They're Here!!

Well, almost here. We are back to civilian life after an amazing week at TeenPact in Des Moines. I started posting pictures over at the fam's blog, but didn't have enough time to get a bunch put up here. But they are coming. So hop over there to see a bit of what we did and keep watching for lots more. Here and there!

Ta-ta for a while....

So tomorrow we are headed to Des Moines for something called TeenPact. It's something that is suppose to get kids involved with government, but it helps them view it all with a Biblical perspective. Chris, Tim, Tiff and I are going to be there for the entire week. We'll be at the capitol all day from 9 am to 3 pm, doing whatever you do at a state capitol. Then for the rest of the afternoon we'll be back at the camp, where are staying, playing ultimate frisbee until supper, then supper, a worship time, and games before bed.

Repeat this for four days.

On Friday there is a public speaking class. Oh. I should mention that I am making the 2 hour drive home to work on Thursday morning and then back to Des Moines that night.

And you know what the best part of this saga is?! I am too old to take the class itself and a loop hole was found so I could still tag along.

I'm a chaperone!!

And what the perks of this position are that I wasn't crunched to get all the pre-class homework done. Soooooo, yay for being old! *smile*

Why am I continuing on this boring monologe??? Good question. No really, I just thought I would let you know that I'll be absent from the blogging world for the week. Didn't want anyone worrying that I fell off the side of the earth. I mean, not that you would, but I figured it'd be good to have all our bases covered. Ok. I'll stop. REALLY. Check back soon tho' for lots of pictures!

Adios amigos!!

Muddin' - Part 3

Ok, so I know now for sure that I must have an obsession with mud.  I am baby-sitting Cameron and Lincoln Yoder today and they took me out for a four-wheeler ride this afternoon.  It was a lot of muddy fun!

More on China... FINALLY!

Ok, so you all know that I have not been the best at getting more pictures to you from my trip to China from last summer... but I have never lost these memories in my heart, and so you should see alittle more of why I am so excited to go back in less than four months!!!!

Elianna with her special hat - Hope is in the corner

Our entire Red Team - GO RED!!!

Hundreds of balls dropping down on the kids during one of the large group times.  They loved this!  (Note the raised hand in the front of the picture.  For those of you who know, this is Nate the Great!)

Mattie was sooo cuddly that first day on the way to the Great Wall.

Here were my room buddies at camp!  

Mattie was soooo exhausted after we walked the Great Wall this day.

We always ate our meals together in a big cafeteria room... and yes, I learned to eat with chopsticks!  Actually I prefer it to spoons and forks.

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PS. Please visit our family blog to see how you can be involved right from home in sending these kids to camp this year!!

1Corinthians 12:26

"And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it..."

Part of our body is suffering right now, over the death of an only son to a drowning accident in Honduras. While we do not know the Coates family, our friends the Haileys do. Please pray with us for them.

You can tell them you are praying at the memorial site they have set up for Isaac here.

Thank you.

Alana Takes Glow Baby For A Walk.

*This is the first of a series I am going to be doing on 'a day in our life'.  Stay tuned! *

99 Balloons

One of my favorite songs ever is "Blessed Be Your Name".  The whole song is very powerful, especially the line stating 'You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.'  

Watch this short video and see how one couple has walked this out.  What an powerful testimony!  (See if you can watch it without crying... I couldn't.)

Please Pray.

Will you please all pray with me today for some friends?  We know this really sweet couple from Wisconsin, Russell and Lydia.  They have lived an amazing life for God, serving as missionaries in the Philippines and here in the States.  Russell has a Parkinsons Disease... he has been doing better this past year, but Lydia thinks he may be dying today.

It is really really sad to think of this precious couple being parted in death... tho' we know he is going to a better place.  I wish we could just all pray that he would get better, no matter what.  That he wouldn't have to suffer with Parkinsons anymore.  But we don't know the mind of God.  It may be Russell's time to meet the God he's been serving all these years.  

Will you just pray with us that God's sovern will is accomplished?!  And that His grace may follow thro', no matter what.

Thank you.

UPDATE:

Last night, Lydia said that Russell was doing better... by the evening he was able to be up in the kitchen doing dishes!  Thanks for your past and continued prayers!

Muddin' - Part 2

Tiffany and I have been getting lots of diverse road experiences this winter on our roads.  It's been a real bonding, spiritual experience.  A couple weeks ago, we went 'muddin', last week it was frozen muddin'.  I don't think I've been quite so scared while driving before!  We just went down the rutted road, crying out to God to help us make it thro without too much damage.  The only vision I could see was us clunking down on some frozen rut, scraping off the bottom of our gas tank, and becoming a smoking hole in the mud!  *shudder*

Thankfully, we did make it out, tho' I was constantly being yelled at by Tiffany "Ride the ridge!"  Alright already, I'm trying, but which ridge do I ride?!  There's about fifty to choose from. *smile*

Almost Gone.

'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Eccl. 3:1

Muddin'

Do you know how nerve-wracking it is to take one huge boat-car down a soupy-muddy, gravel road?! Three miles seems like thirty!

I think next time I would enjoy it more if I had a real 'muddin' truck! This is mean stuff!

Elle

Elle was a little girl at camp last summer.  She is such a beautiful little angel... but like a lot of orphans, she has her struggles.  Elle has two club feet.  I will never forget watching her walking up the Great Wall, 'cuz she didn't want to be carried.  Despite her handicap and although her shoes were worn down on both sides from her crooked feet, she walked that Wall!

Will you pray with me that God will open a door for Elle to be adopted and to get the surgery she needs here in the States?!

I know she would say thanks.

His Way.

I was reading the other morning, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter one.  I know, not the most exciting, but I was really impressed with something.  As I'm sure you know, the majority of those mentioned are men; with the exception of Ruth, Bathsheeba, and Mary.  I got to thinking, why were these mothers mentioned and not the other forty-plus others?

I cannot begin to assume what God was thinking when He inspired Matthew to write that chapter, but I did wonder... could it be because God wanted us to learn something?!  To take an example from them?!  I thought about the lives of those three women... they broke the mold of what was typical in their day.  Ruth left her family and country to follow her mother-in-law, Bathsheeba's husband was murdered by the man she eventually married, and Mary gave birth to a child conceived of the Holy Spirit.

I began to think, can I live the life God is calling me to live?!  Even tho' I make mistakes.  Even tho' it may not be what I would have planned and the way doesn't make sense to me, can I live it to the fullest?!  For God?!  That's when and where true joy comes!

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Nichole Nordeman sings a song called 'Brave' ... the words from the chorus strike the same chord as what I shared above.  

 

No more status quo, I think I just let go

You make me wanna be brave.

The way it always was, is no longer good enough

You make me wanna be brave!