The 4 Little Pigs!

For those of you whom we keep up with on Facebook this will be somewhat of a repeat; we simply ask for your continued prayers. : ) Our family is physically having a bit of a rough fall. Our bodies are trying to adjust to new seasonal allergies, local germs and city viruses. At least one member of our family has been ill in some fashion since late September. We were warned that this would probably be the case our entire first year in country, so we are trying to make healthy choices and strengthen our immune systems as we go. However, this last round of illness has really knocked us hard. It is most likely that we have had the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu). The official testing for the H1N1 is expensive and the hospitals are not giving it if a person has all of the symptoms as well as confirmed family, friends or school mates with the virus. All of that applied to us, so we have simply been trying to manage the illness the past 2 weeks by keeping hydrated and keeping fevers as low as possible. We thought we were out of the woods. Everyone had been fever and symptom free (aside from congestion) for 36 hours so we scheduled a well doctor's check last Wednesday(requirement to go back to school); however, in the early hours of the morning the virus came back stronger than before. William stared vomiting and running a fever again, Grace's headache returned and Matt came down with all the symptoms! After almost 12 hours of constant vomiting, William was extremely dehydrated and needed medical intervention. I took him to the hospital where for almost 48 hours he received IV fluids, anti-nausea meds. and antibiotics. He was one miserable little boy. If you know William's past history with asthma and phenomena, you will realize what a miracle and answer to prayer it is that his lungs were basically clear. They showed a little congestion, but not so much so that he required any treatment. Grace continued with headaches and body aches for an additional 24 hours. She is now (aside from a little congestion) symptom free. Matt continued with digestional issues and a high fever for 5 days. (48 of the worst hours of that time he was by himself trying to take care of Grace!) He is basically on the mend now. He is weak and tired, but good. He and William both contracted a secondary bacterial infection. They say that is very common with H1N1. I am tired, as you can imagine, but overall good. I have hearing loss in my left ear so my current head congestion is a bit maddening. I feel like I am in a fog and talking in a can. I also get dizzy easily. Thank you so much for your prayers and emails. You have been such an encouragement. Our team here has been amazing, too. We are so blessed.
We realize that this too will make us stronger...physically as well as emotionally and spiritually if we look for how the Father is working. We are not surprised that new relationships were formed in this process, and we were able to test how deep in relationship we are with some people. I cannot tell you how touched I was the night William needed to go to the hospital. Some American friends of ours volunteered to take us and help me with translating (& much more!); however, traffic was stacked so they did not reach William & me as quickly as they had planned. This left us at the street curb in front of our building for a little while. During that time, many of the people on our street that we have been getting to know left their businesses and came to us asking how they could help; they brought us chairs; and offered their traditional words of "get well" and "blessings". It was very touching. Over the last 3 days, many have come to check on us, bring us food and offering their well wishes. God is good and we are praising Him for the opportunity to go deeper in shared relationships with people. He works all things for HIS glory. Remembering tonight to turn ALL things into Praise for Him, AT


"Blessed be Your name when the road is marked with suffering; when there's pain in the offering; Blessed be Your name!"

What am I hungry for?

In my last post, I talked about chewing on the Word throughout the day, so with Thanksgiving plans in the air and that in mind, I guess the next challenge to me should be in regards to my daily diet. What does my appetite look like? Am I filling up on the junk of man's approval, the pleasures of material possessions, the security of a money in the bank - my personal sin list goes on and on... I find it interesting that when Jesus fed the 5,000 He did so with barley bread - cheap bread. I believe this was no accident. I think He was trying to make a strong point about filling up on what the world has to offer. After this miraculous event, the people still did not understand that they needed to make a change in their feasting habits or they would always be hungry. They found Jesus and asked for more cheap bread. In John 6, Jesus replies to their request, "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you..." Still not understanding, the people asked for bread again. Jesus replies, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." Now, in their ignorance they began to grumble. Jesus responds by saying, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died....I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever....My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink." As a result of this, the Bible says that many withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Was Christ really asking too much of them? Is He asking too much of us? How many times have I chosen to pull up to the Father's table only because I "needed" something? Maybe my desire was healing, direction, wisdom or any number of noble things, but my reasons have been the same - Do this Father and You will get glory. I will praise you. People will see Your power. This may be true and I may have been sincere, but when did I become the manager of God's glory? (love that question by JoanneShelter in her book And the Word came with Power ) When did I gain the wisdom of knowing what is best or obtain the right to sit on the throne of my life? Will I walk away from the Father's table still not satified because I am asking for cheap bread? A few years ago, Pastor Jordan Fowler from NorthWood Church gave a very tangible illustration during one of his sermons. He sat down to a table on the stage and proceeded to eat, and eat and eat chips leaving no room for a friend's prized steak or his mother's wonderful pie. His question to us was, "What are we filling ourselves with and missing out on God's best?" I wrote a blog in May asking myself that very question, "What am I full of?" Click here to read. Looking at what I am full of will certainly tell me what I have been feasting upon. I know all too often I get stuffed/satisfied with chips so much so that I am not hungry for food that is the most beneficial. Am I satisfied with the cheap bread/chips that God provides? Don't get me wrong, He does give us "cheap" things or babyfood to teach us to trust Him and rely on His provision...and those things are needed and enriching. However, now that I am a growing believer am I asking God for more nourishing things that will sustain me and provide lasting fruit? Let it not be said to me, "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able." 1Cor.3:2 May my diet be of the fresh and new foods that the Lord desires for me. May I sit down at His table daily and feast upon the portion He has for me...not so that my belly is full of milk, but so that I am empowered by His meat portion. I do not want it to be my story that I grew weary because of only eating cheap bread and "withdrew and was not walking with him" because I could no longer grow by chips alone. My prayer today is that I learn to chew on meat (the hard things; the things that make you ask more and more questions) so that by filling my stomach with a new feast I am able to be sustained in the work He has for me and the fruit that I pass on to others is pleasing to the Father and lasting in His Kingdom.

