You have mine

   Here are my hopes

   Here are my doubts

   Here are the things that I can't figure out

   Here are my storms, my crashing seas

   Here are the burdens that have brought me to my knees

   I will take You at Your unfailing Word

   More than all I want, I will seek You first

   I will bless Your name when the night is long
   God, you have my surrender

   Here are my prayers, my heart will wait
   I will bind my will so You can have Your way
   Here are the things I can't undo
   But I am nothing without You

   I will take You at Your unfailing Word
   More than all I want, I will seek you first
   I will bless Your name when the night is long
   God, You have my surrender

   I cast my cares...
   I cast my cares on You,
   You have my surrender


-----------------------------------------------------------

I can listen to Lauren Daigle sing that song all day long but
   today I couldn't sing along without tears.

I'm so tired, y'all.
Transition is hard.
I don't feel like fighting anymore.
I've been undetermined.
And I've said more than once, "I'm not satisfied."
Unpacking and repacking suitcases week after week tempts us to give up.
Our month has been so full.
The last 3 years have been full - following, questioning, hoping, doubting, lists of things we can't figure out, storms, crashing seas, and yes, burdens that have taken us to our knees.
We've prayed, we've waited, but you know what?  We've fought surrender a little bit, too.


Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines surrender like this:

: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed

: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else

: to allow something (such as a habit or desire) to influence or control you

It sounds like a negative word...like failure in a way.

We are tempted to think, "We have to ______ to make it.  We have to ______ to keep going.  We have to ______ to keep from completely falling apart."

But what we are finding to be true (again today) is that the greatest success is still in living surrendered.

"We are a family standing in the waiting room of Fully Known,

determined to exchange a foretaste

of what's to come."

(song lyrics above by Lauren Daigle @ Centric Worship Retreat--video here: https://youtu.be/9v2xNZ2RNFk)

Monday News

It is true that we are in fact on furlough in the great US of A because…well….God answered that prayer with a resounding, “yes, now is the time”, 

and well…

While we are stopping to revive for a bit, it is also true that we are still praying for funds for our own house because well…when 6 family members live in one room for an extended period of time...

 

Because who could argue...

(heeheeee)

Yeh.....so while we are enjoying family time and taking a break from our work in Haiti, we are happy to announce that we have custom made "Circling Haiti" leather bracelets for sale - made by our friends @ Haiti Design Co-op.

2 styles are available...

--Singles for $15 each in black or brown--

or

 --Wraps for $18 each in black or brown--

(Both are adjustable!)

If you'd like to place an order, please send an email to: CirclingHaiti@gmail.com. 

By doing so, you are not only contributing to our family fundraising efforts but also to the talented artisans in Haiti.  

Thank you!

(all animal photos and quotes from The Book for People Who Do Too Much 

by Bradley Trevor Greive)

Present

God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along.
If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter.
He does our praying in us and for us,
   making prayer out of our wordless sighs,
     our aching groans.
He knows us far better than we know ourselves...
   and keeps us present before God.  ~ Romans 8:26-27

Keeps us present...

Though elated over the obvious lately, there have been a few moments when I've felt less than present.

In the midst of preparing (whatever that means) for our current transition, I flew to the States for my dad's surgery and then flew back to Haiti to pack to leave 10 days later. While doing life with 34 guests, we tried to tie up lose ends while 'passing the baton' to our friend, Matt, at the Guesthouse and kissed friends, saying 'see-you-later', aiming for upcoming (please, say it's so, dear God) rest.

We flew in around midnight last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and met family and friends at the airport.  We grabbed midnight breakfast before riding over an hour and arrived at my parents around 3:30am where we. literally. passed. out.  (So grateful for our trusty driver, Wayne Flurry!!)

We played and visited for a few days and then took our first official family road trip to visit with more family. 2 kiddos left for camp on Sunday and the other 2 have been swimming, fishing, baseball-ing, movie-watching and game playing.

As things begin to slow down we (older, tired people) are starting to catch our breath.

     What a comfort to know that even when we're wordless or groaning,
            He keeps us present.

Let us become more aware of YOUR presence
Let us experience the glory of YOUR goodness
In the present.  
Amen.

In America!

This happened one week ago...

Cabila made it to America...

...and this amazing crew was at the airport to greet us!

We've kept a pretty steady pace since arriving...  

...but we're enjoying a little bit of 'down' time, too.

(even Emily took some time out for rest!)

The boys camped out and fished a little at Mammaw and Jolly's.. 

Kinley lost her 2nd tooth after our 1st road trip and she and Kylie got new jammies from Aunt Cameron!

Caleb and Kylie received scholarship money so they could attend their favorite camp...

...God is SO good!

But before leaving for camp, Caleb made sure his dad woke up to breakfast in bed (since it was his birthday)!

We sang 'happy birthday' that night and helped devour some scrumptous brownies and ice cream, too! 

We are enjoying the updates from www.campoftherisingson.zenfolio.com while Caleb and Kylie are away!

I think it goes without saying that they are having a super time thanks to the amazing people at Camp of the Rising Son!

Kinley misses them both but she's loving a taste of the farm life with our Murphys.  

Cabila learned how a drive-thru operates while tagging along with his cousin to Chick-fil-a and he helped at the grocery store, too!  He's currently taking in a little baseball...

  

"Enjoy the little things in life...for one day you'll look back 

and realize they were the big things."

~Robert Brault