5 years and a Sabbatical

Since we last posted, our family has doubled in size. It's hard to believe that God has blessed us with such great kids and it's also hard to imagine that we've been in Basque Country for over 5 years! This wonderful place truly is 'home' to us, but we sure did enjoy our time with our fellow brothers and sisters in Truckee, CA over the past few weeks. Sierra Bible Church kindly hosted us and welcomed us with open arms as we took a 7 week break from 'normal life' to refresh and get recharged. What a great time! We miss them already but are excited to be back home and see old friends and continue to work hard in the life God has laid out before us. Keep praying for us and let us know if you'd like to get our bi-monthly newsletters that give more information about how to pray and what we're up to!

something special

good morning! while i don't have any pictures for you today, i do want to share something with you all that lifted my spirits and was a much needed reminder for me - hopefully i am the only one who has lost sight of this, thought i doubt it. i hope that as you read this, you would look at it with fresh eyes and would allow the Spirit to speak to your heart:

Paul writes to the Body in Ephesus (and to us):

I pray that out of [the Father's] glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being...

why? so that we have a good day? so that we have the patience to wait for what we've asked the Father to do for us? nope.

... so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

He wants us to get our mind around how big His love is! not only that, but He wants us to know that which surpasses knowledge! do you know how much we would be changed if we could grasp and know this immense love?? can you imagine what it would be like to be filled to the full with the fullness of God???

Now...

are you ready for this?? now...

... to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...

hopefully you are unlike me. at first all i could think of was a bunch of circumstantial things - sure, they are important, but... in the end, they are just here and now things that don't have much eternal significance. God, in his grace, pointed this out to me - though it is still hard to see past what's right in front of my face which is often times so distracting!

... according to his power that is at work within us (not our own!), to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

this reminded me of a song that i really miss singing:

To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great things he hath done!

He has done great things. please pray that He continues to do great things - especially here in Basque Country. i'm sorry i don't have any profound take-away points for you, but i'm sure the Spirit is up for doing His job and can do that for you! until next time!

guess who had a birthday?

 JONNY DID!! and we celebrated with style. we had lots of people over to the local and had a great dinner together.


after all the feasting and the cake, we played games till one-by-one, they all went home. it was such a fun night.

i'm so glad jonny had a birthday. i'm sure if it was up to him, he'd have another one very soon.

A Facelift for the Kitchen

We have been meaning to put in a backsplash for our kitchen since we put it in last fall. We've been looking and looking for tiles that we both like and fit in our budget, but time and time again, we failed to come to a consensus. So, many months later we decided to be creative, unique, and a little unorthodox. Four days later, this is what we came up with. We hope you enjoy our crazy creativity!!  

I haven't taken the time to take pictures of the completed project, but I will soon and when I do, I'll let you know!

Cooking Classes!

i am FINALLY bringing you a visual! here are some pics from our past two cooking classes. and yes, they were as fun as they looked! we can't wait for the next one!

my newest creation

yes, here we go again. more felt!!!! this scarf is for a friend of mine who is visiting Basque Country at the moment. i have NO idea whether or not she will like it, but i sure do, so i'll be glad to keep it if it's not her favorite!

these are ropes of wool fibre that will lay on top of the the scarf 

the finished ropes. these will be laced through the loops i put on the 

the black base accented with an orangy-red 

the finished product 

i know, a little funky, but i love the colors and the textures!

for those of you who are not that interested in felt, have patience!!! soon and very soon i will have the pictures ready from our first cooking class! we had it this past saturday and it was so much fun. we are really looking forward to many more saturdays of cooking!!!!

crafting

this has nothing to do with ministry, but i thought you'd like to see one of my latest hobbies. my wonderful aunt who lives in ireland is amazing with all things textile - especially with felt. in fact, she has a really cool blog that blows my mind every time i go and see what she's up to. so, compared to her, i'm definitely a fibre amateur, but oh well. i really enjoy making felt and creating new things.   

this year for christmas i made several family presents out of felt - which i FAILED to take pictures of. i've also made a couple presents for friends and students that have also gone undocumented. however. the last little project i completed, i actually remembered to take a couple pictures of before i gave them away! amazing, i know!   

to the right you can see a pair of booties i recently made for a good friend of mine - well, for her baby, that is. i used a white wool/silk blend, a variegated orange wool/silk blend, and then finished it off with some pretty silk thrower's waste and sari silk. i really liked how they came out and now that i've seen them on her, i know how to edit my pattern for the future! 

i have recently discovered a really good fibre distributor out of germany, and i am really, really looking forward to the day i can place my order and get some more yummy fibre to play with! until then, i'll just have to be happy with what i have - which, in reality, is more than enough! it's just hard to remember that when there is so much stuff to drool over!