The Lake House

While that is one of my favorite movies, this has nothing to do with a mailbox and displaced meant-to-be couples.

We are in Astatula, Florida, right near Lake Harris and the pictures to follow are from a home on this lake. It was a God orchestrated meeting as Carol usually doesn't attend Astatula Baptist , only sometimes on Sunday night because her husband's church of choice does not have a Sunday pm service. Well she came the Sunday we were presenting our ministry, and we were delighted to meet her. 

The next day in Wal Mart... several miles away from the church, (Astatula has no where to shop. I mean no where! I paid $5.98 for a gallon of milk to avoid a 9 mile one way drive!) Micah recognizes her from church, and says hello. She eventually placed us as "the missionary family from the Baptist church", and we had several more meeting points in the store! 

When we left we discovered we parked right next to her, and she had checked out at the same time as well, and delivered two boxes of pop-tarts to us before driving away! So sweet! And she was pretty special too! :) (did anyone catch that?! I have been married to Dan quite a while...!) 

Anyhow, she called us the next morning and invited us to come to her home to swim in the community pool, and we were more than glad to take her up on the offer. It is hot here!!  When we arrived, she said her husband wants to take us out on his boat!! All right! We absentmindedly didn't bring our cameras, but know it was a nature ride of Central Florida to rival a paid charter!! We saw several types of birds, all of which Carol was an expert thanks to her fathers tutelage since she was a little girl. We saw dozens of alligators, ranging in size from recently hatched to well over 6 feet long! Also turtles and multiple species of insects! 

 We arrived back at their beautiful home and the kids had a great time picking grapefruits, oranges, lemons and key limes off of their trees!! The oranges were just past their prime, but they still provided plenty of entertainment as they batted them into the lake!

 Their garden is beautiful, and Jim takes wonderful care of it... although I am no judge to be sure. Florida foliage is so foreign to me! I knew this was a bird of paradise though! It was beautiful! 

This is the back of their house, and Siah is in the right window with Mrs. Carol- I am sure hearing much of the history of the area! She is quite the expert! 

The front door and entry 

 Jim is a skilled and talented stained glass artist! He started because Carol LOVED kaleidoscopes, and was breaking the bank to buy them all the time! Jim took a class and began to make her all the ones she wanted! I should have taken pictures of them because they were beautiful, and my mom would have appreciated them... she loves them too!

A window in their dining room

 He has made windows for neighbors, the community club house, and family and friends. They are so beautiful!

Embroidered Ostrich egg

Carol's mother was quite the talent as well, and embroidered this ostrich egg! It was incredible! Completely in tact, and dozens of stitches all over it. Amazing!

 She had a few framed shell pieces like this one. Her mother loved all the lacy and delicate shells, and arranged them in this frame. I so wish I had photographic skills! This does no justice to these things!

It was such an unexpected and lovely day! The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves, which is pretty cool because Jim and Carol are nearing their 80's!! I am so glad they (our kids AND Jim & Carol!) don't let age separate them from new friends!!

Being Led...

As we are finishing up a missions conference today, I was asked to teach the 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class. I was thrilled to do it, because hey... it is better than the pre school class!! Anyone who knows me knows I barely liked my own children before they were 6.... anyhow!

I got to the class wondering how many would be there with the time change and all. Spring Forward= lose 1 hour of sleep! I went to bed early just to make sure I would be alert. (also anyone who knows me knows that me + mornings = conflict!)

We met in the back corner of the old sanctuary... along with the duct work of the AC unit. It was scary cozy. I really gave any kid props that would come week after week there! No really, it was not bad at all. But we were wall to wall with only 6 people!

I wondered what pearls of wisdom I could expound to these young leaders of tomorrow, and I began to try to remember what and where I was at that age. About 10, 11 years old. Gangly. Unsure. Stringy hair. OK, this is 35 years (!!!) later- surely the kids are different now.

Nope.

Anyhow, back to today... I had a nice lesson planned in my head. Talk about Zambia, show some Zambian stuff- money, grass bowl, carved pen, and then teach a little bit out of the Bible. I picked a small topic. How to know the Will of God for your life. You know, light kid stuff.

