Evaluating our School Year: Prayer

This post is part of a series I'm doing as a way to evaluate our school year.  I am covering each subject, describing what we did; what worked for us and what didn't work; and detailing any changes I plan to make.  I find this process so helpful as I finish out our year and before I begin to plan for our next year.  

~

Prayer

WHAT WE DID:
Directly following our Bible time, we had a prayer time together.  This was a really sweet time for us each morning, and until this year, I hadn't attempted it.  Sure, we have always prayed before each mealtime, but we hadn't set aside a prayer time like this.  Right now all of our kids are old enough that we are able to do this, and it was such a welcome addition to our mornings.

Most days I would simply ask, "What can we pray for today?" and often the kids would remember the various needs of family members and friends, needs in our own home or in the world.  We prayed a LOT for the refugees this year (thank you, my sweet Audra, who wanted to pray for them every.single.morning).  And we prayed a lot for the presidential candidates.  We also prayed for our Compassion kids.

Since our prayer time followed our Bible time, we would also often pray about what we'd read or learned.  Sometimes by that time we'd already had a rough morning with bickering or a stressed mommy, and one of my kids would pipe up, "We could pray for peace for the rest of our school day."  And so we did.

I wrote all of these prayer requests down on our morning time sheet for that day.

Then each of us would select one or two things to cover in prayer, and we prayed for 5-10 minutes.

At some point during the year I encouraged the kids to begin their prayers with a "Thank You, God, that You are ___________ " type-praise.  I want them to learn to come before God with adoration and praise for Who He is, not just to Him for something.  So this was a good, hopefully habit-forming practice that we kept up.  I actually have made a note on my planning list for this next year to cover some of the attributes of God in our morning time, but I haven't fleshed that out yet.  (Does anyone know any good resources for that?)

We will continue to do prayer the same way next year! 

From the pages of my journal

Approximately every six months I come to the final pages of my journal and need a new one. I always look forward to getting a new journal ready.  I take time to look back through the pages of my last journal and note some lessons or verses God has given me and then I plaster that first page with the truths God has been speaking to my heart.

{first page of my new journal}

{second page in: a prayer list}

 

 

{another page: listing things I'm grateful for}

For these next several months, my prayer focuses are these: (see photo #2)

Monday- for me, as a wife, mama, teacher, homemaker. for passion, love for Jesus, "5 things", devotion, discipline, humility
Tuesday- for Mark, as husband, father, provider, leader, employee, lover of God
Wednesday- for my girls (really anything that is on my heart regarding each of them)
Thursday- for my boys
Friday- for friends and family (extended) needs
Saturday- for our neighbors, the lost, our Compassion kids, missionaries
Sunday- our church

Snippets from my journal and prayers on a Monday morning

It's Monday morning. I'm heading into this week weary and feeling overwhelmed.  This is Mark's long work week (no day off), and I really wish I was starting this week feeling rested, but that's just not the case.

I went walking early with my mom, then came home through the back door to find Mark loading the dishwasher for me before he left for work.  I sat at the kitchen table and drank a glass of water and he asked me how I was, and then listened to me while he worked, and I told him of my weariness.  He took time to pray for me before I saw him out the back door.  Then I snuck into my room, trying to avoid all the creaky floorboards, closing our old door just so; so that it won't click noisily, hoping and praying everyone would stay sleeping so that I could begin this day quietly.

So here I sit on my bed, under the warmth of an electric blanket. A little bit ago I pulled out my journal and started telling God all about it: my weariness, how there are so many demands on me in a school week and I'm feeling a little pouty and slightly resentful, even, that I will run around today and this week meeting everyone else's needs but would really like someone to take care of ME.  (Does anyone else ever feel that way?  Maybe I'm just especially selfish.  ;))

Even as I'm writing that prayer to God, I am thinking of this verse, which I then anchored to the page of my journal and to my mind for the day:

from my journal pages this morning

Yes.  I am trusting Him.  He knows me, He cares for me, He sees me.  He is my God and He will supply every need of mine according to His riches.  I can trust that while I am looking out for everyone else's needs this morning and throughout this day?  He will attend to mine.

