A Summary Of Deputation.

Since we began deputation 19 months ago, with 12 of the months actually being on the road, we've traveled 30,000+ miles (glad that's behind us), presented our ministry in 72 churches in 28 states, drove through 34 different states, had one car accident, stayed in all kinds of places and in all kinds of situations and met some of the sweetest people out there. Friendships were developed and strengthened, kindness was shown to us many, many times over, and our desire to get to the mission field intensified each time we presented our burden.

But now? Deputation is officially behind us. We were done at the end of June, but had two last commitments to complete in October, so now we can say we're done for sure. :-) As evidenced by this blog, I have a great love for travel, but after being on the road for a year and living out of a suitcase, I'll admit the novelty of traveling has worn off a bit. Add into the mix traveling with a newborn baby and that really puts a whole new spin on things! When we went to Texas for this last trip, Paul and I flew down while Nat spent four days driving (poor guy). So I missed out on the first leg of the road trip, but we experienced it full force the rest of the way! Paul did fairly well during the days, but nights were just a mess. In fact, one night he was up from 1 am - 6 am for no apparent reason (like teething, flu, etc). That one really baffled us and the next day we had a 6.5 hour drive to make. Thankfully he finally slept. ;) Since we've been home though, he's been doing very well and going to his bed with zero fuss. I guess he really does sense all the upheaval and chaos and reacts to that.

So now starts the mad dash to the finish line, so to speak. We hit the ground running with commitments and people to see and this next week looks pretty full. In between spending time with people, we have lots of packing to finish and things to put into storage. I thought I did a pretty good job of downsizing our stuff until I came home Thursday (after living out of a suitcase for three weeks) and realized things just multiplied while we were gone! So now it's time to get ruthless again. :-) In the end, it's all just things and I have to keep reminding myself of that. 

17 days before take-off!!!

Exciting Times!

We just ended our first of two missions conferences Sunday evening and it was exciting and sad all rolled into one. Exciting because this was the first missions conference of this church and we know the Lord is going to do great things as long as this church stays yielded to Him. But it was sad to say good-bye to the other four missionary families, knowing that we won't see them for a very long time or ever again until eternity. Unless we have layovers in Australia, Mexico, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island that is! I told Nat we could take a different route to and from Thailand every time because we have so many friends in so many countries. Can you imagine a trip that includes stops in South Africa, Scotland, and Canada? That would be a looong trip home!

One of the missionary families was quite delayed in getting to Texas from Oklahoma City (4 hours away). Last week someone tried to steal their diesel from their truck and made a real mess of some hoses. They got that fixed and then were on the way down to Texas when their transmission died. They finally got here Saturday by borrowing a church van. This morning the pastor was sharing their story and said a couple of people gave him checks to go towards the transmission repair. He then mentioned if anyone else wanted to give, they could. I was so thrilled and excited for this missionary family as this little country church took up a free-will offering of several hundred dollars. I know how it feels to have an overwhelming car problem that you have no idea how it will all sort out and then the Lord uses people to meet that need. God is so good and I'm thankful this family got to be on the receiving end of His goodness!

We have now entered the "under one month" mark for Thailand! That is to say, Lord willing, this time next month we should be in Thailand, travel weary and bone tired. Ahh, but before that month finishes out, we have exciting things in store. Birthdays to celebrate, an early Thanksgiving with my family, dinners, lunch dates, packing, more family time, a special sending service at our home church and yes, tearful hugs and goodbyes for now. I'm not a huge fan of long, drawn out goodbyes but there's something sweet about those teary goodbyes too. I know that God will give much grace to make this big move halfway around the world!

Cousins And Couches.

Friday Nat, Paul, and I picked up two little cousins and headed to an amusement park nearby to join up with my sister and her family. The five little cousins had so much fun together, although I will admit that the ones who had the most fun were the ones who could go on all the rides. :-)

Nevertheless it was a great day to spend time with some of our nephews and a niece, especially since our time here in the States is rapidly drawing to a close. 

In other news, our couch moved on today to a new home. Nat had bought a couch set with one of the guys from church when they were both bachelors and split the set when the other guy got married. Now the two parts will be reunited again and we have one more thing out of our apartment. I suppose we could've waited until we moved to Thailand to get rid of the couch, but the space it freed up was a little more important to me. :-) Now I feel like I can organize our remaining stuff a little easier! Plus we won't have as many last minute things to do if we start doing them now!

The next thing on my calendar is a yard sale on August 24th... Please buy our stuff! It would be lovely to get rid of the pile in my bedroom. :-)

Stuff.

