Fruit of the Spirit

I have had the great privilege for a year and a half now to be part of a women's Bible study at my church called Titus2Women.  The word study does not even do this justice.  It is more than a study.  It is a group of women who are truly striving to know Jesus and His Word, deeply care about one another, and desire to honor God in their roles as His daughters, as wives, and as moms.  I can't even begin to explain how much I look forward to Tuesday morning each week, how much each of these women mean to me, and how much God has taught me and continues to teach me.
Starting in January, I have had the pleasure and honor of co-leading this class with my closest friend, Erin.  Our former leader is heading to Zambia for full-time ministry with her family as soon as they get their support raised.  She really needed to focus on that so she stepped down from her leadership role...(now, little did I know when I was asked to consider co-leaading this group that I also would be heading to Zambia-so I also will be stepping down for a year.)  It didn't take me long to say yes when I was asked.  Not because I thought I could do it, but I just felt like God was telling me to do it and He would see me through.  He knows I have a great passion for this group of women and for studying His word-and this is all I needed.  He is going to be the one who works in hearts anyways.
For the last year in Titus, we were studying the Women of the Bible-the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.  Heidi did a FANTASTIC job of breaking down who all these women were and how we could learn from them.  I was kind of nervous thinking about what we were going to study next.  My greatest desire was to keep us in the Word and to make it applicable to our daily lives.  The first day I started praying about it, a friend of mine mentioned that her favorite Bible verse is Galations 5:22-23.  These verses contains the 9 attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit.  She spouted them off and it just hit me...wow...it would be great to live by those.  Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  I don't know about you, but these are the characteristics I want to have.  Not just want to have, but need to have!  In order to be the wife and mom God wants me to be, these characteristics are pretty important.  I just knew our Titus group needed to look into these attributes and ask God to show us how to be these things.  The teacher in me pushed me to put together a study outline.  It was much more difficult to put together than a a typical lesson plan I would do for my 5th graders, but I just kept it simple and I just pray it is effective!  The next step was to give this idea to the team.  Thankfully, when we met as a Titus leadership group, it was a go...and hence, the Fruit of the Spirit Bible study was born.
Erin and I split up the topics and got to work.  She had the brilliant idea of starting off our study with looking at the Holy Spirit.  So glad she thought of this! This was crucial in understanding how we can even have the Fruit of the Spirit.  By now, we have covered the Holy Spirit, Love, Joy, and Peace.
Anyways, the whole reason I am telling you all about this is this: I am going to post the lessons to the blog.  God has been prompting me to do this and I just wasn't sure.  But I do now that God is working on my heart big time with this study and I don't want to keep it locked up to our small group of women.  So, be looking for posts on the Fruit of the Spirit and I hope you will consider studying them along with  us.  If you have any questions or thoughts, please shoot me an email!  And special thanks to Erin for tackling this along with me-I love how you have taken it and ran with it and you just let God speak to you and through you...

Evan and his Allergies

So, most of you know that little Ev has some serious allergies.  Here is a quick rundown: dogs, cats, and pretty much everything outside (trees, grass, etc.), penicillin, and then there's the food allergies: peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, pineapple, kiwi, watermelon.  Quite a bit, huh?  Oh, and let's add asthma to that.  He can't be officially diagnosed until he can take the breathing test, but he already has a nebulizer with a ready supply of albuterol and he also has a little inhaler for when we are out and about.    

