Missions

I think it gets in your blood!!! Well, there is just an excitement to hear about the next mission team that the A&M church of Christ is supporting during their training year. Joy for Daniel and I that we are in Abilene now that the mission teams train with the Halbert Institute located at ACU.

The Concepcion Team (Deanna Meredith, Wesley and Ellen Shutt, Sara and Chad Lukkason) came over last night minus one of the couples (Reid and Meredith Overall). We talked from 6:30pm-10:00pm at least. We love hearing their thoughts and know from having Alison and Justin's experiences that they will learn so much about themselves and about God through this journey.

They will train until January 2011 and Lord willing will fly to their new homes in Chile. They are each looking for support so as you pray remember them. This is a faith-building experience as you contact congregations and talk with people about supporting your financial needs. If any of you out there have a missions committee looking for missionaries to support, contact this group.

We are doing well. I enjoyed a few days in Tulsa with Hannah. She will really miss Tulsa when she moves. She has made a home for herself there in the two years she has attended University of Tulsa. On Monday, Mar 1, she begins her last seven weeks of interning in a rehab center. She is thinking this is the direction she will begin to look for a job in DC. She has been with a school district since January. Can't wait -- I know she will be a beautiful bride, God has blessed her in so many ways!!

Abilene Snow

Isn't this what everyone in Abilene is doing? Downloading their snow pictures and posting them!! We were in Lima when the last snow came to Abilene so today was fun for us.

Daniel got to come home around noon and we have totally enjoyed a day of relaxation. We are ready for this everyday!! Having Daniel home everyday not the snow...



Cele enjoyed the snow!! We also had a special visit from Phil Grassie, Jason's dad. Phil and Patti live in New Mexico so it was quite a treat to be able to sit and visit. They were missionaries in Brazil and so we were able to listen to some missionary stories!! Great fun!! We love getting to know the parents of the young man who will be Hannah's life partner. God is just so good!!



Looking out our front door!!

Bible Warriors

Grant Parker, Maddie Parker, Rebecca Lopez, Allie Lopez and Samantha Istre

Daniel and I teach the Hope Bible Warriors (3-6th graders). There are about six students that come every Wed. night. This spring we are going through some OT stories. Since our bldg does not have an oven we decided to have the kids come to our house for Bible class last Wednesday. We wanted to make unleavened banana bread. We had been talking about the Passover and the escape from Egypt that the Israelites made. We enjoyed singing and playing and reading and cooking. It really opened up a new opportunity to enjoy them on another level. Enjoy the pictures!!

Pondering With the Lord

The weather was just too wonderful to not get out today, well, this afternoon. I got into my walking clothes and headed out to restart my way back to running. I began speaking out loud to God immediately, almost like it was going to burst out. I confessed a mistake that I should have figured out at least nine years ago. Peace came immediately and I know that I am forgiven. I'm such a slow learner, but I am determined that I have learned it this time!! My walk was short as my plan has it that way. 15 min. brisk walk is my next step!!

As I came in, Daniel had the radio on and Focus on the Family was interviewing Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth and their two adult daughters. (scroll down on the page to listen) The interview was about the parenting of their two daughters and about Robert's book, She calls me Daddy. I decided I wanted to just sit and listen to the 20 min. interview. I found myself tearing up - so many memories as I listened. Daniel and I had so many of the same feelings that were projected in this interview. What a joy to be parents, determined not to hand off the job of parenting to anyone else, a mix of love and discipline, listening to music and singing in the car...we definitely enjoyed the ride. It was also very hard and there were many prayers and mistakes we made. I'm overwhelmed by the love God gives in my heart for my girls. I know there are many parents out there that have experienced the same. How can we understand the deep love of the Father? We understand just a bit by being parents!!





One of the activities the woman of Hope (our church community) does is tell the feeling of our hearts at our weekly gatherings. My friend, Chelsa, uses the word SASHET, and each letter stands for a feeling(sad, angry, sacred, happy, excited, and tender). That is a beginning point, but we can use any word to describe where our heart is at that point. It has been very helpful for us to gain insight as to where we each are. Earlier in the week I told her my heart was feeling very dependent on God and today, as we gathered for our Friday lunch at the building, I felt relaxed in the Lord (even though my circumstances aren't all at peace). That is what I told God as I walked today, even though I made a mistake, I will confess and move on. My heart is still going to be relaxed!! Try this with some of your friends, it has been quite helpful and fun!!

Wow, what have I been doing the last month?? I'm convinced that my trips to Lima, are truly a work out. My body isn't what it used to be and I want to take it all in with the grandchildren, well, with our girls and their guys too!! I think I wouldn't be lying if I said, I have been recouping on many levels.

A new year brings excitement that we actually can have every day, a new start on things, a new outlook, changes if we would like. One of the things I decided I wanted to experienc in 2010 is biographies. So I am on my second one, Flying Without Wings, Personal reflections on being disabled, Arnold R.Beisser.

Wedding planning is going great. Fairly low key, and enjoyable. Hopefully, I will get to drive to College Station tomorrow for the ladies, Red Dress Tea!! No ice, please Lord as I leave town.

We have run into several families moving to Abilene that we knew from College Station and there have been a few AFCers show up at Hope (our congregation) on Sunday nights. I realize people give me energy, I love to meet new people and enjoy relationships from the past. Thank you, God, for friendship and for the purpose you put together for community!!

Another thing I have enjoyed in this new year is my Thurs. noon Bible Study. I will leave you with some thoughts from this study, One in a Million.

