Team Ipswich, Australia

The End

2011-04-12T21:42:00.003-05:00

I came to a conclusion last week...it is time to end the blog. I had a few reasons for starting up this blog; one being to share what I think about life in general, and another to keep people up to date on how I feel regarding all that's going on with our move to Australia. For those who really care about us moving to Australia, I figure you read our monthly newsletter and stay in the loop. For those who don't receive our monthly newsletter and would like to, send me an email at info@teamipswichaustralia.com and I'll get you on the list. Either way, I figure those who actually keep up with my blog keep up with me in other ways, so you won't miss much if I shut it down.

I have not felt compelled to write much lately. I'm sure there are a ton of reasons for this, but I don't really see any of them as being bad reasons. I think blogs have seasons, and this one's is over. Thank you for keeping up with me for these few years, and keep an eye out for my dream vlog, COOK! I have a vision of a cooking vlog, but now is not the time to start that. Maybe I'll add it to my "Things to do once finally making it to Ipswich" list....

2011-03-15T10:41:00.005-05:00

Forgive my inability to embed a video properly...good thing there's nothing to watch on the video!

"Soaking" is not a concept I'm super familiar with, but I know that if I want to find some really good meditative music that brings me near to God then I can count on soaking room music. I hope you enjoyed the video, and hope that it encouraged you.

I think that it is vital to remind ourselves of how God views us. Too many people in our lives are disappointed in us, frustrated with us, or just take advantage of us. God, however, made us in His image, so His view of us is much different. Yet, I see one slight problem with living a life that is solely focused on how God views me. If all I ever think about is how much God loves me, then I lose sight of how much he loves those around me. God is not surrounding me with love, patience, and mercy just for my sake. He's teaching me, through His actions toward me, how to do the same to others. Who better to learn from how to treat people than the one who treats me better than anyone I know? Just a thought.

A few thoughts

2011-02-22T09:41:00.003-06:00

I have not had any big thoughts lately, just a lot of getting things done...and yet having moments and days of total immobility! Here are a few things I've been thinking about lately.

I got sick last week; really, really sick. It was the meaner, uglier version of the stomach virus I got a few weeks earlier. Besides making me want to curl up in a ball and die, it made me think about a lot of things. The first thing it brought to my attention was how much I need my husband. Those of you who know me might be gasping right now, because I generally give the impression that I don't need anyone. Although I think giving the impression of total independence is not healthy (mainly because it's not true), I've come to realize that I do it quite often! I've always tried to put myself in a position where I could take care of myself with no one's help should it come down to it. I'm sure I've missed out on a lot of depth in relationships because of this, but I guess acknowledging that it's a problem is the first step to fixing it. I'll be sure to work on that on my own, not asking anyone for help. :) Anyway, Tuesday night as I lay writhing in pain and crying like a baby I thought, "Man, I really need Matt right now!" Let me explain; he was out of town the entire week. Fantastic week for him to be gone, right? I'm kind of thinking that was part of God's point...putting me in a position where I really needed God's love and mercy shown through my husband when he wasn't there. It made me realize how much I needed it.

Another thing this horrific virus made me aware of is that there are many aspects to thankfulness. By Saturday the first round of prescriptions had not helped, and the Immodium had not helped. The doctor was finally willing to give me something else, so I got a new prescription on Saturday. With that prescription came the command, "Thou shalt not consume dairy for two days". No dairy for two days! I love food, and love all things dairy. Being lactose intolerant fro two days was absolutely horrible. I barely made it two days...talk about lack of self control! I know people who are lactose intolerant for good, and I have much more respect for them now. I was totally willing to get incredibly sick just to eat cheese or ice cream...how ridiculous is that? Okay, back to the point. I think of myself as very thankful for the food God has blessed our family with. We always have much more than enough, and can always make something tasty and delicious from the things in our pantry and fridge. Not everyone has that luxury, and I thank God often for it. However, I don't very often thank God that I have intestines and kidneys that generally function on a healthy level. Not everyone has that luxury either, and it affects them at least three times a day when meal time comes around. I need to be thankful for all the aspects of the eating experience that God has blessed me with, and visiting the bathroom every fifteen minutes for almost a week made that a little more clear.

Legend of the Guardians

2011-01-23T16:42:00.003-06:00

Last night Matt and I watched "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole". It was beautiful, it was mystical, it was magical, it was good versus evil, and it was Australian! As the owls began to speak in the movie I said to Matt, "They sound Australian". The next animal they ran into was a Tasmanian Devil! The movie takes place in Tasmania, who knew! I've really wanted to see this movie for a while, but I was even more excited when I found out where they were.

I absolutely loved this movie, and encourage you to watch it. There were so many fantastic parts in the movie, but one quote in particular stuck out to me. There is an old owl talking to the young, lead owl about being a hero (in a sense). He says, "This is what it looks like when you've actually fought in battle; it's not glorious or beautiful, or even heroic. It's merely doing what's right, and doing it again and again". He's talking about the good owls fighting against the bad owls, but in the grander scheme he's talking about the fight between what's good and what's evil. In one sense, this could not be truer. Fighting against injustice for the cause of good in this world is not glamorous, it's a dirty and never ending job. You're often not thanked, and you often feel like you're working in vain. Satan is tricky, and is quite good at making things seem hopeless at times. However, I do believe that good will always triumph over evil (when it's all said and done). The journey to get there might not be glittering with all things wonderful, but the the end result will be awesome.

However, I see another aspect to this whole "fighting in battle" thing. I firmly believe that God has exceptional, exciting, fantastic things in store for every single person who seeks them. The problem is, our world has disillusioned us to what is in fact exceptional, exciting, and fantastic. We think life is boring unless we've made it onto a reality television show. Don't believe me? Then why do you watch them? Something or someone has led us to believe that the people on those shows have something spectacular happening in their lives because they're on television. I hate to break it to you, but that's just not the case. Now I won't deny that I think the fact that I'm moving to Australia is a pretty stinking cool adventure. Although we're making a lot of sacrifices and this journey is going to be heart breaking and horrible at times, I can honestly say that I think this is an exceptional call that God has given my husband and me. However, I look around and see how other people are doing exceptional things all the time and might not realize it. Take, for example, my husband. On Saturday we took our dog to the dog park, only for him to be called out to a grass fire a few moments after. Since I was with him, we drove to the fire together. I sat in the car for about thirty minutes while he helped put out a fire that had taken over a portion of land very near to someone's house. From the outside his job did not look spectacular, he was pointing water at the ground to put out a fire and spent time talking with the owner of the land who was trying to dump buckets of water on the ground to put the fire out. However, the job my husband and his fellow firefighters did was exceptional. It was dirty, hot, and slow, but it kept a man's house from burning down. Had they not come, the fire could have spread to other houses and destroyed other people's lives. I don't tell my husband enough, but his job as a volunteer firefighter is exceptional. Or how about this? I know a girl who was convicted that young adults in Africa deserved a decent education. She and her friends carried change cans around and collected money for months, until they had enough to send at least one young adult to school. That might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but they changed a person's life in another country that they've never met. That is exceptional.

I think sometimes people give up on trying to do the right thing because they just can't see it making a difference. I would like to encourage you to do what's right, do it again and again, and trust that what you're doing is exceptional.

Flooding in Australia

2011-01-11T09:41:00.000-06:00

Many individuals have asked us about the floodwaters that are overtaking areas of Australia at this time. Matt's family lives in Brisbane, and we have friends in Ipswich and Toowoomba. So far, the individuals we know are safe. However, to date ten people have lost their lives due to the flooding, and many more have had to evacuate their homes. A third of Ipswich, the city we'll be moving to, is expected to be under water by today. We encourage you to visit the link below to learn more about the flooding in Australia. Please keep the people there in your prayers as you learn more.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

A Day Without Work

2011-01-04T13:56:00.002-06:00

Today I am working through the second day of "not working" as some people are calling it. I don't know if I would call it "not working" so much as "changing jobs". As some might know, I quit working with the state of Texas so that I can do some of the things that we've had a hard time doing both working full time jobs. Although I had much better health insurance costs, I did not have better pay, so Matt won the "stay at your job" game. I am now working 16-20 hours a week at the martial arts school I attend, and the rest of my time is spent working on that ever growing, probably never ending list that I've started. Here's a run down of my first day away from the state, which was yesterday.

I woke up at 7am (my goal for wake up time)...then really got out of bed at 7:30am. Okay, not too bad a time to wake up given that I could have probably slept until about noon. I then took Bane for his routine morning walk. My step mom has this uncanny way of spoiling our dog. A few years ago when she came to visit she took Bane for a walk every morning. After she left he expected it, so that led to our daily walks to the mailbox. We have a community mailbox; I'm not so lame that I just walk him down to the end of the driveway! Anyway, when she came this time she took him for these incredibly long walks above and beyond the old distance! Needless to say, Bane and I could both use it. Therefore, I'm now walking him a little further than I was.

After the walk I got ready as if it was a normal work day. I cleaned up, changed, and put on make-up. I figure I could get in the habit of staying in my pajamas all day, but that would probably lead to some bad habits. After getting ready, I had some quiet time before starting the rest of the day. After that, I started the to do list on the iPod. So far it consists of:

finish visa application

get Bane ready

call possible financial partners for an update

change our bank

iron a stack of clothes the size of Rhode Island

clean out our family filing cabinet

put up Christmas decorations

do my scrap book

get overseas bank accounts sorted out (not Swiss, don't worry)

rake up the leaves and clean out the flower bed

clean out the front closet

Besides the things on this list, I've tried to make a commitment to keeping the kitchen clean, keeping up with the clothes washing, etc. It's amazing how far you get behind in life when you and your spouse both work full time jobs, and you don't have older kids to enslave to house chores.

Okay, so after making the list I got my visa application and Matt's citizenship stuff in order. Matt received his citizenship last year, but we just kind of threw papers together when they all came in instead of organizing them. I got all that and my application better organized so that I can finish my application before the end of the month. Sometime during the course of the day I cooked a few small meals for Matt and me (we eat five meals a day on our eating plan). I also cleaned up a few emails and folded a little laundry.

After that I got ready to go to my other job (see, I'm not sitting around eating bon bons). I taught classes and helped out around the martial arts school from 3-8pm, then ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things. I don't know what happened from there, but between getting groceries, putting them up, enjoying a little ice cream snack (don't tell anyone), and taking a shower, I didn't get into bed until after 11pm! It's not exactly my plan to be up late every night, because I tend to get rather grumpy late at night. I'll have to work on that.

I have a few kinks to work out on the daily schedule. One is multi-tasking. I hate to brag, but at my state job I was awesome at doing seventeen things at once. I might have been working on what I needed to be doing, but then I'd be asked by many people to do random things at any given time. I think I'm still in that mode, and I need to focus on one thing at a time. I'm sure there will be many more changes to the new work plan as I go, and I look forward to figuring out the best way to spend my time. I also look forward to continuing to enjoy sleeping until at least 7am every morning. :)

Fine Line

2010-12-10T09:29:00.003-06:00

Have you ever heard someone say, "There's a fine line between this and that"? I've definitely had a hard time staying on the good side of the fine line between a few things lately. Let's look at fine line #1: standing up against injustice versus judgment and anger. Here's what happens with me...I like to think of myself as an honest person who tries to do the right thing and help others. I will generally go out of my way to do something that will help someone else. What I easily forget is that I live in a world where a lot of people don't care much for God or their fellow man. Therefore, when I try to do the right thing and I'm only judged, unappreciated, or looked down upon it really ticks me off! It seems like Jesus might have talked about that at one point....
Anyway, I feel like I've been attacked, lied to, and generally mistreated at work the past few weeks. Most people would immediately say, "Now Tish, you have to forgive!" Well, this is not really a matter of forgiveness. You see, I think I have forgiven them. I don't feel hatred against any of these people. I've just realized that I can't trust what they say anymore, or that they won't have any respect for me no matter how well I prove my abilities. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see a big difference between those attitudes.
So, what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to stand up and say, "I'm sorry, but perhaps no one ever told you that you're supposed to treat people with dignity and respect", or is that judgment? After all, I don't know the reasoning behind why people have treated me so poorly. To be honest, I don't think I would ever get the chance to learn why even if I wanted to.
I find myself stuck on the fine line between something Jesus stands for (standing up against the mistreatment of people), and something he stands against (judging others). I am reminded of something Jesus said when he walked on the earth, "I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves". Jesus was saying this to the people he was sending out to tell others about him! He knew that his followers were going to come into contact with people who did not care much about who He was or those sharing His story. So what did he tell them? Essentially, he told them to watch their backs but treat everyone with love and compassion. I'll try to stay on the Jesus side of this fine line that I find myself facing, and will continue to watch my back but will try to love everyone around me regardless of how they treat me.

November Update

2010-11-23T20:56:00.002-06:00

I can't really think of anything better by which to title this post, since an update is exactly what it will be. No bells or whistles, just a way to catch you up on the life that I can barely seem to catch up with myself.

On October 31 we had our FSFA fund raiser. If you know us at all I'm sure you knew about the fund raiser, we plastered info about it on every form of electronic media we could find! We had a good turn out, raising $6,140. Granted, it was not the $80,000 we were shooting for, but we knew that was a very high expectation! We are grateful to those who helped us out, and were very surprised by some very large gifts from some unexpected people. God always uses the extraordinary to bless us. If you would like to be counted in the FSFA tally, it's not too late! Let us know you're interested in giving, and we'll be more than happy to help you do that!

If I can remember correctly, we were supposed to paint the exterior of our house the first weekend of November. However, it rained cats and dogs in Abilene so that plan was debunked. However, I still put Matt to work and we painted quite a bit of the interior of our house. Bane helped too, rubbing paint into the walls and catching drips of white paint on his back before they could hit the floor! To be honest we might not have even painted that weekend...but who's really keeping track?!? We painted sometime, so it might as well have been then.

The next weekend we traveled down to Halletsville to visit the land that my dad and stepmom own. We worked on the land, and got to hang out with my middle nephew Andrew. I am always amazed at how God is very real in his life. It's really exciting to have conversations about God with him! On that Sunday we traveled to Bastrop to enjoy about an hour of my oldest nephew's eighth birthday party. We got to watch him play with his friends, and enjoyed seeing my youngest nephew for a little while. My sister and brother in law gave us a lot of stuff to sell in our next garage sale, which was a total blessing. My sister also loaded us down with queso and chips for the road. Queso and chips in the car...not the cleanest snack!

This past weekend Matt and I planned to replace the facia on the front of our house so that we could start to paint the exterior (start counting how many times I've mentioned painting the exterior of the house). For those of you who, like me until this weekend, don't know what facia is, it's the wood that hangs down vertically from the roof of the house. It's kind of an accent piece. Anyway, we pulled off the facia, and low and behold, half the succotash behind it came off. It's not really called succotash, but it does begin with an s and I can't ever remember the name! Anyway, that meant a second trip to Lowe's and more time pulling down bad wood and trying to replace it with good wood. Matt said we were doing Jesus work (carpentry). I'm glad Jesus loves me no matter how bad I mess things up, because I am no carpenter! By Sunday night we'd gotten about half done of what we needed to on the wood, and had not painted. Maybe next time. Today an awesome guy from our house church came and spent a good bit of the day with Matt helping him finish up the job. Travis, I owe you one!

A lot more has happened in the past few weeks, but I'll save that for another time. For now, I just wanted to let you know why I've been off the radar.

Exodus is pretty awesome

2010-10-27T21:07:00.002-05:00

I'm reading through the Bible. I'm trying to be very intentional in how I read through the Bible, instead of flying through a chapter a night. Sometimes I make it through about four verses, sometimes I make it through a chapter. It all depends on how well I'm paying attention to what I'm reading. And let's be honest, sometimes I'm paying very little attention to what I'm reading. I hope I'm not the only one!

I started Exodus a few weeks ago, and I'm in chapter four right now. You do the math. Anyway, the past two nights in Exodus have been pretty awesome! As most of you know, Matt and I are doing a fund raiser that will reach the final leg of its journey this Sunday, October 31. If you don't know about the fund raiser, visit our website: www.teamipswichaustralia.org (I can't help but put in a plug). Anyway, so as with the rest of life for the past almost three years, it's been fund raising, fund raising, fund raising. It's very hard to find that line between "God will provide" and "you're not doing enough". I pray that I'm doing enough trusting that God will provide! Anyway, with fund raising on the brain and heart I read these words from Exodus three a few nights ago:

¹⁸ "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.' ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

²¹ "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. ²² Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians."

The last thing I want is for God to put some spell on the people we're asking for money so that they empty their pockets and give us all their mother's silver...but wow! God was going to make the Egyptians "favorably disposed", and I am praying that he makes the people we have invited to financially partner with us favorably disposed toward us and our cause. After all, we really do believe that it is God's cause and not our own. I felt like God had that story just waiting for me this week.

Last night before I dove back into Exodus I was thinking about real, everyday life in Ipswich. It's well and good to have big dreams about what can be, but how often do we really sit down and think about the nitty gritty of what we'll be doing? I think that's a good question for any big decision being made in life! Before reading I thought, "What if we go years without anyone being the least bit interested in what we have to say about God? What if no one believes our story and takes it as their own?" Then I turned to Exodus four:

¹ Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"

² Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.

³ The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground."

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ "This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you."

⁶ Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.

⁷ "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

⁸ Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

Really?!? I'm doubting, scared, and ask God, "What if no one will listen?" and He says, "I'll give the Israelites plenty of signs". I can't help but believe that God was saying the same thing to me last night, "I'll give the people of Ipswich plenty of signs".

There are plenty of things to make us nervous (I mean people in general, not just Matt and me), pressure from family, friends, and supervisors at work, health issues, money problems, the list goes on and on. Sometimes I think we all have to ask, "how am I going to do this?" We really easily forget that God is capable of doing a lot more than we give him room to.

I can't wait to see what chapter five has in store for me!

Over the sea and back again

2010-10-21T22:31:00.006-05:00

Matt and I returned from our two week long trip to Australia last week. I say two week long trip, but we were really only in Australia seven days. You heard me right...seven short days. It was a crazy, busy, exciting, exhausting, convicting trip! We met some fantastic people, got some good ideas, learned a lot, and experienced quite a few adventures! Those stories can be shared another time, or you can ask me about some adventures.

We got into Dallas Thursday afternoon, where Matt's dad was. Keep in mind that Matt's dad actually lives in Australia; we stayed in his house while we were there. However, David was in Dallas seeing his new grand baby. It was strange not seeing David in Australia, and instead seeing him in Texas! Matt and I got back to Abilene 12:30am Saturday morning, and have been running ever since. David came to Abilene to see us yesterday and today, and we had a great time showing him around good ol' West Texas. This place is different than any other!

Matt and I would love to slow down, but this weekend will not be any better. For no other reason than the fact that we won't have anymore weekends until well into November, we will be painting the exterior of our house Saturday. That will be quite a chore, but it needs to be done and will really help the house look better. We will also be finalizing some of the details of FSFA. What is FSFA, you ask? Well, I'm glad you did!

FSFA is Fifth Sunday for Australia; it is the fund raiser Matt and I will be hosting on October 31. What we have found in our almost three years of fund raising (yep, three years) is that people are unable to give to long term mission work in Australia...for whatever reason. However, plenty of people are able to give a small, one time donation to our work. We're inviting churches and individuals around the country to participate with us on October 31, and give a one time donation to the work we'll be doing in Australia. We're talking change collected over the course of a month, eating out money saved from the weekend, whatever people have. It's that simple! Give on your own, or get together with your family, friends, and church to combine your gifts to send to us. Checks will be made out to our sponsoring congregation to ensure that gifts are tax deductible.

