The End of Break

The last days of spring break were spent at my Aunt and Uncle's house. We had fun doing lots of things:

1. Eating..eating..eating..eating.. you get the picture!! :)

2. Sleeping in!! Yeah!

3. Playing games

4. Messing around on the farm

5. Drooling over kitchen remodel magazines. My aunt and uncle bought a new house and so my Mom and I helped Aunt Diane plan out design stuff for the house. Lots of fun!!

Slow down!!!!!!!!

Whew!! This week is just flying by. Why is it that school weeks (which are twice as busy as spring break) drag on yet spring break zooms by? Thankfully, it's not over yet. So far I've worked, scrapbooked, played games, slept in, watched TV and movies, and done some spring shopping!! It's been really fun. Today, I work until 5:30 and then we go to Aunt Diane and Uncle Dan's house!!! Everyone have a great weekend!!!!

Regret

Our neighbor was taken to the hospital this morning. I heard distant sirens and looked out my window to see approaching lights flashing. They stopped at the house next door. We have been blessed with AWESOME neighbors. This particular house has an elderly couple living in it. They spend hours upon hours in their yard and garden. Bill (the husband) has cancer and we've slowly seen his energy dwindle until we never see him leave the house anymore. But this was unexpected. The paramedics said that he had a cardiac arrest and it, "didn't look good." As Noah and I watched out of my bedroom window my heart was aching. I hurt for Bill's poor wife, who will soon be a widow. I was angry at myself for not being a better witness to them. I never mentioned my faith to them. And now it may be too late for Bill. If I had made the effort, the Lord may have used me to bring Him to Christ. So I guess this was a bit of a wake-up call. A reminder that witnessing by example is good, but we need to be brave and step out of our comfort zone and boldly witness to people. I realized just how broken hearted I would be if one of my dear relatives or friends died without once hearing the gospel from my lips. If I claim to be a Christian I need to do a better job in the witnessing department.

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter to everybody!! It has been a cold easter for us. Whenever I think of Easter I think of warm, spring weather so that all the girls can wear their new summer-y dresses to church. Well... all of the girls still wore their dresses but we froze. As I sit in our cozy family room blogging the snow is coming down in HUGE flakes. Yep it's snowing on our spring break. Noah exclaimed, "Why don't they just call it winter break?!!" Either way, I hope that it decides to be springtime soon!! I'm ready to break out the cute spring clothes and flip-flops!! But back to Easter, we had my Aunt Diane, Uncle Dan, cousin Jon, and Lil over for lunch after church. They came to the service to hear me play piano and sing in the choir so that was fun to have them there. I failed to get a picture of us at the dinner table but we had a good time eating delicious food, talking, playing games, and, of course, watching the NCAA games. I didn't participate in that activity but the men did.

Here's a picture of the winter weather:

A picture of the us kids after church:

Please Prayerfully Consider!!

Good evening all!! If you've followed my blog up until now, you would know that I've been to Guatemala twice to work at an orphanage. It was a life changing experience. The orphanage that I worked at is called Eagle's Nest. It is truly amazing. They take excellent care of the children and the "mamas" love each and every one. Because of the backup in the courts and the government temporarily closing in Guatemala, Eagle's Nest is no longer recieving money from adoptions because there are no new adoptions taking place. So right now they are VERY low on funds. Each week Larry and Claire (owners of orphange) recieve calls asking them to take in more precious children but they have to say no. How can we live here in our huge houses with more than enough food to fill our bellies and warm arms to hug us when there are sweet babies who cry and have nobody. When I first arrived at the orphanage we were standing in the "parking lot" talking with Claire and I could hear the cries of the babies. My heart just broke and as I walked into the nursery I couldn't get to them quickly enough!! My second trip, I'd mastered holding one baby in each arm with a toddler leaning on my lap. As soon as you put them down they'd begin their sad cries again, missing the feel of loving arms around them.