And I can see the ways He's already doing that today...

~He gave me the gift of going walking early with my mom: exercise and fresh air and adult conversation for a half-hour! (5406)

~Coming home to find Mark in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher.  His kindness in loving me through practical service to me.  He knows I like to begin my day with a clean kitchen, and he got up early-- sacrificing his own sleep-- to do so. (5407)

~Mark praying for me as he cleaned the kitchen (he told me when I came in he'd been praying for our day), and aloud, with me, before he left for work. (5408)

~Mark, who faithfully works hard to provide for our family. (5409)

~Passing Isaias on my way to my room, as he's heading outside to do his morning chores.  So thankful for my kids and the work they do so faithfully around the house. (5410)

~This sweet time of quiet God just granted me-- a whole 40+ minutes of time to journal and pray and rest in the truth of His word while He kept the kids sleeping. (5411)

~The coziness of our home and my bed (and the warmth of the electric blanket!) (5412)

~His word, which is so precious to me. (5413)

~My chatty little Audra (6), who was the first to come into my room, snugging up beside me and talking, talking, talking, always talking.  How I love her and how thankful I am for this girl, the gift that she is to me, the miracle of her.  (5414)

Praying now that my eyes will continue to be open to see the goodness of God today; to see Him so richly and personally providing for my every need.

Blessing to you, sweet friends, on your day!  May each of you see Him in his rich provision for you, too. 

Devotions basket

For the past couple of years, I have been trying to create a habit for our kids of beginning their day with Jesus.  In the mornings I'll set the timer for 20 minutes and call out, "devotion time!" and the older kids will pray or read their Bibles or sing, and the little girls will usually draw pictures or look through a Bible story book.

One of the things I'm going to introduce to the kids *this* school year is a "Devotions basket":

What's in the basket:

-missionary biographies
-one of the Truth &  Grace Memory books
-Operation World
-some favorite Bible story books (The Child's Story Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible)
-My ABC Bible Verses and others by Susan Hunt (Big Truths for Little Kids & Discovering Jesus in Genesis & Exodus)
-The Brother-Offended checklist, Go-to-the-Ant chart, and the "If-Then" charts from Doorposts.
-a gratitude journal (orange Moleskine), to list things we're thankful for
-memory verses on index cards  (ones we've memorized before; for review)
-a bucket with blank index cards & markers- for drawing stories from the Bible
-(2) CD players with headphones & kids worship CDs
-our jar of prayer sticks (popsicle sticks with family/friends' names written on them, for the kids to pick out a stick and pray for that person/family)

I have a list of everything that's in the basket with spaces next to it for the kids to initial as they "check out" an item.  They're going to love this. 

On prayer

A couple of years ago Sally Clarkson asked a question in a blog post- What five attributes do you want to characterize your life?  She exhorted her readers to come up with five qualities we want to be known for or marked by.  I made a list of five things, and I still have that list.  In fact, on the first page of each blank journal, I list again those five qualities that I want to be marked by.  I ask that God would grow me in those areas. I look at them from time to time and am reminded of who I want to be.

One of those five is that I want to be prayerful.

This morning I read this verse in Colossians:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.  -Colossians 4:2

I did a quick search for the meaning of the word "devote",  here.  And from there I looked up a John Piper sermon on this very verse.  I read the sermon in it's entirety, but it is this that encouraged my heart the most:

(Before you get into that quote, let me just say that earlier in the sermon Piper defines "things" not as "objects or stuff, but whatever your heart desires or needs".)  Okay, here's the excerpt that encouraged me:

The essence of prayer is the expression of our dependence on God through requests.

