The Gemstone Globe

Sprinter or Marathon

2008-08-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

So where do you fall? Are you a sprinter or a marathon runner? Do you run a marathon at a sprinters pace? Do you run a sprinters race at a marathon speed? Or are you aware of your timing and where you are going? Or do you even know where you are going?
What if you start a race and don't know where you are going?

We started the summer with a few goals and knew that the kids were in for some relaxing times. Now that the summer is coming to a close and the kids are preparing for school, we are preparing for the fall and setting new goals for the end of this year.

I believe we are right where we need to be and God has new things for us even this year before 2008 ends.

New family member

2008-02-25T20:39:00.001-08:00

Carter's sister Jennifer had her baby last wednesday, February 20, 2008. Hannah Grace

Locks of Love

2008-02-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today we picked up Isabella from School and took her to Great Clips. We have been talking about this for a while and it was time to cut her hair. She wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love in honor of Noah Steven. His mom writes a great blog noahsteven.blogspot.com

Isabella was so brave and had so much of her hair cut today. She ended up with a great haircut. I love her and she is such a sweet strong girl.

Official Pastor picture

2008-02-25T19:49:00.001-08:00

This is our official Pastor Portrait that will hang in the foyer of the Church. Many thanks to Jim Richards of Jim Richards Photography here in Dickinson, Texas for this great picture. He has been taking portraits of our family for the past 7 years.

2008-01-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Pastor Dowdy actually already changed the name on the sign. They are really excited about the next phase that God has for them and look forward to their retirement time.
On January 13th, 2008, we will be ordained into the the new position that God has for us. If you would like to join us please let me know.
We are really looking forward to this new year. We believe this is a year of new beginnings.

I didn't send out my christmas cards. But i did enjoy getting all the cards this year from old friends around the World. Thank you. i love mail and opening packages. i feel like January is like opening a present because you know each day is a gift from God.

2008

2007-12-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

2008 is just aroud the corner, and while everyone is worried about christmas being just 1 week away, i am excited about 2008 and what God has in store...
And i am not talking about resolutions. I am wanting God's plan.
I have to say the last week has been incredible. Not only has the last year been an incredible transition into what God has seen for us. But the last week really demonstrated HIS plan.
Even though others had seen God's plan i was still being a willing vessel.
As of January 13th, Carter and I will be stepping over into a completely new role for us. We will be taking on Church of the Living God as the new Pastors. Please pray for this transition as the Pastors retire and we help with that transition.

Thirty-four

2007-11-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

Two things I love about this pictures: First thing is that i actually had the 3 and the 4 in the drawer and i actually have a seven, its kind of our tradition. So when i get to 37 or 73 i can use my numbers. Second thing i love is that even though it is my birthday, i didn't have time to put a real shirt on but I am wearing a Free shirt from Academy that i never even wear out of the house. The real story is that Carter drove in from out of town on my birthday and we didn't see him til about 7:30pm that night. So i was already dressed down for my party. Actually Carter showed up at the door with flowers and an ice cream cake from dairy queen. I do love how happy we all look and am glad i have this picture of my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Carter's recent sermon...

2007-11-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

To hear a recent sermon from Carter, at Covenenat Word Church, go here.

Kick or Treat

2007-11-01T09:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, these are the cutest kids ever. I am so partial. I am supposed to be. I have to give some details about yesterday... we woke up so late yesterday and Samuel had a play but i hurried them and sure enough Bella and Samuel got into and Samuel gave her one of those great Muay Thai kicks that knocks you down.

Because Samuel had to alter his ninja costume to make the cow costume. He was really upset about that. He opted to be a policeman. He actually really liked that because he got to wear his all time favorite clothing item....wait for it..... jean shorts. He pays $1.00 every Friday just to wear them.

As to my brother's comment about favorite clothes, I too understand. Don't we all have our favorite? And for Samuel its all about being comfortable.
And Victoria really wanted to be as she called it, "pigelet." And sweetie Isabella... she told Carter, "something that works with cows and horses. guess what it is?"
This morning they woke up with bright purple hair and pumpkins on their faces.

