Our Plan's, God's Plans, Christmas & Blessings

Our Plans 

We are not in North Carolina anymore!  I have not Blogged in forever and much has transpired!  We are actually getting ready to begin planning our next adventure and so I felt compelled to update before beginning to share our next journey.   I say "our plans" because as we have learned in the past, if our plans are not God's plans then plans change!

 Our last Sunday with our Crain Girls in North Carolina!

                                 
For instance we thought we would be in Crossnore for a long while, but God had other plans.  He blessed our obedience by allowing us to be unemployed zero days between jobs.  We did not even have a job offer when we put in our 2 weeks notice to The Crossnore School.  BUT the last day at Crossnore, we were already on the payroll at Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Homes!

God is good and his timing is perfect.

So as for our next adventure.... (to be continued in next blog)

John says I have to add.... The new adventure is not that we are leaving Patrick Henry and I am NOT pregnant!  We just have a project we are working on that will be and adventure!

In Appomattox Court House - the lane where the CSA laid down their weapons and surrendered.

God's Plans

We are now in Rustburg, Virginia, a little town south of Lynchburg, Virginia. Lynchburg is home to Liberty University and very near Appomattox Court House National Historic Park.

God has planted us at a children's home called Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Homes.  The main campus of this amazing program is located on the Red Hill Plantation (Patrick Henry National Memorial) once owed by one of our founding fathers, Patrick Henry.

Below is a video about Where we work and What we do!

We served on the main campus from April 2013 till August of 2014 working with teen girls.  In August we transferred to their home for older teen girls (16 -18 years old) located in Rustburg.  This home is on 70 acres and boasts a pond, horses and lots of trees.  We love it! After living "in community" for 4 years, it is a refreshing change.  I am sure my fellow ministry families will understand.

John and I along with many of "our girls" were featured in the Spring Issue of The Orator,  which is a publication put out quarterly about Patrick Henry Family Services. There are many pictures from our summer fun!

God has blessed us here with a great working/living environment and some wonderful young ladies to help.  We now just serve, watch & wait for what God has for us next...

Christmas

Oh Christmas!  My favorite and least favorite time of year.  I hate the early merchandising and so by the time Christmas season arrives I am irritated by the thought. THEN I remind myself, or God does, that it is CHRISTmas -  not TOYSmas, MUSICmas, DECORATIONmas, LIGHTSmas, SHOPPINGmas or STRESSmas!  

I calm and begin to enjoy the the season and start telling everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS and making a point not to say Happy Holidays!  I begin shopping, listening to the music and really start feeling the joy!

Then Christmas Eve arrives!  Oh the mixed emotions!  I start missing family so bad it hurts and many tears are shed about everything!  BUT I still have warm fuzzies because it is the night Jesus was born!

So now this year...

Thanksgiving was later and so I think that has helped my Christmas spirit this year.  Less, early commercializing.  But this also meant that I had less time for Christmas cards and have all but decided not to send out the 70 plus cards I usually send to our friends and family.  

John and I will have about 16 days off over Christmas and that is where our planning for our new adventure begins...

Our girls will be staying at another cottage or home with their families over the break so it will be quiet here.  Hopefully I continue to feel the joy and my yearning for family that is far away will be minimal.

Blessings

I will end this return to blogging by thanking God for all the wonderful blessings I have in my life (especially the 6 blessings that live with me)! 

My wonderful husband, Dylan & Sabrena & 3 healthy grand children (Odin was born on the Dec 3rd, Audrey Lynn, and Jaidyn)

Odin Young Darmetko - 12/3/14

Jaidyn & Audrey

Babies, Yarn and Rules

This has been a busy couple of weeks for us.  We have finally gottten through some changes that have been happening round us here at Crossnore.  I believe God never wants John and I to get bored because he never lets things sit still for long!

First I want to share some pictures of some projects I am working on.  As you all know, I have a grand-daughter (Audrey Lynn) due in April but I also have a God Son due in July!  So I am in full on baby crochet mode!  Here are a few of my projects, mostly all half done.  When you see a yarn and think "I could make something out of that, but I don't know what yet," BUY MORE THAN ONE SKEEN!!!! I am such a dork.  I saw a pretty Homespun yarn (Mimosa) and thought what a pretty color for a baby blanket.  Not wanting to spend too much only bought on skeen.  I started a hat first, then the blanket and ran out of yarn.  No big deal right?  Run back to Walmart and buy more.  Wrong!  My Walmart did not have any left.  So, wanting to continue on with "baby" projects, I bought 1 (oh yes I said 1) skeen of another color (blue/brown camo).  I think I am a slow learner!  In the mean time I tried two other Walmart's for the Mimosa Homespun and they did not even have a place on the shelf for it.  But while in one of these Walmart stores I saw pink camo yarn!  How cool!  I bought 4 skeens of it.  Now I am starting to learn!  After two weeks of waiting (and having 3 unfinished projects) I was in a Walmart and found the Mimosa Homespun that started it all!  I bought all they had this time (only 3 skeens)!  I also bought 2 more skeens of the blue/brown camo!  Lesson Learned!

I have been reading in through Galatians and I would like to share a thought with you.  Freedom in Christ!  Now some of us have heard this before.  I am amazed though how adamant Paul is when talking to the Galatians  about the things they are doing.  They have return to trying to live under the law.    For today, that means trying to live by a set of rules and be good enough!  Now we have all heard that we can't be good enough and so that is why Christ died for us BUT have you ever thought that we disappoint God when we try follow a set of rules to get closer to him instead of trusting him to lead us?    The question we usually ask before doing something is, "Is this legal, within guidelines, against the rules, etc."  What we should be asking FIRST is, "Is this the Right thing to do, will it honor God, even WWJD (what would Jesus do)?"  I was WOWed at this thought.  That is freedom, security and that is responsibility!  I can't make that decision on my own.  I HAVE TO pray and get God's guidance.  I have to listen to the Holy Spirit and let him guide my life.  I know though that if I listen and follow through, God has great plans for me and all will be well!  The freedom is in that I don't have a do and don't list to follow as many people think Christians have.  The conviction in this for me was that I often look to man to answer questions of what I should and should not do.  While I do believe parents, pastors, mentors and friends are placed in our lives by God to help us, ultimately we have the responsibility to listen to God.  He may speak through those people but he will back it up though scripture and the Holy Spirit.  We have to remember that those people, like us, are only human.  

Disclaimer:  Please remember, these are the ramblings of a very flawed human!  LOL

 

Welcome, Bienvenidos & Howdy

So... I am starting a Blog!  I am not sure if anyone will be interested in my babbling but I have felt led by God to start this for a while.   Here goes...

I will be posting thoughts, opinions, feelings, life events, projects, recipes, patterns, exciting news, sad news, discoveries, triumphs and failures.  Just life, as I see it!

The title of this blog comes from a thought God gave me a few months back.  I would have blogged it then but I had no blog.

"Life is a jigsaw puzzle... Faith is letting God hand you one piece at a time, putting it exactly where he tells you, even if it feels like it does not fit or make sense.  You must trust that the picture will turn out exactly like it is supposed to.  According to God's master plan."

This so hard for me!!!  I don't even LIKE jigsaw puzzles!  I hate not being able to find where a piece goes.  It feels unorganized, nothing makes sense and I usually give up.  I think God was trying to tell me to let go and trust him.

I am learning that I DON"T need all the answers BUT I DO NEED GOD!