Easter Sunday

We enjoyed a great Easter Sunday! We started the morning off with the kids looking for their Easter baskets.. they were so excited to find them! I purposefully put very little candy in their baskets because I knew they would probably be getting more than enough throughout the day... and I was right (thanks to you know who... Grandma and Nana...but I guess that is their job ! :) )

After church, we went to a huge easter egg hunt that our church organized at the park. Thanks to many volunteers and church staff .. they had 6,000 eggs for the kids to "hunt". They seperated the children based on age and then it was free for all! Our kids loved it!

We then headed to grandma and grandpas' for Easter dinner! It was nice to be with Shawn's parents and my mom and her husband, Mike. Several of our friends and their families joined us as well! We had 15 adults and 8 children... made for a crazy and adventurous day!! We even celebrated through the earthquake and had no idea it had even happened! :)

We did a easter egg hunt for the kids and the adults participated in our annual Egg Toss ( a family tradition that I am determined to keep alive!!! Sad to say we did not have a winner... we all tied!)

A wonderful day... but best of all... celebrating the Ressurection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

So thankful that because of the work of the cross and because He Lives.. we can too!

Easter Prep

A first for the White Family --- coloring easter eggs!

We had such a wonderful time as a family. Averi lasted for about one egg before she said "all done" ... but Trenton sat at the table until the last egg was colored!

I was expecting that we might have a big mess, but we did not... Trenton is so neat and prefers things to NOT be messy... he splashed a little dye on the table and insisted that I wipe it up immediately! Haha... I think that Averi will be the one that can make a mess for both of them! :)

It is hard to believe how quickly Trenton and Averi are growing up!

Trenton continues to enjoy preschool and has made several little friends!

I have been spending time with Trenton teaching him some bible verses... I am amazed at how quickly he learns them! These are his current verses.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

"This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."

"Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."

What an amazing opportunity we have, to begin laying a foundation of God's word in our childrens' lives! And I know that the word of God does not come back void!

Averi is our little fashionista! Not a day goes by that she is not wearing some form of accessory (all on her own!) she loves necklaces, bracelets, headbands and shoes. She cries when I take them off for nap time.. hahah.

She seems to have a very adventurous spirit and loves being around people! She walks into Trenton's preschool class as if she owns the room! :)

She is starting a talk a little more... her favorite words right now are: shoes, thank you, please, all done and snack.

We praise Jesus for this abundant life!

Spring Break Mexico Trip!!

After an amazing weekend in Utah to kick off spring break, we made a quick turn-around and headed south to spend the remainder of spring break in Mexico. Every year we take a team of students to San Luis Mexico, a border town south of Yuma, to work at an orphanage and help minister in the surrounding community. This year we spent our time playing with the children, painting one of the dorms at the orphanage, ministering in a bible study for the boys home and a thursday night church service, ministering and providing food for people living at the dump, ministering and providing food for people who are unable to leave their homes due to either age or illness, working at the soup kitchen and providing ice cream for the children, and putting a new roof on the home of a local pastor who also teaches at the bible college run through the orphanage. It was an incredibly busy and amazing three and a half days! Here are some testimonies of the students who went...

"When we first pulled into Bethel and hopped out of the car, I was kind of nervous. One of our team members, Chad, spoke some spanish and started playing with the kids and they really liked him. I do not speak very much spanish, so I did not know how this would go. Suddenly, a little boy named Luis came up, hugged me and said, " Hola, Amiga! " That made me smile so big and know that the next few days was going to be amazing!" - Morgan Beadle

"When I came to Bethel, I came with this idea that I would be helping in great ways. When I came, the first day we painted a white wall with white paint and played with children. That was not what I was expecting, but the Lord opened my eyes to see how great a help that it was. The kids need to see love in every way and even if I can not speak the language very well, I could still love them unconditionally. I also saw that the God Christians serve in Mexico is the same God I serve. Through the testimony of Alberto and others, I saw how the same spirit works in all of us. The faith the Mexicans have is the same as I have. God works miracles through willing vessels." - Alison Bieker

"I put a new roof on the house of a local pastor. It will not let any rain in ! Now his house will be a refuge for his community and a temple for the Lord ! It hit me deep as we prayed for the family and their tears hit the sand and touched my heart. I was moved and every bruised finger was worth it !" - Chad Andresen

