I was just thinking..

2011-03-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

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The One Who Came to Love us All

2010-12-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing how God uses the little things in life.. the seemingly unnoticed moments.. to impact us and make a lasting change within us? All around us life is screaming, fighting for our attention. Then there are those perfectly common moments. No screaming and no juxtapositioning for our attention. In fact, so quiet and unnoticed that they often can't be aesthetically measured. Yet on the decibel level of the heart they register off the charts. Like a tuning fork, their memories resonate, leaving us pensive and forever changed. Yesterday was one such moment.

My kids and I decided to spend the day sharing and playing with some orphan girls. I hate that word, "orphan." It's a poorly suited word to describe such beautifully fashioned girls. In fact, they are not orphaned at all. By the world's standards they may fit the criteria of being an orphan; no father, no mother, no close living relative. But thru the eyes of the One who formed them within their mother's womb and who designed them with a purpose...they are not orphans! They are daughters of destiny! They are lavishly loved by the One who will never leave them or forsake them. It was a perspective I gained when I allowed God to open my eyes and change the way I look at things.

It was a wonderful afternoon of sharing together. I read them the Christmas story, some hearing it for the first time. I tried to make it real and personal to them by explaining how Josesph was a carpenter, mary was his "wife." They didn't have much, just a few things..one of which was a donkey. ( I was leading up to how she rode on the donkey to Bethlehem). One of the girls spoke up, "I've seen one of those donkeys in a book once!" Another said, "I've seen them on the road!" Such wide eyed wonder over a simple donkey! I continued on with the story. When I came to the part about a special baby being born I asked, "Do you know who that special baby was?" One little girl meekly spoke up with a bit of a question in her statement, "He's the One who came to love us all."

Wow! Out of the mouth of babes. For a moment I was silent, transfixed on this simple statement with such profound truth. He is indeed the One who came to love us all... the "fatherless", the missionary, the teacher, the office manager, the corporate head, the preacher, the vet, the general practitioner, the policeman, the clerk,... ALL! The truth is, by God's standards there is no such word as "fatherless" if we simply let Him love us as He came to do. A lesson learned from a sweet, little 6 year old, "daughter of destiny."

After the story we all gathered round the table and made little angel ornaments to hang on their tree. Wes played Christmas carols on his violin while Savannah accompanied him on her flute. Memories were made as we sang along while Meghan and I helped in making those special angels. Yet the special memory that resonates on in my heart wasn't what "we" did but what that sweet little girls said, "He is the One who came to love us all."

So with that said.... Merry Christmas dear friends as we stop to remember the One who came to love us all!

Lord, Give Me Knew Eyes!

2010-10-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

Spring has definitely sprung here and how wonderful it is. October is a beautiful month indeed. The downfall tho is all the dust it brings. Living at the center in the country is such a wonderful blessing tho dust can be oppressive at times. Rains are not too far off. For now we endure all the dust devils, horrendously dirty feet, and thick brownish clouds that hover over from time to time.

It’s so odd tho. Our mission center is located here on the west side of Arusha. It truly is oppressively dry and dusty on this side of town. It’s like hitting a wall of dirt twenty minutes drive outside of urban life. Perhaps it serves as a clear boundary marker differentiating rural from urban. At any rate, it’s DRY! Drive thirty minutes down the road in the other direction and it’s completely the opposite. It’s green, lush and bustling with life. People on that side of time seem so much lighter and perhaps happier. I would assume life is much easier for them. Water is everywhere. Rivers and streams flowing off of Mt Meru provide bountiful harvests and refreshing respites for any tired, thirsty cattle.

Things are entirely different on the west side here. Lush has been replaced with arid. Streams that once flowed during the rainy season are now dried up and barren housing only the memory of life and years of litter. Farmlands that flourish on the east side struggle incredulously to overcome the over pastoralized land here in the west. What nutrient sapped land can’t do to deprive the new seed, lack of rain comes in to finish off the job.

The question then lingers, “Whey did CMF choose to live here?” Answer, “We didn’t. God did!” He whose very Name means, “Life” loves these precious children of His and wants that not even one should perish. He has placed us here, not to complain, but to serve as a living testimony of who He is. In a dry and weary land He is “Living Water.” When the hopeless and desperate cry out, He is “Hope” and “Compassion.”

As much as I enjoy living in the country, especially the blessing of African countryside, I am not here for me. No, God has brought us here for a calling higher than our own comforts. He has called us to be Life to the Dying. Refreshment to the Weary. Hope to the Fatherless. Promise to the hopeless….

“Precious Lord, Father to the Nations… please forgive me for my short sidedness. When I seek only my comfort and allow the challenges to cause me to lose sight of why You have called us here., please forgive me. For the times that I have looked right in the eyes my neighbors and not seen the faces of your children, I am sorry. Dear Father, when I even dare to complain about the bad roads, dust, discomforts, etc, please help me to remember those who are suffering, struggling to even find food their hungry children. My discomforts can’t even compare to the pain of watching a sick child worsen from lack of nutrition and no money to afford help.Please forgive me as I cry out to you because I’m weary from having to home school my children. At least my children have a school. Most of the children around us have no hope of becoming anything but a cow hand or a servant girl.

Oh Lord, how childish and foolish I can be at times,; how selfish and self-preserving. Precious Father, You who is rich in mercy and love, fill me with Your love. Give me Your eyes to see deep into the hearts of your lost children. May my heart ache for them as Yours does. Put your mind on me that I may have Your hope, Your vision, Your passion for these precious, lost children of yours. Let Your kingdom come to earth and fill us with all love, power and passion. May you be glorified thru us!”

The Earth is Full of the Glory of God!

2010-10-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

Roosters crowing, doves laughing, donkey braying, birds chirping, puppies whining, me wondering …”where did all this early morning cacophony come from and when did it start?” Suddenly and without warning it’s like dawning sun brings forth with it a bursting of life all around me from every direction.

A family of doves have made their home in the rafters outside my bedroom window. Every morning I awaken to a call and response of their bouncy, rhythmic calls. They seem to have replaced the squawky Ibis family who had come to settle in my front trees. Without any indication, the Ibis departed leaving behind a peaceful silence broken only by soft chirping of weaver and various other song birds. I like this much better than the abrupt and often abrasive screech of the Ibis.

Spring is in full motion here in the southern hemisphere. The barren Cassia trees are once again budding with the promise of bright yellow blooms soon to come. Winter and it’s cold, achy gloominess has passed leaving us bright eyed and full of anticipation of all spring’s sweet, new blessings. Bougainvillea in its vibrant hues of purple, pink and red. Jacaranda trees bursting into flamboyant purple . Jasmine’s pure, sweet aroma filling the air, ticking the back of my throat at times. It’s spring alright. And I love it!

A Not So Typical "Typical" Day

2010-06-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

June 25, 2010

Only one more week of school left for the year! The kids are ready for a break as am I. I am thankful tho that we have been able to get as much done as we have with interruptions from furlough, visitors and just plain’ ol life here in Africa.

People often ask me, “What’s a typical day in your life there in Tanzania?” My answer? A “typical” day is always not “typical” and quite unpredictable. Take yesterday for instance. We woke up around 7 and eased our way into the morning with coffee and checking emails. Coffee was a “go” but email was not. Internet was down…again… Okay, that afforded me more time to get school organized for the day. Or so I thot. Then a knock came at the door. It was Loserian, our campus manager. He came to inform me that the tile man was here and waiting on me to get started before laying the tile in the guest house. I was elected overseer of that project. Unlike the States, you can’t just hire a skilled laborer to come in, get the job done, pay him with a smile and leave. No, here they have to be watched over like a hawk to make sure they truly are skilled and that they are following your specifications. Good thing I showed up. Instead of laying tiles in a vertical pattern beginning in the middle of the room like I requested, he was putting them on an angle and starting from the corner. Yikes! Got that problem solved and was back at home school. Then the phone rang. Problem with the tile guy..again.. He needs more tile. Perhaps not a big issue anywhere else but in a place like here where we live 30 min from any store and the tile man doesn’t own a car, we have to go get more of the tile. So, work is halted till Loserian runs to get more tile. Meanwhile, there’s Meg begging me, “Mom…can we PLEASE get back to school now?!” You know it’s bad when your child is begging you to get back to school! J

School eventually finished for the day but not without it’s fair share of drama. Meg’s tooth started hurting her. Upon inspection of her pearly whites I discovered something else “white” protruding from her gums. She had an abscess. Some food had apparently lodged itself between her teeth causing an infection in her gums. I raced her off to get to the dentist on time before he closed at 4:30. I contemplated not even taking her and just self treat at home. Again…not at all what I’d do in the States but here often self treating is better than any “official” medical care you would find her. To my surprise internet was up long enough for me to check what to do to self treat. Give her antibiotics and home remedy salve for the abscess. But all indications strongly supported visiting your dentist to have xrays done to look for any deeper infection. Okay..off to the dentist we go. Forty minutes later I’m pulling into the dentist. Ten minutes later I’m pulling out of the dentist office with … antibiotics and suggestions for home made salve. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! He didn’t even take any xrays at this point as we were too close to his closing time. Good news is the abscess is gone this morning thanks to amoxicillin, home made salve and lots of prayer! The best part of the story?? Getting home only to find out that the tile man now needs one more bag of grout…in where we just came from! And… internet was down again! Ugh!!! So, having shared all this I can honestly say a “typical” day sounds sounds soooooooooooooooo appealing right now! J

Ghost Town

2010-04-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

All is quiet on the home front. The “mass exodus” of the students for their mid-term break was yesterday. Todd got up at 5 am to get them all to the bus stop for them to all begin their several hour ride home to their villages. You could feel the excitement in the air the day before. They were all ready for a much needed break, not to mention how ready they were to see their family and friends. They will be back in 3 weeks eager to begin their 2^nd phase of training. But, for now, it's like a ghost town. Even the other members of our team have gone to Kenya early to prepare for our annual conference. We leave in about an hour. Once we go...the only noise you'll here is the chatter of crickets and the occasional complaint from our neighbor's donkey.

