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The lessons we learn…

March 11th, 2019 No comments

So if you read our last newsletter or saw our post on our Facebook group you know that we took a trip to Coshocton, Ohio to look for a place to rent while we are there for the next year. We had looked for weeks and weeks online, called realtors and emailed homeowners, and still were coming up empty handed with leads. So we went with the idea that we would drive around town, looking for signs and visiting landlords in hopes to find something. The first and second days we drove 50 miles around this small little town and nothing, then we got a lead, someone from the ministry knew someone. We called, saw the house, slept on it and prayed about it, and told him we’d take it. (We plan on moving around mid-April.) It’s a cute little house, but as we were contemplating if we should get it, I was torn bc it didn’t have some of the features I had been wanting, ie. big yard for the kids, pet friendly so we could get a dog, good bike riding and rollerblading area. Now that I’m thinking back, it seems trivial, but at the time those are things I really wanted, and we’ve been trained to think in this culture that God will give us the desires of our heart, right? So as I was weighing it all out, in an instant the Holy Spirit invaded my thoughts with this reply, “You need to put aside these idols.” What?! Then it became so clear, this little earthly heart of mine has erected ideas and dreams that can easily derail me from the purpose and will of God. Whether it be about where we live or ideas about missions and what I want from life, I never want my focus to be so tainted by earthly affections that I lose touch with God’s heart for eternal matters. He promises us that He will guide our path (Psa 119:105), and that our steps will be ordered (Psa 37:23), but what if His next step for us doesn’t line up with what we really want? We have to realize that God doesn’t always desire for us everything that we desire for ourselves, and if we’re fighting Him about letting go of what we wanted, then it’s an idol. 
Are we ready to relinquish our ‘rights’ to go after everything our hearts desire unto to the lordship of Jesus and have Him make our steps sure? I know I want to walk in confidence that we are making the right moves and that starts by tearing down exalted places in my heart a committing every part of me to the loving hands of God. 

I think our new place is kid approved.

– Candace 

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Honduras 2018 VBS / Construction

February 6th, 2018 No comments

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You are not an afterthought

January 11th, 2017 2 comments

Does our God care about the details? He made stars also…

Gen 1.16
God made two great lights – the greater light to rule over
the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made
the stars also.

So our God spoke everything into existence. He created the
biggest light cosmos, some are yet to be discovered out
there. Like Louie Giglio says… We are here on our little cul
de sac in the Milky Way galaxy. He made a perfect
environment and prepared this little place called earth
before he placed us here. The Bible doesn’t mention
anything about God’s experiments; He created them, and it
was good. O yea… and he made stars also. Wait a minute!
So those little bitty lights in the sky that are bigger and
hotter than anything imaginable, that are light years away,
and some don’t even exist anymore… you’re telling me that
they are pretty insignificant in God’s sight…. Yep. That’s
exactly correct my friend. You see, God didn’t send His
only Son to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, exemplify
what life should be, die as a perfect sacrifice, defeat death
and be raised victorious 3 days later…. for a bunch of stars,
or planets, or galaxies. He did that for YOU and me. As
grandiose as the stars are, God made them also. He didn’t
just make you also. Jeremiah says that He knew you before
you were in your mother’s womb. He knows the number of
hairs on your head. Hebrews says So he is able to save
completely those who come to God through him because he
always lives to intercede for them. So before you start
thinking that your life is insignificant, just remember that
He lives to intercede for you. Out of everything created, YOU
are the most precious to Him and were created with a
purpose that only YOU can fulfill. So find your God-given
purpose, and run this race of life wholeheartedly without
any regrets.

– Stephen

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The Little Boy who Loved

September 17th, 2016 2 comments

I found this as a draft from March 14, 2014. I thought I should share it.

