Family Fun

Yesterday we had our Christmas get-together with my family - my sister and her boyfriend and his son, my brother and his wife and kids, me and Rich and our kids, my "little" brother, and of course, dear mom and dad. We greatly missed my oldest sister with her husband and kids!

What a hoot! They're wearing the corniest hats that say "Life Saviour" on the logo instead of Life Savors - they look kinda cute, though, don't they? :) We did gift baskets as couples this year - some with a theme and some without. Their theme was "winter fun" and included a big 2 person snow tube, hot chocolate, chocolates and assorted other things - including the hats.
There's the 4 of us - not quite complete without Lori, but still really enjoying each other's company. Rich says it's hard to get a word in edgewise when we get together! We all love a good laugh and the jokes fly fast and furious - except Dad's, which tend to limp along.........hee,hee - just kiddin', Dad!!!! Dad spent our growing up years teasing us and we're gettin' pretty good at giving it back these days :)
Dear, dear mom and dad. They've been a constant for all of us - loving us unconditionally and always striving to direct us to our Heavenly Father. I want to be a mom like my mom.

We don't see these 2 often enough. Always expect good fun and fellowship when they come around! They brought their good ol' reel-to-reel movies and we cried with laughter at the old Laurel and Hardy called "Beau Hunks"............Mr. Levity, indeed :)

"Sought Out"

I'm in Rich's study and his Bible is open to a passage in Isaiah - one he's studying for his New Year's sermon - and I see a verse that really stands out for me:

Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Surely your salvation is coming;

Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.'

And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord;

And you shall be called Sought Out,

A city not forsaken.

Isn't that exciting? Isn't that reason to celebrate? I think we all have a basic need to be loved and cared about - to feel like we belong. And our Heavenly Father calls us "sought out". So no matter where you are at, no matter how lonely you feel - if you are the Lord's, then you have been sought out!

We started our family Christmas with the reading of the Christmas story - one chapter in the story of the line of promise - the unfolding of the story of God seeking out His people.

I, rather foolishly, put a bowl of colourful candies on the table in the living room for us to enjoy while we opened gifts. What little child can resist a temptation like that - and who was I to think he'd actually sit still during the bible reading with "visions of sugar plums" - not just in his head, but directly in his line of vision! (not to mention the reach of his arm :) He did great at first - he gently patted the candy and said "No candy - bible". He kept that up for about 5 seconds at which time it evolved into "No bible - candy" :)

I got a bunch of scrapbooking stuff (yah!) and Rich got a lobster pen. Why a lobster pen? Because Caleb thought it was great :)
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are finding your joy as a people sought out by the Lord!

Christmas Day at Grandpa & Grandma's

As well as enjoying the company of our family yesterday, we also enjoyed this new game that my Dad bought. Luke enjoyed the game so much that he gave play by play action shots as seen in the following posts...

He shoots....

...and he....

......

scoooorrreeessssss!!!

Saturday visits

We spent a few encouraging hours today with a couple of families in our congregation who have been facing struggles, but can testify of God's sustaining grace - the grace that orders our trouble but is there to sustain us. Is 41:10 says, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."


While Laura pumped the pedals, Caleb also had a chance to try out the old pump organ in Ralph(Sr.)'s home. Can you guess what he played?

Joy

"Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy Name. for His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" Ps. 30:4-5
I love verses like that - a mixture of God's hatred for what is sinful and also His mercy and everlasting love for His people! What a joy to belong to Him! Laugh, sing, shout - you're God's people! Don't save your smiles and your joy for when you go out - spread them lavishly in your own home. Don't let your children and your husband see your "grump" face and hear your complaining - be a joyful presence in your own home and watch it spread. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength :)

Family Christmas

This past Sat. we went out to my aunt and uncle's place (a beautiful, old inn - charmingly picturesque!) for a family gathering with my mom's side of the family. We only get to visit with these folks once a year, but it's always a lot of fun! As Rich and Eric said on Sat., my mom's family is full of "good-looking, nice people" :)
While there, we got my dad to come outside with us where lake Erie created a chilling, but gorgeous background. The grounds are incredible - rock fences, big decks, sprawling lawns, and the ever present lake. We endured the bitter wind (without our coats) for the sake of some family pics - thanks, Dad!
Inside the tempurature was nice and warm - cozy and comfortable. And abounding with good food and good company!
Above: me and my big sis, Kara :) - not only my sister, but also my friend (she wishes she could cook like me ;) - we're in the midst of an on-going dessert competition - I'm afraid I'm winning - hee, hee - it's my blog, dear, I can say what I want :)
Above: my cousin and his wife (and someone else's baby - although they have one of their own, too! :) We enjoyed a very encouraging conversation with these two on God's care for His own children - thanks, Sean and Mel!
Above: my long time cousin and buddy with her boyfriend - what times we've had, eh Lara?
And last, but certainly not least, Eric...............oh, and my sister again :) We love having you around Eric!
Many more good times to come - I love the Christmas season!

