How this house and living in Texas is good preparation for life overseas

As I was bending over the bath tub in my very dark bathroom (because it has no power at the moment) filling bowls with water to take to the kitchen to wash dishes in my sink that currently has no faucet I was thinking of how living in Texas, and this rental house in particular, is good preparation for life overseas. Here are a few reasons I've come up with in no particular order:

1. Electricity outages: at random times while we've lived here part of our home has been without power because of various electrical issues while we wait for someone to come and fix it. It's an old house and has those cloth covered wires run through metal pipes. Every electrician who's been here shakes their head and is concerned for our safety. Thankfully the house is being totally re-wired so I won't need to fear fire as much but while its happening large chunks of the house are without power. For the last couple of days all of the bedrooms, the main bathroom and the kitchen have been without power because they are all on the same circuit. The ceiling fan/ light in our bedroom started working today for the first time in almost a month. Many of my friends who live overseas experience frequent power outages. We've gotten to practice here in this house.

2. Cockroaches: 2 inch cockroaches are a semi-common sight around our house. We've recently discovered they aren't fans of diatomaceous earth so hopefully that will help deplete our population. I think only people who have not lived in the south think that the exhibits of Madagascar hissing cockroaches like there were in our zoos in NY are cool. They move quick, sound horrible when they crunch when you step on them to kill them and still wiggle their legs and tentacles when you pick them up with toilet paper to flush them. I'm not a fan.

3. Cold temps in our house. We rented our house without a source of heat. This winter, during the ice storm, before we bought our heater and got it hooked up, at times it got into the lower 40s in our house. It was possibly colder in parts of the house but I only ever put the thermometer in the main areas. I was reminded of a picture a friend sent from his classroom in China where all the kids were wearing winter coats in class. Heat is not a requirement. I'm grateful we have lots of layers and that we didn't get rid of our wool socks. I didn't think I'd need them in Texas but I was sure glad to have them!

4. Hot temps in our house. Last summer we just had one, old, inefficient window a/c unit for our 2400 sq foot house. We live in Texas. Though it was a "mild" summer there were still 31 days over 100 and many more in the 90s. It got hot in here. I never moved the thermometer from the dining room (where the a/c was) and the highest I saw it reach was 96 in our home last summer and rarely was it below 85. I have no idea how hot it got in the far reaches of our house. Almost every night all summer we dragged our mattresses to the dining room to camp out with the a/c and lots of fans and sheets we'd put in the fridge or freezer. I figured it was good training for living closer to the equator in a place where a/c is not even an option. I thank God that our landlord decided to put in central heat and air last month though. It will make hosting other people much more pleasant.

5. Fire ants. These are something that we did not have in NY. Their bites hurt. Don't walk through the grass.

6. Our break in. Almost every missionary I know of has been stolen from at least once. It gives you an icky, violated feeling to be stolen from which we learned first and second times in Rochester and got to experience again here. Our break ins have been humbling experiences where we've been reminded that everything we have has been given to us by God and is really just on loan to us. He chose to allow His computer to be taken from us last summer. We still mourn the 13 months of pictures we lost but we trust Him that He knows best.

7. Many of our neighbors' first language is not English. According to city data about 1/4 of the residents in our neighborhood were born in a different country and speak English either not well or not at all. Most of the kids speak English really well, having learned it at school, and many of them serve as translators for their parents.

8. Fighting fleas. We defeated lice and bedbugs during our time in Syracuse but, since our dog adopted us here, we have had the opportunity to fight fleas. At this point I feel like we're losing the battle. I have no idea what insidious insect will be a problem wherever we end up but I am sure some kind of insect will.

9. Being close in proximity to the ministry we're involved in. We didn't chose this house for it's proximity to a church but we decided, since we live across the street from it, we might as well go there. It's definitely not the church I would have chosen had I lived elsewhere and visited but it's not a bad church and, if we move overseas, our options for churches will be few so it is good practice jumping in and getting involved in a ministry close by. We have enjoyed our class, the ministries for our kids and getting involved in serving weekly with the benevolence ministry.

10. Dr. Dad working long hours, often with patients whose first language he doesn't share. Glenn has worked long hours as an intern this year and he is often dependent on translators since he has many Hispanic and refugee patients here.

