Revisiting My Call

When my husband and I were interning I was told that I needed a call to the ministry. A pastor had asked me about my calling to the field of Guam. He informed me that I could not "just" follow my husband. He said that I needed my own calling so that when things became hard or difficult on the field I could go back to a time and place that the Lord called me. This way I would not or could not blame my husband for moving us half way around the world.
I surrendered to go to Guam as a missionary on March 30, 2002. That was the day my husband asked me to marry him. I had know PJ for years. We were in the same mission classes in college, and his parents were the youth leaders of the church I attended in the summer. I knew PJ was going to Guam, I also knew that PJ was the one I was suppose to marry. Therefore, I knew I was called to Guam. (I even switched my major in college my senior year!)

To some, my testimony is not a real calling. I have heard other ladies tell me how glad they were that they had their own calling and that they were not just following their husbands. After hearing the pastor tell me I needed my own calling I begin looking in the Bible and the Lord led me to Abraham and Sarah. God told Abraham where to go, and he did not give a separate call to Sarah. That sealed it!
I have just come through one of the hardest weeks ,emotionally, since being on our island. There were a few days that if my husband would have told me we were leaving I could have been packed in 2 hours. It was during those times that the pastor's advice came back to me. I visited my time and place of calling. I surrendered to marry PJ.

On December 20, 2002 I promised to follow, obey, and submit to his leadership. I re-visited those days when I was discouraged, and I was reminded that my calling is to be his help meet and to stand beside him. Yes, I was encouraged and I spent time in prayer for my husband and our ministry. The Lord brought me out and encouraged me also with His Word. I do love the island and the people of Guam! I am very thankful that this is where the Lord has called my family to serve Him.

A Great Painful Day

Today, God showed me again just how great He is. For several weeks now I have had some serious back pain with headaches and numbness in my fingers. Sunday was by far the worst day yet, so we made an appointment with the chiropractor. We got right in and found out that I indeed had some kinks in my neck that need to be worked out. I have a pinched nerve that is bad but not incurable. So after he tells me how messed up my neck is, and then informs me that he can fix me after a number of visits I begin to worry about paying for all these visits. I honestly started thinking that maybe I could just come back for 1 or 2 visits, feel better and skip all the rest.
Then my Father showed us again just how much He loves and cares for me. The Dr. asked my husband and I why we were on Guam. We told him that we were full time Baptist missionaries. He then informed us that he treats pastors/missionaries and their families FREE of charge. Yes, you read that right free. So, not only am I going to be feeling better, we are not out the money. My God is so good to me!!

Ethaen

No child is ever a mistake. However, my Ethaen was definitely a surprise! My husband and I always knew we wanted more children after our first. We did not plan on it being just 13 months after our first was born. After I got over the initial shock excitement did set in. From the beginning I knew Ethaen was a boy. I thought since it was so soon after my first son was born it would be nice for Nate to have a brother, a buddy, a play mate, a best friend...and he does.

Ethaen is a wonderful big brother to his sisters, and he adores his older brother. He LOVES to work with any kind of tools. He loves to take apart his toys and put them back together. He is also my child who does not want to grow up. (and that is fine with me)
Ethaen's middle name is Joseph. He shares his middle name with his Gramps! (my dad) My dad is one of the greatest men I know and I am so glad Ethaen carries my dad's name.

Ethaen means strong and firm. My prayer is that Ethaen will be a strong and firm man, strong in his faith, firm in his beliefs, firm in his character, firm in standing for what is right.

I am thankful everyday that the Lord showed us that his plans are better than our plans. I am thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be Ethaen's mom for the past 8 years, and I am looking forward to many, many more.
Happy Birthday Ethaen-Joe!! I love you!

End of the Year Thoughts About Home Schooling

We have just finished our school year. This was my first year to completely home school both boys from the beginning to the end of the school year. We had a wonderful year and I LOVED that I did not have to plan lessons around meetings and travel days. This year also had some new challenges. I had a 3/4 year old who felt that she had to be part of school too. I also had a baby who needed my attention. I love schedules, and this year I felt that I would find one that would work and then the baby's schedule would change. I felt like I was the queen of juggling schedules.
Home schooling is definitely a challenge, and I like to remind people that I do not home school because it is easy. Here is some lessons that I have learned this year.

