On the Ranch...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

 I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends!! I will be on the ranch with my family for the weekend. I am so excited!! :) I wanted to express to you just how thankful I am for each and everyone of you as you have come alongside me throughout this year of seeing what the Lord is teaching me, where He has called me to go, and battling through the ups and downs of life! PRAISE GOD THAT HE HAS WON THE BATTLES!! Thanks again for all of your prayers, words of encouragement, and friendships! I'm sure I will have plenty of pictures and stories to show after this weekend! 

Love you all and Happy Turkey Day!

Loving Jesus more & more,

Joy

ps- HOOK'EM HORNS! :)

8 months ago...

Today is actually a very significant day...8 months ago, my Dad was diagnosed with stage 3 Esophageal Cancer! My families' world was turned upside down that day!! I can't believe that it's only been 8 months...it seems like it's been over a year of going through all that we have gone through. Plus, 4 months ago from Saturday, July 22, was my Dad's surgery.

As Thanksgiving is only just a couple of days away, I can't help but be thankful for my Dad's life and for him still being here with us today! The Lord has surely carried me and all of my family through such a difficult season. My dad still has a long way to go before FULL recovery but he is making it. Every day is a NEW day and we are so thankful for the progress we have seen in my dad thus far! We give the Lord constant praise for holding us up throughout these 8 months and making each of us even stronger! Thank you all for praying for my family and I. We can't express to you how much of a blessing it is to have you walking next to us!

God is still our Hope, our Joy , our Comfort, Strength, Provider, Shepherd, Healer, Conquerer, Saviour, Lord, and the one we give all the GLORY to!! I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!! I pray that God will pour out an abundant blessing to you!! Know that I am truly grateful for you! Love you all!!

Praising the Lord,

Joy

WOW....PRAISE GOD!!

There are so many things to be thankful for this week and I am not saying that just because Thanksgiving is a week away but for other things that were accomplished this week!! First of all...I am so thankful that it is the weekend! It's been one busy week at work and I am so glad that I have a couple days to relax, watch football, go to church, and see friends. 

I finally finished my massive project I have been working on for the past couple of weeks. PRAISE THE LORD!! I just dropped the last bucket of mail at the post office on my way home tonight. Our precious children in our program throughout Lusaka wrote Thanksgiving Day letters to their sponsors. (There were about 1000 letters that had to be sent!! ) It was a BIG project for me and I got it done!! I am going to try to put one on here so you can just see how sweet, pure, innocent, and authentic they are. That has been one of my favorite things lately that I have been able to read some of these letters. It's almost like I can picture their faces as they are writing...

Also this week... my director put up a Camp LIFE 2009 Countdown.... :) We are at 177 days until we head off to Zambia!! We designed the t-shirts, selected the songs, the versus, the daily lessons, and....discussed what we are going to BLESS the children with!!! I can't wait!! [You Camp LIFE Alumni will love what we are going to do!! And for everyone else reading this...well you just need to come to Zambia to experience it for yourself... : ) ] This coming summer is going to be so amazing and I believe God is going to move like never before in the hearts of every child. To give you an idea of what will be taking place next summer here are few things you CAN know at the moment...everything else will have to wait for the team meetings in the Spring....

Camp LIFE 2009

Theme : Jesus Loves Me

Verse : John 3:16 (main verse)

Daily Lessons: How God displays His Love on us

Songs: All I can say is...HIGH ENERGY, UPBEAT, FUN... 

(What else would you expect?? haha)

Things we are giving the children: I can't tell you.... : )

I wish I could tell you more, but I can't be the one to spill all the secrets. All I know is that this message is going to be so powerful because all of them come from such harsh, discouraging, unloving homes. I am so excited about continuing to watch the Lord move in big ways to make Himself known throughout the country of Zambia. 

Along with the Thanksgiving Letters and Camp LIFE 2009 news....I have some fun updates from my kiddos! Holly brought back all these pictures and videos. It is so amazing to me of how God is in the midst of changing a country by working through the little children. Sooo....here a few (of many) pictures of my kids from Kamanga Community....(Heather and Holly are clearly the Americans with them...haha)

*Heather is at Maggie's House...they are eating ring pops! 

*All the kids outside their home*

*All of the kids...*

*Ok...this is EMMA...remember her from this summer?? 

Well she is just LOVING being at the LIFEWAY Homes...she is such a light and I am so thankful the Lord rescued her from the horrific situation she was in. Oh and she just got "plats"...they are basically hair extensions to braid into their short shaved hair. I JUST LOVE THIS PICTURE AND THIS CHILD!! 

*Here is sweet Susan with Paul...my two favorites (besides Maggie)! 

That about does it for the week...I want to tell each of you...THANK YOU!! You all are so encouraging and provide so much support through your prayers and friendships. I would not be here if it was not the Lord using you. It is such an honor to have you come alongside me and be a part of something so much bigger than we can grasp. Thanks to all of you for your financial support. God is providing and I am so humbled by it all! PRAISE GOD FOR YOU! 

