I haven't blogged in SO long!!!! I miss it. I'm going to attempt to be more diligent in my blogging:)
Everything here is going really great and the Lord has been doing something in John Mark and me lately and it has made life here so much more enjoyable. JM and I have always seen our time here as a temporary 'visit' until we are called to the next thing but recently we have been asking God to change our hearts so that we can learn how to just BE and enjoy what He is doing in the here and now. So its happening and its a huge and very immediate answer to prayer. I love that the Lord began changing our hearts together, at the same time. There are many times that JM will share with me things that the Lord spoke to him in his time alone and it will be similar to an impression that was on my heart while I was folding laundry or laying on the floor playing dolls. We serve a faithful God who speaks. I am amazed that this life is not my own and I'm not in it alone; not only do I have the presence of the Lord ministering to my spirit but I have been partnered with a great man who hears from the Lord and encourages our family in the things of God. Its easy to be thankful for where we are in this life when we can see the hand of God moving, I just pray that I can learn to be a person of thanks even when I feel alone and can't see my God any where. I have a lot of growing to do and SO much to learn. Yesterday I was emailed a great song from my pal Caroline and it spoke so much to me of who I/we are to the Lord and even now my heart is stirred to 'dive-in'. i don't want to hold back, not in any area: not in my heart, mind, giftings, nothing. I just want to give of all that I am to know this One that loves me so much He has to catch His breath when I simply come before Him. I want to sing. I want to stand before God and His people and declare who He is. I think thats why i have always loved being on worship teams and singing, because it is my own way of saying 'this is who I love, this is what life is all about!' He is passionate and jealous for us and my mind can't wrap around this truth so I have to give it over to my heart. I just know that I am one in need. Thankfully I know the One who can meet all needs.
I want to sing and play my own songs... just thought i'd put that out there. I've never said it before.
Bye for now:)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Levi is here.
Um, so my sister called us yesterday at about 9 am, and told us that she had her baby boy earlier that morning. We didn't believe her. She isn't due for 2 weeks, and we were expecting more drama, as she was doing a homebirth again. Everything happened smoothly, and she only pushed for 5 minutes,(as opposed to 7hrs last time). Congrats Jen and Brian. Welcome to the world Levi. We can't wait to see you. Dang, I want to be in Georgia!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Great day overall...
As my good friend Greg already did so well, I would like to wish you all a proper Martin Luther King Jr day.
Today was good for our family. We got out of the home, since the temperature finally rose above 0 degrees, and made a day of it. We visited the most rockin place in Bloomington MN, besides here of course. We had lunch at the closest thing to southern BBQ that we could find up in the frozen northland. We found this store with this horse that IGN thought was real. I don't know that she has seen a real one up close, so to her this was it. She went running to it yelling "Neigh, Neigh, Neigh", and after taking this pic, she didn't want to get down.
We also went to the apple store to have our IPOD looked at, since we made the mistake of leaving it in our car a few nights, all night, and the "negative temperatures and those lithium ion batteries of the IPODs just don't mix well together." At least thats what the gentleman at the "Genius Bar" inside the Apple store told me. Hmm, wouldn't have guessed that. Thank you Mr. Genius... Anyway he sort of jump started the IPOD, and it works great now.
That is a huge relief, as I was carrying the guilt of the damage, since I was the last one to leave it in the car overnight. So tonight, after Bekahs scrumptious dinner, I was able to play some worship music that I haven't been able to hear since like late November, when the damage was done. Good stuff. I literally felt like I had won the Ipod from Michael, in the Yankee Swap episode of The Office. (Even though technically it is Bekah's Ipod that she got for Christmas...today I felt that I had been given one all over again.)
I was also able to get some stuff fixed in our family ride, which is always a fulfilling thing for a husband/father/guy. Like for example the battery that has been frozen since we got back from Georgia, and from the temp staying where it has, I have had to jump the car pretty much every time we needed to use it. That will get old quickly. Anyway, we got a new battery, so the days of jumping off my car in MN are done...hopefully.
Bekah and I are shopping for a ride like this, as we need something a bit more reliable for the baby coming soon. Which by the way he has a name now. He is Jacob Elijah. We are excited about him though, and are preparing in every way we know how for his arrival. Even ordered some Ale-8 ones to be shipped up for the celebration. (We have pics of us drinking ales in every major event. Engagement, Wedding, IGNs birth, and now Jacobs Birth. Which by the way if you haven't had a chance to stop by here. I couldn't resist posting these pics from their models on their site. Wow.
I have to go prepare for a devotion for the BHOP team tomorrow morning, so I will leave it at that. Thanks for stoppin by, and again happy MLK day.
Today was good for our family. We got out of the home, since the temperature finally rose above 0 degrees, and made a day of it. We visited the most rockin place in Bloomington MN, besides here of course. We had lunch at the closest thing to southern BBQ that we could find up in the frozen northland. We found this store with this horse that IGN thought was real. I don't know that she has seen a real one up close, so to her this was it. She went running to it yelling "Neigh, Neigh, Neigh", and after taking this pic, she didn't want to get down.
