Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Reunited and It Feels So Good!
Seeing Family for the first time in 3 years!
We have had lots of meetings, and lots of fun. They are not exclusive of each other but here are some pics of the fun we have had while visiting the USA and seeing family and friends for the first time in 3 years!
This is Barbara's Parents. We have to keep track of how tall Griffin is compared to Granddaddy. I think next time we see him, Griffin may be taller!
The kids got to enjoy the sprinkler! It was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This was the girls first time seeing a sprinkler (they are obviously not needed in Ireland.). :)
We love going to the Farmer's market whether it is in Ireland or Woodstock, GA. USA.
Next post, more adventures in Georgia.
This is Barbara's Parents. We have to keep track of how tall Griffin is compared to Granddaddy. I think next time we see him, Griffin may be taller!
We love going to the Farmer's market whether it is in Ireland or Woodstock, GA. USA.
Next post, more adventures in Georgia.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
I finally made GimBap (Korean Sushi) by myself!!!!
We are so blessed to host some young ladies this year at OM Ireland from the OM Ship "Logos Hope" while it is in dry dock. They are such a blessing! They love what they do, they are so respectful and such wise, godly young women. I was so blessed to have them over and hear their stories. I love that this is "normal" to my kids. :) And to top it off I made Gimbap (Korean Sushi) for the first time by myself! (If you saw the past fails you would celebrate). :)
I used cucumber, carrots, seafood sticks, egg, cream cheese and salmon (with different combinations in different ones). No raw fish. I am not that skilled on how to source that!
I learned how to roll the sushi from many sweet and patient friends over the years, Miae, BitNa, Chan Mi, Seong Bok (thank you for the rice cooker!), Eun Jin, Ji Hyun, JenHee, and Sei Hee!!! Below
Here are the ladies with a great young man in the middle :). BoMi (from S. Korea beside Griffin is showing us how to do the Korean pose). The countries represented are: America, S. Korea, S. Africa, China and Australia. How God can take people from all over the world with a heart for him and mold us all together like family immediately is one of the biggest blessings we have experienced here. What a fun group we had. Oh and I also made a Chinese dish (Jiaozi) which the Chinese lady did not recognize (haha) but seemed to like. :)
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Pumpkin Carving 2014
So I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving but .... I just wanted to catch you up on how our pumpkin carving went. Here are some pics:
The above was Sofia the first (Emily's choice)
The one above is a minion (Griffin's first time carving on his own)
Roses for Ruthie Bear
Olaf that got a little messed up for Lila Bug. She liked it though and that's all that matters. (kinda scary looking). Hope you enjoy! I can't wait to carve next year!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Halloween from Ireland?
Griffin asked me a long time ago about why do we celebrate Halloween and dress up in
costumes. I did not know the answer so I looked on the internet. The
following information comes from
http://www.wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm. This is quite interesting and involves Ireland!
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic
day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine.
How are family celebrates it? Well we don't celebrate Halloween but we do take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate community and light in darkness, enjoy having good fun with friends and family. We have appetizers and desserts for dinner. The kids go from room to room in the house with an adult being in each room dressed up crazy/funny with an unexpected character personality that makes the kids laugh. They hand out candy to the kids. We finish the evening by watching a movie and eating pumpkin seeds. The highlight of each year are the pumpkin carvings. Last year we had a minion, Rapunzel from Tangled and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. I wonder what we will have this year. I am pretty sure something having to do with the Hobbit. :) Of course our family traditions would not be complete without the Pumpkin Prayer and the Peter Pumpkin Story
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic
day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine.
How are family celebrates it? Well we don't celebrate Halloween but we do take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate community and light in darkness, enjoy having good fun with friends and family. We have appetizers and desserts for dinner. The kids go from room to room in the house with an adult being in each room dressed up crazy/funny with an unexpected character personality that makes the kids laugh. They hand out candy to the kids. We finish the evening by watching a movie and eating pumpkin seeds. The highlight of each year are the pumpkin carvings. Last year we had a minion, Rapunzel from Tangled and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. I wonder what we will have this year. I am pretty sure something having to do with the Hobbit. :) Of course our family traditions would not be complete without the Pumpkin Prayer and the Peter Pumpkin Story
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Shared Lives
I was praying today while we were having communion at the end of our church service, like we do every week. However, I was praying about my marriage. It is the time of year where work that was already busy increases into crazy-busy. I can often morph into what I call military-wife mode. My husband is often home during sleeping hours, when international teams come in, but his hours may be skewed and not be in until 2 am in the morning. So basically he is not here (however I am thankful for the time that he is).
Back to military mom: I function well on my own. I think I almost function too well. So I was praying, anticipating the extra busy-ness in our schedule, that we would be intentional as a couple to have shared lives. All too often I hear or read of marriages, or have had this happen to us as well, where people live together but exist separately. This is so easy to do when we start having teams come in to help us with ministry work. I have to be intentional on keeping my heart open, sharing my heart with my husband, intentionally asking questions so I can learn about what is going on in his life, in his heart, what is on his heart. It is too easy to fill our time together with the family management checklist. This is true especially when homeschooling four kids (and might I add potty-training the youngest)!
