Dental update! I'm back in IL with the dentist again. We put in the new crowns this afternoon and everything looks like it's working! PTL! You can pray for us as make the final adjustments tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.

House update! I got a phone call from AJ and Sar this morning. We have a house! They have the keys in hand, had a cleaning part today, and moved in. Rumor has it that even all of my stuff is moved in and my bed is set up and made. Think of it! I'm here in IL for a family reunion and dental work and everyone else is doing the work to move me into my new house.

Now that's what I call efficient moving.

PTL!  My computer is being shut down now to be packed for its move to the new house!  We'll pick up the keys tomorrow at 1:15.  I head to the airport at 1:45  for a weekend of family reunion and dental work.  And my cousins will move my stuff into my new house for me.

Your faithful prayers have made the difference.  I can't tell you how many times in this situation I thought we had come to a dead end or high hurdle and God just leveled out the ground (after teaching me multiple lessons on trusting him). 

Prayer works!

House update: "All systems go!"  We've got approval from our end to get the house and we've gotten approved by the landlord.  Now to get the final details worked out.  We may be signing papers tomorrow afternoon.

I'll be calling the landlord tomorrow morning to get questions answered.  PRAY that I would have much favor with him and that I would be clear and fair in my questions.

Also, we don't know if we need to be moved in by this weekend (Friday morning for me) or if we have another week.  Pray for details to be work out.

Thanks for your prayers!  They are helping tremendously.  (But my ankle is still hurting.)

Maybe if I write it out and post it for the world to see, it will be more real.

I am (somehow) going to choose to trust God in the housing situation.

I am going to (somehow) choose to trust God in my personal situations.

I am going to choose to trust.

(somehow)

My left ankle is swollen to the size of a small grapefruit because of insect/spider bites.  PLEASE pray that the swelling goes down and the itching/stinging/hurting stops.

My heart is swollen to the size of a small basketball.  Please continue to pray that God would work out the details and timing for the house.  Pray that I would trust him no matter what.

We're looking at a beautiful red brick house tomorrow in a gorgeous neighborhood.  Pray! that we will have wisdom and peace and know God's will.

You know why it takes me so long to go to bed tonight?  Because I don't want to brush my teeth!  It hurts!  And I'm tired of bracing myself and wincing everytime I brush my teeth.

One week...

My 201st post.  Too bad I can't say I ran 2.01 miles today.  I went running with A., a summer intern here at GFA.  Or it would be best to say I attempted to go running with A.  I died about 3/4 of a mile into the 2 mile run.  My legs were okay, but my lungs were killing me.  Felt like an iron hand clenching my diaphram.  At the end of our run, I told her about my first CC race.  She laughed so hard.  So did I.

Let us continue to run with perseverance the race that is set before us! 

We drove by and looked at houses from the outside today.  The realtor is out of the area until Monday, so we couldn't see inside.  Out of three possible houses, we didn't like one, one was already leased, and the other one looked nice from the outside.

We talked... wondering whether God is going to bring everything together this week or whether he has some greater plan in mind that may have a different time table.  We mentioned the situation when Jesus finds out that Lazarus is sick.

"Lord, the one you love is sick."  And Jesus, hearing this, abode where he was three more days.

Three more days?  Definately not in the standard human timetable of things.  But God had something greater in mind.

May we continue to trust in Him.

AH!  New News!  I'm moving!  To a four bedroom house with three other girls!  When?  By next Thursday!  Pray for us:

• to be able to look at houses tomorrow
• to get the house and details lined up by early next week
• to get packed and moved before I leave for IL on Friday afternoon.

FOR GOD TO GO BEFORE US IN EVERYTHING!  (that's the only way this is going to work!)

Pray that I will keep my focus on God and work and the lessons I've been learning in the midst of another madhouse.

Even with all the focus on the battle, I made a very unwise decision last night.  I had fun and built relationships, but the ministry was hurt.  I'm thankful for people who love me enough to correct me.  Growing is always hard.  Pray that I would be willing to grow and not run the other way.

The battle continues.  And I am weary.  I am not even in the thick of the battle.  I am only watching others.  And I am weary.  Pray for us.

We at the ministry could use a special covering of prayer this week.  A major project is being released this week (I'll tell you about it Wednesday or so) and the ememy is fighting it.
 
Friday, the hard drive for the main gift processing machine crashed.  The phone system quit working for three minutes (and then started working again without us doing anything). 
 
Saturday, the three hours of network system upgrades morphed in to 6+ hours of upgrades--and not everything was accomplished.  The mail server went berserk and was down for three hours.  The Active Directory domain controller lost all its brains.  The phone server got confused and only sent you to voice mail after 14 rings.  The intranet crashed mysteriously and then resurrected itself 15 minutes later.  Half of the office had their home page redirected to msn.com instead of our internal intranet.  Sunday, System Admin P. was down sick.
 
Monday, J. (who was fixing the crashed hard drive)  found himself in extreme pain and needing a root canal in one of his crowned teeth.  C. (administrative assistant to one of the main people working on the project) woke up with an upset stomach and chills.  I went home mid-day with severe abdominal cramps.
 
THANK YOU for your prayers.

We just finished another round at the dentists.  I flew in last night to IL.  This morning we removed all the crowns that weren't fitting right (12 of them).  We took lots more impressions to send the crown lab and then put in plastic temporary teeth.
 
Chipmunk Cheeks are in style right now, aren't they?!?

Yesterday evening was GFA Ladies Mtg.  We get together once a month for a time of Bible teaching and sharing and prayer.  After the worship, K. was sharing in my small group about the hymn we had sung during worship.
 
"Send the light, the blessed Gospel light..."
 
God had used that song to convict her during her devotions just two days before.  This evening, he used it again to encourage her that she was progressing what he wanted her to do.  "And that's not a very common song," she concluded.  "It didn't really go with the rest of the songs."
 
Her comment brought back a memory from the evening before when I had overheard  P. and the worship team practicing the songs for Ladies Mtg.  "Let's try 'Send the Light,'" P. said to the team.  "I know it doesn't really fit with the rest of the songs, but God just brought it to mind as I was preparing."
 
Isn't God amazing?

Prayer concern: Monsoon flooding had claimed over 375 lives in Bangladesk, Nepal, and northern India. Over 5 MILLION people have been stranded or displaced from their homes. Last year, over 1,500 people died during the annual flooding. Pray for these people - many whom have never heard the name of Jesus. Also pray for the safety and effectiveness of the hundreds of missionaries in these states.

I'll be going back to IL this weekend for more dental work. Prayers for wisdom for the dentist are appreciated!

Four of us visited the Dallas Farmer's Market this morning. My mother referred to me as a heathen for missing church. We picked up lucious peaches, ripe cantelope, huge blackberries, nectarines, oranges, and more...

We did attend Sunday evening service tonight at GFA. We had an open time of sharing about what God was teaching us through Bro. Zac Poonen's teaching this past week. I shared about my desire and my inability to be the lampholder. I have a feeling that instead of silently holding the lamp, I would be tapping the viewing audience on the shoulder, asking, "Is the lighting okay? Can you see him? Do I need to hold the lamp a little closer?" (Once again, calling attention to myself.)

We ended the evening with some good fellowship and sand volleyball. Must find a lighted court!

I'm rather melancholy this evening. I dehydrated myself this morning by accident and haven't felt my best all day. All, my chin has become numb. Like the feeling when you're recovering from being numbed by the dentist and all but the last bit of feeling has returned. That last bit of feeling is missing. This is the only day I've noticed it.

I keep thinking about something Bro. Zac shared Friday. He told of a painting of Jesus he had once seen. There, in the dark corner of the display, a man stood holding the lamp so people could see the painting. The people gathered, so enthralled by the amazing picture of Jesus that they never noticed the man holding the lamp.

Somehow, that's what I want to be. The person holding the lamp so that all can see Jesus-- showing a picture of Jesus so amazing that the people don't notice me.

But you know me--I love the limelight and spotlight. I make a show of everything and stumble over my pride and my obsession with people's opinions. I don't see how it can be done, but somehow...

I must decrease so He can increase.

You don't think about how much your teeth affect your speech until things suddenly change. With the change in my teeth/mouth, I constantly find myself lisping. I thought I was getting better, but that misconception was shattered as I talked to CE this afternoon. I was mentioning the annoyance of Microsoft's Out-Of-Office assistant when one is part of a listserv.

"So if several people have their out-of-office athithantss thending notithes..." At that point in my efforts, I just gave up and laughed. Maybe out-of-office athithants aren't so bad after all.

