Not Again!

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Today has been a pretty good day. I went to bed a bit late last night but I got up with enough time to get Joshua up and ready to go with Papa on their hike. He was real excited. I know they are having a lot of fun right now. I couldn’t help but what they are doing through out the day. Right now I am wondering if they are looking for a good spot to put up the tent. They may have 15 minutes to a half hour left of daylight. Of course I’m sure they would be able to put the tent up by flashlights if they had to.

The girls and I have been having quite a bit of fun today. I don’t usually let the children watch very many movies. We may put on a movie and watch it about once in a week if that much. There is just so many other better things to do than watch movies. So watching a movie for our kids is a special treat. Ruth was wanting to watch “Princess Diaries 2” and Hannah wanted to watch “Monster’s Inc.” So this morning we watched “Monster’s Inc.” and then this afternoon we watched “Princess Diaries 2”. I like the second “Princess Diaries” better than the 1st one. Ruth likes the Mattress Slide and the Parade where all the girls get to be Princesses.

I called Scott at my usual time. I usually call him everyday right around the time he might be getting off. Today, I called him around the same time and I asked him how he was doing and he said “Well, I’m alright.” Which by the tone of his voice I knew something was up. Can you guess?

If you said, “Car problems again.” Then you were right. He was at one job site and noticed red liquid on the ground under our van. He didn’t give it too much thought until he saw it at another location he drove to. So he got under the van and looked and sure enough it was leaking transmission fluid. He talked to someone at an automotive store and they said that it could just be leaky valves. The bad news is that it is probably going to be $450 or so to get the transmission pulled out so that they can get to the hoses that need to be sealed. Ugh!

It is actually a little funny in a sad sort of way. We just spent $180 to get our blinker working so that we could get our van inspected just last week. Now it is leaking transmission fluid and we won’t be able to drive it without fixing that problem. We are actually talking about selling all but our car and getting ourselves one of those Bikes that hold 6 passengers. They look kind of like a wagon or a little car. It’s pretty neat since 4 people can pedal and there is a little seat in the front that can actually hold two small kids. It would be perfect for our needs and we could stay in shape going into town. We would actually save quite a bit of money by not spending so much on gas. We are really leaning that direction. We discussed long trips where we might need a van and we decided with the money we would actually save the rest of the year we could rent a van to go visit family. I don’t at this point simplicity sounds good to me. We would keep our 6 passenger car. It won’t hold us too good, whenever we have one more child but another child probably won’t come for at least another 15 months or so.

I don’t know exactly what we will do. Scott is thinking we could either sell the van or give it on to a Mission work in Mexico. It always sounded nice that we have a 15 passenger van but now it’s just becoming less and less practical the more we have to fix it. Too much money keeps going into the tank and into repairs. I don’t know what else we can do with it at this point.

We may be moving sooner than we were originally thinking. There was a job opening that might be a good opportunity for Scott. It doesn’t pay much but he would get to meet a lot of people. He’ll be checking into that on Monday.

So that should catch everyone up on most of our activities here. The girls,and I will be scrapbooking with Nana tomorrow. They are excited. They have all the snacks figured out that they want to take with us. I’m sure they will have tons of fun. I just need to go through some of their pictures. Jonathan will be getting a lot of attention as well.

Jonathan has just woke up and I need to get the pizza out of the oven. I’ll try to write more later on and let everyone know what we decide on our vehicular troubles. ‘Til next time!

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Cameras, Hiking, Crawling, and Sitting

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I bought Joshua, Ruth, and Hannah their first digital cameras. Of course it was the cheapy $12 camera from Wal-mart but I wasn’t about to spend more than that until I see that they can take care of these ones. You can’t view the picture from the back of the camera like most of the high dollar kind, so we got some crazy pictures at first. As you can see.
This is a picture of Ruth’s nose! They hadn’t quite figured out that they can’t hold the camera too close to what they are taking a picture of.

This is a picture of Joshua’s eye.

And Hannah’s Mouth!
They were finally getting the hang of it after a while though and actually took some pretty neat pictures.

Ruth was pretty proud of this picture of the 3 of them, which she took with the 10 second timer. She actually did a good job with this one! Sadly it was on the lower resolution but it still is a nice picture!

Thankfully the newness is starting to wear off and they aren’t bringing me their cameras every few minutes wanting me to put their pictures on the computer.

