Can you help?

Saturday morning Elle and I volunteered with our church at Open Door Mission. We were putting together Christmas toy bags and we finished early so our group got the very first tour of the new Lydia House.

WOW, WOW, WOW. It is... beautiful, amazing, wonderful... heartbreaking.

Seeing what ODM has built, hearing about what was donated, listening to how much more they can accomplish, how many more families they can help was just a.m.a.z.i.n.g. But it was also heartbreaking to acknowledge that the need is that great in our community.

At the end of our tour the godly woman (whose name escapes me) in charge told us about how the staff, their families, and the board of directors got together when the building was no more than a frame and prayed over it. They prayed and wrote scripture on the 2x4's and on the concrete. They prayed for the families they will serve. They prayed specifically for repeat families, that they might successfully complete their programs and not 'need' the new facility. They prayed.

There were many tears. Mine included. I needed that.

Our sermon two Sundays was about thriving this Christmas and not just surviving it. Boy did that speak right to me. I love Christmas. I love this season. I love, love, love it. But I am not feeling it this year. I am feeling stressed and anxious and dysfunctional and I am cranky that I can't put up decorations until we move. I feel like shouting 'humbug'. But not really. Whether I get decorations up and cards out and gifts sent or not, I will still get to celebrate the greatest gift of all, the birth of my savior. And it took bagging the only present those children will get this year to remind me.


Someone asked after our tour about what they need the most of for these toy bags. She said they need baby dolls, barbies, and soft/squishy bouncy balls for little kids the most. She told me they bag around 4600 gifts each year and that is what they always run out of. That lit a fire under me. My love language is gifts, I love to give gifts, and not just to my spouse. I felt God right then and there telling me to go get some dolls. He laid a specific dolar amount on my heart. I headed to Target and overspent that amount by $1.18. But I got enough dolls for 16 precious girls. Still, I felt God nudging me. I knew I couldn't spend money I don't have so I thought, now what?


Then I remembered my sad, neglected blog and the wonderful internet.

Maybe some other people out there can help.

Couldn't hurt to ask.

So can you help?

Can you donate a doll, or two, or five, or any other toy? Can you pray? For my blog friends are you willing to re-post this on your blogs and see if anyone else can help? I will gather and deliver if you can. I don't know when or how, (and I argued that point with God for about 5 seconds), but I know he has asked this of me and he will figure out a way. They will be bagging until the 22nd but I would like to get this stuff up there early next week.

Thank you in advance and Merry Christmas.



*I forgot to include the link to ODM www.opendoormission.org . You can see their work and there is a list of needs. They also need help bagging the toys. They bag M-S from like 9-8. You can sign up to help on thier website. One other thing the lady told me is that they will be bagging the teenage girl's gifts last, so look out for those needs if that is where your heat is. Thanks again.

Prayer request

So baby took a tumble down a few stairs yesterday and landed on her face. She is fine, no concussion symptoms or broken bones-she got herself up, but she is achy(?) and the nurse said to sleep in her room and wake her every four hours to be sure. I'm glad I did because she did not have a restful night. She would sit up, crying "ouch", yet still be asleep. So I spent half the night in the rocker, not sleeping-I remembered just how noisy a sleeper she is normally, coupled with her aches-before I crawled into my bed after I woke her the second time. I left her door open so I could hear her, and I did, all night. So, tired mommy and extra clingy baby this morning. I am going to go hang on the couch and cuddle with the princess. Thanks for the prayers.

Thanks God...

...for that reminder. I needed it right at that moment.

Surprise?

So who here is surprised that the plane got diverted due to the snow?

Not me.

I knew yesterday when they predicted 9 inches.

But I tried to remain positive, prayerful.

I asked God to bring them home safely, no matter the day.

In light of today's two plane crashes around the world, I will continue that prayer while trying to ward off an anxiety attack.

I will choose to be grateful that Ben is currently on American soil instead of bitter that he is on American soil and still not home.

I miss him, a lot.

I am really starting to strongly dislike the snow.

Still praying...

Not a New Year's Resolution

Many of you know, I don't do New Year's resolutions. This year was no different. I did not make one. On the other hand, there is something that has been tugging at my heart for a while. I have been trying to ignore it so that it didn't coincide with New Year's and I think we are far enough past it. I love to read. Anything, everything, but I have been terrible about it including my bible reading (I know, I know, God is dealing with me), and I am determined to change that. I have also been re-evaluating my schedule to find what I can cut out in order to carve more time for this indulgence. HA! I realized there is not much in my schedule that is mine. I am certainly not going to ask the baby to go away or the older kids to give up their sports so that I can read a book. And I can't tell my professor, "sorry I didn't do this week's work, I really needed some me time to read". Yet, I know these are just excuses for why I have not been in His word. I know that finding time to be in God's word is priority and I have been really good with my excuses for why I don't have time for that. Really, if I'm honest, it's why I haven't been reading anything. I have been avoiding what God is wanting to say to me while trying to ignore how guilty I feel. I can't concentrate on the words because I know HE is waiting for me to stop being a wayward child. Sigh. So I come humbly before Him, no more excuses. I am listening. Want to know what I found out? Two things that I have been praying about in our family haven't happened because I have been trying to make one happen yet been just in the way on both. For some time, I have been praying and trying to establish a family devotional time. I, me. Instead of praying and letting God take the reigns, I have been trying to force it, and failed miserably. And no wonder when I am terrible about daily reading! The other thing is turning off our tv. I loved our time in Europe when we didn't have tv and, ever since we came back to the US, we have had 800 channels of nothing. I had given up on convincing Ben to cancel it and, really, I am just as guilty of letting our schedule revolve around the new season of whatever or ignoring the fact that the kids get up early on Saturday to watch whatever cartoon they find that they know I don't approve of. I just conceeded defeat. Then one day, my amazing husband, announced that we were turning it off AND establishing daily bible reading and devo's. All this time, God had been working on his heart too. WOW. So, off the tv went and, suddenly, I have more time in my schedule, our family has conversations that are longer than commercial breaks, and the kids are ahead a few days in their personal bible readings. Not to mention the $100 we are no longer giving the cable company. I thought I would keep up with maybe one or two shows online but I haven't yet and I couldn't tell you what we were watching anymore. AND, I managed to finish a book, start a personal study, and managed to do homeowrk not at the last minute. God is good.

Prayer request

My baby sister left this morning on a school trip to Washington DC. This has been in the works for some time, I don't think they were thinking to be there for the inaguration, but there they are. My Mom and I are both a little anxious. So prayers please for their health and safety and for the adults chaperoning them (I don't think there are enough).

Election day

Many thoughts have been running through my head over the last couple of weeks. I had no doubts about the candidate I was voting for but I find myself afraid for this nation. I am fearful of the direction this country could be headed for. I know I am not alone in this. In 1 Timothy we are called to pray for our government leaders, so I ask you to join me in prayer today. Pray for this nation, pray for our future president, pray, pray, pray.

I would like to leave these links for the undecided out there. As I said, there has never been any doubts for me who I would vote for, but these affirmed my choice.

I received this via email and thought, my husband goes to war for this? This photo is not doctored in any way, it is real (you can check it out on snopes here), and I do not care what 'modern' custom dictates, you place your hand over your heart and face the flag as well as "just show respect with your demeanor". I am sorry, but how you address the flag, "in this day and age", is NOT irrelevant! Our sons, husbands, fathers, daughters, wives, mothers, siblings are dying for our country! No, this is not irrelevant.

There are no words for this. Only tears.
Silent Screams

Thank you to this blogger for saying what many of us would like to.
Voted

In prayer,
Kris