Our Home-Learned Methods Begin

It's that time of year where the ho-hum of lunch making, school supply shopping, and smell of new shoes excites mamas like me. I love nothing more then new beginnings especially when it involves routine, early bedtimes and organization. The sounds of the label maker put a smile on my face. All my containers safely holding art supplies, markers, paper, and other supplies are neatly labeled for my hearts desire. Binders are organized and ready for eager minds to learn. Journals created, pencils sharpened, and books ready to be read. I never in a million years would have seen myself as a homeschooling mama, but I can't tell you how perfect of a fit this is for our family.

It started with a very shy little girl and has now evolved into an actual classroom with Pinterest additions. When asked if the kids would ever want to go to a "real" classroom, the answer is always NO! It warms my heart knowing that the kids trust in me enough to raise and train them to social standards but also weighs heavy as it is solely my responsibility to teach them and prepare them for the big scary world. I pray God will give me the patience, endurance, and self-control with my time to do the job together Tim and I have chosen to do. I pray that God will show me areas that need more attention, better review, different approaches, and more devotion to each child's needs as they come daily or monthly. We take it a year at a time and if God leads us to another plan then we'll adapt to the changes.

I have so much respect for our local teachers who do so much more then what the paycheck rewards them for. Three years later at home I understand the endless hours of research, heartache had for the children with unstable homes, prayers spoken, meetings and bulletins made according to the needs in the classrooms, time spent away from home to better the students needs, and the mental exhaustion had from the same unfocused, bad attitudes, and sometimes angry students I experience myself.  

But for now, the kids will have focused minds and happy attitudes when the sign on the door says, "Sorry, we can't play" in order for mommy to do the job they hired me for. Yes, I take no pay but the reward is huge. I can incorporate as much Jesus into every lesson in front of us. We can have moments of frustration and pray that God would grant us clarity in the new studies. It's not for everyone but for us it's perfect. And as we do joke...Mommy home-teachin' today!

 { Third Grade and almost nine years old }

 { My project for the year: get this boy-child focused on learning }

 { One may ask why the jammies are on backwards...well, it's to prevent messes from happening and strippers in the crib }

 { A little treat for all the neighbor kids, nieces and nephews as they start the new year: Rolos looking like pencils. }

 { Happy organized flashcards }

 { Love me some vinyl labels }

 { Ready to read }

 {Thank you Lisa for helping make the learning table just a little more cute with the wall vinyl }

{ Charlie's first craft of the year }

So, now we get used to the new fall schedule and come to realize that mommy really does mean run around the house three times if our minds our having trouble focusing. We do our best to get dressed for the day rather then stay comfy and lazy. We balance our learning with fun and always remember the school rules...

LOVE EACHOTHER.

RESPECT ONE ANOTHER

USE KIND WORDS

PLEASE & THANK YOU

FOCUSED MINDS

HAPPY HEARTS

and

HAVE FUN!!!

{ My apologies for the poor quality photos. Miss EOS Digital Rebel has blurred vision these days and is needing replacement as she has come time to retire her nine year old computer zappers. }

My Faith Sharpened

This week was the start of my organizing, planning, list-making, and bulletin-board-beautifying for the school year that is etching closer and closer by the day. Posters need to be hung, binders need to be filled with worksheets, globes dusted, books ordered and pencils sharpened. It was the almost two hours during the sharpening process that God hit me with a little reality check into my heart.

You see, lately I've been angry at God for allowing My Hero to go through this six year battle of agonizing treatments and surgeries to only gain more disappointing test results. Inconclusive test numbers that resulted in a second bone biospy only to prove to insurance companies that My Hero really does need cancer treatments is simply insult to injury. The tumor markers that keep rising are indicators that defeat may be nearing and more aggressive treatments are next on the check list. The level of frustration is off the charts. The emotional collapse has begun. Watching my parents navigate this road is brutal. The question of what next, how can I help, will she suffer long, how do I tell the kids, etc. plague my mind. The battle between God and myself of "why" has been exhausted. The guilt of not being a gene carrier weighs heavy as I'm blessed to experience the intimacy within marriage and the beauty of child rearing. I reason with why or how I can help out more with medical cost, taxi driving, and being a presence to My Hero when she's too tired or weak to enjoy a hot sunny day. It's been hard to read my Bible without questioning the suffering one has to endure for so long without ever having a "normal" day in years. Crappy is the new normal for years past now. Depletion has settled into my heart with fear of the unknown answers.

The other night my Mom had asked if her faith was strong enough because she doubts the process. I replied with of course her faith was strong enough. God asnweres prayers in many ways and some are harder than others. That deson't mean our faith is weak. Problem is, is that I question that too at times.  No person should exerience the possible death of a loved one or the journey of fighting through a cancer battle. No parent should have to ponder the loss of a child.  No child should have to fight this hard for life.