Now think about this for a moment. God's will is that we, his creatures, ask him for things.  And it is not just his will, it is his delight. He loves to be asked for things. Proverbs 15:8 says, "The prayer of the upright is His delight." He is so eager to hear prayers and respond to them that he says in Isaiah 65:24, "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear." In fact, he takes special steps to see to it that he is constantly badgered. I say that reverently and, I think, truly on the basis of Isaiah 62:6-7 - "On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." So God loves being asked for things so much that he appoints people to "give him no rest" but to "remind the Lord" and "never [to] keep silent."

Meditating on this is very encouraging to our faith and hope. This means that God, the Creator of the Universe, who holds our life in his hands and rules the world, is the kind of God who loves to be asked for things.   [Italics mine.  Full sermon here.]

Oh, this is an encouragement to me!  God delights in our asking.  He is eager to hear our prayers and respond to them.  He wants us to keep on asking, to keep reminding him of those requests. 

It encourages me because knowing that he delights in me asking?  --That makes me want to ask.
It encourages me because it reminds me that God does hear me and will respond.
It encourages me because there are prayers I have prayed for years.  The same ones.  Those same requests, the pleas of my heart for change in me, for growth in relationships or difficult situations, for those I love to know Jesus, and for desires of my heart that I continue to offer up to him.  He wants me to keep right on "badgering", as John Piper puts it. ;)

I love that "reminding" part, too.  I remember that is one of the things that impacted me about the life of George Muller.  He did that in prayer.  He would sit at his desk and open up his Bible and point out God's words to Him and in essence say, "God, this is what You said right here.  Make good on Your Word for the sake of Your name and glory."- and he would pray according to that promise as if to "remind" God of His own words.  Of course God already knows, and yet- that passage in Isaiah is an encouragement to me that God doesn't mind the reminding, that in fact he desires it.  I have done this in prayer, too.  Just last week I sat with Scripture before me and prayed it right back to God and reminded him-- This is what You have said.  I believe it, I trust it.  You have promised this.  Now will you ACT upon it, Lord?  And it heartens me to know that this is an acceptable way to pray.

May you be encouraged today that our God is the kind of God who loves to hear your prayers; who loves to be asked!

Praying...

(Will you join me in prayer for this dear family?)

A chapter a day...

That's my read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year checklist, and all those boxes are checked! {Thank you, God, for giving me the perseverance to stick to it!}

It is so gratifying to be sitting at the end of this year knowing that I read every single word of God's Word this past year.  I love that.  I love His Word, and my time reading the Bible always expands my worship of Him.  I am so thankful.

I feel compelled to take more time this year for prayer, so I'm not committing to reading through the entire Bible again this year.  I want to grow in the discipline of prayer and of listening and responding  to God's Spirit.  I've been thinking so much lately about how easy it is to feed on God's Word and build our knowledge-- but how often God moves/leads *when we pray*... there are just so many examples in the NT of the disciples meeting and praying and knowing where to go and what to do and seeing God work and move *because* they prayed, and I want that, too.  I want to spend my days being led by His Spirit and doing His work.  This past year I spent way more time reading than praying, and I really missed that sweet intimacy with Him that comes from time spent in prayer. 

I am working on a plan for reading-- it will just be at a bit slower pace.  I've decided to scale back and read "a chapter a day" this year, which will allow for more time of focused prayer and also the freedom to dig in and study.  And- Mark is going to do my chapter-a-day plan with me.  Sort of as an afterthought, I asked Ella and Isaac (our able readers) if they wanted to do it, too.   Ella is very excited and agreed without hesitation.  (Her comment: "Then we can all read the same thing and talk about it!")  Isaac is still deciding.  He told me he's in the middle of reading the Psalms right now and isn't sure he's ready to commit to more reading. ;)  I know Isaias would like to, but he's not quite at that level of reading yet, so we'll just have to do a lot of narrating what we read to him so that he can participate in our conversations. 

