Haiti Mission

Sandra emailed me this morning with a WONDERFUL idea she found on the Baptist Haiti Mission's website (the mission where Ti-Fam found Jesus!). I encouraged her to call the mission and get details so we could get started. You can go here and check it out yourself. But here's the deal. The Haiti mission has a program where children can sponsor a child in Haiti by READING. Each American student can find people to sponsor them per hour of reading and then that money sponsors a child in school in Haiti. But as Sandra talked to one of the women at the mission, she said they would be happy to accept your children's reading donation for the DISASTER RELIEF EFFORT in which they are engaged. The tools to do this are on the website. Another exciting thing I found out this morning is that this mission is working in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse.
I've contacted all of the schools in Borger, Fritch & Stinnett and asked them to be a part of this. You can do it with your students where you live. Homeschool students can do this. You could even have a contest between classes or schools.
And it will teach your children that because we have much, we should share much. I hope you'll be a part!

The mission is distributing large pieces of plastic for people to use as temporary shelter.

Samaritan's Purse arrived and were able to unload all of their cargo without incident.

Haiti

Tonight was the first time I've had the chance to watch what is happening in Haiti. It's breaking my heart. And my heart is so bound up in Haiti. It happened when I was 8 years old and first heard the story of Ti-Fam. It's a true mission story told by Child Evangelism of a young girl who was the daughter of a witch doctor who got saved at a mission started by Mr. & Mrs. Turnbull and Granny Holderman. I identified with Ti-Fam. We were about the same age. So anytime I've heard of the country of Haiti, my ears have perked up. (It's interesting...after I first wrote this blog, my sister, Sandra, emailed me with the website of this mission. She'd been researching the same thing. Haiti was on both of our hearts tonight!)

I also know that this could be any of us! Catastrophe can strike anywhere. And in Joel Rosenberg's words today: "Scriptures tell us in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 that terrible earthquakes and other natural disasters will occur in the “last days”….things will get worse, but this is a catastrophe of biblical proportions….may followers of Jesus Christ respond with prayer and practical assistance."

I was first made aware of how easy AT&T is making it for us to help on facebook by Becca Herbert. And in her words: "Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Haiti relief efforts!! Even the laziest people on earth can do that!" LOL! Check it out. OR...you can follow my heart and donate directly to the mission where Ti-Fam found Christ on this website.

I hope God's people will rise up. Please spend time praying for Haiti.

What do I love?

What do I love about Andy?



I love his quirky sense of humor.

I love his passion for God and the things of God.

I love how excited he gets over a football play and has to run upstairs to tell me about it.

I love how much he loves his kids and grandkids. I love that he would keep our 4 kids for a week at a time when they were young, while I went home. He never complained.

I love that he never gives up.

I love how meticulous he is.

I love that he's a champion of the underdog.

I love how much he loves music. I love to hear him sing and how much passion is in his singing.

I love his quiet strength--and that it was the first thing I noticed about him 35 years ago!

I love how he's poured himself into so many young people through the years.

I love his compassion.

I love his relationship with Ralph--it's one of a kind!

I love how he likes to share a new truth with someone and keeps at it until the lights come on for them!

I love how steadfast he is.

I love that he knows how and likes to decorate. I love the crazy voice he uses when he decorates.
I love that he's teachable.

I love that he likes to try new things.

I love that he doesn't let me get away with everything I want.

I love how sensitive he is.

I love how he pooches out his belly for a laugh.

I love how he's grown through the years. He's found a balance with his strengths and weaknesses.

I love how others perceive him. So many of our friends consider him their pastor.

I love his passion for other cultures. I especially love how he tries to speak their languages! I love that he's not afraid to try.

I love how punctual he is.

I love how he's never stayed in a box or in any certain mold. He's adjusted to whatever God has told him to do and taken new directions.

I love when he gets really tickled and how hard he laughs.

I love how he takes care of the things he owns.

I love how he likes the way he irons better than the way I iron.

I love how alive he gets when he's on a mission trip.

I love to watch and hear him snore.

I love how he does his Donald Duck voice for his grandkids.

I love that he very seldom gets angry.

I love how fast he walks through an airport and expects everyone to keep up.

I love how he interacts with senior adults. (They love him.)

I love that he loves to have fun.

I love to watch him cook steaks. He becomes Chef Andre. (And I love that he has a secret steak rub--but we all know his secret ingredient is paprika--on everything he cooks!)

I love that he's cautious.

I love that he makes up nicknames for kids.

I love that he takes the stairs 2 at a time.

I love when he looks at me from across the room over a private joke--or when he looks at me from the pulpit for approval.

I love that he taught my family how to be demonstrative with one another.

I love the essence of who Andy is.

And...I love that he loves me.

Zachary

ZACHARY DIETZ

Born: January 7

Zach had a birthday yesterday. He's our first birthday of the year, so I decided to tell you about our birthday boy. Zach is our fourth-born child and 3rd son. He's the baby.

We lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma when Zach was born. I was 5 months pregnant when we moved there. There are so many stories I could tell you about Zach. One of his first memories is when he was about 18 months old. One day a few years ago, he asked me why he had to use the potty chair in the garage. WHAT??? I finally realized he was talking about when I'd put up the potty chair (because he'd been potty trained) and he'd found it in the garage---and used it!When he found out I was the "tooth fairy," he asked how I got to all those houses every night! As we were taking a long road trip and he was sitting "on the hump" up front (before car seats), he asked if all skunks were dead. (It's the only kind of skunks he'd ever seen!) All of this was just a precursor to the kind of fun we were in for with Zach. He was our family entertainment. He kept us in stitches while he was growing up. People were drawn to his red hair, his laugh and his wonderful sense of humor.

Just this last week, we watched the infomercial video that he and Ryan Maxwell made when Andy & I made our first trip to China. Two sanguines...doing some impromptu acting...that had our sides hurting from laughing so hard!! I only hope David can put it on youtube so that you can see it. HYSTERICAL! Zach was always the smallest kid on the block who tried to keep up with the big boys. He was the first of our sons who asked for a guitar. He's always had a heart for God and been very sensitive to spiritual things. He was also Class Favorite all four years in high school. (He's going to hate me for that one!)

I'm so glad I held out for four kids! I can't imagine our family without Zach, Mumzie, Hey. (His nieces & nephews' names for him) The world would have missed out on some wonderful music. He's brought so much joy and fun into our family. He's become a wonderful, thoughtful adult. But thank goodness he still has that sense of humor that keeps us all laughing! And he sure married well...Shanna completes him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACH!

What I learned from a homeless man

I had an encounter yesterday...an encounter with a homeless man. He came in to Living Water to get help to get a prescription filled. We have a rule that we don't fill a narcotic and this was borderline---a medicine to detox from drugs and alcohol. But I decided the $10 to fill the prescription would be worth it to share Jesus with him (and for him to get clean!).

As I shared, I learned this homeless man had murdered a man and gone to prison for it. While in prison, he'd studied many different religions--one of them being Christianity. He showed me his WICA tatoo and told me that was the religion he'd chosen. But once he'd gotten out of prison, he'd gone to church to give Christianity a shot. He met a man there who took him under his wing. He knew this one man loved him. As a young man (and before he was homeless), he had been in a rock group, so it was only natural that he turned to music in the church. The only problem was the church he'd chosen was in the south and very traditional. When he approached his music minister with the desire to sing a song he'd written, he was told that the song was too "rock 'n roll" for church. So...this man left the church...never to return. He decided the church was too full of hypocrites. And he hasn't changed his mind.

I tried every train of thought and scripture I could think of to point this man to truth, but he was hung up on the fact that the Jesus he'd read about in the New Testament was radically different than what he encountered in the church. Jesus, he said, was just that...radical (eating with sinners), he showed forgiveness (the adulterous woman) and he LOVED. (This homeless man also knew his Bible stories.)

He was leaving. I asked if I could give him a tract that he could read later and he refused...he'd lost a lot of vision with the drugs and couldn't read. I prayed with him. He left.

I was so sad. I was also convicted. Do I love like Jesus? Do I love like the one man in the church who showed this homeless man love? Do I care more about the church rules or do I radically love others?

A homeless man can teach you a lot.

All Things New

I'm so glad Tamra found Shabbyblogs.com! I was wanting something new for my blog. And don't you love my new photo at the top? I think Amy took this at our family reunion last July. It is 6 of my 7 grandchildren. To me, it looks like a photo you'd find advertising children's clothing. It looks like they've been posed. My only regret is that Olivia isn't in the photo....but she was probably napping at the time. Or maybe not, come to think of it. Amy, can you photoshop her in--right under Caitlin's left hand? That would be perfect!

I love new things. And yet I don't like change. I don't know where I got this incongruous behavior. If you came to my house today, you'd find my furniture in the exact spot it was put in 2 1/2 years ago when I got it. I get new things and yet I'm not one to change things up. Kind of an oxymoron. (I love using big words.)

My friends took me shopping this week and I got lots of new clothes. I love new clothes. But when I go shopping by myself, I tend to get one shirt in 3-4 different colors. Seriously. Can I have a witness, daughters?

I love going to a new small group. But once the group is formed, I don't like for it to change. (Can I say that?)

But I have a husband and friends who push me towards change. I've tried to learn to go with the flow, be fluid, be vaporous even. But there's a part of me that will always want and need roots. God just created me that way, I think. There's a homing device that was placed in me at birth.
But change it is. I changed my blog today. Thanks, Tamra!

For the Wright Guys

I knew of one family that might appreciate these photos....and not because I'm in them, but because of who I'm with! The Wright Guys!! Happy Star Wars New Year, Isaac & Josiah!

My cousin purchased these movie cut-outs for her brother for Christmas. She brought them to Pampa tonight and I just had to have a photo taken with R2D2 and....who??

I do remember this guy---Yoda!

Benjamin was there and we took his photo with them, too!

I wish you could have been there so we could take your picture, too!