Praise to the Lord!

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I know, it's a repost from January, but it's what's going through my
head this morning...

Praise to the Lord
Who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings,
Yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
How thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord!
O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath,
Come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again;
Gladly forever adore him.

...and now we return to our regularly scheduled database tickets.
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Escape to Escape

After supper with the J-Fam tonight, Greg and I took our laptops to Escape coffee house and worked on some schedule logistics for the next month or so. The barista on duty went beyond her duty - treating us to free day-old doughnut holes and custom mixing a drink for me. In fact, the evening was wonderful - a combination of logistics and smiles and fun and closing with a random, brief video skype call to my KS family!

We sat there at Escape, close to each other and holding hands and Greg made the comment, "We sure weren't doing this last time we were here." No, we sure weren't! We had stopped by Escape in January when Greg was here and we were still seeking the Lord's direction on whether or not to enter a relationship. Wow! The memories associated with that Monday night... but that story will have to wait until we get our joint blog up. :)

My newsletter finally got printed today, so we're working on getting that sent out. I've been starting to make a list of things I need to document for my responsibilities at the office and setting aside time to work on those. But then we have a whole bunch of new people/volunteers /interns starting next week, so that's keeping me busy too!

Meanwhile, on the field, a missionary was arrested over a week ago and still remains in police custody. Pray for his release and pray for the boldness and safety of the church that he pastors!

Now? I'm off to bed... sleepy, sleepy...

Virtually at ICCM

It's quite fun! The ICCM guys are hanging out at the Student Union at Taylor and Greg has me up on video skype! So I am there at ICCM...virtually! I'm surrounded by conversation of operating systems and Kardia and Microsoft and security... The biggest challenge is sorting out the digital noise and the voices and listening to the mic trying to figure out which voice it is supposed to be picking up.

Hi guys!

Beep Beep Beep

No, it's not the roadrunner running from the coyote. It's the front doors of the office. The locks are messing up, so I get to sit here for a little bit and make sure the lobby is "secure" until the smart people get the door controllers reset. (Go System Admin!)

Tomorrow starts the annual ICCM conference at Taylor University. Techies/Missionaries (including some of our staff) gather from around the world for the International Conference on Computing and Missions. I attended ICCM in '03, '05, and '07 and I have to say it is the most life-changing conference I've ever attended. Hands down, no comparison.

Why? ICCM is where Greg and I met.

Yep, that's another piece of the story that needs written up! Greg is the worship leader at ICCM as well as a techie/missionary, so everyone knows who Greg is. And I'm one of six (yes, that's 6!) or so female techies/missionaries who attend, so everyone knows who I am. I just didn't realize that Greg had a specific interest in wanting to know me...

Greg should be arriving in Indianapolis right about...now! He's picking up a LightSys intern at the IND airport and then driving on up to Upland, IN to start worship practice. From our office, System Admin and Network Admin and IT Coordinator are flying up tomorrow.

As for me? I've just finished setting up a new laptop for one of our remote staff and am getting ready to head to KT's house for supper with her girls! I'm not attending ICCM this year (sadly) due to the need to keep things running here at the GFA office. You can pray for all the systems to work smoothly (and the doors to work too!) while all the smart people are gone.

I miss you, Greg!

GFA Staff Retreat

Two weekends ago was GFA's staff retreat and the GFA families retreated to a Christian campground/retreat center near Huntsville, TX for three days of rest, laughter, and fellowship. We had a "bonfire" (in quotes because of the small size of the said fire) on Saturday night with an open time of sharing of things the Lord has been teaching us or things we are grateful for. It was such a blessing to me to hear from others and to also have an opportunity to share how much the GFA family had meant to me and to encourage the newer staff and students/interns to deliberately plug themselves into the fellowship as well. I'm convinced that the enemy will do almost anything to bring feelings of disunity or disconnectedness or loneliness. If he can divide us as Christians, he can slow the furtherance of the Gospel.

Here's a fun snapshot I found from the Saturday night bonfire...

Watching the sunset

A storm system moved through this evening while I was Auntie Candy's house for our weekly prayer/visit and supper. We watched as the local TV stations preempted their regular programs for round the clock weather coverage including helicopter footage, radar, and eye witnesses. I was pretty impressed! I think that's the first time since I've been here that I've seen the TV stations do continuous storm coverage.

I had spoken with Greg on the phone earlier as he was en route to ICCM and he was encountering major storms in OK. I have now have a little more empathy for his stormy travels. :P Why is it all the "really good" storms hit when we're not in the same place?!? (Greg and I both love to watch a good thunderstorm develop!)

The storms are leaving now - leaving our house without power. But the storms also left behind a beautiful golden sunset. Gen and I watched the sun lower itself through the lingering clouds and moisture and marveled at the deep pinks and golds of the evening.

When I was tempted to complain about the 80+ degrees in the house and no A/C, I was quickly reminded of the recent loss of homes and lives in West Bengal, India as a result of Hurricane Aila. At least 200 people killed, millions homeless, crops destroyed, and water supplies polluted with salt water.

A quote from one of our field correspondents: "Children are crying without proper food, and parents have lost hope. They look at the sky and weep. We can give no answer when they ask us with tears, ‘Where will we go now? We have no home, no cattle, no fields . . . '"