Lots To Do

Life has picked up quite a bit and I'm pretty sure it will remain this way indefinitely. Last weekend I was able to be involved in a bachelorette party for a dear friend of mine who is getting married the first Sunday in October.

The Bride and Groom- Ashley and Cliff

The girls spent the day at the Newport Aquarium and then out to dinner at a small Italian eatery, Pompilios. The last minute details of the wedding remain to be completed and I'm guessing it will remain that way until Monday October 5th. So, things are hectic, but in a very good way! :-) I hope to share some pictures of their wedding day next week. I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of it.

The rest of October is pretty calm on my end but Jon gets to preach twice at our home church from college days so that is exciting but one more thing to add to our already crazy schedules. Don't even ask me how we will manage to work Saturday night, drive down to Wilmore, and stay awake long enough for Jon to preach coherently, and then drive back home and sleep before working again that night. It will be interesting to say the least but super exciting as Jon begins to prepare more for ministry.

By the time October rolls to a close (maybe more like the beginning of November) I'll get to find out if I will be an aunt to a niece or a nephew!!! If I were to completely guess I would say Heather and Michael are having a boy but...we'll just have to wait and see. Before I know it the holidays will be here. I can HARDLY wait!! 60 some days till Thanksgiving and until my whole family is finally together again for the holidays. It has been way too long and is much overdue.

I think that about sums up life right now. I'm continuing my reading with Let the Nations Be Glad, a wonderful book I would highly recommend by John Piper on the supremacy of God in missions. I'm only on page 34 and my mind is already spinning! I'm sure at some point in the near future I will post about that book but for now I'm letting it simmer a bit. Well a hectic week lies ahead and I'll have a lot to update on again soon so this is all for now.

My Thoughts Are Elsewhere Today

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose."

-- John Piper

A Dog's Life

Those two pictures basically sum up the life our of puppy. However when she is not busy sleeping, she does this...

He Sets the Lonely in Families

- 40% of India's population is below the age of 18 years which at 400 million is the world's largest child population.
- Less than half of India's children between the age 6 and 14 go to school.
- A little over one-third of all children who enroll in grade one reach grade eight.
- 95 in every 1000 children born in India, do not see their fifth birthday.
- 70 in every 1000 children born in India, do not see their first birthday.
- 23% of India's children are underweight at birth.
- 58% of India's children below the age of 2 years are not fully vaccinated. And 24% of these children do not receive any form of vaccination.
- More that 50% of India's children are malnourished.


In addition to the deaths of infants and children due to malnourishment and disease, innumerable and unrecorded numbers of girl children are killed within hours of being born while many others are killed in the womb itself. Patriarchal norms, low status of women and preference for male children are the primary reasons that threaten survival of female children in India. The alarming fact is that female infanticide or foetuses has increased over the past few decades. While in 1960 there were 976 girls born for every 1000 boys, in 2001, there are only 927 girls for every 1000 boys.

- 1 out of every 6 girls does not live to see her 15th birthday.
- Of the 12 million girls born in India, 1 million do not see their first birthday.
- Every sixth girl child's death is due to gender discrimination.
- 1 out of 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 4.
- Female mortality exceeds male mortality in 224 out of 402 districts in India.
- Death rate among girls below the age of 4 years is higher than that of boys. Even if she escapes infanticide or foeticide, a girl child is less likely to receive immunisation, nutrition or medical treatment compared to a male child.
- 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate.

http://america.cry.org/site/know_us/cry_america_and_child_rights/statistics_underprivileged_chi.html

“Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Deliver the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked.” Ps 82:3-4

My heart remains burdened.

Nothing Profound

Pardon me for my lack of posting but there hasn't been much to report. Life has continued on without much news however I do feel the pace beginning to quicken. I have a bridal shower/bachelorette party to go to in a few weeks, next month I am in the wedding of a very dear friend (Ashley, I couldn't be more excited for you and Cliff!!!), the month after that I'm going to another wedding (It's almost here Sarah!) and then the holidays come barreling down. Geez, it is already September. I wonder if I should start my Christmas shopping now? Don't tempt me.

Jon's classes are going well and he is staying busy with his applied ministry work. Along with all of that Jon is also preparing his resume and before we know it we will begin the process of seeking the Lord's will for the next phase of our lives. It's thrilling to say the least. As I look to all of the changes ahead I am trying desperately to stay focused on growing and preparing for what is to come rather than get frustrated over what can easily feel like waiting.

During the past 6 months or so reading has become a new love for me. I have never been one to read much fiction, not that I don't enjoy a good story but mainly because factual accounts can be just as fascinating. So along those lines I have read numerous missionary biographies and felt that I have grown ten fold just by gleaning wisdom from such wonderful men and women of God. Recently I began reading Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. Each chapter focuses on the life of one women of faith (Sarah Edwards, Lilais Trotter, Esther Ahn Kim, Helen Roseveare). The current chapter I am on tells the story of Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China. Reading about these accounts have been more than encouraging to my faith and in a way I have felt a close kinship with these women (along with the likes of Elisabeth Elliot and Amy Charmichael). Despite the fact that many of them have long since departed this earth I am grateful for their wisdom and oddly enough can say that they have been a kind of mentor to me over the past months. Watching them sit at the feet of their Savior and live lives devoted to him whether by staying at home with their children or leaving all familiarity behind to travel to some far away country their stories point to the greatness of the God they serve. Like I said earlier, I am encouraged.

Coupled with my reading of numerous biographies I have continued reading through the Bible. I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier but I felt conviction a few months ago for never having read through the whole Bible so I found a Bible reading plan and by the grace of God I've been able to stick to it. There have been days I have struggled, seeing the plan more as a box to check off rather than time with God, but overall it has been a wonderful challenge. God is good.

Well I'm sure I could write more but I guess I'll wrap this up on a bit of a tangent. This morning when we were walking Paisley I about lost it when she obliviously walked directly into a tree. It was probably one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. To her credit there was a very intriguing little girl riding around in a pink jeep power wheel. I think Paisley was more than a bit distracted. Jon and I were deep in conversation and didn't even see Paisley heading straight for the tree until it was too late. Thankfully, she is fine.

More to come....hopefully.

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When ours are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable) "toward the goal of true maturity" (Rom 12:2). Elisabeth Elliot