New Year and being made new...
Hello. Happy New Year. I've not written recently because I've been very busy. Mike put in a 70 hour work-week last week. This was a "one time" deal and it was intense. Mike would leave after Libby, Samuel and Michael were on the bus and often wouldn't get home til after 9. I felt a taste of being a single Mom. My respect and appreciation for Single Mom's and Navy wives has gone through the roof. Ladies, I don't know how you do it.
Samuel needed to go to the doctor's. He was having an asthma flare up. In addition he was complaining of foot pain. Okay, he was screaming about foot pain to be accurate. So to be on the safe side the doctor ordered an x-ray. Thankfully we completed that in enough time so that I could get home and pick up Michael from the bus.
As crazy as the week was it was also refreshing and sweet. I tried to keep things as simple as I could. We had frozen pizza for dinner twice :) Homework was done. Kids got meds.
In addition to the regular craziness our washing machine broke. The one that all 13 of us in the house depend on. My in-laws have graciously helped us with laundry. Thanks Faf! I have about 7 trash sized bags of laundry to do... and some of it has throw up on the clothes, courtesy of Samuel.
So, yes. Life is pretty much normal. I've been under the weather with a chest cold. So emergen-c and mucinex have been my friend. Mike has been an angel and has let me sleep in yesterday and today... til noon. Yikes, right! I feel a lot less exhausted now and I think the sleep was very healing.
Tonight Libby asked to read a story from my favorite children's book:
I love this book. I love how it all points to Jesus... our need for a rescuer. Tonight we were reading the last "story" about John's vision (Revelation) of Heaven. It was amazing. I started crying mid-way through. It's powerfully written.
Libby asked a big question. "Mommy does everyone go to Heaven?" I told her the truth. "No, honey. Not everyone is going to Heaven." And with that start we talked about Heaven, Jesus, Hell. We talked about Jesus living a perfect life, dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. I told her if we believed in Jesus Christ he would forgive us of our sins and we would have a relationship with Him. We would become children of God. I pulled Mike into the room quickly so we could all talk together. She told us that she wants to believe. Mike and I each prayed for her and then she went to her room to pray to Jesus privately. I was very affected. I long to talk to Libby more about it tomorrow. Her heart has always been sensitive to God. She wants to be sure her brothers believe too. I have a feeling there is a lot more to come over time.
On New Year's Day Mike had the privilege of preaching at church. He did a great job. He spoke about Samuel and our family testimony a little bit but mainly about Psalm 41. To hear his message go here.
I hope you find encouragement and refreshment from it as I did. It's good to be reminded that we indeed know the ending of the story.
This is where I started crying reading Libby the storybook Bible:
Samuel needed to go to the doctor's. He was having an asthma flare up. In addition he was complaining of foot pain. Okay, he was screaming about foot pain to be accurate. So to be on the safe side the doctor ordered an x-ray. Thankfully we completed that in enough time so that I could get home and pick up Michael from the bus.
As crazy as the week was it was also refreshing and sweet. I tried to keep things as simple as I could. We had frozen pizza for dinner twice :) Homework was done. Kids got meds.
In addition to the regular craziness our washing machine broke. The one that all 13 of us in the house depend on. My in-laws have graciously helped us with laundry. Thanks Faf! I have about 7 trash sized bags of laundry to do... and some of it has throw up on the clothes, courtesy of Samuel.
So, yes. Life is pretty much normal. I've been under the weather with a chest cold. So emergen-c and mucinex have been my friend. Mike has been an angel and has let me sleep in yesterday and today... til noon. Yikes, right! I feel a lot less exhausted now and I think the sleep was very healing.
Tonight Libby asked to read a story from my favorite children's book:
The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name
I love this book. I love how it all points to Jesus... our need for a rescuer. Tonight we were reading the last "story" about John's vision (Revelation) of Heaven. It was amazing. I started crying mid-way through. It's powerfully written.
Libby asked a big question. "Mommy does everyone go to Heaven?" I told her the truth. "No, honey. Not everyone is going to Heaven." And with that start we talked about Heaven, Jesus, Hell. We talked about Jesus living a perfect life, dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. I told her if we believed in Jesus Christ he would forgive us of our sins and we would have a relationship with Him. We would become children of God. I pulled Mike into the room quickly so we could all talk together. She told us that she wants to believe. Mike and I each prayed for her and then she went to her room to pray to Jesus privately. I was very affected. I long to talk to Libby more about it tomorrow. Her heart has always been sensitive to God. She wants to be sure her brothers believe too. I have a feeling there is a lot more to come over time.
On New Year's Day Mike had the privilege of preaching at church. He did a great job. He spoke about Samuel and our family testimony a little bit but mainly about Psalm 41. To hear his message go here.
I hope you find encouragement and refreshment from it as I did. It's good to be reminded that we indeed know the ending of the story.
This is where I started crying reading Libby the storybook Bible:
"And the King says, 'Look! God and his children are together again. No more running away. Or hiding. No more crying or being lonely or afraid. No more being sick or dying. Because all those things are gone forever. Everything sad has come untrue. And see-I have wiped every tear from every eye!' And then a deep, beautiful voice that sounded like thunder in the sky says, 'Look, I am making everything new!' It was hard to squeeze all John saw into words. And fit it onto a page. And cram it into a book. All the words on all the pages of all the books in all the world would never be enough. 'I am the Begininning,' Jesus said, 'and the Ending!' One day, John knew, Heaven would come down and mend God's broken world and make it our true, perfect home once again. And he knew in some mysterious way that would be hard to explain, that everything was going to be more wonderful for once having been so sad. And he knew that the ending of the The Story was going to be so great, it would make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun. 'I'm on my way,' said Jesus. 'I'll be there soon!' John came to th end of his book. But he didn't write 'The End.' Because, of course, that's how stories finish. (And this one's not over yet.) So instead, he wrote, 'Come quickly, Jesus!' Which, perhaps is really just another way of saying....To be continued."
Comments