Africa update...

I recieved a letter this morning from my daughter, and I think this is the best way to "update" you on my kids experience in Africa!  Enjoy!  I know I did!

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It’s me J

 I miss you all like crazy! God has been soo good to me though, and there have only been a couple times where I’ve had that sad, miserable, longing ache to be back at home IMMEDIATELY. When I had malaria it was definitely a very tough four days. I don’t think that I’ll ever forget those days of being so, so, so sick. And not just sick, but sick and laying in a dirty mud hut in the middle of absolutely nowhere!  I wouldn’t trade that time for anything, though. Because during that time God ministered to me, and I literally felt His presence stronger than I ever have in my life. He spoke to me and revealed so much to me... I don’t have enough time to explain it all by e-mail, but once I get home I will be able to tell you more about some things that happened spiritually during those four days.

 This whole trip hasn’t been like a big “spiritual high”. There has been so much testing, so many challenges. There have been some reeaallly difficult days. Days when I would end up in tears at some point.  Pure, raw tears from an overwhelmed heart. I think that before I left I had this expectation that this trip was going to be a little bit challenging, but that it was going to be so full of great emotional high points where God’s presence was always tangible, too. I was wrong. There have been many of those times where the Holy Spirit was so obviously near. But the majority of the time has been a testing, refining process. I have had to keep pressing on so many times when I so desperately want to give up. I have had to go without running water, electricity, a bed, sleep, etc.. I have had to deal with lots and lots of insects, animals where I’m trying to sleep, food that I am not familiar with, a language that I cannot understand. And the transportation…Oh my goodness!!! I have been in the back of a very tiny pickup, along with 25 other people! I have been in countless mini-buses with goats, chickens, plus 22 or 23 sweaty, filthy, smelly people!  Yet, I am so very thankful for this! I have, at least somewhat, began to seek JESUS. Not the blessings He gives, not the fuzzy feelings He gives, not comfort, not ease, not familiarity. I have tasted and found that He alone is enough. It is a glorious freedom not to be bound by anything! I don’t need a shower every day, I don’t need American food, I don’t need a bed to sleep in, I don’t need female company. Jesus is enough, and nobody can take Him away from me! Nothing can separate me from His love and His presence.

   As a white person (well…sort of white!! I have a very dark tan right now because of all the exposure I’ve had to the hot, African sun!) , I am the focus of all attention wherever I go, especially because I am a female!  There aren’t really any female missionaries at all around here. I wake up in a house with three men in it. Then I go to prayer and intercession with anywhere from 10 to 20 men. Then Bible class is taught by different men, and I am the only female there. Then we will go and talk with some of the pastor’s and have lunch with five or six more men. Then we will go home and I will be cooking dinner and find out that a few men are coming over for dinner.  In the villages women are not valued at all. Black women, that is. It’s so ingrained in their culture that at the church services, the men won’t even sit with their wives.  White women are treated like queens. This also has an advantage.  People are curious, and when I speak and teach, they listen.

  Last night we went to the church service at Kalibu. It was spectacular. The worship was just incredible! It’s hard to describe, but to hear over 500 young African students joyfully, loudly, boldly praising God with everything in them...it was great. We sang and worshipped and danced and shouted and praised God for over an hour, but it seemed like less than five minutes. Pastor Mike preached, and boy does he preach with an anointing.

   I sit here and try to cram everything that I’m learning and experiencing into a few paragraphs in an e-mail and it is not easy! I have tried, but I really can’t explain all that is going on, all that God is doing. At least not by e-mail.  

 Make sure that everyone who has supported us and is praying for us knows that we appreciate it! There have been many times where I can literally feel God’s protection and presence  and I just know that it’s the result of someone’s prayer at that moment. I’ve had this happen a few times in the middle of the night when I wake up and I am filled with the assurance that someone, somewhere is praying for me. I can’t tell you how much that means at that time.

 Tell everyone that A---- says hi! I miss you guys!! And I will be home very soon!!

I love you all!!!!!