Christian James

  

Christian James

For those who may not know, Christian is our little boy who went to heaven 4 years ago. He was stillborn at just over 5 months.Those days remain so vivid in my memory. Being the 4th anniversary of his funeral today we went to the graveside to see his memorial stone. And though it hurt, and tears did flow, I felt an overwhelmng thankfulness. Thankfulness for my oldest son who hugged me and patted my back; for my oldest daughter who found colourful plastic flowers that had blown in the wind and decorated her small brother's stone with them; for Caleb, who sat in the van and asked if we could go home :), and for our almost 2 year old who played amongst the graves without any thought to their significance. And for my husband who lovingly understands a mother's heart.

The day after the funeral we held a visitation in our home for family and church family . It was such a dear time - and at the end, after many hugs and tender words and a very special prayer by an older, seasoned pastor, we were able to say "One thing we've learned from this is that our God is SO good". Sound strange? A dear friend sat and talked with me for a long time and gently corrected me when I said "I guess it's something God allowed in our lives". "No", she said, "this didn't come upon God and He decided to let it happen - He planned it." Now how does that bring comfort, you might ask. It brought more comfort than anything else - I desperately needed the reassurance that God - our Heavenly Father - was in complete control. Nothing could surprise, or sneak up on, Him. If He orchestrated this, if He truly began it, then we could trust Him to also end it. To bring us through it. To give us the strength for each step.

A very special pastor and friend did the graveside service for us. Because Christian was already past 5 months when he died the law said we had to have a funeral. How thankful I was! After going through labour, giving birth, holding my little one and having to say goodbye to that precious little bundle, it was such a part of our road to healing to have a funeral. But how hard to plan a funeral, and say a final goodbye, to a son we'd never even gotten to know. The verse we chose was Deut. 33:26-27:

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun

who rides the heavens to help you

and in His excellency on the clouds.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms

We were reminded that our God is above us in the heavens, is around us as a refuge and is underneath us as the everlasting arms. What comfort - real, and concrete! Nothing wistful in our "hope" - no, our hope is sure! Our sweet son ran his short little race and now rests in those everlasting arms - the same arms that hold us.

Yes, it still hurts. Sometimes my empty arms ache with the longing to hold him. I want one more little body to hug. I want to tuck him in bed and feel his arms tighten around my neck and hear him whisper "I love you, mommy!" I want to see Rich reading to him and having those sweetly serious 4 year-old conversations with him. I don't want to think of him as just Christian - I want to use the nickname that he surely would have had by now. But can we trust that our Lord knows best? Yes - undoubtedly. One day He will wipe every tear from our eyes. And until then, we will cry, but never without hope. For:

When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal

has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass

the saying that is written:

Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is

your sting?

1 Cor. 15:54b-55a

If this verse and it's promise is not intensely personal to you, seek until it is. Pray, study the Bible, seek godly advice from wise Christians. And then you, too, can know the joy of belonging to the One who holds all things - even death - in His hands.

"For two are better than one........

....because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up" Ecc. 4:9,10.
I love watching my kids help each other. I'm not saying they always help each other and I am able to spend much of my time just smiling at their brotherly love - au contraire! Too often I shake my head in amazement (well, maybe frustration is a better word - I'm sinful enough myself to not be too amazed!) at how they can pester each other. And yet, I know the love is there - and it comes through in wonderful ways.

Since there is a 5 year stretch between our youngest, Corin, and our next up, Caleb, we've seen our kids learn some very unselfish behaviour with the "baby". They give up their own play time to build towers; they spend their own reading time reading to him; they'll feed him, comfort him, pick him up and heft him around the house. Not only does it help me out incredibley, it also develops their own characters (I'm not entirely sure what it does for his character, but we'll deal with that later :). As the kids grow up I'm seeing new and challenging pieces to the puzzle that makes up children. It's very stretching for us as parents, but so rewarding, too. I'm going through "Age of Opportunity" by Paul Tripp right now and seeing that as the kids get older their needs change and we have to be willing to give, give, give. And often the giving is demanded of us at times when we'd rather give to ourselves. I'm quite protective of my evenings - I like to put work aside and be with my husband, read or do something relaxing. But now our oldest son stays up for part of the evening - and he wants to talk! So we've had to shift and stretch - and we've been greatly rewarded by growing in our relationship with our very neat son and seeing him excited about his extra time with just mom and dad.

