Life into Full Swing

Well I see that almost 20 days has passed since my last update and a few events worthy or report have taken place. Sept 12 was the boys 7th birthday and we had a fun celebration with a few buddies in our yard ( I use that term loosely) with water balloon fight and competitive "hide and Seek." This years theme was Transformer and of course my friend Bonnie created an amazing cake. He also signed up for fall soccer and of course looks very cute in his little uniform. He does not have a clue as to how to play the game and for all of his fighting that he loves to do he really isn't terribly aggressive. This picture is the only one I have where he is actually near the ball, and if the truth be known that is only because he is doing a dribbling drill with a team mate.

He has had a great start to the new year and is very happy and doing well. I feel like we have a better grip on homework and scheduling this year and so all in all we are both functioning well.

My year got off to a busy start but I am hoping that in the next few weeks it will quiet down a bit as others take over more responsibility in the youth and children's department. That leaves me to really work on developing the women's ministry and the Bible Study that I lead. I love doing the study and love the ladies that I get to work with! I am teaching through Exodus this fall semester and then Hebrews in the Spring. I have never gotten to do this in depth of a study on a regular basis so I am very happy with my own learning curve. I have a Fall Beach retreat in 2 weekends and then another retreat just for youth of Christian workers from all over the ME. Then hopefully Caleb and I will get one last beach run ourselves end of Oct.
My Dad is coming after Christmas and we are hoping to do some new adventure while he is here as well.

So that's the scoop as of late!

लेट्स तरी थिस Again

First Day of First Grade 2011 This one was for me
















This one is for his photo album


OK maybe I have solved the problem once and for all but if Hindi creeps in you will know it isn't my fault. I had to abandon my other blog because it switched to Arabic and I couldn't figure out how to post or follow the instructions.

So sorry for being gone for so long. Lots going on keeping me on my toes, but as always it is fun and challenging. I preached last weekend on a tough passage Rom 9 which was quite the mental work out to say the least. I barely even scratched the surface but it was a great exercise for me to think through my beliefs and work at articulating a very difficult to accept and understand passage.

Caleb began school this week which was a great relief for both of us. I was maxed out being his social coordinator and he was even growing weary of all the free time. He is very happy and feels like quite the big man on campus. Together we are working at finding a workable morning and evening routine and even doing some chores, I got a little star chart and everything!

Here is my recent article I submitted to our church magazine. I have been (actually I am always) churning with trying to figure how to grow Caleb up in his faith. Sometimes I feel so fake when I pray with him, or try to force conversations into little people language. So I have been researching and pondering various ways/methods. I settled on a few ideas that I would like to incorporate, like trying to write a blessing for him, and as I mention in the article we are listening to a bible story rather than reading it. I picked a dinner time prayer that we could learn together not necessarily to say every time but maybe something that will log in his brain over the years.

My birthday was a few days ago and I received a sweet card from my 7-year-old son that he had made with a friend of mine. As I looked at the card she explained a bit of the background. She had offered him a variety of stickers, markers and various things to help him decorate the card. Glancing through the stickers he ultimately chose a picture of Jesus at the tomb and of the cross explaining to my friend “My mommy really likes him.”

Yes!

He is seeing it, but will he get it?

Of all the dreams I have for my son, and I have many, what I most desire is that he grows to be a man whole heartedly devoted to God, like the Caleb of the Old Testament, an ambitious dream I know! Ambitious and, if statistics are right, highly unlikely considering this statistic from John Trent’s book Faith Launch

“Depending on which study you want to quote, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of children from evangelical Christian families won't embrace the faith as their own when they leave for college.”

Reading this initially heaped more guilt upon my parenting brain already struggle daily with the weight of such a great responsibility. Mind you that I am well aware that ultimately it is God’s responsibility to ignite the flame of faith in my child’s heart, but the Bible is quite clear that it is my task to create a soil that is rich and inviting to receive the seed which God will one day plant, and it is my job to nurture the seedling, with encouragement, and to be “God’s love with skin on” to my child.

Numerous times throughout the Bible God clarifies what His greatest expectations are of all His followers, and for over 3 millennia the faithful Jew has recited these words daily in their prayers it is called the Shema

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Wow woven into God highest priorities is a parenting tip! In the ebb and flow of daily life amidst the coming and going routine most families feel these days: at home and along the road we are to engage our kids in a life giving conversation. I am not sure about you but I spend more time “along the road” it seems then I do quietly snuggled up “at home.”

By nature and circumstances I struggle with forming a routine and sticking to it, so trust me when I say “I understand” if you cannot envision how you would institute a family devotion, if you regularly fall asleep when attempting to read a bible story before bedtime or feel like grace at dinner is a repetitious duty timed according to the grumble of the stomach. None the less God has issued an urgent demand “talk to your kids about me, impress it on their hearts!” My advice to others and myself in many areas is always “ Just start somewhere.” Pick one manageable idea and start working at it. Here are some ideas I have focused on or plan to.

· Listen for teachable moments and seize them! "In all things natural, be as spiritual as possible. In all things spiritual, be as natural as possible."

