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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

thoughts from "the dark side" (a.k.a. Ryan)

Erin has often accused me of being the “writer” in the family. I don’t know if this is really the case, but I do love to communicate and just about any opportunity to do so I rarely pass up. So here goes my first ever “blog posting”…

In a recent phone conversation with my sister (Tamarah a.k.a. TA) we found ourselves on the topic of control. Who really has control? Sure, the Christian world view demands that we believe God is in control, yet so few live like they actually believe this. As TA and I dialogued I found myself saying to my sister that in my reality I simply don’t believe that I can control anything, so in my mind only God controls anything. I’ve learned when I make statements like this God tends to say “Ok…prove it!”

As I’m sure all of you know Erin and I have begun the official process of going into full time missionary service. The fact is we’ve been about this process for many years, but now we find that all the little steps of faith have finally culminated into this last and final step that requires quite possibly the biggest step yet. God has always been very gracious to us, and I’ve never doubted that my God will provide all our needs. Yet in some small way I have taken comfort in the fact that I was bringing home a paycheck that was used to take care of the family that God had given me. Yet when we’re talking about becoming missionaries we’re talking about relying on God and His people to literally put food on the table for my family. I find humility to never be an easy bite to swallow but the fact is the pride I used to take in “bringing home the bacon” is now gone, and once again humility is being experienced in a new way. This process is very overwhelming, but yet I know that God will provide. All the things I’ve taken for granted all of my life, things like food, shelter, healthcare, etc. are no longer things that I control but rather God does. The question I find myself asking is was it ever within my control to begin with?

Please pray for us as we take these steps of faith, and pray that we will continue to trust in God and not in our own understanding.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

SNOW, SNOW, everywhere there's snow!!!






From Winter '08-'09
This year we were excited to find ourselves in the NW for the giant "Artic Blast!!" It was great we arrived up in Portland in the middle of their "big freeze," where temps didn't seem to get above freezing for two weeks.





From Winter '08-'09
And then on top of that they got over 18" of snow (I think my parent's had closer to 24") and it didn't go away for a couple of days, which is VERY unusual for the NW. This weather change gave Ryan & I a chance to show off our Colorado snow driving skills in our Subaru as we ferried people around town & enjoyed some peaceful days up at my parent's house enjoying the snow. It's amazing how in the pre-Christmas frenzy all is set aside when you can't go out & go shopping & you "have to" stay at home & just spend time with family. We enjoyed snowshoeing, sledding & "hookie-bobbing" as my Dad likes to call it. Micah & Ella play at Grandma & Grandpa's!!





From Winter '08-'09
Preparing to go snowshoeing (Micah absolutly loved it!!)





From Winter '08-'09






From Winter '08-'09
Micah tells everyone to "Hurry up!! I'm ready to go!"





From Winter '08-'09






From Winter '08-'09