Beyond My Expectation Once Again!

I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but, we have been holding Bible study in our home since the end of January (I think). Well, we started off with 3 people, then 4, then 2. It went back up to 4 and then dropped down to 1. That following service, it was just us. Boy that was hard! Then for the following services, it was us except for one other time when we had 1. Part of me started getting used to it being us and hearing my kiddos ask me if anyone is coming to "our church" tonight. I would reply the same thing "we pray that someone will come." I would tell them that, but not truly believing that the Lord will bless. So this past Monday and Tuesday, we were at a conference in Baton Rouge during Mardi Gras celebration in NOLA. Our time there was what we needed...a great encouragement to us. One of the message that spoke to me was out of Judges 20 on not allowing your handicap stop you in the work of God. In vs 16, the 700 Benjamite didn't allow their lefthanded handicap stop them from going out to battle. You might be thinking...what does this have to do with your Bible study? Well, I know that I have some handicaps (i.e. excuses) that I have allowed to keep me from doing all that I can for the Lord. That Wednesday, Brent set out to go pick up people who have said that they would come as usual and as always I asked him to call if he picks up someone. We knew that there was a great possibility (80%) that one would come. I started doubting as I've done before, then I decided to go ask the Lord and believing Him for at least that one person to come. Brent didn't call me, so I called him. When he picked up the phone, he said "I just picked up Larry and I am on my way to someone else's house." I thought "praise the Lord, thank you for answering my prayer!"  The story does not end here. When Brent returned home, he walked in with 3 other people behind him. The Lord blessed once again beyond my expectation!! It was a great service and the message was just what we all needed.

A Heritage & Reward!

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Ps. 127:3

In the ministry (though quite a babe in it), it is so very easy to get so busy that you forget to make intentional time for your most important responsibility...your children! There are so many couples out there wanting to have children but the Lord have chosen otherwise. Brent and I have been blessed to have the opportunity to raise up a heritage for the Lord...and we do not want to loose sight of that. Like so many have said...they are only this young for such a short time.

For that reason, we have purposely set aside one night a week to have a family night. We had our 1st family night last Friday. It was awesome and fun. We made individual pizzas (the kids now love helping in the kitchen), watch an old movie about a dog name "Benji" (some of you can remember Benji) and then we all snuggled in our bed together. What a night it was! Although, Brent & I did not sleep well or comfortably that night....the kids had a great and memorable time. Micah asked me the next morning if we can do it again...I replied "not for a long time baby". May God give me grace when that time comes once again...

Here are a few pics from Family pizza making Night...(if you have any idea of fun and inexpensive things to do such as this one, feel free to pass it on).

The making of their indiv pizza with Daddy

Micah & Abbie's pizza - before going into the oven

Micah is pleased with the result & ready to eat.

Abbie shared hers with Jimmy

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Jimmy was so hungry that he stuffed the pieces in his mouth.

This past Wednesday, we also had a sweet visit with the Newburger family (know them from HBBC). Our kids are about the same age and they had such a great time together. Here is a pic of the kiddos at the end of the visit, close to nap time (some need the nap time more than others - per pic).

Micah, Taylor, Maggie, Abbie, James & Hudson (not in pic)

Hope you take lots (quantity) special (quality) time to enjoy your kiddos...talk to ya later.

Her First Date!

My baby girl went on her first date today. I shared with her the day before that she will be going on her first date tomorrow after nap time (lol). She was so excited and would not stop talking about it. When she woke up from her nap today, that was the first thing on her mind. We went up to her room to pick out an outfit and it only took two outfits to agree to one, but it took 4 pairs of shoes to finally agree on one. The main shoe contender was her Dora sneakers. She believes she can wear them with any outfit. When her date arrive, she ran to tell her brothers bye and went downstairs to meet him. Just like most date, the date didn't go perfectly. Yet, when she came home, she told me how she had so much fun on her date with her favorite man....her Daddy!

Posing before her date.

Abbie going on her first date with her Daddy!

