Musical cars

How many cars can one person drive? Well, in the first 2 days of this week I drove 5 different cars (no kidding!). Needless to say, we had one in the shop and played "musical cars" to get things done - more dentist appts (don't ask - not good news), a friend moving out of state, car problems, acro class, library books due back, MIL's surgery and "normal" stuff has kept life interesting! I'm so thankful that friends and relatives are so good to us - thanks Renee for taking my youngest ones to the field trip while I was at the hospital, thanks Gran for letting me drive your car to get you to/from the hospital, thanks Katy for letting me borrow your car to deliver pizza to our friends, and thanks to the Lord for keeping me safe switching cars around! Our purse is much smaller thanks to cars (but not the one shown here - I just liked the pic!!!) and teeth and tomorrow is another "cut" at work but for now we are just thankful to have cars to shuffle around and enough money to put gas in them. Most of all we are thankful for the friends and family to play musical cars with us!

[I'll post an update on MIL later in the week when the lab results come in but for now thanks for the prayers - the surgery went very well and it is hopeful that the lymphoma will be confined to the surgical area.]

Missionary Monday

A couple from our church (and also homeschool group) left last Wednesday on a sweet mission to Vietnam. The husband works for Touch the World Ministries and they are in Vietnam to try to begin a process to get a medical ship built and ready to go to the poor, the orphans and the needy in a country that so desperately needs not only medical attention but spiritual attention. Many true believers there are persecuted for preaching the light of the gospel in a land filled with the darkness of falsehoods. Please pray for my friends that they will be physically protected, spiritually guided and used in a mighty way by our mighty Savior to reach those whom He loves and desires to see accept His Word and His Salvation.

I can just see it now....

Today's CleanLaugh from Pastor Tim - "Tea Service"

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me and my brother who is four years older than I am. I was maybe 1 and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident in
which my arm had been broken. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news and my brother was playing nearby in the living room when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.

After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then says, 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet??'

President's "Week"

We are doing something special about Presidents all week instead of just on Monday and I thought some of you might enjoy hearing about it. We started off on Monday watching a short video about George Washington, then doing a few worksheets and games about him. We made finger puppets of George and Honest Abe from HERE and as the week goes on each of my youngest two are finding facts about "their" President to be ready to give a "report" with their puppet on Friday. We have also done coin rubbings, made some silhouettes from cut outs I already had and my 9 yo is memorizing the first 16 Presidents, the 5yo memorizing the first 6 ones. Math has included things like the difference between years of each of the 2 (Washington and Lincoln), converted to weeks and then days, etc. Geography has included finding and learning about Philadelphia, Trenton, New York and Washington, DC as well as finding out how many states have cities named Washington and/or Lincoln and tracing the Delaware and Potomac Rivers.

On a different subject we are all planning to stay up late after Awanas tonight and view the Lunar Eclipse. We just finished a unit about the moon last week (when I had no idea the eclipse was coming up :) !) so we are looking forward to that. Just wish we had a telescope but it will be lots of fun - we are all planning on climbing out onto the back porch roof (almost flat), wrapped in blankets to watch it. It's great to live in the country with no street lights around!!

Enjoy Presidents, Lunar Eclipses and most of all your family this week!!

Update on MIL ...

Thanks so much to all who have been praying. Praise! Contrary to the first reports, after all lab work and biopsies were complete and compared to PT and CAT scans, they now think her lymphoma is actually only recurring in one spot and that it might be possible for it to be removed with surgery. This is a real praise, although it is a more aggressive type than what she had 2 years ago, if it is confined to the surgical site she will not have to undergo chemo and radiation again. We will not know that until surgery is over. Right now we are awaiting a specific date for surgery but it will probably be in the next two weeks. Thanks again for the prayers and please continue them!

A Precious Old Hymn

SONG 12. The Advantages of early Religion. (by Isaac Watts)

Happy the child whose tender years
Receive instructions well:
Who hates the sinner's path, and fears
The road that leads to hell.

When we devote our youth to God,
'Tis pleasing in his eyes;
A flow'r, when offer'd in the bud,
Is no vain sacrifice.

'Tis easier work, if we begin
To fear the Lord betimes;
While sinners that grow old in sin,
Are harden'd in their crimes.

'Twill save us from a thousand snares,
To mind religion young;
Grace will preserve our following years,
And make our virtue strong.

To Thee, Almighty God to Thee,
Our childhood we resign;
'Twill please us to look back and see
That our whole lives were thine.

Let the sweet work of pray'r and praise
Employ my youngest breath;
Thus I'm prepar'd for longer days,
Or fit for early death.

Happy Valentine's Day

For the fourth year in a row we had a very special Valentine's Day (OK, we've had many in our home but I'm talking about a new tradition that we began 4 years ago). We picked up 5 other children this morning, spent a while making more cards (they had all done some ahead of time) and then went to a local nursing home where we handed out 82 hand-made valentines. It is such a joy and privilege to have the flexibility with homeschooling to do something that will really make a smile for someone else. The children love making them, giving them out (along with many hugs and "blown" kisses) and this year I treated them all to a milkshake afterward before some of the girls had to be at dance class.

[This card is actually one made 4 years ago by my then barely 5 year-old. Unfortunately today I just didn't even think about the camera until we were on our way over there -- Duh!!]


Hope you had a very special Valentines day and that you have rejoiced in the fact that every day is a gift of love from the One who loved us so much He died for our sins. Happy Valentines!

What happens when you pray...

A dear older Christian friend once told me "If you want to see trials and tribulations, try praying." She is one of the most remarkable prayer warriors I have ever known. So here I post "Prayer Requests" last Thursday and then things sort of went downhill, reminding me of her warning.

