I had intended to post yesterday about MY sweet husband, but other things came up!
I am so grateful to still have him with me, as five years ago, I could very easily have lost him.
I am grateful for his hard work to provide for us.
I am grateful for his quiet, steadiness, and that he is so many times my rock.
I am grateful that he is such a good listener.
I am especially grateful that he has never raised his voice at me---in 26 years of marriage.
I am grateful that he has been so patient with me as I continue to "grow up".
I love you, Dallas!!!
(Note the cool bow tie the girls made him?! )
(And note how we are a very REAL family by the background?! LOL!)
Thank you to all who are posting and entering the giveaway! I love to hear your grateful comments!
Here are a few challenges that you might be interested in from Revive Our Hearts (Nancy Leigh DeMoss)-- note the FIRST TWO at the top of the list are a Gratitude Challenge and a Husband Encouragement Challenge!
You get an e-mail for each day with a challenge. Small, bite sized pieces, but meaty pieces!
I love Nancy Leigh DeMoss, because, as I like to say, she gets Christianity down where "the rubber meets the road"!
I hope you will take advantage of one or both of these challenges....and some of the things you are to be grateful for for your husband might just prompt you for what you can write in your journal!
It's been a topsy-turvy few weeks. My mother-in-law had a mild heart attack, but kept having "episodes". They were going to have to do a heart catheterization to see what was going on. Problem with that was, her kidneys are only at 20% and the heart cath was going to further compromise them, meaning she'd be on dialysis for life afterwards.
Praise the Lord that a change in medication stopped the "episodes", so no heart cath! She is now in a nursing home near us rehabbing and hopefully will go home in a few weeks.
Added to that, my dear and only grandmother that was left continually worsened. She pretty much gave up after Grandpa died 6 weeks ago. Last Wednesday she finished the course, fought the good fight and laid her burden down in exchange for the Crown of Life.
Today was the funeral.
How do you encapsulate nearly 93 years of life in a short, one hour service?
The pastor who did it did the best job he could. He's known her since she and my grandpa got saved 50+ years ago.
My grandma left a legacy.
A legacy of Christianity.
Of Godliness.
Of Servanthood.
Of sweetness and caring. I never heard her put anyone down.
Of prayer.
Oh, was she a prayer warrior!
Earth is bereft of a Godly saint.
Big shoes to fill.
I can't do it alone.
I challenged all there--friends, family, lots of my cousins......I said we need to pick up the baton, and carry her legacy on.
That is the most beautiful heritage a person can leave.
I am far richer than if she had left billions to us all.
I know her prayers are a BIG reason I am a Christian today.
And, like her, I don't want my Christianity to be a "religion". Something I put on, wear for awhile, and take off.
But something I am. Faith that shines through all I am and do. For all to know that Jesus lives in the smack dab center of my heart, and all else is subject to Him and radiates from Him.
No one was around Grandma long without knowing she loved Jesus and she wanted you to, too!
May that be true of me. May it be true of me.
May others see only Jesus in me.
In light of Eternity, all the petty little things we get our feathers ruffled about, all the things we deem so important (and really aren't), all the stuff we think we have to have.......well, it's just not important.
I want to take this day, these memories, this legacy, and keep it close. I can't let the tyranny of the urgent snatch relationships out of my hand.
Relationship with Jesus.
Relationship with my dear, sweet husband.
Relationship with my beautiful children.
Relationship with my extended family--may it not take another death to bring us all together!
Relationship with others--friends, church, even the strangers we cross paths with.....
After all that, what else matters?
I've decided it's time to let go of the garbage. No need to hang onto hurts, to "he saids, she saids", to lies and exaggerations, to the selfish things we all tend to do that hurt one another....
...let go.
Just let it all go.
Because in the end, it won't matter.
But it will matter that I let it rob me of precious relationships.
They won't be with us forever.
I choose to focus on the good.
I choose love which "covers a multitude of sins".
And pray others would choose that for me,too.
Time is short.
What will you choose?
Will you please choose to forgive? To forget? To move on?
To love?
Please do.
Ann Voskamp has a beautiful and challenging post that is worth reading (all of hers are)--
This is Seven Sisters' final giveaway!
Anna has knitted 2 dishclothes for her giveaway (and displayed them quite nicely, if a mama can say so herself! ) Head on over and see what you need to do to enter--they are having such fun! (You'll have to click on their button on my sidebar--I'm on a Mac and can't figure out how to post a link! LOL!)
