cute girls

Okay, just a couple cute stories of my girls...

Hannie, the other day, drew up a picture at school and stuck it in her best little friends backpack to surprise her! When Jazmyn found it, she was so happy and noticed that Hannie had used both of their favorite colors in the picture... So sweet.

Ruth came home the other day from preschool talking about "T" that they learned about during class. As she was telling me words she said... "Talky-phone..." "You mean telephone??" "Nope, talky-phone!"

The other day she sang, "This is my commandment that you love one another, that your joy may be HEARD." I told her that I thought it went... that your joy may be FULL. Again, she knew it was HEARD with a big grin on her face. I told her... your joy IS heard! :)

My lovely ladies.

Bread - hkleb

When we were at our missions training in Springfield, MO last summer, we were encouraged to listen to John 3 in Russian... you can find it online at audioscripture.org... http://www.audioscriptures.org/files/0100/NT/NT.html It's a good example of a conversation! Well, I found it the other day and hit play. Even though I still can't follow a conversation or reading in Russian *sigh* I like to hear the language anyway! So I listen for the few words that I might recognize. After a while of it going on... I thought I heard the word "hkleb" a few times. I thought, I know that... Then it I thought, that's "bread", isn't it?! Heh. Bread. Why would the Bible keep saying "bread". Then I got it! Jesus is the Bread of Life. I looked it up and sure enough, it was on John 6... Jesus is the Bread of Life.

John 6:35
Theen Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:48-50
I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.

Interestingly, a few verses before that, Jesus took the boy's bread and multiplied it to feed thousands...

God can take our "bread" and multiply it... We can take His "bread" and live forever!

I love how learning Russian makes the verses I already know, the simple words and truths, and expands on them for me. The Holy Spirit is cool that way. Teaching...

"Hkleb"
"Bread"
~It's in the Bible! :)

spilled milk

"One of those days" seems to have become every day for me! Heh. That's what I told Kevin last week. Seems like there's always something crazy. Something lost. Something forgotten. Something late! Uff. Well last week it was something spilled!

Ruth and Elijah and I had gone to the store after dropping the kids off at school. I got a few gallons of milk and stacked them along the seat of our van. Long story short, Ruth wanted to play with the lights in the van instead of obeying and getting out, so I "helped" her get out by lifting her up and out. Her coat or leg got caught on Hannie's carseat and it fell into the milk... Ever have to clean up a whole gallon of milk off the garage floor? That's what we found ourself looking at. A whole gallon of milk splashing out of the container and running all over the floor. To top it off it was a windy/rainy cold day.

I did, however, get a chance to explain to her later how I didn't know what to do and had prayed that God would give me wisdom and patience... and that He did. I sprayed it out of the garage with our outside hose and didn't put her in her room for the whole day... God meets us where we're at!

And I did not cry over our spilled milk!

"towered"

I just thought I'd share that Elijah is Mr. Two year old Cutie... When he's tired he'll look at us and say, "I towered. I go to bed..." We love it... Lijah's "Towered." So cute.

So we put him to bed with his Jerry Giraffe, his baby Matthew, a drink of water, a good book... and make hime all cozy... then he's good to go! :)

He will listen...

So I've been reading more about missionaries and martyrs and such... This has changed my way of thinking and my prayer life, too. Last night just before I read my Bible before going to bed, I was praying for persecuted Christians around the world and asking the Lord to keep them safe, give them hope, keep them warm, encourage them... and then kinda ended up asking Him... Why? How Long? What about the ones who are hurting them? So I prayed that their captors would have soft hearts and mercy and that they'd know Jesus, too. And that there would be justice. In the end, I was a little discouraged that things like that go on in the world...

Then I opened my Bible. These were two of the last verses I read (in my organized Two Year Bible...)

Psalm 102:17
"He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
He will not reject their pleas."

and

Proverbs 22:8
"Those who plant seeds of injustice will harvest disaster,
and their reign of terror will end."

The "reign of terror" will end... and God hears their prayers.

Apparently, He hears mine, too... God's Word is alive and active!

Please continue to pray with me for Believers who are persecuted for their faith! He is with them... He will listen.

summer time

Okay... so I guess I should explain why I've been a quiet blogger this summer... Mostly, I've been messing around with my new myspace account! http://www.myspace.com/nadesda Heh... On top of that, we've been busy! Here's a glimpse:

Wedding, wedding, baseball, Williston, Mpls, 11th Anniversary!

waiting

The other day a gal came up to me and visited with me about her kids... she had waited for them to come home and now they were. She told me it was all in the Lord's timing. She would have prefered it to have happened sooner but she knew that it was all in God's timing. He had good timing. I heard her. And I know the same to be true for us. We are waiting on God's timing.

Then in a book I read... guess what the people were learning about?? God's timing. How they don't like waiting but how good God's timing is. To quote, "God's like that. Often right down to the last minute but never late." After I read that, I had to smile with the Lord. I love it when He talks to me like that. Reminding me of His truth and His good plans. Double dabble good. (Check out the Cul de Sac Kids books by Beverly Lewis... that was our summer reading! Double dabble good!)

So we're waiting to get sent to Russia and wondering why it would have to take so long when we said "yes" to going. But as we wait, we grow, and we trust that even if it feels like it's taking too long... God is never late!

("ahhh, hhhaaa, ha ha haaaaa, hhaaaa, haaa, ha, ha..." ~Lord of the Rings)

...It will, however, be more fun to look back on the waiting and see that the Lord's time HAS come! Heh...

Hannie's graduated!

Hannie is no longer a kindergartner! It's official! The Fruit of the Spirit award of Patience was given to her! Her teacher said that when she was building in the block corner she was so patient if her blocks were knocked down or bumped. Her responsibility for the ceremony was quoting their "C" verse and their "S" verse. Her whole class learned a verse for each letter of the alphabet. (C is "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right." Eph. 6:4... and S is "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." Isaiah 55:6.)

We raced from swim lessons to graduation, in case you notice that her hair is wet/drying!!

When we got home that night, Hannie got her first official Bible. Not a kiddy one, a big, full one! It's the Young Women of Faith Bible. She's pretty excited to be able to read her own Bible now!

We're proud of our Hannie girl.

camera, shoes, mac and cheese

God loves a cheerful giver. Have you ever heard that? I have. And now that we're out fundraising, we kinda like that verse a little more! Heh. We want to meet lots of cheerful givers! While at the same time, we're learning how much He loves - and blesses - cheerful givers! Let me share just three examples with you that happened to me in the past month or so!

First, my camera.

You might know that I love taking pictures!? Well, a while back, we had some good friends of ours just give us an extra digital camera that they had! What a blessing, huh?? Our first digital camera. We've had it for about a year... then "someone", someone little, wanted to take a picture, and opps... it dropped. So! The camera still works but won't zoom in and out and is a little picky about when it wants to turn on and off... Heh. So for my birthday I got about $100 all together to spend on "something for yourself". Oh good, I though, I could save a little more and maybe get another camera! I checked out Overstock.com and everything! Heh. Then...

