Joy, Faith and Prayer

On Sunday we went to a different church than usual (because we were running SO late...) and the Holy Spirit really ministered to me through the message. It was all about prayer, faith, and JOY. Joy (and peace) have been two themes running through my life and the life of our family for the last couple of years. God gives both, but I'm not always ready to receive them, I guess. And instead of fear, we should have faith.

Yvelle sure loves her daddy... and he sure loves her!! :)

A friend recently gave me a copy of The Shack, and something I just read sticks in my mind; it's something like, "You can't trust [God] when you don't know, deep down, how much He loves you."

In Encounter today, the reading is Luke 7.18-35, and part of the commentary says:

John had been expecting a different sort of Messiah and he now has to think of the "compassionate Benefactor of the poor" (Joel Green), rather than the conquering King and Judge. We, too, find that our doubts can lead to a reorient ation in which we now see things not from our perspective but from God's. This can be painful, as it was for John, but there is no way forward while we cling to our own false securities based on incorrect understanding. The life of faith requires facing up to doubt and moving through it to a new place of faith. Without this, we end up responding neither to the prophetic challenge of John nor to Jesus' invitation to enter the joy of salvation (31-34). Only with God's wisdom can we perceive the truth.

Lord, may I grow in faith, love and JOY.

:)

Introducing Enkh-Yvelle Abigail :)

Some pics of our little princess for you... :)





Thanks to all for your warm thoughts, prayers and blessings sent our way. We are so thankful for the precious give we've been given in our daughter. Her first name means Blessing of Peace, and her middle name means Father's (and Mother's!) Joy. God has blessed us richly with JOY and PEACE, and we give Him the praise.


PS--I just updated our template... we lost some features but I'm hoping that adding pictures will be easier now. We'll see... but no more time to work on it now! More to come...! :)

Happy Mother's Day...

to all moms out there! :) Hope you have a wonderful day and feel celebrated and pampered on this special day. And Happy Mother's Day to all the special women who have mentored and mothered others throughout their lives. This day is for you too!

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We saw my mom a few weeks ago when we were visiting PA. It was good to see her and I'm thankful she's doing so well. She's really looking forward to the arrival of her next granddaughter (in about 6 weeks)!

We also saw my aunt, uncle and cousin Amy during that visit--it was great to have time with them too and catch up a bit.

Since we've been back to VA, it seems like things have been non-stop. Javkhaa finished the semester (woo hoo!!! I'm so proud of him) but the ISO (Int'l Sts Org) has had a graduation banquet and a rose sale during Commencement to plan.


Here's the gang having some lunch at a "Mongolian BBQ/Sushi" place. ;)

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Javkhaa recently gave me a plaque with the verse that meant so much to us last year on it: Philippians 4:6--Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers.

I need to learn how to do this!!! Perhaps I have always been a worrier, but somehow it seems like it has gotten much worse in the last couple of years. In high school and college, I remember being more relaxed and having an attitude more like, "Well, everything will work out somehow...". Now I find myself again and again stressed out by a situation over which I may not even have much control. I know this is not how the Lord wants me to live. I need to really learn how to give things over to HIM (including, perhaps especially, my reputation) so that I can live with a gentle and QUIET spirit, at peace, trusting HIS goodness, mercy and love. Help me, Lord!

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Well, it's about time to start getting ready for the day--hope you're having a great weekend, wherever you are. :)

I came across this blog and enjoyed reading a bit this morning... :)
http://melspin.blogspot.com/

I'll have to send her a hello sometime.

Mr. Mongolia at the International Festival!

see Javkhaa in his full regalia on the Regent website! ;) http://www.regent.edu/news_events/?article_id=168&view=full_article

praise God for a wonderful international festival on Saturday. we're thankful everything went well and ... that it's over! ;) (on to FINALS...)

more pics here: http://helsbyonline.com/photo_album.php?setID=72157604318689946
and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25327922@N03/ :)

where i work (skye)

The Regent Center for Entrepreneurship! :)

www.regententrepreneur.org (and our blog is www.kingdomentrepreneur.blogspot.com)

Here's a pic of our staff currently:

Spring is springing here in Virginia--we had a few cooler days earlier this week but i think today it's supposed to be 70 F (that's 21 C for those of you in most of the world). ;)

I'm loving the warm weather... and reminding myself to enjoy it now, while I can, before we move back to Mongolia! (I think we'll still have a couple more springs here before then.)

little things can take a while...

my computer at work was 'reimaged' at the end of last year, and recently i realized that the progam that went along with our digital camera was lost during that process.

i've FINALLY reloaded the program, and downloaded some pretty old pics! ;)

it's been fun to look at them though...

but i wish i'd done it earlier! our camera has been in hibernation mode since our memory has been full for a l-o-n-g time now.

anyways... here are a few samples! ;)

Girls' Sushi Night

A few of us got together the other night to make some sushi... I love this pic of Wonder Woman and the Sushi Sensei. :) Mmm!

Most of us had tea, but there was a little Diet Coke (see below) going around as well. That and the cilantro were bows to the local culture here. ;)

Hi everyone (esp Tseegi--thanks for the happy new year!) :)
We want to wish everyone a wonderful year filled with God's joy and blessings.

Hope y'all had a great Valentine's Day, too! (We made buuz, mmm!)
Take care!
~skye

PS--Add to links: http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/

(I'd like to read her book on parenting...)
:)