a visit from friends

 I know I have talked about this before, but I am so thankful for friendships.

Our good friends Nick and Jessica came all this way to visit us for the whole weekend!  That is a good 9 hour drive, and they brought 3 of their kids, so we feel blessed indeed.

A bit of background on Nick and Jess:  Jess and I had our first babies (both boys!) only 10 days apart.  When the boys were just tiny newborns, we joined up with some other couples to do an 18 week parenting Bible study.  And the rest is history--we became fast friends, and so did our boys!  

Two years later, Jess and I had our second babies (a girl for me, a boy for Jess) only 1 month apart.  And then our third kids are only a few months apart, too!  So our families were destined to be friends:)

Here is a picture that I love.  This is when Nick and Jess visited us when Halle was born.  I remember Halle was super fussy that evening...it is so crazy how fast they grow up!

 (Halle, Kaine, Carter, Mason)

So anyway, here is our weekend!

Friday evening, Nathan and Nick made a fire for the kiddos.  Fires are always a hit with our kids--especially Kaine.  That kid could burn things for hours.

In fact, they ran out of things to burn...so Nathan had the great idea to go and get our kids' craft/project box.  Here is Nick, looking at a flaming craft that Halle made.  Thankfully, our kiddos didn't mind!  They were just happy to get more kindling!

Saturday morning we woke up to a very rainy day.  Actually, it was really the first rainy day since we have moved out here to MO.  Bummer, huh?  So we had to be creative :)

The kids thought they would love to put swimsuits on and play on the playground.  They thought it would be a great waterslide!  Here is Carter on the slide.

However, as you can see from the lack of smiles on Daisy and Addi's faces, they didn't enjoy it much.  They were freezing!!

So they ran back up to our apartment just minutes after they went outside...

And we bundled them up in towels.  I love this picture of Kaine and Carter!  What good buddies they are (and Hudson, they missed you!  Maybe next year :) )

(Here is another flashback pic of Kaine and Carter.  I love this pic...I just want to squeeze those cuties.  Actually, it makes me tear up to look at it, so I will move on...)

Adalynn and Layla are about 4 or 5 months apart, and this weekend was awesome for them!  They played so well, and it is obvious that they genuinely love each other.  I love to see their friendship developing!

Of course, a rainy day has to include at least some ipad time...

Nathan played UNO with the older 4 kids...

While Jess read books to the younger 3.

Later on Saturday, we drove to the next town and ate out for supper.  Layla and Addi were crazy as usual in the back of our van :)

A picture of the girls:

And the boys:

And our group (minus me).  We decided to put all the kids at one end, and the adults at the other end.  The kids all did awesome!!  We adults could actually talk to each other!

Love this sweetie :)

Another girl pic, with the mommies included:

We got back to our apartment and of course the kiddos were all super hyper!  Jessica brought them all glow necklaces, so they had fun in the dark with those.

Then for our evening entertainment...did you know that if you light a ring of fire around a scorpion it will panic and sting itself (basically committing suicide)?  Crazy, I know...but it is actually true!  So we tried it that night...

Most of the kids weren't too sure they wanted to see an "animal" commit suicide, so they watched from the safety of our living room window :)

By the time we got our kids to bed that night, it was after 10:00.  But my amazing sis was still more than willing to come sit in our apartment with our sleeping kids so that Nathan and I could go and hang out with Nick and Jess at their guesthouse.  Thank you, Jill!

Kaine spent the night at the guesthouse with Carter, and when we got there that night I had fun spying on them as they jumped from bed to bed...they have so much fun together :)

Nathan and I had a great time playing games and talking with Nick and Jess that night until after midnight.

The next day, we all went to church in the morning, and then we ate at Subway for lunch afterwards.
Halle and Mason are both 5 and they really get along well, too!  It was cute to see them interacting with each other.  I am really not sure what they are trying to do to each other in these pictures :)

And these 3 girlies are just so adorable.  I just love them.

Kaine and Carter of course wanted to sit alone!  They practiced pinching each other and giving "indian burns"...such funny boys.

There is a cool cliff along the drive to church that Nick and Jess had a good idea to stop at for a photo op.  Here is Layla and Addi, waiting for the guys to make their appearance at the top of the cliff...

All the boys:)

So thankful for these godly husbands and amazing fathers!

After church the kiddos talked us into letting them watch The Sword in the Stone while the little girls napped.  It was a great time of conversation for us parents!

After Layla and Addi woke up, Halle did "art class" with them.  So cute.

For supper that night, we headed out to Ha Ha Tonka State Park for a picnic and a chance for the kids to check out the castle.  Daisy's stroller was loaded down with food...

We had a picnic...

Beautiful little girls...

