On this day of prayer...

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation:

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare... We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.. We have abused power and called it politics... We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition.. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free.. Amen!'

Our City...

I know I have been MIA these past few weeks with regards to my blog, but I assure you it’s not for any particular reason short of the crazy pace of our lives nowadays.

The ministry is moving along at a great pace and we are currently in the process of getting renovations begun on the storefront! On top of that, we are busy with Bible studies and trying to get to know some of the people from town and spending many hours per week with our “core” leadership team. Keep your eyes peeled for an update mailing which will feature pictures of the storefront as well as the unveiling of our new website!! If we don’t have your address, and you’d like to be included in this mailing, please contact me.

God has been so good to us!

However, the reality is that our lives here are very different than they were in suburban Charlotte. I opened the paper today and read this article and wanted to pass it on as a call to pray.

Crime in Gloversville seems to be on the rise and this article is proof of the problems we’re facing. This riot occurred just blocks away from our ministry site. Drugs are a very major problem here and the city is crumbling before our eyes. It can feel overwhelming at times.

And yet…

Praise God that He wants to reign in this city and Praise God that He has called us to be part of His plan!

Please pray for the people of this city and for their hearts to be opened to His. Please pray.

(See Newspaper Article Below):

Array of weapons used in what police call ‘riots’
By KAYLEIGH KARUTIS, The Leader-Herald
POSTED: April 22, 2010

GLOVERSVILLE - Several disturbances escalated into what police described as "riots" on city streets Tuesday, requiring the help of other area agencies to restore order.

The disturbances began Tuesday afternoon on East Pine Street as a neighborhood dispute attracted about 100 onlookers. Capt. James Lorenzoni said the officer responding to the call observed a man push a female and then advance toward a crowd of onlookers.

The suspect then came at the officer, screaming, "I'm going to [expletive] kill you." He threw a metal lawn chair at him, and hit him in the legs with a child's bicycle, Lorenzoni said.

Two officers arrived to see the suspect attacking the officer and wrapping him in a "bear hug."
The suspect's father then engaged a second officer in a fight, Lorenzoni said. Eventually, officers restored order and placed three individuals, including the original suspect, his father and a woman, under arrest. The suspects, whose names were not available this morning, were charged with a variety of misdemeanors and felonies, including harassment, assault, menacing, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and obstructing governmental administration.

The officer who responded to the scene first escaped with just minor injuries, Lorenzoni said.
"We were very fortunate that there were no serious injuries," he said.

Another large disturbance began around 7 p.m. on Burr Street as an unidentified man began yelling from his vehicle at people in the street. The disturbance was quickly quelled, but flared up again a few hours later when a person hit another passing vehicle with an unidentified object, police said.

That incident escalated into multiple fights involving weapons, including shovels, bats, rocks, boards, belts and a piece of steel with a chain attached to one end. The entire available shift of Gloversville officers - three men - was sent to the riot.

The man who had been driving his vehicle down the road was struck with the chain, causing injuries, officials said. Numerous other fights took place over the next several hours, and city officers called for help from all other available units in the area. Officers responded to the scene repeatedly in an attempt to restore order, but were unable to do so until around midnight.
One of the victims in the fight was seriously injured and brought to Albany Medical Center Hospital. Further details about the victim were not available this morning. People also reported damage to vehicles.

Personal Note: This article appeared with two other articles on the front page:

The other two articles were about a major drug sting also just blocks from our ministry site AND an article about how break-ins have gone up in the last 6 weeks, with many focusing on area churches and businesses. One of the businesses was across the street from our facility.

Please pray. God has us here at a very critical time. Pray for protection and wisdom as we move forward.

Easter Weekend!

We had a great Easter Weekend with family and new friends! Surprisingly, it was 75 degrees for Easter weekend!

Sanctus Real - Lead Me

Wow....I just heard this song and I literally cried in my car. What a high calling the men in our lives have. It really calls me on to remember to lift up that man in my life.

A Dream Realized!

Well, it's safe to say that things haven't gone exactly as we had expected since moving to NY.

For example, in our little plan of how things should go; never did we anticipate that our house sale in Charlotte would fall through TWICE and cause us to have to give up a contract on the house we had purchased here in NY.

And sure; transitioning to me being the person in the "typical" workforce while Donn begins the ministry and cares for the kids has taken some getting used to.

However, all in all, I can honestly say that this journey has been one of the most spectacular adventures I have ever been on.

Today, God continued to blow our minds as we received the keys to the new C1 Ministry Facility!

Never in a million years did I expect to have a ministry facility before getting a house, but in many ways that just seems right!

