The Angels are Singing!

It was a very busy week in our house this past week.  This week was our VBS at church, and three out of the six of us were involved each night in some way.  Benjamin attended the VBS with his kindergarten buddies while Sabastian served as part of the worship team leading the songs and motions in the opening and closing, and helped out with the four-year old class.  I taught the Bible lesson four times each night to the elementary students...with groups ranging from 35-75 or more kids at a time, it was quite a challenge to teach an active curriculum (as in the kids were to be part of the story!) and keep order at the same time!  Fortunately the children were divided into "crews" and the crew leaders were mostly adults or teens who were able to help out with discipline and crowd control.  On Thursday night I shared the gospel as part of the Bible lesson with a very powerful visual presentation that was part of the lesson for the evening.  Many children raised their hands indicating that they were accepting Christ as their Savior that night, but we like to personally talk with the children and make sure they understand what they are doing.  On Friday night, a couple of the Children's Ministry volunteers took time to meet with each child who indicated that they had prayed to become a child of God.  Out of a rather large group of children, the ladies were pretty certain that 23 understood the decision that they were making.  Praise God...the angels are singing in Heaven this weekend!  It's such a blessing to be able to be involved in such a meaningful ministry and to see young lives changed.  It makes the craziness of the week all worth while!  Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be teaching the same curriculum in two other locations that are outreach ministries for our church.  Sabastian will be joining me to help lead the music.  Please pray for the children in these two locations, too, that their hearts will be ready to hear the truths of God's Word!

Musings on Family and Country

I can hardly believe it is the 4th of July already...well, almost, as I'm posting this on the 3rd. We are going to be spending some time with family this weekend and enjoying a BBQ and good fellowship. My older boys keep wondering when summer is going to come, as it really hasn't been unbearably hot here yet. This past week we had rain every evening which kept the temps reasonable. But I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that one third of their summer vacation is over, and with as busy a month as July is, soon August will be here and school is right around the corner again!

This month I am directing and teaching at our church's Vacation Bible School, and we are planning a little vacation to upper New York State with some friends. I know the month will fly by very quickly. The other day I reminisced by watching two old videos that haven't seen the light of day for quite some time. The first one was of a patriotic cantata that our school community did in Santiago, Chile, back in 1989. I was a senior in high school, just about to graduate, at the time. It was great fun to look at everyone in the cantata, and the audience, and realize how much time has gone by since then. This year would be my 20th high school reunion if our little school did such a thing! The second video was of our wedding. I don't think I had ever really watched it before. A friend was our videographer, and she got shots from the rehearsal, photo session, wedding, and reception. I recall so few details of that day, so it was fun to watch the video and remember. My kids enjoyed watching their mom laugh and cry all at the same time more than the videos, I think!

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have fun doing it. Stay safe and healthy, and remember to say a prayer for our country and her leaders. We are going through trying times and I believe that it is only through a return to the ideals and beliefs of our country's biblical heritage that our country will once again be great.

God bless America!

Busy Week

Where has this week gone? It always amazes me how fast the weeks fly by. It really makes me covet the time I spend with my children, and I'm so thankful that I can be home with them. I just pray that I'm using my time wisely, as it goes by so quickly!

There are several things on my mind tonight. I have committed to directing our church's Daily Vacation Bible School in July, and my mind is swirling with details related to that and our first committee meeting next Tuesday. I'm excited to possibly be using curriculum from Answers In Genesis...great stuff if you need a VBS curriculum. Check it out!

Please pray my two little nephews home from Haiti...my sister Stephanie is really praying that they will be home before June 24. You can read her post about that date here and I encourage you to also check out the rest of her blog if you haven't already. Haiti is such a random country when it comes to their adoption procedures; it is very different from what we are facing with Taiwan, and much more frustrating as a result.

Speaking of my sister Stephanie, today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, little sis! We love you lots and are so proud of you and all that you do for your family and the Lord. Keep up the great work! Hopefully Pedro treated you really well today!

Finally, we have had a bit of movement on our adoption proceedings this week. You can check out our updates at our adoption blog. Thanks for your continued prayers and thoughts!

Have a great weekend!