Get out of my stuff and wild flowers- By Josh

First of foremost...  I want to thank everyone that helped and supported our garage sale this past weekend!   Whether you help sort through mountains of clothes, set up tables, carry endless number of boxes and bins, donated items to be sold, made lemonade and bake goods, came and made a donation, or just came for moral support, THANK YOU!!   We are so blessed to have you in our lives and journeying with us!   You are a source of grace in our lives!

That being said...   This is hard!   Mentally, going into all this, I knew it would be challenging at times.  I did not imagine that having a garage sale could be so emotionally painful.   A couple hours into the first day I reached a point when I was just done.   My extroverted energies were tapped out and I needed an introvert battery recharge.   I was tired and all I had to eat before lunch was a hard-boiled egg.   Physically I was at a weak spot.   And all of my stuff was being rummaged through in my front yard and driveway.   It was all out there... in plain sight.... in the open.  I just wanted to kick everyone out and yell, "This is MY HOUSE!   This is MY STUFF!   Stop going through it!   Get out!"  And it wasn't just about me.   I saw people taking toys and stuff animals that my children loved and made them happy.   It hurt.  Fortunately and mercifully, the four oldest weren't there.  If a supposed grown and mature man in his late 30's had a hard time, I could only imagine how taxing and challenging it would have been for them.   I had strong feelings of anger and confusion.  That night I laid awake for an hour and half wrestling and second guessing what we were doing.

People have told us how our journey is inspiring and beautiful.  But the reality is, it is hard.   We are not any different than anyone else.   We do not find ourselves enveloped in some perpetual and profound mystical experience.   FMC often says that the life of a missionary is not glamorous but it is glorious.

Needless to say, we still had the garage sale and it was successful.   During communion on Sunday, one of the songs that was played was "How He Loves."  I was reminded how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father.   And I find myself praying, "God, I can give you these things.   How can I hold them back when I consider how generous and loving You have been with us?"   Our journey towards FMC is not about some kind of penance or thinking that this will make us holier through a sanctification process.   But it is an awareness of God's love for us, and wanting to give back.  It is loving Him who has loved us first.   I found myself asking "What more can I do for You?   How can I be generous back?"

I imaged myself before our loving Father who simply delighted in us loving Him.   As a mom delights in the bouquet of wild flowers or a dad posting a picture scribbled in crayons in the office, so too does God rejoice in our loving Him back, in the sacrifices that we offer out of love.

I guess I want to conclude with this point, never under estimate how much the Father delights in you.  He is overwhelmed with you, and He sees the hardships that you endure.   And I know many who read this blog have much heavier crosses than a garage sale.  He also sees the small and simple gifts that you leave for Him and He smiles with tears rolling down His cheeks.   Even though these acts, both big and small, might feel that they are being done in vain and there is a deafening silence in their wake, know this... there is a divine embrace all around you sometimes just beyond your perception.   I don't know why it often seems so dark, but press into that love of the Father.

Flashback Blog- Part 1: Longing By Josh

As we share our journey and new adventure with others, we our often asked how did we get to the point that we are at today.   To honor these questions and to retell our story, we will from time to time feature a "Flashback Blog."   Here is our first of hopefully many.

It is hard to say when our journey really began.  God's love is always around us, embracing us, engulfing us in His love, mercy, and healing.  For the past three to four years we have experienced an increasing desire to what to do something more for God.    There has been a kind of unrest and a longing for more of God and wanting to serve Him more.   This did not come from a sense "necessity" but from a growing gratitude for all that God has blessed us.   And gratitude in turn transformed into generosity.   We considered different options the diaconate, foster parents, and other possibilities, but nothing seemed to fit, so we continued to pray and open our hearts.

About a year and a half ago, during the fall of 2014, Maria was on Facebook, when a friend recommended "liking this page" for Family Missions Company.   Maria opened the link and became excited, "What? Families can do this?!   This is amazing!   This can't be it.   This is too much."   And with that Maria closed the tab and did not say anything about it.   But the seed was planted and continued to grow in her heart.

Skip ahead to February 2015.   Our parish, St. Gregory the Great, had a pre-Lenten retreat with Deacon Ralph Poyo.   Over the three nights we were challenged by the question, "What would our lives look like if we really went all in with our faith?"  How would we live our lives if we were not afraid?  So often we want to seek God and His will, and as we follow Him, we come up with backup plans, safety nets in case we falter.  Such preparation are often prudent, but they can hold us back.   They can ensnare us, taking away our freedom and ability to take the leap and follow Christ.  I don't think Peter put on a life-jacket before stepping out of the boat.  With a renewed fervor we found ourselves again longing to do more for God and asking Him what more can we do.   We again started talking about these desires and turning to God in prayer, offering ourselves to Him.   Maria prayerfully and quietly held FMC in heart.

About a month later, we had company over who had just spent a week with FMC.   Our friend was so excited and passionate from the time he had spent there.  We spent most of the evening sitting around the dining room table listening to his stories and experiences with the missionaries and their work.  He spoke about the community life that they share centered around their faith, prayer and spirituality.  He talked about how amazing the children of the missionaries are and how they are still "normal and real" kids and families.   At one point, he looked across table at Maria and said, "I've seen that look in someone before.  Maybe you are called."  Maria responded sharply and quickly, "Nope, no look here.  Take your look elsewhere."

