swingers

( mama gasped too many times... it was pretty high for this little guy!)

We had another , wonderful visit in N Georgia with the Millers.  What a gift that these friends have opened their home as a retreat/ bed-n-breakfast place for overseas workers to come to be refreshed.  We Were!

And too, our kids have been swinging really well lately with all the changes that keep flying at them.  We have had some minor tummy troubles and definite (mama) grumpiness that I'm blaming our crazy changing life for, but the hardest of our moving season is coming to an end.  We get to stay with two more dear friends in the next 2.5 weeks- some truly spectacular people that we love dearly-  and then we'll be in just 4 more places for the last 2 months in the states.  In the end it will be 22 moves in 5 months.  Oi!....  I don't think we'll be doing this quite the same again but the Lord is giving us grace to make it.... and it has been sweet.

Thank you Lord!  Thank you again dear Millers!

thankful (our southern tour)

We are thankful beyond words for the past seven weeks or so that we've been in the states.  Each stop has been fantastically sweet and travels smooth.  Crazy grace.  We've reconnected with most of our favorite Americans now and we've loved being in the multi-colored outdoors.  Our family has moved thirteen times and that's made us all pretty weary but we're all So. Incredibly. Glad. to have these friends and these great places to enjoy with them.

I'm at a total loss to figure out how to adequately thank the friends who have given us a van to drive and a home in the woods for a week, the brother who took off work- the precious Grether clan splurging to create joy of every kind with us, the friends who drove days to be with us in the mountains, the friends who hosted us just 6 weeks after their 6th baby joined them.  We are crazy blessed by the Lord's gift to us of YOU.

such a fun group of kiddo friends (and their cool moms and dads) joined us in NC!

yarn diving sock puppets off the top indoor balcony made for hours of fun for this little crew

almost the ten of them... the littlest was still in mama's sling

Today we're in a new place, enjoying a swing made of dreams and 30ft of rope and the kids are flying on it through the trees.... and have I mentioned the leaves have been changing their colors while they've followed us around the country?  We started together in North Dakota, then down to South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennesse and now in north Georgia.    In each place we've arrived, we've seen more greens and yellow and by the time we've gone....  Such Beauty!

I wrote this 4-5 days ago but I never could get pictures to load so now I'm posting it back to that date.... The real "Today" has us enjoying South Carolina again with Grether- our favorite uncle Greg, Auntie Heather, and sweet little cousin Eli.   With two photo loving mamas here there's bound to be another crazy photo post for you soon, Grandma!  

filled

The past few weeks have been packed full of joy and full of changes, moving and traveling.  There's been a good mix of weariness with our gladness.   Isaiah especially has had a hard time with all the different beds he's slept in and all the change that marks every new day.  I've been physically worn down and I've battled a bit with the same thing as my boy:  I would love to just stay put for more than a handful of days please!

Despite the bit of weariness, these days have been deeply marked with joy.  This week I'm writing from the most beautiful woody mountain scene I could imagine.... North Carolina at it's early autumn best.    This home to share with friends and family and to fill up with warmth and good food and puppet shows and hide and seek and tromps through the wet grass Joy....  Such joy. 
 
There's really too much to record from the past few weeks....  precious visits with friends, The Four Family Reunion, meeting Great Grandparents (3 in ND!),  reconnecting with treasured friends in Orlando, meeting Eli.....  and I'll try to pick up there with a few pictures (mostly for you Grandma!  Here you go....).

the boys at the elephants (for Eli!) 

at the zoo in Columbia... we love the bird cage!

the giraffes were so fun to feed... (I think this was the most interest Vivi showed the giraffes but they were May's favorite by far!)

a meal together in this beautiful mountain home

the man loves grass

and he loves his kids

and they love him

and he loves me... and I Could Not Be More Glad or Grateful to the Lord for my best friend!

Well Worthy.... Would you please give?

I've never posted anything like this before, but I must share this opportunity with you..... even though I only have a minute and it'll be a brief sweet post today!  (More to the story and more photos soon...)

Matt and I are going to run on November 11 (a 5k for me and a half marathon for him)  as a fundraiser for As Our Own.  This organization works in India to provide rescue, aftercare and preventive care for young girls who are vulnerable to abuse and trafficking in India's sex industry.  The way they love and demonstrate the Gospel of Christ is *Beautiful*.

If you're interested... will you please visit my race page at As Our Own to read about Premila, the sweet 14 year-old girl we're running for, and consider donating to our fundraising effort? 

Here's the link friends!

You can give right there.    I haven't raised anything yet....  sigh.... but man, I'd be so grateful to start making my way towards our fundraising goal of $750 with your help!  (Of course, we'll be donating to it too but we haven't even done that yet!)  The money donated goes 100% to As Our Own for their efforts of love and serve these precious, needy girls.

Thanks friends!  We're so grateful to get to do this together with you for these precious girls and for the Lord!

