Kenya Update

Hey Y'all,

I'm lending a blog spot today to my dear sister-in-law and her husband for an update. Y'all have met them before at my site. (And you can always find them under ministry opportunities on the left hand banner.) As of this writing Opp and Karen are headed back to Kenya with a huge list of things to accomplish for their orphanage and feeding ministry. I would appreciate any prayers and/or support you could offer them. THANKS!! And now, here'sssssssssss Seeds:


Friends & Supporters

We leave tomorrow, Thursday, Apr 30th for a 5 week stay in Kenya.

Wow, where to start---

1- We have six people going with us for various lengths of time.

2- There will be a medical clinic established at the Bread of Life Center. We have an ER doctor, nurse and their daughter going.

3- There will be an education conference for our teachers. There will be one on one work with our teachers also. This part will be led by a Dr. from UCA in Conway who specializes in child development and problem learning.

4- There is a pastor from Chattanooga going who will be preaching and teaching- a lot!

5- We will be doing a "You are special" celebration of life at the BoL for the 220 school kids. It will be a festival with games, prizes, etc and will last two days. A friend of ours from Conway is going to help and will also be teaching and preaching.

6- There will be a "Living Water Party at the orphanage. We'll send pictures!

6- We will build the two wood fired 150 loaf bread ovens.

7- We will be buying 200-300 baby chicks to place at the orphanage to start the chicken project that will ultimately sustain the orphanage.

8- We will buy the first 5 acres of the 30 acres for the new orphanage complex. There is a 200 ft deep bore hole that can provide enough water for 60 homes at a quality good enough to sell! There is working electricity within 150 yds of the well.

9- We will start building the first chicken house on the new property for the 3,500 chick project that when completed and producing eggs will support the orphanage.

10- We are sure there will be other issues that need to be addressed when we get there. There always is.

But above all, the most important thing to be done is to offer what the the Lord has laid on our hearts-- to give hope in Jesus name! And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.? Romans 5:5 You know, He is the Christ in me, the Hope of Glory.He is our Blessed Hope.

God always does many things on our trips. This one will be no exception. We are all excited. Please pray for the trip and the people we will be ministering to. As usual God is providing the necessary funds for the work through you. If you are not apart of the trip yet and want to be, there is always a need for money to do God's work. If you would like to contribute to the efforts you may send your seed to our address below. Our bookkeeper will be tending the mail.

There will be web page update links sent out as we can produce updates and we always welcome e-mails from you to us.

In His Service,

Opp & Karen

Baby Sugar Galore!

Greetings again from Houston. I'm snatching a few minutes for a quick blog post. Grant Thomas was released from the hospital Thursday at noon. Here he is all dressed up in his coming home outfit.


Jessica Ann shows her sweet bundle of joy around the nursery she so lovingly prepared for him. So, does it look like she birthed him two days before? I didn't think so either.


These next pics speak for themselves. Fresh from heaven--Mr. Grant Thomas Maher.

And this could very well be Grant's first prayer, "Dear Lord, please make Keggie put the camera down. I love her, but seriously..."

Hugs,
Shellie

It's a Beautiful Day in the Grandmother Hood

Mercy. A quick run through voicemail, messages, and posts, would suggest that posting pictures would be in my best interest. Some of y'all got a little scary there, yes you did. (You know who you are. :)

Seriously, I thank you all for your prayers and best wishes. We praise God for Grant's smooth delivery and obvious good health. Color the whole family exceedingly grateful. I pray we can live a life that reflects that gratitude.

Okay, due to popular demand, and without further ado, here is a peak into the wonderful new world that is Grant Thomas Maher.

Pops gets in some time with his new grandson. Aren't they sweet?



I'm grinning really big because Grant just whispered to me that I am already one of his favorite people ever. What? You weren't there.

Grant and his daddy. We can already tell that they are gonna look like Pete and Repeat!

Mr. Grant Thomas Maher says, "Hello world." He is sooooo alert! I can tell he is highly intelligent. :)

Bonding time with his mother. Jessica is going to be one awesome mom and I say that without any prejudice at all-- tomboy honor!

Hugs,
Shellie, (A.K.A. Keggie)

YIPPY SKIPPY!

Grant Thomas Maher was born at 6:09 AM, 7lbs.5 ounces, 20 inches long. Daddy, Mommy, and Grant are fine. PTL from whom all blessings flow. More later--

Hugs,
Shellie

SOON!!!!

Jessica is in labor! Grant Thomas Maher says the time is now!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Limited Baby Watch Update

We went to the doctor today, very hopeful because of, well, certain activity that I can't talk about because of the Jessica censor. We were thinking they might keep us, or at least the expectant mommy. It didn't happen. The doctor is very pleased with Jessica's progress. She has had a perfectly wonderful pregnancy and the doc doesn't want to get into the Good Lord's business, so to speak, so no inducement until her actual due date next week, (although doc doesn't think Jessica will make it that long.) I'm pleased with that decision. Jessica, not so much. :)

In short, Grant Thomas Maher said, "I will be there when I get there and not a moment before." Jessica and I have both decided that when he is fifteen years old we may just pinch him for getting our hopes up early and making us wait-- but not until he is fifteen-- so hold off on all the reprimands, people.

Love to y'all.

Hugs,
Shellie

Baby Watch Update

Great big HI YA to all my fb friends, twitter talkers, ATS porchers, family, friends, spammers, long lost school chums and any body and eddy boddy else who is leaving notes, voicemails, emails, tweets, smoke signals or other forms of social media for me,

I can't get back to y'all right now. Sorry. From this point, until my second grandchild and first grandson, Mr. Grant Thomas Maher makes his grand (get it) appearance, I will be blogging only. HOWEVER, I will be reading your replies because a) I love y'all to pieces b) I'm incredibly, incurably curious. If y'all really wanted to make it easier for me, you would subscribe to follow this blog and leave your funny notes and comments here so I wouldn't have to check all the other places to stay caught up. Yes, I know, I am pushy. That's how it is in the Grandmother Hood.

