Why we are reading 'A Meal With Jesus'

Another book...are you kidding me? Why this book? Is this just a casual read that I am going to read in a few days and then put down to never pick up again? Never apply, never change as a result of?

There are several reasons I chose to buy this book at this time in our life. I will seek to be as honest as possible and I am writing this because it will help me focus my thoughts about why I am going to spend time reading this book and what I hope to gain as a result of reading this.

A few reasons why we are going to read this:

1. The ministry of hospitality is obviously a huge priority in the life of Jesus and throughout the Bible and we are seeing that this is an area we need to grow in.

2. Eating and Meals happen every day, several times a day. Often we (and others I think) share excuses about being to busy, too much going on, but we eat every day having people into our home is a growing priority for us.



3. In all honesty, it is very easy to have people from church over for time together and fellowship. That should be a priority, but it also should be a priority to have our neighbors over for meals together, people I work with on a daily basis, and some of the guys who are on the corner of the streets holding signs about their needs. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord would have us have one of those guys over for a meal



What I hope to gain as a result of reading A Meal with Jesus.


1. In what ways was mealtime and hospitality a means of the Gospel going forth through a community, nation, and world?

2. In what ways can we use mealtime to serve and reach out to those who are in need of the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ?

3. In what ways does our mealtimes need to change for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, making disciples, etc.

4. How can our home be a centerpiece for ministry and outreach?

5. In this upcoming Holiday season, how can we serve others around us who need Jesus, not just let the season be about our immediate family?


In complete transparency, I feel like our time, schedule and commitments right now are too 'churchy' and our lives need to be lived more like missionaries. In Spokane WA. Right Now. I think it is a tool and tactic of Satan to get us drunk on ourselves by not being outward/others focused.

In this post I define 'churchy' as follows: A life, a schedule, and relationships that are only built on things that center around the local church you 'attend'. (I really kind of hate the word 'attend' because that is so ANTI-BIBLICAL.) For example, Sundays are at church, Tuesdays are with people from the church, Wednesdays a parenting class 'at church'). Each of these things are helpful and great, but AM I MISSING SOMETHING. ARE WE missing something? Where is it in our schedule that that we are 'going and making disciples of all the nations'? So much time and energy is spent is 'getting trained', 'taking classes', 'getting encouragement' that we forget that Jesus trained 'on the job', 'in the classroom of life', not in a class setting.



All that to say, mealtime, hospitality, "for the purpose of reaching the lost" is not a priority in our home and we want it to be. Repenting, thanking Him for his forgiveness, and asking Him tp do a powerful work in our home is where we are at.



I also am praying that this little book would be a source of encouragement, conviction and that the Spirit of God would do a work of faith in our lives as we seek to honor the King of Kings in our meals and in our home.

Happy Birthday our little bundle of joy...Camille Faith Greenup 1 year old!!!

So peaceful...the early days

Our youngest turns 1 year old today. (At least she is our youngest for another week).

Camille,
 You have been such a blessing a joy to us this past year.

God has exceedingly blessed us with each and every day we have had with you. Your mom prayed that you would be a cuddler and you have exceeded any expectation.

Your beautiful dark hair surprised us from the second I saw you, especially those very first few seconds.

Big beautiful Smile

You have taken your first steps this past week and weigh nearly as much as your sister who is almost 2 years older than you. (just kidding, but you are getting closer)

You have won the affection of your big brother (even though he bites your hand once in a while).

You love it when your daddy flips you and makes you giggle.

You can scream really loud, especially when we get ready to put you to bed. :)

Ezra showing her the ropes with Buzz Lightyear

There are bets that you are going to be the first of our children who will pass out because of your little will being NOT so little.

You have your front two 'lower' front teeth and the front two 'uppers'

Here's a post from when you were 10 days old.

Happy Birthday my dear Daughter!!!!

                                            

                                    Aunt Julie and Camille Smiling

Camille with Papa & Nana Sawatzky and Cousin Daniel (almost the same age)

Camille with her beautiful mother

Ezra reading to Camille

We love you our little beautiful!!!

2010 Greenup Family Year in Review

2010 was an amazing year, God has provided and blessed in magnificent ways.  

(There is a 12 minutes video below if you want to watch our year in review)

January started off excitingly with the birth of Camille on the 20^th. 5 weeks later, Heidi’s sister Julie gave birth to her first son, Daniel.  It’s fun to be able to have the cousins growing up together and being so close in age.

