Good Bye, Texas.

I've been blessed!  Physically, the past few days were some of the most demanding, but spiritually, I've been fed.  Broken again over my own sin.  Filled with the sweet love that only comes from Jesus Christ.

So thankful for the hope we have in Him!

Thursday and Friday were spent in the home of the Benevides family.  What a wonderful family!  I think if we lived here, Kim would be one of my dearest friends.  They spoiled us, loved us, and we just had such a refreshing time at their home.  

We stayed up each night until 1 am talking about the Lord, His Word, and sharing our hearts.

We drank lots of coffee! :)

We laughed.  We talked about hurts and our hearts.  What I appreciated so much about this family was their humble, sweet spirit and desire to simply submit to and follow our Lord.

Sweet friendships.  Thank you, Lord.  

I have soooooooo loved Texas!  Texas is where they bottle Dr. Pepper.  I knew there was something special about this place.  :) I'm sad that today is our last day here. :(  But looking forward to continuing to go where the Lord takes us and asking Him to use us where ever we go.  Can you believe that?  God uses us!  We are nothing and have nothing to give but our weak, broken lives and He uses us.  When we are weak, then He is strong.  

Pastor Vail took our family out to supper Saturday night at a buffet. I don't think most of our children have ever been to a place where there are so many choices and you can have all you want of any of them! :) 

I was excited to show them one of my most useful talents....how to take those little bowls they give you for the soft serve icecream and create a tower of sweet deliciousness that rivals the empire state building. :)

My husband just looks at me and says, "Only my wife. "  :)

Saturday night, Samuel was sick.  And grumpy.  And kept me up most of the night.  Extra time to pray which was sweet.

The next day, he was still not 100%.  Nehemiah was having tummy problems and we had to change his clothes once right before we were leaving the hotel to head to church.  And then right before we were getting up to sing in the church.  Thankfully, he felt okay and so while Daniel was preaching, Abi and I took the 3 youngest ones out to the van/trailer to rest.

Samuel slept almost the entire 3 hour drive to Houston that afternoon where Daniel preached that evening and woke up happy and feeling much better!  We stopped at a gas station a couple miles from the church and the girls ran inside to comb their hair, Daniel changed and dressed Samuel and Eliseo, and I got all the other boys into their shirts, ties, and suits which we'd taken off before lunch so they wouldn't get dirty.  

We jumped back into the van and arrived at the church with 1 minute to spare.  Nothing like getting there early.  The Spanish and English churches were together that night and Daniel preached his message in 2 languages.  It's only the second time he's done that.  He preaches a thought in English and then preaches it again in Spanish.  Then back to English and then to Spanish.  I don't think I could ever do that!  The Lord has sure equipped him for the job he's called him to do.  After the service, a man commented how he preaches so differently in each language.  In English he is more mellow and still and in Spanish he is very animated and uses his hands.  

The church let us stay in their lovely missions house here and brought over 8 pizzas for dinner.  We finished off almost 6 of them.  Yum!  Two were dessert pizzas.  I'd never heard of a dessert pizza before, but what a sweet idea! :)

We are heading to Oklahoma today and then to Arkansas later this week.  We'll be seeing some very special friends and are so excited!  We just love people so much!

Well, today is Susannah's 6th birthday.  She's been up with me all morning, bless her heart!  My baby girl is 6.  I love her so much!  Thanking the Lord for so many blessings this morning.

I thought it was cute how we took up most of the shoe holder at the play place :)

Thank you so much for having us, Benevides!  We love and miss you all!

The Benevides and Lockwood Families.  Four adults.  Twenty children. :)  Wonderful!

Journaling Furlough- More new friends (September 21)

We spent the past 2 days with the Hughes family.  Connie and I have been friends for years as we have emailed, encouraged, and prayed for each other through pregnancies, illnesses, trials and uncertainties.   Besides knowing that the Lord Himself is with you and ever loving/caring for you, there is nothing more comforting than to know that a friend is lifting you up in prayer. 

So when we found out we would be traveling through the Hughes neck of the woods and being ever grateful  for a place to rest/stay as we  travel, I wrote Connie and we’ve been anticipating being together for months!

Just like when we stayed with Daniel’s brother, there were 20 children ages 14 and under at the Hughes home this week.  This time, the ratio was in favor of the girls as the Hughes have  7 daughters and one son.  So with our 3 girls and 9 boys, it was an even split at 10 and 10. :)  

It was such a blessing to be with them!  The children were thrilled to make new friends again and spent hours playing, Daniel was able to get caught up on some important paperwork, and Connie was so sweet to feed our crew and hers while I did my best to help, keep tabs on all the children and their shoes. :)

We ended each evening singing and reading God’s Word together and we even got to go to their oldest daughter’s school this morning to share a little bit of what the Lord has called us to do and sing some songs in English and Spanish for the children there.  The director was so kind to invite us to share and even provided a pizza lunch for everyone. :) 

Tonight we went to Worth Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX.  What a wonderful, loving church!  We were so blessed!  Daniel wasn’t scheduled to preach anywhere tonight, so it was so special to have Daddy sit with us in the pew.  Of course, I love to hear him preach, but every now and then, when we do get to ALL sit together as a family, I just love it, too. :)  A sweet lady came up to me and told me that she has read our blog and prayed for us for years (Hi, Damara!) . 

