Treasure Island?

Celebrating Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon, at a mall in the capitol city

It was made out of fabric, so gorgeous in person, not sure the camera captured it as beautiful as it looked

Even in the midst of Hudson's accident, this past week was one of such fantastic fun and great fellowship. I love hanging with my other islander gals! Thankfully, the same volunteers from VA (same ch*rch, mostly same people) have been coming over here for at least three years now to host our homeschool conference. What a blessing that has been. Good for us to establish friendships with them and also so great for our kids to have some continuity in their lives which are so often filled with goodbyes and change. Yes, they spoil us with fun food (like velveeta and rotel..be still my heart!), test our kids, grade those tests (Iowa Standardized Tests) so that we have the results before we leave, but they also remind us that the CEO is still at work in the hearts of men! You may think that odd to say but many of us live in tough areas where results are.. s l o w ...! There is just something awesome about knowing that these people gave up vacation time, missed family birthdays, and spent over a thousand of their hard earned money during a not-so-great economy to come m*inister to us!

Yikes..asjdhdjf ...sorry it's hard to see the keyboard through the tears! I am so serious...wow! If that doesn't amaze and humble you then you need to go to a hospital and see if your heart is still beating! I am so grateful that our company recognizes the need for this in our lives and that there are people so willing to make sacrifices to make it happen! I have said it before, but I will say it again...thank you Swift Creek BC Volunteers and ch*rch body!!

The girls thought the cupcake was cute, I think my sweet girls take the cake! :)

Now with that being said...It's the final day, we have said goodbye to the volunteers, most of our friends have left to catch their flights back home and Barry and I are in the middle of a 3 hour car ride coming back from changing our return airline tickets and buying Barry one. It's about that time that he gets "that look". No! Not "THAT LOOK"! He gives me the look that says, "I need to tell you something that you are not going to want to hear", I know that look.

I am not a fan of that look, it usually means that something in my life is about to change and there is usually no going back. GULP!!

Then as if according to a script he says, "Can I tell you something?" Wow..as I type this I just realized that the next time he says those words I am just going to say, "No, no you can't!" :)

Anyway, remember that I have had a particularly stressful week dealing with Hudson and receiving treatment for him in a national hospital all the while hearing awful stories of things that have gone wrong for other people's children, it was a bit overwhelming. So as Barry speaks, all kinds of things flash through my mind, someone died, Hudson's arm isn't really okay, the rat escaped the storage room and ate my couch, or maybe we have been randomly selected to not go stateside this year! I mean all kinds of crazy stuff passed through my gray matter in just seconds, but I was not prepared for what that news really was....we could lose our home.

That was unexpected.

He proceeds to tell me that within seconds of hanging up with me from when I called to tell him that Hudson had broken his arm, our landlord stopped by and said that when the lease is up in May (right before stateside) he does not want to renew. He has family moving back to town and he wants it for them. Our company has been renting that house for like 11 years, it really never occurred to us that this could happen.

OOF.....(while that is one of our company's many, many, acronyms, it is also the sound made when one is punched in the gut!)

Breathe....

As I type this it is almost laughable that I find myself in a predicament where I am clinging to a house that 10 years ago would have made me cry if I had to move into it! Funny how perspective changes things.

For someone who all her life has wanted her own home, and yet never has, this is one of those times that I hear The CEO saying, "Trust me." Yes, a few tears were shed, and we discussed what Barry had discussed with our supervisors and other company personnel that deal with these issues and I have a peace about the whole thing now...though, make no mistake, I still don't want to have to move...but I also realize that a) I may have no choice, and b) I may be passing up a great opportunity picked special for us by the CEO.

Perspective.

"Where your treasure is......"

In the Manual, Matt 6, the Son is speaking about earthly possessions. In verse 19 He says "Don't collect treasures on earth". In essence He is saying "hold on loosely to things in this world". When you begin to cling to your stuff, then you lose control and your stuff begins to control you. In verse 24 the Son said, "You can't serve two masters, you'll love one and hate the other". "You cannot be slaves of both The CEO and money."

How awful it would be to be over here and cling to what little I possess and miss out on what the CEO had planned for us. Eeeek! We all know that clinging to our stuff causes anxiety and worry, both of which are sin in our lives. It all goes hand in hand. Who by worrying can add one day to their life, or in my case, keep hold of a house? No one....including me.

Perspective.

It's not just an artistic term for me anymore.

Please join us in lifting up this issue to the CEO. Remember, your words spoken to the CEO our our behalf and on the behalf of those we work with and try to reach are crucial to what we do.

While the other kids looked around, Haddon stayed with us and she fell in love with these boats on the fourth floor!

She also wanted to go sit in the lighthouse  but there was a group already eating in there.  So cute!

Haddie and Daddy on the boat!

Hanging out at our friends house, good food and lots of fun and laughter!

Excuse me, I am going to go drink a Dr. Pepper and eat a few Cheese Nips before the children wake up....uh...I mean...ya' know, I don't want them clinging too much to the things of this world. It's for the children, really! :)

Tune in next week to hear me say, "Hey, who ate the last Twizzler?"