Summer pics, part I

I have several sets of pics to post from our trip home this summer. One of our first stops was to our dental hygenist for check ups. Mathis had been once last year, but of course didn't remember it. So this time we took Monkey with us to help ease the nervousness.

Here, monkey is getting a bib just like Bop Bop.

Miss Emily, the greatest hygenist ever, talking to Mathis,

explaining what she is going to be doing.

Counting his teeth...

The real issue

The Lord is my Portion, therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose trust is in him; It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3)

As we enter into our second year here at ECA, we are already thinking a lot about what we will do next year - whether to stay here or go back to the States. We made a two year commitment, but see the great need for teachers and staff here so are praying and seeking the Lord's direction about what next year may hold for our family. Along those lines, I (Keri) was reading this week in Jeremiah, ch. 33, where God is speaking to the remaining Israelites who have stayed in Jerusalem after most of the rest have been taken captive to Babylon. These remaining Israelites want to flee to Egypt, where they think they will have food, work and safety. But God urges them, through Jeremiah, to trust Him, to know that he will faithfully provide for their needs if they obey Him and stay where they are. The issue is obedience to the Lord and whether or not they trust him to know what is best for them and to provide for them.

I know our situation is obviously different than theirs, but it struck me how in my heart I still believe that if we lived in the U.S., life would be safer, more predictable, we would have a stable income and a permanent home, whereas life here is, um, kind of the opposite of all of that. And yet, at the same time, I see how much faith and trust it takes to live this way - rather, I am acutely aware of our insecurities and instability. In reality, life is unpredictable no matter where you live, but in the U.S. it feels safer for some reason. Living here, we recognize our need for His provision in a much clearer way. So as we consider what to do after this year - it was a great reminder to know that what we think is best and what may seem safer may not be the case and we most likely would rely on our own efforts and house and job instead of looking to the Lord weekly to provide what we need.

Conejo y Patatas

A while back we visited the doctor here in Spain and while there I picked up a brochure from the Spanish Ministry of Health. Apparently rabbit is fairly popular here in Spain, and the brochure discussed the many benefits of eating rabbit, including the fact that it is high in protein and low in cholesterol. It also included a recipe. Ever since, I've been been itching to give the recipe a try, and tonight Keri prepared it. It was basically rabbit stew, and it was pretty good. We did discover one other reason it's healthy - there's so little meat on the bones. You don't eat very much because it takes so much work to pick the meat off the bones.

Here it is - rabbit stew served with a white melon that is very popular here:

Reflections One Year Later

We are in the midst of our month back home and have loved getting to visit with so many friends and family as well as having some down time to just enjoy life here and enjoy the air conditioning (which we do not have in Spain!). There are some of you who we wanted to see, but weren't able to, so I thought I would do a post on FAQ's of our ministry. These are the main questions we have been asked since we have been here.

Do you think you will go back after next year? Our first response to this question is that we are open to staying a third year or more (as our initial commitment was only for two years), but that we only have enough financial support to get us through this coming year. As we have said, we realize now how difficult it is for ECA to attract and retain staff, especially long-term staff. Having jumped through all the legal hoops this first year, we would love to continue serving the school and missionary families as long as the Lord would have us there. There are, of course, logistical questions, especially concerning raising more support, so we continue to pray and ask God for his wisdom and timing in it.

What is your house like?

We live in a 5 bedroom home, which is just a house that the school rents. We pay a portion of the rent, but because we open our home to boarding students, we have a larger house than just our family would need so we pay part and the school pays part. The construction is all brick exterior, concrete walls inside and tile/marble floors throughout. Wood is very scarce in Spain and very expensive, so this is the standard building style where we live. We have a fenced in yard all the way around our house, which is great for our kids. They can go out and play without me having to be with them all day long.

