Givens2NOLA: God's Beauty & Blessings

My, oh my! It has surely been an interesting few weeks for us. We were in the state of Oregon & in Washington and had the opportunity to see some of God's beautiful work. But first, I must tell you about a couple of God's blessings. I do not want it to seem like I am bragging...but I am just amazed at how God can be so good to us (sinners saved by His grace). So, if it seems like I am bragging...I'm just bragging on how good God is and giving Him the glory.

Well, one of the ways God blessed us in Oregon is that we had a Wednesday open (meaning no meeting scheduled). Generally through a meeting, we are able to present our call to New Orleans, give churches opportunity to partner up with us and receive a love offering that helps with travel (gas, food, etc.) and pay bills. With no meeting scheduled that day, we did not have opportunity for any of the three mentioned. Well, God blessed in spite of that once again. He allowed Brent to have lunch with a local pastor in the town we were staying in who handed him a love offering (generous one) at the end of their lunch meeting...that was clearly God! Secondly, we were at a church planters missions conference in Washington. The pastor and moderator gave Brent generous amount of time to present our call to a large audience of pastors & showed our video. Through that, we scheduled 3 more meetings, receive another generous love offering and had more than 3 pastors decide take us on for support on the spot without us visiting their church. If you have ever been on deputation, you will know that that is BIG! Once again....it was clearly God!

We also had the opportunity to do a little sightseeing as a family (we do not get to do much of that at all). We visited Multnomah Falls in Oregon. In driving on this scenic road, Multnomah Fall is the longest & biggest attraction but there are several other falls to see along the way. The kids had so much fun and the falls were more beautiful than I could ever imagine. Our little James also made a little friend during our stay in Washington...they shared everything from toys, tears and food. Lastly, Abbie also made a few friends as well. They decided to dress like princesses...they were so cute! Here are a few pics...hope you enjoy them.

The Givens Clan

How beautiful...

Still in love....

If you take a close look at the top of the fall, you will see my hubby who climbed all the way to the top of the fall in his dress shoes (he almost gave me a heart attack).