Empty words or fulfilled promises?

A long promised update...

Let's road-trip!
Dad's ready...
Mom's all set...
The trailer's behind us (MUCH better than in front)...
and the dogs...oh the lovely little rodents...they're ready too.
First stop: Amarillo for the night. (WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND GOES TO AMARILLO?!)
It was a pleasant time because Aunt Susie and Travis (cousin) met us there for the night! Have you ever heard of the Palo Duro Canyon? Second largest in the country next to the Grand Canyon...brush up on your Texas history ;) We had dinner in the canyon and then stayed for the lights show! Above the canyon...

And OH what a meal...
Travis' favorite part of the dinner...Emily's favorite part of the dinner :)Happy men...

Happy Family...
Matching sunglasses ;)
The ladies! Aunt Susie! You have to have your eyes open!!
Charlie's expression after stuffing...
It is a well known custom in these parts that a little siesta follows a huge meal...
We walked into the plaza, listening to some Cowboy Joe music ;)
The parents threw coy looks at each other after they spent too much money in the gift shop ;)
As we walked to the amphitheater, we were reminded that we are proud of our state :)
Smile in your seats!
"HEY DAD! Take one with me!!"
FIREWORKS!!!!




Okay, enough of Amarillo. There's not much more of interest there :P So now we'll go to OOO-----Klahoma :) and see Bill & Uni (their real names are Opa & Oma) ;)


Mom will insist on taking a picture of their pictures ;) Aren't they adorable?!
After a wonderful lunch with such dear friends, we'll run over and visit more friends! Aunt Karen and Uncle Loren! Charlie will, of course, talk during the picture-taking time so he'll look funny in the pictures... ;)
Mom had breakfast with Karen the next morning, during which time Karen showed her amazing handiwork at quilting! Here are some samples!



Well, we took our time in Oklahoma. It really was a beautiful area.



We headed further cross-country and landed in Saint Louis to visit with the Buntes. We sadly have no pictures from this venture. We celebrated Charlie's 63rd birthday while we were there and he even had a Fairy Barbie cake!!! (It was pink) I wish we had pictures of the excitement on his face...priceless. While we were there, we had a bit of a traumatic event take place. We kept the animals in the trailer over night while we stayed inside the house. The cat, being a cat, likes to find the tiniest and most inconvenient places to hide herself. The next morning as we're packing up...we've got two dogs, but no cat. We searched for hours and resigned ourselves to the fact that she had jumped out in the middle of the night and was gone. Mom was sobbing. So we left....this story to be continued in a minute.

Okay...so I got spoiled for a day :) Mom and Charlie agreed to stop in Morton, Illinois to see my manfriend :) We spent the evening with Jesse and his mom, Suzanne.
After dinner, mom gawked at the beautiful English garden in the back yard.
Jesse plays softball on a church-league team, so that night we got to watch him play :) He, of course, won both games that night. :D

That night after spending time with them, we got back to the trailer only to hear a faint "meow." Cue mom to start crying...there, tucked under the bed in the farthest corner, is the cat. :) Stupid animal...*sigh* it's nice to have her back :) Funny how she's become a whole lot nicer since then ;)

And now...we reach the climax of our road trip. BABIES!!!! :D Andrew David and Jackson William :) Here's the whole family :) Stephen, Rachel, and their boys. Jack was just a week old then.






He can say "nose" :D




His first experience of Mongolian BBQ...man food.
A wonderful time with the Ohio Bruckarts ended all too soon :( Absolutely delightful though. On our route back to Texas, we made just a couple stops. We had lunch on the Kentucky Dam...


And then stopped in Holland, Missouri (where Charlie grew up) and saw his cousins, Berl & Deborah. We went to lunch with them at "Boss Hog's"...amazing burgers :) We walked in the door and as if two boston terriers weren't enough for Charlie, he had to find this one....
And imagine, we run into his 1st grade teacher!
Charlie, Berl, Deborah, and Mom :)

Well, a trip that took us 5 days to get to Ohio only took us 2 to get home :P by this time, we were exhausted...especially the dogs...
But a pleasant trip, none the less. :D

Let's wait a while to road trip again ;)

Take a deep breath....