We have a three year old son. He’s Silas. This little man is a quite the boy. I know everyone says that about their child, and then everyone says what I just wrote too. But I’m serious, and if you know him you think the same. There are a lot of cool things about this little dude, like how his dance moves are karate moves, and how he is the blue and the golden power rangers, how his first words every morning are “let’s pretend like I’m your baby yellow puppy”(in his scratchy morning voice), and how he tells me I look like a princess. He is seriously a melt-your-heart kinda kid. I could write more but there is one attribute that I want to really focus on. Silas has always had a wide range of emotions. The first couple of years we battled with extreme crying, I mean extreme. Like the kind that once he started there was no stopping, and when he cries you think he might be demon possessed. The kind that you try to tame with every trick in the book, and you even start entertaining the thought of using that magic scent that calms tantrums in seconds – you know – the one on that video you saw online. We won’t go too in depth with it since its a time in my life I like to repress. Just know it wasn’t pretty and I’m amazed that this blog is about just the opposite show of emotions. Its not that we did all the right things, I actually don’t even know what we did to change things. Maybe it was that he grew up a little, or his hormones evened out, or maybe it was the hand of God. All I know is today I am writing about a very different little boy.

The very coolest attribute that Silas has is that he loves deeply. The other day a friend was over and Silas comes down the stairs and says, “Hey, Mom,” and continues on his merry way. I may not have even answered. My friend looked over at me with hearts in her eyes and says, “Awwww, did you hear him?” (he was really cute). Then I realized, oh yea, I did just hear him say that. Then in my defense I explained to her that I didn’t really answer him because I hear that everyday about 40 times a day. He just walks in a room, says hey mom, and walks out. Then Silas redeemed me in my friend’s eyes by coming around the corner not 10 seconds later and again saying “Hey, Mom” on his way through the kitchen. See, I’m not purposefully being a horrible mom by ignoring my third born as he lavishes his love on me.

So this is what a normal day is like as the mother of Silas. I get morning snuggles. I hear “hey, mom” and “I love you” about a million times a day. He tells me things like, “I love you bigger than the ocean”, ” I love you bigger than the bayou” (cajun baby), “Momma, you look pwetty.” Sometimes he is overcome with such love for me, he says, “I love you bigger than God!” to which I always have to remind him that, no, he loves God first and then me. Always in that order, for the rest of his life, even after he meets “the one”…. just joking…. a little. Sometimes a simple I love you isn’t enough, he has to hug my neck and squeeze hard hard with all the strength his little three year old arms can muster. So I am realizing that this kid just feels deeply, in his early life he apparently felt a lot of stress, now, he feels a lot of love. So I am becoming more conscious of this love that abounds in his heart and flows out of his mouth. And I am beginning to see that not only was this kid created partly by me, but I really feel that he was created for me, to remind me.

The other day as I was contemplating this kid’s loving heart, I felt like God said that when I hear I love you from Silas, think of it as an “I love you” from God. I think I forget how deeply God loves me, loves us. So much of my life I feel like I don’t ‘do’ enough for God, but in reality I think that what God really wants is that I just love Him deeply, like He loves me. He calls out all day long, “Hey, daughter,” and I do just what I do to my son, I ignore it. I hear it, but I don’t really hear it. I don’t respond. What is the Holy Spirit wanting from me? A ‘hey’ back, an ‘I love you’ back, a response that mirrors His. I do love Him deeply, and when I sit with Him and really look at Him I am floored by who He is, and I fall more in love with Him, but the problem comes when I don’t sit, it comes when I forget in the hustle of life, it comes when I don’t respond. God, I pray that I am more attentive to your ‘heys’  and ‘I love yous’ and that my response will be felt in heaven.

                                                                                    -Candace

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It’s a pilot thing

January 7th, 2015 2 comments

I’m married to a pilot. A real pilot. I actually have been for the past 3 years (which was when he got his private pilot license) but he has only allowed me to call him a really truly pilot since three Tuesdays ago. That’s Tuesday, December 16th, 2014. That was the day he got his commercial/multi engine license, which is essentially what one needs in order to be a real pilot in my husband’s eyes. It was an exciting day for all of us. But kind of anti climactic. He texted us the photo of his license and we sent back a congratulatory video. We were planning on making something for him, something that involved me using power tools that I had never used before. But what we ended up doing was making signs and blowing up balloons and yelling congratulations when he walked in. In my defense, the day kind of crept up on us, we had been thinking he was going to do his final check ride for a couple of weeks and it kept getting put off. So Tuesday, it was a real surprise for us to get that text. But anyway. Enough talking about my shortcomings, I don’t like to dwell on those. Let’s keep talking about my pilot husband.  We are so proud of him! And this is really a huge step towards our future. If you know anything about what we are doing, you know it’s a really big deal. If you don’t, then let me enlighten you.

