I know it's a little early to be writing thanksgiving posts, but seriously, we have a lot to be thankful for around here and I think waiting until a silly holiday to do it, well... is silly.
As most of you know, we're in a transition period. Instead of a few months passing, it's felt like a few years! Taking a break from our dreams of serving with Mission Aviation Fellowship to follow the Lord's leading was one of the hardest things to do, yet God's completely confirmed in us that it was the right thing to do. We were treading water with MAF and hoping to find some land, but whatever direction we went, we just stayed in one spot. Once we took a step back, looked at where we were at and listened closely to God, a ship appeared to take us in a different direction.
God's confirmed in us over and over again that taking a break was the right thing to do. He provided Eric with a job that he enjoys, provided us a house to rent and provided mom's groups in the area for me to get involved with right away. On the weekends we worked on the house in Oregon for the most part and Jenna proved to be a great little road trip traveler. Thank the Lord for that! We were fretting about what to do about a Realtor and who to choose and God had a guy call us from a company and offer to sell our house. This was a company we hadn't paid much attention to, but we realized we'd heard their advertising a lot on the radio and had seen their signs around. How amazing that God provided that for us?
We listed our home mid-september and here we are at the end of October and God provided a buyer who is interested in our home! We are in the closing process right now and would love your prayers that things go smoothly. When the e-mail came, we could hardly believe it, but we knew God had a hand in it as He does everything.
Around this same time we feel we've found a church up here that we can call home. It may be confusing to some, because we started going to another church, but God keep nagging us to try this other church that Eric's coworker goes to. So we prayed about it and went in asking God to confirm if this was the place He wants us to be. In the first few minutes we knew God wanted us there. The people were warm and welcoming and understood our desire to be involved in global ministry. Eric is getting plugged in and I've been to a women's event. At that event God spoke in little ways through the women that were there to help confirm in my heart that this is where we are supposed to be regardless of what happens in the future, and that's enormously comforting.
People ask us if we're going to continue with MAF, the answer is that we don't know. Right now we're taking a break for one to two years or more to focus on our walks with God and work on a few things. We know that if it's the Lord's will for us to serve with MAF, we will. If He has another ministry in mind, then we'll serve there. It's our hope and desire to grow so strong in our walks with God that we're open to serving in the moment, wherever He leads us. But things take time.... we want to give God all the time He needs to shape us into who He wants us to be. :)
In the meantime, we're extremely thankful for how He's provided for us and it's showing us that walking by faith is vitally important. A lot of times we want to have things figured out, we need to realize that God's already got things figured out. It's up to us to follow Him wherever He leads.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Where do I fit in? (Written by Kristine)
Lately I've found myself wondering what most everyone wonders from time to time.... where do I fit in? Every time I move to a new place I wonder if this is the place God wants me to be for the long term, or is this just a stop along the journey?
We've been checking out different churches and I've been checking out different mom's groups and bible studies and this question continues to spin in my head, do I fit in here? Should I fit in here? What do I need to do to fit in here? Is changing parts of me really going to make me "fit in" or am I fooling myself?
I look back on the past few years of my life and I realized I've been trying way way too hard to fit into a culture that I don't fit into. I am not a woman who cares if I have perfect hair or designer clothes, I am happy if my hair is clean and I wear clothes that I like regardless of the label. I am not a hipster, but I love the music most listen to. I am not a super hippie gal, but I do enjoy helping our family eat healthy. I am not an awesome crafter or decorator, but I do love to sew with what stitches I know and decorate when I get the chance. I am not super mom, but I try my best every day.
I've decided that I am okay with being Kristine. I'm okay with being a person who: loves learning about new technology, who has a million craft projects she wants to do, is kinda okay at the guitar but really just loves to sing with others, tries hard to be a good mom, wants to hike...even though we never get the chance, who enjoys meeting new people and hearing about their lives, loves to cook and longs to travel and learn about other cultures among other things. I'm okay with not being the best or the thinnest or the prettiest one in the room. I'm okay with often being the quietest one in the room, it means I like to listen and get to know others. Yes I am human, and yes I do get my feelings hurt, but I think I've decided to just be me. :)
Out of all the crowds I've been with, I think where I've fit in the most and felt the most at home has been with my missionary friends. My heart still longs to live overseas and to help spread the gospel there. It sounds crazy to people that I've met here, I mean why would I want to give up this culture and everything I own to move my family to an unfamiliar place? I've found over the years that it is in in those countries, that I feel like I fit in the most. Where I feel like I am home. It doesn't make sense to those who "fit in" and feel called to serve in this culture and that's okay.