Wouldn't you know. I was watching Life Today and at the end of the show, like usual, they showed kids who need help. While that was on, I "happened" to pick up a letter from Samaritan's Purse asking for help. When I got to the page about disabled kids who need help and the suggested amount was $100... I just got teary and thought, "Oh no, Lord, you want me to give away my birthday money, don't you...??" (Okay, not so cheerful, I admit!) I wanted to buy a new camera! Then I heard His voice in the depths of my heart... "Jill, how did you get that camera in the first place?" It was like He was kinda saying, trust Me...

So, out of faith, I sent of my birthday money and just kinda moved on. Okay. Did it. Off we go. Not so bad. Didn't think a whole lot about the camera since there was really no way to get a new one now anyway! Then...

Here comes my folks up for a visit. When my Dad tells me... he was gonna give me his nice, new, lovely, digital camera when we left for Russia but it looks like I could use it now. He's planning to get a new one sometime anyway... Ahhh! Wouldn't you know it! I could have all charged forward and spent my money on a camera that I wouldn't have needed! (Or got a cheap little one and never "needed" a new lovely one...?) Now, by following what I felt the Lord was saying, someone somewhere has what they need - and so do I! Can you believe it??

Then, Shoes

During one of our Bible studies with Blake and Crystal, we were encouraged to look past our own big "needs" and to reach out to someone else with similar needs. First I had to figure out what I think I need... Well, Kevin is the busiest husband in the world! Heh. (Along with thousands of others...) But the first one I thought of with the same type of busy husband was our music/youth pastor's wife, Emily. She's a friend of mine anyway and I just thought maybe we could have a playdate to get out and visit. The book stressed that you don't have to reach out with money or big things but a word or encouragement, or time, or a hug or something like that. Emily and I went out for a playdate...

While we had our playdate, we talked about shoes and how Ruth's was getting big holes in the toes. I said after our next paycheck, I'd go out to get her new ones! Then wouldn't you know... later that afternoon there's a knock on our door! Emily's standing out there with two new pairs of shoes for Ruth. She said she just felt like God was encouraging her to go get them! Wow.

The other part of our Bible study was about how when we reach out to others, God sees that and uses others to reach out to us, too. Not always the same person or the same day - but sometimes!! Heh.

Then lastly, Mac and Cheese!

Kev and I were talking about saving money. I told him, well, if we just have mac and cheese for several meals, then we could maybe get caught up with all our travel expenses from itinerating... Wouldn't you know, a day or two later, Blake shows up at our door with a big box filled with about 15 individual boxes of macaroni and cheese, extras from his office!!! We couldn't believe it. (or we could...) Kev's joke now is that next time we say that, he's gonna say we'll have to have steak for the next month! Heh. Never know...

So maybe the verse could say something like God makes a lover of giving - cheerful! We are so excited to see God at work in our lives! It actually is fun to give! And to recieve. What a dealio.

ballerina and Israelites

Just had to share a pic or two of our lovely Hannie ballerina! She did both tap and ballet this year. Lovely.









And then the Israelites are from the kids school... their Spring Concert. Can you see Benjamin and Hannie... :)



Gotta love it!

Obey and Trust

Trust and Obey
For there's no other way
To be Happy in Jesus
Than to Trust and Obey

Comon, don't tell me you didn't sing that when you read those words? At least a little hum? Well, that's one song we've played a lot lately. It's on one of our Big Daddy Weave CD's and for some reason Hannie has taken a liking to it. Me, too. Maybe that's why. Regardless. It's a good theme song, wouldn't you say?

After pondering the phrase, "Trust and Obey", I came to realize that right now it seems more appropriate for me to sing, "Obey and Trust". (I know that's not a rhyme but...) It just seems like we reached a point of saying, "Okay Lord, we're gonna obey you and say yes to missions. Here we are! Here we go..." Or not so fast. After our initial step of obeying the call that we felt impressed upon us, we are now sitting in a position to TRUST. It did take some trust to say the initial "Yes" then we thought we'd be off to obeying as we packed our bags! Well. We are learning to trust God in more things as we wait for the day to come to pack our bags to go.

I'm learning to trust Him day by day in more ways than before. Trust His timing. Trust His good plan. Trust His care. Trust His involvement in every area of my life.

And I'm learning to obey Him day by day in more ways than before, too! Obeying down to the "little" everyday things. Obey Him when He says... Give Thanks in All Circumstances. Rejoice Always. Submit to each other. Respect your Husband. Be United in Love. Encourage each other. Watch your Words! Remain in Me.

Trust and Obey.
Or as the girls sang,

Trust and Obey
For there's no other way
To be Happy AS Jesus
but to Trust and Obey.

Jesus must have been pretty happy. I choose to be happy too, as I trust and obey...

Obey and Trust.

coughing and singing

This past week, I've had such a bad cold. Friday it seemed to be getting better so I figured I'd sing back up while Kevin lead worship at our home church on Sunday. Well, Saturday night my cold got worse. Crazy. We were planning to sing a praise song in Russian after we gave a quick 5 minute update. And we have the next two months away. It would have been easier to say, naw, not today, I'm sick... but this was our chance.

In the inspiration of Brother Andrew, whose book I just finished reading - good book, I decided to sing anyway, putting it all in the Lord's hands. Brother Andrew would bring Bibles behind the Iron Curtain where they were forbidden. When he would cross the border, he would set some Bibles on his front seat so that he would get through because it was in God's hands and not because of his cleverness. Then time after time he would drive right on through and get his Bibles delivered!

Now, singing a special number in church is maybe not the same as bringing Bibles to those who need them... but it was still a step of faith! All in God's hands. All in His control. I'm learning, even if it's baby steps!

By the way, my singing may not have been perfect but we did get the job done fairly successfully... and now on Monday, I've been coughing like crazy and can barely talk! So that morning was my chance... coincidence? God IS in control.

(The book I read about Brother Andrew is called The Narrow Way and was written along with Jars of Clay... His organization is called Open Doors if you want to google it! Good stuff.)

Benjamin's bowling party!

Benjamin turned 8 years old March 31st! Eight years old. For his party, we invited some of his good buddies over for cake and ice cream and then we headed over to the bowling alley. Besides having friends, cake, and gifts... Benjamin won the bowling game! He got a whopping 99! A couple weeks later he got 131! Our bowling champ.

Here's a few pics of his big bowling birthday bash! :)

Whoo-hoo!!

belief... rewards

Mark 5:34
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Mark 6:5
And because of their unbelief, He couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place His hands on a few sick people and heal them.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Okay... what do these verses have in common? Heh. They are all one's that I've read in the last couple days. And they all speak so strongly about how important it is to BELIEVE, have FAITH. Our faith, or our unbelief, will directly affect the work God is able to do in our lives. What a powerful inspiration for us... "Lord increase our FAITH!" (Luke 17:5) He is able to do anything, will we let Him!?

