News from a distant land

Friends, Pontotocans, Foreigners, It has been kinda lonely since we dropped the group off at the airport at about eight Thursday night. For most of the time that we have been home the power has been off, so this is the first chance i have had since- whenever I wrote my last email. But yesterday we went to Yosies for lunch. It was the first time for Rebeker and I in an Ethiopian home. It was a good place to start, because we cannot offend Yosie by doing something wrong. Of course Mr.A could not anyway, because, people here say, he is Ethiopian. I think I want to be Ethiopian too. The people here are the most courteous people that I have ever met (despite the way they drive). And the culture (did you ka-no that some places in the world have those?) is like, way cool. I am learning a few things about it. I have been asking Mr. A about things that I see Ethiopians do, some of the things came in handy when we went into an Ethiopian home. After we left Yosies at about four, we dropped Mr. A off at a friends house, and Yosie drove R. and I back to Joes. We read a little, then did Greek language studies with Joe for about an hour. Then it was getting dark, so since the power was out we lit the candles, and Joe got out his guitar and sang oldies till Mr. A got back. then we all sat around and waited for the power to come back on until 10:15 at which point we gave up and went to bed. this morning I got up, and got on the computer.

Celebrating a simple life,

Trey

 

Trey

Just got an email from Trey. Most of the team have headed home. It just leaves Anthony, Trey & Rebecca. PTI has run into a major roadblock so we don’t really know what the rest of the trip is going to look like. I’ll update when I know what’s going on.

 

Orphan Tourist

Email from Trey
I’m sorry I haven’t written for awhile. I been trying, but we have limited time on the computer, and I’m such a slow typist, and the power has been off for two days now. But anyway, about life here. Could you buy tickets for everyone, and all of you move over here? I absolutely love it here. I would love to live here and care for orphans. The people are wonderful, the culture is awesome, the country is beautiful, the children are lovely. But on the flip side, poverty is rampant, you can see, in almost everyone’s eyes, a harder life, and more pain, than all of us probably will ever feel. And the orphans are heartbreaking. We’ve seen, maybe, two hundred of them in the orphanages( no telling how many of the children on the streets are orphans), and to think that there are thousands of them just here in Addis, is just heartbreaking. I keep thinking about what Jamie said when he came back though, comparing the poverty here our spiritual poverty, and what they need, is what we have been given, the Riches of Christs Blood. But how do we share the gospel with then when we do not speak the language, and and even if we did,it would just be words, and we’ll just turn around and go home, there would be no real living out of the gospel. I feel like an orphan tourist, coming in and playing with them, taking some pictures, giving them candy, then leaving them hyper on sugar, and going home. i think most of the people in the group here are feeling that way, so please pray that the Lord will use this trip to make a lasting impact on our lives, and that it will bear lasting fruit. well, i’d better let someone else have a turn on the computer. I love y’all.
P.S. would you please send me a picture of the family. and some good pictures of Josiah?

Another update on Together for Adoption

BTW If anyone doesn’t already know- Trey is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with Anthony Mathenia. They are on the Orphans Refuge trip with Together for Adoption and will be spending the second week working with some men from Zambia working on PTI.

 

News from the future-Ethiopia

Trey sent us an email from the future this morning. Some of the team were going to be visiting Ahope today. Trey thought he might be digging wells with Joe due to space constraints. He said he’d be visiting Ahope later in the week. We are praying to be able to adopt a child from Ahope & the news that Trey would be visiting made my heart skip a beat. Maybe I’ll talk about that later….

Pictures from day one in Ethiopia at http://www.togetherforadoption.org/

 

1st Birthday Zoo Trip

Josiah is 1!!!! We had a small family birthday on his actual birthday (April 29th) but our camera was on the fritz so this pic is from Papaw & memaw’s house.

 

Before heading to Papaw’s house for pizza, presents & cake (WOO-HOO) we took the kiddos to the zoo.

