We are here!

It's been too long, I know.  We have had things come up and then the whirlwind of the move, and then no internet for a bit.  But now, here we are, in Canada...and with internet...so what's going on?

I could go on with details of how the move went and what we do daily, but it would bore you to tears.  Instead I will share what God keeps bringing to my mind, everyday...it's a song. Surprise surprise, right?   And while there are a couple of new songs that float in my heart and mind daily this particular song is an oldy, but a goody...

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings;

See what God hath done.

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings;

See what God hath done.

And so to share how things have been going that is just what I will do, count a few blessings...

Blessing #1

I knew we have fantastic families who love us and the Lord. I knew my parents and Neil's are sacrificial people, but through this move God has shown us a glimpse of how BIG they love, how willing they are to sacrifice for the Lord. They have given more time, money, energy, and of themselves than I thought possible.

Blessing #2

We have amazing kids.  I knew that too, but God continues to show me just how amazing. Yes, I get the occasional "I miss...." from them but far more often I get boys who are ready for the adventure, boys who bounce back quickly from drastic change, boys who constantly surprise me (in a good way) when faced with a situation that will stretch them. God is so good and He truly is answering prayers.

Blessing #3

We have an outstanding Sending Church. Again, I knew First Baptist OP was amazing but they continually overwhelm us with love and support.  Some are supporting finically, some with prayer, some gave time and physical man power (talk about overwhelming how many showed up on pack the truck day).  Everyone has given as they can and it brings me to tears just thinking about it.  God is moving in the body at First Orange Park and the blessings overflowing reach very far.

Blessing #4

Our new local congregation is the REAL DEAL! They love the Lord and they have been the Church. They welcomed us, unloaded us, fed us, helped to stock our pantry, giving as they can which is humbling but they didn't stop there.  No, they have made us feel like family from day one. That is a harder feat for sure and yet not once have we felt alone or without local support.  Allowing us to assimilate into the group is hard to explain but essential.

Blessing #5

Our Heavenly Father has taken care of every little thing, down to the smallest detail.  He provided us with enough funding to get started up here with the basics, to have a beautiful home, to have food on the table, to have gas in the car, to slow us down and make sure we rest, to give us vision of His plan here, to make sure we are fully funded (Thank you Sending Church AND the gifts from a church in Texas who have never met us).  Even as new "bumps" come a long we rest in His peace knowing He has it all under control. Being able to have a mindset that says, "Oh well, that is unexpected, I wonder what's next? God, how would You like to us to work through this situation?" And to have complete peace and no worry, I can't explain the hugeness of that blessing.  Words just can't describe.

These are just a few blessings, know there are more, I'm sure even some we don't recognize, too. God is good, God is moving, and it is so good to be a part of His goodness and His move.

This is happening....

Hey friends! Kaytee here and I just wanted to let you know,

This. Is. Happening.

When we first told everyone last fall of our calling to Canada the road seemed so long and for most of it we had little to no answers to give. But now, it's ON!  Tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, we fly out to Atlanta and then Buffalo but our end destination will be Toronto, Canada.  This trip is a little different than all the others in that we will be finding a place to live.  WHOA!  It's real now, huh.  This will enable us to have an actual, real-life move date.  That will start us packing and transitioning for real.

But before I go on about that I want to say thank you.

Thank you Church for being faithful, for believing that Neil and I have been called, and for supporting us all along the journey, even when we had no answers.  We went out of faith and booked our flight for this trip on faith.  We booked this weekend because our realtor said if August was our move time then we needed to get up there ASAP and this was the only time Neil could secure vacation from work to find a place.  We had no idea if we would be able to provide the needed first and last month's rent and wondered if this weekend would prove to be the wrong time.  But we felt God telling us to plan the trip and Trust, so we did.

Church, let me tell you God has provided through you!

While we aren't fully funded to live in Canada (yet), we do have what we need to put first and last month's rent down and possibly (if the Canadian government will let us at this time) secure the deposits for our utilities.  This is a huge answer to prayer, it makes this trip divinely planned, and we can't say, "thank you!" enough.

Let me also let you in on a secret: I don't know to "properly" respond.  So many of you have approached Neil and I with encouraging words and told us you would be praying and giving funds or planning a trip up.  Most of the time I am able to squeak out an awkward 'thank you' sometimes prefaced with an long pause before and after it.

Please let me interpret this for you:
** At that moment, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and many times trying not to cry in front of you.

