Bitter Sweet!

It is December 1, 2010 and we are getting into the full swing of Christmas around here. We sat up our Christmas tree Monday. The kids and I made salt dough ornaments for the tree. It was so much fun. We looked back over all our ornaments and the kids all picked out the ones they had made over the years past. Our tree this year is nothing like it has ever been. I have always had a theme for our tree. All the ornaments, ribbon and wrapping paper have always matched. This year our tree is made of memories. And as much as I have always disliked the multicolored trees with mis-matched ornaments, this year our tree is BEAUTIFUL!!! As we set the tree up and the kids hung the home-made ornaments on the tree ~ I cried!! I know, shock!!! But it was the thought of this being our last Christmas in this house. Our last Christmas for a while in the USA. It was much harder than I thought it would be. As Mike and I look forward to the new year we will see so many First!! Next year will be our first time to live in Japan. Our first air plane ride with the kids!! Our first house in Japan!! God is still working on me, and for that I am thankful!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving!!

Tonight I am sitting in my parents house and listening to the kids. They are supposed to be in bed sleeping but they are whispering and laughing. Mike is playing a video game. I am sitting here thanking God for so many things. This year has been a crazy year for us. In the last year we have traveled many miles, safely. I have quit my job and began homeschooling. We have seen sickness come and go. God has taken such good care of us. I know that I have taken it for granted at times, but over the last few weeks, God has reminded me to be Thankful.

I look at my kids and see that they are all healthy. I look at our pantry and see we have food. I look at our van (with over 150,000 miles) and see that it still runs. I look at my husband and see that he loves me. I look at our bank account and see we have money. (not much but it's there!) I look at the world and see God's art work every morning in the sunrise. As I sit here, all I can say is "Thank you Lord!! You have been so good to me. I don't know where I would be if you had not saved my soul! Thank you Lord for dieing for me. Thank you for being patient with me while my faith grows."

How has God blessed you this year?

Have you thanked Him?

Have you told Him you love Him?

Our life

An update on Homeschooling

Well school has started and we are slowly getting into the swing of things. I had all these great ideas and plans over the summer. You know we would wake every morning with a song in our hearts. I would be in the kitchen making a good healthy breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon and of course homemade biscuits. Then the kids would quietly go gather their school books and begin working. I would go from child to child teaching them each subject. Everyone would be working so hard and not a sound could be heard. Well, except for the hymns playing on the CD player in the kitchen. Ahhhh, what a nice little dream!!! Well, in the real world life happens and not one school day has even remotely resembled this. Our days are more like this - My alarm goes off at 7:00 am. I hit snooze until 7:30. I drag myself out of bed and start waking the kids up. We all get dressed and head to the kitchen to grab a bowl of sugary cereal. After breakfast and brushing teeth we meet in the living room for Bible. From that moment until about 4:00pm it is a constant state of chaos in our house. Some days are much better than others but for the most part we just play it by ear!! We did start the year out with the agreement that this would be a learning process for all of us, and that we would be flexible with each other. My favorite time of the day is Bible in the mornings. In just the first three weeks I have seen so much growth in the kids. We are studing the life of David. So much here for all of us to learn. We are also keeping a prayer journal of our prayer request and praises. God has used the kids to remind me time and time again about the simple things in life. The kids love to pray for the trees outside, the fun time they will have at the park, and of course for our dog. Sometimes I find myself so busy with school, travel, and grow up life that I forget to thank God for the small things He has given me.

An update on our Ministry

We have been on deputation for a year now. We started out last fall very strong. Our support jumped to 20% in a matter of months. We were excited about our step of faith we had taken and could see God's hand on us. But for the last six month we have hit a wall. We have been very busy with travels but we are seeing that churches are not taking missionaries on for support like they had been. Times are tough on everyone, even churches. We are still excited about what God has planned for our family. We still see God's hand on us. We are still taking steps of faith. AND God is still providing for us. In fact we have had 4 new churches join in supporting us over the last two months. And for this we give God the praise and glory!!

