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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Kid's Writings with Mrs. B

Here are some of the writings the kids wrote on Wednesday.


By Cortesia-11
Meak is not Weak-
Meak is honest and believing in God.
God loves us like a child, He doesn't want us to be wild.
Gentle is what God wants me to be.
I'm God's child please don't harm me.
When I was mourning I was sorry for my sins
And really won't come back to that girl again.

by Dez age 12
Meek is not weak,
Meek is kind not rewind.
It is fine not whine.
It is holy not moly.
It is docile and the gospel.
Follow your not the worl's decision.
God decides when you die,
Why lie about life when you can love like a dove.

By Kemonterious age 11 ( this comes from living away from Obasi and Nebraska for a couple of months)

God Will Try

Have you ever felt like you're homesick for God because of all the sins you 're doing
or when you choke because you smoke?
And when you cry,
you ask God to give you the strength to try.
So whatever you do, don't stop trying
because there's only one man that will tell you to don't GIVE UP.
Ask God to pick yp your wings and fly.

House Sitting

This weekend I took Kemonterious, James and Cortesia to my sisters acreage, they were gone for the weekend and needed someone to do chores. It was one of the most beautiful weekends of the year I think. The kids really didn't appreciate the weather or the out of doors. Which was really sad to me.
Cortesia had fun feeding the sheep and making some new friends.

The boys feed the cattle. And learned to keep track of their livestock.

It was great grilling outside everyday and enjoying the outdoors.


They enjoyed the grilled chicken even with some burnt edges.



I did get them to play a non electronic game with me.




Friday, June 27, 2008

June 23- June 27 Meekness

Monday Beatitute 3- Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. This week we learned about Meekness- to be gentle, kind, enduring injury with patience and without resentment, mild, not violent, to be humble. To be meek means to stop putting ourselves before others; to stop demanding our way, it means that we accept bad situations and make the best of them. God promises us "the earth." This is total appreciation for your life here on earth: your health, friends, family, fresh air and sunshine, etc. You see, when we begin to take our eyes off of ourselves, we start enjoying the beauty and the bounty of the earthg around us. That's when we get the most out of life. And, we look forward to being with Jesus in the life to come. This is a great lesson for all of us, living in a me world. After Bible Study we had the older kids look around the neighborhood to see how they could help or be kind to. Dez took the mailman some cold water and told a neighbor that their car lights were on. Savanah and Cortesia took a neighbor some flowers and explained our Bible Study to them. James walked across the street and talked to a man for awhile. He was scared to death, but did and then before he was off the porch he started screaming and waving his arms, I did it, I did it!!!! It was priceless. We are praying the kids become more aware of people around them who are lonely, hurting or need of a helping hand.

For our chore time we got Kemonterious' bedroom ready for him. The boys and Jodene put his bed together and the girls did some cleaning and sorting, to make his room beautiful for him. Kemonterious moved to Mississippi in February and will be living with me the rest of the summer. He has been really good about calling and keeping up with Obasi.

Chaney came over and made fruit and honey tortilla's with the kids. The younger kids had fun cutting up the fruit and serving snack to the older kids.






Tuesday- We watched a video on the life of the honey bee, it was very informative, then we tried to figure the body parts of a bee. We started our stuff bee dolls.





Wednesday- Morissa is in Mexico and Jodene works her regular job on Wednesdays so Mrs. B ( Jan Bretz) came to our rescue and helped me out at Obasi. We went downtown to the Foundation Gardens to watch the YWCA youth dancers dance. Kaedyn did a bit of his own dancing and kept us all entertained.
Plus Kemonterious made it to Nebraska and started back to Obasi today. And full time parenthood starts.


We then went to Mrs. B's house and started painting our bees. Mrs. B also took turns writing with the kids about Meekness.




We really enjoyed the day outside even though the humility was like 99 percent, Mrs. B has a beautiful backyard. Cortesia, Savanah and Ma' Shai had fun on the hammock.

Mrs. B made a great snack for us, a lot of fresh fruit.

More fun in the back yard-beachball volleyball

a little fun on the trampoline


Thursday- Swim day at Jenkins- it rained all morning but cleared for the afternoon and we had a great day, it didn't get as hot as it was supposed to get so it was really nice.


