Happy Birthday Kylee

Today our sweet girl turns 4....I can't believe I just typed those words! It seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the NICU completely unaware of what would come. God has blessed us with the greatest gift we could have ever received, and we are so thankful. It is so hard to believe what an amazing young lady she is turning into, our tiny baby is growing right before our eyes. I was just telling a friend of mine (who welcomed a new daughter into the world) a few days ago that daughters are such a joy, Kylee brings joy to our lives in so many ways. I honestly cannot imagine our lives without our girl, and I am so glad that I don't have to know what that life would be like.

So......
To my angel,

Happy birthday my sweet sweet baby! You are and will always be my little girl. Thank you for all you have taught me, I owe you so much! You have made me a mother, you showed me love that people dream of, you showed me that a smile can fix any problem in the world, and you have shown me what true faith and trust really are. I am so, so proud of you, you have already done so much in your four years! I know that anything you choose to do you will succeed at, and I know one day you will be an amazing dolphin trainer (if you still like that when you grow up)! I love you more than all the sand on the beach, stars in the sky, and dolphins in the ocean!

Love
Mommy

"Mommy are we selling this? Or taking it with us?"

I have said many times before that God knew what He was doing when He gave us Kylee. She is our perfect angel, she is kind, loving, caring, and loves God with all her little heart. It takes a very special person to be able to travel and adjust to new cultures and Kylee is one of those people. She really does love the adventure of going some place new and meeting new people(she is her poppy at heart). So naturally when we started talking to her about moving to Mexico she was excited! She loves Mexico and enjoys speaking Spanish a lot.

We were at the Mexican embassy the other day getting some info and it was me, dad, and Kylee, let me just set the scene for you.........you walk through a door into a medal detector and then to a desk where two "security" guards tell you to sign in (which we still have no clue what we were signing in for because the guard spoke less English than I do Spanish). You then make your way into a large room with tons (at least 50) people sitting in chairs none of which spoke English. So we go and take a seat (again not sure of what we are waiting on) and about 15 min later a man comes in the room and says something in Spanish really fast (I caught good afternoon and visas), by this time I was pretty sure we were being deported but we just sat there. Soon people started getting up and going to a window to talk to a cashier and I thought how do they know when it was their turn? Just as I was about to go see if maybe it was our turn at the window a man came in and asked how he could help us....saved by the gentlemen who spoke English! Now you might be wondering what any of that story has to do with Kylee, well the entire hour that we were there she used EVERY Spanish word she knew (even if it was in the wrong context). She loves people so much, she wants to talk and interact with everyone she meets no matter the language barrier, age difference, or cultural differences. Those are the exact qualities a missionary needs!

God instilled in her so many characteristics that would be such great assets in her life, even little things like being willing to try new foods, that's not something your average 3 year old does. She also "almost" never complains, when we travel and are in a car or plane for long periods of time she just goes with the flow and is very content. But I think my favorite trait of hers is her encouragement. She can lift a spirit so quickly! She is always smiling and knows the perfect thing to say, she loves to tell you how great you're doing and ask how she can help. I love to listen to her tell people what we do, it usually goes something like this: "we do mission work and my poppy rescues kids, we travel a lot I've been to Trinidad, Costa Rica, and Mexico....And we are moving to Mexico" then people look to me to tell them the truth (because they assume this big tale she told must be a lie). My favorite is when she says "we do mission work and I'm the helper!". She is so excited to serve God, and I am beyond thankful that I get to serve Him beside her! Love you KyKy!

Love always
One very proud mama

"Here I am, Lord send me"

Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

Isaiah 6:8
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"


I have been thinking a lot about these two Scriptures lately, and how to apply them to my life. Faith is an amazing thing! We all strive to have it, but won't give ourselves to it. It seems like we are always saying "oh, just have faith" but do we really understand what faith is? Hebrews chapter 11 explains clearly what TRUE faith is. I cannot imagine standing at an altar getting ready to sacrifice my child as Abraham did. Or taking on the huge task of building an ark because God said He was going to flood the earth.

Then I think about the second verse, how many times have I been unwilling to be sent? How many times have I said "send me" but my actions showed otherwise? I truly want to be used by Christ and to Glorify Him, I want my family to be a tool that He takes and does amazing things with. God has blessed me with so many opportunities to serve Him, He has allowed my child to learn things that I could only pray she would learn (but that's or another time). Every time that I stubbornly submit to His plan He blesses my life and shows me how awesome the plan is,then I think "wow I should've done this in the first place". How many times will it take of me bucking His plan to realize that God is ALWAYS right?

As my family prepares to set out to serve God in this new area of Mexico and Belize my prayer is that we will have faith that God will provide and take care of us like only He can, and that we will have the kind of conviction that makes us move mountains so that nothing stands between us and spreading the gospel. I pray that anytime God asks "whom shall I send?" That we as a family will quickly respond "send us".

Love Always
Jordan


Here I am by: downhere

Sometimes your calling, comes in dreams
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze,
You reach for the deepest hope in me,
And call out for the things of eternity.

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say,

[Chorus:]
Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.

And these broken parts you redeem
Become the song, that I can sing

Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

Here I am, Lord send me,
I wanna live my life as an offering
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is part of your plan,
Here I am

Here I am, all my life an offering to you, to you
Somehow my story, Is a part of your plan,
Here I am

This blog thing.

So, I was thinking that I might try this blogging thing out. I think so often people don't understand the life that my family lives, they think its unusual. See here is the thing I personally have been on the mission field since I was 3 years old, my family has devoted our lives to doing mission work. I could not be more thankful that I had the opportunity to grow up in that environment and that I now can raise my daughter the same way! So you see to us it is anything but unusual, in fact it's completely normal. So many of my friends and family ask "what are you up to next?" So this seemed likes cool way to share with everyone what's going on :)

Now, why la Vida loca? Well, though it is normal to us our life is still in fact crazy, a whirlwind even, full of excitement! Also as some of you already know we are starting a work in Mexico and Belize so the Spanish flare seemed fitting. We are having so much fun learning Spanish as we prepare for this new work. Kylee gets so into it that she will bust out a Spanish word mid sentence (which is extremely confusing).

I promise I will try to post (kinda) often and keep you all up to date!
Hasta Luego! See you soon!

Jordan