Weeding and Watering.....

  Whew! I always wanted to know what it was like to have a huge family....now I know. It takes lots of work, lots of preperation and tons of patients. Having four kids oursleves we know alittle about parenting, however, trying to raise someone elses children is a little more challenging. Thank goodness for God's Word....and Biblical principles!  Raising children is like tending to a garden. First, you must plant the seeds and wait. While you wait you pray for good weather and sun to shine down on it while you add the water.  Children are the same way. You start out when they are small introducing "do's and don'ts". However, when you have kids that have already grown through those toddler and preschool years with someone else...there is alot of weeding to do. They have to be retrained. It can be done.....but those weeds...bad habits are sometimes hard to get rid of.

I must say that I am very proud of how quickly the children have adpated to using; "yes ma'am and No Sir etc."  They have learned to ask for permission before they grab something or go somewhere. There are many things that they are just not use to doing....using table manners.....not interupting adults when they are talking....but slowly we are making progress. The kids are also growing spiritually. It is so sweet to hear their prayer requests each night. They pray for their families, they pray for their parents to get saved and attend church. They also pray for more support for our ministry as well as things that they would like: bicycles, cheese, chicken, ice cream, basketball shorts.

Well, today was an awesome day....The family of 4 has now been living with us for a month and a day today. Since the children have entered into the home their father has attended every church service but one. (We changed the Easter service to 8am and he thought we were going to have a normal service). Today, we received a call from Pastor Matt that he had a visit with their father today and that he had trusted Christ as his Savior and that he was going to be baptized on Sunday. What exciting news to share with the children.....that their prayers had been answered. They were all overjoyed!