Saying "Yes"

We are doing a Bible study at church that is wonderful! It is the book called, "What happens when women say yes to God" by Lysa Terkeurst. Week two & I'm loving it. This morning the thought that came to my head was, "God, you can count on me today." When you tell someone they can "count on you" what does that mean? It means you're making yourself available to them, and if they need anything you'll be there! That's right, that's what I'm saying to God today- whatever he needs (I mean needs done, like ministry wise), I want him to know he can call on me.

There are some verses I read in my devotions recently that ministered to me. Philippians 3:7-14
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I will be honest & tell you that there are many times when I wish we could live in a nice house. I pass lots of nice houses as I'm driving around town- and I'm not saying I want a fancy house, just a "pretty" house. The one we live in now is the same early 70-s ranch style house I grew up in. It is a blessing to be able to live here rent free (with my dad)- huge blessing! But it is not a pretty house- just blah. If we had extra money I would probably do some things to perk up the place up, but as it is I need to be satisfied with what we have. And when I see those "pretty" houses I have decided to consider them "rubbish" for the sake of following Christ!

Speaking of rubbish I will tell you that our family is beginning a journey into what's called "traditional foods" or "real foods" or "whole foods" (I said, "speaking of rubbish" because that is what a lot of "food" that you find in stores & restaurants are- if you can't pronounce an ingredient or don't know what it is, you shouldn't be ingesting it!). Did you see Michael Pollan on Oprah- well, I had already begun learning more about eating "real" before this- but it's a nice reinforcement that it happened this week. I am trying to eliminate all the processed/packaged food from our menus & making only wholesome old-fashioned food. Moving towards organic produce, meats, and dairy. I've already begun making our own bread, rolls, and today I will try tortillas! No refined sugars either! I don't know if I have a personal goal in this- but I know what I know about nutrition & the food available for purchase in the stores, and I am making choices that I think will enhance my family's health both now & in the long run.

There is a huge amount of support I have found on the web (blogs, yahoo groups) so that should help. I will let you know how it goes!

Thanks for your continued prayers for us as we wait on the Lord & expect great things in 2010! Mike is taking a team to Mexico in June. KaLia is saving money to go & I would love to be able to bring myself & Nate along also (put that ol' high school Spanish to use!) but with us also trying to have the funds to go to Rwanda (and stay for 9 months) in September, I am not sure if it is possible (or the Lord's will- not a lot of clarity on that yet). Pray with me regarding this & we'll see what happens. Who knows what God might do :)

Blessings,
Lisa

Welcome 2010

I have great faith & hope for 2010 to be an amazing year! The word God has spoken to me for 2010 is - MORE! Pastor was preaching 2 weeks ago and the question he asked was, "What does God have for you in 2010?" I really felt God speaking to my heart that what he wants for me & my family is MORE! What God has for us (all) is good & he is wanting to bring MORE THAN ENOUGH into our lives. More than enough healing, more than enough provision, more than enough joy, more than enough peace, more than enough support, more than enough of all that we need!

I believe God wants me to step out of the area of living in lack (what I call the land of LessThan) and into what he wants for me- the land of MoreThanEnough! My part in this is to seek his face, delight myself in him. He will grant me the desires of my heart, and he will do exceedingly & abundantly more than we can ask or think!

I am praying for more for my family- more health for my daughter (healthy choices & weight loss for child who wants to/needs to lose weight, a gentle transition into adolescence), more for my son (abilities beyond what he has now for a child placed in special ed), more togetherness as a family, more connections and love and respect to happen among family members. More of God's spirit working & moving through us. More of Jesus in me- me being more of a blessing to my family, more getting done at home, more connections at church, more! More of God's kingdom being displayed in our lives & being expanded through us!

Do you see a recurring theme here? :) This is what God wants for us too- more! This is not greed- this is saying, where we have allowed ourselves to live right now is *not* the "promised land" God has for us. We have settled for LessThan and it's time for us to move into MoreThanEnough! It is our rightful place - there's a spot there reserved for you!

Pray & believe with me for MORE for you too this year!
Amen! :)
Lisa

Home

We are all so happy to have back home with us. He is still jet lagged, but actually slept all night last night- so that is progress! We are looking forward to Christmas time spent with extended family. My mom will be flying up from Oakland, CA and my sister and bro-in-law will come down from Seattle. Then on New Year's we get to celebrate Christmas with Mike's extended family (much larger on that side). :)
It was hard on our kids in Rwanda to have Mike leave. They love him so much. We look forward to a day when we no longer have to say "good bye" but can have them with us all the time.
We are thankful for the work we get to do in Rwanda. It truely is a blessing to be able to do this. We love seeing God change lives & work miracles!
Merry Christmas to each one of you. You are a blessing also!
This Christmas let's keep our eyes on the greatest gift of all- Jesus! He is our all in all!
Blessings,
Lisa

Long Journey

If you read the TTI blog you know that Mike is in Rwanda now & it took him 42 hours to get there! The kids & I are doing fine so far. I have been struggling this week with a nasty cold, but thankfully I can feel it's grip slowly loosening & my strength ebbing back. I am working on our year end letter for TTI. Please be praying for this letter (I hope to have it out early next week- watch your mail boxes & inboxes). We have decided that the focus of this letter should be asking people to give towards our family's monthly support. As will be explained in the letter, we feel we need to be in Rwanda full time in order to facilitate the ministry there moving forward. However, right now our current amount of support is not sufficient for us to be able to afford to do that.

