Potter's House Christmas

Last night our family had the privilege to serve at Potter's House Christmas.  It is so much more than one evening ~ 
We have known the Schwartzman family for 12 years and consider them part of our family.  We've been blessed to have our paths cross through the years to do Cell Group, SNiK (Saturday Night Kids), Potter's House and the last few years to be neighbors.  Shawn & Anita are the heartbeat behind Potter's House.  

Potter’s House began 14 years ago when Shawn met a few families in South Fayetteville and started to spend time with their children. They began to read the Bible, talk about Jesus, and hang out together.  Throughout the years more children and adults came who wanted to be involved.
Many of these same families are involved in Potter’s House today.  Now there are 35 tutors, 25 wet cement leaders, 75 small group leaders, 5 leaders for womens/discipleship house mentors and 10 mentors at the Thrift Store. ~ a total of 140 over leaders! 

Over time Potter’s House has added different ministries such as The Academy, Wet Cement and Potter's House Thrift Store.  Inside each of these ministries are opportunities for Discipleship,  Job Training, Counseling,  Retreats, Camps and Mission Trips. 

It was wonderful last night to see all these different ministries come together and celebrate Christmas.  The amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to organize this night is extensive.  Anita Schwartzman and Ashley Brill are the organizing queens!!!  Their skills in gathering volunteers to put this evening together are amazing.  It takes a huge team to pull off this evening....starting with all the wonderful people who give donations of toys, money and gift cards.  There are many volunteers that give of their time to sort gifts, organize, set up tables, wrap presents, serve that evening, donate food, clean up crew and MORE!!!  
There were 540 people who came for Potter's House Christmas and 160 volunteers ~ this number does not include all the work that goes on for months beforehand.  

The Potter's House families started arriving about 5:30.  All the different people who work and serve at PH joined the other families at tables to enjoy the evening together.  Everyone was dressed up and excited to be there.  It felt like a HUGE family reunion. 

We served appetizers as people came in and mingled.  The families got to make a wreath to take home and after that there was a delicious meal served to everyone.  There were funny dancing skits,  sweet singing, videos highlighting this past year, testimonies and reading of the Christmas story during evening.
While all the festivities were going on in the gym each family was taken to a room where photographers were set up to take pictures of them.  The pictures were then edited and downloaded onto a flash drive for each family to take home.  
Then all the table servers were ushered into a room that was filled with wrapped presents that had been organized by each table. There was so much thought and care about each gift.  They know these families and what kind of toy each child would want and they tried to match the perfect gift for each person.  We all lined up outside the doors to the gym with the gifts and just like they used to do Oprah's Christmas show.....the doors opened and we all came in with the gifts for everyone.  It was really special. Every family member went home with a basket of goodies and presents. 

It was an evening filled with laughter, singing, eating, presents, crafts and more!  

Thank you Potter's House for all you do!!!  

The Taha's Story

Tarek & Susanna's Giving Story ~

We have been praying about where to give our I TImothy money, then realized the answer has been right in front of me.  

The kids who attend Ozark Guidance school program in Rogers have sad backgrounds. They have either been kicked out of public school for bad behavior, have autism, have mental problems from abuse, or they are living in foster homes.  These kids don't always own regular hygiene products, or even have warm socks to wear.  So with the money given plus a little more we are able to supply the 30 students with basic toiletry items and some warm socks.  It is really humbling to see a child get excited about a "snoopy toothbrush" that costs only 50 cents.  95% or more of the kids at the center are boys, so we gave them legos as toys.  They were really excited about those.  This has been a very humbling experience and helped our family put things in the right perspective about the true meaning of CHRISTmas

Community Group ~ it's a good thing.....

I have to start by saying I am super sad that Chris & Jennifer Krodell are not in this picture, but if they were, they would be Awesome!!  I hope all of you are as lucky as I am to be surrounded by such amazing friends.  This crazy bunch is our Community Group.  I can't even begin to express how much I love them.  Our group comes along side the New Heights Student Ministry to pray and love on the Cell Group leaders.....so we are lucky to get to be a part of the fun parties like the Murder Mystery Christmas Party.

