Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The following is my Christmas letter and I thought I would share it on here.

Hoping this finds you all in good health, spiritually, physically and mentally. Our family is blessed. We are thankful for all of those things!

From the outside, it may not look like it as Dan has had two surgeries this year. One back in February and another this November. He is healthy as a horse and has faired well in both cases.

Back in February, while recovering from surgery, Dan was hired at PGE. He had applied months previously, but God worked it out at just the right time. Dan now works as maintenance electrician on the dams along the Clackamas River. He loves working for them and they love him!

I continue to homeschool and be a keeper of my home. Juggling four school children's education, running the economy of our home and thinking of future plans is a full-time, yet very rewarding job. The Lord is faithful and has filled me with Joy, Peace and Patience for this role. There is no other place I would rather be!

The children keep growing right before our eyes! They will soon be passing me in height this next year. (Not hard since I am only 5'1 but their dad is 6'1.) We are involved as a family with our church and various activities. Apologetics class, dance/tap class, worship team and sewing circle, to name a few.

Melody is 12 and loves to read! Naomi is 11 and is a reader also but loves to do crafts and serve others. Anna, 9 this month, also is finding a love of reading but her favorite thing is to be 'mommy' to her dolls. Finally, Jimmy turned 7 and is showing his creativity with building his Legos and making paper airplanes. They all are such a joy and a blessing to our family.

We are looking forward to the beginning of the new year as we will be visiting Dan's brother and his family in Hawaii. This is our first BIG family vacation anywhere. We usually do a lot of camping during the year and love it but have been blessed with this trip.

We are also looking forward to see what the Lord does in our lives this coming year. We are completely content with where He has us now, while learning always, to rely on Him daily. We are trusting Him for Wisdom in raising our children to affect generations to come. We want to be purposeful and prayerful, not just in parenting but in all our relationships.

May you all find your Joy and Hope in the One True Giver of blessings as we remember who the true Gift of Christmas is.

With much love.

A Dream Last Night

I had a dream last night.

I was in a room full of my friends.

They had all come to visit me and spend time with me.

As I looked around the room I noticed some were missing.

I saw on the far side of the room three of my friends who were sitting with their backs to me working on computers.

I was a little saddened but said nothing.

I walked down a hallway and saw three more friends on computers.

I was hurt because some of them had travelled far to visit yet would rather be on the computer.

I asked if they were going to join me for visiting and was put off with an

'Oh, yes, in just another minute we'll be there.'

To be put off by dear friends that I loved really hurt.

Then I went to another place and saw three more friends.

The room they were in was kinda dark but I could see their faces because a blue light was reflecting on them.

It was the light of a TV they were watching.

I asked if they were coming.

Two of them didn't even notice I was talking but one barely glanced up enough to tell me,

'No, we don't want to miss this show.'

I started to cry.

I cried so hard that it was hard to breath as I walked back to the room of all my waiting friends.

I was so sad.

I was hurt that these other friends of mine would choose to spend their time on the computer and TV and not with me.

I cried so hard in my dream that in real life I heard myself moaning in my sleep.

Then...

I awoke suddenly as I heard a gentle, love-filled, yet sorrowful voice quietly say...

This is how you treat me.

Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life

Proverbs 10:17a

Blessings

This is the month of Thanksgiving.

I love November because it reminds me to count my blessings.

To quote Madame Blueberry from Veggie Tales,

"A happy heart is a thankful heart."

I have much to be thankful for and I think the things I value most are relationships.

My relationship with the Lord,

My husband,

Our children,

My extended family,

My church family...

The list goes on.

I adore my husband and respect him in a way I never have before.

The thing that makes me giddy is that he cherishes me!

It wasn't always that way so I am truly thankful.

Dan was helping a friend haul some wood and ended up with a double hernia.

The poor guy has been toughing it out for a couple weeks now and will have to have surgery next Friday.

He's a trooper though.

No complaints coming from him.

So we will be spending the Thanksgiving week low-key while he recovers.

