A Surprise Visit

 

Two weeks ago we received an email from a friend from our home church which said she would be in our area on Monday and she asked if she could she stop by.

Of course we said yes. Monday came and we waited and waited and waited for her arrival. By 11pm we gave up waiting and went to bed. The kids arose the next morning excited to see our guest only to discover she hadn't made it. We were all a little confused and I have to admit we were getting a little worried about what had happened to her.

Kim finally arrived Tuesday evening (she had got her days mixed up). We had a wonderful time visiting places around Leeds with her and getting to know her better. She stayed until Saturday when she left to travel back to Ireland to get her flight back to America.

If anyone else would like to 'stop by' for a visit you would be more than welcome :-)

Michelle

Light Nights

 

Sleep is a problem around here these days. The kids are not getting enough of it because they are having a hard time going to sleep when there is still daylight outside.

The above picture (please forgive the poor quality) was taken at 10.30pm. There is still light in the sky. When darkness does finally arrive, it doesn't stay for long. By 3.30am the sky is no longer dark.

This takes some getting used to!!

Michelle

The Lord's Protection

Today I am truly grateful to the Lord for his protection over our children. This weekend there were two accidents in which the kids could have been seriously hurt or even killed.

On Saturday we went to a friend's house from church for dinner. We had a wonderful time and after we ate we played American football (it was an American friend!) in the back yard. Jeremiah was running fast to try and catch the ball but wasn't looking where he was going. He ran right into Gary, bounced off of him and fell. He landed on the back of his neck on the edge of a fairly large concrete flower pot. He hit it so hard that he moved the pot several inches. I watched it happen and am amazed that he did not split his head open or do serious damage to his neck. That incident alone had me aware of the Lord's protection.

The second accident happened yesterday. We spent several hours at a church picnic and had a wonderful time getting to know other people and watching the kids play. Then about 4pm Deanna was playing with a friend on a fallen tree not too far from us (most of the other kids had been playing there during the afternoon). Every couple of minutes I would turn to check on her and make sure she was okay. Once I turned and she was not there. Gary said he would go check on her. As he was walking over there another man was carrying her back to us soaking wet. What I had not known was that a little way behind the tree was a river. Apparently Deanna and her friend wondered off and had moved too close to the river. Deanna slipped and fell into the river. Deanna cannot swim. I do not know how deep the river was but she was wet up to her chest and even the bottom of her hair got wet. She was clearly shaken up by the incident and has stayed close to me ever since. I am so grateful the current wasn't strong and she was actually pulling herself out of the river when she was found. My gratitude to the Lord is overwhelming when I consider what could have happened.

How fragile life is and how grateful I am that the Lord protected our children from harm. He is watching ALL the time and for that I am so very thankful.

Michelle

A Changing World

Please take the time to read this post, watch the video and prayerfully consider how the Lord would want you to respond.

I am not an elegant writer, nor one that can use persuasive speech, but I hope you hear my passion on this subject.

Several years ago Shannon opened my eyes to the fact that we should be raising our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4), and by doing so we would be raising the next generation of Christians who would be the leaders and decision makers of the world. I totally agree with this and her clarity gave me new zeal in my parenting. But I didn't realize until recently how important that will be until, last week when Gary came across demographics showing that Europe has a declining birth rate and that many Muslim nations have an increasing birth rate. Added to this is the fact that many many Muslims are immigrating to Europe. Suddenly my eyes were opened and I saw that within a generation or two Europe will be a Muslim continent.

Today I found this video through Voddie Baucham's blog post. Please take the 7 minutes to watch it. It is so important.



This will continue unless we start reproducing more (which was a command from God - not to just replace ourselves by having 2 children, but to multiply - Gen 1:28); take seriously our role to raise our children to serve the Lord (currently 70-80% of children are leaving the church by their college years) and be more determined in our witness to Muslims. Or we could just wait for the Lord to return. While He may return soon we do not have the option just to sit and wait. We are told in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19) to go into all the world and make disciples. This starts at home with the discipleship of our own children (Deut 6:6-9) and also includes reaching out to others.

The subject of Muslim domination has been on my heart for awhile and this is my response. I pray the Lord will give us the strength to teach our children well and bring them up to love Him and follow Him. I am also praying that the Lord will increase our family (either biologically or through adoption), so we can raise more children to walk in His ways. Finally, I pray that the Lord will put us in the path of Muslims already here so we can share the gospel with them. And come soon Lord Jesus!!

