update from Nepal.

Update from Pastor Luke.

Thank you. now we are living outside in tent since saturday. We need food and drinking water so please pray for us .....
 me: How can we help?
Thank you very much for your prayers. now we are staying away from the house so you could send some financial help for urgent needs and our many believers lost their love one and houses been completely destroyed. We do not know what to do, everyone is crying ....please share with friends and church or organization for help of earthquake victims.
We are broken and living in tears because of this huge disaster

to read more from Pastor Luke please read the previous blog Nepal/Pastor Luke

A letter from Nepal.

I got word from one of the orphanages in Nepal... they are safe!  
-------------------

As soon as I heard the news of the earthquake I messaged Pastor Luke and a few others. As the hours of silence turned into days I become more and more concerned that things might not be OK with them. Best case scenario, they are all ok and have been busy helping others, or they just don't have power... 
Worst case scenario... well... I am still hanging onto the best case scenario dream.

I still haven't heard from those who actually live in Kathmandu valley where the epicenter was and as the days pass I don't like the silence. The ones in Kathmandu frequently send group emails to all of their ministry supporters... So it seems like they should send a quick note that they are ok... Tell us something? That seems to be the logical thing. But still we hear nothing from them. One of the missionaries there is actually a US embassy representative. She told me that she agreed to be a representative for the perk of having a two-way emergency radio in case of a disaster. Hopefully they just don't have electricity.

One day while riding around Kathmandu on the back of her moped she explained that they have been warned that every 75 years Nepal has a major earthquake. At the time they were on year 79. Scientists from around the globe had been saying 'when it comes it will be big'. There were signs/billboards all over Kathmandu, the ATM machine's screen savers said "be prepared" laid over pictures of rubble. Many knew it was coming some day. The sad thing is that their architecture does not lend to "being prepared". And even more sad that the religious beliefs of most there believe that karma is karma. If the gods find favor you will be ok. If they don't there is nothing you can do to stop it... So while the Christian missionaries had a storage container in their fenced-in yard full of water, batteries, food, and clothing I would venture to guess 99.5% of Nepalese people don't have that.

(An interesting difference in the US and Nepal earthquake preparedness... they are told in case of a quake to get outside or to the rooftop, where we are told to stand in a door way. They know their buildings won't hold up so they assume being on top as it comes down is your best shot at survival.)

I read a report today suggesting that 80% of Kathmandu residents are living outdoors terrorized by aftershocks. If their homes are still standing they are afraid to sleep in them until the ground quits shaking. It breaks my heart. Kathmandu, the capital city, wasn't what you would call an industrialized city in the first place. To see more about what the city was like before the quake check out my blog from my visit last year. 
life in Kathmandu

So today when I woke to good news from Pastor Luke I felt a sense of relief. Pastor Luke lives a long way from Kathmandu. (six hours by bus up a winding mountain road in Chitwan valley.) Here is what he had to say. (I fixed a few grammatical errors to make it easier to read his excellent but broken English)

Earthquake:
Praise the lord! By the grace of the living God our family and children are safe. Thank you very much for your heart for us and for your precious prayers. We experienced very terrible shocks of big earthquake. The ground shakes many times more than 85 times and still not in control completely. We are staying outside of the home on the church grounds. My pastor friend and all the believers were in the church. The church building was completely destroyed and the rescue team has not been able to rescue them yet. I have heard many children of God are missing and many houses of believers were destroyed. Still we do not have all details of believers so we are still praying for them. According to local report more-then 3100 people are death, and around 7,000 people are injured and under the medication. One christian brother died near our home. and 13 houses of our believers from branch church were destroyed. I am trying to collect other details and reports of the churches and believers from many different places. There are many more villages where rescue team are not reached yet so many people are waiting medical help, food, drinking water, clothes and basics important need to survive. We magani church ministries continually praying for basics needs for Christian victims of this big disaster. therefore, we are expecting your precious prayers and helping hands to show the love of jesus Christ in this critical condition, lets do whatever we can even it may be small but it means lots in this situation..... in christ pastor luke magani church ministries Nepal

So they are alive which is great... but as you can read they are in distress. Please pray for them with me.
Also pray for those we haven't heard from yet. Pray for those in villages who are currently unreachable due to landslides. The roads, already in poor condition, are few and far between in Nepal. Many people walk a days journey to get to the nearest road already. It seems so hopeless, yet we know that our God can use all things for his Glory. One night while in a cab, lost in Kathmandu, Ali, my friend, played the song "Build your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective on her ipod. It says...

Build your kingdom here, 
let the darkness fear, 
show your mighty hand,
heal our streets and land, 
set your church on fire, 
win this nation back, 
change the atmosphere, 
build your kingdom here 
we pray

I have such vivid memories riding around the dark city for what seemed like forever, lost. But hearing that song and praying that God find a way to heal their streets and land. Let the darkness of false gods and idol worship fear our mighty God. Praying to win this (that) nation to Christ. Change that atmosphere. "Build your kingdom here!" I prayed over and over.