It’s always so interesting to me to see how eager they are to get back home and how home sick they are when they are here. I’ve not seen their homes per se. However, they are not unlike those of our other students and Tanzanian friends. I would venture to say tho that most of them, if not all of them come from very simple, mud hut structures with dirt floors. Some may have concrete houses but usually only those more savvy and wealthy. They’re not big as they would have only one main room and a bedroom or two. One thing is for certain, they all have very little in the way of personal possessions. They may own a couple pots and pans and a tea kettle. I’d imagine they have beds. Most likely they are not beds like we know it. Their bed may be a cushion or mat placed on the floor. It may be sticks held together by rope in a waffle pattern covered in animal skin. And who knows, it could even be close to a bed like what we are used to. It’s highly unlikely they own much in the way of living room furniture. If they do it’s probably a few chairs and maybe a small table from which they use to serve food and tea. They cook all their meals outside over an open fire. Their bathrooms are all outhouses at best. Many may even have just a crude whole in the ground surrounded by a privacy fence of thatch. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of their houses didn’t even have a door but just a curtain hanging at the entrance to keep out bugs. Windows are a luxury for them, especially to have glass in them. Screens would be unheard of. If they have any window at all in their mud huts, it would be a crude shaped whole covered by a small, often dingy curtain suspended by a droopy wire. Again, this serves to keep the bugs at bay. I can’t say how many times a day they would eat. I would venture to say once in the morning..a light meal of maybe porridge or bread and tea. Then, once again in the evening they might have another small meal of their common starch called Ugali. Ugali is like a thick cream of wheat they ball up in their hands and dip in some kind of broth. The broth would commonly be made from greens fried in oil with onions and tomatoes. Meat is a commodity. Even tho many of them own cattle, they won’t butcher them except for very festive occasions. Occasionally they may have roasted goat..again , for a festive occasion.

In contrast, while here on our campus each family gets a lovely, warm, concrete room with comfy beds, desks and a small table and glass window with screens. They dine three times a day in a rather nice dining hall with what we consider to be quite tasteful and comfortable chairs and tables. We serve them carefully thought out healthy meals including meat twice a week. There’s even a t.v. with a video player in there. While in class they have similar comforts. Their bathroom facilities are like palaces compared to what they are used to. We have several acres of nice land for them to relax in. Cows give us fresh milk daily and our chickens provide with eggs. Their children have a lovely classroom for their school and really nice playground as well. I’m always amazed tho that even tho we provide all these nice “comforts” they never feel as home here as they would in their grass/mud huts, sitting on a dirt ground around a fire! Isn’t that interesting?!?

Home truly is where the heart is. I could stand to learn so much from our dear African friends. Like Jewish culture from the time of Jesus till now, African culture shares in the honor of hosting guests. When a guest arrives at an African’s home, one is treated as royalty. Tho the hosts may not splurge on a chicken meal themselves, they would certainly not think twice about butchering one to serve their guests. It’s always so strange to visit a village and see a goat or chicken wondering around. Then, a few hours later when the meal is served and we’re wondering what kind of meat we’re eating, it dawns on us. We haven’t seen that pesky goat or chicken in the past few hours. Ha! While in your host’s home, you are also considered “under their protection.” This means anything that you would need would be their honor to provide for you, especially in the area of safety. This is taken so much to the extreme that they will even walk you all the way to your car or even back to your home if you walked there. The host sees a guest as their responsibility as long as the guests are in their home. Isn’t that beautiful?!

Relationships and time spent building relationships are highly honored and cherished. They think nothing of spending hours sitting around a fire and talking, getting to know each other more and sharing stories. Of course, this mostly the men who do this. The women and young girls share stories and build relationships while gathering the firewood, cooking, cleaning, caring for children, building their stick/stone homes, etc. Most women don’t have a lot of time to just sit around and chat. There’s too much work to be done. Sitting around chatting is what the elders and young men do! J In any case, life is really pretty simple for the Tanzania..aside from the hard work. They wake and go off to their perspective duties; young men to shepherd their cattle and women and girls to their gardens. They work pretty much all day till sunset. They come home, gather around a fire and chat while the women prepare the food. They eat and talk. The women clean up and then all go to bed only to start it all over again the following day. Simple… Perhaps this is why they miss their homes so much while here at our training. Perhaps we westerners complicate life too much with all our “stuff?” It is something to ponder…

Early Morning Rambling...

2010-03-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Instant coffee seems to taste so much better when served from a decorative storing jar instead of the plain ‘ol can.
Sunrises are worth waking up for!
Red paint makes a room so inviting.
Smiles are contagious…especially when the one smiling has no teeth. J
If there is a white board sitting out with markers, it won’t stay white for long. People can’t pass it w/o fighting the urge to write something on it.
Birds can’t help but sing and neither can I. Which makes me wonder..are my songs as sweet?
Knowledge can be obtained anywhere at anytime. Character, however is developed in youth.
It is never better to gain the whole world and lose your soul in the process.
Busyness is not the same as success.
Just because we’re busy doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re getting stuff done.
Meg will always find the fun in everything…no matter what it is.
Good friends are like a nice cup of warm, hot chocolate with a cinnamon stick.
Hammock times are some of the best times.
Tickle someone. You can’t help but to feel tickled too.
Worn out furniture may hang around your home for a while but the little, dusty feet that dirtied them leave all too soon.
Wrinkles and bulges…call them what you want. I prefer laughter lines and more to hug!
Candles, floor rugs and throw pillows make a house warm.
A guest book does you no good if you never remember to have your guests sign it.
Porches are meant to be shared with snuggly kids.
Rainy day + dry porch + comfy couch + hot tea + cuddly kid + warm blanket = perfect day!
There no such thing as a mistakes. Their just opportunities to embellish.
It’s always good to take God “out” of our “box.” It’s even better to let Him “into” our every moment.
God’s hope NEVER disappoints.
A little light is better than no lights at all.
It’s worth the effort and energy to make good memories for my kids.
Counting your blessings is SO much better than grumbling and complaining.
A negative thot can not produce a positive outcome.
Quiet mornings by oneself can often do so much more for the extrovert than an evening of fun and people.
Different is not bad. It’s just different.
God loves variety. So should I.
Feet are so much prettier when toenails are painted.
It does a person good to experience hanging clothes on a line to dry.
Avoid the temptation to look at your feet when walking. There is so much to experience by looking around and ahead.
Learning Hebrew and Jewish culture is to understanding the Bible as Snorkeling is to appreciating the ocean. It comes alive and in full color!
People light up when you speak to them in their Mother tongue.
People are worth the investment.
Surround yourself with the things you love and it changes your whole outlook.
Good manners always pay off!
Joy is hearing your kids first recital, no matter how many notes were off key.
T.v., game boys, play stations, etc are never a good substitute for good, ‘ol fashioned family game night.
Something powerful happens when you give to others. They are blessed and you are changed.
If you can’t change what you’re seeing then perhaps you just need to change the way you look at it.
Perspective is everything.
Beauty for ashes, joy for tears, laughter for mourning, love for hate, adoption for rejection, life for death, prosperity for poverty, peace for calamity, hope for dispair…now THAT’s my God!
A quiet cuddle on the couch with my kids…nothing is worth more than that moment.
Stolen dates with your husband are often better than well planned ones.
If someone asks you for a minute of your time, give them an hour. We’re never really THAT busy.
Treasures can be found anywhere! Take the time to look.
Life always seems so much easier to tackle after a long bubble bath with candles and praise music.
Love others…it IS worth the risk!
Don’t be different just to be “be” different. Be different to make a difference.
Sometimes you just gotta lick the bowl! Do it! And, make sure people see you doing it! J
It’s SO good to sometimes break away from your intended schedule and just play.
If you wanna know how to have fun ask a kid and then follow his lead.
Donkeys, birds and roosters and sunlight help you to embrace the morning so much more joyfully than a buzzing alarm.
There is great blessing in being first to give others the benefit of the doubt.
Work is essential. But, taking time to play is what really pays off!
Good can be found in just about any place and in any situation. You just have to be willing to look for it!
A house made dirty by loud, playful kids is way better than a quiet, tidy one.
It’s rewarding to train yourself to drown out noise and just listen to the melodies of God’s creation.
Contentment is a choice. Happiness is a blessing. Endurance is a necessity.
Allow yourself to be uncomfortable sometimes.
Go a day without food to really understand what it means to be hungry.
Happiness is not determined by economic status. I’ve met joy-filled, “poorest of the poor” living in mud huts as well as embittered, disillusioned “richest of the rich” living in mansions.
The world be so much of a better place if everyone stopped waking up thinking about all the things we have to get done and started waking up thinking about all the people we get to love.
Build a fire, get some smore’s fixins and just watch what happens!
I’ve found that a meal alone at a restaurant with a good book can be just what this extrovert needs sometimes…even if it is hard to do!
Seeing your kids raise their hands and getting lost in worship is priceless.
Go ahead…be the first to make conversation in the elevator. There’s something twisted in enjoying watching those poor people squirm. Tee hee.
We’re never too old to learn. We just let ourselves think we are.
Dancing with your kids is so worth the sore muscles the next day.
There is freedom in surrender.
Be extravagant in your loving, generous in your laughter and quick in your forgivness.
Expending yourself on others returns priceless dividends.
It’s so fun to be creative. No wonder God does it!
Take time to ask God to show you your giftings. He loves seeing you use them to bless others.
The reward in diligently seeking God is finding Him!
Take the time to invest in what makes your kids “tick.”
Dog’s saliva may be the “cleanest” but it is still nasty, especially when you see where they’ve just finished licking.
Some people start the day running. I prefer to slowly embrace it. J
It’s so much more fun to be an “off the beaten path” kinda gal.
Getting lost just means finding new ways to get there.
Who needs instructions when you got pictures?!?
Taking something apart only to have to put it back together again means you get to be creative with what to do with all the leftover extra pieces. J
Actors are the stars that take center stage but it’s those behind the scenes that really make them shine.
Why cry over spilled milk? It’s so much more fun to grab a straw and start slurping!
The only good spider is a dead spider. (my apologies to all the spider lovers)
I’m quite certain God had kissing in mind when He created lips. I’m pretty sure He was smiling when he formed them. J
If arms are made for hugging, lips for kissing, feet for walking, teeth for chewing…what in the world is that hangy down thing in the back of our throat for?? I believe it’s called a uvula.
It is impossible to jump on a trampoline and not smile. Try it!
Never lose the the joy of learning.
It’s amazing how much fun there is playing nerf guns with your kids. (Am I a bad person that I enjoy ambushing them??)
Just for fun, don a great 80’s style hair-do and outfit and go to the mall. Watch people’s reactions to you. (Of course it’ll probably be the “new” style in a few years).
80’s music contains great wisdom..Girls do just wanna have fun and Love is indeed a battlefield!
It’s kinda fun to embrace Meg’s sense of style. Perhaps plaids do go with stripes.
This may very well be a “small world” but there is still so much more I wanna see.
Every new friend has the potential of one day becoming a steady, ‘ol friend.
Everyone needs an Aunt Marcia in their life! Xoxo
Boredom should be embraced as an opportunity to create fun. (or get those things done around the house that you’ve been putting off for a long time).
“Today is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.” --Lucy Montgomery.