Later that evening I turned to Maria and asked, "Was your heart burning when we were hearing about FMC?"

"Yes.   But I have a slight confession to make....  I've know about FMC for five or six months."   We then decided it was time to begin looking more into FMC beginning with their website.   After years of placing a growing desire in our hearts and months of Maria patiently letting the seeds take root, we received a nudge.

To be continued...

The Master Has Need Of It By Maria

Oh yeah, this is our basement...in the organized corner.

Now that we are committed to Family Missions Company we have spent the past few weeks working on purging possessions, preparing a garage sale, and preparing to sell the house.  I  have to be honest, sorting all the possessions for a family of 7 into take, store, sell, donate and trash piles is nothing short of overwhelming.  It isn’t so much the lifting and moving of boxes as much as letting go of the security and comforts of the stuff we keep.  I keep a storage room full of hand me downs for the kids because then I know they will always have more than enough clothes.  I keep a closet full of games because then we know we will never be bored (hypothetically speaking).  I have a kitchen full of more pots and pans than I could use in one meal because I am sure to have the perfect tool to to use with the recipe I am trying.  You get the picture.

On Palm Sunday one of the readings at Mass was Luke 19:28-40.  In this story is one simple line that has directed my heart through the current phase in our journey toward missions.  This reading is the story of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where he rode on a colt, everyone waved palm branches, laid down their cloaks and proclaimed Him as King.  Before he rode into the city Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him to get a colt.  On His instruction they went into the city and when the unsuspecting owner of the colt saw the disciples untying it, the owner asked for an explanation.  The simple answer that was given was “The Master has need of it.”  The owner could have said, “No.”  He could have asked, “Why?”  He could have given a- "Yes...but as long as it is returned."  He could have insisted on taking the colt to Jesus himself.  But because the owner said yes and let go of what would have made complete sense to hold onto, he got to be a part of bringing Christ’s kingdom and glory to Jerusalem.  Simply by letting go he helped carry Christ to the people who needed a Savior.  He brought Christ closer to the place the world gets to see Love and Mercy poured out.

The simple line, “The Master has need of it,” has played over and over in my heart since then.  Every time I waver over the “keep” or “purge” piles in the basement I am reminded that I have no idea what the Lord plans on doing with everything we are letting go of, but I trust that every time we let go, we are giving Jesus a chance to show His glory.  It could be that He will simply use what we let go of to be a blessing in someone else’s life, but I suspect it is more than that.  As we let go of everything that ties our hearts down, everything that keeps us bound to one place, we can be free to carry Christ himself to those who need Him.  We can be the ones to carry Love and Mercy Himself if we are willing to trust His plan and let go.  So what does the Master need?  He needs my heart, unbound and ready to embrace Him.  I know the Lord has an amazing plan, and it is nothing short of a miracle that this this crazy family gets to be a part of it!! I can only begin to imagine where the Lord plans on asking us to carry Him, and who we will be carrying Him to!  Praise God!!

The Big News! By Josh

God is once again invited us to bring new life into this sacred world.   No this is not another pregnancy announcement.  For the past several years God has placed it on our hearts to consider what more can we do for Him.   We never had the sense that what we have been doing was “wrong” or “lacking.”   We have rather been increasing grateful for the blessings and graces that He has been pouring out upon us.  This gratitude in turn has lead to a desire give more for God.  After considering different options, last year God led us in a new direction and to an organization called Family Mission Company.  FMC trains and sends families and singles to be missionaries and to share the Gospel message in third world countries.   For the past year we have been actively praying, reflecting, researching, visiting, etc. and over winter we applied, been accepted and have given our “Yes” to God.  We are making a two year commitment and will be moving to Louisiana in September for three months of training before being assigned to our first assignment.   

At this point we invite each of you to join us in our journey.   Currently there are three ways that you can join us.

1- Prayers.   We have heard visiting missionaries speak at our churches and most of the time they ask for prayers.   I always felt it was kind of cliché, of course they will ask for prayers.  Going through this journey and discernment, we now understand the importance of this prayer support.  There have been, and there will be ups and downs.  There will be times that we are excited, and there will be moments of doubts and we will wonder if we are crazy (above and beyond what we already are).

2- Questions.  We need to talk about it.  We need people to ask us questions.   Even if it is a question we have heard a hundred times, it is good for us to explain what we are doing.   It helps us to process and prepare.   And maybe the question you have, is one we haven’t thought of.   So please ask!

3- For those that live in the Buffalo area and want to know what they can practically do to help, we will be selling almost all that we have including our house in the next month.   We will move in with Josh’s parents until September.   We are so thankful for their generosity and hospitality!  There are a number of projects that we want to get done to get our house ready.   We will have a big garage sale.  There will be things that we are moving to Josh’s parents.   If you are interested in helping please contact us and we can give you more details.

Here is a link to FMC’s webpage… https://www.familymissionscompany.com

In the near future we will also share a link on the FMC page specifically for our family.

May the Lord continue to bless each of you and pour forth His love and grace during this Easter Season!