On turning 40….

It’s funny, most of us can remember back when we thought “40 is so old”. I had such a different perspective the year that I looked toward “that” birthday.

When my dear friend Vickie turned 40 year before, I started to tease her a bit when she gently set me straight. Vickie told me how THANKFUL she was to have made it this far, to be alive, to be healthy, to have her family. That quickly turned my teasing to rejoicing, as I realized all too well what she was saying.

About 20 years ago Vickie fought a fierce battle with cancer. After she won that battle, she went on to marry her sweetheart and to miraculously have 2 fabulous kids.

And, she reminded me, I have much to be thankful for too. Just 8 years ago I was dying from Congestive Heart Failure and was quite spiritually sick. In May 2003, when Chica was just shy of 5 months old, I had valve replacement surgery. After the surgery, the surgeon didn’t give us much hope for recovery, he felt the damage to my heart was too extensive.  He told me to go home and enjoy the time I had left with my family.

Oh what Joy! God wasn’t taking me Home quite yet. Eight weeks after the surgery I received the wonderful news that my heart was healing, returning to normal size and function! April of 2008 I was released from cardiac care, but in December of this past year, tests showed new changes in my cardiac health.  What these changes mean, I don’t know, but praise God, the old fear hasn’t been able to take root in my life.
I have been given so much more than the physical healing and extra years, I’ve been given new life in Christ! During that time 8 years ago, God did some major heart surgery on me. For the work He has done in my life I am so grateful. The way he scraped so much of the ugly past out of my heart, fully healed many old wounds, softened the scars and in place of it all, put his joy and peace.  And today I have confidence that I can face whatever lies ahead, with His hand holding me and giving me every beat of my heart that HE has ordained.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Who gives and takes away. My heart has chosen to say, Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

These past months I’ve read a lot and learned about different people, and their ministries. It has been a time of refreshment and challenge, especially in the area of parenting the precious children in my home. Seeing how the love, compassion, joy and discipleship that starts at home, and springs out from there..

One of the books I’ve read is  Too Small to Ignore, Why Children are the Next Big Thing, by Dr. Wess Stafford, with Dean Merrill.

In this book, Dr Staffords tells of his childhood in West Africa, from the nurturing African village where his parents served as missionaries, to the horrors of the Missionary Kids boarding school  he was sent to at the young age of 6. 

It is so hard to understand why God allows children to suffer such wicked things, but I am thankful for what HE has produced in Dr Stafford through that suffering, a compassionate heart towards the smallest, the weakest, and those broken.

I loved reading how Dr Stafford’s heart has been moved on the behalf of the smallest of humankind, and was very encouraged that he clearly stated that compassion for the least of these starts in our homes, with our own God given children.  If you are interested in learning more about the heart of the man who leads Compassion International, I encourage you to read this book, or listen to the audio recording which is available at iTunes.

This term Petal Rose took part in a Musical Theater class with the Academy of Children’s Theater.  What a BLAST she had!  This was a class full of really great kids, and the most fun, cute teacher (Heather) a 10 year old girl could ask for.

The most remarkable thing on the night of the actual performance is this…these kids truly looked as those they were have the best time of their life!  Their lines were flawless, their voices beautiful, their acting great, but that chemistry of comradery and delight in what they were doing is what blessed me the most!

Well, she did it.  Chica is by far our most active child, jumping and flipping and running and skipping most of the time.  And by flipping, she has managed to break her arm.  This time we have a green stick fracture of the ulna and bowing of the radius.

after casting and a good night’s sleep

figuring out how to play her recital piece, with one hand

So in the last 3 years there has been a night stick fracture, a buckle  fracture and now a greenstick fracture.  And I’m hoping that’s the end of the broken bones!

This year we read Amon’s Adventure, A Family Story for Easter by Arnold Ytreeide, and have enjoyed lighting the candles on our Advent to Lent wreath.  We also hosted the family gathering, and had the delight of all 5 daughters being home for awhile.

What treasure we have in these ladies

Oldest Kelly cousin Amber, and her 2 boys have recently moved to our city and we greatly enjoyed having younger cousins to share the TREASURE EGG adventure with!

These pictures really capture the personalities in our youngest 3 daughters.  They are so much fun to watch!

This SWEET book arrived in last week’s mail.  When GOD Created My Toes, is as I just said, very sweet.  A perfect storytime book to share with the little ones in our lives, as we begin to teach them all about the wonderful GOD who did create us, fearfully and wonderfully, and who loves us tremendously.

There is a lot of rhyming and very vivid illustrations to engage children, and to help encourage conversations about how perfectly God has made us.

Disclosure: I received this book free of charge with the hope that I would share an honest opinion of the book.  This honest opinion is all mine.

There was a fair bit of discussion about this week’s topic, but the girls surprised me with their sketches!

FOXES!

Chica added a bat…the youngest 2 girls just completed a short chapter on bats!

507. Daffodils in the neighbor’s yard

508. Tulip greens in our yard

509. Warm evenings to work a bit in the yard

510. An evening visit to the chicken coop. Pretty, colorful birds.

511. Happy helpers who now clean the kitchen, and keep laundry going.

512. Safe travel

513. An exciting summer opportunity.

514. Hints that prayers are being answered.

515. Fellowship

516. Chocolate chip banana waffles

517. Laughter over the “cone of shame”

518. Writing letters

In the last month waves of grief from years past hit me low, bending me to my heart’s knees.  And then, the death of a dear family member who had been estranged from the family for many years brought gales of grief present.  But my FATHER, He was here, bringing joy in the midst of the mourning.

You see, when drug abuse, alcohol abuse, child abuse, domestic abuse, and divorce ravage a whole generation of a family, lives shatter, the children stagger, scatter.  People who were here then, are absent the next day.  It happened in my family.  In the storms that broke the marriages when i was a young adult, i lost contact with many family members.  Some completely left the family (divorce does that), some of us were simply left in our own wreckage, the pain and repercussions separating us from those we had been so close to.

For many years i’ve worked through the wreckage of my life, and found precious gems of God’s handiwork…mercy, healing, restoration, a good husband, precious children ~ a new family.  And almost, i forgot the missing them part of me.  Those people from where i come from, missing them. 

Being lovingly embraced back by my aunts
Long lost cousins
The displacement of divorce is washed away
Fresh snow on The mountain.

Singing God’s Praises

King Xerxes

Haddasa, Queen Esther, played by Chica