Randy and Joy

Just was eavesdropping on my men... they were having evening devotions. Randy was talking about how he didn't know how God had chosen to give him Mrs. Martin for his wife back in college... but that he was very grateful that He had... i listened as the boys burst into cheers and hallelujahs and praise Jesus... precious. the rewards of our job... sigh.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to let you know that Ran and I went to the doctor for baby Marty - as the boys and we have affectionately dubbed our unknown gender child. Marty Martin. Either that or Randy Joy. Buhaha. (NOT OUR REAL NAMES FOR THE BABY) We were able to hear the heart beat and to visit with the doctor. She is a delightful woman who has delivered more babies than she can count. She said I was doing great and now am at 14 week mark (3 and 1/2 months). She said the baby's heart beat was perfect.

Spring break wasn't very good for Randy and me -- Ran had the flu most of it and I was homesick. HOWEVER, the highlight had to be Jean Mathwig coming to visit me all the way from VA!! as a surprise! what a blessing. We've been friends since the 7th grade and it was wonderful to have time together.



We'd appreciate your prayers as we press on and finish the race of 2nd semester here with our little men. God is helping us, but we ride on the wings of the prayers. Thanks! Blessings!

Hello dear ones...
I apologize for the length of time since our last post - the internet has been down at our school - but now back up and running (what a blessing!)

It is SPRING here in Mississippi - we sleep with our windows open and wake up literally to birds chirping. Spring time also means baseball games and tennis matches and most of all -- WIFFLEBALL. Ran loves to take our guys out to our backyard and play. We have big ones and little ones that all play and have a blast. Ran throws an amazing curve ball if I do say so myself.



Our boys must have spring fever because they are driving us crazy. Ran and I are looking forward to the end of this week when we start spring break and forego refereeing children for a full set of days. The plan is to stay at FCA for the break. We hope to fourwheel and lay by the pool or pond and tackle house errands that have been brushed to the side.

The newest thing on our radar... We're going to have a baby! Randy and I told our boys that we have a new kid moving into the house. They were confused.... because we have no more open beds. We told them the new kid would stay with us back in the apartment... "What?! Why?" "Because - you all are going to be big brothers! I'm going to have a baby!" Pandaemonium ensued. Cheers, applause, shouts of suggested baby names and congratulations were given by all 14 of our little guys. Very precious.


Here they are in their Sunday ties.

I am going to the doctor on Friday of this week to get checked out for the first time for the baby. I'll definitely let everyone know the details soon. Things have been somewhat rough with the morning/evening sickness and exhaustion, but God is faithful. I am teaching during the day still and Ran has been gracious with me to let me rest lots. As far as I can tell, I'm about 2.5 months pregnant.

Other exciting news, we got cell phone service in our town and wireless internet at our house this week! YAY! we can now more properly keep up with our friends and family. God is blessing us.

It snowed the other day - what fun!


Hope you all are doing well. LOVE!

God is working in our little town.

The town motto of French Camp: "A little town that makes a difference."

I'm so grateful to have 6 months+ with our little guys and my students under my belt. Now is the time when we see some results. Our boys are growing into men. I get to watch their character change - what a joy. Our littl' house has become much more pleasant as they grow. If you ever come to visit you would smile at our new favorite pastime in the house. Two tables have been turned into pingpong places! We've been playing constantly in the evenings... as well as Sequence, the card game. This weekend is one where the boys can go home to be with their families. We have a few boys that cannot go home for various reasons and I am excited to get more one on one time with them. We have an eventful time planned in order to bond...

I've been hoping this verse in Isaiah would be true of our young men: (55:13)

"Where once there were thorns (terribly annoying middle school habits), cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name (our boys becoming men who love Him);
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love."

Blessings!

Christmas has been a blessing. Time with my family was precious and time with Ran’s family, delightful and restful.









I have been prepping for a new semester of teaching the Bible -- this time to teach the Prophets and Divided Kingdom, something I know very little about. I’ve been enjoying spending my vacation days at Starbucks here in VA reading up on the subject and to pray for God’s inspiration as I prepare to teach 11th grade this interesting subject. God has been faithful to burn His passion for His WORD in my heart as I sit here.

This is the view I have from my seat -- full mountain view.



I love going to Roanoke to see the mountains surrounding the city. What an inspiration for the eyes as I ponder Jesus’ promise to move mountains in prayer.

There are lots of mountains in our lives right now. Kids’ faces come to mind as I think of the impossibilities of the job God has called us to in Mississippi. Faces in our own home, faces in our classroom, faces in our community. There are mountains I see in the mirror as I take spiritual inventory for a new year.

