Women's Christmas Tea

Several weeks ago.... "The names of Christ" was the theme for this year's Women's Christmas Tea at First Baptist Liberty City. I remember walking into the gym last year and was amazed with the gorgeous table decorations.
My table setting was with Susan Hart. She chose the theme from the verse Luke 1:49 as "God is my strong hold". Each lady at the table received a Christmas ornament and a hand made beaded book mark. The color was gold and maroon. Susan even dressed the part too, gold.
The set-up was quite unique. Ladies would sign up to sponsor a table. Take a theme (name of Jesus Christ) and then decorate it accordingly. We ate off of the best china and silverware.
We were served hot tea, coffee, fresh fruit and croissants.

My friends, Nita, Patsy and Jennifer
Ladies enjoying the fellowship.
I loved this silver table. Beautiful.
32 tables on the gym. Over 250 ladies shared a great afternoon reflecting on the names of Jesus Christ. Patsy Wells gave a devotional. Nita and Jennifer sang.

Truck Problems

Here is the story - Tuesday - the Foote's truck broke down, called the mechanic, picked up the Foot family at Price Smart, took the truck to the mechanic shop, looked around town for replacement parts, no parts found. Wednesday - called Bob in US to see if he would bring the part down on Friday, found the part in the US and ordered it; Thursday - Bob picks up the part; Friday - Glenn and Danny drove to GUA airport to pick up Bob (and the replacement parts), dropped off the parts at the mechanic shop on Friday evening at 5:30pm and finally picked up the pick up truck at 10:30pm. The replacement part was water pump and serpentine belt. The Footes are good to go. Go to Daphne's blog for the full detail.

The one night stay for the Foote family at our house ended up to be 4 nights. We definitely bonded and enjoyed the fellowship. Daphne showed me how to update my blog with the new wall paper, and I showed her some "facebook" tricks.

Thanks Daphne and Danny for your visit.

More Later,

Judy

Table Talk

The Footes have been with us 4 days now. They are no problem at all. Daphne has been doing all of the dishes. They are a really low maintenance type of family. Several nights ago, we asked the Conners to join us for Mushroom steak. Lydia Conner and Cloe Ann are 'best buds'. We rolled in laughter several occasions during our table conversation. Laughter is good for the soul.

It is always fun to get together with friends, especially since the Footes live out at the lake, and we don't see them often.

I am reminded of what friendship is all about.

Thursday night, we had an unexpected overnight guest. What is one more at the table?

David Ekstrom is a CAM missionary, born and raised here and lives out in Huehue (pronounced way way) with his wife Helen. Dave needed a place stay overnight before he headed to the Bible Society office the next day here in the city. After eating lunch, we sat around the table again listening to his stories of missionary life here in Guatemala. Wow, what a Godly man. He has a youthful heart. Although he is 82, he still going strong. He has such a deep love for the Mayans and Guatemalans that he works with. He told us countless stories of missionary experiences, people he has worked with, and about the different culture compared to US cuslture. He smiled when he spoke of Helen and how they met, married, and joined CAM then studied at SIL back in the 50's. David and Helen were ready to go to Mongolia in 1949 but political unrest prevented their going. They received a call from a missionary in Guatemala to come down and translate the Bible into the San Mateo Chuj language. He has worked on several other translations as well.

Thank God for the legacy that David and Helen are leaving here in Guatemala.

I remember as a family in Bolivia how our kids would sit around the table, listening and participating in our dinner conversations. How they remained quiet at times learning the deep history of each guest at our table. I noticed the Foote kids were doing the same thing - enjoying and appreciating friends. What a great heritage we have and can praise the Lord for.

To read about the Foote family, click on this link dfoote.blogspot.com

More later,
Judy

Foote path

So, we keep the Foote kids while Danny and Daphne are in a team meeting. We stroll down the street to a perfect climbing tree.

After the tree adventure, 11 year old Titus demonstrates what it looks like to eat a cricket. They were catching crickets for their pet scorpions that they have at their home in Santiago. Sounds like fun, huh?

We appreciate the Footes and their ministry in Santiago. They have 4 beautiful children who are well behaved and courteous. We treated the 4 kids to Pollo Campero so the kids could play in the Playland there. I taught little 2 year old Naomi a new word - "doo-dah", the Marr and Stewart word for pacifier. She liked it.

The Footes are having to stay longer because their Dodge pickup truck broke down Tuesday on Roosevelt Ave. Those details in my next blog.

Continue to pray for the Footes in Santiago and for us as we minister to them and other missionaries. You never know what a day brings. We pray we may be an encouragement to them.



















































More later,
Judy

What does Skype, Landline and Cell phone have in common?

You can be on all of them at the same time.

Last night we had over night visitors, Danny and Daphne Foote and their family from Santiago, Atitlán here in Guatemala stay with us. After dinner, we decided to "skype" the Joseph family in Texas. Karen and Kirk Joseph, along with their 3 kids, visited us in here Guatemala back in July and also visited the Footes in Santiago. The Josephs and another family plan to fly down during Easter week, 2009, for another family mission trip. The Foote kids enjoyed talking and seeing the "video" on Glenn's computer.

