The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

THE Letter

We have received the long-awaited LETTER from the IMB. It arrived in the mail yesterday.  B. brought it in, and we sat down on the sofa. We knew what it held inside. We had felt it, along with a finality of peace, when God gave us our #1 choice in VA. 

We opened it, and sure enough, it held the news that we are being offered a job as ISC missionaries for the IMB, serving in Peru as the interpretation ministry. The length of the job is 24 months. We'll be the bridge between churches in the USA & Spanish interpreters in Peru. We will also teach ESL (English as Second Language) classes and Bible studies. Of course, we will also love on the people there.

We have a mixture of feelings. Overall, peace has entwined itself in our lives. Only God can give us that. We thank Him that He has sent it, so we will know for sure of His ultimate will for our lives. We are excited for what God has in store for us and our children! They will be attending a Christian or MK (missionary kid) school while we are there. We also hold the emotion of sadness because it has not been an easy task of telling our families. The thought of being away for 2 years is quite overwhelming to us and to them. We are thankful that we will have Internet accessibility, because the city that we will move to is very modern.

Continue to pray for us as we make this huge leap of faith to follow God. There will be many changes in store for us, soon to come. We have to sell everything and get debt-free before we go. If everything comes to pass, we will be headed to VA to get schooling of how to make it while we are on the field, by Apr. 20. Then, we should be ON the field in Peru by July 2.

A Blessed Thanksgiving Day

Yesterday, I began the day by cooking a Mexi-corn casserole to take to Mom & Dad's. We left around 11 AM headed their way. My grandparents (mom's side), Uncle Roy (dad's side), and my brother, his wife, and precious baby son all came. We had a really nice time. The food was delicious, and the fellowship was great.  The baby has started crawling around everwhere. I was able to hold him some today. Usually, he is right with his Maw-Maw and wants no one else.  Haha.

Directly after, we headed to B.'s parents. It was quiet on the farm. B.'s brother and youngest niece were at home sick! Br. was there awaiting on Sy. and Sk. to arrive. They played outside for a long time. We ate more--cheese dips, turkey, ham, chips, & cake.  Yum! I gain more lbs. just thinking about it. We had a lot of fun. Br. had some sort of bouncing toy that she pulled out, and we all gave it a try. It was quite difficult to get on, stay on, and get started bouncing, so we had quite a few laughs.

After we arrived home, we began to clean a spot for the Christmas tree. B. brought it down from the attic. There are still boxes of junk sitting everywhere, but we have the tree, so we can start decorating today. 

I am thankful that God's grace saved B., Sk., & me! I am thankful that He sent His precious Son to die for our sins. I am thankful for His blessings on our lives.  He has given us many things--a beautiful house, food on the table, wonderful family, great jobs, and so many, many other things. I am thankful that He has chosen an unworthy me to use for His purposes. He will use you,too, if you will surrender your full self to Him today.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Yesterday, I ended up taking a nap with Sy. because she woke up a few minutes after she lay down. Then, B. arrived home. We had to deliver several huge boxes that will be used at the school for Santa's Workshop. I am very excited that those are not sitting in the middle of my living room.  We had church on a Tues. night. We arrived very early. Bro. Mark entertained everyone with the Darth Vader mask that we brought before church began.  All he needed was the light saber, and he would've been set. I can't wait to see how the mask will be used for KidStuf. We continued on with your Bible study in Revelation. We studied about Sardis, the dead church. We need to ask ourselves are we alive, or are we dead?  Are we pleasing ourselves, or are we pleasing God?! 

We grabbed a hamburger steak and then headed to WalMart to get baking goods.  I stayed up late ordering clothes off of Old Navy. I had the 20% off for Stuff & Save, and I was able to pick up some uniform items for kids off of our church's angel tree. This year, we haven't been so worried about what WE want for Christmas. I think it is a nice change. We should focus on the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!  Let's remember that should be the focal point of Christmas. Then, let's see how generous we can be by giving to others. It should definitely be about giving and not receiving! There are so many needy people out there. If we will open our eyes, we would see people everywhere right in front of us that are needy, whether it is spiritually, physically, or emotionally. I finally hit the sack near 1 AM. I shouldn't have napped yesterday. I tossed and turned, with millions of thoughts running through the brain, before I finally collapsed.

I am up and have baked two cakes. One is to take to a friend who her father passed away, and the other is for Thanksgiving Day.

Procrastination Ally

Ok, I am on here, and I have a million things that I SHOULD be doing, but I would rather be on the computer.  Ha!  For instance, I should be cleaning. This house is the bomb. I do not like to clean, and no one else in this family does nor helps it to stay clean, so it is always a mess. Sad, but true!  If we could clean the living room out, we will have a spot to put the Christmas tree. Do I hear the bells a ringin'?  LOL.  Secondly, I need to plan for school--lesson plans and on how to implement several future activities into my classes! There is NO time to plan at school. My planning time is from 7:45 until 8:25, which stinks. Everything ends up coming home with me! Thirdly, I need to make a Brasilian flag and plan for our South American kick-off to the Lottie Moon offering, which is going to be Sunday night at 7 PM, directly after our KidStuf program on Generosity (heard it's going to be the best one yet!) at 5 PM and Sun. evening service at 6 PM.  I can't wait to Sunday night! I think it is going to be great fun! 

Ok, Bro. Mark, Here's An Update.....