We’ve got a busy next week ahead.  We’ll be with another dear family for a couple days tomorrow, Daniel will be preaching in Streetman, TX for the church’s 150 year anniversary on Sunday morning, and on Sunday evening, he’ll be preaching in Houston.

We have had a couple changes in our schedule.  Last week, a couple churches  (in KY and NC) had to cancel having us come, but the Lord opened the door for us to be in two new churches.  Sunday evening, we’ll be with Central Baptist Church in Houston (the church of our mission agency, Central Missionary Clearinghouse :) ) and then the end of October we will be part of a mission’s conference in Salinas, CA. 

Furlough is over half way over.  :)  We pray the Lord’s continued direction, protection, provision, and grace each day. 

Journaling Furlough- September 19th

You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  All our pictures from this furlough are still on my memory card.  As we were driving the other day, I was looking through them.   And I found myself smiling the entire time.  What I do not have time or ability to write about...the stories, memories, feeling... those pictures say it all.

I’ve met so many young mothers (well, younger than I am...I’m still young, right? :) ), and with many have had the privilege and joy of sharing some time talking together.  We’ve talked about very real feelings...tired or better exhausted, overwhelmed, survival mode, being joyful, doubts, fears.  My encouragement to them:

Be not weary in well doing, for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not! 

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Spend time each and every day with the Lord in His Word and prayer!!  Make it your number one priority more necessary than your daily food.

Enjoy each day!  Even those days...no, years...of feeling like you are just surviving...diapers, cleaning, discipline, playing, cooking, laundry, it never ends...have fun!  Sing, laugh, tickle, love, do something or many things fun and even goofy each day to keep everyone smiling! :) 

And something that one of my dear friends told me recently has rung so true through my thoughts ever since:

The days are long but the years are short.

It does go by so fast!  A day in the van with 12 children driving feels like forever.  But looking over pictures taken from just a year ago, and I can’t believe how much they’ve grown!  Look at pictures from 3 years ago, and I get teary eyed remembering.

Oh, the Lord is so good!  What a precious gift each day is that He gives!  And today is going to be the best day ever.  Just like yesterday was! :)

Friday afternoon, we arrived at the Millers house.  And I think my children were contemplating letting Daddy and I finish furlough ourselves and letting them stay there a couple months :)  What a wonderful, fun, sweet family who love the Lord and love each other.  They have 7 children.   They adopted one of their beautiful girls from China.  They have one boy that is as full of energy and speed as my Nehemiah (which of course, made me very relaxed knowing that we wouldn’t scare them too much :) ), and just the most sweet 16 year old daughter who gave her entire afternoon and next morning to spend with all the children.  They are getting ready to adopt 2 more dear boys from Africa here soon, too!

What did we do there?  Well, we visited (until 2 am!), I got caught up on all my laundry (again!!), we ate, and then played...a go cart, trampoline, swings, toys, books, power wheels, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, a cow.  It was so much fun! 

My favorite part of furlough is being with people!  Whether it is my family in the van or with a church or with dear friends in their home...we LOVE getting to know others better and hearing and seeing what the Lord has done or is doing in their lives.

Yesterday, Daniel spoke at Fundamental Baptist Church in Irving, TX.  It is always so good to be in the house of the Lord each Sunday.  I met a dear young lady ( hi Barrie!) who drove well over and hour to come meet us who is preparing to give her life to serve the Lord  on the mission field too.  We got to eat real Texas BBQ after the service.   In the evening, Daniel wasn’t scheduled to speak, so we attended another Baptist church we found and a dear family there took us all out to McDonalds!  The children enjoyed meeting their children and playing at the play place together.  On the way home, we were in the most incredible thunder storm!  After not really seeing any rain for over 2 years, this was VERY exciting! :)

And today, well, once everyone gets up and going, Daniel is going to fix the trailer, I’ll probably work on some more laundry, and then we are going to spend a couple more days/nights with another friend that I can’t wait to meet!

The Lord is so faithful and so good!

