Fiery Darts

Yesterday I went to do some weeding in the garden. I had let a plant grow to see what kind of plant it was. It did have flowers....but it had "fiery darts" too. Before I had only seen these "fiery darts" on my pets. They cause sores and fester when they manage to reach their skin. I have pulled many off my hairy dog and seen the red places that are left behind. So, I go after this plant knowing it needs to be destroyed. It's place is on the burn pile. I had seen it before but I was dressed in clothes I did not want the "fiery darts" upon. It was as I expected, my clothes were covered in the poky, sharp, painful pieces from the plant. I chose to leave them on for morning devotion. I wanted the children to see the visible picture of us doing what is right and still have "darts" thrown at us. What a wonderful depiction of our lives as Christians. We try to do God's will and Satan tries to stop us. In truth, I had been stopped from getting rid of the plant before. I was not properly dressed...over dressed more like it. We are to put on the full armour of God. We are to expect "fiery darts".
Many of those working with the hosting program had illness strike their families. Some had flu like problems, some stomach, some vertigo and some just pain. When Satan works that hard to try to stop us from what we are doing, well, I can't wait t see what God does! Due to the pain, from a fall, we did no fundraising this year. We had no offers to help. We chose not to ask for anything. We let the needs be known. Thank you to those that helped!
The fiery darts are still coming. I am having vision problems in one eye. I was painting for someone a few years ago and lost partial vision in my right eye. I think pride prevented me from telling many and hopes that the vision would come back. Our well is not working correctly. Sometimes the water is red with dirt. When the man has time he will come and work on it. Knowing God's ways are perfect. Knowing God allows things to happen for a reason. Knowing the fiery darts will keep coming as long as we try to spread the Gospel and work with orphans.

Getting ready to host

We are getting ready to host orphans. We have painted Amy's room blue. Bye, bye to the "daddy's girl" pink. Some people asked if I would paint is back after they leave. I don't think so... It's not the can of paint but the hours of work to clean out the room. Four boys will be staying in there the next few weeks....I just could not see putting boys in there with pink walls! Some said it would be ok. It is blue now.
Pray for healing for me. It's been hard to walk for a week. Driving hurts. It is frustrating to not be at full strength and getting done all that needs to be done to host. One of my sweet children left the dustpan in the middle of the floor. I slid. Apparently I can still almost do the splits. I felt muscles tear as I went. A slower speed would have been less painful. I keep telling Troy to stretch before doing gymnastics or he will be in pain too.
Ricky has worked out of town for 6 weeks. He did come see us on the weekend. Last weekend he was on a ship and well, we did not see him. Hopefully they will finish soon and he will be home soon. I'm a single parent of 7.
God has really been telling me to "Be still and Know I am God." Ps 46:10 and to in faith "Do whatever God has told you." Gen 31:16b
Hosting is later than expected. Our whole schedule, well it is gone. They arrive after we had things planned. Many will be putting their children in school the last week. We are starting from scratch. Faith God has a plan...I just don't know all of it yet.
My Heavenly Father has a plan. I have faith he will provide for every part of that plan. I have faith all the workers, outings, meals, chaperons, fees and trips will be taken care of by God.
Last year when we hosted we did almost all the meals here at the house. We did not feel we should ask for help with so few children hosted. I think for the whole summer we had 3 meals provided. I felt like many had missed a blessing. Ricky and I truly enjoy the fellowship of meals together as a family.
I bought two beautiful flower pots for the front porch awhile back. One leaked due to a defect. The other did not. I have moved the flower pots into the rain. The one with no holes in it flooded the flowers and most of them died. The other "cracked" pot did great. The flowers are beautiful. Yesterday I cringed as I took a nail and put two holes in the pot that had no cracks. I wanted to give the flowers a chance to live. Water oozed out of the holes. Hopefully the plants will live now. What we see as looking good is not always best. God uses cracked pots to do His will. I am so glad God can use me as imperfect as I am to serve Him. I am often confessing my faults and weaknesses to my Maker in hopes He will make me more like Him.
If your a cracked pot that is willing to join us on the adventure of helping orphans come join us. We are not perfect people here. We are trying to serve God. Obedience brings blessing. Faith makes us strong. God knows the master plan. Blessings!!!!

It's been a year

I have thought about adding to the blog many times. Life is busy and full of excuses.

We have had a great year with the children. Their English is great. They had long school days trying to adjust to our way of doing school. We had lots of fun. There were many learning experiences. God has been faithful to lead us and guide us.

God has been teaching each one in the family different things. It is amazing to see the change in these children. I look forward to seeing continued improvements in their lives, ok and mine. God is not finished with me yet, either.

I have been praying about what we should blog or not. Some of our experiences would bless others.

Blessings from the Holmes