Emmylou Holcomb!

Emmylou we waited for you!

We were sitting in some basement restaurant in Boston or somewhere in the Northeast, it runs together because my dad couldn’t just visit Boston, we had to take a tour of Maryland, NY and Maine in a one week trip...so as to where we actually were I don’t remember…but the conversation, I remember that.

We had lost a family member. It wasn’t a grandmother or an uncle. It was our brother, my parents’ son. It was like loosing an extremity. We were one moving body. Jay was severely handicapped and while his inabilities kept us limping sometimes, he still played a role in the movement of the whole body. So at 14 he met the maker of his crippled body and it became new. But the 5 of us, me, Drew, Sam and Mom and Dad we were left amputated.

It was over a year when we took this trip and we were still adjusting to our “new body.” We fit in one sudan, no conversion van needed. So weird.

It was in this basement restaurant where we all divulged how we were feeling and what it was like existing with an amputated limb.  My dad listened, rolling his tongue in his lower cheek, pursing his lips and looking off to the side to keep from crying. I am sure he missed Jay more than he ever articulated and he did articulate it but it was his words that readjusted our hope in regards to the healing process and how we would be able to walk again.

He said, barring something tragic, we (the 5 remaining Hamp Holcombs) are only going to grow. Yes we lost Jay, but the three of us, me, Drew and Sam, are hopefully going to get married and hopefully continue to multiply. So we dreamt of filling that void or growing back the lost limb with more of us!

So I did my part. I married the man that was more than my dreams. We have had our 5 munchkins. I grew more than legs and arms…. We, (the Richardson 7) are a whole new body apart from the Hamp Holcombs yet very much attached.

My brother Sam is still on the hunt for his prey to grow with…I will add that he has set his target and I pray it is the bull’s eye, but the trigger is not yet pulled and no one is pressuring him (not even his sister…but I do like her a lot!!!!)

My brother Drew went way over his aim with his wife. I couldn’t love her more. She is everything I love about my mom (which I find comic A LOT) but she is very much her own woman and I love how Drew and Ellie respond to one another and became their own body too.

This whole epic is set in motion because of one new little growth. Emmylou Holcomb joined us this week. We grew this week, Drew and Ellie, her parents added a limb and the rest of us got grew too!

I wasn’t there to snuggle her warm skin or smell her freshness from heaven we she joined us. I was far away in another country dealing with the joys of mothering her cousins. But it is her birth that reminds me of Jay and how even in his death he left a legacy. Emmylou will know her Uncle Jay in story and in pictures.

There are still whispers both soft and loud of Jay’s presence in each of our 5 lives and while his death was crippling, it is with each new birth that we heal that we grow that we change. Our bodies have and are multiplying. Chapters are being added, the book was not yet finished.

The gold conversion van the Holcomb 6 used to travel in and most certainly the sedan when we mutated to 5 is too small now. Praise the Lord from growth and rebirth.

Welcome to a family with lots of LOVE to share Emmylou Holcomb. We dreamed of you for a long time, even 14 years ago I was anticipating your birth and your imprint on my life and the lives of those I share a body with. We need you, you help our bodies to move.

I already can’t imagine life without her and I have yet to feast my physical love on her. Skype is just not going to cut it and neither is waiting until June.  

Van Stolen...AGAIN!

Hello Friends, 

I feel like all I send are updates in a moment of crisis. I have written several that have never been sent that are not crisis related, I am too big of a perfectionist to send them unedited and perfectly stated...all of which the Lord is teaching me lots about as I am moving back in to an almost finished house and I who being a professional organizer should be able to finish this task...it is I who cannot complete it, the task of being perfectly organized moving in with 5 children and a wealth of people in our lives. 

This wealth of people are coming around us today and we ask for you too as well. Our van was stolen this morning, in the night. This is the 2nd van we have had stolen from the same location. We have been stolen from 4 times in 3 years in Panama: 1 van window broken with cash and stuff stolen, 1 van stolen at Christmas 2010, one apartment broken into June of 2011 and now our van again. 

The van included our nice stroller for the twins and all the paraphernalia as well as the car seat bases. I do not remember what is in the glove compartment. We had an immobilizer on the van as we were told an alaram was not available for this style van as it is a basic set. (Just remembered Nathan's cool fishing net he got for Christmas was in there.)

Please pray with us today as we are not finished with the construction and weary of this and its expenses which are mounted and not yet all paid. Our other car we have been desperate to sell was next to the van unharmed (trade in for an 8 yr old Sequoia is set for tomorrow, yet worth more to us stolen than traded!)  Nathan and I both feel trampled on yet we know that the enemy wants nothing more than for us to feel so SO WE DECLARE VICTORY AS NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US WILL REMAIN. 

Begging for yall to stand with us as we fight this battle today, the coming days and as you have in the past. (Yes we do have insurance, but it can be months to process, not to mention more expense.)

Pray for our children to not live in fear but fight with us too.

Conquer with us, 

Clare and Nathan Richardson

Away They Go!

We have made so many wonderful friends in Panama...something honestly we were not expecting! We have been blessed indeed with sweet fellowship in our community of Crossroads.

I was pretty sure that all missionaries had long un-tamed hair accompanying jumpers and the men in suspenders and pocket protectors. I certainly was blow away by real people loving the real Jesus....we are from all over the world from all different denominations but loved and loving the same JESUS!

We want to highlight some of the ministrys of our friends in Panama so yall can come to know them as we have!

