Nate

Praise Him all the time!

I have been learning lately that to praise God in our grief is very pleasing to God. It is easy to praise Him when everything goes our way but it is important to praise Him even when things go wrong. It is important to remember that He is good and He loves us even when my day goes bad. He is in control of me and my life. I am His and nothing can separate me from Him and His love. I stand before Him no longer condemned because my life is in Christ! How amazing! I once was blind but now I see, I was once lost but now I am found, I once was dead but now I am alive!

Habakkuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls-
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills."

I am learning to be still and trust God...if I am anxious then I am not trusting God. I can't be anxious and trust God at the same time..."Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation...My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvaton; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvaton and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out yoru heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:1, 5-8
I am learning to make a conscious effor to cast my cares on Him and find peace...when my mind is fixed on Him and His ways and His thoughts...then He gives perfect peace (Is. 26:3-4). That peace is so wonderful to have I don't want to trade it for an anxious heart!

The Lord is good: "Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods." Psalm 95

Howerton Happenings

So, here is the latest scoop of what is going on. Today we put in all our paperwork to form a religious association here in Romania. To give us the legal rights to do what we do here and also the right to open a children's home etc. We will take it to court in 3 more weeks and then it will be official.

On September 28 we are official permanent residence and we will go directly to the social worker to see if Ioana is still in the system.I have complete peace about the process we are going to start and know that God is in charge no matter how frustrating it will be and look forward to seeing what children God places with us.

Drew is loving kindergarten. He is just a cutie! I love dropping him off and picking him up and seeing him in his classroom. The classrooms have been redone and are really nice and clean and modern. I have a parents meeting this afternoon. I hope to take crafts for his class to do and other things and help out if they will let me. His teachers are Doamna Dora and Doamna Ramona, please pray for them. We change his shoes when we get to school to "house shoes" kind of like slippers. The slippers we bought him don't stay on his feet though so I need to get him a different pair.

Our weather is shifting from summer to fall. We have cool crisp mornings and warm afternoons. We have picked our apples and have apple sauce for the winter. I love the cooler weather.

We are excited and praying about the Louk family coming to help us out in church and to start a ministry to orphans with the help of our church here in Lugoj. They have just completed a 3 week trip to Romania and then spent another week in Poland with friends.

We are looking forward to having my sister and bother in law...oh I mean brother in law (just kidding Al) here for Christmas. Better known as Uncle Al and Aunt Gigi. Nate won't know what attacked his cheeks!

Nate is 15 months old. He is loud and stubborn and always wants to eat. He loves to talk and carry on a conversation with others. It will be interesting to see what language he starts to speak first.

So, that is a little update in family news. Church news...we have had a lot of visitors pop in and out lately. Pray that we will make time to visit them. Also pray for us and some big decisions we have to make.

Picking Apples

It was finally a nice day for picking our apples. We have 3 apple trees in our back yard and apples were falling every where and making quite a mess. The boys were big helpers...well at least they tried. Zach and Spence did pretty good with some pushing of a reward for working hard without complaining. Nate enjoyed being out for a while until he got too tired. He even enjoyed sitting in the tree for a few minutes. Drew starts Romanian kindergarten tomorrow. I think I am more nervous then he. I'll let you know how it goes and I will try to remember not to be so nervous that I forget to take pictures!

Family pictures

These were taken under the grape vines that are behind our church.

Nate

A really good read!

I have read a lot of good books in my life but I just finished one that will quite possibly be one of my top favorites for the rest of my life: Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper was so convicting. Many times I read a book and think oh that was good or encouraging but this one at times made me cry b/c I was under conviction. I hope that my life is forever changed and I will now make much of Christ with my every breath. If I could challenge you all to read a book it would be this one. I want to quote some of the last chapter which is a prayer written by Piper.


"Oh, what a grand design! To make our joy the echo of your excellence. To make our pleasure proof that you now hold the place of Treasure in our lives. To make the gladness of our souls the essence of our worship, and the mirror of your worth. To make yourself most glorified in us, O God, when we are satisfied in you. How could I, Lord, have ever been so blind to think that being loved by you means making much of me and not yourself? How could I put my eye to some great telescope, designed to make me glad with visions of the galaxies, and notice in the glass a dim reflection of my face and say, 'Now I am happy, I am loved'? How could I stand before the setting sun, between the mountain range and the vastness of the sea, and think that everlasting joy should come from making much of me?
No, Father, love is this: AT great expense you made yourself my glory and my boast. The cost was infinite by which you made yourself the Treasure of my life. You sent your Son, the blazing cneter of your beauty and your love. You gave him up to mockery, betrayal, thorns, the whip, the rod, the fists, the nails, the shame, and death. For what? To swallow up your wrath, and satisfy your righteousness, and bury all my sins as far as east is from the west and in the deepest sea, so that I might come home and see the galaxy. This is your love, O God, not to make much of me, but do whatever must be done so that I waken to the joy of making much of you through all eternity.
How then shall Christ not be my only boast! Not only that he bought yourself for me, O God, but is himself your perfect image and the blazing center of your radiance. What do I have that does not come from him? What gift of life or breath? What promise ever made did not receive its Yes in him? What one sweet thing, or hard thing you will soon make sweet, did I receive except that it was purchased by his blood? Not one thing I deserve, but hell. Yet everything is mine in him, and by his sacrifice alone. O god, forbid that I should ever boast save in the cross of Christ my Lord."

"...Forbid O Lord, that while the world is filled with need we would sit down and say, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be mreey.' A terrible reversal awaits such lovelessness...O God, such riches are a wasted life. Protect us, Lord. Grant us to hear and heed another call: 'Lay up your treasure not on earth, but in the place where moth and thief will never come. Make treasures for yourself that cannot fail.' But then we ask, 'What treasures, Lord?' We see you smile. 'I am your Treasure and your great Reward. I am your food, your drink, your festal garments and your everlasting gain. I am your life and your allsatisfying Joy."

"...O Father, grant your church to love your glory more then gold-to cease her love affair with comfort and security. Grant that we seek the kingdom first and let the other things come as you will. Grant that we move toward need and not toward ease. Grant that the firm finality of our security in Christ free us to risk our homes and health and money on the earth. Help us to see that if we try to guard our wealth, instead of using it to show it's not our god, then we will waste our lives, however we succeed."

"...Let every wavering heart remeber this: You promised, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So may we say with death-defying confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'"

"...Let love flow from your saints, and may it, Lord, be this: that even if it costs our lives, the people will be glad in God. 'Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the naitons be glad and sing for joy.' Take your honored place, O Christ, as the all-satisfying Treasure of the world. With trembling hands before the throne of God, and utterly dependent on your grace, we lift our voice and make this solemn vow: AS God lives, and is all I ever need, I will not waste my life...through Jesus Christ, Amen."


I hope that maybe reading these exerpts will wet your appetite for reading this book and seeing what it means to not waste our lives as Christians. I plan on re reading this book each year to remind myself of my purpose in life...to make much of God...to find my joy in Him alone...to make him my Treasure above all other earthly treasures!