Galations 2:20

"That Your way may be known..."

2012-02-17T11:17:00.001-06:00

I have a journal that is filling up with exciting verses such as this:

Ps. 67:2 "That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among the nations."

Rev. 15:4 "For all the nations shall come and worship before You."

Ps. 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

Rev.21:6 "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."

Rev. 11: 15 "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"

Rev. 7:9 "Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb...crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

I love exclamation points in scripture! They just resound with praise to the King of Kings, and I greatly desire for my life to be like that- an exclamation point for the kingdom of God!

God is arming me with strength, and making my way perfect. I love that His way for me is perfect, and that He is not just sending me down this path to walk it alone- but that I can cling to His hand and let Him lead me the entire way. It is definitely not an easy path to take...each day I realize how surrounded I am on the right and left by the lies of the enemy and the comforts and temporary joys (even seemingly *good* things) that could be mine should I choose to forsake my Jesus and the difficult path ahead of me. I must be constantly watching, and keep my eyes on Him at all times.

Today I heard a report from a missionary in the capitol city of this country I hope to be living in soon. The people of this country are storytellers- it's part of their tradition. They love stories. The missionaries there are simply relating stories from God's word and then these stories are being taken to all their friends and family and being retold over and over again. One young man came to the missionary and said "I need you to tell me more stories so I can tell them to my friends!".

Hearing this gets me so excited. I love seeing how God is using my past several years of ministry to children as a catalyst for the gospel in a country where much of the openings for churches to be planted in new, unreached areas seems to be through doing simple Bible clubs with children. So far in this past month- three schools have asked native believers to come and teach weekly Bible classes to the children "because they love singing the songs and hearing the stories". These songs and stories then are brought home to their families, and when the native pastor connects with the families and talks about God the children then affirm everything the pastor has shared by saying that they, too, have already heard this and believe it!

Super, super exciting. :)

Something else that is a huge blessing to me right now is the support of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I know that though I may be one person that is available to go across the world to an unreached people group, I am not one- but the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ are desperately needed for the truth of the gospel to sweep across this entire country and for God's Kingdom purposes to be brought about in this country. Pray for laborers for the harvest. Pray for entire families and villages to be transformed by the gospel. Pray for a church in every village. Pray for missionaries to someday (soon!) be sent out from this country to neighboring countries. Pray for the glory of God! Pray, and do not cease....that His way may be known in the earth!

Random pictures that make me smile...

2012-01-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

Reflections on 2011

2011-12-31T21:18:00.001-06:00

January-

It started out with a special prayer retreat alone at a cabin by a lake. I kept seeing a blank slate when it came to making plans/praying about the coming year. As much as I wanted to pray about certain things or certain opportunities, it was as if every time I lifted them up to Him, He would remove them. It was as if God was continually impressing on me that He had a brand new chapter to write for the coming year, and that every idea I had, or everything I wanted or desired to pray for, I must surrender to Him.

February was a challenging month in other ways. One friend starts courting, another loses a special friend to a tragic accident. And I am learning more and more what it means to depend on God in prayer.

Then came March. Oral surgery + complications= half a month sipping milkshakes, downing pain meds and not talking (which also meant no teaching). The other half was an exciting opportunity to help develop and execute some leadership training for future NCHEA Kids Conference Staff.

It was about this time that God was opening up the door for me to return once again to Cambodia, and to bring my youngest brother with me! God answered prayers and opened doors in incredible ways.

April- I don't exactly remember April.... partly because I think it turned out to be the most uneventful month of the year. God must have known I needed a less busy month before the rest of the year turned into a crazy whirlwind of activity. :)

May was the 10th anniversary of my very first student recital as a piano teacher. My first year with 5 students has grown to 35 students and a teaching studio in downtown Kearney. I can see how God has used these past ten years to teach me a lot of patience and perseverence. I'm sure I probably need another 10 years of endurance training...of all my students, I'm the worst when it comes to learning things quickly! ;)

June-

Extremely challenging. Enough said.

Oh and July too...

(those were some very difficult, painful months of surrender-but I see now how God was breaking me to prepare me for surrender to His greater plan for my life!)

By the grace of God, I made it to August and the much awaited trip to return to Cambodia. I sensed for an entire month leading up to it that God was directing me to pray and ask specifically for some very big things. I think at the time I was rather blind to the reality of what I was asking...or what He was asking of me.

I cannot forget that first hour after our arrival in Sompovloun. Such a deep peace, utter satisfaction, contentment and feeling of belonging...I was overwhelmed with thankfulness. I could not believe my own heart. Had God kept my life in a turmoil these past few months just to make His point clear to me?

That morning on the drive in, God had given me this verse from Jeremiah 16:21 "Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the Lord." I had such a deep desire to see God's glory shine throughout Western Cambodia...and my heart wanted so badly to be there and see it happen. These were my people.

On the 24th of this month, we said goodbye to our sister and saw her board the plane for Russia for the next few years. Family reunions are going to be pretty special events in the future. God knows when we will all be together again!

September- I returned home, and prayed and cried for an entire month (this is fact ;). It was very, very difficult to be so far away from my heart. I don't know how to say that in a way that doesn't make it sound purely emotional... But I wasn't really "here". I thought maybe it was just reverse culture shock, but it's been four months and I still haven't recovered.
Turning my life upside down and inside out. Giving up everything I had every known. Surrendering the things I had placed security in. I was willing.... by the grace of God.

October- It's that month when everyone else gets married or engaged or something special happens to your bestest friends and they get magically carried away into the sunset. I've always wondered if October would hold something special for me- and sure enough, it did! ;) The very last day of the month (I know it was the last day, because I was holding out for that reminder from God that He did, indeed, still have the pen in hand and was yet writing in this interesting (crazy, I thought!) chapter of the story of my life.) It was a letter....a letter of invitation to return to this place where my heart had seemingly decided to stay. "Years??" It was a momentary splash of reality. Had I really been so bold to ask for this, and yet hardly believing it would ever come true? It was the second very clear, very specific answer to prayer God had given me regarding this.

November-
In which I prayed much regarding this new path God seemed to be directing me toward, and helped get a dear friend married. It was a very fun, very exciting, very busy month.

December-
Chock full of Christmas music performances, students and other various activities. I treasured a week of Christmas vacation with my grandparents and other extended family. There were a few moments when I accidentally allowed my mind to wonder if this might be my last Christmas celebration with some of the dearest people on earth. (For awhile, perhaps... so many unknowns!) And so I had a few meltdowns, but most of all tried to cherish each moment.

And here I am. Tomorrow is a new year, and I know Who I am walking with through it. There are a lot of unknowns ahead. I do feel like God has asked me to jump off a cliff. But this quote I shared not long ago lingers in my mind. "Trained faith is a triumphant gladness in having nothing but God...." I know that I can take this leap of faith in full confidence that my God's purposes are being worked out in it.

Every day, every situation,

every joy, every sadness,

every decision, every step taken,

every word, every smile, every victory-for His glory!

2011-12-24T05:52:00.000-06:00

Thinking of my brothers and sisters in Christ in Burma on this Christmas Eve...

A Silent Night in Burma

A Passion for the Impossible

2011-11-09T21:02:00.000-06:00

"Are all things- even the treasures that God has sanctified- held loosely, ready to be parted with, without struggle, when He asks for them?"

"The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. May it not be that the human impossibility is just the very things that sets His hand free? - And that it is the things which are possible for us to do that He is in a measure to let alone."

"Trained faith is a triumphant gladness in having nothing but God- no rest, no foothold... nothing but Himself.

A triumphant gladness in swinging out into that abyss,

rejoicing in a very fresh emergency that is going to prove Him true- the Lord alone...that is trained faith."

"Let us dare to test God's resources...

Let us ask Him to kindle in us and keep aflame

that passion for the impossible... till the day when shall see it transformed into a fact."

~all quotes by Lilias Trotter from

"A Passion for the Impossible" and "Parables of the Cross"

2011-09-01T21:52:00.001-05:00

I see happy, healthy children today...and my mind flashes back to a week ago- the begging child at my elbow as I sat waiting for the rest of the group to arrive at Sasaydah. The thin arms of the little girl at my sewing table. The baby with head to toe eczema. My sweet little friend from last year with a serious abcess, and her parents unable to afford the 1,000 reole (25 cents) to register at the hospital for her to get free medical attention.

Here, I eat three meals a day-and rarely the same thing twice in one week. I remember the one meal of rice a day the children in the village usually get-if that.

I hear the beautiful, heart-wrending prayers of the Khmer believers and remember at the moment realizing how many of them truly must pray and trust God for provision and sustenance from one day to the next. I see how beautifully content and joyful they are.

I went to Walmart today...and saw shelves and shelves of food. And everyone in there could afford at least a weeks worth.

Tonight I am not sleeping on a rock hard mattress with a dense pillow of coconut fiber...or a pallet on raised wooden slats.

In spite of my soft bed, I cannot sleep. It's 3am, and I am praying here. There it's 3pm, and if it's Sunday the believers are meeting for worship and there are at least 60 beautiful, dark faces and smiles under the Sunday School shelter chanting Scripture verses they have memorized.

Here, I can go for a walk wherever I like. I do not fear getting blown to pieces by land mines.

I do not have a father who is drunk, a mother in the hospital, and brothers who are mentally deranged/possessed. My parents do not beat me at night if I do not work hard enough to bring home a decent amount of cash to gamble away the following day.
My home is not in danger of being bulldozed to pieces tomorrow with nowhere to go and no compensation for the loss...

Contrast. It's black and white.

"I fear leaving here, never to return, back to America where life is comfortable and one is not constantly surrounded by the maimed, the blind, the imprisoned, the hungry, the lost, the hurting. It is difficult to not feel completely rebellious at the thought of leaving this place. My heart is taken..." Cambodia Journal, Tuesday, August 14th

The most beautiful children in all the world...

2011-08-24T12:22:00.003-05:00

July update...

2011-07-24T17:23:00.001-05:00

I seem to have made a habit of writing a monthly update post, and as I neared the end of this month I sort of felt obligated to write something, since it is nearing the end of July and last time I updated was...nearly two months ago!
I love writing, I do. There are times I need to write. And I guess one of those times is now...though it made for a deep post that maybe does me good, but no one else. So, if my “deep” blog posts have a tendency to make your head hurt...not that I ever intend that...feel free to spend your time more profitably. :P

One more disclaimer... As I write I want to magnify who God is in my life, and though I am writing about myself and my current experiences I hope it draws you to see His work and to praise Him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So...here goes.
The story of my life of late is:

1.Not easy to talk about

2.Beyond my understanding

That's all I can think of to sum up the past few weeks. I don't understand even now how the struggle started, or what it was that removed joy so far out of my reach. I do not know "why", or "what" or "how" I so suddenly found myself in the middle of the wilderness, spiritually. I do not see where God is taking me in this. But it was eight weeks ago that I went on a walk, to talk with God alone-and He so clearly turned my thoughts to think of Jesus walking to Gethsemene and praying...and the impression God left with me that day was that I must walk alone, and that He was about to bring deep testing into my life.

I am so thankful for the way He lovingly prepared my heart for what He intended to bring me through for my good and for His glory. It was that walk and talk with God that I have continually looked back on these past few weeks and thought “It's okay, this is in God's plan...”

It's been outward testing in some ways-scorn and mockery I've never really had to experience before as a result of standing against a very hurtful thing in our community- but mostly it's been a test of my heart. Visibly no one else would see it or know. It was a complete stripping away of things my heart trusted in that weren't the things of God, though they seemed to be all "good" things. Friendship, fellowship, church, marriage, children, family, music, mission work...
I used to think that these were areas I had placed on the "alter" for Christ to have Lordship over. But this time God allowed me to experience the reality of seeing life completely without any of these things-and would I still love Him? Would I still be content? Would I praise Him? These things in my life had not been truly surrendered to Him. Circumstances had not ever really, truly taken these things away. I had never experienced it in such a real way before. It was very painful.

I guess it's a natural thing when you find yourself slipping off the edge of a cliff to struggle to get to safety...but one night as I was struggling and dealing with a horrible, overwhelming feeling of aloneness and asking God why I couldn't find any joy in life whatsoever, where was He, where was relief from all this craziness, and what on earth brought me to this place anyway? I was desperate to calm my mind...it had been such an insane whirlwind of crazy thoughts that just seemed to go through completely unchecked no matter how hard I tried to pray and stop the inundating, clamorous chaos in my head. It was then that I sensed His very firm “Be still...”. With all my struggling my Shepherd could not rescue me or bring me to safety. I was more in danger of pitching myself headlong over the cliff with all my struggle to escape this testing God had allowed in my life. This picture startled my mind and heart into silence, and I finally felt as if I could rest and wait for Him...even in this darkness.

