overdue

Okay, okay...this is long overdue...i know.

here is a miniature update since my last blog post:

• BC Lions lost in the first round of the playoffs in DOUBLE over-time.
• We immediately began packing our things and headed home 3 days later.
• Safely arrived back in Lubbock after a 3 day journey home.
• REJOICED in being back home!
• Moved into our new apartment.
• We were SO excited to go back to Experience Life!
• Got to spend Thanksgiving in Lubbock with my family.
• Have watched God provide in the most incredible ways during a month & 1/2 with no income!
• Have LOVED seeing & catching up w/ friends since we've been home.
• Have raised 62% of my support for Campus Crusade.
• Started going to our staff planning meetings for next semester!
• Found out that Richards brother's high school football team made it to the State Championship!!!
• This weekend we get to see Richards family at the football game for the 1st time since FEBRUARY! :)
• We put up our Christmas tree last night.
• We are excited to be home and able to spend the holidays w/ our families!

God is good. :)

Happy Holidays
-the joneses

a little bit longer

Well the BC Lions won their game and the Edmonton Eskimo's lost theirs. We're in the playoffs! We are honestly surprised though. Richard and I really thought we'd be heading home this coming week. But God had other plans and we're grateful for them. More time hear=more paychecks, which we really need as we transition back to Lubbock. But more time here also means Richard will have more time to finish up some of his music at the studio, so we're glad about that, too.

We are both just ready to get back. We miss what we consider "normal". Normal priced gas, normal priced groceries, work, school, friends, family, the dollar menu :), sunshine through our windows, fountain Diet Dr. Peppers!!! :) We miss Experience Life, Monday night prayer meetings, Cru on Thursdays... We just genuinely miss our life in Lubbock.

But we'll patiently wait for the Lord and we'll continue to trust Him during our time here. We'll keep everyone updated as we begin the playoffs. We'll be home soon enough! :)

just an update

Welp, the BC Lions won their game on Sunday. We still have a chance to go to the playoffs, but we HAVE to win our next game and the Edmonton Eskimo's HAVE to lose their game. So we'll see what happens. If we had of lost on Sunday, we would've known when we were heading home, but now we are still waiting to see how this season finishes. Of course we would love for our team to go to the playoffs, but Richard and I are both ready to get home, too. So we have mixed emotions at this point.

Richard had another opportunity to go speak to some kids at a Christian school yesterday and was able to perform his song again. We hope that Richard will have more opportunities to do things like that when we get back home. Here is a link to a new song of his on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYF4DOpCSZg. Enjoy!

Most of you know that I plan to work with Campus Crusade again when I get back home. I just started the process of raising support again. It's such a nerve-racking process, but God has fully provided two years in a row, so I shouldn't expect anything less this time. It will be difficult raising support during the transition as Richard and I leave Canada, take a 3 day drive home, and move back home. But I'll manage. :) I am excited to start working with the staff team again and with the students at Tech. I have missed the community, the encouragement, and the insight that comes with working in ministry. Please pray with me as I continue the support raising process. I will post my progress every once in a while. And if you are interested in being a ministry partner, here is a link to my giving page...https://www.globalservicenet.org/giving/Lori-Jones .

We'll keep everyone updated as we find out more about when we're coming home. Please pray that we would trust the Lord during this time. Pray that we would have a safe trip home. And pray that the Lord would provide all our needs during this transition.

Richard scores a TOUCHDOWN!!

Yep, that's right! During the first quarter of the game, Richard recovered a fumble, ran for 50 yards, and scored a TD!! Woohooo!! You can imagine how proud I was! BC Lions win the game 36-31!

Here is the best video footage I could get of it since the game didn't air in the states! Enjoy!

what a weekend

Well it has been an interesting past few days up here in Canada.

On Thursday I drove to Seattle to pick up Romeyo from the airport. The drive there and back wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I left Surrey early because I didn't know how much traffic I would get into crossing the border, but I ended up getting to Seattle early. I drove around trying to find a shopping center to walk around in while I waited, but I didn't have any luck. I did find a nice little lake, though, and ended up stopping there and reading my Bible for a little bit. Here are a couple of pics of the lake.






























On Friday, I took Romeyo up to watch the BC Lions practice before their game on Saturday. Then on Saturday night we headed to the game. We were playing the Edmonton Eskimo's and we really needed to leave with a win. The first half of the game wasn't super interesting, but we ended up in a tie at the end of the 4th quarter and lost in overtime.....again.

(us before the game)

On the VERY first play of the game, our friend Alozie got injured and had to be carted off the field....not good. We later found out that he, in fact, broke his leg and dislocated his ankle. Let me give you a little background on him. He played for the Edmonton Eskimos for his first few years in the CFL. During one of his games with the Eskimo's, he broke both his tibia and fibula. He was out the rest of the season with hopes of returning the next season. His recovery didn't go as planned and he ended up having to have 2 more surgeries on his leg. When training camp came around for the next season, he wasn't ready and the Eskimo's cut him. He took the next year off, unsure if he would return. During that next year, he and his wife began to pray about whether or not he should return to the CFL. They felt that's what God was leading them to do, so he found out about the BC Lions try-out, went for it, and was put on the team. This is his first season back since the injury and now he has broken his fibula on the same leg and dislocated his ankle. We don't know what this means for him or his family's future, but we do know that this has to be a difficult time for them. It's so easy to ask God "why me?" when stuff like this happens, so please pray that he would have quick healing and that his family would trust the Lord during this time!

On a better note, we took Romeyo to White Rock yesterday. We ate lunch at a cute little restaurant right off the beach and walked down the pier. We took lots of good pictures while we there! Romeyo really seemed to enjoy how beautiful is it there! Here are a couple of pictures of us while we were there....


































This morning I got a text message from Richard saying that someone told him he might be up to play this week. Neither one of us thought much of it because we have been told that SO many times since we have been here. But he is, in fact, starting this week! Their game is away in Calgary on Friday. I'll find out if it will be playing online and let y'all know. Anyway, we are really surprised. We honestly didn't think he would play anymore this season for multiple reasons, but we are grateful that God has given him the opportunity!

