Healing

OK, so this was at the last session, but I am so excited by it I wanted to get it down.

At the end of the session on the prodigal son, there was a call for anyone who wanted prayer for healing to come forward.

Some of you may not know that I have suffered from sciatica (or something like it) in my left hip since being pregnant with Noah. I had it with Callie too, but it still lingers and has gotten worse over the last year. I often have full leg pain or knee pain as it adjusts to my hip being out of whack.

I was especially hurting this last week. I tried getting into the chiropractor, but didn't schedule it in time before we left. So, when they called for healing, I decided to respond.

I went up there and just held my hands out. There were hundreds of people that responded. Generally when I pray, I usually say, "Lord, I know that you can heal. Help my unbelief". However, since we had just finished talking about God's intense love for us, I, for some reason, prayed, "Father, I believe you love me enough to heal me." Right about then, the pastor prayed corporately, "Lord, heal them". I'm not kidding. There was an instant sensation in my leg. I began to rotate it and felt no pain. My knee didn't hurt. Astounded, and probably a bit dumbfounded, I kept moving it around, looking around me, looking down. I thought, "was I just healed that quickly?". Sure enough, without even someone laying their hand on me to pray, I felt immediate relief. It was incredible.

The whole drive home I felt incredible relief. Often, when my hip is out, I notice that the left side sits higher than the right when I am sitting. For the last 24 hours, I have noticed both sides equal on the seat. Last night, I laid in bed awed that I had no pain. It was amazing!

Thank you Jesus!

2nd installment

So, by the title...if you haven't read the first installment...start there.

During the afternoon on Wednesday, Dave had an overseer's meeting to attend. Because he sits on the board, I was invited to attend the wives of the overseer's lunch. The beauty of this is while the men are being taught, the women's lunch is a time of commmunity and socializing. Before you criticize...the majority of these women are pastor's wives and they often don't get the same opportunities as their husbands to fellowship with others (many are mom's of young children). This lunch allowed them to talk, connect, share stories, and meet new people. Frankly, I just enjoyed being along for the ride. I was able to reconnect with my friend Laura. Dave and I stayed with her and her husband while we were in Seattle. It's amazing what sharing space with others can do in terms of building community. Now, it's so enjoyable to reconnect with her and hear about all that's happened since we were there in November.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and sat in the pool/hot tub with some of our other friends, Frank and Sheena. There were a lot of people that we knew staying at our same hotel. It felt like a really fun party.

The evening session was wonderful too (OK just get used to the fact that I thought all the sessions were pretty good).

I was really wanting to go up for prayer, but the calls that night were pretty specific and didn't exactly apply to me. I sat back there just praying. Dave laid his hand on my back and began to pray for me. Wow, was he right on. He spoke words of encouragement and vision. God had given him the ability to speak into things that I hadn't even told him. It was so powerful and so significant that it ended up being him that prayed for me. It was so reassuring and so life-building for our marriage too. Good stuff happens when you seek Jesus together.

Summer Conference- 1st installment

So, we are back from summer conference...and amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. God was so gracious and so generous. So much happened, so to be fair and give it all justice, I am going to be recounting it in multiple installments.

Truthfully, God really began working in Dave and I Monday night. We had a really good, connecting conversation that allowed a lot of walls to break down and probably opened us both to the point where we could actually receive well at conference. We got down there Tuesday night, but the conference didn't start until Wednesday morning. It was so nice to just have an evening to ourselves. We went to the pool, relaxed and just rested. It had been awhile since that had really last happened. I'm figuring this out- rest and a break equals better parents. Behaviors had been flaring up at home and it felt like constant correction, which was putting us at the edge, and honestly, I think we all just needed a break (I know this because after we came home there was a major difference--in all of us)

Wednesday morning the topic was "Father Knows Us". He referenced Psalm 139. Here are the big take home points for me:

- God knows us completely. And in knowing us this well (with all of our sins, brokeness, and junk), He still wants to be with us.

