Not much time for blogging....

since I joined facebook. I'm going to try to be faithful to this blog at least once a week. But, you might want to check out my facebook page because it's alot easier to upload and edit pictures. But here are a few of Puddin' and mom from this past week. Mom built a fort for Puddin' but Lucy thought it was a great place to take a nap. Puddin' had her keys and purse and checking her weight and when asked where she was going she said "church."

Coming Back to Glenpool

Wow!! That's all I can say about the last three weeks. As many of you know we moved to Stillwater, Ok and was living with our friend Ta-Ta (as Puddin' calls him). After much struggling and praying we are moving back to our home (we didn't move that much, so it's not as bad as it sounds). It's one of those strange times because we felt God telling us to move (first up there, and then back home), so we're not sure what lessons were to be learned, but we are trusting God. We learned alot about our family during that three weeks and dad and mom grew in their communication, and have developed a plan to re-enter ministry (more on that during another post). So, please pray for us. In the process we decided to switch dad's office and Puddin's room. I can't believe how much can be accumulated in five short years or in Puddin's case twenty months. Dad is working hard at home to complete the switch and we will be moving what we took to Stillwater back on Saturday.

Sidewalk Art

Every Thursday night downtown Stillwater they have "Artists on Main Street" for family. Last night that consisted of two artists (I guess the other artist haven't heard they are suppose to be on Main Street yet), a gospel group (who sung "Amazing Grace," to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"-I'm sure they changed "sun" to "son" in the program), and an area where kids could get chalk and create their own art (which looked better than one of the artists work). So, here are some pictures of Puddin' participating in the art show.

Dad had to show Puddin' what to do, but she quickly figured it out.

Puddin' is busy creating her first sidewalk art

Puddin' is admiring her work that we called "chicken scratch"

Out of the Mouth of Babes

The other night we were eating and when it was time to wash off Puddin's hands and mouth she started crying and waving her arms in the air. Dad came from the other room and asked mom what was going on, Mom replied, "We just finished eating, call me crazy, but I thought it would be a good idea to wash her hands and mouth." Then mom and dad heard Puddin' say "crazzzy." Dad looked at mom and said, "at least she's learning to obey, you said call me crazy."

Fun in the Sun

We went over Su-Su's house for July 4th and Puddin' got to go for her first swim. Or as she called it a bath in the pool-pool. At first she wasn't to sure when everyone was gathered around her, but she got used to the water. And then when she got floaties on she wanted to swim on her own, but not to far from dad. One day I will have to tell Jorja what my dad use to tell me when we had a pool, "Son, don't go to the bathroom in the pool or the chemicals will cause a big red ring to surround you."

God's Will & Making Adjustments...How we got to Stillwater

Experiencing God is one of the most influential studies I have been through. In fact, after going through three of four workbooks I went out and bought a book I can just mark up and reuse it. Two of the principles in the study is that God reveals his way to us and we have to make adjustments (sometimes major adjustments) to join him in his work. I've been praying for a God size task for our family about six months ago.

About two months ago, we received a call from the man who officitated our wedding (we will call him Ta-Ta, his given name by Puddin'). Ta-ta has been a widow for almost a year, has had been through a heart transplant two years ago, and was trying to sell his house. When he called he asked us to pray about moving in with him with a lease to own option on his house that would allow us to purchase the house at a later date.

Now..a side trip from the story. Dad has been praying off and on for about five years that the family could move to Stillwater. Oklahoma State is located there and there is a huge international community, including one of the largest Muslim populations in the state. And he had a desire to minister to the international students on campus. But, God has been silent and the few times dad looked into it the doors were never open.

Now back to the story...When Ta-ta asked us to move in with him, we had to pray about it. Was this the way God was getting us to Stillwater? We would be combining four adults and three dogs into one household. We prayed, we discussed it, we prayed some more.

The orginal agreement Ta-ta gave us was that we should try it out for thirty days and continue to seek God. So, as we prayed some more we figured the best thing was to take a step of faith and move in with Ta-ta and see what God is doing.

So, last week we moved in with Ta-ta, of course, Puddin' instantly adjusted and loves exploring the new house, the dogs just ignore each other, and the three adults are prayerfully walking day by day and seeing what God does next. So, we will keep you posted, but it seems that God has put us on a great adventure and we look forward to seeing what he does trhough us as we make the adjustments (and it is an adjustment, but we have already seen God provide in many ways).

Also, dad is taken up the Hindi language since he has a growing number of Indian clients and hoping God will make this his mission field.

More to come...

Copy Cat

This picture proves that children learn from us even when we don't know it. Puddin' has begin to lean on the wall and fold her arms when she's outside. Dad asked mom one day, "why does she do that?" Mom replied, "Because you do." When we go outside in the front yard, dad will lean against the wall or the tree. Puddin' has even started walking like dad at times (with her arms behind her back). Our prayer is that she won't just pick up our "physical" habits, but she would see Christ in our lives and have a love for him.