Life as we know it...

  Hello again, I hope this post finds you all enjoying your holiday season as life goes on around you. Redding is 59 degrees and I'm wearing a sweater when I go out. I feel like a ninny but the upside means I survived the summer. 

   Life can be insane sometimes. In my family of four we have 3 attending school and we work 7 days a week here or there. Still, we continue everyday to be more and more aware that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. 

  We have all been growing so much. I feel the learning curve for us right now is huge. Every chance we get  for failure, distraction or just anger has been highlighted as opportunities to learn. 

   Ben took on not only a custodial position, but a custodial position at Walmart. Many of you already know this, but something you may not know is that he has been coming home Happy (even though he gets some of the most disturbing stories!! :) It's too amazing to watch my husband's Joseph like attitude and actions gain him the attention of every manager in the store. 

    Still, this is not to say that the last months have been easy. We really are living in a tension of knowing where we are supposed to be... and where we want to be. We are still waiting and not making any definite decisions about the future, Simeon is talking about Africa a lot, but we know that the North West is our home. It's where our hearts live. We miss you all and since being away we are seeing more and more clearly all that really is going to happen there.

  The North West is a pivotal and strategic area. I feel like there is a hub of a kind there that connects people, dreams and movements. I also see it as a place where people can step into their individual destinies. Ben and I love to hear what is going on in all of your lives. God is doing so much. Something I know He has been speaking over me is that what he is placing inside of us is meant to be eternal. I know this is something He is doing in the whole Church. God is wanting to start something that has no end, in us. For that to be possible only He can be the foundation. He has continued and continued to dig, removing every bit of weakness. There has been so much sifting. The only thing that has held me up during this time is to lean into him.

   During this time more than any other I see Papa God as Aslan with Eustace removing the scales. As a Daddy with a wash cloth wiping our sticky fingers. Our job is NOT to clean ourselves up! Simply put, we need to stand still. We need to let him get between our fingers, and toes if necessary. Trusting that He is always good!! Life as I've always know it..... will NEVER be the same. He is too good everyday for me to want "same". I want Him, even when it hurts.

   Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers. We really feel it everyday and we are praying for you also! Ben got in his deposit for his Thailand trip in the Spring so we're a little over 10% through paying it off. Thank you to everyone who has been donating to him. If anyone else is interested they can go to ibssm.org there's a donate link at the bottom of the page. Make sure that the donation goes toward Ben Kline missions. (Tuition is already paid in full! Yay!) 

   All the prayer, encouragement and support of all kinds being poured out over us has been overwhelming. YOU GUYS ARE BEAUTIFUL! Thank you again! We love you and I Hope you all have an amazing Holiday Season!!!!!!

    ~Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~

                                                  with love and hugs~    

                                                                          Renah 

                                                                             

   

New Thing(s)

Hola amigos y famalia~

 Life in Redding is going so well. It is regularly 20 degrees hotter than it is in the Northwest and somehow our bodies are used to it. I now can say that I get chilly right around 70 degrees and I'm comfortable in the mid 80s and 90s. Weird I know.

 Other than temperatures... our lives have taken on some pretty awesome and unforeseen turns. We registered Esther for Kindergarten, as some of you know. Now she and Simeon both are able to attend the same facility right across the hall form each other. Both of their teachers have been teaching for more than 20 years and are so sweet and excited to have them in class! This has been a huge answer to prayer as they will not only have the same school hours, but also breaks and events! Yay!

 On the subject of school, we moved here in June and Ben attended worship school. It revolutionized our family SO MUCH! (Seriously, if you can take three weeks out of a summer and all you can play is spoons- do this school. ) Life has been challenging, but Ben and I have both felt the growth that is coming out of it.
Part of that growth has to do with me being involved in children's ministry with Bethel.

 As of right now I work Sunday morning holding babies- newborn to walking. Even though the children we work with are so young we are equipped as much as any of the other children's workers. We still receive the same lesson each week and pray over it and give whatever part we can to our infants. I have been loving every minute of training and snuggling these future world rockers. I have also been received fully into a much smaller community inside of Bethel, which leads up to my next subject~ School of Ministry.

 About three weeks ago, after all dues had been paid and I was fully prepared to attend second year, I could not sleep. This is odd for me, I usually can find a restful moment even if my children are tearing apart my house. Anywho- I ended up out on our couch in the still of a sleeping house asking God what was up. Very clearly I felt that I was supposed to ask Ben if he wanted to go to second year. A little background on the subject, I have never stopped asking Ben this question since we were married, his answer has always been a firm No. I'm pretty sure he became totally annoyed and in truth may need a sozo to help him forgive my nagging. (: Still, when God told me to ask one more time, I'm good with that. And honestly a little too excited.

