May Recap

May has been one jam-packed month for us. We started off the month on our Support Raising Road Trip, and are ending it with a productive day in Zambia as we settle back into our little life here. There have been speaking engagements and health mysteries in between there, and we’re excited to update y’all about both of those.

After it took a pretty penny to go back to the States, we are now on the other side to assess, “Was it worth it?”

Visiting with family and friends is priceless of course, but putting that aside, was it worth it?

Absolutely.

We are back in Zambia with a refreshed soul, a refined vision, and a replenished support account.

Let’s take a break before we dive into June and just praise God and thank Him for these 3 victories He’s accomplished in and through our lives by His grace.

1. A refreshed soul: We wish we could spill our guts out and share every detail of the events that occurred during January-April. For security and other reasons, we simply cannot. But trust us when we say that even one event/occurrence/hardship out of the 4 of these that happened over that time period would be enough to deal with for an entire year. So what about 4? How do we process that? Honestly, it’s been overwhelming. We’ve had to figure out what it looks like to deal with traumatic situations and hardships to be better equipped to handle them next time and to properly deal with the emotional toll it took on our lives and our marriage. It’s with the greatest gratitude in my heart that I get to share that God did a lot of healing during our time in the States. Not because He owed it to us, but because He loves us so much that He wanted more for us than our own confusion, doubt and anger. We’re still works in progress, and will continue to be as new experiences come about, but I can honestly say that we have grown greatly in our understanding of God’s character and grown together in our young marriage. And that is the greatest gift.

I thought setting a time frame to be refreshed meant that it would happen in that way, but that’s funny considering I can’t control time or control healing within. I now know that God is perfect in His timing, and that even if things seem delayed or off-course to me, He is doing exactly as He needs in His perfect goodness. Anxiety can be replaced with peace. Control replaced with trust.

Thank you to our friends and family who have loved us and cared for us so intentionally and sacrificially over this past season in the States. We have been spoiled by you, loved by you, and healed through God working through you. Maybe you think a snow cone at a picnic table or a homemade dinner was just a simple gesture. But it has impacted us deeply and encouraged us greatly. We are so grateful for those of you who love us enough to walk through tricky seasons with us, to lift us up through your prayers, and to lean down far enough to pull us out of the ick.

2. A refined vision: Each support presentation/party and speaking engagement gave us the opportunity to re-learn and re-evaluate why we do what we do. And if we believe that what we do is God’s will for us. Bet you didn’t know all that was running through our minds in addition to the speaking jitters, right? ;) But for real, it was so good for us to get to share our ministry and our mission with friends, family, and strangers-turned-dear-friends. With each passing flip through our slideshow, our motivation and confidence grew greater and greater.

We are meant to serve with Clothed in Hope together. For as long as God wills.

So we wanted to share OUR vision as a family living in Zambia, working at Clothed in Hope:

We believe HOPE is real and hope is alive in Zambia. Jesus is here, and He is performing miracles in the lives of Zambian women and their families. We believe He’s given us a heart for these people to empower them socially and financially, but most importantly to empower them spiritually. We believe the program is bigger than a few sewing machines and white boards. We believe the freedom these ladies experience can only be explained through Jesus. He is setting captives free. He is proclaiming freedom over the oppressed. He is granting these ladies a crown of beauty instead of ashes. Through the Gospel of Jesus alive in Clothed in Hope, we get a front row seat to witness lives being redeemed, made new, set free.  As the Bardi Family, we believe God has graced us with the opportunity to join in the stories He is re-writing here in Zambia, turning despair into HOPE for women and their families all across Zambia. And that is just so exciting!! We see and we know that God is greatly at work here, and He’s invited us in. An incredibly humbling invitation, and one we can’t believe we get to accept. We are dedicated to forming intentional relationships with the ladies and children we get to work with, to share the hope of Jesus with them, and to empower them to embrace the identity and freedom Jesus has proclaimed for them. We are co-laboring with the other women God has raised up to do His work in Ng’ombe, to be a light in the darkness for His glory. And that is such a blessing.

3. A replenished support account: Time to get real on this one. Programs need money, people need money. And money matters to God because it’s an area that we pretend doesn’t exist so we don’t have to trust Him with it. When I say we, I really say we because I’m definitely in that category. Unplanned and unexpectedly, we found ourselves in a really tough position financially earlier this Spring. One that was threatening to pull us out of Zambia. Yet we felt God affirming our mission and our lives here every step we took, so that led to a lot of confusion and such. One of our main reasons for going to the States was to connect with more people to invite them to join us in our work in Zambia by supporting us prayerfully and financially. We were going to give it one last push as we felt God was directing us to be back for this season.

