Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, an acrostic...not poem..just an acrostic of things I am thankful to God for.

T: Teachers. My mom for the five million things shes taught me, my sisters for teaching me the facts of life, Daniel for teaching me how to be respectful, my awesome teachers at DACC, and all of my friends who teach me huge life lessons.

H: Home. For Having a home that I love to be in, that I truly cherish, and where great memories are made.

A:Abby. My best friend. She knows me the very very best and yet she still love me.

N:Nature. God has shared with us as humans the beauty of his handiwork, from the falling leaves with their vibrant colors, to the intricate snowflakes, to the beautiful flowers, to the warm summer sunshine.

K:Kin. My Family that I couldn't be more thankful for, and for those who seem like they must be family, and for the family of God of which I am so glad I am apart.

S:Sacrifice. From those who sacrifice daily for my benefit, for He who made the ultimate sacrifice for my sinful state.

G:Gladness. That I am glad in the Lord, and that I can come to him in praise and thanksgiving. The emotion of gladness is easily discarded, but what a beautiful and wonderful thing it is to be happy in the Lord!

I:Illinois. Yes. I am thankful for the endless rows of corn, for the huge farms, for Alyssa and how she lives so close, for our church here, for the Steak n' Shake, for Mike's Chill, for the Danville mall, but mostly for the endless sweet memories made in this state.

V:Victory. Everyday God offers me victory over sin. Sometimes I accept it, sometimes I don't but it's there just the same.

I:Intellect. For things I have learned, things I will learn, and things I need to relearn.

N:Nostalgia. For contemplating memories, and remembering moments in time with a veiw of how it has benefited me.

G:Grace. Daily grace to live according to God's will for my life. One day at a time. No more or less. Each little test, I overcome with his grace, and move on to the next.

Thank you heavenly father for your awesome goodness to me. You shower me with blessings beyond my greatest hopes. I praise your name for eternity. Amen.



This is a picture of Cede from this fall....I am VERY thankful for her!

A Quick Update

I have been working with the kids for three weeks now and I have had a phenomenal time!

The Lord worked the timing out just right for me to go down and help right after Mandy had her babies, I think there was like one week where Johanna had to handle Mandy's group....God's timing is so perfect!

We start out by letting the kids just play around for about 10-15 min. while the teachers get ready. This is one of my favorite times (probably because I'm not one of the teachers getting ready)it's just so neat to see kids interact with one another. All the little kids are in there too at that point so it's just really neat to see them all learning to get along. I will never forget the first week I was down there, watching Jo Jo and Marky playing with the marbles it was darling because they were like so fascinated by them.

After that, the kids clean up and then we sing some songs make announcements etc. Funny how like half the kids have birthdays every week. :)

Johanna does a great job with the lesson, (right now we're learning about different kinds of fools). She always has these awesome illustrations that are really good for helping you remember the lesson. Plus, she's getting them well prepared for Pastor Scott..:)

After this, is my most favorite time: small groups. My group is awesome; Lydia, Anna, Collin, Delani, Joah and Taylin. They're hilarious, and I just have so much fun. At first I was kind of worried about the sibling duos, but actually it can be quite helpful, (for instance, Lydia was like SO close to knowing her verse, but all the kids were waiting to say theirs, so I just asked Anna to help her with it and the great big sister that she is, she took her aside and worked on it with her.)

Last week, was the deepest week yet, it was the story of the Godless Fool. The main story (which they humorously acted out) was about Lazarus the Leper, and how he wished he could just eat crumbs from the rich man's table, but when they died how the tables were turned and the rich man begged Lazarus from Hell that he might cool his tongue with a droplet of water.

That story is a good one, but I wanted to make it clear that if you are poor it doesn't mean you automatically get to go to Heaven or if you are rich then you are for sure headed for Hell. This lead to basically a discussion of how you do get to go to heaven, and I was surprised somewhat by the answers. It is interesting to me that even when a child does have Jesus in their heart, it is still somewhat hard for them to explain how he got there (as it is for me!). It also opened my eyes to children who still need the Lord, or do not yet understand. I so longed to sit and talk with ones who were unsure, but I was called to lead a game for the kids to play, and so I'm praying that God will open up another time for such deep discussion again.

I am so happy and praising the Lord for this huge responsibility and opportunity he has given me. :)