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for keeping up to date!! :)

Living for Jesus,

Joy

PS - I am probably going to change my URL address to something more simply like joyjanszen. I will let you know when the change happens but just a heads up. 

Weekend recap and Busy Week....

Well to give you a recap of this week I will make it short and sweet because I'm afraid I would bore you all with the details...sooo...

Last weekend was great! On Saturday I slept in for the first time in a while and went to my cousin's baby shower at Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. It was my first time there and it was beautiful!! I really want to go back and just walk around outside. But anyways, I got to see my mom, sister, nieces, and more family!! (Pictures Below)

*Mom, (my 3 nieces: Ruth, Esther, & Anna), Me, and JJ*

*Mom and her daughters*

It was great to see them and it made me excited about our holiday events that are coming fast around the corner. After that, I came back home (to my aunts house) and took a nice jog before my good friend Lauren Shoush came over to eat dinner, watch football, and eat brownies! We had so much fun just talking, laughing and feeling like fat kids! haha...I mean we kept justifying that it was "okay" to eat as much as we wanted because we both had gone running earlier in the day. BUT we are planning to do it again soon! : ) 

Sunday was sooo busy running around town doing normal errands that I have not been able to do in my normal weekly schedule. My afternoon was spent at Southlake Town Center. It has been my favorite place to go as I was growing up and I just love that I am only 15 minutes away from the best little shopping center!! It's especially great when it's all decorated for Christmas. Anyways, I dropped off my Mac to get repaired, ran into a few smalls shops and grabbed Starbucks. What else could be better on a fall night!?!? Might I had that my Macbook crashed and now I basically have a brand new computer - I lost everything I had from the past 2 years!! Pictures, Videos, Music....GONE!! : ( I guess this is a good analogy of storing our treasure's in heaven because earthly things can be taken from us so quickly. (That sounded cheesy, but my Aunt said that to me so if she said it then it's okay to share - haha) 

My weekend wasn't all too restful with the week I had ahead; however, it was so fun! This week has been quite busy with all the projects and things I am responsible for. I don't even want to try to explain things because it just overwhelms me a bit. Tomorrrow (Friday) is supposed to be my big mail out day...I feel pretty on top of everything with printing out over 800 address labels, scanning over 1000 letters, organizing all the letters written from our kids, and separate them by community schools...Yikes...I have also had to learn to work more in-depthly with our database so that I can fix any issue (hopefully) on the website concerning our kids. It's CRAZY!! Even though I feel like I am not making a dent in any projects I am becoming an expert in soaking up as much information as possible and then somehow spitting out the right answer! : ) 

But seriously, doing all these different projects and seeing all these new things in Family Legacy excites me sooo much!! As God is moving here, He is moving in Zambia. I actually spoke with Holly again today and she said that there is so much happening on that side already! PRAISE THE LORD!! We are seeing so much progress and it's only been a few months. Just think of what the outcomes will be like when several more months pass by...

I can't believe that it's almost the weekend...I CAN'T WAIT!! Tomorrow is my Dad's Birthday so we are going to have a little party for him on Sunday. I will be relaxing Saturday while watching football and then heading to church at The Village that evening. Sunday I'll be down at the ranch all day!! I am so thankful for a place that I can get away and just embrace the presence of the Lord! It's almost like I can breath a little easier out there! I will try to post pictures of this upcoming weekend.

Well sorry that I said this was going to be short and sweet...what can ya do? 

Hope you all have had a great week and enjoy your weekend! 

Focused on Him,

Joy

You just have to love them!!!

Well this week as been everything but slow and easy...I have so many things I am working on at once and it's basically "crunch time" for me says my director. haha...anyways, keep praying for me. I have to send out a mass mailing to over 1,000 people and so many more things have to be done next week. Besides all of the projects I am working on, I got to talk with my dear friend Holly Scurry. She is an assistant director and is currently in Zambia right now working on things, but today I got to talk with her and her sister on the phone. They gave me the best news.........

They went and saw my kiddos yesterday in Kamanga. They took pictures and videos of them. Just knowing that someone was there with my kids strengthened my heart. While I was talking with them on the phone they sent me a few pictures....more are coming soon plus a video! Don't worry I will share these all with you as they send me them...but for now these are 4 pictures they sent me. Holly said they are doing well, but just still very thin...

*These first 2 are Maggie...

*This is Maggie's house - Look at that precious smile with all her teeth missing!! :)

*This is Heather and Holly with (left to right) Susan, the baby (unknown name) and Maggie sucking on ring pops!

They said that they loved these things...I mean what child would not love a ring pop??

*Here they are...all 6 kiddos...4 of them came Camp LIFE. We didn't know about the other 2 till later.

(Left to Right: little Susan, Older sister, Maggie, Junior, Joseph, Peter, and then little baby)

I just love them all!!! :)

So that's it for now...I have a crazy weekend just trying to play catch up on things that I haven't been able to do since work has been so busy. But just so you know...the Lord has been providing on the financial side of things. I am so humbled and honored to be able to do what I do. Praise the Lord for all that He is providing and what He will provide. He is doing so much in my life and I love what I have been learning lately. I am hoping to share all of that with you in a later post. Thanks for checking on how things are going in my life. I pray that you are doing well yourself! Be Blessed!