 

Picture Post

   

Mercy in one of my Antique baby gowns & bonnet

Siah

I’m not sure who was lurking around with the camera Sunday night but here ya go

 

 

Nice girls don’t call boys

This is one of the many things my daddy tried to drill into my head when I was a girl. I’m sure he thought I wasn’t listening. See dad? I was listening. All your gray hairs were not totally in vain.

Nice girls don’t call boys

Nice girls do not have short hair like boys (do NOT send me life threatening emails about this)

Nice girls don’t wear red fingernail polish-or toenail polish at all

Nice girls don’t wear just about anything I tried to wear. Notice I said triedto wear. My dad would turn me back at the door if he didn’t approve of my clothes. (From the look of things parents don’t do this much anymore.) I spent alot of time at my best friends house and her parents did this too.

There were more but the point is- I think the lines have been seriously blurred. I blame feminism. What is a boy to think?

We have been reading the Voddie Baucham book,What He Must Be If He Wants To Marry My Daughter, with our four oldest. I LOVE hearing what my kids are thinking. Even if what they are thinking drives me crazy. Last week we talked alot about the blessing of children & dove in head first into the murky waters of child prevention. Interesting. Extremely encouraging- they live it. They know.

Any-who…. This week we had a boy talk. We talked about what would be desirable in a young women (I have always taught my daughters this but have just recently felt the need to share these things with my boys) Nice girls don’t(shouldn’t) call boys. Or like boys. By like boys I mean indulge “crushes”. It goes without saying , I hope, that a 12,14 0r 16 year old should not be thinking of boys. (NTS No rabbit trail, no rabbit trail No rabbit trail!) I guess I have been naive. Maybe you think I’m old fashioned. Girls do call boys these days. Even (gasp!) homeschooled girls. In fact, some young ladies are down right boy crazy. So whats a young man to think? We tell him that he will be head of his home someday, that he is to be the one doing the pursuing. So what did I tell my boys?

It used to be commonly known that a man was to win the heart of a woman. He was to woo her. Pursue her. Faint heart never won fair lady & all that. That all implies that the female of the species was not exactly easy pickings, low hanging fruit. You get what you pay for- if you know what I mean. So why are so many young ladies out there desperately grasping, throwing their hearts out for any man to pick up. Emily has encountered online communities where the whole purpose of all these girls, that are “trusting” God to find them a husband, is to bemoan the fact that they, at 19, are old maids. No wonder our boys think all girls are desperate, easy pickings.

Well, to make a long story short- I told my boys to look for a girl that is contentedly serving the Lord, her family and waiting & trusting the Lord for whatever her future is to be. They are out there. They hold themselves to a high standard and expect you to also. With the Lords help, strive to be worthy. Strap on your boots and show thyself a man.

Oh. And a good thing to remember when it comes to what girls think of you. As my dear friend so aptly put it “You think you’re hot ____ but you’re really cold _______. ” 

 

Funny conversation with Annie this morning

Annie- ( holding the movie box to Prince Caspian) “Lucy is so pretty. You see Susan? She wearing globsof make-up. Ya’ k now, it’s like Gisselle, they want to be sooo pretty and think they look so good when the really are making themselves look ugly.”

 

Happy Birthday Baby Best Beloved!

Josiah is one! I can’t believe it. Yesterday was his first birthday. I think of what I was doing a year ago today- I was chewing my fingernails off because Judy FORGOT to call us when she was born. Notice I said she? Josiah was, by all accounts & a faulty ultrasound reading, a girl. So on April 30th we got the news that she was a he and he was in the NICU. That set off a rollercoaster ride of a few weeks that y’all may remember.

 

In other news- April is almost over! Whew. I survived by the grace of God and maybe didn’t drive too many people crazy. Others might tell a different tale. I don’t know. April is hard for me- I struggle with memories and pain that never quite goes away and I maybe don’t always deal with things well. I fear that I will never stop feeling that soft downy head against my cheek & I fear even worse that I will. Well….April IS almost over. As we stood out on the dock to release Abbys ballon Tuesday Les prayed and thanked God that He is a God that binds the broken heart & restores the years that the locusts have eaten. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

 

Abigail Grace~It Is Well

Is it well with the child? And she answered, it is well.  2 Kings 4:26

Abigail Grace Riley

April 28, 2001

What Thou Hast given, Thou canst take,

And when Thou wilt new gifts can make.

