Merry Perry Christmas 2015

Dear friends & family,

I hope you are well and enjoying a peaceful Christmas season.

As is our family tradition, we invite you to take a peek into our 2015. I'll share some ponderings with you, and pray you will see God's fingerprints through these snapshots and snippets of our lives.

Our Year at a Glance...

The Curtis Wedding!

In January Bradley got a "new" car and I went on a road trip to Jackson, MS to do an essential oil training event and witness the union of two of our Kingdom kids - Lee & Meridith Curtis.

Love my MS team!

Bradley's New Ride

In February Eddy, Blake, Brent, and I drove through a blinding snowstorm to Ontario to be with Brooke for her birthday. Most normal people head south for the winter...Oh well, no one ever said we were normal!

The frozen Detroit River

In March Eddy, Brent, and I went to a baseball tournament in Gatlinburg where Brent played with the Grace Christian Academy Lions. We also welcomed our first sweet great-niece into the family a day before her uncle Eddy's birthday!  Speaking of...Eddy turned the big 50 this month! We celebrated at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, watching Jerry Seinfeld with dear friends. What a fun night!  Blake went on his senior trip to Florida with classmates from our homeschool co-op.

Blake shared his testimony at church

In April Lee & Mer came home from the mission field for a visit and we were honored to host them for a few days. Bradley moved back home, since his roommates moved and he was transitioning out of one job and into another. Brent played baseball for both GCA and a rec team. Eddy & I helped with a local dōTERRA team training event. Eddy, Blake, and I visited Lee University and Blake received his acceptance letter into that school.

District Champs! All Tourney Team!

In May we renovated our kitchen.
Blake graduated from high school!!
Brooke found out she's pregnant with our first grandchild!!!
Bradley started a new job at Direct TV.

With my boys on Mother's Day

In June we welcomed another little great-niece into the family! Brent got his driver's permit. Bradley had surgery to remove a giant cell bone tumor from beside his knee. Thankfully, the doc got it all and expects no future problems from it.

In July Eddy had to be in Dallas for a work meeting, so he, Brent, and I drove out there to meet our little great nieces and spend time with family, then later that month we had a family reunion in the Smokies as we celebrated the wedding of Eddy's brother, Donny and our new sis-in-law, Sandy. We had such a good time together!

Pre-ziplining in the Smokies 

Eddy & Brent at the Rangers game

In August Brent was officially accepted at Grace Christian Academy. After 18 years of homeschooling, I suddenly found myself without lessons to plan or curriculum to buy. It was a bittersweet transition, but the positives are that Brent gets to do what he loves - play baseball with a top-notch team at a school where building Christian character comes first and academic excellence is stressed, and I get to focus more time and effort building our essential oils biznistry.
This month Bradley ended up back in the hospital, this time with severe digestive issues.





















After testing for all sorts of things, they never officially diagnosed him with anything. Thankfully, he was much better by the time his 25th birthday rolled around. Blake began classes at Columbia State Community College, choosing to be a better steward, and put Lee on hold for the time being.

In September we found out Brooke & Emanuel are having a GIRL!  We are so excited to welcome this precious granddaughter into the family in early 2016! Eddy & I traveled to Salt Lake City for the annual dōTERRA convention. This year we went a little early to see some sights and do some fun stuff before the convention started. We had a blast! Brooke flew to TN, so our church family could give her a baby shower before she was too far along to safely travel. The gifts were so sweet, but even sweeter and more precious were the prayers and prophecies declared over her and the baby.

Beautiful Salt Lake City

In October our longtime friends, the Lancaster's were in town for a wedding, so we had breakfast with them in downtown Franklin to quickly catch up on each other's lives. Always a blessing to spend time with them! We went to Texas for another family reunion. This time it revolved around another baby shower for our sweet grandbaby and a celebration for Mimi & Pop's 60th wedding anniversary!
The end of the month, after much prayer, we decided to put our house on the market. We want to be better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us, and that includes finding something more affordable. Eddy began a medical weight loss program at Cool Springs M.D. and is doing really well! Bradley spent yet more time in the hospital - this time with a kidney stone. Poor guy!  2015 was not very kind to him health-wise.

