WOW and WE LOVE YOU!!!

Okay so this will be our last blog for a while.

At Ten Thirty Louisiana time, Joel and I were asked to go sail with the ship coming back from Isreal. They really need us and we jumped at the chance. So in 20 minutes we will be leaving for the airport to fly to the ship.

Our Vacation has been delayed which is really sad on one hand but because of what we are doing we are excited and will get the chance to see our families when we get back.

Prayer Requests:
1. That we can reschudule our vacation with the right timing and low fees
2. We will meet the ship in a timely manner with our luggage meeting us at the exact same time as we land in our destination
3. We will be an encouragment and a breath of fresh air with the Spirit of God to the crew .
4. We will stay in Praise and Worship of God as we go into this new Chapter
5. We won't forget anything
6. Hahaha We won't get sea sick.

We love you families and friends. We will see you in God's timing and not our own. The best part about this adventure is that it is God planned. To put our families at easy I will tell you my dream I had before the ship left for Israel

I dreamt that Sondra pulled me aside and told us how faithful Joel and I have been and that not matter what we would be on the Isreal Trip even if they have to fly us.

Isn't God so awesome to fulfill the dream He gave me. So we are totally in God's will and timing.
We love you guys can't wait to see you when we get back.
Our blessings to ya'll

To the ends of the earth with Christ,
Joel and Dess

The Past Few Weeks

These are the baby sisters.


Be afraid be very afraid.















They don't look so afraid














SO we had a fun night babysitting Elise and Nathaniel.

The Boys dressed up like Pirates and the girls were the Pirates Booty. (Booty is non your rear end) We were captured by the pirates. We had a blast while the parents were away.

A lot has happened since last we blogged. Joel and I did weekend duty two weekends ago. Which means you work all weekend so that you can cook and clean for the crew. You get days off for the work you do. Joel and I kept the days off so that the next weekend we could go with our Church's youth group to Galveston. The only probably is that the Monday after weekend duty Joel got his wisdom tooth out. So Joel wasn't able to work all week and was not able to attend the conference. But I had a blast with the kids. 19 teens went and 6 adults.

The speaker was awesome and the musical worship was off the hook. (Off the hook means it was awesome) There was about 10 other youth groups that came. On Saturday we had a ton of time to do what we wanted so I took a bunch of the kids down to the pool of our hotel and a group of us spent all afternoon swimming in the pool with beautiful weather. We stayed at the Hitlon on the seawall of Galveston. A uptown Hotel. I felt like a princess in a castle, it was wonderful.

At the end of the weekend the youth or adults could be baptised. There was only two that wanted to baptised which were from our Church. Brandy and Megan were batpised. It was amazing to be apart of that. I had such a blast at the confrence and I fell totally in love with the teens. There were times I wanted to beat them down but 99 percent of it I loved them to death. It was off the hook and it showed me a lot about myself and about how teens aren't as bad as I remember them. When I was a teen I was a punk and didn't want anything to do with God. These kids totally showed me the opposite. Yeah they had their ear stuck to a cell phone for a lot of the time and they hated turning them off their cell phones each service (we had 4 different services) But they totally had a willing and open heart toward the gospel which is so much more than I had as a teen.

I was also nicked name the chaperone of chaperones. There was one chaperone that I became close friends with that would turn on his cell phone during the services. So I kept him in line and gave him the evil eye. Yeah it worked, he didn't turn on his cell phone during the services for the rest of the time. He was like "What. They need to do what I say not what I do" So he made fun of me the rest of the time and called me Mother Teresa.

All in all it was fabulous and I totaly saw God through the whole thing. The best part of all was that I got to love on the kids like no other which is my favorite thing to do in the whole world. Love love love.

Well that is about it. I love ya'll

Oh I almost forgot 20 more days until Joel and I head north to see our families. We can't wait. We are so excited.

WE love you Butlers and Wendles. We'll see you soon.
Check ya'll later!!!

Soup

Hi Again,

Another day another dollar. Not much has been happening... especially for me. It all started on Monday when i got my wisdom tooth pulled. I have pretty much been lazing around the ship since then. Well more like avoiding all human contact (except for Dess' of course). I've finally started coming out as of like Thursday because some friends from the ministry stopped by on their way through Lake Charles. I had to get up to say hi and see how they were doing. Then Friday Dess left for the weekend in Galveston. I drove her to church where she went with the youth to a conference. She went as a supervisor. So i'm alone this weekend and am trying to cope. I've got a sore jaw and a hole in my life missing where Dess should be.

Since i've seen not much more than our ceiling for the past week i don't have much to write about. Since Dess isn't around, nothing interesting is happening in this weekend. So i'm sorry to say that i'm out of creative juices already and you'll just have to wait til next time. Sorry to disappoint.

joel

Digesting

Howdy Everyone!

More time has passed and not much new is happening. Life is going well. Dess keep finding ourselves talking about how 5 weeks isn't long but it is. That's how long we have until we go on vacation. Or at least one day less than that now. But still, it's about that long. So we try to tell ourselves that it will be soon, but if we think that 5 weeks will pass quickly then it makes us nervous that our vacation will pass to quick. It's sort of a catch 22. Instead we focus on getting there and not worrying about how fast it will pass.

Well, i feel like work has been going well. We had a work group come in this Saturday morning and it helped get a lot done. There were like 20ish people working for 4 hours, so they accomplished a lot. We working on getting more warehouse space available too. We've been rummaging around in the brick warehouse trying to get more room in there so we can put pallet racks up. On Friday we were close to putting them up when i found out that they want to asphalt the floor in there first. We are back to a stand still until we figure out what will be done to the floor in the warehouse. Right now the floor is pretty much loose dirt and shells. It's a mess and forklifts just can't move around in there. Oh well, that's work and who really cares about that.

Today is another duty section day for Dess and i. We're working the ship this weekend so everyone else can get the time off. Then we're planning on going to Galveston next weekend with the youth from our church. It'll be interesting because we've never really interacted with them before. I hope that it goes well. Dess is making a huge pot of gumbo today. She got a recipe off of The Food Network website. It's one of Emeril's recipes. She's never made this before, but i'll let you know if it's good and then you can start collecting all the bacon grease you can until the next time we're in your area. Then Dess can mix you up a big ol' pot and you'll be loving it too.

Besides that we're in cruise control right now. We're just trying to get by from day to day until we can go home. The ship in Israel is just about unloaded and they should be returning soon. Dess has mixed emotions about their return. She partially wants to be here for their return, but at the same time she doesn't. It'll be hectic and crazy. I am not excited about the prospect, but i know that we'll get by either way. We are pretty big kids, if you know what i mean.

I'm going to have at least one of my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow. I don't think about it much, so i'm not too sure how i feel about it. I guess it's starting to make my stomach queasy just thinking about it now. The dentist we go to here in town said he'd take it out for free. The only catch is that he doesn't put people under, instead he'll give me some local anesthetics and some valium. I take my first valium pill tonight, so i'm interested to see how that makes me feel. I've got one wisdom tooth coming in at a hard angle and it'll push into the my other teeth eventually if it isn't removed. My other 2 wisdom teeth seem to be growing fine, but i don't know if he'll take them out or not. I never had a fourth one grow in.

I think that's all i've gotta tell you about for now. I hope all is well in your life.

Refiners Fire

It has been too long. But to tell you the truth there hasn't been anything too exciting going on. It has been the same old same old. But recently I am seeing more and more why Joel and I were left here at Port Mercy instead of going to Isreal.

So for God's purpose to take place in our lives He needs to do some rearranging with our personalities and character. He needs to refine us. Put us through fire to take out the impurities. Man do I have a lot of impurities. So what does God do: PUT US THROUGHT TESTS. Man am I going through some test. I would consider these test a lot easier than others I have been through in the past but they are showing me where my weaknesses are and where I need to grow in order to be the woman God wants me to be for the future.

I have learned over the years to apprecaite and be excited about tests because they are to make me better.

Test # 1(as of now): Unconditional love. In the past year Friend Ships has been airing on TBN a lot. Which brings attention to us that we would not normally get. It has brought in many donations, prayer and support. But most recently (and the one that affects me the most) is the crew it has brought it. TBN listeners are a group all their own. A group that in the past I have never gotten along with. They are the older generation who finds "kids" like me irresponsible and hard to love. As of now we have about 10 ladies who are 60 and up. Not all of them see me as irresponsible but there are a few that stand out in my mind and put me to the test DAILY. PRAISE GOD!!!!!

Let me give you a few examples. We have a pet bird on the ship that Joel and I give much attention to. One of the ladies had a problem with the bird and doesn't like to have her out and about. Joel and I know how to handle "Ms. Bird" (that is her name) so we like to take her out when we spend time in the mess hall so she can stretch her wings and legs and get around a bit. Well she got out and Joel and I were playing with her and she left a present on the table. As soon as she does this Joel or I get a napkin and bleach and take care of her blessings. Well I went to go get a napkin when one of the ladies started rebuking me and yelling across the room in front of a group of people, AT ME "Don't you leave the room and leave the bird out for us to take care of" (May I say this was my first interaction with the older generation since they started coming to the ship and I never had faced it until that day how much I dislike older people looking down on me" So in my flesh I reacted back and said very rudely I wasn't leaving and that I was taking care of the bird.

That night Joel and I discussed it and I realized I had a problem with those that are way older than me that don't like me and find me to not be responsible. The next day I apologized to the lady for being rude and made a promise to God I was going to not be rude to the praying grannies as I call them.