I'm thankful to God that He gave Dan a new job this year that allows him to have paid time off, and that he can return to work on light duty.

Unlike February.

As he goes into his second surgery this year,

I am thinking of how thankful I am for Dan.

He is hard working, loyal, faithful, focused and brings joy to others with his humor.

He balances me as I get too serious at times and I tend to get side tracked easily.

He is everything this woman wants in a man!!

I am blessed beyond measure!

So I have a heart full of thanks!

Here I am!

CHANGE

Who likes it?

I certainly don't.

When your friend informs you she is moving across the country.

When other dear friends decide to attend a different church.

When your husband comes home and tells you to do things differently.

When your body doesn't work as it use to.

When your children get taller than you.

When...

Okay, it's not really that bad.

What about when the weather changes for the next season?

I love that!

The beautiful fall colors that the Master has painted.

And

The grand adventure my friend gets to have in a whole other state.

The new and improved schedule for my home that makes life function better.

The reminder that even though I am not so young, I can still be fit and healthy.

The twinkle in my daughter's eye when we share an inside joke.

I was reminded last night that what we define as 'Good' may not be the same as what God defines it as.

So

Even though change is hard at times and it doesn't seem good at times,

I know that all things work together for good for those who love God.

New Beginning?

So in order to keep a blog

One must continue to UPDATE said blog.

Do I do such a thing?

No.

So I've decided to start anew and try to keep this updated.

I have no 'news' as of yet

except the good news that our God is so great

and we are always blessed!

We've had a full summer but I am going to purpose to blog at least once a week.

We'll see if I can follow through with that.

So for now I am just letting everyone know

(that is if anyone even reads this anymore)

I don't do well on Face Book either.

I'm rarely on here but I want to connect with others somehow.

So here goes!!

Fenelon -- Gentleness and Humility

Francois Fenelon was a writer and archbishop of the 16th century.

A dear friend gave me a Lamplighter book called

'Dialogues of Fenelon Vol.II"

It's a little book with just a page or two to read on something he wrote.

Today I was reading on Gentleness and Humility. I want to quote that page as it is very encouraging to me.

'Your remedy for wandering thoughts and want of fervor will be to

set apart regular seasons for reading and prayer;

to mix yourself up in outward matters only when it is necessary;

and to attend more to softening the harshness of your judgment,

to restraining your temper,

and humbling your mind,

than to upholding your opinion even when it is right;

and, finally,

to humble yourself whenever you find that an undue warmth concerning the affairs of others has led you to forget your supreme interest,

Eternity.

"Learn of me," Jesus Christ says to you,

"for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Be sure that grace,

inward peace,

and the blessing of the Holy Spirit will be with you,

if you maintain gentleness and humility amid all your external perplexities.'

Wow.

Blessings Friends!

Sunny Day!

Today is a sunny day!

Literally!

It finally feels like winter is over and spring has sprung!

Dan had his first day at his new job with PGE. He is so excited about it all. This could be the beginning of a very long career with them. That is the hope anyway.

The first week or so is just orientations and safety classes and such. It will take a few months to be fully on board with how things work around there, but he is a sharp thinker and will get it down quickly.

This is the dream job for Dan.

So our question is 'Why would God want to prosper us?'

I know that it pleases God to bring blessings to those who are his children. Just like I have joy in giving good gifts to my children.

We don't deserve His blessings but we enjoy His blessings because he loves us.

So why would God prosper us?

To glorify Him!

This is true whether we prosper or not.

So....

I've been convicted lately that I need to get out of my 'comfort zone' (disobedience).

Our home becomes a fortress when we use it to avoid contact with others.

I want my home to be an embassy that welcomes visitors and shares the Good News by sharing our lives with them.

I'm talking about

Hos...pi...tality

I attended a conference this weekend and one of the areas I was challenged in was hospitality.

I learned that in hospitality, we show our love for God by how we love each other.

Romans 12:10-14

Hospitality is an offering to God that we get to enjoy with others.

1 Peter 4:8-9

I love the idea of allowing our home to be worn out for Christ.

