Incredible day

So sad that today was pretty much our last day here. I feel like we are all family now. What a blessed, incredible, kind, encouraging group of people. I deeply love this group and will be lifting them up and staying in contact even when I go home. Tonight they were so kind and gave us gifts, notes and took a time of lifting us up to our Father, what a sweet time! I am really going to miss this. Although I am tired, I am also energized by their love for each other and the Father. I can't wait to show some pictures, the few I have :) Lift us up tomorrow as we travel home.

Moments of blessing

Today was the best day yet! The kids were great, we are starting to learn all of thier needs, cries and likes. We are loving getting to know our new friends here and Tori and I had one of the most encouraging conversations with this fellow worker today that ended in a sweet time of talking to our Father. Lots of wonderful moments. Can't wait to talk in detail later. Tomorrow is our last full day :( Just when we are starting to LOVE it, we have to go home. Hearing the call of prayer right now from the masques, got to go and give a pedicure. More later

Todays treasures

What a great thursday here! The weather was GORGEOUS and usual, the children were great and we enjoyed some wonderful time with our new friends. Its like family here. A lot going on in my heart and mind and I am learning a lot about serving. Please keep talking to our Father for us. I will write more later. Goodnight!

Update on life in the middle East :0

Today we viewed Roman ruins, walked on the Roman road and saw indents in the road from chariots! It was incredible to see the coliseums and the amazing history! We finished the evening with hamburger and french fries which were delicious. I have done 2 pedicures so far for our friends and many more to go, it has been a lot of fun. The kids were GREAT today, everything went smoothly and was a beautiful day. Thank you for talking to HIM for us. The sunset was GORGEOUS this evening and we were refreshed and encouraged by sweet conversations with great fellow workers.

Day 2

Today was exhausting! Their are 6 infants that we are in charge of and 6 "big kids" so it is a trip and a half :) They are all very precious and their parents are just wonderful! Its been great getting to know each of the families and hearing their stories. Please pray for strength and patience for us, productivity and vision for the families and that the children would bond with us and those that are sick would be better( teething and colds are not fun for anyone, much less babies who can only describe their feelings by crying.) It has been an incredible trip so far and we are grateful for all that the Father is doing! Tomorrow, hopefully we will be touring so we will have some more pictures; today was really busy so not much time for photos. Love you all and thank you for lifting us up!

Arrived safely

We arrived safely to our location. Everyone is exhausted but doing well. Flight went great and we had some awesome conversations and memories made. We have to be more evasive than we would like to be regarding everything. Please talk to the Father for us. Here are some photos of the trip so far. We are limited in what photos we can share but know that everything is going wonderfully! Thank you for lifting us up!

Leaving on a jet plane :)

We head out tomorrow! Here are some pictures of our team. Please be praying for us! For protection, safety, and for us to be a refreshment and encouragement to the precious people we will be serving. Can't be to specific about details because we just found out that we need to be MUCH more careful than we have been regarding location etc. Thank you for your prayers. I will be updating this blog as we travel through this journey the Lord has us on. Be looking out for updates!

Discouragement

Today was quite the day. I had a wonderful day at work and then had an event that happened that just brought me to tears. I was so discouraged and called my Mom and she prayed with me over the phone. Then after I babysat this precious little girl, boy are little children the best medicine for laughter and joy! I went over to my Grandmas after and I asked about her day and she had a bad day and was discouraged as well. Feeling like I was about to burst into tears again and just felt so defeated, I just said we need to claim victory over this battle, I feel like I am under such spiritual attack today. So we just bowed our head and had a sweet time of prayer together, lifting our burdens to the Lord and claiming victory over the battle. I think the devil is really attacking me because of what I am about to do. I have a lot going on and feel like I have the world on my shoulder at times, lots to think about, pray for and plan. Just when I feel this way, the Lord reminds me that HE is there to take it all, I just have to rest and wait in HIM. He is so faithful not to give us more than we can handle and even when we go through trials, as I was sharing with my Mom tonight, He is there holding our hand the whole way as we squeeze Him trying to relieve pain. He just desires to hold us through it all.

We MUST always continue to "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)" What an incredible reminder that the Creator of the WHOLE universe cares about your day, your worries fears and hard times. What a mighty God!

Today won't you just spend some time casting your cares on the Lord?

Revolution

Tonight I was blessed and privilege to have the opportunity to help lead worship at our church. I was SO excited about it and was praying for the Lord to sing through me and for HIM to be glorified. I haven't had any opportunities lately to sing and so this was an answer to prayer. I desperately miss singing, it is a love and passion the Lord has put in my heart but that just doesn't seem to be the season of life I am in. Maybe God will just use my love for it to encourage my little children one day.

Anyways tonight my singing was not great at all, but it was so cool because even though I didn't think I did good, God was still glorified in a great way. When we went on stage behind Pastor Matt as he was giving the invitation, I just kept praying for the Lord to draw lost students to HIMSELF and to do a work in their lives. As I looked up I saw 6 students that accepted Jesus Christ in their hearts!!!!! It was incredible. I teared up at the sight of what God did in that place. Then many students came to the alter and prayed together. Then tonight on face book many of my precious sunday school girls are talking about what God is doing on their face-book. It is such an amazing blessing and privilege to watch the Lord move. It will never get old!
I was just humbled and in awe that even though I thought I did not do well tonight, God sure did and that is what it is all about, glorifying HIS name above all things! God is sure up to something in Woodstock and we are praying for a revolution to happen in the hearts of the students! He is the God of this city, and greater things are still to be done here!

Grandma's house for the week :)

This week has been a blessing staying with my little precious Grandma. We have had so much fun and have eaten so much food :) Enjoyed homemade sundays, and our wonderful tea and sweet conversations. One day I went and made a big dinner for my Mom and Dad and us, it was our version of a restaurant within our budget :) There are a couple of those pictures on here to. The other pictures are of my cousin and I getting into my Gramcrackers night gowns, she was cracking up at us and we had a wonderful time laughing and being girls.

Been a crazy week with balancing taking care of my family, my Grandma and work and church stuff but it has been a wonderful one with many answered prayers (thats another post in itself.)

The pictures aren't working out so great so I will have to post the rest later