Celebrating!!

I love celebrating life with my friends! Every end of a season is just as sweet as the beginning of a new one. Early Friday morning I drove down to Austin, Tx to be with one of my best friends, Sarah Escamilla as she closed out her time at Texas. Her and I met 3 years ago in Zambia. God knitted our friendship together and has continued to bless it over the years! She is truly an "iron" in my life. She has consistently encouraged me, sharpened me, and walked beside me through it all!

Sarah loves her water fountains!

Friday night after the celebratory dinner with her sweet family, we parted ways and I headed down to New Braunfels to stay with my sister Jamie. And as an additional surprise, my other sister, JJ and her whole family were staying the night as well. It is the unplanned visits that are actually the best! All of us stayed up till the wee hours of the night talking. It was so great! I am so blessed with this family! Saturday we spent the morning talking over coffee and then eventually headed northbound on 35 back home.

Sunday was another day to honor those ending a chapter in their life. My senior girls in my small group were honored during church. Most of them only have one more week of their high school career. It's crazy to think that was me 7 years ago. Crazy how time flies! I am so incredibly proud of these girls and all they have done to get to this point. The next four years are even better! Congratulations girls!

Miss Jordan Garner is headed off to Oklahoma Baptist.

Miss Madeline French is headed to my Alma Mater...

BAYLOR!!

Miss Sarah and Amanda Barnard (my cousins' cousins)

are both going to Aggie land...A&M

Bible Study Girls..well some of us!

One Adventurous Week...

So I know it's been awhile since I have posted and there are many reasons behind it...

Monday I had the privilege of moving in a precious girl named Selah into one of our Community Resource Centers. Her home life situation is one that is too much to fully explain but she has been raped numerous times. At camp she had no emotion and would not look up at you. She was stone cold and it was so difficult for me to see this precious child in such pain and hurt. To make a long story short, I was thrilled to usher this child in to a safe place where there are Godly women loving on her and providing her with so much than she has ever dream. Selah was timid at first and didn't know what to think, but 2 days later I went back to see her and it was a complete transformation!! She ran up to me with a huge smile on her face and gave me a big hug. I couldn't believe my eyes. This little girl now has joy and life in her!! It was amazing to see!

This is sweet Selah...

Tuesday and Wednesday I went around to evaluate more Community Resource Centers. We are moving in 80 children and we want to make sure that all our CRC's are up to running as a house would run. It's pretty exciting to be a part of something that allows children to be rescued 1 at a time. 

Three girls who moved into the Matero CRC: Joyce, Given, and Grace

Thursday I spent a full day at Immigration!!! I almost had to leave the country!! I overstayed my visa, but with the grace and mercy of the immigration officer they allowed me to extend my visa. It was a new experience and pretty intense to say the least. My heart was beating the whole time and I wanted to make sure I did everything I was told. Finally, we were given the "yes" and we paid our penalty and got out of there. :) I have never been that nervous in my life. haha 

Friday I went to go pick up a child and bring her into a CRC. I was also able to check on the kids that have already moved in. God is soooo good! I love being able to see the quick transformation in the lives of these children.

Some kids at the Garden Hill Compound

 

This weekend has slowed done for a little bit and now we are going into the "break week"...haha. I mean even though it's a break week, there is still so much to be done. I am looking forward to what God does this week. More kids will be moving into these centers. Please be praying for the transition and all the different things that have to happen. God is going to be moving in mighty ways and it's so exciting to be a part of it. 

I will hopefully put more pictures and videos up soon. Thanking the Lord for all of you! 

The final days...

WOW! I cannot even believe that I will be getting on a plane in just a few short days and moving to Zambia for 3 1/2 months. God has been so good in calming my heart and preparing me for what is to come. Thank you for praying for me as I embark on a new journey. Continue to be praying for every step to go smoothly from our travel, to opening the Tree of LIFE village, to sharing the gospel with those who have never heard.

Last weekend I drove down to Waco to spend time with some of my best friends...it is always so refreshing for my heart to be with them and I truly cherish our friendship as well as the time we get to spend together. All day Saturday I got to spend the day with one of my longest and dearest friends, Julie Anna Hammett (formerly Aboussie :) ). We ate lunch at Panera and then ventured over to the suspension bridge where we walked around by the river and just talked. We haven't been able to do that since before her wedding in January so it really was a blessing to get quality time with one of my best friends. Jules has been one to always listen, support, challenge, give advice, and simply knows where you are in life. She is a woman of encouragement and full of zeal. There is never a dull moment with her and we (as well as our families) have developed a deep bond between us that only gets stronger as the years go by. We have been friends for now 17 years!!!

