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| It's been quite a while since I've been on here. Quick update time!
My grandparents are coming into town soon, for the second time in a month!! Very excited to see them and hang out with them.
Getting to know people here in Oregon, and loving the weather! It's balmy (compared to the frigid North Idaho) and only recently have there been more clouds. Still, the sun often comes through. The rainy season hasn't started yet, but the locals keep threatening.
My teacher-husband is doing marvelously at the school. It is a ton of work, but my man is definitely up to it. :) He's pretty awesome. He is also helping with a concert sort of thing that is happening. Our church, along with two others, is hosting The Master's Touch, an evening of hymn singing, and several classical pieces. Luke ended up being the conductor or director for our orchestra. Today we had the second practice, and it's going to be just grand!
Tomorrow we are heading up to Eugene for a Lord of the Dance show in the afternoon! VERY excited. | | |
| Yeah, I didn't think we could get much further west, being out in the boonies of Idaho. But God moves in mysterious ways!
Recent events have been happening, and my wonderful husband, Luke, was blessed with an offer to teach at a school and help build their secondary curriculum and be the vision for the classical, Christian school. This is basically his dream job: of course he loves to teach, but to really help the vision of the school, and to guide the kids along will be absolutely fantastic! Naturally, this is going to take tons of work, tons of prayer, a lot of sacrifices, and all our perseverance. But we aren't afraid or uncertain that this is what we should do. God opened these doors to this school wide, while closing other school's doors quite firmly (at least for now) so that we had quite an easy choice and knew where he was leading.
So next month we are off to Oregon! This is bittersweet because although we are excited to be moving and learning how to become part of a different community, after being so long in this wonderful community, we are going to have to leave ALL our family behind. Literally! They all live here! It's been beautiful to live so near Luke's parents, my parents, all of our siblings and their little families, my aunt and uncle, their kids, and my grandparents. Also, we are only about 7 hours away from Luke's grandparents and a bunch of his aunts and uncles and cousins.
But Oregon isn't so far away, really, in comparison with other places on the east coast that we were considering. God was gracious in that respect, and our families have all threatened to visit us - which delighted us!  We will need visiting and need to see our family, especially while we are getting established in a new place.
It's great how God opens doors and while you think you are making the biggest decision in your life (moving away from everyone you love) and the immensity of the whole thing has you in a grip, when suddenly, God nudges you a few steps through the door. You look around, and realize it's the only thing and God has been making that particular move possible over the last few weeks..."Hey, that wasn't so hard!"
That's kind of how I feel it has been for us, easy because we asked God specifically to make the decision very, very clear to us and that everything would go smoothly if we were supposed to go to Oregon. And He did!
As for God, His way is perfect;The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
2 Samuel 22:31 | | |
| Almost ran over an arrogant pheasant that dashed in front of my car on my way to clean a home. I looked in the rearview mirror after passing him and saw him strutting back to the same side of the road.
Four hours later, I was on the same road, done cleaning, and headed home. At the last moment, but at the same spot only on the other side of the road this time, Mr. Neener-neener plunged once again in front of my car only to narrowly escape. "Do you have a death wish??" I suppose I was just in the path of his pheasant patrol.
Later, headed north on the highway, Luke and I saw about 20 deer in a field. Soon, we realized that just about every field growing winter wheat was also crowded with at least 20-40 deer munching heartily as unto the Lord.
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| 10/08: "Shadiah doesn't take easily to strangers, but she likes you!" Her mother informed me about two weeks after I'd been coming daily to help with housework. About 4 days after I had begun the children's nearby great-grandmother died. The whole family struggled with that loss for a week, and during that time the 1 1/2 year old was lonely. Her parents were helping the older children deal with the grief, teaching them to not take it out on each other, watch their tempers and be extra careful to be loving.
Shadiah didn't say anything, but reached for her mother. Someone was in her place, had occupied her mother's arms all morning. This little boy was suddenly in the way, had been in the way for one month and Shadiah was jealous and needy. This boy was new, smaller than her, but somehow had found a way to always get into mommy's arms and get attention first.
Shadiah began going into the kitchen and watching the strange girl take all the dishes off the table, baptize them in the sink, and later tuck them back in the cupboard. After a few days of observation, she began standing on the girl's shoes, holding onto the legs of her pants. That was the signal she gave, and the girl understood and would toss her high in the air. Shadiah's grin burst into a laugh that shrieked when she was high in the air not touching anything, and bubbling when the girl caught her on the way down.
2/09: The 2 year old sits on stool nearby as I dry dishes, softly padding her feet on the kitchen floor and holding a bear. She hasn't talked yet, but makes squeaks, grunts, and mm's to get what she wants and needs. She often gets lost amid the raucous noise her 6 older siblings make, and thus became my shadow while I work, handing me laundry, standing next to me while I wash dishes, fold clothes, pick up toys, wipe off tables. More often than not she insists I swing her around. Her usual greeting to my arrival is to take my hands in hers, pull her feet up and hang there by her arms, waiting to fly with an expectant, smiling look in her eyes.
The gentle sound of her bare feet on the cold floor was the first I notice of her sitting around the corner of the counter. I swing her onto my hip and explain the importance of doing a good job of cleaning silverware. I always talk to her as if she could reply back with words, instead of throat noises. She could talk, but she won't. She didn't try walking for a long time, either. But one day, she got up and ran out the door, her mother not far behind and anxious to snatch her before she reached the road, but so thrilled at her accomplishment that there was not much scolding for her independence.
So I ask her questions, and wait.
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| I was going over my old Hill Abbey journals, and here are some pearls of wisdom from Athanasius, followed by a quote from John that has been running in my head. What a joy and consolation that the forgiveness and cleansing of God is His justice and delight! What wondrous love is this?
Salvation: "For He regarded our salvation as a delight and a peculiar gain; while on the contrary He looked upon our destruction as loss." - Festal Letter VI.4 Thankfulness: "It is a wicked thing for us who receive the gracious gift, not to acknowledge it..." - Festal Letter IV.3 Works: "For the crown is not given not according to position, but according to action." - Letter to Dracontius, chap. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness- I John 1:9 | | |
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