Theft

“Harold, I need you to come here right now!” my mom, panicking, called my dad on his cell phone. My dad was down in the hotel lobby eating breakfast. My mom’s two rings (her own wedding band and my grandmother’s wedding band) were missing. She had left them in the hotel drawer yesterday and now they were gone.
After more searching and conversation, we were convinced they had been stolen. However, just as my dad went down to speak with the hotel manager, she found it. Wow, what a huge relief.

20 minutes later we went out to the van and found this:

In contrast to the little “lost ring episode”, this was for real. Yes, it’s as it looks. Last night someone shattered our back window and stole our GPS, a laptop, a whole lot of Stephen’s Microsoft Software, and his newest camera.

Sarah and I stood there looking at the van, feeling how strange it was that we have had things stolen from us two weekends in a row now. (Last weekend in MI, Stephen’s $450 voice recorder was stolen.) We can’t remember having anything stolen from us ever before!

But we couldn’t stand there long because the convention hall opened in just a few minutes, and we were already late… so Sarah and I hopped in a mini van with a gracious home school family who was headed to the convention. We got there just in time to set up before the convention started. I’ll admit, the morning felt a little unreal.

Stephen was still feeling pretty down with his sore throat, although it did get a little better for the second half of the day. Now Sarah is losing her voice, so we’d appreciate prayer that it will be strong enough for our session tomorrow (10:45am). So Sarah can’t talk and Stephen can’t hear…they don’t make a very good combination when it comes to communication. [smile]

The good news is that when the enemy is attacks, it usually means there is something good he’s trying to damage or prevent. We’ve seen that the Lord is working here. We were very encouraged by how things went at the convention today. Thankfully, our session went smooth and we were encouraged by an enthusiastic response. We feel that it’s been a fruitful weekend so far, praise the Lord.

Tonight a group of young ladies who have been doing a study together of Before You Meet Prince Charming arranged for Sarah to meet with them at a park.

While we were having a question/answer time, the mother who had led the study, Thelma, asked the girls “How many of you have totally changed your way of thinking on this topic of purity because of this study?”

As you can see, almost all of the girls raised their hands! These girls are truly seeking God’s best way, and it was a blessing to see their teachable hearts. It’s so exciting to see this group of young ladies (ages 11-14) who have caught a vision for how much better it is to follow the way of purity than to follow this world’s “have fun now” mindset.

Young Ladies who just studied “Before You Meet Prince Charming” together

My dad just called a family prayer meeting a few minutes ago. We are in a spiritual battle and we have an enemy who is real, but our God is in control. We have so much to be grateful for. Thank you for all of your prayers. Tomorrow will be another big day.

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ…” (2 Cor 2:14)