Exley Family http://exleyfamily.com Just another WordPress site Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:31:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Wait and then Work http://exleyfamily.com/2011/10/wait-and-then-work/ http://exleyfamily.com/2011/10/wait-and-then-work/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:31:56 +0000 Chris http://exleyfamily.com/?p=247 I am finally updating after several months of silence!  I cannot believe it was March the last time I updated.  Where does the time go?  Since March we have been traveling many miles to different churches around North Texas.  If they are too far or if Chris is traveling out of state he mainly goes alone.  With the kids in school and sports I am usually here with them and keeping things as normal as we can.  We celebrated Melia turning 7 in June and Kennedy turning 14 (so hard to believe) in July.  Karson turned 12 on the 6th of October!  We also celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on June 25th.  Kennedy swam this summer (a little) and competed in some meets here in TX.  She placed very well and we are super proud of her.  She is now swimming with a team here in Frisco for the fall/early winter and she is working very hard in the pool 4 times each week and swims about 10 miles total in those 4 sessions.  Melia has lost a few teeth since our last update and our puppy has grown and is getting a little calmer with each passing month it seems (fingers crossed).  School is back in session and the kids have started this school year much easier than the last.  We are thankful for that!  We had a very hot, fun and busy summer, we are thankful for some cooler temperatures and looking forward to the fall season!

Now, the reason for the title of this blog update…  it is life changing for most I would think.  Even if we spend time reading God’s word, doing our devotions daily and praying are we really waiting before we work?  Are we waiting on Him?  This is just one area that Chris and I are diligently working on.  For our personal lives, for our family and for the ministry that God wants us to do….”abiding” – the key element to Living Dead to self!  Interesting how God just weaves everything together in our lives so perfectly.  When Live Dead was introduced, “abiding” was and is the main theme.  In scriptures that we read throughout the week we read things like “be still”, “wait on the Lord” and are constantly reminded of how difficult that can be in the world that we live in.  However, if we do not do the waiting, what will we have to offer anyone else?   Chris and I were able to get away for a little rest and relaxation but not without some “work” involved…..   We “waited before we worked” each day.  Not typical work but marriage, family and ministry work.  We were blessed abundantly to be able to go to The Cottage on Coronado Island for a week together, just the two of us.  Not sure you caught that….we went away ALONE for ONE WHOLE WEEK!!!  It was like nothing we have ever done for our marriage (and our family) before.  We were able to have sessions each day with a couple that does counseling and I would say teaching as well. They shared with us things that will forever change us personally, our marriage, our family dynamics and our ministry too.  It was a wonderful week and these are the verses that we ended our week with- Isaiah 30:15-18.  Please do take a few minutes to read it and let it soak in, neither of us had really read it quite the way it is spoken….it is such a great reminder to us again to wait and then work every single day!  Are we running from here to there doing “stuff” and checking things off of our to do lists?  Or, are we allowing the Lord to be gracious to us and show us compassion so that we can be blessed by Him and used to reach out, help and bless others?  I realize this looks different for everyone, we are all individuals and we cannot be squeezed into the way that someone else does it.  And when we (moms) have little ones at home some days all we can do is just say a one sentence prayer….He sees, He knows our hearts and right where each of us are.  There is also a book that the couple we spent time with at The Cottage gave us as a gift.  It is not your typical devotion book and I keep wanting to just read ahead because it is so good.  It is called “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young so if you are looking for a great devotional book or if your not J you can pick it up at the book store or even online for your kindle or ipad.  I just wanted to take a few minutes to share this because it has been life changing for me personally and I believe that Chris would say the same.

We are so overwhelmed at how God has provided for us and taken care of us.  We are so thankful for more new partners that believe in us and believe in what God is doing and going to do in Kenya.   And isn’t it wonderful to know that God knows all of this in advance and orchestrates every single detail!