“Be still...and know that I am God.”

When this series of testing started I was determined to learn as much from it as I could. But any strength of my own was short lived...and at first I was so frustrated that I couldn't endure or hold myself up through just a few days or weeks of this. I mean, some of my brothers and sisters in Christ across the world have been suffering and imprisoned and had to deal with aloneness and loss for the sake of Christ for years upon years. Surely, I could too.

But surely I shouldn't...in my own strength, without Christ.

I realize this is nothing unusal in the life of a Christian. This is humbling, it's painful...but it's good. It is so strange to be stripped of all hopes and dreams and plans, but I know now that it is so Christ can fill all of me. Not just some of my life. All of it. For His glory. And I pray He will...and that I would not stubbornly cling to any of these things in my life, but only to Him.

And that is the story of my life right now. I don't know what the end will be to this chapter in my life. I wanted to write the ending to it days ago... I wanted to tear the chapter out and just start over! But I am thankful God knows...and that He does have a plan. This life I live is not in vain. I have never felt more comforted knowing that.

July 6, 2011

2011-07-06T21:05:00.000-05:00

"My hands hold a pilgrim's staff,

My march is Zionward,

My eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,

My heart is in Thy hands without reserve..."

-"Journeying On" from "The Valley of Vision"

Girls in pink dresses...

2011-06-22T16:08:00.000-05:00

In which the girls raid Kristin's hope chest and find it full of pretty dresses...

And they just had to try them on!

And take pictures in them...

And pretend and wish they could wear such dresses every single day...

June 5, 2011

2011-06-05T17:50:00.001-05:00

Thoughts:

~I have been thinking about these "valleys" in my life and my attitude in the midst of trials and wondering...if I were to find myself imprisoned or suffering for my faith and the cause of Christ in some way-would these same attitudes carry over? What I experience today may seem traumatic enough to beg for God's rescuing mercy...but then I think of things that could be much, much more difficult and painful. Learning to rejoice in this small difficulty will prepare me for something much greater. If God led me into this valley, why am I begging Him to bring me out? If He led me in, I can trust He has a reason for it, and I can trust He will lead me out in His timing. Meanwhile I need to "stay in the valley" and learn everything God would have me to learn, with joy and not complaint, because this is what brings Him glory.

~I thought today of eternity with my King. I thought of the joy of communion with Him even now-such a small glimpse of Heaven- and how I have access to the throne of grace through Christ. I can come to Him without words, and He understands my heart in a way I do not.

~I need to learn to think more on today and to "take no thought for tomorrow". Today, God has called me bear His glory. Tomorrow's troubles are none of my business.

~I think the white columbine flowers outside my window are the sweetest reminder of God's forgiveness and making us perfect and pure for His glory.

~I think evening walks are the best time for thinking.

~Do I think too much? ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sooo, now that we have those weighty thoughts off my mind-how about a June update? Or make that "random, scattered remembrances from the past few weeks of craziness".

~As of last week, all tickets for Ben and I to Cambodia were funded and purchased! God has provided in amazing (could I say miraculous?) ways. It has been such an incredible thing to stand back and watch in awe as God has opened the door and said once again "this is the way, walk in it". I am thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ who have generously given and purposed to pray for the spread of the gospel in this country. You are a blessing beyond measure in my life. I pray God's glory through your work of prayer here while Ben and I go to do whatever it is that God has called us to!

~May 20th was my Spring studio recital. This year marks the 10th anniversary of my very first student recital. Twenty-six of my thirty students participated in a very fun evening of music-making with ice cream after to celebrate. One evening made the past 10+ years worth it.

They make me smile.

I might post video sometime...then you will smile too. ;)

~Over memorial weekend we drove out to Indy visit my brother John. Monday the 30th found us driving 13 hrs home only for Ben and I to jump back into a car and go on a 5 hr storm chase. First big storm of the season here in NE. It was a great storm, and Ben has some pictures and video footage up on TCS.

~This past week I started my summer schedule at the studio... I find myself teaching twenty-six students this summer- mainly beginning piano, violin and cello! Hmm...farewell sweet dreams of a restful summer! My life is made up of lots of fun little people though, and I'm lovin' them.

~We have a summer goal of building a gazebo in our backyard this summer. It's a sibling project I guess-funded by all of Ben's credit to Menards. (just kidding ;)

~Alas, all other interesting facts and happenings from this past month seem to be forgotten history in my brain right now. :P

Until next time...

Indy

2011-05-31T16:27:00.002-05:00

Some of my family took a whirlwind trip to Indianapolis to visit my brother this past weekend. We drove there Friday and returned on Monday. Originally the plan was to leave my mom there for a week to help my brother after his surgery, but his surgery was rescheduled to next week so she will take a second trip to Indy to stay with him. I am so, very glad for this time spent with my brother. We all love him very much, and have missed him a lot.

This is the view from the top of John's highrise apartment. The Indy training center is on the same street that he lives on. Driving by the training center brought back a lot of memories from years past. It's hard to believe it's been ten years since my sis and I attended Sound Foundations there together...!
~~~~~

On Saturday we visited the Indiana Historical Society museum. Very neat place. The clock in this picture was actually moving back in time. We learned about all the famous people and happenings in Indiana history, and then walked from there to see the Capitol in downtown Indy.

Major wide angle shot, but the doors on the Capitol building were pretty amazing.

In spite of his torn ACL, John still managed to give us a walking tour of downtown.

It really was a fun photo opportunity. We found a lot of neat churches and cathedrals and cool architecture to shoot.

Ben will probably do a blog post on TCS eventually.

At the Scottish Rite Cathedral...
~~~~~

Sunday, after church, we went to a park near the IUPUI campus where my brother is going to school.

We took some family pictures, minus Vanessa. She had to stay home because of work...

Before we said our goodbyes Sunday night, we took some pictures at this beautiful church across the street from John's apartment.

I am thankful for all the special family memories packed into one little weekend.

I'm thankful for prayers answered, rays of hope, encouragement from believers at a church we visited.

I'm thankful for my brother John. I love and miss him very much.

What is prayer?

2011-05-15T17:41:00.000-05:00

"Prayer is the pouring out of the soul to God;

not the pouring out of words,

nor the pouring out of expressions;

but the pouring out of the soul to God."

-William Bridge "A Lifting Up for the Downcast" c.1649

May 7, 2011

2011-05-07T21:16:00.060-05:00

Today I abandoned my duties inside to capture some of the beautiful handiwork of my Creator...

I love such perfect beauty, such brilliance of color and intricacy of design...

These phrases from favorite hymns sing in my heart:

"Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings..."

"This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white,

Declare their Maker's praise."

"Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed where e'er I turn my eye..."

"There's not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glory known..."

~~~

Here's a tour of the rest of the Tillotson Botanical Gardens. :)

We have this funny little 2 dimensional apple tree we bought for our mom for Mother's Day last year.

You have to see it. The blossoms smell so sweet, and the bumblebees love it.

Bleeding Heart in abundance...

Stop to smell the lilacs...it will make your day.

And we have these sweet little pansy faces peeking out of pots all over our front porch.

I remember watching my Daddy crank ice cream by hand in this old ice-cream bucket

some twenty years ago...

Vanessa and Heidi get the credit for all the pretty things that grow in the yard. ;) This is the first time I will spend a summer mostly at home in about 12 years, so am actually looking forward to getting to work in the gardens...even if it is pulling weeds!

"Miss Kwistin, I picked a dandylion for you...you can eat it on a sandwich!" (Elijah, age 4-next time he 'grows bigger' he'll be five! ;)

~~~

Yesterday I was reading "Annika's Secret Wish" with Celine. That night the girls decided they wanted their hair done Swedish style, like Annika or Kirsten the American Girl. :)

♥My sweet girls ♥

It's been a busy month, and I have missed spending time with them!

~~~

Last week, Heidi and I took a trip out to Denver to see Itzhak Perlman in concert and

visit our friends! My brothers came out for the weekend, and we packed a lot of fun into our short little reunion! Sarah has posted some fun and crazy pictures of our Morgillotson reunion over on her blog. ;) View at your own risk!

My Sis and I before the concert...

Not only is it a lot of fun to visit our friends, but the blessing of fellowship with them as brothers and sisters in Christ is pretty much amazing. Love you guys!

~~~

Another really memorable thing about this past month was a road trip my sisters and I took to visit grandparents and a friend in Missouri. This may be the last opportunity in a long while to do something like this as sisters, and that just made us treasure the experience even more.

A very special couple of days were spent with my grandparents in Joplin, Missouri.

Visiting Michelle at New Tribes Mission Training Center.

Vanessa and Michelle spent several years serving the Lord together in Moscow, Russia. God is calling both of them to return to missions, and it was a very sweet weekend of fellowship.

We experienced a beautiful taste of Spring in the Ozarks while the rest of our family was stuck back home in a good ol' Nebraska snowstorm. ;)

~~~

About a month ago God brought about clear direction that I should return to Cambodia in August,

and this time with my brother Ben! The way God answered a prayer for confirmation that Ben should go too is just an amazing story. Ask to hear it sometime. :) God's ways are truly higher than I can ever comprehend.

I can hardly wait to see my brothers and sisters in Christ in Sompovloun. They are precious to me, and it has been such a privilege to pray for them throughout this year.

Please pray for God's glory to shine as we trust Him for provision, as we go where He leads us, as we love as He has loved us...

~~~

Finale-Fine

2011-04-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow night-our final KSO concert with Dr. Crocker as conductor.

It's been amazing working under him for the past eight years!

7:30 pm Merryman Performing Arts Center

Tuesday, April 26

(We have extra tickets-contact me right away if you can come! :)

Fanfare for the Common Man-Aaron Copland

Second Suite in F-Gustav Holst

Romance in F-Camille Saint Saens

Theme from Schindlers List-JohnWilliams

Lenski's Aria from the Opera "Eugene Onegrin"- Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky

Send In The Clowns from the musical "A Little Night Music"-Stephen Sondheim

Triumphant March & Ballet- Guiseppe Verdi

Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo:

Buckaroo Holiday

Corral Nocturne

Saturday Night Waltz

Hoe-Down

It's going to be an incredible concert, with a packed house no doubt! A sad farewell to our wonderful conductor, but looking forward to finding out the results of our past three conductor auditions.

Off to rehearsal...! :)

On prayer...

2011-04-20T09:13:00.000-05:00

"It is not a flood of words, nor studied notions, nor seraphical

expressions, nor elegent phrases in prayer, that takes the ear,

or that delights the heart of God, or that opens the gates of glory,

or that brings down the best of blessings upon the soul;

but uprightness, holiness, heavenliness,

spiritualness, and brokenness of heart;

these are the things that make a conquest upon God,

and that turns most to the soul's account."

-Thomas Brooks

NCHEA Kids Conference 2011

2011-04-18T19:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a fun glimpse of Kids Conference weekend in pictures- courtesy of Addie!

For more pictures, slideshow and narrative of the drama, visit:

NCHEA 2011

and

2011 NCHEA Kids Conference

God's workings were so evident throughout this amazing weekend. All glory to Him!

Addie's amazing decorations for the country of Iran!


Amy's team had small group sessions in the middle of the African jungle! ;)

The entry was just amazing...!

Matthias and Rachel leading Large Assembly

And the drama begins...

Amy and Luke leading memory verse

Our Leaders in Training!

I totally enjoyed these young people. Their smiles and laughter and energy were contagious!

We covered a lot of material over the weekend, and I came away so blessed and encouraged by the maturity

and character of some of our upcoming leaders. We had the best team...hands down. ;)

Is it really April?

2011-04-10T20:14:00.001-05:00

I am feeling rather lost...the past four weeks have been so mixed up and turned around and upside down that I am rather surprised to realize that it is, indeed, the 10th of April. Last I checked it was February, I think? :P

It's been four weeks of interesting challenges. All of them good! Just, they weren't the sorts of challenges I had penciled into my daily planner or calendar. ;) Lots of pain, lots of cancelled lessons, lots of time to think since I couldn't talk, some more illness and more adjustments (in reality-total mix up!) to my normal weekly routine of things. It's just a bad deal to have to jumble up 30 students worth of lessons to see how I can fit them in to my "feeling mostly good" days, only to end up feeling really sick and having to cancel half of them and reschedule them for odd days the following week. :P It makes for a very confused teacher who was already confused to begin with...
I was beginning to think of these sorts of things as just being a big hindrance to my plans, loss of progress with students, loss of income, loss of health-but then God reminded me that He had planned all this, and that I shouldn't see it as loss. Its been a lesson in contentment for sure, a lesson that is still being worked in my heart...a lesson I want to learn well, since it seems rather obvious I need it!