There are days when all of this is tougher than other days.  I hate having to be super careful at restaurants, hate the fact I can't make simple pb and j's for lunch or eggs for breakfast, hate that he can't have the various treats at different events, hate that he's already had several scary asthma attacks, hate that the poor guy can't stop coughing after wrestling with daddy for a few minutes, and hate that he can't pet a dog without breaking out in hives.  Whew...glad I got that off my chest.  All of the allergies are so annoying...but at the same time, that is the best thing about the allergies, that is all they are.  Annoying.  And I have to remind myself of this all the time when I start to feel sorry for myself or him.  We are not having to say goodbye to him after a long fight with cancer (like a family here in Ankeny just had to do) and we don't have to do labs and drive to Peoria or Chicago and worry every time he gets a little bit sick that his kidneys are going to fail (like a friend from high school is currently doing with her son).  So, I try and thank God for Evan's allergies.  I am so thankful that despite all these little annoyances, he is healthy, growing, well-developed little boy.   And as for him, he does have a hard time with it once in a while.  He is starting to understand his allergies more and more, but I can also tell he is starting to understand he is different from other little kids.  And that breaks my heart.  But just as I studied this past week in the Word, God doesn't promise an easy path just because we are following Him. (John 16:33 I have said these things to you so you may have peace, in the world you WILL HAVE TRIBULATION; but take heart, I have overcome the world.)  Evan is young to have to start learning that, but I know that in the long run, God will use it for His glory.  He will use the trial of allergies to make Evan into the man He wants him to be.  

One tidbit of some promising news too: we work with an amazing allergist named Dr. Molis in Des Moines.  She is becoming quite famous for her work in desensitizing kids from their allergies.  At Evan's last allergy test in November, his eggs numbers came down a bit so we were able to do a baked goods challenge in January.  He had to come in and eat little bites of a muffin that came from a recipe with only 1 egg in the whole dozen.  About an hour and a half in and half of a muffin down, he did puke it up.  So, we were back at it last Friday.  He was just given a quarter of a muffin this time, and he didn't throw up!  Praise God!  He did get some hives and a little flushed though.  So, in order to find a base line to desensitize him, we have to go back one more time and he will have 1/8 of a muffin.  If he can handle this, Dr. Molis will give me a schedule of feeding him muffins with eggs at home.  This will get his body used to it and hopefully, get rid of his allergy.  It is kind of like getting allergy shots for outdoor or pet allergens.   She has had a 100 percent success rate with this program over the past year of its existence so it is very exciting.  Anyways, pray that he can get that 1/8 of a muffin down with no problems.  How awesome it would be to start making baked goods with eggs again!  (Then again, it might not be so good for anybody's waistline in our house!) haha!  

Zambia Info and Support Letter

Hello friends and family!  Some of you may have received a letter from us in the mail this past week or it may arrive any day.  Our labor of love.  It was really difficult to squeeze in why we are taking our family halfway across the world in 2 little pages.  But we did our best.  There are a couple more things we wanted to share with you though.
First, we are not special for what we are doing.  We don't view ourselves as better than anyone else because we are going to the mission field and adopting.  If anything, we are selfish in wanting to go...we want more of God and less of ourselves.  For us, it has been difficult to let go and trust in God when we don't really need to do that here in Ankeny.  Plus, God has asked us to go here.  Going to Africa is not for everyone.  We feel like that is where God wants us this coming year, but everyone needs to have that conversation with God.  He will speak, all you need to do is listen and act on what He says.  He needs laborers!  Matthew 9:37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few".  God needs workers everywhere.  There are people in every nook and cranny on this Earth that need to hear His good news.  Our nook and cranny this year will be Zambia, Africa!
Second, we would like to share how our financial support will be used so if you choose to support us, you have an idea of how your money is being used!  To start, for all of you wondering what is going on with Mickey's job, he is not quitting!  The fire department was kind enough to give him a year long leave of absence.  He does get to use all of his sick leave and vacation leave, which thankfully, will supply us with about 4 months of his salary.  Also, thankfully, we won't have many bills to pay while we are gone. We will continue to tithe and support the missionaries we support as well as pay Mickey's student loan.  We hope to either rent our house or we may end up selling it, buying a lot in Ankeny outright, and start anew when we get back.  This way we wouldn't have to worry about a mortgage all year or keeping renters happy while we are so far away.  So trying to discern which option makes the most sense financially!   Okay, well, hoping that explains things a bit!  Here is the breakdown of our other expenses for the year:
Travel-$12,000 (including 4 round trip tickets, and 1 one-way ticket for our adopted son, as well as a hotel in London, as we will stop there to break up the trip)
Vehicle in Zambia-$18,000 (I know! That seems crazy expensive!  And this won't even get us anything great-it is just the way it is there, nothing is made there so it is shipped in and taxes are insane)
Car licensing/insurance-$100 a month
Rent for a 3 bedroom house or duplex-$500-750 a month (we don't know yet!)
Electric-$150 a month
Fuel-$250 a month (gas is $8-$10 a gallon over there!)
Food-$500 a month (food is more expensive too!)
Health Insurance-$200 a month
Water-$50 a month (approximately, not totally sure about this)
Internet/Phone-$100 a month (we will so desperately need this to stay in contact with all of you! :) )
Miscellaneous Household Supplies- $100 (toilet paper, laundry soap, etc.)
There are other various expenses that will happen as we do ministry in and around the area.  Things like purchasing seed, fertilizer, educational related items and sports equipment will all help in our ability to do outreach.
We hope this gives you a solid idea of why we need financial support.  Mickey's salary will take out a nice chunk of these expenses but for the other chunk, we need people to support us financially.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  We would love to talk with you.  Even though we will mainly be working with Give Life, Gospelink is the missions organization our funds will be going through.  Okay, that's it for now!  Next stop, adoption home study this Wednesday, February 22nd!  Pray she finds us somewhat fit parents. :)  haha!

