“…whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”

1 Corinthians 10:31

Have you ever really considered this verse?  Whatever means what?  Everything?  Perhaps.

That is how I am thinking of it.  Everything I do, I should do it all for God’s glory.  Before I left Costa Rica a young lady friend asked me, “Do you only listen to Christian music?”  And I replied yes.  I began to think on that.  And my reasons behind that.  Then thinking on my life…. Do I do all things as if I am trying to do it to bring God glory?  Quite a challenge.  I worship through music for His glory.  I assist others for His glory.  I live in Costa Rica and serve the Ticos, teams and my family for His glory….. but what about other things?  Little things?  Quite a challenge and I would extend that challenge to you as well.  Just to think about this mandate from Scripture.

That brings me to this weekend.  As many of you know, this time last year I was barely able to walk across a room.  When I walked, I walked very slowly and more of a waddle.  Last March we took the kids to CharlesTowne Landing and I had to have my kids and Jacob push me in a wheelchair to make it through the park.  When the Cooper River Bridge Run came around last year, I realized it was something I had heard of my whole life.  I always thought, “I am going to do it one day.”  And I wondered, “Is it too late?  Will I ever be able to walk like that again?”  My next appointment with Dr. Gary Gilkeson I asked him if he thought I would ever be able to do something like that again.  It was hard to even get the question out of my mouth and I was on the verge of tears anticipating his answer.  At that time, I was in physical therapy 3 times a week and I was relearning balance…. relearning to put my pants on without sitting down and lifting my legs up with my hands….. relearning and regaining strength in my legs, shoulders and arms.  When he replied that he thought I would be able to do that, I was relieved and shocked.  I hoped…. I dreamed…. but never would I have imagined that only 1 year later……

Cooper River Bridge

This past weekend was a major milestone for me….  Over this past year I have followed all instructions given to me by my doctors and taken all medicines prescribed.  And I walked and walked our driveway in Costa Rica.  But bigger than that, I had God encouraging me and lifting me and gradually taking my pain away.  There is no cure for dermatomyositis and interstitial lung disease.  Some people live with these diseases without ever being fully out of pain.  I had given my body to the Lord.  Followed instructions.  Left my progress and pain relief in His hands and His timing.    In God’s good timing and plan, He has used my doctors and modern medicine and really worked wonders in my body.  A couple of weeks after the last chemo infusion that I received on October 31st, I woke up one morning and realized I had NO pain.  I was in shock and praising God.  I was breathing easier and able to get around and do all of my everyday tasks so much easier.  God was so good and is so good to me!!

As we got closer to spring, I remembered my question to Dr. Gilkeson last year about the Cooper River Bridge race and realized that we were going to be in SC during the race and I knew immediately that I wanted to get in good enough shape to do it for God!!  I let my friends and family know my plans and asked if any wanted to join me.  Sure enough, my mom, sister Monica and friend Donna Porter wanted to join me.  We trained and practiced and all met up Friday to get set up for Saturday.  Saturday morning came and our goal was to finish the 10K in 2 hours.  We got up early and drove over to Mt. Pleasant.  We got into place and the race started.  As we finally got going, a little ways past the start line we saw a man on the side of the road having pacemaker problems and I thought, “Can I really do this?”  But pushed the doubt aside and pushed forward.  We walked and walked and walked.  Before I knew it, we were on the Charleston side of the bridge and the crowds were there cheering everyone on saying the finishline was right around the corner.  And then, there it was…. right there!!  The finishline!!  10K behind me!!  And not only did I finish, but faster than my goal of 2 hours.  We finished in 1 hour 49 minutes!!  Thank you Donna, Momma and Monica for doing this with me!  Many people were praying for me and us and I truly appreciate it.  God was honored and answered our prayers!!

I can honestly say that me doing that walk was not about me.  It was not about dermatomyositis and interstitial lung disease.  It was about God.  He is so amazing.  He has taken me from extreme pain and hardly mobile to no pain and able to walk 6.2 miles!  And even when I was in major pain over this past year and a half, He carried me.  He gave me grace to endure and persevere.  And He gave me the umph I needed to push through the pain and continue to workout and restrengthen my muscles and praise Him all the way.  He was the one that I wanted to walk for and do to bring Him glory so that others would see what an awesome God He is.

So that brings us back to our verse.  And my challenge to you and to myself is to do all the things we do daily for the glory of God….. making breakfast, washing clothes, disciplining children, being a serving/loving/helping spouse, employee, …….watching the sports game, shopping, spending money, giving money away….. all for His glory.  Tougher than it sounds.  What a big challenge in such a few words.

Here are some pictures from my big, glorious day walking the Cooper River Bridge for God’s glory 🙂

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Mount Moriah Baptist Church Costa Rica Team 2011

If you would like to check out the photos we took during Mount Moriah Baptist’s trip to Costa Rica, check them out at this link…..

