This Old House

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers everywhere!  Mother, you are special and important to your family.  God can use each of you mothers to bring forth godly children whether they be yours by birth or adoption or foster care.  The impact you have on your children is so great!  Don't forget it!  I leave you with a poem on this mother's day:

There are those who would spurn the vocation of mothers

And say it's inferior to the career of others,

I'll have to admit that it's not easy work,

It's relentless and from it you cannot shirk.

It takes all your energy to be a mother and wife,

It requires daily commitment and a disciplined life,

It demands all your resources of patience and love,

Long-suffering and wisdom from God above.

It takes self control and continual endurance,

It needs constant and faithful perserverance,

It is total sacrifice and forgetting your self,

You may sometimes think you are left on the shelf!

And what about time? It's no longer yours,

it belongs to everyone else who comes in your doors.

Can you claim your own rights? No, they're gone too,

Like your right to sleep the whole night through!

It's not so easy to crawl into bed with a book

Or go off and dream in some quiet little nook.

It seems like you're totally losing your life

To be a good mother and a godly wife.

But oh, dear mother, please do not despair,

In God's great vision you have a share,

You are fulfilling your destiny planned before creation

Which is to nuture children and BUILD A NATION!

You are walking in the footsteps of Jesus your Lord

Who sacrificed all, His life He out-poured,

He didn't cling to His rights with selfish futility,

He didn't claim any privilege but walked in humility.

He gave up His own life to save millions of others,

This same principle is at work in the lives of mothers,

When you lose your own life you'll find it again,

A rewarding life, without guilt or shame.

So lift up your head, embrace your calling so high,

You're in God's perfect will, there's no reason to sigh.

You may often feel worthless- don't listen to this lie,

For your influence goes higher than the clouds in the sky!

As you nurture and train your God-given seed,

As you sharpen these 'arrows' by word and by deed,

You shape the nation; you determine its course,

Your mothering's not wasted; it's a great mighty force!

As your children leave home and go into the world

The stamp of your training will be unfurled,

You'll influence countries where you've never been

And down the generations its extent will be seen.

Your work is so powerful, no wonder it's tough,

But God is behind you; He's the GOD WHO IS ENOUGH,

His strength and wisdom He will give to you,

He'll stand behind His promises, which are totally true.

He'll always be with you right through to the end

As you follow His leading and deny the world's trend,

Each morning you wake, your strength He'll renew.

He'll fill your home with His presence and His blessed peace, too.

By Nancy Campbell

Endings and Beginnings

A chapter has closed and another one is being opened.  I praise God for my husband's successful completion of nursing school!  I am so glad to know that we will now resume some level of what most people consider "normalcy".  Instead of long hours of my husband being away at school, work and then in his spare time his nose stuck in some two thousand page book that could break your toes if you dropped it on them, he'll go to work and come home to be with us!  Instead of being tired all the time, my husband will have some energy again.  I also thank the Lord for the increase in my husband's pay.  The more he makes the less he has to work and the more he can be home with us and also the more time he has to to reach people with the gospel.  The time may also come that we are used as missionaries to a foreign field and nursing can be used in a great capacity, especially in third world countries.  He does not take for granted that every day is filled with opportunities to share Christ's love with others at work here in the states.  There is something about taking care of someone when they are weak...sometimes people more readily see their need for a Savior when they are in an hour of pain or weakness.  The Lord is there with His arms wide open to recieve them if they will just come to Him.  

May the power of God be upon my husband!

Another chapter sort of closing is my first year of homeschooling.  All I can say is:  My first grader can read!!!!!!!!  Yahoo!  In fact, he is an avid reader already!  We will be continuing our education throughout the summer.  Aren't we all in some way?  My kindergartener knows all his phonics and basic math stuff.  In fact, I think I'll teach him to read this summer because he really wants to learn.  Thank you, Lord, for the grace to learn, grow and understand homeschooling better with each passing day! 

One last chapter opening is an exciting, but a scary one.  It looks as if the blessing of a 5th child is on its way and we praise God that He has chosen us to birth another image of Christ into this world.  I've had one natural birth and three c-sections so that makes it a little scary.  I'll attempt to cross the border(of my state) to go see a midwife who will let me try to have this baby naturally in a hospital where they will monitor me and at least let me try.  We are happy and overwhelmed at the same time!

In closing, I'd like to leave a prayer request for my father-in-law, Gerald, who is not a christian.  He was on his way to my husband's graduation and had a heart attack.  He had a 70% blockage of an artery and was given a heart catheter.  They were also going to put a stint in, but his heart is too weak.  The doctors will see what his heart looks like in a month and attempt a stint then.  He's still having slight problems with his vitals in the hospital and hasn't been let go and it's day four.  Please pray that Gerald will finally see his need for the Savior, Jesus Christ, to redeem him from his sin and grant him the freedom to live for the Lord all his days.

Looking forward to seeing the continuing chapters of life unfold...

Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places

Making and Remembering Memories

My sweet daughter turns four today.  We had a little family affair at the house where she opened her presents and blew out the candles.  She was so happy to have the presents and repeated over and over, "Oh, thank you mommy, thank you, thank you mommy!" in her cute little voice.  My son, Ian, wrapped something I bought him at a garage sale in napkins and then in a thick covering of duct tape...it took Lauren a little while to open it.  We almost needed a chainsaw to help the process of opening it along. :)  Jacob regave a gift I gave Lauren for Christmas in a silver bag he found somewhere.  And Sarah just smiled at all of us in the midst of our celebration.  It's been a good day and a productive week. 

        I have finally found a way that I can keep some memories of what my kids do.  I really wanted to get a nice dvd recorder, but that costs too much money for us right now.  I like to scrap book, but never can find the time to get creative enough to do it and it takes too much time.  I also really have to be "in the mood" to get around to scrapbooking.   I do keep photo albums, but not baby books where you write everything in them.  I went to Wal-Mart and found these really sweet journals.  I got one for each of the kids, laminated a photo of each kid and put it the pocket of the journal.  Whenever they do or say something really memorable I write it down in their journal.  I hope to be consistent with it so they can have something to get out, read and remember their childhood. 

Turning 30