50's Themed Junior/Senior Banquet - 2016

Our son is a Junior this year - the class that is in charge of decorating for the Junior/Senior Banquet. Several years ago, his class decided to do a 50's theme. They wanted something different that is usually done. (Sorry about this post being all messed up! I uploaded pictures a different way and can't figure out how to adjust the location!)
Some new class members moved in. Some moved away. The theme was voted on in early January of this year, and preparations were quickly made to make the 50's theme a reality. I had been planning it in my head the whole time, actually, just because I love the 50's and was looking forward to doing the theme; however, I had only bought a couple of things for the anticipated arrival of my son's Junior year. I didn't want to jump the gun! This banquet had a "party" feel....more like a step back in time to a simpler life. I think almost everyone felt that way about it. Just relaxing, even though the decorating (at times) wasn't so relaxing. In fact, a few things were quite stressful! But, it worked out. It always does. The only hiccup in the evening was that the very most classic cars that were coming to help transport the class members from one place to another, didn't get to come because of severe weather threats. They did bring old cars, so it worked out, but the 50's classics would have been even better. (One was still from the 50's.) My son served as Emcee for the event, being the President of the Junior class. He, along with a few others, sang some 50's songs. Then he announced the "game show" part of the program. That was really fun having the Juniors compete against the Seniors in a 1950's classic game show called, 'Beat the Clock'. It's about the same as our "Minute to Win It" games now, but the games aren't always a minutes. They were played with simple things, too, such as cups, string, balloons, dowel sticks, balls, and paper plates. It was lots of fun! We had a nearby drive in come with their food truck to cook classic cheeseburgers and fries for the meal. They were even excited! An old fashioned "candy buffet" was set up with 50's era candy stocked up. The candy was placed in the classic cardboard car centerpieces. That was lots of fun! Dessert was a sundae bar. Servers for the evening dressed in classic 50's attire and did a wonderful job making the evening fun and assisting with the games. The booth was borrowed from my nephew and made a perfect addition to the decor!  It was a wonderful evening! Lots of great memories were made! As Ronnie Milsap sings, "Lost in the 50's"....we were....just for that night.

Holy Fear

 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. Hebrews 11:7

Yesterday during worship the scripture above was read. The phrase "holy fear" stuck out to me because we don't usually think of fear being "holy".  And most of the time it's not holy.  

So what is holy fear?  What does this scripture mean? Is it being scared of God all of the time?  Certainly not!

Noah was warned that the whole world would be destroyed by flood, but even though he had never seen anything like that before, he believed God.  He believed that God could do what he said he was going to do.  Noah trusted God.  Noah had faith in God.  He had enough faith that he obeyed God.  

If Noah had only feared God, he might have run and hid. He might have worried so much about building the ark that it never would have been completed.  But his fear of the Lord was a holy fear. It was a respect for God - that God could do what He planned to do.  

A holy fear is a reverence for God for who He is.  When we truly learn to understand how to have a holy fear of God, only then do we realize just how much He loves us and can begin to love Him in the way He wants us to.  Only then will we obey Him.

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will.

(Hallal Music)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

    To him belongs eternal praise. Psalm 111:10

Parents After God's Own Heart

Sometimes things on Facebook are amazing.  A few days ago, I shared a simple photo with a powerful, yet simple, message on our "Parents After God's Own Heart" page.  Occasionally we decide to "boost" a post, which means pay for it to be seen further.  A lot of the times it's just because we want more parents to see it to possibly help them or make them think. The majority of the ones we actually "boost", we don't even write ourselves, but we're not doing it for our selves or for our page, but strictly to help parents follow God more closely and to raise their families accordingly. 

This particular post, though, we didn't boost.  In a matter of minutes, that post spread like fire! It was kind of crazy, actually! (Even though it does have a good message!).  Last night I was updating Joe and the boys about how quickly it was spreading still.  Just for fun, every 10 minutes I would take a picture of the "likes", it's "reach" (meaning how many people saw the post from our page or shares of our page), plus actual shares.  IT WAS CRAZY!  In one 10 minutes it had gotten over 1,000 likes!  From 74,000 something "reached" at 9:30 p.m. last night to 110,310 at 9:03 a.m. this morning. There were 474 "likes" at 11:45 p.m. last night and 539 this morning...1,007 times it's been shared this morning and there were 823 last night at 11:45. There are 116 new followers of our page from that one post in just two days. We typically don't even pay attention to that!

I don't know if you care anything about this or not, but I just think about how the internet has changed our world - even how Facebook has changed our world.  Maybe that message is simple, but maybe/hopefully, it makes even one family re-adjust their priorities and make sure that God is front and center in their lives.  That's worth it to us.  

If more messages that focus on God, Jesus, and His truths spread that fast and impacted the lives of those who read it, just think of the changes we could see in our world!

TCH Homecoming 2016

The 92nd celebration of Tipton Children's Home was held in Saturday before Easter. The annual alumni homecoming theme was "A Harvest of Blessings ".

A few of us were in charge of decorating for the event. We began making plans immediately after last year's event, which makes it fun, but also easier!

There were carts and wheel barrels decorated in garden themes.

