Each day my little four year old is a different animal. It is the cutest thing. He'll come down with his cheetah blanket (which he calls his "skin") and then he'll roar or purr at me for his first words of the day. At nightime when I'm putting him to bed, I have to pray for him, I mean, for my animal/son. I am never allowed to used his name in the prayers. I can only refer to him as the current animal that he is, such as, "Dear Lord, Thank you for my cheetah/T-Rex/tiger, Please help him to sleep well, in his, uh, tree/nest/cave tonight. Help me to find an antelope/dino egg for breakfast so that he grows up into a strong cheetah/tiger/dino. Amen." Of course, in my mind, I'm praying many more things, but he loooooves it when I pray like that! If I dare mention his name, he quickly corrects me, "Cheetah, you meant, Cheetah." "Right, sorry, Cheetah...." Each one of my other kids enjoys role playing with him so much as we know this can't go on forever. He's the baby, but not for long, so they'll all play along referring to all his snacks as if he's a real cheetah or dinosaur, cutting up his "antelope" for him, or preparing his "dino egg" that we found in a "cave" somewhere. He just can't get enough of this and neither can we. It's another little grace in our lives that makes us all shake our heads at his cuteness all day long.
As for real life, today is Friday......how many times have I written the sentence, "We're waiting for a cheque today...." But it's true! We are! Again! We, as usual, watch for the mail truck, day after day! This is becoming quite the common occurance in our life. Suppliers are waiting to be paid and we want to pay them! This one customer is very interesting. They get furious when you don't pay them on time, but they have no problem making you wait. Ironic. We have learned there is no cause for alarm even if the cheque does not arrive. My husband regularly prays, "You know if we need it...." and then he leaves it in the Lord's hands. There's that example again of him being my "tree", unmovable in a storm when he really should be anxious by all matter of appearances. I'm so grateful when he is like that.
We read the verse yesterday that gives us great hope, "But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an ACCEPTABLE TIME, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me, from the sinking mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. (Psalm 69:13, 14)
It is clear that God's deliverance comes at an "acceptable time". When He chooses to deliver us, not when We choose. I always love to play God and figure out how He should do things, but I'm not that good at it and pretty much always make it go in my favour. I'm quite self-absorbed and think about me most of the time. It is reassuring to read a verse like that and know He's actually the one in control.
RM is suffering right now with some kind of sinus pain. He always aches from the heavy lifting, but add sinus pain and a little old age-type symptoms and he is quite miserable. But he can't stop. The psalms address that, too. I read, "Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent." (Psalm 71:9) And then, later, it says, "So even to old age and gray hairs, O God do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come." (Ps. 71:18) The point? There's really nothing the Bible doesn't address. God knows that RM is "weary" (Ps. 69:3) and that his "strength" is nearly "spent". God knows he's even nearing "old age" and "gray hairs". David asked for help, so do we. And God supplies the strength we need. Our job it to proclaim it to another generation, to all those to come.
I'm Mrs. Natural Remedies right now, too. I made quite the tonic for him. My son calls it "poison", but my husband claims it helps! I blended/pureed fresh garlic, ginger, raw onion, cayenne pepper and then covered the pulp in apple cider vinegar to stew in a jar in the cupboard. I missed the horseradish, but I will run out and get that this weekend as that is supposed to be in it, too. Then, on an hourly basis, or whenever he needs to, I put a huge spoonful in a cup, cover it in boiling water with a couple of teaspoons of my son's raw honey and then sips it, even chewing the pulp at the end (he smells a little garlicky right now, but it's helping!) This seems to be relieving his nasal passages and in just one day of taking several mugs of this, he is feeling much better. Coincidence? Maybe, but all the reading I've done says it works! I even got my daughter to drink the poison/tonic and she also was feeling better the same day. The honey makes it palatable and he claims he actually tastes good! I'm no doctor, but I'd rather him take that then more meds.
Well, I hear a tiger or a cheetah coming downstairs, so I better start preparing his antelope.
Friday, 13 January 2017
Thursday, 12 January 2017
Spiritual, Physical and Financial Detox 2017
January is a time for resolve and since we were a little lenient on the food intake in December, like we've done in the past, we've taken this month and perhaps longer to "detox" again. RM and I are quite determined and we unbelievably cut out caffeine (he still has headaches!), sugar, wheat, and all things bad, really. I only had headaches for a couple of days. I was drinking gallons of herbal tea which probably helped. We always like to make these challenges spiritual ones as well, so as usual, we're praying during this detox time for freedom, wisdom for the future, for church, so many things.
I would never suggest anyone go into debt or any other trying situation to learn what God wants them to learn about life, faith, and money, but in our case, that is where we find ourselves. Yet, I read in a book I'm reading right now, God doesn't "fix" our situations, He redeems them. And that's what we're experiencing. He hasn't "fixed" us the way we would have liked, or as fast as we would have liked, but He's taught us so much through the "redeeming".
I read, too, in Psalm 66,
"For you, O God, have tested us, you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance."
That's definitely been our experience - we've been tested and tried, felt like we were in a net with a crushing burden on our backs. We've had the bankers riding over our heads, through fire and water......YET, we've been brought to a place of abundance, in so many ways, materially, spiritually, relationally. We really can't complain.
I like to read books on finances, if you can imagine, or hear speakers on the topic of money and financial freedom. I would have a daily meeting with a financial guy if I could. I want to talk about it all the time! But this January, I had run out of books and no speakers were in town, but I ended up getting a good friendly reminder from my bff cousin instead! She and her husband keep meticulous records of their annual expenses. They have done this from the beginning of their marriage. Both had parents that set this trend and they were also inclined to do the same. Very inspiring! I have lots of excuses why this is a challenge for me. But.....none of them really hold water, of course. So this year, once again, I'll be resolving, to keep at it, to do my best, to try hard not to make excuses, to keep tracking expenses. Yuck. Not my forte. But this year, my daughter is finally on board and will be doing the same. That's exciting! So with that accountability in the same house....we press on.
