last week...

okay, i've been meaning to get on here and update but we've been so busy! Aaron sent an email about Chris earlier this week, so I hope you got the update on him if you were praying. surgery went well and Chris ended up having insurance which is wonderful! they are flying him and his parents to Indy tomorrow. he'll be having surgery on his wrist, i believe, once he's there. God has blessed this situation greatly, but we still need to pray for his complete healing and also for his parents. PLEASE pray that they will have PEACE, that any strongholds in their minds will by loosed in Jesus name!

The Christmas event Saturday went well. I know Satan was working again to destroy this because some of the families planning to come weren't able to last minute. while we were a little disappointed, we enjoyed getting to know the families there and blessing them in Jesus name. One of the famillies who were expecting a baby girl, ended up going to the hospital instead and delivering while we were there! they called their friend who came to get their gifts after the baby arrived. It was so much fun to be there rejoicing with their friend. I got to purchase a stroller/car seat set at the local thrift store that was all pink and pretty much brand new, and the indian creek ladies loaded it up with some diapers and clothes. how fun! the family has two other kids but lost all their baby stuff from Katrina, so this was a huge blessing--all they had was a bassinet.

well, there are more stories i could share from the week, but it's way past bedtime. we will be getting our last newsletter of the year out this week. Here's a picture to end with, Everly enjoying spaghetti for the first time! enjoy :)

Prayers needed for Chris! (last 2 paragraphs)

okay, i've been meaning to blog on here for a while, but just haven't found the time. last week we had two groups here- one matt's parents and some other men from CCV, and the other three of our friends from ICCC: Shawn- our old youth minister and Abbey's old boss, Bart- aaron's old boss and buddy, and Monty--all who are good friends. This was kinda a reunion trip for the three of them, as well as a chance to see the ministry here and serve. It was good but went pretty fast.

Then, on Saturday a group of about 50 men arrived on a charter bus from the Creek. Actually, Ryan Sarver came earlier in the week--he works for the Creek doing creative things like video taping the sermon here in New Orleans and then sending it over the net so they could play it sunday morning! It was pretty neat, we got to watch it last night for our Gathering service. Aaron, Abbey and Matt all got to do a part in it. It looked at the discouragment that Joseph experienced when he first found out that Mary was pregnant--obviously not his child. But then an angel of the Lord told him that God was behind this and to marry Mary. hehe... Obviously, New Orleans has faced their amount of discouragment over these last couple years with Katrina. But we know that there is hope in the Lord! well, that was the jist of if. God is working--have hope in Him!

So, the guys arrived Saturday and got to work right away! They are working on three different places: the house of our future community center director and his family, Dennis's house (a man we know from the community who is on disability but works hard to help others that he hasn't had time to finish his own home), and the bowling alley. We are blessed to have professionals down who are overseeing the projects, even some roofers replacing the roof on the bowling alley. God is always blessing us, as we witnessed yesterday...

One of the young guys helping with the roof at the bowling alley, Chris Hendricks, stepped on an old patch and fell through the roof. It was about a 20 foot drop to concrete, however he was miraculously saved from the worst! The EMTs said that if Chris would have been a smaller guy that he would have died, and you might expect to find some internal, head or spine injury from such a fall. However, he has broken these things only!: both of his wrists, his pelvic bone and some small vertibrae bones off of that that I guess are not as serious. It truely was a miracle, but of course Chris is going to have a long recovery from this.

I just talked to Gary and they are still unsure of the time of surgery today for the pelvic bone to be set. His parents were able to catch a flight last night and arrived around 2 a.m. to be with him. We are making sure they are taken care of, especially since they may have to be here for a while. Also, Chris did not have health insurance so I know they'll be taking up love offerings, but Gary did find out that it is a Charity hospital where he is at so the costs may not be great? I don't know how those things work, but i know the Church will take care of their family!

So, please pray for Chris and his family. I will update the blog with more details as we find them out. Thank you and praise God with us for saving Chris's life!