Ginny Owens

Church is always more fun when we host musicians from the previous night's concert.

This week we were treated to the amazing talents of Ginny Owens.

Ginny Owens was born in Jackson, Mississippi, with poor eyesight and has been blind since the age of three. She became a household name as the Gospel Music Association’s 2000 New Artist of the Year. Growing in notoriety as both a singer and a songwriter, winning 3 Dove awards and multiple ASCAP Awards along the way, Owens has sold close to a million records over the course of her career. A top performer on the Christian radio charts with hits like “If You Want Me To,” “Free” and “I Wanna Be Moved” among others, Owens’ music has also impacted mainstream audiences at Lilith Fair, the Sundance Film Festival and the White House.  {ginnyowens.com}

Say Amen {we bought this cd}

2011 – Get In, I’m Drivin’ {amazon.com}

The Missing Picture {Cambodia}

Since my daughter and her family live in Cambodia

This was of particular interest to us . . . 

2013 Oscar Nomination: Foreign Language Film 

The Missing Picture {Cambodia}

{photo credit: filmfestival.be}

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Cambodia.

Trailer for The Missing Picture

We are now wondering where we can see this heartbreaking film.

four years in cambodia

Our daughter and her family have spent the past

four years in Cambodia 

with 2 more years to go.

Although we miss them like crazy

we are proud of the difference they are making

in their current missions serving . . .  

Cambodian returnees & Cambodian women

You can read about their journey here

http://amandaniel.blogspot.com/

prayers

We are saying prayers for our friend's sweet little granddaughter. 

She is having some pretty serious surgery tomorrow and our hearts go out to them.

{Nissen Fundoplication and g-tube placement}

Everything will be all right in the end... 

if it's not all right . . . 

then it's not yet the end.

We love you guys.

choose joy

Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough

Ever wonder why some people seem to experience deep and authentic joy in their daily lives--even in the tough times--and others can't seem to find it no matter how hard they search? Is a joy-filled life really possible?

The answer is yes! And it's possible for every woman, no matter what her circumstances may be. In this inspiring book, Kay Warren teaches women what joy really is, where to find it, and how to choose it in the good times and the bad. With compassion and wisdom, she shows readers--even those who live with the constant companions of discouragement and depression--that true joy is deeper, richer, and more accessible than they might think. Perfect for small groups or individual reading, Choose Joy will empower women who feel like their emotions and well-being are at the mercy of others by helping them understand the life-giving truth that joy is within their grasp--every day. {quote from amazon.com}

I will be attending a 4 week DVD series at Venice Presbyterian Church where Kay Warren will discuss having deeper, richer, more stable and accessible joy. I am a pretty shy person so interacting with 40 new women will be a stretch for me but I am hoping to learn and grow along with them.

pray big

Do you pray for your children?

My children are all in states of transition and I pray for them daily.

One is getting married in 6 months

One has moved across the country with his wife and is starting a new job

One has moved home to return to college and has chosen a rigorous course of study

One lives half way around the world raising two children in a developing country

Even though they are all young adults their needs are many.

This sermon last Sunday was what my spirit needed.

December 9, 2012

Loving For Our Children's Destiny

Pastor Lyn Olson

Philippians 1.3, 7-11

{listening to this sermon would be 20 minutes well spent}

More Venice Presbyterian Church Sermons

In the bulletin was this poem . . .

On Children

 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

cocoon

A few things in my life lately make me want to
"cocoon myself away from the world outside".
{thank you lemon lane cottage for this phrase}

When people you love are going through a crisis
and you don't know how to help . . .
remember you can always pray.

It is so hard to know that as badly
as you feel, they feel much worse.



Praying for strength and wisdom to cocoon listen, reassure, advise, help . . .

due date

Tomorrow is the day that Amanda will have her baby in Thailand.
She is having a c-section as the baby hasn't yet turned.
Please keep them in your prayers!



I will be back with the details after they
share the news with family and friends.

amber

Thirteen years ago I taught this sweet young girl in kindergarten.
Last week she lost her three year battle with cancer.
My prayers and thoughts are with her family.



Just a short two months ago she was doing better.
But . . the lord called her home before anyone was ready.

