May 11 2008 Update from Lisa

Dear Church families,

 

I personally wanted to take a moment to thank each of you who have been praying for my family as we have gone through such a difficult time in the passing away of my brother-in-law.  If it were not for God's grace and strength, I would not have been able to deal with the grief that my sister and her kids have been going through.  There were several times while I was back in the states that people would comment that they could see the peace of the Lord on my face despite the tears and sadness that we went through.   I know that many people were helping to bear the burden through their prayers.  I also wanted to thank those of you who helped with my travelling expenses.  We knew that the Lord would have me go back to be with my sister, Leah.  We did not know how we would be able to pay for the trip.  The Lord blessed and took care of it through some of you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I would ask you to still pray for my sister, Leah and her two children, Roger and Miranda.  They are having an incredibly difficult time.  I know the Lord wants to be there for my sister and that He will bring good out of a very difficult situation if she will love God and trust Him.  If you think of it as well, please pray for me.  It can be quite hard being so far away and not being able to physically help my sister.

 

On a small encouraging note, I wanted to tell you of two particular blessings that might encourage the ladies and children of your churches.  One expense that can be incredibly high for us is the matter of toilet paper.  Putting all joking aside, the Lord chose to let us come upon a sale yesterday at a shop that we would not normally go to.  The toilet paper was buy 1 get 1 free.  In the four years we have lived here, we have never seen such a good sale.  For the 16 normal size roll package it would cost us 12 euro.  This is around $19 per package.  We were started out with just two packages.  By the time we stood in the line, we had talked ourselves in to buying 8 packages.  We saved 45 euros yesterday on toilet paper.  The clerk just looked at me with a strange look, but then when she saw the five children she didn't bother wondering any longer.  Also, yesterday when in the shop, I had seen a small slide for outside that I had wanted to get for Kaleb.  I came very close to just charging it and getting it.  The Lord encouraged my heart not to do that, and I did not.  Today, when we were outside watering the flowers out front, the neighbor lady came over to comment on the flowers.  We were a bit taken back just by the fact that she would visit with us.  Our neighbors have been very distant to us in Waterford.  She asked me if we would be interested in a slide for the kids that had once been her children's slide.  I was so excited to see the Lord provide for something that had just been a "frivolous" toy for Kaleb.  She even insisted upon cleaning it up for him.  It's quite nice, and Kaleb spent the afternoon playing on it.  She also had a Little Tikes basketball goal that she is bringing over. God is so good to provide things that we do not "need", but that will be fun for the kids.

 

I know these blessings seem quite small, but trust me, my response is not small.  God has chosen to bless our family over and over again in small(Huge) ways like this.  We are so thankful the way that He encourages our children and us as well.

 

Thank you again for all your prayers.  We are truly grateful.

 

In Christ,

Lisa Thatcher

Psalm 139