What Remains

Last night we were up with Abby as the poor little gal threw up through the night. It might seem crazy to some, but while I am up and even after, I always appreciate my children and what a blessing they are to me a little more (or the realization of it is more clear).

The other day I was reading the "love" chapter of First Corinthians, and the Lord spoke something so clear to me. That everything else in this world with fall away, but there are 3 things that can and will endure - FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE.

So as I am up holding Abby's hair knowing that there really is nothing else I can do for her, I realize that FAITH, HOPE and LOVE is so true. How many times in our life do we forget about these things and try to take care of things the "world's way"? We can try to hold on to our hatred, but it just eats away at us and destroys. We can try to just "make things happen" (or have faith in ourselves) for ourselves, but many times, because we are human, we will becoming discontent in our own ability.

Why is it that when things of this world get stripped away do we begin to recognize this simple truth? - because God made it that way - when all else fails, these will ALWAYS remain...FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE, and the greatest of these is LOVE.

So...last night, all was stripped away, maybe that is why my LOVE for Abby in those moments is so clear.

Let's Jam!

Just a little post of the children that I love so much. This was right before we moved from Boston (as you can probably tell from the boxes). In the midst of the craziness and uncertainty, there is joy.

More from our Winter Wonderland

Here is more from our wonderful Christmas season. We really did enjoy all the snow and all the fun it provided...ENJOY!

Matt and I are just so amazed at how the Lord works. We still do not know His plans for us yet, but we do know they are to "prosper us and to not harm us...to give us a future and a hope." We keep saying to each other that it really did take an act of God to get us back living in the place we grew up. This place was no where on our radar screen. Whether that means we are supposed to stay here, that is another question. But to be quite honest we would have never come back here unless something like what happened to us wouldn't have happened.

And to be honest - who knew Clymer, PA could be so beautiful?


Matt making a "GI-NORMOUS" snow angel

Abby's snow angel


Sled riding fun !!!!

More sledding fun!!!

Enjoying our Winter Wonderland

There is so much to share with all of you... I have so many cute pics and videos of the kids over these past few months and I can not wait to post them all. Today I just wanted to give you an update. First of all, we are still in "waiting". We were hoping that Matt's job search would be over by the beginning of this year and we would be off to begin the next chapter of our lives; however, our plans are not always His plans and we find ourselves depending on Him more and more to provide and lead us in the right direction. We are still full of hope and expectancy and we continue to praise Jesus for everything He is doing in us. Once I begin posting more...I am sure you will hear more about what the Lord has been doing to our hearts during this time.

I am also soooooooo grateful for our family. We have had such a good time with them over these last few months. I think being with our family has brought a lot of stability back to our kids lives, which was greatly needed.

That being said - look at all the fun stuff we have been up to -

Enjoying our first "real" big snow in 10 years. I do not know who liked it more Matt or the kids.

Making a Gingerbread House before Christmas...The kids loved it, it stressed me out the entire time, and Matt just enjoyed the entertainment :)

Abby was just a beautiful angel in a little Christmas play at our local church. David was supposed to be a little shepherd but had no interest in putting on the costume.

update...

“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence.”  Proverbs 14:26

 

We are in the midst of some big changes in our lives! 

 

First, we want to let all of you know that we will no longer be working with YWAM Boston.  After lots of prayer and discussions with the leadership of YWAM Boston and others, we feel confident in saying that being there was not a good long-term fit for our family.  We are thankful and blessed to have been there for a season, and are still excited for all that God is doing in Boston.  And we are very thankful for all of our friends in Boston.

 

We also feel confident in saying that God has another ministry opportunity prepared for us.  We are currently looking for a position where we can continue to work with Worship and Missions and mobilize people to reach the world for Christ.  Right now, our search is leading us toward working in some type of pastoral setting in a church, but we are open to whatever opportunity the Lord may send our way. 

 

If you know of any openings as a Worship Leader or Missions/Outreach Pastor, please let us know. 

 

For those of you that financially support our ministry, you may continue to do so through YWAM Boston, 23 Emerson St, Newton, MA 02458, until December 31.  We believe by that time we will have more specifics and can share them with you when we have them. 

 

Please be praying with us in this time of transition as we seek the Word of the Lord about our next step. 

 

We are currently living with Matt’s mom in Clymer, PA.  The kids are all doing well and enjoy being around our extended family.  Sarah continues to struggle with morning sickness, but we are hoping it will end soon!  The baby is due June 1.

 

Thanks for all of your love, support and prayers on our behalf. 

 

Waiting on Him…

 

Matt and Sarah

 

Aunt Becky and Uncle Fred Birthday Presents

Thanks for the presents!!!! For those of you watching the video the skirt actually plays music from "Swan Lake" when Abby dances around :) David and the frog is priceless, too.

happy birthday abby

Our sweet daughter Abigail turns five today! She is the special joy of our life and is growing up (fast) into a wonderful girl. Happy birthday Abby, and we pray for God’s fullest blessings in every part of who you are growing up to be.

what does it mean to love without hypocrisy?

What does it mean to love without hypocrisy?

(click on the pic to make it bigger...)

We are here in Boston, have a house, a neighborhood and even now a new office building for our ministry. But I am still trying to find my place – my location on the map of this organization. I think I need to rediscover a little more of what it means to love.

Obedience alone is not enough. Following the call out of trust even isn’t enough. Staying the call out of perseverance is not the way. Love is what is required. With all my heart, all my mind, and all my soul.

