Our Hearts Desire

So thankful that the Lord is granting the desires of our hearts. We have prayed over the 2 zipcodes were we both work with a real desire to truly see light shine here. We have waited. We have wondered.... and then last week happened....

Last week God opened our hearts to help and opened doors to pave the way for the Light to shine... Gene was having meetings and with a fun Christmas Carol theme, we thought it would be a great way to reach out to our communities... despite the large mile gap in locations from Hall to PGM and my work...
PGM was able to provide vehicles so Matt could transport guys to meetings. Then I was able to reach out to a couple special families to treat them to a supper out ( Thanks Mom!), and to join in one of my fave childhood traditions of Christmas light looking, before meeting. (The kiddos had never done that before, and it is something I ADORE doing with our own famjam, and was THRILLED to share this with them)
And PGM is able to provide food to my classroom, so in I walked today with 3 large boxes stuffed with frozen meats, dried goods, canned goods, junk food, you name it- it's here and the blessing of PGM's generosity will shine the Light in 27 families. It's not Christmas dinner at all- but its a nice bag of snacks and food for a decent free supper :)
The biggest blessing was an answer to prayer about reaching my Principal. He is amazing. He is a visionary. He has poured his heart into this community, and Matt & I truly have been blessed by his positive leadership. Because he loves this school he literally never leaves it.... except for basketball... So.... The Bulls called PGM Thursday, offering 4 front row seats, valued at $260 a pop! Matt's boss and wife were to attend, and Matt and I were to attend, but I knew that an 830pm game was so crazy late for this old lady, and that even for Harrison it would be too late, and I wanted Hannah at the meetings, soooo Matt offered the ticket to Dr Shabazz. Boom. He accepted. He wasn't able to attend church in a building, but he got church at the Bulls game. Pastor Green ( Matt's boss) and he hit it off, and the conversation about gospel preaching  & the blood of Jesus came up apparently... yes... even at a Bulls game... at 11pm at night... gospel bells rang... and so we pray that the Holy Spirit's power will work.... Prayers appreciated...

So  thankful that we were blessed with free tickets to go up north to see the Bethlehem Tower musical. You know that Third Day song, it feels like I'm born again? Yeah- watching the reenactment of the Lord's birth til the ascension, it felt like Salvation's day again...so beautiful...

So here we sit.. Mid day Monday... after the news that our dear friend Betty went Home ( totally let my brain go crazy with the idea that angels announced her welcome into Heaven, and as Jesus hugged her, she could peek over His shoulder and see my dad there, and they both smiled to be Home :):):))...   after a family weekend of recovering from a full week last week, wondering when our coughs and runny noses will ever go away ....enjoying the pretty white stuff on the ground and excited with the joy from knowing we are doing what God has laid on our hearts... even if it seems crazy to others... I hope you are doing what God has laid on your hearts, as scary or outta the box it may be... if God has called you to do it, He will help you through it, in EVERY single detail. Every. Single. One.

Photo Dump : 

How Saturday morning got started. 

  Thankful that my mom bought our kiddos boots, and was kind enough to give them to them early so they could enjoy the snow storm the next day!!

 Making the trek to see Bethlehem Tower

 parts of the show ... from the story telling, to the amazing actors and singers, to flying angels and real animals... the 90 minutes flew by and want to go again!!
( Here is the church's link : http://qrbbc.org/home.html)

After the show ... ready for the predicted snow to start falling!!!

 Hooray for snow! Hooray for new boots just in time! Hooray for my mom storing every piece of our winter gear for years! It was like shopping for free in stuff we forgot about, as last year we had a snow-less ( for the most part if we remembered right) Winter!

 Haha love that action shot- totally about to fall off that sled!

Ohhh (below picture) was SUCH a fun time!!! Matt got some rope and attached the sled to the 4 wheeler... and hooray for amazing neighbors that didn't complain ... like last attempt near my moms!

(Totally outta order, sorry! This was Food Friday: Reindeer Nutella Style!)

  What happens on Friday, after a WHIRL wind week and no cereal and milk, hooray McD's!

 Love this bed head!

 here was a my posse who my mom so kindly bought supper for, we chose Culvers, as I was super against McDs... and thats all they wanted... I told them Culvers ice cream trumps McDs, which is true, and they agreed and loved it :) karla ( the ittiest bittiest one) is in my class. She is one of 7. Her mom is in jail, her auntie does a super job trying her best to raise 7 kids, along with her own 3, but these kiddos need attention in ways that is not humanly possible to provide... they are misunderstood and always in trouble... It made my heart just burst when Gene came up to them after and was like "the best listening award goes to this row". And it surely should have. They were glued to him. Praying they get glued to Him! Shantrail ( in hot pink) is on the Cross Country team here and is super fast and super funny.

