Christmas 2007!

I had hoped to do a better job of keeping everyone up to date on our holiday adventures.  However,  because I got sick, everything kind of got tossed aside.  I did get to bake at least one batch of cookies even if it was done on Christmas Eve.  My mom was the most amazing cookie baker ever.  I remember most Christmas seasons making at least 15 different kinds of cookies!  It was so much fun.  Someday I’ll be there but we’re taking tiny steps:)  Some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks was  visiting the live manger scene at a church up the rode from us.  It had to of been the most frigid night of the year and even the camel was complaining!  It was a special way to explain to the girls the meaning of Christmas though (even if we suffered frost bite afterwards).  I think Eleri was more into the camel then anything else.  She wanted to know where they live and why they can go long times without water.  It was pretty cool giving my child her first geography/zoology lesson.   
Eleri performed in her first choir concert ever.  It was so exciting for us since we are both musicians by degree and also because we have directed children choirs before.  Eleri had a hard time in front of all the people so she did what kids do best…sit down and suck your fingers!  Of course we were only slightly embarrassed seeing all the other kids were able to sing, but God sweetly reminded us that he loves Eleri just as she is even when she’s timid about trying something new.  (I never thought I struggled with pride until I became a mom and then I’m constantly being humbled by my kids!) This was our second Christmas ever being away from our extended families in OH.  The other time was when we visited Brussels in 2005 to see if God was calling us to  Europe.  We missed family this year but we also felt a peace that God is forming our little family here in Norfolk.  The celebrations were simple, but also very significant for us.  Eleri and Adley came to the Christmas Eve concert and were able to participate with us.  It was so beautiful at the end when they turned out all the lights and we held our candles singing Silent Night to signify that Christ coming into the world has become our light in the darkness.  We were able to take communion and it was touching to watch Eleri and David as he explained to her the meaning of the bread and juice.  It’s our prayer that this is just a foreshadowing of the relationship our girls will have someday with Jesus.  We pray that all of you had a very special holiday as well.  Our thoughts and prayers have been directed to many of you during this special season.  If you sent us a card we so appreciate it and have it on our mantel in the living room.  Thank you for traveling 2007 with us and we look forward with anticipation and joy to 2008! 

Needy People

“I don’t want to be a needy person.”

Strange seeing it in writing but that is exactly what I wrote in my journal last night. I’m recognizing (Joanna) that I’m usually ok with the fact that my friends, my family, even my husband are needy, but I’m not ok with the idea that maybe I have needs too. All right, I agree that I need food and water, friends and love, but am I ok that maybe I have needs that are much deeper than what is seen on the surface.

All this got brought up in Bible study class last week and I was for the most part vulnerable and emotional realizing that I struggle so much with this idea. Someone suggested that Jesus was a needy person. That took me by surprise. After all, I usually think of him as being someone who has it all together or who at least had everything he needed without even asking. When you think about it though, he had to depend completely on God for everything, even his housing since he didn’t have a home. Many times we see him saying that he does nothing apart from the Father.

Maybe for me part of this needy thing is that I believe only “messed up” people have needs. What if “messed up” is the wrong way to look at it. What if it’s that we’re all broken needing someone bigger than us to come and right the masterpiece. What if because we’re broken and therefore “needy” we’re more beautiful to God because that is when He does His greatest work, when we’re weak and unable to do it for ourselves. What if beauty really does come from ashes?

Needs Met!

Thanks to all our friends and supporters who were willing to partner with us to meet our needs for the harvest festival coming up this Wed. Last night we still had a long list of food that needed donated, and as we stand tonight, ALL has been filled accept the pizza money… and we are on the search for a pizza place who will donate some pies!

God is so good. As we had people call over the week and ask if all needs were met, we were able to say with confidence that no but we were watching to see how God was going to surprise us. To us it’s such a faith building experience watching people respond to God’s call in their hearts to give generously. If you were one of those who gave or even who prayed that God would supply, thank you! We are touched, honored, humbled and filled with joy to know that we are part of such a caring family of people. We love you all!!

Prayer

What keeps you from praying for something or someone? I’ve been discovering lately that for me it’s often because I don’t believe God will grant the request. To go even a step further, I believe that he CAN’T accomplish what I’m asking. It is humbling and embarrassing to admit that I actually have this little of faith, but it’s also been the step in the right direction.

I asked someone the other day what their specific needs were so I could be praying for God to meet them and when they shared what they were I was completely overwhelmed and discouraged because I felt that I couldn’t ask God for that because in my mind and in my ability it was impossible. Looking back on the whole event, I said I would pray, but I was really trying to figure out how I could meet the need. What God has been showing me through this time is that He wants to be the one to meet the need and He has the resources to do so. A few days after talking to my friend I found out that the need was met! What an amazing God we serve who longs for us to just ask so that He can give. I’m beginning to understand what it means when He says we don’t have because we don’t ask.

