#8 Turns 3!!!!

My baby isn't a baby anymore, sigh.... today he's 3 which is so far from being a newborn, sigh again..... but what a funny birth story..... here goes....



Me and Brocky (his little nickname) on his 3rd birthday - he is so cute!



"I'm Three!!!!"

I attended OCHEC (the homeschool conference) that spring, 3 years ago, even though I was about to
give birth.  I knew I would probably be overdue, so why not go?!  I was HUGE, but enjoyed walking/waddling around to all the different tables, looking at curriculum.  I bumped into my friend, literally, with my big stomach and she wondered why I was there in my condition!  I told her, "Why not?  Labour is probably days away anyway."  At that point, she stopped and dropped everything and said, "I'm going to pray for you right now."  Sure enough, she did just that, praying that the Lord would bless me by allowing me to have that baby sooner than later.  I thanked her thinking, "Yeah, right, it'll still be a few more days, perhaps weeks!"  But, if you can believe it, within the hour, I was sitting in a seminar when suddenly I felt a twinge.  "Hmmm...I thought to myself, "Could that be what I think it is???"  Unbelievably, within a few minutes, another twinge, then another.  Nothing painful, just the beginning of what had to be labour.  I told RM, "Don't get excited, but I think I'm in labour!"  We found my friend who had prayed and I told her the exciting news!  I couldn't believe how powerful her prayers were!  We decided to cut out of the conference an hour later and more contractions came confirming my thoughts of labour.  That never means that a baby is hours away....usually is it still days away, but I was still getting excited!

We quickly picked up the kids who were staying at a friend's house.  I told them what was going on and it began to feel like this baby really was on its way. 

When little B was about to be born, we were oddly fortunate to be carrying the two homes!  It was almost as if I had had my husband build me my own birthing center with a birthing tub and a suite for sleeping (i.e., the master bedroom!).  Of course there were 3 other bedrooms if guests wanted to join us as well as a whole kitchen and lots of places for parking, not to mention a view of a vineyard! Plus, the house was built with a high-end executive in mind, so the entire house was loaded with upgrades from beautiful lighting to granite countertops everywhere including all the bathrooms... you name it, this house had it.  My only regret was that we couldn't pick this house up and move it to the farm!

I had really hoped to try a water birth with the last baby, but the giant 6" x 3" tub (with air jets!) hadn't been finished in time, so alas, poor little Jonas was born in a basement where we were staying with friends!  We still call him our basement baby.  I had hoped to have at least one more baby so that I could try out this beautiful tub (did I mention the chandelier over the tub?  So pretty!).  Then, sure enough, #8 was on the way, so I started to plan my first water birth!  I was so excited!

Labour wasn't very eventful.  With the last two babies, I was amazingly very close to my due date.  All the other babies, I had been waaay over, so this was exciting to think that I didn't have to wait!  But, ever since baby 6, it seemed my body wouldn't let labour progress as fast as I thought it should (3 days is a little long, don't you think?), so I kept telling the midwives, will you break my water or do something to speed things along this time, please?????  They agreed to try to do all they could.

Labour had clearly started so my parents came over so that we could literally drive the 5 minutes away to our "birthing center"/other house and off we went to labour in style!  It was awesome and peaceful..... at least until some time in the middle of the night.  We were woken up by the sound of a helicopter literally flying around in the backyard of our house!  Ok, slight exaggeration, flying around behind our backyard, in the vineyard!  It was the craziest thing and it went on for hours!!!!!  The helicopter had a search light on and it literally would fly from one end of the vineyard to another.  We were sure that it was a police helicopter looking for some escaped criminal!  I couldn't believe it!  How was I supposed to give birth, listen to helicopters, get some sleep.... all at the same time?!  It was impossible. 

Then, RM had to go downstairs, through the garage, to see if he could get a better idea from outside.  He forgot the garage door locked automatically.  There he was in his, uh, underclothes, and now locked out!  I didn't know this, until I heard him banging and.calling my name!  How was I supposed to labour peacefully with such bizarre circumstances?  Our night was quickly turning to morning and I was not getting any needed sleep for the big day ahead of us.... not good.

In the morning, I figured I had done well enough to call the midwife and get her to come check me so that she could break my water.  She came over around 11 am or so.  Meanwhile, for the first time ever, we had hired a birthing photographer (actually she was doing it for free as she needed clients and experience - I was so grateful to accommodate!).  This has got to be the best thing I ever did and I wish I had done that with the other babies.  Her name was Renate and she showed up just before the midwife and started snapping pictures of me almost immediately as well as video of me walking around in my pregnant state.  So amazing to look back on.

After checking me, she decided I had progressed enough to break my water - I was so grateful!  Then, RM went back to get the oldest girls as they were determined to see this birth.  I was happy to have them.  The rest of the afternoon, we waited and prayed that I would go into harder labour so that I wouldn't have to go to the hospital.  We had to wait for a couple of hours before anything happened.  I remember one of my first hard contractions, just stopping, breathing and closing my eyes.  Poor Renate, who hadn't been at many births yet, started to cry!  I think she thought I was dying of agony and could hardly stand it!  So sweet!

