Praying for Rain

I love this picture. This is John at the British Museum. He looks just like his Daddy in this picture. Of course, he looks just like his Daddy in every picture. :)

Tash decided she needed some quiet time this morning, too, so she planted herself smack in the middle of my quiet time. 

You made every star and
You taught it how to shine.
You knew my name before there was time.
All this is just part of Your glorious design.
Alleluia! Alleluia! "All My Praise" by Selah

I posted the last line of this chorus on my facebook wall yesterday, and I got several questions about it. No, nothing spectacular had happened. I was simply acknowledging the comfort I feel in knowing that what touches my life and my family is part of a design God has always had for me and for us. Before the world was formed, He knew my name. He knows me. He knows my heart. He chooses to love me beyond reason, anyway. Oh, my friends...in dark days and in light seasons, isn't that good news? To be known and loved by the Maker of the Universe? It doesn't mean that life is easy--anybody who says life is easy just isn't paying attention. But to know that ultimately, the plan for my life is to create in me a heart that mirrors His...that has to make the hard times better, I think.

It's raining in Vienna this morning. And with the rain, a cool breeze is blowing through the city. We live on the top floor of our building, and when it's hot outside, it's sweltering in the flat. John and I have been sweaty messes for most of the week, just trying anything we could to stay cool. It's especially hard when we sleep, because his bedroom and ours are upstairs in our flat, and it's even hotter there than the rest of the apartment. Trying to sleep while you're sweating is not pleasant. With Marc gone, I don't sleep that well, anyway, so this has only made it worse. And when I get up in the morning, there are duvets everywhere I look, as though I've been wrestling all night with some invisible giant. So God knew what He was doing when He sent me somewhere cool, like Europe, which really doesn't have many truly sweltering days. You can imagine, then, that the cool breeze and rain is more than welcome...it's an answer to prayers for relief from the heat.

Now, if Marc were here, he'd poke a little fun at me for turning the rain into a metaphor for how God works in our lives. But I can't help myself, and he's in Russia, so he probably won't even see this post. I was talking to an old friend earlier this week about where we are in terms of transition and feeling settled, etc., in Vienna, and we were talking about the first 18 months or so in Russia. Those were truly some of the most difficult months of our family's life. In metaphorical terms, it was hot. Together 24/7 in a two-bedroom apartment in a city the size of Moscow...well, let's just say that God was using that experience to refine us. He was sloughing off a lot of stuff in our hearts and our lives that He couldn't use and that weren't leading us to holiness. I told my friend this week that though those were difficult, terrible months, God accomplished some of His most beautiful work in us during that time. And after 18 months of heat, when the rains came and cooled things down, when we had the chance to look around and see how God had been at work (because isn't it hard to see when you're in the middle of it?)...amazing. But without the heat, the rain would just be rain, right? Without having been through the refiner's fire, we wouldn't experience such overwhelming joy at the coolness of the rain. And so I'm not just grateful for the rain. I'm also grateful for the heat. Because I know this for sure and for certain--our God never wastes anything. Not a single experience is wasted if we let Him use it. Not the heat. Not the rain.

It's only going to get up to about 75F today, according to the forecasts I've seen. So I'm looking forward to not sweating to death as I go about the day. And next week, when it climbs into the 90s again, I will remember that it's a cycle, that there is heat, then cooling down, then heat, then cooling down...it goes on and on until the fall, when it will just cool down. And life is like that, too. There are times of being refined, and then times of enjoying a season of peace and comfort. But it's good to remember and recognize those times of comfort, because they certainly help us get through the fire, don't they? Just knowing that relief is coming helps us hold on. Whatever circumstance or season you find yourself in, I pray you can remember that God's plan and design for you is perfect and holy. And I hope that you are looking forward to your beloved being home soon, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

Thankful for His encouragement

My girls are glad to be together. That makes my heart smile.

John in front of Windsor Castle

See that face? I love it. That face is one of my favorites.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Good morning from sunny and HOT Vienna!! John and I are back from our trip to London, where we spent a great day at Legoland and a great day at the British Museum. Best of all, we spent time together. I'm not dumb--he's eleven, so a time is coming when maybe a trip with Mom doesn't sound so cool, so I'm eating up this time while I'm still fun to be around, and he's not afraid to hold my hand as we ride the bus. :) I know from experience that this moment is fleeting. Wasn't it yesterday that he was 6 and running around Moscow? Wasn't it???

