A Full Week...Joy in the Adventures!

 

 

 

 

It would be truly impossible to capture all that we did and experienced this week in Wisconsin. We had a wonderful week at my parents home, and they graciously offered hospitality to our chaos and many of our dear friends. Since I had lived in Wisconsin for about thirty years, I have a lot of memory trails and some dear, dear friends. We tried to visit and see many of our friends, but unless I  had a lot more time, it would be impossible to squeeze in anything more.

My dad took the kids fishing, let them sleep in the camper in the driveway, and put up with many hours of four-wheeling and gator noise in the yard! (As well as guns shooting!) My mom allowed my children to eat her out of house and home, and she said she just couldn’t believe how much our kids can yet! Yes, yes I know!! Milk is about $2.00 a gallon in Wisconsin and in Maine we pay just under $4.00 a gallon. I’m pretty sure that Garett drank about half a gallon a day! At home we have to sometimes limit milk consumption and we still go through about four gallons a week! The boys were delighted to be back in the Dairyland state!

My dad tried to take the boys on a camping trip on Friday, but instead he spent most of the day trying to move vehicles and equipment around! His truck broke down on the way up to the cabin in Wausau, and he had the trailer with the canoes and four-wheelers on it. My mom took our van to go get the kids and bring my dad back to find a friend with a truck he could borrow. Then my dad, Chandler, and Garett went back and got the canoe trailer. And then one more trip to put the broken truck on the trailer...whew! The boys were disappointed about not being able to go up north, but God had a plan. While my dad was driving my van back to get another truck, he realized that something was not right with the van. He asked the mechanic to look at it and the power steering pump was broken...ugh! Now in one day, two vehicles needed to go to the mechanic shop! Obviously, we needed our van to take back to Maine, and we had plans to go to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter with my parents. My parents left on Monday morning (7/29) with our three older boys, while Travis, Emma  and I waited for the van to be fixed. Thankfully, the mechanic was able to have our van fixed by around eleven, so we were all able to meet up at the hotel on Monday night. (We have two days planned. And my mom’s sister, Lisa, is bringing two of her grandchildren also.)

Anyways, back to the rest of the week. Every day was full to overflowing, but so is my heart. I had so many heart-to-heart conversations with several of my dear friends. I’m thankful for friends who ask the hard questions and are willing to engage with me about every topic under the sun. Many of my conversations these days revolve around parenting challenges and raising kids that love Jesus! Oh, my hearts desire is to see each of our children filled with the Holy Spirit and have a desire to love and serve Him! I had conversations about is there such a thing as too much Bible? What is the balance between sanctification  and service? How do we encourage our kids to serve and to be involved in the local church without it becoming “loathesome” to their souls? What makes for a good Christian education? And so much more!


I was able to connect with one of my friends who I didn’t see last year. She and her husband have faithfully served in full time ministry and recently God brought them through some “refining fires”. They have continued to serve the Lord and wait patiently, and recently became involved in the church Roger and I were attended. Over and over throughout the week people mentioned to me what a blessing this couple has been to the church. The body of Christ has been encouraged and become stronger because of this dear couple. I’m so blessed to count them among our friends, and I loved hearing how God has orchestrated these events! Beka and Jared have been friends of ours for years (they can’t get rid of us!), and it was such a blessing to me to hear about how God has once again shown that His way is perfect.

Our children had a full and wonderful week. I so enjoyed seeing our older children interact and play with younger children. Garett has a special gift with young children, and many of them seem to
gravitate towards him. It happened in a flash, but now my kids are becoming the older kids!


Wyatt had several rough learning lessons this week. He accidentally broke the John Deere gator and had the hard job of telling Papa about it. However, he did it. Secondly, when he had a friend over, Wyatt was convinced to let his friend drive without asking Papa about it. Wyatt then needed to say “I’m sorry and will you forgive me?” Roger and I have continually worked with our kids that an apology is not complete until you ask for forgiveness. It’s sometimes easy to bark out “I’m sorry.” But...looking someone in the eye and asking for forgiveness is much harder! Wyatt struggles with wanting to please people, and sometimes that allows him to make poor decisions. If you think about it, I could surely use some prayers on how to help him! I sure do love that boy!

