Clothesline Prayer

This morning while on my drive home from the gym, I was thinking.

Did you get that?

I was thinking!!

Scary, huh?

Anyway, I was thinking that I forgot to start my washers last night. We have an electricity plan that allows us certain hours when the electricity is cheaper. After midnight, the power is almost 50% cheaper, so I try to wash clothes at midnight. At least start my washers and then go to bed. I have two washers. One was left in the house (it's 18 years old!) when we moved in, so my husband rigged it up using the plumbing from a shower that we don't use, so I can run two washers at once! With 5 kids, and itty bitty European washers, I need all the washers I can get!. Both of these washers may hold as many clothes as my one washer did in the states.

Back to my story....

I forgot to load the washers last night which means I don't get to hang them out this morning, and this makes me sad.

Yes, you heard me right...I actually like hanging clothes out on the line.

Last summer was my first time ever to use a clothesline. I had to learn the right and wrong way to do it. I posted about my time spent at 'The Line'.

I love the fresh, clean smelling clothes that are wet and cool against the hot sun. I pray as I hang each article of clothing.......

.....something like this....

....."Lord, would you bless Brooklyn today? This shirt is hers and it's so hard to believe that she's 10 now. She's such a lady, so sweet, caring and appreciative. Help her Lord to continue to mature and follow your will......Lord, would you look at these tiny socks. Justice is a handful, tiny feet and all. He's 2 Lord and never stops moving. Always looking for the next adventure. Would you keep him safe as he tests himself, his abilities and his "man" hood.....Lord, would you bless my handsome husband the next time he wears this shirt while preaching your word. Give him a clear mind, direct his thoughts and give him the right words as he shares with the Portuguese people about your love and will for their lives....."

You see....when I don't have clothes to hang out...I miss this time of sweet fellowship with my Lord. He speaks to me, reassures me, calms me and directs me....all while hanging out the laundry.

I guess I could have the same sweet fellowship while cleaning the toilets....but somehow, that just doesn't sound the same, does it?

Urgent Prayer Request

There is a 13 year old young lady named Dana that has been kidnapped in New Zealand. Her parents are missionaries. Here is all the information I know at the present time:

Jerry and Dawn's daughter, Dana, has been kidnapped! It happened yesterday. Police and family are searching for her. They had just moved to the north island from the south island to work with another missionary. Dana went to the store to purchase a Christmas present. When she didn’t return, they went to the store and the owner said she never showed up. They texted her cell phone and a message came back that said “If you want to see your daughter again, you can pick her up at Christ Church on the 14th.” Other text messages came following that were very nasty. Please pray for Dana at this time … for her safety … for her safe return … for Jerry, Dawn and Justin. Dana is a scrapper and strong, even though she is only 13 years old. Please pray! It is 12 hours later in New Zealand.

Please pray for this family. ----This really strikes home with us. Thanks.

Brooklyn Passed!

She is now in the third grade! Right after the test, she went to her class and they had reading time where each student read a paragraph from a story. Brooklyn said that she felt like she did good and understood what she read. A fellow classmate, and our neighborhood friend who is in Brooklyn's class met me when I went to get the girls for lunch. She said to me in Portuguese, "Brooklyn reads very well!" as if she were surprised. ----Maybe we should have shot for the 4th grade?!

Thank you for praying.

The Birth of a Son - Guest Blogger

Strictly from a father's perspective, the birth of a son has been
known to elicit numerous responses. Perhaps the most well
recognized of these being the pre 80's ritual of passing out cigars
to other expectant fathers in hospital waiting rooms. Others may
include the dancing of jigs, shouting, and dreaming of their
greatness in years to come. Having watched my wife bring four girls
into this world, with very little help from me, I often wondered
what, if any difference having a son would produce on my attitude as
a father. Would I be more or less protecting, loving, forgiving?
Would my fatherhood of a manchild afford me greater insight to the
Heavenly Father's great sacrifice of freely giving His Son for us?
Looking back, less than two years after becoming the father of a son,
I realize, right or wrong, that the change a son produces on any man
is patently undeniable, and cries of sexism or women's liberation
theology will never change the irrefutable nature of the change
wrought by the birth of a son on his own father. Though this change
may not always be identical throughout mankind, absolutely noticeable
it is. Though it may not always be permanent, a transformation
nonetheless does come to pass that is markedly different from the
mindset of those tasked with raising beautiful little girls.

