Sad goodbyes to our landlord of the last 3 year, Khun Yai

Greetings from Thailand!

This has been a hard month. (I'll explain in our next post some of the challenges we are facing.)

Audrey has been listening to Brene Brown, and teaching me about the power of being vulnerable.
(Brene is on youtube and Netflix, it is worth your time!)

And sometimes it starts with simply saying:

"I am not sure I can do this."

This past month has been filled with such moments for us.

"Can we do this?"
"Are we the right people for this job?"
"We just don't know what to do in this situation."

We love Tiida!

Tom Sawyer Island?

This little Squishy is on the move!

Leadership is full of just such thoughts and feelings, especially new leadership.

At Faithful Heart we have been facing a host of problems and questions.
Faced with so many things which I do not know the answers to and I have to make a choice.

Do I stuff it all down and pretend I have it all together?  Do I try to assure others that I have the answers, the wisdom, and the resources to fix all these problems?

Or do I chose vulnerability and admit I am still learning and growing too?

Honesty really is the best policy.
(If only we realized all the ways we are subtly dishonest, we might really get somewhere.)

Phillip is learning the importance of college football.

Staff meeting!

Chilling in Sunday School

For myself, there is a lot of fear when it comes to the question of my worth or capability.
So failing can feel more like an attack on my self worth, than a learning opportunity.

Some of you can maybe relate.

But the way out of that is not pretending to have it all together when we don't, but learning to embrace our worth, while admitting our limitations and fears.  

Because if we never admit we need help, we are unlikely to get it.
The myth of self-sufficiency is strong.

None of us is self-sufficient.

Thai Church

Working at the farm is good for everybody

Ezra is making full use of his new yard!

We were created for relationship.
We were created for each other.

No one is fully independent or fully dependent.
But we are all inter-dependent.

Imagine if we not only admitted this, but embraced it?

I am not enough.
Not strong enough.
Not smart enough.
Not gifted enough.

None of us is.

But maybe together, we are.

Strong enough.
Smart enough.
Gifted enough.

10 years with this sweet lady!

Cooling off after some hard work

Ezra picked out a unicorn for a gift for Sienna

This past few weeks has been hard.  But if it wasn't for a good friend, it would have been much harder.

Joel came from the US to help us deal with some of the issues we have run into at Faithful Heart.

He was a good listener.  Patient, gentle, and wise.

Without his timely help, I am not sure what we would do.
At first, that frightened me.

It was clear, at least to me, and probably to him and to others, that I was not enough for the challenges in front of me.

But God never said I would be enough.  
He said that He would be with us, and we would be enough.

By recognizing my need, I could rejoice in God's supply.  

Tadpoles are awesome

New haricuts and handsome dudes.

Paula is such a sweet helper, we love her!

When we pray for help, our first response should be to look around, not up. 

God's preferred method of helping us is through other people, not supernatural displays.
To a starving man, a sandwich from a kind stranger is just as much a miracle as manna from heaven. 
I am not enough.

And that is ok.

That crushing burden of having to always have it all together, to always be successful can be set down.

And that ego of thinking we are so much better than others can be set down.

We are pieces in God's puzzle.

And as He draws all those pieces together, and fits them in place, we see the amazing design and beauty in the individual pieces, and in the whole, that we missed before.

Laying sod

We find the coolest places to play

You and I are not enough on our own.

We are never called on our own.

We are created and called and invited and challenged and celebrated--together.

May we recognize our needs and rejoice in God's supply--together!

Thank you to all of you who are with us.  We couldn't do it without you.

In hope,

Matt, Audrey, Ezra, and Little Squishy (Sienna)

Boys working hard at Home of Comfort, Rainy Rice season is beautiful