So, as I close I will fill you in on what the rest of 2011 looks like for us.  The rest of October we will continue to travel to churches in N. TX, Chris will be visiting and speaking at Southwestern AG University and taking a trip to a church in El Paso.   In November Chris and I will be making a trip to Idaho to speak in a couple of churches there again.  We will also be taking a trip to TN to visit family and a couple of churches as well.  We will continue having services up until a couple of weeks before we leave for Kenya towards the end of the year.  We will be packing, sorting, selling cars and probably getting rid of more “stuff” and organizing.  Hopefully purchasing a container (soon), shopping for household things that we need and eventually in December we will pack the container and have it sent to Houston where it will be sent to Kenya.  We’ve decided that once our container is packed and our suitcases are ready for our trip back, we will spend Christmas in TN with our families.  We will return to Dallas to fly out.  During all of this we just ask that you continue to pray for us, pray for our kids as we begin transition again.  We are all super excited to return to Kenya, but that also means saying “see ya later” to many loved ones all over again.  Please continue to pray for Pastor Vincent, Dinah and Ruth (who is not a baby anymore).  They can always use your continued prayers for them, the church and the school.  Also for all of the S people that are still in desperate need of water, food and Jesus.  You can also pray for Live Dead (live-dead.org) and the team that we are getting together to join us in Kenya and for everyone involved with Live Dead stateside and in East Africa.

If you took the time to read this long blog – THANK YOU!  Thank you for loving us, encouraging us and praying for us.  We appreciate each one of you so much!  Without Him, we can do nothing!!  Let’s Wait and then Work…….

Brandi~

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2011/10/wait-and-then-work/feed/ 0 Family Fun http://exleyfamily.com/2011/03/family-fun/ http://exleyfamily.com/2011/03/family-fun/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 04:11:39 +0000 Brandi http://60d15c88-7d0e-4fe9-be67-64770f008901 Since our last update, we’ve been pretty busy around the Exley house! We celebrated Gotcha Day on February 16th. Six years ago on the 13th we arrived in Beijing and then the 16th was the BIG day….we got to meet our precious daughter face to face for the very first time! It is always so much fun to look back at the pictures and to read through our blog and emails from friends during that special time. We celebrated with Chinese food for dinner that night and a few fun gifts for the special girl!

Chris went to Idaho (where he was born and lived until he was 14). He had many meetings, coffee and lunches with Pastors while he was there and was privileged to speak/teach at two different churches on two different Sundays. He also spoke at a third church on a Wednesday night! He was taken great care of by his aunt and uncle and got to spend time with his cousin & other family as well while he was there. It was a busy trip for him (and we missed him here in Frisco) but it was a very blessed one as well. To sum up the Idaho trip; if we didn’t know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were supposed to be returning to Kenya….he would be moving our family to Idaho!

We have also had some services here in North Texas and have really enjoyed getting to meet new people and share what God is doing in Kenya. And it’s always fun for Chris and for us when we can all go together as a family.

As I mentioned earlier….our return to Kenya would be approaching in about 4.5 months. We do have some news we can now update all of you on. We have made the decision to extend our time here in the U.S. We were going to try to return sometime in July. However, with still needing a good amount of financial support and with looking ahead at schooling we have decided it will be best for our family if we wait and return after Christmas. Where finances are concerned, it just cuts down on the stress of trying to get every penny raised by summer while packing to leave at the same time. Where schooling is concerned, we have made our decision based on Kennedy. She is currently in 7th grade and her only true request as a missionary kid is that she can graduate from Rosslyn Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. That feels like home to her now and she misses Rosslyn, teachers and friends a lot. If we return the end of the year she will be ready for her second semester of 8th grade. Once finished with her 8th grade year…that will leave only high school for her to finish. So, that will put us in Kenya for 4.5 years. This will also allow us to be stateside for her first year of college (which I am personally very happy with, as is she).

Other Exley family news is the recent addition of a new family dog. Our kids have been wanting a dog of their own for several years now. We finally found and adopted a rescue dog that desperately needed a home after living on the streets and ending up at the humane society. He is feeling quite at home now after three full days and the kids are loving having him around to play with! And, for those of you that may be curious, he will be returning to Kenya with us!