By mid-afternoon, I was walking around the house still and praying for contractions, hard ones.  They started to come some time after 4.  I stopped walking!  We moved into the glamour bathroom and started the tub.  It was awesome!  I stepped in and just felt lifted off the ground immediately as the air jets were mini-streams of pressure just enough to massage without blowing you away.  I loved it!  Until transition hit.  Then I hated water.  But I also hated land.  It wouldn't have mattered, I just wanted that baby out!

It seemed the baby must have been near, but I started crying out to the Lord, "Why isn't the baby coming????"  "Please, bring this baby!"  It was hurting a lot and it didn't seem to be doing anything!  My poor girls were in the bathroom watching from a distance, holding hands and I'm sure they were praying, too, as it was getting a little intense.  Cold cloths were being put on my head and I thought I was going to burn up I was getting so hot.  Then, all of a sudden, the contraction I longed for came and the baby moved, finally down, heading in the right direction!

Everyone crowded around the tub, the midwives started getting ready to catch a swimming baby... out he came into the water and was immediately put on my chest... a boy!  I had no idea I was having another boy - so great, a brother for Jonas.  Our 5th boy!  I have to write his name, too, as it has so much meaning- Brock (after the General who led his army bravely to victory in the War of 1812 and died in the process) and Paton (after John Paton, the missionary to the cannibals who changed a whole civilization to Christ at great sacrifice). 

The girls cried.  I was relieved and RM was proud.  I didn't stay long in the tub as suddenly I was cold and so was the baby.  We got out and moved to the bed and there we stayed for another two nights in our custom built birthing center!  Soon after the house sold.  I didn't mention to anyone that we had had a baby in their new house!  That's our little secret.

Now, little Brock, is big and is as much a character as Jonas and then some.  He came out different than all the others in physical features.  He's got the darkest hair of the bunch, nice tanned skin (everyone else is blonde and fair-skinned!).  His eyelashes are to die for and has got to be the cutest little guy in the world!

I'm so grateful to have had two babies in my 40s!  They are both miracle babies I'm sure as I know it isn't common and they were both born healthy.  Both pregnancies were problem-free and I felt great the whole time, so I count my blessings.

May little Brock live up to his name as we long for him to be a world-changing sacrificial leader who changes a civilization for Christ!

Strange Answers to Prayer, Tomato Staking and Secret Church

I am not normally up and writing on a weekend.  These are usually my times to sleep in a little and catch up on early mornings, but not today!  Lately, if I get woken up by a child in the middle of the night, I have been finding it impossible to get back to sleep, so I'll lay there for up to two hours trying to fall asleep.  My thoughts won't relax.  This can be a positive thing as sometimes I ask the Lord, "Who should I be praying for?  Why did you wake me up?"  This is part of the reason I haven't been writing as much this week as I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep.... This includes today!  I was woken up at 4:30 this morning and immediately thought to myself, "Well, that's all the sleep I'm going to get."  I tried my hardest to go back to sleep, but alas here I am at 5 am and the night is done.

Lots of neat things went on this week, particularly with my friend who I wrote about that is not giving up on what appears to be a hopeless situation with her marriage.  A few days ago, her husband ended up in the hospital after being in a car accident that should have taken his life.  He only ended up with a broken collarbone and by the grace of God no one else was hurt.  My friend wrote to tell me how she didn't know how she would deal with all of this including the fact this left them with only one vehicle.  All of this happened during one of her busiest work weeks.  But, more power to my friend, she has stood by her man and has taken this to be an answer to her prayers.

The love she has shown to her husband has been noticed by both her husband and her daughters.  They all know he doesn't deserve any of her attention or care and yet she has allowed this to be the way God can show His love through her.  I keep reminding her of Hosea and how he was married to a prostitute.  It was supposed to be a picture of how God loved Israel who was sinful like a prostitute.  I think her husband's heart is being drawn to her's in a new way as she continues to model love to someone who doesn't deserve it.  How wonderful, isn't it?

As for paying for it all... she isn't worried.  She sees how God is providing for her through some new listings that she never expected to come her way and she is experiencing hope for the first time in a long time.  Praise God!  He doesn't always answer the way we expect, but He does answer our prayers!  When she first told me about the accident, I'm sure she wasn't too pleased with my response as I said, "That's wonderful news!  This is what we've been praying for!"  At that time, a car accident was the last thing she felt was an answer to prayer!  But literally only a few days later, she is seeing how God allowed a car accident to move in her husband's life.

This was also a week of tomato staking and I'm not talking about gardening outside, but inside our home, with our children!  Stephanie reminded me this week of the importance of tomato staking our kids.  I first heard of this idea years ago when I only had 4 kids.  One of my friends came across this website that talked about "tomato staking" with respect to raising children and shared it with me.  If we keep our children close to us and monitor their every move as toddlers and young children, then they won't become like a tomato plant that grows up, isn't staked and has all the tomato fruit fall to the ground and rot.  Staking is a lot of work though.  It means consistency, constant effort, not letting a single thing go by without dealing with it right there and on the spot.  It means training, training, training and it means staying home sometimes to make sure you can be as deliberate as possible for a long as possible.

