Letter To My Youngest Son

Dear Jamison,

 

We are so grateful to have you in our family! How can it be 10 years already?! Your big brother was 8 months old when we found out about you. We were a little overwhelmed with the thought of another baby. But you have been such a blessing! God knew exactly what He was doing when He sent you to our family.

 

When you were born, you were bald and neither Grandma wanted to claim you. But you were the sweetest baby ever. After the first several months, you nestled into a schedule and were so content and happy. Our lives were really crazy at first, with what seemed like 2 babies.

 

You were seeking adventure from the get go. At 6 months of age, in a week's time, you started crawling, sitting alone, and pulling yourself up beside furniture. Then you really got in trouble. One night in the middle of the night, we heard a tremendous crash. You had stood up in bed, pulled the doily off the dresser beside you, and crashed the lamp and large ceramic piggy bank in your bed. You were a bit bewildered but unhurt. You also pulled over a large floor lamp and narrowly missed cracking yourself in the head. You were walking at 10 months.

 

I'll never forget how you coaxed your big brother into that mud puddle! He was not accustomed to getting dirty but his little brother plowed right into that puddle and then Logan decided it's not so bad to give it a try.

 

You and Logan were inseparable. You were fiercely competitive and so even though you were smaller, you often came out on top.

 

You started school with an eagerness to learn, and you still love to learn. You especially love to read about amazing stuff, like stars and space and sea creatures. You can get completely lost in a book.

 

I love your kind heart when you play with your sisters or other kids a lot younger than you. That's why all those little boys love you so much. You are also very generous and you'd just as soon spend your money on other people as yourself.

 

God's got a big plan for you, Jamison, and I'm so glad I get to be along for the ride.

 

Love,

Mom

 

And now here we are, you just celebrated that big 10th birthday!

 Jamison with his two best friends, his brother, Logan and his friend ,Lucas

 His birthday present- picked out by his Dad!

Happy birthday, son. We love you!

June {Mission Trip & VBS}

Seriously, I almost do not know where to start. June has been a full month for us and fortunately, we still have a week left.

We started the month out in Phoenix, AZ with our youth group on a mission trip. There were 21 youth and 4 leaders that spent 9 days in the warm city of Phoenix. We helped do a week of Vacation Bible School, a variety of work projects, and just tried to be a blessing to Aim Right Ministries. It was warm, it was exhausting, it was rewarding, it was stretching. One of the highlights for me was watching God work on so many details. We definitely did not go to Phoenix along; He was right by our side. We left part of our hearts there with all the kids we befriended. We also spent several hours at Grand Canyon one day, which by the way, is not enough time.

 
There's a lot I could say about Anthony and Shaina, our wonderful co-leaders. We have been so blessed to be able to work with them in leading the youth. They have become some very special friends!

This was the group that Shaina and I were in charge of for Bible School. We went with them from station to station each night and got pretty attached to them.

My sweet friend, Dayanida, who is autistic. We became good friends almost immediately. She couldn't talk, but her smile and ornery ways were easy to interpret.

We left our children at home with my sweet and capable niece, Dorcas, and she did a fantastic job of taking care of them. It was the longest we have ever been away from our children and the last several days seemed to crawl. It was really, really good to come home again!

 

We had a week break before we started VBS at our own church and that week was spent doing a lot of garden work, spending time with the children, and getting ready for VBS.

Here's proof that Leon and I didn't just sleep that first week at home, although that is what we felt like doing.

And now we survived another week of VBS at our church and our planned activities for the summer are winding down. It's been a full, busy month, but such a blessing, too, to be able to serve in so many ways. God has been so good to us and we are incredibly blessed.

Happy weekend.

 

Brain Dump {Picture Dump}

So I just gotta blog. Our life has been crazy but so good! We are just incredibly blessed to have our life so full of awesome friends and family. The social activities can get a bit overwhelming at times, in fact we said "no" to 5 things this week, which feels pretty huge to me. The only event that I'm deeply sad about missing is the annual homeschool convention. It just does not seem right to skip it. I'm remembering the past 4 years of getting away for 2 days with my man and soaking up time together plus being totally inspired by speakers at the convention and getting to browse and order our curriculum for next year. But it's okay, it's okay, it's okay....

We have had an incredibly wet, cool and late spring. Knowing that when the weather does clear, my man will hit the fields like a mad man, and family time will be non-existant. So we took off one evening last week to go fishing w/ the kids. The fish weren't biting, I didn't want to go in the first place, and it started to rain just before we wrapped it up. But in spite of all that, it was one of those rare and priceless evenings that I'll remember for a long time. I sat on my bucket and fished and relaxed and watched a beautiful sunset, and messed w/ my camera. The kids were relaxed and hardly tangled any lines, which is a huge improvement from the good old days. We all came home happy and tired.

Here's another picture I just have to post: Annika, still in her pj's, finishing school on the very last day, behind the rocker- with Brooke supervising. It's a classic.

We planted garden and I had a fabulous little helper.

We have been practically living outside on these glorious days! And my farmer husband finally got in the fields this week. After a very intense week of us seeing almost nothing of him, he can cross planting crops off of his to-do list!!!!!!!!!!!!! I prayed a lot of prayers for safety, protection and 'hold the rain back, God' this week. And God answered every one of those prayers.

I enjoyed a very special Mother's Day with my 4 blessings and wonderful man! My favorite memory was each of them sharing something they appreciated about me before we ate Sunday lunch. Can you tell that Words of Affirmation are my love language?

I've been thinking...

Will I ever get mature enough in my Christian life that painful comments will just roll off of me?

Why do I feel the need to explain myself when I'm misunderstood?

How can every thing I do truly be a reflection of Christ's love in me?

If I've been given so much grace, why is it so hard to extend it to others?

Why am I so lazy in my spiritual life yet love to work hard physically?

How can I better embrace and support my husband's job/calling?

How can I respect those who have a differing opinion than me, yet still use tactful words to challenge them to think for themselves?

and on a lighter note....

Why can't we have spring 9 months out of the year?

Do we really only have 13 more weeks of summer vacation?

Why don't my raspberries mulch themselves?:)

Good-bye. My raspberries are calling my name.

May 5, 1985

28 years ago. A long time ago.

May 5 never rolls around without me doing some reflecting, remembering. Some years more than others.

My Dad passed away from a heart attack 28 years ago. He was 49 years old. I was 9.

Every now and then I go back in my mind and remember the scared little girl...the hopelessness...the loneliness...feeling misunderstood.... I remember how unfair it seemed back then, how unfair it still seems. I think about all the years I missed having a Daddy, and all the milestones I celebrated without him. I think of my husband and the fact that he never knew his father-in-law. I tell my kids about their Grandpa Joe and how he loved children but the fact that they never got to meet him seems so unfair.

This morning, when I awoke, I immediately thought of this day, this anniversary of my Dad's death. I briefly went back to that 9 year old girl, but then I stopped. I felt God so strongly telling me "Don't look at what you lost. Look at what you gained."

So I did. I thought about the love and compassion people showed our family. I thught about the many, many people I have empathized with and encouraged because I truly knew what they were going through. I thought of the verses in the Bible that talk about God being a Father to the fatherless. Those weren't just words on a page. I had experienced them first hand. I thought about the faithfulness of God. I don't just believe it by faith but I know it's real.

Do you know how I know? Because not once in the last 28 years did God ever leave me alone. He was there through it all.

My story is unique. So is yours. See God's hand in it. Learn about His heart. Look at what you gained, not at what you lost.