It wasn't until those old colored pencils (seriously, some of them are from when I was young) that God gently tugged at my heart to remind me that this too is a testing of my faith. In moments where I struggle the most God puts me in the sharpener to restructure my heart and mind so I can bring about the best for Jesus. My heart was in need of shedding from the negative thoughts, fear, worry, mistrust, and anger towards situations, people, and outcomes. I did not perform so well when My Hero got more bad news this past week. Instead of praising God for 34 years of life I questioned His process. I turned away in frustration rather then bending down on my knees to pray. I shed tears of saddness rather then joy knowing that ultimately God was and is in control of My Hero's life. Whether it be healing on earth or eternal healing with many lives inpacted for His Kingdom through Heaven's graduation. I had failed miserably at this recent test. 

So now I welcome the sharpening of my character, my faith, and emotions as I face what could be the hardest challenge of my life. I will extend my hand of hope and prayer for God's will to be done not my selfish desires to be had. I expect bad days but trust completely that God knows and weeps with me in my weak moments. And in the end, if My Hero is too weak or tired to walk, I will carry her around until her work is done on earth and will walk her into eternity with tears of joy, pride, and honor to have been blessed to be called sister and friend. 

Pin-spiration

Last summer we gutted our basement and had a completely blank canvas to start with as we remodeled the what was choppy and wasted spaced basement area. It was a messy project that took all summer long but was well worth the energy, dust, noise, and results. From a one bedroom with painted and nailed shut windows to a two bedroom with three code windows and all fresh paint and flooring to the home school space and my SANITY SPACE...it was exactly as Tim had designed and executed to perfection. We have been able to have my cousin and her now two year old girl Layla live with us and now a single mom and her daughter in the new space. God has blessed us with a larger home and we want to be able to bless others in it...as well as through our creative abilities! In doing the remodel I discovered Pinterest. That's too bad. Oops. Yes, I give myself ten minutes a day to the addiction and because of that these are just a few of what I have been "pin-spired" to create among many other school worksheets and ideas, meals, scrapbook projects, and gifts. Some (my husband) see this new outlook as a dangerous venue for me as it has given me possibly too many ideas and "pin-spirations"!!!

 I simply grabbed a piece of leftover wood from the remodel, painted it orange, placed the different sized stickers in the right order, and then sprayed over with a second color. I then sanded the edges for a slight distressed look. 

 Another piece of wood from my friends wood pile cut to size, sanded, stained with a walnut stain, painted over Cricut cut paper stencils and painted with a black paint pen. Yes, I still need to add pictures to my painted frames. 

 Scrap piece of metal covered with old dictionary pages, framed with a stain walnut trim, and accented with Scrabble pieces. 

 My girlfriend thought of me when she dropped an old headboard off at my place. At first I was going to make a bench but then needed something for a big area on my walls. So I cut the legs off, touched up the paint, and added knobs. I have canvas pictures with ribbon to hang from the knobs. 

 Picked up a free door from craigslist, gutted the inside, added painted peg board, and now have the perfect place to display and organize my scrapbooking embellishments. 

 After tearing out the old windows from the basement I up-cycled all eight windows this one included. Others had chalk board, bulletin board, and mirror as well. Perfect pop of color to my sanity space. 

 A chair for me and a chair for Jackie when we have our long weekends of playing "catch up" for our family scrapbooks. Found the material on Pinterest and the chairs from a garage sale. 

Cardboard letters painted from a strip of paint samples to encourage the kids to READ.

So there you have it...my Pin-spirations. Tomorrow I add some vinyl transfers to my walls as yet another idea found from that addicting, time consuming, mindless activity called Pinterest. 

Go get your craft on!

A Calling to Cambodia: Part Two

{DAY FOUR}

We got picked up today by or host, who took us to a place in the hills called Teen Challenge. This place takes teens and youth off the streets who have addictions, and takes them in for 6 months, makes them go cold turkey off their addictions, and then teaches them schooling, agriculture, work, English, etc. They make them work the land for their food, they have a motorcycle shop where they learn mechanics, which they can use later in life, etc. They also teach them English via the bible, which is a common theme here of the men we’ve met. They didn’t know English, so someone taught them English by helping them read through the book of Mark, or one of the gospels. They learned English this way and in the end, knew all about Christ. Such a great way! Teen Challenge however is funded again, by outside money and is struggling to keep going. So they are learning the hard way to produce $ by selling crops, raising pigs (with the help of NCCTK) and making business decisions that produce income. We reviewed the land and what they are doing and see many ways to be more efficient and produce much more income, with very limited resources needed. 

