T-H-A-N-K-S-G-I-V-I-N-G

 

 

 

A day of Thanksgiving is here again! Although this should be the attitude of our hearts year round, I’m thankful for a special day set aside for the giving of thanks with friends and family. We woke up to gently falling snow this morning, which delighted the hearts of our children. It sure is beautiful though, and I do love the reminder that Jesus’s blood has washed me white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18)

I’ve done this THANKSGIVING acronym in years past, but every year it turns out differently as I pass through different seasons of life. Maybe you could take some time to come up with your own acronym of this word, as I’m sure that yours would be different than mine.

T- Time: We are all given the same number of hours in a day regardless of where you live on this planet.   Each day is a new gift filled with time. I’m thankful for the hours given in each day to create memories, glorify God, and serve others. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always use my gift of time wisely, but I’m thankful that each day offers a fresh start with new hours of time.

H- Home: Roger and I have had several homes over the course of our married life, and each one holds a special place in our hearts. Seven years ago at this time, we were headed for Alaska for a short time to help in a church there. The months spent there hold some of our dearest and fondest memories, as well as friends that we will never forget. I’m looking forward to returning some day. A few years ago,  we lived in Arizona for a summer. We were able to get involved in a local church there, and the Pastor and his wife, Debbie, are still dear friends with us today. In each home we’ve had, I’m thankful for the opportunities to open our home to others and to hopefully impact others with the good news of Jesus. We are happy in our home here in Maine, and we we rejoice for  however long God keeps us here.


A- America: We live in a wonderful country. And while I agree that we are quickly forgetting our heritage and the Judeo-Christian values we were founded upon, the United States of America is still the dearest country on earth to me. I’m blessed to be an American.

N- Necessities:  In our country, we consider indoor plumbing, electricity, food and clothes to be necessities. Yet, when I consider the struggles that the country of Haiti is facing at this moment, I realize how incredibly blessed I am to have these necessities!

K- Kevin: This is Roger’s boss. I am so thankful for Roger’s job as well as his boss. This man gave Roger a chance at a job that Roger greatly enjoys. We are blessed to have Kevin and his wife, Terri, as our dear friends also.

S: Salvation, Spouse & Siblings: There is only one “s” in Thanksgiving, but I want to use it for three things. I am so very thankful for salvation. What a gift! God sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. Jesus rose from the dead, and I have absolute confidence that I will live in Heaven someday. (I’d love to talk with you about this gift!)  Spouse...Roger. God knew that there was only one man who would be able to put up with my craziness, and God gave me Roger. I’m thankful for a man who works hard, loves Jesus, prays for his family, and loves his wife and children. Siblings: I am blessed with two living sisters, Jen and Hannah. I love them both so much, and I am thankful that they are my sisters. I look forward to the day when I meet my other two sisters in Heaven. What a day that will be!

G- God’s Grace: I hope I will always be overwhelmed with this gift of God’s grace. He offers me  grace on a daily, moment by moment basis. I am so thankful for this grace that was extended to me, but also for others that show grace to me. My children still love me even though I fail them daily to  point them to Jesus. Yet our children still show me grace and give forgiveness when I mess up. What a blessing!

I - Investments: I’m not talking about monetary investments, although that’s something to be thankful for also. I’m talking about those that have invested in my life. Those that mentored me and discipled me; those that invested time in my life; those that invest in our children’s education; so many have invested in my life, and I am thankful for each one.

V- Vocation: God provided a job for me this year that was a perfect fit for our family. For years, Roger and I have prayed that I would be able to have a job that could help with the school bills, but yet allow me to have the same hours as our children. This year I am the teachers assistant in preschool, and I am very much enjoying this experience. I am blessed to be able to work at the same place that our children go to school at, and I am thankful!

I- Instruction: Christian education instruction (I.e. school) Our small Christian School is very dear to our hearts, and we are very thankful for each teacher in that school. Christian education is important to us, and God provided this school for our children. We are so thankful!

N-  New Friends:  I’m thankful for new friends that God brought into our lives this year. Being the preschool teachers aide has provided me with the opportunity to meet other moms that have children in the preschool. I am thankful for these new friends, and praying that God will use me to encourage them.

G- Gifts Yes, I like gifts too! I also like to give gifts, and I take special delight in finding a gift for someone that I know they will really like. Aren’t we blessed that God gives us daily gifts?! Gifts of His presence, His love, His sovereignty, and each attribute of God is truly something to be thankful for in my life!

That’s my thanksgiving list for this year! Have a wonderful day! Happy Thanksgiving!

