Tomorrow's Challenge

Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for our family. On Tuesday, Caroline Reese Zijacek went to be with Jesus after fighting for her life for 5 days. We are distraught, heartbroken and anxious. We know that Jesus has and will continue to receive the glory for it all! Please remember Reese's family, Christen, Joe, Faith and Hunter as they grieve her death.

"Out of these ashes

Beauty will rise

And we will dance among the ruins

We will see it with our own eyes

Out of these ashes

Beauty will rise

For we know joy is coming in the morning

In the morning

Beauty will rise"

We love you so much sweet little lady, and my life will never be the same because I had the honor of knowing you. I look forward to seeing your sweet face in heaven one day!!!"

What I am looking forward to.....

WOW, what an amazing week!!!! After last weeks record attendance at church, the birth of Cann great grand #11 (she is need of much prayer) I just didn't think I was even going to be able to sleep last night. Much of yesterday was spent making preparations for today's church service. From making lists of names of people to invite to praying over each name at 1:00 am during a horrific thunderstorm, God has showed Himself faithful! I woke up this morning to more rain and children who didn't want to get motivated and move out the door, but Curt and I were both determined to be on time and to be pumped because we were expecting BIG things!!! This week was our first official week in the exercise room. We moved this week because as of last week we had outgrown the front room at the YMCA. We knew our crowd was going to be bigger but we had no idea what God was about to do. After a big breakfast cooked by our sweet Regina (her pancakes are the bomb) we talked about life and the church growth and moving in new volunteers. At 10:30, people began to flood in..........there was no room to move in the lobby.........let's just say I have not given or received that many high fives in years! The exercise room was packed out and there are plans to move to the gym after next week!!!! Carlton actually called it before 10:30, he said, "I figure after next week ya'll will probably be needing that extra space in the back gym"! Well Carlton, you were right!!! As I type, some of our volunteers are at the Lander FCA setting up sound and lights to help reach out to more Lander students.

Here are a few things I am looking forward to:

• An exhausted husband who will sleep well after this long but successful day of serving the Lord
• Chatting more with some of our new college students this week
• Saturday night text/Facebook-a-thon night with a few very special students
• Sunday morning when we get to do it all again

Sunday is my week off, but I will probably show up early so I can see God work!

This younger generation is craving a relationship with Jesus Christ. Be there to show them the way!!!

College Students gone WILD!!!!

Interesting day in the Hanna household! We began the day at the ball field where all the games were rained out:( it was so cold!

Among other things, God has really been working this week on the hearts of some our college students. We spent the evening with them last night and have spent all day today talking with and getting to know each of them a little better. Literally, these guys have only been coming to church 1 or 2 weeks and we feel we have known them forever. As of right now, these amazing students are sitting on our couch, facebooking and texting, inviting TONS of people to church! The response has been huge, we are actually making a list and it is still growing!!! God is getting ready to blow this thang out of the water!!! All of the trials and struggles we have been thru have led us to this moment, this place in time where we know God has called us to be. We are ready, fully prepared and know that God is leading us to be a part of something amazing! It may have taken us 3 years to get here, but those 3 years were not a waste, but rather a time of learning. God has been with us every step of the way and knew when and where we were going to be rejected. Well, here we are, rejected and unwanted by man, but from God's perspective, we are loved and longed for! Get ready to have your mind blown!!!! I am so pumped!

Beauty Will Rise

Our hearts are heavy yet hopeful as we pray over a precious new life born into the Cann family. We are known for having babies and having lots of them, so when we add to our already large family, let's just say the hospital doesn't stand a chance. Caroline Reese is here, early, but here. She has been fighting with all her might since she took her first breath and has been breathing on her own ever since. The doctors are hopeful that she will continue to improve and are focusing now on the thought that she may have Turner's syndrome which is not fatal....praise God. We have already learned so much from this little gal since she came into the world. We have learned not to pray selfish prayers but to pray for God's will to be done and trust that out of these ashes, beauty will rise. Happy birthday precious Carolina Reese Zijacek, you are loved more than you will ever know!

Siblings or No siblings, that is the question.......

Orphaned child waiting on us overseas! the number of children that are being offered to us.................................................

we are so unsure of what our next move will be. We know that God has a plan and that this necessary tension, the knot in our stomachs is for a very good reason. So, deep breath, what do we do? Well, first I am going to post on the worldwide web that in order to bring not ONE but TWO precious children home, we need right at $17,000, which we DO NOT have!!! Yet, something in the back of my mind keeps saying, remember how I have provided thus far, how you have not had to worry about paying other adoption costs? We need your prayers as we PRAYERFULLY consider our next move! If you are praying and would like to help us out, there are TONS of ways to do so:

• BUY a shirt, it will ship tomorrow
• Register for the race at www.abbevillespringfestival.com
• Purchase a spot on the back of our adoption race tees to advertise your business
• Buy some coffee
• Save up some of your "JUNK" and donate it to our yardsale
• Just donate $5, $10, $25, $100 towards bringing this child or children home

God doesn't call us to walk a nice and comfy path with beautiful flowers blooming and rainbows everywhere.....there will be times of stress and doubt, that is what molds us into the beautiful masterpiece that God had in mind. So, until next time, lift those prayers up!!!

