December 2013

Jake is back to work.  The physical therapy has done the job on his leg muscles so no surgery is needed.  The body of believers he has been meeting with has divided.  Jake and Naomi are very sad about that and did their best to hold things together, but that isn't always possible.  They are thankful they still have other families to meet with on a regular basis.

Chet's job ended this week.  The work involved some heavy pulling, and his shoulder was not up to the task.  He is actively working on finding something else so keep him in your prayers.  Mai and Jaz are still doing well.

Praise the Lord for a great trip to India for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am thankful for all the prayers.  Often people get "Delhi Belly" when going to India, but God graciously spared me any digestive trouble.  Praise the Lord!

Mikah is heading to Ireland next week for Christmas.  She is excited!  Her brother was kind enough to think of her being it is the first Christmas so far away from Morgan.

October 24th Update

Big news that Mai is home and doing well!  She is a blessing to have around the house and is taking some of the load off of me as far as housework.  Jasmine loves having her birth mommy around and spends as much time as she can with her Daddy and Mommy!  We are about through our first round of doctor's appointments, and the initial testing I am doing with Mai for some home educating we'll be doing.  Praise the Lord for blessing and working.  Thank-you for your prayers!

Another praise is that I have heard through the grapevine that Charles Bryce is healed in the body and can now play violin again!  Glory to God!  He is seeking more steady work with the violin in the Cleveland area, and Sharon is working full time on her master's degree.

Jake is still off work for torn something in his leg (ligaments?).  He is receiving physical therapy and is slowly improving.  This was a work related injury so his costs are covered, thankfully.   He yet has to see the surgeon to know if they will do surgery after the therapy or not.  God is helping at his church and is definitely bringing in people.  This has brought it's challenges in that there are different visions of how things are to work, but God is helping nonetheless.

Jordan and Naomi had their legal hearing yesterday for Naomi's dad's estate and it was not as profitable as we all had hoped.  Things are still in gridlock so we are trusting for God's work and timing.

We're trusting that Morgan's baby took a head first dive this past week during a tumultuous night.  That is yet to be confirmed by ultrasound, but we're believing.

Don and I are heading off this evening for a couple days away to celebrate our 30th anniversary.  Mai's mother, Lon, will stay at our home to help hold down the fort!

October Happenings

It is exciting to see God working and moving!

On our end, we are happy to report that Chet's wife, Mai, should be coming home next Thursday, October the 7th!  It's been 3 years.  I enjoy hearing her excited questions and anticipation as we talk each week.  We hope to have a welcome home party with our church family.  Continue to pray for all of this on this new adventure!

Ariana and her friend were baptized in our pond recently and it was a joyous occasion.  My father also shared his story with a few in the community of Defiance.  God is working with individuals in the church and it is a joy to see.

 The body of believers in Maine has a couple more families who are now attending and there are 2 more families moving up to join the church who now live in Tennessee.  This Sunday they are having a brother's meeting to try to establish some foundations to prevent potential divisions and misunderstandings.  Please pray for them in this endeavor for oneness of mind and heart.

Jordan's family needs prayer for wisdom in pastoring their little church, and also for the settling of Naomi's father's estate in the next few weeks.

I am planning a trip to India on November 12 to be with Morgan around the time the baby is born....and to spend time with Amos and Justice as well.  And Andrew. :-)   Thankful for my husband's self sacrificial love to let me go and leave our expanding family to fend for themselves during this time.  He would love to go too, but now doesn't seem the time.

Streets 4th week

September 16, 2013

Fourth Week Happenings

Here we are – into our second week of classes. Andrew and I are enjoying them. I missed half of

mine today because of a prenatal checkup. I’ve lost weight, instead of gained, but all my blood

work and tests came back great. The doctor was surprisingly favorable towards a home birth

– she just said that we will need to make sure everything is going normal. The boys have heat

rashes – especially Justice – and so we are trying to let his skin air out today. Thus he is wearing

bib-overalls with no shirt.

