Joyful Journey

Last trip: The men working on the 2nd floor windows On our last trip to Panama, we stayed at a wonderful mission house, which we enjoyed, but it required an hour each way to get to  and from Casa Providencia.  This trip Bob looked into the cost difference if we stay at the Hotel Melia, which is literally around the corner from Casa Providencia. When he looked at the savings in gas, it ended up being the same cost.  With our breakfast included, we were able to leave the hotel rested and ready to start the day. Each team member was eager to see the progress on the inside, as we had driven by on Sunday and seen improvements.  We met Matt and began the tour.  What an encouragement!! We began by riding the elevator up to the first floor.  The guys had helped on last trip with building some of the structure that was needed before the elevator could be installed. We arrived on the first floor and the first thing I noticed was the windows.  The guys on...

Although the team was all a bit tired, we were excited to begin our time and enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast at the hotel and waited for Donny from Heart's Cry Children's Ministry to pick us up and take us to their office for a time of orientation.  We were warmly welcomed by Misty, Ana and Peter.  As Ana shared with us again the vision of Heart's Cry, we looked forward to assisting in a small way in helping Casa Providencia be able to open its doors to the special needs orphans of Panama.  They began the orientation we needed before we could visit one of the 53 orphanges in Panama that afternoon.  We were briefed on how to interact with the children there. Our team We had hoped to attend Gambo church again, but the roads there were under construction and so it wasn't practical to try to attend.  Instead we visited Crossroads Bible Church and were greatly blessed.  We enjoyed singing in English and Spanish. (So glad they had the words displayed vi...

Lobby of our hotel I had truly hoped to write these blog posts while in country, but I was not able to connect to the internet on my tablet (only my phone) and photos took a looooooong time to upload, so I jotted down notes to share after we returned home. The reason I blog is primarily selfish.  I want to have in writing what I have seen God do in my heart and life through many different circumstances.  I am so prone to forget; I want a way to prod my memory from time to time of His faithfulness towards me, sanctifying me to be more like my Savior. Although the blog is personal, I will also share things that we as a group shared, either informally as we were working together or during our devotional times together.  I'm not going to include everything that happened on the trip, but do hope to share enough posts that anyone reading will get an insight into what the Lord did in our hearts during this trip, as well as what He did through our time there. I must sta...

Week before last found me grumbling.  To myself.  I really didn't want to do the job that had to be done.  I had plans.  Other plans.  Plans for things that also had to be done.  Only now they took a back seat to these new plans.   I did my work (with a quiet, but poor attitude) for awhile, before I thought about those in Houston, many cleaning up huge messes that they weren't planning on.  Hurricane Harvey had interrupted their plans as well. Okay, I thought.  I'm definitely not in as difficult of a situation as they are.  My unplanned work would only take a couple days.  I should be able to do my planned work without any sleepless nights. Okay, I thought.  I won't complain anymore. But that's when the Lord challenged me with the scripture that came to mind "Do all things without grumbling" (Philippians 2:4 NASB) The verse doesn't say, "When you can think of someone who is in a worse situation than you, don't complain." ...

I know many haven't even started back to school, but we start back the second week of August. (Since August is normally very hot, it's not bad to actually spend it inside and be done in May, when it's normally very nice!) I teach high school math classes for homeschool teens. We only meet once a week, and I need to teach the main points of their math lessons for the week during my 2-hour session with them.  It's quite a bit of material to cover, but with some availability on my part during the week, it works. I've done it since 2004 and absolutely love the opportunity to encourage these teens in their education.  I love being able to help a homeschool mom continue to homeschool, even if she doesn't feel she can teach mathematics. This response had me laughing out loud But I have found what I enjoy the very most is having a teen walk into my class and I can either tell by their body language or see by their response to the survey I have them each fill o...

We had been out of town for a couple days and returned late the night before Father's Day when I discovered a box that had been delivered sitting on the front porch and addressed to me.  I couldn't remember anything that I had ordered that hadn't arrived, so I checked the return address and found it was from one of my uncles. Elmer Stoltzfus's well worn Bible Opening the box, I was shocked to find my Grandfather's Bible.  It was late and I would be getting up early to prepare for family coming for Sunday lunch, so I didn't do much other than a quick perusal.  That afternnon, after we had cleaned up after the meal, I brought it down to share.   What I had noticed the night before was how worn the Bible was, how many pages were actually taped to keep them together. But that's not surprising.  In my grandfather's latter years, he memorized large portions of scripture, includiing entire books of the New Testament.  I remember as a teenager hearing...

One of the (many) things that I enjoy about our home is its location.  We are tucked away in a small neighborhood with large lots (3-8 acres) and are surrounded by trees.  It is not unusual to sit on our screen porch and enjoy the sound of birds chirping. I enjoy the sound so much that I use the "birds" setting on my tablet alarm app as my alarm clock.  When the chirps actually wake me up (I usually wake before the alarm goes off), hubby will comment on my chirping birds. Last night, we both commented on the chirps.  Only it wasn't my alarm going off at 3 a.m., it was the smoke detector chirping at us.  Again.  In the middle of the night. Jump back a few weeks ago.  One of the smoke detectors began chirping.  We replaced the batteries and I commented that we should probably do all of them, since we normally replace the batteries in the fall when we change the clocks.  Next time I was out running errands, I picked up enough 9 volt batt...