As I finished the Africa segment, I was led to Psalms 62... how our expectation is from God, and not people. That was a life changer for me when I really grasped that, and if these kids can get it now... they're way ahead of the game, let me tell you!

Then I went into 4 ways to know how to make a decision and know it is the will of God. This is NOT an original thought for me. Totally pirated from a message preached by one of my faves, Dr. David Gibbs Jr.

After I divulged all the wisdom I could, 9about 3 minutes...!) the Lord led me straight down the path to talk about when one is unwillingly subjected to another's will, and it clearly violates the Lord's will, as in an abusing situation.

Been there before, but how much to tell? Certainly not too much in mixed company, but why did the Lord lead me to open this up in the first place!!?! Believe me when I tell you though this is something I have shared before, it is usually one on one, and certainly not with a room of strangers. Well, I didn't go into any personal details, but suffice it to say there was a young girl who clearly was able to fill in with personal experience. She squirmed, intermittently covered her eyes, and was clearly having a moment right there in the middle of the cozy classroom with the duct work and dust balls.

Wow. We all know or have heard statistics that break our heart and blow our mind, but do I realize every day I meet people who are struggling with abuse on the levels of criminal?

It is something that I know the Lord can bring a person through, and on the other side one can be whole. Really WHoLe... and not faking it or coping.

But in the midst of it... whew.

Pray for "K" with me. She is a fellow bus kid... just like I was. Maybe that is why I am so burdened. I don't know, but today I can't get her off my head and heart.

I really enjoyed teaching, and I pray the Lord was glorified. Today I handed our some spiritual tools, and I hope they will be used by those kids. Especially "K".

Instagram 03-03-2012

Savannah age 9... 

Perfect end to the "end of the decade" Birthday

In warm DeLand, FL finishing up the day's celebration with a college baseball game! Go Stetson Hatters! 

A special name plaque :)

The birthday girl picked out a special gift at the local flea market here in Daytona. This will fit perfectly in her bunk in the camper. That is a tall order as not many things will!! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!! 

For once we were the "relief"...

It is quite common for us to need rescue on the roadways. (That is surely an understatement!!!) 
We just left a wonderful conference at Lighthouse Baptist in Port Charlotte where we were able to share some time with the Andersons. We left today to drop our trailer in Tampa,  and then continue our journey over to the East coast via rt. 4, and the Andersons happened to be slightly ahead of us....Broken down on the shoulder of the highway with a transmission problem. While we weren't any help in getting the van fixed, we were able to give them a mobile lunch! Thankfully they have vehicle relief on the way!! 
Keep them in prayer as their van will obviously be in the shop! 
"I'm so glad I am a part of the family of God"! 

Some thing that had never happened before...

Well now we can't say that!

Sunday night we drove nearly 2 hours to get to a meeting in southern Mississippi. We are northerners, and so needless to say we do not know this area. At all. We have been here many times for weeks at a time, but suffice it to say, we still don't KNOW the area.

We had a meeting at Pineview Baptist Church. And we showed up at Pineview Baptist Church... but in Laurel... Not in Lucedale. You can see the ease with which the mistake was made.

We arrived a little early in order to set up our display and meet the pastor. Dan found him and stepped into his office. The pastor was kind, and asked what could he do for us, and Dan said we were the missionaries he had scheduled to present the ministry. Obviously the pastor looked a little puzzled, and when everyone was on the same page we realized we were in the wrong church and the wrong town!

 Well our honest mistakes are really just God's appointments that we weren't aware of! The preacher was such a gracious man and he gave Dan the whole service to tell his people about our mission and call. it was a great evening and the people were glad for our mistake! They said they would like to get us back when we were all expecting it! :) 

Dan then talked with the pastor from the church we were expected at. All kinds of things could have happened there! As only the Lord can do... he had a message that was only able to be half completed in the morning service, and this allowed him to finish it that evening! Whew! 

In honor of that event a friend sent us an email. I laughed out loud, and thought it is appropriate to attach it here. Enjoy! 

"As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. 

Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside serviceFor a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to beAt a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back country. 

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical Male, I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. 

And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together.  

When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. 

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years." 

Apparently I'm still lost. It's a man thing."