We Have Wheels!!

 

The Lord has been so good to us. We moved here with no money left to be able to buy a vehicle. Thankfully we have been able to get around using our legs and buses, but it hasn't been easy. The buses aren't cheap when you have to transport 8 people and grocery shopping is a little challenging!! Carrying the food has been a work out for my back. So, we asked the Lord if it would please Him, could He give us a vehicle.

This week He did just that. We do not own this van, but we have been lent it for a period of probably 6 months. It is an 8 seater Toyota van. It is also a diesel vehicle which will help keep down the expenses of running it.

We took our first trip in it last night, and apart from getting lost, everything went well. The kids love it as you can turn the middle seat around so they can face each other. Jeremiah was so impressed he wanted to sleep in it last night!! They are so excited that we don't have to catch 2 buses to get to church anymore (well, at least for 6 months).

I am amazed at (and incredibly grateful for) the generosity of this family. They had never met us yet are willing to lend us their van and for such a long period of time.

The best part is that we never asked anyone but God for it. Like always we took our need to God, and God alone, and He generously answered our prayer.

He is faithful!!

Michelle

Raft Race

Last week the kids made rafts from sticks and string. We decided to take them to the river (well really a big creek!) that runs through the park at the back of our home

The kids let them go over the bridge ... the race was on!

Occasionally the rafts got stuck on debris in the river and there were a few brave, yet risky attempts to rescue them without getting wet. Naomi's raft floated the furthest, but she still got upset when it final dipped under some branches and was never seen again.

We also discovered a few great climbing trees which Nicholas and Elaina thoroughly enjoyed.

Michelle

My American Men!!!

 

John MacArthur on True Salvation

Jeremiah's Joy

Back in St Louis Jeremiah had a very special toy. It was a lion beanie baby that he called "Lion". He loved Lion and would take him just about everywhere. We have spent many an hour looking for Lion when it was bedtime or we were going out somewhere and the toy was missing!! So you get the idea, Lion was very special to Jeremiah.

Unfortunately Lion didn't make it in the suitcase and got left at our old home, then he was thrown away. We were hoping Jeremiah would forget about Lion and get attached to another toy, but on several occasions he would talk to me about how much he missed Lion. Then one morning he awoke and told me of his dream "Mom, Lion was crying because he was on his own and he misses me".

Jeremiah kept watching the mail, hoping Lion would arrive. I could never bring myself to tell him Lion was gone forever so there was nothing else this mother could do except for look for a new lion on ebay. Thankfully I found one.

 

He was so excited when he found Lion in a package yesterday. He screamed for joy and jumped up and down several times. Please forgive the quality of the picture but he was a foot off the ground, in mid jump when it was taken. I hope you can see the expression in his face.

 

That was the best 3 pound I have ever spent!!!! As you can imagine Jeremiah has not left Lion far from his sight since it arrived.

Michelle

John Piper

Looking for a Church

Back in the States we lived 9.3 miles from our church and it only took 20 minutes to get there. Sunday we decided to visit a new church which was 9.8 miles away from where we now live .... it took us 2 HOURS to get there!!! And yes, we were late for church, but only by 10 minutes. Let me explain ...

 

We left home at 8.45am to catch the bus. On the way to the bus stop Nicholas lost his mp3 player, so we had to take a couple of minutes looking for that. Then, I remembered the backpack still sitting on the kitchen table with our lunch in it. Gary volunteered to run back and get it. We weren't sure if he would make it back to the bus stop in time ... but he did. After a 25 minute ride into Leeds we needed to change buses. Gary and the kids got off the bus and I asked the bus driver where we could get the #1 bus - he didn't know. Thankfully a lady sitting on the bus informed us she knew where we needed to go and told us to get back on the bus and she would show us.

 

She kindly stayed on the bus, past her stop, to show us where to go. We arrived at the bus stop and waited patiently for the bus. When it arrived the driver told us we were in the wrong place and to try a different bus stop on that street. We did and finally found where the #1 bus stopped. After about 10 minutes it arrived only to be told by the driver that he was driving the #1 bus which was going south and we needed the one going north. He pointed us to another bus stop where we had a 15 minute wait for the right bus.

 

After getting off this bus we had a 10 minute walk to the church. We had to walk fast as it was starting to rain AND Jeremiah needed the bathroom!!!!

Finally we made it. We were dry and only 10 minutes late!!!

We thoroughly enjoyed the church. The Church consisted of sound preaching, a congregation of many nationalities and, more importantly to the kids, other children!! (The church we had previously been visiting had no other children). Jeremiah and Deanna's class had about a dozen children, although Nicholas, Naomi and Elaina made up 75% of their class on Sunday morning. Hopefully there will be more in their age group next week.

We were considering going back next week when a lady approached us and invited us to lunch next Sunday, after church. Who can turn down lunch? - not us!!! It was so nice to be shown such kindness through this act of hospitality, so we will definitely be going back next week!!

Maybe Leeds Reformed Baptist will become our new church home. We will let you know, but we hope next week it will only take us about 1.25 hours to get there!!!!

Michelle

The Sad State of the Church

Today we traveled across Leeds to visit a new church. What disturbed me was some of the things I saw while on our journey. This 'church' was trying to attract people of all religions.

 

As we walked past this 'church' for the second time (we had gone to the wrong bus stop!) I was deeply saddened by the number of people that were arriving for the service.

The picture below is a notice which was posted on their bulletin board.

 

We continued our journey North and passed a beautiful old church building that was no longer being used to worship God but had now been turned into nightclub.

Oh how far England has traveled away from the ONE TRUE GOD and her rich Christian heritage.

Michelle

New Bikes

 

At the end of 2007 we had promised the children new bikes but instead of buying them for Christmas we told them they would get them once we arrived in England (thinking it we would arrive in the Summer 08, not February 09).

We knew the bikes would be cheaper to purchase in the States so we went to Walmart and picked out bikes. We were going to order them on line but for the first time since we lived in House Springs we could not get a dial tone for our internet service. We decided that maybe God didn't want us to order them right then. We were right because just 2 days later we found out that it was going to cost us $800 just to ship them to England. The Lord had saved us a great expense.

 

So after we arrived in England we ordered the bikes from Argos (similar to Service Merchandise). We had picked the bikes out from the catalogue. Again the Lord was good to us as almost every bike we had chosen was on sale. The only bike that wasn't on sale was Deanna's. Although, because of the sale we did find a nicer one which was now cheaper than the one we had originally chosen for her.

The kids have really enjoyed riding their bikes around the campus here, but I am not letting them loose in the park yet as we are still waiting for their helmets to arrive!!

The Lord continues to provide for us and the kids - and for that we are so grateful.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. James 1:17

Michelle

Something to Ponder

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when He could do something about it ... but I am afraid God might ask me the same question"

Anonymous

Jeremiah's Hard Day

 

This morning Jeremiah was NOT smiling like this. Instead he woke up quite upset. He thought he had heard his best friend Matthew in the house. He called out to me "Mom is Matthew here?" He was so excited. It just about broke my heart to tell him no. He didn't cry but you could see the deep sadness he felt which lasted most of the morning.

Thankfully I was able to spend some time with just him as we walked to the store at lunchtime (in the rain - which Jeremiah thought was great) He was able to talk and seems to feel a little better this afternoon.

Some days this transition seems so easy to the children and then other days they struggle. Please continue to hold them in your prayers as they (like us) miss friends.

Thank you

Michelle

Too Cute

 

I just had to take this picture.

Michelle