I Will Go!

This is a devotion that I shared with the High School Sunday School class at church this past Sunday. It sums up some of my recent thoughts on missions and sacrifice. . .

During the past couple of months, I’ve had a lot of thoughts going through my mind on missions, surrender, and thanksgiving and how they all relate. A couple of weeks ago, Pastor mentioned in church that we can worship and thank God through surrendering to Him. That really helped to spin my wheels on this topic!

We’ve had multiple opportunities this month to talk with missionaries here at church as well as with personal friends of ours who are leaving for the field next year. Our friends are going to Bolivia to help start family-style orphanages. They presented their ministry to us, and also talked about how much they’ve had to sacrifice to go. They have already sold nearly all of their earthly possessions. Just think for a minute what that would mean to you: your clothes, shoes, purses, electronics, books, games, instruments, Cd’s, movies, Christmas decorations, pets, and other sentimental things like photo albums, toys, and trinkets. They are leaving for Bolivia in January and have no plans to return anytime soon.

I have thought so hard over the past months if I could do what these friends of ours are doing. I’ve asked myself many times if I’m willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of serving God and proclaiming His glory to the nations. It is not an easy question to answer. Recently I was reading Matthew 13 and verses 45-46 stood out at me: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Those of us who have salvation have been given fine pearls. God has blessed us so that we can share with others. We should be willing to sacrifice everything we have in order to expand the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” There are no question marks in this verse; it is a direct command. John 15:10 says, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

One last verse I want to share is John 15:8, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” If we are really God’s disciples, then we should be willing to fully surrender to Him and to GO for Him. For some, “going” may mean leaving the country. For others it may simply mean “going” across a classroom. Romans 10:13-15a says, “for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?”

I hope that we can all honestly say “I Will Go! Send Me!”

Decorating for Christmas Part 2

Yesterday I promised I would post the finished decoration pictures. After all our hard labor, it is always wonderful to wait until night falls and then see all of the Christmas lights and candles softly twinkling, while enjoying a hot meal with Christmas carols playing in the background!

The front of our house. The lights don’t really look that bright, but the camera setting chose a low shutter speed so it looks really bright.

Our candles burning in the windows.

The dining room hutch.

The washbasin stand.

The bench in our front entryway Each stuffed animal represents one of the kids in our family. J

Wall hangings in our front entryway. I have always loved this little house and used to imagine living inside of it.

The basement Christmas tree all lit up with colorful lights.

All of our stockings hung carefully over the railing upstairs.

Our family stocking hanging beside the fireplace in the living room. The year we received this stocking as a gift, I was only a year old. Guess who got stuffed in the stocking and carried around? J

And the final picture, our upstairs Christmas tree. It’s so beautiful, if I do say so myself.

*Have any of you put up your Christmas decorations yet? Leave us a comment!



Decorating for Christmas Part 1

This past weekend our family decorated for Christmas! Next to Christmas itself, this is one of our favorite days of the year. There are so many memories that come to mind as we unpack the trees, ornaments, and other decorations that have been in our family for over 20 years. Below are some pictures from our day:

First we had to retrieve the boxes of decorations from the attic above the garage. Over the years it changed from just Daddy getting the boxes to me helping Daddy, to now everyone climbing up into the attic to help. J It is especially interesting to try to fit the large Christmas tree boxes. . .

. . .through the hole to the person standing on the 12 foot ladder below. But we manage every year!

Josiah came up to the attic for the first time this year. He enjoyed himself!

While we were up there, Daddy, Ben, and I crawled into the part of the attic by my bedroom. My room stays rather cold in the winter (62-65 degrees) mostly due to poor design. But we wanted to make sure that all the walls were insulated and that underneath my floor was insulated.

The fun part was trying to crawl through the tiny opening into that portion of the attic and staying on the studs. If we had stepped on the ceiling accidently, those below in the garage would have seen our leg come plunging downward!

Once we all came inside, the decorating began! Here, Josiah puts up the window clings.

Meanwhile Dad and Ben moved furniture and began assembling our Christmas tree.

