Wow, what a day!

Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy of your righteousness. Psalm 145:6-7

Well it is late but so much has happened I need to write it down so I never forget ALL that God has done today. It amazes me how much He loves us and cares for us.

The last couple of weeks have been full of spiritual attacks,and today God showed Himself in a MIGHTY way. This morning I was remembering what this verse and standing strong on the Word of God!

One scripture that came to mind was ... Ephesians 6:10-12; A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

We have been getting ready for this garage sale all month and several people have been so kind to donate items for us to sale. It has been such a blessing. Looking at the calendar for the next several months this was the only weekend that was a payday weekend that we knew we had available (before soccer starts) to do this sale. On Tuesday I went to the American Classified (Thrifty Nickel) to place our ad. Everything was going good.

I took off work Thursday and Friday for the garage sale. On Thursday our van had a indicator light come on, our mechanic thinks it should be somewhat easy to take of. We will deal with that on Monday. At 9:00 Thursday night I finally had time to check the Thrifty Nickel and make sure our ad was in it. Well it was NOT there. I couldn't believe it. It was the only place we advertised in and living where we do you HAVE to advertise. There is no "drive by" traffic only those who live out here. Long story short I was very frustrated. I was able to get a hold of someone at the Standard Times and place an ad for Saturday but that didn't help get the word out for Friday. Mark spent some time with me praying and encouraging me.

We got up this morning and got the kids ready for school and set things out to have a garage sale. I made 2 signs and Mark put them out on his way to take the kids to school and go to work. I had 3 people stop by before 9:00 and then I had about 30 to 45 minutes with no one there. Brian brought over a few more things for us to sell and had suggested the church send an email out since this was for our move to Africa. I couldn't believe that. He called a little later to let me know they were for sure going to do the email. From 9:30 on I had a steady flow of people until I stopped at 2:30.

I have to share with you SOME of the things that happened today ...

This morning I checked my Facebook before the sale and one friend had written me a sweet and encouraging note.

A friend of mine from church and her mom came by mid morning to shop and just encourage me. I am so thankful God has placed her in my life.

One girl came by (I had never met her before, she just saw the sign down the street) and looked and asked if she could set some items aside and go get some cash. I told her that was fine as long as she cam back today. Before she left she asked if she could give me some things to sale in the garage sale tomorrow. I told her that would be great. Well she came this evening and paid (telling me to keep the change) and then she gave me two huge black trash bags full of nice clothes, shoes, belts and purses. She even gave me a box of hangers.

When I was cleaning up I had 1 table still out and an older lady drove by and stopped in the street and rolled down her window. She asked me if I had any furniture, I told her what I had. Then she spotted a plastic pot in my garage under some tables and asked me how much they were. I went to look and carried them out to show her. She bought two and handed me the money through the window and then popped her trunk so I could put them in. She never even got out of her car. It was so funny to me that I was selling things even as people just drove by and didn't even get out of their car!

When I picked the kids up from school one of Brit's friends asked if we needed help. She offered to come and help us in the morning. We had her come stay the night with us tonight and willing to wake up early and help.

So many more things happened today. God certainly had His hand on this sale and we want to give all honor and glory to HIM and HIM alone! I can't wait to see what He has in store for us tomorrow.

We did sell a few things last week to some neighbors and made $78. Today with no ad in the paper and living on the 2nd last street in PaulAnn, we made $733 giving us a total so far of $809.


If you are still reading thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can't wait to report what the Lord does tomorrow. It is after 11:00 I better get some rest.

Update ... It is 12:19 am and I just checked our email to find a sweet and encouraging email from a lady we go to church with that said she is praying for us and will financially support us. God continues to amaze us!!!

We leave 5 months from today!

Sorry it has been so long since our last update. We have been busy going through the house and preparing for a 2 day garage sale next weekend. It feels so good to get rid of STUFF. I can't believe how much we have accumulated in the 12 1/2 years we have lived in this house.

We are still working on the VISAs. They say the turn around is about 5 days, so we have a little time to finish the details. We have so many things that have to accompany the VISA application. We already have our TB tests and medical exams finished. We are all in good health. Praise the Lord. We also have our passport pictures that are needed for the VISAs. Just a few more details to be taken care of and then we will send them off.

We are also very excited about an opportunity to speak at another church here in town in April and share with them what God is doing in our lives as well as Samaria Mission.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We are asking for you to continue to pray for our family.

Here are a FEW of the many praises ...
- our health
- the support that has been coming in

Here are a few of the specific requests ...
- for our family to remain healthy during the next few months
- for our support to continue to come together
- for all the last minute details to come together for our VISAs
- for us as we prepare to speak at another church in April

Airline Tickets have been purchased!

Psalm 33:4 ... For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

It has been a while since we updated and we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are busy getting things ready for our move to Africa. Today we purchased our airline tickets and we are scheduled to fly out of San Angelo on June 22, 2009. Praise God for providing the money needed for this.

We are busy going through things and we are going to have a 2 day garage sale in a few weeks. We are also busy finalizing our VISA forms. Soon we will be finishing a few things around the house and putting our house on the market. So much to do and we are completely trusting God in this journey.

Philippians 1:6 ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We want to thank you for your continued prayers, financial support and encouragement you have shown our family. Feel free to leave comments by clicking on the word "comment" under this post. We would love to hear from you. For specific prayer requests we have concerning our journey to Africa, check out our website by clicking on "homepage" on the right side under our picture. Have a great day!