Time to Celebrate!

We had our first face-to-face interview with our AIM regional representatives last fall.  At that meeting, I learned of the Bible competencies requirement Africa Inland Mission has for all of their missionaries who don't already have formal Bible training.  I agree completely with their desire to ensure that each missionary is equipped with in-depth Biblical instruction.  However, as a stay-at-home mom of an extremely busy young one, I wondered at times how I would ever complete the nine requirements.

Something about myself which I both appreciate and loathe is that I can hardly stand to have things hanging over my head.  I am a get-it-done and do-it-now kind of person.  That is great a lot of times because it means that I almost always stay on top of things.  In this case, however, I've known for nearly a year that I had these nine classes which I was required to take.  I was on my own time table since the only deadline was that I have at least five classes done before we leave for Africa; the last four could be completed before the start of our second term.  Leaving four to complete during our time in Africa was out of the question in my mind; instead, having all nine finished at least a few months before we depart was my goal.  I've been hoping for some semblance of a break between these requirements, gathering the necessary paperwork and support raising, and the imminent culture shock coming after the New Year.  Still hoping; we'll see if it happens. 

The classes weren't extremely involved.  I signed into my online account with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and listened to pre-recorded forty-five minute lectures.  To officially complete each class I was required to pass a quiz.  For the first couple of classes, I filled out the study guides which go along with the audio lectures.  That quickly changed as I realized I would never get them finished if I had to be sitting still the entire time.  I have much more time when my ears are free but my hands are busy.  The main challenge was finding time when Kyle was asleep or heavily occupied.  And when Kyle is asleep, Mommy often wants to sleep, too.  I had to constantly fight the urge to climb in bed and go work on the classes instead.  I listened to many lectures as I cooked dinner, smocked plates for Kyle's outfits, and took bubble baths.  Diligence paid off; I finished my last class today.  Insert completely relieved sigh here:

The nine classes I completed were: Theology Survey 1&2, Church History 1&2, New Testament Survey 1&2, Prophets and Promise - a study of the Old Testament, Biblical Interpretation, and World Missions.  Naturally I enjoyed the World Missions class the most, but I also thoroughly enjoyed the first Church History class as well as the second Theology Survey class.  Each of the lecturers was engaging and had some great insights to things I don't often ponder.  My favorite quote from the World Missions class was:

"If you are planting a church where there is already a viable gospel witness, you are not planting a church where there is not already a viable gospel witness."

I had to listen to that a couple times to let it completely sink in, but it makes total sense to me now.  I strongly believe in the urgency of reaching unreached people groups.  All too often it seems that our time and resources are invested in reaching those who have the gospel at their fingertips and not those who haven't ever heard the name of Christ.

What better way to celebrate completing this stage of our ministry preparation requirements than with ice cream?  We skipped over to Bruster's this evening where we all enjoyed a delicious treat.  Jonathan and I split an Oreo Cheesecake ice cream cone.  Kyle even got a free Cotton Candy Explosion baby cone which made him exceedingly happy... and sticky.

Brrr, this is cold stuff.

Hey Mr. Sticky, you sure are handsome - can I get a kiss?

... This is why we don't go out often ...

Then we burned some calories by playing basketball.  Or at least Kyle did.  I watched.

Caleb dropped his ice cream on his shorts.  Again, we don't get out much.

Graduation photo minus the silly cap.

Glad to have those required classes off my shoulders.  I may listen to some of the lectures through again as time goes by to gain an even clearer understanding of Biblical truth.  So much of what was discussed are details which oftentimes go right over my head.  After taking these classes, however, I feel like I have a better grasp on why I believe what I believe.  I was humbled and motivated as I learned of the sacrifices our church fathers made for the sake of preserving the gospel.  I am also reminded again of the immeasurable love and grace of Christ which held him to a cross as he became the propitiation for my sins.  May I always serve him faithfully.

