God Lives

Job 19:25 "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth."

Joey & I decided to announce a need to our brothers & sisters one evening but only after praying and asking God for guidance. We needed help financially this past month and “WE” thought maybe if a few churches were to have a dinner or something to raise a few dollars we could start fixing our three broken down vehicles.

We have a 15 passenger van that was given to us by James Paddock because of all the mechanical work Joey had done for him this past year. Last year, during the summer, the van would just die and we would have to wait for it to cool down and then pop the hood and wiggle some computer thingy and it would start. It would only do it occasionally. Then this summer it got worse, one day Joey HAD to drive it to Winslow for a doctor’s visit after his surgery and the van died a total of 20 times. It had been parked pretty much the whole summer. Then we decided to do something fun with all the kids a few weekends ago and take them camping. On the way home, Joey’s big truck died and never restarted. We had it looked at and they said we were going to need a new motor for it. Well, the next day we returned home from camping the car decided it needed attention as well. The power steering pump went out and the belt broke.

Now here we are 3 broken down vehicles, 10 children, and living on a missionary salary of an average of $1000.00 a month.  Although, all of this may seem over whelming we still blessed the Lord with our lips, because we knew He was right there with us the whole time. We felt His presence and saw His actions. As the word went out of our need, God started moving in a powerful way. A gentleman whom Joey had been speaking to about trading his truck with, prior to it breaking down, just happened to show up in person one day in Dilkon and he still wanted to trade Joey. His truck was big enough for work, and to get us through these dirt roads, rather dry or wet. It runs good, and will be cheaper on gas. After about a week and a half they made the trade.

Then we got a phone call one afternoon from our family at Cobblestone Community Church in Ohio, and they said we have a 7 passenger van we want to donate to you, all you have to do is meet us half way in Oklahoma and it’s yours. We had no idea what the year, make, or model was, we only knew it ran good. So one weekend Renee’ and I drove up there and met them, and to our surprise, it was a 2007 Saturn Relay. Really? Who gives that new of a vehicle away? ANSWER…God’s people who long for His will to be done! Just like all those who generously sent donations and who prayed for us.

Although, we have the new van, and Joey’s truck, the 15 passenger van is still a much needed vehicle when you have 5-10 children and want to take them out on an adventure. However, just like everything else God has taken care of that as well. It was sent to the dealer a week ago to get repaired and families at our home church are paying the bill.  The car repairs are just about completed, I believe there are a couple more minor things, but it is now drivable.

What I find so mind blowing through our walk with God is, Joey and I have always been the couple who lived paycheck to paycheck. We have always tried to live a simple life, “so others could simply live”, and when times would get hard, or when everything seemed to be falling apart, God was and continues to ALWAYS be here for us. We have so many stories of blessings we have received from Him and because He never fails to show up, my faith runs deep. He has taught me to stop worrying, give it all to Him, and to keep living out my day, by telling others of this Magnificent Father we all have. 

One final thing I would like to share that I believe is important to mention. Maybe a non-believer may read this post and I want them to see that God not only uses His children (that believe in Him) to care for one another, but He also uses complete strangers to us as well. When Joey’s truck broke down,  Sunday afternoon coming home from camping, A couple who were complete strangers to us, stayed with us for about six hours on the side of the road trying to help Joey get the truck started. They helped us by driving four of the children about 100 miles closer to home, and we had no idea or even mentioned anything to him, but had the truck towed into the nearest town and paid the $275.00 tow bill the next day. We called him a few days ago to get his address to repay him and he said, “no, this is my way of helping you guys.” 

I share all of this with you not to bring glory to a church, an individual, or us but only to bring Glory to God. He is always there with us providing, protecting, and delivering us from our sin. The Browning's and our extended family send everyone our appreciation and we pray for each of you that God blesses you in return for what you have done for us and His kingdom to come.

Exciting Changes Are Taking Place

(Starting with the front row, left to right.)
 Freddy, Shawnte
Trey, Shondee, Vanessa, Kaydence, Jasmine, Cameron
Nikie, Renee', Lil Joey, Taylor
Angie, Jake, Big Joey

