Shopping List or Chopping List

To do list... (Photo credit: vvvracer)

We had a great Thanksgiving! It was fabulous to get to have all three kids together. We haven't had all of us together for Thanksgiving since Josh graduated from high school.

Our ministry support is increasing! We are almost there! I've updated our support info HERE.

When you share your story in churches nearly every Sunday, as we have been doing, you don't get to hear very many sermons. When you do, it's a treat. A few weeks ago we heard a pastor talk about all of the excuses we immediately think up when God reveals his will to us, in much the same way Moses did.

I'm not a "people person."

I'm not good with kids.

I don't know the Bible well enough.

I'm not eloquent.

I'm not good at ______________________.

Some are flimsy, but some are real.

I'm a list person. I like to make shopping lists of things we lack before I go to the store. What excuses are we using to make ourselves a "chopping list" and cut ourselves out of God's will and service?

We lose sight of the fact that our shortcomings don't disqualify us or excuse us from obedience to God. They serve to make us rely on Him. When God accomplishes something through us that we know without doubt we couldn't do on our own, our faith is strengthened, people are drawn to Him, and He is glorified!

Do we have enough faith to let our chopping list be a shopping list in God's hands, to let Him equip us with what we need?

Connected Hearts

Nairobi 2010-2011 (Photo credit: Dan Kori)

The terrorist attack at Westgate Mall in Nairobi is prominent in my thoughts. We have been there. We know people who shop there. I am filled with gratitude that none of our friends was harmed, but also with sorrow for the families and friends of those who were murdered. 

When we came back to the states for furlough, we noticed that while we are now different because of our experiences in Africa, our American culture also seems different. Perhaps it hasn't changed as much as we initially thought. Perhaps our absence enabled us to have a slightly more objective view. Sort of a reverse desensitization. 

Grief (Photo credit: tombellart)

I am disturbed now when I read verses like James 3:5 - "You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter." It makes me ponder my behavior and the Church in America. Compared to almost all of the rest of the world, we do indeed live in luxury. It's the self-indulgence part that really convicts me. And the part about fattening ourselves in the day of slaughter instead of being diligent in spiritual disciplines and redeeming the time. Are we even able to "rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn," especially if those are in a distant land? (Rom. 12:15) 

Lord, "turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things." (Ps 119:36-37a) Comfort the mourners in Kenya, and strengthen them. Drive away the spirit of fear and replace it with your love. Give us hearts that identify with the hearts of others, so that we rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. 

Standing Out in the Field

We've been focusing on family the last few weeks. Both of our oldest two are now settled into their new school years and we have gotten our home school year off to a good start. Life with only one child at home is very different. And very quiet.

Here are some highlights of our last few weeks.

Playing with my new camera! I'm still learning but so far I really like it. This little hummer and the statue above were in my mom's yard. We had a very nice visit with my folks.







Josh played with my camera and took this one of Emily. Weird.

All five of us together!

Bratwurst!

State Parks!

One of the things I really, really, really hoped to do during our furlough was go to a St. Louis Cardinals game. We drove up early the day before Emily's college move-in day and went to the ball game. We picked a good night -- Cards won!

We had a TON of fun! 

Daniel put his faith in Jesus just before we left for Africa. His brother led him to Christ and Daniel wanted to have his baptism last week when Josh was visiting so that he could be there. 

So that's August in a little nut shell. David has also been busy studying and we've begun working on raising our ministry support back up to where it needs to be: 100%. 

In a baseball game, there are always some players standing in the outfield. We are grateful and blessed to know a bunch of folks who are outstanding in their field.

 Not this field.

Or this field.

They are the people, groups, and churches on our ministry team, and they are outstanding in praying for us, supporting our ministry, and encouraging us. Because they "stand out" in their field, we can stand in ours. We thank God for them continually and pray for them. We are looking for people whom God is leading to pray for us and/or support our ministry with MAF by giving a monthly gift of any amount. Would you prayerfully consider joining us? 

If you are interested, you can sign up for our newsletter and/or give a donation by:

 going to www.maf.org/burton,

mailing a gift to MAF, PO Box 47, Nampa Idaho 83653 with a note that it is for "Burton Family 9059"

or by calling MAF at 1-800-FLYS-MAF.

