You Are Rich, Me Too

I know,
boy, do I know.  
Some of you struggle, and have some serious problems.  I cried before sleep last night as I let worry and fear get to me about some things that we can’t afford to fix. 
But WE ARE RICH,
and I was reminded of just how much yet again today.


Please, go read Amy’s blog post right now.  And after you have read it, let’s us consider today how we might become more poor and remember the words of Jesus,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew

Let’s Be Traders!

I saw this at Amy’s blog and had to share it.  This is how I want to live!!

"A cheerful heart will make the task of keeping house pleasant. When you understand that messes are part of living at home, and that cleaning them up is the reason you are there, you can approach them as though they were a matter of fact.  When you realize this is what you are home for, you can approach it as part of your responsibility, rather than as an inconvenience.”
quote from HERE

A very good reminder for me.  I love being blessed to stay home and preform this precious work that the LORD has given me to do.  And children just naturally create, explore, cut up paper, build things, and eat.  

And since I am really checking my thoughts, I saw I was looking at the messes with a critical, self-centered - “More to clean up” attitude.  So, I want to replace that with positive and thankful thoughts.  And I want to again see the “messes” for what they really represent...A home that is loved and lived in by many precious little children that are healthy, happy and living in peace.  When I was in Uganda, one of the beautiful young men that we worked with said to me “Momma, you are blessed...you can raise your children in peace.  Here in Uganda, we can not do that.  But I pray that one day we can.”
I will always remember that and be thankful for those little messes.

What Does It Equal?

On one of my normal wake up calls around 2:00 p.m. (Keshawn still loves his night time bottle), I began to think back on how horribly negative the day had been.  It didn’t start out that way, of course.  I didn’t wake up and think “How can I make this day horrible?”  And I’m sure that the children didn’t either, though, I have no evidence for that assumption.  I am quite sure that the IRS, who is still not giving us our tax refund, ARE trying to make my day horrible, but that’s another story.  And since I am working on improving my thought patterns and reactions from critical and negative, well, an eye twitching little laugh may have escaped from my lips into the darkness of the night.  Hopefully Steve just thought I was having a bad dream.  
Some thing so simple came to my mind in the quietness;

Negative Plus Negative DOES NOT equal Positive

When I get stressed, frustrated, overwhelmed or any of those other “bads”, I certainly start doing the math ... their negative gets a negative from me, which equals more negative, and we all know the downward spiral that this gets into.  Negative plus negative just keeps adding up to more negative, for all of us.  

Of course, what I want, and what we all want, is a peaceful, respectful and happy atmosphere.  

And I was reminder of an exercise I use to practice;

Two Positives for Each One Negative

What does that look like?  If I thought of or said something critical or negative, I would make myself go to a private place (outside, or the bathroom) and write out two positives for that one negative.  Let’s say I think something frustrating about a mess a child just made...I would go to the bath room and write out two positives, like “I am so glad that the LORD gave me this child.  I am thankful that she is healthy and fun to be with.”  Then I would get back in the game.  Also something that really helped me; if I felt stressed or overwhelmed, I would go outside, regardless of the weather, breath deeply, and thank the LORD for two things, like the beauty of the trees, and the fresh smell of the air.  This exercise really did strengthen me and gave me a “tool” to use to fight negative or critical thoughts.  

And I really want this....

 ...to look like this!

So, I am picking back up this “tool” and will be exercising those thinking muscles.  If you would like to try it, I can tell you it is best if you start out writing down your positives.  

And, I’m EVEN going to go so far as to start out with two positives for our tax frustrations....

1.  I am glad that we live in a time and a country where there are laws to protect our freedom.

2.  I am thankful for the people that are helping us to correct the mistakes that the IRS has made.  

Please, share what helps you....and may we continue to “encourage one another daily” (Heb. 3:13) for HIS GLORY.  

There May Be Silence....

I was so motivated by sweet mom at Acceptance With Joy and her challenge to not not say anything negative or critical for 14 days, that I signed up for the challenge.  I told her I am sure that I could be a complete success at this IF I could hole up in a beautifully furnished and totally stocked with goodies cabin in the Rocky Mountains for 14 days.  (insert Happy Thought).

