We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends. The response to our plans to do some work overseas has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of you asked questions, so we wanted to address all of them at once.

You asked if we plan to sell our home. The answer is not right now. This is a temporary move for now. It is a better financial choice to keep it and rent it while we are gone. We need someone who can care for it and keep things in good shape while we are away.

Many were intrigued by my comment about home schooling the kids legally. I said this in this manner because home schooling is not legal everywhere. Home schooling is legal in Ecuador but is not legal in Spain. We will however navigate around that problem by only staying in the country for 3 months. Anything time we spend beyond that would require us to get a special kind of visa that would require us to put he kids in traditional schools. Should God call us to this country we will deal with the school issue accordingly and legally:-)

We were overwhelmed by your response to pray for us and some even want to support us financially. We have made that simple for you. You can either click on the “support us” tab at the top of this page or you can click here. Your donation will be tax deductible.

Please keep the questions and comments coming, we love to hear from all of you. God is good and is walking with us through this process. Our prayer is that whatever we do will only bring glory to God.

A year ago our family embarked on an experiment that would lead us to abandon our ideas of the American dream and to join God in accomplishing His dream. Rob and I read Radical by David Platt and decided to encourage our whole family to participate in The Radical Experiment. We have throughly enjoyed reading the Word of God, giving up money for God’s purposes, serving those around us and praying for the world.

This experiment has now lead us to spend time in another context. We have been called to minister to the Hispanic community in some fashion. We will spend time learning Spanish and submerging ourselves in the culture. Here is what the next 18 months will look like: we will spend the next 6 months preparing then about 6 months in Ecuador, we will come home for a short time and then head to Spain for 3 months. We will continue to home school Elijah and Alexa legally during this time.

We have been reading and learning from Jim Elliott’s journals and Ecuador was just laid on our hearts. We will spend our time there learning the language with our live in tutor, Allie:-) We will also spend time getting to know those around us and seeing how God wants us to be involved.

Spain is a country we have all spent time in and have come to love the people. We will spend about 3 months there learning more about the spiritual needs of the people in the area. We feel very close to this country as we were in Madrid in March of 2003 the day of a terrorist attack and were involved in many prayer opportunities during that time.

When we return from Spain early next year we will spend time in prayer as a family. We will seek God’s face as we decide if and when we will return to either country to serve long term. We will have many needs as we prepare to embark on this journey.

We are going to need financial support to get us there and keep us there for the allotted times. We will continue to work our commercial photography business but we will also need to raise support. Our monthly budget will be $3,000 and our outgoing expenses including airfare and visas will be $10,000. This money will be used for living expenses and any ministry needs we may have. Including the money we expect to earn while abroad and funds we have already raised we are currently at 64% of our monthly need and have $1,100 a month to go. To see more about our support needs please visit the Support Us page.

We also have a great interest in raising a group of people who will pray for us every step of the way. Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” This is what we will need, a group of people who will devote themselves to pray for us.

As American Christians it’s easy to forget how Jesus wants us to live. He wants us to leave behind security, money, convenience and even family. We will be doing all of those things. The gospel is the most important thing to us and we will take up our cross and go with God. The journey will be good and bad but we are prepared to stay at the feet of Jesus and serve Him in any way possible. We want to thank you in advance for praying for us, supporting us and cheering for us. We will continue to blog about the days before, during and after to keep you informed.

The other day I made these yummy fish tacos for lunch and they were delicious. I usually figure out the point value of a meal before I start to make it so I will know what to expect. I was particularly excited for this one since I could have so much for so few points.

Here is what I did:
I sprinkled Old Bay seasoning on both sides of a 3 oz. filet of tilapia. I cooked it on the George Foreman Grill for a few minutes and let it cool. Meanwhile I warmed 2 Mission Yellow Corn Tortillas in the microwave for 10 seconds. I cut up a handful of romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes and 1/8 cup of avocado. I split all the veggies up between the 2 tortillas and a little salsa on top. After shredding the fish I place it over all the veggies and enjoyed:-)

I was so excited to eat these, they smelled good and they were incredibly tasty. Not too bad for a just a few minutes of my time and only worth 5 points!

If you make any yummy meals worth few points on the weight watchers points + please let me know so I can try them.

We love to December.  My birthday is the 21st and Rob’s is the 22nd, so December becomes a month long celebration of birthday’s.  In 2011 we decided we wanted to spend the month giving to others.  We would give money, time, material possessions and discipleship.

