The Test Batch RESULTS - MBM

** MBM Readers... this is really a continuance from the post yesterday!
Sorry to post twice, I just have to share.
I am overwhelmed with joy at His faithfulness!

Oh. My. Word.

Where do I begin.

Last night was the big night. My sweet Hannah and I headed over to Biscotii Bari to run our first “test batch”. It was the first time experimenting with a recipe that would more than quadruple the amount of loaves than my original recipe. Normally when you run a “test batch” it does not come out perfect and you have to dump it and start over. (Oh my heart was grieved just thinking about dumping all this ‘food’ when my purpose is to be raising money to buy food. It just did not sit well with me.) My amazing friend (you’re a God-sent Stacey!) helped me figure out all the measurements and turn my ingredients from cups to pounds. What a learning curve. Hannah and I had to weigh out 12lbs of flour, crack 40 eggs and dump a lot of pumpkin into this HUGE blender that sounded like a jet flying overhead.


 Exciting stuff to these non-bakery girls!

Not sure how anything was going to turn out, we prayed and laughed all night.

There was something so *FUN* about doing what we were doing.

Even knowing it may not turn out, we still were filled with joy and anticipation.

Well, after mixing everything together… it looked normal.

It tasted normal.

It smelled normal.

The consistency was normal.

So, we went ahead and filled over 40(!) bread molds and got them ready for the oven!

As I wheeled the cart into the WALK IN OVEN (*giggling*) we prayed again.

After 43 minutes of baking we pulled out the loaves...
Perfect color.

Perfect size.

Perfect height
and yes, they smelled PERFECTLY yummy!

All I could think was,
“Oh my goodness… HOW DO THEY TASTE???”

We all know that once you bake bread, it’s best to let it cool and the favor settle.

Oh that was SO HARD!

Making a long story short (or maybe not) I brought two loaves home so we could taste them after they cooled. You have to understand something; we have been eating this pumpkin bread for years so it’s very hard for me and my family to really be able to tell if it’s really good or just OK.

The real test would come when other people would try it.

Well, after several people had the privilege of being our ginny pigs,

the roomer on the streets is… 

IT’S. THE. BEST. BREAD. THEY. HAVE. EVER. HAD!

GIGGLING * LAUGHING * JUMPING UP AND DOWN

This morning a man from next door to the bakery sampled some

and came walking into the bakery with his hands out and said,

“Who made that bread?

I hate pumpkin.

I hate pumpkin everything,

BUT I LOVE THIS BREAD!” 

Woo-Hoo PRAISE GOD!

GIGGLING * LAUGHING * JUMPING UP AND DOWN

(Literally! I think he thought I was a nutty-bread woman)

Not only did he love the bread and say he would eat it year-round,

he took 2 loaves and is serving them as samples at his board meeting

in the morning with all of the “Bread FOR Life” information displayed!

(Sanyu Babies Home; Bible verses and orphan statistics)

Are you kidding me??

My friend who is a professional baker said it was AMAZING

and walked around sharing it with all her co-workers and business neighbors. Ha!

I am simply speechless.

For a “test batch” not only to turn out, but be some of the best bread I have ever baked

can only happen because of one reason… God’s hand is all over this!

This is GOD’S BREAD!

So my short-story made long, after I finished shrink-wrapping all the loaves of bread

(BTY the shrink-wrapping machine is my new best friend)

I have brought this “test batch” turned “Perfect Batch” home and now
I’m giving them all away!


That’s right!

I’m going to give them to people in this community as a blessing and share with them my heart for the orphan and see if they want to jump on board. I think the more people can see God’s hand in this, the more they will be willing to contribute. And that’s what we want; unity in the body so we can come together and fight this war for these precious innocent babies and children that were given no chance for a future. I mean, technically all this bread should have been dumped. However, God does not have time to waist. He is not in the business of “testing”… time is limited and time is precious!

This, to me, is worth sharing!