I was recently contacted by Chloe Seal who works for 3 Bags in 2 Days (http://3bagsin2days.org) to see if we would be interested in gathering 200 shampoo bottles for Community Meals Christmas party. Sure!!!  I said without much thought to what that would mean.  So I sent out emails, Facebook and Twitter messages asking for shampoo.  This should be easy.  I mean, it's just shampoo.  Well, after several days, I still only had the 10 bottles I had bought.  Thankfully, my wonderful community group all pitched in and we were up to 45!  Woo Hoo.....we are well on our way and I knew we could to this.  But after a few more days, we only had a couple more bottles added.

I hope all of you have an Elastic Girl aka Cathleen Hood ~ in your life.  She has the biggest servants heart and knows how to make things happen. When she called to check on the shampoo status, I told her we were still way short.  She comes to my house a few hours later and has been to 6 stores and cleared all the shelves of shampoo for our project.  I think she bought over 150 bottles of shampoo!!  I gave her some money we had in our Amazing Race pool....(don't ask ) But still way short to cover all she bought.  She was determined we would get our 200 bottles and we did....thanks to Cathleen.

I am so thankful to be in a community group with such servants hearts.  I love that I get to do life with them.

The best part of this 30 Days of Giving Journey has been meeting people like Chloe Seal.  She started 3 Bags in 2 Days about 3 years ago.  She is a full time student, putting herself through college.  She works a job and does 3B2D on the side which is almost a full time job in and of itself.  She has a heart as big as Texas.   When I dropped off the shampoo, I saw her apartment full of baskets of goodies going out to a children's shelter.  Her organizational skills must be amazing.....and if you know me, you know how much I appreciate that.

Thank you to my Community Group for jumping on the 30 Days of Giving wagon and especially to Cathleen for making sure we accomplished our goal. And a HUGE shout out to Chloe Seal for living her life in such a selfless way and changing our community.  I am blessed to know all of you!

Jamie & Bob's Story

Jamie & Bob's Story for the 1 Timothy 6:18 Project ~~

When we were thinking about what to do with the money, we decided to give the majority of it to a boy who is 15 but functions at a 5/6 year old level.  He has a mental disablility. He runs away from home alot and the parents are not that involved with him. As a police officer, my husband has had to get involved several times. One of the girls I work with is married to a guy that is his caregiver. She was telling me about his family and how sad it is, that they just ignore him and just try to fix him with medication. Very rarely does he receive anything new or gifts, much less anything else, even from his own family. I feel so bad for him. His family never has him for the holidays.  My friend and her husband took him in for Thanksgiving and will probably do the same at Christmas as his parents are too busy living their 'normal' life. We bought him some fleece pants and a very warm hoodie (since he runs away, at least maybe he can stay somewhat warm). We also got him some activity books and games that he can play with his caregiver. We didn't want to give them to him personally, but the caregiver said it might be best if we did. I thought about wrapping them up and putting them on his front porch on Christmas morning and saying they are from Santa (but not sure if he will get them if we do that).... Still thinking about the best way to give them to him. 

We used the rest of the money to buy groceries for an elderly couple who are struggling. They don't even know how they are going to pay their electric bill. They have worked their entire lives and now are disabled, in bad health, and supporting some of their young grandchildren, and just don't have much left at the end of the month. Our entire office got together and bought food for them.  We ended up with hopefully enough food to get them through the winter. 

What a great way to help! 
I am so thankful for this opportunity to pay it forward to help people that are in need!

Help Portrait ~ Time & Talent

Mark and I were privileged to be a part of Help Portrait on Saturday.  Actually, Mark was there most of the day but since I had gotten home at 1:30 am that morning from Garrett's game, I was only there for a few hours.  I am so thankful for those few hours.  It was an amazing day of giving of time and talents.  We had never heard of Help Portrait until we decided to do 30 Days of Giving this year.  When I contacted Cobblestone to find out ways to get involved in the community, Help Portrait was one of the initiatives they support.  