Reading a chapter a day means that we will read through 11 books of the Bible this year.  These are the books I chose:

Joshua
1 Kings
2 Kings
Psalms 
Proverbs
Isaiah 
Zephaniah
John
1 Corinthians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians

That's exactly 366 chapters- out of 1189 total chapters in the Bible.  (At this rate it would take us a little over 3 years to read the entire Bible, but: one step at a time.  This is our goal for *this year*, and we'll see what next year holds.)   I've already promised to email a friend my chapter-a-day checklist, so if any of you are interested, just send me your email address and I'd be happy to email it to you, too.  :)

Please pray for this family

Please take a moment to pray for this family...

I don't know them and I don't normally read her blog, but a friend of mine linked to this blog post and I've been weepy ever since, and thankful for every.single.minute God graces me with the life of my own five...

{Photo of Tiggy here}

Thank you, dear readers...

~Stacy

{Repost} Mother's Day thoughts

{Originally posted in May of 2008}

As Mother's Day approaches all kinds of thoughts crowd in.

>I remember sitting in church on Mother's Day, year after year, longing and aching to be able to join the club. And I know some of you are there right now. Wanting so much to have the opportunity to just get to be a mother. Oh, dear God, please? Remember these. Fill these empty wombs. And flood these women with hope, strength, and perseverance in the meantime.

>I think of those of you, too, who have known loss that affects this day. A mother, now gone. A child, gone. I have never miscarried but I imagine you mark the days, months, seasons of that baby's life- had that life continued. Bring comfort, God.

>I think of how I have the best mother in the world. I am so grateful for my mom. Some of the things I am most thankful for? Her love for Jesus, her commitment to be at home, her enthusiasm for life's simple pleasures, her generosity, her heart of compassion, her laughter, her prayers, her gift of hospitality. To name just a few. God, thank you for mom. Pour Your favor upon her.

>I think of Mark's mother, my mother-in-law. I am thankful to her for her prayers, her instruction, her love for her little tow-headed boy who grew up to be my husband. What a fine son she raised! Bless her, dear God. Thank you for her commitment to her children. Thank you that she raised them to love You.

>I think of Isaias' mother in Guatemala. How often does she think of her little boy? What are the things she remembers about him? She carried him for nine months, her belly swelling, bearing his weight until delivery. Nine months later he was in our home. Bless her today, Father. Thank you that she chose life for our Isaias. Provide for her. May she know Your love.

>I think of Addie's mother. It was only a little over two months ago that she gave birth to the little beauty I now hold. Two months. What is she thinking today? Oh, God, rescue this one. May she know the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.

>I think of Baby's young mother. Will she get her four girls this Mother's Day? Does the state make special arrangements so that she'll get them for the day, or part of the day? How is she doing? Maybe Baby is even back with her already. Lord, help this young mother. Give her the support, the resources, the strength to mother her children well. May she come to know You and love You, dear God; that You might guide her and strengthen her.

>I think of those of you who are foster mothers, who take in children and love them and raise them for a season, only to have to say goodbye . Bless you. God, grant these mothers strength to carry out the task you have called them to.

>I think of so many of you who are mothers-- doing this difficult, yet *so* rewarding job, day in and day out. Happy Mother's Day to you! God, bless these mothers. Give them wisdom, discernment, energy, creativity, and joy.

>Finally, I am filled with joy and gratitude that I get to be a mother to Ella, Isaac, Isaias and Adelia. Thank you, Father. My heart is so full. What a tremendous gift and responsibility. May I honor You as I mother these children You've entrusted to me.

Attitude adjustment

I'm currently reading a great book by Sally Clarkson called Dancing with My Father.

Following each chapter, there are a few questions for reflection.

After a chapter about trials, one of the suggestions was to list the trials you were experiencing right now. And then she asked, "How does God want you to pass the test of these particular trials?"

The next question was especially helpful to me in light of a trial I'm facing: "What attitude do you need to change or cultivate?"

(To which I immediately thought, What attitude DOESN'T need changing?!) Once I moved beyond that, I was able to come up with a list of some tangible attitude adjustments that are needed, and then pray through them and ask God to transform me in these areas.

