My Wedding Cake

I was fooling about not blogging any more but being too busy was the truth. A week has flown by since my last post. Holly turned 10 and my parents arrived yesterday for a visit. Things won't slow down anytime soon but I am still here.

Kim from The Continuing Adventures of SlugMom requested a picture of my wedding cake so here it is. I couldn't find a cake topper that I like so I settled for the Precious Moments. But what I hated was the tacky blue flowers all over it. The cake decorator told me that she could put some silk flowers around the base and showed me some pictures of other cakes that she had done. They were pretty. Pastel pink and white. She said that she did the blue to match my bridesmaids dresses. Blue is my favorite color, especially navy, royal and sapphire. But it doesn't belong on a wedding cake. I didn't see it until after the wedding, the pictures and the reception line. I was horrified. But what could I do at that point? John liked it. He said it tasted great. I said I didn't care about the taste. It should have been pretty.

Our Anniversary and a Tag

Rebecca from Beautiful Feet has tagged me.

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.



2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.



3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
   


4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Today is our 21st wedding anniversary so I thought I would add a twist to the tag and share 7 random things about our wedding/marriage.

1. I hated Chinese food when we met. John asked me several times if I liked it and even though I continually told him no, he brought me some to work. I liked it!
2. We ate at a Chinese restaurant tonight.
3. We wanted 4 children and we were going to name them Mark, Mitchell, Mandy and Megan. Using all M's was coincidental and now inconsequential because we didn't choose any of those names.
4. I hated my wedding cake. It was ugly and not what I told the cake decorator to make.
5. We went to Williamsburg on our honeymoon.
   
6. For nearly 1/3 of our married life, John was in law enforcement.
7. We spent 1/3 of our married life in the country of Romania.

My Story - The Call Part 2

I did not marry that boy across the table. I finished both elementary school and high school without finding Mr. Right. I spent the next four and a half years in college, trying to earn my MRS degree. I still dreamed of being a pastor’s wife and attending Liberty Baptist College seemed like the ideal place to make that happen. Since the college did not offer a degree in Pastor’s Wife, I decided to major in Drama. That was fun for a season and while I still love drama, I realized it would be difficult to make it my career. So, I began my sophomore year with a more practical plan of becoming a teacher. I successfully graduated in 1985 with a BS in Elementary Education and failed miserably at any attempts on the MRS degree.

During those long and often lonely collegiate years, God gave me a tender heart toward missions and I surrendered to do whatever the Lord wanted me to do. I didn’t feel led to go to a foreign field as a single woman. There are many single missionary women and there is nothing wrong with that. It was not the path that I was to take. I did try to open a few doors in that direction but each time, they were shut tight. Right after I graduated from college, I had applied with the Southern Baptist Convention Journeyman program to be a short-term missionary for two years. They rejected me! I never found out their reason but just accepted it as God’s plan.

The next winter, I held in my hands a contract to teach in a Christian school in Korea. The excitement of going to a foreign land, serving God in what I was trained to do was intriguing. By this point in my life, I had taught for a year at a small Christian school. I had assumed that since Mr. Right was not at Liberty, that he must be at this church. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him. I was frustrated with my job and wanted to quit. I had to teach too many subjects to too many children in a tiny classroom on a meager salary. This wasn’t teaching. It was more like spitting out facts and giving tedious assignments at the end of the day better known as homework. There was always the hope that the administration would see my plight and divide the class in half, leaving me with only one grade to teach. But hope deferred makes the heart sick. My hope grew thin and my heart weary of my career and the everlasting absence of Mr. Right so I looked for opportunities elsewhere. I considered the contract. It was the perfect way out. There was only one obstacle blocking the way and that was the complete lack of peace in my heart. I prayed, cried and pleaded with God but the peace did not come. This was not the path that I was to take. I knew that if God wanted me on the mission field, I’d have to marry a missionary. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, I met John, a Richmond City Police officer. We dated for a solid week and he asked me to marry him. “Lord,” I prayed during our short dating relationship, “he’s not a missionary, not a pastor, not a ‘full time Christian service’ anything. Is this Mr. Right? Is this the man you have for me? Is it okay for me to marry someone who is not in the ministry?” There was no audible answer. Only peace. The peace that I searched for in the doors that I had tried to open. The peace I longed for in my years of searching for the way God would have me to go. At last I had stepped on the right path and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, had filled my heart.

Answers to Questions

I have been working on writing about our missionary adventures and some wonderful readers have asked a few questions. Below are the answers. If you didn't get to read what I've shared so far, you can find it here and here.

So did you marry that boy or another preacher? No and no. That story is coming up next.

Did you ever apologize to him? Sadly no. And he was pretty mad at me for the rest of the school year. That was sad too because previously, he had a not-so-secret crush on me. But we are talking 5th grade here . . . I moved to Virginia, California and Tennessee before I saw him again.

Did that boy become a preacher? Yes he did. I even heard him preach when we were still in high school. He had forgiven me by then and we even went out a couple of times. I lost track of him during college but I did hear that he became a pastor of a church.

Oh, when is the next installment in the story! I wanna know if John is that brave boy. This weekend!