We are so thankful for God’s continued provision and for all of you who are constantly praying for us, emailing us and encouraging us! We appreciate each and every one of you and pray that you are richly blessed!

Brandi

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2011/03/family-fun/feed/ 0 Snow Days http://exleyfamily.com/2011/02/snow-days/ http://exleyfamily.com/2011/02/snow-days/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:00:00 +0000 Brandi http://ffdc77de-6387-42f7-a306-8d054b712768 As I began this update on Tuesday morning early, we had ice pounding our windows. A “Wintry Storm” arrived in N. TX!! I don’t know that I remember a storm like this one with lightning and thunder while it’s sleeting/snowing? My kids did have “snow”, not ice to play in for January after all those prayers for snow! We had a snow Sunday a few weeks ago and the kids went crazy! We had fun playing in the snow and building a snowman. The storm this week didn’t bring any snow that we are able to build a snowman with, it’s mainly ice. However, we are really enjoying having these snow days cooped up inside. We haven’t had snow days for a few years and it’s pretty exciting for the kids. Tomorrow is day 3 and counting….

Now for a few updates for those of you that are reading to find out what we have been up to lately:

During January Chris and I read a book called “Radical” by David Platt. It was a very challenging read and one that we really enjoyed. We definitely recommend it if you haven’t read it.

We are still working on finalizing our budget & are approximately at about 80%. Chris has a trip to Idaho coming up and we are praying for Pastors there to partner with us while he is there. Chris grew up there (before moving to TN at age 12) so he has several contacts there and aunts and uncles that live there.

For those of you who have followed Pastor vincent, Dinah and baby Ruth (who is not much of a baby anymore) over the last few years. They are expecting another precious baby soon. You can keep them in your prayers. Pray for Dinah and her health while she is pregnant. Pray for Ruth because she is getting very big these days and with cerebral palsy it is so difficult for them to take her anywhere. Nairobi is not a place where you can easily take a stroller or wheelchair anywhere with public transportation. Just pray for God’s continued provision for them, for a healthy pregnancy, baby and delivery too. They are in Mathare Valley and Eastleigh daily ministering and we know that they would greatly appreciate your prayers for their family.

Don’t forget to check out our support page on facebook. If you are on facebook, go to the “connect” tab on this website and scroll to the bottom to click on facebook. It will take you to our support page. “Like” this page to get ongoing and more frequent updates through facebook.

Our next update will be a little more informative as to where we are at with our budget and plans for returning to Kenya.

Thank you for your continued support, encouragement and prayers.

Many blessings,
Brandi

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2011/02/snow-days/feed/ 0 Closing out 2010 and a Big Welcome to 2011 http://exleyfamily.com/2011/01/closing-out-2010-and-a-big-welcome-to-2011/ http://exleyfamily.com/2011/01/closing-out-2010-and-a-big-welcome-to-2011/#comments Sat, 08 Jan 2011 03:12:43 +0000 Brandi http://fe5ff08a-462a-46db-9394-d2de35d5531e Cannot believe the first week of January 2011 is already coming to a close! It seems like the holidays just flew right by (again)!

November was full and lots of fun! We spent weekends traveling to churches in North Texas sharing about what is happening in Kenya and meeting new people. We had birthday parties to attend, Kennedy made the A Basketball team at school, she got braces removed and braces put back on w/in a two week span. And, we shopped for warm clothes and coats for the family….getting ready for some colder weather than we have seen in several years!

We took a road trip to Tennessee and had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families. We visited each parents house for three different days. Yes, that makes “three” Thanksgiving meals! Then we loaded up again and headed to Gatlinburg, TN. As a child I grew up going there for short vacations and Chris and I celebrated a few anniversaries there. But, our kids (we realized) had never been before. We ate on Thanksgiving day at Cracker Barrel in Pigeon Forge (this was our tradition we started while living in TX w/out family around for several years). They have a delicious Thanksgiving meal. We had lots of fun family time while in the Smoky Mountains before coming back to TX.

