Long Time No Write

Hello dear friends and readers,

I apologize for the lack of writing on this blog – my mind and time has been rather consumed as of late with the many different events and projects going on at the moment.

1.  My sister-in-law came for a visit!  In May, Angie and I planned to surprise my husband Joe and it went off without a hitch – he had no idea!  It was so great to have her out from B.C. and spend time with her – the kids loved having her around too! 

2.  My little sister gave birth to twins on June 8th!!  I am so excited to be an Auntie to these precious little babies – my nephew Mason Carter and my neice Ainsley Sage.  I just wish they lived next door instead of a 45 minute drive away so that I could go squish them whenever I wanted!

3.  My little brother is getting married!!  In February, my brother finally proposed to his long-time girlfriend, who has felt like she was a part of our family for a long time already and they are getting married on August 21st.  We are all very excited for them and looking forward to the wedding.  It’s a busy time for our family with many bridal and baby showers happening all at the same time!

4.  I’m trying to live a healthier lifestyle.  Myself and a few friends have started our own little fitness club, for lack of a better term, where we are trying to implement healthier choices in the way we eat, move, and think.  We are going to try to add one new healthy habit in each of those three categories each month and keep each other accountable.  This month we are working on eating more fruits & vegetables, stretching, and having gratitude.  In addition to these, I’m trying to drink more water and go for walks more often.  I bought a pedometer to track my steps and have set a goal of 10,000 steps per day, but I’ve only reached it once in the last 2 weeks – ha!  Overall though, I am feeling good about the small changes I’m making and setting my sights on long term results that last throughout my life.

5.  We’re thinking about building a house!   When we bought the house we are currently living in, it came with a double-wide lot, so we’ve had this big empty patch of grass next to us that’s just been begging to be developed for some useful purpose.  We have agonized over what to do with this lot and have wanted to be wise with how we use this resource that God has blessed us with.  We are looking into what it would take to subdivide our property into two separate lots so that we could potentially build a house and seeing if we can afford what it would cost to go through with such a big project!  I’ve been making many phone calls and emails, doing research on the internet, and drawing up potential plans.  I waver between excitement and dread and we are just praying for God to lead us perfectly in all the decisions regarding this possible endeavor.  If we were to go through with it, the plan would be to move into the new house and rent out our current house.

6.  We’re thinking about adoption!  I’ve been on a personal journey with discovering the heart of God for the orphan over the last couple of years and we find ourselves being drawn more to the possibility of adopting ourselves.  While the reality of this dream may in actuality be years down the road yet, it is something that is continually stirring in my heart and something that we are slowly working towards.  It is difficult to trust God with the timing of this, as well as the how and where and who and all the other questions that inevitably come with such a life-changing decision.  In the mean-time, I am sowing “adoption seeds” by giving to other people’s adoptions and sponsoring children and doing whatever the Lord leads us to do for the cause of the orphan across the earth. 

7.  We’re playing outside and don’t have as much time for blogging.   With summer upon us, Justice could spend all day, every day outside!  He’s constantly begging to go play in the “back yard”, on the slide, or go for a walk in the stroller.  We discovered a new park nearby too, so we’ve been enjoying going there and watching Justice learn new things on the play structure.  Rayah simply loves the swing and kicking her legs!

        

Help Haiti Live

Several weeks have passed since Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake, yet this nation is still in desperate need of aid.  In addition to our prayers here is another opportunity for you to help Haiti with an upcoming ticketed concert event taking place at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, on February 27th, 2010 to benefit Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund. The event will also be streamed live at HelpHaitiLive.com for those who cannot attend the concert in person.

