Summer time fun

I'm trying to spend a little less time and mental energy on social media platforms, so here are a few little snapshots of some of our daily-life moments:

There is a lot of enthusiastic displays of affection between these two - full body hugging (from Mara), head slapping (from Jemma) - and LOADS of giggles and joint screeching.  We really love having these two little people live in our home with us!

Tomatoes reach a high price of $13.00/kg in August, so I am rejoicing in the abundance of recipes I can make with fresh tomatoes while they are in season!  I also have six tomato plants that are starting to produce tomatoes, so I might need to figure out a way to preserve them... canning pasta sauce or dehydrating them or something!

On Christmas Eve we reached the 9 month mark of Jem being OUT of the womb! It's always surreal to think about how much life has changed since the "due date" photo on the left.

Mara and her Abba are always coming up with fun, unique ways to play together.  Sometimes I'm not sure which is enjoying an activity more - it's such a blessing to see the people I love the most loving each other so well!

 

Stone Fruit Season Returns

 

It is stone-fruit season again!!

Jemma is loving plums, Mara is crazy about avocados, and I don't think I'd ever get tired of the flavour of fresh nectarines! Summertime at its finest ;)

Heads or Tails: A fun story of hearing God and detail management

Last week we took a call from a missionary family working on building their support team that asked us if we'd consider being a part of their monthly support.  We love what they're doing and catching up with our friend, and promised to pray about whether God would lead us to start supporting them.

Yesterday Gabe and I sat down for our weekly "detail day" prayer time - a time when we try to just make a space to listen to God together about whatever he wants to talk about, but specifically anything we've put on our list of things we need to hear God about for direction.

When we got to asking about supporting this family, I was curious to see what God would say.

We set aside a percentage of every dollar we receive to go into an account we've labeled our "Missionary Support Fund."  We use that money to support missionaries each month - some of whom we've been in relationship with for years.  It's always been awesome to see how God provides what we need and, in turn, for others through that fund.

Currently, we spend every cent of what we put in to that fund each month, plus a little bit more fulfilling our commitments of support.  From a logical standpoint, it would seem like we don't have the money to take on another missionary, but Gabe and I wanted to make sure we were hearing God on that issue and not making a decision based on our own logic.

So, we prayed.

Gabe felt like the Lord impressed on him the verse in Isaiah (chapter 54) about the barren woman enlarging her tent pegs - basically, before something has come to pass, acting in obedience to what God has told you.

I felt like the Lord gave me a verse from Joshua 18 about casting lots for answers.

We shared back with each other about what we felt God was saying and decided we'd flip a coin for confirmation, but we were pretty sure God was leading us to start supporting this family.  So we grabbed a gold coin like the one pictured above, and decided heads was a yes, tails was a no, and we flipped it:

Heads.

So then we prayed about how much to support them each month (one of the things we've learned about hearing God and following his direction is to definitely pray about the details and not just run ahead with our own opinions!).  I felt like God gave me a certain number in USD.  Gabe also got a number, but he felt like it was in NZD.  We plugged the amount in NZD into our handy google converter, and the equivalent in USD was the same as the amount in NZD.

I fired off an email letting the family know we would start supporting them for the amount we felt God specified.

And then I told Gabe, "I guess we need to pray to ask God for more money so we can fulfill this support each month!"  So while I was getting porridge for Mara and Gabe was cleaning up breakfast prep, I just simply said aloud, "OK, Father - can you give us more money so we can give more away?"

I checked my email a few minutes later, and last Friday I'd had an email come in from our friend Carrie - currently one of our monthly supporters - that I'd briefly seen was in the inbox, but I hadn't taken time to look at it in detail.  When I opened it up and read through it, she was writing to ask for information on how she could submit our ministry work to the company she works for to see if she could get her monthly gift matched by her company.  Whoa!  That's cool!!

I told Gabe and we were both encouraged that God was, indeed, speaking to us when we'd prayed and that he was going to take care of the details.

