The effective prayer...

"The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16b I (Jill) am so thrilled to tell you how this verse still rings true. First, Dade and I were shopping for Christmas gifts when it began to rain. Joel even called while we were waiting in line to pay to say that it was pouring hard. When we were ready to leave the store, we stepped out of the door to see the rain had just stopped! I was so excited, and as we dodged puddles (because the young man with me loves to jump into puddles!) I was telling him how wonderful it was that God stopped the rain so that we could get into our car. Dade in all seriousness and with little excitement said, "I know, I prayed He would stop the rain." Well, that shut me up! Dade wasn't a bit surprised that God would stop the rain for us. What faith!

The other news I have is that Aaron and Donna; after a couple weeks of bedrest, modified bedrest, and multiple contractions; gave birth to a beautiful healthy girl on December 27th! Alayna Nation weighed in at 5lbs. 3oz. and 19 inches long. The doctors say they cannot explain it, but we can! She is breast feeding and breathing and peeing and all those baby things. God is so good! Please rejoice with us as we celebrate God's mercy and power. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Prayer request

For the few who read this, I (Jill) have an urgent prayer request. My brother and his wife, Aaron and Donna, are pregnant. It's a girl! Alayna. The deal is her trachea and esophagus haven't divided like they should. If she is a candidate, she will require surgery within days of delivery. My brother will have to travel to Atlanta with her while Donna stays behind in South Georgia until she is cleared to leave the hosptital which will be 48 hours after delivery because she has C-sections. If Alayna has other problems that sometimes accompany this anomaly called TE fistula, there is a possibility that she will not be a candidate for surgery. If this is the case, there is nothing that can be done for her.

Please pray that God will give peace to Aaron and Donna during this time of waiting, and that the baby won't come until after Christmas (that will put her at 36 weeks) so her lungs will be developed. I'm praying that God will completely heal Alayna prior to her arrival. God is big enough, and I don't pretend to know His plans in everything. But I do know that sometimes we "have not because we ask not" (James 4:2), and I don't want to be guilty of this - especially with so much at stake. Dara keeps saying that, "It's okay if Alayna needs surgery, we just don't want her to die." I just tell her that I know God is the only one who can heal her, and I'm going to ask Him. Will you please ask Him with me? Thanks.

Another Painful Lesson

Yet again, my stupidity has left me on the couch with my legs propped up writing another entry to entertain all of you who read this.

Yesterday, we were at my mom and dad's house. Mom had planned a long list of games to play to keep everyone having fun. We had just finished our pre-dinner scavenger hunt and I successfully wolfed down my share of wonderful food (especially Jill's pecan pie she made just for dad - I managed to sneak my fair share of it). We proceeded out to the front yard to particiapte in family relays. I was playing with Dara and Dade, throwing hula hoops high in the air and watching them scatter out of the way before they fell. With one of my throws I managed to lodge one of the hoops in a tree. It was a small tree with low branches (see where this is going?).

I jumped up, grabbed the lowest branch and pulled myself up. I jumped on the branches in the hopes that I could shake it out. Now, I still have some of my logical thinking left, so I didn't attempt to shimmy out on the branch to try and reach it. Although, I will admit, had Jill and my dad not talked me out of it, I might have tried and ended up worse off.

As I climbed back down, I looked at Dara and asked if she had ever seen a real live monkey in a tree. In an attempt to entertain my 7 year old sweetheart, I grabbed hold of the lowest branch and tried to swing around so I could hang upside down for her. You did notice I used the word "try" right? You see, when I swung down, my left foot stayed wedged in between two branches. So as my body swung down, my ankle and leg twisted into what I'm sure was not so pretty a position.

Now, as most of you know, this isn't the first time I've done something like this. So as I finally unwedged my foot and fell to the ground, the rest of my family was laughing hysterically at my attempt to be funny. Only when they finally realized that I was truly in pain, did I receive any sympathy from the peanut gallery.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of our family time sitting humbly on a chair and watching the festivities with a constant throbbing reminding me yet again of my futile attempt to stay young. I'm sure, my kids will one day be thankful for the laughter I have brought to their lives. Until then, I will continue to see how hard I can push this old body in the hopes to entertain my family and all of you who read this.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had time to reflect on how special family is and all you have to be thankful for. Know that we are thankful for each of you and your involvement in our lives.

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, It's off to camping we go!

During Dara's fall break from school, we decided to go camping as a family. This is a big deal for a couple of reasons... We've never been on any vacation just the 4 of us. We've either been going to see my (Jill's) family or with Joel's. The closest the kids have ever gotten to a tent is what Joel builds for them in the living room. Well, to keep a long story short - it was a great time. The kids didn't mind walking to the bathroom for showers or brushing their teeth outside. They were happy playing in the muddy water and fishing without getting any bites. They ate hot dog buns with ketchup and cheese - the don't care for hot dogs. :) They had a blast roasting marshmallows, but they didn't like smores (I know - it's crazy). Dade found them too messy, and I think that Dara just found that they weren't worth the trouble. It meant that I had to eat more because they both wanted to keep roasting the marshmallows without eating them.