Psalm 69 says it best, "For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own people who are prisoners."
I would never suggest anyone go into debt or any other trying situation to learn what God wants them to learn about life, faith, and money, but in our case, that is where we find ourselves. Yet, I read in a book I'm reading right now, God doesn't "fix" our situations, He redeems them. And that's what we're experiencing. He hasn't "fixed" us the way we would have liked, or as fast as we would have liked, but He's taught us so much through the "redeeming".
I read, too, in Psalm 66,
"For you, O God, have tested us, you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water, yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance."
That's definitely been our experience - we've been tested and tried, felt like we were in a net with a crushing burden on our backs. We've had the bankers riding over our heads, through fire and water......YET, we've been brought to a place of abundance, in so many ways, materially, spiritually, relationally. We really can't complain.
I like to read books on finances, if you can imagine, or hear speakers on the topic of money and financial freedom. I would have a daily meeting with a financial guy if I could. I want to talk about it all the time! But this January, I had run out of books and no speakers were in town, but I ended up getting a good friendly reminder from my bff cousin instead! She and her husband keep meticulous records of their annual expenses. They have done this from the beginning of their marriage. Both had parents that set this trend and they were also inclined to do the same. Very inspiring! I have lots of excuses why this is a challenge for me. But.....none of them really hold water, of course. So this year, once again, I'll be resolving, to keep at it, to do my best, to try hard not to make excuses, to keep tracking expenses. Yuck. Not my forte. But this year, my daughter is finally on board and will be doing the same. That's exciting! So with that accountability in the same house....we press on.
Psalm 69 says it best, "For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own people who are prisoners."
Wednesday, 11 January 2017
No Rink? No Study Space? No Problem.....
I have a very determined little boy. All his big brothers and sisters get to go skating whenever they want. There's a free skate in town every Friday which they like to go to or they'll skate at our friend's house on the weekends with a group of young people. He often gets left behind, too small, too young, not enough space in the car. He was very mad about that last week. We haven't done a rink this year or last because of the garden we put in. That was right where the rink had been. But this 6 year old won't be told he can't go skating. He literally went outside, found a giant puddle that had frozen over, walked back in the house, down the stairs to get his skates and then back out with his skates on only to go and skate, without me even really knowing what had happened!
Once he came back in, I noticed he was wearing skates way too big for him which might have explained the blister forming on his ankle. We quickly found him skates that would fit and sure enough, there he was, back out on the "rink"/puddle, skating for what seemed like hours. I was so grateful for his determination. It occurred to him, "No one told me I couldn't skate outside!" Then, he and his older 10 year old brother checked out our little pond that is covered in reeds, but they, too, turned that into another place they could skate. They just made the reeds part of the "track".
These may seem like nothing, but to me, they are huge examples of grace. It is very hard for me to get our whole family to a rink. The transportation is one thing, but all the gear, the packing up....it's a challenge. Plus, having little boys indoors all day in the winter is also not good. They go a little stir crazy and if left to themselves, they would sit and probably watch movies all day, but I know they need to get their energy out! What to do? This was perfect. A strange answer to prayer for me in a way as I wasn't sure how to get them active without spending a lot of money and time going somewhere. I'm so grateful for the way God gives these little graces in our lives to help us through the cold winters.
Then, I had another problem. My oldest son who is now applying to universities and college, wanted to step up his studies, and needed a focused place to study. He went to the library with his sister for a couple of hours, and that was perfect, but that wasn't sustainable. There isn't always a car to drive or the timing doesn't work.....again, what to do? I'm sure I sent up a little prayer that sounded something like this, "Can you show me a solution to this problem?" I knew I couldn't build an addition. I didn't have a way to eliminate the little brothers who were getting on his nerves and interrupting his studying. But then, I rethought his room. I just stood there, as I often do, and prayed for revelation! Suddenly, I saw it. We moved a little shelf that was not really being used anyway. It was right in front of a beautiful old window overlooking the property and way out into the distance. Then, I told him to grab the old table that I was about to throw out because it was half-broken anyway. It fit perfectly in the window space and the broken half folded down so that made it the right size. He grabbed a heater for the room as it is cold up there, his books, pencils, pens and voila! His new study spot. Again, nothing life-changing, but to me, it was a miracle! It was a great example of how God opened my eyes to an old space and allowed me to see how it could be reworked. Not a dollar was spent, no rooms were renovated, no additions added, no more driving to libraries for quietness. Just perfect. He's so happy up there now and is accomplishing more because he's not down in and amongst the little squirts who make so much noise all day long!
So often the Psalms recall David crying out. It was probably not for solutions to the winter cold or for new study space ideas, but that's what I cry out about and not unlike David, I get answers from God, often in ways I don't expect. Psalm 65 says, "O you who hear prayer...." (vs.2). He hears all my prayers, even the ones about cold and books.
Once he came back in, I noticed he was wearing skates way too big for him which might have explained the blister forming on his ankle. We quickly found him skates that would fit and sure enough, there he was, back out on the "rink"/puddle, skating for what seemed like hours. I was so grateful for his determination. It occurred to him, "No one told me I couldn't skate outside!" Then, he and his older 10 year old brother checked out our little pond that is covered in reeds, but they, too, turned that into another place they could skate. They just made the reeds part of the "track".
These may seem like nothing, but to me, they are huge examples of grace. It is very hard for me to get our whole family to a rink. The transportation is one thing, but all the gear, the packing up....it's a challenge. Plus, having little boys indoors all day in the winter is also not good. They go a little stir crazy and if left to themselves, they would sit and probably watch movies all day, but I know they need to get their energy out! What to do? This was perfect. A strange answer to prayer for me in a way as I wasn't sure how to get them active without spending a lot of money and time going somewhere. I'm so grateful for the way God gives these little graces in our lives to help us through the cold winters.
