Wide Awake International – Page 6 – Wide Awake International

Category: Wide Awake International

EncouragementWide Awake InternationalYes

Good Gifts

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

You know that feeling when you’re about to surprise your kids with something they really love? I don’t know about you, but when I know I’m about to bring my kids joy I can hardly contain myself. I get so excited, looking forward to their reaction- the squeals (or screams) of joy, the huge smiles, the knocking-over-with-force hugs. The fun things in life are that much more fun when I get to watch my kids enjoy them. I delight in my children. Greatly.

Yesterday I learned that no matter if my kids are small or grown, that delight in watching their joy won’t end. The same with our God. He delights in us, His kids. He LOVES bringing us joy and giving us good gifts.

So, I’m here in Anaheim for the National Vineyard Conference. When my dad heard I was heading to Anaheim for this thing and we would be arriving a couple days early, he asked the burning question, “Are you going to Disneyland?” Well, if you know me at all you know that I absolutely ADORE Disneyland. I can’t even adequately describe to you my love for all things Disneyland. I love everything about it. It’s my most favorite place ever. But, we were just given a trip to Disneyland in March and we’re trying to pinch every penny to save for our big move, so I didn’t think I could justify spending the money for a day in Disneyland. My dad, delighting in his grown-up daughter simply replied, “Oh, you’re going to Disneyland!” He said if I could find a way to get there he would pay my way to spend the day. You should have seen the grin on his face when he saw my joy. Dad’s love giving good gifts to their kids.

So, the question remained, “How would I get to Disneyland?” I was coming to the conference with our pastor (Lanny), his wife (Anne), and their two grown daughters (Christen and Abby). I knew I wouldn’t have a car, so I would just have to wait and see if it worked out. We arrived in Anaheim and realized the little condo we were staying in was literally RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from Disneyland!!!! Shut the front door!!! Case closed. Disneyland was definitely happening on Sunday. (Plus the wifi password at the condo is “TO DISNEYLAND”. I took that as another sign.) 😉

On Saturday night as I prepared for Disney I was super excited, but a tad bummed that I was going by myself. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I could enjoy Disneyland alone- no problem. But, I did realize it’s much more fun to share your joy with someone else. Annnnddddd the love of parents stepped in again. Abby, Christen, and I were in the bedroom chatting and Anne walked in and asked the girls “Do you guys want to go to Disneyland with Kim in the morning?” You should have seen the looks on their faces. “Ummm OF COURSE!” Anne let the girls know they would pay for them to go to Disneyland in the morning. No matter what the age, parents love delighting in their children and giving them good gifts. (I may, or may not have been jumping on the bed with joy…)

I know you might find it cheesy for me to use Disneyland to talk about the Father God’s love for His kids, but if you do, you don’t know me well enough, or understand the extent of my love for Disneyland. 🙂 When we were on Space Mountain I was just laughing- out loud! I could not believe God gave me that opportunity before we head to Ukraine. Before heading to Anaheim I actually had quite a bit of nervousness and anxiety about attending the conference. I felt like “Who am I? What business do I have attending this conference and chatting with other missions folks? What makes me think they’ll be interested in what we’re doing?” Well, Jed put me in my place about that. He reminded me again that it’s not about us or our abilities. It’s about obedience to The Lord. All we have to do is say yes and tell our story. The rest is up to Him! This has never been about our abilities or lack thereof. This is about what God is doing and His ability.

When I was on Space Mountain I felt like God was saying, “Look at what I’ve given you today! I am taking care of every single detail. I love you and I love delighting in you and watching you laugh. I delight just as much in my children in Ukraine in their cribs. I’m their Father and I want to give them good gifts. You don’t worry. No one will stand in my way. I’m gonna give my babies good gifts and delight over them with singing- and I’m going to love every minute of it. The joy you feel right now is just a glimpse of the joy that’s on its way.” Oh my word. It brought me to tears. I don’t care how cheesy it sounds, God spoke to me on Space Mountain in a big way and I won’t be the same.

