Hey Everyone! My daughter, Alexis has just made her very first digi scrap pack, and is offering it free. I think she did a great job, especially for a "newbie". So if you are into digi scrapping, head over and give her some encouragement.
Blessings!
Joy
Beach Scrap Pack « A Taylor Design Scrappacks:
'via Blog this'
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
What's Been Happening?
I wanted to share a few photos with you. Enjoy!
February 20-21, was Carnival Vacation here. It is traditional to throw water on random, unsuspecting people, during these days. Our family doesn't participate in that, but we do enjoy our own "Water Fight." These first 2 pictures are from our big Carnival Water Fight.
March 18th, in the afternoon, we had a bridal shower for Mercedes. Here are some pictures from it.
Mercedes and her sister
Wilda introducing the first game. They were divided in to 2 teams. Each team was given a small cake, an egg, a little bit of white sugar, a little bit of powdered sugar, a lemon, some sprinkles, food coloring, a bowl, a fork and little wooden spatula. They had to make some frosting, and decorate their cake...
Libertad was a "pro"...She had her egg white wiped up in no time! :-)
Diana, Carla and Libertad with their cake
Consuelo, Giomara, and Jessenia with their cake
Mercedes, right before refreshments. We had a great turn out and a good time together. Please pray for Mercedes and Maximo as they start their Christian Home.
Since Cristobal has taken over organizing and preparing the music for Sunday morning, we have had "special music" for the offering time, every Sunday. This is a group that sang this morning and did a great job!
Tony, with Luis, Melaniea and Javier this morning. The 3 of them received Study Bibles for completing the 12 classes that make up the first part of our Leadership Training Program.
Tony with the two children that were baptized this morning. This is Nicolas and Carla.
We are so excited to see what God is doing here! Thank you so much for your prayers for our family and for the ministry here in Manta. This week we are gearing up for VBS. We would appreciate your prayers for the teachers and workers as they prepare. Also pray that we would see boys and girls accept Christ as their Savior. We will be starting Wednesday evening and going through Sunday morning.
Blessings to each of you, as you serve the Lord where he has placed you this week!
Joy
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Advice for the Bride to Be...
What a wonderful day we have had here in Manta! Over 150 people attended services this morning. One lady accepted Christ after the service!! We had over 30 in the Ladies Sunday School Class. There was a great turn out for Mercedes Shower this afternoon. What a blessing to see the ladies coming together to be a blessing and encouragement to one another.
Here is the devotion I shared with the Ladies this afternoon. It is not completely original with me. :-) There are 3 thoughts that I believe will help us to be the wives and mothers that God wants us to be.
1. Be a woman of the Word. Make time in the Word of God a priority in your life. How easy it is to get distracted from that all important time. The cares of the day come in upon us, and we think, I'll do this in a little while, but the fact is if we don't make it a priority it will get pushed aside and soon forgotten. We would never expect our family to go through the week and only have 1 meal to sustain them. Yet how often do Christians think that they can make it through the week, with just a meal or two in the Word of God?
2. Don't be a constant drip! (Proverbs 27:15) You know it's easy to let the cares of the day settle over us like a little black cloud, but your husband doesn't need a "drippy rain cloud" for a wife! Instead of being a contentious or quarrelsome wife, we should be like the wise woman of Proverbs 14:1, that builds up our home and family. The crown of our husband, as Proverbs 12:4 says. We should use our words to build up and encourage our husbands to be everything that God has created them to be. We can either be the Proverbs 31 woman, whose husband safely trusts in, or we can be the wife, whose husband runs away to the roof top to escape her, as in Proverbs 21:9.
3. Glory in Service. The life of a wife and mother are wrapped up in the mundane tasks of the everyday! Doing the safe things over and over and over again...There are always dirty clothes to wash, always bathrooms to clean, beds to make, floors to sweep, dishes to wash and meals to cook. 1 Cor. 13:13, says that now abide, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. The Biblically based home will consist of all three of these, but the greatest is love. Love is not to be understood just as a sentiment or emotion, but rather self-sacrificing obedience to the Word of God, with the whole heart. One of the most important things we can learn to do as a wife and mother, is to learn to serve with our whole hearts in love. To realize that when we are washing dishes, or doing laundry or cleaning our house, we are serving the Lord, and bringing honor and glory to Him. Learn to work and serve in love. Not for your self, but for the love of God and family. That's what the Christian life is all about...serving in love. Col. 3:17, reminds us to do everything with our whole heart, serving the Lord!
Here is the devotion I shared with the Ladies this afternoon. It is not completely original with me. :-) There are 3 thoughts that I believe will help us to be the wives and mothers that God wants us to be.
1. Be a woman of the Word. Make time in the Word of God a priority in your life. How easy it is to get distracted from that all important time. The cares of the day come in upon us, and we think, I'll do this in a little while, but the fact is if we don't make it a priority it will get pushed aside and soon forgotten. We would never expect our family to go through the week and only have 1 meal to sustain them. Yet how often do Christians think that they can make it through the week, with just a meal or two in the Word of God?
