Amy's Beat

Ready to go back!

2009-05-31T19:14:00.003-04:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing to invite you to be part of a journey that God is continuing to take me on. This time though, I have the extra blessing of bringing my husband Mike along with me. Last year I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala in January with a mission group from Michigan. While I was there we visited several different areas and did a variety of mission work. Everything we did was wonderful but there was one part that really stood out for me. We visited the Guatemala City Ghetto. This is an area in Guatemala City where the poorest of the poor live. When I was there with the group, we handed out Bibles, spoke to some of the residents about Christ, gave out candy, toys, and other various items. I really felt drawn to the ghetto and was wishing that I could spend some more time there. This was the beginning of my passion for the people in the Guatemala City Ghetto. From the minute I returned home, I felt a very strong urge to make plans to return as soon as possible.

While I was there in January, I met Ashley. She is an American, 21 years old, who has lived in Guatemala for 3 years. She has a passion for the people who live in the ghetto, and has even moved to a home in the ghetto so that she can be with them as much as possible. She has had a great influence on the people there, being Christ to them, and showing them love as Christ would do. I kept in contact with Ashley, and 8 months after I returned home, I was heading back to Guatemala by myself. This time I was going to stay with Ashley. I was so excited because this time I was going to really get to see what life in the ghetto is like, and develop relationships with the people who live there. To me, I can’t think of a better witness for Christ than to be willing to go live with these people, get to know them, and show them love by helping them in any way I can. This is exactly what I did. Ashley and I made meals for several of the families, we counseled with a few people who were struggling with issues, we gave out clothing that I had brought with me, as well as toys and other items. We also went out to the city dump, where families live, and gave them fresh baked bread that I had gotten at a bakery in the city. This was an awesome experience for me and it was a blessing for the people there as well. There is nothing more exciting than being able to tell them why I am doing what I am doing. It is all about Christ, the love He has for me, and how I want to spread that love to them.

Now, I am being blessed with the opportunity to go back to Guatemala. This time, I am getting to bring Mike with me. We plan to go December 12th – 20th of this year. I am excited that he will be able to join me in blessing the people of Guatemala. We plan to stay with Ashley once again. She is still living in the same place in the ghetto. We plan to do as many things as we are able to while we are down there. Some of the plans so far are to have a street dance one evening, have an American style cookout for the neighborhood another day, and to spend some time with the young guys who are looking for acceptance and unfortunately finding that acceptance through their participation in street gangs. I want to try to show them that there is so much more to life and other ways to fill the desire to belong than to take drugs and engage in gang activity. Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest issues in the ghetto, and many young boys and men die due to gang violence. Many innocent people lose their lives to this gang violence as well.

We are asking that you will pray for our trip to be a success and be exactly what God wants it to be. Also, as you know, any kind of mission trip takes a certain amount of money for travel and supplies. We are blessed to be able to stay with Ashley so we won’t have any expense for lodging but we do need money for our flight. We also need money for buying food and other supplies for the activities while we are there. Please pray about this and if you feel that God lays it on your heart to contribute to us financially we would greatly appreciate it. If you don’t feel that you can contribute financially, we are also looking for people who would commit to praying for us that we receive the funds that we need for the trip and that we will have a safe trip, and that we will truly be able to show the love of Christ to the people of Guatemala. If you want, you can do both, financial and commit to prayers. We are greatly appreciative of either or both!

May God Bless You!!

Mike and Amy

To see pictures and read about my last trip, please click below to view my blog.

http://amysbeat.blogspot.com/2008/09/guatemala-my-second-home.html

1991 Toyota MR2 For Sale

2009-05-15T16:39:00.009-04:00

I know this will shock many, but I am putting my favorite car up for sale. I have decided that I want to buy a newer one, and I don't have a big enough driveway to keep both. It makes me sad to sell it. It has been a great car that I have loved to drive. I am going to post pictures on here so that anyone who asks for pictures from the ad can be directed to my blog and easily get the pictures. Here are the details for anyone else who might happen on my blog and be interested.

1991 Toyota MR2, 5-speed manual, 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder turbo engine, new 16" wheels, power door locks, power windows, power steering, AM/FM radio, CD player, cold a/c

The mileage is 198,000 and the engine was rebuilt around the 130,000 mile mark.

The car looks and runs great, especially considering it's age. It does have a small oil leak and the t-top seals leak a during heavy rain. Other than that, I am not aware of any problems with the car. These cars are very rare and hard to find ones that look as good as this one. I am asking $4000 for the car. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at amym1130@aol.com. I receive my email very quickly so you will get a fast response mostly likely.

Out of the mouth of a 4 year old

2009-04-11T22:30:00.002-04:00

I heard something today that really made my heart happy. It goes back to before my second trip that I took to Gutemala, where I took hundreds of pounds of clothing and shoes and other things to share with the people wo call the ghetto their home. These people are very poor, yet they are happy. They don't have loads and loads of stuff like we do here in the USA and they are very thankful for all that they have. I was blessed with the opportunity to go spend the week living with them in the ghetto and I took lots and lots of clothes with me that had been donated, and I was able to give out clothing to many many familes. I saw the excited sparkling eyes of the kids and parents alike when I handed them clothing that they really needed and told it was for them, for free. So many got new shirts, pants, shorts, hats, socks, shoes, toys, and even dinner was cooked for many families. It was great.

One thing that happened before I left was that my four year old niece gave me some shoes of hers that were too little for her. She wanted those shoes to be given to a kid in Guatemala who did not have any shoes and needed some. I think that is so awesome that Faith, my niece, was able to understand that there were other little boys and girls like her out in the world who did not have shoes and that she wanted to help by giving her shoes to them. Isn't that just precisous? Well I took her shoes and I even took a pitcture of the kid who was blesses enough to get the shoes from Faith, and gave it to Faith to remember her good deed.

I just found out today that Faith still talks about Guatemala on many different occasions. I heard the story today about when Faith and Hannah, my nieces were talking with Heather, their mom. Heather was saying that they should be blessed that they have shoes and Faith said ya, like the kids in Guatemala who dont have shoes. Hannah said "ahhhh," showing sadness for those kids. Faith piped right up and said "it's OK, Aunt Amy will go down there and give them shoes so they will be ok." I heard that story and it just melted my heart!!! Faith really understands what it is all about and I was able to be a glimpse of Jesus for Faith to see!!! I hope and pray that this sticks with her and that she will be ready to take shoes down there with me some day when she gets a little bit older. Faithy has such a great heart for "the great comission" and she is only 4 years old!!

Guatemala

2009-03-05T22:09:00.007-05:00

I have finally gotten some pictures from Guatemala to show some of the beds that have been purchased with the money that was go graciously donated. To those of you who donated, I really appreciate the kindness. I have gotten many thanks from Ashley, on behalf of the families in the ghetto who have benefited from your kindness. I want to ad one more interesteting, yet chilling bit of information.

You might remember me talking about Elmer, one of my new friends in Guatemala. I spent time with him in January when I was there, and he had gotten out of the gangster lifestyle, and was following Christ. Well things happened, I won't go into all of that here, but he ended up back on the streets and hanging with a different gang. I did get to spend time with him again when I was there in September, but he had changed a lot. His spark was gone. Well, a few weeks ago he was shot. He had to have surgery to get the bullet fragments out of him. Anyway, he is now getting better and he has relayed his thanks many times to me, and to those who donated, for the awesome bed he has gotten to sleep in for his recovery. He lives in a house where there are a bunch of people living and they usually are 3-4 in a bed. Since they just received a new bed, he has been able to have a bed for himself during his recovery time so that he does not get kicked or hit by anyone and tear open his stitches, which by the way he has running from his belly button straight up to chest. I would post a picture, but it is not all that lovely to look at.

Thanks again to those of you who have helped in any way for my missions to Guatemala, whether it was financial for my trips or beds, or donating clothing for my Sept trip, or praying. I hope that God will open the door up again soon for me to get back there. I miss the people in the ghetto! I have such a passion for them, and hope to see them again soon.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Sorry there are not more pictures, but Ashley has been having trouble getting them to me, and I wanted to go ahead and post what I have for now. There were more beds purchased than what I have pictures of. I will try to find out the total of how many beds were purchased and will post it as soon as I find out. I did have a list of names of all the families but I lost it...........sorry.

The above picture is Elmer, the one who was shot. I decided to put the pic of him before he was shot rather than the one of his with his stitches showing.

I Am A Loser

2009-02-15T14:28:00.003-05:00

I struggle with something that I will share. I am not about to get all personal, deep, emotional or anything like that. No, this is something that most Americans struggle with. Weight. I love to eat, therefore I gain weight! As I said, this is a problem most of America has, some admit it and try to do something about it, some people are told by their doctor that if they don't lose weight their health will be jeprodized, and others are happy the way they are.

For the past several years I have not been happy where I am, weight wise, and I have tried and tried to change my habits and lose weight, but it was just not happening. I would commit to myself that this is the day, things will change, but nope, it never did happen. I felt like I was in a never ending battle, until one day, the first Sunday of 2009, I was at church, and the pastor asked us all what we would like to give to God. This is not like a new year's resolution. I hate those and one year vowed to never make one again, and so far, that is the only new year's resolution that I have ever kept. No, this was not a resolution he was asking us to make, or even a goal. He was asking us what we ned to give to God. My first thought, I need to give God control over my body, specifically over what I put into it and how I care for it. This was not an easy decision and I did not take it lightly, but I did just that. I gave this control over to God. We were asked to actually write this down, and as a sign of giving it over to God, we were asked to come up front, and put the paper that represented what we wrote into a bag. Rod, the pastor, would then burn them. So, this was it, I gave it to God.

Right after I made this commitment, things kept happening to remind me of what I had promised. I receive a daily devotion in my email. For the next several weeks, it was about how us taking care of our bodies is an important part of our spirutial life. This was definately an encouraging way to start out in this new commitment. Then, about the 3rd week of January, there was a "biggest loser" contest that started at work. I decided that I might as well join in as further motivation to keep my commitment. I mean, I can use all of the encouragement I can get right now!

You are probably wondering by now how things are going.........either that or you are bored out of your mind, but hey, I am not making you read this. You an stop at anytime. But, I am glad to say that I have been doing well at my committment. I have lost 15 pounds since the first of the year, and this past week at work, where we weigh in once a week, I was the biggest loser of the week! I was quite surprised when I heard that I had won for the week. I was needing that encouragement though, because this has not been an easy battle, and I have a long way to go. I guess that is part of why I am blogging about this. Sometimes I feel like I am in this battle alone. I know that I have God on my side.......but it might help to also have some others on my side who might be a bit more vocal to me. If anyone reading this feels like coming along side me with some encouragement or accountablity, please let me know and please do so! I would definately appreciate it. I need to be asked and held accountable for two things. How I am doing with my eating habits as well as how I am doing with my exercise habits, the second of which I have not been doing well on.

Thanks for reading...I know this is not the most interesting blog, but I felt that if I share this with more people that I will have to do that much better to make sure I keep up my commitment!

I have a scripture to add to my message. This scripture is not in the context of weight or keeping ourselves in shape, but I do believe it can apply just the same.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

I Am Going Back To Jail - and I am excited about it!

2009-02-05T23:29:00.005-05:00

It has been a while since I have written. I guess I just did not have anything to say that I felt was worth writing about. However, I have some interesting news that I am excited about now. Actually it came about last Sunday. I was asked by the director of the Clark County REC #5 to be in charge of putting together a music team for the weekend. If you have been reading my posts, or know me, you would know that I was on the music team for the Clark County REC #3 last year. I was definately hoping that I would get to do that again soon. Well this time, I am not only getting to play, but I am actually putting the music team together. It is a huge responsibility, and I am honored to be given the task. Now, as a drummer, it is kind of hard in dealing with the chord sheets and stuff for the singers and other musicians, since as a drummer I could care less about chords......but, I am pretty confident that I can make it work. I already have most of the band put together, and they are all very excited to be a part of this ministry.

The REC is basically an Emmaus Walk for those people who are in jails or prisons. If you don't know what an Emmaus Walk is, it is a weekend of getting away from everything and having time to focus on your spiritual walk, your relationship with Christ, and to help Christians become better leaders in their community. The REC is similar, although it is adapted for those who are incarcerated, and is more evengelical in nature, since many who attend are not already Christians.

I am looking forward to this opportunity to visit the jail again and to worship the Lord with a group of people who, sadly, are forgotten by many in the community. Ya, they have messed up and are there for a reason, but through Christ they can have the same eternal freedom that we are all promised! I think it is awsome that our theme song for the weekend is "I Am Free." We want to show these ladies that although they are not physically free to do what they want, if they choose to follow Christ, they are free indeed!

John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

The Big Game

2009-01-24T13:05:00.000-05:00

Today I went to see my niece play basketball.....she is 4. Her team is called the Black Knights and they played against the Bumblebees. I think this was her 2nd game but it was the first one that I have been to. It was too cute. They have these little short goals, and a miniature basketball. They basically take turns on who gets to bring the ball down the court, and of course there is no passing, and not much dribbling, but.......they have to start somewhere.

I posted a little video of Faith bringing the ball down the court. For some reason, when she has the ball, she can't seem to say on her feet. It is pretty funny. You will notice how she loses the ball to the other team and they give it back. How cute is that. They love to take turns.

Part 2 of Last Weekend

2009-01-24T00:05:00.000-05:00

In my last post I said that I was going to post a part 2 of my weekend that I had....last weekend. I guess since this weekend is already here, I should probably do that. I dont know if anyone even reads my blogs, so maybe no one has even been waiting for part 2, but here it is anyway.

Last weekend, besides playing in the band for the Rise to the Challenge middle school retreat, Mike and I also sponsored Patrick on a Chrysalis. For anyone who does not know what that is, it is similar to an Emmaus Walk but it is designed for teenagers. For those of you who don't know what an Emmaus Walk is...just read my old blogs and you will learn all about it.

I felt very blessed to get to sponsor Patrick on his Chrysalis, as he is one of my best friends. I know the blessing I got from going on my Emmaus Walk, and even more so from working on an Emmaus Walk and an REC. I was happy to be giving Patrick a chance to receive those blessings as well.

When we got to see Patrick it was great to see that he had experienced God in a new way...and mostly through the selfless love of others, mostly people who he did not even know. I prayed and continue to pray that this experience was great for him and that in some ways I got to and still get to help in his continued Walk with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Love you Patrick!

Rise to the Challenge Blog Part 1

2009-01-20T11:45:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a very busy but very fulfilling one for Mike and me, as well as many others. A while back I was asked to put together a band to play for a retreat at the Highland Hills Middle School. It was for junior high aged kids. I put together a band of people who I already play with regularly, and it turned out awesome. Barry on lead vocals and guitar, Andy lead guitar, Mike on bass guitar, Thomas on keys, and myself on drums. We had an awesome time playing together and it would seem that the crowd, kids and adult workers as well, really got into the worship big time and loved praising God through the music. Since we were set up in a gym and playing for young teenagers, we really got to rock it out as big as we wanted to, and boy did we take advantage of that opportunity. It is not too often that we get that chance. It was so awesome to see the kids raising their hands, jumping up and down, dancing and holding onto friend, just so excited and happy to be worshipping God. You saw at the beginning of the blog some pictures and below is a video. It too way to long to upload this, so here is a link to my youtube page where all of the videos are uploaded. You can hear first hand what we did, and in some of the videos, you can see the kiddos jumping around and having a blast.

http://www.youtube.com/amym1130 (click here to view all of the videos)

My weekend also involved another exciting event, which I will blog about in part 2, so come back soon.

Wii Fun!