Today, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, know that YOUR Father in heaven delights in you. He loves you. He rejoices over you with singing. Maybe things are rough for you. Maybe you feel like you have nothing to be joyful about. Maybe you think “Easy for you to say, Kim. You don’t know hardship!” Maybe I don’t know your hardship. Maybe I’ve never experienced the pain you’ve experienced, but I’ve experienced the delight of the Father- and He is your Father too. I know His Word is true. If He can bring joy and delight to children wasting away in cribs, and He promises to do that, He can bring joy and delight to you. Fix your eyes on Him and allow Him to father you. This is not about your ability. This is about God’s ability and His great, never-stopping, overflowing, abounding love for you. I see Him with a big ol’ grin on His face. That grin is for you just as much as it’s for me.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

James 1:17

kimnjed July 15, 2013 9

Wide Awake International

We Need Your Stuff!

Summertime is in full swing around here!

You know what that means…

Swimming lessons

Swimming lessons!

Popsicles

Late nights

Ice cream

What happens when you have 4 kids…baby boy gets pink goggles…whatev…

Saturday Market

Church barbecues

Squishy Havalah in swimsuit cuteness

My iced coffee fail…more like coffee flavored ice water. No bueno.

and last but not least…

GARAGE SALES!!!

Oh yeah baby! One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and all that good stuff.

Want to help support Wide Awake International but you don’t have any extra cash? How about having a garage sale for us? We all have extra stuff laying around that someone else is just dying to buy, right?

We are asking you to consider putting on a garage sale for Wide Awake International. Don’t have enough stuff to hold your own garage sale? Gather a few of your friends, combine your unwanted goods, stick it out in your yard, and watch the magic happen. Doesn’t that sound fun? We think so. Especially if one of your friends brings the coffee and doughnuts. 😉

If you are local to us and you have goods you’d like to donate, but are not able to host your own sale, please let us know and we can gladly take them off your hands. We’ll be hosting a garage sale on July 27th, and there will be one in South Salem on August 3rd.

Garage sales are a great way to spread the word about Wide Awake International, and a super great way to get your hands dirty no matter where you live.

So, what do you say? Are you in?

*See the “give” tab at the top of this blog to find out how to donate the proceeds of your garage sale to Wide Awake. Thank you for your tax-deductible donations and your love. We’re feelin’ it! 🙂

kimnjed July 1, 2013 3

EncouragementWide Awake International

Our Baby

Our hearts are full to bursting!

My view from here

Our Wide Awake event happened on Friday night and I’m not sure I’ve stopped smiling since.

Jed and I were talking afterward about how we felt. The best way I could think to describe my feelings was like one of the feelings you get when you have your first baby. Of course when Addy was born I thought she was the cutest newborn ever (don’t even try to argue with me, I’ll win). But there was a special feeling that filled my heart when other people oooo’d and ahhhh’d over her. I would think she was cute regardless of other opinions, but when other people loved my baby it felt like a different kind of amazing. “They love my baby! They think she’s something special!”

That’s totally how Friday night felt for us, x 100.

Wide Awake is like our baby. Wide Awake represents all the forgotten babies on the other side of the world who have captured our hearts. Of course, we think Wide Awake is something special (we better or else we have no business selling all our stuff and moving to Ukraine!), of course, we think the plight of the disabled orphans is something big and important, of course, we think those faces in our video and our PowerPoint are beautiful and valuable, regardless of what others may think. God put that love in our hearts! It all comes from Him.

Perty yard

BUT, on Friday night people oooo’d and ahhhh’d over our babies. People were loving our babies and it felt amazing. “They love our baby! They think it’s something special!” 🙂

When you see people valuing what you value it brings hope.

When you see people sharing your event with all their friends and asking thoughtful questions you feel thankful.

When you see people driving 3 hours because they love you and they are excited about what God is doing it makes you cry.

We had a fantastic turnout on Friday and we could not be more humbled and thankful.

Thank you a million times over to every single person who came!

Thank you to those who invited a friend!

Thank you to those of you who gave generously of your time to drive over mountains to get there.

Thank you to those who gave generous donations! Blown away. Woohooooooo!

God is so faithful. His love NEVER fails.


