Project 365: Weeks 3 & 4 "from the blehs...back to normal"

Sunday, January 15, 2012

After ridding this corner of its CHRISTmas tree, cleaning the house, and showing it yesterday, we set up the boys' racetrack here and let them go to town with it. It was the first thing they wanted to do when we got home from church today, though THESE photos are actually from Saturday. Read on and you'll see why I have no photo for today...

From Kampala to Gulu: An Opportunity for YOU to Serve

First...they moved from Little Rock...




to Kampala, Uganda.


And now...after almost a year, they are moving north to Gulu. You may have heard of it. If not, please click the link...and learn. Learn well.

The Rackleys are our very good friends who...


have a heart for the unreached, the orphaned, the fearful, the ashamed, and the lonely.

They have a heart for God's Kingdom.

They also have six children living with them in Africa. And a requirement to pay six months of rent in advance for their new home in Gulu. And moving, in general, is expensive. And they need your help.

They need YOU to be used by God to help them get to Gulu.



So.

Can you spare FIVE DOLLARS?

FIVE measly dollars??!?

Can you take two minutes of your time NOW to visit their blog, click the DONATE button, and give FIVE DOLLARS to this Suubi Family so they can go do God's work there?

Right now.

Because time is of the essence, as they are having a Blog-a-Thon that will only last two more days.

So--before things get too busy for you...

and before you go spend too much money on more stuff...

click and donate. (It is tax-deductible.)

Please.

And I'd love for you to comment here to let me know you did. I mean, it's FIVE DOLLARS. No big deal. Right? Tell your friends. Share or like this post on Facebook, Tweet it, share it however you can and in as many ways. (All of the required buttons are lined up and conveniently waiting for you just at the end of this post.)

Thanks, friendly blog readers across the world! And Merry CHRISTmas!!

Project 365: Week 2

Sunday, January 2, 2011

These three girls love each other so. It's going to be sad to not have sweet, little Annie with us anymore.

Her family leaves on the 11th for Uganda.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Welp. My computer officially died today. 

Notice what it says about inserting a CD-ROM? Three weeks ago the computer just suddenly "lost" the CD-ROM drive. It was nowhere to be found. I tried downloading the driver from Dell's website, but it wouldn't install because of some sort of glitch. Lovely, huh?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

We dropped the kids off with my parents last night and then got up this morning to drive to New Orleans with my father-in-law, Paul's sister, and her husband. (Otherwise known as Poppy, Aunt Wendy, and Uncle Mert, respectively.) New Orleans! Yeah, baby! We set the tone for our stay by stopping off at Camellia Grill before doing anything else.  :)

Reasons to like Camellia Grill:

1. Comfort food galore

2. Très cool wait staff who banter with the customers and wear bowties

3. Pink walls

4. Quick, made-to-order food

5. Melt-in-your-mouth burgers

6. Two locations: the original (where we ate) and one in the French Quarter (so when you're hungry after a ballgame and would rather not try the food at some random bar, where you'll have to wait at least an hour for the drinkers to get up from their tables, you'll have a tried-and-true, down-home-good joint to satisfy your hunger). This is foreshadowing...

Then we checked in to our hotel, which was a couple of blocks from the Superdome. Why were we going to the Superdome? To see the Razorbacks hopefully win the Sugar Bowl!!!! 

Hootie (without his Blowfish) sang the National Anthem, but it was unimpressive, at best. The kids would have liked the indoor fireworks, though. Let me just say, the Superdome is definitely pretty.......super.

Okay. So this has nothing whatsoever to do with football, but I was quite awed by Ohio State's band!! I'm a former band geek, and I've always been the type to stay in the stands during halftime to watch the bands perform. Ohio State's band was BY FAR the best marching band I've EVER seen in my life!! 

Now back to football. In case you haven't heard, we lost. It was a heartbreaker. We looked like nervous wrecks the entire game, made bunches of mistakes, but by the end, still managed to get within a mere five points of our formidable opponent. We fans were definitely on our feet a lot. And I may never sing again, I screamed so hard. The game ended LATE, but Paul and I were hungry, so we walked through the Quarter until we found the other location of Camellia Grill. Twice in one day. It's that good. I DID order something different the second time, at least.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Our second day in New Orleans started with coffee and beignets at Cafe DuMonde, though I don't eat beignets. (I know. I'm weird. I also don't like funnel cakes. So I probably need to be committed, right?) I love outdoor cafes...because of the hungry birds. That's the major draw for me. ;)

After a tiny bit of shopping for those we left behind, we took a taxi to the next food stop: Domilise's Sandwich Shop for poboys. A nice walk was just what we needed afterward. And then we took the St. Charles Streetcar back to the hotel.

