Psalm of Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:1-5

Shout for joy to the Lord , all the earth
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good
and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Be the Feet

Isaiah 52:7
"How Beautiful on the Mountain are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God Reigns."


Each year Samaritan's Purse collects hundreds of thousands of shoe boxes each year to distribute around the world. For most of the children, it is the only gift they recieve for Christmas.


They are also recieving Jesus' love and the true meaning of Christmas. It may be the only bit of heaven they see on earth.
Our family has started making this a tradition each year. However this year was different. The past few weeks, Alisia began pondering what special items she wanted to fill up her shoe box with. She got some of her not-too-used favorite toys and every time we'd go to the store she'd thoughtfully select an item. During those weeks, she would talk about how she imagined a little girl opening up the shoe box and how excited she would be. Alisia prayed everyday that the girl who recieves the shoebox will "like everything in it, and know that Jesus loves her." This prayer became a familiar one to me each night, and at each meal as she rememered to pray for the girl. After we carefully arranged the items in the box, Alisia included a picture of herself and a note to the girl. Alisia continues to pray for the children who are going to recieve the shoeboxes, and says a special prayer for the little girl who gets the one we prepared that she will "know Jesus loves her." Her faithfulness in praying for these children is amazing and challenges me to be more faithful in my prayers. Consider looking for a family tradition to open your eyes as a family to the world and to share the message of Christmas. This great ministry blesses the giver as much as the reciever. Samaritan's Purse has a website to find out how to get involved and read specific stories of how children have been blessed through this ministry. Check out they're site and consider becoming a part of this amazing ministry! http://www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC_Impact.asp

Friends of the Heart

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: if opne falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

Ecc 4:9-12

I've heard this verse refered to alot in marriages or weddings. I first started understanding this verse in a special friendship with Cristen. We've known eachother since 1992 playing soccar together in middle school. That's over 15 years! The best thing about being friends with someone that long is we both love the Lord and can account for eachother. We are both now married, starting families and still are able to to find time to still encourage eachother. This time was spent the other day at the park. It was a very nice day and we had a great time outside with the kids.

Where have our lives brought us today?

Acts 20:24 "For I consider my life worth nothing to me, if I may only finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

We are both persuing God's guidance to this verse on how we can take his word to the ends of the earth. Check out her blog at thesinks.blogspot.com

Trick-or-Treat

Here's a few pictures from Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Caleb wasn't too into it like I thought he'd be. He really enjoyed watching Alisia from the car.

LaSata

So far this fall, we have been thankful for the blessing of family, having a great church family and great friends! We are also thankful for the friends our kids have and the relationships that build them up in the Lord. Last week we had alot of fun at LaSata- The Marsh's farm celebrating Harvest & Reformation Day. Each year we look forward to this because theres lots of stuff for everyone to do! Here's some pics






Our Hey-Ride Fun


This is Alisia and Emily (BFF).

They are the coolest girls I know!

Joanna and Stephanie are also pretty cool!
This is Sara. She is one of Caleb's friends, and is very cute!


Sometimes Caleb is a little rough on her.

But she is no match for him! She just gets right in there and goes after him! They're fun to watch playing at their age.Alianza had a table of of Spanish/English Bingo.










This is Batman sword-fighting with Ninja Felix.


More Friends!











Yummy Hot Soup!















What a fun afternoon! Thanks Marshs' and everyone else who worked hard!

Glimpses of Grace

Ok, So I haven't done well updating. Every time I would sit down to write an update, I never felt like we had much going on to write about. Now that it's been a while, I realize that we have been busy and God has been gracious in taking great care of our family. As I look back over the past few weeks, He has shown me glimpses of His Amazing Grace.

"Praise the Lord all you nations, extol him, all you peoples. For great is His love towrard us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever. Praise the Lord." Psalm 117