I know I could go on but I've decided to stop at 10. Many of these are things have caused me to struggle with contentment over the last year. Many times over the past year, especially last summer, I've gone to my fridge and had a talk with God and Ella Spees. Ella Spees was a missionary for 52 years long ago in Africa where she had to bring her thermometer inside because it would break when it got over 120 degrees (why on earth would I ever complain about it being 96 in my house??). I first read her "prescription for contentment" in Linda Dillow's Calm My Anxious Heart years ago and it has been a challenge and inspiration to me ever since. I have it written out on a 3x5 card on my fridge so I can read it when I need a reminder:

* Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather.
* Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
* Never compare your lot with another's.
* Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
* Never dwell on tomorrow - remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

Chatting with God, reading Ella's prescription and my favorite quote from Andrew Murray helps me to put things in perspective. God has taught me a lot this past year. Why He always has to re-teach me contentment when "I thought I got it last time" I don't know. I am grateful that He keeps working on me and that He is teaching me how to deal with these new and different things in a place where I speak the local language and at least partly understand the culture that surrounds me.

Lord willing, someday soon we will have reliable power in our house and all the electricity will be turned on and I won't have to go to the bathtub to get water to wash dishes. How grateful I am that I have indoor plumbing and don't have to walk two miles one way to a muddy, disease infested well. How grateful I am that God allows trials in my life to give me a better perspective. He is good and does good.

Oh Lord, thank You for all You are continuing to teach me. Thank You allowing circumstances to refine us and make us more like You. I don't know what You have for us when we are done with our training here but I pray that You will help me to be faithful today where I am and trust You for our future. Please help me to always keep my eyes on You and not on my circumstances. I love You, Lord Jesus. Amen.

One Year Ago Today: Broken Axle Thank Yous

One year ago May 12th was a Sunday, Mother's Day. We went to church, worked on packing and finally left for our graduation in NY/ family reunion in WY trip sometime late in the evening.

We made it about an hour down the road when the rear axle on our minivan, Winnie, broke. We sat in the van waiting to be rescued wondering what we were going to do, if we were going to be able to make it to Glenn's graduation or the family reunion, how that was all going to play out, etc.

As is often our custom when trials come into our lives we decided to pass time by sharing and writing down things that we were thankful for. The following list was found in the first few pages of our current, almost full, thank you book. I never took the chance to record them on our blog so I decided to do that today, one year after the incident:

- we were only an hour from home
- Caleb heard it so we didn't have a major accident on I-30
- we stayed safe on the side of crazy I-30
- 2 nice police men ferried the kids and I to the next exit to Denny's
- the kids could use the bathroom at Sonic
- We didn't buy a house so we have cash available to buy a new to us car
- Geico is paying at least part of the tow fee
- Melissa could come get us so we could sleep at her house and since we wouldn't all fit in the tow truck.
- God is in control
- the tire didn't pop
- the axle didn't break catastrophically (the recall "fix" did help with that)
- I was able to get the tires onto the pavement
- the tire didn't pop moving onto and off of the truck
- Geico covered the entire tow
- the security guard is willing to let me stay here this evening
- all the help that Hayley from Geico was
- Glenn has internet on his phone
- Number 5 is with Amber and TJ and not with us
- that sign was down so we could walk on it
- we were packed in 2 TMI bags and really didn't have that much stuff in the car
- our car didn't catch on fire
- we could go to the monthly medical missions Monday
- we got to try a peanut butter fudge shake at Sonic
- I could sing praises in the middle of it - God working through me
- the tow truck guy gave me his card and a recommendation of a junk yard and a mechanic
- God's safety and watch care over us

Over the next few days we looked at vans, were ferried back to Fort Worth by the Phillips and were lent Kris's car, didn't get any answers. Glenn's grandparents gave us a generous gift that enabled us to rent a minivan and then headed to NY for graduation after saying a tearful goodbye to Winnie, still not sure of what we were going to do with her or if Ford would claim responsibility for the broken axle. We ended up deciding to get her "fixed" while we were gone because she would still be of value to someone even if we wanted to sell her with a fixed axle she'd get more than a junk yard would give us for her.