An update on our House

We have put the house up for sale as of last week. We are asking that you join with us in praying that the right person or family comes quickly. The kids are not really excited about us selling the house. We have told them that God has something so much better in Japan waiting for us.

Things are going good. God is blessing us and as he promised, he is supplying our needs! Please continue to pray for the Wyatt family as we continue Our Great Adventure!!!

A pocket of fear

We have just gotten home from a 16 day journey. In the last 16 days we have been in 9 states, 5 churches, and driven over 3,000 miles. Along the journey I found myself always reaching back into this "pocket of fear" and getting myself worked up. I would worry about small things, big things and things I can not control. So on the road from Mobile, Al to Springfield, Mo, I got out my Bible and began to look up verses about fear. Here is what I found:

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makesth me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeith me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake. Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and i will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

No matter what God takes me through I don't have to fear it. He is always with me.

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Blessed is the woman, the mom, the wife, the sister, that trust God to lead her.

Proverbs 3:5-7

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Give it all to God!! Don't try to figure it out on your own. Live for God and He will guide you.

Proverbs 31:30

Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

Kindness from others will one day end and your youthful beauty will one day end, BUT the woman that fears God will be honored.

Isaiah 41:10

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Hebrews 13: 6

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

After looking at these verses I found that need to let go of my fear. Let go and let God be God!! And then it dawned on my, this is yet another lesson in growing my faith in Him. If I fully trust Him to get us to Japan, to keep us safe on the road, to keep our bills paid, then I have to let go of the fear! So then I began to look up verses about faith. It is amazing what can happen when we let go of the fear and grab hold of the faith.

Matthew 17:20

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Do you know how small a mustard seed is? If I just have that much faith I could move a mountain!! What is your mountain? Right now my mountain is our house that needs to sell, the support that needs to come in, the safety as we travel, and I could go on and on. Faith!

II Corinthians 5:7

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

How many times do we see Jesus preform a miracle because someone had faith? A woman is healed just by touching the hem of his garment because she had faith. A child's lunch feeds multitude of people. A blind man can see. A Gentile woman's daughter is healed. All because of faith. What am I missing out on because of my lack of faith? What are you missing?

An ICE COLD blessing

We are on the road again. I am trying to be better about writing more often.

We are in Decatur, AL on our way to Jacksonville, FL. Those of you who know anything about geography you know that Decatur, AL is about 6 hours out of the way to Jacksonville. Well, we came out of our way because of a church in Madison, AL with a heart for missions and missionaries. This church has a ministry to work on missionary cars for the cost of parts. This has been a huge blessing for us. You see our minivan has not had AC for about a year. So we have suffered in the heat because we could not afford to have it replaced. We heard about this church, gave them a call and now we have cold air again in the van!!! Praise the Lord! First of all it was a fraction of the price ($50) and second it was nothing major. Just a filter, a hose, and some freon!! So this goes again to show us that God is good all the time!!! I know, I know, I struggle with always having the faith I need. And I know that God is always working on me. But today again I was being taught a lesson about faith.

Thank you Lord for using me in spite of myself.

I know, I know, it's been a while . . .

My last blog was in March. I know, I have not been good about writing. I will be honest. It's hard for me to write when things are slow or not going the way I think they should. I don't want to remember the rough spots, I don't want to look back on the tears. But I know without the tears and rough times the JOY would not be as sweet! It's the times when things are rough that I sit and cry "Abba Father" and tell God all about it. And it's the sweet, quiet moments when God speaks to me and says, "I have not forgotten you. I am teaching you how to live by faith."

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father.

Romans 8:15

Over the last few months God has grown my faith so much. I have seen many answers to prayer. I would like to share one moment with you.

It was the end of April and we had just received our Support Check for the month. Mike told me it was less than we had planned for. To be exact it was $460.00 less than the months before. I was devastated. How were we going to pay the bills for the month? How was I supposed to buy food for my family? How were we going to live for the next month? I cried. Mike told me to calm down and pray. What? Why is he not upset? Does he not see the problem? We have $540.00 to live on for the month of May!! I called my mom. I needed someone to panic with me. She said, "Cristy, just be still and let God be God."

