It’s something we didn’t want to do. Grace has been given to us in utter abundance and we strive to offer it to others with similar reckless abandonment. He has a family. Eight kids as of date. It began with talks. Problems continued and it became obvious. We had to let him go.

See, when you have hired help you are supporting not only them but their whole family as well. Our kids played together. The timing was hard. But the decision had to be made.

It’s not a light decision to be made. Our hearts were troubled. If it were an easy decision there would be something wrong with our perspective. Something wrong with our love. We know how much he needed the job. But it could not go on. He had to find employment elsewhere. There was too much going wrong.

So one sad morning, Matt and John went out there to dismiss him. Stay in the box of “thank you for your service but there is no longer a need for this position.” It would best honor him. It would best respect him. He wouldn’t be seen begging for his job. He would simply be paid for his work for that month and given more for a grace period while he sought employment. He still comes attached to a family. We still care for him.

We weren’t sure how things would turn out, but there was instant relief that there was a clean slate. And then we got the news that his stolen bicycle had been found and returned. and we rejoiced that he was also given another opportunity to find employment more easily.

And today I look out the window to check on them and this is what I see:

And I can’t help but see His grace in it all.

A grace that loves to play with the kids. A grace that teaches Portuguese numbers while he lifts them up to pick leaves. A grace that lets the teething puppy chew on his pant leg so he won’t chew on two little girls crouching to play in the water spout. A grace that erupts in laughter with them as he turns down the water spout that has sprayed them all.

(Look at her just dying laughing.)

It’s so much more than a person. It’s His provision. It’s His calm after a challenge.

And when they come in from the yard all wet and overflowing in giggles and smiles I just have to thank the Lord for His provision. (And then go get their wet clothes changed.;) )

Jehovah Jira (God our Provider) is and will always be

More than Enough!

-Thankful, grateful and beyond blessed.

I was scrolling back through some old posts and found this one that I thought you all would enjoy.

Would you?

I didn’t know it then. I was just walking another day with our Father, but isn’t it cool how God orchestrates it all. Shortly after this post Matthew proposed to me and the adventure continued to build to date.

It’s not always some huge moment, but just a slow building of time.

And on a totally unrelated note: I have been blogging for 12 years!

Want to know what 12 years of blogging looks like? Holding the scroll down arrow down for a solid 4 minutes and 15 seconds scrolling through all your 1,051 posts until you finally get to the first post you ever wrote!

It’s so cool to look back at how much God has done in the past 12 years!

How He has blessed me so as I have pursued Him.

Wow, how undeserving I am of such grace.

What a blessing to look back and see His hand at work.

Such a sweet realization

when the old meets the new.

 

 

“You look like a flat man who is long with a ball on his head.” Says Hannah (4 yrs old) to Matt spontaneously at the dinner table. We all died laughing. She was dead serious and in no way mean-spirited. #QuiteTheObserver

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Eden (2 yrs old) has added the word “super” into her vocabulary. So in case you’re curious things are now “super fun”, “super long”, “super scary”, “super cold”, “super hot”, “super loud” and “super funny”. Maybe the best thing about these additions are that she uses the word super to try to convince you of her opinion. “Come on!!! It’s super fun!!!” #SuperCute

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We have been enjoying adding some thought-provoking heart questions to our mealtimes. You know, because sometimes we don’t want to hear those kid movie lines… again… and again… until they no longer have breath left in their bodies….. 😉 I have enjoyed hearing their answers to “What is your favorite family memory?”, “If you could plan our next vacation, where would you take us?”, “If you were the mom or the dad tomorrow, what would you do?”, “What is one thing you’d like to do when you’re older?”, and so many other good ones. #KidWorldIsAmazing

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“He a good Daddy. He put music on. He put Bible on. He put us to bed. … He make yunch (lunch) – He a good, good Daddy.” Eden (2 yrs old) confided in me at bedtime.