2007-10-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

It was like 7:30am and the kids rushed outside to check on the dragon fly. I didn't realize that they had built this elaborte tennis racket house for the dragon fly, but they were worried about him and need to give him some shelter from the night. I had to take a pic of how cute it was. The Real spider is from Sri Lanka. Look how large it's body is. That fake spider is what Victoria brought home to scare me with the other day.

2007-10-31T10:29:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow!!!!

2007-10-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, this all happened on one day, actually this morning. Not only are those cows only a gate away from playing on the swingset, but when i opened the back door they jumped and looked scared. I went to the school first and saw Samuel as a cow and the 10 plagues of Egypt. He was cute with his feet up in the air. But I had to run home and then back to the school because we forgot some books but when i got to that stop sign, which is only 4 houses away, I looked over and saw these cows and a BULL!!!!! Right there in our neighborhood. BTW, I don't really live in the country either. But when I called the police (i was worried about them getting in the lake and in my front yard) then started running for the back. I went to the school and hurried back. That's when i opened my back door and there were 5 cows having a great snack. That bull actually made eyes with my mom. I took a ton of pics for the kids to look at when they get home. I am still cracking up. What's with all the cows?

Then all of a sudden they took off running back where they came from and that's them leaving. What a great morning!!! I have to say i was a little nervouse about that bull, running up and down the street. But the neighbors of the owner came out and started hearding them up.

Friends from Chicago!

2007-10-31T10:12:00.001-07:00

Carter has a very special place in his heart for his friends Pastor Steve and Tracy Bartlett from Chicago. We were able too meet up with them in Slidell, Louisiana at the beginning of October. We had so much fun and as usual the kids made fast friends with them.

Sunday October 21, 2007 - Baptism in Galveston

2007-10-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

I liked this day!!!! Right before we walked out the door this morning, Carter got a call to come ready to baptize. He quickly grabbed some clothes for the water and off we went. I loved how happend. A former Hindu was baptized about 1pm righ there in the bay. He was so happy. Also a group from the church walked down to see it. Praise God!!

Only a few days...

2007-10-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

Only a few days have passed since the last blog.
Carter came home with great stories and great pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QZOW7Fm1bsXPA

This is the link to the pictures on shutterfly. You'll see Carter and my brother Alex. There are pictures of the Tsunami zone and also the mountain tea estates of Sri Lanka.

Still on my mind when talking about the Tsunami zone is the Hurricane Katrina that hit Louisiana. This last weekend we made a trip over to Slidell, La which is just north of New Orleans. Now Hurrican Katrina hit in Sept/oct 2005 but when we were driving though some of the neighborhoods i was shocked to see so many of the houses still being refurbished. Also, in the neighborhoods we saw lots of vacant homes/townhomes/apartments. And so many for sale as well. The reason i started noticing this was that there were those travel trailors that I think FEMA provided for the people to live were still in the driveways of the homes. It was amazing.

Please continue to pray for us.
The other night i heard some noise in the girls room, after they had gone to bed. I called up there,"who's up?" A little voice said, "nobody." It was funny.

I want to write about 1John 4:18-19 but that will be another post.

2 interesting links...

2007-10-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

Carter made it back safe and sound last night. He was really happy to be home and can't stop talking about all the miracles that he saw on his trip. I am gonna write a blog specifically about that including some pics and links to more pics but i wanted to include 2 interesting links that came my way yesterday.

I met this lady last night who wrote this book about 9/11 but for children. I have never seen a book for children and have often wondered how i will explain that even to my children.
www.kathyemartin.com

Also, I got a great color newsletter in the mail. I have know this family for over 7 years and the work they are doing, i really value. www.relief-networks.org They have been working in Africa and building water wells. And they recently went to Mexico and worked in the city dumps with the people that live there.

Our first "offical" comment

2007-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much Krista for commenting on the blog. And thank you for reading and calling and asking how I am doing. I still have this feeling of Freedom knowing that this is our blog and that we can actually write what we want to write about and that other people read it. That's why we called it the Gemstone Globe because there are truly gems from all over the world. It's like I was telling them at church this morning that we each have our part to do in the Gospel and work of His kingdom. My part right now is to stay with the kids and pray for Carter.