Here's my long list:
-an attitude of surrender
-an attitude of mercy and loving-kindness
-an attitude of joy
-an attitude of self-control
-an attitude of hope
-an attitude of humility
-an attitude of affirmation

I share this because I thought this was a helpful exercise in tackling my response to trials. It's easy for me to step into the woe-is-me mindset and grumble. However, it's much more productive to determine where I need to grow in response to the difficult situations that arise, and then focus on praying for that heart-growth!

Maybe this exercise will be helpful for some of you, too?

From our prayer bowl...

...and from our Father:

Go here.

!!!

Hope

I feel compelled to get a little transparent with you today, so bear with me as I try to sort out what I should say.

There have been times when I have alluded to struggles with one of my children before. I have not said much more than that here on the blog- for several reasons- which is truly ironic because it is a major part of my life and thoughts and prayers and cries to God. My journals are full- for the past couple of years- of prayers surrounding this boy and my relationship with him.

In a nutshell, there is a lot of pain and hurt in him. Our relationship- especially his and mine- has been rough, to say the very least. Mark and I are convinced that he has some level of attachment disorder and it is a difficult road.

I am quick to become fearful of what lies ahead. From one of my journal entries this past year:

"So often when I look at this relationship and the distance there and the lack of affection, I feel hopeless. I feel discouraged and I give in to all the fears and the what-if's and all the negative what-it's-probably-going-to-look-like-in-the-future in addition to the frustration of me not getting it right, ever. Why can't I be transformed? Why can't I actively obey and love and hold and be affectionate and simply BE what I don't FEEL? And I feel guilt and doubt and sorrow and the despair that things will not get better."

That brings me to the reason for this post.

God has been so faithful to me; to us, through this journey. A couple of months ago I was running errands and a song came on and He used it to speak to me about His power.

He reminded me of who He is. He is bigger. So much bigger than all my what-if's. He reminded me of His faithfulness so many other times- not only in Scripture but in my life. He woke me up to the reality of Who I'm dealing with, of Who holds all of this. And, for the first time in a long time, I felt buoyed. It was like, "Yeah. Look who I've got on MY side! Look who is here, fighting on my team."

And hope crept in.

The challenge for me is to remain there, in that place of trusting Him to accomplish what He has set out to do.

[As a side note, it seems an incredibly crazy thing that He has chosen me to be a part of whatever He's going to do, here- because I am a pathetic excuse for a team member. Nothing in my life has brought me more humility than my role as a mother to this boy. I royally suck at it. I cannot seem to do it well or right or God-honoring, ever. You might think I am exaggerating, but I am so not.]

Anyway, as I was saying- it is a continual challenge for me to remain in that place of trust. The enemy would have me stay in that place of doubt and fear- and often I listen to the lies and tuck myself away and remain there in that place of discouragement.

I have to fight to keep that hope and hold it close. I want to claim it and proclaim it: that He is mighty to save, that He will do a good work here- in me and in him and in us.

One of the first verses I felt led to memorize this past year was from Isaiah 43:

Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
"Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.

(verses 18 and 19, NAS)

Today, again- I spent time asking God to show His glory in this troubled relationship. I repented of my many, frequent sins- and asked Him to speak to me, and the above passage is what He reminded me of all over again.

That I am not to dwell on the past- on the heartache of what has been. That He is going to do something new. That He can make a roadway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. That He can do the impossible, the miraculous. That nothing is too great for Him to accomplish, and that no one is so sinful (even me) that He can't use to accomplish it through. He reminds me of His power and His might and His ability- no, His willingness, His desire- to do just that.

And hope is right there.

That's where I'm at today.

I don't know where you're at, or why I feel like God wanted me to share a little of this today... but I hope that somehow you'll be encouraged that whatever your situation is- it is not too difficult for God. He can do all things.

