100. One Hundred. 1-0-0

We are  hard at it cleaning out, packing up, figuring out what to take, what to sell, & what to store (So far only keepsakes & photos are in my keep pile) I've gathered the necessary paperwork for the 4 littles passports + one renewal, working on finishing immunizations for all 10 of us + the dog, organizing paperwork & important documents, picking out  home school curriculum and making a bajillion doctors, dentists & specialist appointments.

And..... The fundraising continues.

You can read how God has redirected our steps as we continue to prepare our family for South Sudan HERE.
 
We launched our ONE HUNDRED fundraiser HERE back in January, hoping to have 100 people partner with us at $25 per month as we serve as full time missionaries. We now have 13 monthly partners!!! Thank you SO much to each of you who have invested in our family. Donation's are tax deductible & we would love for you to be a part of what God is doing as we join Him where He is already working!

Thank you for your continued prayers & financial support. Click on our super cute donate button to partner with us by making a one time or monthly donation.

"Dear friend, when you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the faith visible. They’ve made a full report back to the church here, a message about your love. It’s good work you’re doing, helping these travelers on their way, hospitality worthy of God himself! They set out under the banner of the Name, and get no help from unbelievers. So they deserve any support we can give them. In providing meals and a bed, we become their companions in spreading the Truth."  ~3 John 5-8 (The Message)

You are a Missionary

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” ~Isaiah 6:8

God wants us to be willing... To wake up every day and be on mission right we are. In our homes, our office, our community, our city, our neighborhood, our state, our country, or the world. It's so easy to get wrapped up in "Going" somewhere to be on mission. As Christians we should be "On Mission" the moment our eyes open until they close again at night. Every day a new mission, a new challenge, a new adventure. Remember our purpose...

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ~Mark 12:30-31

May everything We do bring Glory to God.

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ~1 Peter 4:7-11

The good news is only good news, if it get's there in time. ~Carl F.H. Henry

The Unreached people groups. Those who have not heard the name of their savior, Jesus Christ.

Having seen all this you can choose to look the other way, but you can never say again, "I did not know" ~ William Wilberforce

To Do Lists ~ Freedom

This is for all of you type A personality gals that make insane TO DO lists. The ones that give you great joy to make and bring you great shame if you don't have each item marked off at the end of the day. I'm one of those. I love lists. I love to make them. I love to carry them around with me. And I Love Love to mark things off those lists. I have a TO CALL list, an ERRAND list, a TO DO house list & a TO DO computer/paperwork list. It helps me to be productive until... I get overwhelmed by all the "TO DO's" and then I just make a new 'clean' TO DO list in hopes of starting fresh. Ha! Seriously some most days it can be the death of my spirit, it can squelch my joy, and make for one grumpy mommy.

And if the TO DO list craziness isn't enough, I LOVE Schedules. Well... I love to MAKE schedules; brightly colored excel spreadsheet, color coded schedules. They're awesome, except... no one follows them, I struggle to enforce them, and all my time and energy creating them seems wasted. My intentions are good, and I truly believe they are going to work EVERY. SINGLE. STINKIN. TIME. But they don't.

This past month I have been diving into a study called FREEWAY~A NOT-SO-PERFECT GUIDE TO FREEDOM with a small group of sweet friends. All of us looking for complete Freedom in different areas. All of us knowing we have been delivered but that we have not truly been set free. This is one of the many areas of my life that I need FREEDOM. It may seem small to some, but this is an area that truly rules my life & the whole striving to fulfill the Proverbs 31 women goes right out the window with every list or schedule I make.

God has given me a new motivation. I've been inspired & I finally see that to truly be successful & to glorify God in all I do, I must be willing to change. Change the ways I do things as a wife, as a mom, as a homemaker. I'm allowing God to rewire my thinking. Taking what is working for other large families and experimenting to see what works for our family. Trying with everything in me to not reinvent the wheel. Most of all God has taken away my fear. Fear of failing myself, fear of failing my hubby, fear of failing my children, fear of failing those who are watching me from the outside.

