Summer Tour 2012

Whoa baby! It's been a while since I've updated you guys. Our summers tend to be a whirl-wind of events all strung together! It started back in May with a romantic weekend at Daytona Beach with my hubby, then a couple of quick trips to Tampa, FL and Cordelle, GA for regional Ultimate Body Challenge Kick-off Events, a relaxing week on the St. John's River with the family, 5-star weekend in Dallas, TX for the release of a hot new weight loss product and  Social Media presentation and now, Rachel and I are preparing to leave for Honduras this weekend!  Needless to say, I am blessed, I am pumped and I am humbled, all at the same time!  Here are a few photos from our travels - be on the look-out for more when we get back next week!  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel abroad this weekend and next week.

Jason and I at Daytona Beach

Our view from the Plaza

President\CEO FFN, Nigel Branson in Tampa, FL

Dock at our Vacation Home on the St. John's River

2 of my sweet grandchildren

My Big Ol' Bass!

Getting the superstar treatment in Dallas, TX

Jason and I with friends and mentors, Bob & Carol Brown

24,746 things on my to-do list...

...for 2011

In the spirit of "making a list", I thought I'd get a head start on the annual tradition of New Year's resolutions. But instead of dwelling on what I'm not doing well, I thought I'd make a list of all the things I could do to be a better me in 2011. While 24,746 things may seem like a lot, once you read the list I think you'll get that its not going to be too overwhelming! ;)

I guess you could say I'm resolving to take more time for myself, my husband, my family and my community. I have other things I want to focus on too, but this is the fun stuff!

1 5k
4 facials
4 trips to the beach
12 bottles of wine
12 girls days out
12 haircuts
12 massages
12 new outfits
15 pedicures and manicures
26 family nights
52 date nights
52 memory verses
52 yoga classes
52 Zumba classes
156 workouts
200 bare-feet covered
300 meals for strangers
365 hours alone with God
23,360 ounces of water

Just to clarify, these are all minimums! As far as this list is concerned, 'more is more'! ;) Don't worry I will be setting some limits for myself in other areas!

Pop a Squat...

...in public.

Today is World Toilet Day! I learned of this in an email I received this morning. So, I started doing a little research.

Here's what I've learned:

• The World Toilet Organization has been around since 2001.
• 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation.
• 1.8 million people die from fecally-transmitted diseases every year.
• 1 out of 5 children die of diarrheal disease.
• More than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into lakes, rivers and coastal areas. Water which flows into your lakes, your kitchens.
• The water and sanitation crisis has claimed more lives than all the wars of the 20th century, combined.
• The first toilet was invented by Sir John Harrington in the 1500s.
• Toilet paper was invented by the Chinese around 50 BC.
  

Having traveled to some remote areas of Honduras a couple of times, I have experienced less than desirable accommodations, recognizing that we take "modern" convenience for granted. Even doing so, I never considered what it might be like to live in an environment with absolutely no sanitation. I think this spoke to me even more than my own experience in Honduras:

"modesty forces women to poop in the fields before sunrise, or to hold it until after the sun sets. Imagine if you weren't allowed to relieve yourself during daylight hours, no matter how bad you wanted to go! What's more, many cases of rape occur in these dark and deserted areas."

I just can't begin to imagine. So, when you flush today, do so with gratitude and thanksgiving and say a prayer for those with no place to poo...

Oh, and go here for details on squatting in public!

Catching Up: Mission 2 Honduras...

...I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. - Ephesians 3:7

I have been thinking for weeks what this post would be like and its just so much to wrap my head (and my heart) around.

It's so hard to describe a trip like this where people will really get a sense of what it was like.

Imagine 20 or more women and a few fellas aging from sixteen to sixty-something, teachers, students, homemakers, accountants, clerical administrators, business owners, all joined together by the bond of Christ, in a land where very few of us knew the spoken language.

A land with little electricity and no indoor plumbing.

A land with few paved roads.

Imagine communicating solely through the love of Christ.

Imagine a land where the people love one another above all else and are hungry, starving for the message of hope, love, peace and redemption that you are carrying in your heart.

Imagine having the opportunity to give a child who came to school with no shoes on her feet not just one pair of new shoes, but two.

Imagine a land where the husband labors in the fields all day for about five dollars or less a day, the wife cooks a simple meal from scratch on an open fire and does the laundry out back with a wash board, and the children wander the mountainsides, sometimes miles to and from school on their own.

Imagine hearing a young girl, 10 or 11 years old say, "thank you for showing us attention and making us feel special".

Imagine seeing a young man, 16 or 17 stopped on the side of the road reading the Bible you just gave him.

Imagine knowing that even though you have lived all of your life in sin, God would give you this blessing and use you to build His Kingdom!!

This trip was all of these things and so much more....

"Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" -- Ephesians 3:8

God's Power and Grace...

...I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. -- Ephesians 3:7


As I have been preparing for our mission trip to Honduras, I have been led in my Bible reading to Ephesians. One of my favorite all time verses has always been Ephesians 2:10 -"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

As I have been reading in Ephesians I have found Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians. I have been repeating it daily as my prayer for our mission team and for the people of Honduras. I ask you to join me in this prayer over the next week:

A Prayer for the Ephesians

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. --Ephesians 3:14-21

I earnestly believe that God has had this planned for me from the time He formed me in my mother's womb. From the time I was a teenager, I wanted to join the Peace Corp, but fear held me back. Not just my own fear, but the fears of my family and friends as well. It wasn't until I had a real relationship with God that I was able to overcome that fear and go on my first mission trip a couple of years ago. Can you imagine what God could have used me for if I had been obedient and in relationship with Him for all of those years?