Day 2

From Mike:

We arrived in Grape Creek, a small community just outside of San Angelo around noon at our friends home.  Brad is the pastor of Grape Creek Baptist Church where I was on staff for 3 years when Libby and I first got married.  We had a great time catching up and settling in.  After lunch at their home, we headed into San Angelo on Carter’s “birthland tour.”  We spent the afternoon checking out various sites that were special to us when we lived here.  We drove by Angelo State University, went into Eggemeyer’s General Store, wandered around the Cactus Hotel, along the Concho River, and even got out and went into the hospital where Carter was born back in 1996.  Carter thought it was pretty cool to be able to stand in the same viewing room outside the nursery where his aunts, uncles, and grandparents stood and watched him as a newborn being weighed.  

After touring SA for a while, Carter reminded me that we were on an OFL Road Trip, not a trip down memory lane, so we busted out the cleaning supplies and started looking for restrooms to clean.  The first place we stopped was a business I remembered as being owned by a family I knew.  It was closed, but a young man was there catching up on paperwork and came out to meet us.  He turned out to be Justin, a former member of my youth group!  We met his new fiancé and prayed with them before leaving.

The next stop was a cell phone store where we offered to clean restrooms.  The manager was friends with the music minister at GCBC, and he was glad to hear what we were doing, and a young lady working there was so touched by what we were doing that she came out with a bag full of cold bottled water for us.  When I asked how we could pray for them, she told us that her entire family is working in Minnesota at a vegetable processing plant until the season is over in October.  She was left alone here in SA until they returned because she didn’t want to leave her job at the cell phone store.  She was maybe 18-19yrs old.

Next door to the cell phone store was a Dollar General. 

An older man in tattered clothes was sitting out front.  As we grabbed our cleaning supplies and one of the cold bottles of water, a taxi pulled up to pick him up.  We grabbed a second bottle and flagged down the taxi.  We offered the driver (Mary) and passenger (Bob) bottles of water and asked if we could pray for them.  Both of them were very happy for the water and the prayers.  Please pray for Mary and Bob.

We went on into the Dollar General.  We asked the manager if we could clean his restrooms and he seemed kind of frustrated as though he really didn’t have time to mess with us, but showed us the way back to the restroom.  As soon as we started cleaning, a lady came rushing back asking if there was a restroom she could use.  We cleared out and wandered around the store until she came out. As soon as she exited, another lady went in.  That restroom was the dirtiest we’d seen so far, and needless to say, I was less than thrilled to go back in after it had just been used twice!  I won’t go further with any details, but my fears were confirmed and that was the quickest bathroom cleaning in the history of OFL service!  We did a good job though!!!  After cleaning, we needed some new rubber gloves and sunglasses for Carter.  The manager had watched us clean  after the two customers had used it and his heart softened a lot.  He even pulled out his wallet and offered to pay for our items out of his own pocket!  We told him that we would pay but that he could let us pray for him, to which he agreed.  The cashier lived in Grape Creek, so we hope that she will visit the church.  We’ve been giving out cards that tells people “God loves you so much.  Please accept this gift as an expression of love from Him and the people of Grape Creek Baptist Church.”  Please pray for the manager Kevin, and the cashier whose name I cannot remember.

Now we’re at a Starbucks mooching their free wireless right now, and we’re both pretty wiped out.  I think we’re about to head back to Brad and Karen's home, eat dinner, and hit the hay.
Carter and I decided to sing Monk and Neagle’s song “Twenty-first Time” tomorrow when we share at Grape Creek Baptist Church.  Carter sat in the back of the van playing his guitar while we practiced singing.  I think we sound pretty good (or at least his guitar does!).


From Libby:
After painting my living room, cleaning orange nail polish off the tile floor and door frame that Dillon spilled and then cleaning up a bowl of watermelon that Dillon spilled 10minutes after the nail polish fiasco, I'm so glad my buddy Susie came over to hang out!  Abby prayed for "mommy to have grace and patience to take care of Hudson and Dillon."!!!  HA, if that doesn't tell you what those 2 little boys are like when together all day, then I don't know what will ;)

OFL road trip begins

Mike and Carter left early this morning for their first Outward Focused Life roadtrip (we call it the OFL road trip, pronounced awful). They don't have internet tonight so I'm trying to remember what I heard on the phone. The minivan was loaded with bags of non-perishable food, bars of soap, some coloring books, the lawnmower and various yard tools, water bottles and a few change of clothes. 