It improves your health.

I've been out of town on a 9-day road trip. A blog update is most definitely coming soon :) Anticipate.

Happy Birthday, my sister and friend...

Get this...I'm going to the circus today!!!!!!!!!! :-D

summer moments

Another summer's day has come and gone away...

I never seemed to appreciate the summer as much before I knew the bitter cold of Chicago winters. I've savored every moment of light and warmth the sun has let down. But the pleasant parts of summer cannot last forever...so welcome the less pleasant aspects with the enjoyable ones and make the most of another day.

Tonight, I head for Texas (aka cowboy country). I'm so excited...I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be looking forward to crazy truck drivers, cowboy boots, belt buckles, huge beer cans, and humid weather. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? Though these things are funny to see and very characteristic of the place...my excitement to goes home rests in seeing my family. I am reminded of the preciousness of a workable family situation. Such relationships should be treasured and not strained, pursued and not relinquished. Easily said--nearly impossible to do at times. Remember that it is God who reconciles people together and to Himself.

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My life's soundtrack has been accommodated by Ruckus these last couple months. Great variety, free, music you like to listen to as long as you want just so long as you are connected to the internet. BRILLIANT! High recommendation for this program. My current playlist: Freedom Album by Michael W. Smith, (track) "The Giving"

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My grandmother is seriously the most amazing woman that has and is now walking this earth. Noni has wisdom and a gift of praying that I will never understand. She wrote me a letter once with a beautiful quote in it. I don't have it in front of me, but even the gist of it seems appropriate for a day like this...

"This is the beginning of a new day. You can do with it as you will...make it a good day."

I'll find the quote and put it word for word soon. It is well worth it--causes us to consider the choices we make throughout the day and how they affect others also.

Blessings dear friends. Keep your eyes open for the moments that God reveals His goodness to you.

Em

2 bits worth

I just wrote this long theological post with quotes and opinions and personal thoughts and convictions and whatnot. I didn't read over it. It was boring. I won't make you suffer through it. Do you ever have those days where you want to write, but by the time you finish your manuscript, you realize that people will walk away no more encouraged or enlightened by your words? yup...that was this morning. So forget it...nothing impressive here today :)

I'm eating my fresh red grapes that I bought at the market yesterday. A random memory popped into my head about a time my siblings and I put all the grapes in the freezer and made grape-sickles :) yeah...random. good times though. My siblings are pretty cool like that. :)

Things are shaping up nicely...

Moments of summer

Reading the news

Incredibly sad.

2nd Article

Into a different place...

This semester, I took a class called Contemporary Islam. It's taught by a Pakistani man whose father was a converted Muslim. He and a staff of devoted Christians run a ministry called SouthAsian Friendship Center on Devon Street in Chicago. He took us on a field trip to Devon a few weeks ago and I can't tell you how interesting it was.

• We walked into a small building on one of the side roads. They ushered us into a small, windowless room that smelled of fresh paint. We carried in folding chairs and they pulled a table cloth over the plastic fold up table. One of the staff, Sam was his name, sat behind the table. He prayed, while looking at the floor, that he would be worthy of carrying the name of Jesus Christ in his speech and that he would bring glory to the Lord. For 15 minutes, this man did nothing but explain the importance of understanding TRUE Islam when preaching a message of Christ Jesus. His work is primarily research and debate of Islam and Christian religions. The venue for this is mostly on the internet at www.answering-islam.org.
  
• We walked the street for a while. Every other shop was a clothing and jewelry boutique. Our professor talked about how gold and the quantity worn is very much a status symbol. A husband dotes on his wife by covering her in gold.
  