I am trusting in Him, waiting on Him, and remembering to *hope* and not to lose heart. He is mighty. I am expectant, and I am anticipating what He's going to do in this situation. Surely He has great things ahead.

Prayer list

A few years ago I came up with a list of things I wanted to regularly pray for for Mark. You can read more about that list in a post titled Praying for my husband. The list has changed a bit since then, but I still use it regularly for praying for Mark.

Then Elise posted this chart for praying for your children. I love this, and have used it often as a guide to pray for our children.

Then one day it dawned on me that I had no habit or discipline of praying faithfully for growth areas in my own life. It felt a little hit-and-miss to me. So I added my own list.

For ease of reference, I compiled them all into the list you'll see below. The numbers on the left-hand side correspond to the day of the month. [So, for example: on the 2nd of each month, I pray for Mark's work, the knowledge of God's grace in our children, and my relationship with Ella.] This prayer list is taped into the front of my journal, and each day I refer to it and it as a guide to direct my prayers for that day. I share it in case any of you want to make your own similar list.

Prayer List

A few other thoughts:
*I use this list for prayer in addition to praying for the needs of others (friends/family) in our lives. [I don't want to leave the impression that I *only* pray for myself and my immediate family!]
*There are days (heck, even whole seasons) where I do not consult this list, but the format of it makes it easy to get back into it after any absence.

Note: This is my very first attempt trying to post a document in pdf format on my blog. I hope it works. I realize it appears small on my blog, but if you click on the upper right hand corner, it will then take you to a screen with a zoom function (top right hand side of the page, first option on the left) to enlarge it. I hope it's not too complicated. I really have NO idea what I'm doing, so bear with me. :)

Prayer today

Praying, today...

that I will face

every whine
every act of disobedience
every disagreement
every bit of grumpiness
every interruption
every accident
every complaint

as a challenge:

What will I do with this moment, right now, to honor and glorify God?

There are a lot of those moments in my day, just waiting for me to respond to. May I respond rightly.

I will pray it for you, too.

Update #3

My mom is home from the hospital. She is so happy to be home.

The doctors never really figured out what was going on. They found inflammation in areas of her stomach lining, swelling and inflammation in her colon. It seems that she picked up some sort of bug/infection, but the when or the what or the how of it remains unanswered.

Nonetheless, her pain is much better.

She's still on a liquid diet, as food is what seems to bring on the pain/cramping. The doctor has told her to sort of ease back in to eating by way of trial and error.

So, we're praying that God would bring complete healing to her body; that He would remove all infection and pain and that she would be able to eat a hearty meal soon!

Thank you, each one of you, who took the time to pray for my mom.

Update #2 and Our day

The endoscopy took place last night, and the doctor discovered an area of inflammation in her stomach lining. His thought is that she picked up some parasite or something while she was in Haiti at the end of March. (My dad is a campus pastor with Chi Alpha. He and my mom (and my little brother) went with a team of students on a missions trip in Haiti this past month.) This is something we had wondered about- the parasite possibility- but the endoscopy seems to support that.

The doctor took a biopsy of that area and they are still waiting to get the results back. Now to find out exactly what it is, so that it can be effectively treated.

So. Good news in that the doctor is pretty sure that that is what we're dealing with. And just knowing- versus the not-knowing is a huge relief to mom (and the rest of us). Also, this seems to rule out any of the more serious things we were fearing.

Mom was in good spirits last night and she looked much better. Thank you for your prayers. I'll continue to update you.

I'm working on a post listing my five things- based on this post of Kendra's. I'll try to get that up in the next day or two.

Spring has finally arrived here in the northwest, and we are thankful. Our cherry trees are in full bloom, and when a breeze hits them, all those little pink petals flutter to the ground like it's snowing. I love that. The tulips along our walk are standing tall, the grass is freshly mowed, the sun shines. It is supposed to be a balmy 64 degrees here, today. The kids have been outside a lot, enjoying the warm weather.