The day started around 7:00 am with set up.  Families started arriving around 9:00 to get their pictures taken.  There were 10 photographers around the Root School cafeteria set up with lights and back drops.  Before the families had their picture made, they were taken to "Hair & Make-up", where the Paul Mitchell Beauty School was all set up.  It was impressive.  They curled and styled hair and fixed make-up and even trimmed beards.  Then the families had a full photo shoot with one of the photographers.  After that, the family was served breakfast or lunch while their pictures were edited and printed.  The editing room had about 10 people on computers, several printers and an assembly line where the pictures were put into frames and bagged with the CD of all the pictures.  It was efficient!!  I only waited on my pictures for 20 minutes!!  My family was not even finished eating yet.  When I showed them their pictures the dad teared up.  The family I walked through with had lost all their pictures in the Johnson flood last year.  Another lady was there with the cutest little boy.  She said she was his grandma and his mom.....his mother had died during childbirth.  This was the first pictures they had taken together.  

I don't know if I have ever been a part of something I enjoyed more.  There was not a lot of money or toys to be collected.  People just gave of their time and talent......cooking, editing, photography, organizing, doing hair and make-up, serving and more.  It was incredible.  

Each family left with a 5x7 framed picture, a 4x6 picture and a CD of all the pictures.  They also received a hygiene bag full of goodies.  Almost 300 people came to Help Portrait and left with a smile on their face from a very fun experience.  

What a creative way to give!! 

The Giving Continues

When Mark and I decided to do the 1 Timothy 6:18 Project, our desire was to see giving become contagious.  That is the only reason we created the blog.  The stories that have come in so far have been wonderful....but nothing blessed us as much as when our daughter, Katie told us she had decided to do the 1 Tim 6:18 project on a smaller scale by giving $30 to each of her roommates so they could experience giving also.  She has 5 roommates and she gave her own money....not the money we had given to her to give away.  Mark and I were thrilled to see Katie catch the joy of giving!!

This is a story from one of Katie's roommates:

I just thought you all should know that I have started to use some of my giving money. I gave some of it to my friends who are trying to raise money to adopt a child while being missionaries in Jordan.

Tonight, I will be using some of it to bake for a friend that I recently met. He is homeless and has been searching for a job for a month now. He has finally decided to stop hitchhiking and settle down in Fayetteville. This morning, I learned that he has gotten one of the jobs that he applied for that pays above minimum wage! We are throwing a little party for him in celebration!

We are looking for transportation for him to and from work and a place to sleep. He is currently living with 6 of my guy friends, but he really needs his own apartment. And a dog kennel!

I know they are kind of big requests (minus the kennel), but we are positive the Lord will provide!

I love this story!!  How incredible that these college students are caring for a person who doesn't have a home and throwing him a party to celebrate his new job!!  Definitely not your typical college students.

The Wallers Share their Stories.......

The Wallers share about Giving ~

It’s been fun!  We are giving our Ford Taurus to Michael Tate, who has served and blessed our kids in a multitude of ways, mostly through New Heights Student Ministries.  I am really happy about that.  I know Michael has worked really hard to make wise financial decisions and has managed to arrange rides with friends in order to get to work, etc. so it’s a joy to bless him with a car!

Of course, as I was prayerfully looking for who God wanted us to give the car to, my cleaning gal, Shannon West, said her car was in the shop and she didn’t have the money to repair it.   She had borrowed a car to get to my house.  So I prayed about giving the car to her and then consulted with Matt.  We felt led to just pay for her repairs.  When I told Shannon, she looked at me and said, “Are you kidding me?”.  I said, “No, it’s for real.   Her hands shot straight up in the air – she was praising the Lord!   So glad she knew who to thank.  It was God’s kindness and provision to her and we were just the conduit he used to deliver the gift. 

One day, I was in and out of Hobby Lobby a couple of times taking Sarah to her art class.  The first time I decided to avoid the Salvation Army bell ringer.  I guess I just didn’t have my Jesus mindset in place yet for the day!  I watched this sweet black man as he helped people leaving the store to get across the street (There’s big time traffic at Hobby Lobby this time of year!!)  Second trip in the store I did better!  I took time to gather some money to drop in his box and grabbed one of my Starbuck’s free cup of coffee coupons that I keep in my car console.  As I put money in his bucket, he thanked me.  It felt good to stop and say, “Thank YOU, for what you are doing here”.  We had a little chat and I found out he likes coffee.  So I just gave him the coupon and said God bless you!  Nothing big….just a few moments to stop and show appreciation for another.

