Making Strides

Woke up to a glorious day!  bathed in sunlight, a relief from the varying shades of gray that we've experienced here in Illinois over the past several weeks.  Although, cold it's dry, but by God I'll take it at least it's not wet.  Sarah decided last minute to go, just her and Niamh,  to the Making Strides for Breast Cancer Walk at Chicago Premium Outlets, instead of all of us.  It's just as well, the younger ones didn't understand what it's about, and probably won't last very long in the cold.  We all go through a various personal tragedies, but we're not meant to bear them alone.   My wife's cousin, and good friend Christina Berger was recently diagnosed with Breast cancer.  She's going through Kimo and we've never heard her complain, not even once.  Nevertheless, this is a frustrating persistent disease that takes still so little is known about.  Here's how you can help. 

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=19898&pg=pfind

Visit this link and make a donation using her name, or the name of anyone else you know who may be walking this morning.  Christina's story is here as well.  Even you don't have the money she also takes prayers :-). 

When I consider...

In the quiet twilight, heads turned away. Lost in imaginings, these people I have been blessed to know so intimately gather their vaporous thoughts into mass. One, innocently, in naiveté, embracing the boyish thought of a man's strength. Another, the beauty of a flat world, it's hue and characters dead and flat on the page, resurrect themselves. Their tones warm. Their movement strung along and within the third dimension. Surrounded. Jovial. Specters of light and joy. The third, howling. Mischievous. Rolling with laughter. Nirvana in flesh! Absolved of pain. A stranger to the worries of this world. Her few years, and relentless spirit push against the weight of all that is wrong. Her confidence taunts deaths mysteriously absent sting.
A fourth! Dear God, a fourth so beautiful it makes me cry. An ache of joy that rattles me into surrender. There can be no doubt of You. These so called poor reflections so clear and bright I could no more deny them then I could deny my breath. Your people. Friends and strangers alike hear Your call. Your arms have many names. Your hands the hands of the humble. God in flesh. Today. Here. Now.

"i think we must have been exhausted" or "wisdom from the birds"

Sorry about the Title. We've been watching Rocky and Bullwinkle on Hulu lately, and at the end of each episode they would tell to tune in next time and give you 2 titles for the next episode. I suspect because they were not sure which one to go with.

So we said we'd post a more thorough update yesterday, but c'mon, if you know us, are you really surprised it was tonight, encroaching on midnight? apparently we were all exhausted, all the way down to eilidh, from all of the build up to, and then actual concert itself. the kids crashed on sunday night as soon as the baths were done, with tadhg camping out on the girl's floor...EFA: "He's sleeping here now mom, it makes him feel cozy and safe, because we, (meaning herself and niamh), are big and strong, and we pray to Jesus...his room is just full of Thomas trains, our room is full of God." thankfully they all stayed put, and eilidh did her usual thing and knocked out for 10 hours, snug as a bug...yes, we know how amazing that is, considering NONE of the others ever did this, even now! we soon followed suit.

yesterday morning was far too early, but it was amazing to wake up and really, truly know, that the burden was lifted. don't get me wrong, we were trusting, but there is always that weight in the back of your head or in my case, the pit of my lower intestine, that you just can't shake until it is over. and by over, i mean the concert/benefit/huge leap of faith turned even huger blessing, (and yes, i'm pretty sure "huger" is not a word...). but we knew that andrew could head straight to the bank and so much of the recent stress would be calmed. amazing!

and since it was monday, andrew had his class at columbia to teach, and that means downtown all day and into the evening. great for him, he really loves teaching, but the kiddos, not so much. tadhg was particularly inconsolable. even his faithful trains could not assuade the sadness...his daddy was GONE, and no matter what i said, the sorrow of a day without daddy was almost more than any 2 year old could bear. have we mentioned that he is the dramatic one? but we survived, and andrew made it home in time for bedtime stories, and the kids decided to make it night 2 of camping out all in one room. (at this rate, we could still be in our apartment in new york and they'd be happy!) andrew and i barely finished our nightly hulu fix before crashing too. oops, blog didn't get done...

