We are mightily blessed.

Well – It’s been a while since I’ve written here. Not because I haven’t thought about it, but because I didn’t have the energy to figure out what or how to say what has been in my heart and mind. I’m going to briefly scratch the surface and try to catch you up a bit

• There has been lots of healing from January and other issues in life. Maybe Someday {soon’ish} I’ll write more about it. I know I will, but I’m not done processing, but I do believe there is much to be said and I will be speaking out. It will be hard. I don’t look forward to it.
• We’ve traveled overseas.
• I have turned 40!

Let me take a step back a bit further – in August (or September) I wrote to my brother and told him my kids & I would like to help them. This was not a new tug on my heart – it’s been there since February of 2008 when we visited them in Arizona. Last year when Vince came home from the Philippines he said he wanted us to return – not for a visit, but to work.

So, last fall I talked to Zach & Jane and all I really knew was we were willing – it was crazy and only possible if it was God’s plan.

As it ‘coincidently’ worked – their partner family, who is also their next-door neighbor, was leaving for furlough and was agreeable to us staying in their home. I did the necessary paperwork to become supported, short-term missionaries from our church; and in February I sent out a prayer/support request letter. I really struggled with asking, I don’t ask or accept well. Something the Lord has been working on me about. In conversation with one person about the cost and whether we’d receive enough financial support to go – she said, “It may seem like a lot to you, but for a church family together it is not very much.”

I realized in that moment how often I put God in a box. Whether by thinking I’m not worth {it}, or thinking someone else could use {fill in the blank} more/do more good with the resources.

So, after 6 months of unemployment and a very hard, difficult, and lean winter; a time when it was difficult to buy groceries and gas. A time when there was no possible way I could ‘buy our way’ to get here, or even contribute financially – yet, by God’s amazing grace, provision, and mighty plan – my children and I are in the Philippines as supported, short-term missionaries.

After about three weeks enough money had come in, I started to realize we really would be coming. I purchased our airline tickets in mid-March and had 3 weeks to prepare, pack, and ‘finalize’ life in the states before we left. Those three weeks were insane! To top it off – the four days before flying we got more than 12” of snow!!! On Monday night I was stuck in our driveway, Tuesday I got stuck again as we got more snow (the original picture at the top) – we flew out Wednesday night….driving to the airport in falling snow. We spent 2.5 days travelling and landed to 90+* temps with 80+% humidity.

We are warm.

… have not stopped sweating.

… are only cool when taking a cold shower.

I am learning how to:

share living spaces with Budiki (a small lizard)

be sweaty. all. the. time.

the value of cold showers. multiple in a day even.

sleep with two fans on me.

I have become a morning person. I go to bed by 8:30/9pm each night and am waking up 5:30/6 each morning. I love the breezes through open windows day and night.

We are here for two months to work alongside my brother & his wife. I will be spending time homeschooling the kids; we are working on a library; there will be time spent in different tribes working. During all of this – I am living in my ‘own’ house. A beautiful house, kept clean and running smoothly by a wonderful woman who is the house help. I have just spent the first week of my life with consistent help. As a single mom, I can’t even begin to describe how amazing it is to sit here on a Saturday morning – clean house & bathroom and all laundry washed, folded, put away.

We arrived the day before my 40^th birthday. It was my first international flight, first time out of the country (I don’t count going through Canada travelling from Alaska to the lower 48), and it had been over a year since hugging my nieces and nephew.

God did this! He made it happen.

We are here to be a blessing and true to God’s nature, we have already been blessed.

The flowers are all from Jane’s yard or my yard – either way I’m seeing them with my own eyeballs every day.

I don’t know when I’ll update again, as the internet has been difficult to get ahold of and hang on to. Have a blessed day.

The post Mightily Blessed appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..

As I look at life another year older. There is not one moment of that “crazy idea” trip to the Philippines I regret. I am so thankful God, our Heavenly Father, provided the way for us to go to visit.

to help family.

to support the mission.

to have the experience of a lifetime.

I am looking forward to learning more about how wild God is in His love for us. for me. Through lots of study and good reads over the last year I’m believing it more and more, but I still feel as if I’m just scratching the surface of understanding His ultimate love.

