Chair Makeover!

We bought a used chair from a couple that was moving back to the UK (we also got a much smaller, and more energy efficient refrigerator from them, score :) )... but the chair was white, and you know. White + Small Children = stained, gross chair. In fact, Kati colored on it with crayons the third day it was in our place... so I wanted to make it more friendly for our house (the same reason we dyed our white Ikea Ektorp)... so we spent 5 euros and got some fabric. All I did was measure it, add a seam on each side, and hand sew each panel on. Hope you like the results. Here is our newest addition, a custom Poang chair :)

Same chair, before and after.

And Though I Haven't Had The Best of Days...

Being a Christian doesn't mean all flowers, puppies, and sunshine. There are a lot of trials, and difficult things that we go through, especially if we are being effective in our walk by evangelizing and discipling. Want to get onto satan's radar? Do one or both of those things, and a big bullseye will be strapped to your chest. So why bother? Well, Jesus bothered to go through the same temptations, and suffered a crazy agonizing death by choice just so God's children could be reconciled to Him.


I have been accused before of complaining on this blog. In fact, someone said that all I do on here is complain. And for a while I just chewed on that, and gave it to the Lord. I went back and read all of my posts for the last year looking for instances of complaining. But if I'm being honest about my walk with the Lord, and my life as a Christian, I would be lying if I said there were never difficult times. And I think I would be doing the readers of this blog a huge disservice if I acted like my life was perfect. I know a lot of people who read this blog are Christian, and they go through a lot of the same struggles that I am going through. Just to clear the record, and I feel confident I can speak on behalf of all missionaries in this area, missionaries are not perfect. We are not immune to discouragement or spiritual warfare just because we live in a different culture and share the gospel with people. In fact, we probably go through it more often. We are not holier than anyone else. We are sinners, forgiven by God, trying our best to abide in Jesus. But we fail, often.

It's an Eeyore kind of a day... image via stock.xchng

I haven't kept it a secret that I have been having a hard time lately, and it seems like it just keeps getting worse and worse. Right now I feel like I am drowning. I feel attacked from every side. My parents are separated right now, and that doesn't really mess me up that much, but the reason they are separated is killing me. Neither one of them has been faithful to walk with the Lord, and I don't feel bad posting about it because they know this is true. The evil one is just waiting to steal, kill, and destroy... and when you let a little sin in, he uses it to slowly pull you into more and more destructive things until your whole life is torn apart. Travis said this last night, "Letting sin into your life is like boiling a lobster. You don't even know what you've gotten yourself into until it's far too late."


Of course, there are other things going on, and I feel like I'm to starting question a lot of the things I felt the Lord was showing me personally (not having to do with ministry stuff...). I mean on my end of course, because the Lord doesn't change. But no matter what happens, I want to praise the Lord, and I think that is why this is one of my favorite songs...

And though I haven’t had the best of days I just want to stop and thank you anyway

'Cause every single moment whether sleeping or awake Is your creation And what you’ve made is good I don’t always thank you for the rough days and The hard times in my life Even though I should... Jury Duty by the Supertones (my heroes :) )

Gerbers and Girlfriends

I guess I am in an alliteration mood lately because the last three posts have used alliteration in their titles.

Gerber daisies are my favorite kind of flower. They always make me happy. So here is a photo that cheers me up, and I hope you it has the same affect on you :)

image via stock.xchng

Something else that has been amazing that happened as a result of my last blog post is that I've received private messages from my sisters all over the globe. I really appreciate all of your prayers, love, and support. I'm so blessed to have such amazing sisters in the Lord. That is something that I just love about Jesus, He teaches us to love and take care of each other, and I am really feeling the benefits of your love and care right now. It has been really encouraging, to say the least! Thank you so much. There is still a lot of stuff going on, but I really can't do anything but pray and trust the Lord. I know God is in control. Please continue to pray for our family back in the states.

Things with the team being here have been going really well, and it is so cool to see how God is touching the individuals on the team, and giving them a heart for the people here. Last night it was a huge blessing to see the team members interacting with the nationals that attend the bible study. There is something about watching brothers and sisters in Christ meet each other for the first time, knowing that they have Jesus in common. Really amazing :)

I am also really excited a friend let me borrow her sewing machine to use while she is on furlough in the States... I am going to hem a few pairs of pants and fix our curtains :D Oh sewing, how I missed thee!

Discouragement... dun dun dun

So I'm going through a discouragement time again. There a ton of things going on personally that I don't really want to discuss in a public venue like this, but if you remember, please pray for my family and me.

image via stock.xchng

So far though, today is going better than yesterday.

"The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally.

The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit."

-Oswald Chambers

Smelly Streets and Preparation

With a 10 day team coming on Friday from CCBCE, things around CC Hellas have been really busy. Plus we started language classes last Thursday and our social calendar hasn't been boring either. I know that there are seasons we go through and it seems like the last few weeks have been very busy indeed. But being busy isn't bad, I just have to manage my time better and make sure to prioritize.

Priority #1: Make time for my Lord and Savior every day...
without this priority, the rest of my day would go downhill quickly, trust me!

Of course my husband, kids, family and friends, and Ksena's homeschooling come after that... then ministry, language study, and whatever else.

