Faithful Believers in Christ

With all the season's hustle and bustles and Sunday morning ads, it is easy for us to forget what Christmas is truly about. To help ensure we keep Christmas exactly the way Christ intended, please consider supporting an idea of unselfish acts and kindness this holiday season just as our savior has done for us. In Matthew 25:35-40, our Lord is telling us if we feed, give water, housing, clothes, and visit those in prison, we have done it for Him. So my thought is if we would encourage each other to stop gift giving the way we do it now -- instead of just filling up our jewelry boxes, our clothes drawers and closets, children's rooms overflowing with toys and men's drawers with ties, shirts and the latest gadgets. And instead or maybe in addition too...help someone in need! Oh, what a better world we would have, when we celebrate Christmas in our Lord's way. We are honored to take this opportunity again to witness to these precious people our Lord's true nature.

This past month has been really hard for one of the families. Hermondo (Azucena's husband) lost his job last month, and has been looking for a job and so far has been unable to find one. With all at hand they said they are going to have to move to California to find work. They are telling us they have a friend there that can help them with a free place to stay and with the hopes it will be a better place for him to find work! I was very sadden by this...but I know that they have to do what is best for their family! Please be in prayer for them and that this is the move that God had for their family. They will be leaving January 15th and I would love to be able to pay their January rent. Since he is out of work I'm not sure how they will pay for their part of the rent. Also, due to these circumstances both families will have NO Christmas with out our help! They don't even have a Christmas tree for the little kids to decorate and enjoy. How awesome would it be if together we, God's Servants, can make this a Christmas they will NEVER forget?? I know that whatever way God leads you to help this family will mean the world to them!

The Plan:We were going to have everyone bring the gifts to my house by Dec. 22nd. Please bring all gifts wrapped with the person's name and what the item is on a tag on each gift. Then on the 22nd we will be delivering all the gifts to the family with the exception of a gift or two for each child so that we can send over on Christmas Eve to be just from Santa!!!

Also, as with all good Christmas comes the wonderful holiday meal. If you interested in contributing to that as well, please shoot me an email. I was thinking maybe this time we could get Boston Market instead of everyone cooking...so any donations for that would be great!

Below is the kid's wish list!!!! (It was such a blessing to see the smiles on their faces when I was helping them make their Christmas list to Santa)

• Jaison, 6. SpongeBob anything, cars and trucks any kind, play doh, Lego's, remote control car, books, and movies. Clothes size 7, shoe size 12, underwear, socks, and pjs.
• Jeovanmi, 3. Handy Manny, Go Deigo Go anything, cars and trucks, colors and coloring books, play doh, guitar, books. Clothes. size 5, shoe size 10, underwear, socks, PJ's.
• Hydel, 3 months. Play mat with hanging toys, rattles, toys that are good fot tummy time! Clothes 6 to 12 months.
• Kaily, 2. Barbies, Baby dolls, Dora anything, anything for a little girl, movies, books. Clothes size 4, shoe size 9, socks, PJ's.Angeles, 8 months. Any baby toys, baby Einstein movies, Clothes size 12 to 18 months, socks and PJ's.

I would love to provide gifts for the parents as well....let me know if your interested in buying for them and I'll let you know what their sizes are. I know that they are in desperate need of the basics...clothes for EVERYONE, shoe and warm PJ's.

Please forward this to anyone who could help make this the best Christmas ever for these Families!! Thank you so much again for doing God's wonderful will and being such faithful servants.

Thanksgiving

Yes, you will be enriched so that you can give even more generously. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will break out in thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:11

It’s the time of year for saying “Thanks”

With the holidays approaching, We are gearing all up for a busy season. It is busy in both a good and bad way…it’s good because so many volunteers and donors come out to give their time and their gifts. It’s bad because many families who are barely getting by with the month-to-month expenses and have no resources for the extras the holidays require such as Thanksgiving meals and Christmas gifts. So this year I am asking that we can make the family next door our own little angel family.

So...this Thanksgiving I want to do a food drive so this family can enjoy a wonderful thanksgiving dinner that so many families will not get to have. The following below is what I wish to provide for this family.. Keep in mind they have no oven so the pies and Turkey, Ham etc. need to have already been prepared. They do have a microwave that they can use :)

Turkey (for 10 people)

Ham

Dressing

Stuffing

Rolls

Veggies(canned)

Yams

Marshmallow

Cranberry Salad (canned)

2 pumpkin pies

2 pecan pies

Cool Whip

Instant Potatoes

Gravy

Salad w/ avocado & tomatoes

Leave a comment on what you would be willing to bring so I know what are needs still are.