~Abby

Cousin Love

Sorry these photos are less than top quality, but I just had to share.  I took these a couple months back when we went to Greenville, SC, to visit some of Jono's family.  As you can see, Kyle and his cousin Aislynn weren't too sure about being together at first but, they warmed up eventually. 

My sweeties enjoying the Greenville Drive game

It was a lovely evening!

Not our best family portrait but, you get the idea.

On the way home, we turned around to find the cousins like this.....

"Mom, this girl wants to hold my hand...."

Aislynn looks... pleased.  Kyle looks... terrified!

"I'm still not so sure about this, Mom."

"Girls really stink you know!"

We did not encourage or stage any of these photos but, we sure had a good laugh at the situation while it took place!  Maybe Kyle and Ais, who are almost precisely a year apart in age, will become fast Skype friends.  It makes me sad to think our kids won't likely know their cousins well, but we are thankful for the technology which will allow us to keep up when we're worlds apart.

~Abby

Confessions of a Support Raising Missionary

Many times in my life I've heard it said "sometimes the process is more important than the product."  Maybe that is the case when it comes to support raising.  The process is trying, encouraging, discouraging and exciting all at the same time!  In this post, I won't focus on the discouraging part too much, maybe that will be for another post many years down the road.  But, for now, I've got so many thoughts about support raising swirling around in my head, I've just got to spell them out.

For about as long as I can remember, I have been raising money for something.  As an elementary-aged child, I spent my spring months walking door to door with my daddy, asking for donations for the local pregnancy care center.  If I remember correctly, the first year I participated in the Life Walk, where walkers raise sponsors in return for a commitment to "Walk for Life"on a Saturday morning, I believe I raised about $500.  That was a significant amount of money for a seven-year-old.  At that time I had no trouble walking around our neighborhood and other close-by subdivisions, knocking on every door and asking for donations towards my cause.  I think people probably just humored me, a scrawny blonde girl on their door step asking for money to help save babies.  What choice did they have?  Nearly everyone would sponsor me at least a dollar.  Every year, in each age group, there was a prize for the participant who raised the most money.  I think I placed third my first year, but I don't remember what I won (obviously it wasn't very exciting).  The next year, I determined to win the first prize for my age bracket, a new bike, and set my goal at $2,000.  I put I don't know how many miles on my tennis shoes that spring.  My precious daddy, it brings tears to my eyes to think that he walked door to door so faithfully with me, and together we raised $1,700.  I just missed the first prize (if only I could've made my $2,000 goal!), but he took me straight to Wal-Mart that afternoon and let me pick out whichever bike I wanted.  Okay, within reason.  I chose a shiny blue mountain bike complete with hand brakes and gears; I was probably the proudest bike owner you could've ever known!

A couple years after that, I got involved in Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society.  I believe I set my goal that year for $500 and with a very generous donation from a neighbor, I exceeded that goal by about $200.  I took a break after that, until I spent the last few months of my senior year of high school again raising money for the American Cancer Society by flocking people's yards with plastic flamingos.  In order to get the flamingos taken back out of your yard, you were asked for a donation of $25 and then you could chose whom to send the flock to next.  It was sneaky and exciting (I'm not sure I like what that says about me) and I used many gallons of gas running all over town nearly every evening just past dark.  It is a wonder no one called the police on us for trespassing.  I have no idea how much money our team produced from flocking, but it was a lot!

As Jonathan and I began raising support to move to Mexico, he did most of the communication with our potential supporters.  Having lived on support before during his time traveling with Life Action, and being raised in a family who lived on support his whole life, he was more familiar with the process of monthly support than I was.  Thus, most of our supporters were from our church in Illinois where he was living at the time.  For Mexico, we had a much smaller budget because we weren't with an organization, we didn't have much in work funds to raise, we were childless, and we didn't have to plan to return home on painfully expensive plane tickets.  Now, raising our budget (though still reasonable in comparison to other missionary budgets I've heard of for families four times our size) seems like much more of a daunting task. 

