Life - August 2010

Wow, it sure is hard to get at the computer when your husband works from home on it through the day! Seeing as he's at a Mariner's game tonight, I've pumped out two short posts in one sitting!

We're at 50% of our financial support now and praying that it will continue to increase. We are branching out to other churches as we feel we have pretty much exhausted our immediate contacts list. If anyone actually reads this, we'd love it if you could bring us before the Lord as we seek His direction on where to go next in our support raising adventure. It feels like we've been doing this forever, but in truth, we're probably right where most missionaries are after a year of support raising for long-term placements.

We spent a week on the Reservation a couple weeks ago and I was again astounded by the need in front of my very eyes. It continues to remind me of a third world country in many respects, and the beautiful people need Jesus as desperately as I do. We got to attend our first traditional feast - celebrating the harvest of huckleberries - which was an exciting experience. The more I learn of the culture and the people, the more I was struck by the juxtaposition of the beauty and darkness. Everything seems intensified for me on the Rez; emotions are intensified, struggles are intensified, joys are intensified. It's like life in high definition with input and output moving so quickly that I have to consciously sit and process sometimes. I wrote a little about our experiences over there on our other blog, Trail to Hope. Below are a few pictures I snapped at Kid's Club in the White Swan housing project, Totus Park. I'll refrain from posting about the statistics that these kids currently face or will probably face one day, but that's what I mean about the beauty and the darkness moving side by side. I know those statistics and could rattle them off as well as I can rattle off John 3:16, and I have to shove them far to the back of my head when I play with these lovely babes.

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Lyddie is crawling now, and crawling faster every day. She will be 9 months next week. She's pulling up to stand on occasion and sometimes doing some miniscule cruising along furniture. As a speech therapist, I'm fascinated and thrilled at her babbling voice. She loves eating and eats almost anything I put in front of her. I can't think offhand of one thing she doesn't like. She loves meat - chicken, pork, beef, she wolfs it down. I love watching her eat. Basically I love watching her, interacting with her, loving on her. It's amazing to me that just a year ago she was still moving around in my womb, and now she has so much striking personality, which I can't wait to watch grow and grow!