HAPPY THANKSGIVING

It is hard to believe that today is Thanksgiving Day.  It just doesn't feel like it - no family meal of turkey with all the trimmings, no Macy's parade, no football and no black Friday sales.  In Portugal, today was just another day.  The boys went to school and we went about our daily lives.  However as I sit and reflect on the true meaning of Thanksgiving, it has nothing to do with the things mentioned above.  Sure those are all great traditions, and I assure you we do miss them greatly; but the real reason for me is to stop and take time to count my blessings.  Just like the song says:

"Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done."

I am blessed beyond measure.

-I have a Heavenly Father who loves me absolutely and unconditionally.

-an awesome husband who loves me in spite of myself.

-2 amazing boys who have hung in there, adapted and matured more in 2 year than I could ever have imagined.

-an army of supportive family and friends in the States

-the opportunity to live, serve and experince life in an amazing country

-awesome friends all over the world

-the gift of the Good News that changed my life and the opportunity to share it will others
-the ability and grace to learn a new language and culture
-amazing encouraging colleagues

and the list could go on and on and on...

Don't forget to stop in the midst of your festivities today and give thanks for the many blessings in your life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

It is hard to believe that today is Thanksgiving. We are in school today, there are no grand festivities planned, no black Friday shopping flyers and life moves on as normal. However, that does not make us any less thankful for where we are or what we are doing.

God has blessed us so much in the last year.
There have been so many changes.
-selling a home and 15 years of accumulated stuff
-leaving behind family and friends
-living out of suitcases for what seemed like months on end
-packing all we own into 12 suitcases and moving overseas
-leaving behind "normal" for the "unknown"
-learning a new language
-adjusting to apartment living and city life
-re-learning to drive a stick-shift and then driving in Europe
-the loss of Chick-fil-a, Sonic, Cracker Barrel, Krispy Kreme good mexican food, and so much more

All of this things have been adjustments but what lessons and blessings have come from them.
-learning that possessions are just things and we can really function (and thrive) with much fewer "things"
-even though family and friends mean so much, HE IS EVERYTHING WE NEED!
-the love, support, and encouragement of family and friends is priceless!
-I really can learn a new language at my age!
-the "unknown" is only unknown to me, HE knows it all and is there through every step
-(nothing really compares to a Chick-fil-a and a Sonic limeade with a Krispy Kreme for dessert:)

Blessings to you all. Enjoy the song of Thanks below and be thankful for the freedom we have in HIM!

As we celebrate the marvelous ressurection of our Lord this week, let us not forget the walk He took on our behalf and all that it means to us today.

Happy Easter from our family to yours. May it be a beautiful time of remembrace and thanksgiving.

Still He Walked
Author Unknown
Apr 7, 2009

"Still He Walked"

He could hear the crowds screaming "crucify" "crucify"...
He could hear the hatred in their voices,
These were His chosen people.
He loved them,
And they were going to crucify Him.
He was beaten, bleeding and weakened...
His heart was broken,
But still He walked.

He could see the crowd as He came from the palace.
He knew each of the faces so well.
He had created them.
He knew every smile, every laugh, and every shed tear,
But now they were contorted with rage and anger
His heart broke,
But still He walked.

Was He scared? You and I would have been
So His humanness would have mandated that He was.
He felt alone.
His disciples had left, denied, and even betrayed Him.
He searched the crowd for a loving face and He saw very few.
Then He turned His eyes to the only one that mattered
And He knew that He would never be alone.
He looked back at the crowd...
At the people who were spitting at Him
Throwing rocks at Him and mocking Him
And He knew that because of Him,
They would never be alone.
So for them, He walked.

The sounds of the hammer striking the spikes echoed through the crowd.
The sounds of His cries echoed even louder,
The cheers of the crowd, as His hands and feet were nailed to the cross,
Intensified with each blow.
Loudest of all was the still small voice
Inside His heart that whispered "I am with you, my son",
And God's heart broke.
He had let His son walk.

Jesus could have asked God to end his suffering,
But instead He asked God to forgive.
Not to forgive Him, but to forgive the ones who were persecuting Him.
As He hung on that cross, dying an unimaginable death,
He looked out and saw, not only the faces in the crowd,
But also, the face of every person yet to be,
And His heart filled with love.
As His body was dying, His heart was alive.
Alive with the limitless, unconditional love He feels for each of us.
That is why He walked.

When I forget how much My God loves me,
...I remember His walk.
When I wonder if I can be forgiven,
...I remember His walk.
When I need to be reminded of how to live like Christ,
...I think of His walk.
And to show Him how much I love Him,
...I wake up each morning, turn my eyes to Him,
.......And I walk.

Catching Up

The song by Mark Shultz that says "I'm running just to catch myself" has become a reality over the past week. In order to catch everyone up, this entry will probably ramble a bit. I hope to insert enough pictures to break up the over abundance of information.

As we celebrated Thanksgiving last week, we were sad to be away from family. However, we were served a wonderful lunch with all the trimmings and then we had all the Western Europe Team over to our apartment for dinner and Christmas movies. Andy & Micah even got in a little football with a few guys.

After dinner some of our Journey girls had to haul Ethan to bed. You can tell he hated every moment. He is eating up all the attention.

Later in the weekend all the kids decorated Christmas cookies with icing and sprinkles. We have 7 kids in our group - ages 2 - 12.

Now comes the rambling. The day after Thanksgiving our whole crew (300+) went to Washington, DC.

This is the Roman Catholic Basilica that we visited.


This is Nando's, the Portuguese-African restaurant where we ate lunch. We were told it is like the McDonald's of Africa, but it was soooo much better than that.

We then prayer walked around the White House and Union Station.
This is our new friend who will be going to Portugal with us. We all spent the day together in Washington.

Here are some random pictures that we have taken over the last few weeks.

These are the guys in our quad.

Double rainbow over part of the campus. Isn't that cool!

This was after the first shot day. We have now survived 2 shot days and have one more to go.

This is an aerial view of the campus. It is a picture of a picture, but at least it gives you an idea of how big it is. If you click on the photo, it should expand so that you can see the building that I have marked. This is your Co-operative Program dollars at work. THANK YOU!!!