Monday, December 2, 2013

Thankful

*Disclaimer: after proofreading this post I realized that I grossly overused the exclamation mark.  Too bad.  I was just really excited about a lot of things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a lovely long weekend with our families and were grateful for a few days to spend together as a little-4-person-Gudeman-family! 
            I was going to say "relaxing as a little-4-person-Gudeman-family" but with a 6yo and a 3yo there   
            isn't much relaxing going on! Ha!  But lots of fun was happening!

Micah contemplating his turkey dinner!

Grace and RP at the kids table!


Don't mind me.

Grace went to the movies for the first time! Naturally, she saw Planes. 
I ran a 5K Turkey Trot! 
Micah turned 3! 
Andy spearheaded the Christmas decorating at our house!  We are thankful for his dad's help with the lights on the tree :-)  No Clark Griswold mishaps here!

Christmas magic :-) Try not to be jealous of our floral wallpaper borders.
I am so thankful for this guy <3

And the turkeys are off!
I'm just thankful I can run with a smile on my face!

We avoided Black Friday shopping so we could truly appreciate what we already have rather than adding more "stuff" to our lives.  We ventured out but without a buying agenda.  It's frustrating -- yes??? -- to watch the news about people fighting over Black Friday deals just hours after gorging on turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie --> uhhh, I mean reflecting on all they are thankful for. 

Seriously, though.  It is just crazy. 

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving {November 30th} we celebrated Micah's 3rd birthday!  I vividly remember having Thanksgiving dinner 5 days before he was born.  Talk about feeling stuffed.
What a kid!!!  We love this 3yo!!!
Pumpkin birthday pie!

Licking the pumpkin off his #3...wouldn't want to waste any!

On October 27th our sweet Gracie turned 6! 
Love this girl!!!  Such a sassy, sweet 6yo!!!

Rapunzel!

Disney on Ice for her b-day!!!!  Serious business.  Don't smile.

We continue to raise support for full-time missions with MMS.  Things will slow down over the holidays as our schedule {work/school/church/family} is too full {of good stuff} for church and home visits.  We are 20% funded (!!!!!) and praise the Lord for this!!!!  We are excited to have a more focused fundraising time after the New Year. 

If you'd like to join us in prayer, here are some specifics:

1.  Our spiritual growth -- we will be focusing on some particular areas in which to grow with the help of our pastors.  This is so exciting to us!  We are thankful for leaders who care about us, for a process that exposes our needs, and an opportunity to grow in God's Word.
2.  Our kids -- pray for their hearts to be open to God.  Also pray for their ability to learn obedience and respect.  They are GREAT kids but they need Jesus just like the rest of us.
3.  Parenting -- this is probably our biggest challenge currently and it is likely to remain our biggest challenge for, oh, I don't know, 18 years or so.  Or forever.  Consistency, diligence, obedience, and love.
4.  Preparing our hearts for missions.  There is so much involved with preparing to go -- spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  In church on Sunday I was overwhelmed -- with sadness, fear, grief, but also the knowledge of strong support-- at the idea of leaving my church family.  I realized how much preparation my heart will need in order to go.

Here is a glimpse at some additional Gudeman Fall Fun!
LEAVES!!!
A fall family hike


Grace's 1st loose tooth!!!
Togetherness <3

Togetherness with scarecrows <3
Peter Pan & Tinkerbell rocked the block!
So many Fall Festivals, so little time!
Grace met Jan Brett, the author and illustrator of some of her FAVORITE books!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A Desk Jockey, Super-Heroes & School

There's been quite a bit of exciting transition in our family over the past several weeks!

I {Trisha} started a new FULL-TIME job!  I am a caseworker at the County Assistance Office.  This is a *huge* answer to prayer and we are daily humbled at God's provision.  Many people have prayed with us for over a year {one year, three months and ten days to be exact} for this and now we rejoice together at how God provides at exactly the right time.  My job is about 10 minutes from home so I can take Grace to the bus stop in the morning and be home for dinner.

Me in the land of cubes and fluorescent lighting!
Andy will continue to work at Costco evenings and weekends while he takes care of the kids and the household during the days.  He is also the main driver of our support raising efforts.  We both do the calls, letters, conversations, visits, etc., but Andy makes the game plan that moves us forward. 

He's pretty much Super-Dad.  His Super-Dad cape sometime gets stuck in the door of his BatMinivan-mobile.