 

We then went to where Pastor Sophea wants his future church to be, prayed over the land. After that we went to a school that Sophea leads, where they are teaching kids - very cute kids, English, computer skills, etc. It was fun playing with the kids. These kids have so much joy. It’s amazing how having so much, produces people who have no gratitude - even amongst believers. Here they have nothing, and everyone we come in contact with is so gracious, kind, and the kids are so happy all the time. 

{DAY FIVE}

Today we went to the killing fields. Not much to say here. It was overwhelming. When Pol Pot killed off 25% of the population here, they all got put in burial grounds that were later uncovered. I’ll send pictures later, but the hardest part was the killing tree. This is a tree, that when found, was red in blood, had brains and teeth stuck in it, and there was a huge pit next to it. The soldiers would take the innocent children, grab them by the feet, swing them at the tree, crush their skulls in the hit, and then throw them in the pit. Words cannot express the emotions that come over you when you see this spot. I thought about my children, and absolutely wept. And as Kim said this morning, we do it all day long in the states. Abortion. We sit by as a body and do nothing except think of how bad it is. Yet people pull kids out of wombs, inject chemicals, etc. We are as bad as them.....

{DAY SIX}

Got up around 4, and spent some time reviewing my message. I worked to add some more verbiage and make sure that I had it all put together well. I knew I was going to get interrupted a million times by the interpreter. Had a brief breakfast with Kate and discussed our different approaches for our messages, and then Kim came and prayed over us both. The interpreter then showed up and off we went. 

It was an hour and a half drive to the small village - dirt road to get there. When I arrived the sanctuary was empty. Boy was that an odd feeling of failure. They then explained to me that it is rice season right now and all are very busy, so they expect them all to be a few minutes late, and about the time they said that, people started to show up. Before long we had about 35 people there. I think in the end it was around 50 or so, but a lot of kids. Either way, I was in a small village in Cambodia, sharing what God has done in my life. Kind of surreal. 

They started worship and boy do they worship. They spent time in prayer, and when the pastor is praying, you cannot even hear him because all are praying over top of him. Very charismatic, but so real and contagious. I felt myself not knowing what to do as I couldn’t understand them. After a while I realized that I could pray over them and their church while I waited. This was sure helpful for me to get my mind in the right place, and off the sermon and what I was going to preach. 

The time came and I went up. I started off by getting them laughing about me not being a preacher and not wanting to do this. Then I started in and shared my testimony. The interpreter did a great job keeping up. When I got to the part where I said that I had a pornography addiction, had premarital sex, and had cheated on my wife, I think all jaws dropped to the floor. In this culture they do not talk about that, yet so many struggle. The interpreter looked at me like “you really want me to say that” and actually chuckled. When he said it he laughed a bit cause it caught him off guard. But from then on it was silent in the room and all were very engaged. When I got to Easter, I got choked up and had to pause. Again, it took them by surprise. I then went into how people ask if God allowed me to fail so I could be used. I talked about how God tests us to prove us, but Satan tempts us to fail. I explained biblically the difference and then talked about walking in the spirit and how, even though hard to do consistently, it’s the only way to stay on track with the Lord and his commands. I talked about failure and how we all fail, but how we need to get back up, dive deeper into the spirits calling, and grow again in our faith. I read Psalm 32 starting at verse 5. I had about 10 amens. It was really cool. I closed in prayer and prayed over their congregation. 

What a great experience. It was hard to stay mentally in it, as the sentence by sentence interruption was difficult, so you couldn’t get on a run and get fired up easily. But in the end, it was a great opportunity and I was so blessed by it. 

I am starting to have a problem with my foot though. I got a cut on the back, which was fine for a few days, but now is hurting. It went from being a bit itchy to almost unbearable to walk on in less than 1 hr. So I will sleep on it and see if I just agitated it or if it’s something worse.

{DAY SEVEN}

It’s something worse... I think my foot is infected. I can hardly walk on it. Going to have to find a doctor today. 

I am thankful that I can be here, as the Lord is clearly speaking to me about my future and use in His kingdom. I feel a firm calling to shadow Kim and Dan and follow them on their trips to learn more over the next year or two so I can potentially teach the PEACE plan and SHAPE to pastors and planters around the world. This models so much the work that God has been doing on me, and makes sense now as I look back on the sermon teaching / mentoring that I went through, the struggles that I have faced as a man which are so relevant in the world today and pastors face them around the world, the abilities the Lord has given me to plant vision and direction to teams (in business so far), etc. I see so much clearer now that God wants to use me here. 

{Pastor Kim teaching the SHAPE class to a group of men}

{DAY EIGHT}

Spent the day today teaching shape again. Today was great as we focused on helping people identify their key strengths, and then partnering them with people who share those strengths, and ministries that need those strengths. This way we are all doing works and using the abilities that God has given us, and not spending time on chores, but focusing on core. I was used as an example many times today, and then shared my testimony with the group, probably more emotionally than I have in ages. I then taught with Kim for a while on using life experiences to help identify placement in ministry. This was so much fun. I am out of my area a bit as I am not as confident in the Word and material we were teaching, but overall we did great. The men were fired up again. 

