We moved sites!

Hi,
Thank you to all of you who continue to support us and keep up on where we are at.  We appreciate you reading and we don't want to lose you.  However, we have moved our blog to a new site that will better suit us with AIM.

Please go to this new site and bookmark this new page instead of this one.

http://heathernadam.aimsites.org

We will leave this blog up for a little while as we transition still.  :)

Without a house.

I hated grammar school English.  I never understood it.  Even though I am supposed to be teaching my kids what a preposition is I still really have no idea.  One concept that I did like was foreshadowing.  It was always interesting how an author could give the reader glimpses of what was going to happen.

Well, my last post was about our kids play house.  It seems fitting that the very next day we would be facing giving something up ourselves.

We went to the beach yesterday.  I love the beach.  It is my place to go and see the mighty power of God.  Yesterday, was a great reminder of it.  The waves were so huge that the lifeguards had kicked all the kids out of the water.  There was amazing power in the waves.  It was very scary having 6 kids running around.  (I actually thanked the lifeguard for making my job a bit easier and less stressful by kicking the kids out of the water.)

After being at the beach, we had to make a trip back to our "real" house.  We have it rented right now which is amazing in itself.  However, we have a little bit of storage there and we needed some camping items for camping at Lake Tahoe in a few weeks.  So, we decided to stop by the house and pick up some things.

We moved out of our dream house 6 months ago.  It is what we had always wanted.  A small farm, a bit of land, rural area, great neighborhood, close to family.  It is a great home to raise a family.  We knew that there were things that we would miss.  I miss being able to milk my goats to start each day.  I miss the crow of the rooster.  I miss being able to send the kids outside to play for long periods of time.  However, we have loved being in the middle of the city and having a new place to explore.  We love that we can walk a block and a half and get frozen yogurt with the kids on a hot evening.

Driving back there last night was very hard though.  The country side was more beautiful than I remembered it.  The farms in the area all looked so healthy and good.  The sunset that I used to see daily was amazingly beautiful.  I have gone back to the house a few times over the last few months and it wasn't this hard.  
Maybe it was the sunset.
Maybe it was the goats crying.
Maybe it was the smell of garlic.
Maybe it was the chickens clucking.
Maybe it was the beauty of all the colors.
Maybe it was all of it together.  But, something got a hold of us and we both realized how hard it is right now.  Maybe it was seeing renters in "our" house.  Maybe it was knowing that we still need to find a house to live in for a few months.  Maybe it was the uncertainty of it all.  Maybe it was the kids asking when we will move back to our "old" home.

Through it all we shall praise His name.  We shall trust that God cares for our family and plans to use us for His glory.  So, we look forward to where He is taking us.  We realize that the road is not always easy, but it is good.  Resting in God's will is good and right where we want to be.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" Psalm 27:14

Saying goodbye to the Barbie house

Our kids get to do many fun things.  We just took them to Disneyland for a few days and they were spoiled there and had tons of fun.  Our kids have more than most.  So toys are often recycled and passed on while new toys come.  They each were able to buy a toy or two at Disneyland.  However, as we prepare to leave for Kenya there are some things that are just really hard for them to say goodbye to.

Today, it was their barbie house.  It was a gift for London and Geneva a few years ago and they loved playing with it.  It has been taken over by their younger siblings Capri and Yosef lately, but to London and Geneva, it was still theirs.  It was just in the next room.

We had talked about giving the house away and the fact that we can't pack it in a box and take it to Kenya.  We had talked about the fact that they are giving the house to a cute little girl who is going to play with it for a few years and love it as much as they did.  But, when the day finally came where we needed to remove it from the room and take it to my niece's it was HARD.

There is a loss there and they realize it.  They are feeling some of the hardships of their parents decision.  They are beginning to realize sooner than most that following Jesus means giving other things up.

In the end, we gave the house up, though it wasn't easy.  Tears were shed, but smiles started to creep across their faces as they saw their cousin begin to play with it.  It is hard for us to see them hurting but we know that God is glorified in it.  We know that some day, we will stand before our God worshipping Him with our Digo friends and the Barbie house will long be forgotten.

San Jose is in need of missions too...

For those of you that don't know.  I am a Fire Captain in the city of San Jose.  I had the opportunity to work downtown San Jose for a shift and it started to break my heart.  Here is what I did yesterday...

I love being able to work downtown sometimes, the sights, the smells, the hustle and bustle, makes it a fun place to work.  Downtown presents many challenges as a firefighter that are different than the suburban surrounding areas.  I have worked downtown on numerous occasions.  Yesterday, however, was a day where the calls seemed to represent so much of our city right now and I thought I would share some of the "secrets" of our city.  I realize that most of you never get to see this "other" secret world, but it is there.  I promise you.  It is dark, it is ugly, it is in desperate need of our Lord Jesus and His amazing redemption.

I want you readers though to recognize that this was a normal day.  It was not special.  This happened yesterday, today and will happen again tomorrow all throughout this city.

Call #1.  This was at 8am, right out of the chute at shift change, I had just gotten my cup of coffee, and it was still piping hot.  This call was for a man in his mid 30's, in handcuffs with PD.  He had been walking down the street scaring and yelling at people.  He was on crystal meth.  He was screaming that he can't be arrested because he is a Christian.  (Yes, for real)  My reply, "Start acting like Jesus then."

