My Precious Friend and a prayer request

I just recieved an email update from my friend that is a missionary in Zambia. I thought I would share it with you as there are some things you can be praying for...I also thought I would put in a couple of pictures, so you have a face to go with the name. Friends like this girl are hard to come by, but the Lord has been so good to me and given me some great girlfriends since Elise has left! This is not normal attire for Elise, though she is a texan gal, but we were dressed up and headed out to a Ho-down sponsored by our churches women's ministry!

Dear Family and Friends,

I can’t believe it has almost been seven months since we left the snowy plains of Illinois!“The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation” Exodus 15:2 This verse has become so real to me over these past months of adjustment and change and we thank God for His daily strength and joy He has given us even through the rough days. We are thankful for family and friends like all of you that have supported us in so many different ways. We have really been given an awesome example of how all the different parts of the body of Christ work together to build each other up and to further His Kingdom.

Well, Payton’s Thomas the Train b-day was a hit and we had a great family time celebrating his third year!!! I made pizza for dinner and we had a good laugh sitting around the Thomas the train tablecloth, cups and plates. Luke’s b-day was last Monday and we were able to get out by ourselves so that was nice.

We are excited also about the new family that arrived on Tuesday and they have three little girls similar ages to our kids so you can imagine how excited our girls were to meet and play with them. We are also continuing to move slowly back to our house in town and are looking forward to being closer to the other families. Payton is looking forward to having bunk beds and the girls are so excited that they don’t have to share a room with their messy little brother.

I am continuing with my Wednesday and Thursday Bible studies and have really been blessed and learned so much from all the ladies. They have such a hunger and desire to know more about God and they are opening up and sharing deep issues and problems in their lives. It is neat to see God developing these relationships and I will continue coming out weekly to the farm to meet and study God’s word with them. Luke preached last Sunday at a church in the Chyiesa compound. We all went and enjoyed the awesome worship of singing and dancing and hearing God’s word. The women presented me with a gift in front of the whole church by dancing and dressing me in a chitenge and matching head covering. It was embarrassing but very honoring at the same time. You never know what is going to happen or what you will be asked to do when you are visiting a church!!Well enough about the Whitfield’s!!!

We have a specific need to share with you this week. It is for our house-helper Maureen and her family. While Luke was visiting the states Maureen came to me and shared that she is HIV positive and she has known for about four years. I was definitely surprised and agreed that we would believe with her for her healing. She was apologetic that she had not shared this news with us earlier, but told us that only her oldest sister actually knew about her condition. She also shared that her white blood cell count was at 27 and that the doctors were very surprised that she could even move let alone work. A normal persons count is 600 or more.Well, the next week passed and as many of you know our weather is changing from “colder” to warmer now and there are often colds and sickness that come from weather change. So you can imagine with Maureen’s immune system very low she got sick and we had to take her to the hospital. The doctors called us in shock saying that Maureen’s count was down to 4 and they were surprised that she is alive at all. So she stayed in the hospital for a week and is now at home and on ARV’s to help her get stronger. She is very weak and needs rest and care.It was a tough realization for us that we could no longer employ her because of her health. As we sat on the floor of her small compound home I could see the desperation and fear in her eyes as she shared her concerns with us. She has agreed to resign from ACTION and working for us and we will continue to try to help her in any way possible. Her biggest concern is for her four kids, ages 6,8,10 and foster boy who is 17. Her husband left her last year and took all their belonging with him. Maureen shared quietly with me that she contracted the disease from her unfaithful husband. I can’t imagine all the hurt that she must be feeling as this man has in many ways ruined her life. Thank God that she knows the same God that we all do and trust that He is going to take care of her no matter what that looks like.Maureen’s niece Mulenga is staying with her to help and take care of the kids, which is a blessing for her. But she continues to have many needs and concerns. Like I shared earlier we are going to assist her financially as much as we are able to and would like to give you all the opportunity to give in any way the Lord is leading you. If you are interested in helping financially we can let you know more specifically what her monthly needs are. Please keep Maureen and her kids in your prayers as they face some difficult months ahead.

We appreciate your prayers and kindness and we look forward to seeing the awesome ways God continues to move.We are looking forward to another week and will update you will all the details!!!Thanks again for all your love and support and know we are thinking of you all!

God Bless,

Elise for all the Whitfield’s!!!!

Funny!!

