"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness." Psalm 115:1

It has been an incredibly long time since I posted on here because I have been posting on our family/adoption blog for a while.  I don't even know if I have any more readers, but I want to write.  I want to write my thoughts, my journey, my struggles and my successes.  Since what I want to write is me and not so much about the family or adoption, I am choosing to come back here and begin to write again.  I love to write and so, even if there is no one out there, I am excited to write!

Today I was reading my bible and found somethings that I loved.  I have been trying to make a point since coming home to be "in" the word as much as I can.  It was somewhat easy in Uganda because the situation allowed for it but at home it is a bit more challenging and requires more of a conscious effort. Today was a good day for that.  I decided to open my bible on the counter in the kitchen and leave it there, all day it was there.  I also left my other little travel bible open on my desk in the office to the same passages.  It was SO good to go to the kitchen for something or come down to the office to work/play and see the bible sitting there open.  I couldn't help but read it every time.  It was SO SO good to be in the word throughout my day and have an "in-my-face" reminder all the time.  I also enjoyed reading the same passage over throughout the day.  Every time I felt like something else was speaking to me or the same portion was speaking even louder to me.  

The verse above along with the following verses are some tidbits that stuck out to me today:

Psalm 112:1: "Praise the Lord.  Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in His commands."

Psalm 112:7&8: "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.  His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes."

Psalm 113: whole chapter

Psalm 115:12&13: "The Lord remembers us and will bless us... He will bless those who fear the Lord - small & great alike.


Psalm 115:17&18: "It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down in silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forever more.  Praie the Lord."

Psalm 116:1&2: "I love the Lord, For He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy.  Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live."

Psalm 116:7: "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."

Psalm 117: "Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples.  For great is His love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.  Praise the Lord."


Today, God showed me some incredible stuff in His word yet again and gave me some incredible reminders.  Thank you, Jesus, thank you for speaking to me, comforting me and reminding me of the things I needed today! To God be all glory, now and forever! Amen


Teach

Famous?!?

If you're interested in seeing us in the local paper, go over to our adoption blog and read about it.

Teach

Can't Sleep...

It's 2 AM and I am supposed to be sleeping but I just can't slow things down in my head.  I kinda have a one track mind these days - any guesses as to what it is?!?  

Why is it that the BEST things in life have to be the hardest?  I know what you all are going to say - if they weren't hard to achieve, they would be the best, right?  It just really sucks that my kids are out there WAITING to come home to our family forever and there is nothing I can do to speed up this process.  I just want my little ones home, NOW!  I can't get adoption stuff out of my head.  Why does this process have to be so HARD?  Why are there so many HOOPS to jump through?  Why so much RED TAPE?  Why is it so stinking EXPENSIVE?  This is the fifth adoption process Cher and I have done and it never gets any easier - rules always change, requirements are different, legalities all over the place!  Can't the countries of the world get together and just streamline this process so it is universal around the globe and have one set of rules to govern it all?!?  That would make life SO much easier on adoptive families.  After-all, these kids need a home, a family, and we are ready, willing and able to give that to them.  

God, please make things go faster!  Please give me patience!  Please help me to trust your timing!  Please look after my babies! 

"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."      

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Teach

P.S.  If you remember, say a prayer for our babies in Uganda - Thanks!

Nesting

Okay, so my wife has it BAD.  She is nesting!  For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, nesting is what expectant adoptive mothers (and maybe all mothers) do when they are preparing for a child.  

I equate this to the closest I will get to a pregnant wife.   She has cravings, 

but in a different way.  For example painting.  She was stressing about and itching, no craving, to paint the baby room.  This began in the summer, so I thought I did well and helped her paint two walls "Chocolate Fondue", as seen here.  She was also craving "setting up", so I helped put up not one, but two cribs (also in pic), because we are 

"expecting" 2 precious little ones.  

Well the past week or so, her painting "craving" came back and she just did not feel like the room was right yet.  So like a good, supportive husband, I went and got the paint, "Green Gable", seen here, and even started taping the walls for more paint (I also got 6, that's right 6, big rubbermaid bins FULL of clothes from my sister for Cher to look through that night).  Today we painted and are just about done, only a few minor touch ups, a second coat on the dots and some words on the wall.  