He cooks.
     He cleans.
          He launders.
He's Suuuuuuper-Dad!
It really doesn't get any better than this!  Don't show this picture to his chiropractor...
Grace started kindergarten in August and is totally a pro.  She loves Ms. Geyer, art, centers {rotating activities}, and reading.  She picks out her own clothes and gets dressed by herself each morning.  She reads in her book-nook in the morning until I get up.  Every morning she tells me, "Mom, hurry up or we'll be late for the bus!"

It's 7:00am.  Her bus comes at 8:07am.



Micah is also off to school this year -- pre-school...or "pre-cool" as he calls it!  He goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to Ridgeway Nursery School.  He also spends his days visiting Fort Indiantown Gap airfield, hiking around Memorial Lake or at Wildwood, or chillin' at the library.  A perk of Micah's pre-school schedule is that it frees up a few hours during the week for Andy to focus on support-raising. 




And he's off!
We are moving along steadily in our support raising for MMS and are currently at 14%.  Our ability to get to the mission field depends on how quickly we raise 100% of the funds we need.  We are eager to get to MMS!  We are thankful for each opportunity to share about missions and how we hope to be a part of kingdom building at MMS.


Wednesday, August 28, 2013

10%...who knew?!?!


Woo hoo!!!  We have officially reached the 10% mark in our support raising!

If you had asked me a few months ago if I thought 10% was a significant amount of ANYTHING, I would have said no.  But now?!?!  I am stoked!

It means that people are sharing our vision for missions.
It means that people are giving sacrifically to see God's kingdom expand.
It means that God's plan for us to serve in mission aviation is becoming a reality.

Riding the plane-train
We spent last Saturday at a Missions Aviation Fest in Lancaster.  The theme was Aviation Maintenance and MMS was the featured organization!

The kids had a blast and Andy volunteered with JAARS offering helicopter rides.  He did the safety briefing and loaded folks into the helicopter.  The kids rode a plane-train, bounced in a bounce house, had their hands painted {ladybug and helicopter, respectively}, made toy airplanes, and had their first helicopter ride!
It's amazing how even on days that are exhausting from work and play, when our focus is on missions, we aren't tired.  We might be able to fall asleep in an instant but the life-giving force of serving God by using our gifts far outweighs the feelings of weariness.  We are so grateful to those partnering with us in ministry to allow us to follow the Lord into missions.

If you'd like to receive our newsletter via snail-mail or e-mail, please let us know by leaving a comment, call us, or send us an e-mail at teamgudeman@gmail.com!

You can also subscribe to this blog by entering your email in the sidebar near the top of the blog.  You'll just get an email notifying you when we post a new blog entry.  We don't have access to the list of people who sign up...it just means you'll get an email when we put a new post on the blog :-)


Co-Pilot!
Helo-hand
Bouncing!

Assembling an airplane courtesy of MMS





Like father, like son *happy sigh*

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Risk

Last Saturday, we visited Spiral Path Farm where we are a part of a CSA.  Each week, we are the proud, curious, and sometimes confused {more on that in a bit} recipients of a box of organic produce.

We pick it up.

We peek inside.

We marvel at the colors and textures of un-messed with nature. 

This is our first year participating and we just didn't know what to expect.  It's been pretty amazing thus far.  Talk about eating the rainbow!  We've had everything from garlic scapes, to strawberries, to kale, to beets, and, of course, zucchini--lots of it.  We even got homemade Italian herb vinegar.



Each week, in addition to the veggies, SPF includes a newsletter with that week's crop, some recipes for those items you just don't know what to do with {think garlic scapes...btw--they're awesome} and a short write-up.  The newsletter story is always different; typically a glimpse into life on the farm.

This past week, they interviewed the young grandchildren of the farm owners.  One of the questions was to describe the CSA.  Come to think of it...what is a CSA?  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Each "share" helps support the farm for a specific amount of produce in return.  It's not really like going to the grocery store because you can't choose what you get in your weekly box.  You don't just send money and food arrives.  There is an investment.


You get what is in season.

You get the crops that survive and thrive.

The latest newsletter explained why CSAs are the way they are and why they seem to be growing in popularity.  CSAs are a community of people who help sustain the farm.  If you know anybody who is a farmer, you know that there are years of plenty and years of famine.

There is risk.

We are part of that risk.  If this is a bad year, we lose out on the bounty that might have been.  But if it's a good year {like this year!}, we have a huge amount of beautiful leafy greens, juicy berries, and crisp cucumbers to eat.  Risk.

God has a way of teaching us hard -- to the core -- lessons when we least expect it.  I was recently reading a Henri Nouwen book titled The Return of the Prodigal Son.  The book is so insanely intimate that it's taken me over a year to get two-thirds of the way through it.  Nouwen conveys some of the thoughts we've thought and feelings we've felt about the spiritual life in a way that makes me uncomfortable.   

