Category: Parenting

A special birthday

When Timothy was born, there was a brief hush over the delivery room — enough time for me to realize there must be a problem.  Fearing the worst, I asked my husband if the baby had died.  No, he said, he’s going to be fine.

As Timothy was born, the doctor could see that the cord was wrapped around his next and as he  loosened it, it was obvious that there was also a complete knot in his umbilical cord the hush was their surprise that he was just quiet and still — completely fine.  The team of attendants appeared to be amazed.  The doctor inserted an instrument into the knot, shaking it loose, and then continued to gently massage his little body.  He told me that that knot had been there for many months as that “little guy” must’ve turned himself around and swum through the loop of the cord.

The next morning, as the doctor was making his rounds, he came in to check on me and baby Timothy.  You are so lucky, he said.  And I told him, no… no, I’m really very blessed.  God has been so good to me.  I knew that then.  I know that now.  Out the window that morning I could see a lone daffodil in a planter… the ‘tea-cup’ flower had just opened.  It was a bright encouragement to me — and the site of blooming daffodils continues to bless me over the years – for that  and so many other event’s meanings.

And so, today, twenty three years later I’m still in awe at what the Lord has done in the life of that baby – now young man.  There have been many instances through the years where the Lord clearly marked his life — times of sickness, times of great spiritual growth, times of God’s clear hand of guidance, direction and protection.  From a very young age, this young man had a clear and present awareness of the Lord’s call on his life – a matter that Timothy continually shared with others.

And he has answered that call and for many years has walked by faith in the ministry of the Gospel.

I have no greater joy than
to hear that my children
walk in truth.
3 John 1.4

It is with great joy that we celebrate this son’s birthday today — and, happily, we’ll even celebrate it with him this year as it’s been many years since he’s been home on his birthday!    He flies in late tonight!

We’re thankful the Lord has used him so sweetly in our family… that He’s used him in Ghana and now in Mexico.  Today we’re reminiscing as we recall the many blessings of the Lord through the years, the many ways God’s worked on his behalf, many ways God has uniquely gifted and provided.  We thank the Lord for the many times He’s healed Timothy from various sicknesses, from many bouts of malaria and the many adventures God’s brought him through.  We also recall, with tears of joy and humble thanksgiving, the great miracle of healing the Lord gave Timothy last summer.

Timothy is a joy to me… to us all.  For all of this — for the gift of his life, for him, for all these miracles — we are so grateful to the Lord.

 

Saturday Morning Funnies

My mama sent me an email this morning… I laughed at the different quoted comments and thought I’d share them with you.  As I type this, I find myself stunned that I am old enough to hear such questions or statements from my own dear children *and* grandchildren.  My-o-my, How did I get so old without growing up!?!?

JACK (age 3)  was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister… After a while he asked: ‘Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was.. Granny replied she was so old she didn’t remember any more. Melanie said, ‘If you don’t remember you must look in the back of your panties.  Mine say five to  six.’

STEVEN (age 3)  hugged and kissed his Mom good night. ‘I love you so much that when you die I’m going to bury you outside my bedroom window.’

BRITTANY   (age 4)  had an ear ache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle.  Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: ‘How does it know it’s me?’

SUSAN (age 4)  was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. ‘Please don’t give me this juice again,’ she said, ‘It makes my teeth cough..’

DJ (age 4)  stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: ‘How much do I cost?’

CLINTON   (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried when his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, ‘I don’t know what’ll happen with this bed when I get married.  How will my wife fit in it?’

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: ‘Why is he whispering in her mouth?’

TAMMY(age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy  looked at her for a while and then asked, ‘Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?’

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: ‘The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.’  Concerned, James asked: ‘What happened to the flea?’

Amazon

I very rarely promote store boycotts or product-boycotts  — mostly bcz I couldn’t possibly keep on top of who sells what and where egregiously offensive materials, products, etc., etc., are sold and bcz of the huge impracticality of such boycotts.  But sometimes something is brought to my attention that I cannot ignore.  Stuff dealing with the use/abuse of children — especially when that stuff negatively impacts their sexuality, their well being or how they’re treated by their families and/or caregivers — for these, I must not remain silent.  And, in a round about way, I’m asking you to not remain silent either.

Even if I were not a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, though I am —  more importantly, I’m a mother of many children and, as such, it is both my duty and honour to defend and protect them from people who would use or abuse them.  Sexual abuse is more rampant than we imagine… most people cannot even imagine it to be a reality.  But it is.  It’s a sickening, gripping reality for those who experience(d) it.

So, Amazon.  The book, “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct” by Philip R. Greaves II, offers advice to pedophiles afraid of becoming the center of retaliation. It is an electronic book available for Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle e-reader.

I like Amazon — I even recommend it — but always with this personal disclaimer: I don’t endorse everything Amazon sells or offers or advertises.  Same with Costco, by the way.  Or  Winco, Walmart, Target.  Or the local pet store.  Or The Seattle Times newspaper.