My little Jonas, the 7th child, has been staked for sure, but some tomato plants are a little more work.  Stephanie was over this week and her little guy came with two of his favourite toys to share with our little boys.  That was so nice!  Except my little boys' true colours came out and didn't really feel like giving the toys back..... ever.  Stephanie and her son, who is being very well tomato-staked at home, was very patient and watched me parent my tomatoes with effort!  After she left, I told my boys that I was not impressed with their behaviour.   I said, "You were not very well behaved today.  I heard yelling and crying as well as stomping and pouting.  Not good."  It was hard not to laugh when Jonas piped it, "Don't forget kicking, punching and pinching....."  "Oh yes, that, too!" 

So, I need to tomato stake my plants a little more it seems.  It's a wonderful principle though - to have our children near us in order to monitor their behaviour.  We prefer to send them away and have them play where we can't see or hear them, but then so much gets missed.  That is one of the reasons, I have to say, that I love our small little house.  I love that we don't have a basement that is useable.  I love that our playroom is on the main floor.  It is much easier to monitor behaviour when they are in eyesight and listening range. 

Weeds can ruin any garden, especially the garden of our family and the hearts of our children, so it is essential to keep working on my little garden here at home.  The picture of Spring and any garden outside is obvious.... if I let the weeds in my potential garden get overgrown, no fruit will be produced.  But the back-breaking effort is so hard!  I can't say I love weeding, but if I stay on top of it, then it isn't so bad.  Having 4 tomato plants get well on their way has been very fulfilling and I'm so pleased with the fruit we are seeing in their lives.  It gives me hope with the remaining 4 who don't have quite as much fruit yet.  Perhaps these last four plants aren't getting the exact same attention that the older four received.... what a call to action!  We had better not let up on these plants! 

I wonder what kind of tomato plant Jonas would be if he had a name.... he wouldn't be any mini-grape tomato that you could just pop in your mouth.  He is a force to be reckoned with, perhaps a Beef Steak tomato!  One that requires a little more effort to grow!  But I love him and his spunk and his matter-of-fact personality.  I shake my head at the things that come out of his mouth, but at least he is honest about his sinful nature.  The tomato staking means I must take the time to remind him why he needs Christ and how he can ask God to help him overcome the little weeds in his life.  He may not fully comprehend that all now, but I want it to be the language of his life, that it becomes normal to call upon the Lord.

He is always the first child up and often within minutes he is needing a reminder to be better behaved.  Perhaps God brings him to me first so I won't forget about him. 

Meanwhile, Stephanie is up to all sorts of interesting things besides just tomato staking...... she introduced us to "Secret Church", too.  In the spirit of remembering the persecuted church, David Platt, a well-known pastor/writer/speaker from the States, holds what he calls "Secret Church".  It is a night of singing, worship, prayer and teaching just like the persecuted church would hold.  It is often too dangerous to get together in some countries for prayer and worship, so when they do connect as believers it is for long periods of time to help them get through the times they aren't together.  So David Platt organized Secret Church to model that longer period of time of serious worship and teaching.  I think it started perhaps at 7 pm last night and was meant to go right to midnight.  My oldest daughter and her friend joined several other young adults as they met in Stephanie's apartment, just like the persecuted church would have met.  They then watched a live simulcast of David Platt and his church leading them through a time of singing, teaching, and prayer.... right up until 12 am.  I was so excited to have my daughter go to this.  Platt was going to be teaching on Christ in the Culture and a Call to Action.  He wasn't going to mince words as he planned on speaking about poverty, widows and orphans, abortion, same-sex marriage, homosexuality and what a Christian's response to all of these issues is supposed to be.  I can't wait to hear how it went.

This should be the last week of pruning.  We had to take a week off as Spring took a week off, too.  It was so cold we couldn't get ourselves out there to finish it off.  Hopefully Spring will return soon!

I'm on my countdown to my little mini-vacay with my sisters, sister-in-law and my mom.  We'll leave for Sarasota on Thursday morning and will come back Monday night.  Hard to believe.  I had to shop for a bathing suit which I hadn't done in 8 years.  I haven't needed one as I always had a baby or a toddler so I was never in a pool and if I did go in I just literally jumped in with whatever I had on!  I left all the swimming up to the kids as I would watch them from the sidelines.  The weather promises to be warm, so I'm excited as it isn't warm here anymore!

It is now after 6 am - I still won't see people up and at 'em for awhile still, so I will enjoy perhaps another cup of coffee and take this as my Saturday morning vacation!

More Lessons from the Vineyard

I haven't been feeling as stressed about money as I knew money was coming soon.  Some towers had been shipped (ones that RM had built), more were being shipped yesterday and even more will be shipped in the next few weeks.  Each time towers were shipped, an invoice was sent.  But you just never know when you'll see a cheque in the mail. 

I am heading out on my weekend getaway in just over a week and definitely needed to pick up a few things before I left, plus I knew I would need cash while I was away to cover food and incidentals.... would the money come in time?  We were quite sure it would, but I had to rest.... knowing God was in control and knew if I needed that money in time or not.  Well, to our delight, it arrived in the mail yesterday and we were thrilled.  It always makes us say many out loud, "Thank you, Jesus" prayers when that happens.  It occurred to us later on in the day that maybe if we were completely financially independent we might not walk around with so thankful a heart.  Being dependent on Him daily sure makes us count our blessings.  It was definitely a "stand firm and watch for the deliverance of the Lord" moment.  He delivered us again and we are so grateful.

