Gamba has a new friend!

The honey farmers had two dogs, and just 6 weeks ago, one of their dogs died. So, their other dog, Hershey, has been quite sad since his buddy is gone. Well, we all know what been's going on with us. Gamba and Hershey met soon after we got here, and are now best of buddies! They are sure keeping each other company around the farm. What a blessing for both of these guys to have each other!

The first picture is the first time they met, and then the second picture is them 5 minutes later on a walk! It didn't take them long to become friends!

Congrats Ashley!

On May 5th, my cousin, Ashley Burnett, graduated from Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio with an undergraduate degree!

Since 1998, when my parents and I moved to Maryland, we haven't lived close to my family, who all live in Centeral New York. So, I take every chance I can get to see them. We were only two and a half hours away so I was determined to make it for this special event. Andy decided to stay home with Gamba since he couldn't be left alone so soon after his accident. So, Samuel and I made the journey, and boy was it worth it. My aunt and uncle and all Ashley's siblings went in addition to my grandparents. It was the first time my uncle's family had met Samuel, and only the second time for my grandmother to see her only great-grandchild. It was way too short of a trip, but we sure made some good memories!

Congrats Ashley on a job excellently done! I'm so proud of you!

Lord, Teach Me to Pray

I have struggled my whole adult life, and probably even before I realized it, with a spirit of criticism. I constantly battle with this issue. Two weeks ago, it got the best of me. Andy couldn't do anything right and I was letting my critical spirit tear us down during a time that we particularly needed to be united. Luckily, I have some close christian friends that lead me in the right direction with encouragement. One of them gave me a bookmark that is titled "IN CHRIST - I AM" and it goes on to list 40 things that categorize Christians. Here and now is not the place to list them all, but one today hit me hard, and I thought I would pass on the encouragement I received.

IN CHRIST - WE ARE FORGIVEN!

The verses that accompanied it are Colossians 1:13-14. Those verses alone speak the truth, but combined with the previous verses, they speak volumes!

Colossians 1:9-14
9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[a] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,[b] the forgiveness of sins.

I do not have any profound words of wisdom of my own, but I wanted to share what my notes said in my Bible.

Sometimes we wonder how to pray for missionaries and other leaders we have never met. Paul (the writer of Colossians) had never met the Colossians, but he faithfully prayed for them. His prayers teach us how to pray for others, whether we know them or not. We can request that they...

1. understand God's will
2. gain spiritual wisdom
3. please and honor God
4. bear good fruit
5. grow in the knowledge of God
6. be filled with God's strength
7. have great endurance and patience
8. stay full of Christ's joy and
9. give thanks always.

What a priveledge we have to lift others up in pray to the Creator
of the universe! These items are not just for ways you can pray for others, they are ways you can pray for yourself! What a gift we were given to be able to have a relationship with our Maker!

Oh, what a world it would be if we would live out exactly what we were created for! Which is, to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind and to make his gift of eternal life known to the whole world! I pray each of you take advantage of these opportunities.

Need motivation!

Andy's mom and stepdad are coming tomorrow and I've lost motivation to continue this long journey of unpacking! Right now the guest bedroom looks more like a closet! Like most, I work well under pressure, so where's my motivation? It left with the last group of empty boxes! Our stereo is not hooked up yet, and Samuel and I were in need of some tunes. Music is always uplifting! So, I thought I would google radio stations around here and see if I could find some good ones. There's a great website that you can type in your zip code and they have radio stations in the area that you can see if they broadcast online. We found a great one, and we're jamming out. So, I have no excuse anymore to be sitting here right...?

Home Sweet Home

We're here in our new home, and we love it. Pictures and stories to follow... It was great to spend my first day here on Mother's Day! Samuel made me a gorgeous card. And my present was a full nights rest!!! I couldn't have asked for a better gift!

The last two weeks

We have held back alot of information in the past two weeks. When something traumatic and sad happens like Lutalo dying, our immediate reaction is not to blog about it, though Amy finally did after a few days. When that happened and compounded what I'm going to explain here, we were too overwhelmed with all that was going on to have the energy or desire to blog about it for hours. The lessons we learned from Lutalo's death (that Amy wrote about) can stand alone, but they make more sense when viewed in the big picture of how God is working in our lives right now.

Many of you know that we came to Indiana to attend a log building school, with the intent of getting a job in that trade upon the completion of school. You may also know that we have intended to stay here since the time I unofficially accepted a job offer from the teacher/owner of the school about six weeks ago. We like this area and we have found friends and good churches here. Everything seemed to be working out for us until we recognized that the situation at school and my future job was headed in the wrong direction. It isn't my purpose here to argue a great case for my decision, but we decided we needed to pull out of that situation right away - the school in week 9 of 12, and the job that would begin May 21st. Two Thursdays ago (the 26th), we followed through on our decision and found ourselves back at square one in the vocation/employment search. I hadn't had a job since February 1st, and wouldn't have had one until May 21st as it was, so we really were no worse off financially that we had been. The obvious choice would have been to start looking for log building jobs in other states, but to do so would have been to ignore the God who was behind and in control of the situation.