Journaling Furlough- Sept. 16

Journaling Furlough-  September 16, 2011

We love Texas! :)  What a fun state!  And everyone is so friendly :)  It reminds me a bit of Mexico in that as I walk around our hotel or go into a store , the people I pass greet me.  “Good morning!”  “Hi!  How are you doing?”  I love it! :)

Yesterday was such a special day.  We got to meet the 3 dear ladies that work at Central Missionary Clearinghouse.  For about 8 years now, they have received and then given us our support each month. They do this for about 450 missionaries.  I can’t imagine all the work that is involved, and we are just so very grateful for their labor of love for the Lord and those He’s called to serve Him.  They were just as sweet in person as they are on the phone/email.  We just loved being with them!

They took us all to lunch and we had such a wonderful time visiting with them and seeing the little office where they work each day.   The office is in the parking lot of their church.  What a love for missions their church has, too!  We were able to attend the service there Wednesday night and meet Pastor Maddox who is the overseer of Central Missionary Clearinghouse as well.  We thank the Lord for CMC as they have been such a blessing to our family/ministry for so many years!

After meeting the ladies for lunch, we had a fun family day yesterday.  Going from house to house is so much fun, and we LOVE to visit.  But sometimes we just need to have some time alone as a family.  We took the children to a big sporting goods store per the boys request to look around.  They had all sorts of animals and fish there.  And a huge aquarium with big fish! :)  They boys loved it!  Okay, the girls did too :)  And it was nice and air conditioned inside.

After that, we went to a hotel and had the entire swimming pool to ourselves!  The children got to swim for over 2 hours!  Eliseo is a little fish himself!  He has no fear and will get in over his head w/o any floaties and bob up and down laughing all the time.  About gave me some grey hair watching him!  But the big kids were great at taking turns staying with the 2 little ones.  We had races across the pool and back and I taught them how to play Marco Polo. ;)  What a fun night!  We ended with dinner and then family singing/Bible time.  Everyone got to bed early.  Well, the children did.  Mommy and Daddy had a paperwork/email/laundry party.  Daniel bought us a couple of milkshakes for the party :). 

Today, once everyone gets up (I think they are catching up on sleep a bit!), we will get ready and head to some dear friend’s home whom we’ve never met in person before!! They have lots of kiddos too and we can’t wait!

Oh, Wednesday afternoon, we were in San Antonio and took the children to see the Alamo!  My boys love Davy Crockett and what a great history lesson this was!  We are learning so much on this trip! 

Getting out of the car one night after a long day of travel just to let the kids run :)

Journaling Furlough

September 14, 2011– Tuesday Morning

We are on the road again traveling through New Mexico this morning on our way to Houston, TX.  According to the GPS, we have 807 miles to go.  I’m so thankful for our GPS.  We’ve only had it for about a month.  Daniel’s cousin, Tom, and his wife gave us theirs while we were with them in Arizona last month.  We’d never used one before and Tom said he thought it would help us on our trip.  We love it!  I’m especially thankful for it because it does much better at giving directions than our former co-pilot did….me.  I don’t even necessarily need to know the address to a church.  I can just type in the city/state and look up the churches in that area and choose from a list the church that we need.   No internet connection needed to look up a map/directions.  What a benefit/time saver it has been for us! 

We love road trips as a family.  Even with all the work/busy schedule/hours it the car, they are so fun and we make so many memories together.  I was thinking this morning of what a time of growth they are for us too.  For me, the difficulties of the trip have caused me to be thankful, to see areas in which I struggle, and have given me so many opportunities to see the Lord work. 

It’s been a time of stretching for me.  I love being home.  I love to have each of my days planned/scheduled and in order.  Right now, normally, we would be well into our school year, our new yearly schedule printed and followed, and while we don’t know what tomorrow holds,   unless the Lord brought something different along, I’d know what to expect each day. 

I always need to grow in the area of flexibility.  This trip has been and will continue to be good for me!  Each day in a different place, in different homes, different schedules, asking the Lord all along the way to allow us to be a help, blessing and encouragement to all those we meet.  I do miss my home.  And if I ever thought that furlough=a time of rest, I think I’ve changed my mind! Ha!  Of course, I think being tired for the next 10-15 years more or so is just part of my job. :)  Well worth it and wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

Being tired, in a car together for hours, throw in being hot at times or maybe not feeling too good...well, it let’s you see who you really are!  I am thankful.  So thankful for the work the Lord has done in my heart and so thankful that He who hath begun a good work in me will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ! 

And this morning, as I again asked the Lord for His grace and strength for today, I thought of the many things our time so far on this trip has given.  Right now, as Daniel is driving and I’m typing, some of the children are singing new songs they’ve learned.  How we love to sing!  I’m remembering  3 weeks of nights in Uncle Joel’s living room hearing the 20 cousins sing their hearts out while Uncle Daniel/Uncle Joel/Timothy played guitar or I played piano.  A giant tree fort built.  The need to buy the children an address book to keep track of the names/addresses of the many new friends that they have met and with whom they want to keep in touch.  The excitement on their faces when we opened a couple care packages some dear friends sent to us to make our trip extra special and help pass those long hours in the car.  The exciting sights seen along the way.  Hearing Daddy week after week preach and seeing not only His willingness to give His life for the gospel but to also see the Lord use Him in so many ways.  And the BEST is yet to come!  I say that often to the children.  Not just referring to our trip (because I always tell them that this will be the greatest day ever). :)  But as a Christian having being purchased by the blood of our Savior, we are His!  And someday will be the BEST day ever for we will be with Him and forever and have a new body that does not struggle with sin.  So each day, we ask the Lord to make us more like Him until we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.  What a wonderful Lord and Savior! 

