Poverty and AIDS

I met a wonderful Momma of I am not sure how many children today.  I met her 27 yr. old daughter who has 5 small children and just lost her job at a  local egg farm, I met the 15 yr old daughter who is about to become a momma at Christmas time.    Through her children being homeless, living in shelters, foster care and group homes her family had become disjointed.   I never would have known this today.  There has been reconciliation in this poverty stricken family.  Not the happy ending kind we would hope to see, but the trial stricken we have each other kind.  This momma, the one who's now grown children are living poverty trying to do the best they can will be watching on of her own die this week. Her 29 yr. old daughter was molested at a group home when she was just a young girl by a man with full blown aids.  Heartbreaking.

Curtis and I went into their home to pray for them and it turned into such a sweet time of encouragement for me. Not what I was expecting. This 27 yr old jobless momma, not knowing how she is going to go on in life is praising God for me.  Praising God that we came over to pray for them.  Praising and thanking God for the young man that has come into our home.  

The results of poverty are overwhelming, how does this happen.  I don't know the whole story but I can imagine.  Single parenting, no money, working all the time, kids to much to handle, no resources, and the list can go on and on.  This family is holding on to each other right now and to God.  To watch them this afternoon was priceless and heartbreaking.  I have heard so many complain about our welfare state.  I would strongly suggest they take the time to really understand what this kind of poverty is like.

We will hopefully be staring a small group next week.  We officially have a plan.  They want to come.  I can't wait to see what God is doing.

Please pray for Crystal she is dying from AIDS
                       -  Erika the jobless momma of five beautiful kids and seems to be the glue in the family
                       - Karen the momma of them all
                       - and we'll call her "Anna" the young lady this about to become a momma herself

Church family

Lately I have been really longing for a church family.  We go to church every week but very few speak to us besides the pastor. There is one couple who have sought us out every week to see how we are but that is really about it.  We have invited families over for dinner on numerous occasions but always get the same response. It is very disappointing as at times we feel like God dropped us in the middle of a spiritual war zone without any backup.   Nice, praying, spirit filled friendship is greatly missed these days.  There was a time when we could walk into church and someone would just walk up to us, or vice versa with a word from the Lord, or feeling the need to pray.  It was refreshing for the soul.

I was particularly feeling this over the weekend.  We are going through a lot of changes at home, and a friendly word, or kind gesture would have been so welcome.  As we were driving home from New Hampshire on Saturday I received a text from my dear friend who lives a couple hours away.  She texted me and said that I had been on her heart lately and she wanted me to know that she was praying for our family.  She has absolutely no idea what we are in the midst of at home.  A divine stirring from the Holy Spirit just for me.   Thank - you dear friend for paying attention to the Father's voice. It was  a gift for me from my Father.   So I don't get the things I think I need from my local church,  the text reminded me that the Church is so much bigger that a building or a state.  The church exceeds all of our imaginations.

I can't really talk about what we are going through but you are all welcome to stop by for a visit.  Life is good and God is good.

We ended up finding an older suburban with less miles than ours has.  We are going to sell the newer one we have to gain a few more inches of car space and a needed extra seat.  Please pray that all goes well and the vehicle ends up being a good investment.

Thanks to all of you who read this and are praying for us.

Fostering

The long and short of it. We went to an Experiencing God conference last weekend. It was a nice refresher.  We've been praying about what God wants for us and really want to help homeless youth.

So.... I'm grocery shopping on Wednesday morning with my two little girls and get a phone call from a friend and she asks if we would like to to emergency foster care.   Thursday we get a kid.  CRAZY!   No training, no experience, and feeling just a little bit overwhelmed.  Talk about getting thrown into the fire.

My question is ... How do you say no?   Pray for us... Thanks.