New Beginnings

Yesterday began a new week. A week that I will never forget, and one that hopefully my eldest son will never forget either. Yesterday was the first day of our church Revival, we have brought in a great evangelist to preach for us and hopefully bring New life into our church. Many of us, myself included, have begun to get too comfortable with the way things are and we all need to change that, we need to have a heart for our Lord and our church, we need revival in our church and we need it now.

There's more to this story than just revival though, along with the beginning of our revival last night was also a baptismal service, so after our evangelist spoke we saw four young men baptized (no we do not exclude the ladies it just worked out that we only had young men this time), my eldest son being one of them. While the baptism takes less than a minute it's significance is far greater than that. We believe in baptism by full immersion and it is an outward symbol of an inward change, it is the picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is a little video I took of his baptism (I hope this works, I've never done video before):


Birbitt thinks it is a wonderful day to watch a child surrender fully to the Lord.

The week that never ends!

This was one very crazy week. Sunday I already posted about so we'll fast forward to Monday. All this week I've been going through the house gathering up things we no longer need, want, or use to donate to our High Schoolers yard sale to help raise money for them to go and tour West Coast Bible College, of course this is in addition to all the other things I've done this week.

Monday's are my housekeeping days, these are the days I vacuum all the carpets (living room is done daily because of the baby), clean the windows, scrub my bathroom, and sweep and mop the wood floors. This Monday it was hard to do much of anything because it was raining and COLD, and I was just not feeling myself, hubby who was home from work did some of the work for me and I did the rest so we managed to get it all done.

Tuesday's are the baby's playgroup and my shopping and errand days. This particular Tuesday had quite a few errands: I had to stop at the Transit center and pick up hubby's bus passes for the week, get soap and shampoo for the boys and the baby, pick up a few necessities at the dollar store, put gas in the car, get oil for the car, stop at the ATM and get cash to pay for field trip, and go to the Electric Company and get some electricity for the week (our is prepaid so I have to be sure to keep credits on the meter at all times). So Tuesday I got the baby up and dressed and fed, left the house buckled him into his car seat and wouldn't you know before I even start the car he decided to poo in his diaper, so up the steps back into the house we go to change the diaper. Then we are on our way to playgroup which begins at noon. He enjoyed his playgroup though mommy had a bit of a freak out moment because there was a spider on the floor and I don't do spiders. I can tolerate just about anything else just not a spider! The leader of playgroup killed the spider and cleaned the spot on the floor and we resumed playing. The baby was quite unfazed by it all, it was only I who wasn't taking it well because one thing I know about spiders is that if there's one, there's more and I really wanted to leave before I found the more. I managed to get all my errands done on Tuesday after playgroup except for the grocery shopping (which I normally don't do on Tuesday anyway). This meant that Wednesday morning the children had no milk for their cereal and so I made them eggs and toast for breakfast at 6:00am, I am not a morning person by nature so this is a significant fact as I am not usually functional prior to 9:00am.

Wednesday I did all my grocery shopping, unloaded it and put it away before I picked up my eldest from school. When I picked him up the teacher reminded me that I still needed to make his costume for his program in two weeks. After dinner was done and the children got on the Church bus for the Wednesday night kid's clubs Hubby and I ran to the thrift stores looking for the pieces I would need to make my son into a Town Crier. Armed with an image I printed from Google we set out to find all the pieces. I managed to find an acceptable hat that I could bend to recreate the tricorn, and I found a red shirt to become the red coat of a town crier, I even found fabric that would be perfect to create a ruffled collar for him. I was at the end of it all still missing: a handbell, feathers for the hat, black ribbon for trim on the jacket, gold buttons for the jacket, and gold puff paint for the border of the tricorn, as well as black boots or shoes with a gold buckle (I still can't find that).