It’s been a good trip.  Yes, difficult at times but we know the Lord is  with us, leading us, and our hearts have been blessed. 

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Finally, an Update!!! :)

Friday, September 9, 2011-

Yes, we are still here!  And back on the road.  Yesterday began our 7 week trip across the country after spending 3 wonderful weeks in our hometown area visiting family, friends, and sharing with our supporting churches there.  I didn’t plan on neglecting my furlough journal for so long. We were staying at Daniel’s brother’s house.  They don’t have very good internet, so I was hardly online.  And even if they had the best connection ever, I don’t know I’d have been on my computer much more than I was.  Four adults.  Twenty children.  20!  It was the best crazy fun ever!  We were just a little bit busy :)   Where do you sleep 20 children in a 1,300+ square foot house?  Oh, that’s easy!  The weather was just perfect for  our oldest 7 boys and their oldest 3 boys to camp out back.  So we had 10 out under the stars on the trampoline, our 3 girls and their 2 oldest girls slept in one bedroom, Daniel and I and our youngest 2 slept in another bedroom, and Joel/Deb and their littlest ones slept in their bedroom.  We were all very cozy! :)  Most of the time, it was just work...getting meals on, trying to wash/dry clothes for 24 people each day.  Their poor dryer went out 2 days before we left.  It has been suggested that maybe we overused it.  Nah. :)  But it was so fun being together and visiting throughout the day.  I know this is one summer that the children will never forget!  We are making the BEST memories!!

Well, I could write pages of all we did the past couple weeks, but due to time (hubby is loading up the trailer with the kiddos and we’re getting ready to pull out), I’ll just give a couple highlights.

My wallet got stolen.  :(  What an ordeal that was!  I used my wallet Monday afternoon to buy some bread and a printed picture at Walmart.  I was with my girls, went straight back home, finished making and serving dinner, and then grabbed my purse again as Daniel and I were going on a date night :) (thank you Deb and Joel!!).  We went to do some shopping and while at the store, I noticed my wallet wasn’t in my purse.  I didn’t think too much  as I was sure it was in the van or back at the house.  The next day I was planning on cleaning and going through all our things in preparation for our trip and I was sure it would turn up. When we didn’t find it, we called the stores where we had been to see if someone had found it and turned it in   Nothing.  So we called the bank.  Someone had my wallet and had spent over $350 on my cards.  :(  I lost my driver’s license, Mexican visa, bank cards, and pictures.  It took a good part of the day, but thankfully, we were able to work everything out at the bank and should get our money returned to us soon.  I’m praying that now that my cards can’t be used, the thief will leave my wallet somewhere where an honest person will find it and get ahold of us. 

I’d love to have back my Safeway Club card. :)  Not that I ever go to Safeway.  It’s just the first thing I ever applied for after I married Daniel.  The week we returned from our honeymoon, I went down to Safeway to do our first grocery shopping and signed up for the card.  When I was asked to sign my name on the back, I proudly wrote, “Mrs. Daniel Lockwood”. :)   I’ve kept that card ever since . :)

Well, Daniel’s now ready to go, so I’ll just upload some pictures to give a few highlights of our time up north.  Hopefully we’ll be able to update more frequently as we travel.   If you've emailed us within the past couple weeks and haven't heard back, I'll try my best to get caught up with all of you soon. We’ll be on the road for 7 weeks!  Daniel will be preaching at Heritage Baptist Church in Goodyear, AZ on Sunday.  We plan on driving to San Diego tonight to stay with Daniel’s brother and arrive in AZ tomorrow.  Again, we appreciate your prayers as we travel.  Safety.  That the van will run well.  Health.  Strength.  Wisdom. Sweet spirits with much patience, love, and grace.   And that the Lord will use us wherever we go to bring glory to Him! 

He is so faithful and so good!! 

Breakfast time :)

Chuck E Cheese With Grandma and Grandpa

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!  We sure love and miss you!!

We took all the children fishing down at the river one evening and that got a 3 1/2 lb. large mouth bass!

Daniel and Pastor Ryan (our pastor) :)

When they weren't working/doing chores/sleeping/eating, the boys spent most all their time building a tree fort!  It was great!  

It measured 20 ft. 5 inches high!
Daddy went up to the top.  Mommy did not. :)