To help promote unity & the importance of family – twice a month we do something fun. Tonight we invited the children over for a cook-out!

On this Mother’s Day I find myself experiencing a wide array of emotions….

One emotion that stands out to me the most right now – is unrelenting thankfulness for all the moms who have helped our crew of kids through the highs and lows of our ministry journey…

This competition was two-fold…. the top 3 dancers were awarded prizes… and the top 12 dancers were chosen to be apart of the very elite dance group called – OUR GENERATION!

We invited the community to come for peanut butter sandwiches and homemade hot chocolate. Our kids and our Dames group were the hosts – serving everyone before the start of our Easter Service.

Oh the Joys of a Castillo Photo Shoot!

Malaya has a 6-page spread – sharing about her life growing up as a missionary in Haiti. We are so thankful for the opportunity to share her story with other girls her age.

As we walked back home – Asher said: I really like it when we do children’s church as a family. It’s so much fun.
Levi said: Yeah I think God likes it too because everyone knows the same Bible stories… and God really likes the Bible 🙂

I learned a long time ago – Christmas isn’t necessarily about WHERE you go – nor is it necessarily about WHAT you do. At least for me – MY best memories on Christmas Day are all about who I was surrounded by.

But might I suggest that either way – people are watching – taking their cues from you – maybe even waiting for you….. and none of us want to be a stumbling block – or a JOY BLOCKER – for others who are desperately searching for their JOY too.

Hurricane Matthew and subsequent flooding nearly destroyed our community – but it also brought all of us together. I wouldn’t have thought about pouring into these kids had I not watched their nightmare unfold before me. Beauty from ashes….