Olive's Summer Adventures

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Olive loves her new home at the YWAM base!  There is so much more space for her to play and be outside.  Just walking on the base, we see butterflies, birds, red ants, worms, mushrooms, and she can pick berries! We also have more room for her to play in the house!  She has transferred to a toddler bed, and we got a toy kitchen that she loves to make cookies and smoothies for people! She picked it out herself at the second-hand store!

 
There are many amazing National Parks near by that we have discovered and go every opportunity we have.  One day, we went to a pier and saw baby eagles and people fishing.  She had so much fun going back and forth between the fish and eagle's net.

 

Weekly, Olive and I have a play day with Lizzy and Mila.  Lizzy and I went to college together at Gallaudet University.  We were RAs together and were both education majors. As a hearing student at Gallaudet, Lizzy, who is Deaf, really welcomed me into the community.  Mila, who is also Deaf, is 3 months older than Olive and they like to play together.  We love to get together and visit museums or parks in DC on Wednesdays.

Olive's new favorite activity is swimming in her swimming pool! Grandpa and Grandma Ruiz, in Chicago, brought her a pool for the summer.  As well as googles, shark and fishes to play with in the pool.  One of my mom's favorite activities is swimming. Olive has taken after her Grandma and loves the sun and pool!



We also received flower seeds from my parents, and Olive enjoyed planting them and watching them grow.

 

As a family, we also got to take a 3 day weekend vacation to Ocean City, MD.  It was so much fun and relaxing to get out of the city and go to the beach!

   

Olive liked picking seashells, flying kites and building sandcastles.  Although, she probably had more fun destroying them! She was a little afraid of the water as it had big waves, but overcame her fears and walked by the ocean.

 

We also had the opportunity to visit the farm this summer for a weekend when Dan's brothers and their families were at the farm, also.  It was a great time to be together and have the cousins play!

 

        

  

         

Here are just some cute pictures of Olive this summer! 

            

Romania brings Personal Freedom

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There is so much I could share about Romania, but the biggest thing God spoke into my life is that “His burdens are light and His yoke is easy." While in Romania, I realized I have been taking on many heavy burdens that were not mine to carry; I was struggling with false responsibility. Before leaving on my trip, I started to feel overwhelmed with what I thought were all my responsibilities while there: interpreting, one- on- ones, praying for people, supporting the Deaf couple, etc. Then a very smart mentor of mine said, “Carole, God has only called you to interpret in Romania, nothing else”. That was freeing! For so long I have been feeling responsible for other people's burdens; other people's lives, reactions, behaviors and even decisions. I now recognize they are not my own. My eyes have been unveiled, and I can clearly see examples of how I do this in almost every area of my life. In Romania, I began recognizing this stronghold in my life and have been able to walk in an opposite direction.

Brent and Nora, me and Brandi at the Constanta, Romania YWAM base



The DTS in Romania, with America, Romania, Germany, England, Brazil and Fiji represented.

It will be clearer if I share an example of God teaching me this truth. On this trip I planned to interpret everyday for class with Brandi Marsh, another interpreter, who made the trip with me. Then part way through my time in Romania, Dan unexpectedly had to go to the hospital and have surgery on his arm. He had contracted a bacterial infection near his elbow which had not responded to antibiotics requiring minor surgery. He is fine now, but at that time, while being in Romania so far away, I was trying to process Dan in the hospital and Olive at home with Grandma who was already in DC to help for the week. Dan's surgery was Wednesday which was Thursday morning in Romania. I had not talked with Dan after the surgery so, that morning, I was an emotional wreck. However, I kept on saying," I must interpret. I must interpret. I can do it." As I sat in class, I started crying, and walked in- and-out of class multiple times to get tissues. Finally, I realized that I was not being honest with myself or others; I needed to share that I was not able to interpret. Brent and Nora (the married couple I was interpreting for) and Will (the leader for the DTS) all completely understood and told me to "take care of yourself and your family". I refused to accept the blessing and tried to convince myself and them I could interpret, taking false responsibility for the DTS and making sure access was provided for through me. However, it did not work, and they persisted in encouraging me to step back. They protected my heart and set healthy boundaries in my life. For the rest of the morning, Will typed the message when Brandi was not interpreting. As I met with Jesus to calm my emotions, I became honest with God about how I was feeling. Through this situation, I realized that I needed to start being honest with God and others about my limitations, stop making all decisions on my own, and allow the leaders of the DTS help make decisions. Their love and wisdom allowed me to have the morning off where I cried out my feelings and then worshiped Jesus. This, in turn, allowed me to experience peace in my heart and afforded me time to connect with Dan.