December was much busier for us this year but I really enjoyed the hustle and bustle that comes along with Christmas in America. Not getting caught up in the “stuff” but the Christmas music and the decorations and lights. We did more traveling in December and even went to OK for one weekend. Chris had a birthday that was pretty low key (by his choice), even though it was his 40th! We had a wonderful Christmas at home and had lots of fun just spending time together! My kids were hoping for snow and of course that didn’t happen. When they realized they wouldn’t have snow it left them wishing for our tradition (the past few years) of swimming on Christmas Eve! We really enjoyed loading up in the van one night in our pj’s and driving to a nearby neighborhood and downtown Frisco to look at Christmas lights.

We were blessed to welcome the New Year with some great friends and are so thankful for all that God has blessed us with in 2010 and we look forward to all that He has in store for 2011! We pray that you and your families are blessed beyond measure this year as we all strive to trust Him more and walk in His ways!

The kids in the Exley home will continue to pray for some beautiful snow before winter is over here in Texas…..they want to see snow so badly! I think our coats will finally get some good use this weekend with the Arctic blast but our kids would love nothing more than to have some beautiful snow accompany the cold weather!

We will continue to travel to churches and raise support to help us return to Kenya. Chris has a trip to PA planned for next week and he will be traveling to Idaho in February to speak at churches and meet with pastors. We so appreciate your prayers, support and encouragement.

Happy New Year and many blessings,
Brandi

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2011/01/closing-out-2010-and-a-big-welcome-to-2011/feed/ 0 The hardest part of my job http://exleyfamily.com/2010/11/the-hardest-part-of-my-job/ http://exleyfamily.com/2010/11/the-hardest-part-of-my-job/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:24:07 +0000 Chris http://dd1e276f-21aa-4c12-8f02-2d851898d586 As I mentioned in the previous post we are currently in the States raising support to return to Kenya for hopefully 4-5 more years. I love the opportunity to share our ministry and vision for Kenya with people I know or just have met. I also love the opportunity to dream and with people who also have a passion for what we are doing. But these past 2 weeks have been really hard on being here in the States and not in Kenya.

Just to be completely honest and transparent I don’t like asking for money or support, however I know it has to be done. I am the type of person who just wants to go and get it done and I am struggling because right now I feel like my life is nothing more than about money. On top of that I have received several emails in the past 2 weeks from our ministries on the ground. These emails have been about one of kids in our school who’s dad died of an accident, several life threatening sickness, family issues and then one of our Muslim families loosing everything in a fire. I so bad want to be on the ground to help personally and to also help our people on the ground minister through these tragedies.

But I know even if I was there in Kenya helping with those situations we would need your support in prayer through these times. So I pray daily for God to be both the provider of our needs and the needs of our ministries and people on the ground in Kenya. It has truly kept me dependent on God as my provider and for that I am grateful but I can’t say that it has made it any easier not being in Kenya. It is still amazing to me how fast my heart changed for the people and a Country that was not my own. Somehow Africa gets in your blood and I mean that in more than one way :)

Please pray with us that God will continue to bless and minister to our friends in Kenya and please pray that God will continue to provide as He has been for our needed support in order for us to return to Kenya quickly.

Blessings,

Chris

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2010/11/the-hardest-part-of-my-job/feed/ 0 A Year in Review http://exleyfamily.com/2010/10/a-year-in-review/ http://exleyfamily.com/2010/10/a-year-in-review/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:08:47 +0000 Chris http://cde81d3d-4a9e-4f62-b2b0-2d5dca462d28 So has it really been well over a year since we last updated our blog? I guess it really has and that is not a good thing. With Facebook we felt everyone was being updated and stopped updating this blog but I think it is time to start it up again so you can keep updated with us with more than just a few status updates.

