Nine.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sadly, this is my life.....
Nine.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Our Story - Part 9
(Before starting this installment, I must apologize. I promised that I would write a little about our story each Friday. But, that is not happening. Obviously, since today is Monday. So, instead of always falling short, I'm just going to say that I will write the next part when I can. Sometimes, I just don't have time to think it through and sit down and write a lot. So, I will do it when I can. OK, here goes part 9)
For parts 1-8, click here and scroll down.
Our family moved to Abilene in May of 2001. Our training and internship with Continent of Great Cities started in June. We got settled into a little apartment, found a babysitter for the kids, and started taking portuguese classes.
I thought that I would be pretty good at learning a new language. I "planned" to be fluent in portuguese by the end of the summer. (Obviously, I had never learned a foreign language before and had enormous, unrealistic fantasies of my capacity to learn!). Our first day of portuguese class, our teacher, Dr. Robert Brown, walked in and started singing a song to us in portuguese. Suddenly, my fantasies came down to reality pretty quick. It sounded like he was speaking moon-talk. NONE of it sounded like anything I knew or had ever heard before. I quickly realized that learning this language was going to be a long road. But, nonetheless, being the "student at heart" that I am, I was looking forward to learning. I knew that, even though it would take time, this was something I could do.
On our first Sunday at church in Abilene, I stupidly left my purse under the seat in our car. The purse was "hidden", but with the long black handles sticking out. We parked in a little alley near the church building, and during church, someone broke our window out and stole my purse. What? Were we not in Grenada, Mississippi anymore?? I was pretty upset, but our teammates and our family rallied around us, encouraged us, and we made it through. Sadly, Kevin's passport was in my purse, so we had to get a new one - unnecessary trouble, but not impossible.
We were taking our portuguese classes and other training classes and everything was going along smoothly. We were still looking for a sponsoring church, but other than that, things were going well.
Then, we took a survey trip to Brazil at the beginning of August. Besides an anniversary trip to Cancun, I had never been out of the country, and although I didn't want to believe it, was pretty sheltered in my southern U.S. life up to this point. We arrived in Brazil in the northern city of Fortaleza. A beautiful beach town. My first impression was that it was ugly. There was grafitti on the buildings and shards of glass sticking up on the walls to keep intruders out. Every window was covered with bars. Not pretty. I started to get a little stomach ache.
We had fun in Fortaleza at the beach, and then took off for Rio. HUGE city with GIGANTIC slums and tons of traffic. My stomach ache turned to literal fear. I did not think that I could do this.
Besides the change in surroundings, there was change in food. Everything, except McDonalds, tasted weird. I was eating different food all the time, and let's just say my digestive system kind of quit working. Bronwyn and Ansley were with us on the trip, and we would go out to eat late at night (like Brazilians do) and they would be falling asleep at the table. We would all stay up late, and then in the morning all the city noises would wake us up early. Well, not really early - our normal time to get up, but we were staying up a lot later. Then, in the afternoon, everyone else on the team would take a long nap. I couldn't take a nap. I'm not really a nap taker, and when I laid down, my mind wouldn't turn off, so no sleeping for me. So a few days into our trip and I was physically kind of messed up.
After Rio, we went to Curitiba - one of the nicest Brazilian cities. My fear eased off a little and I began to have hope that maybe I actually could do this. Then on to Porto Alegre - where we visited car stores, apartments, furniture stores, schools, tourist spots - in a 7 day whirlwind. By the time we were finishing up in Porto Alegre, I was totally exhausted, feeling bad, and completely SICK of Brazil. I remember that they took us to a Brazilian churrascaria (steak-house), and the meat served on a spear, the loud Brazilian music, the people sitting around talking and laughing in portuguese just got to me. I thought, "I hate this place. I hate their food, their music, their language - everything." I just started to cry sitting there at the table in the restaurant. Ugh.
I was so ready to go home. It was three and half weeks of struggle for me, with a few fun times thrown in to keep me from truly going insane.
When we got back, I questioned myself about whether I could really do this or not. Looking back now, I realize that it was just complete culture shock to my system, but at the time, it was hard. Would I ever be able to be happy there? My confidence and assurance of God's calling was shattered.
