Back in Blogging Business

Lately I seem to be starting each blog saying: "It's been awhile since I've written", and I'm realizing that keeping up with blogging is harder than I thought it would be. Ben and I have been keeping very busy with work, church, our home, and trying to have a social life. With all that going on it has been hard to sit down and truly reflect and write out what is going on in our lives. Probably like most people we take one day at a time and try to accomplish enough to make it through each week. The weeks have literally been flying by and we can hardly believe that we are at the beginning of April and close to embracing Spring (YEAH!!!). The Lord has truly been faithful in our lives and we are grateful for that. I will try and highlight what we have been doing in order to not write a complete novel that no one would want to read.

Back in January we finally had the opportunity to go back to the west coast to visit our families. We were gone for a total of 9 days and they were wonderful! We enjoyed the relaxation and rest as well as a good time with each of our families. In light of having 9 days of vacation, it never seems like enough time to see everyone that we would like to see. We had some very full days visiting with friends and family, but they were fun nontheless. A highlight from visiting my (Christina's) family in Washington was going to the skating rink and teaching my niece and nephew how to roller skate. They sure were troopers and quick learners. A highlight from visiting Ben's family was our bonfire/cookout that we had in the middle of the desert. It was so peaceful and serene. We got to watch the sunset, cook hotdogs and roast smores over the fire and sing worship songs as a family. Going to the west coast also allowed us to get away from the bitter cold and to defrost in the nice sunshine of California.

In February we expanded our family (I know what you are thinking, and no we did not have children, nor are we pregnant). Instead we purchased 2 kitties to add to the excitement of our life. We bought an all black cat and named him jet and we bought a white cat with patches of calico fur and named her patches. We are having such a great time having them around the house. The black cat, jet, especially has lots of energy and loves to explore everything. He never misses a thing and has to be around in all the action. The other day I was loading the dishwasher and turned around to find him sitting inside the dishwasher with the dirty dishes. He keeps us on our toes to say the least. Here are some starter pictures of them. I will post more as we get them.

March has led us into beginning to paint our home. We are taking it one room at a time, but are excited to get some color on the walls to spruce up the house. We are gathering that it will be a slow process for us, seeing as many other things keep us busy on a regular basis. Painting is fun for us and a relaxing thing to do together.

Church Ministry has been going really well. Ben continues to love his job and is doing a great job. He is in the middle of a very busy season right now. Our church has decided to go to two services instead of one service. One of our services will now be strictly in Chinese and the other service with be for our new English Ministry. We will go LIVE with this on April 19th. The church is both excited and nervous about this new development. For Ben this now means that the children's ministry on Sunday mornings is twice as long. He has come up with a plan and now he is working on recruiting man power for the job as well as developing the program for the entire morning. It is a huge endeavor for him, but the Lord has been faithful in leading him to just the right people to help serve the children. We also are continuing to enjoy building relationships with the people at the church and love serving alongside them.

That seems to highlight the past several months for us. I hope to be more regular with these blogs, but can't make any promises.

Empowered To Serve

Last night Ben and I attended our Young Adult Bible Study and it was really neat because we have been studying in the book of Acts. We chose to study this book because we will be starting up our new English Ministry in a couple of weeks and we thought it would be great to learn about the early church development and the characteristics of the early church. Last night we discussed in length what true fellowship is versus just hanging out and having a good time together and also about serving those in need who are around us. In regard to fellowship we decided that true fellowship happens when we bring the Lord into our times of fellowship. It can look different for every occasion, but if there is no spiritual component to our times of meeting than we are just hanging out with one another or partying ( much of what the world does). It seemed that we were challenged to try and go the extra mile when we are gathering in the future to really engage in conversation with each other to get to know each other and to grow spiritually with one another. It definitely takes extra effort, but is worth it when everyone is growing closer relationally and spiritually and we can encourage and sharpen one another.

We also discussed serving others whether they are from our church or neighborhood or from somewhere around the world. In Acts it talked about the people selling things that they had to give money to the leaders to distribute to those in need. What an incredible picture of sacrifice! They did not treat their posessions as their own, but the Lord's and wanted the Lord to do with it what was needed. What could that look like for us today? One question that I wrestled with was whether I give my best or my leftovers. Also, do I really put my heart into it in order to see what the Lord can do with what I give. Often times I give with a half heart for my own purposes, instead of with a full heart and for God's purposes. One barrier we did mention is that often times we are not made aware of the needs of those around us. Often times our hearts are ready to serve, but we just don't know where to offer our services. Helping each other is a two way street. We, as people, need to let down our pride to admit when we need help and there needs to be people willing to give and serve where needed. It was awesome to see the passion in the different individuals of our group to really make a difference in the lives of those around us as well as those around the world.

The work of the Holy Spirit is utterly amazing when we let go of our own agendas and really let the Lord work. I hope our group maintains this fervor for serving the needy around us. I can't wait for next time when we discuss our spiritual gifts and really determine how we can be at work for the Lord the way He gifted us.