War Within Me

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The "Oh face"

One of my favorite things about my beautiful niece is her "oh face" that she makes. We don't get to spend much time with Mary Kate and have never even met Ford (yet!)so we LOVE looking at pictures and getting to know them through still shots and an occasional short video.

So the "Oh face" has been one of my favorite things - always makes me laugh and cry at the same time - so cute! Well, I'm quite pleased that it runs in the family and that MK's little cousin Isaiah has the same face. It's nice to see family in family - this is for you MK - your little cousin is already taking after you!


Mary Kate


Isaiah - unfortunately I haven't captured the fullness of the "oh face" on film - this is my best shot - but believe me - he's got it down just like his cousin!

Isaiah's First Road Trip

We did it! On Friday - we all packed up and hit the road for the weekend. Dalton and I have been traveling to Hawks Bay every few months and connecting with some of the churches and prayer groups there. They have hosted three seminars on the book of Revelation that Dalton has been teaching on. The Hawks Bay guys are like family to us now and we LOVE going there.

However - this was a different trip altogether! Dalton still taught/preached - but this time there were so many different nuiances that made this trip so incredibly special.

First of all - we had Isaiah. Some thought I was crazy - including myself - for bringing our three week old son on a four hour journey (4 hours here is totally different to a 4 hour drive in america - no high ways - lots of curvey roads through mountains). It was a little crazy but it was either come along for the ride - or stay home alone without a car - both sounded incredibly scary to me but I chose to go where I knew I would have help and not be alone. So we packed up Isaiah's bags, bundled him up in his little seat (we call it the big jiggle chair) and away we went! It was VERY challenging for me - but we did it! And Isaiah was AMAZING! I'm still an anxious, insecure mommy learning to find her feet in parenthood - but coming home and looking back on the weekend - I'm SO GLAD I went. I feel much more confident and I had some really, really good mommy, son and Jesus time - it was sweet. I really could write an entire post on this - but I'll move on.

We also brought a big team up with us this time. We had a lot of our closest friends there with us leading worship for the seminar. It was so great to have them there and to be a part of what the Lord is doing in Hawks Bay. There's such a sweet connection spiritually that we have with Hawks Bay. Every time we go, even though it's chalk full of stuff to do and Dalton is SO BUSY with lots of speaking and lots of meeting with people - we always leave feeling refreshed and extremely privileged and humbled to be a part of what the Lord is doing there. We always leave with a joyous and sobering sense that the Lord truly is birthing this prayer movement and all we have to do is just jump in the current of the flowing river and be a part of what He is sovereignly doing. Anyway - all that to say that we are so, so excited to have been able to bring a bigger team this time around to be a part of it.

Part of the "bigger team" was that Aaron (director of Tauranga House of Prayer) came along and spoke about the Prayer Movement during two of the Saturday sessions. Aaron is originally from Hawks Bay so it's pretty special for him to come and speak into that town as someone who was once a troublesome boy who has now grown into a young man with such strong spiritual stature in the Lord and a profound leadership roll in the birthing of the prayer movement in, not just New Zealand, but the south pacific and Asia. Seeing him there (although I only saw him myself for about 15 minutes)just had the leadership of the Lord dripping all over it. It's hard to find words to articulate the sweetness that was felt throughout that whole weekend. I believe the Lord found great pleasure in it.

Also - Mary - Dalton's Mom - was able to come along for the weekend which was incredibly special for us and for her. It was so wonderful for Dalton to have his mom be able to sit and hear him teach - to see the incredibly gifted young man that he has grown to be. Dalton is Mary's inheritance - she prayed and prayed for him during those last years when he was far off from the Lord. To see where he is now is a profound testimony to the sovereignty and goodness of the Lord at work in Dalton's life. It was so wonderful for Mary to be able to see him in that ministerial context and to see him fully operating in his giftings - not just as a teacher/preacher - but as a husband and a father as well. What a blessing to have her come along with us.

I mostly stayed at home with Isaiah and missed out on most of the weekend physically - but the Lord was so, so faithful in keeping my heart and spirit knitted into the weekend. Although I did get lonely at times - I didn't feel I was missing out. I was still able to feel the significance of the weekend and was so keenly aware of the Lord's hand at work. I still felt humbled to be there and to be a part of it. I know having a child means I will "miss out" on other things - but the Lord proved, yet again, His faithfulness to me this weekend. There's not one ounce of bitterness that I feel in my heart - just gratefulness for what he's doing. I'm sure I'll have struggles up ahead - but He is so faithful to carry me through this season of life - just like He has all the others. He is so good.

Here are just a couple of pictures from the weekend - hope you enjoy!


Cinnamon rolls before we hit the road!


The beautiful scenery on the drive down


Worship at the seminar


Isaiah's kitchen!


Cutie Pie!


It was COLD! And we forgot his hat - oops. Oh well - he's super cute!

I have felt the need to just write for a few days now but every time I get a break I don't feel like I have the energy. However - right now the overwhelming desire to write trumps my exhaustion.