So I ask you tonight "Is God touching your heart? Is He calling you to make a small step in His kingdom by giving a child a place to stay, and maybe even the opportunity to have a forever family? Are you willing to give up your double lattes for a week and donate that $10 to this orphanage?"

If you are interested:

Please visit www.eaglesnestint.org and go to the "How Can I Help" at the top of the page. You can donate any amount, which they'll put into their general fund for the home.

Spring Break!! Woo-hoo!!

Yes, it's spring break. The week that every child and teen has looked forward to since Christmas break!! We're not doing anything exciting this year, just chilling at home. I'm working alot next week but it'll be OK. Last year, I was on a plane for Guatemala. It's funny how one year can change your life so much. I'm in such a different chapter in life than I was last year. And all that's taken place is 12 months.

I am going to go see Ethan (the teen with cancer) next week with my Dad and some people from youth group. We're really looking forward to giving him his gift that we made him.

I realized Chloe hasn't made an appearance on my blog yet so here she is!! My 90 pound Golden Retreiver!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Easter Egg Fun!!

Tonight we colored Easter eggs. It was fun and we had lots of laughs. Here's some more pictures (i look really bad in them because I'd already gotten ready for bed!):

And I also wanted to say thanks for all of the sweet comments that have been left on this blog. It's been so encouraging.

Praise the Lord for He is faithful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we recieved an offer on our house and we accepted!!! Praise God!!! We still have to wait for them to have an inspection and appraisal but as long as there aren't any "surprises" then we close on May 30. Talk about an answer to prayer!!! We are so relieved. Thank you to all who have been praying that we would sell it. We covet your prayers still until May 30, that nothing would go wrong or fall through.

Beautiful Flowers

Mom's birthday was on Wednesday and she received two BEAUTIFUL bouquets!!! The aroma of them still lingers in the kitchen and when we first received them it was so pungent you could smell it everywhere. I couldn't help but think about what our pastor always says about Christians. He says, "A Christian is either the sweet aroma of life or the stench of death." To a non-Christian, our hope in eternal life only reminds them of their mortality and their miserable future. But to one who loves the Lord, we bring the sweet aroma of life. So as I smelled the flowers, I was reminded of this. I was reminded of the new life that springtime brings and the beautiful redemption our Savior gave to us so long ago at Easter time.

I had a great time taking pictures of the flowers today and then messing around on my new favorite photo editing website, http://www.picnik.com/ Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

May our lives be a fragrant aroma......

a light in the dark....

And a bright spot in the lives of those who are searching. Searching for love, hope, peace, and joy. The joy of Christ our Savior who died for me. He took every sin upon his shoulders, beared the pain and punishment we were to bear. He died for me, you, and anyone who will accept His free gift of eternal life. May He touch your heart this Easter, and show you His great love and grace.

A convicting book

I'm reading a tough book right now. In fact, I don't really know what to write about it because it's just so hard. But I feel like the body of Christ needs to read this book, because it could start a revolution. It is called:

There is no Me Without You

by

Melissa Fay Greene

It's about this woman who adopts an AIDS child from Ethiopia. She actually ends up going there to live for a short period of time as well. I've not even gotten half-way through but I can already see that my life will never be the same. I believe that there are two ways you can process the information she has in this book. You can either:

1.) Read the words and forget about it

2.) Read it with the intention of allowing God to mold and soften your heart through it.

The second way is certainly the most painful. It's painful and stretching, yet I so long to fulfill the will of God in my life. I long to have a heart like His. To be broken and wounded when I hear about the millions of homeless children in Africa. I don't want to be the same. And it will require me to live radically. But i'm going to mess up. I already have. That's the essence of the Christian life- sinning, confessing, forgiving, and trying again!! Basically it's all about grace.

