The Freedom of Submission

I praise the Lord for HIS work in my life and how HE continues to change me, mold me and make me more like Himself. The last 2 weeks have been exhaustingly refreshing, I normally wouldn’t put those two words together but I can’t really think of any other way to describe it. I guess it’s the whole idea of being at the end of yourself (utter exhaustion) and relying completely on the strength of the Lord (refreshment). The Lord has literally blown me away with blessings and encouragement day after day from the sermons at church, to the girls on my volleyball team, to the enriching conversations with Stephen, to the Baptist Bible College Girls volleyball team coming to visit! I can say with honesty and transparency that I have recently discovered the freedom of submitting to Lord’s will for us being here in Honduras.

This realization came after a conversation Stephen and I had about all the really GREAT things that God is doing here in Honduras. I distinctly remember sitting on the kitchen counter sharing with each other what we’re learning, how we’re growing and how God is using us. Stephen is having opportunities day after day to invest in the lives of young men, to teach them how to become better leaders. He has the opportunity to take some of the young men under his wing and mentor them in how to coach and in their walk with the Lord. It was that day in the kitchen that we realized even if it’s for one kids life to be transformed, then it’s worth it. It’s worth the inconvenience, it’s worth being away from family, and it’s worth being uncomfortable. Not saying that it’s always easy but we were not called by the Lord to be happy or to be comfortable, we are called to be faithful and obedient. Because of that revelation I now feel that I have freedom to live in the submission of God’s plan for me, His plan for us here in Honduras.

Not only was it that conversation in the kitchen that day but it continued by having the girls volleyball team from Baptist Bible College, where Stephen and I attended, come and visit! It was after I got home from picking them up from the airport and spending the day sharing with them all the wonderful things about Honduras that I realized, as I had begun embracing God’s plan for us and enjoying it, God was allowing me the privilege of sharing that joy with others. I am so thankful for the volleyball team coming and the great blessing and encouragement that they were.

As we submit to the Lord there will be freedom in all that He has to offer, and I firmly believe that it will be exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ask or think.

Colossians 3:15-17¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

February Update!

I praise the Lord for the change of seasons, as we head further into February we head into dry season here, which means A LOT of dust, dirt and most important sunshine! As much as I love the rain I am thankful to see the sunshine in the mornings (it makes it much easier to get up and start my day.) Now I know a lot of you are still experiencing full on winter but spring is coming : ) OR come visit us and enjoy a little warmth!

Since the beginning of the month Stephen’s middle school soccer team has finished up their season with a disappointing loss at the end to prevent them from going to the tournament BUT overall had one of the best seasons compared to the last several years with 2 wins and 11 goals! It was encouraging to see the boys mature in their ability to play soccer and grow as a team.

Also, since the beginning of February I have started coaching volleyball with another one of the teachers at the school, we are coaching the girls’ varsity team. So far it’s going really well, and I am really enjoying it! I will keep you all posted on how our season is going!

We also got to celebrate a special little girls first birthday! We praise the Lord for wonderful friends, and feel truly blessed to have a little munchkin to spoil and shower with love! There are so many moments when being away from family and the states just plain stinks BUT then there are moments here that make it worth it and celebrating Abigail's birthday was one of those moments! I have learned that no one can replace your family but the Lord sure can provide friends that feel like family!  

Stephen has also started co-teaching the youth Sunday school class at church, with one of the guys we work with at the school. I have been joining them as well and it has been really encouraging to see God moving and working. So if you can be in prayer with us as God does HIS work in the students’ lives.  

This week I have been reminded from Hebrews

No matter where we live, where we work, where we go to Church, what season of life we are in God calls us to run with endurance. To lay aside every sin that easily distracts us and run our hearts out. To put off bitterness, anger, selfishness, pride (fill in the blank) and put on our running gear.  I praise the Lord for the seasons to remind us that everything is temporary, it reminds me to embrace each moment and not just endure the race but ENJOY the race! 

It's the Holiday Season

So in the last 2 weeks we have celebrated Christmas, Stephens birthday and ringing in the new year! It was our first Christmas in Honduras and away from our families, Stephen's 26th birthday and our first time seeing dangerous fireworks at midnight all over an un-monitored city . . . but it was pretty cool looking!

Back in the fall Stephen and I decided to save some money by staying here in Honduras for Christmas break. And we have really been enjoying our time here together we've loved being home, getting things done around the house and spending time with friends! We were able to go play tennis downtown at a sports complex, we went to see the new Hobbit movie, we have been able to play lots of games with a few other families that stayed over break. We have watched movies, washed the car, started a new workout routine and I have been able to get some reading done! Christmas day was great! We had a big breakfast, spent the morning opening gifts (shout out to my husband who got me some pretty awesome stuff) and skyping with family. Then later in the afternoon we got together with our friends Tim, Liz and their daughter Abigail, our pastor and his family and a few other people for a Christmas dinner . . . the power stayed on for us for this holiday, Praise the Lord! It was truly a wonderful Christmas! I am so thankful for the friends we have made while being here in Honduras, it is when you are far away from family that you realize how important good friends are! And we have some good one's that we are appreciate so much!

