Home Stretch

Here at CCA we are starting our last 9 weeks of the school year. It is going to be a crazy sprint to the finish of the year and I know many of you are in the same phase. We have been working with the soccer teams here with Clare coaching the older girls and I am working with the older guys. We have both enjoyed it a lot. I got a chance to take the boys team to a tournament where they played schools from all over Latin America. It was an experience to be sure! I was standing there at the ceremony with teams screaming and cheering from Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras! It was a great 3 days of hanging out with the guys on the team and getting to know them better! I loved observing the Seniors all the way down to 8th graders getting to know one another and really enjoying one another. One great thing about being at such a small school! We played all the games well and we were even able to get the first victory ever for a Sub 18 Boys team from CCA!
I have had a senior guy "interning" with me in the afternoons this semester. He is going off to play soccer next year for college, and he has been asking a lot of questions about college and just things in general! I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know him and speak a little into his life. I pray for more and more opportunities to do this with other students! I have also had a desire to be able to communicate more with the parents of the students. There are a few that I visit with when I see, but many pass by with just a greeting! I know a lot of that is the cultural difference as well as my lacking ability in Spanish, but I want the parents to know who I am and how I want the best for their kids!
I have been asked to be the speaker at graduation this year. I am very honored to be able to do it. I am taking it as encouragement form the Lord for working with the kids and feeling I have made some headway with relationships. I know I have enjoyed getting to know them and talk, but with teenagers you don't always get a lot of feedback on where they stand. I look forward to getting a chance to share with them some thoughts on a big day in their life.
Pray for us as we wrap up the school year here. Help us to finish strong relationally, especially with those that will not be with us here in Panama next year! We now have even more friends that will be going to places all over the globe. We are looking forward to our opportunity to return to the States this summer and see many loved ones. We do not want to have short timers disease and waste away these weeks here. It will be full of soccer games. Right now in our conference Clare's team is 1-1 and my team is 2-0! The school is getting excited about their teams! There are lots of end of the year parties for going away teachers and for seniors. Right now we need strength and energy to make it through. Clare and I are seeing each other in passing and for the next month we have something every weekend. Many of you can relate to this kind of schedule and just the stress that it adds as there is not enough time to communicate.
I have been specifically praying for wisdom in listening to the Spirit as I have had the opportunity to befriend a few nonbelievers or marginal Christians. I have had the opportunity to have some great conversations, but my window of opportunity is shrinking. I want to listen to the Spirit on what I am supposed to say and what questions to ask. I want to have the strength to "pull the trigger" on a tough question when it hits me. Please pray for me in this, as I have loved developing different friendships, and I want to be a light to all those around me.
Thank you again for our prayers. We wish to be better at communicating, but we have found it hard to be in life here and keep in communication with those we love in the States. Thank you for your patience and showing us grace! (We need it)

Too Much

I know we are way behind in updates. We feel the tug daily to tell you of our world. The things we are experiencing. The people we are meeting. The relationships we are building. The family that has visited. The teachers in our home daily. The students we are teaching. The athletes we are coaching. The children we are parenting. The marriage we are nurturing. The lives that are changing.

I could go on and on.

But what is overwhelming to me today is that as I scan Facebook, as I glance over CNN.com as I hear from many of you, is that we are all burdened. Here are just a few of the needs that I know of personally:

A friend looses her sister
A man looses his job
A man leaves his job
A wife needs to go back to work
A car needs to be replaced
A new round of Invitro begins
A family moves to a new city
A family hears their adoption is soon
Another family hears their adoption is soon
Someone is struggling with depression
Someone is pregnant without insurance
Someone cannot make ends meet under current circumstances
Someone is struggling with addiction
Someone is hurting from a spouse's addiction
A family is living with their parents
Somebody had a second miscarriage
A mother doesn't know her place in her world
A friend looses her best friend
A deadline needs to be met
Someone needs to loose weight
Multiple families with car trouble
Somebody needs to find a new home they can afford
Many are pregnant
Babies are sick
Babies are in the hospital
A friend looses her job
A friends is paying for her own wedding....

These are all people I know and these are all current and these are only off the top of my feeble brain. There is so much pain, so much struggle, so much need.

I want to remember who God is. His Power. His Glory. His Residing Presence. We are just in process. He is refining us. He is giving us distinctiveness, our identity in Him. I want to be distinguishable from the rest of the world despite what my challenges may be. Beth Moore states it well from her Esther study, "One of God's purposes in this journey is to help us recapture both our identity and identification as His children - not so we can be obnoxious but so we can be influential."

So if you are or if you fit into one of the above burdens, or if like me you feel the weight of the everyday burdens like making another meal when you haven't even cleaned up from the last one or begging your children to take a nap so that you may have a moment to do or to be still yourself...so for all of us, this is my prayer and my song today:

Habakkuk 3:17-19 A Hymn of Faith
"Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls---
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my Salvation.
The Lord God is my strength;
He will make me walk on my high hills."

A HIGH HILL IN THE JUNGLE OF PANAMA...

It may be a mystery as to why God has given you your burden. Even so, I pray we steward them well.

