A Day of Prayer and Fasting for Pastor Saeed Abedini

Today is Pastor Saeed Abedini's 33rd birthday and 223rd day of imprisonment in Iran. Please join us in 
A DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER on his behalf.

Latest news from the ACLJ here.

I'm praying:
 -for his supernatural healing. -As a result of the beatings he's endured, he's bleeding internally and has been denied medical treatment

 -for his strength. -He's been taken to solitary confinement in an effort to 'break him.'

-for his release. Even if it takes an Act 16 earthquake!

And I'm praying especially that "the things which happened have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel." Phil.1:12

Nothing is impossible for God. Please join in prayer for our brother in Christ today!

"Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and 
those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." Heb 13:3 

~Becky, whose believing God for miracles

Praying for my dad

My dear, sweet dad had emergency bypass surgery on Thursday night.

Praying and wishing I could be in San Diego with him. : (

He's doing well though! Thank the Lord!

~Becky

Making a child smile

We've been blessed to be sponsors with Compassion Intl. for many, many years now. We think they are wonderful!

We've had 2 children who dissappeared from the program because their countries had a civil war... That was sad. The first one that happened to had been our 'child' for such a LONG time that is was really hard not knowing what had happened to her. Our other child hadn't been 'ours' long when the same thing happened again to him in his country. But, I'm happy to say that our third child has been ours for a number of years now. : )

As much as we enjoy reading our child, Dayana's letters, we are really bad at writing back! I always have guilt because I really stink at the correspondence aspect of the program. (I do remember Christmas gifts but I just don't write regularly) -Until lately!

I think what changed things was when my hubby got really energized about having us pray for her. Then we all started writing her together with everyone adding some imput. When her letters arrive, we read them while sitting around the dinner table. So, we are finally getting better at this after ALL these years!

Our latest picture of Dayana arrived recently and really touched all of our hearts. She wasn't smiling, at all. Her smile became our prayer.

And God answered it we believe. It all happened with something as little as a page torn out of a coloring book! One of our kids had the idea to send one of those in our last letter to her. The next letter that we received sounded like it was from a different child. She sounded so happy and she sent us her love (which she always has done) but this time she added her "kisses." It was so sweet. I hadn't thought about how something so simple could bring her such joy. (maybe because we have SO much and they have SO little)

I'm looking forward to meeting her one day, in heaven where I KNOW she'll be smiling all the time.

~Becky

The Rescuers

Today I headed off to the company's office to rescue my hubby.
He doesn't have power locks on his truck and he accidentally locked himself out...and left his spare key at home.... no fun!
After visiting a couple minutes, I headed back towards home. A few stop lights later, I noticed that he had pulled up behind me on his way to his job sight when....
I also NOTICED
that
I
had
a
FLAT
TIRE!
He watched it happen, literally...

And the rescuee became the rescuer. -Thirty seconds after I pulled over, there was my Knight in Shining Armor. (or Knight in cargo shorts) There to save my day! What timing! Isn't God SO good to me?!

~Becky

The weekend

Life is starting to get back to normal around here.
Our trip to Georgia was certainly memorable.
Unfortunately, Nathan came down with that flu bug that Andrew and I had last week while we were on the trip, poor guy! ~No fun to be sick and on the go.
He was losing his voice, felt awful and had a fever, but he quizzed anyway.
There was one round where he just had to sit out because he felt SO bad. We went downstairs and he laid across a bunch of chairs. I called my hubby to pray and he had some of the guys at work praying also...After that he started feeling better and got back up and wanted to quiz some more.
Amazingly, he was blessed to come in first place in the second division. PTL!

He is not quite over it yet and my hubby has it. But there is light at the end of this "flu tunnel" Hooray! : )
I can't wait until we are all healthy again!

Some fun news came our way. -We found out that our friends from TX are going to come and spend spring break with us!
Woo-hoo!

~Becky

Merry Christmas!

Fourteen years ago, we met an older gentleman, who would eventually become a very dear friend of ours. He let us know right away, that he was an atheist....
Over the years God intertwined our hearts, lives and families together in a really remarkable way.
This week we heard the wonderful news that this man surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus Christ in a nearby church!!!
We saw him today and we were blessed to hug his neck and hear his story. WOW!!!!
God is awesome!
Many people 'plant' and many people 'water' and God does bring 'the increase' so don't stop praying for those who need Him!
What a glorious Christmas! This one will always be special to me for this very reason.
Hallelujah!
~Becky

Rejoicing

We are praising the Lord for His faithfulness last night. (see post called Something Exciting)
Despite all the quirky things that happened it will be a sweet memory in all are minds in years to come.

One thing that is kind of funny now, is that all we knew was that we were asked to do the praise and worship for the youth who were having a 'back to school' night and that they wanted Nathan to quote a chapter.
Well, after the 3rd adult man came in the room in a suit, I started wondering where the teens were and what this event really was.
My idea of a back to school night is teens, food, (teens and food always go together)
worship and a sermon on being a witness in our schools and living our faith.

Once we figured out we were very under dressed we realized it wasn't quite what we pictured but it was a fantastic night.
It turned out to be a celebration service for a ministry that just finished up teaching a math and science summer course to inner city youth. The kids did some performances and received certificates, teachers were honored etc... They also had a guest speaker who is a millionaire and owner of 9 McDonald's give an inspiring message to the kids on having a 'millionaire mentality' and following God's principles to be successful in life. It was really neat.

My hubby did a fabulous job leading worship. (Joy had been sick for the last couple days and was too 'stuffy' to sing, so it was just the guys.) I haven't seen him lead worship since we've been at our present church. (6 yrs. or so) It was beautiful. The highlight was when everyone joined in singing "How Great is our God" together. (that was the only one they knew the words to so next time we'll need to bring song sheets) They asked Zach to accompany their youth choir on the spot, and he played like he'd been practicing with them for weeks. Amazing. The other highlight for our drummer was when everyone started clapping along to his snare drum.

~These guys may only know 4 songs but they sure know them well!
It was quite a night! Praise the Lord!
~Becky

Something Exciting

Back in June, Nathan's piano teacher told a pastor in our neighborhood about Teen Bible Quiz and how many verses Nathan had memorized. He was invited to come to this church and quote a chapter and give a little talk on why he memorizes scriptures.
They also had him accompany Joy on the piano while she sang with their youth choir during the offering.

It was kind of a scary experience for the two of them because they didn't know what to expect. They also didn't get to practice with the choir until right before the service started. It was a liturgical service and so that was something new to us too. It turned out to be a really neat and stretching experience for them and my hubby and I were so proud! This small, struggling church seemed so encouraged to hear Nathan quote and he received tons of encouragement in return.

Now, to our surprise, they have asked Nathan to come back and quote again on Thursday for a 'back to school night' they are having for their teens. His piano teacher told the pastor about our 'family band' and they've asked my hubby and kids to come and play their praise and worship set for the event.
~Wow! Pretty amazing!
Being that we/they are still beginners, (they have only played one song in public before)

and haven't had any experience in leading other people into the presence of God in worship.
Will you pray for them this week and for those present to be blessed and touched by the Lord?

Here's something else that is really neat that the Lord reminded me of this week.
It was ten years ago, when we were leading a youth group, that we first prayed to have 'a family worship band!'
We had taken the teens and our own kiddos (who were 5, 3, and 1 years old at the time) to another church that was having a 'back to school night.' (~isn't that amazing?) The people leading worship that night were a family! My hubby and I were so impressed by that, that we both prayed for a 'family worship band' of our own. I believe He's been answering that prayer ever since. : )
~Becky

A neat thing happened in the airport..but my librarian might not think so

I'm going to the library today and I have a confession to make and a book to pay for.

But not because I lost it....

Actually, I gave it to someone because God worked out this wild divine appointment

in the airport in Green Bay last week.

It all happened because a sweet elderly lady, tries to talk to at least one person about Jesus, every time she travels. And I was so blessed to be present.

As were were waiting by the gate she walked by and chatted with a young man near me who was about 18 or 19 yrs. old who had on a Brett F*rve jersey and had a cheese head hat in his lap. She noticed the book I was reading and that led to a conversation about what church she goes to and what church I go to and what church this young man goes to.

And before I knew it, this gracious woman invited this young man to come and sit between the two of us so that we could share with him about how to be saved.

To my surprise, he gladly got up and sat with us and listened to her share about how we are all sinners and that our good works can't save us and that we need Jesus.

And I'll never forget this: he turned to me and asked to hear my story. How amazing is that!?

Sometimes it seems like people don't want to "hear the hope that's within us" but some actually do! Wow!!!

Before we parted I felt led to give him what I was reading:

Even though it happened to belong to the library....

It seemed absolutely perfect for someone who wanted to know more about Jesus.

Guess what?

This book was soon on its way to Minnesota and then to Germany which is where this young man lives!

I'm not very good at remembering names, but the Lord made it really easy for me to remember his so that I can be praying for him by name. You see it actually rhymes with the word 'cheese' which seemed all too appropriate there in Wisconsin. LOL

I ran into this sweet woman later in the terminal and she said:

"Let's you and I always try to carry a book that we can give away to someone while we are traveling."

~Isn't that a great idea? But next I'll make sure it isn't library book. : )

So, today, I have the immense honor and pleasure of paying for this book and continuing to pray for this dear young man. PTL!

~Becky

Celebrating

We are having a thanksgiving celebration tomorrow!
We decided to take a day each year to celebrate the amazing things that the Lord did to our house these last three years!

The way He did it, still boggles our minds. "God has done great things for us and we are glad!!!" Really glad!


This is what happened:
In 2004, we refinanced our house so that we could put an addition on to our little 800+ sq. foot, fifty year old house, which had only one bathroom and two bedrooms. We really couldn't afford to move and we loved our little house, our yard, and our neighbors. ~We REALLY loved our tiny mortgage payment. We planned to add on a large bedroom and a bathroom for our three boys (that would give our daughter her own room, finally) and to close in our carport for a family room.

Since we didn't want to go into any debt to do this major project, we used the refinancing money for all the building supplies


and decided to do the work ourselves. It was by faith, that a painter, without any construction skills, determined to take on this project. : )
We knew it would be slow going since he could only work on it on the weekends.
~We figured it would only take my hubby every weekend until Jesus comes!


But then God more than met us and had miracles in mind!!!


By the time we had the permit, it was 2005.
Then on the second of February, my hubby's best friend Carlos, said that he was between jobs and would work on our addition for us during the week. Without pay!!! (the only thing he would accept were home cooked meals!!!!) : )

Carlos gave up 10 months of his life to work on our house that year! He was here 6 days a week and sometimes 7. That verse that says "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend" will forever remind me of what he did for us.


I love this picture. He was totally afraid of heights. So, when he worked on the roof, we knew that it was because "perfect love casts out fear." : )

Did I mention that he's a mechanic by trade and didn't know a whole lot more than my painter? : ) He did have a little bathroom remodeling and tile laying experience but that was about it. He told us later that he just acted confident so that we would feel better. (what a friend!)

He read books and prayed when he didn't know how to go about the next phase. There were several tricky things that he had no clue about how to do and God showed him how in dreams! Seriously! It was amazing!

He did everything to perfection!!! He was meticulous about details. What a blessing. Everything he works on always turns out beautifully. We would've been happy with so much less, but he always gave us perfection. It was very humbling.

It was an awesome learning experience for our oldest son who was his right hand man. He learned so much that year! It was one big family project since the other three kiddos and I helped by being the clean up crew.

The addition was finished just before my father-in-law came to visit from CO for Thanksgiving that year!!! It was incredible and so much sooner than we ever dared to hope for.

Then the 'fun' continued in 2006 when Carlos helped us remodel the other two bedrooms. Then he decided that it wasn't 'right' that the boys had a nicer bathroom than we did and he GAVE our bathroom an extreme makeover! It is gorgeous! I love it so much! I was always saying that I didn't know why I was getting a little piece of heaven, early. But, that's what it felt and still does, feel like.

We thought we were all done with construction after the bathroom and boy, was I ever glad. It isn't easy to home school with a nail gone banging in the next room or a compressor going that is so loud you feel like you have to yell to be heard.

But in the summer of 2007 Carlos wanted us 'to let him' remodel our kitchen. (Is he one amazing friend or what?!) He didn't like the fact that the rest of the house was perfect and that the tile WE really did lay ourselves 6 yrs. before, was... um, crooked! We don't possess tiling skills!
And then he and my hubby got to thinking and wondering ..... Before I knew it, it wasn't just a new floor they were talking about. It was knocking down a wall here and a wall there! (and I actually shed some tears over the thought of more demo and construction)

My sweet hubby talked me into it. They said it would only take a month and that didn't sound so bad. But it actually took three (all summer) and it was harder on me than the other projects put together. : )

But IT WAS SO TOTALLY WORTH IT!

It was an interesting time:

~Having it look like a bomb hit our house

~Having a toaster in the laundry room which got crumbs in the clean laundry.

~Having to boil water to do the dishes several times a day.

~ And many other things that sound really whiny now that its all over. ; )

Thankfully, all my appliances were in the new family room which was a blessing because we couldn't have eaten out for 3 months!!! Although, I don't think I would've minded that a bit. ha ha

Here a before picture:

And these are during:

And these are after:

It was one amazing gift!!!!!

That sums up that last 3 years of our lives!!! And it doesn't sum up all that Carlos did during that time or all that he means to our lives!

So, tomorrow is our big celebration and we are going to give 'honor where honor is due' and bless and thank our dear friend. Although, I don't think we can ever thank him enough.

May God richly bless him!!!!!!!

~Becky

A Seed Bearing Fruit Many Years Later...

This story appeared in a church bulliten in AL. It was written by the preacher.
It is about my mom and the impact she had on his family many years ago.

"It has been over thirty since B was converted by a coworker. She was a very young woman then, so shy that she could scarecely look anyone in the eye or raise her voice above a whisper. Soon after her conversion, that same coworker introduced her to her to D.
B and D fell in love, were married and had two little girls. (one of those was me!)
While B worked, a non-Christian family related to the coworker, took care of her girls. As a result, a close friendship developed between B and this family.
By the time the girls were school age, they were no longer in regular contact with the non-Christian family. About this time, B learned that she had terminal cancer. Meanwhile, the non-Christian family went about their lives, giving little or no thought to God.
One rainy night, the doorbell rang at the non-Christian family's home. The teenage boy living there answered the door to see the diminutive B wet and shivering on the porch. She asked the boy to go and get his parents and sister because she had something important to tell them. As he let her in, the boy noticed that B was shivering as much from fear as from cold.
When the entire family assembled in the living room, B began to speak in a quivering yet louder and more purposeful voice than any of them had ever heard from her.
"I came to ask you to foregice me. I have known you all of this time and have not spoken to you about the Lord. Now I am dying and I want to beg you to please consider that Christ died for you and that you need to begin living for Him before it is too late," said B through tears that bordered on sobs.
After extending a polite "thank you" to B, she left. A few months later she died, leaving behind D and their two school age girls. At her funeral, the non-Christian family wept along with others, yet without the underlying joy expressed by B's coworker and fellow Christians. How can they bear such a tragedy as the loss of a young woman with children she will never see grow up, thought the teenage boy.
"Wasn't it a kind thing she did, coming to our house that night," each family member recalled. Each agreed it was the kindest thing they had ever seen anyone do for them.
Each of the four family members B went to visit that rainy night has since been influenced for good by many others. Yet each still recalls her beautiful act whenever anything brings it to mind.
Ten years after B's death, the teenage boy who answered the door the night of her visit was baptized into Christ, specifically recalling her deed. The next year, both of the boy's parents were baptized into Christ. And twenty years after her parents, and thirty years after B's death, the boy's sister was baptized, also recalling B's visit. All who heard B speak that night are now faithful Christians.
I am the teenage boy who answered the door. And what B did for my family over thiry years ago is still the kindest and most courageous deed anyone besides the lord has ever done for me.
I will never forget her, nor will I let anyone else forget. By the way, her favorite hymn was "Fairest Lord Jesus." It is mine too."
~ D.C.
May 11, 2003

I hope this precious story plants even more seeds today....
~Becky

His Faithfulness

My 'driving verse' is:
"The angel of the Lord surrounds those who fear Him and he protects them."
And we saw that protection in a big way, this weekend....

We were all in the car and on our way to a graduation party when a truck hit us from behind because it was hit from behind by an SUV!
We didn't suffer any injuries but let me tell you, it was quite a moment when my hubby and I realized that two of our kids, in the back row, were 20 inches from the impact....
And when that dawned on me and I had to turn around in my seat and I didn't know what I would see.... Well, it was just totally frightening!

But they were fine! Glory to God!
We've all had some headaches and backaches, but that is it.
We are so thankful that we were not injured or at fault. Praise the Lord. And, although our van doesn't look so great, it still runs perfectly and that is a big blessing during this busy season.
~Becky

Carlos and the kitchen

"Get 'er done" is the motto around here.

My hubby's best friend has given us an incredible gift of a kitchen remodel, as I have mentioned before. This is the 10th week that we've been at it. It is what our lives have been all wrapped up in this summer. He's been at our house almost 7 days a week.... Some late nights and some early mornings and then there were some major interruptions...

So far, he has:

made the kitchen 42" bigger (what a difference!)

reused our existing cabinets

put travertine on the floor

made granite counter tops

put in a couple of new windows

put in a new sink

and made a bar (counter) for sitting at

It's really amazing.

And there were some interesting things that have happened that have made us see the hand of God and decide that it was all really about more than me getting my socks blessed off by having a better kitchen.

First off, the house was sagging and we didn't know it. It took alot of work to fix it and no one will ever fall through the floor now. yahoo! I felt so sorry for him though. It was sure more work than he bargained for!

Secondly, Carlos' health has been an issue. He knew that he was ill before he started this project but he kept putting off going to the doctor for months.

When he finally decided to go, Nathan said that he wanted to go and be "his prayer support." (how sweet was that?) Then Andrew didn't want to be left out ...and so all 5 of us went with our dear friend to the doctor. (I had the fun of beating my boys in the one and only video game that I ever will-Ms. Pac Man! Our dr. office has two old arcade games in the waiting room.)

He found out, that he has type two diabetes. His number was off the chart. That was a scary time and the kitchen work slowed way down, not that we cared.

Then things got even worse. His eyesight got so bad and at such a fast rate that there was a day when he said that he didn't think he could finish the kitchen because he was going blind. And what he was most upset about wasn't loosing his eyesight, but that he would not be able to finish what he started in our kitchen. And that just blew me away. Isn't that incredible?

When I looked up his symptoms it appeared that he had one of two diseases where diabetes damages retinas and causes blindness. It was very scary.

Then a trip to the eye doctor brought glorious news....

His retinas were fine. The blurriness was caused by the sugar in his eyes but that the retinas weren't damaged. That was great news. But it was hard to tell that that was the case because everyday he could still see less and less...

But, he just kept working away at the kitchen! He didn't want to stop even though he needed help reading tape measures and things... He used a magnifying glass and a pair of old glasses that he wore way back before he had laser surgery on his eyes years ago. He just kept plugging away at it.

Through all this, he's learned to take better care of his body. His sugar levels have greatly improved. They are so low now! It is really great!

After weeks and weeks of not being able to see properly, last week God gave him back his vision! 20/20 again! Glory, glory, glory!

Now, that was last week's good news.

This week's good news is that he is feeling better than he has felt in years!

The energy level he has now, is enough to make a 2o year old man jealous. It's like watching the Engerizer Bunny come and work at your house. He is non stop.

He has a daytime job now, doing remodels and he comes here to work at 4:00 for what he says is the 'fun stuff.' Which is still hard work. But he seems to really enjoy it.

Labor day will be a laborious day, but we think it might be the day when this kitchen is actually done!

~Thanks to an amazing man, who wanted to give an amazing gift and persevered through some huge trials to see it accomplished. It's been a very humbling experience.

And here are some pictures of what he's accomplished in spite of everything! He's amazing!

This is the night it all started: When he knocked out the kitchen wall above the bookcase.

It's so open now. We love it.
This is a granite bar where the bookcase was.

I'll post some more when it's all finished.

~Becky

His Faithfulness

I know that my last post was a testimony, but this one is too good not to post!

As I was working at the registration desk at VBS, my friend came up and said:
"God healed her! God totally healed her." She had tears in her eyes.

She was referring to a 12 yrs. old girl named K. She is very petite and hearing impaired.

Here's the story:

K comes to children's church and she and her sister ask for prayer every week that she be healed. My friend prayed for her many times. Her little sister would pray even more earnestly for K than she did for herself. Her prayer was that K could walk and play. The doctors said that she would always have Lupus.

Well, she's been out of her wheel chair for awhile now...

When my friend saw her at VBS, she asked her how she was feeling. K's happy mom, said "Tell
her." And K said "The doctor said there is no more trace of Lupus in my body!!!" Hallelujah!

And there she was helping at VBS and she ended up being in my group. I had the privilege of talking to her one night. She is the sweetest girl! She's excellent at reading lips.
She has one more request.
Her hearing. There is an upcoming surgery that they believe will fix her hearing. Or of course, God can do it. K is going to be in my prayers about this! Meeting her was the highlight of my week.
He is faithful!
~Becky

His Faithfulness (to my high schooler)

This blessed me so much!

As we were getting ready to embark on our journey into home schooling high school and making Zach's schedule, we realized he needed an elective. We decided to go with this near by co-op type group. They offer classes to homeschoolers that are taught by certified teachers. The classes all meet one day a week and then the students are given 4 days worth of homework. (which gives them some experience in a college type of schedule) There were plenty to choose from and we narrowed down what looked good to him to either a Modern Ensemble music class or the Entrepreneurial Business and Web Design class. (I'd love to take that one myself!)

Zach was leaning towards the music class because of his love for the drums. (he practices 2 hrs. a day) The teacher of the course is going to take all the students musical abilities
(given they have any, they said) : )
and form a rock band. They are going to play old rock. (Beach Boys etc...)
Zach was a little disappointed about that because he loves contemporary Christian and praise and worship music.

Anyway, we left it up to him to pray about and decide. He decided to go with the business/web design class because he said old rock just isn't his thing and that he would at least still have the family band to play with.

Well, the very next day, when we were at church, one of the pastors who knows that Zach plays the drums, asked if he would like to play along with a keyboardist and a guitarist during the alter call time in children's church!
It was amazing. Just the type of thing he wanted to do.
God gave him the "desires of his heart" immediately and it was so cool!

~Becky

Some storm!

We had such a huge electrical storm today.

If this had happened 5 minutes later...

then my hubby's truck might very well have been underneath it. Isn't God good?!


This branch is from our neighbor's tree across the street. It is blocking our whole street and it knocked out our phone line. It could have been so much worse!

~Becky

Praising Him!

When Joy was 2 weeks old, a little red dot appeared on her forehead.

We thought it was from a bonk on the head by a little truck and an older brother. Then the red dot expanded. Then we thought it was a birthmark. It eventually became enlarged and grew to the size of a ping pong ball. It turned out to be a hemangioma. (which I still don't know how to spell) It grew as her body grew.


By the time we made it through all the processes of finding out what it was, what to do about it and arranging for surgery, she was 4 months old and it was weighing down on her left eye. God was so gracious to us, because the best pediatric plastic surgeon in the country had an office 15 min. from our house! I used to leave his office so humbled and grateful. The deformities of the other children really put this experience in perspective and I would be about in tears and ready for a good cry whenever we left the office.