“Mommy? You make yunch (lunch) tomorrow?” Eden asked. When I responded ‘yes’ she immediately said, “I like yunch (lunch).” #SheHasNoIdeaHowAdorableSheIs

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These are just a few ways that words have been really fun lately. =)

Yesterday marked us as 3 month old American Africans here in Mozambique. Three months! I know, doesn’t that seem so young… and yet so old all at the same time?!

So we decided to make this video to share with you all just a bit of our life here.

Hope you enjoy hearing from each of the kids too. =)

And if this 5 minutes is too short for some of you, don’t worry, we’ll be sure to repeat this video making soon. 😉

We love you all and thank you SO, SO MUCH for all your prayers, love and support.

It truly is a privilege to be here.

[wpvideo erN8Cezu]

-To God be all the Glory.

[Continued giving can be done online at this link: https://www.imb.org/give/ ]

It hits me every time.

When I walk into the kitchen and see her scraping the peanut butter container clean.

She cannot see any food go to waste.

Even the peanut butter film on the inside of the jar I tried to scrape clean.

Even the half-eaten toddler snacks are added to her plate.
It’s seen in his asking.

That pot of jet black rice fuming on the back porch.

A mistake waiting to be cool enough for the trash.

“Don’t throw it out. I’ll eat it.”

And he did.

I don’t even know how he got it down.
Food security looks different in different places.

For some it’s the “no waste” moto.

And then for some it’s digging in the trash.
It affects us too, but in different ways.

It looks like sacking the stale bread in a plastic bag to deshard it in the trash

Because we know that someone will find it and eat it.

And I just can’t bear the thought of it being mixed with coffee grounds.

Even the most lowly is a delight to Our Father.
It looks like intentionally having leftovers to share.

And having a bag of coins in our car for the next beggar to knock at the window

with a blind grandparent holding onto their shoulder.

Some beggars are adults,

but many are children trying to provide for a sick or lame grandparent.
Food security.

Poverty.

Such heavy weights all around us.

So much to pray for.

So much to honor Jesus in.

… So much to wrestle with.
And yet I am also so thankful for the privilege

Of wrestling with how and when to help.

Because in our heads and in our lives

It’s all His anyway.
Lord, please help us to live Luke 12:48 well

in the middle of it all.

This year for our first Christmas in Mozambique we got the opportunity to compile some fun gifts for those that God has brought into our lives. After learning that providing a good meal for your family is an honored thing in this community and failing to do so is, in turn, is a shame; the idea of a Christmas Meal Basket began to form itself.

It took us three days of gathering items and baking cookies with our friends. Each basket included tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, rice, onions, seasoning packets, tomato paste, a package of corn flour, homemade cookies, bracelets made by the girls for each family’s children, a Christmas card, and a live chicken (which clearly was not placed in the basket. Hehe). Some of the fun was that our helpers, while curious, were quite surprised when they received the work of all our hands at the end of the three days. =)

We had a blast from the cookie making to the chickens running around our yard until they were all sent off to their new homes. =) (The catching of the chickens part was super fun too.)

While we still have budding Portuguese, we took the opportunity to let God’s word speak for itself. Our Christmas card included Luke 2:11 and Philippians 1:6.

It was particularly fun the day that we gave out the baskets when one of our friends mentioned their wife wanting chicken and rice for their Christmas meal, but him having to tell her it was not possible this year. Matt could barely contain his excitement to hand this dear brother his live chicken and basket of food later that afternoon.

Oh how my heart swells at their joy, some looking away to keep back tears. Sweet, friends and family, I share this story not to puff up our reputations, but to thank you. Thank you, sweet friends and family, for loaning us out to the missions field here. We missed you all during Christmas for sure, but I wanted you to see the impact on these precious brothers and sisters in Christ.

Your sacrifice is building such beautiful fruit.

God is so good. So, so good.

It was indeed a Merry Christmas.