We would love prayer that the LORD would pour His Spirit out on our ministry as we gratefully pour out our lives for Him.

Hello, friends and fam.

Randy and I had a delightful Thanksgiving in Columbia SC with friends... The community was precious. We got to see many of you who read this journal and we were uber grateful for all the loved ones that the Lord has placed in our lives. We were sad to miss out on time with our families, but Christmas break with the fam is almost here!

There have been some interesting happenings here at the house... Lots of conflict and conflict resolution. It's been tough to be vulnerable to kids that you know are going to hurt you emotionally when you try to love them. It makes for a lot of anxiety on my part -- but I was encouraged the other day that Jesus willingly loved those He knew would hurt Him. He served and loved on the disciples, all the while knowing they would betray, abandon and deny him. I was struck that this is the heart of Christianity - loving the unlovable, the undeserving. I've been surrounded by many deserving people all my life; it's not so hard to love family who loves you back. My spiritual muscles are getting a workout as Ran and I pour ourselves out for kids who yell in our faces.

Encouragement also came from the thought of God's love for my unlovable self. I try to deserve God's love so often, and run away from Him when I know I don't deserve it... How wonderful the gospel that God saves me a sinner! May Christmastime be filled with the joy of His love! Blessings to you all.

The Martins

Hello friends.

We would love some prayer. Our house has been experiencing a drastic number of outbursts and anger issues. It's been very draining for Randy mostly, but also for me. Please pray that God will be working in our boys to be humble, not rebellious.

Thanks.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving with Columbia friends!
Blessings!



p.s. here is our newest hobby! a fire pit -- that brings hours of fun roasting marshmellows and snuggling in the cold.

It's been a while -- and I apologize.

Jennifer Strickland is coming to see me this week! Our first visitor from home... <3 What a blessing. Ran and I are looking forward to getting some quality time with my college roommate.

We have off this weekend, after a looong stretch of weeks with the boys.

Highlights of late:
Recently, one of our boys asked Randy to pull out a splinter for him. When Ran asked where the splinter was, the little guy replied, "It's in my butt." Yep. A good one inch splinter. They say they've been bonded together for life. In the past three weeks we gained another dorm student, bringing our grand total to 12. One of our kids ran away, one broke his foot, and another broke his hand. I was able to witness to two high school girls last week who both are not walking with God, but, in some respects, would like to. Last week I taught the Bible fourteen times by the time the week ended. French Camp is the coolest ministry that I've encountered in a long time. There is so much happening all the time!

Being at FCA keeps heaven on your mind. There is constant soul-work going on in you and in the kids. The freedom of heaven from sin and the rest of being with God makes you yearn for Jesus return. It all reminds me of a good Switchfoot quote:

"I'm gonna set sight and set sail for the kingdom come
Kingdom come
Your kingdom come
Won't you let me down
Let my foolish pride
Forever let me down"

Ran continues to display God's wisdom with the boys. Pray for us to have love for the boys also... sometimes they are just so frustrating.


Love to you all!

Quiet time today...

Isaiah 12
In that day you will sing:
“I will praise you, O Lord!
You were angry with me, but not any more.
Now you comfort me.
See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in Him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
He has given me victory.”
With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!....
Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy!
For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.

Such sweet thoughts today... That God was angry with me, but not anymore. That He comforts me today in the midst of my failures and sinfulness, in the midst of my selfishness and frustration... God has come to save me! Look at the cross, condemned heart! God has come to save me. He has given me His victory today over sin! I can drink deeply of His salvation love today. I just wanted to joyfully shout out His praise to you all today, because the God who lives among me and you is GREAT.

The wonderful janitor of our school reminded me of these words yesterday and I was encouraged.

We've been in the middle of the process this week -- we currently are on our 8th day of work with no day off -- due to some circumstances, we had to trade our day off from Tues to Thurs... This may not seem like a big deal to you reader... But if you had 10 middle school boys living in your house, you would send us condolences. Maybe flowers too. Ran and I are tired and the boys have been trouble all week. Ran's getting lots of practice at paddling.

Regardless...
This is such a cool place. Here's some pictures of our life with boys.













God is meeting Randy and me in our times with Him. He is stretching us in ministry and teaching us many lessons.

My favorite lesson of late: Deut 30:19,20 (in the good ole' KJV!)

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

I love the thought of cleaving to God -- holding onto him with all I've got throughout my day.... and that He Himself is my Life... He's all I've got! Good heart-warming stuff right there.

I pray for many of you daily.
We miss everyone!

