"The Heavens Declare the Glory of God"

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament sheweth his handywork." Psalm 19:1

Spilled Milk

Yesterday morning began with spilled milk at breakfast-not once, but 3 times by the same child! Yikes! Can I go back to bed and start over? I thought about going back to bed and letting the kids go play. I really didn't do that or even seriously consider that, but it did cross my mind. I was determined to press on and not let a small slip of the fingers determine how my day or my child's day would go. We continued on and I even let them play with play dough. I am trying to follow the leadership of my Lord and not allow myself to get caught up with selfish desires or thoughts. My job is to train and teach, not put down and demean. 1 Peter 1: 5-9 " And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." What a wonderful reminder of where these things come from. It is not from within ourselves or any of that psycho babble you hear from the world. It is from the Lord.

Tugging at my Heart

We took a day trip last week to a play place and the beach. We had a nice time and the kids had a blast playing and walking in the water. They didn't want to leave! It's so nice to be able to get away if only for a day. I needed it and so enjoyed it myself.

My heart has been so burdened lately. My children it seems are constantly arguing and fussing. The selfish behaviors are extreme. I have been trying to find the source. Well, I know the source of selfishness is sin, but I guess I was looking more at myself to see where I was teaching them wrong.

My heart has been convicted of my own selfish attitudes and actions toward my children. I realized that they are probably getting a bad example by looking at me. I'm not perfect by any means and I had to confess my sin to the Lord.

This morning before we started our lessons we had a time of individually talking through these things and I explained to them where this begins. Restoration is a wonderful thing! Even though I don't like seeing my own faults, I must as a Christian, turn from my evil ways and seek the Lord to help me and forgive me.

Rejoice

This is the day that the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it. May we be reminded of the real reason for the season-the birth of the Savior- Jesus Christ.

Busy, busy times

Where has the time gone? We moved 4 months ago and it seems like I'll never get caught up. Life is busy these days. December is a busy time for everyone, but ours is even busier when you put several birthdays in the mix. Since we've moved I've tried to change a few habits for the better. I think they say it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit. My first habit I'm trying to accomplish is getting up before my children wake me up. This is a hard one for me, mainly because I usually stay up too late. So I'm doing better and enjoying the extra time with the Lord and the quiet of our home. Another habit I'm working on is time management. We don't have internet yet so this helps a lot. I find that surfing the 'net eats up so much time. Therefore, I'm getting a lot more done since I have to go over to my parents' house to use it. Those are a few things I'm working on right now. We're still trying to settle in. We have so much to be thankful for. What a blessing to be a child of the King!

Kayla's 7th Birthday

I'm late posting this due to the flu. Kayla turned 7 two weeks ago. She is such a delight to be around. I used to call her my little sunshine because every day she woke up smiling and happy. I am not a morning person so for me that is usually hard to do although I'm trying to change that. Going to bed earlier usually makes it better, but I just can't seem to get in that habit. Seven years ago in North Africa I gave birth to a beautiful blue eyed, brown haired little baby. A little while after she was born my husband came and told me that she had apparently gotten the Strep. B virus from me through birth. That moment was probably the worst moment of my life. To give life and then almost immediately have it taken away is heartbreaking. I (we) did the only thing we could do- we fell on our knees to God and cried out to Him. The doctors said the next 3 days were critical. They immediately began 3 doses of antibiotics and the most important thing was that people all around the world (literally) began praying for Kayla. As a new mom all I wanted to do was hold her. I was not allowed to hold her due to the incubator and all the wires. I wonder if I'd been somewhere else if it would have been different, but that's not something that I even question because that is where we were. The longing of a mother to hold her child is something that you can't imagine if you've never been denied it. It wasn't until she was 12 days old that I was able to hold her. What a wonderful moment that I will never forget. It was sometime in the second day that we prayed and gave her to the Lord. We asked God to heal her, but knew that healing might not be the way we wanted or desired. Our will became His. Peace came over us as could not be explained. Yes, we were still hoping for physical healing, but God continued to work in her and us. We saw small improvements, but she was still not eating. Fluid continued to show up on her lungs. After two weeks there, the doctors recommended that we air-evac her to Paris where they could put a scope down her to find out what this fluid was. This was a frightening time for me. I felt peace, but there were other fears now that we were going to a place I'd only visited and never lived. But hopefully, we'd find more doctors that could speak to us in English. (That is a testimony of faith because when you can't understand very much of what's going on your faith grows that the Lord will take care of you.) When we finally arrived after a long and eventful flight we were met at the hospital by some of our dear friends who we had been through training with and spoke fluent French. What a relief and blessing from God to see them! Immediately after we arrived she was placed in an open bed where we could touch her as much as we wanted. What a blessing! I was already seeing that this was what she needed. The first thing they wanted was to see her gain weight. She had almost lost 2 pounds since birth! It seemed like things got better and better. There were so many good days! They had to put her to sleep for the scope, but it was for her good so we were okay with it. They didn't find any fluid on her lungs. What a blessing! All she had to do now was gain weight and breathe better without the oxygen. After almost 3 weeks we were released and okayed to fly back to the states. I know the story was long, but for me it is such a joy to see how God healed my sweet baby girl. I know He did! I will never deny His healing on her life. As often as I can I tell her this story of my miracle baby. That was actually a short version of the story, but just wanted to tell her story of healing. By the way, as you can tell in the picture she was completely healed. She's not had any problems since.

Thankful

I've seen several blogs post on Thursdays about what they are thankful for. I'd like to share today some things that I'm thankful for. Family- I have a wonderful husband and four precious children. What a blessing! Also, my parents and Michael's parents, plus all of our brothers and my sister in law and niece. They all live fairly close to us, too. Faith- I am saved by HIS grace. Without Jesus Christ I am NOTHING! He has given me a new life and changed my heart. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 Friends- God has blessed me with many friends throughout the different stages of my life. I will always be thankful for those people who I have called friend. Health- My health means more to me each day. When our family was sick with the stomach bug a few weeks ago I didn't think we'd ever be well again (at least that's what it felt like). We should be thankful for the health we've been given. Freedom- Many people around the world will never experience this. After living overseas in two 3rd world countries, I am able to appreciate more that we are blessed to live in a free country. Even though things may change for the worse it is something we should never take for granted. I could go on and on. There are so many blessings in my life. Thank you, Father, for all these blessings and more.