No clue what they're doing, but they're cute!

FOR SALE

In November Eddy, Blake, Brent, Lily, and I drove to Ontario to spend American Thanksgiving with our Romanian family in Canada!  Only fitting, since Brooke & Emanuel spent Canadian Thanksgiving in Texas!  Emanuel's family's church gave them yet another baby shower!  This is one dearly loved and blessed baby girl!! We drove to Niagara Falls and God gave us a breathtakingly beautiful rainbow! One of the Scriptures God has given me to cling to during this season is Hebrews 11:11, "She considered Him faithful who had promised." The rainbow was such a timely reminder of God's faithfulness. We also had an early Christmas with Brooke and Emanuel.

Niagara Falls - Hebrews 11:11!

Eddy, a few pounds lighter!

Our handsome guys at the falls

In December, Blake turned 19, the boys are hyped for the new Star Wars movie, and we are preparing for our last Christmas in our beloved house. It will be nice to not have to travel this year, so we can savor it.

One dearly loved little girl

Knit together in her mother's womb...

Beautiful Mama

Lily is as excited about the new Star Wars as the boys, apparently!
She's looking a little "Jedi-ish" here! 

PERRY PONDERINGS...

Sometimes walking by faith is really really hard. In so many ways, this has been a year of faith-testing for our family. Sometimes we have resolutely put one foot in front of the other, unable to see if the next step will land on something firm or cause us to plummet into a free-fall, yet walking just the same.  Other times we have stumbled along blindly, desperately clutching for something...anything to grab ahold of to steady our clumsy feet! We've bumped into walls, tripped over obstacles, and dodged fiery darts aimed our direction. We've also had glimpses of glory along the way, tasted God's goodness, and felt His strong arms around us, lifting us up and carrying us when we were just too weary to walk. I recently read something about the faith-walk I'd like to share with you in case you too are in need of a reminder...

Your faith grows as your heart, led by the Holy Spirit, perceives and understands the invisible realm of spiritual reality. That unseen realm governs the visible realm and brings your mind and will into agreement with the reality of the Kingdom. In essence, what I have just described is the process of renewing the mind...Hebrews 12:2 tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Our goal is to sustain our focus on Him because we become like the One we behold. The degree to which we understand our identity and purpose - who we are becoming - is always determined by the degree of our revelation of Jesus. He is the exact representation of the Father, in Whose image we were created...

The enemy knows that our job, as we walk in our position of delegated authority, is to destroy his works - to close the distance between the invisible reality of God's Kingdom and the unredeemed reality of our circumstances. The inferior reality of our physical circumstances always yields to the superior reality of the Kingdom - but we can only release that Kingdom to the degree to which our heart and mind are in agreement with it. The enemy tries to make our problems appear bigger than the solutions we carry....

Who cares what the devil's agenda is? God's agenda is so glorious, and His love and purposes for our lives are so great, that everything else pales in comparison....Our COmission comes from our SUBmission to His primary mission: On earth as it is in Heaven.

The difficulties in our lives expose the degree to which we really believe that God is for us and that His words about our destiny are true. This is the essence of faith - not intellectual assent to truths; but the practical trust we express in God based on Who we know Him to be through our relationship with Him. We express that trust when we choose to listen to Him in the midst of our circumstances more than any other voice and then respond to our circumstances in light of what He has said. --Bill Johnson, Strengthen Yourself in the Lord 

 I believe this is how Mary and Joseph got through their highly unusual situation. It wasn't because they were some sort of super holy beings sent from Heaven to accomplish the task. Quite the contrary, actually. I believe that the reason Mary was so quick to say, "May it be done to me according to your word” was because she knew Her Father and knew He was trustworthy. Think about their faith-walk for a moment. As Joseph guided the donkey that carried his pregnant wife, he had to trust that the beast would remain sure-footed. After all, it carried the most precious of treasures. For the donkey, it was just business as usual. It was doing what it was created to do. Hmm...perhaps the one we can learn the most from is actually the humble donkey...It simply put one foot in front of the other, confident that its owner would take care of its needs along the way, never questioning if it was strong enough to bear its load...

