We've Got A New Creation

On August 29th (Jeff's birthday), Zoe accepted Christ as her Savior.  

Today, she was baptized.

Soccer Saturday

The girls' first soccer game was yesterday.  Both girls did a great job.  

 Great kick, Zoe!

Below, running with the pack - chasing that ball...

A very cute spectator (x2)...

As I look at my camera, it looks like I didn't get any pictures of Hadassah.  Don't know what happened there.  I'll post some after her next game.

Then and Now

After Florida, we got to swing by Mississippi to see some great friends.  The last time we were there was on our way to Zambia in April, 2009.  We thought it would be fun to take another picture of the kids after 3+ years.  

When I see this picture, one of the first things that I notice is all the gangly legs.  They have sure grown up in 3 years.

Below is Kayla and Hadassah - after a few minutes, they remembered that they were really long, lost friends.  

So sad that our life is all about hellos and goodbyes...

Still in Florida...

After Disney, we got to spend some time with my dad and stepmom.  

Yay for family!

A Few Magical Days...

We just returned from our Disneyworld Vacation.  We had a magical, whirlwind few days at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  

Here are a few pictures...

Family

The kids have had such a great time playing with some of their cousins.  The other set of their cousins are 18 years old and just off to college.  

We are so grateful for our family.

Pictures from the Last Month

I was tired of looking for my camera chord, so I did what everybody else does in the Land of Everything Available, I went and bought another one!  So here are some pictures from this past month.

We arrived back in Texas, just to leave for Virginia a week later.  After our STAS Conference, we headed to Kentucky to visit my family.  After a week, we left the kids with the grandparents and went to Whitestone Country Inn.  Jeff surprised me with roses, chocolates and sparkling grape juice.

We also took a carriage ride around the grounds of the Whitestone.

Just before we left Kentucky, Hadassah celebrated her 11th birthday.  It was the first one that she had ever got to celebrate with my mom and stepdad.

Some great family pictures...

Coming...?

Updates to come... 

I seem to have lost the chord that links my camera to the computer...

Wish me luck (blessings) as I continue to try to find it.

We are....

...at the Whitestone Inn.  

It has been an incredible 2 nights (1 still to go).  What a wonderful ministry the folks here at the Whitestone have!  We have greatly enjoyed our time but are very much looking forward to seeing the kids tomorrow.

We are back in the grand ole U S of A.  We have been here 18 days.  We are still trying to adjust to life here but that has been very difficult as we have been in a different state each week!  I hope to start documenting life here better as I get more steady on my feet.  Crazy but it was easier adjusting to African life than it has been to adjust back to American life....

Just Good....?

It’s a good story.  That is what she said when I told her the story of Nicodemus.  Good is not the adjective that I would have chosen to describe that story – life changing, astonishing and breathtaking might have been how I would have described the story that contains one of the most recognized verses in the Bible. 

Two days before, she had been thrown out of her house by her husband with nothing but a blanket.  She had come to the church, asking for help.  Since she is HIV+, we asked her to come by our house so that we could give her a BGR (Baptist Global Response) ‘Bucket of Love’ that is full of healthcare items for the terminally ill.  On a side note, I have given these buckets out to about 4 people now and more often than not, the women are most excited about the actual 5 gallon bucket and the zip lock bags which hold items such as petroleum jelly, Dove soap, Carmex, pillow cases, vitamins, washcloths and such.  J

It is such a great opportunity to share Jesus up close and personal to those that I give the buckets, so I chose to share with her the story of Nicodemus.  Many, many, many Zambians have a warped knowledge of the truth and really, have a lot in common with Nicodemus.  They can relate to Nicodemus being a religious man as a lot of Zambians do attend church but most are banking on their church attendance and their obedience to The Law to save them. 

After the story plus an in depth explanation of John 3:16, I asked her how she might want to respond and that is when she said, “It’s a good story.”  How heartbreaking.  Please pray for Claire - that she will come to know Jesus as her personal Savior and know the truth about how God so very much loved the world that…..Yes, you know the rest of the verse.  Please pray that Claire will finally understand the truth of this amazing story of God’s love.

