His Painful Love

Our short life here in Texas has been filled with so many blessings. We sense His love and His presence so much. But, sometimes His great love for us seems painful. The Lord has been calling us higher and to a deeper level of brokeness and that is painful at times. We are being pruned and we want to fully yield to His hands so that in the coming days and years, we can yield abundant, life giving, beautiful fruit. It has continually come to my thoughts about being faithful each day. Do I FAITHFULLY do all of the things He has called me to each day? Or do I flop on the couch with a huff and wonder where a good book and chocolate are? I realize more than ever how much I need Him and how I can do nothing without Him. I am hopeless without Him, but I have everything with Him. With Him I can love unconditionally, I can reach my children's hearts as I train them, I can smile at my husband no matter what is happening in our life, I can sing with a heart of worship, I can serve our home and those in it all day long with joy, I can say no to things I shouldn't eat, I can get up with the birds and exercise, and so much more. But only if I stay broken at His feet. I can do none of this without Him. Our families' heart cry is to be like a city on a hill that shines it's light so that it cannot be hidden. But, more than ever, we are realizing that to be that it takes being faithful in the teeniest details of life. And that is what we want. O Lord, please continue this painful but so needed process. As someone sang to us recently, "He who began a good work in you, He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it, will be faithful to complete it. He who started the work will be faithful to complete it in you." Thank you Father for Your undeserving love.

Recommendation

I just recently found a lovely blog that I wanted to pass on to you all. I have been very encouraged and challenged as I have read Lauren's posts. Fix a cup of tea, maybe grab some kleenex, and have an open heart. Blessings! http://www.wearinghispurity.blogspot.com/

Homemade, authentic salsa!

There is a dear sister here that taught me how to make real salsa. Did you ever know that salsa can be so good that you crave it?? Well, I am here to testify that it can. :-) This sister grew up as a missionaries daughter in Mexico, so her recipe is the real deal. I wanted to share it will you all so that you can enjoy it too. Here is what you do: Take several tomatoes and a couple of jalapenos and steam them in a pot with a small amount of water for a few minutes. Drain off any remaining water and put them into the blender. Add a couple of cloves of garlic and a good amount of salt (sorry for the vagueness, you will probably have to experiment). Puree. Put this into a bowl and add finely chopped onions, cilantro, and lime juice to taste. This isn't a picky recipe, so relax and just do however much garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos, limes, salt, cilantro, and onions you think your family would like. I will give you a rough estimate of what I do. About 8 medium tomatoes, 2-3 jalapenos, a fist full of chopped cilantro, one medium onion, 4-5 limes, 2 cloves of garlic, and maybe 2-3 teaspoons of salt. Oooooo, yummy!! So very healthy and deliciously good! Enjoy~

The Texans :-)

As most of you know, we have moved to the BIG state of Texas. We feel overwhelmingly blessed with all the Lord has done since we arrived 7ish weeks ago. Our family moved here because we felt that the Lord put Texas on our hearts. We had no job, no house, and only knew of one family here. This past summer, Haley had started being pen-pals with their 12 year old daughter, but we didn't really know them. We had never spoken to them or met them. Even so, we just knew that we were supposed to move to Texas. Was it scary at times? Was it a big step of faith? Yes to both. But the Lord has been so very, very faithful. As we stepped out in obedience to what He told us, He has provided every step of the way. Since we have been here the Lord provided a home, a few jobs, gifts, and, most important, dear brothers and sisters in Christ to fellowship with. The people we have connected hearts with here are by far the biggest blessing from the Lord. How we already love them all. Also, the Lord is already doing some of what He brought us here for. From the day we arrived He has been digging deep into our hearts and setting all of us free from different things. One thing I can share about from my heart is the idea of being open, warm-hearted, and soft as a woman of God. I have had walls of protection around my heart, not letting myself be totally vulnerable and transparent with people. This affects how I can truly show God's love to others. I hope this makes some sense. :-) When you see these things, openness, warmness, transparency, in a woman of God, it is beautiful. More importantly, it surrounds you with the love of God. This area is a place where the Lord is setting me free and breaking down those walls. It is so wonderful to see what He is doing in our family and we pray He doesn't stop. We want to be transformed into His image, ready to show His love to anyone whom we may meet. How exciting!! The Lord is so good. ~ We love you all, Andrea

Matters of prayer...

