He has done Great things for us!

I've now had the experience of telling several people of our plans to move to Nicaragua this coming August and seen their responses enough to figure it might be helpful to have our testimony of how God has lead us to the scary adventurous cusp of an international move all written down. So here goes...

Back before marrying my charming, inspiring, hard working (but I digress!) husband nearly 5 years ago (has it been that long?! But what a fun time we've had!), I remember sitting down at his dining room table and discussing our vision for our future together. And being amazed how well our dreams lined up.

Ever since I began studying Spanish in high school, it came remarkably easily to me compared to other students. I just loved the musical lilt of the language and the way my brain seemed to shift into high gear to understand and speak in this second tongue while maintaining a rapid pace of conversation. I had spent some time in the Dominican Republic and Honduras learning to love the Latin American way of life with it's slower pace of life, priority of relationships over time, and warm social (and thermal!) atmosphere. I also had my heart broken by the poverty I saw -- and how many mission trippers wanted to offer a 'quick fix' by sprinkling dollars around. That really only seemed to make matters worse as it encouraged kids to stay out of school to beg and gave them a "you owe me" mentality.

Leading a missions trip to Guatemala
while pregnant with our first child

Lucas had always wanted to live abroad and do missions work. He has an amazing work ethic as well as some pretty astounding technical skills and absolutely no fear about home renovations (or much else for that matter!). We prayed about it and it really seemed that God was placing Central America on our hearts. Our desire is to do economic development work that creates jobs for to keep the educated populace (whose dream is often "the good life" in the US) in Nicaragua. We desire to "seek another's wealth rather than our own" (1 Cor 10:24).

So, OK. We had this high-minded dream. But would anything ever come of it? We really didn't know for quite a while. But we began to move in that direction.

We married; had kids; lived our lives even while waiting on the Lord. Lucas began to investigate technology work that could be done over the Internet and transitioning his career in that direction. We hit upon "Drupal" as a good technology platform to start with. But Lucas needed more experience with that than he was able to give himself after work in a house with small children and lots of home improvement projects.

So we prayed, "When God?" and his answer came. I had never had such a strong impression in answer to prayer as what came: Luke 1:57 -- "Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son." We still didn't have a great answer to 'when' but were so encouraged that "He who began a good work in us would be faithful to bring it to completion" (Phil 1:6)

We continued our search for what God might have for us by researching the different countries in Latin America and placing it before God as to where specifically he might call us. Lucas had a strong pull to Central America and the Caribbean so we limited our search to those countries. Nicaragua was by far the safest as well as the second poorest in the whole western hemisphere (second only to Haiti). The town of Leon, in a flat area near the Pacific ocean, has a colonial charm, a university (hence educated students) and is about the right size (150,000) so we made that our 'for instance' for a while. I did began to doubt that being the right place because it is quite warm. After a lot of prayer however, we have become convinced that this is where God is calling us. And once I was sure it was God's call and not my preference that should lead; I was much better able to place my own comfort in God's hands to care for as He sees best.

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There still remained the very large obstacle of Lucas' job. He applied for several positions in several different locations as we looked at moving for a year or two within the US for him to gain experience. Oh, and God is so kind! He gave Lucas a job in St. Louis, where my parents live! So we packed up and moved for Lucas' one year contract job.

Oh, but for anyone who knows my husband, it will come as no surprise that he gained the knowledge he needed before that year was up. He began to grow a bit bored and looked around for something else. But this time, being able to work from home (and thus, being able to move that home to another country) was a priority. A short term contract which wanted to work through Lucas having his own company came our way. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't see a great reason to leave his nice stable long-term contract for a shorter term situation; but Lucas kept wanting to discuss it. So we decided to ask for a really high rate, which would compensate for the higher risk associated with being short term and needing to find something else. Lo and behold, they agreed to the rate. So, well, we jumped.

Lucas started his own business even though I was thinking that step might come later. And when that short term contract came to an end? Well I took my worry to the Lord for two weeks and we lived off the money saved while he was making that high rate and God brought another long term contract after that! He is SOO good to us! Even in giving that on-the-edge-of-our-seats waiting season in which it really would NOT be OK if God didn't come through, He was good. How else would I have been able to really learn to TRUST and obey? Even in the things that matter so much?

Oh, and that starting our own business? Turned out to be a pretty good idea as it'll help us get our long term visas in Nicaragua! Icing on the cake from our abundantly providing Lord!

What's next?? Well we're still on-the-edge-of-our-seats as we plan to sell most of our belongings and move our family including three preschoolers down to Nicaragua come August when our lease is up here in St Louis. Oh, and hoping our house up in IL will sell by then too. So join us in prayer about that 'next' thing? We'd sure appreciate it!! And I'll keep you posted on how our Great God comes through ... even if it isn't what I'm hoping for :)

Baby #3 Brings Lots of Learning for Me!