Call #2.  Fire alarm of some sort.

Call #3.  A 60 year old homeless woman with a medical complaint after getting verbally assaulted.

Call #4.  Mid-afternoon, a request by PD for assistance with a woman who was in custody at the light rail station.  She was too crazy that she needed a gurney to be transported to the jail because she was trying to kick out the window of the patrol car.  Yes, she was handcuffed and seat belted while she did this.  It was quite impressive.  She was on meth as well.  (Side note, a car decided to drive on the light rail track and almost run through a crowd of people.)

Call #5.  5pm, a call at a local motel for a medical complaint.  Upon arrival, we found that this was not an ordinary room but a room that one of the local pimps rented out for "his" women.  There were a few women that work the streets at night, getting their sleep during the day.

Call #6.  Dinnertime, (dinners often are eaten cold), a 60's homeless male needed some assistance with some medical problems.  No drugs, but alcohol was involved.

Call #7.  Dinnertime still, A 50 year old man, (though he looked 70), needed medical help after his brother found him passed out.  He had overdosed on methadone.  His brother was very angry at us and the cops, because it took too long to get to him.  He had cussed out the dispatchers on the phone and they told us to stage and wait until PD got there.  His brother was angry that he had overdosed since he has been "clean" off the methadone for a week.

Call #8.  During dishes.  A medical call for a mid-aged homeless male with a medical problem.

Call #9.  An elderly male had fallen and possibly broken his hip.  Tragically, this house was like walking into a temple for his false god, that will not save him.

Call #10.  This call was for something, but at about 10pm, I can no longer remember.  Nothing stands out though.

Call #11.  1am.  Trash can fire in a parking lot.  Thanks to some of the young party club goers out there.  At this time of the hour downtown there are lots of people out, with lots of alcohol flowing and  outfits that should be outlawed.  Downtown turns into a completely different place at this time of the night.  Hardly recognizable to those that are only used to going there during the day.

Call #12.  7am.  Fresh cup of coffee in my cup, with one sip taken.  This was for a woman, sick needing medical attention.  She was a lonely, elderly widow.

Well, this sums the day up.

It was a huge reminder of the need of Jesus in our city.  We don't all need to relocate and travel across the world to places like Kenya.  Most of us, need to stay where we are and be involved in God's work right here in this city.  We need it.

.Faith.

Faith.  noun.    complete trust or confidence in someone or something:

The Bible speaks of great men of faith.  Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the apostles, etc.  When I read about their stories I am amazed at the depths of their faith.  How Moses could stand in the face of Pharaoh (possibly the strongest leader of the day) and continue to tell Pharaoh that he was going to take away all of his slave labor to a different land.  I would love to have a cup of coffee, or two, or a few thousand with Moses as I just listen to him recount his story.  

Faith is not always easy.  Sometimes it is hard.  We have to continually remind ourselves of the work that God has done as we remember that He will continue to provide.  He has provided us with an amazing place to live for the last 6 months and we never would have expected it.  However, as we hit the summer we realize that we need to find a place to live in the fall before we head to Kenya in January.  This has us a little bit concerned.  At times it is hard to maintain the faith that we need.  Finding a place for just a few months for a family our size is not going to be the easiest task.  I don't think that I am too worried about it except when people at work or other places start to question me on it.  The response is usually something like, "wow, I couldn't do that."  

I guess that is faith.  It is not always the strongest faith, but it is there.  It is there because the great Provider God has shown us time and time again, that He will provide.  

Can you pray with us as we seek God's direction on where to live after this summer is over?  

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Anonoymous

God the Provider is good.  Let me share the work that He has been doing.

The last few weeks since I have been home from Lesotho the evil one has been trying to discourage us.  He has been putting evil lies into our heads, telling us that we aren't ever going to make it to Kenya.  We also have felt like we have hit a little bit of a wall.

Instead of caving into the feelings of despair, and giving up, we have decided to keep plugging along.  We recognize that the race we are in is not a sprint but instead, a marathon.  I have run both kinds of races.  When I ran sprints (emphasis on the past tense) I would give every bit of energy for a very short amount of time.  I couldn't last long as I sprinted and ten minutes after the race I would have enough energy to go on a short little jog, or even get ready for another race.

However, when I ran a marathon I took a different approach.  I knew that 26.2 miles is a long way and that I would need to pace myself.  If I ran it like a sprint I wouldn't be able to last one mile.  So, I paced myself throughout the race.  I was giving as much as I could at the time, knowing that I needed to last for a while.  At many points of the race, I was exhausted and the race became a mental game.  I kept telling myself that I just needed to plug along, telling myself that I was not really tired and that I can rest at the end of the race.  Along the way, there were stations with water and fruit, to get refreshed.  These stops were just enough to give me the energy to keep going until I hit the next one.  By the time I hit the finish line, I was completely exhausted. I had given everything I had and had nothing left in the tank.  But, I had finished.  I practically needed assistance walking back to my car afterwards and I did not run again for 6 months.  (10 years later I still say that I ran enough that day to carry me through these last few years.)

