Residency

Thank you for praying for my residency interview. We have a joke here that everything takes three visits. It seems that even if you get the required paperwork for things there is always one more thing you need to get. This was no exception. There are a few more hoops I need to jump through including joining a counseling organization (Little did I know that I should have listened to my dad when he encouraged me to join NANC years ago :), putting together a picture portfolio of me helping people and getting FBI clearance from the states. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get the FBI clearance quicker then the 16 weeks turnabout they post on their website, I would appreciate them.

Catching up....

The last of my visitors left on Thursday night and I came home to a very quiet house. Its been a lot of fun to have so many people around the last couple of months. It started with a wonderful visit from the Enters and the Blackburns in May and ended with Melissa and Tiffany from Grace Community staying with me for a couple of weeks while they volunteered at Lambano. In between there was Jack Hughes and Scott Ardavannis being here for Shepherd's Conference, Matt Davis was here for 10 weeks as an intern, the GCC team was here, my brother and family moved here and last week included a surprise visit from Steve Wheeler and his son and friend. In between the visits was my trip to England to meet up with some friends.

All of the visits have been a lot of fun and have been very encouraging. It is always a treat to be able to show people first hand what is happening here and some of the conversations and discussions about mercy ministry and the church have been stimulating and helpful to me. And now life returns to its normal craziness. Hopefully, that means more frequent updates to my blog. Today my plan is to answer some of the e-mails that have been sitting in my inbox for about a month :).

Quick Prayer Request

One quick thing you could be praying for with me. I have my interview for residency tomorrow morning at 11am (about 3 hours after I get in). Pray that I will make it on time (and will have had time to shower) and that God would grant me favor in the eyes of the woman who will be interviewing me. Thanks so much! More and more I see the vital importance of your prayers for the work here!

M.I.A.

I know I have been missing in action the last few weeks. Sorry about that. I had wanted to post before I left on vacation and it just never happened. I am currently on my way home from a trip to England where I was able to meet up with some friends. Right now I am on the Internet in an airport in the Middle East. Its a long story how I ended up here on a layover. I found out the hard way that going standby from England in July (no matter what the person booking the ticket says) is not a good idea. As I frantically looked for a ticket home on Monday, I reminded myself of the sermons I recently heard on God's sovereignty in out lives.

I did have a great time away and look forward to posting some pictures when I am home and sharing a little bit about it. I had some great opportunities to share the gospel with people- which was exciting.

Simply Amazing

50 years ago this Friday my parents were married! Simply amazing! 50 years is a really long time! Even more amazing is that they love each other more now and are better friends now then they were then. And I don't say that because either of them are hard to love. 50 years ago they decided to love God and love each other even when it was hard. They decided that their commiment to God meant that they would be commited to being faithful to their marriage vows and God has blessed that.

I am thankful for parents who have shown me what a godly marriage looks like. I am thankful to have grown up in a home where conflict was not the norm. I remember being in highschool and realizing that not everyone had that privalege. I have never wondered if my parents were going to split up or if they stilled loved (and liked) each other. And I am very grateful to them for the example they have been!

I love you both!

Not being overwhelmed by fear

I meet my neighbors tonight- not quite the way I would have wanted to though. I had said goodbye to some girls who were here for a Bible Study and come in to answer some e-mails. I was sitting here and I suddenly hear some shouting and what sounds like a shot. I quickly ran and turned my alarm on and then looked outside to see what was happening. After a little while, I went outside to see what had happened. Apparently, when my neighbor across the street had come home, some guys had come up behind him with a gun and had tried to take his car. They ended up shooting at him and leaving. What I also learned was that it is the second time this has happened to one of my neighbors in about three days. Crime is definitely up right now in my neighborhood.

Its a hard balance to be careful and wise but not be paranoid. I have decided though that as soon as I have saved the money I'm going to get electric fencing. Just one more deterrent to coming into my yard.

So, what in the midst of all this has kept me from being overwhelmed by fear? Well, one thing has been abundantly clear to me recently. God does protect us. We weren't at the restaurant Sunday night be accident. God planned for us to be there and was very gracious to us. We were probably one of a few that nothing was taken from. What makes that more amazing is that for most of the time, my purse was out in the middle of the aisle and my phone was in plain sight in the table. How could they not have seen and come for such an easy item to steal? I really believe God blinded their eyes and kept them from us. Amazing and comforting to think about!

Yet I also believe that if what I could have imagined as the worse thing to happen that night- say one of my nieces getting shot or killed-, God would have been just as faithful to us and just as sovereign over the events of the evening. Now, don't get me wrong. I am soooo thankful that he choose to show his faithfulness the way He did but I do rest in the fact that nothing happens by accident. God has never had an 'oops' moment. He never thinks, "How did that slip by me. Hmm.... didn't mean for that to happen." No, whatever happens is by his plan and design and it is for my best and for his glory.

Those are the things I think on to keep me from being paranoid and being overwhelmed from fear. Please continue to pray my mind would dwell on what is true and right and that God would continue to protect and keep me safe!

God is Good....

I wanted to share with you God’s goodness to my family tonight. Josh and Marda and the girls were down this weekend because Josh was speaking at my church’s family camp. We had gone to a local restaurant for dinner after church tonight and were sitting enjoying each other’s company. Then bang. Literally. We were at a restaurant and suddenly we were all under the tables. I don’t know if it was a shot or things falling. It happened too fast. There were a number of men with guns robbing the place. It was amazing. The girls were absolutely quiet. Josh was praying, Marda was praying, I was praying and the girls were praying. I saw them taking things from other people from under the table and was frightened they were coming towards us. But then they were gone. We’re all ok. No one was hurt and nothing of ours was taken. Not that losing material possessions would have mattered at the time. It just would have made it a little more scary for the girls. God is so good to us!!!!

We got up. Hugged each other tightly. Then Caitlyn looked at my brother and said that was so close, but God saved us. God saved us.

We are all doing well. It is good to know that God is in control even when there are men with guns. Pray for the girls. McKenna and Caitlyn were calm immediately afterwards, Cambria was pretty scared. She seems to be fine now but we hope this provides us another opportunity to learn to trust God even when life is frightening.