OH OH!!! Pick ME!!

Man! This weekend was just fabulous!  Saturday, we were actually all home and were able to do nothing...I mean nothing. I did nothing...like nap, watch tv, play.  Nothing productive at all and it felt awesome!  On Sunday, we went to church, then was treated to a  nice lunch at La Parilla by Andys Family.  Andy is going with us to South Dakota until the Lord leads otherwise.  We had our mission night last night and we were honored to have Pastor Mike Brennan from Pine Ridge come and speak to our church and family members.  This is only the second time we have met him and we have definatly connected in an amazing way.  He is a Native himself and has incredible insight on how to reach his people. 

The phrase of the night "it will be hard..." Comforting right? haha! In reality, the Lakota People are one of the hardest people group in the United States to reach.  And Satan has a huge foothold their and he will attack when people come in bringing the gospel.  Pine Ridge is the most poverty stricked region in the United States.  It is filled with people who are hurting, and crying out for truth.  If we can help, if only for a few months, what a huge calling.  We were so encouraged in having him here, and also having Mitch from TeamEffort come down as well.  We will be working with their ministry for 7 weeks as Camp Directors for their youth camps. And the other 3-4 months we will be working along side the local ministry and supporting the Kids Summer day camp.

Some people have asked if Domestic Missions is different than Foreign Missions in the aspect of raising support.  And in some ways it is, some people think we are just moving and getting jobs in South Dakota.  Basically just relocating.  But in reality, we are leaving our home, our jobs, and our ministry and working full time serving the Lakota People.  We are going fully dependant and trusting in the Lord. That's a very humble place to be.  This part is not the most fun, but it's the business side of the ministry.  If you will, pray and trust the Lord to move in your heart to see in what way you can partner up with us.  We are trusting God for our full financial support but we are also trusting that He is raising up Prayer Warriors on our behalf.  All support is through our church and is tax deductible to you. 

I will include the news email that we sent out yesterday, please continue to pray for our ministry as well as our preperation.  You are all so special to us and we wouldnt be in the position we are today without all of you!! Love you!!!

Hello everyone,
We wanted to give you all an update on what the Lord is doing with us.
First thing - if you are free tonight at 7, pastor Two Shadows (Mike Brennan) of the pine ridge Indian reservation will be with us at our church tonight. Pastor Mike is a missionary on the reservation and who we will be working with in SD. I know you will be blessed to hear him tonight if anyone would like to come.
We are still trusting the Lord and ask you to pray with us about our living arrangements there. We are still praying about an RV, either purchasing one if the funds are there or borrow one if someone would allow us to use theirs for the summer.
We are still short of the funds needed to live there for the time we have made a goal of, but are still very much trusting that God has it taken care of.
As of right now Matt is leaving may 3rd to start the 24 hr drive, and Amanda, jacob and Leah will be flying up the end of may to meet up. That is only a few weeks away and it seems like time is going by very fast.

Matt is flying up April 3rd and coming back the 7th, mainly to canvas the area and get some last things settled before making the drive, and to meet with some of the people we will be working with in the coming months.
We are having a carwash on April 21st to help raise some funds.
If you are interested in partnering with us on this or if you would like to pledge some towards this, please contact us and we will let you know how you can help with that.

Some things to be in prayer about on our behalf.
That our trust in the Lord will not waiver.
Our living arrangements would be settled.
The funds would be there for us to stay the full time.
Gas prices. - yes they are going up if you didn't notice, and this is a big expense for us.
Andy Rapson - a friend that is going up with us and staying for a while.
Pastor Mike and his family.
Thank you so much for all of your support, God has been so gracious to us and has ministered to us through so many of you and we are truly grateful. We look forward to seeing what God is going to do in SD this summer and the years to come.

Learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, Jacob and Leah
Mhadden@gmail.com
678-471-9945

If you would like to support us you can send any support to (please add "South Dakota" in the memo line.)
Harvest Park Baptist Church
37 Frank Cook Road
Newnan, GA 30263

Oh the joy!