One of the books that meant a lot to us during this time was, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. Ortberg compares Peter walking on water to us stepping out in faith to do what God calls us to do. This book encouraged us in our "step of faith" to actually leave home and join the mission team. After our survey trip, I picked up this book again and focused on the part when he talks about Peter taking his eyes off of Jesus because the winds came. He said in all walks of faith, the winds will come. Winds of doubt, discouragement, culture shock, yucky food, stomach aches, digestive troubles, glass shards, and exhaustion. When the winds come, we have to keep our eyes on the one who called us.
So that's what we did. We just kept going.
For parts 1-8, click here and scroll down.
Our family moved to Abilene in May of 2001. Our training and internship with Continent of Great Cities started in June. We got settled into a little apartment, found a babysitter for the kids, and started taking portuguese classes.
I thought that I would be pretty good at learning a new language. I "planned" to be fluent in portuguese by the end of the summer. (Obviously, I had never learned a foreign language before and had enormous, unrealistic fantasies of my capacity to learn!). Our first day of portuguese class, our teacher, Dr. Robert Brown, walked in and started singing a song to us in portuguese. Suddenly, my fantasies came down to reality pretty quick. It sounded like he was speaking moon-talk. NONE of it sounded like anything I knew or had ever heard before. I quickly realized that learning this language was going to be a long road. But, nonetheless, being the "student at heart" that I am, I was looking forward to learning. I knew that, even though it would take time, this was something I could do.
On our first Sunday at church in Abilene, I stupidly left my purse under the seat in our car. The purse was "hidden", but with the long black handles sticking out. We parked in a little alley near the church building, and during church, someone broke our window out and stole my purse. What? Were we not in Grenada, Mississippi anymore?? I was pretty upset, but our teammates and our family rallied around us, encouraged us, and we made it through. Sadly, Kevin's passport was in my purse, so we had to get a new one - unnecessary trouble, but not impossible.
We were taking our portuguese classes and other training classes and everything was going along smoothly. We were still looking for a sponsoring church, but other than that, things were going well.
Then, we took a survey trip to Brazil at the beginning of August. Besides an anniversary trip to Cancun, I had never been out of the country, and although I didn't want to believe it, was pretty sheltered in my southern U.S. life up to this point. We arrived in Brazil in the northern city of Fortaleza. A beautiful beach town. My first impression was that it was ugly. There was grafitti on the buildings and shards of glass sticking up on the walls to keep intruders out. Every window was covered with bars. Not pretty. I started to get a little stomach ache.
We had fun in Fortaleza at the beach, and then took off for Rio. HUGE city with GIGANTIC slums and tons of traffic. My stomach ache turned to literal fear. I did not think that I could do this.
Besides the change in surroundings, there was change in food. Everything, except McDonalds, tasted weird. I was eating different food all the time, and let's just say my digestive system kind of quit working. Bronwyn and Ansley were with us on the trip, and we would go out to eat late at night (like Brazilians do) and they would be falling asleep at the table. We would all stay up late, and then in the morning all the city noises would wake us up early. Well, not really early - our normal time to get up, but we were staying up a lot later. Then, in the afternoon, everyone else on the team would take a long nap. I couldn't take a nap. I'm not really a nap taker, and when I laid down, my mind wouldn't turn off, so no sleeping for me. So a few days into our trip and I was physically kind of messed up.
After Rio, we went to Curitiba - one of the nicest Brazilian cities. My fear eased off a little and I began to have hope that maybe I actually could do this. Then on to Porto Alegre - where we visited car stores, apartments, furniture stores, schools, tourist spots - in a 7 day whirlwind. By the time we were finishing up in Porto Alegre, I was totally exhausted, feeling bad, and completely SICK of Brazil. I remember that they took us to a Brazilian churrascaria (steak-house), and the meat served on a spear, the loud Brazilian music, the people sitting around talking and laughing in portuguese just got to me. I thought, "I hate this place. I hate their food, their music, their language - everything." I just started to cry sitting there at the table in the restaurant. Ugh.
I was so ready to go home. It was three and half weeks of struggle for me, with a few fun times thrown in to keep me from truly going insane.
When we got back, I questioned myself about whether I could really do this or not. Looking back now, I realize that it was just complete culture shock to my system, but at the time, it was hard. Would I ever be able to be happy there? My confidence and assurance of God's calling was shattered.