There are so many things that I want to process - SO MANY new things that are emerging inside my heart.

I have this sensitivity - i guess some might call them hormones - towards pretty much all aspects of life. I think of my family and how much I ache for them when the oceans are between us and how much I treasure the time with the family that was here, and I cry - I think of my husband and how amazing he is with me, with our son, with all the other things that he has on his plate...his selflessness has caused me to fall in love with him all over again, it makes me cry - I think of my friends here who have been so incredibly generous to us and taken such good care of us, and I cry - I think of the prayer room and how grateful I am that we are here doing what we're doing and that this is our job, and I cry - I think of our beautiful baby boy and how perfect he is, every part of him so beautiful and intricate, and I cry - I think of Jesus and how incredible He is, how beautiful He is how creative He is (creative is a small word for Him - but my own creativity has stumped me and I can't think of a better one), and I cry. I cry a lot. Sometimes the tears are therapeutic - sometimes they're painful - but maybe still therapeutic even when they're painful.

All I know is my heart is filled to the rim. I feel unworthy, I'm keenly aware of how weak I truly am and how gracious and strong our God really is. I'm leaning into Him, crying into His breast in much of the same way that my little teeny, tiny son cries into mine - helpless with nothing really to offer but complete dependence.

This is a wild season filled with revelation - I only hope that I can steward it well, let it take root in my heart and change me forever.

Thank you everyone for all the emails and words of encouragement and blessing you have sent our way. We love you dearly and are so glad you're apart of our lives. More pictures and stories about our cool as kid to come.

The Grommet

Isaiah is Here

Isaiah Thomas Lifsey
Born on July 10, 2009 at 7:56 a.m.
7 pounds 13 ounces

Update on Life

I don't have any cool pictures to post, but I'll give you all a quick update on our life nonetheless and hopefully it's appreciated. :)

Book of Revelation Seminar:

This last weekend Me, Dalton and our friends Dave and Karina traveled down south to Hawkes Bay where Dalton and Dave spoke/taught/preached at a seminar on the book of Revelation. We've been building relationship with a group in Hawkes Bay over this last year and have made some very dear friends that are pretty much becoming family. The Lord is doing some great things in that place and we feel privileged to be a small part of it. The seminar went great. I especially loved this one because I know it's probably the last weekend away where I'll get to just listen to Dalton since we have our precious little one on the way.

Internship Graduation:

Our current internship graduates this Friday. There are 10 on the internship and all 10 of them have decided to stick around! We're SO excited about that! They have been a great bunch and we're so glad to have them join us on staff. Now our Staff classes will increase by 10 - woo hoo! Graduation is always a fun little celebration. Everyone gets dressed up (which to be honest, I'm not that thrilled about this time around - the basketball in my tummy makes the fashion department a little more difficult these days :)), we eat good food and reflect on what the Lord has done in the lives of these young adults over the last 3 months. This internship FLEW by!

Break:

After each internship we try to take a small break just to rest up and get ready for the next term. We'll have a 5 day weekend which Dalton are hoping to use mostly to get our lives organized around our house. Get things set up for Baby, clean/organize things we've been wanting to get our hands on for sometime now...etc. But we also want to take a couple of nights and just go away somewhere just the two of us. We're on a hunt to find a cool but affordable place. We just want to get some time away together before our lives are dramatically changed! We're very excited and expectant for this dramatic change, but it will be great to have some time to just talk, pray and enjoy each other before he joins us - precious little boy.

Baby Lifsey:

He's supposed to be just over 3 lbs now - which is probably right on the money so my midwife tells me. He's growing at a steady pace and it feels as though he's beginning to lose space in there - and my ribs are feeling the reprocussions of that. :) He's in the right position he needs to be in, still has a boney butt my midwife says but he's in the process of fattening up right now. :) He's moving LOTS and feels much heavier than 3 lbs. My tummy muscles are getting their work out for sure. I'm becoming less mobile (funny how you feel like your body ages 20 years when you get into that last tri-mester) and am beginning to get tired a lot more - but it comes with the package so I don't mind. In a couple of weeks the girls are throwing me a shower which should be fun and by then I'll know what all I'll still need for the little guy before he comes - but honestly, the Lord has blessed us SO MUCH. I can't believe how much has been given to us or practically given to us because it was sold to us so cheap. It has been such a blessing to watch the Lord just give us everything we need and really, more than we need. We're so grateful and truly humbled. Still deciding on a name - if you think of it, throw up a prayer for us. We really want to hear from the Lord about his name, just for peace in my heart and Dalton's heart.

That's all my pregnant brain can think of right now - but hopefully I'll get some pictures of my fat belly and put them up here so that you can all see - sometimes i look at myself in the mirror and think "Who on earth am i looking at?!" I can't believe that our bodies can stretch and mold into something so different and then go back to normal (maybe not completely the way they were before, but certainly less like a watermellon). The human body is so incredible, which just makes me marvel at the Lord even more. I'll end it here - stay tuned for more exciting blogs to come!