So for one...I have GOT to get my camera fixed! I am missing all these amazing moments and my blog is looking a bit drab.  My phone SM card isn't working either so I can't take pics on my phone.  So in the next week (hopefully) be looking for some posts with some pictures :)

So today has just been fabulous!! Other than the allergies that I'm fighting, it has been beautiful.  My sweet niece, Ashlyn, is here visiting from Texas so my grandparents picked him up from school to visit with her. So I've been here all morning with my sweet Leah.  I get asked alot if we are going to have more kids or not.  When I think about this I have this wonderful feeling of JOY. Yes, when I think about managing it all, I get a little overwhelmed at the "todos", but what greater blessing or joy?!  No jumping to conclusions, haha!  JOY has been resounding in my heart for weeks now and I have prayed for more times to feel joy and recognize joy in my life in the little everyday moments. I have been wanting to get fit, lose a few or more pounds, and feel good about my body again. Doing something for me, with MY hard work, and MY determination. No one can do it for me. So I was outside doing jumping jacks, and stretching, and here is this beautiful angel beside me doing everything I am doing.  Counting up to as high as she can then starting over. We stretched and did the "jumpy things", then started on our walk to soak up this day.  I prayed in my heart that I would find joy in every moment, and that's what I found.  We were walking and she had a hold of my finger and she was just jabbering away!  I can pick up her words but this was a special conversation. Something was so exciting that she was talking a hundred miles a minute.  I had to stop her and say "leah, baby, slow down!"  She looked up and said "I love you more mommy"....brought tears to my eyes!  This is something we hear all day long.  She loves so much!  And she tells us often.  She wakes us up in the morning to "i love you daddy, or I love you mommy".  But this was just so precious, and unexpected.

So we walked and we sat down for a while and laughed at everything! She was so giddy!  I sat there wishing that I took more moments like this everyday.  Throw out my schedule or to do list, stopped working, and took a second to love and spend time with my kids. The work of a mom is exhausting.  And No, men will NEVER get it!! Matt can clean the house top to bottom in a few hours and wonder why it takes me so long. Don't worry Ladies...he has NEVER said anything like that, because he knows that wouldn't end well, but sometimes I feel like he's thinking it. Then I think, why is it so hard for me to get things accomplished around the house.  My job description is not to just cook, clean, and look fantastic at the end of the day (bahahahaha!!).  It includes incredible amounts of teaching, disciplining, inspiring, and loving.  I would love to have more kids, and we do hope to adopt one day as well, but If God blesses us with more children, I can't wait to pour out our love on them! It is a powerful thing!!

One thing my kids will always be able to say is that they felt loved by Matt and I.  They hear it often, we hug them often, and make sure they know that.  I hope when they have their own families that they love even more than we did! Jacob and Leah both are quick to tell others that they love them, and I hope their love for others grows more and more everyday.  Love it the most powerful thing in the world!! And I hope they feel it always.

Take time out of your day and love on your kids! You'll miss these moments when they grow up!! :)

From this....

To this.....

 

and this....

To this....

I pray that I find JOY in every single moment.

Your way.

So I'm guessing an update is in order! Thank you for being patient with me.  We are at a place where we are starting to plan the BIG fundraisers and really getting our sponsorship in order. We are looking into a wonderful RV that would fit our needs and trusting the Lord to work in this situation.  Defiantly praying ALOT.  The Lord had brought to my attention the things that I haven't brought before Him. And to be honest I was surprised myself at how much "planning" I have done on my own. Now WHY on earth would I go and do that??!!! Well because sometimes I think without thinking if that makes sense.  I should allow the God of the Universe to gracefully and perfectly appoint everything about our time there, but I let myself get in the way.  I say it's "OK" to worry...I'm a mom and its my job to plan and do, but I have been given a more important role in this adventure. That is to TRUST and pray, and be obedient!  To let go of every expectation and expect God to work things out for His glory, in whatever way He seems fit.  Some say that's hard, and if you asked me a few days ago I would have agreed. But in this whole experience, God has allowed my little self shrink a little more everyday.  Did you know that when you totally release yourself, your plans, your family, your hopes, your visions, and completely trust in HIS plans, hopes, and visions, He will give you this overwhelming peace?  I'm not there yet,  but each day (and it may take years...ha!) I am getting a bit closer, and God is giving me a little more peace.  The peace of God is SO freeing!! If you haven't experienced it, I dare you to try it.  Ask for Peace in your finances! Yes...your bank account may be $0 but stand on the promise that HE provides all your needs according to HIS riches in Glory.  Ask for peace in your family! Peace in your marriage, your relationships, your work, your ministry.  Release your worry and your fear and take hold of the promises of God. Trust that He will do what He says He will do, and do not be moved by circumstance. 