Our "So Long Winnie" picture

A year ago I would be shocked to know that in a year we would still have Winnie today but we do. Something in her frame still doesn't sound right after being "fixed" but we pretty much trust her to get us around the Metroplex and we have taken her all the way to Lake Charles once. We've decided that for longer trips we'll just rent a van for now because it puts less wear and tear on a vehicle we own and a rental van is less likely to break down when we go on long distance adventures.

I am so thankful that God has enabled our family to look for the good in our trials. The very first thing the kids started doing when we pulled off to the side of the road was start spouting off things that they could see that they were thankful for in our situation. I am grateful for this. I know that this will help them throughout their lives. God is so good to us.

How We Became Dog Owners - Happy birthday Rahab!

Last year May 10th was a Friday and we had just been in our rental house here in Fort Worth a little over a week. We went to Frontier Forts Days at the Stockyards to learn some Texas history, check out the Stockyards for the first time and take a break from setting up our house. When we pulled into our driveway we saw a German Shepherd dog run across the street and into our yard and hide behind a bush. Glenn warned us to stay in the car to gauge what the dog would do. Seeing that she just looked scared and didn't attack he shooed us inside then, since it was such a hot day, went in to get water for her.

After drinking some water she laid down on our sidewalk and settled in. I guess she felt like she was safe with us. She was bleeding, whether from fights with other dogs or from wounds inflicted by humans we don't know.

We didn't know what to do with her. She had a collar on so we put her picture out on Craigslist as a found pet, contacted the city and the humane society and left her description. No one had reported her missing. We had just moved in and had told the landlord we didn't have any pets though we had discussed with him what we would need to do if that changed. We didn't want to let her into the house.

The kids were smitten with her. Initially they called her Voda because her ears were so funny and she reminded them of Yoda. We took her into the back yard and the kids set up a tent out there thinking they'd sleep with her out there.

In the morning she was still there so we took her to the Humane Society and found out that she wasn't chipped so no luck on finding her owner that way so we had a dog until someone claimed her. We decided to call her "Number Five" since she was playing the role of our 5th child and since we didn't want to give her "a real name" so we didn't get attached. The only problem (besides we didn't have a pet on our lease) was that we were leaving for a 3 week graduation in NY/ family reunion in WY trip on the 12th and we didn't think it was a good idea to take a new to us dog on a several thousand mile road trip. We looked into kennels but not having any idea of her shots history, or any history really, she was not a candidate to stay at any of them. What were we going to do with a dog in this city where we knew no one? God provided once again.

We contacted the German Shepherd Rescue to see if they could help since the Pug Rescue had been a help to my brother in the past with my aunt turned niece Tootsie. The first couple of people we heard back from said they couldn't help and then a lady contacted us asking if she could meet the dog. She told us that if she didn't clash with her dogs she would watch her for us for the whole time we were gone provided that we promised to take her back when we returned from our trip. She told us she already had 3 German Shepherd and 4 Pugs and she really couldn't adopt another dog long term at this time. We agreed to her conditions and drove up to meet her. The meeting went well and Amber even agreed to go and take her to get her first shots. We are so grateful for God's provision of this lover of dogs who was willing to take on one more for 3 weeks for us.

Number Five's first car trip - you can tell the kids don't like her at all, right? haha

She was kind of confused that we were leaving her and stared after us at the gate.

Well, we got 3-4 responses from our Craigslist ad but they were all either looking for a dog that didn't disappear until after we'd posted the dog's picture, didn't meet her description or we could tell they were just spam so we were now dog owners. Since she was actually going to be a part of our family we decided to give her a real name and the kids thought the name Rahab would be appropriate since we rescued her from the streets of Fort Worth just like Rahab was rescued from the destruction of the city of Jericho in Joshua 6 (not to mention that she may have lived a similar lifestyle out there on the streets before she came to live with us).

A quick family pic when we picked her up after our trip.

Lydia, our animal lover, is so excited to have a pet!

I think Lydia liked the kennel more than Rahab did. Rahab didn't do well in the kennel so it went into the garage.

Everyone loves Rahab.

 So, we've had a dog for a year now. There are pluses and minuses but we are so grateful for her. I was especially thankful after our break-in that God had already provided a guard dog for us, we had just taken her with us, not left her at home when the break-in occurred. She still needs a lot of training but she is a good dog and we love her. She is not the dog I would have chosen nor would I have chosen to go out and get a dog but God decided she needed us and we needed her. He knows best.