Then, I had another problem. My oldest son who is now applying to universities and college, wanted to step up his studies, and needed a focused place to study. He went to the library with his sister for a couple of hours, and that was perfect, but that wasn't sustainable. There isn't always a car to drive or the timing doesn't work.....again, what to do? I'm sure I sent up a little prayer that sounded something like this, "Can you show me a solution to this problem?" I knew I couldn't build an addition. I didn't have a way to eliminate the little brothers who were getting on his nerves and interrupting his studying. But then, I rethought his room. I just stood there, as I often do, and prayed for revelation! Suddenly, I saw it. We moved a little shelf that was not really being used anyway. It was right in front of a beautiful old window overlooking the property and way out into the distance. Then, I told him to grab the old table that I was about to throw out because it was half-broken anyway. It fit perfectly in the window space and the broken half folded down so that made it the right size. He grabbed a heater for the room as it is cold up there, his books, pencils, pens and voila! His new study spot. Again, nothing life-changing, but to me, it was a miracle! It was a great example of how God opened my eyes to an old space and allowed me to see how it could be reworked. Not a dollar was spent, no rooms were renovated, no additions added, no more driving to libraries for quietness. Just perfect. He's so happy up there now and is accomplishing more because he's not down in and amongst the little squirts who make so much noise all day long!
So often the Psalms recall David crying out. It was probably not for solutions to the winter cold or for new study space ideas, but that's what I cry out about and not unlike David, I get answers from God, often in ways I don't expect. Psalm 65 says, "O you who hear prayer...." (vs.2). He hears all my prayers, even the ones about cold and books.
Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Gentle Passages and Tears
Today is my daughter's birthday. I try to find a verse each year for each child on their birthdays that could apply to them in some way. I usually just take one from where I'm currently reading. This year, it was just perfect, almost written as if David knew hundreds of years ago that it was her birthday today,
"You crown the year with your bounty, your wagon tracks overflow with abundance." (Psalm 65:11) That is my prayer for her, that God would crown her year with bounty and that she'd get a wagon! Just kiddin'....though she really does need a car!
When she and my other daughter turned 12 and 13, we held a celebration, similar to the ones we did for my boys. Both my older daughters have winter birthdays, so we don't do the huge bbq, instead we hold it indoors with just mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmas, sisters, and friends her age. We just want to make it a more formal passage into womanhood, so, as I said at the party, that she'll never question whether or not she is a young woman and when that stage of life begins....no, we said, today marks that day. That was just after Christmas, a few days after her birthday.
I never do well at these things because of the emotional side of me, but oh well, I wasn't going to let that stop me. I plowed through what I wanted to say. I began by telling her a story that I had read in a beautiful book called Gentle Passages, given to me by a friend who believes the same way we do about these things. In the story, a young girl is visiting an older mom and they are having a snack together. But the girl is mad, mad at her mom and is telling this older woman who happens to be a friend of the young girl's mom, all about the situation. This mom would not let her daughter go to a movie while all her other friends were allowed to go. She thinks she's way too protective.
As the young girl and this older mom are talking, food is being fixed. The older woman takes a dirty paper plate from the garbage and is about to put the chocolate-covered cherries on it when the young girls stops her. At that point I grabbed one of our oldest plastic plates from our drawer and showed the ladies how I was about to put the beautiful scone my daughter had made on the ugly worn out plastic plate. In the story, the young girl is horrified! Why would she do that? Why would she use an old yucky plate for such a beautiful dessert?! She quickly asks her what she is doing and suggests perhaps a nicer cleaner plate? "Oh sure," she says. "I guess I could use my fine china. I tend to keep it on this shelf, protected. I'm probably too protective." Of course, by this point I've already lost it, as I'm desperately trying to get through the story, but again, oh well, powered through it. I grabbed my fine china, from my wedding, also behind glass doors, rarely used, protected, and put the scone on that plate. Suddenly it was much more appetizing. Long pause to get myself together.
The girl in the story immediately understood. "Aren't you like this fine china? You have a purpose, just like this plate, to serve others, to stay pure....and your mom? She wants to protect you for the purpose you have in life....whatever that may be...."
I spoke these words to my daughter who, no doubt, sometimes feels like she is a fine china plate on a shelf, not allowed to do all the things she wants to do. I wanted her to see that has a purpose and that we, too, are trying to protect her.....but not forever. We realize she will be like that plate, being used by God in some way, in the future, perhaps even married one day, and that her spouse will appreciate that she was protected so that she could live her life's purpose uninhibited. She can't stand on the shelf behind glass for the rest of her life.
As a symbol to the other young women there, we gave each one of them a fine china tea cup with the words written on it, "You are God's fine china." Taken from 2 Timothy 2:21, "If you stay away from sin you will be like one of these dishes made of purest gold - the very best in the house - so that Christ Himself can use you for His highest purposes. (TLB)
Somehow, I pulled myself together and then a few of the older women spoke words of life to her or verses that meant something to them for her. Gifts were opened. More tea was poured. It was beautiful. The rest of the day I was still shaky as the realization hit me over and over how I have two "women" in my home now. This second daughter is just that much older looking for her age, wears makeup, does her hair, is very mature....she grew up fast! What a responsiblity!
The neat thing about the whole tea party, as we held a high tea for the occasion was that I was kind of worried about the cost of putting this whole event on. But, as one of our Christmas gifts, we were given a huge gift basket, full of cookies, chocolates, treats, as if it were for a high tea. I knew we could never have consumed all that on our own without major cavities as a result, so I decided to share and use the goodies for the party. The only expense was making scones and coffee and tea! I could handle that! It was a beautiful spread and I think a special memory for my daughter.