Update on Carter: As of our time here in the states he is getting ready to head to the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Carter and Alex spent the last 2 days of their trip in the Mountains of Sri Lanka visiting the tea plantations and ministering in special meetings that were arranged there. They saw many born again including children and were very excited. Carter said that have spent so much time preaching and ministering. They have stayed so busy.

The kids and I are really looking forward to seeing him. He will arrive here on Tuesday. Please continue to pray for him as he travels and spends one night in Thailand and continues home to Texas.

To be Continued....

2007-09-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Carter is so excited right now. I love to talk to him when his energy level is like this. He is excited, he gets really inspired and has great ideas. Carter and my brother Alex kept calling me this morning. First they called me really early and woke me up, then when i was getting the kids ready for school and then they put me on a conference call with my other friend in Mali. There was so much international energy with Africa, Asia and the United States. That was really fun, but the fun ended too quickly with people running to meetings and getting things ready.

The Sri Lankans have kept Carter so busy. Everyday, they have a list of places they need to go and meetings that they need to attend. They met with the Mayor and the city council. Alex has www.isaiahinstitute.org and there you can read about all the projects that he is involved. Carter keeps telling me over and over how much he has enjoyed his time with Alex and working together on projects. Praise God. Saturday they head to the tea estates where they will minister. This is a really beautiful place in Sri Lanka with mountains, fresh tea and beautiful people eager to hear about God. The minister to many of the people that work on the tea plantations.

Where's your husband?

2007-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this, then I have probably told you about this blog and my little list of websites that we run. And if you have asked about Carter it's because you have seen me and asked either, "where's your husband?" because you have seen me and the 3 kids or you know and asked, "how is Carter?" We appreciate all of your concern and questions and prayer. So, I was talking to someone yesterday and when I told them about all the great things that were going on with Carter while he is Sri Lanka. They said, "okay." Not even a fake "great."And it wasn't a distracted okay. It was one of those as i have heard it called crusty christian remarks. Do you think that is lukewarm? Especially from someone who is a Christian? Just something to think about, especially if we believe the Bible and believe the Great Commission.

But Praise be to God!!!! Great things are going on. So far in the few days that Carter has been there he is already been out of town to minister and is scheduled to go back. He is doing the work set out to do. Preaching in multiple church services, prayer meeting, youth meetings, minister meetings, encouraging the Christians and this weekend they Go Up Country as they call it to the mountains to hold meetings there. Please continue to pray for us. He returns next Tuesday.

Hit the ground running

2007-09-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

After 2 and a half days of traveling Carter made it all the way to Sri Lanka. His flight kept getting delayed and he arrived middle of the night/early morning there in Sri Lanka. He said it was weird because he had adjusted to the jet lag and then he "pulled an all nighter." He met right away with one local pastors and got the schedule. Friday night they have a prayer meeting and he spoke there on Mark 9. He encouraged them in leading a life of prayer. On Sunday he will be ministering in 5 different services.
He will be making preparations at the Pastors meeting and with Pastor Tyrone to set up evangelsistic meetings next time and will get the pastors invloved. They are working together to build the churchs through winning the lost to Jesus.
I asked what was for dinner and he said Papaya. Also, check out www.faithforallnations.org

Took the kids to school this morning. When we got there, a bunch of kids were out there on the playground with older kids. There were Homecoming mums, moms and babies, cheerleaders in "green and white spirit clothes" and a line. The line. The line was getting your face painted in typical thick green and white face paint I hope. And for colored hairspray. At first they both wanted face painting and hairspray which quickly changed to just hairspray when they saw how thick the paint was. And all i had to say was i think it might make you itchy after a while. When i finally got back out there for hairspray all i needed to see was one kid in kinder. who looked like he was now grey. He was yelling, "Look, I look frosted!" Funny kid. I have no idea what happened to Samuel and I am kinda waiting for my surprise later. Isabella wanted pom poms in her hair. I didn't mind but were barely able to run the brush through her hair this morning.

The other funny part of my morning was me riding around with Victoria in her carriage on the back of my bike chasing the water delivery truck. I made it but I think he thought I was weird and why was he in such a hurry?
Continue to keep us in your prayers.

Where in the world is Carter Ware?

