These are some of the words that come to mind as I think of our beautiful children: Isaac, Eyerusalem, and Tizita.

The last few days we have celebrated our children.  Yes, all our children have their birthdays within the span of three days.  Makes for several full days!

They are a gift.

Somedays of parenting feel very natural and full of joy.  Sometimes my heart swells with joy and pride as I hear our son tell another child about Jesus or watch our daughters shine Jesus merely by their light and beauty– What marvelous creations of beauty they are! Other days, I feel like I am barely crawling, trying to throw something healthy together for dinner so that their tummies are full and satisfied, while I simply opt out of eating and fall to my bed in total exhaustion as soon as they are asleep. Sometimes I wonder if they will ever catch on— how many times do I have to instruct them over and over on the same thing!  Other days, I watch them make the right decision and realize, “oh, they DO get it!”

Today I am reminded again, that they are a gift to us.  Not only are they a gift, but they are God’s craftsmanship– His artwork.  To remember this, takes some weight off my shoulders.  Though I try to be in control and mold and shape them how I believe they should live and be according to Scripture, God gently reminds me today that they are His.

Today we celebrate the gift of our children, a gift from ABOVE.  We rejoice in HIS creativity and work.  

As our time away from Miami and ministry comes closer to an end and we try to settle back into some normal rythmns of life here I have begun to reflect on our summer and the immense gift that is was to us. It was clear that God was directing our movements and that even when we had to redirect at times when we didn’t want to or see why we needed to it later became obvious to us that we were walking in the way laid out before us.

I am not going to attempt to break the whole summer down for you and explain all of the nuances of what we learned or experienced, that may come in bits and pieces but it will never be fully explained as that is impossible. I will say that God has been speaking to us in ways we didn’t expect and allowing us to rest in Him in ways that we hadn’t anticipated. We have learned a bit about resting as a family (no small task with three very energetic, adventurous, creative and young kids in tow) and how to discern what is our desire (or lack thereof) and what is His leading and directing. Africa was healing in ways we didn’t for see, regular exercise and fun together has helped us regain some stamina and balance, time resting in God’s creative beauty whether on beaches, in backyards or on mountain tops have been sent as a balm to our weary souls.

But one main thing I am coming away from this summer is a deep sense of gratitude for the very fact that we were able to do this. Gratitude for a ministry leadership (both InnerChange and U Rez board) who saw the need for us to have a break and did all they could to make it happen. Gratitude for many of you who helped make it happen financially. And gratitude for the rest that God has given us.

5 years is half of our married life.

5 years is 5/7 of Isaac’s life and a year longer than the twin’s.

5 years is the longest period of time Erika and I have lived anywhere since we met in 1996.

Yes for our lives five years is a long time, a big investment, and a significant one. It represents God at work in us in ways we never really thought would happen. I means we have now spent more time invested in ministry and life in Miami than we have in Africa with all of our trips combined. It means the Miami is “home” to our kids more than anywhere else on the planet and for Erika and I that is significant.

5 years…yesterday July 14th marked the 5 year anniversary of our move to Miami. On July 14th, 2005 Erika, Isaac and I moved our family to Miami. We knew no one here except our friend Seth McKennon who had only moved here a month before in order to join our startup team. We simply knew that God had led us to move here and so we did. It was simply obedience…not simple in practice but simple in that when God says move or go you do it. We moved and ever since we have been stretched and prodded, moored to a place we thought an unlikely perch for our family for the long-term. But looking back we have seen His hand at work and have seen a ministry grow up out of nothing. We have had our family grow from 3 to 5 people through the adoption of our beautiful twins. We have seen our staff grow to five and our volunteer base to 12. We have experienced heartache and grief, joy and celebration. We have seen lives literally transformed over time as God moved in seemingly impossible situations. We have seen Him free the captives literally from prison and from addiction. We have seen Him dig out some of our dark and broken places and replace them with Himself. We have been changed and molded and prepared. In it all we have had to constantly hold on tight to His grace and sufficiency. It has been Him and Him alone that has kept us here. Yes we have grown to love our neighbors and the Grove, we have become family in a very significant way to many in the neighborhood and they have become ours as well. We have experienced death and loss but we have also seen new life and resurrection.