The whole process was actually really scary. Before we left Zambia we were on a bread, eggs, veggies and rice diet, which is far better than the majority of the world, but still a hard reality for us to deal with, especially as newlyweds with other ideas of what we “deserved” for starting out this whole marriage thing (sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?!). Some great friends of ours here reminded us that the call to follow and serve Jesus isn’t promised to be full of financial blessings. But it is promised to be full of spiritual blessings and the closeness of Christ, which is far greater. They encouraged us to press on, to eat those rice and veggies with hearts full of gratitude, as God will never forget about us. We are in His hands. And that word has helped us press on.

During the support raising road trip and season in the States, we were so encouraged by (the most unlikely) people who felt a stirring in their hearts to join us and be a part of what God is doing in Zambia through Clothed in Hope. We made so many new friends, and were blessed time and time again by people’s prayers. But fear kept us from seeing most of this goodness in real time. I feared it still wouldn’t be enough. That God didn’t know what He was doing. That we were alone in our struggle. That I was crazy for thinking the prior thoughts.

Fast forward to 3 days ago. The big day. The day we would re-evaluate our financial standing and edit our budget to see how long we could stay here. Our lease is up in August, and we didn’t share this with many people, but we were convinced we’d just have to pack our bags and head out in August. But God. But God used every single gift, big and small, to provide for our every need. But God lavished unfathomable mercy and grace upon us while we doubted Him and His ability. But God chose to allow us to stay here in Zambia, for reasons far beyond what we can understand.

So for the big news: We are up 25% of our monthly support commitments and are now at 55% of our support goal!!!

With a huge flood of extremely generous one-time gifts from old friends and new friends, we are now able to stay through the end of 2014 based on where we stand financially at this very moment!!! That is HUGE!!! We are so grateful, as our hearts desire is to plant our roots here and begin real life here in Zambia.

We are still working to reach our support goal so we can continue to live here for 2015 and beyond, but instead of thinking how much remains to do, we will PRAISE GOD for what HE has done- for bringing us to this place and for grace upon grace when we least deserve it!!

To sum up this entire lengthy blog post in one word: grace.

It has been a season of grace, and we are grateful to carry that with us as we usher in a new one having just returned to Zambia. The page has been turned; we are opening a new chapter. This is just the beginning now and we are so excited for all that lies ahead.

Oh and before I wrap this up, thank you for praying for my health! I’m feeling much better and the pains are lessening in frequency and intensity. God has worked through each of you.

We are beyond grateful for your involvement in our lives, whether we get to talk to you frequently or we’ve never even met. You are a blessing to us and a treasure to Jesus.

Zikomo Kwambiri (Thank you very much)!

Love,

Amy and Wyatt

Cleared for Takeoff

Hi friends,

It's Amy here again, and it's time for yet another catch-up post. As of Monday, I have completed all of the tests ordered from my doctor. Yay! Even though I just laid there for each one, I still will pat my own back for the accomplishment of the decade considering my medical heebee-jeebees. I didn't pass out or scare any nurses. I drank 48 ounces of a lemonade concoction in 20 minutes. I had what felt like hot lava flow through my veins for a hot second (literally). I laid so still for 2 hours that my arms and legs went numb (but I got to watch a Tyler Perry movie during that one, so I don't know if it counts). I had my stomach inflated like a balloon (but got a milkshake after, so also don't know if it counts either). I got stabbed in the same arm multiple times. I didn't have a panic attack with any random anesthesiologists. I filled out too-much paperwork, signed a bazillion forms, and read too many issues of home & gardening magazines from 2011.

So if I may, I claim the survival of such crazy tests quite a victory.

Now to answer the question that many folks want to know: no, they didn't really pinpoint what's going on. They have a better idea because of such thorough tests, but there isn't a clear diagnosis. Therefore, the pain is still around. Manageable, yes, but also quite unpredictable in its severity. Nothing has been found to stop it so far, but I'm going to pick up a couple prescriptions today to start on a treatment plan from the best GI doc in the world (okay, not really, but I think so). Sidenote: I'm freakishly excited to pick up these said prescriptions because it means one more thing... one last trip to TARGET.

Every single weird test I went through, especially the test during which I got to watch the Tyler Perry movie mentioned from above on the imaging screen, I was just so glad that people who love me enough to challenge my stubborn decisions encouraged me to stay in America for these tests. Now there's no question. It's nothing serious, and that's something to be super thankful for! And to all of you kind folks out there- thank you so much for your prayers! I had the nicest, most understanding medical staff that I've ever encountered. Plus, I got to have some great life chats with the nurses who had to stick around for these lengthy procedures. I suppose it wasn't too terrible after all.

With one last visit to the worlds greatest GI doctor yesterday, I am all cleared to go! We've packed our bags (for real this time) with the most random goodies we couldn't seem to find in Zam (like maple syrup, great coffee, Pilot pens, and deliciously scented candles for those power outages), and we're ready to go!

Our flight out of RDU leaves at 6am on Saturday and from there it's JFK > Dubai > Lusaka! We'll be back there so soon, and we are both so excited to return to our little life there with our other set of church family and friends. We're returning without a return date back to America, but more info on that in another post to come.

Thank y'all for your faithful prayers and encouragement! It's pretty great to do life with you all, near and far!

Love,
Amy and Wyatt

A Minor Delay

Alright, time to catch y’all up to speed here.

Tomorrow morning at 6am our flight is leaving America, but not with us on it.

After having a whirlwind week of tests, doctor visits, procedures, and fundraising events, I was just ready for some normalcy. So I think I pretended the pain wasn’t there anymore when I tried to convince everyone that I was ready to head back to Zambia on time. [Pretty sure that’s what fear is. Escapism from the tough stuff even if its tremendously valuable and worth it; the pursuit of comfort. Yikes.]

With one bag fully packed, progress was being made, yet something inside me just felt unsettled.  Yes I could go back trusting God to heal me or manage the pain and that would be alright, but what if God was opening doors to receive healing and treatment through doctors here in America so that I could be fully healthy to be fully effective in Zambia? I’m pretty sure the latter was the case, because within a couple minutes, a doctor here in Raleigh opened up a space so that I could be seen immediately.

Side note: I have pretty extreme anxiety when it comes to anything medical related. I’ve passed out at the eye doctor before. Normal right? I used to be really embarrassed about it, but now I’m at the point that I could wear a t-shirt with it printed across the front and not really care. Yes it’s weird. No I don’t know where it came from, though I know having retired nurses surprise-stab me with a Hepatitis B shot during middle school gym class didn’t quite help with the whole thing. I can live over in Africa, survive just fine in dangerous and uncomfortable situations all by myself, but you will never find me alone at a doctor’s office. Crazy, huh? So all that mumbo jumbo to say- doctor’s visits are really hard for me. Procedures, blood tests, all that fun stuff pretty much knocks me out for an entire day.

So as exciting as it was to get to go to another doctor yesterday, it’s hard. But I am so grateful for God providing this much-needed appointment to continue testing to find the source of this pain. I am so appreciative of a medical team (and family) who knows my fears and is caring towards me.

To get fully caught up, here’s the deal: The doctor needed more time than 36 hours to find the source of my pain. So he’s calling for a series of pretty serious tests to narrow down the search. Tomorrow morning is a CT scan, Friday morning an upper endoscopy, and a gallbladder test to wrap it all up next week.

Should everything go according to plan, Wyatt and I will be heading back to Zambia on May 24. We are thankful for open seats on the exact same flight plan just pushed back a few days.

I really am so glad to have the opportunity to receive excellent healthcare while I’m here, and that this issue arose during my time here so it could be attended to properly. Somehow I don’t think that’s a coincidence.  So praise God for that.

I’ll try to post another recap after these tests have been done, and after I’ve re-watched every Julia Roberts movie as a means of bringing my nerves back down to normalcy after each day of tests.

In the meantime, it would mean so much to us if you wanted to join in praying:

- Praising and thanking God for His provision through doctors who care and whom He gifted in the field of medicine

- Prayers for peace that surpasses all understanding and an overcoming of a fear I’ve battled for over 10 years

- Prayers for thorough tests and wise doctors to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan

- Prayers for eyes and hearts that see and know that God is good and trustworthy and has plans far greater than we can fathom

- Prayers against any bit of discouragement that tries to creep in

- Praise for Elina, our in-country director, who keeps CiH running in our absence and loves those ladies just like Jesus does 

Thank y'all for your prayers, encouragement, checking in, and for being pretty amazing. God is truly glorified through y'all. 