And then of course there’s the yearly dilemma of “why don’t the lights work?” J

Mommy was so sweet and made a huge pot of hot chocolate and a large batch of popcorn for us to enjoy as lunch. And of course while we were decorating, we played some of our favorite Christmas albums!

I started with unpacking the ornaments box. This is probably my favorite job!

Some of the ornaments on the dining room table with my hot chocolate and bowl of popcorn.

While Daddy went shopping for working lights for the upstairs tree, Ben worked on assembling our basement tree and untangling those lights. This has been our “homemade/kids tree” for many years.

Zack thought he was helping by guarding the Christmas tree box. At least he wasn’t eating anything like pine needles or tinsel.

After we finally had our indoor decorations up, Daddy went outside to hang lights.

To see pictures of our finished decorations, come back tomorrow!

Keepers Coop

This past week we went to Keepers Coop again! This time we went early because some friends whom we had not seen in several years were going to be there, and we had been invited to share a lunch before our usual meeting occurred.

We enjoyed a delicious potluck of chili, veggies with dip, Clementines, grapes, cornbread, crackers, tortilla chips, blueberry muffins, and Trail bars. It was all very delicious and filling!

Once the meeting started, we covered a lot of topics in a short time. We discussed herbal delivery methods, Stevia and its benefits, essential oils and their usages and warnings, and oral care including toothpastes, mouthwash, and natural remedies for canker sores and toothaches. It was a lot, but we learned so much!

Then it was time to get busy! First we sampled several baked goods with Stevia in them and enjoyed other snacks. Then we had two stations. At one station, we played a game where we smelled essential oils and tried to guess what they were. Some were quite easy to distinguish (think lavender and vanilla) while others were more difficult (tea tree and pine.)

While we were doing that, the Moms fixed two kinds of hot chocolate for us to test. One was made with unsweetened almond milk and the other with slightly sweetened rice milk. Both were sweetened with Stevia. My personal opinion was that if I was going to have a hot chocolate, I will enjoy it and make it with milk, sugar, and heavy cream! J

The other group practiced using a capsule machine to make chickweed capsules. It was a lot of fun albeit a little messy. J After some time of fellowship following the meeting we had to leave. Sadly we won’t be returning to Keepers until spring, for a number of reasons including the unpredictable Michigan weather. But we look forward to returning then!

Sabbath Snow

“Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

He gives snow like wool;

He scatters the frost like ashes.

He casts forth His ice as fragments;

Who can stand before His cold?”

(Psalm 147:12, 16-17)

~ Posted by Betsy

Recipe--Double Decker Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Last week, I posted about my favorite meal: tomato soup with double-decker grilled cheese sandwiches. Hopefully you’ve been patient and waited for this recipe, because these two simply must go together. I’m sure you’ll love them as much as we do!

Double Decker Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup butter, softened

1 egg

½ teaspoon garlic salt

½ teaspoon onion salt

6 slices of bread

In a food processor, blend cheese and butter. Add the egg, garlic salt and onion salt; process for 1 minute or until creamy. (We actually don’t use the food processor for this—we just use a pastry blender and mix it by hand.) Spread 2 Tablespoons on each slice of bread. Stack two slices of bread, cheese side up, for each sandwich. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serves 6 people, one sandwich each. (We triple this recipe for our family.) Serve with hot tomato soup. Enjoy!

Favorite Christmas Songs

With the month of December arriving and Christmas on its way, we decided to do a month of Christmas favorites! We all love music and have so many favorite Christmas songs and carols. Below is a list of some of our favorites:

Mark— There are many songs that I really enjoy at Christmas. Perhaps one of my favorites is “Mary Did You Know?” It not only captures the spirit of Christmas, but also the life and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ!! I enjoy many of the traditional Christmas hymns, and more contemporary Christmas music such as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Betsy—One long-time favorite has been “Oh Holy Night.” I also love “Joy to the World,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.” And a favorite classic is “The Christmas Song” as sung by Nat King Cole.

