And We Call it Love

Sterling and I began our journey together 14 years ago today. It has been a journey filled with joy, tears, laughter, sadness, renewal, restoration, happiness, and many many blessings.....the two greatest being, Madison and Emma Grace. My life....our marriage, is a testimony of not only God's great love and amazing grace, but of His Believable POWER to change lives. Most of you reading our blog, have walked with us at one point or another during our journey. In the good and bad, and some actually carrying us through the valley. I am blessed beyond measure to have such a man of God as my husband. He is my best friend and the greatest man I have ever known.
Love washes over a multitude of things and makes us whole. Praise God! Thank you Sterling for standing by me for 14 years, even when times got tough, for exemplifying God's mercy and grace, and always seeing God's very best in me. I love you more today than I ever thought possible.
Happy Anniversary!

Work is Great but Laborers are Few!

Please be praying. We have so much to be done! Right now especially, we need some men who can lay new tile flooring in the church basement and fellowship hall. We have money to purchase the flooring, but no money to pay someone to remove old flooring and lay new flooring. Please pray for men who would be willing to give of their time to remove and lay floor, and pray for funding to hire professionals to do the work needed. This is a hard and tiring job. Sterling and I removed the floor in the children's church room, and it was a huge task. Harder than we imagined and to big a job for the two of us. And we do not even have extra time to be doing this to begin with, but there is no one else to do it. And it needs done now. And that was just one room, and just the removal of the tile. We need help! We need funds! Please Pray!

Update!

Thanks for praying! Sterling and Andrew had coffee at Starbucks Wednesday night and had a great talk. Andrew is a very nice guy. They are playing golf next Wednesday! Keep praying! God is good.

Expect the Unexpected!

You can always expect the unexpected with God. Being church planters, has really taught us to be mission minded 24/7. No matter where we are, a grocery store, a bank, a post office, a park, God gives us opportunities to show His love. Sterling is always looking for ways to carry on conversation with anyone, anywhere. While the UBC group was here in March, Sterling and I went on a dinner date to Red Lobster. Our waiter accidentally spilt water all over Sterling, and was very embarrassed. The incident created a great atmosphere to talk to him for a few minutes longer than we could have if it had not happened. The restaurant was busy that night, and waiters do not have time to talk a lot to their customers. Sterling told him we had just moved here, and were excited to find a Red Lobster nearby. That always get's a "What made you move to Long Island?" question back to us. Sterling shared he was the new pastor to a new church up the road. Andrew told us to bring our girls next time, and he sent them a bag of biscuits home with us. Sterling did not give him contact info then, because he was busy when we left. About 3 weeks ago, we went back to Red Lobster with Jessica and Luis, and Andrew was our waiter again. I recognized him right away, and said, "We brought our girls this time". Andrew quickly remembered spilling the water and said "Oh yeah, you are a priest or something, right?" We laughed, and explained he was not a priest. We talked a few more minutes and talked and joked around each time he came to the table. When leaving, Sterling gave him his business card.
This morning, Sterling got a voicemail. It was Andrew!!!!!!!! He reminded Sterling of who he was, and said he was calling to see how our family was doing. We were just BLOWN AWAY. I mean................IS THAT GOD OR WHAT!!!!!!!!!! Who expects a waiter to contact you after waiting on you twice????? GOD DOES! I mean you give the business card, because after all we are church planters, and always on mission, but did we really expect him to ever call???When you are faithful to show God's love and take a risk of reaching out, even in awkward territory, GOD MOVES! Wow! I can't even put into words how Awe struck I am by the BIG GOD we serve. He is capable of doing far more than we can imagine. God is working on the hearts of people on Long Island. Pray for Sterling and Andrew to be able to meet together for coffee or something so Sterling can see what is on Andrew's heart, and continue to show him God's amazing love. Praise God!