2008-12-28T19:16:00.000-05:00

Much to my sister-in-law's surprise, yes, I played a Wii for the FIRST time on December 23rd. We were at my best friend, Laura's house and we played it and had an awesome time. I loved it. I always figured I would enjoy the Wii more than traditional video game consoles, because of the more "involved and active" nature of the games and the controller technology. Well I was right. I played it and I was hooked. So the next day...on Christmas Eve, Mike and I are out looking for a Wii. Now, we are sensible people and realized that we would probably not find one, and we didn't, but it was worth a try.

Last night, we had our Christmas gathering with my dad and family in Madison. We got our Christmas gift from my dad, which is money, and the thought is that when we can find it, we will get the Wii. On the way home we decided to stop in the Walmart in Scottsburg, and I went straight for the electronics area. I see what I think is a Wii console but I figure it can't be, it must be the Wii fitness or something like that. There was a Walmart worker standing there so I ask, is that a Wii? He says ya..."we just found it. We told someone a little while ago we were sold out and then we found this one back there. We just put it in the case 5 minutes ago." Of course I quickly say I want it and we got our other things to go along with it and made our purchase.

I have already throughly enjoyed my new toy. Mike and I stayed up too late last night playing, knowing that we would be getting up early for church, but it was worth it! And yes, we did get up and go to church! Then after lunch today, "our boys" came over and we had hours of Wii fun playing.

So that is one of my Christmas fun stories. I know we are not to relish material things, and I can say I am one who does not do that, and I think most who know me would agree to that. But, I do think that God allows us to have fun things and He enjoys seeing His children have fun, and I can't help but wonder....were we prompted to leave Madison just at the right time, and prompted to stop at that Walmart just in time to find that Wii? Hmm....makes you wonder. I know for sure that my God works in the big things in my life AND the little things....

Guatemala Bed Frenzie!

2008-12-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

My last post was about how I am on a mission to get beds for families in the ghetto of Guatemala city who are very very poor. Read the previous post for more information on that. Well I am so pleased and thankful to God to say that I have already sent $150.00 to Ashley, my friend and contact in Guatemala, and she bought 5 twin beds with that money. Those beds were a huge blessing to some families there. I also have already gotten $600 more that was donated by other people to send down there to purchase more beds!! The families in the ghetto of Guatemala are going to be so blessed by the people here in Indiana who have been so gracious as to donate to them.

I can say that this has me aching to be able to go down there myself and help buy, deliver, and set up the beds, but I don't think that is going to happen......however, I don't ever put limits on God! If He wants it to happen, it will happen. But, if it does not, I will be sure to ask Ashley to take bunches of pictures for me of the "bed frenzie" in the ghetto and send them to me so I can enjoy and share them.

A big shout out of thanks to Mom, Chastity, the Hornung family and the Cook family!! You shall be blessed by God for your generosity!

2008-12-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

Ever since I have been back from Guatemala this last time I have been working on another mission that I came up while I was down there. As we hosted families into Ashley's house and fed them dinner, we were able to get to know the familes and their situations. This family was our first guests the very first night I was there. I learned that they do not have a bed. Many famlies here in la Limonada have a bed but there will be many who sleep in that one bed. Yet, some don't have even one bed. This family lives in a tin shack of a house, that has a dirt floor. They have no beds at all so they sleep on blankets on the floor. During the raining season, the water comes into the house and the floor where they sleep becomes mud. I felt a strong pull to be sure this family would receive a bed. I talked to Ashley about it and she got some things worked out in her end and found out that we can buy a set of bunk beds for $150 each. I had already been saving up money for this express purpose, so I have already sent the check to buy this family this set of bunk beds. Below you will see pictures of this family. They make tortillas in their home to sell to try to make money. doing this day in and day out makes their walls stained from the smoke and soot of the fire. This is their reality, their life, everyday of every week of every month. I am praying that when they get this bed given to them that they will see love and I pray that the love they see is the love of Jesus Christ. I want them to embrace His love.

Look at these pictures. Look at the situation they are living in right now. Then come back later and see them again with their new bunk beds in their home. See the excitement that will be in their eyes.

Once Ashley gets the beds and they get them in this family's house, she will get us some more pictures to see how it looks. Then the next step is to see who else we can help. Ashley already has two more familes in mind who are in similiar situations, and who need beds. If anyone of you out there reading this would like to join in with this mission, please please contact me at my email amym1130@aol.com I would love to have others join in this mission with me. You will be so blessed if you do.

Thanks for taking time to read this and if you want to read more about my last trip to Guatemala, click on the link below. It will take you to the page where I blogged and put up pictures after I returned from my trip.

http://amysbeat.blogspot.com/2008/09/guatemala-my-second-home.html

visit

2008-11-30T20:54:00.000-05:00

A month ago I met a new friend, who happens to be a pastor. He pastors a small church off highway 135, between New Salisbury and Corydon. I told him that we would come visit him sometime soon, and today was the day. Mike and I went to his church this morning. It was a very nice visit. Their church is small, only around 50-55 in attendence. It was really nice, everyone was very friendly and it seemed like a family. It is a Methodist church, so they only take communion each month there is a 5th Sunday, so today was a special communion service. I really enjoyed how we all went forward to partake in the communion meal. It makes it a very active participation in the communion ceremony. I liked that. I am sure I will be around there for more visits soon.

After church Mike and I went out with my friend and his wife for lunch and had a really good time. It was nice to be able to sit down and just chat with some good friends. Then this evening Mike and I went to my parents house. Today is my birthday, so my mom made my favorite meal and a birthday cake for me, and we enjoyed visiting with them and my brother and his family.

It was a very nice day all around. A good day for a birthday.

Emmaus Walk

2008-11-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

It has been a week now since the ending of the women's Emmaus Walk that I worked. I planned to blog about it as soon as I got home but for some reason I just did not feel like I had the words to say at that time.

For those who don't know, I was playing drums on the music team for the walk. And for those of you who don't know what an Emmaus Walk is, I will just say that it is a 72 hour experience that is open to all Christians to attend, and it is designed to help you focus on your walk with the Lord, strengthen your walk, and help you become a better servent for our God. If you have never been on one and want to go, let Mike or myself know and we'd love to talk to you about it and if you feel it is for you, we'd sponsor you to go.

This walk was the first one that I had worked. I worked on an REC, which is the same kind of experience but for those who are incarcerated. I loved working that REC. I know that I blogged about it a while back when I did it. This was different, and I really did not know what to expect, but it was great. I saw many women open themselves up to the working of the Holy Spirit, and because of that many lives were changed..for the better!! Since I was playing drums and not working as closely with the women, I did not get to know a lot of them, but I did have a few who I talked to and one who I am keeping in contact with. She grew a lot on the walk but still has a lot of stuff to deal with and I want to continue to talk to her and get to know her and hopefully God will help me to help her. I also came home with a new good friend, which I did not expect to do. He was actually working the walk also. He is a pastor and a great man of God! We got the chance to talk and get to know one another and build the start of a new friendship that I hope continues.

I do have to say that God intervened in a great way on this walk, on many occasions. The most personal and close to home for me was the band. We had a tough time getting things together and did not feel (at least I did not feel) that we were ready, but I think that God worked through us and the women seemed to really have a great time worshiping God through the music. That is the whole reason that we are there, to lead them in praising and worshipping God, so....mission accomplished. Yet another time when God came through and made things happen.......God is Good!

One more note, I was asked by someone who I saw this past weekend to put together a music team for a middle school event in January. I am pretty excited about this. I have already started working on it, and am looking forward to rocking it out with a bunch of middle schoolers, and hopefully bringing some of them to Christ!!

Update

2008-10-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

I have posted on here a few times about a potential situation where Mike and I might get to adopt a set of twins due in April. Well I had just recently posted that I had not gotten any news lately about the situation. My contact person, Lindsey, has moved away from where the birth mother, Autumn, lives, so she has not talked to her much lately. Tonight I was surprised to have a message from Lindsay when I got off of work. She was upset though, and asked me to call her. I did, and I got some very sad news. Autumn had found out that the babies are a boy and a girl, which is what we were hoping for. However, the baby boy just died. It was due to a genetic disorder that is inherited, and apparently runs in Autumn's family. Lindsay was not really clear on all of the details, but it has something to do with extra fluid building up. It is something that usually goes away as the baby develops, but in some cases, as in this one, there is hemoraging, and the baby died. As far as they know the baby girl is OK and continuing to develop well.

Autumn and Lee, her husband, are pretty torn up about this, as I am sure anyone would be. I am pretty upset about it myself, even though these were not my babies and there was not a final decision yet about an adoption. Please pray for all involved, and continue to pray for the decision that they need to make as far as actually choosing adoption or not.

Stuggles

2008-10-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

I want to write to ask for continued prayer for Autumn, her husband Lee, the babies, Lindsey, and myself. Things have pretty much stopped as far as the potential adoption. Basically, I am getting no communication from anyone. Lindsey, from what I understand, is getting back with old friends........you know, the kind who get you into trouble, you end up in rehab, and then get yourself clean, and vow never to go back to them, but you do anyway? So, I have tried and tried to get in touch with her, but she is not answering and not returning calls. I have heard about her getting back with her old friends, and back into drugs from her brother, who asked for me to pray for her. She has also pretty much moved back to this area, which is where those friends are, so she is no longer around Autumn. So, my prayer for her is that she wakes up to what she is doing and gets out before she completly brings herself down again.

Now, Autumn and Lee do have my phone number and have called me once. However, I tried to call them, left a message and they never called me back. I therefore cannot call them again because that would be like I was pushing them to talk to me, and I will not do that. My prayer is that they continue to think about the well being of the babies, and continue to keep Mike and me in mind as far as adopting.

I ask for prayer for the babies, that they grow, develop, and are born healthy when the right time comes.

The prayers that I ask for myself are that I will have peace for this whole situation. When the lack of communication first started, I did not handle it well. I started having anxiety attacks, and was so upset trying to figure out what I could do to make this happen. Then I finally prayed about it, and gave it BACK to God, and asked him to help me deal with this, and to give me peace. So far, I have done pretty well since then. I still have had no communication but I am doing a better job of allowing God to handle things.

Please pray for these things. I do appreciate all of the prayers that I know have gone up on behalf of this situation, and also the words of encouragement.

Fun Times!!

2008-10-20T10:32:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday evening was our Bonfire/Costume Party, and from what I can tell, it was a sucess. We had a pretty large group of people from around 3 years old up to............well I am not sure, but there was a large, diverse group, and everyone seemed to have a great time. A lot of people dressed up and I was so glad and thankful for those who dressed up. We had a contest and here are the results. Best overall costume was won by a landslide by Sam Fanning. He was dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow, and his costume was awesome. For the most creative the winner was Thomas Fanning, who dressed up as Elton John. Mike ran away with the votes for the funniest, but since Mike and I did not want to take our own prizes, we checked on second place, which was Thomas Fanning once again. He already got a prize so third place was tied between Patrick Fanning, my brother Doug, and myself. We decided that the prize would go to Patrick, who dressed up as the Middle Man...it is a TV show character.

All in all, I think that things went well. We had a "sit-in" movie theatre set up on the side of the house where we showed Cars, and the classic Frankenstein, we had a Guitar Hero area on the other side of the house, game area, pumpkin carving area and the bonfire. We had some great pumpkins carved, as you can see in the pictures below.

Thanks to all of you who came out and spent the evening with us. We just might have to do this again next year for those of you who missed out, and for those of you who came to come again and have fun.

The hotdog and hamburger cook of the day!
And here he is again, with his alter ego coming out!

Sam used his creative side to help make the signs for the party.
Patrick used his knife and hatchet skills to make stakes for me.

Mary Popins meets Captain Jack Sparrow meets.......um girly man!

My Aunt Marci and her friend Rusella. They are from Madison/Hanover.

The two cutest pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

The "road" and the bunny. Pumpkin carving cowboy.

Lynn concetrated on this pumpkin for a long time! Hers is the tree that is supposed to say Happy Halloween on it.
Michael enjoyed watching Cars. I knew that it was one of his favorites, which is why I chose to show it.
Wow........brother and sister love.
My parents.......I think Pop is scared by the lion, although he was dressed as lion tamer and had his whip and chair along with him.

I am not exactly what to title this one but I was glad that Ash came and brought along her friend and that they dressed up.

Captain Jack Sparrow and his buddy Will Turner. I guess this must have been when Jack switched sides. You never really can tell who's side Jack is on!
Strike a pose!
Guitar Hero is always a hit, even among pirates.
How sweet. My brother, the road, along with his daughters Hannah the cat and Faith the pumpkin.

Here kitty kitty kitty...........
Cheyla was dressed up as a man-woman, and Carly was dressed up as Sam Fanning. Notice the bracelets on the arms.
It might be hard to figure this one out, but Evan was a gangster. His pants were sagging....and his hat was on crooked but it was making his cross eyed so he straightened it up!

Miss Mary Poppins was lovely. She also brought her date, Dick Van Dyke who you can see below. He did not bring his chimney sweep with him though.

Here he is....the love of Mary Poppins life!

Mr. Middle Man.........you will have to watch the TV show to learn more about his. It is still a bit of a mystery to me. I have seen clips though.............a funny, crime fighting guy. Mr. Elton John is in the yard! Complete with the leopard print shirt, the red leather pants and the crazy sunglasses!
The scarecrow from OZ.........

Pumpkins that were carved at the party.........and a few the night before the party.

This is my pumpkin....

Gearing Up!

2008-10-09T12:25:00.000-04:00

We are gearing up for our bonfire/costume party that is next Saturday night. If you are coming, and have not told me, please let me know. Also, don't forget to bring some food to share, chairs, roasting forks if you have them, and anything else you think sounds good to bring.

We will have some pumpkins for carving. Today Mike and I went out and got a bunch of them. They are lining our deck right now. It looks pretty cool.

On the adoption front..........I have spoken with the birth mom, Autumn. She really seems interested in doing this, but has still not made that final statement. We did go ahead and contact a lawyer today, so that we can find out where we proceed next, should she say yes. Autumn needs continued prayer to help her feel at peace with the decision she needs to make. She knows that she cannot take care of these babies, and she wants to give them a better chance at life. She really seems to like us, and knows that we would love these babies and raise them the very best we can, with the help of God. She is just really struggling in saying the final yes..........

Please continue to pray for Autumn, her husband, her 2 kids, one who lives with her and one who lives with her mom, and for the twins as they develop. She is at month 3 right now. Also pray for Mike and me as we continue to hope and dream about the possiblity of us getting this awesome blessing! If it does not happen, it will hurt a lot, but we know that we have to take the risk to even have the chance to have the blessing.

News and Updates

2008-10-03T21:51:00.000-04:00

Today I had to go and get my wisdom teeth pulled....all four of them. I was put under. I'd have it no other way. I am a complete wimp when it comes to anyone messing with my mouth. I went years without going to the dentist, and Mike came into my life and he convinced me that I needed to go. As it turned out, I had no cavities, except in my wisdom teeth, which they were all in but not all completely in. This was about 4 years ago and the dentist has been on me about getting them taken out. I promised him at my last cleaning that I would get it done, so today was the day. It was so weird. I remember going in there and getting an IV put in and he put something in the IV and then next thing I know I am in a different room, laying down under a blanket! I have no idea how I got there. I had to have walked though because the chair I was in was not on rollers. It is so weird.

Well my mouth was completely numb. Mike brought me home and he gave me my meds every three hours, and I slept. I finally was able to get up out of bed around 7, and hit the couch. I still talk funny and have chipmunk cheeks but at least I can talk..........all day I kept trying to talk to Mike and he was having trouble decifering what I was trying to say! I do seem to be improving well, of course the pain meds work great....haha. I hope to be able to play in the band at the ranch this Sunday for the fund raiser.