It's to be used because it is an embassy.

Hospitality is also a way to live like a missionary in your own home. Using it to reach out to strangers, neighbors, co-workers, friends and family.

Building relationships and sharing your life.

Do we need a big, perfect home?

Do we need to have perfect children or a wonderful marriage?

Does it have to be fancy food?

No.

If we wait for all those things to line up, we will never open our home!

It's a humbling thing to do and it takes practice doing it.

This is where I am.

I've grown over the last few years. I can make the main areas in my house look comfortable, but don't open the closet door or something might fall out on you. Keep my bedroom door shut because even though the bed might be made, the rest of the room is a cluttered, disorganized mess. And please ignore the other half of the 'play room' (the garage) because it actually looks like a messy garage.

You have to be willing to be vulnerable to people seeing your clutter or disorganization. It's okay because having people over makes us look at these things in a new light and helps us to work on improving them. (They'll never be fully perfect but that's okay too.)

My house stays a lot cleaner when I have people over often.

It has taken a little while, but I am starting to enjoy hospitality. I use to dread having people over because it meant work on my part.

(Shows you how lazy I am.)

Now I'm starting to enjoy it because it is good to share our lives with people and love on them.

Hospitality is not a big deal for some people as they thrive on having people over.

I am learning from them and

need reminding like this weekend.

Dan and I have a new vision for our family.

The starting of a new job is only an outward reminder of this fresh start.

By His grace,

and our humble obedience to Him,

we will live to glorify God!

Crazyville

That is all I can say about the past few days/weeks.

I won't go into all the boring details of life around here.

I will say that it has all been for our good!

The second week off from work for Dan proved to be Providential.

He realized quickly that he still needed to recover from the surgery as it is easy to over-do things. During that time he was able to get a FULL medical release from his doctor and return to work after only having two weeks off. He still had to take it easy.

During that 2nd week off, Dan got a call from PGE.

He's been trying to get hired by them for years. He sent yet another application to them a couple months ago. They finally called and said they were interested in him, when could he come in for a test? Well, he wasn't working at the moment so he went in and tested to see if he knew his stuff. The VERY NEXT DAY they called him again, he passed the test and they wanted to set up an interview. He interviewed a couple days later and we just heard yesterday that

THEY WANT TO HIRE HIM!!

We see all of this as God's perfect timing.

First, what seemed like a bummer of having to take time off, was really so Dan could rest longer, he was able to test with PGE and eventually interview, and we learned some wonderful financial and faith lessons.

The timing of this job is perfect because the one he is currently on will be ending soon. The Lord has provided work all along for Dan and so he would have had more work if God wanted him to, but this is a great time for the transition. He won't be leaving anyone high and dry to move into the PGE job.

Our God is so Good!

He should be starting in a couple weeks after PGE does paperwork.

(I forgot to mention that Dan's job with PGE will be as a Dam Maintenance Electrician on the Clackamas River out in Estacada. He loves that kind of work.)

She Laughs At The Future

Does God promise an easy and happy life?

NO!

~~~~~

After my first reactions of doubt, fear and a little trembling,

I can only laugh!

After a nice relaxing week of recovery,

Dan was looking forward to getting back to work on Monday.

Dan won't be returning to work on Monday as planned.

In fact, he might not be returning until March 5th if even that!

He is recovering well and so that is not the issue.

The issue is that his work will not allow him back without a FULL doctor's work release.

The Dr. had originally faxed a work release to return on Monday doing light duty. That means no pulling, tugging, pushing or lifting heavy loads over 20 pounds. It originally included climbing ladders but the Dr. revised it because Dan and he had talked about being safe and not undoing the surgery. Dan is an electrician, which can be a heavy labor job. The current project he is working on has a lot of work that he can do for the next few weeks that is not labor intensive but he would be on the ladder a lot.

His company won't take him back at this point because they don't want to be held liable for any injury to the surgery site. (They won't hesitate to get a guy back on light duty as soon as possible when he's had an on-the-job injury because the company's insurance won't pay for the guy to be off work for too long and will make their premiums go up.) Dan's issue was an elective surgery so they don't want to deal with him at this point.

If he is off work for the next few weeks, who's to say they will even hold on to him after that?

We won't know for sure until next week.

Did we plan on Dan taking a month off from work, unpaid?

No.

Is this going to be a huge financial struggle?

Yes.

Do we put our trust in employment or income?

No.

We put our trust in God alone.

My false security in Dan always having a job was shaken today.

~~Good!~~

There are so many worse things that could be going on.

It's all about perspective.

Mainly, I know God has a plan.

I know that this is for our good and His glory.

What's going to happen?

Only He knows!

I will cling to Him because I know He will provide all our needs.

We have acted in obedience to Him.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

Ps. 25:9

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

Ps. 37:4-5

I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Ps. 34:1,8