Stephen’s birthday was on the 29^th so we invited some friends over to share in a meal of ribs, mashed potatoes, corn, zucchini, and stuffed mushrooms. (Kyle and Melodee with their two kids Julianna and Levi are on the left and Tim and Liz with their daughter Abigail are on the right), Now I had never made ribs before but Stephen loves them so I did my best and the birthday boy approved . . . so now I think I have started a new tradition; ) Then we had cheesecake for dessert, in the past year Stephen has discovered a new love for certain foods . . . cheesecake being the main one! It was a happy day filled with laughter, love, food and friendship! I am so thankful for Stephen’s 26 years of life; I praise the Lord for the amazing man that I have the privilege of being married to. Each year together, month, day together, I continue to learn what it means to love and to be loved and I wouldn’t want to be discovering that with anyone else. Stephen James, I praise God for your life and who HE has created you to be!

Happy New Year! As I look back over the past year, I am amazed at where life has taken us. We live in Honduras, just that fact in and of itself still kind of blows my mind. At midnight, as were standing on a patio, overlooking the city; watching all the fireworks go off all around the city, so beautiful and dangerous; we celebrated bringing in the New Year and talked of the future . . . that’s when I really get amazed. Yes we did the whole looking back thing but what I like doing most at the beginning of the year is looking forward to what is ahead. Looking to what is coming, what can be accomplished, and what new adventures can be tackled. I love being able to share my hopes and dreams with someone, to be married to someone who is just as adventurous as I am. So as adventure comes our way, you will be sure to hear about it! So to 2014, may you be filled with wonder, excitement, adventure and love! 

We LOVE Visitors and Electricity!

Thanksgiving Update . . . my apologies for being WAY behind with my posts. With all this time off school I'm gonna try and get caught up! We had an awesome time with my brother Joel and his wife Sarah when they were here over thanksgiving! We were able to do some traveling and have some adventures! Joel had to do some observations for his health and PE degree, so he spent as much time in the classroom with Stephen as he could. There was a lot happening as they were here, the elections took place the day after they arrived. Here in Honduras the elections are not a safe time, there is a lot of corruption within the competing parties as well as riots all over the city. Because of the unknown circumstance school was canceled the day after elections, which gave us an extra day off to spend with Joel and Sarah. On that day off we decided to go to a national park called La Tigra it is well known for the fun fact that it is part of a cloud forest. And as we found out that is literally what you do, walk higher and higher into the clouds. So that was a fun day of hiking and spending time together. Tuesday and a half day Wednesday were spent at school and then Wednesday afternoon we had the oil changed in the car and went to see a movie . . . movie theaters here are so cheap it costs about $3 American dollars, and it’s in English : ) Late Wednesday night the power went out . . . . and stayed out for a total of 5 long days, coming back on for maybe 2 hours on two separate occasions. Talk about a thanksgiving ruined haha! Trying to make a feast without power is nearly impossible. That is why I was so grateful that we had already made plans to travel! We left early on Thursday morning since thanksgiving dinner was now out of the plan. We traveled towards the middle of the country to Lake Yojoa where we stayed at a brewery! It was such a cute, quaint place. We were able to explore a coffee plantation that afternoon and then enjoy our long awaited thanksgiving feast provided by the staff at the brewery, it was delicious. They also had awesome homemade cream soda’s, coke and root beer : ) Then on Friday we went to the ecological park and saw some beautiful views of the lake and some incredible nature. After that we went back to the brewery for lunch then lastly off to the waterfall. It was awesome, much bigger than any of us expected : ) It was beautiful. Then we headed home . . . it was a whirlwind of a trip but we had a great time! Joel and Sarah’s time went by way to fast but it was so fun to share our home, friends and country with them!

