World View: October 2005

God is Good

The following is an email I received about how God works to make things happen. This email serves as a reminder that God is in control. NEVER doubt how big he is in the small stuff.

My friend Matt McClure is in Pakistan now with a team from In His Image Family Medical Residency doing medical relief work. Pray for them. Read this for an amazing story of how God got them out of the country:

"LEAH DUININCK'S EXCITING REPORT OF GOD'S FAVOR OVER THE MEDICAL TEAM TO PAKISTAN:

I just wanted to let you know that Mitch and the team made it out of Tulsa this am without a hitch. Without a hitch is an absolute miracle because there were several hitches J First of all, yesterday as we prayed for the team we prayed for favor with the airline. We didn't think we knew anyone at United, and we needed someone understanding and helpful to work with our team.

When we arrived this morning at 5:30am a women came running out yelling "Dr. Duininck how are you?" That woman "just happened" to be the senior supervisor for United Airlines that also "happened" to be a good friend of ours from Sam's baseball team. We had no idea that she worked for United and was only there this morning because one of her employees called in sick at the last moment. When Vickie came up to us the team about dropped their mouths J

On check-in we were informed that though we had been told that each piece of luggage could weigh 70lbs, the connecting airline into Hong Kong would only allow 50. Therefore each and every one of our 16 pieces was 20lbs overweight. Along with that, we had brought two 80lb tents and stoves for the team. Vicky worked like crazy for the next hour getting every single piece of luggage checked all the way to Islamabad. United waived the luggage charge (over a thousand dollars) on everything, including the overweight pieces and oversized tents and stoves. God is so amazing!!!!!

The next and biggest hurdle was that two of our doctors of Indian decent were not granted visas as of Friday to travel with the team. Meaning their passports was in LA at the embassy. After a quick conversation and a wave by the airline, the two Indian doctors where granted tickets to LA with the team, and the rest of their itineraries were not cancelled. Those of you who have traveled know what an incredible miracle that was, especially sense 911 and the civil war going on between Pakistan and India. God is sooooo good guys!! What a joy to just sit back and watch God work today.

After arriving in LA the two Indian doctors left the airport and raced across town to the embassy where they were granted their visas, another mad dash back to the airport just in time to go through security and board the plane with the rest of the team. As I am writing this the team is headed to Hong Kong with every member on board and every piece of luggage underneath. God is so very very good.

Please continue to pray for everyone as they continue on. Pray for traveling mercies and favor. This leg is 14 hours, and then they have a layover in Hong Kong before going to Bangkok, and then on to Islamabad.

The team will arrive about 7am Wednesday morning, which is Tuesday night for us. There is a 14-hour time difference. The team will shower and then head four hours north to the clinic site. The team will be staying in tents and cooking on the stoves they brought and living off the hundreds of power bars they brought J. The conditions are not good, no electricity and no running water not only for our team but also for the thousands of victims of the earthquake.

As to date the death toll is up to 80,000 and there are 20-25,000 people not expected to live through the next few weeks without help. There was another aftershock yesterday measuring 6.5.

Thank you again to all of you for your prayers and support. We love you all so much and know that you also will reap the rewards of this amazing trip. I'll keep you posted.

Leah and the gang

PS Ryan Duininck a special thank you to you for all your help with the tents that will house our team and will afterward provide incredible shelter for the teams to come, bless you!"

Wow.

And then there was Pujols...

This couldn't have happened to a better guy. I saw that the Cards were down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and turned away. What I didn't realize was who was about to step up to the plate.

Cards WIN. Cards WIN. Cards WIN!!!

Can they be the first team to come from 2 games behind to advance to the World Series? We will see starting Wednesday night.

Check out part of his testimony here.

