The beginning of June some of our family will be traveling to Florida for a 10 day orientation/training with a Mission Organization we have applied for. We are pretty excited about the whole endeavor. Excited to meet the faces we have been talking to about our mission in Uganada. Excited about the oversight they will offer us, and the family feel the organization offers. While we are there Joshua will be headed to Idaho for a Regional Championship with his Club Team. This is an incredible opportunity for him, he has worked really hard and we are proud of him. Here is a video of some highlights from last year, if you want to see him in action. His team was the state champions in their level, and in this video you will see some of Joshua's goals. He is number 13 and his team is Navy Blue, and they also have a Yellow jersey. Their team is in this video quite a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y53xvrWQ1Ow&feature=share&list=PL4FG4d0re73kpJIRRUBhQYFiTVC0PqJ71
Our road to investigating Malachi's health have finally come to an end. He has gone through EEG testing and things are looking really good. Much better than last time, and there is nothing further we have to do, or can do. This was great news for us. Give God the glory!!
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
To Be Great We Must Serve
It was turning out to be one of “those” mornings. If you people have little people you know what “those” is referring to. Where nothing seems to be working itself into place and all seems topsy turvy. The one where the toddler is being a toddler, the baby is being a baby, human excrement is in places it shouldn’t be, crying, whining, the defiant one is working his manipulating magic, and the choir of “MOM I need you, MOM can you help me?” is in forte. The craze makes my head spin and I realize it is not because I haven’t had anything to eat, but because my brain is taking in waaaay too much information, while trying to meet the demand. The stress part of my brain is swelling. (yeah there is a stress part of your brain! Okay not really but it sounds good). Those of you who have little people are smiling right now and those who don’t are wondering where this is going, stick with me. Luckily I don’t have one of these moments very often but like the sun coming up each morning it happens, and is bound to happen with a toddler in the house. So by the time 10:00 tea time comes around (where we sit at the table for our readings) I am feeling frazzled. And now I have 7 little people looking at me, wondering what the lessons for the day will hold. I have enough sense to know that the first thing we should start with in our lessons is the Bible. A tradition that was started from experience, knowing that we all needed God’s word to instruct us and glean some light into our shadowy hearts, and today I needed it more than ever. I was able to get up early in the morning to have my time with God, but with the swelling in my brain, I had forgotten. (Those forgetful Israelites don’t sound so foolish now a days). This time of opening the word is more for the kids to learn and experience God, but of course God always has something to say to everyone, I just happen to be the one who is suppose to facilitate and help initiate inspiration. We happen to be in the gospels, and were reading in Mark chapter 9 verse 33 through 37. The disciples are with Jesus in a house, without a crowd, and Jesus asks them what they were discussing on the way. The disciples kept silent because, on the way they were arguing with one another about who was the greatest. So Jesus sits down and calls them. And he says to them, “If anyone would be first he must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he takes a child and picks him up and says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me.”
We begin to discuss. We all kind of laugh at the disciples that they were arguing like children, and then we laugh that we can all fall into the trap. With my kids it is rather obvious in their competitiveness to outdo one another but as adults we find many more socially acceptable ways to camouflage our pride and wanting to be the best. I speak, or rather write from experience. We then start to discuss the part where Jesus says that to be great we must serve. This is a mantra at my house because as parents we are constantly reminding our children that serving others is where we become great. But as we are talking about it this time I cringe a little. Not because I don’t like what Jesus has to say, but because I feel my heart has been selfish. Because there is not a lot of recognition and appreciation in wiping butts (sorry this should be rated PG), or making kids do their math. Not now anyway.
Jesus then picks up the child and tells them that if they want to be great they must receive a child in Jesus’ name. One of my children asks, “Mom why did he say a child?” My mind freezes, there are no words. In the awkward silence my children start conversing with one another about this and I can’t really hear anything they are saying. I sense God beckoning me to continue to love and serve when there is nothing in it for me, a continuing repetitive lesson. Children, especially toddlers and babies, give nothing back (except their cuteness, which looses its’ hold when the brain is swollen from stress, or when they give their brother a bloody nose). I sometimes get these notions in my head that my children will show me great appreciation for meeting their basic needs. I am not asking much ;), just once in awhile it would be nice to hear, “Thanks mom for making us learn.” “Mom I am so grateful that you work hard to cook us nutritious meals, that will help us grow strong.” Okay so no kids say this, and if they do, then be thankful. So what happens when they don’t? Then what? Then we keep on serving, like Jesus tells us to, not only here but many places in the Bible. I see God continue to strip the ugly garments of selfishness off of me and it is freeing, light weight. I then snap out of my trance and ask the children, “What does Azariah have to offer us?” “Nothing,” they reply. “Exactly, and he requires a lot from us, but we love him anyway. He is a gift from God. He can not feed himself, he can not dress himself, he can’t do much of anything except be cute.”
