Simply Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! It has been an unusual Christmas for us. Last Sunday our pastor announced we would be having a Christmas morning service which would include traditional Christmas carols. We laughed walking back to our car after church this morning, because we had never before considered the songs we sang to be Christmas carols. And so it goes. Here is a peek at our Christmas in Lesotho. 

#1 Our tree: We collected sticks from around our house to build a Jesse tree, remembering all the promises pointing to the coming Savior. The kids in our school helped color the ornaments and led the devotional times. 

#2 The creche: Africans seem to be very gifted in repurposing items, creating treasures from trash. Beth followed suit by fashioning a nativity scene from toilet paper tubes! This is a "Dakotah special."

#3 Christmas Eve: Just family :-) Pizza is a traditional meal for Fennemas, and we kept that tradition. Beth bought a small spinach and feta pizza at the grocery store, and Charis adorned it with tomatoes. Looked pretty festive. 

#4 Gifts: Grandma and Grandpa stuffed some gifts in a suitcase that a volunteer group from Holland Christian brought to Lesotho. They were soft and snuggly and will be purr-fect for next winter! 

#5 Christmas Day: After church, we went swimming (it is summer here right now) and then took a long nap. In the evening, we enjoyed Christmas dinner at Beautiful Gate. 

It has been a simple, uncomplicated Christmas, yet meaningful. The "Christmas" passage that keeps coming back to me is from Phillipians 2:

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Christmas is about Christ coming to earth with a mission to submit, serve, and sacrifice Himself for us. Our prayer is that we will grow into this passage, learning how to be more Christlike as we live and serve in Lesotho, submitting to whatever God calls us to do. 

Alien Invasion

     This past weekend we met up with some familiar faces, lives we've intersected with in Holland, MI; Ontario, California; and even Aurora, Colorado. A team from Holland Christian High School swooped down into Lesotho like super heroes to volunteer at Beautiful Gate and other ministries for orphans in the Maseru area. Maybe you will recognise a few of them!

Back row on left: Keith Blystra, formerly taught at Ontario Christian and now teaching at HC. Back row, second from the right is Mike Verkaik, South Christian grad, Calvin College grad, and teacher at HC.

     Holland Christian students and faculty have been heavily involved with Beautiful Gate over the years, and this trip provided more members of their staff and community an opportunity to lend a hand in blessing the children and workers here. In June, some of them will return with a group of high school volunteers. 

     Another special treat for us was to see Pastor Tim again and meet more of his family.Tim led a spiritual retreat for orphaned high school students and teen moms at the Good Shepherd Center. Tim's sister Cindy (center) and her son Josh (red shirt) began supporting some of these students about ten years ago. Today, more than 500 teens have graduated from high school as a result of their faithfulness. Cindy and Josh have an incredibly poignant story of how God used a major crisis in their lives to bring healing and opportunity to many, many people halfway around the world. Just pray that Josh will write a book!

Dakotah, Micky (Josh's wife), Tim, Cindy, a friend of Cindy's, and Josh

The dynamic duo:
Cindy with Sister Constance, who is in charge of running the Good Shepherd Center

     While we were at the retreat, Sister Constance shared her dream of starting a school and vocational center for students in her community. A local farmer has offered to sell her land from an adjoining property, but she needs to raise $16,000 to purchase the land. If you are interested in helping meet this challenge, please e-mail us and we will help put you in touch with her organization. 

This is the property that is available for building a school.

Happy Thanksgivings!

Although we we not in America to celebrate Thanksgiving, I can assure you that American Thanksgiving is in us! We have actually celebrated 3 savory Thanksgiving feasts this week. On Thursday we took a trip across the border into South Africa and had a special lunch with just our family and a friend. No turkey that day, but the food was scrumptious! 

Butternut Squash Quiche: excellent!

Dakotah chose a gingerbread cookie for dessert

On Friday we went to Beautiful Gate and shared a more traditional Thanksgiving meal with Bryan and Anita Geurink and many of the BG volunteers. This meal included turkey, mashed potatoes, and all the fixings.

