Funny Story

Ok - since I haven't posted any funny stories in Way too long, I thought I'd share this.

I totally locked my husband out of the house last night.  Not on purpose either.  No marital discord to be found here.  And then?  I went to sleep.  Yep.

See, Josh goes on a walk every night.  And lately, I'm too lazy to stay up past 10 pm.  He took his keys, because its just not smart for me to go to sleep in an unlocked house all by myself.  But...even though he had his keys, our door has thing little thing.  I don't know what it is but it flips over the door so even if someone had a key they couldn't open the door if this thing is closed.  Truth be told, I never thought it would really work if someone tried to open the door from the outside.  Apparently, it does.

So, last night, if you drove by our house, you would have seen Josh standing on the doorstep, pounding on the door, for about 45 minutes.  I was asleep!  And, of course, my phone was dead after the weekend.

Job Posting...End to an Era

We're posting my job in October.

Weird feeling.

What He's Been Teaching

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know that this past year has been the hardest of our lives.  Between support raising, infertility, and the many other demands and expectations of our time and energy, its been an uphill battle every day.  I sat in church a few weeks ago, and realized what exactly it was the God has been trying to teach me this year.

To pray.  To pray about everything and give it to Him.  To pray as an act of worship, to pray intentionally, expecting results.  To pray constantly.  To take up prayer as my work where I am.

Can I just say that this lesson has been amazing.  Though I still worry sometimes, I find my inner voice reminding me to stop and pray.  Its a constant choice - to truly truly trust the Lord and believe my prayers will be answered.  To be real with the Lord, praying from the heart, and not use the words that I think I'm supposed to. Sometimes its crying out to God with my pain, my disappointment, my worry and my doubt.  Sometimes its pleading with Him.  Its praying from the heart, not from the head.

Its a decision.  Being in a constant state of prayer.  One I'm learning to make.

Done.

Somedays, I'm just done.  I'm done with the endless tasks and emails and the 'work' never ending.  I crave a 9-5 job for my husband, and a working at home life for me.

But - we were called to ministry. I was called to ministry.  And this means more than 9-5. This means eternal consequences for the work we do.  Ministry never ends.  Worship never ends.

So, when I say, "I'm done" give me thirty minutes.  Or a day.  Or a massage.  Or a perfect Chai Latte from Starbucks.  I'll be back when I've gotten a 'perspective check' from my Lord.

Oh My Information

Last week, team Italy iv (that is - us and our teammates) attended at workshop here in Kansas City.  It was Sharpening Your Internpersonal Skills presented by International Training Partners.  This workshop was designed for missionaries, to develop and strengthen (sharper) one's ability to work/communicate/and communicate on a deeper level with individuals around them.  At least that's my take on it.

Anyway, to sound a bit less like a textbook, it was great.  Well, great in a completely exhausting, information overload, pressing, stretching sort of way.  It was a lot.  That coupled with being surround by people, some who I knew, some I'd barely met.  And not sleeping well.  And having two doctor appointments during the workshop 45 minutes away, and not feeling good for about 36 hours - it was great.  We also spent some time talking about margin and managing stress.  Ahem.  Missionaries - stress?  Raising support - stress?  Say it isn't so.  Yeah about that.

I'm not sure what all I learned.  Except that I interupt people A LOT.  (That was one thing we talked about.)  It was a lot lot lot of information.  I'm processing.  After rediscovering my brain after that wonderful amazing fall is coming three day weekend.  Maybe I'll write more about this training later.  We'll see.

Oh!!  Another thing - pray for us this weekend.  Friday and Saturday we're having a garage sale, all proceeds going to our ministry in Italy.  So pray for good weather and lots of customers!

And you can also pray for our upcoming doctor's appointments next week.  We'd appreciate that too.