Example 2: I had picked a lady up from the airport. Which I love picking people up from the airport because I love encourage them in the Lord and reasure them how great Friend Ships is and what a good place it is to grow in God. Well this trip was so much more different. It lasted forever. The lady talked about herself the whole time. Which I didn't mind at least she didn't really ask about me. For the most part. But in the middle of the ride she found I was from washington and started to name off some christian schools that were in washington or oregon. I shrugged my shoulders having no clued about the schools. She then blurted out in dismay "I take it your not pentacostal" Through my gritted teeth I managed to get out "Christian" She then said louder even more in dismay "Are you FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT?" In my head I was getting upset and thinking "What in the world does knowing some christian schools have anything to do with being filled with the Holy Spirit" awwwwwwww. I was mad Through gritted teeth and blushed cheeks I was able to mange "between 9 and 12" The car felt so much smaller as if the walls had just come in. I HAVE had the Holy Spirit between 9 and 12 I just can't remember the date but I could tell you what happened. Any way the car ride felt longer than ever. I was so glad when it was over.

Example 3: Joel and I were sitting with a couple we love having an evening chit chat about nothing and everything. When one of the ladies came around our table to clean. We all started talking about Jesus then Joel sang a line from a Christian song while swaying his head to the beat of the music in his head. She looks at him and says something to the point of "Oh you should shake your head like that and sing about Jesus. That is hypocritcal." I started defending Joel and saying "oh no he was just swaying to the music" "she said well when I was a teen I would shake my head and confess Jesus is Lord" I said "well that is not what Joel was saying" She said "Let your yes be yes and your no be no, you need to know where your allegiance lies" I said some other things from my interpersonal communication class that I had learn trying to show her that she does non-verbals different than Joel and not to assume that he is doing the same thing she has done. She keep saying let your yes be yes and your no no. I was so upset after that conversation. Awwwww. The next morning I got up and was thinking about it. God brought the scripture to my mind "Man looks at the outward appearnce but God looks at mans heart." I wish I had thought about that the night before. So any way.

What have I learned from all of this. You can't judge a book by it's cover. No really I have learned that. That I want to give people chances instead of looking at their tatoo's, age, hair color, race, nationality, etc. I have learned that to love unconditional is hard that God is awesome to love us past the gunk. And that He loves those ladies so much and they are a gem in His eye and that I must love them as a precious gem also no matter what they think of me.

So that is what has been happening around here. I love tests. I am being for real because by the end of this I will hopfully be able to look past people appearences and pray that God will show me for who they really are and what He sees them as. Isn't God awesome. I could have never of learned this going to Israel because all the people going to Israel are about my age or they respect me and love me as is. So Thank you God for letting Joel and I stay. I know there are more reasons than this one but this is a pretty gosh darn good one.

Love you guys,
Dess

One Night With The King

Hi,

Sorry it's been so long again since we've written. No too much has been happening. We went to see Dess' friend from college in Houston the other weekend. Well, seeing her friend was half the reason we went to Houston. The other half was that there was a free concert which included Kirk Franklin, Dess' favorite musician. So we packed up our car and made the trek to Houston. It was a pretty cool concert and it was nice for me to meet Dess' friend, Lindsay, and her friends fiance, Brad. We first went to Lindsay and Brad's apartment to meet up and to figure out the plan. Lindsay was working until later in the evening, so we decided to go to the concert without them and would meet them there.

Dess and i navigated our way through downtown traffic and chaos without much difficulty. We got to the concert and found our way around. They had events going on from around noon until 5:30, when the bands began playing. The events included BMX and dirt bike stunts, sports challenges, kids jumping castles and more. There was a large street closed off for the event and the activities were either in the street or in a small ravine on the side of the street. By the time we got there one of the opening bands were playing. We saw a Canadian group, Hawk Nelson, who were interesting. Their music didn't seem exactly "Christian" in nature and their style seemed to be more towards self-glorification, not towards God. But we got in close and were going to wait it out for Kirk Franklin. We got a call from Lindsay and realized we wouldn't be able to talk on the phone to let them know where we were. We had to leave from our prime position and get somewhere quieter and more accessible for them to find us. While we were waiting, Kirk Franklin took the stage. Fortuneately we could see him on one of the huge screens which they had up in the ravine. But Dess wished we could be closer to the action. Lindsay and Brad turned up so we finally could get in closer to where Kirk was at. It was kinda disappointing because the area in front of the stage had completely filled and there was no way for us to see Kirk. The good point was that the people had lots of energy where we ended up.

We finished the evening off at Lindsay and Brad's, catching up and getting to know each other better. The next day we went to church. Grace Bible Church is where Lindsay and Brad go. We had a good time as the Pastor had a great message. Not long after that Dess and i returned to Lake Charles.

This weekend was a duty weekend. Dess cooked and i cleaned. It was pretty relaxed which was nice. With so few people on the crew, i think that breakfast is the highest attended meal. Dess made up her own barbecue sauce for Saturday dinner. It was interesting. I don't know how to describe it, so i won't. Then she made her signature dish on Sunday, the manicotti. Wow is it ever good. I got to put out the Sunday breakfast items and made sure we always had enough coffee. It was a good weekend and we got today, Monday, off.

We figured it'd be worthwhile to check out the movie "One Night With the King", the story of Esther. We had some free movie passes which Dess had won as an instant win prize. We checked out the movie and didn't really like it that much. In fact Dess was quite frustrated with it and was getting a little bit loud and rambuncious in her seat. I tried to shush her because i didn't want her to bug anyone else who might actually be enjoying the movie. See, the thing is that we read the book of Esther before going to the movie. When we watched the movie we saw lots of things which didn't coincide with the scriptures. It was frustrating because they took way too much poetic licence and they didn't really do a good job of portraying the culture. They almost made it into and "Americanized" version of the story and tried to overemphasize the romance in the movie. It's hard to know, solely from scripture, exactly what would've happened, but it didn't feel like they did the book of Esther justice.

Besides that, Dess and i are dreading being back at work. We're ready for our 7 week vacation now!!! Man it's just taking too long to get here. Although we are at the 2 month mark, which is a bit encouraging because Dess started counting down from 80 days away. Work just doesn't hold any excitement or passion for us right now.

That's a quick update for today. We've been experiencing huge rains over the past few days and although no one has said anything i wouldn't be surprised if there were localized flash floods. Please pray for our friends Chuck and Janet as Chuck has gone in for surgery on his leg. He's got bad veins and this is the second time they've tried to fix the problem.

Take care.

Interesting, boring, stressful

I guess it's been a while again since i've posted. Dess has been doing a good job of keeping you up to date though. I guess part of me felt bad about being a bad husband and i didn't want to try to make excuses about Dess' birthday. So i just won't mention it.

So Dess has started a "myspace" page as well as our blog. You can click the link to the right if you want to check it out. Maybe you can even be her friend... She's a good friend. Although she's getting kinda addicted to it, so don't be too surprised if she has to give it up cold turkey in a few days or weeks. I love Dess and i have come to know her pretty well. There are times when she'll get convicted about something and just decide that she doesn't need it in her life anymore. If she spends too much time looking up friends, etc. on myspace i'm sure she would eventually have to give it up.

Life for me has been interesting, boring and stressful. The stress has to do with work. I've got one new girl working for me. She just got here on the weekend. Besides that i've got 2 newish guys (both less than 2 months) and Steve, a veteran of Friend Ships. I'm supposed to be getting another new crewmember at the beginning of October. For some reason new crew stress me out. I have to be more hands on with them to make sure they know what to do. They require "weekly" evaluations (which i tend to do every month or so). New crew are more prone to working hard and trying their best, but they also tend to screw up more because they don't know the 'rules'. Man i wish i could just be a supervisor of supervisors! It's a lot easier.

More stress is that we've known about a boxcar coming in from L.A. Usually when they come it's a mad scramble to empty them in 3 days so we don't have to pay extra money. Well today it arrived (and we were totally unprepared). We set up a ramp to get into it and just before i could cut the lock i was told not to open the boxcar without Jeremy. He's the guy that loaded the boxcar in L.A. This is a big relief because now we can focus our attention on making space for all the stuff in the boxcar and cleaning up the yard. Today ended up being a great day as my team of 3 (not including myself) was able to get things looking much better. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.

The interesting part of my life happened on Thursday after work. Dess and i were about to leave the property when we saw two kids near the front gate. As we got closer we saw one of our crew, John, who told us that he'd found them on our property. We decided to chase them. Right away i saw that one of the boys was riding on a bike which had recently been stolen from our property. We tailed the kids for a while and then they split up. I got out of the car and made like i was going to chase one of the kids by foot. As i did this, a guy in a pickup truck was driving towards us and asked "What's wrong with you man?" I responded "Do you know that kid?" He said "Yeah". I told him "He just stole that bike off our property". The driver of the truck took off with a mean look on his face after the kid on the Friend Ships bike. Dess and i followed the younger kid around asking him questions. He was generally non-responsive and wouldn't give us straight answers. Dess explained what we at Friend Ships do and that stealing from us is taking away from people that need it. From there we went back to the ship. Well the next day i found out that the kids hadn't just been snooping around the property. I found that they had vandalized some of our buildings and cargo with spray paint. They had also broken into the helicopter hangar through a window and had rummaged through the place. They didn't damage the helicopter, but it was a freaky concept. We called in the cops. A report was filed and we learned that if they come back we can detain them until the cops arrive. That was reassuring because we didn't know what our legal right was. So security is getting beefed up. We've added more barbed wire and "No Trespassing" signs. We're getting video cameras to record some of the more precious areas. Our property is staying on "shut down" all day long, where all our gates are closed unless people are entering and exiting. Oh i forgot to mention that the kid that Dess and i followed said he was 8 years old!!! Isn't that crazy?