~~~~~

Do you see why I am laughing?

I am laughing because I can't wait to see what God is going to do!!

I am laughing because my God is in control and I trust Him!!

I am laughing because I have peace that goes beyond all understanding!!

I am laughing...

because...

even though life is uncertain...

I...have...JOY!

There and Back Again

I can't believe we've been there and are back already!

The trip was fast.

The way it all worked out,

We left on Thursday,

Surgery on Friday,

Home on Saturday!

(This is a view from our hotel of San Antonio at night.)

We saw the Alamo and enjoyed the beautiful River Walk.

(It happened to be cold and rainy the first day there.)

Did I mention BBQ?

You've never had real BBQ until you've had Texan BBQ!

Texan's are very proud of their portion sizes of food and drink, too.

We certainly didn't starve while we were there!

It was great!

And guns!

Everyone seemed to have one strapped to their leg!

(Okay, not everyone, but I saw more guns in the open on people in one day than I've seen in my whole lifetime! I must not get out much!)

I think the t-shirt I saw that said 'Texan's don't dial 911' and had a picture of a gun on it, was not far from the truth! Pretty crazy for an Oregon Northerner who lives where the SWAT team is called in and the schools are put in lock down when a second grader pulls out a rubber band gun.

(No exaggeration! It happened just last week!)

Something else interesting about our short stay in Texas was the people.

They are SO nice!

I had not experienced Southern anything before and that's the first thing we noticed.

People went out of their way to be polite and helpful and initiate conversation!

I don't want to knock my fellow Oregonians, but I think we could learn a few things from our Southern neighbors.

Eye contact and a friendly 'hello' go a long way!

The last night we were there, the state wide cheerleading camp came to town so there were little cheerleaders all over the place! It looked like 1st through 8th grade. We were told that the high schoolers had already been through the week before. Our hotel had rented 190 rooms out to them and that was just one of many hotels. So the place was crawling with them!

Texas was a nice place to visit but it was SO refreshing to come back to my green native home.

I also missed my children.

They missed us too!

The surgery went well and Dan did great!

I'm proud of that guy!.

It was a little over two hours long and I got to watch the whole thing and ask questions.

It's quite fascinating how God has made our bodies!

Today we enjoyed home church, praising God for an uneventful trip, a good surgery and a delightful reunion with our family.

Dan is taking this week off from work so he doesn't over do it.