*I recently was given this great book from a sweet friend. It's a must have whether you have 2 kids or 10!

*And I bought my 2nd copy of this book 'cause the last copy I had 12 years ago is MIA,

*And last week I spent time watching a precious LARGE family that use a basic schedule thrive because of it. Seeing it in action is humbling and eye-opening.

God has answered my prayer, given me freedom where I needed it, and pointed me in the direction of Him.

I can not wait to make an update to this post. I am anxious to see what God is going to do. Praying for His direction and His hand over every bit of schedule making, schedule implementing, & TO DO list making that goes on here at my little desk.

What have you experimented with over the years that has "WORKED?" 

What helps your family run like a clock & helps you to better fulfill your Proverbs 31 role?

A Little of This. A Little of That. ~ Spring!

Spring! My 2nd favorite time of year. It's a little sketchy here in west texas, one day it's 88 the next its 38, but Hey, Spring is in the air! So amazing how God makes things new, things return to their green beautiful blooming state and God's beauty is evident. It does this girls heart good!

...And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” ~Rev 21:5

Currently...

appreciating ~ all that my hubby does for our family

watching ~ things slowly disappearing off my shelves & walls

reading ~ LARGE Family Logistics

laughing ~ at my silly Levi's messes so I don't cry

eating ~ less

selling ~ anything that will get us closer to South Sudan

dreaming ~ of my feet being on the ground in Africa

planning ~ what to take to Hawaii & then on to Africa

wondering ~ what things will look like for our family this time next year

brainstorming ~ the best ways to teach community health & helping babies breath

wearing ~ shorts one day & sweaters the next (Oh, West Texas)

preparing ~ massive TO DO lists

making ~ homeschool curriculum decisions for the next 2 years

remembering ~ how much God has stretched & grown us in the past 4 years

getting ~ my life organized

loving ~ how easy it is to part with "Stuff" (Thank you Jesus)

wishing ~ I could go to the Summit conference in Chicago

listening ~ to Lord, I Need You by Matt Maher

enjoying ~ coffee & sweet time with good friends

loving ~ how God has grown our marriage

hoping ~ to write a book one day

missing ~ having a toddler in the house

praying ~ for PEACE in Ukraine & South Sudan

knowing ~ God has a plan, he is in control, I just need to BE STILL

We make plans, God directs our steps ~ South Sudan Update

God continues to be faithful as we continue to take the next steps in preparing to move into fulltime international missions. He has opened our eyes in so many ways, educated us, connected us with amazing people & shown us what it means to WAIT on Him. It's exciting, scary, cool, weird & seriously out of the box in so many ways; but it is SO God! As we continue to prepare to move to South Sudan God has shown us the importance of preparing our family to live in another culture. We feel it is vital for our family to prepare spiritually & physically so that we will be successful. We want to thrive as a family so that God can use us in amazing ways.
Because of the increasing unrest in South Sudan our original plan to leave in July has been postponed. God has NOT changed our hearts but has redirected our steps & we can see His hand all over it. Our heart is still to keep taking the next steps towards moving full-time to South Sudan, but after much prayer we believe that investing in training will lay the foundation for everything God has planned for our family. We have researched different missions trainings to find the training that will suit our entire family, where every person from 6 to 43 will get extensive disciple training along with community outreach. On September 25th our family will move to Kona, Hawaii to attend Discipleship training with YWAM. We will spend 12 weeks in lecture & community outreach on the island followed by 8 weeks of outreach in Africa. Once completed our hope is to minister to the South Sudanese people. We are excited to start this journey and would love for you to continue to cover us in prayer as we prepare.

We are always moving forward & making plans, but as always we continue to let God direct our steps.

Thank you for your continued prayer & financial support. We are blessed to have so many encouraging friends & family loving us.