Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The day to day...

With all the recent Thailand excitement around here, there hasn't been much time for blogging lately, so I thought I'd quickly add a few new photos from the last few weeks. Callie continues to bring a ridiculous amount of cuteness and fun to our day-to-day lives, and I often have to apologize to her for constantly showering her with a billion and one kisses each day. :) She'll be 4 months old at the end of this week, so after Thursday's check-up, we'll know just how much our little "chubs" weighs and all that other good stuff. So without further ado, here's a little peek into our lives as of late.

Enjoying some time in the Bumbo seat...


Callie pretty much hates tummy time, but I still try to make the effort to get her some "fun" time on her belly. She doesn't seem to mind it quite as much if we put this toy in front of her...


... but she still prefers sneaking a peek at the TV instead...

We had the opportunity to get away for an evening last week with our good friends Ginny & Steve. The Phoenix Suns had a pre-season game at GM Place in Vancouver and took on the Portland Trailblazers. Unfortunately, the Suns lost (much to Steve's delight) but we had a wonderful time watching the game and spending some time with the 'soon-to-be-newlyweds'...

Ginny & Steve
(their big day is coming up really soon... Nov.28!)

If you look closely, you'll see Steve Nash on the far right (white jersey)...



Wave for the camera Callie...

Guess the flash was a bit much... :)
Evening cuddles with Daddy...

Friday, October 16, 2009

MAJOR changes for us...

Wow. I hardly know where to begin. Life has taken a very dramatic and interesting turn in the last few days so I'll do my best to fill you in. But first, I'll give you some quick background information, just to get you up to speed, so that this all makes a little more sense. :)

Jon and I have been in deep discussion for quite some time now, regarding where we should go with our lives, and trying to get a sense of where/what God is calling us to do. Jon has personally felt a strong call to Missions for a long time, but I, on the other hand, have not. And because of this impasse, we've both been feeling quite discouraged. Its not easy when you don't have the same vision as your spouse. I will admit that I've actually been extremely 'close-minded' to missions work, and adding Callie to the mix, had made me even more stuck in my ways in relation to this topic. The thought of being away from family & friends just didn't appeal to me.

But on Tuesday morning, I got a call from a man by the name of Sam Dick @ MBMS International. I knew of him, because he had spoken at our church a few months back, but I was certain that neither Jon or I had met him personally. So obviously, this phone call came as a surprise to me. He quickly explained that he had been given our names by Ricky & Karen Sanchez (full-time missionaries, whom Jon worked with on a missions trip with Bethany College years ago). They were asking Jon and I to join a small team of people on a 'vision' trip to Thailand, along with 2-3 other couples, to see what God is doing in Thailand, and to explore their vision for the next 10 years of missions there.

Now here is the interesting part. As soon as Sam explained what the call was about, I had an instant sense that this was, #1) NOT a coincidence, and #2) something we should definitely do. The fact that his call was so 'out of the blue' and, dealt with something so dear to Jon's heart, made it clear to me that God was trying to get a message across.

After speaking with Sam, I lay down on our bed and smiled at how surprisingly willing I felt to jump at this opportunity. It surprised me, and made it obvious that God has been slowly working away at my hardened heart, maybe even without me realizing it. :)

Just as I suspected, Jon was elated about the opportunity to go to Thailand and was even moved to tears at how timely this felt. He said it was exactly what he had needed to hear right now.

So here's where the REALLY amazing part comes in, in regards to God's hand moving in this situation. On Tuesday night, we received the official invitation email from Sam, listing the goals of the trip, the financial cost of it and the deadlines for all of these things. Because the trip is scheduled for Dec. 8-19 (a mere 7 weeks away!), we had to have our decision in to him no later than Tuesday, Oct. 20 and with that, a deposit of $500 in order to secure our spot.

Secondly, and definitely the biggest 'hurdle,' was the financial side to this trip. All our funds would need to be in by Nov 1 in order for them to secure plane tickets, etc., which meant we only had 2.5 weeks to come up with the money. Not a lot of time, even if we DID have the money, but because we DON'T, it felt far more daunting! So... 2.5 weeks to come up with just shy of $5,000. Yikes.

As soon as I told Jon what the trip was going to cost, he instantly looked defeated. But something inside of me felt fully confident that if this was indeed meant to be (which it felt like it was), then God would supply the funds. I pointed out to Jon that, yes... $5,000 was absolutely impossible for us, but to God... that was no big deal.

