Staff Retreat Fun

The competition was fierce...

Pen getting low to help the team!

Greetings from Thailand!

I love to hike.  I just love being in the mountains.  But in the midst of even the most breath-taking scenery, we can miss the glory because of a tiny, unimpressive pebble in our shoe.

Life is sometimes like hiking with a pebble in your shoe.

There is glory all around us, but we can't see it because of some small, irritating annoyance.

And if we are not careful, the stone can blot out the sun.

There are seasons of life where it feels like we are walking through a gravel pit.

There is always something hindering us from being able to just enjoy the day, the moment, the present; whatever circumstance we may be in.

And as soon as one pebble is expelled, a new one takes its place.

This is an incredibly exciting, and fun season of life for us in Thailand.

We love this country and the people.

We love Faithful Heart, and the people we are blessed to work alongside.

We love our children and seeing them grow and develop.

We love being parents and having a son.

And when we step back and survey the last few years, we can see God's fingerprints all around us---even on us.

And that is a great feeling.

Most of us lose that feeling somewhere along the way, usually about midway through childhood.

The exhilaration of being alive, and being excited for the future fades into the harsh realities and pressures we experience as adults.

Most of my adult life I have struggle with that loss.

And even now, all those good things can be overshadowed by one small stone.

One little thing which worries or annoys or frustrates me.

My whole focus turns to this small, insignificant thing in my life and I miss the glory around me.

We take our games very seriously at Faithful Heart

These girls were excited to get custom made dresses from a kind woman in the US!

10 Year Anniversary at Faithful Heart!

One of my regrets is that I did not enjoy the different seasons of my life more as I was in them.

And I let the small rocks in my shoes keep me from enjoying what was good, unique, and fun about that season of life.

It is rule of life in general, that we will always have something which bothers us.

Something will not be the way we would like it to be.

But this is the secret of the Christian idea of self-denial.

You let go in order to have.

You deny in order to receive.

Despite all the crazy abuses and wild ideas about self-denial, at the heart of it is happiness and freedom.

Anyone who has ever set a goal, then achieved it, knows this truth.

Sometimes you must look past the stone in your shoe (read: those small, annoying, not-really-that important, things) and just enjoy the gory of life going on all around you.

Pastor Steve talking about loving teenagers!

Ezra and Mom working with clay

Audrey's cool Crossfit shirts may be a copyright violation...

 To be sure sometimes, we should just stop and remove the stone(s).

But other times, it may not be possible to remove it, so we need to learn to enjoy life with it.

Nothing is more dangerous to our happiness than requiring everything to go our way before we will be happy.

Life in another country often means we face some daily frustrations, misunderstandings, and bewildering circumstances.

One of the keys to enjoying living here, is that we learn to live in the big picture, not among the small stones.

But it is true wherever you live.

Turn off the news, log off facebook, and experience the glory of the life all around you.

It is a change in perspective, and a secret of many people who have very little, but posses great happiness.

Don't let the bad spoil the good.  

There is good around us.

We have to determine to find it and enjoy it.

Iron Bridge at night

Home of Faith Girls came to say goodbye to Dave & Shirley before they head to America

Joshua finally has his diploma in hand---4 years of hard work!

Contrary to what passes for a lot of religion and Christianity, Jesus proclaimed a message of incredible optimism.

Despite living in a culture at least as violent, (often much more) than ours, he announced good news for all who would hear him:

A different life is possible, right in the midst of your present life.

No matter where you are.

No matter who you are.

And the key to that optimism was a confidence that God liked people, and was ever and always working to make them whole, happy, and flourishing.

Life was not a random blend of good and bad befalling us by chance, but the conscious effort of a kind Father to give a good life to His children.

If we believe that, we begin to take good for granted, and that is the way it should be.

We begin to expect good.

This is the often unsaid conviction of anyone who works to improve life for others:

Life ought to be a good thing.

And it is right that we think so.

We cannot control the stones in life, but we can control where we fix our attention.

There are times to focus on the stones, but never only on the stones.

We grieve orphaned children, but we rejoice in the potential of every human life.

We despise cancer, but we celebrate relationship, and love.

We get irritated by circumstances or people at work, but we delight in the sunrise and a good laugh with friends.

And we never let the stone in our shoe, blot out the glory all around us.

Thank you for walking with us, supporting us, praying for us, and sharing the glory of life!

Swimming lessons from Tiida!

Not sure who is in there...

Fun times with our staff

Please keep these things in your prayers:

1.  We are submitting paperwork to purchase the land for Faithful Heart!  There is so much potential and so many decisions to be made.  Pray we would use it to bless many lives here.

2.  Our directors, Dave and Shirley, are headed to the US for several months.  Pray for Matt as he gives leadership here.

3.  Pray for new house parents!  We are interviewing several couples and eager to open a new home for girls.

4.  Pray for opportunities to help some widows keep and care for their own children in our community.  Single Mom's are amazing, but it is hard work!

5.  Pray for our time in America this summer!  We will be in Ohio June 14-18th, then to Pennsylvania, then to visit First Baptist Church in South Carolina, then to Colorado for most of July.

Early morning banana at the staff retreat.

One cool crew!

This adorableness barely got past the censors