Answered Prayer

It has been a busy summer around here. I have a lot that I need to update on here but since several people have asked about my Facebook status, here is the story.

Tuesday night was the first meeting of a four week inductive Bible study that I am leading at my church on the book of Ruth and our Kinsman Redeemer. It is a Precept Upon Precept Bible Study. I have worked hard to get ready for it and was really excited about it.

This first week was supposed to be more of an intro to the study and a how-to lesson for those that had never done a precept study before. Keith taught me how to use powerpoint and I had worked up a fairly lengthy pp presentation teaching the method of inductive Bible study. I was all set.

Then Satan went to work trying to mess everything up. It started at 3:30 Tuesday morning when Emma woke me up. Both girls were wide awake and it appeared that they had been for some time. I won't bore you with all the details but 2 hours later they were still awake and consequently so was I. So, I was tired from the get go. It was one of those difficult days where everything you do seems to be wrong or go wrong.

I fixed an early dinner and started packing up to head to the church. I started a pot of coffee to take with me and the coffee pot was sounding very strange. I went to check on it (it is a new pot that we have only had a few months) and I had forgotten to put the lid on the carafe before I put it in the coffee maker so the water wasn't flowing through to the pot it was just filling the basket and running over into all the guts of the pot which was now full of grounds. Ugh! Keith cleaned it all out for me and ran a pot of water through it and then made another pot of coffee. It worked fine, thankfully.

So, then I get to the church. The projector at church has been having some issues but I really needed it for that powerpoint presentation. Keith had helped me set it up Sunday night after church. It took him a good 20 minutes to get it to work. Then he just put it on Standby so it would be ready to go Tuesday night. Well, when I got to the church the projector had been moved and unplugged. My heart sank because I just knew after the way the day had gone, that projector wasn't going to work and there went my entire pp presentation, which was all of the info that I needed to cover that night. I was going to have to wing it and I was nervous enough already. You know, that standing up in front of people thing.

I plugged the projector in and the power light wouldn't even come on. Turns out the plug I was using had been disconnected earlier that day. I switched to another plug and initially got nothing on it either but then the power light blinked so I knew that at least the plug was working. I worked for a solid half hour to get the projector to come on and it wouldn't even hiccup. I was down to 10 minutes and still had to set everything else up.

My head fell into my hands and I prayed, "God, Satan has been working against me since 3:30 this morning. I'm tired, frustrated, and discouraged. I know that this is your will and He doesn't want it to happen but I also know that you are so much greater than him. Please make this projector work and light a fire in these women to know your word. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

I lifted my head and put my finger on the start button and that projector lit up just like it's supposed to, not even a hint of a delay. I kid you not. All I could do was sit there and bawl like a baby. It was so incredible. That had to be the quickest, most obvious answer to prayer that I have witnessed in a long time. "I am the Light of the World" comes to mind. Beautiful!

The rest of the evening went well without even a hint of a problem with that projector. So for those that were wondering about my Facebook status...there you have it. God is so good and this is going to be a great study!

22 Years Ago Today...

Wow...I can't believe it has been that long! 22 years ago last month, I was hospitalized with pre-eclampsia. The day that I was admitted to the hospital, 5 weeks before my due date, the doctor said that I would be there until I was a mother...and I was.

On May 4th, 1987, when the doctors could no longer control my blood pressure, they induced labor and Jeremy, my firstborn, came into this world at 2:06 pm. It was a glorious day and we were so excited to be entrusted with the care of this awesome little being.

Jeremy...on his "birth"day

Jeremy at 2 years old

Jeremy at 5 years old

Jeremy in the 5th grade

Jeremy in the 9th grade

Jeremy as a senior in high school

22 years later, Jeremy is living and working in Africa. Who knew when that little baby was born what God had planned for his life. Jeremy, we are praying for you and excited to see what comes next in your life. I wish we could celebrate with you today but know that we are thinking about you and loving you dearly.

Happy Happy Birthday Son, from your proud Mama!

Easter 2009

Saturday dawned bright and early and dying Easter eggs was at the top of the schedule for the day. The girls were very excited. The box of PAAS that I purchased for the occasion (the original PAAS, not those newfangled things that never work the way they are supposed to) was short some of the color tablets so we had to make do with what it did include. The girls didn't seem to mind and they had a good ole time dipping...waiting...and removing their eggs. Emma is not so good at the waiting part.

Rain was in the forecast for Easter Sunday so we had the girls' Easter egg hunt on Saturday afternoon. Keith hid the eggs all over our front yard and then the girls set to work.