The boring part of my life is our day to day stuff. I don't get much satisfaction out of work right now (except it was good to see progress today). I also don't do much outside of work, so i think i'm in a bit of a rut. I don't really have any friends on or off the ship. I just feel pretty bored with myself. Dess does a good job of trying to have fun, etc. She plays games with me and makes plans for outings. It makes life more exciting.

I guess that's all i got for today. I hope you are well and that you are feeling like you are a part of our lives, even in our absense. We miss you.

How I became a Full-On Christian

I wanted to do this life story thing because I was looking at myspace and found a ton of friends from high school and college. Some I really wanted to tell about my life change and others I didn't want finding out. This was frustrating because I believe I should always want to tell anyone and every one about Jesus in my life. What He has done for me and to me. What I am doing to further the Kingdom of God. So many mixed emotions. I would probably be labeled by a lot of people from my high school and college now as a "Freak" So any way here it is. How I became a Freak.

I went to college to get my degree in biology. Don't know what I was going to do with that but my dad put the desire in me by always bring up fasinating science stories. I also was a volleyball player in college. Did sports a total of 9 years. Got all american my freshman year of college. Was pretty pumped about life. I graduated from my first college and went on to get my bachelors. That is when it all came crashing down. They put me on the volley ball team at my new college started for the first month or so. Then I got hurt and was out for 3 weeks. They never put me back in the game again. Well not as a starter on the top team but as a bench warmer on the lowest team. I was embarressed lost my identy as most atheletes do when they are done with playing any sport. My grades went down. every thing came crashing down. I had been reading my bible every night and praying for 5 minutes a day. Thought I was a good Christian. So when my second college went wrong I thought I had picked the wrong one.

So for the first time I saught God out with all my heart. I was seeking Him to tell me which college to go to. So I prayed and fasted. No one ever taught me about fasting I guess I read it in the bible some where. One day as I was praying and fasting during lunch, seeking God's advice He gave me one word. "Volunteer" In my heart I knew it meant some sort of sacrifice would have to be made on my part. "Oh God this college is fine I love it here I am really fine" As soon as I started saying those words the peace left me that came with the word from God. I knew I had to obey God or regret it.

I thought I was only going to take a semester off from school. I looked around on the internet. All the places I looked at to volunteer said I had to commit for one year and pay 5,000 to 20,000 dollars. I had some money to go some places but I didn't want to commit for a year. My parents heard from a friend about Friend Ships and recommend I look it up online. With Friend Ships you can come for as long or little as you like and you only have to pay to get down there. I was hooked. Sent in my application. They accepted me. I went with the intentions of staying for 2 and 1/2 months.

It was awesome. I had never been so close to God. The ministry showed me what true faith was. When I read my bible I saw things I had never seen before. It was as if someone gave me glasses for the first time and I could actually read. 3 weeks into it I was cleaning the showers and felt something was off. I thought I had sinned against God. "God what is it. I am sorry if I have made you mad. Forgive me if I have sinned against you." Then I was like "Or do you want to tell me something?" "I want you to stay and you will go on the Israel trip." - God replied "Oh no God I will go to college get my degree and then come back" But of course I stayed. For the Israel trip we were going to bring a ship load of humanitarian aid to Israel to give to groups that were helping the immigrants in the country. I didn't have a chance the crew list was full. Needless to say I was the last one to be put on the list in the end and I went to Israel. It was awesome I was so blessed to be able to go. (That is another story) During the Israel trip is when Joel and I started dating. 3 weeks later we were engaged 4 months after that married.

We both had been with one other person but through God's help and cleansing us of our sin we stayed pure between the two of us until our wedding night. It was awesomely hard but we just kissed and held hands until we go married. God really did give us a second chance on our wedding night. What and awesome God.

Since then so much has happened. Joel and I have both changed a lot. My relationship with Jesus, God and Holy Spirit is one I would never trade. It is so real and full of love. God has blessed us time and time again even when we don't deserve it. And the funny thing is I didn't even know I was a missionary until 6 months of being at Friend Ships. I didn't even know what a missioanry was. I thought they were all in Africa or something.

We are praying for the future. We are still at Friend Ships until some time in the middle or end of 2007. Joel commited to 7 years at Friend Ships. It will be up in 2007. We are excited for the future and what God holds for us.

So that is Me and God in a nut shell. There is so much more but I need to sleep for Joel and I have weekend duty this weekend. Living on a ship is something I never even dreamed of and it comes with responsiblities and something new all the time.

Love ya'll Be blessed,
Dess Butler

The Birthday Lessons

God has taught me a lot this week. Things have calmed down since the Grace has left for Israel which is really nice. When the crew left for Haiti it was more hectic so this time we are just kickin it. Don't worry we are still doing our jobs but it is really quiet here at Port Mercy.

So this week was my birthday. Thank you every one who participated in making it so great. I got wonderful things from people money, cards, presents. God really blessed me indeed but in the midst of the blessing I was a brat. Can I tell you the truth. Now if I was in a African-American church some one in the audience would say "COME ON PASTOR COME ON. PREACH IT LIKE IT IS." Man I miss VIP (Victory in Praise) in Stockton California. Can I get a "Get your praise on"

Any way so God really blessed me. With calls and love from people. But I got really disappointed when Joel didn't do what he had done for the past two years. Usually he wakes up earlier than me and does something to suprise me. So when he didn't I was totally bummed but then I was like no Joel has something don't worry it wil come. So all day more blessings came in. And then it was the end of the day for work and I was getting my hopes up. "Oh I know Joel has something for me." But can I tell you I also had plan B. (Plan B: If Joel had nothing planned and wanted to eat on the ship for my birthday I was going to grab my very very very good friend Kippin Johnson, Dress up in a fabulous dress she got me, and go out on the town with out Joel.) Needless to say he had plans to go out. So when we were getting ready I was scoping the room for a present or a card from him. Nothing, Nada, Nothing. So we were getting ready and he got dressed in a Tux (HE LOOKED GOOOOOOOOOOOOD) and I got dressed in my new dress Kippin gave me. While he was getting dress I was thinking oh there is probably a gift card in his pocket for me.

So we went out to one of my favorite restaurant in town, O'Charly's. It was fabulous. During dinner I brought up about the morning and how I was disappointed and then I asked if he had his present for me. Joel said . . .. NO. He didn't have a present for me. I almost started craying right there in the middle of the restaurant. I don't know why I get so excited for presents on my birthday. Well actually I was just expecting a present from Joel and that was it. Or something. So I didn't think about it for the rest of the night till we got back to our room. Then I started freaking out (being a brat) in my mind. I jumped in bed and starting ragging in my head.

How dare Joel not get me something. I am going to cry cry cry. He knows I love presents and suprises for my birthday. I deserve better than this. First the Israel trip which I trust God in and now no good birthday. This is horrible. (During this time Joel was getting ready for bed and my back was facing him and my front was facing the wall.

All of a sudden God started rebuking me like no other. "Dess that is enough. Don't you dare show Joel how you feel. He feels bad enough about this. There will be times where he will really mess up with you and I will be on your side to defend you but not this time. You are having a pity party stop it this second. Don't say a word to Joel about this. Say you love him and go to bed with out throwing a fit" I did what God told me to do. Told Joel I loved him and went to sleep.

You would have thought that would be enough. All the other times God has rebuked me I do a 180 and stop what I am doing. Oh no not for this. The next morning I got up to spend my God time and I started going at it again.

This Time I was crying and weeping, weeping and crying. OH this isn't fair. Whoa as me. Cry cry, fuss fuss me me me. This time God was more upset. "Dess that enough. You are exalting yourself and only thinking about you. If you were humbling yourself I would have sympathy towards you. You need to be humble. The verse went through my head "God gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud." Then God said so kindly. How many husbands would get dressed in a tux and take their wives out for dinner. Name some couples. I tried but I couldn't think of a single couple. I named both my sisters and my mom for never having that in their lives. I knew God was right. Even after all that I told God: This is not fair. But I wanted to humble myself. How Do I humble myself. God then started softening my heart and changing it to be humble. I haven't grumbled and complained since then and have felt very blessed about my birthday and how well Joel treated me.

That morning when Joel and I went to morning refreshing we were shown a video of one year after Katrina and how many people were with out. How they had lost everything in the storm and were still rebuilding their lives. I felt worse after watching the video and realizing what a brat I was for my birthday. I then asked God to forgive me and humble me even more. I have never called God unfair before that day and I did it in a very poor manner. For God is never unfair. He is always just and right in everything He does and will always be just and right.

So that was my birthday lessons. I learned even more how blessed I really am. With so many people to love me. How many people I have in my life that are not just a pass byer but really love me. I also realzied even more that I have the most wonderful Husband in the world who treats me like a queen. More than many women could even hope for. I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and doesn't send the lighting bolts to strike me down when I am bad but even in the midst of my tanturm he will still talk to me in Kindness though I do not deserve it. I have also learned where in my life I need to grow up and humble myself. So this year's birthday was rich in lessons and in love.