on a side note, which we will probably have alot of, a silver lining to all of this joblessness, is that after years of daddy working crazy hours, they got to have the whole summer with him! now, if you ask andrew, this was probably more fun for them than him, considering the fact that he pretty much spent it running with niamh, toting eilidh wherever he went and alternately balancing efa and tadhg on his shoulders, (and i have to admit, that if you have to pick 2 of our kids to carry around on your shoulders all day, these are not the 2 to choose...they both got the engel family build and carrying them might as well be carrying a bag of wet cement!) at least he got a work out! he also got to enjoy the trails on the bike for the first time ever and is now hooked! we are so glad we got the trailer last year...i'd love to know how many miles we put on it this summer, all the while with tadhg telling andrew not to stand up to ride, "DANGER! YOU SIT DOWN! NOW!" our little safety expert, unless it is his own behaviour, then he is exempt from danger...because he's tadhg.
and just to be fair, andrew also put a pretty big dent in evening out the diaper changing score...but only a dent, i still have the high score. anyway, summer with dad, yet ANOTHER blessing! back to the main thought...if i can remember it.

ok, concert/benefit update. here it is.

(Andrew taking over writing duties from Sarah who's clearly drunk)

The concert was a huge success! Thank you for everyone who came out and also for those who donated online. We are now able to make a mortgage payment! Now we are only 2 months behind on our mortgage instead of 3, which keeps us from going into pre-foreclosure. There is a still a financial quagmire to crawl out of, but as of last week I went from 1 part-time job (teaching adjunct at Columbia), to 3 part-time jobs (Apple tech as Judson 3 days a week, Corporate video client wants to go into production). I think the technically definition of what I'm going through is called "under-employed", having part-time/contract work, but it feels like over-employment.
Back to the benefit. The show started at 3pm, but only a few of Greg's regulars were there. (Darn Bears and their close games!) Greg was ridiculous! By ridiculous I mean he was really good! He is one of the best guitar players I've seen live, and I seen a lot. By 3:30 people began to show up and it was a party. The party also reminded me of the stage of life I'm in now, and who my friends are. There were more small children than adults, and at one point Greg was heckled by a 3 year old. Luckily it's a church with large rooms and we were able to settle all the hooligans down and find something for them to do. All told my family and myself feel uber-blessed! We got to hear great music from a great guy, hang with our friends and some kind strangers, and be delivered from a nasty mess. 3 cheers! 1 for God, 1 for Greg, and 1 for you. Hip Hip Hooray!





^7-12 "But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what's going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn't it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
every breathing creature?
Isn't this all just common sense,
as common as the sense of taste?
Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,
that you have to grow old before you understand life?

From God We Learn How to Live

^13-25 "True wisdom and real power belong to God;
from him we learn how to live,
and also what to live for.
If he tears something down, it's down for good;
if he locks people up, they're locked up for good.
If he holds back the rain, there's a drought;
if he lets it loose, there's a flood.
Strength and success belong to God;
both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.

Home Sweet Home, an update...

Praise God!!!!!! Thanks to all of you who donated, attended the concert, prayed and supported us...we have met our goal, almost to the penny! HUGE THANKS to Greg Boerner, he is a phenomenal musician and played an incredible show, and we are eternally grateful. We'll post a more complete update tomorrow, but for now, I think I will finally be able to sleep...

just a fun reminder to come hang out with us tomorrow if you can...we'd love to see you!
Greg Boerner
3-5 pm
Ginger Creek in Aurora
$10 at the door...KIDS ARE FREE!

if you can't make it out but would still like to participate check out the donate button after this post...

trusting and praying, giving thanks!

1 Corinthians 10:13 (The Message)

¹³No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

Big praise!

God's good! We still have a long way to go, but just from online donations we have reached 15% of our goal. (The goal being $2000) Thank you so much to everyone who gave it means more than you can know. Thank you to everyone who has provided for us in this time. Being out of work for 4 months and having 4 children and a new house is a stomach churning experience, but God and His people are good, even people who don't know that their God's children yet. I pray this experience has a profound effect on them.

Praise update. I'm starting some contract work at Judson next week. There's no benefits and the pay isn't quite up to where I was before we started this adventure, but this will keep us from sinking anything further into financial ruin. Please pray I find some fulltime work soon. I had some interviews last week that were very promising. but I won't know anything for a couple weeks.