Who do you trust?

The main teacher at the retreat was an AMAZING woman named Bettie. She was 73 years old and FULL of spunk. She had so many wonderful things to say and she even shared her unbelievable testimony with us. During one of the teaching sessions she said, "Trust what God says to you through your quiet time more than what the world says to you all day long." Wow. It really spoke to me. I have been known to be a people pleaser and I regard highly what others say about me and my family and our work, etc. It is easy for me to get distracted. To hear God speak so clearly to me about a certain issue or struggle or decision in the morning during my time with Him and then to let the world and those around me sway my feelings on the issue. I often second guess what I heard from the Lord or question if it was just me making something up and I am sure there have been many times that I have gotten a clear answer from God but have made the wrong decision because I listened to what the world was telling me and did not listen to what I know God was speaking to me. I am definitely not saying that you should not take counsel from the godly men and women that God puts around you...that is not it at all. I am simply saying that if I know God has spoken to me, even if it sounds a bit "crazy" or different than what I would have liked or expected, then I need to just do it and not analyze about it with others and be creative about how I can not do it and still be obeying.

Reign over all my dreams...

During one of our sessions at the ladies retreat, we sang the song, "Lord Reign in Me". I love that song but as I was singing it one line hit me especially hard...reign over all my dreams....You know when you are singing a song that you know (even in worship) and you just get into the routine of singing and don't really realize all that you are saying? Well, that is what happened to me as I sang. I realized that I was asking God to reign over all my dreams (whether I meant it in my heart or not). Was I ready for that? Did I truly mean it? Do I truly want Him to be in control of my dreams, my plans, my future? Wow. It was a lot to take in all at once. Was I truly wanting to give over my reign and let HIM reign in my life? After I thought about it (while I stopped singing for a second and began praying) I realized that YES, of course I want God to reign over EVERYTHING in my life, even when giving control over to Him is not easy. I do have dreams, things I hope will happen some day, some things that are important, others are not, others may even sound silly if I were to list them here but either way, I know that the best person to rule over those dreams is God himself. I do want Him to reign over all my dreams! I want to desire what He wants for me and not what I want for myself.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Lots to say...

I had the amazing opportunity to attend a ladies retreat here in Kathmandu during the first week of October. A wonderful group of ladies came from America to serve and minister to about 10 ladies (including me) who are serving here in South Asia. It was a wonderfully refreshing, fun and worshipful time. God spoke to me so much throughout the week. Over the next couple of posts I would like to share with you some of the things I heard that really spoke to me. Most of them are just one line quotes from the ladies who were teaching or words from a friend during small group time, but God used them mightily in my life to make me think and reflect and make changes. I pray that God will speak to you through these words as He has me.

P.S. The wonderful ladies served us and gave us pedicures, facials and massages. Here you can see me and some friends getting pedicures....I know...we are spoiled!

Back in the saddle again....

Well, it has been a BUSY few weeks! I honestly have not had time to do many of the things that I usually enjoy (and need to do) such as running, blogging and even having my quiet times with the Lord. Yesterday was the first day in a LONG time that I was able to do all three. I felt like a new woman. I have enjoyed what we have been doing but I have also missed the time I usually have to do those things. Hopefully, things have slowed down (a little) bit and I will be able to blog more soon. I have SO much I want to write about. I have been learning so much and look forward to sharing it with you. For now, I just wanted to let you know that I am still here....

Long day in Kathmandu

Yesterday was a LONG day. The babies are waking up earlier these days...5:30 am to be exact! I tried to put them to bed a little later last night to see if that would make a difference and I gave them a little more food before they went to bed but to no avail...5:30 am was our wake up time once again today. I am definitely not complaining. As it is, they sleep for 10 1/2 to 11 hours straight...I just would like for it to be that they go to bed a bit later and then wake up a bit later. But for now, I will just try to go to bed a little earlier and wait for my 5:30 wake up call. So, our LONG day yesterday began at 5:30!

After my refreshing day on Sunday I felt really ready to start our busy week on Monday. But it was still a LONG day and at the end of it I was very, very tired, frustrated and ready to get home. Running errands in Kathmandu means something totally different than it does in America. The roads are bad, the air is extremely dusty and dirty, the stores and places are spread all over town and are hard to get to and the traffic is horrible. I am not saying that we don't deal with these things in America...I definitely remember sitting in traffic for hours on the parkway or 95 but in many, many ways it is just different.