I hope you know you have a Heavenly Father wanting and waiting to love you. Do you know this already? If not, I urge you click on the link and believe the verse. It is just one verse, but it is a starting point to great wonders. Maybe you have known this in the past but it’s become increasingly hard to remember.

Remember it now. I’m reminding you.

We are at the start of a new week. Easter week. I’m not against the easter bunny & all the extra easter stuff. However, we don’t do all those things – simply because we don’t have the money for all the commercialism and it is NOT why we celebrate Easter. The real reason we have Easter is because Good Friday is remembering the day Jesus died on the cross for my sins. [your sins.] Jesus took the punishment of death for me. [for you.] because He loved me [you] that much. He rose again on the 3rd day, Easter Sunday, after conquering death and sin. Of course, the days of the week may not be right – because the timing is connected to when Passover is celebrated.

Did you know this is why we have Easter?

All you have to do is ask. Ask Jesus to be Lord of your life. Accept Jesus’ gift to cover your sins with His blood. It really is that simple.

The best thing you can do if you have asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, you’ve accepted His gift is to tell someone. If you don’t know who you can tell, feel free to email me (see the about page for my email address).

The post Wild flowers… appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..

This is better – her table decorations & a pretty smile.

A glittery card from a glittery Bumma to a glittery girl.

Can you say ‘Fancy Nancy’? This is a saying in our family, those of us who aren’t ‘fancy’ say it frequently. As far as mom & CJ are concerned there are many things that can’t be too fancy. We don’t even like tinkerbell – but look at her grin because ‘it’s glittery’!

I think the gift Christine will remember for all of her life….Bumpa gave her her own fishing pole, a good pole. But wait – it’s HOT PINK?! and there’s more – it LIGHTS UP when you reel it!!!!!!!!!! Vince considers this a disgrace to fishing, but CJ could not have been happier. (Can you say, seriously ‘fancy nancy’?!) 🙂

For Christine’s birthday last year dad gave her a ‘fairytale cottage’ cake mold… He apologized to me last year because he knew it would involve me. Yes, I made it last year. The non-frosted gingerbread house version shown on the picture. I cleaned it well & tucked it away – hoping, hoping, hoping she’d forget about it or for sure at least not want the same cake 2 years in row. Not so, last week she asked where the mold was & said she wanted a pink and purple cake. My only thought was “Yuck – the house again and it had to be pink & purple?” I put it off & avoided making it until today, hoping she’d change her mind at the last minute. Nothing doing, so here is the ‘Shabby Chic’ ugly-not-so-fairy-tale’ish cottage, and it’s pink with purple trim (the green things are 4 large trees on each corner of the house). By the time I got done with frosting this thing my thoughts were running along the lines of “What a horrible, mean person to think up this idea of 3D molds? Why didn’t they have any thought or consideration for the poor mothers who’d get stuck frosting these things! … or, Ugghhh, the Bumpa’s that fall for the gimmick and buy these horribly-cute-in-the-picture-only things?!…”

(yes, you are seeing 3 different outfits. yes, all these pictures are today. these are just the ones when I took pictures, there were a couple others-besides the 3 sets of jammies in all worn today. it was her day, so I said nothing — to her…)

I can not believe my baby is 9! It is weird to think I have 2 school age children, (not just school age but 1/2 way thru elementary school!) they are no longer preschoolers. Yes, I know they haven’t been preschoolers for a long time, but my mind still has them there. I want to keep them there. I wanted them to grow up with a daddy, not with just me as their parent. I have had a lot of thoughts about my kids not growing up with a dad in their early formative years and what repercussions the 3 of us will have the opportunity to live through as a result. I can’t control the outcome & I have to work at not letting these thoughts overwhelm me. I’m not to live with a spirit of fear, but I also want to go forward with my eyes open, with some idea of what to do. I like a specific list of what to do. There is a verse I read a couple weeks ago & it has stuck with me.

