Friday, May 25, 2012

The Final Chapter

Yesterday Dw, the kids, the dogs and I packed up to head to Colorado.

We barely stopped and had a lot of fun laughing and reminiscing.  

A sweet trip over all.

Little Miss Ruby did wonderful and was awake 
{with the exception of a 20 minute nap} the entire trip.

We are checking her often to make sure her {very open} fontanel is fine.

Her neurosurgeon cleared her to come, but we are watching closely.

We got to Pagosa in the nick o' time as Autumn had her bridal shower last night. 

Such fun to see that precious girl of ours
opening presents in anticipation of the miracle wedding of the century.

We took tons of pictures, but the internet at the campground is s-l-o-o-o--o-w.

Savannah and Emmy's best bud Destini joined us.

Such fun memories are being made!

Tomorrow Dw is officiating the wedding of a precious young orphan lovin' couple who attended the church we pastored here.   They wanted to be sure that the world knows their hearts for the orphan are huge and so they requested that Jubilee, Isaiah, Elizabeth and Elijah would be in the wedding {not to mention that they were the most adorable little treasures this side of the Mississippi}!

Then Sunday Dw is speaking at a church in Bayfield, called Life Church.
The 'party' starts at 9:30am with church starting at 10.
If you are in the area, please come!

It will give me a chance to love on treasured friends whom
 I never got the chance to say good-bye to.  
They will also get to meet our little miracle Miss Ruby Grace.

Very odd to be back in town after 8.5 months!
Never would have guessed when Emma and I left for Africa that our world would change so much...and I would never return to our home or to the church we senior pastored for 7.5 years.

The winds are supposed to be 60-70 mph in Pagosa Springs tomorrow...
{and it's already started up}...

Soooo, camping should be really interesting....


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A Summer Worth Remembering...

Dw and I were talking yesterday and looking back over some of the things we have done with our summers.

One summer in probably about 1981 we opened our home to host six pastors for a conference they were attending that week at our church in Buffalo.

In the summer of 1984 we opened our home and hearts to a little girl from the inner city of New York.  She was with us through a program in those day known as "The Fresh Air Fund" which took kids out of the inner city and placed them for the summer in a home where they could breathe fresh air and just be a kid.

I wish I still had the photos to show you....in fact, come to think of it, that little girl we sponsored in the summer of 1984 looks an awful lot like a little girl waiting in Uganda we know.

There were others in between, but that one in particular stands out.  It was an amazing time!

In the summer of 1988, Billy Graham did a crusade in Buffalo, New York.  We were heavily involved and actually sponsored a Chin*se national who came to the states for the conference with her grown daughter.  They did not speak English and of course, we did not speak any Chin*se.

It was such a crazy adventure for us!  We loved having the Chin*se mom and her daughter stay with us.  We prayed that they would meet the King of Kings.

During their week stay with us, one lunch I made grilled cheese sandwiches.  The daughter came to me and asked if I would write the recipe down for her.  How adorable is that?  Somewhere in Ch*na a Grilled Cheese sandwich recipe is floating around compliments of Linny.  {It was an old family recipe....ya' know?  Butter a side of each slice of bread, slice cheese, grill.  haha}

But what about this coming summer?  Have you and your family wondered and prayed if there is something in particular the Lord would have you do this summer?

Maybe minister to the orphans in some way?

Ya' know....making a difference to one.

Well here's an opportunity to do just that!

I am mentioning two programs for sponsoring orphans this summer, there are plenty of others.  In fact if you are part of a Orphan Summer Sponsorship program, please leave a comment under this post with a link to your program .

I have had contact with these two groups and desperately want to see the Lord provide a home for each child available.

Maybe you could be the home for one.

The first is a ministry called Guglielmo's Hope, Inc. - finding homes for children from the Ukraine.

I have spoken in person to Ginger who is the co-founder of the program.  She's a rockin' awesome woman with a heart for the orphan.   I spoke to her a few weeks ago.  She was leaving for the Ukraine the next day, but what struck me, was what she said as we were hanging up:  "Call me any time, any time...day or night...these kids need sponsors."  Love her heart.

Time is running out for these treasures - could you be a host family?



Ginger's recent email:

Please take a look at the photo list and see if someone touches your heart. They each have a bio. If you have been on the fence waiting to see who was going to be hosted first, now is the time to make a selection so we can focus on getting paperwork done. All the children in the beginning after the word "Available" still need families.   If they are after "Hold" or "Hosted" they are the children selected to have an amazing summer. Thank You God!!!!











Click to see is the listing of kids still waiting in the Ukraine for matches for this summer.  There are still 9 singles waiting and 3 sibling groups.  Let's blitz Facebook and see if we can find homes for these treasures desperately longing for a family.  

If you want more information, please contact Ginger: ginger.guglielmo@gmail.com

The other ministry I have information on is:


2012 Taiwan Summer Tour of Hope

There are six treasures pictured.  They are needing sponsors for two weeks in July.

For more information see the link highlighted link above.




Please spread the word!  Just think, if each of us told all our FB friends and any one else we know...there would surely be some who would have been wondering [at the Lord's prompting] what to do this summer....




















You can be an advocate from your own home today. Point your Facebook friends to these two great organizations {and any others listed in the comments} and perhaps help an orphan find their forever family!


In the mean time, let's pray that God will provide homes above and beyond all that we could think or ask and each child allowed to be hosted, will, indeed, have a host family provided and make it a summer worth remembering.


"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed."
Psalm 82:3