Stitches Tell Stories

Every quilt has a story. I began this quilt in Tulsa, OK. We were preparing for the mission field and David was in school full-time, so my fabric budget was pretty limited. The best way to keep enjoying my new hobby and learning new skills was to do those $5-$10 block of the month clubs at the fabric stores. I did them all  - three different stores – simultaneously. One of those was this quilt.

We moved to Florida, then Missouri. In each place I worked a little on the quilt top but never finished. Other quilts took priority because they were gifts for other people. Eventually we moved to Quebec, Canada to attend French language school. We had to fit everything we owned for a family of five into a mini-van, which called for some serious paring down, but I managed to fit my sewing machine and quilt blocks! While we were there, I finally completed the top. I packed her up and took her to Africa, thinking that I would quilt it there.

We only have power about 30% of the time in Kinshasa. When the electricity is on I find myself racing to get laundry, school stuff, baking, bill paying, blogging, correspondence, etc done before it goes off again.  I began to wonder if I was EVER going to finish it. David suggested I send it back to the states and have someone quilt it for me. When our son came to visit for Christmas, I did send it back with him, but it went into storage for a while, waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

During our time in Florida, a friend from our college days was going to be nearby for a conference and asked if we’d like to drive up to see him and meet his family. We had not seen Darren in over fifteen years and were very excited. I liked his wife Marcia instantly. It was so fun to discover how much we have in common and we parted feeling like we had been friends for much longer than just an evening. We’ve kept in touch ever since. Once I made the decision to have my quilt done by someone else, Marcia was the obvious choice. I trusted her and I had been admiring her work for some time via her blog.

This quilt has journeyed across the U.S. and the ocean with me and I have a lot in common with her. We are both a work in progress, a slow progression getting a little closer to being useful and beautiful at each stop along the way. Neither of us are the same as we were seven years ago when I began working on this quilt.

I named her “Je me souviens,” which means “I remember,” because she reminds me that through the years I spent finishing her I made new friends, reconnected with old friends, learned new skills, travelled to new places, learned a new language, lived at seven different addresses, encountered two new cultures, faced several challenges, and said many goodbyes. She’s even more special now because of the love and talent stitched into her by my friend Marcia – a constant reminder of our friendship even though we both worked on her at different times and in different places. 

Here is a pic of the back of my quilt. It's almost a quilt all by itself! The photo really doesn't do justice to all the detail and colors. 

Marcia also graciously allowed me to use her photos. 

You can read her blog and see some of the other work she has done by clicking HERE.

You can shop in Marcia's store by clicking HERE.

Stitches tell stories, and this quilt has a lot of both!

Cookies and Other Treats

We finally made it to Missouri! We spent a few days with my family and had a lot of fun catching up with each other. We visited an old family friend who still lives on the street where I grew up. That's the house I grew up in above, except that when I was there we had grass instead of wood chips.

We visited a few of our favorite places from when we were growing up, including our favorite mom and pop pizza place, our favorite frozen custard place, and a cookie company, which I was happy to see is still in business. They still sell cookies by the pound and wrap them in brown bags tied with twine. And the cookies still taste great, especially dipped in coffee or milk.

There is so much to do in St. Louis and so many people we love there that we will have to go back more than once, I'm sure. Daniel has never been to the Arch or the zoo and I want to go to a Cardinals game.

We drove to Kirksville to see Josh!

The next day, we went to a reunion at the Truman State University Baptist Student Union. The friendships we found there during our college days are priceless and many of those friends still keep in touch. I had a blast and it was a real treat to see so many dear friends. The only downside was that there was too little time. 

We were told to get some rest, and we have been. We are enjoying sweet reunions with loved ones and still have lots more folks we want to see. We are staying with friends who love us and want to pamper us and make sure we go back to Africa refreshed and ready.

As if all of that wasn't already wonderful enough, to top it off, my friend Marcia brought my quilt for me, so now I have it in my hot little hands and I love it! More about that in the next post.

Jenn and Gracia

Photo by Marilyn Gorenflo

We've been reconnecting with MAF friends while here in Nampa, some of whom we have served with in Congo! Just look at that group of MK girls! Both kids have enjoyed making new friends and seeing old ones.

