July 24th

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galations 6:14

I could provide you with a list of reasons of why I am so hesistant about using a blog to keep people informed about our ministry and lives. One reason is because I am terrified that people will read about ways we are able to help others and think that we are boasting about ourselves. We will be quick to tell you that we are an imperfect family and we make tons of mistakes! We are grateful that our salvation through Christ has nothing to do with good works, but we are saved by His grace.

Several weeks ago someone asked me to deliver groceries to a family who lives in a one room house without electricty. The family is grateful that someone is allowing them to live there because they realize it is at least a shelter from the weather. The family was very grateful for the groceries and live chicken! The teenage brother stood at a distance from me and I am assuming he was not quite sure about my motives. As I drove away I felt God whisper to me “Deidra you can do better than just dropping off groceries for this family.” I am very comfortable at quickly buying the neccessities for cooking, dropping them off, and patting myself on the back as I drive off. Providing groceries for a family is a tremendous blessing, but I felt God was telling me to do more. This particular day I looked at their “kitchen” and knew God was telling me not to simply give them a meal, but to cook them a meal. For the past several weeks, I have thought about how many times I have served others, but yet I could’ve done better. Whether it was serving a child in my classrooom or passing a homeless on the street, how are my actions separated from just a good deed? So last night we delivered pancakes, eggs, sausages, and cookies to this family of five. We like breakfast for dinner! The family was at church, but the teenage brother was at home. He had to talk to me, but he still wasn’t quite sure what to think about the food. He did finally crack a smile when I started showing off my fluent Spanish speaking abilities!

I was driving back home on this long, dirt road when I passed a group of kids and a mother in a corn field. As soon I passed them, God told me to put it the car in reverse and go introduce myself to the family. I was running late and Soy was waiting on me to pick him up for Spanish class. However, I turned around and got out of my car to meet this precious family. My mind raced back to all of the times I have looked into the eyes of precious children while on bus visitation. Luckly, my babysitter was with me so she helped me talk to them. (Although she is convinced I have lost my mind!) There are two families with a total of 11 children, and they simply work in the corn field during the day. They have a small tin room where they cook their meals, but they walk a good distance back to their home. In a few moments we are going to cook more panckaes, eggs, and sausages to deliver to these precious children. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a friendship. Our goal is for them to see the love of Christ through us!

We are able to do the physical work in ministering to these families, but those of you who financially partner with us are the ones who make it possible. Thank you for having the same goal as us–To Make Christ Known!

How are our girls adjusting with the new babysitter? She is extremely sweet and my girls take full advantage of her sweetness. They have spent several days apologizing to Ingrid for their behavior. She finally put Sydney (4 yrs old) and Audrey (2 yrs old) in “time out” for their behavior. (Sydney convinced Audrey to bite Lizzi because Lizzi wouldn’t let Sydney sit by her at lunch) My dad says they are just “adjusting” to a life change–Whatever! Ingrid has started teaching some Spanish vocabulary to the girls. Lizzi has decided not to even try to learn Spanish because she is convinced she will forget how to speak English!