Are you excited?

We have 2 weeks left here in the city where we've lived for the past 8 months of language school. Honestly, it's been hard to answer the questions recently.  I know everyone means well and I am thankful that they care enough to ask...but here is some of what I've been hearing...  Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are excited about your trip?  Are you excited to move?  What are you excited about?  Are you packed yet? Are you nervous?  What are you looking forward to? etc.

I have almost felt guilty that I haven't had any strong feelings about the imminent move.  I'm not super stressed or overwhelmed (yet!), but I'm also not super excited.  I see many of the challenges ahead of us (another transition...) and maybe it's the realist in me that knows it's not all going to be wonderful.  I have moved more times in my life than I can count.  Since we've been married, my husband and I have moved 7 times.  SEVEN times.  This one will make 8.  8 moves in 6 years.  And you know what, there are lots of things I like about moving.  I really enjoy packing (seriously, I'm not being sarcastic! Maybe it's my love for organization?).  I love flying.  I love airports (good thing I married a pilot, huh?) I enjoy the excitement that comes with being in a new place, exploring, discovering and settling in.  BUT, I am also well aware of the hard parts....the time it takes to build deep, meaningful relationships.  Time to get connected into community.  Transitions with little kids:  acting out, temper tantrums, sleep disruptions, tears. Missing the place, people, life you just left (and all the other places and people you aren't with, because being in a new place always brings out those "homesick" feelings).  Moving is hard.

In the midst of all this that has been on my mind, God spoke to my heart in church today.  Essentially what He communicated was that I should be excited about what is about to happen- the move, the transition, the new.  NOT because it will be all wonderful.  But because HE is going with us. 

I was reminded of a conversation with my 3-year-old the other day.  He said, "Jesus is going to be with us in P." 
Whoa, I felt like God was speaking to me through my child...
"Yes, buddy, He is going to be with us in P....and He will be with us in H...and on the airplane...and everywhere we go."  

I am filled with excitement just knowing that HE will be there!  HE has plans for our family.  HE has lead us each step of the way to this point in our lives and I know without a doubt that He will continue to lead.  HE will be with us, through all the transitions, all the hard parts and all the exciting parts.  HE has promised to NEVER leave us or forsake us.  What a powerful, comforting promise. 

For those days when you just want a Frosty, but Wendy's is 5000 miles away....

Missy's Frosty (a.k.a Chocolate Milkshake)
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 1/2 cups powdered milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
4+ cups ice

Blend all together in a blender until smooth.  Makes 4 adult size milkshakes.

Ayam India Recipe (Indian Chicken)

Our family absolutely loves this dish!  We discovered it after moving here, although it's technically from India.  I wanted to share it on here, so if any of you haven't tried it, you can.  It is so delicious!

Ayam India (Indian Chicken)
2 Tbl butter
2 Tbl vegetable oil
3 lbs chicken pieces without skin (with or without bone)
2 medium onions, chopped
3 Tbl flour
2 Tbl curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 cups chicken broth/bouillon

Heat butter and oil together in large skillet.  Flour chicken and fry in oil until browned.  Remove chicken from skillet and place in casserole dish/baking pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In remaining oil and butter sauté the onions until golden.  Combine flour, curry, ginger and salt.  Stir all into the onions and blend well.  Add honey, soy sauce and broth to onion mixture.  Cook over high heat and continue stirring until sauce thickens.  Pour all the sauce over the chicken, cover with foil and bake for about an hour.  Serve over rice.

Tiga Teman, Biking and Cuteness

Basket case!

The Three Amigos
(In Indonesian that'd be: "Tiga Teman")

B's bike seat
(which now has been padded with a covered cushion by his amazing Papa)

J's bike seat

The neighbors house and front yard
(notice the two tire swings, where our boys LOVE to play!
P.S.  The neighbors have about 30 dogs, 3 goats and 15 chickens :)

Hugging or Wrestling?  Or both?

Watching the neighbors' animals

We see a lot of this all day!

Too many to declare

"Many, O Lord my God, 

are the wonders you have done.  

The things you planned for us

  no one can recount to you; 

were I to speak and tell of them, 

they would be

too many to declare!"

