Those who plant in tears will harvest SHOUTS OF JOY. They weep as they plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the HARVEST.



Psalm 126:5-6

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Food Shooter

The other day we were at McDonald's (I am embarrassed to say our second home) and my oldest daughter who is almost 11 started to giggle and I couldn't get her to stop. I was getting a little bit irritated because she wouldn't tell me what was so funny.
I finally got her to quiet down so I could order. We have a large family as all of you know, so it seems like every time we go through the drive thru we have to pull forward and wait for our order. This day we had to proceed forward and wait for fries or nuggets I can't remember. As we are sitting their waiting The oldest decides to tell me what was so funny. O.K. you all know the trash cans by the drive thru have a really long extended opening so you can throw your trash away from your window well this child thought that the trash can was a food shooter and when you ordered your food they would shoot it out to you through that opening.(sorry for the run on) We all died laughing that day while sitting by the food shooter waiting for our food. Now every time you go to McDonald's I hope you chuckle when you drive by the food shooter and think of us.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

This was our first year here in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving just the 8 of us.
I was a little nervous as to how the day would turn out and what we would do. i really wanted us to all go serve in a homeless shelter but all of the ones I called were not in need of volunteers. I was disappointed but knew we would find something to do that day. Two days before Thanksgiving a lady who I had called about a week earlier called me and told me that they could use us to help serve up at the church her in our town. I was so excited because we were going to go out and help be that hands and feet of Jesus. I went to the store and bought my Thanksgiving meal (which was going to be lasagna since we would be serving in the early part of the day).
Then our big day came, we got all the kids ready, gave them expectations of how to behave, told them this was not about us but about serving others, and helping them understand that we wanted the people we were serving to leave their happy and Thankful.
After all that was said and done we got in the van and headed to the church. When we walked in the area was beautiful, they had decorated it so nicely and we were ready to serve the hungry. We waited and waited and waited. We prayed for God to send the people and no one came. But let me tell you it was great teaching experience for our children because we explained to them that even though no one came God knew our hearts were pure and he was smiling down at us for our act of service. We explained to our children that even though we didn't feed a thousand hungry mouths in God's eyes we did.
In the end all of us volunteers sat and ate and fellowshiped together and it was a wonderful and eye opening Thanksgiving to me. My eyes were opened to see that I live in a wonderful and caring community and it was great to see us all loving and serving the same God.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Baby "Charlie"

This post is a difficult one for me but it is also a healing post at the same time.
This past week our family suffered a loss that was sad but has also focused our eyes back on the Lord. We were expecting baby number seven around the end of May 2008 but we lost the baby this past week. I want you all to know that I am doing fine physically and emotionally.
I have to say that I have been blessed with two years of growing closer to the Lord and I believe that is part of why I have been able to go through this without having a major breakdown. I know that I have been carried by my Lord and Savior. The first night I started spotting I cried out to God and told Him that I couldn't do this by myself. I told God He would have to carry me through this. Let me tell you all something He is a good God because my feet have not touched the ground since that night, He has been carrying me this whole time.
I want to also thank my husband for being my shoulder during this past week. Most of you all know that we moved here from Phoenix and I still don't have the ties that I had in Phoenix. Well I found I didn't need my friends to get me through this I had a wonderful husband who loved me and protected me. He has let me cry when I needed to cry, he held me when I needed to be held, he prayed over me when I needed it the most but couldn't do it myself, he has been my friend through all of this.
One more thing I want to say is that I have not once gotten mad at God. He is a good God and wants only good things for his children. Remember this in hard times and let him carry you it is so much easier than trying to carry yourself. We have named our baby "Charlie" and can't wait to hold our baby in heaven someday. We love you Carlie and know you are well taken care of.