Emma had a friend over for a sleep over. Roger and I are totally not sleepover type parents, but every  once in a while, we allow it to happen. Story is the daughter of one of my dearest and bestest (I know that’s not a word!) friends! Story and Emma have totally different personalities but yet they seem to really enjoy each other’s company. It was so sweet to see them playing together, and I hope their friendship continues over the years.

Truly God gave us a wonderful week. It was wild and crazy, but full of memories. We serve an amazing God. I am blessed with wonderful grandparents for our children, and I rejoice in serving a great God!

“Iron Sharpeneth Iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”   

WISCONSIN!

We made it to Wisconsin!! It’s a 21 hours drive from Maine to Wisconsin, and God protected us every step of the way. We left Maine on Friday morning at about 4:00am. I had made a goal of leaving our home by four, and we were on the road at 3:56am. The kids piled into the van, and you’d think they’d hunker down and go back to sleep! But oh no! They were like little owls with big, blinking eyes for the first leg of the journey. At 4:30am., Emma asked if she could eat her lunch! (We had packed each child an individual lunchbox with snacks and lunch.) We only made it about thirty minutes from our house before a child was asking for food?! Oh well! The kids did a very good job traveling on Friday, and we made it all the way to Cleveland, Ohio, before stopping for the night. We stopped about 6:30pm, and God provided a great hotel for us. It was also across the street from Sam’s  Club so we walked across to get more fruit for the next day of traveling. Food on the tollway is expensive, and as much as these boys like to eat, it’s just a lot cheaper to buy and pack food to eat on the way.

We arrived in Wisconsin about 5:00pm. We had made a stop in Chicago to pick up Jen’s vehicle as she had left it in Chicago when she flew out to Maine. While that added an extra stop in the trip, it was nice for the kids to be able to spread out for the last few hours to Nana and Papa’s house. My children were so delighted to get out of the vehicle! They spent the evening tromping around the yard, riding four-wheelers, hauling wagons, eating mulberries, and enjoying life! Jen and I were able to squeeze in a quick walk, which made my day after sitting in the vehicle for a long time. Jen, Dad, and I made a quick trip up to the hospital to visit one of the ladies that attends the church were Dad pastors. I’m glad we made the effort to go, as the doctors say her time here on earth is coming to an end. The truth is that all life does eventually end...and it’s not how long on earth you get to stay, but are you ready to go? Life after death is real, whether you like it or not, and there are only two  choices...heaven or hell. I’m 100% confident that when I die I will have a home in heaven, so it  doesn’t matter when my last breath will be, because I’m ready to go. Feel free to ask me questions about how you can know for sure that you have a home in heaven! (I John 1:9; John 3:16; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23)

On Sunday morning we were all up fairly early. The boys have been sleeping in an old camper out in my parents driveway. They enjoy sleeping in there every summer, but the sun comes up early! They bounced out of bed eager to start the day. They had time for four-wheeling before getting ready for church. We attended the morning service at the church where my dad pastors. Although small in number, they have unity and peace together. Jen left immediately after the church service to head to South Dakota as she needed to be there by Monday morning. She has done a lot of driving in the last three days!

The kids and I went over to our friend, Gretchen’s house, in the afternoon. Emma doesn’t always  seem to remember her friends from Wisconsin, but she quickly warms right up to them. The boys do  remember their friends and they were thrilled to spend time with them. I always enjoy catching up with Gretchen, and we can ease back into conversations without ever missing a beat. She’s a treasure of a friend, and I hope I can be somewhat of a blessing to her as she has certainly blessed me!

We attended the evening church service at Wyldewood Baptist Church which is the church that Roger and I attended before moving to Maine. It was so nice to see all of our dear friends and their children....how the children have grown in a year! Wyatt was used in a sermon illustration for the message. The only thing I could focus on was that Wyatt’s pants were too short! Wyatt was delighted when Pastor B. offered the bow and arrows to him after the sermon! Roger was able to meet us at church as he was able to fly in for his brothers wedding later this week. Roger has a few short days off, so he flew out and pretty much flys right back. I’m thankful that he has the opportunity to spend some time with his family, and I’m excited and thrilled for his brother that is getting married. Roger has been staying with family  in Oshkosh as he is only here for a few days, and his time with family
is just so limited.

These days in Wisconsin are filled right up to the brim with fishing trips, shooting guns, riding machinery, and using up all the moments of daylight. We’ve been blessed with beautiful weather!

