Wedding Fun

The invitation was hand delivered looking ever so beautiful. Printed in lovely font, the time... 3:00pm. Yay! Our first wedding invitation! We'd be sure to be all dolled up and ready on time!

Wrong! Thankfully, we were warned by the brother of the groom NOT to arrive on time but to be there by 3:30. After some family pics, we were now running even later and feeling HORRIBLE. 

Senseless. We arrived at 3:45--- the same time as the groom and his family! Shwew, not late at all. We all take our seats, and wait, and wait, and wait. 

Finally, at 5:00 the bride arrives, enters the church, and the wedding begins! Lesson learned... Indian time! ;)

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

Today, Wednesday, January 30, 2013 will go down in history as the best day of my life. I'll attempt to recount the events of tonight to the best of my ability.

Tonight, after singing the girls' bedtime songs to them, I asked them to say their bedtime prayers together after I left. Needless to say, I stood outside the door and eavesdropped like any nosy Mom would do! ;)

The conversation went something like this:
Kiley- "I'll pray... Dear Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day today. I pray that tomorrow will be a wonderful day too..."
(I can't remember it all, but the ending is the best part anyway)
"and I pray that Kamden would accept you as her Savior. Amen."

Kamden- "Kiley, what did you pray about me?"

Kiley- "I prayed that you would accept Jesus as your Savior. Now Kamden, (speaking very sternly) TELL ME THE TRUTH... Do. Not. Lie. To. Me! Have you asked Jesus into your heart? Tell the truth!"

Kamden- "Yes."

Kiley- "Kamden, are you telling the truth? Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior?"

Kamden- "No. But I don't want to get baptized. It will hurt my nose and I'll get water all in it."

Kiley- " You don't have to get baptized if you don't want to... You just have to accept Jesus and decide to follow Him. Getting baptized won't save you. Do you want to do that?"

Kamden- "I don't know how."

Kiley- "Well. Maybe in the morning when Mommy is doing your book with you (we do little devotions every morning) she can pray with you about it and tell you how."

Kamden- "How do you do it?"

Kiley- "You just have to pray and ask him..."

Kamden- "I pray."

Kiley- "Not just any prayer. Kind of like this... (She proceeds to pray one of the most theologically accurate sample salvation prayers I've heard-- asking forgiveness for sins, help me to do right, I want to follow you. I want to go to Heaven, etc.)

Kiley- "Do you want to do that?"

Kamden- "yes"

Kiley- "Ok. Go ahead. But, DON'T just copy me."

Kamden then proceeds to pray to accept Jesus into her sweet little heart the best way she knew how, being led to the foot of the cross by her, mature beyond her years, big sister.

After Kamden prayed, Kiley explained much better than I could what this meant in her life. She told her, "Now, Kamden, when you're tempted by the devil to go and play with that purple ball when Mommy is reading the Bible story, you'll think, 'I shouldn't do this' and you'll want to obey now."

By this point I'm bursting at the seams, but wanted the girls to be the ones to tell us what had happened... not fabricate anything in their little minds for them, I walked away and started telling Jason all that I had overheard. Hoping and praying they would not wait until morning to share the big news with us. Within minutes, two little sweethearts walked out hand in hand and Kamden, with a huge grin on her face says, "Mommy! I did it! I accepted Jesus!"

We kept our composure the best we could while hugging and smiling and Jason took a few moments to chat with her about her level of understanding of the step she had just taken in her journey of faith.

Meanwhile, I chatted with Kiley who was bursting with excitement for her little sister (who the two of us had been praying for very recently).

-Little sidenote: Kiley's salvation story has been one that we have had to watch unfold over the years. For some time now, (about 2 years), she has been adamant about the fact that she prayed to receive Christ on her bedroom floor one night by herself. As a parent, it was difficult to not have been there to experience this for myself or really for anyone to have actually "lead" her to Christ. (Oh, me of little faith). So we have had numerous discussions regarding her faith and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I'd say her passion for leading her little sister to Christ tonight was enough to remind this mama that "you will know them by their fruit."

Anyway, Kiley & I chatted about how she was now not only Kamden's big sister, but her big sister in Christ. And how she was the best person to disciple her being that she was young and understood her much better. (For those of you who know Kamden, she's quite the interesting one to try to understand ;)

So this led Kiley to decide to expand her little "Prayer time" spot she had made under her bed to include a spot for Kamden so that she could help her do her devotions there.

I could go on and on because there's so many neat little things that happened and there's so much joy overflowing in my heart! Tonight this verse rings true...

"I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 Jn. 1:4

And, now, will you pray with me that this will truly be the beginning of her walk with Christ as she continues to grow and understand all that Christ has done for her and in God's own timing and in their own ways, they would express the desire to follow Jesus in believers' baptism. And, with that, folks, I give you the story of our first 'decision for Christ'. I have dreamed of sharing this news since we knew we were leaving the States. Never did I dream it would be my own child!!!!

