A little of this and a little of that…

Today, I am just going to share some random things with you, I hope you enjoy them!

Hello Mornings

I have decided to join in on the Hello Mornings Challenge again. This is a great way to start my morning off the right way. Spending time with God, making a plan for my day, and taking time to exercise a few times a week. This fall, the group is doing a inductive study on the book of Ephesians. My book is ordered and I am looking forward to the lessons God has for me.

last homeschool book

Quite a few schools out here have already started and I believe many more will be starting in the next week or two. At this point, our plan is to start at the end of August or right after Labor Day (one of the benefits of private homeschooling!). We have most of our books, but we are waiting for this one last book to arrive. Just got an e-mail that it should arrive just in time for us to start. We have already gone through the first three books in this series and I have been waiting for this fourth book to be published and ready.

Mexico countdown

And I can’t believe that when I first started the countdown for our Compassion trip, the number was 203 days! Matthew’s passport arrived yesterday and I am still making things to fundraise for our trip. Take a peek at my Facebook page, you might find something you like!

Happy Friday, enjoy this summer day, and have a great weekend!

Watching God work

Last week, I was able to spend three amazing (cold!) days at Spirit West Coast with some of the most wonderful Compassion advocates around.

Spirit West Coast crew

On Friday night, a few of us were standing among the crowd waiting for Bob Lenz to come on stage to speak. (Actually, they were all waiting for Thousand Foot Krutch to come on stage, but that is beside the point.) There were a few technical difficulties and Bob ended up having 5 minutes to give his 30 minute talk. But Bob is so great at what he does, he made all the right points that he needed to make. Then we started walking through the crowd, handing child packets to anyone who raised their hand. I handed a child packet to one young lady and she looked at the child’s birth date and said, “Wow, that is my birth date!” I told her to hang onto the packet, pray about it that night, and if she decided to sponsor the child, come by one of the Compassion tables the next day.

Saturday afternoon, Scott (our fearless leader!) gathered all of us to pray for the day and for God to bring the people to sponsor the children that He knew needed to be sponsored that day. Not too long after this, the young lady I had handed the child packet to came by the booth!

new Compassion sponsor

Jessie decided to sponsor little Jose in El Salvador!

I didn’t know when Jessie’s birthday was when I handed her that child packet, but God did. And He knew that Jessie was just the right person to sponsor little Jose. I will be praying for both of them as they begin this wonderful relationship together through Compassion.

What about you? Would you like to sponsor a child who shares your birthday? You don’t have to wait for someone to hand you a child packet at a concert, you can start your search today on the Compassion web site. You have the chance to make a difference in the life of a child living in extreme poverty today. Don’t wait, your Jose may be waiting for you.

Pray for the teachers and leaders

This week, our church is going all out to share the gospel with kids in our community through a week long Vacation Bible School using Answers in Genesis’ Kingdom Chronicles lessons. I am teaching the 6 through 8 years olds (we had 42 of them today!) and my daughter is helping in the 2 and 3 year old class. We had just over 100 kids arrive today!

As I was sitting home this afternoon, relaxing from a busy morning, I was thinking about the many leaders and teachers in the 26 countries where Compassion is sharing the gospel with kids each and every day. I am thankful for them and the time they spend making sure the kids who attend their centers know about the hope they can have in Jesus.

Question for you: Will you pray for the Compassion leaders and teachers today?

We have hit a bump in the road

If you have been reading along on my blog, you know that I have been over the top excited about our upcoming Compassion trip to Mexico to visit this young man. Well, God has other plans…

This morning there was a message on my answering machine letting me know that the Compassion center that Eduardo attends is being closed and that we will no longer be able to sponsor Eduardo, and that I needed to call them back.

After wasting some time (stalling is more like it!), I finally made the call and learned that after many attempts, Compassion has had to pull out of this church because there has not been enough committed volunteers to implement the program. I feel sorry for the poor girl that I was on the phone with because I couldn’t stop the tears. She went onto to explain that the church will continue to run a children’s ministry program that Eduardo can attend. She also told me that Eduardo is a healthy and quiet boy, he just completed the first grade. Then she shared with me the best news that any sponsor would want to hear:

“He accepted Christ as his Savior”

Even though I am so disappointed that we will not be able to continue to sponsor Eduardo, it warms my heart to know that He knows my Savior, that he is my brother in Christ, that I will see him one day in heaven. Through our letters and support, and through the tireless work that so many volunteers gave at the Compassion center, Eduardo has learned about the hope he can have when he has a relationship with Jesus. God knew this would happen, it is not an accident or a mistake.

So where does this put us for our trip with Compassion to Mexico in January? Oh, we are still going!! At this point, there is a possibility that we might be able to sponsor a child from one of the centers we will be visiting on our trip. In any case, we will be sponsoring another child from Mexico, and God already knows who it is.

Will you join us in praying for this new child that we will be adding to our family? Thank you!

Walking on Water

“But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” – Matthew 14:27-29

Have you ever heard Jesus prompting you to do something? Right now, I am kind of feeling like He has asked me to jump off of a cliff and I am suppose to trust Him to catch me before I am splattered all over the ground. He tells the disciples to ‘take courage’ and ‘don’t be afraid’, so why are we so different? Fear of failure, fear of what people might think if we fail, fear of disappointment, fear of discouragement, fear of not being good enough to follow the path you feel you are being led to follow?

I am not a writer, plain and simple. In school, math was my favorite subject. I loved algebra, trigonometry, pre-calculus, all those calculations! With a calculator and pencil in hand, I was one happy girl. There was a definite black and white answer for every problem. But English and writing? So subjective. The ‘right’ answer was in the red pen of the teacher. Couldn’t I just read my way through English?

So why I am telling you all of this? Because Jesus has asked me to ‘take courage’ and to ‘not be afraid’. He has placed on my heart a writing project that I really cannot say ‘no’ to. I really can’t give you a lot of details right now, because we are still working on some approvals, but it is a project that I am really exciting about. And for someone who is not a writer, that is saying a lot!

In the meantime, will you join me in prayer? I sure would appreciate it!