Every Kilometer A Thankful Heart

     It's been little over a week now and our time has been going well. We've seen God's faithfulness again and again. We just got home from our short trip to Bataan. It's a three hour drive from where we are staying. We had such a good time catching up with our friends and church. 

     On the drive back home, we stopped at a rest stop on the expressway/interstate to grab lunch. That's when things got a little shaky, the car that is. Our car started shaking in a very worrisome manner while it was idling. At this point we've already been praying that God would keep our air conditioner running so why not add shaking that rocks the entire car into the prayer mix. Alex checked all the fluids and asked if there was a mechanic at the gas station. No such luck, so we tried the next exit with the same results. We decided to just press on since the oil wasn't low and the issue only presented itself in idle. As we were driving down the interstate we prayed together that God would get us home. We knew that Manila traffic was ahead which means lots of stopping and idling.  Maybe some of you are like me when you pray. You know, you ask God to do something like keep your car running so you don't break down on one of the busiest streets in Manila, then in the back of your mind your actually making plans for when the car breaks down in the middle of the road, you know... just in case God isn't listening.

Matthew 17:20 "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I didn't need enough faith to move a mountain; I just needed enough to get our car to the guest house. That's exactly what God did by the way. We never came to a complete stop on one of the busiest streets in Manila (that never happens!). Have you seen a mustard seed? It's ridiculously tiny, and I don't even have that most of the time. I have such a small, fragile faith. The Holy Spirit has this gentle way of convicting us and teaching us at the same time. As every kilometer passed my heart became more and more thankful. God is really nurturing my minuscule faith, and making it into something beautiful. Granted it's a slow process with a scaredy-cat like me. I feel like a tiny sprout reaching up for the light who needs the Gardener to come along and tend it. At least I'm in good company. Look at who Jesus chose as his disciples. 

Matthew 17:14-20 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 

• We are through the worst of jet lag. Now we sleep as well as anyone else who has a 5 month old.
• Alex had a safe trip while picking up our car.
• We just had a wonderful visit with our church and friends from Bataan.
• All of our belongings look great! We don't have to throw anything out. I couldn't find any mold in the house at all, just lots of dead bugs... Big Ones. Yuck!
• Hinley was a little champion the whole trip! Even with skipped naps, and lots of brand new things and people to meet she did great.

Pray to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

• That we figure out what is going with our car before Alex has to make the 12 hour drive up north.
• For Alex, he has a bit of a stomach bug.
• We are getting together with a couple of our Language Consultants early next week. They'll be helping us get back in gear for language study.
• We are going to immigrations next week to get Hinley's paperwork finished.
• Also next week, we will be flying up north to look for a new house and possibly the guys will do some survey work.
• We are still trying to get in touch with the movers who will transport all our belongings up north.

God Even Cares About a Blankie - Our Trip back to the Philippines

     We're back in the Philippines! It's 4:30 a.m here as I'm writing this. We've been up for an hour already so we're right in the middle of the delights of jet lag, but it's been getting better every night.

     We had a really good trip from Oregon. Honestly, we knew people were praying for us. It started out with a 4 hour drive to Seattle, during which Hinley only cried for about 20 min and we only hit 30 min of traffic. A great start to a very long journey. We stayed the night at a hotel, and took a shuttle to the airport in the morning. While waiting for the shuttle, I was standing in the lobby of the hotel babysitting our luggage and our daughter as Alex was putting the car seat in. For no apparent reason, it hit me like a lightning bolt that I left Hinley's blankie on the bed in the hotel room. This is not just any blanket mind you, it's the blanket she uses for ALL of her sleeping. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. My heart started to race as I prayed that God would take care of her blanket. We had already turned in our room key, and told the cleaning people upstairs that the room was ready to be done! Hinley and I abandoned our luggage in the lobby, had the front desk make another card key, and raced to the elevators which were painfully slow. As the doors opened a nice Spanish speaking man was rolling away two laundry carts. Of course I was thinking that her sweet little blankie was mixed up in all those sheets. I tried to tell him about my problem, but there was an obvious language barrier as he kept saying, "Front Desk". All I could think of was Tagalog, no help at all! He continued down the hallway, and I waited for the elevators AGAIN... soooo slow. I finally ran into the room to find her blanket draped on a chair with all the other sheets.

Hinley was very perky at midnight... We were not :)

The infamous blankie pictured here. The yellow and white one.

   














                                 Sweet relief and praise for such a small mercy that didn't feel small to me. There's no reason I should have remembered that blanket. I had a thousand other things on my mind, but God in his tender care brought it to mind. He cares about all the details, and He wants us to come to Him with ALL our burdens, even one as small as a baby blanket. 

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Hinley and Aaro

I felt like a T-rex trying to eat with tiny arms :)

     















                                              The rest of our trip was filled with special little details from God.

• Our carry on's were overweight but there was enough space in other bags so nothing was left behind.
• We got to travel with our partners, Cole and Hannah, and their two kids Cameron and Aaro.
• Our flight was only 11 hours when we were expecting 12.
• The lady on the end of the row asked to trade seats with us which gave us the pair of seats where the arm rest pulled up out of the way.
• Hinley fell asleep in the bassinet right before the food came.
• She only slept about 5 hours out of 24, but she was happy basically the whole time.
• We were able to find a quiet spot during the layover.
• All of our luggage made it.
• Immigrations was a cake walk.
• We caught a taxi so easily. 
• Tagalog came back so quickly as we chatted with our taxi driver.

     We were completely exhausted, but the trip went so well. Praise God, He really does hear the prayer of His people. Thank you for bringing us before His throne of grace. 

Continue praying for...

• Hinley's visa
• Jet Lag
• Moving all of our belongings
• Finding a house
• Traveling
• Doing some survey trips
• And a flurry of other things that need to get done.