We are nearly done pruning the little vineyard.  I never thought in a million years we could do this, but we have 5+ rows left to do out of 23.  It's about 2 rows a day if you have 4 people pruning for at least 4 hours (about 80 plants a row, I think), so no short amount of work.  I've used this example multiple times in our kids' lives already when they think they can't accomplish something. I reminded my son yesterday as he has quite a bit of schoolwork to do now that he's at the vet hospital each afternoon.  It's eaten up a lot of his school time.  He was feeling overwhelmed, but I told him, "Remember how you felt when you stood at that first plant on that first row and then turned and saw how much you had ahead of you?  It got done one plant at a time.  Your schoolwork will get done that way, too."  He actually took those words to heart as he knew it was true! 

We remember how long it took to build our house and how overwhelming it felt when we stood in the basement of the framed house that had sooooo much ahead of it.  The weight of the project we had taken on suddenly hit us like a ton of bricks, but we pressed on.  Then, we got to the final list of things that needed to get done.  I remember writing it with RM.  It was at least 3 pages long.  But then, one thing at time, we crossed things off and sure enough, the list got ripped up and the house was sold.  I'm sure God has given us these tangible examples in our life to remind us we can do this debt thing, too.  One dollar at a time.  Knowing the grape plants get pruned literally one branch at a time has been so helpful to picture in our minds that it really is the Biblical principle found in Proverbs of "little by little".

I also love that we have so many little hands in our grapevines.  Our children are in there each day alongside their Dad.  He could never do it without them.  Even the tired, grumpy oldest young adult we have who would much rather be in bed, comes out each day that she can.  I told her on one of her most difficult days of getting up, "This is SUCH a great opportunity!  Such a GREAT experience!  Who gets to be out in a vineyard each day with their dad and brothers?!"  She looked at me with these very sleepy eyes and said, "One week was enough experience and opportunity......."!  What?!  I laughed.  But I tried to understand - they do have sunburned noses and sore hands from the pruning shears..... Oh well!  So the principle is there, too.  We'll kill this debt with the help of our kids.  They work alongside RM each day whenever he needs their help. 

Even yesterday, my 2nd oldest son was helping RM load some towers onto the shipping truck.  The truck driver noticed the strength of my son, who is only 13 and said, "He is strong!  Is he your son?"  I'm sure it was a proud moment for RM as he answered, "Yes, he is my son and he is strong."  They have definitely come by any strength they have through honest hard work and it is a benefit to RM nearly daily has he has them always doing something.

I spoke with my friend the other day who is staying alongside a husband who hardly notices her.  I used the grape vine example again even to her, but this time in a different way.  We often pray and think that God isn't answering our prayers as we hope for an immediate answer.  Once again, Cowman puts it this way, "Often we fail to give God an opportunity to work, not realizing that it takes time for Him to answer prayer.  It takes time for God to colour a rose or to grow a great oak tree.  And it takes time for Him to make bread (or grapes, in my case....) from wheat fields.  He takes the soil, then grinds and softens it.  He enriches it and wets it with rain showers and with dew.  Then He brings the warmth of  life to the small blade of grass, later grows the stalk and the amber grain, and finally provides bread for the hungry.  All this takes time.  Therefore we sow the seed, till the ground, and then wait and trust until God's purpose has been fulfilled.  We understand this principle when it comes to planting a field, and we need to learn the same lesson regarding our prayer life.  It takes time for God to answer prayer."

What an encouragement to me and to my friend.  I told her that God is answering her prayers, but she just doesn't see all the behind the scenes things that God must be doing in her husband's life.  As she prays for him and continues to trust God for him, God is grinding the soil of his heart, softening it, enriching it, bringing warmth of life.... all things she can't possibly see, just like we can't see what our pruning could possibly do that is helpful to this plant that we appear to be destroying.  But, even though she can't see the work going on in the background God is still trying to show her that He is real.  So I told her to look for God in other ways that she can see.  For example, she just signed on more clients in her business.  "That is God trying to encourage you!"  I said.   For us, it was definitely getting the cheque in the mail, but that's an obvious one.  A more subtle sign of God for me was how He showed me yesterday an image of my husband in the artist we saw play at the concert.  That felt like a direct sign of encouragement that was only shown to me.  The reason I know this is we went to the concert with friends.  We saw the same guy perform.  I walked out soooo moved and could barely keep my enthusiasm to myself whereas my friend could barely say a positive thing about it.  Same concert, same artist, different experience.  I'm convinced God had me there to speak to just me.

The difference is I'm begging God to show Himself to me.  I'm asking Him for His encouragement!  I want to see Him work in my life, but I must have eyes to see Him.  That was what I was suggesting to my friend.  Ask God to show himself to you, but then you must watch for how He answers those prayers.  It isn't always how we think He'll show up.

If you need a tune to encourage you, download Crowder's "He Loves Us" song.  I can hardly get through that song.  He sings so powerfully with his distinctly unique voice.  My favourite line is, "You are the Hurricane, I am the tree."  We've all heard the metaphor that speaks of why an oak tree is so big and strong- it's because of the wind and the other weather elements that makes its roots so deep so it can withstand the hurricane and become even stronger.  That is oddly how God shows His love for us, by sending hurricanes!  It makes sense!

So, even though I've hardly set foot in the vineyard, I love it so much for all the lessons it is teaching us and how I can pass some of those lessons on to others. 

