Almost Gone

We are down to our 2nd to last full day here in Seattle. It has been a busy last few weeks, as you may have read about in a previous post of mine, but we have enjoyed our time with friends. Thank you to everyone who has had us over for dinner, helped us pack up boxes, purchased some of our stuff, encouraged us, and much more.

Seattle has become a very special city to us, and it is certainly our "Home." While neither of us ever lived in Seattle prior to 2006, it is the first city we lived in as a married couple, and it is where we have spent 90% of our married lives. We have a lot of fond memories in Seattle:

-Our first apartment together
-Joseph's first job out of college
-We joined our first church together
-Hailey started her photography business and career
-We had our first child
-Many fun times with friends

I could write more, but I think you get the point. Leaving Seattle is bitter-sweet. Bitter because we are leaving so many things and people that we know and love. We are leaving the comfort of our nice 2-bedroom apartment. The comfort of knowing we have a support system of friends and family that anyone would envy. The comfort of a great job that provides a salary that we can live on. But it is also sweet because we are confident in the next chapter of our lives. We are excited about moving to Honduras. We are excited for our lives to revolve around helping and serving other people. We are excited for the unknown (I know that may sound weird, but we are).

So as we pack our last boxes and bags, say our last goodbyes, and spend some time over the next two days thinking about the last 5 years in Seattle, I want to thank everyone who has made our time here so enjoyable. We hope to be back in one year, but you can never truly know where life will take you.

Adios Seattle, we will miss you!

Some Forced Downtime

So this week is suppose to be one of the busiest weeks for us; doing most the packing, trying to sell the last pieces of furniture, going over to friend's houses for dinner, making the last minute calls to our bank and cell phone provider, signing over our car to a friend, going out on a few coffee dates with friends, etc... But throughout life I have learned that what we plan rarely happens the way we think it will or think it should or what we plan sometimes doesn't even get done.

Joseph had the stomach flu all weekend. It was so hard for me to see him that way.  If you have never had the stomach flu, thank the Lord right now! It is miserable...your stomach cramps up and you spend most your day in the bathroom.... not fun!  So joseph missed most of our "Going Away Party" that our pastor and his wife hosted for us on Saturday and was unable to go to church yesterday but he is pretty much back to his healthy self today, thank the Lord for that.....just in time for me to come down with the stomach flu.

No...I am not joking!  We have switched roles and today I am the one in bed and Joseph took the day off of work to take care of our son and do the cooking and cleaning and the errands.

So much for my plans...getting together with a young woman I mentor, doing some more sorting and packing, delivering a meal to a friend who just had her baby, and taking Micah to the doctors.  And Joseph can only do some of those and the rest just won't be able to happen.

It would be easy for me to get a little bitter and frustrated with God and start to worry.

"What horrible timing, Lord!?  Why now? This was suppose to be the week that we were busy with getting things done for the big move! How will we get everyone done in time?! "

But I can't help but think that maybe we scheduled ourselves too much and the Lord is actually doing us a favor by slowing us down.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is easy to get caught up in the "to do list" and neglect what is really important.  So I am choosing to take advantage of this forced downtime and to focus on what really matters...

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?.... So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
                                                                                                     Matthew 6:33

House Picture and Needs

Here is the most recent picture of our house that I have received. Unfortunately, there is a drought right now in Honduras and the water supply went dry, so the last few weeks have been spent trying to get the water up and running. Even though they haven't been working on our house for a few weeks, they still expect to have it complete by the time we get there at the end of March.



Also, there a few needs that the organization has and I thought I would post them in case you are interested.

-Used MP3 Players. If you have a used MP3 player that you no longer use, please send me an email or give me a call and we can figure out how I can get it before we leave.
-Student Sponsors ($120 per month covers their schooling, clothing, food, medical supplies, hygiene, etc.). Let me know if you are interested and I will tell you how to participate!
-Laptops (new or used) for use at the university. Contact me if you want to contribute.

Six Weeks and Counting...

