Memorial Box Monday - It is "well" with my soul!

Linny at A Place Called Simplicity started Memorial Box Mondays.

"In Joshua 4 Almighty God tells the Isrealites to collect stones and set them as a Memorial to remind them of God's power and provision. He then tells theIsrealites to use those stones as a memorial; that every time they see them to tell their children and their children's children the stories over and over again, continually reminding them of God's faithfulness."

To read the full idea and an introduction to Memorial Box Mondays go here and read Linny's "How about Memorial Box Mondays? aka We will remember..." post.

A few weeks ago, we logged into our blog e-mail account (we don’t get much mail so we don’t do it that often) and we had some mail!  It came from Pastor Fritz, our Uncle in Michigan.  He explained that he had given a sermon during Christmas time about bringing our gifts to Jesus and had mentioned what we were doing for clean water.  But much like blogging, people often come and go, and leave you wondering, hoping that what you've said meant something to someone.    

Well someone was listening to that sermon, but it would take 6 months to find out... Below is the email we found in our inbox. (It's a bit lenghty, but it's worth the read. :)

It is “well” with my soul!
Hey guys, I wanted to share with you a neat story from our church service yesterday. Back in December, for one of my Christmas sermons, I mentioned that you guys where partnering with an organization that provided clean water for those who have none. The sermon wasn't just about the water project, but more down the lines of "bring our gifts to Jesus". Afterwards, our mission treasurer decided to support you and that is where the gift from North Rome came from and for all practical purposes that is where I figured our churches involvement would end.
Move ahead to our service a week ago, and a "Grandma Westgate" came up to me and said her grandson had something he wanted to show me, but he wasn't able to come today, so he would bring it next week.  Fast forward again to yesterday.  I got the church ready to go and went down to get the mail. On my way back up, I was actually opening up your thank-you note, when grandma Westgate and a very smiley grandson turned the corner and said "Pastor Fritz, we saved up this money ($100.19) and it's for the kids who don't have any water"!!! How cool is that! (I always wonder if anyone is listening to my sermons and apparently at least one kid was!) Any how, I guess grandson was there that day in December and was quite moved by the fact that some kids have no water. He had gone home and discussed it with his grandma and she told him that if he tried hard to put a dollar a week in his bank (a converted orange juice bottle) by the end of the year he would have 52 dollars to send to the "well people". Grandma also promised that if he was faithful to it, she would contribute the difference to make a gift of 75 dollars. A week or so ago, Grandma saw grandson adding more change to the bottle and casually asked him how much he thought he had. Grandson is not an estimating kind of kid, so he dumped it out and started counting. When it was all said and done, He had already saved by himself, 75.19! Grandma was so impressed and excited that she gave him the other 25 dollars right on the spot!
And how cool is Gods timing that at the very moment I an opening your thank-you/update, he is coming with more! As a matter of fact I able to hand him the water drop thank-you and a copy of your newsletter so he would know the well is on the way! To cool! Anywho, just wanted you to know how far reaching God's will is, and that your work is not in vain!
Love ya!
Fritz 

It's great to know that something that God has already blessed way beyond what we had imagined is still continuing to glorify Him, but to top it off we had been pretty bad with sending out thank you notes to all of the people that helped us out (6 months late) but God still used it for part of His plan.

And if you don’t think that is cool enough, we have more...  We are here visiting family in Michigan and are going by some sort of scheduled/seat-of-our-pants itinerary.  So when we showed up unannounced at Fritz's church on Sunday he was just as surprised as we were when he shared with his church the same sweet story and also the exchange of e-mails and our newsletter that he had printed in the church bulletin that day! He also delivered a great sermon about offering to God what we have in our hands so that He can do something beautiful, and told the story of Ivan, his grandma, and the juice bottle of change.  Another God thing- putting us at the right place at the right time.  How cool is it that we could be there to hear the story right in the place that it happened? :)

What a beautiful, big-picture story of God's great plan and how perfect His timing is, even when we are waaay late.  To remind us of this, our King's blessings when we serve Him, and this faithful child of God, we will put in our memorial box a ribbon from North Rome Baptist Church's recent 150th Anniversary.
 

Vacation!

Retirement was beginning to become stressful so we are going on a vacation! ;)

We are all packed up- one minivan, two parents, two grown kids, two little kids, and one little dog. And after 24 hours of driving we will be in Michigan! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! We'll be visiting family for two weeks. (Don't worry we will write.)

On another note... (or two...)

We wanted to thank everyone who donated and helped collect supplies for Airmen's Attic. They were so thankful for what we provided them!

Also, we want to wish our friend Adrienne a safe trip home to visit family! She is a member of the PAIS Team and just finished her year at Journey. She has been such an inspiration and encouragement to us and others! The very first thing we did when we moved to San Antonio (literally, we drove here, arrived at 2 a.m., changed, and drove to her house) was help her with a yard sale to buy a plane ticket for her to take this trip and obviously she met her goal with GOD's great help!

Have fun in England, and come back soon!

