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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Short update....ok...ok...it's long...I know....

God is so good! I got up this morning with the boys and I thought I left John asleep in the bed. But somewere between shoveling Bananas in to Jude's mouth and going over my to do list in my head I heard a car pull up outside. Then footsteps and then I realized I'm sitting here in my chut nawn (a Thai night gown thing - totally appropriate for anyone I know to see me in but rather embarassing for just meeting people if ya know what I mean). So I do a little dance scraping the last bit of bananas hanging off Baby Jude's mouth while trying to lean to see who it could be at the same time trying to calculate if I could make it to the bedroom without being seen.

As I heard the footsteps draw closer I realized...all hope was lost...I would have to meet this new stranger in my chut nawn - ah well...just another pride killer right? Just went I was embracing the situation with Jude in arms...in walked John and Gene. EHHH??? Confusion and relief came at the same time...John had been out working the taxi and Gene had gone with him. We are currently living with our friends Lisa and Gene and have been for about a week now.

We had to take a break from the daycare setup - it is a wonderful setup for a single person - or a family who had no where else to go (like us)...but there are no windows because it's an attic/apartment and no real kitchen (so I was cooking for a family of 4 off a bunsen burner) unless I wanted to load everything up onto a tray (food, spices, milk or whatever is needed, pans and utinsils) and head down stairs to the daycare stove/kitchen area. That proved to be a very taxing thing and I found myself cooking less and less - an hour meal would end up being 2 1/2 hours...John said he felt like a caged rat...haha...but all in all...when it was time to grab our stuff and head over to Lisa's I was sad that I wouldn't hear the sounds of the children below us and be able to come downstairs and visit with the incredible daycare workers of Liberty Christian Child Care.

But Gene and Lisa's is a much needed blessing and I can NOT tell you HOW MUCH I am enjoying the kitchen. And there is even a backyard for Josiah to play in. So, this is our home until we leave. Lisa is a wonderful hostes...she really makes us feel like she is glad that we are here - dispite the fact that our two boys plus her one girl and her two dogs...and our husbands altogether in one room makes for beautiful chaos. We have to pay attention to the noise level and pray for PATIENCE! :)

OK...the whole point for all that was John walked in after working the taxi last night (John's cousin started a taxi company here in Sherman and uses John everyonce in a while when he is needed)...So...John has the taxi on Monday night to Tuesday afternoon...one of the slowest times for him to have the taxi - so we weren't expecting much but my husband walked in this house this morning with $400!!!!

I could NOT believe it...well, actually I can...God is good and he knows that we are down to $26 dollars to our name and we still havn't purchased our tickets from Bangkok back to Hat Yai nor have we paid fees for incorporation ($25) (we're working on getting incorporated and becoming a 501 c(3) through KingsWay fellowship ($300) so that when you guys give to us it will be tax deductable! :) It sure is confusing and hard work though - it's almost like they want to make it so hard that no one will be able to do it (at least little ol'peons like me) - but God has put some people that are trying to help guide us through. On top of all of that money to buy diapers, gas...ect...ect...

We still do not have our visas in hand because I made one of the most common mistakes when I sent it in...I did everything perfect...checked it like 5 times before putting it in the mail and then I hear from them a few days later that "JOHN" forgot to sign his application. What that interprets to is: I forgot to get John to sign his application. I sometimes sign for him (come on wives...you know you do it too!) but this time since it's such an official thing and all I felt that his real signature was needed. And I forgot to give it to him to sign!!!! AHH!!! I kicked myself around for a couple of days for it..."How did I miss that!?!?!?!!"

So anyway, I sent his SIGNED application off and we should be hearing back from them and/or receiving our visas and passports by the end of the week. I'm excited to have it all taken care of...just one more thing done and out of the way from standing between us and getting back to our home in Thailand. I can not express how ready we are to return. John is beyond ready to be back working in Thailand.

It's such a weird thing: wanting to be somewhere else sooo badly but yet knowing that where you are is to be cherished. I have read a book recently called Hudson Taylor God's Adventurer and it was so awesome to read about his life. He was consumed (for lack of a better word) by "Moving man through God, by prayer" It was wonderful to read about how he purposefully depended on God alone even when there were others to help him. It moved me when I realized that in order for him to get to China it took a 6 month dangerous voyage (he almost died several times) on a boat because there weren't airplanes to zip you from here to there. I was really greatful for the time in which I was born because I tried to imagine communications without computers, email and the internet.

We have 97 people on our mailing list and of those 97 - there are 6-8 people who donate and God provides the rest as needed. I imagine that in order to keep in contact with people you would have only been able to send newletters to those who donated - imagine writing 97 newletters by hand!!! Imagine the time it would consume! NO missionary I know has that kind of time. But instead I can type it (which I can do much faster than writing it) once and have it printed extremely cheap in Thailand (the shipping is another story). I say all this with a willing and open heart to our God and that if/when the time comes that we are called to an area without internet access for a long period of time (John goes out to those places everyday) and live then so be it. I will adjust!

Well, I know I've already written a lot but I wanted to share with you guys a struggle that I was dealing with...being here in America is a tough thing on many levels but on one of those levels is this. A few weeks back my friend pulled up in this gorgeous, beautiful, Hyndai Santa Fe and as she piled out my mouth dropped. I couldn't stop gawking.

I didn't know I had a favorite car until then. I just sat there - Josiah asking to get out of the car - and stared and then this longing rose up within me and my thoughts went something like this: "what a beautiful car...wow...it's so sleak...how nice that must be...good for them...'but you know if you were working here in the states you could have something like that...maybe even better'...but I don't need something like that...'but it sure would make life easier...the kids would fit so nicely in there and we're gonna have another one sometime...'...you could make good money and you are passing it up...you are going to be 60 and you won't have anything to show for your life financially.

I started to feel like I was missing something and this feeling of worry came over me and as I continued to stare at that beautiful car it got worse and worse as I started rationalizing everything we are doing and all the voices of the "wisdom of the world" started to set in. You can't even save money for your children if they need braces or even money for college if they choose to go...no insurance...no collateral building...no interest growing...no investments...there is NO NEST EGG...you won't have retirement saved up...you....you...you...you...and then it hit me and everything was silenced as I uttered these words: "All for King Jesus"

With a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart I got out of the car and went to tell my friend congratulations on the incredible new car. That is what has been hitting me recently and there are some people out there that would say that they are all legitimate thoughts and I would say they are legitimate thoughts for most people but not for us. God has directly set us where we are and we've seen him come through time and time again and he knows our needs. He knows if our children will need braces and he also knows everything and will make due accordingly. I find my peace in this:

Matthew 6:25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Thanks for reading guys! It means a lot to know you are out there reading...praying for us and supporting us even when we're not in Thailand. Some think that we don't need your support because we're in the states but I believe that it could possibly be one of the times we need it the most. Thank you for your love. I'll leave you with what God gave me:

Love like there is no tomorrow but yet live with eternity in your eyes....

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