New Year Preparations...

As this year begins to wind down and we prepare for another year I want to record a few thoughts. This year has really flown by and has been full of ups and downs. We will be closing the chapter to our lives in our current house as we prepare to move after the new year. Even though we are looking forward to the perks of the new house, I will miss this home. When I moved in I really thought that this would be the house I would live in forever. *Sigh* This move is going to be good and hopefully will afford us a lot of new opportunities as we begin to get out of debt.

As for new opportunities, I am so excited to see where Jim's band goes. I haven't mentioned it much, but the praise and worship band at church is beginning to take their music outside the doors of our church. They have performed two concerts in the past couple of months and have at least one more scheduled for the new year. The guys are still tossing around names, but the latest idea is Letters to Rome. Whatcha think?



We have also experienced loss. Jim lost his sister this summer in a very unexpected and tragic way. It has been hard on his whole family. Even so, we look to the new year with promise of a new niece or nephew. I can't wait. Since I can't adopt again right now, I am looking to pour all that love on the new little addition.

Grace and I are also looking forward to our mission trip to South Africa. God has been so good to us and is providing for our needs in this area.

I know there is more, but this is what seems to stick out to me right now. I do have a few prayer request for the new year. Please pray that Jim and I make wise financial decisions about our new house, that Grace and I can really be the hands and feet of Jesus in South Africa, and that God will continue to use the band to spread His message. Also, that God will either remove my strong desire for more children or please show me a way to add more to our family.

Praying each of you have a happy and healthy 2011!! Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Yeah, yeah, I know I am a little late, but this is the first chance at a post. We had a great Christmas. The presents were fun and the time with family was great! However, I think our best gift came the day after Christmas..... SNOW!!!! Now for some of you that is no big deal, but for this south Georgia girl it was HUGE!!! Earlier this year it snowed a couple of inches and was beautiful, but my husband decided we needed to go out of town, so we missed it. I was completely bummed because I have never seen snow that sticks. Well, God blessed us with snow again! It didn't really accumulate but it was lovely to watch fall and we did get enough for an eight inch snowman! Hope everyone else had a great Christmas!!!

All I want for Christmas...

As many of you know I LOVE children and hope to one day have a house full. God has given Jim and I both a heart for the orphans. One day we hope to adopt more, but right now we are just not able. However, that doesn't stop the ache that I have for these children. So I'm asking on behalf of a very good friend, do you think you can help give an orphan a family for Christmas? A donation of $10 or $20 would go so far to help this little boy to have a forever family. Please check out the link to view this beautiful family and see what you can do to help.
http://meimeimakesfour.blogspot.com

Early Christmas Present...

I just wanted to share really quickly that I got an early Christmas present!!!! I am so excited to announce that I will be an aunt!!!! Woo-hoo!!!! My brother and his wife will be having their first child some time the first of July!!!!

My Provider....

Okay, I have to share a very good story of God and His provisions this week. First here is a little background... Jim is being furloughed and that takes a big chunk out of the paycheck. Well, last month they forgot to take out the furlough, so I went to the board office and asked about it. She told me that yes they had made a mistake so this month they would just take out for two days. I about flipped!!!! I was like "don't they know it's Christmas!!!" So this month I was trying to plan accordingly with the bills and I had it all worked out.

Fast forward to this week. There is a young lady in our church who had no heat because she couldn't put propane in her tank. So I get our Sunday School class together and we get a few bucks together to put gas in her tank. Monday, I go to the place of business to pay for the gas. The minimum she gave me was $100 dollars more than what we had collected. Well, knowing we would get paid on Tuesday, I wrote out a check for the difference. When our class leader asked how much it cost, I told her and she wanted to know about the difference. I just told her The Provider had taken care of it. I knew that my family may have to eat more beans and rice, but at least we would be warm and so would this young lady.

So Tuesday rolls around and I call the bank to check the amount of the deposit. It wasn't what I figured and I thought they had messed up again. So I go up to the school to get the actual pay stub from Jim and begin to compare it to last month. Turns out, furlough pay is taken out before they figure taxes. I had figured wrong and that meant a little more than $100 bucks was in the check that I had not counted on. Only God!!!! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!!

Then a friend points out Philippians 4:19 which states "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Now many of us know this verse, but do you know Paul said this after the Philippians had sacrificed and helped him. It just goes to show that if we get our eyes off of ourselves and reach out to others God will provide.

Awesome Experience...

Okay so it is 12:30am on Sunday morning and I am typing this as I wait for the praise band to set back up from their first "official" concert!! It was a blast and they guys did great!!! So if you need a great band to do a concert for you let me know because Vertical Bridge is FANTASTIC!!!

South Africa???

I have a very big request. I am asking that you guys help me pray for God's direction and leading about a missions opportunity. This is something that I would really love to do, but as we have discussed in Sunday School, is this my calling or just my desire? It would be a trip to South Africa to work with orphans, help with math workshops for teachers, and maybe some backyard Bible clubs. We have committed to getting out of debt and therefore all extra funds that we know about are going to that. However, please pray that He will supply the extra needed for this trip. I know in my head He will if it is His will, but still it's hard to trust completely. Thanks!