Did you have a Lego turkey decorating your table this year?

Faith with her creation

Hungry?

Josh (Pastor Tim Spykstra's nephew) and his wife Micki joined us as well. They have been volunteering with another mission in Lesotho, encouraging orphaned teens to complete high school. 

Thank you, Anita, for all the great cooking! Anita made two turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy,
homemade rolls, a pecan pie, and a pumpkin pie from scratch using butternut squash. Delicious!

Today was our third Thanksgiving meal, which we celebrated at the home of the American ambassador to Lesotho. This was another traditional meal followed by swimming in the backyard pool. Not bad, huh? It was very interesting to meet other Americans doing a variety of work here. The ambassador arrived about a month ago, filling a two year vacancy. He seems to be a wonderful man and was a gracious host. 

We are so blessed to be in Lesotho and thank God for calling us here at this time. We also want to thank all of you for supporting us in so many ways. You have made it possible for us to be here, and we don't take that for granted. By the way, we have some special visitors this week. More on that later! 

Seven!

Seven is the number of completion. Today we thanked God for the completion of our student body with the safe arrival of three new students. Kyle and Annie have just returned from furlough in the U.S., and Bella was previously homeschooled here in Maseru. These are awesome kids! Please pray for our school family as we grow and learn together. Also, pray for the families of our students as they work in various ministries throughout Lesotho, fighting poverty, injustice, and despair with the love of Jesus. 

This morning we read Philippians 1:9-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

Think this might be a good theme verse for our school year? 

Remaking

Thursday, November 6

One of my passions is interior design. I am one of those people who would be blissfully happy watching six hours of HGTV a day. Going through model homes or hanging out at Home Depot is my idea of a great afternoon! Yesterday and today Beth and I painted our kitchen, living room and dining area with help from some American women who have come to Lesotho to lead a women's retreat this weekend. We have had so much fun just putting our own stamp on the place where we live, making it our own. 

While paging through a design magazine today, I came across the following quote by Joan Didion: "A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest...wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his image." Immediately that made me think of our Heavenly Father. He claims us harder than we truly comprehend, shapes us, loves us radically, and conforms us to His image. 
  

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.  --Ephesians 2:10

October 31 P.S.

We have just returned from trick-or-treating at Beautiful Gate. Thought you might want to peek at the little monsters :-)

Mercy the Cowgirl

Faith the Scarecrow

Hello Kitty! (aka Dakotah)

Eli the Dementor

What a frightfully fun evening! 

October 31...

Dare I say it...? Happy Halloween. It is Friday afternoon here and it has been a Pinterest Day for me! :-) Just a reminder, we are going into summer, and it feels hot already. No A/C, so we will be sweating it out. While our minds say it is mid-June, our calendar argues that it's October 31. Now most people in Lesotho don't seem to be paying a lot of attention  to Halloween, but WE have been invited to a Halloween trick-or-treat party with our fellow American friends. To get in the mood, I had a Pinterest Day. Take a look! 

Pumpins made from curtain fabric, plastic bags, and toilet paper

Candle holder made from an artificial plant arrangement

Our house was filled with orange when we arrived! Even many of the dishes are orange. It was looking like a halloween house, and so we are reclaiming our space and will soon be "gifting" our friends with new creations. "Orange" you glad you don't live near us anymore?

We're Home!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

No, we haven't gone rogue! We have been in Maseru for about 12 days now, but have not had access to the internet. Our flights went well and we arrived here on a Friday evening. The international airport in Lesotho had only one small plane when we arrived: ours! Customs/Immigration was a breeze :-)  

We spent the last week working on our house and getting ready for school. The front part of our house will be classrooms, and we live in the rest of the house. Wow! Working at home. It's awesome. 

Front Classroom

Younger Kids' Classroom (work in progress)

There are a lot of things to learn about and get use to: how to pay for water and electricity, keeping your house secure, driving on the right side of the road, etc. We have a water filter attached to our kitchen sink, and that keeps us healthy. Unfortunately, Dakotah has been drinking water from her shower and is now paying the price with a "watery stomach" and a rash on her bottom. Ouch! She's been walking like a cowgirl for the past few days. 