Such was the case very soon after our first parents began to fulfill
God's first command to be fruitful and multiply so they could
replenish the earth. Once Cain mercilessly ended Abel life, God
graciously gave another baby boy to Adam and Eve. Seth, they called
him meaning the appointed one. From the Bible, we aren't privy what
effect this had on Adam, but to the next generation we may look and
discover the birth of possibly the greatest opportunity ever afforded
man. However, before fully realizing the greater effect Enos' birth
had on Seth, we should notice the primary workings of his birth. In
Genesis 4:26 we read, "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son;
and he called his name Enos..." whose meaning signifies the frailty
and mortality of man. Here we have Seth, who was born after one of
his brothers killed the other, now years later at the birth of his
own son pondering the very frailty of human life. At the birth of
his son, Seth must have looked down and said something akin to,
"Honey, we are but poor and miserable creatures." Enos' birth forced
Seth to acknowledge both the eternal existence and infinite power of
Almighty God. Seth thought, though we are but pitiful and helpless,
He is not, and the last part of verse 26 naturally follows, "...then
began men to call upon the name of the LORD." What was the product
of Enos' birth? Prayer. Pure, unadulterated, spontaneous prayer.
Seth saw his own frailty and that of his newborn heir and began to
cry out to his Creator, the Omnipotent Effector, the very opposite of
weakness. No doubt, soon others began to take notice and share in
this great privilege and so on and so forth down through the
wonderful ages until now.

I know the birth of my son has changed me. I can see the subtle
effect of his life on mine each day, and yet how rarely I stop and
thank God for how He chooses to change me through others He brings in
my life.

"Thank You Lord for my son. Thank You for my daughters and wife and
friends. Lord, please use these people and others that You choose to
bring in my life to make me more like Your Son. Father, teach me to
cherish the privilege of prayer each day and grow closer to You
through it. How I love You, Lord. Amen."


Bro. Michael

Right or Wrong?

As a mother of 5 relatively small children, I sometimes struggle with the decisions we've made or are going to make in regards to our children. I guess we all do. Homeschooling was a decision we made years ago when our first daughter was just a baby. It's worked well for our family. Not without the normal struggles, however. Homeschoolers are excepted for the most part. They have the same liberties as children who attend public schools. But things have changed....

We've moved to another country where our children are already feeling the isolation from the cultural barrier. The differences between us and the average Portuguese family are significant. They have one maybe two children, they work constantly and the children are either in school or in after school programs. When they are home they eat, watch TV and go to sleep. They watch us through the windows and wonder why we're here and why on earth our kids aren't in school.

The decision to put them in school wasn't an easy one. It was made with much prayer and consideration for what was best for our kids.

They've already had friends come to play several times and the playmates have spent hours here in our home. These friends are my best tutor! I'm not embarrassed to try out my Portuguese on them and they think I'm funny when I mess up. They like me..I guess they think I'm crazy....but it's great practice! They help my girls with the language as well, always sticking an English word in every now and then.

Today I received a comment on my blog. I don't know this nice lady but her words were like a balm to my concerned heart....'did we make the right decision?' Read her words for yourself....