We left the house at 10 am yesterday and did not return home until 7:00 pm. In many ways that doesn't seem like that long but the babies were with us and we did so little during that time (most of it was spent sitting in traffic) that it just was too much. In 9 hours we drove to a new families flat to help get it set up, went to a paint store (twice) to bring the painter to the new flat to get it painted, went to eat lunch and go to the ATM, and drove to the grocery store and then came home...If all of that went very smoothly with no traffic (which doesn't EVER happen in Nepal) it should have only taken us 5 hours at the most. (I know all of you have had days like this!)

All that to say that I did not plan to be out for so many hours. The babies did so well through it all (thankfully) but I did not have enough food for them for one of their feedings (and we were far away from the grocery store) and here in Nepal we unfortunately do not have mini marts or grocery stores where I can just go and grab some baby food conveniently. So, I did what any mother would do in a situation like that (hungry babies, no baby food) and I bought some bananas on the side of the road while we were in traffic and I chewed it up in my mouth and fed it to the babies. I know, I know...GROSS. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do! I have seen my Nepali friends do this (this is actually the way that they usually feed their babies solid food)...and I said..."NEVER". But you know what they say, "Never say never". Keane and Gracie did not seem to mind at all. Oh, life in Nepal. Ryan and I were both so tired after the day that he fell asleep at 8:45 pm and I followed shortly thereafter.

**The pictures above are just to give you a good picture of the traffic and pollution here and the one picture of all the guys pushing the truck was taken by my parents on their trip in 2006 but I thought it was worthy for this post because crazy things like that happen EVERY day in Nepal...I mean you would think that the guys on top would at least get off and help push...

Refreshed...

Today has been a wonderful day. The best word that I can use to describe my feelings right now is refreshed. I feel this way because...

1. My husband is home with me and it is wonderful. I love sharing my life with him and life is much more fun and relaxing when he is with me.
2. It is the weekend and we have been able to spend some time relaxing as a family before jumping into a very busy week.
3. Our Internet is working SO well these days and so this morning we were able to talk to Ryan's parents on Skype AND use the web cams at the same time (I was also able to talk to my parents and use the web cam with them a couple of days ago). It was refreshing to see them and to have them see the babies and all the new things they are doing these days.
4. We had a family worship time this morning and listened to a sermon from pastor, J.D. Greear, from our home church, The Summit, online. His current series is titled, "Why I am not a Christian: 7 common objections to Christianity." It is really awesome! If you are interested in getting J.D.'s weekly pod casts click here.
5. Ryan stayed home with the babies so that I could go to the hotel across the street and have some time away for a few hours this afternoon. I was able to exercise, lay out by the pool and spend some time at the beauty parlor getting my eyebrows threaded and a head massage while they washed my hair...SO relaxing.
6. While I was exercising today working on completing week 5 of my c25k running program I ran for 20 minutes (about 2 1/2 miles) straight! It is a huge accomplishment for me. Now I am officially half way through my program and have 4 1/2 more weeks to work up to running for 30 minutes straight. Hopefully I can do it sooner than that!
7. The weather was so beautiful this morning which enabled me to go and sit by the pool but now that I am finished with that I am home and the rain clouds have drifted in and we are having a full blown Sunday afternoon thunderstorm. The cool air is blowing through the screen door. Keane is taking a nap. Gracie is about to go down for hers. I am blogging. Ryan is watching a movie. Relaxing.

Refreshed. Ready to start my week...(after a few more hours of a wonderful Sunday that is).

So special...

Ryan got home from his trek on Friday (one day early) and I was so excited and happy to see him. Once he got a (much needed) shower and spent some time playing with the babies we sat down and looked through all of his pictures as he told me all about their trip and the things they had seen and done. The guys had a great time together. It was fun to hear all of his stories and hear his feelings about it as soon as he returned home. He also showed me this picture that he took at the Throngla Pass (17,500 feet) on the Annapurna Circuit. It was so sweet and made me smile and feel so special and loved. I am so blessed to have Ryan in my life.