Write to Amazon – go through their customer service…  Ask them to remove this product from their catalog.

seventeen years

teacuppamela.pngIn a moment, in a twinkling of an eye…  it hardly seems possible that seventeen years have passed by since our seventh child was born.  How marvelous the Lord has been to bless us with this son.  How sweet the Lord is.  I am taking the time to write about this tonight bcz over the years I’ve talked to many, many women who’re ambivalent to yield their childbearing to the will and determination of the Lord.

I’ve noticed there’s sort of a point of questioning family size at odd times.  I’ll give you some examples.  Most Christian families would say and agree that the Lord always provides.  And then, most families, at some point or another, face financial difficulties.  Faith is shaken and they question the Lord’s providence.   And their family size.

Another example of questioning might come along with aging.   Birthdays can be odd.  One birthday may come and go with no real fanfare or notice.  But add a zero to a higher first digit and odd things happen. I’ve noticed that twenty-nine year old women, as do thirty-nine year old women, have a crisis of belief as the next birthday approaches — sort of like moving the large weight on the scale at the doctor’s office.  Advancing age (remember 30 is *old* to many women) makes some women feel like they’re past their prime and they’re too old to have children.  These are usually the ages when men and women start to calculate what their own age will be when their last child is twenty.  And, face it, to a thirty year old or to a forty year old, fifty or sixty years old seems quite ancient!

Another point of questioning family size usually comes along at another odd time.  Odd numbered children seem to really grab the attention of mothers and dads.  They might think, ah, we have two… what’s this?  Three children?  Or they might have four children and a fifth is on the way — that seems staggering to some.  But I’ve noticed, in particular, that the tipping point for most families is that seventh child.  That seventh child ushers in a whole new dynamic.   Perhaps it’s bcz at seven children, the size of the family vehicle really becomes an issue.  Bedding and bedroom arrangement becomes an issue.  Seating at the dining table becomes an issue (as did going from four to five and so on).   Sets of dishes, sets of silverware and a host of other things change when a family of eight becomes a family of nine as the seventh child is born.

It seems, though, that it was at the point of the pregnancy and birth of the seventh child, that we seemed to have come to both a very strong conviction and resolute conclusion that the Lord was (and is) Lord of the womb and that it was His to open or to close, His to provide or withhold, His to determine and it was ours to yield to Him.

It was the precious gift and birth of our seventh child that really did resolve for me the questions and concerns about the present and future days being solely in the Hand of the Lord.  So, then, it was in faith that we resolved to not question the Lord or to feel apologetic for His dealing in our life.  I think it was at that point that I knew that I knew He was working in a unique way and that had He chosen one or none or seven children — He, alone, was Lord and He, alone, had the preeminence as the merciful, only faithful, only wise God.

The morning the baby was born, Wes named our son, Stephen — the naming of each of the children is a story for another time — and he prayed that as he grew, God would mightily use this young man for His purposes and that whatever happened to Stephen in his life, may his life be fully yielded to the Lord and may he stand up for the Lord, as a minister of the gospel — faithful to the end.

How grateful I am to the merciful Lord for the precious gift of Stephen, our seventh child, born November 2nd… seventeen years ago.   We’ve surely seen that the Lord’s will, done His way, does not lack His supply.

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motherhood means goodbyes

The goodbye’s of motherhood.  I’ll tell you, I never thought about this end of the deal as the children were coming along and our family increased in size every other year.  I didn’t even think about it when the children would go on occasional outings or when they headed off to camp every once in a great while.  It just didn’t occur to me.  I don’t know why — but it didn’t.  O, sure, I did nod my head in total ignorance agreement when women would give me knowing smiles and advice that these days would go so fast.   I would agree with them — as. if. I. understood.

But, I’m telling you, I know now — that I really had no idea what lay ahead.  I’m pretty sure I thought we’d always be “us”  and things would just go along.  I’d be in the kitchen cooking, baking and cleaning and we’d always be home-educating or home-birthing or drinking 10 gallons of milk a week and I’d be driving a whole van-full of children around f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  I’m sure I thought we’d a.l.w.a.y.s. be whatever, wherever, however we were.  You know, us.  Always us.

But then there were more goodbyes.   Marriage, leaving home, missions trips, camps.  Goodbyes. How could the raw emotion of the goodbyes have been so surprising when it began to happen with more frequency?

I don’t know… but the well of motherly emotion with each goodbye was (and still is) surprising to me.  So, I’ve had to revisit this matter of goodbye’s and reevaluate my thinking to accept the wonderful fact that motherhood means goodbyes.  And it is a wonderful fact, really.

Each goodbye means a new adventure.  Each goodbye means things are happening — and, for the most part, each goodbye is really a blessing.  It’s taken a lot of goodbyes to finally begin to realize and rejoice over this.  This is what I’ve wanted – for I haven’t been mothering so I could keep them with me — I’ve been mothering for the sheer joy of giving them to the Lord in gratitude for His blessing me with their life and for whatever He had prepared ahead for them.  Our children are God’s gift to Himself.

