Independence Day!

Stronger

I got to watch Emma show her gymnastics prowess yesterday and she really impressed me.

She's been doing it for about 2 1/2 years now, once a week, increasing to twice a week in January.  She doesn't practice at home, but she's developed great upper body strength and balance, beyond our expectations.  She has also overcome fear to work on the high beam, and bars.  

We are very proud!

A Good Father

Yesterday Scott preached the sermon at church, for Father's Day!  Here he is getting wired up by our buddy Jeremy.

He did a great job of sharing the biblical perspective of "A Good Father."  It's not a mystery what that should look like - we have a perfect, Heavenly Father, who has shown us.  

This is a video clip Scott played before he spoke.  It's from the movie "Courageous".  It sums up a lot of what he said:

 

 

A good father protects his family, by leading them in obedience to the Word of God.  

A good father disciplines his children, that they would understand the consequences of their choices, and develop self-control.  

A good father encourages his children, giving sons respect regardless of their performance, and showing unconditional love to his daughters, that they may know how valued they are.

A good father forgives.  As God offers us forgiveness, so must we forgive our children, and others, not holding grudges or becoming bitter.

After each service (he had to preach twice!) people were very thankful for his encouragement and insight.  One man came up to me in tears and asked me to thank Scott because he "really needed to hear that today."

That's the best part about being a mouthpiece for God - you never know why God calls you to say something, but there is someone who needs to hear it.

I did record the second service, which Scott says God just kept telling him what to say, and ended up running about 30 minutes!  I'm not sure if I'll be able to post it here or not, but it is available publicly on my Facebook page if you can get to it.  

It's never too late to become the man or woman God created you to be.  We have all missed opportunities or ignored chances, but when you have a patient and merciful God, he is always ready to redeem what is left of our lives.

Smile Recap

It's been a while since I shared about Emma's smile journey, so I thought I'd catch you up!

Recap:  in May 2016 Emma had the Temporalis lengthening procedure to create a smile, after telling us she wanted to be able to smile so people could tell when she was happy.  The initial procedure went well, but after the 6 week recovery period the results were mixed.

Her right side has incredible excursion - it moves a lot, and didn't require much practice. In fact it moves too much, and is very reactive to any movement she makes with her mouth.
Her left side was not moving at all, and the doctors did a second surgery in July 2016 to tighten the muscle on the left side.

11 months on and after months of daily facial exercises, and therapy sessions every 2-3 weeks, the left side now moves pretty well, but significantly less than the right.

Emma is unhappy with the asymmetry of her smile.  She has even said she prefers her old smile, which of course breaks my heart!  However, we are in a journey and while we hoped for a smooth and perfect ride, we can not lose hope, or perspective.

This week we went to the Facial Motion Clinic at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  We discussed the situation at length - 90 minutes!!

Emma is unhappy with the RIGHT side!  Her left side is demonstrating normal results!  So we have to work on calming down the right side, but also stretching the muscle since at rest it is still somewhat higher than it should be.

We are also going to try estim on the left side to crank the muscle up, and a last resort on the right side would be targeted botox, to reduce some of the movement - ironic right?!!

Meanwhile, Emma has had braces this entire time and is missing several teeth, which contributes to her unconventional smile.  Those are due to come out this summer, and they have done a great job of centering and pulling in her front teeth. 

This age is fraught with emotion and self-esteem issues, so we are being hyper-vigilant for any worrying feelings.  Emma has seen a psychologist and we can visit her anytime there are any issues she might want to discuss.  We, on the other hand, are thrilled with her smile and excited for how she will be able to use it.  We constantly remind her that she is beautiful and we hope she sees the surgery as worthwhile with time, as we do.

Despite all this, Em clings strongly to her faith and trust in God.  She understands that this life is the pre-amble for eternity, where she will have a transformed and glorified body.  She is focusing on how she can build eternal treasure, and has invited several friends from school to a Bible study at our house - and some are coming!

It is truly inspirational to see how strong and courageous she is, knowing that God has a purpose and calling for her life that she was designed specifically for.  Moebius Syndrome is a part of that plan, and she willing to use her life to lead others. 