School Fundraiser, Doctor’s App., and Sweet Sleep!

* As we enter into this week of our Thanksgiving break, we have much to be thankful for each and every day. While life can be overwhelming and hard at times, we serve a God Who is strong and faithful. I’m thankful for His grace...every day. God always gives me more than I can handle as He provides opportunities for me to run into His presence and come boldly to His throne with my requests. I pray that we can each find a few moments this week to spend thanking God for what He has done. Thanksgiving is not just a holiday, it should be an action in our lives.

I’m starting this post on Thursday night, but I know I will not finish it for a few more days. Every day has been very, very full this week as we prepare for the school fundraising auction tomorrow night. With music classes on Monday, a doctors appointment on Tuesday, all school Christmas program practice on Wednesday, plus preparing for the auction, working in the preschool room, being a wife and a mom....well, it’s a wonder that I even remember that it’s Thursday!

We had our first quarter awards chapel on Wednesday morning. Travis, Emma, and Chandler received perfect attendance awards. Wyatt made honor roll. He almost made high honors, but he was a few points off. Chandler was disappointed to not make honor roll, but I know he put forth his best effort. English is a challenge for him, and he struggles in that class. We are going to work on it a bit more together this quarter (I’ll need to brush up on my English!) Garett was thrilled to be passing in all of his subjects, as nothing about school is easy for him. However, he willingly goes to school every day. I had tears well up in my eyes as he was awarded the Merit Award for showing good character throughout this first quarter. I know that God can and will greatly use that boy if he will continue to be moldable and useable for God’s Glory....also my prayer for the rest of our children.

 

     

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday afternoon. My friend, Claire, had graciously taken Emma home with her as it was a short day for Emma. I ran a few errands for the auction, and also snuck in a little time with Allison before the appointment. I didn’t go to the doctor because I was worried that something is wrong with me, but just because I haven’t been since we’ve moved to Maine. If I do have a reason to go to the doctor, I’d like them to know who I am! The doctors appointment went fairly well, I think. I don’t have any concerns, really. I mentioned to her that I am often tired, but is that due to age, hormones, or just life?! I have had low vitamin d levels in the past, and she would
like to check those levels and a few other things, so I’ll have some blood drawn next week. I haven’t  been to the doctor in over three years, and I am two pounds heavier than at my last appointment...I’m not sure if I should cry because I’m fatter or be delighted that it’s only two pounds heavier! It’s also a challenge to talk to the doctor about how I feel about my weight, when the doctor is a bit overweight. But, it’s just a reminder that so many of us struggle with the same things!

Emma has seemed a bit more tired than normal this week, which seems to happen every once in awhile. About 6:30 pm. every evening, she comes and asks me to “snuggle” with her in bed! We try  to make it until at least seven, but she falls asleep after about two books. I truly do treasure these moments with her. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Emma enjoys this letter game...and she does not like to lose!! 

The boys are still waiting to finish the ice skating rink, but the weather has not been quite cold enough lately. They are anxiously waiting and praying for cold weather, as they are looking forward to many days of skating!



I made pies with Garett’s class for the auction on Wednesday. The students made Tollhouse Cookie Pies to sell at the auction for their class project. The pies seemed to turn out fairly well, and the students had a good time missing them together, and then wrapping them nicely the next day. It was fun to see them wrap their pies, as most of the pies were wrapped in a manner that matched their personalities! I was happy to help Garett’s class with their auction project, and I was thankful for Claire’s help with instructing and cleaning up!

 

Lots of energy needed this week! 

*Welcome to another week! It is now Monday morning, and I’m trying to wrap this post up as we head into a short week of school. First of all, God greatly blessed the efforts of the auction on Friday night by bringing out people and providing a night full of fun and fellowship. Those that came seemed to really enjoy themselves, and I am so very thankful that is behind us! Friday was a day of working from being at the school by 6:45am. and getting home by 9:30pm.  I am so thankful for all of Allison’s work on preparing the lists of donation items, and for Claire and Melinda for their help with set up and decorating. I’m thankful for the mamas that came to help prepare for the auction, for the people that helped to gather donations from family and friends, for those who worked in the kitchen preparing food, and for so many others. It’s a big event to coordinate, but God is so very faithful. Travis and Emma were able to go home with some friends from school on Friday afternoon, and then brought back for the auction. This was super helpful to me, as we still had much to do at 3:00 in the afternoon! Im thankful that this is the only fundraiser that the parent group does every year, and I’m thankful for so many that show their love and support to the school.

