Father's Day

The entire Cecil Walters family was together for Father's Day 2013. We worshiped together at Fort Phantom Baptist Church then had a wonderful lunch of home made enchiladas and butter finger ice cream for dessert. yum !




Randy (brother),  me, Jackie and Dad.



Cass (nephew), Randy, Carcin (niece) Jackie and Dad


 

Dad cracking up after reading his card.

 

Jackie and I picked the card out because it had an "out doorsey" theme.  After opening it you can hear crickets, what we thought were bullfrogs and finally a guy snoring.

 

Look closely at the bear. Yep........he is holding his nose. There were no bullfrogs. ;)  THAT was why Dad was laughing so hard. 

 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!

 

 

DAD



 

Jackie and I are being good and limiting ourselves to 1 diet coke per day.  :)
 

My Daddy

Dad's 2090

Ford 8N

4th days continued

Lunch after speaking at First Church Arlington

Rare photo of Ted Gooch

Granny B and Mike Stumbaugh
 



 

The "wild bunch." J, BB and Lindie Light Bulbs. ;)

 

 

         Lunch after speaking at First Baptist Alvarado                     



Joanna Taylor.
This chickies name is written in the back of my old bible.


 




One of my "besties" Laura Taylor


 

I spent a week in Austin visiting ole work buddies and attending training so I can maintain my certification.




Dan and Claire. We have been.friends for how many years?




 

Claire (my old boss) and Rebecca (my replacement)

 

My secret husband is afraid he is going to touch me. ;)







On the way back to Arlington from Austin I received a call that my adopted "Mom" had been rushed to the hospital then another letting me know she had died. Claire went out of her way to drop me off in Hico so my sis could come get me. I have GREAT friends!  Thanks Claire!! I spent the next week helping Pegs grand children prepare for the funeral.

Playing ball at the park





Monkey!

Lake Proctor

 

 

 

 



 

We are all tired! Headed to DQ for a healthy supper of Blizzards. I am having chocolate truffle.  C ya soon!



4th days

The next few days were spent surprising my family! My sisters in Glen Rose TX.



Shonda
 



 Cindy and Kristy

Next stop, Dublin Tx. Peggy and Cecil Rasberry adopted me many years ago and I was able to visit with Peg and her grandchildren, Grady and Amanda. I will let you figure out who is who.  hahaha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Hawley to surprise my Dad and step mother. I can't believe he didn't find out I was state side but I am thankful. He would have KILLED me! ;)  

Dad is a bit camera shy so I didn't get a pic but he WAS surprised. I did get a picture of  their home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My brother Randy came over for supper but...again...no pic. Maybe I can capture them at the family reunion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Day 1

I have been planning a trip home for quite some time and May 1 Wes and Laurie put me on a plane to Joburg South Africa. I had never flown by myself  and was pretty nervous. I flew from Lusaka Zambia to South Africa. (3 hours)  then to England (9 hours) then to Dallas (12 hours). The trip was long but uneventful which was a good thing. My peeps had prayed for God to send people to help me so it was very cool when they showed up. Before I even got on the plane in Lusaka an American man saw me  and made a bee line to sit next to me. I smiled and thought "here comes angel #1." He was very nice and had been in the Congo working so had very interesting stories to tell. I went straight to my gate in Joburg and very few people were there so I HAD to take a poll to see if I was in the right place. In the process I met an older couple from the US. We were having a nice visit when two more Americans heard us talking and joined us. We just had a party right there. We had a blast talking and laughing. (More angels) The older couple sat right behind me on the plane. (What a coincidence ;) I was the only only one on my row so I invited my new friend to come sit by me and we chatted for hours. I didn't have any trouble finding my gate in England so had several hours to kill. The flight to Dallas was jam packed so I got to know a very nice lady from Sweden pretty well. She didn't speak English very well but we still managed to trade stories about our families. She was headed to Wichita Falls to meet her husband. We touched down and I nearly lost it. I was on American soil for the first time in 15 months and when the guy at immigration said "welcome home" I did tear up a little. I would probably have gotten a lot more emotional but he marked my paper  with a big red A flagging me for an agriculture shake down to make sure I wasn't bringing back any unwanted African "stuff"  on my shoes. My bud Janice picked me up and we finally made it out of the airport.  I did lose it. My mind was not used to processing the images my eyes were sending it. Lanes and lanes of traffic, strange houses and soooooo many white people!Our first stop was Dairy Queen for a blizzard YUMMMMM then on to Walmart! Janice had to keep me focused on what we needed because I just wanted to look at everything. So much food! Sensory over load.