Zambia update!

Hi everyone!  A little update on our move to Zambia!  We have been busy bees preparing for this major move to a different country and culture.  It is hard to even wrap our heads around the fact we will be leaving in September and gone for an entire year.  But as crazy as it is to think about it, we know this is exactly where God wants us to go and be.  And I know (as I am going to teach to the Titus girls next week about peace) that if I keep my focus on Him, all the worries and stresses and ups and downs of this process will go away.  But if I start looking around at all I have to do, all the money we need to raise, all I will miss when I am gone, there is no way I would be able to take this step of obedience to Him.  So....keeping my eyes on Him and Him alone!

One major process we are working through right now is being cleared to adopt by the U.S.  There are quite a few hoops you have to jump through but this is what keeps adoption safe for children and families.  Our first task was to find a certified adoption investigator.  Before you can adopt, you have to undergo 3 home visits by someone who has this license.  We are not able to work with an agency because Zambia doesn't currently work with any U.S. agencies, so we needed to find someone independent.  Thankfully, we found a wonderfully, kind lady with tons of experience and she was right in West Des Moines, not too far from us.  She has sent us a bunch of paperwork, needing to know pretty much everything about us and our family.  We have also had to schedule physicals and fingerprinting for background checks.  And our first of the three visits is next week!  At this visit, she will get to know us and meet our kiddos, check out our house, and talk with us about everything we need to do to prepare for adoption.  

I'm going to stop there and discuss why Mickey and I are adopting.  Some of you may be wondering, are they having trouble getting pregnant?  Or, why would they want to add to their family in this way?  These are valid questions and we have an answer.  For the last two years, (and not really prior to this at all) adoption has been all around me.  Our youth pastor and his wife who left to be missionaries in Chicago have adopted two children from overseas in the last few years.  A lady who was a mentor to me at my current church when I first started attending recently adopted 3 little ones.  A guy I started working for 2 summers ago who runs Kingdom Hoops, he and his wife have adopted 3 from Ghana in the past few years.  All their stories kept tugging at my heart strings. And it just so happened our pastor was preaching through James and one verse just kept sticking out to me: (CEV) James 1:27 Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.  This verse made me realize I wanted a religion that pleased God, not just one that made me a pretty good person.   