Since we have been living in SC for the past two years, we've made many more connections with people here.  While they are just getting used to this guy who swooped in from Mexico and married me right out of high school, the people here are still "my people."  And since J is covered up with school and work, I have been doing the vast majority of making contacts for meetings.  We learned one thing during our first round of support raising - letters don't work.  We tried sending letters to over 120 like-minded churches while we were support raising for Mexico.  We heard back from about three, all saying they weren't interested.  Most never responded at all.  We nixed that idea right then.  For decades now, the conventional way to raise support has been to visit churches.  You're supposed to call the church, try to set up a time to meet with the pastor or missions committee, hope to get invited to speak in a service, and wait to see if the church takes you on for support.  While there is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, there are many drawbacks.  It is time-consuming, puts thousands of miles on your car while draining your gas tank, and many churches have a specific point during the year that they plan their budgets, so you have to wait until that time rolls around before you can get any numbers.  There are positives to church support raising (all of which I won't spell out here) but the main one in my perspective is - they are reliable.  Once you are in the budget, you are going to get your check each month.  With individuals making up the majority of your support team, it is more likely for your support to fluctuate since you might "fall through the cracks" so to speak and the checks aren't always as dependable.  Anyway, back to our approach at support raising; we were advised to personally contact as many people as we know reasonably well and tell them about our plans and needs.  This sounds bold and daring and awkward.  Yes, it is extremely awkward.  It makes an extrovert like myself want to shrink into a hole and camp out for a week.  It is a lot more difficult to ask for money for yourself than it is to ask for money for someone or something else.  Maybe I have lost some of my inhibitions of asking people for money, or maybe it's because I'm not nearly as cute as I was when I was eight and people aren't as willing to shell out money to me.  Whatever the reason, it is awkward.  Really awkward.  I loathe the process altogether.  

I keep finding myself thinking "soon this will be over" and "maybe it gets easier the longer you do it."  Well, it is getting slightly easier as we are getting more comfortable talking about the word that makes people squirm in their seats - money.  And as our target departure date is approaching, it seems we are feeling more of the time crunch and are beginning to care less about how awkward it is and more about how absolutely necessary it is that we get our finances raised by December 1st.  But, the thought occurred to me not long ago..... Support raising probably won't end for us.  I don't really see it ending - ever.  Sure, if everything is together, we will be on our way at the beginning of next year.  However, in all likelihood, we will lose a supporter or two while we are on the field for various reasons.  And we'll be forced to attempt support raising from the field or pick it back up when we return for furlough.  We also, of course, want to have more children and children cost money.  As I have talked to another sweet friend who is support raising (Hi, M!) and we've discussed our futures, children and so on, we both agree that it is terrible to see children in part as "another return ticket."  Meaning, the more children we have, not only does it cost more to live, it will cost more to return back to the States for vacation or furlough.  Of course, we will trust God with our family and our support needs; but the reality is, we will be raising support from now until we leave the field for good.  Since Jonathan and I don't have any date within the next few decades in mind for that, there is no end in sight for me.  Or you! ;)

I said I wouldn't focus on all the discouraging aspects of support raising and I won't.  Instead I will focus on what has encouraged our hearts the most.  After spending many evenings making phone calls and meeting with our brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing our needs and plans, it is so exciting to have someone contact us for a change.  It is hard to maintain a right spirit when all that stands between us and Africa is money.  It is hard not to see people as just money and to keep in perspective that God has ordained a specific team to come alongside us and uphold us during our time in ministry.  It is so exciting and encouraging to see Him not only use many of the people we have contacted, but also to lead others, many of whom we wouldn't have contacted on our own, to contact us and express sincere interest in our ministry and needs.  It seems that as soon as I start to feel like we're going around in circles, we're being blown off or we're never going to get all the funding we need to leave, another person contacts us and says something like, "we have been praying and feel the Lord leading us to help to support you.  Where can we send money?"  We are giddy every time another family commits to support us, no matter how "large" or "small" the commitment is, because we can see progress.  And we can feel the heartfelt support of our friends and family who we know aren't giving because we have asked them but rather are giving and praying because they have felt the Spirit leading them to do so.  We also love to watch our little chart go up.  As we inch by sometimes even in the decimals of a percentage, it is exciting to reach a new number.  I expect to shed a few (okay, probably a ton) of tears when we reach 100% and we are cleared to leave in January.

