When Elisabeth was a little girl, she was constantly changing outfits, and dancing around the house.
When she was about three, I could tell she had really taken in our homeschool talk from the day before and the new season of Spring coming upon us!!
On this...the first official day of Spring there was a terrible snowstorm, with freezing temperatures....but what I saw when I entered the family room in the morning??? Priceless!!!
There was Elisabeth dancing around in pure delight singing It's Spring! It's Spring!! .....in her little bikini!
Now, that's faith!!!!!
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Friday, March 6, 2015
The wisdom of a child!
Years ago, we would load up Vanna White (our sixteen passenger van) for the weekly trip to school.
On these daily trips we would pray. I felt like I was doing a very important thing with the children and helping them to start their day putting God first. We would take some time thanking God, and some time asking for His intervention.
After one time of (what I thought was deeply spiritual prayer)I asked my son Matthew ....who was five at the time, how many children he was going to have when he grew up. He just looked at me with his big blue eyes and said NONE!!!!! They cost too much money!
In that simple reply from Matthew, he taught me how wrong I had been praying! Panic prayers...manipulative prayers and putting the focus on our situation rather than our God....the Sovereign of the universe!
With that simple sentence from Matthew, I saw clearly how I wasn't really trusting God, and I tried to bring Him to my finite circumstances....didn't work as He is infinite....in love, provision wisdom....EVERYTHING!
My praying started changing by my putting the focus on God and not me! I learned how to pray and stand on what God says and not to trust my feelings! I apologized to all my children and am so thankful that my sweet Matthew...a boy of few words..spoke up, told the truth...... and set me free!!!!!
A pastor I respect says it like this
"Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is"!!!!!!
Bill Johnson
On these daily trips we would pray. I felt like I was doing a very important thing with the children and helping them to start their day putting God first. We would take some time thanking God, and some time asking for His intervention.
After one time of (what I thought was deeply spiritual prayer)I asked my son Matthew ....who was five at the time, how many children he was going to have when he grew up. He just looked at me with his big blue eyes and said NONE!!!!! They cost too much money!
In that simple reply from Matthew, he taught me how wrong I had been praying! Panic prayers...manipulative prayers and putting the focus on our situation rather than our God....the Sovereign of the universe!
With that simple sentence from Matthew, I saw clearly how I wasn't really trusting God, and I tried to bring Him to my finite circumstances....didn't work as He is infinite....in love, provision wisdom....EVERYTHING!
My praying started changing by my putting the focus on God and not me! I learned how to pray and stand on what God says and not to trust my feelings! I apologized to all my children and am so thankful that my sweet Matthew...a boy of few words..spoke up, told the truth...... and set me free!!!!!
A pastor I respect says it like this
"Don't tell God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is"!!!!!!
Bill Johnson
Sunday, January 25, 2015
the dynamic duo.....otherwise known as the Elisabeth and Lauren team....or the Lauren and Elisabeth team......
Life is a comedy, right???? Well, it certainly is around our house....especially with the help of the antics of Elisabeth and Lauren!
These two do everything together....from going to school, working at the same place, to spending all of their free time together ! They even got in their first accident together! They are both sweet girls and I love them .....free, fun, and always up to something!
When under stress last week for a huge class project the two of them studied ...for a bit, then made three cakes (and a huge mess) ! They thought it might help their cause...can we say bribery????? I almost forgot what they did next....Elisabeth found a slingshot and Lauren found cheese balls...yep...they tried to make them fly into their mouths! Needless to say, the dogs LOVED this activity!!!!!
Sometimes I get a little irritated....especially if I've just cleaned and I see their trail everywhere. It was on one of these days that I was getting upset about all the housework that I needed to do because of these two......but then I fast forwarded the scenario a few years from now. How would I feel to have my house perfectly in order ??? At first I thought Ahhhhh! What a blissful picture. After a bit as I started clearing through the mess... I realized that I would much rather have all the chaos and clutter...the loud laughter, shoes scattered throughout the house, and disasters everywhere than a steady diet of beautiful, clean and LONELY!!!!!
Recently, I took an elderly woman out for lunch, and after two and a half hours it was time to get home. As I prepared to bring her back to her house she pleaded with me to stay and watch a movie with her. I knew she needed a break from being alone all the time, but I needed to get back to my mess...I mean house.