As for my tears, I've always hated that side of me (all of my sisters and I have this "condition".....we blame Mom! :), but then yesterday I read from Psalm 56 and David talks about tears. I've always assumed they were tears of sadness. My tears that day weren't tears of sadness, but of love towards my daughter as I thought of her as that fine china plate. I was so overwhelmed with the idea that I so longed for her to understand why we do the things we do, for her and for our family. That's not sadness, yet, somehow God still allows me to have these tears. David says, "You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" (vs. 8) In David's case, he was being chased by his enemies and he had cried, perhaps in fear or dread. Either way, to me, God has known my emotional "tossings" and He has kept count of them. He has all my tears, even the ones I wish I had never cried, in His "bottle", in His "book". Isn't that an amazing idea to think about? It helps me to cope with sometimes the frustration I feel when I cry.
On a lighter note....we have a Buzz Lightyear alarm clock in our house, I just heard Buzz start trying to wake people up upstairs....so funny!
"You crown the year with your bounty, your wagon tracks overflow with abundance." (Psalm 65:11) That is my prayer for her, that God would crown her year with bounty and that she'd get a wagon! Just kiddin'....though she really does need a car!
When she and my other daughter turned 12 and 13, we held a celebration, similar to the ones we did for my boys. Both my older daughters have winter birthdays, so we don't do the huge bbq, instead we hold it indoors with just mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmas, sisters, and friends her age. We just want to make it a more formal passage into womanhood, so, as I said at the party, that she'll never question whether or not she is a young woman and when that stage of life begins....no, we said, today marks that day. That was just after Christmas, a few days after her birthday.
I never do well at these things because of the emotional side of me, but oh well, I wasn't going to let that stop me. I plowed through what I wanted to say. I began by telling her a story that I had read in a beautiful book called Gentle Passages, given to me by a friend who believes the same way we do about these things. In the story, a young girl is visiting an older mom and they are having a snack together. But the girl is mad, mad at her mom and is telling this older woman who happens to be a friend of the young girl's mom, all about the situation. This mom would not let her daughter go to a movie while all her other friends were allowed to go. She thinks she's way too protective.
As the young girl and this older mom are talking, food is being fixed. The older woman takes a dirty paper plate from the garbage and is about to put the chocolate-covered cherries on it when the young girls stops her. At that point I grabbed one of our oldest plastic plates from our drawer and showed the ladies how I was about to put the beautiful scone my daughter had made on the ugly worn out plastic plate. In the story, the young girl is horrified! Why would she do that? Why would she use an old yucky plate for such a beautiful dessert?! She quickly asks her what she is doing and suggests perhaps a nicer cleaner plate? "Oh sure," she says. "I guess I could use my fine china. I tend to keep it on this shelf, protected. I'm probably too protective." Of course, by this point I've already lost it, as I'm desperately trying to get through the story, but again, oh well, powered through it. I grabbed my fine china, from my wedding, also behind glass doors, rarely used, protected, and put the scone on that plate. Suddenly it was much more appetizing. Long pause to get myself together.
The girl in the story immediately understood. "Aren't you like this fine china? You have a purpose, just like this plate, to serve others, to stay pure....and your mom? She wants to protect you for the purpose you have in life....whatever that may be...."
I spoke these words to my daughter who, no doubt, sometimes feels like she is a fine china plate on a shelf, not allowed to do all the things she wants to do. I wanted her to see that has a purpose and that we, too, are trying to protect her.....but not forever. We realize she will be like that plate, being used by God in some way, in the future, perhaps even married one day, and that her spouse will appreciate that she was protected so that she could live her life's purpose uninhibited. She can't stand on the shelf behind glass for the rest of her life.
As a symbol to the other young women there, we gave each one of them a fine china tea cup with the words written on it, "You are God's fine china." Taken from 2 Timothy 2:21, "If you stay away from sin you will be like one of these dishes made of purest gold - the very best in the house - so that Christ Himself can use you for His highest purposes. (TLB)
Somehow, I pulled myself together and then a few of the older women spoke words of life to her or verses that meant something to them for her. Gifts were opened. More tea was poured. It was beautiful. The rest of the day I was still shaky as the realization hit me over and over how I have two "women" in my home now. This second daughter is just that much older looking for her age, wears makeup, does her hair, is very mature....she grew up fast! What a responsiblity!
The neat thing about the whole tea party, as we held a high tea for the occasion was that I was kind of worried about the cost of putting this whole event on. But, as one of our Christmas gifts, we were given a huge gift basket, full of cookies, chocolates, treats, as if it were for a high tea. I knew we could never have consumed all that on our own without major cavities as a result, so I decided to share and use the goodies for the party. The only expense was making scones and coffee and tea! I could handle that! It was a beautiful spread and I think a special memory for my daughter.
As for my tears, I've always hated that side of me (all of my sisters and I have this "condition".....we blame Mom! :), but then yesterday I read from Psalm 56 and David talks about tears. I've always assumed they were tears of sadness. My tears that day weren't tears of sadness, but of love towards my daughter as I thought of her as that fine china plate. I was so overwhelmed with the idea that I so longed for her to understand why we do the things we do, for her and for our family. That's not sadness, yet, somehow God still allows me to have these tears. David says, "You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" (vs. 8) In David's case, he was being chased by his enemies and he had cried, perhaps in fear or dread. Either way, to me, God has known my emotional "tossings" and He has kept count of them. He has all my tears, even the ones I wish I had never cried, in His "bottle", in His "book". Isn't that an amazing idea to think about? It helps me to cope with sometimes the frustration I feel when I cry.
On a lighter note....we have a Buzz Lightyear alarm clock in our house, I just heard Buzz start trying to wake people up upstairs....so funny!