         All flows from Thee alone;

When Thou didst give it, it was Thine;

When Thou retook’st it, ‘t was not mine.

         Thy will in all be done.

                                                                 John Austin

 

September sun is shining,

the sky is clear and blue.

And so my Lady Abigail,

I’ll write a rhyme for you.

All things have on their happiest smile,

No words their joy can tell,

because they send loves greetings out,

to Lady Abigail.

Author Unknown

 

The child hath but changed a bed in the garden,

and is planted up higher, nearer the sun,

where he shall thrive better than in this out-field moor-ground.

Samuel Rutherford

All these passages & verses have been precious to me over the past 8 years. It is well with my soul. My favorite hymn- Jason McCoy played it on the violin at Abby’s funeral. The John Austin quote was taken from  my much loved, dog-eared copy of Daily Strength For Daily Needs I  recieved as a gift from Mrs. Judy Guess when Abby died. The Lady Abigail quote came from the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue that came in the mail a few days before Abby was born & the Rutherford Quote comes from another beloved volume, The Letters of Samuel Rutherford that was given to me by my dear friend Cheri the day of the funeral. Cheri had marked several letters that were written to women upon the deaths of children. I must admit, I was not in a place to appreciate this at the time. Reading those letters hurt me terribly but The Lord used Rutherford words to cut through my pain and anger and draw me closer to Him. It was a very bittersweet time of painfully honest communion with God.

God has been so faithful & as I sat by the pond this morning reflecting on the goodness and mercy of the Lord this hymn came to mind.

Through all the changing scenes of life,

In trouble and in joy,’The praises of my God shall still

My heart and tongue employ.

Of His deliverance I will boast;

Till all that are distressed

From my example comfort take,

And charm their griefs to rest.

O magnify the Lord with me,

With me exalt His name;

When in distress to Him I called,

He to my rescue came.

The hosts of God encamp around

The dwellings of the just;

Deliverance He affords to all

Who on His succour trust.

O make but trial of His love,

Experience will decide

How blessed are they, and only they,

Who in His truth confide.

Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then

Have nothing else to fear;

Make you His service your delight,

Your wants shall be His care.

                                 Nahum Tate 1625-1715

 

Courage. Continually.

“If we were writing the script for our lives, we would not assign to ourselves the tasks that God assigns us. We would play it safe. We would do something we think we could manage. Some of you have a lot of children and if you were writing the script for your life, you would probably have determined how many children you think you could manage and then that’s how many children or how few you would have had.

But God knows what you can manage and God wants you to live in the realm of faith, so whether it’s children or marriage or work or church or relationships, God takes us past what we think we can handle, past what we can handle apart from Him, and He says, “Now go in and be strong and courageous.” “

 

I am so very thankful for the ministry of Revive Our Hearts. I listen every morning I can & it never ceases to amaze me the way The Lord speaks to me through the teaching I find there. Nancy is doing a series on the life of Joshua.  Today she was speaking about God’s repeated command to Joshua to be courageous & not fearful.

The theme of courage has been much on my heart & mind lately (as my young petitioning friend can attest) I am so prone to fear and realize that my fear is due to acting in my own strength. In my devotions lately the theme of courage & the word continually keep coming to the front. The need to continually be before God pleading for His strength, His power, His grace & mercy. I’m afraid I am often guilty of using the Lord like jumper cables- “if you’ll just get me started, I’ll be able to take it from there”. Would I really say that? No, but that’s how I often live. Ya know, it isn’t working to well for me. The Lord has really been showing me lately (again) how very weak I am in my own strength & how much of my fear comes from trying to do things in my own strength.

O.K. This was going somewhere related to Personhood but a brief interruption to rescue a hummingbird from the living room made me lose my train of thought……

On that note. Have you read Duck For President ?

Emily came into the kitchen this morning holding petitions in her hand & said “Three sticky sheets found behind the guest room dresser”

Yes! I really need help with organization!