Things You May Not Know About Taylor

Here's a current photo of Taylor (now 13) sitting on our front porch. He's grown about a mile these last few months and his voice has lowered an octave or two.

Air soft, skateboarding and listening to music are some of Taylor's favorite ways to spend time. He also loves participating in youth activities at church and hanging out with friends. Playing the piano and guitar come easily to him but he does not like to practice! Hawk Nelson and Lacrae are two of his favorite music groups. Recently Taylor has informed us that he wants to learn to swing dance!

He loves to laugh while watching old-fashioned, funny movies (i.e. Jerry Lewis, Abbott and Costello). Taylor has a great sense of humor which he uses to diffuse tense family situations:)

Every third Thursday Taylor volunteers at Desiring God, doing whatever is most helpful. This summer he also has a job mowing his Grandma's grass and occasionally works at Masterworks cleaning out cars.

Having been educated at home all his life, this year Taylor will be taking some classes through YEAH (Youth Educated at Home). They are: Writing Foundations, American History, Spanish and Improvisation (Acting). He will learn Pre-Algebra at home, and round out his schedule with Piano lessons and Bible Quizzing. (Last year he memorized 5 chapters and finished 47th out of 242 junior and senior high students.

We are crazy about this kid!

Hidden Treasure

Jesus said, in Matthew 13:44, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

This is why we do what we do! We've found the treasure our hearts long for - it's Jesus! We gladly leave behind the "safety" and comfort of suburban living to spend ourselves that others, too, might find their hope in Jesus. What joy!

We Have Two Piper Bookshelves

Thanks to the DG $5 booksale, we've been able to round out our (John) Piper library. Desiring God and Don't Waste Your Life (among others) have had a profound impact on our lives.

This is baby Piper's bookshelf. We've heard it said that the number of books in a child's personal library has a direct impact on their intelligence level. I wonder if Tumble Bumble and Are You My Mother? qualify?

We love this girl!

Pick me! Pick me! I know the answer!

I like to drive.

Are Blogs Narcissistic?

narcissism [(nahr-suh-siz-uhm)] noun

"A consuming self-absorption or self-love; a type of egotism. Narcissists constantly assess their appearance, desires, feelings, and abilities."

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/narcissism

According to that definition, yes, most blogs are all about self.

We hope to steer in a different direction. Our aim is twofold: 1) to keep family and friends current on what's happening in our lives and ministry and, 2) to encourage others and "stir one another up to love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24) .

Hopefully there will be some "meat" and weightiness amongst the fun and trivial!

Great Lyrics

"O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love,
Here's my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above."

"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" vs 3

Oh, how these lyrics are the cry of my heart! I am so thankful that it is the work of God to save us AND keep us.

--Barb

Afghani Pizza?

It's true! One of our favorite discoveries since moving to the city is Afghani Pizza. It's delicious! Tomorrow night we will celebrate a much needed family night at the Crescent Moon over a football shaped pizza. They serve it with a greenish colored dipping sauce, called chutney, that will light your tongue on fire. So good.

Crescent Moon Bakery
612-782-0169
2339 Central Ave. NE, Mpls

Thoughts on Support Raising...

This is a topic that makes most missionaries cringe. Support Raising. Ugh.

When we were first considering the idea of full-time ministry we had many long discussions about it. We prayed long and hard. Jim felt such a burden to spend his time not just earning a paycheck (which is a good thing,) but pouring himself out for things that matter for eternity. Feeling reasonably sure that God was calling us to serve in the city we began to rearrange our lives. We knew entering into full-time ministry would mean a huge cut in pay and moving our family to the city. That was the easy part.

One day, in passing, Jim said, "By the way, we'll need to raise at least a portion of our support." (My reaction? "Then obviously God is NOT calling us! I loathe that idea!)

This is how I came from that response to where I am now: willing yet reticent.

For years we delighted to give to (several) ministries each month. Many of them were instrumental in our spiritual growth. It is so pleasant to be a giver!