~A----

Foto Friday

5 months old!
 Where does time go?!!
She is so fun and easy!
This morning she woke up crying but quit right away so I let her sleep.
Went in about an hour later and her leg was stuck in the crib slat and she was SOUND asleep! 
She is so easy going and simply a joy to have in our home!
Just thought I would share the love!:)

Enjoy your weekend!

Update from Africa coming next week!

This is what legends are made of!

I am loaded with thoughts today...

````Feeling melancholy`````

````My husband said today, that he feels like he is in Jericho and the walls are falling down on him````

````It has been a year without a job now````

````I want to encourage my husband````

````God is the only one who can fully do that right now````

````I am trusting that God knows everything about our situation and He ALWAYS provides````

````If He gave us everything we wanted at the time we wanted it, we would not have the ability to appreciate His faithfulness to it's fullest```

````When there are no answers, we have no one to trust but God````

````To have "faith of a child" means that when we get up in the morning, we know God is taking care of us````

````Why do we search for OUR ways, when we know that Gods way is best?````

````I am reminded that sending my kids to Africa came at just the right time for us to be reminded of God's provision````

````Our kids faith is built by watching us go through tough times and how we rely on God````
````If that is what it takes for my children to see Jesus, it is ALL worth it!````

````I hope I have been and will be a testimony to them in their future and now````

````I have realized the things I once thought I NEEDED were just comforts````

````I am so thankful for the things I do have````

````Amazing how when you have everything stripped away, the things that really matter become clearer````

````When you have the ability to not focus on self, you start to desire to serve other's more````

````That is where true joy begins to seep in and eventually overflows with abundance````

````Would I walk through this valley again?````

Yes, because it has been the greatest spiritual growing experience I have ever encountered

After all...

These stories are what legends are made of and the testimonies of how Jesus brought us through that can be passed down from generation to generation of how God loves and provides for His children!

I will continue to walk and not be shaken! 

Turning Hearts Labor Day picnic

It's a new thing, Hearts that are at home and not saturated in the world around them.  Well not really new!  But today in this culture, we have lost all sense of a biblical pattern in our homes.  Even Christians!   Inch by inch, we have suffered the lack of true bible based living.  It starts with small, subtle decisions and before we know it, (or don't know it) we are so far gone, that we don't know how to get back.  The scary part is, some don't even know they are living a luke-warm life.  It has become the norm!  (I'm one that used to be in that category!)

There is a big calling by God to bring families back to where we need to be.  Well, actually, it's always been His plan to have it His way.  But somewhere down the line between feminism and mega churches, we have gotten lost!  But  He is calling us back to live our lives totally surrendered, with NO compromise, to Christ in every area!  Income, children, marriage, schooling, churching, and just plain living!  No more compromise!  No more just coasting through and being desensitized to the truth!  Easy?  NO!  Where do we start?  The one true thing there is left in this world, the BIBLE!  What a great joy to see families surrendering their lives and making a decision to go the opposite direction of the culture and seek their heavenly Father's face! 

We took part, this past Labor Day, in a beautiful display of people desiring to bring families back to truth!  Hundreds of people took part!  The Bates family, from Knoxville, Tennesee (friends of the Duggar family), were the guest speakers.  We had hayrides, looked at cattle (we are city folk so that is an amazing thing for 7 boys!), played games, ate, and learned more about how to seek God in a world that is lost and how to bring others to this joyful way of living, family style!  A life surrendered to the living God and living it out so other's see His glory!  How cool is that!

 Cooler than 2 city boys watching the cows do what ever they do!

 Cooler than even playing football with over a hundred kids!

 And believe it or not, cooler than The Bates Family with their 18 children :)

This is my little guy on the hay ride

 Hangin' out on the fence watching the cows get milked

(remember, we are city people!  Not sure if that is the correct wording!)

we got to touch home-grown gourds

And can't forget this sweet little thing to remind us what family is all about!

Please make sure you are Turning YOUR hearts towards Home!  God will do amazing things when you step out in faith and trust Him!