The favorite spot of the pool, on the floating bed.

Jada lives life to the fullest. Cortesia paddles her around as she relaxes in the sun.
Thank you Jenkins family for letting us use your pool. We loved swimming with you , thanks for the bomb pops too.
We also got to hang with Meribeth and Jesse, it was so good to see them again.


The pool really wore out the kids, before we hit the driveway Cortesia and Gidget were in dream land.














Friday, June 20, 2008

June 16-June 20

Monday-Yard work and Bible Study-


This week our verse is Beatitude number 2- Blessed are the mournful for they will be comforted. We talked about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins and when we sin or do something wrong it is like slapping God in the face. It hurts Him and He isn’t pleased with our behavior.


At the beginning of Bible Study we try and do a little hands on lesson to drive home the lesson- This week a cup of water, a egg in the shell- we wrote our sins on the egg which represented our sin. We put the egg in the water and it sank. Sin weighs us down, makes us feel bad, and keeps us from enjoying life. We took the egg out of the water and each took a teaspoon of salt into the water while doing that we asked for forgiveness of a sin we had committed that day. When everyone had put in their salt and forgiven we put the egg back in and it floated. When we are truly sorry for our sins, God forgives us and comforts us, giving us back our joy making our hearts lighter. The kids loved.
We do the little hands on lesson about every week and they get to the point where they are suspicious of everything we do, are you trying to teach us something. It can be quite funny.

My favorite moment this week was with my little friend Kaedyn. Kaedyn is almost six, full of energy, non stop talker and is pretty sure he knows everything about everything. On Thursdays he spends the morning with a baby sitter instead of his Dad. His Mom tells me he gives the babysitter a hard time. So when he got to my house I asked him if he was nice for the sitter. He said yes. I said are you sure, your Mom says that you give her a hard time. He says, Oh man my Mom called you today. I will be better for you. Then he sits down on the swing and looks down and says in almost a whisper. I slapped God again, didn’t I?
It was everything I could do not to laugh, but I looked at him and said yes you did. You really have to be nice to people.

For yard work we split into three groups- garden weeders, mowers and lawn furniture clean up.

Anthony and Taj clean up the lawn furniture

James learns to mow



Savanah diligently pulls weeds.

Tuesday- Games and a Visit from Chad Jenkins who shared his trip to Africa with us.
We prayed for Chad on while he was on his trip to Africa so it was good for the kids to get to see his pictures and hear his stories. The kids asked a lot of great questions. Thank you Chad for sharing your journey with us.




James takes his turn doing the Bible Verse dash.






Savanna tries her hand at the bee game. Different parts of the body were worth points, everyone got three rocks to try to get points.





We do a lot of sprinting to get rid of some of our energy.





Wednesday- A trip to Hobby Lobby to find some kind of craft that we could make to send with Morissa who leaves for a missions trip to Mexico. This summer we really want the kids to think outside of Obasi to community needs, state needs, U.S. needs and other countries. We are praying for hearts that become compassionate for the lost and hurting and we hope to train by the next servants for Christ. WE are so blessed in that we are given so much by so many. We decided to take a portion of that money and come up with some ways we could pass on the blessing. At Hobby Lobby, we found a few hacky sacks and crafts Morissa can do with the kids, but we also found a few crafts that we made ourselves for Morissa to give as little gifts. We made book markers, braided bracelets and beaded bracelets. The kids gave up 1 and ½ afternoons of playtime to work on the bracelets. We had many dropped beads, many OH’s and many start overs, but for the most part they were really excited to be making something for someone else. Pray for Morissa she leaves on the June 20th and won’t be back for 10 days. We will miss her.

Savanah and Kaedyn putting together book markers.
Dez and Savanah were our big helpers this week. They really stepped it up with Kaedyn and encouraged him to do the right thing. I was really impressed to see how hard Savanah worked to keep him focused, she really wanted him to have a good week so that he could go to Chuck E. Cheese with us. It was so rewarding to watch.

Cortesia braids bracelets.