I learned that there are things that need to be used regardless of the visible need at the time. Let me explain...to my surprise I saw no mosquitoes. Now those of you in our neck of the woods will know that this is huge since the mosquitoes have been ferocious this year. So I didn't put bug spray on any of us...who knew that chiggers would have been repelled by bug spray too?! To our dismay, Joel and I returned with probably 20 chigger bites a piece. It could have been much worse, I realize, and I hate to complain...but it's been two weeks and I still have the most of the bite marks. Thankfully, they don't itch any more, and the kids only had 10 or so between the both of them. I think sometimes I can get this way with my walk with God. Things are going pretty smooth, and I have a tendency to get a bit lazy in my quiet times only to regret later having neglected my time with Him. I also discovered that although plastic utensils are great for many things - they fall short when it comes to flipping pancakes.

The family time was irreplaceable. We had so much fun playing and hiking (except for the massive amounts of spiders - they were every where!) We plan to go again - a bit more prepared next time, and we would highly recommend it.

Busted Shins and Disobedience

Thought I would share a little story with you that many of you will probably find as funny as Jill did (although she contained her laughter). I came home from work on Friday to pick up Jill and the kids so we could go to a gospel music concert with my parents. The kids were playing nicely at the computer and Jill was out watering the plants. I decided to have a little fun with Jill and a rule she had imposed on the kids.

When we moved the trampoline, we used the pool ladders to provide easy access for the kids. They fit perfectly and the wood I had fitted into the top braces worked great as seats for the kids to sit on while waiting their turn to jump. During the week, the kids had been climbing to the wood platform and attempting to jump onto the trampoline. Jill told them it was off limits and too dangerous. While I supported her in front of the kids, I remembered days spent at different friends' houses while growing up and how we would jump off swingsets, roofs, and any other high point we could find.

So in an attempt to prove a point, I ran to the back yard and up onto the ladder to show Jill just how "safe" jumping off the wooden platform actually was. As soon as I pushed off, I heard the snapping of wood and felt myself falling. Sharp pain shot through my shins as I rolled forward onto the trampoline. Jill (trying to contain her laughter and amusement at her husband's ill attempt at disobedience) came running over to see if I was okay. As I slipped off the trampoline, each step sent shooting pain up my legs. As I limped inside to the couch, I had two little ones following me through the house asking what happened (how humbling is that!). I sat down and pulled up my jeans to find deep bruises and scarpes covering both shins and swelling beginning to start.

I won't bore you with all the pain I have felt over the last two days. If you are like Jill, you are probably thinking, I got what I deserved. Each step, each time the kids bang against my legs, each time I feel the sting as water hits the scrapes, I am reminded of my intentional act of disobedience. Isn't that the way it is with God? He gives us the ability to make choices. He gives us His rules through His Word. And yet still, we often act out in blatant disobedience and have to suffer the repercussions of our actions.

Sometimes it takes a dumb male moment to remind me of these deep spiritual truths. Next time I'll borrow Dara's shin guards!

Swimming Pool Memories Revisited - The Takedown

For those of you that took the time to read the post early in the summer about the fiasco of setting up the pool, this is a brief follow up. Last week we decided it was time to take the pool down. It was getting a little too cool for me and Jill to have a desire to get in there with the kiddos - with me always drawing the short straw. Jill took the chlorine feeder out and let it stabilize so we could drain it. She got a hose and started draining it on Friday. When I got home, it had made good progress, so we went to bed thinking we would be ready to dry it out and fold it up on Saturday.

Saturday morning we awoke to discover it was only half way done (I guess it takes a while to drain 15,000 gallons of water). We had a birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon so we left thinking maybe it would be done by the time we got home. WRONG! It still had a ways to go. To shorten this up, it was Sunday after church before it was down enough for us to start soaking up the left overs with towels and scooping what we could with buckets. Now we had to let it dry and the forecast was calling for scattered showers on Monday!

Monday turned out to be a dry, sunny day, much to my relief. So Monday after I had picked the kids up we went home and I started the process. This time I had a little helper (Dade) grabbing the poles from me and stacking them up. It was discouraging to see that what had taken me many hours to set up was down in less than 2 minutes (and with relative ease). Dade was a happy spectator as he watched little spiders, other unknown creepy crawlies and a plethra of earthworms squirm about under the tarp as we folded everything up.

We moved the trampoline to the spot where the pool was and now I find myself wondering why we didn't just leave the pool under the tramp with a tarp over it. Besides, if you remember the post on setting it up, I have to find something to do with a $50 tarp!

Support Goals

Many of you have asked how we are coming on our support targets for our outgoing expenses and our monthly support. The answer we both consistenly give is "God is good!" We have seen Him provide in ways that amaze us daily. It is a very humbling process and one that continues to build our faith in so many ways. It does make us reflect on Matthew 6:25-27 - "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

What an awesome God we serve! He knows all of our needs and provides abundantly. In Isahiah 58:11, it says, "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

I know that still doesn't answer your direct questions of where exaclty we are in the process, so I have summed it up below. I have also found an online tool that allows us to plug in our support targets. If you will scroll down the page, you will see both our "Outgoing Support Goals" and our "Monthly Support Goals" on the right hand side. We will update this monthly with new amounts as support comes in.

Very briefly, we are currently at about 86% of our outgoing support and about 33% of our monthly support. To still be a over a year from our departure date and be this far along is so encouraging to us. We are excited to see how He continues to provide as we get closer to saying goodbye. As always, thanks for your faithful support! We couldn't be doing this without each of you.

Sickness - Part 2

Okay - I'll admit my frustration! I can't seem to shake this sickness. Ever since we have been back from San Diego (back in July), I have been sick at some point during each week. Now, I have this head congestion that has been hanging on for over a week. I'm not one to be held back by your everyday common cold, but it frustrates me. It affects me just enough that I don't feel like biking in the mornings which leads to me feeling very lazy when it comes to exercise. I come home in the evenings and get irritated that I feel so tired. I try to not let it affect me and try to go about my life as if I'm feeling fine. However, that only leads to me feeling more tired once I slow down enough.

