Last missions conference of 2010

We just finished up our last missions conference for the year in Theodore, AL. It has been an incredibly full and fun autumn! We have single meetings until January and are trying to fill up our spring.

Our plans are that we leave in April for San Jose, Costa Rica for 9 months-a year. We will be studying Spanish there and immersive ourselves in the culture. We also hope to be part of a ministry there-to learn how Hispanic churches are run.

The LORD has provided 63% of our support during these 14 months we have been on deputation. It is thrilling and we can't wait to see how He will bring the rest in. We have several churches who have promised more support...so prayerfully it will come in the next few months.

Thank you again for your prayers and friendship! We would love to hear from you:)

Here is our latest family picture...


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The Land of Uz

Read this this morning...

Step into the time tunnel with me, and let's travel together back to Uz (not the wizard of, but the land of). Wherever it was, Uz had a citizen who was respected by everyone. Why? Because he was blameless, upright, God-fearing, and clean living. He had ten children, thousands of head of livestock, acres and acres of land, a great many servants, and a substantial stack of cash. No one would deny that he was "the greatest of all the men of the East." His name was Job, a synonym for integrity and godliness.

Yet, within a matter of hours, adversity fell upon this fine man like an avalanche of jagged rocks. He lost his livestock, his crops, his land, his servants, and all ten children. Soon thereafter he also lost his health.

The book that bears his name records an entry he made into his journal soon after the rocks stopped falling: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21).

Following this incredible statement, God adds: "Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God" (1:22).

The logical questions are, Why didn't he? What kept him from bitterness or even thoughts of suicide?

At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, I suggest three basic answers that I have discovered from searching through this book.

First, Job claimed God's loving sovereignty. He believed that the Lord who gave had every right to take away (Job 1:21; 2:10). Job looked up, claiming his Lord's right to rule over his life.

Second, he counted on God's promise of resurrection. "Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:26). Job looked ahead, counting on his Lord's promise to make all things bright and beautiful in the life beyond.

Third, he confessed his own lack of understanding. What a relief this brings! He didn't feel obligated to explain why (Job 42:2-4). Job looked within, confessing his inability to put it all together.

He rested his adversity with God, not feeling forced to answer why.

When we're looking in all the right directions, we won't take the wrong turn.

And here is a picture of out girls:)


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Drivin...

We are on our way from Azusa, CA to Morgan Hill, CA...doing our very most favorite thing (cough, cough) - driving!:)

Here are some pictures and we'll update when we have something more exciting to say:)












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be still and know that I AM GOD

thank you


The love and support we have received during the last few days has truly touched our hearts.  We appreciate your prayers and thank you for reflecting Christ and loving on us! 

“Peace be still.”

We were going to have a baby, but we had an angel instead. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways

In our last prayer update, we had shared that Susan was almost four months pregnant. 
As we know in life, sometimes our plans do not match the LORD’s plans, and we don’t always understand. August 23 was one of those days as Susan went in for a checkup.  
They found the baby had gone into Jesus’ arms a day or two earlier.  


We - as do all parents - wished to be able to hold our baby and tell him about Jesus. However, now, Jesus will be the One holding our baby - telling him about us. 

“So are my ways higher than your ways, 

and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Shiloh Eli

We named our baby Shiloh, “GOD’s gift.”  Shiloh was the place where Hannah took her baby...

and gave him to the LORD. GOD never moves without purpose or plan when trying His servant and molding a plan. 

Give thanks to the LORD, though your testing seems long. In darkness, He giveth a song!

AAAHH!!! Where do I start!!!??

We are very very wretchedly sorry about being such terrible bloggers. We have had lots happen...but just too incredibly busy to write about it! Sorry :( Don't hate us....just think...."Well, it is nice that they have picked it back up!" ;)


So....what's new? Well, Nic is currently on his way to Chattanooga, TN to attend the church-planting seminar for the second year candidates. That will be until the end of the week...from there he has a meeting in TN, then Iowa (I don't know the abbrev. for that:) )...then to CO.  The LORD has been moving mountains and has provided 52% of our support! 


The girls and I were supposed to be traveling with him...however, we are sort of....ummm....expecting another baby (I think we're due Feb 23, but haven't had a chance to see a dr. yet)......and with each new baby, comes days and weeks and months of....shall we say.....visiting the nearest available bathroom!! 


And as he was packing everything to take off for this next leg of our trips, I was having a hard time staying AWAY from those lovely bathrooms. Therefore, with all the love and graciousness of an amazing husband, Nic said that it was ok. I didn't need to drive those hours upon hours to get to those meetings. He will drive our van all the way across the country, and the girls and I will meet him at the meeting.  How incredible is he!? :) So, we girls have camped out with my sister (who has been a wonderful help in preparing meals and helping with the girls) for a few more days.


On a different note, we just finished our Smith family vacation (which I need to pause and say - I truly have the most awesome family in the world!) on Saturday. 

Here is a picture of our amazing family :)



Which was the perfect day to finish because it pretty much has not stopped raining since then.  During our family vacation, Jocelyn learned to jump off the diving board by HERSELF! She also had her 4th birthday party - oh my word!!!!! Evangeline learned to count from 1-10 alone (Jocelyn taught her:) ) and, I do believe, is potty-trained! :) Although, she tends to enjoy the method that the dogs use - and go outside. So, we are constantly hollering at her to pull her clothes up while she's playing outside....