New Wheels

Well it has been a great past month, filled with time of family and fellowship. We were blessed with support to be able to buy a 15 passenger Toyota van. It has already been put to a ton of use and has aged beyond its time. It started with backing into a truck and putting a nice dent in the back door. A very humbling mark of learning to drive a stick in Panama traffic. We were able to fill up the van with Grancy, Grampton, Uncle Drew, Aunt Ellie, and Uncle Sammy and show them the city of Panama, a beach, and the mountains of Panama. It was great being all together as we traveled. The kiddos were spoiled with attention, but it was a great time. We then had Bam-ma and Papa come down for a visit where we got to show off our new home as well. The kiddos were spoiled again and we had a great time. On our trip to the beach with Bam-ma and Papa we had the adventure of someone taking a rock to the passenger side of our new van to steal some cash and an ipod. Thankfully, no IDs or passports were stolen. In the next 24 hours we went to 7 different police stations trying to get a police report for insurance. The van even got dusted for fingerprints. Very quickly the van looked much older than the 3 weeks that it was. It was great as teachers that had gone home over the Christmas break started arriving back. The van has been put into full use with school starting back. There was a cheer from the faculty when it was announced that it was for the schools use for after school activities and field trips. It has already been transporting teachers in the morning (7 is the current record), running 8 students up to a field to do "CCA Fitness Club" (hopefully more in the near future.) It is going to be great for the school. Thank you everyone for your support and prayers. We could not be here in this "sphere of influence" without you. We pray for you to realize you have your own "sphere of influence" that God is calling you to minister to. It might be your kids, your neighbors, your clients at work, or the waitress where you grab lunch. Let us all show us how we love our Lord by loving those around us.

Here is a verse that the girls have been memorizing:
"Call to me and I will answer, I will tell you great and mighty things that you never knew." Jeremiah 33:3

How often am I searching for answers and I don't even ask the One that can tell me?

"Hanging by a Limb"

A lone leafless tree with a blanket of snow beneath and a little bird perched on a branch.

This was the scene from our Christmas Card last year. Underneath the tree was three picture boxes, one box for each child. It had their full names and ages (I never sent anouncements, so was hoping this would make-up for my lacking!) Underneath all of this was the greeting:

"Peace Love and Joy"

"The Richardsons"

"2008."

Because there was a little bird out on the limb what I really wanted to put instead of "Peace Love and Joy" was:

"Hanging by a Limb"

"The Richardsons"

"2008."

The only reason why I didn't do it was because I was afraid that 2009 would be worse and the limb would brake, we would fall in the snow, the snow would turn to mud, we would have wounded wings or bent beaks. You get the picture!

I had NO IDEA what 2009 would hold when I sent off those beautiful 2008 Christmas Cards!

I will tell you that the branch did break off, right out from under us. The soft snow did turn to mud and maybe we did get wounded and bent, BUT...

We are back on the tree. It's just that we are on a different branch on the Tree of Life. The view is different. We are different.

I wouldn't change much about 2009. I am grateful for the great and mighty things the Lord has told me...that I never knew. (Jeremiah 33:3) That my Lord put wells of his Living Water in our wilderness. That He gave me more reasons to need Him and to be nearer to Him.

I hope that I learn more and need more and am nearer more to my Savior in 2010. I hope I don't have to fall of a branch and wallow in the snow and mud again...BUT...!!

In one breath I have great expectations for 2010 but also in another I have ZERO expectations, the kind of expectations where you have no agenda and are looking forward to seeing how the Lord shows up!!!

We wish you all a very Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

"Same Tree, Different Branch"

"The Richardsons"

"2009"

A Few Basketball Pictures

Best Laid Plans

Well, the last month here in Panama, has been a trying one for my job as Athletic Director. It had a few bright spots, but also had its trials. I will try to share both and see if you can tell what are the high and the lows.

We wrapped up our basketball season with 2 4th place teams and 1 3rd place team. On the final game of the Sub 18 boys game, we hired a Diablo Rojo to transport fans to the game. (Red Devil for those of you who do not speak Spanish. It is a scary school bus converted to a taxi.) The bus showed up an hour late leaving us about 15 minutes before the game was to start, and then proceeded to head to the wrong school, but we got there 5 minutes after the start. We ended up with about 150 fans to cheer us on! It was awesome to have full stands cheering our guys on against the #1 team in our league. Unfortunately the scoreboard was not working at the school so most of our fans were clueless on the score! After the game we headed to load the buses only to have a torrential downpour that caused us to wait 40 minutes before there was a break to load up the kids, but we returned tot he school with everyone we were supposed to, only 15 minutes late. None of this is A typical to Panama.

After that last basketball game, we moved into Volleyball season. I was fortunate to have 4 experienced volleyball coaches able to work with our kids. We had the boys and girls practice together with a total of about 23 kids come out. It was great to see a number of kids that normally did not do sports or any activity come out and give it a try and really have fun with it. (I am sure that the boys and girls practicing together didn't hurt anything!) We had to cram the season in as we were set to have the tournament after only three weeks of practice with one week of Panamanian Independence days. The week of the tournament, I was informed that there would not be a tournament, because there wasn't enough participation from the other schools. We scrambled together two teams from two different churches and a staff team, and played a number of games. The kids had a lot of fun and got to show off what they had learned. It was supposed to go to 5:00 and most everyone stayed and played past 6:00. It was such a good turnout for kids of all ages that we are going to try to have volleyball games at school one Friday a month for anyone to stay after and play, both students and faculty.