Join with others around the country as we are a testimony to the world that many members form one body in Jesus Christ. Please visit our website for all the details regarding how to give on FSFA. There you will find specifics on how to make out your check and where to send it. You can also email us to find out more about FSFA, or more about our team in general. We would love to hear from you. Visit our website, www.teamipswichaustralia.com, or email us at info@teamipswichaustralia.com

Words in Action

2010-10-02T14:37:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks! We can see evidence that our move is nearer and nearer. Conversations, gifts from neighbors, endurance, growth, and frustration revolving around our move have all been strong and constant. We are grateful for this journey with all its ups and downs.

Matt and I were working out last night, and something funny happened. The trainer on the video said, "I know you're doing good right now". Matt said, "Shawn T., how do you know I'm doing good right now? I could be sitting on the couch!" Yes, we address the trainer as though we are old friends. Anyway, I chuckled as Matt said that because I thought, how ridiculous would that be? Seriously, to sit on a couch, watch a workout video, and think it is going to get you into shape is just stupid. However, in our culture I'd almost believe that someone might do that! We buy things or read things, thinking that just watching them happen will change our lives. It's ignorance in the grandest form.

After reflecting on that for a few minutes I thought about James. Not my one friend named James, but the James who wrote part of the Bible. In the first chapter of the book of James he said, "don't just listen to the word and so deceive yourself, but do what it says". Why did he write that? Because that's the lifestyle Christians were living. They were reading about abundant life but not practicing or enjoying it. Well you know what, not much has changed. I read words of life from God's word and don't live them out. It's like I'm sitting on the couch watching a video on how God can transform my life and wants me to share that transformation story with others, and then just turning off the DVD player and not doing anything about it. I have to get up and exercise this faith!

I've been learning and thinking a lot about how living as Christ in this world does not have to be so hard. Sure, being a Christian means I have to make tough decisions about the person I'm going to be to those I'm building a relationship with, but the actual first step of loving people in the name of Jesus does not have to be so hard. After all, the God I follow IS LOVE. He's not like love, He is love! The problem is that I'm an analytical introvert. I've got two things going against me; I over think things way too much, and half the time I'd rather be alone than surrounded by people! I'm working through those, and am trying to just relax when it comes to pursuing relationships with people.

So what are you sitting on the couch about, instead of getting up and exercising abundant life?

Thinking

2010-09-14T18:37:00.003-05:00

Where have you been? Oh wait, where have I been? I have no good excuse for not writing in almost a month, but boy do I have some good stories! I think my last post was August 18. On August 21 my nephew Riley was born in Plano. Riley is the first little baby born to Matt's sister and brother in law. On August 29 my nephew Avery was born. Avery is the third little baby boy born to my sister and brother in law. Avery was born in Bastrop. Needless to say, those were two very busy--and amazing--weeks!

Okay, so that's two weeks knocked out of the way. What about the rest of my life up to this point? That's a good question, and if you figure it out please let me know. As I've told many people, it's like I just couldn't get a grip on life last week! Doing a million things, late to bed every night, not putting on eyeliner....That last bit might sound strange, but it's actually a very good way to gage if I'm totally running behind in life or not. If I don't have time to put on eyeliner in the morning, then it means I'll be behind all day. It's true.

One other thing I could not get a grip on last week was my time spent with God. On Sunday my husband and I got together over a meal with some people like we do every Sunday, and one of the topics of discussion around the table was what everyone was doing to stay in tune with Jesus. Everyone had great things to say about practical, meaningful ways in which they were staying in tune with Jesus throughout the week. Needless to say, I felt pretty useless. I didn't have any good stories to share about the fantastic things I'm doing to stay close to Jesus. Sitting there in silence, wanting to climb under the table, I realized that I didn't have to have a fantastic story. I just had to have an honest story. I put a constant burden on myself to be a strong, "has it all together" leader type, but that's not a burden that Jesus has given me. I am in a relationship with Jesus and his other followers, and that means that I don't always have to be strong and have it all together. What it does mean is that I always have to be honest. ALWAYS. Well folks, just like it's hard to say, "I'm sorry" or "I was wrong" to your spouse (and you're kidding yourself if you say that's never happened), it's hard to say "I struggled in my relationship with my Lord this week". However, I piped up and shared how every one's stories were really nice, but mine was not so exciting. I shared how I didn't give my relationship with Jesus much time, energy, or respect. And you know what? No one threw rotten tomatoes at me. No one called me a sinner and ran me out of the house. People listened and nodded. Do you know why they nodded? Because they've been in the same exact spot before.

I don't really know the point of this post, my fingers just started to fly. Maybe it's meant to be an encourager. If you're an all out follower of Jesus, don't be afraid to admit when you're struggling in your relationship with him. Confession is good. If you don't quite know what to think about Jesus and the commitment it takes to be a Christian, then don't be afraid to talk to someone who does. Questions are good. And with that...good night.

Peace

2010-08-18T22:02:00.003-05:00

This will be a very short blog post, but I think it is one worth sharing. I have experienced something interesting tonight that I think we all need to experience. I heard the same, very specific statement made in two very different settings this evening. The words were, "Peace be with you".
The first time someone spoke these words to me tonight was, of all places, at the end of kickboxing. The guy who led our class, Mitchell, usually says something like, "Peace out" or whatever cool phrase kids use these days. I don't know if he got his tongue tied or what, but what came out was, "Peace be with you". I remember thinking to myself, "Jesus said that!"
About an hour later I was talking on the phone with a wonderful woman whose family has really blessed Matt and me in many ways. Her daughter got engaged a few months ago, and they just took their engagement pictures. She suggested that I check out the site, because the same amazing woman who took pictures of Matt and me took them. I went to the site and really enjoyed looking at the beautiful pictures. What caught my eye on the one and only picture with writing on it were the words, "Peace be with you".
Seriously?!? I am a firm believer that God repeats himself over and over so that we can be sure to catch the point he is trying to make. Apparently he wants me to be at peace! I had not thought of myself as extremely stressed or nervous at this time, but like always I'm super busy doing one thing or another. Jesus is the prince of peace, and no matter how hard we try we really can't experience real peace without him. I think God is telling me to slow and accept the peace that Jesus gives out of the essence of who he is. I invite you to accept it as well.
Has God been bringing something to your attention constantly that you think you should take notice of? I'd love to hear about it; leave a comment and share!

If you'd like to see some of those awesome pictures, check out Tammy's site: http://marcelainphotography.blogspot.com/

Telling the Truth

2010-08-08T16:34:00.007-05:00

This weekend my dad and stepmom came to visit us in Abilene. We had a great time! Saturday afternoon we ate with Matt's family, and then drove to Comanche after lunch. Matt and I have been to a winery in Comanche that is very quiet, relaxing, charming, and has good wine. We thought that sitting down to share a glass of wine with my parents would be a great way to spend the afternoon.

We arrived at the winery and walked into the tasting room to try a few samples. As we sat down we started the small talk of, "Where are you from, why the visit?", etc. My dad mentioned that they came to visit because Matt and I will be moving soon. Naturally they asked where we will be moving to, and we said Australia. Of course everyone always asks why we're moving somewhere like Australia...which is where things get fun! I said, "We are going there to start churches", and you could have heard a pin drop. When we say things like that, it's like the air is sucked out of the room from people gasping. It's rather amusing at times! However, what happened next was quite amazing. After a few moments of silence the other gentleman in the room, who was there with his wife, asked, "If you don't mind my asking, what church are you with?" I told him that our background is with the Church of Christ, and he raised his eyebrows. He said that he and his wife are part of the Disciples of Christ group, which used to be connected to the Church of Christ. (Really we still are, when you consider the fact that we're all following Jesus) Somehow through the next few sentences of conversation I said, "and I'm sure you're surprised to see us in here!" Ah, how the walls fell down! The ladies serving the wine samples seemed to breathe for the first time, and one of them said, "That's what I was thinking!" We all laughed and shared a little more chit chat. The ladies asked when we'll be leaving and we shared the fact that we still need half of the required funds to be able to move.

We all talked a little more, enjoyed getting to know one another, and then my parents, Matt, and I moved into one of the other rooms to share conversation and time together. Before we went into the other room I stepped out to use the restroom. On my way back in to meet the family, I saw Matt handing the gentleman who asked what our church background was a piece of paper. As we all sat down together, I asked Matt why he gave the gentleman our information. He handed me $40 and said, "He gave us this money for our trip. I gave him our contact info so he can keep up with us". Shocked, amazed, and grateful, I put the money away in a safe place until we got home.

I realize that some people might have stopped at, "we went to a winery". I really contemplated how or even if I was going to write about this story, but I think it would be a real shame if I did not write it just because I was nervous about what "Christian folk" might say. I am confident in the decisions I have made regarding drinking alcohol. When I read the words that God has placed in the Bible, I am convinced that he has no problem with his people drinking. However, I am a firm believer that God despises the act of getting drunk. It makes sense that the one who created me and loves me more than anyone else ever could would not stand for it. A few reasons that spring to mind are the fact that when someone's heart and mind are taken over by alcohol, they cannot focus on God. People also do really hurtful and stupid things when they're drunk. God doesn't want us to do things that we will regret the next morning or that will harm others. We manage to do stupid and hurtful things without the aid of alcohol...so why make it worse?!? For those and a few other reasons I have never been, and never will be, drunk.

What I really want to share out of this story are two huge points. One is that when we tell the truth, God breaks down stereotypes about who he is and who his people are. Our family was really honest about who we are in Christ when we were in that winery, and I think it really blew the owners away. My impression of their reaction was that they have not met too many honest Christians, which is a real shame! I think they were blessed by our conversation, which I think in turn honored God. The second thing that stands out to me about our day at the winery is that God's timing is so perfect! We went to Comanche that day to enjoy some time together, but God had different plans for us. The couple we met who gave us the money is from OKLAHOMA, and they were just passing through on their way to far west Texas. God brought us together in that little bitty town so that we could bless them with the story of what we'll be doing in Australia, and so that they could bless us tremendously through the financial gift of a stranger. God works in awesome ways!

FPU

2010-07-21T22:02:00.002-05:00

Some of you know what those three little letters mean without me even spelling out the words...Financial Peace University. More on that later.
A little over a month ago I started attending a class for women on Wednesday nights at church. There are a lot of reasons why I joined the group; three being that I invited a friend and couldn't invite someone to something I'm not a part of, I thought I could learn a lot about community from a group of women who have gotten really close, and honestly the third is that I couldn't really find my niche at our big church. I needed conversation and to hear people's perspectives on God's word, so I joined the group. I have to say that they've been very welcoming. I hate to admit it, but often times Christian clicks are really hard to get into...and I'm a Christian! It's a sad truth that we seriously need to work on.
Anyway, last week we started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University video series. I will admit that I think Matt and I have a pretty good handle on our finances for our age. We give to those in need (which you can do no matter how old you are or how much money you make. Don't try to give me excuses on this one), we pay all our bills on time, we are paying down student loans faster than they are due, and we save. However, what I'm learning from these videos is that we can be doing so much better! There are things that Matt and I will definitely put into practice after watching the video series.
There's one more thing that I am really loving about doing this video series with these women...they are brutally honest! No two women in that room share quite the same life situation, and none of them share mine. However, they will say how much the have or don't have, know or don't know. What's even better than that, they are excited! They've had enough of not having enough, and they are ready to make some changes for the better. I have not seen so much excitement about something so difficult in a long time, and that's refreshing. Encouragement is just hovering around us, waiting to be soaked in, if we'll only open our eyes and learn from the lives and hearts of others.

Us too!

2010-07-04T10:45:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Matt and I had a great day. We ate breakfast (very late!) and then got ready to go to our friends W and E's house. Matt, as usual when we have plans to do something, got called to a vehicle accident and had to leave for that. I finished getting ready and went to their house. W and E are moving to Chile early next year, and were having a garage sale to get rid of many of the things they will not be taking with them. They, along with another person they are moving with, were at their house Friday and Saturday hosting a garage sale.
W and E have always had a really comfy home. Matt and I loved to go to their house and just hang out, it's the kind of place you can just sit around in for hours. That being said, when I went over to their place yesterday it was totally desolate! The transformation that took place within a few short days was astounding. They had a very successful garage sale, and continued to sell items as I hung out for the last hour of the sale. Matt made it over just as the sale was ending, and we helped them clean up a little and then took the tables they used back to the people they borrowed them from.
Some interesting things happened after that which I would like to share. Matt and I ran a few errands, and then got home and went crazy working around the house! Matt washed every dirty item of clothing we own (which are now slowly being folded and are in a huge pile on the love seat). We also needed to work out, which requires us to vacuum since we have the biggest shedding dog in the world. I was ready to vacuum the floor like normal, but Matt moved all the furniture around so we could vacuum in places that are not often reached. He also cleaned the window and window sill. After working out and eating dinner, we worked on our fund raising packet until the wee hours of the morning. We wanted it done! Here's what I think happened: we saw our friends taking some big steps forward toward moving, and we thought, "Us too! We want to move too, we're ready!" There's something about seeing people on the same journey with you, who experience a step in the right direction, that excites you and makes you want to do the same. I think yesterday we got a little boost of energy to take care of things that seem ho hum, because we know that when we sell our house they will be things that need to be done.
I have to admit, however, that we really wanted to get our fund raising packet done for another reason. We have been trying to contact a church in Tennessee since February. I emailed them in February...no reply. I emailed them in April...no reply. Some might give up, but not Tish! I'll thoroughly bother someone until they tell me to stop, and as far as I was concerned no one had given me a good reason to stop trying to contact this church yet! I emailed them again in July, and I got a response! In their defense, apparently there was a switchover in the person we were supposed to contact, and the previous emails were not passed on by mistake. Anyway, the person I ended up making contact with was so encouraging! He sent us a great email, and wanted us to talk to him over the phone and send him our fund raising packet. I had a great conversation with him over the phone, and we wanted to get our fund raising packet updated to reflect the changes in our team and off to him as soon as possible. I guess W and E are not the only ones who have a step in the right direction to celebrate!

And then there were two

2010-06-14T20:33:00.003-05:00

A lot has happened in the past week and a half. The weekend of June 5 Matt and I drove to Corpus Christi to share more about our team's progress with the members of the church I grew up in. As usual, we were surrounded by encouraging words and faces. Matt always does a great job sharing our powerpoint presentation...and as usual we were still tweaking it the night before!
The weekend was filled with great family and friend time. My sister, brother in law, and two nephews went down to Corpus that weekend too, and we got to hang out with them for a day. I also got to see two very good high school friends of mine, one just had a baby a few months ago and one is due to deliver a baby in about a month and a half. It's amazing to see the paths our lives have taken! I am grateful for them, and that we are still friends despite the miles that separate us.
On Sunday after church Matt got to experience Port Aransas. We ate lunch by the water and had some fantastic gelato at a super cute, trendy coffee shop. We got to talk with my parents about them visiting us when we are in Australia, it was a very encouraging conversation.
Things changed on Thursday. We met with Gregory and our mentor, and Gregory announced that he was quitting the team. It was a very hard conversation for all of us to have, but we pray that he finds peace and clarity as he continues on the path he takes from here. After Gregory left on Thursday night I was praying for God to give me something to go on; a little bit of wisdom or guidance from his word would have been helpful! I've been reading through the Bible and am currently in the book of Genesis. I read these words from Genesis 19 Thursday night:
"When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away'....By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt."
How encouraging! I felt like God was saying these words to me. Matt and I have been shown our journey and our destination, and he does not want us to look back. There's nothing wrong with remembering great memories of family and friends from where you came from...just look at the first part of my entry! However, when God calls you to do something, he does not want you to look back in doubt. The challenge is knowing the difference between being confident in what God has called you to do and being stubborn when he's not really telling you anything at all. We remain confident that this is what he has called us to do.

What is God up to?

2010-05-25T21:45:00.004-05:00

I have quite a few things I could write about tonight. Over the past week I have had little snippets come to mind and have thought, "Hm, that might be something worth blogging about". However, today a series of events occurred that made me think I should write something different tonight. Strangely enough, my topic has a lot to do with my last post.
As I think (or hope) is the case with any team moving to another location to minister to people, I am constantly asking God if this is what I'm meant to do. Not in a "Oh, I don't think this is right anymore...God, are you sure this is what you want me to do?" sort of way. It's more like, "God, I still really want to do what you want me to do, so if for some reason that plan is changing please help me to understand and follow it". For that reason, I am constantly thinking and praying about exactly what it is that I will do in Australia. This goes beyond what sort of job I will have or how many hours a week I will work. I'm talking: what grocery store will I go to...because I will want to build relationships with the people there? What hobbies will I have in my spare time, and how can I meet people through those hobbies? One of the most important questions I ask myself is how God wants to use my gifts and talents to reach out to people with his love.
As I mentioned in the last post, I have what I think is a gift for helping people realize their self worth. Okay, so I might not have said that...but that's what I meant! I have this burden growing stronger within me all the time to help women (especially those who have been hurt) realize their self worth in Christ. Part of how that works itself out is for women to believe in the physical, emotional, and spiritual strength that God gave them to overcome obstacles. In more practical terms I want to teach women self defense, help them strengthen their bodies, and teach them to trust God and believe in themselves. I had two conversations today that made that burden grow even deeper. (I feel like the Grinch...that burden just keeps growing as I type!)
I was having a conversation with a very good friend today about starting to attend a class that a woman at our church teaches. I wanted to start attending the class because there is a woman I know who has been invited to it, and I thought she might feel more comfortable going to a new place if she had someone she knew in there with her. To be honest I didn't know much about the class, I vaguely remembered that it was primarily for single women. As I asked my friend about the class and if I should attend, she started to explain more about what it is. The class is primarily for single women: single mothers, older women, younger women, it doesn't matter. Along with teaching truth from the Bible, she teaches life skills. In addition to those things, she sometimes brings in counselors who help the women with other issues that pertain to everyday life. I was shocked and amazed, I didn't even know there was something like this at my church! The things my friend mentioned are all things that I would like to talk about with women in Australia. I have the chance to learn from a woman who has been teaching in this role for many years, and have the chance to get to know more women in the life circumstance that I feel really strongly about.
The second situation tonight was very interesting. I went to my martial arts school and was working out. About ten minutes into class my instructor pulled me aside and said, "There's a new girl who should be starting class today, but she hasn't come out of the dressing room. Do you mind going in and talking to her?" I went into the dressing room and she was in the bathroom. I guess she heard me walk in, because she almost immediately came out of the bathroom and just looked at me. I introduced myself and ask how she was doing. She barely spoke but said that her stomach hurt. She was nervous enough to puke! I talked to her for a few minutes and asked if she would go and work out if I was her partner. She said yes, so we went out together. We joined the rest of the class, but she still froze up. My instructor asked if I would give her a private lesson, so we went off to the side and worked out together. I taught her quite a few things, and we talked a lot. She slowly but surely came out of her shell, and I could see her confidence building as the hour went on. After we worked out together, she was much more at ease. Don't get me wrong, she has a really long way to go! However, she made great strides in that hour we spent together. What we did in that hour could possibly look a lot like what I feel this burden to do in Australia! It just blew me away how God provided this young lady today to help me see in a tangible form what could be in the future. I'm not saying that everything is crystal clear now, but I definitely have a lot more to pray about after today!

Passion made real

2010-05-12T21:12:00.006-05:00

Caution, the following article might not be suitable for all readers. I found it disturbing.

