Who are You?

I hope you (whoever you are) are enjoying the multitude of posts lately. I feel like I've done posting overload recently. But, we've been super busy. And, it's been fun to go back through each event, reflect, and share the joy.

So, my post today will be a quick 'break' from the event recap. (sigh)

Sorry to disappoint those of you who just want to see pictures of my kids!

By the way, make sure you take the quiz on the right hand side. I'm just curious what kind of readers we have. (I know some of you who come check out my blog, but I'd love to know why you read it. Hence the title "who are you?")

When God called us to join staff at Gospel for Asia, He made it very clear to me that He wanted to use this place (time in my life, leadership at GFA, circumstances, etc) to break me. Those words were extremely clear. They were so clear, in fact, that when I was asked what I thought my role would be in the ministry, I told the leader what I would like to do but then followed it with a statement that was something like this: "But God has made it clear He's going to break me here. So, He may very well give me another set of twins and then tell me I have to homeschool them all!"

Okay, I realize I might have a divided readership here. One group of you might be saying "Uh, is she planning to homeschool?" The other group might be saying "well, what's wrong with that?"

No and nothing.

You see, at that point in time the last thing on earth I wanted to do was homeschool my kids. I felt like it would be torture (for me and for them) and would certainly break me of any high thoughts I had of myself.

I still don't feel called to homeschooling. Neither does Joel and he's the one who ultimately decides. So, we aren't planning to homeschool. But, if the Lord clearly told us to do it, I would not be opposed to it as I once was.

But, I use that story to illustrate that I understood the breaking was coming. I also use it to illustrate that I had no idea how it would happen.

I've been in process since the time we said 'yes' to the Lord's call to serve here. I would have to say one of the first chips to my pride was support raising. While I know it is biblical and I agree with it, it's still humbling! Literally, we live off what others generously give to support us. That's humbling. In reality, we all live off what others give. Some sell cars and live off the profit from that, thereby living off what others give. But, I guess it feels different in ministry because you aren't selling anything or 'earning' that money. It was even a little different being on church staff since it came out of the 'budget' and people gave in a general sense to the church, not earmarking it for us. It's pretty direct right now. And, it's humbling.

Second was the whole homeschooling thing. Leadership at GFA made it clear that there is no expectation of homeschooling. However, lots of staff families do homeschool their kids. So, it was still something I wrestled with. I thought about it, prayed about it, read about it, and talked to others about it almost the entire 7 months we were raising our support. I still think about it regularly, but the Lord has done an amazing work in my heart on the subject. He basically brought me to a point where I'm willing to do whatever He tells me to do. I think that's what He wants in any area of my life, not just on one subject. But, it was part of the process.

Then we arrived in Texas. I was expecting some big hardships to come my way. I was mentally bracing myself for the breaking. I was bracing so much, that I didn't even realize the rubbing, heating up, and reality of breaking that was happening as I was parenting my kids. Slowly but surely, I began to see that the Lord was going to break me as I was parenting my three children. I started to see that we needed a firm plan for discipline. Joel and I needed to get on the same page and really ask the Lord how He wanted us to parent.

We found our church as we realized this need and saw that a class was being offered. We participated in a study of God's Word through Tedd Tripp's book Shepherding a Child's Heart. It was great. It was hard. But, it was freeing to be broken of my plan (or lack thereof) and replace it with God's plan.

During our first year on staff we read lots of books. One book that was particularly impacting to me was Touching Godliness Through Submission by Brother KP (Yohannan). It came on the heels of The Calvary Road by Roy Hession. Both of those books challenged me in big ways.

Just recently, I finished a study by Beth Moore that chiseled away more of my pride. We learned about When Godly People Do Ungodly Things and I was humbled to realize how desperately I need the Lord. It's so easy to think more highly of ourselves than we ought! The Lord showed me more of my wicked, ugly, prideful heart. Only near the end of the study did I realize just how much breaking was happening throughout the study.

It's been neat to stand back recently and see how God has been steadily breaking me. At times it is very obvious to me that He is using my children and parenting. At other times the words on the page of a book will jump out and it's clear as could be that this is part of it.

I'm nowhere near completion. But, it's fun and beautiful to see the Lord's hand. It's such an honor to know He cares enough to work on me!