We walked 3.6 miles today. It took us about 2 hours to walk it but we had fun and stopped about 3 times for a break. Of course, we also paused a couple of times to look at two dead snakes along the way and a dead bird. We didn’t look too close but the kids were fascinated.

Jonathan is starting to hold himself up on his hands and knees! He started that Sunday. We had him on the floor in the living room and he pushed up onto his hands and knees. He did this several times through out the day. At one point I tried to get him to come to me while he was in this position but he kind of look at the floor like he was trying to figure out how to coordinate all of these parts to move. He wound up tumbling forward, but it’s a start. I need to get a picture of him. If I can get to a camera in time! I may have to put the kids up to the challenge of getting his picture.
Today, I was changing his diaper. He likes to try to flip over while I’m changing him. I no longer change him on a changing table. It has become easier to change his diaper on my bed. While I was changing his diaper he sat upright! I was trying to hold his diaper on him when all of a sudden he curled his head upward (like he was doing a crunch) then he rocked his shoulder to the side a bit and with a little bit of help from his right arm he sat up! Now how was I suppose to velcro his diaper like that? So I laid him back down and he was so impressed by this new game that he did it again. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get him to do that for a camera but we’ll have to try. He is getting so big so fast. Sunday, we stopped by a store and I tried letting him sit in the front of the cart instead of in his carseat in the basket part of the cart. He sat there just fine! These kids grow up so fast!

I love my children! I’m so glad that God gave me each of them. They each add so much to our family.

Psalm 127:3 “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”
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Waiting

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This is a picture of my husband and our son Jonathan waiting at my sister’s wedding rehearsal. My husband is making use of his time by reading different mission reports on the bulletin board.

Today was filled with waiting as well. This morning I had to wait on the kids to get their shoes on and change their clothes for Jonathan’s doctor’s appointment. Then we got out to the van and drove to get the van inspected. So again, more waiting while the man drove the van in a circle. He told me I needed to get my right blinker fixed and needed to replace my windshield wipers before it would pass inspection.

I then drove to Wal-mart to buy wipers. You would think that would be simple and quick. Nope! The little computer thing that tells you what size wipers your vehicle needs was broken. So I had to wait while the lady behind the counter looked it up. She wasn’t completely sure which one it was and had to go into another room to ask one of the other workers there. Finally she came back and told me the size I needed to get. I then grabbed the wipers with the lifetime warranty wondering how long the life of my vehicle will be. I decided the little extra cost to buy the wipers with the lifetime warranty was worth it.

Then we were getting close to the time I wanted to be at Jonathan’s appointment so we left Wal-mart and went to the Doctor’s office. We were there a half hour early, so there was a little wait but it wasn’t too bad. Of course the appointment itself seems to take a while. We were called back to the room and waited for the nurse. Then we waited for the other nurse. Then we waited for the Doctor. Then we waited for the first nurse to come back and give Jonathan his shots.

Now all that waiting at the Doctor’s office I thought the kids, especially Hannah would drive me crazy. But the nurse came into the room and told me she wanted to compliment me on how nice my children are. She said she was amazed at how well behaved they are. It’s nice when someone tells me that because to me they seemed fidgity, but compared to most children that come there they are extremely well behaved. So I thanked her, and she asked me if we homeschool and I told her we did. She was impressed. I’m proud of my kids.

Then after the Doctor’s appointment I tried to get the car inspected at another place. More waiting… They gave it an inspection so that they could tell me exactly what it needs and give an estimate on how much it will cost to fix the part that we needed fixed. $320! So I told them I would check around and get back with them if we decided on that. So I then went to our normal Auto repair place. They have gotten used to seeing us there. They are very sweet and feel bad for all of our car troubles. We just drive worn out vehicles. They have always been good to us and tried to give us better prices than we are usually able to find anywhere else. Which is what they did this time. They were able to fix it for $180. Much better! Except they won’t be able to get to it until Monday. But that is o.k. We might try one more place that might inspect it with that minor problem, with the understanding of course that we are getting that part fixed.