Here are some "in the process" and "completed" pics

First coat of "Green Gable"

The cribs moved away from the wall.

Cher painting the dots.

The finished product (almost).

Just need to write/paint the perfect phrase Cher thought of on the bare space on the green wall (I'm not going to tell you what it is yet - I believe I learned this from my bloggy friend, Linn - keeping you in suspense for a bit :P )

Notice the "cozies" waiting and ready for our 2 precious ones on the dresser.  Just one more small part of the nesting going on here at the Schalk house.  Now I must say, I kinda like it... don't completely understand it because I'm a man, but I like it and I am glad to be able to help in some small way with my nesting wife.  

Love ya hun!

Teach

Sportsmanship and Fair Play

Okay so it's been a while since I posted.  Frankly, I have so many thoughts going through my head, I have not been able to write them down in anything that makes sense.  I've tried, erased, tried, deleted, tried and left sitting several times.  So, I hope you are still out there, waiting patiently for me to get my thoughts all lined up in a row, which may never happen, but thanks for being patient anyway!

A new school year has started up and is in full swing.  The problem is, school is in full swing, but I seem not to be.  Something is different.  Not my students (they stay the same on the colony), but me.   I still love being a teacher but I can't get things together and feel like I'm always running behind this year.  Things keep piling up and I have limited motivation to do them.  I think my mind is focussed on something else - go figure!

Anyways, today was not good to say the least.  Don't get me wrong, colony teaching has perks, lots of them but it also has quirks, LOTS of them.  It is frustrating that students get pulled whenever, for whatever reason.  School is the last priority and this year parents haven't even been giving me the courtesy of letting me know when a student will be gone - frustrating!  Frustrating because often it's more than one student and that affects the others I am trying to teach - do I continue on and make the students missing fall behind (which punishes me in the end) or do I hold where we're at and try to find something (spur of the moment because I never know who will be missing) that everyone can do instead that is still somewhat educational?  When I do hold, and try and have fun with the students that are there, it never seems like it is enough and the ones missing ALWAYS complain that they missed it - which is not MY fault they were gone.  I don't know, it just gets to a point where the complaining gets to me. 

Well, today was one of those days and in PE (the last class of the day) it REALLY got to me.  I have been busting my butt for over 2 years now to try and teach some sort of fair play and sportsmanship to my students, especially the boys, especially the older boys.  I don't feel like I'm getting through, and today I hit the WALL.  How do you teach fair play and sportsmanship to a culture of boys who are taught, right from birth, that the oldest, strongest, biggest & fastest ALWAYS go first/win/get the best/have the most privileges? AND if someone lower in the "pecking order" has/gets something you want you just take it by any means necessary?  AND if someone lower in the "pecking order" wins or does better, you can always solve that by ganging up on that person and put them back in their place? Any suggestions?  I tried something today that I have never done before, so I will see if it works, but I didn't feel too good about it.  I have always tried to lead/teach by example and make a conscious effort to display good sportsmanship and fair play VERY purposefully so everyone can see, but today I did not do that.  It had an immediate affect, but I am not sure if it will be lasting.  We'll see.  I would love any comments/advice anyone has on how to teach this kind of thing to kids/teenagers who have not been brought up with or taught this before.

TEACH

Prayer

Lately, God has been doing some VERY amazing things in my life and those around me because of the power of prayer.  I have talked about this during my Uganda trip and seen SO MANY prayers answered while I was there.  Prayer is something I sometimes take for granted.  I know God knows what I need, He is all knowing, but some times I forget to ask Him.  Prayer is something God tells us to do, not because He doesn't know already, but because (I think) He wants to be asked.  He wants us to humble ourselves, even get off our high horses and acknowledge that we can't do it on our own.  Of course He can do it for us, but we live in a world of people who feel like they are in control of their own lives and can do everything on their own.  Asking God for what we need, even what we want, acknowledges that we know we are not in control and that we do need His help to do it.  I need to be reminded of this sometimes, even in the "little" things in life.  Its easy (easier) to pray about "big" things but even the "little" things need prayer too.  The more I realize this, it seems, the more peace I have about even the day-to-day.  God is a BIG God and cares even about the sparrow (Luke 12:6 & 7).  I love reading Mark 11, especially verse 24, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."  It's the belief part that I think I need to work on.  BUT I know God is working in my life and can see very visibly by the answers to prayers He has given, especially lately.  

