Me? I don't have an eating problem!

How many times have you heard that. In my 40 + years I've heard that a lot of times. I just thought I would never be the one with the eating problem!
So great now what? Do I follow the made up rules and falsehoods of "don't eat this ,& don't eat that" I say NO! My wife Kristin has been taking an on line course called Setting captives free. It has worked wonders for her.
So I've decided to take this course also. I an learning to fill myself with God rather than stuffing my face. The true food lies in the word of God. No food will ever satisfy my soul, God is the only one that can do that.
Its so easy to let let ones guard down and give in to the flesh. I'm weak! Last week I fasted for the first time in my life. Let me tell you I was not easy. But every time I felt hungry I prayed to Jesus that he would take the hunger from me, & the temptation, and the urge to be mean.
God is so good!
This is so huge. I feel as though I have been walking blind. Totally oblivious to this problem, now I see how I use food. I eat out of boredom, I eat hurriedly, I eat out of control.
I see all this now, now I ask humbly the God of the universe for help; and I know that He will.

Mark

What we've been up to...

Nothing exciting and earth shattering is happening in the Mikarts' world, but we haven't posted in two weeks so I'll just ramble on about a few things that come to mind!

The boys started school last week - and I would upload a picture of them in their uniforms, but Mark hasn't taken it yet. Zach and Ryan ride the bus and they LOVE it! Zach has Ms. Dana again and he absolutely adores her. This is his 3rd year with her and I'm not sure what we will do next year when he moves on to another teacher. She is a saint!! Ryan has Mrs. Mirville again and she is also an incredible person. How anyone can work with kids like Zach and Ryan is beyond me! I spend 20 minutes working on the ABC's and I'm done!!

We've been spending a ton of time at the playground lately. Ryan is a daredevil and loves to hang over the openings of equipment. He has this crazy laugh and I know he is playing "chicken" with me - who is going to crack first? Will Ryan get both feet on the playground sooner or later than Mommy jumps to the opening to catch him? I finally taught him how to safely get down and "jump". Zach has also learned how to hang from the monkey bars and throw himself to the ground. I figure this is actually safer than not letting them do all this. But the funny part is, Ryan can master crazy playground equipment but the curb on the way to the car causes the blood! He scraped his cheek when he fell off the curb. Go figure...

Last week was our first hurricane day in about 4 years. It was overcast and ugly and not one drop of rain (well, maybe 5 minutes of rain). But then the next 4 days it rained off and on like crazy. Today is the first sunny day and so we splashed in the pool. Ryan is getting to be quite the swimmer boy. He has the biggest grin while he swims around.

The last thought running through my head is that I'm FINALLY excited about this school year from a work perspective. My heart wasn't into my work until about 3 hours ago! I suddenly caught the excitement of all the places God is going to be working at VMS/OPS and I want to jump on board and be part of it! I can't wait to see what He accomplishes. What a great feeling!

Kristin

Gavin joined us for our hurricane day... The boys were worn out - can you tell?? They all ran around like crazy and then crashed in front of Elmo.

A day in the life of a missionary...

Ha... yes, flying to and from the Caribbean sounds great; and it is! But what about when I'm not flying? Being the facilities manager is a big challenge. Think of it as a huge honey do list that if unfurled at the top of the Empire State building, would have no problem making it to street level. O.K. no problem you might say, but one has to remember who my boss is...You guessed it, God, and I work at doing things to my best!

With this in mind, there are lots of things at the hanger that need attention. Plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work which at times can be quite challenging. The volunteers that work at the hanger are a huge blessing! How would you like to work with a rocket scientist, a nuclear engineer, or retired pastor. What amazing conversations we have!

Some of my favorite volunteers are the folks that come to Agape for community service. I get the privilege of working with these people on a one on one basis. I see many of these people come in bummed out, but usually by the time their community service is up, many come back as volunteers, and I have had the privilege of sharing my faith with them! God is good!!

If anyone out there reading this is good with landscape - let me know! I have some huge flowerbeds that would love your loving touch and/or ideas!

Mark