Our shipment came in on Saturday!!! It is very exciting to have all our stuff here. The clothes

came just in time for Justice, who was growing out of his provisions we had in our suitcases for

him. Amos is thrilled to have his toys and books back. The hammock is hanging temporarily in

the living room, and all three guys are enjoying that quite a bit. Although I can’t unpack all my

kitchen supplies yet (for lack of shelving to put them on), I am still very happy to have some pots

and quality utensils in hand to cook with again. The computer is already set up. Andrew is out

shopping now with Sundara Raj for furniture, and the furniture here in the guesthouse should

be swapped out soon for what is provided by the school for us. Two men are presently cleaning

out our storeroom as well. For those of you who don’t know yet, it has been settled that we will

make the “guesthouse” our apartment, and the guesthouse will be in the bungalow.

Last Friday there was a day of prayer held here on campus. It started at 2pm, and went until 6am

Saturday morning. Andrew was able to participate in a few hours of it, including preaching one

of the messages on prayer. He said there was a wonderful, unhurried spirit during the prayer

times. I have been very busy, especially with the shipment coming in, and will continue to be

so probably for a little while. Thankfully yesterday we had a good rest, and purposefully made

sure that that could happen. In the evening we all got our instruments out that just came in the

shipment (Andrew, trumpet; me, viola; and I gave Amos and Justice each a recorder) and played

a few songs together. That was fun. J I enjoy our singing times together, and it’s nice to have

our instruments back now too. I tried playing in church, but it didn’t go as well as I was hoping

– between my being rusty, and the viola slipping out of tune because of lack of use. I think next

time should go better.

Cooking has been going well. I’m still learning a lot – and making mistakes along the way – but

I’m definitely more comfortable with things now. I have not yet learned the right way to make

homemade butter and yogurt, but I did find out how easy it was to do it the wrong way! Leave

milk in the fridge a day too long, and it automatically turns into yogurt, and leave cream in the

fridge for too long, and it becomes the consistency of butter….I didn’t taste them to make sure,

so I can’t say that it really works. J

Please continue to pray for adjustment with grace and a Christ-like spirit….we seemed to have a

more peaceful lull in the storm of culture shock the past week or two, but now we’re entering a

second wave of it – and not just me this time, but Andrew too.

Joanna's Review

Here's a note we received from Joanna Paulus that is encouraging.

 I was thinking back today on all the connections with different people that have been made because you moved to Ft. Wayne and we came back from China (I wanted/hoped to go back within a few years) and stayed in Ft. Wayne rather than moving to CA. (I was wanting to move to CA,as had been planned, as we had friends there with similar values and almost none in Ft. Wayne.)  So we meet you, and then through Andrew meet McCulfors [whom the Pauluses churched with for several years]. McCulfors hear from us about the Training for Triumph speech and debate classes, which Anna then goes to and Grace is in her class. So the McIntoshs come to the youth meetings, and now you've started a church together. And after about 8 years of meeting one great family after another and being part of each other's lives, Father has brought us back here to China. And I'm leaving out plenty of details. That was a good reminder to me that He certainly has a better plan than we do. When I can't see what's going on (why the visa agency didn't ship our passports back overnight like we asked...why Fed Ex sent them to Europe instead of Hong Kong...why once the problem was reported, it couldn't be solved faster...why we're stuck in Hong Kong when we had things planned for this weekend in GZ...why we can't be there for the unexpected overnight company Daddy has) Father does see the big see picture and his plans are the best.   -Joanna Paulus

One Week for the Streets

Thursday, August 29, 2013

One Week Mark!

By this point we now have a working phone, our own internet, a refrigerator, and a washing

machine (that we can’t use yet). Amos and Justice have made their ways into many hearts on

campus. I’ve been able to visit in four other apartments, chatting with very wonderful ladies.

Anim has helped us with our laundry and is planning on taking me grocery shopping. Sharda has

put me more at ease with having a home birth, and took me to her OB/GYN doctor today for a

regular checkup. Akim is all alone in her apartment and was very glad, I think, that I knocked on

the “wrong” door trying to find Sharda’s apartment. J I think we will have very good visits in

the future. Preety is very outgoing and is fun to talk to.

Amos asks every day, “Are the kids outside?” He is thriving on the little school books we

brought with us in our backpacks, and I think he’ll be ready for the curriculum that is being

shipped once it gets here. I’ve been asked almost every day about Amos going to school, so I

have started turning that into an opportunity to explain why we feel it is important and that it

is our responsibility, biblically, to teach our children about the Lord all throughout each day.

So far I haven’t had any response to that. I’m learning how to manage my days between two

active boys, the hot afternoon, and the evening visiting time. I think there is a routine slowly

developing, although a good deal of that will change once we begin language classes and I start

to cook.

