"Goodbye fair city..."

Ahhh, Vancouver at night. This is one of my favorite Tim photos. I was just reflecting today on all the wonderful memories we've made in this fair city over the past 6 years.

I met Tim here...we had our first kiss here....we got married here....and tons of others....those are just the biggies.

God has been so good to us and I can honestly say that I have no regrets moving here and I have no problem leaving here. It's odd.

Perhaps it's because God has paved the way for us to go- providing even the teeniest of needs...like people signing up for our fundraisers! One of my dearest friends is coming up from Seattle just to come to our Christmas Tea! What a blessing! And then Tim and I had to get our Hep A and B immunizations....we thought we had to go to our doctor (we don't really have one) in order to get the shots, but found out that you can buy them over-the-counter and have one of my nursing friends administer it! Cool! No waiting in lines! Sweet! This may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me!

Even the color copies we had to get for our letters originally were going to cost $.75 per copy and we had a bunch, but then Tim found a place that would do it for $.19 per copy!!! Way cool.

And you know, satan knows that God is our source and has already tried to get us distracted and frustrated. Just this passed weekend, we had one of our boys in our group home go off the deep end. I mean...REALLY freak out. He tore his room to shreds leaving nothing untouched. He even wrecked the closet and proceeded to use every obscenity known to man in between hurling insults at Tim and me. It was pretty brutal. We prayed, but he continued. We finally had to take him out of our program. At the end of it all, we were tired, worn, and emotionally drained. We had nothing left, but a lot of work still had to be done.

But God has still been so faithful to remind us that these occurrences are satan's way of trying to take away our joy and excitement....to get us to feel as though we cannot handle the pressures of living overseas- especially if we cannot even control a tantrumming 11 year-old! But God gives us II Corinthians 12: 8-10, which says:

8Three times I (that's me, Bethany!) pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me (all the emotional and crazy junk that goes with running a group home and my inability to cope with all the new stresses). 9But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I (Bethany) will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. , for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Yeah!!! God's power within me makes me able to endure whatever satan tries to push my way! Thank you, Lord, for fighting my battles and reminding me that You've already won! His grace is sufficient for you!

Keep those comments coming! Many blessings to you as we prepare to celebrate the greatest Christmas gift ever.....Jesus! Peace.