Today has been a whirlwind!

We had such a great time at church this morning and then we were blessed to be able to spend lunch with wonderful friends! I think we spent 3 hours at Chili's with Peter, Susan, Joy, Robert and Sherri!!! I know Mike and I didn't want to leave because we are counting down each second we have left with these dear people! Time feels like it is just flying by and I am realizing each day just how much I will miss all these friends God has blessed us with.

Our pastor's wife came and gave me a hug during the service today and I had a "mini meltdown!" I am going to call it mini because it was the first of MANY to follow I am certain! I apologized afterwards for falling apart on her and told her I wasn't sure where all of the emotion was coming from. We have just 2 more Sundays with our church family and I feel like I am in a bit of a fog when I am there! I know God gives us coping mechanisms to get through the hardest of situations and I look forward to watching how HE gets me through all of this! ;)

We got LOTS of information this afternoon from some WONDERFUL people in the field. I am reading it over and over again! God is providing us with just enough information to go to the next step. He is just requiring our obedience and as long as we continue to step out in faith, He continues to show up and give us the next piece of the puzzle!

Oh....and thank you Robyn and Jeff for the luggage information today. Sorry Mike keeps harassing you with BUG RECIPES! He misses you all so much! Every time he has the opportunity to talk to Jeff, he is beaming! Sure do wish we were gonna be at training with you all....BUT...God's timing is perfect and I'll keep reminding myself of that!

Never Forget

Today we remember why we have eternal security!

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

1 John 4:9

A Lighter Load

The last two days have been EXTREMELY BUSY!!!

Tuesday afternoon Michael called me from work and did the whole "good news/bad news" scenario over the phone. His good news was that we had ANOTHER person wanting to look at the house. (That would make 6 for this week.) The bad new was that they'd be at the house within the hour.
After thanking Mike for his charming delivery, I began the "quick clean" as I like to call it. You know the one! The cleaning that involves Windexing everything in sight and throwing all the clutter into places you pray they won't look. I ran the vacuum (thank the Lord our hardwood floors were still looking good from the last showing) and lit some candles. I finished in a miraculous 30 minutes.

After taking a breath, I asked God if there was anything I was missing. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace (not usual for me with buyers about to arrive) and decided to walk through the house and pray.
Our house has been for sale A VERY LONG TIME and we've shown the house more times than I ever care to recall but for some reason instead of just asking Him to SELL IT, this time I felt led to open every closet and go into every room. As I began to open closet doors, I told God the closet and the space it provided was HIS.
I then went on to the laundry room. I don't presume to think that in Brazil my laundry accommodations will look as they do here in my suburban house but I decided to give HIM my laundry room and the conveniences it had provided. (I REALLY HATE LAUNDRY....please hear me on this point.) I hope God was hearing my heart! :)
This continued on as I gave HIM my bathtub (sigh) and our double vanity. (probably won't have one of those:)

Things didn't get sad or even too intense for me until I stepped upstairs into the kids bathroom and I began to think of potty training the boys. (WHAT?!?) Crazy, huh? I gave HIM the memories of the times spent in the bathroom giving baths and teaching little fellas to brush their teeth. Memories of countless hours playing in their rooms, the walls with scuffs from all their light saber battles, the nights of reading stories in the floor, the tents and forts set up for days. The tears were rolling now! I literally had to GIVE HIM each and every ounce of the house. I wasn't sure why, but I really felt led to do this.

Anyway...realtor comes with buyer. They stay at the house 10 minutes top!

Hmm... OH well! At least the house is clean, right?!?

Next morning, I get another call from Michael. This time he goes straight to the point and lets me know that the same realtor will be back again with the same buyer that evening because he really liked the house. Mike and I decide to call lots of close friends and family and ask them to begin to pray!

That evening, (last night) on our way home from the ballpark, we get a call from our realtor and he asks how quickly we can be at the house because the other realtor wants to present a contract.

