Birthday Party for Jesus

During the Christmas Holiday Season we held a birthday party for Jesus and invited several friends from our neighborhood to join us.  Seven children came and joined us.  We served pizza, told the Christmas story using magnents, ate birthday cake, watched a Veggie Tale's movie.  It was a great time with our friends.  We look forward to hosting more opportunities to show the love of Christ to our neighbors!

Jason's Birthday Party

Though his birthday is not actually today, tonight was the best time to celebrate his birthday dinner. Bekah decided to make his b-day dinner special by pretending we were at a resturant.

Butchering

We had been planning to butcher a sheep & a goat with the Nakai Family to celebrate all the December birthdays for both of our families.  However, with a pending funeral coming up on Friday; all of those plans were changed.  We still butchered this morning, but instead of having a large birthday party, most of the meat is being used to make stew for the funeral.  Please continue to pray for the Nakai Family to experience God's peace & power in their lives in the midst of such heartache.

 Craig's favorite part is the head meat.  Navajos prepare the head meat by first throwing the head into the fire for a few minutes to burn off the hair.  Then they cook it in the oven.  There's not much meat on the head of a sheep, but they do tell me it is very tasty and good!

 Grilled onions and garlic add extra flavor to a mutton sandwich!

 Geno grilling meat while Vernon Jr looks on.

 Enjoying the rewards of butchering!

Mourning with Others



A picture of Vernon taken over a year ago.  His brother-in-law, Derry, is standing in the background.

How does one say goodbye to a friend they'll never see on this side of heaven again?  And how does one comfort and grieve with a family who has already delt with so much loss this year?  These are two major questions going through my mind right now.  Sunday afternoon Dec 18th we lost another friend and a brother in the Lord.  I've know Vernon for 3 years.  While I know his siblings better than I knew him, he was still a good friend and someone I respected.  Vernon wrestled with the demon of alcohol for most of his life.  While he hasn't drank as much in recent years; the affects of alcohol still lingered and eventually destroyed his body.  One thing I noticed about Vernon was that he loved to work outside.  Whenever he was healthy enough to be outside, I would usually find him working under a pickup truck, tinkering with his tractor, or working on other projects.  Though Vernon has had several broken marital relationships, his love for his seven children and his five grandkids ran deep.  He may have struggled as a man to demonstrate his love; but it was clear he loved them.  It was also obvious that his children deeply loved him in the way they gathered around him in the hospital room.  Though Vernon often struggled to live a Christ-like life, we rest in the assurance that he had put his hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation.

Anytime when a close friend or family member passes there is much sadness.  However, this is the fourth family member the Nakai family has lost within the past 10 months.  Vernon's father Leroy passed in Feb at the age of 76 after fighting a several year battle with cancer.  His nephew Irvin passed in Aug at the age of 33 due to liver failure.  His uncle Larry passed in Nov at the age of 70 after suffering a fall and heart failure.  And then there's Vernon here in Dec.  As you can image this has been really difficult for the whole family to endure.  It's been especially difficult for Stella who lost her father, her only son, and one of her brothers this year.  I can't image what it would be like to loose a parent, a child, and a sibling back to back like this.  This family deeply covets your prayers.  We are grateful that many of the family members have placed their hope in the Lord Jesus.  But I'm also learning that just because you're a believer doesn't mean that you don't feel emotions.  Our emotions allow to us feel various shades of joy & sadness and anything in between have been given to us by God.  We need to acknowledge our emotions and allow or bodys to really feel them.  However at the same time we should not doubt or distrust the sovereignty of God.  He has made it clear in His Word that He'll never leave or foresake us.  He is extra near to the broken-hearted!



Rejoicing Together

 Earlier today mourned with a family who just lost a loved-one today.  This evening we rejoiced with several other families as we hosted a Christmas party at our house.  Four different families came.  We had fun eating food, sharing the Christmas story, fellowshipping, and watching football!

My beautiful wife!

Our friend Serildena, made this Christmas tree ornament at school and gave it to us as a gift.  We're now proudly displaying it on our tree.

Bekah told the Christmas to the children with using magnetic figures and sticking them on the kitchen stove.  Jason also read the Biblical account from Luke 2 to the whole group.

Baby Goats Everywhere!!

