Blogging??? What's that!

I have not blogged in over 2 years. It took me 10 minutes just to figure out to how to even log into this thing. I could not remember log-ins, passwords.....nada. But now I am here.

I think I might start blogging again. Does anyone even follow this anymore?

The end

This next season of life in Peru will not include a blog. I don't think anyone reads anymore, anyway. I will be making it private where only I can read it becaue I don't want to lose the 3 years of memories and photos. However, I will no longer be blogging. We had a great go at it and I enjoyed all of your comments and feedback. I hope God blesses you all.

Untangled

I think I've spent the last ten years of my Christian Walk "doing" good things and trying to "be a good person." I want to spend the next just "being" God's girl.....just basking in His love and giving that love back to others. I don't want to be entangled in a legalistic web of do's and dont's that aren't scriptural and don't necessarily point people back to Christ. The freedom I feel in the Lord is truly invigorating. And because of that freedom, each day I am experiencing His love in a new way. Instead of having a relationship with God that exemplifies the word "conviction," I feel that I am moving into a relationship that echos "freedom and hope." After all, He is the one that gives me hope and He came to set the captives (me and you) free. Why I ever tried to entangle myself in a bunch of rules and regulations, in the name of Christ, makes no sense, when Christ came to untangle us. This next season of ministry in Peru is going to look totally different for us. But more importantly, I hope this next phase of being God's Girl is radical and life changing for myself and for those God places in my path.

Thought I would pop in and say hi so that they don't close down my blogger account. :)

We are plugging along in our stateside assignment. We are less than 3 months to go and then we return to Peru. It is with great anticipation that we go "home" in January.

The kids are all doing very well. Miles is walking and talking up a storm. Parker just turned 10 last month, Miles turned 1 and this week we will celebrate Jaxson's 7th birthday.

John and I have been in a rough patch these days, but we are confident that God will guide us out of it and sustain us while we are in it and that are marriage will only be stronger and better on the other side of this.

I'm still running a lot and am currently training for the Walt Disney World Marathon for 2011. One of my goals, that day, is to break the 4 hour mark. :) I am training hard and am feeling like it is a real possiblity.

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to a 5k with my 3 oldest kids this morning.

Have a great fall morning.

Love,
Jess

We are traveling and visiting a lot of churches. Day by day, little by little, we are being renewed spiritually. Many of the churches are super encouraging and we leave skipping and smiling. God is doing a great work in my heart and I feel a peace that I haven't had in a long time. I had a huge spiritual breakthrough last week at our missionary renewing time in Virginia.

I am running a lot and enjoying my friends at the running club. I have a few big runs coming up and am now training for the Disney Marathon, again, in January. YEAH!!!!

Miles is now walking more than he is crawling. He just got over a booger of an ear infection and double pink eye which left him very crabby. He is back to his happy self. He still has super bad skin, but we are weaning him from the bottle and the soy formula. We introduced him to organic soy milk today and he drank 3 glasses out of a sippy cup in one setting.

John is working on his public speaking and is getting better and better each time he does it. He knocked it out of the ball park last night.

This week I am going to New York City to visit my cousin. The entire trip is pretty much free since we got a free ticket and my cousin lives there. I found a half-marathon in Staten Island and I am super stoked about running it. :)

Well, that is life in a nutshell. I'll try to check in more often. I just have gotten out of the habit and am back on Facebook. :)

Love you all....

Jess

Pasto, Colombia

We had the opportunity to stay in Lima long-term, but we turned it down. We sense God asking us to give up more and live in faith, with less and trust Him in ways we didn't have to in Lima. We also feel that our work there is done and that it is truly a reached people. God is calling us to the unreached in Colombia. We are pursuing an assignment in Pasto, Colombia. It is a place of about 400,000 and is 9,000 above sea level and is about 57 degrees all year round. There are several indigenous groups around that area and we would be trying to engage them. Our goal is to leave Lima by June of next year but we have to see what the IMB has planned and most importantly what God has in store. Thank you for praying with us.

You can google Pasto, Colombia to see pictures. It is beautiful in comparison to Lima.

First Steps

This past weekend, my precious baby Miles turned 11 months old. In just a few short weeks we will be celebrating his first year of life.

He has taken a few steps here and there and should be running circles around us in no time at all. He is still the sweetest little guy. He weighs about 26 pounds and loves to eat, eat, eat. His sister, Ally, is his favorite sibling. She is like a 2nd mom. He is definitely a daddy's boy and he is sad when all the kids are gone. His skin is still acting up, but we are trying to get it under control with new medication. Honestly, if I searched for something negative to say about him, I would not be able to come up with one thing. To us, he is perfect in every single way.

I am looking forward to celebrating Mile's birthday on September 28th. Here is a picture of him the night he took his first steps.

Only God Knows

We almost did something permanent in regards to "bearing" more children. God blocked it on three accounts. On the third account I said, "Okay, God....what do you have planned for our family?"

Our plans are to not have anymore children. But I wonder what God's plans for our family are? I can't wait to see. Lately I have been feeling like there is one more little girl missing from our family. It started a few months back and has only gotten stronger. The problem is that I do not ever want to be pregnant again, but yet it seems as if someone is missing from the Phams. When I talk with John about "our next baby" or "being pregnant again" he doesn't say anything to the contrary or anything negative. That is odd, too! So at this point, only God knows. And it's interesting that that is enough for me with "family planning" but it's not with COlombia or Peru (see previous post). I hope that "Only God Knows" can be enough in all areas of my life. I don't need to know the answers or plan everything out. I just need to trust and walk in faith; for me...so much easier said than done.