BUT, I think that is not the purpose of the challenge is it.  
As I was sitting alone in my bedroom this morning (because the door is closed with warnings to go to daddy if anything is needed), I was listening to our precious Aiden screaming his head off downstairs some where.  He was mad at daddy because Daddy had asked him to stay beside him for a while.  You know the opposite of time out...


Steve has been out of town all week and when he came home I told him that I was sorry that I wasn’t greeting him with a big ol’ smooch and “hello darling, I’m so glad you are home!  I have a wonderful meal cooking, the house is spotless, the children are perfectly clean, and I have romantic plans for later...”
Nope, I’m afraid it was more of a “Hello darling...will you grill the fish I pulled out this morning because I forget to thaw the roast for the slow cook meal that was planned? And will your work allow you to take 3 children to work with you tomorrow? No?  O.K., I will PAY YOU if you will just take Aiden...I think it is time (at 5 years of age ) for him to enter the work force with you.  I bathed the black children...can you get the Asian’s?  I’m sorry that it is only 8:00 p.m., but I am exhausted, can I go to bed, PLEASE????”


Back to the 14 day challenge...I have been seeing that in the “life-ness” of raising our family I have become very “short” and critical without even meaning to.  I want to think and act Biblically, but there is no doubt that many days I don’t.  It is so easy to get into certain thought patterns that are not affirming, loving, patient, kind and the other ways that the LORD shows us how to love in actions and words.  And I want to follow His ways...to Love Him First and to Love Others.  I want to accept HIS challenge to GO LOVE.  We need healthy bodies to serve and love, and we need healthy (and Biblical) thought patterns to serve and love.  So, how about you...want to join?  I’ll be sharing some of the “exercises” that I will be using to help improve my thought patterns.  
As always with this blog...I pray that we may encourage and support each other in the ministry  - THE JOURNEY - that the LORD has called each of us too.  And no matter where we are, who we are, how young or old we are, we are ALL called to a ministry of LOVE.  
And I’m hoping that I don’t have to go silent for 14 days....if you don’t hear from me you know that I have taken a vow...

Continue - Where’s My Passion?????!!!!!!!!

Thank you for waiting for the rest of my story.  I really did have to go this morning to take care of the children, but it was delightful of you to play along.
I felt that the LORD had spoke two little words to me a few days earlier - “Be Faithful”.  It had settled into my spirit and then this morning I opened up my O. Chambers devotion.  
“After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are where it is neither beautiful not poetic nor thrilling.  The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God.  We SEE His glory on the mount, but we never LIVE for His glory there.  It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed.”
The devotion continues....
“When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but what about the time when you were up against facts in the valley?  The last time you were on the mount with God, you saw that all power in heaven and in earth belonged to Jesus - will you be skeptical now in the valley of humiliation?”
There were so many “wows” in this for me.  And I asked myself if my faithfulness to the LORD was being revealed today by our circumstances?  It’s so true that there are “highs” on the mountain tops of emotions, passions and experiences.  I knew that the LORD was showing me how to live each day, right now when the passion of emotions isn’t present.  Simply be faithful.  Faithful to each thing that comes up each moment (don’t look at the whole day because that starts getting overwhelming).  Faithful to clean the dishes, fix supper, keep to our home school schedule, remember as I look at my child that “love is patient and kind...”.  
Simply be faithful in the work that the LORD has given me to do.  And I also realized something important to me...those “passions" that I believe the LORD has given to me are still there.  Now, though, instead of relying on the emotions of them,  I have the opportunity to show God through my actions how much I love Him, and believe and trust Him, and how much I want to BE faithful here in the valley - faithfully working this field that He has given to me today.  
(Ideas and thoughts in this study came from Mark 9, Eph. 2:10, Matt. 9:36-38).
So I encourage you each also, to walk in faithfulness to the TRUTH that we know from the Scripture and the teachings of the Holy Spirit.  And may we find encouragement in the fact that our Heavenly Father is FAITHFUL always - and may we, like little children, follow our Father’s example.  

Were’s My Passion!!!!!!!!!