The weather has been simply gorgeous here in Eastern Pennsylvania the last few days and I've been able to have most of my windows open ~ my favorite way to cool down our little apartment!! In fact, Thursday night on a stroller walk with Paul I brought along his blanket because it was a little chilly... but not too chilly that I couldn't later play volleyball. ;-) I'm glad my mom is nearby and more than willing to watch my little guy so I can get a little volleyball in.  I'm afraid there won't be a lot of volleyball in my future when we move to Thailand! It sure was fun Thursday night: lots of laughs, good volleyball action, and a great time to spend with friends. :-)

I wish you all could see our house right now: stuff is everywhere! I am in the thick of packing, sorting, and getting ready for a yard sale soon. The first wave of going through my kitchen cabinets was emotional because most everything we have in our apartment is from our shower/wedding, but now I've kicked into the "clean it out!" mode. :-) Of course there are still many decisions to make as to what to store here in PA, what to take with us to Thailand and what to sell off. At the end of the day though, it's just stuff.

My little munchkin is going to be turning one in September, which I can't quite believe. That year went way too fast! My in-laws will be heading our way the first part of August so we're planning to do a little party for Paul while they are here.  At first we weren't going to do a party but then thought that unless anyone comes to Thailand every September, we won't have family around to celebrate Paul's birthday with us. So party it is!

Not too much else is going on for us. We're home until the end of September and we're trying to soak up the moments with our family and friends before our big move overseas.  It's kind of strange in that we can't wait to get to Thailand but then also realize that a bunch of people we know and love won't be as much a part of our daily lives anymore.  What a blessing instant communication is! At least technology helps us stay a little more connected with life on this side of the pond. :-)

Playing Catch Up.

We've been home for almost a week and I finally feel like I'm getting into the swing of things. Unpacking was easy and getting adjusted to the East Coast was easy... for two of us anyway!  Our little babe decided it was way more fun to stay on West Coast time. :-)  Thankfully the last two nights have gone better than the previous four nights!

I was somewhat nervous going into our month-long trip out West, mainly because it was the first time we were on deputation without our car.  Up until that point, we were used to being in new places on new adventures ~ always in our car. :-) So, yeah, our comfort zone was gone for a month and replaced with planes, borrowed cars, trains, buses, RVs, and hotels.  We just kept rolling along and trying to be flexible!

But as usual, the Lord worked out all the details and we met some wonderful people along the way. My husband and I marveled at the way the Lord (once again!) met all of our needs, right down to giving us a place to stay when just the day before we were wondering where we were going to pillow our heads for the next night!

The West Coast is absolutely beautiful, and we only saw parts of Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. :-) I used to think Pennsylvania had mountains... nope, guess again!

Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska

We are grateful that our deputation travels have taken us to some amazing scenery across this great country! There's nothing like staring at a beautiful mountain and feeling pretty puny. :-) Add to that Paul is one of the most traveled babies I know of. This kid has already been to 22 states... and counting. :-)

Alaskan mosquitoes took to Paul and left their mark. Two weeks later, and he still has a couple of marks on his face! He was a pretty happy camper through it all and thankfully most of his bites took place just a few days before we left Alaska.  I told our friends who live there that I'm going to have a really hard time picturing Alaska being cold and snowy because it was so hot and full of mosquitoes while we were there. Oh, and it was light outside for 22 hours.  Sheesh. 

We had a wonderful time in Alaska spending time with our friends. We were in the Interior, which isn't your typical picture of Alaska. We did get to see grizzly bears, caribou, moose, Dall sheep, mountains, mountains, and more mountains! There aren't too many major roads in Alaska, and most of them are around Fairbanks, which made it convenient for us. :-)

Paul's latest adventure is cruising around, with a lot of help from Mommy and Daddy. :-) He has attempted to crawl, but doesn't quite make it... although it sure is fun to watch!  Now that we're home, we're hoping he doesn't get too bored with being in one place.  We plan to be in PA for most of the summer, with a quick trip out to Ohio to help friends with vacation Bible school. I'm grateful for the time home to spend with family, friends, and trying to pack our apartment up for our move to Thailand.

We have our tickets in hand and we plan on leaving November 5 - just a little over four months away. Downsizing our apartment into eight suitcases is going to be a wonderful challenge.  I was thinking again this morning of how I'm going to do this and was ready to burst into tears at the thought of leaving my home.  We've spent three happy years in this little apartment, but being sentimental is not going to get things organized! I think I'll have one good cry over it and then get to work. :-)

Some Firsts.

So yesterday was a first ~ Nat's first Father's Day!  While Paul and I didn't do anything over the top, we did celebrate by having ice cream and Boston Creme Cake.  I think every holiday should be celebrated with ice cream... don't you agree?!? We were also invited over to someone's house after church and we enjoyed some homemade soft pretzels and cheese dip.  I think that should become a tradition too!

Nat's been a wonderful daddy to Paul and a great help with the icky diapers.  He's not one to shy away from interacting with Paul and I'm grateful for that. Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled because Nat's with us quite a bit (being on the road full time helps!), but I'm really thankful that we are in this whole parenting thing together.:-)

It was also a first in another way ~ my dad isn't around anymore.  What a strange feeling. I guess this was the first big holiday since my dad died.  I was doing okay until one of the ladies from the church we were at mentioned she had her baby on April 29th.  My mind instantly ran back to what I was doing on that day and realized we had just buried my dad two days before.  

