Precious Moments

This is my dear son during one of my favorite times of the day! It's nearly eight a.m. and we just finished snuggling with his bottle under a blanket. He is still small enough to want to do this yet old enough to respond with smiles and giggles.

My daughter is feeling under the weather today. It appears she has come down with a bit of a cold. I am so thankful we have done so well this year with colds and flus, but I still hope this is it before the warmer weather really starts coming. The other day I noticed her eyes and nose gradually looking stuffier and runnier, and by dinnertime she looked miserable. We were sitting at the table with visitors eating supper and she was just picking at her food. Her eyes were heavy and wet. I turned to Rob and said, "I think she needs to go to bed right now," and my daughter turns to me and says in a very pathetic little voice, "Yes... thank you mommy." You know your three-year-old is not feeling well when she thanks you for putting her to bed! My husband is a hero with sick children. I will be blunt and say, this is the part of motherhood I dread. Coming off of afternoon shift he wasn't very tired by 11 pm, so I crawled into bed, exhausted after a good visit with company, and he stayed up to watch some tv and listen for our daughter. He checked on her every time she cried out and checked her temperature and gave her Tylenol. By 1 a.m. (I suppose when he was good and tired, and our daughter had seemed to settle) he crept quietly into bed beside me too.

Good friends/relatives of ours announced the arrival of their baby girl yesterday! The birth of babies never ceases to thrill me. It reminds me of God's good gifts and how miraculous life is. I don't think I will ever grow tired of children being born. It seemed I was excited as the births of our own children. I couldn't even sleep last night, I was so excited for them and in prayer for this new life they're responsible for.

I am finding myself very anxious to meet our new little one, who is only about 11 weeks old in the womb. I find it amazing how early on I am attached to my babies. Even though my pregnancies have been fairly easy and uncomplicated, I have always been super anxious to meet my baby and have the pregnancy part over with. This little one will arrive soon enough, I'm sure. Life gets busier and busier with more children. Praise the Lord for good gifts from above. Giver of Life! Sustainer of my Soul.

Book Updates

I have been reading this book, Jungle Pilot, which is the story of Nate Saint who was a pilot/mechanic with Mission Aviation Fellowship after World War II. You may be more familiar with the movie, "End of the Spear," that came out a couple of years ago which also tells the story of the five missionaries who were killed by the Waogani indians in Ecuador. God's plans are perfect, and this story shows how He takes a seemingly tragic event glorifies Himself and brings others to Him for generations to come!

Cheese

This is a picture of the two 1/2 pound balls of mozzarella cheese I made the other day! My good friend at As A Bee sent me some of the ingredients I would need to add to the milk to make it work; and it did! The texture is delightful! The flavor.... good but too mild for our liking. Apparantly we need to age it a bit for a stronger taste.

The Beginning

Well, I thought I'd write a post about the beginning of a new journey my family is on. As I have probably never mentioned before, my husband is an aircraft maintenance engineer. He is extremely mechanical and technical, and he isn't afraid of trying to fix basically anything! Over our married life I have had to learn to share him with others because it doesn't take long for people to learn that he probably knows something about the problem their having with their vehicle or something.
Recently, he has been feeling prompted to do something different with his life. This is not some early mid-life crisis or anything. I firmly believe that he has been re-evaluating our family's purpose for God and perhaps wanting to give God more opportunity to lead and direct where we go as a family. Knowing this, I have been in prayer asking God to show us where He wants us to look. Where is He opening doors for us? Through this time, I have found myself being willing to go and do things I never would have said I was willing to do several years ago.
As a teenager, I remember going to Missions Fest a few times with my youth group. The youth rallies would host a speaker who would encourage everyone to be willing to go wherever God leads them in life. Being overseas missionaries, most of them encouraged being open to serving overseas of course. At the time, I remember feeling badly because I couldn't honestly say to God that I was willing to go wherever He led me. I remember asking Him not to lead me anywhere I didn't want to go! I also remember telling God that I wasn't willing to serve overseas as a missionary. Going to Missions Fest felt like a guilt trip for me every time I went. I was resistant... and I knew it. I even remember coming home and ranting to my parents about how I felt the people there expected EVERYONE to go abroad! How dare they tell me that!
Well.... here I am nearly 10 years later, married, two small children, one expected to be born in the Fall, and we are applying for overseas mission work. As I was praying for God to give our family direction, especially my husband (Rob), Mission Aviation Fellowship came into my mind, and I started looking at their website. Rob was at work that day. When he came home I still had the website up and I asked him if he'd considered MAF. Their mission is this: Sharing the love of Jesus Christ through aviation and technology so that isolated people may be physically and spiritually transformed. They have a fleet of light aircraft to serve developing countries in the areas of evangelism and church nurture, community development, medical assistance, and disaster response. Rob was surprised and also encouraged to see me considering this option and being open to it as he had been thinking about it as well. When he was younger his father had talked to him about this organization and was very excited to see him interested in aviation, but Rob hadn't been ready to consider mission work at that time.
So, since that time we have been praying for God to open doors if we're supposed to go this route. If God wants us serving in this way, He will make a way for us. At this time, all we know is we have to be willing and ready to do what He calls us to do! Talk about a change in attitude from those early teen days at Missions Fest. I find myself feeling excited about this possibility. I feel at this time, God is numbing MANY fears and anxieties that could stop me from being willing; moving away from close family and friends, tropical disease, natural disasters, language barriers, travel, cross-culture shock... the list goes on. I know those things exist, but it's okay. It's weird.
The application process is a long one. Which I am thankful for. There is no way we'll be sent away on a whim of emotion or without knowing for certain that is where God wants us to be.
So.... this is the beginning, I'm excited to see where God leads us. And if it's not overseas, I'm excited to see how God uses our family in our community where we are right now. We are all missionaries in our own towns, in our jobs, at our schools, and in our neighborhoods.

