i don't want to share my stickers

Brian had the incredible opportunity to meet the little girl that we sponsor with Compassion International. Of all the amazing things going on in Burkina Faso, meeting Fatimata has been one of the many highlights of his trip! Before Brian left, I went to Target and got Fatimata some really cool stuff. It is like God just let me find tremendous bargains on little shirts and toys for a dollar or two. Because Fatimata has a twin sister, I bought some things in two's so she could share. I specifically bought a big page of tiny stickers and told Brian that these were for Fatimata to share with all the other Compassion girls.

I received a text from Brian when he met Fatimata. He put a sticker on her arm and on her sister's arm. The text said, "Fatimata is not very excited about sharing her stickers."

Isn't that funny?! What Fatimata didn't know at the time, was that she had been given a great blow-her-mind package that was far better than the little stickers she was hoarding! Sometimes we are like that, aren't we?! Tightly clutching what we think we own, when God, in His graciousness, has so much more for us that we have just not yet seen. I want to be gracious because God is gracious, and I want Fatimata to understand His grace and the joy of receiving and giving!!

happy times :)

I heard about a survey of people who were really sad or depressed. Although TV, food and alcohol seemed to help some people a little, guess what lifted peoples' spirits the most? Looking at their own family picture albums of all the fun things they had done together. :) Cool huh?

new series at wrc

Brian is starting a new series on relationships Sunday at West Ridge. It is called the Naked Truth.
We are deeply burdened for marriages, and have never before seen such devastation in families.
This is not only true for West Ridge; but all over our country there is a sweeping epidemic of relationship
problems, many of them leading to affairs. It is our hope that families can become healthy in 2010!
You can view the series each week at westridge.com.

great verse

my mom emailed me this verse. i love it:

"..pray hard and long. pray for your brothers and sisters. keep your eyes open.
keep each others' spirits up so that no one falls behind."
ephesians 6:18 (the message)

coin jar

Recently, I got a glass jar and made a little sign and wrote "Melting Pot" on it. I thought it would be fun to save our change and go as a family to the Melting Pot restaurant. It is a fondue experience, a little pricey, but would make for a good family memory. So we filled the jar up two times and went! Now we are filling up the jar for our next cool restaurant :)

happy new year!

2010. Will you call it two thousand ten or twenty ten? I'm thinking twenty ten.

Hope it's a good one for you!

a little Christmas vacation honesty

We have had a very relaxing Christmas here at the Bloye house! Family, fireplace, gifts, movies, food and more food, staying in our PJ's till late afternoon! It's been great. Now I have to be honest about something. With all of the holiday festivities, I have totally skipped my God time here for a little while, and let me tell you what I have noticed about myself. When I do not spend time with God I realize that often I become overly sensitive and critical. I sometimes lack understanding in conversations with other people and find myself becoming defensive and frustrated about little things.

I read something today that left an impression on me. "When we operate in the flesh, three things are always true: 1. We will always lack the power of the Spirit, and we'll suffer from fatigue. 2. We will always lack the vision of the Spirit so we'll suffer from frustration. 3. We will always lack the sustaining ministry of the Spirit so we'll suffer from failure."

You may think that you are just fine without plugging into God's Word and that you will read God's Word when you have a huge need or tragedy in life. I am learning that when I don't "plug into God," it is like I am wearing a big sign that says, "I am trying to operate in my own power!" It becomes obvious to other people. Quite honestly, it is embarrassing. I NEED the Bible and prayer in my life so I do not do something extremely stupid! So I want to enter into 2010 with lots of fun and excitement, fireworks, parties and food, new resolutions AND being plugged into God!