Now is the season that I really should be praying more, but it seems like my first instinct is to go to something else for solace from the chaos and direction for the day- food, Tim, busyness. Thanks to anyone who prayed for me yesterday! This morning when I woke up my first thought was to spend some quiet time reading the Bible and praying. I'm glad I did. A few messages really stuck out to me.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) If anyone can claim weakness, I think it's me. I'm a bumbling ball of overdramatic emotions and MESS. When we were interviewing with South America Mission, one guy said he thought we had more emotional baggage than anyone else they had appointed as missionaries. My thought is that if emotional baggage disqualifies me from working for God, what's the point of being a Christian? (Give me the benefit of the doubt here- I do know a couple good answers to that semi-heretical question.) The truth is that God is bigger than all my emotional baggage. His grace is more than sufficient for all my weakness. And one thing I have noticed about God is that He seems to enjoy making big, beautiful things happen through little, messy people.

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." (Psalm 20:7) One of my more substantial weaknesses is a tendency toward deep disappointment. I've learned in my head and am learning in my heart that when my hope is is God (not what I want Him to do for me), I am not disappointed. So I'm trying these days to let go of trusting so much in other things- Tim to make me happy, technology to solve my problems, my plans to work out, money to buy me the desires of my heart.... If I can trust that God's plans for my day, my life are better than mine, I save myself a lot of heartache.

If you are a pray-er, pray for us!

• that in the midst of all this transition and chaos, we will take quiet time for God and for each other
• that someone will rent our house soon (http://charlotte.craigslist.org/apa/392287717.html)
• that we will use our time wisely over these last few days

I feel like I'm caught up in a movie that is too good to be reality, and at the same time, I'm scared that the plot conflict is about to hit hard. Will we survive this move? Will everyone in Charlotte forget about us? Will our sacrifice and our presence in Puerto Supe really make any difference at all?

Lord, help me to put following You above seeing the results of my labor. Keep me grounded in heaven and not on earth. Teach me to find my identity, my worth, my purpose in you and not in the things I do. And let this offering we give bring you honor and joy. In Jesus' name.

It's crazy around here! With the yard sale tomorrow, we have been working hard to price mounds of stuff. Anna came over to help with signs yesterday, but after the DOWNPOUR last night, I'm off soon to check up on them. Mom is here sleeping on the couch (our guest bedroom is gone) and helping out. Two more support meetings today. Winnie (the dog) is loving the chaos I think.

So far we are at 68% of our monthly budget, with 16 people making up that number. I still feel shocked by the speed and ease of raising financial support. It makes me think of the verse in Psalms: Be still, and know that I am God. We still believe that 100% of our budget will be raised soon (specifically by the time we leave for Peru- end of Oct). We have 10-15 more people in Charlotte who have indicated that they want give us monthly financial support but are not sure about the amount yet and lots more people outside of Charlotte to talk to on the phone.

Our cross-cultural training in Rutherfordton, NC is Sept. 4- Oct. 18. We have been getting more and more information about it and think it will be a rewarding season. We will be in class 8:30-12 and 1:30-3 Monday through Friday but the rest of our time is free. I know I will need to rest like a good introvert does, and they have also indicated that we will have a lot of homework. After 4 years of Davidson, I'll bet their version of "a lot" is pretty manageable. We'll be living in an apartment and near the rest of the 35-40 (not including kids) students in the program. I'm still not exactly sure what we'll be learning, but I'll find out soon enough!

Today it was back to school for CMS teachers. Tim ran into one of our former colleagues at the grocery store who expressed his great envy of our position-- no alarm in the morning, no taking cell phones from teenagers, no paper work, etc. In case any of you are wondering what we do all day, here are our two all-consuming jobs: support raising and selling all of our STUFF (and my dad's stuff). You'd be amazed how many hours on end you can spend every day between the two.

With 10 days left in Charlotte, we are trying our hardest to fit in appointments with everyone. Tomorrow, for instance, we have a 3:30 appointment at Starbucks, a 5 pm appointment at someone's house, and a 7 pm dinner at someone else's house! These meetings really have been a blessing to both of us. Our supporters and yet-potential supporters really are people I consider friends. These "meetings" have been fun in the social sense and also tremendously encouraging as we dream together about how to make a difference in the world for the sake of Christ.

Our other job, selling stuff, is fairly amusing. I never thought I would be so wrapped up in ebay or half.com! My dad handed over a lot of his stuff to be sold to make room for our stuff. And after seeing its success in internet sales, we've added our own treasures to the "to go" list on the internet. Here are some of our more random recent sales (still Dad's stuff):

• Vintage Olsen skinning knife $56
• Pantone color formula guide $10
• 8 Star Trek posters $48
• A particular book bought for $7 originally and sold yesterday for $202 to some man in France

My own stuff is not nearly that random or interesting. Mostly brand-name clothes that I don't think will be big yard sale hits. The yard sale, by the way, is scheduled for Saturday. Oh dear.

Who are you, mystery readers from around the world?!? Did you stumble upon my blog by accident? Do you even speak English? Answer me! I can't sleep with curiosity!

Locations of new blog readers:
New Zealand
Greece
Germany

I'm not really sure who these people are or how they're getting to my blog, but I'm very entertained by Google Analytics these days.

• Move out of our house Aug. 31 (13 days... whoa)
  
• Visit Tim's dad in Nashville Aug. 31- Sept. 4
  
• Cross-cultural training Sept. 4-Oct. 18 (Rutherfordton, NC)


• Charlotte goodbyes Oct. 18-21
  
• Greensboro area visiting moms Oct. 21-24


• Short 4th anniversary vacation and possibly Alpha leaders training in Washington, DC Oct. 24-28


• Get our act together and get out of here! Oct. 30 or 31??
  