An Unexpected Dose of Inspiration

Last night we attended a fund raiser for friends of ours who suffer from Lyme Disease.  Some other wonderful friends of theirs took on this project of helping them raise money by having a concert and a silent auction.  They raised over $30, 000 so I think it was a huge success - including one little boy who dumped his whole piggy bank for this family.... so sweet.

This family has to go down to the states for their treatment as, no joke, many doctors in Canada do not believe Lyme exists.  They are Lymeists (I just made that up.... it means they do not believe in Lyme, you know, kind of like atheist...!).  Any treatment done in the States is going to be expensive, so off they have to travel this June.  It will cost them nearly $300,000.  It was our pleasure to be a part of helping, however small.

This family of two boys are a small group of geniuses.... literally - both parents have their doctorate degrees and both sons have been diagnosed as prodigies.  One is an artist, Josh Tiessen, known by Robert Bateman himself and I believe the other, Zac, is a composer if I remember correctly.  They are well known in the art community and the homeschool community as they homeschooled both their children.  Yeah!  It always helps to meet a few home schoolers that are successful along the way!

Yet, who has $300, 000 lying around.... not many.  As a believing family, they have had to rely on the Lord for years now.  Through misdiagnosis, after misdiagnosis, doctor after doctor, no work, no income, not too mention all the Lyme symptoms.... they've relied on the Lord for all these years and are a testimony to those who know them. 

The devotional readings from this week have been about standing firm and waiting for the "deliverance the Lord will bring you today."  Cowman writes, "despair will come, whispering 'give up - lie down an die'.  But even in the worst of times, God would have me be cheerful and courageous, rejoicing in His love and faithfulness."  That's what I saw last night in this family... cheerfulness and courage, in the face of despair and an amazing sense of unity amongst them.

But now, I must talk about the acts we saw.  Oh my - I loved them.  Jacob Moon and Desire (a U2 Tribute band).  They were absolutely fantastic and were such an inspiration.

Watching Jacob Moon was like watching my husband.  That might not make sense, but Jacob Moon is a one-man band -  just like my husband is a one-man show with his business.  Moon puts on the most amazing show and has to be one of the most talented musicians I know.  He uses his musical equipment in such a way that it sounds like 4 artists are on stage with him.  He creates "loops" that play while he is singing that he can turn on and off as if there is a bass player or a drummer or another guitarist.  It is a marvel to watch, so impressive.  It must take a ton of practising to get that all right, all the time.  Not only that, he mans his own booth after the show.  He clearly has taken the time to create marketing material, websites, t-shirts.... He has 9 cds that all take time to produce.  He does all his own take down and set-up (or so it seems).  And through it all, writes songs that are from the heart that could move you to tears.

I was so encouraged to think about it later.  There are probably people in Jacob's life that say to him, "Don't you think you should hire a drummer?"  "How can you do all that on your own?"  "You should consider hiring some of that work to others so you don't have to do it all yourself.  You're just going to tire yourself out."  These are all things my husband has heard many times over the years and yes, I'm sure Jacob Moon does hire photographers and t-shirt makers.  Obviously he doesn't do that himself, but for the most part he does everything and manages to do it all well.  My husband also has sub-contractors for a lot of his work as he also can't do everything himself, but for the most part, he does everything himself, from his own website, to marketing materials, to manufacturing in our shop..... you name it, he does it.  But, when you do it all yourself, you don't have to pay anyone!  Therefore the money stays in our bank account!  We don't have to share it!  The pros and cons are definitely there, but for the most part, any "con" is quickly turned to a "pro" when we analyze the results of bringing others in.

I wish I could meet Jacob Moon's wife.  She is probably his biggest advocate.  Yet, she probably needs to be his biggest encourager, too, as, no doubt, he fights discouragement, as does my husband.  Many people have never heard of Jacob Moon - how can this be?  He's amazing!  It's because he's a decidedly Christian artist and in the secular world it is just harder to be successful.  It is harder to "make it".  I'm sure he is providing for his family, but perhaps they aren't swimming in money.  I'm sure he wishes he could be more well-known just as sometimes my husband wishes he were more successful at times.  Perhaps to Jacob's wife, and even to me to some extent, it seems unfair when we see how hard our husbands work.  Jacob Moon is clearly very diligent.  My husband is diligent.  Yet God keeps both of us in this humble place. 

I'm actually enjoying this place more and more as God continues to show us His faithfulness daily.  As Cowman says in the remainder of that devotional, "The Lord's divine decree has commanded me to go from 'strength to strength'".  So, even though my husband is the lead guitar, the bassist, the drummer, the sound guy, marketing guy, tech guy, set up/take down guy, we are ok with that.  I feel like God allowed me to see Jacob Moon for that very reason last night.  Moon had a contentment about him and all his songs talked about looking beyond, having an eternal perspective, asking the Lord to help us through each moment and yet living in each moment, seeing it as a gift.

I was so encouraged and will keep being my husband's biggest fan.

Pruning and Being Pruned

After days and days of being without the internet, we finally found out it was as simple as a cut wire and as of yesterday, we're back on.  I had so many things I wanted to write during those days that it'll be hard to keep it all down to one post.

