So Busy, And Prayer Request

I miss this space.

Miss Beth has four appointments scheduled this week, between speech, dental, and her two therapy sessions. All were (are) necessary.

I love the speech therapist exceedingly well. According to the testing workup, Beth is a smart little cookie with lots to say. As I suspected, her intelligibility needs a lot of work. On paper her articulation disorder looks moderate, but the therapist couldn't understand much of what she said--except when Beth was naming pictures--so she thinks it is moderate to severe, but fairly easy to correct.

She will also work on a few articulation issues in Mary and Paul (articulation difficulties run in the family) hopefully in group session with Beth, so that we can meet fewer times and keep our lives more sane. Lately, sane doesn't describe our schedule, but the swimming therapy ends after August, so that will improve things some. Beth's issues seem to run our schedule, unfortunately.

Another stressful thing.

Lexi, the neighborhood friend I've written about, recently suffered another tragedy in her life. Her mother and her mother's boyfriend were both arrested for domestic violence. Lexi and her brother witnessed it, and Lexi had to go to a neighbor's to ask for help. This didn't occur in our neighborhood, which is relatively quiet. It was at the boyfriend's residence about twenty minutes away.

So, they are back living with the grandmother and grandpa in our neighborhood. The mother's car was towed here yesterday, and she was released from jail.

Both Lexi and her brother came to visit yesterday--the first time we've seen her six-year-old brother. They both have anxiety issues and behavior issues and the brother's visit made me realize I can't keep ministering to Lexi as I'd like, especially if the brother now accompanies her here. I wasn't able to control him at all.

The more the mother--who probably has mental problems--upsets these children, the worse their own issues become, and the less I can do for them, outside of much prayer. Yesterday was overwhelming and I can't keep up that pace. Now that they are living here again, the visits would be very frequent and long, since the mother has little control over them and she apparently appreciates the long visits here.

All of their needs are very great. I don't think Lexi or her brother would be accepted by any daycare, due to behavioral problems and volatility, so the mother might be prevented from holding down even a menial job--thus, no home of their own. The grandparents probably can't handle the kids on their own, either.

Worse, the mother's poverty and her own emotional/mental issues probably lead her to one troubled man after another.

Please pray for this family?

It seems that life is so much about what country you're born into, and what family and issues you inherit. Overcoming huge things like this takes the strength of a relationship with God. Please pray that for Lexi and her family?

Thank you!

Multitude Monday, July 30

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalms 118:28-29

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” — Denis Waitley

Dear Lord, thank you for these gifts:

~ two excited sisters on the last day of VBS--an outdoor carnival

~ a hernia repaired

~ Beth singing songs to Daddy before they took him in for surgery (Twinkle, Twinkle, and Baby Bumblee, and Jesus Loves Me)

~ finally, a speech evaluation appointment for Beth tomorrow

~ four children behaving better (more used to Daddy's convalescence)

~ Beth singing her new favorite song over and over

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee.
Won't my Momma be so proud of me?
I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee.
Ouch, it stung me! (shaking hand with a pained face)

I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee. (rub hands together)
Won't my Momma be so proud of me?
I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee.
Ew, I'm sticky! (looking at hands)

(Look around to see if anyone is looking)

I'm licking up a baby bumblebee. (pretend to lick hands)
Won't my Momma be so proud of me?
I'm licking up a baby bumblebee.
Oh, my stomach hurts! (rub tummy)

I'm never going to do that again!

~ Beth playing dress up

~ Paul baking a chocolate cake on his own

~ 6 in1 solar kit toy Peter got for his birthday finally working

~ laundry caught up

~ Beth night trained (no more diapers in my life; she night-trained earlier than the rest)

~ my preschoolers learning all their nursery rhymes and laughing with Momma at Mary Had a Little Jam And Other Silly Rhymes -- highly recommend this gem! It features many nursery rhymes rewritten with giggles in mind.



~ We love Madeline stories and also enjoyed a thrift-store bargain, Madeline, the movie. I laughed out loud a few times and found this surprisingly similar to the books, except that Miss Clavel has more heart in the movie--she loves the girls very much. There's a more spiritual feel to the movie.

~ teaching my children how to play foursquare with a playground ball

~ Our Compassion child, Nelson from El Salvador, getting a mattress, clothes, and food supplies

~ Peter turning in excellent photos for the library photo contest

~ making this fudge recipe with non-fat condensed milk (super easy, healthier, and no detectable difference)

~ Paul and Daddy playing Chinese Checkers and Chess during Daddy's convalescence

~ the Book of Jonah really speaking to our hearts

~ Peter and Mary catching crickets and butterflies together and looking for praying mantises

Linking with Ann for Multitude Monday

How He Parents Me

"Do you understand?", he pleads for maybe the tenth time in thirteen years. "The most loving thing you can do for me, besides making love when I'm well, is to wear a mini-skirt around the house at night so I can look at you. It makes me so happy to look at you."