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111674&id=1241408466&l=548fd79615

We were so blessed by this team coming to serve with us in Costa Rica.  Not only did they share their testimonies of our Lord’s  glorious work in their lives, conduct Bible studies, lead singing and play with the children, but most importantly, they shared God’s love with the Ticos and our family!  What a joy and privilege to have them!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful time of year when we can gather together and express all of the reasons that we are thankful to our Lord for His provisions!  He has not only provided for our physical needs and blessed us with wonderful families and friends, but He has supplied for all of our spiritual needs with the finished work of Christ on the cross to forgive our sins!  The thing that we are most thankful for!!

Here in Costa Rica, they do not have the Thanksgiving holiday, but we are celebrating none the less.  We are going to have a few tico friends over and I am going to attempt to cook an entire feast – including cooking turkey for the first time!!  We not only want to share with them this United States tradition of a big day of food and perhaps play some football americano, but also share with them how God has blessed us and how we owe Him everything for all that He has given us. 

God has truly blessed us with another year in Costa Rica of service for Him.  At this point, Jacob leads 11 Bible studies each week!!!  That is amazing and a huge answer to prayer!  The kids enjoy going with him to some of these and they enjoy playing soccer each week with the kids in Cipreses!!  The kids and I are enjoying homeschooling and I am thrilled with my health progress!!  In the last couple of weeks, I have been able to chase the kids around like I used to and play ball with them!  I am feeling better than I have in over a year!!  God is so good!

We have been so blessed by great friends and family that love us from a distance and continue to pray and support us!  Thank you so much!!  God is using you mightily here in Costa Rica, even though you are in the US.  We are praying for you as you pray for us!! 

Colossians 2:6-7

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Here are some recent photos…

 

Farmer Jacob

So for the last 3 or 4 weeks, Jacob has been going out to the farm with Andre and Manuel.  He has been going with them to help them harvest whatever is ready to be harvested.  It has offered him the opportunity to spend time with the guys in their environment and they have not only become better friends, but Jacob says that they love to discuss spiritual matters while they work.  It has been a time that all 3 seem to really enjoy and look forward to each week.  Apparently, Andre and Manuel are the only people around that grow bokchoy.  They have a big market for it in San Jose with some oriental restaurants.  They gifted us some a couple of weeks ago and instructed me on how to prepare it.  And I absolutely love it!!  It is so yummy!!  Well, at some point Jacob told Andre how much I loved it, so he has made sure that he sends some with Jacob each time they see each other!!  I am not complaining!!  I absolutely love it!!  Another benefit is that Jacob comes home each time with a small portion of what they have reaped…. bokchoy, carrots, radishes, cilantro, etc….

Here is a photo of this week’s portion….

We have found that we have so much that some has started to go bad before we can use it.  So another ministry has developed.  We have started to look in the fridge each week to determine what we cannot eat or use and Jacob takes it with him as he goes and visits people.  They seem to really appreciate it.  We have found a way to not only clean out our fridge, but also to help those who have less.  Win – win situation 🙂  I would encourage you to consider how much food you throw away each week and even if it is a small amount, is there someone that you could give it too that could be blessed by your sharing?  You too could keep a clean, organized refrigerator and also be blessing another family with your extras before they go bad.

Not only are Andre and Manuel benefiting spiritually by Jacob coming with them each week to help harvest their vegetables, but it is an extra worker basically on their farm.  Jacob is making their job easier by assisting them in their harvest.  It reminds me of Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.'”  We firmly believe that each Christian is called to spread the gospel where the Lord has placed them.  He is harvesting all over the world.  Are you one of His workers?  Are you helping in The Harvest?  Would you ask the Lord of the Harvest to send you to where He needs a worker or workers?  Just some questions to ponder.

 

 

New Videos!!

We just made a new tab for videos of the work here!!  There are 4 new ones!!  Check them out and enjoy!!

 

Our week with Enon!

We have just finished a fabulous week with a group from Enon Baptist in Easley, SC.  They were a hard working group that worked in the town of Cot for the week!  They were able to paint the outside of the library where Francisco holds church.  They also held kids clubs with a great turn out of an average of 30 kids.  And some of the kids that they shared with even showed back up for church on Sunday!!  It was so exciting.  Here is their picture!!

And for those of you keeping up with the jalapeno eating contest…..  The last team to come through was the Enon team!  So they had 4 contestants trying to beat the old record!!!  Well, their pastor, Scott Willis is the official winner for the summer contest!!!  He blew all other contestants out of the water!!  His official count was 42 jalapeno slices with the closest other contestant eating 34!!!  Way to go Scott!!  You are the official winner and have bragging rights until next year!!!  LOL!!!

