Ladies Retreat

Hello. It is now Monday morning and I wanted to take some time and write you about my weekend. I was at a Ladies retreat from Friday - Sunday.  The meetings were held up at the school and the ladies all slept in the library. (When was the last time you camped out in a library? Ha ha.) Great fun!  There was a lady that came from Texas to speak and a church that sent little gifts, and candy for the ladies so we would feel pampered and special. I laughed a lot, and learned a lot. It was a beautiful time of connecting.

Our speaker talked about ways to measure your spiritual growth. These are some questions to ask:

Has my passion for learning about God grown in the last 6 months?

Am I less critical?

Am I able to hold my tongue?

Do I have more self-control?

Is my love more noticeable?

Am I having regular devotions?

Am I memorizing verses?

How hard is it for me to find peace?

Am I reaching out to others?

Am I thankful?

She defined growth as this: "When my desire to grow and get closer to God is greater than my desire to stay the same."

She also said, "God is much more interested in my character than my comfort."

I am so thankful that she was willing to come all this way for us!  What a blessing!  There were over 60 ladies there worshipping and ready to hear what God had to say. Thanks for praying. Here is a picture:

Growth!

Happy Spring to you!!!!  I have seen pictures of flowers coming up by you, green grass and piers going in the water. That means that you made it through another winter!!  Way to go!  It makes me cold just thinking about what you went through. Yikes!

We have greens growing all around us. I LOVE that in every direction I look I see signs of life. The Earth is so beautiful.  God is so very creative.  Physically I see such growth in my kids as well. I am officially the second shortest in my family; the shortest, Cale, only being 9 yrs. old!  Wyatt and Emma have been taller than me, and now Sophie has joined them.

We have been challenged a lot lately about our spiritual growth.  As much as I hate how fast Cale is growing, I am glad that he hasn’t been a baby for the last 9 years.  I love to see him change and watch his personality develop. As a Christian, we do not want to remain “babies”.  We need to grow in our relationship with God, we need to be stretched, our faith needs to be stronger. Think about where you were last spring. How much has your faith grown since then? If you can’t honestly see growth than something is very wrong.  Start pouring over the Scriptures. Take time every day to really talk to God. Listen to people when they point out areas to work on. Don’t let bitterness take root. Be joyful. Serve. Forgive and let go. Laugh. Treasure these moments. Life is SO much better when you are moving.  Put your hope in the SON, drink of His living water, and grow, grow, grow.

Love ya,

Rachel

Easter

Thursday

Hey you guys!  Hope you are well.  There is such excitement in the air here right now.  It is almost Easter Break and it is our basketball tournament.  We always host the tournament so all the teams come here. Because we have two gyms we are able to have three different games going on at the same time.  Our girls teams had two games on Saturday and won them both. The boys had one that they also won. Today the boys have two and the girls have one. There is a guy on a team that is taller than Garth!  You just don't see tall people here so this is crazy.

Easter break starts Thursday after school. The dorms will close and most of the kids will go to see their family.  They need this time with Mom and Dad to reconnect. And we need this time as a family to reconnect.  I am really looking forward to it.

This past weekend Garth and I were asked to speak at a Middle School Retreat. The theme was WHO AM I?  I love doing stuff like that!  There were around 30 kids from HIS and around 20 Indonesian kids.  We split the kids up and Garth took the boys and I took the girls.  I looked at what we think of ourselves compared to what God thinks of us.  Boy, if only we could truly grasp how precious we are to Him.  We are His treasured possession.  The Bible says that the King (God) is enthralled by our beauty.  He rejoices when He thinks of us. AND He thinks of us often. More often than there are grains of sand! 

Easter Sunday

Selamat Hari Paska!!!!!!  Happy Easter!!  What a fantastic day we had!  Sunrise service at 5:30 am followed by a church brunch and then another service at 9:30, a great family meal, reading of the resurrection story, haircuts, games, nap time (nice!), soccer, build your own nacho bar (yum-o), and a movie.  You know, NO ONE cares for you as much as God. NO ONE loves you as much as God. NO ONE will be there for you forever and ever like He will, and NO ONE will die a horrible death on the cross for you to give you a hope and a new life like HE did! HE DID IT!  For you. For me.  Thank Him. Bask in the peace of knowing you are dearly loved. God loves us as much as He loves Jesus. (John 17) That is amazing!!!!  It is a Happy Easter!  Because He lives-I have hope!