1. God gave my kids to me and He gives me the wisdom of what is best for my little people!
I love to read and get new ideas. However, half way through the school year I started feeling very discouraged because I was not "super mom!" I did not home school for free, I did not have a ton of home made activities for the kids to do, and I did not have time to blog everyday about how great our home life was. Through prayer and Bible reading the Lord reminded me that all I had to do was seek and follow Him. I may not do our school the way some one else does, but I do my best for my little ones and that is the best thing I can do for all of us.
2. A schedule is a good thing, but flexibility is a great thing!
I love a schedule, I love keeping a schedule, and I DO NOT like being off schedule. However, I did learn that with 4 kids and all of them needing different things at different times it is okay to bend the schedule. Our schedule was our guideline for our day, but it was okay if grandparents wanted to SKYPE in the middle of our reading time. (with a 16 hour time difference you can not be too picky about when you talk to family!)
3. Never try to do house work while trying to teach.
According to Mythbusters, moms are very successful at multitasking, and they are right. But, I also felt like I was not being the best teacher when I would try to fold laundry while listening to someone read! If you are a mom and can clean the toilet and teach academics at the same time you are my hero!
4. I had to be organized.
I love order, bet you could not tell!! I plan 6 weeks ahead and 1 week ahead. Our days flowed a lot better when I knew and understood what I was teaching and what they were going to learn. It helped to know what I would need for projects a few weeks ahead so I could plan it with shopping trips and our budget. The kids and I function a whole lot better with order in our lives. You can ask my kids "What is your mom's favorite verse?" and they will tell you "1Co 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order." We keep our books, art supplies, pencils, papers, and homework in order and that makes me very happy!
5. Have fun!
For me, home schooling is the only option right now so I decided that we are going to have fun. If I do not have fun, the kids are not going to have fun. That is not to say we do not have bad days, but on the whole we make school fun.

I am not an authority on home schooling. I just wanted to share what I have learned this year. You may or may not agree with me, and that is fine. This is just to encourage any one who is on the same home schooling journey with me.
If you home school, what is the best advice you have or have received?

I thought this was fun!!

How Good It Is!

We have had a great day here on the island of Guam. The weather was beautiful! We had two great services, and we had great friends who helped us when our keys got locked in the car. However, I wanted to take this time and share with you what touched my heart the most today.
Today would have been my mom's birthday had she been living. I had a pretty good day, but when I came home this afternoon and was resting, my heart yearned to call and tell my mom "Happy Birthday!" I turned on the computer and saw I had a message from a dear friend in the states. She wrote to tell me that she loved me and would be praying all day for me.
What an encouragement!!! If you live thousands of miles away from friends and family, then you will know what this small but very important gesture did to my heart!! I was reminded of the verse

   Pro 15:23b " ... and a word spoken in due season, how good is it! "

It was so good to hear that she was thinking of me today, and it made me feel loved and the miles did not seem to be very many.

I just want to take this time to encourage you to reach out to your missionaries.(This is coming from a missionary's  heart!) In this modern world of technology you can make a missionaries day by spending just a few minutes to send them a short email telling them you were thinking of them and praying for them. (Make sure you do pray for them!!) You have no idea what your note,or email, can do for the heart of a missionary! Why not take some time this week and send an email, or note to a missionary and be a blessing to some one.
From my heart,
Sarah

Nathanael Paul LeClercq

Today, April 25, 2013 my little man will be 9! It is hard to believe that time is going by so fast. (Don't we say that every year?) Nate is a very special young man. He will always have that special place in our hearts as our first born.
One thing PJ and I both agreed on before we were married was that we wanted a boy first and that his name would be Nathanael Paul. We wanted him to have his daddy's and his Pa-paw's name, and PJ wanted a Nate!!

Nate never did crawl right!! He always did the army crawl!!

Our plan was to wait to start our family until after I had done 1 year of teaching. Well, I found out the week before school started that I was pregnant and Nate was born during Spring Break. So much for our plans, right!!!

He loved his bath time!

Nathanael means "gift of God" and Nate has been just that. From the time I found out he was coming I knew God was giving us our  son. When the ultrasound confirmed it was a boy, I just cried.

 Nate is a wonderful big brother, and he is trying so hard to be a responsible young man. Nate reminds me everyday what child like faith is, his faith in his God is so real. He has a genuine love and desire to serve God with all of his heart.

Nathanel and his best friend, Ethaen!

My prayer for Nate is that he will always have the tender heart he has now, along with the love he has for God and for others.

Nate helping out at church!

What a Move!

We have had a very busy past couple of days. We moved into our house without any incident or injury! Praise the Lord!! We did notice however, when we got here that our new yard was quite overgrown. The real estate agent called "his guy" to come and clean up our yard.
While the kids and I were getting cleaned up and getting ready to go get some supper my husband led the "the guy," Danny, to the Lord. It was so exciting...our first convert in the village of Merizo.

When we moved to Guam we had a great lady for our neighbour. She loved us and we loved her. We started praying for her salvation right away. The kids prayed everyday for Ms. Fran and my husband and I were always looking for an opportunity to present the gospel to her.
Today was that day! Fran was out hanging up her laundry and my husband starting talking to her and was able to lead her to the Lord. She was so ready and willing. It was so exciting to see an answer to pray that we have been praying for a year.

It was such a great encouragement for us. We are so excited to see what is going to happen in Inarajan/Merizo, Guam!

 1Th 5:25  Brethren, pray for us.