I'm not sure why, but the combination of that date and it being Father's Day really set me off.  I do miss my dad and really wish I could have one more talk with him.  Ever since my dad died, I have learned to appreciate my mom even more than before.  Something about losing a parent makes you almost cling to the remaining parent even more so.  

All in all, we had a really sweet, albeit long, day! We are currently in North Pole, Alaska and will be here until Thursday.  It's a little humorous to see "Santa Claus Lane" when it's 90 degrees out and the mosquitoes are multiplying by the minute! But I'll have to share more about Alaska in another post. :-)

Mountains, Tickets, & Ice Cream!

When I saw my uncle at my dad's funeral, he told me there was one problem with the Pacific Northwest.  I was uncertain what that problem was until he told me that the problem was I was going to love it!  Since my uncle has lived in the Pacific Northwest for a really long time, I figured he knew what he was talking about... and, well, he did!

I am guilty to a fault of being very loyal to Pennsylvania. I love my state, my area, my home. But even I must admit there is one teeny tiny fault with my beloved state: the mountains just do not compare to what I've seen here in Washington. Last night we went for a quick drive to Lake Stevens and I was amazed to see the backdrop of snow-capped mountains to this beautiful lake.  I've almost started getting used to seeing these amazing mountains as we drive around northwest Washington.

But the one thing that these mountains have really done for me is show me what a magnificent creator my God is. The mountains are majestic, the lakes are stunning, even the trees seem like they are on steroids!  Creation turns my focus back to my amazing God and I have just soaked up His beauty.  I am so thankful we've had the opportunity to travel out West!

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We also picked up a new supporting church, bringing our support level to 87%.  In addition to that, Nat and I purchased our one-way tickets for Thailand.  You talk about an adrenaline rush! Nat spent the better portion of the afternoon looking up airline tickets and kicking himself for not purchasing them three days earlier. Prices shot up $200.00 and so we decided to grab them while we could!  As we talked back and forth about buying a ticket for Paul (compared to holding him on our laps), the cost for extra bags, and the flight options, we feel the Lord gave us the peace for buying Paul his own seat.  This allows us to bring his car seat, get two extra bags and a carry-on, check his stroller, and have a place for him to sit down and sleep.  The great thing about the flight we chose is that it's the closest thing to a non-stop flight! We only have one layover for two hours, making this one of the better international flights I've taken. Yay!

My niece is also coming along with us for an eight-week stay, so that gives us another person to help and hopefully some extra room to pack a few things in her bags. :-) We're not planning on shipping a container, especially since we've always planned on setting up shop for Thailand in Thailand. Now I'm really eager to start sorting our stuff: trash, sell, give away, keep in USA, pack to go to Thailand. With the Lord's help I think it will all work out just fine!

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Paul has really been enjoying the warmer weather. He absolutely loves water and his little feet start to kick when he sees a lake.  It's been fun seeing how Paul reacts to things.... like ice cream. At first lick, he wasn't certain about it, but soon the tongue started coming out faster and faster!  I think he's a fan of chocolate. :-)

On The Road Again...

Baby and hubby are sleeping but I'm wide, wide awake.  Hmm, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that cereal bar so late at night!  I suppose it's a good thing though, or else my good intentions of blogging for the past two weeks would've been pushed off for yet another week!

We are currently hanging out in Bellingham, Washington... as in the state of Washington. Give or take 43 hours away from home in current driving time, according to Google Maps. :-)  We left the craziness of Memorial Day weekend traffic on the PA Turnpike on Friday and exchanged it for the not-as-crazy driving of a city with a population of 100,000.  

We also experienced Paul's first airplane ride, in which he did extremely well! As we were waiting to get off the plane, the people in the rows around us commented on what a good boy we had. We of course assured them that God truly answered prayer for a smooth flight! I'm sure they were grateful people were praying that way. :-)

Bellingham is located about two hours north of the Seattle airport, a little detail that slipped past our radar. We really had no clue, and at that point Paul had (in his opinion) endured enough and so he very nicely started letting the pastor driving us know that he was done. Unfortunately for Paul, there was no way around the drive except through it.  What ensued was a very long ride home for the rest of the occupants in the car.  Oh, and it was the pastor's wife birthday. What a way to end her happy birthday.  Poor kid.  Poor pastor's wife!

Saturday was such a pretty day and we really enjoyed the sunshine... especially since we haven't seen it again! We enjoyed a beautiful walk down by the bay and checked out all the fishing boats and yachts by the pier.