Monday, 9 January 2017
More January "Anniversary" Reflections
This week will bring more "anniversaries" of sorts....it was 7 years ago this week that we started to build our house, the one we then sold, so that we could ultimately live here on the farm. It is minus minus minus cold out there right now. We knew then how grateful we needed to be for a mild winter that year. Someone found out that we were digging a foundation in early January and they said, "What crazy person would do that?" Us. We never intended to build in winter. It was just how it worked with the drawings, permits, etc. Maybe that was another part of the journey, trusting God to keep the weather in check, building our faith even in that area. How many times have I written about God being the God of the Impossible? If I had been blogging then, it would have been mostly about fear. But that is where God first started dealing with me and all my fears, by putting me in a fearful situation.
The whole build took longer then we thought it would, but by July of that summer we had moved into the house, though it wasn't fully finished. We then worked on it throughout that next year, selling it the following fall. It all worked out and God was faithful again and again.
It will also be my oldest daughter's 19th birthday this week. That is mind-boggling to me. I may look old enough to have a 19 year old, but I don't feel it! I was nearly two weeks overdue by this time 19 years ago, getting bigger by the second, it seemed. That was to be the pattern for the next 5 babies after her.....always late. My body only figured out how to be more on time with the last 2.....so grateful! She, too, came in the middle of a cold snap, when there was lots of snow, but that was fine as I didn't mind being stuck inside for a few weeks with a newborn that finally decided to arrive on Jan. 10, 1998.
Now, she's a beautiful young woman with lots on the go. She teaches piano and sewing classes and also works at a homeschool co-op where she teaches a group of gr.1-4 kids. She babysits weekly for her cousin and on top of all that is finishing her own piano lessons, trying to get her gr. 10 in the Royal Conservatory program. Plus.....she is kept busy here, helping with kids, meals, cleaning, running errands....she's a busy girl. She manages to fit in quite the social life, too. She, and the 3 after her, are always out together with friends I like that she enjoys hanging out with her siblings.
I know it won't be much longer that I have my whole crew of 8 kids with me, in the same house. I'm really trying to soak it up and enjoy every moment while I do.
Last week we did school "lite", knowing the public schoolers weren't back in, it was hard to get my kids on board 100%, so we tidied school bins, organized rooms, made new schedules, etc. This week we'll be at it 100%. I'm already anticipating some hard times. David even wrote in Psalm 55, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest!" Homeschooling/parenting is definitely challenging, but I take heart in knowing that David felt the same way at times and wanted to fly away! His plan? Not to fly away.....He said, "But I call to God and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice." (Ps. 55:16, 17). So that will be my plan today, too....just keep calling out to God, morning, noon and night. Reflecting on the anniversaries of this week is good, too. I know I was calling out to God then and it is good to remember how faithful He was. I'm sure I wanted to fly away many times when we were building the house, but I didn't, RM didn't.
Now, I'm off to feed a four year old "tiger". He just walked up to me in his costume, that he also slept in....so cute!
The whole build took longer then we thought it would, but by July of that summer we had moved into the house, though it wasn't fully finished. We then worked on it throughout that next year, selling it the following fall. It all worked out and God was faithful again and again.
It will also be my oldest daughter's 19th birthday this week. That is mind-boggling to me. I may look old enough to have a 19 year old, but I don't feel it! I was nearly two weeks overdue by this time 19 years ago, getting bigger by the second, it seemed. That was to be the pattern for the next 5 babies after her.....always late. My body only figured out how to be more on time with the last 2.....so grateful! She, too, came in the middle of a cold snap, when there was lots of snow, but that was fine as I didn't mind being stuck inside for a few weeks with a newborn that finally decided to arrive on Jan. 10, 1998.
Now, she's a beautiful young woman with lots on the go. She teaches piano and sewing classes and also works at a homeschool co-op where she teaches a group of gr.1-4 kids. She babysits weekly for her cousin and on top of all that is finishing her own piano lessons, trying to get her gr. 10 in the Royal Conservatory program. Plus.....she is kept busy here, helping with kids, meals, cleaning, running errands....she's a busy girl. She manages to fit in quite the social life, too. She, and the 3 after her, are always out together with friends I like that she enjoys hanging out with her siblings.
I know it won't be much longer that I have my whole crew of 8 kids with me, in the same house. I'm really trying to soak it up and enjoy every moment while I do.
Last week we did school "lite", knowing the public schoolers weren't back in, it was hard to get my kids on board 100%, so we tidied school bins, organized rooms, made new schedules, etc. This week we'll be at it 100%. I'm already anticipating some hard times. David even wrote in Psalm 55, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest!" Homeschooling/parenting is definitely challenging, but I take heart in knowing that David felt the same way at times and wanted to fly away! His plan? Not to fly away.....He said, "But I call to God and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and He hears my voice." (Ps. 55:16, 17). So that will be my plan today, too....just keep calling out to God, morning, noon and night. Reflecting on the anniversaries of this week is good, too. I know I was calling out to God then and it is good to remember how faithful He was. I'm sure I wanted to fly away many times when we were building the house, but I didn't, RM didn't.
Now, I'm off to feed a four year old "tiger". He just walked up to me in his costume, that he also slept in....so cute!
Friday, 6 January 2017
Living the Ezekiel 47 Life, 22 years later....
I'm pretty sure my husband won't wake up this morning and wish me "Happy Anniversary!", but it is an anniversary of sorts for us today. Today we celebrate the day we got engaged. It's been 22 years now that we've officially been "one". I treasure each day because you never know when it will be your last. We were reminded of that yesterday as we heard of an older lady passing away in our church. We had just seen her a few weeks ago before Christmas, then she got sick and yesterday at 6 am, she was gone. I can picture her and her husband, standing together as they always did. She was quite the fashionista for a lady in her late 80s. Her younger daughter shopped for her and always dressed her like she was the Queen! She had a wardrobe that made me jealous! And she always wore a beautiful hat that made her stand out amongst all the rest. She and her husband were always so kind to us, giving us little things for our kids that they thought we would like, or an article from a paper that was about large families. So thoughtful, but now she's gone. I'm sure he's hurting, but they were at least able to grow old together and that would certainly be my prayer and hope for me and my husband.