He gets sore easily right now so I'm glad he'll be home.

~~~~~~~~

I read this scripture today and it sums up this whole adventure so far.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

Ps. 37:4,5

Thanks for the many prayers, y'all!

WE'RE GOING!

I just realized that my last post was lost.

We are leaving this week for the surgery!

The children will stay with some dear friends of ours and then we will be on a plane first thing Thursday morning for San Antonio. The surgery is Friday and we'll come home Saturday.

We found that it is way less expensive to go down south than to have it done locally.

There are a couple doctors who do reversals as a ministry and so a lot of the regular costs are cut out.

Dan will take the following week off from work because he can't lift more than 10 pounds that first week. Then he just has to take it easy at work for the week after. After that? Well...the Lord will decide what happens next. We leave it all to Him!

We are SO excited!

I don't know if we'll get to see much while we are down there. We'll be staying right by the Alamo and the Riverwalk so I'm sure we'll enjoy our time somewhat. Dan nor I have ever been to Texas.

Thank you for all your prayers!

So Now What?

So we lost our zeal for adoption.

Now what?

Just before Christmas, Dan and I found ourselves at our favorite Thai food restaurant on an unexpected date together. As we were enjoying our food we started to discuss where we were in the adoption process. We both agreed that we had lost our zeal for adopting through the state. Neither of us had a heart for overseas adoptions either. His comment was, 'If we're going to spend a bunch of money on an adoption for one kid, why don't we just get a reversal instead.'

Um, REVERSAL?

Really?

(I'm thinking I can't believe he is really saying this!)

We talked about it, and decided to pray about it some more.

Just around New Years the conclusion is...

YES!

Okay, now this didn't just come over night.

Like I said before, all along I have felt we are missing someone. Dan has done the same thing a few times too.

I realized that this is spiritual thing too.

(I might step on people's toes here. I don't mean to. I just want to share my own journey on this. It doesn't apply to anyone but me. What ever you might think of it is between you and God. This whole blog is my own experience and my feelings concerning it.)

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way I want to share what has been happening.

Wouldn't it be just like the enemy of our souls to try to discourage us, especially when we are on the brink of obeying God on a major issue in our life?

All these things started happening around us.

Late one night I parked in the wrong spot at my mom's apartment complex. I didn't have the right 'sticker' to park there. My other car had it but not the one I was using. (Dan's) A very frustrating $322 tow fee later that included taking a ride with 'Shawn' the tow truck driver into a very dark and scary tow yard to retrieve Dan's car and made me an hour late picking up my poor mom from the airport, was all very upsetting.

(panting heavily from saying all that in one sentence!)

I was feeling bad that Dan's hard earned money had to go to 'those really friendly business men'. (I could use another word to describe them but don't want to hurt any tow truck drivers feelings. I don't use bad words but I was thinking of a certain kind of bird that begins with a V.)

Never mind.

Moving on!

Then a couple days later Dan is called on the carpet at work for a safety technicality that could cost him his job.

After that I was cleaning up from the holidays and went through some papers and found a jury duty summons for Dan that he was suppose to serve the week BEFORE!

Great! Not only did he almost lose his job, I got his car towed and now I'm going to have the poor guy arrested because I forgot to tell him way back in November that he had jury duty the first week of the New Year!

WOW!

You know, through all of this we put our trust in God alone.

(Not in employment, or money nor anything else.)

Jury duty...well, he'll just be served a summons again and he'll serve then.

The car...it could have been worse. It could have been stolen or wrecked. That equals paying for a new car plus recovering from possible injuries. Or I could have gotten a nasty ticket which includes increased insurance and a bad mark on your record.

It could have been a worse night.

His job...well, not only did he not get fired but was put on a committee to report examples of the new safety code from working in the field. The code was so vague that they needed people to understand with examples. Also, his forman was sure to say that if people had to be let go on the crew, Dan was to be absolute last to go.

He has work for the next few months plus found favor in the eyes of his superiors!

Our God is GOOD!

What ever might have been meant to discourage us turned out for our good.

It was a chance to rely even more on our Father in Heaven.

(Regardless of the outcome.)

He is in control.

That is how we are looking at this whole thing.

I would love more children in our life. They are a blessing and a heritage from the Lord.

Why would we cut God's blessings off?

Whether God allows anymore children or not,

I trust Him.

I just want to be obeying Him no matter what.

We sinned by not regarding God in our decision to have a vasectomy.

We want to undo the wrong by making it right.

Dan said he is going to get 'Fixed'.

(He was broken before.)

'Jesus does not hang desires in front of us without showing us how he wants us to get there. These words are water to a thirsty soul that wants true righteousness, but how do we get there? It comes by being submitted to God in the power of the resurrection.

You can't do it.

He will do it.'

-Jim Schmitt-

We desire true righteousness through submission and humble obedience to our God and Savior, for His glory!