A New Year, a New Plan

Dear Friends,
To attempt to describe the last year or so of our lives is more than anyone of us wants to go into or read about :) and as For most of you, you have followed along closely enough to know that it has been a rocky, unsteady and uncertain road. A few things have cleared up in the last month but we are still trying to come out of the fog that has characterized our lives for many, many years. The fog of LIFE that characterizes and mars many. The same LIFE that also gives hope, grace, forgiveness, and second chances. To all of you in our lives that have reached out in our direction during this most difficult time, THANK YOU! The bits of encouragement, the senses of hope, the glimpses of grace, the meaningful smiles, pats on the back and intercession on our behalf, have been VITAL lifelines during a time of great pain and loss.

We are beginning to rebuild. After selling almost everything, giving the rest away, and coming up $5,000.00 of the $21,000.00 short, we decided in great heartache to abandon the full-time missionary plan with Operation Mobilization. We could have continued to fund raise four more months to make up the difference but due to the stress and strain of an already drained and dying situation and family life, we decided that was not the best plan. Embarrassed and feeling very humiliated we hesitantly contacted all of our gracious supporters, explained the situation and returned funds. Then we proceeded to work on a plan C, whatever that was and whatever that looked like we just couldn't be sure of at that point, but we HAD to get up each day and try to put one foot in front of the other and do the things we knew how to do. Matt began to look for jobs and i began to try to turn my attention back to the children and homeschooling.

Thankfully, at this point it is all still a blur. By the grace and divine intervention of a God that loves us more than we can grasp, Matt has a new job and a quickly progressing career as an insurance agent with American General, one of the biggest insurance companies in the country. This job and new direction has been a HUGE blessing, comfort and driving force for us in a world that has been crumbling faster than we can pick up the pieces. I sense that Matt is just as much of a God-send to them as we feel like they are to us!

Doing what I could under the circumstances, the kids are still growing, learning and thriving in an environment that has not really been conducive to those things. Again, a divine intervention from a God that parents, teaches and holds when we as earthly parents are unable to do so. I am continually AMAZED at the awesomeness of God when I observe or spend time interacting with my 5 INCREDIBLE children. I am blessed, not necessarily b/c of anything that i have done, not b/c of anything great that i possess but strictly b/c i love and serve and desire to please the most amazing FATHER, a FATHER i cannot even grasp at most of the time.

So Matt is working, Myra is @ home most of the time teaching and mothering and the boys are so glad it's INDOOR soccer season again. We are currently leasing a wonderful old place with lots of charm and character right in town. A very convenient location with lots of space and lots of potential. Lord willing we keep on keeping on here we'd like to buy sometime this summer. But again, it's still all such a blur,raw and very much still mold able plan C. It's just time we proceed in this LIFE of ours with GREAT CAUTION yet full of FAITH, HOPE and TRUST in the God who has not been at all surprised by the happenings that have cost us almost everything.

Matt stated a week or so ago that this has been the most difficult time of our lives and i would have to agree. Yet never were we out of His sight, His hand or His plan. He has allowed us to be tempted, sifted, shaken and crumbled but not yet destroyed. And by His grace and His great measure will we rise again and say "Blessed be the name of the Lord." He gives and takes away but my heart still will say "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Therefore now, there is no condemnation for those who love the Lord! We are once again trying to hold our heads high and live out loud a life that says, "Ye thou i walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil"! It might take us a few more weeks, months, maybe even a year or so but we will once again walk without shame, guilt or regret. We will once again be able to love and forgive b/c He first loved and forgave us.

We love you and are eternally thankful for the gift of relationships with you!

-The Jackson 7, still in Tn.

James 8, loves sports, math, history, geography, the great outdoors, animals, cooking pancakes for the family at least 2x a week and figuring things out!

Josiah 7, loves people, arts, food and being sensitive and creative.

Johnathan Paul 5, loves anything/everything his brothers love and anything he can beat his siblings at. He's strong and sure and deeply connected.

Rebekah 3, loves LIFE, animals, reading, drawing, dressing up and being as tough as the boys sometimes too.

Rachel 2, loves still being the baby and every one's attention b/c she is so!

The Price of Peace

Several posts back as Matt shared a bit of the struggles we have been facing, he asked for prayers for peace during our Holiday Season. Peaceful is not exactly how we would describe our Holiday Season, however, we feel peace growing and we appreciate your prayers and the experience of peace we sense that is coming along. There is always a price to pay for peace and though it hasn't been easy, hopefully after coming through all this alittle more, we will continue to say that the price(s) we have paid will have been worth it all. It brings peace to know that Matt has flown through the training process at his new job and has already made a sale! It brings peace to know that through his job he has been able to contact and touch base with so many that have touched our lives before. It brings peace to know that he is motivated and enjoying what he is doing each day and sees it as a gift from God and an opportunity to expand. It brings peace to be settling into a wonderful home and beginning to feel organized again. I won't go into all the things that still don't promote peace in our lives and that can/could counteract all the peace I mentioned above, we are just trying to focus on the "peaceful" things right now.

New Info.