     Happy 2nd anniversary to the Browning’s! Yes, it has been two years since we moved to Arizona this weekend. We came to serve God and to follow out His plan here at NCF on the Navajo Reservation. Our prayer is we are fulfilling every desire God has for us to do. During our time here, it has definitely been all about His will not ours. We have received many blessings throughout this period and we can only assume it is from being obedient to His calling. We have had good times; fun times, bad times, rough times, and smooth times but with them all, it has strengthen us to become faithful stronger Christians. 
     After being out on the mission field now for two years, having limited resources, no family, missing out on all the fun events back home, and not much adult fellowship. I would suggest if you think you feel a calling to the mission field, make sure you speak to several experienced missionaries to get an insight on what it is really like and how to prepare yourself and your family. We are not trying to discourage you from going out, only offering you advice on how to prepare yourself. We can all do anything with God’s calling, and with Him being the center of our lives. Besides, if you can survive the tough times and lean on God, you will be blessed!
     On July 22 of this year, we lost a small part of our hearts. Our first set of children we begun fostering was reunited with their mother. It was a bitter sweet moment for them and us after being with each other for over 13 months. The children were so excited to see mom again and seeing their smiles and excitement on their faces gave us enough peace to let them go. Our only problem with the whole move is the thought of never seeing them or even talking to them again. We put together a scrap book of all their memories we shared together over the past year, with their bible verses they memorized, and we wrote them a letter with our contact information and told them; “No matter how old you are or how many miles are in between us they can call us for anything.” It has been a blessing to us sharing a part of our lives with these four wonderful children.

     Well the summer was full of wonderful God sent mission teams. We were so excited to hang out with our brothers, sisters and meet new ones. It was a very uplifting and encouraging summer full of many blessings and awesome memories. The first family to arrive was from our home church; Rob, Jill, & Violet Fitzgerald along with Jill’s mother Carol Uesseler. We had an awesome time together and I think we all felt like our relationship grew stronger. Joey and I cannot wait for another visit of good food and exciting adventures. The second church family was from First Capital Christian Church. They arrived on June 18 with 15 members, they more than doubled their team from the first time they came to NCF. It was so nice to meet more family from this church and to see others we met last year. For Joey and me, it is encouraging to see the same come back again and again. Five days after First Capital left our third family from Ohio arrived, Cobblestone Community Church, with 10 members. Cobblestone has been a very faithful church family to NCF for many years and we are blessed for their personal care to us as well! Bill & Julie Briley served as missionaries several years ago here at NCF. God has since moved them on to fulfill His needs in other places. After leaving NCF, Bill became a pastor and is currently planting a new church in Boise, Idaho. Prior to moving to Boise, he was pasturing a church in Indianapolis, Common Ground Christian Church, and this is how we met more of our brothers and sisters. Bill brought 20 members to NCF on July 9 this was our fourth family to arrive. Joey and I loved meeting and getting to know this church family. We then ended the summer teams with our fifth family from Sydney, Ohio led by CSI Ministries. We were so excited to welcome this family back for their second time of serving.