Living with the pressure of expecting to leave our friends and family in just a few short months, but not knowing for sure if it will be five months or nearly another year, along with trying to raise copious amounts of needed funding, as well as completing all the necessary paperwork and preparation requirements which come with trying to move around the world, at times makes me feel like I'm going to burst wide open.  Really, sometimes I feel like it is too much to handle.  Remember when I said I wished I could take all my loved ones with me?  I still wish that.  As the days keep racing past, I feel my heart increasingly aching in anticipation of saying goodbye.  Well, I also wish that all of the money we still need would just fall like manna from the sky.  But, I am trusting that the process maybe, just maybe, is more, or at least as important as the product.

Throw back picture - a year ago almost to the day.  Little baby Kyle sporting his safari jammies and hangin' with Changito, already preparing for Africa!

~Abby

Ranting

When my husband called me and said in a strained voice, "I think I need to go to the emergency room," I knew he was in serious pain.  This is the man who took one pain pill after getting all four wisdom teeth cranked out of his head.  The same guy who busted his ankle so badly it looked like a sick version of dead man make up, and refused to be taken to a doctor, saying, "I can still walk on it." Yeah, barely, and you look silly trying, I thought to myself.

Ouch.

As Kyle's birth approached, Jonathan and I talked a lot about what to do regarding insurance.  Since returning from Mexico in the late summer of '10, we had been unable to buy any stateside insurance of our own.  During our time in Mexico, we were covered by an international plan we had found online.  In order for that to be valid, we had to spend more time per year outside of the States than in.  So, of course, we had to switch insurance at the beginning of '11.  We contacted a number of different insurance providers but no one would sell us a policy since I was already pregnant.  While I do understand why they do it this way, it is still extremely frustrating when you have no other choice.  The beginning of 2011, when I was about 32 weeks pregnant, coverage began for me on my dad's insurance policy.  I started going to the doctor then and all of that was covered.  We knew Kyle would be covered by my dad's policy for up to two days after his birth.  But, since I had so little prenatal care and we qualified for Medicaid, we determined that the wisest thing to do was get some "back up" help for Kyle's birth.  I cried as I called to figure out how to get on Medicaid.  I hated having to depend on the government for my baby and I hated feeling like I was left with no other option.

After Kyle was born and deemed healthy by our pediatrician, we took him off Medicaid as soon as we could.  The look on the woman's face in the Medicaid office said, "No one ever does this."  In fact, she looked us in the eye and asked why we wanted to take him off of government assistance.  She assured us he qualified for the rest of the year and likely the next.  But, our answer was simple; we wanted to buy our own insurance and we wanted to be responsible for ourselves.  Head shaking, she conceded.

Unfortunately, since we couldn't get insurance through a group or a business, buying it individually was unreasonably expensive.  We opted for the lowest deductible for which we could afford to pay the premium.  It is a pathetic plan which basically covers catastrophic injuries and we still pay a considerable amount each month for that.  I am not complaining about not having tons of money or having to pay for ourselves.  I think we function fine on our income and we don't have trouble paying our bills.  I am complaining that we can't afford to buy any decent insurance because it is so ridiculously expensive.  It is pathetic that we could so easily qualify for food stamps, government funded health care, and whatever other kinds of assistance we might decide we needed.  We don't want the government to pay for us but the cost of healthcare is such that we can't even begin to afford the bills for something as seemingly routine as a kidney stone.