When I started this blog--five years ago!!!--I promised you and myself that I would always be open and honest about our experiences overseas, that I would try to keep myself from putting on a facade to make you like me more. I've tried really hard to be faithful to that, to honestly and openly share the faith journey I and my little family are on as we follow our incredible God on an amazing adventure. I have tried not to sugarcoat the difficulties of transitioning into Vienna. And in many, many ways, I believe we are still in transition. We haven't quite found ourselves here, yet. But in the sharing of difficulties, I never, ever want to forget to share the ways our faithful, faithful God daily encourages our hearts, no matter where we are in the world. So here are some ways He has encouraged me in the last couple of weeks, things I hope will also encourage you as you travel your own path.

• Visas: I won't say a lot about this, just that our visa situation has taken a very positive turn, and we could not be more delighted. As always, God is 100% right on time. Never early. Never late. 
• Our kids: Sarah Beth is in a tremendous, wonderful relationship that makes her so happy. Hannah had some really positive things happen at the end of school and is, even as I write this, at church camp in the States, where I know she is with people who love her and will lift her up. John is deeply in love with Vienna, and he is so appreciative of the opportunities we've been given. (As we walked into the British Museum, he told me he really loved our life, and he is pretty sure not many kids from Middleburg, Florida, get the chance to go to the British Museum. It made me smile.) When my kids are encouraged, I am encouraged. God has abundantly encouraged them, particularly in the last few weeks.
• Marc's current trip: I'm not sure what's going on in Russia on this trip, because he doesn't have enough internet to do anything more than post on my facebook wall, but I can tell from his posts that he is deeply, deeply moved by what he is finding and experiencing. He is with men he loves and admires, and who I know are encouraging and loving. While his life with one foot here and one foot there is difficult, it is good to be reminded how much he loves his job and how much work there is to be done. 
• Language: German is learnable, and God is faithful. I was particularly encouraged by the many people who spoke German with me on our trip to London, even though they could have easily spoken English. Austrians are generally very polite, and they are not anxious to watch me struggle with their language. However, by speaking with me, they help my language improve.
• Friendships: With Americans and with Austrians, we are developing deeper and deeper relationships. I'm thankful.

• Vienna: No matter how hard our transition to the city has been, our love for it has only grown. The longer I'm here, the more I adore this beautiful place. And the longer I'm here, the more brokenhearted I am for its deep, deep darkness. Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures and gorgeous mountains and lovely churches...there is spiritual darkness and lostness here, an indifference to the things of God that originally inspired so much of the beauty and culture around us. But that brokenness is exactly what we asked for when we came here--that God would break our hearts for what breaks His. And there is no doubt in my mind that He has done exactly that.

I could go on and on and on. If you're a long-time reader of this blog, or even if you've just found it, my prayer is that you will see an over-arching theme in everything I write: He is faithful. In the big, in the small, in the in-between, He is faithful. I have tasted and seen His goodness. I have been the recipient of His grace and mercy. I am awestruck by the vastness and incomprehensibility of His glory. Our little family--strung out across three continents at the moment--has followed our big God on an incredible adventure. And in every single moment, in every tear, in every problem, in the great joys and laughter of it all, in every Phase 10 game, in every little Russian or Czech or Austrian village, in every experience and every relationship--He is faithful. I am often not faithful. I judge and I criticize and I worry and I fret. And yet, He--the giver of all good gifts--He loves me and holds me in His righteous right hand. When I really take the time to come face to face with His unaltered goodness to me and mine...I am brought to my knees in thankfulness. I stand amazed and awestruck in the presence of the One who made me, who knows me, and who loves me in spite of myself. How can I be anything but encouraged?

Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you know this: what He has done for me, His grace, His mercy, His undying faithfulness, He has done for the whole world. My little family--we are beyond ordinary. We're just broken jars of clay. But His love and grace and mercy are gifts He has given to the whole world. Me and my family. You and yours. I pray that is good news to your heart today. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye

  

Walking across His painting

I don't know what I could say about this that would do it justice. God's handiwork is amazing.

