"Food" for thought-Chicken Ala Carte

As Shannon and I prepare to leave for Tanzania in the next couple of weeks I am reminded of the street children over there who don't eat even this well. In His name, I hope to be just a small part of the solution soon.

Getting the toothpaste back in the tube

The past couple of days for our homeschooling science/bible adventures we have been talking about the tongue. The tongue is one of the most powerful muscles in our bodies. What I mean by that is that with the words spoken by a tongue, wars can be started...or ended, emotions can be damaged, self esteem can be ruined, dreams can be crushed and it goes on and on.

We tried a couple of things. One experiment we tried was to each brush our teeth well, with a toothpaste that contains sodium laurel sulfate. Then take a quick swig of orange juice. We discovered that two people in our family have the gene that is more sensitive to detecting bitterness than the others. Everyone in the family except Evan and I said, "Tastes like orange juice after brushing your teeth," while Evan and I were spitting and sputtering over the bitter taste in our mouths.

I also had the kids each take a travel sized toothpaste tube and squeeze it out onto a plate. Then I told them I'd give $10 to the first person to get all of the toothpaste back in the tube. I could see right away that Evan might be able to do a pretty good job of it so I added a time limit of 2 minutes as well. The girls had paste toothpaste while Evan had the gel. It was what I had on hand. Evan immediately blew on the end of the tube and started dribbling the gel back in the tube. He did a pretty good job, but not within the 2 minutes and he never did get it ALL back in there.

We talked about how our words are like that. Once we speak them we can't take them back. We can apologize and try to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but when it is all over there is still a mess left behind. I hope my children got the lesson. I know it sure hit me between the eyes. Maybe someday when I grow up I will be better about keeping my mouth shut when I should too.

"So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire." James 3:5

Oh Happy Day!

My favorite day of the year is here!

I am looking forward to two services of church in the choir then visiting with extended family in the afternoon. Happy Easter everyone!

Watch Out! Collin has a drivers license now.

Today Collin took his behind the wheel test for his driver's license. He passed. Shannon and I are more thrilled than he is as we are tired of playing taxi. What a perfect week for him to get it. He is on spring break and working full time. Now he can drive himself. The nice thing is, the neighbor also works at the same place during the same hours. The boys are already smart and trying to save gas by taking turns driving and carpooling each day.

Stay off the roads...

Both of us are going...and check this out!

It has been decided that both Shannon and I will be making this trip to Tanzania in May. It is so important for both of us to be there, if possible as there will be so many important decisions being made. I never thought Shannon and I could pull together child care for 5 children for us to do something like this but God pulled it together. In just a few hours, care was arranged for everyone. We still have some finalizing of those plans to make but friends and relatives have stepped up to help us make this happen.

Also, Engineering Ministries International, East Africa branch is who will be working with us to do the engineering and design. Check out their website but make sure you also check out the specific page relating to our project. It is so incredibly exciting for us to see this in print online!

Please pray for us as the details come together. Prayer for our children to have a peace as we prepare and while we are gone, prayer for the entire design team to pull togethter as needed and prayer for finances. This trip is going to be around $5000 total now that we are both going.

Our Superstar

Brag time for momma..if you don't like it you can skip this post.
Collin is in the school play tonight, You Can't Take It With You. He is playing Martin VanDerHoff, the grandfather and owner of the home the family, including grandchildren, live in. He has a bunch of lines and we are hoping he can pull it off. The only other acting he has done is a few lines here and there in church children's plays and once in the Night of Music he had two lines so this has been a pretty big challenge. Here is a photo of him with one of the girls at their final rehearsal yesterday. . West Central Tribune Photo by Gary Miller

They are going!

Shannon, Wayne and Rev Debra will be travelling to Tanzania to meet with the engineering and design team on the ministry property in late May. We need continued prayer for finances to pay for the trip, just the airfare is nearly $1800, and we also need prayer for child care during that time while I am working at least.

We are actually, exploring the possiblity of me travelling along as well, if we can find care for the kids and work it out with my jobs as well.

Prayer needed, especially in the next 24 hours...

Wayne, Rev Debra and Shannon need to make a quick decision in the next 24 hours. The design and engineering team has made an offer to meet them on the Tanzania property in May. We need to decide by tomorrow if that is a possiblity.If they can't go in May, it could be Sept but more likely later before the get together could happen. Please pray for them to make the right decision, for jobs to allow them the vacations they need and for finances to pull together by then.

Disclaimer: This post is not ministry related...at all

I ran across this as I was reading at a favorite site of mine. You will have to choose if you want to watch the video first or read about it here first. I watched it first, then read about it and had to go watch it again.