The prayer of my heart is “God give me Your strength to ask and then believe that You’ll provide above and beyond what I’ve asked for!” I guess that’s what he longs for me to do about the $7,300 monthly support we need to raise in order to launch for Brussels. Ask, He’ll give!

SOLD!

Today our house in Baltimore officially closed. It was a bit anti-climatic compared to the past few days of utter chaos and frustration trying to meet the demands of the closing attorney. Evidently it confuses people who aren’t military when you tell them you are residents of Maryland but reside in Virginia, you have a Virginia license but Ohio tags…..AND it’s all legal. We think he thought we were trying to do something illegal by claiming Maryland residency but eventually it all got worked out. We must admit that it was hard in the middle of all the conflict, the hours of phone calls, and the exhausting errands to sign papers, have them witnessed, sign them again, fax them, mail them….to feel God’s presence let alone His sovereignty. In an Old Testament survey class tonight the reminder came that sovereignty is God’s absolute power, control and knowledge. We often say that we know God is sovereign, but do we really believe it? If we did, then our actions would affirm it’s truth through peace, trust and patience. We are once again humbled to see the God of the universe come through for us. If you look back on some of our older blogs, we’ve been struggling to trust Him with the sale of our home. The reminder that He is faithful and has our good in mind brings gratitude. Thanks for your prayers. Now if only we could trust Him to take care of all the details of our Belgian breakfast. It’s only faith if we trust Him before the event, not after it all turns out. Are we the only ones struggling with this????!!!

Love your enemies

A drive to a friends house for dinner, the phone rings and suddenly your world is rocked. That’s exactly what happened tonight at 5:30. Our credit card company called just to make sure that it was us who charged over $3,0000 at Saks Fifth Ave. this afternoon. It took a minute just to understand what the man on the other line was saying let alone register the name of the store. A horrified “no! We definitely didn’t charge that today.” The rest of the conversation is somewhat of a blur for me. “Maam, we need to confirm all these charges made for the last couple months……An investigator will be assigned to look into this fraud….only pay the charges you made and we’ll take care of the rest…If I were you I’d look into an indentity theft protection plan….”
For the second time in my life I felt violated. The first happened when someone bashed in the window of our car while I was at the library and stole our radio/cd player…with Oklahoma in it. Tonight someone somewhere had our credit card number and used it against us. You normally feel so small in such a large world but when something like this happens you feel like the spotlight is suddenly on you. Did they know us….how did they get our information….what other things do they know about us? It doesn’t feel safe anymore when someone invades your life in a lawless way.
The thought comes, who are they? Why were they so desperate? Was it just for fun or are they being haunted by a sin that controls their very being? I read this week in Romans 4:7:

“How happy are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. How happy the man whom the Lord will never charge with sin.”

I was rejoicing all week that my redeemer has wiped the slate of my lawless acts clean. It is another thought to pray that whoever wronged me would also find that same forgiveness. Funny how God’s truths never change. When our radio was stolen out of our car 3 years ago, God gently reminded me then to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. After processing the event of today and working through the emotions of being hurt by someone I don’t even know, God took me out of my selfish thinking to the person who wronged me. We can love our enemies with the same love that God gave us through his son Jesus because he loved us even while we were still enemies of him. Who are your enemies?

Lessons In Beauty

We are home visiting relatives and have experienced one of the difficult moments of being a family. Adley got sick the night before we left on our long drive and appeared better by morning so we stuck with our plans and headed for the open road—what turned out to be a 12 hour drive with a speeding ticket, Joanna’s first, but we’ll leave that for another story…Anyways, Eleri got sick in the car, then Joanna the next day and finally David today. It is painful and difficult to be humbled, to realize that you are not in control and that you may even be an embarrassment to yourself and others around you because of the state that you’re in. It’s even harder to accept the fact that others need to care for you, to be flexible with their plans and to allow them the dissappointment and frustration that comes when things don’t go as expected. Panic attacks and anxiety usually set in for us when all of the above begins to happen but God has been giving us some lessons in humbleness and beauty. It’s not normal or even politically correct to tie those two words together in a word picture. They seem like antonyms. God’s view of being humbled is much different then ours. In fact we’re told that He gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. Another picture of the beauty of being humbled is that others get to bear our burdens when we’re in a state of being unable to care for ourselves. When we’re well, we are not apt to ask our neighbor to help us carry the load. It is when we are sick, it is when our car has broken down by the road, it is when we are facing the loss of someone we love, and yes it is in the stomach flu that we see beauty. The beauty of needing others and most importantly the beauty of needing God. We think differently now about sickness and embarrassing moments. It may take a lifetime to completely rework our thought patterns, but we hope that we will choose to see it God’s way more quickly each time. Yes our friends, there is beauty in being humbled. If you doubt this, just look to the cross.