Happy Father’s Day to Jed! He is seriously amazing. Yes, I’m biased, and yes, I’m right.

kimnjed June 16, 2013 3

The MoveWide Awake International

House Hunting in Zhitomir

*If you are a local reader/fan of Wide Awake we would LOVE to see you this Friday night, June 14th at Broadway Coffeehouse, Peru Room #306 at 7:00pm. We’ll be sharing the story and vision of Wide Awake International. It will be a great time to get the big picture of what God is doing. All are welcome! Bring a friend!* I’ve decided to stop apologizing for my lack of posting and complaining about my lame finger. So there. That’s the last you’ll hear of those two things…but I just had to get them out there one more time. I’m turning a new leaf today. Aren’t you glad?

Housing.

House Hunters International Ukraine went pretty well! I spent a few hours with Sveta, our realtor, and saw several places for rent. It was productive and necessary. It gave Sveta a chance to see what we liked and didn’t like in a rental, and it gave me a chance to see what Zhitomir has to offer. One thing I wasn’t anticipating was that our kids would be a major factor in us finding a place to live. When Sveta found out we have 4 kids I thought she was going to have a coronary. Ha! It’s uncommon for people who live in the city to have as many kids as we do, and many landlords don’t want to rent to people with a whole passel o’ kids. Maybe they think we’ll be too noisy. My kids? Noisy? Hehehe….whaaaaaaa…..

Sveta just kept saying (in Russian, or maybe Ukrainian) “Four kids is very difficult!” Oops. 🙂

Who could say no to this cuteness?

We saw some okay flats and a big house for rent. But then we got a brilliant idea, and all credit goes to my smarty Mother-in-Law. 🙂 You see, while in Zhitomir we were staying in a house that a Ukrainian man renovated into a sort of guest house, or hostel for people who come to visit MTU. This owner lives in Israel and his mother manages the house. We really liked the house! It has 3 rooms upstairs and space for a living room downstairs, a pretty open kitchen/dining area, and it’s a house…not 9 stories up! The best part about that particular house is its location. It’s literally a 4-minute walk from there to MTU. Best location ever!!! My oh-so-smart Mother-in-Law, Cindy, suggested we ask if we could rent that house for our first year. Normally it is rented out, a room at a time, and charged by night. But, what if the owner would let us lease it for a year? What if? Why not ask? So, Jed asked Ira, the director of MTU, if she would contact the owner and ask him about us renting it. Now we just wait for an answer.

We would love it if you would pray with us that God would provide the perfect house for us, and if it’s that one the owner would say yes right away! Rentals aren’t usually agreed upon in advance, so this would be a truly unique and wonderful situation. It would be so nice to prepare for our move and already have in mind the house we’ll be at. Thank you for praying with us!

So, that’s the skinny on housing. 🙂 On another note, we have been blown away by the generosity of donors in the last couple of days. Oh, My. Word. Seriously! We have gotten big donations from people we don’t even know personally!!! Incredible!!! Oh the ugly cry, I couldn’t hold it back. Generous supporters, if you are reading this, please know we are so incredibly humbled and blessed. Thank you doesn’t seem adequate. But, THANK YOU anyway. THANK YOU!!!!

“Mommy, take a picture of Seth Kitty!”

One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. God is making the path straight. Wahooooo!!!!

kimnjed June 12, 2013 4

Wide Awake InternationalYes

It’s Not Nothing

By Jed:

Have you ever tried to move a piano?

Have you ever set out to lift something you have no business trying to move?

You call all your friends, you even grab a neighbor or two. Everyone gets their hands on this huge piece of wood. 1… 2…. 3…

If you got enough helpers you’re thinking, “Wow, we got this! Geez, this thing is dense.” Though the weight is significant and you can tell that you are part of lifting something quite large, it’s not unbearable.

On the other hand, if you only have three other fellas… That pre-war mass of oak, steal and copper is a whole other animal. 1… 2… 3… “Put it down! Put it down!”

You all step back and think, “What did we get ourselves into?” You do a bit of strategizing, come up with your best possible plan, dig deep, get a little angry, and hype yourselves up. You grab that big piece of wood and with every muscle and ounce of strength; you heave that beast out of the house.