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2010/04/28/an-ipswich-magician-and-child rens-entertainer-is/

Most of you know that I do martial arts. It is a passion of mine. It is working itself out into a much bigger passion as we prepare to move to Australia. I have been doing much praying about the idea of my job in Ipswich being to teach women's kickboxing and self defense classes. I greatly desire to see teen girls and women, especially those who have been hurt sexually and emotionally, transformed into confident women who believe in a God who gives them a new beginning, a renewed strength, and a greater sense of who they are. In a perfect world, I imagine myself teaching a few classes a week at a rec center somewhere and then going into schools and working through crisis centers to do seminars.
You can imagine that when I read the above article, I was sick. I won't lie, I wanted to do things to this man that a Christian woman does not do! However, my call is not to hurt those who hurt the ones I want to help. My call is to love those have been hurt (and those who have hurt them...that's the hardest part) and let God's vengeance be worked out on those who do wrong to the innocent. I'm glad it's his job, because I act out much too irrationally sometimes!
I am grateful for this online newspaper that gives me glimpses of life in Ipswich, because it makes my purpose real. I can imagine these girls coming to me after a traumatic incident and hearing about a loving God who won't take advantage of them, or judge them because of things that happened in their past.
For those of you who have a hard time getting why we want to go to a place like Ipswich, please remember after reading this article that Satan works in developed countries just as much as underdeveloped ones. God also redeems people in both.

Friends and Enemies

2010-04-20T22:28:00.002-05:00

Most people have them, but they look a little different. I have them in Hawaii, Abilene, Thailand, Australia, Georgia, and other places around the world. They're friends, really important friends...the kind of friends that I have a very special bond with. This is the bond that people share when they leave it all behind and move to another country to tell their new friends and neighbors about God. I know most of these people because we trained through the Halbert Institute for Missions together. Because of this, we've cried together, laughed together, learned about other countries, and learned a lot about one another. I don't talk to all of them on a regular basis, but I do talk to God about them on a regular basis. However, whenever we talk to one another through skype or email it's like we were never separated. Why is this? I think it's because we're traveling on the same journey. Some are preparing to go to or are already in other countries, but our purpose is the same. We've left the same things behind and are making the same sacrifices. We're all living lives of great uncertainty (I know, who isn't), and that creates one strong bond!
For example, last Saturday some friends of mine who are moving to Russia did a little fund raising dinner. I went to it because I have not seen them in quite a few months, and missed them! Also I know the prep that goes behind a dinner like that, and the disappointment that comes with an invited person not bothering to show up. We ate great food, heard about what they will be doing in Russia, and then just sat around and talked as they met with different people. After my friend walked around for a while, it was my turn to chat with her. She sat down and we talked about fund raising...not the most exciting topic of conversation for someone who is not moving to another country! We talked about the encouragement we have received from surprise donors, and the disappointment we have felt from those who we counted on that let us down. Then something interesting happened. I said, "Well, I guess you need to go catch up with other people", and she said, "Actually, it's really refreshing to sit and talk with someone who's going through the same stuff". That is so true! This whole moving to another country thing is not easy, even though some think we're just going to sit around in coffee shops and talk to people all day long. It's so refreshing to share our stresses, worries, and excitement with people who are doing the same thing, because they know what it is to send out over one hundred pledge cards and only get seven back. I am so very grateful for my friends and family who surround me everyday, but I am also very glad to have these friends that I share this unique bond with.
Now on to the enemies...my gmail account got hacked into yesterday. Sorry by the way if you got some ridiculous link from me, it was not really from me! I managed to change my password and get the thing stopped, but not before it emailed just about everyone I have ever emailed. That left me feeling embarrassed and vulnerable, but it had its good points. Some people emailed me back to say that they got a weird email from me, and it started good conversation. Some people I had not talked to in years! Even though some horrible hacker somewhere was allowing him/herself to be led by greed and deception, God was using the opportunity to reunite me with some old friends. God can turn anything around!

Longing for heaven

2010-04-08T15:56:00.004-05:00

On Monday afternoon I hopped in the Corolla and started the trek to Wichita, Kansas. My grandmother passed away last Thursday, her funeral was going to be Tuesday, and her burial Wednesday. I will go through the significance of those two days in a few moments, but for now let's focus on the drive up. The drive to Kansas from West Texas is scenic in its own way...there are a lot of farms and open skies. Some people might deem it boring or ugly. I however hold within me a gift and a blessing, it's that of being able to enjoy any car trip regardless of the location. Would you like to know my secret? It's the fact that there are two very specific bits of scenery that transport me to magical places. One is wide open wheat or hay fields (they might actually be the same thing for all I know) and the other is seeing the moon or big, fluffy clouds in the sky during the day. I could actually add the ocean as number three...but I see it so rarely these days that I don't count it in a regular list. Anyway, if you drive across the country you will see one or both of those natural occurrences as you drive. Let me explain to you why I love them so much.
I don't know how to explain it, but there is something beautiful about the moon shining (reflecting, whatever) during the day. It reminds me of being a child. For some weird reason I remember looking up at the sky as a kid, seeing the moon, and being happy. That feeling has never gone away. I cherish it and hope to share it with a little one of my own some day. Big open fields with either brown or green flowing grasses call out to me often. They beckon me to run through them, the wind blowing in my hair. They also beckon me to lay down in their tall grasses, look up at the sky, and dream. The only thing that keeps me from pulling over and running through a field is the fear of getting shot by some crazy farmer, and the annoying reality that laying down in a field of tall grass is actually much more itchy and buggy than my imagination allows for. These two bits of scenery hold another very important power; they make me long for heaven. What I mean by that is that I can actually imagine myself running through a field until I run all the way to heaven, or all of a sudden receiving the ability to fly and flying toward the moon until I reach heaven. I realize that sounds totally crazy, but it means so much to me. I don't mean that I just fly up to that big expanse in they sky that some call the heavens, I fly up and meet with God. Actually, I go home to God. I think once I meet God face to face I'm never going to want to go back to where I came from! Don't get me wrong, I don't get excited about dying. What I do get excited about is when all the junk of this world is over and I'm with God in a much more peaceful place.
Needless to say I longed for heaven a lot on the seven hour trip to Kansas Monday!
The ceremony surrounding my grandmother's funeral and burial were hard; hard because it was hard on my family. I wasn't very close to my grandmother, but I could see that she blessed a lot of people's lives. I know that her children, grandchildren, friends, and other family will miss her a lot. I don't want to write much more about that, so I'll leave it where it is except for this one last thing. Even though grieving is really hard, I can thank God that because I've lost my grandmother recently I'm able to empathize with the people around me who are suffering the loss of loved ones. Experiencing the pain of others is a powerful thing. I guess our Savior knew what he was doing....
I actually started this blog post about a week ago, so I feel like it is quite scattered. I'm going to leave it like it is, because to be honest my life is scattered right now! I did a garage sale with my mother in law on Friday and Saturday after I got back from Kansas. It was exhausting, but a blessing because they let us keep the money for our move to Australia. Tomorrow night I have my second degree black belt test, so I've been up at the dojo a lot this week trying to get ready. Part of my belt test will also be participating in two seminars Friday and Saturday. I'm excited about it all, but to be honest will be even more excited when life can get a little more back to normal.

The past week and a half

2010-03-21T11:21:00.004-05:00

Sitting down to blog has been harder and harder to do lately. I've been busy, but when I look back I don't really know what it is that has been keeping me busy! I'm sure it's been a little of this and a little of that, just like everyone else in this world.
Our team has been pretty good about getting together to work on fund raising, Bible study, and other really important things...but not so good at just spending time together. For those of you who don't know Gregory, he's a big time movie fan. Big time might actually be an understatement! He saw Alice in Wonderland about a month ago and said that we had to see it. So much so in fact that he wanted us to all go and see it together, even though he had seen it once already. After much debate as to whether or not we should see it in 3D (Matt and I were adamant to not spend $50 at the movies just to see 3D) we decided to go see it two Thursdays ago (not in 3D. This majority rules thing is pretty rough when there are only three people on a team!) The movie was amazing, although so very different than the Disney cartoon that I can still remember vividly in my imagination. I look forward to seeing many more movies together with Matt and Gregory. And we even agreed that we'd see Clash of the Titans in 3D. :)
Throughout the week before last I felt like God was telling me he wanted our team to do the labyrinth at ACU together. We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and we needed some time to just experience the quiet presence of God and reflect on life. I thought I'd written about the labyrinth before...but I looked back and could not find anything in my previous posts. For more info on the labyrinth at ACU, visit: http://www.acu.edu/news/2009/090108_labyrinth.html. I love the labyrinth, it kind of transports me into another world. Along the path words were listed that we could reflect on and pray about. Two of the words that stuck out to me were transition and transformation. Our team is experiencing a lot of both of those, and needs a lot more of each at the same time. In the middle of the labyrinth is this verse from Jeremiah, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls". Man, is that not amazing! I close my eyes and am automatically transported to a cross in the road. One way leads to a path covered in trees with a well worn place to walk. It looks old, but peaceful. It intrigues me, and I imagine there is much adventure to be had as I travel down it. All of the other ways are either dark or empty, lacking so much. The pathway of God is not always an easy one to travel, but rest for our souls is promised when we choose it over all others. After we did the labyrinth together we got coffee and talked about what we thought as we went through the labyrinth. I am blessed to be part of a team where everyone has such different views and ideas to contribute!
We mailed off Matt's citizenship application two Mondays ago, and I noticed in the bank account this week that the application check was cashed. That is a very good sign, because we think that we read somewhere if the application was obviously not going to go through then they would send the check back, which they didn't! We look forward to having that process completed.
We still continue to seek financial support (do I sound like a broken record?), so I spent yesterday trying to find churches in Texas at which we know people. I contacted two churches and contacted friends about two other churches yesterday, so we are in prayer that we can build relationships with those four congregations that will be beneficial. Other than that, we're cleaning up the house in preparation for the work week ahead!

So close, and yet so far

2010-03-06T20:01:00.003-06:00

I have not felt much of an urge to write lately, partly because I do not feel that anything life altering has changed with our status in the past few weeks. However, to believe that would be to believe a lie. This won't be the most exciting of updates, but it will be informative!
I have to make A LOT of certified copies for my spouse visa application. Unlike my dear friends who are moving to Chile, I have to have my visa approved before I can get to Australia (you know I love you Conce team!) I have to have copies of Matt's income from the past two years, items showing that we pay bills together, live together, own things together, copy of our marriage license, copy of my birth certificate, copy of statements verifying our relationship...the list goes on and on. I've had all the originals for a while, but had not had them notarized as certified copies yet. By the way, if you have to have certified copies of documents made, a notary can do it. You have to get notarized copies of your marriage license and birth certificate ("recordable documents", there are a few more on the list) done where you get the originals (like the county courthouse), but everything else can be taken to a notary public. There is a specific statement they write on copies, it is different to just being witness to a signature. Anyway, so I did that. Matt and I also got more passport photos made, because I need some for my visa app and Matt needs some for his citizenship app. That was over $50 by the way...getting four of each kind of stinks!
Matt and I have both been pretty discouraged by our fundraising status. We know the money we need will come from who it's meant to when it's meant to, but the waiting is wrapping us up in this fog that makes it hard to see the future (or the present for that matter) clearly. We just pray and keep trying! God is so good though, last Thursday I woke up feeling very distracted in my heart and mind about fundraising. I got to work and could not get my mind off it. Throughout the day God either trickled down one time monetary gifts or leads for possible relationships via our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think being ridiculously discouraged is a great place to be; it helps me notice more clearly when good things are happening because they seem so out of the ordinary!
Last night I drove up to Dallas so that I could go to the North Texas Irish Festival today. I spent the night with my mom, which was great. We got to go out for breakfast this morning and catch up. She is one of the most encouraging people in my life when it comes to moving to Australia to share the love of Jesus with people, and that means the world to me.
By the way, the festival was fantastic!

Why does God want to be at the center of my marriage?

2010-02-17T22:18:00.004-06:00

I got back Monday evening from a wonderful four night vacation with Matt in San Antonio. After a very stressful couple of months (and many more to follow), we decided to take advantage of me having Monday off and took the Thursday and Friday before the weekend off as well. We decided that if we went to San Antonio, we could have a great time and get the most bang for our buck.The hill country infinity pool

We had a wonderful time at the resort where we stayed: I got my nails done, we played around at the mini water park (in the freezing cold), walked around, went to the zoo, slept in, enjoyed cable television, and ate at good restaurants. The last on the list brings me to tonight's point. Matt has an iPhone. It has its pros and its cons, one con being that for the most part you can use it to do things like check your facebook or email just about anywhere. All I know is that given the fact that I think kids in Australia use their cell phones even more than kids in the U.S., we are going to have to have some serious laying down of the rules when we have kids who are old enough to legitimately have cell phones (the mere thought of it is enough to give me a heart attack). Matt is pretty good about not using it too much, especially when we are sharing a meal together. If we're talking about something and it seems worthy of looking up, he might check it out on the iPhone and save it for later perusal. I couldn't resist putting this picture in...Matt just happens to be on the iPhone!
However, I saw something at almost every restaurant we ate at during our vacation that made my stomach turn. On Thursday night we sat down to a late dinner at the hotel. It was a really romantic setting. I looked over at one of the few other couples in the room, a couple in their early fifties. They both sat there, totally immersed in their phones. They barely looked up at one another and shared very few words the entire evening. On Sunday morning when we ate breakfast at IHOP, we sat next two a father and his two kids. The son stared at his iPhone all morning, and while he would contribute a little to the family's conversation he would never look up and make eye contact. The couple in back of them was on their iPhones most of their meal as well.
Am I saying that iPhones are evil in the form of a box that can call, surf the web, text, and hold 762,000 apps? Although I'd kind of like to...I can't blame the iPhone. I've noticed something among couples that have been together a long time. They (like all of us) get immeres in things. For most people it's their jobs, but it could also be hobbies or any other number of things. For some reason it all becomes old hat; a husband gets tired of hearing about how Joe Shmoe made his wife mad at work for the two hundredth time, so his wife just stops talking about work. The problem is that when work is your life, that means a line of communication breaks down and your available topics of conversation have been greatly diminished. That's where the iPhone comes in. Who needs to talk when you can eat a meal and keep yourself occupied in other ways? The problem is that you're losing your spouse! This is why I think God wants to be at the center of my marriage. He knows that the world around us gets dull and monotanous, but He never does. If we're paying attention to Him then we are always noticing what He is doing in our lives. When that happens we always have something to talk about! Work, where people make us angry and let us down, is no longer the be all and end all of our lives. Can you imagine if we all put away our iPhones at dinner and instead talked about how God brought us into a powerful conversation with a person at the gym, or shared the imagery of the beautiful sunset we saw on the way home from work? Everyday would be new and exciting (not always easy, because I know as well as you that this runs the risk of us experiencing the hard and hurtful things about being part of the Kingdom of God as well) with a new story to share! It is amazing how well God knows us. He wants to be at the center of our relationships so that we can share a more abundant life with one another, a life that sees Him everyday.
Don't be afraid, put that iPhone away during dinner and talk to your family about what God is doing in your life. I think it will be worth your while...and facebook will still be there after you're done helping one another put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Rain, rain, rain

2010-02-06T12:57:00.004-06:00

It rained a lot this week. On Wednesday it did not stop raining ALL DAY. The rain is an amazing blessing in a lot of places, especially Texas. However, when you have a big German Shepherd and a backyard that is missing quite a bit of grass you tend to accentuate the negative instead of the positive. We've done it all: used a towel to try and dig the mud from between his toes and his legs, filled a bowl with water and dunked and scrubbed his paws, Matt actually managed to pick Bane up and get him into the bathroom for a bath on Friday (which I'm sure was disgusting). Needless to say, Bane was not allowed to go out and run around the backyard much this week. This led to extreme boredom and many sad eyes...but what are we supposed to do?
It was freezing and raining most mornings, but I gave in and took Bane for a walk Thursday morning. I quickly walked him down to the mailbox as my car sat in the road heating up. When I got into the house and looked through the mail, it was like I had opened the golden ticket for the chocolate factory. We had two pledge cards in the mail! We have not received many pledge cards, so to get one is quite good and to get two at a time seems like a miracle. God was not only raining down the wet stuff, but he was raining down some financial blessing and provision on Matt and me in preparation for Australia. As if that was not enough, he decided to rain down blessings all day long. Thursday Matt was formulating an email to send to the church we attend to discuss more with them the next step in the process of them giving us a one time donation to help with our moving fund. I won't lie, this was a big chunk of change and it was making me a little nervous to not just have the check sent to our supporting church. Anything could happen, minds could change, we could fall off the radar, you name it. However, as Matt was preparing to write the email the recipient of the not yet written email called Matt! No joke, it was pretty awesome. He said, "We're ready to cut this check, are you ready for us to send it?" All I can say is that I'm grateful for times like this when God decides to rain down a lot of blessing all in one day.
On Saturday Matt and I held a come and go open house for people to have the opportunity to come by and learn more about our financial need and what it means to be a financial partner. We had a few people come with interest, and a few people come to encourage. Overall it was a good day. We had a dear friend come by who lived in Australia for many years, it is always good to see his face and hear his stories. I'm fairly glad that the week is over because it was exhausting for many reasons, but I am very glad for the rain.

Giving thanks where it's due

2010-01-28T19:28:00.003-06:00

I don't know about you, but it's pretty easy for me to get in a rut and forget what I'm thankful for. I was in one of these ruts, and it took a Lowe's discount card to get me out of it. That story will come at the end, but for now I'd like to share a few things I'm thankful for this week.
Last weekend Matt and I went to visit my sister, brother in law, nephews, and mother. We were having a very late Christmas celebration. One sad thing about the trip was that we were taking Carol with us to drop her off with my sister and brother in law. No, Carol is not a dog...she's a boat. My dad fishes in Corpus Christi Bay, and got a new bay boat a few years ago. When he got the new one, he let Matt and me borrow the Carolina Skiff...Carol. It's a little fiberglass boat that can fit four people. It has one seat in front and a cooler behind the steering wheel that can be sat upon. It has a "big" front platform that two people can stand on and one can cast a fishing pole from. It is an amazing boat, and Matt and I have many fond memories of taking it out on Lake Fort Phantom and Lake Brownwood. However, we no longer have much time to take it out since we are preparing to leave, and we need the space in our garage to get things organized. It is time for my sister's family to make some memories on it. We are glad they will enjoy it, but we are really sad to see it go! However, that leads to the first thing I'm thankful for--that my dad let us borrow the boat.
Like I mentioned earlier, my mom was in Bastrop with us this weekend. My mom loves her family, and she always wants to take us out to eat. It gives her joy to treat people to a meal, and not all parents are that giving and hospitable. I am thankful for that.
On Saturday night my uncle came to Bastrop from Houston and spent the night with us as well. We played a domino game for a few hours, and while it got a little crazy it was fun. I am thankful that I got to play a game with my family...even though it was a little intense at times! I'm also thankful that my sister and her family are geographically closer to us now.
Fast forward to today; I'm pretty stuck in that rut I mentioned earlier. It has been a good week, we've gotten a few really good things done. Last night our teammate Gregory came over and we spent some time catching up, reading God's Word, and praying together. Yet with all that, I still felt blah. This morning I woke up not feeling good. The beginning of a sore throat, stuffy head, and a general feeling of not being well swept over me. I went to work, and my dear friend Sherry helped me catch up on filing. Don't tell anyone, but I had filing from 2008 that had not been done...our secret! I am thankful that she helped me with that, it took us at least an hour and a half to do it together. I am also thankful that my boss was so willing to let me go home at lunch and not come back for the rest of the day. She's a great boss. Although I thought about how those things at work were really nice today, I still wasn't as thankful for them as I should have been.
I came home at lunch to Matt heating up soup that we ate together. I was thankful that he got that started for us. It hit the spot when I was not feeling well. I laid on the couch for the rest of the day, and really didn't get up and start moving around until about 5:30. I got up and took Bane to the mailbox before it got too dark, and that's when it happened. Let me catch you up on the history for this to make a little more sense. About a month ago our bathroom sink started to drip. Matt and I are fully capable of fixing it, but the problem is that we have a new faucet in our vanity that we are going to put in when we get our new vanity for the bathroom. We have been putting the bathroom renovation off because if you've been to our house you'll notice that we still don't have two cabinets painted white. We've had all white cabinets but two for at least four months now...it's ridiculous. Anyway, all that to say we don't want to fix a leaky faucet when we're just going to replace it soon. We've been catching the water that's dripping and have been very creative in what we've used it for, but to be honest it's starting to get out of hand. I mentioned the fact that it is about to drive me crazy to Matt and he suggested that we go get the vanity this Saturday and do the bathroom. I agreed. The only thing that I'm not looking forward to is spending the money to buy it. We still have some money on a Lowe's gift card, but it will not cover the entire expense. We have had strange medical bills this month that we've had to pay, so spending more money on something out of the ordinary does not excite me.
And back to this evening when I got the mail. We got this random card in the mail from Lowe's for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more, amazing! $10 is not exactly going to pay for the vanity, but it was amazing how God decided to bless us with that little bit of help. I'm so thankful that He drops blessing in our laps when we need them most. As I was sharing my thanks with God, all the other things that I should be thankful for started flooding my mind. Our teammate Gregory got a job today, and that is something to be very thankful for. I then started to think back, and all the other things I listed above came to me. God used a Lowe's gift card, of all things, to get me out of a rut. He's pretty awesome.