I'm so sorry that it has taken up so long to update -- the wireless we were accessing at our house stopped working... and so we were in a communication bind!

Much has been happening down in the small town of French Camp. Football season is in full swing -- football is really big here. The Friday night high school games are the one function going on in the the community -- so everyone is there. Some of the kids I teach are players; I enjoy being able to support them with my spectatorship. Our junior high boys team played this Thursday for the first time. Two of our dormsons are on it and THAT was a blast. I felt like a proud little parent in the stands cheering my heart out for the boys. I kept proudly punching them after the game because they made my heart so full.




One of the biggest things that has gone on since our last post -- Randy spoke in High School chapel. The Lord used him to speak truth to the kids where they were at, spiritually and socially and emotionally. A bunch of kids came up to him afterwards to talk to Ran and me about what the Lord had spoke to them through Ran's talk. God is continually gracious to Ran and me here in giving us fitting words to say.


In my classes, I, under the inspiration of my mother, had my kids write their life stories for me -- 3 pages each so that they had to give some detail about their lives. WHAT AN EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE. I was crying as I finished reading them, overwhelmed at the hurting audience that God has given me in these 11th grade students. Everything from abuse to divorce to adultery to self-mutilation to violence and more were in these stories. My grandad used to be a social worker with troubled kids much like these I have. He loves to say: when you are a conduit of love to hurting people, that's when you see God, because that's where God is. He is near to the hurting, the brokenhearted, the orphan. Ran and I see our ministry at FCA as this, and what a humbling privilege it is to be God with skin on to these kids.


We praise God for what He is doing here. Thank you thank you thank you for your prayers. We would be dry without them. Love!

Here are some pictures to help our situation come to life a little bit...



playing... Ran does awesome leading the guys to play backyard ball.



some of the bonding that we did for high school orientation -- the "helium stick"; all these kids are in my classes.



this was our boys first day of school... they walk there every morning. Everything is so close!

Yesterday we had our first kid get a splinter (in his rear), our first kid throw up, and our first kid say that he loves us. It's a pretty awesome job.


Here are some pictures of some of our new sons...

jacob - curled up in a cubby hole. He's a littl' 5th grader with an amazing quarterback arm.



trevor - he's an 8th grader whose been at FCA a while and is uber helpful in the kitchen.



jessee - a 5th grader who has stolen my heart. he was telling me today how he once caught a baby alligator.



drew - a 7th grader who is still learning the ropes of FCA... love your prayers for him.


I'll soon put up more pictures of our other boys.
Thank you all for your prayers!

Hard to believe but Ran and I are now the parents of 11 middle school boys.

The morning they were to come I read this in my quiet time,

"Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builder is wasted...
Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from Him...
How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them."
Psalm 127

What an amazing promise for the morning of a new chapter in our lives! The Lord is so faithful. And let me tell you, our quiver is FULL.

Here they are -- minus one who came a little late...


Middle school boys are a blast in a million ways. They love to play outside, joke around, wrestle, and be a little band of brothers romping around together. However, Ran and I have also been thrown into the fire of parenting 101 -- rebuking, encouraging, and teaching manners, discipline, cleanliness, respect, and responsibility.

The days are full and long, waking up early to be with the boys and to send them off to school, working our side jobs during the day, and managing playtime, study halls, shower schedules, and lights out in the evening. We go to bed exhausted.

On Sunday night, one of our boys became a Christian! The pastor of our church gave a gospel presentation and the Holy Spirit made it come alive to dozens of FCA students -- many came up front crying over their sin and prayed for forgiveness and to follow Jesus. The staff came around and prayed with the students, including the president of FCA -- who prayed his heart out with my dorm son. When they pulled apart both of them were a bundle of tears and snot. An amazing picture of the spirit at FCA that God has worked here. We had a birthday cake the next night for that student, whose name ironically is Christian.

My teaching began last week and it has been going well. The junior class of FCA is a sweet one. My classes are small and have been open with discussion. I'd love prayers for the preparation involved!

Finally -- Wrangler is now officially ours! We just got word a few days ago. What a gift from the Lord.


We covet all the prayers we can get!

Love!

Hello friends:

Randy and I have entered the orientation week -- which I suppose is where you are supposed to get oriented. Oriented in our new jobs, our new house and our new duties.

The details of the dorm parenting job have come out to be much like our RA duties: forms to fill out and documentation to do and medicine to give out. The "being with" part of the job with the boys sounds much like a camp counseling job: planning fun events, loving on them, eating together, disciplining the out of line.