One of the books that meant a lot to us during this time was, If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. Ortberg compares Peter walking on water to us stepping out in faith to do what God calls us to do. This book encouraged us in our "step of faith" to actually leave home and join the mission team. After our survey trip, I picked up this book again and focused on the part when he talks about Peter taking his eyes off of Jesus because the winds came. He said in all walks of faith, the winds will come. Winds of doubt, discouragement, culture shock, yucky food, stomach aches, digestive troubles, glass shards, and exhaustion. When the winds come, we have to keep our eyes on the one who called us.
So that's what we did. We just kept going.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Owl Pillow and Eggimals
In February, I bought these pillows at the grocery store for about $7.00 (US $). I liked the bright colors, the zippered covers, and the price.
I had in mind to decorate them for kids' birthday gifts. Carys was invited to a birthday party today, so here is what I came up with to decorate this pillow for her gift.
I think it turned out pretty cute, and it was fun to make.
Carys wanted to do some Easter crafts last week, so she found this idea, and here is what we came up with .
The sheep is my favorite. She made up that idea herself.
That's all for now!
I had in mind to decorate them for kids' birthday gifts. Carys was invited to a birthday party today, so here is what I came up with to decorate this pillow for her gift.
I think it turned out pretty cute, and it was fun to make.
Carys wanted to do some Easter crafts last week, so she found this idea, and here is what we came up with .
That's all for now!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Some Recommendations
1. For Missionary Girls:
Before I became a missionary, I had never used a food processor in my life. Before I left for Brazil, someone told me that I should get a food processor because I would use it a lot. I was skeptical and didn't want to spend any extra money, but my mother-in-law had one waaaay in the back of her cabinet that she got years ago. She offered it to me and I took it. Well, I used it a lot. Here I make so many things from scratch I use a food processor a lot. I use it to make homemade salsa, grate cheese, cut vegetables, mix dough, make muffins, grate carrots, slice vegetables, and even more.
After several good years of use, the old food processor she had given me broke. One of the plastic pieces just broke and it couldn't be fixed. I decided that it was time to buy a new one. So when I was on furlough last year, I spent some of my Christmas money buying this one:
It is General Electric from Walmart. It costs around $50.
After a few uses, the disc that grates or slices broke. Sadness. Then some other little pieces broke and now it doesn't work at all. So, don't buy this one.
I ordered this one from Amazon, and my in-laws just brought it to me.
It costs more, but so far it is worth it. It seems to be so much more well-made. Using it is like driving a Cadillac when you were driving a VW bug. (A little food processor analogy for you.) I did a little search on the internet, and Cuisinart was the highest rated brand of food processors. It is worth it to spend a little more, because you can't run down to Walmart and return a broken one or even get replacement parts.
The moral of this long story is.....if you are moving to another country, consider buying a food processor and don't skimp. Buy a good one. (Same thing for stand mixers.)
2. For Moms in General:
You know when your baby gets diaper rash? And it's the kind of diaper rash that is really red and sore? This kind of diaper rash is caused from what I call "acid poop". Their poop just burns their skin for some reason and it is very sore. The last thing a baby wants is for you to be touching their sore, raw bottom. So, it is difficult to put on creams, especially when they are thick and goopy, because the baby is crying and hurting.
Years ago, I discovered that medicated powder is just the thing for this. I used to use another brand, but can't find it anymore. I found this kind at Wal-mart:
It has worked great. When Giovanni is fussing because his bottom hurts, I clean it as quickly as possible and toss on some powder. By the next diaper change, he is all better.
So, get some medicated powder for that acid poop. Your baby will thank you.
Before I became a missionary, I had never used a food processor in my life. Before I left for Brazil, someone told me that I should get a food processor because I would use it a lot. I was skeptical and didn't want to spend any extra money, but my mother-in-law had one waaaay in the back of her cabinet that she got years ago. She offered it to me and I took it. Well, I used it a lot. Here I make so many things from scratch I use a food processor a lot. I use it to make homemade salsa, grate cheese, cut vegetables, mix dough, make muffins, grate carrots, slice vegetables, and even more.
After several good years of use, the old food processor she had given me broke. One of the plastic pieces just broke and it couldn't be fixed. I decided that it was time to buy a new one. So when I was on furlough last year, I spent some of my Christmas money buying this one:
It is General Electric from Walmart. It costs around $50.
After a few uses, the disc that grates or slices broke. Sadness. Then some other little pieces broke and now it doesn't work at all. So, don't buy this one.