Baseball star

Toby just finished his baseball season this weekend, with an exciting playoff game against a really good team - we almost won!! 

Gymnast

Emma has been doing gymnastics for two and a half years now.  She was doing it once a week until this year when we upped it to twice a week!  We are not good at supporting her in practice at home, so the sessions are basically all she does to train!

We were so excited to watch her show last night - they show the parents what they've been doing every 10 weeks.  From not being able to do a forward roll, to now doing it and standing up after without putting her hands down.  Being able to kick both legs up into almost a full hand stand!  Balancing on a beam on one foot, when she used to not be able to stand on one leg on the floor!  Hanging from a bar and moving her legs around!!  (Not sure I could so some of the things she is!)

It's slow, but it's progress.  Most importantly is the courage and determination she shows when the girls around her are doing perfect cartwheels and handsprings, or flipping over the bar time and time again.  She never whines, compares or complains - just continues to improve herself and encourage herself to persevere.  For that, I'd pay twice as much!!

Under Construction

13 years ago I took a huge step of faith, joining a team from our church, heading to Africa (Namibia to be specific) on a short-term missions trip.  I had no idea what to expect, but I felt the call to go.  While we were there we tiled the floor of a local church, as well as the floors of a new Bible-training school.  It wasn't glamorous, and it was labor intensive, but it was awesome to be able to serve others. 

On a personal level, I was able to experience first-hand what God is doing across the world.  It was also a pivotal moment in my relationship with Scott, as it was in Africa that God spoke to Scott about our future together. 

Since that time we got married, had two amazing children and I have focused on serving God in our local community.  Scott has been on several other missions trips, bringing his gifts and skills to missionaries in Africa, Guatemala, and Ecuador. 

When our church announced there would be a missions trip this September, the first in several years, to Tijuana, Mexico, both Scott and I were excited and discussed going on the trip together,  Logistically, with two children starting a new grade of school a few weeks before the trip, that was not possible,  And so, we agreed, I would go and represent our family!

We will spend a week in Tijuana, a border town just south of San Diego, with the team. Our primary purpose will be to continue construction on a feeding center for homeless children in the area.  Teams from churches all over the US make trips like this, bringing labor, but also money for materials, and encouragement for the missionaries who have given their life to help reach these children.  Additionally, we hope to connect with the children and others involved in the building, extending the love of Christ to them.

The missionaries we will be serving, Art and Joyce Stoneking have been in the region for many years.  Scott has served on two teams with them, as they have started a boys home and other facilities for homeless children.  I'm excited to meet them and serve them - Scott still quotes Art with nuggets of wisdom!

The cost of this trip is $1,200 per person.  Our church will also be raising $10,000 toward building materials that will likely go far beyond what we are able to use in our week long stay.

I would like to invite you to contribute to this Kingdom-building endeavor.  If you would like to sponsor me for part of the cost of the trip that would be great.  You can also donate money toward the material we will bring to the Stonekings.

Last, but by no means least, please pray!  Pray for the work, for our safety on the trip, for the kids and Scott, and anything else you think of!!  That is a huge support.

What next?

It is hard not to think about eternity when faced with senseless tragedies like we see so often in the news.  After all, I think most of us sense in our hearts that there is something more after we leave this brief life.

 

If you saw a person walking towards the edge of a cliff, would you try and stop them?  If someone you loved was walking towards the edge of a cliff, surely you would try and stop them?  Even if they were walking quickly, eyes wide open to the risk, wouldn't you try and stop them?  Out of compassion and love.  So it is with sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

Recent studying has lead me to conclude that there are two major misconceptions in "mainstream Christianity" today, that place us all at risk of walking straight off a spiritual cliff.  The first is that Hell is not a real place, after all, if we speak of a loving God, why would he create this place for us.

 

The Bible is the source of any and all information about the God Christians profess to follow.  Our faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins comes out of this record of his claim to be the Son of God, to live a perfect and sinless life, and to have risen from the dead, declaring a resurrected life for all who follow him.  If that is the case, then we must also look to the Bible as the source for other foundational doctrine.

 

The Bible reveals the nature of Hell in both old and new testament.  We are told that Hell was not created for man, but rather a place of eternal punishment for the rebellious angel Lucifer (aka Satan, the devil), and the angels that chose to follow him and reject God's authority.  It was never intended for man, the precious creation made in God's image.