This life I am living is a marathon.  Sometimes I might be tired and feelings of despair may come, but  that is when I must continue to plug along, knowing that I can rest when I get to the end of the race.  This last month has been one of those parts of the race where it has been a matter of telling myself to just keep going.  Go through the pain.  Go through the tiredness, and get to the next refreshment station.

Today, God gave us one of those pit stops.  A place to drink His water of peace and the fruit of His provision.  We received a statement from Africa Inland Mission (AIM) our sending organization.  I opened it up, not expecting anything new and something shocked me.  A new donation from a third party organization.  The donors are named Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous.  (I can't wait to meet this couple some day.)  I have often seen their name around and yet I have been unable to meet them.  I am sure that at the end of the race I will be able to meet them.  However, right now they are just standing on the sideline cheering us on, hidden among the crowd.

The donation was kind of a random amount and so I thought that it must be a mistake.  That we were credited with someone else's donation.  So, I called AIM to confirm.  (Yes, I did, for real)  The receiving department looked up the donation, confirmed it and read it to me.  She said, "Yes, donor Anonymous designated this amount for Adam and Heather Cheney and family."  As she hung up the phone she told me that God has blessed us.  He has blessed us indeed.  What seemed like a random amount is actually the amount that we will need for our entire family for one entire month while we are serving in Kenya.  We are blown away at God's provision.  Only our God, who cares for us and cares for the lost ones yet to be told about Him can provide in this way.  Only He, can put it on Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous's heart to put their money towards building God's kingdom.

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous.  Thanks for cheering us along the way and we look forward to meeting you face to face at the finish line.  Your support allows us to continue to run with endurance this race we are in.  

Reflections from the airplane...

I am sitting on the last leg of my flight home from Maseru, Lesotho.  In total, it will be about 41 hours of travel time.  I am ready to be off of this plane.  The movies are the same ones that I had on my trip east.  I have read a book and I slept over the entire continent of Africa.  I woke up as we were over Italy and I was so excited that I had just slept for 8 hours, sitting on an airplane.  What an ad for Benadryl!  3 hours more to go and I get to see Heather and the kids.  I miss them. 

As I have sat here for the last few hours, I have been able to reflect on these last three weeks.  I have learned a TON!  Here are some of the tidbits of wisdom that I have written down.

Start small while keeping high standards.

Teach things in a way that people can understand.

Africans learn different than Westerners.

Minimize wastage, and be on time.

Don’t plow!  It is destroying the soil and causing much erosion.

Keep God’s blanket on the soil, don’t get rid of it or burn it.

Just start farming, let relationships develop through that, sharing what makes it successful as you go.

The lighting storms in Lesotho are for real!  I love it. 

Let me expand on one other thing that I learned.  Making disciples is hard work, and is not immediate, it takes time, lots of time.  It also takes the Holy Spirit, lots of the Holy Spirit. 

As we ended our time together at Farming Quest, we had a big Briie, (South African BBQ) and had all of the staff together.  One of the staff was taking short video clips of some of us who were there as we shared our thoughts.  It was listening to a couple of the interviews and seeing the Holy Spirit work that makes me so excited.  Two men from Botswana were apart of Farming Quest.  They both came so that they can learn more about agriculture, and possibly get better yields as they train people back in their village, the idea of conservation agriculture.  As they stated, they didn’t really see how God and farming really went together, but they were willing to come and check it out.  These men are believers in Christ, but maybe came with a little bit of prejudice for the farming.  What they didn’t expect was three weeks of Bible study and farming. 

During the last three weeks I had numerous conversations with them regarding their lives, farms, faith, culture, etc.  I could see that the Holy Spirit was working in them, and tugging on their hearts.  They have such strong cultural beliefs that are holding them back.  Through intentional discipling by many on the team, the interviews that they had were so powerful.  They were so excited to go back to Botswana and teach Farming God’s way with an emphasis in the Biblical aspect of it.  The Holy Spirit is working in them and I can’t wait to see the work that these men will do when they return home. 

Seeing this played out this last week was really exciting for me, as well as others on the team.  It was also a good reminder for me that discipling people is a process.  It is not an immediate change but one that takes time, effort and prayer. 

On a side note.  I am flying over Minot, ND.  Hello Katie and Sean!  I am finally in US airspace. 

Back in time to the 1950's

Last week, just outside of the borders of Lesotho I took a drive back into the 1950’s.  It was almost surreal.  I realize that I was a child of the 70’s but I imagine that this is what it was like.  At least, from the stories that I have been told and those that lived through it.  What I found, I was not ready for. 

The town was small, no sidewalks, but curbs with dirt pathways lined the way around town.  There was a church that stood tall and proud in the middle of the 6 block commercial area.  It was the landmark that everything was next to.  The streets were a little crumbly, with some potholes here and there but it was paved.  However, leading in and out of the town were dirt roads. 

A small pickup truck drove by, with the back end almost dragging along as it had about 10 guys hanging out in the back of it, bumming a ride from who knows where.  We went to a grocery store.  The store was more of a warehouse.  It had a modest but limited selection of different foods.  It probably has the best selection for miles and miles around though.  The fruit stand had a clerk to weigh the food for you.  There were about 8 aisles, and it was easy for me to find somebody to help me.  I learned that is not true for everyone. 

