A Different Kind of Blog

Hope this peaks some interest! Jeff and I have started a new blog. No, we're not replacing this one. This new blog is intended as a launching pad for an up and coming ministry God has given us a vision for. I won't rewrite everything that is already on there, but I will ask you to please check it out. Look for it at t2mentoring.blogspot.com We are very excited about what God is showing us and leading us to do. Please join us in this new endeavor by keeping up with it and commenting. We're looking forward to blogging with you in both places! See you there!

New School Year, New School

For some reason, I have completely gotten out of the habit of blogging...I think I will blame facebook. ;)

So much has gone on over the summer, I won't try to catch up. I think that, instead, I will just start new. That has what this summer has been about anyway: Starting anew in an old place. Its been a wonderful summer with a wonderful return to our old home, our old friends, and our old church! However, we are not returning to my 'old school' Nope, on Thursday I sent my two oldest children off to attend school at my old rival school. I've made jokes about it, but i never realized that it would really feel so strange taking them to Prairie Grove for open house. As we neared the football field, I was sure one of my former coaches was going to jump out and ask what in the world I was doing. Although, one of them is now the high school principal. I think he would at least approve of my change. My husband was blessed with a wonderful opportunity and. given the choice, I would have picked Prairie Grove. It is a wonderful school! I'm so excited for this year. The kids are very happy about their teachers as well.

Edana Rois, 7 years old, started the 2nd grade! I knew she'd be fine when we walked in her teachers room and it was decorated in zebra strips and she had pictures of her animals around the room. Declan. 3yrs old, is going to Growing God's Kingdom. This has to be one of the best preschools ever. Definitely the best in NWA!

Jeff's first day too! I am hoping he will blog about his new job and classroom soon. He is super excited about his great coworkers and the team atmosphere he has experienced in PG.

Last, but most definitely not least...Aidan Jeffrey, 5 yrs, started Kindergarten!! Doesn't seem like he should be that old, but I'm sure that is how all of the other parents were feeling as well. His teacher seemed just right for him. I'm praying he does wonderful and learns quickly. (I'm pretty confident that he will.) He has already decided to be a tiger through and through...mostly because his favorite color is yellow. He did experience a little culture shock though. Thursday night at dinner he told us with great astonishment, "do you know, there are no Hispanic kids in my class." "really?" I asked, not really surprised. "was everyone white?" "yes!" he said with an expression that could only be describe as flabbergasted. Then Edana chimed in to say, "my class looked like when they used to send people with different skin colors to different schools." Prairie Grove lacks a little in the diversity area...however, we just have to go up the road a ways and Fayetteville has more diversity in a few blocks than most of the whole state has. Thankfully our church has a little diversity (mostly Hispanic) to share. I'd hate my kids to grow up without any. I want them to feel that its just normal for all races and walks of life to be able to come together and worship as one. That is, after all, how God intended it, and heaven will be that way!

Overall, the transition has gone very smooth. We are so blessed. God opened this door and has supplied all of the needs along the way. We do miss the church family in Warren. We had a wonderful group of teens that we were blessed to lead for a short time. We will be sure to make special trips to see everyone. Jeff's hoping that will be in the fall, so that he combine a little hunting with said trip. haha. Maybe we'll be able to pull that off, but one thing is certain, we'll be heading south before too long. I love that with each new venture God presents us, our spiritual family grows!

A little piece of my heart

As I checked my facebook this morning I noticed a linked that Dane Hall and posted. It was about Haiti and Convoy of Hope, so I had to take a look. It was a great article. I was peirced with the imagery of his words. The final sentence states, "After all, the street is no place for a little princess with a broken leg." How frightening to think of. Thank goodness, she has a father determined to keep them alive and safe. Then my mind began to wander. What if that was one of my little princesses? As seems to be the path my mind takes most often lately, I began to think of all the little princesses right here in our own country that will spend the night on the streets. Sadly, many of them don't have a father to look out for them, or a family to cling to in the cold night. Sadly, many of them don't know where they will get their next meal, or if they will be abused before the day is over. Their stories are horrific, yet we forget they exist. Why? Because we have learned in life, that homeless people are nasty old men who are either druggies or alcoholics. The truth is, there is a large number of women, broke, unemployed, under educated, alone, and desperate with childern that they can't care for. The truth is, they are in your own hometown. Yes, I'd imagine that even Hermitage, AR has some. Maybe in a small town they are more likely to have someone take them in, but they are still without a home of their own. As you can tell, my heart is very burdened on this subject. I'm not sure what God is wanting to show me or how he is wanting to use me, but I know He is messing with my schema again. No, we're not planning to pack up anytime soon...unless God tells us to do so. ;) In the future, however, I think He will be sending us somewhere to work with these kind of people. For the present, I think he is wanting us to work with the ones right here in Bradley County. "How?" is my only question. As I pray for a vision for the place God has put me, I ask a favor of my readers. Please, let God open your eyes to the needs in your own community, and then, ask him for a vision of your own. Maybe you are blessed with an income that allows you to give or an education that allows you to help or a heart of compassion that allows you to love the unloveable. (read Romans 12:4-9) Whatever the case, He needs you to be useable and He created you to be useable as well.