Surprising News!

I believe it's time to share the news....looks like we will be taking three kids to Indonesia! We recently found out that we are expecting, and after an ultrasound we were shocked to discover that I am four weeks farther along than we thought, putting me at 13 weeks and out of the first trimester already! The due date is October 27th. I will be honest, we desired to have another baby before leaving, but didn't really expect it to happen. I am still nursing Callie and we have such a short window of time left here. We have always wanted more than 2 kids though and have desired that they be close together in age. With my history of pre-term contractions, we didn't want to think about having another one soon after arriving in Indonesia (not too sure about the medical care there). So, we gave it to God.

Now honestly, I can't even imagine how difficult this will be and I fully admit that this is crazy!!! However, looking at the big picture of what will be taking place in our lives, this is exactly what we wanted. As hard as it might be in the beginning, we believe this was God's will and part of his perfect plan for our lives. He knew this was going to happen long before we did, and what a miracle that it did happen!

Some of you  may be wondering..."will this change your timeline for leaving?" The answer is no.  The next available training for us (required mountain flying and maintenance standardization) is offered next February.  This is approximately 10 weeks of training and will allow us to leave for Indonesia next May.  Some of you may have heard us talk about a January departure for Indonesia, but that was based on an aggressive schedule that became clear early on that it wasn't realistic.  We're exactly on track with where God wants us to be.  He knew all along that we would be having this baby and need a few months of recovery after the baby was born before we leave the country!  It's important to note though that we need to be approaching at least 90% support by the end of this year in order to attend that training in February. That is a little more than double our current support level, so please pray with us that God continues to lead people to join our team this year! If not, then we would be delayed several more months and have to attend Spring or Summer training.  If you are considering joining our financial team, please don't wait! If you are unsure how to get started, send us an email or facebook message, or go to our website www.maf.org/scheer. Thanks to all who have been so supportive and encouraging during this time.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

Saying goodbye to our "old friend" :)

It's funny how we can get so attached to our vehicles. As we give up our van today we almost feel as if we're losing a family pet! So many memories and good trips were had in that van. You served us well little white van, and we'll miss you... :)

We want to share how this happened and how God turned a seemingly bad situation into a true blessing.

After our accident a few weeks ago we took our van into a body shop expecting the dents to be fixed and the van to be as good as new. After all, the damage was pretty minor. But the insurance company declared the van "totaled," and now we had a decision to make. Did we keep the van and take a lesser payment from the insurance, as well as have to fix the bumper, pay to get a "roadworthy" inspection, and pay to re-license the vehicle? Or did we take the full payment from insurance, give up the van, and be left without a vehicle?

God knew all along what was happening, and he already had a new van ready for us! We shared our ministry in a local church a couple Sundays ago, and a couple we met that morning offered us the use of their 2004 Venture until we leave for Indonesia!!! We are so grateful for them and their willingness to sacrifice their van (they were going to sell it this summer) in order to help us in our time of need. We are continually amazed at the generous people we have met on this journey of preparing to serve in Indonesia. God is growing our prayer team, our financial support team, and is blessing us in huge ways through faithful people we hardly know, but who want to have a part in spreading Christ's love. It's a beautiful picture of God's design for the body of Christ. All of us have different gifts, different backgrounds, different talents, but we are all unified by our common love for Christ and what he has done for us, and we use those gifts for the benefit of others. So thank you to all of you for your prayers, for your gifts...we are humbled and blessed and give all of our praise and thanksgiving to the One who deserves it all!

The BEAUTIFUL 2004 Venture we'll be using to finish out our time here in the States.

Thank you!!! (You know who you are!)

Easter 2012

Matt's writing this one. Ellie does a super job writing her posts and picking great pictures of the kiddos, but as I was reflecting on the Easter story this year I had something that I felt like sharing. If you're only interested in the kid pictures I understand, just scroll down! :) But have you ever noticed the difference in the disciples actions while Jesus was being arrested and tried, and how they acted after his resurrection? I mean how could Peter go from denying Christ to a servant girl, to boldly and unapologetically proclaiming Christ's teachings all the way to his martyr's death? Why was John the only disciple bold enough to attend the crucifiction and comfort Mary, but later on 10 of the remaining 11 disciples boldly refused to deny Christ and were put to death for it?

We see their true colors as they all hide in a locked room awaiting soldiers to come arrest them at any moment. And really you can't blame them. You can see from several scripture passages that they didn't fully understand what Christ was teaching when he was with them. He had talked of a coming kingdom (which they thought was a physical revolution against Rome), he had claimed to be God himself, and yet here he was locked in a tomb. They must have been wondering if anything he said was true.

So how could they go from that to enduring torture and death while refusing to recant their belief in Christ and the resurrection? I think there can be only one explanation. Only by seeing Christ post-crucifiction, by walking with him, and by touching his wounds could they have been given the assurance that what they had believed all along was true. Speaking for myself, it's the only thing that would have brought that change about in me!

There are many theories out there as to what happened to Jesus' body. Most scholars, even if not admitting to a resurrection, at least agree that the body was missing. The chief theory is that his disciples stole the body and made up the resurrection. But that just doesn't explain their behavior. We know they were scared to death of persecution and imprisonment. So if the resurrection was nothing but a trick that they pulled on the world there is no way 10 of the remaining 11 would individually endure torture and eventually death for refusing to deny Christ. They KNEW he was alive!

Anyway, just some thoughts on a matter that for me is one of the most compelling arguments of what really happened on Easter 2000 years ago. We serve a risen Lord!

Well I didn't spend all of Easter thinking of such things...we all had a great Easter weekend in Bellevue full of eggs (colored and chocolate), chocolate bunnies, and all the other delicious Easter sweets! Here are some pictures of the kiddos. Hope you enjoy.

Blake ready for the trip to grandma and grandpas!

Callie just hangin out...her first time in a swing and she loved it

Grandma doing her best to keep the kiddos happy

Blake LOVING the fort grandma made for him

Quality time with grandpa