Matt's Employer: AIG American General, McMinnville, Tn 37110

The Man to call for all your Life and Accident Insurance or Annuity Needs(personal or business affairs)

Our New Address:

138 Club Dr.

McMinnville, Tn 37110

our p.o. box is still being used as well

over the holidays we also moved my mom in with us...she now lives in the back of the house we are currently in. We are currently leasing the whole building and we moved to the front of the home and mom is in the 2.5 bedroom apt we were in previously. We continue to work on and define "boundaries for peace" :)

New Year, No Limits

Last night as we rung in the New Year alone yet all together we watched a show on ESPN entitled New Year, No Limits. We witnessed along with MILLIONS of others, a couple of guys defy limits. Defying the Odds is definately Challenging, Intense, Fearful, Freeing, Dangerous, Risky, Exhilerating, Expensive, Death Defying, A Push to the next new level and painful. YET WORTH IT ALL, i bet those guys and millions of others would say.
One young guy succeeded in a back flip with a truck and the other jumped a motorcycle 100ft. up in the air, landed ontop of a building and then jumped back down, with a broken hand I think but all in one piece non-the-less. These were some death defying, one of a kind/time tricks my friends!
We've also had some firsts occur recently in our lives and have felt a bit like we've defyed or defined the "odds" that we believe will lead us into a limitless future!



Remember, with God all things are Possible and there really are No Limits, for with Him who can be against us? We pray for you and yours a New Year with Death Defying Results!
Happy New Year 2009!!!




2009 Brings a new perspective to our lives. We are in a new place, a new time, a new home, a new focus, direction and Matt has a new career. We have looked forward to burying 2008 and beginning 2009.

What a day, what a week, what a life...

Today, the boys and I went up to a friends nursery to find a Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun. It was up in the hills/ mountains here and the snow was still on the ground. It was a challenge driving through the fields in the Volvo station wagon, but we made it and found a great tree.

This week, I was supposed to start selling Life Insurance for AIG American General. However, paperwork didn't make it in time, so I had another week off. It was a good and bad situation because I need to get back to work, but also needed the week to finish painting the big apartment in the front of the house and move all our stuff from the back to the front. we have just about finished it just in time.

As for life, its been hard for a while, but we are making it. We would appreciate your prayers for some of life to settle down and to find some peace during the holiday season. We are tired of moving, living without knowing, and feeling like we don't know why or what is going on.

Loving Genuinely and finding Joy in the process

I passed my life and health insurance license test on Tuesday, so I was set to start working this next week, then another opportunity came up this week in a managerial position in the food industry (I haven't been offered it yet, just interviewed). I am asking my self, how can I serve God in the world, enjoy life, supply for my family, and be around and supportive for my wife. The following paragraphs reminded me that I can simplify some of the decisions and trust that God will use me and us wherever I go.I Continue to be challenged by this blog at http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/ They have been publishing chapters from a book that you can download for free. In this chapter they were talking about evangelism and how messed up it has become. Obviously there is so much that the church needs to re-evaluate and this is a huge area. However, for me this is hitting home in other ways. I long to know the heart of God for my life, for my family, and to share it with the world. I think I can do it in either way, whether selling life insurance or being a manager of people.

Love Genuinely
Although Jesus said that Christians would be known by their love, this is almost universally not the case today. We are more often known for our self-righteousness and judgmental attitudes. Furthermore, most un-Christians believe we care more about “making converts” than about them as people. I heard an atheist share that, having made friends with a Christian, he felt the need to ask him, “Am I truly your friend or am I just your project?” This suggests that people may have the perception that Christians tend to look at them as “objects to convert” rather than people that they care deeply about.
Yet, the joy that Jesus has called us to, is to is to simply love others. That’s it. No strings attached. When we recognize the people that God has called us to (including those we are already living among) then we are free to unleash creative ways to just love others genuinely and generously.

Discover Your Own Gifts and Passions
As we live among those we are called to, listening to God’s voice, loving those we are with, we can begin to uncover our own passions and spiritual gifts. We become more and more dynamic as our unique abilities are unleashed outside of the church walls. Many of us have been trained to use our spiritual gifts inside church buildings. How much more powerful to see those same gifts (and more) unleashed as we live a life that is engaging a lost world.
God’s heart is that all will know him. Our joy is to find our unique and created way to join him in that passion. Reaching out to others and using our own gifts and abilities to love them reflects the very life Jesus lived.

Cast Your Vote, Your Voice Matters!

I keep a running list of topics I would like to blog about and sometimes instead of picking one myself or being drawn to one topic or the other, I like to get other opinions. So what would you like to read about next? If you care, I'd love to have your input for one of the following topics.

• Irreconcilable Differences


• How to lead or follow for that matter if you are tied up


• Balancing the Scales

I'll give it a few days before tallying the votes.

Happy Fall!

For my outspoken Brother... love ya Bro!

I have appreciated my brother speaking up recently on some issues that he feels strongly about and while I don't agree with him on certain points, I still love him and look forward to hearing from him in the future. One of my favorite blogs deals with the issue of how to love but still disagree. here are some quotes, check the whole blog if you like.

"...If the body of Christ is going to demonstrate herself today in the corporate majesty of her collaboration and cooperation then Jesus will have to be our only focus and loving others will be our motivation, not a demand for conformity..."

"...Jesus asked us to love as we follow him; he didn’t ask us to agree. If we have to agree to love, then what hope have we? If a group has to all think alike to have fellowship then they have pitched a tent at some stage of the journey and will not grow on to know him. In most groups I’ve known, conformity has been the goal. Someone needs to set the standard for the group and people either go along or go away. Neither leads to the reality of Christ expressed among his people..."

"...So here is the problem today. Too many people think they alone are right and anyone who disagrees with them is a threat to their world. And it only takes one person like that in a group to destroy its ability to live, love and grow together. Until we have enough brothers and sisters that have a passion for truth that does not outrun their calling to love others, the body of Christ will continue to be fractured and impotent in the world. And they’ll have to have enough love to lovingly stand up to those who would be divisive among the family by demanding everyone think like they do..."

Quotes from lifestream.org blog titled "If you ever wonder why..."

James wonders why...