As the realtor began her little presentation "thingy" it became very clear to me why God had asked to me to give HIM the house. The buyer is a newly divorced man that will need to refurbish almost the whole house and the contract included about half our furniture and all the decorations/stuff on the walls and counters. HUH????? Is this guy serious? He wants my house AND MY mantle decorations?

Oh wait, they aren't mine anymore! I had given them to God.

Why did God need this from me? I had thought for so long it was enough just to say, "It's all Yours God!" But my heart must not have been echoing my words. I hadn't completely surrendered everything to HIM like I thought I had. He needs our absolute surrender, not partial, not the things that are easy for us to give up in order to follow HIM...but EVERYTHING!

Luke 9:23-27

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

So...this is where we are today. The realtor on their side has to cross a few more T's and dot a few more I's in order for us to sign but hopefully by the end of the day our house will be under contract. The house he is selling closes the end of this month so things could possibly move swiftly.
Please keep praying for HIS will in all of this and that (as my friend Susan put it) my hands would hold loosely to anything HE DOES want us to take and release all the THINGS/STUFF that we hold on to for our OWN SAKE!

Fun Night with the Fletchers

Last night we headed over to some of our best friends' house for dinner and Rook! We love to hang out with Dana and Gary because we go home with our ribs hurting from all the laughing!!! Last night was no exception.

I took my Dirt Cake for dessert.

(Pudding with cream cheese and Oreos)

YUMMY!!!

Here's how it looked before we all dug in!

Dana and I posed for a picture and the guys had to POSE the exact same way! Aren't they CUTE? I don't think they realized it would turn out to be a REALLY good picture! Ha! Serves them right!

Here are a few more of the guys lauging it up while playing cards! It is going to be heartbreaking to have to leave these amazing friends. They make us VERY happy and we love to laugh with them. (WELL...with Dana but maybe at Gary!)

Proud Mamma

First off...
I have to shamelessly brag on JohnMark. I was sitting in church today and one of the people on the welcome committee came up to my row and sat a really sweet couple down right beside me. They were visiting for the first time and I had never met them before yet I heard her whisper to the lady, "This is JohnMark's mom."

Obviously, those words can put terror into a mom. Especially at times when you are not with your children and aren't sure what they are currently doing. My mind began to race and I thought about how I might need to apologize to this poor woman for whatever my dear JohnMark had done! She seemed to be smiling though so maybe he hadn't: damaged her car with our car door, ran into her children in the hallway accidentally knocking them down, or any of the horrible things going through my mind!

She must have picked up on my fears because she quickly leaned over and whispered to me that JohnMark had invited them to church yesterday. (Michael, Jayden, and JohnMark had all gone to put door hangers out for our church's Easter service yesterday morning. Jackson and I had stayed home because he had been getting over a fever.) Anyway...she went on to tell me how when JohnMark had arrived at their house, she and her husband were outside and JohnMark just walked right up to them and started a conversation with her husband. He told him all about our church and why he was there. Apparently, they talked for quite awhile and since the family had seen our church's billboard they were already somewhat interested in our church.

I was extremely proud of JohnMark. He is always so bold in his walk with Christ and in many areas of his life he is wise beyond his years.
Okay...I'll stop with that! ;) But just know that I am super proud!

Thank you to all of you who are praying diligently for our house to sell. I truly feel each of you lifting us up! We showed the house yesterday to a couple and today we are having an Open House. Next Saturday we have it scheduled to show to a family that lives out of town. Needless to say, we are staying busy with house cleaning. We have become MASTERS at cleaning the house. Michael is great about helping....no I shouldn't say helping. He actually partners with me and takes on as much as I do. I love that he helps me carry that burden! He is a good man!

All of you IMBer's (that's a cool way to say it, huh?!?) out there packing up and getting things ready to go...I am praying for you as well! I get excited just reading your blogs and seeing your pictures of suitcases, crates and empty houses! God is at work here and abroad! It is overwhelming to think about how God will use each of these families to reach lost people all over the globe.

