God Will Take Care of It

Hey everyone,
This blog popped into my head this morning as I was getting ready for school. I wanted to talk about what this phrase means to me: "God will take care of it." I use this phrase all the time, not only when talking about finances. I have written plenty on finances and how each month God provides exactly what we need (maybe not what we want, but always what we need). This time I want to talk about how God provides for us in way of taking care of problems that we think are big problems. Most of the time when we worry about some distant problem, after God has taken care of it, we don't remember that it was a problem we were worried about, and thus never thank Him for fixing it in His perfect way. I have two things that have been taken care of in the past months that I would like to remember and give thanks to God for. The first is Melody's birth. A few months ago, I began to go through the night when Kelsi's water would break--I assumed it would be at night for some reason. I kept going through the scenarios and thinking about how we would have to call a tuk tuk, and make sure someone was able to watch the girls, and the hospital was a little bit further than I was comfortable with... all these things that were my responsibility as the husband. I worried. All the things that could go wrong... you can lose a lot of sleep thinking about all the things that could go wrong, because there are a whole lot of things that could go wrong. I could stop breathing in the middle of this post... I could get hit by a car on the way home from school today... there are a lot of things that could go wrong on a daily basis, but in these cases I have the trust in God to know that He will maintain my breathing and protecting me from getting hit by a car. I even have the trust to say that if I got hit by a car that God would use that in some way in my life and I can trust Him in that, also. But with this whole birth thing, I was freaking out. I kept saying, "God will take care of it." As most of you know from reading the post about Melody's birth, God did take care of it. I do not find it a coincidence at all that Kelsi and I had a get away weekend at a hotel that was closer to the hospital, or that our daughters had baby sitters that night, or that Boo found his way to the hotel even with my terrible directions in Khmer, or that Melody was born almost a month premature and still had no complications other than low blood sugar, or that the delivery was only an hour long and Kelsi had no complications. I understand that we could have had a terrible birthing experience, but through this whole pregnancy, I have seen that God does take care of us, when we place our trust in Him. There have been times when things were difficult, and we placed our trust in Him, and He has shown Himself faithful. Now, the second thing that God took care of actually started in January, when I had to fly to America. I don't know how familiar you are with my position at BYKOTA House, but I am the School Administrator--which basically means that I handle all things English school related. Over the last year, I have created a rotation system to effectively teach our vastly different middle school class, and Kelsi and I were in the process of developing a system for the new Elementary/High School class. I am not trying to brag, I am just trying to convey that for me to up and leave for three weeks and immediately leave after Melody being born was not an easy thing for our school. I have written this before, and I will write it again. I am not too proud to admit that I am replaceable, and God has shown me on multiple occasions that I am not as important as I think I am. When I made the school calendar, I left about 220 school days, because I was planning to take off for a couple weeks when Melody was born. I did not, however, make room for my trip to America. I remember being so worried when I was making the school calendar about what we were going to do about school, and how Mark and Rhonda were going to handle all the BYKOTA Kids without us being there for school time. We talked about it at multiple team meetings. But God took care of it. We have had a team here for two months. We started having World Race teams come around November, I think. We had one come in January, and they completely took over school while I was gone. Kelsi supervised, but she said that they pretty much handled everything. When I got back from America, this team was given the choice to stay in Cambodia and work with us for another month, and they chose it! Even now as I type this, they are maintaining the school. You see what I mean. Six months ago, I was so worried about this time period, but I kept praying and knew that God would take care of it. Now seeing that He has, I want to stop and say "Thank You, Lord, for being faithful." In the Old Testament, God constantly reminded His people of what He had done for them. I think that we need the same thing. I would encourage everyone to take some time and remember all the things that God has done. Take time to remember all the things that God has taken care of... and then thank Him for it.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.    

Family Matters: Abby Went to the Dentist

About a week ago, we had a dentist appoint for one of the BYKOTA kids that fell through, because the boy that was supposed to go, went to Khmer school instead. So that we would not lose the time and appoint, Mark offered to have Abby go in his place. So, I picked Abby up from pre-school and we went to the dentist. I had thought that Abby had been to the dentist before, but when we arrived at the office I found out that this was her first visit... ever. She had come with Kelsi before but only played in the play place while BYKOTA kids got work done. After I found out this was her first experience with the dentist, I began the work of calming her down. I could tell that she was not comfortable, so after we got the paper work filled out, we played on the play place for a while, and she seemed better. She did really well, up until the nurse asked her to lay down in the chair... that is when the crying began. I told her in the prep time that if she was good and obeyed that she would get ice cream afterwards (yes, I bribe my children... he who has not sinned may cast the first stone). The dentist took the little mirror on a stick and went to put it into her mouth, and she bawled, but as soon as I said, "Abby, you need to open your mouth big" she did. We had one of our kids who wouldn't even open her mouth for the dentist, so I consider my daughter to be very brave for an almost five year old. The dentist just looked into her mouth and said, "No cavities and no need to clean. She needs to keep brushing her teeth." Abby's face was so relieved when I finally got her calmed down enough to hear me saying that she was done. Best part was that the whole visit was free! Good experience all around. As we walked out, Abby just looked up at me and said, "Can we go get ice-cream now." Yes, yes we can. I love my Abby-girl. She is always so energetic, and that is difficult sometimes, but we always have fun together, and that is something that I hope and pray continues long into her life.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.

Family Matters: Melody Roem Likes to Dance

Hello Everyone!
It has been a while since I last posted. I promise to get back into the groove of everything soon. A lot of you are friends with Kelsi and I on Facebook and are already aware of this news, but on January 25th at 2:30 AM, Melody Roem decided to come early! Here is a picture:

Rather than re-write the story, I am going to share with you a link to my wife's blog. In case you are unaware, Kelsi writes a blog that is more focused on the family and life. It is a fantastic blog and her reader count is already almost surpassing Mission Cambodia's. She described how Melody Roem was born and how God had a hand in it all.
http://athomewherever.blogspot.com/2014/02/melody-roem-bergen-is-here.html
In case you are wondering, Roem is Khmer for dance and is pronounced "Row-um." Two syllables. We wanted her to have a Khmer middle name like her big sisters who love her to death.
I just want to thank God for this precious gift and for His plans that give us hope and protection. I also want to thank everyone who supports us both in prayer and financially. You are a huge blessing to our family!
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.