2. Don't be a constant drip! (Proverbs 27:15) You know it's easy to let the cares of the day settle over us like a little black cloud, but your husband doesn't need a "drippy rain cloud" for a wife! Instead of being a contentious or quarrelsome wife, we should be like the wise woman of Proverbs 14:1, that builds up our home and family. The crown of our husband, as Proverbs 12:4 says. We should use our words to build up and encourage our husbands to be everything that God has created them to be. We can either be the Proverbs 31 woman, whose husband safely trusts in, or we can be the wife, whose husband runs away to the roof top to escape her, as in Proverbs 21:9.
3. Glory in Service. The life of a wife and mother are wrapped up in the mundane tasks of the everyday! Doing the safe things over and over and over again...There are always dirty clothes to wash, always bathrooms to clean, beds to make, floors to sweep, dishes to wash and meals to cook. 1 Cor. 13:13, says that now abide, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. The Biblically based home will consist of all three of these, but the greatest is love. Love is not to be understood just as a sentiment or emotion, but rather self-sacrificing obedience to the Word of God, with the whole heart. One of the most important things we can learn to do as a wife and mother, is to learn to serve with our whole hearts in love. To realize that when we are washing dishes, or doing laundry or cleaning our house, we are serving the Lord, and bringing honor and glory to Him. Learn to work and serve in love. Not for your self, but for the love of God and family. That's what the Christian life is all about...serving in love. Col. 3:17, reminds us to do everything with our whole heart, serving the Lord!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
What's Happening Now?
Happy St. Patrick's Day! No, I'm not going to wear green, and I didn't get any special cookies baked for the kids...they don't even know it's St. Patrick's Day. ;-) The only thing I really remember about St. Patrick's Day growing up, was that if you didn't wear something green to school that day, the kids would pinch you! LOL!!! I remember one year, our teacher had made green shamrocks for everyone out of construction paper and gave them to us as we walked in the door, so that there would be no pinching in our class for the day. :-)
We are keeping busy here in Manta! Just finished up our fourth, 6 week term in school, so the kids and I have 12 more weeks to go for this school year! YAY!!! Teddy has started to learn about WWI in History and Light and Color in Science. He also started working with Decimals this week in Math! (I'm pretty sure I wasn't learning about decimals or WW I in 4th grade!! Carla is reading and started having spelling test a couple weeks ago, and has done really well! She has also just finished up a Math unit on graphs, and had no problems understanding and applying what she was learning. Matthew, is starting to get the concept of reading, and has been working extra hard on his writing. He also started a new unit in Math this week on numbers to 20 and is being introduced the idea of Place Value.
Tony has been having a Discipleship Seminar on Thursday evenings, at our normal Bible Institute time. He has been very pleased with the participation usually having over 20 each evening. They will have one more week. Then March 29-April 1 is our VBS. Appreciate your prayers as we get ready for this special time. Then it will be Easter! WOW!!
Tomorrow afternoon, the ladies in the church will be having a Wedding Shower for one of the young ladies. Looking forward to a great time of fun and fellowship.
Thank you for your prayers for our family and the ministry here in Manta!
Blessings,
Joy
We are keeping busy here in Manta! Just finished up our fourth, 6 week term in school, so the kids and I have 12 more weeks to go for this school year! YAY!!! Teddy has started to learn about WWI in History and Light and Color in Science. He also started working with Decimals this week in Math! (I'm pretty sure I wasn't learning about decimals or WW I in 4th grade!! Carla is reading and started having spelling test a couple weeks ago, and has done really well! She has also just finished up a Math unit on graphs, and had no problems understanding and applying what she was learning. Matthew, is starting to get the concept of reading, and has been working extra hard on his writing. He also started a new unit in Math this week on numbers to 20 and is being introduced the idea of Place Value.
Tony has been having a Discipleship Seminar on Thursday evenings, at our normal Bible Institute time. He has been very pleased with the participation usually having over 20 each evening. They will have one more week. Then March 29-April 1 is our VBS. Appreciate your prayers as we get ready for this special time. Then it will be Easter! WOW!!
Tomorrow afternoon, the ladies in the church will be having a Wedding Shower for one of the young ladies. Looking forward to a great time of fun and fellowship.
Thank you for your prayers for our family and the ministry here in Manta!
Blessings,
Joy
Monday, March 12, 2012
What's Cooking?
Potato Bacon Chowder
This recipe was given to me by Tony's Mimi when we went out to visit them, our first Christmas. It is the best Potato Soup I have ever had, and no it isn't diet food!! :-)
8 slices of bacon fried and crumbled
1 Cup chopped onion
2 Cups cubed potatoes - cooked til tender
Saute onion in pan where bacon was fried, pour off grease.
Mix together: 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 Cup sour cream, 1 3/4 Cup Milk,
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
Stir in: cooked potatoes, onion and bacon. Heat, but don't boil.
This recipe was given to me by Tony's Mimi when we went out to visit them, our first Christmas. It is the best Potato Soup I have ever had, and no it isn't diet food!! :-)
8 slices of bacon fried and crumbled
1 Cup chopped onion
2 Cups cubed potatoes - cooked til tender
Saute onion in pan where bacon was fried, pour off grease.