This past week, Richard has recorded a couple of new Christian rap songs so hopefully they'll be completely produced and ready before we leave here so that we can come home with some new music for you guys!

Tonight, we're going to take Romeyo to downtown Vancouver to sight-see a little on his last night and then tomorrow I'll take the drive back to Seattle to drop him off. Please pray for safe travel as we drive and as he flies!

Canadian Thanksgiving

Yesterday (Monday) was Canada's Thanksgiving. Like in the States, watching football is a part of their Thanksgiving. The Lions played in Winnipeg in the afternoon. We were down a few points in the first half, then by the 3rd quarter we were up 32-11. I thought we had it in the bag. Then the 4th quarter rolls around and our players started behaving like children, fighting and getting penalty after penalty. In the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, one of our defensive linemen got disqualified for punching an opposing player in the face, then our only true center injured his leg and couldn't play, so they brought in the back-up who isn't a true center and caused several more penalties. :( Winnipeg ended up coming back to tie the game, then we lost in double overtime! It was NOT fun to watch! And after the defensive player was disqualified, they REALLY needed Richard there...oh well, their loss! There are only 4 games left before the playoffs and we really need to do well in these next 4 games, so say a little prayer for the BC Lions! :)

Earlier this week, Mrs. Dolly (our landlady) invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with her family! So after the game, we followed her to her son's apartment where we met up her son, Fraser, and his roommate, TJ, her other son, Grant, her daughter, Lesley, & Lesley's boyfriend, Rob, Lesley's daughter, Brooke, and Rob's friend, Chansler (?). Fraser's apartment was so nice and everyone made Richard and I feel so welcome and really comfortable! Fraser prepared an incredible Thanksgiving dinner! Different than our family's Thanksgiving dinner, but SO good! He's a great cook! It was so fun to spend time with a family who have such a good time with each other like ours do! I was so grateful that they included us in their holiday celebration! They really are like our family here in Canada. Such a blessing. :)

On Thursday, our friend, Romeyo, is flying in to spend a few days with us. He is flying into Seattle, so I'll be driving to pick him up while Richard is at practice. Pray he has a safe flight and that we'll have a safe drive to and from Seattle. I'm glad Richard gets to have a visitor since he hasn't seen family or friends since May. This is Romeyo's first time to visit Canada, so hopefully we can show him around well!

That's all for now!

Luke 12 & an update

Today, my time with the Lord was full of lists...

I read Luke 12 and the commentary that went with it. I thought some of the commentary was really interesting and insightful, so I thought I'd share a few things.

(read Luke 12 if you can :))

Luke 12:1,2
Signs of hypocrisy:
1. knowing the truth but not obeying it
2. living a self-serving life
3. faith is reduced to rigid rules
4. outward conformity without inner reality

"discern you own heart. consider the signs of hypocrisy and make sure you are not guilty. then ask God to help you live rightly."

Luke 12:8,9
We deny Jesus when we:
1. hope no one will find out we are Christians
2. decide not to speak up for what is right
3. are silent about our relationship with God
4. blend into society
5. accept our culture's non-Christian values

We acknowledge Jesus when we:
1. live moral, upright, Christ-honoring lives
2. look for opportunities to share our faith with others
3. help others in need
4. take a stand for justice
5. love others
6. acknowledge our loyalty to Christ
7. use our lives and resources to carry out his desires rather than our own.

are you doing more to deny Christ or acknowledge Him?

Luke 12:22-34
Overcoming worry requires:
1. simple trust in God, your heavenly Father: expressed by prayer rather than worry
2. perspective on your problems: develop a strategy for addressing & correcting problems
3. a support team to help: find believers who will pray for you to find wisdom & strength to deal w/ worries

"Jesus commands us not to worry. Worry is pointless because it can't fill any of our needs; worry is foolish because the Creator of the universe loves us and knows what we need."

Luke 12:40
People who are ready for their Lord's return are:
1. not hypocritical but sincere
2. not fearful but ready to witness
3. not worried but trusting
4. not greedy but generous
5. not lazy but diligent

"May your life be more like Christ's so that when he comes, you will be ready to greet him joyfully."

As I was sitting there reading, there was an older man sitting at a table near me. He saw me journaling and asked if I was writing an essay. I simply told him I was just reading and studying my Bible. From there he proceeds to tell me that He does not believe there is a God. He shared all sorts of other thoughts and opinions that indicated he hadn't based them on biblical or religious study but rather on his own ideas. I had just read Luke 12:11,12 which says, "don't worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said." So I said a quick prayer to myself and asked the Lord to give me the words to say. He didn't give me the opportunity to say much but when I did speak I tried to be as open and honest about my faith as I could. It was a very minor conversation, but I pray that the Lord will cause our paths to cross again at the coffee shop or that the Lord would place someone in his life to speak truth to him. Please pray that this man would have a divine revelation about the God of the universe and his Son, Jesus.

Football update: The BC Lions won again last Saturday, which is really good for their chances to go to the playoffs. Richard did well, but still didn't play as much as he had hoped. On Monday, the head coach called Richard into his office to talk. He told Richard that he likes how he's been playing but they can only travel with 5 defensive lineman and they need a defensive end more than a tackle. He even told Richard that they might have him drop a few pounds next season so that he can play defensive end, which he would love. So anyway, Richard is back on the practice roster this week. We're not sure what that means for the rest of the season, but we'll continue to trust the Lord's plan for us here.

On Wednesday, Richard had the chance to meet up with a guy who has a recording studio in Vancouver. He recorded a couple of new songs and re-did a song he had already written. The guy who has the studio asked Richard to come back to Vancouver on Friday to perform his song and share his testimony with some kids. I wasn't able to be there, but Richard said he wasn't nervous at all and felt really comfortable as he performed and shared his testimony. We are so grateful for the opportunities God has given Richard here.

As we go back and forth on this roller coaster from practice roster to active roster back to practice roster, we continue to remind ourselves that God has us here for a purpose that is greater than football. Continue to pray for us to trust God with his plans for us. Pray we would be content with his plans. And pray that we would desire His plans over our own.