Save the Date

March 25th, 2006 in Little Rock, AR will be when we are getting married, Lord willing. Save the date. We would like any of you who read this to also give us the neatest wedding ideas you know/have seen. Also, any help on finding a good place to honeymoon would be appreciated (somewhere with sand and water). Let the countdown begin!

our day of days

this is cindy here, about to give you a run-down of yesterday's events. i think the shock of it is finally starting to sink in, so i can kind of think straight, enough to post this, i hope. :-) let me just say that i am marrying the man of my dreams, and all the pictures you see of this extravagant celebration were straight from him and his heart of gold. jason, i love you and cannot wait to be your wife. it is an honor greater than words can express.

so yesterday morn, we headed up to our favorite spot in fayetteville- mt. sequoyah- and sat in the outdoor church for awhile, just talking, reading scripture, praying, etc. we had just finished praying, and were both already on our knees, when he turns on his ipod (aka-an amazing music machine) and it starts playing one of my favorite movie score melodies from Legends of the Fall. next thing i know, he's got this white box in his hand, and in all simplicity and genuineness, says, "Cindy, will you marry me?" it all happened so fast, that i think i just sat there staring at him for i don't know how long. when i saw the box, i thought, "well, that looks like a ring box...so what else could fit in there?" i honestly expected a proposal at the end of the year, so i was completely, totally, and utterly surprised. (mission: accomplished, jason) i finally got my wits together to say something that he translated to a "yes", so we just sat and hugged until he motioned for his awesome mexican roommate Roger to come out from hiding behind a tree, and take some pics of this amazing moment. Roger, you are a wonderful friend. Thank you for being there.

so once my knees stopped shaking and my heart was calm enough to start walking (the weight of what just happened didnt' hit until like 20 minutes later), we drove to the hospital to show his mom/sister/bro-in-law who were waiting to be released with their new and beautiful baby, parker. (or 'paker', as patrick likes to call him) then marsha left b/c "she just had to go buy parker a stuffed animal, b/c he was the only newborn in the nursery w/out one". so she mysteriously left, and only now do i know why...b/c she had to be at camp war eagle (the new camp ozark on beaver lake) to get ready for a surprise birthday/ engagement party that jason had been planning for over 2 months. unbelievable! who is this guy?!

so we go out on the lake w/ our dear friends chris & katie to wakeboard, but we had decided to take a quick "detour" to camp war eagle so katie could ask about a job, and so we could see all the developments. as we pull up to the dock, i see these 2 women walking down, and just staring at us. then one of them shouted, "surprise!", and i instantly recognized my mom's voice. i knew i was about to be shocked beyond my capacity, b/c if mom was there, then other v.i.p.'s in my life must be there. so i walk up to this pavilion, where jason told me "potential campers' parents were getting a tour", only to look upon some of the most familiar and loved faces that i know. i tell you what, it was INEXPRESSIBLE JOY that whole day. a very clear glimpse of heaven, having all of your favorite people who you love and know love you back, all there together, just celebrating life! it was so sweet. thank you to everyone who was there and made it one of the most blessed days of my existence.

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...praise God from whom all blessings flow...

This was when we first drove up and she could hear her mom and my mom yelling surprise.

Always so elegant!

Back the truck up....she got a lot of cool gifts. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a special day.

Chuck is excited b/c he knows this means she will be off his check book soon!

Big brother Lee and Cindy

The ring, from Sonya's camera

The Family (Ronnie, Marsha, Jason, Cindy, Kay, and Chuck)

The Princess herself

Downtown Julie Brown giving Cindy a hug after a year of not seeing each other

Cindy and Grandpa Bill

Cindy and Sonya. Thanks for the pics Sonya, you gotz mad skillz with the camera

The Chef....at least one of them. Thanks to dad, Scott Richards, and my uncle Montie, we had some wonderful burgers and dogs.

Pulling up to Camp War Eagle in Chris and Katie's boat. Cindy is just now figuring out that something is "up".

Marsha and Kay waiting to say, "surprise"

Me talking to the family

Christ and Katie...I couldn't have made this happen without them. Thanks guys.

Dad and Dad (Ronnie and Chuck, Left to Right)

more pics from the party

the cake

Grant enjoying his burger and not so sure about Roger taking his pic

The fisheye view of all the guest at the party

Opening Gifts

Virginia, Cindy, and Rachel

One more view

Another view. I thought she would like this, which she did. It sort of looks like a crown from the side. The center stone is a round cut with many, many tiny diamonds around it on the band, giving it a brilliant sparkle from all angles.