Soles4Souls

Today was our BIG event for Soles4Souls!

It was a very rainy day, but wonderful all the same!

Acel and Meah worked very hard generating publicity for us!

Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry

Jacen and Brice come out to help.

Jory was a huge help running out to give people their coupons as soon as their feet hit the pavement!  Unfortunately, he was so fast, I didn't even capture a photo of him.  :-(

Jia spent the morning decorating Daddy's race car trailer!

Hadley got out in the rain to bring some soles 4 souls!

Mrs. Gilliam cleaned out her closets!  Thank you.

And Ronda's son Brayden had out grown 'several' pair!  Thanks!

Our local saddlery store is closing our their clothing portion of the store and they brought several brand new pairs of Justin boots.  Someone is going to be thrilled to get these boots!  Here are Melinda and Renea rubber-banding them together.

Lots of ladies realized their over abundance of dress shoes and brought them over.

Of course we couldn't collect and rubberband over 600 pairs of shoes without a few sticking out!

These red white and blue shoes were our favorites of the day!

Jadeth and Stephanie loved them so much they wanted their picture taken with them!

Here's Melinda with another 'favorite'!

And Renea kept picking out shoes she loved!  I had to keep slapping her hand and remind her that they're 'for the children'!!!  She loved the Zebra! 

Here's Jia with her mouth wide open..

Renea, Melinda and I with some of our shoes!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped with this event!
KTTN for having us on Open Line and advertising.
Mark at Brown's Shoe Fit for the coupon!
Jadeth, Stephanie, Jacen, Brice, Jory, Acel, Meah, Isa, Julien, LaTorrie, Levi, Tyler, Tanner and anyone I forgot, that come out to help today.

Everyone who brought shoes. 

Just imagine your work boots being on the feet of a man working in the good 'ole USA. 

Or you're lovely gold high heels on the feet of a woman in Haiti going to church.

Those awesome Birkenstocks on the feet of an African woman hauling water.

The houseshoes on an elderly with no money to buy her own.

Imagine your cowboy boots that you had for 35 years being put on the feet of a man 1/2 a world away who has never owned a pair.

And of course all the flip flops on children who perhaps have never owned a pair.

The tennis shoes you donated will be perfect for a trauma ward patient who's shoes weren't worth saving when he was brought into the hospital.

And the dress shoes will be perfect for a woman in an abuse shelter trying to make a 2nd start in life.

It was very humbling to go through the shoes and imagine the feet that would wear them next. 
Also, to see the new shoes, never worn... and to realize how much we have and take for granted and how grateful someone is going to be to have them.
And last but not least, someone very special donated money to help buy our lunch!  Thank you!  We were starved and the pizza was 'oh so good'!  Love you.

All together today, we collected over 650 pairs of shoes!  We decided rather than paying to ship them, Renea, Melinda and myself are just going to take a road trip to the main Soles4Souls warehouse in Nashville and deliver them ourselves!  That should be a blast!  So you still have time to donate shoes or money for our trip if you'd like!  Thanks again for your help!

Easter 2010

After church on Easter, we had lunch and an afternoon of play at my Mom N Dad's.

'Someone' was being very onery about having her picture taken in her Easter dress.

This is the best I could do before we shucked it and headed out side!

There are always bubbles at Grandma's and even Jacen isn't too big to play!

A little baseball and yard toys too! 

Jia loves bubbles!

And egg hunting! 

(Yes I know, her crack is showing!  But, isn't it cute??  She's gonna hate this one someday!)

I hope you too had a Blessed Easter and celebrate Jesus as your RISEN Lord and Savior too!

A fact for you...

You might remember my post from here about the need for shoes around the world.

FACT:

300 Million people don't have a pair of shoes...

Or wear shoes that are too small...

While 1.5 billion pairs of shoes set idle in American closets.

Just setting there.

Not being worn.

Because we have too many.

Ugh.

So we're doing something about it!

Joint Heirs Adoption Ministry is teaming up with Brown's Shoe Fit, Grundy County Girl Scouts and our local schools to host a shoe drive.  All donated shoes will go here....

That's right.  Soles4Souls.  

The girl scouts can earn a badge by helping to host a shoe drive, educate themselves on the worldwide need for shoes and for donating shoes of their own.

April 24th, we're having a shoe drive along 9th Street in front of Brown's Shoe Fit in Trenton.

If you donate a good used or new pair of shoes and $1 to help pay for shipping the shoes to the S4S warehouse, Brown's will give you a $10 coupon to be used on sale shoes or a $20 coupon to be used on a regular priced pair of shoes.

Listen to KTTN April 19th for more details, as we're guests on Open Line again!

Here's a sweet little girl getting her new shoes from Soles4Souls. 

 Doesn't that make your heart smile?

Some schools have already kicked off their own shoe drive!

Here are kids at R-6 donating shoes of their own!  Their first day they already filled up the box!

YEAH R-6!!!!

Donations are already rolling in!  Shoes can be dropped off at the local schools or at Brown's already! 

Or track down your local Girl Scout and give them to her!

Now I haven't forgotten that the name of this blog is Journey to Jia!  Soon I will put up Easter pictures and an awesome day trompin' through the woods a couple of weeks ago!

Now go clean out those closets!

ALIVE!

ALIVE!
by Max Lucado


ROAD. DARK. STARS. SHADOWS. FOUR. SANDALS. Robes. Quiet. Suspense. Grove. Trees. Alone. Questions. Anguish. “Father!” Sweat. God. Man. God-Man. Prostrate. Blood. “NO!” “Yes.” Angels. Comfort.