At the same time, Glenn got a "land-line" call from Johnny Coker (who the Josephs met) telling us that they arrived home in Solalá ok. While all this was happening, we get a cell phone call from our field director, Steve Sywulka.

So imagine Glenn with the head set on for the "skype", black office phone for the land line in his right hand & the white cell phone in left hand.

Hmmm! lesson learned - you can always get a hold of us, landline, cell phone or computer!

More later,
Judy

Dallas Arbortium

Three weeks ago - beautiful!

Judy

Covenant School and Haley's award

Last week, I made a quick stop and visited Stephen Marshall's old 1st grade class. Mrs. Spencer and her 1st grade class prays for us frequently in Guatemala. I handed out some Guatemalan magnets and encouraged the children to pray for the children in Guatemala. I resupplied Mrs. Spencer with some Goody's coffee.

Haley Marshall - 4.0 student. Haley received recognition along with some other students for her great academic achievement for the first semester. Keep up the good work and you can be Valedictorian in 3 1/2 more years. Yippee.

More,

Judy

Transformed to Transformation

Last week, Glenn attended the T2 (Transformed to Transformation) workshop concerning the new structure of CAM. CAM International is currently reorganizing our structure to maximize effectiveness and accountability to CAM's end statement.

With authorization from the T2 website, I have included some brief thoughts about the meetings. Enjoy the read.

What is discipleship? What is disciple-making? What exactly do we need to measure? How do we measure it? What is community? What is a team? How do we care for each other? What do we call this new structure? These and many other T2 questions, which have been a focus of town hall meetings and much dialog for the past 5 months, are now being looked at in much more detail by 33 CAMers working in 4 task forces who are prayerfully and creatively finding answers.

We witnessed synergy today at the T2 Workshop.

Synergy (from the Greek syn-ergo, meaning working together) is a term used to describe a situation where the final outcome of a system is greater than the sum of its parts (definition from Wikipedia). Paul used the word in 1 Corinthians 3:9 - " We are fellow workers (synergoi) with God; you are God's cultivation, God's building."

Cross-pollination is another term that conveys what took place today at T2. The task forces began to hone in today on greater clarity of the overall direction that this is all headed. After a day and a half of good meetings which were primarily taking place in individual task forces, some real breakthroughs came in the afternoon as task forces met together to collaborate on key issues. Some "aha" moments came when task forces spent time talking about issues they had each been working on separately. The outcome was greater than the sum of its parts.

In his book As Iron Sharpens Iron, Howard Hendricks writes: "There is no substitute for knowing and being known by another human being. There is no other way to experience what deep down we really want as people - to be heard, to be understood, to feel that our life counts...If you know that someone really cares, you are much more likely to give your best effort rather than disappoint. But if you're swimming against the tide all by yourself, chances are you'll just give up."

Transformation is at the core of CAM's structure change. Community is vital in getting us there.

The caravan of vehicles from Big Sandy arrived back at CAM Center around 5:15pm. The group is tired but content at having accomplished so much. As we were wrapping up the week, some of the sentiments expressed were that the week was great, and although tense at times, there was a strong feeling that the task forces who spent the week working together functioned as a community. The experience of the week itself built directly into the structure design.

Are we done? Ready to launch? Questions answered? Not by a long shot. The feeling is that something like 90% of our goals (deliverables) for the week were met. But, hay mucha tela que cortar. Significant steps were taken to clarify foggy ideas. Flesh was put on the bones of the skeleton model. But there is much yet to do, and the task forces have follow-up and integration tasks that will stretch into the weeks and months ahead. Please continue to pray for the process as we know you did during this important week. And stay tuned to this blog for updates on some of the process details in the comings weeks.

Concluding, please continue to pray for the leadership of CAM and the challenges of change.

More later,

Judy

3 Score and More

My good friend Hank. I have known him since f-o-r-e-v-e-r. He always has a smile on his face. His son and Ronnie grew up together. Hank lives in the neighborhood and has attended Northwest Bible Church for many, many years. You have to be pretty confident in yourself to be able to wear a hat like this!
Dr. Binion and Martha - wow, we have known them since 1960's. Their kids were in the youth group with me at NBC back in the 70's. Martha played the piano in my wedding 30 years ago. She is a true example of godliness. She is excellent in memorizing the Bible. She has been involved in Bible Study and personal discipleship programs for many years. When you think of praying for a missionary daily, think of John and Martha. They have committed hearts for missions. Dr. Binion served faithfully on the CAM International board for many years. They have taken their grand kids on mission trips and their son, Eric, is a missionary in Africa. Thank you, John & Martha for your example.
Mom and Dad attend the 3 score and more monthly meeting at NBC. Mom will call up Zoe the day before to remind her that they'll be by the pick her up the next day. Then Mom will call her again to remind her. Mom and Dad run a "car pool".
Derlene and Walter Webb and guest. We've known the Webbs for many years now. Most recently (just last fall) , Walter was in Presbyterian Hospital at the same time Grand Mommy was there. So, while visiting my mom, I would make a daily visit to see how Walter was progressing on his rehabilitation from the stroke.
Bill and Shirley Rogers. Glenn has known them since WBT- SIL days in Mexico. Bill and Shirley are our champions. They have "cheered" us on from our beginning days as missionaries back in 1982 and continue to encourage us along the way. Thank you.

