Thank You Grandpa

Grandpa arrived early this morning with this little treasure.........

Who knows how long he will last in our backyard, but the kids are thinking of names.

Recovery and Reality

The time difference is only 8 hours. I didn't have any kids with me. How hard could it be? Eeeesssshhhh. We had some long days thrown into our 10 day trip to Greece and then 25 hours of traveling home that was very rushed and not in the least bit relaxing. I expected an onslaught of 'mommy, guess what', 'mommy, come here', 'mommy, I (fill in the blank)' upon my arrival and was not disappointed. What I was not prepared for was for those sweet voices to become overly whiny and cranky in a matter of hours of my arrival. To their credit, they were absolutely wonderful while I was away. I think they were just saving it up for me. The combination of what they saved for me and my own crankiness has made the transition back into the world of Six Linos reality very interesting. My sweet husband did finally tell me to go to bed because I was the one that was cranky.

Well, I have slept.........done laundry, cooked dinner, tended to four kids, gone to Bible study, made a big grocery run, cleaned house and volunteered at the school. I would like to say that all is good now, but I think it will take us a few more days to get into our 'you really have to do what mommy says on the first try' routine. Amidst my crankiness and bad attitude, the Lord gave me a dose of reality. He reminded me of an alternative to my stable, joyful, fairly predictable existence.

A friend from high school facing cancer in her 6 year old's body does not have such a predictable, stable life.............

At first, Round 2 seemed easier than the first go -- the drugs were familiar, the place itself was familiar.  But I have to admit that it's all beginning to unravel.  The newness has worn off.  Hospital living is not fun.  Cancer stinks.  Our life has been turned upside down and shaken around and feels like it is still lying in shambles.  We have not even begun to pick up the pieces, really.  Today I told Jason, "It just feels like we are on pause, like we are not really living life.  How are we supposed to live this life?"

I hate the way I sound when I complain like this....I beat myself up for complaining, and stuff it all in and put on my strong face...but then I find myself sobbing all the way to the airport to see my sister off, and snapping at Adah, and wanting to do anything but face this whole thing.  There are shining moments, and many blessings we can give thanks for.  Adah herself was pointing them out last night.  "If I hadn't gotten sick, I would never have met...(here she listed several people who have become dear to us, most prominent among them, Dr. Ami)."  She is right. 

But it's still hard, and I am kicking against the goads right now in my spirit.  Longing for something resembling normalcy, for mornings at home and home-cooked food and walks outside and snuggling with both girls and no IVs, for baths and routine and uninterrupted sleep, homeschool, anything.  And yet I know that as comforting as those things are, in God alone is true rest, contentment, and peace.  He is our home.  There is a table spread for us in this valley...but sometimes I feel like I am just groping along picking up scraps.

How pitiful must I look before the sovereign God who sustains and gives life abundantly to me? Not only does my family suffer through this bad attitude of mine, but more importantly, I have failed miserably to bring glory to Him alone. I am ashamed to think of the opportunities I have missed over the past two days to disciple my children (instead of sending them upstairs to play) or worse yet, share my story of life change with people I encounter.

Sleep won't fix this. Only my time with the Lord and a spirit of humility and willingness for my life to not be about me will make the days ahead a pleasing sight unto the Lord - or anyone around me for that matter.

I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:3-4

A Glimpse of Greece

This is a slideshow of a good number of the photos I took on my recent trip to Greece. It is nothing compared to the over 2000 pictures one of my teammates took! Most of the pictures won't mean much to you without some explanation, but they will give you an idea of what happened over 10 days. Friends that are going to Greece in a few days...........your hotel in Thess is pictured (think small and orange blankets) and your hotel in Athens is not the one that we stayed in so ignore the Holiday Inn. In some of the ruins pictures you can see the old city roads with grooves where chariots drove, the bema where Paul was chained before Roman authorities and so much more. I will pick out specific pictures to post later with explanations.

Last Full Day in Thess

Today was it. Two more travel days and home to my husband and babies! We prayer walked more of the city and continued passing out website cards. After handing out as many as we could to living, breathing people, we started blitzing the cars and mail boxes. My box is emtpy and I am ready to come home.

 

This has been a fabulous trip! I have so much more to write when I get home, have recovered and gotten back into reality for four young children. For now, please pray for our travel......................from here, I take 3 buses, 2 trains, 3 planes and 1 automobile to get back to my house. Looking forward to arriving in one tired piece.

Not Much Longer

Today was another full day. The most meaningful part of the day was at the very end. We took a bus up to the top of the city and you can see the wall and gates that date back to when the Apostle Paul came to Thessaloniki. They are still in use. Our VERY large bus drove through the very tiny gate. We were able to walk around at the wall and look out over the city. We arrived shortly after sunset, so the city was all lit up. An incredible and humbling sight. It is a vast city and the masses live in spiritual darkness. Our team took time to pray for the people and for the Christ followers that live here. We prayed that the Greeks would find life abundantly in Jesus Christ and that the Lord would have mercy on the Greeks. It is a daunting task that only He can do. Looking out over the city is an image that I will not soon forget................and the souls it represents.

 

PS - I promise to load pictures when I get home. You will understand my frustration with technology when I tell you that the computer I am using still has a 3.5" floppy drive on it!

Working Hard - Full Day in Thess

Today was a very full day in the western part of Thessaloniki. It is an area where the families live - young to old, poor and wealthier. My team was on the streets 8 hours today covering our assigned area. Here's how this works: you have a map and an assigned area that you literally walk and pray down the streets. We came upon an open market where there was vendor after vendor selling any and everything. It was a very diverse area and we were able to put website cards in the hands of so many of them. The challenge from today was the lack of English spoken in our work zone. I probably encountered five people total that could speak ANY English. Sharing the gospel is challenging under the best of conditions, it was pretty much non-existent under these conditions.

 

My team of four was also struck by an event that happened over lunch. About 10 feet (literally!) from our lunch table, a small kitten was hit by a car while we were eating. Not a pretty sight and it really was sad and struck a chord on our hearts. The problem we talked about moments later was how upset we were over the cat and yet there had been no gasping or near tears over the people around us that were dying and going to hell as fast as that little kitten passed. Really gave us perspective.

 

Please pray for the veil of darkness to be lifted from this city. There are less than 1500 known Christ-followers in the city!

 

I'm missing home now more and more. I looked through all my pictures on the iPhone this afternoon. It's just not the same. I look forward to hearing their voices!

We Have Pictures Too!

I have finally been able to get a picture up. There are many of the historical sites, but we really got to work tonight so I wanted one of work for you. More on our day in another post. Here is Jessica on a busy street corner handing out a business card that leads the Greeks to a website that spells out the plan of salvation in their language. Each of our team members is equipped with 500 cards. Pray we are obedient and willing to pass them all out. My team of three was able to hand out about 150 over the course of an hour and a half....a long road ahead.

 

Speaking of long day..........tomorrow we prayer walk the western part of the city. The plan is to prayer walk an area that houses 1/3 of the 1.5 million people that live in this city. We are looking at a 9 hour day of prayer walking. As you pray for us, think of this statement that we were reminded of today............."How many people prayed for me as I embarked on this trip? Probably at least 300?? For the people of this city that is less than 1% evangelical christian, NOBODY has EVER prayed for them." These people need the power of prayer to enact a movement of God among them. Please pray.