“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? …
10. I have two wonderful nieces who are like daughters to me. One of them is my very best friend next to my husband, he is number one. Their brother, my nephew, and my sister’s only son died January 29th 2018 in a tragic head on car crash. He was 45 years old.
Proverbs 18:24
(ESV)
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
11. I love the mountains and snow skiing. That was until a snowboarder ran into me and almost broke both of my legs. I have been skiing one time since that event. I still love the mountains and the snow.
And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
12. I have been highly blessed to travel to Zambia, Africa on two mission trips and if the Lord is willing we will return this summer for my third time and Tommy’s fourth time. I asked to go to Africa one time: I went the first time in 2005, then again in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014 and moved there in 2016. We lived there for six months and had to moved back to Texas. Broke our hearts. Five times we did medical missions and one time we visited orphanages and villages where we had drilled water wells. What a blessing that was. In 2007 we spent eight days straight in the bush with no power or running water. Slept in tents on the ground. In 2016 we six days( two at a time) in three different villages doing medical mission. I have always helped with dental.
Matthew 28:18-20
(NASB)
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I did return to Zambia in 2009 and again in 2012. Returned in 2014 and 2016.
My husband’s fifth time and my fourth time. My sixth time and my husbands seventh time. We had the privilege of meeting the children who had been named after us. Little Tommy and Little Shelia. There was at least one more Shelia in 2016. What an honor. The women in the villages we visited sang to us and danced for us thanking us for giving them water. The three villages we visited our church had drilled water wells.
John 4:12-14
(NASB)
12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
13. The first time Tommy went to Zambia without me, I stayed home and took care of 100 plus goats. If you know me at all, you know that threw me completely out of my comfort zone. My comfort zone is in the house and none of the goats come in the house.
14. Going to Africa of all places, is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It takes two to three days on planes and in airports to get there. I am a bit of a clean freak and there is nothing clean there. Nothing is easy and I like things to run smoothly. However, it was by far the best thing that I have ever done. It’s the most fun I have ever had. God is good, God is great all of the time, as the Zambian’s say. Living in Zambia Africa was probably one of the top hardest things I have ever done. But I would do it in a heartbeat again if I could.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
15. My life changed courses when I went to Africa. The Lord Planted my Feet on Higher Ground. This world is not my home. This world is still not my home.
2 Peter 1:2-4
(ESV)
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirm Your Calling and Election
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
16. I have driven a school bus, bulldozer and a John Deere tractor. I have ridden in a NASCAR at 140 mph at Texas Motor Speedway.
17. I got my dream sewing machine for Christmas 2008. It is a Babylock Ellegente 2 Embroidrey Machine. In 2010 I got a six needle Babylock. Which in the scheme of things does not matter. Sold them both in 2016. Bought the Ellegente 2 back in 2017 when we came back to Texas. Using it now to make dresses for little girls in Zambia and Reusable- Sanitary Pads for young ladies in Zambia.
18. I want to float down the river in the Grand Canyon. Did float down the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge in Colorado. Class 4-5 rapids.
19. We took a 45 minute boat trip up the Zambezi River to a village, Kavalamanga, to worship our Lord. We saw crocodile, hippos and Kudzu and elephants on the banks. The Zambezi River is about one mile wide and it empties over Victoria Falls.
20. I have been to Victoria Falls. AWESOME- right there with the Grand Canyon and Niegra Falls.
Genesis 1:9
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
21. We have had a Zambian Chief in our home for a meal two different times. Then we visited him and his family in his village of Mumena, Zambia. We have also met another Chief in Zambia and visited his palace.
22. I saw the Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater in London in 2005. This was 21 hours after the tubes and the buses had been bombed there in 2005. I also saw The Phantom of the Opera in New York City in 2012.
23. I want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
24. I experienced death for the first time at the age of five when my two year old cousin died. Then again when I was twenty-five when my twenty-two year old brother died. I was with him when he died. Then in 1982 I was with my grandmother when she died. In 1984 Tommy and I were with his Dad when he died. In 1992 I was with my Dad when he died. In 2007 I was with my beloved Mom when she left this world.
1 Corinthians 15:54-56
(NASB)
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
25. My number one goal is to serve the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY with all my heart, my mind, my body and my soul. It still is but I struggle in this area. Still working on this and still my #1 Goal
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, andwith all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 8:28 is my favorite verse in the Bible. We must live to obey Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus said “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Shelia's Notes 