Hold that feeling in your mind. The one we’ve all felt right before doing a job we feared would break us. You knew the weight was crazy, we are bending at the knees, stealing ourselves for the pain…

1… 2… 3…

As I landed in Kiev yesterday I started feeling this weight. Not overbearing, just a subtle nagging in the back of my brain. I was mostly sensing God’s pleasure and enjoying the sights and smells as Sergie, Elvin and I headed for the metro to find the closest Puzata Hata. YUM.

It was so nice to sit down and hear what God is doing in Elvin’s life and to hear Sergie’s passion for Ukrainians to know Christ. They are sweet brothers and I’m looking forward to spending time together, playing music and drinking some good beer.

After having a full belly, which is what Puzata Hata means, we dashed off to where I could get on the bus to Zhitomir. “Kim, I’m so close.” I woke up a couple hours later and stumbled off the bus. Right after grabbing my bag, I started looking around for my beautiful bride.

I knew I would see her bright eyes and shining smile if I kept looking around. Then I heard my name through a wide grin and turned around to see Kimber skipping toward me. I am the most blessed man in the world. I am married to a beautiful, confident, and passionate woman who loves God and loves people. She is going to change the world and I get to watch it happen right in front of me.

She dragged my ‘sight-for-sore-eyes’ back to the house we are living at to FaceTime the kids and get cleaned up. “You can’t fall asleep, Jed.”

As we went out for dinner, that nagging feeling started at me again. Hand-in-Hand with my wife, talking about her adventures and what God was speaking and doing and I couldn’t shake it. So, I decided to embrace the feeling and see where it would take me. Let the melancholy sink in and figure out what I was trying to process. All the while, feeling God’s pleasure as I listened to Kim share about the wonderful people she met and all the wisdom they had shared with her.

I fell asleep, holding Kimber and feeling blessed. But, I also just had this sense of weight. “What we are about to do is weighty. It’s costly. It’s real,” I said to myself. This isn’t just a dream off in the distance. This is happening. 1… 2… Zzzzz… I was out cold.

I woke up with Matthew 11 running through my noggin’. “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” I felt like Jesus was saying, “My yoke is easy and light for you, but it’s not nothing. You are joining me in something I hold dearly and is heavy on My heart, Jed.”

I can feel the dense weight of what God is calling us to, but, in faith, I trust that He is carrying the weight.

So, instead of digging deep and hyping myself up, I am sitting here feeling the density of what we are a part of, but I am entrusting the weight of it in the hands of the one who stretched out His arms for the world. He lifted a far heavier piece of wood and I can trust Him. 1… 2… 3…

kimnjed May 17, 2013 3

The MoveWide Awake International

Flights, Friends, and Beets

Here I am! Back in Ukraine. It feels pretty surreal. I can’t believe it was a year ago that we first stepped foot here. Now, after a year of remembering, dreaming, and loving Ukraine and its people from afar, I’m back. The only thing I’m missing is my family. 🙂

My trip here was fabulous. Really! God took care of me in some pretty sweet ways.For one thing, on my flight to Amsterdam, I had the best seatmates you could ask for! I got to sit with some George Fox University faculty who were taking some students on a trip all over Europe. They know some people I know…small world! I got to hear all about their fun plans for the next 3 weeks and then I got to share Wide Awake with them! It was just like The Lord to make a way for two complete strangers to discuss listening for His voice and saying yes to Him as we fly over the Atlantic on an airplane full of other strangers. What a gift. It almost makes me want to cry it was such an unexpected blessing.

On the next flight, I got to sit next to an awesome Dutch Grandpa with the best giggle EVER. We had so many laughs. I wish I could just tuck him in my pocket for future fun. He was the coolest. How often do you get to belly laugh with a complete stranger when you’re jetlagged like crazy and your feet are swollen like sausages? Good memory for sure. 🙂

My friend Olya met me at the airport. It was sooooo good to see her face in real life- not on a computer screen! We set off on buses, metros, and minibusses and finally ended up at Olya’s flat. I’m so thankful to get to stay with friends!

We rested a bit, I skyped my fam, and chatted with my sis Carli who was watching the kids (technology rocks), and then I began the task of staying awake till a decent hour. Goal: beat jet lag. I was feeling pretty good till everyone was speaking Russian and it was like wonderful white noise lulling me to a nice, cozy state of relaxation….AH! I gotta stay awake! So, we headed out to run some errands. Whew! Jet lag crisis averted.

