URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Please pray for Dominic Garissi, a bus captain at our church in his mid twenties. He was sledding with his bus kids after church today and was in a sledding accident. He cannot feel his legs and is being transported from Grayling to Saginaw. Please pray, as his back is possibly broken. He is a faithful man with a huge heart for others and my husband's secretary, Carrie Henschen. ;o)

Please pray for the family of Amanda Vignere, a teen girl who passed away last night in a skiing accident. The youth group from First Baptist in Hammond came up yesterday to go skiing and one of their girls ran into a tree while skiing and passed away. She was one of the best girls in the youth group. I can't imagine how their youth group is feeling right now. The youth group was supposed to go to a youth meeting tonight, but instead have gone home. Please pray for her family, the adult chaperones, and the teens. There has been a care page set up for updates about Amanda's funeral arrangements and any other details here.

1. It's January; I'm thankful for a new beginning and a new focus in my life.
2. Patience is what I crave most right now (and maybe a little Vanilla Rich Chip Cake, too ;)
3. Meditating on Scripture is so nourishing to my soul and spirit. (Why is it such a struggle to stay faithful in my walk with God?)
4. Let us dare to be truthful with ourselves.
5. I love my home.
6. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to skiing with friends and family, tomorrow my plans include seeing an opera live via satellite (I think) with some dear friends (I've never been to an opera before!) and Sunday, I want to be a blessing and an encouragement to the folks in our Sunday school class!

This is my crazy family sitting down to Christmas dinner the Saturday after Christmas. We usually try to get a silly picture also, as you will see in the second photo. There are three family members not in the picture - Brian (you just can't see him), Tyler (he was taking a nap), and, of course, me (I was taking the picture!). My parents bought our family a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. If you haven't played one of those yet, you should. It's a riot! Where else could I box my husband and beat him?!

Sibling Love

Our entire family has been sick this week. I think that I'm the only one that hasn't had this fever/flu bug. Of course, Tyler was one of the first to get sick, and he is also teething, so he hasn't been himself lately. Lauren has discovered that he likes to have his little shoulders rubbed. He LOVES it! He'll just sit really still while she massages him. He even leans into her a little bit. So cute! I just love catching them loving on each other.

Take a close look at Lauren's hair in the top picture. See all the little squiggly hairs? I have been having the time of my life checking out some different hair blogs. Who knew there were things like hair blogs?!? I am so challenged when it comes to hair-do's for the littles, and now I have a solution--steal ideas from others! ;o) Anyway, a few of my favorite hair blogs are:

Bowznstuff
Girly Do's by Jenn

Hairstyles for s

Pigs and Ponies

Those of you with little s, enjoy!



On a slightly different note, I just have to share this funny story that happened the other day. Brian was sitting on the couch, and Lauren came up and tried to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. Here's the little dialogue that followed:

Brian - "Move, Lauren. You're invading my space."
Mom - "You've been invading my space since before you were born."
Brian - "Well, that's what moms were made for!"

Thoughts on God's Blessings

The Great Smoky Mountains

These three pictures were taken in Cade's Cove in Tennessee. We drove through this little community on Christmas Day and saw over 50 deer. The boys tried to see how close they could get.

This past week has been different. I have not gotten much done around the house, but I can’t say that it is because I have been busy. Indeed, I have merely been holding sick babies and children and a husband. I have been caring for my family’s most basic needs – love and comfort. And I have truly enjoyed every minute of it. Each day, it seems, someone different has gotten up in the morning and not felt well. Even daddy was sick last night. And now I have mastitis, due to Tyler’s extreme fatigue during his illness, I think.

We have a good-sized family right now, not what I would deem to be extremely large compared to some, though. I love the size of my family. I love babies. Nine months after we were married Elisabeth Joy showed up, and we have had a baby almost constantly since then. We have often struggled with what God would have us to do regarding the size of our family. Well, I guess I should say that I have struggled with it. I have come to a point in my life where I can completely trust my husband to make the decision that God wants him to make. When someone asks him about it, he says, “I just don’t see anywhere in the Bible where children are anything but a blessing.” I agree. They truly are a blessing. Much work, but a blessing.

As I was reading my Bible the other day, Genesis 1:22 “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply” really stood out to me. Again in verse 28, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” The way that God blessed His creation was to give them the ability to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. All three of those words carry a connotation of reproducing. Some folks assume that if you give your fertility to God you will end up with 20 children. Some folks do, but some folks do not. I know of a woman who only had one child. She never did anything to prevent children, but God only gave her one. Another lady had four children each five years apart, without ever trying to space her children.

Four years ago, I was feeling overwhelmed and was counseling with Bro. Marvin Smith. At the time, I had five children. Some of my thoughts were, “I am such a terrible mother. I grew up without a mother, yet God has given me five children. What was He thinking? Is He punishing me?” Bro. Smith looked at me and said, “God trusted you with five children. He only trusted me with two.” Wow! God trusts me.

Some people look at me each time I get pregnant and say things like “Don’t you know what causes that?” Or, “God expects you to exercise some common sense.” I agree. And yes, I do know what causes “that”, but it’s just so much fun! ;o) But over and over again in Scripture I see that God is the One that opens and closes the womb. Prior to 1960, the birth control pill was not approved for public use. And, prior to 1960, you saw many “large” families. It was just the way it was. Mom stayed home to care for her “babies” and daddy went to work to provide for the family. Families these days are so small because no one is home to care for them. Children are deemed by most as a huge inconvenience.

I, too, have often fallen prey to thinking that my children are keeping me from my true purpose in life. That if I didn’t have my children I would be able to do so much more for God. I have been guilty of believing the devil’s lie. The truth is that there is nothing greater I could do with my life than to pour myself into my children. To train them to train their children and to reach others for Christ. If we all eagerly took the job assigned to us by God of training our families for Him we could do so much more for Him than if we limit what He is trying to do in our lives.