** In my head 'thank you' seems trite and not enough, especially when you say,

    "I know ____ amount a month isn't very much but..."

Let me assure you, OH yes it is! Any amount a month is HUGE! You have a life, and bills, a family, and we know to commit for three years for any amount each month means a huge sacrifice (as are the one time gifts!!!).

**I am humbled every time someone tells me they will be supporting us in any of the 3 P's (prayer, people, provision).  My breath is taken away and I am reminded of what an awesome mission lays before us.

Thank you for listening, thank you for trusting, and thank you for believing; not in us but in the Kingdom work God is doing.

As for this weekend...if everything goes according to plan, we will leave Jacksonville at 5:30am Saturday morning and will be back late Tuesday night. The goal is to find a home on the Oakville-Burlington line (to be in the right place to connect with people for church but not too far away from the TPC Office where Neil will be working).

Some Specific Prayer needs:
Finding the right home - the place where God wants us - the right neighborhood.
The preparing of a person of peace in that neighborhood.
That we are able to be focused and not distracted.
For the grandparents (Ed and Becky Hill/Steve and Robin Jimenez) as they will be tag-team caregivers for the boys during our absence.
We are praying Psalm 90:16-17 and would love for you to pray this with us:

"Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands."

See you on the other side of the trip!

It's me... Neil

Hey Everybody! This is Neil. Kaytee and I have decided since we’re in this together, we both should probably write down some things. That, by no means, means what she has written so far were not my sentiments. We definitely agreed on what and how to say those things, but I thought I’d give this a shot. When you read along you’ll know who is writing, but please also know we both agree whole-heartedly in these words and how they are written.

Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, we can get on to business.

We are confident that God has called us to serve Him in Canada. We are trusting Him thoroughly. We know this isn’t going to be an easy move. However, we do know it’s the right move and that God is leading us into it.

One of the major challenges to our relocation and new calling is financial. We have been aware of that. You have most likely been aware of that. Our pets were aware of that. Nevertheless, before we get to that, we have another request. One we think is more important.

We sincerely ask you to pray. Pray for us. Pray for our families. More importantly, pray for you and yours. Before we hit the “guilt you into helping us” pitch we know you are expecting, we ask you to pray. We request you to specifically pray God show you where and how to ENGAGE in the mission field. As Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

This doesn’t necessarily mean you ask God to show you where to move, but it does put you in THE story. Pray that God reveal to you where you can ENGAGE. Whether it be with World Relief (as David Tarkington mentions here), with the International Learning Center in Jacksonville, with your neighbor next door, with your family across town or with a missionary family (like ours or others, such as Josh and Darlene Dryer). Earnestly pray and seek where He wants you to ENGAGE. That is more important that giving us your money.

As we step out in obedience to where God has called us to serve, we seek your partnership in this journey. Each planter in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) seeks partners who can provided the “Three ‘P’s” of Prayer, People and Provision.

PRAYER
Therefore, we are asking you to consider being Prayer Partners with our family. Will you become part of our team by praying for God to use us for His glory in Toronto? We are going into this service with our eyes wide open, but fully realize that prayer is essential.

PEOPLE
At this point, we are not set up to have groups come and serve (primarily because we still live in Orange Park) but once we settle in our new home later this year, and begin to serve with our planters, the need for people to come on the weekend or at other times to serve along side us will be needed. Please consider a “three day weekend mission trip” or another time to come serve with us and others in our network.

PROVISION
With that being said (yep, here it comes), the GTA is not an inexpensive place to live. How else do you expect “free” health care, moose rides for all and each newborn be given a hockey-puck pacifier and mini-hockey stick? (Jokes people, not all of these are actually given.)

It has been shared our monthly goal is to have $7,500 as incoming funds. We are currently classified with the North America Mission Board (NAMB) as Church Planting Interns. That guarantees us $1,000 per month for one year. As you can see, that leads us to seek God’s lead in raising the remaining needed funds. Fortunately, First Baptist Church of Orange Park (our sending church) will be able to provide us with $10,000 for the first year ($834 a month). This still leaves us way under budget.

We ask for your help in raising the remaining funds and supporting God’s mission. We ask you to consider stepping along side us as we walk through this journey. We are looking for monthly sponsors who can give above and beyond their tithe to their local church and help support us. Without sounding desperate, we’ll take anything. If you are saying, “Well, we can’t give anything on a monthly basis,” we will happily receive one time gifts as well.

