Tuesday Nights

I don't know what the rest of you do on Tuesday nights but I spend mine on the couch at Dunkin Donuts in Marlborough. No, I don't go there for the coffee, the doughnuts, or the new pizza (although inside sources tell me the flat bread sandwiches are really quite good). I freeze to death every time I go there and sometimes have to listen to the likes of KORN (not my favorite band) - so why do I go there every week? - because I get to spend the evening with a group of great young women.

I think God was very serious when he asked the older women to teach the younger women how to be kind and love their husbands and children (Titus chapter 2) - God has shown me so much over the last several years - he has taught me things I wish I had know BEFORE I got married or involved in a relationship at all. I wanted to encourage, bless and teach the younger women. That is why I invited these women to get together to read scripture and talk about life. I never expected to be so blessed and take as much away from our Tuesday nights as I do.

I love where these girls are in life. Not the easiest time of life but so exciting. So many new things, so many unknowns, so many preconceived notions. I love watching their lives unfold and seeing God work in, bless and challenge them. They may not see him in their everyday but I do and am so encouraged. Talking with them and working through some of the issues that arise when you're 19 takes me back to when I was faced with some of the same issues. I can see now that God was there and helping me through all the trials and difficulties.


So why do I go on Tuesday nights - because of the people. I love the relationships and am so blessed by them.

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessing." - Paul 1Cor. 9:23

Anonymous Gift

Whoever left the envelope on our windshield last week, we want to thank you. God really blessed us and encouraged us through your actions. Thank you for letting him use you.

I Just Had to Share

I handle the check book in our house. I don't wear the pants or control the funds I just write the checks and keep track of where our money is and how much we have (or don't have.) God has never ceased to amaze me in the area of our finances. I can't tell you how many times our "ends" should not have met but they did. Do you have a budget? Do you stick to it? We don't really have a budget. We make one every year or so and review our spending but we usually don't bother with it because it doesn't work. Our expenses are more than our income - we don't spend frivolously. Toys, like motorcycles and race cars, are purchased with money that has been saved and set aside for that purpose over the last 12 years. We have no extras to cut out. Granted we live with in-laws right now but in the past we haven't had cable, cell phones, car payments . . . we had nothing to downsize or cut out. The only extras in the budget were a Grassroots Motor Sports subscription, soccer fees, and dining out (a few times a month). I am not sharing this info for any reason but to point out that other than the grocery bill there was no where to cut the budget. We would laugh every year because somehow there was always enough money. On paper our financial situation was truly impossible but God always provided and he still does!!!
I just finished paying our bills and God did it again. I have been preoccupied wondering how a certain bill would get paid on time with out taking money out of our savings account. I had just balanced the books two weeks ago - everything was up to date - no way for God to work a "mistake" in our favor that was forgotten about last month. Well, I am learning to NEVER underestimate what God can do. Some how I forgot to enter a deposit from last week - we had plenty of funds to pay bills. Funny thing is that deposit was made by me, not electronically (I found the receipt) but I have no idea where the money came from. GOD IS SO AMAZING AND FAITHFUL!!!!!!
I just needed to share that.

Edited post

Check out our Waxhaw post - I added some pictures of Candidate orientation.

A Craving for the Bitter-sweet

I (Amy) had a great conversation the other night with a friend of ours in MI. We chatted about life : school, marriage, and blind dates; and God: church, sanctification, and justification; and what the christian life should really look like. It is easy for me to see what those last things are NOT supposed to look like - but to get a true handle on those things is not easy for me. I still carry with me a very warped view of my creator and of myself. I am thankful that God is more patient and faithful than I ever thought he could be. He has been revealing more and more of himself to me and more and more of my brokenness and need for him. I am captivated and impassioned by the God I am encountering. I feel like Lucy, having returned to Narnia, and she sees Aslan again - the more I know of God the bigger He gets.

Jason, a pastor friend in MI, wrote about unspoken prayer requests in his blog awhile back. Some of you my have never heard of such a practice - it is when you ask people to pray for you but you won't tell them what for. What other good does the church serve then to come along side those in pain and difficult circumstances and empathize and pray. How else will others know that they are not the only ones struggling with sin if no one ever talks about it? How will anyone be encouraged by tales of God's power if no one mentions the what he triumphed over?

"Unspeakable sins are bred by unspoken requests." - Jason

That statement speaks so loudly to my heart. I grew up with the idea that to follow God meant that you were perfect - at least in the way every one else in the church was "perfect" - bored, unhappy and righteous in your own strength. Hypocrisy and lies were all I saw - so many "unspoken" requests. I thought God didn't deal with the real matters of the heart and of life. I regret the amount of years I spent in the presence of good meaning "godly" people but knew nothing of God. The God who made me, loves me, knows my inner most thoughts and desires and died for me anyway. All 13 years of church, 3 times a week and no one ever told me that my creator chose to die than to live eternity with out me.

It breaks my heart to watch people go in and out of church buildings week after week pretending life is just grand - maybe the occasional prayer for a better job or "traveling mercies" (what exactly does that mean any way?). Church goers come in and feel the need to hide their imperfections and shortcomings from everyone else. They role play what they think others want to see. Everyone pretends - Everywhere. I'm not speaking of my local area. I am speaking of the American Christian culture in general. It doesn't make any sense. If we are all just fine and dandy then we have no need for a savior and that just makes us all a bunch of idiots for getting up early for no good reason on Sunday mornings.

I so long for a place where people can come in and take a load off - they can drop the facade of perfection and goodness. We are all sinners. We all struggle with life, love and relationships. Why are people so afraid to be real? I long for sincerity. I long for a community where people can openly share about there problems with family, spouses, finances, pornography, addictions . . . . and find help and encouragement - not condemnation. I find it so bitter-sweet when some one shares their struggles. Bitter because the reality is the person is hurting and it is a reminder that we all are broken people. Sweet because I now have the privilege of seeing God do something amazing in their life.

Colorful Casts

Well, it has been close to a month and we have already been through three casts. The first one Beth got after the procedure at the hospital (which went very well, by the way) was bright orange, the following week she got her first waterproof one - blue. This past Tuesday she needed to get a new one since the blue one was falling apart. She now has a green one. The doctor told her it would glow in the dark. It doesn't. She was pretty disappointed. She gets it off for good on the 31st. We pray it has all healed properly so her finger will continue to grow along with the rest of her.

A Broken Finger

Beth broke her finger yesterday. She was running on the side walk, fell, and broke her fall with her pinky. It was quite unnerving when she picked her self up off the side walk and showed me her hand. Now, falling down is nothing new for Beth. Graceful is not on the list of adjectives for our sweet middle child. She tends to be a bit dramatic so I wasn’t to concerned when she got up crying. Then she screamed, "My finger!" and there was her right pinky twisted sideways and curved over her ring finger. I could feel the bone sticking out in the joint at her hand and knew we needed to head to the ER. The poor thing had to walk the rest of the way home from the play ground (about .3 of a mile). She needs to go next Thursday, after the swelling has gone down, to the hospital to have the finger externally manipulated and set - they will put her to sleep, pull it out and straighten it, and cast it. It is pretty smashed up at the growth plate. We pray they can fix it right. Meanwhile, she has a ½ cast or a splint to wear. She is not to thrilled with either one and hates the sling. Luckily the orthopedic Dr. Said she could go w/o the sling. She was so funny at the ER. She told me that she knew she was going to fall and had tried to make it to the grass but only her forehead made it. Also, she was glad her finger was broken and not dislocated so no had to pull on it. She may not be graceful but she is quite practical.

"I'm going to heaven on a motorcycle!"

-Gavin, age 4

Way Down in Waxhaw

Well, we made it to Waxhaw, NC. It has been in the low 90's thus far and quite balmy. Orientation has been filled with many hours of sitting but well worth the achy bottom. We have gotten to hear the stories of so many interesting people and understand how God has glorified himself in their lives and how so many different people have ended up in the same room with the same over-all purpose. Having the opportunity to answer questions and tell our own stories has reminded me of all the amazing things God has done in our lives.



The kids are having a great time. Gavin goes to a preschool class in the mornings. He is separate from his siblings and I was afraid it would be very hard for him. He did great when I dropped him off yesterday. He didn't even cry (I almost did). The older 4 are loving the MK Safari (MK stands for Missionary Kid.) They play games, do crafts, and go swimming in the pool everyday. It is odd being away from the kids all day, but they are having a great time and we are learning a lot in our sessions.

We added some pictures of our time in Waxhaw. The kids all made new friends. Here Gavin plays with his buddy Parker (Parker's family is headed to Columbia) and Max show's off his friend that he found at the 4th of July parade. (We picked this little guy off the railroad tracks. God graciously provided a nice lady to take him home so we didn't have to put him back where we found him (the firemen told us just to put the kitty back where we got him, they didn't want it.)

We are living on the JAARS campus here in Waxhaw. So the kids, our meetings and our apartments are all with in walking distance of each other. Our apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We are loving it. One of the kids asked if we could live here forever. Grandma's house is great and we are so thankful to have family that will share their home with us - but there is nothing quite like having your own girl's room.