Thursday- More bracelets and then off to Chuck E. Cheese for Chaney’s Birthday Party. We are trying to teach the kids to get your work done first and then play. They worked hard this week on many actitivies, but then we really enjoyed Chaney’s Birthday. We gave all our won tickets to Chaney so he could buy a cook birthday gift with them. Everyone was pretty generous except for one child who soon gave but with tight fingers.


Again what a blessed week had. It is so much fun to see the kids growing.


The kids show off all their work and gifts for the Mexico kids.

Some of our cool bracelets. A lot of them at crosses, soccer balls and Jesus on them.


Chaney enjoys his party.


Sisters Mary and Savanna enjoy spending time together at Chuckies.

Our boys racing.



Kaedyn had a blast on the wave runner. His squeals of joy could be heard throughout Chuckies or Chucks as he likes to put it.
Friday-just got a call from Kemonterious, he said he is moving in on Monday. Jodene and the boys got his bed put together yesterday, and today Cortesia and I got on new sheets and bedding. The window air conditioner goes in tomorrow, and I start taking my vitamins so that I can keep up with him.

Also got a call today from Bright Lights, they had some scholarship kids cancel so were wondering if we wanted to send Kemonterious and James to Bright Lights in July, they were asking us because they knew we would be responsibly in getting them there.
I take that as a huge compliment. We try so hard to teach the kids to be responsible and people of their words, and then the blessings will flow. And they do.

More Pictures from Bright Lights

Morissa and Taj down on the farm.

Farm games


Horse rides



new life




Anthony at math munchers






He had a great time learning math and munching candy.





Sunday, June 15, 2008

June 9th-14th-Just When I Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Better!

Our friend Chris came over and got the peonies looking ship shape. Jada helped pull weeds.

Below-Savanah, James and Jodene pick the weeds on the side of the house.This week we have a lot of kids at camp and Bright lights so we decided to turn the attention away from the beatitudes for this week and concentrate on the kids finding out about different organizations and how they can give back. On Monday we did yard work-cleaning up the rose bushes and pulling weeds, they look so much better. Jodene got the kids who missed last Monday all caught up on our Bible Study.

On Tuesday we went to the People's City Mission, the kids were impressed with the cafeteria. They feed over 300 people everyday.


Our tour at first it was a little disappointing because all their kids were gone skating, and the buildings were kind of empty, so it was kind of a building tour. At the end we were in the chapel the lady was telling us about how they sing songs and have a message everyday. Our new Kaedyn looks at the lady in a surprise, fun voice,says we do that too! He loves to sing. Then a lady walked in with her Bible and started reading and highlighting. Kaedyn was getting a little loud so we asked him to quiet down. She said oh that is ok. Then I went over to her and asked her what she was reading. She starts out well I have this problem, I don't thank God in the hard times, I want to learn to thank Him in the hard times, so I am reading Psalms. Then she went on to tell me how she is bipolar and before they figured out her meds she was really out of control. She has stopped drinking and stopped druggin and is now trying to stop smoking. She showed me all her scares from trying to commit suicide. Then she told me her husband was supposed to send her some money, it was supposed to be there last week, but was lost in the mail. I then asked her if we could pray for her, she said OH YES. So we gathered up the kids got in a circle, I told the kids that she wanted to stop smoking and that the money she needed had got lost in the mail, I asked her if she had anything else she wanted us to pray for she said she wanted her daughter to get closer to God. Jada, Savanah and Kaedyn all wanted to pray and I ended. Their prayers were really sweet, they were really sensitive to her situation and requests.After that we gave her hugs and she said, wow i feel so much better already.
It was just amazing and all so God. The kids are still remembering to pray for her every time we pray, it is very sweet. Just a reminder that Brenda could be me.
I think Savanah was really affected by the tour, she sat down with one of the staff at the mission and asked a lot of questions after. She looked at me and said, these people don't look poor, I thought homeless people didn't have very nice clothes, she was just thinking a lot.

Savanah talks to one of the supervisors at the Mission.




Wednesday- it's so nice to have kids who ask to read, here James reads to Kaedyn. James has matured so much, it wasn't so long ago he was learning to respect people and things.


