Rest

Without a doubt, the past six months have been the most stressful of our lives.  We were at the absolute end of what we could give when we arrived in Orlando three months ago.  We desperately needed rest.  Not the lay-around-and-do-nothing kind of rest but deep, emotional rest.  We needed care.

I think we were feeling so beat up that weren't even sure how to pursue the rest we needed.  We serve such a good God.  He knew exactly.  Three months in, we are feeling so much more rested.  We feel like we are beginning to move from surviving to thriving.

He has given us physical rest.  We have slept.  A lot.  We have committed to very little outside of work.  We have been horrible about returning phone calls and e-mails.  Our bodies are beginning to feel a little more like normal.

He has given us spiritual rest.  Every Wednesday morning, we hear from a speaker at our LHS meeting.  A professor from Reformed Theological Seminary spoke one week on Ecclesiastes.  God used it significantly.  One week we learned the practice of Lexio Divina--a method of meditating on Scripture.  Last week was an hour of worship.  And God has also led us to a church where we have been deeply fed each Sunday.  First Presbyterian Church of Orlando will be our church home while we're in Orlando, and we're really thankful to have found a church that fits our family so quickly.  The kids love going and are learning incredibly rich things during Sunday School.  Next week they will begin studying the "Solas" that define the protestant movement.  Cody and I have savored the opportunity we've had to worship in English and every week our spirits have deeply agreed with the Word being taught.  The gospel is being proclaimed.  Yes, God has fed our souls in the past months!

And He has given us emotional rest.  Through the grace and love of many new friends, He has given us a really safe place to process the past three years of our lives.  He has challenged the things we needed to give even more fully to Him, He has worked in our hearts to be able to offer genuine forgiveness, He has begun the process of placing a new call on our hearts.  He had begun the healing process.

We are still feeling pretty fragile, but we have more energy than we've had in a long time.  We have more hope than we've had in a long time.  That is deeply good.

"Who would ever know the greater graces of comfort and perseverance, mercy and forgiveness, patience and courage, if no shadows fell over a life?"

--Ann Voskamp, 1000 Gifts

The Phipps Six

A couple of years ago at dinner, Gavin announced, "One day there's going to be six of us."  Cody and I both caught our breath, lest his words be prophetic.  We certainly weren't planning on expanding our family!

But today his words came true (at least in his mind).  We are now the Phipps Six.  Maximus Braveheart the Bruce Phipps came home last night!  We are all in love.

Is he not one of the most handsome little guys you've ever seen?

Hannah has been asking for a dog for years.  Our excuse for a long time was that she had to wait until Ben was at least three because we couldn't handle a puppy and a toddler.  Then he turned three. . . and we dog sat our friends' dog, Preacher (see the March 7 post). . . and we returned to America. . . and Hannah started doing serious research. . .

So here we are.  We looked into a lot of breeds and decided the labradoodle was probably one of the best options for our family.  There was a great breeder located here in Orlando, who we met back in August.  After one trip to her house, Cody was sold (who knew he was such a softie toward pups!).  We reserved a newborn puppy, and yesterday he was old enough to come home.

After years of wanting a dog, Hannah was beside herself in anticipation of Cody coming out with Max.  I think she's still in shock he's actually ours.

It's been five weeks since we last saw him, and he's almost tripled in size.  At the vet today, he weighed in at 11 pounds.  He'll probably grow to 60.

Coming up the steps to our apartment for the first time.

Savoring a few minutes before having to leave Max behind for school.

Now I know I'm a proud Mommy, but I really do think he's the very best puppy in the whole entire world.  He let the kids love on him until we made them go to bed.  He walked right into his crate last night and slept like a dream.  We woke him up once to go the bathroom and didn't hear a peep until we got up in the morning.  He's picked up walking a leash and has done great with house training so far.  And he's just so darn sweet!

Really, really fun.  In the midst of so many changes for our family, looking forward to Max's arrival has been a sweet blessing.  I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come!

The World Coming to Us

As you know, one of things we most loved about ministry in Italy was the communal nature of the culture. We loved seeing the same people walking on the street every day and running into school friends almost everywhere in our neighborhood.

American culture is just totally different.  You walk from your door to your car to the door of the store you're going into.  There aren't common areas people gather.

Sharing the gospel in these relationships was so natural.  These people saw our lives.  We talked with them regularly.  We couldn't hide the impact Jesus has on our lives.

