What a day!

This was a very strange day!  It started dark and early (as opposed to bright and early!) at 2:43am when I woke up hearing water running somewhere.  Thinking one of the kids must have gotten up and used the bathroom and left the sink water running (odd as that seemed) I got up to discover that the sound was actually water leaking downstairs in the bathroom - flooding the bathroom, kitchen, hallway and just about to reach the family room.  Lowell and I spent the next hour and a half doing what we could to get the water out and cleaned up before it spread further.  Then I went back to bed and he stayed up another hour finishing what he could.  (Turned out the problem was caused by a washer or something that slipped after Lowell replaced the float mechanism in the toilet last night.  Strange!)

Later in the morning we discovered that during a trip to Home Depot to fix the other problem somebody apparently backed into the back of our van leaving some sheetrock behind in our taillight and significantly denting the back hatch/door.  The whole back door/hatch will probably have to be replaced.  Wow.  Really???

What was amazing, though, was this:  it didn't get to us.  We praised God through it all and were legitimately thanking God for His mercy and grace.  Thankful...

1.  That our entire home wasn't washed away by a tsunami like so many families in Japan this week.
2.  That our entire home isn't filled with 2 feet of water and silt from an overflowed river like in Peru several years ago.
3.  That I woke up when I did (God must have done that!) so the water didn't spread further.
4.  That the water only reached a small amount of the carpet - most of it was under and on top of the hardwood floors.  Not great, but seem to be drying out faster than the carpet!
5.  For a beautiful day so we could have the doors wide open and not be freezing!
6.  That instead of obsessing about cleaning the house today (like I would have been doing if this hadn't happened) while Lowell took the boys to a monster truck jam rally thing, I enjoyed a nice afternoon playing games with Mikaela.
7.  That the back van door/hatch still opens and closes and seems to be the only part affected by the collision.
8.  That we have insurance!  Car and renter's.
9.  That we have a kind landlord who didn't panic.
10.  For people we could call on to pray for us.
11.  For a sense of humor.
12.  For freedom from self-pity and frustration and discouragement!
13.  For freedom to sing in the middle of the night instead of griping and blaming anybody.
14.  For good reasons to get some stuff cleaned up that we had been procrastinating about.
15.  That none of our belongings seem to be damaged.
16.  For a patient husband (who was still able to take the boys to the show.)
17.  For the clean bedroom I now have because I didn't want to be downstairs with all the fans.  : )
18.  That it was the bathroom downstairs instead of one of the ones upstairs!!!!!
19.  That it all seems to be drying out fairly well and will probably be fine without major repairs being needed.
20.  For Toby on his own joyfully saying that Satan didn't win today!  (Because we didn't let this ruin our day!)

After the sleep interruptions and listening to fans all day long, I feel like I have jet lag (the fans sound like propellers I think).  But I'm thankful for our church's women's retreat last weekend and the reminders I had fresh in my mind and heart to count it all joy and praise God through it all.  Even when things take a turn for the bizarre, HE IS STILL GOOD!!!  : )   Peace, indeed.

Day 4

Hi Dad!

Last night we attended the Spring Program at our kids’ school.  Toby’s class sang and danced to “De Colores” and Mikaela’s class played “Frere Jacque” on recorders.

(I’m guessing you can see Toby with his blonde hair and blue bandana…  Mik is a bit harder to find.  She’s in the 2^nd row, far left with a blue flower in her hair. J)

I’m a sucker for these kind of programs.  Maybe it’s because I used to be a teacher so I have a special appreciation for the work it takes to get a bunch of wiggly, nervous kids to sing and dance and perform well.  (It’s not easy!)  But what I love the most – it almost gets me teary every time! – is seeing the kids up there  when they find us out in the masses and we make eye contact from across an overcrowded cafeteria and exchange joyful, proud smiles.  I see them and they see me smiling and waving and they smile and sneak a little wave back.

And I love it. : )

Last night, especially when Toby was singing and dancing, I didn’t even notice any of the other kids because my eyes were glued on him.  I didn’t want to take my eyes off of him for even a second because I didn’t want to miss anything.  And it reminded me again of how God can’t keep His eyes off of me or you.  Of how delighted He is when I look to Him and sense His smile and smile back with maybe a little wave.  : )

Psalm 121…  Over and over it talks about Him watching over us…  over our coming and going and sitting and sleeping and rising.  What a comfort.