Please pray for God to use this letter to touch people's hearts to respond. We know that he has put His provision in the hands of his people. And pray for me to have the strength & time to get it all put together & out in the mail soon!

God Bless You,
Lisa

looking forward

Mike has a trip to Rwanda planned for December 1st thru 15th. On the one hand this is sad for the rest of us, that we don't get to go and hug & see everyone we love over there. But on the other hand I am glad that Mike at least can go & be our representative & visit everyone over there for us. He will be busy during this trip & be trying to get a lot accomplished. Please pray for him to have a very productive trip.

Right now a big prayer request for me is that I want to get KaLia into a private school. We have been homeschooling for a year and a half, almost 2 years. I feel like KaLia would really do a lot better if she were in a classroom- she is competitive and needs the challenge of doing the same work as other kids in order to rise to her best. Here with me as her teacher she does not feel the need to rise up and outshine others!

The challenge with changing her to a private school is two-fold right now. Obviously the finances are a huge obstacle. The school she would like to go to (where some friends are) is very moderate, as far as private school tuitions go, but right now it is still out of reach for us. My hope would be that either, we would be able to qualify for a scholarship that would bring the cost way down, or that God would increase our monthly income somehow. I don't mind doing some kind of part time work, or it would be even better if our monthly support were to grow.
The other option we have is a private school that is more like a co-op. I could give my time (hopefully) in exchange for her attendance there. Right now she is not excited about this option, since she doesn't really know anyone there and she has her heart set on this other school.

Please pray for this situation. Besides the reasons I listed above for KaLia being in a classroom- I just do not have the motivation to make our homeschool experience all it should/could be & I feel like I am failing her in her education. I praise God because I know that he cares more about her education and her future than I do, and I am trusting him to make a way in the wilderness for us.

Thank you for all your prayers! God does honor them!
Blessings,
Lisa

We trust

We survived the banquet last Saturday! :) Well, we did more than survive- we had a good time and got to meet many new people. People who hopefully will become regular supporters of the ministry. But it sure is a lot of work to put something like that together! We definitely could not have done it without some great selfless people who come to our side at times like this!
The funds that were raised were a blessing and a help to the ministry, and we praise God because of it & because of the 9 children who were sponsored & whose lives are now forever changed! The amount given that night was not enough for us to be making any big plans right now, just continuing in the work day by day. Mike is considering a trip to Rwanda in either November or December- he told me he needs to go sometime before the end of the year. Unfortunately none of the rest of the family will be able to go with him- the funds just aren't there right now. He will probably go for a few weeks & then return.
We continue to pray & trust & wait. Our personal family support has not changed yet, but God is taking care of us here in the "right now". One verse he is using to keep me encouraged (I have run across it at least twice in the last couple of days) is this:
"Therefore we do no lose heart... For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is *seen*, but on what is *unseen*. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV)

Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers.
Blessings,
Lisa

Still Here!

Almost a month since I've posted- that wasn't my intention when I started this blog- but I have gotten the feeling that I may be writing to me, myself, and I, so I haven't felt much pressure to post again. Just in case I guess I'd better update. We had a great time in Disneyland. Lots of fun, lots of rides, lots of walking- good times! I am very thankful because Mike has been doing some remodel work on the church that they were able to pay him for and this covered the extra expenses of our trip. We all have lots of great memories now- this was our longest & biggest family vacation ever!

Coming back, things have been busy as we try to put the details together for TTI's fundraising banquet on October 24th. This is our major fundraiser for the year, and not only is it important but it is a lot of work! Finding table hosts, getting invitations out, trying to find sponsors (and trying, and trying...) You get the idea! Please pray for this event to be successful.

Tomorrow morning we are going to call our Rwandan daughter, Christine. She is at boarding school and has been feeling very lonely for us. And of course we miss her too. It has been 5 months now since we were last there. When we left, I was really hoping, praying, believing for God to make it possible for us to be back in Rwanda in November. November is when the kids have their big school break- two months. I would have loved to have had that time with Christine and our Rwandan son Michael too, as well as our other beloved kids there. Unfortunately the funds just aren't there for our family right now. Besides the obvious dissapointment for us, and for our kids there, we have the difficulty of trying to find adequate housing for Christine while she is off school. We also just found out today that Michael and the other kids in his grade (P6) will be having a graduation party (they are moving now from primary to secondary school) on October 24th. We are sorry to not be able to be there to celebrate their success.

Your continued prayers for our family, for our loved ones far off, and for Ten Talents are appreciated.

God Bless You,
Lisa