I Told You So

Today was a great day. Really. It was. But it definitely had its moments. You know... Those moments. They were small and really laughable and neat. Not like cry buckets type of moments. But, I've decided, I think it's my new ministry. To have 'moments' so that I can have a new blog post for you to read. So, I'll take one for the team! ;)

At one point today, I got a little down on myself thinking "What if I'm doing a horrible job making friends, and being a good neighbor, and doing all the right things. I mean, I'd never know because I can't understand them when they talk about me!" So I decided I would make chai and an American sweet for my landlady and take it to her. Well, of course, this consisted of being certain I was dressed appropriately. So I ventured off to get dressed. And I had one of those moments... I decided I hate the clothes here. Hate is a strong word but you understand, I was having one of those moments! So I pouted for a bit, made the dessert, and started the chai, and guess who shows up... My landlady! She ended up coming up here for a favor and I was able to surprise her with tea and snacks. And, believe it or not she loved the American sweet!!!! Which hasn't happened yet for her! And we had a really great time chatting and laughing about weddings and relatives and such! That was a cool thing from God.

Then, as her daughter joined us and everyone was hanging out in our home, I peeked in on the kids, and there sat the land lady's daughter, drawing a picture of a cross and asking me how to spell JESUS!!!! I was thrilled! I proceeded to tell her "Jesus loves you" and "Jesus loves Jasmine" and she proceeded to write "Jesus loves jasmine" Now THAT is a cool "I told you so" from God: "These silly little things you get all worked up over. I've got this!"

So that's the most amazing part! But yet another moment occurred. I was full of myself today, I'm tellin' ya! ;)

So, Jason brought home a special type of food today which meant I had to figure out a tasty way to prepare it. So, long story short, I deemed it a DISASTER. I was grumbling and complaining about how I'd been in the kitchen for an hour and a half and come out with nothing of any value. I set the food before everyone and when Kamden saw the meal, she said "I've been wishing for this since we left America!" I almost laughed out loud.... Until she scarfed down three full plates!!!! The girls couldn't stop eating it and were thrilled, calling me the best cook ever and such! Then, I really had to laugh out loud because Jason was already laughing and I knew God had to be! So I just sat there and decided to be the object lesson for the day telling the girls how I had been worried about the meal turning out at all and that God came through and made it "the best meal ever"! They, of course then started singing their latest Bible verse to/AT me "So do not worry saying 'what shall we EAT' or 'what shall we drink' or 'what shall we wear' for the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them..."

I get it. ;)

Not a Cookie Cutter Christian

Written 1/10/2013

It's been a long time since I've posted. So much has happened. So much that I can't wrap my mind around the many emotions I've felt over this holiday season. That's part of the reason I haven't posted. Because each time I try, I can't put into words the feelings I've had, the things I've seen and experienced, and the lessons I've learned.

But today, aside from all of that, I have decided to write a post, inspired in part by the latest sermon I listened to via the web. I was reminded that we, as Christians, are so accustomed to putting on a cookie cutter image of what a Christian should look like and not allowing anyone to see our weaknesses. So true.

And so, today, I won't be writing about the Christmas blues or the strange way we celebrated our Savior's birth. Instead I'll post straight from my heart. My unclean, filthy heart.

My girls are memorizing some great verses through song (the Seeds series, it's fantastic). One song in particular stands out as I share my heart:

"Store up for yourself treasures in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:20-21

Now, I can read this verse and think to myself that I'm doing a pretty good job at following it completely. At least, I'm trying my best. But, today as I sat around a board game with my girls just doing my best to make them both happy, it becomes clear to me that much of my treasure is hidden in those two beautiful girls. I find myself saying too often "everything I do is for you" and then I realize that is not what God intended. He created me to serve Him. And he reminds me that I can not serve two masters. And so when I find myself focusing my time and attention on pleasing the people in my life, I realize I have made them a little higher than God. Sure, my intentions are good. My number one desire is for my girls to grow into godly women, but by focusing my full attention on them, I am not producing the same results as if I were to Focus on the Father.

Another verse that they recently memorized comes to mind now...

"... But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL..." Matthew 6:31-34

When I hear this verse being quoted from their sweet little mouths and I try to accurately depict what it means, it becomes clear that if I pursue God's kingdom and His righteousness first then along with that will come the things I worry so much about and try to control. But in pursuing them instead, I will lose out entirely. That goes for my relationship with my girls, their relationship with God and with each other and the world as well. ALL these things will be given to me IF I seek HIM first instead of them!

I love those precious girls and the amazing people they are becoming, but I was definitely knocked off my horse when I was faced with the realization that in doing so much of what I do for them, I in reality am doing it for the wrong person. It's when I step back and readjust my lens to focus on my relationship with the Father that everything else in life seems to become a whole lot clearer also!

Kiley's View

Kiley wrote this book for her Daddy as a "Christmas" gift. Since I've been so overwhelmed with too many different emotions, feelings, and thoughts to narrow anything down to a blog post, I'll share hers. She gave me permission, btw!