Working on a New Diet, AT

PS: The pictures are of a turkey craft project that our sweet Grandma Lisa Jump sent to the kids. William's turkey is "Super Turkey". His alias is Mr. Gobble. Grace's turkey is a princess. Thank you so much; all the crafts have really been helpful while we have been feeling so poorly. : )

Chew on this...

Well, there are just some things that go down in my experience book as, "really, did I just do that"... and there is not much more that can be said or done other than that... Yesterday, I had one of those experiences. You see, I have not been feeling well for a month. I have a head & chest cold or something - who knows. My neighbors and local friends have been giving me all kinds of home remedies, teas and herbs. I hate going to the doctor and in general take a more natural approach to things, so the experiments have not been bad. However; yesterday, I went to the bazaar with an older friend, and she was so concerned about my runny nose that she picked up a berry looking thing and told me to eat it. Now, my normal good sense was reminding me of what my momma told me as a girl, "Do not eat things off the bushes outside; they'll kill you!", but my new sense of wanting to blend with a new cultural was telling me to just eat it. Well, I'm not dead, but I do think my momma was right! Not all berries should be eaten! It was awful, and I had a down right terrible time getting the thing chewed and swallowed. I'll spare you the details on that end, but as I was spending time with the Lord this morning, I was hit with power of what it means to feast on the word and be nourished by the Father. I know all of my facebook friends are complaining about people skipping straight from Halloween to Christmas, but I would like to ask you to think about the manger. I have always known that it symbolized God's humility, but I have never thought of Christ being placed in a feed trough as representation of Him being our nourishment. Ann Spangler in her book Praying the Names of Jesus says, "As you meditate on God's Word, remember that meditation simply means to ponder or to chew on something." I had to ask myself the question, "What am I chewing on?" If Christ is the only thing that can heal and sustain me, provide for my needs, be the words of truth I need to speak, etc. etc....then what do I have in my mouth!? What I am putting into my mouth to chew will for sure be evident in what I do and say. How often do I pop in a berry that should not be eaten? How often do I keep things mulling around in my mouth because "my good sense" - Holy Spirit - is telling me that what I have put in is not meant to be swallowed!? As we approach our "day of Thanksgiving", our family is taking time daily to CHEW over the many things for which we have to be grateful. I am now challenging myself to wake up each morning and pop in a new mouthful of HIS Word. I have a daily practice of reading the Word, but I need to pinch off at least a small bite to chew on for the day so that as I speak what is in my mouth is not just my own flesh.

Small Bites, AT

PS: The pictures are of the type of pumpkin we can get here. A whole one is quite large. It is green on the outside and reminds me of a "Cinderlla" pumpkin. I bought a bag of cut pieces at the bazaar. I think I am going to try to make "sweet potato casserole" with it since we can not get yams here.

Sewing Seeds of Love by Way of Candy!

