Hafa Adai!!

I am writing this post in Guam!!!! Yes, we are finally here and we are currently living in a hotel. This hotel is lots and lots of fun....

First of all, I like the maid service. I could personally live here the whole time we are here but of course it would be way out of the budget....

So I am enjoying the time that we are here now! There are lots of activities for the kids to do here...waterslides, a splash pool, a kiddie pool, kayaking, a kids club....which makes it hard to do schoolwork!! The weather is so nice here...in the 80's and mostly sunny. It rained a few times while we were here, but not for long.

We went to a church this past Sunday and enjoyed the praise and worship and the message....of course it wasn't like Manna and we miss Manna so much! I don't know if we will find a church quite like that out here. I am praying that the Lord will lead us to the right church...even if it doesn't seem like the right one to us.

The girls have been making "friends" while staying here at the resort. I put that in quotes because some of these friends do not speak English and so it is hard to communicate with them...but somehow just playing with them and swimming with them is enough to be a playmate!

Many of the people here, especially in this area where we are staying speak Japanese, Korean, or Chamoru. We have been learning a few simple phrases in these different languages.

The girls are going to AWANA at a Baptist church here. They of course like it a lot and the people there are very friendly. They have a service there for adults and a nursery for the little ones.

I am enjoying all that God has blessed us with while we are here...I haven't cooked in a while and haven't had to clean up very much as the maids do a wonderful job of coming to the room almost everyday...
We are still house hunting and will hopefully find a place soon. In the meantime, I am enjoying this place so much and trying to get myself ready for the "real" world soon!

Well just wanted to stop here and say Hafa Adai (hello in Chamoru) and Adios for now. I will update again as the Lord leads....much love and prayers to you all!

the view from our hotel, 18th floor:

another view of Guam from the shoreline:

swimming in the kiddie pool at the resort:

update

Hello to you blogger friends!!!

Well it has been quite a while since my last update. We are in Ohio right now and will be leaving for Guam on Friday. We are busy packing suitcases and getting ready for the long flight. Hope to update this blog once we get there....we will be staying in a hotel for a while until housing becomes available on the Navy or Air Force base.

We are looking forward to going to Guam. We feel like missionaries ready to do God's will wherever He takes us.

Much love to you all!!! Please continue to pray for us....you are in our prayers!!!

So thankful for Jesus!!

moving on and moving forward....

Already it is the end of October, and....it is moving time!!!

The movers will be here Monday to pack up our stuff. This will be the first time we have movers coming to pack and load our stuff as we have done it ourselves for all our other moves. I am really looking forward to that....

So as we are in transition I hope to keep updated on this blog and facebook of what we are doing and where we are at and what God has in store for us. It is hard to say goodbye to all the friends we have made here. I am meeting so many more gals now with girls my oldest girls ages and so it has been hard not being able to really form a relationship with them.....
but...I know all too well that I must move on and move forward into the next journey in this life, knowing that our great God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans for a hope and a future.....

And so, before I go, I wanted to include some pics of the girls and the lil' guy cleaning out or playing around with their pumpkins we got on Friday at a local farm:

My birthday girls!!!

Well I wanted to make this post about my two September birthday girls. Yes, we celebrated a decade old girl and an eight year old and now I am starting to understand this whole concept of time flying by.....cannot believe my two oldest babies are 10 and 8. Yet I can believe it because I have been with them each day just about watching them grow and change into beautiful girls of God, sometimes not realizing and understanding what a blessing it is to be in each of their days. Some days got either a little overwhelming or we busied ourselves with too much activity or I just didn't stop enough to enjoy being with them in that day. I can't paint a picture of perfection here people, because of course life has not been perfect.... yet they have taught me so much and so I feel I have to post about it now before another ten years passes by....

-my oldest daughter excepted Christ before I did and she has taught me Christ-like faith. That I can come to Him in any situation and that I can believe that He is real, that He answers prayer, that He will help with big things like blessing us with a trip to Disney World or little things like dessert every night after dinner or for mommy to never pack any more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, ever again....
her prayers for a brother have been answered too and we can't even imagine having a better, more enjoyable, more dirty and stinky! lil' dude in our house than him.

-both the girls are of course different and opposite in usual and unusual ways. They are also different than mommy. Sometimes mommy has to pray really hard and ask God to allow me to embrace these differences and use these differences to glorify Him or as a training experience for our family. The girls both like to talk, K likes to ask questions and figure things out while she is probing for answers. Z likes to just talk and talk....K likes to play outside, read, and play educational games on the computer. Z likes to play inside, read, and play entertaining games on the computer. They both share a room and that has been challenging in that one is more organized than the other, one likes the door open, one likes the door closed, one likes the fan on, one likes the fan off (most of the time...unless her sister was nice to her that day, then she likes it on), one likes the overhead light on, one likes the lamps on....you get the point (I remember sharing a room too and the challenge of opposition...) It's these kinds of life situations that I think really teaches them the concept of what the word of God says, "...treat others better than you would want to be treated." And, "love one another as I have loved you." It is training me to instill these kinds of character building traits in them and in me....

-my girls have taught me how to be more patient, kind, and loving. I want a good relationship with my children and I know the Lord put them in my life to help me to not focus so much on myself...but to truly look to Him for Strength and Wisdom and Knowledge in training them up in the way they should go...in His Word and His Ways.
I can't give myself any glory or any praise in how beautiful they are becoming. Because it is not me doing it but the Holy Spirit who is working in my life and theirs to draw us to the Truth and to the will of the Father who has a purpose for each of us and for our family.