Many days I feel I have a long way to go and I remember that I am His workmanship, even if He had to start with me, the finger painting picture. I am thankful. I am humbled. I am reminded that when God looks at my artwork he doesn’t see the finger painting, or the scribbles, but He sees the Masterpiece of Jesus in its’ place. The Jesus who showed how to be a servant to those with whom he would get no recognition. And I can press on to serve while being embraced in His love.
We begin to discuss. We all kind of laugh at the disciples that they were arguing like children, and then we laugh that we can all fall into the trap. With my kids it is rather obvious in their competitiveness to outdo one another but as adults we find many more socially acceptable ways to camouflage our pride and wanting to be the best. I speak, or rather write from experience. We then start to discuss the part where Jesus says that to be great we must serve. This is a mantra at my house because as parents we are constantly reminding our children that serving others is where we become great. But as we are talking about it this time I cringe a little. Not because I don’t like what Jesus has to say, but because I feel my heart has been selfish. Because there is not a lot of recognition and appreciation in wiping butts (sorry this should be rated PG), or making kids do their math. Not now anyway.
Jesus then picks up the child and tells them that if they want to be great they must receive a child in Jesus’ name. One of my children asks, “Mom why did he say a child?” My mind freezes, there are no words. In the awkward silence my children start conversing with one another about this and I can’t really hear anything they are saying. I sense God beckoning me to continue to love and serve when there is nothing in it for me, a continuing repetitive lesson. Children, especially toddlers and babies, give nothing back (except their cuteness, which looses its’ hold when the brain is swollen from stress, or when they give their brother a bloody nose). I sometimes get these notions in my head that my children will show me great appreciation for meeting their basic needs. I am not asking much ;), just once in awhile it would be nice to hear, “Thanks mom for making us learn.” “Mom I am so grateful that you work hard to cook us nutritious meals, that will help us grow strong.” Okay so no kids say this, and if they do, then be thankful. So what happens when they don’t? Then what? Then we keep on serving, like Jesus tells us to, not only here but many places in the Bible. I see God continue to strip the ugly garments of selfishness off of me and it is freeing, light weight. I then snap out of my trance and ask the children, “What does Azariah have to offer us?” “Nothing,” they reply. “Exactly, and he requires a lot from us, but we love him anyway. He is a gift from God. He can not feed himself, he can not dress himself, he can’t do much of anything except be cute.”
Many days I feel I have a long way to go and I remember that I am His workmanship, even if He had to start with me, the finger painting picture. I am thankful. I am humbled. I am reminded that when God looks at my artwork he doesn’t see the finger painting, or the scribbles, but He sees the Masterpiece of Jesus in its’ place. The Jesus who showed how to be a servant to those with whom he would get no recognition. And I can press on to serve while being embraced in His love.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
If You Are Wondering....
For those of you who are wondering when we are going back to Uganda, here is the best answer I can give.....I don’t know. Amusing, huh? I wish I had a date for you, for myself and my family as we were all planning and hoping to be in Uganda by now, but we are not. Why aren’t we back in Uganda? We were planning on working toward getting back to Uganda after Azariah was born and our sending organization decided that they didn’t have the means as an organization to help and support us with our decision to move closer to the capital. It was honestly hard to take at first because we were at this point looking at travel dates in May. But after praying through it, and time, we began to see it as a blessing. We want to have the right kind of coaching and missionary support while we are in Uganda because we see ourselves on the mission field a long time so we want to do it right. The unfortunate part is that changing mission organizations is anything but quick. We are right in the middle of changing organizations so we don’t have a specific time as when we will be able to leave. So if this blog post seems clearly unclear, then welcome to my world. Here we find ourselves walking by faith, one step at a time asking God to meet our steps and proceed forward in His will. An uncomfortably comfortable place to be.
In the meanwhile we try to live where we are and be Jesus where we are. For me that seems to happen within our living quarters as I constantly struggle to teach, instruct, discipline, love and be an example of Jesus to my kids and husband.
We are however starting to work on building up our prayer and financial support (as this can take several months), so if you would like to partner with us please let us know via email, or you can go to our website and fill out a form.
Stay tuned for more to come.
In the meanwhile we try to live where we are and be Jesus where we are. For me that seems to happen within our living quarters as I constantly struggle to teach, instruct, discipline, love and be an example of Jesus to my kids and husband.
We are however starting to work on building up our prayer and financial support (as this can take several months), so if you would like to partner with us please let us know via email, or you can go to our website and fill out a form.
Stay tuned for more to come.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
He's here!