I know that the Lord gave me the desire to serve overseas for a reason. With everything that's happened in the past year with us getting into MAF yet needing to take a step back, it's been hard to see where God wants our family in the future. Yes, that's been discouraging, but I think it's exactly what I need to rely on His timing even more in my life. I don't have all the answers....heck I don't know ANY of the answers...but I know that God has an even better plan in mind. He gave me the desire to serve overseas for a reason and in His timing that will happen. I just need to be patient, be open and be honest in the mean time to be able to grow. I need to stop trying to figure it out and just live life for God. To be able to be the best person I can be here for God whether I feel I "fit in" or not. The only place I'll ever truly fit in is when I am worshiping my God in Heaven, and I am okay with that. :)
We've been checking out different churches and I've been checking out different mom's groups and bible studies and this question continues to spin in my head, do I fit in here? Should I fit in here? What do I need to do to fit in here? Is changing parts of me really going to make me "fit in" or am I fooling myself?
I look back on the past few years of my life and I realized I've been trying way way too hard to fit into a culture that I don't fit into. I am not a woman who cares if I have perfect hair or designer clothes, I am happy if my hair is clean and I wear clothes that I like regardless of the label. I am not a hipster, but I love the music most listen to. I am not a super hippie gal, but I do enjoy helping our family eat healthy. I am not an awesome crafter or decorator, but I do love to sew with what stitches I know and decorate when I get the chance. I am not super mom, but I try my best every day.
I've decided that I am okay with being Kristine. I'm okay with being a person who: loves learning about new technology, who has a million craft projects she wants to do, is kinda okay at the guitar but really just loves to sing with others, tries hard to be a good mom, wants to hike...even though we never get the chance, who enjoys meeting new people and hearing about their lives, loves to cook and longs to travel and learn about other cultures among other things. I'm okay with not being the best or the thinnest or the prettiest one in the room. I'm okay with often being the quietest one in the room, it means I like to listen and get to know others. Yes I am human, and yes I do get my feelings hurt, but I think I've decided to just be me. :)
Out of all the crowds I've been with, I think where I've fit in the most and felt the most at home has been with my missionary friends. My heart still longs to live overseas and to help spread the gospel there. It sounds crazy to people that I've met here, I mean why would I want to give up this culture and everything I own to move my family to an unfamiliar place? I've found over the years that it is in in those countries, that I feel like I fit in the most. Where I feel like I am home. It doesn't make sense to those who "fit in" and feel called to serve in this culture and that's okay.
I know that the Lord gave me the desire to serve overseas for a reason. With everything that's happened in the past year with us getting into MAF yet needing to take a step back, it's been hard to see where God wants our family in the future. Yes, that's been discouraging, but I think it's exactly what I need to rely on His timing even more in my life. I don't have all the answers....heck I don't know ANY of the answers...but I know that God has an even better plan in mind. He gave me the desire to serve overseas for a reason and in His timing that will happen. I just need to be patient, be open and be honest in the mean time to be able to grow. I need to stop trying to figure it out and just live life for God. To be able to be the best person I can be here for God whether I feel I "fit in" or not. The only place I'll ever truly fit in is when I am worshiping my God in Heaven, and I am okay with that. :)
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Jennavieve's First Flight -Written by Eric
Where did the summer go?
Autumn is officially here, and boy do we feel it in the Pacific Northwest. Almost immediately a switch was turned off and the sun went away, the air became colder and clouds became gray and overcast instead of white and fluffy. This leads us to say, "Where did the summer go?"
We know we've been kinda quiet over here at "Taking off with the Reeds", but don't let our lack of online presence fool you. We've been here, just extremely busy. As you know, earlier on in the year we decided to take a break from Mission Aviation Fellowship to work on a few things so we'll be more prepared when we return. The minute we took that step back, we felt more at peace and relieved. God began to open doors showing us that this was indeed what we were to do. God provided a job for Eric in Woodinville and a rental house for us to live in near his work. He provided people to help us move as well. Once these things were taken care of in May, we began work on our first major task, getting the Oregon house ready to sell and listed.
Not knowing just how much extra work it would be with a toddler, we had anticipated things to take about a month to a month and a half to finish. Without a toddler, that would be a correct timeline, however with a toddler it ended up doubling. We started work in May and came down nearly every weekend this summer to work on it. We completed work and listed it officially on Monday of this week. While we were working on the house a real estate agent came to us wanting to take on our house to sell it. When we met with them, we agreed completely on their strategy and were thankful God took care of that detail for us. We were thankful during this time for Eric's parents allowing us to stay in their home and for Kristine's (my) parents for watching Jennavieve.
