some exciting things going on in the shepard's life...

Well, I have some very BIG and EXCITING news to share with you today!!!!! My husband has surrendered his life to full time ministry! He has been struggling with this call on his life for about 2 years. Thoughts just kept filling his mind that he wouldn't be able to do this....or that he wasn't smart enough......or the fear of having to move away from our hometown. Thoughts and fears would not leave him and he was miserable. But, God kept working on him and he knew that God was calling him to become a pastor. He feels peace about this and God has confirmed this decision to him over and over the past few months! As Tim's wife, I too had to be "on board" with this decision. I feel peace about this and I'm willing to following the Lord's leading on our life....whatever and wherever that might be. I did struggle for awhile with the fear of having to move away someday. I don't know if that will ever happen or when that might happen. All I know is...that I have to be willing. I want to be in God's will for our life. I can say that I have faith in God....but if I'm not willing to move if he calls...than that is not faith and I'm not trusting Him. God calls us to trust Him and follow Him at all times. To trust Him in the BIG and little things in life. God desires His best for me and Tim....and for you! God loves me and is for me! That is so exciting!!!! So....I believe I will be okay if we have to move away someday. :) So, now we are just praying and looking at what our next step will be. Tim has to go to Bible School and get his degree. We are looking into that and all our options.

We are super pumped and excited to start this journey!!!!!! I am so proud of my husband! I love hearing him when he speaks to the youth at our church now....so now I will get a whole lifetime of hearing him preach! lol! I am going to have A LOT to learn about being a "preacher's wife"! :)

That's my man!!!!

Hope you guys are having a great Thursday! I am going to workout after work and then I'm going to fix a yummy dinner. I'm trying a new recipe!

Hugs!

Amanda

Mission Trip Update- Part 3!

This evening is sooooooo amazing! Why you ask? Tim and I don't have to be ANYWHERE tonight! It is fabulous. This is the first night since we have been back from Uruguay that we don't have to be anywhere. I am truly soaking it in. I cooked a yummy dinner, did laundry, did some cleaning....it's the simple things....but those things have been neglected lately. Now, me and the Mr. are just chillin on the couch! This blog post is part 3 of pictures from our mission trip. These first few pictures are of the buildings and homes in Rosario. Things are very colorful there! I love it!

This picture is what the homes look like in the outskirts of the city. Very poor and not as colorful.

These next few pictures are of some of the sweet people that attend a small church in the town of Villa Pancha. The people from that church went out with us into the town of Rosario (where there is no church) and handed out the Gospel of John and talked to people. They went with us as we prayer walked the town. They helped us hand out invitations to homes for a kid's club and a movie night we had during the week. They were such a blessing to our team! I got to know a lot of the church members....so it made it really sad to leave them! It is so neat to know there are Christians all over this world and you immediately have a connection with them because of the love of Jesus! It is amazing!

These are the sweet women of the church in Villa Pancha! Some women from our church in Springfield, MO made these aprons for us to take with us and give to them. They loved them!

My husband was able to speak one evening at the church! He did a wonderful job! That is one of the translators with him.

This is the church during one of the worship services! It was incredible to hear them worship in Spanish. If it was a song we knew in English....we would sing along in English while they were singing in Spanish. It was the coolest thing and brought tears to my eyes! We were there to encourage the people in that church....but in return...they were such a blessing and encouragement to us! They have such hospitality and love in their hearts! They also have a HUGE desire and burden for their city.

That is all for this update! :) I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Amanda

Hey Hey Hey....It's WILW!

Happy Happy Wednesday!!!!

I'm so glad I get to do a WILW post again! It has been a looong time.

Link up with Jamie to join in! :)

First things first......

I LOVE my husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He makes me incredibly happy. Just this morning....I sent him a text and I was kinda down and sleepy and feeling sorry for myself. And he sends me back the funniest message! I don't know how he comes up with some of the stuff he says...but it's hilarious. He cheers me up right away.

I LOVE Uruguay!!!!!! I miss it. I miss working with the people there. However....I'm so thankful for my home and I love being home. (oh yeah....I totally took this picture! ha! you probably thought i found it on google or something! no sir...i took it myself! i think it's postcard worthy....) :o)

I LOVE my little Miss Maddie!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't she just a beaut? heehee! She is so funny and cute and makes me happy everytime I come home from work! Everyone needs a Miss Maddie in their life.....

I LOVE sleep!!!!!!!!!! I'm not getting as much of it as I would like right now cause we are so busy. But I do LOVE it. I'm looking forward to some Saturday where I can sleep as long as I want to. Sadly....I don't see any of those coming up in the near future. Garfield looks so cute on his pillow.

I LOVE coffee!!!!!!!!!! Give me Folgers, give me Mc Cafe, give Dunkins....I don't care I'll drink ya!

I LOVE being Mrs. Timothy Shepard!!!!!!!!!!!!! I so love being married to this strapping young fellow. We took this self-photo at the McDonald's in Uruguay! hahah! We look HOT...as in sweaty...not sexy!