I have an elderly friend, Jim, who lives about 4 miles from my house. He raises several hundred Boer goats as a hobby and to provide extra income in his retirement. The other week Jim fell and broke his leg and is unable to go outside and tend to his animals. So, myself and other neighbors have been going over and taking care of things. Jim had a bunch of his does bred about 5 months ago so they would start having babies around this time. Bad timing with a broken leg; but isn't that how life usually goes! Because of all the new babies coming, it's been important that things are checked several times a day.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by his place and two does had already kidded with healthy twins. A third doe was trying to have triplets and needed assistance. Unfortunately two of her babies were still-born. The alive one seems like she might be okay!

Helping with Jim's goats has been fun for me! It brings back memories of all the years spent working on dairy farms. On the dairy farm we were constantly having fresh cows and newborn babies that needed care. Though I often went home feeling tired and very dirty, it was and always is a good feeling of satisfaction & accomplishment!

Our family has been in New Mexico for over three years now. Never could I have imagined how the Lord would have given me as many opportunities to use my passion & skills of agriculture in an area known more for its deserts & sage brush than crops and pastures filled with cows! What an awesome God we serve! Truly His thoughs are higher than our's and His ways not our's! The Lord may not always do what we expect him to do; He has a way doing the unexpected in our lives! When we step back and look at the big picture, often we're very amazed at how He weaved it all together!

Have we become a society of Entitlement?

I recently watched a video clip depicting various parents giving not-so pleasant Christmas presents to their children, just to see the kids reactions.  I must admit, at first the kids' reactions were funny & cute.  Some of the undesirable gifts included: a rotten banana, half eaten sandwiches, boring books, tacky clothes, and the like.  Soon the children's reactions became very disturbing to me.  Several of the children threw major fits because they didn't receive what they thought they should receive; some even used profanity!

This clip got me to thinking, what have we turned Christmas into?  The early Christians recognized Christmas as a time to celebrate our savior's birth and to show love to others in special ways.  Today's society has turned it into a season of commercialism and greed.  When you think about it, I guess most people are acting just as they should.  The Bible declares that we've all been born with a sinful, fleshly nature.  Meaning we were born with the built-in desire to look out for ourselves and fulfill our own desires first.

We've had to address this sense of entitlement in our own home.  Our oldest daughter keeps talking about all the gifts she expects for Christmas.  We've had to sit down with her and explain that it's okay to have a "Christmas wish list".  Although, what's more important than the gift received is the love that motivates the giving of the gift.  We are attempting to teach our girls that when a gift is given to them (no matter how small or great) they should be grateful to the person who gave that gift in love!  Also we're trying to teach them that when they give a gift to someone else, the size is not important; it's the love they have towards that person that really matters!

God's free gift of salvation through Jesus is very important to mankind.  Without it, no one would be right with God and we all would live an eternity without God.  But just as equally important is the love behind the gift of salvation.  God's love for us is so great and unmeasurable!  He demonstrated His love for us by sending His son as a ransom for our sins; so that first & foremost God would be glorified and secondly so that we may live forever with Him.  If you have never given God complete control of your life and trusted Christ as your savior, why not do it today?

A Practical Life Lesson

Last week I posted about my friend Anthony asking how a person could put God first in their life.  Today I was able to answer that question with a practical lesson. 

Anthony and I were discussing his new job and how he's going to spend his first paycheck.  At first he seemed dead set on using it to purchase things he thought he needed.  When I mentioned the idea of giving a portion of it to the Lord; he wanted to wait until his 2nd paycheck to start.  However, as I talked to him about tithing and trusting God with our finances, a light bulb came on in his mind and he realized I was giving him a practical answer to his question he asked a few days earlier.  He then decided that he would indeed give a portion of his first paycheck to the Lord and trust in Him to provide for his needs. 

It is so exciting to work with people as they learn valuable life lessons and decide to apply them to life!  I am glad Anthony has decided to trust God by giving a portion of his paycheck to the Lord's work.  We are now trusting our heavenly father to supply all of Anthony's needs!

A Favorite Family Activity

One of our favorite family activities is to go to Durango Colorado (about an hour drive from our home in NM) and see the historic Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  http://www.durangotrain.com/  We've been blessed to be able to ride the train as a family twice.  But most often when we go to Durango we try to find a spot along the tracks to watch the train leaving or returning to the station.  The picture above was taken as we waited for the train to go past.  The picture below was taked on our favorite trail in the city of Durango.  This particular paved trail runs for several miles through the city, often parreling the river and the train tracks! 