2010-03-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wow…. Been trying for the last 7 min for my homepage to load. Nothing. I shut it down, checked connections. It’s “working” it says. But alas, nothing. Going on 9 min…still loading. Some times the internet speed is fine. Most of the time however, NOT! It’s so frustrating. I’m working on staying positive about it. I take it very seriously when the Lord encourages us to, “do everything without arguing or complaining…” Nothing good can come out of those. Our internet and electricity issues really challenge me tho. Grrrr! Now it says I’m not connected to the internet. Ugh! It timed out. That’s when I decided to quit trying, open up a “Word” document and work on another blog entry to upload later.
It’s so silly how things like this really get to me. Or, I should say, I let them get to me. I specifically woke up early (6:30) to ensure enough cyber space. Then, when it doesn’t work it frustrates me. Makes me think of Peter Pan when Tink tells him to think of “happy thots.” Or, in the words of the Hymnist: “Count Your Blessings…” Here goes:
1. The beautiful pinkish sunrise…perhaps rain today?
2. The happy children who greet me everyday as I drive down my lane…happy despite their difficult lives.
3. I am healthy and my family is healthy.
4. I get to have my children around me everyday instead of sending them off to boarding school and only seeing them once every 3 weeks.
5. There is adventure around every corner yet to be explored by us..even just outside our gate!
6. The crops are growing as we’ve had good rain. This promises food for our hungry neighbors.
7. I can teach the Bible to my kids everyday ,pray freely as well as teach Science from a Creation standpoint and history from a Sovereign point of view and I don’t get in trouble at all for it! Home school has its blessings!
8. I’m surrounded by amazingly, Godly people who walk in Truth, love, mercy, and grace.
9. The friends God has given me are truly “iron sharpening iron” kinda friends.
10. My kids have access to music lesson and art lessons from really skilled people.
11. Our new students are truly amazing and excited to learn. God has opened up their hearts and minds to learn all the new things and grasp them fairly quickly.
12. We get to hear amazing stories every day of God’s intervention into the lives of His children. Stories like Mama Eliza, our new student. She didn’t know how to read but really wanted to read the Bible desperately. She prayed and asked her merciful Father in heaven to help her. He miraculously gave her the ability to read…all at once. Now, she is so happy to read and eager to share her testimony of God’s greatness with others.
13. We live in such a beautiful place…right in the midst of God’s gorgeous creation...flowers and trees galore, donkeys, mountains, streams, villages of people, etc. Truly peaceful.
14. We have a well deep enough to supply water to the surrounding areas to bless the community.
15. Down the road is a lovely, Tanzanian Catholic Sister who has become a dear friend. I marvel at her loving, servant heart. She inspires me.
16. I have a wonderful church to be a part of…here in the middle of Africa.
17. I feel at peace when I can sit on my patio or balcony and look out at all the beauty, listen to the birds sing, watch the trees sway in the breeze, hear the children’s laughter coming from our neighbors next door…
18. We are afforded simplicity here. It’s good to get back to the basics of simple life.
19. Cows milk..we milk our own cows. I boil it every day to kill any bacteria and my family can enjoy good, wholesome, organic milk.
20. Watching Meg play with the children of our students. It doesn’t matter if they can’t always understand each other. “Play” is a language of it’s own.
21. It blesses me to watch Meg “prepare” her “ABC and English” lessons to take over to teach the kids.
22. Whenever I can’t find one of my kids I’m thankful they have an 8 acre compound where they are playing somewhere. Meg is most always found around the Tanzanian students, overlooking as they play checkers or something. ☺
23. My kids enjoy going down to the student dining hall to share in “chai” or “tea time” with them.
24. There’s actually a group called “Young Life” here for Savannah to be involved in.
25. We’re blessed with God’s protection in many ways. One way is on the roads. With all the potholes, broken edges, big bossy trucks, buses, carts, people, animals, bikes, etc….He has protected us and we’ve always arrived safely.
26. After 14 flat tires God provided funds to purchase two new tires! Yay!
27. The reality that my God is Emmanuel…He is WITH me..all the time, in every situation. Such comfort and confidence in that!
28. Laughter…guffawing kinda laughter…the kind that makes your side hurt but your heart warm.
29. Raising my hands and singing to the top of my lungs in worship, not worrying about what others think of me. It’s just me and my Lord!
30. Finding a yummy cereal under $9 that is fresh and doesn’t taste like soap or the box it came in. ☺ Rare find!
31. Getting packages from home.
32. Being able to tithe and praying it thru as a family how we want to be a part of blessing others.
33. Watching my children grow in their giftings and in their love for our Lord.
34. Board games as a family.
35. Snack night…every Sunday night.
36. Quiet weekends..rarety.
37. Busy weekends…my kids having their friends over and vice versa. Watching them play together.
38. I love having such diverse friends, Tanzanian, South African, Korean, Australian, New Zealanders, Canadians, British, Sri Lankan, Indian, Singaporean, Philipino, Americans, etc..
39. The beauty of God’s body…His believers!
40. Electricity. It goes off nearly every day. I love the joy of when it suddenly flips back on. Everyone is so excited. ☺
41. Colors…I love color!
42. Music..all kinds..well, except rap and hip-hop! ☺
43. Snuggling my kids.
44. When they snuggle back, no matter how old they get.
45. Long walks with my ipod…listening to sermons, worship music, etc.
46. Turning the music up real load and dancing with my kids.
47. The smell of coffee brewing..then sharing that cuppa with family/friends.
48. Fun, pretty coffee cups that make enjoying a cuppa so much more fun.
49. Red…the color red just makes me feel so warm and invites fun.
50. First morning greetings from my kids as they come down the stairs.
51. Seeing Wes develop into such a sweet, young man…playing with sling shots, whittling with his cool pocket knife, digging out in the field, etc.
52. Watching my girls grow in purity, innocence, and inner beauty as well as outer beauty.
53. Owl City, Jimmy Needham, Kari jobe, Never Shout Never, Colbie Calliat, Starfield….so many more!

Okay…I could go on and on but I must finish for now to get the day started. Wow.. my disposition has truly changed! It really does help to count your blessings. I have so many and many more that I haven’t even counted yet. What fun!!!! I encourage everyone to do it. ☺

2010-03-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

March 16, 2010

A seasoned preacher was recently asked to preach at a neighboring church. He quickly declined saying he, “Didn’t have a “word” for that church.” Thinking on that I felt a bit indignant. He does have a “word.” We all do. In fact, we have 66 books filled with “words” for that church. We’re told to be ready “in season and out of season.” To me that means having a steady diet of God’s Word, daily. Getting away from the demands of the day and the schedules that weigh us down to “withdraw to lonely places to pray” like Jesus Himself often did. I want to ready my heart, to always be able to give an account of the Hope that dwells within me. His Word is alive! His word truly is sharper than any two-edged sword. With one edge it takes out the enemy and his legions in one blow. The other edge He carefully uses as a scalpel, cutting away the deadly areas of my heart. He is a good and gracious God!