What is John up to now? Is he connected with a ministry there near where you live now? Just curious? Right now he is working a secular job. We are involved in a church here but not full time ministry. The Lord seems to be leading us in a surprisingly different direction. Right now He is saying "Wait."

Do you think you'll ever go back and visit? Oh, I hope so!

A Place in Your Heart

There was a time when I wrote poems more frequently. Many still rattle around in my head but it seems difficult to find the time to put them down on paper. Some day, I need to do that. For now, here is a poem that I wrote for John on Valentine's Day of 2006.

A Place in Your Heart

Life without you was a lifetime ago,

A far away place

Where I don’t want to go.

Days without you are dreary and gray,

A place full of gloom

Where I don’t want to stay.

Life spent with you – with you near to me,

A place in your heart

Is where I want to be.

© Karen Woodward

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweetheart! I love you!

Miscellaneous Monday

• John and Gabriel returned home early this morning! It is so nice to have our men back.
  
• I was able to accomplish many of my goals while they were gone - except the part about the paperwork . . .
• I will be posting more of my story each week - most likely on the weekends.
  
• Today is my one year blog-aversary on this blog.
• The Ultimate Blog Party starts in just a few weeks. This was a ton of fun last year. A great chance to meet new people, get people to notice your blog and win some nice prizes.

• I am going to be hosting a prize for the party. Something hand painted by my mom.

How was your Monday?

Goals for the next 2 weeks

John and Gabriel left this morning on a mission trip. They are going to spend 12 days in the beloved country of Romania ministering to those we won to Christ and reaching out to friends yet unsaved. Part of me longs to be there with them, seeing friends once again. The rest of me is glad to avoid the long trip and inevitable jet lag. The girls and I will miss the men being gone, (Gabriel is hardly a boy anymore.) but we have some plans and goals to accomplish during this time. Here are a few of mine:

• Organize paper work
• Learn to French braid
• READ!
• Blog more often
• Watch LOST
  
• Begin writing my book

What's happening at your house?

Home for Christmas

I spent a week in Alabama with the kids. John had to stay behind and work. We were all sorry about that. Other than that, my only regret is how sick I was the entire time. My dad asked me why I hadn't written a blog entry. What was there to write except the fact that I was sick? Not very interesting.

We had Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and left yesterday morning. I was hoping that traffic would be light. Years ago, John and I traveled on Christmas Day and the interstates were practically deserted. Not so yesterday. I was amazed by the amount of holiday travelers on the road. The trip was long and feeling badly made it seem even more so. About 11 hours into it, Holly called her cousin to chit chat. They talked about everything from their favorite gifts to the beautiful moon. At one point, Holly told her that it was 37 degrees Fahrenheit and then told her that we were that we were "east". (The car has a digital readout.) She said, "We're east. I don't know what we're east of but we're east." I don't know if it was her matter-of-fact tone or just that I was extremely tired, but that struck me as hilarious. I laughed out loud in my still laryngitic voice. I laughed until I cried and needed to pull over because I was having difficulty seeing through the tears.

It's great to be home again. I'm looking forward to being well again. How was your Christmas?

The Very Beginning - Almost

Life is far from boring right now but there are not many blog worthy events to write down. So I thought I would write some more about our lives as missionaries and how we got there in the first place.

If I were to give my story a title it might be, “Lord, here am I, send me. But what are you going to do about my husband?” I spent four and a half years in college, trying to earn my MRS degree. I dreamed of being a pastor’s wife and attending Liberty Baptist College seemed like the ideal place to make that happen. However, I ended up with a BS in Elementary Education and failed miserably at any attempts on the MRS degree. During those years, God gave me a tender heart toward missions and I surrendered to do whatever the Lord wanted me to do. I didn’t feel led to go to a foreign field as a single woman. There are many single missionary women and there is nothing wrong with that. I don’t think I’m cut out for it. Right after I graduated from college, I had applied with the Southern Baptist Convention Journeyman program to be a short-term missionary for two years. They rejected me! I never found out why but just accepted it as God’s plan. Later, I all but signed a contract to teach in a Christian school in Korea. But I had no peace about that. I knew that if God wanted me on the mission field, I’d have to marry a missionary. But that didn’t happen. Instead, I met John, a Police officer; 100% cop. It was his life. We were married in April of 1987 and I just knew he’d be a cop the rest of his life. Asking John not to be a cop was like asking a fish not to swim or a bird not to fly. It was in his blood. He lived to write people tickets. The faster they were going the more he loved it. And he hated rainy days because he couldn’t run radar. I never mentioned to John that I felt the Lord had called me to missions. And I never asked God to make him a missionary. My prayer for him during the early years of our marriage was that he would be closer to God and the spiritual leader in our home. Well, the Lord certainly answered that prayer and in April of 1991 John told me that he felt the Lord calling him into full time ministry. I was surprised and not surprised.

Virginia - The Search

We arrived here in Virginia Saturday evening and had a great time visiting with a sweet friend. Her husband died of cancer last year, her children are grown and she is excited to have some company and someone to cook for. We went to church with her yesterday morning and then after lunch we drove around different areas of the city. I lived in this area for about 8 1/2 years but we left 14 years ago and so much has changed.

