Rayanna Turns Three!

It's hard to believe our baby is 3!  It's been fun watching her grow and change this year.  She's talking a lot now, learning so fast, and becoming quite a character!  She adores her big brothers and sister and can definitely hold her own with them!  She's become quite a talker (even when we don't understand all her words), and she especially loves to sing.  Even though she keeps us on our toes with all the mischief she causes, she also keeps us laughing and brings lots of fun to our family.  Happy Birthday, Rayanna!  We love you!

Rayanna's birthday also marks the start of the only 7 weeks per year where the kids' ages are perfectly spaced:  3, 5, 7, and 9.  :)

Les Miserables

Heath and I had the privilege of seeing Les Miserables today.  I had read the book several years ago (back in the pre-kids days when I had time to read a book that big).  :)  I loved the story then, and I loved it again today.  It's easy to see why it became a classic.  I'm pleasantly surprised that it was made into a movie (a musical nonetheless) and it has been so well loved!  Maybe that shows that not everyone in our society is as shallow as I often think!

But here's what I find most amazing:  Victor Hugo, who was not a Christian as far as I can tell, wrote this amazing story, that illustrates the gospel and continues to touch hearts 150 years later, not only as a book, but as a play and now a movie.  I'm sure he never imagined his work would have such an impact.  It's such an example of God's common grace and of how He can share His story of redemption and grace, even through people who don't know they're sharing it.

Now, I'm not saying this is an evangelistic story, or that someone is going to come to know Christ by watching it or reading it.  But I think the reason it's so powerful is because its underlying theme is built into all of us.  The power of redemption, the limits and imprisonment of Law as opposed to Grace, the beauty of mercy . . . these are things that we are naturally drawn to at a very deep level.  And I believe that's because there is a True Story of our own imprisonment and our need for redemption, grace, and mercy.

For a Christian, the themes run even deeper.  Are we trying so hard to follow the Law, doing everything "by the Book" (like Javert) that we lack mercy?  Actually, if we are, then we may not be Christians at all.  Rather than experiencing the mercy of God, we're relying on our own righteousness to please Him.  And, as Javert realized when he compared himself to Jean Valjean, our own "righteousness" is despicable, especially when seen in contrast to His mercy.  On the other hand, do our lives look like Jean Valjean's?  He was a law breaker, just as each of us is.  The punishment in this case was way beyond what he deserved, but--based strictly on law--it was true that he was a thief and a convict who broke parole.  When the priest gives him undeserved food and lodging, Valjean repays him by stealing from him!  But again the priest forgives him, saves him from imprisonment, and even gives him more than what he has stolen.  It's the mercy of this priest that touches Valjean's heart and causes him to give his life to God.  His hate and anger are replaced by love and mercy, and he spends the rest of his life sharing that mercy with the poor and helpless, the rich and troubled, and even with his worst enemy.  Are we so touched by the mercy shown us by our High Priest that our lives are forever changed, and those we come in contact with are also forever changed by that mercy?  Do we look down on the wretched, miserable "sinners" in this world, or do we see them as souls loved by God, no less deserving of His mercy than ourselves?

I am challenged once again by this story, as I was when I read it about a decade ago.  I am challenged to be more like Jean Valjean.  To let the mercy of Christ so overwhelm me that it radiates out of me, that it causes me to risk everything for someone in need.  I'm challenged never to "do my duty" (as Valjean said of Javert) without sharing the mercy that has been shown to me.  I'm challenged to have mercy on the helpless and undeserving, and even on the Javerts of this world who show no mercy.

Sometimes, God uses stories to touch us in a profound way.  Often even more than a sermon, a story grabs hold of our hearts and reminds us of His Ultimate Story and challenges us to live "in character" as we help write our own small part of that Story.  Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy.  May it profoundly affect every aspect of our lives.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:22-24

Our Hosting Adventure

Well, we survived!  If you read the post entitled "Comfort Zone Departing," you'll know I was a little worried about having a complete stranger stay with us for two weeks!  But all went well.  There were plenty of awkward moments.  I'm not sure if the language barrier made that better or worse . . . I mean, normally if you run out of things to talk to a guest about you feel pressure to come up with something to keep the conversation going.  But when you can't understand each other anyway, that pressure for conversation disappears.

Even so, there's something about having someone else in your home that adds a bit of stress.  Even if they're the most easy-going person, it's different than normal, and it's challenging.  Maybe that's not true for everyone, but for me it is.  By the end of the two weeks I was worn out, just from the low-level stress of having a guest that long!

