Time With Julie

I now that we have been posting a lot of blogs about what Greg has been doing at school and on the children so this time we wanted to share with you what Julie has being doing through out her days and some special moments since we arrived in Michigan!

What Julie Has Been Doing
Thankfully, my day doesn't start as early as Greg's or I would be in serious trouble because I am NOT a morning person.  So on school days I have to be up around 6:30 a.m. to start the morning ritual of trying to get the children up for school and to the bus on time.  I am happy to say that we have not missed the bus yet however, there has been two different times that the kids have had to run since the bus is waiting for them. Then comes my most favorite time of the day as I get to sit down with Franklin at the kitchen table and do school with him.  I love this one on one time with just him and helping his mind grow and learn new things.  One of our favorite things to do is on Wednesday's when we have the truck Franklin and I head to the library.  This library has two computers that are set up for children to use so of course my computer child makes a bee line for one.  There are also lots of comic books which are great for Franklin as he has a hard time with just reading so if he has lots of pictures to go along with the reading it works great for him. After we are done with his school then comes the fun time of doing normal things like tackling the dishes, picking up the toys that I have been stepping on, finding something for supper, and sneaking in some fun time by doing a little reading myself.  Another fun part of my day is keeping in contact with all of our friends and supporters.  I love answering emails (however depending on the day it may take me a while to answer), writing thank you cards, or setting up meetings with churches or friends to share with about MAF.  Since we are still trying to finish raising our support we try to spend our weekends out meeting new people, sharing at Churches, and catching up with family that we haven't seen in awhile. Then on Thursdays comes a pause from school work as I have joined a ladies bible study that I am greatly enjoying.  We are doing a Beth Moore study that I have already done so I am enjoying seeing how much God has been changing me through these past years.  I remember the first time I did this study and I thought that I couldn't possible do what she was saying but it is really amazing what God can do when you let go and really let Him lead.

Julie's Special Moments and Blessings We Have Received


At the beginning of this month our family was able to attend a Granger Family Christmas party for only the second time in thirteen years.  I was able to visit with my cousins and for a few of them get to meet spouses that I really have not met before.  Then came the fun of trying to figure out which little child belong to which of my cousins as they all ran around playing with each other.  I will admit that I was wrong most of the time on who belonged with who.  It was a great time of sharing as a lot of them had questions about our work with MAF.

A few weeks ago I was able to attend a church basketball game with Isaac and Franklin that my father was playing in.  It was the children's first time cheer for their grandpa and let me tell you those boys know how to cheer loudly.  My dad said later that it was really neat and strange to have his grand kids cheer so loudly for him.  At the game I had a wonderful surprise of running into people who I knew my last year of high school from church.  It was fun to see them and be able to share with them what I have been up to these past thirteen years.

Last weekend I had a blast directing the children's program for our Church.  It was a last minute idea so I will admit that there was a lot of stress involved with it but just so much fun.  This was a great time for me as I was able to get to know the children better and I was able to help in an area that I love working in.

A HUGE blessing that we received as a family came from a Church that we have never even meat before but has been involved with SMAT for a while.  They take all the families in Greg's school and basically adopts them for Christmas every year.  The bought all the children new coats, snow pants, and boots a month and a half ago.  Then they brought presents over for all the children and not just one gift but everyone of them had a least four packages to open.  Talk about some really excited children that night!  However, they didn't stop with that as they carried in bags and bags of food into the house.  It cover every counter in our kitchen and we had to put some on the floor.  And this Church did it for every family that attended school with Greg!  Talk about an amazing outreach!  We are extremely gratefully for them and want to thank them for all that they have done for us!

Trust that your Christmas was filled with the wonderful blessings from our Lord.
Blessings
The Dole family.