Arizona

I never realized just how beautiful the desert could be. The palate of colors (browns, oranges, and pale pinks) that God used to paint the landscape here is so unlike the greens and blues that make up the Northwest…and yet it’s every bit as beautiful. There is a foot-long lizard that greets me every morning at the same time from the kitchen window as he crawls up into the sun to recharge himself. We haven’t run across any snakes yet, though we’ve been warned to keep our porch light on at night to discourage them from curling up on the doorstep, so we know they’re around. And I’ve never been in a place where the “cold” tap water comes out at room temp or warmer! Though every day has been over 100 degrees we are enjoying the heat.


So far we have met with a few churches, spent a day hanging out with Ellie’s cousin and brother (and fam), and explored the local area a bit. In the next week and a half we have a couple small groups who have invited us to share, and I (Matt) hope to reconnect with some old friends from Rwanda who live in the area!

Though Blake is enjoying this adventure he has asked us every day when we are going back home to “Pokane Wasington.” He’s been through a lot of travel in the last year and he’s been a trooper through it all, but it still breaks our hearts to hear him long for home like that. The folks who are graciously letting us use their home down here have many grandkids of their own so the house has all the toys a kid could want. Out in the back there is a large turf putting green that Blake has been enjoying immensely! Just down the road there is a large splash park, and a man-made lake that boasts the largest fountain jet in the world. It spouts off about every hour and it is quite impressive to see.

So as we spend one more week broiling ourselves in the desert sun please pray with us that the Lord continues to open doors for us down here as well as back in Spokane. And if you happen to know of any fun/interesting/exciting (kid friendly) things to do down in the Phoenix area shoot us an email!

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

Car Accidents and More

Some of you may have heard that Matt and our little Blake were in a car accident on the way back over Snoqualmie Pass last Sunday. Both are fine and were not harmed in any way, praise God. The snowfall was getting heavier and another car started sliding into them, hitting the back corner of the van and sending them spinning out into a snowbank. They made it home okay from there, but there is about $3,600 worth of damages to the van. We are now just praying that things go smoothly with insurance and that there aren't any problems, since there were no witnesses. In addition, when they arrived in Seattle a couple of days before, the starter on the van stuck and burned up. Matt spent several hundred dollars to replace it. At the same time we've had more plumbing issues at home and I found a leak in the bathroom. One of our computers recently died altogether as well.

When we think about all that has happened to us in this last year and the timing of it all, it seems absolutely unbelievable, yet Peter talks about this specifically.

"Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12

We have also seen God's protection in incredible ways. It's easy for us to get frustrated and focus on the negative, but there have been some huge things to be thankful for in each thing. Praise God the starter didn't burn up on the way to Seattle, at a rest stop or in a town! Praise God that the boys weren't hurt and that we have insurance. Yes, we are getting pretty tired of all of this. I'm pretty sure however that this is going to be great preparation for some of the struggles that we'll face in Indonesia. We still get discouraged at times and feel the frustration, but we are thankful for the ways God has had his hand on our lives and for the prayers and encouragement of so many friends and family.

It's Not About Us

I woke up this morning with a pit in the bottom of my stomach. I was scheduled to speak in a women's bible study group of about 40-50 women that I have been attending, and felt more nervous than all of the churches we have presented in to this point! I had to keep reminding myself, "this isn't about me God, it's about you." When I arrived at the church and started setting up, I wasn't able to get the powerpoint working correctly. I started to panic. Frantically, Matt and I tried to troubleshoot it over the phone, but to no avail. He ended up having to wake Callie from her nap and quickly drop her off at the neighbor's house. He raced to the church and we were able to get it working just in time.

I think this process has given me a few grey hairs along the way, but God is faithful. Afterwards the women showered me with hugs, encouragement, and excitement about the ministry that God has called us into. Some even had tears in their eyes. I was overwhelmed with love and kind words from these precious women of God.

This year has not been an easy one. We have been challenged in every way and have faced discouragement, exhaustion, and the feeling of overwhelming weakness. But God has proved time and time again that it is in our brokenness, our nervousness, our weakness, that his power is able to sweep through and accomplish his mighty works. This isn't about us. If he can use weak, fearful Moses to demonstrate his power, he can most assuredly use us.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Well we arrived back in Spokane yesterday evening and are just trying to get settled in again. We had an extremely busy time in Bellevue, but it was a good time of meeting many new people and reconnecting with friends.

On the way there we actually had trouble with a snowstorm and the mountain pass closed on us right before making it over. We turned around and went to check out hotels in CleElum but they had already filled up, so we headed to Ellensburg. There were only two hotels left that still had rooms and I ended up being on hold with one of them for 15 minutes. By this time I was getting pretty frustrated and the kids were starting to meltdown. On top of that, we had the poor cat and he hadn't gone to the bathroom in quite a while. By the time we found the hotel, we could see that people were overflowing the waiting area! What were we going to do? We could go to Yakima to stay with my great aunt, but that was 40 miles away. The next morning we were supposed to speak in a church in Redmond and we had no clue if the pass would even re-open that night. Just as we were about to head to Yakima, the pass opened up! It actually was a huge blessing that we were on hold so long with the hotel, because if we would have booked a room, the pass would have opened up shortly after. Overall the trip took us almost 9 hours (should have taken less than 5) and we were exhausted by the time we arrived in Bellevue, but at least we had space to spread out and didn't have to worry about missing our speaking engagement.

The next day as we were driving to the church, we realized that we had forgotten the most important thing...our thumb drive that had our presentation! Not only that, but we forgot BOTH of our phones so we couldn't call my parents to meet us halfway. Usually we aren't that flighty but we were extremely tired. I dropped Matt off and unloaded our stuff and raced back home. I got back to the church about 30 seconds before he called us up to do the interview in front of the church. WHEW! The presentation ended up going well and we were able to meet several friendly people. We spoke at another church the next Sunday and after showing our video people actually started clapping! It was encouraging to see people get so excited about what God is doing through MAF.

As usual, staying with my parents was awesome and they enjoyed babysitting (they did a lot of it!), which eased the stress of running from place to place. Unfortunately, one of the things I feared most about leaving Spokane again was disrupting Callie's schedule after she finally had started sleeping through the night. Sure enough, she started waking up again. We were up with her every night, sometimes for hours. Since she was sleeping in the walk-in closet off of our room, there wasn't much we could do about it. For me, that is probably the toughest part of this whole process. As a woman I just want to be settled and have a routine!

Overall, though, it was a good trip and I loved the times that we had with friends and family.

Blake having a great time with Grandma at Kelsey Creek Farm

Thankfully the pass wasn't as bad on the way home, but it was still crazy!

Beautiful Scenery