Footsteps. Torches. Voices. Romans. Surprise. Swords. Kiss. Confusion. Betrayal. Fearful. Run! Bound. Wrists. Marching.

Courtyard. Priests. Lamps. Sanhedrin. Caiaphas. Sneer. Silk. Arrogance. Beard. Plotting. Barefoot. Rope. Calm. Shove. Kick. Annas. Indignant. Messiah? Trial. Nazarene. Confident. Question. Answer. Punch!

Peter. “Me?” Rooster. Thrice. Guilt.

Proceedings. Court. Rejection. Prosecute. Weary. Pale. Witnesses. Liars. Inconsistent. Silence. Stares. “Blasphemer!” Anger. Waiting. Bruised. Dirty. Fatigued. Guards. Spit. Blindfold. Mocking. Blows. Fire. Twilight.

Sunrise. Golden. Jerusalem. Temple. Passover. Lambs. Lamb. Worshipers. Priests. Messiah. Hearing. Fraud. Prisoner. Waiting. Standing. Shifting. Strategy. “Pilate!” Trap. Murmurs. Exit.

Stirring. Parade. Crowd. Swell. Romans. Pilate. Toga. Annoyed. Nervous. Officers. Tunics. Spears. Silence. “Charge?” “Blasphemy.” Indifference. Ignore. (Wife. Dream.) Worry. Interview. Lips. Pain. Determined. “King?” “Heaven.” “Truth.” “Truth?” Sarcasm. (Fear.) “Innocent!” Roar. Voices. “Galilean!” “Galilee?” “Herod!”

9:00 A.M. Marchers. Palace. Herod. Fox. Schemer. Paunchy. Crown. Cape. Scepter. Hall. Elegance. Silence. Manipulate. Useless. Vexed. Revile. Taunt. “King?” Robe. Theatrical. Cynical. Hateful. “Pilate!”

Marching. Uproar. Prisoner. Hushed. Pilate. “Innocent!” Bedlam. “Barabbas!” Riot. Despair. Christ. Bare. Rings. Wall. Back. Whip. Slash. Scourge. Tear. Bone. Moan. Flesh. Rhythm. Silence. Whip! Silence. Whip! Silence. Whip! Thorns. Stinging. Blind. Laughter. Jeering. Scepter. Slap. Governor. Distraught. (Almost.) Eyes. Jesus. Decision. Power. Freedom? Threats. Looks. Yelling. Weak. Basin. Water. Swayed. Compromise. Blood. Guilt.

Soldiers. Thieves. Crosspiece. Shoulder. Heavy. Beam. Heavy. Sun. Stagger. Incline. Houses. Shops. Faces. Mourners. Murmurs. Pilgrims. Women. Tumble. Cobblestone. Exhaustion. Gasping. Simon. Pathetic. Golgotha.

Skull. Calvary. Crosses. Execution. Death. Noon. Tears. Observers. Wails. Wine. Nude. Bruised. Swollen. Crossbeam. Sign. Ground. Nails. Pound. Pound. Pound. Pierced. Contorted. Thirst. Terrible. Grace. Writhing. Raised. Mounted. Hung. Suspended. Spasms. Heaving. Sarcasm. Sponge. Tears. Taunts. Forgiveness. Dice. Gambling. Darkness.

Absurdity.

Death. Life.

Pain. Peace.

Condemn. Promise.

Nowhere. Somewhere.

Him. Us.

“Father!” Robbers. Paradise. Wailing. Weeping. Stunned. “Mother.” Compassion. Darkness. “My God!” Afraid. Scapegoat. Wilderness. Vinegar. “Father.” Silence. Sigh. Death. Relief.

Earthquake. Cemetery. Tombs. Bodies. Mystery. Curtain. Spear. Blood. Water. Spices. Linen. Tomb. Fear. Waiting. Despair. Stone. Mary. Running. Maybe? Peter. John. Belief. Enlightenment. Truth. Mankind. Alive. Alive. Alive!

It's Friday, but Sunday is coming

My friend, Pastor Randy of 1st Assembly, shared this e-mail this morning and I asked permission to share.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.  JMS

I think there is a natural tendency for us to want to skip ahead to Easter.
Easter is celebratory.
Easter is bright.
Easter is upbeat.
Nobody would argue Easter Sunday is a day of celebration. We celebrate that Jesus conquered death so we can have life. It doesn’t get any better than Easter Sunday, the third day.
But we don’t hear a lot about day one and two? After the crucifixion on day one and leading into day two it almost seems as if nothing is happening. It’s a period of questioning, doubting, wondering, and definitely waiting. It’s a season of helplessness and hopelessness.
And honestly, this is where some of you are right now. You’re in a season where you’ve begun to wonder if God is asleep at the wheel or simply powerless to do anything about your problems.
Is it possible, though, that this season is actually a time of preparation? Is it possible God’s getting ready to do his best work in you?
Because that’s exactly what was happening during this time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. While it appeared that nothing was happening we know, in fact, that God was engineering a resurrection.
You may currently be in the midst of a horrible, out-of-control situation. You feel as if God is not there, that there’s nothing that can be done.
But here is the message of the gospel for you while you’re stuck in your seemingly helpless, hopeless, season of waiting: God does his best work in hopeless situations.
We worship a God who specializes in resurrections. He specializes in hopeless situations. After all, he conquered death—the ultimate hopeless situation—so you could have life.
It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming.
See ya Sunday!!
Pastor Randy

It's almost time!

Amish Grace

Remember my post a while back about this movie?  Well the time has come my friend! 

Amish Grace premiers on Lifetime this Sunday the 28th! 

Tune in to watch what is sure to be an amazing movie then check back next week and we'll talk about it.

I'm sure it will give us something to think about!