In the past year we have had the privilege to host 7 teams and also 6 interns that served from 1 month to 1 year. I really love working with teams and more the reasons of what we can do for them then what they can do for us. I love to watch how God really works on them during the process. I also love to help educate them on poverty, missions and how we work on making things self sustaining as we build capacity.

Probably the most important part of our year as a family was when our oldest, Kennedy, won 1st place in the 50m breaststroke and 2nd place in the 100m breaststroke in the Kenya National Swim meet in April of this year. Then after returning home to Texas the end of June she won 3rd place in the whole state of Texas in August. We are incredibly proud of her to say the least.

Many of you may or may not know that we went to Kenya these past 3 years as Missionary Associates in order to get there quicker. However since returning we have moved forward with being fully appointed missionaries with the Assemblies of God World Missions. That approval is almost in site and will be completely final on November 17.

We have been blessed to already speak at 4 churches and another 4 coming in the next month. After the first of the year we will hit the road hard raising our monthly budget with commitments so we can prayerfully return by July or August of next year. We will focus on churches and places we know or currently have support before making the cold calls :) Please be in prayer with us as we move into this realm of our lives. I love sharing our heart and ministry but it does take a toll on the family and kids. If you would like us to come share with your church, small group or Sunday School please contact us via email and we will see what we can do to make it happen.

More to come soon and I promise :)

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2010/10/a-year-in-review/feed/ 0 Headed to the States http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/headed-to-the-states/ http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/headed-to-the-states/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:29:50 +0000 Chris http://82341695-96a7-4bee-88bf-bb3d1ed41c46 This week we say goodbye to 2 of the 3 MAPS workers, interns, that are here with us and then we leave one here until she leaves in July while we leave for the States. We are trying to wrap a million things up before we leave like heading to Garissa/Sombo, the bush, this week for a couple of days. I am taking 2 of the MAPS workers with me along with Karson since he is out of school which he is very excited about since he has not been to this place but heard me talk about it a lot.

As we prepare to come to the States for 6 weeks (3 weeks in TX and 3 weeks in TN) please pray for us and our kids. We will be tremendously busy the end of June and first of July trying to get our house ready again for renters plus searching for someone to rent it. We certainly can’t afford to carry the note by ourselves so we need to find someone quickly.

We want our time in the States to be relaxing and refreshing for us and our kids but at this point the bigger kids are not overly excited about coming to the States although they do miss their grandparents and friends.

Hopefully we will see some of you on the other side of the pond.

Blessings,

Chris

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/headed-to-the-states/feed/ 0 You did it!!! http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/you-did-it/ http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/you-did-it/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:54:55 +0000 Chris http://1618c768-c670-4b79-90e4-328fd28e3555 You did it! We were able to raise a little over our goal of $2500 for new computers for the Cyber Cafe. Above is what were able to get for $200 for each unit which included a P4 2.4Ghz HP Compaq Desktop computer, a 17” TFT screen, new US keyboard and all the cords needed. It took us a while to track down all the needed equipment for the best price but I am really happy to be able to get all this for $200 and in Kenya!!

Now if you emailed me and made a commitment of $100 please do send the money in since I actually already spent it. :)

We probably won’t be installing these computers until August since we will probably be changing some things in the Cyber Cafe and the way it is ran. However, right now they are operating 4 laptops with more coming and making some money for the school. Because of the great response and because we will have the laptops left to use we will probably be opening another Cyber Cafe near Somalia by the end of the year. I am very excited about this one because of where it is and who it will be reaching. More on that later.

Thanks to all who responded and God Bless you!!

Chris

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2009/06/you-did-it/feed/ 0 Help make a difference http://exleyfamily.com/2009/05/help-make-a-difference/ http://exleyfamily.com/2009/05/help-make-a-difference/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 14:05:55 +0000 Chris http://bb4cb0bd-6350-4027-9d4c-a21cc8e83f56 Okay so long time since our last blog update, 5 months to be exact, and I won’t give you all the excuses as to why but just say we are sorry and will try to keep everyone updated although we have found Facebook as a good way to connect with everyone and stay connected.

