Kindness & Catch-Up

Coats & Gloves

In the week since Storly left for Haiti, it's gone from 'do I need a jacket' to 'I need winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves' weather. Not kidding. I've been making good use of the old-fashioned hot water bottle that my mum bought me some time ago. Each night as I boil the kettle to fill the hot water bottle, it brings back memories of staying at my Nanny & Grandad's house in the winter in Birmingham (England, not Alabama). With no heating in their house other than a small electric fire downstairs, going up to bed at night was always a race to get into pyjamas and into bed to warm your feet up on the hot water bottle before you froze.

Back to Columbus. Our small group just helped organize a Winter Coat Drive for the local Salvation Army - and there were plenty of coats donated by the good people of Community Church of Columbus. Forty coats given out already to people right here in the community who need some help. Don't we all have so many opportunities -  especially with easy donating of money and stuff on the internet, and ways of getting things to people, whether on the other side of town or of the world, but are we really sharing our stuff? Is it getting rid of what I don't need or want, or is it sharing out of love with someone who needs it more than I do? It's not ours, after all.

Pastor Chuck is teaching a series on Stewardship this month, and has a great definition of what biblical stewardship really is: utilizing God-given abilities to manage God-given resources to accomplish God-ordained results. It's more than putting a few coins or notes in a collection box.It's using brain, creativity, planning, skills, talents to make the most of all God has put at my disposal (time, energy, stuff, and the big one: money) to bring about what God wants with those things. Hope Esther's old hat, a new pair of kids gloves and a (decent) red padded coat from the second-hand store given for the Coat Drive will somehow make someone's day.

'While he's away' goals

So I'm cold, and Storly's in Haiti. Why did we let him go to Haiti without us?? (School and money are just the only reasons I can think of). Often when he's there and we're here, I have some great self-imposed goal to achieve while he's gone. One of the biggest ones was switching the girls bedroom with our home office, while the guys from our small group built Storly a recording studio in the basement (so he didn't have to use a closet). Big project - painting walls, moving furniture, trying not to spoil the surprise when talking to him on the phone while there were five guys in and out of the house sawing wood, banging nails and generally making some noise.

A few times my goal has been to pray him through some particularly tough times, prompted to pray specifically for wisdom and for grace. And God answered those prayers. Specifically. [If you'd like to pray for him right now, wisdom and grace are still appropriate things to pray for; and for effective, productive times with staff and others at the station tomorrow].

Other times, my goal is getting through our regular routine (without getting sick). Wake up. Bible study. Breakfast. Get girls ready and on the bus. Try to be super effective at work (all on my lonesome) until time to pick girls up from the bus. Cook. Feed kids. Wash up. Clean. Get them (and me) to bed. And get through the night - and day - without my other half.

This week, my goal's been to tidy up, file and generally organize (my side of) our office. Storly's the tidy, detailed, structured one in our marriage; I'm not.

So, my in-tray's gone from this:

To this - result!

I cannot, however, show you the rest of my desk. That's still a work-in-progress...

But I can catch you up on a few things.

Thanks for praying for our trip to the Shaferlys in northern Ohio. Was shorter than planned (Esther had double ear infection after our trip to Pennsylvania and was off school for four days - just sick enough with fever to not be in school, but with plenty of energy to want to play, and generally demand my attention all the time). Was lovely, as always, to be together with Dave and Marilyn (they're family to us. Longtime, now retired, OMS missionaries to Haiti, Marilyn was Storly's boss at 4VEH), and with their son Michael, his wife Sarah and kids Samuel and Hannah (also OMS missionaries to Haiti with Homes for Haiti project).

Fellowship and enjoying hospitality is sweet! 

Corn makes good confetti, apparently. 

Apart from the blessing of time with the Shaferlys, it was great to meet with the Missions committee at Michael and Sarah's church, and present the Resounding Hope project to them. They'd already decided that this will be the focus of their church's Christmas offering this year, but to hear words like "this is exciting!" from among the committee (and not Michael or Sarah) was really encouraging. So, we'll be going back there towards the end of November to present Resounding Hope to the congregation, and hope they'll be excited about being part of the radios project too. [Storly also got to teach during an adult Sunday school class when the teacher was delayed. Some of the class members asked "Can we get that new guy back next week?"]

Then we had a short-and-sweet visit from my Mum, with the ultimate Fall treat for those living in Central Indiana - a trip to Appleworks to pick pumpkins.

Good times!

Mum also kindly watched the girls so that Storly and I could have a couple of nights away in a log cabin in the woods (my 40th birthday gift from my parents). It was the first time we've had that kind of time away since our honeymoon nearly ten years ago. And we loved it!

Update on Our Missionary Stuff

We're filling in forms and doing some of that administrative stuff at the moment. Regular stuff for international ministry, you know, passport details, emergency contacts and 'where do you want to be buried in the extreme event that it's necessary?'

I find that last one strangely reassuring. Why? Because they've asked. Being aware of the risks is part of good preparation. And something I valued a lot in my time with World Vision, especially going into risky, hostile, insecure situations like areas held by rebels or after flooding where people are fighting for food. Knowing the risks. Making preparations. And counting the cost.

So, I appreciate being asked where I want to be buried. And just for the record, wherever I drop is fine by me.

The money stuff is also proving interesting, as we thought it might be. At some point in the near future, we'll take a salary, and cover all our ministry-related travel and other costs (to Haiti and back etc), from funds donated to our support account by people who'd like to support us in doing what we do. But we need to raise those funds first. We were touched to hear that our church in Stony Stratford (where we got married) recently invited people to give to us (and another missionary family) in memory of Lesley Gair, who passed away recently. We remember Lesley, part of the Missions committee, as the generous one who kindly offered up her apartment for Mum, my sister Ruthie and me to stay in just before my wedding. Kindness is such a God thing, isn't it.

Just a Few More Sleeps

Storly will be back from Haiti on Monday, thankfully, or should I say, hopefully, si Dye vle, God willing. (Appreciate prayers for him, and us, while he's away). Then he'll need to get stuck back in to translating and recording programs, working with me on some special projects, like the Petite Anse AM Tower replacement project, and preparing for some meetings at headquarters, as well as our radio interview for the new One Mission Stories radio program. More about that later. For now, it's late, and Hannah's restless. So, good night. Hope you take a few moments to read the post I wrote earlier (25 years with My Great Reward) and listen to Great Reward by Tim Timmons.