It is hard to believe that 2 weeks have already gone by since "Zee" was born. He was born on January 11, and weighed 8lbs. 4oz, and was 21 inches long. We had a home birth with a midwife and the delivery went as wonderful as labor can go. We are very grateful for all your prayers! We are now adjusting to life with 7 kids, and sleep deprivation. We are very thankful for all of our family and friends that have made us meals, and have been very helpful and supportive. We now have goals of getting back to Uganda as soon as possible (in God's time). Details soon to come!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Chapstick
I am selling them for $3 a piece. (They would make great stocking stuffers and gifts). If you would like to purchase 1 or more let me know. I can ship them, but I am not sure what shipping will cost but I can work that out on an individual basis. The ingredients are great! Avocado oil, coconut oil, beeswax, jojoba oil, castor oil and vanilla. Please email me at michaela.fulk@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing some.
I would be willing to sell custom bulk orders of 100 or more. If you are interested I will let you choose a flavor and cap color of your own. Flavors I could do: Almond Biscotti, Asian Pear, Brown Sugar, Bubble Gum, Butter Pecan, Butterscotch, Buttery Toffee, Cappuccino, Cherry Berry, Cinnamon, Coconut Milk, Cotton Candy, Creme de Menthe, Danish Vanilla Custard, Dill Pickle, Fizzy Pop, French Toast, Gingerbread house, Gingersnap, Green Apple, Hazelnut Latte, Iced Pineapple and Tangerine, Lavender Vanilla, Lemon Cheesecake, Malted Milk ball, Mango Lassi, Mango Peach Fusion, Marshmallow, Mint truffle, Nutmeg and Carmel swirl, Ooey Gooey Carmel, Orange Sherbet, Peanut Butter, Pink Frosting, Pink Lemonade, Pistachio, Popcorn, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cake, Sangria, Snow Cone, Sugared Strawberries, Watermelon, White Chocolate, Wild Red Cherry Pie, and Zucchini Bread. Again email me if you are interested.
Monday, September 24, 2012
A New Update
Fall is undeniably in the air. School, soccer, changing leaves (my favorite part), chilly nights, and the birds are flying south. How I wish I could fly with them. But that is for another blog that I will probably never get to.
We have been working hard to accomplish our 4 main goals while we are here. The one we have spent most of our time engaging in is the “getting healthy goal.” Of course we needed to catch up with dentist appointments, well checks, etc. And when you have 6 kids (a couple which have more medical needs), and are pregnant, it quickly becomes a sizable goal. Luckily we are at the end of the tunnel as the saying goes. However I will continue seeing my midwife, BTW we are having a boy. It took me a couple days to except it, as I was hoping for a girl, but hey it just goes to show that once again God is in control and I AM NOT! Can you believe I am already over 6 months pregnant? Already feeling quite large and wondering how big this baby is going to be!
As far as my health goes, I am mostly feeling better. The doctors suspect I have Celiac Disease so I am on a crazy diet. No gluten, grains, dairy, and limited meat. I also seem to have a nut sensitivity now. Basically I can eat beans and brown rice....lol...not really. I have been feeling better eating this way however I have this infection that keeps coming back. You could pray for healing in that manner. I am extremely tired all the time too. Not something I am used to in the 2nd trimester.
The kids are all doing well and we are enjoying this year of school; I am really enjoying it too. They are all reading avidly (with the exception of Malachi and Eliana who enjoy playing “babies” while we do school), and we are all very appreciative of the access of countless books via the local library. Soccer is in full force for Samuel and Joshua. More so for Joshua who is playing on 2 teams. One being a Club Team in Denver. It has been very enjoyable to watch him him continue to excel as a forward. They won a tournament back in August and just recently won the State Tournament.
Speaking of soccer....I had one of those stellar mom moments when the local community bells where playing their hourly song (church hymns). As we were bird watching, on our nature walk “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” bellows beautifully on the bells (that was a lot of b’s), and all my kids started singing Manchester United’s song, “Glory, Glory, Man United.” Not sure many of you will even get this story, so it is probably not even funny to you. Maybe if you are a Williams then you will get it ;).
Hmmm....what else have we been doing?
I recently was able to attend a women’s retreat for the weekend and although the speaker was good, the thing that had the greatest impact on me was just spending time in quite meditation before God and in His word. He revealed some things to me that were really freeing and healing to my soul.
God has also been teaching me a lot about being obedient in the little things lately. Before we left Uganda I felt like He was ushering me to no to everything but ministering to my kids and my husband. Hard thing for me to swallow. It seems easy to be obedient to the things that bear immediate fruit but the mundane every day “chores” can be daunting, especially without results. Welcome to parenting, and life.