So, this is where we live. Come on over! 

Front Gate to Our House

View of Front 

Door to our "school"

The Carport

View from the backyard

   

1, 2, 3...GO!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Right now we are in a hotel near Washington Dulles Airport, soon to sleep and wake up early to catch a flight to Africa! Well, not just us...we are also taking along over 400 pounds of luggage! Tomorrow we fly to Ethiopia, then down to Johannesburg, and finally to Lesotho where we will be met by the Geurinks from Beautiful Gate. It still doesn't seem real.

2 funny things that happened today :

 

1. After sitting in the Grand Rapids, MI airport for about 30 minutes, Dakotah asked, "Are we in Africa?" Don't we wish! There is still a long journey ahead.

2. I showed Dakotah a Youtube video of BJ Thomas singing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head." The video shows BJ Thomas with long wavy hair, probably in his early 50's. Dakotah thought it was Pastor Jack (Calvary Chapel Chino Hills)! We all laughed!!  

Thank you to so many who have helped us along the way. Please continue to pray as we transition to a new culture and lifestyle. Although things have taken longer than we expected, looking back I don't think we would change a thing. God knew...

Last Sunday the worship team at the church I attended sang "The Stand." So appropriate. The lyrics go like this:

You stood before creation
Eternity within Your hand
You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

 

You stood before my failure
Carried the Cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

 

So what can I say?
What can I do?
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

 

So I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
So I'll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

 

Yep, we're headed to Lesotho. I know I leave home as a selfish, willful person who knows very little about poverty, injustice, or untimely death. I pray that I will learn to surrender more completely and live with heart abandoned, and that God will work in our hearts so that we are ready and willing to do whatever He has prepared for us.

 

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

i finally Mustard the Strength to Ketchup on Times we Relish...

Monday, September 8, 2014

Hot dog! (Charis groans!!) We have made it to Colorado. So many things have happened in the past month. Sorry for neglecting the blog. Highlights:
1. Our house is in escrow. A week ago Saturday we had a "Take it Away" event in which we invited friends to come on over, take what they wanted, and leave a donation. Donated money would be used for our road trip to Michigan. We collected just over $2000 from some very generous people! 

Zion National Park

2. On Wednesday, September 3, we said good-bye to California and started making our way east. First stop: Zion. We stayed in Zion for a few days. Spectacular! If you haven't been there, it is a must see place!

3. After Zion, which we thought must 
be the most beautiful place in the United States, we took off for Colorado. The drive was breath-taking with hours and hours of open land, mountains, rivers, and stormy skies

Colorado!

followed by rainbows. Colorado challenged Zion as the most beautiful place. Beth, Dakotah and I started belting out patriotic songs from ages past. Charis just rolled her eyes and then decided to record our music for posterity. Reaching our destination, we crashed in on our cousins (and most gracious hosts), Melanie and Joel, and their crew of four boys, spending the weekend at their home. 
     Yesterday we were driving around to visit the old places from when from when Charis and I had lived here and we also planned a visit with Uncle Bill.

Uncle Bill and Charis in Denver

Unfortunately, I had set the parking brake earlier that day and neglected to release it when we took off again. Guess what happens to your brakes and brake fluid when you drive around with your parking brake on for about an hour. As we were exiting the freeway, I realized I had no brakes! The signal light turned green at the end of the exit and I was able to veer onto the street without hitting anyone. When the light turned red at the next intersection, I ended up driving up onto a sidewalk between a few trees where our car came to a rest. Good part: noone was hurt. Bad part: no more brakes! Today we are getting the brakes fixed before heading down to Oklahoma City to visit more family. 
Prayer Praises and Requests:
1. We are so thankful for God's provision throughout many unexpected circumstances. Thank you for praying for safe travels! 
2. We are blessed with family and friends who are going out of their way to make this journey a reality and our transition a pleasure. We love you! 
3. There has been some political unrest in Lesotho, and particularly Maseru, the capitol city where we will be living. We are watching the situation and have been advised to wait until September 19 (when parliament reconvenes) before booking our flight. Please pray for the country of Lesotho and the Geurink family with whom we will be working.