I went to visit my parents church this past Sunday, and my sweet cousin, Caitlin, sang a song that has defiantly rang true in my heart the last few days.

It will be my JOY to say...Your will, Your way, ALWAYS!

Some of my PAST worries, (Thank you Jesus!!) have been...."OK...so, we will be living, cooking, homeschooling, working, and playing in a RV with 2 kids, a dog, and probably a few extra visitors throughout our time there!!" Wait for it....wait for it....one....two.....three.....FREAK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Humph........Yes...even you might stress if you thought about that for a few hours.  So I started to pray that my Father would help me to find JOY in every moment.  While we are crammed and stuffed in the camper, let me find joy in the chaos and take a deep breathe in and enjoy this time with my children.  While I clean up every little thing, 35 times a day, just so it looks like we have a floor in such a small place, help me to find joy in letting the mess be a mess for a while.  Let me find JOY in letting my precious Savior direct our every moment.  And right now, I can't tell you how excited I am to be living in an RV for 6 months!! God has shown me the excitment and fun in doing something out of the norm, and how He is going to bless our time there!  It's not for everyone, but we are being faithful. It will be hard and right now there are a lot of unknowns but I commit in my heart to trust and to be obedient to His calling for our precious little family!

I challenge you to let go of the things you feel you can control. Let go and let God do His work in your life and in your situation.  And just when you think you have let go enough...let go a little more.  And a little more.

Gods peace is real and I know that I will experience that a little more every day that I choose to let Him work.

~amanda

Newsletter

Hello Everyone,

I hope this letter finds you all well.
I wanted to update everyone as to what God is doing with us as a family in our journey toward Pine Ridge.
All of mine and Amanda's life we have seen God do things directly in our lives as well as the people around us. So it would seem that we wouldnt have any problems just leaning back and trusting completely that God will provide just as He has promised, but for whatever reason, it is easy to forget how magnificently big our God is.
Many of the people we have talked to have expressed how hard it is to do short term mission trips to Pine Ridge, much less live there. For me that somewhat excites me even more to know that it will definately have to be a God thing for us to be there. I would also be lying to say that the thought of that didnt scare me a little. it is not always easy to be out of our comfort zones, so one thing we are going through right now is the process of learning how to lean on God for stability and provision.
I had said before that a vision needs cultivating. God does not always share with us an entire vision of what He is wanting to do in our lives, for us it was "I want you to go!" the rest will come as you begin to take steps of obedience. We are excited to find out new things about what we will be doing there as it comes to us. One thing is for sure, there is plenty of things that God is opening up for us while we are there. Our months there have already been filled up. Primarily God has led us to come alongside the body of believers that are already there and support them in their growth and serve the pastor there with helping him carry out the vision God has given him for his people. Part of that vision is to have a kids day camp through the summer where children from all points of the reservation can come and learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ within their own culture and learn that the love of God is not limited to any certain color of skin or race. It sounds far reached that there are people groups within our own country that have not had a clear presentation of the Gospel. Maybe in a few years or so I can send you a newsletter that speaks of something different, saying that there are no more people in the US that have not heard a clear gospel of Jesus.
If that is your desire, I want to encourage you to rise up and be obedient to what God has commanded each one of us to do, and you will see that the fields are plentiful and ready for the harvest.