Thursday, I spent the morning at fabric stores and craft stores searching out the black 1" wide ribbon that I would need, gold buttons, puff paint, a handbell, and feathers. I finally settled on a childrens feather boa to glue to the hat, a bell that I would glue popsicle sticks to in order to make a handbell, and I did find gold buttons and puff paint. The ribbon proved to be quite a challenge as there is no such thing as 1" wide black ribbon, 7/8" was as close as I could come and while it might seem trivial it really does need that extra 1/8" but I will just have to make do. I made his hat during the baby's nap, did some laundry, and pinned all the ribbon to his jacket. Next week I will finish the sewing and add the decoration.

Today is Friday and I planned to do nothing today as I am quite tired and worn out from all the errands during the week, and hubby has worked overtime all this week except for Monday when he was off, and Wednesday. The baby however had other ideas he decided that today would be the day he'd discover his mobility and go from one end of the room to the other getting into all sorts of things I didn't even think about until he started getting into them. So now as I type he is settled on playing the cat like a drum and she doesn't care because she's basking in the sunlight pouring in through our sliding glass doors in my bedroom. So I get to spend next week going room by room and rearranging things to make them baby proof (yes I should have already done this but I've been busy which is no excuse I know), either that or I must get a baby fence, and I still must get a couple of baby gates to keep the little one out of danger areas like the kitchen.

What a week! I'm so glad my baby is finally crawling (as will be his development specialist), but did he have to choose this week to do it? Birbitt thinks that even though this week has been a busy one I'll look back on it all and remember it as a time when my children were still innocent, and I will miss these days when they are grown up so I will take the time to enjoy them while I can, and remember that it only lasts for a season and then it's gone.

Preparing for Revival

It's the time of year for revival, each year in March we have our church revival, and each year we bring in an evangelist or guest preacher. This year is special to me for several reasons:

First the evangelist preaching this year is Kent York, and aside from being a fantastic preacher, very charismatic, and quite funny as well, he is also very special to us as a family. See it was during his preaching two years ago that my Hubby decided that we as a family would join our church and we walked the isle during one of his invitations and requested membership, we were accepted fully and gladly as the congregation had been praying for us to become members for weeks prior, God used Bro. York to bring us to membership.

Now two years later my Hubby and I are very active within our church, singing in the choir, teaching junior church, I assist in the nursery, and we are always willing to help where help is needed. For several weeks now the choir has been preparing hearts through our choice of songs to sing, we've done some real soul stirring songs and have more planned! Our congregation has been much in prayer in preparation for revival, asking God to bring us members and to help us reach the lost.

The second reason this year is so special to me is because while we have all been so deep in prayer some things have been happening in our own family and I'm just now seeing some fruit of the seeds we've sown. See for about the last 8 months my 6yo son has been asking me to get baptized, now I knew that he had never asked Hubby or I to show him God's plan of salvation and I knew that no one else had told Hubby or I that he asked them, so we just kept talking about salvation and how baptism was the outward sign of our inward changes. Just after Christmas break he placed a prayer request slip in the basket at school for Jesus to come into his heart, but still he didn't ask anyone to show him the Bible way. Finally this past Sunday my 6yo little boy got up during invitation and walked down the isle (daddy just behind him) and asked pastor if he could be baptized. A dear lady from our church took him by the hand and in the quietness of another room showed him the Bible way to heaven and my little boy said his own prayer asking Jesus to come in his heart and save him. Now two weeks from this past Sunday on March 21st my little boy will be baptized into our church on the very same Sunday that our revival begins with Bro. Kent York preaching!

I know the Lord is going to do great things this year in our church, and the Lord is already doing great things in our family. God is using Bro. York in an extraordinary way, and it's such a blessing to see him reach our family in so many ways! I can't wait to see what will be done once revival actually begins, as many great things have already begun during the "preparation" phase of revival.

So you see, Kent York is a very special man, and even now two years later Hubby and I can still remember his preaching and his jokes, and I just can't wait to see what messages he'll bring to us this year and how he'll get us all stirred up!

Birbitt thinks that someday in Heaven there will be CROWDS of people lined up to meet Kent York and thank him for his service to the Lord because he followed the Lord's calling and became an Evangelist and because of that so many people's lives have been changed. It reminds me of a song I know "Thank You for Giving to the Lord". May the Lord bless Kent York and all whom he has touched.