I ordered this one from Amazon, and my in-laws just brought it to me.
It costs more, but so far it is worth it. It seems to be so much more well-made. Using it is like driving a Cadillac when you were driving a VW bug. (A little food processor analogy for you.) I did a little search on the internet, and Cuisinart was the highest rated brand of food processors. It is worth it to spend a little more, because you can't run down to Walmart and return a broken one or even get replacement parts.
The moral of this long story is.....if you are moving to another country, consider buying a food processor and don't skimp. Buy a good one. (Same thing for stand mixers.)
2. For Moms in General:
You know when your baby gets diaper rash? And it's the kind of diaper rash that is really red and sore? This kind of diaper rash is caused from what I call "acid poop". Their poop just burns their skin for some reason and it is very sore. The last thing a baby wants is for you to be touching their sore, raw bottom. So, it is difficult to put on creams, especially when they are thick and goopy, because the baby is crying and hurting.
Years ago, I discovered that medicated powder is just the thing for this. I used to use another brand, but can't find it anymore. I found this kind at Wal-mart:
It has worked great. When Giovanni is fussing because his bottom hurts, I clean it as quickly as possible and toss on some powder. By the next diaper change, he is all better.
So, get some medicated powder for that acid poop. Your baby will thank you.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Capitão Cueca (Captain Underpants)
Just so you know, Anderson does own clothes.
It was really hot this summer, so he preferred to live in his underwear. Only.
It's not that hot anymore, in fact it is getting kind of cool.
Yet, he comes home from school and within 2 minutes, he is stripping down.
Captain Underpants.
It was really hot this summer, so he preferred to live in his underwear. Only.
It's not that hot anymore, in fact it is getting kind of cool.
Yet, he comes home from school and within 2 minutes, he is stripping down.
Captain Underpants.
(I wonder how much longer I can get away with showing pictures of him in his underwear on the world wide web??)
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 3, 2004
On this day, one of the two best surprises of my life was born. (My first son, Garrett, being the other one.) My husband and my daughter have already said some wonderful things about him on their blogs. He brings all of us lots of joy.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to give a little counsel to mothers of more than one, a few, several, lots of kids. Don't think that just because you have given birth one, two, three, four times before that you know everything.
When I was pregnant with Anderson, my 5th baby, I knew everything. I knew all the signs of labor, all the intricacies of pregnancy and what my body did during childbirth. I was experienced. Confident. Well-informed. An old pro.
So, when I was 9 months pregnant, all that knowledge and experience paid off. I clearly knew what was going on....
We had just moved into a new house and had ordered kitchen cabinets. They weren't ready when we moved in, but they were installed on April 2nd. So, some of my friends came over to help me put all of the kitchen items away in the new cabinets. I tried to help out, too. But wasn't feeling too well. In fact, I remember saying, "Girls, I'm sorry that I'm not helping very much, but every time I stand up and move, my stomach knots up."
Later that night, my friend, Tessa, and I went to the mall to get some groceries and supper. The only thing I felt like eating was a baked potato. Then I went to the grocery store, but as I roamed the aisles with my shopping cart, I had to stop a few times because my stomach was knotting up in pain.
I then came home and fell asleep on the couch. Woke up, went upstairs and told my husband that I was having contractions. "I know it's not the real thing yet," I said.
We got into bed. I had a contraction, then 5 minutes later, another. "It will stop, " I said. "If it doesn't, I'll get up and take a warm bath. Then it will stop."
Then my water broke. Then horrible pains came. Then 2 hours later, I was a mom again.
This whole day, with pains and contractions, and the first time I even suspected that it was time, was when my water broke. And I had 4 other kids.
Why the dumbness?
I was carrying Anderson really high. He hadn't dropped at all. He was right up under my ribs. I just knew that he would have to drop first, then I would be ready.
Days later when I arrived home from the hospital with my new baby boy, I found this information on babycenter.com.
It's impossible to say precisely when your baby will "drop" or descend into your pelvis, because every pregnancy is unique. If this is your first baby, this process, which is also called lightening, is likely to occur several weeks before labor begins, though it may happen later. For subsequent pregnancies, lightening often doesn't occur before labor starts.
Oh.
Anyway, it was all for a good cause. This little guy has always been full of surprises.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to give a little counsel to mothers of more than one, a few, several, lots of kids. Don't think that just because you have given birth one, two, three, four times before that you know everything.