100% of on-line donations through HelpHaitiLive.com will go to Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund as well as 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales!  “Help Haiti Live” is a production of Shaun Groves and  Synergy Production Group for Compassion International.  Some of the artists who will be performing include:

• Big Kenny
• Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
• Jars of Clay
• Mat Kearney
• Brandon Heath
• Dave Barnes
• Matt Wertz

Compassion has been assisting children and families in Haiti for over 40 years and have been distributing relief to the Haitians after this disaster with water, food, cooking items, hygiene kits, medical supplies, temporary shelter, blankets and more!  Most importantly though, they have been doing it unashamedly in the name of Jesus Christ, working through local churches and ministries to show the love of God to those in need.  I would encourage you to consider how you can give and partner with Compassion in this benefit concert in order to support their relief efforts in Haiti for months to come!

Also, on a sidenote, I’d like to bring attention to a personal friend of mine, Kristi, who is going down to Haiti to provide medical care to those suffering in Haiti – please check out her blog and consider supporting her financially in this outreach – thanks!

Ways to Help the Haiti Earthquake Victims

Like many others, today we are both grieved by the devastation in Haiti and grateful for God’s provision in our lives as we see how much we have to be thankful for in light of so many people’s great loss.  Also, like many, we are asking “How can I help?” 

First of all, we can PRAY.  Some things to pray for…

1. Provision of food, water, shelter and aid to get to the victims.
2. Anointing and power upon the local churches that they could minister effectively to those in need.
3. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit for healing (physical & emotional), resurrection, and salvations.
4. Provision for Christian crisis relief and aid organizations to be able to get into Haiti and help these victims in the name of Jesus.
5. Comfort, strength, and hope for those who have lost loved ones.
6. Revival – that many would realize their deep need for a Savior and turn from their sin and turn to God.
7. For adoptions of Haitian orphans currently in process to be allowed to go through quickly – see article here.  People in Canada and the United States are speaking up on behalf of these orphans and fighting to make it possible for them to be brought home to their adoptive families.

Secondly, we can GIVE.  A warning before you donate, though, is that there are already people seeking to take advantage of this disaster through Haiti charity scams.  Check out this article for ways to avoid being scammed and how you can ensure you give to trustworthy charities.  Now here are just a few Christian organizations that have come to my attention that I think would be worthy of receiving financial aid right now who are seeking to respond to this crisis in Haiti.  I’m sure there are many more – perhaps you can leave them in the comments if you know of some – but here are ones I would recommend…

Compassion International - Because Compassion International ministers through local churches to meet the needs of that church’s neighbors, and because these church partners are respected aid workers in their communities, Compassion is uniquely positioned to assess and meet the needs of it’s sponsored children quickly. This is an advantage of their church-based model in practice for more than 50 years.  Also, Compassion has been given the highest approval rating by both www.CharityNavigator.com and The American Institute of Philanthropy.  They are a trusted charity who is committed to giving all funds raised in response to the Haiti earthquake  immediately to provide for Compassion-assisted children and families affected by this crisis. Any funds raised in excess will be stewarded by Compassion for additional and future disaster relief efforts. You can provide immediate relief to the Haiti Earthquake victims today.
• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

Crisis Response International – CRI is a non-profit organization that resources, trains and mobilizes volunteers, churches and other organizations to respond to disasters and other  compassion initiatives in the UnitedStates and world-wide.  Their vision is to train an army of end-time, prophetic, mercy missionaries, mobilized in the spirit of night and day prayer, to release great demonstrations of power, reach the harvest in crisis and rebuild cities on the Kingdom of God.  Presently CRI is collaborating efforts with Haitian national churches to bring relief and mobilize volunteers to the area. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring the Love and hope of Jesus Christ into this hurting area. Reports on CNN stated that people were screaming in the streets “Jesus is coming back and they were calling on God for help.”  Check out their site to see how you can help.

God’s Littlest Angels - GLA is an independent, non-denominational ministry founded to care for premature, malnourished, and abandoned children in Haiti. GLA is a faith mission relying on God to provide funding and other needs through churches and donors throughout North America and Europe.  Doctors and clinics refer babies that are in need of intensive nursing care and nutritional support to GLA. The ministry has developed from a Child Survival Center that cares only for premature, malnourished and abandoned infants under 2 years old into an orphanage that facilitates adoptions for children of all ages. Today, the orphanage is a fully functioning nursery with incubators, warming beds, and the capability to provide oxygen, intravenous fluids, and monitoring support for critically ill infants.  While at the same time, providing full-time child care for all of the children.  As I’m sure you realize, they are expecting many more orphans to be coming to them as a result of this disaster and you can help them by donating on their website – just click on the “Donate” button at the top of the right column or donate on their blog by using Earthquake Relief Fund widget in the right column.