I wish there was some deep spiritual lesson I was learning from this. If there is, I'm not thinking clearly enough to recognize it. The only thing I see that I'm learning from it, is that my time with Him is of the utmost importance. Even though I wake up with the same congestion I went to sleep with, I still find that I am getting up and getting in the Word and maintaining that consistency. That has been encouraging.

Please pray that this will pass. Pray that we will have a season of sickness free living within our house. With a 4 and 7 year old it makes it very easy to pass stuff around - you parents know the revolving door of sickeness I'm talking about. Jill has threatened me with having to go the doctor if this stuff hangs around another week. Those of you who know me, know how unappealing that option is to me. Pray that I will clear this stuff out of my system - or at least that I can fake feeling better well enough to convince Jill it is gone.

Love ya'll and appreciate the prayers you lift up on our behalf.

First Days of School

I've said for the past couple of weeks that I'm ready for school to start, and now that it has I'm not sure what to do. Dara started 2nd grade on August 22nd. She is quite independent (most of the time), is back among her friends, and comes home to tell us who likes who and who was chasing who at recess. It's fun.

Dade's not quite as independent, but he's getting there. I just returned home from dropping him off at preschool for the first time. I was allowed to walk him to his classroom, but not into it. As we walked down the long church corridor, Dade's steps got slower and slower and he got more quiet. All morning he has been asking me, "What if I forget where my cubbie is?" I reassured him many times that the teacher will help him, and I walked away from his room, I so badly wanted to stay and watch to see if he made it to the correct cubbie. But for fear that he might turn back, see me, and have a harder time - I walked away.

For my therapy, I need to say a little more about my experience that I'm sure many of you can relate to. Dara did the same thing to me, but somehow I still wasn't prepared. It's the way Dade let go of my hand as he walked into his new room. He had been holding my hand pretty tightly, and then we were next to go in. You could almost feel him take a deep breath to steady himself. There was no eye contact, no last hug, no leaning into my leg for support, not even a glance in my direction. He just let go. He didn't take his teacher's hand that was offered him. He was looking straight ahead to what he had to do next. He was heading for his cubbie. Now that I write this I wish that I had stayed to see what happened. There was just no safe place to hide and observe. They really need those two-way mirrors like they have on Law & Order! I'll have to wait until 2:15 to know all the details, and sadly I'll probably never know. How much information will I truly get from a 4 year old boy?

I'm so glad that Dade is God's child more than he is mine. What a comfort to know that the God of the universe is watching over my kids. What a privilege to rest in Him. For me, I am glad that these first days are over. Now my question is, "What do I do?"

Sickness

This is how the few weeks have been since getting back from California. I (Joel) fought some type of sickness for a couple of weeks. During this same time, Dara left for a 10 day trip with Jill's parents. She had a great time with her Aunt Coco and with her Gramma and Poppa, but came home completely exhausted. I recovered and the kids left again for a three day trip to San Antonio with my parents. Dade got some kind of virus while gone and came home running a high fever and not able to keep anything down. We went through two days of helping him recover only to have Dara spike a high fever about the time Dade's fever broke. Dara was in bed through much of the weekend trying to recover only to wake up early this morning with an ear infection.

All of the sickness has made me reflect on several things...

...In Africa, there will be sickness all around us - the sickness of not knowing the saving grace of our Lord. We turn to medicine for our physical infirmities when we get sick. The kids look to us to provide medicine and comfort to make them feel better. In the same way, the people of Tanzania will look to us to provide the medicine they need to heal their spiritual infirmities with the message of the Gospel. We will be able to comfort them with the Word of God and intercede for them with prayers lifted to the Almighty!

...Last night we left the kids with my parents while we went to a Night of Worship at our church. We both needed that time to sit in His presence and worship Him. It left us reflecting on what worship will look like in Africa. Will we have music or will we worship from the depths of our souls? We were challenged to find new ways to worship him - through creation and His works throughout our days.

...During sickness we tend to put God on the backburner. It is so easy to sleep a little longer when we just don't feel like getting out of bed. How selfish I feel, when I think that during the time I need healing the most, I neglect my personal time with Him. As I spent time in His presence this morning, I was so grateful and humbled that I serve a God who is there even when we are not. It's like that story I've heard many times - He is there waiting for me to rise early and spend time with Him. If it's two days or two weeks, He is still waiting and wanting my time. What a loving Creator we serve!

I know these are random thoughts - just thought I'd share what God is showing us.

Dara's Baptism

On July 22nd, Dara was baptized in our backyard. Family and friends gathered to celebrate with us.

God is good!

Africa in California

Earlier this month we had the blessing of being able to travel with Joel and his dad to a conference in San Diego. It was great family time, and we will cherish the memories. The weather was amazing, and we were able to go to the San Diego Zoo every day and one day to their Wild Animal Park. We thought about telling everyone that we took a quick trip to Africa...

There were even Massai people singing.

We look forward to the time when these pictures will be authentic. The days get closer and we feel excitement mingled with fear. I am so glad that God is big!

It really was a great time for all of us despite Dara coming down with bronchitis and having to take antibiotics and an inhaler. She was a champ and her wheezing didn't slow her down.

Here are just some extra pictures to show how happy we were...

Dade now likes to be called "Explorer Dade", and Dara named her Panda bear "Princess"

Thank you to all of you who pray for quality time with our families.