Last year we moved to Muskogee, Ok with a vision for Stephen to train to become a pilot so that we can move to another country and use aviation as a tool to reach people with the Gospel. This whole pilot thing has been in our sights for a looooong time (long like 10 years, which may be long to some, or short to others.) In any case, we think its long (we haven’t hit middle age yet.) So it’s totally a BIG deal! REALLY! I think we need to have a party or something. I don’t feel like we’ve really celebrated this well yet. Yes, I’m gonna have a party, but don’t tell my husband because he doesn’t really like having parties. But I do, and I have a problem with being selfish (another shortcoming I probably don’t need to talk about (why is this becoming a confessional?)) and I really think these occasions need parties.

On a more serious note. I want him to know how much I love and adore him. I’m not gonna get too mushy b/c everyone knows how annoying it is when women are like, I’ve got the best husband. No, I have the best husband. No, I do! Once we played a newlywed game and the question was, on a scale of 1-10 what number would other women give your spouse? and I said 9. And if you know how the newlywed game works, your spouse then tries to make his answer match yours, so he has to think what I would say. His answer to that was 10. Oops! My bad. You’re a 10, everyday a 10, always a 10 from now on. I will not lose that game again.

Ok that was not a serious note. But this is. I haven’t always thought his ideas were great, maybe b/c I think my ideas are better. It’s a woman thing, or maybe just a this woman thing. I haven’t always been the most supportive wife in the world, but I sure am glad God has brought us this far in spite of me. I think Stephen is God’s favorite. He’s been called many things, Jack of all trades, humble, driven, silent leader. I say yes to all the above and I also add compassionate, sensitive and true. He has taught me so many things about what Christ looks like throughout the years and now that I think about it, I might actually be God’s favorite too since He blessed me with such a man. I trust you, Stephen, whatever your decisions may be. I will follow you to the ends of the earth. Really. For real. It’s not just a figure of speech. I’m prepared to go. Because I know I have a husband who protects us and of course a God who does that best.

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The Old Folks Home

January 22nd, 2014 4 comments

That’s what we used to call it back in the day – the old folks home. Never mind that my ‘back in the day’ only spans up to 31 years. One day it will tell of a 75 year period and you won’t be laughing anymore. So, the old folks home, aka nursing home, that’s what I’m writing about today. Now let me give you a premise. When I was young I used to go visit ladies in the nursing home. I had great times there, and I met wonderful people. But since then, being a nurse, I have been exposed to the uglier side of nursing homes and they are no longer places I’d like to frequent. Now, shall we continue?

Towards the end of last year, we had the opportunity to visit a nursing home with our family. We took a trip to visit Stephen’s family and while we were there we were honored to be able to share our vision with his sister’s church. His sister is the worship leader at their church….. which happens to be a ministry in a nursing home. Little surprised there. So as Stephen is preparing something to share, we’re thinking, “What the heck we gonna tell a group of elderlies?” Bless them, I love them, but normally sharing would entail vision and challenging the church to follow hard after His dream for their lives. So….. you see our dilemma. Well, Stephen prayed and he searched the Word and he prepared something great, and  I can’t remember what it was now. But that’s not the main point of this story so it’s not gonna ruin it that you don’t know. So Sunday morning on the drive to church I told the kids what we were doing so they wouldn’t be surprised. When we got there everyone hopped out the car and I felt a need to explain to the kids how important this is because, well, my kids don’t always like to hug people they don’t know, especially the elderly (don’t judge them, you remember your childhood don’t you). So in my very serious and passionate voice I tell them to make sure that they hug all the people who want to huge them and show love because maybe some of these people don’t have family who love them or visit them. Well, maybe I got a little passionate sounding, because Myla gives me an awkward look and says, “Mom, are you gonna cry?” Straight stare, no, Myla, I’m not gonna cry, just hug everybody, will ya?