Of course, I told God no at first.  Wasn't there another way to please God? Why would I want to adopt?  I can get pregnant, I love being pregnant, and I already have two children of my own.  But of course, God continued to press my heart.  Last summer, I would literally watch my two kids playing together and I felt like someone was missing.  I could picture this other child that was supposed to be there but wasn't.  As I started processing these feelings, I talked with the hubs.  Of course, he fought God on it at first as well.  He didn't think we needed to do it or that he would be capable of doing it.  By this time, I knew adoption was something that our family needed to do.  So, I started to pray that my husband's heart would be changed.  I knew he needed to work it out with God if we were going to do this with positive hearts.  Philippians 4:6 (NLT) Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done for you.  And God quickly answered my prayer!  My hubby was on board!  But, now what?  I will write about that next!  Why Zambia?  Why are we going for a year?  Who are we going to adopt?  

(A little side note: the verse above about orphans doesn't mean that is the ONLY way to please God, I felt God speaking to me through that verse and adoption is how I felt lead to respond.  Now, I do believe every follower of Christ should be doing something about all the orphans in the world, but adoption might not be what you need to do.  There are many other ways to get involved!  Those that support us will in turn be helping the orphans of this world for example.  So pray about how you can take action. I will leave you with this staggering statistic: If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, there would be effectively no more orphans. Taken from:

http://www.showhope.org/Resources/TheNeed.aspx

Ev's Bday Party

We went small with Ev's party this year as we just been with both sides of the family on vacation and he really wanted to have some quality time with just his little buddies!  It was so much fun.  I feel so blessed that my little man has some great friends.  Some couldn't come and some live too far away (Isaac!) but it was a good group.  The crew was Evan, Alea, Conner, Kate, and Solon.  The parents dropped them off so we could do pizza and games, and came back later for ice cream/cake.
After the parents left, we got busy having the kids make their own mini-pizza.  It was so fun for the kids and I loved watching them stand around their little table perfecting their pie.  Next up was Knock over the Villain game.  I taped pictures of villains to 2 liter pop bottles and the kids had three tries with a tennis ball to knock over a villain.  We had some superheroes with good arms!  After that we played a Kryptonite relay race, where they had to balance "kryptonite" on a spoon and race to get rid of it.  You can't touch kryptonite after all because you will lose your power!  None of the kids wanted that.
The pizzas were done by then so we went and ate.  The kids devoured them (except Solon, he was too excited!) and also enjoyed fruit chillers and juice boxes (a rare treat at our house).  The kids played for a while and the parents returned.  Ev got to open his gifts-2 different Lego sets, Hulk smash gloves, and Spiderman pajamas!  He and daddy have already put together one of the Lego sets and gotten pretty nasty with the Hulk gloves.  I stay out of that!  :)  We had yummy chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles with vanilla ice cream to finish the night.  Oh, and we had the kids watch some Mater's Tall Tales to wind down (and so the parents could chat!) Thanks to everyone who came and made his night so special!

Hope you enjoy these pictures and peek into the party!  Can't believe my little man is 4.  And actually I can't believe I am old enough to have a 4 year old!

The kiddos making their pizzas!  See their serious faces!

Dinner Time!  

The crew (words can't say how much I love this picture!)

Ev and his best buddy Solon (Isaac, you were here in Ev's heart!)

Good old Spidey

Opening presents

Wrestling with Conner

This boy loves pizza!

Victory! Spiderman Legos!

 