"In 1 John 4:11-12 it states, “1Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us,” and this spring break I was given the opportunity to go and share God’s love with the community of San Luis, Mexico and the children of Bethel Orphanage. A group of nine of us went to Mexico with the sole purpose of serving and glorifying God. We went with servant’s hearts and ready to share God’s word. It was an amazing experience. Most of the people in Mexico only spoke Spanish and there were very few people that we could speak with in English. This language barrier made it difficult for us to talk with them, but it didn’t stop us from being able to communicate and share God’s love with many different people. It was cool to see that God doesn’t speak in one language but in all languages. He understands all of us no matter what language we are speaking. We went to church at the orphanage and everyone was worshipping the same God; it didn’t matter if you were speaking Spanish or English. God heard each and everyone of us in that place. When we got to participate in a ministry in which we went to many homes of underprivileged people in the community. We got to pray for the families and share God’s word. In each of the homes you could feel God’s presence. We prayed that each person would be healed from whatever they were struggling with and that the love of God would consume their lives. There was one man that we were able to pray for; because of medical conditions he could not talk, but he could hear and as soon as he heard the name Jesus or we started talking about God, he would begin to cry. He could feel God’s presence, as we all could on that patio as we prayed for him. It was such an incredible experience. I continue to pray for each of those families, as I know they struggle daily with having faith that God will provide for them and protect them. Not only did we get the opportunity to minister to the community, we were able to play and just spend time with the children at the orphanage. We played with them, colored pictures with them, chased them around, and most importantly loved them. We poured out God’s love on each and every child. Although sometimes it was difficult to communicate with them, because of the language barrier, it didn’t matter because we could just pick them up and hug them and love on them. During this trip, God taught me how to be His servant and go out into the world and tell people about His amazing love because He has loved me." -Maggie Cannon

Ladies Night Out 2010

My name is Kent Stephenson and I have been part of ASU Chi Alpha since I was a freshman almost three years ago. Saturday, the 27th of March, 2010, I took part in making the food for Ladies Night out for the third time. Ladies Night Out is a tradition in ASU Chi Alpha with a profound mission: for men to repent of ungodliness with regards to our relationships with women and sacrificially show the love of God thereby raising the women’s expectations of men. Our world is filled with the conceited failures of men, so we let the women attending know they deserve so much more. As guys, we wear our best clothes and ask the girls to dress as they would for a prom, allowing them to declare, “God has made me beautiful and I receive all strength from my identity in Him”. We take care of everything for them – we valet cars, escort them to their tables, pull out chairs for them, cater hand-made gourmet food, provide entertainment, and speak words of life into them – all in the attempt to imitate Christ’s love.As the men show women (to the best of our ability) how God loves them, we discover parts of our identity as well. In serving the women of Chi Alpha by preparing the food, I found a skill within myself I had not known was there. The first year I prepared a meal for 40 people with only one other person helping me. I had never known that was possible, or even that I was able to cook well. Now I use this emerging talent to bless my friends throughout the year by making food whenever possible. Ladies Night Out has also taught me the importance of accepting thanks. My freshman year I wouldn’t let any of the women say a simple “thank you” without saying that “it wasn’t me, it was all God.” Although this is true to certain extent, I have learned that a simple “you’re welcome” is better than false humility.I have seen both women and men grow in maturity and better understand God’s love through these nights of ministry. I pray that this tradition continues in Chi Alpha and only surpasses what has already been done.

A couple Testimonies from LNO:

The last thing I expected from college guys was for them to tell me that they honored me and treasured me as their sister in Christ. Ladies' Night Out has been an incredible healing experience. It has renewed my hope in the Godly men who are future leaders in the church as they pledged to protect and uphold my honor and respect me because I am a beautiful woman.

- Jenni, Junior

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This was my first year attending LNO and I was just amazed at the caliber of the event. From driving up and seeing the guys waiting to escort us in to their readiness to get us anything (and repeated again "anything") we needed, it was such servitude. They made sure everything was excellent because they wanted to make sure we knew that we deserved excellent. I brought two high school friends and one in particular was just awe struck by the event and upon reading a letter that the guys had written for us, said to something to effect - "I am going to frame this!" For me, the night was an opportunity to learn more about guys and relationships. In one section of the event, called the Panel, the guys were open and honest, answering questions we had submitted. It was eye opening to hear some of their responses to questions and to see them as brothers who fight for us, support us, and are honest with us. It was a night of love and learning - a blessing for each girl present.

- Emily, Freshmen

Stand Firm

I had an awesome opportunity to go to a Beth Moore Conference. Eventhough it was a quick trip to Tucson, it was so nice to connect with other women and to have a chance to be poured into.

Beth taught out of 1 Corinthians 15 - she began with the bookends of the chapter -- first and last verse... these verses alone with such words of life and encouragement to me!

"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand." 1 Corinthians 15:1

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

1 Corinthians 15:58

At times I have felt discouraged, misunderstood and even defeated in ministry...but I am so thankful for God's charge to us to stand firm and a reminder that the work He has called us to is not in vain... regardless to what our natural eyes see and regardless of what man may think.

Praise God that He is at work all around us and that we have the amazing gift to partner with His Spirit! He is looking for willing vessels and His grace is sufficient for us!

"All pain and all gain is to create a space for grace." -Beth Moore