"The Lord will work out his plans for my life--for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever."
-Psalm 138:8

Caught up in the grace of God

On Sunday, Richard had practice, so I went to church by myself. We had a guest speaker who is the pastor of the Hillsong Church in New York. He came with a great message about being "Caught up in the grace of God". I definitely can't paraphrase what he said without completely botching it, but I thought I'd try to share some of his thoughts.

He talked about how us as believers must be good stewards of the grace God has given us. If the people in our world are ever going to meet Jesus, they have to experience grace in action. We have to extend grace to those around us. A little bit of grace goes a long way!

2 Corinthians 12:8-12: "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

We don't have an excuse to not give grace to others or to not share the love of Christ with those around us. In our weakness - our lack of words, knowledge, confidence -Christ's power is made perfect.

Acts 20:24: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."

Our life is "worth nothing" if we are not using it to finish the work God has called us to - "the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God". I want the my life to be worth something according to God's standard. This doesn't mean you have to be in full time ministry...it just means using your opportunities to tell others about the grace of God.

Hebrews 4:16: "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

There are people we try to extend grace to who think they don't deserve it. They think they are too "bad" to come to church, to have good friends, to be loved, to have good things. But we have to remind them that though we all are undeserving of God's grace, we are all able to "come boldly to the throne of our gracious God." Boldly in our weakness and in our sin we can come to His throne and "we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most"...when we're in the depth of our sin. Praise God for His grace and mercy! Praise God that His power is made perfect in our weakness! Praise God for the calling to share His grace with those who need it most! We've got to get caught up in the grace of God so that others can experience it, too!

I want to know -understand, be certain of, grasp, experience- the grace of God. I want my life to be lived in such a way that I literally need the grace of God upon my life daily. But more than that, I want those who don't know the grace of God to experience it in the depth of their soul. To know that they have a loving, forgiving, merciful Father who is longing to give grace to them, regardless of how "bad" they are. The grace Christ extended on the cross was enough...people desperately need to know that.

Lovely Day

What a lovely day today is! Be prepared, this post is lengthy! :)

Last night, Richard and I went to hang out with Caryn & Alozie and have a little devotional with them. It was such a sweet time of sharing what God is teaching us as well as struggles we are faced with daily. We spent time sharing our prayer requests and praying for one another. It's so good to have people here to walk with us and encourage us in our faith.

We watched a sermon called How to Change a Lustful Mind. It talked about how there are 2 systems of operation on this earth: the world & the kingdom of God. The pastor asked the question, so how do we get free from the world's system?? The answer, we walk in the Spirit. He talked about how will-power is NOT enough to free ourselves from the flesh, we have to REPLACE our flesh/sinful nature with something greater...the Word of God. In order to walk in the Spirit, we must KNOW the Word of God. It must dwell richly within us. The pastor stated that "we are destroyed by our lack of knowledge of the Word". How do we fight the flesh if we haven't learned how to use the sword (the Bible)? The pastor says the issue is our mindset. It keeps us trapped. Keeps us from progressing in our walk with the Lord. We have to stop "trying" in our strength to fight the battle with our flesh and allow the Holy Spirit to fight the battle for us. But we must know the Word of God. When you're tempted by the flesh, fight it with Scripture. Find verses in the Bible that directly pertain to your struggle. Easier said then done, I know, but faith is a muscle, you gotta use it for it to get stronger. :)

This morning, the Lord woke me up earlier than usual and gave me the desire and motivation to walk to the coffee shop down the road and spend some time with Him. It was such a peaceful morning. I stepped outside with a light jacket on, into the 55 degree weather, and walked through the heavy fog to the coffee shop. I prayed for the Lord to prepare my heart for my time with Him and that's just what He did.

I got to the coffee shop, ordered a hot cup of coffee, doctored it up just the way I like it, and nestled myself into my little hang out spot. (Pictured to the right) Perfect. :)

I've been reading through the Gospels and just started Luke last night. As I read through the first 3 chapters of Luke, I just loved being reminded of God's faithfulness to His people and how he uses the most unlikely people for the glory of His name.

I loved re-reading Mary's response to the angel, Gabriel, when he told her she would be with child by the Holy Spirit. "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38) She doesn't freak out. She doesn't tell the angel that he's crazy or that what he said was impossible. She submits to the word of God. I pray that that will be my response when the Lord calls me to do something crazy for him.

I loved reading about Zechariah's prophecy over his son, John the Baptist. In Luke 1:76-79, Zechariah says, "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." We may not be John the Baptist, but we can still follow his example. The Lord will return one day, therefore, we can still prepare the way for his return. We can give knowledge of salvation to his people, we can tell them about Jesus' forgiveness of sins, we can give light to those in darkness and hope to those in the shadow of death, and we can guide people in the way of peace! How cool is it to know that we have such a huge calling! We are called to make Christ known....all of us! Like I said earlier, he uses the most unlikely people to do great things for his kingdom!

After my time in the Word, I read a couple of chapters from my book Loving God. It's so neat because the things I'm reading in my book are parallel with the Scriptures I'm reading right now. Fun to see God work that out! :) In my book today, the author was speaking about the crucifixion scene and the two thieves on each side of Jesus. He said, "For those two men who actually died alongside my Savior are representative of all mankind. We either recognize our sinful selves, our sentence of death, and our deserving of that sentence, which leads us to repent and believe - or we curse God and die." I'd never thought about it that way. One thief is cursing Jesus saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" while the other, aware of his sinfulness, is saying, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom". Definitely represents our world today, we are all thieves (sinners)...but which one are you?

The author goes on to ask how do we express gratitude for what Jesus did on the cross. His words..."Simply stated: by living the way He commands. By obedience. That is what the Scriptures mean by holiness or sanctification - believers are set apart for holy living. Therefore, holiness is the only possible response to God's grace. Holy living is loving God." (emphasis added :) ) He says that holiness is "the complete surrender of self in obedience to the will and service of God...the conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God". But "there can be no holiness apart from the work of the Holy Spirit - in quickening us through the conviction of sin and bringing us by grace to Christ, and in sanctifying us - for it is grace that causes us to even want to be holy....Conforming to the character of God - separating ourselves from sin and cleaving to Him - is the essence of biblical holiness." Clearly I like what He has to say. :) Leviticus 11:44 says, "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy."