We were sitting on the porch- braiding chewy toys for the dogs at the Humane Society, we were going Thursday. A lady had given us a box of freezy pops, they had been waiting all week to eat them. Today was the day and they were so excited, it was so hot and sticky, I said wow look around is there something kind we could do for someone. James is yeah we could get to eat our popsicles. I said look over there at those guys planting ( Seeds of Life was doing a yard a few doors down), Then Jada gets it, lets give them some of our freezy things, Savanah and Taj jump up yeah I want to go, so the three of them walked down the street giving their coveted freeze pops. They got back and were so excited to make someone else happy. Then I said you know when God gives you a blessing, He loves it when we share that blessing with others and give to others. Then He sees us doing good with what He has given us, He trusts us with more. It is pleasing to Him.
Later we were leaving, I have been saving this $100 gas gift card we got at Christmas time(my popsicle) knowing we would probably need it. God has been asking me to give it to Morissa, because she uses her car all the time and gas all the time and hardly gets paid. So I thought you know I really need to do that.
I called Morissa to the car and said I want you to have this to help out a little bit with gas. She was grateful and said Oh but don't you need it, I said no we will be ok.
I took the kids home, when I got home I got the mail, I usually have the kids get it at 3:00 but today I didn't. Looking back I know that was the plan all the time though, I needed to go through the other events to truly appreciate what was in the mail.
In the mail was a letter that said, God is really blessing our business this summer and we want to share the blessings with you all. I chuckled as I read the letter cause it was the message of the day and week. Then I read the amount of the check, it was a huge donation, I was so humbled. The money is awesome, but what gets me even more is how God times everything so perfectly so you get the lesson. He is a personal God, doing little things just for you to help you see He really is in it. Once again the lesson isn't just for the kids it is for the mentors also. God never ceases to amaze me.
Morissa teaches some of the kids how to braid.

Our new Savannah and Mary make blankets for kittens at the shelter.


On Wednesday we also made shrinky dink pictures of our Dads or Grandpa's and made key chains out of them for Father's Day.



On Thursday we went to the Humane Society and to Dairy Queen for snack and to Antelope Park to run off some energy.
Savannah pets one of the kittens.



Taj makes a new friend.



Snack time.


On Friday as I was driving to pick up the girls from camp, I thought about the parents who had lost their boys at the Little Sioux Boys Scout tornado. The camp is a little over an hour away from where the girls were camping. The same storm system terriorized Lincoln and Omaha that night. I felt sad for the parents who were trying to pick up their lives after such a great lost. I was also grateful that I was able to pick up the girls, what a joy and privilege to have them in our lives. As I walked up to the camp I was greeted by the flower above. Another reminder of the wonders of God. The girls had a lot of fun and talked of all their adventures on the way home. They made new friends and had great adventures, tried new things. Again thank you Cornhusker Kiwanis for sending Dez and Cortesia, you really gave them an awesome opportunity.





Girls leaving camp.







Savanah, Anthony, Taj and Jada all got to go to Bright Light classes this week, they also had a blast. Savanah was in a funky furniture class, she painted a chair and surprised us with painted Matthew 5:3 on it. The first beatitude. I was so proud of her.
Anthony went to a Math Munchers class where they got to count a lot of candy and then of course eat it. He was in sugar heaven.
Taj got to go to farm camp, she loves animals and she got to learn a lot of new things and meet a lot of new animal friends.
Jada went to an art class. She had a blast, on Friday when I got home from getting the girls from camp there was a message on the machine from Jada, it said this is Jada from Obasi (I thought that was funny) I just want to thank you for letting me go Bright Lights, I loved it, I had so much fun!

Saturday- Today capped off a very special week with a very special occasion- Miss Cortesia was getting baptized. Our first Obasi baptism, it was very fun and humbling. A reminder of why we do what we do.
Cortesia and Sister Lil before the baptism.

Cortesia gave her testimony and then performed her ONE TOUCH dance for us.

Pastor Jessie baptizes Cortesia

Time to celebrate-let them eat cake!

Cortesia's fan club- these are the people who surround Cortesia to make sure she goes in the way she should go.
Again we are so blessed and grateful to know so many kind people and to serve such an amazing God.