In the quiet, darkness of 5:00 a.m. I reluctantly rolled out of our warm bed with thoughts and prayers on my mind.  I much prefer to stay in our warm bed till 6:30, but the heaviness of certain problems felt crushing and instead of trying in vain to go back to sleep I decided it was better to get up and spend time reading the Bible, praying and asking Him for direction.  
I have felt so “down” lately ... wondering where my normal passion had gone.  Yes, of course, “reasons” could be given - financial tightness, broken things around the house, home educating 8 children, mothering 11, preparing for two new children to come home, Aiden’s SPD, concern that Corbin also has some learning slowness, Landon’s sickenss, Caresse’s shoulder, taking care of the home, meals, chores, laundry....
Yes, many “reasons” could be given.  And, in the “nornal” many would agree that the above list is quite - well - MUCH.  But, I KNEW, that it wasn’t the “much” of it that was getting me down because the much of it was the very reason that we choice to journey with the LORD.  Let me explain that better...plainly put, we started out passionate for children that had no family, no home and we knew what we were getting into when we signed up to follow the LORD on this adventure of ministry that He has for us.  We were and still are passionate to bring home and give a family to those that HE says are our children.  We have not put any number of children limit on the LORD and will continue to passionately open up our home and family to those that He brings.  We are passionate about loving these precious ones as He has taught us to in the Bible.  In fact, the “passion” of it all had long been my emotional mode of transportation.  In other words - what got me through each day.  
And, “dog-gone-it (Texas slong), I still believed that we were working the “field” that He had called us to.  So where was that dadgum (more Texas slang) emotional passion!!!!!  I needed it back. 
I know this is getting long....
do you want me to finish our should I wait till tomorrow?  Do you want to know what the LORD told me?  
LOL - I MIGHT be teasing you a bit....
let me know.

In Myself Nothing....

"The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority.  Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself.  He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life.  He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels.  In himself, nothing; in God, everything.  That is his motto."-- A.W. Tozer

In myself nothing; in God, everything!  

Why do I try to find the answer to my burdens, my problems, my concerns, my questions ... 

in anything that “I” can do?  I never do have the answers and I never will.  

That verse that the LORD showed me a few days ago is from 2 Chronicles 14...Kins Asa cried out to the LORD when he was confronted with a situation.  I love that Asa knew that “in himself” - not a chance.  The situation “looked” impossible.  Here’s his prayer;

“And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like You to help, between the mighty and the weak.  Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude.  O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”

What an awesome prayer...a prayer of humility and faith.  Asa isn’t looking for victory or answers in what “he” has or can do.  

It’s pretty simple ... not the problem;

but the “what to do part”...

-meet the problem - “draw up your lines of battle with your “enemies" (you see Asa doing this in the previous verses 2 Chron. 14:10) ;

-Then CRY TO THE LORD YOUR GOD (verse 11);

-tell the LORD that you know there is none like Him (He knows this...this is to remind You and your enemies of the truth);

-acknowledge that you are weak ... and that something mighty stands in front of you and that HE IS YOUR HELP;

-ask for His help and reaffirm that you rely on Him, not on yourself or your own abilities;

-THIS IS IMPORTANT (also in verse 11) - in HIS NAME come against the problem;

-remember again that He is your God and ask that nothing would prevail against Him.

Here is a biblical principle, a spiritual truth not to be missed....

as we really believe, really live, really stand up in faith and confess our reliance on Him and Him alone - verse 12 is pretty exciting

“So the LORD defeated...”

Here is an example of how I might pray this as a mother with a hearts desire to live His will in our family; 

As I look at each day of mothering, homemaking, home educating, teaching, training and raising these precious ones...I cry to the LORD my God;

“O LORD, there is none like You to help,

the problems and work is mighty and I am weak.  

Help me, O LORD my God

for I rely on You,

and in Your Name I come against what would defeat my family.  

O LORD, you are my God; let not anything prevail against You.”

And then I rest my heart and watch the LORD defeat what would try to defeat me or my family. 

A little Hebrew to remember ...  the word “rely" in this verse is “sha-an" - which is "an attitude of trust and ultimate dependance” on the LORD. 

