Friday, October 31, 2008

On the Road again!


Okay, massive faith stretch. Finances is an area that my mom struggles with and obviously God is strengthening Randy & I's muscles in that area too. There were TWO (2) of the brake lines that had to be replaced due to holes rusted in them. Makes me wonder if it is after effects from sitting on the beach while Tropical Storm Fay moved through. It rusted all our bikes and all overnight so why not brake lines! God is mightier though as He kept us safe while the boys and I were driving it. After wiping out what we had left in our funds we are hooked up and heading ... toward Kansas or whereever God directs us. I'm so thankful that I'm not the head of the family and have to make the final decision. Fortunately I have many hours to pray for my amazing husband and his discernment of where we are to be.

Since we are heading out on Thanksgiving and not able to go to an church Fall Festival I painted tattoos on the boys arms so they wouldn't feel completely left out. Aren't they cute!?! The boys of course ... and maybe the tattoos! Ha!

And we're still sitting


Well, to be quite honest I'm getting a little tight in the stomach as my Faith walk progresses through yet another exercise or should I say exercises.

We are still in Smyrna TN and haven't left to go where ever God’s taking us. Yesterday the boys and I ran an errand and ended up losing the brakes on our van. What an intense 12 mile ride home with no brakes and traffic all the way. God was ever faithful and kept an open area in front of us and mostly green lights. Couldn't change the stop signs green (Ha!) but He did keep the intersections open. Once Randy got home from work he checked it out and the metal brake line that goes to the back had a hole rusted in it. He made some calls and we ended up having 12 minutes to get it to a place that came highly recommended for good work ... which also was the same place that we had gotten our tire for our trailer at. (That added a thankful sense of peace.) I think the drive there was possibly a little more eyebrow raising and white knuckled then the initial ride home but PTL the boys were with Randy in his truck. I had no clue where we were going and could only follow Randy ... who at times I wondered if he remembered that I had brake issues. However we made it and are waiting to see how long and how much this is going to cost.

Yet another exercise of my Faith muscles … my phone departed working order when I plugged it in to the charger. It was working fine but low on battery so I … just plugged it in … and it just simply shut off, never to give light or calls again. That’s not a positive thing when it’s the only phone that had a good enough external speaker on it to be able to record my tapes on so I could get them done and sent back. So after dropping off our van we went in search of an AT&T corporate store to get a working phone … a bunch of money later (even with the older, low-end model) I now have an adorably cute phone (not that that does much for the speaker sound) that my sons are just yearning to be able to call someone on … and did I mention I have no clue how to work it? It’s nothing like the phones I’ve had before … but I guess like all exercises God puts us through … it’s just a learning curve to grow me even more. I’m actually typing this instead of seeing how it recorded my tapes last night … can you say delay tactic? I was a little overwhelmed last night trying to get it to work with my transcriber and my hero, my husband sent me to bed and took over. Unfortunately I don’t have the total submission thing down yet and I must of defiantly went to the back and snuggled with my sons who were watching a bit of TV before bed instead. Glad to know God still loves me (& Randy) and knows He has a lot of work left to be done in me! But I thoroughly enjoyed the time snuggling and praying over my sons.

Well, I guess I had better get busy seeing if my tapes are doable. We need to be ready to roll whenever we get the van back and driving and doing tapes just doesn’t mix. Good thing is Randy still has to put the new tire on and finish packing up and make a trip back to the AT&T store to get some missing pieces that weren’t in our box. WOW! I just love the ways God gets me more time. (Big Grin.)

Thanks for all your prayers! Don’t stop now … pray for travel safety, discernment, tire safety, financial blessings or whatever God lays on your heart as He knows better than we do what we’ve got ahead of us!

Stay tuned ….

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Faith Walk

Well, today's the day we finish up here and step out on even more faith as to where God is going to lead us next. Amazingly enough it's such a peaceful yet invigorating place to be ... not knowing what we are to do next but excited that God has great plans in store for us. Now just to indure the aches & pains that come with building up the faith muscles! Thanks for praying with us as we head out, probably tomorrow to the next journey in God's preplanned life. Major hugs to all!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Student - Teacher Humor

These are the boys favorite shirts right now. It reads, "Homework kills trees. Stop the madness!". Mom's reply, "Then get it done in school so there's no homework." Malachi's still a little mystified "... since we homeschool, isn't it all homework?" Praise God for such blessings and joy in my life!!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Stopped at last!


