Monday, April 20, 2009

Ladies Retreat and Jumping Beans

This past Friday and Saturday Trav and I had the opportunity to co-speak at a Ladies Retreat in Lancaster.  Calvary Baptist Church of Elkins Park, PA brought their ladies to a Christian camp in Lancaster.  Travis spoke on Friday evening, and then I spoke twice on Saturday.  We used Titus chapter 2, specifically verses 3 through 5 as our main theme.  We've never done anything like this before, and Travis joked that it was his first Ladies Retreat. =)   Leading up to the weekend, we both spent some pretty late nights preparing, so now we're WHIPPED, but it gave us some great experience to draw from in the future.  Travis gave a lot of background to the book of Titus, and then I (using A LOT from the book Feminine Appeal, by Carolyn Mahaney) filled in more practical thoughts and application to us as women.  I can see how the Lord is giving me opportunities like this that will help me when we reach Romania.  I'm sure these principles will be a HUGE help for the Romanian and Gypsy women.  I think we, as Americans, really take for granted the resources that we have at our fingertips for help in areas of Christian living.  We can pretty much just jump online and find any books we could possibly need, as well as encouraging Christian music and anything we want to help us along our way.  These women in other countries, especially places like Romania, have pretty much only the Word of God to help them.  I'm not trying to convey that the Bible is not enough, just simply how much easier it is for us here to receive encouragement along the way.  Anyways, though it may not interest you that much that I spoke at a Ladies Retreat, I've been wanting to use this blog for my own self too as a journal of my life and my family's life, so just consider this a little look into my blog/journal =)  

As an extra, here's a little video I took the other day of the kids.  Sam is teaching Kara how to jump.  So funny!  I think that jumping must just require a certain level of skill that Kara doesn't quite have yet.  My sweet kids: how I love them! =)

3 comments:

Tim, Kristen , Megan, Emily, and Anna said...

All I have to say is that video is so cute. I love Sam's laugh!! Glad you had a good Ladies Retreat as well!

Karis said...

That book has been a blessing to me more than once since your mother-in-law gave it to me several years ago. I thought of her again a couple of months ago when I was re-reading part of the book. She might not even remember giving it to me, but what a blessing the challenge from Titus 2 has been to me. I know you guys must have been so exhausted after that preparation and sharing. What a huge task! So different than the same testimony, presentation, Sunday School lessons, sermons, and answers to many of the same questions you do week after week!

Loved the video. That reminded me so much of a time with Kayla and Krista the other day -- wish I would've gotten theirs on video.

P.S. You are such a good mommy!

tnjones11 said...

I love the video!!!!!!!!!!!! So cute! How are you doing?!?! :D