Barren for God's Glory

Disclaimer first, I in no way can truly understand the pain of truly Barren mothers but I have learned much in my life through life experiences and the stories of many other women. I hear of stories far too often and they all break my heart. Every woman has a very unique story often with a hint of heartache. What’s yours?

Today I was driving home from visiting my sister. I tend to do a lot of thinking during long car rides and I received a lot of knowledge this weekend that I pondered on. A very dear friend of my sisters has been trying for some time now. They have done everything you could ever imagine, but it’s just not happening. Her friend has most recently decided to pursue adoption through fostering, which has a special place in my heart as a former Case Manager for foster care. I am excited for them as they begin this journey and am excited for the children that will now be given a change at “normalcy” because of them. These children in foster care have often lost all hope and I believe that they can have that all restored because of people that are willing to take them in as their own children. My heart is burdened for the parentless children in our world, both here locally and nationally.

My story is different. I am barren, but not in the way that most of you would think. I am barren in the sense that I am still single and even in that I don’t have a full time career. While there are days that I grow very frustrated with the inability to find a good job or the inability to continually get sub jobs to keep me busy, I must realize God has a plan. God has a plan for my life far beyond what I am capable of seeing and I need to allow myself to be useable. Over the past several months I have felt like God has allowed me to remain “jobless” if you will and single because he wants me to use my time to bless others. I have recently spent several days with a very dear friend of mine. I have been helping her tame the wild kingdom (3 boys), prepare dinner, fix websites and whatever else she has needed help with. It has been a great joy for me as I have seen a slight relief for her and in that she has blessed me immensely just by being able to spend time with her. I had a choice to make. I could have spent my day laying on the couch catching up on TV shows or cleaning my house, but instead felt God calling me elsewhere to a place where I was needed more. It’s not about me. It’s about Him and His plan. I will be used where He wants me and if that’s to help my friends for now then so be it. I know that He will provide and I have to trust Him in that.

Barren for God’s glory is simply stating that we in some way are barren and because of that we need to learn to use it for His glory.

Fostering and adopting children who have been abandoned or mistreated. Babysitting so your friend can enjoy a bubble bath. Cleaning so your friend can spend an hour with her children.

Picking up someone else’s kid from school so they can enjoy a cup of coffee with a friend. Babysitting for free so that a couple can enjoy a date night for the first time in six months. Unselfishly giving your belongings away to the family next door to you.

I think I best stated it in the last sentence…unselfishly doing. For a short time think about someone other than yourself who could truly benefit from something you may have that they don’t like time. May we each be used in such a way that we would be Barren for His Glory!!

Love, Jana

The House

These are some of the pictures of the home before we were able to help this sweet family out.

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with other. As the Scriptures say, "They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever." For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you."

2 Corinthians 2: 8-10

Baby Hydel Arrives

Baby Hydel Born October 7, 2008 8 lbs 1 oz

Update on the family....

Hydel was welcomed in the world, healthy and thriving. Mom is doing well and happy with her new addition to her family. They are now home and doing well.

Thank you so much for all the support and donations through all of the friends and family. You will never completely know what an impact you made in these peoples lives. Their lives have been forever changed.

They thought they had been forgotten. God spoke to my heart and asked me to share with them that they are certainly not. This is the new beginning for them. After losing a baby, living in a home without the bare neccesities, this is a new life.

Pictures of the transformation of their home to come....

God Bless you all,

Hollie

Baby Shower

Welcome Hydel - Baby Shower for Familia

This is how the journey began, thought I would share.....

