Contrasts

I never thought that a 1-hour trip to Cambridge for a home schoolers' talent show would get me messed up to the point of crying almost through the entire morning (good thing lights were off!).

Already on the drive there I told Rich how I already see ourselves driving the roads of Uganda - looking at it's very different landscape, feeling the heat, the different feel etc.

Lately, I constantly have the beautiful black faces before me - young and older - it's as real as my present reality in NZ... my heart is already there and it is bursting with LOVE!!!
It actually feels a lot like it felt just before giving birth to my babies. You can't see them yet, but you are constantly thinking of them, imagining how they'll look like etc and longing to hold them in your arms and tangibly show them your love.

So back to this morning's talent show:
As I was watching the progression of AMAZING performances of one child/young person after the other - some solo, some in groups - I was overcome with the contrast of what I was seeing to what is happening in Africa to most children of the same ages - right now!

CHILDREN ARE any country's TREASURE!!!

The children we saw this morning were being loved WELL - it showed in the performances. Dedicated mothers (and fathers) raising their children, pouring out day after day in care, feeding them, clothing them, training them, giving them an education at home, driving them to endless music, singing, sports, ballet, hip-hop classes, giving them the opportunity to learn instruments and become skillful in many areas, spending their free time researching next year's curriculum and ever working on improving the school (and parenting) experience, guiding them to know THE ONE who loves them even more than the parents ever can...

There was such a RICHNESS and BEAUTY demonstrated!

And all the while my thoughts couldn't help but drift to Africa - and from what I've read, seen and heard from a distance, Africa's children are just as much her TREASURE!

YET - and that's why I got messed up - they are not being well loved, the way they deserve it. Most mothers don't have the luxury to feed their children 3 meals a day - plus morning and afternoon tea (snacks), nor clothe them, let alone spend their days nurturing them, training them, teaching them, giving them an education, fostering the talents that God's laid inside of them by having them take this or that lessons, sport, whatever.

From what I understand, for the majority of people in Africa, daily life is purely about SURVIVAL.

Will I be able to find SOME food for my children today?

Will they survive this sickness?

What will happen to them when I die cuz I've got AIDS?

And then there are the millions of children who don't have parents at all, roaming the streets in search for something to eat, a shelter for the night, vulnerable, lonely, with NO ONE at all to wrap their arms around them, tell them that they're precious, beautiful, loved.

SOMEHOW - SOME.HOW. there's GOT to be a way of sharing some of the richness we've got in NZ (and other Western nations) - like the one with the 2 coats giving away 1 to the one with no coat... dunno how... (and yes, I do realize that even in our nations there are children who aren't well loved)

My heart is just breaking. I have no idea what will happen when I will actually be there.
Will there be enough tears??? It's not that I want to cry - believe me.
But I've asked God to break my heart with what breaks HIS ~ ~ ~ and I think he's answering...

Inspiring!

I came across this article written by a fellow-YWAMer - just after coming back from a YWAM NZ staff gathering... and it really spoke to me...

By Tim Heathcote

In YWAM we rub shoulders with some courageous and heroic people. Earlier this year I sat alongside leaders from around the continent of Africa as they met in Bamako, Mali, for an annual time of prayer and decision-making. I heard stories of fantastic growth and beautiful fruit. It was inspiring. But I also heard of violence and enormous risk. Africa is changing fast; the world is changing.

How will I live in the face of the challenges resulting from this change?

Life is often difficult. This simple message was the theme of a time of devotion in Mali. It led to a long discussion and time of prayer – because in Africa over this last year, life has been really difficult for many of our YWAM staff. There’s been martyrdom and the death of several key leaders. Many of our workers face the risk of abduction and kidnapping; most face the daily struggle for finances. YWAM friends of ours have seen several hundred Christians murdered in recent months and scores of churches burnt in their city. Life is not getting easier. In fact it seems to be getting more difficult.

As part of that time of devotion, we heard a message originally spoken just over a year ago, by a true hero who was martyred soon afterwards. As we listened to his voice through the tinny laptop speaker, knowing how his life ended, we were shocked by the prophetic nature of his words.

He began by quoting Thomas Jefferson, who said, “only those who can see the invisible can do the impossible”. He also mentioned Moses, who “endured, seeing him who is invisible.” He then asked the simple question: “Is my life about this – He, who is invisible – or is it about what is visible? Will people write something about me one day? If so, my prayer is that they will say, ‘By faith he did this for the Lord.’ My concern is that instead they might say, ‘Because of fear he did not do this; because of complacency he did not do what he was called to do.’ Let’s live for Him who is invisible. Faith and fear cannot coexist… Let’s be strangers in this world, our citizenship is in heaven.”

Shortly after giving his message, this man was martyred in a nation far from his land of birth.

It is a sobering reality. Life is difficult and bad things happen, terrible things. So will I live for what is visible? Or will I live daily for what is invisible and eternal?

Uganda update

Taking the few quiet minutes in our household - and the little strength I've got (battling sickness again - argggh) to tell you some exciting things. In my mind, I would've already written a book here, but to actually get around writing ~ ~ ~ another story - hehe!