Our romance was fast and furious. We were only in each other's presence for a few weeks the summer of our first date before I was back to Colombia, South America, where I was teaching at the time. One of the last nights I saw him in Canada, he gave me his engineering ring as a symbol that he was "in this for the long haul"...I knew what he meant. He then came to visit me in Colombia where he first mentioned the "M" word - marriage. Inside I was freaking out, well, outside, too...the poor guy saw that I suddenly was so scared. Where did those fears come from? I think it's because of Disneyland, dumb movies, ridiculous expectations of what I thought a "dream" romance would look like...very immature. He left thinking,"It's not going to work." Little did I know he'd already purchased a ring. Such faith. But at least I had a faith. God and I met and through His word, He actually showed me RM was the one for me in Jeremiah. My parents had been sending me tapes of my pastor's teaching from home and he had been in the middle of a series from Jeremiah. I read Jeremiah 17 the night RM left,
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (vs.7-8)
How is that a verse on which man to marry? I heard God tell me that RM was like that tree, with deep roots, someone that wasn't easily phased by fear, or anxious. Perfect for me. I needed to marry a tree! Then, all sorts of other thoughts came into my head. I had had many roommates throughout my years since I'd left home at 18. Each girl had become a close friend and I had joked multiple times that I just wished I could marry one of them! When I stopped to consider each girl, I realized they were all female versions of RM...a little quieter, strong, smart....complete compliments to my more outgoing personality. Now, here was someone that could be not just a roommate, but my partner for life?! I would have been a fool to miss out on that.
And as if I needed further confirmation, at church, I heard a sermon, in Spanish no less, and through my Spanish/English translation I received another word from God. In Ezekiel 47, God walked Ezekiel out into the water. First he goes in ankle-deep, then knee-deep, then, waist-deep....then it was too deep except for swimming, but down the river he explains all the life, the living creatures that swarm, the many fish, "everything will live where the river goes...." As I heard the Colombian pastor speaking, I heard this voice in my head that said, "Jump in....over your head....there is life down the river if you are willing to take the chance and trust me." Later, at our wedding, I had my cousin write a song based on Ezekiel 47 that he sang for us.
I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was the one for me. It had been confirmed for me three times in three different ways. I quickly let RM know how I felt. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had never questioned our being together. I was the nut. Thank the Lord he waited for me to come around. It was a great faith journey, asking the Lord to confirm for me what I was supposed to do. My parents played a critical role, too...from the beginning. I had always been told, "Since you were two, we've been praying for your future spouse." I know they prayed RM into my life and when they saw me struggling with my pathetic wishy-washiness, Dad intervened and wrote me a game-changing letter that basically said, "You would be a fool to miss out on this guy." Good call.
That Christmas I came home expecting to get engaged. One of my friends heard about this and immediately said, "No way. That is too soon!" Fear again entered into my heart. She was right. It was going too fast. What was I thinking? So I wrote him before I came home and said, "Do not ask me to marry you when I get home!" So much fear! and fear of man! Crazy. He was so patient and said, "Don't worry!" He reassured me he wouldn't do anything that made me uncomfortable. Somehow in the process I had booked a ticket to go visit him and his parents over the holiday at his parent's place in Winnipeg, where they lived at the time. That was the final clincher. I saw how he interacted with his mom and dad and knew it was a special relationship. I wanted in.
I confessed to him all my pathetic insecurities, my pride, my wrong expectations of what a relationship was supposed to look like and how that had blurred my thinking about him.....I went on and on. At the end of it all, I made it very clear, "I am ready. Ask me anytime!" And he did. Jan. 6, 1995 at a beautiful French restaurant in Toronto. We joke that he never actually asked. He told me. "I want you to be my wife." "Yes?" How do you answer that?! So I just said something like, "Me too!" Then I headed back to Colombia where I stayed until June....that was a long time to be away from him. I had one visit home in April to plan a little, but that was it. All the dresses for myself, my mom and even the bridesmaids were made by "modistas" in Colombia. They all turned out great! Email had just started up at that point so it was much easier to be in touch with everyone. Then we were married on Sept. 1, 1995 and have truly lived Ezekiel 47.....the fruit and life down the river has been amazing! And instead of swarms of fish, we have swarms of children! And swarms of animals. Love that!
Our romance was fast and furious. We were only in each other's presence for a few weeks the summer of our first date before I was back to Colombia, South America, where I was teaching at the time. One of the last nights I saw him in Canada, he gave me his engineering ring as a symbol that he was "in this for the long haul"...I knew what he meant. He then came to visit me in Colombia where he first mentioned the "M" word - marriage. Inside I was freaking out, well, outside, too...the poor guy saw that I suddenly was so scared. Where did those fears come from? I think it's because of Disneyland, dumb movies, ridiculous expectations of what I thought a "dream" romance would look like...very immature. He left thinking,"It's not going to work." Little did I know he'd already purchased a ring. Such faith. But at least I had a faith. God and I met and through His word, He actually showed me RM was the one for me in Jeremiah. My parents had been sending me tapes of my pastor's teaching from home and he had been in the middle of a series from Jeremiah. I read Jeremiah 17 the night RM left,
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (vs.7-8)
How is that a verse on which man to marry? I heard God tell me that RM was like that tree, with deep roots, someone that wasn't easily phased by fear, or anxious. Perfect for me. I needed to marry a tree! Then, all sorts of other thoughts came into my head. I had had many roommates throughout my years since I'd left home at 18. Each girl had become a close friend and I had joked multiple times that I just wished I could marry one of them! When I stopped to consider each girl, I realized they were all female versions of RM...a little quieter, strong, smart....complete compliments to my more outgoing personality. Now, here was someone that could be not just a roommate, but my partner for life?! I would have been a fool to miss out on that.