Finally, I leave you with some pictures from Rahab's first camping adventure to Dinosaur Valley State Park. She did great.

I'm so cool I need to wear shades

Dino tracks are much bigger than dog tracks!

Happy birthday, Rahab, we love you!

Five Minute Friday: Grateful

One of the things I am most grateful for is one piece of marriage advice Glenn and I were given about 15 years ago, just before we got married. We were told to get a journal and write down 3 things we were thankful for everyday, neat little things that we'd experienced or ways we'd seen God work in our lives. It is the one piece of marriage advice we've kept most days of our married lives together and as the kids grew we included them as well.

Our current book is nearing its last few pages and as I looked back at the beginning a couple of days ago I noticed that we'd started that book on 5/8/13. The kids excitedly asked me to read what we'd written. I read that day then they wanted me to share what we'd written on 5/10, the day our dog walked into our lives. It was fun to take a bit if a walk down memory lane.

Over the next couple of days I'm planning to share a few things that I read in the first few pages of our book when we saw God work in amazing ways. He has been so abundantly generous and faithful to us. I'm glad we have a box full of books where some of it is recorded.

STOP

Linking up with LisaJo's Five Minute Friday.

April PTO Adventures ABCs

Our "after we made it back out of the Grand Canyon" picture

 To pass time our way home from our adventures we like to go through our ABCs to help us remember all the things that we did. Here are our ABCs from our most recent trip. I plan on posting my journal of our adventures soon, after I upload our pictures. Until then... our April PTO Adventures ABCs:

A- Abigail, Albuquerque, Arizona, apples, Angel Bright Trail, artifacts, adobe, Alsup, air pads, atlas, Albertsons, archeology
B- Bluewater Lake State Park, beds, Big Agnes, breakfasts: campside, street side, Easter and hotel, bacon, Basha's grocery store, Brunton stove, birds, buzzing insects, buttes, basket maker, baskets, botany lessons, Blue Mesa, badges, beautiful vistas, books, bill boards, bite valves, blue pots, BNSF train engines, bananas, bison, baby prairie dogs, Best Thai, brown sugar
C- Caleb, cattle, camping, icampgrounds, camelbacks, California license plates, Continental Divide, chicken, cattle guard, cows in the campground, cacti, cotton tail rabbit, coyote, Colorado River, condor, cattle shoots, Celeste & Luis watched Rahab for us, crop duster, Caprock Canyon State Park,
D- dogs, danger, deer, desert, donuts, dead wild hog
E- elk, early mornings, Easter, elk chasing rabbit, exit
F- forests, fossils, Fossil Walk Ranger talk, food, foreign languages heard, fauns, flowers in the desert, free petrified wood pieces, fly (of our tent) free nights, flexibility, fleeces, fried potatoes
G- Glenn, Grand Canyon, Golden Pride, Grand Caravan rental van, glass bottle Mountain Dews, geodes
H- Hannah, horses, hills, Homolavi Ruins State Park, Hopi art, Hopi Point, horse poop in our campsite, hot chocolate, Holbrook, hiking, hot, heat, He calmed the storm, hail AFTER we were off the trail, hand squeezed orange juice
I- ice cream, ice block, interstate, Indian roadside stands
J- Junior Ranger, juniper trees, Junior Ranger patches, jackrabbits, jelly, Jeff Myers CDs
K- kivas, Kendra's suggestion, knife- Caleb's new one, Keens
L- Lydia, Lydia fell in the Grand Canyon not into the Grand Canyon (PTL!!), Little Colorado River, license plate game, layers, library, lizards
M- mom, Mohave Point, Maas adventures, McDonald's parking lot- $4.20 for overnight parking and we got a free large fries, Mountain Dew, mesas, mule deer babies, mountains, mules
N- Navajo, necklaces, New Mexico, Nebula, nalgene, neon lights, National Parks and Monuments, nooks, National Geographic Store
O- Ortega's trading post, open range, Orange Line, orange juice, oranges, open late campgrounds, oatmeal
P- Petrified Forest National Park, petrified wood, Painted Desert, Painted Dessert Inn, Petroglyph National Monument, petroglyphs, Pizza Hut, pueblos, Park Pass, Paid Time Off, PBJs, pottery pieces, picnic area, patches, Park Rangers, parking spot, Ponderosa Pines, Peace Suplus, pairie dogs, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, plants
Q- quesidillas, Quitaque
R- railroad, Route 66, rim trail, red dust, ruins, rocks, ravens, Rainbow Forest Museum, rescue team on the trail down, rest areas, rain jackets, road runners, Rosa's Cafe, reading
S- shuttle buses, sage brush, schedule, showers, sunglasses, sunscreen, sunrises, sheep, Super 8, Smokey the Bear, sleeping bags, stars, spur of the moment, self pay stations, silversmith, scenic overlooks, strawberries, state parks, Sunset Crater National Monument, sausages, sunsets, singing
T- tourist traps, tortillas, tunnels (we made it to the 2nd one!), trees, Texas, tent sites, tooks, thrift stores, tumble weeds
U- umbrellas
V- van rental, visitor centers, vulture, vaulted toilets
W- water packs, water, washes, wind turbines, windmills, water fountains, wind, wool socks, Walnut Canyon National Monument
X- xantera
Y- yucca
Z- zipped together