Ankeny Bond Referendum

So...it is quite tense here in suburbia today with a bond referendum which proposes a 10th elementary school being built to open for the 2014-2015 school year.  From what I can gather, the community is pretty split.  The biggest reason being the proposed location of the school.  Apparently, it was the third choice of the demographer, but there is some kind of deal being exchanged between the school and the city.  The only reason I am writing this is I am trying to work this out in my own mind before I go vote and thought my ramblings might help someone else.
First, I want to say I am not a demographer, and I don't claim to know exactly where the 10th elementary should be built, but it doesn't seem like the location chosen is going to help like we need it to.  Second, I do agree that at some point we will need a 10th elementary school.  We are an ever growing city and student/teacher ratio is very important, but do we need it now? Or are there other options? So this is part of the reason I am torn: if I vote yes, it gets built where the district has decided, if I vote no, I feel bad for any teachers out there who might end up with a huge class size.  I have seen this first hand as a teacher, 2 dear friends of mine had class sizes of 30 and 31, and they did their absolute best as they are bar-none some of the greatest teachers I know, but that is just too many 5th graders in one class!
But here are my other  concerns with all of this:
Ankeny seems to be valuing new/fancy buildings and stuff as the best way to raise student achievement, as opposed to valuing parental involvement and teachers.  Prairie Trail, our newest elementary which opened just this past fall, is extremely nice!  It has all the bells and whistles-microphones for teachers, Smart Boards, beautiful decor, and more.  Does this mean these kids will be smarter, will they feel more loved, will achievement data improve?  Because of a building? Because of technology?  As a teacher and a parent, I would defiantly say NO!  The 2 most important factors in student achievement are parental involvement and teacher quality.  If a child has 2 parents that love and care and provide for them in a safe environment while providing rich learning opportunities and that same child has a teacher who is highly trained, dedicated, and takes the time to get to know and care for the child, then it doesn't matter if that child goes to Prairie Trail or in a one-room schoolhouse with a pad of paper and a pencil.  We need to value things differently here in Ankeny.  Giving our kids the best of the best in terms of "stuff" i.e. Ipads, laptops, SmartBoards, etc.) can not and will not ever replace their need for people in their life who love them and encourage them and help them find success.  I am wondering if Ankeny should maybe slow down in our spending of money on all the latest and greatest technology and buildings and get back to the basics.  If this bond referendum was for paying teachers more or hiring more teachers to lessen student/teacher ratio, you can bet I would have been there this morning to vote yes.  These teachers work extremely hard and I think would gladly appreciate the extra income for all their work.  But even more, if they had the choice, because of the great, caring people they are, the teachers I know would choose to use money to hire more teachers, instead of more money for themselves, so that the chance to help more students could happen.
I also worry about communication with the public.  I know of two particular schools where class sizes are very low and other schools that have lower numbers right now as well.  From what the district has said, it seems as if we vote no, that all classes would just bust at the seams.  Not sure if that is the truth.  Have we looked at re-districting the boundaries to shift things so we wouldn't have to build a new school right now?  Maybe they have, I don't know, but I just don't think any of this information has been communicated.
Sooooo.....as you can see there is a lot to think about.  It might seem like an easy decision for some, but I have not found that to be so.  15 million dollars is a lot of money.  Are we wise to invest in yet another building? Is that what is truly best for our kids?  The district and school board would like you to think so, but I am just not sure.
Off to chat with the hubs some more about this, and then I will vote.  Hmmmmm.....yes or no?    

Long time, no blog!

Hello there...it has been a while...and I simply chose not to blog for a while.  I don't ever want to feel like I have to blog; I want it to be fun to write about what is going on with our lives and what God is teaching us.  And I don't want it to ever take precedence over anything else going on in life, and January was a month of a couple of exciting as well as time consuming events-taking over as a co-leader of the Titus Bible study I have been attending for a while, getting to travel to Hawaii and California, and my son's 4th birthday.  And keeping us most busy is, we are seriously preparing for our move to Zambia, Africa come this September.  We have been busy writing our support letter, preparing for our home study (which will get us U.S. clearance to adopt), trying to figure out where we will live over there, researching flights, preparing necessary paperwork, and praying fervently over every step.
And if that doesn't sound like a full enough month, my husband is still working his normal 24 hours on/48 hours off firefighter schedule (getting no sleep I might add and coming home very groggy!) and I am busy caring for, playing with, and teaching Ev and Alea.
But I really do want to do a better job of documenting all of the fun that we have, all that God teaches us daily, all of our struggles, and this journey of moving to Africa to work with the Give Life Project and adopt a child.  So...be ready!  Hope you come and check out all the posts coming your way!  ;)