All of my friends who were going through the training with me were there as well.  We were on our way to a little natural springs retreat and we were getting some food.  Two of them needed to go to the restroom.  Both of them went together, both girls, both about 24 years old.  The only difference was one of them was a white Canadian, while the other was black Basuto woman.  They found the restrooms in the back of the store and a white store worker pointed them to the different bathrooms.  One was for the staff and white people, and the other was for coloured people. 

They told us this story as we were driving away.  Neither of them knew quite what to do.  Neither of them had ever experienced this form of separation or racism before.  As they told me their story, my heart was angered.  I was shocked, disappointed, and had tears starting to well up in my eyes.  Mentally, I put my own daughters in their place.  I can’t believe that we humans can treat others with some much disrespect.

We need Jesus.  We need him to come and redeem His people.  We need his people to show His love to all that He has created.  I wonder what role the church across the street plays with the grocery store?  Are they doing what God has called us to?  Or are they just playing ignorant, idly standing by as the enemy reigns with his hatred and bigotry. 

I am so glad that for the most part, America has grown past this.  It is inexcusable.  It has always been inexcusable.  It will continue to be inexcusable.  It needs to stop. 

Sittin on the 5 yard line

We are lined up on our own 5 yard line.  We are both wide receivers and the play calls for us to run the same pattern.  A quick slant pattern to the inside for some guaranteed yards.  We line up, then I hear the quarterback (God) calling an audible.  His plan calls for me to go deep, and for you to continue running the slant pattern. You were on the other side of the field and you didn't hear this audible, and for you, the play remains the same.  I don't know how the play will work, we won't get the guaranteed yardage, it is risky.  But, he is the play caller.  We don't have the playbook, we just do what we are told.  If we waver, then the play will fail.

So, the ball gets snapped, I run straight for 5 yards, you go five and cut inside. I should be making a cut also inside but last minute the play was changed and I know that I have to go where the quarterback told me to go.  He is expecting me there.  There are BIG things at stake for this game.  People are at stake.

I keep going straight, past the 10 yard line and you look at me like I am crazy.  You think that I am supposed to slant inside and pick up 7 yards.

I keep going, past the 20.  You call out at me and tell me that I have the play wrong.  I look back at the quarterback and he nods for me to keep going.

I keep going, at the 30 I am still going straight.  You are telling me that I am messing it all up, that this play doesn't make sense.  The distance is growing and it is not going to work.  I look back, make sure to reconnect with the quarterback and he directs me to keep going.

When I get to the fifty, I know that this whole play is not making sense, but I don't have the game plan.  The quarterback is the only one with the game plan and he NEVER loses.  He will win!  The trophy already has his name on it.

I feel a tug on my shirt, you are trying to slow me down now.  You are telling me that I am crazy, and that I must have mis-understood the orders that I was given.  I look back and He tells me to keep going, deeper into enemy territory.

In the quarterbacks booming voice he tells me to run all the way to the end zone!  I think that is crazy!  I think that the play can't be made.  I have no choice though but to run to the end zone and pray that the 95 yard pass ends well.

You are angry that the plays changed, and that our plans did not coincide in the middle, where there was a guarantee.  I am here to remind you that we play for the same team.  We want our team to win.  We have to listen to the one who calls the shots though if we are going to win.  We both must run our plays.  You need to run your slant pattern, and I need to run my deep route.

I am still running towards the end zone expecting a hale mary.  The quarterback might decide not to throw it to me there, but might be using me as a decoy.  Or, he might make an incredible pass to me, showing off His skill.  I do know this, he won't Kaepernick it at the very end.  He is the Victor.  We will celebrate together with Him.  We need to keep our focus.

Medical scare

When we moved into our new home we already knew one of the neighbors.  She came to our old house to buy some of our furniture that we were selling on craigslist.  Her name is Jessica.  The encounter of buying our furniture in a sparse house led to a conversation of where we are moving.  Which led to a conversation of us moving just 5 doors down from hers.  Our kids have been able to go over there and play and vice versa.

Yesterday, we had a little bit of a medical scare.  Eyerusalem was out running around the neighborhood.  She is allowed to run around the large block by herself and she had already run a couple of laps.  Well, due to being dehydrated she started to have a weird feeling in her chest and then she passed out.  She fell from a standing position and hit her head on the concrete first.  The fire department was called, and she was taken off on a backboard in an ambulance to the ER.

She is doing well.  We were at the ER until late and they almost kept her overnight, but decided to make a follow up appointment instead.  The diagnosis was that she became dehydrated.

When she fell, she could have been in front of any of the 40 houses on our block, yet by God's grace she was right in front of the one and only neighbor we know.  In fact, Jessica was the only witness and saw her running and then saw her pass out.  She was the only to stop and help for the first few minutes, calling 911 and sending her kids running to our house to ask for help.  After all the commotion we have been able to meet a few more neighbors now but we are grateful that God provided for us in this way.

We do believe that we live in a spiritual world and as we prepare our family to move to Kenya we are in a spiritual battle.

God continues to provide.