I am so thankful that God has indeed blessed me beyond measure with my seven beautiful children. He may or may not continue to bless me in this way, but I am trusting Him.

Our Mini-Honeymoon

Yesterday began with two more children waking up with fevers. We decided to wait until noon before deciding if we would still go away overnight. Neither one threw up, so we decided that it would still be safe to go, although I must admit that I felt like a terrible mother for leaving my sick children. But, I did ask them if it would be okay, and they both agreed that they would be fine. We had a wonderful sitter to stay overnight with them -- one who takes good care of them and also likes to have fun.

We ate at a restaurant there at the resort with three other couples who were also taking advantage of the free overnight stay. Our food took quite awhile (about an hour and a half) to cook, and there was a couple sitting behind us who took quite a liking to Tyler. They held and played with him for awhile, so we took their picture to email to them!


We had a couple of snacks, and Chad introduced Tyler (who has never had a bite of real food) to Twizzlers. He loved chewing on it, but threw quite a fit when Daddy finally took it away. :(

Sharing with Daddy

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For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with my temper. Over the years, I have tried different things to get it under control. I have done studies on anger, I have read anger management books, I have gone to spiritual warfare counseling, I have typed out verses about anger and posted them around the house. I have generally devoted much time and energy to "fighting my anger".

These last few days, since I have been concentrating on patience, my anger has been the last thing on my mind. But, I have felt much more calm inside. There are, of course, other factors contributing to my calmness. However, I attribute much of the lack of tension inside to the fact that I have been concentrating on putting something positive into my life instead of removing something negative.

Several years ago in a sermon a preacher stated that sometimes, if we have had a parent with obvious flaws, we tell ourselves that we don't want to be like our parents. We sometimes put a lot of energy into thinking about the fact that we don't want to be like our parents. So much energy, in fact, that we become like the part of our parents that we disliked so much because we have concentrated so much on that part of them. Instead of focusing on our parents, we should be focusing on Jesus. The basic idea was that we become like whatever we focus on.

For the past several years I have been focusing on the wrong thing. I have been focusing on the undesired trait in my life instead of focusing on the desired trait.

Things have been so crazy around here that I haven't been able to post any verses or phrases around the house yet, but that is coming soon, hopefully this week.

Quick Update on the Boys

Both boys were still ill today, though neither one is still vomiting. Derek just laid around all day, and Tyler did pretty much the same. They both slept quite a bit, though not very soundly. Derek has had a fever all day; Tyler a small one this evening. Lauren was running a low-grade fever when she went to bed and said that she had a stomach ache, so she may wake up sick. Chad and I have planned an overnight getaway Friday night, so hopefully Lauren is okay in the a.m. A friend of mine called a couple of weeks ago to tell me about a free night at a nearby resort. What a fantastic blessing!

Chad and I at Smoky Mountains National Park

Derek hiding inside of a hollowed out tree

Happy New Year, Patience!

It's hard to believe that 2009 is here, isn't it? It seems like just yesterday I was making my New Year's Resolutions. Somehow, every year, I allow things to get in the way of completing my goals, but that is not going to stop me from trying yet again. In fact, I have a new tactic. Instead of just yearly goals, my goals are weekly, even daily. Each Sunday is a fresh start to renew my resolutions. Each morning is a new day to try again. If I can train my mind to think differently, then I think I can get much further in accomplishing my goals. In other words, instead of saying, "Well, it's January 4th, and I failed to read my Bible, so I might as well wait until next year to try again," I should say, "Well, I failed today, but tomorrow is a new day." Or, even better, "The day's not over yet, I'm going to read my Bible right NOW!"

Amy, over at Daily Pleasures, challenged us through her own practices to find a word for the year. After reading her post, I set about diligently to think and pray about what that word should be. I was leaning toward simplicity or growth. Then I began praying about it! ;) Through my praying, the Lord led me to ask my husband what he thought my word should be. If I were going to have one word guide me for the year, what should it be? Before I had even finished, he knew what my word should be. So that's what it is! My word is patience.

PATIENCE, n. pa'shens. [L. patientia, from patior, to suffer.]

1. The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from Christian submission to the divine will.
2. A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.
3. The quality of bearing offenses and injuries without anger or revenge.
His rage was kindled and his patience gone.

These definitions came from the Webster's 1828 dictionary, a dictionary based on the Word of God. Probably the biggest obstacle to patience in my life is my lack of "Christian submission to the divine will." As problems daily arise in my life, I "buck my authority," so to speak. I think that I have rights. A right for my children to behave properly, a right to be able to find my potato peeler when I need it, a right to clean a room and have it stay that way, a right to go to the store to buy an article of clothing when I ne(want)ed it. As an only child who lived only with her dad, I have had struggles growing into a large family. In many ways, I am still a child emotionally. I never learned to deal with constant frustrations because there just weren't any to deal with. This year, I am going to study patience. I have chosen several verses to begin the year:

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

1Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls. Our pastor recently did a short series of sermons about Possessing Your Vessel. It was a great sermon series - one I plan to implement this year.

James 1:3-4 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Patience (ˈpā-shənz) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hasty and impetuous. How often am I hasty with my words and actions? How often do I "fly off the handle" in the face of adversity, opposition and frustration? More often than I care to admit, I'm afraid. This year, I am praying that God will change me. That He will remind me to walk circumspectly.

Watch yourself, be the first to ask pardon if you both err, and guard against the little piques, misunderstandings, and hasty words that often pave the way for bitter sorrow and regret. ~1868, Louisa May Alcott

Patience is the companion of wisdom. ~St. Augustine

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
~Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Our patience will achieve more than our force.
~Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)