I mean...nobody else actually thinks the thoughts I do...right?  
                    And even if they do, we wouldn't talk about it, right?

We know the story of the prodigal son.  We read it in Luke 15:11-32.

Nouwen writes on page 53,  

     "One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God's forgiveness.  There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning.  Sometimes it even seems as though I want to prove to God that my darkness is too great to overcome.  While God wants to restore me to the full dignity of sonship, I keep insisting that I will settle for being a hired servant.  But do I truly want to be restored to the full responsibility of the son?  Do I truly want to be so totally forgiven that a completely new way of living becomes possible?  Do I trust myself and such a radical reclamation?  Do I want to break away from my deep-rooted rebellion against God and surrender myself so absolutely to God's love that a new person can emerge?  Receiving forgiveness requires a total willingness to let God be God and do all the healing, restoring, and renewing.  As long as I want to do even a part of that myself, I end up with partial solutions, such as becoming a hired servant.  As a hired servant, I can still keep my distance, still revolt, reject, strike, run away, or complain about my pay.  As the beloved son, I have to claim my full dignity and begin preparing myself to become the father." 

So.  Back to risk.


Staying where we are in our spiritual lives is safe.  Staying in a comfortable role {read: sinner} is safe.  The prodigal son had convinced himself that it was better to return to his father as a hired hand than stay in his job as a pig slop deliverer.  Despite having full rights as a SON, he settled for hired hand.  His father, however, set him straight.

YOU ARE A SON.

AN HEIR.

That cannot be undone.

What am I settling for?  Full restoration as a son or daughter of God means letting go of control.  Eeeeeeeek.  How much farther along in my spiritual journey could I be if I would hand over the reins to...hmmm, I don't know...the Almighty God?

We say that we fear the bad stuff but I think we also equally fear the good stuff.

Otherwise, wouldn't we all be embracing forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope?  We wouldn't be living under the oppression of guilt, fear, and sin.  But we are.  We have full rights as sons and daughters of God yet we don't claim them.  WE HAVE TO TRY.  WE CAN'T SETTLE.  

The risk we take with the farm -- committing {blindly} to a share of the crop -- mirrors the risk we take when we fully trust God.

EXCEPT THIS ONE THING.  

There is no chance that God won't deliver.  To us, we are entering the unknown realm of full surrender.  It's not, however, unknown territory for God.  The risk is ALL ours.  The burdens we carry are heavy and cumbersome...but they have become our identity.  Just like the prodigal son, we truly see ourselves as the sum total of our defeats.

Thankfully, the father points out his true identity. 

Ideal opportunity for a family photo except Micah was distracted by a REAL TRACTOR and Grace was...well, being 5yo.


















Monday, July 22, 2013

We are En Route



We are En Route
It is with great joy that we can say that the Lord has finally led us to becoming part of the missionary aviation community as we share the Good News of the transformational power of Jesus Christ.  After a year of much learning and uncomfortable chiseling, we have been accepted to be a part of Missionary Maintenance Services (MMS Aviation).  MMS is a fully operational mission organization that provides repair, overhaul, and modification services to in-service missionary aircraft labor-free to Christian organizations.  While serving as a missionary with MMS Aviation, Andy will gain the experience necessary to sit for the FAA mechanic (A&P) license.  Missionary pilots must also have their A&P to serve in remote locations around the world sharing the Gospel, performing medical evacuations, and bringing much needed supplies to missionaries.



What is Mission Aviation?
The primary purpose is to make spreading the Gospel easier and more efficient.  Aircraft can make a dangerous three-week trek through jungle, over mountains and through rivers, SAFE in about an hour.  This makes transporting supplies, medical evacuation, and Bible translation possible to the unreached in a much faster way.  Mission aviation is transporting people and supplies her in the U.S. and throughout the world.  Mission aviation serves mission organizations and it also serves people in need of supplies, medical transport, or alternative travel.  

Joining MMS Aviation
Our recent trip to Missionary Maintenance Services (MMS) in Coshocton, OH, was incredible!  Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes during our preparation and time there.  Our goal was to learn more about MMS, for Andy to have an evaluation time in the hangar, and interview to be part of the mission and ministry at MMS.  All of those things were accomplished and we are excited to  join the ministry team at MMS!  We are on our way to being full-time missionaries and our next step will be to begin the ministry of support raising. 

 Learn More
Visit MMS Aviation's website for more information about their ministry and how you can be part of our missionary journey.  There is also great info at JAARS's website.  
The Gudemans ---> En Route!