What is in a word?

“Saudade”

It’s described as a unique word with no equivalent in English. It’s origin is Portuguese and it was first used in the 13th Century. It's a longing, a melancholy, a desire for what was. It is “Saudade”.

Many immigrants and refugees search for words that adequately describe their peculiar longing for what they left behind. Not the war and evil that is a relief to escape, but the land, the people, the food – all that encompasses that which is home. Doctors and nurses working with large populations of immigrants and refugees often simply put it down as “depression”.

In one instance I know of a health center that desperately tried to find out through a survey what percentage of their immigrant and refugee patients had depression. The survey was unsuccessful.  It did not reflect the narrative that these health care providers were hearing from patients. One day a woman from Haiti said to them “Have you ever thought about asking patients if they are homesick”. The looked at her in surprise. No – they had not. With a quick change of the word they felt they were more able to get to the heart of the feeling - but is it depression? Depression is defined as a “Severe despondency and dejection, accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.” and that is not what is usually described.

What is described are feelings so deep that you can scarcely give words to them. Your throat catches and you try and describe intense longing and desire only to remain wordless. How do I know this? Because I have experienced it first hand. What we long to describe is “Saudade”.

The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness. ~ In Portugal of 1912, A. F. G. Bell

For many there is a clear recognition that they will never go back to the place where they feel most at home. They realistically accept this but not without “Saudade”. A Portuguese friend of mine recently told me about her father. He is in his nineties and came to the United States with a large family over fifty years ago. A year ago he went back to Portugal for what everyone thought would be a short trip. Now over a year later, he is still there. All the years he was in the United States he had “Saudade”. He has gone back so he no longer has to experience this intense longing; he is back in a place where he is viscerally at home in a land that he loves.

Third culture kids often struggle to give voice to their longing. Well aware that they are not from the country(ies) where they were raised, they still have all the connections and feelings that represent home. When trying to voice these, others look on with glazed eyes. Just recently someone said to me “But you’re not an immigrant! You’re American!” The tone was accusing and it was meant to be. What was unsaid was “Give it a rest! We know you grew up overseas. Big deal. You’re American and you’re living in America…” Ah yes….but I have “Saudade” I have that longing for something that “does not and cannot exist” and I know that. On my good days it is well hidden under the culture and costume of which I am now living. But on my more difficult days it struggles to find voice only to realize that explaining is too difficult.

Finding this word gives voice to these longings. I have often been looked at with impatience “Third culture kids are not that different!” says the skeptic. “We all have times of longing” but I would gently argue that the experience is different. We are neither of one world or the other, but between. Our earliest memories are shaped by sites,sounds and smells that we now hear only in brief travels or through movies and television. All of those physical elements that shaped our early forays into this world are of another world. and so we have “Saudade”.

It’s funny how the simple act of discovering a word that gives meaning to those feelings can validate and heal. That is what I believe “Saudade” can do for the third culture kid.

The above was posted by Marilyn and taken from the blog www.communicatingacrossboundaries.blogspot.com.  

Not only does it sum up what a MK (missionary kid) or TCK (third culture kid) might think but it did a great job of putting into words what I feel most days.  Thank you, Marilyn, for voicing my heart.

Desperate...

Rachel Jones' blog post rings loudly with truth.  What do you think?

Some people tell me it is brave to raise my kids in Africa. They could get malaria or be bitten by a poisonous snake. They don’t have a Sunday School class. They can’t eat gluten-free foods. Their friends are Muslims. They live far away from cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.

My initial reaction is to be tempted to say, “Well, I think it is brave to raise kids in America.” I know my heart, my soul-shriveling tendency to love the world. I know my kids, how quickly they could be sucked into the idolatry of a nation whose church is the shopping mall and whose God is the latest iPhone.

But this kneejerk reaction is wrong because it assumes brave is the right word to use to describe parenting, whether in Africa or in the United States.

Brave is the wrong word.