Ive been able to catch up with a few of my dear friends here in Wisconsin. There will never be enough hours in the day to catch up with everyone that I’d like to, and summertime is a busy time for all of us. I just try to adjust and adapt as my time and schedule allows and enjoy the times that I can squeeze in. This morning, my dear friend, Jenna, brought out her children for a visit at my parents house. My kids adore her children, and it warms my heart right up to see my big boys take such good care of her young children. Jenna has been a real and deep friend for about 8 years now. We’ve had the hard conversations in life about parenting, marriage, music, doctrine...you name it, we’ve discussed it! “Iron sharpeneth iron, so a friend sharpeneth his friend.” That is our kind of friendship, and its a gift.

The boys and Emma are doing a good job of wearing out Nana and Papa! Not intentionally, but these five kids are busy! We’ve had a “quiet time” every day so that everyone can get a little rest!  We are enjoying the time, and its going by quickly.

  

  

Family, Camp, and a Trip To Wisconsin!

 

   

 

 

  

These weeks of summer break are quite literally “flying by”! We’ve been busy going to the ocean beach, going to the lake, going to Dad’s work, and hanging out at home.

The boys and Emma are signed up for the summer reading program at the library, and that has certainly helped to motivate them to keep reading through the summer weeks. Our local library is quite small, but it’s fun to go to the library.



My sister, Jen, flew into Boston on Friday, July 12. God worked out the details for her to be able to come for a few days, and she will drive back to Wisconsin with us. Since Garett and Chandler were coming home from camp last Friday and Roger had the day off of work, I was able to go to Portland to get my sister with just Wyatt. It’s always nice to spend some one-on-one time with our children, and Wyatt and I had a great time together. Jen took the bus from Boston to Portland, and then Wyatt and I picked her up. It was a blessing that another family was willing to bring Garett and Chandler home from camp.



Garett and Chandler seemed to have a great week at camp, and I am so thankful that they had the opportunity to go to camp. Did I tell you that a man in our church paid for those two boys to go to camp?! I had been a little worried about coming up with the remaining $300 that the boys needed for camp, but a man from our church came up to me one Sunday and said that he wanted to pay for the boys to go to camp! Tears of gratitude  welled up in my eyes as I gazed into the eyes of the 93 year old man that saw the value in encouraging young people to attend Christian camp. What a blessing!


While the two older boys were gone, Roger and I were able to spend a bit more individual time with   each of our other children. We enjoyed ice cream together and Roger was able to take the two   younger boys out for pizza one night. We enjoyed the week, but I sure did miss our two boys!


The weather has been warm (like actual summer temperatures) so we have enjoyed beach time with friends and family. Last Tuesday I met a friend, Hannah, at the beach. We enjoyed a morning watching our kids play on the beach for several hours. The water was freezing, but that didn’t seem to bother the kids!


Roger and the kids painted the basement, and Roger deserves a crown of jewels for his patience in letting the kids help him! They enjoyed every minute, but I could see that Roger was not enjoying every moment! It does look nice with the walls painted in the basement, and we are thankful to have that project done.


Roger had to work on Sunday, but my sister (Jen) was here. That worked out quite lovely as I needed  to take Travis and his friend (Abel) to camp. The other kids were not looking forward to a seven hour round trip ride, so they were thankful that Aunt Jen was here! I took Roger to work In the morning so that we would have his car to take kids to camp. After dropping Roger off at work, I was able to squeeze in a quick walk in downtown Rockland. While on my walk, I found a wallet. Someone had lost their wallet with almost $100.00 cash, and other important information. For less than a second, I was excited about finding some cash, but in the same second I knew that I would do the right thing. It was weird looking through some one else’s wallet, but I discovered a drivers license from out of town. I was fairly close to the police station so I dropped the wallet off at the police station before going home. Hopefully, the wallet was returned to its rightful owner as I know that I would want to  get back my wallet if that was me!


It was a lengthy drive to camp, but it was a pleasant day for a drive. The boys and I actually saw a moose on the way to camp, so that was exciting for all of us. Travis was quiet for the entire ride, but  I’m sure he will adjust and have a good time. I’m thankful that he is able to go with his good friend. Travis had a headache on Saturday that was pretty intense, but I’m fairly sure it was due to too much sun and not enough water. His hair is practically white from the sun bleaching it! I didn’t spend very long at the camp dropping off the boys as I had to drive back home. What a blessing to spend time talking to my Heavenly Father on the way back! It’s been a while since I’ve had several uninterrupted hours to spend sharing my heart with my Heavenly Father, and it was an afternoon well spent.


Also on Sunday, Jen brought the other kids up to my sister, Hannah’s house, and I met them there in the way back from camp. The kids had enjoyed using the paddle boards and swimming in a nearby lake, and they enjoyed the beautiful day. Hannah, Jen and I made plans to meet at the beach on Tuesday, and we had a good visit together.

We’ve enjoyed having Aunt Jen here for a few days. Roger has been working pretty steady at work as these are the long days of freight hauling and people moving. Hannah’s husband, Josh, was able to spend part of the day with Roger on Tuesday as the rest of us spent time at the beach.



School update: For those that have been praying for our Christian school, we still need your prayers. We are at 58 students enrolled from pre-3 thru 8th grade. I am still praying for the school to reach 90 students enrolled. Please pray with us that we will at least see a few more students added to the school this year. Christian schools all over the country face financial difficulties and ours is no exception. Thankfully, we know that God knows exactly where we are at and what we need...we  rejoice! We know that God hears our prayers, and we are asking you to continue to pray with us.

Travis will be coming back from camp tomorrow afternoon, and we are planning to leave early on Friday morning to head across the United States to Wisconsin! The kids, Jen and I will be heading out early... Lord willing. Please pray for safe travels, the vehicle to run well, and for us to make good time (no traffic jams!). Its a long ways to go, and part of me is just dreading the trip. The kids travel well, but the hours in the vehicle can get long for all of us. But we are looking forward to seeing family and friends for a few days while we are there in Wisconsin.

Photos!

Last week we celebrated some warm summer weather, the birthday of America, and lots of time in the water! The kids ran in a race on the Fourth of July. Chandler placed second for the second year in a row, and while he was disappointed, he did run a mile in 5:27! Wyatt, Travis and Garett also ran in the race. Emma refused to run in the fun run as she said “It was NOT fun last year!” We spent part of the day at the Philbrook’s cabin on the lake.

I also took the kids down to Mrs. Terri’s cabin (our friends) on Friday morning and we stayed overnight. It was a wonderful and relaxing time together.

Garett and Chandler headed to camp on Sunday along with a friend from school, Josiah. This will be Chandler’s first year at camp, but he was excited to go. We are praying that God will do a work in their lives this week.

I could write a lot more, but we’ve been busy with soaking up sunshine, spending time in the water, and enjoying the summer. Enjoy the photos!

Blessings,
Sarah

 

    

 

 

Vacation Bible School Adventures! Summer Break!

It’s already July! Can you believe it?! We wrapped up June with a week of Vacation Bible School at our church. The week before that, Rogers brother (Mark) came out for a visit.

Roger’s brother came out to visit the day after the kids were done with school. We did some hiking together, went bowling, visited together, and Mark went with Roger to work several of the days he was here. On Thursday of the week of Marks visit, Roger and all the boys went up to northern Maine to visit some friends and go fishing. Emma and I took a spur of the moment trip to Augusta with our friends, Allison and her girls. It was a fun day even if it was raining! Roger and the boys did not catch any fish, but they did have a good time together. Wyatt even came home telling me that he had seen a moose! (It was a dead one, but he had seen a moose!)

So much work for Vacation Bible School has to be done BEFORE the actual event takes place. There has not been very much rest for me until VBS was done. Roger and our pastor worked on the backdrop for our decorations for VBS. On Friday night, June 21, we were all at the church in the evening trying to finish up the backdrop. I ended up taking our kids home while Roger and Mark worked on it. It takes many hands, working on many aspects of VBS, for it to all come together.

We took Mark to Portland on Saturday, June 22. On the way down, we stopped at Fort Popham. We had never been there, but it is free! Although the weather was dreary, God held off the rain while we were looking around at the old fort. We took a walk down the beach, and just enjoyed our time together, God’s creation, and history.


