Toots and Smiles!

I will clarify this video by including a warning: WHAT SOME PEOPLE FIND FUNNY, OTHERS MAY NOT! We all found this video quite hysterical. Hope you enjoy!

The Salve for Every Sore

Matthew Henry once wrote a commentary of Mark 1:30-34. This passage records Jesus, James, John, Andrew and Simon at Simon's house one evening. These men had just been chosen by Jesus to be among his first disciples. That day they had come from the synagogue where they'd witnessed one of Jesus' first healings. He had healed a man possessed by a demon in the synagogue!

They went home to Simon's house that evening and found that Simon's mother-in-law was in bed sick with a fever. Jesus went to her and took her by the hand to help her up and she began to wait on them! Another healing. Soon they found the entire town of Capernaum at their front door begging to see Jesus to heal their friends and family members! The entire town!

And he does. He heals the sick, those with diseases, those that are lame, blind, deaf, and those who were possessed by demons. Can you imagine what these disciples must have been thinking? "I think we chose the right guy to follow!"

Matthew Henry writes that Jesus' word is a "Panpharmacon- a salve for every sore." He wasn't just a guy that could only heal certain sicknesses. He healed a myriad of ailments, diseases and demonic possessions.

Jesus easily could have said a blanket statement like, "Be healed." and then gone back inside to rest for the evening. It had been a long day. He had stepped into the role as Rabbi at the synagogue before the man with a demon spoke out against him. He was teaching the Jews with authority about the scriptures. Everyone was amazed at his wisdom and teaching ability.

But instead of thinking about himself, Jesus chose to get personal with each one who needed healing. He wanted to touch each one. He wasn't offended by the man with leprosy, his open sores oozing puss and everyone around him keeping their distance. No, he looked the man in the eye and laid his hands on him and healed him. He knew this man and dozens of others needed his touch. He wanted this experience to be personal. He knew that their testimony would be, "The Lord Jesus healed me. You knew what I suffered before, now look at me and see what He did!" Jesus wanted the friends and family members that brought their sick and lame to him to be touched too. It wasn't enough that these people sought after him, he wanted them to know that they'd found him!

Satisfaction rested in Jesus' heart being in the midst of that crowd. He loved people and he wanted his new disciples to see that. He wanted them to see a radical way of relating to and loving people.

Alone, his word brought healing. A salve for every sore. I have been touched by him.

Last week, I was driving home after dropping off my daughter at school. As I turned on to our street my vision began to leave, I was getting a migraine. Instantly, I turned off the radio and prayed, "Oh, Lord Jesus, will you come and heal me of my migraine? You know all the things I need to do today and my children that I need to care for."

I called a friend and my husband and asked them to pray for me. I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes. My girls just stood around me watching me, waiting for me to get up and do something. I tried to explain to them that I couldn't see them, I don't think that they understood though. I had an OB appointment and blood draw in less than an hour and the way this was progressing I was thinking I wouldn't make it. I called my husband to see if he could come home to drive me since I couldn't see and he tried to convince me to cancel my appointment. I told him I would consider it and I would call him back later. I got up off the couch to "see " if I could find out what time it was. As I began to walk, I started to see a little bit better. With each step my vision returned! The Lord had healed me! With my migraines, I am usually out for 6-7 hours in a very dark room, vomiting and begging for relief from the pain.

I could see and I didn't have any pain! I was able to make my appointment and drive myself!
How good and gracious the Lord is to me.

Psalm 107:20 says:
"He sent forth his word and healed them..."

My panpharmacon healed me! His touch is personal. He wants to look us in the eye and allow us to experience him in an intimate way. His word is the salve we need for our wounds, sores, sicknesses, diseases and our loneliness. Allow Him to show you how he wants to heal you. Ask him, this time he is the One standing at your door waiting for you to open it and see Him.

85 days and counting...

Eighty-five more days or so until I can bring another child into this world!

Amazing! That is not that long from now and usually I go early so it could be less. But it helps to put my life into a better perspective as far as how much time I have left until life changes once again. Soon a little 7 pounder will demand all of me!

The baby moves a lot now. This time I have a better understanding of what is going on and really enjoy watching this little one move around. The girls ask when the baby will arrive, if we've chosen a name and what is the sex of the baby. I cannot answer any of their questions.

Complete strangers give me their take on what we will be having. I've heard, "Oh, it's time for you to have a boy!" "Your poor husband, he needs another man around the house." "Oh, you are soooo having another girl!" "You can only make girls, huh?" "If you have another girl will you keep trying until you have a boy?"

Whether or not this is the last pregnancy for us, we want to relish this time. Duane loves to listen to my belly and the girls get so excited when they can feel the baby move. It is incredible to share this with them. I am so grateful that the Lord chose us to care for this little one. We continue to remind ourselves when we get overwhelmed that we have tools in our family that this little one needs and the Lord is not going to leave us to do this alone! Thank God!

Couscous and Tantrums

The other night I made a delicious meal! I say that because I was getting tired of the hum-drum of baked chicken. I wanted to "spice" things up and make something different. Never mind that this meal did not get finished until almost 7pm, it just ensured that everyone was EXTREMELY hungry and ate very well.


At a bridal shower of mine, my mother asked everyone to come prepared with a favorite recipe to share with me. A good friend of the family brought a recipe from her stack. Her husband had grown up in Morocco as a missionary child. But she had also developed a love for authentic Mediterranean and Asian food growing up. Her recipe was entitled: Lebanese Chicken. I remember thinking, "Wow, I don't think that I will ever make this, I don't even quite know where Lebanon is, I think it is a small town south of Columbus but I am not sure." Anyhow, I have carried it with me these past 8 years always skipping past it in my recipe box.

About a year ago I found it again and thought that I would try it. It called for couscous. I didn't have any so I purchased some and made sure that I had all the ingredients that I needed and decided to prepare it for the family. The chicken was a hit, sweet and tender and the "best chicken I have ever tasted Mommy," the couscous was a flop, "What is this? It is dry and yucky." The girls said something similar, that was Duane's response!

Have you ever tried couscous? It generally picks up the flavor of whatever it is near, quite like rice but just a different color (yellow) and a different texture (small and round.) Duane made it very clear that he didn't want it ever again! Jena and Paige tried it and basically said the same thing. I, on the other hand, fell in love with it. Maybe it was the craving or the desire to "try, try, again" with the family but I made the couscous again.



Everyone turned up their noses but Annie. She loved it and begged for more and then begged for some more. Honestly I was getting a bit stingy with her because I wanted to keep most of the couscous for myself. But secretly I was excited that at least someone in the family liked it, even if she doesn't have any words and will eat almost anything in front of her! Although the photo is a bit blurry you can see the bits of couscous on her hands and face. Pure delight!



Several nights later as I was preparing another delicious meal for the family. Ha Ha! Another secret sandwich recipe...Wednesday youth group night... Annie was busy singing near me as I prepared the food. She knows several songs but her favorite one right now is one she has made up all on her own. The words aren't that hard to learn so I will try my best to convey the essence: "Mama...mama...mama..." It is the most beautiful song I have ever heard and will treasure it always. She adds different keys and dance moves each time but the meaning conveys her heart for her Mama and I LOVE IT!



Anyhow, I thought, "How nice it would be to record this moment and show her later on how much she loved her Mama and how stinking cute she is when she sings. I will record her without her noticing." So I quickly grab the camera and begin recording and this is what I got instead:

What began in song ended in tragedy. Her mama didn't have her heart anymore, she made that very clear after the camera was turned off. Nevertheless, I got a few seconds of sweet Annie and then many longer seconds of not-so-sweet Annie. We are in the 20th month of her life and it seems conceivable that the "Terrible Twos" are upon us now.

We have the good moments and the ones we'd rather not dwell on but either way we have them and have to live through them. I am thankful that these days are upon me right now!

Reinforcing the Truth

Isn't the Lord good?

This afternoon, the girls came in from school and had their snack. Then they plopped themselves in front of the TV for a little quiet time. They turned on the Family Network and began watching a show with Mary Lou Retton. A character on the show was having a hard time forgiving someone that had hurt them. Mary Lou encouraged the girl to forgive even when it is hard. She stressed that when we choose not to forgive we not only hurt the other person but we hurt ourselves too. We are filled with anger and not love. The rest of the show was about the girl choosing to forgive the other person and building a bridge in their friendship and honoring what the Lord would want her to do.

Jena looked at me and I just raised my eyebrows. I think the conversation we'd had earlier returned to her mind. I asked her, "What do you think about that Jena? Isn't that what we talked about this morning?" She said, "Yes." I could tell that she was relieved that she had made the decision to forgive.

What a great God we have!

The Pain of Unforgiveness

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Those are the words of Jesus as he was crucified on the cross. He said these words to show the depth of his love for those that crucified him and for us. But have you ever considered the impact of these famous words? I think that I have had a glimpse of the impact just this week.

It is really easy to read these words that Luke pens in Luke 23. But to say them aloud is something else and to believe them from your spirit is not something that is easy to do. When we consider the times that we've had a decision to forgive someone or to hold onto our unforgiveness it brings us a bit closer to the cross.