A complete do over and a meaningful dream

The past couple of months have been a bit tough around here. Nothing incredibly serious but just a lot of little stuff. We've had some financial stretching as Shannon's paychecks have changed from weekly to every other week. That has made us one week's worth of pay behind. Shannon had surgery numbers 4 and 5 for a polinidal cyst he's been struggling with for several years. It is looking like neither was successful...again. I fell on the steps outside our front door and broke my tailbone then less than two weeks later fell on solid ice back by our hen house. I landed flat on the back of my head and sustained a mild concussion which had me rather sick for a couple of days and headachey for weeks. My work car had two breakdowns in less than a week and the list goes on. A couple of weeks ago Shannon said he wanted a do over on the past month or so. I told him there was no way I wanted to do all of that over again.

Last night I had a dream. It was very real. You know those dreams where you wake up and your heart is racing and you need to get up and walk around to be sure it wasn't real? Anyway, it was about a tornado. My aunt(Janelle) and I were taking refuge in a shower stall while the rest of our families were in a bedroom underneath a mattress. Janelle and I hadn't had time to join the rest of our loved ones as the tornado was so close. We were waiting for just a few seconds and could hear the wrath of nature bearing down on us. In those few seconds, we hugged each other and I began praying. I can still remember now what I was praying at the time, and then I woke up from the dream.

Wide awake, I got up and walked around and made a trip to the bathroom then laid back down in bed. As I lay there thinking about my dream I found it comforting that even in a dream, especially in a dream, I had had the sense to turn to my God when in a crisis. I had remained calm and at peace with the future knowing that He was in control of the outcome.

As we go through our current tornado of life I am reminded that I need to remain calm and in prayer, trusting my God for the outcome. Whether the hills and valleys be high and deep or low and shallow, prayer is the ultimate peace keeping and peace making tool.

If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me. Psalm 139:8-10

Glory Mountain and the Tanzania property

Just this past week I was able to get my hands on some photos of the property in Tanzania that the ministry will eventually be building on.
This first picture is one of Rev. Debra standing in front of one of many Mango trees located on the property. On the right edge of the picture you can see a bit of the trail leading to the property.

This photo shows the view from one of the higher points of the property as it overlooks a village at the bottom. All of the land right up to the homes is the ministry's. No "squatters" will have to move, however, as you can see, they were farming some of the land. It shows us that some of the land is tillable and fertile soil. The residents in the area are very excited about the ministry moving into the area.

This shows what Rev. Debra is calling Glory Mountain. Taken from a distance it doesn't look very high but it is. It is likely that one day there will be a Christian radio station tower and/or a wind turbine located on top of Glory Mountain.

Here is the Tanzania ministry team that was there at the time, along with Pastor Richard and his nephew Alex, anointing the land for God's work and having communion together.

And the following is what Rev. Debra wrote about the trip to visit the property in her latest newsletter.
"We traveled across Lake Victoria on a ferry in our van and after only a fifteen minute ride, we were on the opposite side of the lake.(Actually it is a narrow channel on the southern edge of the lake-explanation mine) We then drove right off the ferry and traveled up a mountain road, a thirteen minute drive before arriving at the land and End Time Glory Mountain. An official from the area came with us to help in the surveying of the land. Upon seeing the land we were awestruck by the favor, and the blessing and wonder of our God! He truly does go before us and make a way. We saw the beauty of the Lord in that place with mango trees and even a few monkeys were seen by some. We then climbed Glory Mountain, and there on the highest place of the land sanctified it and cleansed it by the pouring out of oil and the elements representing His blood. Psalm 24:7-10 was read(see below), and we then took communion together, rejoicing in all that God had done!"

Look at this incredible view as it overlooks Lake Victoria!
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"Lift up your heads, O you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is He, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty- he is the King of Glory." Psalm 24:7-10

ATruly Historic week

It has been a historic week in the nation. We have watched as the 44th president of the United States of America was sworn into office during the same week we commemorate the birth of Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King, the man with a dream would have been thrilled to join us as we watched the transfer of power,from Caucasian American to African American, from Republican party to Democratic party,take place Tuesday morning. The transfer of the presidency took place in a peaceful and joyous manner with the entire world watching. Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States is also the first African American to be elected into that office. Although I disagree with most of his politics I am truly thankful to live in a nation where it seems that the color of ones skin has less to do with life than it has in the past.

This week was also the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade legal decision of 1973 that reversed all of the laws at the time that were against the killing of tiny unborn human babies. The legal decision said that it was against a woman's constitutional rights to force her to bear the child she had conceived, completely forgetting about the human and constitutional rights of the babies whose lives the abortions take. Since 1973 aproximately 50 million babies have not been given a chance art life due to this decision.