If we'd just take God at His Word, perhaps our own faith-walk might not be so frustrating at times! He is the One Who tells us that we CAN do ALL things with His strength (Phil. 4:13)! He tells us we can trust Him with ALL, acknowledge Him in ALL (Prov. 3:5-6), and He promises to make ALL things NEW (Rev. 21:5)!!!  My sweet friend gave me a wooden sign that simply says "All things new". I set it in a prominent place where I see it daily as a reminder of His promise.
One day as I was journaling about our NEW season of life, I noticed the scripture that had been pre-printed on that journal page...
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation. The old has gone, the NEW has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I had just underlined that last phrase and circled the word NEW, when I looked up and saw this across the room. In my haste to move the flowers we'd brought home from Brooke's shower, I'd never gotten around to putting them where I wanted them to be, and they were covering all but that one word on the sign behind them. I was so thankful He'd caught my attention in an unexpected place and asked Him to help me trust Him in the NEW.  Another friend said this, "I like the phrase 'new' as oppose to change....inherently brings excitement and hope".

 And so, dear ones, that is what I'd like to leave you with...excitement and hope on your own faith-walks. It is certainly with a tremendous sense of excitement and hope that we will begin the NEW year...welcoming a precious NEW life into our family! Next year's newsletter will contain a NEW address for our family. Who knows what other NEW things await us in 2016...oh, wait...there is One Who knows...The One Whose birth we celebrate...The One Who makes ALL things NEW!

With Much Love,

The Perry Family

MERRY PERRY CHRISTMAS 2014!

DECEMBER THE PERRY FAMILY 2014

Dear Family & Friends, 

Merry Christmas to you all! Here it is once again...our annual family update.

The first half of 2014 was spent in preparation for Brooke & Emanuel’s big day, June 14.

 

What a beautiful and holy occasion it was as this precious couple joined their lives together 

in covenant marriage. Loved ones came from all over the U.S. and even as far away as Australia 

to support and encourage this union. Our family was overwhelmed by The Father’s lavish love poured out in countless ways throughout the entire process. 

~ Brooke ~

~ EMANUEL ~

The newlyweds reside in Windsor, Ontario.

BRADLEY RECENTLY 

TOOK A TRIP TO ST. LOUIS TO VISIT A FRIEND AND HIS PAL, LARRY THE DOG. 

BRADLEY IS WORKING FULL TIME AT GAMESTOP 

AND LIVES WITH FRIENDS IN NASHVILLE, 

BUT HE DOES COME HOME EVERY NOW AND THEN TO DO LAUNDRY! 



BLAKE IS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR. 

HE WORKS AT FIVE GUYS BURGERS & FRIES 

AND AS AN UMPIRE WITH FRANKLIN BASEBALL CLUB. 

THIS YEAR HE GOT NEW GLASSES AND HIS FIRST CAR. 

HE IS BUSY WITH COLLEGE APPLICATIONS 

AND OTHER SENIOR STUFF.

BRENT IS 15 AND ENJOYED OUR TRIP TO THE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER MUSEUM 

THIS SUMMER.  HERE HE IS HOLDING CAL RIPKEN’S BAT. 

HE ALSO UMPS WITH FBC AND IS PLAYING BASEBALL FOR 

GRACE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY.

A New Season...

We find ourselves in a new season. 

This summer Eddy was faced with the decision to either move to Atlanta with LifeWay 

or leave LW and find something new. God made it clear we were to stay here in Franklin, 

so after nearly 28 years with LifeWay, 15 of those spent on the road, he tendered his resignation 

and has enjoyed a season of rest here at home. 

He has helped me a lot with our essential oils “biznistry”. 

In September he and I traveled to the dōTERRA convention in Salt Lake City.

