It's still dark this morning as I sit with my cup of coffee, studying my Good Book and planning my day. Planning several days actually...
It feels like the calm before the storm.
CJ has been out of town.
It's our last week before school starts, so the girls have been sleeping late and then spending the days with their friends.
I seem to find myself mostly alone these few days and it's been good to accomplish so many things on my "to-do" list, as well as a little time for reflection and introspection.
I've been trying to get organized for homeschooling, and the awareness of being the sole provider for my children's education has been weighing on me. The perfectionist in me is trying to give way to resting in Father to provide all that we need, and I know that He will. I just gotta keep giving that over to prayer.
I think "incompetent" could pretty much sum up our lives overseas. We are constantly reminded at just how inadequate we are to do anything - speak the language, share the Truth, live cross-culturally, etc. We are forced into dependence on Him who IS able to use our weak selves as His vessels.
Homeschooling is also going to be a huge change for us. Our girls have been in school since they were just six weeks old. (When I returned to work after my maternity leave, Z&M went to daycare.)
They have always been surrounded by other children, and I know this is going to be one of the biggest obstacles in homeschooling.
We've also just had to say goodbye to two families who have been living and working in our city. Included in those two families are nine kids who have been some of the best friends for Z&M. We have all been heartbroken over seeing these families leave, despite knowing that it's Father's will for their lives. There is no doubt that He has big plans for these families in America, and while we are happy for this new chapter in their lives, we will miss them so much.
Hopefully being busy will help take our minds off the abundance of change we are experiencing.
We've got so much going on in these next five months, and it's our prayer that we will see Fruit sprouting up all over the city.
Would you please stop right now and pray for a few things?
#1.) First and foremost, pray that we will be about His work above everything else in our lives.
#2.) Pray that He would rise up local partners throughout the city for us to work with.
#3.) Pray for the friends and volunteers who will be making trips here before Christmas. (We have people coming in October, November and December!)
#4.) We are going to have to move before we make our trip to America. Please pray that Father would provide a place for us to live that would meet our needs of living here as well as being conveniently located for reaching the people of this city.
#5.) Pray for our whole family as we begin homeschooling.
#6.) Pray that Father would send more families for the Work in this city! (Especially families with teenage kids.)
As the sun attempts to poke holes in the rain clouds this dark morning, I know that's my sign that it's time to get busy.
My verse for these days is I Thess. 5:16 - "Be joyful always; pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances..."
Bring on the day.
Keep looking up!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
July journeys
Well, I fell off the bandwagon... again! It's been two months since the last blog, but can I tell you, it's because things have been going so good and we've been pedal-to-the-medal busy.
The month of July every year since we've been overseas has ended up as a travel month.
This year was no different.
We started the month with a trip to Bangkok for our family to do full physicals and medical screenings. This part wasn't so fun, but while we were in Bangkok we were able to pick up our mail. It had been six months since our last trip there, so we had several packages waiting on us. It was great! We can't receive mail in the country where we live, so everything gets sent to our company office in Bangkok and we pick it up whenever we're there to do our visa renewals. We were so excited to find boxes of goodies from friends in America there waiting on us.
Next we headed off to Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand for the girls to attend a camp for all our older company kids living in the mainlander section of Southeast Asia.
For them, camp is the highlight of the year.
It's the only opportunity for them to spend time with friends living lives just like they do in other countries and it's so encouraging for them. Actually, it's great for all of us since CJ and I always work at the camp each year too.
After a week of meetings with co-workers in Chiang Mai, our family went on a small vacation to Kanchanaburi, Thailand which is about a two hour drive from Bangkok.
We stayed in a rustic, yet peaceful resort on an island in the middle of the River Kwai. We did some sight-seeing at the Bridge Over the River Kwai (did you see the movie?) and visited a museum about the POWs and others who built what is called the Thai-Burma deathrail railroad during World War II. (They call it the deathrail because of the number of people killed in the construction of the railroad including over 100,000 Burmese who died.)
We also got to go hiking in some nearby mountains that had beautiful waterfalls, and we enjoyed lots of fun sliding down the falls and swimming with fish.
It was restful and re-energizing and a great time for family fun. We made so many memories!
Now we're back in the saddle and excited about all the Good Work that is happening in our city. We are seeing Father doing some amazing things and it's so fun to be a part of it all.
In five months we'll be returning to the States to spend some time sharing about our "work" with friends and partners in America. We can't wait to tell you all the many stories that we're just unable to share publicly on the internet.
We will only be Stateside for six months and we have so much to accomplish during our time there. We're already filling in calendar dates for places to visit and speak.
If you would like for us to come speak at your "Gathering Place" send us an email (seepy1@gmail.com) and let us know when would be a good time. We look forward to seeing you all soon.
We have lots of neat things happening during the coming months, and I promise to do a better job of blogging.
Until then, keep looking up!
The month of July every year since we've been overseas has ended up as a travel month.
This year was no different.
We started the month with a trip to Bangkok for our family to do full physicals and medical screenings. This part wasn't so fun, but while we were in Bangkok we were able to pick up our mail. It had been six months since our last trip there, so we had several packages waiting on us. It was great! We can't receive mail in the country where we live, so everything gets sent to our company office in Bangkok and we pick it up whenever we're there to do our visa renewals. We were so excited to find boxes of goodies from friends in America there waiting on us.
Next we headed off to Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand for the girls to attend a camp for all our older company kids living in the mainlander section of Southeast Asia.
For them, camp is the highlight of the year.
It's the only opportunity for them to spend time with friends living lives just like they do in other countries and it's so encouraging for them. Actually, it's great for all of us since CJ and I always work at the camp each year too.
After a week of meetings with co-workers in Chiang Mai, our family went on a small vacation to Kanchanaburi, Thailand which is about a two hour drive from Bangkok.
We stayed in a rustic, yet peaceful resort on an island in the middle of the River Kwai. We did some sight-seeing at the Bridge Over the River Kwai (did you see the movie?) and visited a museum about the POWs and others who built what is called the Thai-Burma deathrail railroad during World War II. (They call it the deathrail because of the number of people killed in the construction of the railroad including over 100,000 Burmese who died.)
We also got to go hiking in some nearby mountains that had beautiful waterfalls, and we enjoyed lots of fun sliding down the falls and swimming with fish.
It was restful and re-energizing and a great time for family fun. We made so many memories!
Now we're back in the saddle and excited about all the Good Work that is happening in our city. We are seeing Father doing some amazing things and it's so fun to be a part of it all.
In five months we'll be returning to the States to spend some time sharing about our "work" with friends and partners in America. We can't wait to tell you all the many stories that we're just unable to share publicly on the internet.
We will only be Stateside for six months and we have so much to accomplish during our time there. We're already filling in calendar dates for places to visit and speak.
If you would like for us to come speak at your "Gathering Place" send us an email (seepy1@gmail.com) and let us know when would be a good time. We look forward to seeing you all soon.
We have lots of neat things happening during the coming months, and I promise to do a better job of blogging.
Until then, keep looking up!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)