May the Lord God continue to bless and protect my daughters as they continue to grow....and may each day draw them closer to Him. I know I can only do so much as a parent. I want to continue to allow the Holy Spirit to fully operate in my life so that I can be all that God has called me to be as a mother. I consider it a priviledge to be able to have these blessed children in my life and I hope that we can make many more memories together, that we can continue to work together, as we strive to do God's will in every area of our lives.

Much love to my daughters and sistas in Christ.....

My man is coming home!

My man's plane comes in very, very early tomorrow morning. We are all looking forward to seeing him after a year-long deployment. I must get a couple hours of sleep before his plane arrives so I gotta go....thank you for all your prayers and support throughout the year. We are praising the Lord for his protection and provision for our family during this separation time. Much love to you all!!!

The Truth shall set you free!!!!

Hello again to you all!!

Well it is already August and this month brings my man home, so we are looking forward to him coming at the end of the month.

We have been getting ready for our move. The kids are at Summer Camp this week and next week. So I am getting some time to go through all our stuff and getting rid of things we haven't used or don't need any more.

I was looking through some of our baby boy clothes and just thinking of our lil' boy and how much he has grown. He will be running in daddy's arms when he gets home. When my man left he was six weeks old and not even rolling yet or sitting up. I can't wait for him to see how all the kids have grown and to spend time with us as much as he can before we move....

In other news I have been able to talk with my neighbors about the Lord. A friend of mine is currently staying with us this week and we go to our neighbors houses and visit them and talk about the Lord whenever we feel the Holy Spirit move us to speak. We have been able to plant seeds of the truth and even pray with them.

Just the other day I was at CiCi's Pizza and I felt lead to speak to a manager about the Lord. I told him Jesus loves him and then asked if he had a relationship with him. He began to tell me about how he reads the Koran and he believes the Bible was written by a man. He also said that God was female and referred to her as mother earth....on and on he went about the lies he trully believed in his heart. I shared the Gospel with him and told him I would pray for him. I was once an unbeliever and so I know that Satan has fed me lies along these lines and I believed them. So I will continue to pray for him knowing and believing that he can and will come to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. After witnessing to people like that, my faith deepens and the Bible becomes much more real. It says in the Word that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers and he tries so hard to keep people away from the truth. That is why it is so important as Christ-followers to speak the truth to others. I am afraid sometime to speak about Jesus. Sometimes when I mention His name people roll their eyes or get offensive. But then I know when they do that, His name has so much power because of what He has done on the cross! Our sinful nature does not naturally want to praise and glorify God through Jesus Christ....it's hard to change and it's hard to think of ourselves as sinners. But praise be to God for the Holy Spirit to convict us and to lead us and guide us in the truth. I would not be where I am without the Holy Spirit working in my life.

So I say all this to say that I am praying everyday for the opportunity to witness to others. I am not an evangelist, nor is it a gift of mine to speak in front of others. But if the Holy Spirit moves me than I pray that I am obedient to opening up and sharing the Gospel message. Jesus has called us to do it. I do not want to see anyone going to hell and so I will live each day as if it were my last speaking and praying and believing that God will put people in my path to witness to in hopes of them coming to a saving knowledge of our Creator.

Here's to the truth and sharing the truth with others!!!

Update

Hello to my fellow bloggy friend(s)!!!

It has been one busy month and I am so thankful I have a little bit of time here to catch you all up on what we've been doing.

We got back yesterday from going to Columbus, GA for a wedding. It was good to see friends and sistas and brothas in Christ that I haven't seen for a while. We prayed, talked, laughed, ate, and just had a good time together. During the reception Sat. night my little mischievous princess 3 yr. old was running around with a wooden stick in her mouth and fell and cut the roof of her mouth open.....I will spare all the details and just say after lots of blood coming out on her dress and my shirt and then a trip to the ER...we were all better....Anaya says she will never run with a stick in her mouth again and I hope she remembers that and what happens when we don't obey mommy! Thank God it didn't get stuck in her mouth or in her nose or worse....the Lord was really watching over her....

In other news.....we are doing a Summer Camp at our house. A really sweet sister in Christ is sharing her gifts and talents and her two teenage daughters and they are teaching Spanish, Art, Music, and Dance to children in our neighborhood and from their church. We are doing it for two weeks starting this week and then into next week. The kids are having so much fun and I am really enjoying hosting this and getting to know this sweet Christ-centered family. They are also teaching the kids what a Biblical Worldview is and how to defend your faith. Just really useful stuff for the kids to learn and to develop their faith and trust in our great God....

And speaking of OUR GREAT GOD....He is so awesome.....because:
-He has given me revelation of how real and powerful the sinful nature is in us (me and my children) and how to work with my children to overcome the power of sin.
-He has given me scripture to say and pray over my children. Obedience has been a big issue with my sweet, princess 3 yr. old (yes, the same one that ended up in the ER with mommy during a wedding...) I see her eyes change whenever she is deliberately disobeying me and after I correct/spank her, her eyes just shine so bright...it's like she was askin' for a spankin so she can get right with me and the Lord and have peace for her soul....
-He's protected me from getting into a car accident that could have been serious and He has gotten me into and out of places that should have taken a long time but didn't...like car repair shops and doctors appointments....He has put His favor upon me....
-He gives me peace, rest, security and strength all the time even in the midst of chaos and commotion.......as long as I am surrendered to Him!

Praise the Lord....You are my everything!!!!

I want to write more about the Bible study we are doing every other Friday at my home...such sweet sistas in the Lord talking about Our Lord and Savior....

bye for now...dont' be a stranger...ya hear!