 

When Adam chose to disobey God, by eating the apple from the tree he was instructed not to eat from, he too chose to follow the nature of Satan, and God handed man over to Satan.   As all men descended from Adam and Eve, we were born under the government of Satan too, inheriting the sin condition, for which the consequence is physical death, and then eternity in Hell.

 

However, God, in his amazing compassion and mercy, was not content to leave us to this destiny.  He planned a way for us to escape the judgement coming to us.  God came himself, as a man, to live a perfect sinless life, and thus break the curse over us, so that any who would turn from Satan and follow Jesus, would be born again, forgiven of sin and inheriting his righteousness.

 

Hell is described in many ways, and Jesus spoke of it more than Heaven.  It is a place of eternal torment: complete isolation, darkness, heat beyond imagination, smelling of Sulphur, hearing screams of pain and agony, with worms that never die eating away at your flesh that never dies.  With no end.  The commentators that I have read believe we are fully conscious of our past, and so we will eternally reconsider our life and the choices we made that determine our eternal destiny. 

 

This is no fairy tale, and not to be ignored.  We are all heading there.  Unless…

 

Jesus declared himself to be the Son of God, the one and only way to eternal life, to Heaven.  His existence, as a real man should not be in question – historical evidence seems pretty conclusive that Jesus of Nazareth was real.  So, this man, who many declare as "good" and a great "teacher" declared himself God!  He was either crazy, or genuinely divine.  He cannot merely be a "good teacher".

 

So, let's say he was speaking truth.  We have come to believe that to accept "the way" through Jesus Christ is to believe that he was the Son of God (this alone is inadequate because even the demons he drove out believed in who he was!!), and water baptism.  This is the second misconception. 

 

Paul declared in Romans 10: If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

 

Anyone can confess with their mouth, and Jesus himself said ""Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven," in Matthew 7:21a.   But he finishes that statement with "but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

 

From what I have been reading, our lives will display the truth in our hearts.  How we live and what we pay homage to, is what we believe in our hearts.  Jesus said that we need to do God's will to be saved.  That doesn't necessarily mean we need to drop everything and move to Calcutta, ala Mother Teresa!  Let's see what else Jesus said about what it means to do God's will.

 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:24

 

Right there we see a clear instruction.  We need to reject sin (living to please ourselves, or other people) and take the tough path of following how Jesus lived.  How?  Fully dedicated to glorifying the Father, to sharing the Good News of salvation, of rejecting sin and making right choices, of loving all people in real and practical ways.

 

Even if you start out this way, many people struggle to maintain the eternal perspective that is required to keep on.  The apostle Paul likened the Christian walk to a race, for which me must remember the prize we are running for. 

 

Jesus told us that most people are heading on the wrong path, the easy path, which refers to where our sin nature would lead us if left without discipline.  Those who follow the narrow path, the way to Heaven are few.

 

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

 

but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:12-13

 

It's not enough to say you believe in Jesus.  If the weight of our sin is truly heavy, when facing the consequences of it, then the joy of redemption in Christ will compel us to seek God for new meaning and purpose in our life.  We should become increasingly aware of our sin, through reading the Bible and the Holy Spirit transforming us into Christ-likeness.  Most importantly, we will begin to grasp why we need God on a moment by moment basis, and why the Fear of God is about fearing being away from him, not being scared OF him.

 

Notice the words of Christ – "stand firm TO THE END".  Being a Christian once upon a time, and then walking away from him, the church, the relationship with God, scripture says that you are in the same jeopardy as the unbeliever.

 

When we get this in perspective, and genuinely pursue personal relationship with God, through prayer and reading his Word, we can have confidence in the day of judgement, that we are in right standing with Him.

 

It's never too late to make this connection.  The criminal who hung on a cross at Jesus's side was forgiven his sins and given a place in Heaven at the very last minute.  It's not about how long you have known that Jesus is the Son of God, it's about truly believing and offering the rest of your life to Him, in response to Him giving His life for you.

