Indonesia Night

We have truly had a blessed and uplifting time spending the holidays with both of our sets of families.  In November we went to North Dakota to visit a couple of churches, and to have a Thanksgiving Christmas with my (Renae's) family in Rugby.  With 10 kids and 8 adults all in one house we definitely got cozy, and we soaked up the sweet time we had all together.  Pictures to come in another post....

During our time in Rugby, the women's fellowship at the church that I grew up in decided to host an "Indonesia Night" while I was there so that I could share about our journey right now and what it looks like in the future.  They worked hard to make it authentic, and I was overwhelmed with the effort put into it and the encouragement from the sweet ladies who are committed to supporting and praying for our family.

Here are some pictures of the evening...

Such sweet, genuine ladies who love the Lord

 Many of these women were mentors to me during my junior high 

and high school years.

 So thankful for the prayers of these warriors.

 Lovely lady of God who has been a best friend since high school!

 A scrumptious meal of Indonesian food.  These women went the extra mile!

 The women surprised me by bringing children's books as gifts for us to take with

us to Indonesia, knowing they won't be available there!  I am so excited,

since reading is so important to me for our kids to learn to love it.

My Mom really orchestrated a lot of the evening, and I am SO incredibly

blessed by her love and friendship in my life.  What a wonderful spiritual legacy Tyler and I have

in our families.  I had such a fun evening and will remember it for many years to come!

Thank you ladies of CEFC!
 

Settled, but Unsettled.

I (Renae) cannot tell you how many ups and downs I have had this past year.  Where I used to think I was a fairly stable person, I have become unstable.  Where I used to keep an even keel emotionally, I feel like my emotions are more like a yo-yo.  I used to spend more time trying to help friends and hosting people, where as now I am the one asking for help and never having an organized enough house to really host a family over.  (and believe me, I'm pretty laid back about that last one, but it seriously is hard to have room when there are always a couple  big projects going on along with the normal everyday messes!).  It has been a stretching year and humbling to realize that some of the things I "prided" myself on I can no longer claim as part of who I am, at least not for the time being.  I am still in the midst of learning to let go of what I think should be my "normal" self, and our "normal" life, because what we are embarking on for our family is far from "normal"!  Thankfully, God doesn't lay out what normal should look like in this life.  He only requires that in everything we do, whether we eat or drink, we do it all for the glory of God. 

We have had the closest to a settled and "normal" life here in Spokane that we'll have for the next couple years.  Yet, even though we are settled at the moment, I don't feel settled.  The anticipation of our coming trips over the holidays, then moving from Spokane to Nampa, then moving to Indonesia keeps me constantly thinking and planning for the future.  Often it overwhelms me to discouragement, but God continues to teach me how to take it one day at a time, and try not to worry about the future.  I am so thankful that He has everything under control even when I can hardly keep our daily life in control.

We are doing our best to enjoy our last couple months in Spokane, as well as the seasonal changes that we won't have once overseas.  Here are some snapshots of what has been keeping us busy lately.

 Peach picking at Greenbluff

Hay maze and pumpkin donuts at Greenbluff fall festival

 Leaves, leaves, and more leaves!

 Dessert auction with our church

 Trick-or-treating with friends from church

17 more to GO!

Support is coming in and we only need 17 more monthly gifts!  Thanks to all of you who have responded with monthly pledges.  If you are wanting to join our financial team with a monthly gift of any amount or just a one time gift you can follow this link www.maf.org/tschmidt, leave a comment here on the blog or contact us via email at tschmidt@maf.org.

Here is a current chart of where our support leave is at.

Fall Pictures

 Our weekly update on the 25x50 challenge.  We are getting closer and it has only been two weeks!  We look forward to see how God will move in people's hearts this next week.




Here are some fall pictures that we have taken the past month:

 Cuddle time with Dad

Harvest party with family

 Sometimes even Daddy needs to suck his fingers

 Caleb and Aaron having fun in the hay bale maze

The beautiful Schmidt women

 Renae and Jocelyn enjoying the leaves together

 Our sweet little Jocelyn is growing up

Leaf Time

This will be the last time in a while to play in autumn leaves...