God has been at work and will continue to work in and through our lives. There is so much more to describe to reflect on to glean from these last five years. Much much more than can ever be put into a blog entry. Who knows in five more years we may be celebrating our 10 years in Miami or there many be a different trajectory altogether. Bottom line though…we pray that by His grace we will be celebrating five more years of following Him to where ever He leads to do whatever He wants in the way that He pleases.

As I rode in taxis and walked the streets, I watched the faces of so many Ethiopians busy about life and I saw Jesus’ beauty.

As I watched our children play and discover in wonderment, creativity and awe, I saw Jesus.

As I watched men and women with leprosy weave amazing fabric with dignity and pride, I saw Jesus’ creativity.

As I listened to the heart of my dear friends who are ministers of the Gospel in Ethiopia, I heard Jesus’ heart.

But one of the most profound ways that I saw the image or reflection of Jesus was in the kindness of Shamil and Zenaba, a father and a daughter who are Muslim.  Shamil and Zenaba shared the small compound where we lived.  Living with each other on the compound, obviously we shared our daily lives and families together.  As I experienced their hospitality and love for my children- as Zenaba painted the nails of my girls and Shamil played frisbee with Isaac or ran errands for us, I was convicted and struck by this image of Jesus I also saw in them.  I have had such little experience with Muslims, but  as I watched these sweet people interact with my children, experience their kindness myself,  and heard the heart of my missionary friends who have devoted their lives to work with Somalis, I felt as if the Lord was saying to me– “My image is written of the face of all people. I reveal my kindness in mysterious ways.” In the same moment I was drawn to pray for the redemption of His imagine and the salvation of these sweet friends.

June 29, 2010

Of course, we had some ambitiously grand plans to travel about the country and see different areas of this amazing place. It just isn’t going to happen the way we had planned. The plan entailed a lot of movement, which means expense and energy we simply don’t have. We have also realized that simply being in Addis around such amazing community has been a refreshing experience. We have begun to see just how much we need other families around us who are raising multiple kids in a mission context.

I have been surprised by the stirring it has caused inside of me each time we have been in deep conversation with one or two of the couples here as all of our kids swirl around us in a beautiful chaos. I have realized that there is something deeply soothing to my soul having a couple of other solid fathers around me who are leaning into Christ and leading their families as best they can in the midst of some pretty tough life challenges. It has also been great to watch Erika spend time with the other wives/mothers with whom she has such a deep heart connection already and to see them mutually minister to each other and to share from the heart about the challenges of rearing children and the added effort it takes in a ministry context. Then there are the kids. Watching them play freely with all of the other kids around here and expressing themselves in really creative ways as only missionary kids seem to do anymore has been awesome. Between the 3 main families we have been hanging out with there are 11 kids (not including ours) ranging from 1 to 14 in age. One family the Beethams (whom we have already mentioned) have already adopted two kids from here and the Pritchards are in the process of also adopting two. The Bergers have also been a huge blessing to us and we have all grown very close in such a short time. There is rarely a day that goes by that we do not spend several hours with one or several of these families together and they have pretty well defined our time here in Ethiopia. In many ways it has been exactly what we have needed in spite of our desire to travel and explore. Our time spent in the seemingly mundane, hanging out with other families, has done more to restore us than anything else we have done here.

This past Sunday we spent almost the entire day with these families. We first held church in the Pritchard’s home. We all gathered and talked and connected and then sang together in worship, studied several Scriptures about the Father God and then had a time of prayer for each other and our ministries. In just this little group we represented Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Ecuador and the USA! (usually there is also a Somali presence). It felt very natural for us to be a part of this gathering. Then we all went out to a local restaurant and ate a meal together. After this we went to the Bergers home and spent some time with them until they went on a date and we watched their kids for them. The day started at 930 am with them and ended at 8pm. It felt so natural and like a home for us in many ways. I truly am praying more earnestly for this same home community to grow up around us in Miami where we are in deep need of other solid families to minister along side of in addition to the many singles we already have there.  God knows the desires of our hearts as well as the needs of our souls and will provide according to His will in this as He always does in His perfect time.