I hope this doesn't totally shock you guys about me. I know I am shock that I would ever act this way but I hope some one can learn from this.

Have a blessed day. And let that person that you see every day know how special they really are and how much you do appreciate them.

Love all of you,
Dess

PS can I say this has been the hardest blog to put out for me sinec it was so raw and full of the sinnful me. Yikes Sorry if it scared you guys and you never want to talk to me again. Totally understand.

Immigration Interview

Hello Everyone,

Joel did an excellent job of updating ya'll but he didn't give a detailed description of our interview. Looking back it was pretty funny.

We met our lawyer for the first time 30 minutes before our interview. I thought this was not a good thing but it didn't turn out to be a bad thing. She didn't really speak or defend us. She didn't have to. She was with us if there were any questions about the documentation. So Cynthia (our lawyer) said it usual runs 30 minutes to an hour late to getting in the interview. She was completely right. While the three of us were waiting we got to know Cynthia a bit better. Learned that she was getting married in December. She told us a bit about her job what she liked what she didn't like.

Then we went into the interview. Our Lady immigration officer looked very cross. Not warm and fuzzy at all. The first question that came out of the immigration officer's mouth was "Do you have your ID? Please pull it out" I thought she was just talking to Joel. Oh no she turned to me and said "You too" DANG IT. The first question to the test and I failed. "Mine is in the car." "Well go get it." It sounds like an easy answer but Janet and Chuck had taken off and I didn't know where they were. Good thing we all had cell phones. The only probably was we had their number in the cell but not the area code because in Lake Charles you don't need an area code. So I tried calling it but the cell wouldn't let me. So I tried memorizing it. I would look at the number and then try to dial it. I kept forgetting. The longer I took the more I would shake. Final I was like Dess you know the first 6 digits just memorize the last 4. Some how I managed to dial the number and found out they were just down the street waiting for us. Thank goodness I grabbed my ID and ran back up to the interview. Cynthia and the Lady Officer were getting to know each other since the officer was new in town. At least Cynthia kind of saved me.

Then came the questions. The immigration officer asked the same questions to Joel that he had answered on the application we had sent in March of 2005. Then she asked if we lived in a house. I answer for Joel "no on a ship." I apologized to Joel and said go ahead answer. So he did. Then she asked if we had the deed to the ship. Of course we don't. So Joel started explaining what we did. She then asked do you have a car together, this together that together. All we had were bank statements. Then we gave her a letter that Mary, Joel’s boss had written for the both of us. Stating we didn't need much money to do what we did and explaining what we did.

She then said "let me see pictures of your travels together" SO I got out the pictures and showed her. But the funny thing is in my mind I was convinced that she needed to see pictures of the ship so she would understand why we don't have paperwork in our name to the ship. So I would pass by the couple pictures and show her the ship. "There's the ship, oh and there, and that's the ship, and right there." Joel in his head was thinking "What on earth is Dess doing she is passing all the couple pictures. Why is she showing the ship?" Then I said to the officer "Oh I am sorry you can flip through for yourself" She started flipping really fast. So I saw another picture of the ship she needed to see "Oh you missed this picture of the ship." She got done flipping through the pictures grabbed Joel’s passport and stamped it with a seal of approval. It was quick and easy. We thanked Cynthia and went on our way with Chuck and Janet.

It was pretty funny once you think about it. Joel wasn't too happy during the interview. But you can't please every one. I think in the next blog I will put pictures of the ship so you can get a good idea how great Joel's and my relationship is ;).

Ship lover,
Dess

Feelings

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's been quite a long time since i've posted. I remember thinking about posting something after Dess and my anniversary, but never got around to it. I thought about writing something before the long hours of loading came into effect, but got too busy doing other stuff. Then i thought about writing around the time of our immigration stuff, but didn't want to. Now i've run out of excuses and i'm going to write.

As Dess has mentioned, this has been an emotional draining time for both of us. The extended working hours (which means less time with each other and God), the hope of going on the Israel trip, work frustrations and immigration all culminated into a big emotional mess. In some ways it feels like we're past it, but in others we're still emotionally involved. Talking with our family helps out a lot. Just knowing that there are people that we can open up to that understand us. Here at Friend Ships, we live in a community, but sometimes you have to keep your distance. I don't really want to get close to the people who are working for me. So it's been a tumultuous time, but we're getting over it.

Facts, Facts, Facts: For those of you who don't know, I am now officially a conditional permanent resident of the U.S. It's pretty exciting actually. The interview was a snap. Everything was in order because of our lawyer. All our paper work was right and we only had about a 10 minute interview. I don't know if she could tell right away that we were in love or what, but it was awesome. Friends of ours, Chuck and Janet, drove us to New Orleans the day before and paid for our hotel and dining. They prayed for us the whole day and then drove us back to Lake Charles when we were done. They were a huge blessing to us. Just a little f.y.i. we aren't completely done with immigration stuff. We've gotta go back in 2 years for one more interview, just to make sure we are still married. No problem.

The Spirit of Grace has left for Israel and we're definitely not on it. If you are interested in checking out the progress, you can check out www.friendships.org or follow the link on our site. Besides that, life at Friend Ships has slowed down quite a bit. We are taking a much more relaxed pace now that the ship has left. Also, i'm down to a crew of 2 under me, so we can't get near as much done. This is nice in a way. Although when it comes to work, it can feel unfulfilling at times. But we press on and know that there will be always be good days and bad days no matter where we are.

Dess' birthday is coming up for those who may not know. Her birthday is Sept. 13th. I know that Dess loves celebrations, surprises and all that. She's having a joint birthday party on the ship with her friend Kippin. Kippin's birthday is the 28th, but she is leaving before then, so they are having a party earlier. Our anniversary celebration was pretty fun. I hope you've checked out our flickr photo site to see some of the things we did. The Acadian village was fun. It would've been cooler if there were people dressed up in authentic clothes giving the tour, but the self guided tour was interesting too. Especially when we had to face the huge geese at the beginning, that really spiced up the village.

Well, i hope that i can get back into the habit of writing at least once a week on this blog. I don't really have the old excuses anymore, so i'd better. I know that it's one way for you to stay a part of our lives.

joel

Breaking up is Hard to do

Hello Everyone,

I hope all is well. For Joel and I we are hurting really badly in our hearts. (no we are not breaking up) Most of our crew is leaving for Israel today. The sad thing is there is only 4 more days until Joels and my immigration interview after our interview we can leave to any country we want. So we are left behind from going to Israel. The only thing I can describe it as, is the feeling of breaking up with your first love. The pain you feel every time you see them. The looking back and your expectations.
It is hard and painful. I do wish they were gone already. Looking at the ship and people that are still here that are going to Israel is like a knife in the heart. Joel and I have huge hearts to help the poor and needy. We love Israel. We love any country but we love Israel.
I want to cry I want to bawl but God said not to cry. Don't know if he will let me but Father knows that is best.

It is so complicated. Our interview is in 4 days, God can move mountains why not hold up a ship. Or why not have our interview at the end of september so that we would of had less expectations to go to Israel. Actually my true question to God is this. In Psalms it says if you delight in the Lord he will give you the desires of your heart. Most people thinks that means if you want a car he will give it to you. It actually means when you delight in God he changes your heart to have desires that He has for things. Like blessing Israel. So I am like God you gave me this Desire. (I know on my own achord I would never want to go to a land that is in the middle of war or be on a ship with 46 other people for 30 days not being able to get off) So since I delight in you why do you give me a desire I can not have as of now. Or are you going to make a way.

The most awesome thing is I am not mad or hurt at God. Or anger frustrated jealous; this situation has made me grow and trust God more. I trust God's decisions and His motives. I trust God if he wants me to stay. I say God you give and take away but I will still say BLESSED BE YOUR NAME. For even if I don't acknowledge you are good, you still are. SO I will say GOD YOU ARE GOOD. Thank you thank you. I guess my prayer right now is that Other people would see what JOel and I are going through and still call God Good as we are.

I read Sarah's blog and it made me think why does God do such things. I feel in a sense Sarah Joel and I are asking the same questions to God but going through different things. We may not have the same emotional feelings or the same situtation but I do think we are asking God similar questions. Why God do you allow other people to go through things we want to when it looks like we could handle it better than they could. Our motives are pure and we have all the right things needed to do what we have in our hearts to do while other people don't have the right movitives or it looks like they can not handle it why do they get to go through the very thing we want to do.

I guess I can say from my prospective is God you know what is best. may I bless and honor your decisions you make for my life. For when I said GOd I believe in Jesus and I want to have him be my Lord (boss) for the rest of my life I gave up all rights to chose where I would go what I would say and do. Now God gives us choices but if he says go here I must go.

Does it hurt to do God's will at times. Heck yeah. any way I could go on and on. But Sarah I guess what I wanted to say is: I am feeling for you. I don't know exactly what you are going through I am not feeling your exact feelings but I feel for you and will pray for you and what you and paul are going through.

Is God Fair. Yes. Does it look like He is fair No. Am I glad it looks like He is not fair. Heck yeah or I would think all of us would go to Hell

Love you all. Thank you for your prayers.
GOD IS GOOD,
The Butlers

Only through God is there peace that surpasses all understanding

A double whooper for all those out there that read our blog.

