sweet!

After I finished praying with Jacob tonight, he said, "I want to help pay for Kate's trip to Scotland. Maybe I can sell ice cream sundaes OR hot chocolate! Yeah, I'll sell hot chocolate! I'll give the money to Katelyn." I had to savor that moment while I laid there next to him and we discussed how he could do that. What a sweet moment of unselfishness...only by God's grace!
So with snow in the forecast (AGAIN!!), I think hot chocolate will sell better than ice cream sundaes!
I also would like to do a coffee house to help raise money. We have one month to raise $1,000! If any of you want to contribute, just let me know! :)

my heart is full of praise!

I just have to write this down so I don't forget! Zechariah 3 is a vision of Joshua the High Priest in the presence of God. ( Tim Keller shared this thought in his sermon that I listened to yesterday.) The high priest went into the presence of God one day with a basin of blood one day of the year Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. He spent all week preparing, cleansing himself over and over, bathing, and putting on beautiful robes. In this passage Zechariah realizes that all that cleansing, bathing and beautiful robes are all for naught. They don't do the high priest any good. v. 3 says that his garments were filthy. v. 4 "The angel said to those who were standing before him, 'Remove the filthy garments from him". And to him he said "Behold I have taken your iniquity far away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments"....So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments.
This makes my heart sing! He has torn the curtain and clothed me in his robes of righteousness so that I can gaze upon his beauty and know him as my Father!
Happy Day!

thoughts runnin' through my head

What is the work that we are supposed to be doing as Christians when the Bible says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you..." ? It is to believe...faith. Faith is the power switch, the Holy Spirit is the cord, and we shine the light into a dark and broken world. None of this is from me, it's all "God working in me". I was talking to Jacob a few weeks ago about how he is doing in school. We usually have these talks while lying in the bed at night. The dark and quiet seem to bring out honesty and vulnerability from a child's heart because that is where I have had some of the best talks with my kids. Jacob was telling me he is a "bad kid" at school. I asked him why he thought he was a "bad kid". He said because he gets lots of tallies. I named another student in his class who never gets tallies and asked him if he thought this student was a "bad kid". He said, "NO!" I responded, "God tells us that we are all 'bad kids' even this other student and that we all need Jesus. No one is better than anyone else. We all need Jesus. Some people learn how to act in certain places so they don't get into trouble but this doesn't mean that their heart has been changed by God. God wants us to come to Him every day in repentance and trust Him." I was thinking to myself, "What does it mean to be a good boy?" God has shown me that there is nothing good in me. I have no light of my own...I'm just like the moon reflecting the light of the sun. I told Jacob, "to be a good boy is simply to trust, to believe". I pray for Jacob to see that he can't just TRY HARDER. I don't want him to think that if he doesn't get any tallies that he is okay. In fact, if getting a lot of tallies shows him how much he needs a Savior then bring it on! I don't want behavior modification. I pray for God to change his heart, to bind it His own, to change him so that He knows how wide, long and deep the Father's love is for him.
I listened to a Tim Keller sermon yesterday b/c I couldn't go to church. It was on
Ps. 27. David had learned how to face life (viewing all of life as a battle and not just a series of battlefields)...by gazing on the face of God, simply look to Jesus...being in His presence. He could face anything and not be afraid because he was looking to Jesus. God does the work, ALL the work. Jacob and I just need to remember to keep our gaze in the right place.

changes everywhere

Our school is probably going to be moving into a new building. A Christian school in our area is closing. It is connected to a church and has been in existence for 45 years. The church is voting tonight on whether or not to lease the building to our school. I remember when my school closed when I was finishing my eighth grade year. It was a hard time for many families. I remembered feeling very anxious and how my mom seemed so calm about it! We all scattered and went to different schools in the area. Our church opened a school in its basement, which is where we went. So I have thought about these families from New Castle a lot this week who are seeing the end of an era to their school and my heart goes out to them. I hope that we can welcome many of them into our school family and that it will be a safe place for them where they are embraced and loved by the body of Christ. I pray that this will help advance the kingdom for the glory of God.

I don't want to forget....

