We went to our former church in Batavia this past weekend and heard a wonderful sermon by Pastor Keith. That, coupled with some struggles that friends are going through have struck a cord with me. God is not the one that causes our disappointments, we either cause them or contribute to them ourselves or other people cause them or contribute to them.
What causes disappointments....unmet expectations. Sometimes our expectations are just too high. I experience this quite regularly when dealing with our son, I have to consistently remind myself that he is not even 3 years old yet and readjust my expectations of his behavior and attitude. Other times, people through their own failings and the work of the devil, fall far short of our realistic expectations.
So what's a person to do? We need to set realistic expectations and remember what is important to God. The airwaves abound with prosperity gospel teaching and while God promised a lot of things (both good and bad), He did NOT promise us an easy life of continual spiritual bliss. The struggles WILL come and God may not deliver us OUT of struggles and persecution, but He WILL give us strength and endurance in our times of need.
Remember, God doesn't disappoint, people do.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Holy Smokes! Has it been that long since the last blog...
I just adore it when my almost 3 year old roams around the condo singing an off key 'hallelujah for the cross' chorus. The memory of this kid astounds me which is why I love having some Scripture memory CD's playing in the van and in the house and it helps me with my Scripture memory too!. I desire to instill God's Word in him at an early age. I think it is starting to take hold. For some reason Josiah has a fear of thunder and lightening, I guess it is not unusual for kids to be scared of the lights and noise. But, when I put a God perspective on it, he seems to calm down. Yesterday when it started to rain heavily and storm while we at a friends house he started to freak out. After much talking with him by myself and others (thanks Jo Anna!!) he calmed down and then this morning when the rain woke him up, he wasn't crying and recalled that the rain was God's way of cleaning things and giving the plants and trees a drink. He also remembered that God will protect him. I pray that he always remember that.
Such a simple statement, but with profound implications that even I cannot grasp at times: That God will protect us and provide for us. As many of you know, we are embarking on a new season of our lives, that of missionary candidates. We have been accepted as missionary candidates to Sierra Leone, West Africa by Global Outreach Mission (www.missiongo.org) and are starting our support raising efforts. If you go to the website there is a great YouTube video about Maknoji hospital where Jeneson and I hope to be in a year or so. We are both excited and nervous about this new adventure. While it will be amazing to be there when the clinic and hospital open and be an integral part of getting it up and running, there is so much unknown about the future. We have never done this before, and will be the only ones on the field doing the work. While I know we will have plenty of prayer support, the task is still a bit daunting. The life expectancy is 42 years and the maternal/fetal death rates are abysmal. It seems like such a big task, but we must realize that we are not in this alone and cannot save the whole world (God is the only one who has that ability!). Thankfully, we have a God who cares and regardless of the circumstances, whether they be trial or tribulation, He is there for us, protecting us and providing for us.
We have also been seeking out a new local church to become our new church home. We went this past week to Pathway in Elmhurst and the message was on missional living (living a mission focused life, not just looking overseas, but across the street and office as well). The worship was great and included one of my favorite mission themed songs, as well as one I had not heard before. If you are interested, I found one them on YouTube and here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6k-knvCWUA God Of Justice (we must go) Tim Hughes
We are praying that the support letters and prayer cards go out by the end of August, so let us know if you want to be on our list and we can make sure you get one. Pray that God will 'fill us up and send us out.'
Such a simple statement, but with profound implications that even I cannot grasp at times: That God will protect us and provide for us. As many of you know, we are embarking on a new season of our lives, that of missionary candidates. We have been accepted as missionary candidates to Sierra Leone, West Africa by Global Outreach Mission (www.missiongo.org) and are starting our support raising efforts. If you go to the website there is a great YouTube video about Maknoji hospital where Jeneson and I hope to be in a year or so. We are both excited and nervous about this new adventure. While it will be amazing to be there when the clinic and hospital open and be an integral part of getting it up and running, there is so much unknown about the future. We have never done this before, and will be the only ones on the field doing the work. While I know we will have plenty of prayer support, the task is still a bit daunting. The life expectancy is 42 years and the maternal/fetal death rates are abysmal. It seems like such a big task, but we must realize that we are not in this alone and cannot save the whole world (God is the only one who has that ability!). Thankfully, we have a God who cares and regardless of the circumstances, whether they be trial or tribulation, He is there for us, protecting us and providing for us.