We learned SO much and God really used this trip to confirm the ministry to which He’s called us. Prior to this trip He gave me the name for our ministry - Wellness 613 

based on Mark 6:13 and Isaiah 61:3. 

If you’re interested in more, please visit our blog www.wellness613.blogspot.com

and like us on FaceBook.

Eddy just accepted a job offer with Harper Collins Christian Publishing in Nashville 

and starts December 8. We look forward to all God has in store during this new season.

~ EDDY & JILL ~

In Cleveland watching the Rangers get slaughtered!

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

 Love my thoughtful gift from Bradley!

Windsor, Ontario

Sweet Lily

PERRY PONDERINGS...

Brooke, Megan, and I drove to Kansas City to ring in 2014 

with about 30,000 other passionate lovers of Jesus.Wow! 

What an amazing experience that was!

Springtime brought wedding showers, a trip to Mississippi, baseball, and of course, the wedding.

Summertime Eddy & I drove to Canada for another wedding reception 

and celebrated our silver wedding anniversary. 

Our family welcomed a new nephew, celebrated Pop’s successful heart surgery, 

road-tripped through the midwest,

and Eddy & I went to the dōTERRA convention in SLC.

In the Fall, we helped with a local dōTERRA team training event, 

ministered and were ministered to at our church’s monthly healing & equipping services, 

and enjoyed a Thanksgiving visit from Brooke & Emanuel.

Those were a few highlights from our year,

but perhaps the bigger highlights were those we experienced 

as we encountered God’s presence in ways only we as individuals 

and as a family will ever understand.

He has taken us to new levels of trust. 

He has given us fresh revelation of scriptures we’ve read hundreds of times before. 

He has performed signs & wonders in us and through us.

He has once again proven Himself faithful.

And so, once again, we turn our hearts to that humble manger, 

which led to the cruel cross and all that was accomplished there. 

It seems fitting to end with our family Easter photo,

since our resurrected Lord is the One Whose birth we celebrate.

With joyful hearts we wish you & yours a very merry CHRISTmas & a blessed NEW YEAR! 

With Love,

The Perry's

Silver Bells...

Summer 2013 a prophetic friend of ours heard God say "Silver Bells" while he was praying for Brooke and me one night. He was very hesitant to voice what else he sensed God saying, because he knows certain subjects are "delicate" and you could see on his face the internal argument he was having with God. We encouraged him to just say whatever he was sensing and we would ask God about it ourselves. He finally said he sensed there was a wedding in the near future...he didn't even know Emanuel was in the picture and he knew Brooke had never dated anyone, so this HAD to be God!  Sure enough a few short months after this word, Emanuel proposed and wedding plans were in full swing!  

June 14, 2014 we had a gloriously beautiful wedding and joyfully celebrated  the union of our daughter and new son. What a wonderful early anniversary gift to Eddy and me! Brooke and Emanuel may have heard wedding bells, but Eddy and I are the ones hearing Silver Bells...Today, July 1, 2014 we celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary!  25 years since we vowed before God, family, and friends our love and commitment to each other...til death do us part.  Wow!  

25 years ago, as we stood there in wide-eyed innocence, we never could have foreseen the hills and valleys we would travel together. The first eight years of our marriage saw eight moves, some across town, some across the country. In the first ten years of marriage, we were gifted with four amazing children. For our first anniversary we went out for a nice steak dinner, then ended the evening buying a baby stroller for our firstborn, who arrived the following month. We celebrated our tenth anniversary, also eating steak...this time cooked by Eddy's mom as we came home from the hospital following the birth of our fourth child.

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other for better or worse, we had no idea just how good the "better" would be nor how bad the "worse" would be. The "better" has come in the birth of each of our children; in the people God has brought into our lives; in His beautiful creation and fun memories we've made on numerous trips we've been privileged to travel;  in helping start a church; and in the crazy-good, mind-blowing, more-than-we-could-think-or-imagine ways we have encountered God's Presence...
The "worse" has come in the numerous ways satan has attempted to steal, kill, and destroy our family...we have found ourselves walking through tragedies that we would have called our worst nightmares, BUT GOD...Greater is HE in us than he in the world!