Mix together: 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 Cup sour cream, 1 3/4 Cup Milk,
1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
Stir in: cooked potatoes, onion and bacon. Heat, but don't boil.
Meet Our Founders, The Vaughns « For His Children Ecuador
We received news today that Clark Vaughn went home to be with the Lord. We are praying for his sweet wife Melinda and their family. Clark and Melinda founded For His Children. This is the Children's Home where Carla and Matthew spent the last 3 years of their life before we had the awesome opportunity and privilege to adopt them. I wanted to share this with you all, so you could see what a wonderful ministry the Vaughns started and how God has blessed it through the years. I also ask you to please be praying for Melinda, their children and grandchildren during this time of loss.
Blessings, Joy
Meet Our Founders, The Vaughns « For His Children Ecuador:
'via Blog this'
Blessings, Joy
Meet Our Founders, The Vaughns « For His Children Ecuador:
'via Blog this'
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Your Sacred Calling » Modesty Promotes Friendship
Found this article through a link a friend posted on Face book. Modesty seems to be a subject that I am constantly teaching and pointing out the importance of. I thought this was a very good explanation of it and why it is important for Christian women to be modest and to teach their daughters to be modest.
Your Sacred Calling » Modesty Promotes Friendship:
'via Blog this'
Your Sacred Calling » Modesty Promotes Friendship:
'via Blog this'
Saturday, March 3, 2012
What's in Your Hands?
Mark 6:35-42
In this story, the disciples were tired. They really wanted to be left alone. That’s why they had all gone across the lake in the first place! Yet when they got there they were met by a multitude. Knowing Jesus as they did, they resigned themselves to trying to maintain crowd control, while the Master taught. When it started getting late, their patience with it all had come to an end. They went to Jesus and said, “Send them away, to go into the …villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But Jesus responded, “You give them something to eat.”
Have you ever felt God telling you to do something, and you know that in many ways it just didn’t make sense? At the beginning of 2010, that is where Tony and I found ourselves. I mean, who in their right mind, at almost 50 years of age would want to adopt 2 children, and take on that responsibility of making a home and family for them? We already have added 1 young son to the mix, just trying to do all that he needs, wears us out. I’m sure people will hear of this and think we are just nuts!
Yet here I sit. Knowing with all my heart that this is the road we are to walk down. It really doesn’t matter if it makes sense to anyone else. It really doesn’t matter if it even makes sense to me! The only thing that matters is that I know beyond a shadow of doubt that this is what God has for us to do.
So when the frustrations come, and the weariness is about to overtake me, I look back, and I trace the hand of God in every step that we have taken along this road. Every time when doors could have closed, but instead they were flung open wide. Why? Because that was the hand of God! God is faithful, and when he calls us to something, he gives us everything we need to accomplish it! All we have to do is be willing to take that step. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
The disciples already had everything they needed to feed the crowd, they just needed the faith to step up and use what had been placed in their hands.
What is God asking you to do? Is there a multitude he is asking you to feed? Are you willing to give back to him, what he has placed in your hands and watch him do it?
"Dear Father, Your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts. I come to you today, and place my life in your hands and everything that you have given to me. Use me to bring glory and honor to your name. You have called me to this and you are faithful, you will surely do it."
In this story, the disciples were tired. They really wanted to be left alone. That’s why they had all gone across the lake in the first place! Yet when they got there they were met by a multitude. Knowing Jesus as they did, they resigned themselves to trying to maintain crowd control, while the Master taught. When it started getting late, their patience with it all had come to an end. They went to Jesus and said, “Send them away, to go into the …villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But Jesus responded, “You give them something to eat.”
Have you ever felt God telling you to do something, and you know that in many ways it just didn’t make sense? At the beginning of 2010, that is where Tony and I found ourselves. I mean, who in their right mind, at almost 50 years of age would want to adopt 2 children, and take on that responsibility of making a home and family for them? We already have added 1 young son to the mix, just trying to do all that he needs, wears us out. I’m sure people will hear of this and think we are just nuts!
Yet here I sit. Knowing with all my heart that this is the road we are to walk down. It really doesn’t matter if it makes sense to anyone else. It really doesn’t matter if it even makes sense to me! The only thing that matters is that I know beyond a shadow of doubt that this is what God has for us to do.
So when the frustrations come, and the weariness is about to overtake me, I look back, and I trace the hand of God in every step that we have taken along this road. Every time when doors could have closed, but instead they were flung open wide. Why? Because that was the hand of God! God is faithful, and when he calls us to something, he gives us everything we need to accomplish it! All we have to do is be willing to take that step. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
The disciples already had everything they needed to feed the crowd, they just needed the faith to step up and use what had been placed in their hands.
What is God asking you to do? Is there a multitude he is asking you to feed? Are you willing to give back to him, what he has placed in your hands and watch him do it?
"Dear Father, Your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts. I come to you today, and place my life in your hands and everything that you have given to me. Use me to bring glory and honor to your name. You have called me to this and you are faithful, you will surely do it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