We got me semi-set up with a phone, chatted in the park, and almost got in trouble over my awe of beets. Hehe

I was seriously in awe of the GINORMOUS beets in the store. Think small cantaloupe. What in the world!?? Hahahaha! I generally detest being “touristy”, but I couldn’t help it. I had to take a pic of the beets. Then we decided to have Olya pose with a beet, and it all went downhill. The security guard at the store was feeling protective of the beets and got pretty upset about me taking pictures, so the beet fun stopped there. 🙂 Good times, good times…

I successfully stayed up till 10:00pm, and managed to sleep off and on till about 5:00am, so I would say jet lag was defeated. We’ll find out as the day goes on. Right now I’m awake and everyone else is asleep. I whisper-skyped Jed and the kids in the bathroom, so all is good.

Thank you all for praying. I appreciate it more than I can say. I’m excited to watch God have His way as He puts His plans into place for the forgotten children of Ukraine. What a joy to play a part.

THANKFUL.

kimnjed May 9, 2013 3

The MoveWide Awake International

The Scoop

It’s 5:30 in the morning and the house is silent. I love moments like these…kinda like the calm before the storm. 🙂 Soon my little ones will stumble out of their room, one at a time, with bedhead in full force, and the day will begin. So before that happens I thought I’d talk a bit about what the next couple of weeks will look like for our fam.

Tomorrow I leave for Ukraine! I wrote that on FB and had lots of people asking if this was the BIG MOVE, and wondering how they missed the news. Ha! Let’s just say right now that when it’s time for the BIG MOVE there’s no way you’ll miss the announcement. This is a mini trip to take care of some business. Hopefully, this is the last time Jed and I will head to Ukraine without our kiddos.

So, I’m leaving for Ukraine tomorrow, Jed will join me in about a week, we’ll be there together for a week or so, then I’ll come back home and Jed will stay for a few more days.

One goal of this trip is to meet with the staff of Mission to Ukraine to talk more about how they see us fitting into their vision on a daily basis. We’ll talk with the different department heads about their needs and make a sort of game plan for our time volunteering there. We’ll discuss how we can best be of help to them as an organization.

Another goal is to get an idea of housing opportunities. My friend Olya and I have an appointment with a realtor on Monday the 13th. House Hunters International! 🙂 Our hope is to see what types of places we can afford (we’ll be renting) and what part of the city we’d like to live in. Then we are hoping the realtor will agree to be on the lookout for an available place for us as the BIG MOVE draws closer.

The third goal of this trip is God-connections. I’ll be meeting with a few missionaries in Kiev and Zhitomir, and several Ukrainians who are also serving orphans with special needs. It’s our hope to make as many connections as possible. You just never know who God wants to connect for His kingdom work! We figure the more like-minded people we meet the better. We are super excited to see what God has in mind for those meetings. When Jed comes we get to meet with a few of the Ukrainian Vineyard pastors who just had a conference this past weekend. We are reeeeeeally excited to hear about what God is doing in the Vineyard there and how we can join in and support.

That’s the scoop! We’ll be updating from Ukraine as much as we can on here and on our Wide Awake Facebook page. I’m so excited to see old friends and make new ones! Yay for tomorrow!!

The kids and I had the best day at the coast on Friday, so I thought I’d share. It was such a beautiful day!! Shorts at the coast in May? Unheard of!

kimnjed May 6, 2013 0

The MoveWide Awake International

The Nitty Gritty

The details for our move to Ukraine are chugging right along.
Love, support, and encouragement from family and friends? Check.
Destination city? Check.
Amazing organization doing outstanding work to volunteer for? Check.
Huge, God-size dreams burning in our hearts and faith that God wants to make it happen? Check.

All systems are a go. We feel great peace and a big smile from our Father as we step forward into major unknowns. The need that remains at this point is the money to fund the vision.

Yep, this is the money post.

We haven’t talked much at all about money so far on this journey. There was so much preliminary work to be done, so many unknowns to figure out first. But now we are in full support-raising mode and we are excited to fill you in on the need. We’ve lost count of the number of times God has spoken to us through other people
“Do not worry about the money.”
“God will supply more than enough.”
“Money will not be an issue.”

