Last Year's Garden...

Is this year's dirt box!!

I guess we'll be buying our tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and cucumbers at the Farmer's Market or the grocery store.  After planting a garden last year and realizing how much water, time, money, and maintenance was involved we came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to be in the cards for us this year.  

We tried.  We really tried.  I wanted to be the "organic, live off your land" nature family.   Once again I have to chuckle thinking about our learning experiences last summer as rookie farmers.  I think I'll keep all of our laughable blunders between us.  There were plenty!  Let's just say by the time we paid our huge water bills all summer for the crop we harvested we would've done better buying truck loads of produce!  LOL

Fast forward.  Dirt has been used to fill in holes around the yard and little boy in the pictures is enjoying the box for all of his scooping, pouring, digging, and dirt eating desires.   I wanted to fill it in with sand (and we may).  However, Tyson says sand boxes are just great big litter boxes for the neighborhood cats and chigger bites waiting to happen.  Goodness, did he have to snuff out my sand box excitement like that?  Either way someone is enjoying himself often in the dirt on a regular basis and I've moved on from   the fact that we didn't turn out to be super gardeners.

Risk

I found this quote about risk a while back and saved it.  I can't imagine why I've been thinking about it lately.   Maybe packing my kid up and taking him with us to a third world country where there are all kinds of diseases, deadly snakes, witch craft, and other dangers has caused me to think about it.  I don't know...

ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE

by Author Unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach for another is to risk involvement.

To expose your ideas, your dreams,

before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To believe is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the

greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The people who risk nothing, do nothing,

have nothing, are nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,

but they cannot learn, feel, change,

grow, love, live.

Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;

they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

I just love this!  It's so true.  I was being a little sarcastic above about all the dangers of Africa, but seriously I have off and on struggled with overwhelming fears about those things.  I always come back to the same conversation in my head that goes something like this, "What am I going to do?  Stay home and play safe.  Miss out on all that God could have for us because I want to be in control?  Live in regret and always wonder what could have been?  Decide that these uncertainties hold greater value than relationships and people?"   Then the answer becomes clear - No way!  It is truly life giving to reach beyond what I can grab onto.  Beyond what I can do myself.  This actually gives God the chance to be who He says He is in our lives.  I'm always so tempted to have a Plan B just in case God doesn't come through.  

Like I shared earlier, this season of preparing to go to Africa has exposed my heart in many ways, and God has already so specifically spoken into those.  There was one week that I was obsessing about the risk of getting malaria while there.  I was spending hours looking up tons of info.  and letting it have large chunks of my thought life.  Obsessing!  It reeled in my head most of the night one night and the next morning Psalm 91 came to mind.  I've read this psalm a thousand times because it is so reassuring of God's protection, but this particular morning one single verse jumped out at me.  Psalm 91:3 - For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence that stalk by night... Wow!  It not only said I will deliver you, but I will deliver you from deadly little bugs that stalk in the night which is when malaria carrying mosquitos are most prevalent.  Sounds like I wasn't the first person to have this concern, and God loved me enough speak to my specific fear.  I felt such peace and the Father's love that He cared about my heart and what I was struggling with.  From that moment on this obsession about malaria lost its power.  When it does try to creep up, I have this moment and this verse to meditate on.  This is just one example of the ways I've experienced God's faithfulness during this process.   I think God wants to be my Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C.   

I often read the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.   This one is called "Reaching Beyond our Grasp."   I love his line that says, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's heaven for?"

Stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come...

What's that risk that's calling out to you?  I dare you to take it.  

A Trip to the Stawberry Patch

We took a trip to pick strawberries last week.  My good friend, Shanna, her mom, and her little ones met us there.  The weather was perfect and we all had a great time.  Porter Farms is only about 15 mins. from our house which was nice.  I hope we can go back one more time before the season ends.  

I thought Samuel would eat the Strawberries as fast as he picked them, but he didn't eat a single one while we were there.  You pay a set amount, they give you a bucket, and you go fill it up.  Fun!

Sweet Elisabeth had fun too.  Her Grammy was visiting from out of town, so the two of them had a big time together.

The picture below more accurately describes what went on.  The long straight rows were much more tempting than the strawberries for one certain person.  Up and back, up and back... "Samuel, come back." "Samuel, come to Mommy." "Samuel, over here."  You get the picture.

He idolizes his four year old friend, Jonah.  Needless to say, he didn't let him get too far out of his sight.

I think I was actually too out of breath from chasing my boy and grabbing strawberries to get a photo of our bucket actually filled up.  So much for strolling leisurely through the field admiring the plump juicy berries one by one.  It was more like look with one eye, track your kid with the other eye, chase when needed, and manage to snag some berries to throw in the bucket.  Can any of you relate?  Watching Samuel's enthusiasm and having such a great time with the whole experience was well worth the cardio workout that it was for me without a doubt!

Finger Painting 101

The day arrived when I felt brave enough to introduce finger painting to the little artist.  I put one of my aprons on him that I had from my teaching days.  Okay, so the apron was more to satisfy my desire for cuteness than my concern for his clothing.  

We actually survived with minimal damage, and he only tried to eat it once.  

He quickly caught on to the whole "use your index finger as a paint brush" technique.  

Hmmm...looks like painting the table could be fun too.

This just opened up a whole new world of gift options for Daddy and the grandparents.  

What a masterpiece!