Sarah needed to write a 3 paragraph essay about a person she knew who had godly character traits.  She immediately thought of our good friend, Dick Ayres.  She had ideas and wrote it up.  Her teacher at Providence Academy, Mrs. Janicke, graded it and wrote at the bottom of the page, You MUST send this to him – what a wonderful man!  Well, in the economy of our world, Dick doesn’t get a lot of attention and praise.  He doesn’t make a lot of money, he doesn’t have any super talents, he does not push himself forward to gain the praise of men.  He lives a humble life and keeps eternity in view on an daily basis!  We have known Dick (and his lovely wife Laura) for the past 19 years we have lived here in Fayetteville, he amazes us (Matt and I) with his level of integrity, passion for Jesus and compassion for people.  Reading Mrs. Janicke’s comment really made me realize that this little essay would be a beautiful gift of encouragement to Dick!  So, I’m scanning the essay so you can post it with my words.  Words of encouragement and affirmation…a great way to give!

Jason Foster ~ Mali

Mark and I have a very dear friend that gave up a successful practice as a pediatrician here in NW Arkansas about 3 years ago to live in Mali and work in a hospital there.  Jason Foster is definitely at the top of our list of heroes.  His journey has not been an easy one, but he has endured and continues to change lives for the kingdom in Mali.
He is in the states right now to rest, renew, visit friends and family before he returns to work in the hospital.  He just happened to be at our home the very first day of our "30 Days of Giving" so we asked him what were some the biggest needs in Mali.  He mentioned several projects going on in Mali ~everything from well-digging, solar projects, ambulance needs, Christian radio, special medical funds (HIV, sickle cell, cancer), general hospital operating expenses and his Pig Project.  Well, being a Razorback and all....the Pig Project was where we wanted to help but he was thrilled to tell us that the project well funded at this time!  PTL

One of Jason's teammates, Brett MacLean is working on a project to build a Christian High School in Koutiala.  Brett is a pediatrician at the hospital where Jason works.  Below is an email from him telling more about the school.

The Koutiala District of churches  received the right from the National Ministry of Education to build a Christian Lycee in 2009 with the vision of providing a good education, growing the Biblical knowledge of believers, sharing the good news with non-believing students, providing a safe place for girls to learn without the pressure of harassment from male teachers, and as a source of jobs and financial income that would also help the church in Koutiala. (The government will pay ~ 300,000 per student that is "oriented" to Lycee, and the school will receive paying students as well).

There are still needed funds, but first let me recap how well the Malians themselves have done with fundraising. Using the parable of the talent they went to each local church and gave out money to 30-90 people and gave them one month to allow God to grow the money. Each church was able to double the money they received.  They raised an initial 88,000 CFA at a church conference and then using this method raised 3.165 million CFA. They then sought out wealthier Malian believers who also gave 1.25 million. So on their own the Malian church raised roughly 4.4 million or $9000. The missionaries of Mali then gave 5 million FCFA as well. 

These funds were used to build a 3 classroom building, a latrine, a well, and a 2 room dwelling for the guard to live in. 

Now what is needed are the additional 3 classrooms that will comprise the 2nd floor of the school building as well as an administrative/office building.

What a blessing to be able to help with this school.

If you want to read more about Jason, the Hospital or their patients:

Jason's blog: malipeds.blogspot.com

The hospital website is www.koutialahospital.org

Patient's stories:   koutialakids.blogspot.com

There is a story on the last blog about a sweet boy named Moussa.  He was sick for quite a while and basically lived at the hospital.  Jason said he would show up at staff meetings and be in the offices with the doctors.  He captured everyone's heart....especially Jason's.  Jason got the news that Moussa passed away just the other day.   As I read the blog that Sheri wrote, I am just so thankful that she was there to sing this song to him in his last hours.

 An taato file san fe,                                   We are going to heaven

 An ka so nyuman de be yen.                        Our beautiful home is there

 Matigi tarra an nye fe                                  God has gone before us. 

       An bee be taa sigi a fe.                               We all will go sit next to Him.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Today I wanted to write about a family that we love & admire.  

