Elijah's 6th Birthday

 Praise the Lord, Elijah recovered from his sickness in time for his 6th birthday!  It was fun to see his siblings wake him up and sing happy birthday to him.  Finally we could open the present Grandma sent.  I love how Emily is helping open it also.

 After school we had his fun party with the Kindergarten class.  These kids are ready for fun!

 Elijah loves track and field day, so I had to use the hurdles for at least one game!

 Malachi loved to be a part of the party with the "big" kids.  Duck-Duck-Squeeze!  Love the expressions on these kids' faces.

 Elijah next to his two best buddies.  Sojo and Silas have known Elijah his whole life!  Sojo has been at every birthday party of his since he was 1--what true life friends!

 We actually had so much fun having a double birthday party, shared with Jaydin.  What a blessing to have so many friends.

Happy Birthday, Jaydin and Elijah!  Thank you, Lord, for friends and for life!  What a gift!

Fever During 4 Hour Power Out

Malachi Fans Feverish Elijah during a 4-hour power out

This post is a request for PRAYER!

Please be fervent in your prayer for us today and this week.

Today Elijah was home sick with a fever.  On top of this the power was out for 4 hours straight.  Poor hot guy!

Malachi was sweet to fan him and to sing praise songs to him.

BUT
what makes me sad is to think he might miss his own birthday party on Thursday!  He will be 6 years old!  This post will be old news in 2 days, but today if you read it, please pray for us!

I have been fighting the good fight of the faith today, as Paul urges us in Timothy.  It has been a fight.  These rotational power cuts have been a struggle for me.  Last night they cut us out midnight to 1 a.m.  It's one thing to lay hot in bed awake, but it is another thing to have to wake up and care for the kids who are looking for flashlights and screaming in shock that the power is off.

We do have one rechargable fan, which I gave to Elijah (it obviously didn't last for this feverish morning we had today).  Thankfully Emily sleeps peacefully through them.  And Nate is blessed with great sleep too!  Yeah!  So it is me and the 2 middle boys who are losing sleep over these things.

PRAY FOR RAIN!

Tonight I started to cry when I heard the tap tap tapping of the rain on our tin roof.  AH!  Yes!  When the rain comes then the hydroelectric whatever thingy they need to fill the dam water supply will give us enough for the electricity.  Thank you, Father, for rain!

Oh, the rain stopped right now, but keep praying!  I didn't shower yet tonight, why?  Because they shut the water off too.

Emily's 2 teeth came in!  10 months old today!

I know these things are just luxuries, but they still do make my days more of a challenge.  I have been zapped from the heat with energy and am feeling weak.  Please pray for me to persevere and to keep my eyes on Jesus.

On a cute and positive note, today was Emily's 10 month birthday!  She is such a peaceful doll and such a delight!  Her 2 bottom teeth finally poked through this month!  Wow!  Praise the Lord for that little blessing!

Sweaty Shopping=Growth in Grace

Elijah and I sweating after a grocery trip.

I’m standing in the grocery line, sweat dripping down my neck as if i’m making my own rain cloud.  The power is off at the mall, and though the generator is on, the air cons are not being used.

The shopping carts are too small to hold my baby plus the items on my list.  I go to the check-out lane to unload and get things moving.  Then I get a second basket and zoom around the store, more sweaty yet, trying to find my last needed items.

When I get back to the line, there are my checked groceries in plastic bags at the end of lane 22, but why are there two other shopping women blocking me from the counter?  They just cut in front of me and left me and my now fussy hungry baby to wait even longer to finish the Saturday sauna shopping spree. 

The cashier doesn’t seem to care that I need to finish my shopping before nap time. She doesn’t seem to notice that I am soaking wet from sweat, and she doesn’t mind that I now have to wait for more customers to finish before me.  Why did she not inform the others that I was coming back in just a moment?

My heart starts fuming more steam than my body is perspiring.  Then a miracle happens.  I remember to pray.  “Lord, in this moment, how can I love this lady?  How can I see the Gospel at work here in the check out lane?”

I want to become the kind of person that doesn’t get impatient in the check-out line.   I want to grow in learning to sweat with a smile on and not to expect things to run smoothly and efficiently.  

I’m not there yet.  BUT GOD gives me more grace.

I remember Ephesians 2 that reminds me in my own flesh my heart does not love the lady.  In my own sinful nature I want to use my shopping cart as a bumper car to push my way past to the two line-cutting ladies.

“As for you, you were dead

in your transgressions and sins...

All of us also lived among them at one time,

gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature...”

Ephesians 2.1 & 3

Yet, the Gospel is growing deeper roots in my heart.  By faith, God gives me more grace in that moment.  He reminds me that HE loves all the ladies, as much as he loves me.  He loves the uncaring cashier that wouldn’t save my place in line to get a few more items.  He loves the pushy selfish ladies that barged their carts in front of my place, even though they themselves weren’t carrying hot and hungry babies.  

And the greatest miracle is that he loves me enough to let me sweat, to let me stand in a long Saturday shopping line, and to let me grow in patience and grace so that I can grasp even more how rich is HIs mercy toward me.

“BUT because of his great love for us,

GOD,

who is rich is mercy,

made us alive with Christ

even when we were dead in transgressions--

it is BY GRACE you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2.4

I see it is by GRACE that God has made me spiritually alive.  It is by grace that he gives me a willing heart to grow in patience and love.  It is by grace that He shows me His love for the other women at the grocery store.  It is by His grace that I stand in one place in silence, waiting my turn for the second time, rather than pushing my way to the front.  By God’s GRACE I am growing in faith to trust Him more in these challenging days.

By faith, I am able to praise God for soaking me in sweat and for giving me patience rather than pushiness because I get the greater gift of growing in the knowledge of His abundant grace for me.