ALBION — The best wishes are made possible with the help of family, friends, and even strangers.

Amber Liese, 18, of Albion, has been battling cancer for three years and has been involved with Make-A-Wish for just as long. Her wish was to have her bedroom, which she shares with her sister, Valerie, 20, made over with new furniture and a whole new look.

That wish was granted in August when the new room was unveiled.

Read her Make-a-Wish story here.

what i really learned in uganda

This is my first "guest post".
It is from my daughter's blog; we live in all we seek
She was in Kampala during the World Cup bombings there and
has so insightfully tried to make sense of it all.

uganda [thoughts of faith + provision]

in the early part of the summer, i (amanda) had the great opportunity
to spend a month in kampala, the capital city of uganda.
i was there as part of my studies towards a masters degree in
international development from eastern university.


[my amazing cohort + our disaster relief professor, francois]

although i didn't have many chances to venture out from the classroom, what i did manage to see was a beautiful country, full of boisterous people ("you are most welcome to uganda" was a popular greeting), bright clothing, eager smiles & delicious coffee. it was quite a contrast to cambodia, where people tend to be a bit more reserved, shy smiles are the standard greeting & the temperature is 20 degrees F hotter!


but the trip will always be tied with sadness in my memory. while i was in kampala, a terrible suicide bombing attack took the lives of 74 people, including aid worker nate henn who worked with invisible children, a group working to end the use of child soldiers in uganda. i was within 1/2 mile of the bombing & heard the bombs go off, although i thought they were fireworks at the time - how strange to be so close to such violence & yet so unaffected.

the experience gave me a lot to think about.

firstly, i was really thankful to be with a group of christians. we spent the next morning praying for the situation together & it was a reminder to me that we really are supposed to be praying without ceasing (1 thes 5:17), together as the Church & that i don't do that enough.

it was also a reminder that Satan really does prowl around like a roaring lion seeking destruction (1 peter 5:8), which doesn't mean i should be fearful, just that i should probably pray a whole lot more.

& finally it was reminder of something that i think i have been learning throughout these last two years in Cambodia (& that has really broken a lot of my theological presuppositions)

-- God doesn't promise us earthly safety & security & sustenance --

He promises us His presence & He sends the church into the world to provide earthly & spiritual sustenance & to work for justice & the oppressed (isaiah 58:6-10 & matthew 25:34-40), but those are signs of His kingdom that is here, but that is also not yet here & the "not yet here" part means that babies in cambodia will die simply from lack of proper food & babies in canada will have complicated breathing problems & even that i could be watching the world cup & be killed by a bomb.

i know that seems like a simple lesson, but when i draw from my own life & experiences, i see a God who always blesses & provides & so its hard to line that up when it seems like God doesn't always do that for others. but I know that God is so much bigger than my own experiences of Him & that i am called to be joyful & grateful for what I have, without ever thinking that God has promised me anything that I have, apart from His presence in the middle of the muddyness & messiness of life & death.

because in the end, God doesn't protect anyone from death, but He does offer us life that is greater.

& (aside from qualitative research, cross cultural studies, micro-finance, disaster relief & advocacy)
that's what i really learned in uganda .

prayer request

Hi family,

Just want to let you all know that I am safe & sound here in Kampala. I'm not sure if you saw the news, but there were some bombings here last night.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Love,
Amanda Mary

July 5: My class, with our amazing prof, Francois who works
for World Vision International's Rapid Response Team.

BBC News:"Two bombs in the Ugandan capital, Kampala have killed at least 64 people and injured another 70.
The blasts hit a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant where football fans had gathered to watch the World Cup final.
Police suggest that Somali militants could be to blame.
They have previously threatened to target Kampala because of the presence of Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu to protect the fragile government against Islamic insurgents."

sadness

This sweet young woman that I work with was killed in a car accident last week. Her funeral was today and I ask you to prayer for her two young children and our school community as we grieve.

Nicole Marie Gaulin
July 2, 1973 - April 21, 2010

The Kendall School community is saddened by the sudden loss of one of our family members. On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, Nicole Gaulin, our Home-School Coordinator, was in a single car accident. She died at the scene of the accident. We are all profoundly saddened by her death.