Psalm 139:14- I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
-How many times do we worship God for how He made us? Too often we are so critical of ourselves, or features of ourselves...Yet, God made us with great care and design and we are made in his image. What would it be like to choose to praise God for how He formed me, without exception?

Summer Conference = Manna

Summer Conference is coming up. We leave on Tuesday...and I can't wait. It's where our network of churches all gather together, worship God, listen to awesome teachings, get really good prayer, and have great fellowship. At this moment in my life, it feels like manna.

The month leading up to this has been, well, interesting. God has been stirring up a lot within me. Currently, I feel spiritually messy,to put it delicately. It's as if a can of worms has been opened up, but even though the lid's on temporarily...the worms are still eeking out all over. Yep, that about sums it up. However, I have confidence that because God is bringing it up now, hopefully He will bring healing and restoration in the next week. I look forward to a break from the regular duties of life to really focus and get rejuvinated by Jesus.

Lately, I feel like I am barely getting by. Usually, with a break, and some spiritual breakthroughs, I feel restored and am a better mom/wife/leader/person for it.

So, this next week, I am unashamedly asking for prayers for:

-God's power to come and break into my life and break off the junk that has been plaguing me. That I might be restored and feel God's freedom in all areas of my life. That there would be a reason for the afflictions I have felt this last month, if nothing more than to experience God's glory as He heals.

-For Dave and I, and the opportunity to strengthen our marriage, by first seeking Jesus, but also for the time that we will have together. My prayer is that we would walk away changed...for the better.

-For safe travel

-For our kids to be safe while we are away. And...that they are good for grandma. :-)

For those of you who are going to Conference...I can't wait to see you there! It's going to be AMAZING. To everyone else, please keep us all in your prayers this next week.

Hauling

Dave had a lot of hauling to do this morning. A friend of ours came over with her kiddos this morning and Dave is their favorite toy. He's a good sport...and a great dad.


Don't they all look like they could be related??

Tinkerbell-locked and loaded

I declare it: Callie is officially potty trained

I mean really...she's been going all on her own now for 2 days with no accidents. I'm sure we'll have an accident here and there, but I'm calling it. She's potty trained. :-) I might eat my words in a few days, but we'll bask in the beauty of the moment now. It's funny, to potty train, we put her little potty in the living room...so that when we were sitting for 20 minutes at a time, she could be around others. Today, I switched it back to the bathroom. I asked Callie if she needed to go potty. She ran into the bathroom, then I watched as she carried the potty out to the living room, sat on it, did her thing. After we had flushed her pee-pees and put the potty back together, I watched as she picked up the potty and then put it back into the bathroom. At least she was being neat.

Both kids have bad fevers today. After peeking at their throats, which were both red and spotty, we took them into the doctor. Although she agreed that their throats were red, the strep-test came back negative. So, they just have the funk. We've been watching a lot of movies, reading, and cuddling the last two days. I enjoy cuddling with them, even if they are little furnaces on 90 degree days.

Tonight is Dave's last night working and then he has the weekend with us. Although with two sick kids, it will be a mild weekend.

OK, Callie just pooped in the potty on her own. Nature calls. Gotta run.

Fever

So Callie was indeed a rockstar yesterday going pee pee in the potty multiple times more last night. Even right before bed. She just went and did it. No accidents at all yesterday. Now we just need to see how she does out in public.

Noah's fever was pretty bad last night. He was really lethargic and went to bed early, but I was then up with him for almost the rest of the night. His fever spiked at 4am to 105. I gave him some more medicine and thankfully by 5am, the fever broke. This morning, he popped out of bed like a daisy and has been non-stop talking. Me? Not so much. My body had finally gotten two hours of decent sleep and was excited about the process. I didn't care that Mr. Sun was up. :-) However, up we are, and going.

Callie seems to be running a little fever this morning. Only about 99. So, I guess we'll see what the rest of the day brings. Hopefully more pees in the potty if nothing else.

Potty Training

So, we are on day three of potty training Callie. She has had NO accidents today and has even said, "I need to go pee pee" and runs to the potty and does her business. HOORAY! We are still putting a pull-up on her for nap and bedtime. But come on, it's only day three. I am so proud of her. She is so proud of herself. She gets up and jumps around and yells, "I go potty!" What a big girl she is becoming. Hopefully, the trend continues, especially as we start adding events into the mix soon.

