Graystone Church has been a huge encouragement to our family and to the ministry here in Brazil over the last 2 years. And last week they did it again.
Graystone Church has been such a blessing, in so many ways, to our family and to the ministry here in Brazil. One of the ways that they've supported us is by sending Mission Teams to help us here (actually they’re sending the 3rd one of 2015’ in December).
At the end of the July 15’ Mission Trip the team presented MJ and I with a gift. And it totally took us by surprise. They presented us with an all expenses paid trip to the beach: ) Just Me and MJ!
Now, that may not sound like that big of a deal to you, but to us it was HUGE. You see, MJ and I have been married for 26 years. And, in the 26 years we’ve been married, we’ve NEVER been on a vacation by ourselves without children. Never. So this was a monumental event for us and we couldn't even believe it was happening.
We’ve had children pretty much our whole marriage (our oldest son, Michael, is 25). By the time our biological kids were getting old enough to be left alone we adopted a sibling group of 5. They were ages 11, 8, 6, 4 and 2. So, after almost 20 years of raising children, we started all over again- almost at ground zero. And at that point our family was too big to leave that many kids with anyone. So we never went anywhere by ourselves.
But last week that all changed. Me and MJ boarded a plane and headed North (about 5 hrs) to the city of Natal, Brazil. It was absolutely amazing. For 4 days we didn't think about kids, dogs, cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, ministry, camps, sermon preparation, problems, worries, nothing! We just rested, hung out together, rested, walked on the beach, rested, ate great food and did I say, “we rested?” Haha! It was the most relaxed we’ve been in years- literally!
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| The view from our balcony: ) |
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| Our view at night |
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| The lobby of the Natal Sehrs Grand Hotel (where we stayed) |
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| What was on our door for 4 days: ) |
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| The world famous Camarões- where we ate twice! |
It was perfect and it came at just the right time. It truly refreshed us and has given us a much needed boost- enabling us to carry on longer here in Brazil: )
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| A panoramic view from our balcony |
So, once again, “thank you soooo much Graystone” for blessing us with such an amazing gift- one that was literally 26 years in the making: )
We Love You Guys!
Jim and MJ
We love you guys!
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