Summertime Fun

I don't really update this blog. I'm not good about updating our "real" blog. But, I just noticed recently that a friend had this blog listed on her site, so I figured I should at least put a new post on here.

This summer we've been blessed in some incredible ways.
First, my mom came to visit. That was great. My kids were really excited to see her. We had a nice time and she was very helpful to us.
Second, we bought a house in May. We leased it back to the seller for six weeks and finally moved in June 25. We are SO happy to have the space. (we were really tired of our 900 sf apartment!) Here's Jenna (all of 2 1/2) helping with the move.
We especially love our backyard!
Third, our friends came to visit. Heather and her son, Jonah, from PA came for a week to the big D. We have missed them very much and loved spending 24/7 with them for the first week of July. My kiddos had a great time.
We are getting ready to welcome another visitor who will be here for a month. Dani, a friend from PA who was in our youth group and babysat our kids, is coming tomorrow. My kids are really excited to see her.

Most of all, we are seeing God continue to do amazing things through the ministry we're a part of. It's so awesome to know that day in and day out the work we do with GFA is saving lost souls in Asia, where the most unreached people on earth live! We get to hear story after story of God's intervention and the salvation he brings to hurting people. We get to intercede for our dear brothers serving on the field to reach these people. And, we get to tell the Church here in America about what God's doing. All this serving comes as we continue to grow closer to our Lord and learn more about Who He is and how much He loves us. What a privilege. God is so good!

Crazy Texas Weather!

Oh my goodness, the weather here is crazy. We had a tornado come through last night!!! Praise the Lord, we were not affected by it much. We lost power from 3am until this afternoon, but otherwise sustained no damage. Here are some pics taken by a friend. A few cars had their windows totally shattered.

One building at the front of our apartment complex had its roof completely torn off...beams exposed and all!

Apparently loose plywood flew through the windows of some other apartments and pieces of tin roof from covered parking areas wrapped around cars.

Our family's specific apartment is in a great location in the complex as far as severe weather. Our building sits lower than those around us and we're on the inside and bottom floor of the building. We heard the tornado sirens around 3am and sat in the living room waiting to get the kids into the master bathroom/tub. We didn't realize the siren meant a tornado had been here (hey, we aren't from tornado places!). I kept praying "Lord, please give Joel wisdom to know WHEN we need to move to be safe." We stayed up for a while then headed back to bed. The kids woke up as normal and we were exhausted. It made for an interesting day as most people around here were up throughout the night and had no power this morning. Praise God we're safe!

Oprah church

A friend recently wrote on her website about Oprah and the things she is now saying about "knowing God." I found it interesting since I recently heard a radio broadcast that was specifically dealing with some things Oprah had said about knowing God. My friend's post got me thinking, so I decided to post this video here for you to see as well. I find some of Oprah's shows to be interesting (when she interviews people or has home makeovers or things that seem innocent enough). However, after watching at random times, I decided a while back I could not support watching her show at all because of the way she is growing in popularity and the new areas where she's spending her time, particularly in talking about her "favorite topic" (as she calls it), which is this "new earth" stuff (new age stuff!). Watch the video and be surprised and heart-sick, as I was. (I'm not endorsing the book at the end or any political view, but the issues about what Oprah is teaching are my focus.)

Also, I want to add that I am not against Oprah herself. I think she does some great things. I'm really more sad about the influence she is having on Christians, many of whom have no idea that what she's teaching is completely unbiblical. I don't like the fact that Oprah calls herself a Christian since she has so many beliefs that are not from Scripture. But, she is lost. I just want believers to wake up and see that she is NOT speaking truth. So many believers listen to her regularly (watch her show, go to her website, read her magazine, etc) and take to heart some of her "teachings." For more (and much better exposition on the topic), visit the website of Heather Hendrick (see the sidebar).