Main Entry: ENCOURAGEMENT
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: help
Synonyms:
advance, advocacy, aid, assistance, backing, boost, cheer, comfort, confidence, consolation, consoling, easement, enlivening, faith, favor, firmness, fortitude, helpfulness, hope, incentive, incitement, inspiration, invigoration, optimism, promotion, reassurance, reassuring, refreshment, relief, relieving, reward, softening, solacing, stimulus, succor, support, supporting, trust, urging
The last three visits from family and friends, The Steen's, Mom & Dad, and now Lisa and Declan- have proved to be amazingly helpful to us. There are many things that are encouraging about the visits, but mainly it is touching and humbling when someone will spend money to come to the developing world to encourage and visit us when they could take their cash and go to Hawaii, Grand Cayman, or any other place with fruity umbrella laden drinks. That's love!
Troy has enjoyed having Declan to work with and it has been fun talking to Lisa and hearing her observations. It is refreshing to be with people who know our hearts and accept us and build us up, flaws and all.
Only a handful of our readers know Lisa. We have been friends for most of our lives and have never lost contact with one another. We even ended up finishing college together at Crown College and hold the same worthless degree. We may have been the only 25 year-old-adult students to get repeatedly reprimanded by a college professor for talking and messing around in class. We used to skip out of school in junior high to go home and lay in the sun on hot spring days. We bring out the worst and the best in each other. Lisa's spiritual gift is sarcasm ;-) That's what made us friends from day one.
Lisa is getting a kick out of telling us all the things we should be doing ... "You guys should really do something about these roads. There are a lot of sickly looking dogs, you guys should start a vet ministry." And on and on, she is full of bright ideas. She will be our next guest blogger, I'll let you know when it is posted over on the guest blog.
We have just four days left to talk about nothing and everything and just like with Jamie and Sharon's visit, and Mom and Dad's visit ... It is going by too quickly.
(Photo of Dad and Britt from November)