Phil.4:11 "...I have learned in

whatever state I am to be content..."

The Hilights Of My Month...'tho everything seems such a blur!

*My aunt and uncle coming to visit and taking our yearly family pilgrimage out to the Platte river to see the sandhill cranes. http://www.tcs.net/ for pictures!

*Getting to eat food like a normal person after 2 weeks of milkshakes and yoghurt. Laughing and smiling without pain. Talking... ;)

*NCHEA Kids Conference! One of these days I will have Addie do a guest post with all her wonderful pictures. :) It was such a blessing to see God work through the weekend, and a huge privilege to work together with my brothers and sisters in Christ for the glory of God's kingdom. A totally amazing weekend!

*Seeing God work in incredible ways to confirm that Ben and I should go to Cambodia this coming August.

*Spring flowers blooming outside my window. After spending so many hours this past month cooped up in my room, I really appreciated a change of scenery. :P

And I must mention upcoming happenings that haven't even happened yet, because they are going to be very happy things indeed... ;)

*Getting to travel with my sisters to visit my grandparents in Missouri this weekend.

*Passover celebration with my family. (I look forward to this more than any other celebration of the year!)

*A very fun KSO program in the works for Dr. Crocker's grand finale (Tuesday the 26th), and future conductors auditioning at each rehearsal up until the concert.

*A trip to visit friends in CO... (the very thought makes me smile :)

Perhaps my May post will have pictures. My blog has been rather lacking in that area of late...

♥Happy April to you!

Dear blog,

2011-03-15T22:14:00.001-05:00

I know it's been a month...and after a month I still have no words to say to you. Or at least, not very many.

Alas, I live a crazy life...

But sometimes it's a peaceful sort of crazy. (How is that, you say? ;)

Well, lately I've been enjoying getting out in the sunshine for long, quiet walks, and taking random moments of the day alone to pray. Going to bed early just so I can read this really amazing book on prayer "The Secret Key to Heaven". Typing out lesson plans, brainstorming ideas, drinking tea and trying not to eat too much chocolate.

That, and practicing joy in everyday life. It still takes constant reminding, but soon I hope it just gets to be second-nature and isn't something I have to practice anymore. :)

I am taking a Psalm and thinking on it as I go to sleep and as I wake up. Praising the Lord the moment I open my eyes in the morning really helps me overcome the temptation to think negatively of my crazy, busy day ahead!

And so...these are the words I have to say to you this month of March. I'm amazed the words came. Lately I haven't been able to hardly speak the english language, much less type it. :P That's what happens when you converse only on a 7-10 year old level for 8-10 30 minute increments a day Monday thru Friday week after week....

Okay, it's not really that bad. ;)

Perhaps you shall hear from me again in April. Until then...!

Valentines Day...

2011-02-15T09:35:00.000-06:00

Just a few shots pre/post-concert yesterday...

Bethany Home in Minden loves to have us come whenever we can, so

we put together all of our favorite music into a program and did a concert there yesterday.

♥~Bethany & Mabel~♥

♥Love these girls... :)

"He is faithful..."

The One I Love...

2011-02-14T06:39:00.000-06:00

Is so worthy.

"For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." (Is.61:10)

He has endured all things for me

"Love endures all things" 1 Cor. 13:7

"He was wounded for [my] transgressions, He was bruised for [my] iniquities..." Is. 53:5

I am His.

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; You are Mine." Is. 43:1

He is my Creator.

My Redeemer.

My Sanctifier.

My Counselor.

My Shepherd.

My Shield.

My Comfortor.

My Protector.

My Refuge.

My Glory, and the One Who lifts up my head.

My Love Who will not let me go...

He has taught my heart these things:

~That it is His pleasure to answer the cries of my heart.

~It is His pleasure to rescue my heart from trouble.

~It is His pleasure to defend me.

~It is His pleasure to walk with me, and uphold me with His righteous right hand.

~It is His pleasure to give...though I am not worthy or deserving.

~It is His pleasure to be with me.

~He calls me His Bride.

♥

Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee...

♥

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor principalities nor powers,

nor things present nor things to come,

nor height nor depth,

nor any other created thing,

shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:37-39

A post...just because.

2011-01-26T10:50:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling very uninspired...life has been so quiet of late, there doesn't seem to be anything to write about.

But quiet is good. Now that I am in the middle of a crazy week, I look back and wonder why I didn't appreciate the quiet more. My "winter break" seemed to drag on an extra couple of weeks, as snowstorms and other unpredictable things lightened up my work schedule considerably (nearly drove me crazy, it did. I think I need some lessons on how to stay calm when the house is clean, laundry done, lessons finished...and there's nothing on my to-do list). Now I'm back into a "normal" routine, and trying to pretend not to be surprised at how hard it is to keep up. ;)

I'm learning to rest in Him...

Some favorite things about this month:
~A visit from friends
~A personal prayer retreat at a friends cabin on the lake (the best way to start the year out right!)
~My fun group of students this semester
~Taking my "little sisters" on a road trip

And that about sums up life in January of 2011.

(So...maybe I'll add to this when I can think of something intelligent to write. Or after I have some coffee...) ;P

Learning obedience...

2011-01-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

Hebrews 5:5-8

"So also Christ did not glorify Himself...who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."

Wow...what is it going to take for me to learn obedience? Do I really know what it is to be crucified with Christ...?

A visit from friends...

2011-01-11T08:43:00.001-06:00

...is a good way to start the year!

A Morgillotson reunion is never long enough, but we still managed to make the most of our time together. Breakfast at the Egg & I, Platte River adventures, ice skating, hockey, a cold picnic, Starbucks, book shopping, roasting things over the fire, painting the living room, playing games at the office.

Taking crazy pictures downtown, my sis and I... :)

Thanks for coming out...we love having you!

A new year...

2011-01-10T13:01:00.000-06:00

...is like a book of blank pages to be filled with stories of God's goodness and grace- written by His own hand.

I used to fear a blank calendar. (Maybe I still do, somewhat ;) Being the lover of adventure that I am, it's hard to accept at the beginning of January that I have nothing on my calendar of significance besides students, teaching, and recitals...

(sigh)

I wish to know what lies ahead. To see a clear path before me. To know what difficulties or joys are coming.

And then there's something called fact: (oh, and contentment too ;)

God is good. He works all things for good. He knows the plans He has for me, and He has and is always faithful to bring them about (I know this from experience).

"And we know that all things work together for good

to those who love God,

to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Romans 8:28

If God knows, and He holds all things in His hands...then I don't need to know. It is in trusting Him alone and walking in faith that He is glorified.

Nothing of my own strength. Christ only...always.

The will of God in Heaven being brough to earth. His Kingdom purposes. His glory.

That's what matters.

Last years theme that God gave me was prayer. He taught me so much through that.

The theme for this year? I think.....Rest. Trusting Him. Being still and knowing that He is God. Satisfaction in Him alone.

So, now I'm getting excited-for what I do not see. It's going to be a good year, whatever comes, because He is faithful...and works all things for His glory.

~~~~

"Therefore know that the LORD your God,

He is God,

the faithful God Who keeps covenant and mercy

for a thousand generations

with those who love Him

and keep His commandments."

Dt. 7:9

A bit of a ramble...

2010-12-16T07:10:00.000-06:00

It's middle-of-December craziness, and I'm just barely hanging on by a thread. Today is one of those "do the next thing" days...10 students, and a housecleaning job. Tomorrow evening is my student recital, held in our very own TCS.net gallery downtown. Thankfully only half my students are participating. I could not fit 30+ students and families down there, but it is the perfect setting for a "living room recital".

I am very much looking forward to Christmas break: three weeks for me. Hopefully that will be enough break to get me through next semester, 'tho I've scared myself a bit...35 students already on the list beginning in January.

My plans for break: finish making Christmas gifts, rest, repaint some of the house, visit relatives, have friends visit (yay!), and....maybe do things I rarely get to do, like read books.

No snow in our part of Nebraska yet. Yesterday I had a chance to help a friend with an outdoor family photo shoot. It was a bit cold, but a beautifully perfect day for photo-shooting. Amazing. Last year this time we were in the middle of a crazy blizzard.

I have been memorizing and thinking on Psalm 40 the past few weeks.

It is amazing to think that:

"Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done;

And Your thoughts which are toward us cannot be recounted to You in order;

if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."

Until next year...

TCS office makeover :)

2010-12-03T17:40:00.001-06:00

Every once in awhile I get in a serious decorating/makeover mood. I don't always have a project to satisfy my random urges to paint or create something...but this time I did. It was fun. :)

It all started with the display cases. My brother suggests "black curtains would really look nice in the displays". And so we bought Walmart out of black fabric...twice. 60 yards worth. This was a week or more before infamous "Black Friday". The day we hoped to show off a completely redone photo gallery in the front of our office.

Then came lights. Some three dozen of them we had to wire into all the display cases. It was serious sawdust and drywall mess everywhere.

Then there were pictures to print and frame. Lots of black and white prints, and a dozen or more to frame and hang up on display.

And signage on the front door...

And we finally finished about 5 hours before opening time Friday morning. It was a fun project, and I enjoyed planning it all with Michael and getting to work with my brothers-they were all home over Thanksgiving!

Here are some photos...including some pictures of my studio!

You are invited to a Christmas KSO concert! Next Tuesday, December 7th. :)

My studio, minus Sarah's beautiful canvas prints...they are out on display in the front gallery for a bit.

I "mod-podged" that door. It's a fun touch to a music room. :)

My brother wired in some nicer lighting for me. Yay!

The front gallery, all ready for the Christmas Walk!

We had hundreds of people stop in to see the gallery on the Christmas Walk.

Sarah's display case. :)

Lots of new pictures on display!

And...signage on the front door.

Come and visit us! That's a must. We love visitors. ;)

Decorating Day 2010!

2010-12-01T12:51:00.000-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving turned into a Christmas decorating and "Grand Lighting of the Treehouse" tradition a few years ago. This year we had the Bible Study kids over to help. While the guys worked on the treehouse, the girls (who happened to outnumber the guys this year ;) did some fun decorating indoors, made some amazing food, and just had a good time laughing and being creative together.

White chocolate covered cranberries. Yum!

Making pinecone ornaments

Kayla :)

Making swags

Fresh greenery makes the house smell *so* good!

The Lighting of The Treehouse!

Making monkey bread

My fun girls :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T16:52:00.000-06:00

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."

--from President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

October 3rd, 1863

This journey I take...

2010-11-16T14:07:00.002-06:00

I was looking back through my journal entries since this summer, and was a bit overwhelmed as I came across this one:

Thursday, June 17th:
"Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me."

"Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."

"Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

"...with God all things are possible"

"Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him. And He shall bring it to pass."

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him."

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in His way."

"He is ever merciful and lends."

"Wait on the LORD"
~~~
The story behind this entry...I was yet seeking the Lord's confirmation for Cambodia, and all in one mornings time with God He gave me these verses.
I sometimes wonder why God made it so, very clear to me that I should go. I sometimes wonder why I did go, for what purpose He brought me to Cambodia, and what His plan was for me once I returned home. While I was there I yet was asking the Lord "Why did You bring me here?". Even now, I still wonder.

At the time God gave me these verses I was thinking they all centered around this trip halfway around the world...and now I am beginning to wonder if I am yet living out these verses in some chapter in the story of my life that God is scripting.

These little ones...

It is not His will that they should perish. And so I pray for the power of the gospel in their hearts, in their families, in their village.

"With God all things are possible"

"Commit your way to the LORD, and trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass."

This I experienced in such obvious ways.

And He brought to pass...

And yet I still wonder why He brought me to this, and through this.

And then there is the here and now I must deal with.

Do I understand even now? Honestly, I don't.

Somehow I don't see this journey God brought me on as something for me "to do" for two weeks. I have never felt more like an empty vessel than I did on this trip. I wanted to know the significance of the way God was orchestrating things...yet, even now I still wonder at the significance.

I wonder at the significance of events that surrounded my trip- the days prior and the days after I arrived back home...

If it were His will for me to understand, I know He would reveal it to me.