But we had a lot of good times too.  We were able to have conversations on the laptop, using google translate.  What a great invention!  It's not perfect, but it's enough that we could actually "talk" about things and get (most of) our meaning across.  I learned that Inta has a husband and 3 kids, whom she left to go to a strange country where she'd never been before, for an entire month, and over the holidays!  That takes some guts!  I don't know that I could do that, but her sacrifice made it possible for several orphaned children to experience life in a family.  Many of them will end up being adopted into forever families.  Hopefully many of them heard the gospel and experienced love, and they can carry that back with them to Latvia.  A sense of hope has been added to their lives.

Our kids were great with Inta!  They weren't embarrassed by the language barrier.  In fact, the girls didn't even realize that there was a barrier and just kept talking right along.  They all enjoyed having her here and would like to host her again some day.  That stress that adults feel at having a stranger around just isn't there for the kids I guess.  They'd love to host a child some time too.  We'll see . . .

But I think the best part about doing this is that I feel like I've exercised.  Let me explain . . . I've been trying to get back into the habit of physical exercise, and it feels so good when I do!  I don't really enjoy exercising;  most of the time I downright hate it!  But when I'm done, I feel so much better.  And with hosting Inta, it was a challenging and stretching thing for us, but I feel stronger for it.  It's not that I feel good because "I-did-my-good-deed-for-the-year," but I feel like we've used what God's given us for someone else, and we've taken our focus just a little bit off of ourselves for this short time.  There's so much selfishness in my heart, and when I actually peel back a layer of it, it's so refreshing and freeing!  This experience wasn't what I'd consider a wonderfully fun vacation, but--like physical exercise--it's healthy to get out of my comfort zone sometimes, and it feels great when I do.

And God answered my prayers.  He took away the anxiety I had felt before she came.  He gave us four kids to ease the tension and keep things interesting.  He let us enjoy the experience and learn and grow from it.  He let us be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  Our church is planning to host this summer, and I'm looking forward to being a part of it again.  (If you're a Christian family in the US and are interested in the program, visit New Horizons for Children, and read about it.)

Thank you, Lord, for challenging me and stretching me.  Thank you for blessing our family in so many ways, and for allowing us to be a small blessing to someone else.

5 Years?!

I was just "redecorating" my blog and scanning through some old posts.  I feel like I just recently started blogging, so I was shocked to see that I've been doing this for 5 years!  How did that happen?  One of my earliest posts was about Jesse turning 2 and Ethan turning 4.  They were so tiny back then!  And they were our only kids!  Things have changed so much, and so fast.  And it seems I have no sense of time anymore.  Things that I think just happened weeks ago were actually months ago.  And things that seem months ago were actually years ago.

As a kid I remember time dragging on . . . waiting for school to end, waiting for Christmas, waiting to get older.  And now time just speeds by, and nothing I do can slow it down.  As I've heard quoted and agree with wholeheartedly, "The days go slowly, but the years go fast."  Lord, teach me to number my days and not to waste a precious one of them.

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  Psalm 90:12

Absent from the Body, but Present with the Lord

Heath's grandmother, Lillian Runkles, passed away today.  I'm thankful that our children and I had the chance to know her these past several years.  She will be greatly missed, but we are thankful to know that she's in a better place and will be spending this Christmas with her Savior.  

Blessings

Inta and the Latvian kids arrived safely at Reagan Airport last night.  Ethan and I went to pick her up.  It was fun to see all the families greeting their kids.  One little girl couldn't come because she got sick the day of departure, but hopefully she'll be coming later in the week.  The kids (and host families) looked nervous of course, and one little boy looked downright miserable.  But most of them seemed excited, and I hope they're all getting comfortable and about to have a wonderful experience being part of a family!  I talked with some of the other host moms, and it was really neat to hear their stories and to be a part of this adventure!

After Inta made sure all the kids went home with the right families, we took her home with us.  Because of her being exhausted and the language barrier we didn't talk much on the way home.  I did find out she has 3 kids, and that it's cold and snowy in Latvia.  (Maybe I should go THERE next Christmas.)  ;-)  She seems to be very nice, and enjoys playing with the children.  She speaks only a very little English, so we've been making good use of Google Translate!  I don't think Tabitha realizes that Inta can't understand her . . . she just goes right on talking a mile a minute!  Poor Inta was probably very glad when bedtime arrived and she finally got a break!  =)  She's very friendly with the kids though, and they all like her, too.

So we've had the blessing of things going well so far in that area.  Today in the mail we also received another blessing!