When we entered the building we met the pastor right away. We could tell what a heart he had for these people. The chapel was small, there were around sixty people there, which included residents and some family. Now my thoughts leading up to this moment were along the lines of, “Oh how sweet, we’re going to nursing home church, there’s gonna be a few people, maybe a couple of songs, and a little message. We gonna hug some necks, show some love, pretty insignificant.” Is that not what you would think of a church in a old folks home? Well- let me tell you! This church was not that! The moment we walked into that little chapel room we could feel something tangible. God’s presence was thick. We sat down and we met a few people around us. One couple behind us was so precious. The Bridges. They were probably in their late seventies or early eighties and all I can say is that I hope my marriage is like that when I’m that age. I could tell that it was the wife who was sick and in need of aid. And the husband was her watchman, he hovered over her, making sure she had everything she needed. Such love, such selflessness was displayed in their relationship, and that was the first time I started crying that day.

Shortly after that, worship started. We sang hymns and some old pentecostal tunes. I know what you’re thinking, but it was far from that. You already know that this isn’t gonna be what you think its gonna be. So just assume that the songs weren’t either. When I say this was the liveliest time of worship I had been a part of in a long time, I’m not lying. People were dancing, and shouting. They were excited about Jesus!!! Whoo! One woman, so precious, who was dancing and shouting surely had something to shout about. When the pastor first started ministering there she asked for prayer because she said there were evil spirits in her room and she was really depressed. Pastor went to her room, prayed for her and since then she’s been free from depression and evil spirits! Yes, she has something to shout about! Worship continued for a while, and all this time I’m crying. Really. Thinking about what God has done in these people’s lives, thinking about the couple behind me, thinking about how amazing this service is. I’m overwhelmed at this point. It came time for Stephen to share, the pastor introduced us as missionaries training for the field, so on and so forth, you know the deal. Stephen shared about, now I remember, believing God’s promises. I think it really blessed them. Then the pastor preached. He was an old time pentecostal preacher. If you know anything about that you know that there was sweat, and red faced shouting. And boy, he brought the word. So good. Keep in mind that at any given point I could be crying. It was that good. At the close of his message he had our family come up to the front and he anointed us with oil and prayed over us. Yes. Crying. So beautiful and amazing that time was. After the service he came to us and handed Stephen some money. They had taken up an offering during the service and he said the Lord told him to give it to us. It was $10 and let me tell you, that was the most precious $10 we have ever received! He invited to go back any time we were in the area and said that Stephen could preach. Blown away. And he looked at me and said, “you preach too, huh?” Me, deer in a headlight look. “Because the Holy Spirit told me that you preach too.” Well, yea, I like to preach, but maybe I’ve been hiding from that, thank you very much. We can talk about that another time though, since this is longer than I intended. Sorry… a little.

So we left that day, fully surprised by all that happened and all that God showed us. We went there to bless some people but were filled to overflowing instead. It was wholly amazing, wholly beautiful and wholly God. It’s a wonder that God keeps using things that seem so insignificant to teach me and change me. He continues to give me glimpses of His character. He is crushing ideas that I have had about him for a long time. He’s chiseling away at a hardness that I’ve had, and replacing it with tenderness. All I can say is, continue the work, Lord, because I’ve got a long ways to go.

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Let’s start at the beginning

November 8th, 2013 3 comments

The beginning. There are lots of stories that I could start with that would be from the beginning. Like the moments we felt like God called us to missions, or when we met, or got married, or went to bible school. But I’ll spare you to long drawn out details since some of you may not be all that interested in that. I do want you to grab a cup of coffee or a cup a tea (which is what I prefer) and enjoy the read. The whole point of this is to build your faith or encourage you to step out. To do that thing that’s been in your heart to do. So let’s carry on with this story.

