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Sleep Well Tonight

A Jon Post

I’m on a couch, thinking about this year, this Christmas, my home and my family. My daughter had been crying in her bed for 15 minutes, hoping that her voice would outlast the time I could resist my compassion getting the better of my parenting technique. It did and I spent the following 15 minutes snuggling with her in my bed, calming her breathing, rubbing her back and kissing her head.

Meh… it’s Christmas. She can have this one.

So I held her and put off writing this because I’d rather she know her daddy loves her than know that she needs to go to bed on time.

She cried, I whispered.

She whimpered, I kissed.

She squirmed, I hugged.

And so we found ourselves lying next to each other. She curled up into my arms and rested her head against my chest. I laid my hand on her back and breathed deep and slow, encouraging her to do the same.

She fell asleep.

My daughter lay there asleep in my arms and I couldn’t think of a better Christmas present.

To those who read this blog and have children, hug and kiss your kids to bed tonight. To those who don’t, remember your daddy loves you.

Sleep well tonight.

My Christmas Presents

My Christmas Presents

December 25, 2011
JonandLayne.com
4 comments

That God would be Relentless

A Layne Post

We thought they wouldn’t have to; they said there would be 6 more months of treatment instead of amputation. Our hopes rose. I stopped praying so hard, so consistently with Anaya. We rejoiced there would be no new trauma while we were out of the country, unable to help in any way. It seemed as though the Lord had chosen mercy. Perhaps this was the one for healing, the one we’d see. This 13 year old boy would potentially have years of soccer ahead of him.

But then the email arrived… the news. Amputated. So permanent. His leg is gone.

I laid in bed crying, for what would not be the last time. It still comes in waves. If only we could get there. Jon would play chess with him. Maybe I’d bake something special. Anaya would do something to bring about his smile. I’d hug his Mama, and beg to help, though there would be little to actually do.

They are fine without us. His Mama is strong and loving. Our dear friend Alice is helping, likely better than we could imagine for ourselves. They may not feel our absence as much as we feel theirs. I think that is a little miracle the Lord does in us; He puts His heart in us, His heart of longing.

The other night we sat around with Jon’s family worshiping the Lord by the fire. We sang about the relentless love of God that pursues us. I wondered if we could ever communicate that love to this boy, if ever he would know how deeply the Father desires and loves him. I wondered if he would struggle to forgive, or be able to understand a love from a Father who has allowed cancer to take all it has. He’s only 13.

Pray with me. Pray the Lord would be relentless in His love, relentless in His pursuit for this boy.

And physically, pray that the boy’s body would be strong and healthy to recover, something we rarely see.

 

December 11, 2011
Hospital Ministry, Mozambique
3 comments

Casa Ahava

A Jon Post

So we’re still here in Arizona. Sorry I’m a week late on this post. It feels like we’ve been busy but we’ve had an amazing time catching up with so many Godly men and women.

In sitting down with many of you, we’ve spoken about our future plans and what we would like to do in our ministry. We’ve tried to answer your many questions about what we do and what we hope to do.

As I listened to the questions that have been asked, I realized that I’ve not done a good job in communicating our heart and plans for Casa Ahava, what that means, where we are in the idea and what it holds. I hope this post makes that clear to those of you we haven’t had the chance to sit down with yet.

In our work in the hospital in Maputo, we focus on spending extended one-on-one time with people who have no one else. We try to give hope, life, a smile, and Christ in a place where pain, loneliness and death so often have victory. Our home has an extension behind it where there are two humble bedrooms joined by a bathroom in the middle with a storage/laundry area behind them. When we moved in to this home in June of this year we dreamed of renovating them, painting and furnishing them and offering them to friends at the hospital who would otherwise live in a single bed in a cold crowded room. The rooms began as water-damaged, surrounded by peeling paint, and covered in dirt. Just before we moved in a small team came to visit us. They caught the vision we had to create something beautiful. They worked tirelessly and where they left off I continued the job. At the end of October, two days before we left for America, we finished the renovations/painting/furnishing. I was even able to convert the small laundry/storage area into a kitchenette where guests can make their favorite food.

We are ready.

When we arrive back in Maputo in January we are eager to begin offering the space we have to people who need it much more than we do, pending hospital approval.

Below are some pictures of the work that was done. Just click on the pictures to advance inside the gallery. If you have any questions about this project, it’s funding, or really anything we do or hope to do I’d love it if you would leave that question in the comments. I will answer them the next time I post.

Before

TCF Team Working

Jon Working

Casa Ahava

November 27, 2011
Casa Ahava, Hospital Ministry
6 comments

Not my home

A Layne Post

So here we are, settling in. Driving no longer feels so foreign. I am loosing the urge to honk at everyone. I’ve stopped admiring fancy toilets and thick heavy mirrors. Incredibly nice customer service is no longer shocking, and I’ve lost my urge to grab and hug the necks of strangers for being so friendly. I do not have the desire to shovel every single food item on the grocery isle into my mouth at the same time.

It is such a blessing to have family and friends that we can pick up with as if no time has lapsed at all. There are not awkward silences, or wishing we could slip away. It has been heartwarming and encouraging to be so surrounded by love.

We are happy to be here.

I can say; however, while life seems a bit easier, or perhaps more convenient here, I wouldn’t want to live here. I’ve really thought about it this week, as I’ve struggled through funny emotions, finding it strange that this was ever “norm” for us. It is comforting that the Lord has grown in Jon and I a deep love for Africa, and now specifically Mozambique. I miss it. How hard it would be to feel like our service to the Lord was only obedience. I’m not sure I could leave all this that I once held dear. Instead God has blessed us with a ministry we love, in a place we’ve grown to love, surrounded by dear friends and fellow laborers we love.

So here I am, in my common predicament, torn by the ones we love. Happy to be here, missing people there. I guess we’ll never all be on the same continent.

I’m ever reminded this world is not our home.

November 13, 2011
Personal
4 comments

America

A Jon Post

We are here… America of old and of new. To us this country is both familiar and foreign in equally comforting and disorienting/confusing parts.

Hugs, smiles, cultures that we know and love well. Huge and blemish-free fruits, pre-packaged foods, restaurant meals that could last me for all three daily meals, and cars that drive on the wrong side of the road.

We are here.

We left Maputo, home, friends, dog, and ministry at 5:30 PM on Tuesday and got here in Arizona 27 hours later. We hope you all know how thankful we are to those of you who prayed for our journey. We are so so so so so thankful. God blessed us with extra seats on all three of our connections and Anaya had plenty of room to nap, play and just be an incredible girl for 27 exhausting hours. Layne and I slept very little but that lack of sleep was made so much easier to handle by the fact that Anaya was a dream.

We arrived in the airport terminal and were greeted by many more friends and family than we had expected. What a blessing it is to be surrounded by men and women who love God and who love us.

Anaya wore a little onesie that Layne stitched especially for that greeting. “Big Sister.”

Yes, Anaya is going to be a big sister in (probably) June of 2012.

Layne is pregnant.

We will be here in Arizona until December 7th and we will fly toCorpus Christi,TX after that.

Please don’t forget to pray for us and, more importantly, please join us in prayer for the many friends, men, women and children in the hospital whom we miss dearly.

November 6, 2011
Travel
5 comments
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