Track and Field day

Time is flying by so fast. The kids are doing so good I wanted to post some pictures of their last Track and field day. We are going to miss our friends and family so much. Our time spent with them is bittersweet.

We have been so blessed to have our kids at Albany Christian school for six years now, They have made life long friends. We want to thank them for having us a part of their family.

Last years slide show

Giving away our dog

I swore I would never get a dog because I hate getting attached to them. As the kids were growing I remember Moriah asking constantly for a dog. Then I began to want one and here we are. I am attached and I have to find him a home. It is funny the things that are hard as we prepare to go. Pray for us that we will trust God in this and that he will provide the right people to care for the dog.

It is hard to be sad and excited at the same time

Buying our tickets last week was one of the most exciting moments we have had in a long time. It is really happening. We are going to be in Brazil, have our baby there, work with church plants. God is so good and so able to provide. His faithfulness to bring about his promises should never be doubted. The amazing thing is the feeling of isolation and loneliness that came with that excitement. We are leaving family, wonderful friends, a great church family and we have a deadline. It is no longer this summer, or probably by July it is about here. We are leaving June 17th for Kansas City and flying from there to Brazil on July 1st.

Pray for us as we work to say good bye, finish fund raising, and get rid of most of our possession's. We want to finish our time here well. We want to be a blessing to our supporters, family and our church. We need God now more than ever. We are so thankful and want to give Him glory as we take this next step and go.

Checks we can't cash

Sometimes in life we write checks we can't cash. We promise to do things we often know we can't follow through on or things come up and we fall short. We buy a car we shouldn't and the payments get overwhelming or over use credit cards and have to dig out of a hole. The consequences of these checks can be sever or moderate but we have all been there.

I want to tell you about some friends who did this with us and the difference between faith and hope. We write the ones we can't cash out of hope when we simply want a bigger tv or to look good promising to help with some project. We hope it works out. We hope we discipline ourselves and pay things off. When God leads us and we don't know how it will work we call it faith. Sometimes this may seem foolish but our faith grows when it works out.

Some friends of ours felt like God was putting it on their heart to support us. They felt like God was challenging them to commit beyond what they could "afford". I am not sharing this to encourage anyone to give but to encourage them to obey God. They stepped out and made a commitment and mailed in their electronic funds transfer form for the amount they had in mind. About the time the first payment, amidst layoffs at his work, he gets a raise for almost the identical amount they committed to us.

It is so cool as we are in the midst of trying to do the impossible to see God faithfully meet them as they obey. The idea of moving my family to a new country, continent and language is a check I can't cash. Good thing God can.

God will come through

As much as it is a cool season as I recently shared. It is also a very draining season. Lots of meetings, dinners, packing, busyness in general. I know from past experience that when we are the most tired, exposed, and plain feeling wore out that is when God can come through the strongest. I know if I had everything come easy I would begin looking at how cool I am instead of how much I need God. It feels strange to say this but I am thankful God takes us to the end of ourselves and beyond. It really is when I don't believe things will work out, or I don't have anything left that God is proved most faithful, most real. I wonder if we could come to the point where we absolutely are reliant on God and not worried at all about life's circumstances. Would God simply meet needs daily without the slightest stress on our parts. Like the daisies or the birds would we simply daily glorify God without a thought or stress as to how things might work. I really want to be in that place but it seems every time I begin to get there I start becoming self reliant once again and the Lord is forced to stretch me one more time.