They began their adventure of service in the city at a homeless ministry called Beautiful Feet.  They rode in a bus to the usual corner of our city where the homeless gather.  They helped pass out muffins and invited people to get on the bus and go to Beautiful Feet for lunch and the gospel presentation.  One man touched them in particular.  His name is Vincent.  On Mother's Day, Vincent was jumped by a gang, beaten, and left to die.  He awoke in the hospital with a concussion and a broken hip that had to have surgery to fix.  After being released from the hospital, he was staying at the Salvation Army's shelter where someone stole his walker.  Now he is stuck sitting in a wheelchair.  Another man they met had moved to the city from Oklahoma because he had heard there was construction work here.  He's still not found a job and has nowhere to live.  There was a young woman on the street with a double stroller--with toddlers--homeless!!!  Kinda kills ya doesn't it?  After being in the city a few  hours, they headed west to a town where Mike has long time contacts in ministry.  Mike said Carter wanted to know about the whys and hows of homelessness and  poverty.  They had a good hour of conversation and then Carter fell asleep :)

In the smaller town, that I'll call "B", they drove around to find where they could help.  Mike said "apparently it is harder to find places to serve than we thought."  It felt rather awkward driving up to a run down house and saying something along the lines of "Um, excuse me, you look poor, your yard is a mess, do you need groceries or your yard mowed?"!!  They ended up cleaning the restrooms at a 7-11 convenience store (this was one of the ideas taken from the book that sparked this trip The Outward Focused Life).  The manager on duty was dumbfounded that they'd want to clean their restrooms.  After leaving the toilets sparkling, they gave her a card about how much God loves her and then asked her if she needed prayer.  Mike and Carter chatted and prayed for Judy and her co-worker Betty while they were on their smoke break (Betty and Judy-not Mike and Carter). Next they went to some run-down low income apartments where they handed out some pre-packed bags of groceries to a sweet little old lady named Anna Maria.  Mike said she was from Peurto Rico, and he thinks he spoke Spanish well enough to get the message across!  They also mowed a yard for a lady sitting on a porch in a wheelchair.  Mike said she seemed happy about it, but it was hard to tell due to her communication limitations.

They ended the day by going to the church where his friend is on staff (by the way, to our C-wood friends, this guy just got back from Kunming working with Craig S.  Isn't it crazy how our lives intersect and we don't even know it??) and helping stuff some bags that the church is handing out tomorrow.  As of this morning, they didn't have a place to stay tonight.  We prayed for God to provide somewhere for them to sleep.  Boy did He ever!!!  The friend I mentioned above had another friend who has an apartment over a barn that is on the lake.  So, they aren't exactly roughing it tonight. 

A really really amazing thing happened.  Mike met a guy who is on staff at the aforementioned church this evening.  They got to talking and this guy and his wife are an international adoptive family and are waiting on a new referral of an older sibling set in China!!  AND(this part totally blows me away!), his family is so burdened for the thousands of girls trapped in the sex slave industry that they just sold their family business and are building a shelter on the Chinese border for girls rescued out of the sex slave trade.  Is that not just amazing?????  Just 8months ago Mike and I knew nothing about this rampant and demonic business.  Now, it is everywhere we turn.  Almost everyday we hear of someone else serving to reach these woman trapped in evil.  Hmmm, okay God, Mike and I laid our life plans at your feet long ago, we are game for anything, but we were thinking more along the lines of adopting, not working to rescue people from the sex slave trade!

Well, that about wraps up day one.