I’ve recently received some amazing revelation in reference to the Word of God. In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word WAS God.” (emphasis mine). That really hit me. I’ve always known this verse, even memorized it as a child. It wasn’t until recently that it finally took shape and form for me. The Word WAS God. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, like we believe Him to be, then this is not a past tense claim. The “Word was God” is then, “The Word IS God!” That means anytime we include the Word of God in our discussions, in our sermons and lessons, in our writings or work, we are breathing the breath of God into them. Think about that… When we include God’s Word in our lives or speak it over and into whatever it is that we’re praying about, we’re not just including a “thing.” We are releasing the Living God, the breath of God. The breath that creates and brings all things to life, that restores and makes all things new. When we release the Living God into the spiritual atmosphere of whatever it is that we’re praying about, the Devil has to flee! He can not stand in the presence of the Living God. Darkness hates Light.Wow!

This revelation has brought such deeper impact and understanding to my prayer life. How much more powerful it is for me to pray the Word of God over my family, work, friends, ministry,etc. My words may sound nice and may even be sincere. But, His word tears down demonic strongholds, sets the captives free, brings healing, transfers people from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, increases faith, and restores our hope. His Words are “Yes and Amen!”

Praying the Word of God has been a wonderful road of rediscovering the power and majesty of God. He has increased my faith and grown me in confidence..not in myself but in who He is. When I put my hope in my Eternal Savior and trust in Him.. the “One who guides us into all truth..” I am NEVER disappointed. The Word..His Word truly becomes alive! He IS the Living God. His Word is powerful and life changing. Just as my prayer life has been transformed, my life has been transformed. Now my challenge is, etching out time to read and become well acquainted with my Sword. It is a matter of priorities, isn’t it? If I want to impact my family, my ministry, the world around me, I must first make time for the Lord to impact me. I can not offer what I do not possess. It’s “Out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.” I must become before I can do. This therefore requires disciplined and intentional carving out of time to spend with the Shepherd of my soul, allowing Him to speak His living Word into me. I know when that happens, I am filled. When we “hunger and thirst after righteousness we are filled.” How true! So, I come hungry and leave filled. Sounds good to me! I think I’ll go feast right now!

You Know You've Lived in Tanzania Too Long When...

2009-02-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

1. You find yourself thinking, "Hmmm.... I could really go for some ugali right now!"

(Ugali is the main staple food of Tanzania. It's a starchy, thick, sticky, non-tasting cream of wheat-like substance)

2. Not only are you not even irritated by the power outages but you begin to see them as opportunities for romantic ambience. :-)

3. A quick trip to the "mall" involves paying a man to guard your car as you ramble thru piles and piles of discarded used clothing at the local market.

4. A "good shopping day" is finding an Old Navy skirt at the used clothing market for $1.

5. You look at yourself and realize you could be the poster child advertisement for the used clothing market. Everything you have is REALLY used!!

6. Every thing that used to irritate you about living here is now down played to a simple roll of the eyes and an overused expression, "TIA." (This Is Africa)

7. You have mixed emotions about people leaving. You're sad they are going but the truth is... you REALLY want their "stuff!"

8. A simple drive to down becomes an ongoing drivers simulation exercise: donkeys, goats, chickens and/or cows crossing at any time. Men pushing carts over stacked with goods. Pedestrians, people on bikes, insane drivers...(besides me)

9. A fun game is reading the back of dala dalas to tell if you've seen that one before or to see if he's the one you wanted to shoot the other day for cutting you off in traffic. (Dala Dalas are local transit here. They often have odd/silly comments painted on the back window like, "God made me do it" or "Gangsta Luva..."

10. You find yourself loving Africafe so much that you plan to take a several month supply home with you on furlough. (Africafe is the locally made instant coffee)

11. You have to shop online for Christmas/birthday gifts for family members as you have already given them all the African "stuff" you can think of.

12. Multi-tasking means you find something else to do while on the internet to keep you busy as you wait and wait and wait for your page to upload. When your page ultimately times out you find you have your other work finished.

13. You find yourself thinking..."I'll miss my neighbors donkey breighing in the morning while I'm gone on furlough.

14. You don't even think twice about boiling your milk, filtering your water or turning on the switch to heat up shower water. It's just what you do on a daily basis here.

15. A good day is getting your clothes dried on the line before a big rain sweeps thru, food is actually on the shelves at the local store, no dala dala drivers cut you off by whipping in front of you, the ATM actually has money in it.. and it's working.

16. The ever increasing pot holes just provide more inventive fun, "Let's use the potholes and play connect the dots...." (The roads are so bad right now there are places where you literally choose which ones to hit b/c there's so many you can't avoid them)

17. You still don't know why the cars coming at you are flashing their lights or incessantly honking..but... you just don't care anymore!

18. You are so used to getting your eggs straight from the chicken that you forget about that fun, styrofoamy packaging that made storing them so clean and easy.

19. You mean everyone doesn't bleach their veggies and fruits, and wash and re-use baggies and foil?

20. Recycling means the wrapping is just as precious as the gift.

This is MY Story

2009-01-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

With the start of the new year the question always comes up, "Do you have a New Year's resolution?" Ashamedly I admit that I'm never good at making them. I regret that the free spirit inside of me likes to fly by the seat of my pants too often to be tethered down by promises I most likely won't keep. Having said that I will say that I have adopted a new mantra. Resolutions are too binding but mantras I find to be inspiring; much more liberating. :-) I recently read something penned by the late Saint Irenaeus, "The glory of God is man, fully alive." I love that! That is my charge for this new year and for many years to come. I want to truly understand and walk in what it means to live that abundant life God promises me. Abundance is not limited to mere prosperity. No, I believe it goes far beyond that. The Apostle Paul understood that when he penned these words while in a dank, stark prison: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation...I can do all things thru Him who is my strength.." (Phil 4:12-13)

Wow! What a declaration of the heart. It springs from a place of deep abiding, that no matter the difficulty, his heart will yet boast in Christ His Savior. That reminds me of King David when he penned the words, "I will keep the Lord ever before me. Because He is at my right side I will not be shaken." What a great cloud of witnesses we have that surround us and spur us on to the same deep level of faith, commitment, fortitude and love for our great God.

It truly is a great blessing to be called His child. My prayer is for God to help me wrap my mind around that truth. The impact I would have on life and those around me would be astounding if I were to walk and minister in the powerful reality that I am Christ's beloved and He is mine! That is living life to the fullest! That is indeed the promise God has for me and there in lies the "abundance" He has for me. It's not just in material things but moreover it is the assurance that when I seek Him He WILL be found. My God is not far but near...He is as close as my right hand...just as David said. With that comes the incredible truth that the Kingdom of God... all His power is also as close as my right hand. When I am walking in a place of completely abiding in HIm... His desires become my desires. All that I am shifts into perfect alignment with His purposes for me. That's when I know the Kingdom reality is at hand. That is life abundant! I am His and He is mine!

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit. Washed in His blood. This is my story! This is my song! Praising my Jesus all the day long. This is my story. This is my song praising my Savior...all the day long!" That is being fully alive! Precious Lord, let it be in me!

Nit Pickin' and Saturday Lovin'

