Please Pray

For the past 2 weeks I have had this nagging feeling that I needed to go visit my mom.  But with school starting for the boys and all the absolute choas that the last month has been, it just wasn't in the cards.

Yesterday morning I received a phone call that my mom had a stroke Tuesday night and was admitted to the hospital in Mesa Arizona.  She wants me to be there with her.  So I'm heading to the airport in about 30 minutes to be with my mom and to figure out long term care arrangements need to be made.  I guess it was in the cards.

If you could please pray for me that I will think clearly and rationally and make good decisions, and for my mom's recovery.  She is 84 years old and has been deteriorating mentally for the past several years.  When I visited her in May I felt it was no longer safe for her to live on her own, but I must help her to see that and then find a suitable solution.  She is a believer.

Also, please pray for the boys and Brian.  Brian James is quite upset about my leaving with him still being in high anxiety mode from starting school 4 days ago.  Daddy is canceling classes in the tech school until I return so he can play Mr. Mom.  Please pray for him, for the juggling act that motherhood is, that he would be given an extra measure of patience, kindness, and understanding, to be both mom and dad while I am away.

Blessings and peace,

Natasha

They Gave The First Day a 5

Well, when I picked up the boys I asked them how their day went on a scale from 1 - 10 and both of them gave it a 5.  I guess that's pretty good all things considered. 

Brian's class had a birthday party for one of the girls complete with a Pink Panther pinata.  There are only 4 boys total in his class and about 15 girls and since it was one of the girls birthdays they all went first.  When it came time for the first boy to take a turn, all the girls jumped in the air, snatched Pinky to the ground and stomped on him.  One eye went flying across the room, a foot came off, his nose was severed.  Wow.  Sugar and spice and everything nice, huh?  Not so much.

Michael had girls around him all day, according to the director.  He got a laugh out of the class when he told them how much he hated our home school curriculum by saying "it's a Christian curriculum but somehow all the characters look like Mormon's."  Aye yay yay.  He talked to several of the boys in his class, at one point discussing favorite bands and when one of them said he liked Metallica, Michael said "you'll get along great with my mom."  Again, aye yay yay.

Day 1 comes peacefully to an end.  Thank you to all of you that prayed. 

Muchas gracias,

Natasha

A Case of the Jitters

They're off!  I dropped the boys off at school this morning and within 3 minutes a group of 5 young teenage girls came over and introduced themselves to Michael.  Can you blame them?  Look how handsome he is?  As for Brian James, he was so excited to go he was almost climbing out of his skin.  Oh how I pray today goes well!

Of course Michael is horrified at the uniform...it's not black or gray you know.  My little EMO man.  But check out those pants.  Not too bad for working without a pattern.  My housekeeper was an amazing amount of help and I truly could not have done it without her.  Looks like I need to take Brian's up a little, though.  Not sure how come I didn't see that in real life!  Oh well, the next pairs will be better.

Blessings and peace.

Back to School

My boys are, surprisingly, sleeping quite soundly as I type this.  Surprising, to me, because tomorrow is their first day in a "regular" school here in Tegucigalpa.  When we moved here in November all of the schools that operate on the American school calendar were 3 months into the year and we decided that the trauma of moving was going to be enough without coming into class 3 months late.  We home schooled and quickly decided unanimously that it just isn't for us.  We began searching for a good bilingual school for the next year and after visiting several decided on St. Mary's Episcopal School.  With a student body of just over 200, our hope is that they will be able to connect with the other students quickly and make some good friendships.  All but 4 classes are taught in English...but those 4 are in Spanish so since the first of July they have had 3 classes a week with their Spanish tutor.  Still far from fluent, their comprehension and speaking have improved dramatically.

This past week and a half has been a flurry of activity getting school uniforms ready, making pants without the convenience of patterns, and buying school supplies.  Saturday morning we attended the parents meeting and got some general information, visited their classrooms, and picked up their books.  Real books.  Heavy books.  I never thought I would ever see my kids so happy to get school books, but they were.  Especially Brian James, who can't wait to get into class.  Michael, speeding toward 13 years old has a lot more fear and apprehension.  He's excited to get back into a real school but also scared, saying "mom, it's a little freaky going to school in another country, okay?"  I bet it is.  It was some comfort to him, however, to find out that 4 other kids in his class are also new to the school this year, so he isn't going to be the only new kid on the block. 