First of all - I love Spring!  The warm weather has been fantastic and has turned my stuck-inside-kids to I-won't-do-school-because-it's-warm-kids.  We've had to do some school outside for sure to keep everyone happy.  We were all inspired at a recent homeschool meeting to get our kids to really appreciate nature, and therefore God as the Creator of it all, by getting them to pick some twigs off of trees all around our house, identify them and then bring them inside into a jar of water to watch them bloom.  There is a new and awful phenomenon out there called Nature Deficit Disorder, if you can believe it.  Yet can't we believe it?  After that short little walk, my children started saying the funniest things like, "Look Mom!  The leader bud!  You can see its scales!"  I love hearing them talk about buds!  I had been given a water colour set a loooong time ago and the lady at the talk encouraged us to get our children to paint what they saw.  Out came the paints and suddenly I saw beautiful artwork of just these twigs in a jar.  It was really beautiful. 

Meanwhile, we are fighting Spring in the little vineyard we have.  We're trying to get these grapevines pruned before they do go to bud.  We took on quite the project, but we are loving it!  When we bought the property it was covered in concord grape vines.  They were all pulled out before we moved in by the guy we bought it from, but he kept one little section at the back of the property, 23 rows to be exact, probably so that he could look at something pretty from outside his window (the person who sold us the property lives at the far end of it).  We had rented it out for the first 5 years of living here and had basically made peanuts on it.  This year we decided we would try it ourselves and actually try to make a little money off of the crop.  We bit off way more than we could chew!

What is happening, however, is that we are learning and learning fast that this is something we can do and do together as a whole family.  It has turned into one of the most amazing little projects we've ever taken on.  And, because of the time pressure to beat the buds blooming, almost everyone in the family is getting up while it is still dark, grabbing a quick bite to eat, then off to the little vineyard for 2 hours in the morning and then another 2 hours in the late afternoon.  The early morning has been amazing and is almost deafening with the sounds of birds.  The 3 older kids have all learned how to prune the vines back to just 4 branches.  They have to pick just the right branches as they must anticipate what the vine will need to grow next year.  So many spiritual lessons being learned once again!  We know that God is pruning us in the same way, as He knows what we will need further down in the path of life.  This is why we must trust Him as the vinedresser in our lives!  So great!

Later on in the day, the little kids come out and they tie the branches to the wires so that the vine will be trained to grow the right way.  They are good at it!  Everytime they find out RM is out in the vineyard with the older kids, they grab their boots and run.  No one wants to miss out.  Everyone is sleeping great and hard these days.  Lots of sore muscles and even sunburned faces.  I will have to get a picture of what's going on this week as it is just so picturesque out there.  They hope to have this all done by the end of the week.  At the rate they are going, it is amazingly possible.

As for the financial picture....well, we just plug away at what we are doing.  I have to admit, I tried very hard to stay on top of that budget tracking idea I had - that was hard!  If I missed one day, or one grocery bill, the task became rather insurmountable.  I haven't given up entirely, but the detailed tracking was a little much with all the other things I was doing just as a mom and a wife.

Our grey water situation hasn't changed, but now I'm dealing with it very differently.  We installed a pump and a hose and now every time I do the laundry or start the dishwasher, the pump goes on and out goes the stinky water, so we were given a solution for the time being which keeps the puddles down to a minimum in the basement.  The smell hasn't entirely disappeared, but now that we can open windows, it should start to dry up and be less stinky! 

Though we remain in this stage longer than I would like, I'm realizing the lessons being learned are for a much greater purpose, just like with the grapevines.... I'm being pruned for next year!   And as it to confirm it, I was reading in the devotional that my friend gave me, Streams in the Desert, and it talked about just that and also that there is a purpose to dark and hard times in our lives.  "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs." (Matthew 10:27). The author, a missionary from the 1800s, L. B. Cowman, wrote, "Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark in order to tell us something... It is there He tells us His secrets - greater and wonderful, eternal and infinite..... Yet these revelations always come with a corresponding responsibility:  "What I tell you... speak in the daylight... proclaim from the roofs." We are not to linger in the darkness or stay in the closet... we are to speak and proclaim what we have learned."  This is perhaps why I love writing so much.  I am trying to learn what I am supposed to learn and then I try to get it out on "paper".  It is actually a responsibility to speak it and proclaim it otherwise there is no point to all the trials.

That helped me to appreciate the darkness a little more, knowing He takes us there on purpose.

That's all for now..... the little people will be up soon!

Grey Water Reflections

Easter came with mixed emotions.  We attended a different church service due to all the changes in our life.  On the one hand we celebrated Christ's resurrection, but at the same time we mourned the loss of celebrating where we usually did.  My husband used the word "sorrow" to express why he felt so emotional during the service.

On a completely different note, not unlike Christmas, we've left behind all the materialism that the world tries to bring to Easter.  I didn't buy a single chocolate and now understand why my parents didn't subscribe to that either when I was a kid.  Besides the fact it isn't what Easter is about at all, it is expensive to buy all that chocolate!!!!  Plus, I've got quite a few kids and, just like at Easter, I don't want to stop at just chocolate.  If I had my whims, I'd buy several gifts for each child - not just chocolate.  I'd want to buy something that is representative of the Christian faith, perhaps music or a book or a devotional.  I'd want to buy them something springy for clothing.  I clearly have to do all or nothing!

