Micah!

My oldest, Micah, just had another birthday. I cannot believe that my firstborn is now "5". However, this was not the most wonderful thing that happened to Micah recently. On Friday, June 1st, he prayed and asked God to save him. Praise The Lord! It all started a few days prior when he started praying daily asking God to save him so he can go to heaven. That Friday, we sat him down and asked him a few questions to see if he understood salvation. At the end, Brent and I realized that Micah just didn't know what to do next. So, we asked him if he wanted to pray and asked God to save him and he replied "yes." The day following his salvation, he came to me and said proudly "mommy, my name, my name is written in the song book of life! M-I-C-A-H is is in the book of life." I truly believe that the Lord is going to do something great in his life, please pray for my young little man!

Here are some recent pics of the kids including Micah's birthday:

The boys at church

Kiddos at the aquarium

The Givens family

Feeding the birds

Silly pic

Movie night after the aquarium

Blowing out his candle

Enjoying the cupcake

Abbie is really enjoying it.

Its obvious James had a little bite.

My babies...

Hope you enjoyed & please continue to pray for us. Take care!

No Way!

James (my baby boy)



During our Wednesday night services, Pastor Givens always ask everyone for prayer requests or praise report. This includes all of our children. So, it came to James' turn...this is how the conversation went:

Pastor Givens: "James, what is one thing you are thankful for?"

James: "Thankful for Bible."

Pastor Givens: "You are thankful for the Bible?"

James: "Bible"

Pastor Givens: "That is good son! James is the Bible the Word of God?"

James: "No, NO WAY!!!"

Then there was laughter. "No Way" is James new statement. He has been saying it quite a bit lately. He answers that with almost every question and with lots of emotions. It doesn't matter if I ask him questions like "you love mommy?" The answer is "no way!" I'm not sure where he got it from, but I am so afraid that it might be from mommy.

Talk you you all later.

Happy Mother's Day!

I found this story online and wanted to share it with you all...

Tug-O-War
-Author Unkown

A family of three moved to the coast and bought a house on the beach. The only child of this family, really enjoyed snorkeling, so he went out with his friends shortly after the family moved in. The children were swimming and playing, and had no idea of the beast that lurked beneath the water.

Suddenly a 450 pound alligator grabbed the young boy and pulled him underwater. As the other children ran screaming to safety, several neighbors came outside to see what was wrong. Just as the child's mother arrived, she saw her son briefly break free of the alligator. He was racing as fast as he could to safety as his mother reached out for him. He was almost to shore, but the alligator was faster and was gaining on the boy quickly.

Just as the mother reached out and took her son's hand, the alligator grabbed his leg. At this point a tug-o-war began between the mother and the alligator. Finally, the adrenaline in this mother won, and she pulled the boy free of the alligator's jaws. The boy had several lacerations on his head and leg, and had broken many bones in his leg.

These wounds healed, but the boy would never forget the incident.

But when he told his story, he didn't show the scar on his leg or his head where the 450 pound alligator had attacked him. He showed the scars on the back of his hand, where his 95 pound mother had drawn blood with her fingernails pulling him to safety.

This story made me think that the devil and the world is after our children just like this alligator. We (as moms & dads) must fight with all that we have for them (with love & nails)!

                            Happy Mother's Day!!!

The Lord Must Build The House!

I cannot help myself, but I must brag on how God has been good to us. Psalm 127: 1 says "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:" God has been so good to us these past few weeks. Just a quick overview:

-Week 1 - Bro. Butler (from our home church) came down & blessed us with an 8-passenger van.

- Week 2 - Pastor Sebrell (home pastor) came for a visit & was a great encouragement to us. That week we had the greatest attendance in our Wed. night service (14).

-Week 3 - Lord blessed us with a building to rent (not the neighborhood we thought, but in the neighborhood where He wants us to minister).

We spent the next weeks preparing the building. We receive help from our dear friends, LaQuita & Daniel. Pastor Jackson & his wife, Mandy, from Metairie also came to help us in the project. We also receive lots of church items from different churches. Then this past Sunday, we had our 1st morning service. God answered my prayers and blessed us with 5 new visitors and that evening 1 soul was saved. Amen & praise the Lord!!!! I am so excited... God has shown us once again He is at work & this is His house He is building. All things in His timing.

Here are some pics (we accidentally lost some of our pics, this is all that I have):

Church Van

Preparing to paint!

Setting up chairs

Setting up nursery

Sanctuary 1

Sanctuary 2

Nursery

Pastor Givens

Attendees on 1st service

Nursery kids

New convert

Hope you enjoyed...talk to you later!

Me A Teacher?!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was asked about a month ago if I could step in for a kindergarten teacher at a nearby christian school. Well, these past couple weeks God has allowed me the opportunity to teach 12 little 4 & 5 year olds (including Micah). Through this experience, God has given to me a better appreciation for teachers and for the moms who have to work outside the home. With that, I have also learned a few things about kindergarteners that may help you if you ever have to travel down this road:
1. Be ready for tears, tears & more tears...tears over scratches, tears because I don't understand my work, tears because I want my mommy, etc.
2. Make sure your hair is always in place and not sticking up or it will be a major distraction during an important lesson.
3. Be ready for potty accidents, at least once or twice a week.
4. Never call them babies (I heard one say "did she just say line up, babies!").
5. Always, always, take several steps back from a little one who tells you "I'm not feeling well" with a hand covering his mouth or you might be covered in vomit!!

These are just a few things I have learned in the past few weeks. Please pray for me as I continue on for a little while longer in this adventure the Lord has allowed me have. Pray for my family as well during this journey. Lastly, please continue to pray for the Crescent Baptist Church....for the new converts and for a place to meet. We are still excited and encouraged here in NOLA....

Great Encouragement!

This past weekend was a great encouragement to me and my family. We had the Greshams (LaQuita & Daniel) spend the weekend with us. We know LaQuita from Heartland and they live about 1hr away. They were such a blessing to us. God knew that we needed that...it has been a little tough these past few weeks. It was just nice to fellowship with good godly friends. We laughed quite a bit this weekend and had a few heart to heart conversations. We also went out in the rain (just a little) and distributed at least 400 tracts on Saturday. That is hard for us to do in one week let alone in one day. That was a BIG blessing to us. Our children enjoyed them as well. Micah calls Mr. Daniel, James' friend...because James loves him. I am so thankful to God for giving us friends and knowing what we need and when we need it.

BTW: Please pray for me. I will be substituting in a kindergarten class soon (when the teacher goes into labor) at a nearby christian school.

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.