Another blessing for us that we weren't planning on but thoroughly enjoyed was getting to attend the MAF Family Conference. Family Conference means a lot of different things in MAF but one of those things is a chance to be a Mary instead of a Martha for a few days.

photo by Marilyn Gorenflo

Jenn Helvering led the worship music and spoke for one of the sessions. For those of you who do not already know, Jenn is the daughter of singer Sandi Patty. I remember Sandi Patty songs from my high school and college days and now her daughter is leading worship at our conference? Oh, I am old!


Jenn is uber-talented and a delightful person. I appreciated the time she took to talk with Emily and the other teen girls at the conference.

photo by Marilyn Gorenflo

Our other speaker was Gracia Burnham! I read her book In The Presence of My Enemies several years ago. Gracia made us laugh with her, and cry with her. She encouraged us and exhorted us. I had the pleasure of meeting her for just a couple minutes and will treasure the memory. Her story, not just the story of her time in captivity in the jungle but her story of God's work since her rescue, is astounding.

Several things Gracia said during the conference really resounded in my own heart and either convicted me, reminded me I was not so different from everyone else, or both. She shared that the hardest thing about her captivity was seeing her own heart not as she thought it was but as it really was. During our first term in overseas missions I learned that it does not take much hardship to bring out the ugly in me and that my heart needed a lot more work than I realized. None of us like to see that in ourselves but it is a good thing if it humbles us and helps us see how much we really need God, not just for our salvation but also for our freedom and transformation.

We wrapped it up with a picnic at a local park. For us that was a double treat because we had not seen a city park in years. The abundance of green, flowers, even trash cans and bathrooms, and the lack of concrete was refreshing. 

The songs and words chosen by Jenn and Gracia for the conference, along with the fellowship with our Nampa team, was something I really needed. Many times in those last six months or so before our furlough I told God, "Lord, I'm TIRED." We all were. When I think now about the fact that while I was telling Him I was tired, He had already planned this for me, it just amazes me.

Here are some extra photos from the conference.

photo by Marilyn Gorenflo

Gracia demonstrating the method she used to safeguard her privacy in the jungle.

A dodge ball game using giant marshmallows!

photo by Linda Whiting

ladder ball at the park. I love the look of intense concentration.

photo by Marilyn Gorenflo

The Gene Jordan photo bomb!

First Week of Furlough

MAF Office in Nampa

A week ago today in the wee hours of morning we landed in Boise, Idaho. It does not seem like a week has gone by! Already we have had some memorable moments:

* stepping off the plane in Brussels was like entering a portal to another world - "first world"

* hot water/showers, and actually feeling clean after we rinsed off

* hair that behaves

*people are so friendly and polite!

* driving! Oh my! Smooth roads, orderliness, street signs and street lights

* re-teaching my son to make microwave popcorn

*first time I put on a clean shirt and it smelled clean

* milk in a jug!

* pulling something out of the fridge that is actually COLD

* getting all our groceries, toiletries, etc at one store and finding everything (In reference to my post about what it might be like to go to Wal-mart, not much had changed really. I still had the entire floor plan memorized and had no trouble finding things. The big difference is that it took me twenty minutes to pick a deodorant, and the first time we went to Wal-mart, we came home with only two food items: milk and Oreos. We may have been tired but at least we had our priorities right.)

* While putting away groceries, someone forgot what crescent roll dough was and put it in the freezer. oops.

* one of my kids was the first of us to accidentally speak French to someone instead of English, and yes, the rest of us laughed

* INTERNET!!!

* getting to dry my clothes in a dryer!

* David mentioned the other day "No one in this family except me knows how to turn lights off." That made us realize that in our house in Kinshasa, it rarely mattered if the switches were on or off. It's hard to waste electricity when you don't have any.

We have all been to the doctor for physicals and are attending meetings/debriefings. Next week David has some training in the hangar and I hope to use that time to get a few much needed clothing items for the kids and me.

It has been a real treat to be in Nampa and see again our friends there. These are the people who work behind the scenes to help all of us who are on the field with everything from processing support gifts, writing literature and making our prayer cards, arranging our travel, raising funds to get us planes, helping us with insurance claims, training us, coaching us, processing our mail, and more. They pray for us, advise us, serve us and encourage us. Many of them have served overseas and know all the ins and outs and understand all that we experience. They know how weary we were when we arrived without us having to tell them and they have loved on us since we got here. I have met missionaries who do not have the kind of support that MAF gives to their missionaries and it makes a huge difference! If any of our Nampa friends are reading this, THANK YOU! We love you too!