I was exhausted this weekend. All the adrenaline was worn off by Saturday morning leaving me just plain tired! Thankfully, it was a low key day at home with a little grocery shopping. Roger had off on Saturday so it was nice to have him home. Now that the auction is behind us, I’ve started scribbling my notes for the Christmas program on scraps of paper. The kids have started to come and ask me, “Mom, is this paper important?” when I ask them to clear off the table! I have a notebook, but it’s never easily available when I need to write something down!

This is our week of our Thanksgiving Holiday! I’m thankful for a short week at school! Roger has a full week of work ahead, but he does have off on Thanksgiving Day. We are looking forward to our time together. Praying that each of you will be able to enjoy a Day of Thanks with family and friends this year.
Blessings,
Sarah

Cold Weather, Delighted Hearts & and An Ice Rink

This past week was full of school days, play days, work days, music class days, parent-teacher conferences, broken vehicles, and our first snow fall! The snow fall definitely coats everything with a beautiful covering...and delights the hearts of our children!

Last Friday, I was able to sneak away in the afternoon to have lunch with my friend, Allison. Since I am working every day  and teaching music classes, we just don’t have time for coffee dates as often. It definitely makes me treasure and soak up any time that we do get to have together. Allison is a good friend to me, and one of the many gifts God gave to me when we moved to Maine. We enjoyed lunch together, did some window shopping and just enjoyed a short afternoon of food and fellowship.

Saturday found Emma and I, along with my sister, Hannah, out on a shopping date together. We took a trip to the big city of Portland, and we went to Sam’s Club as well as a few other stops. Per my typical shopping excursions, I ended up buying mostly food! I guess thats what’s exciting when you have a large family. I have to admit I was pretty excited about finding raspberries for $1.00! Emma ate her own container on the way home. I bought twelve packages of berries, and by Sunday night, all the berries were gone! Oh well! I had a good time with Hannah, and Emma was thrilled to come along on a “girls” trip.

While I was gone on Saturday, Roger and the boys were busy! They are working on setting up an ice rink in the back yard...I know...It’s what every mom dreams about, right?! Oh my goodness, they have been hard a work setting up and getting ready for the liner. A gentleman that is a good friend of our family, donated money towards the boys project. He told Roger that he feels like some of the problems in our society stem from the fact that kids do not go outside enough and have enough active play. Well, we don’t even have the liner or water in the rink yet, but they have certainly been enjoying the enclosure. They’ve used it for soccer, basketball, airsoft, and everything else!

 

 

 

We did not have school on Monday as it was Veterans Day. It was nice to spend the day at home working on projects and catching up on laundry. Roger helped me with several projects that I’m working on for the preschool class. Each class makes a project to sell at the auction, and I always like to try out the projects ahead of time! Roger painted clay pots for me, helped me paint pine cones.
Emma enjoyed helping with the salt dough ornament projects, and it was a fun time for both of us. I’m excited to do these projects with our preschool class!


It was the end of the first quarter last week, so that meant that we had parent-teacher conferences this week. I was pretty impressed that I managed to get to all the right appointments at the right times! With having five kids in the school, that means that we have at least one child in each class in the elementary school. I did a few in the mornings before school and one in the afternoon. All of the kids received good reports from their teachers. Not all of our kids have amazing grades, but it was encouraging to hear each of their teachers say how much they enjoy having our children in their classroom. Each child has different strengths and weaknesses, and they are not all academic struggles. I would wager to say that the biggest struggles in our lives will not come in the form of academics, but rather in the testing of our character. I’m thankful for each teacher that works with our children, and I know that God has given them to be in our children’s life to help them in their spiritual walks.



In my spare time (haha!) I’ve been helping to coordinate the fundraising auction that will take place  next Friday. My friend, Claire, took Emma home with her on Tuesday afternoon, and I chased down donations for the auction. There comes a time and a place where I am just tired of asking, but this is the biggest fundraiser for our parent group for the school year. We use the funds from the auction to
help provide weekly hot lunch, field trips, technology needs, teacher appreciation week, and many other things. God has always blessed our efforts, and He has shown Himself strong and mighty every year. This year God provided a kindergarten mom who offered to ask many businesses for me. I just don’t have as much time, and God provided Kaitlin at just the right moment. She asked many businesses, followed up with them, and she has been a great blessing to me. The auction takes the working together of many, many people and businesses. I am thankful for each person who has worked to help this endeavor! And I am very, very thankful that we are coming down the home stretch on this!