My mom used to make something sweet and we would go on a "hunt" for the homemade goodies.
All my friends got the HUGE bunnies which I'm sure I envied, but now that I have kids, I get why she didn't give in to that splurge of money and sugar.  Sure enough, this year I found myself doing the same thing.  I had my daughters make homemade chocolate covered apples.  The kids hunted and loved it, too!  I admit, I knew there my might be a sweet treat or two from some grandmas and even another hunt put on by a friend for chocolate eggs, so my kids didn't miss out one bit.  They still got their share of sugar.

We also used to have my parent's small group over for Easter breakfast each year.  It was always a group of new believers and as we sat around the circle eating breakfast in the living room, my dad would get each one to recall their favourite Easter memory.  His was always being in Africa at the early sunrise service with all the Zambians.  Those Easter mornings are easily my best memories.  I knew I was with people whose lives had been changed by the risen Lord - that was a true testimony to the real reason we celebrated Easter while the world was out hunting for chocolate.

Meanwhile, we continue to ask the Lord for help - our basement water issue is quite stinky.  It wafts up from the basement, the smell that is, and actually wakes me up sometimes.  The grey water from the laundry and the dishwasher has to get manually pumped out each time I do a load of laundry. Our friend recently waterproofed his century home's basement for $8,000.  It took 3 guys 6 days. Translation?  My husband, no crew and a two months of half days!  He'll have to pound out all the cement, put in a sump pump, weaping tile around the exterior of the house.....blah, blah, blah.....sometimes I ask him, "Are you sure you want to live here??????"  or "Are you sure you don't want to just tear down this house and live in an earthship?" (I recently found out about earthships and yurts - real places you can live off the grid in homes like a hobbit!  Sounds appealing sometimes!!!!!)

But then, I look outside - I see grass, trees, horses, cows, chickens and I realize beautiful views and animals wandering around has a cost - it is definitely not for the faint of heart.  Fixing up old houses is just part of the "fun"!  It's just not always considered fun.  But I do still try to make light of it.  I asked my son the other day to go down, get his life preserver on, his canoe, his paddle, etc. and go get a couple of chickens from the freezer. He didn't even flinch, knowing he'd be wading through some water on the way to get some birds! "Go with God!"  I yell out each time someone dares to wander down there.  So, we try to laugh about it, otherwise we'll cry.

I try to remember these will be stories that my kids will tell their kids.  "Remember when Mom used to tell us to get in the canoe when she needed chickens from the freezer????!"  I am sure God is using this to keep me humble, too.  We're hosting my sister and her family from out of town yesterday and today.  I wanted it to be such a lovely experience!  Instead I found myself telling her, "Plug your nose when you come in....."  I heard it described this way:  hospitality is when it is about "them". Entertainment is when it is about "you".  Having a home that needs work helps me make sure it isn't about me.  I can't help but be humbled by my home!

I made a decision this week as I looked around and saw things that needed work.  Everything from baseboards to flooring, to the basement, etc......I decided, "This is where I live.  It is my job to keep it clean, even if it isn't perfectly finished."  That little decision helped me the rest of the week as I cleaned.  Instead of looking at all the unfinished work, I started to make the unfinished work look clean!  It really helped me with my long list of "to dos".  One example of this was my front window. It hasn't been trimmed because we know we are going to change it all soon.  It seems to silly to put all the trim around the window just to take it all down again right away.  However, it is super unattractive with no trim, so I had been hiding it with a Christmas garland around the top edge.  Now that is Spring, I thought maybe it was time to take it down!!!  Was it ever dusty!  But then I thought, "No!  Now everyone will see my ugly window!"  But I remembered my new way of looking at things, to keep things tidy, clean and free of clutter, even if it leaves exposed windows with no trim. Suddenly, even though the garland was gone, it looked great - no clutter, nice and bright.

My little house issues are still really nothing in the big picture.  I hear from so many others what is going on in their life and I feel silly that stinky basement water is my biggest issue right now.  I know these little trials in my life will never go away this side of heaven.  How I'm going to face them is what I must remember.  I lit a candle this morning to help get rid of the pungent air.  I breathe through my mouth.  One day my crew of one will get to the basement.  I don't need to let the "grey" water determine if I am going to be "grey".

Making Bricks Without Straw on Good Friday

After such a great day at the conference, we took a small break from church and headed to a museum on the Sunday.  It was a wonderful way to just be together and have a little field trip into the big city.  We learned to never take a large contractor-type van and hope to find parking! 

Jonas, the 4 year old had to be the highlight of the day watching him literally bound back and forth to every single display.  His eyes could barely take it all in.  We kept waiting for him to fall apart and have a major meltdown, but just kept going like the Energizer bunny.  His favourite thing in the museum had to be the new washrooms.  The faucets not only had water coming out of them, but air as well to dry your hands afterwards!  Talk about COOL display!!!!  He wanted to go to the bathroom and wash his hands more than once......

We continue to read together in the mornings in Nehemiah as a family.  You would have thought that book had been written for our very situation that we'd been going through.  Every single day it spoke to us as a new issue came up.  Nehemiah had to deal with many different people and situations, too.  He and the Israelites were trying to rebuild the wall and without fail he came up against either discouragement or just plain attacks.  He never stopped the work or caved to those who tried to hurt him.  When it was all said and done, the wall was finished.  Nehemiah gathered everyone and they grabbed "both the men and women and all who could understand what they heard".  Then they took the Book of the Law and read from it from "early morning until midday.... and all the ears of the people were attentive to the Book of the Law".  What a great phrase, describing the people as being attentive..... for hours!  I try to tell my kids, "I'm not making you sit here for hours!  At least you can sit for a few minutes!!!"