Five Minute Friday: Writer (Silver and Gold)

So this week I'm using the FMF word for the week not to write about being a writer but to just be a writer and write (for a bit longer than 5 minutes since I worked on it on and off as we adventured with family today)...

The pull to Lowville is strong today. (Lowville is the town Glenn did his rural rotation in for 9 months at the end of medical school.) This morning a friend wrote me that they've tapped some of their maples and have about 12 gallons of sap they're planning on boiling down tonight which will only be about 1 quart of syrup when it's all said and done after all that work but a sweet reward for 8 hours stirring around a fire. She told me her family was talking about my family at breakfast and how we would enjoy keeping them company around the fire and "doing science" with them. Hannah said, "If we leave now we could make it there by Sunday." *sigh*

Then I saw another friend's reminder to come to their all day game day at their place tomorrow. "Bring your favorite games and be prepared to lose" We went to the first couple of game days they hosted last year. It's just too far away. *sigh*

On Wednesday I wore my Cheesecake Festival t-shirt and whenever I do I always get comments about how those who see it wish they could go to a cheesecake festival. It's fun. But far.

This week I was chatting with one of Glenn's colleagues. We were talking about how difficult it is to make community, especially when you've had great community in the past. She told me that one thing God laid on her heart was that verse from Proverbs, "Better a neighbor close by than a brother far away." Oh, but I miss my brothers far away and they still hang out with each other without me and I've been here longer than I was there and I still don't have that kind of community and almost every Sunday one of my kids leans into me at church and tells me how they miss their friends in Lowville. *sigh*

I live in Fort Worth not Lowville. Glenn's colleague told me God's challenge for her is to: "Live where you are."

OK, so we'll keep trying at this neighbor close by thing. I know one key to community in Lowville was those great community potlucks we had at at the park in Croghan. Already on the calendar in the next couple of weeks we have a picnic planned with our Sunday School class, a medical missions meeting at our place and a cookout out with the other resident families in our program at the home of someone from the Tarrant County Medical Alliance. We'll keep working on these neighbor close by relationships we have here, they aren't the same as the brother far away relationships but they're good and worth investing in. It reminds me of that old song I learned in Girl Scouts "Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

Five Minute Friday: Willing

START

Willing... What am I willing to do?

What does willing mean?

Is it me using my force to accomplish something with my strong will?

Is it my response when someone asks me to do something? "Are you willing to do XYZ?" "Yes, I am willing." "No, I am not willing."

More often than not in my mind the word "willing" goes along with the word "Lord". "We will be coming to visit you, Lord willing." "We will be here for residency for 3-4 years, Lord willing." "We will be serving overseas someday, Lord willing."

I remember a sermon when we were in the middle of the craziness of trying to find a place to live at the beginning of med school and how grateful I was 24 hours later that we had heard it. We were challenged to not say "I am going to do this or that." But rather to say, "Lord willing we are going to do this or that." and remember that our good God was in control even when circumstances that we didn't plan and we don't understand come our way.

Like the rich man who'd built his barns confident that he had plenty for many years to come so he'd take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry, we don't know what tomorrow holds.

I am so thankful that I know Who holds tomorrow. What He wills is so much better than what I will. He's already there and I can trust Him.

STOP

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." James 4:13-15

Linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday.