Our God is Greater...

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

These words, no doubt, brought great comfort to Jeremiah. They should bring comfort to us, as well.

Isn't it great to know the Sovereign God of the Universe?

He's in control, He's not worried, He'll accomplish all things according to His own will.

He's not in debt, He's not confused and He's not one of many voices, fighting to be heard.

He is God.

And He's not in a panic about the potential of a government shutdown.

And just in case you're wondering what in the world He's doing, this might be an appropriate answer:

"The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples." Psalm 33:10

Treasure Location...

...indicates heart condition.

Luke 12:33 and 34 says, "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes or moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also."

It's a night like any other night. You fall asleep quickly but then awaken to the fire alarm in your home buzzing wildly. This makes you jump out of bed. Everything looks fine in your room and you run to your bedroom door, throw it open and immediately a plume of smoke hits your face.

This is real, you tell yourself. Then you jump into action.

If you have children, your first instinct is to grab them. But let's say for some strange reason it's just you in the house. You have two minutes to grab what's valuable to you and get out safely.

Now, unless you're a bit psycho and every night before you go to bed you organize a few suitcases full of your most treasured possessions just in case a fire breaks out so that you can grab them and go in a heartbeat, this is a critical thinking time that may surprise you when the crisis passes.

You find yourself standing on your driveway, watching your house go up in flames. After the excitement dies down and the fire trucks leave, you look down at your feet and examine the armful of treasures you grabbed.

I am sure you will wonder exactly what you were thinking when you grabbed that exact pile - why didn't you grab this or that? If only you had time for more than one armful...

So, what's in your pile? Pictures? Your computer? Clothes or shoes? Files or jewelry? Maybe artwork, some spare hidden cash or a fur coat?

Whatever is in your pile will indicate where you heart is, don't you think? In a moment of great crisis, what do you value most?

I wonder why people turn to Jesus as a last resort to help them in a crisis? I'm not talking about the world now, I'm talking about believers. We tend to try to figure out life independent from the Lord and then in our hour of need wait until the last minute and then run to Him because there is nowhere left to turn. Unfortunately, many times we don't know where He is by then because He has been so neglected.

Sad, isn't it?

As we head into spring cleaning time - you know, that time when the weather starts to turn, the snow is done and the rain is here, and you crank open the windows to freshen the house, clean out the pantry and closets and get ready for summer - perhaps it's time to think through our crisis plans. What would you grab and why? Where is your treasure? What is your most valued possession? Where do you go when the crisis hits? What condition is your heart in?

Remember, your treasure location indicates your heart condition.

Quick Pics

The girls were over on Saturday and I thought their shirts were darling! Can you see what they say? Onesie and Twosie - too cute!

Christopher, my son, had a few of his friends over for the weekend - the boys who were in the basketball video with him. They are holding the girls, thus the hairy arms on either side of the picture. Just thought you would be wondering...

And here's Ashley ready to go home. Norah's picture was a bit blurry, so I only posted this one, but they pretty much looked the same.

Love the hat.

Love the cheeks.

Love the girls!

Hope you're having a great Lord's Day!

Almost Done...

Well, today ends a week long process, but the job is not quite finished. That's okay...the majority is done. Here are some pictures from the past two days. Here you see Kittye and Linda in the Daniel Room. There was a moment that I called out to them and asked if they were getting any painting done at all - you can see by the looks on their faces they were having too much fun! But they were and I didn't complain at all.

You can see in this picture that the background was already painted and the images were pencilled in before the women arrived. A few of us got the backgrounds and images done earlier in the week, so that yesterday and today would be mural painting. The women picked their own colors and got to work. We started at 9 a.m.




Here is Therese putting extra love in her mural. She painted in the preschool room, where she will be teaching once we're in the building. Her picture is the Zachaeus in the tree - so cute! Wait until you see it done...




Next you have Kathy, Julie and Jackie working on our Jesus mural. Not sure about those reading glasses, Jackie! But what a blessing to have Harvest West Olive women volunteer their time to help us with this project! Julie and Kathy also did the David and Goliath room and they were perfectionists through and through! Thanks, gals!





Here you have Cindy and Heidi painting the Abraham room, or as we have renamed it, The Biker Brian Anderson room. For those of you who know him, look ahead to the finished mural and you'll understand!




And yes, we did have some men come and help. Candice and Richard tackled the Joshua Room and giggled and laughed the whole time...not sure what was so funny in there, but we were glad they were there...




This was the Moses mural that Beth Lile and I worked on. I put this one first so that you can see what the murals looked like by the end of Thursday. They were completely colored in, but still needed to be outlined. The next picture shows the finished product with lines included - big difference, huh?




Moses Room




Daniel Room




David Room




Here are two of the three nursery rooms - the Noah's ark is in the corner of the far right room and in the far left and middle room, you have animals making their way to the ark, two by two! It is darling! Jen Machiela designed the rooms and did all the drawings. Crystal Miracle oversaw these three rooms for the past two days and it was HUGE job! By the end of today, all the animals have their background color. Now Jen and Crystal, with perhaps a bit more help, will go in and add detail. So nice!

You can see Beth and Crystal (in the shadows by the ark) hard at work in this picture...




And here, you can see the other man who came to help. This is my son-in-law, Austin, and he has a heart of gold, just like Richard Tease. To hang out with a bunch of women and paint...you two are too much!

Noah Room

Joshua Room



Abraham Room (a.k.a. Biker Brian Anderson Room)


Zachaeus Room

And finally, as you enter the children's area, this is the mural that will greet you. We called it our Jesus Mural.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for your incredible help! We are so excited to have children running in the hallways, touching the paintings and imagining themselves in each story. Please pray for our children and our teachers. To have a child fully give their heart over the Christ at a young age is such a blessing and each week our workers have the opportunity to be the hands, voice and love of Jesus to these children.

A week from Monday the carpet goes in...we're getting closer...