Praise and Prayer for July 25, 2010

Time marches on as we struggle to keep ahead of the demands and responsibilities of each day.  How thankful we are for all the Lord has done for us and allowed us to accomplish and be involved in these past two weeks.  It was good that Jonathan was here to move his Mother to Heartland Health Care Center for rehab from the Hospital before we left for Cleveland, OH for Baptist Mid-Missions’ Annual Conference July 11-14.  The conference based on the theme “Redeeming the Time” was a blessing in so many ways as we enjoyed the fellowship of friends and loved ones we hadn’t seen for several years and enjoyed the spiritual refreshment of the preaching sessions, the special music, ministry presentations and the useful workshops.  Adrianna and Caleb had much fun with the friends they made as well as in various activities organized according to their age including a day trip to the Cleveland Zoo.  We are so thankful too that Jessica Leslie was able to fly to Cleveland for the Conference to help with our kids and to profit from the sessions.  It was great to introduce her to the wonderful team that works in our Home Office.

Since we got back to our home here in Marne, our time and efforts have been split between preparing for our home ministry (messages, DVD presentation and display) and visiting and helping Jonathan’s Mother.  His brother Don put in many long hours with us as he used his talent in graphic design to put together our display.  After several very late nights, thank the Lord that we were ready for our very first speaking engagement Sunday night at Wealthy Park Baptist Church.

  Praise for:

- the great Annual Conference with good fellowship, much spiritual refreshment and fun for our children.

- the good care and progress that Jonathan’s Mother has been making in rehab, and for the opportunity to be near enough to be a help and encouragement to her.

- the Lord’s help in getting all of the details prepared for our first speaking engagement Sunday night, and that many family members were present, including Jonathan’s Mom.

- the generosity of our church family shown through a love offering last evening which covers half of the cost of our plane fare back to France this coming Sunday.

- the time we have been able to spend with our families, including a special Birthday party for Adrianna on Saturday when she turned 8.

Pray for:

- Jonathan’s Mother who fell last night at Heartland and was taken to the ER at Butterworth Hospital for a CT scan and 5 staples in a laceration to her scalp.  She is rather bruised, but is back at Heartland.

- us to be able to catch up with communication and other projects after having so much put on hold these past several weeks.

- safety as we travel back to Reims, France on Sunday for three days to renew our temporary resident cards.  Pray that our one-year cards will be available for us to pick up by Tuesday (otherwise, we will have to make another trip back to France within three months).

- Adrianna, Caleb and Josiah as we leave them with Grandma and Grandpa Broeckert for the time that we are gone to France, and for Mama and Papa too.

- the Lord’s provision of finances to fund some major expenses we have: complete funding for this trip back to France ($1800 still needed) and funds to purchase home schooling materials for Adrianna and Caleb for this school year.