Malaria...

This sweet daughter of mine had quite a rough week in the villages of Africa! 

We called our son to chat Friday because he would have reception and he told us she was sick and that they thought it was Malaria!  YES, Malaria! "But don't worry mom, it is VERY common around here!" Yeah, sure okay son! I will just go about my business with a smile on my face and know that all will be okay! HA!

They had the immuniztation but that it is not a sure proof they would not get it!  I then talked to her and she said even her bones ached. She had never felt so miserable! And then to add to the problem of being sick, she was thousands of miles and an ocean away from home! As she was laying on her "mattress" in one of the villages, 2 mice scurried across her floor and then a goat, chicken and dog entered her "home". She then decided to get up and close the "door" to get some relief! (Not quite the same as home!)  Maybe some brothers and sisters to contend with, but hopefully their breath would be a touch more bearable! :)

Yes, my heart hurt terribly, when she said she wanted to come home!  How she wished she could lay her head on my lap!  Where does a mother go with that when there is NO possible way to even come close to being able to do that!  Well, God is where I went!  I asked Him to hold her, keep His eye on her, and help her to know that she is taken care of!  When her tears sting her face because she wants to be in HER bed and in HER room with her head on MY lap, I asked God to PLEASE be her peace and comfort!  When she is overwhelmed, remind her that there is a rock who is higher than her!

I was sure that fear thing I struggle so much with, would creep back in and rear it's ugly head!  Guess what?  It didn't!  I continued to be reminded how He has cared for them already and His hand is upon them!  I must remember that always!  Oh how I LONGED to be with her and sit with her and pray over her to be healed...but God reminded me that His hands are stronger and yet even more gentle than mine and I can STILL pray for her healing!  So...I did!  I prayed all day that as she slept she would wake up and be able to walk and preach and do all that God had planned for her. 

Well, the text I received early this morning, said, "Mom, she is almost all better!  She woke up feeling strong and able to go on with all that we have planned for the day!"  Just another story in their journey to Africa!  God has done so much and now a testimony of healing!  To Him I give glory for raising my child out of her sick bed and I am reminded that He has plans to prosper her, to give her a hope and a future! 

Today, she and her brother are at a lodge on Lake Malawi.  Some time to enjoy the beauty of Africa and relax after being in the villages for a week.  Next week, they will be meeting with 800 and some high school kids to tell them about Jesus!  Pray for them and I will share more as it comes in! 

God is SO very good!

Foto Friday~ final days of summer

From the temperature outside,
It feels like summer is just beginning!

That is good for some end of the summer, pool fun!

I remember being a kid and it seems like the summer went SO fast!

Nothing has changed!

Even though I am a "winter" lover,

and can't wait for it to get here,

I can't help but feel a tug at my heart that the memories we have made are now considered the past and another summer is on the brink of ending!

Sweet times with lots of things to look forward too in the coming fall!

Many new changes on our horizon as we wave good-bye to summer 2011!

Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!

Dedicated

Just as Hannah did to Samuel years and years ago,
3 weeks ago we dedicated out little bundle of sweetness back to God!
(Since my older kids left for Africa, I have truly realized the sacredness of this act to God!)

This is what I wrote to her and read a loud at her dedication:

My dear sweet child, you have been given to us by God. 
You are a blessing and a true JOY! 
When God brought us down this journey of allowing Him to choose our family size, we NEVER dreamed He would send 12 blessings to us! 
I am SO thankful that we choose HIS plan for us.
 For that reason, you are in our arms! 
 I know He has a perfect plan for your life and we will do all that we can to raise you up and train you in the ways of Jesus. 
 We give you to Him because we know you are a gift to us but not ours! 
You are His! 
 For that I am truly thankful.
  He is a perfect parent.
  When we fail you, He will not! 
 Look to Him for everything. 
 He will never let you down and He will never let you go! 
We love you precious girl! 

Not many pictures of just mom, dad and her!

The entire gang!  God is sooooo very good! 