To My friends and family, (this is a sweet email Leslie wrote) I will admit. I am very timid in writing this email. So here it goes. This email is lengthy. You might want to read it on your coffee break at work or send it to your personal account for after hours viewing. Either way, I feel I need to write this. A little background on the situation: Recently, my cousin's wife Hollie has had the chance to get to know her neighbors. No, they are not the most attractive neighbors you would ever wish for in your neighborhood but nonetheless, they are her neighbors. For months, Hollie has watched these two Hispanic families stuff their 8 bodies ( 2 wives, 2 husbands, 4 children) into this 3 bedroom rental home right next to her house. Paul and Hollie have been very blessed to have a beautiful home in the middle of Old Town Lewisville where neighbors can be millionaires or poverty. Everything happens for a reason, right? I will admit, I have made several negative comments regarding them as i watched them hang their clothes on the clothes line, let their children run around half dressed in the same yard, and come over to Hollie's house trying to see if they could take her to the store with their food stamps. Yes i was the one who stuck my nose up at them. If it wasn't for Hollie's conviction and her amazing heart, this story would never be. Hollie was digging deep trying to find out what God wanted her to see in her life. She felt she needed to purge some unwanted feelings but couldn't find exactly what it was that she needed to do. One day, she was washing her car in her driveway and she saw one of the women outside on the back porch, washing her clothes in a bucket. Can you imagine if we had to wash our children's clothes for in a bucket? Hollie found herself saying in her head "What are they doing? Why can't they just go inside like everyone else and wash their clothes?" She said she felt God saying to her "Who are you to judge them? They are my children and I love them as much as I love you." Go ask them if they need help. She walked over and asked if she could wash their clothes for them. The mother started crying when she picked up the clean clothes. To this day, Hollie has been washing the family of 8's clothes without judging or griping about them. Hollie called me upset to let me know the condition of these children's clothes. She told me how pitiful they were and that the little girls and boys were wearing sizes way too small for them and the 2 year old little girl was sometimes in her 4 year old brother's clothes. That night, I went thru all Ally's and my clothes. We purged our closets and gave this family everything we could for a little girl age 2T to 4T including dress up clothes, baby stroller, named brand clothes ( that i was desperately holding on to for no reason) I knocked on their door the next day and gave them everything hoping i would help a little. They cannot speak English very well but showed me how they were forever grateful. They even brought as a thank you gift a carton of milk, cereal, baby formula and grape juice they had gotten from the store. Wow. Every day the little girl is wearing one of Ally's outfits. I will admit, I am selfish as they come but Hollie is an amazing woman of God who i am forever grateful to have in my life. I am writing this email to ask that you will all come to a baby shower Hollie is hosting for the woman next door One of the two ladies is pregnant with her third child. Best decision given their situation? No, but who I am to judge on what they do?? Regardless, these are children and they need to be loved and cared for just like our own children. She is in need of clothes for a boy, diapers and formula, crib, blankets, etc. They need a baby swing, high chair, anything you can think of for their 12 month old baby girl now and the future baby boy. Think what you might have in your attic or what you friends or family's might not need anymore.They have nothing. You walk in the house and it is bare. They have no couch. They have a TV on the floor. They have no kitchen table for the kids to sit and eat dinner. But what they do have are very sweet and loving hearts and a need for others to reach out for them and love them unconditionally, regardless of what path they have battled. They don't even have a refrigerator. They put their food in a cooler every day. Yes she has food stamps but this precious baby boy needs more than those can offer. The two husbands work like crazy but given this economy, we are not the only ones struggling. Can you imagine? I will be the first to admit; my family (Ally and myself) are fattened or engorged with way to much "stuff". We could use a little more purging and realization that we don't "NEED" everything we stuff our lives with. That is why I am willing to dig in my closets some more and offer them toys ally doesn't even realize she has (due to the plethora of toys she has) Hollie and I see this lady wearing the same maternity dress every day. We have decided to get her a pretty new maternity dress, corsage and invite tons of people that she doesn't know to her baby shower. What kind of impression do you think this will make on her? We have no idea but this will be amazing. Please come and bring anything you desire for a baby boy. New or used, just wrap it up. Also, if you are interested please bring clothes that you have in storage or ready to give away to charity for the other children. Anything you can find that you are not using, please email me and let me know. I will come and pick it up from you. Sizes are as follows: They need future sizes as well as winter clothes. Little Girl- 6 to 12 monthsLittle Girl- 2TLittle Boy- 4TLittle Boy - 6T If you could come, even for 30 minutes, I believe the impact of people caring for this family would be amazing. If you can't come, please bring me anything you want to donate and I will gladly give to them. They can't speak a lick of English so if you know some Spanish, bring it on! We are communicating with them right now thru letters we are translating from English to Spanish. Thank God for the internet!