With that in mind, can I ask you to join me in praying for a few things?  I am learning more and more what a powerful tool the internet can be and how it can be used for good, so I am writing a list of prayers on my blog for those that want to pray.  I know there are literally millions of things you can be praying for, but if you remember, think of this list while you pray:

The entire Saunders family - they have been through an INCREDIBLE amount of stuff in the last year and I cannot believe how unswerving they are in their faith.  Their house burned down, their son is going through MAJOR procedures to correct his legs, their daughter has a brain tumor.  The father, DW, is the pastor of the River Church and led the team I was on to Uganda.  He is struggling with some VERY serious health issues since returning from Uganda and they are in the process of adopting a little girl from China and need prayer for that too!  (I probably even missed something) Just pray for them.  If you are interested, you can read more about them here: A Place Called Simplicity  Make sure you give yourselves a HUGE chunk of time if you want to read about everything - it is an amazing blog!

Cindy - she is battling cancer and has a family of 10 kids!  I know when I was going through my cancer almost 11 years ago, that the prayers of others is often all that got me through!  You can read about her story here: Faithful Promises  and also about a fast Linn Saunders (from the above link) is organizing this Monday, July 27.

Dan and Melody - this is a couple from my church.  Dan has been diagnosed with a variant of prion disease.  The doctors are baffled by his case, but it has been over a year now and no clear help or improvement has been made for him.  They have 3 young kids and Melody is carrying their family for over a year now.  Dan's memory is not good and he has lost a ton of weight and the outcome for prion disease is not good.  Doctors say he will continue to deteriorate until his body shuts down.  It could be months or years BUT God can change all of that!

My Family - We are adopting from Uganda and need prayer for it all - details to be worked out, paperwork to come in a timely manner (Alberta is causing some problems), a speedy court date, finances, trips, care for our other kids when we travel - just that everything around this whole thing work (more on adoption stuff in a later post).

I know these are just a few of the things that I am praying for, but they are on my mind right now in the forefront.  If you will/can, please remember these requests when you pray.  I appreciate you taking the time to even read them now and SO appreciate you praying with me for them!!

Teach

Off Again...

Boy, it seems like I was just getting settled at home again and now me and my whole family, are off to camp!  Life is crazy busy sometimes, and I feel a little overwhelmed at times, but God is in control and makes ALL of this possible.  If it were up to me, it would all flop, I'm sure - I haven't even begun to wrap my mind around doing a staff meeting tomorrow night for the staff that are coming.  This year for some reason (maybe a couple reasons, see previous posts) I am taking more time to gear up.  Don't get me wrong, Crow is one of the most favorite things in my life that God let's me do!  I love Crow and this definitely is a highlight in my year, every year since I can remember - if I counted correctly, this is my 22nd year involved with Crow, first as a camper for many years, then as various different staff positions and associate board member.  Crow IS a BIG part of my life and I credit it, through God, for much of the man I am today.  Crow has influenced my life SO greatly and I love it SO much.  God does amazing things through this ministry and I am humbled just to be a part of it.  God uses even a lowly sinner nobody like me to do His kingdom work there.  It is truly INCREDIBLE!  God even brought me and my wife together at Crow - that is one of the greatest gifts He could have ever given me, and He used Crow to make it happen!!!  Thank you Jesus!

Anyway, I am supposed to be sleeping but have way too much on my mind right now, so I am blogging :)  Mostly, I am just writing to ask for your prayers.  If you remember, can you please pray for me and my family over the next couple of weeks.  Although it is usually a VERY good time out there, there is a spiritual battle going on and we are doing God's work there, which the devil HATES, so he does try to bring it down however he can - through Cher and I fighting, staff conflicts, camper problems and behavior, lack of staff or supplies, vandalism, sickness, whatever he can think of.  Your prayers go a LONG way to helping provide an umbrella of God's protection over the camp and work being done there!  You are awesome!!  Thanks in advance!  God is ALWAYS good and faithful to us and camp and I KNOW He will be again this summer.  I know that prayer works and felt it so REAL in Uganda, so this is no different except for the setting.  Ephesians 6:18-20 says, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."  This is my request of you.  Thank you!  Be well and be blessed!

Teach