"Fear Not..."

I sit here tonight amazed at the road I have been on!  I cannot believe where I have come from!  If you have known me or read my blog for very long, you know that I have battled fear.  The kind that cripples.  The kind that influenced most of my decisions in my life.  Sadly to say, in a not so great way!  From the time my head hits the pillow at night to the time I lift it up in the morning, fear always surrounded me.  I have suffered many losses in my life in the past, maybe that is why.  But for whatever reason, I lived in it.  Worried of fires in the middle of night and that I would not be able to save my children, to my husband dying on the way to work!  And ALL the in betweens!  So for me to send my two oldest children to Africa was a miracle in itself!  God started small.  First it took faith to even think of them going.  Then it took more faith to continue to watch them buy the tickets, to getting all of the rest of the money to go then sending them away on the plane in Chicago!   I was really strong!  Until...

...I said goodbye to them as they left me at the security gate at the airport!  2 kids who had never even been IN an airport to now flying by themselves half-way around the world!  How do I give up control in that way?  How do I rest in the reality that I cannot take care of them?  How do I REALLY give it up and let God take care of them?  Is it really possible!  For days, not so much!  I had the fear that did not allow me to sleep at nights.  The fear that had me pull over in a parking lot to cry for a bit just because I had to let it out somehow!  I really felt like sometimes, I was in a dream!  A night-mare really!  So, at some point I knew that I had to let go!  They were thousands of miles and an ocean away so what really was it doing for me to fear?  AHHH, maybe just maybe, this is the point God was trying to show me my entire life!  Whether it is a fire I fear, my husband being killed in a car accident, or my children half a world away, I CANNOT control it anyway, so why do I even try!  It hit me hard!  Then I got it!  I can trust God!  Not that anything bad will never happen, but even if it does, I am in His hands!  I obey and have faith and He takes care of the facts!  A spiritual light bulb moment!  It took this long for me to get to where He has wanted me to be for years!  He is God and I am not!  So I no longer need to fear!  I have such peace!  A faith and rest that I have never known before!  I said to my mom today, "I feel like I have grown up!"  I used to feel like a small child scared of the dark, everyday of my life!  Now, I am walking in His light and feel like with Him, ALL things are possible because HE is in charge, not me! 

I talked to my daughter today and they are doing so well!  They have climbed a mountain, and gone horseback riding on the African terrain.  They are studying the word of God like never before and feeding others His word because of it!  They will be in the villages all week this week!  No comforts!  A tent, no electricity, plumbing, showers, or "normal" food!  They are preaching and teaching 3 times a day to people who have no bibles because they do not have any in their language yet.  People who are SO hungry for the word of God that they don't care about blessings or heaven!  People who are just SO desperate to hear the words of God because they KNOW that it casts out all fear and if they can just hear it, they find comfort!  My daughter said that the holy spirit is SO thick in the villages because there are no hindrances!  No clocks, TV's, meal-times, toys, malls or ANYTHING that gets in the way!  Villagers who are so HUNGRY to hear the word of God that they sit for as long as they can at my children's feet just to get a taste of JESUS!  My children have given up all their comforts to tell other's of Him, and God in His grace, has allowed me to "give up" my children so they can reach those who need Him!  No glory in it for us, just proof of how God works in you if you allow Him to!  Obedience is not easy, but ALWAYS worth it!

I am for the first time in my life, free of fear!  If I can send my most valued thing on earth, to Africa and leave them in God's hands, I know I can leave EVERYTHING in God's hands!  Even my husband driving to work in the mornings!  (Now if he would just get a job!)  Oh yeah, I can EVEN leave that in His hands and no longer worry about that either!  What freedom there is when we choose obedience over our ways! 

My children's journey to Africa is almost half-way through now and this week, I will have very little contact with them, if any.  So I may catch up a bit on the other things that have happened around our home!  Stay with me and stay tuned!  Oh and remember, do not fear anything!  God has His hand over every one of our situations He is in charge!  Rest in that!