Psalm 138:8 “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hands.” This has been very confirming & comforting to me – He will fulfill his purpose for me. It goes well with a passage I’ve been hanging onto for 9 years now. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

• He will fulfill His purpose for me. (Each of us.)
• He has a plan for me. (He has a plan & He will fulfill.)
• A plan to give me hope and a future. (Is there any better hope than knowing our future includes spending eternity with Him?)
• Then I will call upon Him, pray to Him and he will listen to me. (He listens & hears me!)
• I will seek Him with all my heart and He promises I will find Him. (He promises I’ll find Him when I seek Him)

WOW! The God of all creation, the ruler of the universe, my Heavenly Father, my Saviour has promised He has a plan for me & He will fulfill His purpose with me. My part, seek Him first.

This is huge – I don’t need to ‘do something’ to make certain things in my life happen. I seek Christ first and all else will fall into place. This doesn’t mean I don’t act responsibly or do my best- but it isn’t up to me! Thank you, Heavenly Father for this provision. A provision I’ve taken for granted, not fully understood, still don’t fully understand. You have a plan & You will fulfill your purpose. Use me. I want my actions & words to glorify You & You alone. Thank you for being the father to the fatherless. Thank you I do have my dad & brothers in my kids’ lives. Thank you they are men who desire to live for You. Help me to teach the children You have entrusted to me to walk in Your paths, to seek You first, to rest in You.

The post CJ’s Birthday appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..

For the most part you really were a happy baby.

At 2 you loved to be the center and dance. In this photo I can still hear you saying “Me?!” You were so pleased to be noticed. (this is at Matt & Samantha’s wedding, ignore the bad lighting – it’s a photo of a photo in a frame)

At 3 – you have a wonderful smile and bright eyes.

You really are a joy to have around.

This was the summer you turned 5.

You have always wanted to do what your brother was doing. He was fishing and you wanted to fish so badly too. He found wire, made the shape of a hook & put licorice on the “hook” – you fished for hours by his side and you were so proud.

At 7 – I love this photo of you! You needed to be wearing pants and rubber boots for life – but those didn’t twirl, so you wore a dress too…and a sweatshirt and vest – even though it was not cold. But this is you, in your mind it made sense and there was no changing. I was just happy it looked cute on you!

When you do something, it is usually very thorough and with your whole heart.

This is one of my favorite photos of you. You didn’t want your face in the water – but you needed goggles on. It took you a while to get all of this situated, but once you did you were so content!

You can enjoy the most simple of activities as well. This is you just watching the bubbles float into the sunset and the surfers on the beach.

You are not too proud to love your baby doll, express yourself, or enjoy what is going on at any moment. I was at a moment of heightened stress traveling from Arizona to Alaska (you can read about the day here.), but when I turned around I could find you at a glance and I so appreciate the memory of your laid back, positiveness.

At 8 and a half.

You are beautiful my girl! You still love everything girl, but will go play in the mud in your dress up clothes with no hesitation too.

At 9 and a half…and then there are the times you know you know exactly what you want, and you don’t want to back down or give it up. It took forever to actually track down this pink cowboy hat – but you did come home with it. Our first trip home from Arizona was with the pink tiara, second trip home from Arizona you wore the pink cowboy hat and security still seems to stop us every time! As if they really take me as a serious threat?! These are 10 of my favorite photos of you that each have special memories attached and so thoroughly show who you are.

 

 

(more updates later, but this is just too sweet to not put here tonight)

10:30pm tonight….You were a girly, girl all day, then added the camo face paint after 9pm – you are such a goof – a total dork and we love you just the way you are.

You want to serve, you work hard, you are thorough, and truly helpful.

 I believe today is a day you will never forget. You will never go back to single digits, you received so much love I believe your heart was filled to the brim.

 

The post My girl turned 10 today!! appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..

At 3 you accepted a sister into your life with no problem.

You are creative with your resources.

String, scissors, and duct tape have been your staples for many years.

You love swimming.

Your favorite place to ride has always been the front of the boat.

You like to be goofy.

You are a hard worker & you love to read!

You work hard next to Bumpa for hours and as soon as you sit down you grab your book to read.

You are tenderhearted and truly enjoy being with young children.

You love and miss your cousins too.

Love those eyes.

Love that smile.

The post My boy is 13 today! appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..

Vince with Vladimir.