In other news, Autumn, the lady pregnant with twins, has Mike and my profile. She has said to Lindsey that she can see that if we were to adopt her twins that it would be such a blessing and dream come true for us. She also knows that she needs to give the babies a good chance in life by allowing them to be adopted. She however is still struggling making that decision final. PLEASE please please continue to pray for her and this decision. Mike and I want to adopt those babies so badly. We know that we are ready from this and have such a desire to have them and raise them to know God. We want to have a family. We do realize still that this might not be God's plan, and if so we will accept that. However, we can't help but to continue to pray that it is His will and he will bring those babies home to us. Autumn goes to the doctor next week and will be able to see what they are.........she thinks they are boys, but that is just a mother's intuition. Of course, I'd not mind that! .........but I will take two boys, two girls, or one of each, which would actually be the ideal situation.

So, just please pray for this situation and also pray for Lindsey. She is the friend of Autumn who I have contact with. She really wants to see the babies go to us as well, and is encouraging Autumn in that way. THANKS FOR MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS AND YOUR KIND WORDS AND CONCERNS OVER THE SITUATION. I hope to have new news soon, but there are still 5-6 months to go, so anything could happen.

You're kidding.............right?

2008-10-01T07:48:00.000-04:00

GPS Sends Another Driver Onto Train Tracks of Doom
by Donald Melanson, posted Sep 30th 2008 at 1:43PM

We've seen some pretty extreme cases of excessive faith in GPS, but this may well be the first instance of the ill-advised practice nearly exactly repeating itself. As you may recall, earlier this year a Bedford Hills, New York man trusted his GPS so much that he apparently thought it was perfectly reasonable to follow the directions directly onto a set of train tracks. That didn't exactly work out so well, for his car or the oncoming train. Now, as The Journal News reports, another man followed his GPS onto the very same set of tracks last night and, while he did get out in time to make a surely embarrasing 911 call, that apparently wasn't enough to prevent a commuter train from slamming into the car a few minutes later, causing an hour and a half delay but, thankfully, no injuries. Maybe it's time for some signs?

Tagged, eh?

2008-09-30T10:51:00.001-04:00

I have been tagged. Typically my first response would be to turn and chase the person who just tagged me, so that I could tag them back! That is the only kind of tag that I have ever played.

I am supposed to list 7 weird or ramdom things about myself.............I am not sure I am so creative as to do this, but I will try.

1. I am an adrenaline junky. I love to do things that get my heart rate up. I have done aerobatics several times in different types of airplanes, but my favorite was in an old Stearman (biplane) and loved being upside down. This is an open cockpit type plane, so I could see everything, which was awesome. I want very much to skydive, love to repell, have done zip lines over the tropical areas of Guatemala, and just anything that gives me an adrenaline rush. On the down side, this can be very dangerous if you are not a person who has morals and values............which I have, so I have to pick and choose my adrenaline rushes carefully!

2. Referring to the above.........I have wrecked my car on Paoli Pike, where I actually went over the side of the cliff, but I was not scared one bit! I guess that has to do with the high adrenaline personality. I was only upset that my car was so messed up afterwards!

3. I love showers, baths, and swimming, but I hate being wet. Try to figure that one out. I wish someone could invent a way that the second that you turned the water off in the shower that you were instantly dry.

4. I have a black belt in karate. That is not exactly weird, but kinda random.

5. I love weapons. I collect them. I have a room full of different kinds of swords, nunchucks, throwing stars, daggers, etc. And......I wish I had a place to actually use them.

6. I enjoy it when one of my cats decides to sleep on my head. There is nothing more relaxing than the sound of a cat's purr to put you to sleep.

7. I have two pet snakes..............weird or random? Maybe........... They have names too, Jonah and Cesear.

I don't think that I have anyone to tag, due to the fact that pretty much everyone in my list of bloggers has already been tagged by someone else.

BONFIRE TIME

2008-09-25T17:30:00.001-04:00

Click to Enlarge

HAPPENINGS

2008-09-22T15:25:00.000-04:00

I have some updates on a few things that have been near and dear to my heart lately and that I have shared with others. The first has to do with the twin babies that Autumn is carrying. Just to recap, Autumn is friends with Lindsey, and Lindsey is the sister of a guy I work with. Anyway, Lindsey called today and said that Autumn has still not made any decisions. Apparenly there have been several people who live near her who have been offering to raise the babies, but according to Lindsey, none of them are a good fit. Lindsey is going to encourage Autumn to get to know Mike and myself before she makes any decision because she really thinks of all of the options, that we would be the best. I have made up a profile of information on Mike and myself, including many pictures. This Thursday, Lindsey is supposed to be in town, and we are planning to meet so that Lindsey can get to know us herself, as well as I can give her the profile to give to Autumn.

So.........pray pray pray!! I really feel like Mike and I would be great parents for these babies. We would provide for their every need, and even spoil them a bit I am sure. We also have very supportive family and friends who I am sure would help us along the way. Most importantly though, we would raise them in a home that knows and loves God, and teach them about Jesus so that when they are old enough to make their own decisions that they would decide for themselves to follow Christ.

Adopting would be one of the biggest blessings of my life if it were to happen. I also know that God has a plan, and it might not be for us to adopt these babies, and I have been praying that if that is the case, that God would help us to understand and accept that decision.

EMMAUS WALK

The other thing that has been going on is that the women's Emmaus Walk for this past weekend was cancelled due to the power outages. I just found out today that it has been rescheduled for October 30th til November 2nd. I did have some tentative plans for that weekend, due to the fact that it is Halloween weekend, however, I realize that the Walk is the more important event, so I will have to sacrifice my own plans, which is OK.

That's all for now.............

My Man

2008-09-19T09:16:00.000-04:00

Mike went on his Emmaus Walk last weekend and he came home completely revitalized and desiring a closer more intimate walk with our Lord. He gave much over to God and is determined to let God keep it. It is amazing how much a person can change over a few days of quite time with God, fellowship with other believers, and encouragement from loved ones and other Jesus followers. I am so very proud my my favorite person in the whole wide world................that's you Mike!! I love you and love the new, deeper conversations that we have been enjoying. I look forward to our continued growth in God and with each other.

Anyone reading this who has not been on an Emmaus walk I definately encourage you to go on one. If you want more information about it, please just ask. I'd be more than happy to tell you, and also to sponsor you if you want to go on a Walk.

I was supposed to play drums in the band for the women's Emmaus Walk this weekend but due to recent weather, the electricity is out at the Woods where we were to stay, so the Walk has been postponed. I will give an update later on when we have new dates for it. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy a weekend of sleeping in and finally having a chance to get caught up on some things that I have still not gotten to since I have been home from Guatemala.

Emmaus Walk

2008-09-11T21:39:00.000-04:00

Well Mike is on his Emmaus Walk. For anyone who has been on a walk, you know something about what he will experience this weekend. For those of you who have not been on a walk, I want to say that it is a good experience, and all Christians would benefit from it and enjoy the time to get away and focus on your relationship with Christ. Please pray for Mike that God will open up his heart receive whatever blessings He has in store for Mike this weekend. The Emmaus Walk is a very personal thing...........everyone gets something different from it, just depending on what they need and what God opens their mind and heart to. This event is always covered with tons of prayers, so the Holy Spirit is enabled to do the things that He needs to do for each person on the walk. So my prayer is that Mike is open to receive all that the Holy Spirit has to offer him for the next three days, and the he will come home closer to Christ and refreshed and renewed!

Guatemala, my second home.

2008-09-08T17:21:00.000-04:00

Matthew 25:34-40

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

These are the verses that encouraged me to make this trip that I just got home from. Last January, I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala where I met up with a group of people from Michigan. We went to several places in Guatemala, helping with orphans, giving to those who were in need, etc. I saw some places and people who I was really drawn to. From the time I left, I knew that I wanted to go back as soon as God made a way for me to get there. Well, He made a way sooner than I expected, and I went. I took 5 bags, each weighing 50 pounds, mostly of things to give away. I had mostly clothing, but I also had some toys, cross necklaces, and a few Bibles. I really had no idea what all I would do down there, but I knew one thing, I wanted to show the love of God to these people. The area that I went to for most of the time was the ghetto...La Limonada. This where my friend Ashley lives, and I stayed with her for the week. We went to the market as soon as I got there and bought up a bunch of groceries. That first night I was there, we had two families come in to her house at different times, and we fed them dinner. The first dinner we had to do something fast so we did hotdogs and chips and the second dinner we did baked chicken, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes. This set the stage for the week. Each day, we had one or more families in, fed them a complete dinner, and then gave them clothing, toys, etc. These people are very poor and when they do get meals they typically only have one or two things on their place, and rarely do they have meat. We made sure to give them meat as part of each meal. Most importantly, we showed them that we cared like Jesus cares for us! This week was such a huge blessing for me! I wanted to actually go in there, live with these people for the week, and show them the love of God, and that is exactly what I got to do! They could not believe that I would come there and spend the week, and actually sleep there in the ghetto with them! They see Americans come in there with different mision groups, but no one ever spends an extended time there, and especially not spending the night, actually living down there with them. Now, Ashley is an American, and she does live down there, and she has developed a ton of respect from them for all of the great things she does there. She has lived in Guatemala for over two years, and just recently moved into the ghetto...but for an American to come down there for the week, and stay there instead of in a nice hotel somewhere.............that was amazing to them. I know that meant a lot to them, and that was a blessing for me to hear the great things they were saying about me. Of course I did not go there to impress them in any way.......I went to serve them, but it was a blessing to me to hear how much they loved me being there and staying in their neighborhood in the ghetto. I love to help people, I love to give to others, I love to show love.............and I got to do that, all week.

I know I am kind of rambling, but this is the best way for me to talk about what all I did this past week. I love the people of Guatemala........specifically in La Limonada! They are so happy. Some have more than others there, but none of them have much. Ashley and I were inviting the families into her home and feeding them and clothing them, but we were also invited into their homes! We were invited for breakfast in one ladies's home, and then for lunch two different days in other people's homes. So.......here I am, down there to give to them and bless them, and they are blessing me by inviting me to come to their homes and eating their food. How cool is that. They are so loving. Also, this gave me more insight to these familes and their homes. I was in several homes. None of them are big, and some are only one room, maybe around 10 feet by 10 feet. Some have no beds, and sleep on the ground, which may be concrete, may be dirt, or when it rains, may be mud. Some have a bed or two, and the whole family sleep in one bed or two beds. I have a picture below of 4 in a bed at one home. Some homes are concrete block, but many are just sheet metal, and are very dangerous to be in when the bullets fly..........which they do regularly. I heard them...day and night. The home that I was in is all concrete on the walls and floors and sheet metal on the roof.

I spent a lot of time with the teenagers....mostly teenage guys....hmm, not much different than my life at home, huh? The teens liked to hang out with us at Ashley's house, and whenever Ashley and I went into the market, different ones of them went with us. I got to take many of them out to McDonalds, which was a huge treat for them. It was fun. On Saturday, there was a Guatemala futball game, (soccer), so we made pizza, and had chips and soda, and several of the teenagers came over and watched the game.

On Friday, we took three huge baskets of bread to the city dump, where many live. It was fun going there and blessing them by taking care of one of the most basic needs. Again, they were very happy and very thankful. It was a huge blessing to me to see them happy and to know that I was able to help them out.

I have so much more that I can tell but I prefer to talk about it than to write, but I wanted to share some of my experiences on here and share some pictures. If anyone wants to hear more and see the rest of the pictures and see the video, just let me know. I'd love to have you over to my house and share with you.

Thanks so much to all of you who donated clothing and other things, as well as those who donated cash. La Limonada was greatly blessed this past week.........oh and since I was able to live there among them for the week, I really got the opportunity to build relationships, and know the people and as the week went by, as I was walking around, I would see adults and kids and they were wearing the clothing that I gave them! It was so neat..............I loved seeing them using what I brought them...........what you all donated.

Enjoy the pictures below, and please, if you want to see more and hear more, email or call me and we will set up a time to get together in my home and I will share. I would love to share............

Ashley in her home.

Me in Ashley's home, getting ready for the futbol game with the teenagers.

We always went out into the streets to give away the extra food from when we had people in to eat. Here the young boys enjoyed the pizza.
Douglas and Oscar.....to wonderful, sweet teenagers I spent a lot of time with .
My new young friend, Jasmine.
Jasmine's home. She lives here with her mom, dad, brother and sister.
This is spike. He is the pet of one of the teenagers, Winston. He brought him over for me to see him. I love reptiles, so that was cool.
Some of the guys....Carlos, Winston, not sure of his name, and Hector (from left to right) La Limonada

The steps to get up out of La Limonada into Zone 1 of the city. Lots of steps!!
This was late at night, in the street. Kids were just running around playing all over the place. They were having fun......and loved getting their pictures taken.
This is the grandma of some of the new friends I made. And yes, she is standing up. Mike asked me that question. Many of the people who live in Guatemala are little, especially the older generations.
The babies are so adorable with their big brown eyes!!

Anderson and Raual...i am not sure how to spell his name........and Ashley, if I get any names wrong, feel free to email me and let me know!

Wilson.........the older lady above is his grandma.
Three gangsters and a baby.........this home has two ladies, who have 10 kids between them, and since one of them is the girlfriend of one of the gangsters, this is where most of the gangsters hang out.
A family that we hosted.

Joshua...I wanted to put him in my suitcase and bring him home with me!! He is so adorable. If something does not change, he will become a gangster because he already runs the streets day and night.
Claver looking out his door at us.........he is a special needs boy. He cannot say more than two words, he also runs the streets, but is such a happy boy.
I think this is Manchas. He is 14, already associated with the gang of the neighborhood. Here he is showing the gun that they pass around among them. The first day I was there they were shooting a lot. They just shoot into the air...just goofing around...but not being very smart. They just dont see the wrong in it. However, they did lay off the shooting for the rest of the week. I really think that they were being respectful of me being there...because usually they shoot a lot. You hear gun shots in La Limonada a lot, day and night. Most of the time it is just shooting into the air, but sometimes it is a shoot out between gangs.
Look at those beautiful brown eyes. She is eating a candy apple.

I did not catch their names, but this is two ladies standing in the door of their home.
Elmer, Dervin, and me at the city dump with the bread. Both of these guys are gangsters. Hopefully seeing the examples of Ashley, myself and others who come down there who are Christians, hopefully they will change their ways. Elmer did clean up and get off the streets and come to God a while back. but some things drove him away from the church. I asked him when he would come back to church, and he said that he does miss it, and wants to come back. I have been praying for him ever since Ashley told me a few months back that he had left the church. Elmer is one of the guys who I got to meet last January when I was in Guatemala.
Joshua again..........
A man getting bread in the dump.
I don't know his name but his dad is Pewee, who has become a Christian.

I realize that I have this picture in here twice but I can't figure out how to delete it and dont want to risk deleting the wrong pictures................so enjoy it again.

Check out the shoes!
This is one of the pastors in Ashley's church and his wife. They were such wonderful, sweet, and sincere folks. Guillermo and Chepa. We had them and their family, three daughters, in for dinner and they had us in for lunch my first full day there.

This is the home where there are many gangsters living, with the two ladies and their 10 kids. We knocked on the door and this little guy answered. It was so funny. Check out his shoes.
One day we went to the central market for me to buy some typical Guatamala stuff to bring home. It is not safe for Ashley and me to go there alone. These guys went with us one of the days. I said they were all my bodyguards! I took them to McDonalds, which is a treat for them because they don't get to do stuff like that hardly at all. I spent a lot of time with these guys. They were great! I loved them and miss them.
Another family that we had in for dinner and clothing.
Kids on the street, wearing clothing that I gave them.
More pics of the guys...Douglas, and Oscar. I don't know the younger guy in the back.