We just moved. To Oklahoma. Muskogee. Bet you never heard of Muskogee. I never had. There is a famous song about an Okie from Muskogee, so then again, maybe you have. But, yea, so we moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma (in case you didn’t catch that the first three times), and we are from South Louisiana. Big difference, folks. At least it’s still considered the South. They talk with a twang here, which is something I’m used to, and there’s lots of cowboys and Indians. The Native American kind. I would like to find some Indians from India though. Pray for that. All that aside, the real reason we are here in OK is to be trained as missionaries, and for my husband, Stephen, to become a pilot and an airplane mechanic so that we can use aviation as a tool to bring the gospel to unreached places. Its pretty cool.

It all started on a mission trip 9 years ago in the Amazon region of Brazil. Hold on, hold on, I’m not going give you 9 years of details, I just want to say one thing about this experience. Just keep sipping your drink of choice please. It was on this trip that we saw aviation missions in action and God breathed vision into Stephen that only grew as the years went by. We knew we were called to missions but this aviation aspect of missions was new to us. And we liked it. Through those 9 years until now we tried to make this vision a reality. We tried hard. And we spent a lot of money trying to make it happen. A few flight hours here and there just wasn’t cutting it. We looked at a few missions flight schools and thought we had found the one we were going to go to but we just didn’t have the money and we didn’t want to get in debt. For the past three years we have been planning to go to that school in August of each year. If we could only save up enough money to go. Saving is not hard…. if you’re a good saver. But apparently we weren’t because each year we never had enough to go. So this year it was our plan again. But since my mom didn’t want us to move to Washington state, she was feverishly searching for a school that was closer. She found one. Imagine that. Moms always find stuff that you have been looking for for years. So when she told me about Alpha Aviation I really just called the school to appease her. “Sure, Mom, I called the guy and it just wasn’t what we were looking for. Sorry.” That’s  what I thought my response would be. Because I’ve been trying to prove my mom wrong since I was a kid. Ain’t happenin, let’s just face it, she’s Spirit-led.

So I called the guy, Mr. Randy, the founder of Alpha Aviation and really liked our conversation. So we came visit in June. Then we prayed and prayed and prayed and felt like God was saying this was the place. But weren’t 100% sure. Um, this is a big thing here, can you just say yes or no in an audible voice? Or drop us a note? Can I get a sign? So as we were still unsure God had some plans in the making. Late in July we got a card in the mail from a dear friend saying that she really felt like God put it in her heart to give to our flight school. Inside the card was a check. One that was gonna make a move to start flight school possible. That weekend 2 friends at church told us that they were going to start supporting us monthly so that we can go to flight school. It was evident that God was pushing us. It was Him saying, “this is it! Go!” So we made arrangements, had a garage sale, shared our hearts with our friends and family, who were astoundingly all supportive, and moved here at the beginning of September.

I share all this to say, man, we planned, we tried, we prayed, we thought we had great ideas. But in the end, it was all God. When we did it, nothing succeeded. When God did it, everything did. We can honestly say, we did nothing to get us here, it was all out of our hands. For nine years we waited, we planned, we talked about our future, we shared our vision with others. Nine years is a long time to wait for something. Sometimes we thought that it was just a fleeting notion, that we would never do what we said we were gonna do and that everyone would see us as failures. Another one bites the dust. Sometimes in those years I felt like we were just talkers, and that others saw us as just that. In those years a verse has resounded in my heart and I see the evidence of it today. Psalms 16:1 says, “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” I think there is not one verse that is more fitting to our lives right now. We plan, but He has the final say, and it’s His plans that will succeed. And all glory will be His!

 

 

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Homeschool

November 4th, 2013 1 comment

 

Silas' kindergarten graduation 2016

Silas’ kindergarten graduation 2016

 

Myla's kindergarten graduation

Lilly's kindergarten graduation 2015

Lilly’s kindergarten graduation 2015

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Hello and Welcome

September 21st, 2013 1 comment

Thanks for taking the time to see what we have been up to.  This website deal is new for us, so if you have any suggestions please feel free to send them our way.  If you would like to know more about what we are doing please feel free to contact us here on our website blog or send us an email at [email protected].

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