Grasping for control

I'm wondering about these verses today in light of a stolen credit card, broken water heater and unfixable computer (with 20 months of little E's baby pictures - sniff.) Am I hoarding or just using things for daily living? Am I worried that without certain things I'll miss out on something fulfilling? Why do I get so annoyed at being inconvenienced? Why does my heart stop just at the line of believing that God will "attend to me, take pride in me and do his best for me?"

From the Message -
Matt 6: 19-21"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Why is it... that after a few desperate days, I finally pray for peace and creativity, and then at the end of this day am surprised to look back and find that the gift was graciously bestowed?

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

Thank you Lord for continually calling me back to you.

Pop Rocks

Don't you wish all of life could be as fun

as the first time you tried Pop Rocks?

Ethan kept pointing to his head and smiling as the candy fizzed in his mouth.

Well, then it just got crazy!

A time to play

4 adults + 1 little girl + eggs and dye = way too much fun.
(Ethan was already in bed by the time we remembered to do the eggs. Oops!)

I know, every single picture is fuzzy.

It's time

Jesus said these things.

Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it's time.

Display the bright splendor of your Son

So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.

You put him in charge of everything human

So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.

And this is the real and eternal life:

That they know you,

The one and only true God,

And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

I glorified you on earth

By completing down to the last detail

What you assigned me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,

The very splendor I had in your presence

Before there was a world.

John 17: 1-5, The Message

Sharing Life

While we were on the east coast, Rick spent a week recruiting at Columbia International University for Cadence International. I got to visit Marie, Anna and Mr. E and many others from our Schweinfurt days. It was an eventful week. Here are some of the highlights:

-Time with Marie and Anna. You took wonderful care of us. Thank you.

-Ethan got a miserable ear infection. He would cry in pain when I kissed the side of his face.

-I spent many hours with Suzanne M., some of them in the doctor's office. You are a dear friend.

-Kristen came to visit, along with her sweet boys, Caleb and Joshua.

-The whole group took a trip to the Fayetteville Children's Museum along with Nicole and her kids Celeste, Olivia and Asher. Emma especially loved playing with Celeste.

-I got in a car accident, with the rental car, on a quick trip to the grocery store. It was suppose to be 15 minutes of peace.
-When Rick joined us for the weekend, he had the flu.
-Nate and Lynn came all the way from Philadelphia and we enjoyed every minute with them.

-The Pettibone family came from Columbia for the weekend. What a nice surprise!

-ALL of us spent Sunday morning worshiping together.

-Marie got terribly sick. (so sorry Marie)
For more pictures check out Marie's gracious post. The pictures here are from Lynn and Nate.

Even though I dreamt something very different for our time in Fayetteville (like good health and safe driving:)), I truly enjoyed being with our friends. I cannot tell you how loved and well cared for I felt while I was there. My dear friends, Marie and Suzanne showed me care and grace throughout the week. God has certainly blessed us with a beautiful worldwide community.

Journeying

Some words I'm thinking about today... along with a few more pictures from the past weeks. Thoughts on how our children reflect our hearts, from page 87 of Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture:

"This ability of children to expose us is both fortunate and unfortunate. If you ever need to know how you are doing spiritually, watch your children. Pay attention to what they say. When I hear my children scold each other in a mocking tone, I can do one of two things. Reprimand them, or reprimand myself for setting such a poor example of grace (because they are flinging my words at each other.)"

I'm watching, listening and praying.

This is Congaree National Park, located smack in the middle of South Carolina. I'd never been to a swamp. I'd recommend it... in February... when the mosquito scale is 0 on the 1-10 scale.

Blink

The last few weeks have been filled with adventure and intrigue. I'm not sure that my attempts to cover it will bring justice to our experience, however, I will give it a go. If at anytime you feel as though you have been trapped in the middle of someone else's boring vacation slideshow, feel free to excuse yourself. I will not in the least be offended.

Early in our trip (which was literally weeks ago!) we had the great opportunity to spend some time with our friends, Don and Linda Reasoner. Don and Linda were fellow missionaries at the Kaiserslautern Hospitality House for almost the exact amount of time that as we were in Schweinfurt. During some of our most difficult days, they have been faithful friends. If you are reading Linda, thank you.

Dylan and Emma have been friends since the day they were born and have an interesting relationship - I guess like most 6 year old girls and boys would. While they love to play together, Emma is ALL girl and Dylan is ALL boy. Blink is one of the few games that suited both of their tastes.

There was some good old competion between the two.

And some coffee shop boredom as their parents talked and talked and talked...

Now We Are Six

So many wonderful things to look forward to when you are six... losing teeth, reading by yourself, learning to ride your bike without training wheels...

Today was Emma's sixth birthday and it was a fun day! Our Emma is quite a girl with a great sense of humor and a very tender heart. The fact that she is more big girl than little is easy to see. Where, oh where did my baby girl go?

Today was about bubbles and sunshine,

friends and smiles,

and cake and ice cream.

I love you Emma Taylor.

By the way... I could write a book about our travel adventures during the last 17 days. I'm hoping to post some pictures soon.

We've been out of town...

Last week we saw some of our very dearest and best friends in South and North Carolina. Now we are in Williamsburg, one of my favorite places. The weather today was warm and breezy - like spring in the air. Even my nose turned a bit rosy. We still have a week before heading home, as well as a few more wonderful friends to visit.