A woman went to the emergency room, where she was seen by a young new Doctor. After about 3 minutes in the examination room, the doctor told her she was pregnant. She burst out of the room and ran down the corridor screaming. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was; after listening to her story, he calmed her down and sat her in another room. Then the doctor marched down the hallway to the first doctor's room."What the heck's wrong with you?" he demanded. "This woman is 63 years old, she has two grown children and several grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?!!" The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said: "Does she still have the hiccups?”

Splish! Splash! Oh my word do my kids look alike!!

Emily had her first tub bath this week! Both the kids "helped" and thought it was so funny that she was taking a bath in the kitchen!! As I was looking at the pictures we took, I was overwhelmed with how much Emily and Andrew look alike as babies. Here is a pic of Emily and my big helpers and then check out the comparison pics of Andrew and Emily... The very last pic is of Kelli as a baby...I love this shot!!

Oh Crap!

So the kids wanted to watch a video this afternoon and I told them they had to pick up their mess in the office first. Kelli had spilled a million crayons and there were coloring books littered all over the floor. So as I worked on paying bills and figuring out our budget for this month, I timed them, they finished, and without checking, I went to start the movie for them. As I came back in to the office I saw that Kelli had ripped many of the wrappers off of the crayons and they were all over the floor as well as a bunch of torn out coloring book pages. So I went back to the living room, paused the movie and told them get back in the office and to "pick up all the paper and crap off the floor". Oh my gosh, did I just say crap to my kids?? Neither of them seemed bothered by my use of a potty word, so maybe it went unnoticed. So I continued on to my next activity, a potty break, and I hear Andrew and Kelli talking and Andrew says, "Mom. Where is the crap? I don't even know what crap is??" Guess I need more sleep!! God give me grace and my kids ears that only hear the good things I say!!

Good for a laugh

You know I love the pioneer woman's blog...today I came across this old video clip from last year....it made me laugh so I thought I would pass along the link...when it comes up, click on where it says Movie: Family Traditions. It is fun to see the family in action and "Ree" the pioneer woman is the one with long brown hair with the cowboy hat on...what a beauty...also check out todays post on her site, it talks about how she met her hubby....so fun!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/2006/08/movie_of_the_we.html

Mosquito Times

We have been overwhelmed with mosquitos since all of our flooding a week or so ago. If you don't live around here, you may have seen footage that made national news of a trailor park that was totally flooded when the local river was like 15 feet over flood stage. This trailor park is about a mile from our house. Here is a picture of Kelli and what mosquitos bites do to her. The bites were on her forehead and the day before these pictures were taken her forehead was swollen like she has been hit in the head with a baseball bat! Thank goodness the doctor told me about when his daughter had been bitten on the forehead and the swelling moved to her eye. Otherwise I would have freaked out when I saw her this morning!

We also found out some interesting info yesterday...Sycamore, the town we live in, will not spray for Mosquitos. They say we are an rural area and that the wind will just blow more mosquitos in!! AARRRGGHH! Oh and all of the stores were sold out of bug spray!! That tells ya how bad they were!!

Curry Recipe

This is an awesome recipe for a meal that was provided for us last week that was so unique and totally yummy!! Thanks so much Jodi for letting me share it!!

Put in crock pot:

1 onion finely chopped (optional…I usually just throw in some onion powder)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 lbs. of beef stew meat (frozen or thawed) (does not need to be tender/lean cut…it will become tender after hours of cooking)

Blend in small bowl:
2T lemon juice
2-4 tsp. yellow curry powder (use red curry powder if you like spicy food)
Add to crock pot

Add:
1C tomato sauce or juice
1 tsp. salt
2C beef broth

Cover crock pot and leave on high all day if using frozen meat. Low if thawed. Thicken w/a corn starch/cold water mixture (about 2T of each) before serving.

Serve over white rice along w/a selection of toppings: peanuts, raisins, coconut, pineapple, banana, sunflower nuts, apple/orange relish, and cucumber/celery/tomato relish (you can add a dash of season salt to the vegetable relish).

Country Roads

Trying Something New!!

I have a video that I want to post on here, but I wanted to see if I could figure out how to do it, so I am trying this one first....This is really old news =) But this is how we told our families that we were expecting Baby #3, now affectionately known as Emily Aileen! I also changed my settings so you can make comments without having to create an account (I think) =) Let me know if this works!! Then look for the cutest video ever coming soon!!!