Today I remember and recommit to sha-an only in the LORD My God. Join me in the battle will you...let’s draw some lines in the sand and say a PRAYER!

Several Times This Week

Several times this week I sat down for a few seconds to write about this week, but we continue to have slow and “no” internet working here from about 4:00 p.m. and through out the evening.  Of course, this is the time that I usually have a few minutes to sit down and write since Steve is home.


Sooo, 
here’s the quick of it all before I must run down stairs and then I hope to follow up better later this afternoon;
-Hear once from Kalyn and they are all doing great.
-It’s been a hard week for a few of my little ones...I really need the LORD’s guidance for Aiden’s sensory things, and a few of the others have been very argumentative and “tender”.  By Wednesday, I was really wore down and tired...you know - the emotional stuff that makes you feel fuzzy minded and just “heavy”.  I love Aiden so much!!!  And I know the LORD has given me a special job to mother this little guy, and that He (God) will provide what I need to do that job.  Having said that  - well, after working with the yelling, fighting, crying, screaming, throwing, and heart wrenching “I’m sorry, Mommy”, only to start it all over again - EVERY day and almost EVERY minute, and then - well, the other things...
I don’t mean to complain - 
Yesterday I actually looked up “tired” and “burdened”  and “weary” in the Bible - ha-ha... I know, that is pathetic isn’t it.  And the LORD did give me a wonderful verse that encouraged me and a wonderful post from another mother that I will share later.  I can’t share this verse right now because my Bible is down stairs, and I am upstairs sitting with above mentioned child who is sitting here with me (for probably obvious reasons-his world has HAD to become a small circle around me).  So God knew how much His WORD would encourage me! Which is good, because,
-We had a dr.s appointment for Caresse.  I have been concerned about the leg that she has had two surgeries on.  It seems to be growing crooked.  Her AWESOME dr. confirmed that it is and that she needs a surgery right now to insert a plate into her knee to see if that will stop it from becoming worse and potentially “crippled”.  Poor Caresse, who has had 5 surgeries, skin biopsies, and so much pain in her leg sat there and cried and cried!  I couldn’t figure out why she was THAT UPSET.  When the dr. left I found out the problem.  She got upset when she heard that she needed a plate inserted into her leg and she heard that the dr. was going to numb it...my poor darling daughter thought that she was going to have to be AWAKE for the surgery and that they were only going to numb the spot.  Good Grief...I WOULD be crying in terror too!  After she found out what was going to happen, she was only “a little” upset.  On the drive home though it began to sink in that she had to have another surgery, be on crutches again, and hopefully be up and walking well by Jace’s wedding.  So her surgery is June 24th if you all would please be praying.  
-It’s funny - the above made me think something...special needs is talked about (rightly) a lot in considering to adopt a child with a special needs.  By adoption definition, Caresse is a “special needs” child. There is a difference though.  Caresse was born into a family and a culture where she could receive the medical help that she needs.  So many parents and children do no have that option.   Special Needs doesn’t have to be a “life sentence” for a child.  I love Caresse of course, and will do what I can for my child, and when we adopt a child into our family, if that child has a SN, our thoughts are not focused on that, but on the fact that he or she is our child and we will do what we need to do to help them.  I am so grateful to so many of you who have adopted SN children...you shine a light in a scary place.  May the LORD lay more of those precious children who wait on the hearts of others who can help them with the challenges that they face just because they are poor and live in a country where they cannot receive the medical help that they need.  “Special Needs” is not “who” they are, but just a beautiful situation for the LOVE of Jesus to shine into the lives of precious ones who are looking for help and waiting. 
AND that is the “quick” update - LOL.  Aren’t you glad I didn’t write out the long version.  
AND also, here is that site that I mentioned above that has encouraged me so much this week.  I will be spending time reading and meditating on the verses that she mentioned...
AND by the way, I love you guys!  Thank you for visiting our blog, for praying for us, for listening to me when I just need to chat.  Thank you for sharing our lives with us.  I am SO GRATEFUL for you all.  

Let’s Get Dressed!!!!