Then, it hit me, I understood a little better God's desire to share our lives. When we see the love, the sacrifice and plan God has for us, we see how much He wants to share lives with His bride (his believers/followers). And then I see his perfect design for marriage to help us to understand how he loves and desires us.
"25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." Ephesians 5:25-33.
I just love those little glimpses God gives us. It was one of those moments where what you know in your head and in your heart becomes a deeper understanding and appreciation in your soul.
I pray that God gives you a deeper understanding of His love for you today.
Back to military mom: I function well on my own. I think I almost function too well. So I was praying, anticipating the extra busy-ness in our schedule, that we would be intentional as a couple to have shared lives. All too often I hear or read of marriages, or have had this happen to us as well, where people live together but exist separately. This is so easy to do when we start having teams come in to help us with ministry work. I have to be intentional on keeping my heart open, sharing my heart with my husband, intentionally asking questions so I can learn about what is going on in his life, in his heart, what is on his heart. It is too easy to fill our time together with the family management checklist. This is true especially when homeschooling four kids (and might I add potty-training the youngest)!
Then, it hit me, I understood a little better God's desire to share our lives. When we see the love, the sacrifice and plan God has for us, we see how much He wants to share lives with His bride (his believers/followers). And then I see his perfect design for marriage to help us to understand how he loves and desires us.
"25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." Ephesians 5:25-33.
I just love those little glimpses God gives us. It was one of those moments where what you know in your head and in your heart becomes a deeper understanding and appreciation in your soul.
I pray that God gives you a deeper understanding of His love for you today.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Poured Out
A friend whose son is turning 13 asked us to write a letter to him. They are going to take the letters that the people wrote and read to him at various points on a hike. I have excluded part of the letter because it has personal things in it but if I were to give advice to anyone (that was willing to my long-windedness (my new non-word)), this is what I would say.
I have learned over the years the safest and most dangerous place to be is following the Lord. It is not something for the light-hearted. I find that television portrays Christian men as weenies. I have found that to be to the contrary. The Christian men I have watched are bolder than any man that conforms to the world. A Christian man is willing to go where God calls out of obedience. The Bible says that God desires obedience over sacrifice. A heart that obeys is a heart that loves God. Being a man of God does not necessarily mean being a pastor or a missionary but just means you are a man that uses the talents God has given you for His glory. Seek Him with all your heart. He will direct your paths.
Do not leave it up to others to feed you, for example only listening to sermons (although that is good), but you cannot live upon another person’s bread. You must dive into the Word to grow. Anytime I have found that I stop listening to Christian music (or don’t want to), stop doing devotions, or stop reading my Bible, a red flag comes up and I know that I am moving away from the Lord. Doing these things have to be intentional. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If you are not living intentionally and being in the Word of God and surrounding yourself with those that encourage you in your walk with the Lord you will slowly find yourself slipping away. It is okay to have non-Christian friends and listen to non-Christian music. We cannot live in a cocoon, but we need to be aware of their influence in our lives. We need to continually look at our lives and see what our gods are. Make sure that God is God. We also need to make sure that those we spend the most time with and surround ourselves with are those that honor God. Solomon slowly slipped away from the Lord by making unwise decisions and slowly surrounding himself with more and more wives that were not God’s children and ended up in disaster where he had the choice to have the opposite, and have a life that honored and glorified God, yet he threw it all away. It is a lot of little sins that eventually lead to the devastating, big sins that mark your life. No one plans on setting out and saying, I am going to ruin my life. It is the little choices we make along the way in everyday life that lead to the big monumental markers, good or bad in our lives.
Know your Bible. The days are evil and it will get worse because end times are coming and the Bible says that it will get worse. The GREAT news is: we have the truth of God’s word and the Holy Spirit as our helper. As a child growing up I learned that not all adults are mature adults. Just because they are in adult bodies, does not mean they all act like we think adults should act. As a student in college I would come to my professors with questions only for them to respond, “we don’t know” because those scientific discoveries had not been made up to that point. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that some things there were not answers to, yet. As a missionary, it has been hard to be on the field and have world missionary leaders proclaim false gospels. The way they were so sure of themselves and used Scripture to back up their arguments would have confused me had I not known Scripture well enough to explain certain things and the context of the Scriptures that they were using to twist. Test what the preachers and missionaries (anybody) say with what the Bible says. If it is not Biblical, throw it out! I don’t have the Bible memorized, far from it. I need to just dive into it and devour it. I also rely so much on my husband (Ludie) as the spiritual leader of our family to come to and ask questions. I pray that you will be that kind of leader your wife can rely upon to come to for guidance and to ask questions.
Everything is worthless in this life except for the work of God. Again, this does not just mean church work or missionary work, but meaning what God has placed on your life to do. When we leave this earth, we can take nothing with us. The only thing that is eternal is what God has done in and through you. Don’t be dulled by the lures around you. Don’t waste time by the lie that you have more time. Enjoy what God has given you. Enjoy life. But live it with a purpose. Above all else, love and love deeply. Guard your heart, for out of it is the well-spring of life.