Douglas and Carlos being goofy.
Claver again. He likes to hang outside Ashley's house all the time.

this and the pictures above are all from the house where the gangsters hang out. At least three in the picture are gangsters. We had all of these two familes in for dinner and clothing.
one day we made pies....Douglas helped.

More views of La Limonada.

Another family in Ashley's house.

This is Black. He is one of the gangsers who hangs outside of Ashley's house. He is such a nice kid, and it is so sad that he is messed up and a gangster. I can only hope for him and the other guys that maybe I had a bit of an influence on them to help them realize there is more to life than being in a gang, doing drugs, and comitting crimes. I loved on, gave to, and developed relationships with these guys as much as the others, because it is them even more who need the good influences, hoping that one day they will realize the love of God and turn to him.

One of Guillermo and Chepa's daughters. Isn't she just adorable!

Elmer and Coche...again, gangsters.

I think this is another of the preacher's daughters............
Ashley and ....I cannot remember her name............oops.
Wilson, his sister Yajaira, and Ashley.
Another family we fed and clothed.
Ashley's home, ready to invite in a family for dinner.

Ashley's home....the kitchen.
This was the first family we had in for dinner and clothing. This is a young, Christian family. They are very very poor. They live in a small one room home, and have no bed. Their home is made of sheet metal pieces, and they have a dirt floor. They sleep on the floor and when it rains the water comes in under the sheet metal and they are sleeping in the mud. One of my new missions is to send money to Ashley, hopefully soon, to buy this family a bed or two. Unfortunately, there are many families like this in La Limonada. If anyone in interested in giving to buy beds for families like this, let me know. It is just under a hundred dollars to buy a bed. Ashley has a mission fund in the States and my plan will be to send money to her mom to put into that fun and have her use it for buying a bed or two for this family and if I get enough money for other familes like this one. She will also send pictures of them and the bed or beds once she gets them so you can see exactly where your money went to.............so if you are interested, please please let me know.
A mom and daughter who came for dinner and Black who also came in to eat with us that evening.
Manchas...a young gangster. He is 14, sniffs glue and hangs in the streets. Hopefully someday he can realzie the love of God and realize that the things he is trying to fill his life with are not what is going to fulfill him. I have been and will continue to pray for him and the other gangsters that they will realize the holes in their lives that they try to fill with violence, guns, drugs, etc, can only be filled by God!!

This is the end of the pictures that I have posted, but again if you want to hear and see more, just let me know.............

Baby

2008-08-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

I have something that I want to throw out as a matter of prayer. I was approached by a guy at my work the other day, and he asked if we were still wanting to adopt a baby. I told him that we were not actively pursuing it right now, but that if something came our way, we would not turn it down. Well he told me that his younger sister, who is 20, has a friend who is pregnant with her third child. She is young and not married and has decided that she does not want this baby. She has said that if she does not find someone to adopt the baby that she will abort it. My friend's 20 year old sister has said that she would take the baby so that it would not be aborted. Well my friend told his sister about Mike and me and how we wanted to adopt, and she said that she would give her friend our name and number. So, I gave him the information, and am now seeing if I hear from her. I feel that if we are supposed to adopt, that God will make it happen. I have been presented with other situations like this throughout the past few years, and none of them have come to anything. This one might not either, so I am not getting my hopes up, but I thought I would share the information and ask for prayers in the matter.

HEADING SOUTH

2008-08-19T17:06:00.000-04:00

Well, it's almost time for me to head south again. I will be leaving for Guatemala in less than two weeks, on September 1st. I will be flying down there and meeting up with Ashley, pictured above. I will be staying with her for the week. I will be taking with me over 200 pounds of clothing, as well as some Bibles and toys. She and I will go to the places where there is great need, and will be helping out the people, and in doing so, sharing the love of Jesus. Jesus has blessed me in so many ways, and I have such a desire to bless others in return.

Please pray for me as I travel down there, spend the week, and then travel back. Guatemala is no longer in civil war, but it can still be a volatile place at times. I also ask that you pray for my family while I am gone. I asked my mom if she is nervous when I go down there and she said yes, that they all are (my family). Please pray for them to have peace in knowing that I am there doing God's Work and He is watching over me.

Enjoy the pictures below from my last trip, and stay tuned for new pictures once I return.

This adorable boy lived in one of the small villages that I visited. We were handing out clothing there to the kids. They were so excited and happy to receive it.

This little one and his mom were very happy for our visit last time. They live in the Guatemalan Ghetto. This little guy was so happy to receive the soccer ball and the little toy he is holding in his hand.

This is a little boy who also lives in the ghetto. If he is not given the right guidance, he could end up getting into a gang as many of the boys and young men do in the ghetto. Hopefully with the help of those involved in the church, boys like this will be guided into God's "gang" before they get old enough to start looking for a place to fit in. Many are looking for a way to make money or just something to fulfill their lives, and end up in a gang, taking drugs and doing other things that give temporary fulfillment, but what they really need is Jesus Christ!

This is the Guatemalan Ghetto, also known as La Limonada. This is where I will be spending a lot of my time. Ashley is part of a church down here that is really growing and reaching out to young men and boys who are in gangs, and helping them to realize that there is a different "gang" they can be a part of that will give them everlasting fulfilment!

I got to meet this little guy last time I was in Guatemala. Isn't he just adorable?! He lives in the city dump with his family, as does the little boy two picures above. I hope to get back to the dump this time and hand out clothes for the families who call this place home. I also want to give these little ones some toys to play with. Many of them have probably never had toys, other than things they found in the dump to play with.

My Heart

2008-08-03T19:25:00.000-04:00

For those of you who might wonder why I left a huge part of my heart in Guatemala, please please check out the below video. This is Ashley. She is the one who I will be spending my week doing God's work with when I travel back to Guatemala in September.....the video says it all!

The Newest Little Drummer

2008-08-01T21:50:00.000-04:00

Around last November, my niece, who was 3 at the time, decided that she wanted to play the drums. Of course that thriled me, since I am a drummer. I let her play around with my drums when she wanted to, and she started asking for drums for Christmas. Well it was a bit too late for that since it was only a month away from Christmas, but her mommy and daddy did find a toy drumset, and she got that for Christmas. She loved it! She played on it a lot, and had a ton of fun. We, her mommy and daddy, and uncle Mike and I, decided that if she was still intersted in drumming on her 4th birthday, that we would go in together and buy her a real drumset. Well her birthday was in July, and sure enough she was still intersted. My brother and I looked at sets, and decided on a junior, Ludwig drumset for her. We ran into all kinds of trouble getting it, and we missed her birthday, but last Monday, it was there and I finally got to set it up. She loves it!! I gave her a short lesson Monday, and plan to start giving her regular lessons. I think it will be so much fun! I posted the very first video if her playing the drums on Monday right after she got them. Enjoy!

Happenings

2008-07-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

Wow, how time goes by so fast. It is just over a month now that I will be heading back out to Guatemala. I am very excited about this trip. I am looking forward to spending time with Ashley. She is the young lady who I met when I went down there the first time. She is an American, who just turned 21 last week, and she has lived down there for 2 years now, and she is so on fire for God. Her passion is to spread the Word to all of the people down there who don't know about the love of Jesus yet. She is doing a wonderful job, and she is also very fun to be around. I plan to take as much clothing down there with me that I can, and she and I will go around to the places that have the most need, and give it out. I am also taking some Spanish Bibles with me to give out to those who need/want them. The last time I was there, we had a whole bunch of Bibles and they went so fast. Everyone wanted them. I wish I could take a whole bunch with me this time, but space is limited, and since I am going alone, there is only so much stuff one person is allowed to take, even when you are paying for the extra bags, they will only allow me to take 3 extras.

If anyone wants to help out, I am still in need of used clothing, that is still in good shape. I really need kids and teens sized clothing, boy and girls. I have adult male and female clothing and I have baby boy clothing but am lacking the inbetween sizes. If you have any that you want to donate, please let me know asap. I need to start packing the bags to see how much I will be able to take with me.

ALSO....some of you know about the REC that I worked back a few months ago. I was playing drums for the music team. Well, I just got a call today asking if I want to play drums for the next women's Emmaus Walk, which is in September. I said yes, and am very excited about playing drums for that. So, I will have a very busy next few months between getting ready and going to Guatemala, and practicing for and going to meetings for the Emmaus Walk, and then the weekend of the walk. But, it will all be exciting and I will enjoy spreading the joy of God!

By the way, if you want to see what kinds of stuff Ashley is doing in Guatemala, I have a link to her blog on mine. Just click on her name.

Coincidence? I don't think so....

2008-07-01T07:51:00.000-04:00

For the past few days, Mike and I have had something weight on our hearts, and we needed to discuss an issue with someone. We had a couple of different ways we could go about this, but we were just not sure which way to go about it. I prayed about it over and over, and just really wanted to do the right thing. Mike and I were trying to think of someone who we trusted who we could talk to about it, without that person being really around here, and therefore potentially close to the situation, because it involved other people and we did not want to give any private information away. Mike mentioned that he thought we should call Pastor Steve, which was a good idea. Well, Monday afternoon, Mike and I were at Taco Bell in New Albany, and who did we run into? Pastor Steve and Mariana! They were just passing through the area on their way north to see their family, and they decided to stop at Taco Bell for a bite to eat. We were able to talk with them and they prayed with us regarding the situation, and we were all ready to do what we needed to do. We felt confident that we were going to handle it well, and we did. Coincedence? I don't think so..............answered prayer? Definately!

I have struggled with prayer somewhat in the last several months, so it was refreshing to see a prayer answered so blatantly and obviously.

Baby Jake

2008-05-27T17:59:00.000-04:00

Today, Mike and I got to babysit for my best friend's baby, Jake. He is such a sweet, cute, and good baby! He was two months old on Saturday, and he is just the best baby. He did not cry once the entire day! It was a fun, relaxing day today, playing with, cuddling with, and even snoozing with little Jake!

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T21:16:00.000-04:00

Mike and I went to my mom and pop's house on Memorial Day in the afternoon/evening. We roasted hot dogs and made smores on the fire. It was fun...but it really got fun when Pop got out the 4 wheeler. It had been a while since I had gotten to ride it, but what really made it fun was that my two nieces wanted to ride with me. There is nothing better than getting to share something that I really love to do with my little nieces. At first, my three year old niece was ready to hop on with me right away. She was loving it. I think she will grow up to be like me, because she not only likes the 4 wheeler, but she also enjoys playing drums, and she seems to like a lot of other things that I like. We tried to get my older niece, 10, to ride, and she did not want to at first, but after watching us ride for a while she decided to ride too. So, I got to take both of them around and around and around..........they did not want to quit once we got started! Here are some pics and video for you to enjoy. It was a good time, not only with the girls but also with the rest of my family. I always enjoy hanging out with my family. Oh, and for those of you who cringe seeing a kid riding on a four wheeler........I want to assure you that I stayed between 6-8 miles per hour and stayed in the relatively flat, obstacle free yard. No crazy driving with the kiddos on there!!

WoW!!

2008-05-08T17:43:00.000-04:00

I think my title about says it all! I spent this past weekend in jail. No, I was not taken there by someone else, I went there on my own will...or maybe I should say on God's Will. I was working a REC, which stands for Residents Encounter Christ. I blogged about it a few weeks ago. I was the drummer in the praise band that did the worship while we were in there, but as it ended up, I did so much more than play drums.

Let me go back just a bit. This was basically a three day retreat for the ladys of the Clark County jail. There were 39 ladies in the jail as of last weekend, and while they were given the choice of attending or not, 38 of them choose to attend. The Major at the jail said that he has never seen that high of attendence for any other REC or other meetings that have gone on there. That was a true blessing. Also, after getting to know some of the residents, I truly feel like each one was there for a reason. I heard stories like one lady missed the bus to prison, and if she had made the bus, she would not have been there for this REC. I heard others that were supposed to be somewhere else for different other reasons, but yet they were there, and got to be at the REC. Also, we were scheduled to do the REC three weeks sooner, but it was post-poned, and there were a few ladies who I talked to who had only been there for a few days, and would not have been there if we had it earlier. So, just some instances to show that God does things for a reason. There were some ladies who were there, and who definately were impacted in a big way, and had the REC not been that exact weekend, they would have more than likely missed it. Oh, and there was one lady in particular who was hugely impacted for Christ, and she got out the next day! You would never be able to convince me that she was not there, in that place, at that exact time, for a purpose.

Esther 4:14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

I have mentioned to my friend who was also working the REC that since I have been home, it has actually been a bit frustrating trying to tell people about it, because I just don't have any words to use that can accurately express just how awesome an experience this was. When I talk about what went on, and what I saw, heard, and experienced, my words fail to come even close to comparing to what an impact that this had on me. However, I do want to share a few things, because it is just too amazing to keep to myself.

The first time we met the residents we were playing an upbeat praise and worship song, with the rest of the team singing. The ladies came in and I watched their faces. Many came in with huge smiles, some joined right in with singing, and/or clapping their hands, some danced a little bit, others gazed around the room, curious and smiling, while others did not smile, but looked around the room just to take it all in. I am sure that some really did not want to be there, but choose to be there just because it was something different to do with their day. Those are the ones I was looking for, because those are the ones who I felt we could have the biggest impact on. Later that night I found one. I will call her.......Angie. (Not her real name) I watched Angie the whole weekend. I saw her rolling her eyes, sitting like she was bored out of her gourd, snickering at a few things, etc. I prayed for her. Do you know, on the last day, when the ladies were being taken to a different room for the ending stuff that we did, as she passed me, she hugged me and thanked me for being there. I had not actually talked to her that weekend. Others had I am sure, but I had only watched her from a far and prayed. Also, she said later....not just to me but to a group, that she did not believe in (our) God coming into this weekend. She figured that there was something out there but she did not believe in God as we know Him, but now she is beginning to believe that maybe there is something to it (God, religion, etc.) Wow...how amazing is that? I mean, she was not down on her knees calling out to God, or accepting Christ, but still...........we all have to start somewhere! How cool is that?

Ok, this blog is already going on too long, but I just have so much to share. So, I will share a bit more. How about talking intensely to a sweet, sweet, young lady, who has anger and abandonment issues. I was actually just walking around the room, to each lady, showing some love, and I ended up with her. She was having a hard time allowing us to "love" on her. She felt like she was not worthy of it. She told me she is a mean person, and she does not deserve for us to be nice to her. Also, as it was Sunday, our last day there, she was also upset saying that everyone always leaves her, and we were going to be leaving her later that day. Wow.......how sad. I did get to talk to her for a while there, and a long story short, she finally agreed that she would start to let go of her anger, and pray, and read the scriptures. I did not have a good answer about me leaving, because of course I had to leave, but I told her that she would be in my prayers and that I am not really leaving, I just cannot physically stay there in the jail with her. I encouraged her to write to me, because I want to continue to commuicate to her what a loving and forgiving God we have, and that He never will leave her.

Or...visualize this. We are in a concrete room, the residents, and the REC team. We have just listened to one of the leaders speak, I cannot even remember right now what it was about.......and then this lady, with a beautiful, strong voice (a team member) starts singing Amazing Grace....accapella. One by one, everyone starts standing until everyone in the room is standing. The residents are singing out loud and strong.....everyone has their arms around those close to them...it was just so powerful. I had to stop singing a few times just to listen, partly because I wanted to hear how awesome it sounded, and partly because of that lump in my throat!