 

It's never too soon to make this connection.  We do not know the time or place of Christ's return, much less do we know when our time is up.  If you sense the need to prepare for the next phase of eternity, don't put it off.  If you would like support, please contact me – I would be glad to walk you through it.

Happy Mother's Day

I was so excited to get a picture of the whole family! Although we didn't get one with everyone looking, it's still an achievement!! 

That's Sean, Julie's husband looking at their baby, Addison.  And Derek, Kim's boyfriend to Emma's right.  Alex, Scott's brother is on my left.

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day here in the U.S. and to help celebrate at church, Scott and I created a fun "photo booth" for all the family pictures women like to take at church on this Sunday.  We had a little fun testing it out on Friday night!!

Being a mother is one of the most challenging roles a person can have, but it's not a job, it's a privilege!  I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to love and pour into these two kids.  as much as they can drive me crazy at times, my frustration is more often borne out of my short-comings, than their deliberate antics!

I don't think I'll ever feel close to being capable of such an awesome responsibility, but that alone will keep me coming back to God, to ask Him to transform me, but also to be their strength where I can not.

Some say it takes a village to raise children.  I say it takes a King!!

Fearless

Emma and some of the kids from our church performed at a non-competitive arts show today.  They all did so great and I'm so proud of Emma!

Toby had his first "kid-pitch" baseball game on Saturday and he got to pitch first!

Checking for the catchers signal on the kind of pitch:

Ready stance:

Pitch:

His form was great, he struck a kid out (good thing) and hit one kid (bad thing!)!!

We walked past Emma's classroom last night and saw this on display - her painting of a poinsettia!

Emma presented her self-guided research project on geodes last night, for a small group of parents and kids.

She was excited to go first and share her project.

3 years difference!!

Beware

A few days ago (Wednesday) there were two burglaries in our town, one across the street from us.  Here's what happened:

The old woman and her son (who is pretty old too) were doing some work in the front yard when a man approached them claiming to be a contractor.  He was wearing an orange construction type vest, but otherwise pretty scruffy (I know because I saw him walk past our house and over to them).

He persuaded them to go round the back of the house to look at some work they should do.  Meanwhile he had an accomplice who went in the unlocked front door to ransack the house. 

Thankfully, the woman's granddaughter, who lives there, was inside and confronted the man as he went upstairs.  We believe he fled before taking anything.

Another home not too far away was not so lucky and they had things taken.

When the police told us about this, and I told them what I'd seen, I also mentioned a blue minivan that had pulled up across the street within the same period (I had been outside doing yard work too), probably before the guy came.  When the kids are outside I always pay attention to vehicles that stop on either of the two streets bordering our house.

I am posting this as a word of caution, no matter where you live, to be cautious of strangers, approaching without invitation and visible credentials - the guy didn't even have a vehicle, he walked from around the block! 

A new beginning

Well, I finally did it!  14 years after moving to the US with a view to staying for a while, I made it "permanent" and became a U.S. citizen!  (It's only permanent unless God calls us to go somewhere else!)

I initiated the process in June 2016, before any change in the White House - it was not a knee-jerk reaction to new leadership, as some might think.  More a choice to offer more stability for the family.

The ceremony was to be held at 9am on Friday, March 24 in Philadelphia.  Scott and the kids came along for the occasion - we brought the kids more for a civics lesson than thinking it would mean much to them at this age! 

There were 64 people taking the oath of allegiance, from 32 different countries!  We had no idea what to expect on duration, anything.  So we were pleasantly surprised to find it would be over by 10:30am, and it was actually finished by 10:15am. 

The final part of the process was collecting my certificate of naturalization, which I'll use to get my  passport as identification - the picture on the certificate was taken at an appointment last summer and I was not told it would be my forever picture!!!

Here are a few pictures from the day!!

 

Eternity

It was a sad weekend for our church family, as two families lost loved ones.

In one case, a couple we have known for years, roughly the same age as us, lost their 21yo son the day after his birthday to a heroin overdose.  He leaves behind a little girl and baby on the way. 

Despite having many struggles over the past few years with poor choices and self-destructive behavior, he had been doing well and his last Facebook post the day before revealed a thankful heart and optimism for the future.