Then this morning, I opened up my FB messenger app and I had received a message from a student that was a part of our DTS a few months ago who, himself, has been doing missions work, and he asked if we had a PayPal account because he'd like to send us a financial gift.

WHOA!!! That's COOL!!

I told Gabe and we were even MORE encouraged!!

Sometimes I have moments of looking at myself and our life, almost from a distance or an alternative perspective, and I think, "Are we crazy?  Like, this is really an odd way of living life, making decisions, and just being.  I mean, this is not a normal way of life - our priorities, our finances, our decisions about where we live, what we live without, everything is just a little bit odd."

But then I have these kinds of moments - where Gabe and I together get to experience and interact with the Creator of the Universe who loves us and cares for us and is more conscientious of detail-management and working behind the scenes than I could ever be, and I'm just so, so thankful that our life - the one life we get to spend - is laced with these kinds of stories and adventures.

The Pace of the Children

Today I went on a walk with Mara.  While Mara and I were out wandering, I was reminded of a phrase from Genesis that someone or something pointed out to me a few months ago.  When Jacob and Esau finally meet after Jacob has returned from living with Laban, Esau says in Genesis 33:12, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you."

Jacob politely declines this offer by reminding Esau of the needs of his flocks of animals and his children - the nursing cows and ewes with their young can't go at the pace of 400 men of battle, and neither can his children.  Jacob says, "Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me, and at the pace of the children."

I used to walk quickly - it was sometimes a point of contention in my marriage when Gabe and I would decide to go for a walk, and Gabe would want to go for a leisurely stroll while I was anticipating an exercise walk (we learned we had to define what type of walk we were inviting the other person to go on with us).

A funny thing happened when our child became a toddler that likes to express her independence through walk on her own two feet, though: I don't often choose the pace of my walking.  Now my pace (typically) caters to my child.  Sometimes this is fast - as we know, toddlers can move quickly! - but more often, it is much, much, much slower than I would naturally prefer, with a lot of stops and starts.  Exercise walking? Not any more! We do the toddler stroll - her legs are about 1/3 my length, so we cover 1/3 the ground at about 1/3 the pace I would normally cover!

Today Mara went up and down the same flight of stairs about four times so she could hold the railing and jump off the last step.  While we were exploring a field, she stopped to squat down and pick daisies - multiple times.  She offered each one to me to hold, and I had dozens of them in my hand before we climbed the hill out of the field.  When we were walking past the playground, she wanted to stop and observe all the different equipment that was available and point at them and comment to me about them.  And going around a flowerbed with roses without delaying for 20 minutes - and likely picking the rose bushes bare - required some significant coaxing ("Come on, Mara - let's see if we can find a trampoline!").

I've learned I can respond to this new pace in life in one of two ways: 

I can be irritated and cajole, demand, shame, get frustrated, or just pick up and carry a toddler (sometimes kicking and screaming) at my preferred, rapid pace; or I can slow down and choose to enjoy the process.  

Today - with that phrase from Genesis rolling over in my mind and the sweet blessing of nothing pressing on my mental agenda for the afternoon - I admired the vibrant colors of the carpet of mini daisies, the white and yellow flowers against the backdrop of a field of green, while we walked.  I was amazed at the fact that my little girl is brave enough to jump (and get air!) off not just the bottom step of a flight of stairs, but the bottom two steps!  I looked into Mara's earnest little brown eyes as she handed me a handful of rose petals plucked from a wilting rose bush and saw the shine of pride and pleasure as I thanked her sincerely for her fragrant offering to me.  I noticed how tall she's getting, and yet how small she still is, how her hair is long enough to curl on her head and glow golden in the sunlight, how her little knees have dimples on them (she has sturdy legs - like her mother always has had!), and how cute her white shoes are strapped onto the wrong feet, because she got her shoes on herself.  

I enjoyed chatting with her, observing her interact with the world around her and learning about how she interprets it and what she finds interesting, and taking time to mentally catalogue and treasure this moments and images.