Somehow I get the feeling this story is yet in the making. I feel as if there is much more testing in the area of "Waiting on the Lord" than there was before this trip. There is something much, much greater here that I cannot see.

And how do I respond to this?

Good question. ;)

Daily surrender, prayer, walking in faith, waiting on the Lord...

Does God delight in the way I take? Am I trusting in His mercy?

Am I waiting on Him...?

Waiting.

Wow, I really want to read the next chapter of this story... I do.

And so I must be constantly surrendered to not knowing... (A hard lesson for me to learn, if you can't tell ;)

The joy of the Lord is my strength...

2010-11-14T16:20:00.001-06:00

In the light of eternity what is the significance of a week? It is seven days given me by God to glorify, love, and enjoy Him, to further His Kingdom, to pour out my life in His service, to rejoice in His presence... It's a valuable set of days He has given me, and each moment counts for eternity.

I would suppose some of you are watching for that glimpse into my week I promised a week ago as a part of YLCF's annual blog carnival...Well, I started halfway into my week and had it all nicely blogged in pictures, when my week suddenly turned into a train wreck. And I must mention that I discovered myself to be a whole week late getting the news about the blogging carnival anyhow... and by the time I heard about it, it was already over. :P

And so, I thought I wouldn't leave you without a little glimpse into my life this week...but in pictures instead.

There you have it...

::Tea~Much prayer and Bible reading~Many hours in my studio~Some music practice~Hershey's kisses from my students~Studio renovations~An evening of prayer for the persecuted church~A Cambodia presentation::

But real life isn't without the hard sorts of things...and so I could tell you about last Monday, which was just the craziest, most tense day of my life for no apparent reason. About the call from the lawyer. And having to testify in a child custody case. Friends who pray. And difficult news from missionary friends. Students that drop out of lessons for the rest of the year because of concerning health issues. Hitting a brick wall physically and having two entire days of lessons left in the week to teach. Having to turn around halfway to church this morning (80 mi down the road...) because of van transmission problems when I was supposed to be giving a Cambodia presentation for church...

And all that.

Yet God is there. He is faithful. He is good.

He is my Rock...

He is my God.

I am so very grateful.

Pray for Cambodia...

2010-10-28T21:34:00.001-05:00

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?"

"And look! The tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter"

Satisfy their hungry souls, my Jesus...

Update

2010-10-24T15:42:00.002-05:00

The person in discussion is in an undisclosed location participating in secret activities for the benefit of the person's mental prosperity. The person is having a satisfactory time and agreed when it was stated that "life is good". She is being guarded by an elite security force and there is no reason to be concerned about her well-being.

- Undisclosed Security Officer

Pray for Cambodia...

2010-10-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

::Pray for Sao::

I trust she is my sister in Christ. Her joy and desire to know and love God more is so evident in her life.

Pray for God to reveal more of Himself to her every day. Pray for God to bind the evil one in her home and family and that her mother, father, and brothers would put their trust in the One true God. Pray for Sao's joy to be a testimony to her family of the work of God in her life.

Pray for Cambodia...

2010-10-14T10:13:00.004-05:00

Pray for the spread of the gospel in the village...

In addition to religion and superstitions, there are other physical and spiritual obstacles keeping the Khmer people from inviting Christ to be Lord of their lives. Many are held by addictions to drugs, alcohol, and gambling. TV and technology are bringing in many negative influences such as materialism and greed. Illiteracy is indering the transformation of their lives and also renders tracts, Bible and printed training materials useless.

-Pray that the purity of the gospel would reach the people quickly.

-Pray for miraculous freedom from addictions and the destruction of fear and falsehoods.

-Pray as oral materials (Gospel stories, Bible training, Solar Bibles-pictured above) are distributed

among these primarily illiterate or oral peoples.

-Pray that many would hear and receive this Gospel message.

Pray for Cambodia...

2010-10-12T09:05:00.001-05:00

Pray for Glenn and Gayle

~as they minister with MUP in east Asia.

~as they minister to the Cambodians at the border, establishing small businesses for low income families

and strengthening the church there.

~to trust the Lords protection over their children (one of whom daily risks his own life to rescue and

bring hope to persecuted peoples in a neighboring country).

~to trust in the Lord to protect and provide for the ministry He has given them in Thailand and Cambodia.

~that they would be encouraged by the prayers of the saints, and that God would guard their hearts from discouragement.

~that they would bear the glory of God to the Asian people.

Pray for Cambodia...

2010-10-10T17:28:00.001-05:00

Pray for Pastor Sophan, Sopheap, and their son Ezra.

Pray for:

~their marriage to be a testimony to the village of what a Christian marriage should be.

~them to seek God and His Word for wisdom in training Ezra in His ways.

~continual growth in understanding God's Word, and wisdom in teaching

and discipling young believers.

~a deeper love for God, each other, and His people.

~a great passion for the lost.

Leaving Thailand...

2010-10-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning:

After making sure we were packed and ready to go, we walked down to a Starbucks near our guesthouse and met Glenn and Gayle there for a breakfast coffee/hot chocolate. They have coffee for "here" and "to go". For "here" they had three sizes of mugs- Small, Tall and Grande. Their small is actually smaller than our "tall" Starbucks drink here...just thought I'd mention that for the health conscious who might be interested in having Seattle coffee in a Thai Starbucks ;P Anyways...we were all pretty worn out from our adventures of the day/week before- and the coffee didn't exactly have it's desired effect (on me anyway).
We all walked back to the guesthouse and checked out, loaded all of our luggage in two taxis and then walked back to Glenn and Gayle's apartment for church. Our debriefing and prayer time was very good...we have so many plans and ideas for next year! I am so excited about the prospect of returning. It was such a joy to see the work God is doing in this remote area of Cambodia, and I am so excited to be able to pray for them and return someday, Lord willing.

Over the next few days I will be posting some prayer requests for the people and country of Cambodia. Of course, it is very near to my heart having been there...but I hope that God might place a passion and desire in your heart to pray for this country as well.

We left for the Bangkok airport around noon Sunday. Our flight did not leave until 4pm so I spent some time in the aiport editing pictures. Our shorter flight to Taipei and then our long flight to Seattle were fairly uneventful. I was so tired I actually slept some. So many memories and emotions to sort through...Landed in Seattle two hours earlier on Sunday than we left Bangkok. Going through customs was a jolt back into American culture. No more smiling and courteous airport attendants/TSA officials. :( Spent the night with Jeff and Betsy. By then I was really wanting to see my family, and yet still dealing with why I must come home when my heart is halfway across the world in a village in Cambodia. The three hour flight to Denver was the longest of my life. :P Rachel came along with my mom and sister to pick me up. I was on overload at first, but glad to be back. So many stories to share, and yet it's hard sharing too...knowing that it's just impossible to really describe what God allowed me to experience there.

I am so, deeply grateful for God allowing me to see the inside story of missionary life. The hardships, the continual dependency on God, the glory of seeing God reveal Himself. Getting to see God's miracles, His providence in bringing about divine appointments, His daily mercies...the joy of meeting brothers and sisters in Christ that I might never have met this side of Heaven if it weren't for God bringing this trip about.

Indescribable. But I hope in some way these journals and pictures can give you a taste of what it was like...and that He will lead you to pray for Cambodia. It has shown me how I can better pray for missionary friends, or the persecuted church, or believers in other countries. These sorts of people and issues do not seem so far away to me now.

Again, I am so very grateful to God...and thank you also for your prayers. God answered them in direct and powerful ways.
Soli Deo Gloria!

Cambodia Journal Day 8

2010-10-06T06:26:00.001-05:00

Last day in Cambodia...

Woke up a little after 5am. The chanting at the Wat had started around 3:30am, but I must be more used to it now because I slept through most of it this time. Gayle and I packed up and then walked to the Thai border market to buy something before we left. The taxi driver was already waiting for us in front of the guesthouse a whole hour early. Good thing I guess. The dope drivers were all standing around and teasing us about walking instead of taking a ride. They were saying how we were walking to be healthy and would live a very, very long time. ;) The Kamai would use their last reole on a moto instead of walk.

On the walk back from the market, Raavi and his mother were up and opening up their food stand but they had not started frying bananas yet. We were hoping to have some for our breakfast....Raavi was sad to hear we were leaving. I'm sure he's glad not to have to pull me out of the mud anymore.

We loaded up our taxi's back at the guesthouse and drove to the ministry center to get the rest of our stuff. I was praying that Sao would be there, and she was already busy at 6:30am cleaning the ministry center. She was so happy to see me one more time before we left, and I was too...sad to say goodbye though, of course. God's grace was so evident...something is pulling me home. And yet my heart is staying behind. So hard.

We said goodbye to Sophan and Ezra. I did not see Sopheap so did not get to say goodbye to her. After many hugs, we left our hearts behind in Sompovloun and began the trek to Poipet. Gayle took one car filled with luggage, and we rode in the other. Our driver was very cautious. I don't think he was used to the road, which was both good and bad. Only a few kilometers down the road we ran into a major roadblock. Two trucks were sunk deep in the mud, completely blocking anyone from getting through. Our driver asked permission to drive through some peoples “yards”, and we managed to get around and through the mud without getting stuck. Unkown to us at the time, Gayles driver (who was much more experienced with this road) was telling her he really did not think it was possible to get through to Poipet because there was a major section of road washed out with vehicles stuck on the mud. Gayle was pretty concerned and was forming plan B-which could mean going back to Sompovloun and taking the only other way out to Battambang-an entire days drive just to get out of Cambodia and possibly not making our flight on Sunday afternoon. She was worried also because our driver was over-cautious and might not make it through the deep water. It was a pretty intense couple of hours. Our car kept breaking down, and our driver would have to get out to do something with the gas tank in order to get it started again. A few times the gas went out in the middle of deep water. :P We finally made it within a few kilometers of the paved road to Poipet and ran into very deep water and trucks buried in the mud. A tractor was pulling out a pickup filled with Cambodians, but the water was very deep. Our driver had us climb out to lighten the load, and we crossed by foot on a bamboo path. When our driver came through, the car was submerged in water nearly up to the windshield. After that, we had to deal with a few more road blocks-all the while our driver was getting a call every other minute from Gayles driver who was pretty mad at our driver for taking so long. Our driver would mutter away in Kamai as if we understood everything he was saying, and Kevin would sympathize with him in english...it was a riot.

We made it to Poipet, covered in mud. Gayle was pretty concerned about the border crossing and getting through to our bus in time. Thankfully we had short lines through all the customs and passport checkpoints. We loaded all our luggage in three Tuk-Tuks and zipped to the bus station. Made it in time with a few minutes to spare.

The 4 hour bus ride was uneventful. We checked back into the christian guesthouse in Bangkok and cleaned up. The first real shower in a week. Glenn kept teasing us about how the week of mud treatments had improved our looks. I must say it's nice to have clean feet again.

We went out to eat at S&P. Finally some food other than fried rice and noodles. Went to the night bazaar and enjoyed mangos and sticky rice (heavenly) after. I cannot believe we head back to America tomorrow.

I read in Psalms..."Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well". I am overwhelmed by God's goodness to me...in allowing me to meet His people here and see the glorious work He is doing in this part of Cambodia. One of the most incredible experiences of my life.

~~~
Saying goodbye to such a beautiful place, where God is doing great things...

On our way out of Sompovloun...

This is where our taxi driver made us get out and walk. ;)

These guys really could have lightened their load too, and not have to be

towed through by a tractor.

Made it to Poipet!

Just the beginnings of our long trek home!

Cambodia Journal Day 7

2010-10-05T07:05:00.000-05:00

And today come goodbyes. I do not know how to deal with today. I tried to savor every moment of it. We had breakfast near the Thai border market again this morning. On our walk back to the ministry center we stopped by and bought some fresh fried bananas at Taul and Pei's. Raavi and Yola were there. I did not see Raavi later on today at all, so I guess that was the first goodbye of the day. I will not forget my friend who pulls me out of the mud when I get stuck on prayer walks. ;)

The day seemed long in a very hot, sticky and humid way. I was feeling kind of strange, and working with the girls sewing for 5 hours in the heat really made the day seem long...and yet in a way I did not want it to end. At 4:00 the parents came for our VBS program. The children sang their songs, quoted scripture, and acted out the Joseph story after only one practice over the lunch hour. The parents loved it. They were so proud of their children. The boys and girls showed the stools and blouses that they had made. I met Sao's mother. Played with all my "dirty little urchins" to my hearts content. They would just hang on me and grab hold of my hands and arms and give me hugs...

The goodbyes were so bittersweet. Sao had tears, and I think Pei did also. They all were so sad to say goodbye. Pei gave me her beautiful cross necklace. As we walked out the gate I motioned that I would keep Sao always in my heart, and she motioned the same back. I have to save the tears for later...

I do not want to leave, but I am surrendered to the Lord and where He takes me I will go.

We took Sophan and Sopeap and Ezra out to dinner at Sasaydah and then met in our room at the guesthouse to pray for them. I think Sophan was very blessed...Sopeap was busy keeping Ezra quiet. I love their family so much and so desire to see them shining God's glory to this village.