Remember you are not God. That is why you need God. You will fail, but He is the one that will pick you up. He is the one that will dust you off. He is the one that will make your life count. He is the one that is worth the persecution the sacrifice. He is the one that will bless you in the middle of trials. He is the one that will uphold you and sustain you. He is the one that is the giver of life. He is the one that will comfort you in this fallen world and give you hope for the next to come (heaven). He is the one that will guide you. He is the one that will never leave you nor forsake you. He is the one that will wipe all your tears away. He is the one that has paid the price for the sins you committed and will commit. He is the one that is not surprised by our weakness. He is the one that is Sovereign, in control, over all, all powerful, knows the beginning and the end. He is the one that has scripted your life. He is the one that loves you, and keeps you. He is the one that is there when no one else is. He is the one that is there when you cannot feel Him and the weight of the world is pressing in on you but yet He is there. He is the One!
I have learned over the years the safest and most dangerous place to be is following the Lord. It is not something for the light-hearted. I find that television portrays Christian men as weenies. I have found that to be to the contrary. The Christian men I have watched are bolder than any man that conforms to the world. A Christian man is willing to go where God calls out of obedience. The Bible says that God desires obedience over sacrifice. A heart that obeys is a heart that loves God. Being a man of God does not necessarily mean being a pastor or a missionary but just means you are a man that uses the talents God has given you for His glory. Seek Him with all your heart. He will direct your paths.
Do not leave it up to others to feed you, for example only listening to sermons (although that is good), but you cannot live upon another person’s bread. You must dive into the Word to grow. Anytime I have found that I stop listening to Christian music (or don’t want to), stop doing devotions, or stop reading my Bible, a red flag comes up and I know that I am moving away from the Lord. Doing these things have to be intentional. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If you are not living intentionally and being in the Word of God and surrounding yourself with those that encourage you in your walk with the Lord you will slowly find yourself slipping away. It is okay to have non-Christian friends and listen to non-Christian music. We cannot live in a cocoon, but we need to be aware of their influence in our lives. We need to continually look at our lives and see what our gods are. Make sure that God is God. We also need to make sure that those we spend the most time with and surround ourselves with are those that honor God. Solomon slowly slipped away from the Lord by making unwise decisions and slowly surrounding himself with more and more wives that were not God’s children and ended up in disaster where he had the choice to have the opposite, and have a life that honored and glorified God, yet he threw it all away. It is a lot of little sins that eventually lead to the devastating, big sins that mark your life. No one plans on setting out and saying, I am going to ruin my life. It is the little choices we make along the way in everyday life that lead to the big monumental markers, good or bad in our lives.
Know your Bible. The days are evil and it will get worse because end times are coming and the Bible says that it will get worse. The GREAT news is: we have the truth of God’s word and the Holy Spirit as our helper. As a child growing up I learned that not all adults are mature adults. Just because they are in adult bodies, does not mean they all act like we think adults should act. As a student in college I would come to my professors with questions only for them to respond, “we don’t know” because those scientific discoveries had not been made up to that point. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that some things there were not answers to, yet. As a missionary, it has been hard to be on the field and have world missionary leaders proclaim false gospels. The way they were so sure of themselves and used Scripture to back up their arguments would have confused me had I not known Scripture well enough to explain certain things and the context of the Scriptures that they were using to twist. Test what the preachers and missionaries (anybody) say with what the Bible says. If it is not Biblical, throw it out! I don’t have the Bible memorized, far from it. I need to just dive into it and devour it. I also rely so much on my husband (Ludie) as the spiritual leader of our family to come to and ask questions. I pray that you will be that kind of leader your wife can rely upon to come to for guidance and to ask questions.
Everything is worthless in this life except for the work of God. Again, this does not just mean church work or missionary work, but meaning what God has placed on your life to do. When we leave this earth, we can take nothing with us. The only thing that is eternal is what God has done in and through you. Don’t be dulled by the lures around you. Don’t waste time by the lie that you have more time. Enjoy what God has given you. Enjoy life. But live it with a purpose. Above all else, love and love deeply. Guard your heart, for out of it is the well-spring of life.
Remember you are not God. That is why you need God. You will fail, but He is the one that will pick you up. He is the one that will dust you off. He is the one that will make your life count. He is the one that is worth the persecution the sacrifice. He is the one that will bless you in the middle of trials. He is the one that will uphold you and sustain you. He is the one that is the giver of life. He is the one that will comfort you in this fallen world and give you hope for the next to come (heaven). He is the one that will guide you. He is the one that will never leave you nor forsake you. He is the one that will wipe all your tears away. He is the one that has paid the price for the sins you committed and will commit. He is the one that is not surprised by our weakness. He is the one that is Sovereign, in control, over all, all powerful, knows the beginning and the end. He is the one that has scripted your life. He is the one that loves you, and keeps you. He is the one that is there when no one else is. He is the one that is there when you cannot feel Him and the weight of the world is pressing in on you but yet He is there. He is the One!
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