Then Hebrews goes on to say that we must believe that that He exists... which most typical Americans would tell you is true. There is a God. But how about the second part that we must believe that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Are you earnestly seeking Him with expectation of His great rewards? I mean, comon, just think of what great rewards there could be from the Creator of the universe! And this is what He asks of us... to believe that He'll do it!

Wow.
BELIEVE!

Christos Voscres!

Christ is Risen!
(A family picture of us after the Easter service at our home church, VCC, here in Grand Forks, ND.)

Happy Easter! We celebrated Easter at home this year with my folks and my 98 year old grandma. They had planned to stay home but then decided to come celebrate with us since we might not (hopefully not) be here next year! So it was good to spend time together. We went to our home church together and sang some lovely songs about the Lord. What hope we have! Christ is risen - risen indeed! Cristos Voscres - Va Istina Voscres.

Let me share a couple pics with you here. Hope you all had a great time remembering the Lord's incredible sacrifice and awesome power to overcome death and to bring us hope and a future!

(The bunny cake was a gift from our neighbors! What a cute, little masterpiece!) :)

(The kids are sitting at our counter behind me... they ARE there celebrating Jesus with us! Heh.)

think about it

Think about what you're thinking about!

It seems like I've heard a lot about thoughts lately. Well, for the past year or more! Heh. God's thoughts for you are good, positive, for-you thoughts. You can do all things through Christ. You are His child. You are a brother or sister in Christ. You are victorious. You are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. You have a hope and a future. He has good plans for you. He will always be with you. On and on... The enemy, however, is trying to get you to think all the opposite thoughts. Whatever lie he can get you to believe is good for him - bad for you. He wants you to feel overwhelmed and defeated. He wants you to forget your future and your hope. He wants to you not get along with others. He wants you to feel alone. He is a liar. God's thoughts are for you. The enemy is out to destroy you. God's words for you will build you up. The enemy's will tear you down. God wants you to live in joy and freedom. The enemy wants you to live in guilt and fear.

It is wise to stop to think... who's words am I listening to? Which thoughts are playing in my head. Truth or lies? Choose wisely who you listen to. Fill your mind with the Word of truth. It's a matter of life and death!

2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

lavish

Today we made fruit pizza to surprise Kevin... shhhh... he's still not home yet from itinerating this weekend. It's a good surprise since it's his favorite. Well, when I made it, I couldn't find the recipe but I've made it enough that I could wing it. It's not that hard, really. In the end, I decided to look up the recipe for the cream cheese frosting in a book my good friend, Emily, gave me when we got married. (At the bottom of that page she wrote *Em's favorite!) As it turns out, that recipe was probably bigger than the one I usually use. So we ended up with LOTS of frosting.

As I plopped it on the sugar dough crust (or sugar do, as Hannie called it), I thought back to the book I'm reading with another good friend of mine, Lisa! The book is She's Gonna Blow by Julie Ann Barnhill. In this book, she just talked about the frosting her grandma would make. When she would plop it on the cake, the cake would shake from the weight of the frosting. She said her grandma would LAVISH the cake with frosting.

God says he lavishes two things on us. Love and Grace. I've always thought that was cool. Of all the things he chooses to lavish on is it's His love and His grace.

So I did as Julie Ann Barnhill suggested and called the kids back over for an object lesson with frosting. Just as we're lavishing this crust with frosting, that's how God lavishes His love and grace on us. (Ruth and Elijah got into a disagreement over something in the middle of the lesson but I think the kids still caught it!)

When we were done admiring the frosting, of course, they got out spoons and ended up using fingers and whole hands to clean out the mixing bowl!

Lavish love and grace. Accept it and do it!

be a rainbow

As I thought about our new suncatcher, I realized a couple things. Being in the light has always sounded good to me. (LOVE the DC Talk song, "I wanna be in the light, as Your are in the light...") Now I know that if I was a clear piece of glass with Christ shinning through me, that'd be cool. But when I looked at the suncatcher, which is a piece of glass that's got several different cuts in it... it got me thinking about trials and suffering. The Bible talks about Christ's suffering and our suffering and how they are or can be for our benefit and His glory. I thought, maybe in the light of suffering, we reflect more rainbows instead of just white light. More detail of the light. More character of Christ.

In the face of suffering, be a rainbow.

rainbow day

We got a suncatcher! So we hung it in our dinning room window that faces the south. Now all day we watch the rainbows move around our dinning room/living room/kitchen. We LOVE it. How exciting to find a rainbow on your toe or on your chair!

The other morning when we got up Ruth saw the sunshine and said, "Oh! It's a rainbow day!" She figured Hannie would be excited to see the rainbows when she came from kindergarten. She was.

miss out

The other day was Spring Break. All four kiddos were home and playing with matchbox cars. When it came around to nap time, everyone went to bed but Hannie decided that today she did not want to go to her room for any quiet time! She wanted to stay up and play... and besides, everyone else already took the "good" toys to their rooms! She was getting all worked up and crying. I told her I might be able to work something out just for today since it was Spring Break and Benjamin was home. But she would have to get herself under control first. She did not even try to get herself under control because life was too hard and everyone had it better than her... She got more and more worked up and said a couple thing to her mother that were inappropriate. At that point, I told her she would have to take a nap in her own room with her own toys. When I told her that I was going to let her play in Benjamin's room with him and the cars... she went crazy! She screamed and threw an even bigger fit! A few minutes later I went back to her room. She was quiet and resting now. I told her that she could be playing with Benjamin but because of her big fit she, she missed out. She missed out on something better just because she couldn't calm down and wait...

That's when I realized that God used Hannie to talk to me.

The Lord likes to do that. A child will lead them. And I have four right here! We are so learning patience and trust as we continue to itinerate and raise our budget for missions. One day I even had a fleeting thought that it would be good to just get over there , even though I know that He's got a good plan that will work out best. I would just like to be THERE sometimes! So it was right around then that I said those words to Hannie. Like the Lord was saying to me, "Don't throw a fit and miss out on something better. Calm down and wait!"

cute kids

Just gotta share some cute kid stories every once in a while... :)

Kev's folks were here last weekend and his brother, Scott, flew up to meet up with all of us, too. So we had to pack up and head to Fargo to pick him up at the airport. While Grandma Sharon and I were telling the girls about out trip to Fargo, Ruth wondered where that was. Hannie quickly replied, "That's two Veggies away!"

Saturdays, we try to have "Saturday Snuggle Day" when all our family hangs out in the morning, we make pancakes or go to Uncle Blake's for waffles. We also like to make funky pancakes. Our typical is vanilla flax seed pancakes. Recently, Daddy made some kind of banana pancake. Then the kids love to top them with different things. So as Benjamin looked at all the different toppings on the table, he decided to add them all to his pancake. After a mix of butter, peanut butter, syrup, powdered sugar... He looked down at his creation and said, "Look, it's an extravaganza!" (He wants a dictionary for his birthday...)