Bike riding

We (I should say Joel) spent the first half of July 4th teaching Dara how to ride her bike without training wheels. It was a muggy morning, but the outcome was worth it.

Here's the pep talk.

Then there's the jog-holding-on-to-the-bike.

Finally after a relatively short time passes, she does it!

with the occasional good catch by Daddy!

The end result was good...

Better late than never...

Prior to one of my patients' surgery, we had a little talk about life and death. It's not always easy to ask someone who may not survive the day about their thoughts on dying. Usually they have a lot on their minds (and thinking about the high probability of dying isn't high on their to-do list). But I kind of figure this may be their last time to talk about these things, and I usually get the question into our conversations in some fashion. This sweet man assured me he knows where he is going, and that he is a Baptist. I told him that I, too, attend a Baptist church, and as a Christian I feel better knowing where my patients stand in their eternal security. He was grateful and our day went on. (He did fine. God is good!) This was a nice release for me, and I was so thankful for his confidence. The hard ones are the ones that say "Yes, I know I'm going to heaven. I'm a good person." I just want to get really close, make great eye contact and say, "It's not enough to be good. We can't be good enough." It's hard to do, some patients leave room for conversation, but many don't.

It's not easy to know what to say and when to say it. For some people it comes more naturally (maybe practice makes perfect). I ponder conversations for a couple of days; replaying them over and over again in my mind. "Should I have pushed more for a deeper conversation? Should I have brought it up again at another time? Did I miss something that would have helped?" And I wonder what kind of missionary I'll be. When I had a patient say that she did want to invite Jesus into her life, I about passed out! I'm not sure if anyone has stammered through the sinner's prayer like we did. I pray every time I drive to work that my patients will be aware of God's love through me, and when it happens in the greatest way - I am totally surprised. Talk about little faith!

I don't want this to be long, but I do want the few people who will read this to pray for me to be bold and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading in my words. I just want them to be His words (many of you know that mine come out awfully fast at times) and said in His timing. Thanks. I am so glad that He wants even me.

Dade - A New Creation!!!!

Praise God! Dade asked Jesus into his heart on June 30th! As I finished praying with Dade Saturday night I asked him if he thought he would want to ask Jesus into his heart one day. He just shook his head "yes" and said, "Jesus, please come into my heart." What a sweet, sweet child like prayer. Of course, being the typical parent, I had to go through all the questions again to make sure he knew what he was doing....

"Dade, why do you need Jesus?"
"Sin"
"What is sin?"
"Bad things I do - like hitting and lying."
"What did God do for us?"
"Sent Jesus - he died on the cross you know."
"Why do you need to believe in Jesus?"
"He takes away the black." (That's his way of saying sin)
"Do you want to pray and ask Jesus to forgive you and tell Him you believe in Him?"
"Yes - but can we get Mommy and Dara to pray with us too?"

What a sweet little boy! While he may not understand all the details of His faith, he knows that he needs Jesus and knows that he must believe He is God's son. It is very humbling as a parent to see both your kids come to know Christ. I praise God that he allowed Jill to lead Dara to Christ and me to lead Dade to Christ. What an AWESOME privilege! It makes you feel like in spite of all the stuff you do wrong as a parent, that you must be doing something right. For all of you who have prayed for our childrens' salvation, thank you! Your prayers were heard and answered. Now, we would ask you to continue praying that they would grow in their walks and in their faith.

Travel Anxiety

Next Tuesday, we are taking the kids and heading to San Diego. We have a convention to go to and dad thought it would be fun to bring mom, Jill, and the kids along for some down time. While I am excited about having my family travel with me, we have discovered much anxiety over the packing and logistics of the trip.

I think it has intensified a bit since we have been following the progress of our future TIMO leaders. They just arrived in Kenya with their three little ones and judging by their blog updates, it was quite a trip with many blessings. I know it may not make a lot of sense, but somehow reading about their travel adventures and their arrival in Africa has made the reality set in a little more. We can relate to the feelings they express - in the sadness of leaving and the joy of going where He has called us. It has been such a blessing to both of us to be able to follow their journey through their blog. It helps us view our feelings as normal, as they too experience many of the same emotions we feel or know we will feel before we leave.

We laugh a lot as we think of what we need to pack for a week long trip across the country. We laugh as we stress over what to bring and what to leave. We laugh as we worry about how many suitcases we will need or what we need to pack in carry on bags for the kids. We laugh because we know that in 18 months, we must pack differently. We laugh because we know that the things we see now as neccessities, will become luxuries we can live without when we pack for Africa. We laugh because we realize that we may wear the same shorts or same shirt for weeks on end. We laugh because we know that much of "our" space will be filled with those things that will make Dara and Dade more comfortable and will help them adjust to life in a new country. We laugh because we know that as we sit and stress, God has already worked out all the details. We look forward to His plan and His timing.

Swimming Pool Memories

Summer is here and we finally got the pool set up in the backyard. What a wonderful experience that was - and yes, the sarcasm is heavy about now! I hope the laughter it generates will truly brighten your day. There is absolutely no spiritual wisdom here, just insight into the mind of a stubborn, hard headed, naive man. This is a rather long story, so if you are short for time, come back later to read it or print it out and enjoy it at your leisure.