Bianca—It might be easier for me to list the Christmas songs that I don’t like. J Some of my favorite carols are “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Hark! The Herald Angel Sing” (this song always reminds me of the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”) “O Holy Night,” and “What Child is This?” Some more contemporary songs I like are “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day” and “While You Were Sleeping” by Casting Crowns, “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole, “Carol of the Bells,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “J-I-N-G-L-E Bells” by Frank Sinatra, “Christmas Angels,” “The Promise,” and “Christmas Day” by Michael W. Smith, “Christmas Sarajevo 1225,” “Wizards in Winter,” and “Nutrocker” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Some albums that I love—and would recommend—are “Carols of Christmas” by Eric Wyse (Instrumental Piano), “It’s a Wonderful Christmas” by Michael W. Smith, “Peace On Earth” by Casting Crowns, “The Sinatra Christmas Album” by Frank Sinatra, and “The Best of Christmas” with various artists including Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and others from years past.

Ben—My favorite Christmas carols are “Christmas Sarajevo 1225” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I also like “Silent Night,” “J-I-N-G-L-E Bells” by Frank Sinatra, “While You Were Sleeping” by Casting Crowns, “Give This Christmas Away” by Matthew West, and “Christmas Angels” by Michael W. Smith.

Rubia—I like “Silent Night,” “The First Noel,” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Some contemporary ones that I like are “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Casting Crowns, and “While You Were Sleeping” also by Casting Crowns.

Roma—I like “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” “The First Noel,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” I also like the Casting Crowns songs that Rubia mentioned as well as “Christmas Offering” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” I also like “Christmas Angels” by Michael W. Smith.

Josiah—I like “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” and “Christmas Sarajevo 1225” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

*What are some of your favorite Christmas tunes? Are there any that have special meaning to you or bring back childhood memories? Share in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!*

Snow Day!

With the arrival of our first “real” snow, we had a snow day on Wednesday! Since we’re homeschooled, we don’t get as many snow days as the public schoolers, since we only have to walk down the stairs to our schoolroom. J So Mom lets us have the day off whenever we get our first “real” snow.

Our snow day actually started on Thursday with the arrival of the snowstorm. We had rain all day on Tuesday, and by the time I left worship dance around 9:30 p.m., there was about an inch of sleet on the ground.

Our deck on Tuesday night.

Looking down the street.

I was just about to drift off to sleep around 11:30 p.m. when the power blinked. For the few seconds that it was off, I saw an extremely bright flash of light outside like lightning. Knowing that it wasn’t a lightning bolt, I dashed to my window and pulled up the shades. There was another bright flash and it went from night to day outside for an instant. It was so bright!

Ben, Mom, Dad and I all converged in the hallway. Dad thought that either a telephone pole was hit by a car, or a transformer blew. Worried that someone may have had a car accident on the slick roads, Dad and Ben hopped in the Tahoe to see if they could find out what happened.

They arrived back home about 15 minutes later with the full story. About ½ a mile down the road from our house, a high voltage wire had snapped and started arcing, which caused the bright flashes. By the time they arrived, there were 2 police officers and what appeared to be a volunteer firefighter on the scene. We’re not sure if it snapped just from the weight of the snow, or if a tree limb was leaning on the wire. Thankfully no one was hurt! We did end up losing power for an hour during the night while they fixed the wires, but most of us didn’t even notice, since we were asleep.

Anyway, this post was really supposed to be about the snow day and I chased a long rabbit trail! J Most of us slept in Wednesday morning, but were awakened around 8:00 a.m. to go on a search for the dog’s computer collar. Once we found it, we went back to bed for a little while before getting up around 9:00 a.m. for breakfast.

We received about 3 inches of snow overnight. It was really beautiful in the morning!

Another view of the backyard.

I love when the snow is sticky and stays on the tree limbs so well.

The creek behind the house.

Our deck on Wednesday morning.

The sun came out and made for an absolutely gorgeous day!

Icicles outside my bedroom window.

When we were younger, one of our favorite ways to spend a surprise snow day was playing games with our Barbie and Ken dolls. And of course, we love playing outside building snowmen, having snowball fights, and going sledding. We enjoyed time outside today as well as staying warm inside reading books!

*What do you like to do on a snow day? Do you enjoy going outdoors in the snow? Or do you prefer curling up with a hot drink and a good book indoors? Or do you pull out a special project to work on? Share your answers with us in the comments!*