The folks at this church have been more than hospitable to us and once again we have been spoiled by God's servants.  We've enjoyed jumping in and taking part in the activities here and even experienced our own personal tour guide showing us around Whatcom County and taking us on a drive close to Mt. Baker.  This man's family has lived in the Bellingham area for over 100 years, so I think he knows a thing or two about the area. :-)

We plan on being in this area for the next week or so before heading south to Portland, Oregon. From there we're flying to Alaska to visit friends and we also have a few meetings.  Alaska has been on my dream list of places to visit for some time now, and I'm thrilled the opportunity is before us!  Isn't God good to give us the desires of our hearts?

Hopefully the updates will be a little more faithful in the weeks to come... it was insanely busy in the days leading up to our West Coast trip!

Closure.

This past week has been so incredibly long, but God has given such strength every single day.  I'm weak, and He is strong. It's as simple as that.

I wanted to share what I said at my dad's funeral on Saturday. I'm really glad I wrote most of it down...

My name is Anne and I'm Bob and Shirley's youngest child. Last night I heard wonderful stories about my dad and felt as if I heard his life story as people shared how my dad influenced them.

I too have a story to share. About eight weeks ago, my husband and I went over to my parents house and talked with my dad for about three hours. We wanted to resolve a conflict in our relationship with Dad and challenge him about his relationship with God. We had a good talk about how salvation is found in Christ alone. After talking about the need for a restored relationship with God, my dad and I were able to address the need of forgiveness in our relationship.

I'm so grateful I took that opportunity to be reconciled with my dad. Last night was an amazing time to hear testimonies of how Dad influenced so many lives. I am so thankful to hear all the kind words completing Dad's story on earth. But my greatest peace is to know that I was able to express my love to Dad before he passed into eternity.

Friday night I heard from so many people who came through the receiving line telling me about the impact my dad had on their lives. My dad had varied interests and pursued many of them. Along the way he was able to meet so many people. The one theme that many expressed to me was that my dad was extremely friendly and personable. Nat and I were talking about my dad last night and he mentioned the first time he talked with my dad was when he took a box of some of my things over to my parents after he returned from Thailand (about two weeks before I moved home from my year long stay there). My dad was sitting outside when Nat drove up and began chatting with Nat right away.

Of course my dad really knew how to talk, as I'm sure many remember!  When Nat went to ask my dad if he could have my dad's permission to marry me, I think Nat was there for three hours before my dad finally said yes. :-)

We received a lot of closure with my dad's funeral.  I know several in my family have been waking up early and thinking, unable to go back to sleep.  But the healing process has begun.  My dad had an appointed time last Monday, just as the Bible says. Hebrews 9:27 ~"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

My dad's funeral was the best funeral I have ever attended. Nina and her sister played sweet hymns on the harp, which my dad loved. Our wonderful pastor, whom my dad really liked, preached a wonderful message on salvation. My three brothers and I each gave a testimony of my dad, and my nephew read a scripture passage from Job. I know my dad would've been very pleased with his funeral.

Nat and I cancelled the rest of our meetings (4) from the last leg of the trip we were on. We will be home until the end of May to be with my mom.  We also need to get our car fixed this week.

We weren't supposed to be home for another three weeks, but I'm really grateful to be home. What a joy to be with my family over the last several days and then to be with my church family on Sunday. Truly the Lord has been very good to me.

Late Night Musings.

Hubby is sleeping, baby is sleeping and I'm wide awake, which is nothing short of amazing considering we drove 9 hours through the night pulling in at 6 AM and just catching a couple of hours of sleep.  

Ahh, home! It's so nice to be home.  Clean house, clean fridge... and wrinkled potatoes.  

That last one was an oops.  In the midst of the flurry of leaving a month ago -- at the groggy hour of 6 AM -- I failed to see I had potatoes sitting in the bowl waiting to be devoured.  Unfortunately, no devouring is going to take place now.  Big oops!

Oh, going back to the clean house part, I should clarify and say mostly clean. When I walked into my kitchen this morning, I saw three stink bugs in various places with their legs decidedly pointing up.  Ignoring the little creatures, I wandered into the bedroom to see two more stink bugs in the same position and I finally realized that the bitter cold of Pennsylvania was effective in killing the stink bugs off and leaving them in the "legs up" position.  That's a wonderful solution to killing stink bugs except I don't want to keep my apartment at a chilly 55 degrees and I would rather not smash the stink bugs to smithereens since they give off a rather unpleasant smell ~ hence the name.  

That whole paragraph was brought on by the fact that there is a rather live stink bug wandering up my kitchen wall right now and I'm a big wimp at killing them. No worries though: I become rather fearless when it comes to ridding my house of bugs in Thailand, so I should be good.   Besides, the stink bug will still be there in the morning, Nat can come to my rescue of getting rid of it and he'll maintain his position of being my knight in shining armor and rescuing me from... bugs. It's all good. :-)

Wow, that was quite the rabbit trail. Moving on...

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We just returned from another tour of deputation, although this past month didn't feel like deputation as much as it felt like an extended vacation because we saw so many friends and family members.  We even ran into some missionary friends of ours at the last church we were at.  That was fun!