 {Psalm 40:5}

Wow, this verse resounds with me.  When I think about all that God has done for us, for our family, I feel like there really are "too many to declare!"  Many of these significant events have occurred in the last 2 years, as we have taken steps of faith to follow the journey God had obviously chosen for our family.  I say "God had obviously chosen" this journey for us, because time after time HE accomplished things that looked impossible.  Things that no matter how hard we had tried to make them happen, would NEVER have happened without God.  Although I know "no one can recount" all that He has done (because seriously, how many things has He done that we are not even aware of!), I want to make a record of some of those things we experienced.  I want this record to serve as an encouragement to others, as well as a reminder to ourselves.  In the Old Testament, the Israelites would set up rocks or monuments as reminders of BIG things that God had done.  A reminder to themselves, but also to their children (and children's children...).  So when the kids saw the pile of rocks and would ask, "What's that, Mom?  Why is there a big pile of rocks there?", they could recount of the miraculous things that God had done.  I would love to set up some rocks....but with our family, it wouldn't really work, since we keep moving! :)  So, here's my rock pile (of sorts).

ROCK #1:  K finished his aviation degree at Moody.  

This was a miracle.  Anyone who knows anything about funding for college, specifically aviation training in college, knows that it is eXpensive. We did not have the money PERIOD.  My salary paid for our rent and food expenses. That was it.  But somehow (and really only GOD knows how), we were able to pay for each month's bill at Moody.  

He is our Provider.

ROCK #2: Our organization allowed us to join sooner than we anticipated. 

This part of our journey has a long story behind it, but the short of it is that God's timing was absolutely perfect.  Part of his timing included us waiting 7 excruciatingly LONG months (which seemed that way mostly because we were not sleeping at all during that time, as B was still in the midst of his severe digestive problems as a baby).  But in hindsight, we can see that God's timing was so perfect, I mean like "to the day" perfect.  Really, NOT something we could have planned on our own.

ROCK #3: God provided exactly what we needed JUST when we needed it.  

God has often provided what we need at just the right time.  If we have had a deadline for needing a certain amount of money (which has happened quite a bit in the last 2 years of preparing for service overseas) or we were looking for a job (also happened multiple times with our many moves) or we needed a place to live, He almost always "waited" (in our eyes) until the "very last minute" (again, our perspective, not His!) to provide that for us.  What did I learn from this?  God desires that we TRUST Him.  What causes us to trust Him?  When things are out of our control and we have no idea how it will all work out, so all that we can do is trust God.  I know that God does not always answer these prayers in the way and time that we want/expect.  That does not mean that He is not trustworthy.  On the contrary, He is SO trustworthy, we can be confident that if something does not happen in the time/way we expect, He has something else in mind.  God chose to provide for us over and over, in miraculous ways and in His timing (which seemed like it was "cutting it close") to us.  Praise God that He is faithful and worthy of our trust!

ROCK #4: B's illness. 

 I believe one of the reasons God blessed our family with B and allowed him (and us) to experience 10 months of extreme digestion problems, was because He wanted to teach me to rely completely on Him.  I have to be honest....I went into motherhood (B was my first child) very proud.  I had nannied/babysat for 15 families prior to starting my own family. Four of those families had twins.  So my thought was, "As long as I only get one at a time, I've got this mother-thing down, no problem!"  HA!  I believe God knew my heart and loved me enough to break my pride.  I am SO thankful for His love.  10 months of a screaming child, who at his worst, woke up every 30 minutes at night, often times in excruciating pain (a couple times I considered taking him to ER when he sounds like a wounded animal that was dying...and there was NOTHING I could do to comfort him).  Anyone who has lived on less-than-enough sleep (i.e. mothers of newborns), knows how lack of sleep effects everything.  Your health, your attitude, your patience, your relationships, etc.  It was in the midst of this hardest time of my life, that God ministered to me in ways I had never experienced before.  Psalm 23:2, "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters."  This was a verse I clung to.  The image of lying down in green pastures (or anywhere for that matter!) brought so much peace to my weary, exhausted body.  I learned that God can actually give us physical REST and PEACE, even when we cannot physically rest.  This was miraculous in my life. 

 He is the PRINCE of PEACE.

ROCK #5: He brought us here! 

I still pinch myself sometimes, are we really here?  Since the time K and I started dating, we were headed in this direction: serving God overseas through aviation.  And here we are, in our new country, almost finished with our language school and only a couple months away from settling into our new "permanent" home.  When we were in the preparation stages, yes, sometimes it seemed like forever, but now that we are actually here, sometimes I can't believe it.  God did it.  And we are privileged to follow Him each step of the way, because He obviously loves us and knows best!

Rice fields and mountains nearby