A Time to Rest

We were blessed to get away for a break last week. The cheapest place to fly out of our "neck of the woods" is Dubai, so we took a much need break there and have returned refreshed. We got to spend the first week with some friends, who spoiled us and the girls! The second week, we spent at our company's beautiful guest house. We got to go to the beach, visit a zoo, play at a couple parks, run in green grass, play dress up with "auntie" Gina, read books with "uncle" Charlie, play with Tartan the dog, and much, much more. It was a wonderful time to rest and reflect; to think through our past 7 months and make a "game plan" for our next months here.

Here are a few pics of our time away.

A Door Keeper

Recently I read a poem that really spoke to me. Here is just the first portion:

"I stand by the door. I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out. The door is the most important door in the world--it is the door through which folk find God. There's no use my going way inside and staying there, when so many are still outside, and they, as much as I crave to know where the Door is."

I was challenged by this. As I pondered what being a door-keeper means for us, here in C.A., I wrote the following: Sometimes, I long to go "way inside"; to be surrounded by those who are like-minded. We were created for perfect fellowship with one another as well as with our Creator, but we won't find it here. We have eternity to look forward to experiencing it in it's fullness! Until then, we are here to show people the way to the Door. Let us not be content with creating little "heavens" here, becoming deaf to the cries of those who are still outside but want to be in. Let us keep watching at the door for those the Father is drawing to Himself, so that we might take the hand of the one's seeking and place it on the Door. Sometimes being a door-keeper can feel lonely; sometimes I long to go deep inside; to be with close friends. But there is also the inexpressible joy of getting to be one who helps another person find the door and once found, welcoming him or her into His Body. So, I too will stay by the door. God's presence is not spacial--it is as full near the door as it is deep inside. Yes, by His grace, wherever we live, we will stay by the door. May we have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to discern those seeking the Door.

Spring Pics

Just a few pics of the girls again. Nadiah is close to walking, so we were practicing in our courtyard the other day. So fun! I have had great intentions of writing some profound words from my journal for the past month. There is more going on in our life than just taking cute pictures of our girls . . . as fun as that is. But alas, time is short again and our internet isn't working again, so they will have to wait. (Not that you're waiting with baited breathe) There are great things happening here and I look forward to sharing them with you soon. Enjoy the pics!

Oh, glorious electricity!

Hi Friends,
I hope you don't think we'd forgotten about our blog or you. We haven't had much electricity lately and when we have, our internet didn't work or the electricity was too low for our modem to work. What can ya do? Life in CA (not california!) is exciting! But, we're back! So here are a couple pics of our girls. They're changing so fast! Enjoy! . . . more to come =)

Counting our Blessings

Celebrations!!! We had a wonderful Christmas Day celebrating our Lord's coming. Megan, my sister came to visit from Cambodia--it was/is a wonderful blessing to have family here for our first Christmas in CA. All through Advent when we would light the advent candles Hannah would sing "happy birthday"--she just thinks candles and birthdays go together, which I guess was appropriate since we were celebrating the birth of Jesus. We hope you had a blessed day and continue to celebrate the wonder of the Word become flesh. Blessings to you!

At the Zoo

We went to the zoo with our friends, Sevara and Farida, last week when we got a break from the cold weather. It was fun for the girls to get outside and there were a more animals there than I thought there would be. Unfortunately, the animals are in tiny cages which is sad for them, but because of that we got to see all the animals "up close and personal."

Yummy cookies

After being here for about a week, we needed to do something "normal." We brought about 5 lbs. of chocolate chips, so we decided to break them out and make some chocolate chip cookies. Hannah loves to "help" so she poured in some of the dry ingredients and helped tasted the dough to make sure it was ok. . . Apparently it was =)
They were great!