We have also been seeking out a new local church to become our new church home. We went this past week to Pathway in Elmhurst and the message was on missional living (living a mission focused life, not just looking overseas, but across the street and office as well). The worship was great and included one of my favorite mission themed songs, as well as one I had not heard before. If you are interested, I found one them on YouTube and here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6k-knvCWUA God Of Justice (we must go) Tim Hughes
We are praying that the support letters and prayer cards go out by the end of August, so let us know if you want to be on our list and we can make sure you get one. Pray that God will 'fill us up and send us out.'
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Well here I am on a beautiful Sunday morning sitting at home with a sleeping baby and a sick toddler when I would much rather be in church. Oh, the perils of motherhood! The 4th was pretty uneventful for us, after a nice cookout at friends house we came home to put the kiddos to sleep. Josiah did not want to go to the fireworks and actually slept through most of the firework noise. However, when the finale woke him up he felt feverish. After 2 doses of Motrin throughout the night we decided to look in his throat this morning. Despite not complaining of any sore throat or neck pain or ear pain it appears that he has strep throat! I know I comment a lot on how active Josiah is, so it is really weird to see him just laying on the couch resting or sitting still and not talking through a 30 minute video(yes, I let him watch videos when he is sick).
Another thing I have noticed about him this past week is that although he is in the 'why' stage of development, he doesn't has why. This smarty does not ask why we ask him to do or not do something, instead he infers an answer and then phrases it in a question. For example, when I tell him not to throw blocks at Lydia he does not ask 'why', but instead says 'because it could hurt her?' What kind of kid does this!! I also counted a 14 word sentence the other day! Lydia is crawling fast as lightening and is on the verge of standing by herself. It is only a matter of time before I have two children to run after!
Another thing I have noticed about him this past week is that although he is in the 'why' stage of development, he doesn't has why. This smarty does not ask why we ask him to do or not do something, instead he infers an answer and then phrases it in a question. For example, when I tell him not to throw blocks at Lydia he does not ask 'why', but instead says 'because it could hurt her?' What kind of kid does this!! I also counted a 14 word sentence the other day! Lydia is crawling fast as lightening and is on the verge of standing by herself. It is only a matter of time before I have two children to run after!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Adjustments
Many people have asked about how our trip went, so here is a quick snapshot. The trip as a whole was great, while we had our stressful times, overall a positive experience for Jeneson and I as a couple and for us as a family. Are we glad that we did it? Certainly!!! Would we do it again? Yes, but not for that length of time. It was a good length of time for the first trip because we felt that we really needed it to be that long so that we could transition from that 'guest here for a couple of weeks' mode to truly being a part of the whole family. The first 6 weeks were pretty rough and a couple of times one or both of us wanted to throw in the towel and come back home, airline penalties be dammed! We also learned that we both are stubborn and can persevere. I am praying that this experience will help us out in the future on the mission field.
We have been back at home for about 1 month now and are pretty much back to our normal level of craziness. The kids have adjusted better than we had anticipated and they are both back on a regular sleep schedule and sleeping through the night. Josiah now has a big boy bed (a twin bed) and Lydia is in the crib. They are still trying to work out all the kinks of the two of them sleeping in the same room, or should I say one trying to sleep while the other is protesting sleep. We are loving going for walks and to the park almost every day, although it would be nice if it wouldn't rain so much.
