A Family with Many Faces

As I take pictures, I realize how expressive my kids are. I'm sure everyone is expressive, but I love how you can see their hearts, emotions, and thoughts written on their faces.

Just for fun, here are some of the many faces I see on Levi.

Levi tends to be moody.

Little things make him go inside of himself.

But, thankfully, if you talk with him...

He comes back around.

And returns to his joyful self.

Levi is my artist. I think his moodiness and this art-propensity go hand in hand. He loves to build with legos, and he could color all day long. Those are all of his pictures in the background minus the dog in the grass.

I love this little face.

Levi has one of the most expressive noses I know. He can contort it more than the average person.

Tomorrow, I'll post some of the many faces of Eliana.

Meal Time Revelations...

In the life of a family with four small children, there are many battles each day. I'm sure many of you can relate to the wars that are waged each meal time.

"Take another bite!"
         "Keep your hands to yourself!"
                      "Your food is NOT a toy!"
                                  "Eat your vegetables!"

 .... well, to say the least, meal time training is a long suffering endeavor with that shows little fruit. For me anyway. Until this week. I'm not going to get into the details of our discipline methods at the table, but I will tell you a couple little things that have revolutionized the way we eat.

1). I started playing classical music softly in the background during meals, and it is amazing how the kids calmly eat without bickering! I can even leave the room for a few minutes and return, and they are just sitting there... eating!  (we have a great set of CD's called, "Classical Music for People who Hate Classical Music.")

(note the ipod on the table and the full mouths of food!)

2). Regarding vegetables. My kids eat them. Somewhat begrudgingly, but they eat them. But, it remains a challenge to get in the daily recommended amount. I've started making vegetable soup (or "potaje" as it's called here.)

I start by dumping an assortment of frozen veggies in my crock pot.

(This particular time, I added garlic, onion, broccoli, carrots, spinach and garbanzo beans.)

Then, I add veggie broth.

After it's heated through, I use my nifty Braun hand mixer (which I love WAY more than a blender- yet another thing people here on the island do right :-) to puree all of the ingredients.

Then, I fiddle with it, adding more water, pepper, bay leaf, and/or cheese, till it tastes just right.

The kids, miraculously, LOVE it. They would (and may) eat it every day.

(Oliver...err... Levi, even asked for a second serving.)

3). After 4 kids and three high chairs, I've decided that the BEST high chair one can buy is the $19.99 one at Ikea. You can find it here. I like it because, (a) it is super easy to wipe off. Who needs all that frilly, fluffy, pain-to-clean fabric anyway? Your kid's going to eat in the chair, not sleep in it. (b) you can put your baby in it without having to use the strap, and they can't fall out. (c) it's just the right height -the table doesn't come to the baby's chin like a lot of seats. (d) Eliana, my gymnastic Houdini, cannot escape it, hence, I can put her in it during movies and she has to stay right there, safe and sound. (e) it's small and lightweight, and hey, it's $20!

(on a side note, see my baby-food-hating, toothless baby LOVING to eat food through his mesh food thingy. It was worth the money as well.)

4). Fun, educational place mats have lent to fun, educational conversations during the meals. (Thanks Grandma!)

And now, just for fun, here are some random pictures of the kids, so that Nana (etc) can get her fix.

(The kids love being read to)

(In fact, they rope anyone they can into reading to them. Here is Joe Grewe - participating in a short-term team, taking precious time to read to my kids.)

(They wanted Alcides to read to them, but then they realized he only speaks Spanish...)

(Being carless, the kids are getting to spend a lot of time monkeying around the yard.)

(They climb...)

(They jump)

(They hang...)

(And they have a general good time...)

(Since Lucas isn't much of a climber yet, he just stands around outside.)

(But inside, he's beginning to roll himself into precarious positions!)

(Well, I just think Eliana's beautiful, so I'm adding this picture :-)

P.S... If you've read this far, I have to share something that I found humorous. I'm putting it here as the person it involves only speaks Spanish, so I'm hoping to they don't see it. The other day the team that's here went on a little trip and packed a picnic lunch. One of the fellows from a different country offered to pack my sandwhiches. When we got there, I was pleased to partake of my first ever peanut butter, jelly, ham, cheese, and lettuce sandwhich. Yes, all on one sandwhich. Yum.... Try it. I dare you.

A "must have" children's Bible

We've developed quite an assortment of children's Bibles over the last five years, but recently some friends recommended one that we've fallen in love with. Our boys literally can't get enough of Bible time. I've actually heard, "Moooooom, can't I read the Bible for a little bit longer?!"

It's called, "The Action Bible," and you can get it here.

Enjoy!

Upon one Year...