This past weekend seemed like the perfect time to set up the "Easy Set" pool we purchased last year. DANGER, DANGER!!! Anything that says "easy" in the product name can't be easy! The kids were asking a lot lately and our weekends had been such a blur, so with a free day looming, I decided to buckle down and get it done. After begging a local floor store for all their old scraps to use as padding, Jill and I lugged the pool from the garage and immediately began looking for the tarp. I found one in the garage, only to realize it was a tad too small to cover our little mulch pile; which brings me to the next hiccup in this plan. Jill, ever so sweetly, suggested that since I had decided to stock pile mulch in the area where we set up the pool, it would work better if I raked it first. With much hesitation (and minor grumbling) I raked all the mulch out of the area wondering why in the tarnation we bought a 18' pool and wondering why I didn't insist on a concrete pad, instead of piles of mulch. Concrete is pretty too, right?

Once the raking was done, forgetting I had already tried it, I laid out the tarp again, only to find it was still too small for the area - so off to Home Depot I went. Jill and the kids had a party to go to, so I had two hours to get this task completed. And yes, at this point, I was still thinking 2 hours was more than enough time to get the pool set up, get the water running, and be resting on the couch by the time the family arrived. My daydream was interruppted by the astounding price tag of $50 for a tarp large enough to cover our giant 18' circle! I was about ready to walk out the door, but the cheap side of me kicked in. I realized it could be $50 now or $300 later if the pool sprung a leak. As I grumbled driving home, the enjoyment of this project was slipping away.

I got back to the house, laid out the tarp and what do you know - now I had a tarp large enough to cover the area of two pools! With a "better safe than sorry" attitude, I pulled up the tarp, laid out the carpet and realized there was another problem. If I doubled up the tarp, it would be too small - that meant I had to get creative with the excess. I wish you could have seen inside my mind at that moment. I visualized the tarp tucked backed under the carpet, all the edges straight and smooth as butter (too bad we don't have a good digital camera to show you the final results - all of that money paid for this "easy" pool!). I think this was the moment that I realized getting the pool up was a neccessity - not because of my dream of having it completed, but because I had no intention of Jill or the kids seeing the incredible mess I had hiding under 5000 gallons of water.

I had to get the pool laid out. If you've every lifted one of these pools by yourself, they aren't the lightest backyard accessories available! In my infinite wisdom, I just knew that dragging it to the middle was the best idea. See where this is going? A tarp that isn't staked down DOES move when a 60 lb vinly pool is dragged across it. After two more tries, I finally realized the problem (yes, it really did take me two more tries to catch on) and hefted it to the middle before dropping it into place. At this point, I am sweating so much I feel like grabbing the kids' swim goggles so I can see clearly. I get the pool in place and begin fitting the poles together. I'm sure the neighbors (if they were still watching at this point) were rolling on the ground laughing. If I hadn't been so frustrated, I might have joined them - and charged admission to pay for the $50 tarp. Picture this.....a 34 year old man, slightly out of shape, sweat pouring down his head, putting a pole in place and running back to get another one before the first one fell over. I think there are probably 20 poles that go around the pool, so picture this happening at least 2 to 3 times per pole. It felt like an old "I Love Lucy" rerun. With the pool finally complete, I climbed in, and began to straighten out any bumps or creases. However, it seemed that when I folded the tarp back to get it to fit my smaller area, it made the metal rings that you would normally stake it down with, rest in the middle of the pool. Metal on vinyl....not a good thing! At this point, I put it out of my mind and kept on straightening (this issue will appear again - keep reading).

I still had to patch the hole that my brother-in-law's dog chewed in it during their Christmas visit. So, imgaine a sweaty man leaning over a small hole, trying to apply contact cement to a piece of vinyl that is slipping through his fingers and trying to get it on the hole before it dries. I climbed out with all the extra patch material attached to my hand (at least my hand won't leak) and made it inside just in time to dry myself off, sit on the couch, and appear completely relaxed by the time my family walked back in the door (Jill would say she thought I was dead by the way I looked - but "relaxed" has a much better ring to it).

As the kids begged to start putting the water in , I was relived to read that the patch had to dry for 12 hours before adding water. So with much ado, I blamed it on those darn patch makers and their crazy rules and settled in for the evening. After a tortuous night of sleep I awoke the next morning to a gentle nudging reminder (and a stiff back) that I would have to do something about the metal rings in the tarp before filling the pool with water. I told you those metal rings would come into play again.

So, there I was on Sunday morning, hurting all over, cutting carpet pieces that would cover a small 2 inch metal ring. After covering all the rings and straigtening back out the liner, it appeared I was on the downside of this battle. Finally, the water was running and the kids were all smiles, dreaming of playing in their pool after church and Sunday naps. I wish that was the end of the story, but unfortuantely, there are a couple more important details to help you get the full experience.

As the pool finally filled up late Sunday evening, I began hooking up the filter pump and the hoses. I pulled the safety plugs and water began filling up the hose....and drenching my legs! At first, I couldn't figure out where the water was coming from, but it didn't take me long to see a row of 5 holes in the intake hose that was watering my wondeful new $50 tarp. So off to WalMart I went to purchase new hoses for, what is now turning out to be, a sizeable investment. With new hoses intact, I added chlorine, turned on the pump and let it run.

Monday evening (Jill was working all day at the hospital), I picked the kids up from my mom's and off we went. They behaved better for me on that short trip than any I can remember recently, due to the threat that any bad bahavior would jeopardize their swim time for the evening. Before I could even get my truck unloaded, Dara was dancing aorund in her swimsuit and Dade was standing by the toilet with two legs coming out of the same leg hole of his swimsuit saying, "Daddy, I weady!" After almost an hour of wonderful fun, swimming and splashing around, we proceeded inside to get baths started, eat dinner, and wind down for the evening.