Anyway, during these visits my son gets a call on my phone from his Grandfather, “Papa”. Of course the antenna would disappear in the middle of the conversation. “Mom! It hung up on us!” So my poor son had to learn a lesson in waiting. Later I was able to get him back on the phone with Papa. Then while I was driving we went into another area where the antenna doesn’t work. So another lesson in waiting for my son. Sometimes I think a lot of life is about waiting patiently. Now he is looking forward to his hike with Papa. Of course, I’m going to be hearing about it every day. “Is it time yet?” “How many more days?” He will definitely have the calendar down by the time the hike gets here.

There is definitely a lot of waiting in life. My son is young and will have a lot of waiting ahead of him. It is good for him to learn how to wait patiently at his young age. What better way to teach him how to wait patiently than showing him by example. So everytime I wait for something I need to remember my children are watching and make sure that I’m waiting patiently.

Romans 5:3-5 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

James 1:2-5 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

And now for everyone to wait patiently until I get another blog written. 🙂

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Good and Busy Days!

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We had a busy week last week. The first part of the week Joshua and Ruth worked on their projects for the Scholar’s Exhibit. Then of course Wednesday night we had church services. Then Thursday night was the Scholar’s Exhibit and Recognition night. Then Friday night we went to the rehearsal for my Sister’s wedding. Then we had the wedding on Saturday. After the wedding we left for the Church of which my husband is now the Pastor.

I am so glad that we will soon be settling down in our new community. Scott is a lot happier fulfilling the calling that God has given him. He does not mind hard work but he prefers the work that God has called him to do as a leader and a shepherd. That is what he went to Seminary for. He has been needing a church to help guide. We do not make very good pew warmers as we like to tell people. We need to be working in the calling that God has given us as a preacher’s family. I have a lot of ideas for our small church that we are now a part of. I hope to see the youth in our church doing more and taking an active part in our services. There are not very many members but there are enough and it is a great number to actually work with the children during services. I hope we are blessed with many years serving the Lord there.

Above is a picture of Joshua holding an Anole Lizard. This is one of the pictures we put on Joshua’s display.

I hope to get a few pictures of the wedding onto my computer so that I can show some pictures of the girls dressed up in their beautiful dresses and Joshua in his suit. They were really cute!

This week should be a little slower I am imagining. Scott will be moving some building material from a house that we had originally planned to rebuild. But when plans changed we had a few things still sitting over there. So we need to move it before that house gets bull dozed.

Wednesday, Jonathan has a Dr. appointment. I anticipate that it will go well. He has been growing well and seems to have no problems with the Baby food that we have been giving him about once a day. So his appointment should be fairly uneventful, except for maybe some shots.

Thursday, there will be another homeschool event. It is a field day. I don’t know what all the events will be but I do know that their will be hay hurdles. So I imagine that the kids will have a great time with that.

Other than that it should be a pretty easy week. I am planning to go to the store sometime this week and buy a few things for the parsonage where we will be living in a couple of months. We will be slowly moving things that direction. This week I want to move some dressers that we have not been using in our present location. I am also thinking of taking a few of our dishes over there. I am looking forward to getting over there full time.

Well, Jonathan is not happy so I must go for now. I need to start putting more Bible verses on here again. I will try to get some passages for next time.
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Recognition Night

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Our homeschool group had a Scholar’s Exhibit and Recognition Night last night. It was a lot of fun. It is really great to see that many homeschooling families and to see the imagination that each of the students put into their Exhibits.

Joshua did his exhibit on different creatures. He has a collection of different bones and skeletons. He has a perfect tree frog skeleton and a coyote’s skull. He also has a snake skin, a horn beetle, a turtle shell, and a sea snail shell. It was a really cool display. We even had a picture of him holding an anole lizard. He wrote a paper about the lizard and what it eats and about how it loses it’s tail.

Ruth did her display about musical bottles and how you can pour water into them and make different notes. I printed a piano keyboard off for her to write the notes on the keys and on a music cleff. It was really neat as well. Scott helped her with the water pouring and the tuning. She held the tuner as he blew into the bottles so she could see the note on the tuner. She even wrote a paper on how the bottles work and the process used to make the music with them.

We were real proud of both of them. I let them pick what they wanted to do for their displays and I was impressed with what they chose. I probably would not have thought of musical bottles. I kind of figured Joshua would want to do something with his critters as we call them. As they were preparing their exhibits, I wanted them to do the majority of the work. I was just their for consulting and if they found themselves in a bind. But they did real well on their own.

