12.28.2011

Shiny

Doggie, horsie, tractor, up, down, Mama, Daddy, Bampa (Grandpa), Memaw (Grandma), gok (yogurt), bus, car, truck, shirt, duck, church, amen, frog, cat, and at least 100 other words...  Our son's ever-growing vocabulary has undoubtedly blossomed to include (today) the word "shiny"...  Our geeky little hearts all a-flutter at the sound of this word, and I wondered how he picked this one up, since we've yet to sit him down in front of our all-time favorite show, Firefly (he's a little young yet).  And here as I type this, the answer dawns on me: from one of us.  Shiny.  :)
Yep, still makes me smile.  Oh, son, our little geek in the making...


Shiny.

*photo courtesy of jolymi08

12.26.2011

Jessica Nugent Aagaard likes this

Yesterday at our Christmas morning church service, we were blessed to view this artistic representation on what Jesus' birth would have been like if social media had existed.  It's so moving, yet simple, and I can't really elaborate on it and do it justice, so I'll let you watch...  Good stuff...

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas...  

12.07.2011

Sufficient For Me

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.



I constantly find myself facing this world and wishing, longing for a closer, deeper relationship with the people in my life.  I've long felt that others are far more important to me than I am to them.  This is not me fishing...just voicing, rather writing, something that has been on my heart for so long...
Perhaps I'm not the only one that feels this way.  Invisible.  Unimportant.  Unworthy.  
I find myself avoiding people.  To avoid feeling like I'm being avoided I avoid first, so that I can avoid the whole rotten feeling of avoidance altogether.  And yet, it usually backfires, and I feel worse.  Maybe I'm made to.  God has made me one to reach out.  I can't be a very effective witness or even just an empathic ear if I'm avoiding people just so I don't get hurt.  
And so what do I do?  I realized that in this weakness of mine, God has the strength I need...I just need to continue to seek Him out.  Stop avoiding people and just be.  Be who God made me to be and realize that He hungers for my attention and interaction just as we hunger for the attention and interaction of those around us.  
Distractions abound now, so I'll write more later...  OOO

12.02.2011

I wanna be Your hands, I wanna be Your feet...

I wanna go where You send me...
Sean and I have talked about missions before.  Several times.  SEVERAL times.  He was never really interested, per se, in doing mission work, but still supported my desire to be on our church's missions team and pray about mission work, and then it hit him like a wall last year that he needed to go to Haiti with a group from our church family here in Kenai, and the Lord really opened his heart to it.
The hardest part?  Parting with the things that tie you down in this world.  And not for a lack of trying.  We don't want things.  Our home is on the market.  I know it's all in good time...  Rather, it's all in God's time...
And I know - we don't need to travel globally to be effective missionaries.  This is so SO true.  And we endeavor to serve, wherever we are.
We do desire, however, to get training, to educate ourselves in how to be most effective as a missionary family, and how to best serve.
And so, we look out there in anticipation.  We've found several schools around the world that train missionaries.  This is what we pray on.  This is what we chew on...
I know our home will sell.  We'll get ourselves out of debt.  We'll free ourselves from the trappings of this world and go where He sends us, whether it's down the street or beyond the horizon.  So please pray - for patience for me.  Steadfastness.  True, unwavering hearts.  A desire to serve others to bring God the glory...  Thank you.