Rebecca Vs. The Robin

About a week ago, I began a battle with a bird. I would walk out my front porch and see a HUGE mess all over the door, my wreath, and entrance area. At first, I couldn't figure out what the mess what all about but I finally realized a nest was being made in my front door wreath. I was very frustrated with all the dirt and junk so I quickly removed and swept up the nest from it's newly appointed home. This wasn't easy because somehow birds use mud (how do they do that?) to make their nests!!! I went and got a glass of water and removed as much of the mud and dirt from MY wreath and tried to clean off the door as best I could!

Me-1 Bird-0

The very next day I go out to get the mail and return to the porch to find a nest being made again! NOW I'M MAD!!!! Doesn't this stupid bird understand that this is not a safe place to bring babies into the world?!? Doesn't this stupid bird know that my children can slam this door at a rate that would cause brain damage to a newborn's skull!!? COME ON!!! I decide to be the mother bird's helper and REMOVE the partially made nest once more. This time I just leave the mess behind though because I have a hunch the battle is just beginning.

Me-2 Bird-0

A few days later while I'm sitting on the couch reading, I notice something flying by the window over and over again! Hmmm.....what on earth?!? YES. If you're thinking momma bird is back, you are 100% right. I open the door and find a completely finished nest but that day something was different. Right when I started to grab it and remove said nest from MY wreath, I realized there was a blue egg inside.
OK...for those of you wandering. I do have a heart. I do like robins and I do like baby birds. (Just not in MY wreath!) So, I called the boys to come and take a look at our new tenants. They were ecstatic!

Me-2 Bird-1

The next day, the boys went to check in on our little friends and discovered a 2nd egg!!!

Me-2 Bird-2

The next day, I went to see what was going on in our little front porch nursery and spotted EGG #3!!!

Me-2 Bird-3

Today I decided to embrace our little friends and make the kids use the back door. I even took some photos so you all could enjoy them as well. I'll try to get a shot of them as soon as they are born. (THAT IS IF MY CHILDREN DON'T FORGET ABOUT THEM AND SLAM THE DOOR!)
My guess is that ol' momma bird wishes she had reconsidered her housing arrangements!!

JohnMark Turns 11

I am having trouble believing how big my oldest son is getting. It's sorta heart wrenching and I know I've blogged about it before but it literally seems like he's getting bigger and bigger right before our eyes. We celebrated his eleventh birthday today pretty quietly. He had a friend hang out over the weekend and they played laser tag and did the "guy" stuff. Mike took the day off and we spent the day catering to the eldest son.

The cake was YUMMY!!!! We got it from Bruester's! It was chocolate cake with Oreo ice cream on top! I was very proud of myself because I used a coupon and also got a free pint of Butter Pecan!!!! This is a perfect reason to be proud, right?!? Especially, since I didn't bake his cake this year. :) Blowing out 11 Candles!!!

I got a good shot of Jackson with his face covered in cake. It was sorta funny cause normally he's not a cake eater but tonight he cleaned everyone's plate for them!

JohnMark sharing his cake!!!

JohnMark had saved his money over the past year and after receiving quite a bit of birthday money...he finally had enough to buy his PSP! This is how he and his brothers spent most of the evening!

Right before he went to sleep tonight...he yelled down, "Thanks, guys for the great day!" Man, he sure can melt my heart. He is such a gift from God!

A Little Piece of Heaven

I went through a bunch of old pictures tonight and walked down memory lane a bit. In 2006, Mike and I won a trip with KLOVE radio and ICM http://www.icm.org/. We had the opportunity to see Tanzania, India and China in ten days. Looking back, it sometimes feels like a dream because we were so exhausted by the end. It was an amazing experience. One we'll treasure for our entire lives. I thought I'd post some pics from the trip so hold on to your hats as we go around the world pretty quickly.