Our church helped launch the idea with their annual: Be Rich campaign.  In 2010 we read Luke 18:22 and took it to heart.  We sold material possessions and did a loan through World Visions micro loan program.  It felt great to read God’s word and obey as a family.  In 2011 we ran into another verse that prompted our mission for December.  1 Timothy 6:18 tells us to do good and be rich in good deeds, be generous and be willing to share.  I think that pretty much says it all,  with that said our family had it’s assignment plain and simple.

Everyone was very excited to participate in the month long project.  We were always on the lookout for ways to give of what we had as well as purchasing for others.  Our family was very glad to have done it and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to give of the bounty that God provides for us.

We pray that others will be encouraged by what we do and participate in some way with their families.  Let us know what you do in December, who knows you may inspire our next family project.

Everyone made a wish list of what they wanted to see.  As Rob planned out the trip he took all those ideas into consideration.  A plan was born and we were ready to head to DC.

Madame Toussad’s was the first place we visited.  Alexa had a little fun with the display’s:-)  I think she may have been deep throat (a joke, she really was not the real deep throat).  Elijah on the other hand was not sure what to think of the life like figures of real people.

A great time was had by all, it was not very busy in DC, since we were there over Thanksgiving break.  We walked right up to all the exhibits.  The only place we had to wait in line for was the National Archives, it was worth the wait.  Our favorite place was the Air and Space Museum Annex out the by the airport, it is out of the way but well worth it.  They have the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Concord and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird to name a few.

We had a great time and truly enjoyed the time as a family at our wonderful nation’s capital.  We would love to go back someday but there is much of this world yet to be explored so it will have to wait.

In October I had the honor of taking Alexa on her first mission trip.  I think she fell in love with mission work.  I was so amazed at how she “got it”.  She knows why we do what we do.  God was with us the whole time and we know events occurred the way they did for our benefit.

I have been to Europe many times but this was my first time in Belgium.  It’s funny most people don’t think of Belgium as a powerful country in Europe but they are very influential.  The NATO headquarters are in Brussels as are the EU headquarters.

We landed in Brussels and traveled to Deinze as a base for our week long project.  Our first day we were hosted by a lovely family that made an amazing Belgian meal for us.  We then started working on folding a packing brochures to be put in mailboxes and handed out at the market.

We learned a lot while we were walking the streets of Deinze.  It was interesting to see how people reacted to being approached by foreigners with the gospel.  It was a benign attempt as we were just asking for them to contribute a filled shoebox to donate to Operation Christmas Child.

This was the first time the church in Deinze attempted a project like this, their goal was 50 shoeboxes.  In the end they ended up with over 150 boxes! Next year their goal will be 300 boxes.  God opened doors for us to go and we were privileged to get to be a part of this project.

We had a 3 day layover in Paris.  Yes I know you feel awful for us:-)  We crammed in as many sights as we could.  It’s funny, two days before we left the Eiffel Tower was shut down due to threats and the state of the French economy was falling.  We arrived in Paris and never really felt the effects of this until we arrived at the Arc de Triumph.  We were evacuated from the area due to protesting.

Getting to see the Eiffel Tower was a lifelong dream.  I must admit I was rendered speechless upon seeing it.  It was breathtaking.  There is no way to describe the enormity of this structure.  We secured tickets and went up to the second observation deck.  This was a real stretch for me as I am not what you would call “heights friendly”.  Apparently no one mentioned that the first deck was closed and all visitors were being taken to the second deck.  It turned out nicely but I was still nervous and shaken.  I did get a friend to take our picture once we were up.

It was a bit cloudy that day so our pics were not exactly perfect but at least we got some pics.  Below is a pic my husband took when he was there several years ago.  For the record he is a professional photographer:-)

In recent news much has been made of a Chinese woman’s book about superior parenting. Amy Chua writes about how she raised her two daughters. She goes on to explain that her style, “the Chinese way” was better than any other way.

Once I got over my anger at her outrageous statements I realized I needed to take stock of my own parenting style. We live in a country that allows parents the freedom to parent their children in almost any way they choose. The government does not tell us how to raise our children. Many even have the option to home school their children, like we do.

I gave much thought to this idea of a parenting style and I realized it comes down to what do I want the outcome to be? I know all parents want the same thing for their kids, “we just want them to be happy and healthy”, that’s what may parents say. But what does not mean?

I want my kids to be disciples of Jesus. If Rob and I accomplish anything as parents, it has to be that. We want our children to want to please God more than they want to please us. We want them to forget about trying to please the world. It truly does not matter to my what my children decide to do with their lives as long as they make much of God and not themselves. Discipling, that’s our parenting style. We need to ask ourselves, is this going to lead my child into continually growing relationship with Jesus?

What do you want for your children? What is your parenting style?