Finally, we have arrived at our campground for this week. The store is located in La Vergne, TN but we are staying in Smyrna. It has playground equipment, basketball goal, FREE game room but ... no sewer hook-ups. Alas, it will only be for less than one week. Pray with us as we seek God's will for where He wants us next.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Charlotte Pit Stop


We got to stop and see Mr. Jay (but sadly missed Mrs. Joan), help him with the yard work and play around a bit before heading on to the campground at Smyrna TN for Randy's last week of work this year. Malachi was crushing some cans when Mr. Jay said he should use the vise ... you know boys and their toys/tools! Malachi was a shoo in and had a blast. What a welcome stop after being on the road for so long. God is so faithful to provide ... even friends in locations along the route.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Tennessee Bound


Well, once again we are on the road again. Feels like we just did this long drive ... oh yeah, we did. Molly got car sick -- PTL! God put a road side park right there for us so we didn't have to indure the smell for long. However the pillow found its way into the trash and mom washed the blanket and pillowcase in the restroom. We stopped at an amazing road side park in Illnois with a great playground and a lake.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Kansas Whirlwind


Wow! What a pleasure to be home and see all our friends and family. Too bad all the work has to be done too. Between getting things done at Michelle's parents and taking care of stuff at our place we just didn't have enough time to see everyone we wanted. What a blessing that Uncle Tony came back through town so we got to see him before he headed back to the Reservation. It was fun to hear the excitement from our soon to be REAL Aunt Cheri as she shared some of their wedding plans. The boys got to spend time with their special friends. We helped celebrate some birthdays and got some major snuggling in with two of the new babies in our friendship circle. Sunday was a blessing with getting to attend Vineyard, see a bunch of friends, hear a wonderful sermon from Pastor Tom and participate in Pastor Appreciation by getting some wonderful mums for Grandma's yard. (Randy & Josiah did a great job of planting them ... for the most part!) We even got to go to the evening marriage Fireproof group. Randy got to eat with his breakfast group two times and Malachi actually made it up to go with him the last time. He made a wonderful memory for his Daddy. After he was done eating his pancakes he was ready to go home and go back to bed. He was snuggled up to Randy kept asking him , "Is it time to go yet? It's too early, I'm full and I'm tired." It was a little hard loading back up for the 25+ hour drive back to Tennessee but the COLD, wet weather God sent was a good motivator. They had possible snow forecasted for the day we left. We'll welcome warmer weather.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Homeward Bound!


We are all so excited! Despite the fact that we have 2 weeks off with no pay and the blowout damaged our "home" we are all anxious to get home to see our family & Friends! What a long ride! Mom was ready to call it quits at Warrenton, MO but fortunately Dad was driving so after 25-1/2 hours on the road ... we made it home! Yet another praise ... Molly didn't get car sick!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Carlisle Tire strikes yet again!


This is the 4th Carlisle tire we’ve had to replace in a short time. We’re on the move from Georgia to Tennessee and hopefully Kansas for a visit. Once again we are reminded of how God is protecting us. We were on the Interstate and I was on the phone with Randy when a tire blew on the 5th wheel. Randy immediately was able to switch lanes and get stopped especially after I told him that parts of the RV were flying off. As you can tell from the pictures God’s hand was on us as the blow out bent the metal frame forward and right up against the 2nd tire. (We only have one spare tire.) It even cut some of the electrical wires. Our pit crew is getting pretty good at this. Josiah & Malachi, at 11 yo & 7 yo, are becoming quite efficient at changing tires. Josiah’s a pro at dropping the spare done from the underbelly. Malachi’s favorite is working the torch wrench. The three of them definitely have a system down and work together pretty smoothly.

Once we were all ready to get back on the road I had to look in the ditch area to see if God had put my seashell (still continuing my search since Ormond Beach object lesson from God) there for me to find or some financial assistance, etc. I was absolutely amazed when Randy didn’t question me at all when I told him God had stopped us there for a reason and I couldn’t limit God I had to look at all possibilities. What an amazing husband … but then again over the last 13 years he has seen things that God has done for us in the most unique ways. Needless to say, no seashell yet and no money in the grass. But not to far down the road I was even more thankful when we ended up in the Tennessee mountains with the curvy roads and steep inclines/declines. I’d hate to imagine what would have happened if the tire blew under those conditions.

Thanks for all the prayers. We serve such an amazing God!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Malachi Musings

I just love snuggle times with my sons. Yesterday I was privileged to get to snuggle with Malachi. As we were there just absorbing each others presence in quietness I watched him examine each of his arms. After a while I asked him what he was looking at. His reply, "I'm trying to figure out which arm is Indian and which arm is Cowboy." I then explained to him that each arm was both Indian and Cowboy as God mixed them all together just right and shaped them in to the one and only Malachi Wendt with a special purpose from God. He thought that was pretty cool but wanted to know if God had mixed any Mexican Indian in to him too. I told him only God knew for sure but I didn't think we had any in our bloodline.