Dancing With My Friend

We went to say goodbye to some friends yesterday and they snapped this photo, then emailed it to me with the caption "help, let us out of Congo!" Yes, we are READY to get a little break, but we'll be back.

My friend TJ blogged yesterday and many of her words resonated the feelings and thoughts of my own heart. I want to be open to letting God teach me to dance. I don't just mean in the physical sense. I mean that I want to let go more, relax in Him and trust Him more, be more willing to put myself out there for Him if that's what He wants and to receive the joy that He means for me to have in the process. Here is a link to TJ's post "Here In This Place I Learned To Dance." I haven't seen TJ in several years, but maybe one day our paths will cross again and we can dance together! 

We are about to go face traffic and check our bags in at the airline, then we will have about a five hour wait at the airport before our flight tonight. Next time I post it will be from the other side of the pond! Lots of people have been and are praying for us and we are so thankful! 

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

But I managed to do it to my favorite RevereWare sauce pan. We were cooking and heard a popping noise. When we lifted the pot, the bottom had come off. I got my set of RevereWare pots for a wedding gift, twenty-three years ago this month, and have dragged them with me everywhere. I had sort of taken for granted that they would last til I died. I did not even know these pots were two pieces instead of one. Oh, well. Now it fits in better with this family of cracked pots.

Thursday was my last evening with the ladies Bible study group from Nsango Na Bomoi, Christine's church. I will miss these faithful women and look forward to seeing them again in January.

We had to order them to smile for the camera! The Congolese usually sport serious faces when they have their photos taken.

Promised Pics, Preparing to Leave, and a Post by One of Our Pilots

As promised, here are pics from Emily’s graduation.  Sorry about the low quantity/quality.  A new camera is very high on my wish list for furlough. I think I may have even found the one I want. 

I love, love, love this photo of Emily and David!













We leave in a week! We’ve been going through all our stuff, getting rid of everything that doesn’t fit or doesn’t bless us or that we do not use. FLYlady would be so proud of me for finally doing this. I only read her book like ten years ago. In an act of ultimate irony I gave it away. Not because it didn’t bless me though. I was moving to Africa and got rid of hundreds of books. We could only bring so much with us. It was either the books or the kids. 

At least when we come back and unpack all this stuff, there will be less of it to deal with and it will all be useful, right? Of course, it will. We never really finished finding proper  places for it all after the last move because we still haven’t finished repairing and painting the house. There were always more pressing issues like burning wires and graduations and car repairs. High on my wish list for AFTER furlough is a more reliable car.

I’m almost afraid to say it, but we have had good electricity the last few days, which makes cleaning and packing a lot easier. We’ve had our other issues. Emily got sick. Now I am sick. The dryer broke, again, and will have to be replaced when we come back after furlough. You would THINK that during DRY season, laundry would dry quickly on the line because the humidity is lower, but it is just not working that way. At least no one has gotten any mango fly worms from our clothes. Yet. (more about mango fly larva, also known as tumbo flies, HERE .) That post about the tumbo flies goes all the way back to 2010 and as I read it I thought "It's no wonder we are tired and ready for a break after two and a half years of that craziness!" 

While we are preparing to leave, our friend and teammate Nick Frey is in Canada for a couple weeks and has written a great post for the MAF Blog (click HERE to read Nick's post) contrasting Kinshasa and Congo with life in a first world nation. His post is a great reminder the heart of MAF and why we are here. He's a pilot so he gets to see the physical isolation of people in Congo on a regular basis. Not so much for our family since we are always in Kinshasa, but we see first hand every day that even in this city of millions, people live in self-imposed isolation, whether intentional or not, behind their concrete walls, their emotional walls, their social status, and their fears and superstitions. Pray for Congo, for our pilots, mechanics, IT folks and national staff, and for our travels next week!

I've updated our Media Page with some new items!

Don't mind me...

Coffee & Donuts (Photo credit: Jeremy Brooks)

…I’m just a missionary on furlough (almost).

We leave in two weeks for our first furlough. I don’t know if this happens to every missionary family but as our departure time creeps closer, we’ve begun to notice some strange mental shifts. Nothing scary or creepy, just little things that by themselves mean nothing but collectively make us a little bizarre.