It’s fun to dress up isn’t it.  I always feel so pretty in my elegant gown.  Steve always looks so handsome in his best suit.
But I’m not talking about the above kind of getting dressed.  I was really impressed by the LORD’s Words again this morning to “Be dressed ready for service...” (Luke 12:35).  While Luke 12:35-48 talks about being ready for the return of the Lord Jesus, there is also much for me to learn from these verse as I work here in my home, and for you - wherever the LORD may place you.  
First, the LORD reminded me to get up in the morning in a timely manner and get dressed and ready for my day.  Ready for what?  To Serve!  So regardless of whether I am at home for the day, or need to go to town, my priority is to serve.  And I must pray and spend time with the LORD first asking for His guidance, wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1) for my day.
Next, verse 42 asks an important question for me to consider and encouraging instruction for us all...”Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portions of food at the proper time?”  As a homemaker, I am so encouraged when I read this.  The LORD has set me over His household (a portion, anyway), right here in my home.  I must seek each day to be faithful and wise in managing my home.  He has given me such an important job to do.  How HIS “home” is run until he comes back is very important to him.  
Have any of you ever house sit, or asked some one to house sit for you?  We have looked after our neighbor’s house and animals for years now when he needs to travel.  And it is very important to us that we do exactly what he asks us to do while he is gone.  He wants his dogs fed faithfully each day, and brought in if the weather turns bad.  He trusts us to do the work he has asked (and is paying us) to do and to watch for his return so that everything is ready.  When our friends watch our chickens, I want them fed and watered each day so that they will not get sick or stressed.  I need to trust my friend to be faithful with this work.  
These verses are talking about the same thing...that while we are waiting for HIS return, we have work to do.  We must be faithful and wise in our service.  
Serving is one of the purest forms of love that I can think of and Jesus certainly gave us many examples of this.  Did you know that just a few verses later the Bible tells about a lady who has a "disabling spirt”?  And Jesus saw her pain and said to her “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”  Do you know what she did?  She glorified God!!  Jesus showed us so many times His love for people and He met their needs through serving them, healing them, feeding them, teaching them, praying for them, preaching the good news to them, forgiving them; He brought back to life what was dead, offered peace, replace fear with faith, received children and cast out demons, found those that were lost, and told stories about the Heavenly Kingdom.  Jesus showed us how to love others...in serving them.  That’s His Love Language.  So if our pride pricks up a little at the word “servant”, well, let’s just remember the real definition - Servant - “One who loves”. 
And let’s each of us be encouraged to “Be dressed and ready for service..."

Now I Know

I never knew before, but now I know what Fifth disease is!  It’s a childhood virus that hurts like the dickens for an adult (yes, Steve and I both had it also).  And it, combined with a few bad colds and other assorted viruses is why we have been sick for such a long time.  We are still watching a few of the other children to see if they are going to get it.  

I am excitedly watching our mail each day for our authenticated papers from the Chinese consulate.  I am so happy to see several of our blog friends bringing home their children!!!  And it makes me so ready to bring mine home!!
Kalyn leaves next week for her mission trip to Guatemala.  We are so glad that she can do this and we are praying every day for the team, which includes my parent, and my brother and his wife and daughter.  What an awesome gift to see so many in my family who love the LORD and want to share the wonderful news of our “God Who Loves”!!!!

A Story of 500 Tibetan Lama Priest

During a turbulent time in China's history, a time of war in the late 1930's, some 500 Tibetan priest waited.