Imagine the potential that our human race has lost. We have allowed to die so many inventions, ideas, cures and dreams as well. Each of those lives lost is a tragedy and it truly grieves my heart.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

President Obama has promised that one of the first things he'll do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a law that would overturn the few existing state and federal restrictions on abortion. Researchers estimate that FOCA would generate at least 125,000 more abortions a year in a nation already devastated by 4,000 a day.

Ironically, it is the African American race that has been most affected by abortion. Here are the latest sobering statistics.
*Nearly half of black pregnancies end in abortion.

*Three in five black women will abort a child.

*1,500 black Americans are aborted every day.

*America's black population has been reduced by roughly one-third because of abortion.

Abortion has done for the African American race far more than the Ku Klux Klan could have ever dreamed of. I can only pray for the changing of hearts. If the hearts of our nation believe that unborn children truly are children, that those babies have a hope and a future, then maybe, just maybe, it won't matter any longer what the laws of our land say and unborn children will all have a chance to fulfill their potential.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that

Once again it seems I have taken some time off from posting on the blog for a few weeks...and a couple more weeks of not really writing anything personal. I am back now to reminisce and share things in our lives.

When I first started this blog, it was to be a place to share our thoughts, feelings and happenings in regards to our missions work in Tanzania. Neither Shannon nor I had any idea that the process of getting there would take this amount of time. We thought then, that we would be moving overseas much faster and wondered if we possibly could have enough time to process it all ourselves much less share all of our thoughts about it here. Here we are, 2 1/2 years later, still as positive today as we were then, that God has African missions in our future. So often, when we have agreed upon or decided to do something we just weren't positive we were doing the right thing. This, missions, to the Tanzanian orphans and widows, still remains one of the few things in our lives that Shannon and I are sure about. We know that is what God is preparing us for and we continue to wait on and trust in His most perfect will and timing. With that said, here is the recent family update.

The past four months have been difficult ones for myself and the family as I have worked many hours, many more than we anticipated when I first took the Census Bureau job nearly two years ago. Due to a new survey September through December were very busy. The survey still continues in addition to my previous survey work but will now be mostly by phone. This will cut my running and away from home time dramatically and it is a much anticipated change. When I finished my December work by mid month last month, we all enjoyed the couple of weeks of respite. Time that was spent with immediate and extended family preparing for and celebrating Christ's birth. It was an enjoyable time.

A big decision that was made in that time frame was that we removed Star from her private school setting. Due to some staffing changes at the school as well as the difficulty of the third grade level work for her there she has had a pretty tough fall and we knew it was time for a change for her. So, effective tomorrow, Star joins Molly and Evan in our homeschool. Due to Star's special needs, we have decided at this point that the best thing we can do for her is to bring her home where she can work at the academic level she is at, at a slower pace and with curriculum that best meets her needs. She is excited about it and so is her full-time Personal Care Attendant who will be assisting me with Star's daily care and helping to keep her on task with her schoolwork when I am working with the other children. I just purchased for Star, online, a Math program called Math U See. Collin, Molly and Evan used it several years back and enjoyed it. At the time we switched I felt it would be a better program for younger elementary which is where Star is at. We are backing her up a bit to get her addition and subtraction facts down better and also need to spend some time working on time and money. These are abstract concepts which are something Star struggles with very much. We are hoping that Math U See can help her to process it out. It is a program that has been used with special ed students with great success.

Another upcoming educational decision we are facing is in regards to Collin. Collin is currently a sophomore at the local Christian school. In the stater of Minnesota there is something called PSEO-Post Secondary Enrollment Option. Under this program, any Minnesota high school junior or senior can take college courses paid for by the state of Minnesota. The college credits count as high school credit but they also count as college credits. It is a great way for a student to get partially through college at minimal expense. We are looking at the possibility of bringing Collin home as a homeschooler next year and enrolling him in PSEO courses. The decision then becomes one of wanting to choose the right college now rather than a year or two from now. He could take the course through our local community college but I know too many who have done that and not been able to transfer all of their credits. Currently we are looking at the PSEO distance learning options through Northwestern in St. Paul or North Central in Minneapolis. If you have any personal experience with either school please get in touch with us and share.

So that's the latest with us. Please keep us in your prayers as God continues to grow us all and prepare us for bigger things.

A Couple of Christmas Music videos

These guys are incredible. They sing everything acapella.
First up...Silent Night, acapella style

Next up, a comedic performance of the 12 Days of Christmas. This is one of my least favorite Christmas songs but I like it when these guys do it.

You can find more by these guys on You Tube and they also have a website