It’s also special to me that after my first day of this daily blogging for Lent my Dad was the one who left a comment saying that he would be reading!  So here’s a little wave for you, Dad.  I love you!

J, Melissa

Lent Day 2

Hi there!  How are you?  Fine? Great! (I'm just guessing...)  Me?  Well, I'm a little tired.  Today was a full day and I didn't do a very good job of planning in any margins.  I went from one morning meeting to the office to pick up the kids to the grocery store to a school program to Life (Bible Study) Group with only a couple of brief stops at home (I didn't take the groceries with me to the school program!) and not enough time in between.  Thankfully, today was out of the ordinary.  But I do know that I need to be careful to make sure that days like today don't become the norm!

We talked during our missionary training about having "margins" in our lives.  A cushion, some might say.  Space to breathe, I would say now.  Time for rest.  REST.  It's been a theme God's been teaching me about for...  hmmm...  Well, I don't know how long.  A really long time, I suspect.  : )  But I'm finally getting it.  Both meaning that I'm understanding and I'm getting more rest!  I'm learning how to rest in Him.  And it is a very good thing.  I'm sure I'll be writing more about resting in the weeks to come.

And speaking of rest, it's time for me to go to bed.  : )  I'll leave you with a funny video we saw at a seminar in Fall.  And I'll see you tomorrow!  : )

~Melissa

You were called... to blog?

Lent is here again and like I've done for about the last 15 or so years, I prayed about if there was something God wanted me to give up (or do) for Lent this year to remember Christ's sacrifice and prepare for celebrating His death and resurrection.  I typically know I've heard from God when my reaction is "Oh, no...  I can't do that!"

This year I heard, "Blog everyday."  And I caught myself responding, "I can't do that!"

Shoot.  That was a couple of days ago and I haven't had any other ideas other than ones that seem like self-imposed ideas (exercising, no sugary stuff, etc.) rather than ideas from God.

I like the blogging idea in some ways.  After all, I do like blogging.  But it doesn't take a math whiz to see that I haven't been blogging much lately!  I think I have felt less motivated because of how many things I have to do each day that don't get done, the trouble I have figuring out where it fits in my days and trouble gathering my thoughts because they seem so un-gathered.  And then there's my hesitation because whenever I say I'm going to do something on the blog, it seems that I don't very often follow through.

And I've NEVER blogged even everyday for a WEEK, let alone 40 days, which is why I would never attempt this if I didn't believe God was leading me and going to help me and likely going to teach me something through this.  I'm sure He has a purpose in this because He never does anything without a purpose.

As I thought about what these 40 posts might contain, I thought about songs I've written, other stuff I've taught, and ended up with the verse that has become a life verse for me:

Colossians 3:15-17

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

I'm expecting God to speak to me and give me something to write about these 40 days.  I don't know if anyone will be reading along or not, but thankfully my commitment is to God and not you, so even if nobody else sees, I'm going to try my best to do it.  : )

Until Tomorrow,

Melissa

Pictures on the Walls...

Hello everyone!  Yesterday afternoon I had some fun digging through a couple of boxes in the garage and pulling out some pictures to hang on the walls of our condo here.  I had put up a couple already, but most of the walls were still bare.  It's amazing how much difference having stuff up on the walls makes.  Just for fun, here are some of the things I added to the walls in the last day or two...

Our friend Karen made this for Lowell and his friends for their 40th birthdays that they all celebrated last year.  It's fun to see friendships that have continued strong for 20+ years!  : )  (Can you see me in the reflection?)

 These haven't made it up on the wall yet, but are some of Lowell's favorites from his backpacking/fishing days.  We'll miss mountains like these in Peru.

This is a picture of my grandparent's house on the farm outside of Bakersfield.  The wood is from their old barn.  : )  The house and barn are gone now, but there is at least a street named after the family in the subdivision that exists there now!  I haven't seen it...  I think it would make me too sad...  but I love having a piece of their homestead in my home.

A souvenir from a trip to Colombia 10+ years ago.  Funny... that trip was one of the things that confirmed for us that we weren't supposed to go out as missionaries back then. Not because we didn't like it there...  it just wasn't time.