This entire adventure has been nothing short of miraculous and what better reminder as to why we're really here than to receive keys to a ministry facility (something which we initially expected to take over a year to build up to) before even receiving keys to a house!

And so; let me introduce you to C1!

Welcome to our new home! It's not glamorous and it's going to take some work to make it usable but God has brought us to a place where we can feasibly rent this facility so we trust Him to provide what is needed to fix it up.

C1 has leased the two storefronts that are under the ugly brown metal awning. This is right on Main Street in Gloversville.

Ironically, it is across the street from the Woolworths store that my Bop was the manager of for my entire childhood. I spent years playing right across the street! Who knew!

Main Street in Gloversville

This is the little grassy park across the street. It is owned by the same man who owns the building we're leasing so we have permission to use it as much as we'd like for ministry purposes! Can anyone say moonbounces, hotdogs and concerts at night!? (the Woolworths store where I grew up is the building to the right).

Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girly Girl!!

I love being the Mom of a girly girl!!

The Lord certainly knew what He was doing when he gave me my little Elle!

After listening to her say, "Pretty" for months while she would stroke my earrings, she finally said the phrase that changed all phrases:

"Mommy, Elle want pretty ears."

Melt.

And that was all it took. That was Mommy's cue to melt into a mushy little pile on the floor.

Within days we were scheduling the big event and even had my mom on board - who, ironically, wouldn't let us get our ears pierced until we were 12!

And so, I leave you with my pretty little princess. She loves her pretty ears; though she still doesn't understand why that mean lady "hurt me" (so she says). :)

Ahhh...the price of beauty - a lesson she'll probably learn all too well over the years!


Waiting for the "mean lady" to finish messing with that silly looking gun thing. :)

Darned Little Leprechauns!

This was the scene this morning as the kids discovered a HUGE mess in the family room, apparently made by those darned little leprechauns!

The little green rugrat broke through every trap set by the kids and then left little paper shamrocks around the house with snide little remarks on them (such as, "ha ha kids...didn't get me this time!")

But get this! Can you believe that Ayden discovered that the cheap little leprechaun even used our own computer to make his paper shamrocks!!

"WHAT?!" I screamed out as Ayden revealed the disturbing news.

Who could have known that my little 8 year old detective would actually go through the garbage to find scraps of apparent shamrocks cut out of cardstock?!

The ironic thing...he still thinks the dumb leprechaun is just cheap and wanted to use our computer ink to print his stupid shamrocks.

Who could have known that leprechauns were so cheap! :)

Sweet Blessings...

One of the sweetest blessings of being near my family!!

Girls WEEKEND!!!

My mom, three sisters and I spent a wonderful Saturday at an incredible women's conference followed by a great dinner out and shopping!

Who could ask for more?!

He remains steadfast...

He remains steadfast...

I reminded myself of this truth often last night. Over and over again I repeated those words in my mind as I sat with the group of people who are quickly becoming "family" for us here.

Part of me expected the phone call. Part of me was shocked by it.

Neverthless; HE remains steadfast.

We were just finishing up dinner with our life-group when I glanced at my phone to see that someone had called a few times in a row.

As I listened to the message left by the woman on the other end; my heart sank. I knew what she was going to say:
"Cyndie...call me immediately." were her words.

I picked up the phone and called to find a precious woman on the other end of the phone whose heart was broken by circumstances.

It was the sweet woman who is buying our house in Charlotte. Between sobs, she explained that she had just gotten word that her loan had fallen through.

"Not again..." I thought to myself. "Lord, I don't want to start this process over for the third time."

And yet, I felt God's peace.

I can't say what will happen from here. We are now left to put our home back on the market - yet again.

Sure, part of me is angry that God won't just allow this to be easy. But then I remember that not all of Abraham's journeys were filled with luxury hotels, perfect circumstances and ease.

The Lord remains in control.

Please pray for a few specific things.

First, pray for the Charlotte buyer and her daughter who have become friends to us. Pray for God to wrap His arms around them and give them peace. This is a very trying time for them and they are questioning many things right now.

Secondly, please pray for our kids. They have been through so much transition in the last few months and the house sale in Charlotte (and consequently our house purchase here) was the "normalcy" on the horizon. Pray for their hearts to be protected as we break the news to them that we will no longer be able to purchase the home here in NY.

Third, pray for stamina. I trust God and I know Him well enough to know that He orders all things. But today I'm tired...I'm sad and I'm waiting on a miracle of sorts.

But, this is the God we serve.

He remains steadfast and in the big picture of life...these are only small rocks.

This world is not our home...Lord, let us never forget it.

And this is what happens...

When you transplant a little girl from the South into the North.

A slightly confused child.