Trisch, from Safety Harbor, FL ; )
Cassia has posted her giveaway at Seven Sisters! It is a sweet, size 10 girls' jumper in a beautiful navy fabric with golden sunflowers and brown leaves--just right for Autumn!
Here's the link-- Seven Sister's 4th Giveaway. Head on over and enter! They just keep getting better and there's one more to go!
I might have to do one of my own here soon--they're catching up to me on the visitor counter!
Well, I'm a day late here, but Susannah has posted her giveaway at Seven Sisters blog!
It's a beautiful hand needle-tatted bookmark--I know you'll love it! Head on over there and see what you need to do to enter! Her giveaway goes through Saturday night, September 19, and the winner will be announced sometime Sunday the 20th. (We have a wedding that afternoon, so you might not see it posted until later in the day--I know, I know! The suspense will be killing you! )
My mom called this morning to tell me my step-grandpa passed away early this morning.
It was expected....yet not.
Are we ever really ready to let go?
He was 91 and had Alzheimers. He didn't know any of us for the past 3-4 years.
He knew the Lord, so I know he is in a better place now.
But he sure leaves a big hole here.
I remember when he married my grandma--the day after we got married! He took such good care of my grandma. They traveled and did many things she couldn't do the last 10 years of my biological grandfather's life due to his illness. They worked on the crisis prayer line at their church for years. They often took people in, helping them out. Most never came back to do anything for them, but they didn't care. They were investing in God's Kingdom.
I remember when I was down with one of my miscarriages, Grandpa and Grandma came down to my home, visited with me, brought me food, and cleaned my house. I mean they cleaned my house! I distinctly remember Grandpa taking a pen with a cloth over it and going over ALL the baseboards in my living room, dining room and the stairway to dust it! This is old woodwork with all the nooks and crannies that it's famous for!
It was probably the first time it had been done in 40 years, and it hasn't been done since!!!
Servant-hearted. God-loving. Prayer Warriors. That's how I'd describe both my grandparents.
I've missed him, as he hasn't been himself for the past 4 years. And I'll miss him more.
Life.
People get older, pass on.
Sometimes, they don't get a chance to get older. They go straight to the arms of Jesus from the womb.
That happened 19 years ago today.
Our firstborn son, Noah Ross, went from my womb to Heaven sometime between September 6-7, 1990.
He was born into this world, in body, on September 8.
On his grave marker, no dash.
No memories, but those of flutters and kicks and flips in the womb.
No pictures of birthdays or holidays or just-goofing-around days. Just an ultrasound picture from early on. And some pictures after he came into this world, although they are not good enough to hang on the wall, to commemorate that a son was born.
How my arms ached to hold him then! I held him just a short little while before giving him up, but the days, the weeks that followed were so hard.
But my Jesus walked with me through that valley.
Then "birthdays" would come. Sometimes I'd bake a cake, other times just go to the cemetery. I know exactly where he is buried behind that stone. Even now.
Yet....he isn't there! He is with my Savior--the One Who died for me....for Noah Ross....so he could go straight to Heaven.
Now I think....a 19 year old young man....he would have graduated this year....probably be working with his daddy......what would he be like?
Many times since I have been in the Bubble of His Grace.....and He carries me now.
Carry me, carry me, won't You carry me now
I'm too weak, and fragile, to walk on my own.
I'll rest in Your love until once more I can stand
To journey beside You, and follow You home.
~Carry Me by Christine Wyrtzen
Today. A day of memories. A day of good-byes....for now.
But also, a day of Eternity. Today great-grandson welcomes great-grandfather Home. Step-son-in-law welcomes step-dad Home. Jesus welcoming His servant Home with a "Well done, My good and faithful servant."
Life.
It ebbs. It flows. Like a river, it never stops. It may slow for awhile, but then it rushes on.
We dip our feet into it, trail our fingers in it, willing it to wait for us.....to savor these moments just a bit longer.
But it pays us no heed.
We take the memory of it with us, holding it close to our hearts until that day when we never have to part again.
Thank You, Sweet Jesus, for the hope of Eternity....the hope of seeing our loved ones again, both young and old.
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
~Thornton Wilder~
"Don't let another priceless moment slip through your fingers because
you are 'too busy'. While you have the time, take the time."
My daughters, the farmgirls, are hosting a blog giveaway this week and the next four weeks. Each week will be something different, make by each of my oldest four daughters! Believe me--all four prizes are very neat and sweet! You'll love them!