We see photos on the internet of our friends, and after a cursory glance at the people our eyes are drawn to things in the photos that we never would have noticed a few years ago. Carpet. Door knobs that are not five feet above the floor. Sidewalks. Starbucks. Donuts. And we sort of go into a trance and drool. It’s disgusting.

We talk about things we used to take for granted like peace and quiet and fresh strawberries, peaches and blueberries and we sound like Sam and Frodo at Mordor when they realize they can’t remember the taste of strawberries or the sound of the trees. Pathetic.

English: Wal-Mart location in Moncton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve heard stories of expats returning to the states and crying the first time they went back to Wal-Mart and thought to myself, "no way, not me, Wal-Mart and I are old friends and I CANNOT WAIT to go back." Lately though I am not so sure of myself. Since we've never had a furlough this is all pure speculation but I might cry after all. I might feel overwhelmed. I might be just as likely to cry tears of joy. “Look, Honey! They have EVERYTHING on our list right here in ONE store! And it all has a price tag on it! And none of it is expired! And the labels are in ENGLISH!”

I might do a happy dance.

I might take forty minutes to drive the twelve miles to the store because driving in excess of 35mph feels terrifyingly fast.

I might try to order my meat by the kilo instead of by the pound.

I might try to give a tip to any pedestrian within six feet of my car and thank them for keeping an eye on it for me.

I might hand my merchandise to the cashier and after he/she scans it, ask, possibly in French, “Is that your BEST price?”

If I am going to behave strangely, Wal-mart might just be the safest place to do it. Still, maybe I will make a t-shirt for furlough that says “Don’t mind me, I’m just a missionary on furlough,” just in case someone wonders about me. It might prevent an awkward moment or two.

Almost a Graduate and Almost a Quilt

Remember this quilt top? There's a story to tell that I will share later, but I am just about jumping up and down with excitement because my top is finally getting quilted!

This is my fifth quilt (you can see the other four by clicking on the My Quilts tab at the top of this page). I quilted the first four on my own, one by hand and the rest on my traditional sewing machine. I never seemed to have enough time and electricity to get to this one though, and it is the first one I decided to keep for myself so it got put on back burner. I guess I could have hand quilted it but I just didn't want to. I would pull it out and look at it longingly because I love the batiks and this quilt kept calling me. Finally I caved and decided to take it back to the states when I took Josh back for college and hire a quilter. It got stored for another year partly due to cost and partly because I was nervous about putting my quilt top in the mail.

Ultimately I chose my dear friend Marcia, of Little Pink Rose Quilting and Sewing to be my quilter. Marcia and I have been friends for several years, and her husband has been friends with David and me even longer - we went to college together.

You can get a sneek peak at Marcia's work on my quilt by clicking HERE. It goes without saying that I will post about this quilt again when it is finished and then I'll share why it is special to me.

Meanwhile, we are busy packing and preparing for furlough. Tonight our daughter graduates from high school. We are so proud of her!

I have a glitchy camera and unfortunately will probably have to rely on my friends for good photos and it will take a few days to round them up and post about it. So I wrote a post a while back and scheduled it to publish tomorrow automatically. The blog posts will probably slow down quite a bit after that until we get to the states.

Out-zoning

zero gravity (Photo credit: Tattooed JJ)

I worked in social services for three years in Missouri and had to do the occasional home visit, so I thought I knew what poverty looked like. Until I came to Kinshasa and visited people here. I saw families living in tiny two room, window-less homes with tattered curtains for doors, dirt or concrete floors, no electricity, no indoor bathroom, and no water. This was not in a village in the interior, this was in a city of 10-12 million people. 

Sometimes, we let God lead us out of our self-defined bubble of safety and security and then we think "phew! Made it!" and we praise God. We see that He used it to change us, to bring glory to Him, and we are glad we surrendered our fears, took His hand and let Him lead us.  But that's not the end. Every time we step out of our comfort zone, it creates a new boundary. The zone may grow larger but we still have to keep being willing to let God take us to new levels so that we are humbled, stretched, and usable and He is glorified. It's scary. It's hard. But when we are part of something that is impossible apart from God, and people see it and praise Him, and it's not just us who are changed but also those around us, how awesome is that?!

Fellow MAF'er Liz Schandorff shared her experience in her post "Going Outside My Comfort Zone" on the MAF blog. Liz's experience mirrors some of mine and I hope you will read her post and see why she is willing to step out of her comfort zone again and again - why we all should be.

Good read, folks!