A different story

Today.
I was supposed to write about how we have found renters.
I was supposed to write about how God worked in amazing ways to lead a family to our house.
I was supposed to write about how we were patient, God was faithful and He provided in amazing ways.

However, this story changed 15 minutes ago.  The renters who were SO excited to rent our house and we thought were going to fit SO well, just backed out.

Now, we have a different story.
This is the story of how difficult it is to wait, be patient and trust in God's perfect timing.  In the effort to be fully authentic, this is hard.   This was VERY hard news to hear.  We were so confident in how things had been working out and we could see God's hand in the process.

Almost a full week after showing our house to many potential people, the top two contenders fell through.  Hesitantly, we denied the two applicants that we had because we just didn't have any peace about it.  We felt like God was telling us to wait and be patient.  So, we waited.  The whole idea of being a landlord is incredibly stressful for me and not something that I am good at, so I took some time to sit and read God's word.  I read through many Psalms and finally ended when I hit the end of Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord; 

be strong, and let your heart take courage; 

wait for the Lord.

And so we waited.
The next day, I get a call from a new family.  She had heard about our house from a friend of a friend.  A man named Tim, whom we don't know, who had reposted our ad.  (Thank you Tim by the way).  Then, as she is telling me the story about how she was looking on Craigslist that morning for a rental, ours was the first to pop up.  This is where I know that God was working.  Our craigslist ad had expired the day before and was over a week old by this point.  Our ad should not have even been there any more and if it had it should have been WAY down at the bottom.  Yet, it was the first one that popped up.  In talking with the family, we could see God working in so many different ways.

However, today we wait some more.

Here is today's story.

God is faithful.
God is still in control.
God is still leading us and He knows what our needs are for us to go to Kenya.
Being patient is hard.
Being patient is stressful.
Being patient is not something that I am good at.

Well, there you go.  That is today's different story.

This week I have been meditating on and memorizing Psalm 117.

Praise the Lord, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

2 For dgreat is his steadfast love toward us,

and ethe faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

bPraise the Lord

Packing and Moving

I can't believe that we are moving out our house tomorrow.

Yesterday, we spent all day separating items in our kitchen and packing them.  There is the garage sale pile (which is large), the take to Kenya pile (which is small), and the take to our new house pile (which is smaller than I thought it would be.)

Packing is hard.  When we bought our house 5 1/2 years ago, we imagined ourselves growing old in it.  We imagined ourselves sitting on nice chairs under the shade of our old willow tree, watching the animals graze, while eating a bounty of fresh fruit from the fruit trees that we have planted.  We never thought that in 5 years, we would be selling all of our furniture, most of our kids toys and almost everything in our kitchen, and moving out.

It is hard to part with some of the stuff.  We are leaving a "known" and moving into an "unknown."  We don't know what it will look like.  We aren't quite sure how a family of 8 living in a two bedroom house will be.  We have lots of lingering questions.  Traveling into an unknown is scary.

However, we aren't traveling into an unknown all alone.  We travel with the God who is our Father and loves us and cares for us.  He will never leave us and He has great plans for us.  So, we are taking a large step.  Though scary, we know that this is the way that He is leading us.  We have been down a road similar with our adoption 2 years ago and so we can have confidence that God will continue to provide.

As we have been getting rid of our stuff it has brought so much joy as well.  With everything that we sell, we feel a little bit more freedom, and are tied down a little less.

I never want to acquire all that we once had again.

We have friends coming over in the morning with their trucks and we as a family are excited about moving.  It is a new part of this journey.  We are amazed at the blessing that this new house is for us.  We can't believe that it is fully furnished.  This has allowed us to eliminate so many material items this year, instead of trying to do it next fall when we would rather be hanging out with friends and family before we head to Kenya.  We are also going to be MUCH closer to our church, our family, and our friends.

Tomorrow as we load up our few items into the bed of trucks, looking back on a house that we have enjoyed, I am sure that it will be with sadness, but with a joy and excitement of what lays ahead.

(By the way, we are still looking for renters for our house and would love your prayers as we try to find the right renters for our place.)

Here is the picture that we have mailed out as our prayer card/Christmas card.  If you are not on our mailing list and would like to be, let us know.  We would love to keep you up to date on our journey.  

..Adoption Seasons..

We are moving into a time of year where gloves, coats and beanies are once again brought out and dusted off.  The shorts and flip-flops are put away (mostly) and the leaves have mostly fallen to the ground by now.  Parts of the US are gearing up for or already has lots of snow.  (Not us, but we did get down to 18* yesterday.)  Just as the seasons change each year, the seasons of life constantly change.

I had never really thought about it, or really prepared for it, but post-adoption life has its own seasons as well.

And we are entering the dreary days of Winter.

We have had a bright Summer, full of playing, fun in the sun, smelling the roses.  The Fall has been a season of change for us.  Our lives our changing.  We are moving.  We are selling most of our stuff.  Our lives are hectic and crazy right now.  We look forward to the time of the new-ness that Spring brings with flowers blooming, and the once gloomy looking trees starting to bear green sprouts and leaves again.

The Fall season of change starts to bring some ugly days.  Those days start to run together more and more until you find yourself hunkering down for the rest of the Winter.