I hope and pray you are encouraged through this testimony.

I give all praise and glory to Jesus.

None of this has anything to do with me.

I am a selfish, self-centered person.

Daily I am seeking the Lord to break my heart for the things that break His.

When I pray this prayer, I start to see things a little different.

I am beside myself with this fundraiser and that the Lord would use

a little ol’pumpkin bread recipe to raise THOUSANDS of dollars for His kingdom.

Totally speechless.

 PRAISE PRAISE GOD!

But Jesus looked at them and said, 

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

My Son

My son was sitting at the dinner table

with his head down.

I was wondering what he was doing.

He then, lifted his head and said,

"Mommy, I'm praying!

 I'm praying that I will be a preacher."

He's 5.

A moment stitched in my mind and heart F.O.R.E.V.E.R!

"And He said to them,

'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Mark 16:15

Hannah's GOLDEN Heart ♥ Precious Moments

"Train up a child in the way he should go:
And when he is old, he will not depart from it."Proverbs 22:6


Hannah, (my 7 year old daughter) LOVES the orphan.

She will NOT stop talking about them.

There is a golden gem in the center of her heart that tells me,

our Father has something brewing for this sweet angel.

She told me the other night as we were out on a walk:

“Mommy I have a secret I want to tell you but I don’t know if I should.”

I said,

“Well honey, you know you can tell your mommy anything.

What makes you think you can’t tell me?”

She says,

“Well I don’t know if you will understand.”

I said,
“Oh honey, try me. I will do my best to understand.”

With a deep breath and a few more steps, she preceded to tell me,

“Mommy, the Lord told me we are going to Africa.”

I said

“Oh really? Baby, that’s awesome.

Why is that a secret and why do you think you can’t tell me?”

She said,

“Well I don’t know when we are going but I know we are going.

Does that sound weird?”

I said,

“No honey, it sounds like the voice of our Father.

That is how He speaks to us.

He makes something very clear in our hearts that we know it to be true,

even if we have no idea how it will happen.

That is the exciting part of following Jesus.

So now, you know what we need to do?

We need to wait.

We need to pray and wait patiently.

The Lord will tell us everything we need to know exactly when we need to know it!”

With that she smiled with complete joy and satisfaction,

I put my arm around her and we began to pray as we walked.

This is my 7 year old daughter.

The Lord has a call on her life.

I know He does.

Precious moments that money could never buy,

stitched in my heart and mind, forever.

Thank you Jesus!

This is not the first time I wrote about her precious heart.
I wrote about another time here.

Simply PRICELESS!


“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child
will never enter it.'
And he took the children in his arms
placed his hands in them and blessed them."
Mark 10:14-16

Heart of a child. My child.

"Buy truth, and do not sell it;
   buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding." Proverbs 23:23

So the other night I was sitting with Hannah and we were *discussing* how we need to be thankful for everything that we have.

That the Lord is not pleased when we have a heart of grumbling and unthankfulness.

We need to understand that when mommy puts dinner on the table,

we need to be thankful.

When clothes are laid out for us to wear,

we need to be grateful.

When it's time to take a warm bubble bath we need

to understand that we are a blessed people who have running water.

After going back and forth with my child, I decided…
you know what… she's not too young,

she’s old enough! I need to show her just what I'm talking about.

(Sometimes I feel words go in one ear and out the other.

You with kids ever feel that way? Go figure.)

So I got that iPad and we sat on the couch.

I opened one of my favorite blogs and I started to read to her stories and look at pictures.

I showed her pictures of children that had no parents

They had no home.

The literally lived in the streets

and some of these children were just a little bigger than Phoebe,

barley walking,

left to fen for themselves.

They were given no dinner that night.

They had no clean clothes to put on that day.

In fact, they didn't even have shoes.

They we're as dirty as a little one could get.

That means nobody ran them a warm bubble bath.