Once again Gabe is the oldest child in the South America Mission group here. According to Miss Faith and Miss Caroline, the college girls who watch the kids in the afternoons, he is a huge help to them. Gabe has been getting up and running every morning. He is very faithful to practice. He wants to run a 5K later in July. Christian and I have been trying to run with him but are not nearly as faithful to it as Gabe. Fortunately for him we are in a place where he can go run without us.

I love the way the Holy Spirit works. God gave me a verse a week ago that really ministered to my heart -



The Lord your God is with you,

he is mighty to save,

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.



Zephaniah 3:17



I have heard it quoted by at least 4 different people in 3 different states this past week. I am amazed by God's pursuit of me. He is so amazing.

Strawberry Trees

We went strawberry picking on Tuesday. It was hot and sticky work but the kids and I had a lot of fun. Gavin ate way more than he picked. Max was picking machine - he loves to work hard. I think Emma was most juice covered by the time we left. We picked 28 pounds of strawberries that morning. Would you believe that most of them are already gone!



When we first got to the field the nice lady showed us where to go pick. All the kids knew what we were there for. We had been talking about all morning. As we walked along Gavin said, "What are we going to do?" "Pick strawberries," I said. Then in total shock he said, "But where are the trees?" He is too cute.



We are off to NC/SC for our candidate orientation with South America Mission tomorrow morning.

To Michigan and Back

We got back from Michigan last week. I just asked Gavin what he liked best. He said, "Playing with Chase because he's so funny." Then I asked if he liked the car ride and he said, "What car ride?" Oh, to be 4 and so easily forget the 30 plus hours spent driving there and back again. We arrived back in CT just in time for a busy weekend of soccer. Thank you so much to all our friends in MI who make us feel so loved. We had a great time visiting with you. Baby Max, it was great to meet you but since your arrival the demand for a new baby brother around our house has increased. We will have to visit you again soon because there will be no more babies in this family.

We will be off and running again in two weeks. We are going to NC/SC for candidate orientation with South America Mission. We will be there for two weeks. We are all looking forward to the experience. Please pray that God will give guidance, wisdom and encouragement during that time. Leaving for the mission field overseas has been a long and interesting road thus far and I trust that it will remain that way. Sometimes my endurance fades. We will keep you all posted.

Here are a few photos of our trip.

Pox, Pox, and More Pox

Well I received that wonderful phone call about three weeks ago from my dear friend Lisa V. "Hey, my kids have chickenpox! You want 'em?" I made plans to visit the next day. The kids didn't know what they were in for. I sent two of the younger ones into the kitchen to tell Christian that they were going to David's house in the morning. "We're going to get the chickenpox!" they shouted with joy. Then they stopped. "What are chickenpox, Daddy?" It was really cute. The next day we made poor sick David stay up and play Uno with us. (You were a trooper, David. Thank you.)
Fast forward 13 days . . .Two of the kids have a few spots. Not quite sure if they are pox. Given another 24 hours we knew for sure. With in 3 days all 5 of them had it. Each case slightly different than the others. After 9 days we are officially on the mend. I think we are safe to leave the house again.
What a strange thing, the varicella virus. It is a virus I wanted my kids to get and we even had play dates to expose two other families. I had it when I was 18 years old and it was such a dreadful experience. I am thrilled that our kids won't need to worry about it. It has been sad to see them blistery and feverish but it has been amazing to watch the full course of this virus from start to finish. God made our bodies in such an amazing way - our bodies get sick, they fight infection and usually win, finish with immunity to that virus. Hundreds of itchy, puss filled blisters come from inside, damage our skin and then our skin heals leaving only a few minor scars. Truly amazing.
One night while rubbing Aveeno cream all over a little polka-dotted body Christian looked at me and said, "Can you imagine how freaked out we would be if we weren't expecting this? All of a sudden our kids are covered with itchy blisters?" I'm so glad we were able to schedule this sickness.

Back in CT

HI! We are back on line! Our move to CT was long but we made it! Thank you soooo much Alan and Elisa. We are finally settled in to Lorraine and Larry's (Christian's mom and step-father). They have been so gracious and have allowed us to turn their house upsidedown. My sister-in-law's wedding went great. It has been fun to run into old friends. Nobody recognizes Christian w/o glasses and with the added facial hair. This blog stuff is new to us so please bare with us as we learn. I will try my hand at adding a picture to this post from the wedding. We'll see if it works. Friends in MI know that we think of you and pray for you often. We miss you.

Welcome to our new blog! We will be slowly adding more content as we have time.