 My brother Brad and his wife Angel gave this to me a year ago for Christmas.  I love it.  For years growing up we had a painting with Proverbs 3:5-6 hanging in our house and it is burned into my heart and mind.  That verse came alive for me in a whole new way soon after college and I will always love this verse.  I love having stuff like this on my walls and hope it gets etched permanently in my kids' minds and hearts, too.

 Another gift from another brother and his wife...  this time Kevin & Hillary!  I loved having these photos on our wall in our old house.  It was the nicest photo arrangement we've ever had!  : )  For now they decorate the mantel and I still love having them around.

 Lowell put our MTE graduation certificates on the wall last weekend.  : )  And this calendar was made by Lowell's parents for all their kids (and them) for Christmas.  It has a page dedicated to each of their kids and grandkids.  How cute and fun is that?  I just can't get over that in some parts of the world it's already March.  Yikes!

 We collected quite a few missionary prayer cards when we were in Abbotsford.  Most of these are from people we were in training with and we love them dearly.  (The people, that is.) I was excited when I saw the empty bulletin board upstairs and realized it would be just the thing for the cards.  (The wood on this one is from Lowell's grandpa's old barn.  So cool to have such a clever hubby...  even if he does miss having all of his old tools!)  Now it's on the wall near our dining table and we can see and remember to pray for these dear faces.

 Mikaela and Timothy made this for me this weekend.  : )  It's a "homade paper quilt".  She used little pieces of paper, stamped designs on all of them and then glued them all to 2 larger pieces of construction paper and then added little accent pieces she also colored.  She is an amazingly creative young lady and I love this piece of art!  : )

 This is my favorite picture from our wedding.  I love the light shining through the cross and all of the people and that church.  I'm so glad I married that man!

 Another picture set I love...  these 3 pictures were all taken in front of the window in our hotel room in Bangkok when we went to get Timothy.  It makes me happy to remember that exciting adventure and to see those sweet faces that keep looking younger as the kids keep getting older.

For several summers in a row, we went camping with a bunch of our "old friends" from college and our families.  We had so much fun.  The kids would all play and play and we adults could visit without having to entertain or even hardly pay attention to the kids it seemed.  (Well, except to remind them to stay out of the poison oak!!!) One year we camped at Monterey and at the Montana de Oro beach I took these pictures.  I had always wanted to decorate our bedroom with a beach theme and there were such beautiful rocks there.  It was fun to stack them and pretend I was a photographer.  : )

I wasn't sure where this post was going to go when I started it.  I was going to tell you all that Lowell has uploaded a lot (really...  a LOT) of pictures from our trip to Peru so you can go check them out if you're interested in seeing where we went and some of the people we spent time with.  It was rich.  : )  The pictures online and the pictures I was hanging seemed to tie together so I thought I'd share them both.

I realize now that there is definitely a theme that weaves through all the pictures I'm hanging up.  Almost all of them bring back happy memories for me.  Whether it's memories of an event or of people or a stage of life, the things are all sweet to me for much more than aesthetic reasons.  And I'm glad I got them out and up so I can enjoy them for the remaining months we are living here.  The tough question is going to be what to do with them when we move to Peru.  I know we can't and I don't want to try to take them all with us...  but I want the memories.  (Maybe I'll just take the pictures of the pictures!)  : )

I also want to remember that as we go through life we're always making new memories and what we're living today has the potential to be a sweet memory in the future as I walk with God through it and am thankful in it and choose to look at it with hope and joy.

Lord, help me live these days so that if they were hanging on my wall someday they would bring back sweet memories of walking in faith with You...

And if you want to see our other pictures, click here.  : )

A Valentine from the Lover of Your Soul

To: You

From: The One Who Loves You Most

I love you wider than the ocean
Deeper than the grandest canyon
Higher than the stars that shine up in the sky

And I love you
As long as E T E R N I T Y

Believe it
Accept it
Receive it
Rejoice in it!

My love is priceless, and so are you!
You cannot imagine what you mean to Me
But if you look to Me, I'll help you see
Who you are
You are my beloved
And I am yours
F O R E V E R M O R E . . .

"¹⁷ ...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 

¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, 

to grasp 

how wide

and long

and high

and deep

is the love of Christ, 

¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—

that you may be filled 

to the measure

of all

the fullness

of God."

Ephesians 3:17b-19

(Words above by m.e.)