Samaritan’s Purse – Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Samaritan’s Purse is responding to the earthquake that devastated Haiti by providing critically needed assistance, including water, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, medical aid, and other essentials.  You can donate to their relief efforts here.

World Vision - World Vision is a Christian humanitarian charity organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. The millions of people they serve include earthquake and hurricane survivors, abandoned and exploited children, survivors of famine and civil war, refugees, and children and families in communities devastated by AIDS in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Their extensive global infrastructure enables them to respond where the need is greatest, anywhere in the world. World Vision is on the ground rushing emergency supplies to survivors of the Haiti catastrophe. Your gift now will help distribute life-saving relief supplies – including food, clean water, blankets, and tents — to children and families devastated by the earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti.  World Vision has worked in Haiti for 30 years and has some 370 staff in country. Send your gift to help them today.

Financial Miracles

Well, we have had several financial miracles and blessings from God recently, that I simply must share!

First, in October of last year, Joe and I were really desiring to go on a family vacation down to the International House of Prayer, but we didn’t have the money.  We figured we would need about $1000 to drive down and stay for a week, so Joe started praying and asking God about it.  We really wanted to go the week of Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day in the States) because Joe only had 4 vacation days left and it would work best to be able to go on a week with a holiday in it.  Time was running short and we had basically resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn’t be going.  Now, at Joe’s work they have an incentive program where the employees can submit ideas to improve their work stations or procedures in order to help them work more efficiently.  If your idea is approved and implemented, your idea goes into a draw for prizes that are drawn each quarter. If multiple people came up with the idea, the prize money is split up between them all.  There are 3 prizes and Joe had his name on 4 different ballots in the coming draw, but only one of them was his idea alone.  As you may be guessing already, when it came time for the draw, Joe’s idea was picked out for the first prize of….you guessed it – $1000!  And it was $1000 AFTER taxes!    God had totally heard our prayer and knew what we needed and answered it exactly, with just enough time for us to make all our travel plans!  As you may have read when I blogged about our trip, we had an awesome time and it was a total blessing and gift from the Lord.

Now, for the second story, we were still a little strapped for cash and Joe began asking the Lord for another $1000, since we found out he’d be missing a bunch of work around Christmas, because his place of work was shutting down the factory for several days.  As Joe prayed, he thought about our financial situation and then altered his request slightly, asking the Lord for $1000 plus some.   I, however, did not know that Joe was praying for this, so when one day I received a totally random phone call from someone we barely knew at all and this person asked if we had been praying about any sort of need, I was at a loss!  I figured this person wanted to bless us financially and a number of things went through my head that I could say, but I knew I had to be honest, because I hadn’t been specifically praying for anything.  After that phone call, I figured I had blown it - lol.  I told Joe about it when he came home from work & that’s when he told me that he had been praying for the $1000 plus some.  Not long after that we received another phone call from the same person telling us to go check our mail box.  When Joe opened the envelope, there was a cheque written for $1000 plus $400 in cash!!!!  Ha!  It was totally like the Lord to answer Joe’s request so specifically that He caused the person to separate the $1000 from the rest – it was very cool!

Third story.  A couple weeks ago, there was another draw at Joe’s work where everybody’s names were in for a prize and you guessed it again…Joe won!  So, this time we weren’t asking for anything, but God decided to bless us with a trip to Phoenix, Arizona!  Joe’s company is paying for 2 flight tickets and 2 nights accommodations at a hotel with the option for us to choose to extend our stay and pay for the extra nights.  All that Joe has to do is take a tour of one of their plants there.  So, this just felt like another kiss from the Lord to tell us that He likes us.   

