Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Latest from the Homefront
Friday, April 18, 2008
Latest from the Homefront
Since I posted much about our son, in a pretty negative light, I would like to post some good stuff. Right now he is sweating it out, literally, in Honduras. If you go to the orphanage/mission site, our son can be seen welding, carry a huge rock on his shoulder, and yes, he is the one in the tree tying the tire swing up. The orphanage buildings are coming along, but the heat is taking a heavy toll and slowing the work down. Most of the folks are northerners, and just emerging from winter temperatures.
You can look back in the archives, around Nov. Dec. -2007 and Jan/Feb 2008 and you will see my lamentable posts requesting prayer for broken fellowship with friends of our family for 10 yrs. I am HAPPY to report, that although we will never hash out all the reasons behind what was said, done, and thought-past & present, The LORD has given us all an extra measure of His Grace for restoration with these folks. Truly, I am the one who is struggling most with my feelings of wanting to know why, but in a way not really wanting to know. Like Paul, putting those things behind..., we have to choose-- do we want to hold on to being right about a statement/situation that we thing was wrong/handled wrongly, OR do we seek the LORD's mind on the matter, and ask him to help us to forgive, forget and be fruitful? We have to make a choice between becoming BITTER or BETTER. In our flesh, with both hands tightly clenched, we want to hold onto being right (even when we find out we were really wrong, or think so), because in the beginning, it feels good, but it all turns bitter in the end. The one who loses the most is not the one who wronged us, or who we think wronged us. It's US who misses out on blessings, friendships etc. God had enabled us to choose to become better, not bitter.
In a few weeks our twins will be graduating from high school. When David graduated it was really hard on me. When people asked how many children we had, and then found out that we homeschooled too, they would almost always look at me in amazement. Being used to schooling 6, feeding 6, getting 6 up..... I knew downsizing to 5 would be strange. The first day of school the following year was strange. I kept feeling like somethign was missing..it was someone. On top of that, he was going to go out to A SCHOOL for the first time ever, and all the worst thoughts and fears came to mind. It wasn' that I doubted God's ability to protect him, but rather his propensity to follow along. Overall he did ok. I am sure that some of the pressure from school had an effect on the recent choices he made, both good and bad.
Graduation is sand in the hourglass to me. Besides making me think about my age, it makes me take inventory of my life. What will I leave behind when God calls me Home? Will people be changed for the better because I was a part of their life?
2008-2009 will be the most dramatic drop in students to date. Each year is passing like a vapour. Truthfully I don't like it. Before too long, my years of homeschooling will be behind me. I used to think glorious thought of what it will be like to have free time to sew, bake, read, write....all without the pressure of trying to put in our 180 days in a manner that was acceptable to the powers that be...now I am not so sure those days will be glorious, in the sense that the structure, what little we have, that has been in place since 1990, and I had only been out of school myself since 1983, will be gone. Perhaps some of my children will live close-by. My children tell me quite often that they will be bringing their babies to me for schooling, so I suppose I have not been such a mean teacher after all.
All I can do is trust the LORD to use me, and comfort me in the day ahead. Only HE knows what lies before me.
Latest from the Homefront
Since I posted much about our son, in a pretty negative light, I would like to post some good stuff. Right now he is sweating it out, literally, in Honduras. If you go to the orphanage/mission site, our son can be seen welding, carry a huge rock on his shoulder, and yes, he is the one in the tree tying the tire swing up. The orphanage buildings are coming along, but the heat is taking a heavy toll and slowing the work down. Most of the folks are northerners, and just emerging from winter temperatures.
You can look back in the archives, around Nov. Dec. -2007 and Jan/Feb 2008 and you will see my lamentable posts requesting prayer for broken fellowship with friends of our family for 10 yrs. I am HAPPY to report, that although we will never hash out all the reasons behind what was said, done, and thought-past & present, The LORD has given us all an extra measure of His Grace for restoration with these folks. Truly, I am the one who is struggling most with my feelings of wanting to know why, but in a way not really wanting to know. Like Paul, putting those things behind..., we have to choose-- do we want to hold on to being right about a statement/situation that we thing was wrong/handled wrongly, OR do we seek the LORD's mind on the matter, and ask him to help us to forgive, forget and be fruitful? We have to make a choice between becoming BITTER or BETTER. In our flesh, with both hands tightly clenched, we want to hold onto being right (even when we find out we were really wrong, or think so), because in the beginning, it feels good, but it all turns bitter in the end. The one who loses the most is not the one who wronged us, or who we think wronged us. It's US who misses out on blessings, friendships etc. God had enabled us to choose to become better, not bitter.