It was two years ago, last week, that we met our kids for the first time.  January and February were very stressful for them as well, as they were pulled from their temporary home they had become accustomed to and began to live with us.  It was during this time of year that their birth mother had passed away.  It was during this time of year that there is so much hurt and past history.  The hurt is still there, lingering, waiting for triggers, like a landline hidden in the dirt.  Sometimes, you don't know what you did to trigger it, but it is too late at that point.  The explosion has already started.

Sadly, we are starting to find more of the triggers.  We are once again starting to see the pain that is hidden underneath their beautiful smiles that are all other people see.

I am sure that the stress of moving and the fear of the unknown is a big part of this, but we are approaching certain dates that bring up an unconscious, underlying fear and sadness.

So for now, we are going to hunker down, and prepare for the darkness of the Winter that lays ahead.  Even in the gloominess of the Winter, God is revealing His glory in numerous ways.  He has been providing for us in amazing ways.  May He continue to shine light into our house and reveal himself.

Thank you for your prayers.

Simplicity

There is something about simplifying your life that is so wonderful.

It sets you free.

Free to have more time in your schedule.  Free to have a house that is so cluttered.  Free to not have so many material items.  Free to be released from the consumerism and materialism that holds so many of us captive.

We have been striving to live more simply, eat more simply, and overall be more simple over the last few years.  I feel that over the years we have grown to live more simply pretty well.  But you know what?  It is stink-in hard!

Though we have been good about not adding material possessions, we are now trying to tackle the possessions that we have had and this is where it starts to get difficult.  We are selling off almost all of our furniture on craigslist right now.  We are going through closets, drawers, sheds, garages, etc and getting rid of almost everything.  It is so liberating, yet sometimes it is so hart to part with some things.  Now, I am talking about stupid stuff.  Like, I can't get rid of my snowboard.  I love that snowboard, I have many fond memories on it and I love snowboarding.  Yet, I have not ridden it in over three years and it is not likely that I am going to get away by myself sometime this winter, so that Heather can stay home with all six kids while I go spend $100 on a lift ticket.  It is just not going to happen, and I am okay with that.  But, I just can't sell the snowboard for $20 to someone at a garage sale, because I might use it again (in 5 years).  By the way, I have two.

Somethings are just hard to part with.

Overall, our kids have been awesome at this, but just like any kids they don't quite understand why they can't take their bikes and dresser to Kenya.  This is especially hard for our newer kids as they grew up holding tight to the few things that they could own.  Growing up, they just didn't throw things away.  So, it is a difficult task to send them into their room, with a garbage bag and a box for things to keep, with the task of emptying out their dresser.  After hours of work, the box is inevitably not big enough and the garbage bag is left practically empty.

Material things are just so hard to part with.  This is why Jesus told the rich young man (who had followed all the other laws) that if he wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven he would need to go and sell his possessions and give them to the poor, then follow Jesus.  (Matthew 19)  The problem was not that this man had many material possessions it was that many material possessions had this young man.  We live in a material world (thanks Madonna) and our material possessions control so many of us.  It was easy for us to tell Jesus, yes, we are willing to sell our possessions and move to Kenya.  However, the actual activity of doing it far exceeds the difficulty of merely stating it.

Yesterday we got rid of one of our sets of bunk-beds.  Yes, if you are keeping track this means that we now have 4 kids sleeping on the floor or on camping mats for the next few weeks.  (There are two that are still lucky as we have to keep their bed for a while).  It is so cool to see how God has been working and how He has been orchestrating things in our lives as we work through this simplifying process.

Through craigslist, we sold our bunk-bed.  The family came over to buy it right after we got home from church.  In my attempt to explain the messiness of the bedroom that the bed was in (like, sorry, this is the room of our teen and pre-teen) I told him that we just barely got home from church and didn't have time to take the bed apart.  Thus started the conversation of church, where we go, where they go, why we are moving, where we are moving, what we are doing, why we are doing what we are doing, etc.  By the time, I had helped him to his truck with our bed the conversation ended with, how can we support you?  Really God?  You even use craigslist to put people in our path?

And, as they drove away, I stood amazed at my God.  The God who is God over the entire universe, and yet cares so deeply about a materialistic man like me that he continues to provide over and above what I can even fathom.

...Gospel Patrons...

It was a blind email.
A. Shot. In. The. Dark.

Yet, there was a strong belief that things would work out.  We just knew that God had great plans and that He would continue to provide.  So, we sent the email.

Here is a brief synopsis of it.  "Hello, you don't know us, but we have heard about you.  We also heard that you have a house that you rent to missionaries for free or real cheap.  So... we are confirmed with Africa Inland Mission and we are trying to head out to Kenya in just over a year.  Is it possible for us to stay at your place in 2014?"

Well, like I said, it was a blind shot in the dark.  But, we figured that if we can find something cheaper than we can rent our house then we would have a much better chance at paying off our housing debt on our line of credit before we leave.  This is something that we have to pay off, and we are working diligently to do so.  I am working as much overtime as possible, and Heather is working hard on her Homemade goodies to sell.  We also are selling off as much furniture and items in our house that we possibly can right now.

A week after we emailed, we got our answer.

