Growth

As many of you know, Joel has extra sensitivities...water on his face, a hair in his mouth, socks not on right, sticky hands...all of those can send him in a panic. Although he has improved in many areas, it still can be very frustrating for Tim and I as we parent him. This week God has clearly shown me some of the benefits of Joel's sensitivities - I have needed some encouragement and thought I should share in case any of you have children with similar issues.

First, we were out with my parents for dinner on Saturday dinner, and I had ordered the boys milk with their meal. Caleb finished off his milk in no time, but Joel finally said "This tastes yucky!" I thought he was over-reacting until my mom tasted it and realized it was completely spoiled. The boys had drank from the same container...easy-going Caleb never even noticed, but Joel did. Today, I was laying with Joel trying to get him to fall asleep for his nap when he popped up and said, "Momma, do you snell (smell) somethin? I snell fire." Even with my sensitive pregnant nose, I hadn't noticed anything. I popped out of bed and peered out the window. Sure enough, there was a lot of smoke. Thankfully, it ended up being my neighbor starting his grill, but after one of the buildings burned down in our complex our first weekend here, we have been extra cautious whenever we smell smoke. I am reminded that God has made each of us unique, and we can use our gifts as strengths or weaknesses. What I sometimes view as a weakness (or an annoyance) is actually a strength!

So after that learning moment for me, here is a quick summary of last week. Monday was kind of rough. We woke up to find that someone has sawed off the muffler on Tim's car. It was funny (Tim looked so funny driving around in such a loud car!) until we realized how much those things cost. The original muffler was around $800 to replace, so we opted for a generic...still a whopping $200. That afternoon, I had my first dr appointment here in Atlanta. So awesome! I got to see the baby move and suck it's thumb in 3D. On Tuesday, I volunteered at the Cafe and helped two women with their resumes - one from Iraq and one from China. They are so sweet and it is such a joy to help them. That evening, we got a late night call informing us that Tim's brother, Peter, had lost feeling in his foot and it was turning cold and white. He went to the emergency room, and after a few hours, his foot suddenly gained back feeling! The doctors say it was probably caused by his shoes, but we are chalking it up to a miracle. Tim spent the afternoon on Wednesday with some of his new Taiwanese friends at Georgia Tech. Thursday evening we spent with the family upstairs. They are moving to a new building this week :( so we are bummed that they won't be so close. I should mention why they are moving. They had 4 adults and 2 children living in a 2 bedroom apartment. One of the guys moved out, so they said the "don't need all that room" and are moving into a one bedroom. The parents and 2 children all sleep in the same room together. Such a reminder of how spoiled we are! Anyways, my parents flew in on Friday and spoiled us rotten. We celebrated Joel's 3rd birthday and took him to the Aquarium. On Sunday, we visited the same church as last week and my parents took Joel to Chuck E Cheese.

The focus of Tim's classes last week were on prayer. This is something Tim and I have always been weak in, and we have been learning (and seeing) a lot on the power of prayer.

Prayer requests:
-Tim's mom has found a couple of new lumps in the past few weeks. She will need a biopsy in the next couple of weeks. Please be praying for peace and a miracle of complete healing.
- We have finally been assigned a refugee family. They just moved here in January from Iraq and our believers! Please be praying that we will be a light to them and that we will build a strong relationship with them in the few short months that we will be here.