Most everyone knows that we started a Cyber Cafe called Ruth’s Hope Cyber Cafe back at the beginning of February with the help of Brad Molen, Eric Auyoung and Rhett Saunders of Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, TX. The income from this Cyber Cafe is used to feed the kids of Mathare Valley in Pastor Vincent’s school and then also provide salaries for the teachers and then school supplies and hopefully uniforms in the future. Well the Cafe had become more successful than we expected in such a short time and was making around $300 a month and with just half the computers we intended to put in there. The night that Eric Auyoung was arriving, May 5, to install 4 more computers the Cyber Cafe was robbed and George who works there was shot. The robbers ended up taking every single computer we had but left the cash box with cash in it and then all the power cords to the laptops. Not very smart of them I know.

So three weeks later here is where we are. George is doing good and has recovered well but still needs prayers and continued healing. The bullet is still in his back above his hip and near his spine. It was absolutely a miracle that the bullet only traveled about a foot at the most. After much discussion and changes we have decided to open up the Cyber Cafe again and at the same spot but with some changes now and in the future. We really wrestled with this decision but God really spoke through a couple of outside people and so we made the decision that His will was greater than ours and that this ministry was His and not ours.

That being said one of the main decisions we made for the future was to change from laptops, which we used because of the ease of getting them into the Country, to desktop computers. We are doing this with the hope that the computers won’t be as much of a target as the laptops since they won’t be able to carry them out in bags. So here is where I need your help and where you can make a difference in the kids of Mathare Valley. I have found some desktops from our kids school, Rosslyn Academy, that they are selling because they just purchased some new ones for the students. The only issue is that they are charging $125 per computer which is a great price but it also doesn’t include a monitor, keyboard or mouse. I already have a lead on the keyboard and mouse but still in search for monitors.

I would love to buy at least 12 computers or even more for a future Cyber Cafe that I am working on in another part of Kenya if we get the money plus I will need to purchase monitors. So I am needing at least $1,500 ASAP before these computers get taken by someone else. The total amount I would love to have is $2,500 to include monitors but if more comes in I would use for this second Cyber Cafe in a Somalia Muslim area.

Would 25 or more of you commit to giving me $100?

If so email me ASAP at chris@hopefellowship.net that way I can plan to purchase the computers this week if at all possible.

Thank you in advance for prayerfully considering this! You will be blessed and so will the kids!

Chris

]]> http://exleyfamily.com/2009/05/help-make-a-difference/feed/ 0 Merry Christmas & Email Database http://exleyfamily.com/2008/12/merry-christmas-email-database/ http://exleyfamily.com/2008/12/merry-christmas-email-database/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:41:04 +0000 Chris http://e50d6dc8-fe28-493c-bc0b-a7c7eacc87ea We would like to wish everyone a Blessed and Merry Christmas from our family to yours! Once again we are blessed to have each one of you in our lives and for that we are thankful.

Although we know that there are probably only few that read our blog we would like to keep an email list of all those that would like to be emailed when we update our blog and when we send out a newsletter. I promise we won’t do more than that and unless I can get a whole bunch of money by selling your email address :)

So email us at chris@hopefellowship.net and we will add you to the list for future updates.

Please be praying for me, Chris, as I leave this Sunday for the States to attend the World Missions Summit in Cincinnati. I will be there from Dec 29 to Jan 2 and then will travel to Nashville to hang with my folks for a few days and to have a few meetings. Also I will be picking up some of the equipment for the Internet Cafe for Pastor Vincent, mentioned in the previous blog if you missed it. Please pray for my safety as I travel, success at the World Missions Summit to reach those who are being called by God to come to Kenya to serve, for my hassle free re-entry in to Kenya with the computer equipment and then for my wife and kids as they remain home by themselves for the week and half.

Also, I have been told that you are unable to leave comments on the blog and we have been working on the problem but currently I have a work around if you go to http://web.me.com/chrisexley

Thanks and God Bless,

Chris

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