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

FULL of Events

So much to catch up on....

World Mandate was great! I love the conference for many reasons...Worship, the teachings, and praying for the Nations!! There were about 3,000+ people gathered at this conference to pursue Jesus harder and understand HIS heart for the nations. How the conference is set up is we have 4 main sessions spread out over Friday through Sunday and then on Saturday we have small breakout sessions. The theme for the weekend was "The Harvest - the TIME is NOW!" It was emphasized through each session, which was encouraging those who have not stepped out of their comfort zone and said yes to the Lord, to go spread the gospel to the outermost parts of the world. *The entire time I thought of my kids in Zambia and how even though we have planted seeds there, they need to be constantly loved on and encouraged as they are growing spiritually. They are still the in midst of so much darkness. Anyways, it made me so excited about getting there in about 100 days. God is so big in how He will use you, you just have to trust Him and say YES to wherever He shows you to go. 

Main Session Worship

Another one of my favorite parts is the Boiler Room (prayer room). Its set up in different sections: Praying for the Nations, Praying for a specific topic, Statistics and facts about a certain topic, and other saddening aspects happening in the world today. It's set up to give you a perspective on many things that you may not be aware of in the world. It kind of messes you up a little bit because of the harsh reality of it all. One of the areas that was hard for me to bare was Child Trafficking. So many children are sold into the sex trade and they have no way out. A lot of this happens in Southeast Asia, but a lot of other areas as well. There was a picture of a group of girls that I got to pray over and place under the cross (there is a video below). I still have their faces in my head and it hit to the core of my heart. I was overwhelmed with emotion because of their situation. These children did not choose their life, but now they are forced to live in it. They have no hope and are crying out for someone to come rescue them from the unimaginable reality they are in. 

Here are some videos of the Boiler room...

This week being back at work has been great! I have moved office space with windows and where it's a little more quieter for me to work. Praise the Lord! :) However, this week has been cut short because of the crazy weather in Texas...if you live in Texas you know what I'm talking about. We got hit with a big ice storm and most of us don't really know how to drive when things like this come our way!! hahah...So I didn't go to work Tuesday and 1/2 the day Wednesday. When I woke up this morning (wed.) my car was frozen and the street was completely iced over. So after waiting until noon I was able to drive. There is a funny story about this lovely ice all over the road...I was loading my car with boxes full of food for the summer (pictures below) and as I was putting them in the back of my car I slipped and fell straight on my back...oh and the boxes came tumbling on top of me!! It was a little painful to say the least and my body has been feeling it all day! haha...I'm sure you could picture it!! 

*My Car this morning... :(

*You can't tell, but the road had a nice layer

 of ice that I eventually slipped on!

As I just mentioned...I had to pack boxes for this summer! Yes..I had to buy enough food for 3 whole months!! The crazy thing about it is I have to send all of it now and won't see it for 3 months, but then it has to last another 3 months once I get there. Its so beyond me and I don't even know exactly how much food to take. I can only pack 8 boxes and I have 6 so far!! The reason I have to pack them now is that I have to send them in our container we are shipping this weekend. It takes a minimum of 3 months to get to Zambia. All of this is so new to me and I am learning to really plan in advance if you well. I just pray that I won't forget anything...

*So here is some of my food and boxes I'm

 sending for the summer...I hope it last until August!

Hope you all are having a fun week!

Blessings,

Joy

PS - I have a video of my precious little ones in Zambia...it will be posted next!! You will want to see this!! :)

Colorado Trip & Wedding #2

Well my time in Colorado was wonderful and I loved being with my family every minute! I couldn't believe how nice the weather was for winter skiing in Colorado. Usually this time of year it's in the single digits...which sometimes is way too cold for me to be on the mountain. However, it was in the 20's the whole week. We got some snow the first few days we were there which made the skiing even more perfect! My nephew and 2 nieces picked right back up on their skills on the slopes. It was so fun watching them come down the mountain just laughing and singing. And I have you know that my nephew, Jesse, tried snowboarding for the first time and did amazing!! All in all, it was a great trip that went way too fast! :(

Here are few videos...