Actually, right now Kati is sick. She caught Ksena's cold & cough, and I realized it is way more difficult for a 2 year to deal with being sick than it is for a 4 year old. Poor Kati :(

I was able to successfully migrate SER to a wordpress.org blog, and started a new series on road trips.

Also big news, Travis and I were approached to buy a car. That's right, someone approached us about it, we didn't even have to go looking for a car. God is so good, because we were literally praying for a miracle. I feel like an older person telling you this, but I really can't take the toll of our family "outings" anymore because my body just can't take it. Between my knee and my back problems, going out and walking all day isn't really a twice a week option anymore. I was kind of ashamed of this fact because I am 27 years old! I shouldn't be dealing with this stuff already, but God is gracious, and He knows what I need to be more dependent on Him. So yeah, please pray for us in that area, God will have to orchestrate everything else out, but it looks like we might have a car by the end of the month!

The trash pile up right outside of our flat.

Ok, onto the smelly part of this post. There is trash EVERYWHERE in Athens right now. The trash truck drivers went on strike a week ago and were supposed to start picking up trash yesterday, but they extended their strike until next week. It really smells if you walk anywhere, and it is worse because it has been raining quite a bit, aiding the process of decomposition. BUT, I did have a silver lining moment in all of this. Greek people put things out by the trash that they no longer want. That doesn't mean it's trash. And since there has been no trash pick up, some things have been sitting out longer. On the way to Frank and Suzie's house last week I found a leather cross body bag... yes real leather. All it needed was a little bit of TLC and it's good as new! The only thing that was wrong with it was the short strap had been removed from the top, but I wouldn't have used it anyway. So yes, AWESOME! And it is brown and black so it will go with whatever.

Jobs and other things

photo via stock.xchng

I'm sure you all have heard a lot about who Steve Jobs was over the last couple of days. When I heard about his passing (as usual Travis poking me in bed while looking at the iTouch... "Steve Jobs died!")... I was really sad. Firstly because he wasn't a christian and, yeah, sigh... but also because he really did contribute a lot to the world! I use apple products every day, and I appreciate the thought that goes into each one and how they are so well made to fit all sorts of different needs. I think a lot of that has to do with their approach to making products... and as the daughter of a former carpenter (when I was growing up you would not believe the things I saw my father make!! beautiful!)... I really understand and appreciate this quote:

"When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through." -Steve Jobs

Thanks for everything Steve... and I'm really looking forward to reading your autobiography when it comes out.

Fall is here...

or at least summer is over! Praise the Lord! I am sure I will welcome summer next year, but as Ksena recently prayed during bedtime prayer, "Lord, let there be no more hotness." Hahaha.

Pumpkin soup anyone?

One of my favorite things about fall is how crisp and cool it feels in the morning when you first wake up. I love that brisk awakening!! This week has been busy, but really amazing! I got to meet some friends of a friend that are visiting from Minnesota and Florida, and they are really sweet sisters in the Lord :). It's always nice to meet people who have something in common with you, but it's even better when the main thing you have in common is Jesus.

I also did some experimentation with my butter gooey cake recipe this week... I tried to make a cupcake version. In my opinion, they didn't work because the gooey part went to the bottom of the cupcake, and the cake went on top, but regardless of that Travis at them all... lol. Maybe I'll figure out a way to work that out someday, but for now... I'll stick with the cake form.

Last night we had some friends come over for dinner. It all came together last minute, but it was fun. Ksena got to see her friends Phoebe and Melissa, and we got to see their parents George (Giorgos) and Cindy. We also asked their friends Giannis and Fani to come over with their two boys. Giannis told me that if you really love someone living in Greece, you will only speak Greek to them (in Greek... yikes) and proceeded to speak to us only in Greek the rest of the night. His wife also speaks very little English, so she was excited that I could understand more of what she was saying this time. She spoke Greek to me, and I spoke English to her... it was pretty funny, and awesome at the same time! By the end of the night though, I couldn't figure out any of what Giannis was saying... lol. I knew some of the words he was using, but my brain literally shut down. I told them that my brain hurt, and they thought I meant I had a headache... but I just couldn't attempt to speak, listen, or learn anymore Greek at that point. Another bonus, even though Kati doesn't really speak any Greek yet, they said that she understood a lot of what they were saying to her, and they could tell because of the way she responded. *fist pump* The Greek cartoons have been paying off.

I have been meaning to write a separate post about my weight situation in terms of getting ready to get pregnant again (eventually...) but we have decided we are not going to try again any time soon and so my motivation for weight loss is seriously lacking! I have lost some... my clothes are fitting a bit looser. But no where near what I wanted. My weakness is sweets. I eat healthy all day, and then at night I make something, or have an ice cream... and since the bible study is at our house, we are often left with goodies... and you know how I feel about throwing away food. Right now half of a cherry cheesecake is sitting in my fridge! It may be low fat and low sugar, but it is still extra calories. I think in order to successfully lose weight, you need to want to lose it, and right now I just don't care that much. I love walking and exercising, but I need the motivation to change my diet.

I am officially on countdown until my parents and brother come... they arriving on December 22nd, two days after my birthday (best present ever? yes!)... I can't wait to see all of them!!! Actually, everyone in our family is SUPER excited. YAY!

picture via stock.xchng