I feel like we made some friendships on this last trip that will become life-long friends in the ministry.  For instance, we were in a missions conference in South Carolina for four days and by the time we left, we walked away with a supporting church and the feeling that we had known the dear folks there forever.  Another meeting the Lord put together at the last moment and we ended up staying with the pastor and his family for a couple of days and discovered we got along very easily.  With the last meeting we had, we camped out at the church for a few days (in a gorgeous prophet's chamber!) and our hearts were knit together with many in the church.  

So many blessings along the way, and yet most of them don't even make it into a blog post, prayer letter, or thank you note.  Not that we're ungrateful; we just can't record all that the Lord has blessed us with. But I will share one with you as a "for instance."

One afternoon a pastor's wife and I went to a second-hand shop because she had a couple of 50% off your whole order coupons that she wanted to use. Now this shop had the best prices on clothing I've ever seen in a second-hand shop and most of the clothing was name-brand quality stuff. I have been keeping my eye out for summer outfits since the weather in Thailand is summer-oriented, so as I was browsing through the shoe section, an older gentleman came up to me and gave me a 50% off coupon. I was so surprised, but very thankful.  Since Nat wasn't with us and the pastor's wife had a 50% off coupon for me, Nat and and I returned to the store the next day so he could look for some things.  He's been looking for several items for a while now, including a suit.  Wouldn't you know, there was a suit on the rack in his size that "just so happened" to be marked down 50% already and then he was able to use the 50% off coupon too, bringing the cost of the suit to $5.00! Isn't God good?

We're currently sitting at 71% of our deputation goal and we praise the Lord for that.  We're heading to the mid-west from March to May and then we'll be in Washington and Alaska during the month of June.  We do have several dates to fill in during those months, especially for the West Coast trip.  My husband has been praying about whether we drive or fly and felt as if the Lord was leading us to fly out to Washington.  He told me the other day that he feels like he "cut the branch off the tree" when he bought our airline tickets, but he is confident that the Lord will provide the right meetings. God has never once failed us and a couple of times now He's allowed a gap in our schedule that He's filled at the very last possible minute that have been turned into the greatest blessings of all. 

So we still have a lot of travel to do in the next few months, but the end is in sight!  We've had a terrific deputation run and we really can't think of any bad experiences along the way.  As I said before, God has been good!!!

Percentage.

We started deputation last March, with plenty of stops and starts along the way.  Numerous pre-natal visits made that a must!  We've done what we call "tours" of deputation, "lines of travel," and several blocks where we go out for weeks at a time, but no matter what it is called, it's been necessary.  We've met countless people, added some on facebook, laughed over the statement, "You know so and so too!" and have tremendously enjoyed our deputation.

It is what we make of it. We complain of the travel and guess what ~ the travel is going to be looong!  Paul's being cranky?  Mommy and Daddy will be too! We're going out to eat again?!?!?  Suddenly everything tastes like cardboard.  I've learned that my attitude really paves the way for my family.  Those days when my attitude stinks, I might as well just go back to bed and pull the covers over my head because it's going to be "one of those days." Thankfully, those stinky days have been few and far between.  Our hearts long to be in Thailand, but we know that deputation is where the Lord currently has us... and for a good reason too!  A seasoned missionary told us that we're not raising financial support; not really!  Our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He abundantly provides.  The main reason we spent every week in a new church is to raise prayer support.  Without that, we don't want to go overseas.  Really, we don't.  It would be so foolish to even set foot on an airplane.  Might as well stay here and be cozy.

But with that said, we are raising financial support.  It seems like I'm contradicting myself, doesn't it? God does have all the resources in the world, but He has chosen to use people to distribute those resources.  Many times we've been in a church and on the way out the door, a precious sister in Christ comes along and squeezes money into my husband's hand.  We've been humbled time and time again at the generosity of God's people towards us, kind of like the widow and her mite.

My husband texted me this morning and said a church in Connecticut voted to take us on for support, bringing our total support up to 63%!  Now we were at this church a little less than three weeks after Paul was born.  To be honest, that was one of the "rougher" trips we made since I was still recovering from a c-section.  But the Lord gave a lot of grace and we greatly enjoyed being a part of their missions conference.

We have a meeting this Sunday evening in Maryland and then head down to the Carolinas for three weeks before returning home.  We debated about "filling our schedule up" at the end of February, but then realized if we did that, we would miss our own church's conference.  We didn't want to do that, so we're looking forward to being at LVBC for the conference before heading on another two month trip to the Midwest and Upper Midwest. :-)

God is so good!

An Update.

I'm feeling awfully productive this morning! My little guy woke up around 5:30 to eat and then quickly fell back to sleep.  I'm not sure if it was the Lord prompting/reminding me of my goal to wake up earlier or if I had "enough" sleep - it's amazing the amount of sleep I'm getting by on! - but I decided to get up early and have some quiet time with the Lord.  

