Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Even More Snow...

We got more snow yesterday. I don't know how much that makes it for the year but it is definitely more than what we are used to getting in Washington. I am ready for some warm weather. It hasn't been out of the 30's in forever!

3 days until we get away for a week without kids. Wahoo!!! (Becca is reading over my shoulder and says "You're mean!") We love our children dearly but sometimes we need time for us. They get to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and are looking forward to that.

This month has been busy. I decided after much prayer to become a Close to My Heart consultant. I love their scrapbooking stuff. The past couple of weeks I have spent more time than I probably should getting my supplies together but I so enjoy it. I figure this business will give me enough of an income to support my habit:D It's a lot of fun being able to share what I love with other people and if I get to meet more people and build a relationship with them then maybe God will open the door for me to share Christ with them as well.

I took pictures this morning of our beautiful mountains covered with snow but I haven't downloaded them on my computer yet. So...tomorrow? Maybe? I will get the newsletter and some new pic's up as well.

In the mean time, pray for a break in the weather long enough for my dad and step-mom to be able to get here. They fly into Reno on Saturday and will be renting a car and driving out. There are a couple of nasty passes bewtween here and there. Pray also that we will have safe travel to Reno Sunday afternoon and then on to Merced, CA on Tuesday.

One last thing, continue to pray for Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth. God is answering prayers left and right but keep on praying.

Have a Blessed Day ~~
Jen

Thursday, January 24, 2008

More Snow

More snow today. Look at the pictures below. Sandy's belly is about 6 inches from the ground. Notice how deep the snow is. We had some lingering snow and got a little more over the last few days, we got an inch last night, but this morning....

This morning it dumped about 4 inches in an hour! More is forecasted thorugh the weekend until Monday. It's very dry snow so as the wind blows we get snow drifts. That's new for me, I don't think I've ever lived where we got snow drifts before.

I love the snow, (don't like the cold though~ see my previous post). Snow just makes everything peaceful and pure. The second picture is of the snow on the mine. It's across the highway from us. I was going to take pictures of the mountain but right now, well, you can't see them.


Have a blessed day,

Jen


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It's sooooo cold....

It has been cold here and frankly, I'm getting tired of it. As of Saturday we still had snow hanging around form my birthday snow:) on the 6th. I'm just not used to that. At least in Washington it was gone within a couple of days most of the time. Although I wouldn't trade for the rain. You can keep that. Sunday night it snowed a little bit, maybe a half inch, then last night it snowed more, another inch or so. It's not even good snow for playing in. Just cold. On the up side...it sure makes everything beautiful and peaceful looking. I praise the Lord for that.

But...I am so looking forward to a few days in California where the weather is a little warmer and sunny skies. Well, we have sunny skies, just not warm sunny skies.

Our firewood ministry is getting a little low on wood. We finally have acces to a splitter that we can use whenever we need to. This allows us to go out and cut and split a couple of truckloads at a time, being able to spread it out over several days. The task doesn't seem so intimidating that way. It's looking like we may run out of wood before we run out of winter. You can pray that God will stretch this wood out so that we and the families we are giving it too will not be cold!

Don't forget to pray for Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth. http://cfhusband.blogspot.com. They are doing very well under the circumstances. If you haven't checked out their story yet, take some time to do that. It will touch your life.

We are all staying healthy, the Smoky Valley Crud is making the rounds but so far has left us alone. Pray that it will stay away!

We are looking forward to my dad and step-mom coming in February. Butch and I won't see much of them but the kids will get to spend a lot of time with them. They will be here so we can spend time at the Getaway for the couples in our district. Warm California, here we come.

We pray that you all have a blessed week. Thank you for praying and for your support.

Serving Him,
Jen

Monday, January 14, 2008

I Know It's Only January...

I know it's only January but for a VBS junkie like me, it is never too early to start planning for Vacation Bible School. I am in the process of setting up the VBS blog. I am hoping that this will provide access and updates for our church family as well as get the prayer needs out there for our prayer warriors in this ministry we call life! We truly appreciate you and thank you for your prayers. So take some time to check it out, it will be updated as needs arise and after VBS I will post a few pictures. Of course that isn't until July 28! If any of you want to come out and help us, Nevada is a beautiful place to serve God, we would love to have you (hint, hint:)



Serving Him,

Jennifer

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Awesome God

Our God is an Awesome God.
As I read the posts on this family's blog http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/about their fight with CF, I am humbled by the mercy and grace God bestows on His children who love Him. I am reminded that God's perfect plan is being executed in my life. I never thought I would be a Pastor's wife in rural Nevada, yet here I am. I haven't lived a perfect life. I've made my share of mistakes, done things I wish I hadn't. Yet God chose me. I love my life, I love where He has placed me in ministry. I love serving Him. I love seeing His miracles. If God can use someone like me then surely He can use you too. If God can work miracles like those in the lives of Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth, surely He can in your life too.
Won't you let God work in your life? Allow Him to come in and cleanse your soul. He truly is an awesome God.
Jen

Please Pray

Greetings
I am asking you to please pray for a family on the East Coast. They have just had their first baby, mom has Cystic Fibrosis and they have an incredible love for God. You can link to their blog here http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/. They tell their story better than I.
Jen

Saturday, January 5, 2008

I'm Dreaming of a White Birthday

Greetings

I finally got the Slide updated. I left some of the old pics on just because I like them, and it's my Blog and I can do that :) It's snowing right now so I guess I'll get a white birthday. YAY! Actually I would have anyway because it snowed last night too. But leftover snow just isn't the same! Maybe I'll go make a snow angel tomorrow after church.

So, my birthday is tomorrow. Whooppeee!!!!! I get to open the present from my mom that she sent at Christmas. Finally. She's been doing that my whole life so it's no big deal. This year it was small enough that I just put it away so I didn't have to look at for the 12 days after Christmas.

Our ministry here continues to grow. God has been showing me areas in my own life that I need to focus on so that I can better minister to people here. He is also showing me areas of focus within the church. I think the biggest is Women's Ministry and finding ways to encourage relationship building and bringing in women in the community.

Leading worship has been a huge learning expereince for us and we are always seeking ways to improve our worship in the church. I think it has been going well. People are responding to worship in positive ways and seem to be growing closer to God through.

I finally allowed myself to get into the Vacation Bible School kit for this year. It's not until the end of July but my philosophy is it's never too early to start preparing.

Some ways you can pray for us are:
~ pray for our Women's Ministry to continue to be focused on growing the women in our church and reaching the women in the coomunity. We are planning for retreat in April so pray that the plans made are God's plans. Pray also thaT God would give me clear direction in leading this ministry
~ pray for our worship ministry, that it would bring people closer to God through their worship experience and that our congregation would have a strong desire to strengthen their relationship with Christ through Bible Study, Prayer and Fellowship
~ Pray that Butch and I would manage our time wisely and that we would stay focused on the Lord's work here in Round Mountain
~ Praise God for His provision in meeting our needs daily and stretching our finances as needed

Have a great week,
Jen