...such and such...

Hello, all! Sorry for the long lapse in blog writing. It's probably irritating to try to follow my blog when I'm such a sporadic writer. I've been thinking of updating for a while now, but the beginning of a new semester with all the changes in schedule and the emotions connected to life in general and relationships in particular kind of make it hard to write regularly. So...yeah. I know many of you, my readers, are praying for me, and I appreciate that so much.

I have an exciting new semester of classes. Here's my schedule:
Monday/Wed/Friday
8:25 am - Christian Evidences (with Mr. Iverson) - new teacher, interesting topic, although it's not new stuff, I'm hoping to become more equipped to remember and be able to relay this information to unbelievers
9:20 am - Ecclesiology (with Mr. Glock) - study of the church with Grandpa Glock...every class is just an encouragement listening to his teaching, his encouragement, his love for the Lord and the Word
1:25 pm - Methods in TESOL II (with Mr. Harrison) - my last TESOL class!
Tuesday/Thursday
12:40 pm - Christology/Pneumatology (with Dr. MacLeod) - doctrine of Christ and of the Holy Spirit
2:00 pm - Personal Evangelism (with Mr. Hernandez) - really great class...talking about Jesus and the Gospel...of COURSE it's great! :)

I have lots of good reading, so that's a nice change, as last semester I didn't have much reading - more projects and papers. A friend of mine brought me new highlighters from Japan over Christmas, and they're getting lots of good use. Seven lovely, bright colors...ever see a red highlighter? :) I also got a new Bible for Christmas, a beautiful, just-right-sized ESV, so I'm having a lovely time discovering God's Word again in a new setting and new phrases. :) It is quickly becoming "claimed" as my own Bible. :)

Sooo....we have started planning our trip to Mexico hard core, now! One opportunity that may be available is teaching!! Some of us on the team may have the opportunity to teach classes to the believers in Mexico covering things that we are learning here at Emmaus. Oh my word!!! That's like my life dream! I never ever thought there was the possibility of being able to teach on a mission trip. I would love to teach, so I'm praying that we'll be able to do that. Please pray about that! :)

We'll need to be buying our tickets within probably a month or less. There are quite a few who are planning to go, and only a couple have the money as of right now, so please pray that the Lord will provide and that people will be willing to share financially with the team. There are also several who have yet to decide 100% whether or not they're going to come with us, so please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom and direction. Also, please pray for our work on the Spanish language. Right now, I'm pretty tired, and it's hard to work on a language, feeling unmotivated, along with the rest of school and church family responsibilities.

So, those are some requests you can be lifting up before the Lord.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Feliz Navidad!

Sorry, folks, I have Spanish on the brain. :)

Ah, Christmas break. School feels like it was 100 years ago. I'm at home, enjoying my family, my sleep, my Bible, and my Spanish studying, in no particular order. It's so lovely to not have deadlines and responsibilities and pressure on every side.

Lord willing, I'm planning on going to Mexico over spring break with a team from school (more details to come), and so I'm hitting the Spanish study really hard. I've worked on it every day for a couple of hours since I've been home. In spite of the fact that I'm rather overwhelmed with the amount of work that goes into learning a language, I feel like I'm actually making some sort of progress. Maybe, by March, I'll actually be more conversational. :) We're not sure how many Spanish speakers we'll actually have on our team, so Naomi and I have decided that if for no other reason than that, we're going to really work on Spanish. I have other reasons, of course, too...part of my heart is still in Peru. I'm not sure what will happen if I leave another part of my heart in Mexico... It's likely that for the rest of my life, no matter where I go, I'll be leaving pieces of my heart there. :)

Anyway...I'm still at home for at least the next few weeks, with my family. We're enjoying life together, making cookies, playing Apples to Apples, singing Christmas carols at the tops of our lungs (no kidding), watching movies, yelling at each other, laughing with each other, discussing Christmas presents at length, et cetera.

One of my Spanish projects is reading through the gospel of Juan, hopefully at least a couple of times before I go back to Emmaus. I read 3 chapters today.