2008-11-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

It's true that laughter is the best medicine. Having said that, one of our favorite "get a good laugh" songs on Savannah's ipod is a country song by Brad Paisley, maybe? Anyway it's called, "I wanna check you for ticks." OMG...LOL for sure! What's crazy is to think that someone actually wrote that...seriously?!? At any rate it cracks us up! It took on a whole new meaning this week when we discovered my girls had lice. UGH! What an ordeal. If only we had a Walmart to run to and quickly find a removal kit! If only!!! It took me all morning long to find something. Four shops and two parking fees later I finally found some lice killing lotion. I had to find a whole in the wall shop referred to me by a "friend of a fiend" kinda thing to find the "fine tooth combs" to use. It was the kinda shop where you look thru a literal "whole in the wall" and point to what you want hanging on the walls as display. The vendor then disappears behind the curtain door and returns minutes later with your items to purchase. So, even tho it took 3 hours to find what I was looking for, we finally returned home with the "goods." Bless them...my girls are troopers. I lathered them in the "6-8 hour leave on lotion." Not wanting to take any chances I wrapped plastic bags on their heads. I figured whatever the lotion couldn't kill a lack of oxygen would! In 80+ degree weather...that was miserable but they were such fun about it all. That is, until we had to do the come thru to get out all the eggs. UGH! What a job! Praise the Lord tho..I believe we have conquered! We combed and combed for the past several days, changing bed linens every day and praying for God to give us victory over this pestilence. I'm not sure I can listen to the "Tick" song for a while. It hits too close to home. :-)
The house is coming along...YAY! What a week it has been. Each day is a victory and we have to choose the positive. The workers leave one day and then don't show up until they feel like it. That's frustrating enough but they don't even call to say they are not coming. My kitchen cupboards are still not finished. It's been months. There is only one more step left in the process but they don't seem to be in a hurry to finish it. The positive thing is...what IS in really looks great. Our friend and local builder, Brandt, hooked up lights and they work. It was so exciting to see the house lit up. YAY! One step closer to moving in. Except for the floors...an ongoing challenge...we have really only the toilets and sinks to hook up. We put on doors and managed to paint the floors upstairs. Even after the leftovers from the previous flub ups of bad varnish on the stained concrete, they surprisingly look pretty good. We'll varnish over the paint to protect it from chipping. I truly have no idea how this will work out in the end but we'll see. It's the cheapest alternative. The problem is, we don't know anyone who has ever done it and the local paint vendors don't seem to think it will work. At this point and with our budget...it's our only option. So, we paint and trust. :-) The downstairs is a whole different story.
For the past two months we have been desperately scraping up the bad varnish in an attempt to recover the really cool concrete stain we used. Unfortunately, I think it's past recovering. We have a friend who sells parque (sp)? wood tiles. He's giving us a good deal. It's not in the budget right now but we are trusting in faith it will be there. It would be nice to have wooden floors as opposed to hard, cold concrete. So, for the main living/dining room areas we will do that. The other areas will be painted concrete. That's exciting! Lord willing, in a few weeks we move in! Yippee! Christmas in our new home! That's a gift in itself!
On the ministry side of things, God continues to amaze us with all that He is doing thru our church planters. They have such a burden to reach their own people and God is blessing that! We recently found out that 4 of the 5 families planning to come to the training in January had to back out. Apparently it's planting season at the first of the year and they simply can't miss out on that. That could be a bit discouraging but Todd and I truly believe God has something else in store. We're trusting it's b/c He has other people in mind that He is going to bring us. The training is due to start the first of the year. Please stand with us in trust that God is going to bring us just the right families to be trained. In the meantime we work with our field coordinator, Robert Mollel, putting together enrichment lessons for our current church planters. He also is part of the team that does research and survey trips into the unreached tribes and helps in the selection of future trainers. God has a great vision and destiny for the people of Tanzania. We are thrilled to be called to be a part of His mission to reach the lost here.
Well, it's a gorgeous Saturday morning. So easy to embrace the day when it's this sunny and inviting. Tanzanian mornings are so peaceful. I wake up early to the sound of a donkey in the distance. Sunshine and coffee await me as I boot up the computer to catch up on emails and blogging. Soon one or all of the kids will be waking up..overjoyed that it's not a school day! I'm always really popular on Saturdays around here when I'm just plain 'ol mom and not "teacher" mom. :-) I just love saturdays.
Oh...here comes two of the kids...I'm just so loved on.... no school!! :-) Time to begin our Saturday. Yippee!!!

Onward Christian Soldiers!!!

2008-11-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ha...Boy, you know it's been a long time since you blogged when you can't remember how to navigate back to find your blog site. Yikes! Nonetheless, it's good to be "back" and blogging again. This is still a new thing for me as I'm used to writing specific people and having their faces in mind. Writing to "cyber space" is a bit...well...impersonal for me. I just have to keep all "your" lovely faces in mind when I write this and that helps me not be so "businessy" and more personal. :-)
It's been a crazy two weeks or so since I last wrote. Actually, crazy is too benign. Truly..it's been demonic. We have been attacked on nearly every front. I can say that now...on the other end looking back. During it all however was a different story. The oppression was so great it was hard to see or discern clearly. Praise be to our God and Father, who has leads us in triumph for we have come out of it victoriously but not without battle wounds. The wounds serve as reminders..."Ebeneezers" of how God has helped us overcome those oppressive times.
One of the challenges we've been dealing with is in regards to the staff here. We have several people from the community employed here at the mission center. It's two fold really. We need workers but also want to give back to the community by employing their people. This has proven to be a good thing but not without its backlash at times. If we have to fire one for whatever reason it makes us vulnerable to that person's slander of us in the community. This has happened on more than one occasion. We rest in the knowledge that God is indeed our Defender and He will vindicate us in His time. However, in a culture where relationships are held at the highest level...whew...it takes time to develop trust among the people if we are being slandered. The pinnacle for me was when one of our disgruntled employees here poisoned our manager for reporting him. The employee was reprimanded for his negligence by our manager. So, to get him back, the employee offered him poisoned meat. I know that sounds so strange and beyond our western realm of thinking. Unfortunately it is a grim reality here. These two men are of the same tribe here so it never occurred to our manager that the employee would do such a thing. He gratefully received the meat and ate it. He did notice it being a strange color but again, never thot for one minute that this guy would do such a thing to him. Almost instantly our manager got sick. He took some local medicine to induce vomiting and we believe that's what helped him from it not being fatal. However, that was almost a month ago and our manager is still quite sick. There is nothing we can do now for him but pray and take medicine to help rebuild the lining in his stomach. Please be in prayer for him. This has not only affected his physical health but he lives in fear now of this employee .
This brings me to the next thing....that employee is still her. Because of labor laws and the fact that you can't "prove" a poisoning like that....he's still here. We can't officially firing him without him running to the labor dept and taking us to court. That has happened before by a disgruntled employee and nearly took us "to the cleaners." Interestingly, this present employee and that past one are connected. We recently found this out. So, we are treading this one lightly. His job will be terminated, we just need to go about it carefully and in a way that won't bring harm to any more employees here. Now they all live in fear of this man. Fear is Satan's number one tactic here. Many people are superstitious and live in great fear of curses and hexes. Let me say tho to all my western thinking friends...curses and hexes are real and damaging. The Truth tho is...Jesus Christ became the curse for us...and those whom the Son has set free are free indeed! We walk in the protection of the finished work of the cross of Christ! We are not bound by fear for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of POWER, and LOVE and SELF DISCIPLINE! Blessed be our Rock for there is NO god like our GOD!!! And this is the message we came to share with these people. This is why the enemy does not like us here and why he works over time to slander us and to thwart the advancement of the saving knowledge of Christ. But...Greater is HE that is in us than he that is in the world. The gates of hell WILL NOT prevail against God's church!!!
Please be in prayer for us for our protection but also for God to equip us with all spiritual wisdom and discernment to know and recognize the enemy's tactics and fight back.
At our most recent prayer meeting as a team I felt the Holy Spirit say to my heart.."I have sounded the battle cry. This is a time to not only protect your borders but it is a time to fight. Take up your Sword and go to battle. If the Kingdom of God is to advance in this area you have to fight for it..." God has already spoken to us as a team that "It is time to cross over and possess the land.." As we were praying on Monday the Lord helped me to see that great faith is required in possessing the land. If you remember in the story of the Israelites when they were to cross over and possess Canaan, the promise land, they had to first cross over the River Jordan at harvest time. As I understand it, this meant crossing a mile-wide stretch raging at flood level. The priests were to first put their feet into the river before the Lord would part the waters and lead them safely onto dry ground. That required immense faith. God has given us that same faith...water parting faith and we walk in it. I believe He has helped us as well to "cross over" to the other side. However, once the Israelites reached the other side their job wasn't finished. They had to go to battle against the enemies of God to obtain the land. That is where we are now as CMF here. We are in a land that God wants to redeem for Himself. We are surrounded by the enemy. God is telling us, "I will go before you to possess this land and claim these people for my own but, you must go in fighting...not with weapons as the world fights. No, the weapons I give you are divine and have the power to tear down EVERY demonic stronghold that sets itself up against the Truth...and that Truth will set them free!" Paul says "we are not of the kind that shrink back.." So, we walk in that calling...no...we RUN i that calling, wielding high the Sword of the Spirit...taking out the enemy and his legions and calling back those people whom God is pursuing to redeem as His own. Please, again, be in prayer for us. It's exciting to be enlisted into God's great redemptive battle for the lost souls of Tanzania!
On the homefront...the house is near completion, praise the Lord!!! Living the past 5 months in someone else's house is starting to show on all of us. We have been so blessed to use our teammate's house while they furlough...Thank you Scott and Annelle!! However, the lack of routine, not being able to find our stuff in the storage containers, and an eagerness to be in our own house is all adding up to a very excited Carter family! Lord willing, we hope to be in our house by the end of this month. No joke...talk about battles...it has been a battle at every stage. I pray we never have to build again. :-) We have had to fight against corruption and dishonesty on nearly every thing that is in that house. It's exhausting at times. I joked about how I wish we could have just run to a "Lowes" or "Home Depot" but man! There is a lot of truth in that! Living in a 3rd world country has been a challenge. Building here....yikes! God has been soooooooo gracious tho.
Prices on things continue to climb and our funds for the house have continued to dwindle. What's really wonderful tho is I just asked God for a Zarephath supply. Meaning, like the widow of Zarephath, every time she dipped into her jar of oil it was there...always enough till the drought ended. Everytime we need to dip into our funds to purchase something for building, I just pray and trust God it will be there. YOu know what's really cool?? So far, it's been there..even when truthfully...according to logic..it shouldn't be! Isn't it wonderful that our God isn't confined to the rules of logic! We still have some major things to finish..the floors being one of them. But, we are trusting in the Zarephath supply from God!
On the "workfront" we are gearing up for the next round of training to begin Jan 6th. Yeah! God is bringing us 6 committed families from unreached villages who are eager to plant CMF churches among their own people. It's so amazing. We are working to expand our training to include more hands on things that will not only equip them spiritually but help them with a sustainable lifestyle as well. One is a chicken project. We are going to have a working model of raising chickens on campus here that the students will care for while here. This will not only help us with food costs for the students but they will learn how to care for chickens..hands on..while here. Our hope then is to equip each one of the families with a "starter kit" of a couple chickens that they will take back with them after graduation. Another idea is "Farming God's Way." We hope to show our students a new, practical way of farming in drought inclined areas that will yield a more thriving, productive harvest. Again, they will learn by doing while at our training. Like the chickens, we hope to offer them a "starter kit" of seeds to accompany the knowledge they will receive.
So, big things are happening here and we thank God for it! We are tired with all the happenings but at the same time we're energized by God's vision for us all! We'd love to hear from you all. Since I left my "personal" weekly emails and gone to this format I don't hear from you all as much. We'd love to hear from you tho! We furlough in spring of '09...end of April! We would love to know how we can visit you all and be a blessing to you. Plug us in!!! God is doing amazing things here and we'd love the opportunity to visit with you all personally and share with you face to face!! So, drop us line at tzcarters@gmail.com and fill us in on your lives.
Blessings abundant!
Tami

Pressing Through

2008-10-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here we are... Saturday again. I'm not even sure where to start writing this week. My thots are all rambled. It's been a long week. I'm trying to press thru the frustrations and not be overwhelmed by them. The challenges of living here can sometimes be so hard. When they come at you all at once...ugh!

