What (and how) we are doing...

I was so determined to update this blog sooner, but according to the date on the last entry, almost a month has gone by again. So once again I will try to give a quick run down on the last few weeks.

• We celebrated Ruth’s second birthday the Saturday before her big day. We decided to just hang out as a family for the evening and she received a tricycle that she really enjoys. It hasn’t made it outside yet, so both girls “enjoy” it in the living room for now.
• On Sunday the 26th, after attending a baby shower for twin boys (who live next door) we set once again for Camp Gladstone. We had a full, busy week. Ruth turned two on the 27th, which was the first day of camp. The campers left Friday, and we stayed on till Saturday to help clean up and to fellowship with the other camp staff for the final time this summer. More about this week can be read in our upcoming September newsletter.
• When we arrived home on Saturday, our house guests were here to welcome us home. We were very thankful to have Bill and Gail Marietta, the pastor and his wife from our sending church in Hawk Springs, WY spend a few days with us. We had a great time, hampered only by the rain that made getting out a bit difficult.
• On Wednesday the fifth of August, our family and our dear friends Roy, Laura, Karina and Eden went to the Calgary Zoo, to celebrate Karina’s birthday. The girls have a lot of fun together and we are so thankful they can have friends like this.
• Friday, the seventh, Abigail and Ruth stayed with a friend of our family here in Longview, and Joel and I had an awesome opportunity to go to town with some friends, a couple from Eden Valley that we are building friendship with. It was such an encouraging day, and we are very thankful for their friendship..
• August 10-13, we went back to Gladstone Mountain Gathering Grounds for InterAct’s Canadian Field Conference. It was a time of refreshing, both emotionally and spiritually. We had sessions with a speaker, and also times of sharing with our InterAct family. We also talked “business” and of course we had a lot of fun. We had our second annual (that we know of, since this only our second conference) marshmallow fight, and many other good laughs. The girls had their own class, and made a book on creation. I enjoyed a hike one day and the girls had a chance to ride the horses. We are so thankful for our mission and the great job they do of keeping us connected.

So now we are back home for a few “normal” weeks. I have been blessed lately by friends blogs where they take time to share their heart. Since this is blog is usually a bit of an update on what we are doing, I thought I would change things a bit and talk about how we are doing, or mostly how I am doing.

As you can see we were very busy over the summer, making it almost impossible for me to continue with my Language Studies. (Joel has done great and is really gaining ground..both in language learning and meeting friends.) I have struggled a lot with this, frustrated by needing to spend so much time on boring everyday chores, when I wanted to be in the midst of relationships, and discoveries. I have lamented b/c we live in one community, while trying to be a part of another. I have been discouraged and at times apathetic. Through it all God has been a faithful, patient teacher. Reminding me of what’s important, reminding me to serve Him the way He desires, not in the way I desire. As I wrestled with all of this, the theme that kept showing up, was faithfulness. God would show me I needed to be faithful with what He has put before me, to trust that He knows best and rest in that. He also showed me that I could improve on my time management, an area I struggle greatly with. I made a statement to some company in late June that “I am the most unscheduled person they will ever meet.” Though this probably wasn’t true I in and of myself would wish it so. I could tell you my whole reasonings and thoughts on why I don’t like to live by the clock, but the bottom line is because in my heart of hearts I want people to be more important,

I am driven relationally not by task. Finally, it occurred to me that instead of it being an issue of task vs. people, it could rather be viewed as because of the relationship I will strive to be scheduled. So for the good of our family and because I am committed to learning Stoney to understand my friends at Eden Valley I am giving my best shot at being scheduled. Week one ends today and I didn’t have a day work perfectly yet, but by God’s grace I will keep striving. The real test comes in a month or two, can I keep it up?

Well, now this has turned into a very long entry, I’m sure some of you didn’t make it all the way through, but I know I have a few kindred spirits out there who enjoyed all my detail. Thanks for keeping up with our happenings. Here’s to more frequent, but shorter, easier to read updates!! I try again next time. With Gratefulness, Amanda For The Sewell’s