Asia, oh, Asia!!

For those who have known me a long time, you know I have had a heart for the millions, yes, millions, of lost in Asia. When I was 18 I had the privilege of attending a retreat of an amazing woman of God who had spent more than 40 years as a missionary to Asia during times of war, famine, and revival! On my first job, my best friend was from Vietnam and her grandparents had migrated from China to Vietnam to escape WWII only to be caught up in the Vietnam war. Later two of my dear friends spent a year in an orphanage in East Asia and I was able to "go" with them through prayer. Then my oldest daughter began to beg to learn Chinese, and through God's amazing "coincidences" we found a local Chinese language school that just "happened" to be starting classes for Americans at the time she began High School. That was topped off by our cousins leaving the Philippines after 30 years of service there and going into an East Asian country, allowing our daughter to go visit. Also during the past 10 years my hubby and I have prayed for a minority group in Southeast Asia, considered adoption (but were too old), sponsored a couple of people to go, been on two eloops for the minority group pray-ers, and had a couple in our church travel to Vietnam to work in orphanages and medical clinics. It has amazed me how God has allowed us to be part of HIS work there! And now, very unexpectedly, I too plan to go to Asia in October with my oldest daughter and several friends. We will stay on a University campus and work with students on their English skills. It will be a very short trip, but I know it will be both life-changing and rewarding beyond my imagination. God has been so very good to allow us this opportunity. Please pray for us, for the students that we will meet, for our health and travel safety, for Americans who are there teaching English. And take a few minutes to praise the Lord for technology that can be used for good as well as evil, can help us understand the vast need for the truth of the gospel message to be carried around the world and can tie us together in prayer in ways that weren't possible even a few years ago.

"Odd Combination"

A friend of mine told me recently that she loved me because I was such an "Odd Combination". I knew exactly what she meant and love her precisely because she is not so "odd" :) ! For instance, she loves (and is great at) cooking, baking, teaching all ages of her children, sewing, keeping a very clean and organized house, interior decorating, music, reading, crafts, etc., etc. She is a very classy and "together" stay-at-home homeschooling Mom. Her husband does all the outside work, home maintenance, etc. and they have a great marriage. This split of responsibilities works very well for them. She came over to visit on a day when I had spent the morning driving the tractor on the farm watering trees then came inside and finished homeschooling my children, topping it off with an "extra" reading from Narnia (we usually just save that for the family evening time). I had just finished Anna Karenina myself the day before, and my hubby and I were in the last chapter of "Family Driven Faith". She couldn't understand how I could speed read five books in one week as well as finish "Anna" (Thank you to my 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Ferguson!) and yet be happy driving a tractor :) ! I could never put together a formal dinner party, especially with 5 little ones under foot like she does, either. And yet we love each other and our time together. I love each aspect of my life, as she does hers, and with my hubby of 30 years, what works for us, well, it works well, and her marriage of 12 years works well for them, too! I think of two lighthouses that I have visited. One is on a rocky outcrop, and shines out from cliffs into the depths of the open sea; the other has weathered many hurricanes and shines into a shallow harbor with constantly shifting sands. My friend and I have to remember not to try to imitate each other but to use the talents and heart desires God has given us in the place he has placed us, to make the most of our marriages, our parenting and most of all our willingness to be lights to the dark world around us. And God is good enough to not only provide the light but to let us draw strength from each others' light as well!

Ready or not, here comes summer!

Most years we try to finish our school year by Memorial Day or at least the last day of May. Well, this isn't "most years" :) ! I'm still trying to decide how to finish things off with Ethan, but Emma will be finished with all her subjects within two weeks. Since Ethan wasn't really ready for phonics at the beginning of the year, we took our time because the last thing I wanted was to turn him off from reading. Since at this very minute he is sitting at the barstool reading "Fox and His Friends" by himself with only occasionally spelling a word he needs help with, I think it was worth the effort! Years ago I read "Better Late than Early" by Raymond and Dorothy Moore and it has been such a blessing to remember their wisdom and advice with this youngest child, especially.

The farm has taken many, many hours of our time but so far the trees are not just surviving but thriving - God is good!! In addition to the demands of 400 new "babies" we have had friends who've had human babies, several relatives pass away, my MIL taking chemo again, a wedding, and numerous family issues to deal with so I'm (sort of!!) OK with not being finished yet.

Today we spotted the hummingbirds at the feeder and after several questions about their migration, size/type of nest, etc., we sidetracked from usual routine and spent some time on the internet looking at pictures of and reading about hummingbirds. Natural Science!!! We love it!! Nothing better than good old curiosity and observation!

All this to say I think it's OK to not be on the "master schedule" (ahem.. actually MY master schedule is the one that I stress over!) because they are learning, growing, sharing, laughing and loving, whether "school" is out for the summer or not!

Our country song last week

Do you ever have times that you feel like you've stepped out of reality and into a bad country song? No, I didn't ride a train but last week our truck took out, my faithful wonderful old dog died (my youngest children weren't even born when we got her), my farm had problems with insect pests and dry, scorching heat (in April of all times!), my children had all kinds of problems, I had 10 children in the house for 3 days, I had two migraines (I've only had maybe 5 in my whole lifetime), it was my birthday (good) but also on my birthday was the 20th anniversary of finding out that my Mom had incurable cancer and 8th anniversary of losing a baby in my 4th month, and my hubby and I had a big spat. But this isn't a country song and there really is a lot of wonderful things from all that. Because we had that spat, my hubby and I took extra time this weekend to be together and had the most wonderful time together in a long time; the 10 children were here because their parents were at the hospital with a beautiful, healthy baby girl; my dog is no longer in pain; we learned a LLLLOTTTT about insect control and its importance; the youngest two had a blast riding on the back of the tractor and spraying the trees (and each other) with the water hose; and most of all we all have hope that no matter how bad things look, we have joy and hope and peace with our Savior with whom my Mom, Dad and unborn child have been waiting. God is good - all the time - even in country song weeks.

