if only we all had this much love...

a friend of ours sent us these messages about her 4 year old son...


"So, tonight we were praying w/ the boys before bed and Colin started praying...."pray for 'Joshlyn' and I miss her..." Aaaand then he started bawling!! I said "what is wrong?" Colin "I miss her". Me "I'm glad she's your new friend" Colin "But now she's gone!" So precious and sad and funny!!! Hope all is well w/ you guys!!"


and then the next day...


"Hey, Still driving? Well, Colin had to be moved to my bed so that he would stop crying...fell asleep w/ your prayer card in his hand. When he woke up this morning he asked to call you guys. I said that I didn't have your number and he said..."yes you do,,,it's right here" he pointed to the back of your prayer card! haha...so..I told him we'd call today this afternoon. Have a great day!"

Picture

This was the book Evangeline decided to pick and read.



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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