~~~
The Thai border-if you can see in the picture, there is a bridge that crosses
over into Thailand.There are still mine fields in the area that have not been cleared.

The parents program. Our afternoon thunderstorm was threatening

to hit right before this, but we prayed...and a little later I saw the clouds on the other

side of the village. It did not rain at all that day. In fact, God kept the rains

from hindering any part of the VBS all week long!

Getting ready...

A couple videos from the program...

The parents were so proud of their children. After the program we had refreshments,

and then said our goodbyes...

The girls and their blouses. We were sewing frantically up until the moment

the parents arrived!

The boys and their stools...

Our VBS helpers..

Sao and her mom

Sao, my precious little sister in the Lord...I pray for you every day

and will always keep you in my heart.

Jesus loves you...

God be with you, til we meet again...

Goodbye, precious little people...

Cambodia Journal Day 6

2010-10-04T05:52:00.000-05:00

Was awakened around 4am by wild music and chanting coming from the direction of the Wat. It carried on til about 6:00. They obviously had some sort of public announcement to make...Gayle couldn't make out the words they were chanting. We wondered if all of our prayer walks around the Wat were the reason for the odd chant session this morning.

We rode up to Sasaydah in the mud for breakfast. My moto almost went down a couple of times.

Once again, the children were waiting for us when we arrived nearly an hour early to set up for VBS. I was swamped by hugs and girls grabbing me by the arm before I hardly had time to disembark and pay my dope driver. I had a better time with my sewing girls this morning. They finally remembered their english enough to ask me my name, so now I am “Nyekru Kristin!” constantly. “Nyekru! Nyekru! Nyekru!”. I am in such high demand, I am beginning to see the value in learning to say “please wait” at least in Kamai.

Sopheap insisted on feeding us lunch, which was again amazing. Certainly helps with the dilemma of choices at Sasaydah. Fried rice, or noodles? It's getting to be a harder and harder decision every time we go because I don't feel like having either menu option. ;) Sophan ate lunch with us, and we had the blessing of hearing his story of how he came to the Lord and of his years of ministry and what sorts of things God has brought him through. That was very, very neat.

We walked back to the guesthouse for a short rest break. I was pretty tired, but I'm still afraid to take naps because I know it would really mess me up. I took a few minutes to begin editing pictures. As of today I am up to nearly 900 pictures to edit.

The children were all invited back to the center by 2:00 to work on their projects. We had all the sewing girls, plus lots of younger siblings. It was hot and crazy. My girls were making quite a bit of progress though and I was able to leave them and go play with the little “ragmuffins” for a bit (there's a story behind that...believe me, I really do think they're precious little people! ;). We started out with “follow the leader” and then they pulled me into a game of....not sure what. But I managed it even though I couldn't say a word and the little people don't understand that I can't speak to them. They were so funny...

Right before English class, Pei, Taul and Tak pulled me next door to a food stand and bought me some dish to try that was full of red chili's. Almost unbearably hot, but they ate it too and were crying-so I guess it was hot for them too! We cooled our throbbing tongues with fanta on crushed ice.

English class was next, and we had a smaller group so I showed them pictures of my family and then pulled up some Bible verses on my computer in large print for them to read and discuss. Two of the boys are buddhist, and I clearly shared the gospel and Pei translated quite well for me. It was a really neat experience. One of the buddhist boys has a mother who has become a believer and he said he was “trying to believe”. I told him he could talk to Sophan if he had questions. Just as we were finishing Eglish class and setting up for dinner the monsoon hit once again. We were eating outdoors under the shelter where we have VBS and the noise was so loud we could hardly talk to each other. Sophan, Sopheap and Ezra joined us for dinner, so that was very special.

After dinner I helped set up an English program on Sophans computer. Hopefully it will help them gain some more English language skills.

Gayle and I walked back to the guesthouse in the mud (nothing new...we are getting very used to mud, all over us).

I was having a hard time today realizing that my time here is nearly over. There were many special reminders today of God's presence with me...I just have such a longing to stay here and see this village and these people drawn to the Lord. As the rain was pouring down tonight I just had a peace from the Lord that He would not tear me away from these people never to see them again. I am wishing the rain would keep us here 'til the end of the month...

~~~

Imagine four on a moto... We only tried it a couple of times. ;)

By Thursday the boys woodworking projects were coming along...

they built stools for themselves and desks for the ministry center.

Smiles, games and some more precious little faces...

Cambodia Journal Day 5

2010-10-03T06:05:00.001-05:00

Breakfast turned out to be a divine appointment. We had been trying to get Sasaydah to fix a certain dish for us for breakfast, but they wouldn't-so Sopheap told us of a lady who makes that dish and has a little breakfast/lunch place near the Thai border market. So we all met at 6:30am and walked to the border for breakfast. We met up with Sophan there and he joined us. The meal was delicious. The family who runs the little cafe are Christian, and after we ate one of the girls asked us if we could come pray for her mom because their family was in a very distressing and serious situation. So we went inside, laid hands on her and prayed. She was weeping and so grateful that we would pray for her and gave me a long hug, and her daughter too...that was really neat.

VBS went well, although it got rather hot and stuffy by the middle of the morning. I was beginning to feel very tired, and the sewing hour seemed to stretch on forever. During the Bible lesson, I sat in the middle of the girls to keep them focused and quiet and they all wanted to hold my hand or touch me. I love their smiles. I've never been smiled at this much in all my life! ;) Most of my girls are doing okay on their sewing project, but one of my girls kept putting away her stuff and making audible sounds of protest every time I pulled it out again for her. She has a difficult fabric to work with (knit), and in this sticky heat with lots of sweaty handsewing...easy to get discouraged. She's a sweetie though. When we were prayer walking back in kilo dat bey village I saw her and then she came to the center during english class and sat with me. Her little brother is a fun little guy. Not shy at all and has the sweetest laugh and smile.

After lunch at Sasaydah, we could see our afternoon monsoon beginning to blow in so we got out of there as fast as we could catch a moto dope. It really poured hard this time. Lots of wind. I was amazed that the roads weren't in worse condition than they were, but I think it rained so hard this time that it just ran off instead of soaking in as badly as it had the days before. Gayle wanted to take me back into Kilo Dat Bey Village to pray there and see where many of the children come from. It was difficult to walk our prayer walk....the muck and garbage along kilo dat bey was unbelievable. Gayle knew many of the people back there, so after prayer walking for awhile we ended up stopping at nearly every hut to lay hands on and pray for people. One girl had been bitten by a giant centipede and was running a high fever. We met the little miracle boy whose body had almost completely shut down from dengue and miraculously recovered after a pastor laid hands on and prayed for him. He looks so happy and healthy. I had met his mother at church last Sunday. She is one of the quilting ladies. We also walked by Sao's hut. She has two brothers that are “crazy”. Some say, Kmher black magic. One of her brothers was sitting outside and just stared at us as we went by... I cried out the Lord for the evil one to be bound in that home and family. Sao is so precious... She spends most of her time at the ministry center helping Sopheap, but for some reason I did not see her at all today after VBS was over with. She asked John today how a person could keep from going to hell if they kept sinning. John had a good talk with her, and he noticed she really seemed to be thinking a lot during the Bible lesson. She has such a genuine heart...

We all arrived back from prayer walking just in time for english class. Most of the youth that come to english class also attend church on sundays. However, one of the boys is buddhist and plays drums at the Wat. I have a neat idea for english class if I can get my laptop working again.

Sopheap fed us another amazing dinner tonight, and then we headed back to the guesthouse before it could start raining on us. Had a long prayer/talk time and then said our farewells to John and the boys who are headed back to Phnom Penh in the morning.

~~~

Tired little ones...

A family that received a Solar Proclaimer Bible

The Thai Border market...

Our afternoon rain storm...

Headed back to the Ministry Center from the Guesthouse...

Kilo Dat Bey Village...

This is the path through the village...we prayed as we tramped

through the garbage and muck. We laid hands on and prayed over a lot of sick little ones...

The "industrious lady". She has a lot of fruit trees, plants, ducks...

The little boy God miraculously healed...

These guys couldn't be happier with all the mud... ;)

English Class Photo!

Cambodia Journal Day 4

2010-10-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

We attempted breakfast at Sasaydah this morning. There were no moto dopes around so we walked most of the way. I felt at peace about the day and about teaching my lesson...I appreciate prayer times with Gayle and the others. Had noodles for breakfast. Rode four on a dope down the ministry center. See, westerners can do it too. :)

The kids were there again when we arrived, and I was met by a bunch of hugs from the girls. Some of them are very, very sweet, and some a bit ornery. ;) We played the game we couldn't get around to yesterday with them to start off. They loved it. God allowed me to have a clear mind as I presented the Bible lesson. Sophan did a great job interpreting. I learned a few ways I would do things differently while being interpreted...but it went really well considering it had been awhile since I have had to teach that way. At least some of the kids were grinning up at me the whole time, so maybe they were listening. ;) I hope so. The girls made some pretty good progress on their big sewing project, but it looks like it will take the rest of the week to finish the shirts they are sewing by hand. We rode up to Sasaydah for lunch, and waited a little too long there. The afternoon rain shower hit hard just as we wanted to leave. After standing and watching it for awhile, and seeing no motos out we decided to walk back. Mud, mud, mud. There are some pretty hilarious muddy road jokes going around.

After cleaning up, we walked to the ministry center to start our prayer walk. However, when we arrived there were some important government officials that had come on a surprise visit. Gayle, Sophan and John stayed and met with them while we started off on our prayer walk. I walked with Taul and her brother Ravvi and we circled Kilo Dat Bey and walked around the Wat (buddhist temple/monastery). In my heart I was crying out to the Lord for His love to be placed on these people to bring them to Himself...that He would reveal His salvation to them. We stopped and chatted with a few villagers. They were all asking about me. White people are a pretty rare sight around here. When we made it back to the ministry center, Taul and I were pretty much covered in mud. Ravvi pumped the well for us so we could wash off.

Once everyone else got back we had english class for an hour. One of the guys brought some baby coconuts as a gift for the teachers. Whacked off the tops, and stuck a straw inside. Mmmm.....so far, tropical fruit-wise, I have had: guava, mango, pomello, fried bananas, fresh pineapple, apples, dragonfruit...amazingly good.