And as if I needed further confirmation, at church, I heard a sermon, in Spanish no less, and through my Spanish/English translation I received another word from God. In Ezekiel 47, God walked Ezekiel out into the water. First he goes in ankle-deep, then knee-deep, then, waist-deep....then it was too deep except for swimming, but down the river he explains all the life, the living creatures that swarm, the many fish, "everything will live where the river goes...." As I heard the Colombian pastor speaking, I heard this voice in my head that said, "Jump in....over your head....there is life down the river if you are willing to take the chance and trust me." Later, at our wedding, I had my cousin write a song based on Ezekiel 47 that he sang for us.
I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was the one for me. It had been confirmed for me three times in three different ways. I quickly let RM know how I felt. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had never questioned our being together. I was the nut. Thank the Lord he waited for me to come around. It was a great faith journey, asking the Lord to confirm for me what I was supposed to do. My parents played a critical role, too...from the beginning. I had always been told, "Since you were two, we've been praying for your future spouse." I know they prayed RM into my life and when they saw me struggling with my pathetic wishy-washiness, Dad intervened and wrote me a game-changing letter that basically said, "You would be a fool to miss out on this guy." Good call.
That Christmas I came home expecting to get engaged. One of my friends heard about this and immediately said, "No way. That is too soon!" Fear again entered into my heart. She was right. It was going too fast. What was I thinking? So I wrote him before I came home and said, "Do not ask me to marry you when I get home!" So much fear! and fear of man! Crazy. He was so patient and said, "Don't worry!" He reassured me he wouldn't do anything that made me uncomfortable. Somehow in the process I had booked a ticket to go visit him and his parents over the holiday at his parent's place in Winnipeg, where they lived at the time. That was the final clincher. I saw how he interacted with his mom and dad and knew it was a special relationship. I wanted in.
I confessed to him all my pathetic insecurities, my pride, my wrong expectations of what a relationship was supposed to look like and how that had blurred my thinking about him.....I went on and on. At the end of it all, I made it very clear, "I am ready. Ask me anytime!" And he did. Jan. 6, 1995 at a beautiful French restaurant in Toronto. We joke that he never actually asked. He told me. "I want you to be my wife." "Yes?" How do you answer that?! So I just said something like, "Me too!" Then I headed back to Colombia where I stayed until June....that was a long time to be away from him. I had one visit home in April to plan a little, but that was it. All the dresses for myself, my mom and even the bridesmaids were made by "modistas" in Colombia. They all turned out great! Email had just started up at that point so it was much easier to be in touch with everyone. Then we were married on Sept. 1, 1995 and have truly lived Ezekiel 47.....the fruit and life down the river has been amazing! And instead of swarms of fish, we have swarms of children! And swarms of animals. Love that!
Monday, 2 January 2017
Introduction to a 15% Family
Happy New Year! Welcome 2017!
We celebrated by having two families over - one we knew really well, the ones we've been hosting over the last few months, and a new family our kids met through their worldview camp in the summer. With just the three families, we had 27 people here.....overnight! Both families lived nearly 3 hours away, so it only made sense....no one needed to be on the road on New Year's Eve.
What a memorable night, probably one of our best yet. There was lots of food, lots of hilarious games, kids jamming in the music room, singing in many parts of harmony, laughing, talking and having fun. Lots and lots of little boys filled the house with activity, running around chasing each other or kittens. Every house should have kittens just for that purpose!
What struck us was the conversation with the new family. One of the reasons our kids had connected so well was because they also are familiar with street preaching. The dad has taken his older boys out since they were quite young. One of the boys did his first open air sermon when he was just 11! When our kids met him, he was one of the few willing to stand up on a box and preach.
We asked them, knowing we had had our own eye-opening experience 10 years ago, what had been their "wake up" call? What had prompted them to make such dramatic changes in their own life that would have them take to the streets with the gospel?
They explained how they had heard the statistics about children leaving the faith in their first year of university, a whopping 85% of supposedly Christian kids and it struck them, "How can we make sure we are in the 15% who keep their faith?" The dad realized if that many kids are leaving the faith, that means that many dads are not doing their job in discipling their children. From that point on he determined (and this is my favourite line from the night....somewhat paraphrased), "I wanted to be a 15% Dad and I wanted my kids in the 15%, too." At first glance, that sounds like a really funny thing to say....15%? Why not 100%! But, what he was saying, of course, was that he didn't want to be a part of that terrible stat that says only 15% will keep their faith. He wanted to be part of the rare few that do, the small 15%. When he assessed his own life, his own faith, what he was doing, how he was living, he realized, perhaps he really wasn't living out the gospel as well as he could, discipling as intentionally as he could. Where to start?! It struck him that evangelism is what we are called to do yet he wasn't really doing it. Did he want to? No. Did he have a heart for it? Yes, sort of. So he started there, doing something that was waaaaay out of his comfort zone and bringing his kids along for the ride where they could see their dad doing something absolutely nuts, on a regular basis! They began to interact with many people on the streets. These people would ask them really hard questions that they didn't always have answers for. This, in turn, forced them to read their Bibles, get answers, seek out knowledge. Family discipleship happened. This dad had turned his heart to his children and as a result his children turned their hearts to him. Their oldest son, married a few months ago, is now involved with the drug addicts and homeless in a town nearby and is a part of a church planting ministry that reaches out to these needy people. Their next son also has a heart for missions and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
As the night went on, and new year's came in, we all sat around as families and prayed, singing the doxology. I went to bed, leaving all the kids on air mattresses spread throughout the house. I was fairly certain everyone would crash shortly after me.....uh no....a movie started and the kids stayed up half the night! I had a good sleep at least!
