Happy Easter!

I'm sitting here waiting for my kids and their youngest older cousin (does that make sense?!) to finish eating dinner. We have 14 people here for Easter dinner. The younger ones are eating first so we have enough dishes & chairs for everyone else!

My sister & her family are in town from up north & my parents came last night & head back to the Island tonight. We also have my sister's in-laws here for dinner.

I love having lots of family here, even if we're squished. Somehow it wouldn't be the same without the craziness of everyone sharing one bathroom, people sleeping in every sleeping place possible (although we didn't have anyone sleep under the dining room table this time!).

This visit is short but sweet as early tomorrow morning our house will be quiet again.

I hope that you are enjoying time with family this special Easter weekend & that you take time to ponder on the depth of what Christ did for us 2,000 years ago.

And if you think of it, could you please pray for a friend of mine. She had surgery today - hysterectomy & mastectomy. She is deserately wanting prayer for the healing, both physically & emotionally. She is my age (mid-30's), married & has 6 kids (the youngest was born just before her first chemo treatment in the fall). Thanks!

Happy Easter!

A Long Day

This has been a long day.

It started last night about 8:30pm. Daniel had a seizure. He didn't take his medication on Tuesday night (which I didn't realize till the next day). In the past when we've forgotten his meds, the next night he wakes up with tingley lips. It lasts a couple minutes and a cool damp cloth seems to sooth his lips.

Well last night, he woke up, managed to walk out to the living room while having his seizure. We immediately laid him on the couch on his side. We didn't want any choking to occur. His seizure only lasted about 2 minutes, but this is the worst it's been since his very first one 4 years ago. After his seizure finished he fell fast asleep & was fine for the rest of the night.

Mentally, we knew he was fine, but it really took an emotional toll on us. This morning I let his teacher know - just in case, but all was fine.

Then...the next part of our day happened! I was visiting with one of the moms after the kids went into class & our kids were playing. Of course, I was babysitting today & had the 4yr old boy with me. Well the kids found a frozen puddle & were having fun with the ice.

Becca had pulled her arms out of her coat sleeves & tucked them inside her zipped up coat (kind of like a mummy). That spells disaster but my brain was still foggy from Daniel's seizure last night, so I didn't think to say anything. Soon enough, she slipped and fell face forward onto the ice...with no hands to break her fall (they were safely tucked inside her coat!).

Her tooth cut right through her top lip. I quickly took her inside to the school office & the principal came & helped. I couldn't think of what to do. It's unusual for me, normally I jump into action. But I think my head was still too full with last night's events. After cleaning Becca up & seeing that the bleeding was stopping, I took her to a walk-in clinic. The doctor there sent us to the Emergency at the hospital because he didn't have the necessary thread for stitching - if it was going to be neccesary.

To make a longer story shorter, the doctor at the hospital decided that Becca did not need stitches. The cut was closed up enough that the doctor said he couldn't do anything better to help it. Becca (& I) were very happy to hear that!

Jeremy was able to get off work early & met me at the hospital. He took my babysitting boy home so I could focus better on Becca.

The kids are in bed right now, both sleeping. Jeremy & I are waiting to see if Daniel will have another seizure or be fine. If he's going to have one, it's about 10-15 minutes after he goes to sleep. At this point, it looks like he's going to be fine. So, we're praying that our long "day" will soon be done!

One last thing, while Jeremy was praying today, the song "God is good, all the time..." kept running through his head. He felt that God was asking him if he really believed that. Yes, we KNOW that God IS good...ALL the time!

Prayer Update

Several weeks ago, I mentioned about a friend of mine that has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She regularly updates on how she's doing. I have her permission to share the link with you. As she said, "The more people praying, the better". The problem is that I think I need to add your e-mail individually.

So, if you would like to receive her regular updates on how she is doing with her chemo treatments & how she is choosing to praise God through this challenge, leave a comment telling me so & I'll add your e-mail address to her CarePages updates (be sure to leave your e-mail address if I don't already have it).

If you don't want to receive her updates but still want to pray for her, her name is Danika. Her husband, Scott is a State trooper in Washington & they just had their 6th child just before she started her chemo. She is the same age as me - 36. It sure puts things into perspective!

Please keep them in your prayers.

~ Thank you

Prayer Requests Update

Thank you for praying.

Please continue to pray for our friend's husband who had heart surgery. The surgery went very well. Please pray for his body to heal quickly.

Please hold my friend in your prayers. She received the results of her biopsy today - she has breast cancer. She is pregnant with her 6th child (due this month, I believe). She is in shock and is asking for prayer. She and her husband are Christians.

Thank you for praying!

Prayer Requests

I have a couple of different friends who could really use prayer right now. I will omit their names, but please pray for them as God leads you.

