and so it begins

I am not one to complain.

I am normally one of those glass half full kind of people.

But, I have to admit that we are entering into a season of life that I dread.  When we get on the plane Monday morning at 6 am we will be 'homeless'.  Homeless in the sense that we won't have a place to call ours until we get to Belmopan.  Our apartment here in Russia has been sold.  

For the next two and a half months we will be staying with friends and family... dependent on the kindness and hospitality of others.  Is this a bad thing?  No.  I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to use their gifts to bless others, even if those others are us.  (smile)

Knowing that I have a Father who never wastes a hurt, experience or trial but uses them all for His glory, I believe that this time will enrich our lives.  I believe that there will be bright spots over the next few months.   One of which will be seeing my mother and getting a hug from her for the first time in 3  years, another will be spending time with our oldest son whom we have not seen for 2 years.

However, I also have to acknowledge my sadness over leaving this apartment, selling our furniture and appliances, and leaving behind friends and church family.

My sons became men here.  My husband and I grew closer and became partners in ministry here.  I grew up spiritually here.  Letting go is never easy. 

I don't know how long it will take me to feel at home again once we reach Belize. 

I do know that it may take a while, a season, for me to let go of the feeling that Russia is home.

Multitude Monday

I feel at a loss for words right now. I write this list today out of discipline. Yes, I truly am grateful for each one of these gifts and yet I am also grieving the losses and finding it harder and harder each day to face the fact that our time here in Russia has indeed come to an end.


101. goodbye party with coworkers featuring great food, lots of laughs and a few tears...



102. tasty treats for dessert


103. Hedgehog birthday cakes for a 5 year old


104. cherry trees that tempt the neighborhood children to climb them and the view we have of it all for our apartment on the fourth floor!


105. watching a couple become an instant family through adopting siblings!

something to ponder

While reading an old issue of Discipleship Journal from 2002 I came across this story:

The famed 19th-century evangelist D.L. Moody was once asked if he was filled with the Spirit. "Yes," said Moody, "but I leak."

Several paragraphs later it goes on to explain:

To speak of "leaking" doesn't mean the Holy Spirit somehow seeps out through our pores; it is an acknowledgment that operating in a fallen world wears on (our) relationship with God.


I can acknowledge that sometimes I leak.  I am so grateful that when I am weak, or leaking, He can make me strong.  Only He can fill the cracks in my armor that come about from daily use. 

multitude monday

96. finding the courage to be me.

 97. hearing Tom speak at church

98. flowers just because

99. fresh bread from our favorite bakery

100. feeling loved

Something to ponder...

"Do you think things always have to have an explanation?"
"Yes. I believe that they do. But I think that with our human limitations we're not always able to understand the explanations. But, you see, Meg, just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist."

excerpted from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle