Today is Thursday

We had a yard sale last Friday and sold almost everything of what we own, at least all the big stuff. And lots of small random things. It's so hard whittling down your possessions to very little. Here is an idea of what we have right now. All of our possessions, including our boy's things, fit into a medium size bedroom. And basically it will all have to fit into 7 bags. Back in Oregon, we have about 6, 18 gallon rubbermaid totes that we left with Ryan's parent's but that is about it for our worldly goods. It's a good process to go through and to evaluate what is really important and what we need to let go of. It really makes you focus on eternity and realize that it's just stuff and we take it with us when we die. It reminds me of how important it is to store up treasure in heaven because that is what will ultimately last. So, the last thing here that we're waiting on the Lord to provide is a buyer for our van. We have a 1998 Toyota Sienna that we bought when we moved out here and we're praying for a buyer. We leave in 13 days, and it's really stretching our faith and trust in God as we look to him to bring a buyer along to take it off our hands.

Meeting new people

So, I had never heard of "Christafari" before our church began the process to put on this concert. But then again, there are lots of bands and groups I've never heard of. Apparently these guys are fairly well known. They've played for the president even, and groups up to 80,000. Wow. Anyways, it was fun being up close and personal with such a incredibly talented group and getting to know them a just a little tiny bit while they were here. We had a great time having them out.


Last Sunday our church hosted a Sunday service put on by a Christian reggae band called Christafari. (They put on a concert the night before). This is our family with lead singer Mark Mohr and his wife Avion(she is from Trinidad).
The girls of the group Jennifer and Avion fell in love with my boys!

ANyways, just wanted to share a few photos. It was really fun hosting a concert at our church, though so much work! It was awesome meeting this band, and just connecting with people from anther walk of life and hearing new music. It was a great time to be apart of before we leave here.

Today is Thursday

I'm tired. It's hard trying to fit your life into 6 pieces of luggage and a few carry ons. I might have said this before. I somehow had 7 pieces going for our luggage and realized my miscounting today and was a bit stressed about it (we can only take 6). I know it will all work out in the end, but it's hard. I really don't want to move again for a long time. At least not across an ocean. And our whole house is feeling kind of sick, sore throat, tired stuff. We hosted a Christafari (christian reggae) concert at our church this weekend and with all the activity and visiting with the band that's been traveling a ton, it's probably why we've got a little bug now. I didn't go to the concert but i heard it was awesome, but they played at our Sunday morning service so I got to see them there. It was really great.

New Hair

So, God is so sweet to me. I've been wanting to get my hair cut for the last year or so. A year ago I had pretty long hair, we moved out here it and it was so warm that within a month or so I had a friend cut off like 5 inches so it was up to my shoulders, then I layered my hair myself in the bathroom. It didn't look so great down, but it didn't matter since I just needed it to be lighter and I wore it up all the time. So than it grew and 6 months later I cut if off myself again in our bathroom. This time I did a pretty good job, considering it was me doing it. But I still wore it up all the time. Okay, so now I had been wanting to get it trimmed, thinned out and restyled by a professional and wanted to be able to wear it down without it looking like a homemade cut. So, I didn't even pray about it, but God provided me with a free haircut! About 2 weeks ago at church a dear lady walked up and told me she wanted to pay for me to get my hair cut. (She knew of my hair cutting endeavors). So she sent me to this awesome place that gave me a scalp massage beforehand, even rubbed my neck and shoulders too. I got a wonderful shampoo and was so incredibly relaxed by the time the hair cut started, I almost kept my eyes closed the entire time. That was a mistake. I feel that I have the worst --don't like the work luck, but what word should I use? I don't know, I'm tired so i'll just say luck, I have the worst luck with explaining to the hairdresser exactly what I want. Even when I bring in a photo it never turns out right. So, I did my best to explain my desire for my hair before I became relaxed and once again it didn't quite turn out right. So, I was blessed a free hair cut and a wonderful experience while I was there but it wasn't what I hoped. Basically it looked great at the shop, but after washing it the next day and realizing that the reason I liked it the day before was because of all the product(mouse and what not), and she spent so much time styling it. She actually cut my bangs too short and the length of my hair I would have like a bit shorter. So, I have short hair that is constantly falling in my face and I don't own a blow dryer, curling iron, or any hair spray. So the past few days I have been trying to figure out my new hair and how to make it work. I thought about going back and asking her to cut it shorter but than I don't think that I would like the rest shorter when the top is shorter than I would like. Ugh! Hair, gosh, the things that I get frustrated about are so minuscule. I'm learning things through them, though not sure what I'm learning with this yet. So, I've worn my hair the same for about 3 1/2 years now, so maybe getting what I didn't want will help me come up with a new hair style.

Priceless

We sure take for granted the weather here in Hawaii. My boys have been playing with the hose and in the kiddie pool for the past 2 months now(and i often forget it's only March, well April now). They have been having a blast. My youngest (19 months) loves putting his face in the hose, but funny thing is he still cries when water is poured over his head in the tub. My boys are full-blooded boys. They have so much energy. I am so thankful that they have a great dad who loves to play with them and works hard at training them. I don't feel that I have accomplished much in my life, but I can not imagine something more rewarding than being a mom. I am being so encouraged by the book I'm reading write now. "Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God." I highly recommend it.

