It's all about LOVE.

While EVERYday is all about love because of the love that God has bestowed on us. We tried to make Valentine's Day a special day to show each other love.
Kate stayed busy for two days making Valentine's for everyone. She had so much fun.

Breakfast consisted of pink milk, pink eggs, pink pancakes and heart candles.

Kate finally got to open her Valentine from her Granna and Poppa and she was THRILLED!

Brian went out and got me flowers. Love it.

Up and Coming

There are some pretty big things that are getting ready to happen here in Ohrid. Will you pray desperately???
-- English Class Registration is next Tuesday night, the 22nd. We will have two beginner classes and two advanced classes. Ginna and Hannah will be leading these classes. Pray for them as they prepare and build relationships with those who come.
-- Ginna and Hannah finish full-time language study on the 25th and move into full-time coffee house work. Yep, they are going to need your prayers.
-- Party at the coffee house on Friday the 25th--Kicking things off as we plan to be open a lot more often.
-- Bible discussion starting on on the 3rd and continuing every Thursday night after that.
-- Woman's Day Coffee House event on March 8th. There will be coffee, tea, food (maybe even cupcakes), and conversation. We are exploring follow-up options. Will you pray???
-- Brian will be gone for the next two weeks. He will be in Bosnia for one week to explore some humanitarian aid options with Baptist Global Development. Then he will be in Greece for a week long meeting there. Pray for his safe travel and that God will give him a more focused vision while he is away. Pray for me and the kiddos too.

I have fallen in love with a new song by Mandi Mapes (people named Mandi are cool). Its called "We are the Body of Christ." It speaks my heart. Enjoy.

We Are The Body Of Christ
by Mandi Mapes, Jim Watkins

We are the body of the most High
We are the bride of a Savior
And we fall for the King of the kingdom
As we sing the songs of salvation

And we stand for those who cannot stand for themselves
And we love the loveless
And we go where Your light’s not shining
We are the body of Christ

We shine like a city on a hilltop
We boast in the Spirit living in us
And we march on a road leading to freedom
As we reach out our hands to the fallen

And we bring living water to the thirsty and
We live for the One who was and is and is to come
So our life counts for something greater than ourselves
We are the body of Christ

And our anthem will be a song of praise to the King
“He is worthy, He is worthy”

With one voice we will sing, “Where oh death is your sting”
He is mighty, He is mighty


I was hoping to find a youtube video of it, but I didn't succeed. You can go to itunes and find the song if you look up The Church at Brook Hills. Good stuff.

In Love with Ohrid

It is INCREDIBLE that God has sent me to a place covered in so much beauty and steeped in so much history. Every day, whether in snow or in sunshine, I am awed by the beauty of this place. Mostly I am awed by the fact that God has allowed me to live here and love here.

Along with my team and cluster, I have been trying to spend this month in a more focused intentional time of prayer for the needs around me. Last week, I spent my laundry-folding time listening to some sermons on prayer. I listened to one called "Pray Desperately" by David Platt (Do you know him? You need to. Google him or look up Brook Hills Church in Alabama. Good stuff.) Here are only a few things that I gleaned from that sermon:
"Great things happen not when we come up with plans and strategies but when we fall on our faces and say, "We need you to do it, O God, for your glory." This seems obvious if we understand the Gospel. We can't do it on our own. We can never be good enough. We can never love hard enough. We can not change hearts no matter what great plans we have. Only the blood of Jesus brings reconciliation. I know that, and yet I often get caught up in my great plan. And forget to pray desperately.

"The church in Acts grew because of grace and it is emphasized over and over because the ONE who gives the grace gets the glory."

"So many ask 'why is prayer necessary?' You may not say those words, but we are saying it with our lives. We ask that because we don't need prayer when we are watching tv or mindlessly surfing the internet...--when there is nothing at stake in your walk with Christ--when there is no risk--when it consists of a monotonous routine week in and week out. BUT when you risk everything to glorify Jesus, you need prayer. When we sacrifice job, career, reputation, family, EVERYthing to share the gospel day in and day out, we need prayer. When we enter into a battle we will need prayer."

So, this week, I am praying that we, you and me, will risk it all for the sake of the glory of Christ Jesus and that we will 'get' our absolute desperation without Him and that we will seek Him and His kingdom desperately.