Exodus 13:17-18, 21-22
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

In this season God continuously reminds me, I love my people and I will do what is best for them. Trust Me!!

Rich Times!!

On the tails of our Nashville trip we drove home, washed clothes and both worked a few days. Then we headed to Dallas and spent the night with John and Charlene Wallace. They are long-time friends from Bryan/College Station and are parents of missionaries and understand all that our hearts are engaging in. We left our car there and they drove us to the airport. What a blessing. It was very cold and drizzling when we left Dallas.

We flew into DC and Hannah and Jason were ready to treat us to a metro ride. Jason's apt. is directly above a metro station and that was wonderful. We enjoyed an Amtrak trip over to Baltimore and saw lots of snow. At 4:20am Christmas morning we took a hotel shuttle to the airport and off we flew to Miami. During many hours of layover in Miami, we did all kinds of things to keep the cost down, flying from Baltimore was one of them. During our layover we slept, played cards, acted silly in the airport, and ate Chinese food for breakfast. Lots of fun and lots of tired moments. We arrived in Lima much later than expected because our Miami flight kept getting pushed back. (We did get 3,000 pts. from American Airlines for the delay) We got in bed around 3:00am, Dec. 26th. The next days were full of laughing, playing, cooking, eating, and just plain old family time. The six adults enjoyed a great conversation stemming from the two books, For Women Only and For Men Only, by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn. Great reads!!

Our only regret (other than more time with the kids and grandkids) is that we did not get to visit with the whole Lima Team. Time was just too short. We did enjoy an evening of talking with Mark Clancy. Daniel and Jason got to have a morning of prayer with the guys and Jason enjoyed some soccer on Monday night with the group. We tried to take it all in!! God is gracious to us always!!


Hannah, Jason, Daniel and I headed back to DC and enjoyed some time at the Smithsonian and the Korean, WWII, and Lincoln Memorial on New Year's Eve. We found a neat bakery and a used book store before the night was gone. Hannah and Jason had dinner out and celebrated the coming new year on the rooftop of Jason's apt. Daniel and I stayed in and watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ~~~ think we are getting really old. Jason was the perfect guide on the metro!!
All together we had 6 flights, 2 Amtrak rides, walked, rode the metro several times, drove in Lima taxis, and a hotel shuttle bus....we are learning to travel. And I guess with Hannah moving to DC in May after her marriage to Jason all of these skills will do us well both in Lima and DC!!




We have left our Lima kids in Lima and dropped off Jason in DC, Hannah has flown back to Tulsa for her last semester and we are settling back into Abilene!! Our hearts are full of memories!!

Gaylord Opryland in Nashville

Daniel and I took off last Wed. evening for our trip to Nashville. Daniel was attending his annual Southern Assoc. of Colleges and Employers conference. Our first stop was at the Grimaldo's home. Wow!! I wish I had a picture of those girls, they have grown into fine young ladies. They were so easy to catch up with with all of their activities having moved to Kellar recently. We enjoyed a great meal cooked by Lisa, and Jose was the perfect host. Could not have asked for a better night!!

We drove out the next morning very early and it took us 12 hours to get to Nashville. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is 59 acres of resort under one roof. The Christmas season was bursting from the seams in every corner. There are four sections to the hotel and you have a main "street" that you stay on as you walk through each. As you get off the main "street" there are many Christmas trees, water falls, poinsettias, a boat ride like the San Antonio river walk, many places to sit and eat or drink some coffee. There are performers to your left and right (singing and dancing), a huge fireplace in the section we stayed in and so many paths off the main street you get lost. Out in front of the hotel was a huge nativity scene, complete with Luke 2 being read over loud speakers. Check out the pictures, hard to describe all that this hotel presented to our eyes!! We were most thankful for a company that spoke the Word of the Lord so boldly through the scriptures. Hard to take it all in!!! I did leave the hotel a few times and did get lost, but always seemed to find my way back to home base. Daniel had MANY long hours of meetings, but we were able to have dinner a couple of times together in the hotel.








We were able to have dinner with our long time friends, Mark and Amy Phillips. What JOY, we laughed and talked for a couple of hours.



On Sunday morning we headed over to Shelbyville, TN, to have a time of great loving on and fellowship with the Fairlane church of Christ. This congregation supports Alison, Justin, Cailyn and Corban while they are in Lima. You are not going to find a more loving, caring group than these folks. There were so many we spoke to and they really love our kids. It was an humbling time and also a time of God's graciousness shown to us. Thank you, Lord Jesus!!

On the left is Patti and Geoff Geisman, the preacher and his wife, and then Pat and Juan, the Spanish congregation preacher and wife. On the right is Buddy and Mary Ellen Koonce, their grand daughters and son, Doug, at the end of the table. Buddy and Doug came to the weekend retreat held for the Lima team, families, and supporters at the A&M church before they moved overseas.

We left Nashville on Wed. morning and got home about 11:00pm last night, after 15 hours on the road. We did stopp for an hour to get out of the car and eat dinner in Mt. Pleasant. Great trip, but our beds felt SO WONDERFUL last night!! We are here until early Fri. morning and then we head to College Station to visit a few friends and on to Jaime and Elizabeth's Wedding in Houston. We will, Lord willing, see my brother, Mitchell and his family, Alisa, Storie and Lindsey and then travel through Bastrop to see Daniel's parents on our trip back home!! What a worldwind trip, but we love to see family and don't get down to Houston or Bastrop as often as we would like.