Next Month and a Psalm

Hi, my name is Emrie and I am going to be one next month!

This girl loves walking all by herself outside and picking up rocks.

She also has decided to play in the bath.  Before she would just sit there and not mind it but not play.  Now our whole bathroom after is soaking wet from all her splashing.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer" Psalm 19:14

This is one of my favorite verses of all time and I try to stay true to this verse to my best ability. I fail, but good thing our God is gracious right? :)

Time is a trainer.

"I AM ABLE to do far beyond all that you ask or imagine. Come to Me with positive expectations, knowing that there is no limit to what I can accomplish. Ask My Spirit to control your mind, so that you can think great thoughts of Me. Do not be discouraged by the fact that many of your prayers are yet unanswered. Time is a trainer, teaching you to wait upon Me, to trust Me in the dark. The more extreme your circumstances, the more likely you are to see My Power and Glory at work in the situation. Instead of letting difficulties draw you into worrying, try to view them as setting the scene for My glorious intervention. Keep your eyes and your mind wide open to all that I am doing in your life."

Ephesian 3:20; Romans 8:6: Isaiah 40:30; Revelation 5:13

-Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

My hope and dream is to be a a stay at home mom for this little girl

Financially, it is just not in the picture to do that right now.  My heart aches every day on my way to work and I pray everyday that somehow I would be able to be at home with her. 

I am so thankful for my parents who take great care of her

The other night while reading this devotional, it all made sense.  I can't be discouraged and need to know that God's timing is perfect.

"Time is a trainer, teaching you to wait upon Me, to trust Me in the dark." 

I need to be reminded of this more often than not.

Light

"Every secret, every shame
Every fear, every pain
Live inside the dark
But that's not who we are
We are children of the day

So wake up sleeper, lift your head
We were meant for more than this
Fight the shadows conquer death
Make the most of the time we have left

We are the light of the world
We are the city on a hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta, we gotta, we gotta let the light shine

We are called to the spread the news
Tell the world the simple truth
Jesus came to save, there's freedom in His Name
So let his love break through

We are the light of the world
We are the city on a hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta, we gotta, we gotta let the light shine
We are the light of the world
We are the city on a hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta, we gotta, we gotta let the light shine"

-Kari Job, "we are"

This song came on the radio the other day and I have heard it many times before, but for some reason it struck me a little different....

"We are the light of the world, we are the city on a hill." WOW!

My challenge is to live with this mindset everyday.

You with me?

Follow up.

Tomorrow is a day I am not looking forward to...

This sweet girl has to be put under anesthesia and have an MRI of her brain.

If you remember this post, our sweet girl has something called "shudder attacks". The neurologist called a couple weeks ago and wants to cover all his bases and have an MRI done of her brain just to make sure we aren't missing anything.

 The EEG was enough for me, but I am hoping the MRI is the last of it.  

I have to remind myself that it could be worse and that God is in control no matter what.

Talent.

“When I stand before God at the end of my life,

  

I would hope that I would not have a single bit of 

talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you

 gave me'.” -Erma Bombeck

I believe that no matter who you are or where you have been, God has given each and every person some pretty neat things...

He has given the power of prayer 

A heart to serve 

He has given us younger people in our life to disciple and maybe be a little goofy with. (we are a little weird)

 

He has given us a body to strengthen and use to its full ability.

My hubby loves to swim, bike, hike and run.  This is definitely a talent God gave him.

He has given us family to love, serve and be best friends with

He has given us friends to come along side with, encourage and be completely selfless with

When you think you have no talent, just remember it doesn't have to be anything extravagant like having a great voice, playing a wonderful instrument or being a great public speaker.
  
It is having a passion and striving to be the best that you can be, loving a little deeper, encouraging a friend, going out of your comfort zone to serve and praying not only when things are tough.


That is talent.

Off to India...

Nope not me :)

My sweet sister and her husband are going to India in 3 weeks! Remember this post? Well, this time my sister, Sarah gets to go again but have a whole new experience.  

She gets to go with her husband.

Something about serving the Lord in another country with your husband is so sweet and so special.

