So much to say . . .

Treasured friends are great blessings from the Lord. Rare finds.

In the last few weeks, we have been privileged to visit with great friends both old and new. I want to share all about this, but I wanted to update prayer requests that I listed in my last post. We had answers to all of the first 7 requests - great wisdom, safety, good weather, Isabelle had boldness and protection, as well as protection from nightmares, those who heard were certainly prepared and stirred to action - it was awesome!, JM was so challenged in his faith and grew so much. We'd still ask for prayers for dry nights for JM; for Kevin & I to focus on God's purposes & to be protected from distractions; for our House - completed on time; good communication with our contractors; NO SNOW; for Kevin's Work - for burdensome paper work, details, & organization stuff to come together smoothly & quickly

Thank you for praying with us. . . Thank you for you support!

As I wrote in my last post, we had 2 opportunities to speak up for Orphans and widows in the last few weeks. There are so many details and so many amazing stories, I don't know exactly what to write . . . Here are some highlights (these are really just a few of the many things God is doing!):

1. $2000 offering taken at our church after Isabelle shared, this finished funding a home and began another one. A small church giving all they had in a special offering to help those without!

2. A phone call from a 25 yr old friend who has legal guardenship for 19 African children in her orphanage in Zambia. She lives in KC area, but we have never met. She saw Isabelle's story on the national news last summer and called then to tell Isabelle to "keep it up". The phone call 10 days ago was to tell me that her children in Africa have been raising funds to help build a home in Haiti because "they know what it's like to be without a home." Orphans helping Orphans - OF COURSE!!!!

3. Children helping children . . . emails & phone calls from 2 precious 8 yr olds and their amazing moms, who we met because of the national news story. We have stayed in contact with them over the last 7 months, but after the earthquakes both of these girls felt convicted and challenged to commit to build a home in Isabelle's village.

4. World Mandate conference in TX - so many things to write about. I hope to blog about things I learned at a later date, but Isabelle shared in the Sunday closing session of the conference. As her mom, I was so proud of her humility, her honest heart, and her sweet prayer. The pastor asked all the children in the room (of about 4,000) to stand so Isabelle could pray for them to use the gifts God had given them for His purposes. It was precious! I can't explain in words what the weekend was like and how God was so clearly moving - I wish you could have all been there with us!

As time allows, I will share more details about many of these things . . . but I hope this gives you a glimpse of all the amazing things God is doing!

As we moved about in the last 2 weeks, we've been so blessed to connect with so many wonderful friends both old and new! In the top picture of this post, Isabelle and John Michael are with our friends Atlee and Beckett. I have known their dad, Jeff, since high school and Kevin went to college with both he & his wife Nikki. They have 3 beautiful children - Atlee and Beckett are the exact same age as Isabelle and John Michael. We stayed with them for a night on our way to the missions conference and it was a wonderful. We both homeschool our children - so there is much to talk about for the moms! :) Our kids are so well suited together and have a great time playing together. Jeff and Nikki are 2 of the most encouraging, spirit filled people that I know. I love that we can't connect with them after so much time has passed and can pick up where we left off . . . TREASURED FRIENDS!!!

The second picture is a treasured one for me. These 4 girls were in my first BSF group in which I was a leader. We studied the book of Romans - a deep one for sure! But through the depths of the study, we grew together, we cried together, and God created a wonderful connection between us all. The gal in the middle, Melissa, is moving next week to South Carolina so we all got together one last time to share dinner and say our goodbyes . . . we hope to have a girls weekend to visit her someday!!! Melissa thank you for being a wonderful friend to us all! I love your sweet, soft spirit! You are a treasure that I will always be grateful for! TREASURED FRIENDS!!!

Here's the snow in my parents back yard, they are skiing so I thought they might like to see what they are missing while they are away!

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HOUSE UPDATES: As of now . . . we are praying to move into our home, at least begin moving things there the first weekend of March. That is all contingent on the weather. We have to get the septic system in, but we cannot do that when it continues to snow and we have no sun to dry out the swamp in our back yard! SO PLEASE PRAY FOR NO MORE SNOW & for dry days to get our septic system in!!!
I am standing in the doorway out to the back yard looking in to our covered deck. WE LOVE IT!

Standing at the deck door looking to the kitchen and front door.
Standing at Front Door looking to "family" room, sliding door is out to the deck.

Here's my shower . . . not quite ready, but getting closer!

The house now has siding, windows, and doors. The bottom half on the front will have stone. We want to get that done this week, but the snow (pray for NO SNOW) may keep us from that!

Here's the view from the west.

The view from the back. Getting closer!