One year ago today, my little family of five (with Lucas in the oven) landed in Tenerife with just our 12 suitcases. We were a bit jet lagged but full of anticipation for this new journey God had brought us on. I wish I had taken a picture of us in the airport with our bags, or us upon arrival, but apparently I had too many other things on my mind :-) (but, if any of you from MBC who were at the airport happened to take pictures, I'd love to get them!)

It's hard to sum up an entire year in a word, a sentence, or even a blog post. I think I can say this has been one of the toughest years of my life, but also one of the best. Transitioning the children to a new culture and language has been one of my biggest heart-felt struggles. It tugs at my heart to hear them talking about all of the friends, family, and toys they miss from across the ocean. For the most part they are resilient, but for our eldest, the battle has become deep and painful.

I say the year has been hard as we've faced such a barrage of physical, spiritual, and circumstantial trials. Our bodies have not done well responding to a whole new ethnicity of germs and viruses. I also gave birth via cesarean, been hospitalized for a stomach virus, learned my pituitary tumor had moved to a more dangerous part of my head, then disappeared, then reappeared back where it should have been (it didn't really move... it's just that radiologists here apparently have a lot of creative license when reading MRIs.)


Elijah's eyes went haywire, Lucas had RSV for 3 months, and we've all had our fair share of colds, strep throat, migraines, and stomach bugs. Our van has taken up residence in the mechanic's shop (living there about 50% of the past year). We've had to learn to live "quietly" with four children next to a neighbor who wants silence at all times. I've struggled to control my post-pregnancy hormones, especially when applied to our new habitat, and in response to four cute, cuddly little sinnerling children. I've NEVER in my life been so painfully aware of my propensity towards anger, especially in response to my children. I daily have to battle having a right response in all of the split-second occurrences that demand my attention. We've also struggled to reconcile our expectations for how we'd like to spend our time verses how we are supposed to spend our time during the first year (going to driver's school, studying language and culture, etc).

But, I can say this has been one of the best years of my life in this- God's Word promises that trials produce endurance, and endurance makes us more complete- more like Christ. One thing that has been so heavy on my heart the past couple of years is seeing so many people walk away from a relationship with Christ. In our post-modern culture, we seem more prone to elevate our own thoughts and understanding above what is clearly written in the Bible. I've wondered... what keeps someone from abandoning their faith? Who can endure until the end? Well, for the first time in my life, I'm understanding James 1, and why I can and should count it all JOY when I face trials. Why? Because it produces ENDURANCE. And endurance, when it has its perfect result, will make us PERFECT and COMPLETE, lacking in nothing. Too often I wish trials away instead of staying in them, quietly, expectantly, waiting for God to do the work in me He set out to do. When life is easy, and we're never sick, and our car never dies, and our kids are always perfect, and we can go to Walmart and buy whatever our mind can imagine, and our home is SO comfortable, and the bank account is full--- then we should be FEARFUL! In those times, it's to easy and natural to turn our dependence from Christ and see our sufficiency in our self. Our muscles get soft, our hearts get weak, and our motivation to get of the couch to run dwindles. We won't endure. We will lack much and be marred by imperfection. I'm preaching to the choir here, and I hardly have responded with joy in each of our trials. But, after one year of seemingly constant trial, I am beginning to understand how and my I truly can count it all joy.

I hope that one year from now, I can write about year two, how it was so full of great ministry moments, people turning to Christ, spiritual growth, etc. But, that is up to God- and I will chose to be content with whatever kind of year He brings. As Hudson Taylor said, God often "wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade."

Victories

It's true. Parenting can be filled with hardships, worries, and challenges. But, there are moments that fill you with such joy that it all becomes worth it. Today I had two such moments...

For two years (yes, her whole life), Eliana has fought us when it comes time to drink her milk. We've tested her for reflux, milk allergies, and muscular problems that could prevent her from swallowing correctly. It just became our battle. Every day, twice a day. We say "drink." She says "no." Some days it would take close to two hours. But, today, God gave great grace. Eliana drank her milk (twice!) without fighting us! And she drank it quickly! Here's the proof...(ok, so in the first pic, she was debating a battle... but then....)

The second moment came not much later. Elijah began to read. He read me two beginner books. I even covered up the pictures so he couldn't cheat and guess at what it was saying. He also began writing his name well, and drawing stick figures. My boy reads!

Great Quote...

I recently heard this quote in a sermon by Spencer DeBurgh, which I strongly recommend you listen to if you have the time. You can find it here. I like this quote as it seems to speak directly to the question of should we "redo" church, evangelism, and ultimately Christianity.

"Woe to him therefore, who preaches Christianity without the possibility of offense. Woe to the person who smoothly, flirtatiously, commendingly, convincingly preaches some soft, sweet something which is supposed to be Christianity!

Woe to the person who makes miracles reasonable. Woe to the person who betrays and and breaks the mystery of faith, distorts it into public wisdom, because he takes away the possibility of offense! Woe to the person who speaks of the mystery of the Atonement without detecting in it anything of the possibility of offense."