We rested our bellies up a bit and then went out for dinner at La Crepe Nanou. Oh, my. It was goooooood. This was my dinner: A crepe with smoked salmon, boursin cheese, capers, and a little bit of red onion. FABulous!!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, they brought out the Creme Brulee. Mert and I shared it, and we both agreed it was the best we've ever had! That's saying something!!

After dinner we took the streetcar back to the French Quarter to visit Pat O'Brien's piano lounge. I had so. much. fun. They have dueling pianos on stage for the all-request show. It's amazing!!! Awesome musicians. They play, they sing, they do anything. Even beatboxing! I highly recommend this place. Only downside is all the smoke I had to inhale. (YUCK!) Killed my throat. (Again.)

This guy was my fave. He won me over with the harmonica on a Billy Joel song.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

It was a long drive back home, but once we were home with the kids and had had our dinner, we gifted them with their surprise from us: pralines from New Orleans! Deelish!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Today was all about laundry, cleaning, and taking down the Christmas.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

"Missionary Day"

My good friend from college came for a visit with her family this morning. We haven't seen each other since her wedding day over eleven years ago. A lot has happened since then.  ;)  We packed in SO much talking in not very much time. She's the kind of friend you just pick right back up with from where you left off. It's a beautiful thing. And speaking of beautiful, her children are, too!! She and her hubby are missionaries in Germany and are in the States for five more months before going back. (They don't live near here; they were just passing through after visiting family.)

Almost immediately after our visitors left, we got ready and headed over to the Rackleys' house. They leave for Africa three days from now. It's our "last hurrah."

We miss them already.

Wow. Week 2 was a might busy. I'm actually looking forward to next week when things can get back to normal (whatever that means) with homeschool. It's high time. My post is linked up at Sara's Project 365. Happy Snowstorms!

In Faith

I want you to do me a favor.

We have these great friends. The kind of friends who come over at the drop of a hat when you have an emergency appointment to see the doctor, the kind of friends who are available to help install dishwashers, the kind of friends you can call anytime to borrow something, the kind of friends who visit you in the hospital, the kind of friends who will run errands for you if you need it, the kind of friends who will sit and talk with you when you need to work through something, the kind of friends who pray for you, think of you, and call you, and most importantly, the kind of friends who hold you accountable. These great friends of ours...are moving in just a couple of weeks. And about as far away as possible.

First, they are moving IN FAITH to a training program called Beautiful Feet in Oklahoma City. They will be there for a mere six months, and then...THEN they are moving to Africa.

Africa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be family to the scads and scads of orphaned children there.

To help meet their physical and emotional needs.

To parent them.

To love them with the love of Christ.

To teach them about Christ.

To do what God has called them to do in His great Kingdom plan.

So far, it has not been easy. And they're still here in Arkansas! They have met with some adversity, they have wondered "How?", they have NOT been given an easy ticket. But they are still going. IN FAITH.

These friends of ours have eight (EIGHT!) children, seven of whom are moving to Africa with them. These friends will be doing this thing IN FAITH, supported one hundred percent by regular folks like us. One hundred percent! And while a large, one-time gift would be VERY much appreciated, what they really need is monthly support they can count on. Even if all you can do is just a little bit per month.

Here's what you can know about sending your money to help them. You will be serving a family with your resources, and they, in turn, will be serving the multitudes. You will be showing God's love and mercy to the needy through real hands and feet, even though you yourself have not sacrificed everything to GO THERE. Do you need to know how many will be saved as a result of this family's work in Africa? No. You only need to know that God will take what you give IN FAITH and will multiply it for His purposes. Do you even need to know exactly what they will be doing 24/7 for the next however many years? No. You only need to know that they love these orphaned, abandoned, and forgotten children and will love ON them, because as believers that is what we are called to do for people.

And we are commanded to give. We don't need to know all the whys and wherefores. Give IN FAITH. God will bless that.

"Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys." -Luke 12:33

You can follow their blog at SuubiFamily.blogspot.com to learn more about our friends and their heart for missions, especially for orphans. Feel free to contact them for more information about where they will be going, what they will be doing when they get there, and how you can help.

I am asking you to prayerfully consider them, IN FAITH, as a possible place to send your money, knowing that it would be going to support a godly family doing Kingdom work.

I am even asking you to tell others about them: your friends, your family, your churches. Get involved!!

I am asking you to take seriously John Piper's command so often quoted, yet so often ignored (even by those who quote it): "Go, send, or disobey."

This dear family is GOing. Will you help SEND them?

IN FAITH,