HouseParenting:
We can't believe we are already in full swing into our second school year as houseparents in Arkansas! Now that we have a house full of long-term girls, we have almost all of our girls enrolled in the public school system here rather than our on-campus school. We have a few girls participating in gymnastics, one girl in the high school choir, and everyone bringing home plenty of math homework for Michael to have his fill on a daily basis. With the long-term youth on campus, we have also started a 4-H club to offer each of the youth an extracurricular activity that will encourage them to grow in leadership and personal strengths. The first meeting was a great success! Though we now have our "training year" under our belts, every day still provides an ample learning curve and plenty of opportunities to grow, improve, and learn. Though each girl we have right now presents their own unique issues to work with, we are finding more and more a simplistic core: they crave our attention, they want to be loved, they want to know they are worth something in this world. And so is our journey each day: do our best to hand out a fair amount of attention to each girl who would love to have 100 percent of it to themselves, express love however possible (even when recieving it is difficult on their end), and empowering them to understand that they were beautifully and wonderfully made by the Author of the universe!
Mind, Body, & Soul:
[SOUL]We just returned from a Life Group Link (Kick-Off) at our church where we met with a small community of couples that we will be journeying with this year. This is so exciting and encouraging for us, because it has been quite a challenge to find community outside of the Vera Lloyd walls since moving here. We can't wait to get started!
[BODY]Michael and the men on campus have taken off on a wonderful adventure into healthier lifestyles by meeting up nightly (after the kids are in bed) for sessions of the Work-Out series "Insanity." They only take one night off a week, and each of them have shed inches! It is also a great "guy time" outlet where they are able to connect and support one another. Michael and I are both participating in our campus' Healthy Lifestyle Initiative, as well, this fall, which connects us as a campus to make healthier choices in our body, minds, and soul.
[MIND]I recently read Ann Voskamp's work "One Thousand Gifts: a dare to live fully right where you are" (highly recommend to any and all of you) and was challenged to keep my own list of 1,000 gifts God has placed in my life. A sampling of my 100-some so far:
94. phone calls from our long lost "T"
90. a huband who is my best friend
89. chalkboard paint
80. a sister-in-Christ I'd never met reaching out to one of the girls at the water park
78. innocent laughter
69. hugs in the morning
56. worshipping with songs that resonate with my soul
55. hot pink nails
45. breakthrough moments with the girls
39. conflict: an opportunity to grow and extend grace
30. holding little hands
9. message from a friend full of encouragement and selfless love
A particularly moving quote from my reading of Voskamp: "Pain and joy are arteries of the same heart, and mourning and dancing are but one long movement in the symphony of God."
Lobby for Hobby:
I have really enjoyed using my spare time to work on my booth at the MarketPlace (mentioned in a previous post), and it has really taken off! Having something I really enjoy to do that is completely off campus from our daily work and life has been energizing and really helpful to me. The girls still have the opportunity to make things and sell them in the booth (and beg for CRAFT TIME whenever possible), but I also have developed a small business on the side of buying and selling discounted clothes and accessories. I think our booth has already developed some faithful customers, which is exciting! We also are anxious for the temperatures to drop (as we see via Facebook that it already has for some of you!), because we look forward to enjoying the beauty in Arkansas and get out camping this fall.
Necessary Prayers:
Please continue to pray for Michael and his dad as he journeys down the road to battle his cancer. This week, he is in Texas for some special appointments to gather further treatment options and information.
Please remember us in your prayers whenever God brings us to mind. Each day is thankfully new but requires just as much from us as the day before...and some times it is tiring, some times I get down to the bare minimum of all I have left...some times I am so far from the instrument needed by God in a situation that I want to laugh...and it is especially during those times that prayer is key. So, we covet and appreciate your prayers more than you can know.
We can't believe we are already in full swing into our second school year as houseparents in Arkansas! Now that we have a house full of long-term girls, we have almost all of our girls enrolled in the public school system here rather than our on-campus school. We have a few girls participating in gymnastics, one girl in the high school choir, and everyone bringing home plenty of math homework for Michael to have his fill on a daily basis. With the long-term youth on campus, we have also started a 4-H club to offer each of the youth an extracurricular activity that will encourage them to grow in leadership and personal strengths. The first meeting was a great success! Though we now have our "training year" under our belts, every day still provides an ample learning curve and plenty of opportunities to grow, improve, and learn. Though each girl we have right now presents their own unique issues to work with, we are finding more and more a simplistic core: they crave our attention, they want to be loved, they want to know they are worth something in this world. And so is our journey each day: do our best to hand out a fair amount of attention to each girl who would love to have 100 percent of it to themselves, express love however possible (even when recieving it is difficult on their end), and empowering them to understand that they were beautifully and wonderfully made by the Author of the universe!
Mind, Body, & Soul:
[SOUL]We just returned from a Life Group Link (Kick-Off) at our church where we met with a small community of couples that we will be journeying with this year. This is so exciting and encouraging for us, because it has been quite a challenge to find community outside of the Vera Lloyd walls since moving here. We can't wait to get started!
[BODY]Michael and the men on campus have taken off on a wonderful adventure into healthier lifestyles by meeting up nightly (after the kids are in bed) for sessions of the Work-Out series "Insanity." They only take one night off a week, and each of them have shed inches! It is also a great "guy time" outlet where they are able to connect and support one another. Michael and I are both participating in our campus' Healthy Lifestyle Initiative, as well, this fall, which connects us as a campus to make healthier choices in our body, minds, and soul.
[MIND]I recently read Ann Voskamp's work "One Thousand Gifts: a dare to live fully right where you are" (highly recommend to any and all of you) and was challenged to keep my own list of 1,000 gifts God has placed in my life. A sampling of my 100-some so far:
94. phone calls from our long lost "T"
90. a huband who is my best friend
89. chalkboard paint
80. a sister-in-Christ I'd never met reaching out to one of the girls at the water park
78. innocent laughter
69. hugs in the morning
56. worshipping with songs that resonate with my soul
55. hot pink nails
45. breakthrough moments with the girls
39. conflict: an opportunity to grow and extend grace
30. holding little hands
9. message from a friend full of encouragement and selfless love
A particularly moving quote from my reading of Voskamp: "Pain and joy are arteries of the same heart, and mourning and dancing are but one long movement in the symphony of God."
Lobby for Hobby:
I have really enjoyed using my spare time to work on my booth at the MarketPlace (mentioned in a previous post), and it has really taken off! Having something I really enjoy to do that is completely off campus from our daily work and life has been energizing and really helpful to me. The girls still have the opportunity to make things and sell them in the booth (and beg for CRAFT TIME whenever possible), but I also have developed a small business on the side of buying and selling discounted clothes and accessories. I think our booth has already developed some faithful customers, which is exciting! We also are anxious for the temperatures to drop (as we see via Facebook that it already has for some of you!), because we look forward to enjoying the beauty in Arkansas and get out camping this fall.
Necessary Prayers:
Please continue to pray for Michael and his dad as he journeys down the road to battle his cancer. This week, he is in Texas for some special appointments to gather further treatment options and information.
Please remember us in your prayers whenever God brings us to mind. Each day is thankfully new but requires just as much from us as the day before...and some times it is tiring, some times I get down to the bare minimum of all I have left...some times I am so far from the instrument needed by God in a situation that I want to laugh...and it is especially during those times that prayer is key. So, we covet and appreciate your prayers more than you can know.
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