Porque tanto amo Dios al mundo, que dio a su Hijo unigenito para que todo el que cree en el no se pierda, sino que tenga vida eterna.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday season with loved ones, whether at home or away. I've been memorizing Ephesians since I've been home, and it's been wonderful to reflect on the amazing blessings we have in Christ. He "has blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ!" Over and over again the first chapters say "in Christ...in Christ...in Christ"! It's all about Him and His glory. We live for no other reason. And all the gifts He gives us to enjoy are meant to draw us closer to Him so we can glorify Him all the more. Rest in Him today!

Anything special I should know?

Liz (about to use Victor's Mac to burn a CD, and trying to open the lid): Is there anything in particular I should know about this thing?

Victor (turning the laptop around on Liz's lap): Well, you open it from the other side...

Do It Later

Emmaus Family Christmas

Last night was our Emmaus Christmas event. We had a concert with Ginny Owens and David Klinkenberg, and that was really cool. Then we all went to faculty homes for supper and Christmas presents. Then we went ice skating. It was fun. Here are some pictures.

Naomi, Esther, Em and I made supper at the house of a couple from church, and had Victor and another friend, Micah, over to eat together beforehand. Here we are cooking...



And eating...



Victor was Naomi's date for the evening...



Esther and Emily and I stuck together. :)



Here's Victor the wannabe figure skater...




And my new favorite picture of the school year...Victor with his prayer support team. :) AKA, sisters in Christ who support him with considerable amount of prayer. :)



In news, only one more week till school's out for the semester! I only have two finals and a take-home one this week. It's great. Tomorrow is the Christmas brunch at church, and my kids (all of them from church) are performing their songs, which Victor and I have been teaching them for the past month-ish. I'm excited about that. :) I hope it goes well. I'm kind of nervous, actually. I'm playing a violin duet with another student from Emmaus, too. I'm more nervous about the kids than about performing myself. I'm super excited to see how the kids do. :)

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I'll try to do better. :)

I've kicked my cough :)

I kinda feel like the doctors were a bit like Lucy. After an albuterol inhaler that drove me mentally insane, codine that I didn't take because Nathan told me not to, steroids that downed my immune system and let me catch a cold, and 2 different antibiotics, I'm finally almost all better. :) It's pretty cool, actually, how the Lord provided for me throughout all of this. I found $100 in my mailbox one day and went to the doctor with my insurance card to find out that the deductible (due that day) was $100. :) Then the second time, I sat in the pharmacy with 3 prescriptions on order and $42 in my bank account, praying that the Lord would provide. The medicines came to $40.92. Victor wondered if $1.08 was significant. I'm not sure. I just know that I laughed all the way home that day. :)

Keep you safe

Quiet your heart
It’s just a dream
Go back to sleep

I’ll be right here
I’ll stay awake as long as you need me
To slay all the dragons
And keep out the monsters
I’m watching over you

My love is a light
Driving away all of your fear
So don’t be afraid
Remember I made a promise to keep you safe

You’ll have your own battles to fight
When you are older

You’ll find yourself frozen inside
But always remember
If you feel alone
Facing the giants
And you don’t know
What to do

My love is a light
Driving away all of your fear
So don’t be afraid
Remember I made a promise to keep you safe

- JJ Heller



"I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." Ps. 34:4

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Phil. 4:13

Sometimes, I think, I'd like to go back to being a little girl again. To wear feet pajamas and have Daddy rubbing Vicks on my chest and Mommy brushing out my tangly hair and then to have them holding my hands while they tucked me in bed and prayed with me. It'd be nice to go to sleep thinking about riding my tricycle the next day and playing "blocks and people" and watching Sesame Street.

But as it is, I'm all grown up now, and so many things are running through my mind and tempting me to stress out every day. But the Lord gives grace and He is holding me in His arms. He's made a promise to keep me safe. He wants me to trust Him on that. So, okay, Lord. I'll seek to trust you more...and wait for you to deliver me from all my fears.