know Him more

Sometimes it's nice to hear your kids repeat what you say and sometimes it's not so nice. Well, I was pleasently surprised to hear what Hannie was saying when I realized that she must hear me say it, too! Each week of the month the kids "get" a week... They get to go first to get their cups or be served the meal or make little decisions. This week is Hannie's week and one of the perks of it being "your week" is you get to pray before we eat. We have a different thing or different people to pray for each day of the week: Russia, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, Pastors, Teachers, Friends/Neighbors, and Missionaries.

This week I noticed Hannie's prayers usually include "let them know You better" or "help them know You more each day". I love it! So if you're in that list, you've been prayed for this week by Hannie - that you would Know Jesus More. What a thrill for me to know that she knows that that's an important thing, or THE important thing, for us to pray for others.

Ephesians 1:17-18
17. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.
18. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints...

I Love Color

When I was a little girl, I told my mom that I was going to marry a black man. My godparents daughter was pictured with a black man in a photo hanging on their wall. I asked my mom about it and she said that was her husband but some people gave them a hard time because they were different colors. That's dumb, was my basic response. If they're married and all is well between them, what right did anyone else have to give them a hard time... so that was that - I, too, would marry a black man. So there.

Well, there's a couple funny things about that decision. I don't think I'd even met a black person out in white-ville, ND. My first kiss, however, was from a little Korean boy back in 5th grade! Heh. And now that I'm grown and married... I joke that I married the whitest of the white men around, my gorgeous, red headed, blue eyed, Kevy bear.

All that being said, we're excited to be going to Russia to work with college students from around the world! While we've noticed that there will be lots of people of lots of different colors, I'm thrilled to see how God's been working in our lives and in our KIDS lives to prepare us. He has brought so many lovely people into our lives and we're thankful for our friends for several reasons. But I'm excited, too, to see God at work. Isn't He always preparing us...

Let me share some pictures of our children's good friends:



Jazmyn and Hannie being silly... they go to school and church together.



Hartrick and Elijah... we carpool with Hartrick and Elijah says, "Hartricks, Hartricks!!"



Benjamin and Alex... He was adopted from India.



Ruth and Caleb... okay, so he's a white boy, but a good friend of Ruth's!

I just love color. God's so creative. And so in love with people! Our kids friends are just friends. No big thing. (Benjamin did used to call Alex his "gray" friend... just matter of factly! Heh. Now Benjamin loves asking Hartrick about different animals and things he saw in Africa but he moved here when he was 7 so usually doesn't remember seeing them!)

What fun to see God at work in our lives as we prepare to invest in others lives!

amaryllis flower

Hannie asked if we could plant a flower this fall... so here's what we planted back in October and what we get to enjoy in December!

quiz

Take a moment to think about the following quiz that I took from a Beth Moore study:

-What type of media entertainment do you enjoy?

-List the TV programs you watch.

-What kind of music is aired on the radio stations you listen to most frequently?

-List the last five movies you have watched.

-What magazines and books do you have around your home?

Now using the following scale, place a 1 or 2 beside each form of media that you listed.

1. Honored God and encouraged my walk with Christ.
2. Fueled temptation and compromised godly character.

She goes on to say... Please consider deprogramming from all sorts of deceptive forms of media... and reprogram with the truth of God's Word.

Last night, I read in James 1
19. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
27. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Personally, I noticed my TV section needing the most work... I mean, really, what is on the TV that doesn't "fuel temptation and compromise godly character"?? Hello. (Most of my music and movies had something to do with Veggietales or Dan and Louie! Heh.) So even though I don't watch a ton of TV, what I do watch is not building me up in anyway. I think God does intend for us to watch good things, but where are we going to find it these days? The search now is harder than it was before. The evil is "so prevalent". Stand firm.

Beth Moore goes on to say...
I pray that you will consider maintaining a very active relationship with God through His Word for the rest of your life. We can't recognize lies if we don't know truth.

Four truths about God's precepts from Psalm 19:10-11
-more precious than gold
-sweeter than honey
-warning to servant
-great reward in keeping them