"Hello! My parents were missionaries in Portugal when I was a child. They sent me to a Portuguese school only knowing about 10 words in Portuguese. I am so excited to hear you sent your children. I like to share this experience with those who are curious. It was honestly the best decision my parents ever made for us children. We spoke Portuguese fluently within three months. All of us children had a burden for the Portuguese people (my brother is returning to Portugal as a missionary, and my husband and I are going to England. Anyway...I'm very happy for your children. They will relate to the Portuguese children and brake the barriers that lay between them. They will grow to appreciate the Portuguese customs and culture. I'm thrilled for your family. You will find things are very different in school over there....sometimes my teacher just wouldn't show up! I am still close to my classmates and when I go to Portugal to visit my brother I'm planning on visiting my teacher (you keep the same teacher 1-4 grade). We were able to see many of our classmates come to Sunday School and visit with there families to share God's plan of salvation. Also, my father had the privilege to teach English in our school. This gave him many opportunities to make even more contacts. Wow, this is long...I'm sorry, it's just very special to me! My blog is "theruwersmafamily.blogspot.com"

Thank You Anna! God Bless you for your words of encouragement! We will be in prayer for you and your husband as you go to England and for your brother as he comes to Portugal! Praise the Lord for fellow laborers in this barren field!

Just stuff

I haven't been able to take any pictures lately. I found my camera on the ground and not in working order. I'm afraid Justice found it and played soccer with it or something like that. Anyway, I'm having "picture taking" withdrawals if that's possible. I have expensive taste in cameras, so I couldn't just run out and buy a new one, I've had to do some research first. Which we're pretty good about doing when we have a major purchase in front of us. Well, my precious husband ordered me one online and I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Our anniversary is Saturday, so maybe it'll be here by then, since Michael is calling this new camera my anniversary gift! There is a holiday here in Portugal this Tuesday which means the mail won't run for about 4 days....they take their holidays seriously around here! They started partying yesterday and won't stop till later in the week. Fireworks and street parties are constant with music played on loud speakers so the entire village can enjoy it...whether we want to or not.

Our co-worker, Dawne Hart arrived safely and we've been busy helping her get her apartment set up and showing her around. She's already been a blessing in the church services, playing instruments and singing. She has conversational Portuguese down pretty good, so she was able to move right in and begin to minister without any delay. Please help us pray as the Lord is opening doors. We can really see things coming together now and it's very exciting.

Language study for me is still moving along pretty slowly. I understand most of what people say in casual conversation, but I have a hard time understanding preaching. I don't speak near as much as I understand, but it will come in time. Continue to pray for us as we all study the language.

Is school ever going to end?!

Just us girls!

Baby grapes.

These were real!

Planting watermelon and cantaloupe.

2 Hours and Counting....

In 2 hours I'll leave with all the girls to pick Mimi up at the airport. Here is an example of the welcome signs the girls made. We are all very excited.

I hope to be able to post while she's here and show you folks back home the pictures that we've taken. So stay posted.....

My Mom, America & Apple Pie

My mom will be here in less than 3 days! There is much excitement in this house! We're praying for pretty weather so we can show her around this beautiful country.

Today during our language class we struck up a conversation attempting to speak only in Portuguese. (Which we're supposed to do every class, I just always break that rule.) Our topic of discussion was "America". We told our teacher all about America and specifically the "American Traditions". You know.... homemade peach ice cream...apple pie....etc. About half way through the discussion I got a real yearning for my homeland. Not the little passing fancy I've had a time or two since arriving in Portugal, but a real strong tug in my heart to see the open highways, SUV's, McDonalds and Baptist Churches on every corner. To smell the clean smelling breeze instead of the fragrances that waft through here most of the time.

Our teacher was shocked that the average family in America DIDN'T eat rabbit, had a library where you could check out up to 35 books at a time, and owned an ice cream maker that costs less than 30 dollars. (They are about $150 here, IF you can find them.) We talked about how everything in America is done on a large scale. If you've never left The States, then you won't understand this, but America is a very unique place. Most Americans are very wasteful without even realizing it.

Mississippi has approximately 2,500,000 people. Portugal and Mississippi are about the same size. Only Portugal has about 11,000,000 people. So there isn't a lot of room for "large" things. The cars are tiny, the roads are narrow, the grocery stores are small and the people are short. Everything is very different....