"Yes, we would love to host you in our house.  The trust that the house is in doesn't allow any rent to be paid and it is available from January - August of next year."  

With a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes I called Heather over to read the email (she was baking).  I can't believe this!  I can't believe how God is providing!  We are just awestruck at how God has put these Gospel Patrons (check out my friends book and link)  in our lives with the ability to host us, allowing us live rent free, in Willow Glen, way closer to church and our family than we are right now.

We are AMAZED!

It turns out that the owner actually came to our house a year and a half ago for Easter with my Mom's cousin.  It is crazy how small the world is and how connected we are with people.

Please pray with us that God will provide the right renters to rent out our house starting Feb 1st.

Also, we have a TON to do!!! We are moving out of our house and into a fully furnished place in San Jose on the first of the year.  This leaves less than 2 months for us to sell off almost everything in our house, and pack up and move our family of 8.

God continues to confirm and provide for us as we step out in faith.

Thankful

I LOVE November!  I love the fall and this time of year when the air is crisp.  It is about this time of year that I finally get to start wearing sweatshirts and beanies again and I love it.  Though, I do keep my sandals out because this is California after all and you never know when we will have a warm streak in the mid 70's.

I love the harvest time and I love that this month we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is by FAR my favorite holiday of the year.  Christmas and Easter are great and all, and I absolutely love what they represent.  But, they have become way over-commercialized in our society and I can't stand seeing Santa, Elves, and Bunny rabbits ruining the beauty of Christ's birth and resurrection.

Thanksgiving on the other hand is a day in which, we can still be with family, celebrate and give thanks, without a bunch of blow up figures and stores full of lawn decorations.  Tom the Turkey has not yet been commercialized to the extent of his other holiday cousins.  This may be because we kill Tom the Turkey every year and eat him.  Mmmm, I can already taste him now :)

Granted, our society is trying to ruin a little bit of Thanksgiving year by year, as more and more stores are open and black Friday (also known as the worst day for American greed) has been creeping into the  precious few Thanksgiving hours.

This year, I am blessed to not have to work on Thanksgiving and I get to spend it with lots of family.  Check the cell phones at the door and spend time together.  Okay, we have not yet checked our phones, but I am highly encouraging it!

There is so much for us to be thankful for.  All of our thanks is given to the One who deserves all the glory.

It is for this crazy journey that God has our family on, that I am thankful.  Every morning as I take care of our goats, I praise God for the crispness of the morning, the beautiful sunrise and that He has chosen us for this mission.  It is not something that we had thought of on our own and it is not something that we can do on our own.  We can only do it through Him.  For this I am thankful.  Without Him, it would be overwhelming and impossible.

I am thankful that He has seen it fit to choose our family to represent our body of believers in another country across the world, along the Indian Ocean.

I am thankful that He sees my flaws and my failures and yet still wants to use me.

I am thankful for the support that we have received and that we continue to receive.

I am thankful for the peace that He has given me through this crazy process.

I am thankful for the confidence that He has given me as we follow him down a path that will require us to leave all that is familiar and comfortable.

I am thankful to be called a child of His.

Sometimes, in the overwhelmingness of trying to get our family to Kenya I get tired.  Exhausted.  It seems that there is a never ending to-do list of items that must be done.  It is in these hard, tired moments where I will have a fleeting thought that comes into my head.  "This is too hard, what am I doing?"  It goes away just as fast as it comes. Turning to prayer, I ask God these same questions.  And, in the stillness the answer continues to be the same.  "Because, this is the plan I have for you."

Don't get me wrong.  I long for Kenya.  I long to be working among the Digo people.  99% of the time I know that we are moving in the right direction.  The other 1% of the time is when I need a gentle reminder.

These last few weeks we have been diligently working on getting rid of many of our worldly possessions.  It has been so freeing and wonderful to start to de-clutter things.  Yet, in the busyness of cleaning and selling the reality of moving overseas has started to become very real.

Overworked, stressed, busy, tired, exhausted, we were in need of that gentle reminder that we were going in the right direction.  Then it came.  This time in the form of a random person.  Somebody that was coming to buy some of our stuff that we are selling.  The question arose of why are we selling our things and Heather simply told her that we were moving overseas to be missionaries.  This was when the random person whom we had never met pulled out a check and handed it to Heather, saying that she had seen our facebook account and had read our story.

Only God.  

Only He, can touch somebodies heart in this way to cause them to be this generous.  We are so grateful and love to see the way that He is providing for us.  It is through gentle reminders like these that He reminds us that He is the provider, and that we just need to rest in him.

"Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9

Days till Kenya

When we went to San Diego last week we were given count-down blocks.  My brother and sister in-law make them and sell them on Etsy (which can be found here) and were kind enough to make us our own special countdown of the "days until Kenya."  What an awesome idea.  We now have a visual reminder for all 8 of us and a visual goal.  Each day, our kids are watching the numbers go down.  I know that the numbers are still pretty high, but they have already dropped by ten since we got the blocks and I am sure that before we know it they will be less than 100.