When I got home the dynamic duo were together having fun....drinking from the milk carton...listening to loud music and as I looked at them my heart just swelled with love!
Someday, I will have my clean empty quiet house....but for now I am so blessed to have a crazy wonderful HOME!!!!!
Thank you Lauren and Elisabeth for bringing me such frustration and joy!!!!!!.
My life kind of reminds me of an old Erma Bombeck story titled "When the kids come home"....The main point of her story is about her calm quiet life and perfect little house....and then the kids come home. She shared about going to the washing machine and finding two items in the washer (I can identify) or going to the fridge and seeing an empty gallon of milk.....(glad it's not just me ).....but when the kids all went back to their own homes, Erma was getting her house back in order... and as she picked up someone's stray sock, she found herself standing in the middle of the living room crying!
Thank you Lord for this home! I pray that this will be a happy home for this crazy pair and all the other kids for a long, long time!!!! There really is no place like home!!!!!!
As I write this the two of them and Nathan are giggling on the couch....this picture??? PRICELESS!!!!
These two do everything together....from going to school, working at the same place, to spending all of their free time together ! They even got in their first accident together! They are both sweet girls and I love them .....free, fun, and always up to something!
When under stress last week for a huge class project the two of them studied ...for a bit, then made three cakes (and a huge mess) ! They thought it might help their cause...can we say bribery????? I almost forgot what they did next....Elisabeth found a slingshot and Lauren found cheese balls...yep...they tried to make them fly into their mouths! Needless to say, the dogs LOVED this activity!!!!!
Sometimes I get a little irritated....especially if I've just cleaned and I see their trail everywhere. It was on one of these days that I was getting upset about all the housework that I needed to do because of these two......but then I fast forwarded the scenario a few years from now. How would I feel to have my house perfectly in order ??? At first I thought Ahhhhh! What a blissful picture. After a bit as I started clearing through the mess... I realized that I would much rather have all the chaos and clutter...the loud laughter, shoes scattered throughout the house, and disasters everywhere than a steady diet of beautiful, clean and LONELY!!!!!
Recently, I took an elderly woman out for lunch, and after two and a half hours it was time to get home. As I prepared to bring her back to her house she pleaded with me to stay and watch a movie with her. I knew she needed a break from being alone all the time, but I needed to get back to my mess...I mean house.
When I got home the dynamic duo were together having fun....drinking from the milk carton...listening to loud music and as I looked at them my heart just swelled with love!
Someday, I will have my clean empty quiet house....but for now I am so blessed to have a crazy wonderful HOME!!!!!
Thank you Lauren and Elisabeth for bringing me such frustration and joy!!!!!!.
My life kind of reminds me of an old Erma Bombeck story titled "When the kids come home"....The main point of her story is about her calm quiet life and perfect little house....and then the kids come home. She shared about going to the washing machine and finding two items in the washer (I can identify) or going to the fridge and seeing an empty gallon of milk.....(glad it's not just me ).....but when the kids all went back to their own homes, Erma was getting her house back in order... and as she picked up someone's stray sock, she found herself standing in the middle of the living room crying!
Thank you Lord for this home! I pray that this will be a happy home for this crazy pair and all the other kids for a long, long time!!!! There really is no place like home!!!!!!
As I write this the two of them and Nathan are giggling on the couch....this picture??? PRICELESS!!!!
Monday, January 12, 2015
There's only one more hill
A few years back, a friend loaned us their R.V.
The timing was perfect, as the school children had off for teacher conferences . It was mid October so we thought the colors were past peak up north in Ironwood ,Mich. We didn't care....we were so excited to be going anywhere....and up north is where my parents and grandparents came from . It has always been my special place,,,,,,good memories and always more to be made! I love the lakes, rocks, and peace!!!!
We started on our trip at midnight so we could be there first thing in the morning, The trip up was a little unnerving as there were deer by the side of the road EVERYWHERE!!!! I was the designated driver as Bill was super tired .Six hours later we were officially up north!
It was beautiful!!!! The trees still had color and when we drove to Lake Superior the beautiful trees formed a covering over us and it was raining leaves...It was simply magnificent!!!
