Pictures, pictures!

Oh, I'm going to have FUN now that I'm finally learning how to share our photos!  This is the birthday boy.  Notice the loose change in the photo?  He's learning to count AMERICAN money.  We had quite a challenge finding enough coins for him to work with.


Now here is one of the whole Avrit clan.  For those of you who have a hard time keeping all of us straight:  from left to right...Christopher, Seth, Elizabeth, Hosanna, Jonathan (who USUALLY smiles), Miriam, Joseph, Mary Katherine (no, she's NOT standing on her tippie toes), and Michael.

The Castle

Playing around tonight to see if I can enter the world of those who can actually post PICTURES to their blog. No telling WHERE this picture is actually going to show up for you to see, though.

Anyway...this is a picture of the house we are hoping to rent in Thailand. We've told the owners we would like to rent it, and they've said, "Yes." No papers have been signed yet, however, so it's not a done deal.

"It's worth it!"

My son, Seth, has a birthday tomorrow.  He'll be nine.  This is one fun kid!  

He's spent the last 10 minutes combing his hair this way and that, trying to make it look "just so."  After much combing, he informed me that he wants a haircut...TONIGHT! 

This is the same child who, though born into a bluejeans and t-shirt kind of family is happiest with dress pants and a button down shirt.  We still claim him though!

This child also climbs walls with his toenails.  Can't figure how for the life of me how he does that.  I haven't seen anything like it since I was a kid and chased my cat with a running vacuum cleaner. He may become a navy seal when he grows up...if it's not too tame for him.

Lately, Seth has accompanied me on my afternoon walks.  Our route takes us past several large piles of dirt.  Seeing as I'm an adult, I simply walk past the piles.  Not Seth.  He must run up and down each dirt pile.  It's impossible for him to skip one.  As he reaches the top of each hill, he grins down at me and says the same thing every time, "It's WORTH it!!!!"

I love that kid.

Happy birthday Seth.

Waiting

Waiting.  Been doing a lot of that this last year.  Waiting to see what the next step is going to be. Waiting.  Wondering.

Soon we will be moving back to Thailand.  Folks ask me when that will happen.  Ummm...I don't know when.  We're waiting.

Some days I'm better at waiting than others.  Lately, THANKFULLY, I'm pretty peaceful about the waiting process.

Today during my quiet time, I came across some waiting that I had never noticed before.  In Jeremiah 42, the "remnant" that was left behind after Nebuchadnessar came and hauled off the people of Israel are wanting to know what they should do next. They are waiting.  They ask Jeremiah to "Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do."  Jeremiah says, "I will ask God."  So...Jeremiah inquires of the Lord.  Then they wait. 

They wait one day.  No word.  They wait two days.  Still nothing.  Day three comes,  and Jeremiah still has no message for them.  What?  I thought Jeremiah was God's prophet.  Why doesn't he know anything?  More days pass.  A week.  Nine days.  FINALLY, after ten days, Jeremiah hears from the Lord.

My question is, WHY DID IT TAKE TEN DAYS FOR GOD TO GET BACK WITH JEREMIAH?! Was God tied up at the office?  Swamped with too many things on His to do list?  On vacation? Distracted?  Uninterested?  No.  None of these things.  

It doesn't say, though.  We don't find out WHY God waited ten days to give the message to Jeremiah.  But we do know that He waited.  He COULD have given Jeremiah the message immediately, but He didn't.  God is God, and He doesn't work on our timetable.  He often doesn't give us the answers as soon as we ask the questions.  And that's okay.  We trust that He has a plan.  We trust that it is a good plan.  We wait.  

The story gets a little fuzzy for me as I read on.  It looks like the remnant didn't obey the instructions that they received from the Lord, and they missed out on great blessing.  Ah, may we wait, and THEN be obediant to whatever He directs.  

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:5-6