(Brent, Brandi, Carole-ASL interpreting for Brent, Romanian woman translating into English, Florin-DTS Nature and Character of God teacher teaching in Romanian) 

This story is just one tiny example of my resistance to my limitations, but similar situations have been happening my whole life in every area of my life. I take on too much, am not honest about my limits, and try to do good out of compassion at times when God has not called me to intervene. However, in reality, I am hurting the other person and not being honest with myself, God, or others. The last couple days in Romania, God showed me an analogy of how I was living my life through a picture of shoes. My "shoes", symbolizing my life, are really worn and have holes in them representing me taking more responsibility than He required of me and of not being honest with myself. (They actually have been this way for a really long time but I never noticed). I see it now since He has revealed it to me, and He has offered me brand new shoes, shoes that only take burdens that are light and yokes that are easy. He poured into my spirit His truth that I am only responsible for myself, my own actions and my decisions. In faith, I needed to decide to take off the old shoes and try the new ones. I said yes! I know that I am going to be a new daughter of God and a better wife and mother because of these new shoes that lead me only into commitments and responsibilities He wants me to have. 

I was learning how to recognize what was my responsibility and what was false responsibility. A common phrase during the two weeks was "I am just the interpreter." Being a YWAMer and leader of DTSs, I could have easily taken on more during my time but it was duties that God was placing before me.  I was responsible for interpreting and meeting with Jesus!  And I did! I also did some really fun things with my time off.  For example, I rented a bike and biked around a lake near the YWAM base. I found a shady bench to sit and enjoyed reading The Horse and His Boy from the Narnia series.

Other things I did was go to a movie in a theater, which I have not done a lot time! I also spent time processing what God was teaching me by scrapbooking my revelations. This is a way that I internalize what God is speaking and how I can apply it to my life.  The yellow page below is how I was feeling going to Romania and the green page is what God spoke and did in my heart during Romania. 

      

 God gave me a 0.0 reset! Yep, 0.0! Revealing who He created me to be and taking me back to my original design. Everyday, He would give me one or two phrases describing who He created me to be that I have lost.  Things like, "I am fun", "Familiar Makes me Thrive", "I become alive when I worship", "Thankful Heart" "Called to light burdens and easy yokes" and many more.  

I was "AWAKENED" to be who I am called to be! 

A few days after these revelations, I went to the beach (25 min walk from the YWAM Base) and drew a line in the sand representing a crossing over of my own breakthrough with taking on heavy burdens.

I am still getting used to these new shoes and already have realized, after the fact, times I am putting on the old ones as it has become habit to accept more burdens than I can carry. However, bravely I take off the old shoes of wrong thinking and put on the new shoes of spiritual freedom. In the next couple months, I know that I am going to walk in an even deeper level of freedom in this area. Yet, I also have many things that I have previously said yes to that I will need to finish out. From now on may my yes be yes and my no be no according to God's wisdom and counsel. I know that God will give me the strength and grace to walk into the next season differently. With this new freedom, I do not fear the Fall anymore. I did before Romania because of the responsibilities of running two DTSs at the same time at the base. But now, I am looking forward to the opportunity to get to practice life in my new shoes. Will you pray for me to walk confidently in this new spiritual freedom?

Greece Trip: Family Time

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While we were in Greece, Dan, Olive, and I also had a great deal of family time. We served at the refugee center in the mornings then came back to the rental place for Olive's nap. When she awoke, the three of us enjoyed afternoons together as a family. Dan and I realized the pace that we kept in Greece was a very healthy pace. We were giving and serving, but we were also spending quality time as a family unit daily. The pace of life in Washington DC over the last year has been very, very fast and full. Although the fruit of this year has been wonderful, the schedule has limited our family time together. God began to show us that this was not healthy for the three of us.

Since we've been back home in DC, Dan and I have been been very intentional about having family time. Each day after dinner, we've incorporated 15 minutes of family time on the couch before Olive's bedtime. The picture above is during our family time on the couch. We have learned quickly that one of Olive's love languages is TOUCH (just like Mommy) so this picture above is what our family time looks like most of the time! Below, we added stickers but still a lot of touch!

In addition, Olive gets Mommy and Daddy playtime throughout the day. During this playtime, Dan and I are not trying to do two things at once; i.e. talking to our community, being on the phone, or doing some work that needs done. Instead we have intentional playtime with Olive alone. These times have become the moments Olive really values, and Dan and I have come to really enjoy these minutes of the day as well. The young adults in our community also recognize the importance of this daily time and give us our space as a family.