The Brills set an amazing example of loving Jesus and loving others..  

They have 2 beautiful little girls & a son that is adorable.  

They also mentor & support their sweet friend Cyrenthia and help with her baby.  

Ashley works with Potter's House Ministry {http://pottershousekids.com} and Andrew works with Lightbearers Ministry {http://www.lightbearersconnects.com}

They are in the process of adopting a little girl that has special needs from Ukraine.  

We feel honored to help this family in a very small way for our 30 Days of Giving.

Here is a blog post from Ashley:
http://andrewandashley.blogspot.com

He turns a no into a yes...over and over again

Over a year ago we began asking the Lord to show us what He was stirring up in our hearts.  We had no idea what it was but we both knew it was something.  We prayed we would be available to hear His word and be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit.  We had no idea where He would take us.  We could never have imagined it would be where it is.  And we are so deeply thankful for the journey with Him that has led us to where we are.  

In April we finally knew.  He had led us through prayer, tears, disappointment, friends, and family into joy, understanding, and a little girl who is our daughter.  He led across the world and through it all so we could meet a little girl who has struck so deep into our hearts that we can't not talk about her.  She brings tears of joy to my eyes daily and we are excited to finally be making great strides towards bringing her home.  

Through these last 18 months or so we have watched God do only what He can do which is work all things out for His purposes and His glory.  We've been told NO so many times.  Yet nothing can thwart that which God desires and over and over He has turned those NO's into YES's.

No, she is not eligible.
No, she does not have the right medical information to qualify.
No, we can't get the right papers to be signed.
No, no, no.

The picture was painted.  It wasn't looking good.  Yet truly one by one each no became a yes.  

Yes, we were able to get the papers signed by the right person.
Yes, we were able to take her to the doctor and he was able to accurately diagnose her.
Yes, she is now eligible.

I kept getting these emails from our facilitator saying things like,
this is very big...
this is very good information...
this doesn't usually happen...
this is important and fast for our country....

And now, here we are, finally filling out our paperwork, finally having a picture of when we will get to go and meet this precious little one who has changed our lives in every way for the better.  We love her so much, our kids love her, we all pray for her daily and look forward to her being our family and us be hers.  We chose this verse to pray months ago for our daughter and each time I pray it I am struck by God's goodness.  He takes notice & isn't forgetting the injustice and evil of men.  He knows the needs of the needy and His promise is to place them in the safety for which they long.  Thankful we can be a part of Him fulfilling His promise to our little girl and also to us.  Because she is part of His plans for placing me where I long to be.  Closer to Christ and His purposes in my life.  

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,

    I will now arise,” says the Lord;

“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

The words of the Lord are pure words, 

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. 

You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.

On every side the wicked prowl

as vileness is exalted among the children of man."

Psalm 12:5-8

And here she is, the beautiful little girl who has stolen our hearts...

Debbie & Don's Giving Story

This is written by my sister Debbie ~~

Don and I are very blessed to have  a wonderful neighbor. Her name is Joy. She is always there to help anyone she can with what she has and what she is able to do. She is elderly, lives alone, has some health problems, and lives on a small Social Security check. She attends the church at the end of our street and is there most times the doors are open. The past several months have been a struggle for her. Her abusive son managed to move in with her and is trying to push her into a nursing home so he can get the house. 
 I will not go into detail about what he has put her through but two weeks ago Sunday we heard the sirens and they stopped at her house. Don and I ran over to see 3 police cars, an ambulance and a firetruck. I thought, "Oh my gosh, he has followed through with his threats". He got pretty physical with her. Her son was arrested and ordered to stay away from her. She is now feeling guilty for dialing 911. Her church family have been very good to her. 
When we were given the gift to give, my first thought was I wanted to find a small child and make Christmas very special for him or her ( this may be my next story). But Don and I both prayed about where to give and the answer came to us both at the same time. We matched the $100.00 we were given and gave it all to Joy. I saw a light in her eyes and she started to cry. She told us she wasn't sure she could accept this, and we told her she had to because it was from the Lord. We both got a big hug from her. We ask that you pray for her son Robert and pray for her safety as well. 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!