Steadfast

I was listening to this verse yesterday: "His steadfast love fills the earth." The news is filled with atrocities going on around the world. Many Christians are being imprisoned, persecuted, beheaded, crucified, burned alive...today. Yet, the Lord loves what is righteous and just; His steadfast love fills the earth. My prayer is that we will all be instruments of righteousness and justice, keeping our eyes open to His steadfast love, serving as conduits of God's love to the world around us wherever we are. 

We continue to be blessed to tears by many who are sacrificially supporting us financially, and even more through prayer. We only have $12,000 to go before we meet our goal. Our house is still on the market, but we have had some interested buyers come through. My pathology report came back clear, and the stitches will be removed next week. We have set a goal to be packed up and driving to Michigan by the end of August. His steadfast love fills our lives. 

Waiting

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. 
It's hard.

• We would love to sell our house in order to free us up financially for our move. We are waiting for that right buyer.
• We have 20% of the support raised for living in Lesotho next year, and we are thankful to all of you who are lovingly supporting us financially and in your prayers. We are waiting for the rest of our support to come in. 
• My biopsy results came in this week: squamous cell carcinoma. I'm waiting for a new doctor to take a look at the results and determine the next course of action (which will most likely be digging out a chunk of skin until all the surrounding cells are clear). That appointment takes place a few days after my insurance runs out. 

Earlier this week I was paging through a devotional by Charles Stanley entitled, God's Way Day by Day. I had put sticky notes on favorite selections, and the first one marked was entitled Today and Tomorrow. Stanley writes,

Friend, the God who is in control of today is also the God who is fully in control of tomorrow. He has already prepared for what will happen to you! He has already provided what you will need tomorrow. He has already anticipated the problems you will face tomorrow and has set into motion everything required to resolve those problems (July 21). 

I have reread those words several times this week. God is in control. Our job: trust in the Lord through all the twists and turns. He will direct our paths. 

The Proper Time

Psalm 104:27- 28 New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.

It has been an incredible week! Beth and I decided to divide and conquer, and so we created teams (although we don't have a lot of team members yet! :) My team, Team Dawnting, is in charge of preparing the house for rent or for sale...whichever happens first. This includes painting a few rooms, making sure everything is in working order, and basically putting our best foot forward. Beth's team, Team B-queath, is in charge of selling or giving away all the things we will not be taking with us. Our joint effort: to mail out at least 300 letters asking friends and family for prayer and financial support. That required a lot of searching for addresses, stuffing envelopes, and making daily trips to the post office to buy stamps and mail batches of letters. Mission accomplished!



A week ago, I was running an errand with Beth and Dakotah when our vehicle was struck by another car. Although no one was hurt and not a lot of damage was done, I was a little upset because it was my first accident, ending a career of accident-free driving and bragging rights which were often evoked when Beth made comments about my driving. (In case it's not common knowledge, Beth is the one who totaled two cars in the last 8 years. It's hard to fathom why she would have the audacity to critique my driving!) Anyway, immediately after exchanging information with the other driver and finishing up with our car insurance company, we received a text that a potential buyer wanted to look at our house in the next 20 minutes. That was about how long it would take for us to get home, and so we dashed off. 

When we arrived home, the other party was waiting with their agent. They took less than ten minutes to wander through the house, but shortly afterward we learned that they intended to put in an offer that night. Their agent came by later to waive a check under our noses as a demonstration of serious intent. Too easy! Our house had been on the market for less than 5 hours!

The next day came, and we eagerly anticipated a call from our realtor, wondering what the offer might be. Later in the day we found out the other party had changed their mind and had pulled out. Disappointing.

Time is ticking. Later this month we will receive our last paychecks from Ontario Christian and our medical insurance will expire. I had a biopsy yesterday, and it crossed my mind that it would be an "inconvenient truth" to end up with a serious medical diagnosis as my insurance comes to an end. There are so many variables at play right now.