I really like the homeschool group and when we move, I am determined to find another group to join. I like the friendship and encouragement we get from other homeschool families. I also like the opportunities for the kids to do things with other children under the supervision of parents who care about each one of them. I am looking forward to another year of homeschooling. I know that some parents give their children a break for the summer and I usually give them short breaks here and their but I will be continuing to homeschool through the summer months. Of course with plenty of breaks.

Scott bought me a copy machine/ fax/ printer. It is really neat. I am able to make posters from small pictures and everything. In just the one week I have had it, I have been able to do so much more. I was able to print in just seconds a whole pile of worksheets. It was great! I have so many reproducible homeschool workbooks that I have been wanting to use and now it will be easier to use them. Normally it took a whole day to print what I am now able to print in seconds. Yea!

Well, I better get busy. I have quite a bit to get done today before the wedding rehearsal tonight. The kids are all excited that they will be in the wedding tomorrow. They have been asking me about every time we get ready to go in the car somewhere. We’ll take lots of pictures and I’ll try to put a picture on here of us all dressed up.

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Bad weekend, good week-beginning!

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Well, I would like to say that I had a good weekend, but I did have a great week beginning. Scott was sick last week and had to come home from work and stay home the next day. He was feeling better by Wednesday night. He went back to work Thursday. He fell better by then and I took the kids to a Planetarium and an art museum with a homeschool group. That night I drank some water from Scott’s bottle thinking he wasn’t contagious anymore. Well, I guess he was.

I got sick Friday. Ugh! I felt horrible and thought I wasn’t going to make it to y sister’s shower that my cousins and I had worked hard to plan. After a broken nights sleep, I felt somewhat better but very tired. So I went ahead and went to the shower. I just wasn’t going to get too close to anyone. Ok, that might have been a mistake. We did have fun though and I was feeling better. I did go home tired and with a horrible headache but I knew we would be driving for a while and would get some sleep. That seems to be the trick with that virus, sleep.

I felt so much better after I was able to eat the best tasting burger I had eaten in a while. The reason it tasted so good was that my appetite was back! Sunday I was back to normal without even a headache. My husband accepted the call to the church that we visited. And everyone was feeling great. But it looks like my dad may have caught it! Oops! Sorry, Dad! I hope no one is sick on Saturday or my sister may never forgive me!

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Busy Days!

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I just finished another busy day. Scott started the day sick. I was hoping he would get to feeling better but he wound up having to leave work early. I am hoping that he feels better tomorrow.

The kids were good today. I was trying to print them off some lessons I wanted to start them on from the internet. However, since my laptop is not working and Scott had set up this computer for me to use, I didn’t have Adobe Acrobat on here. So the kids patiently waited quite a bit of the day for me to download all the files I needed. It gave me so much trouble. I even had to restart the computer at one point, which meant I had to re-download all those files I was trying to load. Thankfully, I have that done and should be able to print those papers for the kids tomorrow. I highly recommend http://www.learningpage.com. This is a wonderful resource that I have used with my kids a lot. You can find lesson plans and worksheets. They have lesson themes that have always captivated my children whenever we use them.

I have so many things I want to teach my children that I sometimes don’t know where to begin, I just throw in a new lesson whenever I find an open opportunity. Thursday, I will be taking my children on a field trip to a Planetarium and an Art Museum. This is an activity that is planned with a homeschool group that we are a part of. My husband may accept a church soon and if he does I want to find another homeschool group like the one we were a part of here. I like the support we receive from other homeschoolers in the area. I also like how we can get discounts going to museums and things as a group. It also helps our kids see that they are not the only ones that are learning in their home instead of in a Public educational setting. So if I am able to find another Christian homeschool group, I will be really happy.

Yes, a church has finally voted to call my husband as pastor. He will be preaching there next Sunday and is planning, Lord willing, to accept their call. I won’t name the church at this time but will just say it is another church in Texas. Some reason the Lord has seen fit to have us stay in Texas all these years. Churches are seeking Pastors all over the place. It is hard sometimes to just pick one location and say this is the place we are suppose to be. We just keep following the open doors that God gives us until he opens a new one.

Well, it is very late and I am very tired. I’m not even going to review for typos right now. I hope there are not too many. I will try to post another blog later. Good-night.

