happy birthday to me

My birthday was this past weekend and it was like no other birthday before!  I got to enjoy Friday night and Saturday with these two gals--Emily and my niece, A.G.

We went to a "Living For Him" retreat for 5th-6th graders and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it....

so I think I will show you....

Hayride under the starry night

 S'mores of course!!

Fun on the water!

The weather was perfect all weekend--thank you, God!

 A.G.'s first time to kayak

Nearly soaked from almost falling in!

Time to climb!!

(my first time to climb and yes I did make it to the top
woo-hoo!!)

Sunday, we headed out to cheer Jeremy on in his 5th marathon

 The girls did an awesome job cheering!

Wesley helped Jeremy finish at mile 26

(so proud of those guys!)

I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday weekend.

How in the WORLD??

A few days (or weeks...how long has it been?) I told you I was thinking about

HOMESCHOOL

Now I am thinking.....

WHY do I want to homeschool?

HOW in the world can I do it??

I have been analyzing my days as I work and go about the daily house stuff, errands, etc. and think.....

I don't know if this is such a good idea.

There has been more than one day that I have thought---No school would have been accomplished today.

But I can't have too many of those kind of days and think that I can really be successful at homeschool.

And then the FEARS come upon me....
will I totally fail?
will we just start to argue and fuss at one another all the time?
what if I can't do it?
Then what?

Other days, I think it is possible.

I think...we can restructure everything. 
How and when stuff gets done. 
Maybe it would be a good thing. 
And I would share some of the tasks that I tend to just do myself cause it's easier.

One kid wants to homeschool, another doesn't.  She has specifically mentioned that she hopes God tells me to not homeschool her until High school.  She wants to go to middle school---lockers, changing classrooms more, being with her friends, and I think it also has something to do with a special interest in a BOY.

So I don't have an answer

YET.

Dear Church,

I love you.  But I must write this letter because I am deeply grieved.  We have failed.  We come together each week and in our midst are families that are

D-Y-I-N-G.  

Wives are sitting next to husbands who have become their enemy and they cannot cry out because they have to go home with him.

And what will people think?

And what good does it do anyway?

Families are dissolving in our midst and we do nothing. 

Maybe we don't know them. 

Maybe we're scared,

inadequate,

we don't know what to say. 

But as we say nothing and do nothing,

couples collapse,

families dissolve.

Those that have courage to ask for help, for prayer, become numb by our silence.  They think maybe God's silence, our silence, is permission to quit.  Their marriage, their hopes, must be too difficult for God.  Their dreams for a thriving, godly union must be impossible.

But GOD says

Behold, I am the LORD,

the GOD of all flesh;

is anything too difficult for Me?

Jeremiah 32:27

Jesus says

With people it is impossible,

but not with God;

for all things are possible with God.

Mark 10:27

Dear Church,

dear brothers,

dear sisters,

IF you are at the end of your rope, you have tried everything, done everything, please know that I am crying out to God on your behalf.  Like Aaron and Hur who held up Moses' arms during the battle between Joshua and Amalek, and as his arms were held up, the Isrealites prevailed.  So it is as we hold you up, the Enemy will be defeated. (Exodus 17: 8-16)

You are not alone. 

We will no longer be silent.  Church, we MUST come beside our hurting brothers and sisters NOW.  Lives are at stake.  The Enemy is prevailing because we are not holding them up.

Brother, sister, I am praying that the arm, the mighty arm of God that stretched out the Heavens,

will hold your marriage together.  

And Church, I am praying that we become more like Jesus.  That we weep with those who weep, bring healing and hope, bear one another's burdens, and point one another to obedience to Christ.

Church, we don't need initials at the end of our name to be qualified to come along side these hurting families.  We don't pretend to have solutions, a step by step process guaranteed to work, interventions. 

BUT we have GOD!

OUR GOD IS GREATER!

MIGHTY IN POWER!

His Word is our Counselor!

God says

I will counsel you with My eye upon you

Psalm 32:8b
  

God is not silent

and we must no longer sit in silence

as marriages and families

dissolve

in our midst

Our God is Greater

THIS is the truth that keeps coming to mind in recent weeks...

OUR GOD IS GREATER

He whispers it in my mind

Let's me hear it in a song

I get to sing it with 400 other people on Sunday morning

He speaks it through a friend

a message

through His creation

through His GLORY

Greater than...

my concerns for next school year

closed doors in front of me

past pains

broken families

my BIGGEST dreams

GREATER than...

the gap between now and bringing home our first child from Rwanda

my weaknesses

my insecurities

my hopes

GREATER THAN...

the debts we owe

my deepest fears

disability

my desires

Our God is Greater!

Today, pray with me for God to move some mountains...

in a dissolving marriage

for orphans to come home to a forever family

for needs to be met

for healing

Still here...

Still here, but busy with work, kids, homework, chores, making life-changing decisions

AND

enjoying times like this....

We're playing pictionary and Savannah joined in later. 

She drew a picture of the "moon."

I had whispered in her ear what to draw and told her

"Don't tell."

As she drew and the others guessed,

she said....

"Don't tellllllllllll."

Just so you know, everything she draws looks like a smiley face....

peanut butter jelly sandwich

car

everything looks like a smiley face.

=)

Love nights like this...

especially with this!



Oh Brother

We are missing a brother. 

If you have ever longed for a child and couldn't or didn't have one at the time you had hoped, you will be familiar with that feeling of

missing someone.

It's a dull ache. 

Sometimes it's a big heartache.

Everyday I think about him.  I don't know who he is yet and I don't know if he will come with siblings.  But I missed him on Christmas day when we were opening presents.  I missed him at church the other day when we got there a little late and had to sit on the second row.  (can you guess what kind of church I attend?) =)  We were all sitting there, all 5 of us, and I looked at the empty chair next to Wesley...missing him.

I pray for him. 

I pray for him to be safe, to be well taken care of. 

I pray for him as he waits for a forever family,
as he waits for us. 

I pray that he puts his hope and trust in God.

I pray that God makes a way for us to be together. 

I pray for the days that we will first meet,

learn how to be a family,

learn how to love and trust one another. 

I'm learning some lessons here lately about building trust. 

Assurance. 

Setting boundaries.

(funny the thoughts our little dog has brought up since she showed up last week)

I really miss him! 

I see his face in my mind and the other night I dreamt about the day we meet and call him son. 

My prayer:

I Thessalonians 3:11

Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you...

Would you pray with us and also pray for more families to open their hearts and homes to the orphan?

 

Run Faster, Pray Harder

Tomorrow is Thursday....

How can we pray for YOU?