Today we are job searching and apartment hunting. John has an interview tomorrow but we are knocking on as many doors as we can. We only have a few days here so our hope is that our searches will be successful in a short amount of time. Please pray that God will bless our endeavor and open doors for us.

Gabriel, Hannah and Holly seem to be doing fine in our absence. We left them in good hands of course, but have hardly ever left them. I am not sure if leaving them more often would be easier or not. Last year, Gabe and Hannah went to camp with John in the mountains of Romania. I was glad that they were with their dad, but being a mother, I still worried. The comforting verse from Psalm 23:1 came to my mind The Lord is my Shepherd . . . and the Lord spoke to my heart in that still, small, inaudible voice, "I am their Shepherd too, Karen, and I love them even more than you do."

I will keep you updated as our journey continues. Stay tuned!

Something is Bound to Happen

Today I have been trying to get things ready for our trip to Virginia. I don’t feel like I have accomplished much. The kids are staying here with my parents, so I have been working on getting things in order so my mom and dad will know who does what when. We have been here for three months, living with two of the most generous, patient people in the world, trying not to drive them crazy or tear their house apart. Add five people to a house and something is bound to happen and today it did. John brought our printer/copier from the storage building and set it down temporarily in the living room. Sometime later, Holly happened to be in there and saw something that looked unusual underneath it. “Daddy, what is that stuff?” The answer was ink and lots of it! John picked it up and in a moment of panic, instead of taking it out the nearest door, he carried it down the hallway and into Gabe’s room where the box was, dripping ink all the way. Can you feel our hearts sinking to our feet? There we were looking at those dark black dots and spots of ink on the light beige carpet and praying it wasn’t the super-indelible-never-come-off-until-your-dead-and-maybe
-even-longer kind of ink. John immediately got my mom and she found some take-everything-out-even-ink kind of carpet cleaner and showed John how to use it. She and I worked on blotting as much of the ink out of the carpet with paper towels and John had the tedious task of cleaning it all up. Thankfully, most of it came out. There are a few spots that need some more scrubbing but you probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t said anything. Now if we could only get the ink off of our hands!

Bicycle Lessons and Florida Update

Should a child whose nickname is “Crash” be allowed to ride a bicycle? Is a crash helmet enough or should we invest in full body armor? Holly learned to ride her bike on Friday and has eagerly asked to go riding every day. On Saturday, we ventured all the way across the street to a tiny cul-de-sac. Our goal was for her to stay on the bike and actually steer. She did fairly well. Yesterday we dared to go beyond the first cul-de-sac to the street behind my parents’ house. On the first time around, she smacked into a mailbox. The mailboxes in this neighborhood are encased in solid brick columns. The second time around, she fell off the bike in our neighbor’s driveway. Amazingly, there was no blood. Thankfully, her courage was undaunted and she was ready for a third and highly successful trip. John took her out this afternoon and he realized, after yet another crash, her problem is that she doesn’t know how to brake. I went out with her after dinner and we practiced braking. She is improving but I am still considering body armor.

John spent the first weekend in May in southern Florida. He stayed with his parents for a day and then traveled further south to speak at a church that is seeking a pastor. John thought that the city was great and the tiny church has potential for growth. But it appears that the retiring pastor’s views are drastically different from ours and it looks doubtful that we will be called there. It was a first step and an invaluable learning experience for John. Meanwhile, we are still here. Still searching, still praying, still trusting that God will lead the way.

Waiting

Have you ever been on the road, driving to a destination and you weren’t exactly sure you were taking the right path? You just keep driving, hoping to see a familiar landmark or some confirmation telling you that you are heading in the right direction. And all the while, there is that anxious feeling- waiting, hoping, trying not to panic or needlessly turn around and go the other way. That is about the way my heart has felt the last few days. Waiting for answers. Checking the mailbox to find out if Gabe’s artwork has been accepted in the show. Waiting for John to call and tell me something, anything about the church in Florida. Waiting on God to show the way.

This evening, I am waiting for John to get home. I am sure he will have much to share about his weekend.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 25;5

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Another Step

We have been in the States for seven weeks now. Besides trying to get organized and settled here at my parents’ home, attempting routine and homeschooling and at least one hundred other activities, we have been praying and seeking God’s plan for our future. John is looking for a church to pastor. We have considered several places already from Anchorage, Alaska (momentarily anyway) to Florida. I have even considered Hawaii. (Notice the singular pronoun in that sentence!) Actually, while we are willing to go where ever the Lord leads us, our hearts are in the south and we would prefer to settle in some southern state. John sent out some resumes last week. He spoke with one retiring pastor on the phone and after a couple of phone conversations and reading John’s resume, this pastor has asked John to come and preach this Sunday. At this point, we have no clue if this city is the final destination or just one more step of our journey. Also at this point, I am not going to give many details but I will say that it is a city in the south; way south! John is on his way to southern Florida! We like this location but our prayer is the prayer that Moses prayed when God was leading them through the wilderness: “And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” Exodus 33:15 Please keep John in your prayers as he travels and preaches and continues to seek God’s plan.