2007-09-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

We got Carter off to the airport on Tuesday morning. We had to fight traffic the whole way there (1 hr) across town. But all is well and from watching the schedule of flights on http://www.nwa.com/ I was able to see how all the planes landed and departed.
He spent the night in Bangkok, Thailand. He stayed at the Bangkok Christian Guest House. I like the pics of this place because of how clean it looks. Carter says it is just as clean as the pics. He also said that he woke up early and made it down first to the great breakfast where they were making fresh french toast. And for those of you who love details, he had 3 pieces, then had a peanut butter sandwich. He said all of it was great. Also, while enjoying breakfast he was able to visit with 2 men from New Zeland. They had actually been to the same church that Carter had also visited one time in Siberia. Yet, they were both in Thailand right now.
Also, Carter was able to meet up with a friend of a friend so to speak there in Thailand. Blair treated Carter to some great food and fellowship. I love how God works things out.
Carter arrived at the airport about 2 hours early to find out that the plane had been delayed 2 hours. So now he is waiting 4 hours. But the airlines treated him to a 10$ food voucher so that will help in the airport. Also, he said that like Tokyo, the Bangkok airport is brand new. I will update more later.
On the other side of the world, the kids are making it pretty easy for me. Samuel asked me to get more paper plates, he didn't want me to wash dishes. Okay, easy for me. And they wanted cereal for dinner. Oh, and this morning on the way to school, they asked me to let them stay after school for a while. Could they make it easier for me? We are staying busy and keeping active.

If Shoe Shopping solved everything

2007-09-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

Last saturday i sat in the extra small dressing room of the smallest girls dress shop on the north side of Houston with my 2 girls who incidently were wearing black martial arts tshirts. Isabella quickly stripped off her tshirt and threw on the easiest and most accessible of the white flower girl dresses ran out and was ready. Why? She was ready to get to the flower girl/wedding shoes for girls. I promise they look just like Cinderella's glass slipper and they make as much noise as glass slippers too. On the other hand while Isabella was fast and easy, victoria not in her usually pouty look but in serious distress was having a dilema. Are the shoes worth the unwanted attention and white dress (not like cinderella's-she wore blue)?
How did it end? She didn't throw a fit, but rather sat there and contemplated the whole situation. But ya know what? She really wanted those shoes, more than anything I have ever seen her go after. She let me but the dress on her, take her out of the dressing room and modeled the dress. She clenched my arms so hard. But the satisfaction of putting on those white dressy shoes with the sparkly diamonds was so worth it to her. And the secret... even though the wedding isn't until November we let them wear the shoes the next day for church.
I wish I was that easy. Some sparkly glass slippers.
I was briefly chatting with my friend in California through email when I had this thought. We say we trust God and we believe he is in control, then when something doesn't go our way or we don't like where we are, we ask God to step in and help us. All things work together to him that love the Lord.

Labor Day or Not

2007-09-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

Labor Day!!! Or another great day to watch High School Musical 2. All things considered we haven't even seen the first one. But we are addicted to #2. Okay, I like the songs, too. Another one for me and the kids from itunes.

So we spent the day cleaning and organizing closets. Carter even cleaned some floors for me. Samuel keeps asking to go to Palm beach for some swimming but it is raining so hard and i think the "beach" is closed.

But I did get alot done and all of my items uploaded to http://www.thegemstoneglobe.com/

check it out, let me know what you think....

Our first day of School

2007-08-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

"It wasn't hard, like you said it was going to be!!!"
That's what Samuel announced as he was getting in the car, right in front of the teacher. I don't really remember saying that to Samuel but he had been a little worried about it I guess. Everything went smoothly as you can see. The big deal today now that it is friday is that he gets to buy his lunch for the first time. Carter laughed because I remembered lunches being $1.10. He had to remind me that was 20 years ago. Thanks Carter!!
I heard a pastor say the other day that, "God is always right on time, never early, but right on time." Now if I could be like Samuel and say, "God it wasn't that hard. I only thought it was going to be." That would be really trusting God to come through for me.

Our first post

2007-08-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so i have been wanting to blog and i think i may have developed the right path this time. I am also wanting to link to my etsy shop so you can shop my creations over there.

As an update, Carter is planning his trip to Sri Lanka and will be leaving at the end of September.

On to basic life. Kids start school on thursday. They are being emotional about it.