March Madness!

What a month March has been! March Madness indeed! I am happy to report that our fundraising efforts are going great! We are blessed by our Church! Crete Berean is an amazing body of believers and we are thrilled to be a part of the congregation, overjoyed to know people so passionate about missions!

April will bring lots of meetings with people in the congregation, and we are so excited to really kick off our fundraising within the body!! How amazing it is to me, a girl who grew up not really knowing much about missions, not really being involved in international missions, now being a girl all about it! The journey, looking back.. absolutely takes my breath away! How God would ever want to use someone like me to reach those lost in Italy... I am so humbled and so giddy all at the same time! It's a weird combo of emotions and thoughts as I think about all that missions means to me and all that God did in order to get me here to this point... for such a time as this!

I want to share a really cool thing that happened to me today. I was sending out some Facebook messages to friends and I sent one to a guy who means a lot to me. Someone who's known me for like ever and who is always honest about what he's thinking. Something I greatly appreciate! I wrote him to ask about giving to us monthly and wanting to get together again and he replied in his honest manner and I don't think he even knows how much the words he wrote blessed my heart and made my day! Here's what he said.. in a nutshell..

"If it was anyone else it would be an immediate "NO". I know you guys believe you are going to change peoples lives over there. I have to think about it."

This really honest response absolutely blessed my heart. It encouraged me! It made me stop and pray and thank God for people who are willing to think about it, who are willing to consider coming along side us. We need people to do that! We need more senders, we are praying that God would have us at 50% funded by August. We believe that we will be and maybe even higher than 50%!! Pray for us as we continue on, pray for strength, health, and daily growth in Him!

I'm awake...

Eva Gonzalès Morning Awakening -"Le reveil" 1876 Paris

I don't know if you've had nights like the one I had last night, but I bet you probably have. It's the kind of night where you go to bed super tired, and are anticipating sleeping in!! But, something seems to stir you and you wake up extra early, and think.. what? why am I awake at 5am? The strange thing is, Michael woke up about the same time I did, and I turned to him and said, "Why did God wake us up? Do you want to pray together?" Well, if you know my hubby, he is so not a morning person! But he nodded and we prayed.. silently.. it was this amazing moment, where we normally pray together out loud, we decided to just pray quietly in our own hearts together.. It was great, we each just went through whatever God was placing on our hearts and minds and then rolled over about a half hour later and tried to go back to sleep.. which wasn't very successful, but we did rest..

I remember the dream I was having before I woke up, it was about a young boy, who was alone, he was drinking a bottle of Tylenol... and I walked into the room and found him, I remember feeling so scared about why he was alone and why he was taking a whole bottle of medication... and when I woke, I prayed for him, I don't know if he was a real child or not, but I prayed for all the children who are alone, who are hurting, who are self medicating their pain, and my heart was torn, broken for all those lost...

I also prayed for each member of our team, I prayed that God would give them peace today, that he would multiply their funding, and that he would bring unity.

These were the things that God has been pressing on me about, it was also funny how I heard each of my neighbors leave this morning, and I had a chance to pray for their days as well... it was not the morning I had envisioned when I went to bed last night, but it was better, because it was His plan for my morning!!

Changes

I really love change! So, I guess it's a good thing that I'm a missionary...because that's the bulk of what missions requires. Changing your life completely, selling or giving away all your stuff, moving to a place where you don't speak the language; which requires you to change yours, changing your time zone, changing your diet, etc..

So, if you follow me regularly on this blogging journey, you will see that I've changed the look of my blog. (Thanks to Nicole!) Isn't it great!! Now, I am looking around my house and thinking about all the fun changes that Spring brings to my house... hmmm thinking I'm going to go change some things! :)

It's a New Day!

Just wanted to share the sentiment on my heart today; It's a New Day! Praise God for His mercies that are new every morning! I am feeling clarity and direction today! I am feeling renewed and ready! I have taken heart, that Christ has overcome the world! Woo! Though the sorrow may last for the night, His joy comes in the morning!! Thankful this day for how scripture ministers! I have this song stuck in my head and just last night my daughter Faith said to me, "I think God talks to me a lot through songs." She was telling me how she felt Holy Spirit tugging on her heart when a particular song was stuck in her head. I agree with her, I think that God uses so many ways to woo us back to Him... and today I want to share the song that is stuck in my head.

unraveled

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel as though I am wound up so tightly. I watch the world around me spinning me around and around and suddenly find myself all wrapped up. Satan has a way of creating moments that utterly spin me upside down and begging for this wicked ride to stop!