Three weeks until we're moving away from Charlotte! It seems so soon and so far away a la vez (at the same time... but doesn't it sound better in Spanish?). We're running out of furniture after our Craigs List extravaganza. No more white sofa, blue rug, coffee table, white bookshelf, desk, desk chair, end tables .... and a lot of other stuff. Here are the before and after pictures of our living room. In fact, most of the stuff in the "new" living room is spoken for, too-- the couch, chair, bookshelves.... We're planning on holding on to our bed, thank goodness. Otherwise I'd be getting cozy on the floor soon.

I can't explain how awesome it has been to meet with people and talk about Peru. Our financial support is continuing to come in easily, and people are coming out of the woodwork with fun practical ways to support us as well. Here are some examples.

• Bob gave us a guitar to use in the Puerto Supe Community Center to teach new musicians to play and raise up leaders for musical worship.
• Dad got rid of (most of) a lifetime of stuff and is offering us his storage unit.
• Jiljane bought us the Alpha course materials in Spanish.
• Randy, with his self-proclaimed mail fetish, has offered to take over our mail.
• And I think someone is putting together a First Aid kit for us.

One funny news bit. On Google Analytics, I can see all kinds of interesting statistics about this blog- how many people see it each day, whether they're direct hits or what site refers them, how long they spend reading it, etc. Most fascinating to me is what countries they live in! People from the following places have read about our mission:

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• Peru
• Brazil
• Argentina
• United Kingdom
• Spain
• Turkey
• Bulgaria
• India
• Australia
• Taiwan

Who knew?! International acclaim!

For those of you who didn't receive it, here is our first newsletter:

July 2007

If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, let us know. There is also a link to our newsletters to the right --->

Today I took Hannah's mom's dog, Winnie, to get a haircut. I've never done this before and had no idea how it worked, so I told them to just shave her. I expected them to interpret that as "give her the kind of haircut she's supposed to have." Instead they took the literal interpretation and now she looks ridiculous. Once again I see that my communication skills need work.

Although I think it's an improvement over how she looked before.



On another note, after my last post regard Fidelity's mySmart Cash account, I've had about 50 people come across our blog by searching for it (at one point I was the 6th result on google!).

Tim, Dad and I unloaded Dad's storage unit Wednesday. 71 boxes of books (and that was half of the unit). We separated the books into a few different categories. This photo represents the half.com category- I listed all 400 some of these books yesterday. A couple of them were exciting- special books worth $100+. Half were 75 cents. My fingers are tired.

My poor dad is heartbroken over this stuff. The storage represents a lifetime of memories for him and here I am trying to convince him to throw it all away. I must say, the lesson learned is that collections are a bad idea for anyone adventurous who might someday move to another country (as he did 7 years ago and we are about to do). It's a little sad, too, to think that although he might get $2000 for these books, they probably cost 10-20 times that much originally. Makes me remember not to buy stuff to begin with. Make friends with the librarian instead.

Tim taught Katie McCullouch to count in Spanish at Lindsay Moore's wedding last Saturday.

Sorting through our mounds of junk yesterday, I found the graduation card that my mom gave to Tim. On the front it says, "Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation. (Aristotle)" On the inside, it says, "The world awaits you!" and my mom wrote, "I can't wait to see what the world has in store for you and Hannah." I nearly cried reading it. I feel so honored to be set apart by God for this work.... and especially with Tim.

The weight of this unfolding adventure is even greater because it is the culmination of 12 years of dreaming (on my part at least). The Aristotle quote was particularly meaningful because of Tim's vocational fog. He really doesn't have a sense yet of where God is calling him to exercise his talents, but he knows he needs to be working in a way that uses them to the fullest, and he knows he wants to use them to meet the needs of others and bring glory to God. We're not looking for jobs; we're looking for vocation.

We have a lot of ideas about what might come next after Peru. The world is wide open. Tim has considered living and working abroad in a secular job, remaining with missions in Peru, taking missions to a different location, going back to school for an MFA to be an art professor, working in operations for a non-profit, finding a job making ridiculous sums of money so that we can give it all away. I would love to go to seminary, teach a couple more years, continue in missions, have kids and stay home (although not in the works for the next two years).

For the first time in my life, I feel free in my future. Because I'm not on my own to make these decisions, I can't plan away my life. I'm waiting, exploring, trusting, enjoying this season and looking forward with eagerness to the next. And praying for real vocation, the space where my gifts meet the needs of the world for the glory of God.

Coffee table for sale!

We have spent the last few days sorting through our accumulated life possessions and are TIRED. In the process we think Tim broke his toe on masonite board. It's black (the toe, not the board). Poor guy. Well we're creating quite a collection of yard sale goods in the "storage room" and have listed 115 books for sale on half.com. In less than 24 hours, we have made $90 on something like 8 books total. Only 117 to go! We've also put a "sneak preview" on Craigs List to the more valuable items in the storage room. And by more valuable I mean $8, not 50 cents. So if you're interested in checking out all our worldly goods, if you like to accumulate junk, or if you're not planning on moving anytime soon, check out our new business, making my trash your treasure, by clicking on these two links....

Our half.com store (books)
A photo album and prices for everything else

Let me just end by saying that parting with all these books is heart-wrenching. I want so much to hoard them away, because there is something in me that says you are more valuable as a person if you own more books. I'm pretty sure that's not Biblical truth. In fact, I think it counts as idolatry. So off go the books. If you're looking for me over the next week, I'll probably be staring at any empty bookshelf and moping about my worthlessness as a human being and Davidson graduate.