It's SNOT nice...

My kids are all snotting. Not snotty. But snotting.

Ruth has been enjoying her new game of sneaking up on mommy, giving a sweet hug and quickly wiping her nose on mommy's shirt or skirt. Because of this, she looks rather normal, and I run when I see her coming.

Rebecca looks a little less spiffy. She uses a more reliable object for a hankie. Her shirt. And not that often. Her face is slimey and her shirt is crusty.

The youngest is the saddest sight. Her prefered method for snot removal is to mash her hair around until the biggest globs are collected by the strands hanging in her face. Now the hair is spiking on the top of her head with dubious looking kebobbs attached to the spikes. The skin of her face has that peculure tight shiney look. And she comes up with her lips in a purse expecting a kiss. Who can refuse? I CAN! Horrors.

My Christmas Thoughts

Here's a blurry picture of our cute little tree. We broke down and got a fake for the first time.


Blessed Christmas! Have a wonderful HOLYday tomorrow! As I meditate on the story of Christ's coming, I am continually amazed by the beautiful, humble way the Creator came to earth to do His greatest work. It is something we do not understand, but imagine how His mother and Joseph must have felt!

If it was me, I would have thought something had gone terribly wrong! I would have been feeling very sorry for myself, having barely escaped giving birth in the street. And I would probably not be feeling much gratitude for the provision of a barn. (I've been in those things before. They do not smell like "traditional Christmas!")

However, Mary had a very special faith to be in the state of mind that she could ponder all the events. The Bible says she did. Not fret, stew, or worry. That is faith. To have faith that ponders every thing that happens, even when it hurts or is frightening, wondering, "What is God's plan? What does He want to do with this?"

Joseph was also amazing. Many people after going through an uncomfortable or painful event following obedience to God hesitate to obey Him fully again. Yet about two years after this, his family was visited by the wise men. They were given wonderful gifts, and could look forward to a comfortable life, but in the middle of the night, Joseph was told to pick everyone up and flee to Egypt. Joseph didn't hesitate. He obeyed. That is faith in action!

These are the people God chose for the family of His Son. They were not sinless, but they were people of extraordinary faith, in that they trusted God that He would have a plan in every circumstance, and they obeyed Him explicitly. What could God do with my life if I trusted Him like that?

Baby burrito! (and others)

This is my little wrapped package!! He loves it.



This is the girls all wearing Grandpa's jacket while singing songs with daddy.

Some new pictures

Rebecca always finds a unique way to do things. This is her version of an umbrella.
The next picture is an example of Rebecca and Elisabeth entertaining their new brother--Rebecca is drawing pictures for him and Elisabeth is rocking him. He can only take a little of this attention at a time, but they sure love to give it! The next picture is the tail end of a smile. He's been smiling since the first week!

Ok, everyone, all together now, "AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!"

Today's Pet

Today the pet that accompanied my daughters was a stuffed cow. Ruth and Rebecca are both caretaking this one, and it is always trailing after someone. The ribbon is tied around the cows tail, however. When I asked Ruth why the ribbon is on the tail and not the neck, she said, "Mom, you told us not to put ribbons around our neck!"

So I did. Doesn't that make perfect sense?

So Cow has to be dragged backwards...

Strange children...

Rebecca has been leading her shoe about the house on a leash made from a hair ribbon. I don't know why.

Flue!!!!

Achy, hot, cold, shivery, stuffed. Now I wish I had more compassion on my kids when they got this last week.
Bleck.
You may wish to wash your eyes with disinfectent after reading this blog. I hear it's contageous.
I'M KIDDING! PLEASE DON'T DO THAT!
Being sick always messes with my sense of humor. Things I think are funny aren't, and then I say things that make people laugh, and I can't figure out what they're laughing at.
I will post this before I get into too much trouble.

A Season of Thanksgiving

I could never thank my Saviour enough for all the blessings He has poured out on me. But one of the things I love particularly about this season is the focus I can take on giving thanks for the first and most important Gift He ever gave.

I was lost. Before the foundations of the world, God looked ahead to see me. He saw that I was not only lost, but that nothing in me would seek after God. I was drawn aside in my own ways and without hope of redemption.

So God made a plan way back then to save my lost soul. The only way for me to escape the penalty of my sins was for God to come in the flesh and substitute Himself for me.

2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

This He did, and He gave Himself freely. One special night a baby was born in a barn like a lamb. This Child grew in knowledge and wisdom, and was the only person to ever live His life completely free and pure of all sin. He was born with the intent to be a sacrifice that would remove my sin from me, freeing me from it.

1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Thank the Lord for His mercy to me! When God casts away sin and death into the lake of fire, I will not belong to it! I know this because of what the Bible says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13 I called on that name to save me, and repented of my sin. Now I owe Him a debt of thanks.