 It is a memory that Grant and I will treasure forever.

Missions are a wonderful thing and is something I believe everyone is called to do whether we do it where we live or in another country.

Doing them out of country is so amazing yet very expensive.

It is expensive for one person to raise money, but for 2?? Double the costs!  They have to raise over $6,000  and guess what? They only have around $650 to go! This is pretty great! But...the trip is in 3 weeks. That is a lot to raise in a short amount of time. If they don't raise it all, they will just pay out of pocket.

So, as I have been praying for my sweet sister and brother in law, an idea came to mind! 

This is where you all come in :)

I am going to sell these bracelets for $5.  

There are 3 different styles and a bunch of colors...

{1}

{2}

{3}

100% of everything sold will go straight to Mission of Mercy in helping them pay all their costs of going to India.

My sister has no idea I am doing this, but what a blessing this could be for them! 

You in??

Email me at thepinkruffle@gmail.com

Let me know what number bracelet you want and then you can choose from:

GOLD or SILVER

and

COLOR OF BRACELET:

teal, mustard, cream, black, brown, tan or purple

 Once you email me and let me know what you want, I will send you a paypal invoice and I will ship out your bracelet the next day if not the same day! :) 

If you are not a bracelet person, I have another option too! Go to my SHOP and email me which headband you want and I will sell it for $5.

They leave January 6th, so get your orders in and lets help Sarah and Justin get to India without having to pay anything out of their own pockets.  

I know we can do it! :)

My other family in India :)

 Grant, my sister, dad and a team from Mission of Mercy went to India on a medical mission last year.

I was a little weary of India.  Whenever I had thought about a mission trip, I thought of Africa or Haiti, but India never really stood out. 

India has forever changed my life.

I never knew that these sweet little kids could make such a difference in the way I live, love and walk in my everyday life.

We went there to serve these kids and to show them love that they have never seen before.  I do not have a medical background, but I worked in the pharmacy and after they had been through exams and given a little sheet of paper that had lists and lists of what they were going to need to try to make them a little healthier, I was able to see each smiling face and love on them.

There is a slum in India that has been given the name "trash pickers." To make some sort of living they sort trash. We walked through this slum and I just could not believe my eyes. But you know what was crazy, these people were happy and the kids didn't know any different and ran around like any other child in this world. WOW, what an example.

The whole time we were at this slum, there were 2 boys that seems to take a liking to Grant and I.  They would wait for us to arrive and follow us everywhere.  We would give them bubbles and even though we didn't speak the same language, we connected with them.

These boys Saddam and Sawakat did not attend school.  All the children we were seeing in the clinic were sponsor kiddos who went to the school where the clinic we set up was at.  The last day all the other kids in the town could come to get an exam and get medicine. Me and Grant knew something needed to change with these 2 boys.

Here is a picture that will forever be in my mind.  We wanted Sawakat and Saddam to be able to learn about Jesus, go to school and get a good meal each day.  We asked this sweet couple who was in charge of the school and sponsor program if we could sponsor both of these boys and register them into the program.  

Here we are explaining to them through translation, that we are going to sponsor them each month until they are 18 and for the first time in their life they get to go to school.

Though Saddam and Sawakat do not speak our same language or live in the same country, Grant and I both consider these boys apart of our family.  We have received 2 letters from them and they are loving school and learning about Jesus which they had never heard of before.  

They make my heart happy.

While we were there we also got to go to the Taj Mahal.  It was SOO hot, but a pretty neat site to see. SO beautiful!

The Dr. we were with would write a blog everyday while we were there.  This is an excerpt from his blog on the last day...

"The smiles of the children, the glisten of tears of thanks from the parents, and the soft touch of a calloused hand that has felt nothing but garbage all of its life, gives me solace in knowing that at least for now, for even a brief moment, they feel worthy of being valued. They feel the warmth of dignity, the pride of being recognized as human, and the love that they may not have felt for a very long time." Dr. Beyda

Have you ever thought of sponsoring a child? It really does make a difference.  If you don't know where to start, you can start here.