Poured Out

Well, it’s been a very full week.  As Peter wrote, we all had the stomach flu last weekend.  Then after a couple of “well” days, we celebrated our nephew Matthew’s 2nd birthday and then Peter and I flew to Boston on Thursday for his graduation.  It was a great weekend together! Thanks to my mom and dad and Aunt Carol for watching our children.  Now we are back.  It feels like we can breathe a big sigh of relief because we are going to be in the same place for at least another month!  That feels good.  To be honest, I am pretty exhausted and feel a little be emotionally dis-oriented.  I know that sounds strange but I don’t know any other way to describe it.  We’ve been in so many places, met and re-connected with so many people, and then today went to our “home” church here in OR for the first time.  It was so wonderful to see so many friends.  It’s just hard knowing that we don’t live here anymore.  One of the hardest parts about doing what we do (serving in missions) is that no where is truly home.  Hillsboro feels so familiar, but it’s not home.  Caterham feels like home too but it’s really not.  I know I’ve written about this before on our blog . . . an issue that I struggle with from time to time.  This too I can offer up as a sacrifice to the Lord.  Pray for us as we spend time with friends this week and for Peter as he prepares for upcoming ministry. (GLOW youth meeting on the 18th and then church weekend away  23rd to 25th)

Just a reminder that we don’t have internet access at home - sorry we aren’t answering emails as promplty as usual and posts on the site are a little more sparse.  We’ll try to keep posting as much as we can.

It looks like we’re all clear.  All the kids and Dad have had it.  Melanie was in bed most of yesterday, and while not getting the full experience, it looks like she’s better today (just needing to eat and rest to regain strength). So thanks for praying, hopefully now we can feel like we’re actually here and not hiding!  Melanie and I leave on Thursday morning for Boston.  The graduation events are Friday evening and Saturday morning.  Appreciate your prayers for safe travel and for the children to do well with us gone.  Thanks!

We arrived in Hillsboro on Thursday afternoon.  But local friends here may be wondering where we are.  Well, we’re here, honest!  Just before we left the motel on Thursday morning, Hannah was sick.  Then again in the car.  Joel had been sick the day before, and very out of sorts.  We wondered if that was altitude related (or my driving!), but obviously not.  So we arrived just after lunch to our temporary house and Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Amy.  It is great!  So many people have leant things, helped out, and gone out of their way to make the place our own little home for these two months.  Thank you all so much!  Thursday night I felt quite rough and had a strong headache.  During the night Mariah was sick, then I succombed too.  Friday evening Melanie was scheduled to fly to California for a Women’s Missionary Conference.  She felt a bit rough during the day, even in the airport (she called to chat through with me whether to go or not), but she decided to go by faith.  The rest of us stayed home.  Her visit was a success and she wasn’t sick, nor did she develop the headache that threatened - praise the Lord (by the way - no headaches in a week, the strict dietary rules seem to be helping so far!)  I’ll let her write a report in the next day or two.  She got home last night and we hoped we were in the clear to go to church today.  But sure enough, at 2am, Aliyah started complaining about her tummy.  Same story.  She’s recovering quickly though, so hopefully by tomorrow we should be clear - unless Melanie finally succombs too!

We don’t have internet access at home, but will be checking in regularly to our email at the all new Hillsboro public library (my new and temporary office!)  So thank you for praying, and if you’re at Westside, we’re here, honest!

Here are a few from the last few days:

  Here’s a happy chappy after his bear arrived by courier from England!

  Mariah was very brave, going first on Jay-Jay.

  And Hannah’s dream of riding a horse came true!

The carrots were for the horses, but Joel had other plans.

Here are the young Meads inside a redwood log at Muir Woods near San Francisco.

  And inside a still standing Redwood!

  Making friends in yet another CA church visit.

After many miles travelled, we are finally in Oregon. Not quite “home” in Hillsboro yet, but we are in the land of mountains and evergreens. We’ve been drinking in the gorgeous green scenery. Our trip from San Francisco today was mostly uneventful. Joel has been a bit ill the past few days and he threw up in the car as we crossed a mountain pass today. He has had a touch of a cold and has thrown up a few times in the past couple days. But he seems really happy, so we’re not really sure what is going on with him. We would appreciate prayers for healing for him. Tonight we’re staying in a motel in Grants Pass and so tomorrow we’ll drive the final 250 miles.

Our last two church visits were great. Please pray for the people who have heard us speak about missions, especially for those who have said they are interested in going as missionaries. In almost every church we have gone to, there has been someone who is seriously interested. Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve spent time with really wonderful people. We spent the last four nights with a great couple and their six children. Poor Aliyah was so sad to leave that she cried in the car for about half an hour when we left. These two weeks of travelling have been fun and hard at the same time. Meeting people and doing new things (like the horse riding the girls got to do on Monday) is fun - late nights, sitting still in church and saying goodbye to new friends is hard!

Update on my (Melanie’s) headaches: Praise the Lord, I have not had a headache for 7 days!! The sinus pressure I had has really subsided too. I have been following a pretty strict diet (as laid out in the book that was given to us at a church). Basically, it means avoiding a bunch of “trigger” foods for a few months. Then, if you feel better, you can gradually add them back in. It makes figuring out what to eat a little hard but I don’t mind if it’s going to make me feel better!! Thanks for praying. I am flying down to San Francisco on Friday for 24 hrs. to speak at a women’s missionary conference. I’m not sure if the headaches I had after we flew to L.A. were triggered in part by the flight - but please pray that the flight to San Fran. will NOT trigger a headache for me. And more importantly, please pray for the women’s conference on Saturday, that God would work in hearts and use me and the other speakers, as we speak. I am looking forward to it, but honestly, I am a little nervous!