• My eyes were drawn to the sidewalks...every few steps, you could see dried blood stains left from the meat being dragged in and out of the shops as well as human blood from the fights.
• The most interesting part of our trip:
• After walking down the main street, we turned onto another side road and headed for what looked like a parking garage with a cast iron gate and a bright green wall. We walked through the propped open gate and the light/Light dimmed. There were heavy metal doors with a prayer schedule on the front:
• Fajr Dawn (5:15)
  
• Shurooq Sunrise (?)
  
• Zhuhr Noon (1:30)
  
• Asr Afternoon (6:00)
  
• Maghrib Sunset (?)
  
• Eshaa Evening (?)
  

We walked through the doors and up into the Mosque. We removed our shoes and placed the on the shelf, stepping softly onto the carpeted floor. The carpet was diagonal to the building--facing East, toward Mecca. There were Arabic phrases written on the walls, posters telling people how much money to give, and verses from the Qur'an. In the back was a small door leading to a room where women were to congregate in prayer. To our left was a man reclining, posterior to the floor. His eyes were shut and he was quiet. In the far corner of the several hundred foot long building was a man reclining on his side. He chanted/mono-tone sang prayers to Allah in Arabic. We were silent as we stood taking in the simplicity, yet the presence of such a place. Prof turned and mouthed, "We'll spend a few moments in prayer and then leave." Without speaking, we took a few steps apart from one another and tried our best to pray. The chanting stopped. Prof quickly turned around and ushered us out, grabbing our shoes as we made our way out the door.

Once outside, the students were fairly quiet, but our prof asked us our thoughts. Most everyone agreed that it was difficult to pray. Apart from the distraction of such a place, there was a heavy spiritual presence that left little to no room for Christ. The only prayer I could bring was asking, "Christ, please penetrate this place."

We walked through two Islamic book stores and read through some of the literature. Much of it was in Arabic so we looked at pictures :) I had a hard time understanding their books discussing converting Christians to Muslims so I walked over to the children's section. I read through the Muslim version of the story about Noah's Ark. How different it was! Enough similarity to make the connection in the story, but drastically different to attribute that miracle to someone other than Yahweh.

No agenda with this post. Observations about a different culture(s) and about my own ignorance to the world.

Justifications of illness...

Junk food (A) is normally considered unhealthy (B).

Being sick (C) is considered being unhealthy (B).

So if junk food is unhealthy, and being sick is unhealthy, then eating junk food equals a function of being sick! For the math-minded: if A = B and B = C then A = C

Therefore, because I am already unhealthy with a cold, it is just fine and dandy for me to devour chocolate and other such joys normally considered "unhealthy."

The concept of Thought

A definition:

Organized views of a specific topic; a intelligent production of the mind; reasoning ability; the power to imagine.

I love to think. In my romantic view of life as a young adult, I dramatize my moments of intellectual creativity by taking my journal to a tea or coffee shop and processing through the things that rattle in the emptiness upstairs :) Sometimes I draw a diagram or a picture to illustrate. Oh man...that's when I'm REALLY thinking well ;)

I have been confronted by the reality of accountability...but more than in actions...accountability of THOUGHT. Sometimes it seems as though those things that are buried so deep in our being are not important because no one can see them. We are so wrong. Guess who sees them? :)

In my musings, I did some research:

• The Origin of Thought: The Heart
• Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, oh LORD my strength and my Redeemer."

• What you think in your heart is a reflection of your character.
• Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he..."

• The ability to think is a gift of God to be used with faith.
• Romans 12:3 "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

• When God calls us to repent, He tells us to repent in action AND thought.
  
• 1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
  
• Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD..."

Unopened books and unwritten pages

Good afternoon, friends.

Today, May 7th, is my sister's 22nd birthday.

Happy Birthday, Michelle. I wish you beauty and peace on a day dedicated to celebrating you.

The cool of the afternoon...

Stuck in my head

I didn't know who Shawn MacDonald was until I came to Moody. My Christian music library has certainly exploded since then :) I've been sitting at work for a few hours singing the few lines I know from this song, so I thought I'd share the lyrics with you. Look up the song sometime...very beautiful.