Because here's what I'm thinking: maybe if I proceed through life at the pace of my child, although the time still goes quickly and these moments feel so fleeting at the end of the day as I watch her sleep peacefully in her crib and as I look back at her rapid growth and development in my phone's photos, at least I won't reflect back on these days with her with regret that I was rushing.  I'll look back on these days, these weeks, these years knowing that I didn't do everything correctly, but I did try to be tender with my little girl, I didn't push her too fast, and I fulfilled (at least in part) my responsibility to take care of her.

As Jacob models, it's Biblical to adjust your pace in life to your child's pace in order to nurture them!  And as Mara says to me, "I go wis Mama. I want to be wis Mama," Lord, help me remember that it is truly a privilege to walk in step with this sweet blessing in my life - no matter how many stops and starts we make in on the journey, because that's a reflection of how you travel with me!

Mara - 15 months

I rarely pull out my "big" camera to take photos for everyday use (my iPhone is so much easier!), but I try to do a little mini session with Samara every 3 months so I have professional quality photos to look back on of her.

Gabe and I took her over to the base on a Sunday afternoon recently to get some pictures for her 15 month developmental stage documentation. Here are a few of my favorites:

New Zealand - A Kiwi Wedding

This past weekend, I (Dani) was able to photograph a wedding for one of our co-YWAM-ers from our base.  Rebecca helps coordinate the School of Primary Healthcare every year, and during the time she isn't helping coordinate the SPHC, she is a huge help in the admin department with developing systems and ensuring we are following New Zealand privacy policies.

She's been a sounding board for me in my new role in H.R., and I've appreciated having some great, thought-provoking conversations with her over the time that we've been here at the base together.

Rebecca married a lovely guy named Gareth.  They've been dating for about 2 years now, and although Gareth isn't a part of the Marine Reach volunteer squad, he's made an effort to come to base functions and get to know people on base a bit.  Gabe and I have both enjoyed over-dinner talks with Gareth when he's around, and we think they're a couple that really brings out the best in each other.

The wedding took place at a local wedding venue - Eagle Ridge Lodge - and it was a stunning setting for a sweet, sincere celebration. Bec and Gareth were both delightful to work with, and it was a privilege for me to get to photograph my first international wedding and have it be a blessing for them.

Here's some of my favorite photos from the day:

Q&A: The Second 5 Cards (John, Andy, anonymous, Kimberly, anonymous)

#1: How many kids do you want? - John D.
Great question! If they're all like Samara, we'll take a dozen :)


#2: What is the main source of food you enjoy from New Zealand? - Andy W.
Where we live in New Zealand is about Latitude 37 S.  That's comparable to Santa Cruz, California, and Sicily, Italy, in the northern hemisphere.  I think my favorite foods right now are the fruits - it is the middle of summer, so we have two plum trees in our backyard that have been producing a delicious and abundant harvest.  I also went blueberry picking last week, and we have nectarines that are just on point.  In August and September, we have citrus fruit at the base, in June and July, the kiwi fruit start to find their way to the table. Also, there's a fejoia tree on the base, and a passionfruit orchard near the base, and we have an avocado orchard as well at the base - so there are a lot of really good produce!

New Zealand is known for lamb and dairy - personally, I'm not a huge fan of either, but apparently we have really good quality of both of those!


#3: How did you know God called you to New Zealand? What should I look for to know God's call on my life? - anonymous

Oh, this is gonna get long!

For us, the journey to living in New Zealand has been a long process.  I'd say God has had us both on this road, and in hindsight, we see a lot of little indicators that got us here, but 10 years ago, I never would have said I'd like to be living in New Zealand at this point!  I'll outline a couple, but know that this is just a faction of the process:

1 - both Gabe and I wanted to be involved in missions for a long time.  I first realized, "I don't know if the USA is where I'll live my whole life" when I was in middle school.  As I got older, that conviction grew until I knew that I would feel like I'd compromised something if I just settled into a life long term in the USA.  That directed a lot of my decisions - what to study in school, who I would or wouldn't date, what I did with my spare money, etc.  For Gabe, I think the story was a little different, but it was during his first DTS that he knew he wanted to be completely surrendered to the Lord for his future.

