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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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/
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!
The hill country infinity pool
I couldn't resist putting this picture in...Matt just happens to be on the iPhone!