It was an anonymous blessing, so this thank-you goes out to the person responsible, whoever that may be!  (And I do have my suspicions . . .) ;-)  Please know how very, very much we appreciate your kindness, and that your gift comes at the perfect time and will be put to very good use.  I hope Santa treats you well . . .  because you're definitely on the "nice list!"  Thank you so much!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.  James 1:17

Comfort Zone Departing in: 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

An event has rather suddenly presented itself, and our family is about to be out of our comfort zone in a week's time.  We're not even going anywhere!  But to be honest this is more out of my comfort zone than travelling to foreign countries, eating strange food, adopting children, or even public speaking (which I thought was the most out-of-my-comfort-zone-thing I'd ever do).  So . . . here's the story . . .

As some of you know, we spent last spring/summer working with other people in our church to start an orphan ministry.  It was officially launched last month and named Abba's Hands & Heart, and we've been very excited to see 50+ people who are interested in getting involved!

One of the mission opportunities we're planning to promote is orphan hosting.  Through New Horizons, we're hoping to have several families in our church host orphans for a month next summer.  While some of them may end up being adopted, the main purpose is just to show them the love of a family, introduce them to Christ, and let them know that someone cares.  So even if they never get adopted, they can carry that hope back home with them.  And of course, it would also be thrilling if some of them DO get adopted, either by their host families or someone else who meets them while they're here.

This organization coordinates trips from Ukraine, Latvia, and China.  The first trip from China is actually over Chinese New Year 2013.  Since we just started working on this recently, it was too late to get our church involved for the hosting over Christmas or Chinese New Year, so we're planning to be involved this summer.  It also costs $2950 per child, which the host family has to pay in order to have them.  So waiting until summer will allow more people to save up and be able to afford it too.

Meanwhile, I filled out the pre-application for hosting a chaperone.  You don't have to pay anything to do that, and we thought it'd be a good way to get some experience so we can promote it to other people at church.  I didn't think we'd be picked because Maryland wasn't on the list for needed host homes.  However, DC was on the list, and evidently we're close enough!  I got an email a few nights ago saying they still needed homes for 2 of their chaperones, a man from Ukraine and a lady from Latvia for 3 weeks.  I was so excited!  I talked to Heath about it, and he was excited, and we wrote her back and said we'd take the lady from Latvia!  How exciting!  We're going to be indirectly involved in helping these orphans, and we'll be practicing hospitality in a big way, and we'll be learning about Latvia, and  . . . yay!  So exciting!

The next day I realized what I'd really signed up for.  Not that I didn't know it before, but I had neglected to compare our action with my personality.  Me....someone who wouldn't even want to spend 3 weeks living with a good friend, let alone a stranger!  Me....an introvert who--more than money, pleasure, fame, excitement--just craves alone time!  Me...who already feels challenged to find enough time with my husband and kids.  Me...who speaks no Latvian and had to look it up even to find out what language they speak in Latvia.   Me...who cherishes intimate family time, especially on Christmas morning!  What have I done?!?!

Last night going to bed, I was really stressing out about this.  I was thinking....Lord, send me to a foreign country for 3 weeks instead!  Leaving my comfort zone is actually a lot easier than having my comfort zone invaded!  But this morning, as I prayed about it, an amazing thing happened.  That "peace that surpasses all understanding" enveloped me.  Even imagining the worst-case scenario of a really annoying person or a lot of really awkward times, or complete inability to communicate, or no alone time the whole 3 weeks....even imagining all that, it's only a few weeks of my life.  I can handle giving that up, for the benefit of the kids coming.  What if even one of those children gets adopted, or one of those children receives Christ, or even just goes back home feeling like somebody loves them . . . wouldn't I give up three weeks of my personal preferences for that?  Wouldn't I allow my comfort zone to be "invaded" for the benefits that may come?  And suddenly the anxiety was gone.  I'm back to feeling excited!  Yes, it may be as bad as my imagination designed last night, but it also might be a wonderful, enriching experience that I would've been sorry to miss!  And the best part is I feel God's smile.  I know He wants us to be hospitable, and I know that doesn't just mean having my best friends over for dinner.  I feel content, knowing that God will carry me through whatever this experience entails, and that He usually goes above and beyond what I can imagine, and that He always does great and glorious things!

Keep us in your prayers, if you would.  And please pray for this lady, the other chaperones, and the children who will be coming.  And if anyone else is interested in hosting (either this lady for part of the time, or the Ukrainian gentleman for some or all of the time), let me know ASAP!  The only requirements are that you be a Christian, and that the guest has their own bedroom.  Oh, and if you happen to speak Latvian or just like meeting new people, come by our house frequently!!  :)