After that, I headed over to Johanna's apartment to stay the night with her. I had the priviledge of discipling Johanna my Senior year (her sophomore year) of college. It was and is a friendship that I cherish and will always continue to have. She and I have a unique friendship and it's as if we are sisters. We have walked through many seasons of life together and I am so blessed to have her in my life. She as grown so much and I am amazed at her wisdom, courage, joy, and discernment. She is a little sister who always wants to be in "the know" about things. I can't believe she is about to graduate and begin a new chapter in her life. We woke up the next morning and went to church at Antioch, grabbed a quick lunch and said our goodbyes.

After church, I ran over to Common Grounds (a famous coffee stop in Waco) to see Kaitlyn. She is another girl I discipled my Senior year of college. She is a junior now, but I still feel like she is a freshman. We sat at Common Grounds and really got to hear how each other was doing. Kaitlyn has become a woman of depth and one who is so intentional. When we get time together there is no messing around, but only authenticity. We chatted for awhile and then I saw a few other friends as they were stopping in to get a caffeine fix for studying. I always love coming back through Waco because it not only brings back such great memories but it allows me to see so many people I cherish and love so much!

Spending time with those girls encouraged my heart so much! Knowing they are supporting me 100% and praying for me every step of the way is more than I could ask for. I love you each and I am so thankful for how God has blessed me through you! I can't wait to hear what God does in your life over the next few weeks and months!

Thanks again to all of you!! So many of y'all have played such a significant part in my life. I know that the days, weeks, and months ahead of me will be filled with challenges, joys, decisions, opportunities, trials, triumphants, prayers, and victories.

As you all know by now, I leave Sunday, May 3 at 5:30pm from DFW. I fly to London with a 12 hour lay over and then straight south to Lusaka, Zambia. I'll hopefully post one more time before I leave.

Let the adventure begin... :)

Love you all!

Joy

Pictures from the weekend

The cake that my sister made for my birthday!

My cute nephew and nieces...

Sweet Anna

Watching the kids hunt for Easter Eggs

  

The Fam!

Grandparents and Grandkids

 

The whole Crew

SISTERS!

The beautiful sunset...

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

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

How Beautiful is the Love of Christ...

Well this past weekend was so exciting for many reasons....

1. One of my best friends got engaged to a guy that is so wonderful! Garrett is like a brother to me and I couldn't be more happy for them! I was so thrilled that I got to be a part of their first of many celebrations! God is so good and has been the center of their relationship from the very beginning. I can't wait to see how God uses them to further His name!! Anyways, they will be getting married some time in the Spring and I am so honored to be a part of their Big Day!

* The Bride-to-be...future Mrs. Stephanie Peters!!

* All the girls at Steph's Engagement Party!

* My dear friends are getting married!

2. I have been working on the LIFEWAY KIDS. Basically I am reading through recommendations of children who have been through our Camp LIFE Program in the summer and who need to be taken our of their current living situation and put into one of 6 other homes we have in Lusaka. These homes each have 8-10 kids with some of our Zambian staff as house parents. Each child gets to attend school, have full meals, and be discipled daily. My sweet Emma is one example of many children who are given the chance to begin a new life! Anyways, I spoke with Holly on the phone, since she is in Zambia working on things, and she told me we have 10 openings for NEW Kids to come into the homes!! PRAISE THE LORD!! Ten more children will be rescued!! So...please be in prayer over the new kids. I am so thankful that the Lord provided spots because the stories of these kids are horrific and I cried over each one!

3. God has been faithful! He is providing what is needed for the moment. As I have sent out support letters He is gradually supplying my daily need. As of today, I have received 10% of the amount needed in monthly pledges and several one time gifts that are meeting my immediate needs. Thank you so much for all of you who have given! God is doing what He said He would do as being my Jehovah-Jireh -- "the Lord who provides". I am so humbled and honored to be where I am!! THANK YOU!

4. Learning the Love of Christ. (The meaning of my title of this post) God is definitely taking me on a journey with understanding more and more of who He is. I begin studying the Song of Solomon a couple weeks ago. I have studied it several times throughout college, but I decided to do it again. Mike Bickle is the one who teaches and breaks down every verse in order to understand the meaning, see the significance, apply yourself to it, and most importantly embrace the beauty and love that our Lord God, the bridegroom, has for us! I am only on Session #5 and I love it! I love how the Lord constantly pursues us with His word and moves our hearts to love Him more and more! God is taking me through a process that only He can lead me through and I couldn't be more excited about what is to come!

That's it for now! Hope you all are doing great!! Keep praying for my dad, he hasn't progressed that much. He really needs to gain weight and he doesn't really have a desire to eat. I don't mean to end on a negative note, but just thought you should know.

Thanks again for staying up-to-date on my life!!

Loving Jesus with all my heart,

Joy