#1 One friend is pregnant with her sixth child & just had a biopsy taken today (possible cancer).

#2 A blog friend is sitting by her husband's side awaiting his heart surgery in the morning.


Both of these friends love the Lord and are striving to remain firm. Thank you for your prayers.

Faith Lifts is Back!

The daily devotionals, Faith Lifts from 5 Minutes for Mom, is back up and running! It has been on hiatus for the past couple months as it was waiting for some new people to fill in the gaps. I read today's devotional, the first official one since starting up again, and I have already been challenged.

Today's devotional, "Waiting on the Lord", is about beginning our day with God (click here to read this post). While reading it, I was encouraged to try BEGINNING my day with God. That doesn't mean waiting until 11am when kids are napping and the chaos of children playing has subsided, although that is a great time for me to do my devotions.

What I mean is to BEGIN my day with God before my feet even hit the floor! I know this will be challenging for me.

First, I don't like mornings, I never have! Before having kids, people would ask me when I was going to have a baby. I would quickly answer, "When I'm ready to give up sleeping in!" I have given up sleeping in (although I still try to on Sundays - I love Saturday night church!), but the thought of getting up any earlier than I need to is NOT appealing to me, to say the least.

Secondly, I don't often wake up until I hear a knock at my door announcing my day care kids arrival. Either that or I'm jumping out of bed to get Daniel ready for school.

So my plan for tomorrow (I'm taking this one day at a time) is to say a quick prayer for God to guide my day and to give me the strength and wisdom I need for the day, all before my feet hit the floor and I stumble down the hall to answer the door.

I believe that focusing on God FIRST will help me to be more aware of Him in my day, which in turn will help me be a better parent. I don't claim that I will have a perfect day - God doesn't promise that, but He DOES promise that He will meet all my needs ("And my God will meet all your needs..." Philippians 4:19) because His grace is sufficient for me ("My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:9).

For me, this is something that will be quite difficult to accomplish, but with His strength I will try! I'll let you know how it goes!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for TRUTH.

The past several months have been full of soul searching, praying, reading my bible at great lengths, seeking discernment with friends and family. In all of this, I have been praying for truth; truth to be revealed, truth to be seen, truth to be accepted. Yesterday I prayed specifically asking God to reveal truth to me in any areas that I needed, that the areas would be made clear and that He would show me the steps I need to take to move forward.

I know that in asking this I am asking for more hard times (because change doesn't come easily), but I really sensed that this was my time to ask. Last night was our cell group (care group/small group) night. We are down to just us and one other couple at the moment. We were both lacking babysitters so we decided to switch spouses for the evening. I went to their place to meet with the wife and the husband came to our place to meet with Jeremy. "The wife" and myself had a wonderful time sharing and praying. Through our conversation, a couple things were revealed to me that God wants me to work on. It was so exciting because I had just prayed for this earlier in the morning!

So today I am thankful for God's TRUTH!

What are you thankful for today? Visit Iris and celebrate giving thanks!

Prayer Request

Contemporary Christian musician, Steven Curtis Chapman's 5yr old daughter was struck & killed by an SUV. For more details, you can look at Travis Cottrell's blog (here).

Thankful Thursday

Today is "Thankful Thursday". I have never participated in it before, but today I have something I feel compelled to share. I first saw it at Heather's blog, "Mumblings of a Mommy 'Monk'", but I believe it originated at Iris' blog "Sting My Heart". If you want to participate in "Thankful Thursday", go to Iris' blog and leave your link on Mr. Linky. So here goes...!


I was reading a post by Heather at "Mumblings of a Mommy 'Monk'". I must say that this post was very good and I encourage you to read it! Click here to read this post. It's about the tone that mothers set for the home, based on the saying, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" Definately worth reading the post.

But back to my point. A few posts ago I wrote about "Joy???" and feeling like I didn't have it at the time. Since then, I have struggled to feel like I have joy.

I left a comment on Heather's blog because I was really able to relate to what she shared about moms setting the family tone. While I was leaving a comment, I quickly read through the other comments. A lady named Christin, of "As Gold Refined", left a comment that really spoke to me. Christin made a comment about the difference between joy and happiness. Here is part of what she said:

"Joy isn't the same thing as happiness. Happiness comes as a result of circumstances - joy remains no matter what your circumstances - you can be unhappy and still have joy. Joy is a promise from the Lord and it is obtainable - we just need to seek Him first. :) As we continue to do that, He will continue to mold us. We just need to remember to keep moving forward with our eyes on Him. :) Yes, we are certainly works in progress! And God promised to complete the work in us if we don't grow weary in doing good."

