the waiting game

i feel like my life has been at a standstill for the last week

stop. back up. not my life, my future.

life has been going. filled with lots of activities

park days

birthday parties and nature hikes

they tend to happen simultaneously with this friend

saving plastic people

spending time with Papa

realizing we ALWAYS imitate our parents in some way, shape, or form

shooting guns

swinging on tires

getting sick swinging on tires

getting sick watching people swing on tires

spending time with precious family

fighting over watermelon

more guns

and packing lots of boxes

YET.

STANDSTILL.

because we still have yet to find out 

where we will be living

you forget how precious an address is

until you have none

my address is my security in so many ways

so many sinful ways

this has been my greatest struggle these last seven days

every morning I wake up 

completely anxious

YET.

God has been speaking to my heart

and I've been hearing His voice

As quickly as my thoughts begin to question things

 doubt things

scripture and hymns pop into my mind to set me straight

as quickly as my thoughts intend to say "my hope, is that we get a place today"

I only get as far as saying "MY HOPE"

because i'm interrupted with

"is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness" - hymn

When I cry out, "Lord, I am so anxious"

The Holy Spirit responds,

"be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" - Philippians 4:6

When i go to bed, feeling the stand-still

despairing about the stand-still

my devotional reads

"Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." - Exodus 14:13

so during the standstill 

that is my job

to just STAND STILL

"wait for the Lord" Psalms says....about a billion times by the way

"Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 

For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in his holy name." Psalm 33:20-21

so I wait

some days with a glad heart

some days struggling to keep one

But let me be clear

there are also times 

where we should not wait

1. if you're not a follower of Jesus, and you've been thinking about becoming one

DON'T WAIT.

DO IT.

2. If you are a follower of Jesus, but have been living in some sin, and thought about stopping

DON'T WAIT.

DO IT.

3. If the Lord has put something on your heart, but fear has been holding you back.

DON'T WAIT.

DO IT.

Remember to check out http://hope4sudan.hopesanmateo.org

They need our prayers

and our financial support

Hope4Sudan

The Lord provided and opportunity for some brothers in the faith
to take a short-term missions trip to Sudan to share the gospel with the Sudanese people

During this visit it was revealed that there is a massive starvation
 among the people in the Nuba Mountains
men, women, children, babies
starving to death

The Lord has put it on their hearts, and the heart of their local church
to do something to help
and I pray that God puts it on your hearts as well

I am giving you an opportunity to partner with
Hope Church of San Mateo
in raising 25,000 dollars to deliver some relief
to these Sudanese people

this is not purely a trip to give bread for their stomachs
but to also preach The Bread of Life to their hearts

Please PRAY for these men, women, and children who are dying
because of something we take so much for granted

Please PRAY for these men, women, and children who upon receiving this relief
RECEIVE THE GOSPEL as well

Please PRAY for the men delivering this relief
that they would be EMPOWERED with the HOLY SPIRIT
as they answer God's calling to preach and serve this group of people

Please PRAY about how much the Lord might be leading you to GIVE

For more information and to give you can visit the website here

"do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

Move Prep

For the last two weeks now

my life has become all about

visiting with friends

cleaning

and packing

and more packing

still don't have a move date yet

but I refuse to be caught off guard

with a weeks-notice for a move

and zero packing accomplished

of course, packing doesn't just mean packing

it means sorting

which we did

a lot

and some friends graciously offered their house for a garage sale

so last Saturday our morning began at 5:30 am

and ended with a crash (literally)

the garage sale was scheduled for Saturday 7/14 8am

of course to some people that means Friday 7/13 mid-afternoon

show up at the house unannounced and insist on seeing the advertised bike

NOT COOL BIKE HOARDER

Anyway, browsing pretty much began at 7:45

I arrived with the kids at 8:00

and Haley peeling off price stickers and putting them on herself began promptly at 8:05

more friends arrived at 9:30

and the lemonade stand was open for business

selling strategy and profit distribution was a hot topic

and the team worked very well together

and Haley

well she just made herself comfortable

one of the larger items for sale was a pottery barn toddler bed

I was sure that it would be picked up by a mom with a 3-year-old

to my surprise

it was sold to a man

with a dog

apparently this little guy required a much fancier bed

than the average pup

I was a little disappointed to see my daughters bed go to an animal

but once he handed me the cash

i got over it pretty quickly

our customer returned again

to pick out some more items

and that's when it happened

upon his leaving there was an accident

Praise God, there were no injuries and

minimal car damage to our friends car

And the Lord was over the entire situation

protecting the kids

keeping the adults calm

and causing the grace of God to be poured out to this man behind the wheel

making sure he was ok

sitting with him

walking him home

inviting him to church

not responding in anger but in love

I don't know where this man is at spiritually

but my prayer is that he recognizes the grace of God

through the love of Jesus

and he returns to our friends house seeking to know more

We came home that day exhausted to say the least

after a short rest time

Jason turned on the movie Up

and as a family we watched the movie and ate our pizza

there's a scene at the beginning where the couple, Carl and Ellie, are saving coins in a jar for their dream trip to Paradise Falls