Our mountain view from the boat

No matter where we go, He is already there.

Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. Psalm 36: 5-7

I have a few (very few!) quiet moments this morning, so I thought I'd attempt to put in writing something about our trip to Mariazell in the Steiermark region of Austria. As you can see from the pictures, it is a truly beautiful place, nestled into the mountains, full of calm and peace and really kind people. (John did something--I don't remember what it was--and came back and said, "I love Austrians. They're so nice.") We have just enough German to be able to hold a conversation (a simple one!), and we practiced our German quite a bit. (I mispronounced the word for towel, and had to make the hand motions to explain. That's always fun.) Once you are outside the city, most people will want to speak German, and it's a great, great language exercise to do that. We also are watching the Euro2012 tournament (big news here, probably not in America), and we've laughed at how much the commentary in German is helping our language skills. We've watched every game so far, choosing teams to cheer for based on very, very loose criteria: we know someone there, it's a neighboring country, we speak the language--Ukraine and Germany are on our roster for this reason--or, of course, we love the country like it's our own--Russia got our most fervent support. It's been fun. We have a sticker book (okay, John has a sticker book), and it's fun to learn the names of the players. Our only problem with the German commentary came when they turned Russian names into German letters--what is that 'j' doing there, we kept asking--and when they interviewed our favorite Russian player--Arschavin--and he spoke Russian and then they dubbed it in German. That was a little too confusing for our already-addled brains, but we survived. :)

We went to Mariazell because we needed a retreat. We needed to be alone, outside the city, and talk and pray and figure out why we are so worn out. We also needed to laugh. And we did those things. We didn't hear God give us any big answers to the questions we're asking Him right now, but we did find rest in the shadow of His wings. We played cards, ate too much Schnitzel, swam, rode in a boat on an Alpen lake, ate ice cream that was far inferior to the ice cream shop in our neighborhood...it wasn't all serious. But some of it was. Before we all split up for the next month, we wanted to hear our children's hearts about some of the things going on with us since coming here. We wanted to come up with some "Hooks Family Values" and figure out what God might be doing in our lives here in Vienna. And I think we did do that. Mostly, we just talked and laughed. It was nice to laugh, to feel like ourselves, to play together.  If you didn't know, my kids will make you laugh until you cry. They are hilarious! And that Hooks guy is no slouch in the laughter department, either.

Most of the things we said to each other are, of course, too personal to share in this public forum. But one of the things Hannah said stuck with me through the entire trip. We were driving through the Alps (and feeling pretty carsick, frankly, from the twists and turns), when we came up over a hill and around a turn where we were presented with an incredible view. Rolling mountains, sunshine, lakes...it looked like something out of a book, not like real life. Yet there it was in front of us. We all went silent and just looked. Then Han said, "Isn't it amazing to think that we are walking across the picture God's been painting for the last two thousand years?" Nobody responded. John went back to his DS game, Hannah went back to sleep, and Marc and I just took in the scenery as we drove.

I've been turning over that statement for three days, now, and it's probably one of the most reassuring, comforting things I've heard in a while. Because we ARE walking across His painting. Not just because we live in this beautiful place He created and that we love, but because we are walking across His plan for this place and these people. And if He has a plan, then He knows. He knows how tired we are. He knows that we are homesick. He knows that we have questions. He knows about my Dad's health and how much that scared me. He knows how much we miss Sarah Beth. He knows. He knows. He knows. And just like the Alps don't move no matter what storm comes or how hard the wind blows, His love for us, for our little family (and yours!) never changes. It is steadfast. It is wherever we are. Russia. Czech Republic. Florida. Austria.  He who was and is and is to come has a plan. For me. For my family. For this city we love. For the nations. And He has invited us to walk across His plan. Us. I'll never get over it. He called us. Love so amazing, it leaves me breathless.

So we didn't make any life-changing decisions. We didn't hear thundering voices (we did hear thunder, though, and it was pretty cool). But we rested in the knowledge that He is God. He is trustworthy. He loves us beyond our ability to understand. And wherever we are, He is. That is pretty good news, my friends. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you know that the Master of the Universe is there, too, and that you are cheering for Ukraine and England later tonight, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye