Welcome!

Welcome back to our journey!!
I was quickly looking over this blog and trying to see where I left off. Too much has happened to give a total re-cap. So I will give you "happenings" as they come to my mind. Most of you know that we no longer live in Wa. state anymore. The LORD provided a new place for us to stop and grow for a bit. We are now in Boise Idaho. And so very thankful for this much needed change. No more wet, damp living for us. We now wake up to sunny blue skies just about everyday. The grey days we get are pleasant reminders of where we were and thankful for where we are now. Don't get me wrong, we do miss Wa. very much. Mostly we miss our wonderful friends that have become dear family members over the years. And we miss all the good memories too.
Everyone is settling in very nicely. Mike is busy furthering his education in the Insurance business. And very thankful for the time the LORD allowed for him to make this career change late in life. We are excited about this change and look forward to where his new place of employment will be. Of course we pray diligently for us to stay a very long time in Idaho. We do realize that the LORD can take us where ever HE chooses and we are open to that.
The "blessings" are busy and enjoying the many changes in their lives as well. We live in walking distance to the "Y" and quickly became members for us to work on our health. Jeremiah is training to (Lord willing) join the local high school football team. Praying still in progress here and if the LORD changes this goal that is fine. Working out 6 days a week is great for him. The older girls help me with EVERYTHING in the home from cooking, cleaning, laundry, running errands, to watching Jireh. I have been blessed beyond measure with how much they help me. Jayna is busy finishing up her 8th grade year and looking forward to high school home school. Yikes, did I just say that? That is amazing. Jireh is such a busy, smart little guy that doesn't miss a beat. He counts to 13 and says his ABC's all the way through and even backwards. We will try and trick him when we write the alphabet and he quickly tells us that its wrong. What a smart boy. His favorite things are books and books and his train set, buzz, woody and cars.
We go to Columbia bible church here in Meridian and just love it. We have quickly become "family" with these kind people. We have so much in common that is makes me stand in awe of how the LORD provided exactly what we all needed. From weekly bible studies to sewing get togethers (the girls) and playing football (the guys) and monthly prayer meetings. Its all been so fun to grow and meet new people.

For those who know my mom she is doing much better. She is getting healthier everyday. GOD is blessing her with so much great health that she leaves early tomorrow morning for a 3 plus week stay in Florida. She will enjoy her birthday there with her 3 other sisters. I am so happy she can do this.

I think that has us somewhat up to date. Lord willing I am on the roll to keep this blog more up to date with photos so you can enjoy our journey with us.
Take care and God bless your day!

April is here

Its a new month with already exciting things happening. Janelle and Jeremiah got baptized on Easter. Its was a very exciting day for us. Grandparents came to watch along with our dearest of friends. With all that has been going on in our lives, having our children give their lives to Christ makes all the stresses in life fade away. Because really, isn't this what its all about?

111 John 4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth

Yes, we still have an auction date the 30th of this month. Yes, we still have no direction from the Lord as to where we are going to live. Yes, we continue to walk forward in total faith. We do not know what is going to happen except we do know that God is in control, He will provide, He loves us, and He has entrusted us with this journey. We pray daily that we will bring HIM glory in all that we do, say and think. The enemy wants to scare us and destroy our family. Our strength comes from the Lord and daily we pray for HIS strength and HIS direction.

Today another load to the storage unit. On a practical note----its very challenging to pack. When you don't really know what to get rid of or what to save makes it so hard to know what to pack. But we do only what we know for the day and leave the rest for the Lord to show us.

Last week we did decide to list our property up for sale again. We have made many improvements thinking we will just live on the property, but we kept asking ourselves "is this what the Lord wants for us?" We can only know by opening up EVERYTHING to Him and laying it out there for the Lord to show us HIS WILL. That is all we want to do is Live out GOD's WILL for our family. And if that means to give up all we have than we are willing.

Please continue to pray for us. We love you all and thank-you for your prayers and concerns for us. We will keep you posted as things happen.
Blessings to you all!!

sorry for the delay

Its been awhile since we last posted. There has not been much change in our circumstances. We have been quiet, seeking the Lord and waiting for HIS lead.
So far, all we know is that we have a date to be out of our home and we have a storage unit to house all our things. God has not made it clear to us where we are going to live. We continue to trust as we take each day captive and pray that all we do and say brings HIM glory.
Thank-you for all your prayers.

this is so hard to do

Keeping you all updated on what is going on with us is so hard. Everyday there is something new. I will try my best. For now we are packing. We rented a near by storage unit that is climate control as we have a piano and IF it looks like we have to store it, then it should be safe. We just started packing and so far I have 25 boxes done. I am writing in a notebook what is in every box. I had to do this because I do not know how long our belongings will be stored.
We are moving somewhat forward with our other property. We are planning (Lord willing) to convert our barn into a home. We only need a very small amount of money to complete this. We have only so much so far to start the process. We do stand in awe at how God provides. So far some friends have offered to help us for free in building this home. We are so very thankful for this. We know that we cannot do this on our own and we have to rely on God to supply. Mike designed a VERY basic home and has all the drawings done. He has mapped out exactly how far we can get with the money we have. We are not sure how God will supply the rest which we figure all said and done will be about 50 thousand. I say all this because the last thing I said in previous posts was we were looking for a free mobile home to move onto the property to live in while we save $$ to build. Mike was getting very frusterated to learn that the mobile might be free but the cost to move, set-up and permits is too much and would not be a wise decision.
We want to make sure we are constantly praying about our ideas and asking if they are God's ideas. We did get a couple of answers from the county that points us in the direction to move on our property and build. We have to keep praying that God will provide the rest of the money. Mike is still not working as much as he would like. But again we continue to trust.
This is a hard road to travel. We are not doing this alone. We are clinging to God every second of this journey. It's very hard to lay your life out there for all to read about. We have decided to open up our life and share everything that is going on because we feel the Lord has asked us to. Not sure why, but we keep coming back to the thought that everyone has a story to tell and everyone should share it. You never know who will read about it and who can be encouraged through your life. We are a walking testimony of God's faithfulness. He promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us. I might get a bit down and discouraged some of the days but that is because we still live in the flesh too and we have to fight through those thoughts. God is loving and full of Grace for us.

Joyce

Cranium Caps by janelle

It was such a joy to deliver 36 hats to Children's Hospital. I have taken the last 3 months making them. I first made signs and asked for people to donate fabric so I could take on this project of making and donating hats to the Craniofacial dept. at Children's Hospital.
I would like to share with you how this all began.,
When my baby brother was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis it meant he was to under go a major surgery to correct it. He was basically going to have his head re-shaped. The doctors told us what it would be like in the hospital and what recovery was going to be like. One small thing they mentioned was he needed to wear a hat when going outside. They did not want the sun to shine on his incision. Well, a friend made and gave us a hat for Jireh. It was a bucket style hat with many different prints of fabric. We had Jireh wear it while he stayed in the hospital. We received so many compliments from doctors and nurses that we decided to ask our friend to teach us how to make the hat. I decided that I would start to make them and by Jireh's 3 month post-op appt. I wanted to have over 2 dozen made. I ended up with 36 hats completed and presented them to Jireh's doctor's on 2-8-10. My goal now is to make 50 more by the summer of 2010.
I wanted to do this because Children's hospital is an amazing place and I have personally experienced there care back in 2004 when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I remember the excellent care I received by all the doctors and nurses and then watching and hearing about the excellent care my baby brother got just made me want to give back in some small way to Children's. I hope that others who are going through this kind of surgery will be blessed by getting a hat and hoping it will make their stay more encouraging.

3 1/2 months after surgery

Jireh 9 months old. Waiting patiently in the craniofacial clinic at Children's hospital.
Jireh and mommy waiting for the dr. to come in. Also trying to keep Jireh from tearing apart all the paper on the table. So much for that.
Jireh with Dr. Birgfeld, getting his head looked at.

Jireh with Dr. Ojemann

All of Jireh's appts went very well. All the doctors were very impressed by how well he is healing. We are just praising the Lord for his speedy recovery. Jireh is doing everything like a normal 9 month old.

Interesting phone conversation

Mike just wants to be completely honest with everyone involved in our foreclosure process. So he called the company handling it. There was a mistake on our paperwork and he just wanted to them to know the correct legal description. He ended up talking to a gal and shared with her some of our plight with Indy Mac bank. After a few minutes of sharing, she asked if Mike would write a letter explaining all that we have been through. She wanted to "see" the documents that he had talked about and thought that she might be able to go through back channels and maybe, JUST MAYBE!!! get something done.

We are not holding our breath here. We really have no idea what she is talking about. We are still moving forward and organizing our thoughts and making plans to move. But we find this interesting that there are still so many "bunny trails" that need to be played out. This is definitely NOT a typical foreclosure here. We were even told that by the lawyer who looked over all our paperwork several weeks ago. This is a true God directed journey. We would never have planned nor desired to walk this road, yet here we are. To God be the glory, great things HE has done, so Loved HE the world, that HE gave us His Son. That is the story, not our little plight. It's the Love HE gave us, the strength that He is displaying through us, and the Grace HE continues to pour out upon us. That is the story! To God be the Glory!!!!!!!