Ruth turned four years old on March 5th. She had her first friends party and was allowed to invite four friends for her fourth birthday. She was so pumped. All day long whenever I would say her name, she'd correct me and say, "Call me 'Birthday Girl!'" Then when Crystal stopped by to visit, she asked Ruth who was coming to her party in the afternoon. Ruth's reply was, "Oh, my best friends!" When Crystal asked which friends, Ruth just shrugged! Ha. Best friends when you're four are apparently the ones who will run and play with you, whoever that may be! She did have her friends over and had a lovely "Sally" party! (From the Cars movie...)

Elijah is just cute, cute. Let me think of what he's done today... Heh. His latest word is, "Funny!" He says that all the time with a little throw back of his head and a big laugh. "Funny, Mommy!" Kevin taught him to say, "What'd you say?" And he says it really quick and cute. My favorite is when he says, "luf oo, too!" after we tell him we love him. If you ask him if he'd like to do something that he would like to do, he'll reply with a, "Yup!" He also can tell you what his name is if you ask, "What is your name?" He'll reply something like, "Zisha!" (Lijah.)

Our children.

library

I love having four kids! They can argue and bug, but boy, can the PLAY. The other day, Hannie got it in her head that her and Ruth needed to make a library in our back guest room. So they got out some boxes for shelves and pulled tons of books down there. They had a toy to scan the books that we checked out and even closed the library while they were away... The library is still set up right now waiting for more play tomorrow! (When Benjamin was a baby, he'd call the library, the "li-boobie". What a hoot.)

Today Ruth and Elijah made a fort together and laid down on their bellies side by side to watch BOZ out of the door of their fort. Too cute.

Then tonight I went down to see if they were ready for bed and they all were sitting on the floor together listening to a Dan and Louie CD. It was something they all thought was funny and had to hear it over and over again, laughing together!

Gotta love those brothers and sisters!

are you in bed?

After putting the girls to bed and going to fold some clothes...

Me: Benjamin, are you in bed?
Benjamin: No.
Me: Benjamin...
Benjamin: Hee, hee... I'm hiding. Hee, hee...

I finished folding the few shirts that I had left and went looking. Elijah was already in bed but was no help at all in helping me find his brother! He was just in his crib unzipping his jammies. Heh. In the end, I found Benjamin... under Eli's crib!

never been in a wedding

I have never been in a wedding. Besides my own, which was very lovely and wonderful. But I have always kinda wondered if I'd ever be in someone else's wedding? Some of my friends have eloped and some have never married. Now most of my good friends already ARE married. So. My last hope on being a bridesmaid in a wedding was set on my brother, Blake. I figured he'd at least try to talk his bride-to-be into sneeking in there somewhere!? (Maybe Kev's brothers will think of me, too??)

Well, here I am! Who would have ever imagined. Blake is indeed getting married. The wedding is set for this summer. And wouldn't you know, I get to be a bridesmaid for the first time! (At age 31! Heh.)

But here's the kicker. The blessing on top of the blessing. Blake is marrying one of my best friends! So not only do I get to be in his wedding... SHE has chosen me to be in HER wedding... as her matron of honor! What a joy. I am so delighted.

I'm thrilled that I get to stand up for Blake and Crystal. But on top of that... I'm thrilled that Blake found a lovely lady to marry and that Crystal found a wonderful man. And they're my brother and my friend! Crazy. Double the joy, huh?

God knew all along that I would get to be in a wedding besides mine and that it would be above and beyond all I was thinking of! He's knew the day was coming and now we're rejoicing together! How fun.

Matron of Honor along side, Kevin, who's the Best Man, for my brother and my friend. I just gotta read that again to let it sink in. There's a smile on my face!

The kids are all going to be involved in it, too, and Kevin's parents are coming up from Arkansas! Whoo-hoo.

I'll show you the flower girl dresses for Ruth and Hannie... lovely, lovely! :)

Thank you, Lord, for such a treat!

Py

Our kids know their names in Russian. Since they have Bible names, it was easy to look up how to say and spell them. Benjamin is similar and looks like "BeH" for "Ben" but is said with a "V" sound instead of a "B". Hannah is AHHA and is said more like "Ahnnah". Did that make sense? No hard "A" sound. Ruth's name looks pretty different. We call her "Roo" and in Russian it looks like "Py". The "R" is a "P" and the "oo" is a "y". Neat. So "Py baby." :) "Ruth" will actually sound something like "Roof." Heh. Elijah has all different letters so I can't show you how they look! :) But to say his name sounds like "Ilya." He already knows that is his name along with the English "Elijah."

Benjamin even printed out his name in Russian and took it to school to show the kids. Pretty fun.

Well, Elijah is handing me an alphabet book! Ha! So I better go teach him our alphabet!! Time to sing some ABC's...

can't see me

I've always kinda liked camouflage. Maybe it's 'cause my Dad always has liked it, too, but doesn't get to wear it because his someone he's married to thinks it's gross. Anyway. The other day Kevin and I went crazy when we saw camouflage pants at Old Navy for 75% off. I talked him into getting some with me, which is something we never usually do... spend money for something goofy like that. But we went WILD and both got some camouflage pants! Whoo-hoo. Look out for us... but you won't be able to see us in our camouflage!

when I'm grown up...

Benjamin is all about what's right. He's about justice and fairness. The other day after supper, Kevin and I had two of the deserts that we'd given the kids... I forget if it was cookies or what. Ruth totaly thought she should have another one since we had one. After a few minutes of Daddy saying, "No, you had yours..." and Ruth saying, "But YOU had two!" Benjamin thought it through and said, "But he's the Daddy so he gets more." Then he thought a little longer and said, "I can't wait until I'm grown up and can have all the pizza and candy that I want to have!" We laughed that that's the conclusion he came to. Ah yes, being all grown up has its perks! :)

cough

Just an update on the cough thing I mentioned a few days ago... Benjamin and Hannie are much better! They both still have a lingering cough but are good to go other than that! Up and running again. Thanks if you prayed for them! God hears our prayers... Ruth's still feeling fine and Eli acts okay but now he is coughing an icky cough. He just does that sometimes so hopefully that's all it amounts to!

Thanks for praying for our family! The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective!

Charis

Do you know what that Greek word "charis" means in English? Some of you might. It's "grace". I"d heard that before. But what I hadn't heard is the word that ties into "charis". It's "chara" and it means "joy". Grace and Joy are intertwined. Once you've truly experienced God's grace in your life, you won't be able to help but to experience His joy as a result. Whoo-hoo!