I can only hope that out of the ashes and rubble that God's love will rise and be known in large numbers. That the 'less than 1% of the population' who are Christians stand together and minister to the 60% Hindu and 40% Buddhist peoples. Let something strong and beautiful come out of this nation which is now hurting and weak.

Gotcha Day: It's been 5 years!

I could write a book about that day... I could write a book about how time has flown and how time has stood still. I could write a book about how much we love you and how you have changed our lives for the better. But today is a busy day. Busy being your mom. Busy being your teacher. Busy celebrating 5 years. Busy cleaning for your final home study. (although we don't clean for them like we did that first one!!) 

I may write that book another day, but today lets just take a visual walk down memory lane and spend time celebrating.

March 23rd 2010.  Our forever family day!

 The great team at Chung Yi who helped bring us together!

 Learning how to "tell" us I am sleepy and I want a drink.

 Checking out the toys we brought for you.

He was impressed by the googly-eyed dinosaur book!

She wanted to wear every article of clothing we brought... Literally... Even the fairy wings. 

(She's wearing about 6 layers of clothes under all that and stockings on her head!)

 March 23 ,2011  First Gotcha Day at home.

March 23, 2012

March, 2013

March 23, 2014

 March 22, 2015 (ok, so we took the picture a day early)

 10 years old

9 years old

My, how you have grown.

 How time has flown. 

It seems like a lifetime has passed but seeing those pictures from 5 years ago... it seems like yesterday!  

Pierson and Maylin you are a true gift. We love you to the moon and back.

Sugar, Gluten and Dairy oh my!

Our house has been sugar, gluten and dairy free since Mid August. 

Maylin has what one might call a sensitive tummy and we have been desperate to try to find a diet that doesn't hurt her belly. While on this diet her tummy has been doing much better but we aren't perfect just yet. 

Yeah, if you are thinking "what's left to eat?" You aren't alone. We eat a lot of berries and granny smith apples (other fruits are too sugary), green veggies (no carrots, peas or corn) organic chicken and or grass fed beef and some raw nuts (a few other things here and there).

              So... Monday when a nutritionist told us to eat what we now call 'junk' food for the next week (so that when she gets her blood work the ingredients that potentially bother her are in her system)  you have never seen Pierson do the happy dance so wildly! Maylin went back and forth between excitement and nervous questions like, "Am I going to be sick from this?"  "Mom, do you think this will hurt my belly?" 

 I let them pick a few things that I wouldn't have even bought pre-tummy troubles.

 It was extremely difficult to choose. (Pierson didn't stop dancing through the entire store)

 She went back and forth and back and forth trying to decide what type of cookie to get.

 ICE CREAM!

"Do we want this one? Or this one? Or this one?  Mom can we have all of them?"

We are two days into 7 days of 'bad eating'... So far it hasn't been too bad on the belly...
May all your grocery shopping experiences be as exciting as ours has been this week!

It is a good day when the Millers are in town

 7 little monkeys swinging in a tree!

The painful "serious" picture. It forces them to appear like calm, sweet angels.

  But the truth is...

we're all a little crazy!

Crazy little Angels that is! :)

9 years strong

Thank you for treating me just as special on the days that are not our anniversary.

(a chronological walk down memory lane in pictures)

Honeymoon in Belize

Mountain trip to Blowing Rock

"Every love story is beautiful, but ours in my favorite." 

Yellowstone 

China 

Our new dog (our first 'child')

 Trip to Boone

 I've fallen in love many times, always with you.

Home

Da'an Park, Taipei, Tiawan. 

Nantau County, Taiwan

 And then their were four.

Taipei, Chung Yi 

Sunset Beach

North Mrytle

And life with you just keeps getting better. 

Holden Beach

Holden Beach

  Puerto Lempira, Honduras

Sunset Beach

Sunset beach

You are my anniversary gift. Thanks for being you. 

walk, play, eat

Our family loves the beach. Not just being in the vicinity, but the actual beach, the sand, the waves, the wind. It has always baffled me to hear that some people go to the beach to shop, or swim in a pool, or those who only actually touch the sand once or twice during their week... To me that is just weird. ;) 

Our family is the type to get on the beach in the morning and stay until 4:30, 5:00 or sometimes later. Even then it isn't unusual for us to go back to the house, shower, eat dinner and head back to the beach for an evening walk or meal.  

 We walk in the moonlight.

 We wade in the waves.

 We play in the sand...

 We play in the sand...

 We jump in the waves

 We skimboard

 We play in the sand (did I say that already?)

 We 'surf' in the waves.

 We dive like dolphins.

 And we play in the sand.

When we're done with all that we go back to the house to shower... and sometimes we head back to the sand to eat diner. 

And play some more!

So even with the "shark" days this summer we never even considered doing anything but 'stay on the beach.

  

Here's to the beach. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does!