We Are Still Here...I Think :)

The last two weeks have been a little crazy but filled with exciting things.  Our Ladies Bible study group finished up our Jonah study and had a wonderful outreach opportunity.  Plans have been set in motion for the missions trip to South Dakota that I am leading...so exciting!!  We have made a couple trips to see family.  We have entertained family here.  We are gearing up for a week of Revival.  Our church sanctuary project is half way done.  I have gotten a lot of my Spring cleaning done.  And so much more.

Many of you have asked what happened to our week of sacrifice.  I am sad to say that we had to postpone that week.  We realized that the weather was not quite right for such a week so we will make that our challenge for April instead.  There were quite a few nights that reached down into the 30's and we weren't ready for that much of an adventure.  Breanna doesn't yet know how to keep her covers on at night and we thought she would freeze with such cool temperatures.  For the month of March I choose to sacrifice something different.  I will post about my challenge in the next few days. 

I have planned out our Sacrifice Challenges through July and thought I would share what we will be doing.

• April - A week of no electricity.  We are planning this week for either the 15-21 or 22-28.
• May - A week of Missions.  As you know I will be on a week long Missions Trip.  This is a sacrifice of time, money, talents, and family.  Every day I will be reporting on how our week is going.  This week is set for May 2-10.
• June - A week of clothing sacrifice.   I am taking the whole month of June to do something a little different.  I am choosing one black dress and will wear this dress everyday for the month of June.  This is not only to sacrifice material possessions, but to also help raise the awareness of death through abortions.  Our local Crisis/Life Center director will be joining me in the challenge plus other ladies who would like to take part.
• July - A week of sacrifice for country.  For July I am going to honor men and women who have sacrificed their time and energy for our country, county, city, and town.  I will be dedicating the whole week to our local governmental authorities and soldiers by making them small gifts and goodies to show our appreciation to them.  I thought it fitting since we celebrate our Independence this month. 

1,000 Answers
This week is a week of prayer and fasting for our church.  I love these weeks and thought it fitting to start the 1,000 Answers this week.  1,000 Answers will be a daily or weekly post of answers to prayer that we have seen here in our church and community.  I would love for anyone who reads my blog to join me in this.  To submit an answer to be counted toward the 1,000 Answers just add a comment to any of the 1,000 Answer posts.  You may also email, text, facebook, or talk with me in person about prayer requests God has answered for you. 

Like I promised we will also be starting a blog Bible study on the book of Malachi.  We will start that tomorrow morning.  I am so thrilled to study God's Word along side my fellow readers.  I hope this study will be an encouragement to you!!

I hope everyone enjoys this beautiful day!  This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!!! 

Much love,
Valerie