· Purchase an audible bible book and listen to a chapter each night with your child. (We are enjoying Jesus:The Storybook Bible)

· Write a blessing and pray it over your child each night. (Focus on the Family and John Trent both offer ideas of how to write a blessing)

· Sing a dinner time prayer (Doxology, The Superman Prayer, for other suggestions http://home.pcisys.net/~tbc/mealpryr.htm)

· Share what God showed you or did for in the course of your day

· Check out www.focusonthefamily.com for other ideas

It is harder and maybe more awkward to start when your kids are older but its never too late!

It has been a wild couple of weeks! Preparation for One Wild Week was fast paced and non stop and then the actual week itself, which really isn't that hard but just tiring. Registration as always proved frustrating as people waited to sign up until the last minute which made buying and planning really hard. In these lean times I am trying to make things pay for themselves, but if you have to over order everything thinking that people might sign up it can be a huge money loser. Our turn out was OK but definitely smaller than the past. We are all a bit nervous at the church that not as many families will return or move here due to the perceived instability. The American school started back yesterday but most of the other schools, Caleb's included, will start back first of Sept after the big Eid holiday.
I had friends over Saturday for a birthday BBQ and enjoyed a great evening of food and laughter. In my mind I don't feel a day older, but man! my body was committing a mutiny on me. My back went out, I had a stomach amoeba and caught a summer cold. Feeling old to say the least!
So a new week has begun, medication is helping with the back pain, and hopefully I clear out the bug in my belly and get back to work. We are now in start up mode, youth group will begin soon, recruiting for new Friday School teachers, and the Women's Bible Study all lie on the horizon.
Heading off to work hi ho hi ho ...

One Wild Week!

Thoughts on Fundamentalism

My last 2 vacation shots to add. They are the cutest of Caleb because he willingly participated in the photo shoot.
Why? Well for photo #1 I told them that they were Smurfs making blue smurf poops, he thinks anything "poop" is funny so no problem and a smile to boot! #2 He is Ben Ten demonstrating his superhero power holding up the asteroid which is threatening planet earth.
















"Ramadan Kareem" will be the greeting of the day today from EVERYONE I meet! It means a "generous Ramadan" as generosity is the focus of the holiday. God's generosity towards them and hence their generosity towards the poor. But I guess like all good things humanity manages to distort and pervert it in ways, I mean isn't that really the essence of all sin, we take good things from God and warp it. God is generous with us and we think we "deserve it", God gives tasty food and we binge on it, He creates sex and we abuse people with it etc...
So anyhow, with all that is going on here in this country among the "devout" and their influence over politics and hunger for more, it made me think about the role of religion in politics. I guess I am being struck a bit by some inconsistency in my own thinking or maybe just how I communicate what I am thinking.
The big concern here right now is the degree of influence that Is. is going to have in the new politics of Egypt. Our biggest concern is that we are going to follow in the footsteps of iran after their revolution in the 70's. I can certainly tell in the 18 years that I have been here that we have shifted significantly more conservative and so the fear is that without the strong arm of the government keeping things in check we could spiral into a "theocracy" which is really what they would define "sharia law" as. This thought threatens believers in this land greatly, but it also is a real scare to the secularist, capitalists, and anyone else that wants to see this great country move forward. So here I am praying passionately for a secular government! Does anyone else see the irony of that?
I don't agree with their beliefs and I don't want them to force their ideas, which they genuinely believe are God ordained and in the best interest of the people, on me. I have different ideas and a different understanding so I want the freedom to practice my ideas as well. So this is my internal conflict, when in Egypt I am all about secularism, but if I were in America I would be more of a fundamentalist! Aren't I saying in many ways the same thing? Of course I think I am right, I know the one true God, I know His moral law, I respect life and marriage and truth, and modesty etc...I mean really if you compared my values to their values we would be in agreement on the vast majority!
Now don't panic and misunderstand me, I am not converting by any means nor do I think they have the "truth" as revealed in Bible BUT I am saying that if one were to judge the rhetoric and underlying mentality, is there much of a difference between the demands of fundies here and say the rhetoric of evangelical's in America?
The fundamental question I have is "How do I genuinely live out the truth I hold without trampling the rights of others who disagree?"

Back and Busy

I arrived home over a week ago and jumped right back in to the rush of life. Lots going on at church in areas I am not normally involved in but because everyone else is gone it becomes my business. My big children's event One Wild Week is a week away and there is lots to do and get organized involving that. So far we have not had as many sign ups as usual and that worries me a bit, praying that we have at least 50-60 in order to have good energy and feel to the event. Wouldn't be a bad thing to have a small crowd but just different than years past and hard to plan for the unknown.
Caleb has settled in nicely, he got to take ownership of my old laptop and has turned into quite the little techie, teaching himself games and navigating around quite well. We have access to an amazing pool for the next week so that helps a great deal to get him out and playing and burning off some energy.
Pondering a possible move to a nicer bigger place. I would really like to have a guest room so that when people visit I don't have to sleep on the air mattress as well as extra bathroom so Caleb and I don't have to negotiate every time we arrive home and both have to pee. (He usually gets sent to pee in the yard since the option exists for him.) I love my little home though and my close knit community will be sad to let that go. Still pondering the issue.