Father's Blessings

It has been a while since I last posted, but so much has happened so fast that I have not had time until right now as it is Father's day and Ellianna has gone down for a nap.

Right now my wife is making fun of me because of my ties.  For Father's day every year I have told my family I would like a tie.  This year, I got many ties.  My wardrobe for teaching requires I wear dress pants and a shirt with a tie, so we spent 3 hours this last week in Walmart trying on different combinations of pants and shirts and ties.  I thought we were done, but then Colleen goes to a different store and buys me a solid pink tie.  I love the tie and will be proud to wear it.  Thanks for the Father's Day gift.

Looking at the picture you will see our children packed and ready to go, tomorrow!  Yikes, not weeks from now, or even days, but hours, about 30 as I write this.  We found out Thursday our plane will be leaving Monday so this did not give much time.  Also, we found out Wednesday night our house has sold!  Many, many blessings being poured out; where if you were to ask me even 3 weeks ago about our trip, I would have said we are patiently waiting and it feels like a dry time, where nothing is happening, but now the floodgates have opened and everything is happening fast and furious.

Another reason I have not blogged much in the last while is I am going through Ezekiel in my devotions and it is a difficult book.  It feels like day after day it is God pronouncing judgement on Judah and the surrounding countries for turning to the idols of this world and I will have to admit, I don't feel like I am growing.  But as I look back on the last month or so, God has moved me from a carpenter to a teacher, kind of like Jesus whose example I am following.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I can get caught up in the day to day that I forget to look at the big picture and see God is moving in our life.  Kind of like our children.  We met Emily Willms last night and she hasn't seen Jolen since the middle of April, 2 months ago, and I have not seen much of a difference in him, but to Emily, who did not see him everyday, he has grown a ton.  So, if I look at where God has moved me from doing deputation to different churches to now, ready to leave, He has moved me and prepared the way for us to go, but I, being in the moment, cannot see it until I step back and see the big picture.

So my next blog will be from Kiev, Ukraine (God willing) and I will be happy to share more of what God is teaching me.  Blessings until then!