A lesson of Perspective

Today we went to the old house as a family.  I needed to prime the kids' playroom.  (We had painted the room when Kadin was about 18 months old - the room has a mural on one wall, and the other walls were bright orange, red, yellow, and blue.) We spent most of the day there.  After cleaning up, it hit me how much we loved this place.  I started to tear up as I was locking the gate.  On the drive to Crownpoint, Erin and I were talking, and it hit me- here I am crying over a place that we lived at for 12 years.  It's a place full of wonderful memories.  Yet Christ left heaven to come and die for me.  If it hurts to leave an earthly home that I have only occupied for a few years, what must it have been like for Christ to leave the ultimate home?  Thanks for the lesson, Lord.  Thanks for leaving perfection to save your enemies.

Progress update

Just a quick praise -
I received my passport today!  Over the last week or so, I had been checking the status of my passport, yet the website always said it could not find me.  Finally, I called the center this morning, and the lady said it had been shipped out to me last week!  We don’t check our mail daily, but I went to the post office, and there it was waiting for me. 

I write all this to show how stupid it is of me to worry.  Here I was fretting over my passport, yet it was all unnecessary.  When will I learn to simply trust God and not to worry?  I thank God for the humble lesson he gave me this morning.  Here I am not worrying about out what our house will be like in Indonesia, yet I let myself worry about a passport that was already completed.  God is giving me many chances to learn this lesson as we prepare to move overseas. 

Erin's birth certificate is also on it's way, so Lord willing we can go to Albuquerque soon to complete the other passports.  Perhaps this time I won't worry! 

Move update 2

Well, tonight we are on our second night at the Crownpoint house.  We are mostly moved in, with just some minor rearranging left to do, thanks to Erin's hard work.  We went to our house at the lake this afternoon to check on the animals and the house in general.  It's kinda weird going back to your house and seeing all the empty rooms!  We await the appraisal this week, and Lord willing, the deal will be wrapped up in time for our trip to Texas over spring break.  (March 7th is closing) 

We can see how God is preparing us a step at a time for whatever is next.  We have eliminated much of our possessions in preparation for a huge yard sale.  It's the kids' stuff that will be hardest to go through-for a variety of reasons.  We have about three months at this location, and then off to spend time with family.  Erin and I were talking this afternoon about how temporary housing changes your perspective on a whole host of things.   It is a gift to be able to see how fleeting our chance to serve Christ is; We aren't guaranteed tomorrow, yet we plan like we will live 60 years before we see our Savior.  That's not to say we should not plan, but Erin and I are realizing a change in our perspective and we thank God for working with us in baby steps. 

Continue to pray for our family- the boys like the house one minute and the next minute they want to go back to the old house...
Pray for me to finish my job well at school
Jace is sick currently, pray for his quick recovery and for us all to stay healthy.  We have much to do, and there's much we could worry about.  Pray for us to simply trust and obey.  Pray that we would focus on quality time with our Savior and family and that we would not allow circumstances to steal our joy:)
Hopefully in the next day or so we can upload some pictures of Crownpoint...

Move update

Just a quick note on what is going on -

Tomorrow, we move 99% of our stuff.  We will leave a few tools so I can work at the house, but from now on we will basically be living in Crownpoint. 

The house will close sometime in early March, Lord willing.  There have been a few changes to how financing may be arranged, so we have a few more details to work out. 

Please pray for the following:
-the final survey to be completed early next week
-the coming appraisal, on February 24th, to be completed without any surprises or needed repairs.  (what the bank thinks is needed, and reality often differ)
-for the kids as we transition.  We gave Blue, our dog away today, and it was difficult.
-for the house to close on or before March 7th
-for our passport stuff to get in and going
-for Erin and I as we move to be sensitive to needs and each other (this is mainly for me ;-))

Thanks to all who have helped, or will help tomorrow.  Thanks for all the prayers as well.  Things are moving along, but God is teaching us patience in the process!