Please keep the prayers coming for my health and the mission going on here on the Irazu volcano!  The new Sunday morning Bible study going on in Cipreses has been so encouraging and all the new believers there are so eager to take in every word taught from the Bible!!  God’s work has been amazing this summer and we are praising the Lord for all of the teams that have come to work on the volcano!!!  God used each team member tremendously and He continues to bring fruit from your labors here!!  I am sick for the first time with a cold here in Costa Rica.  God has been good to have provided some Zyrtec here to help me with this.  Please pray that this does not turn into an infection.  Also, I have had a bit of a flair up, but each day I am improving – Praise the Lord!!  He is so good!  Living on the missionfield with dermatomyositis has been such a time for me to grow in His grace and love.  It continues to draw me closer to Him.  All praises to Him who created us all and who continues to work in each of our lives for His glory alone!!

 

Meet Andre

Me and Andre

This is a photo from today after church of myself and one of the newest members of our Christian family.  He is a glorious testimony of how awesome our Lord and Savior is!!  Andre and his family opened up their house for us to use as our place to have our Sunday morning Bible studies in Cipreses.  We started having Bible studies there about 3 weeks ago.  When we started, Andre was very interested in what we had to share.  He looked very sickly and even one time needed to go get his inhaler to make it through the service.  About a week and a half ago he prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior!!  Last Sunday he looked physically like a different person.  His color was better and he just looked happier and healthier!!  He hung on every word that was said in the Bible study.  After the Bible study I shared a little with him from my counseling experience about how he should handle battling alcoholism.  I gave him a daily battle plan consisting of reading his Bible and spending time in prayer.  Especially in moments when he was facing decisions about drinking and spending time with his old friends.  He seemed so encouraged by all of the prayers and the time spent with new friends in Lord.  Well, today after Bible study I asked him how his week had gone.  He is so honest and open.  He said that each day is a struggle, but that he had not had a drop of alcohol in 1 week.  This is who I had asked you all to pray for in my last blog and we so appreciate all of your prayers.  Andre is a true testimony to God’s goodness and God’s strength.  He is taking it day by day.  I had encouraged him to memorize Scripture and Lizzie made him sticky notes with pictures on them to mark Scripture that he felt helped encourage him during times of hard decisions and desires to drink.  I asked him had he done that.  He quoted to me, “If God is for us, who can be against us.”  He did not even hesitate.  He also said that he has been reading Psalm 23 a lot.  He again did not hesitate.  I am so happy for Andre and for the work the Lord is doing in his life.  I am humbled by the fact that God continues to use our family to bring others to Himself and encourage and help new Christians.  I am also so encouraged by all of the teams that continue to work on Irazu.  Right now we are working with a team from Enon Baptist in Easley, SC.  They will be here until Thursday morning!  The work the teams have done this summer has just been amazing.  Each one has been a blessing not only to our family, but to the people who live on Irazu.  God has used each team and their gifts and talents for His glory and to draw those like Andre to him.  Thank you to all of you that have been praying and to all of you who have come to work.  We are all working together for God’s glory alone!

 

Panama 2010!!

So as most of you know we have just arrived back from Panama to get Jacob and the kids’ passports stamped.  We were blessed to find out 2 weeks ago that a group from ILE (the language school that we attended last year) was leaving this past weekend for Panama and we could join them.  The trip would cost us $115 per person, except Sophia, she was free!  It included a private bus trip, hotel stay and breakfast.  That was by far the cheapest and safest route for us.  The problem was that it was to Bocas del Toro – the place that we went in 2008 for this same process and, to put it nicely, was probably the worst trip we have ever been on.  This was the last place we wanted to go and yet it seemed that this was the answer to our prayers, so we agreed to go with the ILE group.