Needless to say, I took in a lot this morning. But it was so good. I'm glad the Lord continues to teach me and open my eyes & ears to things I need to see & hear. I pray that He will continue to give me an open heart to His Word.

Blogging what I learn helps me to process, but I hope those of you who read are encouraged and challenged in your faith as well.

I have a lot of free time on my hands up here, so I'd love to know how I can be praying for my friends and family back home! Lemme know!

Oh, and this morning when I got to the coffee shop there was a sign on the front door stating that they are hiring full & part time positions...I'm thinking about applying! I'll let you know! :)

I'll leave you with a picture of the coffee shop and the view when you leave. :)







"This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24

much love!
loribeth

Loving God

The BC Lions came up with a 29-10 win on Saturday! It was such a strange game though...18 of our points came from field goals. Neither one of the teams made a touchdown until the 4th quarter. Definitely a defensive game. Richard played well! He made one tackle. But he didn't play near as much as he had hoped to. We're not sure, but we think the coaches were being cautious b/c of his leg just recovering and they were playing the #1 team, so they needed all the players to 100%. But we are so grateful that he got to travel with the team, play his first professional game, get a tackle, and come home with a win! :)

While he was gone this weekend, I started reading a book that my landlady lent me. It's called Loving God by Charles Colson. It was written in the early 80's, so I'd never heard of it, but I figured it would be a good way to pass time. As I mentioned in a previous post, I just finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I'm only half-way through Loving God but these books share similar concepts (which isn't hard to tell from their titles).

Through both of these books, I feel like God is opening my eyes to a better understanding of what it means to LOVE Him. Yes, I believe in Him, but am I loving Him. I've come to realize that if you truly LOVE God, your life has to be fruitful. (no brainer, huh?) As I think about that, I'm convicted by the lack of fruit I see in my life. Now, I know that we don't always see the fruit in our lives. We don't necessarily see how our prayers for others affect them or how encouraging words uplift someone or how a small conversation can change someone's life. But some fruit can be seen. Am I serving others? Am I being generous with my finances? Are my words tearing down or building up? Am I loving "the least of these"? Do I treat others as if they were Christ? Am I being Christ to others? Is God's Word on my mouth? Am I sharing the gospel with those I encounter?

Ephesians 2:8,9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Praise God for His grace! But James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." Our faith in God must produce deeds! Loving God is an action!

I don't want to live my life as a "Christian" just to have the benefit of heaven. I want to follow Him closely in this life, love him deeply, serve him well, and proclaim Him to those who don't know Him because He is a Holy God worthy of praise, glory, and honor. I want others to see Christ in me and desire to know Him because of the work they see Him doing in me. I pray for that kind of fruit in my life. I pray that I grow to LOVE (as an action) God more and not just believe in Him.

How are you loving God?

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Well, it's official! Richard is FINALLY playing in this weeks game...as a starter!! Wooohooo!!

For those of you who don't know, Richard has been on the practice team up here in Canada. During training camp he pulled his hamstring and wasn't able to practice for a few days or play in one of the scrimmages. Because of that, his competition was given the spot on the team. It was a really humbling experience for Richard because he's never NOT played. But we knew this was just a part of God's plan for us here in Canada.

Throughout this season, we knew that Richard could be moved up to active roster at any point. And there were multiple weeks where we really thought he would have been moved up. Several of his teammates were injured and the team has had 8 losses....not good. We were confused as to why the coaches weren't moving him up and we felt like we were getting the run around a little bit when Richard would ask questions but we just kept waiting and trusting God's plan. Then a couple of weeks ago, Richard pulled his quad. Really? Something else?? Well after lots of rehab and treatment and PRAYER his leg is good to go and he is playing! Praise the Lord!

I am so glad he finally gets to do what he LOVES! Not to mention, excited about the little bit of financial relief this brings us! (Although, his coach told Richard he HAD to use part of this first game check to buy a suit for traveling...haha!) But God is good. He is always in control! He knows exactly what he is doing. And His plan is PERFECT!

His game is away this weekend, so he'll fly out Friday, the game is Saturday, and he'll fly home Sunday...so it will be my first weekend here all by my lonesome! But I can't wait to watch my sweet man play on Saturday. Please pray for his leg to be 100% healed and have 100% strength!!

The game will be on espn3.com on Saturday at 8:30 for anyone who wants to watch or check the score! :)

And here's a link to an interview Richard had Tuesday...go check it out!
http://bclions.com/video/index/id/14251

Something else that I forgot to mention in my last blog was the cool opportunities that Richard has had these past two weeks. After their home game two weeks ago, one of the Christian radio stations teamed up with the BC Lions to put on an after show. A band called StarField performed and some of the players gave their testimonies and Richard was able to perform his song "Trust in the Lord". The next day he went to a church block party where he was able to hang out with the kids there, sign autographs, talk to them a little bit, and was able to perform his song for them, too. Then this past Sunday, our friend, Alozie, had a friend who was giving his testimony at the opening of a new church in downtown Vancouver. Alozie told his friend about Richard and they asked Richard to come perform there, too! So it's been fun to see God open up opportunities for Richard to share a little of his testimony and give God glory!

If you haven't heard Richard's song or seen the video, here is the link for that too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtHLt2QJfAc

Praise the Lord, for He is good!!! :)

Back To Reality

Welp...it's been about 3 weeks since I last posted...woops :)

In my last update, I told everyone that I was getting to go to Fort Worth for 2 weeks to help my sister and my baby niece. So September 2nd, I flew to Fort Worth. I was so excited to see my family but even more excited to meet my baby niece, Kynlee. She is perfect. Such a beautiful baby.