I am so thankful to God for a husband who takes the time to make little moments like this so very special in our little ones eyes,

Home in NOLA

Yeah.....we are finally here. I know that it has been a long time since you've heard from me. We have been so so busy. We arrived in NOLA to stay on December the 1st. We signed the lease to our house on the 28th of November, but did not move in till the 1st. Brent travelled back to Virginia to pick up our things while the kids and I stayed with our newlywed friends (Quita & Daniel).

We were blessed to receive help with unloading the truck from friends who lived over an hour away. God knows who and what to provide at the right time. I am constantly experiencing that with Him. Once our friends left, it was up to us to make our house into a home. It seems like it took forever to get there, but I am so thankful that those days are behind us. It has been so so so so so good to be in our own home (almost like exhaling). However, we (mainly speaking of self here) have learned that this too (our home) is to be use for God's glory. Though nice as it is to have something call our own, the truth is that it is not ours. Yeah, we are renting the place, but that is not what I meant by that. This too is what God has given to us....use it for His glory and understanding that  He can do what He wants when He wants to with it. We have opened up our home and have become much more hospitable. It is though in our home where we have been able to truly enjoy some quality family time and make some lasting memories, especially during the Christmas season.

In addition to moving and settling into our home. We have been able to see at least 7 people come to know the Lord, 5 of these were right here at our dining room table. What a blessing that is! We have also started a Bible study right here in our home while waiting for the Lord to open up doors for a meeting place (outside our home that is).

Another praise is that God allowed me to total our truck (the silver chariot that is - it was not seen as a praise report at first) and in turn blessed us with a minivan. He made it possible through the generosity of many from the Church Planting Conference in Oklahoma City.

There is so much more I could share of God's goodness to us these past 2 months. God has a way of taking care of His servants (His sheep) and all He requires of us is to follow Him (our Shepherd). Please continue to pray for us, the Crescent Baptist Church and the city of New Orleans.

Here are a few pics from what I shared with you above:

Living Room on move in day 2

Living Room a week after move in

Living Room now!!!

Son & dad painting kids room

Micah's schoolroom

Making pancakes with Abbie (my little kitchen helper)

Our Christmas tree

Dad making sugar cookies on Christmas eve with kiddos.



Christmas Day - opening gifts



Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus!

My little cowboy man...ready to shoot his cars.

Few weeks later....happy birthday mommy!

Hope you enjoy the few pics. Cannot wait to share with you some more of how God is taking care of us & of His work here in NOLA....

Thankful For Family!

I do hope that you had a wonderful thanksgiving day celebration. I sure did! As we make our way to New Orleans, we stopped in Florida to enjoy thanksgiving with my family. It had been almost a year since we'd seen one another. Everyone was there except for my brother who is overseas in the military. He surprised us though and called on thanksgiving day. We not only got a chance to talk to him but we were able to see his face through skype (that was an answer to prayer). God is so good! Another prayer answered was that my brother in law returned from a military assignment overseas just a few days before thanksgiving (he was not scheduled to be back till January). My parents who are native missionaries to Haiti were also present during that time. All of us under one roof was crowded, noisy, busy, but oh so fun & delicious. Lots and lots of laughter! A strong godly family foundation is so needed in today's world and I sure thank God for my family. 

Here are a few pics from my week:

Grandparents with all the grandchildren (my parents).

Meemaw (my mom) with her grand-girls.

Working hard in the kitchen!

The hostess & my oldest sis, Vanessa.

My mommy...

Some took a much needed long break (my daddy).

Others...took a little cat nap (Joelle - younger sis).

Another taking a cat nap...baby sister (Nicky)

Kids table

Grown up table....how lovely (by the way, that is apple cider in case you were wondering).

Host and brother in law (Roger) carving the juicy & delicious turkey.

My little joy...Reina (my only niece)

My favorite pic of all...Reina, Roger & James (Reina is 2 months older). 

I hope you enjoyed my pics. I sure had a great time with my family and sure hope you can say the same thing. Please continue to keep us in prayer because we will be signing the lease to our home in New Orleans on the 28th of November and starting the work God has called us to do. I will keep you informed on how God is working in our lives. Much love!