On that note – we get to meet with the language school director, Rollee Narrain, and another

American couple next week! Yay! We will have a meet and greet time, and then we will talk

about our schedules for doing classes, which should start next week. We found out about a lady

who sweeps and mops the floors daily for several apartments on campus, and we might enlist her

help (with money, of course) in our apartment as well. It’s about six US dollars a month. Yeah –

wow. And that’s helping her out.

I found out that prenatal care is also very cheap – and it is considered expensive here in India.

Around 3 dollars will pay for a checkup, 6 dollars for an ultrasound, and about 300 dollars for

delivery. My checkup went well. Everyone here was very nervous about me, so I think they

will be relieved now that I have seen the doctor. After being at the maternity home, though, I’m

pretty sure I want to stick with a home birth if possible, especially since I don’t speak Hindi. The

doctor could speak English, but I could tell she is much more comfortable with Hindi, and I’m

afraid that might cause problems in the middle of delivery and things may not go like I would

want them to.

Andrew has found out more than he ever would want to know about Indian mechanisms so far –

or the lack of them. After 5 visits to the phone store and many hours later, he has finally got our

cell phone working, but is still wrestling with getting the internet package working that he signed

up for. (News flash: he got it.)

Andrew has been to chapel once this week, and was very impressed with the message on the

book of  Joel. He wants to be more regular in attending those if he can. He was also able to help

Sundara Raj by taking pictures of all of the 1

purposes. I had my first motorcycle ride today to the maternity home. J That was fun. One of

the staff took me, since there was some confusion on having a driver available. We have found

that (1) you can’t count on anything happening the way it’s planned, (2) relationships are very

important here, and (3) the Lord is faithful to keep His promises and His word to us – as we seek

Him, He is found, and satisfies our hunger for Him.

nd

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 and 2

 year students. This is for fundraising

Shopping & Scrubbing

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Scrubbing and shopping – the two things we’ve been doing the most in the past 36 hours. I’ve been cleaning windows and getting the kitchen in order, and Andrew is out buying a refrigerator right now. We still aren’t quite ready to eat here at the guesthouse, but it’s getting a lot closer. J Okay…later: Andrew picked out a refrigerator, but couldn’t buy it today. He also purchased a cell phone but couldn’t get it activated today. Very warm-culture. Amos has been playing very well today by himself. Please pray for Justice – he has been very tired today and may be having some intestinal issues.

Andrew saw our apartment today – it’s quite large. It takes up the whole bottom floor of a building. The ceilings are REALLY high – like you could put a second floor in. We feel a little weird moving in there when the guesthouse is much more standard for faculty here. We would be happy staying in the guesthouse and making that our home. We’ll see what they say.

We can hear the Muslim call to prayer multiple times a day. In Allahabad, 20% are Muslims – a larger than average percentage.

I’ve seen a couple mice in Sundar Raj’s house, but none in ours so far. J We have one screen that needs replaced in our bathroom, so a lizard and mosquitoes have gotten in through there, but other than that, the house is pretty well closed in.

Today I have really missed talking and working with friends. There is so much to do, and it takes me so long to accomplish things on my own with two boys and the heat, that it’s kind of depressing if I think about it too much. We went out this evening again though, around the time when the children and adults come out (when it’s cooler – about 5:30-7pm), and I had a very nice time talking to two other mothers who live in the same apartment building. I’m really thankful for that. Amos and Justice had fun, too, with the kids. I also was encouraged by what I read in A Chance to Die, the biography on Amy Carmichael that I’m reading through. It was talking about when Amy’s mother and a close and trusted fellow worker both died in the same year – and how she had to accept the Lord’s will as being “to do without” for the time being.

So far, the topics of homeschooling and home births are very weird and “unacceptable” to the people here – we ask if it is okay to do, and they say, “No, everyone goes to the doctor,” or “No, homeschooling is not recognized.” This is really hard for me to deal with – I would really appreciate your prayers that we would have wisdom to know how to handle both situations. It also seems very much the norm for both the husband and wife to work outside of the home. They probably won’t understand that I want to stay home and take care of my family first and foremost. I’m thankful that both EFM and OMS, the mission organizations that we are working for/with, understand us and sent us anyway. J It’s just going to be interesting dealing with the subjects here on the field.

All for now – I need to get back and help get the boys ready for bed and spend some family time together.