That brings us to Psalm 104. The truth is that there has never been a time when we have not had to look to God for our provision. He will provide us with what we need when we need it. There is no point in becoming anxious about tomorrow. We have a Father that loves us dearly and will open His hand to satisfy us with good things. We must choose to remember, finding rest only in His care.

The Ascent

Have you ever paid too much money to go to an amusement park and then waited way too long to get on that giant roller coaster? Finally you make it to the front of the line and queue in for the next ride. You are excited and relieved that your time has finally come to climb aboard, but you are also feeling a bit anxious and wonder where the contents of your stomach may end up in the next five minutes. As your predecessors step out of the car, you step in and fasten your seat belt securely. An attendant comes by to see that you are ready to go and then pulls down a harness a bit too tightly across your chest. The ride makes a jerking start, and you are ready for the big climb.

As the roller coaster leaves the boarding platform, you feel your body tip back sharply and your eyes now look almost straight up to the sky. The movement is slow, and you hear that chain creaking and clanging beneath as it struggles to pull your train to the top of the first hill. At this point, no matter how much you scream and cry and beg to get off, it's not going to happen. You have begun that steep ascent, and there is no turning back. If you're afraid, looking down and around is probably not the best thing to do. Keep your eyes looking up! Trust that this is going to be great in the end.

If you know what I'm talking about, you have some sense of where Beth and I are right now in our journey to Lesotho. We have been waiting a long time to go on this ride. We are excited. But that ascent that must take place before the ride actually goes into full speed is a little daunting. A few weeks ago I stood in our kitchen and felt like I couldn't move because there were so many things to do that I didn't have a clue where to start. We have about a month to move out and move on. There is a lot of stuff to unload and so many details to take care of. Squeeze this pressure into a small space of time, and you may sense an oncoming explosion! To be very honest, though, we have an unusual calmness, which makes me think a lot of people are out there are blanketing us in prayer. (God bless you!)

One of my dear students, Terra, gave me a devotional book she had read from throughout the year. It is the kid's version of Jesus Calling written by Sarah Young. The June 10 selection reads as follows:

Ask Me to take charge of the details of your life. Remember that you are on a journey with Me. When you try to look into the future and plan for everything that might happen, you ignore your Friend who is with you all the time. While you're worrying about what's up ahead, you don't even feel the strong grip of My hand holding yours. How foolish that is, My child!

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. --Psalm 62:5

 Thank you Lord for going before us and being with us at all times. Help us to step out courageously knowing that You hold our hands. We love you!

Crossing the Line

6/15/14

OK...I'm an Andy Stanley fan. I have watched several of his Your Move podcasts over the past year, but his Easter message challenged me to the core. Stanley challenged believers to cross the line from "believing that" about Jesus, to "trusting in" Jesus. Yes, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He loves me, and that He is able to provide for all my needs. But, am I willing to really trust Him to do that? That's crossing the line. That's how our journey begins.

A few years ago we sat in church on a Sunday morning and first heard about Beautiful Gate Lesotho, a Christian orphanage rescuing babies and young children that have been orphaned or abandoned.  Lesotho is a small country landlocked by South Africa, and it has been referred to as a 4^th world country (without hope) due to extreme poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  As we listened to the stories of abandoned babies being rescued and given a chance for life, we were drawn to this ministry.

A few months ago, my sister Beth and I received an e-mail informing us that Beautiful Gate was looking for two teachers, preferably women who could live together, to come to Lesotho and pilot a school for missionary children. We have taught for a number of years, many of those overseas working at an international school for missionary kids. When we read the request, we believed the Lord was calling us.

We are now in the process of preparing to cross a few lines. First, we want to cross the line Andy Stanley challenged us to cross and live a life of trust in God. We will be living on a "faith based" income in Lesotho, which we have never done before. It is difficult to give up financial independence, even though in truth we know that everything we have is a gift from God. Second, we will be crossing the equator! This will bring seasonal changes such as a warm Christmas and a chilly July.

So, let's see what God will do with two single moms, a three year old, and a college student, willing to cross the line. Hope you'll join us on this journey!