As the church was informed and asked to pray for them, an older couple, who the week prior had brought their 26yo daughter to church and had prayed Scott as she was recovering from addiction and doing better, they told their daughter what had happened, warning her.  The next day she died of an overdose too, with her 5yo daughter in the room.  She also has a 7yo daughter.

We taught them and played with them in Sunday School yesterday, they were unaware that their mother had died, because their grandparents did not yet know how to tell them.

These are not isolated cases - drug deaths are rampant and it's not always people from "bad" families or poverty.  Our world is broken and there are many things that promise an escape, or [temporary] peace, but they lead us down the path of destruction.  Not just drugs, alcohol, acquiring possessions, sex and porn, even food.  All false gods promising redemption.

But the truth is we were created to crave and serve the real God, the one who made us.  Without him we are a slave to the desires that lead us to seek significance in places it can't be found.

These deaths have affected me more than any other because of their timing.  Recently I've been reading more about eternity. 

Many of us, myself included, turn to God for help in this life.  We screw it up on our own or fail to find purpose for our life, so, if we are very fortunate, we meet Jesus and he says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

But it's not this life that was Jesus's primary reason for coming.  At the end of this brief life we will find our eternal destination - our residence with no expiration.  Due to the separation of man from God, the default setting on our eternal GPS is Hell.  A place of incredible suffering and torment without end. 

There is nothing we can do to alter this course ourselves.  Doing good things is pointless without having a personal relationship with Jesus.  It is only through him, and his substitutionary death on the cross, where he went to hell in advance, on our behalf, and subsequent resurrection that we can be reconciled with God.

It is not what we do that changes our destination to Heaven.  It is our decision to lay aside our independence and accept the offer of Lordship from Jesus.  The scum of the earth have the same invitation as you and I, because we have all fallen short of God's standard of holiness, the extent is unimportant.

The thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus, at the very close of his own life, recognized that Jesus was the Son of God and had the authority to forgive (erase, remove) his sins against God and become acceptable to God - simply through faith that had the courage to say "I need you, because I am not worthy". 

Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

We spend so much time and effort seeking peace and pleasure, reward and recognition, in this life that we fail to realize how little time we have to make decisions for the eternal life.

The smartest thing the devil ever did is convince people that neither he, nor hell, are real. 

People say that a "good God" would not send people to hell.  But in fact it is us - we have committed the sin that sends us to hell.  Our good God, sent his Son to rescue us!!  He made a way for us to escape the sentence we were born under.

How little time we spend contemplating eternity, or simply what comes after death.  We spend our days focusing on the here and now, but

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  1 John 2:17

It is in love, and desperation that I write this.  I urge everyone to take a look at their life and consider the future.  If you have even an inkling that there is life after physical death, you owe it to yourself to find out what that is.  Don't take the chance.

I leave you with this account from the Bible:

Luke 16:19-31New International Version (NIV)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

²⁵ "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

²⁷ "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

²⁹ "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

³⁰ "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

³¹ "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

I love you.  God loves you.  Don't let pride or ignorance stop you from receiving that love.

30 day journey

About 6 weeks ago an acquaintance made me an offer I couldn't refuse - to try a 30 day nutritional cleansing and fat burning diet system.  you know the routine, 2 meal replacement shakes and some other supplements, mixed in with a few days of a type of fast, and only eating non-processed healthy food for dinner.

It's no secret my nutritional health journey is a rollercoaster and the holidays always make me go downhill.  I wasn't quite at my heaviest, but not where I wanted to be.

I went for it and lost 15lbs, and 10" in all the right places!

But, what goes beyond the exterior is what changed in my mind!  I went from seeing healthy choices (as opposed to junk food or processed food) as being deprived and "poor me" to actually being empowering - to have control over my cravings.

Often we crave certain things, but it's not out of hunger - any food would satisfy hunger!  We crave things for comfort, reward, pleasure etc, and we sabotage our own bodies in response.

I started a study group on the book Made to Crave.  It talks about how we were designed to crave, but that craving should be for God, for his will and plan in our life.  Misguided cravings result in pulling us in the opposite direction.

And that's the difference - realizing that my health honors God and enables me to serve him with more energy and ability than before!

Toby's bedroom makeover!