2 - we met each other, and as our relationship grew, so did the idea of living overseas as missionaries - since now we had each other to pursue that dream with.

3 - we quit our jobs in the US, sold our stuff, and moved to Thailand as the first stage in a vision trip/discovery journey of what we wanted to pursue in missions.

4 - we were interested in doing something medical to try it on for size and see if that was a passion of ours, and since neither of us had extensive medical experience, we needed something that was entry-level friendly, AND we wanted to do a DTS, so we searched medical DTS and the New Zealand base where we are currently came up on google.

5 - we emailed the base, and they responded to our specific questions very quickly and thoroughly. The other three YWAM bases we emailed either didn't respond or it took them a very long time.  We appreciate efficiency, so that was an initial green light.

6 - once we were on our way to the DTS, we almost left and went home without completing the DTS.  We felt like the Lord had begun to give some direction for the long term, and we weren't sure doing a DTS was the best use of our time and savings.  Then, on the first day of DTS, our base director gave a message to the students where he shared he felt some of the students were living out of their own wisdom and pride, and it was time to submit and surrender to the Lord.  We were both very convicted by that, as we realized that although we wanted to do missions, we were trying to do it OUR way.  So we repented and stayed.

7 - After the week that focused on the subject of Hearing God's Voice (i.e.: "Tuning in to Radio Jesus" as we've since heard it called), we discussed how we wanted our marriage and our life to be something that we invited God to have an active part in directing and guiding.  We began doing something that we try to do even now, which we call a "Detail Day."  It's named because of one of the principles we learned during Hearing God's Voice week, which is that sometimes we ask God for direction, and he gives it to us, but we don't stick around long enough and/or ask him for the DETAILS of how to carry out those directions - we just rush ahead with the directions.  It's like having someone come up to you and say, "Can you bake a chocolate cake -" And you jump in and say, "Yes!  I'll get right on it!" and you run off, run to the store for ingredients, come home, start making it, and whip up the chocolate cake, take it to the person who asked and say, "Here's your chocolate cake!" and they say, "Thank you, but you left so soon, I didn't have time to tell you, I was wanting to know if you can bake a chocolate cake for my son's birthday party next month - I need it to be gluten free, egg free, and dairy free." Basically, we realized we didn't want to be rushing out on God when he was half way through a sentence.  We want to hear all the details he wants to give us about how to live our lives.  So once a week (or so), rather than doing a normal, individual quiet time, we sit down together and ask God to speak to us about the details of our lives."

8 - During the detail days, the Lord began to speak to us about the future - asking what we wanted, what would be our dream.  Neither of us felt like New Zealand long term had been on our radar, but both of us LOVE New Zealand - there's just something that feels so "home" like about it.  So we each, individually, began sharing with the Lord that we liked New Zealand, and we would love to stay longer, but we didn't want to stay if that wasn't what he wanted.

9 - Also during the detail days, and while we were talking, we began to realize that we want to be equipped to disciple people as we do missions, and we didn't honestly feel like we really knew how to do that.

10 - Our base director asked us if we'd consider coming back on staff for a year, starting in January.  We had already been processing how we wanted to go back to the USA for a season since it had been a long time, so as we prayed, neither of us felt like the very next school was right for us, but both of us felt like it was OK to consider coming back and to take the invitation as an opportunity from the Lord to gain more and give more to discipleship in New Zealand.  We also knew that the Lord had been challenging us to begin a family, and so we asked if the base would still be welcoming of us if we were to get pregnant.  Our base director gave an affirmative answer for that, so we felt like this could be a place for us even as our family grew.

