Still Kickin'

Well, some weeks are better than others right? This week, I was amazed by all the folks who have stepped up to support my mission trip after my last post. My church in SC (even though I moved to Lexington over 1 1/2 years ago now, I still call WOL my church) has made a large donation to my mission trip, and I have had some friends step up to help with the upcoming yard sale. Thank you to all of you for your support. This morning I received word that the baby's home caught on fire. Praise the Lord no one was hurt. The fire started in the ceiling in the laundry room and has to do with something electrical. Ken and Cathy moved every body out and were waiting for the electrician to determine when it is safe to go back in. In addition, Ken was reended this morning. Fortunately, no one was injured and the other person will have to pay for the repairs. Ken said to me, "I know the enemy doesn't like what we are doing, and whenever things like this start happening, I know God is getting ready to do something big!" Such a great attitude and very true. They have asked for prayer of course. Today, I have a test ahead. I'm not sure how its going to go as I am stepping completely out of my comfort zone and my patience will be tested. Please pray for me. In other news, Kelsie and I signed up for the Iron Horse Half Marathon on October. We are really pumped and scared all at the same time. It will be the first 1/2 Marathon for both of us. We start officially training in June. Exciting stuff.

Warning: Spiritual Retreat Needed: Post Oozes Self Pity

Sometimes the burden I feel on my soldiers from the stress from my job is overwhelming. I have staff who depend on me, I have families who depend on me, and I have children who are depending on me. Even though I know that the burden is not mine to carry and that God’s burden is light, sometimes it is difficult to really give it to Him. I want to, but I keep picking it back up again. There are days when I want to quit and run away. I remember my mom used to say the same thing when I was growing up. I know that everyone feels this way from time to time. I also feel the lies from the enemy creeping in saying, “You are not enough, you can’t do it, you’re going to fail”, or “if you had a spouse or someone to share your burdens with everything would be easier”. I know these are all lies because I do have someone to share my burdens with and He is the best support I could ever need. He is always faithful, and I cannot fail when I am relying on Him. He knows my needs before I even express them. Today has been challenging and all before 10AM. Perhaps a vacation is due. Perhaps a spiritual vacation is due!

To Uganda I Return

This year I am leading a team of 16 people to Uganda for 10 days. Thanks to a wonderful church in Nebraska, we have raised over $100,000 toward the building of the new baby’s home! We give God all the glory and praise! These funds are earmarked for the building so we are not allowed to use them to cover the team’s travel cost. Each team member is expected to raise $2,600 for the trip. So far, I have only raised $593.00. As a team leader, I have an additional $1,500 that is raised by the other team members, which leaves me with a balance of $507 to raise before we leave. I am planning to have a yard sale in April to help raise funds as well. This year, the majority of our team members are men. We have several men who are in construction because we plan to build the first building for the baby’s home. We want to be able to move the children to the site in Mokono, Uganda to avoid continuing to pay rent in Kampala. In addition, while we are in Mokono, we will be ministering to widows and other community members through prayer, donations of goods, and fellowship. We also plan to hold vacation bible school at Kidron Valley Orphanage in Jinja which ministers to over 100 children in the community. I am very excited about this trip because it will be my first time to travel to Uganda and stay outside of Kampala. Also, I’m excited because the Lord has provided the funds to really begin building. Since my trip last May, we have raised the funds to dig a well on the land. This has been such a blessing to the community to have clean water! The folks in Uganda have completed a latrine and are now working on a guard shack. In addition, we have continued to raise and support the baby’s home monthly at $4,000 per month. Each month is a struggle to meet our goal, but the Lord always provides. I’m so excited to see what the Lord has in store for our team on this year’s trip. Below are some photos of some of the work that has been done in the past. Thank you all for your continued prayers and financial support. To donate to my trip click here or please send checks to: A Helping Hand Adoption Agency 1510 Newtown Pike Ste 152 Lexington, KY 40511