When we spoke with our friend James, a pastor in Pasadena, our worlds were rocked. James encouraged us that people want to give to big vision. “Yes, people will give to help us barely get by, but big vision inspires, big vision is God vision.“ We told James a number and he basically said “You need to at least double that. Let God have a chance to show His stuff. What have you got to lose?” Amen to that!

So, it is with great faith and assurance in the One who called us that we move forward, getting the word out to whoever will hear. This is God’s work, this is His passion and we are simply the hands and feet.

Without further ado, we present you with the numbers.

Alright, so that is our proposed budget. Once the Wide Awake board is assembled we will present this budget proposal. We’ll also discuss, as a board, what tithes and offerings will look like. We are local church people and it’s important to us to give financially to our local church in Ukraine, we just aren’t sure how to navigate that quite yet.

Now, let’s talk about how we can build Wide Awake International from a dream to a reality during the next five years. We are telling our story so a team of passionate, “wide-awake” friends can join the effort and make a radical difference in these precious children of God. Will you consider joining our Wide Awake Development Team by committing to monthly giving?
At this time we are receiving donations through our church, Salem Vineyard, so the donations can be tax-deductible. We are still in the process of setting up and incorporating the Wide Awake International non-profit and hope to be finished with that process at the end of April. At that time we will be able to accept donations via Wide Awake directly. We will definitely keep you posted on our progress in that regard. Right now we are assembling board members, and our awesome attorney friend is helping us with the loads of paperwork that come along with non-profits. Thank you, dear friend!

There you have it! The nitty gritty details are all laid out. 🙂 If you have considered supporting this ministry financially we are so extremely thankful! If you have been waiting to begin giving, unsure of when to start… now’s the time! We are ready! 100% of the donations sent through Salem Vineyard will be given to us. Just be sure to note with your giving that the money is for Wide Awake. We have opened a separate bank account for Wide Awake funds and will account for any and every donation.

Mail tax-deductible donations to:

Salem Vineyard Church

4750 Salem Dallas Highway NW

Salem, OR 97304

Or you can give via Salem Vineyard PayPal!
(see the nifty PayPal button on our sidebar)
*Info on how to give will always be available at the top of this blog under the new “Give” tab.

Due to popular demand, we are looking into how to add automatic withdrawal as a method of giving. We won’t begin that until donations are being received directly by Wide Awake. We will let you know when that’s an option.

Whew! Thanks for making it this far with us. I hope we haven’t overwhelmed you. If you have any questions at all please contact us by email or in the comment section. We are happy to talk more with you about all of this.

You are welcome to give any time! If you would like to be a part of the Wide Awake Development team as a monthly supporter could you please drop us a line and let us know?

THANK YOU for your love and support. This simply can’t happen without many hands and many hearts being spurred to action. We appreciate you more than we can say. This is not “The Johnson‘s Mission”, this is God’s mission and we all get to play a part. Everybody gets to play! We are honored to join with you on this great mission of love.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

kimnjed April 6, 2013 5

Wide Awake InternationalYes

Chocolate, Sausages, Subways, Snoring.

Kim here, coming to you from our cozy little hostel room. Yes, we have arrived! I’m a little…or a lot jet-lagged, but I want to try to stay awake for another hour or so, so I guess I’ll write. (Jed pooped out on me and is already asleep. Lame.)

Our hostel is nice and clean. We share our 10-bed dorm room with some Polish guys and a Polish girl, and I’m not sure who else. Picture it now, I’m sitting on a bunk, and right across the room are 3 men with laptops on their bunks, and one other bunk is completely covered with different varieties of alcohol. This should be interesting! 🙂

Our flights today were perfectly uneventful. Once we landed we changed our money, then decided to make our way to the hostel. I had some printed directions from the website, but they were a tad vague. Thanks to the kindness of strangers we navigated the subways and arrived in one piece at our destination.

My brain is fuzzy, so I’ll just leave you with some pictures of our journey thus far. Sorry, I’m a little boring…but I can feel my brain turning to mush as I type.