Now that was refreshing!  Just being still and quiet before the Lord... no baby cooing in the background to distract me.  What a blessing to soak in the word of God and meditate on Ephesians 2:1-2.

I think I was running on ambition or something because I decided to make some bread.  From the smells currently wafting out of my oven, it's going to be delicious!  Add to that a shower and some computer time (I'm usually on my iPhone), and I'm feeling rather productive for 8:00 in the morning!  I'm sure I'll nap later, but it was worth it to wake up early today.  Plus my little dude is still sleeping, so I'm planning on enjoying a nice breakfast date with my honey... right in our own kitchen. :-)

Speaking of the little dude...

... he turned four months on Sunday and got all dressed up for a wedding on Saturday!  His first tux. :-)

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We've been home for a few weeks now and will be home for about two more before we head out for a month to continue deputation.  We had a meeting Sunday night and Monday night (a missions conference) and will have one next weekend in Maryland before we head south to the Carolinas. Nat and I just booked a stay at a bed-and-breakfast in Charleston, SC for the end of this month and we're very excited to spend some time in that city!  Plus we're finally using up a b&b gift card that was given to us for our wedding 2.5 years ago. :-)  Since we both share the same birthday, we don't do presents for each other but always enjoy doing something special together.  On our actual birthdays we'll be in the midst of a mission conference, so we decided to celebrate a few days earlier and I'm sure we'll have a good time. 

Now that we've turned the calendar, we are extremely excited that this is the year we plan on being on the field, Lord willing!  I'm sure the months will slip by and sometimes I get overwhelmed with the thought of packing up our apartment.  We've tried to be "minimalists" since we've gotten married, knowing we were heading to the other side of the world, but we've also had to live now so we've accumulated a few things. :-) In the months ahead, there will be plenty of times to be ruthless in sorting, saving, and throwing away!  

Three Months.

My little guy turned three months today! He has really started to change, especially in the last couple of weeks. He almost rolled over today (but then decided it wasn't worth it:D), he smiles a lot (unless he's hungry), and loves exploring his hands. We've also noticed how he's better at being content and is able to lay by himself and play without constantly needing someone in his face all the time.

Paul has had two haircuts and two "trims" and continues to be my peanut when it comes to his size. It was a sad yet happy day when he outgrew his first outfit that he wore home from the hospital.

He has brought us so much joy and loves to teach us patience (or the Lord uses him to teach us!). He has spent most of his life on the road and has done fairly well for being such a little guy. Of course he's the star attraction everywhere we go - or I should say his hair is!!

What If.

We've been on the road for the past two weeks "deputating" as one friend calls it. :)  So much to write and yet not enough free time to write, between taking care of a newborn and living in the moment.

We're currently in Fort Worth, Texas at a missions conference that has been very uplifting and convicting.  One thing stood out to me that wasn't during a preaching time or even a teaching session and yet it was so impacting.  During one of the "comments time" a pastor from Louisiana asked a veteran missionary about the man who led him to the Lord.  Now this veteran missionary, Milton Martin, is over 80 years old and has been a missionary to Mexico since somewhere around 1960.  Bro. Martin said the man who led him to the Lord was praying some 28 years before Bro. Martin's salvation and put his finger on a map of Texas and asked the Lord for a soul in that state.  Bro. Martin then said these words: "I was that soul."

I don't know if anyone else in the room got chills like I did when he said that, but I was thinking about the impact Bro. Martin has had on countless people around this world. Literally. But I thought about that man who came before Bro. Martin and was faithful in praying for lost souls and then witnessing to those souls.  What if that man hadn't prayed? What if that man hadn't been specific in praying for a soul in Texas? What if he hadn't opened his mouth to speak of Jesus? What if he was intent on doing his own thing rather than God's plan?  What if?

While I understand God will use someone else if they're more willing than you, I also know that Bro. Martin's impact on the people of Mexico can't be denied. In addition to the people of Mexico, there are plenty of pastors, missionaries, evangelists, Bible Institute students, etc. that have been impacted by Bro. Martin's ministry.

Nat and I personally have been impacted by his ministry.  In fact, Bro. Martin's the one who challenged Nat with the principles of missions and is the human instrument God used to put Nat into the ministry.  My heart was stirred when Bro. Martin preached a conference in 2006 and that set in motion the idea of me going to Thailand to help with missionaries.

But I think of the man who came before Bro. Martin and realize that his reward in heaven will be great because of being faithful.  What a legacy!  What a challenge to me.

It's funny what the Lord will use to teach me. In this instance, it was just an old preacher from Louisiana asking an old missionary to Mexico what an even older man did for the Lord.

Latest Travels.

So according to my last post (two months ago), we were in Texas and in the midst of deputation travels.

Um, yeah, we actually returned to PA about 1.5 months ago. :-)

We did take a couple of more trips since then, including a deputation/anniversary/babymoon trip to what is fast becoming our favorite vacation state ~ Maine! In between two deputation meetings, Nat and I had a sweet getaway in and surrounding Brunswick, Maine.

