Exciting Valentines Day Announcement From a Neice!

What fun to receive a Valentines Day announcement by email yesterday from my neice, my oldest sister Dorcas's daughter, about the new relationship a wonderful young man is forming with her, and asking prayer from the extended family as they begin this new adventure in their lives!  It is always a blessing to watch God working, providing, and blessing in the lives of my brothers and sisters and their children.

I couldn't help thinking about how I received my very first phone call from my Jonathan 

on Valentines Day

when I was an English and Bible teacher in Ukraine.

It was one of the happiest experiences of my life! 
How it cheered a lonely day for me!

Twenty-four years later, today the Fed Ex van brought me Fresh Cut Flowers to my door--

from my same Sweetheart!

(He told me later he had gotten quite a deal from Groupon plus a coupon, which brought the price down to about 25% the original cost,

or I might have had a heart attack about how much I was afraid he might have had to pay for it!)

Not that Jonathan or I aren't worth full price--ha ha--it's just that we can't spend money like that and meet our bills, too!

 At twenty-four years later, our own children are growing up and watching how their parents interact and show love to one another.

They watch us hug in the morning and kiss each other goodbye for the day.

They watch Mom make or set on breakfast for Dad, and plan menus and take care of Dad,

and Dad take care of Mom, bring her flowers on special days or when she is sick and down.

They watch us disagree and then make up--and still kiss each other afterward. 

And they are out having relationships with other children, young people, and adults.

It won't be long before, like the airplane the boys are carrying, they will be flying away to start their own homes and families.

Until then, they are learning to interact and get along with all kinds of people,

such as the home school group that we are part of, meeting last week at Black Forest Park where there was this tennis court

where our boys' friends tried to fly an airplane till the wind made them quit.

Rose and Timmy are working down the road for a rancher and his wife a few times a week, cleaning her barn, feeding stock, and disposing of mice!
Sammy was the first one to work for her, and then Carrie, and now Rose and Timmy.
When the family saw the rancher's wife at the National Western Stock Show recently,
she gave Sam a big hug.
She dearly loves Sam, quiet though he is, probably because she is a very clear, straight-forward communicator, and he is very good at listening and obeying and being willing to do the hard or dirty work that they needed help with.
They got along superbly, as do the rest of the children with her as well.

We are so blessed that Carrie has had a job now for a couple months at a restaurant that a family we knew from India has started right across from Compassion Ministries. Our children get along well with people from different ethnicities, it seems!

Carrie serves,

 clerks,

 stocks, cleans,

sweeps, mops, and whatever needs to be done.

We are so grateful that she has good bosses to work for, who enjoy lots of laughter and fun along with all the hard work!

Tomorrow, Rose has been invited for a sleepover at a Christian friend's home.

God has been good to provide us friends from all walks of life.

Stay tuned for news later from my brother Hoshea in North Dakota.

Valentines--Expensive or Expressive?

Yesterday Jonathan surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of azaleas for me

for an early Valentines Day gift.

 I hardly had any Valentines  Day decorations, so I decorated our piano and book stands in our livingroom with old Valentines Day cards that he and I have gotten for each other through the years. 

And I looked around for candles or anything with hearts on it.

I loved how Carrie had redecorated this vine heart and hung it on the wall.

And  how she used Christmas tinsel and red ornaments, combined with red flowers and pine cones

to make a delightfully cheerful Valentines Day decoration for a dresser top.

Hannah wanted window clings, and she found a couple other items at Dollar Tree.

I'm constantly amazed at what a person can come up with to decorate or express one's love
without having to spend a lot of money.
It just takes imagination, time and love.
I am thinking about what to do for my hubby for Valentines Day.

But also I am reminded of my love for God.
Because He is the One I love most.
I don't want my love for Him to grow frosty.

What can I give Him, poor as I am,

this month when tokens of love are expressed in cards, gifts, and roses?

What rose do I have for You, my King and my God?

A song of joy.
 A heartfelt prayer.
An act of obedience.
A whispered adoration.
An act of trust.

 A taking up of my cross.

A keeping of my part of the covenant of love between not only my spouse and me,

but between my God and  me.

Jesus, Lover of my soul,

may no love of mine eclipse my love for You.

My Goal This Year is to Fail

"My New Year's Resolution This Year is to Fail"
That was the title of an article that caught my eye a few weeks ago,written by a mom.
It was encouraging and humorous, and I copied it yesterday when I sat down tired.

'''I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.' --Neil Gaiman

"As moms, we are constantly making mistakes, aren't we? I don't know about you, but I also tend to be good at pointing them out and beating myself up over them. For some reason, it seems to be ingrained in women that 'failing' is always a bad thing. I hope we can be more gentle with ourselves as moms and women and embrace those mistakes as learning opportunities. A refiner's fire, if you will. Make a resolution this year to make some mistakes, and to be ok with it.
 
