The Battle

Accessories

Katie's too funny, and too cute. Here she poses with all her divaness. As I type she's got another outfit going with purse, wand and princess shoes. The shoes are courtesy of Vicky and your money was well spent! They trance around in these shoes all day!!!

Spreading the Word

Thanks Kristel for posting this. Thought I'd post it too. Who's Norma McCorvey? Watch and you'll find out. I think its amazing that she never had one!

We're Still Here

Thought I'd stop by and say hi to those of you who keep in contact via blog. We're still trying to figure out what's what. Some days are fine (most days), but some days are full of anger (like today) at our situation, at the person who we feel put us here, and just the general state of our lives.
I've often thought about how our lives (people in general) go day by day, yet for someone, today is not an ordinary day. As one person lives their life as they lived it yesterday, for another today is absolutely nothing like yesterday. I feel like that person. I know life goes on, why shouldn't it, but for me, today (figuratively speaking) is NOTHING like yesterday. Yesterday I was serving God, working with kids, learning how to live in a foreign country. Yesterday I was seeing kids come to know Christ as Lord, seeing Him change their lives. Hoping to see them moved radically for God. Yesterday we were planning a high school ministry to reach "the unreachable."
Today I'm (we're) trying to figure out what happened. Why am I now living with my parents, with seemingly no foreseeable future. Now I'm wondering what it was all about, why we were asked (by man and God) to go in the first place.
I know, I know, God has a plan. I know He is faithful. Its just hard when you're sitting in the pit to see that tiny speck of light at the top and wonder when and if you'll be able to make it out.
I'm tired of thinking about it. I'm tired of waiting for something, anything to happen. We are moving, we are looking, we are interviewing, we are trying, but every thing's in slow motion. Every thing's so far off. Each option has hope, each option has pros, but each option has its obstacles.
Okay, I didn't mean this to be a bandage ripped off for you to see the wounds - but I'm going to post it anyway. Why not right? To sort of segue a bit, I was thinking about 2008. What did it teach me? What did I get from it?
• God can ask an awful lot!
• Man, no matter how righteous he APPEARS to be, is still man
• We have an amazingly supportive family
• We have some amazing friends! (You will never truly know how much your words of encouragement from start to finish have meant.)
• We have been so blessed by those who's faces we've never had the pleasure to glance upon.
• God can speak to us so clearly that we can't hear anything else
• I have an amazingly, humble, and heroic husband.
• God loves me and He knows
• I'm "empty-handed by I'm safe in His hand"

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to take a moment and say Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! He is my hero, best friend and the rest. (Don't want to get too mushy). I always say after all these years (18 years- wow!) I still like him so much!
He's the best daddy. He loves his girls more than anything. He's their daddy, and you couldn't tell him or them anything different! He's always a source of strange information. He knows really weird words, like pugilist, and almost every geographical position of every country of the world. I didn't even know the position of all the States until I married him (shame I know). He's taught me lots about things I had no interest in before, but now can at least have an intelligent conversation.
He's often the braun when we do what ever project I've convinced him we can do. He's my jester, confidant, debator, political insider and sports almanac and encyclopedia. Though I can do a play-by-play pretty well, if I do say so (and I do). No, I don't always agree with his point of view, but don't tell him that! :)
So just wanted to brag on the perfect husband (yeah, I know you THINK your husband is perfect too - but my husband IS perfect - for me!) Okay, maybe not perfect, but close enough. God gave me the man I needed, strong but gentle. He's not afraid to say what needs to be said if the occasion calls for it. So very long ago, on one of our first dates we were at a restruarnt. He returned his steak because it wasn't cooked the way he liked it. For some reason that impressed me (still remember it 18 years later!) I guess cause I would have just eaten it.
He's a man who loves his family, and loves his Lord. He's heart's desire is to serve Him and to walk the path that God has for us. He wants to hear those words (as do we all) "Well done good and faithful servant." He's probably more knowledgeable than some of you may think, that's accolades for Pastor Basile who encouraged him even when he was far from home.
He's a servant of his country, having served in the Air Force and a provider for his family. He's generous, kind, loving and I couldn't have been blessed with a better life partner. I still like him so very much!
Happy Birthday Mr. Logan, you are loved, honored and adored by your little family and I dare say, by your friends as well.


Also wanted to share some photos from Christmas up until this weekend. For those not on Facebook, click here to see the pictures.

Fashion Diva

Our Emily is getting bigger. I know, that happens despite our desire for them to stay little and cute. So once we got back and had the luxury of wearing shorts more often I realized that many of her shorts no longer fit! Wow. I guess a year of winter can do that. So with Christmas money in hand we headed to our favorite store - Target. As I browsed around I found these cute plaid shorts. Well, I thought they were cute.
They came in three colors - pink, blue, and green. I asked Emily which color she wanted. She said she didn't like them. I thought she was just too busy climbing through the clothes to be bothered. So I grabbed a blue pair.
I find its easier to take clothes home to try on and return them rather than trying them on at the store. And that's what I did. I waited until we got home and Emily was in a more calm state of mind and tried on the three pairs of shorts I had purchased.
When I tried on the cute plaid shorts, she said, "Mommy, I don't like these."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because people will see me in them and they look silly." was her response.
Oh, no, I thought, she's developed a fashion sense! No more making her wear what I think is cute! So I was a dutiful mom and returned the shorts (which were too big anyway) and replaced them with a skirt, which she happily wore the next day. So now I'll have to ask her opinion before buying her clothes. I'll just have to be careful about those $100 jeans and $200 shoes she'll be begging me for in a few years!

As a side note, I'm working on the Christmas pics. Will post some with a video hopefully tomorrow. Now that the holidays are official over we've got lots to do to get ourselves up and running again. Blessings on the new year and see ya soon.

Happy New Year

Well another year has passed and we look forward to what the new one brings. We already know that we will soon be inaugurating (is that a word?) a new president. We already know that we will be watching our wallets a little more closely. We know that 2009 will see many young people joined together in marriage. We're sure that some of you may be adding to your family. But there is still much we don't know.

We are still unsure of the plans the Lord has for us personally. We do know they are for good, and not for harm. We can only trust in Him, for who else can we trust. 2008 was a wonderful, God-given adventure and we are thankful to Him for blessing us. We are thankful for the seeds that were sown, and we pray for the opportunity to sow many more.

So what's happening so far? What have we been up to these two weeks? Well Christmas of course! It seemed to be all consuming in a passive way. I guess jetlag can really make things seem out of sorts?? We've been fixing up our "room" here at my parent's house. We got the wood flooring in (Kevin did most of the hard labor) and I'm finally finding more clothes (been cycling through three pairs of shorts and a couple of shirts for the past two weeks!) I'm still getting the room set up, but you'll see pics. 

The girls are settling in nicely. So they're fine. I guess kids are more resilient that way. It did take us about a full week to get back to EST. So at least that's out of the way. Now just what to do about jobs. 

Hopefully with the holidays and vacations behind us we'll find out some answers! We have been desperately wanting to move forward, but forced to "stand by" as the rest of the world seems to be enjoying the slow down. So prayerfully we'll have an idea if Kevin will be heading back to AT&T or not. He's got an application in with the local hospital, as well as the conference with MCYM next weekend. Please pray for traveling safety and God's wisdom. I'll be staying behind with the girls. We've also been asked to consider a bi-vocational position at a church in central Florida.

What types of things are you looking forward to this new year, not just resolutions. I for one don't make resolutions. Why set myself up for failure I say. I know I won't accomplish most of them so as the song goes, "every day is new years day" so I just plan for that day. Sometimes my only resolution is to get the laundry done!