Well, I could go on and on and on, but this blog is pretty long already. I would be more than happy to share more with anyone who asks. A side note, this REC is a part of the Emmaus program. If you have ever been on an Emmaus walk, I would encourage you to check into being part of a REC team. It is an awesome experience. And, if you have never been on an Emmaus walk, I want to encourage you to talk to me about that, and I would be happy to sponsor you to go on one. It is a time for you to focus on your relationship with Jesus, and it also helps foster Christians to become strong leaders, so it benefits your church as well. There are some really awesome things that go on.......which is why I might have been a bit vague in my blog about some of the specific things we did, but, if you ever experience an Emmaus Walk you will be blessed!

Video from Henry's Ark

2008-04-21T15:27:00.000-04:00

See other blog below for more Henry's Ark photos.

Fun with Carly

2008-04-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

This past Friday evening, Mike and I got to enjoy spending some time with our young friend Carly. We picked her up at school and went to Aldi's to get some fresh vegetables, fruits, and crackers, and headed out to Henry's Ark over in Prospect Kentucky. This is a personally owned zoo that has a variety of animals that you can pet and feed. Many of these animals have been rescued from less than favorable situations, so many of them have weird oddities to them, but they are all very friendly and they love it when you have good food to give them. I have added some pictures at the bottom of the post for you to enjoy.

Besides going to pet and see the animals, we really had an enjoyable time getting to talk with Carly and catch up on what all she has been doing lately. After the zoo we went out to dinner and then to a bonfire to hang out for a while.

Mike and I both are very blessed by the time we get to spend with our high schoolers at church, and really enjoy getting to have special time with them outside of church. For you high schoolers reading my posts.........we'd like to spend time with you too! It is hard to get to know all of you at church but any of you who want to hang out with us outside of church, just let us know. We'd love to find things that you like to do and spend time with you as well.

Enjoy the animal pictures below! Oh, and by the way.......Carly and Mike seem to think that the ostriches want to attach, but as you can see by the picture towards the bottom, they really just want some crackers and some love!

R.E.C.

2008-03-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

Just after I got home from Guatemala at the end of January, I got a call from a dear friend, the one who taught me how to play drums many years ago. He said that his wife was in charge of the music team for the upcoming R.E.C. and wanted to know if I wanted to play drums on the team. I immediately answered yes, because it was something that I had hoped to get to do one day.

The R.E.C. stands for Residents Encounter Christ (as you might have figured out based on the picture at the top of the page.) It is a 4 day weekend of a group of people going into a prision or jail, and teaching them about who Christ is, what He has done for them, and how they can have a relationship with Him. Or, for those residents who are already Christians, it is a chance to further their relationship with Him. It includes a large team of people. Some will give talks, some will be leaders of small groups of residents to guide discussion, some will be there just to care for any needs during the weekend, and some (us) will be there to lead them in times of praise and worship, and just plain fun with music! For those readers who might not know, I am a drummer, so I am the one on the team who gets to make all the noise!

The whole team has been working hard for this upcoming REC weekend, but things have not gone most smoothly. We were supposed to have one of our all day team meetings on the weekend of the big snow, so we had to reschedule that for last weekend. Being that it was Easter weekend, not everyone was able to attend. However, that was only a small thing.

The REC weekend was supposed to be on April 10-13th but since that is Thunder weekend, the captain at the jail postponed our visit because he said it will be too busy of a weekend, and they will have all of the officers out, and will be making a bunch of arrests probably and just don't have time to allow us in there. So, they rescheduled it...............for Derby Weekend!! We now have some of our workers that cannot make it because they cannot get off of work that weekend. We do have one woman who has Derby Tickets, and is going to give them up so she can work the REC! Now that is dedication! How awesome!

Anyway, I just hope and pray that our new scheduled date does not get cancelled once again, and that we are able to get into the jail. Not only because everyone has worked hard and prepared for this but because it is so important for the RESIDENTS TO ENCOUNTER CHRIST!!

March Snow!

2008-03-10T20:37:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to post some pictures of the snow at our place. It was beautiful. This was the first big snow since we have been in our new home, and we really enjoyed it. It happened to be on one of my four day weekends, so I was able to enjoy the snow instead of having to get out in it to go to work.

Godly Desires?

2008-03-04T20:23:00.001-05:00

Have you ever really wanted something, and you pray and pray about it, but it never happens, and you just have to wonder why? Well, I am sure that happens a lot, but a lot of times if you step back and really look at what you are asking God for, maybe it is not so much in His plan, and there is your reason for not getting it. Maybe you are wanting "things", or to look good or something that is not Godly. But, what about those things that seem like they have to be part of his plan, but yet He seems to be saying no to them? Why would the desire continue to be so strong in your heart and mind, if it is not what He is planning for you? I have...since I was a teenager...had a desire to adopt a kid, or kids. Here I am...in my thirtys and it has not happened. And now, in addition to that, I have developed a desire to be a foster parent, yet I don't feel that I can do that unless I can be a stay at home mom, in order to be really fair to the kids. And to top it off, now that I have been to Guatemala, I have a huge burden on my heart for the people of that country, and I want to do more for them. However,it seems that a person has to have money to really be able to do things like that. So.......why are these things, adoption, fostering, and the people of Guatemala, on my heart so heavy, but I am not in a position to do anything about them? It is really hard..........some days harder than others. I mean, it gets me so upset some days, that it gets almost to the point of depression. I feel that I have an empty part of my heart. I feel that my desires are Godly desires, so I cannot understand why God does not seem to make a way for them, or at least one of them, to happen. I have even stepped back and examined my motives for my desires, and I cannot find anything wrong them them. I just have such a desire to help, to love, and to provide for these particular groups of people. Because of these desires, I often feel "incomplete" in my heart. So....I just wanted to share. It really does get me down sometimes, and sometimes sharing things like this can help a person deal with them better. My prayer is that God will either put us in a position to do some of the things that my heart desires, that like I said, I feel are very Godly desires, or that He will ease those desires of my heart so that I don't feel so empty not being able to fulfill them.

Guatemala Presentation

2008-02-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you so much for your support of my mission trip to Guatemala, whether it was financial, prayer, encouragement, or other means. I feel that the trip was a huge success as well as a huge blessing. I want to share my experience with you all, so you are invited to a presentation that I will give on Saturday evening, March 15, 2008. I will have pizza for anyone who wants to join me for dinner at 6pm, and then the presentation will start at around 6:30-6:45. I will plan for the evening to end by 8pm. It will be at my church, Greenville Christian Church. I ask that you please let me know if you are going to be there for the pizza dinner. I want to be sure to have enough food to go around. Also, I do not have child care planned, but if that is your reason for not being able to attend, please let me know and I will arrange child care. Please send me an email at amym1130@aol.com and let me know if you will be there, and if you need directions I can give them to you at that time. I do hope to see you all there, and look forward to being able to personally thank you for your support as well as share my amazing experience with you.
Thanks again and I hope to see you there!!
Amy

Yes, I did actually come home....

2008-02-08T10:29:00.000-05:00

I am home....but part of my heart was left in Guatemala. I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted a message. It is so hard........almost exhausting...to talk about my experience.....not because it was a bad thing, but becasue it was a wonderful thing. When I start to talk about it, I just get so wound up and it wears me out! ha!

The pictures above are but a very few of what I have. I cannot post them all on here, but hopefully, at least those of you who live near me, will get the opportunity to see as many of them as you want to see.

The pictures are in no particular order, but as you can see, I did and experienced a wide range of things. We spent time in a very nice orphanage, where the kids are well cared for, yet they have no family, and hope to be adopted. We also spent time in the Guatemalan ghetto, the Limonada, where there are familes, but they don't have much of anything, as well as the dump, where people live, and many do not know where their next meal will come from. We also went to a boys home, where they boys seem to be well cared for, yet they dont have the love of a family that we all cherish, and there are so many of them, with so few caregivers, and we also went way out into the country side where there was a mudslide a few years back, where they live in extreme poverty, yet the families are together. So, there are so many extremes here, and it all really shows us here in the States how very rich and blessed we are..........and extra blessed are those of us who do have loving familes and/or church familes and friends to love us.

Anyone who wants to see more pictures or see videos, I am more than happy to share them. I do plan to have an evening, probably at church, where I will give a presentation, but I am also happy to get with anyone in an individual basis as well.

last day, so sad

2008-01-28T17:57:00.001-05:00

well i have just said goodbye to the kiddos and the ladies at hannahs hope and it was so sad. i really bonded with several of the kiddos, especially the 5 and 6 year old boys. i have some really cute photos of them, and me with them. i can´t wait to share my photos with everyone!!

we are getting ready to gather and hear marvins testimony, so i will try to film as much of it as i can before my battery runs out...or i run out of tape. i hear he tends to go on and on and on....but it is all great from what i understand. he used to be a gangster, and now he is on fire for our God. he is really helping tons of people who live down in the limonada (the ghetto) to learn who God is, and to come to a relationship with him. i got the chance to talk one on one with ashley today and told her that i´d like to help someday down there.....she teaches english down there, and they want to put in a compter lab and try to teach them out to use the internet and computers so that they might get some skills and maybe be able to find jobs. it is so sad though...most people down there can not find jobs simply because they live in the limonada......which is so sad. they cannot get a job, so they canot make any money, so they cannot get out of the limonada, and cannot better themselves. also, practically no one can get a job anywhere in guatemala if they have a tatoo, and it is especially hard for the gangsters...since they are covered with them. hannahs hope does not use that practice and they did hire a girl with a tatoo, but it was a gangster tatoo and the other ladies who worked there were intimidated by the tatoo so they had to fire her. it is really sad....

also, marvin said that they really need clothes down there. i am going to find out how much it would be for me to ship clothes to ashlee at hannahs hope and have her take them down to marvin. so, that is a mission that anyone who feels led to can donate towards. i want to send stuff, but it might be a bit pricy by the time i fill a box with clothes, so once i estimate the price, i will let everyone know and if anyone wants to donate anything, a dollar, 5 dollars, whatever, i will try to get some clothes down there for them in the limonada...

i guess i should go for now.

more from Guatemala

2008-01-27T22:09:00.000-05:00

hello everyone...mike said you are wondering if i am going to blog again, so here i am . sorry that i have not been on here much, but i have had such long days, and have been so exhausted by the time i have gotten back to the hotel.

the other day we took our bus, then a boat, then rode in the back of a small truck, standing up, crammed in there.....and finally ended up where the mudslide victims live. it was so sad to see all of the damage. i met one kiddo, probably around 10, whos mom and dad were both killed in the mudslide and he has really bad scars on his back and legs where he was injured. it was so sad....

we gave them toys and candy and supplies...soap, toothpaste and brushes etc. they were so greatful for them. the kiddos are so sweet also. i had some just walk up to me, smile at me, and wrap their arms around me. it cant get much better than that!! these kids are dirty, and have who knows what on their skin and hair,but i cannot help but to just hug them and love on them.

we drove to several different locations throughout the mudslide area, and it was so cool....as we were riding in the truck, anytime we saw kids we would throw candy out, and they would just laugh and run to the candy. sometimes they would chase us..it was just too cute. i got some of that on film......they were all so happy. that is what is just so amazing. they dont have hardly anything, they don´t even know when they will have the next meal, or what it might consist of, yet they are so content and full of life! they are hungery and thirsty for Christ though, and fortunately, Ashlee, our guide for the week, is really working with them a lot to teach them, and help them to know Jesus. i will tal more about her and the other people i have met later on.

we did have a bad thing happen yesterday, but God is great and things worked out fine, where it could have been anything from great frustrations to even a tragedy. let me try to explain quickly, because my time is almost up.

first, ashlee is an american, she is 20 and has been working down here with the hannahs hope orphange for 2 years now....more on her later, but she is awesome. i have thought several times this week that i wish i could do what she does. so her mom is here this week also, and will be taking home a 12 year old girl from the orphanage next week that they have adopted, and soon will also take home a 5 year old little boy. anyway we went on this trip to the mudslide victims and to another orphange that i will talk about later...but on our trip back to the city yesterday we were over 2 hours into the trip and ashlee´s mom realized that she left her wallet, with money, credit cards and passport at one of our stops to photo scenery! she was devastated...ashlee and two of the guys who have been hanging with us gathered over 100 bucks (to buy back the stuff from whoever found it) and took busses and hitched back to find it. everything here is worth money...so they figured they would need a bribe to get the stuff back....well long story short, the locals who found it were very honest, but thier mistake was that they turned it into some police to came buy, and the police are very corrupt here....ashlee and the guys found the police and they at first said they did not have it, and then that they did, but took them about 30 mins out into the country before they woudl give it to them. they could have killed all three of them and kept the stuff....but, the two guys, elmer and marvin are ex gangsters...they were able to intimidate the police and they finally gave the stuff back. money was missing....but all else was there...praise God for her getting her passport and praise God for them getting back safely....i can give more details in person but i am out of time

thanks for all of your alls nice words to me about what i am doing...but give that praise to God...ok? i am doing it for Him....and His glory!!!

praise be to God!

love to you all!!! i miss home and my Mike and babies....and all else too!!!!

i figured it out

2008-01-24T21:44:00.000-05:00

well, i figured out how to make the @ symbal...you have to hit the alt key, and then 6 and 4, on the number pad, so strange.

forgive the poor grammar and punctuation, but i do not have much time and as i said before, this keyboard is very weird, and if i try to slow down to type correctly, i will run out of time.

hannah´s hope orphanage is awesome. they do a wonderful job there with the kiddos. there are 120 babies, and they are all supposed to go to homes but the paperwork is not done yet. with the problems now in guatemala, it may be a while, or never. the older kids, 2 up are pretty much stuck in the system unless they have an adoption started on them already, unless the country gets back on board with adoptions. they have to get some certifications updated...huge mess here.

we went to the ghetto today........this was the real ghetto. words canot really describe it, and i cannot post photos from here, but you will see them soon. we handed out 150 plus bibles, toys, candy, etc, and it was the bibles that they were chasing us down to ask for. it was awesome. we also had a bunch of tracts so those that did not get bibles at least got that. there was one man who had received a tract and we passed him for a second time and he was reading it and crying. we all went to him and talked to him through one of our locals friends who can sort of speak english and from what we can tell he received christ today. it was awesome.....

those people live there, with hardly anything, yet they are so happy! it is awesome. i am sure there is danger down there, but if given the chance, i´d stay down there for a few days straight if i could. the looks on their faces when we gave them stuff was priceless! they TRUELY appreciated it. and they also just really loved the fact that we went there for them.

we also went into the dump today. there are lots of people who live down there..whole families. the dump is actualy secured by a guard, and we tried and tried to get him to let us in...i believe there was even the talk of money changing hands, and they still would not let us in. then someone told us about another spot where we could get in, sort of, and the people came flocking to us. we had this huge, and i mean huge basket of bread that we had purchased....hand made bread from someone in the ghetto that we had paid the day before to make. the bread as still warm. we gave that out to the people in the dump, and we also had more bibles for them...and it was so cool. they were more hungry for the word of God than for the bread! we were out of bibles in no time..then we just took the bread and some tracts and continued to feed their physical bodies, and hopefuly they will spread about the bibles and their spiritual bodies will be fed as well. there were whole familes living there.....kids were dirty, but again, happy!

at one point we were in zone 3, will explan more about that later, but zone 3 is the most dangerous. that is where they dump is. we were in our tour bus and we had to get into a small van...i think there were 16 in there! it was bottoming out on the speedbumps. we ask why we had to get in there and it was because the closer we got to the dump, if the people could see our white faces in the tour bus, they could possibly follow and surround us and rob us..so we were in the tiny van, with tinted windows...it was all surreal....the bribing, arguing, stares, etc. oh and we are gringas...white americans...that is what they call us

um...sorry for the rambling but i just want to get this on here as fast as i can, and i have so much to say!

i did get my luggage back this afternoon..i am finally wearing clean clothes!! actually, i did have a clean shirt each day..one that someone let me borrow and two that one of the ladies insisted on buying me in the market yesterday. the group that i am with are all great...they are crazy, in love with the lord, and a lot of fun. the more tired we get, the more crazy it gets! ha!

we have been hanging with some people who live in the ghetto...marvin, wife ingrid, son alexandro, and elmer. elmer used to be a part of the ms13 gang, and if you have ever heard of them as i have before i came here, you will know that the only way out of that gang is death or going to prision....well everyone in his gang was killed at one point and he was the only survivor....that was his out, at the time he did not want out, was looking for a new gang to get with and then through an awesome experience he found the lord..and i can tell you that later. i am running out of time........he has an ms 13 tattoo on his chest and he can never let anyone see it or he would likely be killed if the wrong person found out. also, if a man or woman in this country has a tatoo at all they can not get a job, or if they lie and are found out they get fired. and sometimes they can be ask to strip just so that their boss can look for a tatoo if they are mad at them and want a reason to fire them!

i have to run...sorry........tomorrow we are going to aide some mudslide victims.......

love you all!! oh, and i do not have time to proof read this..........so, you are getting it raw!