All the kids!  (minus little Bodie)

The kids loved exploring around the castle...

Love this friend!!

We ended the weekend back at our apartment that night.  The dads did a "Royal Rumble" with the kids.  Pure craziness!!

Whew.  As I was typing this, I realized I just subjected you to a TON of pictures!  Sorry about that!

Nick and Jessica, thank you so very much for coming!  We had a lot of fun with you guys, and we so appreciate the effort.  We love you guys :)

Ha Ha Tonka

We discovered a BEAUTIFUL state park the other night, just 5 minutes from our house.  It is called Ha Ha Tonka...what a name, huh?  But seriously, what beautiful scenery.  Much different than our State Park back home!  (Although our hometown State Park does have a pretty sweet swimming pool and a bunch of buffalo...)  Anyway, we went to Ha Ha Tonka the other night for some (easy) hiking and a picnic.  What a fun family evening :)

We visited some castle ruins there in the State Park.  Crazy that a man built this castle!  But sadly it burned down quite a few years ago--the ruins are pretty neat to visit though.  Kaine thought this castle was so awesome.

Our picnic...love spending evenings with these 5 people!

Well, goodbye to everyone for now...no more blogposts for 4 weeks!  (see below post for explanation...)  Pray for us as we continue to learn and grow here at the Missionary Training Center!

goodbye world!

We are "unplugging" ourselves for the next 4 weeks!

The details:

Who:  Nathan and I, along with the rest of our class here at the mtc and also some of the staff members.

What:  A "Webfast"--basically, we will not be connected to technology during this time.  No texting, emailing, facebook, blogs, online anything, tv, movies, etc.  We will be able to talk on our cell phones, so feel free to call us!!  

When:  This Monday, Sept 9 through Friday, Oct. 4.

Why??  There are many reasons.  Basically, it is going hand in hand with our Worldview Analysis class.  We have really been looking deep into our Western worldview and realizing just how much technology has shaped our worldviews without us even noticing.  We have also been faced with the sober reality that missionaries on the mission field are struggling with this.  With wanting to be on facebook, or other types of social media, etc...because it is comfortable, a way to escape hard life and culture stress and a way to keep connecting with the Western world.  Now, we know that technology on the mission field is not bad at all!  In fact, it is a huge blessing!  But, going along with that, we will need to be self-controlled in this area, and have a very healthy balance.  Also, the staff here at mtc wants us to focus more on face to face relationships--realizing that on the mission field, this will be TOTALLY and completely necessary.  Texting and messaging on facebook can cause us to be very comfortable with "virtual communication" because of access, speed, etc.  On the mission field this will not be an option with our tribal people!!


I am personally very excited for this Webfast.  While I love connecting with you guys through this blog or facebook or whatever, it is also so tempting to spend too much time doing that.  An innocent check on facebook for messages can easily turn into 30 minutes of mindless scrolling through newsfeeds!  It can be such a time-waster, and I am excited for a month of not even having that option.  I know it will stretch us, but I think at the same time the Lord will use it to really grow us.  During this 4 week period, we are also going to do a study of Philippians along with the rest of our class, and discuss it with our small groups.  I think these 4 weeks will be very good for me!

So anyway, beginning on Monday morning...if you need to talk to us, just call us!  We would love that.  We will also be using our NTM email for mtc business, so you can feel free to contact us on that if you need to!  nathan_mueller@ntm.org and rachel_mueller@ntm.org.

Blessings to you all!

daily life

What do we do every day?

Part of me thinks most people probably wouldn't care to see a ton of pictures that document a day in our life :)  But for those who are curious (I know I love to read blogs about the daily lives of others!) or for those who hope to attend mtc someday (I had a ton of questions before we moved here)...here is an average day for us.

My ideal time to start my day would be around 5:00 or 5:15.  I love being able to exercise and read my Bible before my kiddos make their appearance.  

However, I said "ideal time" for a reason :)  

Most days, my day actually starts around 6:15.  I can usually get out of bed around then, which gives me a little bit of time before we have to get Kaine up.  I usually take a quick shower and read my Bible for a little bit at this time.

We get Kaine out of bed at 6:45.  (no...actually, Nathan gets Kaine out of bed.  Because "getting him out of bed" entails dragging his dead weight out of the top bunk.  He is always so out of it!  And lets face it--I am not nearly as strong as my studly hubby :) ).

I feed Kaine breakfast...

(Kaine always tries to hide from me when I want to take his picture!)

And then he is off to his bus stop.  He always runs the whole way :)  Kaine's bus comes around 7:20 or 7:25.

The girls start waking up anytime between 7 and 8.  Usually closer to 7.

They eat breakfast...