So as I said in my earlier blog Be anxious for nothing is humanly impossible. I am learning as I thought I had done before that only true focus and trust in God can take away this anxiousness. Singing Praises, focusing on words God tells you to stand on, trusting God has your best in mind. This is the only way I can truly receive the Peace that Jesus has for me as well as any of you. Do not look to the left or right; Be still and know I am God, etc.

So the ship has a date for tomorrow or the next day to leave if I focus on this I freak but again that is looking to the Left or Right. All I can do now is think how Great God is and that he won't keep any Good thing from me. If the good things is Israel then we shall go. If it is not a good thing for Joel and I to go to Isreal He will not allow it to happen.

Praise you Father for even though your best to us isn't always how we like it at least we can stand on the Fact that you will do every thing in your power to provide the best.

So as of now this moment I am peaceful. Praise God for that.

Peace in Christ Jesus,
Dess

Be Anxious for Nothing (Not Humanly possible)

So it has been a while since we have jotted down anything on our blog. And right now I need some therapy. So here it is.

Israel Israel Israel. That is all that has been running through any Friend Ships crew head since August 2nd when they made the announcement we were heading for Israel in two weeks. As of today it has been four. We have been working long hours with little time off. We are tired and exhausted. But for me these are nothing compared to my anxiousness. Jesus says be anxious for nothing in all things bring your supplications and requestion to the Lord with thanksgiving . . . . (I don't think I got most of the scripture right but I hope you get the point)
So why am I anxious because Joel and I still do not know if we are going to Israel or not. If the ship leaves before we get our immagration interview which is Sept 6 a week from today then we won't go if the ship is held up we go.

Back and forth back and forth.

Plus on top of this Joel and I have responsiblities for the mission trip. Joel has more than I but I seem to stress out a bit more than he does. He is arranging the cargo that will be leaving for Israel. Very hands on!!! I don't know all of his Job but he works a lot later than I do. I have been procuring to get food for the voyage. This is stressful to me because it is parishable foods that we need at the last moment but the companies need time to order the food in advance . . . so we think we are leaving this day we order the food in advance and then we don't leave on that day. Yikes. Plus all the extra running around to get items that departments need for the voyage.

Joel and I have recently become sick. I gave it to Joel. Poor Joel. I was in bed all day yesterday, didn't feel that good today but there is too much to do.

Sorry if words, sentences, phrases are choppy I am tired and not thinking straight. So that is Joels and my life in a nut shell these past few weeks. Pray that we will be less anxious. We really want to go but God does not with hold any Good thing from those that love Him.

Love ya'll very much.
Blessings,
The Butlers

Check out our Flickr Sight

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to let you know we put pictures from our anniversary on our flickr sight. Hope you guys enjoy them.

Sorry it has been so long since we blogged last. We are working overtime weekdays and weekends for the Israel mission coming up.

Please pray that God will give us ALL the energy we need to make it until the ship sails for Israel.

God bring peace to Jerusalem!!!

Blessings to you all,
The Butlers

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

On Friday July 15th I had a very bad afternoon. I am in charge of the food ministry and I am driver to pick up the food. But when I am not doing pick ups I am doing errands for Sharon my boss.

The Celica was nearly out of gas so she asked me to go fill it. I went down the street and pulled behind a car that was done filling up. There was no one in front of the car so I pulled right behind him. He started backing up. So I slowly started backing up. I didn't see anyone behind me. So I kept going. A few seconds later there was a car bumping my car on my passengers side. We had hit parrallel to one another. There were three people in the car. The passenger in the back rolled down his window and started yelling at me "You are going to pay, You are going to pay!!!" In my head I started asking God "God am I going to get beat up?" The possibility was very high. Should I run or should I stay. I looked at the driver he didn't roll down his window. So I mouthed sorry and shrugged. He motioned me to move forward. I started to move forward. The passenger that had been yelling at me jumped out of the car, got right in front of me and started yelling at me even more. "Oh no you are going to pay. NO you are going to pay." as if I was trying to run off. I told him the driver had told me to go forward. He had obviously not seen the driver motioning me to move forward. He finally let me through. I thought one more time do I run or do I stay. I decided to pull up to a gas pump. They pulled behind me at a gas pump.

A large girl from the front seat and the angry yelling guy both backed away when they saw me get out of the car. I got out to talk to the driver and the other two stayed distant behind him. I realized I was a lot taller than both of them and felt if I had to I could defend myself if they started throwing punches but I really didn't want to do that. I asked the driver "What do you want from me?" He was a lot more calm than his two friends. He said you need to pay me. (Just so you know I have never been in this type of situation before. No has ever told me what to do. So I did the best I could.) I asked "how much?" (I really didn't want to get beat up or in a fight I thought this would calm them down) The girl said you owe him big. In my head I was like I only have 150 in the bank I don't have that much to give this guy. He said 40 dollars. That is when his two friends started freaking out. "No NO she owes you big. Make it 50." I looked the drive in the eye and said "What do you want from me." "50" he said.

I go in pay for the gas then went to the atm with my bank card. The ATM would only let me take out money in 20's. So I got out 60 went gave it to the driver. He said "I really appreciate this" I then filled the ministries car and left.

I felt so horrible. I cried and cried. The car was fine it only had a little paint off of it. No dents or anything. But I had lost 60 dollars. Well with the atm charging us it was $62.50. I felt horrible. God had told Joel and I that we would leave Friend SHips in about a year so we needed to start saving our money and then our anniversary is in July so we wouldn't have much money to do anything. I cried when I told Joel. I then gave it to God and said "I can't do anything about it, here it is God."

The next Thursday I was over it and it didn't bother me any more. During lunch Joel and I came in our room and there was a little homemade envelope that said to Joel and Dess Butler. We opened it and there in it was 65 dollars. I cried all day after that. I was so touched that God had "remembered" I was touched that some one was obedient to follow what God told them.

You know when you cry so deep and hard because your heart is breaking with sorrow well I was crying that hard for the rest of the day because I felt the deepness of Gods love for me. I had written in my journal the day after the accident. "God were you there. Did you protect me?" Then I wrote "God I know you were there I know you love and took care of me"
It was awesome. It says in Ecclesiastes 3:11. He has made everything beautiful in its time and this fullfills that scripture to me. Thank you Jesus for what you did. I truly deeply love you.

8 Things you never knew and might not want to know about Dess hehehe :)

Joel and I have searched DEEP within me to find 8 things. Here they are:

1) I am afraid of giving an excessive amount of change to a cashier. I actually go into a panick attack: turning bright red, stuttering with my words, heart starts beating really fast, etc. I don't know where I got the idea from but I always feel like the cashier is thinking I am a big pill for giving more than a dollars worth of change.
I see other people pull out a whole sack of change and count it out slowly while there is a huge line behind them and the cashier is getting impatient. Now being in the ministry there has been a few times they have sent me with a whole envelope of change to get stamps. I start prepping myself in line "I can do this, I can do this" But by the time I get up there I am like "I have my debit card on me I will just pay with that and by pass this embaressment"

2) My love Language is Words of Affirmation. When I first read the book The 5 love langauges and I was dating Joel I thought mine were Quality time and Physical Touch. But as time went on I learned that the less Joel gives me words of affirmation or kinds words of affirmation the more I decrease my physical touch and quality time.
One time I was having a hard time with a person who had ripped me in two with words she spoke over me. I prayed asking God way did I let her words get me down so bad. He brought me to Proverbs where it said: In the Tongue are life and death and those that love it will eat of it's fruit (something like that I don't have the bible right in front of me) But God showed me since my love language is Words of Affirmation that no matter if a person speaks goodness over me or horrible things I will eat its fruit and take it more to heart than a person whos love language is physical touch or quality time.

3) I am an extremist. I am either on one side of the spectrum or the other. I do not have any shades of gray. I am either hyper or barely mobile. Hard worker or Lazy. Example: For about 2 years Joel and I have been mindless with our money. We don't have bills, we don't buy our own food, we pretty much don't live in the real world so no need for a budget. But we started praying and God showed us in about a year we would be leaving Friend Ships so we needed to start saving our money. I went from not caring about our money to saving every penny. I am not kidding. When I would be walking outside I would look for change on the road or in pop machines. This got pretty excessive and God put me in my place and said I am not going to provide for you through pennies, dimes, nickles, and quarters. I am going to REALLY take care of you. This stopped me from looking for change. I still am pinching dollars though. :)

4) I am a food magnet. Do not sit by me or around me during a meal if you want to stay clean. I am blessed or cursed (dont' know which one yet) to always walk away from a meal with food on me or on others around me. One time I had spilled a lot of Ranch Dressing on the table. (I was proud that I didn't get it on me or any one else) So I got a napkin. Put the napkin at the tables edge where I was going to scoop the ranch into. Some how I missed the napkin completely and got all of it on Joel, who had just taken a shower and had clean clothes on. BEWARE all you who sit by me.

5) I struggle with letting my imperfection for God get me down. I hate messing up when it comes to God. I beat my self up terribly. Even on the things I am ignorant about but especially on things that I know better. When I do mess up I ask for forgivenes but then I find it hard to pray as if I can't look up at God to talk. Like a child with its head down while talking to the parent after making a big mistake. I pray this will go away before I get to the other side of Glory.