We woke up at 4am and set off at 4:30 to be at the bus by 5:30am and also drop the car off at the Leckie’s house.  Francisco stayed at our house while we were gone to keep Zorro and be a body in the house, so he had come the night before.  As we were walking to the bus and turned the corner to the street it was on and saw the bus – it was this beautiful, private bus!!  We were starting off on a fantastic foot!  We set off through San Jose and on our way towards Limon we went through beautiful rainforest.  We stopped for breakfast which the tour guide from ILE decided to pay $3 towards the cost of each person and again she arranged for Sophia to be free, so we had breakfast for $3 each!  What a blessing.  Then we were back in the bus for the remainder of the trip.  We arrived at the border and all got off the bus to have our passports stamped – we were praying the whole time that we would not have any problems – Jacob and the kids’ passports were 3 days past the 90 day limit!!  Well, I guess because we were in such a big group, the guy at the border did not even glance at our entrance stamps!!  Praise the Lord!  Now, with that over, we had the dreaded walk across the 100 year old bridge!  Jacob, Kelsey and I each had one child and started off.  Well, to our surprise it seems that they have worked on the bridge since we crossed it in 2008 and there was actually enough boards to walk a straight path without feeling like one of the kids were going to plummet into the raging river below!  As we made it across it seems the temperature went up about a billion degrees!!  It is hot in Panama!!  We are used to it rarely getting about 70 at our house in Boqueron and it must have been at least 100 in Panama!  The kids did great though and we were definitely happy to have our stamps on the Panama side and to be back on the air-conditioned luxury bus!!  So we were then off to the water taxi place.  We had to ride through some pretty poor places in Panama.  It is always sad to see the living conditions of some people and here we were in this awesome bus and we had no rooms for complaints.  It is in these times that we certainly see God’s blessing and realize we have no room for any complaints.  We all loaded up in the water taxis, which by the way are no more than speed boats with rows of seats, and took off toward the island of Bocas del Torro.  Again, we passed people living on the edge of the water whose living conditions just broke your heart.  After we were hurled towards Bocas for about 40 minutes, we arrived and walked to the hotel.  We were hot and sweaty, ready to get to our room and get to supper.  When we got to the room we were assigned, it was a single bed and a double bed.  Clearly 6 adults and 3 children were not going to fit in this room.  So I went to talk to Nina – the group leader – and the only other room available was next door and it was just a double.  So we agreed to make that work.  Jacob and I in one room and Kelsey braved the other room with all of the kids 🙂  What a trooper she is by the way!!  We were so thankful that she went along with us for this adventure!!  We then headed off for supper and then came back and went to sleep by like 7:30!!

We woke up on Saturday with no expectations for the day except to be hot!  Well, while we were eating breakfast, Nina came and said that she had arranged a tour for the whole group.  We were thinking we could not do a tour because they are normally $20 per person and now we are being told that we are going to be getting back in the boats and going to see dolphins, swim on a private beach and then go to another private beach where we can see a ton of starfish!  And all of that was going to be paid for by the money that was collected to pay for the trip!  It was quite a surprise and we were so excited!  We had a fantastic time and were so amazed at God’s provision for our family.  The kids got to see dolphins and starfish and play in a safe quiet beach.  The tour lasted from 9:30am to 4:30pm!  It was such an unexpected treat!

We woke up Sunday to another great breakfast and then had a worship service together on the dock/restaurant on the water connected to the hotel!  Then headed back towards the border and Costa Rica around 11:45am.  We went through the Panama border easily and then I had Benja, Kelsey carried Sophia on her back and Jacob had Lizzie and we crossed the bridge.  On a funny note, our bus decided to cross the bridge after we had started across and after our “adventure” doing this in 2008, we were not about to try to move over to the side and let him pass us.  Jacob looked back and he said that it was like the ball chasing Indiana Jones!  I refused to look back and just kept going.  Once we got over to the CR side I stepped off and looked back at Jacob and Kelsey and it was kind of funny to see this huge tour bus looming over their shoulders!!  Back at the CR side we again were praying that nothing would happen with our stamps and guess what….when they guy went to pick up Jacob’s the phone rang…it distracted him and he again did not hardly look at anything and just kept stamping away!!  Praise the Lord!!  So we got back on the bus and headed back to San Jose/San Francisco.  We arrived back at our house around 8:30 or so.

I cannot say enough what a blessing it was to go with the group from ILE.  They welcomed us and loved our kids.  On another funny note, we got to see Sophia (our 4 year old) come out of her own little shell and into her personality more.  She has always been friendly with most people and loves to make new friends.  But she had to have met and had a conversation with everyone that she met from the ILE group.  They might not have known our names, but they knew we were Sophia’s parents!  She said at one point, “Mommy, all of these people are my friends.  They like me and talk to me and want to be my friend.”  Who cannot love Sophia or Lizzie or Benja?  All three were such troopers and did wonderfully the whole time!  God has blessed us with such amazing children!!  And we are also so thankful for Kelsey!  She was such a blessing to have along as well!   I asked her, if we ever have to do this again, would she please fly down and go with us?  LOL!  🙂  We are also so thankful for your prayers!  God was so wonderful to us throughout this trip!  Here are some pictures!  Enjoy!

 

Some photos of what we have been up to!

Here are some photos of what all has been going on around the house in Costa Rica.   Most of it involves fixing things on the house!  Some are fun times!!  We gotta mix it up a little 🙂  Enjoy!

 

She was really “Pooped”

Yesterday we went to see the house we will be house sitting and the Graef’s have 3 kids that all line up in age to our three!!  They all got along wonderfully and we are praying that we will find a house close to this house so that they can be long term friends.  Anyway, there was some hard playing going on!  They were having a great time.  Well, last night, Jacob went to the bathroom and turned on the light and found this scene!!  All I can think is that it was a quiet place to take a rest!!  LOL!!  Sweet Sophia!!