Oh, I have been very very delinquent about writing blog posts!  But I'm not really sorry, because I've been very very busy about some very important things lately...  my people!

So anyway, I want to share some of the sweet (and hard!!) lessons I've been learning since the addition of our third baby 6 months ago...

#1 Do the next thing
When my eyes feel just sore from exhaustion and my to do list feels a mile long, there is great power in closing those tired eyes for a small second, gathering a rambunctious child or two in my lap and praying with them "Oh, Lord, give me strength for the next thing!"  He does. I might not get any *more* strength than that,  but I always get enough!

By the way, praying that prayer out loud and with my children has been a great parenting move!  They know Mommy doesn't have all the answers for life, God does!  I love that when my kids have a problem they now ask me to pray with them as we help resolve it.

#2 My attitude is contagiousness
I suppose that leads into this point -- my children will not become what I tell them to become, but what they see me becoming!  When I have poor control over my Spirit, so do they (even when I tell them not to!)  When I have a content attitude even when I don't get what I want, so do they (this seems harder to catch than the bad attitude, but it comes with a little parental encouragement and training...).  Deciding to "put on a happy face" even if I'm feeling grumpy helps us all to actually enjoy our day.  Simple, but seemed monumental when the 'newborn phase' of little sleep and lots of transitions for us all was going on at our house.

#3 I am never alone -- and it's wonderful!
In point of fact, I am an introvert.  Yes, I love to talk, but I also love to retreat to quiet for recharging my batteries...  so this always always having people around me that seems to have intensified recently is a bit wearing sometimes....  In fact my body seemed to keep me from falling asleep last night just because I had been a bit harried and busy and too 'on' lately.  I really just needed the awake down time of a quiet house until midnight even though I really ought to have been in bed (and usually am!) much earlier.

So all this quiet 'alone' time got me thinking... it's kind of sweet that even in the quiet of our house at that moment or in the couple of long drives I've had by myself recently or when I go for a walk to 'process' some nights after the kiddos are in bed...  even then, I'm never alone.  The Holy Spirit goes so far as to reside in me, and God knows when I rise up and when I lay down, I am never hidden from Him.

My kids hate to be alone; they love to be company for each other and for Mommy and Daddy.  It is a gift to have their presence.  It is a gift to have God's presence.  Sometimes just a quiet, "I see you" as we slow down enough to notice it.  Sometimes a delightful insight.  Sometimes the strength we need to make it through a rough moment, or week.  Sometimes the conviction that leads us to repentance   He is always with us.  Just writing that all out makes me feel like a hug!  And that's kind of what it is "under his wings," huh?  Well "Like a weaned child with it's mother is my soul within me"(Ps 131:2) -- and so I can be with my children.

Even though I do sometimes like to have a bit of peace and calm, I am so glad that my people and my God are never far away!  Even Winnie-the-Pooh knows, "it's so much more comfortable with two."

#4 The Richness of Relationship Multiplication
I saved the best for last.  Relationships multiply!  When I married my husband, there was one relationship that defined our family, me and him.  When we added our son, there were three relationships, me with my husband, my husband with his son, and mine with my son.  Then came our daughter, and there were six (all the previous, plus each of ours with her).  Now adding this second daughter, we've added four new relationships making ten relationships between our 5 people.

As a math nerd side point, this is called a combination (out of the 5 people, choose 2) and with each new person added to our family, the number of relationships grows more than it did with the previous addition.  Get it?  I used to teach math and aside from finding such things kinda cool...

I just LOVE seeing this lived out!  I love seeing my four year old make silly faces at his baby sister to make her smile and laugh.  I love watching our toddler help Mommy wash her little sister's feet at bath time -- quite literally!  And then there is the sweetness of my husband's little boy helping him change a light-bulb   I really could go on quite a bit about this one.  As amazing as it was the first time I held my first baby in my arms, it continues to grow richer from there as I watch these people I love so much love each other!

Aside from the warm fuzzy moments, which are such a delight, there are so many opportunities to figuratively wash each others  feet too.  "Can you get a diaper for the baby?"  "Son, it looks like your sister would like to play with you.  Do you think you could choose a toy to share with her?"  "Honey, can you bring this cup of water to your big brother?"  And these are only the times I'm there to suggest the help...  They are starting to think of it when I'm not there to ask too!

So there you have it -- my lessons from baby #3, so far.  It began with God teaching me to give up my own rights and serve these people even when I'm more tired and busy than I can rightly remember ever being and now has come around to seeing them serve each other.  I think God is up to something with these blessings!  I think he's forming Christ in us!  Oh, and boy does it keep us running to him for help when we simply cannot do it in our own strength!