Today was a wonderful day! It started with sunshine and a great morning at church. Our family went forward this morning so that the missions minister could announce our intentions for full term ministry to the congregation. It is a blessing to know that our church family will be praying for us as we continue on this journey! Poor Caeley had quite the case of stage fright during the 1st service and cried the entire time. Once the service was over, Adam walked and talked with her and she felt better prepared for 2nd service, realizing that it wasn't nearly as scary as she thought it would be. She did great during the 2nd service. I was so glad for her!
We spent the afternoon with Adam's family, visiting, playing cards and eating. Adam's dad had cooked a cow tongue in the crockpot, amongst other food on the grill, so we all tried some. The kids ate more than Adam or I! It tasted fine, but the texture was....well.....mush. A little hard to deal with. But, we had a fun afternoon!
Then, Adam headed to work and the kids and I headed back to church. I had been asked to speak to the group that Caeley is in. It is called, Girls of Prayer, and is for girls from grades 3-5. I brought activities from an interactive missions booth that I had put together for a church-wide missions event Saturday evening. We played a game, made cards and bookmarks to send to our church's missionaries, and had 5 snacks that I had made with recipes from countries that our missionaries serve in. Then Caeley and I had the opportunity to share with the girls about our steps into full time ministry. We took a map in and Caeley excitedly showed them where Ghana is, and Accra, and she showed them where our plane will fly to take us there. It was so very sweet to see and hear Caeley sharing this with her friends, her prayer group. They asked several questions and then I shared some prayer requests we have that they wrote in their prayer journals, and we sat in a circle and each sweet little girl prayed for us before we left. I was so happy and thankful for Caeley to have the opportunity to share with her friends and answer their questions. I am just in awe of the way that God has been at work in her!!!
These are the prayer requests that I shared with the girls: 1) Prayer as we make decisions and work to follow God's will for our family, 2) Prayer as we prepare for the 1st of several garage sales. It is hard to part with things we love!, 3) That we would not be too anxious as we get our appointments for all of our shots lined up, and go to get them - ouch, 4) That God would already be at work in the hearts of the people in Ghana that He will have us working with, and that He would be preparing some wonderful friends for us there.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Patty and Mrs. Debbie, for your hand in raising up some wonderful Girls of Prayer. I have no doubt that God will do AMAZING things with each of the little hearts that you are helping to mold!
We have been busy lately, preparing for this missions weekend at GCC, doing school, and unfortunately for me - having migraines. I have gotten stuck in a terrible cycle again and have had almost daily migraines for 2 weeks. I started some new medication for them a week ago, but it takes weeks or even months to have an effect on migraines. In the meantime, it is supposed to make them worse for awhile. I will try to be patient, as I have tried EVERYTHING else. But, I would love to have these figured out/taken care of, before it's time for us to go.
One last thing, and I will stop typing, or maybe 2 things.... I am hoping to take CHE training classes (Community Health Evangelism) in November. We will have a busy month in November! First, I will have CHE training for a week here in Indiana, then we will have meetings with the trustee's of ACMI in Illinois, then the third week, we are attending the National Missionary Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It rotates to different locations, and we have attended in Indianapolis, IN; Peoria, IL; and Lexington, KY. It is my favorite event of the year. It is just amazing and inspiring to see what the hands and feet of Jesus are doing ALL over the world!
Ok, the last thing. For school 2 weeks ago, we made passports. We will stamp them as we "travel" around the world this year studying many countries from a missions perspective. As we started to make them, Ethan looked at me a bit funny. Once I noticed, he said, "Um, mom, isn't making your own passports illegal?" I laughed of course and told him, "Only if we try to use them to leave the country. Then I'd probably get arrested." Caeley added her spin on things, "Well, wouldn't that be ok mom? Then you could just tell people in jail about Jesus!"
