The Christmas Store!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!
This morning we had the opportunity to be apart of Mile High Ministries Christmas Store. Mile High has been doing the Christmas Store for 19 years now. The way the store works is families in need of a little extra help during the holidays are able to come purchase really nice toys for 75% off the regular store price. Mile High has a motto that they like to to stand on that we give the community a hand up, not a hand out. The parents don't walk away with free stuff, they walk away from the store with dignity that they were able to provide nice presents for their children for Christmas. There were tons of volunteers that came to be apart of this special day!


Here is a video of all the volunteers before the Christmas store shoppers arrived...





Let the shopping Begin!


Cashiers are ready for some shoppers...


Toys are ready to be taken home!


We all listened to Christmas music as the shopping took place


We were the toy stockers for kiddos ages 4-7


Helping the parents find the perfect gifts was so much fun!


How about this one?


What a blessing to so many parents and their children


After the toys were purchased, the community sat and enjoyed the music, coffee, and yummy home-made treats while their gifts were wrapped by volunteers



What a great day! I look forward to Martin Missions being able to host a yearly event like the Christmas store! So many smiles, so many lives changed by volunteers joining together to serve.. wow, just gives me goosebumps!

We love being His hands and His feet among His people! We have never been so fulfilled in life as we are right now. When God calls, we encourage you to go, step out, or just do what He says, the reward is great and the impact you can make will change your life and the lives around you for eternity!

Thankful in 2009

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! First we started off our festivities at Joshua Station on Wednesday night. The community came together to give thanks for all that we have been given. Matt and I cooked alot of potatoes and boy did they go fast! Here are some pictures and a video from our fun night at Joshua Station.














Volunteers from a local church came to decorate and serve us turkey, dressing, and gravy! Here they are in the community kitchen preparing the meal.




















Having fun together, giving thanks.














We are blessed to have the opportunity to be apart of such a life changing place.



Thursday, Thanksgiving Day with our friends, the Franson's


Jessie and Wendy


It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go play at the park





We hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with this year. We are thankful for your love, prayers, and support!

October Blessings

Martin Missions hosted a pumpkin painting "Family Pumpkin Picnic" at Linda Spurlock Park in North Richland Hills. Even though the weather was rainy (Unexpected), we still had fun painting pumpkins, feeding the duckies, and spending time together.


Make a Smilebox scrapbook

October was a month of some expected and some unexpected blessings for Matt and I. We were prepared to leave for Matt's sister's wedding the first week of October when the Monday before we left we got an unexpected call from our renters back in Texas at 5am that our house (which we just finished remodeling in March) was flooded. The renters woke up to several inches of water under their feet because of a busted line under the sink in the kitchen. We left right away as we made phone calls to clean up the mess the water had created. We are blessed to have insurance! For the rest of the month we scheduled help to RE remodel our home. It was sad to see all the hard work ruined, but we were able to make the house even nicer for our renters and it also raised our resale value. The house got new paint, carpet, base boards, all new tile flooring (that looks like wood) in the living areas, kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and lighting.

(Unexpected)


Thank you to James and Abby Crowley, Eva Martin, Danny and Heidi Cox, and Barbra Elder for allowing us to stay in your home! Also, a Huge thank you to all our friends that provided meals for us during our stay, your company and food was wonderful!
We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

While we were in Texas we were able to be apart of some fun times! Check out what we were able to be apart of while remodeling our home...

My Sister in law, Melissa's Tea before her wedding (Expected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Aaron and Melissa's Fun Wedding (Expected)~

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Family Fall Festival Martin Style at Michael's school(Expected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

And last but not least.. Early Thanksgiving and Big Announcement with Granddaddy(Unexpected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

And to all our supporters who receive our newsletter, October was a crazy month, sorry we were unable to send you an update. You will be getting an update in the mail soon! If you are not on our list and would like to be, email us or message us on facebook with your address. Thanks!

"You Did It Mommy!"

Today was Town Hall meeting at Joshua Station. Town Hall is held the first Thursday of every month after community dinner. During this meeting, residents are informed of changes, announcements are made, and best of all those who have completed the program are announced. This is a story that melted my heart and brought me to tears. One of the residents had completed the program and moved into stable housing so this was the night that the staff was to announce the graduation. Her family advocate stood up with her in the front of the room and began telling us all the struggles and accomplishments that had taken place over the past year she had been a resident. The resident had also brought her four year old son who had walked this journey with his mom. He sat patiently and quietly as the family advocate wrapped up the congrats and gave his mom the framed graduation certificate. Everyone clapped and as the room then got quiet her son made this precious statement, "Mommy you did it!" Four years old, I can not imagine how proud he was of his mommy. This right here is good news my friends. Lives are being changed forever. Everyday we learn more and more stories that make us thankful to be apart of this incredible adventure and drive us to help families. Thank you for reading my story. This is what we love to do.

