Down TIme!

Sorry for the recent lapse in posts. We've been busy since we got back from our trip up North getting right back into school, work, EOG's and the beginning of end of school year kind of stuff. I'd have to say we've also just been feeling kind of drained physically lately. I've tried to sit down a couple of times over the past week and "do a post", and to write our May newsletter, but I've felt like my brain is fried. We even stayed home from our church camp gathering this long holiday weekend to get some rest. Most of all, we've been frustrated with the feeling like our family has been "scattered" over this past month. We all decided to stay home and "regroup". Now, half of us have the stomach bug. Ken and Kyle started throwing up at 3 a.m. this morning. Jordan was sick Thursday night into Saturday. There were some highlights to the weekend though, the silver lining. Ken got the kids a 5-man tent and they all slept outside on Saturday night after a family bon fire complete with smores and a game of hide-n-seek in the dark. I tell ya, Heather is hard to find. I finally got scared after looking for her a half an hour and told her she needed to come out. Who da' thought to look for her hiding standing up in the center of a Leland cyprus tree? Sunday we went to church and Ken's parents came over for steaks on the grill. The rest of Sunday was spent playing Parchessi (I won), fishing and the kids slept outside Sunday night. That's kind of a wrap up of the holiday weekend.

Many of you have asked how we felt our presentations went over the last two weeks. Our prayer is that we have brought honor and glory to God! It isn't about us, but about Him, and what He has done in our lives. We are most grateful for every time that we get to share! It will be weeks before we know if any more support has come in from these presentations. We continue to operate in "prayer mode". And the amazing thing is that we always seem to come away feeling like we've received more than we've given. The encouragement the last couple of weeks has been needed and so appreciated! Again and again, we thank you for partnering with us in our endeavor to get to Costa Rica. May God continue to bless you in return for blessing us!

God has no time for pity parties!

For a moment this morning I thought about Renee and how she would always call all of her family members and sing a special birthday song that we "expected" to hear every year. At her funeral we found out that almost every one that she knew was getting the same phone call every year on their birthdays too! It was said "if Renee met you once and she found out your birth date, you were guaranteed a song". Some family members have this song recorded on their cell phones and someone even recorded it off their cell phone into a Build-A-Bear for Renee's granddaughter on her first birthday in April. It is that priceless! Well, today is my birthday (Sherri). I didn't expect to hear anyone call and sing Happy Birthday to me today. I was wrong! Three people have already called today with three different renditions of the birthday song. A style all their own! Two, are priceless recordings on my answering machine. My God cared about a simple song. He knew it would bless me in a BIG way!

Ministry Blessings!

We arrived home safely last night at 10 p.m. Thank you to all of those who prayed for us during our whirlwind trip to Syracuse! I felt that we were "prepared" for the three presentations that we did, but we never seem to be prepared for the blessing that we receive in return. It's like that A LOT in missions work! We were surrounded Friday night in our small-group presentation by people that had "brought us up" in our home church, Youth leaders, Worship leaders, friends and family. It was heart warming to see them teary-eyed as we shared about our "passion" to serve God in Costa Rica. There were 15 in attendance. On Saturday we spent the day with Ken's younger sister and her family. We received a "surprise" visit from Ken's niece and her beautiful children. She is Renee's daughter (Renee is Ken's sister who just passed away in March) and it meant so much to us that she would travel an hour and a half to come see us with her small children. She is a real trooper and a blessing to us! On Sunday morning we went to my sister's church. We did a small-group presentation to 20+ people there during the Sunday School hour while Danielle did a simultaneous presentation to about 8 Youth. We then did a very short, about 15 minute presentation in the Worship Service. We were blessed by the warmth with which we were received at Scipio Center Community Church. We immediately felt like we were part of "their family". I know for sure that they share a kindred spirit for missions in their church and for reaching the lost with the Good News of Jesus Christ. I hope we can visit this church again. We left there excited, feeling as though the Lord was at work amongst them! Kind of like a feeling that you want to "stick around" because you feel like you're going to miss something exciting happen! On the way home yesterday we got to see Ken's older brother meeting up with him for lunch. That was a lot of fun! Well, today it's back to work, laundry, school, but also more preparation. This Sunday evening we have another small group presentation to do at 7 p.m. While we are tired from traveling, we are still excited! Excited to be able to share what the Lord is already doing in Costa Rica and how others might be involved in the ministry there. Keep us in your prayers! God bless you all!

