Gotta LOVE Her!!

Fun at the HOMEstead...

Monday was such a good day!! After a month of getting our house ready to put on the market, we finally put a sign in the yard on Friday night...all day Saturday and all day Sunday our stomachs felt sick and every time we looked outside, we griped about 'what if our house sells..we don't want to sell it!!'...so, Sunday night we took the sign out of the yard after 48 hours...this made Monday feel especially wonderful when the kids came home, finished their homework and headed outside to play, all decked out in their dress-ups....home just feels so right and the thoughts of it not being ours anymore made Monday feel extra special:) We love our home-SO many memories here the past 9 years...not to say we won't ever sell it, but for now, we are cooling our jets...here are our 4 monkeys so full of silliness....I LOVE IT!!!

NO Words...

There are no words to express how many times I have dreamed of the day that 60Feet would come since I first heard their story in Mississippi in April...and finally it all came to fruition on Sunday!! It was so fun and Charlie was just as excited as I was about the cupcake sale, I think. We had many volunteers bring cupcakes on Sunday morning and I will be honest, when I first saw all of the cupcakes and as the people began to drift into the activity room at church, I had the thought-there is NO WAY we are going to sell these-because there was NOBODY coming to the table....we were standing there behind a sea of sugar and awkwardly, for a few moments, I might add...BUT THEN, things changed and they began to come. We continued the sale throughout the morning and then through 60Feet's presentation. I was SO hoping that we would make at least $350, but would be happy with anything over $200...$200 would feed 250 kids plus staff one nutritious meal and $350 would sponsor a child's education for a full year. So, my thinking was that it would be nice to at least do one of these...all of these thoughts just show my lack of faith...it was a stretch to have people bring that many cupcakes and I was good with that-that was in my hands and if no one bought them, then i had just made a bad judgement. If we didn't make much, then we had at least tried..but REALLY believing that God would bring the profit, I wasn't so sure. How sad. After all the faithfulness He has shown me in my life...I should have KNOWN with NO DOUBT that He would provide. Even if through little cupcakes. Not only did He meet my highest hopes-He more than doubled them. When the day was done, we raised a little over $700...from cupcakes! Praise the Lord!! So excited and humbled that the Lord used our Orphan Care Ministry (Hearts of Compassion) to give a little to some precious children and a wonderful, Jesus-driven ministry. Gets me all fired up to do more!!!

Jenny, Stephanie, Meia and me:)

Then, Sunday afternoon, Garry Hill and David Roe, with 60Feet, came and gave their testimony, showed 'Bereaved' and answered questions...there are no words for how it feels to watch the documentary 'Bereaved' a second time....gutwrenching, appalling maybe...like a knife being twisted into my heart...beautiful children imprisoned in awful conditions-60Feet working to bring restoration and redemption...a beautiful story, but there is still so much to do and EVERYONE can do SOMETHING...even if only for one....

The Fuzion Theatre...the showing of "Bereaved"

Garry & David telling their story...

Check out the website for 60Feet www.sixtyfeet.org and see what they are up to...also, visit www.thecupcakekids.org. Unbelievable!!! Have a sale where you are, whenever you want to. You CAN make a difference by doing just one sale...the (now) International Cupcake Sale for 2012 is May 5th, so put it on your calendar!!! I know I sure am!!!

60 FEET

Not sure if you noticed, but back in April...I added some buttons to the right side of my blog...


AND


When I visited Julie over spring break, we went to the Orphan Care meeting in her town. They were hosting the ministry 60 Feet and they were there to tell their story and show the documentary "Bereaved" that was filmed on their recent trips to Uganda. I was just excited to spend some time with Julie doing something that we were both passionate about and as we sat down, Alison opened up the meeting and began to talk about how she and her husband had been praying about hosting this meeting and who God would bring to it. She went on to say that they had prayed about every single person that would show up and they knew that each person was there for a reason. As I listened to Scott Harty (of 60 Feet) give his testimony, I got 'that feeling'...then, as I watched the documentary, my heart was absolutely broken...that night just got a hold of me and I knew what God wanted me to do....so, as soon as the meeting was over, I made a beeline to Scott and said..."ok, you HAVE to come...our church has GOT to see this and hear your story". It is one of those things that you KNOW you are supposed to do, but it would be SO easy to let it fall to the wayside...but I knew that I could not let myself let this opportunity pass by....

SOOOOO, I am honored to say that next Sunday, August 21st at 3:30 Hearts of Compassion orphan care ministry will be hosting 60 FEET. They will be coming to tell their story and show the documentary "Bereaved" on the big screens in the Fuzion Theatre at Parkview Baptist Church in Decatur, Alabama! I am so pumped...if there is any way you can come-you DO NOT want to miss this!!! Bring a friend and come on!!! Oh yeah, and there will be childcare:) Message me or leave a comment for directions or more information...

Also, for those of you that go to Parkview...we will be hosting a huge cupcake sale in the activity room next Sunday morning!! (check out the cupcake kids link above...that is WHY we are doing it:) It will be by donation only and you can buy one cupcake or as many as you want! 100% of the proceeds will be going straight to 60 Feet!!!!

See you Sunday:)

Quick Trip

Got a call one day from my friend, Julie and she asked if I was busy the next day because she had a chance to come my way....so, on July 26th for less than 24 hours, I got to catch up with Julie and Maggie....she got there and within the hour, we headed off to 'birthday dinner' with our Sunday School...PFChangs and Maggie Moos....then, of course, we talked until 3:30 am...got up and headed to meet her ride by 11:30 am for their 6 hr ride home... now that is a true friend. Never want to waste an opportunity to see her if only for a few hours..I will take what I can get. Here is Meia, me, Julie and Shana for girls night....

Lucy and Maggie with bed head...curls galore...
the girls....
Sweet friends...

They love, love, love each other and there is no lack of 'bossing' when they are together...

Rough early morning, but we made it!!!

Love you, Julie! Thanks for making it happen when it would have been easier to stay home:) Mmwahhh!