Thursday, December 02, 2010

Friends

We are blessed with a very solid circle of close friends.  They are known to show up right when we need them. We're utterly and totally in awe of the love they exhibit.

In that group of close friends are Amie and Tim Sexton.  You know Amie as the author of this frequently linked to piece about seeing color - to quote Amie,  "Love that overlooks is belittling. Love that acknowledges is accepting."

Amie and I met and became friends in 2002 but we finally introduced our husbands in 2009.  Now they are B-F-F (and ever) all because of us.

You are very welcome Tim and Troy. 

Tim and Amie are friends we can cry with, pray with, and sit in silence with if need be. We've done all of that in the past and will probably do all of that this weekend again. We're so excited for them to get here Saturday. Because they work in urban ministry in NC they are coming to see Mission Waco and Church Under the Bridge and to meet the fabulous Dorrells.

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We also count Licia and Lori and Zach as treasured friends. Today they are in Cazale, Haiti fighting Cholera. They have hired tons of extra staff to deal with the Cholera (employing more Haitians  - awesome!) They continue to oversee their medical clinic and help severely malnourished kids recover and return to their families. They work tirelessly.

Today I read that the average American couple spends approximately $5 a day on soda, bottled water, and/or coffee. That does not seem far-fetched to me. I have had one soda and two cups of coffee (lets not talk about caffeine addictions today) already this morning and it is only 11am. Today I challenge everyone reading to go donate their $5 of beverage money (or way more) to our friends at Real Hope for Haiti.  Encouragement comes in many forms and even $5 will serve to make them feel loved, cared for, and supported.  GO HERE, click on the right side where it says "donate paypal". It is fast and easy to give.

Thank you God for friends.

Speaking of friends, Paige's best-friend that she met when she was only 6 years old is here. They have their days together planned out by the minute with just a few minutes set aside to sleep. We are so happy they stayed friends even after we moved away and by having her come to TX, we are "helping" Julia overcome her fear of flying so that one day soon she will come visit Paige in Haiti.  :)  (Also - Paige is a licensed driver in the state of TX ... passed her test!!)

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The 4th annual Christmas extravaganza is very near completion. Every year I totally stress Troy out with my ideas; I need his skills in order to turn the ideas into something. This year was no different but I think he is forgiving me faster with each passing year. :) At the very least we think you'll be mildly entertained by this year's attempt.

We did not get Troy and Hope's song from last year recorded. Thanks for asking about it but we never pulled off a recording session that would allow us to get it on i-tunes.

The upcoming weeks are packed full as we have visitors coming and tons of packing and cleaning and planning and praying to do. There is also the fast approaching college graduation of two young adults that we love and one last birthday girl to celebrate.

We are bogged down a bit in processing grief and working on some other stuff ...  all that to say the stress levels are moderately elevated as we're getting ready to move back to Port au Prince ...
As always, prayers for courage, patience, calm nerves, unspazzy kids, clear minds, and all things along those lines are greatly appreciated.

(Below last year's addendum video spotlighting three notsowisewomen.)