I've arrived!

2008-01-24T06:39:00.000-05:00

Well I had to have Mike post this because I cannot figure out how to type in the @ symbol to enter my sign in name to sign into my blog! How frustrating. I am here, but I have no clothes...the airline lost my bag, and i have yet to get it back.

This will be my second night here, and suposedly it will be here either tonight or in the morning, althought they had previously said it would be here by 3pm today. So...other than that, the getting here part was fine. Both of my plane rides were great, and finding my way in Charlotte and here was quite easy.

Today we went to Hannahs Hope for a while and the kiddos used fabric markers to make their own designs on their t-shirts. It was a blast, even though I was only able to talk with them a little bit. Then we spent about an hour holding and feeding babies...there are 120 babies in this home! It was overwhelming the first night when I saw them. We also went to a boys home today....there were over 200 boys there. It was crazy.

I am about out of time here....more later.

God Loved Us........and Sent His Son

2008-01-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I started teaching a series on the book of Acts in the Bible to our high schoolers at church. This is probably the most extensive, most time consuming set of lessons that I have prepared, and I am really enjoying it a great deal! I have read the book of Acts, probably numerous times, and I have done studies on parts of it throughout my years as a Christian, but I have never set down on my own, and outlined it in order to teach it myself. I have to say that it has been pretty cool. When I am done with this series of lessons, I would like to try to pick another book of the Bible and do the same thing. I might not have as much motivation......right now my motivation of course is that I am teaching it and I have to study it before I can teach it.....but even without that motivation, I want to try to do it. So, if anyone wants to ask me about it in the future, feel free to do so. Maybe that will keep me on my toes.

So, the main theme in Acts.........or as I said today, the recurring theme........is basically what the Bible is all about. God sent Jesus, His Son, to us, we (mankind in general) rejected him, and eventually killed him, and then God brought him back to life......and it does not stop there. The good news is that we (mankind) did made that huge mistake but it is forgivable and correctable! We can still change sides......and choose to join Jesus by realizing what we have done, asking for forgivness for our sins, and believing Jesus is who he said he is and accepting him as the one who will save us from eternal death in hell and eternal separation from God! As I said in class today......I am not sure about the rest of you, but I don't want that!!

OK......so that gives you insight into the book of Acts, as well as into what I have been up to lately. Also, I have enjoyed posting little video's of my nieces, and I don't want to become a blogger who just posts videos all the time, especially of family, but I just have to put this one on here. My beautiful, adorable niece says it all in this short video.........she sums up the whole Bible for us!! Enjoy!!

Mike is back!

2008-01-12T00:51:00.001-05:00

Hi all..

I am sorry that I have not blogged in a while. I just have not had the desire........or whatever it is, lately.

I did want to say though that Mike's blog is up and running once again. Some of you have asked about it, and I told you that he deleted it, which he did. Well he wanted me to write and let you all know that he has started posting things once again, so if you want to check it out, you can.

Well, now that I am on here, I guess I can write a little bit about what I have been doing. Lately I have been spending many hours working on a series of lessons for teaching the high schoolers. We, the youth leaders, decided that we wanted to teach the book of Acts. I volunteered to do the whole series, minus the week that I will be in Guatemala. So, I have spent many hours going through the book, taking notes, and preparing my lessons. Although it has been time consuming, I have really enjoyed it. I have done indebth studies of certain books of the Bible in different classes or study groups, but I have never just gone through a book on my own and outlined it and researched it for the purpose of teaching it. I have learned a lot by doing this. When I get done I will have a pretty cool study guide for the book of Acts!!!

I guess I should also point out that I only have 11 more days until I leave for Guatemala! I am very excited about this. I have gotten most of the things done to prepare for my trip, but I still have a few more. This will be such an awesome experience, and I am so thankful to God and to all of those who have sponsored me to help make this trip possible. I hope to have an eternal impact on several of the kiddos or even adults down there, but even if it is only one that I impact, it is still all worth it!!

another one

2007-12-27T21:41:00.000-05:00

I just can't help it...........she is too cute. In this video, you will see that my other niece, Hannah, starts to sing with Faith but then she gets distracted by someone running outside, so she leaves and then comes back for the end of the song. It is too funny....

isn't she cute

2007-12-26T21:52:00.000-05:00

OK, I am going to try to put a video on here........I hope that it shows up ok because this is just too cute for words. By the way...this is my 3 year old niece...who also got a drum set for Christmas!! I hope to have video of that soon as well.

us and the boys

2007-12-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

2007-12-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Doing the Belly Crawl

2007-12-15T21:28:00.000-05:00

We went caving today! It was so much fun. I have been through caves before, but mostly just the kind of caving trips where you walk, upright, most of the way. On this trip, you did not really have many upright moments! It started out with us dropping down into a manmade entrance. Other than crawling for a very long way in a very little opening, that is the only way in to this part of the cave, and yet we still did not completely miss the crawling part. In one of the pictures you can see the place where we crawled down. Oh, and there was a ladder for this part.....we did not drop in with ropes or anything. At the bottom of this was a small...very small room where we gathered until we were all down there and then the crawling began. Just a note........this was the last opportunity for us to take pictures because during our first crawl we were pretty much flat out in water, doing the belly crawl, and Mike did not realize that the zip lock bag was not zip locked closed! So, the camera took a mud bath.......but, the memory card survived....thus the pictures. Ok...My blogging thing is not letting me put "returns" in here to make paragraphs, so this will be one huge paragraph. Once we were down in that little room we had to crawl through a very tight passage way...I have no idea how long it was but it was small enough that part of it was a belly crawl and there was a stream of water through it, so we got wet and muddy right off the bat.......it was great. Once we were down in the cave further the trip was more walking and crawling but not scooting. We saw some awesome underground sights, a few critters, and at one point just sat down and turned out all of the lights and enjoyed conversation in absolute darkness. It was great. Well...that is about it. I do plan on doing that again...hopefully soon. I really really enjoyed it. I wish we would have gotten some pictures of ourselves once we emerged from the underground....we were covered in mud and soak and wet, and of course, that is just totally fun............

Post Bonfire Post

2007-12-05T22:52:00.000-05:00

I am a bit behind with this post bonfire post, but I just wanted to throw this up to say thanks to all of you who came to the bonfire and hung out with me on my birthday. I hope that you all had a good time. I enjoyed my evening very much. For those of you who did not make it...well you missed out on some fun and we missed out on your company, but hey...we still love ya! Check out the pictures. I did not get too many, because I was having fun and forgot for a while to get the camera out, but I did get a few good ones. Oh yeah....be sure to check out the picture of the adorable little 3 year old drummer. Isn't she just the most precious little drummer ever! She seems to be taking an interest in her Aunt Amy's favorite instrument.....!!

Bonfire

2007-11-19T00:46:00.000-05:00

Hey blogging world. We are having a bonfire on my birthday...see the flier below....if you want to come that is awesome. Just leave me a note on here, or call or email me.

My Furry Babies

2007-11-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I blogged about my snakes, so now I have to give equal time to my furry babies. Those who know me, also know that I love cats. I want a baby (of the human kind) but since it does not seem to be what God wants for me, at least at this time, I am happy to love on and spoil my cats. One of them, the orange and white one is Kitty. He is 18 years old!! I have had him since I was a teenager, and he and I have been through a ton of "life" together. Needless to say, I am pretty close to him........for those of you who can understand how a person can be "close" to an animal. He is my baby, now and forever. He sleeps on my pillow, and usually with his head resting on my head. It is very cute.

A few years ago, Mike and I adopted two sister baby kittens. They are Karlee and Kaylin. They are the two grey ones in the photo together. Those two are such neat cats. They are sisters...basically twins, yet they have totally different personalities! Karlee is much like a dog. She loves to play fetch, loves to chase lights, and plays with and carrys around her toys. Kaylin is much more laid back. She does play with toys, but is much more independent. They are both very loving cats though, and they seem to adore each other. I have many many pictures of them sitting or sleeping next to each other or with their paws around each other. Too cute!

The solid grey cat is Gracie. She was a stray that was on my porch in New Albany one night when I came home from work. I was used to seeing cats out there all of the time, but she did not run off when I walked over to the porch. She had an injury on her back, but it did not seem to bother her too much. I did clean it up and put medicine on it. She immedately warmed up to me, and I fell in love with her right away. We started to feed her and love on her, and when we moved to Palmyra, she came with us. It was then that she started living inside the house. She still goes outside daily, but she has really come to love the pampered life of an inside cat.

So, those four, along with my two snakes, which I blogged about before this, make up my "kids". Maybe someday I will have a "human kid" to blog about, but in the mean time I will love on and spoil my furry and scaley children.

My Scaley Friends

2007-11-17T22:56:00.000-05:00

If you read Mike's post, this one will have something similar on it. Check out the picture of me and the snake! I love snakes. I have one named Jonah, and Mike has one named Caesar. They are both corn snakes, and they are just over 2 years old. They will not get too big, which is good because we would not be able to keep up with a large snake. The snake in the picture is one of those large ones. It is an albino burmese python. Those get around 25 feet long and very fat! That would be pretty neat to check out from time to time, but I cannot even imagine having one at my house! Wow....!!

Anyway, I also posted some pictures our snakes. Jonah is the red and white one. He is an albino corn snake. Caesar is the brown and white one, and he is a ghost corn snake. I know that not many people actually enjoy holding and playing with snakes, but for some reason, I have always liked them. Thankfully Mike was OK with getting pet snakes, and has come to enjoy them as well. Maybe I will do another post here soon with pictures of my other "babies." They are more of a furry nature....

The Face

2007-10-30T18:38:00.000-04:00

Has anyone ever taken pictures of a bon fire? I enjoy taking fire pictures because it is fun to "stop the flames". Well sometimes when you look at your pictures you might be able to make out shapes, or faces or something like that in the fire, which I have, but I have never taken a fire picture where there was a face that totally jumped out at me...until last Saturday. I was taking pictures of a bon fire, and the next day when I was showing them to someone on my computer, as soon as this one photo came up on the screen, me and two others immediately saw this face...and it is a very creepy, erie face. I will post it and see what you think.........give me some feed back here. What are your thoughts on stuff like this.......or if you do not even see it, let me know that. So far it have been pretty noticeable by everyone who has looked at it, without me pointing it out. Here it is................

A Fun Night

2007-10-30T17:56:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday we had our annual car scavenger hunt for the youth group at church. It really was a blast. There were 7 (it was 7 Rebecca) teams that went out around the communities of Palmyra, New Salisbury, Corydon, Floyds Knobs, Galena, and Greenville, and figured out coded clues and then did whatever the clues told them to do. My team was one of the smallest teams....I think one of two that only had 5 people. I had Carly, Thomas, Patrick, and Sam in the car with me. We did not get to all of the locations, but since we knew that we would not make it to all of them, we tried to focus on getting the clues that had high point values. As it turned out, we got 2nd place out of the 7 teams. I really wanted to get first, because I am highly competitive and always want to win, but all things considered.....having such a small group and getting second was pretty awesome. The larger groups were able to drop members off at different locations and get things done a lot faster, so that is an advantage to having a large group. I will have to keep that in mind for next year!

Anyway, it was a great time.........we had to do such things as do the twist in the restaurant called the Jukebox, sing happy birthday to someone in Beef o Brady's, imitate the Frish's Big Boy statue, do a Mexican hat dance in Los Indios, get a picture on the caboose at a little shop in Greenville, find certain headstones in the cemetery, play a video game at an ice cream shop, get some pickles from Subway, get parmesan cheese from Bearnos, say the Pledge of Allegiance at JayC store's fruit section, play checkers and get a picture of our team sitting in rockers at Cracker Barrell, and all kinds of other silly, funny, crazy stuff. Some people might say...how is that fun........but personally, I think it is a blast........especially doing it with some fun teenagers. My group might not have won the race, but in my book they were the best! (Love you guys....and gal!!!) They were all on the ball and did everything exactly as they were supposed to. You see, if you did not follow the directions EXACTLY right, you did not get points for it, so you really had to do things right.

So, this was a fun night, and after the hunt, we all just hung out at the ranch for a while eating, and talking and having a good time. I have included some pictures so that you can enjoy seeing some of the things that we did.

......AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL.....

Purity

2007-10-24T22:22:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been working on putting together some sheet music and songs on CD for our band to listen to and prepare to play. My friend Stephanie has been asked to talk at a Purity program, that a church in Charlestown is putting on. When she was asked about this, she mentioned that she sings, and that she has a band that can play for her. This lady got really excited about this idea, and she even postponed her program for two weeks to give us time to put something together. In that time, Mike, Stephanie and I have picked out some songs, and tomorrow the band will get together and decide which songs we will do and practice them. The program is on the first Saturday in November, which is about a week and a half away. We are all very excited about getting to do this. Hopefully we will be able to get the teens excited about praising and worshipping God, as well as give them encouragement and a good message about being pure, and dressing pure. I will try to actually get some photos from the program and post a blog after we do it...however, it is kinda hard to take pictures while I am playing the drums. Maybe I can get someone to do that for me..

If any of you have a teenager, teach a teenager, or just know a teenager, and want more information about this program, let me know and I can get it for you. I still don't know the specifics about where this is, but I am sure it will be a great program for any teenager, hopefully making them more aware of the importance of being pure, and well as learning to dress in a Godly, pure and appropriate way.

What a Wreck!

2007-10-20T18:17:00.000-04:00

Well here it is.......my poor little red car. Many know by now, but I wrecked it this week, on Tuesday. I am ok, except for a yucky cut on my toe and I was pretty sore, but am mostly over that. OK, so now you are all saying, "Well, what happened?".

I was driving down Paoli Pike Tuesday morning around 10:30 and I hit an oil spot. I did not know at the time what happened. I was actually driving very carefully, because I have wrecked on that hill before, and I have much respect for the dangers it presents, especially when wet. I was driving along, and all of the sudden I was swerving and I did a 360 in the road. I was just doing my very best to get back in control of the car, and avoid the oncoming traffic. I did manage to avoid all of the traffic, by the Grace of God, and finally I went sideways into the leading edge of a guardrail. I was very shook up, but unhurt except for the toe cut, and that was done by my pedal, which is metal and not covered by one of those rubber covers. I was wearing sandals and I guess during the fancy footwork I banged it up a bit.

