Another Miracle--Our Well Paid in Full!

It was probably the biggest check I ever wrote in my life--

and the miracle was that God had provided so that we did not have to go into debt!

Having driven thirty miles down the road to pay the well drilling company,

I stood there writing a number so long that it wouldn't fit on the line on the check,

and my heart was as at rest as if I were writing a check for $30

because the Lord had worked another miracle.

Now the pump setting crew was coming and putting in the pump. 

I got a picture of the silver cylindrical pump they put down in that pipe at about 720 feet.

To save on wiring (talk about expensive!) we chose to put in a pump that only does 7-9 gallons a minute, although the driller reported the well as producing 40 gallons a minute (and probably more like 50).

When Jonathan called the man who had done the data work on our property in the search for water,

and told him that God must have opened a "river of water" for us,

the man said, "Let me pull that up."

He looked at his data for that area of our property, and he said, "He must have! The Lord parted the Red Sea for you! I don't see anything there! "

He uses the same kind of technology they use to find oil, and he finds water for many people if it is there.  According to his data, there was no water there.

But we have a gusher!

Is that a God thing or what? 

I look back at the promise from Isaiah 41:18 that I read the night before the well drillers came:

"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."

And that is exactly what happened! We are in awe over and over as we watch gushing, pouring

abundant water!

When one of the men who set the pump left for the day, his truck's back tires accidentally went right over the vent pipes for our sewer!

Every one of them were broken!

Every last one!

We felt really bad for the poor guy!

"It was the nice guy," Jonathan told me sympathetically.

(There had been three guys, and Jonathan quickly picks out the one with an attitude versus the "nice guy," as he called him.)

Jonathan and Timmy dug out the pipes that evening so that the "nice guy" could easily fix the pipes the next morning. 

However, it was one more setback to actually getting water!

What a blessing when we could finally turn on the water! 

The water was very dirty yellow at first, but we ran it a while, creating a bit of a flood in the garage and crawlspace from a broken  to the outdoor spigot that must have frozen and cracked.

We've had water on and off while Jonathan works on different things.

Right at the moment the water is off again. Jonathan and the boys are out putting in a spigot for the pasture.

Guess what!

I loaded the dishwasher this evening because we have enough water to run it!

What luxury!

With Carrie gone to work most days, we all have extra work, so just in time we get plenty of water so we can run the dishwasher sometimes!

My Brother Hoshea Saves Girl from Suicide

Valentines Day is not a happy day for many people like it is for us.
Sunday evening I spent quite a while talking on the phone to my brother Hoshea up in frigid North Dakota. The weather there has been as cold as 37* below zero!

Hoshea's wife had told in their last newsletter about an attempted suicide that Hoshea helped to avert.

After checking on the chapel one Sunday when it had been too cold to have Sunday School, Hoshea drove up the road to turn around. Up against the maintenance building, he saw a person huddled under a blanket.

  After asking if the young person was all right, he was told that she had been "kicked out" of her home and wanted to die.

Hoshea had not recognized the girl, but she knew who he was because she had been to their Sunday School!

 Hoshea's wife Laurie wrote, "This precious girl showed Hoshea marks across her wrist where she had previously attempted suicide with some sharp glass.

Here she was now, huddled against a building with some more glass--contemplating suicide.

The temperatures were very frigid that evening, and she was already starting to feel numb and sleepy."

Hoshea asked for the piece of glass, but she would not give it to him. 

She questioned, "Why did you come back here?"

Hoshea explained that he was just turning around when he saw her sitting there.

She allowed Hoshea to pray with her and decided to walk to a friend's house and maybe even give them the glass.

"Will you watch me and make sure I get there ok?" she asked my brother.

How you wish you could wrap your arms around young people like that and provide the safety and love that they so desperately need!

This is just one of the many incidents that my brother is constantly running into there by the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.

Another Sunday, as Hoshea ventured out to do some calling, he saw a woman walking toward town to find food. The weather was way too cold to be "out for a stroll," as Laurie said,

and Hoshea had his family provide some food for her.

 

Another day there was a shootout in the community, killing a suspect who had stolen a car,

and killing a sheriff.

Since both Hoshea and his youngest son Andrew are volunteer members of the fire department, they were called upon to direct traffic for the fallen officer's funeral, at which the governor of North Dakota spoke, and attended by 1200-1500 other people as well! 

Hoshea has also recently volunteered to drive sometimes for the EMT's since there was a need every couple weeks on average. He told me that he feels this kind of involvement in the community offers him so  many opportunities to share Christ and show love that he could not otherwise have.

Hoshea traveled a day's journey to help a stranded medicine man and family that were with him, getting a big hug from a medicine man!

They went calling on another family and discovered that their shanty had burned, leaving the family destitute.

He fixes many vehicles for people like a woman in recovery from alcohol, whose son was in a shootout, and another man who had frostbitten fingers from trying to repair a vehicle by himself. 

Just this last  Sunday, Hoshea filled in at two different churches in the area.

One is a Lutheran Brethren church where the pastor died suddenly from a ruptured appendix, and where Hoshea has been preaching the last three weeks. He had been asked in the past to be their full time pastor, but did not feel he should take that responsibility due to many major differences.

The other church was an Assembly of God!

I am totally amazed at the opportunities Hoshea has been given, along with his mechanics work, ranch job for his boss, jail ministry and nursing home ministry.

I'm thrilled at how God is using him and his family and ask my blog readers if you would, to lift him and his family and ministry in prayer today!

Apart from God we can do nothing, but with His Spirit we can do all things!

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!!!!!!!!