We learned later that the government official that had stopped into question Pastor Sophan was the minister of cults and religions and lives in Kilometer 12 village. We are thinking he saw us out picking up trash with the kids in K12 village the day before and was curious as to what we were all about. After questioning Pastor Sophan, John and Gayle for awhile he asked for some literature and also mentioned his need for eyeglasses. Funny thing, we had just brought a lot of eye glasses with us from the States. So they fitted him with glasses and he left happy. :) Hopefully he will not cause trouble for Pastor Sophan or the church.

~~~

Pastor Sophan interpreting for my Bible lesson...

Joseph's colorful coat game...

Smiles and giggles later...

I think this guy is the winner... :)

This little guy came every day to watch...

Sewing time with my girls...

"And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them..."

Cambodia Journal Day 3

2010-10-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

Day 3 in Cambodia:

First day of VBS today. My Bible reading just happened to include Romans 8 this morning. The very chapter the children are memorizing from for VBS this week. “Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?...For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Not sure what to expect today. There were children crowding the front yard of the ministry center when we arrived at 7:30am to set up. Sopheap lined them up by size for their T-shirts. They all seemed very eager and excited to be there. I thought things went very smoothly. The girls sewing project is off to a good start. I have eight girls to help, and we seem to be doing fairly well communicating through smiles and gestures. I had prayed this morning that the children would be peaceful and attentive, and the Lord gave that. There were some difficult things that I was not sure how to handle or respond to, but I prayed and God gave me the grace to forgive and see beyond the situation. That was the only attack of the enemy...once I prayed I could sense God working in great ways.

In the afternoon, the children came back for a work project-picking up trash in the village. Pei and I took a group of girls down one side of the road. We filled three trashbags full of trash. It would seem to not even make a dent in the cleaning up of the village, but it is a good testimony. The whole village was watching or out and about on motos. :)

After our work project, we enjoyed some downtime with the kids at the ministry center. I had an impromptu photo shoot with the girls...found myself smothered by dozens of arms and surrounded by smiles. Some fun pictures out of that...

We held an English class at 4:00. I worked with Pei (Champei), and Sao listened in. By the end I had a couple of other guys and Pei's older sister practicing their english on me as well. I really enjoyed that time building relationships with the youth and with Sao. They are all so genuine. They asked me how old I was when I became a christian, and I shared my testimony with them. They seemed very surprised that I came to know the Lord at such a young age. They do not really comprehend this as the gospel was first preached in the area just 3 years ago and many of them became believers in the past year or so. Pei asked if she could study english with me every day for the rest of the week.
Sopheap fixed us an amazing dinner. The sun goes down very early here-usually by 6:00, and we discovered it would be too difficult to try and go up in the village to Sasaydah every night and have to travel back in the dark. Pei sent home some fried bananas with us. Yum. :)

During prayer and debriefing time Betsy played the song "Before the Throne of God Above"...interesting. I had written down the words before I left, and it had sort of become my theme song for this trip. Here are the words:

Before the throne of God above,

I have a strong and perfect plea,

A great High Priest whose name is “Love”,

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His heart;

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ, my Savior and my God.

My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His hearts;

I know that while in heav'n He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there,

Who made an end to all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died,

My sinful soul is counted free;

For God, the Just, is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there, the Risen Lamb,

My perfect, spotless Righteousness,,

The great unchangeable I Am,

The King of glory and of grace!

One with Himself I cannot die.

My soul is purchased by His blood;

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ, my Savior and my God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waiting for us at the front gate...

Getting T-shirts

Acting out the Joseph story...

Ezra likes to come to VBS too...

The boys and girls would split up after the Bible lesson for craft time.

They would color or paint all day if we let them...even the boys!

All the shoes at the door. :)

After craft, the boys would begin their woodworking projects and the girls their handsewing.

Little brothers and sisters often came to watch.

Cleaning up the village!

English class

Runner-ups in the Cute Kids Contest

Sopheap's amazing cooking...

Bangkok

2010-09-30T18:32:00.000-05:00

We landed in Bangkok after 16 hours in the air, and spent a day and a half preparing for our trip to Cambodia as well as some shopping and sightseeing. I was feeling more than a bit jet lagged after being awake for over 50 hours. I slept well the first night at the Christian guesthouse in Bangkok but still found myself awake at 3:00 in the morning. The following day we went to the Grand Palace...

And to a park to see the monitor lizards...

Taking a boat to see the Grand Palace...

The Temple of the Dawn...

Tuk-tuks

The entrance to the Grand Palace...

A replica of Angkor Wat- a famous temple in Cambodia

Restoring a mural inside the Grand Palace

Getting photos...

Cambodia Journal Day 2

2010-09-30T09:11:00.001-05:00

Day 2 Cambodia:
We were so thankful to see the roads dry up a little this morning. It is Sunday, so we slept in (the first night of good sleep for me so far...I slept from 9-6!) and took our time getting ready. The church service at the ministry center is held after lunch, but we walked down to the center in the morning to finish preparations for VBS. Sao was there, and waved hello. She is so sweet. We talked over the girls sewing projects with the other two helpers: Taul and Champei. They are also very sweet girls.

Some little ones came up and posed for pictures...they love to smile, and when I show them their picture on the camera screen they just laugh and run and gather more friends for pictures. They are so cute they can be a bit distracting.

The moto rides up to the village for lunch were much easier on dry roads. There are about 2 options food wise here- fried rice and fried noodles.

We rode back to the guesthouse for a moment to freshen up after lunch and then headed to the ministry center for church. When we arrived there were several women gathered. Many of them ask if I am Gayle's daughter, and they say we look alike. There were two men that attended the service, and one of them led the singing. The children had sunday school outside, and when they were finished they would just hang onto the bars of the windows and listen. The order of worship was very simple: singing, preaching, praying. I enjoyed it, although the sermon was not interpreted for me. Pastor Sophan is very passionate when he preaches.

I love how the people here smile so much. We stood around and talked for awhile after the service, and Sao pulled out a board book with pictures and simple english words and had me teach her a few.

Pastor Sophan asked Jeff to preach to the youth in the evening, so we had just enough time to have dinner up in the village. We had to wait out an afternoon rain shower first before we could go have dinner. John and his boys arrived from Phnom Penh and ate dinner with us at Sasaydah. The evening youth service was really neat. There were about 18 youth in attendance, and for the most part they all seemed very genuine. They responded well to Jeff's sermon on purity. The girl sitting next to me knew some english. She kept me informed as to what was going on through most of the service. Her name is Mom. Not sure how to spell that differently. ;)

I was told I was big and heavy today by a dope driver. That was a first! :P

I also tried fried bananas with sesame seeds. Absolutely delicious. Mmm...

I have dozens of mosquito bites all over. =\

They grow a lot of sesame seeds around here, and I have seen a lot of people working in front of their huts drying out the seed pods.

We were pretty tired again today, and went to bed as early as we could after prayer and debriefing time together.
~~~~~~~~

The guesthouse

The view from the guesthouse....breathtaking.

Glimpses of the village.

And the mud we had to deal with on a daily basis...

Some smiles for the day!

Sao, Taul, Yola and Pei...talking over VBS preparations.

Here comes a sight to see......

They are probably wondering why on earth I would be taking a picture of them. ;)

The icecream man!

Sao and Ezra

How fried bananas are made...

The family that has this food stand has 9 kids...many of them are believers,

but we are not sure that the parents are believers. I was blessed to get to know Taul, Pei, Raavi and Yola

this week during prayer walks, VBS, english class etc. I was impressed by their heart for evangelism, and

the bright testimony they have in their community. I love and miss them very much.

Smiles from Cambodia...

2010-09-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

Cambodians win the smiles contest, hands down...smiles you can totally fall in love with. :)

My Cambodia Journal

2010-09-29T06:52:00.002-05:00

Over the next few days I will post excerpts from my journal while in Cambodia, along with pictures. I find it hard even to express through my journal what it was like... what sorts of things God did, the things I saw, the people I met, the children I loved, the experiences I had. I hope this glimpse into Cambodia and the people God is calling and revealing Himself to will pull you to your knees in prayer for them. They are precious people in the sight of God, and it is so evident He is beginning a good work there along the Thai/Cambodian border.

I don't exactly know where to begin. The trip to Bangkok was long. I traveled with Jeff and Betsy from Seattle, and Kevin from Grand Island. They were a great team to work with, and I was blessed by my time with them. We spent a couple of days in the heart of Bangkok at a Christian guesthouse, and took some time to sightsee as well as prepare for our week in Sompovloun. Three flights, four days, a long bus ride and 3 hour car ride later found us in Sompovloun, Cambodia.

Here is my journal from day one in Cambodia:

Day 1 (Saturday):

(Bangkok) Our plan was to wake up at 3am and pack up to take the bus out of Bangkok by 5:00. Gayle was going to meet us at the guest house at 4am, so we were waiting with our bags early to make sure we weren't late. By 4:15 we were beginning to get worried that something had gone wrong because she hadn't shown up. Just as Jeff was trying to call her from the payphone at the guest house the taxi arrived at the gate, and we hurriedly loaded while Gayle caught a second taxi. We had a lot of luggage. Later on Gayle told us she had not heard her alarm at 3:30, or it just hadn't gone off. Sort of a bad feeling when you have a bus to catch. Our taxi drivers sped to the bus station and got us there about 10 min before departure. The first miracle of the day.

The bus ride was about 4 hours from Bangkok to Poipet where we would cross the border. I had woken up at midnight and not been able to sleep, and I still could not sleep on the bus. But I was really tired! It was neat to drive through the countryside and small towns.

We pulled into a bus station at the border in Poipet, and got off. The moment I stepped off the bus, it was complete culture immersion. We had at least 8 boys fighting over who would get to haul our luggage...I was momentarily overwhelmed, but once I figured out they were fairly harmless I got over my shock and could look around. There was such a change crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia.

After loading all our luggage onto the bamboo handcart we headed through Thai customs, on through quarantine, then to get our Cambodian visas and then Cambodian customs. Crazy process, but I guess it was fairly easy this time around. We couldn't keep an eye on our luggage at all during this time, and when we made it out of customs we couldn't find our luggage boy with his handcart. After walking down the road a ways we found him, and our cars that would take us on to Sompovloun.

They use mainly Toyota Camry's here. Four of us rode in one, while Gayle rode in the other with our luggage. I rode up front so I could try and catch a few pictures. Once we got off the main highway and headed up the dirt road to Sompovloun, it began to get difficult to catch any shots. I felt like I had been landed in the middle of a National Geographic photo shoot and couldn't catch hardly any of it! There was considerable flooding on this road, and we soon came to a gushing river that I honestly thought we wouldn't be able to get through. Our taxi driver must have agreed with me, because he pulled to a stop and just laughed. Gayles car pulled around and the taxi drivers rolled their windows down to talk and must have agreed to go through because they pulled ahead of us and forged through. The water came up to the edge of my window, but the car made it through that and several other “river crossings”. Our second miracle of the day. The rut action on the road was terrible, and after driving on it for a couple of hours I was beginning to feel rather bruised and sore. ;)

We made it to Sompovloun in about 2 ½ hours and our taxi drivers dropped us and our luggage off at the ministry center, where we met Pastor Sophan and Sopheap and their baby Ezra. Our guesthouse is just around the corner, so we stopped there and unloaded the rest of our luggage and then headed up to the village for lunch. Walking in the mud is pretty difficult. After a bit we all were able to catch a moto to take us the rest of the way. The food at the “cafe” was quite good. They don't have a lot of choices, but I like it maybe better than Thai food. Not as spicy.

After lunch it began to pour rain, so we had to wait out the shower before we could start walking down.

We made it back to the ministry center just covered in mud, so Sopheap showed us the cisterns of water in the back where we could rinse off. Betsy had gotten thrown off her moto on the way back. I think nearly all of us had a spill that day. The motos were having a very hard time with the mud.

We spent the afternoon at the ministry center. Gayle was helping one of the quilting ladies get started on a new quilt. We pulled out our VBS supplies and got some things set up, then Pastor Sophan took us back behind the ministry center to see where his mother was buried. A girl named Sao had come to the center to say hello, and began to take me around and show me things. She tried to teach me the names of things. I think she must really love plants and animals. She was so sweet, and we had fun trying to communicate with each other through gestures and smiles.