Dear Supporters, I’m writing again to thank each of you for your recent contribution to my May mission trip to Uganda. I also wanted to send you some photos and share with you about the experience. We took a team of 8 people from all over the country. We had a great group and everyone worked hard. This trip involved more physical labor as we worked to build the fencing at the site of the new baby’s home. We also did some more painting at the current baby’s home and visited Mama Mary’s for VBS. We also took all of the children in the baby’s home to the clinic for their immunizations and provided supplies to widows in the neighborhood. We prayed with the women and families in need. We were truly blessed. While visiting the squatters (widows) on the land and providing them with supplies and prayers, I was amazed by their gratefulness. I am always so humbled by the people of Uganda. They are so grateful for everything and anything we offer them. This year, we met a widow who has taken in 11 orphans. She is living in a mud hut with all of these children. When we return with the team in October, one of our projects, if we are able to raise the funds, is to build her a new home. Since my last trip to Uganda, we were able to have the land surveyed and begin digging a well. Two churches here in the US starting funding campaigns for the well and together raised the $20,000 needed for the well and generator. We were able to see the work being started while we were there. A man gets into that tiny bucket and is wheeled down into the whole. He then digs and puts dirt in the bucket and sends it back up. It was incredible! The good news is that they have already almost hit water. Soon, the people in this region will have clean water available to them. Praise the Lord! I want to introduce you to Joan. She was recently placed in the Tender Hearts baby’s home after being abandoned. Joan is 2 years old and when she arrived at the baby’s home, she weighed 16 pounds. Joan is blind and has had a head injury. Since being at the baby’s home, she has gained weight and has begun to bend her arms and legs with the help of some physical therapy. She is incredibly happy and smiles and giggles whenever she is touched or spoken too. Please pray for Joan, for her recovery, and for an adoptive family to bring her home. I have been to Uganda so many times now it feels like my second home. The people of Uganda are beautiful inside and out. They are generous, grateful, loving, and so much more. We will be taking our next trip to Uganda to continue the projects we have started on October 13th. I would love for some of you to join us. If you are interested in learning more about this trip, please call or e-mail me. If you would like to support me on the next trip to Uganda, please send your checks to Nightlight Christian Adoptions 4430 E. Miraloma Ave, Anaheim Hills, CA 92807. Be sure to include my name in your letter so the funds will go toward the mission trip. You can also give on line at the link below. Thanks again to all of you for helping me to honor the command of James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of what God is doing in Uganda, and it is because of your faithfulness to him that I have been able to do it. Donate online Here. May God continue to bless you richly for your generous donations. Love, Lisa

The Year is Half over!

Well, I haven't blogged since January! Yikes. My last post was my "hope to do list" for 2011. Six months later, how am I doing?

1)I have completed 2 5K's this year, but I haven't been able to "run" the entire thing yet. I think I will accomplish that next time as I'm running 3 miles 3 times a week.
2) I have lost about 25 pounds since January! I'm much healthier and physically fit. I truly enjoy challenging myself to a new physical peak!
3) I don't think I will ever be satisfied with my love for God or love for others. There is always room for improvement, but I am working on it. Sigh.

Perhaps I will post again in December or perhaps I will get a wild hair and post sooner. We shall see.

2011 Hope to To Do List

Instead of making new year's resolutions, I have decided to make a "Hope To Do List" which is an idea I stole from one of my favorite bloggers Jamie. If you haven't read her blog, I highly encourage it. I am not making this list so that I can be razzed by family and friends when I fail but as a reminder to myself. I hope to look at this post next year and see a few of the items accomplished.

Hope to:
1) Be rooted and grounded in God's love so that I can show more love to others.
2) No longer be a fatty!
3) Run a 5K

A Christmas Message to Unbelievers

This morning I am feeling a little bit irritated, and I felt I had to put my thoughts out there for the world to see. Here goes:




I have heard a lot of comments over the last few years from people who feel that Christmas is just a shopping, present giving, Santa Clause pagan holiday. In fact, there are some who say they really want to get into the Christmas spirit and decorate their house. When asked, will you be putting up a nativity, they say, "Oh, no. We don't get into all that." I heard a statistic on the radio from Focus on the Family yesterday that said 80% of Christians who say they celebrate Christmas and believe they are celebrating Jesus' birth, do not read the Christmas birth story to their family at Christmas. No one disputes that Jesus was a real person who lived on the earth. Though there is dispute for some about how he was born and whether or not he was really the son of God. There is no doubt that he lived and was a man who influenced a lot of people. The same could be said about Socrates, Plato, and Ceasar. Do we celebrate the birth of Socrates, Plato, or Ceasar? Had Jesus not been born and had there not been a Christian who said, "Let's celebrate the birth of Jesus", there would be no Christmas. No matter how you feel about Christians or their story of Jesus as Savior, the fact remains. No one would be giving gifts, decorating the tree, or telling their children that Santa would be coming down the chimney. The bith of Jesus being celebrated, is what sparked all the other Christmas traditions and the pagan traditions that followed. So, if you are not a believer and doubt the birth story of Christ, you are welcome to your opinion. However, your opinion does not change the basis for the holiday and therefore if you enjoy and celebrate Christmas in any way, you should be thankful to Jesus for being born simply because without him, you would not be celebrating anything.



"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God". 1 Corinthians 1:18