Yes, I am behind on blogging.  Here's an update on the weekend:

• Sat., B. had to work.The kids and my dear friend, Kimberly J., delivered 36 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to the Baptist Center from our kids at CES. We met B. at Waffle House and ate. Then, caught a nap, before heading to DJ's  (my student who is known as my "adopted son") last game of the season--the Pee Wee Bowl. B. met us there. Unfortunately, they lost big time, but he made quite a few awesome tackles!! He played another great student of mine, K.C.'s team, who beamed like crazy when I took his photo holding up his trophy. Directly after, we headed to the Miller Thanksgiving get-together at my cousin's house. Wow! There were a lot of people there! It turned out very nice, and it was good to catch up with family who I haven't seen in a long time!
• Sun., we had a great day of worship at church and Sunday School. Everyone's asking questions about when we will know something from IMB. It's great to know people are interested and care. It's also super to know we have so many prayer warriors lifting us up. We ate lunch at the Mexican Restaurant. Then, we took a long needed nap. I made brownies, and we headed to our Harvest Dinner for ABC at the Hook, Line, & Sinker. The dinner was very tasty, and the fellowship was awesome.
• Today, I have been super lazy. I need to clean up this super messy house, but I can't get motivated. I would like to clean out a spot for the tree.  HAHA. I better get to moving if that's going to happen. 

Praise Be to GOD!!!

Summer 2007, several teachers and I began a journey of pursuing my National Board teaching certification for professional teachers, focusing on Literacy. For the past 13 years, I have been a certified teacher under the license of the state of MS.  If I passed this certification, I would become nationally certified, which would raise my credentials and my paycheck!! Several months after deciding to pursue the certification, B. & my hearts were forever changed with God's call to international missions in our lives. Several advised me to continue with this certification process, because it would look great in my credentials and might somehow help in our international ventures.

Several teachers and I worked hard all of last school year, 2007-2008. This process involved many additional hours to our school load. The requirements overwhelmed us because they seemed so broad. Our wonderful mothers also worked overtime in keeping the children additional hours each day as I worked on my portfolios, studied for the exams, and traveled several Saturdays to meetings that were held in Hattiesburg. I had several teachers who offered their help in reading our portfolios and mentored us along the way; they also prayed for us, which really meant so much to us. God also sent me an angel out of Florida, who I miraculously met on a teacher's chatboard, and she read and advised me on my porfolios via email. Things do happen for a reason. Nothing is a coincidence!

Today, we were able to pull up our National Board teaching certification scores. During the summer, I had tried not to worry about the whole thing. I had been so relieved to mail off the portfolios and finish the test at the end of last school year, that I tried not to think too much about it. When I pulled the scores up online at school, I couldn't even read the news, but my partners told me that I passed. All I could do was cry. I knew without a shadow of doubt that my passing was a God-thing! He is so very good.  He must have a purpose for me to use this certification somehow in my journey for Him. I give Him all the glory.

Wow...I stand in awe of His wonderful Name.................Praise be to HIM!!!!

BBRRRR--It's Cold!!

The wind today was very cold. One of our student teacher's reading activities was for the students to go out and use sidewalk chalk to correlate drawings with their story. I think they enjoyed the activity. It was just a bit cold! 

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. Time is flying, and it is flying FASSSSTTT! Wow--this school year is going by so quickly. We have so much to do, and so little time to do it in.

Before we know it, it will be Christmas holidays.  We haven't shopped at all. NOTHING. The holiday shouldn't be ALL about presents. I guess we realize that more than ever this year. He continues to teach us many things. Christmas is supposed to be and should be about celebrating the birth of our Savior, and the greatest gift EVER given to us of ALL time was Jesus Christ! It shouldn't be about the STUFF that we tend to collect throughout the years. If you are a Christian, can you even imagine life without having salvation and a personal relationship with Him? That should be all that we need...HIM.

The Bridge

Go check out this brief video:  The Bridge  . 

A Regular Day

Ahhh...today was quite nice. Although the day started off with thoughts of my student teacher being evaluated by her professor after a day of our being in meetings, the day ran very smoothly. WHEW! It's good for the hard part to be over with!

For the most part, the students were well-behaved, and everything flowed like it was back to normal.

Our babies stayed with Granny & Papa. Sk. was supposed to venture with his Papa to a dinner with his Papa's company. Sy. got to have lunch with him today.

I headed back to work after delivering them. The day does not allow actually "planning" time. It was nice to sit down with my team teacher and hash over future lessons. I also worked on cleaning my ridulously cluttered desk.

I went to have my hair worked on by Pam. We are going to work on my hair being easier to manage, so I am going to try letting it grow to one length again.

Now, I have a few minutes to grade some papers.....

Getting Back Into the REAL World

This week, it's been chaotic and hard to get back into the "real" world. First of all, we had to move forward an hour in time while we were in Virginia last week. Just as we were getting used to that, we had to move back an hour when we returned home. Secondly, I was out of my classroom again today due to a grade level meeting.  Wow--the kids need structure, and so do I!!!  Tomorrow, my student teacher's evaluator will be assessing her. Everything is out of order from the norm!

When I returned on Monday, I received many heartfelt hugs from students who usually are too "cool" to hug unless it's on their own terms.  They missed me, and I missed them! Their behavior hasn't been the best in the world with all the change/nonstructure that they have been facing, but I do love them very much! Sometimes I feel like I am their counselor or even their mom. Actually, some have called me that, which is pretty special. I hope that God uses me to make an impact in their lives.

Well, I am off to get ready for a little rest and another big day at work......