So for my first few days in Fort Worth, I just spent time admiring sweet Kynlee. We took her to my dad's coaches office to show her off to the other coaches. You should have seen my dad. He was holding her and walking around asking everyone if they saw "his" baby! :) It was cute to see how proud he is of her. The other coaches with babies of their own were pretty funny, too. They were grinning from ear to ear just looking at her. And Kynlee did so well that day, too. She didn't fuss at all. Such a good baby.

We took Kynlee to the doctor while I was there for her 2 week check up and she had already put on one pound and grown 3/4 of an inch. So crazy how fast babies grow! Erin went to the doctor, too, and she was doing so well so quickly after having a c-section. She was able to do so much more than I anticipated while I was there.

Erin & I made a trip to Lubbock so our family there could meet Kynlee and see me a little bit while I was in Texas...but Kynlee was definitely priority. :) We stopped in Abilene on the way to Lubbock so that Gran and Grandy could meet Kynlee. I was glad we got to see them, even though it was a quick stop. When we got to Lubbock we headed straight to my grandma's house. It was so fun to see my grandma get to meet her great grand baby. Erin and I got a break while our mom, aunt's and grandma spent time holding and taking care of Kynlee. :)

On Saturday, I was blessed to have lunch with some of the women in my life who I love and miss so much. I was so glad to see Kelli, Kim, Cotter, Katie, Ceri, and Misty! It was fun to catch up and hear about their lives. It was short & sweet, but I'm so grateful that we had time to get together.

Sunday, Erin, Kynlee, and I headed back to Fort Worth. My days in Texas we quickly coming to a close. While I was in Fort Worth, I was glad to watch two of Kimber's volleyball games. I hate that I miss out. During my second week there, it was fun to see Kynlee's eyes focus better and actually look at me instead of who knows what. I took so many pictures of her while I was there...I thought everything she did was cute...naturally. :) My last night in Fort Worth I spent time over at my dad's house with Kimbo, Haley and my dad. I feel like I didn't get to see them as much as I would have liked b/c they had to be at work and school....lame...who does that?? haha! But I am still so glad I got to go spend such a good amount of time there. What a blessing to get to spend two weeks with my baby niece...we definitely had bonding time. :)

One thing I did while I was in Fort Worth was read a book called Crazy Love. I know lots of y'all have heard of it and/or read it, but it was a good book. Challenging. Thought provoking. Makes you uncomfortable with the idea of being a "lukewarm" Christian. You really have to read it with an open heart and and open mind. There are times in the book where the author literally tells you to stop and pray before continuing on b/c he knows the next part of the book may be difficult to swallow. I would suggest it, but you have to be ready to internalize the things he talks about in the book. Something else he challenges people to do is to read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) and to take them LITERALLY. Read them as if you've never read the Bible before and never heard about the things Jesus is teaching. Take the words Christ spoke literally. I don't think Jesus would have wasted his breathe otherwise. One other thought from the book that I'll leave you with is the author's challenge to "consider & actually treat others as if they were Christ". Don't you think you'd treat everyone you come in contact with differently?? Your spouse, parents, kids, person behind the counter, teacher, boss, the poor & needy.....

Anywho, I was so glad to get home to see my hubs. 2 weeks is a long time! :) And might I add that I was REALLY glad to get back to 66 degree weather! Praise the Lord! :) Now I can step outside in the middle of the day without melting!

So it's back to reality...being home all day. Bills, cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of my pups, checking out peoples blogs, and updating mine....but I'm glad to be back. I won't be back to Texas until the middle of November or beginning of December, but that's not too long...we can make it. Oh, and we have an apartment set up to live in when we get back to Lubbock! So praise the Lord for that!

Hope you are all doing well! Feel free to call, skype, or e-mail anytime!

LOVE!

taste & see

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" -Psalm 34:8

Experiencing the goodness of God has been the theme of my life the past 6 months or so. He has been continually revealing His goodness to both Richard and me in so many different ways. His love, his forgiveness, his comfort, his abundant provision, his perfect plan, his kindness, his faithfulness, his grace, his perfect understanding of our needs...I could literally go on and on.

Richard and I have experienced a lot of ups and downs over these past 6 months but the Lord keeps reminding us through His Scriptures to "meditate on his works". So we are continuously reminded of how good and faithful God has been to us; how He is completely trustworthy and we can always depend on Him.

Yesterday was a perfect example of how good our God is. Through the kindness & generosity of my family, God provided a way for me to go to Fort Worth to be with my sister and her new baby, Kynlee, for 2 weeks! My heart has truly been longing to be with them, so I am completely grateful for this unexpected gift. I am so excited to get to serve my sister by helping her during this huge transition in her life.

Another extremely unexpected gift we received yesterday was a check from one of Richard's coaches. He knew that Richard being on the practice roster had made our finances a little tight and that we had a few needs and he wanted to help. He told Richard that some of the money HAS to go toward a date night, so we are going to definitely take advantage of that! :) We are so grateful for the way the Lord uses His people to provide. We are humbled by the generosity we've seen from so many people in our lives. We are so blessed.

Yesterday as I was reading Psalm 30, I came across this verse:

"I am counting on the Lord;

yes, I am counting on him.
I have put my hope in his word." vs.5 (NLT)

It spoke sweetly to me, because I AM counting on the Lord and I HAVE put my hope in his word b/c He is always good, always faithful, always true to His Word. What a mighty God we serve! :)

Also, yesterday Richard was able to have a spiritual conversation with one of his teammates! Richard is highly respected by his teammates and the Lord is really using that to build relationships. Continue to pray for him as God uses him to minister into the lives of his teammates! He is truly a light in a dark place!

Kynlee Adele

Today I get to welcome Kynlee Adele into the family. She was born August 26th at 12:32 am, weighing 8 lbs 14 ounces and 20 1/2 inches.

Erin went into the hospital this morning to be induced at 7am. Kynlee was initially due the first week of September but she kept getting bigger and bigger so they thought the time had come to bring her into the world. When Erin went in this morning, she was anticipating delivering Kynlee by early evening. My guess was 6:15pm (August 25th). Goodness were we all wrong. She wasn't dilating as quickly as she hoped, therefore the process was taking much longer than she wanted. Around 10:30pm she was only at an 8. The doctor said to wait another hour and then they might consider a c-section. After about 30 minutes, she started pushing. But after an hour of no progress, they decided to do a c-section. Kynlee was just too big. I was sad for my sister to have to have a c-section especially after having to push first but she was so ready for Kynlee to just be here.

