Seasons are changing

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven...

Ecclesiastes 3:1

We have been so blessed with 6 months of beautiful weather.   The seasons are changing and I am finding more of God's beauty as the rain refreshes the jungles.   It seems like things are coming alive in front of our eyes.   It is such an amazing experience.   The colors are so vivid and the wild life so prevelaint that you can't help, but be in awe of God's creation.

The people here have so many fears related to animals, rain, and the land.   It breaks my heart that they are living in fear of something that is so magnificantly created.

God saw all that he had made, 

and it was very good.   

Genesis 1:31

Even the Christians we work with, when asked will admitt to still being in bondage to these fears and falsehoods.   They have not truly found their freedom in Christ.  My heart breaks for these people.   I pray that their eyes will be opened and their hearts opened to the truth!

As the season changes here and rainy season begins to settle in the lagoon in front of our house at times turns a bright red/orange color.   We have heard so many reasons for this that are so far from the truth.   The children are terrified of it.   They fear birdhouses because they could house a dwarf that steals the children.   Owls are feared as well.   It is so sad to live in a fear based culture where they can not enjoy the pleasant things that God has given us.

Please join me in praying for these people held in a bondange that only true faith in Christ can save them from.   Pray that those that already have the knowledge of Christ will come to completly understand what a relationship with Christ means. 

  

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?  

The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread?

When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,

My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear;

Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.

For in the day of trouble, He will hide me in His tabernacle;

In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;

He will lift me up on a rock.

And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,

And I will offer in His tent sacrafices with shouts of joy;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me.

When You said "Seek My face," my heart said to You 

"Your face, O Lord, I shall seek." ...

Psalms 27: 1-8

Some changes and an update

Okay, I (Natalie) have mostly been posting here, but Ryan and I have decided that we both want to contribute.   So, we are going to start each post with our name, so you will know who is writing.   This is going to be fun.

So, I am going to start by being honest, what's new?   Things are rough!   Yes, I knew this was coming and no, I was still not ready for it.   Ryan and I were fussy with each other and had to regroup today and get on the same page.   It has been several of days that have just been crazy weird and wild.   We had a family lunch with my parents and brother scheduled, but it had to be rescheduled and now they have the flu :(.   We had family coming in for Ryan's ordination service, but got snow instead and everything was rescheduled.   We packed our bags and were quickly overweight...onto plan b.  We sold our vehicles and had nothing to drive, Mari-Madeline had some weird virus.   You see what I mean, just a crazy week.   As, I sit here looking at it all, I can also see God at work.

Blessings during this all, I got to see a friends baby for the first time...what a gift from God.   A friend volunteered to drive us to Atlanta so we can fly out.   We sold our cars, and everything else we needed to sell.   We got to see one last snow.  More of Ryan's family is able to come to his ordination service.  We are learning what is really important when we pack.  We have our health.   This week I have learned to accept help from friends.   I am learning to let God be in control all the time!

So, even though it was a rough week, God was always there.  

We will be leaving Columbia on Tuesday February 15 and heading to Atlanta, we will overnight there and fly out early the next morning.  We have a layover in Florida and will get to Honduras just after lunch.   We will travel the rest of that day and overnight in a city.  On Thursday we finish our travel and get to our new home.

I will try and upload some pictures and update in Honduras.

Ahh, moving pains

No, not sore muscles, but pains of the heart.   We are so excited to move, but at the same time it does hurt to see your life changing.   The change is for the good, but still it hurts.   Today Ryan and his friend are removing the last of the items from our house.  After today we will have our mattresses, a tv, and a few items that Ryan's dad is keeping for us.   Laundry baskets will become our new dresser drawers and the kids plastic picnic table our dinning room table.   I will admit I am hiding in my room.   LOL!   I had to go make all the decisions about the items to be moved and then I retreated to my room.  I am not avoiding the move, but I am not actively involved. 

The tears have started to flow the past few days.   We are not heartless just because we are moving to another country to do God's work.   It is not any easier to leave friends and family just because we are Christians, we are still humans.   The one thing we do have is the peace that only God can give us and that is enough.  God is enough!  This past weekend we were able to see some of Ryan's family and tell them good bye or see you later and it was hard, but as we drove back to Tennessee we agreed we are ready to move.  You see we were at peace as we waved to them through the van windows, we felt God wrapping His arms around us and encouraging us all the way.  