So head on over there and read the rules and comment if you want to enter! The first on is up here: Embroidered Cloth Journal Giveaway and will be open through Saturday, September 12. The winner will be announced sometime Sunday, then the next giveaway announced next Monday!
My girls are having a few friends over, and to avoid any problems, all the girls and Noah are getting to sleep in the makeshift "bunkhouse"--the living room! There are mattresses in there and couch cushions made up to make a nice comfy wall-to-wall sleeping area!
After we watched a movie last night (One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing--corny but funny!) , Isaiah (who was going to go up into his crib) rolled over by Noah and said something that sounded like "bigger". I interpreted it to mean, "Hey, I'm bigger now! I can sleep down here, too, right?!" Well, I repeated "bigger", but he said the word again like I didn't understand him.
Finally, I got it!
He was saying, "Pikshur!"
He knows we always run to get the camera when the boys are doing something cute!
I was already on the floor, so I just rolled over and laughed until I cried!!!! (My daughters' friends already know I'm a nutcase, but I definitely confirmed it then!!! )
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be named Noah, be a little boy, and hear about "Noah's Ark"? From the time our little guy understood "Noah's Ark", it became "Mine Ark"! Makes sense to a 3 year old, right?!
Well, he's four now, and starting to understand that someone else can have the same name, and the old guy in the Bible story pictures isn't necessarily him!
We recently had this conversation as he was lying down before his nap. (I really can spell! I am writing it phonetically as he really talks! Think "Linus" with his cute nasally voice--minus the "s" sound!)
Noah: "Ho, Mommy," (remember, he can't say his "s" sound? And he starts talking to me this way a lot--"so, Mommy" only it's "Ho, Mommy"!) "Ih the ark going to go in our ocean?"
Me: (Not sure what "our ocean" is, but playing along...) "No, but it did go in the water. It wasn't really the ocean yet."
Noah: (after thinking about it a minute) "Ho, Mommy, will it go in our ocean neckt time?"
Me: "Well, I don't think there will be a next time, but if there is, then yes, it will go in our ocean."
Noah: (thinking a little bit more) "Then Daddy can build anodder ark, and we can put giraffe in it and elephant and tiger and monkey and goat and all de animal! And Daddy and Mommy and Jehhica and Leah and Honanah (Susannah) and Cahhia and Anna and Bekah and Charihha and me and Ihaiah and Pooh!" He smiles. "And Noah can go in it, too!"
Today is my oldest daughter's 22nd birthday! Where did the time go? If I had a scanner, I'd put in some OLD pictures! LOL!! Maybe I can get some with the digital later.
Jessica is my right hand girl (well, one of them! ), but don't let her sweet, servant-hearted demeanor and ready smile deceive you---she was quite the firecracker when she was younger! We could tell all kinds of "Jessica stories"! (My husband used to entertain a lady at work with daily "Jessica stories"!!!) I was going to send her to Dr. Dobson so he could rewrite his book on The Strong Willed Child--I was convinced he'd never seen one THIS "strong-willed"!!!
Thankfully, we kept at our training (and kept at it, and kept at it....) to where she is a lovely, lovely young woman today! As I think of where I was at 22, she is eons ahead of me!!!
I jokingly tell her, "When I grow up, I want to be like you!"
And for 22 years, we have celebrated her birthday on her day as a family, usually having her party then, too. She loves having her birthday this time of year, but we haven't been to a candlelight Christmas Eve service since 1985! And at that one, I was bawling my heart out because I wanted a child so desperately! How like the Lord to give me, exactly one year later, a beautiful blessing!
I know I speak for all of us (but they can blog about it themselves if they want!), that we all love her VERY MUCH and are so happy and grateful to have her in our family!
Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with Jessica!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA!!!
May you have a blessed and wonderful day! (It's already been fun, doing a quick "Christmas run" together!!! )
A few beautiful pictures of my lovely pianist daughters playing an inspiring duet of "For the Beauty of the Earth" (maybe someday I'll get a digital video camera so you can hear it!).
Flying fingers......
Sisterly harmony!
Just a short "post"--but I wanted to share these sweet pictures with you!
I don't usually post twice in one day, but I wanted to post a happy birthday to my sweet little guy! He's two today! It's so hard to believe--where DOES the time go?!