We have...

A tooth! Yup you read correctly everyone, the baby has officially cut his first tooth. You can't see it unless you are really looking but it has broken through. I'm happy that it's finally through, but a little sad to see him growing up. I feel like all I need to do is blink and my baby will be all grown up. Time is passing by so quickly, he's already 6 and a half months old and to be honest I wish I could turn back time and go back and enjoy the first 6 months some more (not that I didn't enjoy them the first time around). Little one is already up to 17.6 lbs (7.98 kg for my metric friends), and he is 27.5 inches long! He's a long little bugger, and he'll eat anything you offer him.

He isn't crawling yet but he will turn himself in circles to move from side to side, or he'll pull the blanket to move a toy closer. May not be mobile just yet but he sure is an inventive little guy!

Some pictures for your enjoyment (don't mind the mama feet :):

The Rush Is Over...But the memories remain.

So the holiday season is over and I'm a little sad to see it go, as I am every year. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and even as a little child it was never all about the presents for me. I have to say I think my parents did a good job of teaching me the joy of giving to others. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, at least not one that attended church and prayed before meals and the Bible was never read in my home growing up. I got all of my Christian learning from my grandmother, Baba as I called her (which is a polish word for Grandmother), would come to get me each Sunday and take me to Church with her and then bring me home. In the summer she would come each day to get me and take me to Vacation Bible School, and then often we would go out for lunch with Papap. The point of this story is that when I accepted the Savior at age 14 I knew I would never be the same and though I knew the true reason of Christmas I didn't really KNOW it until after my salvation.

When I had children of my own my husband and I committed ourselves to raising our children to the glory of our Lord. To me this meant making sure that our children knew why we celebrate Christmas and also to make sure they understand that it's not all about the receiving of gifts but of giving back to others as well. Every year when my older boys see the Salvation Army bell ringers the first thing I hear is "Mama, can I have a dollar for the red bucket? Those people really need our help." So each time we pass by a red bucket each child places a dollar inside, we are not wealthy people but we have our needs met and giving those dollars to the less fortunate is really the VERY least we can do.

This year was special because it was the Baby's first Christmas and the older boys were excited to share with him all our Christmas fun! As we decorated the Christmas tree my oldest asked if the baby could help, so I brought the baby out and he sat in his seat and helped "sing" to the Christmas music. As we talked about the Christmas story my two oldest boys told the baby "someday when you are older we'll teach you all about Jesus and how to ask him into your heart", as we made Christmas cookies they told him "next year you'll be old enough to eat these and maybe Mama will let you help decorate too!", as we opened presents they said to him "I hope you like the gift we picked out", as we packed up to head to Grandpa's for dinner they told him "Grandpa gets us gifts too, but the best part is that Grandpa will play with us and Grandma gives us lots of goodies and kisses!", and as we pulled out of Grandpa's driveway they said to the baby "now watch because you'll get to see Christmas lights while we go home", and when we got home they kissed their baby brother and wished him sweet dreams and off to bed they went.

To me this is the best part of Christmas, both celebrating the birth of my Savior and seeing the joy on little faces as they stare wide eyed and full of wonder at the Christmas lights, and as they tear at colored paper to get to the treasure inside.

This year they saw many lights but the most impressive was the display put on by the local Mormon Temple see the pictures (thank you wikipedia for the images since I forgot to take my camera):








































We also enjoyed a train display this year by an area family who worked so hard and opened up their home and yard to anyone who wanted to come and see. It was a lot of hard work for that family I am sure and it was very enjoyable. The boys even asked to go see it twice! This time I did remember my camera:

















These are the best of the photos we took, and it's of two separate train displays one in the front yard and one in the back.

























Birbitt thinks that even though the end of the Christmas season has come, the memories made will be treasured forever.

The newest family member.

Well the children have been bugging me for the past two years to get them a dog. I always told them no because I am a firm believer in actually being around for your dog. So we have always had cats because they don't need their humans nearly as much as dogs do (usually). Well now that I am home with the baby and no longer working Hubby and I decided to get the boys a puppy.

We looked at the shelters several times (always without the boys first) but no luck, we just couldn't find a dog we liked. Then I came across an ad for a lady who was giving away some puppies her dog had. The puppies weren't exactly the breeds we were looking for (we wanted a smaller dog) but we decided to go and take a look.

They were adorable and if I could have I'd have brought them all home all eleven of them...yes you read correctly that poor mama dog had ELEVEN puppies. Slowly hubby and I weeded them down trying to choose the dog with just the right personality for us (as much as you can tell when they are only 8 weeks old). We sorted through the puppies until we had it down to just two little pups, one male and one female. I looked at hubby and said "can't we just keep them both?" he made it very clear that one puppy was enough and he is right...I do still have my human baby to care for so training two puppies would be much too difficult for me. So I left the choice to hubby which dog to get and he chose the brown female.















Her name is Sunday and she's a very good little pup. She doesn't often have accidents in the house and when she does it's generally my fault for not getting her outside on time. She will learn. She loves her people and follows us all around the house, she walks well on a leash (rare for such a young pup) and she rarely barks.















We took her to our local Bark Park to see how she'd do with other dogs and she's quite a good girl. A little shy at first but once she sniffs a bit she's happy to run and play with dogs of all shapes and sizes. She does seem to prefer people to dogs though as she always introduced herself to the people first and then the dog. She already knows how to sit when told, and she will come when called with only a little encouragement! I think we chose just the right dog.
















She is a Golden retriever and Doberman mix but the Golden is quite small for her breed and so the puppies are likely to be no more than knee height. Sunday doesn't like to be left alone, but will happily sleep in her kennel while we are away if we aren't gone too long. I am glad that they boys have a puppy to grow up with now, and they are at an age where they can start helping with the chores...they know to be sure her water bowl is always full and that she is fed twice daily. We don't let them walk her yet but once she's well trained they will also be able to walk her with adult supervision.

We all love our new addition and Birbitt thinks no family is complete without furbabies to love!

He's growing up!

Well it's happening my baby boy is growing up! My little 10 week old baby boy is already trying hard to crawl. Last night he scooted himself a couple of inches across his blanket on the floor. He's holding himself up high and already moving those little legs. Why oh why can't they stay small longer?

It's such a bittersweet thing to see your little one accomplishing all his "firsts", and for me it's even more so because he will be my last baby to watch grow up. So as I watch him hold his head up for the first time, scoot for the first time, and now he's even trying hard to roll (though he's not quite mastered it yet) I am thankful for the blessings The Lord has given me, but I'm also a little sorrowful because I know this will be the very last time I watch my own child reach that particular "first". So last night as I laid on the floor with my little baby boy I watched for the very last time a child of mine hold himself up high and "scoot" across the floor for the first time.

This journey of growing up is full of precious firsts and for me they will be the most bittersweet moments because I know that this will be the last time I will experience these special memories with my children. I can only pray that someday The Lord will bless my own children and allow them to experience these precious days as well.

Watching your baby grow up is so hard because I know that I will not always be able to protect him as he must leave the nest someday, but for now I am thankful that I get to spend these days with him and that the time for "flying solo" are yet many years away though I know these coming years will just fly by and all too soon I'm looking at a 6 year old boy and wondering where the time has gone (I know this because I also have a 6 year old boy and it seems like only yesterday I was wrapping him warmly in his blanket and laying him in his crib).


Birbitt thinks that every mother should take the time to snuggle her child while he's young for all too soon he'll be grown up with children of his own. Hug your children and never let them forget how much mommy loves them and that mommy will always be there even when they are grown, for one day he'll be standing eye to eye with you and the days of wiping his tears away will be only a memory.

I may not remember the date of this photo when my baby is all grown up and married with children of his own, but I will remember the day he first pushed himself up high and scooted those few inches across my living room floor.