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other in sickness and health, we had no clue just how "sick" I would become with each pregnancy, or that Eddy would end up bedridden in 2008 and end up having back surgery...or how many injuries and illnesses our children would face through the years. We certainly had no idea we would end up in a ministry as wellness advocates with an essential oils company, educating others on natural "health" and wellness products!  Never in our wildest dreams...

25 years ago, as we vowed to love and cherish each other for richer or poorer,  we naively thought "richer" was something that happened through hard work and credit cards...Little did we know the many miraculous ways we would experience Jehovah Jireh's provision and abundance.  We never would have imagined we'd be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on the first of July and that Eddy would be leaving his job of nearly 28 years on the 31st of the same month, not knowing what God has next for us...making us wonder how "poor" will we actually get??  ;-)  As God would have it, a few days before our Silver Anniversary, we achieved the rank of Silver in our "biznistry"!  God is so good and oh so faithful!!

The day Eddy told me he was leaving LifeWay, I hugged him and told him there's no one I'd rather walk through this with. We are on a faith-walk...our current theme song's lyrics give a pretty clear picture of where we find ourselves in this season...
Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
My faith will be made stronger in the Presence of my Savior...

As I look at pictures of our wedding day compared with pictures in more recent years, I can honestly say I'm a happier woman today than I was then. The difference?  Today I know who I am in Christ. Today I know HIM more intimately and because HE fills me up with HIS sweet love, I am able to love my husband, family, friends, and strangers more fully...out of the overflow of that with which HE fills me up...

Have there been bumps along the way over the last 25 years?  Absolutely!
Will there be more bumps during the next 25?  Yep!
25 years ago we truly had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into or what the future held, but we did know one thing...our vows were more than mere words and our commitment was very very real. I'm reminded of an old hymn that was actually scripture set to music...
...for I know whom I have believed , and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day...
HE IS ABLE!
If Eddy and I had relied on our own strength during the difficult days, we would've thrown in the towel long ago and made up an excuse for why our "commitment" wasn't real...
BUT GOD...
God is ABLE!  Able to keep what we committed to Him on July 1, 1989, even when we were shaky, even when we've said unkind things to each other, even when it felt like all of hell itself was coming against us...HE IS ABLE!  Able to take two weak human beings and strengthen us to do the impossible. Able to take our hands and lead us out into the unknown as we continue this faith-walk He's called us to. 

I am blessed beyond measure to get to walk it out beside this wonderful man who seeks God first, who loves, cherishes, and serves me with such a humble heart...
I truly am more in love with him today than the day we married and I'd say yes all over again!
I have a feeling the best is yet to come!

Merry Perry Christmas 2013!

Christmas greetings to our amazing 
family and friends!

We pray this finds you all well and enjoying 
this blessed season.

We are so thankful to have our whole family 
on the same continent for Christmas this year!

~Christmas 2013~
Bradley (23), Brooke (19), Blake (17), Brent (14), Lily (10)

Our Year at a Glance:

Bradley has had a year of working a few odd jobs, 
and is now back at Gamestop, where he is working full time.  
His main interest continues to be film.  He has written numerous screenplays, and has been involved in the production of various projects in the Nashville film scene, including music vidoes, shorts, commercials, and features. He has also become a tattoo enthusiast, much to his parent's chagrin... ;-) 

This has been a year of changes for Bradley in many ways, but one thing remains. He is dearly loved by His Heavenly Father, 
Who has big, big plans for this young man.  

Brad with his new fancy shmancy video camera

Brad welcomes home
his sis from Africa

Brooke's update is a bit longer than 
the boys', but she's had quite a year!  
She spent last Christmas in Africa.  

After Iris Harvest School of Missions, 
she moved to Tete, Mozambique to serve 
as Pioneer 61's first intern. 