Now we find ourselves on the other side of the coin. We must seek support from others in order to forge ahead in the work we believe God has called us to do. It's not as pleasant, in fact it's quite humbling. Not simply because it's hard to ask people for money (it is!) but because we cannot do it ourselves --we MUST depend on others. Our self-reliant pride needs to die. We are learning to trust that God is already raising up others who delight to give.

Another humbling aspect is knowing that we, in and of ourselves, are not adequate for the task. (We sense this every day!) The last part of John 15: 5 says, "for apart from me you can do nothing." Translation: unless it is God doing the work in and through us we cannot do anything of real value. Oh, how we pray that He will accomplish good through our lives, despite us.

Our pastor reminds us that there are "goers" and "senders." Those that hang over the cliff and those who hold the ropes. Both are necessary for the Gospel to go forth. We love hanging over the cliff in Minneapolis! We are incredibly grateful to those of you who hold the ropes.

Silly Family Photo

While being photographed for our new prayer card, Piper was unusually cranky -- we had to work hard to get her to smile. Our photographer caught this shot as were were trying to humor her. Turns out it's our favorite! Of course, it's not the one we chose for our prayer card, which, as a matter-of-fact, will be in your mailbox soon.

Minneapolis Skyline

This is the view from our porch. We love it!

America's Melting Pot

This is a familiar sight from our porch. Only in Minneapolis! This Somali woman is working as a "flagger" for the parking lot across the street. What is the event? America's favorite pasttime -a Twins baseball game.

Oh, the Joys of Reading

What books are on your nightstand? Really, we want to know! (We'd love to get some feedback on this post in order to encourage one another in the reading of good books.)

Here's our line-up:
Jim is reading "First Theology: God, Scripture & Hermeneutics" by Kevin J. Vanhoozer. 375 pages with big words like supervenient grace, epistemology and deconstructionism, and loving every page.

Barb just finished two biography's: "Give me This Mountain" by Helen Roseveare and "Isobel Kuhn: the Canadian Women Who Felt God's Call to the Lisu People of China" by Lois Hoadley Dick. Admittedly, I had never heard of either woman, but after reading their fascinating stories I have come to admire their faith and perseverance very much. (Helen Roseveare is one of the speakers at the upcoming Desiring God conference - we can hardly wait.)
National Conference link: http://www.desiringGod.org/Events/NationalConferences/Archives/2007/

Hear John Piper talk about the conference: http://www.youtube.com/user/DGconferences

Whitney is reading Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," and Randy Alcorn's, "Deadline." Alcorn also wrote "Safely Home," one of our favorite family read-alouds. (Incidentally, Randy Alcorn is also one of the scheduled speakers at the DG conference. Hmmm... I detect a theme.)

Taylor is reading "Twenty-One Balloons" by Pene Dubois.

Piper is reading "Go, Go, Go" by P. D. Eastman (translated in English, "Go, Dog, Go!")

About the Blog Title

The name of our blog was chosen from a favorite passage of Scripture:


"Or do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God?
You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God is your body."
--1 Corinthians 6:19-20


This is a needful reminder for us. It helps us willingly look foolish to the world as we say "no" to fleeting pleasures. It also causes us to treasure the One who purchased us.

Smile, Piper!

This is the most recent photo of our sweet Piper, adopted from China 7 months ago. She is a 19 months + here. We can't imagine life without her! She's just beginning to speak and we're finding we have a huge communication gap! "Butz" means "blanket" (very important), and "Lerdler" (rhymes with turtler) means "Taylor" (our son). Jim was very dismayed when after a week away over the 4th of July, (having consumed mainly junk food), Piper said, "pop" and "Coke" as clear as the nose on her face... er... maybe the nose on your face, no offense.

Hello!

Welcome to our blog! We are the Waldemar family, currently serving as urban missionaries in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We hope to use this blog to keep our friends and family up-to-date on what's happening in our family and ministry. We'd love to hear from you!