6) (Getting a little more serious now) The last guy I dated before Joel I had a lot of problems with his Family. Mother and Siblings. So I get very nervous and even freaked out being around Joels family. With Casey family (the guy I dated) it was so hard. I would cry every time I would be in their presents. On time behind my back his mom and dad tried to get Casey to date other girls. One of his sisters lied to his parents about me. Said some pretty horrible things. His oldest sister (who I thought had my back) wrote a horrible email about me to Casey. I loved his family very much. They meant a lot to me. It was hard not being excepted by them. If I were to see any of them today I would get pumped and excited to see them. But for his parents I wasn't LDS (or mormon) so I would never truly be excepted. I was best friends with his one sister but that turned out horrible. With the other siblings they believed lies from his sister who was my best friend and therefore the siblings didn't always like me.

7) I have come to the conclusion and the opinion that mirrors are not just for vanity. I have believed for a long time that mirrors were just to look at yourself/stare at yourself/reflect (as my dad would call it). Until one day I was out with a friend outside at Port Mercy and some one came by about ready to through away a mirror. My Friend Sarah said "hey Dess do you want it" I go "Oh no thanks I have enough and they are just for vanity reasons. " She was like no they are not I was like yes they are. She then said " what if you have a booger and you need a mirror to show you." I then said well "I have you who I know would tell me and I know Joel would tell me so there you go. I don't need a mirror." That was that.
Later on I had a late lunch that day so I wasn't with Joel and I ate a huge hamburger with lots of Ketchup. After lunch I went to do a few errands for the ministry. When I got in the car I looked in the mirror and there on my cheek was a huge smear of Ketchup. I had just come from the office and had been all through the office and none of the ladies had said any thing. After that I knew that mirrors are not just for vanity.

8) My grandmother was born in Canada. She was still a US citizen some how. But CANADA is in her blood therefore mine. I know I rip on Canada only for the purpose of bugging Joel but some where deep in my blood I have canada flowing through.

That is it. 8 Things you know about me and may never of wanted to.

And Paul Butler . . . . TAG YOU ARE IT!!!

Knitting Dess

I never thought it would happen but last night, Dess asked me to teach her how to knit. I thought it was a big step in proving that Dess is maturing. She's always been repulsed by the idea of learning how to knit. She says that she isn't patient enough and it takes too much time. But when i started to show another lady on the ship how to knit, Dess caught the bug. It's pretty cool how you can use some needles and yarn to make beautiful projects. Even though Dess didn't get to far with the knitting last night (she learned how to cast on and did 2 knit rows and 1 purl row before she got tired and wanted to go to sleep) she still did a great job and it's a good start.

I'm suffering with another bout of poison ivy rashes. This time i've got rashes up and down both my arms and a little bit on my chest and stomach. What a pain!! Really it is painful at times. I'm usually pretty good about not scratching. I was getting excited too because the rash on my legs had cleared up and i was looking forward to being able to scratch my body and not have to worry about there being a rash or not. Oh well, i guess that's what i get for being so hands on with my work. I was probably chopping down some limbs off a tree and the poison ivy sometimes crawls up the side with other vines. I don't exactly know what poison ivy looks like, even though i did a google image search for it and saw the plant, i can't really distinguish it when i'm out in nature. I guess those are the breaks.

Dess is out right now at a shelter for women and children. Her and her friend, Kippin, wanted to go and feed them a meal and make them feel special. They made lasagna. I think they also took salad, fruit and ice cream. I really love Dess' heart for other people. Especially for the poor, homeless and those in need. She really likes to be able to meet their needs and to do it out of Christ's love for them. As i've mentioned before, i'm not that way inclined, so it's awesome when i see her move out in it. It sort of spurs me on to get out of my normal selfish habits.

Thanks for the feedback on my 8 things. It was good hearing from Anna and from Rachel. Oh yeah and i guess you too Dad. I hope Dess comes up with her 8 things soon. Well, it's hot and humid and i'm hoping to call home tonight. I hope you are well and we miss you.

The long awaited "8 things you didn't know about Joel"

Well I've thought about it and talked it over with Dess and i've finally got the 8 things about me that you probably don't know.

1. I have a tendency to wear womens clothing for shock value.
2. I am a pyromaniac. I love setting off fires and playing with fire. The only problem is that i've burnt myself numerous times. Yesterday i got to light off the burn pile which was filled high with broken up wood and rags. Wee!!
3. Here's a story which Dess reminded me of: It was the day of our wedding. We were on our way to our honeymoon destination which was about a 5 hour drive from where we got married. During our drive we were opening up cards and presents which we'd received for our wedding. Dess felt the need to make a pit stop, so we pulled into a Wal-Mart in a small town in Texas. We sat in the car for a bit and i made sure to take all our cash gifts into Wal-Mart with us because i didn't feel it was safe in the car. When we were finished at Wal-Mart we started back for the car. As we approached it i told Dess, "i locked the keys in the car." She thought i was just joking. I was puzzled because the car hadn't done it's usual dinging to let me know the keys had been in the ignition. Then i figured it out. I'd locked the keys in the car with the car running. We had to go back into Wal-Mart to get a "wrecker" to open our locks. As we were waiting in the Wal-Mart, a lady asked us if we were coming from a prom. We were still dressed up in tux and wedding gown. Very embarassing.
4. I never thought it would happen, but i've married my mom. Well, not actually my mom, but Dess and Mom are very similar in their personalities and even thoughts. I remember telling Mom about how i wasn't going to marry someone like her. I don't remember why i said it, but i did. I think it may have even made her cry. I'm a mean person.
5. I'm an instigator at heart. I like to incite others to do things that are bad. One time i conviced my friend on the ship to "moon" Mary, the facility manager of the ship. He slipped down his pants and drew her attention. It was great.
6. My addictions are video/computer games and chocolate.
7. I feel like i've become part of the "system" at Friend Ships. Like i'm the one who explains why we do things the way we do them when it doesn't make sense to anyone else. It's frustrating because i never wanted to become a part of "The Man" but now i think i am.
8. I struggle with feelings of inadequecy in my life. This extends to all parts of my life, like as a supervisor or as a husband or my spirituality. I just don't feel good enough.


There's my 8 things. I'm going to tag Dess next. She's a good victim and i'm sure you'd love to know more about her. Also this keeps you checking out our blog for her 8 things.

joel

36 Hours

It all started yesterday at 5:50 in the morning when Joel and I had to leave to pick up new crew members. This is a miracle, for Joel doesn't even get up to go to the bathroom at this time. But he came with me because I never feel comfortable picking up new guy crew members that I have never meet before. They were supposed to be at the bus station at 6:15 but they were 30 minutes late. This would not have been so bad if Joel and I didn't have another pick up at 7 am. So we actually got the two new guys to the ship in time for them to have breakfast and for Joel and I to jet to Cintas (uniform factory) for our other early morning pick up.

By the time we got done with Cintas it was time to start our regular schedule. There really is no rest for the wicked.

Joel and I parted ways. He went to be head honcho over the grounds I went to go ride my big bad truck with a "girl" friend that wanted to go with me that day. Sarah and I had a good morning with picking up from a grocery store, bread warehouse and then vending machine place. The truck was full and ready to be taken to its designated places. We took it to the ship for the galley to go through and then to a shelter. But on our way to the second shelter Sarah SCREAMED while I was driving. "DESS PULLOVER" I had seen what she had seen, a man collapse while another man was trying to help him.

I pulled over knowing a bit more about the situation than Sarah but it turned out to be a good thing that Sarah didn't really know what was going on or I would have not pulled over. When I parked the UD I tried to explain to Sarah what she was seeing. (She is not naive or anything. She is a mother of 3 young adults but she just didn't know what see was seeing) I explained the man was drunk and the other guy was helping take him home. But we stayed around to watch longer than expected. And what we saw unfold was horrifying. The man couldn't even walk with out the other man holding him up. (We will call the drunken man Bob and the other man Fred) So Fred put Bob in a truck. I thought Fred was going to push Bob over so Fred could drive. Oh no Fred put Bob in the truck then set Bob's feet to the where they needed to be on the gas/break peddle and then gave over the keys and shut the door. I was like this is not happening, this is not happening. Fred went inside. I thought Fred was going to come out any minute but he never entered our eye site again. Bob just sat there. Sarah said out loud "I am praying he passes out" For 5 minutes we watch to see what Bob will do. He turns on the engine and goes. I grab a pen and write down on my leg the car type and license plate number. It was horrible. To my surprise Bob was driving extremely well for his condition. Sarah called 911 and I followed Bob for a little ways so we could tell 911 where he was heading. 911 said that a cop car was on his way to get Bob. And that was it. We went back to giving food while praying Bob would be pulled over before he killed himself and someone else. It was crazy.

How do people just do that? Oh I forgot to mention when Bob pulled out there were two guys across the street watching everything from a car dealership. But when Bob drove down the road the two teen guys started laughing hysterically like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen I was so mad.

Any way. It was just as crazy the rest of the day. Joel and I picked up another new crew member during lunch. When I got back I was sent to a city 1 hour away from Lake Charles to take Laura (crew member) to get her Van. Richard her husband had a heart attack on the way to a doctor’s appointment and was taken to Houston while leaving their car in Beaumont.

Just as I got back to Port Mercy I got a call saying Laura ran out of gas and needed gas to be taken to her. By this time I had had no break since 5:50 that morning and I was shaking because I was so tired. Someone went in my place and got Laura going. Praise God because there was no way I could do it.

