Saturday, April 24, 2010

Abby turned 10!

Thursday, the 22nd was Abby's 10th birthday! It was a full day with her choir concert that evening. She got many birthday wishes from friends and fellow choir members.


Like her 21-year-old sister Anna, she was a blessing to us after the trial of infertility. With Anna, we had tried for 2 years and after almost another year of testing, the Lord gave me a peace about it all in prayer one day. We found out we were expecting three months later!

After our 4-year term in language school and serving Bible translators in Benin, West Africa with no child on the horizon, would the Lord give us another? There was more testing with a doctor that seemed like we were spinning wheels and getting nowhere. Then, a doctor who cared and we knew the Lord was in it again. About 7 months later we found out we were expecting Abby!

We can truly say children are a blessing of the Lord! If any reading this are struggling with infertility right now, take comfort in knowing the Lord knows your pain. He knows how deeply it hurts, and He is the God of all comfort. Trust Him. The answer won't always be what we want it to be, but He knows what is best, and we have to trust that. Some of the scriptures that brought me comfort are: Prov. 3:5, 6--Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding... Rom 12:1,2 --that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God...
Abby, may you see yourself as a daughter of the King and grow up to live in a way that honors Him! We were blessed when you joined us 10 years ago, and have had richer lives because you have been entrusted to us.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Joining the Gratitude Community

Ever since reading Ann Voskamp's blog, "A Holy Experience," I've been keeping my list of things to thank God for in a journal. Now I'm adding a list to my blog, so this is the beginning!



1-Of course the first thing is our Heavenly Father and His love for us in sending Christ to die for us!
2-His precious Word, in which He is revealed and through which we come to know Him
3-My salvation, becoming His child and having a right relationship with Him
4-My loving husband and two girls!
5-The small things for today that would easily be overlooked are the joy that comes from planting our flowers and bushes with our own hands and seeing them grow and bloom.
6-Crochet tutorials attentively followed today by Abby and me (we know how to knit, but not much crochet)


7-Fellowship of like-minded people
8-Health and strength


9-A girl's head bowed in intense concentration, oil pastel scratching and filling the page
10-Foreign language (French) computer program doing some of the teaching for this mom
11-Husband at the grill

Find out how you can join the Gratitude Community by visiting A Holy Experience.com


holy experience






Thursday, April 8, 2010

Our New Pets

Our latest homeschooling project has been a new bird feeder close to the living room window. All of us enjoy watching the show daily! Our bird book seems to always be on the coffee table as we grab it when we see a new bird.
This house finch visits regularly, usually with his wife who I would mistake for a sparrow.

Carolina Chickadees are very numerous here. We peeked in our bird house one year and saw five, little black baby chickadee heads. This year we had to repair the bird house and have rehung it too late, I'm afraid, for them to build their nest there.


We have two pairs of cardinals that dine regularly here. The mama is always more hesitant than papa. When we had some old indian corn ears laid out, he was the only one strong enough to pick off the kernels, and he would share them with her.


The tufted titmouse is shy and evasive. Anna, our oldest daughter, took these pictures for me with her nice camera! In almost every picture she took, the titmouse is peeking around the feeder.

We have this mama squirrel that always visits as well. She has a scar on her back that we recognize.

Her acrobatics constantly amaze us!

One scary incident that happened was when a hawk tried to snatch one of our little birds at the feeder. We were sitting on the couch and noticed a swoop of large, brown wings, and he landed briefly in the tree next to the feeder after failing to catch his prey. He didn't stay long when he detected our movements towards the window.
Now, it's the grackles that are a problem! They scare everyone away.