When I was pregnant with Anderson, my 5th baby, I knew everything. I knew all the signs of labor, all the intricacies of pregnancy and what my body did during childbirth. I was experienced. Confident. Well-informed. An old pro.
So, when I was 9 months pregnant, all that knowledge and experience paid off. I clearly knew what was going on....
We had just moved into a new house and had ordered kitchen cabinets. They weren't ready when we moved in, but they were installed on April 2nd. So, some of my friends came over to help me put all of the kitchen items away in the new cabinets. I tried to help out, too. But wasn't feeling too well. In fact, I remember saying, "Girls, I'm sorry that I'm not helping very much, but every time I stand up and move, my stomach knots up."
Later that night, my friend, Tessa, and I went to the mall to get some groceries and supper. The only thing I felt like eating was a baked potato. Then I went to the grocery store, but as I roamed the aisles with my shopping cart, I had to stop a few times because my stomach was knotting up in pain.
I then came home and fell asleep on the couch. Woke up, went upstairs and told my husband that I was having contractions. "I know it's not the real thing yet," I said.
We got into bed. I had a contraction, then 5 minutes later, another. "It will stop, " I said. "If it doesn't, I'll get up and take a warm bath. Then it will stop."
Then my water broke. Then horrible pains came. Then 2 hours later, I was a mom again.
This whole day, with pains and contractions, and the first time I even suspected that it was time, was when my water broke. And I had 4 other kids.
Why the dumbness?
I was carrying Anderson really high. He hadn't dropped at all. He was right up under my ribs. I just knew that he would have to drop first, then I would be ready.
Days later when I arrived home from the hospital with my new baby boy, I found this information on babycenter.com.
It's impossible to say precisely when your baby will "drop" or descend into your pelvis, because every pregnancy is unique. If this is your first baby, this process, which is also called lightening, is likely to occur several weeks before labor begins, though it may happen later. For subsequent pregnancies, lightening often doesn't occur before labor starts.
Oh.
Anyway, it was all for a good cause. This little guy has always been full of surprises.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Our Story - Part 8
(For parts 1-7 of this story, click here and scroll down.)
At the beginning of 2001, we had officially "joined" the Porto Alegre Mission Team. We had gone through some interviews, psychological testing, and seminars. We had met our teammates and were getting to know them better. What our family was lacking at this point was a supporting congregation or sponsoring church.
The role of the sponsoring church would be spiritual oversight and leadership, and financial support. For the time being, our small home church in Grenada, Mississippi was fulfilling this role. They were collecting any funds that were donated to us, and were committing to contribute financially to our family as well. However, this was a church of around 100 members. They would not have the financial resources to support a family our size in a large city in Brazil. So, we were looking for another larger sponsoring church.
At this point we had a few people who were committing to donate monthly amounts to us - anywhere from $5.00-$800.00 - a pretty good start, but not what we need in terms of monthly support. We also had this one large donation that I mentioned in the last part of this story. This donation would be needed for our one-time expenses involved in moving to a new country - airfare, car, home furnishings, shipping, visas, fees, etc. We were so grateful to have these financial blessings, but in our minds we still needed a sponsoring church that would supply us with our monthly salary.
We were supposed to be moving to Abilene, Texas in June of that year to begin our 7 month internship and training with Continent of Great Cities. We felt that Kevin could not quit his physical therapy job until we had our salary situation worked out. If, by the time the internship started, we didn't have our salary requirements, then he would not quit his job and we would not go to the internship. In our minds, that was the only responsible thing to do. After all, we had 4 children. We couldn't just quit a good job without having something solid and dependable in our future.
In February of that year, we were asked to attend a Continent of Great Cities banquet in Abilene. We decided to go, but needed a place to stay while we were there. Bryan Gibbs, who worked for CGC, set us up to stay with his sister and her family, Daryl and Rebekah Zellar. They were wonderful hosts and we hit it off immediately. The banquet was one night, and then the next night Rebekah invited me to go hear a speaker who was in Abilene speaking at a local church. It was at a somewhat charismatic church which was different than what I was used to, but I was eager to go because Rebekah seemed like a "seeker" person like myself and she thought I would really be encouraged by going.