Now, my beautiful daughter with the basketball belly is also a private young belle married to a private young man and neither of them are big on the details of their lives being spread to kingdom come, so I am cedeing her "control" over how much info is shared here. With that being said, "things" that generally announce impending childbirth are happening but the big event hasn't begun in earnest so we are not at the hospital.

Right now Jessica Ann and I are headed out to walk up some action. Wait-- that didn't sound just right. What I meant by that was we are going to the mall, grocery store, specialty shops, wherever we can waddle, I mean walk, (that part almost didn't make it by the Jessica censor), in the hopes of getting this party started.

I leave you with a pic of the adorable floppy puppy that is awaiting Grant's arrival and one of his daddy's favorite baby gifts. More later...I will blog updates from the bberry.

Hugs,
Shellie

A Sneaky German Shepherd

I love to take my Ipod with me on our walks. I considered doing it Dixie's way, but somehow smelling the neighbors yards and running in and out of the ditches just doesn't do it for me. Taking my Ipod along is good because I can jam with my favorite music and catch up with all my favorite podcasts. (Beth Moore, oh yeah!) It can also be bad. Today I had my ears plugged and the volume up, focused on Living Forgiving, when I was suddenly and unexpectedly set free. Set. Free.

There I was, oblivious to everything, watching Dixie Belle running a hundred yards ahead of me, when this ultra sneaky German Shepherd laid his cold nose against the inside of my bare leg. Hallelujah, praise the Lord, I almost went home to see Jesus right there.

Of course, it only lasted for a brief moment. It was over as soon as I saw Mr. Sneaky, who at that point chose to a) adjourn to a nearby ditch to roll in something dead, or b) take a moment to fall down and laugh out loud. I report. You decide.

The brevity of that freeing moment is a good jumping off point for another discussion. Even if they don't know where it came from, most people are familiar with this sentiment, "the truth will set you free." Many more people would recognize those words as a verse from the Bible. And of course, they would be spot on. Those words are God's own truth. Jesus Christ said He came to the world to show men the truth-- Himself, God in human form. An encounter with this Man can truly set you free, but be warned friends, if that moment is a brief encounter and nothing more, you'll never experience the glory of the gift in your hands. Knowing the Truth, walking with the Truth, studying the Truth, Living the Truth, Loving the Truth, this is a life that will set you free, indeed.

Hugs,
Shellie

Live from my and Dixie's walk

Hey Y'all,

Remind me to tell y'all about this sneaky German Shepherd and why he has me doing some Easter thinking about being set free.

Hugs,
Shellie
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Mary Elizabeth's Confusion

Hey Y'all,

Here are some fun pics from the first of the week. Best Bud Red and I traveled to Thibodaux, Louisiana where I spoke to a wonderful group of rotarians. The pics below are taken from the book-signing I had afterwards at Cherry Books. I love my independent booksellers! Please check out the adorable display they had made with Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On. Shown here are owner Susie on the left and her trusted sidekick, Phyllis, to your right.

Red gives the mannequin some luv.



I enjoyed their children section!



Childhood friend Andrea made a one hour drive in from her home nearby for a catch-up visit. FUN!



A couple pics from booklovers. Y'all make it work, my friends. We couldn't write if y'all didn't read!




A transplant from home suprised us and showed up for a book and a hug! Nice to see you, Harry.

So, about Mary Elizabeth's confusion... Let's just say that Mary Elizabeth, my infamous navigational system, had a hard time with the topography of South Louisiana. Please note her confusion below. She shows us...ummm... nowhere. No where. Something about the bridge's entrance troubled her.

She wasn't alone. Red gets anxious about bridges, too. The second time we had to cross this really, really tall bridge, I assigned her to take photos to take her mind off of it. It worked. Kinda.





One last shot of the ocean, a view that led Red and I right into a worship service, yes it did. We sang "He's got the whole wide world in His hands" a couple times through and then we substituted eddy boddy we could think of as in, "He's got our kids and our grandkids in His hands", "He's got Phil and Lamar in His hands" and "He's got the President and the Congress in His hands"... Try it. I think you'll like it.

Hugs,
Shellie

Can you keep a secret?

Greeting from a hotel room in Thibedoux. Red and I just ate at -- where else-- Bubba's Seafood. It was all kinds of good. I had some seafood stuffed jalepenos for an appetizer. YUM! Then they served us some serious sized entrees. Note: Red and I had predetermined to be really good and share an entre. We did, too. Of course, we kinda did our own twist on that theme. I shared my entre with her and she shared her's with me. We have now rolled to the hotel room like Templeton at the fair, and if you need that explained to you, well, you have some serious gaps in your ed-u-muh-cation'.

But, the secret...Rhonda and I were discussing how that even though we were FULL, TOPPED OFF, MISERABLE, we still needed a itty bit of chocolate, you know to cut the taste in our mouths. I said, "Soooo-- I suppose that's what toothpaste is for." And that's when we hit on our brillant idea. It may have been Red's initially but I'm taking partial credit. Are you ready? Chocolate Flavored Toothpaste! Girls-- why hasn't it been done already? We do not know, but I'm considering releasing an ATS brand.

Red and I both feel there may be some marketing obstacles to deal with -- and you just know the Dental Association is gonna weigh in, but whatever, it has potential.

I'm now going to look at the speech I'm giving tomorrow. These fine folks deserve me being able to string a thought or two together. Later...

Hugs,
Shellie