The story immediately draws you in with the turmoil of Carley’s situation.  Her boss suggests she take some time off.  She heads to Amish country to visit a school friend.  Carley did not consider herself to be a religious person.  Lillian, Carley’s longtime friend, has taken on the Amish way of life and it angers and intrigues Carley.

I really enjoyed the way she weaves religion and God into her work.  She uses Carley’s (the main character) questions about religion as a way to answer the questions of those reading this book.

I have never known much about the Amish.  It was very interesting how she revealed so many details about their simple and faith filled way of life.  I was drawn to this story from the beginning.  This is a great book overall, a very fast read.

2 and 3/4 to 3 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 package of active dry yeast

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup warm water

2 tbls. canola oil (you can also use olive oil)

I also add about 3 tsp. of parmesan seasoning blend, these are the brands I use:

Combine 1 and 1/4 cups of flour, yeast and salt.  Add water and oil.  Beat with an electric mixer (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer with kneading attachment), then beat on high for 3 minutes.  Slowly mix in enough flour to get to the right consistency, you should be able to touch the dough and not have it stick to your hands.  Roll the dough with your hands until it’s in a ball shape.  Spray a glass bowl with Pam and put the dough in it to rise.

I cover it with a light layer of plastic wrap and set it in the laundry room to rise for about 2 to 2 and half hours.  I like it to double in size before I roll it.

After the dough has risen I divide it half and prepare to roll it out.  I use Pampered Chef baking stones to grill the pizza.  I roll the dough out very thin.

My family likes a basic pepperoni pizza, but I like lots of veggies on mine so we always make two.  Rob grills the tomatoes before I cut them up and put them on my pizza.  I take a ripe tomato and cut it in half, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan seasoning.

We put the tomatoes directly on the grill and cook them until they are soft to the touch on the outside but still a little firm on the inside.

I then cut up the tomatoes and put them on the pizza along with pizza sauce and cheese.  I add other fresh veggies and pepperoni.

You will probably have left over dough, we don’t like to throw out perfectly good dough, we roll the remaining dough into little balls and drizzle with olive oil and parmesan seasoning blend.

Preheat grill for 5 to 10 minutes.  We grill the dough balls while we load up the pizza crusts.  Grill the dough balls on the bottom rack for about 12 minutes making sure to toss them halfway through, then move to the top rack to keep them warm while the pizza cooks.   Once the dough balls have been moved to the top rack then add the pizzas.  Cook them for about 12 minutes.  Remove from grill with pizza paddle.

We usually have leftovers to enjoy for lunch the next day.  I also use many variations for the toppings, it just depends on what I have in the house:-)  Let me know how your grilled pizza experience goes.  This is one of our favorite meals at our house because we all like to be involved in the process of making it.

Enjoy your pizza and dough balls, from our family to yours!

1. Never give out personal information

This one seems like a no brainer but our kids sometimes don’t completely understand what we mean by this.  They know not to give out their name phone number and address but what else is there?  Online surveys sent to our children by their friends can be dangerous.  These survey’s and questionnaires are forwarded on to others with along with your child’s responses.  Giving out your schedule can be dangerous too, it could be used to track you down someplace.

2. Make sure you know everyone on your friend list

It’s imperative that your child understands this issue.  Even seemingly safe sites like Club Penguin has friends lists.  Strangers can ask to be your child’s friend on there and have conversations with them.  Make this a rule, you can not have a person on your friend list if you do not know them.  Messaging a stranger is an invasion of their privacy.

3. Don’t send out pics of yourself or others

This one has become a big problem on cell phones and the internet.  Help your child understand that once a picture is out there, you can’t get it back.  Pictures not only identify you but it can be easier for predators to find where you go to school and your extracurricular activities.  Protect yourself and your friends.

4. Don’t return texts, IM’s or emails from people you don’t know

Our children must know that this is extremely dangerous.  Once a predator knows they have your attention they can try to persuade you to meet them or something else.  You confirm your personal information to the sender when you answer them.  Even if the person says they are “David’s” friend and you happen to know a David, it could be a lucky guess.

5. Don’t download content without your parent’s permission

There are many sites that have spyware that will damage your computer.  Some sites will include inappropriate material in their download offerings.  Parents you need to make sure you are checking your kids computers.  We check our kids computers on a regular basis.  You need to also check their computer URL history to see where they have been in case they have deleted their recent history.

I know this may seem overwhelming and some parents have resorted to keeping their kids away from all of this.  Truth is you need to have this conversation with your child regardless.  They will have access to these things at friends homes and they will find a way to use it.  You might as well have the conversation and help protect them from these issues.