Another Miracle!

I wanted to share a wonderful little miracle that God saw fit to bless us with:

The check engine light has been on in our van for a few months now. We haven't been able to afford getting it checked out, and we hadn't really had problems with it; so we just got used to seeing it on. Last week, I think it might have been on our way home from church on Thursday, the van was acting funny and it actually died at a stop light. Matt was able to start it right back up, but it was acting very sluggish. We were very close to home, but I was worried that we wouldn't make it. I told the kids to pray that we would make it home.

Our van was waaaaay overdue for an oil change. I wondered if somehow this had contributed to the engine trouble. I told Matt that we were going to have to spend the money to get the oil changed. I had a coupon for a place and I made an appointment to get the oil changed on Saturday. When I went in, they ended up being behind too much; so they had to bump my appointment to Tuesday (today) I found out that they could diagnose the check engine light for no charge so I planned to have it checked out today when I went in.

We drove the van to church on Sunday, and Matt and I both drove it around yesterday with no real troubles. On my way to get the oil changed I was thinking about how I was going to have them check out why the check engine light has been on. I looked down on the dashboard AND THE LIGHT WAS NOT ON ANYMORE! I almost cried with relief! I had been praying so hard since our problems Thursday night. I had no idea how we would pay for van repairs. That light had been on constantly for months! And now, since we have actually been praying about it, it has just turned off. I do not think that this is a coincidence! There hasn't been problems with the van acting sluggish anymore either. When I told Matt about it, he said that the light had been on yesterday. I'm just so glad that God has done this for us. I just didn't want to fail to give credit where credit is due!

Diligence

diligence: persistent and hard-working effort in doing something.



Sunday morning we seemed to have a little bit of time left, and I thought it would be good if I read the children a chapter in the Bible. I just read the chapter where my bookmark was. I always neglect my Bible reading, but it always amazes me how when I do decide to pick up my Bible and read I always read just what I need to.



I know we've all heard and read this scripture many times, but I was glad to be reminded.

II Peter 1:4-11

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness;

And to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The word diligence is what really caught my attention. It is mentioned twice in this scripture. Lately I have known that I have not been where I should be spiritually. I believe it is this diligence that is missing. I feel like I have been barren and unfruitful. Because of this lack I can see where I haven't been able to see afar off. I haven't been able to see the big picture. I don't want to forget how empty and lost I felt before coming into the faith, and then the great thankfulness I felt when God drew me in. I want to make my calling and election sure that I could have a place in that everlasting kingdom. I want to be a partaker of this Divine nature so that I can escape the corruption that is in the world. I don't want my short sightedness because of my lack of diligence to keep me from making Heaven my home. I have not been working hard at living the faith, and I really need prayers that I could have this diligence that I know is required of me.

Anthony's First Day of School

My little Anthony started Head Start preschool this year. Out of all my children Anthony is my challenge. He seems to have a different thought process or something. It's been hard figuring out how to deal with him sometimes. I was hoping that going to school might help him. After almost 2 months of school I really think I can see a positive change in him. Here are some pictures of him on his first day of school.

This is a cute picture of him and Garrison we took while we were waiting for the bus.

There he is getting ready to get on!

Here's one of himself by the tree. Daddy did the hair spiked hair-do!

He was pretty excited!

It was kind of nice that Daddy could be there for his first day of school. This is usually something he misses out on.

So far I haven't really noticed any academic improvement in him. I think right now they are mostly working on things like manners and socialization. Anyway, I'm really glad that Anthony made it in. I really think that it's good for him. I went to a head start meeting last night. It showed that in the Portland area there were 566 kids that were in Head Start Pre-school. There are 300-400 kids still on the waiting list! I'm very thankful that he got in!

Life's Potholes

I'm not exactly sure what caused me to think of him; but as I was sitting in meeting Thursday night I remembered a boy I went to school with. His name was Johnny, he was older than me, but he was simple minded. I remembered how it always seemed like he was happy, and nice to everyone, even those who made fun of him. It seemed like he saw the world differently than most people.

Johnny rode on my bus. I was remembering how there was one really bad pot hole that the bus would go over every day. It was so bad that it really bounced us all around, even though the bus driver tried to go over it carefully. Johnny got to where he remembered that pothole. He knew where it was and he would get ready, and then when the bus would go over the pothole he would jump up and exaggerate the bounce. It got to where a lot of the kids on the bus would copy him, and the majority of us would jump up when the bus hit the pothole. It still brings a smile to my face to remember it. He would say "get ready every body"! And then we would all jump together! I'm sure there were a lot of people that got frustrated at that pothole, but because of Johnny we all looked forward to it! It was the best part of our bus ride! (Of course there were quite a few times that we all got overzealous and the bus driver had to get on to us!)

I thought about the potholes of life. The different obstacles that come our way. I look at our life so far, and it doesn't really seem like we've had to endure any really huge trials yet. Mostly just annoying potholes. I would like to have Johnny's outlook and see the joys instead of the frustrations. When I really look at the different problems I have, and all the blessings, I know that the blessings far outweigh the problems. For some reason I've noticed that I dwell on the negative more than I dwell on the positive. I want to have that happy, joyful outlook on life. I want to be able to see the silver lining, especially when I know that my clouds are really more silver lining than storm clouds. I would like to be able to jump with my potholes, and enjoy the blessings rather than get irritated and frustrated at every little thing that doesn't quite go my way.

Thank the Lord for Remembrances

Last night I was laying in bed. For whatever reason I couldn't go to sleep. I was laying there with all kinds of things going through my mind. I told myself that if I couldn't go to sleep I should at least think of good things. I lay there remembering how in meeting Bro. Jerry (who was visiting our assembly) started the song "Jesus Reigns". That song always reminds me of Bro. Benny. He also started "When the Saints go Marching in" which reminds me of my Dad. Then I got to thinking about how certain things remind me of certain people. I remember last week I made cinnamon rolls. I got the recipe from a certain sister who is not doing good spiritually now. I thought and prayed for her the whole time I was making the cinnamon rolls. Then I remembered how every time I make homemade noodles it reminds me of Sis. Cindy. Shortly after I was married she gave me the recipe and showed me how to make homemade noodles. She said "Every sister ought to know how to make homemade noodles"!

Somehow my thoughts strayed to the scrap quilt I made for my brother. I know that the many hours I spent on it I thought of him, and prayed for the different struggles I knew he was going through at the time. He wasn't baptized yet, and he wasn't living at home; so I was kind of hoping that somehow the quilt could be there when he was baptized since I knew I probably wouldn't get to be there. That reminded me of my "baptism blanket"...

The night I was baptized my mother wrapped a certain blanket around me. It was just a plain blanket; nothing special really, but from that time on it was my own personal blanket, and I used it all the time and took it with me everywhere. One year at the Colorado camp-out I was at a baptism of a young man that I had known for a long time. I had brought my blanket to the waters edge with me, and ended up putting it over him after he came out of the water. I told him how it was my blanket from when I was baptized and how maybe someday he could pass it on to someone else. Sometime after that I talked to him again, and he told me that he had passed it on to someone else. I laid in my bed last night wondering where all that blanket has been. I thought it would be neat if I saw it again somewhere unexpectedly. I thought about how maybe I will make special quilts for each of my children to drape over them when they are baptized. (If it works out that way.) My brother's quilt didn't make it to his baptism, but that's ok.

Anyway, I was thankful for my wondering thoughts as I lay on my pillow last night and thought I would share them with you all. Do any of you have certain things that remind you of certain people? As I lay there remembering all this I hoped that if people remembered me from time to time that it was good things they thought of.

Zaccheus Pictures

I decided that it's been a long time since I posted more recent pictures of Zaccheus; so here they are...

In the wagon with his big brothers!Everyone comments on his bright blue eyes!
Yes, he climbs the stairs on a regular basis now. This was taken when he first started.

You can see all his teeth! He has 5 teeth, and for some reason hasn't gotten any more for a few months now. Five seems like kind of an odd number. Usually they come in pairs. Oh, well, I'm sure they will all be here soon enough!

This is a picture of his first couple of teeth. He did like his big brother Garrison, and they came in opposite of each other.

I just love his beautiful smile!

I love pictures like this of him with his Papa!

All About Ruby

Well, I've noticed how some of you give a whole post dedicated to your child when their Birthday comes along. I'm such a follower that I've decided that would be a good idea! I'm going to try to do this to. Considering that Ruby's Birthday was over a month ago, I'm not doing to well! Let me tell you a little about my one and only girl and then you can look at all the many pictures of her that have been piling up for the last couple of months just waiting for me to post them on my blog!
Ruby is now 6! She's already started losing her teeth. When her first tooth was loose Matt had us rush to Wal-Mart to get her picture taken before she started loosing them. He was worried she would look funny. I think a child with missing teeth looks cute! Anyway, here is her most recent professional picture (pre-tooth gaps). Sometimes Wal-Mart pictures are kind of mediocre, but I think they did a pretty good job.

These pictures aren't in order; so I guess I will tell you about her Birthday first and then her first day of school, even though it really happened the other way around. We didn't do anything really big, we just had some people over for some cake and ice-cream. I made the cake. We only got her one gift because it was really BIG! (and expensive). Sadly I don't have a picture of her with her new dog biscuit, but here she is opening the gift. You can imagine by the size of the box how big the dog is.

She wanted Biscuit for Christmas last year. When we saw that he cost $180 we sadly had to tell her there was no way we were going to be able to buy her Biscuit! Biscuit is a life sized, I believe Golden retriever, He is mechanical and has certain commands that he hears or feels and he will do them. He is very neat, but definitely not worth that much money for me, even to please my daughter! A month or so after Christmas last year Matt found one lonely little biscuit on clearance at Target. I believe he was 75% off. He was still pretty expensive, but we decided to buy him! He has been stored up in our attic ever since then waiting for Ruby's Birthday! She loves him!

Here she is posing by her gifts!

Getting ready to light the candles.

Since Ruby started school I've been consulting that web-site for new hair ideas. I've tried out quite a few of them, sadly I haven't taken very many pictures, but here is a few pictures of one particular hairstyle that I tried. It's similar to a french braid, but you only take hair from the bottom. This makes the braid kind of stand out, and it makes the hair on top flatter.

For this time they had me take the braid all the way around. Since then I have done 2 braids from each side, and then continued to braid them for a ways, then connected them together with a rubber band. I liked this way better, but I don't have pictures of it.

Ruby never went to pre-school. This year she is in Kindergarten, and she really likes it! She is in afternoon Kindergarten. She catches the bus in the mid-morning and then rides home on the bus with Christian in the afternoon. Anthony is actually in pre-school this year. He goes in the afternoon too. So for a couple of hours in the afternoon I only have 2 children. It is very nice!

Here is Ruby getting on the bus for the first time!

Look at that adorable gap in her teeth!

Here she is all dressed up in her new school clothes, and back-pack waiting for the bus:

Ruby is only 6, but she is a pretty good helper. I think she does a pretty good job of being Mommy's only little girl! There are times that she whines about the chores I ask her to do, but when she does them she is a big help to me. She is showing signs of wanting to help me cook. I've been trying to find ways to introduce her to cooking, and helping me in the kitchen that are appropriate for her age, and not too hard or dangerous. It is easier to just shoo her away and do it myself, but I want her to learn the things she should learn. I know I should take advantage of her eagerness now because in a few years she might not be so eager. I just pray that I can be the Mother I should be to her; so that she can grow up to be the woman that God would want her to be.