Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Quick update...

Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. We are in the midst of packing and sorting and selling and posting and stressing..... We are grateful for continuous provision! It looks like Richard has a great job offer from a church just right around the corner from where we live. It is only a 12 hour a week job but he actually might be offered the exact same job at another church for the exact same amount of time...So that would probably work.... Thank you for your continuous prayers. We are feeling your support and are excited what the next 3 weeks will bring along.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but HE is strong!"

We have to stop some times and just ponder that little truth. It is often a bit of a side thought....Oh, Yeah great, and by the way Jesus loves me...yay, yay, yay.
It actually needs to be my EVERYTHING! That the son of God, creator of the universe, who sacrificially gave up his companionship with God and died on the cross so we can live a life that has forgiveness, joy and peace beyond our own comprehension is just that....beyond our comprehension.

We have a lot going on right now.

Richard is getting ready for the last House Boat Camp with the Generation 24/7 Ministry and I am basically keeping the kids entertained as well as selling one big furniture item after another. We got a few moving bids from big companies like Allied, United, and Mayflower, and have decided that it is too expensive to move anything more then just the basics. So we are only taken books we cannot replace and clothing. We have not decided yet if we should ship everything directly to Germany (where there is very little storage opportunity without having to pay a lot) or take it all to South Carolina and then ship it from there. - Please pray for peace of mind and clear understanding on what we need to do.
 
And so I come back to "Yes, Jesus loves me".

Richard and I where sitting down to watch the movie "Lincoln" last night. (It was a bit slow and I personally fell asleep after 5 minutes, but that is what I do with every movie, so don't let that be the indicator of how good the movie was...). Ana sleeps next door to the TV room and suddenly we heard her singing.
We turned the TV off and just listened. All was dark and silent and we heard her voice forming a melody and creating words. It was clearly the song verses and chorus of "Yes Jesus loves mEEEE". Not just is she saying words she also hit the melody pretty accurately. It does not seem like anything big, but we as her parents who have been praying for her to know God, and to know that she is deeply loved and wanted by the creator of the universe this was a special moment beyond description. So long we have waited to hear words and a voice from her and now the very first sentences she is forming are geared towards her God and King. If we are rejoicing over this worship we are experiencing how much is God and the Angels rejoicing! In German we call it "Jauchzet"!

 And as so many things with our kids, we are reminded about the real truth and the actual importance of life in the moments when everything is easy and reduced to simple truths.


 "...little ones to Him belong. They are weak but HE is strong!"


Friday, July 5, 2013

So we went on a shoe hunt!

Yesterday Ana arrived at home with only one shoe. The other one is usually able to be found under one of the other seats in the bus but this time it was gone. This is not the first time. She threw her shoe with the insert (orthodics) out the bus window about 3 months ago. I went on a hunt down International and FOUND IT!!!! The second time we did not even try....but the third time we are a bit exasperated. We do not have new orthopedics yet, so we bought some expensive good running shoes for her. Her feet are very low tone and desperately need support. Well, she threw it out again...I can't even imagine how she manages to get the shoe out of the small, high window in her bus....





So we went on a shoe hunt. The bus driver was very kind and tried to write down all of his stops and turns. There are about 30. However, he was not totally clear on about 5 turns and so our try to follow the stops and turns was a total fail.

We also had all three kids in the back and Ana started crying her heart out after about 30 minutes of searching. Caleb was upset because he wanted to play ipad but the battery was empty and Lydia was crying because our DVD player had no sound. All three were definitely hungry and it was hot....

Really! Is looking for one half of a $70,- pair of shoes worth all of this.....

I don't think so. (We did end up having to buy another pair.....)

We ended up eating at a Taqueria somewhere on Foothill Blvd (not so safe area). And I have to say, we found our next favorite Mexican place. The food was awesome...and that is not just because we were all hungry. ...







Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Moving and packing!


Today we had our first representative from a moving company come to our house to give us an estimate. As he walked through our...very messy.... house, he was able to very quickly gather information and calculate what we have. We are not taking a lot of furniture but it looks like we will still have about 80 boxes. 80 BOXES?????? That is way too much stuff. We are taking about 40 boxes of books. And then there is everything else. Kitchen stuff - only a few pots and pans and the nice china as well as the mixer, bread maker, steamer etc....This is stuff I want to take to South Carolina but will not take it all the way to Germany....




All my music I accumulated during the years. Toys, Linens, a few tools, our camping stuff.... Let's see how much that will cost us. We might have to really be more radical. Please pray that we can make wise choices about what to take and what to leave behind....