Counting it all joy

Sarah Beth and her friends, Rachel and Rebecca Tarleton, at TGIFriday's in Moscow. These girls are pretty much just part of our family--what a blessing they are to us!
The whole gang at TGIFriday's. The girl in the pink at the table behind us is one of Hannah's closest friends, whose mother also had a birthday on the 17th, so we all ended up there together!
A really lovely thing about Russian culture is how much they love flowers. Rebecca and some of S.B.'s other friends gave her beautiful, bright flowers for her birthday. (This is my classroom, by the way.)
More flowers, and more girls we love. Here are Sasha Afanasenko, Amanda Lokke, and Rachel Wicker with Sarah Beth on her birthday.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

Oh, my goodness! What a week! It has been a busy, busy week, so I am looking forward to a slow, easy Saturday. Sarah Beth is off to the circus for a friend's birthday and then to school for her last Uganda team meeting this afternoon, so she'll be home much later tonight. Hannah spent last night with her care and community group from school. Today, she is headed to school to meet her friend, Chrissy, and then they are going to the mall for lunch and to Chrissy's house for a sleepover. So I won't see her until tomorrow when she meets us for church. For today, then, it's mostly just me and John John. (Did I mention Marc is in Rome?) We have a project to work on for school and some cub scout stuff to do, so we won't be bored.

Tuesday was Sarah Beth's birthday, so we had a great time going to TGIFriday's here in Moscow. Then on Wednesday, she and a group of friends went to Red Square to take pictures and came back to our house for pizza and cookies and a few episodes of The Office, which Sarah Beth got for her birthday. I think she had a wonderful celebration, and we were so thrilled to get to celebrate our princess' 17th birthday. Considering her puny, sickly start in the world, she has turned out pretty well!

I am reading a great book right now, Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On, by Stormie Omartian. The chapter I worked on this week was focused on trials, on finding the light when we go through testing from God, and so I've been thinking a lot about the times in our lives when things just seemed so awful we wouldn't be able to bear it. There have definitely been times of testing in my life. Some of those tests I have passed with flying colors and have not needed to repeat. Some of those tests, unfortunately, I have taken again and again and again, because I can't seem to figure them out. And, of course, there have been tests and trials here on the mission field. Sometimes, those tests have involved dealing with a different culture, different attitudes and a vastly different language. Often, those trials have come in the form of not understanding what other people were doing or why they were doing it. (In those cases, I am definitely learning to (a.) keep my mouth shut, and (b.) try to give everyone involved the benefit of the doubt.) Even something like Marc's travel schedule, which is pretty intense and hard on the family, is a test for me. And one thing I've become convinced of is that surviving these times and even thriving in them is all about intentionality. It all comes down to what we choose to believe, to listen to, to allow ourselves to think.

Let me give an example: this week, Marc is in Rome. Now, Roman history is definitely one of Marc's loves, and he is having a wonderful time being in Rome. But he isn't just in Rome. He's in Rome with his close friend, Mike. And Mike brought his wife, Teressa, who is...you guessed it--one of my close friends. Now, I'm sure you can do the math and figure out that three of our little foursome are together in Rome, one of the most amazing cities in the world. And the one who is not there? Yep, that would be me. And where am I? In Moscow...where it is, even as I write this, snowing. And I have teased Marc about being upset and mad that he is getting to have this whirlwind life while I sit at home with the kids. Then, unfortunately, I realized that I was kind of joking and teasing...and kind of not joking and teasing. I realized that I was kinda, sorta, a little bit upset that my life is so much less exciting and fun than his life. (By the way--he hates his travel schedule, too--he wants to be with us, but that's a whole different blog.) Ouch! How did that bit of ugliness creep in? Because I was believing the wrong thing, listening to the wrong voices, and thinking the wrong way about the situation. So I had to be intentional--every day, I chose to focus on something I was grateful for in this situation. I am thrilled that Marc is with his friend, Mike, who has known him forever and who loves him like only a life-long friend can. I am thrilled that Marc is in Rome, this city he has studied and loved from afar (don't even get me started on how many documentaries I have watched over the last twenty years about Rome!). I have had some time to myself the last couple of days while the kids were still in school, and I have really taken the time for myself, something unusual for me. I am usually a whirling dervish of cleaning and cooking in the afternoons, but I have read books and taken naps the last two days...and really enjoyed it. I have had time to focus on the things I am grateful for here--friends, students, church partners, my fellow teachers, my kids' friends, my parents and sisters and their families, the great company that takes such good care of us here. And because God was faithful to point out to me my little pity party and showed me the blessings of my life so clearly, I have had the best week. I'm tired. Okay, I'm exhausted. And, of course, I miss Marc and can't wait 'til he gets home. But I'm joyful and content that God is working in my life in a tangible way, that some day, my faith will produce endurance, and endurance will have its perfect result, so that I may be perfect and complete...lacking in nothing. That's a big goal, to be sure, but I serve a big God.

Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are finding joy in your trials, big or small, and that you are enjoying your second cup of coffee with fat-free french vanilla creamer in it. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye