wherever you go

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Dear Friends,

I pray this letter finds you well! It is hard to believe another year has passed and it is now 2012. I used to laugh when my dad told me that the years speed up as you age, but now I completely believe it. On the 7^th of January I will celebrate my fourth year as a Teaching Parent at Boys and Girls Country. Somehow God has brought me through some tough times as I learn and grow in the understanding of His call to love on orphans. He promises throughout the Bible to love, help, protect, and provide for the orphan child and He fulfills this promise through the body of believers. Do you know that there are 148 million orphans worldwide? While that number is overwhelming, we serve a Mighty and Powerful God who holds the world in His hands.

Last July I was able to serve with a ministry in Mexico, Back2Back Ministries (www.back2backministries.org). This group works with local orphanages to meet the physical, emotional, spiritual, and monetary needs of over 400 children. They also partner with local pastors in 3 squatters’ villages around Monterrey, Mexico to support their ministry to over 1000 families facing poverty. Additionally they provide opportunities to those orphans to live with them and attend high school and college. It is the chance to change their family line! It is my hope and plan to return to Mexico with Back2 Back to serve for a month this summer. While there I will help organize missions’ teams and lead projects in the orphanages. I will serve alongside the full-time missionaries to be God’s hands and feet in the lives of the orphans. While I am excited about this opportunity I am also slightly overwhelmed at the task. My commitment to Back2Back cannot be done alone. As I continue to rely on God for His plan, vision, and provision for this ministry and my involvement I am asking you to join alongside me. The trip costs approximately $1200. This includes the flight to Monterrey, Mexico and the cost of room and board. The due date for this amount is March 5^th. I know that God will provide. I have seen it over and over again in my life and in the lives of the kids I work with; however, my heart still beats a little faster at this new opportunity.

Please lift me up in prayer. Pray that God would provide yet again for this trip. Pray that he would continue to pour out his love and provision on the lives of these orphans. Pray about a partnership with me. Checks can be mailed to me and I will forward them on to Back2Back.

Heidi Coberly

18806 Roberts Road

Hockley, TX 77447

All donations should be made out to Back2Back Ministries and are tax-deductible. Contributions are solicited with the understanding that Back2Back Ministries has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

I saw a train today.
The first since David's death last week.
It hit me deeper than I thought it would.
I couldn't help but picture him laying there.
It broke my heart again.

December seventh of this year my stepbrother decided that life was too much to bear. He said his goodbyes and laid across the railroad tracks near his apartment. Shortly after a train came and David's life was over.

When my sister called I did not believe her.
Part of me still believes that he is just off doing something else and I'll see him the next time I go home.
Denial is such a comfortable place to be.
And it is easy when you are a thousand miles away from home.
But realization slowly hits. And with it comes the grief for a life lost.

Cardinals are rare in Texas. They are beautiful and I love spying their bright red in the trees.
Yesterday I saw one laying on the road.
It had been hit by a car and died.
And I immediately thought of David.

One of the kids I know on Facebook posted about running in front of a moving train.
And I thought of David in front of the train.

I am glad that God understands the pain of my heart. He knows the groans that words cannot express. He knows the pain and feels it. And he turns those groans and that pain into something beautiful. I am clinging to that.

David Fraccalvieri

Friday, December 9, 2011

A belated Thanksgiving Day list...

What am I thankful for?

Grace

Sunsets and Sunrises (and kids that make me get up before the sunrise so I can see it!)

My family ( that seems so generic so let me elaborate)

my sister who is my best friend and an amazing woman!

my dad who raised me to be the person I am.

my nana who became my mom in the past several years

my grandparents who lived such a legacy

my mom who laid a great foundation.

Coffee!

Friends who encourage, love, challenge, and strengthen me. and who love in spite of myself some days

Journals with empty pages that tell me to keep talking.

A God who pursues me, provides more than I could need or want, protects me from Satan... and sometimes from myself, who loves deeply, unconditionally, unreasonably, entirely, and completely and who knows just how to speak into my heart and woe me over and over, and who NEVER gives up!

A job I love with kids I enjoy

A coffeeshop chair in which I am sitting currently

and a door from my room that opens to a wide open field and some beautiful trees

A car that runs

Pandora that plays just what I wanted to hear!

Physical health!

My list could go on for pages and pages, but those were my thoughts this year.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I have never been one to make New Year's Resolutions. One year I tried, but was disappointed when I dropped the ball around March... That was the end of resolutions for me. Now, I pick a word that I want to focus on. A word that comes up throughout the year as I grow in that area. It started about four years ago when I moved to Texas. Fresh out of college and the world awaited me. Back when I had all the answers and knew how I was going to save the world. Back when I thought I knew.

2008- It was this year that I realized that I was not the end-all, be-all. This year I cried a LOT. I realized that I wasn't the solution to the hurt and pain my kids faced. In fact, I couldn't do much of anything except love on them and point them to Jesus. This year was a difficult year for me. One that was all about SURVIVAL. That was my word for the year. I could not do much other than figure out how to put my feet on the ground in the morning and withstand the onslaught of Satan's attacks.

2009- This year I began to grow in the work. I figured out how to make the schedule work, to get as much done in as little time as possible. I began to GROW as a Teaching Parent, GROW in my relationships with my kids, and GROW in life in general. This was not easy, but each step was worth it.

2010- I realized that the little things were slipping away. It was easy to focus on getting my checklist done instead of building relationships with my kids. This year was about learning to be INTENTIONAL. This is also a focus that needs to be every year. I struggled a lot at this throughout the year and it will eventually make it back onto my list of focus areas. But I strove to make the most of those little moments with my kids. I planned for activities to teach them more. Planned occasions to show them how special they were. This is the year I really began to teach them to cook and made them learn it. I also took them to coffee in the mornings and wrote notes to them.

2011- This year has been really difficult for me. The end of last year, one of my very close friends moved back to Mexico, then I had a falling out with a good friend on campus, and to top it off there was several staff changes in both my houses. It rocked my world. And I've struggled all year to gain PERSPECTIVE. It has been an ongoing battle to realize that this little world that I am in right now is not the end all. That this part of my journey is just difficult, but will not last forever. It has been a struggle to step outside of the daily battle and see the big picture.

2012- This is the time of year now that I begin thinking and praying about next year. What word will describe it? What area do I want to grow the most in? Contentment? Endurance? Perseverance?

Lord, I give this next year to you. Change me. Transform me. Make me less and you more! Guide my feet. Prepare my steps. Show me your plan. Lead me where you want me to be.