What's New

     You'll have to forgive my HUGE delay on posting! It has been business as usual (and sometimes unusual) non-stop! When I do get a few hours to take a break, I almost always need a nap. But as it turns out, if I'm not working or sleeping then my greatest desire is to spend time with God. I want so badly to spend time in his word and in prayer. I am so in need of him, so desperate for intimacy with him. You haven't heard from me because I'd rather talk to God!
     That is absolutely not to say that I am super-spiritual and that since I'm a "missionary" I'm perfect now. In fact, I am pretty much a disaster waiting to happen. I have learned that I am selfish and lazy and arrogant. My desperation for God these days comes from a recognition of how very inadequate I am for this job. I need the Lord to change my heart. I need to be transformed into a person who serves with humility and love. There are tasks 24/7 that I need Christ's character to do. I think that God brought me to Huntsville to get over myself. It's not about me. It's not about me. It's not about me.
     We have been doing all kinds of things since my last post. Typical house business consists of checking in guests, housekeeping duties, cooking meals, and office tasks. These take up a majority of our time. Breakfast is served bright and early and guests check out by 8am so our mornings start at hours that I didn't know existed. Of course, all our hard work pays off on the weekends when we spend time with the families. I love making and eating dinner with the big crowds on the weekends. We share stories and find out about each other. The kids are a blast and when you love on them, it blesses their parents too. We also get a lot of older people, which is right up my alley. Many of our volunteers are older, as well. So many of them have been serving the House year in and year out and it would be impossible to do this ministry without them. I love that I can be a part of showing how much we appreciate and honor their work.
     We have had a garage sale fundraiser, painted a wall, washed cars, and eaten a lot of frozen yogurt. Never a dull day. This week's big project: VBS. One of our staff members is teaching 3rd grade bible story for vacation bible school at her church. At the last minute, she ended up losing all her helpers and she was in a PANIC. Summer missionaries to the rescue! With Debra's help, the four of us brainstormed how to make this work. Today we spent several hours decorating the classroom to fit the outer space theme. I gotta say, we are a dream team. Our space ship room looks fantastic! Myriam and I will be teaching a few of the lessons and I am way excited. We are even dressing up in our homemade space suits! Third grade is my favorite!
     I hope these posts are making it to all my prayer partners. Each of you is so special to me and have been instrumental in bringing me to this place in my life. Thank you for your prayers and your love. Continue to pray for our guests and the conversations that we have when they are here. ---One night I asked my facebook friends to pray about it and the whole house exploded in spiritual conversations! Thank you, God!--- Pray for us as we teach bible stories this week, that we would be faithful and accurate teachers and that the Holy Spirit would open the hearts of the kids to understand. Pray for Myriam and me as we learn to work together as a team. God is already breaking down walls and obstacles. And finally, the whopper, the House has been interested for a long time in purchasing the property behind us so that we can serve more families. Interest in the idea and donations to the House have been pouring in lately. Still, that is a huge project to take on and we have a  long way to go. My time here has taught me a great deal about the needs of prisoners and their families and the way that God can move in their situations. I hope my updates cause you to think about these things as well.
     This is as much time as I can stand to spend on this. 8952035 other things to think about and never enough sleep. Of course, I have a hundred stories of individuals and moments that I have encountered that I could write pages and pages about. Ask me in August.Thank you for sticking with me when I was struggling. It doesn't matter because it's not about me, but I am getting more and more happy to be here. The only thing I can say is Praise God!