Today I went through a bunch of stuff that we'll be selling in our garage sale. We're having one next week. Moses is really excited about it and kept talking about "garage sale" and when we went out to dinner tonight at a little Mexican restaurant he started crying because he wanted to go to the garage sale. So we had to explain to him the whole deal about our garage sale that we're having at our house next week and that tonight we were going to be eating dinner. It's hard when you're only 2 and time doesn't make a whole lot of sense, like "next weekend." Anyways, once we started talking about the chips and salsa and comforted him over his sorrow, he perked up and the tears went away. It was so sweet.

5 Moves

So, we're getting ready to move to Portland. I started sorting/packing ad just going through our stuff about 2-3 weeks ago and I have actually accomplished quite a bit. I am hoping that I will have everything done 1-2 weeks before we fly out just so that I don't feel stressed and we can just enjoy the last couple weeks we have here. Since we've only been here a year we haven't accumulated too much stuff and since we did the whole move across the ocean last year, selling all our big possessions is easier this time around. Moses is 2 1/2 so we had to buy him his own ticket but with that we can bring two more luggages. We are trying to fit all our stuff into 6 luggages! We will probably be mailing books back and just a few other items, but pretty much what can fit into our bags and weigh less than 50 pounds is what is coming back.
It's kind of strange good thing to sift through our stuff and decide what is really important and what is not. This will be our 5th move in 3 1/2 years of marriage. After this move I really hope that God has for us to settle and live somewhere for a few years. It would be nice to feel settled, but it's also been a good reminder that this world is not our home and we're just journeying through. But I would enjoy living simply in the same place for awhile.

My husband is so sweet. I've been wanting to read this book called,"Passionate Housewives Desperate for God." By Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald. And he got it for me for my birthday. I just started it, but when I get more into it I will write more about it.

My boys are so sweet! I would never have planned it on my own to have them 10 1/2 months apart but having them so close has been so wonderful. It was hard at times for sure in the beginning but as they've been getting older it's been so great having them so close. They love playing with each other and they miss each other when the other one is napping or something. The picture is of them asleep on the same bed one night. They sleep on two crib mattresses on the floor in our room and usually fall asleep on their own bed. But this night Elijah crawled into Moses' bed and they fell asleep like this. SO Precious!

Life Changes

I'm terrible at this blog thing. I mean it seems that it would be good to post at least once a week, but for some reason I just don't make the time for it. Life has been quite full--as usual. So much has transpired in the couple of months. To save myself time I am going to copy and paste a letter that we sent out to all our friends and family with an update on our family. So here it is:

We've been in Hawaii almost 1 full year now (we arrived here April 5th). As always God has been so faithful to us. We've been doing a lot of reflecting and sharing of memories, recalling what God has done in our lives and others this past year. We have gone through and lot and learned a lot and grown in different ways. So, with our 1 year of living here coming up so has the end of our lease for our house we've been renting. We've been renting a house with our friends, the pastor of our church, his wife and daughter this past year. As our lease is coming to an end soon we had been planning on renting another house with a college age girl in our church who also would be needing housing. (Our friends are pregnant with their second child and will be finding a house of their own). Anyway, about a month or so ago as we were looking for houses to rent here, but after a short while we really felt convicted that we needed to just seek the Lord and pray for his will for us. So, we began praying and just really seeking God and his will for our family. Initially we were just praying for God to provide a house for us here and for him to make it really clear which one it was. But the more we prayed and sought the Lord we began to sense a call elsewhere. Portland began to come up and God began showing us that our next step would be heading to Portland. So, through much prayer and discussion, seeking God for guidance and peace, we are confidant that God is calling us next to Portland. In the first sense we were saying "back to Portland," but we've come to realize that God is not calling us back, but calling us forward--to Portland. We honestly thought we'd be here for at least another year or two but we really have a peace that our time here is coming to a close.

It's rather bitter-sweet as we look forward to leaving this place that God has had us this last year. We've gone through a lot, and it's been really amazing to see all that God has done this past year. We're not certain of all the details yet about what we'll be doing in Portland, but we're certain that in time God will make his will known to us. We're continuing to just follow one step at a time. Our hope remains in the Lord, and even though the field that we labor in may change, the Rock that is our foundation will remain forever. Our purpose in Portland will remain the same as our purpose out here: that we would grow in love and grace as we become more like Christ, that He would be glorified through our lives and that many would come to know and treasure Him as Savior and Lord because of our light.


We would love prayer for continued increase in faith and trust in the Lord. God is always faithful, he has always taken care of us and provided for our needs, but oh how we struggle with doubt. But we're to believe and not doubt, so pray that we would not doubt.
Pray also for:
-Strength for the journey, for today and what lies ahead.
- Buyers for our possessions we'll be selling.
-Continued good health for the boys and Ryan and I too
-That we would be all here while we're here, for the remainder of our time
-God would provide for our needs now, and future needs:housing, car, job etc.

Love Candie, Ryan, Moses and Elijah

ps
we are moving back April 30th