Yesterday was a special day of praise.  We received our first financial donations.  This was so exciting for us as a family as we see God moving through his people.  I also was blessed to be able to meet a couple whom I had just been introduced to.  After a few minutes of discussion they asked how they can be apart of our work.  (What??? I thought.  I just met you and yet you would consider partnering with us?)  Only God.  Only He can provide through his unlimited resources exactly what we will need.  We have been told a few times that we will gain a new understanding of the global church body and how God provides.

We are starting to see it and are in complete amazement.

Blessed friendships

We just had the opportunity for a quick trip to San Diego county to transpire.  My brother and his wife brought Eyerusalem down to their house for a week and instead of just picking her up half way, we decided, and were invited to stay at their house for a few days as well.  We had a blast.  We spent some time paddle boarding, which is something that the kids and Heather have been wanting to do for a while and spent hours just hanging out at the beach playing in the waves.

In the course of 4 days we packed a lot in.  In fact we didn't even get home till midnight last night because we were so busy.  We took the opportunity as we were driving to make the most of the food stops that we were going to need to take.  So, rather than stopping at a fast food joint, (which we just don't do) we contacted lots of friends.

On the way down south we were able to get together with the Rinehart's and the Oakes.  Both of these families we were able to meet while we were in Ethiopia.  They live in SoCal so getting to see them doesn't happen very often.  However, we were able to get together with them and some of their friends, have a BBQ dinner and let the kids all go swimming for hours.  The kids had a blast and loved being able to see some friends from Ethiopia.

Then, we were able to just relax and hang out with my brother Justin and his wife Keary.  They treated us well, served us good food and we were able to just relax and hang out.  We have not had much time with them since they moved down south a few years ago, so it was super fun to be able to just talk, drink some coffee and hang out.

While on the way home we made plans for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Meeting my cousin, Meghan for breakfast our kids were treated to free drinks from the kind Starbucks employees.  They saw all of our kids, asked if they were all ours, (twice) and then decided that we have enough expenses and we should be spared the expense of most of our coffee.  One of God's small provisions throughout the trip.

We then hurried across town.  Well, actually, can anybody really hurry in LA traffic?  We met with our close friends Matt and Danielle who used to live by us and have since moved.  It was great to get reacquainted with them.  Plus, our two little kids were able to go swimming in their clothes, which helped clean the mud off of them from the mud pies they had made at Starbucks earlier.

Finally, we made a stop for dinner with the Unruh's whom some of our kids had spent time together in the transition house in Ethiopia.  We met them for dinner a couple of months ago in San Francisco at an Ethiopian restaurant, but have you ever tried to have a conversation with other adults at a restaurant when there are 19 kids running around?  Yeah, it is about as hard as it seems.  So, being able to send the kids outside to go and play and eat while the adults eat "quietly" inside was a much better option.

After an exhausting drive, Heather and I were talking on the way home.  We were amazed at how refreshed and blessed we were to be able to meet with so many people.  We were so encouraged and supported by all of our friends and family as we were able to pray with them, be real with them and see the ways that they are living radically for Christ.  We thank God for the times that He gives us to be refreshed.

How will we go?

This is maybe the biggest of all questions.  

The real, honest answer is, only through Christ and His Church.  

There is no other way.  We can't do this on our own accord.  We know this full well.  There is too much standing in our way.  We have tough housing issues to figure out.  We are in housing debt and don't know how we can eliminate it.  We also have a lot of outgoing expenses and monthly expenses as we transition our lives to Kenya.  

If you are thinking that it costs a TON to move a family of 8 overseas and then to be able to live, well then you are absolutely right.  It does.  Let us throw out some rough numbers.  AIM, our sending organization develops numbers based on years of experience and the area that you are traveling to.  They have determined that our "outgoing" expenses that we will need in whole prior to leaving are: $66,000.  This includes costs for items such as, air travel, baggage fees, training expenses, insurance, furniture and a car.  

We also have to raise all of our monthly support.  AIM requires us to be fully 100% supported before we can leave.  Our monthly target is $7,767.  This is not all going to our salary, but like all things gets divided quite a bit.  It covers insurance, 401K, rent, living expenses, savings for return trip, etc.  We are grateful to be going with a reputable organization, who looks at all of the expenses and makes sure that we are taken care of as a family.  

Looking at the numbers makes me smile.  The numbers are over and above anything that we alone can possibly do.  It is only with Jehovah Jirah, God the Provider, that this can be accomplished.  Only with Him, performing a miracle on our behalf can this be done.  The beautiful thing is that it CAN be done.  He has prepared us for this.  

In case you aren't aware of our whole adoption story... We started with $100 in our savings account as God asked us to pursue adoption.  In just over a year, God had provided all $60,000 that we ended up needing through His body, the church.  To every single dollar, God provided.  We did not go into any debt, and somehow He has continued to provide as we added three children to care for and feed.  He has shown us that He is faithful.  He has shown us that He is the provider.  He also has shown us how He uses his people to accomplish his will.  We were beyond blessed once we released our pride of trying to do it all alone, and letting others come alongside us as God led them.  

We ask that you pray and seek God about how you can be a part of our journey.  We can't do this alone.  We need lots of prayer support.  We will be needing financial support.  

For those of you that have asked, donations can be made directly to AIM here.  All money goes to our "outbound" account until we leave.