In a few weeks our twins will be graduating from high school. When David graduated it was really hard on me. When people asked how many children we had, and then found out that we homeschooled too, they would almost always look at me in amazement. Being used to schooling 6, feeding 6, getting 6 up..... I knew downsizing to 5 would be strange. The first day of school the following year was strange. I kept feeling like somethign was missing..it was someone. On top of that, he was going to go out to A SCHOOL for the first time ever, and all the worst thoughts and fears came to mind. It wasn' that I doubted God's ability to protect him, but rather his propensity to follow along. Overall he did ok. I am sure that some of the pressure from school had an effect on the recent choices he made, both good and bad.
Graduation is sand in the hourglass to me. Besides making me think about my age, it makes me take inventory of my life. What will I leave behind when God calls me Home? Will people be changed for the better because I was a part of their life?
2008-2009 will be the most dramatic drop in students to date. Each year is passing like a vapour. Truthfully I don't like it. Before too long, my years of homeschooling will be behind me. I used to think glorious thought of what it will be like to have free time to sew, bake, read, write....all without the pressure of trying to put in our 180 days in a manner that was acceptable to the powers that be...now I am not so sure those days will be glorious, in the sense that the structure, what little we have, that has been in place since 1990, and I had only been out of school myself since 1983, will be gone. Perhaps some of my children will live close-by. My children tell me quite often that they will be bringing their babies to me for schooling, so I suppose I have not been such a mean teacher after all.
All I can do is trust the LORD to use me, and comfort me in the day ahead. Only HE knows what lies before me.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Moving In
Welcome
This is my new blog. You have arrived on my doorstep because The LORD wanted to you to come. A web search, coutesy or email link, or redirection from my other blog or websites, my have gotten you here cyberically speaking, but it was not a mistake, not a coincidence. It was Divine direction. Please don't take that wrong, I don't mean to imply that I or my site are anything special, however some little word of encouragement, testimony, or challenge posted here must be just what you need to "hear" today. That is my hearts prayer with all my writing endeavors, to bless and edify the reader, to glorify God and lift up my Saviour, the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other...religion, belief system, atheistic, humanistic theories and worldy philosophies. It is only by the shed blood of the Lamb of God, offered once for all, that I KNOW that I have a home in heaven, and that I will see my Jesus one day.
If you do not have this same hope, if you do not have forgiveness of your sins, here is a lesson in true, eternal forgiveness for you.
My prayer is that all those who visit me on this site will have the same assurance of Everlasting Life that I have, not because of works of righteousness which I have done, but the sacrifice of the Perfect Lamb on my behalf.
Over the next little while I will be moving posts from my old site(s) to this one, and posting them on appropriate pages here (or on my other blogs hosted by blogger/blogspot.com) Please stop by anytime, and feel free to roam around. None of the doors are locked, the lights are always on, stay as long as you like, eat what you like and spit out the bones.
This is my new blog. You have arrived on my doorstep because The LORD wanted to you to come. A web search, coutesy or email link, or redirection from my other blog or websites, my have gotten you here cyberically speaking, but it was not a mistake, not a coincidence. It was Divine direction. Please don't take that wrong, I don't mean to imply that I or my site are anything special, however some little word of encouragement, testimony, or challenge posted here must be just what you need to "hear" today. That is my hearts prayer with all my writing endeavors, to bless and edify the reader, to glorify God and lift up my Saviour, the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in any other...religion, belief system, atheistic, humanistic theories and worldy philosophies. It is only by the shed blood of the Lamb of God, offered once for all, that I KNOW that I have a home in heaven, and that I will see my Jesus one day.
If you do not have this same hope, if you do not have forgiveness of your sins, here is a lesson in true, eternal forgiveness for you.
My prayer is that all those who visit me on this site will have the same assurance of Everlasting Life that I have, not because of works of righteousness which I have done, but the sacrifice of the Perfect Lamb on my behalf.
Over the next little while I will be moving posts from my old site(s) to this one, and posting them on appropriate pages here (or on my other blogs hosted by blogger/blogspot.com) Please stop by anytime, and feel free to roam around. None of the doors are locked, the lights are always on, stay as long as you like, eat what you like and spit out the bones.
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