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalms 46:10

Over the next few days I didn't get much sleep. I was trying to figure out how to make this money. Surly there was something we could sell on eBay or maybe a garage sale. I still didn't understand why I was the only one so upset. Mike just kept on calling churches and never really acted like it bothered him. And I well, I was trying so hard to find a way out. The teacher I work with asked to speak to me during lunch. She said she needed to talk to me about her Grandfather who had passed away just weeks before. I was thinking, "Oh, she is coming to me for some spiritual advice." Little did I know, I would be learning from her. She told me that her Grandfather had put in his will for 10% of whatever was in his checking account to be given to a Missionary. She said, "Your the only Missionary I know." and handed me a check. I looked down at the amount and began to cry. It was for $513.76. She asked if the check was not enough money. I was sobbing and said, "No, it's just perfect."

You see, many years ago, God spoke to a man about leaving money after his death for a Missionary. God knew even then that our support check would be short. God knew I would need, yet another lesson on faith. God knew! And again I am reminded of these verses.

But my God shall supply all of your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Be careful for nothing;but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.

Philippians 4:6

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4

Spring is in the air . . . .

The purpose of my blog has been to find God in the everyday life, of what we now call normal. This past week was Spring Break. Ahhh . . . Spring Break. This week used to mean a week of spring cleaning, or a week of relaxing with the kids, or maybe a week of just being a bum. But this year Spring Break was given a new meaning . . . . TRAVEL!! This past week we traveled over 2,000 miles, over 5 states, and spent too many hours in our minivan. We left our driveway on Friday, March 12 at 4:00 pm with visions of the beach in Florida dancing in our heads. We came dragging in on Monday, March 22 at 1:00 am with hopes that our beds were still as comfy as we remembered. I don't want you to think the trip was not fun. We had a blast. We had set out to have fun and maybe spend some time at the beach. The kids had never seen the ocean. I will tell you they have now see the ocean and they loved it. Mike even fell in love with the waves washing over his feet.

I would like to share a few highlights from the trip. A few times when God had his hand on our family. Saturday night (March 13) around 9:30 pm we were right outside of Tallahassee, FL and we had a blowout. We safely moved the van to the shoulder of the road. Mike and I got out and looked at the tire. I cried. I knew we didn't have the money to buy a tire and still make this trip fun. We had a planned a few things to go and see and do, but the budget was tight. How were WE going to afford a new tire? Mike called AAA to come help change the tire. After a two hour wait, help arrives! The spare tire was flat. I cried again! I could not see any good from this. I sent a text to my group of Gal Pals. "We just had a blowout. Please pray!" I received calls and text messages of encouragement. I had friends and family praying for me. Finally, the spare tire is on. We are back on the road - well, sort of. The donut max speed was 50 mph. So we made the remaining 280 miles going 50 mph. That Sunday the preacher told us he knew someone who could get us a new tire. Monday Mike and the preacher take the van to the tire shop. That evening we go pick up the van, and guess what? The church paid for our new tire!! And guess what else? They also paid for the other 3 tires too, and the alignment!! So you see, God knew when we left the driveway on Friday that our tires would not make it all the way to Florida. God knew that we didn't have the money to get four new tires. God knew that I would cry on the side of the road in Florida. And God knew that a church in Florida, would love our family like Jesus loves us. God has a plan, and if we just let him work, it all works out for His Glory. But I know that so many times, I have a hard time letting Him work. I want to take it all and worry about it. I want to take all the problems in life and try to figure them out. But if we would just Let Go and Let God have control, he would make it better. Thank you so much to the people of Calvary Baptist Church, Fruitland Park, FL. You have been a blessing to our family!!

