Fourteen Today!

Time has its way...
... of flying by! It truly flows like a relentless river, doesn't it? Fourteen years. Fourteen! 

This boy turns f-o-u-r-t-e-e-n today!!! How is it even possible that my baby boy is now fourteen and in high-school?

Doing a Rubik's Cube demo and sharing his testimony and
talking about his advocacy of Compassion International earlier this summer
at the Canada Day celebrations in Cebu City, Philippines.

Off to his first day in high-school earlier this week!

This past year, this boy has not only rapidly grown in size... he is, at this moment, on the verge of surpassing me in height (gasp!), but has also, more importantly, grown in ways that only God can grow him in.

This mama is deeply thankful for God's grace that is clearly and very evidently at work in my baby boy's life.

He is kind-hearted. He is compassionate. He is passionate. He is generous.

He is a gift... true to the meaning of his name. Jonathan... gift from God!

This mama is blessed beyond measure because of this gift from God... this gift of a son. 

My baby boy!

As we celebrate fourteen candles today... 
This, as has always been since the day he was born, is my continued prayer for this boy of mine:

May you grow up to be... "a man whose heart beats to God's heart, a man who will do what God tells him." {Paraphrased from Acts 13:22, The Message.}

And I am deeply grateful that God is answering this prayer of mine in many ways... as I see tangible evidence that my boy's heart is beating to God's heart.

Such as what our Compassion LDP student Rechelle wrote to us about just yesterday, regarding our visit this summer... "You have been a great inspiration to our youth. They are sending their gratitude and prayers. I wish you can see just how God moved in their lives through your testimony. God has given us a generation of youth that has started to be active in God’s ministry. They have learned to be focused based on what Jon shared with them. They are quite eager to learn more from God."

Sharing his testimony with the youth at Rechelle's church,
using his gift of speed-cubing as a topic starter. 

Such as his taking over funding the sponsorship of our newest Compassion child, JD.

This is from our visit this summer. JD would only hold Jon's hand! So precious!

My mama-heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness...

Because of God's goodness and His faithfulness to my baby boy. As he grows into a young man, I will embrace turning this new page in the journey of motherhood... and I will not stop praying that his heart continues to beat to God's heart.

Because... there is no better way for a heart to beat than for it to be in sync with God's!

Because... "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4, NIV)"

Happy Birthday, my son! I love you... so very much!

:: :: ::

As I continue to count grace-gifts, with unending thanks... these are the things I am thankful for... #3216 - #3226:

:: The gift of being a mama. 

:: This son of mine, truly a gift from God.

:: Both kids in high-school for just this one year... and being in the same school again, even for just this one year!

:: An eventful summer, truly a blessing... an unplanned three weeks in the Philippines and then my girl returning (again, not originally in our plans) with Compassion Canada just a month after.

:: Seeing the classrooms that Eucharisteo built! 

:: The many things which God allowed us to see... breaking our hearts even more for the things that break His.

:: Celebrating 20 years...

:: Countless everyday blessings... which I often post on Instagram.  

:: God's sustaining grace... when life seems hard and the road seems rough and the future seems uncertain.

:: Our ongoing advocacy of Compassion International's work and the gift of seeing it first-hand again in the Philippines this summer!

:: For the many opportunities to be still this year... not easy, deeply thankful that God's grace is sufficient.

In counting grace-gifts...
I am learning to let be and be still... and to pay more attention to my Jesus... and to be ready to act on the things that He has in store for me to do... because "all there is to see is Jesus."

All the world is window. People, circumstances, situations, relationships, no material is opaque. If we are willing to see, all is transparent. All of this globe is but glass to God. Eucharisteo washes the windows. Eucharisteo, wholesale worship, is redemptive work, wiping away the soot of days cindered.

~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.

Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.

Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!