"You have been given an incredibly high calling. You are God's instument of help and preparation as this child makes his final steps out of the home and into God's world. These moments make your life worthwhile. Here you will make a contribution that is worth infinitely more than any career or financial accomplishment" (pg 22)

Amen to that! May God grant us the grace to be faithful and selfless in this calling of parenthood.

Jumping at the sound of a falling leaf...

Psalm 121:1, 2 "A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills— from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. "

One of our 'fun times away' as a family has been our camping trip to the South. The journey is long. But we always knew that we were at the end of the trip (for the first part of it, anyways) when we went by Pilot Mt in NC (in this picture here). The sight of this jutting round hill reminds me of the the way the people of Isreal must have felt as they came to Jerusalem for the special feast celebrations, singing the songs of ascent. As the people made their pilgrimage and saw Mt. Zion, they knew that the journey was close to over.

Journeying was dangerous. You couldn’t get into your Chevy Astro Van to go there. There were no highways, no OPP to patrol the roads. There was a potential for dangers. Would you be safe from robbers who were known to attack on the road? Would your foot slip along the way? Where would your help come from as you looked up? Then as you journeyed you saw Mt. Zion, with the temple there. Help always comes from the Lord who made the mountains of Jerusalem His dwelling place - and who created the heavens and the earth. The point of this psalm is to tell us of God's promised protection both physically and spiritually - that He has the power to help us and will persevere in looking after us "both now and forevermore" (v. 8) and will not forsake at the gate of heaven. The question is, are we willing enough to trust Him?

Calvin says, “When we seem to have largely experienced what this protection of God implies, we yet instantly tremble at the noise of a leaf falling from a tree, as if God had quite forgotten us….” I find this little quote helpful and convicting - especially when something 'shocking' happens. But we have no reason to be alarmed when we put our faith in Lord b/c He is the mighty Creator who made not only the mountains but the heavens and the earth!

(BTW, Mt. Pilot is the same one on the 'Andy Griffith Show' - the little town next to 'Mayberry' where Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife went to all the time.)

Panic!!

Have you ever lost sight of one of your kids while shopping? If so, then you'll be able to relate to what happened to us. We decided to do some Christmas shopping as a family - it's always fun to go out together and look for gifts - especially since there is so much for little eyes to look at. Canadian Tire was full of Christmas trees, lights, ornaments - and even a life size Santa that was supposed to sing. Well, after passing the toy section (where the kids had to press all the little "try me" buttons, leaving cacophony and dancing reindeer in our wake) we stopped to look at an upside down Christmas tree (I'm glad that fad hasn't caught on!!). While we were there, Caleb stepped over to the singing Santa to see if he could get it to sing. I saw him trying, looked away for a moment, and then looked back only to find him gone. Well, I'm not a terribly calm person when it comes to my kids and any real or perceived danger, so I panicked. Rich and I went different ways - in more ways than one. He calmly searched the aisles while I raced madly through the store, wildly pushing the stroller and yelling Caleb's name (Rich said he could hear me from the other side of the store!) Then I saw 2 police officers by the front door so I veered crazily in their direction, the stroller tipping onto 2 wheels, and garbled something about a missing child. They were so calm it drove me nuts! I wanted them to pull out their guns and start detaining people; I wanted them to lock the front doors; I wanted them to call in reinforcements - at the very least I wanted them to whisper secret codes into their walkie-talkies and follow suspicious looking characters (and I'm sure I saw a few of those!! Actually, I probably looked more suspicious than anyone.............) As I tried to decribe Caleb, drawing a blank when they asked me his name, my dear daughter was quietly reminding me "Mom, we need to pray!" As the police moved off - rather slowly, I thought - I managed to calm down, pray, and think. Ah - the van! I raced out of the store with some hastily mumbled instructions to the kids to stay put and ran to the van. I saw his little dejected figure even before I reached him. I opened the back door, saw his tear streaked face, and bodily heaved him over the back seat and into my arms. "I cried so hard, Mommy! But I thought - they'll look for me in the van." Sweet relief. And then my prayers flowed out without even having to think. Thank-you, Lord, for keeping my little one safe!

As per request - this is for you, Ron!

I've also heard it said that when you're questioning the "wisdom" of a certain action - just don't do it! And yet, here I am, posting a very ridiculous picture of myself! (it's not so hard, however, to post a ridiculous picture of my husband - hee, hee,) There are times when I feel that my sanity seriously comes into question. But, my brother-in-law wanted to know if the resemblence carried right through to the parents.........well, Ron, here's your answer:


The glasses are there to provide some anonimity. I think I'll go throw that wig out now :)

I've heard it said...........

.......that when you live with someone long enough, you start to look like them! Well, I'm convinced.............