We’ll try to post some pictures soon.

Just a quick update. It’s 4pm and I’ve just got back from Sun Valley church. We’re staying with a great family here and enjoying their hospitality and new friendships. They have seven children, by the way. We’re joined by Junia (eldest of 12 who was with us last spring) - she’ll be spending the night here which will be great. So I had three sessions today. A report about our ministry, then the preaching session, then a session with the youth where we had the great missions debate - each team got points for each reason why someone in the room should go on a missions trip (summer or longer term). We had to end the game after 49 points had been scored. Not bad for starters! Now I have an hour before I (or we, not sure which Meads are going yet) head out to another church for the evening service. I just need to tweak the powerpoint for that and get my thoughts together for the briefer pre-breaking of bread sharing I will be doing. A day of rest. Actually, Sundays are busy days!

Well, I found Peter sitting on the edge of the motel bathtub this morning, checking his email! Now I am sitting here, checking mine. Mariah and Joel are still sleeping so we are all trying to stay quiet to let them snooze on. The last two days have gone well. We have visited two churches and met some great and encouraging people. We pray that we’ve been able to be a blessing and a challenge too. Lots of people have taken books off our book table and literature about missions. Last night, we were treated to a blind gentleman playing a hymn on the saw! If you have never seen the saw played, it’s amazing! He played Jesus Loves Me too and was delighted to hear our girls singing for him. The kids are all doing really well and being a delight to the people we meet. Joel is his usual smiley self, but very unusually, he cried alot when we put him to bed last night. We never did figure out what was wrong (teething?) and he finally fell asleep.

Thanks for praying about my (Melanie’s) headaches. I did get a headache on Tuesday evening, but it wasn’t as severe as the previous ones, so I was able to cope til I could get to bed. I went to the doctor yesterday to see if I had a sinus infection. He wasn’t sure but he gave me some antibiotics just in case. I decided to hold off on taking them for a day or two to see if I improve any. I felt alot better yesterday actually, and didn’t have a headache at all. May that continue!

Today we will travel to a friend’s house and spend 2 days there. This friend is my oldest friend! I have known her since I was five! A great blessing to get to spend time with her and her family.

Thanks for praying for us! Please keep it up . . . we know it makes a difference.

We’ve had a great week at our friend Carol’s house and today we leave to begin our slow trek north to Oregon.  We’ll be in the southern California area til this Saturday when we’ll drive to the San Fransisco Bay area.  Then after a few days there, we’ll begin to travel north to Oregon. (check our schedule page for more details).  Our church visits went well on Sunday.  Keep praying that what people have heard will stay with them and God will work in their hearts - especially that some will commit to go into missions.  The girls sang a song called, This is the Gospel, in the morning for everyone and did a great job.  They will probably sing at the churches we visit in the next week.

The kids have had a wonderful time here.  They’ve played hard outside and enjoyed the dog immensely.  Good thing she is a patient dog!  It’s also been great to be with old and new friends.  We will be sad to leave.

One major prayer request - since we have been here in California, I’ve been feeling on the verge of getting a migraine every day with a lot of sinus pressure.  I did have one on Friday, which I “slept off” but I had one on Sunday evening that was probably the worst one I’ve ever had.  The whole situation was really awful.  I wasn’t able to speak to people at the church service and was in severe pain.  Fortunately, God blessed us with someone to help  watch the kids during the service (I spent a lot of time in the bathroom) and a man gave us a really helpful book on migraines which I have been reading.  I know I need to change my diet (hard to do when travelling) and maybe see a doctor when we get to OR.  I have had migraines for a long time but in varying degrees of severity and frequency.  Right now I feel like I am living in fear of getting one every day which is no way to live, especially when we are travelling.  Please pray for spiritual protection.  Is this a spiritual attack?  Pray for relief and wisdom in handling the situation.  And for stability for my health and for the kids as we travel - different beds most nights til we get to OR on May 1st.  Pray that we’ll be a blessing and a challenge to everyone we meet.

Here are a couple to go with the last two posts . . .

Once we got off the plane, he finally crashed!

The view from the breakfast table (no snowmen here!)

“Lady” - needing a rest after all the attention from H & A.

Well, we crashed about 8 or 9 pm (kids earlier) last night and only had to get up once with Mariah who was crying about 9:45. Then we were awakened about 5:45 by Joel (I would’ve cried too, if I had a diaper like that on!). So, we all got up about 6:30 and all but Mom are now out for a walk with Carol (our hostess) and Lady the dog. We are staying in the desert (Hemet, CA) and it’s really beautiful here (Please note, this is not technically desert, although everyone from outside Hemet thinks it is desert here). Lots of colorful flowers, bunnies hopping around in the backyard, and brilliant sunshine. I think we had all nearly forgotten what the warm sun feels like, but it feels so wonderful!! This is our third time staying with Carol as a family (first time with 2 children, second time with 3 and now with four!). The girls love it here. Lots of space to run and play outside and a very sweet dog named Lady to take care of, take for walks, etc. What a blessing to be in a place where we can relax and get over jet lag in beautiful surroundings with a good friend. We plan to go out shopping for a few things today - sandals for the kids, cheap haircuts for all (gotta love the US prices!) and maybe a cheap mobile phone. Thanks for praying for the flight. God really blessed us with a mostly painless 11 hours (plus the hours on either end traveling to and from the airport!). It is exciting to be here and we feel eagerly expectant about what God will do during our 3 months here.