Nat is his mother's child, so we took as many opportunities as possible to get close to the water. We didn't actually go swimming in the ocean (hello 50 degree water!), but it was wonderful to be near it!

We decided to go to the Maine Maritime Museum which also included a river boat tour. The museum was quite interesting and we spent just the right amount of time there.

I was studying some lobster cages in one of the buildings when Nat called my name and so I turned around. Although not intentional, it is rather amusing to see how my shirt matches the horizontal slats on the lobster cages. :-)

By the way, notice my hoodie hanging over my purse?? It was actually cool enough by the water to put the hoodie on to ward off the chill. *Sigh* I think 70 degree weather is just perfect!

We really enjoyed the river boat tour, which included a couple of lighthouse sightings. Hey, you can't go wrong with cruising out on the water!

Of course, when in Maine one must try a lobster - or "lobstah" as the locals say! Nat was the adventurous one while I sat contently by watching him crack it open as I ate my shrimp. :-)

The whole trip was so wonderful! One nice thing was we were staying in the same place for four consecutive days... something that is fast becoming a luxury rather than necessity!

We're taking the next two months off from deputation as we wait for Peanut to make his or her grand entrance. We even finally registered for some baby items, mainly because of the free gift card incentive that Babies 'R Us offers. Well, that and the fact that Nat just loves that scanner and wants to scan everything he sees. :-)

Five weeks until my official due date. We'll see how official Peanut is in arriving and just how much he or she takes after Mommy in being early for everything!

Oh, let's hope it's not another five weeks before I squeak out another blog post.

That last period of silence was embarrassing!

Mother's Day.

Nat and I have been visiting with his immediate family in central Texas while we finish up our last few meetings for this leg of deputation. It was pretty convenient that we managed to get into town 2 days before Mother's Day - why yes he is a good son! For the past couple of years, I've always been away for Mother's Day, so it was nice to actually be with one of our moms for the day!

Of course we have plans to take my mom out for lunch when we return to PA. We did that last year and found out the restaurant we wanted to go to had burned up... I'm hoping history does not repeat itself this year!

Nat's been mentioning for weeks we need to take a picture to track peanut's growth. I'm not a huge fan of the weekly picture some moms do, so I finally decided it would be nice to get a picture on Mother's Day. Nat's sister found a nice spot on the front yard and enjoyed taking pictures:).

I'm 25.5 weeks - I'm never sure what that translates into months - but I'm thinking it's somewhere around 6 months. :)

We plan to be out on the road for two more weeks before returning back to PA. After being in Oklahoma and Texas for the past couple of weeks and experiencing their heat in April/May, I'm very glad that I live in Pennsylvania where the heat isn't as bad as in the south. Of course a friend reminded me this morning on the phone that we are heading to Thailand, but I'm not going to think about the heat over there... just yet!

Mass Advertising.

I've mentioned in the past about how funny I think it is when a tourist attraction is advertised several hours away from the actual tourist attraction. It just strikes me as... humorous. :)

Well I found a new tourist attraction to add to my list: Meramec Cavern! Now I don't recall exactly when the billboards started, but perhaps what they lacked in mileage they made up in abundance. As in many. :-) I wish I had taken a picture of the three billboards that were within close proximity of each other ~ all advertising the same thing! I'm really restraining myself because we're only 7 miles away from this cave and I feel like I should at least give it the benefit of the doubt that it's not a dud of a tourist attraction. :-)

We'll be in Missouri for the next few days at a conference, so perhaps during our spare time, we might be tempted to give in and visit well-advertised cave.

I'll keep you updated should we dare to go below... :-)

Deputation Trail ~ #2

Where to start?

I'll spare you all the details of just how pretty Pennsylvania is -- yes we did decide to take the road less traveled in western PA! -- but we have had a fantastic start to our deputation trail! We left bring and early Thursday morning - wait, 8:15 AM isn't bright and early?? :) We had the privilege of joining in on Anchor Baptist Church's third annual missions conference as well as the third anniversary of the church! We were really looking forward to being in this conference because our church was able to have a part in supporting them from the beginning! So it was neat to be with a missionary that we supported. :)

I can tell already that one thing about deputation will be hard: spending several days with a church and the families, getting to know them and interact with them, and then - moving on. Bummer! A wonderful family from Anchor housed us while we were there and they were generosity from the start. From asking what kind of foods we liked to eat to having us try snoogles, we were well taken care of!

Of course Anchor Baptist were wonderful hosts too. Each evening there was a delicious meal provided (courtesy of the ladies of the church) and we enjoyed getting to know the other church planters, missionaries, and evangelists. One of the church planters is from Maine, and we discovered that the little Baptist church we attended while on our honeymoon in Maine was started with the help of this church planter! Small world. :)

Saturday morning we got to go out on visitation and then for lunch the ladies and men split up and went out to eat. I loved the fact that the ladies of Anchor really enjoy spending time with each other and laughing! We had a great time... I keep saying that, don't I? ;)

To end the missions conference, the pastor had all the missionaries stand up front and since it was their Faith Promise Sunday, he had the church members give their faith promise commitment cards to the missionaries. That was really neat to watch the whole church family - little kids included! - come up front and give their commitment cards in. The pastor's emphasis was that all the money that comes in for Faith Promise goes directly to the missionaries.