Hee, hee - just a little fun with a wig we bought :)

Morning Prayer

O merciful Father, we thank You that You kept watch over us in this past night, in Your great faithfulness. We pray that You may strengthen and guide us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may put this day as well as all the days of our life to the service of holiness and righteousness. Grant, we pray, that in all our undertakings, we may always have an eye single to Your glory. May we ever labour in the conciouisness of our dependence upon Your beneficence for the success of our work.

We bessech You to forgive all our sins according to Your promise, for the sake of the passion and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we are truly sorry for all our trangressions. Illumine our hearts, we pray, that we may lay aside all the works of darkness and as children of light may lead new lives in godliness.

May it please You to bless us also as we engage in the proclamation of the divine Word. Frustrate all the works of the devil. Endue all the ministers of the Church who are faithful to You with strength, and make the magistrates of Your people strong. Instill comfort in the hearts of all that are distressed through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son. For He has assured us that You will surely grant us all that we ask of You in His name...

Back of the Psalter Hymnal, 'Christian Prayers' based on Morning Prayer p. 188, 189
"Praying Hands" by Albrecht Durer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_Betende_H%C3%A4nde.jpg

Niagara Falls part 3

Is this getting a bit much? Sorry if it is! I guess when your life is so bound up with your kids, it's rather earth shattering to actually get away with the just the 2 of you (did I mention it was just the 2 of us?)- but perhaps it's more earth shattering to us than it is to you................
However, this is something I find very interesting. I love history and Niagara Falls is just teeming with it! The war of 1812, the Battle of Lundy's Lane, Laura Secord's heroics, Isaac Brock - it's all very thrilling - if you like history (and please, let me never hear you say that Canadian history is boring!!!!!). This particular building is called Oak Hall, and the arcitecture and dark woodwork is gorgeous!
It houses a whole lot of artwork of the Falls - some nice, some not so nice. One artist is a Christian (and Dutch, to boot!) who puts a scripture reference in the corner of all his paintings, to point to God as Creator of the beautiful world he paints.

I hope you all know who this is! He kindly posed so we could take his picture :)

This chair is part of a set of 8 chairs and a massive table that were originally used for the signing of a treaty that ended the Boxer Rebellion in 1901. The hand carving on it is so intricate! I can only imagine the lives that were lived at that time. I like to think of history as "His story" - the story of God's outworking of His will through the lives of all people - but all for the good of His own children. That's humbling!

And so ends our account of our trip to N.F. :)

Niagara Falls part 2

Cher asked me to write this second blog. Sadly, I do not speak Dutch like my talented younger brother so this will not be as colourful as the pictures are. Check their blog -
http://stevejo.wordpress.com/

No matter what time of the year we go, there is always something beautiful to see. The Greenhouse is never a disappointment.
Niagara Parks does a good job. Even their cabbages are nice :) - like the first picture (which btw is supposed to be the second one)


When we got there on Monday, it was sunny. By evening, however, the snow came and it kept snowing all night. It made it very treacherous for driving and we were told by one of the waitresses in the hotel restaurant that there were many fender benders in town. But we were cosy in our room with our warm fireplace.

The snow stopped the next day and the sun came out. We never get bored of looking at the Falls. The Falls always remind me of my Opa Vandenberg who could spend hours there. He was a real lover of nature.

Niagara Falls - part 1

Well, we're home! We had a fantastic 3 days away - just the 2 of us - imagine that! We'd been imagining it for quite awhile, so when the opportunity presented itself(our 12th anniversary on Dec. 17th), we jumped at the chance :) We dropped the kids off at grandma and grandpa's on Monday morning and sped away - just the 2 of us (I may repeat that periodically - it kinda stands out for us ;)

Of course, part of our trip was to park and walk over to the falls themselves and just stand in awe at the power and beauty - incredible! Even though we've seen it so many times, it's still an amazing spectacle. But Rich wasn't satisfied with that - he needed to get closer. So, to keep him from actually scaling the safety gate and heading over the cliff, I agreed to ............ Journey Behind the Falls with him.
It was pretty neat! I'm not real fond of elevators, or tunnels, or being underground or getting too close to waterfalls.................well, I guess that pretty well describes what we did :)
As soon as we got off the elevator we could feel the power of the falls. We were actually right behind the Horseshoe Falls - the whole place trembled and the roar was incredible! The tunnel was conected to 2 different portals that we could enter to view the falls from a rather awesome angle - right behind them!
There was also an enclosed viewing deck just off to the side of the falls ( at ground level- just not underneath it anymore) where we saw a beautiful rainbow. It made me wonder what kind of water power Noah and his family must have witnessed during the worldwide flood! Thank God for His promise to preserve the world until His second coming - then we'll see His power in ways we can't even imagine!More will follow..........it's fun to share our happenings!