Hi...I know it has been way too long. :-) I wanted to post something that you all could be in prayer for our family for. Almost one month ago we received a call about a tiny baby girl. She is Silas' (our 2 year old adopted son) new sister. We don't even know her name but she was born on October 7th. She will also be placed up for adoption as her (and Silas') birthmother is unable to keep her. The state of Michigan is wondering if we have any interest in adopting her since we already have her brother. She will not be available for adoption though for anywhere from 5-11 months from now since she is already a ward of the state. We are interested in adopting her and sometimes our hearts just yearn to hold, rock, and sing to her. She is currently in a foster home in MI. This whole thing is completely out of our hands and we are just praying for God's best for this precious child and for our family. If He wants her to be a part of our family then He will make it so. We just bought a used Suburban yesterday so as to be ready vehicle wise. Our previous vehicle was all filled up as it only seated five. As soon as we are settled in Texas, we would have to start our home study all over again. We appreciate your prayers as we settle in a new state and possibly add another arrow to our home. :-) God bless you all during this Christmas season. Love, Andrea

"...no greater joy than to know...

...that my children walk in truth." We are humbled and so very thankful that in the last few months both Haley and Logan have given themselves to the Lord. It is an incredible experience to see your children grow, change, and live. Nothing has been more important to Tim and I (I am sure it is the same for you all) than for our children to love and follow the Lord. Haley is going to be baptized next weekend. We are praying that it will be a special and sacred time for her. May we all walk in a worthy manner. ~Blessings~

Glacier National Park

Beauty beyond beauty! Glacier is magnificent! We arrived home late Thursday evening having been gone for 8 days. God was so good to give our family that time of refreshment. I am going to do a few blog posts about our trip, so here is part one. We set up camp about 1 hour inside of Glacier at a place called Bowman Lake. You could probably find a picture of it online. It is a remote lake that is surrounded by mountains. It was like a dream. I kept saying to Tim, " I can't believe we are actually here in this amazing beauty!" I have dreamed of going to Western Montana for at least a decade. We spent Friday enjoying our site and getting all set up for the coming week. We cooked dinner over the fire in cast iron and then went to bed. We were pretty tired as we were all still recovering from a week of a nasty flu cold. Saturday we got up and decided to go on a hike...a 14 mile hike! ;-0 By the time we got dressed and washed hair, cooked breakfast, heated up water for dishes, did the dishes, tidied up camp, and packed all of our backpacks with a picnic and lots of water, it was just after one o'clock. Tim put Silas on his back in the Ergo (I really don't know what we would do without our dear Ergo) while Haley, Logan, and I each strapped on a backpack. The hike was along one side of Bowman Lake. We started walking...and we walked and walked and walked. By the time we were near the end of the trail it was starting to get late. We were wondering if we would get home before it got dark. So we headed back double time. At this point we had already walked about 7 miles. Tim took the lead and had us alternating between walking and running. Haley and I were in the back and we started getting giddy with tiredness. Both of us started laughing at any and every little thing. A few times Haley fell down on the ground she was laughing so hard. We weren't really helping each other as we both kept thinking of funny things. :-) After another 90 minutes of running/walking Haley and I began to make plans of spending the next day sitting in chairs around the campfire with our feet up and wrapped in ice. Of course this was funnier than either of us could handle and we were laughing and gasping for breath. We still had one hour of brisk walking left. About a half mile from our tent my leg muscles started to cramp up and I could barely walk. You see, we had been pushing so hard because the grizzles move at dusk and we were the only ones out there on that trail. Thankfully we made it to our tent just as it became totally dark and the Lord kept us safe from the cougars and grizzles. I do think though that the 14 mile hike is one of our best memories from our week. Thank you Lord for such a fun, crazy experience.