We spent 15-20 min with Vladimir outside. He was very calm, but we had intentionally decided before going we’d check him out but not do anything until we’d ‘slept on it’ & my dad came home on Sat afternoon & could give us his opinion. It was very hard to leave him. We went to Anchorage to pick up something for Matt, went to Bear’s Tooth to watch Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian movie, then to Barnes & Noble for an hour to read all we could on Husky’s. We did buy a collar & leash, to make it seem more real. When we got home I was checking different listings again & found a another dog – a light colored sheperd/lab/husky mix…but it was female & a 5 month old puppy! I called on it, but someone else was set up to look at her, I gave my name & number – they’d call if the others didn’t take the puppy.

So, we set up to meet dad at the pound on his way home from the airport – 6pm. Vince had decided he didn’t really want Vladimir, but wanted to show Bumpa what a nice dog he was. He was leaning towards holding out for a Golden Retriever & being able to name it himself, but not sure he wanted to wait that long either. Vince was getting concerned that I’d change my mind or we ‘just wouldn’t get around to it’ – ‘it’ being, getting him a dog. He had to come to grips with the fact he had no reason to not trust me for my word & sometimes it’s hard to wait for God’s best, not what we think is best. We had discussion on how I’ve been praying about this & I knew without a doubt God had the perfect dog waiting for him. How we’d have to not jump & grab just any dog out of fear of the idea going away, but to really be deliberate about what we really wanted for life. When we got to the pound, Dad had gotten there a couple minutes before us. (Now, if you know my dad at all you’ll know why we responded the way we did. If you don’t know my dad, just know we have a lifetime of good reason.) The first thing he said was “Why didn’t you tell me about the Golden back there?” I answered with, “because there isn’t one”. He said “no, seriously there is a 1 yr old, male, white Golden back there, I was just there & saw it.” I thought – yeah, right a ‘white’ golden?! come on, I’m not going to fall for that! Well, after a bit of convincing on my dad’s side & me deciding it must be because he must not be available for adoption (I’d checked the system again to see if there was anything just before leaving to go to the pound) – he took us to the white Golden Retriever…. A 1 yr old, male, not named, Golden Retriever…oh, how I wish I’d had my camera. I have a mental photo, but couldn’t ever begin to describe the look on my boy’s face. I should have known…my dad has gone to the pound 3 times to get a Golden Retreiver & there’s been one each time! The story on this dog – someone had come & dropped him off in the pound’s night drop box. They’d called & asked why it wasn’t listed on the system & the pound was saying they didn’t have him. Finally, the original owners said “we put him in the green night drop shed, behind your building”, but that isn’t the night drop anymore so no one had gotten him out, so this puppy was without food or water for 3 days. They’d just gotten him on Friday & we have to wait 5 days before he becomes available for adoption (why he wasn’t in the system yet), but we were able to put a deposit on him & tomorrow we’ll go pay the rest. Since it was the owners that brought him in & called to get him found, we’re figuring they won’t come claim him… Thursday he’ll go to be neutered & we can pick Hickory up Thursday afternoon. Dad & Vince have started working on where the kennel will be and know where they’ll be putting the run. This is real – in just 48 short hours, Vince will have his own dog. I’m sure this a process he will remember for the rest of his life & he will always know and be convinced – God is in the details of our lives, big & small.

Last night we had Vince’s birthday party…a carhartt theme (thank you Matt M, it was the perfect idea!). It was a fun evening of dad grilling burgers & hot dogs and friends & family.

How sad is it – I sent these out by email! (& yes, I had the wrong date…)

what do you think of these colors for a birthday cake?

All of my time telling the kids to not have their feet more than a few inches off the trampoline, or if there are lots on then they need to stay with bums on the trampoline…. So what does Uncle Zach do?! Yes, that is a full body length above his head! Brothers – gotta love ’em!

A batch of girl cousins … 🙂

A batch of kids in Carhartt – what fun.

Vince & his cake. :)…

I have come a long ways, there was a day I wouldn’t have let this go. It was truly ugly, in a cute kind of way…I loved Mary’s explanation – it’s a stone washed, well-worn label! Once I had that in mind it was OK. I am blessed, I feel younger now than when he was born. Life is good & my boy has successfully turned 12!

The post My boy has turned 12 – how is this possible?! appeared first on Flowers&Rust Co..