~Soren Kierkegaard

Self-Control

Do I control my desires, or do my desires control me? Today, during my time with God, I was greatly convicted and encouraged by this question. I was reading in Colossians 1, and kept mulling over verse 10, which says “…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work…”  Paul is praying for the believers in Colossae that God would give them  knowledge of Himself and spiritual wisdom so that they can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects.  Wow! Are my actions and thoughts each day worth of the Lord? Do I please Him in EVERYTHING I do? Immediately certain areas of my life (not pretty ones) started coming to mind.

Afterward, I picked up “Respectable Sins” and read the chapter on Self-Control. The Holy Spirit continued to bring to mind SO many areas in my life where I let my impulses and desires control my actions! My love of ice cream, my longing for Pringles in the afternoon, my desire to rest instead of exercise, my tendency to give vent to my angry heart towards a rebellious child, my speed at checking email or facebook instead of opening my Bible. Now, this may all seem DIScouraging, but what really brought me joy amidst the conviction is that “self-control” is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23)! And since God, by His mercy has saved me, and given me faith and a desire to make HIM King instead of myself, I can trust that by HIS strength, I can have self-control!  His redeeming work in me is WAY stronger than my own sinful self.

Looking back at Colossians 1, I can have the same hope and faith that Paul had when he prayed for the believers in Colossae, that God would help them  “walk worthy and please Him in all respects.” In verses 3-6, Paul speaks of a hope which is laid up for us in Heaven, and that is the GOSPEL—and that gospel is constantly bearing fruit and increasing (v. 6) I can have hope, and really have victory over my nature to be lazy and seek comfort, and exercise the muscle of self-control, because JESUS CHRIST humbled Himself and came to earth, lived a perfect life, died for my sins, and raised again, and today sits at the right-hand of God in Heaven. And one day, I Will stand before Him and give an account for my life. And He will judge the motives of my heart, and He will reveal whether  what I’ve built upon was wood, hay, and stubble, or gold, stubble, and precious stones. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

So, my hope for you is that today you might question yourself….are you living in a manner worthy of the Lord? Are you pleasing Him in every respect? I know I will have to keep asking myself that question every day, every hour, and then prayerfully ask Him to help me have victory over my desires. I have some ideas about how I’ll be applying this, but I won’t tell you yet :-)

Beyond Measure

The last two weeks were a taste of what it is to be given more than you deserve. We flew to "The Peninsula"  (what we islanders call mainland Spain) for a mandatory, TEAM Spain conference. It was a joy getting to meet all of the other missionaries who are here with TEAM, hear their hearts, and get a better picture of what God is doing in Spain. One thing that took us by surprise was the COLD. I didn't realize how quickly my blood had turned warm being in Tenerife. We didn't move with our winter attire, so we made lots of mad dashes from one building to another.

 Here we are with our Tenerife coworkers braving the cold near Toledo.

Another huge blessing was that we were able to lodge for the cost of utilities in the home of a missionary family on home assignment in the US. They have three small children, so my kiddos were elated to be able to play with new toys, and have a swing set in "their" back yard. They spent hours playing with a Thomas the Train set. I also discovered that Eliana has a deep love for dollies now! She fed, burped, soothed, disciplined, and instructed the dolls with a loud "OBEY GOD!"  


Since we also were able to use the vehicle of this family, and housing was taken care of, and we could cook our own meals vs. eating out-- and since one of our huge focuses this year is language and culture acquisition, we made a "vacation" out of the conference. We were able to stay for a total of 2 weeks in the peninsula. We are cheap skates, so we saw the outsides of lots of pretty castles and cathedrals (even the cathedrals charge admission unless you are attending mass). We were extra excited to see Toledo, as one of our neighbors who we've talked with quite extensively had told us he really wanted us to see the place. He even called today when he saw us return home to see if we made it there. Nathan purchased this gentleman a small sword letter opener as a souvenir. (Toledo is known for their swords).

A bird's eye view of Toledo.

So, not only did we get to finally meet our coworkers in Spain, have free housing and vehicle, and get to know more about the culture in Spain--- but, God even took care of a few secret desires....

I was struggling in my heart a bit with covetousness as I watched my kids play with the train set at the home we were staying. I was also lamenting how much more expensive toys like that cost in Spain. And, to set a back drop, Levi has been really wanting a white tiger figurine ever since he saw the white tiger at the zoo awhile back. It's been a topic of many conversations with him. Well, one afternoon we were blessed yet again to be at the home of a wonderful missionary family, and the wife asked me, "would your boys like some Thomas the Train toys?" She then gave them several toys and enough track to make a good loop. I was so shocked, as just the day before I was wishing we had that very thing for the kids. Then, she pulled out some figurines, and low and behold, asked, "anyone want a white tiger?" God is good, good indeed!