As the Word gets read, the people answered, "'Amen, Amen'..... lifting up their hands.  And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground..... They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading." (Ch.8, vs. 6-8).  A great series of verses explaining how the people were gathered together just as we try to gather our family together to hear God's Word, always trying to help them make sense of it when things are not easy to understand.

That was the role of the Levites, the priests, to help the people "understand the reading".  That has also been the job of my husband this past week, as priest of our home, to make sense of all that has gone on.  It isn't always just church-related things or even the Bible that we have to make sense of, it's all that life brings our way.

We've had many car issues, for example, the past couple weeks, that only yesterday we were able to get fixed.  Going with one vehicle is fine, but always makes you feel a little stranded if you are without one.  We've also had strange issues with our well water smelling a little funny with the new spring run-off.  I won't even look in the basement as there are still watery surprises down there, too.  So many things that we, as parents, have to help our kids understand how best to deal with them.

It's been one of those weeks where it is easy to look back and see how God has absolutely been faithful, for sure, undoubtedly, of course!  But then, I'm so much like an Israelite......a few things don't go my way and I get derailed or at least the temptation comes in to try to derail me....I read in my own personal reading this past week in Exodus about the time where the Israelites heard Moses and Aaron, saw all that they did and "believed".  They "heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, and they bowed their head and worshiped."  (Ex. 4:31)  But then, it doesn't say if it was a day or a few days, just "afterward", things didn't end up going so well for them.  Pharaoh kind of "freaked" and lost it, shall we say, on the Israelites after Moses and Aaron asked him to let them go.  They were required to make the same number of bricks without straw.  The Israelites, who had just heard that Moses was going to save them from the slavery of the Egyptians were a little confused and put out!  I kind of picture them running to Moses with a bit of a message, "The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." (5:21) In other words, "You said that we were going to be saved from the Egyptians!  Now it's gotten worse!"

Poor Moses.  He literally "turned to the Lord" after this cry from the Israelites and said, "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people?  Why did you ever send me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all." (5:22). What a great and honest series of questions.... Why, why?!  Isn't that what I ask, at least in my mind, "Why have you allowed this to happen?"  "Why me, why us?"  God did not deliver us from our church hardship in the way we thought He would.  He hasn't delivered us from our debt the way we hoped He would.

The Lord answered Moses right away, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh..." (6:1). Moses went back and "spoke thus to the people of Israel" (and this is the part I relate to the best.....) "but they did not listen to Moses, because of the their BROKEN SPIRIT and HARSH SLAVERY."

The Israelites didn't have all the plagues to look back on yet or the parting of the Red Sea.  They hadn't received the manna or the water from a rock yet.  They had a couple miracles from Moses' staff, but that was it.  So it's kind of easy to understand how they might have stopped believing him, especially when they were required to make bricks without straw.

Sadly, I do have sooooo many miracles to look back on, in my own life, plus all the miracles from the Bible!  I know how the story ends for those hopeless Israelites, yet sometimes I understand how they must have felt.  Our spirits feel broken sometimes.  We feel like we are under "harsh slavery".  We actually feel like we are supposed to make bricks without straw.  If Moses were to have come to me and say, "No really, I mean it!  God is really going to save you!  That whole bricks without straw thing was just a test!  Now he's going to come through.... trust me!"  I probably would have not listened either.

Our slavery looks a little different - it continues to be to the bank.  My husband sometimes feels like he is making bricks without straw, too.  As fast as he makes any money, it is gone.  Having been at this debt-reduction thing for awhile, I was quite sure God would honour our diligence and let us out from under the bondage in a decent amount of time.  We are still well within a reasonable timeline, so I shouldn't really be complaining, but it still isn't going as fast as I'd like.  Perhaps that's what makes me most like an Israelite, questioning God's ways at times.  They probably wanted their freedom to happen in a certain way and in their timeline.

But God said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh....". I think freedom is still coming.  I think He still has a plan for us, for our church.  The Israelites couldn't do it on their own and still had to make bricks without straw for who knows how long.  But, it doesn't say they couldn't do it!  They just had to be a little more resourceful!  Exodus 5:12 says, "So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw."  That is what we continue to do, scattering around looking for stubble.... it's out there, we just have to look!  It could mean a different kind of work for my husband, or different ways to cut back on spending, or continuing to pray for contentment as our situation hasn't changed that much and doesn't have an end in sight.

It is Good Friday today.  I heard a great sermon on Jesus' final words to His friends on the day before He died.  He said it more than once, "Let not your hearts be troubled....Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  (John 14:1, 27).  The implication from Jesus is clear - our hearts will feel trouble sometimes.  We must choose to believe He is in control.  His peace is freely offered to me.  I don't have to stay feeling like an unbelieving Israelite or like a questioning Moses.  I need not stay feeling troubled or afraid of all these situations I find myself in.  I know the end of the story!  This leaves me in a better place than those poor Israelites.  It is a good Friday.