Taking the motos up to Sasaydah for dinner again tonight was a mess. It was dark by the time we were finished eating, and there were no more moto-dopes out to get us back to the guest house, so Gayle called Sophan and he sent up their youth group boys to get us. They were really sweet to take us, and just seemed to want to serve us in that way, not for any reward. Kevin took a spill on the way back and cracked a rib. The boys took us the long way home because the roads weren't quite as bad. We were so glad to get back to the guest house and "shower" and crash.
~~~~
A few photos from our first day in Cambodia:

Poipet-our border crossing into Cambodia

A petrol station...green tea stands.

Turning off the main road out of Poipet. We hit flooded roads almost immediately.

A truck full of Cambodians-common way to travel. It took us nearly 3 hours

on this road to get to Sompovloun.

Gayles car fording the river ahead of us.

The view from our guesthouse. The entrance to the Wat, or Buddhist temple

was right across the road from us.

The quilting ladies at the ministry center.

There are children playing at the ministry center all the time. These little guys were

sliding down into a giant mud puddle and then rinsing off in the well.

The ministry center where Pastor Sophan and Sopheap live.

Where Pastor Sophan's mother is buried. Hers was the first christian burial ever
in the area, and her life and death turned out to be a great testimony
to the entire village.

Sao...my sweet friend. She has such a genuine heart.

God worked in her heart in amazing ways this week.

I'm home...with many stories to tell (coming later :)

2010-09-28T19:49:00.003-05:00

When cool breezes blow...

2010-09-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

...does that mean Fall is here?

I hope so. But you never know in Nebraska.

I felt an urgency to blog something today...but about what I really don't know. My life is pretty ordinary right now. Maybe it's this cool, fall-ish weather that makes me want to curl up in my chocolate bedroom with a steaming mug of cappuccino and write a blog post on my favorite little netbook about generally ordinary types of things...

I'm making no sense. Welcome to my life! ;P

I was locked out of my house today. Given the fact that most of the rest of the family had up and traveled to Lincoln for the day, I called the guys at the office for help. But no, I must be taught to break into our house...the best way being with a credit card (unless I would prefer to beg our neighbor for a screwdriver and proceed to dismantle the entire door frame). I had no credit card. I mean, I have no credit card. So..."coould someone puleeeeease come and let me in the house??!".
Ben kindly took off a few minutes and came to let me in...but not without first taking me through How To Break In The Credit Card Way 101. I still don't believe I have the skills to break in like that. ;P

I teach three little girls in a row on Thursdays-the sweetest, most eager little students ever. I love 'em...especially when they practice hard (which they did this week, hopefully to continue!).

I stopped to smell the flowers today. (Because I was locked out of the house and didn't feel like pulling weeds while I waited ;)

We added a new member to our family instrument collection...Heidi bought a new violin at The Violin Shop in Lincoln today. It's just perfect for her and I think she's pretty happy. :)

Psalm 34 has been floating through my head lately...

"I will bless the Lord at all times.."

"...there is no want to those who fear Him."

"The righteous cry out and the Lord hears, and saves them out of all their troubles."

I am completely in awe of how God provided everything I needed for my Cambodia trip by the day of my support raising deadline- last Tuesday. This whole trip is above and beyond my comprehension...I really don't know what God has in store for me, because I simply do not see the whole picture right now. His leading has been so clear, His provision completely sufficient, His assurance so evident (I have story after story about that :), His peace overwhelmingly constant. I feel as if God has set apart these past few months of preparing and this trip for....something epic! (Which I yet hardly know anything about!)

And so...these are my ramblings for the day. You should be very glad you read this. It's the first official non-sensical post since...'09? I don't remember when I last blogged something so random. ;P

A birthday surprise...

2010-08-26T10:33:00.002-05:00

Amy invited me out to dinner Tuesday night. I was thinking it was going to be the last time we get to chat and spend some time together for awhile before she goes off to Oregon, and I leave for Cambodia. Since my birthday was already past I didn't even connect our getting together with that at all...

So, Amy picked me up at 6:00 Tuesday evening and we drove to Pane Bello. She hardly let me get a word in edgewise, and I kinda could tell she was nervous about something- but I was still pretty much completely blind to anything going on.

When we walked in to the restaurant Amy was so distracted I had to order for her. :D We decided to go sit back in the corner somewhere, and as I came around the divider I was about knocked over in surprise. I think it took me an entire minute to realize what was happening! Friends from Lincoln, Red Cloud, Holdrege, Burwell, Wilcox had gathered to surprise me...wow. They totally made me feel more special than I deserved. :) Thanks everyone!

Sweet friends...love you guys!


After dinner we split up and went on a photo scavenger hunt covering most of the entire town. The girls team really wanted to get the photo with the policeman...we even drove down to the police station to try and find one but were unsuccessful. Oh well...maybe next time. ;)

To finish off the surprise, the girls had reserved a motel room for the night!
Talk about special...they had decorated the room in balloons and streamers, and there
was plenty of chocolate to keep a group of girls smiling! ;)

What could make a girl happier than a dozen roses and 5 lbs of Belgian Dark Chocolate??

(That's supposed to be a trick question ;)

Tillotson Family Vacation...

2010-08-24T22:46:00.002-05:00

In which there were many splendid days and nights spent in beautiful places.

And a few too many hours of family vacation drama... ;)

The most gorgeous lake 9 miles above our cabin, enjoyed for a moment due to family vacation drama...

(But I forgive you Michael... ;)

Our amazing cabin.

Ben T. and Michael M. shot some incredible photos...check out TCS.net!

They also took HD video of the Little Bear to Blanca traverse...coming up soon on TCS.net!

Inside our amazing cabin the day the guys came home alive and in one piece...

~~~

Thursday morning we headed to the Sand Dunes!

Just so you know, hiking in the sand dunes is not easy. Thankfully there was cloud cover in the morning, so we started off in our bare feet. The higher we climbed the more the sun began to peek out, and the wind to pick up. Being sunburnt and sandblasted at the same time kinda hurts. :)

(sand dune photos taken by Michael Morgan)

At the top of the dunes.

And here come the groaners... ;)

The dunes are a great place to practice acrobatic stunts...

Umm.... ;)

~~~~~~~~

My birthday was very special. My sis made this a.m.a.z.i.n.g chocolate cake for my birthday that I got to enjoy 3 times-even for breakfast!

Love you sis...

And a Morgillotson reunion is never complete without a family picture. :)

2010-06-17T17:07:00.000-05:00

Self is a tight lock. I see many decent

sinners who are in spiritual prison because

their self is on the throne of their hearts, and

Jesus is on the cross. What liberation comes

when Jesus cleanses their hearts with His

blood and comes to the throne, and self

goes on the cross!

-Corrie ten Boom

Set-Apart Girls Conference

2010-06-01T15:05:00.002-05:00

Matt. 16:24 “If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

What an amazing weekend...

The day we left for Colorado, I just had this feeling that God was going to do some great things

in my life.

And He did.

"You may think you need to solve your own problems before God can use you, but oftentimes it is the act of turning outward that heals your heart and your thinking." -Leslie Ludy

“How beautiful are the arms which have embraced Christ, the eyes which have gazed upon Christ, the lips which have spoken with Christ, the feet which have followed Christ. How beautiful are the hands which have worked the works of Christ...” Christina Rosetti

~~~

Really, I can't even express what an impact this weekend had in my life... I think I honestly just needed someone to shake me and bluntly tell it to me like it is.

I came away, revived in heart...challenged to deny self, to carry the cross of Christ, to wrestle in prayer, to see my relationship with Christ as an endless frontier (to never pitch my tent, as Eric says :), to give my body and blood to Christ in exchange for what He gave for me. More of Him, less of myself...

What has she been doing this crazy month of May?

2010-05-23T17:36:00.011-05:00

Reminders such as these are refreshing to my soul:

Psalm 40:5

"Many, O LORD my God,

are Your wonderful works which You have done,

and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order;

If I would declare and speak of them,

They are more than can be numbered."

When my life gets so busy I can hardly think, it's comforting to know God's thoughts toward me and His wonderful workings do not cease.

~~~~

May 1st, I was a bridesmaid in my friend Katie's wedding:

~~~

May 7th was my student recital. 21 out of my 30-something students peformed, and it was just loads of fun and cuteness (with a little talent thrown in! ;).

~~~
May 8th was the beginnings of the amazing TCE class that was held here in Kearney for a week!

TCE class was held at the Press On Youth Center in Kearney. During our stay there
we had the opportunity to do a "High Octane" club with the kids that would come after school, as well as help them with their homework and play with them.

Visit our Children's Ministry blog for the story and more pictures!

~~~~

The week of May 17- Lots of painting, remodeling, renovation...

A friend of mine had some major water damage done to her home. I had plenty of opportunity this week to get my hands dirty. Repainted her daughters bedroom, the hall, the bathroom. Tiled the bathroom floor, organized the remaining organizable rooms in the house for some temporary sanity for my poor friend while the wood floors throughout the rest of the house were sanded down or replaced. It's going to be quite the process to pick up the pieces and get her home back to normal again...

I also spent a few hours at the office doing a bit of work on my studio (in case you missed the memo, TCS.net moved to a new location on "The Bricks" in downtown Kearney. As a result I am opening my teaching studio down there, and after renovation will begin teaching music lessons there nearly full time!). I now have TWO pianos...and the story behind the second is becoming quite interesting. It was a "free piano" my brothers decided to pick up for me at a garage sale. Hasn't been tuned for nearly 100 years. Beautiful wood finish and ivory keys. Our piano techinician is having a heyday with it...and his technician in training (i.e. my brother Michael) even more so. He (Michael) has decided he might have liked to go into this as a profession instead of computers! ;)

Now for my latest Mod Podge... :D

I know, I know...I'm the laughingstock of my friends because I "Mod Podge everything"! Guess what I really, really want to do to my Studio? Mod Podge all the ceiling tiles. They are the ugliest things in the room right now. You can laugh at me all you want. But take a look at my door! I like it a lot.

Excuse the fuzzy camera-phone pictures...

Don't you like it? :)

~~~

May 22~ Went to Anna's graduation (congrats, girl! :), and bade a sad farewell to Ash (headed to intern in TX before leaving for Honduras!) and Les (headed to Israel in the morning!).

The girls somewhat "accidentally" coordinated in purple and khaki...
:)

~~~

And that concludes the abbreviated story of my life this merry month of May. Only there is one more week left,.. and this coming weekend, I head to Windsor CO for the Set-Apart Girl's Conference. I'm expecting some refreshment and spiritual rejuvination there to start off my summer. I doubt my expectations will be in any way disappointed...

All of These...

2010-04-25T21:12:00.003-05:00

He gives to me.

How vast His grace...

How great His faithfulness.

How deep His love...

How rich His mercy.

How high His thoughts...
How sure His wisdom.

...and now this life I live,

I live in Him.

Oh, let His glories shine,

while mine grows dim.

"All of These"-Creator of It All; Steve Pettit

It's official...

2010-04-17T18:11:00.007-05:00

Spring

is

finally

here!

NCHEA Kids Conference 2010!

2010-04-12T21:31:00.017-05:00

Liberty!

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Jn. 8:32

My team-Cambridge, Massachusetts!

I had the most amazing assistants, and we certainly had a lot of fun

together with our team of kids! On Friday we had 17

kids, and Saturday we had 15. They were full

of smiles and energy, yet demonstrated

a lot of character as well- a testimony to their parents

who have trained them in God's ways! It was very exciting to

have those two days to invest in their lives and build on

what their parents had already instilled in them. God was working in amazing ways!

"Dress the teacher". Our kids *loved* this. :)

And here are my amazing assistants at work...

Do these smiles mean we're having fun??

Umm....yeah. ;)

This little girl was my buddy during large group sessions, and had the funniest running commentary in my ear the entire time practically (which is why I kept her close to me...a bit distracting to the other kids ;). On Saturday, when we finally sang an old NCHEA favorite "Little by Little, Inch by Inch" she exclaimed "OH! I have been singing this allllll year and was waiting and waiting for them to sing it again!".

Marching to Large Group. We taught our kids to line up by height...they could do it in 4 seconds flat whenever they heard the signal!

Our room was large and spacious and helped our decorating theme color-wise. You have to see some of the rooms other teams had to deal with to understand how grateful we were to have this room!

The all-boys team across the hall had way too much fun...from what we could hear. :) Mr. Nick kept them marching in all their free time!

~~~~~~
So many smiles...

Cuteness defined... :)

Addie's team- Long Island, New York

Miss Rachel's costume was amazing. As were all the other costumes- most of which were sewn by Anna!

Ben and Eliza's Team...
~~~~~~~~

It was amazing to see God work throughout the weekend. A few weeks before the conference I felt such an urgency to keep the entire program in prayer...in fact, so much was going on in my life at the time that I actually had considered not helping this year. I am so, so thankful God didn't let me back out and gave me the strength to be a part of the kids conference. His presence was so evident the entire weekend, and I certainly had no reason for worry or fear. His grace was over it all...!

~~~~~~~~

There's a war within our land, a battle for the right...

The lies of the enemy are crowding out the light...
But God has placed His banner high, He calls for no retreat...

As faithful soldiers let us stand and claim the victory!

Stand for truth, though you're standing all alone...

Stand for truth, God will help and make you strong...

Run with courage in the fight...

Walk by faith, and not by sight...

Stand for truth...

Stand for truth!

Song(c)Rachel Wissmann
~~~~~~~~

Saturday night after the conference had ended, we all went to Bethany Park to celebrate!
Go Addie!

Fun times... :)

Until next year...!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My bookshelves...

2010-03-23T17:22:00.005-05:00

I'm all for celebrating books... :)

My room, first of all...

I'm running out of shelf room for books...even have a shelf-full in my closet, but we won't go there. ;)

My "children's library" on the bottom shelf...

