it took me this long to figure that out??

Last night I was sitting with a lovely group of ladies at a church planting seminar at the Summit. No, I don't plan to run off and start a new church any time soon, but I am very interested in the church planting movement, and have been since I started reading up on the subject 4 years ago in South Africa. The seminars are for both those interested in overseas church planting and North American church planting (be it California or right here in good ole Durham). I was chatting with another girl at the table about where I felt called to. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I would go back overseas in a heartbeat. But I also feel very much called to Durham for this season of my life. So I was telling her that I'd go overseas at any given moment, BUT that I'd made the crazy (silly?) decision 2 years ago to buy this tiny old house in the ghetto, and that selling it (in order to go overseas) would be quite a feat. I said something to the extent of, "I would go overseas in a heartbeat, but for some reason, God put this house in my path so clearly that I couldn't resist." The more we talked, the more I came to the realization that perhaps one of the reasons God lead me to this house was to KEEP me here. It would be easy for me to leave this all behind and go to another land, but God is (for now) using this house to keep me firmly planted in Durham - a mission field all on its own!! The longer I'm here, the more I fall in love with Durham. She has her share of issues, but what place doesn't? Until the day (if, in fact it ever comes) when someone is crazy enough to buy this house, this is home.

a lesson in trusting Him

Sunday evening when I started to plan out this coming Saturday's kids club, I realized that everyone but me (and possibly Amanda) was going to be out of town. I had a bit of a freak out moment. What was I going to do? I took a deep breath, reminded myself that God was in control, and went to bed.

Then I got a message from a friend saying that she and maybe some girls from her small group wanted to come out to Oxford Manor on Saturdays. I sent out an email to 3 friends who had expressed interested in coming to OM before, and one wrote back a couple hours later and said she wanted to come. Monday evening I got an email from one of the regular missionaries saying her plans had changed and she would be at club and would teach the younger kids. I also got an email from Amanda saying she'd be in town. Tonight at small group one of the guys said he would come out on Saturday (and in the future his fiance will come out too, but she'll be out of town this weekend) and another guy said he was definitely interested in helping out with the OM ministry, he just wasn't sure how yet. On my drive home from small group I called my roommate to chat for a bit, and she said she got a text today from a friend asking for my email address because she wanted to email me to ask about Oxford Manor.

Are you kidding me!? God really makes me laugh sometimes. How can I ever doubt him?? So on Sunday night I thought I had (maybe) 2 people who could go to the kids club (myself included) and now there will be at least 6 people there (3 of whom are brand new!). Funny how things always seem to work out when I trust God to work it out instead of myself!!

There IS hope for Durham

This past week we had a week-long kids' club in Oxford Manor. Rick got a team in from a church in Monroe, NC and they did the whole thing! The team of us who go out every Saturday didn't have to plan or execute one thing all week - it was great! All we had to do was hang out with the kids, try to help with crowd control, and help guide the team as much as possible in how to best minister to these kids. It was awesome! It was such a breath of fresh air to be able to spend time with the kids without being the one to worry about who's teaching and who didn't show up and what are we going to do!?

This morning a small group from the Summit came to fix the picnic tables and pick up trash/glass on the playground. We decided that since the kids had club all week, and we didn't have many missionaries who could come today, we wouldn't have a typical club. What we ended up doing was even better!

When the team left yesterday, they left us with over 100 copies of the JESUS movie. Today the 9 kids that came to the playground hoping to have club got to be missionaries in their own home! We gave the kids handfuls of movies and said we were going to knock on all the doors and see who wanted a movie. They went crazy - it was awesome! The leaders stood back and watched as the kids that we minister to week after week became the missionaries. It definitely made my heart smile to see that there is, indeed, HOPE for Durham! :)

There is no "safe"

This morning I joined a group of summit people to go help clean up a low-income apartment complex in Durham (as part of the Summit's week of hope). Since we were cleaning up the parking lot, we were to park our cars a couple blocks away at a local market. One of the ladies asked, "is it safe to park our cars there?" I wanted to say, "you could park your car in the church parking lot, and there's no guarantee it'll be here when you get back." It hit me though, that not too many years ago I would've asked the same question. As I got into my car I thought about all that God has been teaching me about trusting in Him and Him alone. I thought to myself, "safe?" There is no "safe" as the world perceives it. Even in a nice neighborhood, stuff happens... it's the way of this crazy world. I had been listening to a somewhat cheesy, but very beneficial CD that puts some scripture verses to song in order to help you learn them. The song playing when I got in my car was Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Wow - perfect timing! I put the song on repeat in order to get it solidly in my head. God continues to teach me this lesson day after day - night after night! I still have moments at home when I jump at every sound. It's been over 7 months now since the break in, but for some reason, when I am here alone at night, I still have to be very intentional about trusting God! Leanne is gone this weekend, so last night as I laid down to go to sleep, I planned to keep repeating Galatians 2:20 until I fell asleep. Let's just say I think I said it twice... maybe. :) God is good!

When do Moms shower?

That's what I asked my Mom today as Lauryn and I joined her for the last few minutes of her lunch break. I have been watching my 3 year old niece since yesterday evening. I volunteered to watch her last night while my brother packed up their house. (Oh yeah, by the way, they closed on their house the SAME day Emily was born - big day!) Last night my Dad called to ask if I'd be ok watching Lauryn until tonight. Of course I said yes! Lauryn time is special to me! :) So yesterday I made dinner, gave her a bath and got her to bed. I relaxed for a bit, enjoyed some internet time, and hit the sack myself. We slept in the same room, so when she got up at 7, so did I. I made french toast for breakfast. As Mom and Dad were both leaving, it dawned on me that I had not taken a shower yet... hmm... Well, the day had to go on, shower or not! She played well for a little while, but eventually got bored. So we went for a walk. We walked to the elementary school at the end of our road to play on the playground, but once we were there, I realized that the playground was not very preschooler friendly. Luckily, through a small trail is the church I grew up in, and they have a great playground. So we walked a bit further and played there for a while. I think I'm going to be a tough Mom. A few times Lauryn got herself into places and then didn't know how to get down. Instead of giving in to her whines for help, I made her try her best to get down with me "helping" (I actually didn't have to help her at all). I figured, she got up there, she can get down. And I was right. hehe She was pretty excited when she learned she could do it herself, and preceded to climb back up and down for about 20 minutes. Fun times. :) Then we trekked back home and headed into town. We visited with my Mom for a while on her lunch break and then went across the street to McDonald's. After lunch, she played on the playground for a while (can you tell I was trying to tucker her out?). Then we came home and went straight to bed! I'm hoping she sleeps for a good long time. To all you Moms out there - I have GREAT admiration for you all!! I hope I'm cut out for this some day... :)

Emily Reagan!

Emily Reagan Boisvert born 6/30/08

What an great way to spend my birthday! I got to meet the newest member of the family, Emily. Lauryn is a very proud Big Sis. She cracked me up when she came into the room today and saw me. She was oh-so excited to see Aunt Bonnie (oh how I love it!) but that didn't last too long. Once she noticed baby sister she was done with Aunt Bonnie! They're both precious!!!