We are mostly looking for those who can give something, anything on a monthly basis. As you can expect, we have huge upfront costs (first and last month’s rent, deposits for utilities, moving expenses to get our stuff up there, the list goes on and on).

Right now we expect to go up in early June to finalize a place to live for our August move. We are also working with First Baptist to create a way for YOU to give to US. In the meantime, please be in constant prayer for us and for yourselves to determine if this is where God is leading you to give. We would love to have you along this journey with us, but more importantly, we want you to ENGAGE the world somewhere outside your home for Jesus. We are praying for you to find this place.

We’ll post or send more information when we have it. This blog is about to get busy… Here We Go!!!

CANADA: The Comings and Goings

The last time I wrote I laid out how Neil and I, through much prayer and spiritual battle, felt called to Toronto, Canada.  And then the blog went silent for months.  Sorry friends, I was quiet because I didn't have any details...but now we do.

What's Coming Up?

Many of you know The family and I were in Canada for Easter.  We had the privilege of working with Starting Point Church. We assisted with an outreach on Saturday and with the children's service on Sunday.  Wow. I don't have time to go into all of that in this post but let me just say,  A-MAZ-ING! and God is working.  Neil and I were also able to talk about, with the necessary people, the How and the When of our move.

We were told to shoot for an August 1 move date, plan on July sometime to come find a home.  That seemed soooo great!  That gave us plenty of time to get things in order, price check somethings, and begin the ever important but extremely challenging fundraising venture - so we can have the means to obtain a place to live.  However, in the last few days some of that has been fast-tracked.  Our realtor says we need to be there by the first or second weekend in June to find a place if we want to be able to move in August.  That is only a few weeks away.  We would have to do so much: see if Neil could get time off work, find someone to watch our kids, purchase flights, and have the chunk of cash for all the required deposits.

I must say I  was feeling a little like Charlie Brown when we got that email.     

                                                                         

But God wasn't at all surprised.  This is His story after all.  The first weekend in June was the only free weekend that Neil would have been able to get off anyway.  The flight prices weren't all that inflated despite the short time frame and it being nearly summer.  It looks like between our parents our children will be well taken care of (if not completely spoiled).  And the chunk of cash we need?  Well, God will provide that somehow. I know this because He has taken care of everything else in just the right time. He will with the monetary side of things too.  He is God overall.  

The Goings.

I know what some of you are thinking...so how are they going?  Are they going with the Bank? The short answer to that is, no.  Before our Easter trip Neil and I had a confirmation that the Bank was not the route we were to take.  To go with the Bank would mean that we would essentially transplant our life from Orange Park, Florida to Toronto, Canada.  Our life here is good, we serve greatly and we love it, but we are being called to more.  We both had the sense that we were to get out of the comfort zone and to work with multiple church planters.  

Your next question may be something like; so what exactly are you going to be doing?  This is good question with an interesting answer.  Neil will be working for NAMB (North American Mission Board) in the SEND city of the Greater Toronto Area, or GTA.  Some of this will mean he helps planters with the financial side of the planter's church plant. Another part of this is a little harder to explain.  Right now the the office NAMB guys are able to do their jobs and assist church planters with the ins and outs of starting their plant.  But soon, very soon the number of planters will be too great for them to do this effectively.  One of Neil's primary roles will be to assist the planters on the ground level, be their advocate and voice as well as share with the planters the needs and expectations from the NAMB leaders.  During one of our meetings the statement was made that Neil would be like the cream of the Oreo, holding together the two major parts of church planting. This is an integral part of making sure planters are successful and we are honored to have it laid before us.  

                                                                               

Now some of you may being wondering...what will Kaytee be doing?  I will be serving as the "Meet the Need Wife".  When assistance is needed, when a spot needs to be filled - that will be my roll.  We have already committed to Starting Point Church and I know I will be actively serving there just as I do here.  And once we get settled, we hope to start a small group in our home with our neighbors.

Right now that is where we are and what we are doing.  More details to come soon! Please keep praying!  

SO NOW WHAT? Part 2

The adoption is only part of the transformation that began the summer of 2011… That same summer of 2011, Neil had gone with our pastor to the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, AZ. It was the first time the convention focused on SEND>>North America.  Neil came back different; God began a movement in him. 