I've had one of those weeks, where the troubles have come. However, I've found my bearings and laid the mess and tangles at the feet of Jesus. Where only He can unravel the knots and frayed areas of my heart strings. I am empty, I am tired, I am HIS! I have run to my Savior and cried and given Him it all...

I don't know what the path ahead looks like.. there is a lot of uncertainty right now, but I am resting in the knowledge that God is for the good of me.. I will follow Him wherever He leads. Trusting God with open hands and an open heart...Unravel me Lord and fill me with your peace!!

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thankful Thursday

Blessings this week. In no particular order. :)

Children

Authentic Relationships

Beth Moore Bible Study

Lunch with girlfriends

Spring weather

Time carved out for date with my hubby

Quiet time with Jesus

Corporate worship

Prayer time with teens

Family

Green Donuts

Christian School

Encouraging givers

Women's ministry

Naps

Girl Scout Cookies

Unconditional Love

Missions

Hearing

Okay, so about eight days ago, I had this intense earache at about 2am where I was in tears from the pain. Come to find out at my Dr. the next day I had a severe ear infection that caused my eardrum to rupture and tear... ouch!! And what comes along with that, is loss of hearing. I have no hearing in my left ear, it makes it incredibly difficult to hear anyone, I forget sometimes just how difficult this really is. If there is any background noise, I can not hardly make out what the person speaking to me is saying, unless I concentrate very hard. It's made speaking on the phone at times difficult, I found out tonight that using the phone while in a car is nearly impossible!

So, while I patiently wait to regain my hearing to full capacity... would you please pray that my hearing returns quickly! I am such a communicator by nature and wow, it's hard to do in most situations now without a lot of concentration... my poor right ear is trying to filter and sometimes the ringing in the left ear causes it to just be too much. I find myself a bit frustrated, but mostly it has reminded me how important hearing is.

God so wants to hear from me, He loves being with me, He wants to hear my voice.... I have felt so encouraged by and lifted up by girlfriends lately, women who listen, and hear my heart and whose voices I feel so immensely blessed by. Praising God for that, for giving me those relationships! A girlfriend just encouraged me with Isaiah 61:1-4! Reminding me of God's favor and His calling on my life! What a rich blessing it is to have people know your heart and more importantly women who are seeking after God's and walking shoulder to shoulder with you in your walk with Jesus!

While I am planning and preparing for the Women's Retreat coming up in April, I look forward to gathering with the women of our congregation and also women from other congregations! As we focus on "Finding Sanctuary"! So excited to see what God has in store!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday night around 11 o'clock pm and I figured, better late than never!

Today was an amazing Thursday!

Lincoln Christian Boys won their first round game at State Basketball!

Faith got to hang out with her friend Hannah, they played lots of Rock Band!

Kids had play practice tonight, so I had a few hours of quiet time!

Michael switched his work schedule, so that he can go with us to the basketball game tomorrow!

I so enjoy the activities that go along with school for the kids! Enjoying all the moments that we have while we are here in the States. Remembering that these "typical" weeks will look much different in about fourteen months. Life is so much fun!

Home is where the heart is

This word evokes so many emotions. I have been home bound the last couple of days due to not feeling well. I've been struggling mostly with a sore throat, that somehow turned into an ear infection and a ruptured eardrum. boo. I have been nestled fairly comfortable on the couch most days and have tried to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Which is why I am thinking all about what home is.

Home is family. I think that's the best way to sum it up. I think location has become less important to me over time, I have processed through and let go of some of my previous thoughts on what it requires to call somewhere home. God has been working on my heart. Showing me where I had been led astray and required falsely things that I thought made up "home". I am leaving my homeland in about fourteen months, leaving all the familiar things I've known. However, home goes with me, my husband and our children.

Rome, Italy

Michael is 34!!

Celebrating Michael's birthday today! He is a man who really doesn't like cake all that much so I had a great idea... I would buy his favorite candy instead! I used our cupcake tier and filled cupcake liners with the candy. I plan to post some pics later! I think he'll be pleasantly surprised! Although, since the rest of the family loves cake, I baked a wonderful chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.. what's a birthday without cake? :)

I am so thankful for Michael! I love celebrating birthdays! I hope he feels special today and that he knows how very much he is loved!