Our Family Circus

I fell in love with the most precious woman in Vnam. Lien is in her early 20s and is engaged to a minister here in the states. Whenever we talked about him, she lit up! Mr. Lien, her soon to be husband, sent me a friend request on Facebook so we could get to know one another. I knew that Lien was having trouble getting her VISA to come to the states. I asked Mr. Lien why that was. Turns out that he did not make enough money to be her sponsor and he needed a co-sponsor. I gave Mr. Lien My Dear's phone number and we were in business! During the process, I realized I did not know Mr. Lien. But God reminded me I needed to trust Him to take care of Lien. Mr. Lien had asked me to help prepare Lien for being a pastor's wife. I had no idea what to tell her because I did not know what it was like to be a pastor's wife in Vnam. I did know that those wives (in rural churches) prepared lunch for their entire church prior to service-yeah....no kidding! I am good to feed our tribe of 5 a...

Dear nap time, Thank you for the precious couple of hours each school day that I could focus my attention on 2 sweet students. Thank you for the opportunity to hide away in the tiny classroom away from the phone, computer, door, and the dishes. Thank you for all of the exploring and discussions we had as we dove into books, charts, and maps. Thank you for the "pin drop" silence as we read through the wanderings of Moses and the battles of Joshua. Thank you for summer when school was eased to reading and relaxing on the couch. Thanks for the 2 days that I actually took a nap myself! Oh, thank you nap time! I saw what I was missing! I did not care to miss out on the free movie at the theater or the school aged activities at the library because nap time was well worth it. Thank you for allowing me some one-on-one time with a sweet little blond and instructions in Legos from our Man Cub. Thank you for the clean floor that I was able to find within those sweet hours. Thank you f...

This Friday Nana (who was visiting from the Sunshine state) and I took a pink haired Dolly to get her ears pierced. Seemed like the perfect time to do it since another BIG event was to happen in her life. This piercing was to remind her of this....... Isaiah 53:5 But He was PIERCED for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Dolly was baptized on Sunday. Daddy was in the water but Dolly asked " Mami " to baptize her. Since we have no family around, Mami and Dolly kinda adopted one another while Dolly was in the nursery. I could not help but thing of Mami'a past year. The word cancer leaked into Dolly's vocabulary and came out in prayers and then celebration! Thank you God! We told Dolly as little as possible so that her hugs and behavior toward Mami would not change but be medicine to her. This celebration of one life became the celebration of 2 lives an...