We wanted to make our needs known to each one of you so that you would join us in praying for us, as we know the Lord will meet everyone of our needs to what he has called us to.
1.  We are still a long way short of our support - the cost of living is less on the reservation, however the fuel cost to do ministry there is a lot more. Fuel is a big portion of our support.
2.  A place to stay - yes that is right, we still arent sure where exaclty we are going to be staying! we are praying about an RV possibly if someone has one that is going to be sitting for the summer and would like for it to be used, we can help you with that. we are also open to finding a house, trailer, barn or tent to stay in on the reservation. i know that God already has that place reserved for us He just hasnt shared that with us yet, so pray that we would have patience and faith in trusting that has already been taken care of.
3.  Tires for trailer - we are taking an enclosed trailer that was given to us to carry my tools and such up there as we go to be able to do some construction projects while we are there and it needs tires and electric brakes on it to safely make the 24 hr trip in May.
4.  For Pastor Mike and Monica Brennan - he is the pastor of the church there and the people we will be working alongside
5.  For Amanda, Jacob, Leah and myself - that we would have the fruit of the Spirit, and that our faith would not waiver

Thankyou for praying for us.
The plan is for me to leave May 3rd, driving up and Amanda and the kids will be flying up the end of May.
If you have any questions or would like to know more feel free to give me a call anytime - 678-471-9945
If the Lord leads you to support us either one time or on monthly basis we thankyou for supporting us and being obedient to the Lord.
You can make any support donations to us directly or to
Harvest Park Baptist Church
Mail to;
Hadden Family
8830 Gullatt Rd
Palmetto, Ga 30268

Thankyou so much for being a part of our lives,

learning to serve the Lord in all we do,
Matt, Amanda, jacob, Leah Hadden
--

Mi Amor...

Valentines Day oh Valentines Day....there were years that I hated you...and now years that I love you.  In our busy schedules, we dont go out of our way everyday to show our love in special ways.  We get home from work and just want to get to bed.  We have busy days where we just want to be alone with our bubble baths, music, candle, and our own peace and quiet.  Yes, Valentines Day should be everyday,  but in reality...other things take priority most days. So what is this concept?  That we should take time, 5 min out of our day to show love and affection to the people who love and adore us?  Yes.  I'm guilty of this for sure.  My schedule, my demands, my priorities are sometime out of wack, and sometimes my affection suffers. Good thing my husband has the love tank the size of a peanut or we would be so in trouble.  haha!

Today what makes me thankful, more than anything...is that the creator of the universe loved us so much that he wanted to bless us with the opportunity to feel love.  Did he have to?  Did he have to create Eve for Adam? Did he have to create nature so that we could grasp the very definition of beauty? Did he have to design marriage? or the desire for a relationships and friendships?  No, He didnt. But He LOVED me.   He wanted me to feel love, to know love, to experience love, to show love.  He wanted us to know and understand the love that He has for his children, so he gave us the gift of parenthood.  So we could have a tiny grasp of the love between a mother and a child.  He wanted us to feel the intimacy that comes with a strong marriage so that we could grasp the intimacy and anticipation of Christ and His bride. He loved us so that He blessed us with the opportunity to love and feel love.  There is no greater gift.  Love is the most powerful thing in this world. It's the most powerful emotion.

Thank you God for loving us enough to give us the greatest gift of all... Your Love.

Love today, and everyday.  With every emotion.  With every moment.

Amazima Ministries

I'm excited about this next Series of blogs! Every Monday....from here on out, I will be highlighting different ministries that are near and dear to my heart.  I'm really excited about making you aware of these ministries .  They are doing awesome things for the Kingdom and hope that you enjoy reading about them as much as I have.  As you read these, be in prayer on how you can partner, support, or just spread the word about the work being done.  There is power in knowledge!!

Our first highlight is Amazima Ministries.  This is an organization that feeds, educates, and encourages orphaned children and the poor in the country of Uganda.  This is a special ministry.  It was founded by Katie Davis in 2008 when she was only 19.  She is a southern girl from Tennessee who followed the high calling that the Lord had for her.  I love this story because she visited Uganda on a short term mission trip and came back, graduated high school, and allowed the Lord to take her to this place of complete surrender.  She knew the Lord was calling her back to Uganda.  Thankfully her parents trusted God and knew that there is  no more perfect place then in the perfect will of an almighty God.   She committed herself to going back and working as a teacher for the orphanage and quickly saw an overwhelming need.  If you know anything about Uganda, you know the whole country is overwhelmed with need.  Poverty, sickness, and war rage on.  These are desprate people. 

