Drums for Christ
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Engage
  • Newsletters
  • What We Do
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Giving Tuesday
  • Christmas 2021
  • Link Page

Blog Posts

What’s up with the Kids?

8/23/2019

0 Comments

 
Several folks asked about our boys and what everyone was up to nowadays. Getting to see everyone over this summer was so wonderful! So here is a little snapshot of what’s going on with our little family:
Ryan is now 31. He is teaching AP Chemistry in Bryan Collegiate High School (Bryan ISD). He and Sara Jane live in Bryan.
Miles is 28. He and Hattie are living in College Station and he is a manager for Panera in Montgomery, TX (he would really love to be closer to B/CS for work!).
Lily (granddaughter) is almost 2 years old. She looks just like her daddy (Miles) and she is super smart! Maybe to smart for all of us!!!
 
We got to visit with both moms for awhile.
Laurie's mom - Pat Goins - is now living in Colorado Springs and loves that she gets to skip the Texas heat!  Billy's mom is living in Quitman, Texas (near Tyler). Billy's grandmother also came down to visit. At 93, she is still movin' and shakin' and chasing our Lily around the yard.  It was great to have the opportunity to take a FIVE GENERATION photo while she was here!  Memaw, Grams, Billy, Miles, and Lily!  Pretty impressive!
0 Comments

Prayers and Praises... Join with us in Prayer Support

8/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
We are honored by your faithfulness to partner with us in prayer for the things that we see happening in the world and for the ministry that we partner in with you.  Thank you for laboring with us!
 
· Pray for our fall schedule. Four of the six adults on our team have been gone all summer and it is now time to get back in to our routines in Spain, back to ministry in La Mesa Turquesa, and back to some normalcy. Pray for our teammates who stayed in Spain all summer holding down the fort… may they be blessed with rest and a time of renewal as our team reunites.

· Pray for us as we have some changes in roles and responsibilities starting in September. Time to find new rhythms and new ways to do our work. Pray for us to find ways to have healthy rhythms of family and work, as well as physical and spiritual renewal and well-being.

· Pray for Sarah as she begins a new season in her schooling. She now enters in to a two year university prep phase, which requires a more strenuous study schedule. She is also gearing up in her equestrian  training and competition, which will require more time working with her mount and her trainer.

· Praises for all the wonderful people who hosted us over these last two months! They opened their homes and gave us beds to sleep in, they put food on the table, and they shared life and fun times with  us. Thank you for your hospitality!!! We appreciate the gift of “home” more than you could ever know! Irene, Margaret and Ray, Kristin and Jeff, Midge and Betty, Ernie and Marilyn, Donna and Michael, Jim and Ginny, Ron and Amanda, Lana and Jerome
 

0 Comments

“What I Did This Summer”  by Laurie Drum    59th grade (more or less)

8/20/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture


School started back today, so for homework I have to write an essay on “What I did This Summer.” It was a really long summer, so you might want to pull up a chair and get comfortable. A beverage would be a good addition to your reading time, too.

Sarah graduated from her compulsory studies in Spain in June. The school system is a little different in Spain, and students have obligatory coursework through the 4th year of secondary school, which is the equivalent of 10th grade in the USA. So, she essentially graduated after 10th grade. She now enters in to a two year “bachiller” program, which is only for students who are university bound. Because it is not compulsory, we now begin paying for books and certain parts of her schooling.

In mid-June, I (Laurie) traveled to Panama to join a team of TMS Global staff for two-weeks of training and development for new cross-cultural workers. Alongside some really great teachers and leaders, I helped to lead training for people from all parts of the world who are going out to serve all around the globe. It is always a humbling experience to realize that the work we do to help train and develop new workers will eventually impact places and peoples that I will never see or know. Just to give you a small idea, at this particular training, workers in the room represented Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Spain, United States, and several parts of Asia. I’m positive that I have missed someone in that list. Just know - it was overwhelming to realize how many countries and cultures were represented.  PS...it was hot - very hot. Panama is really hot and sticky in July.

Billy and Sarah traveled to Wales with the community choir from our town for a cultural exchange trip. They stayed in a family home in a small town. We will host that same family when they come to Spain for their time of cultural exchange in the Spring. Billy stayed on in Gloucester to take some classes and training with his Member Care cohort.
​
We traveled to the United States for a time of reconnecting with family and friends and visiting our supporting churches and partners.  It had been two years since we had been in the States for any length of time (except for one quick layover that Billy had between flights last year) and we were ready to see our boys and granddaughter.

Here is our summer recipe for “Crazy Salad”:
· Mix in heaping portions of family visits - grandmothers, mothers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, adult children, and grandbaby. Be sure to share many meals and favorite foods, recreation activities, and lots of telling old family stories.
· Add in several church visits and partner visits to share the work and stories from Spain, and to say Thank You to all who partner in the mission. This includes Bryan, College Station, Dripping Springs, Navasota, and Wheelock. Each of these visits and stops includes copious amounts of food and sharing and laughing and crying.
· Add a LOT of driving! Drive from Colorado Springs to Wichita Falls to Arlington to Bryan/College Station to Waco to Wimberly to Dripping Springs to San Antonio to Round Top to Houston.
· Make sure to have a couple of side trips to see important cultural sites and teach Sarah about her Texas culture. Visit the Alamo. Float on the San Marcos River. PS...Texas is HOT! Ride horses. Go on a girl’s trip to Magnolia Market at the Silos. Stop at Bucee’s a few times along the road. Of course, several important foods needed to be consumed - foods we do not get in Spain...chicken fried steak, barbeque, crawfish etouffee, La Casita!, Gram’s banana pudding, fried okra, everything spicy and deliciously TexMex.
· Sleep in no less than 14 different places and beds and live out of a suitcase for two full months.
Toss well and hope for the best.

It has been a long, busy, fun, exhausting summer. So glad we did it! (Hope I get an A on this essay - it was a long summer!)
 
 


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

    RSS Feed

    Laurie Drum

    In my USA life, I was a teacher in Texas for 15 years.  I was also a professional photographer, a soccer mom, a horsewoman, and the neighborhood hospitality queen.  I did "Joanna Gaines farmhouse style" before Chip and JoJo were even a thing - we restored an 1884 Victorian farmhouse in small town Texas and did shiplap walls until I thought I'd go crazy. I taught at NASA, scuba dived with astronauts in training, and studied animals at Sea World for educational purposes. I've tried just about everything, because I have an insatiable need to know if I can do it! Never underestimate a Texas girl in cowboy boots!

    ​In 2006, my husband Billy and I became cross-cultural workers (CCWs) with TMS Global.  For five years, we served in three rural Quechua Wanca villages in the Andes of Peru.  And when I say rural, I mean RURAL - like no potty!  I spent my days in Peru learning to live a Quechua lifestyle in a rustic adobe house - cooking Peruvian foods, sewing with Quechua women, raising my chickens and goats and pigs, and planting my gardens. Now I live my life in small town Spain, serving other cross-cultural workers via teaching and training and care, and helping displaced people to navigate their new reality in Europe.

    I'm passionate about fostering personal growth, growth in community, and growth in The Kingdom. Walking alongside others and helping them to use their unique design, their gifts and strengths and maximize their abilities to fulfill their God-given purpose - that's what makes my heart sing! 

    Archives

    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Engage
  • Newsletters
  • What We Do
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Giving Tuesday
  • Christmas 2021
  • Link Page