You are invited to the Martin Missions
Family Pumpkin Picnic


When? 5pm-9pm Sunday,October 11, 2009
Where? Linda Spurlock Park, North Richland Hills, Texas


Bring your family, your pumpkins, and your picnic dinner to Linda Spurlock Park.
We will have paints and stickers to decorate pumpkins together.

So lets get together, decorate some pumpkins and play!

We would love to see you and fill you in on what's been happening with Martin Missions in Denver. Feel Free to invite friends and family to this event! We would love to share our vision to help families.

Hope to see you pumpkins there!

Love, Matt and Wendy

Joshua Station Benefit Concert

The Joshua Station Benefit Concert was loads of fun! Here is the church where the concert was held. This church is really old. It used to be a Jewish Temple. It is located in a great location, Down town Denver. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I used my phone)
This is one of the beautiful stain glass windows within the church. Isn't it beautiful? I had to take a picture as the sun was beaming through.
On Thursday before the concert, one of the residents and I baked in the kitchen from 1pm to 6pm. We had fun making muffins, cookies,and cupcakes! I have never baked so much in my life. And, boy were all the baked goods yummy, ofcourse we had to taste them... Here is just a "taste" of what baked goods we had to offer! And guess what? By the end of the night ALL the baked goods were bought!
Thank you Lord, our baking really was good!

Here is our new friend Rich picking out some yummy treats! Not that he is not sweet enough already!

The band~ The residents and staff had a great time dancing and singing to familiar party songs! What a great time was had by all. Money was not the only thing raised at the concert.. so were praises to the Lord and the spirits of the Joshua Station residents and staff.

Thank You Martin Missions Supporters

We just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all our Martin Missions supporters. We are blessed to have the opportunity to train here in Denver. The resources are amazing. Besides Joshua Station, we have had the opportunity to be apart of a couple of local homeless meetings recently which have opened our eyes to the issues that are present here in the city. We have met many great people involved in helping the homeless at these local meetings and through Foothills Community Church. We look forward to visiting and serving at many different facilities in the area who have a heart like ours to help families in need. We want to be able to see different housing situations, ways of running transitional housing, and learn from other leaders in the area whose goals are similar.
If you would like to partner with us you can become a monthly supporter or give a one time gift. You can either give your tax deductible gift(s) online or send it to Martin Missions Inc. P.O.Box 2472 Englewood, CO 80150. Once you send a gift online, we will have your information for further updates.

Thank you for your support! Your willingness to give helps families in need. We have all had people who have believed in us, supported us, helped paved the way. Thanks for being a support to families who need a foundation to build upon.

Blessings,

Matt and Wendy Martin

In Memory of Rob Elder

Matthew and I had the privilege to serve and spend time with the Elder family last week in Keller, Texas. Rob Elder went home to be with the Lord on Friday, August 14th, 2009. He is now whole and complete without pain. Rob was a man who loved his family with all his heart. Matt and I have known Rob for many years. The thing that stood out most to Matt and I about Rob was his genuineness and the way he truly cared for others. Rob always knew where we were in life and what project we had going on. Rob worked for over 20 years for the city of North Richland Hills where he was loved and respected. In the days and weeks ahead we ask that you please keep his family and friends in your prayers.

Gone too soon...

On Thursday night, we ate dinner with the residents at Joshua Station. One of the people we met at our table was a boy named John who was 8 years old. He and his family were residents at Joshua Station and were on their way into new housing. We recently found out there was an accident that took place over the weekend including John riding an ATV while away from Joshua Station and getting hit by a car. John went home to be with Jesus yesterday. Please stand with us and the Joshua Station family as we pray for his family. Thank you for being a willing intercessor for this family in a time of need. We love you and thank you.

Our new Home in Colorado

Here is the house that we are blessed to be living in. The city we live in is Englewood, only about 10 minutes from Joshua Station. The city of Englewood is pretty cool, we can ride our bike or walk to many different places like the grocery store, post office, restaurants, parks, shopping.. it's great! We are enjoying our time here in Englewood! Tonight we went to Joshua Station to eat dinner, meet new people, and help clean up after dinner. We look forward to serving more at Joshua Station.

We moved to the mountains!