And because I rarely make it into the photos...

Celebrating Easter causes me to focus intently on the most important thing in my life...Jesus Christ. Not only did Jesus die for me but He conquered that death and lives again. Therein lies the victory!

We had a great service at church. Our pastor spoke on the significance of the resurrection...in other words, where would we be if Jesus was not raised from the dead. Praise God that He lives!

Here are a few pics of the girls and the family taken before and after church.

After church, we had some great friends over for lunch. We had quite the feast: ham, twice-baked potatoes, green beans, corn, deviled eggs, rolls, jello salad, fresh fruit, and an awesome dessert that Bonnie (my friend) made. Yumm!

It was a cool and wet day here but we enjoyed it immensely. We really needed the rain so it was a welcomed treat.

I hope you all had a very blessed Easter Sunday. We really should celebrate the significance of Easter every day.

Happy Happy Birthday Keith!!!

I know...most of you have given up on me and this blog thing...but I couldn't let the day pass without wishing my husband a wonderful Happy Birthday!!!

We celebrated last night because Drew and Tyler have to work tonight but I did make his favorite strawberry rhubarb pie which we will enjoy after dinner in honor of the occasion.

This is the 25th birthday that I have had the honor of celebrating with my beloved and I can honestly say that I love him more today than ever and I pray that God will give him many more happy birthdays and that I will be around to celebrate them with him.

I love you dearly, Keith. I hope your day was truly something special.

New Year 2009

Okay...this is the final installment of my holiday recap. Hey, it's only the 3rd of February...it could be worse.

My parents came up to spend a few days with us over New Year's and we had a great time. We played lots of games, mostly cards, and just generally enjoyed being together.

Mom had a craft session with the girls while she was here. They love anything that has anything to do with paint, glue, glitter, etc. They had a great time working on some flower magnets that they got for Christmas and I think Grandma had fun helping them, right, Mom?!...Mom...are you there, Mom?...Mom?!

While Mom and the girls were having their fun, Keith was trying to help Dad with a problem on his computer. They ultimately figured out that it was a Vista problem and one without a fix...go figure! Here is my handsome hubby...

My Dad loves genealogy and spends lots of time on his computer working on tracing our family lines. He has uncovered some interesting tidbits over the years. I don't know how he keeps all that information straight. I would have the lines all criss-crossed if I were him.

These pictures were taken the day they left to go home. I didn't have a recent picture of them together so I had to snap one while I could. I think they were both in the midst of saying something when I snapped the camera. Oh well...I tried.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids. Well, some of them anyway.

We really did enjoy the time that we had with all of our family over the holidays. It is always a blessing to be together and we miss them when they are not here. After Mom and Dad left, it was back to the old grind stone and it took us several days to find a real routine again. I think I prefer those days when the routine gets tossed out the window in favor of doing the fun things but if we did that every day we would never get anything productive done around here.

So, that sums up our holidays. If it had taken me any longer to recap them we would be prepping for Thanksgiving all over again. How is it that the months fly by so quickly. I know that age has a lot to do with it but this is crazy. January is gone already and Valentine's Day is on the doorstep. Since I do such a poor job of keeping up with this blog, maybe I should wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day now...then I won't feel bad when it's February 20th and I never did a Valentine's post.

Here She Is

As predicted, Emma lost her other tooth yesterday morning just before gymnastics.

Our little girl is growing up!

All I want for 2009 is my 2 front teeth...

I am almost to the end of my holiday recap but I'm going to take a short detour today.

Last Friday Emma lost one of her front teeth on the top. The other one is very loose and will probably be out within a week. She has already lost the two on the bottom but the permanent ones were already coming in when those fell out so it never was obvious that she had lost the baby ones.

This time is different. There is now a gaping hole in the front and she has a beautiful toothless grin. Oh, the milestones of childhood!

She has been really good about losing her teeth. This time she was eating a bagel for breakfast when it fell out. I was in the other room when she came walking in holding her tooth and grinning. This girl has such a high tolerance for pain that most of life is a breeze for her.

Sometimes her pain tolerance level grieves my heart. I have to wonder if she figured out early on that crying over things didn't elicit a response from anyone so why bother. That makes me sad. It's amazing to me that so much can be learned and remembered in that first year of life outside the womb.

Anyway...I wanted to share her milestone with all of you. Here is a pic of my gorgeous girl with her beautiful new smile. I'm sure that another picture will be forthcoming in the next week or two with an even wider gap in the front. :)