Thriving or Surviving

Well, we are now back in Hampton, VA. While making our way from the west coast to the east coast, we made a little detour to our much loved city, New Orleans. The purpose of being there was to look for a house to rent (which we plan to do for 1yr). God blessed during that time and we were able to find our new home. Now the desire to be in New Orleans is even greater knowing we have a place to call home (we have not had a home for over a year). Just thought I would share with you a little praise report.

As we are awaiting our time here in Virginia, we attended two conferences this past week. From these conferences, I've titled my blog for today "thriving or surving." Why? you may ask...well, let me explain it. The first conference was actually a marriage retreat. The first night of the conference, Pastor Kenny Baldwin (Crossroads Baptist Church) preached a phenomenal message asking us "is your marriage thriving or just surviving." He talked about how many christian marriages today are just surviving (i.e. mundane, lifeless, hanging on, unhappy marriages). God's intend for our marriage is to thrive (i.e. prosper, flourish, be successful, grow vigorously). Then, he gave us a few principles to help our marriage thrive. It was great and open up the door for us (Brent & I) to stop and just re-evaluate our marriage from God's perspective (not man's). The second conference was the ICWE (International Conference on World Evangelism) conference in Fairfax, VA. During the conference, Mrs. Becky Calvert (Fairfax Baptist Temple) had a ladies session titled "Women in the Ministry: Surviving or Thriving?" She reminded us that as women in the ministry that we have a high calling (laying treasures in heaven). With that, our road sometimes get tough (real tough). So, she gave us some tips for not only surviving life in the ministry, but thriving there. It was just what I needed...because even though God is really good to us (me), I was just at a point in my life when things were just tough (crying my eyes out tough) and I felt like was just doing what I needed to get by (going through the motions). Both were great encouragements to my life (right now)..God knows what you need & when you need it. Praise His name!

Oh, here are a few prayer requests: pray for a smooth transition time for me & my family (kids are very confused right now), more financial support to come in & for a building to rent (for church service).

**By the way, if you would like the notes from either messages, just email me and I will send it to you,

A Haircut & A Birthday Celebration

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that we were in Canada and said that I will post some pics. Well these are not it. I just wanted to share a few pics of James first haircut and Abbie's 3rd b-day. James was overdue for his first haircut and since Dad was going to cut his hair and Micah's, he decided to chop James' curls (sad day for mom). Dad was also tired of people mistaking his little boy for a girl. As for as Abbie's b-day, her only request was for a princess cake. With limited kitchen access and her food allergies, I opted to bake her a box cake omitting the eggs and substituting them with applesauce (don't make that mistake). It did not turn out how I imagined it, but with the help of my hubby in fixing it, my girl was ecstatic. She loved her cake and ate 2 1/2 slices (it was her first cake ever). She also surprised mom & dad and chose a strawberry shortcake doll for a gift (if you know Abbie, she loves what Micah loves...trains and cars). We chose to celebrate her b-day on Friday the 14th instead of the Sunday the 16th (actual b-day). We knew that Sunday would be a busy day for us and wanted to set a special day aside to make it special for her. All in all she had a wonderful weekend celebration, we did not do much but my girl enjoyed her birthday...praise the LORD! Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Enjoy these pics.

Unknown to what is about to happen...

Not going to well...tears, tears, tears.

Almost done..

Finally...my big boy baby!

Starting Abbie's day with a brunch at Dennys.

Dinner at McDonalds

Her birthday gift from mom & dad...strawberry shortcake.

Coloring a special princess pic (gift from a church member).

Blowing out candle from her special cake.

Strawberry Shortcake had to be a part of the celebration.

Enjoying her cake.

Ending the night with storytime + strawberry shortcake.

Abbie on her birthday (that Sunday)!

 

 

 

Please keep us in your prayers as we are almost done with deputation. In a couple of weeks, we will be back in Virginia and then the big move to New Orleans. Please pray for traveling safety and for housing in NOLA. Ttyl.