My brother, Miah, and his wife, Sonja, got a puppy husky - 3 months old. super cute - his name's Diesel. and for some reason or other, I got selected to babysit him today. along with my two children, barfing stomach, developing baby, and Tucker (my sister's 7 month old Maltese puppy...for half the time).....lovely. ;) I was in the middle of making the girls lunch when I heard scratching. Diesel had jumped up on the screen sliding door (which he KNOWS he's not allowed to do), so I opened it to smack his nose. which then turns into him jumping backwards, knocking over the two almost finished pitchers of sun tea.....which HAPPEN to be sitting in front of Joc - who then falls backwards onto the cement patio...followed by those two large gallon pitchers of tea....So now we have one yelping puppy, two empty pitchers of nothing, Joc sobbing about the whole ordeal, and Eve crying over WHO KNOWS WHAT!!?? she wasn't even involved!!! goodness gracious!

So then the phone rings. and Nic is on the other end. I answer it because I haven't had a chance to talk to him.  He hears Eve hollering and I kinda rushedly explain what is going on. He asks to speak with Eve. She kind of sobs some sort of story into the phone, then hands the phone to Joc.  Meanwhile, I am still chasing the floating tea bags around the patio, try to calm Eve down, and here Joc telling Nic her version of the story, then say, "yeah, and then we were freaking out!" :) 

hahahaha.

Thanks for keeping in touch and for reading. Hope you all have a fabulous rest of your summer:)


Suz

How have I been blessed...

let me count the ways...

BLESSING #34457702 :)
We just finished a conference at Loudonville Baptist Temple in Loudonville OH. While we were there....well let me back up a bit. ....before we left MI, we went to an ear nose throat specialist because Eve was having so much trouble with her ears. There was constant fluid buildup, she wasn't speaking very well still, and had failed a hearing test.

So...the ENT said that she needs tubes, and we scheduled surgery for April 6. Which would cost from $300 + hospital charges. AND even though it only takes 15 min., she needed to be put under (which terrified me).

BLESSING #34457703 :)
So right before we left, we were packing and getting ready, and my parents mentioned to us that possibly a chiropractor could help!

And so, while we were driving down to OH, I wrote our home chiropractor (which we had been seeing until we lost our insurance in Jan), and he said to find a local chiro. Then after church that night, I asked Chris (the pastor's wife) if she recommended anyone. She said she knew the PERFECT person and would set it all up!!

BLESSING #34457704
The next day, she and Dr. Tontoh Simpson worked out a time (on his day off) to adjust Eve. I took the girls to the appt (Nic was at a meeting in the afternoon), and Dr. Simpson not only adjusted Eve, but he then went on to test her for allergies.

BLESSING #34457705 :)
Although this might not sound like a blessing, the chance of knowing how to fix the issue is peace to my soul. He told us the Evangeline has allergies to dairy and gluten. (which, honestly, yeah I freaked out at first-"oh my word! That's everything!!")

BLESSING #34457706 :)
The entire visit-from start to finish-was completely free! And I'm sure he charges quite a bit-it is a very nice facility! And he and his wife Heather were incredibly encouraging! He told us how to adjust her diet and what to watch for, etc. Then I got a bunch more information from other friends as well! AND Evangeline has been talking up a storm-much more clearly than before!!!

So from the background, even though I cannot always see or understand the ways that GOD works, He has-yet once again-proven Himself totally and completely FAITHFUL!!!!

Now here are some "excerpts" from our lives......:)

*I was (quite awhile back) talking to a dear, sweet, older lady-who was just letting us know how much they appreciated us visiting....yet all the while-accidentally spitting in my coffee cup:)

*Everytime Joc sees any sort of blue or white flag, she says-"Look mom-Salv'door flag!":)

*We were getting the girls ready for church-washing them, yet we couldn't seem to find a plug for the tub. So Jocelyn pipes up, "I can be a big helper-I'll be the plug!"

*We were rushing to be on time (bit early) for a meeting...surprise surprise!:)...and while we were driving around a corner, beside a huge cliff and river, I look outside to see my purse-flying on the side mirror!!:) hahaha! So the next time we are getting ready to leave, Jocelyn (ever so sweetly;) ) reminds me, "Now mom don't put your purse on the mirror".

*We were eating pizza at a church (before we had found out that Eve was allergic to gluten), and when she saw the boxes, she hollered, "pizzaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

*Listening to songs from bible verses, Joc asked, "Why it's quench not the spirit?"

*Eve was making "Sssssssssssss" noises from the back, and Jocelyn hollers "but mom! I don't like snakes!":)

*Then the last...it's very hilly here in OH, and Jocelyn informed Nic today that the "hills hurt the body"

:)




Have a wonderful day!

Suz


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Get back on the stool

So.....I would love to glean from the wisdom of any and all parents....WHY is it so difficult for children to remember what you taught them? Why do they require gallons of re-training? Why is it so much easier for them to learn wrong instead of rubbing off the good they know!? (granted-our kids are NOT perfect! We do work continually with them in the process of "training them up"!:) ). YET in a matter of moments, things that we spent hours practicing or "remembering," IT ALL UNRAVELS.......

sigh. Although I do remember my mother teaching me this when I was younger. She had me stand on a stool, then said "Ok Susan, pull me up." And believe me, I TRIED!

Then she said, "Now I'm going to pull on you." And with a simple tug, I was off the stool-with a memory forever embedded in my head.

But why!?

I was just reading Job, trying to remember that no matter how many times we get "knocked down," we need to jump back up.

GET BACK ON THE STOOL.

Anyway, I just needed to write. To remind MYSELF of why I need to keep retraining and remolding. (if anyone has any pointers, I'd love to hear them!:) )

Love you and thanks for reading,

Suz


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