We felt God moving on our hearts more strongly in the week or so leading up to this change, and it was no coincidence that our year or so long interest in foreign missions was peaking. In the month or so prior to that, a number of things made me question whether I would really be doing what I had once thought I would this Summer. It was one of those feelings where you think you want something, but you just suspect that it isn't going to play out and you can see how that might be okay or even better than if it did play out. That is how I felt. Right before we made the decision to change course we identified it as a matter of obedience to God, not just a matter of what we thought we wanted or what we thought was best. It was as if God was saying "Get out, now, and watch what I do." We didn't argue.

So that is where we are - out of the old situation but still in Martinsville, Indiana. We know that God isn't calling us to go somewhere else for log building right now. We believe he has something for us right here, and we trust him to reveal it to us in his time. We are learning that God's plans for us are always bigger than what we plan for ourselves, and we know during this time of transition and uncertainty he is looking for our trust and unconditional obedience.

Who would have thought that three days after our obedience in this matter God would have allowed Lutalo to be taken from us? We wouldn't have, but even in that we see him transforming us into the people he wants us to be. Since that time a housing situation we had only dreamed about has become available, and I am pursuing a job opportunity that is far more than meets the eye. I will write about it later when I know more, but suffice it to say this is a time of rapid growth and change in our lives, by far the most exciting one we have ever experienced.

Lutalo

We've avoided writing this post since Sunday, but I just want to get it over with... There's no easy way to form these words.

As Andy wrote awhile back, we have felt the call to missions more and more heavily the past year. Well, one of our biggest worries has been what is going to happen to our animals if we are called to a place they are not welcome. This has been a serious issue with us, since we are such avid animal lovers. The Lord has really used this whole missions issue to help us realize what we are placing as modern day idols in our lives. Last Wednesday Andy and I went on our bi-weekly hike and were praying that the Lord would give us peace about the situation with our animals, and that if he calls us to missions that we trust he will have something good in store for them. We recommitted them back to him, acknowledging that these animals are not our own, but they have just been loaned to us to steward for the Lord. Our hearts were truly changed that night as we headed out of the woods. We had a fresh outlook on God's calling for us, and a peace that he had our best interest in mind. Little did we know what was to become of it.

Just 4 nights later Lutalo was hit by a car, and taken from us. Gamba was also hit, but is going to make a 100% recovery! Praise the Lord! We fought so hard as to why this happened, and what good could have possibly come out of this. Anger was definitely an emotion we were battling. We love these animals more than most people we know!!! And, that is what we believe the Lord is going to teach us through this.

When you are seeking God with all you have, he is going to bring to the surface issues you must overcome before he can use you in mighty ways. We are starting to believe that one of our issues is our overwhelming love for our animals is hindering our eagerness to possibly go where God is calling us. Once we recommitted these animals to him and reminded ourselves that they are God's creatures and not ours, we thought that was all that was going to happen. God sometimes wants us to offer him up something that we have been making an idol, and sometimes he gives it right back. He just wanted to know we were willing to give it up. Well, in Lutalo's situation, we gave him Lutalo, and he took him back! NOT what we expected or wanted.

But, this has been quite a learning experience. We feel like we are on the brink of something big in our lives, and the Lord has our undivided attention! As much as we love our animals, we do not want them to stand in the way of serving him and doing the work he has called us to do. When we commit something to him, we better be ready to back it up!

Since that night, things have been falling into place. We have a new apartment we are moving into that we are super excited about. It is on 75 acres of land that some honey farmers own. They have a Christmas tree farm on the property as well. It is in the country and away from traffic! I will also be working for them to offset the cost of our rent. I have always wanted a part time job where I can have Samuel with me, and have held out hope that it does exist, and here it is! We are excited to see what else the Lord has in store for us, because one thing we are certain of is that you cannot outgive God.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

Red Eyes

It's only 9am and I cannot wait for a nap. Samuel couldn't disagree more! This day is nothing out of the ordianary for him. But for mommy it is! I decided that some girl time was in order last night so four of us enjoyed a girl night out at Starbucks after church. (It's a 24 hour Starbucks!) I've never known of a 24 hour Starbuck's and neither did Andy, (which is why he called there wondering if I was still alive around 11:45). All the Starbucks we know of close at 11pm.

I needed that time to rejuvenate more than I could have ever imagined. It is such a blessing to know that through the trials and tribulations of life that God has orchestrated people to come into your life to come along beside you and to help carry your burdens and to rejoice when needed! I am one to worship sleep. So, it's a big deal for me these days to make something else a priority over it, but boy was it worth it. Poor Andy was waiting up for me, because he refuses to ever go to sleep if I'm out. God bless him! I got home around 12:45 or so and then talked his ear off until 2:30! The day ahead of keeping up with this little one would normally be more of a struggle than thought, but my cup is full, and I am excited about the day ahead!

There has been so much going on in our family, but I'm going to wait for Andy to update. He's much better at those kinds of things than I am. Stay tuned.