 Thankful for a fun church night with Dusty and Mila, last weekend... their church had this fun photo booth...

 The glam squad ready for meeting... yes night meeting... shades are a must ;)

12.5.16

Ok so I began this post once I got to work today... but need to come back to the top and document a huge answer to prayer that happened in 15 minutes!!

We have to drive separate a few days this week as we have meetings at our Hall each night and Matt can bring a van from work etc, so he will stay at work all day til meeting basically and I need to get our kiddos, soooo here we are, Monday morning... I got to work... a couple minutes later Matt calls and said he's on the side of the road with a flat.. now we were just rejoicing that we took the time Friday to fix the coolant issue in our car so that we have heat :) Now a flat!? What!? We also know to be on high alert this week as Satan will try to seek and destroy our testimony during this week... soooo Progressive to the rescue as we have Road Side...(but the cha ching sounds are sounding in my brain, new tire, maybe new rim etc etc)

 then a few minutes later Matt texts that IDOT has a free service that they use and came faster than Progressive, replaced our flat with a brand new spare that we had!?! We had NO clue it was brand new?! And now that one rim looks brand new and is SICK, and no one hit our car (which doesn't have 4 ways!!). 

The blessings... the preservation.. the fact that it was Matt driving and not me ( I would have freaked out!!), the fact that the car had heat!! as you know Matt never wears a coat!...

seriously all heavenly hugs and just made us both teary eyed as we begin this week & seems like God is just saying- I have it all - even the tire issues... I got you... 

(Back to the original post ;))

Thankful this week that our student have a playground to use each day! The 20 minute outdoor time that our kids enjoy WITH amazing equipment does SO much for them!! Our Math afternoons seem to have gotten easier behaviorally! Praise the Lord!

(Ribbon Cutting Ceremony)

                                                                    (Our 1st Recess!)

                                                                   
                                                   Thankful for the bond that these 2 have

Thankful for the best Dollar Tree score ever! Not only are these educationally sound, they are DELISH, and not only are my student eating them up ( literally ;)), Hudson loves learning his letters this way too! 

 
Thankful for fun Christmas manipulatives for Math Centers!

 Thankful for a healthy, fruity Food Friday!

 Thankful that Hannah is my mini me. Her love of all things holiday is SO FUN! Thankful also that Matt was able to take Harrison to the gym, because no way would those big boys have waited in the Secret Santa line ;) Hannah and her helper.  They went into the Secret Santa shop, no parents allowed, and then 20 minutes later her 20 bucks was gone :) Her heart was overflowing when she got to put the presents in our stockings :) So much fun.

Thankful for cute poses by the car wash christmas tree :)

 Thankful that my mom is so diligent on ordering the wreath for my dad's grave.

 Thankful for fun pool parties!

Thankful that we went to church with Dusty & Mila, and were totally encouraged by the sermon. Loved everything about the service at Parkview and the child care... these people know how to run a FUN, creative, engaging child care! It was a mini city. Adorable and soooo nice to sit kid free for an hour! 

And SO nice to sit with Dusty and Mila during the very touching sermon. This is Mila's 1st Christmas without her dad, and the message was beyond timely. It was also so amazing how God worked out their day to be such that they were free for the 5pm service as they always work on Saturdays. Love each detail that God cares about! Such a glorious unfolding!!

 Thankful that PGM blessed us with 2 vehicles for Matt to use to bring guys to gospel meetings!
Praying his Christmas Carol series is a blessing to us all!

 Thankful that angels bubble wrapped my van, as I had committed to getting some of my kiddos for Gene's meetings and Sunday school... but it was crazy snowy!?! And I really wanted to bail- but when I was confirming every parent said yes!? So I had to be strong and stay committed....I am SUCH a weather wimp!!  The Lord knew I needed His help and I think that's what He was reminding me as I drove... and these kids were super well behaved at church... in the car a slightly different story ;)

 Thankful that the Hall blessed us with 12 pizzas after meeting!

(The guys pictured here would be believers, who stay in the Bible Program at PGM, and are working towards GEDs and other studies, for an entire year! They are a fun, respectful, lively group, and it was so encouraging to see them. It makes me appreciate Matt's job even more, seeing the impact it's having on some of these guys and now connecting faces and names!
Just for a random example- Matt loves Ping Pong, so do many of these guys- but their table was PATHETIC and paddles were broke etc- so Matt was able to get funding for a sick table and sick paddles, and the joy these older guys- some are 60+!- to just have the fun of ping pong amidst their stay at PGM, is SOO beautiful!!!