I am so grateful God gave us another boy so Noah could have a buddy! (Plus, we're glad Noah has someone to share the limelight with....we were getting worried that that boy's head was getting too big for him! I mean you can imagine after 7 sisters, how much attention he got, right?! )
We actually celebrated on Sunday with the grandmas. So here are some pictures of our little cutie that keeps us smiling! (He and his brother are TMFP status--The Most Favored Prince!)
The cake was good--spatula lickin' good!
Look at that smile! (Actually, both of them!)
He really was quite good at unwrapping!
He has this "cock your head" smile he does for the camera now!
Here he is posing with his warm nigh-nights from Grandma R.!
Daddy getting a small car detangled from all the packaging!
(With LOTS of supervisors! )
The tractor is a hit with BOTH boys...it's hard to get Noah to
give Isaiah's own present back to him!
This isn't from his birthday, but it's a good shot!
50 years ago today, my dad and mom were married. They had decided to get married when he was home on a quick leave. They called around to invite family and friends, and really had quite a good turnout! After a very short honeymoom, they went back to Boston where Dad was stationed while in the Navy. I have their wedding album--Dad looks pretty spiffy in his Navy duds, and my mom the starry-eyed 19 year old girl in love with her sailor! (In her size 5 dress cut down to a size 1 that was still too big--she had an 18 inch waist! And so did I--when I was 12!!! )
But there is no party, no open house, no pictures in the paper.....because Dad passed away almost a year ago.
It's tough, these firsts. I called Mom today and wished her a happy anniversary--after all, it is STILL her anniversary. We miss Dad, but due to his condition before he went Home to be with Jesus, we wouldn't wish him back.
So I write this entry as a tribute to the couple that gave me life and raised me, that are a major part of who I am.
I feel as if I'm in the calm before the storm! So far today, one daughter was feeling pretty yucky with a fever, a few more were warm, and yet a few more had headaches. We'll see in the next 24-48 hours whether some, none or all get chicken pox!
I'm armed with a new thermometer, vitamins, herbs....I've written out what everyone should be taking to boost their immune system and we have Aveeno, lavender oil and oatmeal for baths! I'm not going down without a fight!
Today's crisis has made my usual routine for this day a bit different. Usually on this day, I buy a carnation, then visit the cemetery.
I did visit the cemetery for a few moments. There's a heart shaped stone there, with the name of our first son on it. He was born 18 years ago yesterday, but he had already gone to be with the Lord a few days sooner. Up until 4 years ago, (when my husband had his serious accident), it was the hardest thing I had ever gone through. Yet the Lord saw me through, as He has so faithfully seen me through many things since, great and small.
I distinctly remember coming out of the funeral home and feeling like I was going to collapse. A dear, dear man of God, Brother Bob Boggs came up to me. Here was a man who had known sorrow and suffering as companions! He had lost his only son in an accident, then later a married daughter to cancer. His dear wife was in the nursing home with Alzheimers, yet he moved near her and loved and cherished her until the day she died. When he came up to me, he said, "The Lord strengthen you!" Immediately I felt just that--the Lord's strength!
It was so hard--our first son (we'd had two beautiful daughters before him), the first grandson on my side, and the first grandson to "carry the family name" on my husband's side, which really meant a lot to my father-in-law. God certainly carried me through that time. And I definitely had my questioning times. I've told people it was more of an open handed "why?" than a demanding fisted why. Through it all, I ultimately knew I could trust the infinite wisdom of my Heavenly Father. I spend a lot of time at the cemetery those first weeks. Healing. Not just for him, but for the 6 miscarriages that were before him. Then as healing became more complete, I just don't need to go there much anymore.
But there will always be that little hole in our family.
Of course I wonder what he would be like now, practically a man. I do know he'd be with his daddy, learning about construction!
His being in Heaven made it all the sweeter--I have "treasure" there, now. Actually, I have 13 treasures there! We've had 12 miscarriages, as well. Dallas and I went to see a play several years ago called "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames". One scenario was a family on their way home from church, rejoicing that the youngest daughter had accepted Christ. The mother started weeping, remembering a dear little daughter that had gone on to be with Jesus, and the father comforted her, saying, "Just think, we'll all be together forever!" Then they had an "accident" and found themselves standing before Heaven's gates. They jumped up and down shouting "We made it! We made it!"
During this play, whenever a believer "died", Jesus would come out and welcome them with a hug. This time, He held up his hand and motioned for someone to come out with Him--it was their little daughter! Oh, what joy and rejoicing at that reunion! Dallas and I held each other, crying and saying, "Just think! That's what it will be like for us! Only what a 'Welcome Home' committee we'll have!!!" Of course we want to see Jesus most of all! After all, it's because of Him we can be all together for eternity!