Bro. Zac Poonen is visiting the ministry today and tomorrow. One of our leaders in the office refers to him as a "surgeon with the Scriptures." He spoke about the Great White Throne judgement and this statement caught my attention: "We need to live as people who know that one day we will give an account to God of everything we did and why."

He also quoted a Hindu leader in India. This leader, after studying Christianity and studying Christians for many years, said to Bro. Zac: "You Christians make such extraordinary claims and live such ordinary lives."

Ouch!

On the ministry side of things... stop by the GFA website- www.gfa.org. Webmaster John and his crew just finished up the new design last month and it looks great! Make sure you check out the "latest news" section. It's updated on a daily basis--my roommate Rach writes almost all the stories there. The Manja story from yesterday actually has a few of my scribblings in it. You won't be able to pick those scribblings out, but I composed the last half of the first sentence.

I'm sorry for not posting. Yes, I made it back to Texas safely. Today was my first day back at work. It started at 7:30 as I arrived early to attempt to catch up on my email. An IT department meeting followed at 8:00. Finished up that and had a "welcome-back-here's-an-office-update" meeting with my coordinator. Then I started sorting through my emails when I found one from R. at the Volunteer Department saying his computer was acting weird. R. coordinates the booths and conference and volunteers for GFA in the Western third of the US. He works with people who love what God is doing through GFA and want to help us spread the word. Anyway, R's computer had about 238 spyware files on it. YUCK. It actually wasn't that hard to get cleaned up. It only took me a couple of hours. The rest of the day went much the same.

Except everyone was asking me to smile. They wanted to see my new teeth. :)

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy Independence Day!

Short dental update: They messed up at the lab in California. So instead of 15 minutes of adjustments, Dr. C and I have been adjusting for close to five hours! I'll be returning Monday, but Dr. C is calling the lab to make new crowns and I'll be making a weekend trip (or two) back out here sometime. Continue to pray for wisdom for Dr. C. [Dr. C enters. Are you typing in your blog?] Dr. C says all this dentistry is hard on him. And he says that a 110lb weakling can wear out a 240lb dentist just by opening her mouth. And make sure that says it's a lean 240lb dentist. [Dr. C exits.]

I ate four big pieces of pizza tonight with my new teeth -- but I didn't eat the last of the crusts. Dr. C and I still have to adjust my "bite" tomorrow... filing a little here and filing a little there to make my teeth fit together properly. The only problem is -- I've forgotten what a proper fit feels like!

We've got a lot of adjustments to do in the next 36 hours. Please continue to pray.

Throb, throb... ache! Okay. My new crowns are all in place. And my mouth still hurts. But it will stop soon. *Takes ibuprofen* But I'm glad it's done! Looking beyond that which is to that which will be. PTL!

The UPS truck just arrived! My crowns are here! Four gold crowns and twelve porcelain crowns! Quote a coworker: "You get your crowns now, while the rest of us have to wait until we get to heaven." WHEE!

Dr. C called the lab today about 7:30 to make sure that everything was on time. I can't tell you how excited I was when I heard him say, "Oh, good!" during his phone conversation. The crowns are on their way and are scheduled for "early morning delivery." THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

After we watched Ice Age, Dr. and Mrs. C and I spent some time in prayer together tonight. GFA is having their monthly Friday night prayer from 8-midnight tonight. We are praying especially since Bro. Manja's verdict from the supreme court this week was not as we had hoped. But more than that, there are still brothers and sisters in prison all over the world for their faith.

No thanks! I choose life -- eternal life!

Back at "home away from home" - Dr. and Mrs. C's. And oh, it feels good.

Dr. C and I are having the most fun conversations! Most of you know that I have "anosmia" (i.e. I don't have a sense of smell.). What a suprise it was to find out that Dr. C has the same problem! Neither of us have a sense of smell. And neither of us realized we had the problem until we were in high school.

We have so much alike in this regard... We both have a sweet tooth--especially for chocolate! We like mint/peppermint flavored things, applesauce, and crackers that are flavored (i.e. cheddar triscuits). And the major criteria for deciding if we like a certain food? Convenience!

Mrs. C just laughs at us. It's interesting... when we went grocery shopping this afternoon, Mrs. C knew what I would and wouldn't like (and what I wouldn't be able to taste a difference in) since my likes and dislikes are almost identical to her husband's. When the three of us sit down to eat, those of us with anosmia are the majority!

Please continue to pray that the crowns will arrive safely on Saturday morning and pray that a dental assistant will be available to help put them in!