A couple of months after the convention Neil took me to Tucson to meet a planter our church is supporting.  It doubled as our anniversary trip.  The next thing was the adoption talk.  That same summer I had felt the call to adopt but told God I didn’t want it to be me, I didn’t want to manipulate the situation or talk Neil into it.  So I would wait until Neil brought it up and I was at peace to wait years and years if that is what it took. That fall Neil looked at me and said – so I think we should have another kid, but not have one…adopt.  Neil’s heart wasn’t just being softened to God but he was hearing God’s voice and being obedient.  Neil continued to hear God and the story became more complicated quickly.  Neil and I became impassioned to meet and support church planters.  The next April (2012) Neil traveled again with our Pastor on a vision trip to Portland, Oregon.  He fell in love with Portland and the planters there. I knew at some point Neil was going to say I feel God calling us to work with planters, to move, to plant.  I didn’t know what or when but God was softening my heart too and preparing me for that conversation. 

After Portland it was clear, we were being called away from home.  Where and how and what weren’t clear but Neil wanted me to travel to Portland.  Neil was almost sure Portland was going to be our new home.  Meanwhile the Jacksonville Baptist Association, which my church is an active member of, began talking with SEND>>North America: Toronto.  Yep, Toronto, Canada.  In November some leaders from Toronto were flown in and we were able to listen to them talk. As I look back, that was a privilege that was not awarded to many. It was a closed group and Neil and I had no business to be at that round table discussion but God wanted us there.  I was immediately drawn to the Toronto folks.  I wanted to know more, I wanted to be in their presence and I was jealous that Neil was scheduled to go to Toronto on yet another vision trip in January of 2013.  At the same time, Neil hot for Portland, got us signed up for a mission trip the end of Feb, beginning of March 2013.  That satisfied my desire to go for a little while. 

The holidays came and went and Jan 2013 showed up without fail.  Neil came back from Toronto with a sense that Toronto was cool but was sure Portland was where we were to go…honestly, I was slightly bummed, Toronto had sparked something in me but I was up for anywhere God was to lead.  Our Portland trip finally came.  I was so excited I knew God was going to have a neon light pointing to where we would live and what our ministry would be. However, I was left empty.  Don’t get me wrong.  I loved Portland, the people are so odd you just must love them.  We connected with a couple of the planters pretty well, but something was a miss.  I felt God saying that if you move to Portland it would be a self-indulgent move and He would not bless it.  That hit me hard, and I was so sad.

Now what?  We knew we had heard God say, I’m sending YOU….how long would we wait?  We came home, and waited…but not long.  Toronto was still tugging at me.  I told Neil I wish I could go to Toronto just to see what might be there for us, even though Neil didn’t think Toronto was the place.  Not too long later our pastor threw out on Facebook a vision trip to Toronto for September 2013.  I wanted to go SO badly but was afraid Neil wouldn’t be supportive…how I was wrong.  At the same time I was getting nerve to ask if I could go, Neil said, I think you should go on that vision trip to Toronto. 

I went, and it was amazing.  I didn’t meet a planter couple that I couldn’t have a great conversation with.  The need for workers is so great it hurts my head. Being there I felt excited and energized even when completely exhausted from the day.  There is so much to do, finding a place to do ministry won’t be an issue. One of the NAMB guys asked me, “What would it take to get you here (to Toronto)?”   I said honestly, I need my family to be taken care of, we have two small boys, I need to know we can support them but other than that, we’re here. 

I came home and I will be honest, the enemy began attacking.  Neil got sick and I began feeling useless and unworthy.  I began to own “not good enough” as my identity. How could I be used for the kingdom?  Fortunately, before I left Toronto I had set up a meeting for Neil and me to meet with one of the NAMB missionaries.  He would be in town for a JBA celebration just a couple of weeks after we got home from the Toronto trip, coincidence I think not. The attacks were heavy for those couple of weeks.  I wasn’t sleeping and forcing myself to eat one meal a day so that people would see me eat and not ask questions.  I was hurting emotionally, Neil was too but also had a crazy sinus infection that caused him to have vertigo.  All this drew Neil and I closer together, we had to not just seek God’s face individually but also together.  As a precaution I had to drive Neil to work and pick him up, more time that we were drawn together.  All the while the enemy was attempting to tear us apart but God was strengthening and pulling us together.

The two weeks were more than hard and the Monday night meeting finally came.  This was it, Neil and I would decide yes or no.  Neil was hit again with another episode of vertigo and general illness.  We knew no doubt that was the enemy, we pressed on with the meeting.  The meeting was not as intense as I thought it would be but it certainly gave us some things to think about. Providing for our family was the big deal.  Neil and I wanted a plan; we wanted to see everything laid before us.  I know now we were expecting too much from God.  Who are we to demand the whole plan at once?  One thing that came up in our meeting was that we needed to begin thinking like missionaries.  WHAT?!?  Me a missionary? Don’t you have to go to school or some kind of training to be a missionary?  We just want to go support planters and tell people about Jesus, that’s not missionary work, right?  We are just normal folks.  Missionaries are super Christians with mountains of faith, right? Faith. We needed the faith to trust that God would provide for our every need, to trust He was calling us out. 

When Neil and I got married we had so little, neither of us full time jobs but we were young and with no kids I knew we would be fine scrimping by for however long we needed.  God was so good to us in that first year of marriage.  Before I knew it we both had full time career style jobs with benefits.  We were able to get Internet and satellite, all those perks, perks we were now used to, our kids are used to.  We have lived so cushy and privileged. I had forgotten how God had provided so much so quickly. 

The night of the Monday meeting, Neil and I came home exhausted.  We knew we were answering the call to be….missionaries (with the understanding that a missionary is a child of God who is being obedient to carry out the mission that God has called him or her to, NOT a super Christian).  We needed faith.  We came together that night and prayed, prayed for a lot of things but most specifically for faith. The next morning I looked at my scheduled Bible reading. Hebrews 11.  For those of you who may not remember off the top of your head, Hebrews 11 is titled, at least in my Bible, as The Triumphs of Faith.  It defines faith and then gives examples of the great faith that the people of God have had starting with Abel’s offering, then on to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses and so on and so on finally coming to a point of saying it’s too much to list all those who had faith in God, and in a promise they never got to see.  Ouch!  How much more should I have faith since I have received the promise that is Jesus? I text Neil, because that’s what you do when you’re in separate rooms but have something urgent to say these days. We had an answer, I had my neon sign saying YES, you have heard Me right, Toronto, proceed, I will provide, you can trust Me.

After some prayers that went like this, “Forgive me God for not trusting you without an itinerary, who am I to doubt your goodness?”  We said, okay God we’re in for the ride, give us your plan at Your timing. Neil then spoke to his boss about a possible transfer within the firm.  He thought it would be a long shot? I mean who wants to send his top performer on his team away?  But he was supportive and said he would do whatever he could to help Neil with a position in Toronto.  We don’t know if that is how God is going to get us up to Toronto yet.  We are still waiting on some details there but no one has reacted like we thought.  We have been met with supportive people ready to help us follow God where He is leading.  We don’t know if Neil’s company is how we will get to Toronto but we do know that God will get us there because He is sending us. We are holding to the promise that God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  He has proven Himself over and over to be more than faithful and He will not send us where He won’t also go before us.  

SO NOW WHAT? Part 1

Many of you know that Neil and I have felt called to adopt.  Many of you have asked me, “So, what’s going on with the adoption? Any placements to come soon?”  I usually sheepishly reply with, “Waiting on getting our recommendation letters and still have a little paperwork to fill out.” Which is true but my goodness, some of you must be thinking, HOW MUCH PAPERWORK, seriously it’s been forever.  Trust me, I feel that way too.  But if I am honest our story is more complicated than just finding time to fill out paperwork.

Neil and I are finding our story, the story God is writing for us, isn’t as simple as get married, have kids, adopt one and live happily ever after.  Not saying that a story like that is simple either but I thought that level of complicated would be it, I was wrong.  I do, we do, think that it started with our hearing God on the adoption and following through with obedience, at least with the first steps.  The timeline is something like this:

Fall 2011 Neil and I have the discussion, we need to adopt.  We agree we need to pray through it and follow through with classes as soon as possible, I at least felt an urgency to begin right away.

May-July 2012 we took the PRIDE classes for certification to be eligible to adopt. However, that summer we also got terribly sick and ended up missing some of the classes. That meant we had to wait until the next round of PRIDE classes to do our make-up.

Oct 2012 we did our make-up classes.  I felt good, like we were proceeding.  We hadn’t decided if we were going to get our home study through the Children’s Home or the state and we had to make a very important decision, who would be named guardian of our children if something were to happen to us.  This we struggled with for quite some time and began praying for clarity.

Nov 2012 I felt God saying wait, the adoption needs to wait, slow down.  I heard wait, the holidays are crazy busy pick it up after the New Year.  But God was faithful to answer our prayer about guardianship and during Christmas holidays we were able to agree on, have peace about the who and manage to talk face to face with the family who were so sweet and generous to agree to take on our children (no matter the number or DNA) if something were to happen to us. 

