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!