Our Haley Is Going to Africa

When I first looked into the eyes of my baby girl 17 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined all the things God had planned for her life. Haley has been an easy child to raise. From her earliest days, she was perfectly content with the simplest of things, and even now as a teenager, she prefers a life free of the typical drama that invades many girls' teenage years. Her personality is a delightful combination of maturity and responsibility mixed with contagious laughter, smiles, and hugs. She committed her life to the Lord as a youngster and is continually learning what exactly it means to follow Him wholeheartedly.

In 2006 she was invited to visit Australia and New Zealand as a student ambassador for three weeks of her summer in 2007. After much prayer and discussion, Harris and I told her she could go but that she would be responsible for raising the necessary $8,000 that it would take to do so. She didn't bat an eye and was immediately ready to dive in and make that happen. Once she committed to that endeavor, we stood back and watched God work out detail after detail to make that trip a reality for her. Words cannot describe the incredible life-changing experience that was for all of us.

Ever since that trip across the world, there has been something inside of me that just knew that was God's way of preparing us for future plans He may have for her. Most people I know say they are willing to do about anything God asks of them, as long as it doesn't involve taking them to some foreign country and being a missionary, but not Haley. She has verbalized countless times that her future plans include going to Africa to start or work in an orphanage, and honestly, that's about the only thing she's ever talked about doing beyond high school. A part of me would cringe every time I heard the word Africa, but another part of me was learning to let go a little more each time and let God be her guide.

Last year in school she was assigned to read the book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, and then she brought home the movie "Blood Diamond" that they had watched in school. In both of these, she was exposed to the real-life tragedies of a movement occurring in Africa in the early 2000s where a man was spearheading the kidnapping of innocent children and forcing them to become child soldiers and kill their families. We watched this movie with her, and when it was over, she looked at us and said with utmost sincerity, "I want to help those children." The thought of sending our baby girl to a destination filled with so much horror was about more than we could handle . . . yet somehow we knew this could all be part of the bigger plan God has for her life.

A few months ago she was reacquainted with Beth, a childhood friend from Pella who had gone to Africa last summer with an organization called Global Expeditions. The two of them quickly hit it off and have shared the tuggings of their hearts to serve the underprivileged children in Africa. Haley sat us down at the beginning of October and seriously shared that the desire of her heart was to spend much of her time there next summer. We proceeded to look into this possibility with her, and after much prayer and discussion again, we have given her our blessing to go. We feel as though the timing is perfect as she will be transitioning into her final year of high school then, and this will be a great opportunity for her to help discern God's plans for her life. She'll either love it or hate it, but it's time for her to know!

More details will be shared in posts to follow, but allow me to end with this conversation between us:

Mom - "Haley, are you really, really, really sure this is what you want to do and this is how you want to spend your summer?"

Haley - "Mom, if you think I'm looking forward to being gone from my family and home for two months or sleeping on the floor or eating PB&J sandwiches every day for two months, no, I'm not, but, Mom, I just have to go. There is something in my heart that just tells me I have to do this."

Enough said. The look in her eyes told me all I needed to know.