Tuesday, March 19, 2019

JUST AROUND THE CORNER….


We are just six weeks out from leaving the country for Quito, Ecuador. If you got the news earlier in the month, you will have heard there was a 7.5 earthquake in Palora, Monrona-Santiago, Ecuador. While that was many miles away from Quito, Ecuador, some of our missionary women were close enough in surrounding areas to experience the tremors. It reminded me of a time when we were in Quito, Ecuador when a volcano erupted. The ashes from the volcano left an inch or more of soot on everything outside of our hotel. It was something to see. However, I am not wishing for volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. Ha,ha,ha
As of this time, many of you are in the process of praying for the missionary women, their families, and their ministries. Many of you are helping in other ways as we continue to prepare. The Pure Joy ministry staff met this week to make sure we are on time with the areas of preparation. Again, we are thankful to Him to say we are on time. (smile) Our biggest focus now, along with prayer, is sponsoring the remaining missionary women. We already have 37 sponsored with only 13 more to sponsor at $600 per woman. If you believe God is leading you to sponsor a woman or just give towards sponsorships, then click here.
Well, Spring Break is in the air from Texas to Arkansas. This past week I was able to spend time with all my nieces under one roof along with those great-nephews and great-niece that were present. Not all family members were able to make it home. I have laughed out loud, played games, watched 3-4 games going on at one time in the same general location (yikes), watched parents thinking someone else was watching their kids… but everyone else was thinking that, too. Praise God we did not lose anyone! Ha,ha,ha Watched adults play games and compete. Listened to some fun trash talk by a family member who played Wii bowling (but wouldn’t want to mention her name since she is my only sister-in-law). Ha,ha,ha
The weather has been gorgeous over the weekend here. No rain! We took all the family to the daffodil fields yesterday so the kids could run and play and pick flowers. You could hear the voice of littles all around you saying, “I don’t want to take a picture.” This includes the children that didn’t belong to our pack. Ha,ha,ha,ha But, those moms insisted. I tried to explain to the car load of littles that I carried home, the pictures are so we can be reminded of the memories. Then one of them asked, “what do you do with all those pictures?” “Well, we store them in the Cloud.” “Which Cloud?” “Where are our pictures when the clouds are gone?” What was I thinking! Ha,ha,ha I don’t even understand the Cloud!
Truth is, I just love my family from the littles to the biggies.
Enjoy your Spring Break with your littles and biggies!
His,
Vickie

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Chicken Foot….

For those of you who don’t know this game, it is a domino game. You play with double 12’s or double 9’s. The holes on the dominoes are color-coded, so really all you must be able to do is match the colors of dominoes and follow a few simple rules.

All that to say Sunday a week ago, we broke my 6-year-old great nephew into the family circle of “Chicken Foot.” It is like a Sunday afternoon rite of passage. All was going perfectly well until he ended up with a large number count of dominoes at the end of a particular hand. He promptly got up and pouted his way from the kitchen table to the time out room for pouters and attitude bearers. Ha,ha

Of course, the adults continued playing out the numerous hands until the final round, and the winner was announced. Eventually, my great nephew made his way back to the family, but the game was over. A little bit later I had to run an errand. He decided to go with me. On the way back he said, “I wished we could play ‘Chicken Foot’ again, but I know Granny and Nana probably won’t want to.” I immediately found that teaching moment! “Honey,” I said, “You know what God’s word says?” “What?” he asked. “It says we have not, because we ask not.” “What?” he replied. I said, “God’s word says you have not, because you ask not. How do you know if Granny and Nana will play with us unless you ask them? All they can do is say, ‘no,’ but they might say, ‘yes.’ If they say, ‘no,’ at least you asked. That is what God wants us to learn to do as His children. To ask.” Well, he processed that as much as a 6-year-old can. (Yes, I’m taking some liberty with the principle of “you have not, because you ask not.” But, lighten up and enjoy this.)

When we got back to Granny’s I had to laugh as I watched him work himself up to asking if Granny and Nana wanted to play “Chicken Foot” again. It was fun to watch because only I knew what was going on. Eventually he asked and to his surprise, and mine too (oh me of little faith), they agreed to play a couple of rounds. When we were done I asked him, “What did you learn today?” He replied, “You have not, because you ask not. And if they say yes… good, but if they don’t that is ok too, because I asked.”
 
Have you asked lately? Asked God for help, asked Him to meet a need, asked Him to forgive you, to restore you, to heal you, etc. Or have you avoided asking Him because you have done something that makes you believe He won’t be interested in answering you? And/or you have decided for Him it is supposed to be this way, and/or you secretly don’t believe He can answer it. Stop believing those lies!!  

Matthew 19:26 (ESV)
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

But what if he doesn’t do the impossible? What if He says no to what we want? We must remember that He is a good God with a good plan and a purpose for everything. He wants the best for each of us and is looking at it from an eternal perspective… not temporal. No matter how hard that is for us. No matter how we feel about it, God is a good Father and will do what is in everyone’s ultimate best interest; even though as His children we do not understand that many times. Just like our children don’t understand our decision making as a parent to them. However, we see from the perspective of life and experience. We know things they don’t understand and have knowledge of yet. In the same manner, He knows things we don’t have understanding about or knowledge of and acts in our best interest. When we know the truth of God’s word and His promise and His love for us, we can always trust that He acts according to His will for our best and His Glory no matter how we feel.

Quito Update...
We are just over 7 weeks out from our departure to Quito, Ecuador. Things are coming together as we prepare. You are making those special touches so many of you do through praying, gifting, giving, and going. I love that we have so many fingerprints (touches) from so many of you before we ever leave the country, and while we are there, as you continue to go with us through prayers. We have had more missionaries sponsored since our last update. So, now we only have 13 more missionary women to go. Please continue to pray and give as He leads you.  

Asking,

Love you Guys,

His,
Vickie