In other news, Noah has been running a fever all day. Earlier, he told me his teeth hurt. Now he says his teeth and his throat hurt. He's so out of it, I actually put him to bed early and he didn't put up a fuss. He's been lounging around cuddling with me all day today. Poor kid. We might have to take him to get him checked tomorrow if this keeps up.

Swagger Wagon

This is for all of you who make fun of us mini-van drivers. :-)

Blink

I like this song...a lot.

Updates in a nutshell

So this will be a less than creative post, but I'm sure I'm due for a general update:

Callie- I'm attempting potty training again. It's been difficult because we need to be home for a few days in order for it to work...to this point, that's not really been happening. Hopefully, we can make some progress this week. She went a little bit this morning, but although we cheered for her, she was less than impressed. She loves singing and sings and dances all the time.

Noah-Is enjoying the summer and playing in his little pool. His tadpole has little legs now, which is neat to watch. His favorite activity right now is tormenting...ahem..I mean playing with Buzz.

Speaking of Buzz, he is doing great. His foot has healed to the point that there is just a little scab on it. He has his "boot" off and the e-collar is off as of yesterday. He is a free kitty. Looking at how well he is doing, I'm so glad that he wasn't put down and that Dave put the effort into him. He's adjusting to life here well and is definitely holding his own. Now that he has his cone off, I have a hard time telling the two cats apart.

OK, told you that was quick, and less than creative. But, I REALLY should be cleaning the bathrooms right now...so on that note...Peace out.

New Job

So, most of you know by now that the emergency clinic where Dave works is closing July 1st. I've been a little mum on how things have gone for us in the job search process, mostly because for a long time there wasn't much to tell. Dave exhausted his resources, sent out resumes, made phone calls, explored different avenues. About a month and a half ago, Purdue, who is buying out the emergency clinic posted an opening for an emergency vet to operate the new facility. One of the main requirements was that they had to be an emergency veterinarian for at least 3 years (whew...Dave qualified). Dave applied and we waited a while before we heard a response. In the beginning of May, Purdue called wanting to interview Dave. Unfortunately, they couldn't get it scheduled until May 24 (mainly because they had to work around 7 different peoples schedules). The interview would last all day (9-4) and he would meet with a new person each half hour. They ranged from criticalists, head of the program, head technician, etc. At the end, of the day, ANYONE could come in and ask him questions.

That was last Monday. Needless to say, he was exhausted at the end of it. However, he felt confident that he represented himself well and said what he wanted to say. That was Monday. Wednesday, 2 days later, at 7:30 in the evening, he gets offered the position. :-)

I'm glad that he took the weekend to make the decision. We traveled this weekend to Illinois to visit Dave's grandmother (mom's mom) who turned 90 and his grandfather (dad's dad) who is not doing so well. The whole way up there we talked and processed it out.

He will work Wed/Thu/Fri from 4pm-Midnight and Sat/Sun from 2pm-10. Thankfully, he get's every third weekend off, which definitely helps.

We talked, we prayed, we sought the counsel of our trusted friends, and this morning he officially accepted the position.

For what it's worth, I am very proud of him. He will be overseeing and teaching interns at the Purdue vet school on his shifts. Something that I think that he is quite able and really good at anyway. He's a man of integrity who works hard, yet understands the importance of family. Who knows what God's plans are for the future? For now, we are following these steps and praying that God continues to show us the way.

Thank you God for providing a good job for Dave. We pray that he would be used by you in ways that we can't even understand yet. I pray that it would be a really smooth transition and that he would find this job to be very enjoyable. Thank you for always providing for our needs.

Hey Jude, Welcome to the world

Our good friends Tony and Sarah had their 4th baby on Friday. An adorable little boy named Jude Edgar. He weighed in at 9lbs 2 oz, and is doing well. Congrats Tony and Sarah! Welcome Jude!