In February, a few days after her 19th birthday,  the devil tried to stop the ministry when their house was broken into 

and they were attacked and robbed. 
Brooke and the other missionaries told their attackers about Jesus and continue to pray 

for their salvation. Such a beautiful picture of what it means to be struck down, 
but  not destroyed! Brooke came home 
in March, where God opened many doors for her to share her testimony and minister to many people. 
She returned to Tete in May, where she served until September. While at Harvest School, Brooke met a young man named Emanuel, but she was there for one reason only - to focus on Jesus, not boys. After Harvest School, God called Emanuel to go on a short-term mission trip to China, then to Tete to help build a home 

for the Shekinah boys. While in Tete, God began knitting their hearts together, and right before Emanuel left Tete, he called Eddy & me, asking our permission to pursue a relationship with Brooke. God had revealed to them glimpses of their future together on the mission field, serving as husband and wife. Holy Spirit gave us both such a peace, we gladly gave our blessing.  Emanuel is from Romania and lives in Canada. Brooke was born in Mississippi and lives in Tennessee. They met in Africa and God has called them to the nations. They are already quite the world travelers! Emanuel came to TN the week after Brooke returned in September, then again in October. On the second visit, he asked Eddy for Brooke's hand in marriage and proposed on October 29th!! We joyfully welcome this new son into our family and are having oh so much fun planning a spring wedding!  Emanuel flew to Texas while we were there for Thanksgiving and met the extended family, who all gave their stamp of approval, despite his "funny accent"!  

Emanuel proposed to Brooke on the town square in Historic Downtown Franklin, Tennessee -  October 29, 2013                 

Brooke and me all dressed up for a friend's wedding 2 days before 
she received her own marriage proposal

Below: Blake takes his job as fantasy football

commissioner very seriously.

As I shared last year, Blake spent much of 2012 sick or injured. 
He had whooping cough, injured his ACL while jumping on the trampoline, and got a high ankle sprain while playing baseball.  
In October of this year, while Emanuel was asking Eddy's permission to marry Brooke, I was at the walk-in clinic with Blake trying to determine 
the cause of his severe abdominal pain. As it turns out, it was appendicitis, so on October 28, he had emergency surgery. The surgeon said his appendix had already begun to rupture, so we got him there just in time. We celebrated Brooke & Emanuel's engagement in Blake's hospital room with friends who had come to visit him. Blake always calls himself "the middle child", since he's the middle son. My favorite quote from the whole experience was when he said, "The middle child finally gets some attention and leave it to Brooke to go and get engaged!" We told him he could blame Emanuel for that one!  He recovered nicely and was soon back into the swing of things. He continues his job as an umpire, has his driver's license, and works at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. Blake continues to mature spiritually and God has used him mightily to accomplish His Kingdom work in many ways.  

Umping Brothers

Ever the competitor, Brent wasn't about to be out-done by his brother, and he too saw 

more than his fair share of injuries in 2012-2013, all of them sports-related, of course. 

Our orthopedic and physical therapist got to know our family really well! Thankfully, he has recovered from all of them and is back to his favorite place on earth - the baseball field, where he plays and umps.  He is now in High School and thanks to a 

growth-spurt, all of my children are now officially taller than their mother, which he enjoys pointing out regularly! Brent spent his 14th birthday in the mountains of North Carolina as we vacationed with the extended Perry family this summer. Brent is one of the funniest people I know, though most would never know it, because he is also quite shy. This has been a year of great spiritual maturity for Brent and we have seen him step out in boldness as he brings The Kingdom to the territory God has given him.  

                                              Coach Eddy with his favorite player

Pretty enough for an album cover some day...

Allow me to introduce our sweet "Kingdom Daughter",  
Megan Burns. Brooke and Megan met at Harvest School and Megan went to Tete on extended outreach. 

In January, Megan, along with others who had gone to Tete, came to Nashville for a visit and Megan 

led worship at our church.  Little did we know then that in a few months, she would be moving into our home.  Eddy told her we wouldn't charge her rent, but she does have to play the piano for us every day!  She happily obliges. Her and Brooke's voices blend  so well, I can't imagine the angels singing much sweeter.  God has crazy-good plans for this beautiful young lady and we are so honored to get to be a part of her incredible journey with Jesus.  

