(from lower left) Kadyn, Ashlyn, Madysen, Courtney, Nathan, and Judah
Through many ups and downs and a roller coaster of emotions, I am overjoyed to say that my daughter and family, Courtney and Nathan Watkins, Ashlyn, Madysen, Kadyn, and Judah, will be arriving in Brussels in TWO days!!! Yes, Monday is the day! You can’t imagine how excited I am! They have been so obedient in following the word of the Lord in moving here. They will add to our team in an unbelievable way. I’m so excited to see what God is going to do here. And we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our other team members also, Allyster Taubeneck and Zach & Liz Lowrie. This missions base has been interceded for and talked about for years. It’s so great to see it actually happening!
Tomorrow we have a big event here at the ministry base, so we are hard at work all day today getting everything in order for the Watkins’ arrival on Monday. Bunk beds moved. Sheets and towels washed. Presents for the kids wrapped. (Yes, I said PRESENTS!) Rooms and closets cleaned. Ahh. This is FUN work! (more…)
Posted in Family on 25. Apr, 2010
This has been an unusually hard day for me emotionally. I woke up this morning thinking about my family back in the States. My oldest son is getting married in November. My middle son and daughter-in-love have a one-year-old bundle of preciousness that I haven’t seen in five months. The last time I hugged any of them was five months ago. You would think that I would be used to it by now, because we moved away from Texas a little over a year ago, but I’m not. I wish I could say it doesn’t bother me anymore, but the truth is I feel like I’m missing out on their lives in a major way. I’m missing the daily milestones of a granddaughter’s toddler-hood. I’m missing the ups and downs of my boys’ lives…the successes and the failures. I want to be there for both. We have always been a super close family, and being away from them is the hardest thing I’ve had to do. God has a purpose for our separation, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I won’t see the boys and families until October when we go back for Austin and Hannah’s wedding and Shady Grove’s Missions Conference.
Sons are special to a mom’s heart. There are no words to describe how special, and I don’t really want to go into it now, because I’ll burst into tears again! I will say that my sons, in their adulthood, have brought a comfort and security to me that is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. They light up the room when they walk in. They are funny and keep us all laughing. Their hunger for God creates hunger in me. The family just isn’t the same without them and we miss them. Oops. The tears are flowing again. Oh well….
Here are two pictures that Rachel Baker sent me of my boys leading worship last night for an event in the city: (more…)
Over the last couple of weeks I have been laboring over what the new name of this blog should be. Some people might be able to come up with fifty great titles in twenty-nine seconds, but it’s really hard for me. Obviously it can’t be My Falafel Times anymore, because Gary, Preston, and I left Israel two months ago and moved to Brussels, Belgium. God has opened up a whole new door of ministry, and we are so excited about it. Israel is still a central theme of my life, so you’ll still hear about the subject, but sadly enough I definitely don’t see many falafels in Belgium.
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We got word yesterday that everything is worked out on the lease of our new ministry base house in Waterloo, and we will get the keys Monday afternoon! This is such an answer to prayer! We have had our eyes on this house since last September, and God kept it vacant just for us. He knew we wouldn’t be able to move in until now, so he kept it empty and didn’t let anyone else rent it. His timing is SO perfect! I will post pictures after we get all our stuff moved in, but here are some “before” pictures.
Living/Dining Area
Kitchen with TWO dishwashers!
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Posted in Family on 12. Feb, 2010
Ok…everyone else is talking about the weather today, so I’ll show what it’s like here in Jerusalem. Last week we had something fall from the sky that was a cross between hail, snow and ice. It looked like little white styrofoam pellets. I had forgotten to get some towels off the drying rack on our upstairs balcony, and this is what it looked like. It makes me cold just to look at this picture!
Now the last few days have been a totally different story. Today it was sunny and 70 degrees. Absolutely perfect weather.
I really love the Israeli climate, because it is so much like the climate where I grew up in Texas. The only difference is that it’s incredibly dry and dusty. Just over the hills to the east of Jerusalem is the Judean desert. (I have to dust almost every day.) (more…)