I want to be ready
When the Son Almighty comes
To lay claim to Him
And Him, alone
I want to be ready
To stand at His side
For His eyes to gaze upon me
In His glory and might

I want to be ready
For Him and Him, alone
I want to be

I want to be ready
To cry out His name
To lay up in His arms
Delight in His fame
I want to be ready
To be embraced by His love
Before Thee Almighty
To take me up above


I want to be ready
For Him and Him alone
I want to be... ready

To gaze upon Your throne
To give You all I own
O My King
To fall upon my knees
To give You all the glory

I want to be ready
For You alone
I want to be

The sun through the rain is like a smile through tears.

My dear friends and therefore loved ones...

May peace abound with each of you today. I have news to share with you.

By various people, situations, and reasons, God has strongly shut the door to going to Ghana this summer. I believe it is His good, perfect, and pleasing will to do so and I'm not questioning "why?"

For nearly my entire life, I have prayed so hard for dream that I believed God called me to. I still think God planted that desire in me so long ago to lead me to the place I am now. As for the fulfillment of that calling, perhaps it is not supposed to take the form of serving in Ghana or Sudan. Perhaps the fulfillment is far different, temporary, or futurist than I think. Or perhaps there is something else in store? Whatever God's plans, the last two days, God has made it so evident that He has different ideas in mind and He is in control.

For those of you that were so gracious and generous to pledge your time and energy in prayer as well as financial support, I am so grateful for your sacrificial love towards me. For the logistics of money, I will soon be sending the checks back to you so that money can be returned to your accounts.

Yesterday, I was not concerned that God may be pulling me out of an internship.

Today, I have not been concerned that God is changing the calling of my life--but I always knew that if and when that day took place, it would be a hard time...and it is. Change can be painful and sudden, but it is comforting to see the hand of God directing the change.

So...because He is faithful, all I can say is...

As you wish, Lord.

Have a good laugh...

The front fell off!

Mulling thoughts

Take a few minutes to write or type your answers down.

Question: Who are the people that inspire you to righteousness?

Internship Update

I received my first sponsorship today in the mail! Praise the Lord! This is actually happening!

Whatever befall...Jesus doeth all things well.

Rock of ages when the day seems long
From this labor and this heart ache I have come
The skies wear out, but You remain the same
Rock of ages I praise Your name.

Rock of ages You have brought me near
You have poured life, blood, Your love and Your tears
To make this stone heart come alive again
Rock of ages forgive my sin.

Rock of ages
Rock of ages
Bind Your children til the kingdom comes
Rock of ages, Your will be done.

Rock of ages when in want or rest
My desperate need for such a Savior I confess
And pull idols out from my hard embrace
Rock of ages, I need Your grace

Rock of ages
Broke and scorned for me
Who am I that You would die to make me free
To give me glory You took the death and the pain
Rock of ages, my offering

Rock of ages
Rock of ages
Bind Your children until the kingdom comes
Rock of ages, Your will be done.


Rock of ages, "It is done!" He cried
The curtains torn and I see justice satisfied
Now write Your mercy here on my heart and hands
Rock of ages, in faith I stand

Rock of ages, my great hope secured
You promise holds just like an anchor to my soul
And bind Your children with cords of love and grace
Rock of ages, we give You praise

Internship Update

The pressure's on...

I got an email today from the director of ECM (Every Child Ministries) that had my flight itinerary attached. Looks like I'll be flying from:

San Antonio-->Houston-->London-->Accra

I'm so excited! And nervous. The common theme for this has been waiting on God. The next thing to watch Him provide is finances. By April 23rd, I have a $2,500 payment due. The full amount has to be in by May $5,210. OOF! A good challenge. If the Lord doesn't provide, there is something else in store. We shall see. :) just PRAY.

The rest of my prayer/support letters are being sent in the next few days. If you'd like to know more about the trip and do not receive one in the next few days, let me know and I'll shoot you an email about it. :)

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In other news, it's SPRING in CHICAGO!!!! :D PRAISE HIM! The sun lives again!!!

blessings,
em