Forgotten sights, sounds and smells began to make their back to my memory over the next few days. The feel of soft carpet, rocky road ice cream and micro wave popcorn for breakfast, hot water any time of the day....or night, clean neighborhoods and current episodes of NCIS.

 

23 hours on a plane makes one a bit goofy
 

Recap 2012

 January 26 was our 1 year anniversary .The past year has been busy and on one hand it feels like we have been here for a short time but on the other, it feels like an eternity.

 Usually we measure success by accomplishments and we have had a few. Let's take a look. One year ago we had 0 animals and all the food the kids ate was bought from the store. Today we have meat, milk and eggs…one step further to being as self sufficient as possible.  Thanks to all of you who supported Christmas in July, we were able to purchase goats, rabbits, laying hens and 1 duck.  The garden continues to be a challenge but we were finally able to get a huge mess of green beans. I put a couple bags in the freezer and the kids loved them.  We planted 2 avocado trees, 1 orange, 1 lemon, 1 tangerine, 1 grapefruit, two guavas and 1 peach tree.  Kalanga planted about a dozen paw-paw trees along with various fruit trees by the kitchen.  

The bible tells us the real measure of success is the depth of our relationship with God and his people. I have definitely struggled in this area.   Being in a country that is unfamiliar has brought a lot of insecurity and frustration that dwells deep inside my heart to the surface.  It is said the heart is the seat of the soul so about a month ago I began to search my heart in earnest and ask God to show me where I had to change.

'For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...' (Proverbs 23:7a KJV)

  I had to change or go home. Relationships with people are difficult and I still believe God finds the people who drive us nuts and makes us kin to them to teach us love, patience, self control ect…… ; )  I digress. We have to CHOOSE to remain faithful. Even if my best friend drives me crazy at times I must choose to remain faithful to our friendship. I must choose to remain faithful to God and those he has put in leadership over me. I have started memorizing scripture to keep my mind from dwelling on other things. I expect 2013 to be a great year. How about you? How was your relationship with God and his people in 2012? I will pray great “success” for you in 2013.

A new school and library were built. The teachers are very happy. There is plenty of room for the children to learn.

The bible study in Nabukoa has grown into a church plant. These are baby Christians and it is soooo much fun to worship our Father alongside them. They are very enthusiastic. Bible studies in Kabanga, women's studies on Tuesday and morning study for our workers are on going.

God gives us an opportunity to minister to the bush kids through Kids Club. Every Saturday around 160 kids come to play games, hear a bible lesson and eat until they are full.

Overall 2012 was a good year.  I am closer to God and live by his grace and mercy daily. I really enjoy working and moving forward but sometimes I need to STOP, go get the kids and play for awhile.

Please remember these things as you pray. God continues to move in mighty ways and we need our prayer warriors more than ever. NOTHING of God happens without prayer. It will be fun to see how God will provide ALL our needs in 2013.

Some of you think it is great we have left the comforts of the US to live in the bush in a humanitarian effort to help people much less fortunate than ourselves. This could not be further from the truth. WE are here first and foremost to share Christ with as many people as possible. In the call by Oz Guinness he says we have two callings, our primary calling and a secondary calling. The primary calling for all who are Christians is the same….to spread the gospel. Our secondary calling allows us to feed kids and try to make our community a better place to live…sound familiar?  What will you do in 2013 to live your call…or better yet, what will you allow God to do through you?