Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters and their families from multiple States who are helping to battle the flames in California.
If you would like to donate to the firefighters, this article gives directions on how to best support them. Most of all, thank you for praying for the survivors and for the firefighters battling this horrendous fire season in California.
I remember it like it was yesterday; holding Bo on my lap as we taxied down the tarmac at Incheon International Airport in South Korea.
As we looked at the mountains surrounding us and the finals sights and sounds of this beautiful land... knowing that we were taking him away was such a bittersweet moment.
But about 12 hours into our flight, excitement mounted knowing he was going to get his first glimpse of America and would soon meet his brothers and sisters and the family and friends who have all loved him and prayed for him for 18 months.
Our friends Warren and Dave and Marianne drove up to Chicago to meet us. After anticipating the long non-stop international flight with a 19 month old, we just didn't know what kind of exhaustion we would have upon arrival and felt it would be wise to have someone drive us and our truck down from O'hare.
After going through immigration and Customs, it was such a blessing to see familiar beaming faces to greet us: truly warm memories we'll never forget!!
We decided to celebrate the day Boaz officially entered our family by camping out at Comlara Park on Lake Evergreen in Hudson, Illinois. Not only is the location about as picturesque as you can find in Central Illinois, but it's only 20 minutes from our door: a toddler parent's necessity.
Our campsite was right near the lake ... weather was perfect ... the kids enjoyed exploring before chili dogs and Smores (made with what Eden refers to as "Smashmellows": which is pretty much what hers look like when she's eating them...)
Outdoor air makes for good sleeping!! This little guy was the last one awake this morning! ♡
Enjoyed hardboiled eggs & oatmeal before Daddy surprised the kids with a box of donuts!!!!
Throwing rocks in the lake after breakfast makes for a great start to any kid's day... we're so glad you joined our crew, Boaz!
Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom. "
A seasoned mother once told me, "The days are long, but the years are short." Her advice of course, was for me to enjoy every moment with my little ones; even the trying stages like potty training and toddler discipline.
Well it's been nearly a year that our little one Boaz Gaon has been home in his forever family. Sometimes the days have been long, but we honestly don't know where this past year went; it has simply flown by!
The year has been spent with many adjustments; days of joy and laughter, some sleepless nights, lots of prayer and all the activities that a home with 5 kids promises!
We flew to Korea on September 11th 2017; just a few whirlwind weeks following our first trip to South Korea to meet Bo and attend our court date.
This little one brings a such joy and fun... he has the most winsome smile. It is a blessing to see him getting along so well with his brothers and sisters ... they take such good care of him ... he's one of the crew! ♡
We love you, Boaz! We're so thankful we belong to eachother! ♡
We wanted to repost this timely article from The Christian Post in light of the president's recent trip to China. Thank you for joining us in prayer for North Korean Christians and for the brothers and sisters in Christ risking their lives to help them.
N. Korean Defector Sending Bibles, 60 Tons of Rice Asks Why Trump Praises 'Cruelest Leader'
(Photo: North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea)North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, chaired by Kim Yong Hwa, carrying out a rice bottle launch on June 14, 2018, from Kanghwa Island in South Korea.
A North Korean defector, now the leader of an association that has sent over 60 tons of rice bottles to the North Korean people, along with financial support and waterproof Bibles, is asking why U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to praise Kim Jong Un despite his cruelty.
Kim Yong Hwa, chairman of the North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, has now carried out 58 innovative rice bottle launches since April 2016, sending some 60 tons of rice through water pathways that reach hungry and suffering North Koreans.
Kim told The Christian Post through the aid of an interpreter in a Wednesday interview that even Trump, as the U.S. president, has "limited information" and that it would be "very difficult for him to the understand the reality of the North Korean" people, who he said are suffering daily under the Kim Jong Un regime.
Commenting on Tuesday's summit between Trump and the North Korean leader in Singapore, he said that there is no reason to hope that the latter would actually carry out promises to completely denuclearize his country.
(Photo: North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea)North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, chaired by Kim Yong Hwa, carrying out a rice bottle launch on June 14, 2018, from Kanghwa Island in South Korea. Kim noted it would be "pretty easy" for the North Korean regime to hide nuclear materials, no matter what it promises to Trump and the rest of the world.