I called 911 and when I got out of my car a guy was there, who had been going the opposite direction and I asked him what happened and he told me about the slick spot in the road. As it turns out, the cop that came had already responded to 4 other calls in nearly that exact spot that day. Also, during the time I was there, I saw 4-5 others hit the same spot. A couple almost lost control as well, but fortunately none of them completely lost control and came crashing into my car or me.

Now, my car is at the shop. The damage is bad, but not as bad as it could have been. I am ok, I did not hit anyone else, and the car is fixable. That is huge for those of you who know me, because I love that car!

So, that is my week. Oh, and if you read Mike's Blog, you will see that God really provided and His timing is cool. I was still upset about the wreck on Wednesday when he found out that the VA is going to come through with some compensation for the "ailments" he has as a result of being in the Army. You can click on his name and read his blog for more details on that.

See the sad sad sights below.......

A Trip.........down memory lane

2007-10-06T09:02:00.000-04:00

In my last blog.........which I posted about 10 seconds ago, I mentioned going to a cross country meet to see some of my teens from church run. Well I mentioned that it brought back memories, so I wanted to blog about that as well, and I even scanned in some old pictures to give everyone a nice laugh.

I did not like high school much at all, but the one thing that I did enjoy was running cross country. Many times I get asked, how can you enjoy RUNNING? Well it was not so much the running part as it was being part of a great group of people. Our cross country (cc) team was a family. I got involved with this cc family when I was in 7th grade, and my brother was in 10th grade. He was in cc as well. Although this "family group" changed throughout the years with kids being added and with others graduating, it was still a great family of folks. All of the teams, boys, girls, junior high, and high school did things together. Of course, our meets were not always together, but when we did extra stuff like cc camp in the summer, summer conditioning, special trips, we all did them together as one large group. This really helped foster the family atomosphere as well as strengthen us as a team. Another great thing about our cc family is that it was not only the runners. The parents of the runners were totally involved, as well as the spouses and families of the coaches. My mom was awesome! She was there for everything. She came to cc camp in the summers and she was always there at every meet. In high school, we had out of town meets almost every weekend, and we would usually go the night before and spend the night somewhere, usually in a church. There were several parents that went along, and my mom was always one of them! Many kids might not like having their parents that involved, but I absolutely loved it, and am thankful still today for her involvement in my life as a teenager. THANKS MOM! I LOVE YOU!

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. I loved cc and everything that went along with it. I really think that the discipline and training that I went through then has helped shape who I am today. So for those of you who are in cc or other demanding sports like that........keep up the good work. It will help you throughout your life.

Ok, so back to my team. Just a few highlights.......

My freshman year, my team got 2nd in the state finals. My sophomore year we got 3rd, and then in my junior and senior years we were the state champions. That was a thrill to be a part of that. I personally was 26th in the state in Indiana my senior year. It was a ton of fun, and I have to say I worked very hard and was pleased with my accomplishments.

Sometimes it is hard not to want to "live in the past" when you have such great memories of it. I know that life goes on, but it is fun sometimes to take that trip down memory lane and re-live it through those memories.......and to share those memories with others. I have added a few of my favorite pictures. The quality might not be great, because I had to scan them in, due to the fact that nifty, neat digital cameras had not been invented at that time. I will leave them for you to look at and figure out which one is me in the group shots. If you cannot figure it out though, just ask. It should be pretty obvious...........and a little hint, I am in the same position in both group shots.

Just a fun note.........the picture where we have blue ribbons around our necks is a pic from my senior year when we won the state title. The other group pic is from the same year, and the 5 of us in the front row came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and for those of you who know how to score cross country that was a perfect score! That was at the regional meet of my senior year. And to make it even better, to round out the team, the other two got 9th and 10th, so our whole team was in the top 10! (Ok, I still like to bask in the memories and even brag sometimes...forgive me)

Thanks for bearing with me as I took this fun trip down memory lane..........

Blog, blog, blog..........

2007-10-06T07:43:00.000-04:00

I guess it is about time I put something new on my blog page. I always enjoy looking at everyone else's blogs to see what they write, and when they have not written I always wonder when they will write again........hmm..........I guess they might be wondering the same thing about me, huh?

I have had a lot going on, but for some reason, I just have not sat down to write about it.

My two biggest enjoyments here lately have been my time I spend with Mike and my time I spend with the teenagers at church. Mike and I have been kinda limited on what we do lately due to money. Everything costs so much to do these days! We have had some nice evenings here lately though, just hanging out and watching movies or some of the new TV shows. I know Mike blogged about his new "stories" that have started this fall. The one that I have gotten into with him has been The Bionic Woman. It is a really good show so far. I want to learn to fight like her. She is awesome! I have a black belt in karate, but I did not really learn as much as I would have liked. Maybe someday I can afford to go to a different karate school and start over and hopefully learn more in debth stuff this time.

A few weeks ago, Mike and I went to see Carly perform in a band competition. That was fun. I enjoyed watching her do what she enjoys and what she has put many hours into practicing. I was never into band when I was in high school, so this is a new kind of experience for me. I am sure that she will read this blog, so...Carly, you did great, and I hope that you all do well at Regionals and get to move on up to STATE!! But...even if you don't make it that far, you still have done wonderful, and keep up the hard work. I love ya "little sis!"

Last week I went to a cross country meet. Three of the youth group kids ran in that. It was Kyle Jackson, Rachel Manius, and Adam Manius. Since cross country was my sport of choice in high school, going to the cross country meet was not only enjoyable, but it brought back a ton of memories. They were running at Pekin Eastern, and I have run that course many times myself. Being there, watching the kids run and really put their hearts into what they were doing brought back so many memories and emotions from when I was in high school. Life does go on, but it was nice to take a trip down memory lane for a while.

The Campout

2007-09-22T07:21:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, some of the other youth coaches at church and myself took several of our teens from the youth group on a campout. We had an excellent time. We got there and set things up, and then played several rounds of dodgball. That was fun, as it had been years and years since I had played dodgeball! Then one of the teenagers, Rachel, taught us a game called human pinball. That might sound painful, but actually it was not bad at all. It is basically a different twist on dodgeball, and it is always cool to learn new games. After several rounds of dodgeball and human pinball, we changed it up, and got a game of kickball going on. Again, it had been years since I played, and it was fun. Of course, it made it even better that my team won. I think it was something like 10-14. I am still having fond memories of those games.......for the first three days after that, I was so sore I could hardly walk! And still now....a week later, I have a rather large, purple bruise on my left leg where Jeremy beaned me with the ball twice in the same spot! Thanks Jeremy for the fond reminder of the lovely time we had at the campout!

Most of the Thrive band was at the campout, so we all decided to bring our instruments, and we set them up in the barn there on the property. We had a good time jamming....just for fun on Saturday night, and then we put together a bit of a musical worship time for our Sunday morning church that we had out at the camp. That was quite enjoyable also. I even took my new guitar and got to play around on that and learn a few new things.

Saturday night and again on Sunday morning we played yet another new game...again, with Rachel leading the way. It is sort of a card game, and it is called Mafia. It would take forever to explain it on here, but just suffice it to say, it was a ton of fun. It is only the luck of the draw as to who is the Mafia for each game, but out of I believe 10 games, I was mafia at least 7 times! It was crazy! I had a good time though, and have already told several others about that game.

I could go on and on, but I am sure my readers are getting quite bored by now! So, I will say, the food was great...thanks Angelique, the Sunday morning worship and lesson time was nice....well I was kinda in charge of that, so of course I am going to say it was nice! It was indeed fun teaching out there in the open around the morning campfire though. Quite a difference from being in Sacred Grounds (our teen meeting spot at church). Listening to a varitey of teens and adults sing karokee....well....it was........not too painful I supposed. haha! And just spending quality, uninterrupted time with some of the most wonderful teenagers around....priceless!

the latest UPDATE...

2007-09-17T22:09:00.000-04:00

Well I just wanted to drop in a little update for those I have not told yet. I have received enough donations so far to buy my plane ticket to Guatemala. So, I have my ticket, have my passport and am ready to go! Now I just have to wait until January....bummer. I guess that is good though. I still need time to raise money for my accomodations, food, and travel within Guatemala. I was concerned about having the money quick enough to get my ticket before prices went up, and God did provide, and I know He will provide the rest as well. He knows my heart, and knows that I am doing this for His glory and not mine, so I believe that He will help make it happen.

the BIG trip

2007-09-07T11:12:00.001-04:00

For those of you who don't know, and many of you do, I am heading out to Guatemala in January to work in some orphanages and show love to the kids who have no home and no parents. I will be going to an orphanage called Hannah's Hope. I will do crafts and play with the kids there, and visit with and do Bible studies with the young ladies in the House of Hope, which is a place connected to Hannah's Hope where young mothers learn how to care for their child and also learn work skills so that they can go out and get a job to properly care for themselves and the baby.

I will also be going into the Guatemala Ghetto and take sack lunches to the very poor children, and just try to show them some of the love that Jesus has for all of his children. Then I will also go to another orphanage, much poorer then Hannah's Hope, where at the present there are around 96 kids and 1 adult! Can you even imagine a ratio like that? I am sure there are days and days at a time where those poor kids do not have any kind of adult interaction at all. I long to be there for those kids, to hold them, to show them that someone cares........and ultimately if I could, to bring a few of them home with me!!

Now, in all reality, I know that I cannot bring any of them home, which is a huge part of my decision to go down there. Most folks know that I want to adopt very badly, and yet cannot, so I have decided that since I cannot take in a baby who has no home, I can at least go and be the best Jesus to these kids as I can.........and hopefully, even if this is the only glimps of Jesus that they get, that it will be enough to bring them some joy, and when they are old enough, to remember this joy, and seek out who Jesus is, and come to a relationship with Him.

So, there ya go............I have been wanting to share about this in my blog for those of you who don't know about it. Also, for those if you who do, maybe this gives you an even better glimpse into why I want to do this, rather than just the fact that I am doing it.

About Guatemala - for anyone interested:
Fast Facts...
Full Name: Republic of Guatemala
Capital City: Guatemala
Time Zone: GMT/UTC -6 ()
Languages: Spanish (official)
Religion:
Roman Catholic
Pentecostal
Mayan-Catholic fusion
Indigenous Mayan beliefs
Currency: Quetzal (Q)
Geographic coordinates: 15 30 N, 90 15 W
Area: 108,890 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Tennessee
Land boundaries: total: 1,687 km
Border countries:
Belize 266 km
El Salvador 203 km
Honduras 256 km
Mexico 962 km
Coastline: 400 km
Climate: tropical; hot, humid in lowlands; cooler in highlands
Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow coastal plains and rolling limestone plateau (Peten)
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m - highest point: Volcan Tajumulco 4,211 m
Natural resources: petroleum, nickel, rare woods, fish, chicle, hydropower
Natural hazards: numerous volcanoes in mountains, with occasional violent earthquakes; Caribbean coast extremely susceptible to hurricanes and other tropical storms
Environment - current issues: deforestation in the Peten rainforest; soil erosion; water pollution Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: no natural harbors on west coast
Population: 14,655,189 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 42.4% (male 3,185,037/female 3,033,947)
15-64 years: 54.2% (male 4,019,052/female 3,928,984)
65 years and over: 3.3% (male 226,745/female 261,424) (2005 est.)
Median age:
Total: 18.47 years
Male: 18.25 years
Female: 18.71 years (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 34.11 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 6.81 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
35.93 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
Total population: 65.14 years
Male: 64.27 years
Female: 66.04 years (2005 est.)
Total fertility rate: 4.53 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.1% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 78,000 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 5,800 (2003 est.)
Ethnic groups (2001 census):
Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish - in local Spanish called Ladino) and European 59.4%
K'iche 9.1%
Kaqchikel 8.4%
Mam 7.9%
Q'eqchi 6.3%
Other Mayan 8.6%
Indigenous non-Mayan 0.2%
Other 0.1%
Languages:
Spanish 60%
Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2003 est.)
Total population: 70.6%
Male: 78%
Female: 63.3%

my week

2007-08-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

Hey Blogging World.........for those who check in on me often, I am sorry I have not written for a bit. This has been a long crazy week........work wise. Things were slow for so long at work, and now they are picking up, and it is taking me a bit of time to get used to it. However, that is a good thing.....more business means good business, which means a continued paycheck!

Anyway, the talent show at church last Sunday night was awesome. I really like how it was set up like American Idol, or America's Got Talent, with the judes and all. I must tell on myself and say that I did not realize that "Randy" was Paul until about half way through the show! To my defense, we were sitting in the very back of the church, and my eyes are not the best...but you would think that I would have recognized his voice! Mike mentioned something about him and called him Paul..and it took about 30 seconds to realize what he was talking about. Crazy!

I enjoyed getting to be "the band" for two different singers. It was awesome...and one of the songs was definately a challenge! We played it together for the first time Sunday afternoon.....and it was not a pretty picture at all! However, after going over it more and more, and fine tuning certain parts of it, I feel that it turned out really well.......and we all had a blast! So, it was good, and I hope that God was pleased with it.

I just got home from work, and it is late, but I wanted to write a bit of something for you all to read......and I did.

Cheers!

Good Times

2007-08-21T17:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we went to the Kentucky State Fair. Mike and I took Patrick and Thomas with us, and we met another of the teenagers, Will, there later on. We had opened it up to the class at church, and these three decided they wanted to join us. We had a really good time, despite the hot and sticky weather! Mike, Thomas, Patrick and I got there first and we walked around for a bit, looking at the stuff people had entered and seeing what kinds of freebees we could walk away with. Then, we met up with Will, and had some fair food and headed over to the Mercy Me, and Tree 63 concert. It was great. Considering there were 4 musicians in our group, we all had our certain instruments that we had our eyes on! I was watching the drums, Patrick the guitars, Mike the bass guitar, and Thomas the keyboards. It was fun to watch the performers, and to talk abour our playing together that we do.

The music was great, and the quality time with the boys.......all four of them in my case!! was great!

Will had a special moment after the concert. He had really been getting into the music, and was really feeling the Holy Spirit and lifting himself up to God throughout the concert. When it was over, a man who was sitting across the ailse from us came over to Will and told him that he could tell that he really loved Jesus!

I thought that was awesome........and it made me think........can people tell that I love Jesus?? I need to be sure to take a step back and watch myself from time to time, to make sure I am showing my love for our Lord as well. I am not a really expressive person, so it is hard for me to show it as openly and outwardly as Will was at the concert, but, as Jesus told us to go out and tell others about Him, I need to make sure I am expressing my love for Jesus, and being like Him to the best of my ability at all times!

Back to the fair.........well it had been a very long day, but after the concert we took the other two boys home...Thomas and Patrick. We got to their house at about midnight, and I figured their mom would be waiting up for them to get home, and being glad they were home, that she would be ready to drop into bed....WRONG! She invited us in, and her, all three of her boys, Mike and myself stayed up talking until 2am! It was a really enjoyable time........we talked about everything from church, to home schooling, to music.....cats, dogs, houses, cars, kids, family, etc etc......It was a great time. We got to enjoy some great, late night fellowship with some great Christian friends.

.......and a good time was had by all!! (if the above pictures are not showing, click on view show, and you will be able to see them)

Animals

2007-08-13T19:05:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love animals. I have four cats and two snakes. Most would say that is a very strange combination, actually, it is, but it works for me. I am a bit strange myself.

One of the great things about where we live is that we are just a short walk away from a nice park, and inside the park is a petting zoo. Mike and I enjoy going over there, and we always find food to take with us. Today we went and took some bread and buns that were going stale, and also I cut up a yellow squash that had been sitting around here for a while. We found many happy eaters over there, one of which was a new member of the zoo. It was a young goat named Cupcake. There are also deer, rabbits, cats, chickens, raccoons, ducks, phesants, and roosters. It seems like a strange combination of animals, but yet they all seem to get along...the ones that are mingling. I do have to say that the raccoons are separated out from the rest. However, they are pretty calm and friendly as well.