Licorice herb grew in abundance on the lush side of the mountains where they lived on the Tibet-China border and every year the lamas collected it to sell in the cities.  One year the men who took the herbal harvest through a village happened upon a white piece of paper and brought it back to the lamasery.  Read by all the lamas, it became worn and in pieces, but was stuck to the wall where it could be read over and over.  What was on the paper?  John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  They learned from this that "somewhere" there was a "God who loved."   For 5 years, when the appointed lamas took the licorice herb harvest into the villages to sell they also were asked by the head lama to ask this one question of everyone, "Do you know where the 'God who loved' lives".  And for five years, they found out nothing.  Finally, the man who had first found the piece of paper vowed that he would not return to the lamasery until he had learned more about this God.
In Len Chow, he and his companion found a Chinese evangelist who told them all he could and gave them a copy of the Gospels.  Here the story continues as told by the head lama...
"Eagerly they hurried back to the lamasery and we read the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  We believed all that it contained, though there was much we could not understand.  But one verse seemed of special importance.  Christ had said, 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel,' so obviously one day someone would come to tell us more about this wonderful God.  All we had to do was to wait and, when God sent a messenger, to be ready to receive him.  For another three years we waited.  Then two lamas, out on the hillside gathering sticks, heard someone singing.  'Those are the messengers we are waiting for,' they said.  'Only people who know God will sing.'"
One lama ran back to tell the others at the lamasery to prepare for the messengers while the one waited to bring them.
The messengers that the lamas saw that day and had waited 7 years for was the tiny little English missionary Gladys Aylward and her traveling companion and fellow Christian, Dr. Huang.
You can read more about her in the book The Little Woman, which I highly recommend.
Many know Gladys Aylward as the woman who, with the help of the LORD, saved hundreds of children when Japan invaded China.  However, many may not know that she worked the rest of her life with a passion to tell those who had not heard about the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  She willingly went where the LORD told her to go.  She loved China and would have stayed there the rest of her life telling the Chinese about Jesus Christ.
At a prayer meeting one day, a young Chinese student asked for special prayers for England.  When Gladys asked why England, a Christian country, needed prayer for revival and blessing, the man told her "England, the land that send us the gospel, is worshiping other gods." Gladys was very surprised by this.  She had adopted China as her home and had lived there for over 20 years.  She asked him how this could be and he replied that he had been reading about England in the Chinese papers.  He said that "To them sport, film stars, wealth, amusement - all are far more important than God.”  She felt that the LORD wanted her to go back to her birth land, back to England and she did for a time.  
These two stories really caught me.  Personally, I had to ask myself yet again, what might be more important to me than God.  I had to confess, again, that many things in "my" affluent world  have distracted me from my True Love.  Many good works, passions, ideas, ... all of them meaningless, unless they are first born from a heart committed to and in love with my God in Heaven.  And ohhhhh, the beauty of the faith of 500 hundred lamas who waited in China for the good news of the God who loves!!!  There are others that are waiting to hear and our real work from the LORD is to "go" and to "preach" this good news.  They are waiting for the messengers to come, and we are those messengers.  The places that we are to "go" may be in our homes, our cities, our country, or a foreign land ... but may we remember always what our FIRST work is - to tell them about the "God that loved."
Nice clothes, fun entertainment, elaborate meals...goodness, Lord God, forgive me for loving anything more than YOU.

What RADICAL Living Looks Like

I saw this quote here, and had to post it to my blog!


“Who can measure the long-term effects of nurturing helpless infants, supervising wandering toddlers, discipling self-willed children, and counseling self-absorbed adolescents?  Of family outings planned, traditions built, memories made, books read, songs sung, Scripture taught?  That’s why motherhood belongs under the heading, “Engage the World”; no one shapes generations or fashions cultures more than mothers.”  from Worldliness    
Yes, mothers, we really do live Radically when we embrace the adventure of nurturing those around us.  And all I can say to that is AMEN!


This week we went to a canyon park that is up the road from us.  It was windy and chilly, but we still enjoy our nature school day.

I am so grateful to the LORD to be the mother of these precious ones!!!


Joeliana also celebrated her 7th birthday this week.  Funny, I have her and the other two “stuck” at age 5, but “the babies” as we all call the four youngest, are growing up.  

And Steve has been workin’ away with the older children getting a “green house” over Caresse’s garden.  We have tried just about everything to garden here in Colorado at over 7,000 feet, but it has been hard...the seasons are just to short and unpredictable.  So this year, we are are building this...

 ...which will be covered with a garden plastic.  We are hoping that this really helps our garden grow!!!

Thank you all so much for following our family adventure and sharing yours with us.  I pray that all the mothers out there are loved on and blessed this weekend!!! 

A Fruitless Vine?