Last week, I woke up with a feeling of "panic" one morning (not really, but the closest word to describing it).

It hit me that we were already October and our planned trip to Uganda was "just next month"!!!!!!!

How in the world was everything going to come together - from all the arrangements for childcare etc at home - to actually having the necessary finances to jump on that plane (or let's say 8 planes total?) - to making arrangements for our 2 weeks there.

Most of the time, I've been in total faith and peace about the whole thing.

But last Friday - NOT!

On the way to the Prayer Room, I just shot a short prayer up, telling the Lord that he needed to quiet my heart, speak to me and in some way confirm that we are actually REALLY supposed to go.

The first thought that hit me as I sat down in the Prayer Room, a Scripture:

"And here they were - overwhelmed with dread - when there was nothing to dread"

BINGO!

Thank you Lord!

After THOP, I went by our church office to make arrangements for a second book sale fundraiser. While I waited to see the person I needed, I ran into a man I'd never met before.
We got talking, and - believe it or not - he was from Africa (white Zimbabwean).
Long story short, I shared about our vision to help orphans in Africa and he said he will help us get there!

I came away SOOO encouraged!!! Who knows if he actually will help us (many times people promise things and don't keep them), but it doesn't matter.

The Lord had heard my cry, quieted my soul and confirmed that YES, we ARE meant to go.
Just the faith-booster I needed!

Lord, this was YOUR idea - YOU are the father to the fatherless, defender of orphans and widows! You put this passion in my heart - and gave the word to GO there - this year!
And go we will! YOU make the way! YOU provide! I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!

Blessed!

We're very blessed - living in NZ, being part of a great church and a House of Prayer! Compared to where we used to live where the soil was very hard, it's like we've planted our kids in real good soil! And they're thriving.

And as they are getting blessed, so are we as parents!

A couple of days ago, Kylie came into the kitchen and told me that she'd just seen an angel in her bedroom. She was visibly shaken/touched and a little terrified (in a good way) - kept putting her hand over her mouth - she was in "awe".
I asked her what the angel said and she responded: "Don't be afraid" - Sound familiar?!
Not much has changed since Bible times, aye?!

Last night, we went to a meeting at THOP with Allen Hood from IHOP Kansas City. For lack of a babysitter (everybody wanted to go), we took Shayden and Kylie. And boy I am glad we did!

Kylie told us after the service, all excited: "God touched my heart tonight during worship! I was praying for my friend Julia (ear-ache) and she was praying for me (cough). And then he came and took away all the black in my heart and the emptiness. And it felt so good, and I cried."

By the way, both girls were well today! Praise God! What a blessing!
We've been praying for God to intervene in Kylie's life, as she's been struggling with a few issues over and over again (the ones that make your heart "black"). And we knew that only an encounter with Jesus would take care of them. We're SOOO thrilled!

And Shayden exclaimed last night as we left the building, with clear, loud words:

"GOD" ~ mumble mumble ~ "POWER" ~ mumble mumble ~ "MEANIES".

He kept saying "God" and "Power" over and over again! We were amazed, as he'd never even said the word power before. He must have had some kind of revelation too while he was mostly sleeping through the service.

the two with guinea-pig "Rosebud"

Leilani's has had a couple of powerful prophetic words over her life.

Jeremie is thriving in his Discipleship Training School - soon going on outreach to Tahiti...

I LOVE what God's doing!!! Keep it up, God! We want MOOOORE - revelation - glory - presence - fire - LOVE!!!!

Randominium

Life's been so full-on ~ ~ ~

I'm happy to have Rich back home!!! Our house is full and will stay that way for quite a while- 5 nationalities under one roof (1 American, 2 Germans - 2 half American/half Germans, 1 Maori, 1 Fijian and 1 Tahitian/Chinese). In spite of our big house, one is staying in a caravan outside (at HIS request), since we ran out of rooms.

It's fun! Not a dull moment! We take turns cooking. This week we had Chinese food, Italian, German, tomorrow American and Sunday - hmmm, African (we switched from rice and beans on Sundays to rice and lentils - it's even cheaper and easier to digest, but not sure it's African)?

Anyways, just read something on somebody's blog that struck a cord in me and I wanted to share it. Africa is still VERY MUCH on my horizon - I'm busy preparing for a fundraiser next Saturday.

Maybe I'll share more another time. Tonight, have a look at this excerpt from this blog (a family that adopted a HIV+ child from Uganda)

...I read a quote the other day that said "Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them." WOW! that is such a true statement. How many "humanitarian" projects do we have going on? I bet if we were to do a poll of the people that live in other places that are poverty stricken, they would say that they would rather have people come in and TALK and TOUCH them than anything else. I know this to be true because of the trips that I have taken to Africa, these people want to be held, touched, looked in the eye. They are STARVING for love...

Oh YEAH, that's what I'm longing to do!!!! JUST THAT!!! Sit with them, hold them, touch them, look them in the eye, talk to/with them, and if they're older: listen to their stories, LOVE ON THEM!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Have a look...