I feel the Holy Spirit reminding me to cling to Him. In Him there is fullness of joy. He's my Stronghold of protection against feelings of defeat. When I run into Him I find my peace. He is my Prince of Peace and He covers me with His peace...that peace that surpasses all understanding. It's in that place of abiding peace where He guards my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. He guards me against thots of despair, hopelessness, thots about giving up, etc. He arms me with His joy and His Truth.. the Truth that sets me free to dream big for Him and for His plan to reach the people of Tanzania. The task is a big one. Reaching the 36 unreached people groups of Tanzania requires big dreams and big faith to get it done. The confidence we have is not in our own abilities or our own dreams to get it done. Rather, our confidnece is in the Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth..the One who fashioned and formed these people in His own image. His love for them is long, wide, deep and high! He is in passionate pursuit for His lost children and is looking for people who will share His heart for them. This is no small task. It requires everything we got. Moreover...it requires surrender... a surrender of self, desires, personal thots and ambitions. We must decrease and He must increase! We must trust in our Big God to implant His big dream in us and then increase our faith to get it done!!

Does it sound like I'm "preaching" to myself? I am! I know God's Truth and stand on it. He says we do not fight with weapons of the world but on the contrary, the weapons we fight with have the Divine power to tear down every demonic stronghold. I believe that and declare that over my life. A stronghold is a belief that sets itself up more powerful or prevailing than the Truth of God. So, the battle is for my mind... which affects my heart. This is why we are encouraged so often to guard our heart. Out of it flows the wellspring of life.. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks... Well... my heart is weary. The challenges of the past months have played havic on my heart and mind. It's even affecting my health. I've fought a terrible headache for 3 days. I know God's peace is there for me. He offers it. I must just receive it. Anyone reading this...please just pray for me to receive what He's offering me. It's there for the taking. I truly believe I must choose to take it up. Stand on God's Truth to set me free from these strongholds of my mind. He is a good God...so faithful! HIs love endures forever...from Everlasting to Everlasting He is God! He has a great destiny for each of us as well as for my Tanzanian brothers and sisters.

Pray with us that God will increase our faith in Him to persevere thru the challenges and trust Him to dream bigger for Him. These big dreams are going require big faith. All this is in preparation for what God wants to do here. Nothing is wasted in HIm! We ask that you continue to pray for our protection..physically as well as our emotional and spiritual protection. "We are hard pressed but not crushed... we press on in the Name of our Conqueror.. Jesus Christ and we raise high HIs banner...the power of the finish work of the cross! Lead on O King Eternal!

New Addition to the Carters

2008-10-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

There is a new, brght eyed baby around the Carter's place. No...new surprises for our own family exactly....

Our brown cow named Zawadi (means gift) has given birth to a new baby "girl." She was born on Monday, our day that we as a CMF team meets to pray. So, the workers appropriately named our new blessing, "Maombi," which means, "prayer." The kids have really enoyed this experience.

We continue with the building process. This has been a week of major roadblocks. Wow.... I just keep reminding myself to choose joy. It's been a Murphy's Law kinda week. The welder who made our stair railing out of wrought wire kept insisting he was done and asking us to come get it. We had to get that along with the screen doors he made for us. Of course, when I say screen door I mean just his part of it. He did the metal work. We have to paint them and put the screens in ourselves. :-) We got it all home... literally transporting it on the top of our car to the sounds of screeching metal with every bump we hit. The doors fit fine but he got the handles all put on backwards. Oh dear. Easy to fix but just a little time consuming.

The stair railing however....completely wrong. We called the welder to come out and see just how off it was. He stood there and tried to talk us out of fixing it and leaving it the way it was. Long end of the short of it, we won in the end and he's going to come out on Monday to fix it properly. He got the angle completely off leaving a huge gap between the bottom of the rail and the steps. It was big enough for Wes to squeeze thru. Then, it didn't meet the wall at the top leaving a 12 in gap... at the very top of the steps....just asking for trouble!

Our windows are detained yet again. I have to just trust God in all of this. Our money is running out and we still don't have windows in or our kitchen cupboards. We can't progress forward without the windows as the dust is so bad. This whole thing just proves to be an exercise in faith...trusting God for the increase! We hope to have windows in this next week. The hold up was at the company. They had to order the metal to make the windows first. By Tues they should start putting them in.

If I had to best describe our road right now....hmmmmm.....a mine field comes to mind! :-) It is so bad!!! The dirt road from our center out to the tar mac is bad enough. The dust is nearly 1 foot deep with huge holes that swallow your car! We need rain but more than that we need to somehow think about a long term answer to fixing it. If you can imagine, the tar mac road is even worse. Apparently a Chinese company has agreed to fund and repair the main road. I'm not sure what the hold up is but with each day they detain the process the potholes increase in number and intensity. No joke...I don't know if they are waiting for it naturally deteriorate so that all they have to do is simply connect the potholes to chop it out or..... well, I don't know. I just know it's crazy! People are driving all over and off the roads to avoid the HUGE potholes. I truly praise God for HIs amazing protection. It's truly by His grace that no one has been hurt.

We as a team are gearing up for our annual vision/planning meetings. I'm excited with the new vision God has given us to share with the team. God has so many great things for the people of Tanzania. He just needs people willing to dream big for Him. One day while I was walking around the compound praying I felt Him say to my spirit, " Tami, I am so much bigger than you think I am. Dream bigger. Know that I am bigger. I have big things in store for these people but it is going to require bigger vision and bigger faith...." How exciting! Bigger faith brings bigger blessings!!!

Please pray for us as we meet the next week. Ask God to fill us with all spiritual wisdom and discernment to hear His heart for the people. I want to be certain that the dreams we have for these lost people are God's dreams that He shares with us...not our own ideas that fall short. "Many are the plans in a man's heart but it is God's will that prevails.."

With that challenge from God, big things are happening with expanding our training to include hands on agricultural training called, "Farming God's Way." We are also including a chicken project which allow students to learn how to raise chickens to not only provide for their family but perhaps offer a sustainable income. It's exciting to dream big for God!!! We praying and trusting God to raise up people to get on board....to dream big with us!! What a great adventure we're on! Never boring...that's for sure!

2008-09-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

We need rain!! Man! Coming home late last night I marveled at the amount of dust that has settled on all the plants and trees. Memories of cold winters back in Ohio flashed thru my memory. You know... the memories of trees heavy laidened with snow. Leaves dripping with beautiful twinkling snowflakes...a kind of "Currier and Ives," warm fuzzy kinda memory. That all flashed back at me. Unfortunately the memory was quickly invaded by the taste and smell of dirt blowing thru the a/c and it become quite evident that not only was it not the lovely Ohio winter memories that I was basking in but it was two months of accumulated dust and cow manure! :-) The dry season is heavy upon us. No kidding..the dust is sooooo heavy that in the glow of the headlights it could have almost passed for snow. We need rain! Thankfully we have a well on our compound so we water regularly enough to keep the dust down inside our walls. But, the moment you venture out...it's like something out of movie...clouds of dust. We have to be sure to drive slowly as often times cattle or children can appear out of the cloud of dust. There is one place where like snow...the dust is about 6 inches deep. We have to use our windshield wipers to actually swipe the dust off to see. The rains aren't far away but we sure could use some now.

Things are coming along with the house. Now that we are pretty much to the design phase we can see daily progress. Paint has gone up on the walls and that is so exciting. We've had to make some minor changes along the way to make up for some errors made in the bldg process. For example, the pipe leading to the toilet in the 1/2 bath was put in 4 in away from the wall. That means there is pretty good sized gap between the wall and the toilet tank. We discussed several options and opted for the cheapest. We're going to brick the wall behind the toilet for the purpose of "bridging the gap" but also adding some design texture. The welder making my railing was having some difficulty with the design so we had to change styles, etc. We should be getting our windows put in this week. We had to wait for them to get the aluminum in and get them made. We should also be getting our kitchen cupboards put in. Those cost more than I had hoped. It's really stretching our budget but I must trust that the Lord knows all that. It just gets a bit daunting when you know all that has to be done with the amount that is present in the bank. Our gracious Father knows and is always there to provide for His children's needs. Blessed be His Name!

