Monday, February 25, 2013

Have you hugged your missionary today at DISNEY?!

The "Have you hugged your missionary today?" posts met a new level while we were in California!  During the 2 weeks of Sam and I meeting up with old friends and supporters in CA,  Elaina and Sawyer did an AMAZING job of staying up late, meeting new friends, sitting through long talks, and sometimes sharing their own hearts with our friends about the move to Lesotho.  At the end of our trip,  a dear church buddy called and said she and her small group wanted to send us to DISNEY for a day!  "I think EVERY child should experience Disney at least once in their lives and you HAVE to take your kids there before moving to Africa!", she bubbled on the phone.  I could hardly believe it and kept trying to let her off the hook, "Oh, but it's so expensive, you really don't have to, if it doesn't work out, that's fine....".  She wouldn't have it.  Our family was going to Disney no matter what!  She sent us our e-tickets and we didn't tell the kids.  Monday morning, we hopped in the car and started driving...destination unrevealed.  At one point, Elaina said, "Uh, Mommy, why does that sign say, 'Disney Avenue'?" :)  Teehee!  I caught their faces on camera when it dawned on her and Sawyer what was about to happen :)  It was such a joy to watch our kids just be KIDS after several weeks of being carted around to meet Mommy and Daddy's friends.  THANK YOU, Matt and Amber and Cornwall Bible Study, for an amazing memory that will last a lifetime and THANK YOU for believing that Elaina and Sawyer should experience Disney before heading to Africa.
"Why does that sign say, 'Disney Avenue'?"   :)







Try as you might, that sword is NOT coming out!
A case of the teacup swirlies!
The Indiana Jones ride was AWESOME.  A little intense for Sawyer, though, who came out claiming,
 "I don't want to watch that movie till I'm 43!".

Toon Town! 


Thank you, Bible study friendlies!



Thursday, February 21, 2013

Fish Fry Conversations...

Sometimes your best conversations take place waiting in line for the local fish fry on a Friday night.  Usually the best conversations start with a bold question.  One like, "How do you want your community in Lesotho to be different because you are there?".  In short, our friend was asking, "What spiritual goals do you have in place that will shape your day to day decisions to have an impact for Christ?  In what specific ways will you be waiting with expectancy to see the Holy Spirit work in your community because of your daily witness?".

We believe this starts with the spiritual goal of waiting with expectancy to see how God will change us through his redemptive and sanctifying work.  For me as a mom, it may be that I am surrendering myself to the Lord on a daily basis because I need grace that comes only from Him, or for Sam it may be that he daily surrenders himself to the work of the Holy Spirit to be diligent in leading this family as a joyful sacrifice of praise back to God.  But if we fail to see our own weaknesses and to make utterances of our need for His redeeming work in our lives, we fail to see His mighty hand at work.  We fail to delight in His cleansing work.  We forget to say thank you.  So, this is our first goal...to identify those ways in which we wait expectantly for God to change us.

Second, we believe people have holes in their hearts that they set about busily stuffing with anything to heal the pain and that the only way it can be truly healed is by God's salvation through Jesus Christ.  The symptoms of how people deal with their pain and sin will vary across cultures and generations.  Our job is to live in grace and love both with those who know and love God as well as those who know nothing of Him.  Our sub-job is to identify the symptoms that reveal their pain and sin and to point them to a Great God who knows them by name and who longs to see them reconciled to Him and to walk through those symptoms, addictions, and habits along with them as so many have done with us, so that we may walk in the freedom offered by Christ.  We wait with expectacy for God to continue to sanctify us  and to deliver life and freedom to the friends we have yet to make in Lesotho who may not know how great He is.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Little Moments...

Little moments of lots of love are when:

...the cashier at Trader Joes give you a bouquet of flowers for free just because and...
...when you meet your life-long mutual prayer warrior for the first time.
Meet prayer warriors Uncle Prince Time and Princess Elaina who God led to start
 interceding for each other several years ago and they just never stopped!

So thankful for these little moments of lots of love from God.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Oh, the places you'll go...

Here's just a fun day out for Mom, Dad, Josh, and Kimia.  Hope this gives you a taste of familiar things!!

This one involves an engagement ring...

























The plane he learned to fly in!