Next time we write we will be up north, lake side, surrounded by family and friends. Ahhhh. :)

Airmen's Attic Part 2 - Supply Drive

We went back to visit our friends at Airmen's Attic Tuesday and had so much fun!

Annnd... some exciting news for them and the families they serve...

They are moving to a bigger location! The date is set for the 28th of July! Not too much time to move a whole store that serves a base as big as Lackland. So there was a lot to do... We packed up all the uniform raincoats, put away the pants, hung up uniforms, closed the media room that we organized last week, and started moving items that were ready to go to the designated moving area. Busy, busy, busy!

Here are a few shots of what we did last week and a few of the areas from today...

Our work in the media room from last week.

We straightened up the cables and cords and electronics.

Hanging uniforms...

And a view of some of the home items.

Plus there is so much more that these photos don't show! And the whole thing is run by unpaid volunteers. People donate the items and Airmen come and volunteer in shifts along with the staff that usually consists of 2 or so volunteers a day plus the also unpaid manager. But they are always happy to be there! Not much money goes into this place, I think I heard maybe $500 a year to help it run. Kind of a sorry situation for something that helps so many men and women in our military. This place offers free items to all US active duty and their families if they happen to need it- clothes, baby items, uniforms, mattresses, sheets, blankets, dishes, televisions, and other furniture and yet they don't even have all the supplies to run a business. They have been doing pretty well so far and we really do have fun when we go help out. But we feel like we (together with you!) can help bless the sweet people that give up 4 days out of the week to be there going through bag of items, sorting the good from the bad, making and answering phone calls, and organizing and managing the volunteers. We feel like we can take care of at lease some of their needs with very little money... 

We would like to ask you to help us by pitching in for a supply drive. Nothing big, just for a week, we will be collecting items that you would find in every office and bathroom/laundry room as well as some moving items:

Rubber Bands

Markers

Tape

Packing Tape
Boxes
String/rope
Ziploc Bags (large and small)
Brown Paper Bags
Bathroom Towels
Trash Bags
Plastic Hangers
Laundry Detergent (They wash a lot of the donations before the put them out.)
Dryer Sheets

The only supplies that they have are items that come in as donations. Boxes are a big need when you move and if everyone donates clothes in bags that day then that means we don't have boxes to pack with on the next day. So lets try and do this! If you read our blog and you go to Journey Fellowship we will be there most of the day on Sunday for 11am service and Family Game Night at 4pm so feel free to find us and and drop of any items that you may have! And if you live farther away we have set up a PayPal account that would love to be filled for Airmen's Attic! (send money to buff23_7@yahoo.com)  Most of the items on their list don't cost very much so if you have just a few dollars to spare it would certainly go a long way :) I know Lucky (the manager) would love this little surprise when we show up to help next week!

 

Thank you readers, for keeping up with us and sharing our love to serve others by encouraging us to keep doing what we do! It is what we love to do, with all of our hearts, and we are so happy that we can continue to share God's love with people in big and small ways.

Our Nest at One Blessed Nest

We moved to San Antonio a month and a half ago and have been busy making it our (for now) home. Here are a few photos of one of the rooms that we claim... introducing our bathroom!

A big part of our style is finding great pieces at thrift stores, garage sales, and on the side of the street. The yellow pompoms on sticks came from Uncommon Objects in Austin, TX as well as our "R" next to Taylor's wedding photo. I have my boutonniere from our wedding framed on my side. The gray bowl was picked up at Goodwill for a buck, and the antique table was just $7 at a big market near Round Top, TX. The dresser came from our Morning Star garage sale. Tina was selling it so I moved it to the back, painted it grey, and moved in into our bathroom the same day. Oh, and the art I did myself. :)

(Are you starting to notice a theme in our choice of colors?)

This is just part of our new world... and we will have to clean the bedroom before we let you in there. It is surprising how messy one room can get so quickly, but we did downsize from a one bedroom apartment to a 9 X 10 room. Yikes! So stay tuned and we will update our bed/office/hangout/home theater/library room. ;)

Airmen's Attic

Today is Thursday and normally we would tell you about how much fun we had serving with our church's youth, but this week they are away on a mission trip to New Orleans!

So we went down the street to serve on our own!

Airmen's Attic was our destination.

What is Airmen's Attic?

The airmen's attic is staffed by volunteers from the community and offers members ranks E-5 and below used, serviceable appliances, furniture, household items, children's clothing and more free of charge.

Basically it is a resale shop but they don't sell anything. People bring items that they no longer need or want and they sort through it all and organize it so other people can come by and shop around for whatever they need free of charge. There are some limitations and you must be active duty. The items range from clothes, dishes, mattresses, sheets, uniforms, chairs, desks, televisions, computers, printers, toys, books, DVDs, VHSs, books, phones, and anything else that you need in your home!

So the first part of what we did was loading up our truck with a few items to donate. Second was to sign up as volunteers and to get to work! We were there for about 4 hours and we organized the whole media room! Sorted books, restacked videos, untangled wires, found a new home for the games and puzzles and boxed up the overflow to send out to Salvation Army. It was a good day and hard work but it sure did pay off, the place looked great!