Ready to head to bed myself, I am a strange mix of emotions.  I am so happy for them that they will get to interact with other kids every day.  Their isolation from other kids  has truly been one of the hardest things in moving here.  They are lonely, they miss their friends, and even though they get along amazingly well for brothers, they are pretty sick of each other after 9 months.  But I'm scared too.  I don't want them to get teased because their Spanish isn't very good, or because they're gringos, or for any other reason.  Kids can be awfully mean, and especially to kids that are different and, being 2 of the 3 gringos in the entire school, they'll be different.  I am excited for them to get back to having a "normal" life with classrooms, gym class, homework, PE, and all the things they had in school back in Oregon but I'm also worried that the 4 Spanish classes are going to be really difficult with the basic language level they have. 

So instead of them not being able to sleep, I'm the one having the trouble falling asleep.  My boys, my babies, is this going to be okay? 

Please be praying for us as we start this new chapter in their lives.  Pray that the other kids will be kind and accepting, that my boys will make good friends quickly.  Please pray that the time they invested in Spanish will blossom and that the Spanish classes will not be too difficult so as to be discouraging.  And please pray for their safety as they spend their day in the city. 

Blessings and peace to you all,

Natasha

How Could I Forget?????

Okay, so I'm not sure how it didn't dawn on me to post this.  Perhaps because it was posted on the Micah site and sometimes I assume that everyone that reads mine, reads that one...I know, lame attempt to get myself out of it.

Axel came back!  Last Friday he met with Michael and talked for quite some time.  They walked to the Micah house together but Axel said he was not going to come back.  He gathered some of his clothes and other belongings and started to leave.  Many of the other Micah guys talked to him about returning.  I watched him talking with Cristofer and could see clearly on his face the internal war that was raging.  But we all watched sadly as he walked away. 

But something happened that night because at 6:30 in the morning he was banging on the door at Micah, throwing rocks on the roof, trying anything to wake someone up so he could come in.  The first couple of days he seemed to still be struggling inside, but last night I sat and just chatted with him about normal life issues and sweet loving boy was back.  The monkey on his back seems to have left, for now.

Thank you all for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for this young man.  The spiritual battle continues for Axel and all of our boys.

Armor Up Part 3, and A Mother's Broken Heart

I'm thoroughly enjoying the study of the book of Nehemiah.  This guy was a man of faith, a man of prayer.  He knew to put his confidence and trust in the Lord 1st and then proceed with the work and the "doing".  In chapter 2 he takes the time to assess the situation and prepare before beginning.  And in all things he puts the Lord 1st, going to Him in prayer and then dedicating the work and outcome to His glory.  The Jewish workers are also a great example of how The Church should be operating, everyone doing their share of the work, working alongside each other for the common good.  Half of the workers performed the physical labor while the other half were on watch.  In today's world I see that as those of us that are out on the mission field (wherever that is, not just cross culturally) and those that are faithful prayer warriors guarding our backs.  One thing that I am being especially convicted of in studying this book, is how Nehemiah repents of his sin and the sins of the people FIRST, before asking God for anything.  Oh, I'm great at praying and asking God for stuff, for giving Him thanks for all of His provision and blessing.  And at various times I do repent and ask for forgiveness.  But isn't that something I should do first?  Go into the throne room with an attitude of sorrow and humbleness and ask for the cleansing of forgiveness before I present my requests?  Somehow I think I should have known that, should have figured that out a long time ago.  Maybe I did know it at one point, but just kind of let it go...I don't now.

That thought led me to Psalm 51 and David's cry of repentance.  This was following his affair with Bathsheba, but it is a wonderful example of the contrite and repentant heart we should have when we approach God.  After all, a sin is a sin is a sin in the eyes of the Lord.  I remember singing that old hymn while growing up "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me."  I didn't think much about the words, but they are deep down in the memory banks, now bringing new insight and understanding to my relationship with the Lord. 

I am using my Nelson Study Bible to look at this book, but if anyone can recommend a good commentary I would appreciate it. 

Last week Juan Carlos asked me if I could meet the girfriend of William, the man that was murdered in front of The Bells and Michael's apartment building and I said absolutely.  Monday night, however, instead of the girlfriend he brought William's mother and 3 of her other children to Micah.  I sat and listened to her tell me how she is absolutely broken hearted over her son's death.  She seems to have a strong faith in God and said that is the only thing that is getting her through this.  William was the main breadwinner in the house so they have very little money to buy food with and are struggling immensely.  She was embarrassed to ask for help but said she just had nowhere else to turn.