"welcome"

Elijah is learning how to say polite words. So if he would want milk "mu lo ko", for example, and I would give him a cup... he would politely respond, "Welcome!" I've tried to explain to him that I'm the one to say, "your welcome" and he's suppoed to say, "thanks!" Well, in the midst of all the attention, I think now he's decided either way, it's just plain more fun to say "welcome."

One of the other funny things said tonight was from Ruth. Hannie brought home a book from school about Mr. Sniff the detective. He's trying to figure out why all these practical joke type things have been going on and who's been doing them. At the end we find out it's the little boy who's been helping him try to figure it out! Well, I finished the book and talked to Hannie about it for a minute when I look at Ruth... there's a silent pause from her, then... "What on earth..." It's so funny to hear little ones say "grown up" things like that.

Eli says, "funny" all the time. Now I notice that I, too, say "funny" about things. Benjamin will tell me a story and I'll reply, "Oh, funny."

If you read this today... you can say a prayer for Hannie and Benjamin, too. They've been fighting off something for a week or so now. They've had fevers and now Benjamin just mostly has a deep cough. Hannie, on the other hand, still gets the fever back off and on. So I'm not sure what that is. Maybe we'll have to give the doctor a call? We've been concerned about the little ones getting it. They might have had the same type of thing before Christmas... But especially when Eli gets sick, he really gets sick. He has always had some chest cough, allergy, asthma thing. So.

Hannie said the other day... "Two days I've been so sick and two days you've taken care of me." Of course. She's so sweet. "Welcome."

Merry Christmas!

ice

"Roll with the punches..."
That's a Papa Eddie quote that Kevin (and I) like to remind Benjamin of. He can get so worked up over "small" things like forgetting his lunch... we'll bring it to him, or losing a game... try again. You know. (For me, it might be something like not having a quiet time during nap... or missing Beth Moore on Wed morning...)

Well, like usual, God likes to teach me things through my kids. The other day as I stepped around the ice on the sidewalks around our house, I looked back and noticed Benjamin was aiming for each patch of ice. He was sliding over all of them as he made his way up to the house. So I guess he is learning to roll with it. Instead of going around the ice or tip toeing around it, he went straight foward to slide right past. Heh. He's learning to see the good in things. And so am I. Even so, you might not see me skating past your house...

this is eternal life...

It's interesting what Jesus prayed about eternal life...

"Now this is eternal life:
that they may KNOW YOU, the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
(John 17:3)

Kevin and I have been sharing about how Jesus came that we may have abundant life (John 10:10) and how that abundant life starts now. He gives us hope for the future in heaven - and for life today. So when Kev and I came across that verse over the Christmas break, it was just like another piece to the puzzle slipped into place. Not many people would answer that eternal life is to Know God and Jesus, but rather to go to heaven. Eternal life begins now! Know Him!

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

'cause I'm three...

Ruth was having a conversation with Uncle Blake today. He looked outside to check on the older two kids and they weren't there. So Ruth came to look. She decided that they were in the garage. When Blake asked how she know that... her honest reply, "Cause I'm Three, that's how I know!"

Hannie loves presents. It's just a thing for her. She's so sweet about it, too. Grandma Sharon wanted to take her out to pick out whatever present she'd choose for herself and Hannie's first thought - pink boots. So sweet. So Hannie and Grandma drove all around town until they found the perfect pink boots. Happy Birthday, Hannie.

I love how both girls say, "han-satizer" when they're asking for Hand Sanitizer.

Benjamin is in basketball now and just after making a hoop, he looked over at me and told his coach, "That's my mom!" Love it.

Elijah loves to snuggle these days and will sit down between your legs when you're sitting on the floor and then pull your legs up close around himself so you're sitting almost chris-cross apple sauce. They he'll turn around and reach for your arm to place it over himself and reach back for the other arm to do the same thing. He snuggles in and smiles... then usually remembers he forgot his blankie so off he goes to get that, just to come back to set up the proper snuggle.

cinnamon roll morning

Cinnamon rolls smell so good. Especially in the morning. What a sweet way to wake up. I can remember waking up to the smell of cinnamon when I was a kid. Mom usually made them on Sunday, from what I recall. A pleasant aroma is a nice way to wake up. (Which reminds me that I just read about how we are supposed to be the aroma of Christ... Hummm, interesting.) Anyway. This is the tale of a missionary morning, including cinnamon rolls!

I wake up to Kevin stumbling around to get out of bed and into the shower. While he showers, I hear Elijah coughing (just like we heard around 4 in the morning...). As Kev gets out of the shower around 7:30, I hear Ruth up and talking in the hallway, loudly, as usual! Soon Hannie's up, too, and I'm thinking of the boys who could use the extra sleep. Good morning to me. So as Kevy says good bye to me and heads down to the church (we're speaking at our home church today), I remind the girls to be quiet for the others who are still sleeping or trying to be sleeping, including me! :)

The girls proceed upstairs to play quietly only to come down crying over a disagreement. Eli's awake, Benjamin's up, and I guess I am, too. So off we go. I make the bed, read a quick two verses, throw clothes in the dryer, look for something to wear, go to the bathroom and head to get Elijah out of bed. He has no clothes on. At least his diaper is still on, but I see he's been pulling at that, too. It's soaked! I bring him upstairs with me and get him changed and dressed.




As I get out my packaged cinnamon rolls... I button shirts and zip zippers. I solve disagreements and wipe noses. I watch the clock and try to keep things moving so that we're ready when Kev comes back to get us around 10. (Our second car doesn't work so all six of our coordinating life around the one van...) Quickly, I run down and pull out some of Kev's dress shirts and hang them on the door for when he comes home after church and packs to leave for Minot's service tonight.

The kids are getting dresses when I notice that Hannie has on a different dress than what we'd all agreed on the night before. She looks alright but everyone else pretty much has on matching outfits - browns, pinks, and blues. Hannie decided that now she wants to wear a long, brighter orange dress. So we discuss that for a while and she keeps the orange-y. While the rolls fill the house with sweetness, I comb hair and brush hair and make one pony tail for Ruth and two pony tails for Hannie. I tie bows and buckle shoes. I comb my own hair and try to get myself dressed.

The bell dings! Cinnamon rolls are ready! Time to frost those sweeties and hand out plates. While they cool, I empty the dishwasher and clean up the table some more from the night before and listen to a book or joke or something... okay, so I didn't listen too good! As I frost the rolls, Hannie wants to help and Benjamin takes the plates to the table. The kids sit down to eat after everyone comes to the table and Eli gets buckled in his booster. Before I get to my own roll... forks are needed by some and milk, by all. We're low on cups and on forks so we have a mismatched table and Eli's not happy about the little fork he gets! He is, however, happy about the milk! "malako!"

Kevin comes home and says we need to be ready in a few minutes... we're cookin' so it's okay. He asks me about the service and the order and the power point that we just changed. We're hoping to sing a new song in Russian and that's been playing on the computer all morning. I have not had time to warm up my voice or sing it, but it has been playing! As Kevin trys to print out our name and info on the pledge forms, the printer decides to stop working. (Which matches the prayer cards we tried to print the day before because our new ones won't be in until Wed...)

