Dedication and Service

A few Sundays ago we got to stand up in front of our church and dedicate our sweet Baby Mo with all three Grandmas, both Grandpas, two uncles, both aunts, and a lot of friends.  :)

Dedication!

Before we went insinde to share our Moses with the church we spent some time in the parking lot sharing our time for the city.  Children's Hunger Fund and Oak Hills Church partnered up for pack 10,000 Food Paks!  Each of the campuses of OHC received truck loads of food and boxes and packed and packed and packed.  By the end of the weekend we has 10,101 Food Paks ready to service the city of San Antonio.  It was a great time to serve with the church, friends, and family!

We are the Body of Christ

Called to be Jesus

In every Neighborhood

In our City and Beyond!

Service!

We think it's pretty fitting that the day Moses was born we got to share with him about how he was able to help so many with clean water.  And now on the day he was dedicated we can share in what a blessing CHF is to the spiritually and physically hungry in our city and around the world.  :)

Water Project Update: It is finished! - Dziwanidziwani, Malawi

Dear Friends,

We are overjoyed to share with you this exciting news!  After many, many, (many!) months of waiting, we are finally so glad to share with you that the hard work has paid off! The report is in and the details of our collaborative water project have been revealed! Together we have changed the lives of 432 precious people in Dziwanidziwani, Malawi!  Amazing! It is because of your generous hearts and selfless efforts- fundraising, gift-forgoing, donating; and by the abundant blessings of our Father that this was possible! So many readers, friends, family, and strangers came together to make sure that we could make an impact in helping end the water crisis around the world.  This letter is for each of YOU, because you are a part of something big!

"That change has now been realized, and thanks to you, the people of Dziwanidziwani no longer have to drink water that makes them sick."  These are words that we have been waiting to hear and that this beautiful woman has dreamed about!  This photo encompasses the end of sickness, thirst, disease, and the beginning of hope for this community.  

Thanks again to each and every one of you for all your wonderful help!  This mission is truly complete thanks to you.  Thank you Father for allowing us all to be a part of your beatiful, redemptive work in Africa. And thank you charity:water for making it real, for proving every dollar so that the impact is made visible! 432 people will thrive and grow in a way that was not possible before.  Visit the site of the well and take a look at the village by using the GPS Coordinates -16.13883, 34.88326.   

This project may be over, but in the month it was completed, our son Moses was born and finished his fundraising for his very own water project.  We are excited to celebrate his life with the promise of clean water for others.  As a new feature charity:water, takes projects that do not complete a full project amount and merges them into one project in order to share the information once completed.  We are excited that he will be able to see what others did for him in love when he recieves GPS coordinates of the project he was a part of.

Glory to God. What a blessing to see others be blessed!

To see some of the ways we raised the funds for this well visit "Water Jar" on the left side topics bar of our blog.  

Baby Rodriguez's First Water Project

Hello readers! We know it's been awhile, and much needs updating, but for now we have baby news! We have been in love with our little noodle since we found out we were expecting in March!

And since we found out whether this little goober is a boy or a girl we've been raising money for him/her to fund clean water projects from the very beginning of his/her existence! (Don'tcha wanna know?!) Family and friends have been so supportive with their donations and its been super sneaky to keep it a secret, but oh so fun!

So the original plan was to fund a well by baby's due date. Now we know that this is a big goal but our God has proven his mightiness to help us realize our big goals in his name. However, with few further plans for projects to raise money and baby's arrival quickly approaching, we decided it would be best to put little cootie's donations to use rather than let them sit for now.

We've decided to launch a mycharity:water campaign. These campaigns last three months - exactly the amount of time from today (8/11) that baby is expected to be here (11/11)! To start it off, all of the donations collected so far will go straight in as well as our garage sale fundriaser efforts from July! And here's your chance to join in! Our goal is $1,111 which will help bring clean drinking water to 11 families in need! Baby R you are already making a difference in this world!

Look out for ways to participate over the next three months as we work to meet our goal! Or if you still want to find out the big boy/girl question, just make a donation and let us know you wanna know on the blog, on Facebook, or through email! Visit baby's campaign page at http://mycharitywater.org/baby-rodriguez!