My goals today are as follows:
-get the living room tidied (and enlist the kids to help)
-get a load of laundry washed and then hung out on the line to dry
-fold and put away the clean laundry that is piling up (and enlist the kids to help)
-make dinner
-when Mark is home for lunch, take all the kids up to visit mom at the hospital. Ella came with me on Sunday, but I've gone alone or with Audra for my other visits, and the other kids have not seen her yet. (Plus- the window of mom's room overlooks the hospital's helicopter, so I know the boys, especially, will be excited about that.)
-get myself some coffee

Those things, along with loving and caring for my children, nursing my beautiful Audra, and handling all discipline/instruction throughout the day, ought to keep this mama pretty busy for the rest of the day.

I'm sneaking in a picture of Audra, here- taken about a week ago. It's now 7:45, and I'm off to get a shower in before Adelia wakes up (she's a sleepyhead this morning!)


Wishing all of you a delightful day!

My mom: an update

I wanted to give you an update- not that there is much of one- and also, take the time to thank you for praying. I realize that I didn't even give you my mom's name in my last post. Not that God needs her name- obviously He knows that- but I like to pray for people by name, so in case you do, too: Shirley is her name. :)

Audra and I spent some time with mom this afternoon. First of all, a PRAISE:

-When I saw her, she hadn't had any pain medication since the middle of the night. (Thank you, God!) However, during my visit her head was aching so badly and the nausea was returning, so they did give her something for the pain. Still, though- that was several hours where the pain wasn't so bad she felt she needed something for it, so I think we can call that an answer to prayer.

She saw the specialist this morning and he, too, is puzzled. They simply don't know what it is. They keep telling her, "It's a mystery. We're just not sure." She was pretty discouraged this morning, as he told her they wanted to do a colonoscopy and an endoscopy- but that they couldn't do either until tomorrow. Discouraged because tomorrow = one more night in the hospital, and it is hard to not have any answers at this point.

After meeting again with the radiologist, the specialist has now decided to proceed with just the endoscopy- and will try to do so sometime this evening, so that they can take a closer look at her stomach.

So the main prayer request is just that the doctors would be able to determine what is causing this pain.

Thank you so much for your prayers and concern. I am so grateful to know so many are praying, and I will keep you posted if we find anything else out.

Please pray

I'm just slipping in here tonight to ask you if you would pray for my mom.

She has been having pretty severe stomach pain (along with loss of appetite) for the past week. She went in to see her doctor earlier in the week, thinking she might have diverticulitis, as she has had it before and the pain seemed similar. Her doctor ran some tests, didn't think that's what it was, but gave her antibiotics "just in case", I guess. The antibiotics seemed to make her even more sick as the week progressed (dizziness, nausea, headaches) so she stopped taking them.

During the night last night, her pain was so intense that first thing this morning, my dad took her in to the ER.

She's been in the hospital all day, and they've run several tests on her. They've done bloodwork, tested her urine, done ultrasounds and a CT scan, and everything appears normal. They've determined that it is not diverticulitis. Her gall bladder and her kidneys are fine. The doctors seem puzzled at this point at what could be causing her so much pain.

They've admitted her until they can figure out what is going on, and she has been on pain medication all day. She'll see a specialist tomorrow and they will continue to run more tests.

Will you please even say a quick prayer for her? Some things to pray for:

-That God would bring healing to her body.
-That He would ease the pain in her stomach.
-That mom would be able to rest. (She didn't sleep at all last night and was in the ER for most of the day, also not sleeping.)
-That God would give the doctors clarity and wisdom to be able to determine what is going on with her.
-For my dad, too- that he would get some rest.

Thank you.

Just one week

[Just slipping in for a quick hello...]

As we were driving to church this morning I was reflecting on all that has changed in our lives in just one week.

Last week on the way to church I was fully pregnant.
This week I am no longer pregnant.

Last week I was wearing maternity clothes.
This week I was wearing regular clothes.

