Tuesday, January 29, 2013

In The South.

I'm not sure if this is the Deep South or not, so I'm just going to call the Carolinas the South. :-)

We left PA a week ago Wednesday and it was nine degrees - as in cold! Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 78 in Charleston, South Carolina. I was actually borderline hot today as we walked a couple of blocks to get lunch. *Happy sigh* There's a reason we are not called to a cold climate!

We've really enjoyed our stay in Charleston so far, including staying at a bed & breakfast/inn that had this huge bed in it! I was also adventurous and tried grits once more (my verdict has not changed - no thank you!). Charleston is a terrible city to drive around since there are carriage tours everywhere, so we put in a lot of walking and enjoyed taking the boat to Fort Sumter, which is on an island.

Paul was a fantastic baby all day long and was a huge hit on the boat... not too hard when you're the only kid in the entire place!

More adventures await us in the morning!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Percentage.

We started deputation last March, with plenty of stops and starts along the way.  Numerous pre-natal visits made that a must!  We've done what we call "tours" of deputation, "lines of travel," and several blocks where we go out for weeks at a time, but no matter what it is called, it's been necessary.  We've met countless people, added some on facebook, laughed over the statement, "You know so and so too!" and have tremendously enjoyed our deputation.

It is what we make of it. We complain of the travel and guess what ~ the travel is going to be looong!  Paul's being cranky?  Mommy and Daddy will be too! We're going out to eat again?!?!?  Suddenly everything tastes like cardboard.  I've learned that my attitude really paves the way for my family.  Those days when my attitude stinks, I might as well just go back to bed and pull the covers over my head because it's going to be "one of those days." Thankfully, those stinky days have been few and far between.  Our hearts long to be in Thailand, but we know that deputation is where the Lord currently has us... and for a good reason too!  A seasoned missionary told us that we're not raising financial support; not really!  Our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He abundantly provides.  The main reason we spent every week in a new church is to raise prayer support.  Without that, we don't want to go overseas.  Really, we don't.  It would be so foolish to even set foot on an airplane.  Might as well stay here and be cozy.

But with that said, we are raising financial support.  It seems like I'm contradicting myself, doesn't it? God does have all the resources in the world, but He has chosen to use people to distribute those resources.  Many times we've been in a church and on the way out the door, a precious sister in Christ comes along and squeezes money into my husband's hand.  We've been humbled time and time again at the generosity of God's people towards us, kind of like the widow and her mite.

My husband texted me this morning and said a church in Connecticut voted to take us on for support, bringing our total support up to 63%!  Now we were at this church a little less than three weeks after Paul was born.  To be honest, that was one of the "rougher" trips we made since I was still recovering from a c-section.  But the Lord gave a lot of grace and we greatly enjoyed being a part of their missions conference.

We have a meeting this Sunday evening in Maryland and then head down to the Carolinas for three weeks before returning home.  We debated about "filling our schedule up" at the end of February, but then realized if we did that, we would miss our own church's conference.  We didn't want to do that, so we're looking forward to being at LVBC for the conference before heading on another two month trip to the Midwest and Upper Midwest. :-)

God is so good!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

An Update.

I'm feeling awfully productive this morning! My little guy woke up around 5:30 to eat and then quickly fell back to sleep.  I'm not sure if it was the Lord prompting/reminding me of my goal to wake up earlier or if I had "enough" sleep - it's amazing the amount of sleep I'm getting by on! - but I decided to get up early and have some quiet time with the Lord.  

Now that was refreshing!  Just being still and quiet before the Lord... no baby cooing in the background to distract me.  What a blessing to soak in the word of God and meditate on Ephesians 2:1-2.

I think I was running on ambition or something because I decided to make some bread.  From the smells currently wafting out of my oven, it's going to be delicious!  Add to that a shower and some computer time (I'm usually on my iPhone), and I'm feeling rather productive for 8:00 in the morning!  I'm sure I'll nap later, but it was worth it to wake up early today.  Plus my little dude is still sleeping, so I'm planning on enjoying a nice breakfast date with my honey... right in our own kitchen. :-)

Speaking of the little dude...


... he turned four months on Sunday and got all dressed up for a wedding on Saturday!  His first tux. :-)

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We've been home for a few weeks now and will be home for about two more before we head out for a month to continue deputation.  We had a meeting Sunday night and Monday night (a missions conference) and will have one next weekend in Maryland before we head south to the Carolinas. Nat and I just booked a stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Charleston, SC for the end of this month and we're very excited to spend some time in that city!  Plus we're finally using up a b&b gift card that was given to us for our wedding 2.5 years ago. :-)  Since we both share the same birthday, we don't do presents for each other but always enjoy doing something special together.  On our actual birthdays we'll be in the midst of a mission conference, so we decided to celebrate a few days earlier and I'm sure we'll have a good time. 

Now that we've turned the calendar, we are extremely excited that this is the year we plan on being on the field, Lord willing!  I'm sure the months will slip by and sometimes I get overwhelmed with the thought of packing up our apartment.  We've tried to be "minimalists" since we've gotten married, knowing we were heading to the other side of the world, but we've also had to live now so we've accumulated a few things. :-) In the months ahead, there will be plenty of times to be ruthless in sorting, saving, and throwing away!