{A few of the meals during the trip}

After the service that I preached in the village, the pastor started talking to me and asked if I felt it was a conflict of interest to be a pastor and have a business on the side to help support his family. I told him that I felt it was not at all a conflict of interest, in fact, it’s probably the best thing for the church. We talked about how youthful churches cannot financially support their pastors at the early stages, so it makes sense to supplement that income by other sources, which relieves financial stress on the church and allows it to use it’s funds for missions, youth, etc. He said he wanted to plant mango trees, one of the things we have been looking at here last week. He wants to buy 100 mango trees, for $1.00 each. This will give him more income supposedly. So we dove into the financial side of the picture, I got out my calculator, and we talked about how much land he had, how much space a tree took, the yearly return per tree, and how much income he makes now. In the end we figured out that he can handle 200 trees, and this will double his income in 3 years once the trees are fully grown. From then on each year he will have double the income with limited effort as the trees don’t need much work, so he can focus on church. We then went and prayed over the land, and I committed to buying the trees for him. He was thrilled! 

{The future site of 200 mango trees}

And just a few random pictures from the trip...

 {Dinner is almost served...transporting live chickens}

{Brian, Kate, Ann, a local pastor and business man, Pastor Kim, and Sophea}

{Church facility NCCTK has helped build through the Life Giving Network}

{Brian dared to eat crickets. Tim did not.}

So now we pray for God to move powerfully in Cambodia and for the pastors to be left encouraged, refreshed, and ready to work the land where dry and barren means more then just no rain. Hearts are ready. Hands are in need of affection. Minds are willing to learn. Who is going to go? Who is going to teach and to show God's people how to pray? The lost are in need of being found. It doesn't take anyone special to go and be Jesus to others. From businessmen to moms...we are ALL called to BE JESUS to those around us. Would you be ready to go?

A Calling to Cambodia: Part One

Last month My Honey and 4 others, went to Cambodia in search of ways to better minister to the local pastors and how to better the business structure within the church. Only 98.2% of the population are Christians. 1/4 of the population was executed decades ago which left just the old and the young. Tim & Brian went with a passion to build business partnerships and to show Jesus through business strategy. The Ryan's, Kim & Ann and their oldest daughter Kate, taught the SHAPE class to churches which narrows your spiritual gifts to show you your divine design God has for you. Together, all five personalities provided a impactful trip that blessed many locals and has inspired to continued to bring good to foreign countries that are much in need of Jesus. Here is a glimpse into the ten day trip from Tim's journal and pictures that words cannot express. 

{DAY ONE}

The church is finding that the model of teaching education, and business, is proving wise as 70% of the population is under 30 years old due to the 25% wipe out of the population in the 70’s, and lacking opportunity for education. So by providing education, this age group knows and learns how to be smarter in business, generate more income, and then sees the benefit in tithing well to the church, as it was the one that provided the education it had. This matches so much more to the original church model, before the American culture created a model where people just come to church to “get”. Now they give to the church because the church gave to them. 

Met for breakfast with Brian, Pastor Sophea, and Jenny his wife. He had a guy there named Heng Cheng, who is one of the originating pastors here in Cambodia. This guy was the general secretary for the Evangelistic movement in the country, as well as a board member for a micro finance company locally. His goal is to start the first Christian college in the country. He would call it Trinity Institute Cambodia (TIC). 

{Durian: a common fruit in Cambodia but according to the hotel rules NOT ALLOWED inside because of the smell}

{DAY THREE}

Today Brian and I left at 4 am to make the 6 hr journey to Angkor Wat. What a trip! This place was started in 8th century and is amazing. It’s a Buddhist temple, but the pictures will speak for themselves. 

The highlight though was the fact that driving here is like a radical game of chicken. You have 2 lane roads, with painted lines, which no one pays attention to. You have cows coming out in the road, chickens, dogs, cars swerving on the wrong sides of the road, and then throw in 20 scooters and potholes the size of a table. It’s a trip! I got to drive for a few hours. There is no speed limit either :) Sorry dear..... I was a bit dangerous :)

{The people of Cambodia are very kind. Some drive cars or scooters. Some cows.}

{Very common to see families of 4-5 on scooters with just the driver required to wear a helmet}

{Minor delay with car troubles so Tim and Brian went to a recommended restaurant which happened to be ALL WHITE}

{Angkor Wat}

{Sorry there are so many pictures of the palace but it's stunning craftsmanship and the trees are spectacular}

 {The kids loved to see Daddy playing with the monkeys}

{Monkey see, Monkey Do}