Sorry no pictures this time, we were working to hard to take a break but hopefully next week we will be back with our crew for some more fun! :)

Memorial Box Monday ~ Iphamna

Linny at A Place Called Simplicity started Memorial Box Mondays.

"In Joshua 4 Almighty God tells the Isrealites to collect stones and set them as a Memorial to remind them of God's power and provision. He then tells theIsrealites to use those stones as a memorial; that every time they see them to tell their children and their children's children the stories over and over again, continually reminding them of God's faithfulness."

To read the full idea and an introduction to Memorial Box Mondays go here and read Linny's "How about Memorial Box Mondays? aka We will remember..." post.

Now about that little shoe...

Last weekend we watched the kids while Mom and Dad went to a graduation lunch with some friends. So like any other awesomely cool siblings we packed our bags and headed to Sea World! We watched shows, played at the water park, and rode a few rides. On the way out we hunted for a smashed penny machine to remember the day by, why did I bring my camera? While the kids were cranking I was waiting in the shade and happened to look down to find a dime. Lucky me! So I threw it in the stroller cup holder and shuffled out to the car.

That night we drove to Devine with the kids because the next morning we would be helping out with a garage sale. We all got a good nights rest (NOT!) and woke up bright and early to get things ready, load up the car, and place the still pajamaed children in their car seats for the drive. After we set up and got breakfast our next goal was to find something to keep the kids busy and so I employed them. I offered to match a nickel for every high-five they sold. Sounded like a great idea! Except for the fact that high-fives seem to be out of season. Brogan still helped me sell a few glasses of lemonade so I gave him the dime I found the day earlier.

We found a nice indoor sale that had enough junk to really poke around for something good in, and Teddi and Brogan sure did poke. Teddi now has the ability to smell like Cotton Candy any time she wants to for the mere price of 10 cents! And Brogan bought us something! :) He walked out smiling with his 10 cent purchase- a baby bottle! "This is for your baby!" he proudly exclaimed as he handed it to us. We were grateful but assured him that that time wouldn't come for awhile...

Fast foward to Sunday after church. We were scheduled for a meeting that got cancelled and by the time we decided to invite someone to lunch everyone had left. So we thought lunch together would also be nice and headed down the street to eat. We also found our way to Target, Home Depot, and Family Christian. We were just stepping into the last place to grab a CD with Taylor's birthday money, or so we thought. As soon as we walked in we were confronted with a tower of smiling faces. Each one was 3"x4", came with a name, where they were from, and the opportunity to change a life. World Vision was doing a campaign and we were well over due... We had always talked about sponsoring a child but couldn't seem to fit it into our budget... but now with no budget at all it just seemed right for some reason. (God is so funny.) Sorta resetting our budget with priorities in place. ;)

So after looking through so many photos and once again being overwhelmed at the number of children needing sponsored and the difficulty of just choosing one, a nice cashier comes over and shows us a sweet little boy who's birthday is coming up! "He's still a baby!" she says, and her excitement is almost enough to sign us up on the spot. But we tucked him behind a couple others and do our shopping before reaching a decision. We grabbed our CDs and decided that we just couldn't leave that little guy behind! It's his birthday next month AND he is wearing our number on his shirt! So we brought his smiling little face home. :) Ummm... Where did we put that baby bottle? And does Brogan also pick lotto numbers cause I now have a kid to feed...

Here are photos of the delivery of our new baby. ;)

(The Doctor errrr.... I mean cashier who helped us pick)

And, announcing the arrival of sweet baby Iphamna!

(Well I guess he arrived about a year ago, but now he has a special place in our hearts and in our lives!)

Into our Memorial Box will go this baby bottle, given to us at just the right time, to remind us that even though situations may not be perfect, there is never a wrong time to follow God's plan!

(Especially when you've been putting it off long enough to get beat by your little brother! ;) Proud of you Brady for making a difference with your love for Christ! Now we have little sponsor cousins! ;)

To find out more about sponsoring children through World Vision go here!

House Work

Every Thursday during the summer we are teaming up with Journey Fellowship Youth and will be doing a different project in our community. This will be a great way to see the needs that our city has and to lovingly serve our brothers and sisters!

A need came to our church from a stay at home mother of four who needed a little help around the house.
And we are here to serve every need, big and small, so we loaded up and headed out to see what we could do...

There was a lot of work to do but with 7 people, and 5 more on the way, we were well covered!

We cleaned the kitchen.
We watched and played with the kids.
Hung out with the dogs.
Mowed the grass.
Trimmed the bushes.
Installed a soaker hose (twice).
Found a snake!
Trimmed a tree.
Cleaned the back porch.
and
Installed a new doggie door!

We spent about three hours working and made a good dent in someones really long honey-do list!

We were happy to help this family, and thankful for the great weather and cool breeze! Looking forward to the next opportunity to serve in our community!