... at this short video of the evangelistic campaign that Rich had the privilege to help with last month in the Philippines.

It's worth your time - encouraging!

Worth it all

This morning, I was a bit down/sad/teary as I'm really missing Rich ~ ~ ~ it's getting looooong.
He's been gone now for almost 2 weeks and we have 8 more days to go...

The last few days, Shayden has been a bit of a challenge. Lots of tantrums, hitting, biting Kylie and his body that isn't passing stool the way it's supposed to (this has been ongoing - many days, I have to change a dirty diaper up to 10 times and no, potty training is nowhere near on the horizon).

It's pretty much guaranteed that every time I need to leave the house ~ in a hurry ~ I find out he did another smelly "number" and needs to get changed again ~ which he always fights, too.

Anyways, as most moms, I spend a considerable amount of time in the car, driving kids here and there. I usually really enjoy it as I get to worship Jesus ~ with some good worship music playing.

For a few days now, the CD player in the car has been broken and there's been no music - sadly.

So, this morning, on the way back from Kylie's school, I just started singing my favorite song (at the moment) ~ I have been playing that song over and over again in recent times. It's been bringing lots of strength and comfort to me!

As I was getting to the chorus,

"What a faithful God have I,
what a faithful God.
What a faithful God have I,
He's faithful in every way."

... I hear Shayden joining in from the back-seat (in his car seat).

I could hardly believe it! This little boy who barely talks, was singing along with me, right tune and all. And we sang the song over and over again together.

It soooo melted my heart!

Shayden worshiping Jesus with me ~ no greater JOY for this momma!!!

This made my day - and it's only 9am!

YES, everything we pour into our children's lives ~ and mostly the example we give ~ is NOT lost or wasted!

All the nitty-gritty, unpleasant part of caring for little ones day in day out, training them, sacrificing so much (it seems sometimes) -

IT'S ALL WORTH IT!!! YES!!!

This is what I woke up to this morning.

Last night, I hadn't had a very good night and didn't feel like getting up right at 6am, when Kylie and Shayden woke up - especially on this rainy, dreary, cold winter Saturday...

So Kylie had mercy on me and told me to rest a little longer. She got Shayden changed, dressed and played with him for a while. When I got up she told me not to come out into the living area but to stay in the bedroom for a little longer.

Suspense ~ ~ ~ what was "cooking"? Definitely not breakfast, I could tell that much.

When she finally allowed me to come out, she had prepared a treasure hunt (too cute, with arrows showing different directions!). The treasure hunt brought me to this:


She had made a huge welcome poster for John, our friend who arrived last last night (while she was sleeping) ~ all her initiative, all her idea, glitter and all ~ and Shayden even got to participate in the artwork ~ see scribbles on the bottom.


How precious is that?! LOVED it!!!! (and I think John liked it, too)

A YWAM base crippled by theft

Just read this - what a tragedy - and what a contrast to the DTS that Jeremie is doing at the moment...

Can't help but feel for our African brothers and sisters ~ ~ ~ let's pray for them, shall we?!

A YWAM base crippled by theft / News / News & Stories / ywam.org / Home - YWAM

Proud mama

I've just GOT to brag on two of my daughters today. They both blew me away yesterday!

Here's Leilani ~ quite upset at me (how can anybody be upset at ME?!! LOL) just before I leave the house with Shayden.

I come back home after 1 1/2 hours and find that she has taken laundry down the line (we don't use dryers in NZ), folded it up and put it where it belongs. I hadn't asked her to do this.

THEN ~ I venture into Rich's and my bedroom ~ and there was our bed ~ MADE (yes, I didn't make it first thing in the morning)

Not only that, but on top of the duvet were pretty flower petals everywhere...

and 2 flowers from the garden in the middle (yes, we do get some flowers here even in the winter!)...

and a beautiful, very touching poem, giving me the highest praises as a mother...

That I was shocked is an understatement!!!

When I asked her WHY she did this, she answered:"I felt angry at you ~ and so I decided to do something nice for you."

WOW!!!

I can learn a lesson or two from my 15-year-old!
And if we all reacted that way every time we were mad at somebody, this world would be a whole lot of a better place - dontchathink?!!!

Way to go, Leilani! I couldn't be prouder of you!!! And I'm not even talking about all your huge help with Kylie's birthday - cake, decoration and all!!!!

Thank you so much for all you ARE and all you DO to make this family what it is!

Later in the day, Kylie reported to me that Shayden had filled his infamous diaper (yes, he's not potty-trained yet and it will be a while still). As I didn't react immediately (many days he does IT up to 10 times) Kylie took matters into her own hands.

I didn't know what she was up to until I was getting concerned because it was so quiet in the house. I asked Leilani to check up on the 2. And there was Kylie with Shayden, in Shayden's room, changing mat on the floor and changing all the big-D-yuckiness - without saying a word.

A am a very blessed woman!!! THANK YOU, WONDERFUL GIRLS!!!