The next weekend we were set to have a Track and Field Meet for ages 3rd grade through 12th. We worked hard to recruit kids (especially the older ones) to participate to fill out our roster. We did races during PE and had showed them the long jump and shot put. We had one practice rained out. I was all set for our one and final practice by myself (the other coach went home sick) with mostly elementary and middle school kids when I got a call. It was to inform me that the track meet was cancelled two days before the track meet. It had been double booked with a Special Olympics event. Basically, when our league scheduled the track meet no one checked the calendar to make sure nothing was already on that date. A fine example of organization in Panama. So I had to break it to the kids that there was no meet and then have a practice for an event that wasn't going to happen. It was interesting. We did some races for about an hour and then the kids played soccer until the parents came. It did allow me to have some time just hanging out and talking with some high schoolers which is so valuable.

Upcoming we are starting a CCA Fitness Club this next week. I hope it is the beginning of something new at CCA as we are inviting all 8th graders and up and staff. Besides the fitness and conditioning, I hope it brings camaraderie between students and faculty. I think it can be a huge boost for the athletics.

Pray for me to have wisdom on what programs to work on and pursue without over committing the few resources I have or stretch the kids too far. Also pray, that as recruitment for next year's staff starts that more teachers with an interest in doing activities with students after school come to CCA. I am thankful that God has his plans and I can leave my burden with him. Thank you for your prayers, I cannot share enough what a blessing it is knowing people are out there praying specifically for us.

"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building."

- 1 Corinthians 3:9

Peace

Some of us long for peace. That "state of tranquillity or quiet" To live in "harmony" with those around us, whether spouse or children, friends, family or neighbors. All these words "tranquility, quiet, freedom, security, order, harmony, concord, agreement, silence, calm" are "states" I think we rarely have this kind of peace and when we do, maybe we don't know what to do with it, knowing how to spend such precious states.

Do you sleep? Do you read? Do you turn on the TV? Do you go to the computer? Do you pull out your phone? Do you put in music? What is it that you do?

Some of us carry our lack of peace like a badge. I know I am guilty of that, "We had THREE children in less than THREE years!"

Some us may cringe at the thought of being alone with only ourselves. Some

of us never let on to a soul that we have no peace in our lives, our homes, our jobs, our hearts, the very pit of our souls.

I am that person who cannot wait in line without speaking something to the person in front of me, or that person who wants to comment on every facebook status. I want to be involved in everything; one because it looks like it would be awesome to be a part of it or two because I think I could make it better. I cannot even enjoy little moments of peace bc I am thinking of all the things I could do if I JUST HAD MORE!! (but that is a whole different subject...called contentment!)

Many of you ask how my Spanish is coming. It is coming well. I am learning, I am feeling confident to speak and sometimes to understand and reply. BUT I will tell you that I have found such a peace in my everyday from not knowing spanish and from being in a foreign country.

Track with me.

-no TV (other than movie watching)

-no txting

-only intentional phone conversations (no minutes to use up)

-radio is only in Spanish

-most songs on radio are in Spanish, some in English...same ones over and over from the 90s

-restaurant, grocery, mall, any other public place all conversations are in a different language.

-no mail with sale fliers

-no target

-billboards are in Spanish

-bumper stickers and every commercial truck signs...all in Spanish

I am alone with my own thoughts. There are few outside sources pumping thoughts into my mind, very few and it is sooo peaceful.

I began asking the Lord, I will be on full overload when I am in an English speaking place, what will I do then? Is this the only way to find peace, to take away all these distractions? I didn't even know I was this distracted, not to even mention the daily tasks of mothering and wifery!

I still have plenty that could keep me from a state of peace and I am learning that I can only find peace in Christ Jesus. Even when I do have "time allotted" to me of peace sometimes it is not peaceful, bc it is my heart that is not at peace.

I may have peace in the midst of my chaos, While I am even cooking dinner in a kitchen that is well over 80 degrees and having little people at my feet begging.

We all have broken hearts and blasted lives to some degree or another BUT Jesus say - "in Me, peace!"

In Christ we have peace in our disturbance giving us tranquility; peace in the commotion giving us quiet; peace in our restraints giving us freedom; peace in our insecurities giving us security; peace in disorder giving us order; peace in being off key giving us harmony; peace in discord and disagreements giving us concord and agreement; peace in chaos giving us silence; peace in the storms giving us calm.

In Christ we find Peace! I will not let my flesh rob me of the inner peace that I have found in Christ's forgiveness - my heart's assurance. When I am at peace with my Savior I am at peace with myself.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." Isaiah 26:3

I am finding peace in the everlasting Love of my Father. I am praying for all of you to know the same peace that I am finding.