In August we took a weekend off to celebrate our sixth anniversary and Kristine's 30th birthday by going to Canada. Kristine's parents watched Jenna so we could relax and enjoy ourselves. We went to Vancouver Island, visited Victoria and stayed at wonderful restaurant in Nanaimo, B.C. It's definitely a place we want to go back and explore again. We love Canada and are very thankful to live so close to it!
Towards the beginning of September, something unexpected happened at our rental house, which actually wasn't a surprise, so I guess maybe we expected it? Ever since we moved into our rental house, there have been issues. When we first moved in, there was new housing going in behind the house so there were many different construction workers and equipment going down the alley by our home and parking on our property. When we moved in, there was a smell downstairs that Kristine noticed. It was in the carpet and smelled like mildew. Nothing we tried could solve it, so the owners replaced the carpet. We thought we were done, but the mold/mildew came back in full force and by the beginning of September, we had to move out all our belongings from downstairs to a storage facility so a mold specialist could take care of the house. This is all during the time we were trying to finish our Oregon house and plan Jenna's second birthday party. Crazy Crazy timing eh?
We ended up cancelling Jenna's birthday party with her toddler friends and went to the zoo with Eric's sister Marguerite. It was a great day! Jenna had the opportunity to feed Giraffes and some birds as well as see and pet many animals. We ate at Paseo for lunch and came back home for Jenna to open gifts. She had a good time, and that's all we cared about.
As of today, the work downstairs is finally being completed in this rental house. We have a few months left on the lease, so we've been looking at houses to purchase closer to Eric's work. Of course, our move is entirely dependent on selling the Oregon house, so we'd covet your prayers that the house would sell quickly! If you are interested or know someone that is, here's the link:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1038-Munkers-Ct-SE-Salem-OR-97317/53023830_zpid/
Another step we had on our agenda was to find a home church. As you can imagine, with us being busy most every Sunday, this was no easy task. After checking out a few churches on the Sundays we had free, we decided to check out a few more. One had ways for Kristine to plug in so for now she's joined a bible study as well as the MOPS group. She feels better to be grounded in a church again. Eric's going to start going to a bible study near his work too. Once we get more settled we hope to start some marriage coaching to help us on communication skills, one thing that we found out we needed to work on while serving with MAF.
But for now, we're taking things one step at a time. We really appreciate those who have stuck with us through this process. We're definitely taking our time and praying throughout this process to seek God's will for our family. We'll update you as we go. If you're not on our Facebook group, request to join. We hope to update there much more frequently.
Thanks again for all your prayers, we appreciate it.
In Christ,
The Reeds
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| Jenna flying at the Children's Museum |
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| Jenna and Eric at the Arlington Air Show |
We know we've been kinda quiet over here at "Taking off with the Reeds", but don't let our lack of online presence fool you. We've been here, just extremely busy. As you know, earlier on in the year we decided to take a break from Mission Aviation Fellowship to work on a few things so we'll be more prepared when we return. The minute we took that step back, we felt more at peace and relieved. God began to open doors showing us that this was indeed what we were to do. God provided a job for Eric in Woodinville and a rental house for us to live in near his work. He provided people to help us move as well. Once these things were taken care of in May, we began work on our first major task, getting the Oregon house ready to sell and listed.
Not knowing just how much extra work it would be with a toddler, we had anticipated things to take about a month to a month and a half to finish. Without a toddler, that would be a correct timeline, however with a toddler it ended up doubling. We started work in May and came down nearly every weekend this summer to work on it. We completed work and listed it officially on Monday of this week. While we were working on the house a real estate agent came to us wanting to take on our house to sell it. When we met with them, we agreed completely on their strategy and were thankful God took care of that detail for us. We were thankful during this time for Eric's parents allowing us to stay in their home and for Kristine's (my) parents for watching Jennavieve.
In August we took a weekend off to celebrate our sixth anniversary and Kristine's 30th birthday by going to Canada. Kristine's parents watched Jenna so we could relax and enjoy ourselves. We went to Vancouver Island, visited Victoria and stayed at wonderful restaurant in Nanaimo, B.C. It's definitely a place we want to go back and explore again. We love Canada and are very thankful to live so close to it!