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Mission Retreat
We spent this last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Illinois at a retreat with ACMI (the Alliance of Christian Missions International). We had a wonderful time getting to know everyone there. We had filled out an interest form and emailed it to the director awhile ago, and this was a chance for us to meet most of the organization that is currently in the states. Adam and I met with the trustees and answered questions that they had for us. Adam did such a great job of speaking from the heart. That is definitely something that is out of his comfort zone with people he barely knows! I was so proud of him! It has been neat to see the many ways that God has been and is expanding our comfort zones. Anyway, we felt that the meeting went well and look forward to gathering together again in November. We have been familiar with ACMI for a long time. Our church supports several of their missionaries, and our friends, the Odles, that we are planning to team up with have been part of this organization for several years. We felt right at home while we were there. Everyone was so kind, welcoming and encouraging. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet several missionaries who are leaving for their fields very soon. We are excited to have had the chance to meet and talk with them, as it is so nice to put a face and a person to a name. We look forward to their updates!
We also had the opportunity to Skype during some of our meetings with some of the missionaries that weren't able to make it to the retreat. We heard from and talked with families from: the Philippines, Kenya and Tanzania. That was a great experience, their voices were so clear, it is a blessing to know that technology like this is so easily available! It won't be the same as face to face, but it sure beats waiting weeks and weeks for letters to arrive, like so many missionaries did not so long ago!
Ethan and Caeley had a wonderful time at the retreat! They were excited to hear that our meeting with the trustees went well and enjoyed meeting everyone. They had a great time with the Odle kids and made some new friends too, that we should get to Skype with at the meeting in November as they will leave for their field in about 3 weeks. The kids were able to enjoy: basketball, an obstacle course, mini golf, archery, ping pong, pool, a swimming pool, and the lake. The lake had a blob ( a long inflated pillow-like thing that one kid would scoot to the end of and then another would jump onto it and blast the 1st kid into the air and into the water), an iceberg (a huge inflated rock wall in the water), a waterslide, a zipline into the lake, paddle boats and canoes! They stayed busy, made us tired, and had so much fun!
We have so much to do to prepare for all of this. Paperwork, interview, classes, sorting, purging, packing (although that is a bit down the road), the kids need passports, we need visas, shots..... Wow! I am so excited to have this adventure moving though, I just want to power through everything so we are READY! (Well except for the shots.) I am working hard at practicing patience though, and know that it will all get done in the right amount of time.
Right now our focus is purging. We have a family room and 2 car garage filled with boxes! We are working to get everything unpacked and sorted. We are having a joint garage sale with the Odles on Labor Day weekend. We will set that money aside for whatever we need to get closer to Africa! I am actually enjoying sorting things and getting rid of lots, but some of it is not so easy... However, Matthew 6:19-20 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
We also had the opportunity to Skype during some of our meetings with some of the missionaries that weren't able to make it to the retreat. We heard from and talked with families from: the Philippines, Kenya and Tanzania. That was a great experience, their voices were so clear, it is a blessing to know that technology like this is so easily available! It won't be the same as face to face, but it sure beats waiting weeks and weeks for letters to arrive, like so many missionaries did not so long ago!
Ethan and Caeley had a wonderful time at the retreat! They were excited to hear that our meeting with the trustees went well and enjoyed meeting everyone. They had a great time with the Odle kids and made some new friends too, that we should get to Skype with at the meeting in November as they will leave for their field in about 3 weeks. The kids were able to enjoy: basketball, an obstacle course, mini golf, archery, ping pong, pool, a swimming pool, and the lake. The lake had a blob ( a long inflated pillow-like thing that one kid would scoot to the end of and then another would jump onto it and blast the 1st kid into the air and into the water), an iceberg (a huge inflated rock wall in the water), a waterslide, a zipline into the lake, paddle boats and canoes! They stayed busy, made us tired, and had so much fun!
We have so much to do to prepare for all of this. Paperwork, interview, classes, sorting, purging, packing (although that is a bit down the road), the kids need passports, we need visas, shots..... Wow! I am so excited to have this adventure moving though, I just want to power through everything so we are READY! (Well except for the shots.) I am working hard at practicing patience though, and know that it will all get done in the right amount of time.
Right now our focus is purging. We have a family room and 2 car garage filled with boxes! We are working to get everything unpacked and sorted. We are having a joint garage sale with the Odles on Labor Day weekend. We will set that money aside for whatever we need to get closer to Africa! I am actually enjoying sorting things and getting rid of lots, but some of it is not so easy... However, Matthew 6:19-20 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
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