(my details are probably a little sketchy considering they were being relayed to me from Texas to Canada, but you get the idea :) )

It's 2:18 am in Texas and 12:18 am here in Canada and I'm just waiting for a Skype call to see my little niece. I hear they are both doing well and that Kynlee is beautiful.

I can't even describe how happy I am for Erin and Albert. I know Kynlee will bring them so much joy. Praise God for his "little" blessings! The only thing that would make this day better is if I could be right there with them for this special moment. But I'll get there soon. God will make a way.

Congratulations Erin & Albert! I love y'all more than you know! :)

week of new things

This past Sunday we tried out church #4. One of our friends from Lubbock knew about this church here, so we looked it up and read about and were really excited to check it out. We've continued to pray that God would give us an open mind as we are seeking out a church home. Church #4 was different that what we expected. The worship was good and the message was good but the head pastor was preaching at a different church so an associate pastor spoke. When we left I think we both knew that it wasn't the place for us. I think we are going to try out church #3 again. :)

Yesterday, our friends Caryn and JR invited us to take a day trip with them to Whistler, BC. It's about 2 hours north of Surrey. It's actually the town that where the Winter Olympics were hosted. It's a really scenic town with lots of walking, biking, and hiking trails. We ended up going to this area called "Lost Lake". It was so pretty. We walked through this wooded area and then out pops this lake with lots of grassy area and all these people swimming and laying out. When we headed to Whistler, we didn't know exactly what we were going to do when we got there, so we didn't have bathing suites or towels or anything. Little Alozie (their son) wanted to get in the water, so he hopped in and started playing around. JR had shorts on so he got in a little ways to play with Alozie. Richard doesn't like lakes and wouldn't even walk around in the water with his shorts on. JR kept telling Richard that he could tackle Richard into the water, so of course boys being boys, they started wrestling around and they both ended up in the lake fully clothed! I wish I would have gotten a picture of that but I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures of Whistler, either. The drive home was rough, though. The first hour is so full of twists and turns that I felt like I was on a roller coaster. (it doesn't help that JR speeds and is a little bit of an obnoxious driver....haha!)

For the past couple of weeks I've been wanting to go check out this coffee shop just down the block from us, so today was the day. I packed up my computer, my bible and journal, and my book I've been reading and walked to the coffee shop. It is so cute. One area of the coffee shop has a cushioned bench with pillows lining one wall with a few tables in front of the bench. So I set up shop in the corner on this little bench and hung out there for a few hours. I think this may become a new little hang out spot for me.

After Richard finished working out today, we headed to Blaine, WA to fill up our gas tank and get some groceries. There was quite a bit of traffic today to cross the border, so we waited in line almost an hour before we actually crossed the border. But we made it. It's almost $30 cheaper to fill up our gas tank in Blaine than it is in Surrey and the gas station in Blaine is only about 10 miles from our house. We stocked up on groceries and the amount we spent in Blaine bought us a lot more than that amount does here in Surrey. So it was a successful trip.

Good news! Yesterday I spoke with a customer service rep at ATT and we now have a phone plan where we can call the states and within Canada without roaming fees. And anyone from the states or in Canada can call us! I was a little frustrated that no one told me about this plan when I asked multiple times before I left Texas, b/c we could have avoided some serious roaming fees. But I am very grateful that we have it now and the customer rep I spoke to is making a case to dispute the roaming fees we were charged, since their company failed to tell us about this plan in the first place. But all is well...so feel free to call us! :)

Random: Last night I had a dream that I won $109,000 on Wheel of Fortune. HAHA! I should try to make that dream become a reality! Wheel of Fortune, here I come! :)

Pray for Richard this next week. The head coach told Richard that this next week is his opportunity to fight for his place on the team. Pray that he has strength and confidence and that the Lord would protect him from injury. And pray that the coaches would show him favor! We are hopeful! :)

And I'm out!

much love :)

the value of wisdom

Proverbs 3:13-18

¹³ Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding,

¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
those who lay hold of her will be blessed.

Since I've been an independent adult I have spent a lot of time praying for provision, praying that I would be a good steward of what I have, and praying that I would honor the Lord with my finances. It seems that over these past 6 years I haven't been able to hide from financial difficulties. But in these past 6 years, I have never once been without. The Lord has ALWAYS provided, whether through family or friends or unexpected blessings. He is Good. He is Faithful.

When the Lord called Richard and I to Canada, we willingly followed. Richard signed a contract for an amount of money that was plenty for the two of us to live on, pay some debt, and put some into savings. But a few days before I left for Canada we received the news that Richard had been selected to be on the practice roster. We knew this was always a possibility, but we never expected it to happen. My first reaction was panic. Being on practice roster meant a HUGE pay cut. Something I didn't think we would be able to live off of. But the Lord kept gently nudging me to "go" and to trust Him.

Since we've been here we've been managing our finances pretty well. It's definitely an adjustment b/c the cost of living here is considerably higher. Grocery shopping is outrageous, gas is double what it is in Texas, eating out is almost out of the question, and tax here is just over 12%! Crazy! Over the past few weeks we became aware of some large bills that were due in Texas. We also just discovered that this next week we won't receive a paycheck b/c it is a bye week for the players, which leaves us unsure of how we will pay some of our upcoming bills. I became really anxious and honestly just afraid of the situation we are in. So I've been spending a lot of time talking to the Lord about all of this. Reading Scripture. Praying. Asking for Provision. Begging God to move Richard up to the active roster THIS WEEK. Well Richard did NOT get moved up this week to my extreme disappointment, but the Lord is good and has provided in other ways.

