Visitors

Just five short days after we moved in, they arrived. Our first house guests. They came without invitation. They ate our food without permission. They neglected to clean up after themselves. They slept all day and got up just as we were going to bed. They scared our kids. They stubbornly refused to leave when we asked them. In fact, instead of leaving, they brought their friends to visit as well....Mice. Filthy, disgusting little creatures. They leave a trail of poop wherever they've been...in the utensil drawer, on the Tupperware and the cookie sheets. They've eaten the chips, the rice, the pasta....aah!

We killed four in less than 24 hours. It's all out war around here. 10 sticky pads and 12 mouse traps lie in wait in every nook and cranny. Pots, pans, and food are piled high in bins on the kitchen table and chairs....Looks like we'll be eating out for awhile. McDonald's anyone?

Country life

Well, thanks to many people from our new church, we got all moved in to our new home last Saturday. And, as predicted, we did need a forklift to get our mattresses up to the second floor. Some of us were skeptical, but it worked, and was quite entertaining. We're just hoping that the forklift is available when we move out of Looney Lane and into a new home. : )

We are slowly adjusting to life in the country. We are all on a bit of a learning curve though. I am learning about pellet stoves, septic tanks, riding lawnmowers, and most importantly how to pronounce the word "creek" (It's pronounced "crick" for all you city folks.). The kids are enjoying it. However, the first day I sent the kids out to play they returned within 10 min. and told me there was nothing to do out there. (Our house is situated on 1000 acres with a creek running through it.) I laughed and promptly sent them back outside and told them to try again...Sure enough the kids have been having a blast and I've been washing lots of muddy clothes!

Life on Looney Lane....

...begins tomorrow. Our stuff arrives tomorrow and we begin life anew in a farmhouse built in 1865. Today we met with the owner and learned about all the unique characteristics of the house, including many "special" features, such as a stairwell so narrow that our beds and dressers will have to be hoisted up to the second floor with a forklift and brought through an upstairs window...
I look forward to posting those pictures for your viewing enjoyment. Trying to keep a sense of humor through it all...

Leaving Spokane

Sunday, we worshiped for the last time as members of FBC. We hugged dear friends that we have served with for many years. Then, yesterday we said a tearful goodbye to my family, loaded up in our van and left Spokane. Spokane... where we've lived for 18 years, where we grew from a family of 2 to a family of 7...where we were mentored and discipled, where we grew to love the church...

As we left everything we know and have come to love, we felt as if our hearts were breaking... As I was praying for encouragement, The Lord brought a passage of Scripture to mind. Mark 10, "And Peter said, 'Lord, we have left everything to follow you.' And then Jesus said 'Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive many times more in this life and in the age to come, eternal life."

Must-read book

In between packing boxes and cleaning out closets this month, I read Radical:Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt. It is one of the most challenging books that I have ever read. I have been talking about it so much with Roland and reading him so many excerpts, he's reading it now too. A couple sentences from the book summarize it well..."The American dream radically differs from the call of Jesus and the essence of the gospel...We have in many areas blindly and unknowingly embraced values and ideas that are common in our culture but are antithetical to the gospel Christ taught." ouch.

The book is incredibly thought-provoking and has left me pleading with the Lord to make my life more about His kingdom and less about my comforts and pleasures.
Here are a few excerpts that I've been chewing on:

"The question for us then, is whether we trust in His power. And the problem for us is that in our culture we are tempted at every turn to trust in our own power instead. So the challenge for us is to live in such a way that we are radically dependent on and desperate for the power that only God can provide." (But, I know, in America, we have to make choices that will lead us to that place of dependence...)

"Are we willing to fundamentally alter our understanding of Christianity from a luxury-liner approach that seeks more comforts in this world to a troop carrier approach that forsakes comforts in the world to accomplish an eternally significant task and achieve an eternally satisfying reward?"

"Though you and I find ourselves surrounded by the lure of temporary pleasures, we must fasten our affections on the one who promises eternal treasure that will never spoil or fade. If our lives are going to count on this earth, we must start by concentrating on heaven. For then, and only then, will you and I be free to take radical risk, knowing that what awaits us is radical reward."