Monday, March 24, 2008
Easter
We were so blessed to be able to spend lots of time with family this weekend. Adi especially enjoyed being silly and playing with her little cousin Kayley!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Grace Like Rain
So a couple of weekends ago Cam and I were blessed with some unexpected time with our niece, Keely. This was the first time that we spent time just with Keely and not her sisters Tori and Elleh. I think it was pretty natural for her to be a bit more reserved than she might otherwise be, but she adores Adi and the love is mutual so our drive from Iowa City to Williamsburg turned from me telling stories about George (Curious George that is) looking for us or Cody Maverick and Big Z (Surf's Up characters - Adi loves penguins) snowboarding to catch up with us to Adi and Keely quietly and nicely playing and giggling in the back seat together.
Now I know this is not how siblings always interact, but it warmed my heart to think that perhaps some day Adi would be the "big sister" and she would be able to interact that way with a younger sibling. Age difference has been a concern of mine and seeing Adi who is almost 3 and Keely who is 7 1/2 together was enlightening. If Adi is 4 or 5 years older than her next sibling, it will be OK. It will be wonderful. It will be fun, not only for her but for her sibling. My worries about age difference were put to ease and a smile was put on my face.
As we neared the Burg we were listening to 101.9 (yeah, the cheesy one - Air1 doesn't come in over there) and Todd Agnew's song Grace Like Rain came on the radio. Much to our surprise (and joy) Keely started belting out the lyrics. She knew all of them! It was so much fun to sing out loud to a Christian song playing on the radio with our niece and Adi humming along. My heart melted and I really did feel God's presence there in the van with us as we sang our praises. It was beautiful!
Now I know this is not how siblings always interact, but it warmed my heart to think that perhaps some day Adi would be the "big sister" and she would be able to interact that way with a younger sibling. Age difference has been a concern of mine and seeing Adi who is almost 3 and Keely who is 7 1/2 together was enlightening. If Adi is 4 or 5 years older than her next sibling, it will be OK. It will be wonderful. It will be fun, not only for her but for her sibling. My worries about age difference were put to ease and a smile was put on my face.
As we neared the Burg we were listening to 101.9 (yeah, the cheesy one - Air1 doesn't come in over there) and Todd Agnew's song Grace Like Rain came on the radio. Much to our surprise (and joy) Keely started belting out the lyrics. She knew all of them! It was so much fun to sing out loud to a Christian song playing on the radio with our niece and Adi humming along. My heart melted and I really did feel God's presence there in the van with us as we sang our praises. It was beautiful!
Thank you Keely, for opening my heart, my eyes, my mind and giving me a glimpse of the future. Lovely.
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Gathering - Follow Up
So my experience in going to conferences with Cameron is that generally each one is "for" one or the other of us. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me. Essentially, each conference we've gone to ends up having a tone of God doing work in both of us, but one of us seems to get way more than the other - and that's OK. It's more than OK, it's perfect!
So the Gathering was for Cameron. Hands down. I had a wonderful time, was filled with the Spirit and had some nice prayer time. I felt invigorated and excited to be walking with Jesus. I was inspired by the history of the Vineyard and the roots of what the Vineyard is about and how we do faith. Wonderful, powerful and exciting stuff. I couldn't wait to bring it home.
Now Cameron, he hesitantly took time out of one of the workshops to enter into a prayer time with some prophetically gifted men. He really didn't know what to expect but the words he received were so affirming for him (much to my dismay ;) My greatest fear was in a way confirmed when a man shared his vision of Cam in a single-engine plane flying about from place to place and loving it. There's, of course, more to the story but in short this was so significant for Cam. He used to fly planes in college - went to the University of Dubuque for aviation. He didn't finish and didn't get his pilots licence, but the accuracy of the word was astounding (and this isn't the first time he's had words involving planes and adventure).
In symbolic terms, planes very much represent over-seas ministry. This is where my dismay comes in. I'm comfortable here at home. I don't want to leave. I'm very stubborn and I'm having a really hard time submitting to God on this one. So, God has His work cut out with me. I've challenged Him to change my heart, because that's the only way. He's already working on me. I guess I'm just grateful I wasn't told to go to Africa (though Africa would actually be pretty cool). I frequently have dreams of tropical places but always attributed that to living in Miami for a few years. Maybe it's more than that. I guess we'll see.
So my favorite part of the conference was in the ending prayer. We gathered with some people from other churches and just prayed together and blessed each other. There were a few words given at that time, some more significant than others. The one that touched my heart instantly and made me smile (OK, I actually laughed out loud) was a word for both Cameron and I: "with you two, it's a matter of what you see is what you get" and I don't think that could be any more true. Ha ha.
So the Gathering was for Cameron. Hands down. I had a wonderful time, was filled with the Spirit and had some nice prayer time. I felt invigorated and excited to be walking with Jesus. I was inspired by the history of the Vineyard and the roots of what the Vineyard is about and how we do faith. Wonderful, powerful and exciting stuff. I couldn't wait to bring it home.
Now Cameron, he hesitantly took time out of one of the workshops to enter into a prayer time with some prophetically gifted men. He really didn't know what to expect but the words he received were so affirming for him (much to my dismay ;) My greatest fear was in a way confirmed when a man shared his vision of Cam in a single-engine plane flying about from place to place and loving it. There's, of course, more to the story but in short this was so significant for Cam. He used to fly planes in college - went to the University of Dubuque for aviation. He didn't finish and didn't get his pilots licence, but the accuracy of the word was astounding (and this isn't the first time he's had words involving planes and adventure).
In symbolic terms, planes very much represent over-seas ministry. This is where my dismay comes in. I'm comfortable here at home. I don't want to leave. I'm very stubborn and I'm having a really hard time submitting to God on this one. So, God has His work cut out with me. I've challenged Him to change my heart, because that's the only way. He's already working on me. I guess I'm just grateful I wasn't told to go to Africa (though Africa would actually be pretty cool). I frequently have dreams of tropical places but always attributed that to living in Miami for a few years. Maybe it's more than that. I guess we'll see.
So my favorite part of the conference was in the ending prayer. We gathered with some people from other churches and just prayed together and blessed each other. There were a few words given at that time, some more significant than others. The one that touched my heart instantly and made me smile (OK, I actually laughed out loud) was a word for both Cameron and I: "with you two, it's a matter of what you see is what you get" and I don't think that could be any more true. Ha ha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)