Towards the beginning of September, something unexpected happened at our rental house, which actually wasn't a surprise, so I guess maybe we expected it? Ever since we moved into our rental house, there have been issues. When we first moved in, there was new housing going in behind the house so there were many different construction workers and equipment going down the alley by our home and parking on our property. When we moved in, there was a smell downstairs that Kristine noticed. It was in the carpet and smelled like mildew. Nothing we tried could solve it, so the owners replaced the carpet. We thought we were done, but the mold/mildew came back in full force and by the beginning of September, we had to move out all our belongings from downstairs to a storage facility so a mold specialist could take care of the house. This is all during the time we were trying to finish our Oregon house and plan Jenna's second birthday party. Crazy Crazy timing eh?
We ended up cancelling Jenna's birthday party with her toddler friends and went to the zoo with Eric's sister Marguerite. It was a great day! Jenna had the opportunity to feed Giraffes and some birds as well as see and pet many animals. We ate at Paseo for lunch and came back home for Jenna to open gifts. She had a good time, and that's all we cared about.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1038-Munkers-Ct-SE-Salem-OR-97317/53023830_zpid/
Another step we had on our agenda was to find a home church. As you can imagine, with us being busy most every Sunday, this was no easy task. After checking out a few churches on the Sundays we had free, we decided to check out a few more. One had ways for Kristine to plug in so for now she's joined a bible study as well as the MOPS group. She feels better to be grounded in a church again. Eric's going to start going to a bible study near his work too. Once we get more settled we hope to start some marriage coaching to help us on communication skills, one thing that we found out we needed to work on while serving with MAF.
But for now, we're taking things one step at a time. We really appreciate those who have stuck with us through this process. We're definitely taking our time and praying throughout this process to seek God's will for our family. We'll update you as we go. If you're not on our Facebook group, request to join. We hope to update there much more frequently.
Thanks again for all your prayers, we appreciate it.
In Christ,
The Reeds
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thoughts on hate (Kristine)
I've been debating for a while to post anything regarding Chick-Fil-A. There's SO much out there. I think it's sad that there's so much hate on both sides of the opinion. It also makes me wonder, do you really know what the CEO's or owners of your favorite organizations believe in? I would bet most people don't and would be shocked as well at most opinions out there in this world. Yet does it stop us from enjoying their products, most times not.
I say stop the hate. Hating someone for believing in something you don't will not change their mind about anything. Yelling at them, taunting them or writing horrible things about them will not make them want to see your point of view. Instead it will make them want to run as far away as possible from it. There's hating on both sides of this issue. I think instead of despising someone for thinking different, it's important to take a step back and actually listen to their side of the story. Give them a listening ear of compassion versus a fist of hate. Get to know where they are coming from. Get to know their history and maybe try to understand why they have their point of view. It's the better path to understanding and the better path to peace.
As a Christian, I do believe that Jesus befriended and had compassion on many people, whether they agreed with how he taught or not. In Mark 12:30-31 Jesus talked about the two greatest commandments. The first was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (v 30) "..the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself." In this country there's a lot of self-love and we get offended VERY easily. Jesus called us to first love God, but to also love each other.
I don't know the head of Chick-Fil-A. I've never eaten their food but I've heard it's rather tasty. I think he does have a right to express his views as everyone else in this country does. How people react to those views is their choice. I think we should start listening before we start swinging our fists or trying to shock each other to believe in what we do. I challenge every one of you reading this to think about how you react and maybe try to listen, if you pray please pray, and have a conversation with either side before immediately hating.
Love,
Kristine Reed
I say stop the hate. Hating someone for believing in something you don't will not change their mind about anything. Yelling at them, taunting them or writing horrible things about them will not make them want to see your point of view. Instead it will make them want to run as far away as possible from it. There's hating on both sides of this issue. I think instead of despising someone for thinking different, it's important to take a step back and actually listen to their side of the story. Give them a listening ear of compassion versus a fist of hate. Get to know where they are coming from. Get to know their history and maybe try to understand why they have their point of view. It's the better path to understanding and the better path to peace.
As a Christian, I do believe that Jesus befriended and had compassion on many people, whether they agreed with how he taught or not. In Mark 12:30-31 Jesus talked about the two greatest commandments. The first was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (v 30) "..the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself." In this country there's a lot of self-love and we get offended VERY easily. Jesus called us to first love God, but to also love each other.
I don't know the head of Chick-Fil-A. I've never eaten their food but I've heard it's rather tasty. I think he does have a right to express his views as everyone else in this country does. How people react to those views is their choice. I think we should start listening before we start swinging our fists or trying to shock each other to believe in what we do. I challenge every one of you reading this to think about how you react and maybe try to listen, if you pray please pray, and have a conversation with either side before immediately hating.
Love,
Kristine Reed
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