Last year, I wrote a post titled - The Reason We Participate. You can click here if you would like to read some of our thoughts on Halloween in American culture. This year we had assumed that since Halloween is not celebrated in our new culture, we would likely no longer participate as a family since the main reason we did in the States was to be light and love to our neighbors. However, during the Seker Byram (click here to read more), our new local friends told us that they give candy like we give candy "when we celebrate witches". As you can imagine, Matt and I were horrified that they thought that Christians participated in any type of witch craft, but we did not have enough language to really explain ourselves or go into a lot of details on what we believe. Over the course of the last month, God really convicted us about using Halloween (Hallow's Eve - night before All Saints Day click to read great history on the TRUE beginning) as our first opportunity to "share" with our friends. After looking at a fall magazine that was sent to us by family (thank you Lisa Jump!), God gave me the wonderful idea of making "owl cookies". Giving food in this culture is a BIG deal. We don't have oreos, m&ms or moon pies here, but I could find substitutes...and since my mother sent the candy corn & icing, I had all the ingredients for a super sweet treat! We kept 2 extra American children this weekend, so the kids had a great time making the special cookies (mostly eating the fixings!) and an owl craft. The theme all weekend was "Not to worry, God takes care of the birds - HE will take care of you". This was a fitting theme for bird cookies, for children missing mom & dad, and a good platform conversation for our new local friends. We were able to explain that we do not give out candy to ward off evil; to worship the dead; or practice magic. We give to show our friends and family how much we love them and how we trust God to protect and care for us. We also take time on this day to remember those that gave their lives for Christ. PTL - our treats and words were well received. We are so thankful for all that God is doing in and around us. We feel truly blessed that God has us right where we are. We hope that you were able to find ways to share God's truth and light to those around you this weekend. It will still be a matter of prayer and discernment for us, but I believe we will now try to be even more purposeful about looking for ways to share truth to those around us during this time. I also know that we are even more convicted about teaching our children about our Christian heritage and what we should be remembering this time of the year. We have been challenged to not only set aside a time each year to give thanks, celebrate Christ's birth, and rejoice in the ressurection, but to remember those that gave their lives for the gospel.

Hope Your Time Was A Hoot! AT

William Turns 8!

Yes, the Buster is 8! Wow!! Despite being a little "homesick" at first and not looking forward to his birthday, William ended up having a great time of celebrating. Over the weekend, we had 3 boys come over for pizza/ice cream/games/movies, etc. They had a wonderful time. I am going to start calling them all "Garbage Collectors"....the 4 love to invent things. During the course of the evening many things once considered trash became amazing treasures!

William was THRILLED to discover on his birthday morning that he had packages from both sets of his grandparents and his great-grandparents. I had to throw in the picture of William's response to Grace buying him a present with the money that she had been saving. (I love those two cuties!)

Matt made "Nate the Great" pancakes for breakfast; we ventured out to Burger King (and the spice bazaar!) for lunch; and we had a local family over for "pasta" i.e. cake in the evening. The bakery gave us sparklers to put on top of the cake....this made William a little nervous as you can imagine.

He ended his day with several calls to the states (PTL that the line was working!). He was able to talk to his dear friend, Hannah which brought tears to his eyes (and mine!) and was a great way to end the day. Our God is good! Rejoicing in sweet blessings for the day and still rejoicing in the miracle of a precious boy. AT

The Kids' New School

It is hard to believe that the kids have been attending a local school for almost 4 weeks. They have missed a few days due to illness, William's birthday and now a national holiday, but it sure seems like the time is rolling by. If you do not receive our prayer emails, let me catch you up on our language learning progress. The kids were with us for most of phase 1 of our language program. (click here to read more about the program) They were tutored by a local for a month, and now they are enrolled at a private "Kid's Club". Kid's Clubs are somewhat of a mix between an "after school program" and a preschool. Due to overcrowding, public schools are only half days. Many children are simply cared for by family or work in their parents' businesses the other half of the day, but a few attend a Club. On an academic level William and Grace have well mastered (in English) what is being taught. This makes for a wonderful learning environment for simply soaking in language. We have been very pleased with the staff and teachers. They all seem very helpful and caring. As you can see in the pictures, all of the staff and teachers are conservative and/or covered. As you think of us, please pray that the children adjust and pick up language at a positive pace. I am sure you can imagine that the task is hard and tiring. The kids are keeping positive attitudes even on hard days. They truly want to make friends, but most days we all have to remind ourselves why we are doing this. Pray that we are able to continue to keep that right perspective and that we are able to be a blessing to this school & a light in the new relationships that we are building. The kids are continuing their homeschool academics in the morning and attend the local school from 1-5pm. Matt & I are in language class in our home while the kids are at school. It makes for long days for all of us, but God is good!

Resident Visas

Well, here are our mug shots for our new resident visas. We didn't know we were going to be taking pictures. The forced smiles, crazy hair and tired looks on our faces are a real testimony of how we felt that day! We brought several pictures with us from the states for visa purposes, but new ones had to be made. (who knows why...we stopped asking questions like that 3 months ago!) It has been a crazy time, but we feel blessed knowing that it could have been much worse. We have many friends all over the world going through much more of a "hassle" than we did.....and I know we would all say that it is worth all the time on paperwork, time in travel, all the WAITING, every headache & every dime!

We are also blessed that we were able to obtain resident visas instead of having to renew travel visas. Travel visas require you to leave the country and re-enter. They are also only good for 90 days. Our resident visas will allow us to be here until 9/30/10.

We trust the Lord to work out the details for next year in HIS perfect timing. Right now, we are thankful for where HE has us, and we'll be faithful to serve Him in the year that He has provided.

"Do not worry about tomorrow..." Rejoicing in what HE is doing today!
AT