Why I Judge Others

I've been thinking a lot lately about how easily I judge others. For their lifestyles, their choices, their looks, basically anything about them that I can observe or hear about. It's so much easier to judge other people than to deal with the mess in my own heart. Yeah, mess. No matter how "together" or "mature" or even "spiritual" I may look, I know that in my heart is one big mess - no make that lots and lots of big messes! Mostly these things are centered around my self-centeredness (just count the times I've already written "I" or "me" already in this paragraph!). It's easy and comfortable and even self-gratifying to be judgmental of others. It's hard, painful and very gut-wrenching to judge my own heart. I think maybe I'll tie a mirror around my neck to remind me of who I should be judging. And maybe, just maybe, if I spend more time helping others I'll have less time to judge them.
Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Recitals and farming and baseball, oh my!!

Very busy lately and the next 2 weeks are going to be even crazier! Gran - rough week after chemo and she will begin daily radiation this week. Pray for her physical, emotional and spiritual state. Emma Kate - Dance recital in two weeks so extra practices this week, extra ones next week almost 55 minutes from home, and pictures next Saturday; piano recital in 4 weeks; Awanas awards in 3 weeks (she's trying to get all her Silver and Gold done in her 2nd book before then). Ethan - baseball practice, baseball pictures, baseball games, needs new cleats (outgrown the ones that are less than 6 months old - uggghhh!) and gray, not white, baseball pants which are nowhere to be found within an hour drive of here. [Note to self: Baseball is a WAY bigger commitment than soccer - remember this!!] Farm - most of the trees have budded out (Yippeee!!!) and are now ready to be bud pruned by hand. This means carefully cutting off about 8-10 buds x 400 trees = 2 little time 2 do 2 much work! Will be early mornings in the field for a few weeks. Then there's a few things called school work, laundry, vacuuming, being on call for a friend who's past due to have a baby, cooking, grass mowing, weed pulling, and .... LIFE! So if you see this blur drive past, or don't get any emails from me for a while, just hold onto your thoughts and remember what's happening on your end so we can catch up when June gets here and things slow down. In the meantime, shoot me an email or blog post so I won't lose track of you if I don't see you. Happy Spring :) !!

Blessings at church

We are truly blessed every Sunday with the wonderful teaching at our church. My husband said a few months ago that he felt like when we left the church he had just had a huge steak meal where he had been so used to milky baby food for so many years. Now that doesn't mean we've never had good Biblical teaching before, but just not so deep and consistent as now. Nuggets from last week:
Is. 53 passage in Sunday School - 1) Jesus is the propitiation for us, not the expiation - (Rom. 3:25, 1 John 2:2) HE paid the price for our sin in full, we are not/will never be punished for our sin; we are viewed by God as if we were totally sinless, had never and will never sin because when He looks He sees His Son's righteousness in place of our sinful soul. Doesn't this just knock your socks off??! WHY would a Holy, blameless Son of God die in agony for a wicked selfish full-of-sin sinner like me? One who not only sinned grossly before I accepted His salvation but can't even go a day, sometimes not even a minute, without sinning even after I try to comprehend His ultimate mercy and love and sacrifice! Unbelievable, but yet true (Rom 7:14-25).
2) Jesus chose to die. He who created the world as the Father spoke it into being (John 1:3) , knowing the world He created would turn its back on Him, knowing He would be mocked and flogged and spat upon and rejected and tortured and hung on a cross for people who can't even comprehend His love (1 John 4:10) and mercy - He chose the cross anyway. For me...!
3) Yes, we will have troubles in this world (John 16:33). It is a fallen, sinful world full of fallen, sinful sinners. But our troubles are never punishment for our sins. They may be consequences of them, but not punishment from God (Is. 53:5-6). The only way to rid the world of sin would be to wipe it (including all of us) out completely, but God couldn't do that because it would be against His very nature of love and mercy (Ps. 86:15). But He can't allow us as sinners to live with Him either because HE is Justice (Ps. 7:11). So the only choice is to die in our place. The only choice for Him, the only Way for us (John 14:6), to be covered by His righteousness.
4) We cannot sin against another human being. We can hurt them, we can cause them suffering and pain and even death by our choices but the only way to sin against someone in the real sense of sinning is to rebel against their sinless being, and there is only One who is sinless. "Against you and you only have I sinned" the Psalmist so aptly says (Ps. 51). This is eye opening for me. No one on this earth can sin against me because I am not sinless myself. They can hurt me, they can cause me grief or pain or heartache or misery or poverty but they cannot sin against me, and I cannot sin against them. Every sin I commit is against my God and my Savior alone, the same one who chose to die for me, who chooses to love me in spite of my wicked soul. Oh, to live every moment aware of the fact that it is all about HIM, all for HIM, all sustained by HIM, all for His glory or for nothing. If I could just remember that how much easier not to sin against Him. Oh, to love Him more, to do as He has said in His Word, to think on HIM, to strive to truly worship Him. That would be a life worth living.
Praise be to God for His servants who have so clearly divided His word of truth.