Grrrr..

I must appologize for notposting in sometime now. See my hard drive went out on my laptop again!!! Do not buy refurbished computers from a trade show...you never know what you are going to get...GRRR!!
But never fear, I have purchased another laptop and will back to posting here directly!! I have some exciting stuff to share! :0)

Leave me a comment!! Chat soon, promise.

~~L~~

Anonymous

Oh my dear readers....I do hope you are sitting down for this. Just in case you aren't, I will wait..............Ok..



So when my husband went to Oregon this last month he was able to acquire a pretty fancy guitar. He likens it to the one BB King plays, with the metal front. He knew that it was a steal for $300. It probably is valued at $800-1000. So he is thinking that he is either going to keep this new found treasure for himself or he is going to sell it to help pay for our trip to Zambia in July.



He decides on the latter and here is why I asked you if you were sitting down.

So my husband leaves with the intention of selling this guitar. He gets to the guitar shop and starts to speak with the owner of the shop. I get this text from him that says.. "Can we cancel our dinner plans? I think the owner wants to sponsor us on our trip?" I respond with a swift "NO. Denise has been cooking all day and the food is already prepared. I am not going to call her, 20 min. before they are to come, and cancel." So I then proceed to tell my husband that he has about 45 more min before he needed to leave to get home for our dinner plans and to close the deal..lol. "If you can get him to commit to donate, then I will follow up with him." So my husband says "OK." Donations are awesome and I love that people want to help but you must understand that our friend who prepared the most delicious Puerto Rican food, is also Puerto Rican and I didn't want to mess with that feisty fire she has..I mean she just had a baby too....lol (Love you girl!!)
Now, while he was telling the owner about Zambia and his past trip in July, he has tears welling up in his eyes. You see, he is very passionate about the orphans there and trying to share Jesus with them. To let them know there is hope. To build a relationship with them is our goal.
Well as he was speaking he gets a tap on his shoulder. He looks back and acknowledges the woman who was trying to get his attention. She simply says, "I would like to help you." Standing there shocked that a woman that had simply overheard their conversation, was touched, he began a conversation with her.
This is how it went....
Husband: Um, ok. How would you like to help?
Woman: Well would you mind following me to my shop in Del Mar?
Husband: Um ok. (He says Um, Ok a lot) He was a little bit unsure. He was in Oceanside but thought that Del Mar sounded promising. So he agreed to go not knowing how she wanted to help.
So they pull into her shop and she buzzes them to let her in. Turns out to be a very high end jewelry shop. I mean how many shops do you have to get "buzzed" into?? Looking good so far, right.
He then follows her back to the counter where she opens a drawer and pulls out a check book. She writes him a check and hands it to him with one condition, that she remain anonymous. She was very clear....She didn't want anyone to know about this donation. She wants no recognition at all. She then says that he can walk across the street to cash it. He agrees and then says thank you very much and walks out.
Its not till he gets back into his car that he looks to see what the amount was on the check.
He opens it up and glances down to find the check was written for,get this, $6,000!!!! Phew!! I am out of breath and excited all over again!!
Are you freakin kidding me!!!! Who writes a check for $6k to a complete stranger. Praise God!! This is truly only something He can do.
Needless to say our tickets to Zambia for July are now COMPLETELY PAID FOR!!!
And get this....My husband didn't even have to sell his guitar. God can use anything to get you to where you need to be so that He can bless you. I love it when His mighty hand is in our lives.
God is still in the biz of miracles and this is the proof!!
I am asking you all to pray that this "Anonymous" woman would have her socks blessed off!!

We can know raise money for the Breath of Heaven ministry now that our trip is just about paid for. The money that we raise now will go toward the construction of the homes and filling them with the needed items to function.

This also reaffirms to us that the verse we received from God for our trip is "We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7
Not one of us could've predicted this to happen. We couldn't see it but we have faith that God will provide. Amen!!
~~L~~

Cry out.....

Cry out for insight,
and ask for understanding.

Search for them as you would for silver,
seek them like hidden treasures.

Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,
and and you will gain knowledge of God.

For the Lord grants wisdom! Proverbs 2:3-6

~~I have been in this entire Proverb for some time know and this is my favorite part!! Are you crying out to seek Gods wisdom in your life?~~

~~L~~

Wow!!