Since we moved to the new YWAM base, we have still been intentional about our playtime but it has been more creative, as it has taken some work to get settled.  An example of this is having a worship dance with Daddy in the morning before he starts his work day or Daddy stopping from his outside work to show Olive how to use a shovel of her own.  Recently, with Mommy, we have enjoyed taking walks on our new home, cooking together, or picking berries from our recently found mulberry tree.

Something else we recognized a little bit before we went to Greece was that, as a family living in community, Olive never had to play by herself. If I am cooking or washing dishes, there's always another person that is playing with Olive. Perhaps in a more traditional house, the kids would be playing on their own when mom does dishes or is cooking. We recognized that Olive actually could not play on her own for not even a minute. 

As parents, we realized the importance of independent play in Olive's development. Therefore, something that we've been working on since we've been back is independent play time. We actually got a new blanket that we only use for independent playtime. I (Carole) plan a fun daily new (newer) activity for Olive so that she is desiring to stay on the blanket and does not get bored. When we started this activity, she couldn't even do a minute by herself! The first time we did it, Mommy had to sit on the blanket and play with her. To reinforce this new behavior, when she finished one minute or two minutes and the beeper went off, we would celebrate with whomever was in the house; parading around the blanket and cheering in sign language! This time became something that then became desirable to Olive. She looked forward to the timer beeping and celebrating what she accomplished playing alone on the blanket. Over the last 5 months we've increased the time and she is now up to 35 minutes on her own on the blanket.

In our unique family- within -a- family situation (a family living in a community house), we find the challenges are different than a single family dwelling. We're learning, as time goes on and Olive grows, what's healthy and Godly for our family. We are learning how to honor our own family while blessing young adults as they learn, see, watch, and grow from our experiences as a family in missions.

Greece, Refugees and HOPE

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In January, our family went to serve with the refugees in Athens Greece. We met refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran ,Iraq, and Pakistan. All of them were fleeing their countries for different reasons, but all were similarly looking for something in which to hope: maybe a better life or citizenship in another country or just a safe place to be able to create a family. They were all hoping for something once they arrived in Greece. HOPE. That was the deeper lesson God was speaking to us about during our Greece trip.

Upon arrival at the Refugee Center, we thought that we were bringing hope. However, as we started to serve and hear stories, we soon became hopeless and overwhelmed with every day stories of real people and situations. We realized that they hoped in Greece and finding a place to begin again, but when they arrived in Greece, the opportunities weren't what they had hoped for. The truth is the situation for refugees in Greece is disheartening. Greece is a country struggling economically with 40% unemployment for their own people. In addition, other countries are closing their doors to refugees. This has created an endless holding pattern in a country that can not offer jobs. These displaced people can't go back, and the present situation does not offer them much hope of going forward. We realized quickly that, in ourselves, we didn't have anything to give or offer. There were many great ideas but, being short- term, none of them would be able to work out to have a more lasting effect on the refugees.

As the time went on, we stopped looking at ourselves and what we could give. We realized that Jesus is their only hope; even more, Jesus needs to be our only hope. The truth went deep that having a personal relationship with Jesus is the only Hope in the midst of devastating situations.

We were even challenged in what we were hoping in. Were we hoping in the provisions that God provides us or in God, Himself? If we were to lose our homes and the things in our homes, as well as the people in our lives, would we still be able to help others find hope in Jesus Christ and Him alone?

These were some challenging questions that were brought to mind and caused us to think. During the last couple days in Greece, as we realized that Jesus is the only true Hope and a relationship with Him could be the only hope, we started to really see what God was doing among the refugees.

We heard stories of the Greece church being set on fire because they had something bigger than themselves to serve. There were other stories about churches in Germany ( the final destination for many of the refugees) needing more Arabic and Farsi translators because refugees were knocking on their doors asking why Christians had helped them along their journey.

We heard multiple testimonies of refugees coming to know Jesus in Greece.  Moutazim, pictured above with Olive, share his story with us.  He started going to church because they served hot food afterwards every Sunday. In the camps, they only serve cold food, so he went faithfully every Sunday to get that hot meal. After a couple months, he started to pay attention, ask questions, and soon he made Jesus Christ Lord and Savior. Then, wanting to give back, he began helping at the Refugee Day Center at which we served.

Jesus was becoming these refugees Hope. They were waking up every day with purpose and serving because they knew Jesus Christ, and they wanted to give and share Jesus with their fellow refugees.