I was reading Nancy Campbell’s 100 Days of Blessing devotion the other day, and she wrote some thing that was so encouraging to me...
“...nothing comes of a fruitless vine  It is useless.  Good for nothing.  It doesn’t provide food or blessing for anyone.  This is not what life is all about.  Life is sacrifice.  In fact, you can’t have life without death.  What did Jesus say in John 12:24?  ‘...unless a corn of wheat falls into the earth and die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’  When we live for ourselves, we lose our life.  When we lay down our life in daily sacrifice we find it.  This is an eternal law.”  
My days, and yours, are full of opportunity to “die” and let the LORD produce fruit.  I want my life to bear fruit that feeds others and is a blessing to them.  
And today, my home is FULL of some beautiful “fruit” that will require sacrifice and work...

...like this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

 ...and this one,

...and this one, 

 ...and these two,

...and I’m sure that these two would love some extra attention and nurturing.

Let’s pray for the LORD to make us fruitful vines, where ever we are at, and in what ever way He wants to use us.  Dying really is where the Life is at.  
For His Glory, we live!!
loves,

What I Am Praying For And Working On!

"A gentle and quiet spirit is not only imperishable; it is precious in the sight of God. It's also one of the hardest qualities to cultivate. Far from a sign of weakness, a gentle and quiet spirit is the sign of a woman who is strong in faith, mind and character." --Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

Voices In Our Heads?

I hear voices in my head.  Do you?  Good voices and bad voices.
“I am a blessed and happy woman.”
or
‘“I’m not good enough.”
There are also voices I hear on the outside.  Precious loved ones who say;
“I am so proud of the woman that you have become.”
or
“I am so glad that you’re my mommy.”
Words.
Jesus dealt with them also.
I was read in Matthew 16: 21-23 where Jesus is preparing the disciples for the journey to Jerusalem.  He is preparing them for His death and resurrection.  Peter takes him aside and offers words to Jesus that might look like words of encouragement, support or love.  Peter doesn’t want to see Jesus hurt and rejects the destination that Jesus is preparing them all for.  
I was thinking that as I journey “to Jerusalem”, or God and His will for my life, I will hear words, like Jesus did, that would try to hinder me from my destination.  
There might be words that try to hold me back; words of fear, words that offer a false sense of safety, even loving or comforting words could become a blockade.
How do you know which words to listen to?
Jesus shows us in the words that He spoke in Matthew 16:23 “Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Are the words that I hear words that will help me set my mind on the things of God?
Or on the things of man?
We must pray and ask the LORD to help us know.  Am I thinking from a fear based, self-centered position, or a faith based, God-centered position?
Let us encourage each other on our walk to “our Jerusalem” with words that are faith-filled, God-centered words that bring glory and honor to Him and His will in each of our lives. 
Shine!!! for Him.

Loves,
Shonni

A Challenge-For His Glory

Christmas week is here!  Once again, this season comes and I wonder something even as I celebrate HIS birth...
This season reminds me to remember the birth of that special and Holy Babe that was born over 2,000 years ago, but it also reminds me to look ahead, to that day that we are waiting for - His return. In Revelations 22:7, HE reminds us "And behold, I am coming soon."
I have lost several loved ones to death, and just this month, I found out that two very precious ones in my extended family are very sick....time is short.  Most of us has probably faced the death of someone we love and our hearts mourn, we miss them, we grieve, yet if we all belong to the Family of God, there is a hope and a trust that we will be together again.
Jesus promises us in John 14 that He is preparing a place for us in Heaven and that He will come again to take us to be with Him.  But, there is a part of me that misses Him!  And Christmas is a time when I remember the past, and look to the future;
And I wonder,
"How will I live without you today, until we are together again?"
Jesus has answered this question throughout each of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but no doubt THE ANSWER to my question is found at the end of each Gospel...
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...teaching them to observe (obey) all that I have commanded you."
Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Luke 24:47-49 "...that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations...You are witnesses of these things."
John 21:parts of 15-19 "...Feed my lambs...Tend my sheep...Feed my Sheep...Follow me."