I went to bed right after that and woke up to go to Dinner and then Joel and I went to get him his new glasses. We will send you pictures of the new Joel when we get some. They are awesome we both really like them. Don't Tell Joel I told you but they are girls glasses but he still looks MANLY with them on.

As of now I am waiting for Joel. He is sooooooooo nice . . . Ms. Gwen asked him during dinner well she didn't ask she just said she can't flush her toilet because her tank is full. This is asking, in her own way, if Joel could empty it out for her. Some times I get frustrated because she doesn't ask or doesn't care that she keeps asking Joel to do it on his time off but then I remember the words of our beloved Pastor Rufus in California. Ministry in never convenient. Something will come up when you don't want it to. Examples: a car on the side of the road when you are late for something or a call at 4 am by some one that really needs you when you have a 6 am meeting. Things like this. So I just try to do my best and not say anything and Joel doesn't really complain just winces and does it for her. He is a wonderful guy.

So that is it for the past 36 hours. Hope everything is going great with you guys.

Love you LOTS!!!!

Morning Refreshing

Hi,

I just have a story that i want to tell. I hope that it'll be encouraging to Paul! Dess was asked to arrange some songs by CD for Wednesday's morning refreshing. She picks out songs and then writes the lyrics on a big piece of paper so the crew can sing along. One of the songs that she picked was "The Prodigal Son" by Paul Butler. I think it was the debut playing of the song in Louisiana. The crew liked it and clapped along to the music (which they don't often do). I just thought that it was really neat to be praising God along with Paul.


Okay so that was my main point on blogging tonight. I haven't had anything really exciting happen to me lately. But i guess i can talk a bit about what's been going on. Something strange happened at Friend Ships over the weekend. It was Saturday afternoon, around 4:00pm and Stuart, one of the crew, came back to the property after a bike ride. He heard some loud music coming from one of the ministry mini-vans. When he went over to the van to see why the music was on, he found a kid from the neighborhood just sitting in the van, listening to music. Someone had left the keys in the van, and for some strange reason, this kid happened to come into our property (all the gates were locked) and he found the van with the keys in it and decided to play some music. Well, he took off with the keys. Later on, Josh, another crewmember went out to look for the kid (who was probably about 16 years old) to see if he could get the keys and let him know he's not welcome. He found a kid who claimed that it was his "twin brother" who'd been on the property. Josh couldn't get anything out of him, so they left it alone. I don't know what this kid was thinking! Why would he do that?!?! It just doesn't make any sense to me. Then on Wednesday i went checking around to make sure we didn't have anymore keys left in vehicles and i found the CB radio was left on in one of our semi trucks. I assume that this kid had been in it too and had thought that it was a normal radio. So, security at Friend Ships has been beefed up again. Today Tim and i have been putting up vinyl along our fence. We used to have it up, but had to take it down when hurricane Rita came through so it wouldn't tear out the whole fence. It makes our property look more like a military compound because the vinyl is a dark green color. But the good thing is that people can't just look in and see what's going on anymore.

Let's see, i guess i can talk about our Canada Day/4th of July celebrations. Well, i guess celebration isn't the right choice of words. On Canada day we went to the indoor football game that i've mentioned in a previous post. No one really acknowledged that it was Canada day and no one in the States has ever heard of Canada day. They just don't get it. Then on the 4th of July we drove to Houston to see Chuck and Janet. Chuck was being released from the hospital that day from surgery. He had some problems with his veins or arteries in his legs. They cut him up good. We went to be a support for both Chuck and Janet. Chuck was doing well. He was pretty weak because his hemoglobin count was low and he was hurting from the surgery, but he handled himself really well. Janet was a little bit emotionally fatigued. She'd been going through a lot during the surgery, worrying about the procedure and the future. Dess and i were able to just help relieve some of the stress. We spent about 4 hours in Houston with Chuck and Janet, then we headed back for Lake Charles. We picked up some Taco Bell went back to Chuck and Janet's apartment (they were letting us stay in it while they were in Houston) and crashed out. We didn't see a single flash of light in the sky from a fire work. I guess we just aren't that patriotic.

Life is going well as a whole. We are going to get an extra day off next week because we've been working so hard! That will be a nice break. I'm still waiting to get my new glasses. They were supposed to be ready today, but when i called the eyeglass store they said i'd need to wait until tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having a new look, a stronger prescription and no scratches on my lenses.

That's all for tonight... until next time.

It's A New Season

Hi Everyone,

Well, Dess just blogged last night about our adventures in eyeglasses. I figured i'd give you a bit of an update of the last week. It's been pretty intense and tiring for us, so you must want to know what we've been up to.

Last week Friend Ships held their first annual Disaster Response Training. About 50 people from around the United States congregated in Lake Charles, LA to participate in this training. The training consisted of many lectures and some practical work shops. Dess and i both got to teach in a work shop. We had 2 hours to teach about our different topics and then we got to repeat it 4 more times because the people had the opportunity to attend 5 of the 7 work shops available. Dess' work shop was on disaster response radio broadcasting. After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Dess' voice could be heard on 107.9 FM as she pronounced public service announcements and played her rocking gospel and hip-hop music. So, she was the perfect candidate for teaching this course. She was able to create the atmosphere of a mock radio station and had the participants speak over loud speaker to get the feel. Dess did an awesome job and many of the people who came to the training spoke highly of Dess and said she had the perfect personality for it (and that was even before they knew i was married to her!!!).

I did the work shop on roofing. It didn't go as bad as i had expected. About the week before the training i was told that i was going to supervise groups tarping a RV for Miss Gwen (the founder of Friend Ships mother). This disgusted me and made me not want to do it. Then, Dess knew a lady through the food ministry who needed her roof tarped. She had gotten her roof fixed after the hurricane, but it started leaking again just two weeks ago. I gave a 15 minute talk about tarping and then we piled into cars and vans and drove to the lady's house. We would put up a few sheets of vinyl and nail it down. Then we'd pack up and head back to Port Mercy. It was awesome because we finished tarping the roof during my last work shop. Everyone who came to my work shop was able to go away feeling more comfortable working on roofs and hammering in nails. I was glad.

Last night Dess and i went to an arena football game. The home team is the Swashbucklers. Arena football is a fast paced game with lots of action. We had a good time screaming and cheering. It made for a late night to end our tiring week, but it was worth it.

Well, for any of you who are waiting for me to respond to my "tag" from Sarah, you'll have to wait a bit longer. I've gotta do some deep thinking before i come up with 8 things. Keep checking the blog and i'm sure i'll come up with it sometime soon.

That's a bit of what's happening with us.

We are more than conquers . . . WE whooped those eye glasses in the bud!!!

GOODNESS . . . . . is all I have to say. We have been trying to get new glasses for Joel since Dad and Mom Butler came up to see us. They wanted to get Joel a new pair since his is all scratched up and falling apart. But it didn't work out. So Joel was able to get a free eye appointment the week after they left. The eye doctor said nothing really had changed when it came to Joel's eye sight.

So we went to get Joel a pair of glasses with his new prescription. Before we went to the eye glass shop Joel found his old prescription and to the unprofessional eye it looked like Joel's eye sight had changed a lot. So we took both of the prescription (one from five years ago and one from the new eye exam) and brought them with us to the eye glass store. The lady at the shop said she would not make us a pair because looking at the prescriptions they were totally different. So we went back to the doctors office but were not allowed to see the doctor, just nurses. When we explained what had happened and showed them the two prescriptions they said they trusted the doctor and would not question him. This was frustrating. We just wanted to know if they were truly different or not. But they would not help us.

So Joel went back to the lady (Jan) that set us up with the eye exam/doctor. She told Joel she would not call the doctor and question him. So being the wife that I am and being a bit tight with money at the moment I had a heart to heart talk with Jan. Finally in the end she said she would fax the doctor with the two prescriptions.

You would think everything was okay but things got a bit stickier. It went to the wrong doctor and Dr. Hart never saw it. They actually called me personally and asked me why I faxed them the prescription since it was another doctor who looked at Joel. Awwwwwwwwww. So we went back to Jan and asked to call Dr. Hart to see if they ended up giving him the two prescriptions. She found out that they looked at it and then called Joel on his old work phone number left a loooooooonnnnnnnngggg message and then ripped up the fax. By the grace of God and knowledge of Joel we some how got that message. It said the prescriptions were fine the new one was a little bit stronger than the first one.

"Finally!!!!" I thought "We can get Joel glasses now." So we went to Sears in the mall they were having a half off lenses and frame sale. Joel and I finally found glasses he liked then sat down for the pricing. The lady would only sell us the most expensive lens, she wouldn't even give us any other price besides the 2 most expensive lenses. Which with out the sale were 400 to 500 dollars for two lenses and with the sale it was well over 200 dollars. The grand total she wanted was almost three hundred dollars. I began to panic but quickly prayed and just said God we have that much money with us and if Joel needs it and this is the best we can do we will manage. The lady suggested we look around .

So the next eye glass store we went to the lady was saying we couldn't buy certain frames because of the wideness. (But the wide frames were the ones we liked) Finally we found one we liked and asked the price. (They were actually having the same sale) The frames and lenses with the sale came to 160ish dollars total. So we took it and are waiting for the glasses to be done this Thursday.

What I learned from this: Tenacity: Never give up and just give it to God. In the end He has your back.

Missing Dad and Mom Butler

Hello Everyone,

I know we talked about mom and dad butler coming to Louisiana but we have been missing them and talking about our time we had while they were here. So this blog is Dedicated to (drum roll please . . . like you don't know) DAD and MOM BUTLER.

