thank you, gramma

casey and i made time to go to gramma (aka daubin) and bumpa's house this weekend for a quick farewell before we take off on our trip. sunnyside is restful for so many reasons, and we needed a little reprieve. along with resting, asher had his first official haircut. looking at the before pictures, i now completely agree it was time, and necessary. he does not wear long hair as well as his father. i even think he feels lighter :) so, thanks gramma. thanks for paying, thanks for providing distraction, and thanks for the touch ups after the wrestling match at the salon.

before

after

bounty

we return, along with our returned usb cord. thanks, mom and dad! i had to take a moment to record; i am absolutely giddy! promptly at noon, a nice young fellow delivered a huge box of fresh produce, thanks to the generosity of two great new friends. as i sit and look at the overflow of chard, turnips, pears, mushrooms and satsumas, i am quickly reminded of the abundance that God bestows on His kids. i feel as if casey and i are sitting smack in the middle of God's generous and overwhelming provision. it made me realize that i am not so quick with praise when jobs are in place and bills are easily met, and yet, we are no less in need of His provision. so, generous bestowers of the above bounty, thank you for not only filling our stomachs, thank you for joining in His provision for us.

picture hiatus

i started to upload christmas fun to the blog this morning, and realized our USB cable is MIA. so, until it returns, there will, unfortunately, be a pause to the asher cuteness (insert deep sigh from grandparents). the good news: i think i know where it is......in texas.

the plan

it's funny how things work out, isn't it?! armed only with the lone picture frame that sat on his desk and a hard drive full of work from the past three years, casey returned home today, marking the end to his job. had we discussed the possibility that he might lose his job before we were fully supported to work with lahash? yes. did we anticipate it would happen so quickly? no. the weekend provided much time to reflect on "what now, Lord" after casey found out on thursday about the company essentially closing their doors.

what now? that is the question we mulled over a MILLION times this weekend, possible scenerios of how to pay bills and unexpected things like a ghetto fabulous muffler with a GINORMOUS hole. what now as we are only around for five more weeks before leaving for three to tanzania? what now since we have only about an 1/8 of our total support raised?

as these questions flew at us, the place we always returned to, and continue to do so, is what is God's plan for these next months of inbetween? we so often try to arrange and negotiate what we think the future should look like, crowding out the space for God to do amazing things with those not so neat arrangements. so, as we sit in this place of mess and unknown, we are asking what God has for us in today, in the moment? what is HIS greater plan and how is that renegotiating what we do?

will you pray that we will be faithful with that? will you pray that God, by His divine direction, will provide full support if He is opening up a way for us to start with Lahash sooner than anticipated?

may we trust Him with the seen and the unseen.

white christmas, literally

we have had quite the snow in portland. i continue to say "thank you, God" for our home and warmth and food. and, it makes me thankful for fun days with my family in the snow.

(just a foot or so on the hood of our car... no big deal :) )

(can you see how deep it is on the chair? that is from day one! )

it is a nice change from the rain.

what we did today

not necessarily a winterwonderland, but white. and fun to stomp around in for a little while.




and, when indoors most of the day, dancing takes on a whole new meaning.

sometimes, i love being forced to stay in. to have no where to go, no appointments or agendas. i am very thankful for my family today. hope you are enjoying yours as well.

boo!

christmas festivities are going up, and, along with that comes empty boxes, much to asher's delight! he managed to entertain himself, and us, with this box all afternoon.... it was lovely.

(again, with the lighting. bah!)


for those who want to actually see what he was doing.....