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
We have been working hard to accomplish our 4 main goals while we are here. The one we have spent most of our time engaging in is the “getting healthy goal.” Of course we needed to catch up with dentist appointments, well checks, etc. And when you have 6 kids (a couple which have more medical needs), and are pregnant, it quickly becomes a sizable goal. Luckily we are at the end of the tunnel as the saying goes. However I will continue seeing my midwife, BTW we are having a boy. It took me a couple days to except it, as I was hoping for a girl, but hey it just goes to show that once again God is in control and I AM NOT! Can you believe I am already over 6 months pregnant? Already feeling quite large and wondering how big this baby is going to be!
As far as my health goes, I am mostly feeling better. The doctors suspect I have Celiac Disease so I am on a crazy diet. No gluten, grains, dairy, and limited meat. I also seem to have a nut sensitivity now. Basically I can eat beans and brown rice....lol...not really. I have been feeling better eating this way however I have this infection that keeps coming back. You could pray for healing in that manner. I am extremely tired all the time too. Not something I am used to in the 2nd trimester.
The kids are all doing well and we are enjoying this year of school; I am really enjoying it too. They are all reading avidly (with the exception of Malachi and Eliana who enjoy playing “babies” while we do school), and we are all very appreciative of the access of countless books via the local library. Soccer is in full force for Samuel and Joshua. More so for Joshua who is playing on 2 teams. One being a Club Team in Denver. It has been very enjoyable to watch him him continue to excel as a forward. They won a tournament back in August and just recently won the State Tournament.
Speaking of soccer....I had one of those stellar mom moments when the local community bells where playing their hourly song (church hymns). As we were bird watching, on our nature walk “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” bellows beautifully on the bells (that was a lot of b’s), and all my kids started singing Manchester United’s song, “Glory, Glory, Man United.” Not sure many of you will even get this story, so it is probably not even funny to you. Maybe if you are a Williams then you will get it ;).
Hmmm....what else have we been doing?
I recently was able to attend a women’s retreat for the weekend and although the speaker was good, the thing that had the greatest impact on me was just spending time in quite meditation before God and in His word. He revealed some things to me that were really freeing and healing to my soul.
God has also been teaching me a lot about being obedient in the little things lately. Before we left Uganda I felt like He was ushering me to no to everything but ministering to my kids and my husband. Hard thing for me to swallow. It seems easy to be obedient to the things that bear immediate fruit but the mundane every day “chores” can be daunting, especially without results. Welcome to parenting, and life.
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:
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| Carter, always our animal lover |
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| Eliana all ready for winter |
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| Janaya (so grown up) |
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| Malachi's beautiful smile |
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| Samuel |
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| Joshua's Club team after they won State. |
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| The crew after a LONG hike up Hanging Lake. 10 years ago I remember it being easy. Ha! |
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Long Overdue News
I apologize for the lack of updates. Part of me has not really wanted to be on the internet much, and it works nice because we don't have internet at our house. However I do realize many of you have been praying for us and just want to know what is going on in our lives.
The Biggest News
Many of you already know this but about 9 weeks ago we found out that we are expecting our 7th child (The baby is due the end of December beginning of January). It was a surprise but we are very excited and blessed. This came shortly after our debriefing, where the staff advised us to stay longer than 6 months. After praying about it for some time and getting more counsel it was apparent that getting everything done in 6 months was not reasonable. And once we found out we were pregnant that was the icing on the cake. With that we have a goal to get back to Uganda in March.
What have we been up to?
The whole month of June we were traveling to see family, and friends. We also visited a couple churches. It was challenging to be constantly on the go but also encouraging in many ways. Other than that we are enjoying our summer off from school (me more than anyone). Cody has been busy with helping with different ministries in our area and is going to be helping with developing some simple church planting in our area.
I will be honest and say being here has been more of a struggle than I thought it would be but God has been teaching me so much, and growing me in more ways than I could ever imagine. I am hoping to put my thoughts together soon and share with you a theme God has been working in my life.
The Biggest News
Many of you already know this but about 9 weeks ago we found out that we are expecting our 7th child (The baby is due the end of December beginning of January). It was a surprise but we are very excited and blessed. This came shortly after our debriefing, where the staff advised us to stay longer than 6 months. After praying about it for some time and getting more counsel it was apparent that getting everything done in 6 months was not reasonable. And once we found out we were pregnant that was the icing on the cake. With that we have a goal to get back to Uganda in March.
What have we been up to?
The whole month of June we were traveling to see family, and friends. We also visited a couple churches. It was challenging to be constantly on the go but also encouraging in many ways. Other than that we are enjoying our summer off from school (me more than anyone). Cody has been busy with helping with different ministries in our area and is going to be helping with developing some simple church planting in our area.
I will be honest and say being here has been more of a struggle than I thought it would be but God has been teaching me so much, and growing me in more ways than I could ever imagine. I am hoping to put my thoughts together soon and share with you a theme God has been working in my life.
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