Ye are our epistle written in our hearts,
known and read of all men”
2Corinthians 3.2

As we drove to the airport last week, we arrived and Timothy hopped out of the car, bag and backpack in hand.  I was happy for him — happy he had another mission opportunity, happy for the adventure that lay ahead for him and happy that the Lord had healed and strengthened him that this was even possible.  Happy… really.

And the car door closed and it was time to drive away.  Still smiling at the adventure that lay ahead for him.

And then it began to rain.

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Save

What a difference a day makes…

I thought I’d write a bit tonight — perhaps an update of sorts or maybe just an “I’m checking in” sort of post. Whatever it might end up being, suffice it to say, I’ve missed blogging, I’ve missed this sort of portal to the world and I’ve missed looking for things that might encourage, inspire or give some help or hope to someone else.

I could not have known as I wrote my last blog entry that that night my life or, rather, life for our family would take such a dramatic turn or that we would face something for which we were absolutely and completely unprepared. Not lost on me is the irony of the timing of the content and, thus, the subject of my last post – “Rejoice with me.” As a matter of fact, I’m in awe of the marvelous presence of the Lord.

I had been reading emails from readers, thinking of events in the past and current trials friends were experiencing. I could not have known a storm was brewing and about to break over our home. As I was reading emails, I decided to look into Luke 15 — which was, incidentally, near to where I was reading in my personal study [in a series of events I now marvel were quite obviously of the Lord].

So, these have been 94 of the most arduous and sorrowful days I have ever faced or experienced in my whole life. Perhaps I’ll write about them sometime, but for now, I just wanted to communicate that we’re experiencing joy in the Lord like we’ve never known and, at the same time, a sorrow we cannot fully articulate and some days feel we cannot bear. It is in those times we know the Love of the Saviour afresh and His loving kindness and presence is our All in all.

I pray my next post will not be a quote from the Scripture, though it would be, but an enthusiastic request: rejoice with me. In the meantime, I would ask that if it comes to your mind, I’d appreciate prayer for a precious lost little lamb.

God bless you all.

“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus… life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ – one glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race, till we see Christ.”

—pamela

“Rejoice with me”

teacuppamela.pngEnthusiasm’s contagious!  Isn’t it interesting how quickly our mood or emotions can change by being around someone who’s enthused about something? Or, someone who’s elated over accomplishing some great thing? It’s kind of like the bible verses in Luke 15:

8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

I just got off the phone with my brother… he didn’t need to say: Rejoice with me!  It was in his voice, though, and the words couldn’t come tumbling out fast enough when he was telling me of his new job — every sentence as if to say: Rejoice with me!

I think of this sort of rejoicing from time to time.  I think of this sort rejoicing when talking with a loved one a long distance away.  I think of it when I pray for my family… when I pray for friends… when I pray for people who’ve lost their way — or never knew.

Another few verses (Again, Luke 15):
4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Think of the enthusiasm in heaven!  Because I have a page on our website dedicated to Prodigals and Waywards, I receive mail from mothers and dads who are grieving the lostness of their children.  I marvel that there’s not more grief in the church over the lost sheep — it is grievous, really.  But it seems our politically correct society even infiltrates the church and no one seems to want to offend anyone.  Imagine: hell will surely be filled with unoffended souls — for we already see the church is filled with presently unoffended, unaffected and ineffective souls. Is it because we haven’t told the Truth?  Is it that we’re too ashamed to speak the Truth plainly?  Hell will be filled with the souls we were too afraid to touch… too afraid to offend… too afraid to talk to… too afraid to say, Rejoice with me!

Be enthusiastic about the Lord!  Tell others what you’ve seen!  You’ll be a true and faithful witness!  Try it: Stand up for Jesus: Say, Come and See!  I know I was blind but now I see!  Rejoice with me!

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The Family Meal Table

teacuppamela.pngOne of our greatest treasures and lasting blessings is our meal table.  It’s a real challenge to maintain mealtimes when the family begins to grow and scatter in different directions each day.  But we endeavor to have at least one meal, if not all of them, together each day.  It’s difficult to persevere with this one sometimes — especially when it’s easier to just “grab ‘n go” when schedules are hectic or when schedules are so different for older family members.    Still, I desire to hold fast to this treasure — this family tradition — this mainstay:  the family meal table.

One of my favourite encouragers is Nancy Campbell.  Her seeming tireless work on behalf of mothers and families is such a blessing to me.  I love to listen to her, to learn from her, to be inspired, encouraged and uplifted as she shares valuable truths and lessons on motherhood.  I so wish I had had her manuals when I began motherhood thirty years ago.  I so needed encouragement as I was sort of “pioneering” my way through early motherhood.

Here’s a glimpse of Nancy Campbell.  Through the years, I’ve included articles and links to articles on our site.  You can also read more at the Above Rubies site.

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