Dan, Olive, and I also learned other lessons like God really opening our eyes to the outcast and befriending them. One day it was an Iran refugee family at a downtown park that we encouraged Olive to play with the children and another day it was an Afghanistan refugee family at the beach that we just sat with and shared snacks with. We learned that loving people means we're just called to do what we can in that moment. Maybe it is something very simple like a cup of cold water ( or a snack on the beach). However, God can use that little something to touch people's hearts.

We are forever changed by our time in Greece. Thank you for partnering with us to serve God there.

God's surprise in the Mountains

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As promised, this blog is about a BIG surprised that God had for us in the mountains of West Virginia. The place where we stayed for our June family vacation, was about an hour- and -a -half away from Circleville, West Virginia, where Dan would go on summer mission trips with his home church, Bethany Presbyterian, during his teen years. The whole youth group, would drive to WV and do a Vacation Bible School (VSB) for the kids that live in the mountains. In the afternoon, there would be fun optional activities like hiking or visiting the highest point in WV at Spruce Knob. Dan has many memories from those years and often uses them when teaching our staff. Before I proceed further into this story, you have to understand something about Dan and me and our relationship; we LOVE pursuing each other! We love learning new things about each other and often try to find things the other person does not know. When we find something, we always get excited. I love this about our marriage. So as Dan was sharing, I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about my husband and what made him the man he is today. Therefore, we decided while on vacation to go as a family to some of the places he went with his youth group. 

On our honeymoon in CA in June 2009

On the way, Dan was recounting his high school memories about the mission week and the fun times he had each year. He posed a few questions: I wonder if they are still doing the mission trip? Were the kids impacted through our week VBS trip? Since moving into missions, we have not had a lot of contact with his old church and did not know if they still did the week-long trip. However, we both agreed that the kids of WV were impacted through the VBS and there was lasting fruit even if we did not know or see it! 

We arrived at Seneca Rocks, one of the places he went each year, and did a beautiful hike. It was a beautiful day. Then we continued on to the highest point in WV, Spruce Knob. Dan showed me all the places where he and his friends had races, climbed rocks or just hung out on top. We had Olive climb rocks and run around in the grass as I laid down with the sun beaming down on me. It was a great day learning more about my husband, but it was time to go as Olive needed a nap. 

We were on our way down the rocks to go back to the van, when a group of young boys raced passed us; then some girls, walking at a slower pace, came into view followed by some older adults. Dan was ahead of Olive and me and some faces in that group seemed familiar to him. He heard a woman say, "Hey, that looks like Daniel McClelland." Dan replied, "I am Dan McClelland." Yes, it was God answering Dan's question in a miraculous way: “Yes, the youth group is still making the trips and here they are talking to you!”

All of us could not believe the "God sighting" that was happening and knew that God had a reason for having us bump into each other in this surprising way! There were so many details that only God could have lined up for us to meet: us having a week vacation the exact same week as the VBS, the day that we chose to go hiking was the day they planned to go too, we both chose the same path to walk as there are two paths that lead up the mountain, and the exact timing of our intersection was crucial to us even meeting. All of this points clearly to our God! 

We stood shocked for a moment and then quickly caught up about our life as many of the leaders where the same 11 years ago when Dan was in HS. We then parted ways after praying together. As we were about to leave, the leader, Dave, invited us to join them for a camp dinner that night at 6 pm. We said we would think about it and went our separate ways. As we drove off, we decided that we had to take this opportunity and go to dinner. We drove until Olive was asleep and then parked to pray, asking God what He wanted us to share when we would see people at the dinner. God highlighted that we should encourage the faithfulness of these leaders and of the church to send people on this VBS trip year after year. We also wanted to communicate the impact it has made on Dan and how it has shaped him into the man of God he is today. Lastly, we wanted to share the truth that each of the teens had so much to give the kids in the VBS. 

We drove into the same campsite that Dan had stayed at during high school. For me, the city girl, the stories Dan told me of building a dam in the river to take a bath because the camp did not have working showers was surreal. As we arrived, they saw us and a man shouted, "They came!" We stayed for 2 hours, encouraging each other. I had the opportunity to meet many leaders that have poured into Dan and was able to thank them personally, as I have received the benefit of the time and effort they gave 11 years ago. Dan noticed that many of the leaders were the same as when he was in HS. We were amazed once again by the Faithfulness of God. We learned that this was the 31st year they have been leading the trip, and that many of the WV kids they attended the VBS in the beginning were now sending their kids to the VBS! 

What a great reminder that as we stay faithful to God’s calling on our life,
He will produce much fruit to the next generation.