Thankful

Wow, life has been so busy the past few weeks.  But with the busyness, we have also encountered God's love and blessings through people.  It is neat how He does that.

The holidays include also all three of the girls' birthdays, so we have been receiving gifts in the mail that usually contain some nice things for all the non-birthday people too.  So, it has been nice to have some snacks from the states, some hair products, itunes cards, and much more being sent down to us:)

And then yesterday, we had a family visit from the states, that we do not know...who simply blessed us.  They gave us each a care package.  I was overwhelmed at the kindness of  a stranger.  My children were all so thankful and felt so loved as well.  I tell you this to let you know...  I know it costs a lot to send these things, but we are so blessed when we receive them.  It is hard to go a whole year in between of never getting the things from home you love.  Yes, we can do it, but it sure is nice when people send us little things here and there through out the year.  I think, now, after living in a foreign country, I have a new understanding and appreciation of the ease of getting things in the states.  So often, here, if we want something, we have to substitute or go without.  As a mom, I love to see my kids faces light up because they get a special snack or candy that they can't get here.  It is priceless.

Last Sunday, we celebrated a Sunday called Thankful.  It was awesome.  We had 180 people come.  What a blessing to be in a bigger room.  We sent two cakes with each family unit.  Many of our young people come alone, so are a family unit in themselves and so I was a little worried we would run out, but we had the exact number of cakes we needed.  It was neat to hear testimonies in church yesterday of the cakes people gave away.  It is a way for us to push people out of their comfort zone and do small acts of blessing our community.

Decorating the 150 cakes

We also gave out two baskets of veggies, rice and beans to people in the congregation.

This past week also included Thanksgiving.  It is an American holiday, so schools and businesses run as normal here.  We enjoyed going and spending time at another missionary's home for lunch.  All the Thanksgiving food tasted so good and it was also nice to just take a break from the day to day norm and fellowship with good friends.

Friday night, we had a movie night for the folks back in Maya Mopan.  They sold hot dogs and popcorn and had about 80 people.

Then, this weekend, our friends, the Autery's came in from Caye Caulker.  They had a meeting on Saturday, so all the kids got to hang out all day and we enjoyed a nice meal together that night.  As we were preparing dinner, we were surprised by Jesse.  He came home from Taiwan a week early.  So he joined us for dinner as well.  And then Lee and Josh went to the Strong Man's rally on the city steps.  We enjoyed a weekend of just enjoying the people in our lives here in Belize.  We miss so much our friends and family from Texas, but are thankful that the Lord blesses us with friends here.

Sunday, Reuben shared his testimony, which fit right in with what Lee was ministering on.  We have so many new people at LifeNet right now and it is overwhelming keeping up with them all.  Sunday night, we had our NetGroup leaders meeting so Monday was a catch up day for us.


Have a great week.