Knowing that a visit to the ER would certainly cost more than we really wanted to spend, but not seeing any other option with a groaning man in the car beside me, I drove him there last month per his request.  His stay was short; they took his temp, blood pressure, had him rate his pain and asked him a few other questions.  We walked back to a room where he laid on a bed, still grunting and groaning to keep from screaming and crying.  The nurse came in, asked him what was wrong, then left to get some drugs.  She came back, hooked up the drugs, the doctor came in and said hi.  Once the drugs kicked in, they wheeled him down for a CT scan.  Having seen a CT scan bill of my own the year before, I knew that wouldn't be cheap.  But, what other option did we have?  They wheeled him back five minutes later, we waited a minute before the doctor came back in.  He told us the stone had already moved to the bladder and he shouldn't feel anymore pain until he passed it.  He didn't prescribe any drugs and told us if Jonathan had any more pain to "come back."  The nurse walked in, took his IV out and we were on our way.  An hour and a half, tops.  Probably closer to an hour.  I hoped the bill would be around a $1,000.  I still cringed at the thought of it, and I still think $1,000 is an unreasonable amount to pay for an hours worth of care but, whatever.

I had absolutely no idea the hospital bill alone would be nearly $4,000.  The physician's bill was an additional $1.000.  Then the CT scan should've been the least of my worries at a lousy $500.  How can it possibly cost this much to get an IV, a pat on the back and a picture of your insides?  Good thing he didn't have any more pain, and good thing we didn't "go back" or we'd be doubly in the hole.  The system is so broken.  I cannot understand where the problem is or what the solution should be.  But, it is so absurd. $5,500 to see a doctor for an hour?  Unreasonable.  Ridiculous.  Absolutely infuriating.

Of course we will go to the finance office.  Of course we will tell them that we just can't pay this bill and we can't make payments either.  We can't have debt when we leave for Africa and we're hoping that will be in about five months.  And I figure, or at least hope, that they will cut the bill into quarters and let us pay a "reasonable" amount.  But, if we had "good" insurance or if we were on Medicaid or if we had a higher income, they would get their five thousand dollars and no one would think a thing about it.  And that is why the system is broken.

~Abby

Making Progress

Life is busy over here.  Jonathan is over half way done with his first semester with Liberty and it is kicking him at the moment.  Between working full time, taking nine credit hours, being a husband, father and trying to raise support, he isn't sleeping much.  I'll be glad when this semester is over; I know he will, too.

I've starting cleaning two houses weekly to try to help supplement our income a little.  I'm thankful for free babysitters (thanks, Mom!).  After completing eight online classes, I only have one left to finish before I'm d-o-n-e, done.  I plan on treating myself to something chocolate when that happens.  Although I'd like to get this last class out of the way, I may end up waiting until Jono finishes his classes.  It'd be a little difficult to keep up with Kyle baby if we're both preoccupied with studies.  I am also continually trying to set up meetings for support raising.  We are making great progress and (we believe) are still on track to leave in January.  Of course, it is still difficult not knowing whether or not we will be leaving, but with about 64% of our monthly and 44% of our outgoing expenses raised, it is looking promising.

And then there is Kyle.  He is always busy.  From the moment his two fat feet hit the floor in the morning until the second he climbs in the rocking chair, arms full of books, to snuggle before going to sleep, he is a busy little bee.  Fortunately, he takes about a three-and-a-half- to four-hour break in the middle of the day to recharge.  That is nice.  But, he keeps me on my toes (literally) when he is awake! 

A little over a month from now the three of us are packing up to go back to Mexico to visit our church there.  This will be, I believe, the first vacation we've taken as a family.  In fact, I think it will be the first vacation Jono and I have ever taken "by ourselves" besides our honeymoon.  We will spend the first two nights of our stay on the hotel zone and the other five nights will be spent with friends in real Mexico.  I can't wait.  I'm a little nervous about speaking Spanish again after being away for two years. I anticipate being highly frustrated at how much I knew how to say but can't now.  I often find that to be the case when I am trying to think in Spanish.  Nevertheless, I can't wait to see our friends there and tell them all about our plans for Africa!  And, of course, a day on the beach will be much welcomed as well.  Soon I'll post about some of the many things I am looking forward to in Cancun!