Walker asked me today for our digital camera so he could begin making his memory album.  He has a list of people he wants pictures of and I am pretty sure 2 of the chickens are on that list also.  So, if you see Walker with a camera, just smile and say "CHEESE" because you are moving to Honduras with him.   This is going to be a fun activity for him and will give him something to do as we finish out these last few weeks here in the states.

The girls have been using more Spanish these days and are ready to be re-united with their loveys in Honduras.   They are so ready to see their new home.   Lorelai has a dear friend I want you all to pray for.  Her name is Meghan.  Meghan is Lorelai's age and they are good friends, Meghan wants to be a missionary also.  Please pray for her and her family as they follow God's will for their lives.
Mari-Madeline is just so loving and easy going.  She has been battling allergies for a few weeks so pray she feels better soon.

Thank you for all of your prayers.  Please continue to pray for our families and friends during this time of change. 

Lost Paperwork

The dreaded day has come. Some of the paperwork we need has been lost in the shipping world. One of our daughter's paperwork that we need to move was sent to us from Texas. The carrier picked it up in TX, but then has no record of it after that. Just because you have a tracking number does not mean they can track it. So, we wait for the carrier to try and find it in their "lost and found" department. If it is not found we will start the process over, a process that will take about a month too long.

To make things a little worse these documents are her identity and the carrier is concerned that her someone could steal her identity from the papers. Oh the joys of a world where one's identity is considered valuable to a thief.

This is just a minor setback and all things will happen in God's time. Just join us in prayer. I just pray that the carrier will show up today with these precious documents.

Love to all.

The countdown begins

I am so excited. It seems like just a few days ago I was fearful and weary, but God has taken those things from me and replaced them with excitement and peace. God is good like that. We have been so blessed and humbled by the love and support of everyone. God has been doing some amazing things in our family and I just want to share some of it with you.

Each child has had their own moment of frustration and fear of the upcoming move. Each one's has manifested in a way unique to the child. A few weeks ago Mari-Madeline was upset and Walker was comforting her and this was all he said "Mar, we have to trust mom and dad, because dad knows what God wants for our family." This settled her and she was fine after that. I was brought to tears and felt God wrapping me in His arms and saying I have taken care of it all, trust me. I fully trust God and to see my son trusting us and God just takes my breath away.

We got to spend a wonderful few hours with another couple that will be living with us in Honduras. Ryan and Chuck got to spend some guy time talking and Katie and I got to spend girl time talking. God has taken care of the details of personalities and friendship. We love Chuck and Katie and could not be more blessed than to be working with them in the field. Chuck and Katie volunteered to come to Tennessee and get all our things for the shipping crate; again this is God's provision alone.

Something that I will never be able to fully put into words is how humbled I am by all of our partners. We have had so many people join our prayer team and our financial team. God alone is in control of this and I am so grateful that our partners are with us. It is such a blessing to know that someone is praying for your family and ministry daily. We also could not be fulfilling our call to international missions without our financial partners. Thank you to all of you. We are at 31% of our monthly budget and have almost all of our one-time expenses covered.

I know this was long and thank you for reading it. God is good.....

God's Clock

Time seems to be moving so quickly these days. It seems as if God has sped up our clock. This is very exciting, but at the same time can be stressful if we allow it. I find myself pulling closer to God during these moments. I know He has a plan and if we listen to Him and obey Him it will work out for His glory.

We are almost through packing. All of our things we are taking will need to be in Mississippi before January 17th. They will then make their way in a large shipping container to our new home in Honduras. To me this kinda says, okay, this is permanent, we are moving! Exciting and frightening all at the same time.

We need prayers for the rest of the things we must finish here in the States. We are having to get a lot of documents "authenticated" for the Honduran government. This is a time consuming and confusing process. We also are working with the Honduras Consulate in Chicago to obtain our residency papers. Please pray that all of this will be taken care of in a very timely manner and that there will be few obstacles in the way.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership in our journey.