Thankful for friends

There are so many blessings going on in our lives right now. I am brought to tears when I think of the special people in our lives.

Not only did my friend Stephanie and her precious Allie bring Lottie a new blankie but they have been shopping for months for Lottie and Emma. The day they brought they blankie they also brought a huge box of clothes for the cold winter days here. Each outfit had a matching clip for their hair that Stephanie made! And more importantly, Allie has each of the outfits also so they can be "triplets" our entire time in Texas. There were pajamas and Christmas dresses also. We are always so blessed with this family and their love for us. We can't wait until after the wedding so we can spend more time with our sweet friends. 

I bought my dress for the wedding in Puebla but could not find shoes plus they are so expensive in Mexico. My dear friend Rhonda knew I needed shoes and began furiously searching on the internet. She even came and picked me up one day to go shoe shopping. I am not a shopper. I found some "oh these will do" shoes and bought them. When I got home they didn't match at all. She e-mailed me again and found some at Nordstroms and said she would drive over there to get them, I told her no way! It is pretty far from here. 

The next day was the bridal shower. My other good friend Dawn was there and we all began talking about how I still don't have shoes and my dress needs to be altered. Rhonda pulled up the picture of the shoes she found for me and showed them to Dawn. The next morning the shoes were on James' porch. Dawn went and bought them.....and they are perfect!

One more sweet blessing. Dawn has also arranged for me, Elisabeth, Lottie and Emma to have our hair and make-up done before the wedding at a salon. Emma is super excited to have someone style her hair! (Lottie...not so much...lol)  What an enormous gift!!!

The women of First Baptist Rockwall gave Elisabeth and Mark a wedding shower. It was perfect and beautiful! They were blessed with so many wonderful gifts and the desserts were amazing! It was a very special day. The part I enjoyed the most was just watching Elisabeth and Mark. Even though the ladies were watching them open their gifts, they seemed to be in their own little love zone:) They were whispering and giggling and I loved every second!

 Mark and Elisabeth with all of the women in the church who helped with the shower

 The precious couple. She is looking at the gift I made her. I used Shutterfly and gathered recipes and pictures from all of my missionary friends and made her a cookbook. I know she has such a huge heart for missions so she will cherish it always.

 Isn't Mark sweet? He has a great sense of humor!

One last HUGE blessing. Yesterday was the day that First Baptist Rockwall collected their Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  Who is Lottie Moon you ask? Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon was a Southern Baptist missionary from 1873-1912 and served in China. She was a teacher and an evangelist and laid the foundation for supporting missionaries. She was single all her life and devoted her time to the Chinese people. During the war, famine struck her little village where she lived. The mission board had no money to send her to help the people she had grown to love so much. She began using her own money to feed them and provide for them. She gave them any food she had and literally starved herself to death to make sure they had food. She became very ill and died on a boat as she was returning to the states. So each year, Southern Baptist churches collect this Christmas Offering in her name to support missionaries. We are reminded of the sacrifices she made in the name of Jesus. We are very blessed by this offering because we aren't like other missionary sending agencies. We do not have to raise our own support. Each year we see more and more missionary friends who have to end up going back to the states because they don't have the funds to stay where God has called them to serve. Each year, Southern Baptists give joyfully. Yesterday at First Baptist Rockwall, they collected this offering. We were brought to tears at the amount.......$515,000.00!!!! Thank you FBC Rockwall for supporting the International Mission Board, we promise to continue to glorify God in Mexico!!!