Last story.  Joe has tried to sell his truck multiple times in the past with no luck.  He recently asked my dad if he could maybe try to sell it for him, since he didn’t have the time to do it himself.  Also, the truck has a few minor things wrong with it, that we were concerned may need to be fixed on the front end before we’d be able to sell it.  However, completely unexpectedly, when Joe’s parents came to visit us from Alberta a couple weeks ago, Joe mentioned his truck and they said that they’d be interested in buying it!  But even better than that, they are going to take care of the repairs and the cost of transporting the truck back to Alberta!  It couldn’t have been any easier or stress-free for us and was another incredible blessing from God.

So, this has just been really encouraging for us and a testimony that God will take care of our needs and even our desires when we trust Him completely with our finances.  It is our desire to continue to grow in our ability to trust Him and to surrender our finances to Him to be used as He desires, to learn to sow more generously that we may also reap generously.  We want to give out of love and then be “wooed and wowed” (as Mike Bickle says it) when God in turn blesses us beyond what we could imagine.  More and more we are discovering the joy and excitement of partnering with God with our money!

A New Home

Well, I am VERY excited to announce that we finally got a house here in Winnipeg! After over a month of searching and 6 unsuccessful offers in a very competitive market, we were able to purchase a house last night! Our 7th offer was accepted on a 3-bedroom bungalow in the St. Vital area on a HUGE lot – big enough to build another house on it if we really wanted to! It’s a great place for us & has a lot of potential – in other words, there are a few projects to do, but it will be fun making it our own. The basement is undeveloped and just waiting for our personal touch, while the main floor will need a slight make-over as well on the floors & walls, but overall, it is a great place! It’s close to St. Vital mall & any convenience we may desire with the added bonus of being closer to my family – it should only be about a 35 min. drive instead of almost an hour from where we live now. Our move in date will be 07/07/07 – talk about the perfect number!

Now, I wish I could say that I was an incredible woman of faith throughout this entire process, but sadly, it was actually quite difficult to remain positive. Each house we put an offer on, we would begin to dream and hope and picture ourselves living there & then be disappointed when we didn’t get it. It was stretching for my heart to keep trusting God and that He would bring us the right house at the right time. If you’ll remember a couple posts earlier I mentioned the “north and south winds” of God – the hard times & the good times. We had previously felt the south winds of His blessing when we sold our house in Calgary, but it was soon followed by the cold north winds of testing when our car was broken into & then the house-hunting began.

It’s funny how God can show You His goodness & faithfulness & blessings, but as soon as the storms come, your foundation feels rather unsturdy as it is tested to see how firmly you really believe these things. How quickly we forget that He really is kind & loves us & has promised to take care of us! How easily I get discouraged and feel weak in my faith when the smallest bit of trial comes my way! If anything, this whole process really showed me what was in my heart and produced in me the desire to develop a stronger foundation that will be able to withstand whatever storms may come. Because I know that MUCH bigger storms will be coming! I want a heart that is so in love with Jesus & so confident in His love for me that no amount of pressure, persecution, trial, hardship, temptation, disaster, etc. would be able to shake that confidence.

But thank God that when I am weak, He is strong! When I am faithless, He is still faithful! When I am powerless, He pours out His grace to supply what I am lacking. So while I see that I definitely have areas I want to grow in, He has lovingly provided for us & given us this house. We are very grateful & thankful to Him for it all – the south & the north winds – for it is all producing in me an inner beauty that far surpasses what people may see on the outside.

I also want to acknowledge and thank our fantastic realtor David Unruh who was amazing as he advised us, spent MANY hours driving us around to look at houses, wrote up many offers with us, and encouraged us to not lose faith in this process. It was amazing to have a realtor who believed that God was going to provide us with the perfect home for us & who would pray over each offer with us! Thanks David!

And lastly, but certainly not least, I want to thank all our friends and family who have been praying for us along the way – your prayers and words of encouragement were much appreciated!!