We are making progress on the new Bright Lights office / ministry building! Changes have been slow because it keeps getting put “on hold” while we are out of town, but we have seen the Lord provide and answer prayer in countless ways. Here’s what it looks like right now.
We are excited about our carpet tiles, which will be installed soon!
No, it’s not a big pizza party…
We’re so grateful for our good friend, Dave Fuller, who will be laying our carpet.
Here’s Toni (one of our most faithful helpers 🙂 ) sanding the floor after we hammered down hundreds of staples that were left from the previous carpet and tile.
Stephen and my dad, fixing pipes.
The other day Stephen installed 30 outlets and light switches.
After arriving home from Singapore, we were grateful for chance to catch up with correspondence, organization, sleep, etc. To be honest, we’re still not caught up with everything that got neglected during the busy summer and fall. We’re grateful for the help of many who volunteer for Bright Lights, especially Nickie, who spends two days a week at the Bright Lights office–otherwise it would be difficult to stay on top of things.
We were excited to receive 10 Bright Lights Leaders applications when we arrived home from SE Asia–raising the number of Bright Lights groups to 277. Two more groups have also recently started in Malaysia. PTL!
At our local Bright Lights group here in Cedar Rapids last week, the older girls watched a “Rebelution” video upstairs while Sarah taught a lesson to the younger girls about “by their fruits ye shall know them.” She talked about the importance of bearing true fruit with a desire to please the Lord, not impress other people. Sarah did an activity where she had volunteers close their eyes and guess what kind of fruit they were tasting.
Her volunteers don’t look too excited…. lol… (Sarah used some rather unusual fruits)
But it was sure funny for everyone else!
On a more personal note…here I am with my cousin making supper at our grandparents’ house. Stephanie and I have quite a bit in common, and unfortunately that includes being messy cooks. (It got worse than what you see here…) By the time we were finished, my grandpa commented that in the 40 some years he’s lived there, he had never seen his kitchen so messy. We assured him we’d clean up. 🙂
Hi Grace!
Would it be ok if you could post the locations of those 277 BL groups and their leaders contact info?
Thanks!
Hello! If you’d send an e-mail to [email protected] and give us your location, we’ll give you contact info for the Bright Lights groups in your area.
Thanks for inquiring!
-Grace
I stopped by your blog today and want to let you know that I’m praying for you all and so excited to see what our Heavenly Father is doing in and through your family and ministry!
*Hugs*
Hey Grace,
I’m so glad to see an update from you! Can’t wait to see more pictures of the building as the work progresses. Praise the LORD about all the new BL groups!! 🙂
~Rebekah~
Wow, some great progress on your building; I’m so glad it’s going well for you. And it’s nice to know I’m not the only shockingly messy cook in the world. 🙂 I miss you!
Wow! the building is really coming along (slowly, but surely). So exciting! I am praying for you all…miss you guys! :o)
hello,I just recently started reading you sisters book (Befor meeting prince charming)and it has been such a blessig to me. well any ways I grew up in cedar rapids and I just moved to PA, I was wndering about were in cedar rapids you are located, I have a friend back home (marion IA) that is struggling right now and I would love for her to be able to get in contact with you. If you could e-mail me I would love to talk to some fellow christians. And another Q what church do you attend , I know just about all the chuches in Cedar rapids.lol
The building is looking great, You have got a lot done!
The kitchen picture is cute! It looks like you and your cousin have a lot of fun together!