Lucy Lane Gotcha Day - 1 Year Later

FIRST:  scroll down to the far right and pause my Music Player so you can hear the video's music.  This video is shared with the owner's persmission.  Trust me, you'll be inspired, you'll probably cry, you'll grin a lot and just love it!  As a person who is super passionate for orphans, this speaks straight to my heart.  Who knows, maybe someone out there will be called to adopt after watching this?  You  never know how God will speak to you ;) 

speech-still praying

Guys, I'm asking for some more serious praying for a miracle for Dillon.  Bless his precious little heart, he can't speak clearly.  He has a fairly severe articulation disorder.  We've had him in speech therapy since he was 11months old.  He is 7.5yrs old now.  We are barrelling towards 8yrs old and I'm getting panicky.  When a person can't speak clearly, it doesn't matter what their brain is capable of doing, people immediately peg that person as "retarded."  I despise that word, but alas, that is what people use(I know, I hear it in the workplace all the time-- used often as a joke--not funny!).  The school systems have never given him speech during the summer so we hire our dear private therapist.  She works wonders with him and he responds well to her.  It isn't in the budget, but a sacrifice that is certainly worth it.   Here's the deal, we want and expect a miracle.  Please join us in praying for Dillon.  A few weeks ago he was wanting to tell us a story about something that happened at school.  He struggled to tell us and after asking him to repeat it 3 times, his lower lip began to quiver and his eyes pooled with tears.  It is so cruel!  I used to pretend like I understood everything and would nod my head and say things like "uh huh, and really?".  I've decided to be hard.  We can't let him slip into laziness.  People in the world will not pretend to understand him.  We have to make him try harder. 
Speaking of prayer, Mike and I are learning a lot of things that we were never taught in the church.  We love listening to Francis Chan(author of Crazy Love) podcasts.  Man, that dude is radical for the truth of the gospel and is  not afraid to  say exactly what the Scriptures say--not watered down or politically correct.   We can't expect healing and such with unconfessed sin in our lives.  Please, do NOT hear me say that Dillon's speech disorder is punishment for sin, no way am I arrogant enough to claim those kind of judgements!!!!   Yes, God is a god of love and He is a good god, but God is a holy and pure God, not a vending machine that we put in our requests and get what we want. 
James 5:16

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
So, I'm going to examine my life and confess sin that I've been harboring and then I'm going to ask my Heavenly Father for healing for Dillon.  Will you join me?

Mike's big weekend

Happy 40th birthday to my sweet man.  We had a very nice party last night.  I must say he looks quite amazing :)  Here is Abby showing off the welcome table that held old pics of him, Mike is the stylin dude in behind her.

And for Father's Day, a throw back.  Check out this first meeting pic of Hudson with his new daddy!

Talk about a great daddy.  Happy Father's Day to my honey.  Our children trust you and are learning by your example. When you come home from work, Hudson runs to the door yelling "Daddy HOME."  You love our kids, you love other people's kids at Trinity and want them to grow up loving Jesus with their whole lives.  You are a Biblical example of being a father to the fatherless and defender of orphans.  I'm not building you up as perfect, no earthly father is.  But, we know you are one awesome dad.

And, to my own dad.  I learned to think for myself, question what others are saying, search the Scriptures, play silly games like throwing socks at kids while they run across the house, how daddy's love their little girls and treat them with respect, to love worship music and so much more.

Splash of reality

Leave it to your kids to keep you humble!  While driving home from the library a few minutes ago I found a loose totally white hair that fell from my head.  I showed it to Abby who then said "Daddy and I both agree that you should start dying your gray hair!"  Geee, thanks a lot.  And, for the record, Mike is the one turning 40

tomorrow, June 18th, ---NOT me!

cause he's just that cute

Dear God,
Ya know how Psalm 139 verse 14 says that you've made us fearfully and wonderfully?  Well, I want you to know you hit this one out of the ballpark!  This chubby cheeked Korean gem is a masterpiece!!!
Hudson is so funny.  He is totally different than our other 3 kids.  He's a wild and crazy kind of dude, not afraid of trying stunts, loves to go fast, is loud, talks incessantly and when you say "Hudson, hush" he whispers the same words he was yelling at you.  He is super duper stubborn--you know the type--the kid who slowly sticks his finger out to touch whatever you just told him not to touch?  All the while, making eye contact with those gorgeous black eyes.  He is a night owl.  That is so different from my others.  For the most part, our family goes to bed early and wakes early.  At 9pm he is happy as a lark and going strong.  He is so smart and is recognizing some colors, can put together a Thomas the Tank choochoo track, says 3 words sentences.  I just can't help myself, but I bite and smooch those adorable fat cheeks all day!