updates...

the past two months have been so much fun!

Erik turned 15...

our brazilian kids saw snow for the first time...

the girls celebrated their one year anniv here with dance photos :)

Jordan and i took our first mission trip together...

chaotic? ... yes!

hard? ... yes!

overwhelming at times? ... yes!

worth it?  absolutely!

Gotcha Day for two!

i have a hard time believing it has been 2 months since i last wrote.  

where has the time gone!

 

even more unbelievable is we just celebrated our one year 

"gotcha day" with our girls!

it has been an amazing, wild, hard, fun, exhilarating and trying year!

God has certainly seen us through alot of change :)

learning to end lifes journeys with a comma...

i see things with such limited vision.  

a year ago december, God wrote a book with my hand.  

i know your thinking "oh what a cheesy thing to say!" but, i really mean it.  

i am not a writer, nor do i aspire to be.

but 13 months ago on a two week trip to kenya, 

God wrote an entire 150 page book, i just watched on the front row.

yep, all of it in two weeks.  i couldn't claim it if i wanted... all Him.

quickly after returning home we boarded a plane to go get our girls 

and bring them home from Brazil, so it sat in a notebook.

after we returned home 6 weeks later, life got crazy... adjustment to 7 kids in the house

has a way of becoming necessity... so everything else stopped!

 

eventually the book came up over tea with a friend.

so she joined in to help with where God would have us take it.  

so today in God's perfect timing it was time to finalize the editing process,

chapters 30-36 were to be edited, so the project could be completed and we could

journey to the next phase.

but instead of editing the ending of a story, God rewrote it with the truth of the journey.

i chuckled out loud as God showed me the stupidity of my ways.

i had ended the book with my own words, closed it with finality,

but that is not at all where He was headed.  

i like closure, i try to handle everything with a period.  i want to see the end.

know the fruit of the labor, and that is not what He intended..

He intended for us to learn as we endure, to grow in understanding of who He is as we live, 

for each adventure to be a continuation of growth and surrender to His will.

today sick with a cold and heartbroken over a young ukrainian that now has returned home:

i thought God and i were editing the ending of a book,
but that's not at all what we were doing.

instead God allowed me to sit and watch as He continues His story...
not with a period but with commas.  

to see the open ended way each journey has everything to do with the next. 

i am absolutely convinced that our obedience today

has everything to do with our storyline tomorrow!

i shutter to think of all the story lines i missed because of my

 determination to put a period, how about you?

Is it really 2014?

i have been absent from blogger world for a really long time...

but not absent from Kingdom work... we have been on the go!

Our December was full, just like yours.

Scott and a group of guys from our small group returned the beginning of December 

from a construction trip to Haiti...

we moved into our office space (we had some work to do :) 

our new location is at 919 Willowbrook drive, suite b.

Yulia arrived from the Ukraine... for the Christmas holiday.

we had the MOST amazing

Love One Christmas Day at Manna House!

check out the video at www.forlifeministries.org

we made so much food and then went delivering while we 

sang Christmas songs...

we enjoyed friends and friendships....

we had amazing discussions and devotions about Jesus;

we had sweet prayer times and truthful Q and A's. 

although crazy and chaotic... i wouldn't change any piece of it!

God is good all the time!  He is present at all times!

And even in the chaos, He alone brings calm!

Our surrender to the call to care for orphans has absolutely changed how we do life,

 but can i tell you it has also changed our hearts!

the ability to give more, love more, invest more...

that is a gift from God!

with a new year, always comes new beginnings...

as you ponder what that means for you in your neck of the woods...

i wonder if you would courageously ask the question:

what is it that God is asking me to surrender to this new 2014 season?

with great blessings, come great responsibilities...

and we are a blessed people!

For us 2014 brings us to season full of Kingdom building... 

a surrender of our time for a higher purpose!

how about you?

a swift kick of perspective...

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite family time together. 

i love the smells, the traditions, the family and the friendships it brings to the surface. 

this one was no different...

 

everyone groaned for family pics...

 

Deb ran from the camera all day...

 

Scott and Richard labored on the meat all morning in the cold,

while Kendra and i stayed in the warm kitchen... 

 



it was a WONDERFUL day of great family memories...

and God filled moments!

 

AND



it once again put everything in perspective!



let me explain... only days before i had become really bogged down in...

one more school move,

one more teacher meeting,

one more doctor appointment,

one more disagreement to deal with,

one more counseling session at the end of the day,

one more need... one more, one more, one more!

 

i woke up thanksgiving morning with all these things still in my head...

BUT THEN...

as He always does, when i need a quick swift kick of perspective,

God got my attention!

 

as we went around the circle in prayer and i heard each of my

children lift up their voices of thanksgiving to the Lord...

i was choked up with a heart that was full...

having forgotten all the stuff from before!

 

as i remained fixated on the sweet sound of their voices...

God quickly reminded me of this...

ONE more is better than NO more,

cherish every one of them!

 

our days are numbered is what we are taught in scripture,

and they move quickly (the older we get, the faster that seems to be)

so we better enjoy each one to the fullest!

 

wonder if you could use a swift kick of perspective too?

i sure needed one!