Being made more like Him,

Joy

WHAT A WEEKEND...

So...lets just say that God is soo good!! My weekend was filled with so many great things that just thinking about it makes me excited!! This weekend was Baylor's Homecoming and every year there are lots of activities going on...Pigskin, Bonfire, Parade, and the game. Along with the activities, so many alumni come back in to have reunions and boy did I have them...

Thursday afternoon I drove down to Waco and I met up with one of my dearest friends, Kaitlyn Amos. I had the privilege of discipling her throughout my senior year of college. We attended Pigskin that night with her family and roommates. (To those who don't know what Pigskin is..it's basically a mini-Broadway show that Greek organizations actually perform in the Spring..called "Sing" and the top 8 acts out of 20 will perform again during Homecoming). It's a really big deal and I was involved in as many performences as possible! Haha..I'm sure you can imagine... I'm not a singer or dancer, but being able to do all of that with some of your greatest friends is so much fun!! Anyways, Kaitlyn and I watched all the performances and then headed back to her place.*Kaitlyn and I at Pigskin

During the day on Friday, I had lunch with Kaitlyn before she left for her soccer game in Austin. Later on I would meet up with my old roommates! Chelsea, Amber, Garland and I all lived together our Senior year. (Chelsea, Amber and I lived together for 3 years and Garland and I lived together for 2 years but all four of us lived together for 1). Anyways, I met them at our favorite Italian restaurant called Baris. It's a little hole in the wall!

*Chelsea, Me, Garland, and Amber at Baris!

My heart was so refreshed with being able to spend time with them. It's not that often that just us 4 girls can sit around and catch up. After we ate dinner we headed over to the Bonfire on campus. It is another Baylor Tradition...As we walked around we saw so many people we knew and again it was so great to get to see them all!! Chelsea, Amber and Garland all headed to Pigskin that night and I stayed around talking to some Chi Omegas in the show. I love getting to just talk with girls who I spent time with during college. Friday night I stayed at Johanna's house, another girl who I discipled throughout college.

*Johanna and I at the bonfire!

Saturday morning was the Homecoming breakfast for Chi Omega. All of the current members and Alumni get to have some time together in the morning reminiscing on memories. I loved this!! A lot of my favorite people were all in the same room for the first time in a while. Some of those I saw included: Paige Baten-Locke and her daughter Katie-Leigh Baten (I met them in Zambia - picture below), Audra Peterson, Carly Christensen, Jerica Olson, Taylor Gift, Lauren Sherman, LM Hudson, my roommates of course, and many more...*Paige, Katie-Leigh, and I at the Chi Omega Breakfast Saturday Morning
(I met Paige and Katie-Leigh in Zambia this summer. We became so close throughout our time there.)

Once the breakfast was over, Chelsea, Amber and I headed over to the middle of campus to watch the parade. We had a good time sitting on the side of the road watching all the floats come by...
*Chels, Garland, Me and Amber at the parade!

Once the parade ended we grabbed one last meal together and then went our separate ways. On my way out of town I stopped by one of my favorite places...'Food for Thought' and said bye to Kaitlyn then off to Starbucks for a pick-me-up drink...just when I thought my weekend couldn't not have gotten better, the Lord blow me away at what would unfold...

*Kaitlyn and I at 'Food for Thought'

As I was waiting on my drink to be made in Starbucks I noticed an African American standing behind the counter and something inside of me told me to ask him where he was from. To make this long story short...this guy's name is Zaccheaus and he is from Lusaka, Zambia!!! I could not believe!! I got so excited that people started looking at me in Starbucks. I did not care...clearly...because I just met a ZAMBIAN!! I mean I thought I had to go to Zambia to hang out with Zambians but I guess you just have to go to your nearest Starbucks...haha..anyways, we sat for about 30 minutes before he invited me to come to his house and get 2 cd's that him and his group that he travels with made. I went over to the host family's house that he lives with and met another Zambian, named Alan. Their host Mom was there as well. Another fun aspect is that Nancy's daughter, Amanda, went to Camp LIFE!! Crazy of how small the world is!! So for the next hour and a half I hung out with them at their house. My heart was so happy to just spend time with those from the country I love!! I am hoping to see them again soon!! : )

*My two NEW Zambian friends in America!! (Alan, Me, and Zaccheaus)

So that was my crazy, busy, fun-filled weekend with so many great people!! Oh and I also went home to see my parents on Saturday. They are doing well! It was really great for me to see them too! Keep praying for my Dad to gain weight...he's down a few more pounds this week! :(

I am so thankful for everyone who I got to see and spend time with!! On another note, please be praying for me this week. I am working on about 4 - 5 projects at work and it's slightly overwhelming! Things are going great though...God is moving, Kids are being loved on, and souls are being saved!! Thanks again for all of your prayers! Love you all!

Loving Jesus,
Joy