Love,

Amy (and Wyatt)

Road Trip Detour

Here we are on Day 7 of our Fundraising Road Trip. Things have gone a little stranger than anticipated. But with every great adventurous road trip comes the possibility of a few detours and road blocks, right?!

This past Saturday evening, Amy began having pains in her upper abdomen that have yet to let up. With our flight to Zambia taking off in just 6 days, we decided to dive headfirst into a whirlwind of medical visits to try to find a diagnosis and treatment while still in the land of premium healthcare options.

We’ve been to 4 different offices. Amy’s been poked and prodded. And when it all looked impossible to see a particular specialist, God made a way in providing a last-minute cancellation, which we squeezed into this morning.

The great news- it doesn’t appear to be anything serious. Every test has come back negative, and that’s a huge praise. We’re currently awaiting one particular test’s results to determine next steps, weighing the very real possibility of having to delay our trip back until we can get to the bottom of this mystery pain.

We’ll keep y’all posted as we decide our next steps and would greatly appreciate your prayers. Prayers for a speedy and accurate diagnosis, for a treatment to cure the pain and weakness, for discernment on next steps, next procedures, next doctors, and prayers for hearts that trust through every step.

And if we can be vulnerable and honest for a hot second, it’s been a tough few days. We were only able to attend 4 out of 10 meetings with potential supporters so far. This health issue seems a bit inconvenient which feels ridiculous to admit, but the timing of it all has forced us to gain a fresh perspective in God’s sovereignty.

We don’t know why Amy has developed this health issue during the only time we’ve been able to solely fundraise this year. But He is not surprised at the timing. He is bigger than any health issues. He is able to provide for our every need despite our setback in fundraising plans. He knows what He’s doing. And He is trustworthy and good.

So in the midst of the chaos of blood panels and anxiety-inducing doctors visits (for Amy), and the very real possibility of having to delay our return to our home in Zambia, it is okay. We are not alone. And God is in control.

We love y’all and are grateful for your prayers and care.

Love,

A&W

Road Trip!

It’s been over a month since we’ve posted an entry on here and we’re appreciative of y’alls grace to allow us to unplug for a little bit, processing and healing inwardly while we’ve been back in the States.

We’ve had our fair share (or excessive share) of Chick-fil-a and Cook Out. We got to watch some friends tie the knot. We’ve visited with our great family and friends. We’ve (admittedly) watched a bazillion movies and too many trashy reality TV shows. Basically, it’s been quite a successful rest season and we’ve enjoyed our time back in the Good Ole U S of A.

We just parted ways with the R&R season of our stay and have hit the ground running with the Fundraising season. We kicked off our Bardi Fundraising Road Trip in Florida visiting Amy’s Grandparents’ church, and were so encouraged by their kindness and willingness to partner with us in our work in Zambia.

Last night, we filled up some bellies with NC Style BBQ & sweet tea at our Dine & Discover fundraiser in Raleigh, NC hosted by our great friends and Amy’s parents. We loved sharing some untold stories with these folks and even threw in a surprise relay race, the Chitenge Challenge, where 2 contestants had to each carry 17 lbs. wrapped to their back (aka a baby) while carrying 30 lbs. of water around a little course to illustrate life as a ZamMama. Needless to say, it was a blast.

Now we’re in Florence visiting with Wyatt’s wonderful family for the weekend.

Next stop: Columbia, SC and the schedule goes as follows in case anyone wants to jump in for a last-minute visit or perhaps a last-minute fundraising party? ;)

May 3-5: Florence, SC

May 5-8: Columbia, SC with a Fundraiser house party on May 6

May 8-11: Brevard, NC (and some surrounding places)

Then we fly back across the ocean on May 14! Can’t believe it’s gone by so quickly.

If you’d like to meet up with us to hear about our lives in Zambia and how you can be a part of our ministry to help us stay in Zambia, we’d love to chat with you! Just email Wyatt at wyatt@clothedinhope.org.

And if you are in a city outside our Road Trip, you can still be a part of our support team and we’d love that! We are currently living off of 35% of our support goal, making progress, but are in great need of ministry partners contributing monthly to continue living in Zambia. Together, we can help break the chains of injustice and oppression and give HOPE to vulnerable women in Zambia.

We know that hope is alive, hope is real, and hope is truly changing the lives of women through Clothed in Hope. It would be a great joy to have you join us!

For more info, check out www.clothedinhope.org or holler at us.

Bags are packed, Chex Mix and playlists ready to go. Road trippin' here we come. 

Love,

A&W