I have been up until 2 and 3 in the morning every night since then, my heart so burdoned for this woman.  There are 22 total people living in her house.  12 are her children, the others are either grandchildren or nieces and nephews.  There are 3 two year olds, a 3 and a 4 year old, 2 five year olds, and a 6 year old.  There are 2 pregnant young women that will be bring 2 more mouths to feed into the house in 2 months.  One of them is the girlfriend.  The doctor said the baby is a boy and she said he will have his father's name.    I have been praying and asking the Lord what He wants me to do, how I can help.  The needs in this one house alone are overwhelming.  There are only 5 people even old enough to get jobs (other than the pregnant gals) and only 2 of them have been able to find work.  This poor woman is just beyond frazzled.

We took a bunch of food to them on Tuesday and yesterday we went back to take a mattress and to just visit. I will be going back tomorrow to take her out of the house, without any kids, and just take some time to listen.  If you could please be praying that God would give me wisdom and discernment as to what He wants me to do I would really appreciate it. 

Armor Up Part 2

The last 3 Sundays at our church here in Honduras, Impacto, the sermons have been from the book of Nehemiah.  I admit I haven't spent much time in the Old Testament, and knew nothing about this book.  After hearing these sermons I felt the Lord leading me to read and study Nehemiah to understand how it applies to our modern day walk and life. 

A couple posts back I wrote about the battle we are in, this spiritual battle that rages all around us.  Honduras is now the country at the top of the list for per capita murders and this past weekend was one of the bloodiest with 18 murders being reported in 36 hours here in Tegucigalpa.  There were so many bodies that the morgue couldn't handle the number of family members that were arriving to identify their dead.  Theories abound about the reasons for the dramatic rise in violent crime here, but the bottom line is that satan and his demons are alive and well and hell bent on destruction.  If we, the people of God, allow ourselves to become paralyzed by fear of the current situation, then we will be rendered ineffective and the battle will be lost.

We are, however, told repeatedly in scripture to "fear not"...Psalm 3:6; Psalm 27:3; Psalm 92:5; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 41:10; and Isaiah 41:13 are just a few that teach us to put our trust in the Lord and not to let fear rule our lives.  I'm not saying it's easy, there are times I get really freaked out!  Knowing that someone was killed every 2 hours this last weekend is a bit unnerving.  But I try to keep my eyes turned toward Jesus and keep putting one foot in front of the other doing the work He has given us to do.

So, back to Nehemiah.  Chapter 4 is amazing and is an incredible parallel of the fight we are in.  Sanballat and Tobiah were pretty rude to Nehemiah and the people rebuilding the wall.  They were furious, indignant, and mocking, saying that even a fox would be able to break whatever they built.  Nehemiah believed that any assault on the people of God was an assault directly against God, but instead of responding to their opponents he prayed that the Lord would bring judgement on them. 

The workers continued to build the wall which made their enemies even more angry and they began to plot against them.  Again, Nehemiah did not confront them, but organized the workers so that they would have a defense against their attackers and prayed for the Lord to protect them. 

The never ending attacks of their enemies begin to take a toll and some of the workers become discouraged.  Their adversaries began a "whispering campaign" amoung the jewish people to stop the building of the wall.  Using fear as a weapon they attempt to use Jewish people against themselves.  But Nehemiah divided workers, half of them building the wall, the other half (including the leaders) holding spears, shields, and bows, wearing armor to defend the house of Judah. 

Nehemiah spoke to the nobles, rulers, and the other people saying "the work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall."  He instituted an alarm system so that if a portion of the wall was attacked all of the workers would hear the trumpet, go to the area being attacked, and engage in the battle.  "Our God will fight for us!"

See the parallel?  All around us are those that mock and sneer, what can we possibly accomplish, this little ministry here in Barrio Buenos Aries?  When one of our boys that we've poured so much energy into, like Axel or Marvincito, leaves to go back to the streets, we are taunted by the enemy - "they're mine, you'll never win", "whatever you build will be knocked down by just a fox."  The newspapers are the whispering campaign that we should give up and run and hide, fearing for our lives.

But the wall we are building is made of lives transformed by the Holy Spirit, lives like Juan Carlos and Wilmer.  Our spears, shields, bows, and armor are the armor of God - the breastplate of righteousness,  shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

Christian workers are separated all over the world, but when we send out prayer requests via e-mail, websites, and blogs, it's a modern day blowing of the trumpet.  You hear the trumpet and faithfully run (in prayer) to the area being attacked and engage in the battle.   

Nehemiah knew, and we must remember that the battle is ultimately the Lord's.  We already know how the war ends...He wins.  We just need to have faith and courage to fight in this battle wherever and however He instructs us.  Get your marching orders, armor up, and get in the fight.