Here we go third trimester! We are so excited for November! :)

Happy Fourth!

Today we are hanging out at Mom and Dad's.  

Brady and Sloane drove down from Austin.  

Friends showed  up, neighbors are on the way.  

Hot dogs, ribs, and fireworks are on the agenda! 

(Notice anything different about Taylor?)

Happy Independence Day Friends!

Greetings from Africa!

Check out our new feature via the stamp on the left sidebar! The rhino is a portal to a cool place where we share all the fun letters, pictures, and stories that we get in the mail from our sponsor child via World Vision! Click the rhino again to come back to our home blog. :)

Living Simply To Love Others

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows.

The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.”

Audrey Hepburn

Happy New Year friends!

2012 is an exciting year for us because we have an idea that we hope to explore all year long. We really wanted to do something different, something that we could throw ourselves into, research, learn, share, and grow from. So we thought of using a theme that has been the subject of a lot of conversations in our marriage- Living Simply to Love Others, and devoting the year to discovering what it really means to live this mantra.

Some of the ways we want to engage in this concept is to read more books and share them with you, interview people that we have met and hope to meet that have changed there job/life to serve people instead of just serving themselves, and find new ways to use our talents to help us in our goal of "Living Simply to Love Others".

Hopefully at the end of the year we will be able to look back at all of these methods, experiences, and knowledge and see how we can better serve the callings and passions of our hearts and continue a life that is devoted to service and love for others. So, as always, we invite you to join us by reading, commenting, reflecting, and sharing in our new adventure of Living Simply to Love Others.

Christmas Fun!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!! Hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends in honor of our King! :)

We had a really great Christmas! Complete with an awesome story to go along with our Toy Closet again this year. So here it is! The story of our second annual Toy Closet Adventure. Ooooo boy, get ready!

As we did last year, we started shopping early, hitting up sales and using our shopping secrets. Although we moved and don't have an actual closet this year, we still managed to stash all our goodies until we were ready to give them away. And if you don't know what I am talking about go here to learn about last year's Toy Closet Adventure that began it all! (Side note- it is my favorite post that I have ever written!)

First, we had to figure out what to do with the toys when the time came... We do donate to toy drives but we also enjoy taking out toys and actually giving them to children. There is something that's missing when you just drop off a toy rather then deliver it to someone. Plus, the look on their faces is just awesome.

So when we were thinking about a place to go we remembered our cousin Kaitlyn when she stayed in the hospital. We happened to visit her on Halloween and they were having a party when we showed up and took all the kids trick-or-treating around to different parts of the hospital. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it! We thought that they may do a similar thing for Christmas and wondered if we could assist in providing toys for the kiddos. We thought it would be a great way to give back to the people that helped take care of our family and bring some cheer to families spending their holidays in the hospital. So after a couple calls, we got in touch with Meg, the nurse in charge of organizing the Halloween event. We told her our idea and what we had and asked if there was any opportunity for us to come and give these toys to the kids. She was so excited and said that the best time to do this would be when Santa comes, but that they hadn't been able to find a Santa yet... Taylor so wished she knew a Santa when she hung up the phone... but then remembered.... not only do we know a Santa, we know the best Santa in San Antonio and he goes to our church! After talking to Mrs. Claus and figuring out a date that would work for everyone, we had a Santa booked for them! (Check out his awesomeness here!)

Every little detail was falling into place... any problem that came up quickly worked itself out before we had time to worry about it... it was amazing and obviously carefully coordinated by someone other than ourselves. Funny how God's got your back when you are doing what He made you to do. ;)

When the day finally came (we had to wait all the way til the 23rd!) we all showed up and shared in the excitement of watching the kids (and lots of nurses!) light up with joy as they saw Santa coming down the hall and to their rooms. We delivered gifts and candy canes and lots of giggles to patients in their rooms and then headed to the play room for story time with Mrs. Claus and more kids visiting with Santa. We even went down to the ER to share some smiles! It was so wonderful hearing the kids excitedly thank Santa for the gifts and it really did warm our hearts. Toy Closet - you did it again! What a great way to spend time together sharing God's love! It was a beautiful day and we were all so blessed to be a part of it!