 

Other than celebrating Olivia’s 2^nd birthday in March, the family laid low for the next few months as we adjusted to the new baby.  Finally, come July we decided that it was time to start back up the adoption process that began way back in Dec. 2008.  Along with that came the news that we'd be making two trips to complete the our adoption in early 2011. Thus, we still had about $9,500 needed to finalization our adoption.

We celebrated our 5^th wedding anniversary on July 30^th and went on a trip to Glacier National Park and Shelby Montana to visit Grandma Emily Greenup until we returned and kicked it into fundraising high gear.

We made plans for a HUGE garage sale. This consisted of Dustin making over 20 or 30 trips to people’s houses to pick up their unwanted, cleaned-out closet items and bringing them back to the house for Heidi to clean and organize as rooms began to fill.  The day before the biggest garage sale of our lives, the baby’s room was un-enterable and full of glass and breakable items; the living room was packed with books and clothes; our bedroom was full of kids toys, the hallways full of stuffed animals and our garage full of everything from lamps and yoga balls, to toddler race car beds and TV’s of all sizes.  We even had to borrow our neighbor’s garage because we couldn’t fit everything!  We praise God for all the donations that came in and for the body of Christ who helped us move everything over to Dustin’s office building the night before.  With all the help and much prayer, we raised close to $5, 400 for our adoption!

August brought the birth of another cousin- Dustin’s sister Connie giving birth to Sonora!  And the end of the month we spent celebrating Heidi’s parent’s 40^th wedding anniversary up at Deer Lake.  September 1^st Ezra turned four and big news came only a month later on Heidi’s birthday- a referral of a 3 month old baby boy named Musse, or ‘Moses.’  We accepted the referral and in December made travel plans for our January 28, 2011 Ethiopian court hearing appointment. 

As we reflect on the last year, we see so much of God’s goodness and perfect timing.  We hope to bring home Musse in early March 2011 and will probably be staying home the rest of the year to get him adjusted to new life with our family.  Thank you to so many of you who helped us financially, gave your time or who kept us in your prayers.  Many blessings to you and your families in the coming year!

Greenup Family Outtakes

Often people post the best pictures of their kids. Understandable. Once in a while, like 1 out of 134 digital photos taken, turn out with everyone smiling, looking, etc.

Yet, if that was all we ever posted, we'd be giving everyone an unrealistic idea of what normal life is like.

Below are a few photos. And that is that.

About Our Family

Our Family

Heidi

* Lover of Jesus, her husband, children, and others

* Life/Ministry devoted to raising up the next generation

* Registered Nurse and is employed every minute of every day managing our home

Dustin

* Thankful Heidi married him and stays married to him

* Thankful to Jesus for being crucified for my sin and rising from the dead so I can have eternal life in Him

* Realtor in Spokane Washington

* Likes to exercise (didn't use to, but things have changed)

* A God-given heart for orphans

Ezra

* Our REAL son

* Our firstborn child

* Born in Ethiopia in 2006

* Into the Greenup family in August of 2007
* If you want to know more about our 1st adoption, click HERE.

* Bundle of Life, Bundle of Energy

* Loves people, loves making as much noise as possible

* Extremely tender to his youngest sister Camille

* Prays faithfully that God would allow us to bring Moses Home ASAP

* Usually always some type of SuperHero who protects his sisters from bad guys

* Sometimes likes to eat healthy food because it will help him have strong muscles

Olivia

* Born in March of 2008

* A joy to our family

* Always has bumps and bruises on her...hence why she got a helmet for her Christmast present from Grandpa and Grandma.

* Wakes up with the craziest of hair

* Doesn't like it to be combed until after she had eaten breakfast

* Loves her 'blankey'

* Doesn't suck her thumb, but the next two are almost concreted (if that is a word) in her mouth

* Is mostly smiles and laughs A LOT

Camille

* Born in January of 2010

* Fun, Smiley, and loves to bounce, bounce, bounce

* The picture above is of Camille after she had her first taste of Rice Cereal.

Moses

* Known and chosen by the Lord before the beginning of time

* Received referral October 1st, 2011

* Get to meet him for the first time on January 25th, 2011

* Hopefully bring him home in March 2011

* Will get to post his pictures by the end of January 2011

Who is Hudson?????

If you spend any time on this site over the course of the next year, you will be hearing the name Hudson often.

Hudson is the name we have chosen for our son we are currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.

Although we don't have a referral of a young boy yet (as of August 10th, 2010), we still know that our son is out there and it is just a matter of time until he joins our family.

We have heard that we could possibly expect a referral within the next month or two, so we are writing on this blog and as means of updating others about our process, what the Lord is doing in our hearts, and other related information specific to adoption.