We have a welder working on door handles, screen doors, light fixtures, stair railing. We have a carpenter working on cabinets and some maasai lady friends beading me more lights. The first ones they made for over my coffee bar turned out so nice I employed them to make lights for the girls' room as well. Todd and I have been all over town several times looking for light fixtures. What I wouldn't give for a Lowe's! :-) We're finding some good things. Isn't God great that way? It literally takes us all day to hit all the "hole in the wall" mom and pop shops but it has paid off. We still haven't found all the light fixtures we need but we're at least finding some. The challenge is not only finding all the little shops on the side streets but it's finding safe places to park our car too. We've already had our side mirrors stollen, not to mention the toyota logos off the side of our car. Friends have had their tire lug nuts taken as well as spare tires, etc. With the economy being so difficult here the thievery has increased. People are starting to feel desperate and resigning to all kinds of evil to get what they want.

We thank God for His protection and watchful care over us. Thank you for your prayers indeed! Please remember the Tanzanians as you pray. Prices only keep rising as the TZ shilling keeps falling. Many of them are desperate to just feed their families let alone school their children (education is not free here) and take care of extended family. I understand things in America are nothing short of desperate either. As I was praying for the economic situation in America the other day the Lord reminded me of Psalm 75, "Tho the earth shakes and trembles, I am the ONE who holds the pillars firm." Isn't that the truth?! Even if it seems the world as we know and trust is falling apart, God IS in control! Nothing is beyond the reach of His mighty right hand! Nothing escapes His watchful eye. We can run into HIm and be saved for He truly is our Strong Tower! Our Precious, Gentle Shepherd keeps watch over His sheep and nothing goes in or out without His knowing or HIs consent. We CAN trust in Him even when the world would tell us not to. This is why we "live in the world but are not of it." He is the Sovereign Lord over ALL!

A mighty Fortress is our God! A Bullwark never failing! Our helper inthe midst of strife!!! And in that note I will sign off....leaning on the Everlasting Arms! Blessings abundant to you all!

Rocks, Bees, Dirt...It's All Good!

2008-09-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Wow... we're getting closer and closer to the fun part of building...the design part. Up until now it's been really hard for me to gauge the progress as it was really hard to tell. That is...for me at least. :-) Our friend Brandt, who is in charge of it all sees the progress. I'm amazed at builders. They have incredible patience. Brandt has been coming in every day for months doing all the behind the scenes, unappreciated things that most people don't even notice..that is until something's not functioning right. For example, he helped put in all the plumbing in the walls. Things are done so differently here as I'm sure you can imagine. Because the threat of termites...and I mean by the billions, houses are made of concrete block. The house structure is built and then channels are chiseled out of the concrete block to put in the plumbing pipes. After that, they are tested and if all goes well then they are plastered over. We've had to chisel pipes out a couple times now and replaster for one reason or another. The same process is done for putting in wiring for electricity. It's quite a painstaking process; one that has deepened my appreciation for builders and their patience level. :-)
All the prep work is finally done. We are now to the painting stage. We still haven't figured out a solution to our floor crisis. Not one that we can afford anyway. Tile is so expensive. It would be the easiest option but would cost us a few thousand dollars that we don't have. We'll keep thinking and praying about it while we do the painting.
I'm having doors made this week. Again...things are done differently here and there is no such thing as "quality assurance." As a result, I can't just order 9 standard doors. There is no such thing as "standard." I have to order 9 doors of various sizes depending on which carpenter made my door frame and what kind of mood he was in that day. All 9 doors are different sizes..off by a centimeter or two. Go figure! My wrought iron railing is being made as well as screen doors and the security grill for the top of our stairs. Because theft and crime are real fears here, we have to have burglar bars on all our windows as well as a security gate at the top of our stairs protecting us while we sleep. A local welder is making all that from some pictures and dimensions I gave him. He has made my light fixtures this way. He has done a great job. There is one store here in town that offers you already made...fantastic looking wrought iron fixtures. However, they also cost 4x what I'm paying. It takes twice as long to do what I'm doing but I'd rather bless these local tradesmen plus empower them with new ideas. That's what we're here to do...to bless the local people. Sometimes I get frustrated with all the discussions and corrections regarding the things I want made but in the end I know it's worth it. Tanzanians are amazingly resourceful and talented people. Having said that...what I wouldn't do for a Lowe's store tho! :-)
So far we've designed and ordered a railing for our porch, stairwell, burglar bars and security doors, door latches and handles, etc. I have carpenters making bathroom cabinets, kitchen cupboards and a bar stools. One simple bathroom sink cupboard at that fancy store..already made... would cost me over $1000. However, by going thru a local tradesman I'm getting the same thing for 1/3 that cost plus I'm blessing his business with money and new ideas. Again...it takes 2-3x as long but well worth it in the end.
One really exciting thing is our "rock wall" is up. I purchased some flat rock from down the road, hired a local mason and had rock put up on the wall to my kitchen to add some design and texture to the wall. That really excited me as that's design and I could see instant progress. Yeah...not to mention that it looks fantastic. I took pics and will put them on when Todd shows me how to do that! :-) I'm not savy that way...not yet!
That same mason helped me put brick on my bedroom wall. We had some brick just laying around here with no purpose. So, we cut them in 1/2 lengthwise to thin them out and have put them on the wall..again for decor and texture. It turned out fabulous. Got pictures of that too...
The main challenge this week was not so much local tradesmen issues or finances, or even the lack of quality control. No.....the main challenge this week was bees. Not just any bees either....real Killer Bees! These bees have been known to kill a dog and almost take out one of our cows. I had at one point thot about keeping the bees to harvest their honey but they were just getting out of control. We had 3 hives in the house we're in right now as well as 4 more in our house we're building. The only way to get them out was to kill them. Sorry to any bee defenders that might be reading this but we had no choice. Not here anyway. Poor Brandt couldn't even put in my upstairs tub without being bothered by them. I'm glad to say that they are mostly gone and all is well.I say mostly b/c the very next day I found some of them back. don't know why..will talk to the specialist tomorrow.
One more exciting progress at the house is grass! Right now is dry season and the dirt/dust is well...out of control. I mean it is bad! Everywhere you go you see what we call, "dust devils." Those are like tornados of dust. It's amazing... and dirty! There is no such thing as "rolling out" grass like carpets.No, two guys have literally worked their tails off for two weeks now digging up the old weeds, leveling off the ground and transplanting little spurts of grass. It looks like hair transplants. It's painstaking, I"m telling you! These guys have been so joyful and patient..working so hard. We are blessed to have them. They are just two local guys from the surrounding villages who are simply thankful to have work. We're truly thankful and blessed for their hard work.
Well.. that should do it for now. Brandt is still saying our date for moving in is November...even with the floor mess up. He's a little concerned as he has to make a missions trip to the Congo for 2 weeks in Oct. That will cut it close. We need to be making some decisions on what to do with the floor. We cherish any prayers and wisdom and ideas with that.
I'll leave this for now and wish everyone a blessed Lord's Day. May we, along with the Psalmist of old declare from our hearts," Better is one day in the courts of our Lord than 1000 anywhere else!" Amen.
Be blessed!

Back to the Drawing Board

2008-09-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well... it's back to the drawing board....again! Two weeks of hard work, not to mention the money involved and well....it's all for NOT. We worked so hard to keep the prices down on building our house. In doing so we had such a great idea. Actually, it still is a good idea. Because it's just way too expensive to use tile to hide the concrete floors, we tried to save money and just use the concrete but stain it. I researched the internet to learn how to do it. It involves quite a bit of chemicals that aren't available here. Upon further research I happened to find home made "recipes" using local chemicals we can find right here at the pharmacies and agriculture stores. Our goal was to go for a rustic, worn leather look with a rust tone to it. The final product was wonderful. We loved the old map kind of look to it. The problem came when we put the varnish down. The concrete looked dry to the eye and to the feel. However, to our horror, what upon finishing looked absolutely incredible and inspiring, turned out to be a disaster just two days later. There must have been trapped water down inside the concrete from the staining process. Tho we thot it was thoroughly dry it wasn't. The water rose to the top, being trapped by the varnish, caused white cloudish blotches and bubbles all over the place. The varnish literally pulled off like old nail polish. I couldn't believe it. Soooooooooo disappointing. Now we have to entirely re-think and do it over. So, our effort to save money has turned out to be a waste. I'm so bummed about that. Our only reasonable option is to sand down the varnish and paint the concrete. The cost of chopping up the concrete to lay new concrete or tile is just too much money. I go this week to look at paint color. I'm sure it will be fine I just have to shift my thots that way.

On the up-swing... the good news is we should be in by November. Our hope is to have Thanksgiving in our "own" house..our new house. We are very blessed to have our teammates house to use while they furlough. They come back in Jan so it's essential we finish before then. I don't think they want 5 roommates crowding them in. :-)

So, the weekend is here..... no worrying about building costs, materials, etc. Ahhhhh....just a little r and r. It feels so good. Now we're sitting as a family to watch a movie and just chill on this wonderful, restful Saturday. Don't wanna miss out on all the cuddling that awaits me. So, until next time.....

Ramblings of an early morning

2008-09-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Aaahhh... the peace of a quiet morning. I woke up at 4:30 this morning... wide awake. My mind immediately starting racing with all the decisions that needed to be made for the day. Wes begins his all day Science course he's taking this semester. That's exciting. We have a certified Science teacher who is offering a fantastic science and design tech course. It goes from 8-12 every thurs. This means I have to do some creative altering to his home school curriculum but it will be worth it. After that we rush to his violin lesson. Today will be the first one. So exciting. Arusha is really booming with opportunities. I don't feel like my kids lack for anything, truly! That is such a blessing. I do ache a bit for Savannah. There really isn't much for her in the way of extra curr activities. She does take flute lessons and that is a huge blessing and great outlet for her. But, in the way of sports or drama, etc...not much. There really aren't even that many friends her age. She has two good friends. One is on furlough right now and the other is in school at the international school here in town.