     It is such a blessing seeing all of our relationships grow together for one common purpose in life, fulfilling Gods mandate to us. “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”” Matthew 28: 18-20. Joey and I believe we all look at this message as not only an invite but also our responsibility to bring forgiveness and hope to ALL people.
      Although the summer teams have came and went, we still have much more to look forward to before the year is over. In October, we have some very close friends coming from Corydon IN. Ralph and Rhonda Bowman. They are bringing some people with them to help Joey and I with our fall festival to the community. The last two years we have noticed there is no other option for the children here in Dilkon besides celebrating Halloween with haunted houses and trick or treating. We are not sure to what extent they celebrate this or how safe it is. However, we want to give them an alternative. We are planning a very big carnival type event with games, candy, face painting, prizes, free food, and incorporating children’s bible stories into the games. If anyone is interested in helping in any way, please feel free to email me at angie_browning1971@yahoo.com. We would like to ask everyone to be in prayer for this event.      Prior to their arrival, we have another family, Dick & Becky Hicks from Ohio coming to visit and donate some items from the NCF wish list. Dick & Becky Hicks granddaughter Emily, who has came to serve at NCF for the past two years, has raised some funds that are being matched by another organization. They are also taking all of us (14) and Bo & Rosita to Pizza Hut for diner.
     It just amazes us how God provides for NCF in so many different ways. We are all very thankful to Him and everyone who obeys His callings. Here is another great example of how He provides. On August 18, I went to the school with five of our children for parent/teacher meeting. I was talking with Freddy’s teacher who was asking about how I became his foster mother and questions about NCF. He goes on to tell me how he has an aunt who is pretty well off and looking for an organization on the reservation to support financially. Wow, you just never know when, where, or how God is going to show up. All we do know is He will and always does for His children!!      Some other tid bit information we want to share with you is the gym has been up and going now since the end of spring. During the summer, we were open 5 nights a week and offering a small concession stand. This year we had two teens step up and help faithfully run the gym, we also welcomed back Stephanie Nelson with her support in the aerobic room and Charlie with his support in the weight room. This year Bo stated he saw more teens coming to him with questions about the bible devotions they heard and concerns/questions with their personal life. I was told that God used me to help save a marriage this summer; however, all I did was offered a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and a tongue to pray with her. This has now led Joey and I to partner up with this couple and lead a bible study on strengthening a marriage God’s way.     There have been some changes taking place here at NCF. Bo is now the assistant director and taking over the director position starting January 2012. He will be going out visiting our supporting churches, therefore if you are interested in Bo speaking at your church please let me know at my email I listed above. He is ready to start marking his calendar and laying out his traveling path. Also, another change that we are happy to announce is, we are committing to another year of service! We said from the beginning it was in God’s hands and if He wanted us to leave, He would make a way for it to happen.      Our sign from Him would be there would be a new couple to take our place or there would be no need and all the children would be home and safe. During the month of August our family grew with children that absolutely have no place to go and will be here long term. They all have come from very trouble families suffering from alcoholism. There have been no signs of anyone feeling led to take our place. The only reason we wanted to come home was the feeling of guilt for not being in our new grandson’s life and missing our daughter. If you know our daughter, you know she has been through a whole lot of misery and pain since her parents became missionaries. Trying to fix a broken marriage three times that always led back to abuse, and two miscarriages. It brought a lot of pain to Joey and I because we could not be there to hold her hand through it all. We have always been there for our children and them for us. We are a very close family unit and have always did everything together. During the month of August, not only did God fill our home with nine children, He even took care of our family need and desire by sending Renee and Taylor here with a heart to serve along with us and she committed to a year as well! All we can say is “God’s got this.” We feel much better knowing we are staying, even though we miss everyone terribly, our heart is still here, and we are not ready to give up on NCF. We know in our hearts, all around, things will improve. We ask and pray for your continued support for NCF and us. Joey and I are excited to see what God has planned next. It's going to be good!!!!     For those of you that have not heard, James lost his mother on August 18. James and his family could use prayer to help them through this tough time of losing a loved one. From what we understand, she was a very strong part of this family and a God fearing woman. She influenced her whole family in trying to live out their lives honoring God. Her service was very beautiful and full of over 250 family and friends she has touched during her time here on earth. Before we forget to mention this, James is back to being the full time pastor at the church again. The congregation will not let him retire!     As we end this blog, we want to send a big heart felt “Thank you” to all our family and friends for your continued support and love. Without you and God, we could not do what we do! We pray many blessings upon all of you for what you do in God’s name. I (Angie) also want to express my apologies for not keeping you updated on all that happens more often. It really bothers me not having time and strength to write. I start my days out at 5am and end them at 12am. I go nonstop most of the time except for the last 2hours and honestly, that is when I lay in bed read, watch TV, and pray. It is my wine down time. Therefore, I have been trying to think of a way that I could update you briefly on a daily basis and the way I decided to do that is by creating a facebook account for NCF. So please come follow us there for updates, prayer request, stories of the children, praises, events, mission teams, staff, needs, etc…     We love you all and anytime you would like to visit please do so, as a team, family, or individual.
 With all His Love,

The Browning’s

OUR FIRST FOUR CHILDREN WHO HAVE SINCE BEEN REUNITED WITH THEIR MOM!! PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILY'S FUTURE, WE WILL LOVE THEM FOREVER!!

Phylicity



Zion



O'Ryan



 

Adessa

Photos of past events

Unfortunately, there was a house fire here in Dilkon. We saw the smoke and Joey Sr. & Joey Jr. went to check it out. When they arrived the police was there and the elderly man and women were removed from the home safely. The boys stayed around to help keep it under control until Leupp Fire Department made it to the scene. When the F.D. arrived Joey Sr.,already knowing Srgt. Hebert, offered a helping hand. Much to the boys surprise they were given a water hose and put right to work.

Joey Sr. was asked to chaperon a school field trip for O'Ryans class. They had a lot of fun in Window Rock. They went to the zoo and the Navajo museum. O'Ryan has 2 classmates that have stayed with us and they were excited to see "Big Joey" as much as O'Ryan was!

 NCF partnered with two couples from Georgia again this year to give toys to the children of Dilkon. The couples spoke to the families about why they do this and for who they do this for.

The soft side of Lil Joey...ssshh no one telling him I posted these!



Thanksgiving was another awesome day. It was a day we remembered everything we have been blessed with over the years and everything we was currently thankful for. Joey and I started a tradition last year, that whoever we spent Thanksgiving with had to sign the table cloth, that only comes out on this day, and it was neat to read last years and what these kids we currently have are thankful for.

You know who you are, and we send a very BIG Thank you and God Bless each of you that helped make our Christmas and the children's Christmas a special one!!

               Now this brings us to the celebration of "Princess Phylicity's" 5th Birthday Party!!

The following are random pictures of all our children thus far!