This is a church in Tanzania that was built with help from International Cooperating Ministries. Check out their website if you get a chance. They are an amazing organization that has partnered in building churches all over the globe. To my left, in this picture, is a man named Barnabas. He is one of the main visionary church planters in this area. It was such an honor to meet him.

Then as we arrived in India we were completely humbled to have flowers thrown at us everywhere we went. The people of India were the warmest people I've ever met.

I will never forget the children of India.

We ended our journey in Changsha, China. Changsha is in the Hunan Province. God is doing a mighty work in this region and I was amazed at all I saw.

We were all pretty delirious by the end of the trip. I don't think I even remember the 15 hour trip home!

Did You Burn Your Finger?

I'm feeling sick today. I woke up with swollen glands everywhere and my left ear was throbbing. I absolutely hate being sick because I'm a complete baby. When I finally drug myself out of bed this morning, I went straight to the couch and realized it was snowing outside. Yesterday was in the 60's and today it is snowing. UGH!!!

Anyway, I finally mustered up enough strength to crawl over to the gas fireplace and turn it on. As I brought my head up, I banged it on the corner of the mantle and put a gash in my forehead. That was all I could take! I stuck my face in the couch and began to sob. I mean big hard shoulder shaking sobs. The boys came over from their breakfast and tried to console me with sweet words. Jayden thought I had burnt my hand on the fire and offered ice but I couldn't even explain to him there was no need for that. I was crying too hard.

I think some of my tears were for the throbbing in my head and some of them were for the ache I felt all over my body. But truth be told, I feel some of it was just me being sad that my house hasn't sold yet. Why hasn't God come in to save the day? Doesn't He know we're ready to do all that we've promised Him. We want to move forward with everything and yet we can't until this hurdle is out of the way.

I spent pretty much all of my day in my spot on the couch feeling really sorry for myself. It's not to say I didn't have good reason to have my little pity party but when I consider so many others, my trials are pretty trivial. My sister-in-law's dad is in the hospital on a respirator at this very moment and they can't seem to find out what is wrong with him. I can't even imagine the anguish she is going through.

The Riggs Family spent the day giving their four year-old little girl chemo treatments at home. They adopted Abby from Guatemala when she was six months old expecting a lifetime with her. God had other plans though. He knew this little girl had a rough road ahead of her and had the perfect family to walk with her through this battle.

The Salza Family had to watch as doctors put their newborn back on the ventilator yesterday. I went to school with Shellie and I am amazed with her strength. She had him 3 months early and his birth weight was 1 lb 12 oz. Please pray for this sweet little guy and his family as he fights for his life.

Where is God in all these situations? I promise you, He is right in the midst of each and everyone of them. It's in the times of despair and anguish when He is carrying us and holding us. If He weren't, I'm pretty sure none of us could get through this battle we call life. I don't know how people who don't know Him even get out of bed in the morning. Life is sometimes just plain hard. I am so grateful that He cares about every detail of my life, gashed foreheads and all!!!

Spending Time with Him

The timeline WE had hoped for required a contract on our house by next weekend but it looks like God has us here for a bit longer! It's so easy to get discouraged but I've recently felt God giving me peace about HIS timing. He's allowing me to rest in Him more completely than ever before. When the house does eventually sell, things will move at such a pace I'll be longing for a breath and missing this time of ease. Our life will begin to change more rapidly than I can even imagine or wrap my head around.

The other night, God laid on my heart to just enjoy this quiet time He is giving us. He's showing me how to enjoy the stillness that comes from waiting on the Lord. Some seasons in life are so busy with going and doing. This winter with all the snow and ice we've had, there has been a lot of time of just sitting at home and feeling stagnant. Thank goodness God can take us out of the pit of despair and set our feet on solid ground again filling us up with His love!

Pray for the Brazilian people and the role God would have for our family in Maceio. Pray for our timing and that we will continue to drench ourselves into His Word during this time of waiting. Pray for our children to be able to have a healthy time of transition as we enjoy another spring in Kentucky.