SIX WEEKS FROM TODAY WILL BE OUR FIRST FULL DAY IN HONDURAS! It is crazy to think about our journey over the last few years, the things we have experienced as a married couple, and the fact that we are only six weeks away from leaving the country. We are also down to our last 12 days in Seattle, and have a very full schedule with something scheduled almost every night. Here's what our last couple weeks look like:

Thu 2/10 - Dinner with Danielly and Ian, Riley's play
Fri 2/11 - Lunch and hanging out with the Lees
Sat 2/12 - Dinner with Laurie and AJ in Marysville
Sun 2/13 - Dinner with the Lowerys
Mon 2/14 - Dentist appts for Joseph and Hailey, sharing with Julie's Canyon Hills Community Church Life Group
Tue 2/15 - Dinner with the Trimbles
Wed 2/16 - Dinner with Danielly, Sylvia, and Sylvia, small group Bible Study
Thu 2/17 - Dinner with the Cacanindins
Fri 2/18 - Dinner with the Lees' and Andersons
Sat 2/19 - Going away party for us at the Parkers
Sun 2/20 - Dinner with the Steeles
Mon 2/21 - Micah's doctor appointment, taking dinner to the Gonzalez' and hopefully seeing their new baby, Jacob
Tue 2/22 - Nothing scheduled...YET
Wed 2/23 - Our last small group Bible Study
Thu 2/24 - Dinner with the Costellos
Fri 2/25 through Monday 2/28 - Pack, clean, and leave for Oregon

Wow, that sure looks like a lot more when you write it down. However, we have to eat dinner every night anyway, so it is nice to have so many friends inviting us over for dinner so we can spend some time with them before we leave.

We had such a great time this last Monday sharing about Honduras with a bunch of friends who we met for the first time that night. One of the couples at our church have a son and daughter-in-law who attend a different church and they invited us over to their Life Group to share. It was great to have the opportunity to talk about what we'll be doing, and the group was so encouraging. It is amazing to know that even though we go "alone" that we have so many friends and family back home that are praying for us and encouraging us. We are very blessed.

Over the last six weeks, we will be spending time in Seattle, Eugene, McMinnville, Portland, Nashville, and Chicago (where we catch our flight to Honduras). We are excited to spend time together as a family (the best part is that I won't be working). We are excited to cram some hours of Rosetta Stone in before we leave. We are excited to visit our families and friends. It will be a lot of fun!

Now That's Commitment

I wanted to share a brief story with you from an email exchange I had with Glen (President of Art For Humanity) this week. Last weekend they conducted interviews for the first cohort of students beginning classes in a few weeks. Unfortunately, AFH does not have the space, money, or resources to accept every qualified student, so we have to turn some people away. This particular story nearly brought tears to my eyes - it's funny how something can hit so close to home when you are invested in something.

One of the young women who interviewed had traveled hours to get to the interview. From my understanding, she had spent all her money on travel, so she hadn't eaten anything in days. After a home-cooked meal and an interview, she received the disheartening news - she was not selected as one of the students to begin classes at Leadership University. Glen encouraged her to apply again in June, when the next group of students will begin. But then Glen learned her story. She was living with extended family and due to some unforeseen circumstances, she would no longer be able to live with them. She had no job. She had no money. She had no food. She had no idea where she would go. Glen was faced with the brutal reality of working in a 3rd world country. I can imagine the questions and thoughts running through his mind. "I can't just let her go - who knows what will happen with her. We already don't have commitments to support the students we accepted, how can we support another one? What will happen to her if I let her leave? I don't even have a place for her to sleep. What will happen to her if I let her leave? Will she live on the streets? Will she be one of the masses of women who are raped or abused in a society that is extremely male-dominated? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HER IF I LET HER LEAVE?"

So Glen did what I hope I would do - invite her to stay. Here is a summary of their exchange:

Glen: "You are welcome to stay and enroll in classes, but we don't have a place for you to sleep."
Young Woman: "That's OK, I'm used to sleeping on the floor. I don't need a bed."
Glen (sarcastically): "You know, there is a nice forest that you could sleep in."
Young Woman: "OK, anything I need to do to be able to stay and get my education."

Here I sit, reading this via email, sipping my hot coffee and lounging back in my couch. I didn't pay a penny for my elementary, junior high, or high school education. I had scholarships and help from family for college, so after my contribution I graduated with very little student loans. I never had to sleep on a cement floor or in a forest. I never had to go days without food. And I never had to wonder where I would be living the next day.