As for the human rights issues, the North Korean defector questioned both Trump and South Korean president Moon Jae-in for seeking to relax pressure on North Korea.
Kim argued that the North Korean regime had been in a "very difficult situation internally" since November because of the U.N. economic sanctions, which he suggested could have eventually led to unrest against Kim Jong Un's regime and potentially the liberation of the North Korean people.
The recent warming of relations has "gone in the opposite direction," he said.
The defector criticized Trump's praises for Kim Jong Un and saying that he "loves his people," asking why the U.S. president had to make such "great remarks" and compromise with the North Korean leader.
"I don't get it," the defector said, pointing out that Kim Jong Un is the state leader of concentration camps where hundreds of thousands of people are imprisoned, including many Christians.
"I don't know what kind of person Trump is now," Kim said, asking again why the U.S. president has decided to "recognize, acknowledge, and promote the cruelest leader in human history."
As someone who has backed Trump in other cases, he conveyed his hopes that the U.S. president does not "send such a disappointing message to the North Korean people."
As for the innovative rice bottle launches, the chairman of the NK Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea told CP that he used to serve in the North Korean military in the 1970s.
During that time, there would be occasions, such as floods, where streams of water would carry with them items from South Korea. This gave him the idea after escaping and establishing himself in the South to study the streams of water and start sending bottles of food and information that reach the people in the North.
He said that his association has helped thousands of North Korean defectors settle in South Korean society and other countries, but it also continues to focus on people who remain in North Korea.
While his organization was first involved in balloon launch efforts, which would send medication and food items over the border, he decided that the rice bottles would be a more effective means of reaching the people, especially those in inland provinces who are even more isolated from the outside world.
Kim says that he knows the rice bottles reach North Korea, since during launches, maritime police track their activities on the radar. He said that his organization is able to identify, through some unofficial sources, that 97 percent of the bottles reach their destination, and are often collected by fishermen and fishing boats.
The bottles contain several items, including rice, which North Koreans can eat or sell on the market in order to support their families. U.S. dollar bills are also inserted inside, which is a valuable commodity in North Korea. The bottles can bring as much value as what a North Korean worker earns for 50 days, or close to two months.
(Photo: North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea)North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, chaired by Kim Yong Hwa, and volunteers carrying out a rice bottle launch on June 14, 2018, from Kanghwa Island in South Korea.
What is more, they also come with USB sticks that contain New Testament Bibles, hymns, Korean television dramas, medicine, and information about the outside world.
The Gospel is sent not only digitally through the USB files, but some of the bottles also have attached physical bibles in water-proof packaging that the people in the North can pick up.
Kim explained that psalms and hymns are also included, with the hopes that the people will start singing them, which would spread the message from person to person more effectively.
The Korean dramas and entertainment videos, on the other hand, are meant to show the people what the outside world actually looks like, and serve as a revelation against the state-run propaganda messages in the North.
The defector shared that "what has been heartbreaking" for him to hear is stories of families making rice porridge out of the rice in the bottles they have collected, in order to "inflate the servings" and make the most out of the available food.
(Photo: North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea)North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, chaired by Kim Yong Hwa, carrying out a rice bottle launch on June 14, 2018, from Kanghwa Island in South Korea.
He said that oftentimes the rice is supplied by other North Korean defectors who have managed to escape, but remember the hunger they faced back home. He said that churches in different parts of South Korea, and other individuals, also help provide the resources.
"We are having a hard time. It is not easy," Kim admitted of the frequency of the bottle launches, which is twice a month.
"[But] we know that people are waiting at that time, because they know the flow is coming from the South. We cannot disappoint them, we want to deliver to these people," he added.
Suzanne Scholte, a human rights activist who is the president of the Defense Forum Foundation and chair of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, separately told CP that there is "nothing more powerful than North Koreans living in freedom in South Korea communicating to North Koreans living under the enslavement of the Kim dictatorship."
Scholte, who helped organize the 14th annual North Korea Freedom Week in May, which highlighted the efforts of Kim Yong Hwa and other activists, said that the "most important way we can help the suffering people of North Korea is to support the defectors' work from rice bottle launches to balloon launches to radio broadcasting."