I found out that I am teaching 3 classes of 11th graders in the late morning/afternoon and I have my own classroom! I am excited to have a space to call my own as I teach kids how to study the Bible. Mary Faith Phillips, CIU legend, has officially taken me under her wing to assist my transition into the school.

Randy is going to be working out at the Onesimus House doing counseling and subbing for dorm parents there. That house is typically for the kids that have major discipline issues while at FCA. Ran's other duties will include setting up events for recreation times -- pingpong, wiffleball and basketball tournaments are all in the mix.

Our house has been coming together nicely due to my amazing husband and his painting abilities!

We've been getting to know the staff more this week through our orientation process. Really neat people with some cool stories and lots of character. People like to belly laugh down here in Mississippi...

Thanks for your prayers. We've definitely needed them.

Community. That's been the theme of the week.

On our departure day -- we were brought breakfast and starbucks by good friends. They helped us clean up things and put the last few items in the truck before we started on our 10 hour trip. Other friends brought us snacks and mix cds for the long car ride.

By the grace of God we made it alllll the way to Mississippi and arrived, as you might imagine, out of it. We were immediately invited over to a couple's house for dinner. That family of four then came over to the house and unpacked our truck in all of a half hour. The president of the school got wind of our activity and came out to help as well. Watching the president of French Camp carry in my personal belongings was humbling and gave Ran and me a taste of the spirit of the school.

Since moving in, we've been taken out to lunch/dinner multiple times by different couples, invited out on a boat for a Sabbath swim, and dropped in on by many neighbors. It's been awesome. Community!

Another amazing thing God has done! I had been looking for an Australian Shepherd before coming to FCA, but the timing had never worked out. The first night we were here, i saw a gorgeous Australian Shepherd at a house we were visiting. We heard that his owners were trying to get someone to adopt him because of their new small living situation. So, in the end, we decided to take him - for free! along with his crate, food, and supplies!! His name is Wrangler-- he's only a year old and really cuddly and loyal.



I see him as a gift from the Lord -- to help with loneliness, and to remind me of God's love for me.

I have been lonely -- missing friends that know me and love me... But I know those things take time. We see that this is God's adventure for us now.

We'd love prayers for setting up our house and for prepping for teaching. We miss everyone!

Here is our contact info:

The Martins
One Fine Place
French Camp, MS 39745

Our cellular doesn't pick up service in French Camp; however we have a direct line in the house. We may be in and out of the house this week, but we'd love to chat if you get a chance.

662-547-6779

We just got internet in the house yesterday -- we found out that we can access free wireless! What a blessing -- one less bill that will need to be paid.

God is taking care of us.

We miss our friends and family.

Love!

God had been so faithful this week to provide for us -- meals, money and good times with our friends here in Columbia. I've also had great preparation time on my class that I'll be teaching come August.


I was reading in Psalm 106 today about the forgetful Israelites. I came across this verse: "The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them."


I was thinking how Ran and I really think God wants us at FCA -- just like God wanted the Israelites in Canaan. Our only hesitations to this job were ones similar to the Israelites' concerns -- will God really provide for us things that we cannot give ourselves? protection on our marriage, friendships and community, grace in missing our loved ones, ability to do the things we are getting into?!?


Ah, but what a tragedy it would be to not enter the pleasant land God has for us! Only trouble awaits those who out of fear don't believe God's promises to take care of them.


So we move forward in faith, knowing that even feeble faith is pleasing the the Most High.

Hello loved ones! family! those who have made such a difference in our lives!

Randy and are embarking to the deep South officially. Saturday is our travel date.

We want to use this journal to keep everyone up to date on our lives. I have been thinking recently about how in God's kingdom, friendships are seemingly more transitory because of the call of God on each person to different ministries in different areas. But then I thought about Paul, the great mover and shaker in God's kingdom. He took great lengths to stay connected in knowledge and in heart with those whom he loved across God's big world. He wanted people to know how he was and to be encouraged by his story.

This is what I hope our journal can be.

Ran and I go to French Camp Academy in Mississippi to be parents. Dorm parents, that is. We anticipate having 14 middle school boys living with us, most of whom come from broken families or troubled life situations. Randy will also counsel part time, while I will teach Bible part time.

We are grateful to the Lord for bringing along a job for us, one that uses what we paid to learn to do in college and seminary! Our employment at FCA doesn't require us to raise funds, but Randy and I are in great need of prayer on our behalf, as well as for the kids in our home. It would be an honor to update you all on current happenings and concerns so that you might "storm the gates of heaven" for us...

Thanks for your time. Blessings!