Today In History - God IS on the Throne!

April 20, 1999: Ten years ago today marks the anniversary of an event that shook the United States and Canada. The shootings at Columbine High School took place and 12 students plus one teacher lost their lives to these troubled shooters, who also ended their own lives after the crime. It's during events such as these people wonder where God is and ask questions such as: How could He allow such horrific and terrifying things to happen? Why did my son/daughter have to lose their life in such a meaningless and horrible way? Is there a God out there anyway?

(An aerial view shows students being led from the high school)

I can only trust that God is right where He says He is: "God reigns over the nations; He is seated on his holy throne." (niv) Psalm 48:7. This does not mean He is uninvolved and just sitting there. He is in control, orchestrating these events for His glory, believe it or not! Throughout history God has used man's sinfulness to bring people to Himself. As traumatizing as these events are, the only way to cope with them is turn to God Himself and trust in His plan, to submit to His authority.

Hear my cry, O God;
Give heed to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been a refuge for me,
A tower of strength against the enemy.
Psalm 61:1-3 (nasb)

The Birthday Girl

Turning 3

My little girl is turning three tomorrow. I can't believe it. Part of me feels as though she's been a part of my life forever, and another part can't believe it has only been three years! Kind of reminds me of marriage. I honestly can't imagine my life without my husband or my children. God has richly blessed me, without a doubt!

For my daughter's first birthday we were visiting my folks and my mother graciously baked and decorated a 1st birthday cake for her. Then, for her second birthday I made cupcakes and, I must admit, somewhat downplayed the whole birthday thing. She was only two afterall, she hardly knew what a birthday was! But now, she has been talking about her birthday for a couple of weeks now. I don't think I could get away with downplaying her birthday now! Despite my tiredness and feeling unmotivated to really do anything in this early pregnancy, I found myself excited to bake and decorate her a cake this year! I was probably 10 or 11 the last time I actually decorated a cake with a piping bag, but I thought it would be fun to try again. It was! We are not doing a birthday party with a gazillion toddler friends or anything crazy like that, but we will celebrate it with family after church tomorrow.

Yay to children everywhere turning three, and for helping keep their parents young and enthusiastic about the simple things in life!

A Sobering Thought For Me (A Young Parent)

"What parents tolerate in moderation, their children will excuse in excess."

In my ladies' Bible study this week we were grappling with a question, "Why do you think so many children grow up in Christian homes, schools, and churches without ever developing a real heart for God?"

There are two extremes to consider here. One, there are parents that would take 100% of the responsibility for their children walking away from the Lord. And two, the parents who take 0% of the responsibility for it. The Bible is clear that we as parents have huge impact on our children and are responsible to teach them truth, to instill in them an appetite for truth.

Our ultimate calling as godly parents is to raise a godly seed. How well are we doing on that? Are we throwing our elementary kids into the public school system to be taught that God is dead and how to have an alternative sexual lifestyle? Or perhaps its more subtle than that. What television programs are we feeding ourselves? What appetite are we feeding?

It's a sobering thought. Scary, actually. Remember the quote I started with, "What parents tolerate in moderation, their children will excuse in excess." It's only by the grace of God and His strength that we can be the parents He wants. Praying for our children's souls is our strongest weapon. Let's not forget to use the tools God has already given to us!

He Has Risen Indeed

Being Easter Sunday, it's only appropriate to reflect on what Christ has done for me. Words cannot express what's in my soul; I can only sigh my thanks and continue to rest in His hands. Thank you Lord.

Lately my husband and I have had one of Switchfoot's songs "We Were Meant For So Much More," on our minds. Processing in our minds where God wants us to serve Him as a family has brought many anxieties, questions, and priorities to a head. God is definitely leading us in a new direction and even though my flesh fears many things, my soul sings and anticipates witnessing wonderful works of God in our lives. Despite fears and anxieties about the future, I know I can rest in Him who holds the whole world in His hands. When everything around me is changing and shifting, God is constant, He is my strength. 

Thank you Father for giving me access to Your perfect Son, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I am nothing.

Seek the Lord

Seeking the Lord has been on the forefront of my heart lately. Not that I should ever be doing anything less, but you know how it is, right?

This whole subject of childbearing has had me thinking hard. Putting all of these large family movements aside, because (dare I say it) they remind me more of cults than encouraging people to seek the Lord for their family size, I have come to the conclusion that following and submissing to my husband is my calling. This is the way I obey God. If I were to stamp my feet and demand my husband to give me more children and tell him he isn't in God's will by stopping at 3 or 2 or 8, I am NOT obeying God myself! How hypocritical to push him into thinking he's not obeying God by having more and more children when I, his wife, refuse to be obedient in my own role.

To wrap up this topic, I think society too often sees children as a burden and something that gets in the way of their own selfish plans rather than the blessing God intends them to be. This is the real issue. On what basis are we making our family-size decisions. Of course, the reasons will be different for every family. Hasn't God made every family unique? Ill-motives could also be the cause of having many children. Pride? This is no issue to take to the streets and ask your friends about. This is an issue to be sought with the Lord with your husband. No parents, no friends. This is the family God gave you and your husband. He will give the two of you wisdom and strength to raise them for His glory, if you ask Him.