I want to live my life for the glory of God!!!  So today I challenge myself with the below from John Piper;
"That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God."
"That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing."
"That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven."
Want to be a part of this challenge? Let's start praying and asking Him to use us now as we wait for HIM.

Shepherd Our Flocks

“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you...” (I Pet 5:2)  

I read this verse often to remind myself of my very precious job as a mother.  And as I look at my children I want to see their valued position as my little lambs who need me to take my job seriously, with joy and love.  Many people love the 23rd Psalm (The LORD is my Shepherd), because we long to be cared for like that....to be nurtured, loved, watched after, fed, refreshment, restored, comforted, given rest and beauty, and led by our loving Shepherd.
Today, I remind myself to shepherd my little ones and to be thankful for my important role as mother!

Hurtin’ Darlin’ and Raw-ness

My little sweet darlin’ is really hurtin’!  She has a horrible bad chest cold, an impacted tooth and had some braces put in her mouth to help with the tooth.  These braces go on the inside of her teeth and are really hurting her. She has hardly been able to eat anything. 
In other random news, 
Steve finally went back to work today, but still feels horrible;
school has been hard with so many sick ones;
I am so unorganized right now!  
And now, to interrupt random blog news with raw-ness...
I know...mothers of large families are suppose to have it all together!  I’ve been telling myself for weeks “Come on Shonni, Pull Yourself Together!!!!!”.  I couldn’t even tell you how many nights I wake up and think that I’ll “do better” with everything tomorrow and then tomorrow comes and things don’t go the way I was hoping!  In one corner of the ring I fight with myself about the realities...sick family, interrupted sleep, LOTS of dentist and dr. appointments, etc. and in the other corner - I should be getting up earlier, planning the meals, spending better quality time with the children, doing school “better”, loving Steve better...
I’m sure my greatest enemy is myself...
A glimpse into my mind tonight....not to pretty huh?  I struggle almost every day right now to post anything on my blog because if I were honest I would have to say AGAIN...”Struggling” and I figure at some point I am going to loose family and friends with that.  
It’s not that anything BIG or HORRIBLE is happening...just little battles of self expectations and little voices that I hear telling me who and what I should be.  And I feel wore out, unmotivated and how do you blog about that to people you love and hope and pray love you?
I have spent many days praying that I would hear the LORD’s voice and I do find comfort in HIM.  Still, there is a battle and so, I share here...
and realize that what I am really showing is my vulnerability to my own idols - to do things in a way that I feel good about.  
“O Lord, how I love Your Word.  It is precious beyond all earthly treasures Father.  Incline my heart to Your Word and break my bondage to other things.  Forbid that I would be false to Your faithfulness and fill me with Your Spirit that I may serve You and You alone and find joy in that service each day.  For Your Glory and to live in Your love, I pray! Amen”

I Know You Love The Orphans...So Please Read This!!!

I’m sitting in my comfy jammies,

holding this little darlin’..

...who is sick with a fever!

He has his little blanket to hold, while his mommy holds him. 

I don’t think we will be up and about much today.

We spent all day yesterday with a Christian artist who took composition pictures that he will use in a series of paintings to be revealed in January at a very important event!!!  One of our local churches is hosting an event to help raise awareness about child trafficking.  We are really praying over this; that people will stop ignoring this horrible crime and begin to get involved is saving children who have been imprisoned in this hell-hole.  

Did you know that child trafficking is one of the FASTEST GROWING CRIMES in the world!!!!!  Trafficking children especially for the sex industry is done because there is A DEMAND.  This should infuriate us a Christ followers.  We can help eliminate this heinous crime by effecting the demand for children. We must help to destroy this source!!!!  By putting the predators behind bars we can stop this demand for children.  Steve and I are passionate about this!!! The most vulnerable are often the unprotected orphans!  Let’s get passionate together and help shine HIS LIGHT into this horrible darkness and bring JUSTICE to these children.  We can’t leave them alone...we must fight for them!!!

Here is the internet address for a group of people who are seriously working to put the bad guys behind the bars....Stop Child Trafficking NOW.  

Please don’t turn your eyes away from this because it is uncomfortable!  This is real, and it is happening in your city.  

.