Spring of 2013 came, we decided to use the state to do our home study.  With that came a new packet of paperwork to complete. I was crushed with that daunting task for some reason.  The references had to be handed out and again I felt God saying wait.  I said, “No I felt such urgency to move forward at the beginning of this process.  People know we are working on adopting, what will they think of us?”  I doubted that I was hearing God clearly.  I said to myself, “Self, you are being selfish and lazy – move forward!” (Honestly, it was probably more of my pride that was the issue, but that is a story for another time.) I was struck with frustration, peace had left me, I was stressed and then that email came from the caseworker. 

“We like to have everything done in 3 months, paperwork, home study, and a placement.  If you can’t handle this time line perhaps you need to close your file until you can.” 

3 months, 3 months, 3 months…. I nearly hyperventilated.  I had too much going on, I couldn’t get paperwork and references and the house ready in 3 months.  And the kicker too, “More than likely the youngest you will be placed with is 8 years old.”  Which is not bad considering Neil and I had said we didn’t want an infant necessarily but it was clear, we both knew God has told us, at least right now, not older than Eli.  Eli is to be the oldest.  Now I knew if I proceeded I would be in direct disobedience.  I wrote the email back explaining this is a bad time, there is no way we could complete in 3 months please close our file for now.  It was an extremely hard letter to write and even harder to press send but let me tell you, that peace that I hadn’t had in months flowed over me. For the first time in months I had listened and obeyed completely. 

Fall 2013 came quickly and I thought about trying to pick up the paperwork but didn’t feel like God was giving me the go, so I waited…. we are waiting.

Life Lessons - on choices

Well, it's been over a year since I have wrote something, I am so good at this blogging stuff!  Anyhoo, I had one of those "hey, take note, I'm using your kids to teach you something" moments yesterday.  Not to say that my kids don't teach me daily, they do, but sometimes I hear God in the midst so clearly, I just have to share.

Just so you know, my main teaching point with my boys is that life is a series of personal choices.  How you choose determines much of how your life will go. Many times good choices bring good things and bad choices bring bad things.  Oh sure, life is not fair, bad things happen to good people who make good choices, they are learning that too.  However, I want them to know you still have a choice to make when those unfair times come. That is where this morning came into play.

I put the boys in the car to head to school, but since it was my work day too I had to load some of my stuff as well.  In the process of my loading, Eli (my calm, rational child most of the time) fell to pieces.  He is almost scream-crying like the world has ended. Knowing there was not much that could  happen to justify such an outcry (since he was strapped into his carseat) I finished loading what was in my hand and then went him.

"Eli, what is the problem?" I ask nonchalantly.
"Owen, tooOook my boOoOoOok!" He mutters through sobs.
Unbelievingly I respond, "Seriously? Son, that is not something to scream over."
Of course that fell on deaf ears, so without thinking I go into my usual "choices" spiel.  "Who is in charge?  Who is in charge and loves you?"
Eli, mumbles, "you are."
I continue, "Son, you have a choice to make. Owen took your book and you can choose to sit there and cry and make noises and get no where OR you can ask the one who is in control and who loves you to help you with your situation and move forward.  What is your choice going to be?"

Of course you can imagine how the rest of the story went.  Eli asked me for help, I spoke to Owen, blah blah blah, the book was returned and Eli was once again happy. But let me retell the story with how I was hearing God while speaking to Eli...

 ...Without thinking I go into my usual choices spiel.  "Who is in charge? [that would be Me.] Who is in charge and loves you?" [Yep, still Me.]
Eli, mumbles, "you are."
I continue, " Son, you have a choice to make. [so do you.] Owen took your book and you can choose to sit there and cry and make noises and get no where OR you can ask the one who is in control and who loves you to help you with your situation and move forward.  What is your choice going to be?" [Yes, what is YOUR choice going to be?]

Crazy, huh?  I don't know what is coming, but let's face it there is always going to be a time when someone just "takes your book out of your hand" so to speak.  I am so thankful for a heavenly Father that takes the time to remind me, He is in control and on top of that - He loves me too! He doesn't want me to sit and cry and be at a loss, He wants me to run to him.

Oh, and just in case I wasn't listening, first thing when I got into my meeting that morning (after dropping the kids off at school) my pastor shared Psalm 18:2

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."