I don't remember this guy's name or everything that he said that night. But God sent me there to hear one message, and it made an impression. The speaker was talking about faith, and what faith is. Faith is acting when you can't see what is in front of you. He said that if you can see all the steps in front of you, then you don't need faith. Acting in real faith means acting when you can't see how it is all going to work out. It occurred to me that if we waited for all of our financial needs to be taken care of before Kevin quit his job, we would not be acting in faith. We would simply be changing jobs. God was asking us to step out in faith, not knowing how he was going to work it out, but just trusting in Him to do it. That would be acting in faith.
On the plane ride home, I discussed with Kevin what I had heard from this speaker and what I thought God was asking us to do. He immediately agreed, and so we decided that he would quit his job at the end of April, and we would move to Abilene in June even if our monthly financial needs weren't taken care of.
Remember that lesson I learned about having peace? Upon making this decision, which would seem scary in worldly terms, we had immediate peace. An unexplainable peace. Since then, we have been on this faith roller-coaster many times, and it always seems more peaceful when we know that we are truly leaving it up to God. He is dependable and trustworthy. He was teaching us this as we had a huge garage sale, packed up our family, and set off for Abilene in June.
At the beginning of 2001, we had officially "joined" the Porto Alegre Mission Team. We had gone through some interviews, psychological testing, and seminars. We had met our teammates and were getting to know them better. What our family was lacking at this point was a supporting congregation or sponsoring church.
The role of the sponsoring church would be spiritual oversight and leadership, and financial support. For the time being, our small home church in Grenada, Mississippi was fulfilling this role. They were collecting any funds that were donated to us, and were committing to contribute financially to our family as well. However, this was a church of around 100 members. They would not have the financial resources to support a family our size in a large city in Brazil. So, we were looking for another larger sponsoring church.
At this point we had a few people who were committing to donate monthly amounts to us - anywhere from $5.00-$800.00 - a pretty good start, but not what we need in terms of monthly support. We also had this one large donation that I mentioned in the last part of this story. This donation would be needed for our one-time expenses involved in moving to a new country - airfare, car, home furnishings, shipping, visas, fees, etc. We were so grateful to have these financial blessings, but in our minds we still needed a sponsoring church that would supply us with our monthly salary.
We were supposed to be moving to Abilene, Texas in June of that year to begin our 7 month internship and training with Continent of Great Cities. We felt that Kevin could not quit his physical therapy job until we had our salary situation worked out. If, by the time the internship started, we didn't have our salary requirements, then he would not quit his job and we would not go to the internship. In our minds, that was the only responsible thing to do. After all, we had 4 children. We couldn't just quit a good job without having something solid and dependable in our future.
In February of that year, we were asked to attend a Continent of Great Cities banquet in Abilene. We decided to go, but needed a place to stay while we were there. Bryan Gibbs, who worked for CGC, set us up to stay with his sister and her family, Daryl and Rebekah Zellar. They were wonderful hosts and we hit it off immediately. The banquet was one night, and then the next night Rebekah invited me to go hear a speaker who was in Abilene speaking at a local church. It was at a somewhat charismatic church which was different than what I was used to, but I was eager to go because Rebekah seemed like a "seeker" person like myself and she thought I would really be encouraged by going.
I don't remember this guy's name or everything that he said that night. But God sent me there to hear one message, and it made an impression. The speaker was talking about faith, and what faith is. Faith is acting when you can't see what is in front of you. He said that if you can see all the steps in front of you, then you don't need faith. Acting in real faith means acting when you can't see how it is all going to work out. It occurred to me that if we waited for all of our financial needs to be taken care of before Kevin quit his job, we would not be acting in faith. We would simply be changing jobs. God was asking us to step out in faith, not knowing how he was going to work it out, but just trusting in Him to do it. That would be acting in faith.
On the plane ride home, I discussed with Kevin what I had heard from this speaker and what I thought God was asking us to do. He immediately agreed, and so we decided that he would quit his job at the end of April, and we would move to Abilene in June even if our monthly financial needs weren't taken care of.
Remember that lesson I learned about having peace? Upon making this decision, which would seem scary in worldly terms, we had immediate peace. An unexplainable peace. Since then, we have been on this faith roller-coaster many times, and it always seems more peaceful when we know that we are truly leaving it up to God. He is dependable and trustworthy. He was teaching us this as we had a huge garage sale, packed up our family, and set off for Abilene in June.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)