Good gifts

{Picnic at the Sea of Galilee, the day before Mother's Day}

Such beautiful, beautiful children surround me.  

I really have no words at all, other than to say,

"I am SO BLESSED.... and I have done nothing to deserve it.  

I just have a really loving God who delights in giving good gifts!"

Thank you Davey, Nate, Brianna, and Micah for blessing my heart 

each time you say that word I never had the privilege 

of growing up saying... 

that word that makes me feel loved, needed, and important to you.... 

that word... 

"Mama."

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, 

how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give 

good things to them that ask him?  Matthew 7:11

NOTE:  We used a darling little "All About My Mom" worksheet on a site I love for kids' projects {click here to see it}, and I look forward to sharing my children's fun answers with you tomorrow.    Be prepared to learn a little more about me through the eyes of my children.... yikes... this could be revealing! 

Tribute to a friend

This past Thursday, a godly lady I had the privilege of calling friend went to Heaven.

When hubby and I first began our missionary journey in Ukraine 10 years ago {long before this blog}, we had the joy and privilege of working alongside the Hudson family.  Other missionary families later joined us, but for a couple of years, our two families worked together alone.

I have many joyous memories of our five years of partnering with the Hudsons... holidays shared, ministry opportunities, family outings..., before the Lord led us to move 12 hours south of them, to the southern region of Ukraine.  During our time with them, it was a pleasure to move out to a village to help them start a brand new work, which continues today under Matt Hudson's pastoral leadership.

Just two months ago, one week prior to the Hudson's return to Ukraine after a furlough in America, Catherine was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, which metastasized and moved to her liver.  Chemotherapy was started immediately, but complications of double pneumonia took her life just 8 weeks later.

I looked up to Catherine with respect and admiration for her love and devotion to her husband, children, and ministry.  Most importantly, she had an obvious love and devotion to the Lord which were an encouragement and example to me.

I realize that I was one of few people who saw Catherine live and work on the mission field.  As a witness of her dedication, I can confidently tell you that she was the epitome of an ideal Proverbs 31 lady.  She sweetly and lovingly carried out her daily responsibilities, even when life was not always comfortable in a third-world country.

My heart goes out to Matt and their three children Daniel (age 16), Rachel (age 13), and Deborah (age 11).  Their loss is deep, as Catherine was a rare treasure.

May the hope of Heaven sustain Catherine's family during their painful days ahead and may Christ's love embrace them when they need it the most.

Celebrating Independence Day

A few weeks before Independence Day here in Israel (April 25th-26th), people started hanging the Israeli flag from their balconies.  I haven't mentioned this yet, but we are living on the 8th floor of a 14-story building.  And, it seems that pretty much everyone in the city we are in live in buildings  as high as ours. 

{Photos above and below from the internet}

Hubby and I started casually looking at flags in shops, knowing that we would need to buy one too, but apparently it got to be too much for our 7-year old Nate, who didn't want to be left out.  One day, we went out onto our balcony (which is closed in with glass) and this is what we found:

For Nate's sake especially, hubby bought a large flag for our balcony, but personally, I still like Nate's version the best. {smile}  We also joined the "club" and put one on our van, as you can see in the picture below.  (We didn't want to be the only ones without one on our vehicle too!)

We met Shimon and Olga (in the above picture) last year and became fast friends.  They lost their only son and his fiancee in combat.  Now with no children and no hope for grandchildren, our kids have gladly tried to fill the void that is left in their hearts.  In fact, our Davey has started taking piano lessons from Olga on Tuesdays, and he loves it!  We met them in an entirely different city, and God orchestrated it to where we now live in a place where we can look from our balcony and see their apartment building in the distance... a long walk but a quick drive to their home.  We know that God dearly loves this couple, and He loves us too for placing us in such a strategic place during this three-month stay here.

Being newcomers to this country, we really had no idea what a big deal Independence Day is here.  We are also still getting used to the idea that everything starts in the evenings, when the sun goes down.  We had heard that there would be "some fireworks" in the center of town that evening and decided to take a stroll and see if we could see them.  Nothing prepared us for what we found:

Click here to see this 33 second video.

We were shocked at all of the people!  We seriously wondered if anyone stayed home that evening.  With all of the festivities and the late hour it was, we were also sincerely surprised to find such a family atmosphere on the streets that late at night (we were out until midnight).  We saw absolutely no drinking anywhere and no one selling alcohol either.  The people were having pure, family fun!

Yesterday, we went to an Israeli officers' academy to congratulate these soldiers on their Independence Day.  Hubby spoke to them for 10-minutes and received huge applause at the end of his speech on why American Christians support Israel.

At the beginning of his speech, David introduced our family and let them know that our children had gifts for them.  Davey passed out our family's picture, Nate passed out notes from you {my readers!}, and sweet little Brianna passed out sugary-sweet lollipops!

My heart is full to the brim of gratitude for those of you who took part in helping us put together some awesome words of support and congratulations to give out to these soldiers.  And, we have only begun, folks.  America {and the rest of the world} recognizes Israel's Independence Day as May 14th,  so we still have lots more benevolence to bestow on these worthy young men and young ladies.  As a people who live with enemies surrounding them on all sides geographically, they are genuinely grateful to anyone who shows favor towards them.

Our hats off to you, Israel, for 64 years of Independence.  There are people in America and around the world who stand on your side!