Our first class is at 8:00, but the childcare doesn't open until the 9:00 hour.  Some moms take their kiddos with them to the 8:00 class, but for me...it seems like 3 girls would be distracting (for others and definitely for me!)  And the classes are streamed online, so I can listen at home. So Nathan had the idea to take one of the girls with him each day.  They take turns each day, and they get to pick a sucker to eat during class.  The benefit is two-fold--it is good for them to sit still on Nathan's lap for an hour, and it helps me out as I am at home trying to listen to the class with the other 2 girls!  

So here is Nathan and Layla, off to the 8:00 class...

At about 8:35-8:40, I start off for class with the other 2 girls.  Usually we drive, but this day we walked:

I drop the girls off at their childcare classes, and then about once every week or 2, I am scheduled to work in the childcare (the moms are all on a rotation).  It does stink a little to miss my class for the day, but it is really fun to get to know the kiddos better and be more involved with childcare!  On this particular day, I was scheduled in the "Mini-Toddler" classroom.  I didn't have any of my kiddos in there, but I got to hang out with my sweet nephew!

So many "minis"!  They are such cuties :)

So, on the other days, I go to class for the rest of the morning.  We go from 9-noon every day, and we are receiving some amaaaaazing teaching.  Wow, we are really loving it and so appreciative for the privilege of being here!

haha...I love this picture :)  This is Nathan's favorite way to photo bomb a picture...and don't worry, our friend in the green hat isn't a gang member or anything!  He likes to act tough :)

At noon, our classes are done for the day and we walk out the back door to pick up our kids at childcare.  The building in this picture is the childcare...it is literally right outside of our classroom!

This is how Daisy greets me every day :)  She knows how to make a mama feel good!  She is always soooo happy to see me!

We go back to our apartment after classes to eat lunch.  Here is Daisy praying before we ate lunch one day.  She always volunteers to have the prayer!!

After lunch, Halle is in charge of the dishes (since Kaine is still at school)...

After lunch, Nathan goes to work some days in the IT department.  (each student does 7 hours of "work detail" every week...Nathan works Mondays and Tuesdays in the IT.  Which we are still surprised that he got put in the IT dept, rather than carpentry/construction or maintenance...but he is stoked to learn more computer skills!)  But Nathan usually has some time to play with the girls before their naps.  On this day, he was holding Daisy while working on some memory verses.

Then it is to bed for these 2 girlies.  I am very thankful that they both take such good naps!

Once the girls are settled in bed and I tidy up the house a little, I start to homeschool Halle.  She is in kindergarten, but we felt like all day kindergarten  at public school would be such a long day for her.  So we were super thankful that the childcare coordinators are allowing Halle to stay in the preschool class in the mornings.  Then I am homeschooling her for kindergarten in the afternoons.  So far it is all working out great!

I love having quality time every afternoon with Halle.  She is such a sweet girl, and she LOVES homeschooling!

I usually try to wake Layla up around 3:00, because if I let her sleep too long then she takes forever to fall asleep at night!  She usually wakes up to a snack, and on some days I let her play the ipad for a little bit.

Yay!  Kaine gets home from school around 3:45-4:00 each day.  We are always sooo excited to see Kaine!!

After coming home for a snack and a little bit of time to hang out, Kaine always wants to go outside and play with his new friends (and his sisters).  I am very thankful that he has a fun and safe place to play here--in Jackson, it was much harder because we lived all the way on the third floor.  Here at mtc, they can just walk right outside.

We eat supper around 5:15 or so.  Then we do supper devotions and Kaine and Halle do the dishes together.

After supper, our evenings look different every night!  We usually always have some sort of family time in the evenings. Here are some random things we have done lately:

Nathan making hummus:

Kaine, Halle and Layla playing "art class":

Daisy roaming around the house, playing with random toys:

Hanging out at the playground with the neighbors:

Going on a family walk to the lake for some fishing:

(Halle found a locust shell that night!)

After our evening activities, we do an evening snack (on this night, Ivy joined us!)

Then it is bedtime for our kids!  Around 8:00 or so, we start getting their pj's on, brushing teeth, etc.

(For some reason, they always seem to get a second wind right at bedtime!)

Nathan does their nightly devotions, while I fill up their water bottles, get their blankies, babies, etc, lay out their clothes for the next day...etc.  

Then we kiss the kids goodnight and we have a couple of hours of QUIET!!  We love the evenings!!  We usually have some homework to work on, or sometimes we have friends over for popcorn, or Nathan and I  just have quality time with each other.  We usually end up going to bed around 11 or 11:30.

Whew!  That is our day, and sorry for all the pictures...I probably bored some of you :)

an overwhelming task.

Well, we are in the middle of our classes here at mtc and let me just say...wow.  They are awesome!  We feel so privileged to be able to train here with NTM.  The teachers have so much experience with missions and we truly feel that we are learning from the best. 