What will your response be?

Michelle

Day at the Beach

Three of our kids have never been to the beach, and the other 3 were too young to remember. So last Tuesday was a very special, exciting day as we took them to Scarborough, to the beach. It was made even more special because we met my brother, his wife and son there.

Scarborough is less than 2 hours away, but it was a long drive for 6 excited children. I wish you could have seen their faces when we came over the top of a hill and the North Sea was immediately in front of us. After parking they wouldn't let us do anything else except go to the beach.

It was a cool day, probably low 60's and there was a light rain when we arrived, but that did not stop them wanting to get in the water. Most of them had shorts on so we told them they could paddle. The North Sea is a cold body of water and we had no idea that the kids would have any desire to let the water get above their knees. We were wrong. Before we knew it their clothes were wet (thankfully we had brought spares) but they had a blast. The look on their faces and sounds of "WOW" and "COOL" were like music to my ears as I watched them run carefree in and out of the water.

Obviously it didn't take them long to get cold. But after a change of clothes and a short walk they were warm again - at least for a while!! After a picnic we were able to take them on a boat ride out on the North Sea. The sea was a pretty rough that day and I was concerned about Nicholas' motion sickness. We didn't mention anything hoping that he wouldn't think about it. Thankfully he spent most of his time looking out over the side of the boat watching the Sea and didn't feel sick at all.

After the boat ride we stopped for ice cream and due to constant pressure from the kids, returned to the beach. This time the sun was out and it was slightly warmer. The kids had so much fun running from the waves, sometimes making it back before the waves hit them, sometimes not.

The drive home was long as we had some tired children, but we kept hearing "when can we go to the beach again?" That was a day I will remember and treasure for a long time.

Michelle

Baking Brownies

Sunday afternoon, perfect time for baking brownies. Unfortunately Naomi was unable to help as she is in bed sick. As you can see Deanna had a great time making a mess, er... I mean baking!!

As Elaina was working hard stirring the batter, Deanna decided to sneak a quick taste.

The best bit ... licking the utensils.

That's my girls!!!

Michelle

A few pictures

Below are a few pictures of the family over the last month. Hope you enjoy!!



Michelle

When the shipping boxes are empty ...

 

They are useful for sitting in to watch a movie!!!

Michelle

Finally Arrived

Finally, after 17 weeks (instead of the promised 4-6 weeks!!) our shipping boxes arrived. Well, at least most of them! We loaded the truck in St Louis with 28 boxes, but this truck arrived with only 27. The box that is missing doesn't contain much of monetary value, but it's sentimental value is priceless, as it contains photos. They have promised to look for it at the warehouse, hopefully it will arrive - sometime!

The children were so pleased to see their boxes arrive. Daniel and Nicholas even constructed their own pallets for the boxes to sit on while they opened them. The excitement level equated to that of a Christmas morning.

It was such a joy to watch them dig in and discover their things that they had not seen in 4 months. I often heard comments like "Mom, do you remember this?", or "Wow! I forgot I had this".

We were also grateful for Gary's tools and the children's school books arriving safely. Now Gary can accomplish his work a little easier and the kids and I have some education to catch up on this Summer.

Michelle

NO!!! Mr. President

A HUGE Blessing

 

Do you remember that we were allowed to borrow this van from a local family? Well, a couple of weeks ago we ran into some insurance issues with it, so we called the owner and told him about the problem. We were fully expecting, and prepared, to stop using the van, but instead the owner asked if he could come over to discuss the problem.

When he arrived that evening he told us he thought the best way to solve the insurance problem was just to give us the van. We asked how much he wanted for it he said "nothing"!!!

Not only was he generous to give us the van, he has had it serviced for us and will be paying for the repairs it needs.

What a blessing it has been to travel around the area freely and especially how it has made our journey to church a lot easier.

We thank the Lord, again, for his constant and marvelous provision for us, and the man and his family for their very generous gift.

We have been truly blessed.

Michelle

I just had to post this!!

 

Someone we know had to find a place to store their drum kit ... so Gary offered our home!! It sits in a corner of the school room and thankfully most of the time there is no one living in the rooms above, so there are no complaints about the noise level.

Deanna has had fun playing with them and I just thought the picture was too cute. And yes, if you look closely you will notice the black spot under her chin. That is the label of her t-shirt which she is wearing inside out and back to front ;-)

Michelle