We talked of whether we would ever use the name "Noah" again. Not for the next boy, Dallas said. Little did we know the "next boy" would come 14 years later! Still, I was surprised when Dallas wanted to use the name Noah. So from early in the pregnancy, Noah's name was chosen! Noah Ross means "Comfort in Victory". We chose Noah Isaac, "Comfort in Laughter". It was funny to think of a boy after 7 girls, and after 14 years! What I didn't know, is I would laugh in God's timing of Noah's birth, and in His provision for us during a difficult time after Dallas' serious truck accident (just 3 weeks before Noah Isaac's birth!). And he was a "comfort" to me during that time, too!
Two years later, we were again blessed with a boy! I joked with Dallas he better name this one after him, since I was 44 at the time and you just never know! (I'd gladly take more, by the way!). Yet we thought it would be sweet to use Noah Ross' middle name (which is also one of my grandpas' names!). So we did. Both boys have a part of his name. They don't replace their older brother. But short as his life was here on earth, his memory lives on.
Someday, the boys will go with me to the cemetery, and they'll understand they have an older brother who has gone on to Heaven before us. And they'll know how grateful I am that Jesus died to save us, to comfort us in our sorrows, to help us in our trials, and to take us Home to be with Him forever. What precious promises!
I had sang a song at church just 3 weeks before Noah Ross' death. During the long labor, the chorus went through my head over and over. I knew I had to sing that song at Noah's "dedication" service--his funeral. It was just as much a dedication, though--after all, a baby dedication is "giving them back to God"--in this case, God had chosen to take him. I was "giving him back" in my heart.
With God's help, I did sing that song. And 17 years later my older girls and I sang it by my dad's casket just before we left, the last ones to go. Here are the verses and chorus to "When We See Christ". I pray it will minister to you, today, whatever your trial may be.
Trisch
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Oftimes the day seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over, in God's eternal day.
Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light,
We're tossed and driven on, no human help in sight;
But there is One in Heav'n Who knows our deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem--just go to Him in pray'r.
Life's day will soon be o'er, all storms forever past,
We'll cross the great divide to Glory, safe at last;
We'll share the joys of Heav'n--a harp, a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we'll lay our burden down.
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
Today our 6th daughter (and 6th child!) was baptized. Our church meets at a nursing home, so baptisms are at the pastor's home on a private lake. As she came up out of the water, 3 John 4 came to mind, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Of course, this isn't an ending, but a beginning. She will need to continue that walk throughout her life.
It seems just a short time ago, she was our chubby Bekah-D-Boo! She was my largest baby weighing in at 11 lbs. 4 oz! (Well, so far! Hopefully she will keep that record!) When we would ask her, "Where's your chubby leggies?" She'd grin and hold up one of her chubby thighs!
Now she's 9, and growing up to be quite a good helper--we call her our good little mommy! I'm so very grateful to be able to home educate, making God and His Word a priority in our "school" as well as just focusing on our relationship with Him. After all, it isn't church, it isn't dutifully having devotions or even prayer that makes us holy---it's having a living, vital relationship with Him--which may come through the aforementioned things, but don't mistake "doing this or that" for a relationship with Him! After all, I know my husband wouldn't be too thrilled if I thought having a relationship with him was just reading his letters, making sure his clothes are clean and he has good meals, even talking to him, but never really connecting hearts with him!
So I pray that I model for and train Bekah, pointing her to her loving Bridegroom Who has wooed her to Himself, to find in Him her all in all.
I love you, Bekah, and am so grateful for your decision!
I really need to catch things up here, but I at least wanted to let anyone know that my daughters are blogging now! Seven Sisters Blog is up and running! You can find them in my friends section under "farmgirls".
I can count it as language arts, computer skills, internet skills, communications skills, family harmony skills, democratic skills (deciding on names, how they were going to do it and all that!), character building (you know, learning patience while a sister types and you're itching to type your part!). I think I can maybe get most of my core skills in here! I might even be able to figure math in there somehow.....counting minutes until it's your turn?!
Hopefully they can keep up better than me--there's seven of them!
A glimpse into daily life that isn't so mundane in a relaxed homeschooling family of 11 (plus the dog, the goats, the rabbits, the chickens, the cats...)
I've lost 7 sizes
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