So we immediately started praying and decided that the funds would be our "fleece." If God wanted us to go on this trip, then we would need him to work a miracle for us, and come up with the money in time. Both Jon and I sent out an email to our closest friends, explaining the situation, and asking them to pray for us.

Well, within 1 hour of sending out the email, some of our closest friends sent an email back, saying that they wanted to bless us & provide the full deposit we needed! Both Jon and I started to cry. Wow! God was already at work.

So now we had a big decision to make. Should we wait until the rest of the funds came in and then commit to the trip? Or should we take a huge leap of faith (only having the deposit side of the funds) and say yes to the trip, trusting that somehow, God would take care of the rest? After a quick discussion, we agreed that God was calling us out of our comfort zone and wanting us to just FULLY trust him.

Wednesday morning came, and I quickly emailed Sam to let him know that we would commit to the trip. And as scary as it was to take this leap of faith, both Jon and I felt truly honoured to get to be a part of this kind of faith-stretching experience, even if nothing ever came of it.

To make a long story short... God provided the rest of the money by the end of Wednesday night! No joke. Just like that... God worked a miracle and blessed us by the generosity of some incredible people. Proving, as he always does, that when He wants something to happen, NOTHING can stand in His way!

So, with that being said, we feel extremely excited at this opportunity, as well as completely terrified. :) Its definitely scary to think of taking a 5 month old on the 2nd longest plane ride in the world, and trying to be involved over there with a little one in tow. But we're excited at the thought & feeling of being right in the pocket of God's will.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for us as we step out on this adventure! If you'd like to know more about our trip, or hear of specific things we could use prayer for, please feel free to email us or send us a message on Facebook! We truly do covet your prayers and know that none of this can be done without God's guidance & leading. Thank-you for your support! We'll do our best to keep you updated. :)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving...

... from our 4 favorite little turkeys!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Lots to do...

It was a busy weekend here at the Esau household...
Friday marked my Dad's 59th birthday (sorry Dad... secret's out!) and I volunteered to make the cake for his party. For those of you who know my Dad, he lives & breathes the game of golf. :) So to celebrate, I made a 'golf ball on a tee' for his birthday dessert. My sister Viv and her hubby Rich, hosted the evening, and between Viv and my Mom, we had a lovely meal together. The evening was spent watching football, looking through Viv & Rich's many photos (they just got back from a 2 week vacation in California), and just enjoying each other's company. We sure missed you Craig & Jen! Here are a few pictures from the evening...

Callie fell asleep in the car on the way over to V & R's. Her hat had fallen over her eyes, so this is what we found when we went to take her out of the car :)

Very contentedly watching football with Daddy...
(... she may only be 3 months old but she already loves TV... uh oh... ;))

Dad's cake...

All tuckered out from the partying...

Helping Grampa blow out the candles...

And for those of you who haven't heard, Viv & Rich are expecting their first child! They're due at the end of February and we're very excited about Callie having a cousin so close in age. They'll only be 8 months apart!

Here's a picture of Viv at 19 weeks...

Saturday was spent at home, getting things done around the house. Jon made a lot of progress on the basement and is well on his way to the painting stage (in fact, he's already got the priming done). Then its just flooring, baseboards, light fixture & hanging the closet door. I can't wait to have it finished so we can start organizing the office!

Then came Sunday. It was a pretty special day for us because we had Callie dedicated at church. She's been playing shy with almost everyone these days (other than Jon & I) so we thought for sure she would scream when Pastor Ron tried to hold her. But thankfully, she didn't make a peep and stared out at the congregation with total curiosity.

Jon and I chose Ephesians 3:16-19 as our prayer for Callie's life. Jon read it from the New Living translation and we cling to Paul's words for our little girl.

"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

Pastor Ron had both our sets of parents join us on stage for the dedication. Jon's parents are on the far left, and my parents are next to Jon. It was a pretty special morning. We felt so loved and supported by our families and friends. Jon's grandparents were also there, as well as Susanne & Juergen, Naomi & the kids (Erich was away because of work), and Viv & Rich. I want to say an extra special thank-you to Rich for coming, as he had only got home from work at 6:00am that morning! And he still showed up. THANK-YOU Rich... now that's dedication :)


Jon's sister Susanne planned a nice family lunch for all of us after the service. Naomi hosted it and everyone brought a little something for the meal. It was nice to sit around and chat and celebrate Callie's dedication like that. Thanks again girls! It meant a lot to us.


Thursday, October 01, 2009

The many faces of Callie...

3 months old and getting more & more fun each day!

... Not so sure...

... Happy...

... Surprised...

... Giddy...

... Shocked...

... Pouty...

... Contemplative...