, besides being a wife and mother to 4 children under the age of 10! But first a brief synopsis of how I got to where I am today..................

In 2004, at 40 years of age, I graduated from college with a Business Administration/Marketing Degree. I really, really, really wanted to get a degree in women's studies, yet felt the pressure of my mom's urging from a very young age that I needed to have "marketable skills" that would enable me to provide for myself. You see, she was in a very oppressive and controlling marriage to my father. I have since coined my childhood as "Dysfunction Junction." So, against my desire to pursue a "Women's Studies" degree, I, once again, did what I thought I should do and completed my Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Marketing. Ironically, today I work part-time in my husband's business as the bookkeeper. Funny, I never saw myself doing that.

A few years later....a few children later........and along comes the Kidmia Foundation. Not sure how it came about initially, but I believe it is the brain child of an inspiring man named Scott Brown of The Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth, Texas. We had the privilige of meeting him personally in November 2007, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when we were there picking up our then 8 month old daughter, Pickles.

I don't believe in coincidences -- during a conversation at lunch on our first full day in Ethiopia, Scott told us why he was there and where he was heading to in southern Ethiopia. A little dumbfounded, I then asked him if he knew what my husband did for a living??? Of course he didn't, so we proceeded to tell him: my husband has been in the woodworking industry for YEARS, and has taught thousands of studends how to run grinders and moulders. Hmmmm....the plight of the orphan (my husband's passion) = Ethiopia = Kidmia = my marketing degree. Does God have a sense of humor, because I'm finally figuring out how my life is all fitting together. Finally, some of those puzzle pieces that have been missing for years have surfaced.

Briefly, The Kidmia Foundation is providing a safe, self-sustaining community in rural Ethiopia for orphans with the goal of working with local churches to help facilitate the transition of finding forever Christ-loving families within Ethiopia! Wow...I'm inspired...........I'm excited........but mostly I'm passionate about this cause......because we can make a difference in the life of a child.

I have been up most of the night thinking how to promote this wonderful cause.......and have truly found my vocational passion....after all these years.

Please, watch this video at http://www.kidmia.org/. (If anyone can tell me how to post this video to my blog, I'd much appreciate it!)

Now I'm off to bed in hopes of catching a few winks before Pickles, aka Sassy Pants wakes up! Gotta love 2!!!!!!