Often, I find that it is really easy for me to say these words of forgiveness and it isn't always the case in really believing that I have forgiven. But I find that truly releasing my unforgiveness brings a deeper understanding of what Jesus meant. He said these words for us. For our benefit, we are forgiven for the sin in our lives but also it teaches how to release others too.

My daughter Jena has had a really rough start to the school year. She has been bombarded with one situation after another whether it is a sickness or something involving another classmate. She has been having a bad week this week.

She came to me earlier this week complaining that her stomach hurts. She has been battling this for several weeks now and I have adjusted her diet and tried to make sure that she is getting enough rest. When I ask her what she thinks is causing her pain she tells me that she doesn't know. Duane battles IBS and I have often wondered if she will too. It pains me to think that she is only 6 and already having troubles.

Every day this week, I have dropped her off at school and she has walked into school crying. It kills me to see her like this but I know that I cannot keep her at home just because she doesn't feel like going to school. She has begged me to home school her but I don't have peace about that. I know that the Lord made it very clear to us that this is where she needs to be.

She had an incident earlier that involved two of the boys in her class chasing her and her friends at recess. I encouraged her to confront the boys and she did and they left her alone. But on Monday morning, she came to school to find that her seat had been moved and she was at a different table. She had been moved away from one of the boys and placed right next to the other one. She told me one day that it really bothered her that the boys talk about poop and pee all the time and they have rude manners. I explained to her that is how some people are. I asked her if she had asked them to stop. She said that she would. So the next day she did and he agreed to stop talking like that.

But then the next day it was a story about the other boy. After I dropped her off in tears again, I began asking the Lord what was the root of her sadness each morning. I felt him respond that she wouldn't have all her stomach problems and sadness if she would choose to forgive these boys. I was shocked by His response. But the more I prayed about it the more it made sense. I have had several instances in my life that I can see that physically I changed as a result of unforgiveness.

I approached Jena and asked her if she had forgiven the boys. She said that she hadn't. I told her that I had been praying for her and shared with her what the Lord had told me. I told her that it had to be her decision to forgive that I couldn't do it for her. I waited on her for a while. I reminded her several times that I was would pray with her when she decided.

We battled all morning today. She was sobbing at breakfast that she didn't want to go to school. I talked with her about it and even reminded her about a song we'd learned several years ago. Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." I explained to her what the verse meant and how I believed that her stomach aches would quit when she forgave these boys. I shared with her that there are people in every one's life that they don't necessarily want to be around or even like but the Lord puts those people in our lives for a reason. Many times it is to change us, not them.

Finally on our way to school this morning, Jena told me that she had told the Lord that she wanted to forgiven them. I prayed with her and told her that she needed to remember all day that she had chose to forgive them and sometimes it would be hard to stand next to that. She teared up again once we got to school but I am praying that the Lord will give her strength to make it through her day and that she can experience some joy.

I am excited to hear how her day went today. I know that she can experience freedom in all this. My tendency is to shelter her but I know the dangers of that and I trust that the Lord is with her all day and I know that He makes His presence known to her. She tells me that He does. As we grow in parenting we find peace in knowing that we are not in this alone, the Lord is walking this road with us.

Play time!

The other evening we took the girls to a nearby park to let them expend some of their pent-up energy. They always love going to this park and the night was beautiful.

Annie tries so hard to keep up with her big sisters. She wants to do the same things that they are doing and usually has no fear when it comes to trying new things.

Hence this video:

The night was getting dark fast but the video had us all cracking up. Annie was very anxious to get down this slide. I think that she wanted to race Duane down the slide. Sorry for my giggling but it was too funny to see her try!
The park also has a pond with lots of ducks. I had been saving some old bread and brought it along for the girls to feed to the ducks. Annie tried really hard to feed the ducks but she decided that she liked sampling the bread more than sharing.

Jena and Paige appear fearless too when climbing all over the equipment. At one point I heard Jena yelling for me and I found her hanging upside down on some rings. It was a great moment because I remember that feeling when I was younger. Certainly if I weren't pregnant I would've shown her what her old woman could do on the rings too! Jena has certainly proved that she is all monkey this past year and isn't afraid to show her skills. Paige on the other hand is a bit more tentative. She will watch Jena do something and then try to convince herself that she can do it too. With A LOT of coaching on our part she eventually will do it too. Nonetheless she still enjoys playing around and climbing up the climbing wall.

Later on, Jena yelled that she was going to go down the tunnel slide backwards. She came flying down the slide on her back with her head first. She couldn't stop herself and fell on her head. She just got up laughed at herself and went back up to try it again! Not the case with Paige, she would have given up and wanted to go home.

I must admit that sometimes I would rather be a bit more relaxed and not be such a mama bird! Here Duane caught me in the action of being protective.

It sure is good to see the girls enjoy themselves and I think that Duane and I did too!