Now as I thank God for my family, our health, our comfort, my country, our freedom, and all the other things, I know that nothing compares to the Gift of Christ. Without Him, all of the others are only temporary balm to a hopeless life--I would be bound with my sins to the place they are going, and so would my husband, my children, everyone!

It humbles me deeply when I consider how desparate my need for Christ is, and fills me with joy when I consider the price that God put on my soul. To know just how much I am loved by the One Who knows me the best!

God is good!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and take some time to pay on your own debt of thanksgiving if you have been saved. If not, let me say that there is nothing in this life that is worth hanging on to if it will lose you the salvation God offers!

Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Brand New Baby!!

Here he is! Presenting the long awaited, much anticipated David! We think he is the cutest little boy on the planet, bar none, but we might just be slightly delerious over the loss of sleep! He came at a long and lank 9 pounds, 22 inches, and he's doing fabulously. We are enjoying him throughly, and thank the Lord for this precious soul added to our family!

Psa 127:3-5 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Long time no posting!

The friend that we were accessing the internet with was having trouble with his satellite. I can get online now because we are in California for a month or more, waiting for Baby Case to be born.

My husband is learning Spanish at a wonderful pace, he can say just about anything he needs to say, and just needs to practice more to be more smooth and automatic. I have more work to do.

The girls love Mexico! Their accent is amazing, even though most of what they say is not an earthly language.

We have been amazingly blessed by the Lord during these times. God is teaching us so much, and meeting every need as always! Next week is the Missions Conference at our church. That is just another one of the little things God worked out.

I will try to keep posting about some the things God has taught us as a family. Thanks to all who pray for us! We appreciate it!

Crime Scene Photo

This is all that is left of a nearly full stick of butter. Forensic evidence cleared the two older girls of any wrongdoing, and the prime suspect has been arrested on unrelated charges involving the sugar bowl. We should be able to keep her off the street for a long time, so she will not be a danger to the public.

Ask my mom...it seems that such things repeat themselves from one generation to the next. My family had a butter thief too, but he/she did not leave such obvious signs of her/his identity. I think we caught this one soon enough.

God's So Good! For Real!

Do we really believe God is good? The proof is in how much of our lives we trust Him with. What do we risk for Him? How much of what He gave us do we invest completely for Him, trusting that He will reward us? The Apostle Paul was one of those who did everything with God's reward in mind. Although he suffered for his service for God, he didn't seem to think the suffering was a big deal. In fact, when he made a list of the sufferings and sacrifices in writing, he was embarressed. No, all of those things were nothing because he knew something about God, and this thread is woven from cover to cover in the Bible. GOD IS GOOD! God wants people to know Him. To know God, is know He is good. Even in His justice and terrible judgement, He is good, and full of mercy.

If we believe God is Who He says He is, we will take what He gives us and do what He wants with it. It's that simple.

Jesus told a story about this. A rich man entrusted three servents with various amounts of money and left on a long journey. Upon returning, he found that two of the servents had put his money to good use and had twice as much money as he left with them. He gave them the rule over their profit. One man now had twenty talents, and the other had ten.

The last servent was a different story. When asked for the money back, he was ashamed. He whined and squeaked that the master was a hard man. He said that he was afraid, and he had buried the talent in the ground. He retrieved his talent from the dirtand brought it back, wrapped in a dirty napkin, all alone. The master had trusted his servent with what he knew the man was capable of handling, and he was angry. Then, it turned out that the master was indeed a hard man. He took away the talent from the unprofitable servent and gave it to the one who had twenty. He had wanted to reward this servent, but the man had no faith in his master, and had stripped himself of all the blessing he could have had.

God has been dealing in my heart this year about the meaning of this parable. There was a time that I was afraid to submit to God's will for my life. I looked at certain things that others suffered in serving God and concluded that God was hard. That in serving Him, I would have to go through things that were more than I could handle. (This is a clever deception-yes, it is beyond me, but no, it's not me that does anything anyway. That is a another blog, though.) I have seen this attitude in others also. They are willing to live their lives for Him. As long as they get to decide things. In other words, "As long as I'm calling the shots, what I do will be for God. Because if I give God the helm, He's going to take me where I don't want to go." I lived this way for a long time, thinking that God would have to accept me because I wasn't holding back much. There were only a few things that I wasn't willing to do for Him. only a few pieces of myself that I wanted control of. I didn't believe God was GOOD.

There are so many ways that this attitude affects our lives. Sometimes, we hide what He gives us to serve Him with. We pretend it doesn't exist. Sometimes, we try to change God's plan to be more to our liking. Sometimes, we do His bidding, but we hate it. We think God might have a cruel streak for the demands He has made of us.

