Quote

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
~Isaiah 6:8 NIV
"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
~Micah 6:8 NASB

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Passion: We are Hungry

Lord I want more of You

Living water rain down on me
Lord I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me up

Lord I want more of You
Living water rain down on me
Lord I need more of You
Living breath of life come and fill me up

We are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for more of You

Lord I want more of you
Holy Spirit rain down on me
Lord I need more of you
Living breath of life come and fill me up
chorus x2

More of You
We are hungry for the more of You
We are thirsty (thirsty)
We lift our holy hands up
We want to touch You
We lift our voices higher and higher and higher to You

We lift our holy hands up
We want to touch You
We lift our voices higher and higher and higher to You
chorus x2

We lift our holy hands up
We want to touch you (We are hungry for more of You)
We lift our voices higher and higher and higher to you
We lift our holy hands up (More of You, more of You)
We want to touch you (More of You, more of You, more of You more of You, more of You, yeah)
We lift our voices higher and higher to You

We lift our holy hands up (We are hungry, We are thirsty
We want to touch you (We are hungry for the more of You)
We lift our voices higher and higher to You
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/passion/#share

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What a Beautiful Weekend

I had a great weekend.  The  crisp cool air and the beautiful trees.  I love this beautiful fall weather.  I actually had both Saturday and Sunday off work.  That doesn't happen very often, unless I request it.

Saturday: On Saturday, I went to my first Women's Conference.  The North Central District of the Missionary Church had their Annual Women's Conference.  The church we are now attending is a part of that.  I decided to go because the speaker was a missionary with Wycliffe and I thought it might be cool to hear from someone else who actually works with them already.  The conference was in Shipshewana at the Farmstead Inn.  That area is so beautiful.  It seems so peaceful out there.  I was really glad to see other people from church there, since I had no idea who else was going.  I'm glad I went though. 

Jan Benson was the main speaker and she has been serving in Peru for the last 30 years.  Gospel Center was their sending church and has supported them for over 30 years.  They had their Bible dedication in August where they delivered the completed Bible to the people they had been translating it for.  She showed a video of the dedication and it was so exciting.  The people looked so happy.  These are people that 40 years ago didn't even have their language written down and now they have the Bible printed in their language.  The next step is to continue to teach the young people to read and write, so they can continue to study the Bible and maybe get sent out as a missionary themselves.  God is at work!  There are about 2000 languages left that need a Bible in their language.

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Philemon 1:6

One big thing I took away from the day is that if God calls, then he will provide us with whatever we need.  Life as a missionary in an unknown country can sometimes be scary or stressful.  You may have to work with people that you don't work well with or the people you are called to serve may not receive you with open arms.  But God can use us even when we don't understand why things are happening.  After the conference was over, I introduced myself to her and told her that Steve and I were in the application process for Wycliffe.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37

On the way home, since I was in Shipshewana, I had to stop my Das Essenhaus and pick up some tasty food.  I got some Apple Cinnamin Bread and some Black Bean Salsa. Both were spectacular.  Then I rushed home hoping to get home before the Notre Dame game started since I only live a few minutes from campus.  I didn't want to get stuck in the traffic going to the game.

Sunday: We got up and went to small group and church.  The speaker from Saturday's conference and her husband spoke at church.  He talked again about the work they did in Peru.  The Missions Committee was taking them out to lunch and invited us to come along.  We were babysitting our favorite girls on Sunday too and since we didn't want to be rushed at lunch, we picked up the girls and brought them with us.  We went to Ho Pings House Chinese Restaurant.  It was pretty tasty and it the lunch special prices were good.  I feel like we made some new friends. I love knowing they they will be praying for us as we continue to Wycliffe journey. 
When we got home, the girls wanted to play some Mario Cart with Steve.  Kariana helped me make some Turkey Pumpkin Chili for dinner while Steve got the games set up.  She learned how to saute peppers and was pretty excited about that.  She said that even though she doesn't like vegetables, she still likes to saute them.  I love that girl. She cracks me up.  She also helped wash some dishes afterwards.  I also made some pumpkin cookies too with the leftover pumpkin.  The girls and Steve took a break from playing Mario Cart for some "snack time" and enjoyed them very much.
After some tough Mario Cart matches with Steve where Kariana actually beat him once, the girls relaxed and played until their dad came to pick them up.  After the girls went home, Steve and I relaxed around the house, ate some dinner, and relaxed some more.  It was a great ending to a great weekend.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Wycliffe Application Process Continues

I think I had a pretty productive night tonight.  First, I started dinner in the crock pot.  I'm making some Italian Country Ribs.  They should be great.  Then I started some laundry, folded it, and put it away.  The last load is currently in the dryer.  Then I started some dishes in the dishwasher.  I love the feeling of accomplishing stuff and getting the house clean.  It still needs some work, but it's a start.

Steve and I have about 20 days left to finish our Wycliffe application.  The only part that we have left to do is the summary of our Church Interview.  It was a dinner interview, so I had to cook for everybody.  I made some Parmesan Chicken and they turned out great.  I made some rice, corn, and fruit salad to go with the chicken.  Lance and John said if I wasn't good for Wycliffe, I was definetly good at making chicken.  I thought the interview went great.  It was neat and helpful to meet with someone who had actually grew up as a missionary kid.  I think we interviewed them as much as they were interviewing us.  We discussed everything from raising kids to partnership building.  Now the only thing we have to wait for is one more reference for me to come in and we are done with the application.  Once our application team looks over our application, we can move forward in the process. The next step is to be assigned a ministry location and start our Equip training.  This has been a long application process.
Baked Parmesan Chicken! Yum!


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Smile on this Rainy Day!


Proverbs 15:13: A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

"Be glad today for the clouds or the rainbows. Both are meant for your good. And without both, neither has meaning." Anonymous

Friday, October 7, 2011

Thursday Date Night: Rio


I love Thursdays from Red  Box.  Every week, I get a code texted to my phone for a free movie.  Last night for dinner, I made a Cheesy Chicken and noodle casserole with green/red peppers and mushrooms.  It turned out great.  Very cheesy! 

Then we went over to our local Red Box and picked out a movie.  Steve wanted to see Rio.  It's a movie about a bird that gets bird-napped by an exotic pet shop and ends up lost in a small town in Minnesota when he fell off the truck.  He is found by a little girl who raises him as her pet.  She names him Blu.  He is a very spoiled, happy bird until a scientist comes to find him and says he is the last of his species.  The scientist has found a female blue Macaw and they only way for their species to survive is for them mate and have baby birdies.


After much prodding, the girl, who is know an adult, decides to bring her bird to Rio de Janero, Brazil with scientist.  The scientist runs a bird refuge that finds injured birds in the wild or rescues them from smugglers.  They arrive in Brazil just in time for the annual Carnival festival.  Blu and the female Macaw, Jewel, are again bird-napped by some local smugglers.  Blu must learn to trust his new friends and learn to survive out in the unknown wild.  It's a really cute movie about a bird who never learned to fly, who has lived as a pet his whole life, and never really had any bird friends. 

In all the adventures, Blu must gain the courage to learn to fly, develop friendships, and learn the value of family.  I thought it was a good story about perseverance, believing in yourself, and getting outside your comfort zone.
Definitely Pitney Approved.  Rated: G