The very first people who invited us anywhere upon our arrival in Panama was Jen and Andrew Edmonds. We went to the Summit Zoo with them our first Saturday in Panama. We were quite surprised by the zoo, it looks like they found an animal and put a fence around it! We have grown to love the zoo....and certainly the Edmonds!

We see the Edmonds almost every day in Panama. Jen and I work out every Tuesday Thursday with the Community Boot Camp Nathan started. She filled in taking care of the ins and outs while I was pregnant with the twins. She and I have spend every Friday morning together at Jungle School with our little ones playing while we visited. We are in community group as couples every Thursday night as well. Essie and their son Nat have been in class together this past year and their daughter Abi and Field are best buddies! Nathan and Andrew have spend plenty of time together on the basketball court every Sunday afternoon as well as being one of Nathan's right hand men coaching high school bball and some soccer too!

Andrew had been the Children's pastor at Crossroads Bible Church since before our arrival and the Lord is now calling them to Africa! Such a cool story of how it all happened...but we would love for you to read for yourself! Today's blog post from them is particularly funny knowing them so well! My how the Lord stretches us!

Thanks Jen and Andrew for living beyond yourselves, for allowing the Lord to guide your steps and thank you for loving us so well! Yall will certainly be missed! You have been such good friends to us!

Here is their blog:
http://www.andrewsedmonds.blogspot.com/

Needy

The past few weeks have brought about much heartache to people that we love. It is hard to be here in Panama, while there are troubles at "home." We wish that we could be there to "fix" things and be helpful. You feel so out of the loop and "of no use" being away. It is hard to comfort people through Skype. Recently loved ones here in Panama suffered heartache as well. It was just as painful even as we are here with them. It is a painful reminder for me of our need for a Savior. I feel like I should be able to fix things. It is the same part in me that believes I should be able to earn my salvation. Surely I can do better than most and look at all the good things that I do. As Paul says it is all rubbish. I need more than what I can do. I need Jesus, and I am thankful for daily reminders of that, even as it is humbling and goes against our culture. We can't fix things and we can't bring the comfort that only comes with the hope of eternity! In the men's bible study that I have been able to participate in, we have been studying Phillipians. We were examining what stirs us and fires us up for Jesus? Think about that, and why we don't spend more time pursuing those things that make us want to pursue our Lord more. For me, I really enjoy being challenged by great preaching. I also enjoy great discussion about life and challenges in our faith (preferably over food!) I also love loud passionate corporate worship, especially with drums as that is how I imagine heaven. What is it for you? We live a lot of lives with fears of what will happen with our future. We fear something happening to our spouse or our children. We fear the loss of loved ones and dreams and expectations that we put on ourselves not being met. Sometimes it is just the pain of a living in difficult times. It is heartbreaking to see people experiencing our own fears. I am thankful that these pains and turmoils are temporary and that we do have Hope in eternity. Thank you that you give us glimpses of heaven here, and I will choose to be thankful even in the pain that we have here. I pray that the God will continue to give me greater compassion for those that are troubled, and to give me wisdom in how to act. I also pray that I continue to find my hope in Jesus and the grace and mercy he has shown me, and not rely on my own actions. I need Jesus, and I realize that more and more everyday.

BLOOM 2011, beauty for ashes

I am not one to turn down an opportunity to get to know other women! 2 years ago, upon arriving in Panama, the church we are associated with, Crossroads Bible Church was having their annual women's retreat. It was just 6 weeks after we arrived, but a night away, a hotel room, and new friends...sounded like a plan to me! 

I will mention that the room was beyond freezing and I slept fully clothed with my rain coat on hood included....not the full night of sleeping I was planning after our big move! BUT....

I did eat some Panamanian food, sang songs in English and Spanish, heard some new speakers, and made some new friends and of course I bought some jewelry they were selling made by some inmates from the women's prison ministry. 

I struck up a conversation with the lady running the booth of jewelry and ended up telling her our story of coming to Panama and somehow the part of my life where I ran my own business as a professional organizer came into the conversation. 

Mrs. Charlotte said to me, "You should talk to the Crossroad's Women's Committee and maybe you can help do some organizing for future events." My first thought was, "Ummm, no thank you!" 

Little did I know that I, along with 3 of some of my most favorite women in Panama, would indeed be planning the entire women's retreat for 2011! 

We are 3 weeks away from the big event! BLOOM 2011,  Beauty for Ashes

Each of our hearts and minds were exploding as we discussed the theme and vision of Bloom, 2011. Our burning desire was the same:  to live in the FULLNESS OF CHRIST. We want to experience the vastness of who Christ is and what He has and can do in our lives. Each woman is on a journey, and we want to "Bloom" into who Christ has created us to be….regardless of our pain and suffering, regardless of the hard and desert places in life, and because of these things. We want to rise above and Bloom. 

Planning an event for over 200 women, lodging, food, topic, music, media, etc can be overwhelming, add that in another language and a culture that is happy to disregard contracts and you have 4 hard working women! We 3 weeks out and just changed our location in the last 36 hours! CRAZY! Good thing I do crazy well! 

Please pray for us on Oct 21st and 22nd as we Bloom together! You can pray for our speaker, the great Nancy Holcomb, my mom!! No pressure Mom!!!! I am super excited to have my grandmother there too! We will have 4 generations attending the retreat!! Such a blessing! 

Check out our video in the post just before this one! Jess, Abby and Lisa are my fellow bloomers!!

Bloom 2011 Video

Crossroads Bible Church Women's Retreat Promo Video

Love this Women!!!

Bloom, 2011