Although it was encouraging to read that explanation between the two, I still struggled to feel the joy. As much as I loved what Christin wrote, I felt that I still wasn't "getting it" with the whole "Joy" thing.

Well, last night, our church small group met. Instead of doing our regular routine, we spent the evening praying and having communion. We prayed for people in our church, whoever God put on our heart. We were able to get through quite a few people. Have you ever spent time praying in a group, and when you were finished praying no one spoke right away? That's how it was last night.

It was so good to spend that time, bringing people before our almighty, caring God. I am so thankful for that time last night. After our prayer time was over I felt the joy return to my heart. "Joy is a promise from the Lord and it is obtainable - we just need to seek Him first." In order to seek God first, we need to take our eyes off ourself! Coming before God in prayer is an excellent way of doing this.

I am thankful for fellow Christians who share a passion for praying. I am thankful I shifted my focus off my own woes to consider other people and how they are hurting. I am thankful that I can have joy even when I don't feel happy. I am thankful for a God who never changes, who is always waiting for us to come before Him, who wants to bless us in ways we never imagined (big or small).

Mumps!

Daniel has the mumps!

I took him to the doctor this afternoon and he is certain that Daniel has the Mumps! I have to take him for blood work in the morning to confirm the diagnosis. The doctor also prescribed Daniel some antibiotics in case it is just an infected gland. He has a gland on the right side of his neck that his very enlarged. I'm guessing it's about 2" in diameter. It's very painful and his neck is very stiff.

So for the next couple days we are pretty much quarantined to our house. I had to phone my daycare families to let them know that I am not able to care for their children. The doctor figures that Daniel should be good to go back to school on Thursday. I'm sure by then I'll be ready for him to go!

Tonight Daniel prayed before bedtime (usually Jeremy or I pray but tonight Daniel wanted to). It was so sweet. "Dear Jesus, Could you please heal my neck? Could you make it better "some other time" (translation: tonight / tomorrow)? Thank you, Amen.

Oh the faith of a child!

My heart is heavy today

I'm seeking God for encouragement

Medley

(Give/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus/With Or Without You/Your Love Oh Lord)

by Third Day

You said all that follow You may find

Comfort and pain, blessings in hard times

Were I to leave, where else would I go?

The words of life and of truth you hold

All I want is love

I confess to this

I will take it, Lord

All You have to give

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of Earth

Will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace

And you give yourself away

And you give yourself away

And you give

And you give

And you give yourself away

All I want is love

And I confess to this

I will take it, Lord

All You have to give

All You have to give

All You have

All You have to give

Your love, oh Lord

Reaches to the heavens

Your faithfulness stretches to the sky

And Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains

Your justice flows like the ocean's tides

And I will lift my voice

To worship You, my King

I will find my strength

In the shadow of Your wings

Your love, oh Lord

Reaches to the heavens

Your faithfulness stretches to the sky

"Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

Philippians 4:6,7

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength."

Isaiah 30:15

Thank you for your encouragement today, Jesus!

Rest

I'm tired, spent, emotional, exhausted, "I don't care-ish", "I care too much to just forget it-ish"..., my list goes on. There is a lot happening personally and in our church right now. When I look at the big picture, I get excited and can see so many ways that God is working. But then I take my eyes off God and get caught up in the nitty-gritty details of everything. It's so exhausting!

I am really wanting to have some uninterrupted time with God, but the two extra kids I have today has not allowed me that time. Now that one has gone home and the other is napping, the logical thing would be to occupy my two kids and go spend some time with God. The problem is that I am so exhausted I would just fall asleep. So, I am going to hire Veggie Tales to occupy my children so I can rest on the couch. My sweetie already said that he'll make sure I get some "God" time tonight. He is so good with that.

While at the kitchen sink today I read one of my previous memory verses taped to the side of the cupboard, "In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength" Isaiah 30:15. The second part of that verse helped to calm my soul for a bit until I started worrying again.

This verse just came to mind:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

Phillipians 4:6-8

Yes, Lord, I am choosing to trust you and accept your strength. Help me to think on things that are pure rather than listening to the conflict going on in my mind. Help me to feel Your peace which goes beyond all understanding. Rest..., Peace..., aaaahhhhh, sounds good to me!

Praying for our Children

I was just reading Heather's blog over at "Mumblings of a Mommy 'Monk'". She has an excellent post today (many of her's are!) called "The Prayer of a Righteous Woman". I encourage you to read it. For me, it was an encouragement / reminder to be continuously praying for our children.

There is an excellent book by Stormie Omartian called "The Power of a Praying Parent". I highly recommend it! Heather's blog today was a good reminder for me to blow the dust off my "Praying Parent" book and work through it again.

Check out and leave a comment on Heather's blog and then let me know what you thought!