*JJ (my sister) and Ruth and Esther Skiing*

*This was the most hilarious thing ever!

*Riding up to go to dinner

(the building you see is where we stay)

As soon as I got back, I had my second wedding to go to! YIKES! My sweet friend, Regan, from Baylor was getting married in Fort Worth. It was a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. I got to see a lot of my college friends including roommates and chi o's. That is one thing that I love about Weddings is that it brings everybody together for such fun events. I was definitely exhausted after all of that and needed a couple of days to recoup before jumping back in to work after being gone for 10 days. I love traveling and doing fun things, but when you have a lot of on your plate back at work...it's really hard to hit the ground running again.

I have managed to gradually begin catching back up on things here at Family Legacy. This is our busy season and with each day that passes it's brings us one day closer in leaving for Zambia. I can't believe that I have 114 days left...AHH...so much to do!! God has been so good through it all and as we merge closer and closer to our departing date, I can't help but just thank the Lord for all that He has done! I am still so humbled each day to come and be an advocate for these orphans in Zambia. 

This weekend I get to finally go to a conference!!! It's World Mandate in Waco, Tx. The church I went to at Baylor is called Antioch Community Church and they are the ones who host this conference each year. What I love so much about it is that you get to hear what God is doing in so many other parts of the world and how He uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things for His Glory and Name. I love worshipping as a corporate church with those who have a passion for Jesus and His purposes on earth. I can't wait!! 

Walking Deeper with Him,

Joy

Seeking Strength...

Hey Y'all! 

Since Thanksgiving, things at work, my family, and just my personal life has been everything but calm! This is me being transparent about things...Anyways, WORK at Family Legacy is just busy as always. There are lots of projects each week and high goals set to reach. I have never been challenged this much in how to tackle major things all at once. There definitely have been days of me being overwhelmed and feeling very inadequate. God has been good though through it all because of the little glimpses of what is to come for HIS kids in Zambia. I am still humbled to this day of being able to be a voice for these precious children and be a part of a ministry that is striving together to bring the name of Jesus and full restoration to so many children! Praise God for what HE is doing! At the beginning of December we had a FLMI Staff Christmas Party at my ranch and here are a few pictures...

*This is everyone who was there! Kids and spouses included!

*The FLMI STAFF!

(Greer, Susan, Sommer, Holly, Me, and Josh)

~ MERRY CHRISTMAS ~

On top of work being a bit crazy at times, I have been learning so much from God's Word! The Lord has been constantly refining me and bringing me to where HE WANTS ME! I have wrestled through numerous issues and wanted to do things on my own...but I have soon realized that that is a pride issue. I hate to admit that, but it is. Not dealing with things, not letting people help me, not stepping out of my comfort zone...all connect back to pride. The Lord pointed that out to me the other day and I have been slowly processing through what needs to happen. I'm not quite sure what all this will entail but I do know that I am learning more of the character of God and His restoration process. As I work through my issues and allow His word to fill every part of me, I am being made more like Him! Praise God for His unending love and grace!! 

Lastly, things with my family have been great!! However, things with my sweet Dad have NOT been so great. Sadly, he is not doing very well. We all thought that he would be progressing much more further than he is right now. He has now lost over 50 lbs. He is have a difficult time eating again, which this hasn't happened since his very first symptoms about a year again. My Dad has also been choking again whenever he eats. This past weekend my Mom told me that on Friday night that my Dad was choking for about 3 hours after they ate dinner and she almost had to take him to the ER. We are hoping that it is scar tissue building up in his esophagus and not a new cancerous growth. They left today to head down to Houston to return to MD Anderson for tests. He has tests Wednesday and Thursday. 

PLEASE BE PRAYING! 

Pray for strength, comfort, peace, wisdom, and encouragement! 

Both my parents are exhausted from the past 8 1/2 months of dealing with cancer and the recovering process of surgery. We all are hoping that the results will be words of encouragement and not the other. I will know more at the end of the week. 

Oh Lord...we need You!! 

Thanks again for keeping up to date! You all are a blessing! Have a great week!! 

Desperate for more of 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