Thanks for helping us pray about our paperwork. Today we made our 4th trip back to the office and finalized the details. We paid for all 7 of us and we're supposed to receive the cards in the mail sometime within the next 6 weeks. When we get them, we'll all shout and thank the Lord, then I'll take a picture of them and show you what all the trouble was about.

So what did you think about the surprise visit from my favorite guest blogger? Isn't he great?! Anyone up for a challenge? If you like to be featured as a "guest blogger, just send me an email.

Sunny Days

Man, has it been beautiful! It's very difficult for me to be inside studying Portuguese right now. I'm sneaking away to do a new post and show you some of our "Sunny Day" pictures.







Here are a few pictures from "around the neighborhood".





And here are some showing all the food our neighbor, Vino shared with us. Michael offered to help him in his fields without payment, just to make a friend and practice his Portuguese. But Vino insisted we take food from his fields as payment. (By the way, how do I cook those big green leafy things?)....notice how small Vino is!

Our Last Sunday in America

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With all the hustle and bustle of getting here, I neglected to post a few pictures from our last Sunday in America. We already miss our church. We miss all the churches that were such a blessing to us while on deputation. We've already received 3 "care packages!" Some containing peanut butter, some ranch dressing packages, some kool-aid and other gifts. Everyone has been so kind to us.

Today, we made our 2nd trip to the immigration office here in Portugal. We have to go to the next city. It takes us about 40 minutes to get there if there isn't road construction, oxen in the road or cyclist in front of us. There we accomplished nothing! Last week we went with another missionary family that spoke Portuguese. When we got there, there was a 6 hr wait! No way....not with 5 kids who needed lunch and a nap! So we left and decided to try again today. We got there before they opened, got number 3, and was sitting at the desk within 15 minutes!! Wow, I thought..this is going so much better than last week. The kids and I waited in the sitting area while Michael tried to speak Portuguese to the man. Within 10 minutes Michael was back by me saying he had to wait on the boss who spoke English. The boss came to the desk shortly thereafter and she wasn't very pleasant. After about 30 minutes of talking to her, she determined our paper work was of "no use to her" as she flipped it back in our face. We must start from scratch. Get new pictures, get new copies, get new documentation, and of course, pay new fees. We spent the remainder of the day buying ink to make copies, trying to find a place to make passport pictures and learning multiplication facts. We will try again tomorrow. If all of you who view this post in the next 15 hrs will pray for us and about this situation, I am convinced that the Lord is capable of handling this in such a way we will all know who did it!! That would be such a blessing to me. To see God's hand work again in our lives. Would you say a prayer for the Andrzejewski family and our necessary paperwork that needs to be approved. Thank You...and God bless you!

Thanks Danielle & Todd, Lindsay & Todd and King Cove Bible Chapel!!---It's been like Christmas around here with all the peanut butter, ranch dressing, kool-aid and cheese!! You guys are great!

Flowers & Furniture

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, but aren't they pretty? They're out behind our house.

Getting furniture delivered here is like pulling teeth. They bring it when they feel like it. Here are a few pictures of the coffee table and shelves being delivered. They didn't bring the chair they were supposed to bring. And they didn't have the right drill to install the shelves. It was 4 days later before they came back with the chair and correct drill. I guess we are the only ones in a hurry in this country!

I don't think I've experienced "Culture Shock" yet. Or maybe the denial of said "shock" is evidence of it....Who knows? But truly, I love this country and I'm humbled when I think about the work we were called here to do. Learning Portuguese isn't my favorite thing to do, but I know I have to learn it. I study when I can, which isn't often enough. Our teacher, Olinda laughs at me a lot. I don't know if that's a good thing or not...let's just assume it is.

I Did It For Her

Since the second day we were in Portugal, we had the date set to begin language school. The date we set was Tuesday, March 11th. That was today. I didn't want to do it. I wanted to stay in bed and mope around a little more. I didn't even get out of my pj's yesterday, I was considering doing the same thing today. I wanted to continue to morn. After all, how could I focus on language school when my Grandmother's funeral was today? How could someone expect me to be "worth a dime" today? I was doing good to have school with the kids and make sure they had meals prepared for them. How could anyone expect anything more from me, especially today?