 So I ask, and I tell him he's not allowed to answer. First he has to pray. That night we talked. He told me that logically his response was the same as it had been every time before, BUT something inside him jumped when I mention it. So we started praying and he applied for school... couldn't hurt.

 As of August 15th, 2011; Benjamin Kline is an enrolled student in BSSM 2nd year. I am more excited than is probably logical, as I know I will be working a lot more.... yadda yadda. There is something that has happened though, I am willing to trust. I trust Papa... and I trust my husband. Ben is so good at spreading around what he gets I know that I'll get second year through him.

 Life continues to thrill and surprise me. I love this. It can be so uncomfortable but I know I'm living. Ben has had three interviews this week and I have two scheduled for tomorrow. We know that God is providing and we are so excited to be a part of his plan.

 Also just a quick word about the Northwest. There are more people here from some part of the Northwest than I know what to do with. Everyone has some connection there, and everyone is LONGING FOR GOD TO MOVE THERE! It is the right time and YOU are in the right place God is beginning to pour out. Get involved, it is going to be beautiful!

 John G. Lake saw a vision of Portland in which there was a huge demonic assault. THEY COULD NOT PENETRATE. An angel told him "Such is the care of God for those that strive in unselfishness for His best." * You are hidden and protected, go for it. Step out. It's gonna be good!

Love you all and love hearing from you! Thank you for all the notes and prayers!!!!!!
                      ~ Forever a Northwesterner~
                                            Renah



  *    "John G. Lake, His life..sermons..boldness of faith, pg. 140"

Heat and Fire

Hello again lovely people!
      These last weeks have been amazing. God is so good. Ben finished Worship School last Friday. He got SO much. Our expectation for his school was some networking and recording training. As the school started God began taking Ben into deeper places of intimacy and soon after Ben changed his focus completely from recording to song writing. It has been encouraging and challenging for me to watch him grow so much in only a few weeks. I'm excited to see what is birthed out of this in music as we are feeling more released to begin writing together.
     Esther and Simeon are making tons of new friends and enjoying life in Redding. They go swimming a lot and are both sporting authentic California Coppertone tans. Lake trips during the 105 degree heat are a basic necessity for comfort here and we've found the Canadian Geese get very fat and happy this far south during the summer losing all fear of humans... especially food carrying ones. Still our children find a profound sort of joy in chasing them. Simeon during one of these ecstatic moments, grabbed a stick and, holding it in perfect form... above his head- point down-, ran forward informing me he was going to "kill a geese". It's been fun and I'll be getting him a hunting license soon as well as combat training in case of any fowl attacks.
      Esther's going to attend a Bethel Summer Camp this week, we're looking forward to seeing what she brings home and new friends in even more massive quantities. It's a good preparation for her starting Kindergarten next month. She is very excited and has found some other kids that will be in her class already.
      I'm looking for work and have received a few interviews. I'm most excited about a possibility to work in the Bethel Children's Church. I would so love to gain a closer view of the way they do church with our kids. Both Esther and Simeon LOVE going to church still, and come home singing and remembering bible stories. Esther's favorite  sunday school song is, " He knows me. He fills me. He loves me. He sends me."
     Over these last few weeks we've had the awesome experience of hanging out with friends from the Gorge TWICE! we are so glad to have those connections still! We love you so much and we hope you are all well!! I'd love to hear what God is doing and how life is for each of you!!! So much love!
                   ~Renah Kline

Redding!

Hello Family and Friends!

     Ben and I both are feeling that in this time of transition and adventure it is more than necessary to maintain connections with those closest to us. We know that God has placed each of you in our lives on purpose no matter what role you may have-are-or will play. With this in mind, we also know that we haven't always been very good at staying connected. I am therefore starting a simple blog to let people know what happens in  our everyday lives: everyday occurrences as well as the spectacular.

     For instance: today our family took our first ever bike ride on the River Trail... and Esther manned up to a 3 mile ride! It was awesome!!! (Sim enjoyed the view from a trailer) We enjoyed ourselves and got to sit and watch five river otters swim by. They even climbed out on the opposite bank and we all got to watch! Very cool!!

     Ben starts School of Worship tomorrow, and in attendance with him will be my brother Joe. Another awesome-ness in the scheme of things. We have been astounded since being here at the quantity of people that we actually still know and remember us. With all the change that has been a huge comfort.
Bethel has recently began to feel even a greater call to community. Eric Johnson and his wife Candace recognized as pastors over the local church here, they are sowing into the church and the community in personal ways. I find it interesting that it happens to be in this timing that God would bring us back to Redding. I know that God infused us with community in Hood River and I can't wait to see how that leaks around on the Bethel Culture around us!

     We sincerely love you all! Thank you for reading and for loving us! We love your prayers and your hearts! If you'd like our mailing address or new phone number just let me know!! We're thinking of you all often!!!

                Many Loves!!!
                                     Renah Kline