(Photo: North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea)North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea, chaired by Kim Yong Hwa, carrying out a rice bottle launch on June 14, 2018, from Kanghwa Island in South Korea.
"All these methods are critical because to reach the people of North Korea you must employ all these techniques because the regime works so aggressively to keep them isolated from the outside world," she added.
As for why North Koreans like Kim Yong Hwa risk their personal safety, financial security and reputation in these efforts, she offered:
"It is because they love their homeland and have never forgotten their beloved brothers and sisters who are suffering and they know personally how effective and important this work is. It is an affirmation of what we have always believed: the Truth Will Set Them Free."
*I wrote the following post last year for Catalyst Ministries and thought I'd re-post, here. Happy Memorial Day, everyone!
* * * Living Memorials Time to read: 3 min. On this, the 46th anniversary of the recognition of Memorial Day, we pause to reflect. The brilliant Flag furls red, white, and blue in crisp compliment to green grass and white lawn furniture. Solemn ceremonies, drill teams and patriotic parades bring significance to a weekend of gatherings, sizzling BBQs and the official kick-off to Summer.
For many people across our country, this day; originally known as "Decoration Day", holds distant memories of the legacy of heroism in our past. For contemporary military friends and families however, the sharp newness of loss casts a painful reality on the rows of white crosses.
For unlike Veteran's Day where our armed forces are recognized for their valor in service, Memorial Day recognizes the men and women who have given the ultimate self-sacrifice; giving of their very lives.
Memorials are so much more than a name etched in stone. Memorials attempt the impossible; to encompass a life that was well-lived and worth remembering for the difference made on behalf of others!
But what can be said to embody the heroism of a firefighter running into a burning building while others are running out? What mere words illustrate the men and women who drew their last breath without ever leaving the battlefield?
Authors, poets, politicians and theologians have long labored over fitting tributes to a sacrificial life. Perhaps General George S. Patton said it best when he admonished, "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived!"
Self-sacrifice is something we all admire in the lives of others, but it's easy to forget that we also are leaving legacies with our lives! What will be said of us after we die?
Will our lives have been lived only for ourselves or will they be poured out for others? The highest tribute of self-sacrifice is personified in Jesus Christ. If we truly desire to be Christ-followers, we will follow His example in life and ministry here on earth!
Jesus consistently cared for the poor; this frequently included marginalized women. He loved underappreciated children and offered hope to failing hearts.
He demonstrated the supreme sacrifice when He gave His life up for us on Calvary, then rose again to serve as our ideal of a living memorial.
John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends."
As people with freedom and power, we feel it is our God-given responsibility to use that freedom and power to help those who have no voice, no power, and who live without freedom!
Proverbs 31:8-9 instructs us to "speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
At Catalyst, we know our ministry isn't an easy task. Serving women and children from difficult situations is hard work! Reaching out to those who have been traumatized by sexual slavery is emotionally draining. Operating our Catalyst Farms can be financially challenging.
It may even be considered by some to be unsafe.
But so is living our lives solely for ourselves.
In Romans 12, Paul urges, "Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship..."
Will you consider serving along side of us here at Catalyst Ministries? There's a place for everyone who desires to live life as a living testimony - a memorial - for God's grace and mercy in their lives.
We only have one life on earth to spend for Jesus!
So many of you, especially my own precious mother and mother-in-law, have displayed Godly examples of what being a strong yet gentle mother looks like.
And to my children: I am so thankful and blessed beyond measure to call each one of you mine!
I know I'm not always the mother God desires me to be each and every day, but I do trust that He has given me to each one of you as the best mom to raise you!
It is my prayer that each day I can help you children grow in your love and admiration of the Lord and lead by example as a strong Christ follower!
Every Mother's Day gives me pause to reflect the enormity of what being a mother really means. The responsibility to be a moment-by-moment caretaker is just one piece in a broader mosaic of a child's life.
I love the hymn "Moment by Moment"... a great reminder that if I didn't give all my mothering moments to God, just thinking of all the future moments in my child's life would be staggering.
But it's in these moments when I feel overwhelmed, that I try to just slow down and and savor the season I am in with each child.