While on our trip we were able to spend a few days in Mobile, AL with some "family". Thanks to the Litton family we had a place to stay and good food to eat. And the best thing of all, was that they did this out of the kindness of their heart. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Another great blessing was getting to see my Aunt Susan and Uncle Ron along this trip. We had the honor to speak at there church on Sunday, March 21. With us getting closer to heading to Japan family has really become so important to me. I want to see them and spend these precious few moments with them before we leave. I know we will see them again, but I want to soak up all I can. I want my kids to know how important family is. Saturday and Sunday was wonderful. My kids were playing with there cousins and getting to know them better. I was getting to hear stories about my childhood and remember the baseball games we went to. (By the way, I still have The Chicken's autograph from 1981!!!) I was also able to hear stories about my Grandy and where he was stationed in Japan during The War. I have to say, I left on Sunday feeling very blessed!! So, Thank you Uncle Ron and Aunt Susan for allowing us to come speak at your church and share our burden for the people of Japan.

We had a nice surprise from Vicki before we left with some travel games and books to keep us all happy. I have to say THANK YOU!!! The books came in so handy on the many days we were in the van for hours!

And the most important Thank you I have is for God. Thank you Lord for using me. I know that time and time again, I cry and try to take control, but you have given me such a good Godly group of friends, a Godly family, and a Godly foundation. It does not take long before I am laying down all my worries again, and giving it all to you. Thank you for second chances - over and over again.

I Timothy 1:12

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

Consider the Lillies

It's the small stuff that makes the biggest impact on us. You know how it is, you give your child the best gift and they play with the box. Well, today, God answered an unspoken prayer request that I have been praying for!! It's at times like this that you just know, our God, the creator of the universe has been listening to my prayers. That me, this sinner saved by grace, has been heard by the All Mighty God. And it makes me sad that at times I thought we would never see an answer to this prayer. But here I sit, in front of my computer with tears in my eyes and a humble heart. God heard my cries!!

Matthew 6:28-34

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

For some it may have been a simple prayer request but for me and my friend, we have spent many a night crying out to God - for Him to be glorified and for this prayer to be answered! And I do believe that with her house being sold God's name will be lifted high!!

Busy times

There have been so many times that I have wanted to jot something down for the blog . . . . but we have been so busy. It is a good thing , A GREAT THING really but I feel that I get so behind and don't know how to catch up. So here goes my best shot . . . . .


In the month of February our family was in a church service 17 of the 28 days!!! We have been blessed beyond measure!!! God has provided more than I could ever have imagined. We have been ministered to and been able to minister. God has changed us ~ all of us!!! My family is happy and content!! We are excited and humbled by what God has done for us. We have a love, a true love for God's word and can't wait to get to Japan.

Dear Lord,

I want to thank you for all you have done for my family. I am excited to see what you have planned for us. I can't believe that I was ever afraid to begin this journey with You. Why did I ever doubt you wouldn't provide for us? You have proved yourself over and over again. I love you Lord! Amen

Partners in our Journey

Here are a few pictures of the people who made us feel like royalty this week. You are the best friends and prayer partners!! I don't know how to start this message. So many great and wonderful things have happened this past week. We were at Grace Baptist Church in Flower Mound, TX. The Missions Conference theme was "Missions: Our Soul Purpose" and what a great week we had. We were with three other missionary families the Keplers to Honduras, the Williams to Peru, and the Princes to Uruguay.

This conference was such a blessing to our family. The preaching, the fellowship and the people of the church have changed us . . . have blessed us. Each night one of the missionaries preached, each night one of the families would take us out for a meal and fellowship, each night the people of the church would be such an encouragement to us. Thanks again for all you have done!!

It's all about the L-O-V-E

We have had a few weeks without any traveling, and we are preparing to get back on the road again. February is going to be the start of a very busy few months. God is blessing and opening doors and giving us more opportunities to tell others about our call to the people of Japan. I am thinking about February and what it means. February is about love, about telling the people who mean the most you that you love them. It's about giving gifts, getting gifts and knowing you are loved - no matter what, you are loved. This brings me to this verse - Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And that is the reason we want to go to Japan, because God loves us!! God loves us! Even though we are just sinners, God sent Christ to die for us. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, should not parish, but have everlasting life. God sent his Son and because of that we can have life. Again I tell you, it's all about the love!! God's love!! So this Valentines Day be sure and tell those around you that you love them. Also, tell them about God's love for them.