 Both Aaron and Caleb loved to run and jump into the pile we made

 Even Jocelyn was getting into it and kicking leave around

Playing in the leaves you can find all sorts of interesting things..

...including a baby!

Some use a rake...

 others a dump truck

 Jocelyn doesn't seem so sure about all the attention

 But she warms up when Mommy is holding her

 The latest Schmidt portrait

25X50 Challenge Update

We wanted to update you that we are only needing 22 more individuals, Praise the Lord!

Now just a little disclaimer; you don't just have to limit your gift to $50.  If we did the math we would only need 11 people at $100 a month, or 5.5 people at $200.  I don't know where we will get half a person but mathematics didn't factor that in.  We just want to say thank you to those that responded and are praying that God will lead others to respond too.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us via the comment section or email us. If you would like to become a ministry partner follow this link www.maf.org/tschmidt

What does your support do?

It is used by MAF to share:

Hope
Healing
Compassion
Christ's Love

MAF continues to serve, bringing aid physically and spiritually to the isolated and difficult to reach.

25 X 50 Challenge

We are so close to being fully supported and we want to thank all of you who have been supporting us these past few years.  Without you we would not be in the position we are in to go overseas with Mission Aviation Fellowship to Indonesia.  

To reach the 100 percent mark we are needing 25 individuals to join our monthly financial ministry team.  

Would YOU prayerfully consider joining our team?

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us via the comment section or email us. If you would like to become a ministry partner follow this link www.maf.org/tschmidt

Thank you all for your support

Tyler & Renae

Refiner's Fire

Many of us have heard the song “Refiner’s Fire”, by Brain Doerksen.  We may sing it in church, hear it on the radio, and make it our prayer.  Here are just a few words of the song that sum it up:

“Refiner’s fire; my heart’s one desire, is to be holy.  Set apart for you, Lord, ready to do Your will.”

Until recently, I (Renae) don’t think I have felt the pain of that “refiner’s fire” quite so intensely.  The process of being refined and made holy to be like our Lord comes not only with sacrifice, but with pain, as if truly sitting in a fire and feeling the scorching pain on our skin.  Only this pain is an internal pain.  The daily challenge of submitting my stubborn will to God’s.  The sacrifice involved in both little and big things:  Having a pleasant attitude with my family after a sleepless night.  Showing grace and serving my family when I am overwhelmed and tired.  The tears and sorrow of knowing that seeing our families this holiday will be our last holiday in the states with them for a long time.  Enjoying my favorite season, fall, but grieving because there won’t be seasons where we are going.  Accepting that our kids will grow up without the experiences I had and feel were so influential in my life.

I want to be holy, truly I do.  Many days, though, I resist because this process is so painful, and will continue to be so as we experience so many transitions in the next year.  And yet, when I do finally submit my will and let God start His refining process, there is more joy.  I am starting to accept that it is not about where we live, whether or not I’m tired, if we get to experience all four seasons, living near or far from family, or about our kids getting every “American” experience.  But it IS about God making us more like Him in whatever situation we live in.  As God slowly helps me let go of all the worldly things I cling to, He gives back His joy and peace in abundance.  I am not there yet, it is a hard process and I still am learning to relinquish control, along with my worries and fears.  But I am thankful that He is with me every step, and that in the end I will maybe reflect Him a little bit more.

As I type this, this song is so fittingly playing from one of our children’s praise CD’s:

“With Him, and in Him, and through Him, I can do all things through Jesus my Lord.

With Jesus in me, I’m free indeed, so I will not be afraid.  When troubles and fear, start coming near, I lift my voice and say, With Him, and in Him, and through Him, I can do all things through Jesus my Lord.” 

I prayer you, too, will find strength to do all thing through Him!

Renae Schmidt