So, that was my fun for today. I added a picture at the top of the deer, the goat, and me, and below is a video of Cupcake (the goat) and me. She tried to eat my hair!! It was a fun time.......Enjoy!
Amy and Cupcake

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a Point, at last

2007-08-06T22:09:00.000-04:00

Hey all.......I know that there are those of you out there who read my blogs, and are thinking, hmm, is she going to write anything new?? Well, here is something new...only, I really don't know what to write about. I have not had any good thoughts lately.

So, just a note on what I have been up to I guess. I helped my best friend get moved into her new house last weekend...like, not this past one, but the one before that! They built an awesome house, and the best part about it is that now she is my "country neighbor." It takes about 10 minutes to get to her house from here, but in the country, that is considered close!

This past weekend I went to the Harrison County Fair on Saturday night. I met my neighbors out there, and we listened to two bands. They were both pretty hard rock groups, and I loved it. I knew one of the guys in the second band. It's so funny, he is all tatooed and pierced, and plays in a hard rock band....but he is so quite and shy. To look at him you'd think that he'd be really wild! Hey...there is a good point there! You cannot judge others by what they look like! Personal example..I used to have an eyebrow ring, and I absolutely loved it. I only took it out because it got infected and would not get better. However, I did notice a time or two that I got "the look" from some folks......personally I thought it was kinda funny, and kept thinking..."if they only knew me they'd be surprised." But anyway....that was a good experience, and a good example of how someone's looks do not always define who they are.

OK, there ya go....a story with a good point!

The rest of the weekend was good too. I always love being at Thrive, and especially playing in the Thrive band. It really rocks! We have a great time, and I am really excited now to see that several of the teenagers are starting to bring friends with them to Thrive. That says a lot!!

A Bit o' Bragging

2007-07-30T11:07:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to write today to brag a bit on my hunny........Mike. When we met 4 and a half years ago, he was not a Christian, and had recently and in times past been through some really rough times. With the things that he has been through, you'd think that he would be in a totally opposite place in his life than where he is right now. But...when I met him, he was primed and ready to meet Jesus, and I took hold of the opportunity, and introduced them. From the first day I met Mike, he started coming to church with me, and two months later, he gave his life to Christ. Since that time, I have seen him grow tremendously! It has not always been easy, just as it is not easy in anyone's life who is a Christian. Satan always attacks...especially attacking those who he knows are on fire for God, and who are going to make a difference in this world, and win more for Christ.

Now, I see Mike doing things that I know he would have never dreamed he'd be doing. He is counseling and teaching our teenagers at church. I remember how much he wavered on choosing to teach, and now, I have seen him teach several lessons, and he improves on each one! He even got up in front for Thrive and did a lesson there, which in my opinion is much more difficult to do. Even I have not managed to gather up the courage to do that!

Last night, I got to see Mike realize a dream.........he was on stage, playing in the worship band for Thrive. I know that he has been working very hard learning the bass, and he wanted so much to be involved in the aspect of praise and worship, and now he was.........and he did a great job, and I think that we will be seeing him up there more in the future.

OK.......enough bragging. I just wanted to say this, to him and everyone to show how proud of Mike I am in his walk with the Lord. I thank God daily for making our paths cross, and I could not be happier with where I am in life today.

In the Beginning....

2007-07-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

My best friend finally got in to see her doctor and get the confirmation of what she already knew...that she is pregnant. They took a picture and they also hooked her up to the heart monitor and she got to hear the little flittery heart beat. I saw the pic...of course it was just a tiny white blob, but at the same time it was beautiful! The doctor told her that her baby is about the size of a grain of rice right now. She is due in mid-March, and I cannot wait to start spoiling this baby rotten!!

Now, I just want to think about something for a moment. Some folks say that life starts at conception and others say that life starts when the baby is born, and still others say that there has to be some time inbetween there that life starts. Of course this huge question, "When does life begin?" is the question in a ton of debates regarding abortion. That is why some folks have no problem aborting newly conceived babies, and others have no problem doing it up until the baby is born. This really hurts my heart so badly!! I mean, how can ANYONE listen to that little heartbeat in a newly conceived baby, only a couple of weeks old, and say that it is not a BABY in there??!! And even still, later on about month 5 or so when you get that ultra sound done, and even better, these days some get a 3D ultra sound done, and you see that little baby in there! It has all the right parts!! Arms, legs, head, hands, feet, fingers, toes.....and a few more parts... LOL....depending on the sex of the baby. It is a BABY!! How can anyone say it is not??

I sure hope that someday more people will realize how much of a precious, miraculous gift from God those babies are, and ban abortion all together! There are too many people in the world that want them if the birth mother cannot parent the baby, and as much as it hurts my heart, I am sure that it hurts God's heart even more to see so many of His babies be killed.

the Gap

2007-07-20T21:58:00.000-04:00

Does anyone like to go to the doctor? I mean, really like to go to the doctor? Me neither! I was sick this past week.......well for about a week, before I finally decided that the sickness won, and I went to the doctor. I found out that I had a sinus infection, and my ear drum was retracted........fancy talk just to say that my ear drum had so much pressure on it that it was pushing in, and that was why it was hurting so much. Now, after some meds, I am recovering from my illness however it might take a bit longer to recover from the bill!! I could not believe that a (very short) doctor's visit, and two prescriptions.......with insurance........cost me $83! I was amazed..........most of the amount being the meds. I got a total of 40 pills (two different kinds) and they each cost over a dollar per pill! Is that crazy or what??!!

Now, I do have insurance, and on my bill it said that my insurance saved me $80! I really feel for those who don't have insurance because they cannot afford it.

I was talking to my dad the other night, and he said that he heard about a lady who worked for an insurance company, and she actually admitted that the more claims she turns down..........the more money she makes! What is up with that??

This country is such a great country, a country of excess.........and it is so sad to see the rich get richer by the day, and the rest struggle.......and I am talking about me and most of the folks who probably read this blog. I mean, we are not wanting for necessities, but it is really crazy the costs that we have to pay for something like health care. I wish our country could get into some kind of program like other countries where health care is free........but then all those doctors out there might not be able to afford their castles and fancy cars...........

OK.......I just had to get that out. It is getting frustrating these days seeing that gap between the "normal" person and those with wealth grow and grow.......

Can I get any kudos??!!

ability vs availability

2007-07-16T20:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was another day of great things happening. Mike and I went to the church where I grew up, to hear my brother preach. He is an elder at that church, and was asked to preach this Sunday while the minister was on vacation. He had never preached before, but accepted the offer, and he did an outstanding job. I am very proud of my big brother! It was awesome to see him up there, and he delivered a great message about how you don't have to have a bunch of special qualifications for God to use you....the biggest thing is that you have to make yourself available...and God will do the rest.

Now, speaking of making yourself available...that is what Mike did, and I feel that God used him in a very special way yesterday also. He decided to take on a night of being the speaker at Thrive. He was unsure about it, but he decided to do it, and it turned out awesome. Again, it was great to see someone who I love up there on the stage, presenting God's word to a group of people. For those of you who were there....you know that I ended up on stage with him, in a sort of drama lesson. That was not actually planned, but decided upon at the last minute, but I think that it was what God wanted us to do, considering that it really turned out to go great. I was so very proud of Mike. He has come such a long way in his walk with Christ.....

I guess the lesson that I can share from these things is exactly the lesson that my brother preached. It is not your ability that God is looking for, it is your availablity. If you can just make yourself available to God to do His work, He will do great things through you to spread the Good News!

On a side note.......I just found out that my best friend and her hubby are going to have a baby!!!! I am very excited for them! We have always said that she is supposed to have a girl, and I am supposed to adopt a boy, so that they can grow up best friends and get married......so now I have to figure out a way to get our adoption plans back on track!! LOL!!

Quality Time

2007-07-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

If you are following Mike's blog, you will see that at times we tend to write about the same things...........hmm.........I guess we have the same experiences, huh?

He did mention about our quality time with the teens here recently, but I want to touch on the same subject. In my last blog, I mentioned that we had Carly with us Sunday, and how that added to make that day special. She is a cool teen, and hopefully she sees us as being special in her life as we see her in ours.

Then, on Tuesday we took two brothers from our youth group out for lunch and a movie. Transformers was a great movie, but it was made even more special by the fact that we were sharing it with some of our teens from church. Then the hanging out at our house afterwards and playing guitar hero was great as well.

A lot of adults are "scared" of teenagers, becasue they feel that they talk a different language, or dress weird, or watch crazy tv and listen to strange music. The fact is, they are just like you when you were a teenager! They are doing the things that teenagers do.......and when you were a teenager, you did things that seemed weird to the adults around you. But...you weren't "scarey" were you? (Well maybe some of you.....) If you have not done so, get to know some of the teenagers at church....just walk up and talk to them. They will not bite your head off. As a matter of fact, if you talk to them, they just might talk back..........and in a language you will understand!

Teenagers are great..........and OUR teenagers are the best! They can really teach us adults some lessons if you just let them!

Exhausted, Yet Fulfilled

2007-07-08T20:31:00.000-04:00

Wow, what an exhausting, yet fulfilling day today was. Church this morning was special, due to a group of men who came in and filled the church with the praises of rockin, acapella, gospel music. Then our youth group time was extra special as well, because we had asked one of the teens to teach the lesson today, and he did an exceptional job! He put a lot of effort into putting his lesson together, and he presented it very well. I am so very proud of him for a job well done.

Typically after church, we eat, and come home and get a bit of a nap in.......not today. First we spent time setting up for tonight's Thrive, and then we went out to lunch but again, today was special because we had one of the teenagers with us for the day. We enjoyed our time with her. It is always great to get some more special, personalized time with the teens.

Then, after a short time at home, it was time to go back to church for Thrive. The lesson was about forgiving those who have done you wrong, because if you continue to carry that "luggage" around with you too long, the day may come where you no longer get to forgive the person who did you wrong, and it would be such a shame to carry that with you throughout your life. Think of how nice it would be to be able to quit carrying that heavy luggage!! Anyway....the lesson was great and the music was rockin....it is ALWAYS a special time

Now, I am at home, relaxing, finally, and reflecting on the day. It was such a tiring day...since I did not get my nap in....LOL.......but yet, the day was so fulfilling. There were so many special things that happened today.....I feel tired...but I feel blessed!

Family

2007-07-05T11:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the first time in as long as I can remember that I actually went to a 4th of July gathering. Last Friday, some of us "kids" just sort of invited ourselves to our parents house for the 4th, and of course we were completely welcome to do so, and our parents even invited the other "kids", some of which joined us.

To make this more clear, this was my mom and pop's house. Mom's "kids" and grandkids and some of pop's "kids" and grandkids were there. We swam, talked, ate, and just enjoyed spending time together, and had a good time.

I have a lot of family. My parents split up when I was young, but I have continued to enjoy having a great family, on both sides. Bot parents are remarried to wonderful people, and to me, they are all family......just like any other completely biological family. I love my family, and I know that I am blesses to be in a family that loves each other and would always do anything for each other. You know you are loved when you cannot even leave someone's house without first getting your hugs and kisses! It is wonderful!

I also have other "family". This is my church family. It is obvious to me that God ordained family, because I have learned that you do not have to be biologically related to someone to be family. We have met and become close to some wonderful people in the less than two years we have been at Greenville Christian. We have even been "adopted" into one of the families, and we love that as well!

During this time of remembering our freedoms and blessings, one of the things that I thank God for the most is family.......ALL of my family! I am so blessed!

Renewed desire? Renewed hope?

2007-07-03T21:46:00.000-04:00

Praise be to God, another young couple has been blessed with an infant and another unwed young birth mother has been blessed with a Christian couple to raise her child, since she was unable to take on the responsibilities. Adoption... Such a blessing.

For those who know me, even a little, you probably know that I have wanted for years to adopt a baby. My new husband of less than two years shares that desire, and we finally got to set out on our journey to adopt. However when we got to the end of the home study phase, about three months into it, the agency we were working with could not accept us due to some financial issues. That pretty much stopped us dead in our tracks. I was very upset and wanted so badly to figure out a way to make it work, until I finally realized that this was too big for me to fix. Well, everyone lovingly kept saying that if it is meant to be, God will make a way. As a Christian, I know that, however it does not always make it easy. Through prayer, friends, family, and time, the initial hurt went away, and I started to give it all up to God, and then finally.....I gave it ALL to Him. The only thing is, sometimes I want to take it back. The reason? Not that I don't think He is not powerful enough to make it happen, but because of this. What if it is not in His master plan for me to adopt a baby? That is the part that still gets me.

These days, we have been working on our financial situation, but there is only so much you can do. In my mind, unless God blesses us with a financial windfall, I don't see the situation changing, and therefore I don't see us getting to adopt anytime soon if at all. However, my vision is limited, and God might have a totally different plan for us altogether. I am anxously awaiting to see what he has in store, and I am MOSTLY being patient about it....I won't say that I have lost hope, however, I do try to keep it more to the back of my mind most of the time.

Well, that is until certain things happen, such as last Thursday when I got to hold a 2 week old, precious baby girl with tons of black hair. Or until July 29th when another young couple at work got the call that they have been waiting on for over two years! They have been with the same agency that we started out with, and have been waiting on that call, and they finally got it. They were told that if they choose to accept it, that there was a tiny baby girl waiting for them who had just been born! Wow! I am so excited for them.......I cannot wait to see little Hannah Leanne!

Renewed desire? you bet!! Renewed hope? Well, the hope is still there......but it is so hard to hold onto some days.........I just keep praying......petitioning.........sometimes begging......and definately hoping that someday God will bless us with that call.

Amy's Beat Intro

2007-07-02T15:58:00.000-04:00

Well I guess I should get into the blogging action. I did not know what to call it, so since I tend to march to the beat of my own drums......I thought I'd call it Amy's Beat.

I can't say that what I have to say will appeal to most, or to anyone for that matter, but hey, it is a way of saying what is on my mind, and seeing if anyone has any comments about it.

Yesterday, I taught a lesson in the High School youth group about the Holy Spirit. I must say that this was one of the toughes lessons that I have ever worked on. It was on my mind for two weeks time, before I finally sat down to start writing. And..that is exactly what I did. I lit some candles, sat up comfortably in my bed with my laptop, prayed and then started writing. Sometimes I felt like my thoughts were getting very random and not making sense at all, but when I stopped after a while and read what I was writing, I was amazed at how much sense it did make! So, I kept going. I have an awesome website where I go to get my Bible verses. It is cool because you can either pull up verses by book, chapter and verse, or you can put in keywords or topics. And, the best thing is, once you find the verses you want for your lessons, you can just copy and past them, and there they are....in your lesson notes!

Anyway, I sat there for several hours one night and then a few more hours the next day and came up with what I thought was a fairly good lesson. You will have to ask the teens for their opinion though...since I might be partial.

Through this process, I was reminded of, and also learned some things about the Holy Spirit. It is just so cool to think about how we have the Spirit of our most high God, in us! The only way to really know a man (or woman) is to know their spirit, and God made His Spirit available for us, so that we can truly know him! How awesome is that! It is so amazing to see the things that the early church did, after tapping into the powers of the Holy Spirit. It is even more amazing to realize that I have the potential for that same power. I know working on and presenting this lesson for the teens really made me take some time to think about that, and I hope that it made them think about it as well. If all of us true followers of Christ really were to tap into the fullness of the power that the Holy Spirit gives us, just imagine the impact that would have on our fallen world!