God laid it on Katie's heart to start a child sponsorship program, matching orphaned and vulnerable children who are unable to afford schooling with sponsors anywhere in the world. Sponsors pay $300 per year to send one child to school, providing school supplies, 3 hot meals each day, spiritual discipleship, and medical care. Originally planning to have 40 children in the program, Katie had signed up 150 by January 2008. Today the program sponsors over 400 children. (information taken from the Amazima Ministries website.)

Another amazing aspect of Katies ministry is her own personal commitment to these children.  At 23 years old she is the foster mom of 14 young girls.  She is parenting as a single parent and loving these girls with ALL she has.  She is an amazing inspiration to me personally and I can't wait to see how our precious Lord continues to bless her family and ministry. 

Check out her website and read her story in "kisses from katie".  Also, follow their facebook page.  One of my favorite things she states in her book is this:

I'm not here to eliminate poverty, or eradicate disease, or to put a stop to people abandoning babies. I'm just here to love. 

- Katie Davis

That has stuck out to me so much.  We are here to love one person at a time, to feed one child, to minister to one mother, to reach one family. We aren't going to change the world in a day, but one day can change a life. 

I hope that you will follow this ministry and pray for Katie's family!

Who am I? - Part 1

I wondered today what to write about...not because I lack ideas but because I'm a little overwhelmed with things to write about.  This message overflows my heart and will be my life message to young women everywhere.  I have had a heart for young girls since I was in high school.  I was in high school and defiantly struggled with my self image but at the same time I was pretty confident and I'll tell you why as we get more into this. According to the image the media paints, I didn't have a reason to be confident.

 I had out of control curly hair, bangs that seemed more like a built in visor than bangs! I did have these rockin, gigantic, very fashionable (not!!) glasses that took up the majority of my precious little face.  I had wonderful friendships, most of which I still have today. I was involved in our Theatre department at my school and pursued music early on. I even modeled for a bit after my awkward stage.  I did a photo shoot, and got accepted to go to audition at one of the biggest events in New York City.  But at the photo shoot I noticed that they were picking out outfits that didn't reflect who I was in terms of modesty.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always the most modest person, but I did respect myself enough to know that I wanted to be taken seriously.  I wanted to stand out but on my OWN terms. So I knew that for me, if I went into acting (which I still dream about sometimes...) and modeling I would set aside some of my standards that I had set for myself. So I turned New York down, and never did any more modeling after I won the award for Best Catwalk out of the whole school...lol, which I do manage to remind Matt of from time to time.  I did nail the catwalk!! haha!!

Your probably thinking, "OK, get off your high horse!!"  I say all of that to share this.  I had a wonderful dad that reminded me almost daily through either his teaching, preaching, or the stern verbal reminder that I was beautifully and wonderfully made.  That every decision we make is based on our self worth.

Yes...EVERY decision.

If we understand the position we have in Christ, the position of the Kings' beloved daughter, alot in our lives would change.  We wouldn't enter into meaningless relationships to feel valued.  We wouldn't allow others to take advantage of us in order to fit into a certain crowd.  We wouldn't allow the media to shift our view of ourselves.  We wouldn't expect our husbands to make us feel a certain way, or depend on him to make us feel valued, THEN be disappointed when he can't meet your expectations. We wouldn't wear our emotions on our sleeves to be quickly hurt or offended. We would see ourselves in a new light. If we understood our value stood on the truth of the Word, we would make decisions based on the truth of who we are in Christ.  We would know that we are valued by the King of Kings!  Question - If a big star or the cutest guy in town told you that you were beautiful, wouldn't you believe it?  Wouldn't your confidence be radiant?  Why don't we believe the Lord when he calls us beautiful and perfectly made? 

What in our lives would change if we understood who we are in Christ?