Better Late than Never

Just 10 days late...

If you remember...I told you in an earlier post that my family has traditions on Valentine's Day...well we still do!! Haha...on Tuesday night my sister had all of us (My parents, brother, myself, and all of her kids...there were 11 of us total!!) over for a Late Valentine's dinner. JJ makes the exact same thing my mom does on Valentine's: homemade lasagna, bread, salad, and our infamous heart shaped Red Velvet Cake. It was delicious!!

Here are a few pictures of the table and the cake!

The best part was just getting to see all my family! I hadn't seen them since our ski trip to Colorado in mid-January. It definitely was refreshing to get to be with them. My nephew and nieces literally stayed by my side. As soon as I got to my sister's house, I had Anna, Joshua and Esther all grabbing my hands and pulling me to come with them. I realized that if you need someone to just love you...let a child love on you! It makes you feel good! :) haha

Oh and my Dad gained 4 pounds! Praise the Lord! I know to some of y'all that's not a big deal, but it is to my family! We have just got to pray that he keeps gaining and not losing. He is so precious and I am still thankful that He continues to be with us each day!

Last Sunday we (Family Legacy) had our first set of team meetings for this summer. We had about 100 people come to our meeting in Dallas. It was a great turn out! These meetings always get me excited about what is to come! *If any of you want to come with us this summer please apply NOW!! We have lowered the prices until March 1st. So if you want to come be a part of this life changing journey and see what God is doing in Zambia then go to Camp LIFE 2009 . If you have questions please call me! I would love to have you come and be a part of it! (I know there are some of you out there just itching to go. Please don't miss this opportunity! You will never be the same again!)

Have a great weekend! Love yall!

Living for Him,

Joy

Simply Humbled

I can't believe another week has come and gone! I feel like they just keep going faster and funny enough, I need them to slow down!! Has anyone every wished that you could press the pause button on your life?? I have thought that many times, but I guess the Lord wants us to learn to adjust with each passing moment. I don't have much exciting news, but I did want to share something you...On Friday, it finally hit me...

I leave for Zambia, Africa in 10 weeks! In the past when I would think about how long until I would leave, I would usually get overwhelmed with all the tasks and "to dos" that I would need to get done. However, it was completely different yesterday...

I had this beautiful rush of joy, humility, love, and encouragement. I am about to leave the states and go love these children in Zambia without reservation. I have been behind a desk for several months now, but soon I will be walking the streets with the poor, orphans, widows, and those stricken with diseases. I will have the incredible privilege of sharing the hope of salvation and love of Christ to these battered, bruised, hopeless and lifeless people. As I was thinking about this yesterday, all I could say was, "WOW! I really get to do this? How do I, of all people, get to do this?"

Sometimes it's difficult to imagine the other side of things when you get overwhelmed with all the other demands and tasks. When you want to be somewhere else, it's hard to be content in the meantime. God has stretched and challenged me with that very lesson almost every day over the past months. What's amazing about what the Lord does is that He is perfect in His timing! He knows our desires and longings and during the waiting period, He is at work preparing us for what is to come even though we may be blind to it. And then when He has prepared us, He will send us! :) How amazing is that?!

I am moved beyond words in how the Lord is allowing me to be apart of what He is doing on the other side of the world. I want to tell all of you..THANK YOU! Thank you for praying, for encouraging me, for walking alongside of me, for financially supporting me, and for letting the Lord use you! I wish I could express to you all how much you mean to me and how much God has used you already in my life! I pray that God would reward each of you for every prayer prayed, for every dollar donated, and for every time you remember what God is doing through the ministry I work for. What a true blessing you all have been!

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in HIS holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol...
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God His Savior
Such is the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek Your face, O God of Jacob."
Psalm 24:1-6

I hope you all are doing well!

Seeking Jesus more and more,
Joy

Oh Happy Day

What a whirlwind it has been....

My weekend in Arkansas was so much fun! I just loved going up there to not only help work on wedding stuff with Stephanie, but to see some of my dearest friends!! It really was refreshing for my heart to have such intentional conversations about life and what we are learning from the Lord. I praise God for the sweet friends I have up there! (You all know who you are :) ) Anyways, I ran around with Stephanie all day Friday getting little things for her wedding in 3 weeks. We went out to dinner that night with Garrett (Stephanie's Fiancee) to one of my favorite places : Cozymels. Saturday and Sunday were filled with working on some things for her reception and then her two showers! After a fun-filled weekend, I jumped back into my car and got back home extremely late, but it was worth it. It's moments like that where the trip was long, but I got to spend some great quality time with those I just love! 

This week at work has been quite the week! I am almost done with another project that consists of getting all the Christmas Letters and pictures, that were taken at our Christmas Party that we had in Zambia, together and out in the mail to all our sponsors. It's been fun to see their cute little faces and read their letters. On top of that, I have had some NEW information come my way about me being in Zambia this year. The first thing that I can share with you is that my departure date has bumped up almost 2 weeks!! AHH...just thinking about leaving a lot earlier is so fun, but I have so much to do by then! So that means instead of leaving May 15 I am NOW leaving May 3 !! That is less than 3 months!! Oh my goodness!!! 

Anyways, I hope you all have a great weekend! Enjoy it with your Valentine...I mean only if you have one. Haha... I am not sure if you have traditions, but my family has had traditions for Valentine's Day for as long as I can remember. One of my favorites is...we bake the best red velvet cake ever! :) (If you have been around to taste it, then you know what I mean!) I still try to do that no matter where I am or who I'm with. 

Be Blessed!

Resting in Him,

Joy

BUSY!!

This has been the most craziest week ever!! We all at FLMI have been going non-stop. We have been making trips to almost every Walmart, Target, and Sams in the area to buy things for Zambia this summer. (Just thinking about those stores right now makes me a little sick..haha :) ) We have been packing up so much stuff into boxes to fit onto our containers. I started this whole process last Thursday and  since then, I have been packaging up everything. Tuesday we had a meeting in Tyler and then today (Wednesday) we spent all day at Buckner's ("shoes for orphan's souls") Warehouse processing and organizing all the shoes for the summer! It was actually fun just a long day. 

 *Here are a few pictures of some of the items 

we are sending over for the Tree of LIFE 

Anyways, this weekend I'm heading up to Arkansas for wedding showers for one of my best friends. She is getting married in a month so wedding events are starting to pick up. Please pray for energy and strength. I'm a little worn down and exhausted. I hope you all are enjoying the week. 

Love you all!

In Him,

Joy

First Ever Christmas in Zambia...

Okay...Here is the most precious video I have wanted you all to see. Our staff in Zambia put this together for me! Maggie and Susan, as well as 3 other kids, were just gifts from the Lord that I got to love on last summer. I can't wait to see them in a 100 days!! 

Enjoy....