Three day weekend!

2010-01-18T21:46:00.002-06:00

On Friday night our team, along with another team and some soon to be interns, attended a "Reformation workshop/dinner". To many the word reformation does not mean much, but some of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about. Some of you are smiling and some of you are cringing! My background/heritage/whatever you want to call it is the Church of Christ. Some people call it a denomination, and others will fight until they are blue in the face that it is not. That conversation might have its time, but that time is not now. What I want to share are the three points that the leader of the evening shared with us, and then a few thoughts of my own. The professor who led the evening's discussion is a reformation history guru, and he encouraged us to "be about these three things that the Church of Christ wanted to be about":
-the desire to know and be conformed to God's will
-the unity of all those striving to follow Christ
-the sharing of the good news of Jesus
I was surrounded by a lot of college kids fresh out of high school on Friday nigh, and I could sense the cynicism in the room. All some of them wanted to do was bash the people from our Church of Christ past who haven't lived up to the standards of achieving these three goals. I have a feeling I know quite a few adults who would do the same thing...come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I have done the same thing. Funny how that works! This leads to my greatest epiphany of the night: some of satan's most powerful work is being done in Christians not loving one another. We talked a little about this on Friday, and it really stuck with me. Before Jesus died he prayed that his followers would love one another so that the world would know they belonged to him. Satan probably sits back and smirks when we as Christians have more negative to say about one another than positive. If we can't get along with people who have the single greatest thing in the universe in common with us, then I can imagine people who don't yet believe in Jesus don't think they have a chance of being really loved and respected by Christians. Think about it.
Saturday I spent some time making phone calls to more of the people we sent fundraising packets out to. It's easy for me to get discouraged about calling people, because can we be honest and admit that asking for money is not the funnest thing in the world to do? I think what discourages me the most is having people show so little interest in what we're doing, which to me equates to them not caring about the people of Ipswich. Big leap, I know, but it's still how I feel. I also get bothered because even as early on as when I was a college student, I was giving money to help missionaries. It was often not much, but it was consistent, given with love, and bundled up in prayer. That's all we ask for; a few people who are willing to give a little on a consistent basis and cover it in prayer. I continue to pray for God to provide those people, and do not allow satan to discourage me.
Sunday and today were spent both cleaning up around the house and enjoying fun/spontaneous moments with my husband and dog. Back to work tomorrow, it's been a great three day weekend.

passion

2010-01-06T22:34:00.003-06:00

What are you passionate about? Have you ever allowed yourself to take a deep breath and plunge into that scary yet exciting place where you explore what it is that makes you tick? A few weeks ago our team was part of a module (weekend retreat) where we talked about this very thing...and tonight God brought it all together like some beautiful masterpiece.
There are a few things that I am really passionate about. One is that I become and remain a woman of faithfulness, confidence, and good character to my husband, other family, co workers, friends, and strangers. My reputation as being someone that people can come to and trust is very important to me. I am also passionate about martial arts, self defense and kickboxing to be more specific. I won't lie, I really like to punch and be punched in a controlled situation...and I like to be trained to know that I can still punch and be punched in a serious, dangerous, and uncontrolled situation. Another part of that passion for the martial arts is instilling confidence and strength in others, especially women.
Another, and hopefully forever the greatest, passion I have is seeing people who seem to have very little in common share the greatest thing ever in common...salvation in a relationship with Jesus. Tonight I gathered with a bunch of people who for the most part look like me, WASPS. Yes, I am remembering a term I learned in a university sociology class: White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Besides our age, there was not much difference in the people seated around me when I went to sing songs of praise to God and listen to people reflect on his Word tonight. Don't get me wrong, it was a very encouraging and thought provoking evening where God's people gathered to give Him glory, so it was amazing. All I'm saying is that we were a group of people with very similar backgrounds and life circumstances. Toward the end of the evening was when things really started to get exciting. There is a large group of refugees in Abilene from the Bhutan/Nepal region, and members of our church are helping them out with various day to day activities. One of the married couples decided to be baptized tonight, so many of the refugees came to celebrate with them and see what the baptism thing was all about. A preacher from Clyde (a very small town near Abilene) also came to celebrate with us...did I mention he is from India and converted from the Hindu religion? Amazing! People from other churches around the city who have connections to the refugees also came to celebrate the baptism. So here we are, tall people and short people, light people and dark people, people who have known Jesus for many years and others who don't know if they want anything to do with Him, and people from other denominations (what a concept) watching this couple participate in the death, resurrection, and eternal life of Christ. It was amazing! As the couple went back to get changed we sang some songs. After singing through the few "planned" songs, we started singing others that just came to the leader. We sang Our God is an Awesome God, and it's like the whole gathering just came alive! You could see people clapping, moving around, really enjoying the fact that our God is awesome. It was exhilarating and beautiful. It welled up passion within me. It reminded me that this is what God will have me be a part of in Australia, participating with people who seem so very different as they realize that we have all been made in the image of God. I felt like I was looking into my future, and it was amazing.
I would really like to hear what you are passionate about. Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with me!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009-12-29T21:12:00.003-06:00

I thought I was a little more behind than I actually am; I really though it had been a month since I last posted something. Three weeks is not bad, considering the craziness of the holidays! No excuses though, the first of the year should bring more consistent postings.
A few weeks ago our team experienced some sad moments and really happy moments. On December tenth Jenica told the team that she would not be continuing on with us to Ipswich. She had many reasons why. It was really hard to see her go, but I think God is already working the situation out to His glory. The day after that came the good moment, Gregory graduated from college! We got to spend the evening with his parents and sister, and had a blast celebrating that big milestone with him.
Our team spent the seventeenth through the twentieth at an amazing lodge on Lake Brownwood. This was our last (and longest) module! It was spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausting, but it was amazing. I cried everyday we were there, what is that about! I think I'm getting more weepy as the days go by. The timing for the module was really good, our new three person team got to talk about how we felt about losing Jenica and all the implications that go along with that. I also had the amazing blessing of growing closer to the women of the team that is moving to Chile in 2011. I have a new love for each and every one of them!
Our Christmas was a bit scrambled; our schedule got a little messed up. As my sister said when I told her we would not make it to see them in Bastrop, "This is turning out to be a very untraditional Christmas!" Amen sister! We will be seeing them later in the month, so that will be good. At least we were not stranded on I-20 for eleven hours on Christmas eve like some of our friends! You know who you are. :)
On a totally unrelated note, I read this article about Ipswich today and thought it was interesting.
http://www.qt.com.au/story/2009/12/30/council-say-they-can-cope-with-population/

The nose knows

2009-12-09T16:11:00.005-06:00

Monday night was quite a new experience for me, I was punched in the face and broke my nose. I didn't block a punch at kickboxing, and the rest is history. However, the entire night was graced by the presence of God so I'd like to share some of that history. Although I don't consider this graphic some might, so read with caution!
Let's start with the punch. It came rather quickly, so while it didn't hurt at first I knew something was wrong. I had just enough time to pull off my gloves before my nose started bleeding all over the floor. The initial shock of it all led me to stand there and bleed all over the floor much longer than I should have, sorry about that to my instructor and owner of the school! He encouraged me to go into the bathroom and get some paper towels. I went into the bathroom breathing quite heavily (that's what I do when I experience traumatic physical pain, I heave), and my instructor quickly followed after me with a cold pack. I sat in the bathroom with the cold pack for just a few seconds before the guy who hit me in the face ran into the bathroom with a HUGE bag of ice! In freak out mode (and probably a little bit of dad mode, he has little ones at home) he wanted to get some ice for my nose, and I guess that's all they had at the gas station next door! He filled a bag with ice and gave it to me for my nose. In the meantime one of the other students at our school came in to ask a question about cleaning the blood off the floor. Granted he works there part time, but did I mention he is a pro MMA fighter offering to clean up my blood?
Next came the real issue...how I would get to the ER. My instructor and the above student I just mentioned suggested that I get to the ER as soon as possible so I could get my nose reset. You can imagine that a lot of those guys have had their noses broken before! My instructor got my phone for me so I could call my husband to come get me...but in the midst of the chaos I forgot that he does not have a vehicle right now. He's driving a huge fire truck around to show to customers, and picking me up in that would not work very well. My instructor offered to take me to the ER while Matt found a way to get there, but then the guy who hit me insisted that he do it instead. Everyone got my stuff together and he took me down to the ER. As I walked out the door all the guys were sure to give me some sort of "hope all turns out well" goodbye.
I'd like to stop here for a moment and share how I saw God working at the school that night. When everyone saw that I was hurt, they jumped into action. My instructor stopped teaching class to come and help me. He even offered to reset my nose for me, which he did with kind of a scared, "I don't really want to, but I can if you need me to" look. Definitely a no, but it was a nice thought! The guy who hit me had nothing on his mind but making sure that the bleeding stopped and that he got me to the ER. Even my friend and fellow student came to check on me and ask how my nose felt before he finished cleaning the blood up off the floor. Monday night those guys were my family, taking care of me until my husband could be there. They didn't judge or make fun of me, they helped me. God was showing his love through the care and concern of those guys that night.
I have another family that would have done the same thing though (besides my obvious birth family), and that's the group of people that I share my relationship with Jesus with. I know that if none of the guys from the school could have taken me to the ER, then any one of the people I participate in house church with would have dropped what they were doing to come and get me. The thing I love about my martial arts school is that anyone and everyone is welcome. Your skill level, age, or athleticism don't matter, what matters is that you go and try your hardest. However, there is one thing missing. Although I am very close to a few people at my school and know the most joyous and painful parts of their lives, I do not have a relationship with each and every student. There is no encouragement to share life outside of the martial arts world. Do I think that's a bad thing? No, not really. If people could find all fulfillment in a relationship with the martial arts world, then there would be no need for Jesus. However, they can't. I can't, or else I would have quit participating in my house church a long time ago and would just go work out all the time! My family in Christ shares one thing that my marital arts family does not, and that's the encouragement to bring the really dark corners of our lives out into the open so that Jesus can flood them with his light and love.
Now for part two of God's story. The guy got me to the ER and decided to stay until Matt got there. I sat down, and there was one other couple in the waiting room. Their situation seemed much worse. The woman was rocking back and forth crying and saying, "I can't lose a baby, I'm halfway there!" It was obvious she was there because she thought she was having a miscarriage. I'm sitting there in almost no pain, with a little blood on my clothes, and she's experiencing a life or death moment with her husband and unborn child. I sat there and prayed for them, asking God to save their lives. After just a few seconds the nurse came to take her away. I lost some money on a trip to the ER and a few extra hours of sleep that night, but there is a very good chance that a husband and wife lost the life of their little baby. It was very humbling. I partially think that I got punched in the face because I did not block, but even more than that I think I got punched in the face so that God would have someone crying out to him on behalf of that family Monday night. I think if you look in the Bible you will find many instances when people who give their lives to God are put in hard situations so that they can bless other people, and I think Monday night was one of those moments. There's nothing special about me, but what makes me special is that God wants to include me in his work in this world.
Since I am on the topic of family, there are a few other people I need to mention from this string of events. I need to give a huge thanks to my father in law and Matt for coming to take care of me. Scott got Matt to me at the ER, waited on me, and then took us back to my car which was at the karate school. He stayed out super late with finals to tend to the next day to be there for his family. Also, Matt is ridiculously sick right now, and he drove me to the pharmacy at midnight to get medicine after my ER visit. He is an amazing husband! Lastly, my mother in law and grandmother made us dinner tonight so that Matt and I would not have to be busy in the kitchen after I got my nose reset today. I am really blessed!

Resurrection

2009-11-30T22:04:00.005-06:00

I was thinking and praying this morning, and realized that I have been on autopilot. Not only have I been on autopilot, I chose a boring, dirt road to wander down. What do I mean by this? Well, I've chosen laying under the covers way too long every morning over the warmth and refreshment that talking to God can bring. I've not really prayed much, because I've allowed myself to think that when I bring the same thing up to God over and over again, He gets tired of me. Deep down inside I know this is not true, but I think I can confidently say that those thoughts happen to myself and others quite often. I've not allowed myself to dream about what will happen when we are in Australia. This is a big deal, because when we stop thinking about and praying for the moms, brothers, and wives that we'll meet in Australia this whole mission becomes about us pushing through to a goal that we've stubbornly set for ourselves, instead of faithfully taking a path that God has cleared for us. Whenever I find myself in this funk I like to think about the words that Paul said back in the day, "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you". This morning as I was thinking about those words, God took my thoughts to another place that I'd like to share.
Let's think about the resurrection in reverse order. Jesus was raised from the dead, and that same power of God that brought a dead man to life is living in me. Pretty awesome. But to be resurrected, you must be dead, and before that you must have died. That might seem redundant, but there really is a huge difference between dying and being dead. I personally think the former has the potential to be much worse. This is where God took me today, in order to accept the joy of being given new life we have to accept that sometimes we are going to have to experience death. This could actually be the death of a loved one or close friend, but it really goes much further than that. Let's face it, really bad things happen all the time in our relationships, around us, because of us, etc. Stick with me, the connection is coming. We can't expect to fully appreciate the fact that we are living a resurrected life until we've been brought out of something that just about killed us. This is where autopilot comes in. In order to not feel the burden of death in my life, I often just avoid it all. I don't experience the good, life changing, life bringing opportunities in my own and others' lives because I don't want to experience the bad. However, what I end up with is a life traveled on an ugly, dirt road with no joy, memories, or life.

Fundraising and TeamQuest

2009-11-07T17:02:00.008-06:00

Last Friday Matt and I held our fundraising dinner. I blogged about it in my last post...remember the breakdown? Well, no extra people came. We ended up having it in one of the smaller rooms of the church building, and it was great! We think that God really wanted the specific attendees together for this specific dinner. We ended up having five families represented and two individuals, totaling about eighteen people. We were really blessed to have Matt's mom help me get the food ready and the room set up. Help me is really an understatement, she's wonderful! The Green's blessed us by serving the dinner. Dwight W. who I've mentioned before came to support us. He and his wife shared the good news of Jesus in Adelaide for many years. Two of our very sweet and supportive female friends came to learn more about what we're doing. They really blew us away with wanting to spend the evening encouraging and praying with us. Perhaps the most surprising couple of the evening though was one that Matt first met when they lived in Searcy, Arkansas. They are family friends, and David works at ACU with Matt's stepdad. Their coming was so refreshing! After everyone ate that night, Matt and I gave our usual presentation. It was pretty apparent that this couple was soaking it up. After the presentation we opened the floor up to questions, and they had many good ones. When it was all said and done they said that they were really encouraged by our excitement in going to Australia. It was pretty amazing, because we encouraged them by showing excitement in being on this journey, and they encouraged us by coming out of the blue to support us and spend the evening hearing what we have to say. What we've found is that people don't even give Australia a chance when they think of countries/continents where not many people know the love of Jesus. However, once they hear more about it they are blown away. We don't ask people to be as excited as us about going...but we can't help but think that if they heard our story they might be!

This past Thursday our team was again part of TeamQuest. TeamQuest is an evening that ACU hosts where students can go and learn about how to be involved in God's mission through doing internships around the world and joining mission teams. Each team that is currently training makes food from their country to serve. We also talk to the students about the different internships we've done, our teams, where we're going, etc. This year I told students about how I did an internship in New Zealand in 2004. I would make the joke as I talked about how many of them were in high school when I did that internship. I had one student say, "I think I was in middle school". Yep, I'm old. Anyway, I love TeamQuest because I love to tell our story. God has done such crazy things in our lives that I can't help tell about them. It's cool to talk to students and see their eyes light up as they're thinking, "Hey, I can do that!" For those of you who just go places for the food, this year we served curried sausages (probably more of an Indian dish,
but still really popular in Australia), ANZAC biscuits, hot tea, and of course the usual Vegemite on crackers. We serve the Vegemite primarily for the shock factor. :) Don't worry, that flag is not touching the ground. I don't know if that's a big deal in Australia, but we try to show respect to the Australian flag just like we do the US flag.

This morning Matt is enjoying a Nascar race with some of the men in his family. It was kind of amusing, his stepdad called during the week and said, "Tish did not want to go right? Because if she did, we did not get her a ticket". I can't think of many more places I'd rather not be, but I really appreciated him thinking of me! I'm getting quite a few team things done; I've updated our "partner tally sheet" as I like to call it. I also sent out an email to those who have given us their email address in the past for updates. I contacted two new possible supporters, or at least people who might know people who might be supporters...you know what I mean. I'm about to send out some thank you cards. Then Bane and I are going to go out and enjoy this amazing day, he deserves to run around outside and sniff some light poles.

break down

2009-10-24T14:47:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to catch up this weekend. So many wonderful things have happened the past week and a half, and a lot of really heartbreaking/frustrating things have also happened. To be honest I'm to frazzled to recall any of them, but I'm glad I experienced them. Last night I called one of the elders from my home church in Corpus to fill him in on our progress for leaving in January, which is not going to happen. Some might say, "now Tish, have some faith", but seriously, unless God miraculously transplants us there in January then it's not going to happen. When I say miraculously, I mean miraculously. Like walking on water miraculously. Anyway, he did not answer which was a bit of a relief and was really stressful all at the same time. I have been super stressed about talking to him, mainly because I have to say, "we're not ready". I'm ready to hear him say, "well, we're tired of waiting, you should be ready". What makes me feel this way? It's not anything he's said in the past, except for, "January is going to come quickly". I think that satan has taken that one little sentence and totally jacked my heart and my brain with it. We've been working on fundraising, citizenship, and visas for the past three+ months, but are not much further now than when we started. I am a go getter, and I feel like the fact that none of this is done is a poor reflection on me. Satan is using the way God made me to turn around and beat me down. I'm scared that this wonderful man of God and this wonderful church, who have always been nothing but encouraging, is going to desert us. I'm afraid that they are going to be disappointed in us. Disappointing people is what scares me more than anything else in the world. Just writing this is making me cry (for the second time in one day mind you, I think that's some sort of record). The screen is fuzzy through my tears, but I will press on!
So what have I been working on today? Well, I put together our little excel sheet showing who our ongoing and one time financial partners are. The list might be small, but it is an amazing reminder that there are people who agree that this journey is one that God alone has put us on. I'm grateful for those people. I also looked more in depth into money transfers from the U.S. to Australia, and wrote an email to XE.com asking them some questions. I wrote this ridiculously long email to a girl from Oklahoma who emailed me to ask what Matt and I will be doing in Australia. I probably scared that girl half to death, she's going to have to take a lunch break in the middle of reading the email because it's so long! I also talked with the man who is going to help us in our fundraising dinner on Friday night. He and his wife are going to be our hosts/MCs for the evening, it is very kind of them to help us out. That email correspondence led to the first wave of tears. He asked me what was expected of he and his wife on Friday, and while Matt and I have some ideas we did not have it totally figured out yet (this is the beginning of the whole letting people down thing...why haven't I been doing more to prepare?). I called our mentor Gary to get a better idea of what he's seen in the past. He gave me some wonderful ideas, and then I dropped the bomb that out of the twenty-ish invites we've sent out, only three people have RSVPd to say they are not coming. No one has said they are coming. Yeah, the tears came flooding through! I was trying to hold them back, and if I could have made it about thirty more seconds he never would have known. Yeah right, it's totally easy to tell when someone's crying on the phone, but I tried to fool myself. Since I was pretty confident that he could tell I was crying, I just let it all out. Deep gasps for air, snorting nose, the whole nine yards. I'd like to think he's used to it having a teenage daughter...let's hope so. Gary was very, very encouraging (as usual), and I managed to gain my composure. He said it will all be alright, which I do believe deep down inside. When I cry, it's not because I don't have hope and faith that this will happen. I cry because I have been giving my heart, my mind, and my time to things other than preparing to go. There are so many aspects of this journey that are only in God's hands, but there are a few that are totally in mine and I have let them slip right through. I'm so frustrated at myself for, I don't know, I guess being scared and therefore avoiding the tasks that have been set before me.
Everyone experiences trying to find the balance between what God calls us to trust Him to do and what He calls us to do ourselves, but I don't think people understand how much of a burden this is for people like me. Some people never really get what it feels like for your heart to feel like you have to keep EVERYTHING together even when your brain knows better. It is exhausting and emotionally draining, and every once in a while you can't keep it all together and you break down. That's me today...wave of tears number three. Now I'm sweaty and my nose is runny, but it is freeing. I'm sitting here breaking down before God, knowing that he will pick up these pieces and put them together like He does every time. Maybe this time though He'll leave out one of the little pieces that makes me feel like this all hinges on me. I'm tired of that feeling.

Thank goodness I'm young

2009-10-13T23:39:00.003-05:00

So last Friday (like over a week ago, not four days ago) I left work and started my mission: to drive as much of the state, see as much of the family, and exhaust myself as much as possible. Okay, so I hoped to avoid the third one...but the first two are accurate. My sister, brother in law, and two nephews moved from Idaho to Bastrop (yipee!), last weekend, and I wanted to help them move into their new place. Keep in mind that I have not seen my nephews since last Christmas, so I was pretty eager to be with them! I left at 6:30ish on Friday night and got into Bastrop at 10:40ish. Not bad for a young lady on a Friday night, I was feeling good. I went to sleep immediately. My sister had put a futon mattress on the floor in the boys' room, and it was glorious. If you're wondering, futon mattresses are far more comfortable on the floor than on the chair. Saturday morning I woke up and started breaking down the many boxes my sister had already managed to empty the few days before. It was just the two of us and the boys in the house, because my bro in law, father, and uncle had left for Belton before I got up. They had to go get the rest of the "heavy" stuff. I would break down a few boxes, stop and read a chapter of Captain Underpants to the boys, and then break down a few more boxes. Around lunch time my sister and I took a Reader's Digest tour of the town, got lunch, and ran home with the boys. I then ate pizza, had a cup of coffee, and a slice of cake. After that I took a shower and left their house. I left at 3:15pm, so I was at my sister's for what, seventeen hours?
I left Bastrop for Carrollton, because my sister in law was having her ...th birthday party (she might not like me broadcasting it to the world) Her family and friends were going to be surrounding her, and I wanted to be there. The trip should have taken about four hours, but it rained the entire way! I'm not kidding, I might have had about five minutes with no rain. I can't complain though, a good bit of the state got rain that day! I got to Carrollton at about 8:30pm, just in time to see my sister in law blow out the candles on her beautiful birthday cake. My mother in law made it, and it was great! I ate dinner, chatted with my husband (who had driven in from Ballinger that same day, that's why we weren't together), had some cake, and tried to chill out a little. You should have seen my knuckles after driving through Dallas on a Friday night in the rain...it was interesting. The party was great, everyone left, and we went to sleep.
We got up Sunday morning for church. Matt and I were blessed to be able to spend some time with the missions committee at Farmer's Branch on Sunday morning after church, and tell them our story. Linda and Brett were very encouraging. We hope and pray that Farmer's Branch will be able to partner with us in one way or another, please pray about the possibilities that God will create! After church we met with some extended family for lunch, and then went back to Matt's sister's house to get our stuff packed up. We were there about eighteen hours. Matt and I left in separate cars toward home (that was a bummer). We got back into Abilene just in time to meet with our brothers and sisters in faith at our home gathering, which was great. I was tired, but I want to soak up every moment and special occasion with family that I can. Thank goodness I'm young, and thank goodness God gives me strength that is beyond measure.

Who has time for another story? This Saturday we were blessed by our friends Chris, Hasina, Stephanie, and The Brew coffee shop here in Abilene. The Brew offered to give our team a portion of their profits from 6-10pm on Saturday. We gathered, set up an information table, met people, drank coffee, played games, and had a blast! We ended up making a some money, telling people what God is doing in our lives, encouraging others that anything is possible, meeting new friends, and blessing the coffee shop with a very busy night. Thanks to everyone who played an important part in Saturday's events.

Summit, Enchiladas, and Roast

2009-09-30T22:05:00.004-05:00

Many good things happened last week...so there is some catching up to do. Last week ACU held their annual "Summit". It's like a week of classes and lectures that people can come to. It's a great opportunity to catch up on new books, new ideas, meet people, be refreshed, etc. I went on Tuesday morning and helped man the Halbert Institute booth. That was fairly uneventful, but then I got to go to a lecture afterward. A gentleman who studies and writes about spiritual practices of the early church led it, and it was wonderful! I'm a brain person, I think much more than I feel. However, my spirit has felt a little dry lately, and I have seen time and time again recently how God is calling me to just physically be with him. That might sound strange, but I can't think of a better way to put it! Maybe you can comment and give me some ideas of what you think I might mean.
The team got together on Tuesday night and worked on our "strategy". We don't like that word much, because it sounds like we're planning exactly what we're going to do in Australia while we are still here, and hell or high water are going to see it through. That's not the case at all. We're working on a plan that says, "Here are some things I think I hear God telling me to do when I'm in Australia. If after so many years there is no fruit from that, I will stop and pray about what else it is that God might want me to do". Tuesday was actually a really wonderful night, because we allowed ourselves the freedom to stop thinking so big picture for a little while and say, "Okay, what really specific things do you want to do in Australia?" We got to dream big!
Enchiladas...On Friday night Deborah N. had the women of Halbert who have done church planting in the past and us women who will be moving in the future to her house for dinner. We had a blast! She made this wonderful dinner and we all ate, talked, told stories, and laughed. Those women have so many amazing stories to share, and we just got to sit and take them all in. They went to different countries at much different times than we will be, so it was good to hear about the things they faced and think about how those will be different or the same than what we will face. She is an amazing woman for investing the time and energy into allowing us all a place to come together and share life.
Roast...This Sunday the team got together again for dinner and to work on the strategy some more. You might recall a post I wrote a few months ago where I talked about how our team is growing in friendship. Sometimes that means we are awkward around each other, running out of things to say and things like that. I have to say, Sunday night was a total different group than that one in the past! It was wonderful, we were honest about things on our hearts and didn't get our feelings hurt or get uptight. We talked, laughed, and worked together to clean up the kitchen. I know we still have a long way to go, but we have moved forward in leaps and bounds! I was really encouraged by our time together.
Matt and I got turned down by another church on Sunday night, which was disappointing. Like I've said many times before though, at least they let us know their response! If you know of any churches interested in helping our family with fundraising, or are interested in helping us yourself, please comment to this post and I will be more than happy to talk with you and share more about our needs.

Fundraising...not so fun. Skype...so fun!

2009-09-14T19:36:00.003-05:00

I've adopted a bit of a motto these days: fundraising is not fun and it does not raise your spirits. I thought the play on words was really catchy! Fundraising is very tedious, it can get you excited at the slightest smidgen of a possibility that someone will help you out, then leaves you in a whimpering mess on the floor when the smidgen is thrown to the floor and stepped on. Okay, so that's terribly dramatic, but it's kind of accurate! However, we know that God has a very cool plan behind how hard this is. I can't wait for the day when I get to write that story in my blog! That's pretty unrelated to the next set of events, but I just wanted to throw that out there.
Last weekend (over a week ago, not a few days ago) Matt and I finalized our September newsletter and got an address list together of people that we know and love from the church we attend in Abilene. Since our church will not be able to help support us on an ongoing basis, we are going to seek the ongoing support of our individual brothers and sisters there. Our list consists of about sixty-five families. Friday night I got off work and went to Wal-Mart. I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart, the produce is generally bad, the selection of different things I like is limited, and it's just a general place of chaos and commotion. I much prefer going to HEB, but I had to get a printer cartridge. Let's keep in mind that the ONLY reason I went to Wal-Mart is because I needed a printer cartridge. I made this my "big shop" of the month as we like to call it, and got a lot of food and toiletries. I got two cartons of ice cream like normal, because I can't ever decide. I also got a twelve pack of 8 oz. coca-cola, because I was going to cook a frozen pizza that night and you can't have pizza without coke. When I left Wal-Mart, it was raining pretty good. I ran out to my car and started loading it as fast as I could. The carton of cokes opened up and they fell into the trunk and onto the ground. I ran after the little can that was rolling away down the asphalt, and managed to save it before getting hit by a truck going down the aisle. One of the cans fell rather smashingly on my loaf of bread, which was sad. I conquered the mess though and got it all in the trunk. I hopped in the car and started to drive home in the rain. About three minutes from Wal-Mart I realized that I forgot the one thing that took me there...printer cartridges. Needless to say I was pretty sad, but I had the ice cream in the trunk and I hate frothy, melted ice cream! I was also a bit on the annoyed side, so I decided that I would go home, eat pizza, watch a movie, and then go to Wal-Mart after that. I must also make it clear that I pretty much refuse to go to Wal-Mart from about 8am-9pm, so that's why I couldn't just go the next morning. The chaos is even greater during normal hours. I did just that, ate the pizza and watched "Phoebe in Wonderland", it was amazingly strange. I loved it! After that, I went back up to Wal-Mart and got the ink cartridges, labels, and envelopes. Saturday morning I woke up, ready to print and stuff envelopes. I got the laptop hooked up to the printer. I guess I should mention that it was an empty printer...and there was no paper in sight. I looked in all the usual places, and found no paper. Really?!? After all the drama I did not have any paper? I decided I would just do the labels in the meantime, and print the letters later that afternoon. Apparently I live in the twilight zone, because our Avery labels would not match up with the Avery template in our computer, and I printed about three different sheets of labels before giving up on them being really messed up. Plan B or C(I've lost count by this point), just print the addresses on the envelopes. This worked like a charm, and I printed the return address on at the same time I printed the receivers' addresses on. Later that afternoon I went and got some paper, and the letters turned out really well. I got them all stuffed on Sunday and Monday, and had them in the mail on Tuesday. Talk about drama, I hope the invitations are not so crazy!
On yet another unrelated note, Matt and I used Skype for the first time last night. There is a family that has moved to Wollongong, Australia to do the same thing as us in Ipswich. They have been there about nine months. It's very interesting, their situation is just like mine and Matt's, but switched between the spouses. She was an Australian who married a U.S. citizen, and Matt is the Aussie who married me. We had the most AMAZING conversation with them for an hour! We got to ask them about visas and citizenship, culture shock, grocery shopping, friendships they're building, what they're doing with their time, how their team is working together, the list goes on and on. They asked us what books we're reading, how our team is doing, what our timeline is, etc. They got to affirm that pretty much everything Gary is teaching us about culture shock is accurate, which is both exciting and humbling. I think we'd all like to think deep down inside that we're above it, that we will be able to adjust better than people have in the past for some reason (maybe that's just my pride talking). They made it clear that no, we will not get around it! The woman also affirmed our assumptions that the person who will probably have the hardest time adjusting will be Matt, since he lived there when he was young. For the rest of us things will be new and exciting, but for him things will just be different than he knew as a child. The changes will be harder for him to take. We also got to listen to them share their frustrations, worries, and joys in a safe atmosphere. Since we're training on what they're going through, they can say things honestly without leading us to worry that they want to come back or regret what they're doing. They're just trying to get by in a world that has been turned upside down! I felt so refreshed and encouraged when we were done talking with them, I can't emphasize how amazing it was. I hope they were blessed by our conversation as well.

let's get all sudsy

2009-09-03T21:48:00.003-05:00

I wish I was wise, really wise, "Solomon" wise. I wish I always knew the right thing to say, and just when to say it. I wish that pearls of wisdom rolled off my tongue like I was the biggest oyster in the world. There are a few things I want to be remembered for when I'm no longer on this earth, and the top two are probably being faithful to God and people, and being wise.
I guess part of that whole wanting to be wise thing stems from the fact that I'm a fixer. I'm a detail oriented, assertive, organized woman, and I want to fix things. People who fix things should generally be wise, so there you go.
Why do I bring this up? Thanks for asking, it's because I'm surrounded by people whose lives are twisted, torn, and spit out on the floor. Whether it was their decision or not, they're trapped in a world of self hurt and hurting others, and I hate it. I want to be able to say, "this is how God can heal this situation", have them listen and do the things I suggest, and be healed. That of course means that I assume I always know what God wants for people...and I don't...so that part needs a little tweaking. Anyway, I wish I was wiser so that I could help people more. I guess part of that will come with age, and a lot of it will come from asking for it from God with a humble heart. Speaking of humble heart, let's talk about bullies.
I do not like it when people assume that they are better than others. I don't like it when people make fun of the marginalized, or don't include outsiders because they "don't belong". I have never really been bullied myself, I guess I was raised to be way too confident and intimidating for that. I also think that God has given me a spirit of confidence that I could not attain on my own. However, not everyone is like that. Therefore, quit being a bully! In the Kajukembo classes I teach, respect and a humble attitude are at the top of the list of things I want to instill in my students. If you can't learn those things in a place where you're also learning to kick and punch, you're asking for trouble! I hate seeing kids who are bullies...but what I think I might hate even more is seeing adults who are bullies. If you have not grown out of making fun of people, then you have some serious issues! If the only thing that makes you feel like a decent human being is being indecent to those around you, then I really feel sorry for you. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a little playful banter among friends. However, being mean for the sake of making another person feel like less of a human being than you is sick and evil. It's time for some grown ups I know to start acting like it. It's time for me to not be the most mature person in a room when I'm surrounded by people older than me. It's time for people who say they follow Christ to start living out love toward others. It's time for me to listen to my own words, don't worry about that. It's also time for some other people to as well though. Here's my thought on it, God is the creator of all so He can love and judge perfectly. However, we as humans are not capable of the same. We are much better and judging and a lot worse at loving. Therefore God says, "Okay, you need to practice love, and you can't focus on two things at the same time. Therefore, I want you to love and not judge". Are we going to listen?

The Three Stooges

2009-08-24T19:30:00.006-05:00

there were birds everywhere!
This weekend, my sister, mom, and I met up in Horseshoe Bay (funny title, huh?). We didn't really realize until we got there that it was right at a four hour trip for each of us, which worked out really well. We wanted to take a chance to just hang out with each other without spouses and children around. We needed some girl time!
The resort we went to was the Horseshoe Bay Marriott Resort, and it was beautiful. The different pools and restaurants of the resort were spread out among a few miles, so golf carts and passenger vans took us everywhere we needed to go. On Friday night we ate dinner at a great restaurant overlooking Lake LBJ, then we sat in the Caprock Pool for about an hour chatting. When we got back to the hotel we walked around the grounds for a while...and they were amazing! The art and landscaping that surrounds the hotel were amazing in the dark, we could not wait to see it all during the day!
On Saturday my mom got a massage for her birthday, a treat from her daughters. Anita and I ate breakfast and got ready to go while she was gone. Then we went and sat on the man made beach for...well, most of the day! I love the beach, but I hate the salt water. Switch out said saltwater with lake water and I'm a happy girl! I got to spend a little time reading more of one of the many books that have been assigned to our team (thanks Gary!), it's called The Case for Christ. It's about a journalist who set out to debunk the existence/purpose/history of Christ. I was reading in the chapter where he interviewed a Jewish Christian, and it was by far the most interesting chapter so far. The book is getting better the more I read!
Saturday night we got dressed up and ate at one of the fancier restaurants at the resort, I had great slow cooked short ribs with polenta and seasonal vegetables...and orange truffle cheesecake with ganache for dessert. Have I ever mentioned that ganache is one of my favorite things in the world? You could put it on top of just about anything and make it taste like a million bucks!

Saturday night I walked around the hotel and took some pictures of all the cool stuff I saw on Friday night, but the camera (probably actually the photographer!) was not at the top of its game. I didn't get the best shots, but I still got some good ones.Saturday night we watched some movies and then hit the hay.
Sunday we ate breakfast at a golf course that had been skunked the night before. I don't know exactly how it happened, but they said a skunk got under the floor and did its magic (wording my own, who really talks like that besides me?) Anyway, we ate our breakfast outside to avoid the smell, and the food was great. After that we went back to the hotel and played golf...well, miniature golf. It was like putt putt, but with actual putting greens and no clowns opening and closing their mouths. It was really neat, I felt like Tiger Woods (but poorer and much less talented). After that? You guessed it, we went down to the beach again and sat around! It was wonderful, I really loved it down there. That night we ate dinner together and then my sister Anita had to leave. Her little boy started kindergarten today, and she needed to be there with him. How exciting, and a little scary, for all of them. Mom and I watched a few more movies (well, I watched them and she fell asleep!) and then hit the hay again. This morning she and I ate breakfast and then said our goodbyes as well. I came home to a husband who has been doing many much needed and much appreciated odd jobs like getting our closet light to work (thanks also to Aaron, sorry I was so bossy about you coming as soon as possible. I was tired of taking a flashlight into the closet to see my clothes!) I also came home to a dog who has had projectile diarrhea for the past three days. We think the combo of having other dogs in our home for the past two weeks and me being gone for three days might have had some stressful effects on him! Usually when I'm gone Matt is too, so he's kind of used to how all of that works. When I just up and left though, we think he got a little confused and worried! Who knows, I just hope he doesn't get sick again (like I can complain, Matt's been cleaning up after him!)
My sister, mom, and I had a great time. We talked about growing up, marriage, divorce, the future, our friends, our family, money, etc. It was great to share our hearts with one another in a slow paced, relaxed environment. I'm grateful to my mom for treating my sister and I to such a wonderful weekend.

the fountain near one of the pools

the view from our room

How many boxes of kleenex are we going to go through?!?