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Back Online

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A few weeks ago our laptop’s cord quit working. So I felt a bit out of touch. I’m back now, and will try to catch up on events.

We just got back from a week and a half trip northward. We visited a church in Indiana, Michigan, and Arkansas. It’s amazing the distance a preacher and his family will travel seeking God’s will. This trip we used as a chance to visit Scott’s mom as well. We had not seen his family in 2 years and they had not met Jonathan. We had a wonderful time. Joshua can ride a 4 wheeler through the woods by himself. It surprised me that he had gotten that big. He was so careful that we even let Ruth ride behind him. He ven took me for a ride. I told Scott that it takes a lot of will power to allow your 9 year old son to control the vehicle you are riding on. He did it though and didn’t hit any trees nor flip the thing over at all. We’re proud of him. He has sure been growing and maturing.

Uh oh, I have to change a diaper right now. I’ll have to save the rest for later. Check back soon.

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Doing More for God!

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It is easy to get comfortable with things the way they are. If you own a shoe that is comfortable and you like it a lot it is sometimes hard to stop wearing it, even if it starts to wear out. It’s easy to say, “This is my favorite shoe. I’ll just patch it up and it will be fine.” I know that it can be that way in life as well. “I don’t want to change what I’m doing. It’s been fine so far.”

The day we are saved there is a change in our hearts. We should not be the same people we were the day before our salvation. We should desire the change and want to grow from the beginning of our new walk with Christ.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

If a person prays for salvation but does not have that change of heart, are they truely saved? Or were they just praying for fire insurance? Now maybe a person did have a change of heart after they were saved. They may have become on fire for God, but then over time they become satisfied. “I’ve learned all there is to learn. There is nothing more I need. My friends and family know that I’m a Christian. I’m a sermon in shoes. Look at me! Life is good!”

Then they are satisfied. There is nothing more a person with that type of attitude can learn. They are content and do not want to change. They have done things that way for so long, they are afraid that it would mess something up if they changed and did something different.

I’m afraid that that might be happening to many of the Lord’s churches today. Are we becoming complacent. Are we afraid of change? As I sit here I can think of at least 5 preachers who desire to pastor, but yet are without a church. They are all good doctrinally sound preachers. They have all been taught how to study their Bibles for themselves. They all have expressed a burning desire to reach the lost for Christ and seeing people grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The only problem that a church seeking a pastor could possibly have with any of these men, is the fear of change.

If people start seeking God with their whole heart, there is going to be change! It is going to happen, there is no stopping it. A good pastor will preach from God’s word what God has laid on his heart to preach. That pastor should have a desire to see the people in his church grow spiritually. He should not be satisfied with his church not doing more. His sermons and guidance may cause the membership to feel uncomfortable with the change, however it is for their good.

A good parent should want their child to grow. They should teach their child to work hard, and to do the things that are good, even if it is hard at first. What they learn as a child will make them what they will be as an adult. My son does not like to write, however I make him write for his good. I cannot allow him to be content with just drawing pictures. I realize that he needs to develop his writing even if it is not comfortable for him. He may not like the work it takes to change, but I realize that that change is necessary, so I must as a parent lovingly push him to write more.

Shouldn’t a pastor want the same for his church members. He knows what is good for them. As he studies God’s word and tries to make changes in his own personal life, shouldn’t he also desire the best for the flock God has intrusted to him. Should he stand back and allow them to not do what he knows deep in his heart would be better for them to do. But then there is also a fear that if he tells them what they need to hear, they will cast the man of God aside and seek another one that will not push them to change. This treatment has even happened to many prophets in the Bible. And will continue to be a problem according to Paul in his letter to Timothy his son in the faith.

2Ti 4:1-4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Scott preached a sermon last night from Revelation 3:14-20 on Lukewarmness.

Rev 3:14-20 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (15) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (20) Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Too many of God’s people are satisfied with being lukewarm. They need to change, but that change is uncomfortable. Jesus is standing at the door of churches today, knocking, desiring to come in. However if it requires change to allow the Savior into their midst many churches will not open their doors.

My prayer is that we allow God to work a great revival in our hearts and in our churches, and that His churches will listen to His messengers and will seek His will with their whole heart. If that does not happen now, one day it will happen at His return.

Rev 22:20-21 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

May we not get caught napping. (Mark 13:33-37)

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