Last week we had an empty seat in the van.
This week our infant seat was buckled in with a tiny cutie inside of it.

Last week we wondered if the baby was a boy or a girl.
This week we held our baby girl.


Last week we got four children ready for church.
This week we got five children ready for church.

Last week I wasn't breastfeeding.
This week I am. [And, um... Ouch. I'd forgotten how sore new breastfeeding-breasts are. And Audra is a vigorous little nurser with a strong suck. Yipes!]

Last week they announced the birth of a new baby during church.
This week they announced the birth of OUR baby during church.

Last week my water broke at church.
This week I held our Audra in church.

One week.

It's been wonderful. I am sore, exhausted, emotional, and quite honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of these two littlest ones needing mama so much of the time-- and yet, I am so incredibly grateful, joyful and content.


A good friend of ours has organized meals for us for these first two weeks, and several have also delivered freezer meals.

Mark has two full weeks off, and then works part-time for the next two (how wonderful is that? I know it. I am so blessed.)

My mom has been over every.single.morning to help with the laundry, the dishes, the cleaning, the kids... whatever needs to be done. And that has been a HUGE blessing. This is the first time I've had regular help after the birth of a baby- and it has been *wonderful*.

Ella, Isaac and Adelia have been sick all week long (the congested, coughing variety), so that has been a little extra taxing. We are hoping and praying that Audra won't get sick, and trying to keep the kids as separate as we can without making too much fuss over it. Mark has held off until today, and now he's feeling sick, too. We'd love your prayers for health in our home!

I can't wait to tell you the whole birth story. I'm working on it-- in little snatched moments, here and there. [Fewer and farther between, those moments.]

Thank you all for rejoicing with us in the birth of our Audra. She is precious, and we are so grateful for yet another gift from God. I wept this morning in church as we sang a song with words from Psalm 30:

You have turned my mourning into dancing,
You have turned my sorrow into joy.

The tears fell because I well remember being in that same building, years ago-- worshiping through tears, and praying for God to answer our heart's desire for children.

And this morning? Surrounded by them.
Our first: a delightful seven-year old Ella, tall with a blonde braid down her back.
Our second: a sweet five-year old Isaac, lean and smiling.
Our third: our adopted nearly-four-year old Isaias, standing straight and handsome.
Our fourth: our adopted one-year old Adelia, beautiful and snuggly in mama's arms.
And now, our fifth: lovely little one-week old Audra, cuddled in her proud papa's arms until mama was able to pry her away for the last five minutes of service.


Every single one of our children: given by God in His perfect timing.

My heart is so full, friends.

Church at home

We skipped church this morning due to the chickenpox. That's a huge bummer since we love our church, but Mark suggested to the kids that they lead us in our own church service.

Ella immediately volunteered to read from the Bible (which is handy since she's the only one who reads). She read Psalm 3. The boys were eager to do worship. They ran and gathered up their instruments~ Isaac, a bass guitar and an enormous microphone; Isaias, a little wooden guitar. And then they proceeded to lead us in a few worship songs. [Rather, they stood there and strummed, and Isaac dutifully held the microphone but did not actually sing aloud much, while Ella called out songs and we sang.]

They even took the offering, which Ella carefully gathered up beforehand in little money pouches and handed out to each of us so that we would have something to give.

My favorite part was at the end, when Ella asked if anyone had any prayer needs. A few of us did, and she asked each of us to come forward while the rest of us laid hands upon the person and prayed for them.

We especially prayed for this little girl, who (in my opinion), has a really bad case of chickenpox. She has them all over, and more and more are cropping up each day (hour?). She was up during the night last night and is much more fussy today. You can tell they are really bothering her and she keeps trying to itch them but isn't getting far. Poor little sweetie.


Other perks about having church at home, in addition to our cute pastoral staff?
*We were all dressed in comfy jammies or "everyday clothes".
*The seating was much more cozy.
*We each had a mug of hot cocoa with real whipping cream.

Happy Sabbath!