... And a fun idea I came up with mid-winter when I desperately needed a "new look" to my room. Being cooped up for months is great when you have good books to read (and time to read them!)...sadly, I had to be cooped up with no time to read books. :(

But I survived. Hooray, it's spring! :)

I think lamps are the coziest...don't you all want to come visit me now? And curl up and read a book in my chocolate room? :)

L-O-V-E

2010-02-13T13:29:00.004-06:00

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving..."-- Amy Carmichael

I witnessed some examples of true love yesterday...
~~~
The shopping cart overflowing with brand new shoes to be shipped to children in Haiti. The radiant smile of the woman pushing the shopping cart through the checkout line. I know her, and the difficulties and pain she lives with on a day-to-day basis, but so full of joy and love. Selflessly focused on others when she could very easily succumb to the distraction of her own daily, physical pain and suffering.
~~~
The owner of one of my favorite antique shops downtown...and his display of faithful love and selfless giving to his wife at the nursing home Heidi and I played at last night. She looked so happy, and gave me a radiant smile in return for a smile in her direction.
~~~

...selfless, devoted, sacrificial, faithful, "giving" love.

I was told I needed to post something...

2010-01-28T07:08:00.004-06:00

I suppose I do. :) It's been awhile.

I have been learning some things the past couple of weeks...basic things. As in, things I have "learned" many, many times over, but for some reason turn into a "new learning experience" all over again every so often.

Here you go...

Closet Time

What is your greatest need?

What is mine?

We all can give the answer:
To know God-of course!

How do you know God?
Where do you know God?
What is the essence of knowing God?

It is where you meet Him.

Alone. In your closet.

It is in the dependence of prayer that you know Him, the unhindered, constant communication
that grows your love and affection for Him, it is in placing God first in your day that causes Him to become first in your life.

He will meet you there- in your closet.
He will be your God.

To know God you must discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.

5:00am alarm set every day if need be.
In the middle of the night if He calls you then- to be watchful in prayer.
In the midst of your hurried tasks and never-ceasing to-do projects...
To be still and know that He is God.

“Stop scheduling time for absolutely everything but God”*

Fight your battles... in your closet.

Find peace and abiding joy... in your closet.

Experience uncommon love with your Maker.

In your closet, talk to Him...and know God.

This is the key to life that flows abundantly full of the presence of God Himself.

Can you be alone with God?

Ice Skating!

2010-01-16T20:44:00.004-06:00

In commemoration of "National Nothing Day" we decided to do a great many things. Everything from practicing music, to butchering a deer, to ice skating, to making enough food to feed our entire church tomorrow, to ice surfing at the Platte (the boys)...you name it. We're good at doing "nothing" around here. :)
Here are a few random and fun ice skating pictures from today!

The Morgillotson Girls...

2010-01-07T17:52:00.012-06:00

It's been such a *FUN* week! And the extra day today (because of bad weather) was a bonus.
We have had the time of our lives...(Pictures by Sarah!)

~~~~~

Ice skating at Cottonmill...

We skated to the top of the lake and back!
~~~~~

The "Younger Girls" made homemade granola whilst the "Big Sisters" caught up on life at an elegant restaurant downtown. Many hours later they returned, arms loaded with new-found treasures from Bookends and Kaufmanns Antiques....

~~~~~~

Downtown Kearney "On the Bricks..."

(Sarah really liked the bricks ;)
~~~~

In which Sarah attempts to take a picture,

and Rebecca succeeds...

The first attempts at taking a group photo using the camera timer landed Sarah facefirst in the snow.
Photo 1: Everyone laughing at Sarah laughing at herself

Photo 2: Rebecca almost beats the 10 second timer

Photo 3: Almost........

Photo 4: .....there! =D

~~~~~

The Lighthouse and the Photographer herself...

(plus a few freezing individuals)

~~~~~

The new fashion trend...
;)

~~~~~~

Michael's car was stuck this morning...with keys locked in the car, which was in drive. [edit by Rachel: Good thing it was very stuck and didn't suddenly come un-stuck...]

Ben came to the rescue in the big red van with the spare keys. :)

~~~~~

Playing Phase 10 'til midnight (or later!)

~~~~~

The Girls get-together at Addie's house. An excess of chocolate, tea, talking, and yummy food! And a great movie too! [edit by Rachel: we watched Pendragon. :) ]
~~~~~

Our Beautiful Mod Podge Project.....

Old postcards from Grandma T., pretty papers, glue, Little Women (the movie), and exhorbitant amounts of chocolate later...

Ta-da!

~I LOVE IT!~

And I love my sisters too....I'm so glad you could come! It's been a simply delightful time. :)

2009 Review of the Year in Pictures

2010-01-01T15:09:00.002-06:00

2009:

Joy, Sorrow,

Peace, Forgiveness, Surrender

Tragedy, Hope, Tears, Laughter, Blessings, Loss

Adventure, Opportunities, Work, Friendships,

Triumph, Grace...Love.

"...and the greatest of these is LOVE."

The View from the Snowglobe...

2009-12-28T17:15:00.003-06:00

Amazingly enough, the great Nebraska blizzard didn't delay our Christmas plans too much-other than cancel the pre-Christmas trip my sister and I were planning to take on her time off. She ended up not being able to see grandparents and relatives this Christmas but enjoyed being snowed in with us for a few days instead. :)

Below are a few random pictures thrown together into a slideshow of Christmas day at home, and our trip down to Joplin, MO on the 26th- which turned out to be just another hilarious T family adventure to go down in memorable history:

We really did wait for the weather map to register that all roads were
clear and open before we headed out...
But an hour later found us in GI and the interstate blocked all the way to
Lincoln. (huh?) Stopping at Arby's at the interchange we mingled with the
other stranded travelers, all bewailing the total lack of options for driving
east in any way, shape, or form. South 281 was blocked too. Hearing that I-80
had not been open since noon the day before we began to question our
trusty weather map. What happened? Well, Seth texted us the rather embarassing
information that someone had disabled the "roads closed" button on our weather
map on our computer back home. (WHO DID THAT?!) No one 'fessed up, so we waited
some more. Mr. K was stuck there with his fuel truck, so we just waited around
together, talked with other stranded people (some had slept all night in their
cars...not fun!) and watched the roads and parking lot fill up with cars
and trucks. Around 1pm it was beginning to blizzard one again, so we
conferred among ourselves and decided the best strategy was to head back toward
Kearney and head south on hwy 10 (supposedly clear, according to our "trusty"
weather map ;).
Well, we did eventually make it to our destination in Joplin...10:00 at
night, and just 4 hours late. (Same old story!) Parts of the trip were a
bit reminiscent of our recent trip to Ohio...as you will see in pictures.
Thankfully not nearly as terrifying!

Enjoy...

Thursday, Dec.10- Trip to the Creation Museum

2009-12-15T13:00:00.002-06:00

By 8am the next morning, we all felt ready to venture out on the roads again after a solid night of sleep. The guys had gone 36 hrs without sleep, and hadn't exactly been able to get much rest in the van the day before. ;)
Four hours later, we made it to our intended destination- the Creation Museum outside of Cincinnati. We were so thankful to have several hours to spend there before the conference began that evening, in spite of all the road delays of the day before. I can't really describe the museum...other than it was totally FABULOUS! It is so refreshing to go through a museum and not have to constantly sort out the truth from the untruth etc. I love how the entire walk through history culminates in the gospel. It is so very well presented...we were all totally impressed and blessed by our walk through the museum. We could have spent a lot more time there, but our trip the day before had sort of wiped some of us out. ;) So we headed to the motel to check in and prepare for the beginning of the conference that night...
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

Wednesday, Dec.9-Headed to the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference!

2009-12-14T09:17:00.015-06:00

We woke up at 4 am. It had been snowing all day the day before, and all night. My brothers had been snowblowing driveways (and streets ;) all night in bitterly cold temperatures in anticipation of our family's planned trip to Cincinnati, OH for the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference put on by NCFIC.

Well, at 4 am I rolled out of bed...the snow was drifted halfway up my bedroom window. Our street was not plowed. The outside world didn't look too friendly...I assumed we would not be headed out for a few hours, so snuggled back under the warm blankets. A moment later I heard the boys come inside. Heidi came down and announced we were headed out within the hour, because the boys had blown half the street clear with the snowblower. (We are talking a couple feet of snow here, and drifts burying cars...) I still didn't believe we were going to get out anytime soon. But somehow within the hour we were all snuggly loaded up in the van and pulling out of our snowpacked driveway. There was snow packed in the brakes, and snow drifted inside the van, and ice coating the inside of the windows- from using it all night for snowshoveling. We laid our emergency blankets out on all the seats so we wouldn't have to sit in the snow. =P Our trek across town wasn't too bad. Streets were still majorly snowpacked, but thanks to our high-profile van we didn't get stuck or anything. Pulling out onto I-80 we were glad to see one lane cleared and dry. There were drifts in the passing lane, but there didn't seem to be enough vehicles out to make it necessary to pass anyone. We saw lots of emergency vehicles, snowplows, cars off the road and buried in drifts etc. Not bad so far...
Four hours later found us in Iowa, and we gradually found the road conditions to be increasingly treacherous. More ice pack, lots of wind and frequent white-outs. We couldn't have imagined it to get much worse...but it did. The next 6-8 hours we were stuck in extremely intense driving conditions. Hundreds of trucks were in the ditches, upside down, hanging off bridges, mangled pieces of barely visible wreckage in the medians and ditches as glimpsed through the blowing snow. We were inching along on solid ice-pack and invisible roads at 20-40 mph...for hours upon seemingly endless hours. We couldn't get off. All the exits were packed with trucks attempting to get off, accidents etc.
We get online and find Interstate 380 through Iowa marked "Impassable". Police warning against any sort of travel. They had pulled all the emergency/National Guard/snowplows off the road. Ben's weather buddies were calling it an "Epic and Extremely Dangerous Snow Storm". Hmmm.... we pretty much had no way out now. Just pray. And pray...and hold tight to our seats (or hide under the pillows ;).
Below is just a small glimpse of what we saw constantly during those long hours. Multiply by 50, and you can maybe imagine that we did often ask ourselves if we were about to join the other unfortunate souls in the ditch...

Two semis in the median...
The yellow caution tape means the driver has been rescued at least...
Double trailor jack-knifed.

*Ouch*
Some comforting quotes we found online from news reports on the blizzard:

"Des Moines, Iowa was particularly hard-hit. Karl Jungbluth, a meterologist in Johnston, Iowa, near Des Moines told drivers on Tuesday, "Anybody traveling tomorrow (Wed.) morning is really taking a huge risk, I would say...a risk of being stranded and not having anybody to help you for 6 to 12 hours, probably."

"Indeed, the highway patrol shut down Interstate 80 near Grinnell, just east of Des Moines saying that the stretch of I80 from Newton on was "impassable." Jim Lee, a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines said Des Moines had 15 foot drifts saying, "It's a monster of a storm."

“It's miserable out there,” he said. “I can't imagine anybody driving in this for a while.”

I don't suppose they planned to have their coffee-break together in the median-do you?

Notice the two cars down by the bridge...

The poor, unfortunate 15 passenger van..... :(

Enjoy the scenery folks.... you may never see it again.

It's a pileup!

As we were coming out of it...

I wish we had brought a video camera to capture the swirling snow. It was really pretty. :)

We stayed in Danville, Illinois that night... SO grateful to be alive and safe! Thank you to everyone who prayed us through this trip.

At the conference we met people who had prayed for those traveling through Iowa in the blizzard. Wow! And I know there were many friends back home praying as well...we are thankful for you!

Coming up next...Trip to the Creation Museum!

Annual Girls Campout 2009!

2009-10-18T19:04:00.021-05:00

This year we waited until it was almost too cold to do our (now) traditional girls camp out! We are very thankful for the camper Christina's family let us borrow! It housed 11 girls quite comfortably...and everyone (except poor Addie, who had to sleep over the heater vent ;) was glad for a warm place to be.
We had 11 girls, ages 8-24! Many of them attend our girls Bible Study on Friday afternoons.

::Devotions around the campfire::
It was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G. Warming our hands around a cup of hot chocolate helped a little. :)
The theme of our camping trip was JOY! We discussed JOY in the life of a christian...JOY in knowing Christ, JOY in serving Christ, JOY in suffering for Christ. Also, we talked about what can destroy or hinder joy in the life of a christian: unconfessed sin, pride, self-centeredness, discontentment etc. It was some great discussion, and our prayer time afterward was a blessing. :)

Lighting the campfire is always an adventure in and of itself...!

Addie & Eliza...need I say more???

::Backrubs and Bedtime stories...::

"Once upon a time there was a Princess...named Mabelina Zuzuia!" ;)

"Never underestimate the power of a Buick!"

;) It's a girl thing...

::All the girls (Give or take the photographer :) ~Kristin, Amy, Christina, Rachel, Eliza, Heidi, Addie, Bethany, Joanna, Mabel, & Myla!:: ....did I get that in age order?