After the noon meal, the pastor shared that the commitments doubled from last year! I was extremely thrilled for this church as they take a step of faith forward!!

We had a meeting work out for Sunday night, so we drove the hour east and really enjoyed being at Stow Falls Baptist Church. The Lord really set up this meeting for us in a neat way. When we got to the missions conference at Anchor on Thursday night, there happened to be another man there who knew the pastor at Stow Falls. After talking with my husband about our ministry, this man called the pastor up and told him about our ministry. Not ten minutes before this man called, the pastor and another man were praying about the same particular people group that we plan on working with! This church has a real heart for this people group and has a bus ministry that brings in about 100 of this people group every Sunday. We just so happened to have Sunday night available since the missions conference at Anchor ended with an afternoon service. Isn't God good?!?!

Stow Falls was extremely welcoming and friendly and I just loved the singing... I felt like I was back at my home church. :) After the service, there was a fellowship (which had already been planned - details only the Lord works out!) so we were able to visit with some people. This church graciously put us up in a hotel and the pastor said we could meet for lunch, not breakfast at an insane hour of 8 AM or something like that. ;) We were really appreciative of having the opportunity to get a good night of rest and just s-l-o-w down from the marathon it feels like we've been running. :D Of course the bonus for this hotel was having a breakfast provided, so we made sure to take advantage of that!

So that's just part one of Deputation Trail #2! We still have five weeks in this trip so I'm sure there will be many more updates along the way. ;)

From Trip To Trip.

Nat and I just returned from a quick trip to Long Island and we decided to pack a lot into the 24-hour trip... just because. :-) Actually, the most exciting adventure was driving through New York City ~ traffic at its best! We did discover that you don't have to pay to use the Holland Tunnel... if you're leaving the city. That was a nice surprise since tunnels, bridges, and sometimes just existing seem to cost a bunch of bucks!

Long Island Baptist Church was a very gracious host and we felt welcomed from the start! I've known several of the ladies there through the blogging world for a long time, so it was so nice to finally meet them in person. :-) After the service we went out to eat with a dear, dear couple and thoroughly enjoyed our time visiting and fellowshipping with them. Heaven gets sweeter all the time as I meet new friends ~ just think, no more good-byes in Heaven!

This morning we went way out on Long Island to a place called Riverhead where a new church is being started by Long Island Baptist Church. It was exciting to hear the pastor talk about the area and the growth the church has personally seen. The needs are everywhere and the great thing is God is at work!

So it was a quick trip, but we really had a great time and now it's on to the next trip. I just realized tonight that we *are* leaving in two days for a 6-week trip and I should start packing and getting things ready! Between now and then are two very full days, including an ultrasound for peanut!

Some how, some way it will all come together.... it always does. :-)

Deputation Trail ~ #1

We officially started deputation one month ago and boy did it fly by! We started off presenting in our home church ~ always a good thing! ~ and continued on to some area churches we've known for some time. We fell into a routine quickly: pack an overnight bag on Saturday, spend a way-too-short-amount-of-time with a church on Sunday and then drive home late Sunday night - just in time to crawl into bed and get ready for Monday morning. :-)

By the end of the month though, I was laughing at my failed attempts to plan. Let me explain. The first Sunday I didn't think to grab snacks for the ride home and so that had us stopping at a Wendy's for a snack. Not wanting to continue that habit, I decided the next week to pack fruits, veggies, and other snacks for the 3-hour ride home. Imagine my surprise when the church graciously gave us a huge basket stuffed with all sorts of snacks, goodies, and drinks! I was determined to get it right the third time, but didn't count on the hotel we were staying at to have a full kitchen! So there we were sitting there on Sunday morning with a fridge, sink, and two-burner stove and we were eating........pizza from the night before. :-) So don't judge our deputation by our food experiences; we'd be seriously lacking in scoring any points!

As this is just the beginning of our deputation trail, I'm sure the stories will stack up - especially when we put a newborn into the mix. :-) We have tremendously enjoyed each and every church we were in. It's like seeing extended family! Nat did fly down to Texas for a conference in the midst of it all and was able to show our presentation dvd while he was there. Imagine our surprise when he received a phone call after the conference from that church's pastor saying they voted to take us on! God is good. :-)

We're taking a break for the next 2.5 weeks from deputation, although we're joining a group of young people from our church to head to a student competition in Illinois all this week. So I don't suppose we can say we're actually taking a break from traveling. ;)

Deputation trail #2 will start on April 12th.... we're looking forward to some new adventures!