11 - We were sort of just waiting for the Lord to speak more clearly and give us the details for if we were to come back, and then we had a day where there was a lot of prayer time, but not a lot of lectures.  I had my bible and my notebook, and I asked the Lord if he wanted to speak anything to me.  I felt like he directed me to a chapter in Deuteronomy, and I got the sense that it had to do with our future and the question of coming back to DTS.  As I read it, there was a lot of numbers, and I was at first skimming over them, but there didn't seem to be anything else in the chapter.  So I asked the Lord, "I don't get it, what does this mean?" and I felt like he said, "Go back and read it again."  So I did, and then I was just distracted by the numbers, and I was like, "Lord, I really don't get this." And he said, "What do you notice?" And I said, "Uh, the numbers." And he said, "So, pay attention to them."  The numbers were describing the perimeter of the tabernacle, and I started adding them up.  If each unit was one day, the total number of units described came to equal one year and five months. I felt like the Lord said, "Commit to coming back to staff for 3 schools - one year and five months - and during that time, I'll develop in you and Gabe and your marriage the ability to carry my presence like the tabernacle represented my presence." So that's what we did!

Then we had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get our 2 year work visa, and all of that came through, and we were able to work and build support while we were at home for those 6 months to fund our life for the 3 school, so we just kept walking through the doors as they seemed to open.

So, that's our story - but what to look for as far as knowing God's call on your life, that's a broad question - but I think a couple things come to mind:

1 - God might direct you totally differently than he directed us.  Each of us is unique, and I think his heart is for relationship, and just like I don't have the exact same relationship with any two people, neither, I think, does God have the exact same relationship with any of us.

2 - I think sometimes we can get caught up in trying to figure out a long-term "target" so to speak of what to aim toward to please God, but I think actually he's a lot more about the process of getting to a destination than we are.  Basically, I'm really not sure what God's "Call" on my life is - I know that he has given me a husband and a daughter, and that's one of the areas of investment he wants me to make.  I know he's given us the opportunity to live here in New Zealand and work with an organization that disciples young people - so I want to be ready to invest in this place and these people with the talents and giftings I have.  I know he's invited me in to relationship with him, and I'm trying to be more intentional and grow in how I can steward that relationship and invest him and do things to please him.  Beyond that, I have no idea what my life will look like in 20 years, or 10 years, or even 5 years.  But I know I want to be faithful today with the things he's put in front of me.

So 3 - I'd say maybe try to equalize the amount of time you spend thinking about and investing heart energy into figuring out what God's "Call" on your life is, and balance that with getting to know God and invest in a friendship with him.  And see if he doesn't start giving you specific details about the direction he wants your life to take.


#4: What is your most embarrassing moment while in New Zealand? - Kimberly M.

I tend to block out embarrassing moments from my memory, so I'm struggling to think of something off hand, but I can share about a funny moment:

When Mara was born, we were about to start staffing our second DTS.  I didn't really think anything of it, since the school started when she was 7 days old, I just began to take her to our morning staff meeting (the DTS staff met from 8-8:30 every morning) and everyone got used to having her around. For awhile, when she was about 2-3 months old, she would consistently poop (loudly) after her morning feeding.  I'd usually either nurse her just before we went to staff meeting, or - more often than not - I'd use the staff meeting time to get her breakfast into her.

One day, our DTS director was talking about the schedule for that week, and mentioned someone was coming in to do a guest speaking session one evening.  Well, Mara had just finished eating, burping, and just as he shared the guy's name, she squirmed and let out a massive rumble down in the engine room!  Our friend Adam was sitting next to me, and he blurted out, "Oh, wow!" And our DTS director was like, "Oh, do you know of him?"  And Adam responded, "No, I don't, but the baby just pushed out a major poo!"


#5: Do you like kiwi? - anonymous

Yes!  We LOVE kiwi fruit - especially the golden kiwis.  They aren't as common outside of New Zealand, but if you get a chance to have one, definitely do it.  They're sweeter and their skin isn't fuzzy.