BRING ON THE PICTURES . . . . . . .


Isn't Mom so Cute. How can you not love this woman?


Dad Showing Joel how it is done . . . Or was He?


Dad and Son!


Thats Not Mom or Dad . . .SMOKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mom and New Daughter!!!


Squishy Face

Ode to Dad and Mom. We love you!!!

It's Been TOO LONG

Hello Hello again,
I see Joel has done some explaining on what has been going on in our lives. I hope you have enjoyed reading the fun day to day things we face.
As for me life has been so much better. I have finally broken free of the things that have kept me in bondage for so long. Okay so it wasn't me that broke me free but that one touch from Jesus. I have been struggling everyday for a year if God really is good. The old theological question came up over and over again, if you are a good God why do you allow ___________ (you fill in the blank) to happen. I had a very bad experience a year ago that made me question the goodness of God.

I was obedient to God in what he told me to do for a certain situation. Then it all went down hill from there. I was called self-righteous, arrogant and conceited for doing what I did. It was hard and a harsh reality. God had been with me the whole time through the storm but after it was all said and done I was like what kind of God are you? I did EXACTLY what you told me to do why did you allow __________ to happen. Has any buddy else been there or is there now. So, every day for a year I thought about what happened and wondered if God was really my friend, BOO, protector, defender, etc.

Then nearly a week ago God got through and touched me in the most awesome way by using a scripture you read all the time. It says rejoice and be EXCEEDINGLY glad when they call you all kinds of evil names and revile you because of me. GREAT is your reward in heaven.
I was extatic when I heard a speaker preach on this. I knew then that for every evil there is, God has good. Whether you see it in this life time or the next. I came to realize I would never see the true goodness out of the situtation until I got to heaven. That yes there is evil in the world, yes bad things happen to everyone (some worse than others) but GOD is soooooooo good that he creates something good out of that bad, whether we see it today or not. It will come to pass: His goodness for every situation. In the book of Ecclesiastes it says Everything will be made beautiful in it's time. I believe this with everything I have or I would cease to see the Goodness that is in God.

So as of now I AM FREE. THANK YOU JESUS, for touching me the way You did.

Other than that work has been good. We are having a disaster relief training coming up at the end of June. Both Joel and I are teaching a class. Joel on temporary tarping for roofs that have been damaged by disasters and for me Emergency Radio Broadcasting. How to go on air for a disaster response. Nervous and exciting all at the same time. God has blessed us in experiencing these subjects so why not teach others before they dive right in. Sounds reasonable? YIKES. Pray that we will do this with God's guidance and that everything we say will be so clear that the people coming could teach the class after we are done with them.

We love you all thank you for keeping up on our NORMAL (hehehehe) Daily lives.

Love you all,
Dess

Post Vacation Blues

Well, most of you will know by now that my parents came to Louisiana to surprise me. It was a fun visit. They were here for a week and we were able do some neat things, see some of the sites and best of all, eat some cultural food. If you haven’t tried gumbo with whole pieces of chicken, crab and shrimps, you are missing out.

If you check out our Flickr page, you’ll notice some photos that we’ve already posted. We plan on adding more at the beginning of next month because we’ve used up all of May’s upload time.

Okay, so here are some of the things we ended up doing. We went to Cameron Parish, a county right on the Gulf of Mexico that was heavily damaged during Hurricane Rita. The sites that we saw were very impacting. It’s crazy to realize that there had already been about 8 months of clean up work already done and it was still a mess. We saw houses that had nothing left but the foundation, cars that were completely ripped open, destroyed churches, hospitals and much more devastation. One town called Holly Beach, which was obviously a beach town right on the Gulf, had been completely wiped off the face of the planet. Upon our tour, we saw that they were already beginning to rebuild and power lines had been installed and pilings or stilts for houses were already being put up. (Because of flood waters, storm surge, etc. many people decide to actually build their houses about 8 to 10 feet up in the air to hope avoiding any such catastrophe. Dess and I have actually seen an entire elementary school that was built on stilts.)

We also went on a tour of Avery Island, the birthplace of “Tabasco Brand Hot Sauce”. The factory itself was interesting because they showed how the peppers were chosen and picked, then how the peppers were processed. Our tour guide wasn’t very enthusiastic about it though. The big deal of the island is actually the “Jungle Gardens” which is a scenic tour of various landscapes. They had bamboo and azaleas, holly and ivy, trumpeter vines and live oaks. Not to mention the living creatures. There were plenty of dear flies that wanted a piece of Dess and my meat. The coolest part was when Dess almost stepped on an alligator. It was a small thing, only about 4 feet long, sitting next to the path. It was near the “Bird City” a habitat and nesting grounds for white egrets. Dess was so excited to see the egrets from the lookout station that she was about 3 feet away from the gator before we could stop her. The gator barely flinched and just opened its mouth and hissed to ward Dess off. Mom was really bummed that the batteries on the digital camera had died and was unable to capture the moment. In fact, the batteries died right after coming out of the Tabasco factory, so she missed a lot of good opportunities.

We weren’t always on the go. We did take some time to relax together as well. Candling Dad’s ear was quite the bonding experience. So was the time when Dess offered to help Mom replace her nose piercing. Dess figured it’d be a cinch. Dess has had her nose pierced for like 8 years, so she could do her own nose no problem. But after taking out Mom’s piercing it took what seemed like forever before the new piercing could be forced into place. Talk about bonding.

Mini golf and bowling were also some of our distractions, not to mention shopping. All in all it was a great week with lots of adventure and tons of stories to tell. Now Dess and I are back in the lull of having to work and not having much fun on a day-to-day basis. We need to find ways to spice up our lives. Well, it’s was great seeing Mom and Dad. We hope to see you soon too, whoever you are that may be reading this!

Check out our Flickr Site!

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that we've started a Flickr site. Check out the link on this site. That's all that i want you to know for now.

bye

The long awaited update

Hi!

I want to start by apologizing to anyone who regularly was checking our blog. I'm sure you aren't anymore with the way that we are keeping this updated. For our defense, it's been a pretty crazy time since our last post. Not that our lives are so full that we can't take the 30 minutes to blog every once in a while, it just more slips our mind than anything else.

Well, the Hope and Mersea have sailed off. They left May 2nd. Already they have done about a week of medical mission in Haiti. I thought that when they left that i'd sort of be free to work on my own projects. Boy was i wrong. Instead, Mary put me in charge of all the new male crewmembers. These are guys who may have been involved with Friend Ships for like 2 weeks or less before the ships sailed. So they had no idea where things are, how we work, the rules, etc. I became the mentor or babysitter, depending on how you look at it. At first it was pretty bad. I'd have to walk around showing them where things were, where to park, what to burn in the burn pile, not to drive trucks on the grass, how to show up on time for work, etc., etc. They pretty much have the routine down by now which is nice. But i've been keeping them so busy with work that i don't really have a whole lot of my own work to do.

Don't get me wrong, i'm extremely grateful for the help that these four men have been here around the property. We wouldn't be getting any work done without them. I just am having a hard time being a supervisor because they are spread out everywhere and i can't really get too hands on with the work they are doing. It leaves me feeling defensive because i'm not feeling like i'm accomplishing much, but i'm expecting a lot from these guys. I guess if i'm going to be a supervisor, i'd prefer to be more hands on and not have such a large spectrum to oversee. Because since the ships left, i've been made responsible for two more departments specifically and a whole lot of other stuff indirectly. I like being able to help out with the "leadership load" but i also like to get things done myself.

Okay on to another topic all together. This will be a quick side note because i don't have much to say about it, i just want to comment on it. The other day i went to Wal-Mart. At the front entrance there were two men sitting behind little tables asking for money. The men were dressed pretty nice in button up shirts with ties. The strange thing to me is that they were asking people going into and out of Wal-Mart for money for their church. Since being in the South, i've learned that tithing and money are important matters to the churches down here. Most new people to the South will comment that they don't like how they preach on tithes so much. It is a pretty different world down here when it comes to how pastors will try to coerce money out of their congregation. It's not too often that you'll hear about how we should be giving with a joyful heart. At some churches they even give a mini-message on tithing each time they take up offering. This can be a 5-10 minute ordeal which is led by one of the elders, deacons or ministers. I have a quote from my friend Matt who attended one of these churches. The elder stood before the congregation and said "You've got to give up the GREEN... not that stuff that jingles in yo' pockets... you've got to give the GREEN!!!" While saying this he took out a beautiful $50 bill and stuffed it into the offering basket. It just wouldn't fly in the North.

Back to life passing us by. Well, we got to go to Galveston Island for the weekend two weeks ago. That was a nice day, just sunning ourselves, playing mini-golf, book shopping and relaxing. It's pretty unusual that we get a long weekend, but Friend Ships gave us a day off after all the long hours we spent getting Hope and Mersea ready. It was a huge blessing. We've also been spending our weekends in an apartment off the ship. That's been nice. Central air, kitchen, bath tub, our own frig, leather lazy boys and lots of other wonderful treats. Dess was wonderful enough to do all the cooking. She made up spaghetti sauce from fresh vegetables. She's got skills.

It's been a busy month or so since we've last written. I hope you can forgive us for taking so long to write. I hope you'll continue to check our blog. We'd also love to hear you comment from time to time. Well, that's all i got for now.