important

Hi! Happy New Year!! We had a very festive evening and stayed up until 3 am with the Ranch kids (they were awake until 5:00am!!) We are adjusting well to our new home, and things are definitely feeling more settled. Still no warm showers, but we are working on that : )

I have been thinking the past few days about what is really important. You know, in life. For example, in America it is important to us that church services flow smoothly with no interruptions or distractions. But in the Philippines, it is considered perfectly normal for a rambunctious toddler to go tearing across the platform, or a mother hen and her chicks to meander in between the congregation's legs, or a goat to defecate in the lawn in front of everyone! (Church is outside by the way.)  I thought something like that would totally throw off the church service, but no one even blinked!

We took communion at church yesterday. Guess what was in the glass? PEPSI!! I feel like if someone tried that in an American church it would be sacreligious or something!

But I wonder what God thinks about all of that? I had never before considered that He probably doesn't really care about those issues. Because he is busy looking into our hearts. And yesterday I drank my Pepsi communion (which tasted pretty good) and my heart worshipped God and thanked Him for the sacrifice that He made for all of us.

Living in the Philippines has definitely taught me to loosen up!

Also, I (this is Kelli, by the way) was asked to give the girls' devotion yesterday evening. Of course, if you know me at all, you know that I cried. Yes, it's true. : )       I wasn't sure what to tell these girls. Sometimes it is very hard to look at their trusting eyes and think about the horrible circumstances that they have come out of. So I told the girls the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:12 "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face..." I told them that the life we live here on earth is not all there is, we were created for something way better. Right now our life is a lot like looking through a nasty, dirty window. You can't see clearly and you can't understand why things happen the way that they do, especially for kids like these who have been abused or had their families torn apart. BUT one day that window will be gone, and we will be able to see everything perfectly clearly. All of the questions will be answered, and the pieces to the puzzle will all fit together.

I don't think we were meant to understand everything right now. Just the important stuff.

1. God is with us.
2. He loves us so much that He sacrificed His very own Son, a part of Himself, so we could be with Him.
3. He is in control.

Hebrews 13:20

That's all for now!