I look at our eldest son at 8 years old and wonder if when he is an adult, he will still have the curiosity, ambition, and creativity he dedicates himself to today.
Our 7 year old's tender care for his younger brother and sisters makes me desire to see him father his own children one day.
Our sweet daughter at the ripe old age of five can keep up with me in household chores as well as mothering. I know that she will be the dearest mother one day; far more patient and tender than I am.
Our darling 4 year old little girl is happy and playful and makes us laugh everyday; she too will be a mother one day with a strong sense of humor to take the edge off life's seriousness.
And as I look at my youngest 2 year old little boy from South Korea, one I'm still learning how to be the mother he needs, I think of the mother who gave him life in Seoul. I wonder if she's thinking of him today and how often she does think of him.
I intend to teach my son what an incredibly brave & beautiful person she is to give him life and then to give him up. I pray God will comfort her heart. Thinking of her encourages me to strive harder to bond with her sweet son and bring him up in the most loving family possible.
"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." - Psalm 90:12
Isaac learns to tell time on an analog clock.
It's been quite a Spring! More ups and downs than we ever could've foreseen in 2017. Just when we thought things would settle down into a new "normal", changes on the horizon quickly closed in on us.
Several family members have been diagnosed with cancer; some for the first time and one after a lengthy remission. We followed a heartbreaking, transparent blog written by the wife of a fellow firefighter brother who recently succumbed after a courageous battle with cancer.
We've watched friends get rid of nearly everything they own in preparation to leave for the mission field. We've entered into a season of change as our church is seeking a new lead pastor. There have been new baby announcements and new houses.
The restructuring announcement by State Farm eliminated nearly 1k jobs in our community; disrupting the sense of job security many friends of ours have enjoyed for years. Several have taken the option to leave the State for work; many don't know if they will still have a job this Summer.
Transitions are always challenging! Health concerns spawn anxious thoughts. Young death and cancer fears jar our natural bent to take health for granted. The reality of our human frailty reminds us this world is not our home! Helping friends unload their possessions teach us how burdensome our "stuff" can be. Everything we own, including our lives are temporary!
When all of the new challenges and distressing news threatened to overwhelm me, Luke gently drew my attention and focus back where it belonged: to the One who securely holds all our futures in His capable hands.
Luke reminded me to familiarize myself with Who God is... and who I am in Christ. My prayer life has been heavy lately with the burdens around us. What was the purpose of this wave of suffering and bad news? I've been going through a Kay Arthur Precepts Bible Study on the book of Revelation with a wonderful group of girls for 3 years. (Yes! We've been studying Revelation for 3 years!!)
This intensive study has given me such encouragement: God wins in the end!! Death & suffering will be defeated forever... the cares and concerns of this present world pale in light of our future HOPE!!
Psalm 90:12 keeps coming to my mind like a theme for the season we're walking through. It's caused me to rethink my priorities and focus on what's truly important: growing ever closer to my Savior, growing in His likeness, and leading our children on the same path.
By the end of March, we realized we needed to get away to find some respite. A week at our friend's cottage in Holland Michigan sounded delightful, so we headed up here the weekend following Easter.
It'd been about a year and a half since our camping trip at Holland State Park. This visit felt very much like a luxury with running water and indoor plumbing!!
The vintage cottage nestled in Waukazoo forest was just what we needed to slow down and enjoy family time.
It's as if time stands still in this oasis of winding pine tree lined lanes and colorful beach houses with rows of white picket fences. We played boardgames and read books on the porch; enjoying nearly every meal circled around a white table with sweetly mismatched chairs over teal painted floor boards.
Of course, the highlight was walking the beaches along Lake Michigan. The little ones were content to scoop and dig in the sand... while Isaac joined me in my beach combing excursions. He inherited my love for scoring found treasures... we attempted to disassemble a rusty old boat pulley for our future tree house... to no avail. (You win some and lose some, Isaac!)
One of the "treasures" I discovered walking the beautiful sandy lakeshore was a wrist watch: a symbol not lost on me, given my thoughts on "numbering my days"... It was just like God to renew my sense of perspective by the reminder that He has every one if our days numbered... before even one of them came to be!
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