But something that I've realized during all of this is that through all my prayers for provision I've neglected to ask God for wisdom. Like the passage of Scripture says, "nothing you desire can compare with her". The value of wisdom is infinitely more than the value of any provision. If I'm lacking wisdom, how can the Lord trust me to be a good steward of His provision. I need wisdom & understanding to know how to effectively manage what the Lord gives me. I want to desire wisdom more than I desire financial provision. "Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace." I desire to walk her pleasant ways and her paths of peace. If I'm walking in wisdom, then the choices I make financially will be be honoring the Lord and will lead me to "paths of peace". Even if I'm still needing provision, I won't have to live in anxiety and fear b/c I'll know that I've done what the Lord has asked of me and the rest is up to Him.

So as I continue to pray for provision, I pray more that I would "embrace" wisdom so that I can honor the Lord as He provides. We trust God and we believe that he will give us the wisdom & provision to move through this phase in our life. I confess that I struggle with wondering how God will pull this off, but I know He will. He always does. Through a sermon I watched online the other day, I was reminded to not allow "toxic" thoughts to enter my mind. I must meditate on the faithfulness of God and his abundant provision in my life. He is compassionate. He hears & answers our prayers.

Be encouraged by God today. He is our Comforter. Our Provider. The Prince of Peace.

Seek His wisdom.

back from Texas

Sorry for the delay in my blogging. I've been in Texas for the past 12 days visiting family and friends for my sister's baby shower in Fort Worth and then for Kim and Brett's wedding in Lubbock.

My sister's baby shower was so good. She was blessed with so many wonderful gifts and the presence of lots of family and friends. I was really glad I was able to be there. I loved getting to spend time with my sisters and the rest of my family. It was hard to go, though. Being unsure if I'll make it back for when miss kynlee comes made saying bye really hard. But I have faith that I'll make it back somehow. It may not be exactly when I hope for, but it will happen. :)

After the baby shower weekend, I headed back to Lubbock for the wedding week. I has such a good time with Kim and her bridesmaids. We spent a lot of time together laughing, giving wedding/marriage advice, being emotional (well at least me & dana (:), and getting ready for the big day. Kim's lingerie/bachelorette part night was a lot of fun; great gifts, wonderful food, good wine and yummy desserts. Their rehearsal dinner was absolutely wonderful. It was at the 50 Yard Line, so the food was DE-LISH! There was so much love for them in that room. It was so neat to hear all the sweet things they had to say to Kim and Brett. They definitely have everyone's blessing! :) And the wedding...OH...the wedding! It was perfect. beautiful. emotional. fun. Everything about it was so suited for the 2 of them. I am so grateful they included me on such an important day in their life. I can't wait to see what the Lord does in and through their marriage!


After the wedding, I was exhausted! I was ready to get back to Canada to see my hubs, but I was glad for a couple of days to rest and recoup before having a long day of travel. During those couple of days I was able to spend time with my mom, brother, g-ma, cousins, and aunt & uncle. I was even able to go to Experience Life on Sunday. It was really nice to be back at the church that i love and miss!

My flight back to Canada was Tuesday afternoon. So that morning, I ran some errands with my mom, hung out w/ Kelli at starbucks, and then Katie dropped me off at the airport. I had a little bit of a panic attack about an hour and a half before my flight b/c I didn't know if the check in cut off in Lubbock was 30 minutes or 1 hour for international flights and I did NOT want to miss my flight again. But I made it. :) I had a 2 hour layover in Dallas that turned into 3 and 1/2 hour layover...not fun. I felt bad b/c Richard had this whole anniversary date planned for us and now it would be pushed back 2 hours. But I finally got on the plane. The flight seemed a lot longer than it did on the way to Texas. I was so restless and uncomfortable and had no concept of time, so I had no idea how much longer I would be on the plane. We arrived at the Vancouver airport and when I went through customs I'm almost 100% positive that I had the SAME guy who let me through when I drove into Canada. kinda weird. :)

I was so excited to see Richard when he came to pick me up! When I opened the car door, there was a rose and an anniversary card waiting for me. When we got to the house he told me wait in the car while he finished preparing for our at home date. After he set everything up, I headed to our basement suit to find candles and rose pedals lining the stairs to our front door and candles in a heart shape at the end of the stairs. I was very impressed by his effort! :) I came inside to a candle light dinner, roses, and champagne. He was really thoughtful and I was so grateful for his creativity. Mrs. Dolly even left an anniversary gift basket for us. It had a sweet little card, 2 champagne glasses, a bottle of wine, cupcakes, chocolates, and cookies. It was so thoughtful. I never would have expected that. :) So even though we didn't actually celebrate on our anniversary, it was well worth the wait.

So now I'm back here in Canada trying to figuring out how to spend my days. I'm glad to be back though. The pups were super excited to see me. I seriously think they thought I wasn't coming back. :)

I'll try to update often. And for those who are still wondering how to contact me, e-mail is the best way (lbkeeling@gmail.com). If you need to call us, our numbers are still the same. We just may answer and tell you that we'll call you back on our itouch. OR skype us! My skype name is loribeth421 and Richard's is Richard Jones and both or locations are still Lubbock.

So glad I got to see lots of you while I was in Texas!

much love-

loribeth for the jones'

Sunday Blessings

A few pictures to share :)

Sunset in Downtown Vancouver



Right after we'd gotten out of the outdoor pool that is right off of the beach :)


Downtown Vancouver


pretty much what the view looks like anywhere around here :)


this picture is for KIMBER...haha! I LOVE ya! (STOP...ALL WAY)


Sunday was full of "God moments". Let me share with you :)

One of Richards coaches told us about the church he goes to and invited us to come check it out. So yesterday we decided to go. Before we leave the house Richard receives a phone call from one of his teammates asking if Richard was going to church and, if so, where. Richard tells him where we're going and he decides to join us. At the time I wasn't aware that it would be him, his wife, his son, and his mother-in-law! I was so excited to finally meet a teammate and a WIFE! We met them at church and they were really nice and seemed really easy to get along with. And their little son, whose 4, is absolutely adorable! :)

