About Me

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Phenix City, Alabama, United States
I have been called by God to serve Him through ministry to the orphan children of Africa! I have just started this journey! My prayer is that God will grant me wings so that I may swiftly arrive on the field! Please pray for his guiding!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Beautiful Music...

For those of you who like guitar, let me introduce you to the following. Dani and I stopped in the Fountain Cafe (coffee shop downtown) Saturday night, and he was playing. It was not only beautiful but it was so fascinating to watch. This is all played on the neck of the guitar. He does Thursday night "open mike" at the coffee shop. I am definitely going to try to hear him again...he has a CD coming out in June/July.

http://www.myspace.com/davidvan

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Old Home Week....

Greetings from BJU! WHAT a beautiful place. I am here for the AACS (American Association of Christian Schools) national fine arts competition that Danielle is competing in. This is my first visit here, and I love it! It just has a really great atmosphere and the young people are all so kind and friendly. The music has been breathtaking and the chapel services inspiring.

The best part about it has been running into so many old and dear friends from Tri-City in Missouri, but also those who left Tri-City and are now at various and sundry parts of the country (Indiana, N. Carolina, S. Carolina). It has been so great getting caught up, of course, discussing how grown all of our children are (this sounds very boring to some of my readers, I know...but wait, your day will come).

Danielle sang beautifully. She was very relaxed (Yay...rag doll) and Shayna played beautifully. The vocalist gets a lot of credit, but it could never be done without the support of the accompanist!

Of course, my thoughts have been on Kyle a great deal. Of course, everyone is asking after him and as I watch his classmates perform and listen to what they are singing, I know he should have been a part of this too....ah well. God isn't through with him yet.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. -- Psalm 127:3

BOTH of them are....

Friday, April 14, 2006

Pictoral Evidence..

Here are a few pictures my cousin just sent of our trip to Florida..

This is my Mom (on left), her sister Gay and their bro Philip.




Here they are with their kids (my sister and I hiding in the back).





Here they are with their grandkids.





My sister's and my families...



Good times...good memories.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Great Start....Lousy Finish...aka Family Reunion Flu

Well, we are back from FL after a wonderful visit with long-lost family members. There is nothing like re-kindling the bonds of family and realizing how close they are even though you rarely see each other. I am looking forward to keeping these relationships closer and that much more determined to get Dani and myself over to the UK.

It was great seeing Kyle and having the opportunity to discuss his goals/plans for the future. I am praying that part of that will include him coming to stay with us this summer.

After a wonderful couple of days, we finished off the trip with "family reunion flu". We think my nephew Sean was the carrier. I guess his getting sick after a fun-filled day at Disney World wasn't exhaustion/dehydration after all. Kyle and Dani came down with it that last day. I managed to get home before it hit me and now at least 1/2 of the group (24 in all) have come down with it, including my family from the UK who are still in Florida. If there is any positive side, it seems to be a 24-hour thing...hopefully they will be satisfactorily over it before the remaining 10 days they have on holiday is over.

It was wonderful to be out of town for a couple of days...but wonderful to be home. I'm sorry to have to miss church tonight as I am looking forward to getting back to my church family.

See you all in a couple of days.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Sun 'n Fun

We're having a wonderful time with our family in Orlando! We made it down safely (the van did AWESOME). Spent today just sitting around the pool and visiting...catching up with family we haven't spoken to in years and meeting new family. There are 24 of us in the group. We are staying in a beautiful house (5 bedroom house with pool/whirl pool). It has a game room with Ping-Pong, Foosball, etc. We just sat around the pool today...had a barbeque. My cousin and I bought $300 worth of groceries at Walmart today...and we went through the majority of it today! It's been great seeing Kyle. We're off to play some putt-putt if we can beat the thunderstorm that is rolling in - some beautiful lightening. I think we are off to SeaWorld tomorrow...we'll be back late Tuesday! Miss you...pray for us!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Psalm 23 - For Work

A good friend of mine at work gave this to me....

The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring and
complaining.

He reminds me that he is my source and not my job.
He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions that I might
honor him in all that I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of e-mails, system crashes,
unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping co-workers, discriminating
supervisors and an aging body that doesn't cooperate every morning, I
still will not stop---for He is with me!
His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through.