Life As Fasting

Living overseas is a form of fasting. Fasting from the comforts of a would-be heaven on earth where there are hot showers, dishwashers and clothes dryers, fully-stocked grocery stores and someone else to teach piano lessons. Living overseas is fasting that says, “this much, O God, this much, I want to know you.” And, “this much, O God, this much, I want you to be known” (Michael Oh).

I want to know God deeply and I want him to be known so much that I will risk scary diseases, fast from my beloved family and worldly comforts, and teach my children to engage with neighbors of differing faiths. But to live and fast like that, to raise my children like that, isn’t brave.

When I think about mothering my three children who love this steamy, desert nation, I don’t feel brave. I feel dependent. Helplessly, desperately, breathlessly, clingingly dependent.

Dependent

Any mother, anywhere in the world, could receive a phone call in the next five minutes about a car accident. A child could decide Jesus is an imaginary friend and reject truth. Another could fall into immoral living.

There is nothing brave about loving little people who will grow up and could choose to abandon the things of God. But for dependency on the promises and character of God, there is terror and anxiety.

Being dependent isn’t just for mothers living in Africa. The only way to parent is with faith that God is able to keep and hold our children. The only way to parent is to be dependent on his sovereign plan and tender care for them. Dependent on the strength of the everlasting arms to hold us, to hold our children, and to keep us in perfect peace with our minds stayed on Him.

No, brave is not the right word for parents.

Dependent is.

Taken from www.desiringgod.org - written by Rachel Jones

WHO am I?

Coming to the field this time with three kids, I had an idea of what life would be.  I knew that I would basically be doing the same thing that I did in Texas.  I would still be homeschooling, taking care of my husband, cooking and making our house a home.  

What I didn't know was the joy that would be mine to be just exactly (and only) what God has called me to be - wife and mother.  Never mind that doing here all the things that I did in America is a hundred times more difficult and complex.  It is also many times more sweeter to do so.  Many days when I am juggling all that demands my time, I stop to thank the Lord for what He is doing in our lives.  

Is this the 'simple life' that everyone seems to crave?  Well, I can tell you one thing for very sure - nothing about living and ministering in the bush of Zambia is simple but it is simply a joy to do so.  

So, who am I?  I am exactly who God has called me to be.  What about you?  Has the world pulled you away from your first priority - being a wife and mother?  

Come back to who God wants you to be.

April in Lukulu

It is April.  I hear them.  Their noise is almost constant.  The local children are home on school holiday, yet they are mostly alone.  Babysitters are basically nonexistent in this culture although older siblings are usually around somewhere.  It hurts my heart that they are left essentially to themselves during these times – well, really, most of the time.  I pray for them.  Pray that they will grow in the knowledge of the Lord; that they will know the saving grace of Christ Jesus; that they will be safe and healthy; that someone will take an interest in who they are and cultivate their strengths; that they will feel special and loved.  I keep praying…

More Fun Times from Tshipise - 2012

Zoe and Hadassah

Evie and Hadassah

Levi and Evie

Tshipise-2012

We have had tons of fun at our annual meeting this year in Tshipise, South Africa.  A great volunteer team from Perryton, TX came to minister to all of us.  They did an incredible job!  We had a great day of picnic and games.  Each of us wore a colored bandana that showed which team we were on.  You can see that Zoe and Levi enjoyed wearing their colors.

The kids got to do VBS with the volunteers.  What a simple pleasure it is to see your children present what they have learned in VBS.

A Bit of Fun...

A bunch of MK's getting ready for an Easter egg hunt here in Johannesburg.  Don't you just love their fancy Easter baskets???

Levi couldn't wait to get into his candy...

From South Africa to You - Happy Resurrection Day!

More Birthday Pictures...

5 Years Old Today!

It's the morning of the 5th and Levi turns 5 years old!  He opened his presents this morning, and we are going to an amusement park in just over an hour.  He should have a fun filled day.  We are so grateful for Levi!  More pictures to come later....

The Real Africa

The pictures from my last post were taken at The Lion Park here in Johannesburg, South Africa.  These two beauties were on the side of the road as we drove through Botswana on Saturday.

And we saw these a little while ago while driving through Kafue National Park on our way to Lusaka.  Great wonders of God - all around us!

Look What We Saw Today!