I'm Sorry About Spring

I feel I owe you an apology.  It might be partly my fault spring has yet to come.

When I went to Bolivia, I wasn't sure if I was a hot or cold weather person. Uh, 72℉ is about right... There are really people who prefer warmer or colder than that?!  But I guess more than a preference, it's probably an aversion to the alternative. Anyway, it didn't take me all three years in the sweltering wet heat of Santa Cruz, to learn that I have a cold weather affinity.

This winter has been my first cold one in a long time, and I've loved it. Scarves, hats, gloves, blankets, the fireplace, hot chocolate, chili, SNOW, cuddling, down comforters, skiing, sledding, wearing my hair down, socks, close-toed shoes, and not sweating, are just a few of the perks I've savored these past months. So, when everyone else started begging the groundhog for warmer temperatures, I was anything but ready to let go of all this, and may have canceled out some of your prayers for spring with my own for more snow.

Taking after her momma in her cupcake decorating skillz.

It turns out however, that it's not the hot or cool that I prefer, it's the changing of the seasons. The variety of activities, the variation in wardrobe, the stability of predictable change that comforts me. And now, while even I impatiently await spring (what good is snow if it doesn't stick?) I'm enjoying a new season in a different sense of the word.  

In the book Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas says, 

"If you want to be free to serve Jesus, there's no question -- stay single. But if you want to become more like Jesus, I can't imagine a better thing to do than to get married." 

Marriage, and even more so parenting, take a lot of time. But both force you to face character issues you'd never have to face otherwise. I don't regret waiting to start a family till I was in my 30's, because I now see that I'll never have that freedom to serve like Jesus whenever, as often, and as radically as I did when it was just me.

Look who's learned how to knit, really well!

It's been an adjustment to replace soup kitchens with social studies assignments, but it's been an eye-opening one. The day-in and day-out discipleship of doing life with family is  far more sharpening than serving once a week in a superficial way. It's also more difficult to hide one's flaws. But I pray the rewards are deeper and more enduring than a plaque, or a thank you card.

I'm so glad I'm moving into this family-phase of being more like Jesus, than free to serve Him, with three of my dearest friends (above), all recently on this road with me. And I'm thankful that God allows me a job in ministry, and time to serve with my family, so I don't have to choose, but instead can balance both serving Christ and becoming more like Him. Afterall, Jesus didn't have a wife and kids, but he made taking care of his mother a priority, and he sure emphasized taking care of the little ones.

Happy Easter! Enjoy whatever season you're in, 'cause it probably won't last forever, spring really will be here soon...

"...if you truly want to love God, look right now at the ring on your left hand, commit yourself to exploring anew what that ring represents, and love passionately, crazily, enduringly the fleshly person who put it there. It just may be one of the most spiritual things you can do." -Sacred Marriage

Putting Down Roots

It's funny how "settling" can have such negative connotation, but "settling down" or "settling in" is positive. To some it may seem as though I'm settling by living in the States again and being fairly domestic, after serving overseas for the past few years. On the contrary, we may finally be settling down and settling in, but life's full of challenges, opportunities, and joy.

Over the past few months, the search for two things in particular have been plaguing us as a family. The dining room table above is the result of a very long Craig's List obsession to find something in our price range that could help us host lots of friends or family for fellowship and food. We tested this beauty out on Saturday night with an awesome time of sharing between three CVM families with experience in missions. Twelve of us enjoyed Jon's first pork tenderloin on the grill and hours of great conversation while our six kids played basketball in the backyard, watched a movie, and ran a bit wild.

The photo below tells the more compelling story of our hunt for friends for Angie. She's finally made some amigas at school who she has so much fun with that she says she actually looks forward to going to school, although you'd never believe it by the way she drags her feet in the morning. We're still praying to find those special kids Angie will bond with at church. But on Saturday, God's clever combination of perfect spring weather, the $20 bike we found at a consignment sale that morning, and the neighbor kids being outside, left nothing to chance. It was finally the day for Angie to befriend Jada, the 9 year-old she'd been too shy to meet for nearly a year. And boy did they ever hit it off!  Her and her little cousin on the scooter, spent all afternoon in and out of the house, exploring, riding, playing, and laughing with Ange. Sweet, sweet, long-awaited music to our ears.

While on the lookout for big tables and little friends, we've been staying busy with lots of other fulfilling activities as well. We started a young married couples' small group at our house on Wednesday evenings. We just finished Andy Stanley's iMarriage DVD series, and are getting ready to dive into his more recent one Staying in Love, if anyone's interested in joining us. Ruby and I have been helping my dad coach the South Oldham High School girls' tennis team this season. And Angie's in a little Saturday tennis league of her own. When homework allows we join Lost Sheep Ministries on Thursday nights. And I just got back to my guys at Jefferson Street Baptist Center last week, hoping to make that a regular visit as well. Jon and I would love to get plugged into volunteering in Southeast Christian Church's tech booth next, but we need Angie to make some church friends first, so she'll be content in childcare for so long.

We're also loving being so close to family. My uncle, Byron, and I trained together and ran the Irish Classic 10K on Saturday. Yesterday, we had my parents over to watch Little Women, after spending almost a year reading the book with Angie. Now, we'll be seeing lots of Team Spears as we get together to cheer on the UL men's and women's team in March Madness.

While we still pray for, and consult with, our Bolivian partners, friends, ministries, and especially sponsor kiddos (one of whom, little Juan Carlos, is having surgery this week), and Angie still sometimes craves Bolivian food and warmer weather, I think we're finally starting to live more where we are than where we were. And it feels really good...