and throughout the clip they keep having to break the jar

to pay for other things like the car, or the house

and they start saving all over again

we have such a jar

actually its a car

a love bug

it was a wedding gift

and as cheesy at it looks

from the very beginning its use was decided

to save up change to help fund a second honeymoon for our 10th Anniversary

and this is the second time its being emptied

in this case its for moving expenses

cause moving out-of-state ain't cheap

sometimes you save up for one thing, but God has something more important in mind

and His purposes are far better than ours

the big move

This last month has been one of the most emotional months of my life
As I said before, the Lord's been doing some amazing work in my life and marriage.
I had planned to write a blog before about the spiritual lessons I was learning,
but I'm glad i waited until now to share

Jason and I have been praying about our future for a while now...like almost three years

Its funny, i was expecting God to open a new door to walk into as we prayed

But sometimes God just closes a door first, and then wants you to walk by faith into the new one

And that's exactly what happened with us

I'm such a planner, so naturally I would shy away from this
But i found myself being more excited and eager than ever to just go with it

it came to a point where it was clear that Jason needed to focus on one thing, and God revealed to him that, that one thing was going to Seminary.

So he is enrolled for a Seminary in Portland, called Multnomah. And we are truely going by faith.

i don't know where we're going to work
i don't know where we're going to church
i don't know where we're going to live

but i do know, that this is of the Lord

And as emotional as these last few weeks have been, because I am sad to be leaving so many wonderful friends, it was been one of the most exciting times for Jason and I

We just want to be obedient to the Lord.

A wise man once told us that "being in God's will is the safest place to be"

and he's totally right

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

this is why I'm eager to let the Lord unravel the details of our life

And don't get me wrong, i know right now is not the toughest moment
Things are most definitely going to get harder
but my husband and I are so together on this
we feel a closeness as friends and companions that I just can't describe

I'm praying for the Lord's provision for our needs
"give us this day or daily bread" Matthew 6:11

I'm praying against anxiety and fear
"do not be anxious saying 'what shall we eat' and 'what shall we wear'...your Heavenly father knows you need them all" Matthew 6:31-32

I know my faith is weak, so I continually ask the Lord for confirmation
and boy is He faithful

Like seriously, I'm counting tons of prayers being answered just in the last couple weeks

And, I can't help but be moved to tears, as I think about how faithful, and loving, and just, and caring, my God is

it is a blessing to be called His child, and it is pure grace that got me there

Please pray for us, but also please rejoice with us
because our God is awesome, and He only does awesome things!

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power" Rev. 4:11

Favorite Moments from Southern California

The last two weeks we've been in southern california visiting family,

relaxing, celebrating, spending time with friends, and attending a conference

here's my top ten moments

ran into this CUTIE in Bakersfield on the way down

great way to start off a trip!

Insert Disneyland picture here...

or not

computer issues

but we went

we enjoyed Cars Land

and we said goodbye

for good...

or at least until we win free tickets on the radio

my grandma took me to lunch

and then i took her picture when she wasn't paying attention

Family picture before our night away in SD

We're happy to have some alone time

Aidan couldn't wait to spend time with Papa and grandma ALONE...no joke

"can you leave now?" was a question heard often that morning

And Haley's just happy because she has food in her hands

              

excited faces for time together celebrating 7 years of marriage

and the most delicious/messiest meal of our lives!

held a puppy for the first time

and I'm sure he was relieved we didn't take him home

went to the Resolved Conference in Palm Springs, Ca

getting to worship Jesus with 3,000 brothers and sisters is definitely one of my top moments

witnessed two of the most beautiful pictures

1. the above picture of guy translating Al Mohler's message in sign-language for his friend

2. no picture of it, but walked past a guy in the parking lot sharing the gospel with the parking attendant

living water being poured out in the desert

                

pool time with our HOPE pals

celebrating birthdays with our friends

deflating pool floaties during Rick Holland's message

sorry for the fart sounds coming from the back, Rick

                                     

                              

double dates and family anniversaries dinners

and I now hate using the flash on my camera

the ghost skin-tone is not working for me