And, I thought about all this because I'm currently reading a small book by Pastor Damion Kyle titled The Place of Brokenness in the Life of the Believer. Just today I read this great quote and I'll end with it so you can ponder too!

"...I am a danger to His people and not a blessing to them apart from His continual breaking in my life. Sometimes breaking can happen over things that can seem small in the overall scope of things, for instance, over a careless word. However, if God takes the time to send His 'Nathan the prophet,' the Holy Spirit, to speak to us, then the issue is never small--not for Him, not for me, and not for others."

Easter

I'm still working on "back posts". Easter weekend, my parents visiting, Rylee's birthday weekend...they will all get here eventually!

So, for now...let's talk about Easter!
We had a GREAT celebration of Easter this year.
I can honestly say I don't know that I've ever celebrated Easter with such heart and love!

My kids really began to understand the reason we celebrate Easter. Explaining it all over and over again made it more real for me, too.
We did several things to celebrate. Friday, the kids and I made a mountain/tomb to visually illustrate the Easter story. We had friends over Friday afternoon to decorate eggs. Then, Friday evening we went to a Good Friday service at church. We also had Jesus hung on the cross and placed Him in the tomb at night (bottom picture below).
Then, on Saturday morning we joined our church for an egg hunt/party at the apartment complex where we lived last year.

Rylee was all about gathering the eggs this year. She filled her bucket, brought it to Daddy, had it dumped, and filled it again! You can see all the loot with Jenna in the wagon!Then, we capped off the day by hosting a party and egg hunt for our neighborhood.
Several weeks before Easter I was convicted that I need to do more to get to know my neighbors. We were studying Isaiah and the verse that says "how lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news...". Pastor Jerry mentioned that the mountains can be what stand in our way of sharing the Gospel. I certainly haven't shared much in my neighborhood. I didn't know my neighbors! How can I meet needs I don't know about?!

So, after several weeks of conviction, I asked Joel if we could host a gathering. We had no idea how it would all work, but God already had it taken care of.
The day after we decided, a surprise "gift" arrived--just the right amount to cover the costs for hosting a gathering. We made fliers and the kids and I went door-to-door meeting and inviting neighbors.
We even had games! The day of our party we just casually asked about the games being used by our church. They offered to let us use them!
That night about 30 people gathered on our front lawn and enjoyed hotdogs, chips, brownies, lemonade, games, and a nice egg hunt! We give ALL glory to the Lord!
Sunday morning the kids awoke to find that the stone was rolled away and tomb was empty (on our little mountain). They had to find Jesus, who has risen!!!! They were so excited! It's awesome to hear my toddlers shouting "He's alive!"

(By the way, Asa does not like yellow plaid shirts!)We enjoyed Easter at church and then had lunch at McDonald's. Hey....a treat for the kiddos! They love to play at Mickey Ds. We had naps and they awoke just in time to welcome some of our GFA family over for dinner.

Twenty-eight of us gathered on Resurrection Day to celebrate. We hid more eggs, but this time we added Resurrection eggs to the mix. (You can find out what those are here, here, or here. We were given our set by our church preschool director, who we love.) We numbered them and went through the Easter story as the kids all checked out their goodies.
It was so much fun!

The more I grow in my walk with Christ, the more I appreciate Easter and the more I have to celebrate. I cannot even begin to imagine how amazing and wonderful Easter will be as my kids begin to have their own unique relationships with the Lord and we can all celebrate together. What a glorious time to look forward to!

He is Risen!!!

A Spring Visit to the Zoo

Last year we decided to get a membership to the Dallas Zoo for the twins' birthday. Their special day comes just one month after Christmas. We're usually swimming in gifts when they receive money for their birthday. We thought a "family gift" would be fun.
We went to the zoo at least a dozen times last year. With free parking, free admission, and a packed lunch, we can have a great day without spending money!
We decided to renew our membership for this year. We took our first spring zoo outing on April 4th. You can see the kids still enjoy it!
We found a new spot for our picnic lunches. It's beautiful!And, it's really fun to see how our kids have grown, even since last year. Rylee was all about the map! She would tell us where we were and what direction to go. Asa got in on it too. It was a fun spring day!