In 2 more years, Glenn and I can officially join the 3 Score and More group at NBC.

More,
Judy

Happy Birthday, Michelle

Look at that face! It says "I dare you!".

Today, my youngest niece turns 7. We have been waiting "forever" for this day. Michelle is a first grader at Covenant Christian School in Dallas. She is growing out of those "terrible two stages". She is constantly listening and will correct you if you are wrong.

When I'm visiting Dallas, Michelle is my "swimming buddy". She'll put her cute pink two piece bathing suit on, give me her eye goggles and will swim with me in their back yard pool.

Michelle is learning to read. She is constantly "in your face". Michelle will now let me comb her hair and doesn't complain. Two months ago she had her hair cut shorter and looks darling! Now that Camp and Cooper are in the family, she is not the "youngest" anymore and loves it. She is a leader. She loves Grand Mommy and Grand Daddy! She has learned (or is learning) to stand in her car pool line at school, or she'll get left behind. :)

Happy Birthday, Michelle,

Aunt Judy

PS FYI - For those that follow my blog, Glenn and I are back in Guatemala after Glenn attended the t2 meetings with CAM. Although we're in Guatemala there will be several more post regarding T2 meetings and other things these next few days.

Additional Photos

Grand Mommy holding little 3 week old Cooper - her newest great grand child.

Ronnie reading his "letter" to Grand Daddy!

Little Cooper Marr
Grand Dad Rick
Michelle Marshall (Sherrie's youngest)
Kyle, Haley and Molly - Cousins
Stephen Marshall
Brenda and Catherine Marr admiring their new nephew, Cooper
Grand Mommy and Brian and little Cooper

more later,
Judy

Celebrating 80 years

Nov 2, Rick's family, Glenn and myself, Ronnie's family and Sherrie's family gathered for a special celebration of Grand Daddy's 80th birthday at Rick and Bev's Lake house.
Kelly, Ronnie, Meredith and Kyle Marr

Grand mommy, Grand Daddy and Grand daughter Brenda

Rick, Judy Ronnie and Sherrie with Mom and Dad Marr

Brian, Clay, Catherine and Ronnie

Birthday Cake
Sherrie organized a special book with letters written from each of the children and grandchildren. There were definitely some tears shed. We all sat around on the back porch reading our letters and telling "stories" about Grand Daddy. We laughed and cried at the same time. Brian produced a Birthday video of the life of G'daddy. We all agreed that Dad is a great role model for us kids and we all related stories of how he has impacted our lives.

Thank you Grand Daddy for your 80 years! We love you.

More,
Judy

Oct 25, 2008 gas price - unbelieveable

Driving back from Colorado, we filled up in Oklahoma and were so thrilled to pay only 1.99 a gallon, then 3 cents off with a Wal-Mart card, it ended up only to be $1.96 per gallon. Yippee.

Meet Caroline Connor. She is a student at OU in Norman. Her parents are missionaries with us in Guatemala. We stopped and had a short visit with her. Gave her a hug. Visited about her challenges and her joys she is experiencing right now. We also handed her a "goodies basket".
Jan and David live right outside of Oklahoma City. We visited them for the afternoon. The best part was watching the guys (Glenn and David) try to figure out the new audio and video system in their house. We kept looking at each other and said "Where are out adult sons, they could figure this high tech stuff out?!" "So, Ben, Adam and Gary, we needed y'all!"

Jan and David have been long time friends of ours. Jan lived next door to me at MBI. She sang in my wedding and we have remained in touch after all these 30 years. They have visited us several times in Dallas while on furlough, and we have stopped and visited them while driving up I-35! One summer, Gary spent a week week with Adam and Ellen was a "pen pal" with either Abby or Anna back when they were in Junior high and before email days.

More later,

Judy

People along the way

Judy Hess is a dear "Stampin Up" friend that Glenn and I met several years ago while visiting Estes Park. She has supplied me with numerous boxes of stamping materials from incomplete cards, scraps, stamps, ink, catalogs, ideas and examples. Thanks Judy for serving the mission community this way. I look forward to having an afternoon of stamping with my missionary lady friends in Guatemala here really soon.
Trish Hopper Wyn dropped by the cabin with her husband, Hondo and baby son, Caleb. We have know Trish since she was a knee high. Get this, her parents were my youth director some 35 years ago. Mark and Jeannie lead my first mission trip to Guatemala back in 1973 - which made an impact on my life. Look where I am now?

Judy