I am again reminded of how perfect Gods timing is. No matter how much we plan and schedule we really aren't in control.
I was reminded of this on Saturday. See we are still raising money for our trip to Zambia in July. We planned a garage sale for Feb 7th in hopes to bring in some more money. We announced it at church and plenty of families contributed to cleaning out their closets to help us out. So we collected for a few weeks and then we prepared for Feb 7th by sorting and arranging things. Well, we were rained out on the 7th and then the 14th. Well during the 2 week postponement, more people were able to bring in their donations for the garage sale. So we again prepare for another Sat., yesterday, and are so grateful that we will finally have good weather.
Well Michaela and I arrive at our pastors house to set everything up and it appears that the donations have doubled!! Can you believe it?
So we had to quickly sort and get things out so that Kim could put out the signs....it was so funny when so did. With in minutes, I am serious, like someone let flood gates open, people started rushing the sale!! In fact, we were still setting up. You garge sale hunters are a little bit crazy....haha..I'm joking but seriously....You get up early!
There was a time when Michaela told me to look back, because I was at the bottom of the driveway taking everyones money,to see the sea of people. I am not kidding we were so unbelievably out numbered. There could've been a hostile take over. There must have been 50 people there at one time! There was only 4 of us at most.
Anyhow, it proved to be extremely successful!! I have no idea what we sold to raise the money we did but we did.
Gods timing is so perfect!! We were able to raise $894!!! God is so good!! We just needed to have the faith to see it through. We were getting a little discouraged, well a lot to be honest. We were like, "Gosh are we doing what we are supposed to do?" It sure didn't seem like it. Every time we wanted to do something simple, like a garage sale, we were rained out. Not to mention that it would be sunny all week to only rain on SAT!!
It just proves to me that it is all in Gods timing!! His timing is not ours. We are grateful to not be in control.
Hebrews 11:1 says....Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Thanks for being in control because we would mess it up every time.
~~L~~

Tickets

So that my friends is our confirmation that we have been booked on a flight with British Airways to Zambia~~~ YAY~~~

We were very fortunate and found a missionary travel agency who was able to get our tickets for only $1607. When my husband went last July his ticket was $2553. So we were pretty happy with this figure. :0)
We are still praying about funds though. We haven't raised enough money for our trip yet. We were able to secure our tickets with a deposit and are making payments on them. We are stepping out in faith knowing, that in this economy, that God will still provide the money to advance His Kingdom. God is bigger then the economic situation at hand. Our goal is to raise $10,000. This will cover our trip and allow us to give a generous donation to the ministry that we have partnered with, Breath of Heaven.
We are in prayer for funds and have been fortunate to raise some but we are still short of our goal. It seems thought that every time we plan a fundraiser, it gets rained out. I am convinced that God is telling us that is will be by His hand that we go and not our own.
So pls keep us in prayer. It is our heart to serve the Zambian orphans and bring them hope. The need is so great there. There are so many children that are left behind due to disease and poverty.
In the US if something happened to our parents we would be taken in by our extended family members. That is just not the case in Zambia. Family members look at is a burden, a very heavy burden, to take on another mouth to feed and shelter. Some of the children are beaten by their extended family because of the burden. They need the promise and hope that only Jesus can bring.
So if you would pray for the children and for our upcoming trip in July it would be greatly appreciated!!
God Bless...
~~L~~

Another One Bites the Dust

My apologies for not updating you all sooner, Dear Readers...

About 2 weeks ago, pls try to recall, the tooth dilemma my son faced, again!

Option 1....He pulls it out

Option 2....Dentist pulls it out

Option 3....Dad pulls it out

Ok well he was given 1 week by the dentist to have this tooth out or he would have to come back and have it pulled! Well this information alone was enough to send my son into a frenzy. " I am NOT coming back here to have it pulled." See, now that he is 8, and would put up a good fight all the way in to the dentist, I gave him a few extra days. Lets just say carrying him in kicking and screaming wouldn't be appropriate.

So for a week he pulled and tugged and tugged and pulled to no avail. I think he may have loosened it a bit but not much.

So the conversation begins...

"Son, I gave you 2 extra days to get that stinkin thing out and your adult tooth is already in. We are going in the am to get it pulled. We don't have much choice."

::tears start to well up:: "But mom, I HATE the dentist. I don't want to have it pulled. Let me keep trying." By now we have full water works going..This catches my husbands attn.

What do I see out of the corner of my eye.....My husband taking interest in our conversation...I try to keep it hush hush because of the whole fishing string episode(see prev blog in tooth tales) but there was no hiding it now. My husband was already aware of this situation. He starts to sit up like a little kid at the candy store....Is it my turn, is it my turn??

I give him the OK, my mistake as you will see in a minute, and say " If its not pulled out tonight, we are going 1st thing in the am."

So what will it be this time???

Hes already tried dental floss.....no luck.

Fishing string, well that one worked....success!!

What shall number 3 be but......

In case you weren't able to figure out the pic....He used PLIERS!! Wow!! I am amazed. I truly never thought that people really pulled teeth out this way. I mean maybe if your name is Wyatt Earp but certainly not any of my children. Funny how moms say "My" children when they are hurting but when they are acting up its "Your kids..." speaking to our husbands....lol. :0)

So I have officially given up on the whole tooth issue. Who knows what will be next but I can assure you that there will be a next time. My sons adult teeth seem to want to come come in before the baby ones exit.

Here is his new face.....and he is very proud to say "My dad pulled my tooth out with pliers."

My husband did accomplish the very task I asked him to do. My son was so afraid to go back to the dentist, where it wouldn't even hurt, he allowed my husband to use pliers. Who would've guessed? Certainly not me.

~~L~~

Must share!!

So a dear friend emailed this to me and I love it!! Thought I could share....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA

For what eer reason I cant get it to post here but click on the link. You can see more of their videos too on youtube. They are pretty amazing!!