Ebenezer

You may be wondering what we are doing behind a pile of stones with a duct taped cross. This has become a family tradition on the night before we move.

1 Samuel 7:12 "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far has the Lord helped us.'"

We gathered stones and each person had the floor to tell of all the great things God did while we were in Athens. The first one to share was our middle child saying, "I am thankful that God gave us Rebecca." Rebecca is included in the photo with us. She is a wonderful long time friend and like family to us that we "coincidentally" met up with again in Athens. We will miss her greatly (until she moves to Boston-our plan for her life). The rest of the sharing was a list too long to write, but all of our friends were named, the pets, our home, food, Redeemer, Sunday school teachers, a job, daddy finishing seminary, our family growing close...

God has been so good to us and it is good to have Ebenezers in our lives so we can look back and see his faithfulness, even in the midst of suffering and hardships. We are thankful.

details

Down to the kitty cat. That is what kind of God we serve. He has taken care of all the details in getting us moved! We had a very cool cat, named Tinker, until about one hour ago. Tinker is a Maine Coon cat and is mostly outdoors. She is a phenomenal hunter and lets us know when she needs to go in or out. We were very concerned with how she might adjust to the North and checked in with quite a few professional. The more we asked, the more we heard that indoor/outdoor cats usually don't adjust very well to moves. They will either run away or get a little kooky. We thought that wouldn't be fair to her, so we started to pray for a family to love her. Yesterday, a family in our neighborhood met her and today they took her home. She literally will live 1 block away and be loved by a little 1 year old and 5 year old. By the way, their parents are in full time ministry as well. Hmmmm...coincidence?

Boxes

It has been pure obedience to pack. Don't get me wrong, we are very excited about our upcoming move, but the boxes are a real pain.

We have learned several great lessons in the midst of this:

We do live temporarily-this place is not our home and we long for our Heavenly home where we will never have to pack or unpack again. It is already prepared for us!

Don't think about all we have to do: say good-bye to friends, pack, change addresses, set up utilities, talk with movers, pack, clean, feed the children, pack...just do the next thing! We only know what we have to do today. None of us knows the future. Be faithful today-do your work faithfully, thoroughly, honestly, and gratefully. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Colossians 3:23-24)

"My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus"(Philippians 4:19)

Sometimes unpacking can feel like Christmas. Maybe the boxes will look like this:

Out with a Bang

Let's start this by saying, our littlest one has a fondness for Curious George and loves to read his books. As we were saying our 2nd to last good-byes at church, Michelle was holding our little angel. She simply reached out and pulled-I mean, smart little three year old to be able to read the directions! Within minutes, the church cleared and the firemen showed up in 3 trucks wearing full gear on a 110 degree day. Her 10 year old brother was mortified because he gets embarrassed so easily. She did say she was sorry.

Our Neighborhood

Visual Aids

We thought we'd give you a few visual aids so you would remember to pray for us: polka dots (or as Dan's mom affectionately calls them, "poker dots") Birkenstocks, ducks, and now Boston Terriers. We have heard that this breed of dog is also known as Boston Terrors. See for yourself...

by my Spirit

“The true secret to all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man’s genius, or man’s intellect, or man’s energy; but simply the power of the Spirit of the God of the Gospel. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zech.iv.6) It is well for all ministers (and believers) to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart and give constant freshness to their ministry (and lives). A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Spirit can never become barren. If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Spirit be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must, sooner or later, lose its freshness and its effectiveness. How important then, that all who minister (and live) in the gospel…should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Spirit. He knows what souls need, and He can supply it. But he must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit.” C H Macintosh, Notes on the Book of Numbers, 1861