Prior to heading in, I decided to check the chemicals. After getting good results that morning, the chlorine was now almost non-existent. I decided that it would be wise to add another bag of shock and maybe a little Ph Up to help balance things out (like I really know what Ph is, much less what Ph Up does). After mommy got home and the kiddos were tucked in, I went back out to check on my project with a pride in my step, remembering the fun we just had and picturing many more evenings of pool fun before dinner, only to find a cloudy bowl of water that I couldn't even see the bottom of. So, needless to say, I left for work this morning a little disillusioned with the novelty of "Easy Set" pools and why they call them "easy" at all!

Weeds

Weeds....they just creep into everything and take over if left unattended. Several things lately have led me to analogies using weeds....just thought I'd share with ya'll.

Jill has taken such care in cultivating the flower beds around our house. My parents surprised her last June with a freshly laid lawn over our dry, dusty (and when it rains - mud pit) backyard and some new flower beds next to the house. She has taken such great care of all of it. She weeds them, waters them, and plants new life when the old life dies (just a hint.....buy at Home Depot.....they take dead plants back for up to a year). When our schedules get hectic around here, we find that the flower beds go unattended. Sure enough, these little weeds start creeping in. Still not sure where they come from, but almost overnight, they appear, which results in hours of pulling up these little stragglers. She has trained me well. About once a week, I'll stop and weed around the front steps or around the bird feeder when I get home from work.

But....sometimes I get a little ambitious and hurried and don't pay attention to what I'm doing (especially when the weed eater is in my hands). I have been known on occassion to cut down a Morning Glory or two and I think I even killed a Rose Bush once (or three times, but whose counting anyway?). It's the same with the kids. Sometimes they will get out there and "help" with the flower beds and before you know it one of our little angels is holding a flower in their hands asking "is this a weed?"

I think too often we look at things the same way. God takes us into the garden to show us all the beautiful things He has created. Sometimes we run ahead of Him and start pulling what we think are weeds, but are actually beautiful flowers waiting to bloom. Other times, we find a weed, but we don't pull it up by the roots and just rip off what's seen above the surface, without realizing these will only grow back in time.

We know we are in a weeding out process in our lives. God is preparing us for Tanzania and we have to walk patiently with Him right now. We have to turn to Him to show us where the weeds are hiding. We have to rely on His wisdom to help us determine the difference between the weeds and the flowers. We have to trust that He will guard our steps from the snakes that may be lurking under a bush. We have to know that He will give us the strength to pull the weeds of our lives out by the roots.

Walk in the garden with Him. Let Him quietly point out the rare flowers you didn't even know existed. Sit with Him while He plants the new life that He wants to see grow. Learn how to cultivate the soil that the roots will take. Watch how He waters it faithfully each day. I know "He is the potter and we are the clay," but I also like to think that He is the gardner and we are His garden!

We Know Where, Just Not When!

How excited we are to know where (more than likely) we will be spending the first two years of our time with AIM. God has confirmed to us in so many VERY unique ways, that Tanzania is where He wants us! He has used dreams, chance encounters, a night with no electricty, the opinion of many dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and a couple of slaps upside this stubborn head of mine. I think it takes longer to sink in when you don't have any hair to help it along.

Here are just a few of the questions we have either been asked by others or asked ourselves.

Q: Now that you know where you are going, when will you be leaving?
A: We don't know.....yet. While we have committed to the Tanzania TIMO team there are still many details to work out. The team leaders are still in the process of praying through some of the unreached people groups of South Tanzania to see where God would lead this team. Once that is decided, there is still much survey work to be done. All of that to say, we believe the earliest we will leave will be January 2009. There is always a chance that it could be earlier OR it could be later. As soon as we know, we will let you know.

Q: Do you have any other details about the team?
A: Not many, but we'll share what we know at this time. We know that more than likely we will be working along the coast or possibly on an island just off the coast. We know that it will be a rural team. We know the team leaders are a young couple like us (no wisecracks here - we're still young at heart) and have three young children. We know that they have spent time as missionaries in Sudan. That is about all the details we know. We'll fill you in as we learn more.

Q: How big is Tanzania?
A: Over twice as big as California with room to spare. For all of you Texans, if you took Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana and made one big state, that would be roughly the size of Tanzania.

Please continue to pray with us as God prepares us....

...pray for Reid and Sandy, our team leaders. Pray that God will give them wisdom and clarity as they try to determine where He wants to place this team. Pray that God will put His hand of protection around them and their children as they travel to Kenya in June to begin the planning stages of TIMO and to see how TIMO works first hand.
...pray for fertile soil in the hearts of the people group we will be going to. Pray that God would already begin to prepare their hearts to receive the gospel. Pray that God would begin granting us wisdom, even now, on how to reach these men, women, and children, who so desperately need a Savior.
...pray that we would be patient as we wait to find out when. Until now, we always thought we knew the timing and were waiting on the place. Now we seem to know the place and are waiting on the timing.
...pray that we would have wisdom regarding our house. We are fairly certain we will sell the house before we leave. Pray for the right timing for this and for the transition period for Dara and Dade. This is the only "home" they have known and it tends to put them on edge when we talk about moving. I guess they have always assumed that someday we would come back to our house in Texas.

Thanks to each of you who so faithfully pray for us. We could not be doing this without each of you interceeding for our family. We love you!

Waiting

Many of you have asked us, "Do you know where you are going yet?" The answer is no, but we do know where we are not going. Some of you are aware that we had previously committed to go to Nairobi as part of a TIMO team with Africa Inland Mission. The final confirmation was the departure date. We recently found out that it leaves 6 months earlier than we had hoped. With out going into great details here (many of you know the story), we knew this was God closing the door. The morning I received that email, I was heartbroken (as was Jill). While we had not yet left Texas, our hearts were already in Nairobi as we prayed for the people group we would be working with. Yet, through the sadness, we have an overwhelming peace about God's will and His wonderful, AWESOME plan for our lives. We know He has hand picked our home. We know our hearts will soon yearn for a new people group in a new country.

As we pray for His will, let us share some possible assignments with you, so you can join with us in prayer. We have learned that a team will be heading to South Sudan in July of 2008. This will be working with an unreached people group in a very rural, mountainous area. We have a very good friend, that is currently serving on another team in the same area so we have been able to see glimpses of what God is doing in that area of Sudan. Two other possibilites (although leaving later than we would like) are south Tanzania (rural) and Madagascar (urban). While we don't know many details about either team at this time we are faithfully praying for His direction. Both of these teams are estimated as a 2009 departures at this time.

Please pray....

...that we would not get so hung up on leaving in 2008, that we become blinded to His leading to one of these other teams (we have learned that 6 months in not a long time when you are trying to fit everything you need for two years, into two bags per family member).
...for our team leaders (whoever they might be), that God would work in their lives as they prepare for us and our other team members. Pray for their families. We have learned a little about the leaders for the Sudan and Tanzania teams. One couple has grown children with one young teenager still at home, while the other couple has three small children. Pray that God would lead them as they continue survey work and planning for the TIMO team.
...for the people group we will be working with and living among. Pray that their hearts would be ferile soil for God's Word. Pray that even now, God would be working on their hearts, preparing them for the harvest.
...that He would provide friends for all of us in Africa. Pray specifically that God would provide accountability partners for both of us in Africa and that He would provide friends for Dara and Dade.
...for wisdom as we continue the support raising process. We are currently at about 65% of our outgoing expenses and about 25% of our monthly target (that could change with a new assignment). Pray that God would lead us to people who are willing to partner with us financially, but more importantly in prayer.

Yes......we are waiting once again, but that has certainly been God's theme throughout this journey. In fact, on Tuesday, during our quiet times, God gave Jill verses on peace and gave me verses on patience. How fitting!!!! His will is perfect and we rest in that.

Hypocrisy

How often do you hear that word thrown around? Maybe there are Christians you know who have been offended by the hypocrisy of other believers. Maybe there are friends and family members who have distanced themselves from God due to the hypocrisy they see in the church. Maybe there are strangers that are reluctant to believe in Jesus Christ due to what they perceive as hypocrisy of the faith. I have heard this word a lot lately. It makes me sad that we as believers allow ourselves to be hypocrites in a world that is looking for answers and struggling with their eternal destination.

Hypocrisy is defined as "the false assumption of an appearance." Interstingly enough, when you look at the original greek, it is the "act of playing a part on the stage." Another definition from the greek is a "pretender." What a great illustration for us! In simple terms, it's faking it - acting a certain way or playing a part because it's what we're supposed to do.

In Matthew 7:5 and again in Luke 6:42, Jesus gives us this harsh rebuke. "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

How many of the problems caused by hypocrisy would be resolved if we followed His Word? I had a communication professor in college who taught me a principle that has stuck with me to this day. In any communication breakdown, 51% of the responsibility rests with yourself. In other words, there is always something you could have done differently to change the situation. Sounds like a biblical principle to me! If we truly remove the plank from our eye (51%) instead of focusing on the speck (49%) in other people's eyes, we might reach a resolution much quicker.

I admit that I'm a slow learner. In hindsight, I wonder how many times, God will have to teach me the same lesson over and over. And then.....I'm reminded of the Israelites and their journey out of Egypt. God parts the Red Sea and they want to complain about being abandoned. God lets Moses see His glory and they build idols. God gives them manna and they want steak. God provided in every way for them and they don't want to go fight the "giants" in their promised land. Don't we do the same thing? Think about it. I know for myself, I want to remove the times of pretending from my life and replace them with times of complete reliance on Him. What about you?

Obedience

Obedient...
...submissive to the will of another
...implies compliance with the demands or requests of one in authority
...implies a predisposition to submit readily to control or guidance

I had recently read the following quote from an article by Steve Saint regarding his dad, Nate Saint, who was martyred in Ecuador along with Jim Elliott, Pete Flemming, Roger Yoderain, and Ed McCully.

"I have trouble distinguishing what I actually "remember" of him and what I have been told. But I do know that he left me a legacy, and the challenge now is for me to pass it on to my children. Dad strove to find out what life really is. He found identity, purpose, and fulfillment in being obedient to God's call. He tried it, tested it, and committed himself to it. I know that the risk he took, which resulted in his death and consequently his separation from his family, he took not to satisfy his own need for adventure or fame, but in obedience to what he believed was God's directive to him. I suppose he is best known because he died for his faith, but the legacy he left his children was his willingness first to live for his faith."

How many of us live with an obedience that provides us the identity, purpose, and fulfillment we need for life? How many of us would put aside fame and adventure for a life of obedience? How many of us would go share our faith if death was the prerequisite to being obedient in this call on our lives?