After many fun "see you later"/"going away" parties with friends and family we woke up at 3am Saturday morning to head out on our journey to find our truck had been broken into. The driver side window was broken and our new digital camera was stolen. If the theif would have asked me for the camera I would have given it willingly..after removing all my pictures I had taken over the last week before we left! More pictures will be coming once I recieve them from friends and family. Back to our move.. we met some friends at IHOP which was a great final goodbye. Thanks Pastor David Gregg, Russ Lewis, James and Abby Crowley, Jesse Handschuh,and Carol Lee Fowler for braving the 4am goodbye! Thanks to the Crowley's for the awesome GPS given to us for the trip and to Jesse for the yummy breakfast! From IHOP we made a stop by Pastor David's house to get a quick patch job to get us on the road. Five hours later, and with help by the Crowley's GPS we found Wayne's Auto Glass in Amarillo. As I am sitting in the lobby (half asleep) I was happy to hear Matt and Wayne talking about the Lord and thanking Him for His goodness even though the broken window was a frustrating situation. Wayne gave us a great deal on the window and between the window replacement and lunch we were back on the road in an hour. Matt was thankful for the quiet window! We arrived in Colorado at 7:30 Texas time and unloaded and unpacked until midnight. My husband is a crazy traveler driving 13 1/2 hours on 3 hours of sleep and a broken window. The next morning we took back the car trailer and picked up a covered trailer to go pick up our stuff at friends basements. The Franson family helped us pack up the trailer and then unpack the trailer at our home in Englewood. After an afternoon of unloading boxes I got a second wind to unpack. Anyone who knows me knows I love to decorate and orgainize.. especially when I have not see my beautiful things in 7 months! I was on my own challenge of Design on a Dime! We are having a blast being together and getting to know the city. Thanks to the Crowley's we are never lost. From glass replacement to grocery shopping the GPS is our new best friend.

Matthew and I want to extend a huge thank you to:

The Pruitt family for hosting our "Going Away Party"
Life Gate Fellowship for blessing Martin Missions with the final moving costs
The Crowleys for the GPS
And ALL our friends and family who have helped us on this journey.

Thank you for your love and support. It is a joy to have you on this journey with us.

Thank You Heart of Praise!

Last Wednesday, we traveled to San Antonio, Texas to share the vision the Lord has given us to help families with Heart of Praise Worship Center. The Lord blessed us greatly as we shared, met new friends, and encouraged the Heart of Praise team to run the race on purpose, with purpose. Thank you to all our new supporters, may you and your family be blessed! We look forward to running the race with you.

Thank you to our cousins Brandon and Laura Caddell and their precious children Asher and Bella for hosting us during our stay. We enjoyed our time with you.

Graduation 2009

Thank you all for supporting me during my college career. When I was a young teenager, I dreamed of going to college, walking across the stage, and having a college degree.. and God made it happen! When I walked into graduation and heard the lovely sound of the graduation song my heart was filled with JOY. I also want to say a huge thank you to my wonderful husband who stood by me, encouraged me every step of the way, and endured the long hours I was away from home in class, studying, or out in the child development field. Words cannot express how thankful I am to have Matthew Martin as my husband.
So, here we are, one more step closer to moving to Colorado to be trained. We are very excited about the adventure we are about to embark on. Only a little over a month away from our big move from Fort Worth, Texas to Denver, Colorado.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Trip to Denver, Colorado: March 2009

On Spring Break, Matthew and I packed up half of our belongings into a UHAUL and headed to Denver.



The first day we arrived in Denver, we went to Joshua Station to serve the residents at the Thursday night community dinner. My friend Charlotte's lifegroup had volunteered to serve that night.. pretty cool huh. The residents loved eating breakfast for dinner.





On Saturday, we were able to join Foothills Church in helping tear up asphalt at Joshua Station for a new community garden.



Here we have Matthew and our friend Glen (Charlotte's husband) using their shoveling skills.



This is where the garden will be right outside of the residents homes. The community will be able to help in the gardening and the children will be able to see the growth process. The garden is not the only thing in a growing process.. all who are involved in this community are in continuous growth. The harvest is amazing!

During our time in Denver, we met with Joshua Station leadership, networked with the community, met new friends, and spent time with our friends the Franson Family.
(Matt, Wendy, Jessie, Sam, Glen, & Charlotte was taking the picture)




In the middle of all the busyness, we were able to go skiing one day in Winter Park.



Matthew and I had a great time together in the beautiful snow.



Here we have Matthew the expert skier...



And Wendy, the not so expert skier. Haha, this was only my second time to ski. I did pretty well, no crashing.. this is me taking a break.

We had a great trip! Thank you to the Franson Family who hosted us for the week and fed us lots of yummy food. And thank you to Joshua Station for welcoming us to the Joshua Station family. We love you and can't wait to see you all in July!