I mentioned to Michael that "I wasn't up for it yet...could we push it back a little?" He replied, "We've already waited too long....it's past time to begin." I thought, "We have been here 3 weeks today! Barely enough time to find the grocery store and to locate the sour cream....what do you mean we've already waited too long?!?!" "We still have furniture that's not been delivered..and to top it all off...my grandmother died!" I thought this, I didn't say it....I wanted to though.

This morning as I was getting dressed, I had a conversation with my grandmother. (No, she wasn't standing in my bathroom....again, this was all in my head, and in my heart.) I told her all about how I wasn't ready for language school. I told her how I wanted to mope around and not get anything accomplished today. I wanted to stay in my pj's and I wanted to only think of her all day long. Do you know what she told me? She said, "Nina, the quicker you learn that language, the sooner you can tell the Portuguese people about our precious Savior who died not only for our sins, but for their sins as well." She told me, "Go, and do it good." (This was one of the last things she told me during my last conversation with her.)---It was then that I realized, I had to do it. I didn't have a choice. That's why I'm here. That's why my dear husband said it's already been too long, because there are souls in the balance. We have work to do! My Grandma was thrilled for us to be here. She would want nothing more than for me to get dressed, take care of my family & learn Portuguese so I could tell others about Him. Even if it was the day of her funeral. I'm sharing my heart with you tonight...I didn't want to do it, but I did it for her. Now, after it's all said and done with, I'm glad I did and I'm looking forward to our next class. Even more so, I'm looking forward to when I can lead someone to Christ!

When I was a rebellious teen, I had a little note taped up on the inside of my closet door that said, "Who Cares?" It was a sign of my attitude toward most things in life. I didn't really care who I hurt, or how I hurt myself. One day, while looking in my closet for clothes, I noticed where my grandmother had taken a pencil and had written, "Grandma does" underneath it. That note hung in that closet until my mom and step dad sold that house a few years ago. ---I will always remember her. She was so precious to me. Grandma always cared. Even if I thought no one else did, I always knew she did.

Thank you to everyone who has shared an encouraging word with me. For the calls, the emails, the comments you left on this blog and pictures you've sent. My cousins have been so precious during this time. They really made me feel like I was a part of everything. Oh, how I wanted to be there. Only God knows how much.

"I love you Grandma, and I'm going to miss you terribly."

Grandma is in Heaven

Grandma passed away this morning. I've been trying all day to write a post in her honor....but I just can't do it....all I can do is cry....

If you click Here you can read the one my husband wrote.

Please keep praying for me....I feel so very far away.

Please Pray For My Grandma

This is "Grandma". She is in need of our prayers. The Dr. seems to think she may have lung cancer. They will do a biopsy on Monday. Please pray for her. ---Normally, she is the one praying for everyone else. ---This is hard for me....I'm across the Atlantic Ocean and not in the hospital room with her...pray for me too.

UPDATE:

First, thank you for your prayers for Grandma. She has been in very good spirits this week as she waited for surgery to determine if she had cancer or not. Her testimony has been an encouragement to all who've had the opportunity to talk to her. She'd be the first to tell you not to worry about her cause her God is in control and she is ok which ever way this thing goes. God showed her just a little glimpse of His Glory! Revealing to her His omnipresence...He can be anywhere in the world at the same time. Hearing the prayers of people in Portugal, India, Alaska and Alabama at the same time that He is wrapping His arms around her as she lay in the hospital bed. And for this, I am eternally grateful.

The doctors confirmed today that she does indeed have cancer. We're waiting on a visit from the oncologist tomorrow to find out more information. Please know how grateful I am for your prayers thus far, but please don't stop now as her struggle, and ours, is just beginning. God Bless each of you.