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