"It's ok to have a horrible day, to burn the cookies, to snap at your kids when you're PMSing, to be late to an appointment, and to spill macaroni and cheese all over the floor, and here's why--our kids need to know it's ok to fail, too. We should always encourage our children not to burn the cookies, yell, not to be late, and to be tidy, but they need to see that when they make mistakes the world isn't going to fall apart. They need to know how to forgive themselves and laugh it off.
I hope I can teach my kids that making mistakes is part of being productive, of creating, of moving forward, of doing.

"So, my resolution this year is to fail at some things, because being a mom is the hardest job in the world! We aren't meant to be perfect role models, just loving role models with a few imperfections.
If my kids are alive and happy at the end of a hard day, then I have done my job. Sometimes, the dishes can wait, the gym (most days) will have to wait, and we might order in pizza more than we should. It's reality, and it's ok. Mothers aren't meant to be perfect no matter what Pinterest tells us.

"I do plan on losing a few pounds this year...
being less distracted...and reading more. I hope your year is full of good goals, love, memories, time with family and being kind to yourself. I hope in the midst of it all we make some mistakes, and in the process, remember we are doing our very best, we're growing, we're progressing, and that we are doing the most important work in the world!
Happy New Year"

From Colorado Springs KIDS magazine- January 2017

Another quote I read recently and I didn't document where from: "Our lives don’t have to be merely a series of failed attempts to be [someone we aren't]. Let’s...take risks to serve God and neighbor that don’t perfectly pan out, and make decisions that might make us losers in others’ eyes. But let’s live lives that hear what God says in our ear as he embraces us: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' Let’s seek sufficiency in that voice...
God is... more relentless than our failures.

Rivers of Water from our Very Own Well: Pictorial of God's Promise Coming True!!

Praise God with us for this marvelous answer to prayer--

"RIVERS OF WATER"

FROM OUR VERY OWN WELL!

A fountain of water!

He gave us this promise the night before the well drillers began to bring in their equipment:

"The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,

Their tongues fail for thirst.

"I, the Lord, will hear them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

"I will open rivers in desolate heights,

...and fountains in the midst of the valleys:

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

 and the dry land springs of water."

In an area where wells have to go to a depth of 900 to 1300 feet, 

God gave us water at the least of those extremes--at just 903 feet instead of 1300.

We could complain that He didn't give us water at a shallower depth,

but He knows what is best.

We were told that the shallower aquifer is drying up in our area, and the Lord knew that.

The man we paid $2100 to help us sound for water basically told Jonathan that he couldn't find much if any water on our property except in the shallow aquifer back in the far corner of our property

and Jonathan's request to the water board to drill there was rejected.

So we were drilling on sheer faith and hope and just trusting that the Lord would give what was best.

Jonathan and I had gone out the morning that the drillers were to arrive,

and we stood around and walked around and we looked and we had no idea where to drill.

We felt so terribly, terribly helpless.

Drilling a dry hole 

and having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for it

was a real possibility.

But we decided to drill close to our first well, just in case the drillers found water at a shallow depth,

since we were allowed to drill into the shallow aquifer 

as long as it was within 50 feet of our old well.

I stood there feeling so terribly helpless, 

but there was a little bare spot of ground, and that spot stood out to me. 

I set my foot on it and said, "How about right here?"

Well, Jonathan thought a little further would be better, and so I said, okay.

He was the head of the home.

I suggested we pray.

He took off his hat, and together we prayed over his spot.

But later as he measured distance,

50 feet from our old well 

and a little more than 100 feet from the septic system (according to regulations),

he landed right about on that very spot where I  had suggested.

So together we decided that was the spot,

 and we felt peace.

The drillers drilled and drilled and drilled.
Then they stopped.

Then for three days, it was so frosty and cold that the work came to a halt.

Almost every day we took out coffee with cream and sugar, which was much appreciated by the hard-working drillers.

And finally, Saturday, the miracle happened.

The drillers were doing the "air lift" as they called it, 

blowing water out of the well, to clear out the debris from the drilling.

The driller didn't sound all that optimistic.

He said he thought maybe it was coming out at 6 gallons a minute.

Jonathan thought it looked like more than that.

So he got a 5-gallon bucket, and he went to the end of the pipe,

and he filled the bucket in 6 seconds flat!

He and I were running around taking pictures of the "fountains" of water,

and the "rivers of water."

What a precious answer to prayer!

So then Jonathan got curious.

He asked the well driller if he sees this kind of volume of water very often.