~Abby

Car Wash

After Jonathan and Kyle finished washing the cars, they played in the water and soap for a while.  Great daddy/son bonding time, I suppose.

Baby washing Baby

Daddy washing Daddy

Daddy washing Baby

Baby takes the sponge

Baby washes truck

Daddy washes truck

Baby takes the hose

Baby washes Daddy

The cars are clean.  The guys are clean.  Mommy is happy.  It's a great day!

~Abby

Strawberry Lemonade Muffins

I think it's high time I posted a recipe, don't you?  I don't even remember the last recipe I posted and that is sad.  Very sad.  So what better to rectify this pathetic situation than a good muffin recipe?  I've kind of been on a muffin kick lately.  They taste great with my other two-year-long kick, orange juice.  I love muffins.  Kyle loves muffins.  Jonathan doesn't care much about muffins, but that's fine; we feed him meat instead.  Any kind of meat.  But, I digress.

This recipe practically leaped off the page of a Southern Living magazine, begging me to try it.  It looked simple and summery, so I did.  What could be better than fresh strawberries with lemons?  Nada.

Begin by chopping up lotsa strawberries.  This is fun.  But not nearly as fun as the next step.....

.....This is my favorite part.  Well, besides eating the final product.  Are you ready for this?  Brace yourself..... Squeezing the lemons (!!!!).  See my nifty little lemon juicer gone measuring spoon?  Love this thing.  Paid nearly nothing for it at TJMaxx and it makes me squeal on the inside every time I use it.  Okay, having too much fun thinking about juicing lemons.  Also, you gotta zest them.  Get all the zest you can, this recipe calls for a ton.  I barely scratched the surface (pun intended, hehe) of what it called for, but, they turned out just fine.  I'm sure if you managed to get the whole tablespoon of zest, they would be even... lemony-er.

Next mix the self-rising flour and sugar together in a large bowl.  If you want to be like me, you can not have self-rising flour on hand and make your own.  If you don't wanna be like me, try not cutting your finger open on the baking powder can.  Why do they make the edge out of such sharp metal?  Ouch.  I type with a sliced finger wrapped in paper towel secured with Scotch tape.  I'm making a lot of mistakes and back spacing often.  Anyways, back to the dry ingredients.  Once they are really good friends, form a pit in the middle and set aside.

The wet ingredients are butter, sour cream, lemon juice and zest, and eggs.  Combine those until smooth and pour them into the dry ingredients.  Stir gently until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Fold in the diced strawberries.

Fill baking cups (or lightly greased pan) 3/4 full with batter.  I am so impatient.  To me it feels like this takes forever.  And might I propose that it takes even longer with a one-year-old hanging on my legs announcing (loudly) that he brought me his BUH-BAAS (bubbles).  Run along, Kyle, go find Daddy.  I'm sure he wants to blow your BUH-BAAS.

Really, is this positively irresistible child mine?  See the flour on his face and shirt?  He's really a big help.  I said, "Kyle sit down and smile" and this is what we got folks.  Edible.  Sweeter than Strawberry-Lemonade muffins.

Okay, okay.....When the cups are filled (I got twenty out of my batch), sprinkle the top of each one with sugar.  Pop them in the oven.  Oh me, oh my...... YUM.

Strawberry Lemonade Muffins

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1/2 c butter, melted
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups diced fresh strawberries

Oven: 400*

Combine flour and one cup sugar in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Stir together sour cream and next 4 ingredients, add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold strawberries into batter. Spoon batter into lightly greased 12 cup muffin pans, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar over batter.  Bake for 16-18 minutes or until lightly golden.

Let me know if you try them.  Let me know if you don't try them and I'll ask you, "Why not?"

~Abby

PS: Sorry some of my photos are blurry.  I am working with an old-itty-bitty-won't-focus-for-anything camera, as my sister has my nice one with her in CHINA. :o)