I've been tagged!

Okay, I'm sitting here a little bleery-eyed this morning. I just woke up and checked my email because that's how my medical records come to me to transcribe. Low and behold, an email from my good buddy Nathan Babcock, name ring a bell with you? He's part of our missions team in Costa Rica. I had other emails, but his and Amber's always take priority! He has blog tagged me! So, here's the rules:

Each player starts with eight random facts or habits about him or herself.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the beginning of your blog, mention the person who tagged you. At the end of your post, choose eight people to tag, listing their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here's the eight gorey details!

1. I (Sherri) won Most Valuable Player my senior year of high school in soccer setting a school record as goalie for most shut-outs.
2. Our family's favorite card game is "Hearts" and one of our daughters, who is very competitive, wants to make sure Nathan knows how to play. Why...I asked? And I quote, "I want to clean his clock in Costa Rica". The name of this child shall remain a secret!
3. I can't stand, I mean, CANNOT STAND, to have my pillow fluffed. I'm neurotic about it and Ken does it just to irritate me sometimes! LOL!
4. I do not bite my fingernails, but I am obsessive-compulsive about cutting them. Okay, I type medical records for a living. I can type faster when my nails are short.
5. We all love Mexican food, but Jordan, who is 6, along with Ken, can eat it very spicy.
6. In my free time, which I don't have a whole lot of, but here and there I enjoy making homemade cards. Rubber stamps are my weapon!
7. Ken & I both graduated from Christian high schools, who are rivals! We never attend Homecoming because those two schools play against each other on that day (soccer). I mean, how do you explain that to your children? Mom on one side of the field, Dad on the other? Dirty looks, you know, the whole rivalry thing! It's ugly!
8. We've lived in N.C. for ten years this month, but have never really left our hometown sports team and adopted Duke or Carolina (much to Nathan's dismay) as our own. Long live the Syracuse Orangemen!

Okay, I know no one else who has a blog. So I now have no one to pass this tag game on too.

"Pumped" for ministry presentations!

We are SO PUMPED!! We get really excited when we have the opportunity to share about the ministries of El Jardin and how we believe God is calling us to serve in Costa Rica. In fact, minimal caffeine will be needed to keep us going this week! Friday night we will be at our home church in Syracuse, New York combining my brother's small-group with my sister's small-group and doing a presentation there. On Saturday, we will spend some time with Ken's sister and brother. Sunday, we will attend my brother-in-law's church and do a small-group presentation there in the morning during the Sunday School hour. Danielle will be doing a separate presentation from us to the Youth since she went to Costa Rica herself last summer. We will then do about a 15-minute presentation during the worship service. We will begin traveling home on Monday morning. I told our Youth Group last night at their meeting, "Here's your opportunity! If you have ever wanted us out of this church this would be a good time to pray us out"!! We all laughed. Seriously though, we can't emphasize how much we need YOUR PRAYERS during this week as we prepare, as we travel, as we speak! And don't forget to pray for Heather and Kyle as they stay home in N.C. with Grandma & Grandpa (course, Grandma & Grandpa might be the ones who really need the prayer, just kiddin'). In all that we say and do may God our Father receive honor and glory! We KNOW you've got our backs! Thank-you!

Presentation Update/Prayer Request

Our Saturday night presentation was cancelled for the second time with a closed door for rescheduling, and while we are disappointed we still believe that God is in control! I can't say that we fully understand what His plans are for us and there are days we sure wish we knew, but we do have peace! Peace that He knows what His purpose is for our family in all of this and peace that He knows what is best for El Jardin! We will travel up North in about a week and a half to do a church presentation (Sherri's first Mother's Day with her Mom in ten years! She's very excited) and a small group presentation, and then we have two more small group presentations to do down here in North Carolina, one in May, one in June. We don't know what we will do from there as we will be at the end of our contact list. So, just continue to keep us in your prayers as we wait and know that we put our trust in Him! We believe that He knows exactly who He would like to be involved in this ministry with us! Our only desire is to be obedient to His will for us! "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose". Rom. 8:28. Thanks for praying!