I continue to try to finish dressing while I try to finish eating my yummy cinnamon roll, remember those sweet, delicious treats? Mmm... The kids are done eating and on the run again... cleaning up and finding lost shoes and coats. Kevin gets out cereal (but I'm not sure if he ever eats any...) and I start trying to gather my things and look to see if the kids have gathered their things. Blankies, diapers, sippy cup, bags, Bibles, still one lost shoe... By now I'm dressed except for shoes when the kids are making noise out in the van... "Buckle up!!" Ruth needs help and doesn't like her coat on! Elijah is already trying to take his shoes OFF and trying to fill his pants. I'm helping buckle car seats and Kevin's ready to boogie! "Boogie!"

I grab my coat and my Bible and wonder what the speaker will talk about today and remember it's me and Kevy speaking! :) Then I sit down for the first time all morning as Kevin backs out of the garage. I take a breath and lick the cinnamon off my finger. In the middle of the whirlwind, it's good to enjoy the sweetness.

gift of geese

Kevin and I drove home from Williston today and as I watched a V of geese fly by I told him I'm really enjoying birds lately. Just then we all looked down the road and there was a cloud of birds on each side of the road! It was amazing. I've never seen so many birds flying together. Other cars had stopped to look, too, it was that cool. We opened the windows to hear them honking.

I told Kevin God is so funny like that. It's like when Kev goes out and comes back with a hot chai tea for me just because! Good one, God. I said that I liked the V so He gave me two clouds of birds to enjoy - just because.

I love Halloween!

...now that I know more about it!

Last year I read the book, Redeeming Halloween, with the MOPS book club. Typically, we just celebrate Hannie's birthday on the 30th - Happy 6th Birthday to Hannie - and that's our biggest celebration of October. Plus we love our trip(s) to the pumpkin patch! Now that the kids are older we take part in the school's activity, Funanza, or whatever Harvest party the churches have going on. While we enjoy those fun things, we also try to avoid all the icky things on TV and in the stores and all over the place!!!

There are icky things to avoid but there are also so many more things for us as Christians to be celebrating.

Did you know that it was set aside as a "Christian festival" to be celebrated along with others marked on the calender like Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost! Way back in 610 AD it was marked on the calender on May 13th but a hundered years later it was moved to November 1st to counteract a pagan festival that was held then. (Christmas found it's place on the calender for the same type of reason!)

Origionally, there were several days marked out for individual Christian martyers and then the church combined it to one day of rememberance and called it "All Saints Day". To quote the book, "As those who believe in salvation through Christ alone, we owe a debt of honor to the faithfulness of those who stood firm in the face of death and established the church." Who knows where we'd be without the early Christians who stood firm for Christ in the face of death!

Halloween is "a meaningful time for the church to remember the early martyers."

October 31st, the party before the party, is also a time to, "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13)

So today at supper time our family talked about Stephen, the first martyer mentioned in Acts 7. Then we talked about Daniel in the lion's Den and how he stood firm for the Lord. After talking about a martyer and a plain ol' Bible hero, we talked about people we know right now who live out their faith... Pastor Chris, Evan (Benjamin's school friend), missionaries we know...

Halloween is a good time to remember and honor the Christians years ago who stood firm in their faith and to encourage fellow believers and to pray for missionaries around the world!

What a great holiday!


--Another great book that's for kids is The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs... how just like a pumpkin, we grow, are picked, cleaned, and then shine with the light of Christ.

--Also... a site for today's martyrs: http://www.persecution.com/

God is God

Advocate,
Alpha and Omega,
Author and Finisher,
Awesome,
Beautiful,
Bread of Life,
Chief Cornerstone,
Chief Shepherd,
Compassionate,
Counselor,
Consuming Fire,
Creator,
Dayspring,
Delieverer,
Ever Present Help,
Faithful,
Father,
Friend,
Forgiver,
Governor,
Guide,
Head of the Church,
Holy One,
Hope,
Horn of Salvation,
I AM,
Immanuel (God with us),
Jesus,
Judah,
Just,
Judge,
Kind,
King of Kings,
Lamb of God,
Light of the World,
Lion,
Living Water,
Lord God Almighty,
Lord Jesus Christ,
Lord of All,
Love,
Maker,
Messiah,
Merciful,
Mighty God,
Morning Star,
Patient,
Perfect,
Prince of Life,
Prince of Peace,
Provider,
Resurrection and Life,
Righteous Judge,
Rock,
Root of David,
Savior,
Satisfier,
Shepherd,
Son of God,
Strong Tower,
Sun of Righteousness,
The Truth,
The Way,
The Life,
Wonderful,
Wonderful Counselor,
Word of Life

sin is sin

"Sin is Sin." That phrase stuck out to me today during my Beth Moore Bible study since I'd just written how "People are people."

People are people; everyone loves and hurts and smiles and crys...

Sin is sin; whether it's anger or bitterness or adultry or murder...

James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

The point of the study lesson was how God uses the enemy to sift the icky sin, big or "little", out of our lives. When we're struggling with something, it's probably because something needs to get out of our lives so that God can use us for greater things. As Beth Moore said - it needs to be "defused by God" so it's not "used by the enemy". Satan wants to use our weakness to make us believe that we're no good and to feel guilt and shame while God can use that as a time to purify us of the weakness to make us strong...

1 Peter 1:3-9
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His great mercy He has given us new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -
kept in heaven for you,
who through faith are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith -
of greater worth than GOLD,
which perishes even though refined by fire -
may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love Him,
and even though you do not see Him now,
you believe in Him
and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
for you are receiving the goal of your faith,
the salvation of your souls."

Refined.
Genuine.

people are people

"They're just big teddy bears!" That's what my Dad told me a long time ago when we walked past a bunch of bearded, leather clad motorcycle men. I thought about that and since then have applied his idea to others. People are people.

Today at the library, Ruth, Eli, and I saw a gal with a mask over her face. Ruth's comment was something like, "Look at her, Mommy! Silly!" I just told her that maybe she was sick and trying keep the germs away. "Yup, probably." She nodded a hello to us and on we went. People are people.

Then on the way out the door, I looked through the glass doors to see two bigger guys with dark gotees and big coats - smoking. The doors slide open for us to go out as they were there to come in. Just then, Elijah tripped over himself and fell right beside them onto the wet ground. They both stopped and one looked like he was about to help him up. I told them he'd be okay and they just smiled and went in as I put Eli back on his feet. People are people.