How big is the school? Our school is Evangelical Christian Academy and this past year there were 92 students, grades 1 - 12. Next year, there are around 75 students registered. To learn more about the school (and David's website design) go to http://www.ecaspain.com/

What has been the hardest thing about your year there? The hardest things for me (Keri) were the initial cultural adjustment - just not knowing and understanding everything like I do here, including the language barrier and learning to cook there. The first few months were a bit of a struggle, too, to just accept our much slower pace of life. Now that we are here, I am looking forward to going back to it. :) Personally, I had some ups and downs with cultural adaptation as well as learning to handle criticism and deal with some difficult situations, but I have learned through the experience and continue to rely on God's grace and His continued work in my heart. For David, I think his biggest obstacle was driving school. To obtain a license in Spain, he had to pay about $1,200 and attend classes from November until March. CLICK HERE to read more detail about his experience. He passed and is now legally allowed to drive anywhere in the European Union.

Do you have a good church home / Where do you worship? The first part of the year we attended a small church plant in Camarma, the town where we live. But for several reasons, earlier this Spring we began attending an international church in Madrid (IBC), which we really love. Interestingly, David and I have talked about how not having a solid church home has been good for us in that we both feel like we had to seek out theological books, sermons via podcasts, etc. We feel like we have both grown more this year than in the last several years because we didn't have TV and made time to read our Bibles and do more personal Bible study. Also, not having Sunday school or church activities for our kids has made us focus on our responsibility to teach them God's truths and that has been an unexpected blessing for our family, as well.

Have you made some good friends? Within the ECA community, we feel like we are pretty well connected and have a lot of people we can call if we needed something and feel like our community needs are met. As far as deep friendships, though, I think we still consider our closest friends to be here in the U.S. Thanks to technology, we can still keep up with everybody and not feel like we're all that far away. And as a side note - when we arrived in Spain last fall we asked you to pray that Rachel would find a good friend her age because she was so sad over leaving her friends here. Over time, God showed us that He had already given her that by giving her a little brother. I've said it before, but I'm so thankful that even though Mathis was a surprise to us, God knew then that Rachel would need him now, and it's been really special to watch them only have each other this year and to see how close they have become.

How can we pray for you this coming year? Our two big prayer requests continue to be 1) wisdom as we decide what to do after this year and 2) for our kids. We have felt for a long time that this experience and opportunity was for a purpose far greater than just David and me. I know that God is using this in the lives of our children and that He has His own purposes for them. I don't know what they will grow up to be or how God will use them to affect His Kingdom, but we feel in our hearts that this is all part of their life experience to that end and we ask for your prayers that we would be faithful to continually bring them before the Lord and that God would work in their hearts to give them a heart for Him.

Fun in the Sun

Take a 99 degree day, add a sprinkler.  Instant fun. :) 

(click individual pictures to enlarge)

Fresh produce

One of the great things about shopping here is the produce.  For the most part, it is in season.  Of course you can find apples, bananas and oranges most of the year, but we have enjoyed very ripe clementines in January, strawberries in February/March, and now fresh cherries.  They seem to only sell seasonal produce in season, which means it is cheaper and more ripe.  We bought the above basket of cherries for 85 cents this weekend.  We would never have found fresh ripe cherries for that in Tennessee!  Mmm.  Delicious.

Doctor visit

Thankfully, we all have been healthy this year and have not needed a doctor.  However, given David's and my history of "pre-cancerous," spots and moles, we both needed to see a dermatologist for our yearly exam.  We were given a recommendation of a certain practice in Madrid, so we got an appointment for both of us and went this afternoon.  It was...different.  We were surprised at the simplicity of it all.  We went in the office, filled out a very basic form (name, address, telephone, date of birth, allergies, reason for visit), and waited for the doctor.  The doctor herself came and got David first, took him back, looked him over and in broken English explained that she was going to burn off a certain spot.  She made a few marks and notes on a paper and told him to come back in one year.  My turn was similar.  She gave me a paper, a lecture about staying out of the sun and told me to come back in one year as well.  Interestingly, in a socialized medicine country, we merely filled out a very basic information form (compared to the pages and pages of medical history, release of medical records, etc. that you fill out in a U.S. office), met with the doctor for 5 minutes each (no nurse), paid our 60 Euro office visit charge (no insurance billing) and were done.  She made her notes and drawings and sent them home with us for our files (she kept no medical file on us).