The driller said not very often--

and especially not in this area!

That made us feel like God had really done something special for us--

not that it was about us, but about Him!

And when I was taking pictures of this "fountain" of water spraying in the afternoon sunlight,

God gave us this very special picture of not just the fountain of water spraying all over,

but also the sunlight beaming down,

and a little rainbow right by the well!

Isn't our God just fantastic!!!!!!!!

Water at 903 Feet!

Yes, they had to drill that deep for water--

and at least we hope there is water.

The well drillers told us that they like to have at least 80 feet of sand before they know they have a good enough well.

And so they had to go 903 feet.

Here the backhoe is removing the sludge brought up by the drill machine to dump in a big pile elsewhere in our pasture.

Of course, the children had a good time watching all the proceedings, 

and learning a lot of new things.

Here is the drill set up.

You can see the round cylinder that the drill system goes through down deep into the earth.

A friend figured that they had to drill about as deep underground

as the Royal Gorge is deep!

They said about 400 gallons of water a minute is pumped through the system to keep the drill lubricated.

At one point, the drillers were afraid that the drill had gotten clogged, and that they would have to pull up 600 feet of pipe and start over,

but finally it was determined that just one jet of the drill had been clogged, 

and they kept drilling.

Big prayer of thankfulness and relief!
What a mess this process is making!

And this isn't the end of it before we get water.

I think of the verse in Isaiah 12:3,

"Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
To get to the water, you have to dig a well and get rid of a lot of dirt.

And to get to the joy, you have to get rid of a lot of shame, guilt, and baggage.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus, "for the joy set before Him,

endured the cross, despising the shame..."

We have a goal of having a well that produces plenty of water,

so we put up with the holes dug in our pasture for the sludge, 

and the huge piles of yucky clay and mud and sand (and even a little coal!)

and the rivers of concrete mess--

all for the goal of water.

 Water is the earthly goal.

Joy in the presence of Christ is the heavenly goal.

So we, like Jesus, will endure the cross.

We will put up with the dirt, and the work and the self-denial,

put up with the pain and the shame and the humiliation and the grief and the loneliness,
the scorn and the mockery,

sometimes putting up with being treated, as Paul said, "like the scum of the earth,"

because we seek something on the Other Side.

Something far more glorious than a well of abundant water!

March for Life, Washington, D.C.

A week ago, our family watched some of the annual March for Life in  Washington, D.C.

There was new hope this year, with a pro-life  President recently elected.

And the Vice-President, Mike Pence, had accepted the invitation to speak, the first high up government official to attend this event

which began after Roe vs. Wade.

It was thrilling watching the hundreds of thousands of marchers who value life,

and who were calling upon the Supreme Court to make a turn-around

and also value life.
It is estimated that half a million marchers were there, and their appearance and actions were so refreshing compared to the Women's March of the week before,
which had been complete with vulgarity of speech, action, and appearance.

This crowd of half a million(perhaps not even counting ones who could not get in due to security because of the Vice President's attendance) was joyful, decent, and sane.

At the bottom of the screen on the online site we happened to be watching, which was a Catholic broadcast actually, you could see the numbers fast ticking and going up by the second,

the number of abortions on average taking place worldwide just while this  march was going on.

As you can see, it was up to 20,495 in just a few hours, about one per second.

I liked to see the homemade banners,like the one above with a baby's footprints for the letter O,

in "CHOOSE Life."

Another poster read, "Pro Abundant Life!" 

And another, "Small Lives Matter."

l

One that made us laugh was, "CNN Not My News!"

Thank God for all those who traveled in from every State in the Union plus some from other nations

to send a strong message to the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court,

that the women in the Women's March do not represent the rest of us,

and that there is a strong and large constituency in America that wants to honor God

and value life "from the womb to the tomb," as one placard read.

This was such an encouragement, to listen to men and women of faith sharing, even if it was a Catholic site. I listened with interest to one bishop who was fielding questions from an interviewer asking, "What  about victims of rape and incest? How do you treat them?"

Calmly, gently, and caringly, he responded,

"We have to be honest with them. 

It was not the child's fault.

The crime that happened to the mother does not give her license to murder her child.

But we will be there for her to support her and care for her."

I thought we could learn from this kind bishop's quiet, thoughtful answer. 

That answer could refer to many areas of our lives as we look at the principles of God's Word and how to apply them in difficult situations.
Following God's Word is about principle and not necessarily about convenience.
Difficulty does not give license to do wrong.
Rather, it gives opportunity for grace.
I am so thankful for everyone involved in not only saving the lives of innocent babies,
but rescuing anxious and burdened mothers from shame, guilt, and defeat.