Updates: Susanna’s hair and life

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Rosalie

Basically since she was born, we’ve been sweeping Susanna’s hair across her forehead to keep it out of her eyes.

(Ok, maybe the “sweep wasn’t so dramatic her first few months)

Lately, we’ve used adorable little clips.

Which she usually removes whenever she notices them. Consequently, there are clips all over our house.

In anticipation of her second birthday and a beach vacation, we decided to get her some bangs.

I think they accentuate her already voluminous cheeks!

In addition to Susanna’s updated hairstyle, our summer is looking good on the prefield front. We’ll be traveling to PA for Essential Missions Components, which is a huge relief and accomplishment for us. We hope to maintain some momentum for support raising through the summer with a 50/50 challenge (more on that later), and then, after little Austin joins our family, we’ll be full-time prefield, aiming to leave for the field as as soon as possible. We appreciate your prayers as we anticipate life on missionary support, especially since we’ll be starting out only half-funded. We feel a tremendous amount of peace and excitement for this next step of the journey though, knowing that it is an opportunity to trust God even more.

Memorial Day Thankfulness

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Rosalie

It seems the most honoring thing to do to express appreciation for those whose sacrifice makes freedom ring in my life is to express thanks. So, I honor all our fallen heroes this Memorial Day with a long list of things I am thankful for.

♦ A warm and mostly sunny spring. Although this weekend was dreary, we have enjoyed many sunny days lately
♦ Sweet Susanna taking long naps nearly every day
♦ Three days with Chris at home
♦ A lovely family cookout with burgers, ribs, corn salad, chips and guacamole, watermelon, indoor s’mores and chocolate cake
♦ Freedom. Freedom from oppression, freedom to complain. We have been waiting far too long for a hefty tax return with no explanation from the IRS, which is daily losing credibility following a scandal. It is so frustrating, and we feel so helpless to get justice because what can we do? Yet I am thankful for the freedom to complain, and I trust God to resolve this issue
♦ A healthy, growing baby boy on the way
♦ Answered prayers
♦ People who express thanks for this blog’s existence, in spite of the fact that I have neglected it so long
♦ Exodus 4:12 “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
♦ That even as we sit in one of life’s waiting rooms, sometimes soaking our feet in disappointment, God is faithful and God doesn’t disappoint
♦ This beautiful photo

♦ The opportunity to be part of the story God is writing for a couple of young people we’ve been discipling
♦ Summer is coming
♦ Answered prayers (more on that later)

The Mountaintop Looks Different These Days

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Rosalie

Our retreat cabin sat on a hill overlooking this horse ranch and the ocean beyond.

I went on a ladies retreat. It was a much needed retreat from the daily grind, and I really enjoyed the break from Susanna and house. I missed her just the right amount.

But I had high expectations for the spiritual side of the retreat. I was longing for a mountaintop experience.

Here’s what I learned: the mountaintop looks a lot different these days. When I was a teenager, every new truth I learned about God that required a change in me was a joyful experience. I want to be clear: there were many times when I realized that my beliefs did not line up with scripture, and I often joyfully repented, submitted, and changed. I walked the ways of the world, so after I put my trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, for abundant life, my perspectives on marriage, relationships, the sanctity of life, purity, wisdom and the meaning of life all did a 180. And I loved to worship God, so I made my way to the mountaintop often, seeking those transforming moments.

But things have changed. The repentance that is required of me usually follows guilt and shame, because my sins hurt other people. God is so gracious to me, though. And I am thankful for these moments because I realized this weekend that I have the power and the desire (because of the Holy Spirit in me) to kill the sin in my life. I rarely feel the emotional highs that I did as a new believer (and a teenager), but I also didn’t have the will or ability to harness the power to conquer the little sins that the Bible warns will cause destruction.

The mountaintop is a joy today because I can choose to stay there as long as I want. To conquer perpetual sins, I must depend on God; to depend on Him, I must spend time with Him; to spend time with Him is to be on the mountaintop. Ancient Rabbis believed that losing one’s temper meant losing the shekinah, and they had a saying, “nothing is worth risking the shekinah!”* As long as I have God’s Glory resting upon me, I believe I am on the mountaintop.

*Learned that from a video session during Beth Moore’s study of James.

A Bit of Blogkeeping: If you read my blog updates via Google Reader, you’ll need to find a replacement reader soon, as Google is phasing out this application. I have tried Feedly and Bloglovin’ and can recommend both. Bloglovin’ is a bit simpler, but my starred posts didn’t come through in the sync.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Free Audio Bibles

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Rosalie

Wow! Right now, you can download free MP3 recordings of the Bible in a variety of versions. Check out the Free Audio Bibles from Faith Comes By Hearing and choose the version you most enjoy. These recordings are dramatized, which means different voices for different characters. You may or may not enjoy that, but I encourage you to give it a try, especially if you enjoy books on tape.

Also, if you’ve been watching The Bible on the History Channel, I encourage you to download the real thing. You might be surprised to learn some of the details left out of the film version! Here are links to the Old and New Testament in the ESV, my favorite word-for-word translation.

Halfway There

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Rosalie

The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
-1 Thessalonians 5:24

50 yard line I am bursting at the seams to announce that we are officially halfway to our goal! Next we’ll be invited to Essential Missions Components, the next required training at our mission agency, so long as we complete our assignments in time.

This has felt like a long time coming (two years since we started building our partnership team but who’s counting?).

Now we are praying to be fully supported by the end of 2013 so that we can be on our way to the field in 2014.

If you are part of our financial partnership team, thank you! Your contribution is the literal moving sidewalk that will get our feet on the ground in Spain.

If you pray for us regularly, thank you! Your prayers have enabled us to meet people, share our ministry in unexpected places, kept us encouraged on prefield, and set up a hedge around us to protect us from sin’s desires.

If you have written us or called us to encourage us in our walk, thank you for blessing us with words. Prefield can be lonely because partnership meetings trump any other kind of outing or get together, so your words of encouragement reminded us to keep our priorities in line.

If you have recommended books, classes or resources for church planting, thank you! You’re helping us fill a toolbox that will make us effective long-term missionaries.

If you read this blog, thank you! Sometimes it seems like I send words out into the universe and they just turn to dust.

Finally, if you’re interested in being part of our team in some way – through finances, prayer or any unique way (we have lots of ideas!), please contact us.