Well, I think that was a fun edition of WILW!

Here is hoping you have a fantastic, joyous, laughter filled Wednesday!!!!!!!

Hugs!

Amanda

melt your heart!

I'm so glad it's the weekend! :) I'm loving it. Hopefully I will get to catch up on blogging! Today I am sharing pictures of some of the children we met in Uruguay. Warning: Their sweet little faces will melt your heart! I met so many precious children. The church that we were working with had a park across the street....so we were over there playing with kids all the time. We gave them gum (they LOVE gum!) and candy! I can't even tell you just how much they loved those treats! We were able to get most of the children in the park to come to the kid's club we had each night at the church. We taught them a Bible story, had snacks and crafts. Then we had a time for the adults too. (which i will tell you more about later!)

That's it for today! :) What are you guys doing this weekend? Do share!

xo,

Amanda

God of this City...

Happy Friday to all! This week has flown by. It feels like it was forever ago that I was Uruguay. That makes me sad! Confession: I still haven't unpacked! ha! We have a really busy weekend ahead....so unpacking is not looking promising. :) Well, as you can imagine...I have a crazy amount of pictures from our trip! And I would love to share them all with you, but that is just not possible on Blogger. I have over 200 of them posted on my Facebook page if you are interested! And I have over 500 pictures saved on my laptop! hahah! So, I just thought every few days I would show you the highlights of our trip on my blog. Today I posted a few pictures from our traveling time at the beginning of our trip and our first Uruguayan meal when we got to town!

(you might notice i had a lot of fun editing some of my photos!! hehee!) Excited to leave for the airport!

This is our entire mission team!

These are the faces after a really really really looooooong flight to Uruguay! ha!

This was our faces on our very first flight of the day!

We look much"fresher" than in the previous picture!

Our first meal in Uruguay! This is Paso de los Toros. It's a grapefruit soda!

There was lots and lots of meat. Some meat I'm not sure what it was! I did hear that some of it was intestine.

Hungry anyone?

Tim trying out a "mystery" meat! hahaha! He has no fear.

This was my plate. A stuffed chicken, beef, cold potato salad (type thing) and bread.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first segment of pictures! It is so hard to go from doing mission work for 9 days......to normal life this week! It makes me a little depressed. But I can't stop thinking about how many needs there are in my own town...and my own neighborhood at that! There is much to be done.

It makes me think of the Chris Tomlin song "God of this City".

Greater things are still to be done in this city.....

Enough of my random ramblings! :o)

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!!!!

Lots o' love!

Amanda

Hola!!!!! I'm Back! :)

Hola mi amigos! :) I'm back from Uruguay! I am so exhausted.....but the trip was nothing short of amazing! I have so much I want to share, but I have to get adjusted to "normal" life again first! We got in on Sunday night....and my suitcase is still not unpacked!!!!! ahh!! That is how busy we have been. We have had to be somewhere every night this week so far. I want to be really careful that busyness doesn't take away from what God wants to teach me from this mission trip and the changes that need to take place in my life. I don't have all my pictures uploaded to my computer yet....so I just wanted to leave you with a few! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!

Me and one of my team members at the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay!

Mr. Tim being silly and playing with the Uruguayan kids!

I have missed you guys! A lot is going on in our life right now....and I'm excited to share with you soon.

First things first.....I need to unpack and do laundry! yuck! :)

Hugs!

Amanda

This is IT!!!!!!

Well, this is my last post for about 10 days!!!! We are leaving bright and early in the morning for Uruguay! I would totally be lying if I said we are all packed and ready.....big fat lie! ha! We will probably be up super duper late tonight packing. Plus, I have to clean my entire house too.....for the house-sitter!

You know how that is.

We have to make a Wal-Mart run tonight.....for last minute snacks, gifts for the missionaries, supplies and groceries for the house-sitter!

Oh....and very important....we have to charge our phones, ipods and camera tonight! Must not forget that! :)

I am starting to feel a little airplane anxiety though. :( I truly hate flying...but I have to muscle through it. If you total up all our our flights and wait times in the airport etc...we will have about a 14 hour trip to get there!

I wanted to thank each of you who said you were praying for our youth pastor, Jared! You guys are so sweet. Jared has a doctor appointment today to get all the gauze and stuff taken off his hand. It will be the first time he sees his finger since the accident. Jared is very nervous about this.

(If you don't know what I'm talking about....you can read about it in my previous post).

Sidenote: I am really really really (i will add one more "really") going to miss my sweet doggie Maddie while I'm gone! Ugh...I do not like leaving her. But I know the house-sitter is going to take good care of her.

Also....I will miss blogging and getting to read all of you're funny, sweet and encouraging posts! I will have LOTS to catch up on when I get back! haha!

Well, I better wrap this up! Lots to do! :) I will catch up with everyone when I get back!

Keep us in your prayers!

Lots of LOVE!!!!!!

Amanda