I am going to write this down so I don't forget. David, Kate and I have been reading John Piper's book A Sweet and Bitter Providence on the book of Ruth. Kate flew through it and LOVED it...she said it was one of the best books she has ever read. She read this to me and we were both in tears. What God does in our lives is so sweet and merciful...even in the difficulties. Read on and absorb...get the book.
"Sweetie Pie" p. 122
This pledge God has made to his people is ungreakable. No famine or death can break it. I saw it in a parable. I was visiting some of our elderly people in a nursing home. I got on the elevator with a woman in a wheelchair who was old, misshapen, and confused. Her head wobbled meaninglessly and she uttered senseless sounds. Her mouth hung open. Then I noticed that a well dressed man, perhaps in his mid-sixties, was pushing her chair. I wondered who he was. Then as we all got off the elevator, I heard him say, "Watch your feet, Sweetie-pie."
Sweetie Pie. As I walked to the car, I thought...if a marriage covenant between a man and a woman produces that kind of fidelity and commitment and affection under those circumstances, then surely under the great and merciful terms of the New Covenant, sealed with the blood of his Son (Luke 22:20), God has no difficulty calling you and me (sinful and sick as we are) sweet names. And if he does, there is no truth more unshakable in all the world than this: For them and for us the best is yet to come. God is at work in the darkest times--for our good and Christ's glory. He will see to it that the glory of his Son fills the earth and that in him we find everlasting joy.

didn't know that would happen

Yesterday when we got home, there was a letter in the mail from Cedarville University. We visited the campus a few weeks ago to see if that is somewhere Kate would want to attend. She loved it. We met some really great people while we were there. She had applied before we visited, but wanted to visit to get a feel for the campus atmosphere. So we have been waiting to hear from them. She had to work last night and didn't get home until 10:45. We held the envelope up to the light and all the usual attempts to see what it said without opening it. Mary Ellen called her to tell her the letter was waiting for her and poor Kate could hardly concentrate all evening at work. I went to bed but woke up when I heard her run into the house, plop all her stuff down, tear into the envelope, and started sobbing...yes we are a little emotional in our home. I thought, "oh no!" Kate came up and showed me the letter. It was a "Congratulations! You have been accepted for the fall semester of 2010." I just couldn't believe that my little girl's name was on that letter with those words. Wasn't that just yesterday that I got that letter?? Now my daughter is spreading her wings and getting ready to fly! I just looked at it and read it over and over. Tears came...I had such a mixture of emotions. I am so proud of her and all her accomplishments. I am so happy for her to have more opportunities to learn and grow. If she chooses to go to CU, I will be happy. (she has applied to three other schools). I will miss her so much when that time comes. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all the things going on in my life and the changes we face as a family. I was wondering what it will be like for us next year without her around and what it will be like to go visit....all kinds of thoughts. I finally fell asleep around midnight...happy, thankful, knowing and trusting my Heavenly Father.

first snow

Saturday was our first snow of the season. I was at a Christmas tea. It was perfect...all Christmasy inside and big fluffy flakes coming down outside. I am hoping for a few good storms this year.
I had an "ah ha" moment today....kinda. I was teaching my first graders the lesson about the spies going into the land of Canaan and coming back scared and getting all the people scared. They had forgotten the promises of God and how He had taken care of them and promised to take them into the land and give it to them. To them, taking over the land of Canaan looked impossible! Joshua and Caleb didn't forget and knew that God could help them conquer the land. They probably had no idea how it would happen, but they were confident in God's promises to them. Halfway through the lesson, I felt like I was preaching to myself! The lesson was for me! The Holy Spirit was convicting me as I was speaking. Sometimes when God calls us to something and takes us through difficuties it is scary. I become fearful and try to control the situation so that it will work out to my liking. I remember when God was calling us away from my beloved Willowdale. I was scared. I loved my church, my friends....my life in PA. What if God took all of that away!!!?? What would I do? He did (except for the friends) because he wants me to trust Him and love Him more than ANYTHING!
I was so afraid that we would have to move far away and how hard that would be on the kids. God has a way of bringing us to the point of surrender, rest and trust. You know the verse, "In repentence and rest is our salvation..." it's my theme. :) So now after wandering in the wilderness and going through more trials and struggles, I see my sin...my pride, stubborness and now I don't care where we end up. I just want to be wherever God wants us. That's what happened to the Israelites too. They had to wander around and realize that God's promises are ALWAYS true....repent,rest, repent, rest, repent....God is faithful and always forgives and loves.