God Has No Foster Children

The day was a sunny spring afternoon in April 2010, when two boys came home from school only to find themselves alone and locked out. The boys patiently awaited the return of their mother to share the exciting day they had at school. When the mother finally returned home, she was accompanied with the boys two little sisters, grandmother, and a friend of the grandmothers. They picked the boys up and went back out to a store. What started out to be a delightful day ended with unfortunate events. Although they were involved in a car crash, the family did return home safe. After returning home, the four children went outdoors to play. Shortly later an argument broke out between mother and grandmother, which led the neighbor to call the police. When the police arrived, the three women were sent to jail because of intoxication and the four children went into foster care, yet again.


This is the memory O’Ryan, the oldest child, shared with me recently. The children had two visitations with mother in December, and none since. This has led O’Ryan to missing his mother and trying to find a way to process his feelings from the separation. O’Ryan is not mad at his mother only sad. I took this opportunity to share with O’Ryan scripture and explained to him, God has no foster children. I read him passages from Galatian 4:5 and Ephesians 1:5 and showed him that we all are adopted sons and daughters of God, none of us are ever considered fatherless, and we will always have a permanent place in the family of God. He shared with me, “out of all the places we have stayed, this feels like home and a family the most.” I hurried, grabbed him and wrapped my arms around him to keep him from seeing the tears! What an awesome feeling God allowed for me to feel at the time. With His help, knowing we are making a difference in a child’s life, for the glory of God.

Most of the children Joey and I see have been victims of repeated abuse, neglect, and have not experienced a nurturing, stable environment. After so many separation and placements occur in the life of a child, a child becomes so scared that he or she loses all hope. This is why our ultimate goal is to help these children to know Jesus Christ. Because only though Christ are we able to experience the ultimate adoption into the family of God and restore faith. We want to bring light in place of darkness in these children’s life. We thank each of you, who help us in any way, to make this happen.

The four children we currently have, and who have been with us since July, are doing great. These four had a hard time trusting, loving, and just seeming happy. Now we see children who laughs, hugs, loves, smiles, and trust. It is indeed an amazing site to behold. Here is a quick update on the four; O’Ryan (8) is now wearing glasses, doing well in school, and enjoys making us pictures to hang everywhere. Zion (6) loves to learn how to read, doing well in school, and loves beating his brother in relay races. Phylicity (5) just celebrated a birthday, loves for us to buy her new clothes, and enjoys fixing her little sister’s hair. Adessa (2) loves to sing and dance, play with Taylor, and loves to give ANYONE hugs. They have come a long way since July, however, I would have to say Adessa has changed the most. It is hard to explain, but it is like watching a cocoon develop into a butterfly.

We have seen six children following Christmas day. Yes, on Christmas we received two little boys who were abandon from their mother. They stayed with us 10 days and then went home to their grandmother. A few days later we received three more children, whom only taken for the night while mother and grandmother spent the night in jail as a result of public intoxication. Finally, we received another little boy and he stayed with us for seven days for the reason of neglect. All of these children are so precious and it hurts us to know personally and see firsthand what they go through. People need to know who God is, they need to know what God can offer them, and they need to know how to follow Him.

In order for a change to take place, I think it is more than just knowing Him it is learning how to follow Him and be a disciple. This is why Joey has felt a strong conviction to start a bible study on Monday evenings. It will be for anyone who wants to come and learn how to make a “RADICAL” change in his or her life. We purchased the Radical lesson plan and a few books to give out to help others learn how to make this change. The other purposes of the study is for Joey and I to learn more about how we are commanded to make the same change and to build more relationships with people as we had back home.

We have built a few relationships with the children in the community during open gym nights; however, we want to see these and more relationships become stronger and more trusting. So we have been led to start two classes up on Saturdays twice a month. One class for girls and the other for boys. The targeted ages will be six to eleven, they will incorporate a bible study and a “how-to” workshop. These classes will be fun, hands on, and provide a hot meal. We are starting both classes in March. I will try to provide pictures as we go. We are excited and have big ideas and plans, but we are going with God’s direction and guidance first.

Joey and I know God sent us here for a reason. Although sometimes we become discouraged, wonder if it is time to go back home, and lonely. When these feelings do come to surface, God is always showing up and confirming that we are to continue his work here. Examples of His confirmation have been; increase in monthly financial support, support from another church, support from people we barely know, faces of the children, ministry ideas, encouraging words, scripture, and a reminder of what is in our heart. God is not giving up on NCF or the Navajo and neither are we.

Please be in prayer over all that is mentioned in this blog, along with the families of James and Carol, Bo and Rosita, the families who are suffering from direct or indirect alcohol abuse, women’s shelter, and our children. God Bless each of you!

Love Angie

Pictures from the Christian Concert:

Back to School Party

Mission Teams