So here we are....

Last summer we were invited to join the National Lifelines Ministry team.  Such an awesome opportunity for our ministry and it aligns perfectly with where we feel God is leading us in our careers with Crusade.  Not to mention it's totally a promotion!  We were excited to accept the invitation and have been working at moving ahead with the change since.  It means a number of things, one of which is an annual meeting with the team in Florida.  The team is made up of several people accross the country, from Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Arizona and now Utah (there are 9 of us in all).  Mark was totally bummed to leave Utah in the height of winter as he was certain the snow would start to fly the minute we left town.  He's such a ski bum.  I was excited at the prospect of warmer weather and some sunshine.  Anyway, our first meeting was this week. 

So here we are in Florida.  We left last week for this adventure.  The two older boys were left with Grandma and Grandpa (and Granny) after a two day drive, and Mark, the babe and I flew here a few days later.  The morning of our flight our little bundle of joy barfed all over himself in his crib...needless to say my anxiety over leaving was heightened even more (I didn't think that was possible).  The thought crossed my mind that maybe this could be my reason for not going...I could turn back and not have to give up a week spent with my boys.  It's ironic becuase I was the one who spearheaded this trip planning to begin with.  I always have an urge to travel deep down and when an opportunity arises I'm pretty quick to jump on it.  But, for some reason this time I had some major fear in leaving them and flying accross the country for a full week. 

By the time we arrived here, baby J had exhausted my stash of back up clothes after puking one more time and then blowing out his diaper and was wearing an improvised outfit.  Luckily we were blessed with front row seats on the airplane for our 5 hour flight (yes, 5 hours between the flight to Chicago and then to Orlando, ugh) so we had the extra leg room luxury to lay him on the floor to kick around.  I felt a little guilty when I saw the families with multiple kids walk by trying to find seats that would isolate their chaos from the rest of us.  I've been there and done that! 

Anyway, we'd made it through four days here when I started noticing that the babe had developed some bad mucus.  He had even vomited a couple more times (when I say vomit I'm not talking about spitting up, it's full on tossing cookies).  So, I finally decided to take him into the doctor yesterday.  We had to find a doctor who takes babies since the local quick care doesn't see babies under 6 months old, not a reassuring thing to find out...however we did find a pediatric quick care place not terribly far away.  So, long story short, they swabbed the poor guy and found that he has RSV.  Argh!  My first reaction is to pack my bags and get the heck outta here.  All I wanted was to be back home where I know my doctor and we have our very own children's hospital if we need it!  But, after spending the night in his carseat, much prayer and mucus sucking he's doing a whole lot better today.  We did find this fantastic piece of equipment at Target that sucks the snot out of his nose like a vacuum.  It's really cool and works exceptionally well for $25 if anyone is interested (check it out here).  I really think it's going to save our bacon.

So, as for our meeting here, it's been going well!  It's always such a challenge for me to go between business and being a mom in the same room.  It's so fun though to be with our National Lifelines team and talk about the future of this awesome ministry.  I'm thankful overall for this opportunity and a job that allows for me to still be a part of things even when I'm at 1/2 capacity.  I guess life is never ideal right? 

Ministry on the Move

I am just in the middle of getting our latest newsletter out. The way we work it is Mark writes text and then I put the newsletter together and send it out. Usually I'm left feeling like there is so much more to say but I can't fit it all into a one page newsletter! I feel like there is so much going on here that I want to share with people but the newsletter just doesn't provide the space for what God is doing!
I'm sitting across from Emily (one of my co-workers) and she just told me about how many people are coming to our weekly meetings. In the last week there were three new LDS students who came to our Bible study at SLCC, two new LDS students came to a women's Bible study at the UofU and 18 women came to a brand new Bible study starting at Utah State University. Can I just tell you, that is amazing! We see such ebb and flow here with ministry, but over the past 5 years there has been a steady increase in interest toward the gospel. We only occasionally get to see the fruit of our labor when it comes down to numbers. The soil here is hard and the culture often prevents people from turning toward the true gospel of Christ even when they are convinced of the Truth. So, to hear about such an upturn in attendance is incredibly encouraging!
There are also some other ministry things that are happening that I wish I could talk about more openly here. But let me say that God is on the move here! People are taking chances for the gospel and choosing Christ over family and friends, even coming out of lifestyles that leave them with nothing.