They had no cozy bed to crawl into and that “last sip of water” you think you have to have....

They didn't even get water that day!

As we sat there and I shared with her my heart and we looked at these children, tears began flowing down her face. She started to see that these children really were in need and she has everything these little precious children only dream of having.

We both were crying now.

I held her very close. Being very aware of what was happening.

We paused and prayed.

I held her as I prayed that Jesus would send someone to help these little gems. I pleaded with Jesus and asked for a way to be made through the wilderness.

When we were done praying, we just sat there.

For the first time, my daughter, my little 6 ½ year old saw the world with a new set of eyes.

I know things started to transpire in her heart.

She asked me later that night, “Mommy, are there orphans who are going to bed
right now that have tummy aches because they are hungry?”
I had to tell her the truth.
I said, “Yes honey, I am sorry to say that there are.”
She put her arms out to me and started to weep,

“Oh mommy, I want to give them my dinner.”

Heart of a child. My child.

 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child
will never enter it.”

And he took the children in his arms,
placed his hands on them and blessed them."

Mark 10:14-16

My Costco Cart

 

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7:13-14

It's everything I read, everything I look at, I am reminded of this "other world" out there.

A world that I was so blind to before.

I was blind because I chose not to see it.

There is nothing that breaks my heart more than to see a child in need.

Little did I know there are 145 million orphans in need.

The simple things in life are becoming very challenging to me.

I can not go on being "blind" anymore.

My heart aches, weeps, hurts, bleeds, sobs all at the same time.

Is that even possible?

Yes.

Apparently.

This life that I know here in comfy wine country Petaluma is becoming
somewhat foreign to me.

I almost don't even recognize the streets anymore.

I look at everything so differently.

Paul says that while he appreciates the gifts that have been given to him by the people,
he doesn't need them to be content.
He's found the secret to contentedness in all situations
and it is God.

I am content with God, I am not content with the circumstances of my life.

I am not OK with knowing what I know now and doing nothing about it.

God has opened my eyes and I know He has a plan.

I have said it before: Adoption is War!

When one pays money or "fee's" for the process of adoption it is actually a
ransom cost we are paying for these children.
They are held captive in their present situation and we need to set them free.

A ransom must be paid for a freedom of their bodies and souls.

For those who know what I'm talking about, you get it!

This. Is. Huge.

So as I sit at my computer at night and I read stories of people
who have gone before me and are actively pursuing these children
for Christ's-Greater-Good, I am utterly set on fire.

I become more and more consumed with the utter depravity that some children
live and die in daily.

~


Today I went to Costco. Oh the luxury of America.

Up and down the isles, choosing organic this... all natural that.

So many choices.

My shopping cart is filling up very quickly.

Soap, bread, fruit snacks, granola bars, coffee, eggs, blueberries, carrots,

apples, oranges, diapers, napkins, meat, chicken, cheese... I could go on.

All the while in the back of my mind,

I think of the little faces in Africa
that have never seen this much food in their life.

They have never had bottled water.

They have never had an orange.

They have never had organic blueberries.

They have never had a popsicle.

They eat once a day, if that, and it is usually the same meal.

Rice. Beans,

My heart is unravelled.

As I drive out of the parking lot fighting back tears
because I don't want my children to see me crying (again)
(bless their hearts; they probably think crying is my new hobby)

I plead with my Jesus, why? How can this be? It's so wrong.

Oh Lord, use me in all my brokenness to bring Glory to your name

through giving of myself and loving the orphan.

I have to be very careful how I express my heart.

I am SO beyond thankful for all that I have, you have no idea.

I am very aware that I do not deserve any of this.

Why am I not one of those children?

What makes me able to have anything I want at Costco

while others have nothing?

I can not tell you why I have images of Africa in my mind.

I can not tell you why my heart bleeds for these children except

the Lord is calling...

He is calling this child, this adopted child to help others.

I know He is.

I believe He is.

^"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1