In 1 Samuel, I think it is, it says - Men look at the outward apperance but God looks at the heart. Maybe we should start looking at what God's looking at!

garden delighting

Okay, so I didn't realize that I liked gardening that much until Benjamin asked for one. When we moved into our house, we asked what the kids would like since we were in a house, not an apartment. Benjamin said, "A Garden!" Humm... Okay. So we planted a little one out in the back yard in what used to be a little flower bed. We planted sunflowers and peas and carrots. Then the next summer, sunflowers, little watermelons, and mini pumpkins. We didn't get the carrots or peas planted and I was kinda bummed. But then, in the fall, when I was in the front of the house by our other little flower bed and noticed a strange looking "weed". It was a carrot! Apparently the kids had spilled the carrot seeds and they blew into the flower bed and along our sidewalk up to the house! I had to laugh as we were digging carrots out of the grass in the front yard! And smile because God knows our little desires as much as he knows our big desires and He enjoys delighting us!




Well, this summer, we planted nothing! Uff. We knew we'd be gone for at least a month during the middle of the summer and wouldn't be around to care for it. So we just let it sit. We did plant some bulbs in the front of the house which will probably wait until next spring to come up... but... that's another story! We got back from our traveling for a month, and noticed in the backyard right by the garage door where there's no garden or anything, there was a big plant of pink/purple hollyhocks!! Benjamin watched it grow outside his window, I guess! Heh. Pretty fun! What a treat.

I noticed that there never seem to be lots of flowers on the hollyhocks and figured it was jut because they were wild and not in a good spot... Then this week I saw why! Hannie loves to pick them and give them to her friends!! She's our gift giver...

Okay, one more gardening delighting story... We've had to spray our little garden patch a few times for weeds and grass, which has killed most everything else, too. Then we replanted what we wanted to go there. Well, the one thing I kinda liked were those soft, furry, Lambs Ears. I don' t know if that's the official name... but you know what I mean. Well, THEY keep coming back! I didn't know they were that hardy... but I dug the one up and brought it to the front so we could see it more often. Then this fall I noticed several baby ones coming up! What a delight. So we dug those up since the temprature is dropping pretty low here. And now I have two pots in the kitchen of those soft little plants that I enjoy! Isn't God sweet! He knows what you like, too... Keep an eye open!



(Guess what Beth Moore pointed out in the study we started last week... God is a gardner! HE planted the garden in Genesis... Neat, huh?)

what kids say

The other day when we were talking about outgrowing clothes, Hannie asked me, "What's a Hannie down?"

Then today we went down by the Red River to admire the fall colors and Hannie was standing by the gate on the dike shaking our hands and announcing to Ruth and Eli and I that this was the Red River and welcome and - it's even FREE! :)

Ruth doesn't care much for loud noises and usually gets spooked during a thunderstorm. After I had been down to her room several times to comfort her, I told her how some people imagine it's just angels bowling up in heaven... She looked up at me with creases between her eyebrows and said, "MY angels DON'T Bowl!"

Today when I told Ruth it was time to take a nap... way PAST time... and she had to go to the bathroom and then lay down, she wasn't too happy about it. She mumbled something and stomped down the hall. Just when she was out of view she said very loudly, "I - Said - STINKIN'!" Then added, "Heh." with great satisfaction.

Elijah is learning words and saying more. He's starting to string them together, too. Last night we went to Uncle Blake's to see Emmitt, our puppy! "Puppy, puppy, puppy..." And Eli said, "That? Puppy, Bed? Puppy out..." He's growing up so fast. Like they all do, I suppose! Then he tried to give Emmitt open mouth kisses during our whole stay as he poked, "Nose. Ear, Eye, Mouth..." Poor Emmitt loves Elijah but doesn't know quite what to do with him.

I love it when Hannie means to say, "I'm not..." and instead she says, "I Emmint..." :) Or would it be spelled "amn't"? Heh.

Benjamin was reading me his snake book for his 10 minutes of reading out loud for his homework and I was telling him, ick, ooh, yuck while looking at all these poisnious, huge snakes. He was laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes when he said, "Mom, be relieved. The snakes at the end aren't poisnious!" Heh... Be relieved.

family

After my last post about the kids, I figured that I should add a picture OF the kids! This is Elijah, Benjamin, Hannie, and Ruth. (Ruth's bangs are much shorter now since she decided to cut them at the church in Wallhalla, ND while I was speaking!!) This picture, though, was taken on our way to speak in Dickinson, ND. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for some big ol' lollypops! Hannie's been asking ever since she saw them out in Ohio! Pretty cool!

In case you hadn't heard, we are in fact traveling the state of North Dakota to raise support - prayers and finances - for our upcoming move to Russia to do missions work with an international campus ministry based in St. Petersburg! We are finding our time on the road to be pretty good for the most part. Other than Hannie walking off the platform when she decided she didn't want to sing the song with the other kids, Ruth running in and out of the side door at the front of the sanctuary while Kevin was speaking, and the above mentioned cutting of the hair... We have enjoyed meeting lots of people who love the Lord and getting a good taste of ND churches. We've seen more of ND than we ever have in the past, too. After growing up here, you'd think you'd have seen it all! Heh. It has been kinda tough to not be a part of our church family here in Grand Forks, too. Maybe more than I thought it would be. We still are involved with Wed night things but we really do miss seeing all our "family" on Sunday mornings. We're learning that church is really about family... our church family here in GF and our whole, big, wide church family in ND and around the world! Kinda cool.

Pray that we raise money fast and that others will remember to pray for us! We know we'll get overseas right "when the time comes" (how the Bible talks about time - coming...). But we would like to get there sooner rather than later in order to help the missionaries we're going to help and just to GET THERE! :)

God is faithful and His way is perfect.

too cute

I love kids... especially my own!

They make me laugh and make me think... they open our eyes to the delights all around us waiting to be delighted in.

Hannie sits at a small table in her kindergarten class with two other children and the other side of the table is open to see the teacher and board. Well, she LOVES teasing and told me that there are actually four at her table now.
"Oh, did you get another student in class?"
"No..." -giggle...
"Hannie, are you fibbing?!"
"No! Really there are four..." -more giggling...
"Hannie?"
"It's true; the fourth one is Jesus! He needs a place!"

Hannie is loving school! She's making friends. They get to paint and that's pretty cool. They're learning a Bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. (This week was "B" "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ...") And she also learned her official word this week - "at". She doesn't read books like crazy like Benjamin does but she loves to write things out, which Benjamin wasn't too interested in... She'll sound out words and write things down all by herself. One picture hanging on our wall right now reads, "i LUVU DAD B KUS YW LUKT RME BKS" Anyone? Translation: I love you, Dad, because you like to read me books.

Last night was Back to School Night for parents to see what the kids will be learning this year... I asked Benjamin what his 2nd grade teacher would have to say about him. He figured she'd say that he was doing good... but that the others could use some work! Hannie teased that her teacher would say that she was doing BAD! - giggles...