Our Vacation Bible School started on Monday evening, June 24. It’s been a while since our church family has had VBS at night, but by doing it at night we were able to include a few extra volunteers. We spent a good chunk of the morning at the church building putting together the last minute details. I tend to be over-organized when it comes to these types of things, but I’d rather have too much to do, or too many people helping, than to be looking at the clock wondering if it is even moving! Roger and the kids helped me put up verse posters, create games, gather materials, etc. VBS is an event that requires many people to work together. I am so thankful for those who can help with technology, those who are willing to teach or prepare snack, plan and prepare crafts...it all takes so much effort and time! So why do it?! I can think of several reasons, but the main and primary purpose is to point children to Jesus. It is to reach out to our community with the heart cry that “Jesus Saves!”  It is to encourage those children that have already made a profession of faith. VBS provides an opportunity to reach out to families in our community through events for their children. I think that VBS should both encourage children that are already saved as well as give a clear plan of salvation for those children who have never heard the “Good News” that Jesus died and rose again!

Roger had off on Monday and Tuesday, and we did not have a person to do games.  Roger graciously did game time for us, which has to be one of the most challenging jobs. That person doesn’t get a break! There are four sessions of game time and they are back-to-back! We divided the kids into four different age groups, and on the first night we had about 58 kids in the four groups! God is so good!

An older lady in our church agreed to help me with the music time for the kids. Teaching four different age groups music was a bit daunting, but the kids were able to learn the VBS songs so much faster by having individual times. And I think that Mrs. Barbara and I did try to make it fun!


We also did a penny offering every night. We had some ladies come in every night just to help count pennies! We raised pennies for Parakaleo International, which is the mission group that I’ve been  going with to Haiti. I could not believe how many pennies the kids brought in! We had a girls bucket   and a boys bucket, and it was a weight offering. My friend, Allison, told me that when she brought the pennies to the bank this morning (7/1), there were over 18,000 pennies! The kids collected over $500.00 to give to Parakeleo International! Our boys each took some money out of their savings account to give to Haiti. Even a child can understand about another child having less food or clothes than they do. It was exciting to see the kids get involved in giving to this ministry!

On Wednesday the weather was a bit rainy, which God had a hand in that of course. Since it was a bit rainy and foggy, Roger was able to get off of work in time to do games for us! Hooray! On Thursday, God provided another young man from our church too help with game time as Roger was working.

Friday night was our finally night of VBS. All of our kids asked why VBS was so short and only for a week...um, these adults are tired! On Friday night, we invited the families to come for a closing program. The kids did the three songs that they had learned, they quoted the theme verse, and we took the final penny offering. We had a wonderful turn-out of Families. It was very encouraging to see the families stick around for hot dogs, root beer floats, and popcorn. God gave us beautiful weather, and the back lawn was full of kids and parents visiting together. We had also made up presentation boards of other ministries in our church. I think its sometimes easy for families to forget that we have other ministries. We had presentation boards representing our Christian School, our Sunday Childrens Ministries, our teen ministry, and other outreach ministries. While a lot off work and effort had to be made to have the closing program happen, I am so thankful for the opportunities it gave us to reach out to families.

It was a crazy, busy week! It was so crazy that I don’t even think I took more than a few pictures! Running a Vacation Bible School program seems to be much harder than it was ten or fifteen years ago. Nowadays kids are so entertainment driven, and they want everything to be “fun”. Most of the kids that we had come to VBS were not from our church, and most of the kids had the option of   coming or not coming. Ten or fifteen years ago, parents told their kids to “get in the car, you’re  going”. Now it seems that the kids makes many of his/her own decisions. And while I think VBS was “fun”, it was so much more than that. It was an opportunity to plant seeds for eternity. We will never know the impact of such events this side of Heaven, but I do know that God’s Word will not return void. These kids have cemented John 15;13 in their minds. They have learned God’s Word set to music, and they have been given the opportunity to make a personal decision to ask Jesus into their hearts. It was a good week.

And now.....SUMMER BREAK!!! We spent Saturday as a “down” day for our family. We went and had donuts together, and then went for a walk down to the beach and through the woods. The kids set up their tents in the backyard, and went “camping”. Roger set up a tent for Emma, Roger and I. I was about as excited about sleeping in the tent as a bear with his paw in a trap...but I did it anyways! The kids were so excited to have us all camping in the back yard, so I put on my “happy face” and went camping. Well, I made it until about midnight. Then it started raining, and I still hadn’t fallen asleep anyways. I went into the house to make sure the windows were closed...and I decided to climb into my own bed! (Don’t tell!)

The month of July will see Garett and Chandler and Travis off to camp. We are also planning a trip to Wisconsin, and then home in Maine for the entire month of August!