A-F-R-I-C-A

 Our news that I left you hanging with yesterday  two days ago is that we're going to Africa this summer!  It's a long story, and we've had the chance to share it with many of you, but this is the first blog post about it.  We are planning to spend four weeks in Mozambique this summer volunteering with some folks who have been there many years.  Our hope is that we will get a feel while we're there if this is a good fit for us on a more long term basis.  The opportunity to go to Africa opened up to us several months ago, but the idea of going overseas was born in both of our hearts many years ago.  I suspect the idea has been in God's heart even longer.  Tyson has his story of how this type of calling was planted in him and I have mine.  Since our paths first crossed almost five years ago this was always a common thread.  Now we're so excited that the time has come for us to embark on this adventure together as a couple and as a family.  

My "More than Miniblinds" explanation alludes to the fact that our hearts have been restless - longing for more.   I do want to say that I'm in no way down playing or minimizing the importance or value of making a difference right where you are on a daily basis.  Too me, that can be more difficult than heading off to a distant land.  Just wanted to share my thoughts on that before going any further.  

Back to how this all came about - We began wrestling with our restlessness and praying for direction.  We had a few of our own ideas but they quickly fizzled out.  Finally we began to rest in the fact that at the right time we would just know, and there need not be any striving or fretting.

That's when we were delightedly blindsided with an invitation to come to Africa and check it out.   The peace we had when praying about this was clearly that "peace that passes understanding."   It's what I have to hold on to on the days when I think we must be out of our minds!  Proverbs 3:5-6 comes in handy too: "Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight."  

 What will we be doing in Africa?  Good question.   We hope to simply get to know the other workers and serve them wherever needed to begin with.  Four weeks is a short time in the scheme of things, but we feel it will be enough to get a confirmation one way or the other if we are supposed to go back or not.  There is already lots of great work going on there that we will get a glimpse of.  There is a feeding clinic for babies that is feeding around 700 babies weekly.   They provide powdered milk to care givers, weight checks for the babies, and other care.  I'm not exactly sure to be honest.  With my background in working with special needs babies this could be an opportunity to identify babies who need extra help and encourage their caregivers.   We also know a preschool has been pioneered and it's thriving.  I've been in frequent contact with the woman who started it and I'm excited to serve where need there too.  I believe the opportunities will be endless for Tyson as well through the avenues of sports, prison outreach, ESL...Honestly, we won't know until we get there.  I almost feel presumptuous mentioning what we will be doing because I'm sure Africa will change us more than we will change Africa.  We can have our little ideas, but God is writing our story and He's all about the journey.   I heard the quote once, "The journey is the destination."   So true!   We heard. We're trusting.  We're going.  We're on the journey!

Sooo...The plan is that Samuel, Tyson, and I will be leaving on a jet plane sometime mid-July.  Passports - check!  Shots - check!   Many other preparations are coming along as well.  We will keep you posted as things progress.  If you would like more information or feel led to partner with us financially please contact us via email:  www.ginaandtyson(at)gmail(dot)com and we will be more than happy to share more with you and let you know how you can make a tax deductable contribution.   Even more so, we would welcome your prayers for us as we take this plunge into deeper waters of faith and trust.

   

Life Around Here

I thought I'd write a post about the general happenings of our life lately (in no particular order).
We are glad to say that Samuel is feeling MUCH better after almost a month of continued illness.  Little did I now when I wrote this post what was in store for a few more weeks.  It all started with a minor cold. No big deal.  The next thing we know an ugly stomach bug shows up.  This was a brand new and not fun at all experience for us.  The kid threw up all night long non-stop and then throughout the day.  I got so fearful about dehydration I was beside myself.  After a couple of days the vomiting subsided.  Then the poor guy started having issues from the other end for a good week.  Not to mention, Tyson and I also got the bug - just not as severe as Samuel.  Okay, so we see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's looking like the worst is over.  No sooner did he begin to look and act well did he come down with a high fever topping 104+ degrees.  This was also a first.  At this point, I'm beginning to get a little paranoid as to why he's getting one virus after the other.  My doctor assured me he was fine but that his immune system was already low, and he probably just picked up something else from who knows where.  The fever saga went on for another good week that included abnormally low body temps. as well.   I guess we've been over all the illness for going on a couple of weeks now and boy am I thankful.   This was a real growing experience for me.  I can so quickly jump to panic mode in situations like these and become very anxious fearing the worst.  Not good!  I don't want to be this way and this was an opportunity to really seek the Lord and ask for His truth in the situation.
He is answering that prayer and I am so thankful.  I am choosing to believe and know that I can trust Him in any and all situations.  A trusted friend shared this website with me
(www.thefathersbusiness.com) and some incredibly encouraging prayers of blessing that are really transforming this area of my life.  Sometimes, I think God uses our circumstance to expose what is already in our hearts because He wants us to find truth and freedom in those areas where we need it.  Tyson and I joke that we thought we were perfect and had no issues until we got married.  Ha!!  We've done a great job at helping each other realize just how needy we really are!

We're also wrapping up a bathroom remodel project.  We had to completely gut our master bathroom last fall after we had a plumbing problem and found black mold everywhere.  We gutted down to the studs and started over.  I'm waiting until we're completely finished to post some before and after pics.  This has been a looong project, but we can see the finish line!  Can't wait to show you guys.

We had a great weekend with our NC family a couple of weeks ago.  We spent time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.   Now we're anticipating a visit from our Texas grandparents in a couple of weeks.  Can't wait!

We've got another bit of news to share, so stop back by tomorrow or read our "about" page down to the bottom if you want to know what it is....  You think I'm pregnant don't you? :)