Our Family Circus

I have told you about bb before. BB is a small blanket that our Little Miss B. carries. She uses it mainly at nap time but for many other "hard times" she brings it along. The bb used to be pink but it is now an indescribable color although we still refer to it as being pink. Last week the bb was hauled often. Not sure why more that week then this week....but aren't some days, weeks, months....just like that. The bb has been tossed on the kitchen table, dropped on the kitchen floor and even taken to the bathroom. I asked if I could have it to wash because frankly, it was grossing me out!!! It resembled more of a rag then a blanket. As I looked at that nasty, filthy dirty blanket held close to the face of our precious daughter I knew she did not care how dirty it was. She loves her bb! Isn't it just like God. He created us perfectly. He had plans set for us and directions in the Bible for us to follow. We are all clean, pink, soft, and beautiful. But then,...

Dolly and I were heading to camp. Billy did not want to go so he thought he might like to stay with his cousin in another state. I drove him and the little sisters there while My Dear was away at another camp. We had a quick, but fun visit! Billy had been so excited, but when it was time to leave....he did not want to stay. He was caught between wanting to stay and wanting his family. We headed home-with Billy in the backseat, head hung in disappointment and questioning his decision. Poor little man is struggling with growing up. We hit city traffic at rush hour so I pulled off to eat dinner. Billy's stomach was too upset to eat so he ate a piece of bread and sat quietly. The girls and I finished our meal and the server brought our ticket. When she laid it on the table she looked at Billy and said, "Remember, no matter what, you momma loves you." I quietly thanked her for speaking the truth to my little Man Cub who needed to hear that. The children chose treats ...

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...

A dear sister in the faith hopped on an airplane this week to take care of herself. She found herself in a hospital that carried the name of Christian but had no Bibles. She used a few of her minutes for phone calls to call me to send Bibles for others there. I KNEW it was a God thing....all of it! I posted the need for 17 Bibles on Facebook . A family member had already stuck a check in the mail to help out (I am so blessed with my family!!) Got a message to contact a lady in our church. She had boxes of new Bibles stored at her home that the manufacturer was unable to sell due to damage to the boxes. Right there God handed me 18 Bibles! " FOR FREE!" (that was a joke in Vnam that our Vnam Pastor would say in his limited English.) They are leather bound, study Bibles. I am sure those Bibles cost about $50 a pop! When the boxes were handed to me, I physically felt the concern of shipping such a heavy box. Even if I paid $50 a box for shipping, there was still a...

The first summer My Dear worked at our church, the kids and I lived in one state and he another. We did not have housing yet nor had we sold our home so we were stuck! My Dear called one night to tell me about an AWESOME event that the church does and how he so badly wanted us to see it! The Back to School Blow Out is a free event for our community. It is inflatables, a climbing wall, firetrucks, games, a car show and so much more! Free food, free school supplies, free clothes, and prizes: $100 gift cards, plasma television, game systems, notebook computer, i-pods and so one. You get the idea. It is a huge event for our small (and low economial background) community. This year, for the first time, there was a booth to win a Wii game system, large plasma TV, and a home theater system. All a person had to do to sign up for this drawing was to listen to a person at the booth give their God Story. The person told of who they were before Christ and who they are after Christ. After they lis...

Wednesday night means AWANA club! Although with the harsh weather conditions and half of our team not able to be there tonight, I hoped there would not be a lot of kids. I know! It is awful but it is the truth. To get the kids motivated, I challenged them with obtainable goals if they did the work. Man, did they work! But not until I was home with my kids in bed did I hear how much work was really done! A mom called me to tell me a conversation that she and her 2nd grader, Naomi had. A girl from Naomi's class at school came to AWANA with another of their friends. The girls were so excited to have their friend there. I checked on the kids and saw that Taylor was doing well learning John 3:16. Close to the end of the evening, the girls were in group time together-all 3 of them. The teacher of this group was simply filling in for the usual teacher. She talked to the kids about the plan of salvation. She told them if any of them would like to talk about it, she would be available to t...

My husband, Mark is the youth minister at our church. My role in assisting him in ministry changed a little after our first child was born and dramatically after the 2 nd W hen the 3rd came along....well, I make sure he has clean clothes to wear-if you know what I am saying! At first, it was hard to accept my new role. Our church just hosted a Disciple Now Weekend. Because of this, we have met the coolest couple! Matt and Joanna Black do the worship services for the event. (you can Google them or send me a message if you want more info about their ministry!-I am not Blog savvy enough to give you a link to them.) First comes love, then comes marriage, then came Matt and Joanna with a baby carriage! This weekend our children enjoyed playing with their little sunshine. In fact, we decided to bring her home with us for the day to play, eat, and rest while her mommy and daddy worked. I was so blessed to be able to serve God in a NEW way for the weekend. No, the youth,the chu...

I always get emotionally when I think of what God has done. There are 2 sets of apartments across the street from our church. Since becoming involved in children's ministry, I have prayed that those children would just walk across the street. Can you imagine,being across the street and missing salvation! No! Nor can I imagine, attending church every week and standing judgement to say I had never crossed the street. About a year ago, a mom needed prayer for her and her young daughter. A week or so later, while signing kids in for AWANA club, a new face came in with her 2 sons. I knew in my heart it was the mom I had prayed for but was too shy to ask-yes, I know I need to get over myself and yes, I can be shy! One afternoon, when leaving a meeting at church, I saw a couple of yard sales at the apartments and pulled in and out stepped Jenny. I was at her apartment! She and I then began to talk. This step began my relationship with this incredible woman. Jenny's daugher Jaydyn req...