In Every Man's Battle my favorite chapter is the one that deals with excellence versus obedience. The premise is that we can strive for excellence or obedience. If we choose excellence, then we fall short of God's standard. If we choose obedience we are choosing the life God intended for each of us.

I believe if you look at the life of Job, you will see a great example of obedience. In Job 1:1, Job is called blameless. In Job 1:8 and again in Job 2:3, God, Himself, calls Job blameless. In the original Hebrew the words used are perfect and upright. I have to believe the only way that the Creator can describe you as perfect and upright is if you are living a life of complete obedience to God. My prayer each morning is that somehow I will live my life in a way that will allow God to call me blameless. I pray that I will be obedient: to share my faith, to pray for those that I have committed to pray for daily, to live my life in a way that leaves no doubt as to who I serve, to have a listening ear to what He wants to tell me today, to spend more time with Him today than I did yesterday. What does obedeince look like to you? More importantly, what does obedience look like to God? Search His Word and find out.

A Simple Song

Throughout my life I have always been able to relate how I'm feeling to different songs I hear on the radio. Back in 7th grade, Chicago was the popular group, especially when it came to parties and dances. If you're like me, you can still sing every word to "You're The Inspiration" or "Hard Habit To Break." Lately, there have been several infomercials on TV - you might have seen them (but I'm guessing your spouse wishes you hadn't). There is one for music from the 70's and another for love songs. Jill will sit patiently with me as I sing along to each song that they play. How I remember these songs I'll never know. They have stuck with me through the years. And yet, somehow I can't remember what I'm supposed to do tomorrow! However, lately, it's not so much the music as the lyrics that impact me. I used to turn the station if the music didn't fit my mood. Now, I'll listen to what the song actually says before I change stations. There are songs that I have listened to for a long time - and now I'm hearing them for the first time (makes you wonder why you ever liked some of them!).

Now.....think of God's Word as the songs of your life. Don't stop reading it because it doesn't suit your tastes. Don't pick up another book because the guitar rifts in the middle of the song don't sound like you think they should. Concentrate as hard on memorizing God's Word as you did trying to figure out the words to "Summer of '69" back in high school. Really listen......as if you are hearing it for the first time.

In our walks, we have found that the neatest part of being in God's Word is how fresh and new it is each time we read it. If you will listen to the lyrics, you will experience the same thing. It's the simple songs from God's Word that are providing us with the patience to wait on His timing to reveal where in Africa we are going. It's the simple songs of God's Word that sustains us when the storms rage around us and the busyness of life is closing in. It's the simple songs of God's Word that keep us on the same page in our marriage and our parenting and makes both such a joy. Pray that we will continue to be in His Word daily - what a difference it makes!

Lessons From A Dog

Yesterday on the way home from the office, I heard a pastor use one of the clearest illustrations I have ever heard of the relationship we should desire with our Lord. He shared how he has a dog that clearly sees his wife as "lord" of its life. For example, he shared how the dog will wait for his wife to feed it before it will eat and how it will wait for his wife to let it out before it goes outside. He was relating the attitude of this dog to what our attitude towards God should be - that everything we do should be done because God guides us towards it, not someone or something else. I'm paraphrasing - he said it much more eloquently, but I was already late for dinner and wasn't completely concentrating.

I took this a step further the more I thought about it. What if our desire was to only do that which He asks us to do? What if instead of going out on our own, we waited on God to open the door for us? What if instead of eating junk food to ease our hunger, we waited on the feast that He is preparing for us? What if I were more like Abby (our dog) who will put up with me but jumps and dances around the house when she hears Jill's car pull in the driveway? What if I were to run towards those things God desires for me, the way Abby bounds off the steps and across the yard to greet her "master?"

I often make fun of Abby and the way she follows Jill. I get frustrated when she barks too much. I get irritated with her because she goes outside and rolls in something and smells for days. I laugh at how skittish she can be about anything that startles her. And yet.....somehow it makes sense that I should desire to be that way in my walk. I should follow God even when people make fun of me. I should "bark" the gospel to warn those who are lost of the danger ahead. I shouldn't worry if people are irritated because I don't "smell" the way they think I should smell. And, yes, I should even be skittish about those things that startle me and understand that those feelings are God's warnings to me.

I never thought I could learn so much from a dog! God always surprises us doesn't He?

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

This seems to be the theme lately - from potty training to finiding out our assignment, we are waiting. While not always easy, God is teaching us through this. I think back to college and am reminded of all the times I waited on pins and needles to see if I was going to pass a test or not. I would leave class and give the appearance that I didn't have a care in the world. However, on the inside I was wondering how another "D" would affect my GPA and how much further it would fall. I would sleep restlessly, tossing and turning, until the next day when I could go and check my grade. While I made my share of C's and D's, I would occassionaly be surprised by an A or B.

What is the point of this you ask? Well, during all the stressing about a grade, what I often failed to realize was that the grade wasn't going to change between the time I turned in my test until I saw it posted on my professor's door. Isn't that the way it is with all these "stressful" things in life as well? If we are living in obedience to God, then He has already laid out the path we must walk. I know that Dade will learn to go in the "big potty" and I know that we will find out our assignment with AIM. Sometimes I wonder how much more I could truly enjoy life if I would realize that God has taken care of the big things and the little things.

As I journey through the Bible this year, God has been reminding me that He is a God who takes care of every detail. Just this morning, I was reading how detailed God was with Moses when describing the clothes that Aaron and his son's would wear and exactly how the sacrifices needed to be handled. Isn't it neat to know that we serve a God of details, who cares about each "little" part of our lives?