Too Quiet...

Today my brother and his family are leaving on an 11 hour journey that will take them back to California, USA after a wonderful eight days of tears, exhaustion, laughs, dirty diapers, dirty clothes, a run down washing machine, loads of food consumed, loads of dishes to do every minute of the day, partial sleepless nights, adventures in the cold to Canterbury, the park, Cambridge, Ely, and around the neighborhood and lots of hugs and kisses.

I love the open conversations and vulnerability that always seems to come so easily when we are all together. It was nearly impossible to have a complete conversation with all the kids around, but in those rare moments it was great!

The kids had a blast playing together and making memories. They made forts, played pet shop, ran around the house pretending to be horses and then dogs. Naomi, who is only 22 months, tried her best to keep up with the play and Jordan just hung out whenever he was awake. The adults just meshed into the craziness and then laughed at the end of the day.

I was able to observe and enjoy my two nieces. Hope is amazing and brilliant. She is almost 6 and reading wonderfully. She loves to color and draw with perfection. She engages in imaginary play with ease and creativity and enjoys both of her cousins immensely. She is a bundle of energy and is fascinated with life. She was amazed by the large cathedrals that she was privileged to see while here and bore the traveling around quite well.

Naomi who will be 2 in Feb. had moments of sheer exhilaration when she was free to roam wherever her little heart delighted in going and moments of frustration when contained or overtired. She is precious and delightful to watch and engage with. She talks very well and enjoys crafts and movies! I was blessed to have a craft time with here where she opened up the glitter and it went everywhere! I just giggled and cleaned it up as she said, "hearts, stars!" through her pacified mouth. Her favorite thing to do is play outside I believe which is difficult to do here when its so cold, but she survived.

Now it is quiet. Josiah is playing with his trains uninterrupted, Jordan is able to sit in the middle of the room without disturbance and I am able to sit and write for a few minutes. I am melancholy at the moment. Not horribly sad, just melancholy. I miss having family in close proximity. Family is such a wonderful thing to have around that when they are here it feels as though we were never apart and that they have always been in my daily life.

I have to say though that God has always provided family type figures in our lives as we've moved from place to place. The body of Christ is wonderful like that. There is such rich fellowship to be had by all those who live for the Kingdom of God that we seem to forget to partake at times. So I praise the Lord today in the midst of my sorrow for the blood family and the family in Christ that He has so richly blessed me with wherever I go. I could go to the farthest reaches of the world, meet a fellow beliver and there would be and instant connection due to the One Father that we all have in common. WONDERFUL!

I believe that is what I am most thankful for on a day like today when there are so many things that I could probably spend the day moping about, but instead I will glory in the fact that my name is written in the Lambs book of Life just like countless others around the world that I get to call brother's and sister's in Christ.
Speaking about brother's...today a brother in our little fellowship here is getting baptized! We are all (about 17 of us) going over to a baptist church where friends there have prepared the baptismal for our use. Mark will be baptized and then we will celebrate here at my house afterwards. We are so blessed and looking forward to this moment. Mark and Julie were our first "family" here when we started our journey back in Feb. So it is a significant moment for all of us.

So another moment has come and gone in my life. The month we geared up for has passed quicker than I would have liked, which was expected, so I will perk up and prepare for the next couple of weeks while we look forward to holidays with friends and family in America. The Lord always gives us something else to look forward to, but most of all the day that we will be united with Him and He with all His children.
I look forward to that day for it will mean no more goodbyes and it will never again be TOO QUIET!

-Please pray that the Lord would continue to touch Mark and fill him with wisdom and integrity as he pursues the Lord and moves his family to Spain due to work.
-Please pray that we adjust to "normal" life after a month of visitors before we zip off to America on Dec. 17th. To manage our schedule there with wisdom while there.
-Please pray for more opportunities to minister here in the city for Joey and I.
To stay focused on our purpose here and listen and wait for the Lord's leading.
-For me to get my house in order. And for school, that I would get on track after some time off.

God Bless!