2009-08-16T15:56:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we had an amazing time in College Station. No, we weren't running around in our A&M t-shirts...we were participating in our second to last module through Halbert. Last weekend was a family/supporter weekend. Our team, a team moving to Thailand in about a month, our financial supporters, and our parents all gathered in College Station for a weekend of catching up. We got to College Station on Friday evening, and then the Thailand team and our team gave our presentations to the crowd. It was a good opportunity for our parents to see what we show to churches when we visit them, and to just get a better idea of what we're planning to do in Australia. We talk about it here and there with them, but they don't get to hear our day in and day out conversations about it.
The tears started Friday night. I didn't cry, but my eyes watered. Me, the girl who doesn't cry! I got emotional telling my story...partly because it's been a stinking seven year process and partly because I'm so excited! The possibilities are endless in Ipswich, and my brain can't wrap itself around them all. I'm super excited. The tears started again on Saturday morning. We have Gary to thank for those! He was going through a powerpoint that showed the adjustment process that we will experience, and telling the families and supporters the best way to help us deal with those adjustments. It was an emotional time because he was in essence saying, "your kids are about to leave, and when they come back they're going to be a lot different than when they left", and that was hard for parents to take! There was a lot more to what Gary said...I don't want him to think that's all anyone got out of it! That was just kind of the snapping point for a few people. I also don't want it to sound like I don't think it was valid for parents to get upset at that, because it totally was. Before I dig myself into a bigger hole, I'll continue! The toughness of that conversation led to a time when all of us team members had to leave the room, and the parents just got to debrief a little. Apparently it was an amazing time when they all got to be honest, I hope they all got a lot out of it.
Crying station number three was our time alone with our parents to share how they've blessed our lives. You can imagine how that went! I've always felt encouraged by my family, but we've never been a, "hey, way to go" kind of group. All I can say is that those thirty or so minutes with Matt, Leonie, and my dad was one of the most amazing times of sharing I've ever experienced...in my life. I will never forget it. The evening ended in some amazing chicken fajitas and Snickers ice cream bars, mmmmmm.
Thanks so much to my dad for coming to College Station. Thanks to A&M COC for feeding us and hosting us. Thanks to Mr. Hogan for letting us stay at his house and spending time in conversation with us. Thanks to Jenica's family, Gregory's family, and Leonie for coming to support each of us. Thanks to Halbert for investing so much time and love into our teams. Thanks to the Thailand team for being so fun! Thanks to God for continuing to make it clear that we are on the right path, because sometimes satan makes us wonder.

Going to Colorado

2009-08-03T21:37:00.002-05:00

Matt, Jenica, and I went to Colorado this weekend. We left Friday at 6am for Brighton, Colorado and returned back in Abilene at 2am Monday morning. What can I say, we're young and crazy! We went to visit Gregory, who has been doing an internship there for the past two months. He has been interning with a guy named Hobby who is launching, organic, home based churches in Brighton. Organic is such a fancy shmancy word these days...all I mean is that they're trying to keep it simple. There were other people that Gregory was working with and being mentored by, but Hobby was kind of the go to guy. The funny thing is that Matt and I knew Hobby before Gregory did. We met him and his wife in 2004 in Searcy, Arkansas. They were in the beginning stages of forming a team to move to New Zealand, and Matt and I visited with them to see if the team was a good fit for us. They were amazing people, but Matt and I were not quite ready for that kind of commitment. Long story short, Hobby and his wife Jerry ended up feeling like God had different plans for them and went to Colorado instead. They are amazing people that God has really bestowed wisdom and encouragement on. Hobby is the kind of guy that makes you feel really important to God and to others, it's quite a gift.
On Friday we got to meet a few people in the leadership group that Gregory really hung out with this summer, and got to tell them God's story in leading us to Ipswich. They in turn gave us many words of encouragement. It was an awesome start to the weekend! On Saturday morning we drove around and Gregory showed us different spots where he spent most of his time this summer: Funshine Daycare, the city pool, the park where the church met, etc. It was great getting to share in the things that he invested his time and energy into. After that we went to Boulder and hiked a mountain. We were all huffing and puffing...I'd like to blame it on the altitude! It was a really beautiful hike, and the view from the little summit we ended on was amazing. The four of us also got to talk honestly about our team, since we have not been together since Gregory left for Colorado. We talked about the things that we think are lacking in our team, like encouragement and the ability to dream creatively. It was a good time together, we were able to be a lot more honest than we have been in the past! We still have a really long way to go, but it was refreshing to be together and talk about what was on our hearts. That night we walked down Pearl street, ate dinner, and enjoyed the outdoor mall scene. It reminded us all of the mall near Southbank in Brisbane that we went to last summer, Queen Street Mall. It was nice to reminisce!
Sunday morning we got to participate with the church in the launching of their house church. It was amazing to meet all the people who were doing church in a house for the first time, people were kind of nervous but really excited! What was really amazing was to get to participate in a house church other than the one we are part of in Abilene, to see what they did and how they did it. Everyone on our team felt like God showed us a lot that morning. After that we drove home...and boy was it a long drive! I'm really sick of fast food now and am pretty exhausted from getting so little sleep last night (or this morning rather), but man was it worth it!

The second interview

2009-07-22T21:23:00.004-05:00

Last Wednesday the team had our second interview, this time for two of the local television stations in Abilene. Jenica and Gary did the interview, and they did a great job. The finished product on television showed Jenica only. The stories were really good, and we appreciate that the local stations decided to talk about us.
Yesterday I met with Jenica for our weekly Tuesday night meeting. We had a great time, our get-togethers have been a little sporadic lately. We talked about all sorts of things; sacrifice, relationships, working out, jobs, etc. It was really nice talking about big things and little things, we have moments when we break through and really get honest with each other. We have a long way to go, but we've made a lot of headway!
I also came to a realization last night. I haven't stared at the stars in a long time. I used to know all about the constellations; where they are, the stories behind them, what they look like, all sorts of stuff. However, I've lost the desire to keep up with all of that. When you work out until 9pm, have to empty the dishwasher, fold laundry, take a shower, and still get to bed at a decent time, you lose interest in the little things that used to bring you great joy. I am crazy about getting things done around the house...but where does that get me? The clothes will still be waiting to be folded tomorrow night, and it's not going to hurt anyone to see them. I've said in the past that I want to be better at not getting worked up about things that are not done, but I've really been doing a better job of it lately. Matt might not say so, but he can't read my mind to see how it's stopped going a million miles an hour! Anyway, I'm going to lay a blanket out in the backyard and watch the stars more, even if it means that I leave the dishes until tomorrow. What have you been leaving undone that you used to enjoy? Can anything else wait until tomorrow so you can enjoy that one thing now?

One article leads to another

2009-07-13T18:47:00.003-05:00

About a month ago I received an email from a journalist in Australia. He does freelance writing for the Ipswich Queensland Times, the local newspaper in the town we're moving to. I read the paper online almost everyday to get an idea of what's going on in Ipswich. In his email he said that he'd been reading my blog and wanted to know if he could interview our team for an article in the paper. We were totally excited about the possibility, but nervous at the same time. What would he ask? After us submitting our questions, would he twist our words? No offense, but with us moving over there to share the Gospel and being so physically far removed from Australia at this point, he could really bash us and we wouldn't have much opportunity to do anything about it! However, the more we thought and prayed about it the more we thought it would be a good idea. The way we saw it, if even one person read our story and got excited about us coming and sharing the love of God with them, the article would be worth it. Even if everyone hated it, we were pretty confident that people would forget about us and the article by the time we got there!
The article posted last week, here's the link: http://www.qt.com.au/story/2009/07/09/americans-team-god-church/
Overall, we think it was a good article. He kept most of our comments true to what we said and the context, so we can't complain! As of today there is only one negative comment on the article, so we can't complain about that either! I joke, but this really was a big deal to us. We're well aware of what a lot of people will think when we go to Australia. Many will think that we are self righteous, proud, or think we are better than those around us because we are Christians. What's sad is that Christians have done some things to make a really bad name for ourselves, so when people hear the word "Christian" they no longer think about what's important about it--Christ. We're not going to Ipswich because we have it all together and are going to stick it to everyone. We're going because God loves the people of Ipswich (just like Abilene, Africa, Alaska...you get my point). Just like so many people throughout the history of the Bible, God has called us to embark on a journey that we don't fully understand. All we're trying to do is be faithful to what He's asking us to do, and that leads us four to Ipswich. Personally, I think He's going to do some awesome stuff in people's lives, and I'm excited about being able to be a part of it.
Wow, that's enough of that! I could go all night, but I have to get on with my story. The day our article came out in the Australian paper, someone in Abilene read it. I have no idea how all of that happened! Either way, one of the local television stations wants to do a story on our team and what we'll be doing in Australia, so we will be doing that interview on Wednesday. As if those two things weren't enough, there is a person from ACU who wants to put our story on the school's website. Wow! God has connected all of these things in a matter of days! We don't know where it will all lead, but here are a few things I'm praying about regarding all of this craziness:
-I'm praying that this is one of the ways our supporters find us. We have had a tough time raising funds, and I really believe that someone is going to see our story or read our article and hear the call of God to help us out.
-The more important thing I'm praying about is this, that people will hear about us and find hope. These stories are not about us and all the stuff we're doing. There are plenty of people around the world doing the same exact thing right now, and we just happened to get noticed. These stories are about what God is doing, and about Him calling out to the people of this world to turn to Him and find a new life in Jesus. We want people who don't know God to get excited about the thought of who He is. We want them to imagine the possibilities of what life looks like when they follow after Him. We want people to pray for us to get to Ipswich so we can share this message of eternal hope with them.
It seems like I want a lot...and I guess I do. I just know that God is capable of all these things and more, so I'm not going to stop asking because I know He is not going to stop listening!

Thank you Kelly family

2009-06-27T16:46:00.004-05:00

Last week our team hosted a garage sale...but none of the stuff was ours. Husband and wife CT and Carol Kelly said that if our team was willing to set up and man their garage sale, they would give us all of the money for our move. I had last Friday off, so it seemed like the perfect weekend to do it. Wednesday night our team (minus Gregory who is doing an internship in Colorado) plus a few other brave, kind friends went to their house to start getting things ready. We took four large sized tables, but they were not near enough! The Kelly's said they had never done a garage sale, and they had plenty of things to get rid of. There was furniture, clothing, sheets, kitchenware, toys, stuffed animals galore, trinkets, crafts, a grill, books, audio tapes, the list goes on and on. Wednesday night and Thursday night were spent trying to organize boxes and set up tables. Friday morning Matt and I got up at 4:45am to get ready and get to their house for the first day's sale at 6am. We had a pretty good turn out, and stayed for nine hours that day. It was overcast and sprinkled every once in a while, so the heat did not seem so bad. However there seems to be a big difference between working outside and just sitting outside for nine hours, because we were exhausted by the end of the day! We definitely took a nap after getting home that afternoon. Saturday was the same thing, getting up early and working the garage sale. There was a great turnout Saturday, but this time the wind was about twenty miles an hour all day. A few small glass items flew off tables and broke, and the sheet sets were constantly gaining air and floating away like kites. Our lawn chairs would fly away when we weren't sitting in them, no joke! I'm just glad we didn't lose any money. After it was all said and done on Saturday afternoon, we had sold half the stuff and made just over one thousand dollars. We were so tired, but it was worth the time and effort. We were very grateful to the Kelly family for offering us the opportunity to do the garage sale, and the money will be very helpful to our team as we make our move.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the garage sale was the fact that we didn't really know the Kelly family. We've been to their home once, but it was in a large crowd and I don't think they'd remember that. They offered us this opportunity not because we were great friends, but because we are all believers in Jesus and they wanted to help us with what we are going to do in Australia. That's the cool thing about the body of Christ, we work together in all sorts of different ways so that God's love can be spread around the world.

Chremily's wedding

2009-06-15T21:08:00.003-05:00

So Matt and I have this thing, you know a couple will make it if you can put their names together and the combined name sounds good. Our friends Chris and Emily got married this weekend, and Chremily is a great name! Matt was the best man, and I was a maid of honor. I have to share the journey of this weekend, because it's just too good not to.
Matt and I were taking care of my in-laws' dog, and our plan was to have someone come and let the dogs out a few times over the weekend. We had it all worked out, and then late Friday morning Matt called me and said that our air conditioner was out (keep in mind that the temp the past week has broken 100 probably every day). First plan foiled, the dogs had to go to the kennel. I got off work at 12, took the dogs to the kennel, and then finished getting ready in a 93 degree house. Matt, Jenica, and I left the house a little after 3pm, and had to be at the rehearsal at 5pm. We made it there about 5:10pm, but we wouldn't be Harrises if we weren't late. The rehearsal was fun, and the rehearsal dinner (feast really) was amazing. It was at this beautiful house, and the food was homecooked and amazing!
That night a storm started to roll in, and it looked amazing. Little did we know that it was bringing with it horrible hail. Both Chris and Emily's car windows were broken out (along with about five other people's windows), everyone got huge dents on their cars, and it looked like someone shot at the church that Chris and Emily were to get married in. I have to say though, they both took the evening's events like a couple of champs!
The wedding was beautiful (and not too long). Emily looked absolutely beautiful, and Chris looked at her all day like she was the only person on earth. Matt was surprisingly weepy all day...it was kind of cute! I don't think we realize how much people mean to us until they experience something life altering and we get to participate in it with them. There's just something about it that is important and meaningful.
Matt and I are now staying with my in-laws for the week, because it will be at least Thursday until our air conditioner gets replaced. I'm sitting on the couch watching tv with the family, life is good!

Visas, life in Ipswich, and my family

2009-06-07T13:52:00.004-05:00

I have much faith in the things that God can and will do, but for some reason the thought of applying for visas to live in Australia brings a great wave of tension and fear over me. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it freaks me out pretty bad! There are a few reasons I get worried about visas; one is that they take a long time to get passed and we haven't applied for them yet (because we don't have all our financial support), another is that they're super expensive and if you mess up and have to reapply you don't get your money back (we're talking over a thousand bucks for mine alone), and the last is that I feel like nothing else can really move forward until we have visas. It wouldn't make much sense to sell our house and all our stuff without visas...what if they don't go through for a while and we don't have a place to live? Okay, so the homeless thing is a bit extreme, but I'm the kind of person who looks about sixty steps ahead and imagines the possibilities as reality. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, as long as I imagine the possibilities in God's world. Anything could happen for our team, the rest of our money could come in in two weeks and our visas could go through in six months with no flaws. We could not have our money by January and be here for six more extra months (which I'm not really hoping for!) Either way, as long as it's the schedule and journey God wants us on I guess I can't complain. To be in His will is the best place to be, even though it might really stink at the time.
This weekend my dad and stepmom visited us from Corpus Christi. On Saturday we did a little shopping (I got a pair of Levi's for $4.40!), saw Star Trek, and ate dinner with my parents and my in-laws. We had a blast! Star Trek was pretty cool, and I'm not even a Trekkie. This morning Jenica ate breakfast with us, so she got to meet and get to know my parents a little. It was a great weekend.
If you've never checked out the links to the right of my blog, I really encourage you to go to the Ipswich Queensland Times website. I was reading the day's new on Friday, and I found something out that really troubled me. Fighting among students in schools is becoming a really big problem there. Last week I read about a student who was knocked unconscious by some kid in a fight, and then on Friday I read about a video of a bunch of girls fighting in a school that got posted to youtube for a few days before it was removed. These kids are getting in really intense fights, and are proud of it! It breaks my heart, and makes me want to show kids and teens in Ipswich that there's more to live for than the hate, judgement, and anger that goes along with fighting. I think God has much healing in store for the families of Ipswich, and while I don't think it's all going to come by my hand I do think He wants our team to be a small part of what He is now and will do through us there.

An out of the ordinary week

2009-05-21T16:48:00.008-05:00

The last two weeks were really fun and out of the ordinary. Thursday and Friday I attended a missions focus seminar from 8am to 3pm. We learned a lot from John White, a pioneer in simple churches. Did I just call someone a pioneer?!? Anyway, he's learning a lot about doing church in homes, and is teaching people about it. We talked a lot about listening to God, which was pretty awesome. I've also decided that working only two hours a day is pretty wonderful...I think I'll do it everyday (just kidding Lana). Seriously though, being able to take off time pretty much whenever I want (as long as I have the unused time) is a huge blessing. I work with very understaning people who really appreciate me.
On Saturday Jenica, Gregory, and I hit the road for Conroe, Texas (near Houston). Matt met up with us later that night. The drive to Houston was really beautiful, and the long road trip gave us the opportunity to listen to music that each of us likes. I think you can learn a lot about a person by listening to the music they listen to on a regular basis. We were visiting the Houston area to share our team's presentation with a church there. Jenica did an internship at the church a few summers ago, and she just loved it. After our visit with them, we loved them too! Everyone we met on Sunday morning and Sunday evening encouraged us so much, it blew our minds. We'll hear back from them in about two weeks to see how God wants them to help us.
Fast forward a week to this past weekend. Matt and I had our three year anniversary last week, so we went to Lake Brownwood State Park last weekend to celebrate. Sounds romantic, huh? It really was fun though...I better have liked it since I was the one who planned it! We stayed at a cabin at the state park. It was nice, but bugs ate us alive. Matt also got a tick that he had to burn off his thigh. We were really roughing it! We took the boat with us and fished everyday, and the weather could not have been better. I've fished most of my life, but I must admit that I've never unhooked my own fish. Matt's a wonderful teacher and encourager, and he managed to get me to unhook my own fish (all but the ones where the hook managed to get in their eyes, I made him do those). It was a wonderful trip. We'll see if I get around to posting some pictures from it.

The past two (yikes!) weeks

2009-05-09T10:39:00.003-05:00

A lot has happened since my last posting, but I've found lately that the last thing I want to do at night is get back on the computer after being on it all day. I'm pretty sure I've said that before...which shows how adamant I am about it. However, a lot of cool things have happened so I need to catch up on them.
The rest of my teammates got a little fire lit under them at our module, and Jenica has been doing an awesome job of contacting churches to help support us. She got a visit set up with a church in Houston and one in San Antonio, so May is traveling month for the team! We're really excited, because one of the things we realized at our module is that God has not only called us to share the Gospel with the people of Australia, but also to tell North Americans that God loves and cares about the people of Australia. Sometimes we feel like people don't think Australians need to know God, because Australia is not an underdeveloped country. However, so little people there know Him, and they're trying to fill their lives with other things that won't last. God has big plans for Australia, and we are excited to tell people about that.
One of the other cool things that happened was our mentor Gary contacted another church on our behalf, and we sent them a few of our fundraising packets this week. We got together twice last week to polish up the packet, and those two nights were really fun. We're opening up so much as a team, just having fun and being crazy around one another. One thing I found out about Gregory is that he's a pretty great dancer! He was not afraid to show off his moves as we listened to music....
I've also had some really good conversations with a man from the church my sister attends in Idaho. Their church just did a fundraising weekend for missions, and he was talking about the possibility of helping Matt and me a little out of that contribution. As is the case with almost every church we've talked to this year, he said unfortunately people are not giving as much as they did a few years ago (which is understandable, but still frustrating!) What has really struck me though is this, he has been amazing about keeping in touch with me to let me know the status of the church. He has also been really encouraging as to what we'll be doing in Australia. Most churches we contacted never even returned our emails...pretty crazy right? It's much better to get a no than nothing at all! As I told my sister last week, even if the church is not able to help us monetarily, the fact that they are praying for us and he has been so encouraging has been a huge blessing.
On a different note, another thing that has kept me really busy since last Saturday is painting our kitchen cabinets. We're doing this for two reasons, one being that they're really ugly and need to be painted white to help freshen up our kitchen, and the other is that we think painting them will help us sell this house. It's been a great first house, but there have been a lot of things that we've gotten used to being here everyday that are really quite ugly! It's little things really, like grungy looking light switches and a poor quality paint job on the walls. Needless to say, our Saturdays are going to be busy with little remodels here and there for quite a few months!