Benjamin still loves books and reading. He was so excited the other day because they had library at school and he checked out a "cool, gross book". It's about Hungry, Hungry Sharks. Heh. And one page showes sharks EATING a whale! Another page says the things that have been found in sharks bellies - one thing was a suit of armor!!

At meal time we can get into some good conversations. Ruth just asked, "Who is Jesus?" Well... that's an important question. I explained that He is God's Son and our Savior. He's preparing a place for us in heaven... Kevin was formulating an answer himself as we tried to think of a simple yet real answer for our three year old, when Hannie burst out - "He's the Rock of my Salvation!"

It's always interesting to have a child teach you with out them knowing it. Ruth told me the other day as we were talking about Jesus coming to the earth that she did NOT want to go to heaven. I quickly said, "That's why Jesus came... it'll be great to go to heaven!" "Well, I don't want to. I want to stay here." Which made me think... Jesus did come so that we could go to heaven but He also came that we might have abundant life now! (John 10:10) So I went on to explain to her and to reasure her that right now it's good to have her here and that when the time comes to go to heaven that it'll be good to have her there, too. Abundant life now and hope for the future...

Just looking at Ruthie is fun. She's got such expressions these days. We are enjoying some quieter time together now with the older two off at school. She loves to be read to. So that's been fun. Just to have her close and to have conversations with her as we go through books together.

Elijah's learning words and more words. He will repeat just about everything you say and is remembering more and more on his own, too. One of my favorites is "boogie". That's what I say when we need to go... and we are forever GOING... So now whenever it's time to pick up Hannie or pick up Benjamin or drop someone off I'll say, "Let's go!" and a little baby voice somewhere will reply, "Boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie..." Then when we take an exit ramp to get the kids to school, I'll turn kinda quickly and he exclaims from the back seat, "Wheee!" He also gives GREAT kisses. I love baby kisses.

Puppies are also the bomb. Especially Emmitt, Uncle Blake's puppy. While we were taking care of him on Labor Day while Blake was out of town, Eli decided that tackeling him was the thing to do. They both weigh about the same but it was so funny to watch Emmitt look back at Elijah and wonder what to do with this little thing laying across his back... Of course Elijah just grinned and laughed and clapped his hands...

Life. Joy.

B-enefits

Psalm 103:2-5

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His BENEFITS:
-who FORGIVES all your sins
-and HEALS all your diseases
-who REDEEMS your life from the pit
-and CROWNS you with love and compassion
-who SATISFIES your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles

Whoo-hoo. We were encouraged to know those benefits last Sunday. I'd learned them a while back but was just refreshed to read them again. They are benefits for the children of God! And not just health care! (Although that seems to be included!) Heh.

This week, I especially liked the one about satisfying your desires with good things... so that your YOUTH is renewed like the eagles. "Jill" means "youthful" and so lately youth-y verses stick out to me! And to be renewed like the eagles! Just reading it is renewing! Heh. (The other youth verse that I have written down in my Bible is Isaiah 40:29-31 about ..."youths grow tired... but they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings like eagles..." Guess eagles and youth go together?! Heh.)

Forget not His benefits!

kevin and jill

Top 10

Kevin and I celebrated our TENTH wedding anniversary on August 17th! Whoo-hoo!! Or as he likes to say, we celebrated the anniversary of our honeymoon... Heh. So I thought it'd be fun to list the top 10 reasons I like being married to Kevy bear! Here goes, in no particular order...

*Having a sleepover every night with your best friend
*Five lovely children
*Road trips
*Crawford family late night band
*A home to invite friends to
*Snuggling
*Comfortable - dressed up or dressed down
*Nick names - my Kevy bear
*Laughing (& teasing)
*Waving on the overpass
*Growing - Iron sharpens iron
*Advice - always someone there for help
*Praying together
*Moving to Russia
*Abundant life!!

Okay, there's a few years to go on, too, I guess! I could come up with a ton but I'll just say that I love being married to Kevin! Here's to another 75 years!

Queen of Heaven

Tonight as we were discussing heaven, and how we are actually princesses and princes (Cinderella days...) because God is the king and we are His children... the question came up - who is the Queen then?

"There is no Queen."
"Why not?"
"No one knows."
"Someone knows."
"Who??"
"God. He knows everything"
moment of thought...
"I know who is the Queen!"
"Who?"
"Grandma Helga!"

Grandma Helga just might be the queen, I told them. She was the darling elderly lady who sat across from us every Sunday in church. She passed away in March and the kids are thrilled to know that she is now running in heaven! Even though we do miss showing her our loose teeth and so forth...

Maybe now she is the queen.

Double Egg

A while back, we were going through a tight time financially (which never ends, really, I just happened to be a little worried about it then...). I was cooking supper, scrambled eggs, and I was half praying half thinking about how we were getting low on food and the pay check wasn t for a few days. As I counted out two eggs for each person and looked to see that we might be short an egg or two - I looked down to see the egg that I had just cracked open was a double egg!! That gave me the right count in my pan and a little more hope in my heart!

Well, tonight - there was that double egg again! Another reminder of God s provision! And this time it was not only one double, but two! So instead of me having two scrambled eggs, there were four in my pan! I just smiled, then laughed. Eli did, too. The girls came running to take a look...

Makes me think of the verse in Ephesians 3 abou how God able to do above and beyond all we ask or imagine. I hadn t even thought to ask for double eggs! And then there they were again, along with my double portion of hope.

Lord of the Rings-HOPE

Have you seen the movie Lord of the Rings? I think Kevin's seen it something like five times. Now I have twice. After it came out on DVD, Kevin got the extended version and so last week we decided we should watch them all... it took us about a week! (Naptimes and bedtime...) Anyway.

Guys love the fighting and strength, girls love the love stories and the courage of the women. What we found we both loved this time was hope. If you've seen it, did you notice that? There are several times hope is mentioned, or even a speech is given about it! Courage and hope. Don't give up. My favorite hope part is the flower on the dead tree... if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about! Hope. Life. Don't give up.

The greatest of these is faith, HOPE, and love...

Lessons in a Public Restroom

Ok, so in June we spent two weeks in missions training in Springfield, MO. One afternoon, after just hearing, in some detail, about all the parasites and worms we would for sure experience overseas... and how we'd get used to planning our day around how our stomaches felt... I had to use the restroom! Between our classes I had a slight stomach ache. So just before next class and I headed to the bathroom. As I sat in there, I thought, "Man, I don't really like being here in the public restroom..." knowing I would probably be in several other public restrooms in other countries!! And then the thought came to me... Would you rather stay in your own home all comfy and cozy to use your own bathroom or would you like to live an adventure, chasing after abundant life in Christ - even if it could mean having to use an unfamiliar bathroom?! My choice was obvious. While that was not my favorite thing to do, I knew that excitment and life would be waiting for me. I'd rather live life to the full than to stay safe and know my own bathroom is handy! More to this life, right?! And I was back in class before the teacher began! He is faithful, even in the restroom! Heh.