We also went to the apple store to have our IPOD looked at, since we made the mistake of leaving it in our car a few nights, all night, and the "negative temperatures and those lithium ion batteries of the IPODs just don't mix well together." At least thats what the gentleman at the "Genius Bar" inside the Apple store told me. Hmm, wouldn't have guessed that. Thank you Mr. Genius... Anyway he sort of jump started the IPOD, and it works great now.
That is a huge relief, as I was carrying the guilt of the damage, since I was the last one to leave it in the car overnight. So tonight, after Bekahs scrumptious dinner, I was able to play some worship music that I haven't been able to hear since like late November, when the damage was done. Good stuff. I literally felt like I had won the Ipod from Michael, in the Yankee Swap episode of The Office. (Even though technically it is Bekah's Ipod that she got for Christmas...today I felt that I had been given one all over again.)I was also able to get some stuff fixed in our family ride, which is always a fulfilling thing for a husband/father/guy. Like for example the battery that has been frozen since we got back from Georgia, and from the temp staying where it has, I have had to jump the car pretty much every time we needed to use it. That will get old quickly. Anyway, we got a new battery, so the days of jumping off my car in MN are done...hopefully.
Bekah and I are shopping for a ride like this, as we need something a bit more reliable for the baby coming soon. Which by the way he has a name now. He is Jacob Elijah. We are excited about him though, and are preparing in every way we know how for his arrival. Even ordered some Ale-8 ones to be shipped up for the celebration. (We have pics of us drinking ales in every major event. Engagement, Wedding, IGNs birth, and now Jacobs Birth. Which by the way if you haven't had a chance to stop by here. I couldn't resist posting these pics from their models on their site. Wow.
I have to go prepare for a devotion for the BHOP team tomorrow morning, so I will leave it at that. Thanks for stoppin by, and again happy MLK day.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sweet Girl
Tonight we are home and IGN went to bed at a normal time! When I was Ig's age I commenced a pretty serious battle with asthma and pneumonia that lasted quite a few years. So when our girl was waking up at night and fighting to breathe I was terrified that I had passed on something unfortunate to someone so sweet. Monday night we spent the night on the phone with an emergency line nurse who did very little to give me comfort or help in general. I'm not saying that they don't serve their purpose, but this guy was a little difficult to deal with when you have a sick baby. That night IGN slept with me and JM slept on the couch so that I could listen hear her if things got too bad. Around 3am she threw up a bunch of loveliness which thankfully cleared up her air-way and she slept nice and quiet until the morning. She was pretty pitiful all day Tuesday just flopping around the house but seemed to have improved since the night before so we thought she was over the worst of if...
... and thats what we get for thinking! That night was horrible and I wasn't ready to deal with with the tele-male-nurse so we bundled her up and headed to the ER. They treated her with steroids (you should see the definition in her arms!) and breathing treatments which helped for an hour or so, so we headed home around 2am (ugh). By the time we were home her breathing got a little worse but she was sleeping pretty good, so again we were glad she was on the up-and-up.
The next morning I got her out of bed and immediately called our doctor because she was not sounding good. They couldn't take her until after 11:30am but by 10am she was struggling so bad we took her anyway and I was prepared to physically fight people to get her in to see the doc. When we got there they immediately made time for her and the doctor we saw was SO nice and reassuring. He admitted her to the hospital straight away and so, that is where we spent our next couple of days. The hospital staff was amazing and IGN won hearts in every department. When she would have spells of not being able to breathe, she would get up-set and cry which would make it worse, so we would walk her around our floor to calm her down, so she made lots of friends. IGN was such a big hit at the hospital that nurses from departments other than pediatrics were coming to see her to say 'bye' once we got released. It was adorable. It turns out she had croup but her lungs just couldn't handle it. So now we have to be SUPER cautious with her being around kids with colds, runny noses, coughs, etc because of how susceptible she is to developing croup. That stinks because we live on a CAMPUS with CHILDREN and we eat with OTHER PEOPLE EVERY MEAL! This will be interesting. I mean if there is kid with a runny nose in the nursery, I have to get the nursery worker to 'flash' my number so that I can get her out. Again, interesting.
Any way, so now we are home and happy and we are SO thankful for your prayers during this crazy time.
Daddy and his sick sleepy girl (check out her cute hospital outfit!):
... and thats what we get for thinking! That night was horrible and I wasn't ready to deal with with the tele-male-nurse so we bundled her up and headed to the ER. They treated her with steroids (you should see the definition in her arms!) and breathing treatments which helped for an hour or so, so we headed home around 2am (ugh). By the time we were home her breathing got a little worse but she was sleeping pretty good, so again we were glad she was on the up-and-up.