By the way, if we have another little girl, her name will be Alani Bella.

Colombia or Peru???

AAfter almost two weeks of having my blog shut down completely, I opened it back up because I'm just not me without my blog. It is an extension of me and an outlet. I am not advertising that it's open or open to the public, so at this point I have no readers. But that's fine because I am doing it for me.

Being back in the states was hard for the first two weeks. Now it is incredible on all levels. I have gotten into a good schedule with the kids, exercise, church, friends and family. My heart already feels sadness about returning to Lima. Here I feel so alive and happy and like my old self. I am constantly smiling and just refreshed. In Lima I sit around and mostly feel down and yuk!

God has a place for us to serve next, but we are confused as to where that would be. Our flesh clouds our judgement on many levels. We would love to stay in Lima so that we don't have to move, leave such a great house and school. We would not like to go to Colombia because Colombia means more change and transition and that equals YUK!!!! But Colombia possibly has people that God wants us to reach. Lima is pretty much reached, but there is a work we can do there as well, but not the kind of work we feel passionate about. But does the work we feel passionate about exist in Colombia as well or is it only available in in Asia or the Middle East where Christ is not known? And if we moved to one of those countries then we are talking about starting at ground zero again. Why can't I just be up for that? Why not just throw caution to the wind and start a new life ALL over again (yet again) with a different language, culture, values, etc...?? I wish I could be so brave. I feel like the missionaries in the East are REAL missionaries and we are just phonies taking the easy way out. But nonetheless, we need an answer...Colombia or Peru??? Only God knows. He's just not telling us yet.

I'm still alive, just very tired and too busy. I do miss my slow life in Peru.

The novelty of Wal-mart has worn off.

John and I are heading out bright and early for our Dominican vacation. :) See you when I get back!!!

Any readers left?

I have probably lost ALL of my readers by this point. I am going to start chronicalling (spelling) my thoughts about Stateside to help me debrief and process all of this. There are so many things in my heart and mind and I wonder if anyone else has ever felt the same. Maybe if I have it in writing, one day God can use it to help someone else who is in similar shoes.

The past month of my life has been a whirlwind. It went from packing up, saying goodbye to friends, hosting a mission team, flying here, settling into the house in less than 24 hours, packing up again and going to stay out with John's family in a timeshare on Disney property, 2 days with them out there, coming home and unpacking and then driving an hour each way for three more days to be with John's family in Deland while his sisters and mom were here. By the time we pulled out on Friday night from her house, at 10 p.m., I literally cried ALL the way home and had a huge meltdown. I guess I had been bottling everything inside of me and just putting on a "I'm fine, everything is great. I'm so happy to be back in the states," face. I was also beyond exhausted. Seriously, it was inconceivable how tired I was and still am from the enormous amount of activity and huge life changes we have just experienced.

It might seem like I have a lot of energy and go, go, go, but the truth is that I need about 10 hours of sleep a night, cannot have too much activity every day and need lots of "margin" in my life. The need for margin became so apparent as we were just hustling from one thing to the next. And don't even get me started on my kid's behavior through all of this. Actually, their behavior is fine, it's just that they have lost their manners and some of the fundamentals we have taught them. But they are transitioning as well, so I have a lot of grace for them.

Here are some things I would like to post about in the next few days:

My new itty-bitty, tiny nose-ring. (No negative opinions please. It's already done and I have no conviction about it).
God's awesome provisions!!!!
The sadness I have felt being here in the States and how transitioning to a new place is hard, no matter where it is.
Looking like a complete moron in public because I don't know how things are done here anymore.
My thoughts about my first term.
Running Club!
Materialism and how I am responding different than I thought I would.

Well, it's late and I want to read a cookbook my aunt is letting me borrow - 1,400 Best Slow Cook Recipes. Yummy!

Our number

We are in Florida. It is late. You can reach us at 407-715-6846. :)

Just popped in to say that our team is here from our home church in St. Cloud. I am so glad that we are leaving the same day that they are or we would be so sad staying here once they leave. We are having a great time of ministry.

The baby is now saying "Hola and Ciao" (chow) on a regular basis. He also says mama, dada and it sounds like he tries to mimic other words. But the hola and ciao are incredible! :) We think he is going to be a very early talker. He'll be 10 months on Wednesday.

Hope you all are doing well. So crazy to think that in just a few days our first term in Peru will be over and we will be in sunny Florida.

Break

We leave in 2 weeks from yesterday. Lots to do and much activity in these days. No time to blog! I will be back in 3-4 weeks! Blessings to you all!

waving bye-bye

This morning after I was done feeding the baby, John carried him out of the room for a second. I said, "Bye Bye! Bye Bye!" And I waved my little hand at him. Low and behold, he waved bye-bye back to me and then proceeded to do it on command 3 or 4 more times this morning. I'm going to try to snap a picture of it. It is so precious. So when I say "Bravo" he claps his hands and now when I say "Adios" I hope he will wave good-bye. This morning I went into where he was playing and I said, "Miguel!" He looked right at me and smiled and came to me. He definitely knows he as two names. I think I call him Miguel or Miquelito more than I call him Miles. Such a smart boy and one of the greatest joys of my life.