The Magic Number Sunday

For the first time ever (since launch) we had over 50 people in service!!!! This morning was AMAZING! There has been intense excitement since the beginning of February, I cannot even describe it. It was like a weight had been lifted and God was saying, all your hard work and persistence is about to pay off! I cannot almost hear Him telling us to hold on because it is going to be a wild ride........well, I believe it! Every Sunday since February, we have had first timers! Big deal right?....NO, we have had 4, 5 and 6 first timers which is huge for us since 30 is a good number for us on Sunday! Well, this week was a major turning point in the life of Oasis:

1. We began our series called Why the Y and the CEO of the Greenwood YMCA was there in attendance and played a huge role in the service

2. We had 9 first time guests!

3. We have gone to 2 set up teams and have so much extra help there are still people who need jobs to do

4. We have 2....NOT 1, BUT 2 praise teams, so we are able to alternate, which gives everyone some down time to just worship!

5. We have raised over $2,000 for the well!

God has blessed us with some amazing, "on fire for God" college students who are all over Landers campus! Let's just say that God is about to blow LU's mind. There are student leaders there prepared to do whatever it takes to make Christ's name known on that campus! We serve an amazing God who doesn't take anything lightly. He also loves a challenge and I think he adores seeing the youth of today getting excited about sharing the LOVE of God with their friends! All I can say is next Sunday, that "HALLELUYER" greeting line will be even larger! Here are a few pics from this morning of some of our "staff" showing the "C" in YMCA, because we are the movement of the "C" in YMCA! LOVE it!

We love how even Carlton is involved in the "C".......we love you Carlton!

Beastly

We had such a great weekend, the weather has been amazing! Friday evening, some friends and I went to see the movie "beastly". It is a present day beauty and the beast I guess you could say. Not my most favorite flick, but definitely worth the time. The story begins much different than the Disney version, we meet an arrogant, handsome young high schooler running for student body president and his slogan to win is something like "being a looser sucks". He is later on cursed by the school goth girl, aka witch and loses all his hair, becomes scarred so that his is unrecognizable. His father moves him away from the city and then disappears claiming to be too busy to spend time with him. The only people the "beast" has contact with is the housekeeper and a blind tutor (Neil Patrick Harris aka the comedy relief for the story). He has a crush on a girl before becoming the beast and seeks her out on a daily basis, just to watch her from afar and learn more about her. Eventually we learn this girl aka beauty has a father who is a drug addict. She is put in danger when a drug deal goes bad and then the beast steps in to save her and makes a deal with her dad to allow her to come and live with him where she will be safe. You know the rest of the story....they fall in love and live happily ever after!

The big shocker for me was what the beast says later in the story as he begs the witch to release the curse on him. She tells him she cannot lift the curse because he still only thinks of himself. he begs her once more but this time says, "if you cannot help me, there are other people in my life who are hurting and aching more than I am. Please allow them to see and to be whole again". This really stuck with me and I was reminded of Christ as he took our place on the cross. We are hurting and aching, but Jesus said, punish me Father, me.....allow them to have peace and joy and to be whole again!!! What a powerful message in just those 2 minutes of the movie. It is just amazing what you can get from a chick flick;) I long to look at others and think, let them be whole, full and forgiven....punish me Father!

It Just Keeps Getting Better

March 9, 2002 at 2:00 in the afternoon, I, a very young 20 year old, married my best friend. We were young, but our parents believed in us and knew that we were doing things in God's timing. After graduating college, welcoming our 3 children into the world, planting a church & now seeking to adopt our #4 from Russia....let's just say these have been 9, full, crazy & wonderful years. We have cried over money, raising kids, following God's will.....laughed over inside jokes, milestones our children have made and how other people view us(yeah, that's the best one).

I had a teenager tell me the other day that my husband was FINE, and I laughed.....but then I told her, yeah, of course he is!!! I am so honored that he chose me! Who would have thought that the really cute, blonde kid in my aunts jumprope club would one day become my husband and the most amazing father of my kids? Getting older is scary, I am unsure of what is coming our way within the next 5-10 years, but one thing I can hold on to is the promise that God will guide us through it all. Thank goodness I get to walk this journey with Curt!

C- is for how caring and thoughtful my husband is. He always put our needs before his own!

U- is for his understanding that I am different than he is and I will always process information differently than he does. This has become very helpful as we have journeyed through this church plant.

R- is for his reckless abandon.....this is how he loves, adores and follows Christ!

T- is for his tender heart towards those in need. His heart breaks daily for those who are less fortunate than us, which is why he is determined to live his life to give to others!

Happy anniversary Curtis, lurv ya;)!!!