June 22, 2010

Today was a pretty low-key day. We spent most of the morning getting organized, and helping get the house cleaned up with the house help. Yes, house help. It is one of the benefits and challenges of living in Africa. Almost everyone who is employed including those who have very little money have someone else helping with common household tasks such as cleaning the floors, cooking, laundry, guarding the house at night, and running small errands. Some households such as the one we are staying in now employ an average of 3 workers. The Jost family who have lent us their house while we are here and they are on home assignment in Switzerland (they are Swiss) has a man named Shamil who does the outside garden, takes care of the pets (we have a dog, 4 cats, a rabbit, and a tortus) and guards the compound at night.  Sena comes and does household cleaning a couple times a week, and helps Erika cook some basics.  Shamil’s daughter  also helps a few times a week by washing clothes (by hand) and ironing them if need be.

As you can imagine this can be something one has to get used to when coming from America but it is a very necessary part of life for both the house owners and for the workers themselves. It provides essential employment in a country that has an extremely high unemployment rate of over 53% (and we complain when it we are over 9% in the US). And for the house owner or employer it allows for the time to be freed up to do the ministry or other focus they are doing for employment themselves.  If this wasn’t common then it would be a full time job just surviving in Africa and keeping a household with kids and everything involved together: washing clothes by hand, cooking everything from scratch, etc.

Another opportunity it provides is to bring people right into your lives and allow them to see the good, the bad and the ugly. This may sound like a negative and it can be at times. But is it actually a great sense of accountability, a place to learn cultural and language things and a way to share Christ through your lives and generosity if handled well. We have seen missionaries who have brought the workers into their family very effectively and have had a tremendous spiritual effect as well as a deep relationship with them even to the point of extended family.  Actually one of the young men that I hired to help me with the garden and upkeep of the yard in Uganda still keeps in touch with us and calls us mother and father. He was only 16 when he worked for us so this means he is now 22!

None –the- less it is a challenge for us since we are here in Ethiopia only a short time and not able to build the depth of relationship we normally would. It has been a good reminder of just another aspect of life that ministry in Africa brings.

It is called the Asni Art Village and is a collective of  11 visual artists who experiment  with fine arts, exhibit art works and exchange concepts with a vision of establishing a Museum of Contemporary Art in Ethiopia.  www.asniartvillage.com.et It is an amazingly creative place and they are doing a lot with a little. It was really fun for us to take the kids and they had a ton of fun messing around and REALLY and LITERALLY “getting into” their art. They were able to do painting, clay sculpting, paper, and collaborated with all of the other youth on a mural using squirt painting methods and such. They even mixed the different mediums together like clay with painting etc.

The experience was a ton of fun and very unique to an African art experience. We have never seen anything like it anywhere we have been and it was truly remarkable that even the Ethiopians we talked to knew nothing about it. It is a truly hidden gem in a very old estate set in the middle of a large beautiful park. We have some great pictures of the whole experience but they will have to come later as we cannot upload pics with our weak connection to the internet here.

Living on a compound has been really interesting for us. We have never really done it before and have often wondered about how it would be to live this way. There are 11 households in all including ours but also 3 smaller guest apartments in a triplex. All of the houses are full at the moment and there are lots of kids.  For this time and for our purposes in being here in Ethiopia it has been a tremendous blessing in many ways.

The missionaries have been very welcoming. There is a lot of space for the kids to roam around and explore as well as some fun sports equipment, a soccer field, basketball court, and, Isaac’s favorite, some gymnastics bars for him to practice on.  Probably the best part of living on this compound has been the safe space for the kids to play with a lot of other missionary kids and for us to be able to watch them enjoy nature together.

During the mornings when we are not out exploring some aspect of the city or culture we stick closer to the house we are staying in on the compound and the kids play outside almost the whole day. Because school is still in session here Isaac is the oldest kid around until mid afternoon. So we often see him, with John and Ben Beetham, Eyerusalem and Tizita getting into some fun things.

Today they discovered a big hand pump for the water bore hole and they were determined that they would fill a bucket up so they could create a kid sized water fall in the drainage ditch that runs alongside of the big circular drive. It was hilarious to watch them struggle to push and pull the big heavy lever together and to see the ingenuity that comes about when a bunch of MK’s get together. After the pump and waterfall, they decided to play in the newly made mud and create some mud pies and write their initials in them. Later in the day we had a rousing game of soccer with adults and kids alike before settling down to watch Spain lose amazingly to Switzerland in the World Cup game today. There were many other adventures and misadventures today including dog bites, diaharea, painting, army ants, and much much more but we will save those stories for another time.