It is the little things

       As we go through with the move and sale, we notice that it's the little things that make a difference.  The teacher housing doesn't have carpet; Kadin noticed that right away.  Pray for Kadin- the move has been hard for him.  It makes us wonder what the next step will be like.  It is hard enough for us as adults; we wonder what Kadin is thinking and feeling as we pack stuff in "sell now piles" and "keep until later" piles.  At least I can see them at lunch though!  Another "little" thing that makes a difference.  It takes four minutes to walk to the teacherage; forty-five to drive to our soon to be old house. (Lord willing!) Today, we got word that the septic inspection passed.  We decided to focus on praying about it this morning, and it all worked out.  Another "little " thing!  God is so gracious.  My "little"sins are forgiven and that is no little thing at all!  Thanks for your prayers; they may seem little, but they aren't. 

The story is out.

I was able to talk to my principal today about our plans to go to Indonesia.  I was hoping to wait until the house sale closed, but word was starting to spread and I did not want her to hear the news from someone else.  The conversation went well.  Since I told my boss, Erin posted a note on Facebook, so now news can really spread! 

If you are interested, the organization we are going with is called Network of International Christian Schools, www.nics.org.  The actual school website is baisedu.org (Bandung Alliance International School).  I would encourage you to look at those sites for more information.  Please don't hesitate to contact us as well, but for those really curious, there's the web info.

In other news, we got to go and see our two bedroom teacher housing today after school.  The boys loved running around the empty house as Erin and I checked it out.  Our hope is to be moved in over the next couple of weeks.

Finally, I want to close with some specifics that we need prayer over.  We would love to pray for you all as well, so shoot us an email! 
-pray for the details of the house sale to wrap up in the next few days.  We've had the septic inspected, but the final report has not made.  We don't forsee any issues, but the inspection has to be completed before the last detail, a survey, can be ordered.  Erin and I would love to be out in the next week.  We will see what God has planned!
-pray for us as we get passports completed and start the next phase of the transition to Indonesia.  This will involve getting visas, and raising support.  We need prayer support primarily, but practically, we will need financial support as well.  At this point we don't know how much...  We just know my job will pay for most of our needs.
-we are telling our story to our church family this Sunday, and please pray that God could use our experience to challenge others to live sacrificially for Christ.  We are just two unworthy servants that want to encourage others to walk with Christ as well. 
-lastly, a praise- Mrs. Soltero is cancer free and has gone back to work.  We are excited to see how she has become a testimony of God's provision and grace.  We pray that she remains cancer free. 

I don't plan on posting every day, but we wanted to give out some more details about the journey.  I posted a separate page on the blog as an attempt to explain how this whole process came to fruition.  God bless, and have a good night! 

It is time to explain the long silence!

Here's the short answer - we will not be able to do camp.  Our family is moving to Indonesia. (Lord willing!)

When we started this blog, I thought carefully about the name.  I thought the blog would be mainly about camp, but I knew one thing for sure-we as a family wanted to follow Him, wherever that may lead. 

Well, God has clearly changed the direction he is taking our family.  Over the last year, we struggled with why God was not selling our house and letting us go forward with camp and ministry in Crownpoint.  Now we can see part of what he was thinking. 

Erin and I are humbled to think that God has given us this new opportunity.  I can't say I feel up to the task; in fact, we both know that it will only be through God's power and grace that we will be able to work for him in this new area.  We have asked God to use us, and we are so blessed to be given a chance to serve.

We are excited, terrified, and sad all at the same time.  We have much more to share, but for now, we wanted to let you know that our specific plans for camp and CEF have changed.  I want to start blogging again so that we can share with you how God is working in our lives.  I want to say more, but for now I need to get some sleep!  The busyness of the first steps toward moving to Indonesia has passed and we hope to take time now to let folks know more specifics about our new journey.  Please bear with us as we make the transition and try to keep everyone informed as well.  This is the start of that goal.

God's ways are truly best even when we don't always understand them at the time that we go through the experience.  God bless and good night.