 Several trains have already returned to the station for the day, but they're still waiting for one more to come in!

 Our family waiting for the last train to come in for the day!

 

Overcomers Program

This past fall, I (Jason) had the privilage of teaching a weekly class at the Overcomers Alcohol Rehab Program.  I had such a wonderful time building relationships with each of the men.  It was also exciting to walk along side these men as they took big steps in making positive life-changing decisions!  I continue to be in contact with several of the guys and I'm encouraged by the journeys they are on.

In October we took the men to see the movie "Courageous"; afterwards we went out to eat at Golden Corral.  As you can see from this picture, we enjoyed lots of laughs that evening!

 I had a fat sheep that was ready to be butchered this fall.  I brought it out towards the end of program; the men had fun butchering it together and then cooking the meat on an open fire for lunch.  Sheep raising & butchering is a tradition that has been a part of Native Culture for many generations.  Some of the younger generations have somewhat gotten away from these traditions because of living in more urban settings and not having elderly relatives to teach them these things.  It was a joy & to provide them an opportunity to connect them with their past.

Sheep Butchering

Several weeks ago our family butchered an old sheep.  Since the meat of older animals is often tough, we ground it up to use it as hamburger meat to cook with.  Christy & Abby love pitching in and helping with whatever they can.  Butchering days have also become science days as they love to learn about the anatomy of the animals, and how each body part functions.  We are so blessed to be able to offer our children such practical life lessons!  Our kids understand that food doesn't just magically appear in grocery stores, a nature process of birth, growth, death, and harvest must occur for food to be available for human consumption.

How to Put God First in Life

Today my friend Anthony asked a very though provoking question, "What does it look like to put God first in life"?  I love to hear questions like this because it shows that people are searching to know God's truth so they can walk in the right direction.  I can see this with Anthony's life, though he's made some very bad decisions in his past.  He's now committed his past, present, and future to Christ and is striving to walk in God's ways.

This question has also caused me to examine my own life to know what it means to "put God first".  When you really get to the heart of the matter, I believe it looks differently for each individual.  However basic principles still apply to all.

For me "putting God first" includes fixing my mind upon the ways of God from the beginning of the day and dwelling upon Him throughout the whole day long.  This happens as we immerse ourselves in God's Word, as we pray to Him, and as we meditate upon Him.  As we align our thoughts with God's thoughts, we will be able to hear Him speaking to us about how we should live!

Warrior at Heart Retreat

This fall Jason had the privilage of joining 7 other men from Farmington and travel to Camp Redcloud in the beautiful Colorado mountains for a men's retreat.  At the retreat we joined with other men, mostly from Grand Junction Colorado, there was a total of about 50 men there.  This men's retreat is based on the book "Wild at Heart" by John Eldridge.  About 4 or 5 times a year the men's ministry called Warrior Heart hosts this 4 day retreat!  Just as the views of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking, so was the fellowship & food just as equally spectacular!  A large portion of the retreat was spend gathering as a large group and learning God's design for Biblical manhood.  There were also times of sharing from the men.  Some of the stories & testimonies we heard were very challenging, sad, and yet encouraging!  Another aspect of the retreat were the freetime activities that were offered in the afternoons; which included horse back riding, rock repelling, skeet shooting, and others.  What amazed me most about the retreat was how the Lord wove every activity together to teach us valuable lessons; whether it was sitting down and learning from scripture, listening to other men share, or engaging in silly horseback games the Lord spoke to us all in special ways.  The Lord especially taught me some valuable lessons about my self worth while playing a game of capture the flag on horseback!  This awesome retreat is open to men of all ages.  If you are desiring to experience more of who you are as a man created in God's image, I encourage you to join us.  Even if you live far away; you're invited to come in for the weekend (or longer) to join us!

Attending from Farmington: Bobby, Larry,Vern, Brian, Ben, Rich, Greg, & Jason

Birthday Parties

As a family we enjoy attending birthday parties and other celebrations when we're invited to them by our Navajo friends.  This gives us a great opportunity to connect with people in a non-threatening way.