October . . . . Time to Catch up

Since I last wrote, Stephen and I have celebrated our 1 year anniversary, I have discovered Honduran thrift stores, learned how to master the use of the crock pot, and Stephen is continuing to do his best to attempt to understand Latin American athletics, and we have both been able to learn so much more about our students!
Our anniversary was wonderful, we were able to get away for the weekend and be spoiled at the Marriot Hotel down in the city. To you, it might just seem like a hotel . . . to US it was a taste of the United States in Honduras and it was truly refreshing to enjoy the pool, yummy food (that we didn’t have to cook) massages, sauna and cable TV haha! It’s the little things in life : ) God continues to change us, mold us and draw us to himself in and through our marriage. We have learned so much this past year and we continue to look forward to many more years of learning and growing together!
One highlight of being back this year has been finding good deals with my friend Jennifer. The gringa’s here in Honduras refer to her as the thrift store master! She knows where all the best places are. Apparently the United States sends down shipments of clothes as tax write-offs and multiple store here in Honduras sell them. So for $1-$5 you can get some pretty good American brand stuff it’s awesome! For those of you reading that know me well, I’m sure you realize how happy this has made me! I have been able to get lots of new clothes, flower pots, curtains, pie plates, picture frames and so much more. Again, it’s the little things in life here that at times bless us the most!
The AMAZING crock pot, has become my new best friend, whenever I remember to use it haha! We were able to buy it from friends of our that were leaving at the end of last school year and I just love experimenting with it! Gotta be honest I kinda feel like my mom, when I get up on Sunday mornings and put stuff in it for lunch : ) its such a wifey thing to do! So if you have any good recipes, send them my way!
Stephen’s basketball team is having an awesome season . . . they are continuing to play more and more like a team as the season goes on. He has had a fair amount of challenges due to the culture and lack of experience, BUT he has been handling it like a pro. It has been neat for me to be a part of his team’s lives through baking which the guys love and the avenue of prayer. In our small group right now we are currently reading though Colossians and I came across these verses to pray for the players. Colossians 1:11-14 ~ “ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We don’t know where most of our students are spiritually and it has been really neat for us to see God’s hand at work in the lives of the guys that Stephen coaches. Please pray for the student’s in our school that we would continue to be salt and light, that we would live in such a way that Christ would radiate from us. Pray for us as we continue to do our best to embrace the culture and the language. We praise the Lord for his provision of safety, guidance, finances, and ministry opportunities. 

Scavenger Hunt

Last week was the first full week of school with students, so with that I had a lot of things for the kids to learn. I had to review the rules, expectations and consequences for my classroom. For the remainder of class I decided to play a game as a review for where the art supplies were located. Majority of my students have been coming to the art room since they were in first grade so I figured the game I had for them would be somewhat simple.

Each class had to do a scavenger hunt, I had a list of items and tasks for their team to complete in order to check the tasks off the list and ultimately win! It was things like “find a red marker”, “put on an apron, and then hang it up the correct way”, “write down classroom rule #3 on the back of this paper” and so on . . . . . NOW some kids were really into it, and searched really hard to find everything on their own. Some kids were extremely lazy and just wanted me to show them where everything was. And some went really fast because they remembered where most things were from the previous year. As I did this game with the kids some 26 times (I have a lot of students), I began relating it to my spiritual walk . . . . .
I know that God is not a God of confusion, but I think sometimes we are like little kids on a scavenger hunt. Some days we want to work so hard to see God’s blessings. Other days I wake up really lazy and exhausted, I don’t really want to search for blessings, I just want to wallow in my misery. Then there are times that I have to do my best to remember past blessings and draw from those to continue on in my walk. 




What I learned in all of this is that just like my art room is filled with lots of little blessing (all of my supplies), so are our lives.  The kids never would have fully embraced what is in the room if they had not been searching for it or remembering it. I have never seen kids get so excited to find a red marker, or put on an apron.  It’s the same in our lives, how are we going to fully embrace the blessings that our lives are filled with if were not willing to do the work to recognize them. Sometimes, like some of my students, we just get lazy and we expect other people to fill that void for us. I will be the first to admit, there are some days that I just want to be a lazy complainer, but when I waste my time complaining I’m letting multiple blessing go right by without being noticed. So take the challenge of going on a blessings scavenger hunt and see what you find, it might not be what, where or when you expect it but God desires to bless us and for that alone we have so much to be thankful for!  

New Car, New House, New Year

 Greetings from Honduras, sorry it has been soooo long since my last blog update. BUT we are now back in Honduras, refreshed and ready to be used by God in this upcoming school year. Stephen is still in his position as middle school and high school boy’s physical education teacher. He is doing what he loves, coaching, teaching and mentoring young men to be more like Christ, through the avenue of athletics. You can be praying for his basketball team as they start up practice at the beginning of next week. I am still teaching in the elementary art room . . . I am convinced that God has me there for another year, because I didn’t do a good job learning the lessons HE was trying to teach throughout all of last year! I literally found someone else to take my job in the art room so I wouldn’t have to do it again BUT God must have other plans because I am back at it again, by God’s grace with a fresh attitude and renewed perspective. I am so thankful that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning as I stumble and fall searching for direction recognizing that the God’s grace is sufficient for me each day. So please pray with me that God would grant victory in the struggles, joy in the successes, and peace in the confusion : )
Stephen and I have experienced so many blessing as we have returned to our Honduran home. We are so thankful for the Lord’s provision of a car, we were able to purchase it right before we came home for the summer. It has been so wonderful to have some freedom to get off the mountain for date nights and such a joy to use it as a ministry to others, from driving people down the mountain to get groceries or packing it full of people to head to church! We are overwhelmed by God’s provision! We also finally feel somewhat settled into our new apartment. We are now on the school’s campus, which is much safer and closer to the school. We feel very blessed to have such a beautiful new apartment surrounded by wonderful Godly people, our new dog neighbors across the street . . . . Well we’re not quite as fond of them haha! And the cockroach that was crawling on my head the other night, well we killed that haha!

                      The NEW Car!!!!! and NEW Apartment!!!!

Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, support and friendships. I will try a lot harder to write on our blog more consistently this year : ) Thanks for reading!