This desire, expressed on his birthday, the day after surgery.

After a day with four children who fussed, complained, argued, fought each other. To the very. last. minute. before they fell asleep. With the loss of routine, they fell apart, the impulsive one leading the pack.

What am I doing wrong with these kids? This inquiry filled my head and my prayers all day.

Even had I not fallen asleep with exhaustion while nursing Beth, easing the pain of varicose veins that ached all day and begged to be rested......him? He fell asleep after reading Narnia stories to the boys.

When will it get easier with the kids, he wonders.

And I don't know the answer. I don't know how to stretch myself or chop myself to care for all these people...their needs often conflicting with each other.

How can I ever be enough? When one wins, another loses.

Beth wakes three times in the night from dreams--her sister once, complaining that bumble bees invaded her bed. When do children dream, roll over, and just go back to sleep? With the boys I don't remember so many dream-related wake ups.

This marriage? It's strong, lived with grace, and he will survive, like every other man whose wife is caring for small children. God gives these intense years and they are gifts.

Still, he needs me to listen and plan and act.

Black bear sightings increase here, I read this week. Just last week, a sighting in the next township over. They search for bird feeders and pet food bowls and exposed trash May through mid-July.

Most interesting, I read that the parents, they kick the cubs out at one year old, who then must find their own territories.

And human children? We love, teach, nurture for twenty years, and then some. And God knows his own design. He knows a mother's challenges.

I sit in the dark living room...insomnia at 2 AM.

I talk with my Lord and he comforts me, agreeing that yes, I am not enough.

But I am, He reminds. Pray your way through...for me, the great I AM?

I do not parent like a bear. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

John 15:4
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Isaiah 42:16
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. 

photo credit

Something About Jonah, Part 3

Read part 1 here, part 2 here

Jonah Chapter 3; Jonah Goes to Nineveh Scripture in red, my commentary in blue.

1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

3Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”

Preaching a message of doom. Wow. Is that an easy assignment for any of us? Would we want to go out into our neighborhood with a bullhorn, preaching repentance? What are some of the consequences, potentially? 

We would be ridiculed. Our house would be toilet-papered, rocks thrown in our windows, or worse. No one would speak to us, henceforth, but they would watch us closely, looking for any reason to call us hypocrites. Our children would be ostracized.

We are called to share our faith, to make disciples of all nations...or neighborhoods. This isn't an assignment we can ignore, any more than Jonah could ignore the command to preach repentance to an evil nation. 

Just last week I felt an incredible pull to go down the street and give a dinner invitation to a neighbor and her seven-year-old grandson (the one who lost his mother as a one-year-old baby. This grandma has custody of him). Previously I had gone down to properly introduce myself and let her know we were here, should she ever need anything. She was appreciative and friendly and not in a hurry for me to leave, and asked about the church that meets in the elementary school down the street, which we've attended about a year.

Then after receiving my dinner invitation, she never responded at all, even to say she wasn't interested. I put two potential Sunday evenings on the invitation, asking what would work for her. The first Sunday has already passed and we've heard nothing. She is two houses down and was out talking to her neighbor on Sunday, and though we were out as well, she didn't come down or wave, though Landon, the seven-year-old, did wave.

I thought she was a Christian because she sends her grandchildren to VBS and AWANA every year. The invitation explained that we wanted to be the Body of Christ to her and fellowship with her and be here for her, should the need ever arise. Inviting her didn't feel risky; I thought she was a Christian. Maybe she is, but from our last conversation I surmised she doesn't currently go to church, nor did she ever attend the church she sends her grandchildren to for programs. Her sister is the connection to that church. I didn't invite her to church, but I did gave the start times after she inquired. I wanted to concentrate on making a real connection and I felt a casual summer dinner would be the best way. 

Remember that I'm shy. All this started after my study of the Body of Christ. I felt a pull, not from within, to go down the street and see this woman. It was God, for sure, which makes me all the more confused.

I wouldn't have taken these steps had I not thought she was a Christian...and that bothers me. I don't share the gospel except with young children (like ten-year-old Lexi, our neighborhood friend), and on the Internet through my writing...because it's safe that way. 

How many of us want to feel safe, more than we want to work for God? I have to admit my neighbor's lack of response makes me feel stupid--as though I'm not even worth a walk over to say she's too busy. Unbelievers can do that to us...make us feel less than. We mustn't let it stop us though, for who defines us? Who gives us our worth? The world, or our loving Heavenly Father? 

5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.


Wow! Can you imagine a more miraculous response? How blessed we are that the Lord desires to correct us in love, not take revenge. 


Judah and Israel had been dealt with by prophets before, but they never repented; their hearts remained hard. Jesus said in Matthew 12:39-41 that at the time of judgement, the Ninevites would stand and condemn Israel for not repenting.


Matthew 12:39-41 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now onee greater than Jonah is here.