He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me go.
His Faithfulness and love is better than any bonus check.

His retirement plan beats every 401k there is!
When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot
longer and for that, I BLESS HIS NAME!!!!!!

AMEN!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Shoes

Have you ever seen a shoe on the side of the road? Yesterday I saw 2 pairs of shoes with the shoe laces tied flung over an electric wire 20 feet in the air, but these are not the shoes that cause me concern. I'm talking about the random shoe you see along side the road. Sometimes they are very nice shoes. Sometimes they are ratty shoes. Big shoes, little shoes, boy shoes, girl shoes. Whenever I see these shoes I wonder how/why they happened to get there......hmmmm...

Did a couple get into a fight while driving down the road, one of them flinging a shoe at the other only to have it fly through (or break through) the car window?
Was someone late for work, hopping on one foot as they run to the car, trying to put their shoes on, setting the not-yet-donned shoe on top of the car and then driving off and forgetting it was there (I have done this with beverages several times)?
Did an amputee buy a new pair of shoes and only needed one, tossing the superfluous shoe out the window?
Has a crime been committed? Did the victims shoe fall off as their unconscious body was dragged into the trunk of the perpitrators vehicle?
Is it a High School prank and some poor kids gonna be in big trouble when he gets home (nothing flares the wrath of a mother like missing articles of clothing)?

Hmmm...these are the thoughts that keep me up at night...or at least while I am driving and it is a very good thing because I have found that I am a much more effective driver when I am awake. Go figure.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Abundant Blessings...

This has been a great week....

First, new wheels...YAY! As you may recall, about a month ago I started having some car troubles. Well the prognosis was about $3000 to fix a $1500 van, so it wasn't happening. I decided I would just drive the van until it died...and that happened about a week 1/2 ago. After driving a couple of vehicles with +80K miles that were in my price range or lower mileage vehicles way out of my price range, I was really feeling the stress. God and I had several long discussions about it and I reminded him of my faith promise and how I could not out-give him...then, God came through (as though he wouldn't). My sister overheard a friend talking about trading his van and, well, to make a long story even longer, I was able to purchase the van from him at the dealerships trade-in value. It only has 50,000 miles on it and I got an excellent, excellent deal...thank you, God.

Next, the ministry team from Faith Christian school in Lafayette, IN was here ministering in song. A few of the girls came and stayed with us. I love having company and the girls were such a joy to have. Danielle bonded with them very quickly and they had a fun chatty evening. I don't think they got as much sleep as they should have, but I think they had a great time of fellowship!

Finally, Danielle had an awesome trip to Atlanta on a Harvester's retreat where the kids were again challenged to think about whether the Lord would have them serve as missionaries. I could tell that Danielle was challenged and came home with a sensitive heart and a renewed fervor for the Lord. That was evident again in how she responded to her SS and preaching today. God is very, very good.

We are off at the end of the week to a family reunion in Orlando. I can't wait to be together with my cousins (whom I haven't seen since I was a Senior in High School) and their spouses and children (whom I have never met). It will be a short, but I pray, wonderful trip. I am looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days.

Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And your faithfulness every night.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Long Line of Over-reactors..........

One of my favorite movies is Father of the Bride. In that movie, Steve Martin is explaining to his soon-to-be son-in-law that his daughter comes from a long line of over-reactors. She has just freaked out for no good reason. I love that line...a long line of over-reactors. That is definitely part of my heritage! A good friend (possibly unknowingly) reminded me tonight that there is no need to over-react to situations we find ourselves in. While on a day-to-day basis, I am not a pessimist, if I suspect that something "bad" has happened, I tend to assume the worst. I tend to use words like "always", "never"...."end of civilization as we know it"...no, not the last one, but the others definitely. D calls me on it when I do.

First, I need to be patient. Romans 12:10-12 says, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer..." We always have reason to hope with our Lord in control, and although I wouldn't consider this specific situation a "tribulation", I need to be more patient as things come my way. Take a few minutes to evaluate the situation, wait until I know all the facts....and then look on what has transpired as an opportunity...a chance to learn...a chance to grow. It is a matter of trust, isn't it? Knowing that nothing transpires that God is not fully aware of or has allowed in my life.

Lord, help me let go of the reigns of my life and turn them over to you.

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. SELAH." Psalm 68:19