The white tiger at Loro Parque

That brings up the last thing I'm super thankful for from this trip. Several families courageously invited our crazy family of 6 over to their homes for a meal. That's no small thing. It was encouraging to me to get to know people better, pick mothers' brains on raising kids overseas, and forge new friendships.

So, thank you, Lord, for the ways you bless us beyond measure!  

Luna!

My baby girl turned TWO this week! Our tiny little surprise daughter has grown into a vivacious, outgoing, athletic, talkative, very determined wonder woman. To be truthful, the last few years have been full of ups and downs as we've grappled to parent such a lively personality. But, I've been so encouraged of late remembering that God's sovereignty covers even the personalities of our children. Hopefully, I am more like Christ as a result of having Eliana in my life, and hopefully, she will end up more like Christ from having me as her mother. God's grace is so good, and so deep. I can truthfully say that I wouldn't trade my daughter for the world. I'm excited to see what she will become. Despite her immeasurable drive and energy, she is such a nurturer. She adores her baby brother, and she cares for her little dollies as if they were real. She is fearless, and she LOVES people.

For months now, Eliana's favorite word and favorite object to hunt for, has been the "luna." Every time she sees it (even if it's the 17th time in one hour), she still exclaims at the top of her lungs, "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUNA!"

Here's a glimpse of the fun she brings into our lives...

A Bit of Catching Up...

Well, uninspired or not, I press on (namely for the three of you who encouraged me to do so).

We are thankful to be entering another year, just as in need of God's grace as ever. 2010 was certainly a year of transition, trials, blessings, joys... and any number of other adjectives. But one thing is certain- God remains on the thrown, and we remain His grateful adopted children eagerly awaiting His return. Maybe 2011 will be the year!

We have now been in Tenerife for 9 months. I am buttoning down and becoming more serious about getting my driver's license and passing my Spanish proficiency exam. Nathan is an incredible husband and father and is constantly serving us, but for both of our sanity, I need to be able to do some grocery shopping and take kids to the doctor by myself.

We are thankful to be building stronger friendships with some of our neighbors. If you think of it, be in prayer for David and Sonya (and children Carlos and Sarah) and Federico and Sylvie (and sons Simone, Rafael, and Jean Marie). We were blessed to spend the evening last night with the latter family, enjoying their exceptional BBQ skills and some good conversation. We are hoping to have David and Sonya over to dinner some time in the next week.

For me, I think most of the work I've seen God do in the last nine months has been an overhaul of my own heart. I used to always marvel, when I'd go on a short-term missions trip, at how God seemingly flew me thousands of miles away just to show me areas of my own life that needed change. Well, living overseas now is no different. So many different things are constantly bouncing through my head, I'd be awake all night if I tried to put them to paper right now, but it all boils back down to this: He's big, and I'm little. Parenting four kids 4 and under shows me that. Moving to a new culture shows me that. Trying to share the best news in the world with people who aren't interested shows me that. Dealing with more sickness than we have ever experienced in one year shows me that. Spending holidays away from family and loved ones shows me that. Watching two young friends die leaving behind devastated families shows me that. Looking out the window at the vast ocean every day shows me that. And living in the shadow of an active volcano shows me that. I think of the famous C.S. Lewis quote from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Lucy asks the Beaver if Aslan is a tame lion. He replies, "Safe? Of course he's not safe!.....But he's good!"

So, to sum it up, I've learned a lot this past year- about myself, about God... mostly I've learned that I'm oh so far from perfect, and oh so in need of God. Not just His help or his grace, but Him. I need Him for every breath. I need God. I desperately need His Word. He allows me times of shade, times of lonliness, times of wandering in the valley, followed by times of victory, of amazement, of refreshment- all because He wants me to see Himself.

A theme He has repeatedly brought back into my life over the years is learning to "see" his fingerprints in my life. It's utter foolishness to think that a hair falls from my head without his knowledge or concern. Yet, I so often don't look past my own nose as I wallow about in my circumstances, emoting every which way that I turn, and looking only at how I might alleviate my sufferings or fix my own problems. Yet not one broken transmission, sick baby, lost wallet, or unruly child is outside of His sovereign control or design. I hope my thick skull will eventually remember that lesson.

Ok... I better wrap up my meandering thoughts and end with some pictures, as that's really what people want to see anyway.

Uninspired

I think it's an unfortunate truth, but facebook is killing my blog! It's hard to put energy into clever posts and pictures when in a flash I can put a mini version on facebook. Plus, is there really anyone left in the blog world who isn't on facebook? I hate being redundant. So, I need to give it a good think as to whether or not to keep my fingers dipped in both worlds...

I guess if you are a blog follower who isn't on facebook, let me know, so I can factor that into my decision on whether to keep blogging.

In the mean time, enjoy Christ this Christmas!