Friday was my MIL's 69th birthday and I must say that I am very blessed to have a Christian mother-in-law who dearly loves her children and grandchildren. Over the years we have (of course) seen many things in life differently but neither of us has ever doubted the love we each have for our shared family. Not only have I learned things from her but I am amazed how she has been open to learn things from her children and grandchildren. May I never reach the point that I am not willing to learn, especially and most importantly, spiritual truths.
Anyway, early on the morning of her birthday she got "the" call from her doctor. The lymphoma has returned, is in several places this time and we go tomorrow to hear the pros/cons of surgery, radiation and/or chemo.

Then Friday afternoon they called my brother-in-law to say he needed to rush to the coast because his mother was very close to the end. Not unexpected but she has rebounded so many times when the doctors thought it was the end that honestly we all were just not really expecting it to finally come. She passed away on Sat., so Sunday morning we fed the dogs for all 3 families (2 had already gone down), got what clothes everyone needed and drove 2 more vehicles down. My dh and oldest daughter came back Sunday night but the youngest ones and I stayed on until all the arrangements were over.

I get back home Tuesday night and find out that a dear, sweet friend has found out that she has cervical cancer. She has a son on the front lines in Iraq. She has had many trials and tribulations over the years and has a quiet faith that just feels like sunshine every time I read her writing or am in her presence. My heart aches for her and her family.

Then another email let me know that my friend at church whose 26 year-old brother has been battling brain cancer had passed away very quickly after having to be taken to the ER. As far as she knows her brother was not a believer and my heart just breaks to think of the pain she is suffering and the judgment awaiting him. How our Heavenly Father's heart must break for all of those around us who have not accepted his free gift of Salvation through Jesus' bloody sacrifice. It makes me so remorseful to think of all the time and energy I waste on "hay and stubble" instead of reaching out to the lost!

So is this what to expect when you pray? Yes, I think so, at least sometimes. But it is precisely the pain and suffering and aching and crying that make us more able to pray. And the prayers make us more able to hear God's voice in the midst of troubles. For after the shock and anger and tears these words have the most meaning:
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
What an amazing promise!!

Prayer Requests

Today, won't you please join me in praying for:

1 - Our troops across the globe, in particular Josh, Cory and David (sons of friends) - safety, peace for them and their families.

2 - The Japanese girls that Audrey has shared the gospel with who have not yet made a decision - hearts to be opened in God's perfect timing.

3 - A Macedonian friend of Mandy's who is so close to accepting Christ - that all barriers to her acceptance be broken down.

4 - The 26 year-old brother of a friend at church who has massive brain lesions and does not know the Lord - that Christian medical workers be put in his path and that he would open his heart to the Savior.

5 - A homeschooling friend who just lost her 34 year-old sister-in-law to cancer - that her brother's heart would be comforted and that he would have Godly wisdom in helping their children (ages 6 & 2) deal with the loss of their mother.

6 - An outreach ministry that is helping single mothers deal with daily stress - for wisdom for the leaders to know how best to help and for Christ's love to shine through in every circumstance

7 - For those in the Southeast devasted by the tornadoes - for comfort for those who lost loved ones and practical needs to be met for homeless.

Thank you -

Book Review

It's been a while since I talked about books but it's because I've been too busy reading them! I just have to tell you about the most precious books that I have been reading with my daughter - the Elsie Dinsmore series. I had seen them in various book catalogs for several years and felt that they were too young for my oldest daughter and too old for my youngest (confused yet?). Anyway, I got the first two books for my youngest daughter this Christmas from Vision Forum and am very sad that I never got them for the older daughter. They are the most wonderful books. No, not "fluff", just entertaining or even lighthearted. They are true literature in the best sense of the word. The author draws your heart immediately to that of little Elsie and as you suffer her troubles page by page you will be amazed at how wonderfully well this young girl meets every trial. It has so convicted me of my pettiness and selfish ways and embarrassed me to read to my own 9 year-old of a child her age who deals with life leaning on Jesus in a much deeper way than her own mother does. Other than the Holy Bible and The Cost of Discipleship I can honestly say that I do not recall a book ever convicting me of quite so much of my own need for maturing in my faith. If you want some excellent literature and are ready to make changes in your own Christian life, read the Elsie series (even if you don't have a daughter to read them to!).

GOD's way... God's Timing

Every woman aches to hold babies in her arms. Forget what culture says, what others may tell you - in your heart of hearts you know it is true. We were created that way. For that very purpose. And sometimes if you are not holding a child or children, your ache almost overwhelms you. I have dear sisters who are right now tending newborns, nurturing children in the womb, rejoicing over grandchildren, waiting for adoption papers to be finalized and every one of them knows that there is nothing in this world as wonderful as a life. I have other friends who are heartbroken over the fact that for some reason God is not opening their womb.
Sunday morning our Bible study in Genesis was God's promise to Abraham of descendants. And it struck me so clearly that sometimes I try to be like Sarah. I try to get ahead of God's timing. I try to do something in a way that is not His. I am so anxious to fulfill His promises (like HE needs ME!?!) that I get all upset about how things are not going like I foresaw them, like I planned. So it was a beautiful reminder Sunday to me that I need to wait. And listen. It was 11 years after God called Abraham out of Ur before Ishmael was born. It was 13 more years before the true promised son, Isaac, was born. How impatient we are! God's timing is perfect and I get upset if things don't happen in a matter of days! From now on every time I get impatient or try to do things my way instead of God's, just look at me and quietly say "Ishmael". What heartaches for generations to come will my impatience and self-will cause? Ishmael. Don't get ahead of God. And don't try to fulfill someone else's calling. Ishmael.