The next morning I got her out of bed and immediately called our doctor because she was not sounding good. They couldn't take her until after 11:30am but by 10am she was struggling so bad we took her anyway and I was prepared to physically fight people to get her in to see the doc. When we got there they immediately made time for her and the doctor we saw was SO nice and reassuring. He admitted her to the hospital straight away and so, that is where we spent our next couple of days. The hospital staff was amazing and IGN won hearts in every department. When she would have spells of not being able to breathe, she would get up-set and cry which would make it worse, so we would walk her around our floor to calm her down, so she made lots of friends. IGN was such a big hit at the hospital that nurses from departments other than pediatrics were coming to see her to say 'bye' once we got released. It was adorable. It turns out she had croup but her lungs just couldn't handle it. So now we have to be SUPER cautious with her being around kids with colds, runny noses, coughs, etc because of how susceptible she is to developing croup. That stinks because we live on a CAMPUS with CHILDREN and we eat with OTHER PEOPLE EVERY MEAL! This will be interesting. I mean if there is kid with a runny nose in the nursery, I have to get the nursery worker to 'flash' my number so that I can get her out. Again, interesting.
Any way, so now we are home and happy and we are SO thankful for your prayers during this crazy time.
Daddy and his sick sleepy girl (check out her cute hospital outfit!):
Friday, January 11, 2008
Dang its been 10 years!!!
I never would have thought that Bekah and I would have been in Minneapolis this year, but as life would play out, we are here, with our second child about to make his debut. I got a message from a longtime friend on facebook today from my DTS that I took after high school. She mentioned all the changes since our DTS, 10 years ago. TEN YEARS!! I was thinking back on my journey of the last 10 years, and realized that I have covered a lot of ground. A lot of water under the bridge. A lot of dumb decisions. Plenty of good ones, many surprises, many joys, many times of doubting the Lord, and looking back and seeing how he really did come through in the right timing. Its amazing really. This God that we serve. He gives us everything we need. What amazes me is that he really does know what we need better than we do. He even knows our own hearts better than we do. It makes me wonder what suprises we will have in 08. We are going to have our second child. We are both going to turn the big 3-0. We are going to make a decision about our next move as a family....who knows what else. It is a big year for us though.
This time in Minnesota has been a searching time for both Bekah and I. Deciding if we are going to take two babies under 2 to the mission field. Deciding where we are to be, after this adventure. So far we have gotten no answer. I am tired of wandering. I know the Lord has shown up in our lives in different areas no matter where we are, but I just want consistency. As the head of the house there are many things about this that are frustrating.
#1 I want to provide for the family. When money is tight as it has been up here, I want to just quit what I am doing and go work overtime somewhere until my family can be living comfortably. The Lord has different plans. He wants us to wait. To trust. To believe. So far he has proved himself to be true. We have never been without since we took this step. (or anytime really) I doubt it will happen now.
#2 It seems like everyone around me is getting the blessing. Do yall ever feel that? Like you look at someone else's life and say, Man I wish the Lord would do that for us! Thats not a heart that the Lord wants us to have. Again he is calling us to Trust him.
#3. I don't know what my "calling" is in life. I am not sure how to find it either. It seems like most people that I know have known since the beginning of time. I have just always done the next thing that presents itself in front of me. But what if we could really do something that rejuvinates us, and is what we were created to do? That is exciting. I want to know what mine is. So the next step from here, as of now is not clear. I just want the Lord to say I want you to be a --------, or do ------. Whatever it is. We need direction. We want to be obedient. We want to be a people that trust. Our God is trustworthy. He has yet to fail us.
I just wanted to write what is on my heart. I know many of you weren't expecting a JM heart overflow, but take it or leave it thats what you get.
This time in Minnesota has been a searching time for both Bekah and I. Deciding if we are going to take two babies under 2 to the mission field. Deciding where we are to be, after this adventure. So far we have gotten no answer. I am tired of wandering. I know the Lord has shown up in our lives in different areas no matter where we are, but I just want consistency. As the head of the house there are many things about this that are frustrating.
#1 I want to provide for the family. When money is tight as it has been up here, I want to just quit what I am doing and go work overtime somewhere until my family can be living comfortably. The Lord has different plans. He wants us to wait. To trust. To believe. So far he has proved himself to be true. We have never been without since we took this step. (or anytime really) I doubt it will happen now.
#2 It seems like everyone around me is getting the blessing. Do yall ever feel that? Like you look at someone else's life and say, Man I wish the Lord would do that for us! Thats not a heart that the Lord wants us to have. Again he is calling us to Trust him.
#3. I don't know what my "calling" is in life. I am not sure how to find it either. It seems like most people that I know have known since the beginning of time. I have just always done the next thing that presents itself in front of me. But what if we could really do something that rejuvinates us, and is what we were created to do? That is exciting. I want to know what mine is. So the next step from here, as of now is not clear. I just want the Lord to say I want you to be a --------, or do ------. Whatever it is. We need direction. We want to be obedient. We want to be a people that trust. Our God is trustworthy. He has yet to fail us.
I just wanted to write what is on my heart. I know many of you weren't expecting a JM heart overflow, but take it or leave it thats what you get.
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