Brooke finally has a sister!

Lily has a few more gray hairs than she had last year, 
but she's still a puppy at heart!  

And she's still queen bee around here!  

I mean seriously? Have you ever seen so much cuteness??

Eddy is such a rock in our family because he stands on 

THE Rock, Jesus. He is quick to remind us that all we have

comes from God. Nothing is our own. We were bought with a price. I'm so thankful for his gift of wisdom, which he is faithful to

share with others God brings across his path. God has taught Eddy much about trust this year. The attack Brooke endured in Tete has been a spiritual marker for our family in so many ways.

For Eddy, I saw a stronger side of him than I've ever seen before. He didn't hop on a plane to go rescue her, nor did he feel rage toward her attackers. He trusted that God could take better care of her than he could, and waited patiently for her to come home when originally planned.  I'm so thankful that regardless of age, if we are willing to seek Him first, then be still long enough to hear His answer, He will always teach us something new or reveal 

another aspect of His character to us.

A little rain won't stop "The Grillmaster" on July 4th!

Left: Eddy & Me on top of 
Chimney Rock 

in North Carolina this summer

Speaking of new things...God has certainly done new things 

in my life this year! The night of the attack in Tete was the most helpless I've ever felt. I needed something sure and solid. The only thing that fits that bill is The Word of God. That night I literally

went to bed hugging my Bible. He reminded me that Satan's ultimate goal is destruction, but his evil plans did not succeed. 

God was still on His throne and His plans would still prosper.

To read more details, visit my other blog

 www.lovetheonelovetheone.blogspot.com

He sure had some plans for me I never could've imagined! In February I became an Independent Product Consultant for doTERRA Essential Oils.  I teach people the benefits of using what God created for health and well-being and actually get paid 

to talk about something I am passionate about!  Talk about a sweet deal! To learn more, please visit my website:

  www.mydoterra.com/jillperry and let me know if you'd like me

to send you a free sample. I'd be happy to do so!  

Thankfully, the boys are pretty self-sufficient with their schoolwork, which frees me up to focus on building my business. 

Of course, these days, my other "full time job" is planning a wedding!  How in the world did we ever plan such things before Pinterest??

Me with my siblings at Thanksgiving

So there you have it, a VERY tiny glimpse into our 2013. 

There is never adequate time or space to record all God has done in our lives, but we pray as you read even this little bit, that it causes your faith to rise. You see, we are just ordinary folks, 

but because of our relationship with Jesus, God Most High calls us His own children. That means we ordinary folks are actually royalty!  We have been given territory here on this planet to bring the Light of Jesus into. Whether that territory is in Mozambique, Canada, Tennessee, the ball field, the mall, or in an essential oils class, we are ambassadors of The Kingdom of our Dad. He has entrusted us with such a huge honor, to wear His name wherever we go. Wow!  Our family has been blessed to host many missionaries in our home...They all are quick to remind us that WE are ALL missionaries if we know Jesus. Ministry isn't something we make happen. It is something that flows out of intimate time in His Presence. On that first Christmas, the shepherds - the most ordinary of folks - understood this. Just a few moments in the Presence of The tiny King and they couldn't keep His Glory to themselves. They HAD to run and tell others!  When that baby grew up, the ones He chose to hang out with were ordinary folks like fishermen.  The first missionary was a tentmaker.  

Jesus' first dwelling place was a stinky stable. He probably grew up in a house built by his carpenter dad. During His ministry years, He dwelled with whomever would give Him a bed, even if it was onboard a fisherman's boat. Now, He chooses to make us ordinary folks His dwelling place.  Why?  So we bring His Kingdom into our territory.  How?  By resting in His Presence and allowing His Love to overflow out of us to a world that has lost its way. 

This Christmas I encourage you to pause in the midst of the 

hustle and bustle, and simply behold Him.  

Do you see His eyes of Love gazing into your heart?

Oh come, let us adore Him,
Christ The Lord.

With Much Love,
The Perry Family