Happy 5th Anniversary!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

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August 19, 2010 Nate and I are more in love today than we have ever been. This last year has been hard on both of us, but we just chalk it up to life experience and try to stay positive. God continues to take care of our needs and we continue to serve Him daily in everything we do. Our big celebration will come when we leave for the Bahamas one week from today! On our actual anniversary we went to The Cheesecake Factory. Mmmm.

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I am so thankful for my Nate. I love you deeply!

Homeless???

home  /hoʊm/ Show Spelled [hohm] – noun the place in which one's domestic affections are centered. OR the place or region where something is native or most common. OR a principal base of operations or activities

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We went from having our own home... surrounded with loving reminders of family and friends... decorated just the way I like... a great shower... a bigger washer and dryer... a dishwasher you can load... and on and on.... We were happy....

To now, where we are living in filth, surrounded by boxes. Don't get me wrong... We are very thankful to have somewhere to live right now. BUT it is definitely not our home.

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We have no affections for the mission house

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It is not common or comfortable for us

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We do not operate there.

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We are officially homeless!

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Nate and I both take a lot of pride in keeping a house nice and clean. I always loved to have friends and youth over. It was like they were getting to know us when they walked into our home.

For the last 10 months the worst part is... I miss that.

I think I am going to go crazy soon.

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Compare my last memorable moment of our house to the mission house below. Yikes.

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Memorable Moment #13: Our First House

3600 West Beechwood Drive, Rogers, Arkansas 72756

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I will never forget this house and all the great memories that Nate and I have there. It was the perfect house for us and I cherish our first four years of marriage spent there. We took great pride in fixing up and maintaining a beautiful home. Every extra cent we had went into making it look better, and we both enjoyed having friends and youth over whenever we could. Our prayer is that this house would continue to bless whoever lives in it for years to come.

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Home Improvement Projects included:

~August 2005 - New inside paint

~January 2007 - New ceiling fans

~Summer 2007 - New outside paint

~December 2007 - Kitchen Re-Model

~December 2007 - New trim

~Spring 2008 - New water line

~May 2008 - New carpet

~Fenced in back yard

~Took spindles off of front porch

~Replaced the eaves

~Landscaping

~Bathroom cabinets

~Replaced all the light fixtures

~Long shelf for decoration in the Kitchen

Spiritually BITTER or Spiritually BETTER???

An entry from my journal on July 12, 2010:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." ~James 1:2-6

Our house has been for sale for almost ten months now. I have been physically, mentally, and spiritually down for these months too. I have let my circumstances take control. This last week was a bad one, and I know that Nate and I are a little depressed. Yesterday at church I heard yet another sermon on "enduring trials." I'm tired of hearing things like this, but this message stood out.

Everyone is going to go through trials... How do I respond? Am I going to come though spiritually bitter or better? Until today I have been growing more bitter by the week. Today I choose to make myself spiritually better.

Verse 5 says to ask for wisdom, but ask without a doubt. Nate came to me this morning saying that for the first time in these ten months, he is really not doubting - I am totally opposite in that I have never doubted so much.

Lord, please search me and know my heart. Take all my doubt away because I know that you are there and that you have a plan. Please grant me Your wisdom to become spiritually better and know how to make it through this trial...

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Today I feel refreshed in the fact that Nate and I are here

"for such a time as this" to see God move in the lives of our students.

Nate with Sara and Daniel, Sunday 8/8/10, before they were baptized.

Me and Sara

Falls Creek 2010

What a week! We started out feeling a little down because it didn't really feel like Falls Creek.... None of our students seemed to be getting it.... Nate and I just wanted to go "home" to the mission house. Don't get me wrong... We were having some fun times, but nothing of eternal significance was happening.

Paiger, Me, and Jill-O on superhero night.

Nate and I on Nursing Home night.... Nate was a cute old man ;)

Brighan (AKA Aquagirl), Me, and Kym (AKA Tie-Dye girl)

We did have one student saved on Wednesday night and that was a booster for the whole group. We were so proud of Shaylee. But still, throughout the week everyone was just going through the motions... Until the last night. We played a game where there were 12 disciples and they had to witness one-on-one to help save everyone at Falls Creek. Every so often there would be a "disaster" of some kind and people that were wearing certain things, or in a certain grade were "killed" and had to go to "heaven" or "hell". It impacted a lot of our students.

The game impacted a certain young lady that we had been praying for ever since we moved and others had been praying for several years. Little Sara was broken over the fact that she went to "hell" in the game (because of silly bands... Praise the Lord for silly bands). I had the opportunity to talk with her and one of our other students about what was going on. She knew that she needed Jesus, but something was holding her back.... And she has been letting something hold her back for a long time.

We just sat and talked and waited for God to move. I could see Him working in Sara's life right in front of my eyes. It was wonderful! After a while, I prayed for Sara -that God would speak to her right then and that He would show her what was holding her back and that an overwhelming peace would fill her heart- and when I finished praying we looked up and Sara said with tears in her eyes, "I want to do it." So we prayed together and Sara invited Christ into her life.

What a night that was! I will never forget Sara's heart felt cry for God to come into her life. I was so blessed to be able to be a part of it.

AND, after Sara was saved at 12:15am, another one of our students that we have been praying for got to talk with Zack and was saved at 1:45am.

August 3oth/31st was a wonderful night/morning!

Pictureless Post for the End of Summer

Well we just got back from our last big thing of the summer, which was YEC. It was a great stress free few hours with Nate, Hollie, and Sara.

We are looking forward to what this fall has to offer and seeing our students become a witness at school. We are starting a few new things to keep them motivated, like a prayer meeting the first Thursday of every month in the City Bites parking lot.

We are also looking forward to what the fall will bring in our lives. We want to start living here and really get invested. We know that will really start to happen when we sell our house.... Maybe today will be the day.

On a side note, I am looking forward to some cooler weather, our 5 year anniversary trip to the Bahamas, finishing INSANITY, and getting over this bad bladder/kidney infection that I have right now.

Mission Springfield

We took off on June 21, 2010 for a different kind of mission trip. It would be one focused on work. Instead of building our own trip, we went to our first World Changers. It was a great experience full of working for the Lord. It was probably some of the hardest work I have ever done.... Our group re-roofed a house in 100 degree heat and I hauled shingles everyday. Nate's group built a wheel chair ramp. Our students worked really hard and we are very proud of them. Everyday we were working by 7:30am and staying in the heat until 4:00pm. We were split up into different groups made up of students and adults from all over. We became good friends with people from South Carolina, and Indiana. What was so amazing was that we were working our tails off in the blazing sun (wearing jeans) and nobody ever said one negative word. We were all there working for one purpose... And that was to glorify God by meeting the needs of certain families around the Springfield area.

Andres, Jill, Brighan, and I got on the same team :)

Us with our home owner, Mrs. Nettie. She was a blessing to us, just like we were to her.

Nate, Logan, and Kym built a wheel chair ramp for an elderly lady that hadn't been able to leave her house in two months. They say their favorite part of the week was seeing her face when she came outside for the first time.

Nate and Lo Lo

All the shingles "the ground crew" picked up.

Springfield is also the home of Abraham Lincoln. His face was everywhere. Before we headed home we stopped by his grave and rubbed his nose for good luck.

I asked good ol Abe to help sell our house. ha.