Kingdom Leadership

2009-04-27T21:33:00.004-05:00

Our team spent this past weekend at Lake Brownwood Christian Camp participating in the "Kingdom Leadership Module". Those are fancy words for "we spent the weekend together at a camp learning from mentors and working together as a team". These modules are one of the facets of our training through the Halbert Institute for Missions.
When most people think of Christian leadership, they think of the one guy who runs the show. Jesus had a different idea, he wanted to make every person a disciple who leads in one way or another. At the module we had two very wise and wonderful men teach us and guide us in discussion with one another; Gary Green (our team's mentor) and Kent Smith. They did a pretty wonderful job of showing us what true Godly leadership is, and how to encourage its growth in ourselves and others.
I learned a lot throughout the weekend, so I'll try to touch on a few points without sounding too frazzled. I learned more about my teammates, one thing being the way each person thinks satan will try to attack our team when we're in Australia. That might sound strange, but it's good to discuss bad things that might happen so we know what to pray for God to protect us against. I was also reminded of who I am to God. I know that God loves me, but I easily lose sight of the fact that He wants to lavish me with His love. I am valued by God, and each day He is doing things to transform me. The even cooler thing is that this is not just something God has in store for me, but for everyone he has created. Another thing we talked a lot about this weekend was forgiving others. I thought about the fact that God created us to look out for those in need (just look at Jubilee). We were created to get angry when people are mistreated, and to reach out to help them. On the other side of the same coin, when we are mistreated we should forgive those who wronged us and trust God to send us a deliverer. That deliverer might be someone God has called on to help us, or we might have to wait for God to be our final avenger in whatever way He chooses.
I learned a lot more, but I'll end with the point that I think Kent would want us to remember above all; mutual disclosure is the pathway to true intimacy. When we disclose more of ourselves to God, He in turn shows us more of who He is. When that happens, our intimacy with God grows and we find our true identity. When our identity in Christ is made clearer, we become a more Godly leader, and our ability to minister and be a healthy part of genuine, Godly community grows. Wow!

the shaping of things to come

2009-04-18T00:03:00.003-05:00

Our team is reading a book called "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. Okay, so everyone else is probably done but sorry Gary...I am not. However, I totally love everything that I'm reading in it! I don't necessarily agree with it all (although I do most of it), but I love what it makes me think about. For the past few nights I've been reading about action as sacrament, or a little more plainly how our actions are vital to our faith. This is what the authors say, "What we are trying to do here is affirm the inherent value of deeds themselves. Will they save us? No! Are they still inherently valuable? Absolutely, yes".
Here's my thought, our deeds might not save us, but they save other people. I'm not saying that I have the power to bring someone into a relationship with Jesus just by being nice to them, or that I get to decide who deserves that relationship. What I am saying though is this; if you know Jesus, how did that relationship start? Was it because someone took the initiative to teach your Sunday school class or even just be nice to you when no one else would? God works in mysterious ways and does not really need us to show Him to people, but it's pretty stinking clear that He chooses to use us because He wants to. I can think of countless stories in the Bible where someone found Jesus because a Christian listened to God when He said, "Hey, do or say this to that person in that chariot or sitting by the river". Good deeds are holy actions, and even though performing them does not save us they just might be the first step to God saving someone else. So please, do not be scared to do something nice for someone for a change!

Grandmothers

2009-04-11T23:44:00.004-05:00

Last Friday I drove to Wichita, Kansas. My grandmother on my mom's side is very sick, and my sister, mom, and I thought it would be a good idea to all travel to see her. My sister came from Idaho, my mom from Dallas, and I from Abilene. I was only able to see my grandma for one day on Saturday, but it was a great visit! She was alert and in good spirits. I think she was using as much energy as she could on being a good hostess for us. I had to leave on Sunday to get home for work the next day, but my sister and mom stayed behind a few more days. They said she was pretty tired the rest of the week. It is possible that it was the last visit I will have with my grandmother before she passes away, so while it's selfish to say I'm glad that it was a very peaceful and good one. Really I'm glad for her sake that it was a good visit, because I want her to be surrounded by good memories as long as she's around.
On Monday night my grandmother on my father's side, along with her daughter, drove in from New Mexico. They live in Iowa, and are making a bit of a cross country car trip to visit family and friends in the surrounding states. This is the first time they have been able to come through the Abilene area, so they were kind enough to grace us with their presence Monday evening. We ate out with my in laws who live in Abilene, and it was the first time my grandma and her daughter got to meet my in laws. Matt and I have our bed and used to have a futon, but we don't have the futon anymore. We gave our bed to my grandmother and her daughter, and I planned on Matt and I just sleeping on our couch and loveseat. Matt was pretty insistent that we borrow a blow up bed from his parents, so Monday night at about 1opm we were trying to blow up a bed with an inflator that was going dead from not being charged. It was quite a sight (and sound) trying to use that thing. We managed to get it blown up, but it was so uncomfortable! It was possibly one of the three most uncomfortable sleeping situations I've ever been in. Add to the discomfort our dog Bane next to us on the floor eating a rawhide chewtoy at 11:30pm and you've got stuff that only the best of dreams are made of....We barely got any sleep, but all I can do is look back on it and laugh.
Last night Matt's grandparents came in from Graham, so we got to eat dinner and hang out with them. It's always nice catching up with them, they're really sweet and super encouraging.
So this might be a record, I've seen three grandmothers in just over a week. I normally only see them about once every other year, but now I've seen each of them within a year. I think God is bringing us together with as much family as possible before we go to Australia...but maybe for energy's sake He'll spread the visits out a little more next time!

Home Gathering Celebration

2009-04-01T22:27:00.004-05:00

Wow, another one of those weeks where I feel like I can't catch up...or get to bed before 11pm. I think I might have said this last week, I'm beginning to feel like a broken record! Anyway, I'm tired but I have something worth writing about so here goes. Matt and I are part of home gatherings through Southern Hills in Abilene, that means that instead of going to the big building on Sunday mornings we experience being church in someone's home. There's a lot more that goes into it, but to be honest I'm way too tired to go into it! Feel free to post a question though...people rarely post comments on my blog. We meet on Sunday evenings. Home gatherings have been an awesome blessing in my life, I really connect to the ability to delve deep in relationship with a few people instead of seeing a thousand faces at a time that I can't seem to catch up with. There are about five of our groups meeting throughout town, and we have committed to meet together every couple of months or so. Last Sunday was our celebration time together, and it was amazing! I had a blast catching up with people I have not seen in a while. One of the things I appreciated the most was seeing how each of our groups shows a different characteristic of God. Like I said Sunday evening, our God is a creative creator and He's given us all really cool ways to help reveal who He is to one another. Here are a few pics from our time together, enjoy!

super cool self defense party

2009-03-22T15:59:00.003-05:00

Last night I had possibly the coolest birthday party ever! I had a self defense party for my girlfriends at the kajukembo school where I work out. At first I was a little nervous that they would not really get into it, but everyone had a blast! My instructor taught them things that are practical and easy to remember, and they got to hit stuff! After that we did an obstacle course, because what fun is a birthday party if you can't act like a kid? I think my instructor had fun too, because my girlfriends are pretty crazy! After that we had a sleepover at my house. Matt was a great sport and spent the night with one of his guy friends. I can't remember the last time I had people over for a sleepover, it's been at least five years. It showed, because we all fell asleep by about 11:30!
What made this party so special is the fact that it will be the last one I have in the states for quite a few years. As some of my friends reminded me, we will Lord willing be in Australia by this time next year. Kind of sad, but kind of cool!

Australian Dinner

2009-03-22T15:23:00.005-05:00

On Friday night my teammate Gregory hosted a black tie dinner to tell his friends about what our team will be doing in Australia. Somehow Matt and I missed the memo that we were supposed to dress up, so two of Gregory's teammates were the worst dressed in the place! Thankfully Gregory is a forgiving guy! I yet again got to see a different side of Gregory Friday night, he wore a suit! Most of us thought that was a big deal in and of itself. The whole night was really great, some of our friends served us salad, pasta and bread. After some good conversation with people, we all moved from our tables to another room where Gregory had each of us on the team tell about how we got on this journey to do missions in Australia. I always love telling my story, because it's really God's story. It's cool to be able to step back while you're talking about your life and say "Yeah, God was working there, there, and there". After each of us spoke, our mentor Gary talked a little about the Halbert Institute of Missions that we're doing our training through. It was encouraging to be surrounded by so many people who are excited about what we'll be doing.
Perhaps the coolest part of the evening was the fact that Gregory's dad, mom, and sister came in from the San Antonio area to attend the dinner. We've only met them once before, and the conditions then did not present us with much opportunity to talk and get to know one another. This time though, I got to chat with each of them which was wonderful. It's important to get to know the family of the people we'll be moving to Australia with, because I think they'll feel a little more at ease letting their kids go when they know who they'll be surrounded by!

At the beach...in Granbury, Texas?!?

2009-03-19T23:03:00.003-05:00

After that wedding I wrote about the other day, I have had quite a few wonderful days off. Not only did I get to see my dad and stepmom at that wedding in Louisiana, but I got to spend a few days with my mom in Dallas on Sunday and Monday. Sunday we spent a few hours together before she went to work, and then I watched movies ALL day long while she was gone. It rocked, I had a whole day to myself with no important things to do! That might sound like the worst day ever, but I love to be by myself. On Monday we ran around all day and then had dinner with family and friends that night as an early birthday celebration for me. After that my mom graciously drove me to Granbury, where Matt was staying for work training. On Tuesday morning he had a few more hours of training to do, so yet again I had the morning to myself. I went to the beach. You heard me right, in Granbury, Texas I walked across the parking lot of the hotel and laid out on the beach. Okay, so it was a man made beach on part of Lake Granbury, but it was pretty stinking cool anyway. I got the sand without the stink and humidity of the ocean, and saw ducks swimming in the water. That freaked my brain out!
One of the coolest things about hanging out at the beach was that I had the most amazing opportunity to worship God that morning. I did what I seem to do best when I'm laying out in the sun...I fell asleep. (Okay, so really if I sit or lay in any one position for more than five minutes I fall asleep, but that's beside the point) I awoke to the most wonderful sound of children laughing. When I first went down to the beach I was alone, but sometime between me falling asleep and waking back up, all these parents with their kids came out of the woodwork and came down to the beach. There were at least fifteen kids ranging from two to twelve running around. They were so beautiful with their giggling voices, jumping in puddles up on the sand and running along the shore. They laughed and smiled as they showed their moms (no dads that day) different things that they picked up or built in the sand. There were blond haired heads, red haired heads, and brown haired heads running around enjoying life. Sitting there watching them I spent time enjoying the presence of God, because I know He was right there with me. Jesus really loved kids, and I think it's because when you look at a child you can see more of the image of God than when you look at a worn out adult. That might sound strange, but I really think it's true. Granted some kids have had a harder life than I can imagine before they even turn five, but for the most part children can run, laugh, and play with a sense of innocence that adults slowly lose as the evil of the world knocks us down again and again. That morning I smiled a lot as I watched those little children enjoy the beauty of the day that God granted us with.

Louisiana Saturday Night

2009-03-15T16:28:00.005-05:00

I have been so bad about writing the past couple of weeks! I was a bridesmaid in a wedding yesterday, and it had me busier and a little more stressed out than I thought I would be. Matt and I left Thursday morning for Ville Platte, Louisiana, where my friend Melissa was getting married. Melissa and I know each other from middle school where we met in choir. One of the things that kept us together as friends was playing softball in high school (she was pretty stinking amazing, and I was not so good!) She played softball in college, and eventually ended up at LSU where she met her sweetie Lucas.

The last three days were a total blast! They rented out cabins at Chico State Park, and we got to sleep over a swamp (and see an alligator). The view was pretty cool. On Thursday we had the rehearsal and ate a wonderful dinner at The Jungle. Friday we got our nails done and had a crawfish boil that evening. I've had crawfish before, but having a Louisianan boil it in front of me seemed to make it a lot better! The wedding on Saturday was beautiful, and the reception was pretty crazy! Going to Louisiana is like visiting another world, it was so much fun.
I don't know if you have any friends that you've held onto from middle or high school, but there's a special bond that remains when you've had a friend that long. Melissa and I are very different people than we were back in school, but we still love each other so much! I don't know how to describe it, but it's a very cool feeling. What is also very cool is the fact that Melissa kept me in mind when she was planning the date of her wedding. She knows that Matt and I are moving, and she was sure to have her wedding when she knew we were not either on our survey trip or already gone. I have to say, I felt quite honored by that! I will be better about writing now that we're back in town. Here's a pic of me and the beautiful bride.

lunch

2009-03-03T22:07:00.003-06:00

Sunday Matt and I had our team over for lunch. Jenica came over early and helped cook, it was really fun working in the kitchen with her. Gregory made it over later, and we all ate until we were stuffed. We got to talk and catch up...but had a few long silences. Here's the funny thing about being on a mission team, we're not best friends. Don't get me wrong, I love Jenica and Gregory as my sister and brother in Christ, and have a strong friendship with both of them. I feel a very close connection to them and care deeply for them. However, what brought us together is this common goal to move to Australia, which is not usually the basis for a friendship! So while we have the destination and our love for Jesus in common, there are a lot of differences among us! When I step back and look at our motly crew though, that's when I really see what's so cool about this whole journey we're on. God's beauty is made complete when His created ones who look different, come from different backgrounds, and have different talents and interests come together in His name and decide to share their lives together for His cause of redemption. Our team has a long time to work through our silences, and I'm excited about that!

Getting back on Facebook

2009-02-28T00:07:00.004-06:00

I used to have Facebook...I never checked it. I didn't give gifts, write on people's walls, or upload photo albums. I'm not supposed to be on Facebook at work, and believe it or not I follow that rule (I imagine there being some lowly state employee in a dark room who's only job is to spy on people's screens and rat on them when they're doing things they're not supposed to be). I closed my account because I was afraid that someday someone was going to send me a very important message only via Facebook, and I would not get it for three months or something outrageous like that. However, I came to the conclusion yesterday that I'm going to have to get back on. You heard it Matt and Jae Webb, I'm getting back on Facebook! There are a lot of people I have not kept the best contact with, and when we're in Australia I'd like to have another avenue through which I can continue to communicate with friends and family. I guess the point of this entry is really just to tell you to find me and invite me to be your friend, because I'm comin' back!

The Whitsetts

2009-02-25T22:20:00.007-06:00

Each Sunday our team gets together for training with our mentor, Gary Green. This past Sunday we were blessed to listen to the wise words of our guest Brenda Whitsett. Brenda and Dwight were, and still are, missionaries to Australia. I met Dwight in 2002, and while he didn't know it at the time God used him to share with me the need for Australians and Kiwis to know the love of God. While I knew God wanted me to share His Gospel overseas, I did not know it was in the South Pacific until I heard Dwight speak about the area.
Dwight and Brenda are sweet, fun loving people who love to encourage others. On Sunday Brenda shared with us what it was like to be a North American woman living in Australia...with a job that was not like your typical baker or school teacher. Jenica and I really learned a lot from what she had to say. After our mentoring time, they stayed with our home gathering and spent the evening worshiping God with us. We all had a blast telling stories, sharing communion, and talking about the crazy ways that God works around us. I really enjoy their company, and I like to think that they don't mind us too much either!Brenda, Matt, me, Frances, Jenica, Gregory, Gary, and Dwight (with their sweet little grandkids in the mix)

On a totally unrelated note, my husband Matt helped me reach an epiphany tonight. I do martial arts, and lately I've been helping one of the instructors teach the beginner class. I have my own class of intermediate students that I teach on a regular basis, but teaching beginners is a whole new ballgame! Intermediates know the drills, so for the most part they just need to be polished. Beginners on the other hand have to be taught everything from scratch. If you don't show them how to do it correctly from the get go, they'll develop bad habits that stick with them for a very long time. Tonight I told Matt how I don't really know what to say to them, so I wish they'd just watch me and pick up on what I do. Then Matt said that's kind of what Jesus did with us, we weren't really getting the whole holiness thing just by words, so He had to come down and show us how it was done. That made me think about how Christians should live, enough shoving the how-to manual down people's throats when they want to know Jesus (which seems to be our method of choice). I'd like to make it clear that by "how-to manual" I don't mean the Bible, I mean the human created rules that we throw at people instead of putting our time and energy into getting to know and impact the lives of others. We have to show through every step of our lives what it is to follow Jesus. That means our actions have to be something worth learning from....
On yet another totally unrelated note, since I'm talking about martial arts I'll go ahead and post the video Matt put together of some of the demos I've done. Enjoy, and disregard the weird phantom girl that shows up sometimes. I get kind of fuzzy during short parts of the video, and we couldn't figure out how to take it away!

Housekeeping

2009-02-20T21:50:00.004-06:00

I thought the last two weeks had been kind of ho-hum for our team, but looking back I realized that the things we did were exactly what I should be talking about. I'm sorry if you find this entry boring, but it shows the day to day reality of preparing to move to another country!
Tuesday night Jenica and I met up for our "date" night. Last semester we were really good about meeting up every week, but this semester it's been a little more sporadic. I really like meeting with just Jenica, because there's something about spending time with the other woman on the team that is really encouraging. We get to talk about stuff that we wouldn't normally talk about with the guys around, and it's refreshing! No offense Matt and Gregory....
Wednesday night Matt and Gregory were out of town, so Jenica and I went to the library to do some "housekeeping". We got together a very rough budget for Jenica, so when she talks to possible supporters she will have an idea of how her expenses add up. We then spent some time looking online at our visa options. One we looked at is a religious workers visa, it has a lot of criterion but I think we can meet them. That visa requires the help of a church already established in Ipswich, and there is one there that might be able to fill that role. Whichever way we end up getting there, it will take a lot of faith on our part and miraculous working on God's part! He's done so much to bring us to this point though, I believe He will continue to do some pretty awesome stuff to get us where we need to be.
This Monday I didn't have work. One of the perks of working for the state is that you get all sorts of holidays off that most other people don't! The team met for lunch, and had a really nice time just catching up. It was a much different pace than our usual task oriented meetings, which was great!
This Wednesday was the last time this week that "the big move" really hit me. We were watching Lost with our friends Wes and Ellen, they got married seven months after us, and they are our best married couple friends. They are on a team that will be moving to Conception, Chile in a few years. Birds of a feather stick together I suppose! Anyway, Wednesday evening they brought up the fact that we will be leaving in under a year, and they didn't like that very much! In all seriousness though, talking about what we're doing to prepare, what we haven't even thought about yet, etc. really threw me for a loop. We have a lot to do to get ready, and sometimes it seems like ten months is plenty of time while at other times ten months seems like no time at all. Needless to say, I'm now working on my blog at 10:49 pm, Matt is working on the website, and our team will be getting together on Sunday night to do some more preparation and prayer!

