Jump for Jubilee!

There's a huge party going on over here in Kailua-Kona because YWAM is 50 this year! What better way to celebrate than to be under the starry Hawaiian sky and reflecting on all that God has done?
At tonight's opening celebration, there were 209 flags representing the countries that have a YWAM connection. Think about that number ... it's amazing! Jonathan had the privilege of carrying his country's flag from Papua New Guinea (many of our friends said, "But he's Chinese!")
Justice said that he hopes he is working at YWAM when they celebrate their 100th birthday. Then he quickly added, "only if that's what God wants me to be doing."

What do you want to do with your next 50 years? What's keeping you from doing it?

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Since the very first day at YWAM I decided to give thanks in ALL situations. That was to be tested immediately when we got word that Cara's flight got cancelled and she would be arriving late. When she arrived I looked at her and said, "In all things give thanks... for what, I don't know, but let's be thankful."
A month later God let us in on His plans. Cara's grandma passed away in Oregon. God, through his infinite love and grace, provided Cara with the means to go back home (she got a flight voucher from the airlines) to be with her family -- all because her flight was cancelled.
So, this Thanksgiving I want to celebrate ALL that is happening in our lives.
I'm thankful for being at YWAM, for the constant buzz around campus, for being able to devote my time to Jesus, for having the miracle maker set me free from the bondages that have held me captive, for freeing Micah from his bondages, for amazing sunsets that I can see from my window each night, and for family and friends both near and far.
Happy Thanksgiving, we're so thankful for you!

The city of brotherly love

There's been some tension in our home for quite some time, mostly surrounding Micah. At his parent-teacher meeting one of the teachers asked why Micah is so contrary. I don't know why my son's heart is so hard. I don't know why he'll say "no" to every "yes".
Last week our class did a program called Plumbline. In short, part of the teaching was about personality types and how we relate to people and situations.
Through that I noticed that Micah (and I) had a spirit of judgement. Often times he would tell Isaiah what to do, how to do it, what to say, and all the ways that Isaiah was doing something wrong. I asked Micah if he could trust mommy and daddy to raise Isaiah and allow Isaiah to be Isaiah. For once he gave a muffled, "yes." That was one week ago.
Today, Isaiah was really thirsty at lunch. I got up to get him a cup of water, but Micah was already on his way back with one for him. Miracles do happen!

In Living Color

Do you remember that tv show back in the 90s called In Living Color? It had a spot where a Jamaican family all worked at least a dozen jobs each. I'm sure there's clips of it on Youtube--it was quite hilarious.
I'm remembering that because I was like the Jamaican woman in my senior year in college. I was going to school full-time (with a 3.8 GPA), had 2 part-time jobs, was the assistant news director for our college radio station, interned at the local television station news department, was the pledge mistress for our sorority AND planned our wedding! I'm sure I'm leaving things out!
So, being in school again with deadlines and lectures, campus living and the like, I'm able to (for the most part) really manage my time. I think it's almost easy since I don't need to do the day-to-day craziness of life like cooking tons of meals, yardwork, housework, etc.
Housework now consists of wiping down our one counter, vacuuming our one square of carpet, cleaning our one sink, sanitizing our one toilet and scrubbing our one shower stall. Ten minutes later and I'm ready to hit the beach!
What isn't so easy is finding the space to really soak in the teaching how I want to without any little boys clinging to me. I have yet to find that quiet oasis where I can just be. I'm sure it's out there, I just need to find it.

**Stay tuned to a follow-up post on this matter ...

More than meets the eye

Justice asked me the other day, "what does 'more than meets the eye' mean?" Of course, he heard this from Transformers, but it was a good segue to a meaningful chat with my beloved son.
Today we took the boys to Lapakahi State Park, which is an ancient Hawaiian village. We brought along our YWAM sack lunch and was looking for a place to eat. Early on the trail we found a big tree with a nice rock wall. Looked like the perfect place to stop until we found out that it was used as a burial ground. That is "more than meets the eye" plus!

More details of our day

Still trying to paint the picture of our new life in Kona!

Every week we have a guest speaker who speaks on a certain topic. Each week we have six pages of homework to put in our journal: 2 pages reflecting on what we learned from the speaker, 1 page listing five quiet times, 2 pages of a Bible verse meditation, 1 page listing highs and lows of the week.

In addition, we have book reports that are due. We are reading through Is that really you God by Loren Cunningham and Present Perfect by ?

In my free time :) ( Ha! what is free time again?) I want to learn more about Cambodia.