The weather was in the seventies for the whole time we were there. We hiked the waterfalls, collected rocks at Lake Superior...visited the tall Indian by a park in Ironwood . We went to Black River Harbor and walked on a scary bridge. We culminated our time in Ironwood by visiting Big Powderhorn Mountain.
Bill decided we would climb to the top and have church and a picnic up there.
I looked up and decided I would walk a little ways but would hang near the base....however William would run up the hill and run back by me and say "there's only one more hill". I believed him ...but he made that same statement about twenty five times!!!! "There's only one more hill", so I kept going. I knew I could handle one more. The accent was gradual and you couldn't see from the middle past the next hill. Well, we finally made it to the top and I can truthfully say. Thank you , William! You kept encouraging me and I actually made it to the top! It was so breathtakingly beautiful that words cannot do it justice! When I get this figured out I will have my children post pictures from the top. We found a place to sit and have our little picnic and then we worshipped our God. It was so natural because what we were seeing with our eyes made us have no doubt that we serve a wonderful artistic creator! We sang some songs and were truly worshipping! From our vantage we could see the largest ski fly hill in North America (approx.,15 miles away). We could see tiny houses about the size of ants and in the distance Lake Superior. It was a once in a lifetime experience and we were blessed!
This experience taught me a lot...First we all need encouragement to keep going......When we have a mountain (or impossibility) in front of us we need to either encourage ourselves or have a William in our life that would tell me.."There's only one more HILL"....William didn't call it a mountain !!! He ran ahead and kept me going! The result? PRICELESS!
I know I will never forget and neither will Bill and the children!!
This whole scenario reminds me of Bill's Mom's favorite poem called DON'T QUIT
"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a fair and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup ,
And he learned too late when night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown
The timing was perfect, as the school children had off for teacher conferences . It was mid October so we thought the colors were past peak up north in Ironwood ,Mich. We didn't care....we were so excited to be going anywhere....and up north is where my parents and grandparents came from . It has always been my special place,,,,,,good memories and always more to be made! I love the lakes, rocks, and peace!!!!
We started on our trip at midnight so we could be there first thing in the morning, The trip up was a little unnerving as there were deer by the side of the road EVERYWHERE!!!! I was the designated driver as Bill was super tired .Six hours later we were officially up north!
It was beautiful!!!! The trees still had color and when we drove to Lake Superior the beautiful trees formed a covering over us and it was raining leaves...It was simply magnificent!!!
The weather was in the seventies for the whole time we were there. We hiked the waterfalls, collected rocks at Lake Superior...visited the tall Indian by a park in Ironwood . We went to Black River Harbor and walked on a scary bridge. We culminated our time in Ironwood by visiting Big Powderhorn Mountain.
Bill decided we would climb to the top and have church and a picnic up there.
I looked up and decided I would walk a little ways but would hang near the base....however William would run up the hill and run back by me and say "there's only one more hill". I believed him ...but he made that same statement about twenty five times!!!! "There's only one more hill", so I kept going. I knew I could handle one more. The accent was gradual and you couldn't see from the middle past the next hill. Well, we finally made it to the top and I can truthfully say. Thank you , William! You kept encouraging me and I actually made it to the top! It was so breathtakingly beautiful that words cannot do it justice! When I get this figured out I will have my children post pictures from the top. We found a place to sit and have our little picnic and then we worshipped our God. It was so natural because what we were seeing with our eyes made us have no doubt that we serve a wonderful artistic creator! We sang some songs and were truly worshipping! From our vantage we could see the largest ski fly hill in North America (approx.,15 miles away). We could see tiny houses about the size of ants and in the distance Lake Superior. It was a once in a lifetime experience and we were blessed!
This experience taught me a lot...First we all need encouragement to keep going......When we have a mountain (or impossibility) in front of us we need to either encourage ourselves or have a William in our life that would tell me.."There's only one more HILL"....William didn't call it a mountain !!! He ran ahead and kept me going! The result? PRICELESS!
I know I will never forget and neither will Bill and the children!!
This whole scenario reminds me of Bill's Mom's favorite poem called DON'T QUIT
"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a fair and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup ,
And he learned too late when night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown
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