I'm proud of my husband

2009-02-09T21:05:00.004-06:00

My husband Matt sent me this video today, and I think it's worth sharing. Firefighting is a way of life in our home, for those of you who don't know Matt is a volunteer firefighter. He loves it, and has become really knowledgeable in it. I sure hope so anyway, because he now sells fire equipment! Really though, he knows his stuff, and is always learning new things.
I love the fact that Matt does this, I am very proud to know that his main hobby is to help people in need. Sometimes people ask me if I worry about him when he goes out on calls and such, but as morbid as it sounds, if he died at a fire or helping with an accident somewhere then I would be so proud of him for meeting our maker because he laid down his life to help someone else.
Not that him being a volunteer firefighter does not have its stressful moments. I'm sure many would disagree with me, but I think there's an added level of stress when you're the wife of a volunteer firefighter over a paid firefighter. When your spouse is paid to do this, you know when their shift starts and ends. With Matt, his shift never ends! As you'll see in the video, I've woken up at 3am to the sound of the tones going off. We've also pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant just to turn around and drive to the station because of a call. I've also heard some sad, sad stories and seen my husband torn up about not being able to help someone in need. This isn't your Tuesday night bowling club, that's for sure. Here's the video, it really hit home for me and I hope it gives you a little better understanding of why I'm so proud of my husband.

The joys of fundraising

2009-02-07T12:29:00.004-06:00

After Matt and I enjoyed breakfast at 11:30 this morning (yes 11:30! Saturday is my one morning to sleep in, and I take full advantage of it), I sat down to send a few emails. Before I get into that I think I should share the story of my friendship with Sascha Terry.
When I was a freshman in college, Sascha Terry came back from Abilene Christian University to share his story about going into the mission field. Sascha had met a girl at college who was interested in doing mission work in Brazil, so they decided that after getting married they would do long term missions there. Sascha grew up at what is now Kings Crossing Church of Christ in Corpus Christi, the church I attended growing up in Corpus myself. I remember the day pretty clearly, during morning worship he stood up and told the congregation how he would have information set up at his parents' house that evening about the work he, his wife, and their team would be doing in Brazil. He invited everyone to come and learn more. I went that evening, and I think I was the only person all night who came to visit him! Although that was probably pretty discouraging for him, it gave us an opportunity to talk for a few hours about mission work. It was a great experience, and on the way home that evening I dedicated my life to doing overseas missions. I firmly believe that God has put the desire to travel the world and share the love of Jesus with people of different cultures in certain people's hearts. It's not that people who do overseas missions are high and mighty or better Christians than everyone else, that's a bunch of bologna. I think God knows that sometimes people need to hear His truth from people not like themselves, people who have a different worldview or a different skin color. I think that's why I have a desire and a call to do this, and some other people do not.
Okay, back to my story! When Sascha and Jennifer moved to Brazil, I really wanted to help financially support their team. I know that my measly contribution each month was not much, but I know that my little bit combined with other people's little bits really helped. Because I was helping them out I kept up with their blog and the work they were doing there. It was really exciting, and at some times really hard to read about what they were going through. Although I didn't talk to them in person or ever visit them, I felt like I still had a connection to them.
Fast forward to now, and Sascha's family has just come back to the states. I know that there are many Brazilians who are now enjoying a relationship with Jesus because of how God used the Terry family there. Since I have a relationship with their family I thought it would be appropriate to ask them if the churches that helped them out in Brazil would be able to help us out in Australia. Before I go any further, I think it's time to talk about financial support for missionaries.
Do I like asking for money? Not really. I've jokingly been called a professional beggar by more than one member of my family, which really puts a smile on my face....Every member of our team plans to work in some capacity when we are in Australia for many reasons. One is the fact that if we are not out in the community, then we will be totally disillusioned to the life of the regular working Australian. Another is that working is a great way to make friends. Last is the fact that we don't want to be totally dependent on others in order to live. However, it's not like we will land on Australian soil on Sunday and then start a job on Monday morning. Also, we will not be able to have jobs that give us enough hours to support ourselves. Our first job will be to share the Gospel and teach people what it is to be the body of Christ, and that will take a lot of time. We'll be starting from scratch, and will be the ones who teach others what it is to lead as a servant. All this to say that we will need help getting there, and will need a lot of help to stay there. Our team is reading this book called "The Shaping of Things to Come" by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. Here's what the authors write about supporting evangelists: "'Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel' (1 Cor 9:13-14). So wrote Paul, though he was quick to point out that he was not feathering his own nest. He told the Corinthians that he personally was not after any remuneration, only that the church should financially support the work of evangelists generally". It's a biblical principal to help out those who are sharing the Gospel. I must admit, I have a hard time with this myself. Think about it, I share the Gospel with people at work, but no one pays me to do that. Or on the other hand, is it okay to just pay people to share the Gospel, and not do it myself? Yeah right, give me a break. Sharing the Gospel with people is a gift, not a burden. We have hope that lasts now through eternity, how can that be something that we don't want to share! All I know is that our team is constantly trying to find that balance between having enough money to keep our lights on in Australia, while not stashing away so much extra money we're given that we can buy seven big screens and a sailboat or something ridiculous like that.
Okay, time to get back to my very first paragraph! So I sat down after our very late breakfast and sent some emails to the churches that helped Sascha and Jennifer out when they were in Brazil. Sascha was kind enough to tell them about our team in the midst of his busy move back to the states. For that I am very grateful. Today I followed up with them, and asked them if they are interested in helping us financially, emotionally, and spiritually. There's some anxiety in waiting to hear back from them, but I know that God will bring about the outcome that honors Him.

Time for a tune-up

2009-01-26T21:43:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday Matt and I met with Dr. Steve Allison to go over some psychological testing that we did a few months ago. Psychological testing is a normal phase of training through Halbert (so don't worry, we weren't the only ones!) There are two different tests that couples have to take, the first primarily looks at personality type, stress responses, working styles, etc. The second is a marriage test for couples, woohoo! Matt and I did premarital counseling before we got married, so we thought a test two and a half years later would be kind of like a tune up for our marriage!
No need to fear, we don't have any issues that are out of the ordinary...seriously though the tests were really helpful. The first brought to light things about our personalities that I've never really thought of before (and trust me, Matt and I have done our fair share of personality testing). I've tried to store the things I learned away in my mind for whenever I look and Matt and think "what in the world is going on inside your head?" Not that he doesn't do the same to me...so it's okay!
The marriage part of the test was interesting as well. There's nothing like talking to a total stranger about your communication style, budget, and sex life! But hey, if you try to hide who you are as an individual and as a couple then you'll never really grow into who God wants you to be. Too many people miss out on a joyous marriage because they're not willing to see things that they might need to look at differently or change about themselves. Overall it made me appreciate Matt even more.
On a totally unrelated note I'd like to thank my aunt-in-law Angela in Australia for being a follower of my blog. I'm really inept when it comes to blogging so I don't even really know what that means...but I'm sure I'll learn!

Getting back together

2009-01-20T22:16:00.004-06:00

Our team got back together for the first time after the school break this past Sunday. Getting back together after long breaks always makes me a little anxious, because that first conversation could have any number of surprises contained within it. However, we had a blast hanging out on Sunday! Gregory and Jenica both seemed to have a really good holiday with their family . We got to tell funny stories, tell embarrassing stories, talk about how our families are starting to open up and ask more questions about what we're doing, and many other things. Jenica's in the process of looking for a job, so we got to talk about that. As usual Gregory took on more hours at work than he should have, so we also got to give him a hard time about that! Everyone was really pumped about getting ready to get a lot done this year, which was awesome. It seems like only yesterday....
One year ago we had our first module after "signing on the dotted line" as we liked to call it. January 2008 was the deadline we set for the people showing an interest in going to Australia to say yes or no to joining the team. When it was all said and done and the dust settled, Jenica and Gregory were standing there ready to jump into this adventure. I remember how freaked out I was that first module (weekend long training session, we have them every couple of months), it was a weekend spent talking about personalities, spiritual gifts, and other very deep things. I'm sure we were all in shock at what was going on, but pretended like it didn't phase us. We've come a long way, and I'm excited about where we will continue to go.

A Great Day at Work

2009-01-18T11:03:00.006-06:00

I had the most wonderful day at work this week. I work with a woman who is a pillar of strength in hard times, in the year and a half that I've worked at my job, she has had more hard times than I can count on both hands. Her burdens are a constant burden on my heart. We get along well, but we're not very close on a personal level. There are so many things I want to tell her about the redemption that God offers, but to just walk up and say "Hey, God can bring you peace and healing" when one thing after another goes wrong in her life doesn't seem to fit. I want sharing the Gospel with her to be part of a natural conversation, not just something I spew out at her as I'm walking past her desk. I had been praying that God would give me a chance to just sit and talk with her.
The other day she, another co-worker, and I started chatting about teeth of all things. You know, dentures, braces, the usual. Somehow the conversation switched to just she and I talking about television shows, and then to books. Then she started talking about the Left Behind book series and asked if I had read it. She talked about how she believed in God and that Jesus died on the cross for her, but that she did not believe much more of the Bible. She said there's just so much to it and it's hard to know what has been lost in translation. I got to talk about the church Matt and I are part of, it's in a home with about fifteen other people. I said what we like about it is that with such a small group we all get to talk about what we like, new things we're learning, or don't understand in the Bible. After a little more talking she said that she hopes her believing in Jesus is enough, because she's kind of a loner. I got to share that God did not create us to wander through this life alone, but that we need each other to learn from, help, and depend on. I got to invite her to our church gathering, and it all started with a conversation about teeth!
I share this story for many reasons, the first being that God is totally awesome. I am a pusher, when I get an idea in my head that someone needs my help (whether they do or not) I will force my "helpful opinion" on them whether the timing is right or not. I have been praying for this woman for a long time, because I wanted God to present the opportunity for conversation instead of me attempting to construct it on no foundation. I think she was ready and open to the conversation, and that's why God allowed it. I also share this story because it really pumped me up. God knows that we are creatures who need tangible landmarks, if we go too long without seeing some living sign that He's working, we get in a rut (at least I do). God allowed me the opportunity to share some of His words of truth, and I believe that He is going to grow them in my co-workers heart.

What is the image of God?

2009-01-05T19:49:00.008-06:00

I was thinking over the weekend about sharing the Gospel with teens, thinking about what would really relate to them. I thought about how Jesus is like that one kid in school who seems to see the good in everyone, he befriends all the students and doesn't put up with bullies. Don't ask me how, but thinking about this led my mind to wandering and wondering about the image of God.

I look at people all around me and see nothing but differences: race, sex, size, you name it. However, we're all made in the image of God. He said it himself when he made us. So then what's this image look like? You can't say it's a body part, a color, or an intelligence level. I'm sure there's some good exegetical answer, but I don't really have one. I have my own ideas, but I guess this is just more of a question than an Bible lesson.
Okay, back to Jesus being that one kid in school who accepts everyone. When Jesus came to the earth he lived to remind (mainly teach) us that we are all made in the image of God. He showed people that they were all welcome in the presence of God. Just look at Mark 14, who was he eating with? It's truly amazing how Jesus found it easy to include so many, but all we manage to do is draw barriers that people find it impossible to cross.

2008-12-21T21:15:00.004-06:00

I have had every intention of writing on my blog more often, and yet have managed to go an entire month without making an entry. I'll really try to do better! It has been a wonderful month though. The week before Thanksgiving my friends Tony, Sarah, and their little bundle of joy Connor came to visit and stay with us. The cool thing is that they're from New Zealand, they manage to make a trip every couple of years and visit all their friends in the U.S. It was the first time for us to have a baby in the house, which was fun. I didn't get as stressed out as I am capable of, which was nice! One night of their visit two other people came over who have done internships at the same church I did when I was in New Zealand, and we had a great night of telling stories and sharing pictures. It was really exciting to me, because my internship in New Zealand was kind of where it all began. When I felt God's call for me to go to another country and share His good news, I decided to go to the South Pacific because I met a man who shared with me the great need of the people in New Zealand in Australia. That internship was an amazing first start. Even though Matt and I will be going to Australia instead, I feel like God sent me there so that my life and the lives of the people around me would be changed forever.
Thanksgiving came quickly after that visit. Matt and I got to go see my grandmother in Iowa (it was his first time to go), it was really exciting showing him a place where I have some very fond memories. My grandfather who lived there until he passed away in '99 was very influential in showing me who Jesus is. Matt and I both had a blast, and have started the new tradition of trying new barbeque restaurants in the towns we drive through on trips. It's a tasty tradition to say the least. Matt and I are trying to visit family that we have not seen much since getting married, because we realize that we will be gone for quite a few years when we move. I am praying that God helps me truly savor the times we have with family, which is really helping me to be grateful for the awesome loved ones that we have.
Many other things have happened, but I think life will go on without me talking about them. This week is Christmas, so I'm sure I will have plenty to talk about after we get back from the holidays. Merry Christmas, may celebrating the birth of Jesus bring awe and excitement to your life.

What a week!

2008-11-18T21:56:00.007-06:00

Last week was very intense for our team...so intense that I have not had a chance to catch up and write about it until now! It started with Monday night, Matt and I spent the evening with Gregory, the other male on our team. We got together to go over a fundraising presentation that the team would present on Tuesday to the church we all attend. Tuesday morning we got together with Jenica, the other female on our team, and did the same with her. Much of the rest of the day was spent printing and binding packets with information about our team and Ipswich for the people we would share our presentation with. Tuesday evening went great, the group of people that makes up the missions committee at our church (Southern Hills Church of Christ) was very encouraging. After our presentation we decided to have a little chill time as a team, so we went back to Jenica's house and played darts and drank tea. This was Jenica's first time to play darts (even though she owns the board!), and she was a tough competitor. It was a fun day, but tiring.
Wednesday night was spent making mini pavlovas. If you've never had the privilege of eating pavlova, you're missing out. It's like a really fluffy meringue that has whipping cream and fruit on it. We piped and baked over seventy-five pavlovas Wednesday night. No it wasn't just for the fun of it, we needed them for Thursday night. Thursday night we attended what Abilene Christian University calls "TeamQuest". It's a night where the current mission teams that are training through the Halbert Institute for Missions get together and have booths where they serve food from their country of interest and get to know students who are interested in doing mission work but need some direction and/or encouragement. The evening was spent dishing out pavlova, vegemite on crackers (another treat if you've never had vegemite) and getting to know students. One thing it taught me is that even though we are the ones in training, the ones who need money, the ones who will be making many life changes, this mission is not about us. It's about God. Even though we're in this vulnerable place, He still wants to use us to share our stories and encourage others to join in God's mission around the world. Once again, a good evening but a tiring one.
Saturday night we had the honor of meeting Gregory's mother, father, and sister. They came from out of town to visit him, and we got to introduce ourselves to them. It's not easy meeting each other's parents, because we know the reason we're meeting is because we will be traveling half way around the world with these people's children. That's partly what this blog is supposed to do, give parents and other family members a chance to get a glimpse of how we're preparing, what we're nervous about, what we're excited about, etc. I hope it helps a bit.
I just got back tonight from a meeting that was hosted by our team's mentor. Gary works at ACU training and mentoring mission teams that will be going to Central and South America and the South Pacific (did I mention he's also a professor at ACU?). He is a great mentor who is passionate about sending people where God wants them to go. The purpose of this meeting was to connect those of us who are training to do mission work overseas with people who know they want to do the same thing in some form or fashion but don't really know where to start. I might sound like a broken record, but once again it was an encouraging yet tiring evening. I think it's time for bed!

What I did this weekend

2008-03-17T11:38:00.004-05:00

I watched a powerful movie on Friday night, Born Into Brothels. It is about a female photographer who moves to Calcutta, India for a few years and teaches about seven or eight children of the red light district photography. Her hope is to give them a better future than the bleak one of poverty and prostitution that is staring them in the face. After watching it my mind was spinning, I experienced so many emotions as the movie played. I've thought about the movie everyday since I watched it, I would highly recommed it to anyone who likes to learn about other cultures. Here are a few things I've thought about since watching it:

The children in the documentary were so wise. They showed an awareness of their culture, acknowledging that they were surrounded by a darkness and poverty that most people in the world could never dream of. They ranged from about eight to twelve at the time of the movie, and most of them were taking care of siblings, parents, and grandparents themselves. I can't imagine many children their age in the states caring about much more than their video games or going to the mall. Kind of disgusting to be honest.

It also made me ask again why God has put me in this place in life, and them in theirs. For me going to college was a no brainer, and I got to decide my major. I then changed my major without consulting anyone, I didn't tell my family until after it was pretty much a done deal. My husband and I will never be able to tell our children that we were poor, we've been blessed to always have enough to pay our bills on time, and we eat a full meal three times a day. Why do I have so much when these kids have nothing?

This is a tough question, a timeless question. I guess I want to revert back to what a lot of upper middle class (because whether I want to admit it or not, like most Americans who want to say we're middle class, I'm really upper-middle class) Christians say, God has given to me so that I can give to other people. It really makes sense, because if everyone was poor then who would help us out? My question to God is, why is there not a little bit more balance? Why do people gather and gather and gather, but never give? My own selfishness disgusts me, and I like to think of myself as a pretty giving person. I think part of the reason God gives so much to some people is that He created human beings to live to our full potential, and part of that is living a life of sacrifice and abundant giving. As to why He did that, I don't know. As to why little babies are sold by their parents to get money for drugs, I don't know. As to why thousands of girls are standing on the side of the road being taken advantage of by strangers because it's the only way they can make money for their family, I don't know. It frustrates and hurts me.

So what am I going to do about it? The preacher where I go to church is a firm believer in the things that Compassion International does for impoverished children around the world. About a month ago I found a girl that I want to sponsor, she is about fifteen and is from India. Perhaps God was reminding me through the movie Friday night that it's time to stop thinking about doing good, and put my money where my mouth is. Here's the website if you want to check it out: http://www.compassion.com/. There are so many ways to give if this is not for you, so my encouragement is to think of what you in your wealth can do for someone else in need today.

things went wrong

2008-03-11T15:08:00.006-05:00

On Sunday a lot of things went "wrong" at the church I go to. I go to a pretty big church, depending on who you are, so we utilize a lot of technology. This past Sunday was kind of crazy, the mics weren't working well so there was popping, feedback, all that good stuff. There were also not enough people to serve communion. In our church there are men who walk around and pass out trays that have crackers and grape juice in them, we eat and drink these things to celebrate Christ's coming to earth, dying, and resurrection. Communion is so much more important that I'm making it sound, but it's not the specific point of my story so I'm not going to elaborate much on it right now. Anyway, in front of me there was a man who had to hold his tray for almost five minutes before he realized that no "usher" was going to come and take it from him. He actually had to get up and give his tray to someone, how out of the ordinary....
Now in most cases people would reflect on all these things that went "wrong" and think, "Man, satan sure was trying to get into our service, good thing we kept him out though". That's not what I saw. What if we looked at these things not as acts of satan, but instead as acts of God who is trying to break through? What if the mics cutting in and out was God's way of saying, "Why don't you simplify a little?" What if the awkwardness of communion was God's way of saying, "You know, sometimes you need to get up in the aisles and participate. Following after me is more about serving than sitting in a pew and expecting someone to cater to your every need" or maybe He was saying, "You know, faith and worship are neither clean nor perfect. They are a reflection of your need for me and my love for you"?
I don't know about you, but my life is messy. My house is often messy, my thoughts are jumbled up in a mess inside my brain, I make stupid choices. When things are messy in my life I usually want to point to satan and say, "He did it!". Maybe what I'll start to do is ask God, "Are you trying to teach me something?" I think I'll be surprised by what God says in response.