Our Time in Oregon

We left the beautiful desert of Midland, Texas on the 15th of December to head back to Portland to spend time with family over the Christmas holiday. After a long, three hour delay in Dallas, we finally made it on a flight and arrived in Portland around 11:00 pm. It was a long day of traveling, but we were excited to finally have arrived!!

Over the course of 12 days, we spent a lot of time with our families. We saw grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was great to spend time with them and share some of the amazing things that the Lord has done in our lives since we have been here in Midland.

With Michael's family we saw a dance performance by his cousin. We were able to have dinner with his aunt, uncle, and other cousin. We were also able to see Michael's grandma who this summer lost her husband to cancer. We also spent many nights with Michael's mom and two younger brothers as well as a night with Michael's dad.

With Angela's family, we spent quite a bit of time with her older sister Jenny and her husband Will. It was very refreshing to spend time shopping and just talking with them and hearing how excited they are as they are entering full-time ministry at the end of the Spring. We also spent time with Angela's grandparents as we were able to visit with them for the first time in five months.

Along with spending time with family, we were also given the opportunity to share a short ten minute devotional at youth group for our home church in Aloha. Michael shared about what a worldview is and that it is important to realize that everyone has a worldview. As Christians, we are called to live consistently with that Biblical worldview in every aspect of our lives. With the growing impact of websites like Facebook and MySpace, it is important to recognize that even online we are called to reflect and glorfiy Christ with our words and actions. We are to be transparently like Christ!!

Our time in Oregon was very refreshing to be around family. We are so blessed that the Lord has given us an amazing family who loves us and supports us. Though the time was very refreshing, we also learned several things as the Lord really revealed to us that this was not a vacation, but rather it was another opportunity to serve Him.

One of the things that was reinforced during this time was that there is no "down" time as a Christian. There is not a time when you do not need to reflect Him. Don't get us wrong; we were not disobeying God or sinning, but we were allowing our minds to relax. However, the Lord wants us to always think on things that honor Him. He wants us not only to dwell upon those things, but He also wants those truths to flow out of our mouths at all times!! As a result of this, we were able to reflect Christ and witness to our family that do not know Christ.

Overall our time was great. We had great times of fellowship with Angela's family Christmas Day and with Michael's family on th 23rd and also Christmas Evening. Though, we were extremely tired by the end of our 12 days of seeing family, we were so refreshed and encouraged!!

Please continue to pray for our families; that those who do not know Christ or who do not honor Him with their lives, would turn their eyes upon Him and follow Him.