I have to admit to a lack of mercy in my own heart. When I saw my neighbor out the other day, talking with another neighbor, my heart grew hard. I didn't want to look at her. I felt humiliated at her lack of response and I didn't feel she deserved any kindnesses. My own perspective, my own feelings, prevailed, just as we'll see happened to Jonah in chapter 4. Peter, my son, had more heart than I did. He waved at Landon and tried to wave at the grandmother as well (she was preoccupied with her conversation). Peter, too, feels bad about her lack of response. He's shy as well, but more social than me; he looked forward to having dinner with a neighbor, but his disappointment didn't stop him from extending kind gestures.

Trust me, you'll be disgusted at Jonah's response in Chapter 4. It'll leave you shaking your head. But don't shake it too much. If you look deep enough, you may find similar hardness in your own heart. 

The Book of Jonah has so much to teach us! One of the most important lessons is humility before God--having an awe at His divine mercy toward all people, no matter their sins. No sin is too great for his mercy, if we will only humble ourselves and repent. We must be mindful of our lowly position before God. We are worthy now, as a redeemed people, thanks to His mercy and grace...but exalting ourselves above others in our own minds? Always a grievous sin!

I never meant for this to get so long.  I fully intended on getting to Chapter 4 today, the conclusion of the Book of Jonah. Maybe tomorrow? My husband is having hernia surgery at 11:00 am this morning (Wednesday). If he doesn't need me much in the coming days, I'll get to Jonah 4 hopefully on Thursday or Friday. Please pray for a perfect surgical outcome? Thank you!

Something About Jonah, Part 2

 If you missed it or have forgotten it, see Something About Jonah, Part 1

We left Jonah being swallowed by a big fish after being thrown overboard by merciful pagan sailors who tried but failed to deliver him to dry land. Jonah had run away from God in an attempt to avoid preaching repentance to the Ninevites, who were guilty of atrocities against the Israelites. 

In his heart Jonah was afraid the Ninevites would repent after being preached to and that God would spare them--something the hate in Jonah's heart couldn't allow. In running away he had given up his ministry, his family...everything. The mercy shown to Jonah by the pagan sailors stands out in sharp contrast to the lack of mercy in Jonah's heart.

Now, in chapter 2, we have Jonah's prayer. Scripture in red, my commentary words in blue.

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

Notice this is not a prayer for deliverance. Instead, Jonah gives thanks to the Lord for His mercy, for Jonah has not drowned! He understands the magnitude of his sin and that death is a fair punishment. He's overwhelmed by the Lord's mercy. 

No matter what's going on in our own lives, we can have this same magnitude of feeling about our own deliverance from death. The Lord's mercy is overwhelming! Take a moment and contemplate that today. Escaping hell and eternal suffering is mercy. Getting heaven instead of hell? That is wild, radical grace. 

A spirit of thanksgiving should permeate our lives, setting the tone for all our interactions and reactions. We've already been given so much! 

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,[b]
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
7 “When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.

Let this sentence in verse 7 not be us. We must not "remember the Lord" only when life overwhelms--when it's ebbing away--but every day. A solid, on-going relationship with the Lord grounds us in righteousness and allows peace to flood our hearts. We can choose God or choose Satan, for Satan always wins when God doesn't--life is a spiritual battle. A new or immature Christian doesn't always understand this sober reality, but the longer we walk faithfully with the Lord, the more we comprehend the battle that makes up our daily lives.
Remember that the full fix doesn't come until heaven. Until then, we must daily choose God over Satan as the ruler of our hearts. Our salvation means we will triumph in the end, but we can be used by God and have greater peace today, if we will engage in the battle, putting on the full armor of God. (see Ephesians below)

When we lack peace, let us ask ourselves why. Who is winning in the battle for our attention and devotion?

Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armor of God 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Matthew 12:30 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."
Back to Jonah's prayer, in chapter 2 verse 8:

8 “Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.

When we choose idols instead of God--too much time spent on hobbies, electronics, a career, acquiring riches, whatever it is that steals our time away from God--we give up so much that is precious and sustaining and renewing. When we fail to choose God, we give up his mercy.

9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

Jonah repents and promises to obey God--to make good on his ministerial vow. How easily do we obey God? Is a yes always ready on our lips? Do we wake up in the morning asking, "What do you want to do today, God?"

10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

In chapter 3 we learn that although Jonah repented and did as God commanded--he preached repentance to the Ninevites--his heart still burned with hate.

Prayer Time: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy and grace toward us. May we live our lives clothed in thankfulness, never forgetting or minimizing your sacrifice. May we say yes to you and put on the full armor of God, so we can daily do battle with the enemy, to bring you your due glory. Let us live to bring you glory, in all we do. Open our hearts to what you have to say about mercy in the next chapter of Jonah, especially as our country mourns a tragedy in Colorado. Your desire is that all shall repent and receive mercy--even the villains ( the Ninevites of our world). May our hearts be filled with mercy for the perpetrator and his family, even as we mourn the loss of innocent life. May the country look to you for peace, for truth.

In your Son's name I pray, Amen