God of our fathers....

As we pulled into this sweet town of Buffalo, ND two days ago,  Andrew Peterson sang to us "God of our fathers, please be the God of our children too."  The whole CD is treasureful but that line just couldn't be more perfect for the moment we arrived in this place.  

(in the treehouse at the next-door neighbors' place)

God of our fathers and mothers, of Grands and Great Grandparents....  continue your kind and merciful pursuit in the lives of our children like you have in their lives.  

 Yes, Lord.  

  

(at the trampoline at the neighbor's across the way)

The "sit down game" was the favorite of our big three, the best way for them to not crash into each other and it was really all that John could take for bounce height....  oh their squeals of joy in the hours here....  Such Gift.  

(in the center of the "happy place" home)

No visit to Buffalo would be complete without something baked delicious.... and it's always best baked together.  I love Grandma Marian's line about cooking with little ones:  "It's ok if it isn't perfect.  We don't have to take this batch to the fair."

We took a walk around town and saw their church (below) and another tiny church in town where Grandma plays the organ once a month.  May these great songs be lived true in our lives!

May your love continue to shine bright (and may ours carry the same flame!)  A flame of selfless love for Him and for each other and for your community....  all the more evidence of God's unrelenting grace....  59 years now...

We love you so much Great Grandpa Harold and Great Grandma Marian!
Thank you for these days with you!

Just wondering... (about servants)

We have been so blessed since we’ve been back in the states, so glad to connect with churches and friends and some new gatherings to share about China and the people we love there.  We had lunch recently with three families who encouraged us so tremendously with their interest in what’s going on, what life is like for us there, and the needs of the people we love.  We are so grateful for many relationships and opportunities like this.  What a blessing to have the support of such intentional, thoughtful people!

When we share, we like to encourage people to live boldly for God’s kingdom here too, or however he may be leading them.  Sometimes as we’ve shared, I feel like I’m looking into blank eyes that have glazed over completely.   It’s as if someone’s spiked the coffee of our listener friends.  It was either a shot of “I’m glad you’re talking about China because there’s no way I’d ever want to live Radical for God in America” or maybe “That’s nice for you young people but I’ve worked hard all my life and I’ve earned my right to live for my comfort”  or possibly it was just one squirt of the devastatingly deceptive “Yea, I believe in God too, but He hasn’t called me to sacrifice anything.  I’m happy to define my life by my culture’s standard for success and my personal desires for pleasure.”

And my own coffee has been spiked too.  I know I don't see it so clearly, but it's true.   My culture has snuck in on me and I try to define my life with the most comfortable culture too.  There is good reason James tells us so many times, "Do not be deceived beloved...".  Oh Lord, give us your Truth and Wisdom according to your Living Word that we would not be deceived!

Yesterday morning we drove by a church marquis board with this message:  “Welcome to the servant’s quarters.”   Servants.  There's something that's not so easy to rule out from the range of possible for our lives.  We can all SERVE from where we are.  How sweet it would be to see a church body where everyone considered themselves servants of God regardless of their vocation or title.    I think it would be a praying church and a very active one in serving the needy and proclaiming the Gospel to the lost, and in demonstrating mercy and love for the broken and bruised in our world.  

So... what if all who called themselves God’s people, were God’s servants and not just his pretty pets to give goodies to?  What if all of us believers were actually lovers of God, glad servants of God?  What if we saw clearly that there are no dividing lines of class or geography or race among God’s people, but that we are all only the endlessly blessed, eternally glad, ceaselessly grateful united body of Christ?  What if we stood before Him with only his song on our hearts, full of unhindered, unashamed JOY?   What if we all abandoned our “rights” to live for ourselves....  and fled from the mud puddle playing of this world that we think is so fantastic (see CS Lewis, Mere Christianity).  

What does the Word tell us about being servants of God?  And what if the Word really was our Standard for determining what of our culture we’ll chew up and swallow down and what parts we’ll spit out?  What do servants look like, what do they live like, in a culture of luxury and self-indulgence?

The Word is packed with clarity and holds no punches on the topic.  Lord pierce me through with your true and living Word.  Change me by it.  Create and recreate me more and more in your image according to your Word.   

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell...anywhere else.    

Make me to crave the things of you oh God and make me a servant, glad!, to your glory!  Let my life be marked by giving not to impress you or earn points with you (that might be moralism, but it's not Christianity) but may I live gladly giving my all to you, for you because You Gave Christ For Me.  

together

It has been such a gift to get to reconnect with family and friends back in America! This past week we got to enjoy this precious friend-family in Matt's hometown, North Dakota.

our June 11th boys,
 their Benjamin, our Godson!

The daddy's had a game to play of their own too...

little lady (bug)

Vivi might need a stunt double before long!

This next weekend there will be many more pics to post as these guys and lots of their cousins and move of our good friends will be driving hours to Bismarck for a reunion.  We are so excited!