As we entered the church we could already tell that it was VERY different than what we were used to at Experience Life. But we had already prayed for the Lord to give us an open mind and not be closed off to something different. It was very diverse in cultures, which is always fun to see. It wasn't a very large congregation. But it was very evident that they all LOVED Jesus. Worship was SO different that what we're used to, but everyone was getting into it! People were dancing, there was a lady with a tambourine, and some of their praise music sounded Jamaican! :) There was a guest speaker yesterday. A black man, but I'm not sure where he is originally from. He had a really strong accent, which made it difficult to understand him at times, but he preached a great message. Oh, at the beginning of the service, they asked first time guests to stand so they could welcome us and so we could tell them our names and where we were from! We all thought they were joking about the second part, but they were NOT! HAHA...they passed around a microphone for us all to introduce ourselves! They were super sweet and welcoming, though, so we didn't feel too uncomfortable! :)

After church, Richard and I headed home. I told him how excited I was to meet a wife (who is very evidently following Christ) who I can know at games and hang out with sometimes! We talked about the church service and what we thought about it. We will probably still look around, but it's definitely not ruled out. :)

When we pulled up to our house, someone's car was parked in front of our spot so that we couldn't pull in. We were confused, b/c our landlady was out of town so we didn't know who it could be. But it was her youngest son, Grant. He was outside washing his car. So we had a chance to meet him and chat with him for a little bit. Grant has been battling cancer, but is in remission right now. He is the last of the 3 kids for us to meet, so we were glad to run into him. All of Mrs. Dolly's kids are super friendly (no surprise, considering what a sweetheart she is). Richard had a chance to talk to Grant for a little while. Through his conversation, he could tell that Grant is not following the Lord, so Richard tried to say a few things to indicate that he is a Christian.

Later on yesterday, I had a chance to sit outside with Mrs. Dolly for an extended amount of time. We had a more in depth conversation than usual. I told her we went to church yesterday morning and I had a chance to tell her a little bit about Campus Crusade and I let her know that I think that she is truly a blessing from the Lord. I was excited to have a semi-spiritual conversation with her. Richard and I are truly excited to be in this home! This is one of our missions here in Surrey! To share the gospel with Mrs. Dolly and her kids! Pray that the Lord really uses us to minister into their lives! Pray for courage and the wisdom to know what to say!

Yesterday afternoon, Richard went to work out with the teammate who had joined us a church. After they were finished working out, Richard called to tell me that JR and Karen (his teammate and his wife) wanted us to come over and hang out with them! WOOHOO! I was finally getting to hang out with other people! (I love time with Richard, but we need to see different faces every once in a while...haha) JR and Karen decided they wanted to treat us to dinner! We head out around 8:00 to go eat at a nice little restaurant in Surrey. (FYI: My salad was AMAZING!) We end up hanging out at the restaurant until 11:30. We had such great conversation that was so glorifying to the Lord! We talked about our faith, we talked about how good God is, we shared stories about how evidently God is at work in all of our lives! It was SO fun and so refreshing to meet another couple who truly LOVE the Lord and are fully pursuing Him! I was really encouraged by their faith and their wisdom and their desire to honor God with their lives. I really believe that this is the start of a special friendship! Praise the Lord!

Today, we are going to the beach with them! I'm just so grateful that the Lord is in every detail of our lives. He brought us here to Canada with purpose and with every detail planned...from Mrs. Dolly to JR and Karen! All Glory to God!

Thank you for all your prayers during this transition in our life! We know the Lord is interceding!

MUCH LOVE!
the jones'

thoughts from my time with the Lord today...

"What union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God." 2 Corinthians 6:16

I am the temple of the living God. Christ dwells in me. He resides in me.

I would be appalled if I walked in the Temple of God and found idols there and even more if there were people there worshiping those idols in His temple. But that's what i do every day of my life. I build up idols in my life (God's temple) and I worship them!!! Right alongside my worship of the living God! If I could visually see that I would be disgusted with myself. I would call myself a hypocrite.

But it's not visual. I'm not a beautiful building that you can walk into and see worthless idols invading God's Holy place. Mine are hidden, which may even be worse, because then I can walk around and act like they're not there. But God knows. He knows that my heart is divided between Him and all these other worthless things. What a shame. I am a TEMPLE of the Most Holy God and I am dishonoring him by worshiping other things in HIS dwelling place. How selfish I am.

I wish I could be like the "good" kings in the Old Testament who demanded that all the idols be removed from their cities, but I can't visually look into myself and see if they're gone. I have to allow the Word of God to be a light into my life to make me aware of the places I'm still worshiping idols. I have to allow His Spirit to move in me so that in HIS strength and power I can remove those idols from His Holy presence. What a discredit to the name of God. Telling Him that He is not enough. Telling Him that He isn't satisfying my soul. When the truth is, He is more than enough if I'd go to Him and only Him. He's more than enough to satisfy every longing of my heart, every need, every desire.

I am a temple of the living God!! If only I'd listen to God's demand to remove the idols in my life, then God would have room to fill me through and through. He wouldn't be stifled by the box I've put Him in. If I'd remove the idols, I can only imagine how the presence of God would seep through the temple doors of my life. What a beautiful thing that would be. :)

Let God's presence fill His Temple today. Amen!

Pictures of our HOME :)

The back of the house where I park and enter the back yard through the gate.



Our cute little yard


Down to la casa


Living room



kitchen




different view of the living room


little hall area with our desk and dog cage, and the door to the landlords basement where we do our laundry


bathroom



bedroom




That's our home! :) Almost everything here was given to us to borrow while we are here. The couch, coffee table, tv & tv stand, microwave, desk, rug, curtains, bench, padded lawn chairs for the yard...all lots of other stuff was either our landlords or her daughters. We rented the bed and the dresser...that's it! What a blessing our sweet little landlord is! :)

A week in and I am still enjoying it here! :) I've been getting the house situated and getting settled since I've been here, so I'm sure I'll begin to experience some boredom pretty soon. Richard has been taking the car to practice, so I sit at home all morning til the mid afternoon. I may have to start taking him every once in a while so I can have the car to get out of the house a little more during the day. But for now we're managing. :)

Hope all is well in the states! Miss everyone, but I'll be back soon! I fly into Dallas on July 22nd! (Dad, we'll have to go celebrate your birthday when I get into town!)

LOVE!
the jones'