That was 10 years ago.

Two weeks ago, a little red dot appeared on her forehead.

It is on top of her scar.
I just keep looking at it. Suddenly, other people are noticing her scar as if for the first time. All sorts of people from the mail carrier to friends who have known her for a couple of years are asking her about it.

I wonder if the hormonal changes going on in her preteen body have triggered the hemangioma to come back. Ten years ago, we were told that there was a 30% chance of it returning.
On Wednesday, I called her doctor, hoping that he hadn't retired. Back then, he was in his 70's.
I recognized the voice of the same spit fiery, brash receptionist and cringed. (she was something else!)

We have an appointment for July 11th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our family has been praying about this for 3 days now and I wanted to ask you, my blog friends, to join us in praying too. Things have been so busy with company that I haven't had a chance to write a post about this or call and tell our family members and ask their prayers.

We've been asking God to curse this hemangioma and disconnect it from her growth hormones and make it die and disappear in Jesus' name.

Doubt has been in the back of my mind because I remember the prayers we prayed years ago. It was a painful but precious road that we had to walk back then. It was precious because of all the things He taught us through it. One of the smaller but still painful aspects of the process, was when this doctor told us that if we had only come to see him when it was a dot, he would have "zapped it with a laser for free and cured her." That hurt because if we'd have known, we sure would have. This week I've wanted to quote him on that and see if he really would 'zap this dot with a laser for FREE'. Somehow, I doubt it! : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, (Saturday) I noticed that the dot looked different but was still there.

After church today, Joy looked into our living room mirror and said "It's gone! My Sunday school class prayed!" I looked at her scar very closely and the red dot IS GONE! Completely gone! Oh, what a relief. Thank you, thank you, Lord!!!

~Becky

God is the best travel agent!

I'm going to share the details that go with this post and give the whole praise report as it has unfolded in the last couple of months!

That Saturday, our kids prayed to be able to go and visit their grandparents. (my parents) We found out that they couldn't come to see us in Feb. as we were hoping for. We asked God to make a way, since 6 plane tickets to CA were not in our budget.

Our dear friend from TX (who works for an airline!) emailed us on Monday and said that they wanted to give us 6 airline tickets to go anywhere we'd like to!!!
And that just blew us away!!!
All that we have to pay for are the taxes on the tickets!
Amazing!
Prayer answered!!!

My dad was really excited because it's been a long time since we've come to see them. I took the kids 3 yrs. ago but my hubby couldn't get the time off from work.

We are planning to go in September when my dad has a week off from work. Well, that week, just so happens to coincide with our 16th anniversary! (we were married in CA)

And so....
we are going to spend one night in the same hotel where we had our honeymoon!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Is that a romantic way to spend an anniversary or what?!

The hotel was new back then and our two night stay we was a wedding gift from Paul and Michele. (my brother and sister in law) It is so expensive to stay there! I hope it was cheaper back then. Gracious!!! But, we are saving up...

My parents are more than happy to keep our kids for us that night. (Come to think of it, I don't think I've asked them to babysit in about 8 years. ha ha -Because you really miss out on a lot of free babysitting when you live 3000 miles apart!)

The last time we left our kids with anyone and went away together, was for a 10 day mission trip to Mexico! Our kiddos were really young and well, romantic is not a word I'd use to describe that trip. We had seperate rooms and they were full of teenagers. : )
(but one elderly lady from our church was somehow convinced that Andrew was conceived in Mexico! Too funny!)
So, this is a really big deal for us. My hubby has been praying for us to have a night away, but who would have thought it would be in CA,
on our anniversary,
with my parents babysitting
and that we'd be going here again?!

It's just so perfect. I'm in awe!
God is the best travel agent ever!

~Becky

His faithfulness and my faith crisis continued....

To understand this story, read this one first or it won't make any sense. : )
Scriptures are from Psalm 1116


As I struggled to be up and about and able to go to the hospital to join my newborn son, I told God that He and I were going to have this out later. Until that time, I let Him know that I wouldn't be doing anymore praying. (this isn't something I recommend!) ; )
Much to my frustration, I wasn't even able to keep my new resolve for very long! Without even thinking, I was praying: "Thank you God for E's coming over to help."
"Please, help me to get to the hospital in time to start nursing Andrew."
"Thank you that Andrew is alive." And, "Oh yeah, I'm not talking to You, never mind."
Then I would stop myself and try again not pray. And on and on it went.
"Thank you God that every test in the book, shows that Andrew is healthy!"

"(He) will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Hallelujah!

That evening in the hospital room alone with my little guy, who wasn't so little, (the nurses were in awe!)
I told the Lord that I was ready to have it out with Him. (immature I know, but I was hurting) I got down on my knees and poured out all my hurts to Him. I felt betrayed somehow and I accused Him of not answering any of my prayers. I said that if He was really real then He needed to show me so right then! Otherwise, I was going to be done with serving Him. (despite the fact that I couldn't keep from talking to Him for 15 min!) : )

"Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yes our God is merciful." (Don't I know it!)

At that moment, such a peace came into that hospital room. It was so remarkable, so powerful that it was absolutely undeniable!!! And it was just what I needed....
And I surrendered my life again to Him and to His will and wept....

"What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord..."

"Oh Lord, truly I am your servant. You have loosed my bonds."

"I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."

Yes, I will.

~Becky

His faithfulness

His faithfulness...amidst my crisis of faith:
All scriptures taken from Psalms 116

"Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."

There was a time when I didn't want to call upon Him anymore....I tried really hard to stop praying to God.
I was upset about the birth of my youngest son. It didn't seem like a single prayer I'd prayed those nine months was answered. My main prayer had been for a "trauma free birth" and what happened seemed to be the opposite. This was my third home birth. (I loved having our babies in the comfort of our own home)

This baby was stuck in the birth canal with its heart rate dropping...

"The Pains of death surrounded me. Then I called on the name of the Lord..."

My hubby called on the Lord really loudly and urgently!!! The midwife called too, only her call was to 9-1-1!!!
And I prayed and pushed for all I was worth and then some, which had to be supernatural!

"I was brought low, and He saved me. For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from falling."

Just as the paramedics knocked on our door, Andrew was born! Weighing a whopping ten and a half pounds!!! Yes, that explains why he was stuck!
(I'm only 5 ft. tall!)

"Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you!"

He was absolutely gorgeous! He had such long beautiful fingers. Fingers, that I thought at that moment, might play the piano someday. (but are actually going to play the electric guitar in our family worship band) : )
His breathing sounded strange. The best way to describe it is to say that he had a little snort. (kind of like a pig) The midwife thought it might be a result of the distress he'd been through and she sent him with the paramedics to the hospital. It was unbelievably hard to have to stay behind but I wasn't in any condition to go along. I charged my hubby not to ever let Andrew out of his sight (and he never did! He held him through every single test and he treasured the bonding time they had together! He'll never forget it!)

"I found trouble and sorrow."

Off they went: the paramedics, my hubby and my brand new, minutes-old baby, with sirens blaring and getting fainter by the second. And there I was, still sitting on the floor of my bedroom feeling like I might actually die after all that I had been through.

"O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!"

Just me and the midwife ....and she was in a bad mood! You see, the birth had taken so long (12 hrs.) that we made her miss her appointment to go knocking door to door and she was seriously grumpy about it. She was a Jehovah's Witness. (we would've preferred a Christian midwife but we couldn't find one in our price range this time) Oh how grateful I was, when a dear friend from church came and took over caring for me. (and the midwife left!) My goal was to get up to the hospital as soon as possible without like, passing out and being admitted myself! Because I felt like death warmed over! Yes, I did. : )

To be continued....

~Becky

Posted later: I forgot to mention that we live thousands of miles from all of our family members and that is why they weren't at the birth or there afterward to help. But, 2 days later, my wonderful in-laws flew in and met Andrew and cared for all of us! It was a blessing!