The summer passed so quickly! We had a bigger birthday party this year for Grace in May and invited several friends from school as well as extended family for a Saturday at the house. We rented a “Dora and Friends” moonwalk and had a water slide and small blow up pool for the kids to play in. It was a beautiful weather day and Grace was so excited to have such a fun-packed day with her nieces and nephews, cousins and friends!! It’s still hard to believe she’s 10!
Then in June our family took a vacation to Destin, Florida for a week and all of our kids and their families were able to be together. Sara, a very close family friend, and my Mom shared a room and my sister and her husband came along too. Nineteen of us!! We had the biggest time!!! Such great memories were made.
The end of July, Steven and I saw a dream come true for me. We traveled together on our first foreign mission trip to India. My first trip that is; Steven had been once before (to Africa) but this was our first overseas mission trip together. It was incredible! We went to a Children’s Home near Imphal, India with a group of seven others from our church. The Lord moved in our hearts in such an amazing way over those five days (plus a day and a half there and a day and a half back).
This is a group shot of some of the younger children after VBS.
We may not have been able to drink the water but we were free to drink from the well of the Lord’s presence in that place; we may not have had a hot shower those five days but we were showered with more love and blessing from those 300 kids than we could have imagined; we may not have rested on a thick, comfortable mattress that week but we rested in the peace that passes all understanding as we loved on the amazing children, teenagers and staff of Gilgal and shared the love of Jesus with them. We were honored and humbled to pray over and sing over the lost, the broken and the lonely. And we are thrilled to share that several of the lost were found, the broken filled with joy and the needs of many were met by the love of Jesus and His people. I still can hardly believe I was able to be a part of that experience.
This is our beautiful sponsored child, Beula...she's holding a welcome sign they made for each one of us.
As soon as we entered the campus we saw this...
They said this is your home, you have invested in us and we are your family. They called us Auntie and Uncle. So beautiful...
Beula was really shy when we first arrived but each day she warmed up to us a little more and a little more. On our last day she just clung to us. Many of the children did. Their tears will forever be etched in my memory; they are my little brothers and sisters. Truly, God came near and their hearts felt Him. I’m so thankful to be part of a body of believers who love and care for people of every nation, tribe and tongue. I certainly felt cared for by my family in India.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)
No comments:
Post a Comment