That being said...oh my goodness.  I am starting to think HOW will we ever plant a church in an unreached people group?  Praise the Lord for His Spirit, because we know it is ONLY through Him that we will ever accomplish this huge task.  We are in the middle of a class called Worldview Analysis, which is really challenging us about the importance of learning the people group's worldview before ever trying to teach the Gospel to them.  We are learning that it is crucial to minister to others at a worldview level.  There is a TON of stuff I could say about this, but it is overwhelming for me to try and put it in this blog post.  Maybe another time :)  But all that to say--the only way we will be able to persevere through that process will be because of God's grace and His Spirit.  

Another class we just finished was called Big Picture.  This class gives us an overview of all the different stages of tribal church planting with NTM, and all that goes into seeing that church grow to maturity.  Let me just say it is a LOT.  Here is the model that they use (I think if you click on it, it should get bigger):

Again, if I think about our future in doing all of this, I just can get overwhelmed.  I am so thankful for the training and discipleship we will receive here at mtc, from missionaries who have been overseas, went through very difficult times, planted churches, been kicked out of countries by governments, and experienced everything imaginable.  

We are also thankful for the fact that we will have so many praying for us back home!  They are doing a great job of drilling into us here that church planting is NOT an individual effort.  It takes so many people in so many roles, and for that we are so thankful.  

During our "kickoff" here the first day of classes, they showed us this video.  If I begin to feel overwhelmed or worried, videos like this are great to watch.  It reminds me of the immensity and urgency of the task, and WHY we are doing what we are doing!  I loooooooove this video.

Thanks for your prayers!  We feel them, as we are finally starting to get into a routine here :)  Have a great weekend...we are looking forward to ours because my parents are going to make a quick weekend trip to see us!  Yay!

To Grandpa Jim and Grandpa Dave:

Kaine and Halle wanted to show off their latest thing to you guys :)  Hopefully you can watch them do it in person someday!

We love you and we miss you, Grandpa Jim and Grandpa Dave!

Love,

Kaine and Halle

this world is not my home...

 

So here is the story with our housing here at the MTC.  A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call...there was a crack discovered in our bathtub (in the apartment that we were assigned to), and there would be lots of drywall work, etc to go with it.  As a result, when we moved here we would have to live in temporary housing for the first week or so.  When we heard this news, we were a little disappointed but understanding, and we decided that we would be positive about the whole thing, even though it wasn't going to be ideal.

Long story short, we did move into the temporary housing (which was "old housing") for the first few days. The temporary apartment was small but they gave us 2 that were attached, so we had some more space.  There was also no shower or laundry, so we needed to use the "wash house" for that.  We put almost ALL of our belongings, food, and clothing up in our "real" apartment, and just kept the bare minimum with us down in our temporary place.  The maintenance guys here worked extremely hard to get our "real" apartment done for us so that we could move in before our classes start.  We cannot begin to say how much we appreciate their hard work!  A couple of the guys who were working on it are dads with families at home...and they stayed until almost midnight one night trying to get a lot done on it.  Wow.  What servants!

So anyway, on Friday morning the work was done and we were able to move in!  We are now almost completely settled, praise the Lord.  We are thankful.

So...what does the title of this post have anything to do with this, you might be wondering?  Well, as we were living in our temporary apartment last week, I was really struck that we were actually living out an analogy of an awesome spiritual truth!  (disclaimer:  I do realize that this analogy probably has holes in it and will break down at some point...but you will get the idea :) )


When we were living in our temporary apartment, we knew that it was just that...temporary!  We were very aware that it would just be for a very short time. 

Therefore, we didn't mind that it was pretty small...

I didn't mind that Nathan stuck forks in our "curtains" to hold them up...

Our girls could not care less that they had no pajamas (and had to wear their brother's tshirts to bed)...

It was really not a problem that we had very little living space...

And I had zero desire to unpack and put stuff in drawers!  Why waste my time in this temporary apartment when I could be up in our "new" place setting it up for us to live in? 

I thought this was all such a wonderful picture of having an eternal perspective.  It challenged me and really made me think...

When we realize that we are living in a temporary home (this world), we can put up with a lot!  We do not care to spend a lot of time and money on our earthly lives, because we know our time here is so very short. 

We want to be spending all of our time preparing for our forever home in heaven.  When we have a heavenly perspective it should affect the way we respond to unpleasant realities of this life.  It should cause us to be content with our circumstances here on earth!

An eternal perspective should cause us to live for this day...

and our REAL home!

 

 

I really want to emphasize that our temporary apartment was not bad at all.  We kind of enjoyed our time there!  But I will admit, it is very nice to be all set up in our new place now :)