The next morning, after we all got the coffee I.V.s inserted, we chatted some more, played some more games, had lunch, and then everyone started to pack up. Family one left and started their 3 hour trek home. Family two loaded their van and came back in to, what I thought would be, say goodbye. Instead, they said, "We are going to stay 20 more minutes and clean your house." "Uh no," I said. "That's completely unnecessary. We can do it, no problem." They wouldn't hear it. They wouldn't listen. My oldest was happy to delay the goodbyes, so she turned up the loud music and, seriously, all 10 of them, as well as our 10, went at it. They vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms, made beds, brought down laundry, swept, did all my dishes....my house never looked so good. As they actually did pack up and drive away, I thought to myself, "From now on, I will do that whenever we go somewhere, especially overnight...." What a blessing. My house was quite a mess, especially with all the little boys. I would have had a lot of cleaning ahead of me. It would have been the last thing my kids wanted to do. It was really great to be able to debrief once everyone was gone and not worry about all the cleaning. Even to wake up this morning and to think, "Oh yeah! My house is clean! I don't have to clean all day!" Which would have been what I was doing....amazing......what a blessing! Did I already say that?
All that to say, it was inspiring to be with them, to not just hear their heart for God, but to see it in action, from the oldest to the youngest. That's the beauty of Christian fellowship though, spurring one another one toward love and good deeds. What a great testimony to that verse's truths.
Today, Daddy's back at work, however, kids are still partying with the other family, driving their way now for a huge skating fest. Must be nice to play all the time! I guess 2017 and real life will start soon enough. At least I don't have to clean all day!
We celebrated by having two families over - one we knew really well, the ones we've been hosting over the last few months, and a new family our kids met through their worldview camp in the summer. With just the three families, we had 27 people here.....overnight! Both families lived nearly 3 hours away, so it only made sense....no one needed to be on the road on New Year's Eve.
What a memorable night, probably one of our best yet. There was lots of food, lots of hilarious games, kids jamming in the music room, singing in many parts of harmony, laughing, talking and having fun. Lots and lots of little boys filled the house with activity, running around chasing each other or kittens. Every house should have kittens just for that purpose!
What struck us was the conversation with the new family. One of the reasons our kids had connected so well was because they also are familiar with street preaching. The dad has taken his older boys out since they were quite young. One of the boys did his first open air sermon when he was just 11! When our kids met him, he was one of the few willing to stand up on a box and preach.
We asked them, knowing we had had our own eye-opening experience 10 years ago, what had been their "wake up" call? What had prompted them to make such dramatic changes in their own life that would have them take to the streets with the gospel?
They explained how they had heard the statistics about children leaving the faith in their first year of university, a whopping 85% of supposedly Christian kids and it struck them, "How can we make sure we are in the 15% who keep their faith?" The dad realized if that many kids are leaving the faith, that means that many dads are not doing their job in discipling their children. From that point on he determined (and this is my favourite line from the night....somewhat paraphrased), "I wanted to be a 15% Dad and I wanted my kids in the 15%, too." At first glance, that sounds like a really funny thing to say....15%? Why not 100%! But, what he was saying, of course, was that he didn't want to be a part of that terrible stat that says only 15% will keep their faith. He wanted to be part of the rare few that do, the small 15%. When he assessed his own life, his own faith, what he was doing, how he was living, he realized, perhaps he really wasn't living out the gospel as well as he could, discipling as intentionally as he could. Where to start?! It struck him that evangelism is what we are called to do yet he wasn't really doing it. Did he want to? No. Did he have a heart for it? Yes, sort of. So he started there, doing something that was waaaaay out of his comfort zone and bringing his kids along for the ride where they could see their dad doing something absolutely nuts, on a regular basis! They began to interact with many people on the streets. These people would ask them really hard questions that they didn't always have answers for. This, in turn, forced them to read their Bibles, get answers, seek out knowledge. Family discipleship happened. This dad had turned his heart to his children and as a result his children turned their hearts to him. Their oldest son, married a few months ago, is now involved with the drug addicts and homeless in a town nearby and is a part of a church planting ministry that reaches out to these needy people. Their next son also has a heart for missions and it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
As the night went on, and new year's came in, we all sat around as families and prayed, singing the doxology. I went to bed, leaving all the kids on air mattresses spread throughout the house. I was fairly certain everyone would crash shortly after me.....uh no....a movie started and the kids stayed up half the night! I had a good sleep at least!
The next morning, after we all got the coffee I.V.s inserted, we chatted some more, played some more games, had lunch, and then everyone started to pack up. Family one left and started their 3 hour trek home. Family two loaded their van and came back in to, what I thought would be, say goodbye. Instead, they said, "We are going to stay 20 more minutes and clean your house." "Uh no," I said. "That's completely unnecessary. We can do it, no problem." They wouldn't hear it. They wouldn't listen. My oldest was happy to delay the goodbyes, so she turned up the loud music and, seriously, all 10 of them, as well as our 10, went at it. They vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms, made beds, brought down laundry, swept, did all my dishes....my house never looked so good. As they actually did pack up and drive away, I thought to myself, "From now on, I will do that whenever we go somewhere, especially overnight...." What a blessing. My house was quite a mess, especially with all the little boys. I would have had a lot of cleaning ahead of me. It would have been the last thing my kids wanted to do. It was really great to be able to debrief once everyone was gone and not worry about all the cleaning. Even to wake up this morning and to think, "Oh yeah! My house is clean! I don't have to clean all day!" Which would have been what I was doing....amazing......what a blessing! Did I already say that?
All that to say, it was inspiring to be with them, to not just hear their heart for God, but to see it in action, from the oldest to the youngest. That's the beauty of Christian fellowship though, spurring one another one toward love and good deeds. What a great testimony to that verse's truths.
Today, Daddy's back at work, however, kids are still partying with the other family, driving their way now for a huge skating fest. Must be nice to play all the time! I guess 2017 and real life will start soon enough. At least I don't have to clean all day!
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