We can see the light!

We're coming out of the yucks, and getting ready for a very busy month! We're going to Vancouver, Washington on Friday, and we've got meetings every week all through the month. We love being busy, so we're looking forward to it!

Bugs!

We like to collect the germs and explore them throughly everywhere we go. I'm sure we are sharing them too! The last week has been a flu week, checking fevers, wiping snot, and tucking in moments of sleep where we can. Chicken soup has been involved.

Homeschooling has not. Not by my word. That was the Principal's call. Teacher is a tyrant who would happily have her little charges studying from the sickbed, Kleenex in hand. The kids are glad to have a dad with more compassion on them than their mom-although they are getting bored.

It's not as bad as it could be. My kids have been through the Twister a few times, and a little thing like the flu just sets them back a little. They aren't complaining much, and they do like Chicken Soup.

Heading out again!

We're taking a quick trip down to Harbor City, CA for a meeting, and then we'll be back here in Cloverdale for a week before heading out again to Oregon/Washington for many more meetings.

Rita, of the Jungle Hut, gave me some great advice for homeschooling while on furlough, for which I'm very thankful. I'm definitely going to be using it this year.

Ruth's birthday was fun. We had a small family celebration, which included too much pizza and a cake. My mom made an adorable dress with a hat, and the pictures are forthcoming!

Well, enough of my rambling, newsy post.

Some pics of the critters!

I just found this in archives, and I had to share it!

I went back and found this in draft-it's a glory story! I didn't want to post it at the time, because I didn't want anyone getting the impression we were in need, so I just put it in draft and waited. Now I dragged it out and dusted it off, because I love sharing how God provides!

Some time ago we took an trip to the states for a family matter, and on the way back we picked up 2,000 lbs. of beans someone had donated to the orphanage? We got a 60 lb box. Well, because of that, we will not lack beans for quite some time. We have used about 30 lbs of them so far. (Oh good heavens, it's not just us eating-I make them for potlucks too, and hand it out to some missionary friends we know who need them!) We have 30lbs left, which should last us a while.

Man does not live on beans alone though, does he? (For the curious, the digestive system gets used to it after a bit, and the emissions become less vitriolic.) Someone is giving the church tortillas for the orphanage. hundreds of them every week. They told us not to buy tortillas any more, but come and get them from the kitchen. They just recently reminded us, asking us to please help them get rid of all these tortillas. (Don't you know we try to be a blessing and help out any way we can!) They aren't those little thin tortillas we're used to, either. They are thick, with a strong corn flavor. YUM!

So now we have this nearly unlimited supply of beans and tortillas. This is basic Mexican fare. Millions of Mexicans eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Together, they form a complete protein, and provide calcium as well. I know lots of people who grew up strong and healthy on this stuff. And we got it for free. Did you know the kids love it?

A formal protest

I've been doing over thirty years, every single year of my life, but (please excuse me while I yawn.) I will never get used to time change.

Newsy post

Just a little news on us and on our plans for the next few months! I'm getting the family ready to travel this month and next. This involves organizing things, which is one of my weaknesses, but it makes an enormous difference in the ease of a trip, so do it, I must! I'm also trying to work out the best way to home school while on the road. Ruth and Rebecca are doing K5 together this year, and I'm having a lot of fun teaching them to read. They are going just as fast as I can get the information into them, and they love it-the phonics, learning-to-read part anyway. They aren't so sure about the whole numbers thing. I sympathyze, but don't tell them! We've got a meeting next week, and then next month we start a full-time schedule of meetings. I'm so thankful for this time to get organized and into the school year a bit.

Also, the newest change we've made is a big move toward fitness-we are determined to get rid of the extra baggage. I already feel a major difference in my energy since we started eating more healthy food.

Glory stories

Since my dad is sharing some of his "glory stories" over on his blog, I thought I'd share some of mine. Maybe we can start a trend. I love reading how God has provided for people. I treasure the stories of how God provided for my parents. They gave me rock solid proof of God's way with His people. When it came time for me to depend on Him, I can honestly say it was fairly easy, and not because I'm a giant in the faith. (I'm not, by the way.) It was easy because I had seen God's faithfulness over and over again. To doubt would have been ludicrous.

God has not dealt with me any differently than He dealt with my parents. We have never had an unmet need, and there have been an abundant supply of things we do not need, but He just gave it because He is good!

One of the things that frustrate us when we first begin to serve the Lord is the how unable we are to do His will. God taught us a lesson about this on our first major trip when we started on deputation. Our income wasn't coming in yet, and we had meetings to get to. Gas costs money, and we simply didn't have it. I vividly remember packing us into the car, and as we drove out, asking my husband, "Uh, Babe? How are we gonna pay for the gas to get there today?" Ryan just said, "I don't know!"

We stopped by the post office on the way out. There was a check for just enough money to pay for food and gas to get us to our destination. It was from a penny drive in a bus ministry. (A bus ministry in our churches is a bus rout to and from church for underprivileged children.) These kids had collected pennies for six months, picked a missionary, and mailed them the check for the full amount. I remember Ryan standing there with a giant grin on his face, blinking back tears as he held a letter, written by the bus kids in crayon.

How can you doubt God's provision when He does stuff like that? It is true, we cannot do His will with what we have, and with who we are. We are not supposed to do it at all though, God wants us to see that He can do it!

Ok, ok, you pulled my arm!!!

I can't stand keeping good secrets like this. I'm going to spill it, even though I don't have a picture because the item in question is getting resized.

Ok, I must go back two years to the sad day that I realized our wedding rings were really and truly gone, along with several items from our van. I was hoping I had not been so stupid as to leave the little pouch with my ring in the van. I hoped that for months. (It's called denial.) It was my fault; I should know better, but a day hasn't gone by that I haven't thought about my empty hand with a touch of sadness. I'm not one to wallow deeply in my pit of self pity, but I felt BAD about this.

So on Valentine's Day this year, my husband asked me to make a picnic lunch, and he drug out the picnic basket I used the day he asked me to marry him-he said the kids would think it was fun, or something. We piled into the van, and he said that since it was Valentines Day, he thought it would would be a good idea to show the kids "the place" where he proposed, since we were in the area. This was a good idea-even though it looked like rain, we set out to the redwood grove, where a little stream rushed near the road.

I love the redwoods. I love the clean, wet smell, and the feeling of being so small surrounded by straight, dark posts of the trees. No rain reached the floor where we walked, and I was just delighted that the kids could enjoy this too. When we reached the stream, and the small gravel bank where I accepted my husband's proposal, he started to tell the kids how it had happened. They were more excited by the running water, and plunk of the rocks they were throwing into it.

You've guessed what was next, I'm sure, but I was taken completely by surprize! When he got to the point in the story where he gave me the ring, he got down on one knee and gave me a ring!!! (Please pardon my overuse of exclamation points. I can't help myself.) Then I squealed, and jumped around, and hugged my sweet husband while the kids threw more rocks in the water. Someday they are going to say to themselves, "Wow, I was there when Dad gave Mom her ring! That's cool!"

I'm so thankful for my husband, for his love, and for his care of me. This action turned something that hurt just a little every day into something that makes me smile every time I think about it.

Oh, and I LOVE IT. (Sorry for yelling, I can't help myself!!!!!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got an amazing, super, fabulous, wonderful Valentine's Day from my sweetheart, and I'm dying to tell about here, but you are going to have to wait till can post pictures of it. It might take a week or so.