Jeneson was really blessed to be able to go back to his old job without any problems and started back on June 1st. I think he is glad to be working again and getting out of the house on a daily basis. I'm still staying at home with the kids and debating on going back to work. I would love to work, because I like what I do, want to keep up my skills and could use some time away from the house, but the logistics of childcare keep my feet dragging. Ideally, I would like to work in an urgent care or one of the clinics in Walgreens/CVS but trying to find child care for two kids on an irregular basis by someone whom I trust will be difficult. So, for the time being I am at home and working on mission stuff in my spare time.
The first week in June we travelled to Buffalo, NY to meet with the mission board who accepted us as missionary candidates. At this time everything is pointing us to Sierra Leone with the goal of being there in 1 to 1 1/2 years. Now for the not so fun part of support raising. The numbers that were discussed while we were in NY were daunting to say the least, but I know that God will provide for us whether it is $1 or a million dollars. The CIA factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/SL.html) gives a great, although depressing, snapshot of Sierra Leone. I will share more about SL and what Global Outreach Missions is doing there in future posts. Now onto other work while the kids are asleep.
We have been back at home for about 1 month now and are pretty much back to our normal level of craziness. The kids have adjusted better than we had anticipated and they are both back on a regular sleep schedule and sleeping through the night. Josiah now has a big boy bed (a twin bed) and Lydia is in the crib. They are still trying to work out all the kinks of the two of them sleeping in the same room, or should I say one trying to sleep while the other is protesting sleep. We are loving going for walks and to the park almost every day, although it would be nice if it wouldn't rain so much.
Jeneson was really blessed to be able to go back to his old job without any problems and started back on June 1st. I think he is glad to be working again and getting out of the house on a daily basis. I'm still staying at home with the kids and debating on going back to work. I would love to work, because I like what I do, want to keep up my skills and could use some time away from the house, but the logistics of childcare keep my feet dragging. Ideally, I would like to work in an urgent care or one of the clinics in Walgreens/CVS but trying to find child care for two kids on an irregular basis by someone whom I trust will be difficult. So, for the time being I am at home and working on mission stuff in my spare time.
The first week in June we travelled to Buffalo, NY to meet with the mission board who accepted us as missionary candidates. At this time everything is pointing us to Sierra Leone with the goal of being there in 1 to 1 1/2 years. Now for the not so fun part of support raising. The numbers that were discussed while we were in NY were daunting to say the least, but I know that God will provide for us whether it is $1 or a million dollars. The CIA factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/SL.html) gives a great, although depressing, snapshot of Sierra Leone. I will share more about SL and what Global Outreach Missions is doing there in future posts. Now onto other work while the kids are asleep.
Friday, May 22, 2009
We're baaaaaack!!!
Yeah, after 20+ hours of travel time we are finally back on US soil. We got home on Wednesday afternoon and since then have been catching up with family, unpacking and trying to overcome jet lag and an almost 12 hour time difference from what we were used to. The kids did OK on the planes except Lydia not wanting to sleep on the flight from London to Chicago, but all that does not matter now because we are home. I'm going to keep this one short and sweet b/c I am posting it from the local library as our internet has not become reactivated yet. Feel free to drop us a line on e-mail or give us a call, we would love to hear from you. Maybe by next week we will be up for visiting all our friends who we greatly missed.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
16 (almost 15) days and counting
The countdown begins again. As you can tell by the title, both Jeneson and I are very anxious to finally get back home. It has been great being here and a wonderful experience for all of us on so many different levels, but now we are in the home stretch (pun intended). I am so glad that Jeneson has gotten to spend some good quality time with his parents and that they have really gotten to know the kids. I am sooo grateful for the time that I have been able to spend with my family here and with Minie and Mom in the kitchen and learning how to cook some good Indian food. Josiah will certainly miss his Appachin and Ammachi along with Minie Aunty, Jenny & Jonnathan. Our goal this last couple of weeks is to get some video of the kids, especially Lydia, with all the family. In these last two weeks we just have some last minute shopping to do and to get some family photos taken. we look forward to seeing you all when we return. HOpe you all enjoyed all the pics of Goa.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
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