A New Blog

My dear Mother recently started a blog! Though it is mostly addressed to Mothers, we young ladies can greatly benefit from her insight. God has given her much wisdom and I am sure you will see how blessed I am to have been taught by her! :-) So without further ado, please visit: Preachers At Home
(I am sure she would love to hear from you all :)

Newsy Things

We had a wonderful day on Thursday spending time with my Grandma and some friends. We really do not celebrate Christmas because of it's pagan origins, but we do enjoy spending time with family.
It turned out to be a beautiful day with the sun shining and the snow sparkling like diamonds. My Dad took this picture in the morning, I love it!

Yesterday, my Mom, brother and I went cross-country skiing down our gravel, now snow covered road. We had a blast. The temperature had risen to hover around the freezing point, making lighter jackets the garments of choice. Since the temps have been around zero and below for some time, this warmer spell feels pretty nice.

Tomorrow Lord willing I will be heading out to stay with a family who just had a baby (remember Jesaias?) and need help with their two other children. I will be gone for a week or more, depending on how things go. So, I will probably not be posting at all next week, (unless I can get to a computer, which is unlikely).

I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and to obtain some more experience with small children. What a blessing! Children are so precious and are gifts from God, it is very sobering to think of how easily they can be influenced. Oh, that I might point them to Christ! Their minds are like sponges and they learn so quickly, things that will stay with them the rest of their lives. What a responsibility is given to anyone who is around small children. Yes, the Father and Mother have the most responsibility, but those who are around them are also responsible before God how they act and talk.

I remember when my brother and I were very young, my Mother would march with us around and around the house reading a chapter of the Bible over and over again. Soon we began to repeat after her and within a couple of weeks we knew the whole chapter. In this way we memorized (chapters) Proverbs 1-8 and Psalms 1-9 . My dear Mother was instilling within us the word of God at that tender age where memorization comes easily. Small children love to repeat things over and over and memorize things so quickly, why not have them memorize the Bible? I still remember how fun those times were and the scripture has helped me so much and though I cannot now recite verbatim because I did not keep it up, yet it is "in there" and the principles are there. I am so thankful for that!
My mother would all throughout the day point us to the Creator, she would show us flowers and exclaim how beautifully God had made them and lead us to thank Him for what He has done. At home and every where we went, we heard the praises of God. Everything was in the context of 'Look what God made and how it works, isn't He wonderful? Let us thank Him!' I praise God that my formative years were spent learning about my Lord Jesus. There is nothing better to teach a child! My family claimed the verse: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
And do you know what? God IS Faithful! When we put Him first and learned about Him first, He added all the other academic and social skills needed.
Remember:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)

Let us keep on seeking the Lord. Difficulties come and things get in the way, but who and what is most important?

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." (Matthew 6:19-22)

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth..." (Colossians 3:1-5)

Have a blessed week and New Year!

(I get to say is again :) Announcing...

The birth of my dear friends baby boy:

Jesaias Kaven !

Born: December 17, 2008 at 9:02am

Weight: 8lbs 12.8 oz

Height: 20.5"

Jesaias is pronounced: ja-si-yas (short "a" both start and finish; long "i")

Here is the explanation for his name, in his father Steve's own words:

We wanted a name that was biblical, meaningful, and family significant. His first name, except the "J" is the greek from of the prophet "Isaiah". In the King James Version of the bible, Isaiah is written as "Esaias". Note Matthew 3:3

For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

"Isaiah" is meaningful to us because on March 4, 2004 I read Isaiah 1:16-17 and the Lord opened my eyes to see the salvation found only in Jesus Christ. The name "Isaiah" was too common for us so we went with the King James version of "Isaiah", thus "Esaias". However, we really didn't like how Esaias sounded but we did like how it sounded with a "J" in front, plus we can call him "JJ". Esaias means either "God saves" or "The salvation of the Lord". We'll say it means "JESUS SAVES" since we put the "J" in front!

The middle name "Kaven" is a mixture of Ken (my dad's first name) and Dave (Tina's dad's name).

I am so excited for them! They have two darling little girls and now have a son!

My Mom and I visited them yesterday and got to hold little Jesaias, ooooh he is sooo precious!

Thank you Lord Jesus!

Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us: they cannot be recounted in order unto you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. (Psalms 40:5)

Let it Snow!

We have snow! A snow storm blew through yesterday, dumping seven or eight inches of snow on us. It is hard to tell how much we actually have because the wind was blowing pretty hard, causing the snow to drift.

We also had my sister's four children here for the weekend, who caused our ordinarily quite home to buzz. We all enjoyed each others company, working together, playing games, telling Bible stories, etc. This morning the temperature stayed under zero degrees, which combined with a stiff breeze made forays to the out of doors short lived.

Ashley

Brittany shoveling our driveway

Ashley and I

Ashley's shadow!

It really does not seem like a lot of snow to me, compared to years past but I am glad that it is finally here! As I have often been heard to say, "If it is going to be cold, there might as well be snow and lots of it!"

And because I couldn't resist...

Does any one else love snow?

On the Glory of God

The other night we watched a Moody Science video entitled: "Journey to the Edge of Creation: Our Solar System". It was incredible to see the immensity of the cosmos, in which earth is less than a tiny speck. It is mind boggling and wonderful, making our hearts and minds soar to the Creator of all this. Psalms 19:1 says: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Also: The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. (Psalms 97:6)

And yet, with all the glories of the heavens, Psalms 113:4-6 says: "The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!"

As glorious as the heavens are with all the galaxies upon galaxies, God's glory is greater and He humbles Himself to even look at those things! Wow!

Click on the images for larger views.

Eagle Nebula

Star cluster

Galaxies. I cannot wrap my mind around the immensity of it. Each one, how many light years away from the others? And light years is the distance traveled at the speed of light in 365 days!

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalms 8:3-4)

Take a look at....

This: Sinner Gets Saved !

Thanksgiving weekend

What a wonderful extended weekend we have had!

For Thanksgiving we went to my Grandma's in Michigan and had a good visit with her. My sister Bonnie and her four children were planning to come with us, but came down with the flu the night before, so we missed having them. We had made eight pies which is our family's Thanksgiving tradition, but with only five people to eat them, we wondered what to do. That dilemma was resolved very satisfactorily when we called some friends who live in the area and arranged to have desert with them. They have six children still at home and also had a family with ten children visiting from out of town, and some other friends stopped by. We had a wonderful time! After eating lots of pie, we gathered for a time of fellowship and singing as we worshipped the Lord. It was a great blessing as God opened several hearts to share salvation testimonies and at times, many in the room were weeping. We are praising God for the work He is doing in the lives of His people!

We came home late Thursday night, rejoicing in the Lord. We had planned to leave early Friday morning for a trip to Illinois, but ended up leaving around noon. We arrived at my Uncle Del and Aunt Charis's home and spent three nights there, enjoying visiting family. Aunt Charis is so much fun and we really enjoyed hanging out with her and helping her with her cleaning jobs. We also spent time with my cousins Renee' and Villa & Rob and also my Aunt Anne.

On Saturday we spent an hour holding signs in front of an abortion clinic in Des Plains. The police came by, responding to a complaint against us. They said that we were in our legal rights to stand on the public sidewalk we were on, but they did not like us using the pictures of aborted babies. My Mom explained to them that when the holocaust was going on, no one knew about it until the pictures were shown. Abortion is an American holocaust that needs to be exposed and even though we do not like little children to see the pictures, we would rather they see them than be them. She also told them that we have had reports of people changing their minds about an abortion when they saw those pictures. The police listened politely, then left. We praise God for this opportunity to stand up and proclaim what God's word says, "Thou shalt not murder".

The highlight of the trip was spending Sunday with my Brother Dan and his wife Basia (who is just like a sister) and their two sons, Kristofer and Noah. I had not met the boys yet and it was such a blessing to be with them!

A very happy Aunt!

And a doting Uncle!

And what can be said of a Grandmother's joy?

:-)

Michael's first time holding a baby! See the amazement?
This quickly turned to smiles.

Kristofer loved Abby and she liked him!

Boo!

What a sweet darling baby Noah!

We also visited my Aunt Pam and cousin Danielle and had a wonderful visit.

It was such a blessing to see so many family members and we thank God for the good traveling weather He gave us and the wonderful visits!