As we moved back, Cody and I have both prayed we would have very intentional eyes as to how to maintain a similar ministry mind frame.  How can we become more involved in the lives of our neighbors? How can we break culture to stop and visit with people we see regularly?

Our apartment complex has been a great first place to start.  It's full of kids!  And because it's completely gated, there is an increased sense of safety is letting kids go outside and play together  A lot of the kids are other families doing the same STINT program we are doing.  But there are many who are not.

One of the boys who Gavin has started playing with is a boy he called "Colin."  He is about Gavin's age, and every afternoon he is looking for a way to kill time outside of his apartment.  Sometimes their relationship has not been easy for Gavin.  Colin can tend to put on a certain amount of machismo.  The day he came to our house to play just he and Gavin though, we saw a kinder boy full of need to fill his time productively.

This weekend Colin's little brother and mother knocked on our door looking for "Haleem."  All along Gavin thought his name was Colin, when it was Haleem. :)  As it turns out, Haleem's family moved from Saudi Arabia only a year ago.  When his mom and brother knocked on our door, I could only see his mom's eyes.  She is a completely veiled Muslim woman.  I was shocked to see her because we were told Haleem's parents never leave their apartment.  He and his brother always come and go to the bus stop by themselves in the morning.  It is usually only his brother who comes looking for him.

Not only that, she asked my name and where I had gotten the skirt I was wearing (wouldn't you know, I was wearing my brand new Maxi-length skirt that day!).  We chatted for a bit before Cody came to the door, which promptly ended our conversation.  A really good introduction though!

I know this interaction seems like such a small thing.  But it was a really sweet answer to prayer for us.  We are committed to taking the gospel to the world.  In that regard, it was hard for us to leave a foreign assignment--even though we know our effectiveness will probably be tenfold doing what we're doing here.  It was the personal relationships we were most going to miss.  But as God is doing all over this country, He is bring the world to us.  He is bringing non-believers from literally all over the world to live alongside Americans, to drive by churches, to be given the opportunity to know someone who walks passionately with Jesus.

My new friend's name is Terah.  Would you pray for their family?  Pray our whole family would be a part of showing Haleem what it means to follow Jesus, as he is in our home.  Pray for more opportunities for me to get to know Terah.  Pray for the other believers in our apartment complex to have the same opportunities.

And since I'm feeling bold and impassioned today, can I challenge you to look for how God has brought the world to you?  Chances are, it's just around the corner.

Provisions

Sometimes I forget there are folks who check our little blog regularly. . . thanks for continuing to check back.  Now that life has settled down a little (after only five months of intense stress and chaos!), I do hope to begin posting regularly again.

I feel like I am finally coming out of a long, dark cave.  The past five months have been filled with so many things that absolutely drain Cody and I.  There's barely been a minute to breathe.  But I think that season might finally be coming to an end.  Our things arrived safely from Italy a couple of weeks ago--boxes have been unpacked, pictures have been hung and our apartment is beginning to feel like home.  It feels really, really good.

Cody has been in his new role now for a month, and he is so energized!  For the first time in a really long time, he feels like his experience and his strengths are coming together in his role.  Specifically, he is working with staff who have been serving overseas for awhile and are in danger of having to leave the field because of financial crisis.  Not only is he able to offer practical input, he is able to offer encouragement and counsel in helping them to remain where God has called them.  We were so grieved to be leaving Italy, yet God has allowed us to transition to a role where our impact on the gospel going into the world has been greatly multiplied.  We are so excited about that!

A definite highlight of the past month has been watching Gavin play soccer again.  Cody and I have been amazed at how much he has improved.  He is not one to put a lot more effort into things than absolutely needed, but he has worked hard to hone the skills they are learning at practice.  It's been so much fun to watch him play and experience the fruit of his hard work.

And in other news, in two weeks we will be welcoming our first family pet!  In the spring I mentioned how much the kids have been wanting a dog (for years actually).  We finally felt like the time was right, and we think the Lord has led us to a great breeder and a precious little puppy.  Maximus Braveheart Phipps.  These are some pictures from the day we picked him out.

The whole family has been busy preparing for his arrival.  I can't wait to post some more pictures soon!

Thank you so much for your faithfulness to our family and for keeping us in your prayers during this time.  I hope to update our prayer request page tomorrow.