There are a lot of things being offered at the gym for the home school community. Yesterday Wes participated in a fantastic swimming program. He's not the greatest of swimmers but that's what this is for. It teaches technique and competitive swimming. I think it'll be really good for him. The best part is, it's free for members. Yeah! Soon they will be offering taekwondo and soccer. Meg will be thrilled. There is so much here for Wes and Meg's age but again, for Savannah... need to be praying more about that. Yesterday Savannah was even looking into RVA. That is a missionary boarding school in Nairobi. It's only 5 hours away but I never thot that as an option for our family. I always felt our kids should be at home with us. However, if she feels this would offer her more of a well rounded education with the blessing of friendships and activities...I told her I totally bless her in it and encouraged us all to look into it and be prayerfuly discerning if it is the best move. We won't consider it till her jr year so that is still 2 years away. That only makes sense since we furlough her sophmore year and we've already started her freshman year now. Sigh..... I hate the thot of it but must do what is best. I just NEVER want my children to feel like our work was ever more important than they are. We just need to pray about it and let the Lord guide us.

Todd comes home today. He and some college mates climbed Kili this past week. It'll be good to have him home. The Lord was so gracious to us while he was away these past 7 days. All went well with no major catastrophies. We had a few minor water pump leakage issues but again, nothing major. The challenge was just juggling home school, building a new house and all the decisions that need made as well as running this house we're temporarily living in. God was soooooooo gracious. The kids all slept in my room with me. So, aside from lack of good sleep :-) all really went well.

I've used the time while Todd was away to research some new approaches to our training. One is in the are of agriculture. So many of our rural church planters need to be self supporting. That's the nature of what we do. We train them to go back to their homes and disciple their own people. ONe of the ways they can provide for themselves is thru raising their own crops. This only makes sense to us. But, for the Maasai who are herdsmen and the Hadzabe who are hunters... this means an entire paradigm shift. Plus, many of them live in areas where there isn't much rain. But, if they are to live the abundant life they are called to, they must learn to embrace a "kingdom culture" mindset.

When a person comes to know Christ and is completely transformed by the "renewing of his mind.." he is set free to embrace all kinds of new and exciting things that the Spirit of God has for him. The Holy Spirit opens up the "eyes of his heart" and he is able to see for the first time God's amazing plan for his life. I believe one of these exciting things is to see God's provision in nature for him. Instead of worrying about how to get food, they rise up to embrace God's design for them...to have dominion over the earth. We are God's children... "THe earth is the Lord's...the fullness there of.. and the peopel who dwell in it." From creation we have been given charge over the things of earth. It all belongs to the Lord and I believe it is to be a blessing to us as His children. So, to cultivate reaps a great blessing to us.

I've recently learned of a fantastic course called, Farming God's Way. It is designed to bring about 3x the normal harvest as it simply reproduces the concepts taught in scripture concerning God, His creation and His example of how to care for His creation. I encourage any farmers out there to google it and share your thots with us. What I love about it is it not only teaches the pragmatics of farming but it also teaches God's Word and His promises along with each lesson. It ties in so well with our COmmunity Health Evangelism courses. Our hope is to train ourselves in this mode of farming to then train our students in it. Our intent is that while they are here training in church planting, they will take part in learning and implementing these farming skills hands on, eating of it's harvest while learning valuable skills to take back with them upon graduation. This will not only equip them with self sustaining principles but will also help to cut down on some of our food costs for the training. I'm also looking into raising chickens for the same purposes. Please pray for us. We need wisdom to know how to best equip and train these people. The challenge is they all come from such diverse backgrounds and tribes. We need all spiritual wisdom and discernment to recognize and address individual needs as well as needs as a whole.

Bummmer.... my alarm has gone off. Time to start my day... I'm off and running.

Till another time.....

It's been a while!

2008-09-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

After several emails from friends and family saying they aren't getting my email updates, I decided it was time to perhaps be an official blogger? Funny tho b/c back in Jan in my first blog I mentioned that I am now an official blogger. Ha! That's a hoot since I haven't been back much since. I will try much better now.
Back in May my computer crashed and unfortunately could not be restored. All my info, data, fun stuff, pics, etc was lost. That included all my mailing list. I was devistated. It happened 4 days before a ladies retreat that I was co-hosting. I had spent weeks putting together some multi-media productions and before I could burn them on to cd's...BAM! Out went the computer. I cried for several days...so upset that I didn't think to back up my system and so frustrated that nothing could be retrieved. I will say tho that we got the computer up and running again. The only unfortunate thing is that it has a mind of its own now and I can't predict what it's going to do. I'm just thankful it's still running again. I have learned my lesson tho. If it's important.. back it up!

So much has been going on since I last shared. Where do I start? We have moved out to the mission center. THat is exciting! We love living in country life. We wake up to the screeches of our neighbor's donkey. We drink fresh milk from our cows. I even make my own butter and sour cream. How fun is that?! One of my favorite things has been getting out in the villages for walks and getting to know the people. Most of them are Warush tribe which is very similar to the Maasai. They all speak Swahili which is nice. We've been blessed to know that our presence here (CMF) has been a welcomed one. It's exciting to see how God wants to use us right here in our own back yard, so to speak, as well as out in the rural, unreached areas.
We gradutated another round of students back in June. They are now out in their perspective places of calling. We look forward to touching base with many of them real soon to see how things are going since graduating from our course. We had several tribes represented which is always interesting and exciting. I think we learn just as much from them as they do from us. :-)
A couple weeks ago our family took part in a traveling immunization clinic out amongst our maasai church plants. It was an eye opening experience, for sure! My heart was broken to see so many sick children. It's all I can do not to cry. We hosted the clinic in 2 different places. The first one was at Matale B where Peter and Solomon live with their families. I was asked to teach on HIV/AIDS awareness. I was shocked to find that even though they all knew people with this disease they had absolutely no idea where it came from or how to avoid getting it. It was mind boggling to me! We take so much for granted in the west, don't we? I mean, we all grow up hearing about HIV, how it's spread, avoided, etc. Tho people are still greatly affected by this dreadful disease in the US, we still have hope and access to powerful meds to combat it. In Africa, however... a whole different story. These people literally knew nothing. I was completely at the mercy of our precious Holy Spirit to know where to begin. He truly is the One that guides us into all truths. I didn't know where to start but He did. I simply trusted Him to anoint my lips with His words to show His heart for those precious, lost people. It was a profound moment for me. The enemy did not want those people to hear the good news. The distractions and cacaphony (sp?) were truly beyond normal. It was demonic. There was one point where my interpreter was lieterally yelling to translate what I said into Kimaasai. The distractions escalated to the point that a holy anger erupted from inside me. Out loud I just denounced the power of the enemy over those people and declared in the powerful Name of Jesus that "the True Light has come" and the enemy wasn't going to stop those people from hearing the good news.. not that day.. praise His name!
Our second clinic was literally a clearing in the bush. The drive just to get there was a challege in and of itself. The people are so thankful for our presence there that they have been working for months by hand to take out the brush to make a "road" for us to come. Now when I say road I'm simply meaning a clearing... we still have to navigate over large rocks, over brush and thru dry river beds. But it was worth it. When we got to the village of Laseret I was overcome with the compassion of God for those people. Many of the children didn't have clothes. They simply wore a cloth much like a cape. What gripped me most was the amount of eye infections. It was epidemic. I couldn't believe it. Several of them were so severe that any chance of sight being restored was at the mercy of our Healing God! Lorivi, our tanzanian clinician shared a lesson on hygeine and eye care.The people were so grateful as they simply didn't know all the things that we think are common sense.
Maasai are herdsmen so cows are an integral part of their lives. In fact, their lives revolve around their cows. All around their bomas is cow dung...everywhere. We were invited to one man's boma for tea. We literally sat on stumps in a "yard" of cow dung...I mean everywhere. The flies were like something out of a horror movie. You can understand then why I wasn't shocked to find all the children in that boma with eye infections. My heart broke. They didn't understand that doing something so simple as cleaning up the cow dung from around your home would cut down on illnesses being spread by infectious flies. Imagine! They didn't know that a simple washing of your hands and face will help in the prevention of disease. It was all new to them. They were soooo grateful to receive our lessons. Once again, they had no basis of understanding on what AIDS was or how it was transmitted. This time tho there were no distractions. In fact, there were times you could have heard a pin drop. It was amazing. I was humbled. I left heavy hearted but hopeful that the Light of Jesus has come to the village and the darkness could not contain it! We will be doing further immunization trips to more villages in that area come Oct. I'll keep you posted!
For now we work on finishing building our house. Our plan is to be in by November, Lord willing! Todd will be working on enrichment programs for our graduates out in the field while working to prepare for our next round of students. I continue to home school the kids and juggle all the other things that come our way. Right now most of those "things" are dealing with the various people helping to build our house. Whew... what I wouldn't do for a Lowe's right now! :-)
Well... this should do it for now. I'll try and be better at blogging. Please do email us when you get a chance and fill us in on your lives.
Blessings!