A special t-shirt quilt was given away.

I was able to use an old fence I had, which negates the old quote: "Throw it away if you haven't used it in a year." I hadn't used this in over 10 years, but I'm glad we had it, still!

Part of the decor included fruit and vegetable baskets. Afterwards the fruits and veggies were given to the cottages. A great way to use the decorations! 

The placemats had garden pictures from past years at TCH. 

I had the carpenter make these cute fruit/vegetable stands. We will get lots of use out of them!

It was fun using real grass and flowers for the decor! The kids really liked it!

One lady made this cute garden hose wreath!

It takes several days to decorate, then in a few hours it's over! That's the way big events are, isn't it? The memories are well worth it.

My kids and I did the desserts. We ordered the mini bug cookies on Etsy. I couldn't have done this job without my kiddos helping!

We also made dirt cake in mini terra cotta pot containers. One cottage made the candy flowers.

I love these seed packets I ordered on Etsy! She personalized them perfectly!

What a blessing to celebrate 92 years. We are thankful to those who came to Homecoming. We look forward to next year!

Pray for Brussels

Our daughter has a friend who was her former Disney roommate during their College Program internship. This friend was at the Brussels airport yesterday when the terrorist attack happened. I want to share her story with you. It's terrifying, but to see the acts of kindness amidst the horrifying experience shows us that LOVE and KINDNESS wins. GOD wins. Jesus wins. He already won over death itself. Don't forget that! 

Please pray for this young girl and all others who have been affected by this senseless act. Pray that she will be able to come home to America soon.

I have not used names, but substituted words for the names she used.

***

After the most terrifying day of my life, I am blessed to say that I am safe. ❤️

I was in the Brussels Airport this morning when the bombs went off. I heard someone yelling in Arabic, followed by the first explosion - it was not far from me. If it had been 15 minutes earlier, I would have been standing in the spot one of the bombs went off. One went off at the American Airlines Desk, which is where (boyfriend) and I were for about 30 minutes earlier in the morning. 

As soon as I heard the explosion, everyone froze and asked "What was that?" And then we ran... It was the most terrifying feeling that I will never be able to put into words. I grasped to get somewhere safe but had no idea where safe was. I was led to a staircase and went down a couple of flights until I couldn't go down anymore and hid under the stairwell with a Belgian husband and wife. I was terrified. I didn't know if I would make it out alive. I texted my loved ones in case it would be the last time I could and just prayed over and over. After hiding for 30 minutes, we managed to find a way out and pushed through the doors and then through another set of doors which lead outside on the runway side of the airport. The police showed us to where everyone else was waiting to be picked up by a bus to be brought to safety. I immediately called my Mom but couldn't talk through my tears when a woman came over to me and hugged me and talked to my Mom for me. She told my Mom what was going on and that she had me now and she was going to stay with me. She was a Swiss woman working with the UN. She was my angel. She stayed with me and helped me the whole time and helped me to deep breathe and get my mind off of the trauma. 

We were then bussed to a safe place where they store the planes and the workers were so kind and efficient and quick to give out water and blankets to everyone. A kind man gave me his jacket. A woman nearby shared her chocolate. Everyone was so, so kind. We became a family.

When the explosion went off, I was at border control. So when I ran, I didn't have my passport, my debit card, my license, or my carry-on luggage. All I had was my backpack and phone. After about an hour of waiting at the facility, I went in line to use the bathroom. I was on the phone with (her boyfriend)  for a few minutes when the woman in front of me turned around and said, "I'm the police - what do you need?" So I talked with her and then relayed the message to (boyfriend) that everyone was remaining there and that it was safest. A few minutes later, I mentioned to her just in conversation that I didn't even have my passport and that I was at border control when the explosion happened. She said "(her last name)?I think we have it - and your luggage too!" I couldn't believe it. She told me to come with her so we could get it, and we did. My passport, debit card, license, luggage - it was all there. My second angel. 

She came with me to make sure I made it back safely to my new Swiss friend and told me how (boyfriend) could pick me up by car. She even wanted to speak to him on the phone to explain how to get there and gave him her phone number. She then took me outside to the busses where I would be taken to Zaventem Train Station, where he could pick me up. She carried my luggage for me and brought me to the front of the line and told me to call her to tell her I made it safely and blew me a kiss from the bus. I was brought to tears by her kindness.

We were then taken to the train station, where I waited about 10-15 minutes and then saw (boyfriend) and got in the car with him and his mom and came back to his house, where I am finally safe. ❤️

Without a doubt, God is watching over me, is with me, and placed these angels in my path. There's no explanation for it but God. I am so thankful to be here and to tell my story. I am so thankful to be alive. I am so thankful for the kindness strangers who are now friends, no, family showed me. I will never forget them.

Thank you, (boyfriend), for being here for me through every second of it. And thank you to everyone who prayed for me and sent out sweet words to see if I was okay. ❤️The love and support I have from my friends and family is overwhelming and I appreciate it so much. 

Please continue to pray for those who were injured from these terrible attacks and for the families and friends of those who passed away from this horrific day. And also for Belgium, that these attackers would be stopped before they can harm another innocent person. ❤️