How I just love snuggle times and the mind boggling thoughts of my precious children.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Columbus GA Downtown Skatepark


After Refuge closed, Kyle, Reggie & Victor went with us to the new Columbus Downtown Skate park and skated/BMX there for a while before calling it a night. What a joyous time to get to share with our friends. Hope we can get some more time in before God moves us out of Columbus.

Refuge Skatpark


We were blessed with getting to go to the Skater's Bible Study at Refuge as a family then getting to skate/BMX afterwards for a while. It was great to get to see friends from when we were here before. On a side note, my tooth infection is getting better. The swelling is starting to go down but the pain is increasing as it does. I think God's going to have me live through this one!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Tooth VS Human Body

… and the tooth is in the lead!

First off, to all my family and friends that have had tooth aches … I am soooooo sorry I wasn’t more sympathetic.

I’ve had my first infected tooth and boy is it life altering! I know the Bible talks about the parts of the body being one … but I hadn’t really imagined that one little tooth could bring the rest of the body down so quickly and effectively. Oh what an intricate system He has created in us.

Tuesday afternoon found me joking with one of our friends that I might need a good dentist. Tuesday night found me in horrendous pain. Wednesday the “tooth” resolved me to tears and desperately looking for some long pliers to pull the beast myself. When our friend got home from work he didn’t even bother to say hi he just flipped open his phone and called the dentist to see if and when I could get in. Never before have I waited with baited breath to see when I could go to the dentist … and been so bummed when I had to wait until the next day to get in. (See, there’s always first’s in life no matter how old you get … you just have to look for them!) Wednesday night was even worse and I was absolutely miserable after 2 days of no sleep and over the top pain. Thursday found me at the dentist, $145 dollars later they confirmed I had an infected tooth (no duh!) and needed a root canal. They promptly, but nicely, sent me on my way with a script for amoxicillin (which “should” help me feel better in a day) and Motrin and told me to come back when I had $1000 and they would refer me to a local specialist that could get it done in one day. (They were going to do the root canal but couldn’t fit their 2-3 wk process into our forced time frame with us in town for only … one more day.)

Needless to say, I was in massive PPT (prayer, pain and tears) as soon as I walked out the door. This faith walk business is definitely not a walk in the park. God has opened my eyes to perils and emotions that missionaries experience in their lives of serving Him to help give me more knowledge on how to serve Him and them better through the vision He has given Randy & I of what He wants us to ultimately do/provide.

After a brief, sobbing call to Randy I made it safely back to our campground and friend’s home to see my boys. Unfortunately Malachi’s hug and sincere desire to make me feel better brought the tears back on once again. If I hadn’t been in so much pain it might have been comical as it was obvious Rob (our friend) didn’t know how to handle this tearful female. He felt even worse when he found out I needed $1000 for my tooth as he had just called Randy and told him I had to have a $375 fan replaced on our van and probably the radiator too. He was relieved that he could help us by not charging for his service but he himself needs the finances to provide for his family. So after some prayer and hugs I headed home to lay down ... and writher in pain praying for the antibiotics to kick in and thanking God for the apparent blessing to come in our lives! I mean why else would be getting hit with all the things breaking on Randy’s pickup, my van, our 5th wheel (which was at Camping World for 4 days) and now my tooth. It’s always a good sign that something God filled is ahead for us!

Believe it or not, Thursday night was even worse than the previous nights and the swelling more intense. My mouth, tongue and throat swelled so bad I thought Randy was going to have to take me in to the hospital as it was getting hard to breath. Oh to know what to do and all the while praying for God’s healing. We were suppose to move to Columbus GA on Friday but there was no way I was going to be able to drive the distance. So, we ended up having to stay one more night in Perry but Saturday we had to move no matter what. I stayed in bed unless I was throwing up from the pain and Randy & the boys worked on the van and got things ready to pack up and move.

After doing two Aqua Chi detox sessions in one day and almost 2 days of antibiotics I thought I could make it to Columbus … not like I had any options! Once we arrived in Columbus Randy took the boys and headed to the Refuge Skate Park where we made friends when we were here before and I went back to bed. Connie, the owner of the campground, asked if I needed a Dr or dentist as soon as she saw me … guess I must have looked somewhat like I felt.

The pain is still there. The swelling goes down when I do the Aqua Chi detox and the natural remedies are helping make it more tolerable. Still trusting and waiting for God’s healing or finances for my tooth. I’m definitely ready to be back up to 100% health again. (I think Randy & the boys are too!) I hope I have learned all that God desires for me to learn from all this to be better able to serve Him and others as I really don’t want to be hard headed and have to go through this again.