I can’t make a love like this, but I can posture my heart and life to receive it and be a conduit. I can receive the graceful love of my heavenly Father, every day learning a little more what it looks like to be a true son. I can extend loving ways and behaviors to those around me – assume and presume less, withhold judgments, and truly believe the best. ‘There is no victory without hearts of purity.’

People are ultimately the best objects of love. We can love things, ideas, callings/vocations/jobs, places, etc. But that love will always really be one-sided. When you love people, that love takes on life, sows seeds, breaks chains, changes the world.

Let love be without hypocrisy.

I don't want to be an actress

The other night as we were putting Abby and David to sleep, Abby was just being so loud and dramatic. She was singing at the top of her lungs, dancing, jumping, and making HUGE body gestures. She was being so crazy, I almost couldn't take it anymore :)

I said to her, "Abby, you are totally going to be an actress when you grow up." She looked at me and said, " Well, Mom, I don't want to act like anything - I just want to be what God made me to be."

Oh...the wisdom from the faith of a child. For some reason, all of her craziness didn't seem to bother me anymore because that's who Abby is...A beautiful creation from a loving God.

Inflation at a lemonade stand

Just 2 nights ago we met up with friends from Kentucky here in Boston. We were just walking back to our car after getting some ice cream. As we were walking there was a 10 year old boy selling lemonade on the sidewalk. Well...I have a weakness for little children and their lemonade stands...I just can not walk by it without having a guilty conscience. Yes, it is a weakness.

So I pulled out a dollar and told him that we wanted two lemonades. And he responded, "Well, that will be another dollar..."

ANOTHER DOLLAR. He didn't even have lemons in his instant lemonade, and they were small cups!

I guess the higher prices in Boston even go as far as a little kids lemonade stand... has our economy gotten THAT bad? No, I don't think so. I just ran into a very business savvy 10 year old :)

Well...he ended up giving me "2 for the price of one"
Maybe next time I won't feel as guilty walking by without buying?

PROBABLY NOT :)

BACK UP and RUNNING...

Sorry, everyone, for the long delay on any updates. We are now back up and running. I plan on updating at least once a week now...so check back often.

Well...where to start?

Ministry
We have had a VERY busy summer here in Boston, and Lord has been so good to us and our ministry. Over the past 3 months we have seen over 1600 people give their lives to Jesus here in the Boston area..."the fields are white..." I can not express in words how humbling it is to be able to see peoples lives change from despair to hope and from depression to LIFE.

We are about to send out our newsletter. In it I have written a story about one woman I talked to and how the love and power of Jesus has changed her life...please read it when you get it.

I have put up a picture of the team Matt and I led as we went out to the Boston area to share about Jesus.

Family
We are beginning to settle in to our new home now. There are soooooo many things in this area that are so different, but we are all adjusting and blessed to be able to live in an area of the US that impacts the entire world.

Abby is beginning to learn to read. She is just so beautiful. David wants to do everything that Abby does, but he is also SUCH a boy. He has taken on jumping on everything. I might even try to post a video of him.

So...just a little note to let you know we are still here and things are going well but very fast and very busy.

We're Here and David's Birthday

We have made it to Boston and we are settling in. Thank you to all of you who came to help us load the truck in PA. We will miss you. We have moved in to one side of a duplex. It is very nice. It has higher ceilings compared to our other homes and all wood floors...I never noticed how loud my children were until we moved into this place :) Needless to say...we really like it here, and we are so blessed to be working with people who impact the world for Jesus. Most of the Boston team are in the UK right now...feel free to check out their blog.

http://encountertour2009.blogspot.com/



On Saturday, in the mist of moving in, we celebrated David's second birthday. We have a tradition of decorating the house with balloons and streamers after the kids go to bed the night before, and Sarah will make a "themed" cake. Then we wake the kids up with birthday music and dance to music in the morning. Because Abby is older now, I think she was waaaaaaaaay more excited about David's birthday than he was, because she knows what happens. She tried waking us up at six to go down stairs to celebrate. The theme this year was Thomas Trains, because David loves trains. Here's a picture of the cake. Yes...for those of you that know me and know I am not very "domestic", I do sometimes surprise myself :)


We had a wonderful time and David is so cute and so much fun. He brings so much joy and excitement to our home. We love you David xoxoxoxoxoxo

It’s time to move!

We’re packing up! We’ll be loading our moving truck on Friday and driving to Boston this weekend to begin our new adventure serving on staff with YWAM Boston. Things are happening fast!

We’ve had a great time visiting with a lot of you these past couple of months and have visited some wonderful churches. Thank you for all of your support as we venture out into the ‘unknown’ – knowing that the God revealed and known to us through Jesus Christ is guiding and providing.

Abby and David are doing well and growing up fast. Abby graduates from pre-school this Thursday and David turns two on May 30. He’s a handful!

Places to check out:

www.ywamboston.org – the official website of the ministry we will be working with. You can read more about the work they have been doing, what we will be doing in Boston, and donate online!

www.encountertour2009.blogspot.com. A few weeks ago Matt spent the week in Boston helping the DTS Team put the final touches on YWAM Boston’s first original stage production, Encounter. It uses music, dance, multimedia and drama to tell the Gospel story. It’s very cool and very powerful, and it’s the type of thing we are most excited to work with in the years to come. They are currently on a 6 week tour in the United Kingdom. You can follow their adventures at this site.

Generacion Josue 2009

Here is a highlight video of the youth camp/outreach we were a part of in Peru.