I was absolutely floored by this story. So much that Hailey and I decided to use our tax return this year to sponsor one of the students that I will be teaching. I don't say that to boast about our generosity, but as a means of letting you know that we need more sponsors. There are currently 9 students beginning classes soon, and only a few of them have sponsors. Check out Art For Humanity's website (http://www.artforhumanity.org/news/misc-info/investment-opportunities/sponsor-a-student/) for details on sponsoring students. Many of them have similar stories to this young woman. Please consider sponsorship as an individual, family, or by getting together a group of friends so that you can share the expense of investing in a woman's life in a way that will forever change her future.

Would you invite her to stay, or would you send her on her way?

What I want to do I do not do...

It's always hard to focus on what is really important, especially when "big" things are coming up like this Honduras move.  It's even harder to DO what is really important.  Paul puts it perfectly:

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate - I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

  So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  Romans 7:14-26

So, what I want to do is: spend quality time with my Lord daily, be in tune with the Spirit and not only see the opportunities to help and serve others but ACT on those opportunities.

But, sadly, those are the things that I DON'T do, at least as much as I want to.

Actually, I have the perfect example of a situation that just happened recently where I knew what I should do and it truly was what I wanted to do, but even as I felt the battle raging inside of me between my sinful nature and the spirit, I sadly did what I hate to do.

There I was, on my way to the grocery store to pick up some last minute groceries with Micah before we left for our Homegroup Retreat.  Joseph was home with our friend John, just waiting for me, so I was on a "mission, so to speak.  About 1/2 mile before my final destination I saw a woman standing by a bus stop and it looked like she was crying.  Praise the Lord, I immediately felt the spirit move in me and I felt compassion and literally said "awe...poor girl." And I thought, I am going to go talk with her. At the very least I can ask her if she is ok and give her a hug.  So I turn the car around.... but then the battle began.  Here was the internal dialog and battle that went on...

"Oh man...there isn't really a good place to park and walk over to her...that's ok though...but it is starting to rain and it's cold and I have Micah with me....He'll be fine. I will bundle him up and he might even like to get some fresh air....I will just turn around one more time to see if she is still crying...maybe she wasn't crying..."

So I turned around and passed her again...

"ok...so maybe she wasn't crying, maybe I was just seeing things....but what if she was crying and she is just holding it in....ok, let's do this....well, maybe I should just get the grocerys right now because Joseph and John are waiting for me.....yeah, I will just run in and get the grocerys and then I'll stop to talk with her.."

Yeah...so I totally did MY thing first and focused on MY mission to get the stupid groceries. And then of course, when I got in the car to head back home and passed the bus stop she was gone.  OF COURSE SHE WAS!!

"ahh....hailey...why didn't you choose GOD's mission...how in the world did you think that groceries and getting back to Joseph and John was more important than comforting a woman who could have been dealing with something really hard. She was alone, in the rain. A hug and just the fact that someone saw her and cared; that could have changed her life....or even just that day for her."

It's so frustrating. I hope God gives me more opportunities like that. But the fact is, that was an opportunity for me to help that particular woman and most likely I am not going to get another opportunity to touch her life and show her Jesus' love.

The big struggle for me as Honduras comes closer is to not let the cares of this world encroach on what really matters, which is my relationship with the Lord and walking in The Spirit.  I am tempted to put my "Honduras to do list" before my relationship with the Lord. I am tempted to put laundry, dishes, e-mail, selling and simplifying, what I eat and drink, etc...before seeking the Lord and building my Faith and being aware of His plan for my day, not my own.

Maybe you relate...maybe you don't...but this is a daily struggle for me and I am sure it always will be.  But I hope and pray that this struggle becomes less of a struggle and that I choose God's Mission over my own more times than not.  I pray that I making spending time with the Lord a priority so that I can have the wisdom and strength to resist the devil and his plot to keep me from pleasing the Lord and doing what is right and what is eternal.

What Paul says at the end of Romans 7 is a great encouragement to me:

"Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  Romans 7:26