This attitude is a lack of faith, and it is sin. It will seriously hinder anything we can do for God, making us unprofitable to Him. The essence of faith is believing that God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

The truth is, God is good. His goodness, grace, and mercy are such a part of our everyday lives, that we don't even recognize that every good gift is from Him. Let me just go through some of the things He has done for me.

*He saved me! I am going to live forever in Heaven!
*He wants me to know Him--me! Know HIM!
*He has a plan for my life--one in which I have; perfect peace all the time, protection a Companion (God Himself) to comfort me in trial,a Guide, and not just any Guide-this one actually made me to do the things He is guiding me to do!
*a calling, and a good one
*a wonderful, precious family
*confidence
*a promise that God can do something good, even with my gunk! "and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose." Rom. 8:28

That's the short list. After the first one, I could stop! He still owes me nothing, I still owe Him everything--He could only have saved me from my sins if He was GOOD, but the rest-that is just more and more of His amazing goodness

Hebrews sums it up nicely: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6 (italics mine)

Internet Again!!

I am so thankful we now have internet! I can blog again--that is, when I get the time. We keep ourselves pretty busy around here. I am just loving the work, though. The girls love being in Mexico, and we are all learning Spanish little by little. Thanks to everyone who is praying for us. Keep it up!

URGENT MISSIONARY PRAYER REQUEST

Stephen and Angela Benefield, missionaries to Cambodia, are going through the fire today. Their two year old daughter, Faith, went to heaven yesterday morning. The family had been dealing with illness for a long time. As of now, I know that their four year old, Emma is sick also. Pray for them for a special outpouring of God's grace. Pray for healing for their sick ones. Pray that the financial burden will be eased. Pray for the extended family in America. They are also grieving and want to help, pray that God provides for them also. This is a precious, godly family. I love them dearly, and my heart grieves with them. Please take time throughout your day and bring them the support of God's family!

Hey out there!

Just in case anyone checks in here to see if I'm still alive, I thought I would let you all know that I am not dead. Far from it, in fact! We are having an amazing time and learning so much! God put us in a wonderful place to learn, learn, and learn some more, and it's not just Spanish. We are learning about how ministry works, about the culture of Mexico, and how to get around.

There are tons of things that God is teaching us right now, and I will talk about them, since I'll be able to online more often in the future, but right now I wanted to thank everyone who is praying for us. God bless you, and I beg that you don't stop!!!

At long last--a post!

Ok I know it's been forever. I've been online once in the past three months, and Blogger was down! We have lots of news, though! We are learning Spanish, (irregular verbs and all!) and are able to watch a thriving ministry in action. My husband is learning faster than I am, because he gets out of the house to talk to people more, but I am tracking faithfully behind him. It has been amazing, and I am even learning how to cook some real Mexican food! I made pozole. The first time was bad--I was limited to a non-authentic recipe. The Bible college student I invited to share with us was polite, but he then offered to show me how to make it right. That's good stuff! (I tried menudo once long ago. Another unworthy recipe. And what a mess. It's my husband's favorite food. I should try it again sometime.)
Other news of us is a new addition due around October! What a blessing from the Lord!
The occasion for this posting is the first service of a new church. My brother-in-law is the pastor and he invited us to come out and help. The first service will be Easter Sunday, and we are on our way up.
Thank you all so much for your prayers! I can't say how much I appreciate it.
Oh, one more thing. I didn't realize that I had "moderate comments" switched on for several months. I was beginning to wonder what happened to all my readers. (Can we all say, "DUH!!!")Ah, well, I guess I'm not the brightest crayon in the box at times. Sorry. See you later!

Happy New Year!

A poem I found and memorized as a teen:

The New Day, Author Unknown

This is the beginning of a new day,
God has giving me this day to use as I will,
I can waste it-or use it for good.
But what I do today is importent because,
I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,
Leaving in its place something I have traded for it.
I want it to be good and not evil,
Success and not failure,
Gain and not loss,
In order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.

May I also add to this that at the end of my day, or year, or life, it's not what I say or feel about myself and my accomplishments that matter. What I really want is for God to look at my life and say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

So Happy New Year (Yes I know New Year's Day was days ago, but it still counts!) My resolutions for the new year start with this day now. Tomorrow I want to continue with that day. Each will be lived out for God, moment by moment. I want to take what He has giving me and do His will with it. Right now, I can't look too far down the road. I just know that each day He gives me, He is enough, and if my days are given to Him, they will be success and not failure, gain and not loss!

Next week we will be moving to Mexico for language school. As soon as we get internet, I will start blogging again, but I don't know how long that will be. So God bless; thanks for reading!