Answers!!!

In response to some inquiries on the last post about how God answered our prayers, we thought we'd be a little more specific and answer some of those questions. For those of you who don't know, we are support raising full time this year with the goal of being at 100% of our monthly support and in Indonesia by January of next year. We call it ministry partnership, because those who have chosen to partner with us financially and in prayer are part of this ministry with us and have a heart to see God reach the people of Indonesia. This phase, before we go, is also a ministry. God has already been using our story and how we were brought to this point to touch people, and He has built our faith in so many ways as well!

Having said all of that, things have been extremely slow lately in ministry partnership and we seemed to hit a wall as far as moving forward. In addition to being bogged down with computer crashes and viruses, sickness, and several other distractions, not much was happening in the way of ministry partnership and several doors seemed to be closing on us. Feeling a little discouraged and at a loss of what to do next, we decided to devote a day to prayer, specifically asking God to open doors and open the floodgates of His resources, so to speak. And did He ever!!! Within a week of our prayer day, starting that very night, things started to happen. Here are a few:

• We received calls from pastors who wanted to meet with us or speak to the congregation



• Our missions pastor was able to arrange a meeting with two local pastors



• We were notified of a new monthly donor



• We were notified that a current supporter had increased their giving
  


• A church that we met with back in September gave $500 (I will mention that we never expected this church to give!)



• A current supporter called to tell us that they were giving an additional $700 and also increasing their monthly donations!
  

Praise God!!!! He listens to our prayers and He is working on our behalf.

I will extol the Lord at all times;

his praise will always be on my lips.

My soul will boast in the Lord:

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me;

let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

Psalm 34:1-5

Mt. Spokane Prayer Day

A couple of days ago Ellie and I decided to devote a day to prayer for our ministry and fun for the family. The hour long drive up to the top of Mt Spokane was a perfect time for us to pray as the kids slept soundly in the back. Once at the top we had a picnic with all 4 of us crammed on the floor in the back of our van (it was cold outside!), complete with mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Yummy!
After lunch we bundled up and let the kids have some fun in the snow. In such a beautiful setting it was easy for us to continually be reminded of how awesome our God is, and feel at peace about the ministry He's called us into.
One highlight was Blake going potty in the back of the van! We brought his little porta-potty since he's in the middle of training. His comment to me as he sat on the seat was "Coooood (cold) Dad!"
We got home feeling both tired and refreshed after a good day playing and praying together. And now, just 24 hours after spending that time in prayer, God has already answered several of our prayer requests in a BIG way! So thanks God for family, fun, snow, and opening doors for us in response to our prayers to you.

Winter Pictures

Here are some recent pictures, including the recent snow storm (we got about 8-9 inches) and the starting of potty training Blake. Enjoy!

Blue doggy demonstrating how to use the potty

View of back of house from backyard
View of backyard from Callie's window
Helping mommy make cookies

Thankfulness or Crankfulness

Thankfulness or Crankfulness. It's a phrase Matt and I heard in a parenting book we are going through and it has really got me thinking. God has been teaching us a lot in the last few days since coming back to Spokane. I will be honest....the transition back has been rough. I'm pretty sure that our household appliances, electronics, and a number of other things have conspired to crash or malfunction since we returned. Between fixing things, doctor's appts to try to figure out my health problems, and dealing with Blake's sudden increase in scream sessions and disobedience, I confess I have rarely felt thankful. How do I take the stress of traveling for weeks on end with two young kids, packing, unpacking, dealing with mice infestations and 45 minute meltdowns and infections and computer crashes....and have a thankful attitude, full of praise? Sometimes I feel like it's so much easier and more natural to choose to be cranky and complain than choose to be thankful. I have so much to learn when it comes to dealing with stress, but God has shown me several things recently. First of all, when we focus on the bad, it's so easy to lose sight of the good, and there is SO much good!

"Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

Secondly, laughter is SUCH a gift. Whether it's being on a road trip and having a spider run full force at me over the dashboard TWICE (yes it happened two separate times, believe it or not), accidentally stepping on a tube of diaper cream and having it squirt three feet over the carpet (just happened today), or putting Dawn dish soap in the dishwasher and having it overflow with bubbles, God is the creator of humor and He intends for us to enjoy it! One day we will look back at this time and say "remember when we were trying to take our family picture in the snow and Blake was acting up and knocked me over while trying to keep him in place?" These are precious memories.

Thirdly, Matt and I have heard, and concur, that parenting is the hardest job we will ever have. There will be stages that will feel easy, and fun, and full of joy. Then there will be stages that will stretch us further than we ever thought possible. The last few days have definitely been the latter. We have failed over and over again, lost our patience, and at times been at a complete loss of what to do with Blake. How do we exercise patience when he just hit or pulled the cat's tail for the fiftieth time and no discipline seems to be getting through to him? One thing that God has clearly spoken to me about is how I use my words with him. I borrowed a quote from a friend's blog that really hit home for both Matt and I....

“Words have the ability to inspire or to depress; to make one happy and feel validated or to deplete and discourage. When we live with our children day after day, we either build an inheritance, a treasure chest of inspiration, confidence, validation, OR memories of anger, criticism, while storing up in their souls hostility, insecurity, and bitterness.” -Sally Clarkson

Ephesians 4:29 says "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." When we are tired or stressed it's easy to be short with our children or focus on the negative aspects of their behavior and fail to acknowledge the little triumphs and positive things.

God is undeservingly patient with us, so why shouldn't we be with our little ones? It is a battle from day to day, but God has reminded us to actively lift up and encourage our kids, even when it doesn't seem like there is much to go on. It's a big job, but I am so thankful for each of them and I look to Jesus for His supernatural strength and patience for the tough times.

*The parenting book we are reading (that we highly recommend) is called "Loving the Little Years" by Rachel Jankovic

January Update

On Monday we will be heading back to our home in Spokane for a few weeks. Though we have had a wonderful time with family these last three weeks, it will be so nice to be home. So far we've only been home for 2 and 1/2 weeks since September and I (Ellie) am really missing it.

This last month has been so full of blessings......several new people have decided to join us financially and have been such an encouragement to us. We are inching closer to reaching our goal of being in Indonesia by this time next year and are so thankful for those who have decided to partner with us. Tomorrow we will be presenting in a church outside of Seattle, and will pack up and head home the next day.

Here are some things that you can be praying for:

• My health: I have had several minor health issues since Callie was born and could use prayer for physical healing.


• The transition back home: We will start potty training Blake and also attempting to get Callie to sleep through the night. Please pray for success in these areas. Callie is almost 7 months old and still not sleeping well, and we are hoping to use this time home (while we are finally in one place for a while) to get Blake out of diapers!


• That God would prepare the churches and individuals we are going to be contacting in the Spokane area and that it would be an encouraging time for us.
  Thank you!

We started feeding Callie solids!

Making Cookies with Grandpa

Annual New Year's Party - Movie Theme

This year's theme at the McDowell's annual New Year's Party was movie/tv stars, and as you can tell, people had fun with it! I was Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, but we didn't get a good picture of it.

It's Edward!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!

We are the Three Amigos!

Dad was "Tim the Tool Man" but you can't really tell from the picture

Forrest as "Dr. House"

Manuel as "Zorro"