If you've read the earlier posts of my blog (or you've talked to me for more than a 1/2 hour) :), you would know that the Lord has burdened my heart for the orphans. This book is challenging me to analyze my life and my future. I've always been such a dreamer, and I had my whole life planned out but the Lord is ever so gently showing me that my plans are not His. And so I don't know what's ahead, and neither do you. But I highly recommend you read this book. You'll have to push yourself through it, but it's worth it. So jump in your car and head to Berean. Or better yet, zip your mouse over to Amazon.com!! You can get a perfectly good used one for $7.

I'll be praying for you as you seek out His will for your life and mine,

Blessings,

Molly

Catching Up

I think that catching up is the theme of my life. Hmm.... if I can't catch up as a high schooler what on earth will I do in 30 years with 8 kids?!!! :) I guess I'll figure it out as I go!! Anyway, this week has been a whirlwind. I worked extra this week at the office because our nurse is in Italy. So that made my week busy. And then my friend Spencer and I are making a secret project for Ethan, the boy who has cancer. I'll write about the details after we give it to him. So I worked on that a little this week. And this weekend I scrapbooked with some friends on Friday, worked on Scraps 'n Ribbons business orders Saturday, and today was church, and then youth group. And after youth group, I'm working on Ethan's project. But I'm NOT complaining! I like my busy life. I'm thankful that the Lord has blessed me with family, friends, and work to fill my days with.

I can't wait for spring. I heard the cardinals singing while doing math this week. It was just a little taste of what is to come. Spring is my favorite season. It means warm weather, spring clothes, flip flops, flowers, and spring break. It's a time of hope. Last spring, we walked out in faith, put our house on the market, and moved to a smaller one. Never did we imagine that we would still be carrying two house mortgages. But God has been so faithful. And I'm praying that this spring He will bring a buyer for our Monroe house and we can be freed from the financial burden. It's all in His timing though.

Below is a picture of my sweet sunday school class. I thought after hearing stories of them you'd like to see a picture. I can't put names to faces because of safety reasons though. I have another cute story for you this week. After doing Mission Moment this week I asked the kids to go around the circle and pray for our missionaries. Our "rule" is that if you don't want to pray just say, "Amen." So we got around to a little girl and I looked up at her to see if she was going to pray but she looked like she was about to cry. With complete honesty, she said, "Miss Molly, I want to pray but I don't want to pray. I don't know if I should and I can't figure out what to do." I looked at the other teacher and we exchanged the "oh how cute" look and i told her, "Well, sweetie, we'd love to hear you pray but you don't have to. If you'd like, you can just pass and pray in your heart instead." She seemed satisfied and we continued our prayer circle. But it was just a reminder of the innocence of children. Deciding if she should pray out loud will probably be the biggest dilemma that little girl faces today. It's humbling to think that halfway around the world, there's little girls who will have to figure out what they're going to eat and drink. Our culture is so blessed.

Enjoy your day of rest! Praise God He gives us Sunday to relax!!

A good weekend

Good afternoon my loyal blog readers!!!! (all two of you) :)

This weekend was a pretty good one, I'd say. I think my highlight has been Sunday School this morning. I teach the "Mission Moment" to my sweet 4 and 5 year olds and each week we learn about a new missionary. This week, I taught them about my precious Guatemala. I introduced to them Larry and Claire Boggs (the owners) and our new classroom "buddy" Claudia. She doesn't know that she's our buddy but I decided that she is!! I showed them the picture slideshow/movie I put together and we prayed that Claudia would come home. Most of the kids knew what an orphan was but they didn't really emotionally understand the meaning of it. But one girl, Julia, truly understood and I think that God touched her little heart in those 10 minutes. She asked me several times, "Miss Molly (so cute!!), you took care of Claudia when you went right? Miss Molly, she has a family here that she'll come home to right? Miss Molly, she's gonna' be OK right?" Oh sweet Julia, God is working on you already!! Her sweet prayer for Claudia made my heart melt. I love that class. The cute girls with pig tails and the wiggle-worm boys!! It's a reminder of why I so long to be a mom and a teacher. My heart so desires to nurture little hearts. And my heart is full to the brim with love for children and God has given me this class to love, for such a time as this.