I’m starting to dream (i.e. have nightmares) about the Christmas program, which is typical for this time of year.  I feel a bit farther behind than I normally do, but I also don’t have the same amount of time as in years past. I’m thankful that Allison’s daughter, Emma, was able to load the music for the program into my ipad. Then I went to use the music on the sound system at church and nothing happened! I know it’s just one more detail that God is going to work out, but oh how my mind is full! Emma’s verse for this week is Isaiah 26:3, which is probably more fitting for me at the moment! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” It’s just a good reminder to keep praying, keep working, keep trusting, and keep on trying to encourage
the students to put forth their best effort. How do you encourage kids to find passion in the things that matter?! God is good, and I will trust Him.

 These harps have been both a delight and a pain! If anyone knows how I can help them stay in tune longer, I’m open to suggestions! 

Roger’s car bit the dust for a few days this week, so that meant some very early morning for me. I’ve been driving him to work in the morning, (at 5:00am.) and then coming home to get ready for the  day. It’s given us some time to visit together in the morning, but it sure has made me tired! Roger was able to fix his car, so hopefully it will run a little longer.

It was a busy and full week, but God provided moments of rest, fellowship and fun! God brought us safely through another week, and I’m thankful for family, memories, and challenges that all point me to Jesus.
Love,
Sarah

Jumping Back In and Slaying Dragons!

Wyatt and I arrived home a week ago today after our whirlwind trip to Wisconsin. I am so thankful that the Lord opened the doors for us to go, but we have both been a bit tired out lately!

We jumped back into our week, but it's a weird feeling starting the school week on a Thursday. Wyatt's teacher was very understanding and kind about Wyatt catching up, and he is back on track. I felt like I stumbled through the rest of the week with music classes on Friday, and then again on Monday so we could get back to our regularly scheduled days. I'm thankful for the teachers graciousness in accommodating my schedule. We are six weeks out from the Christmas program, and I'm starting to dream about it at night! I am learning another lesson in trusting God completely as I ask Him to bless our endeavors. It's intimidating to many students to get in front of people to sing and recite lines, and there is certainly much to do. I need to remind myself often and loudly that God is in this event also. He cares about our lives, and He knows my heart. My hearts desire is that the students will honor and glorify God through this event, and that hearts will be turned to Jesus Christ.

The boys and Roger did such a good job keeping the house picked up and tidy while I was away last week. I came home to clean laundry, a clean kitchen, and new shelves in my pantry! I'm so blessed.

Garett and Chandler had a youth event to go to on Saturday morning. They were leaving the church at 8:30am and returning by 8:30 pm. They were both excited to go as it was a youth conference with preaching and music as well as fun and games. These types of conferences are good for them to attend as it helps them realize that it is not just mom and dad that want them to follow Jesus. We were early to the church, so I sat in the van with Garett and Chandler (Roger had stayed home with the other kids.) As vehicles started pulling into the parking lot, Chandler started to become upset. He had real tears in his eyes, and his voice was shaking as he talked to me. "Mom, please, please don't make me go. I want to go home." Although I asked him why, I already knew the answer. Chandler has to work very, very hard on his attitude during the school week as there are a few students that he struggles to get along with and not be angry at. Chandler sees the world in either very black or very white, but there are no gray areas. I know that he works hard during the school week, and I couldn't make myself tell him he had to go on Saturday. God is continually working in Chandler's heart though as every year God has given Chandler someone that is a bit of a difficulty for him. As much as I think that God could have and would have worked in Chandler's heart on Saturday, I firmly believe that Chandler needed me to be his mom and the protector of his world that moment on Saturday. In the mind of Chandler, I slew a dragon for him that Saturday morning. I am praying that God will use this event in Chandler's life. Garett did not seem to mind going by himself with the other kids in the youth group, and I was thankful that he went. He came home full of stories, memories, and tidbits of things that he had learned. 

Roger and I spent Saturday working on various projects around the house, grocery shopping, and planning out some things for the next week. Roger and I were supposed to attend a couples dinner in the evening, but it just did not work out to go. We had originally planned for Garett to watch our kids, but then he went to the youth event. Chandler is a bit young to be in charge for a couple of hours when it's dark outside. Everyone in Maine seems to have lots of family around, and they have been born and raised here. Roger and I are a bit of an oddity in the fact that we do not have lots of family around, and we are still relatively new to Maine. (In the eyes of some people, we will always be new as we were not born and raised here!) While I know that Roger was especially disappointed to miss out on Saturday (sometimes it is hard for Roger to feel connect to the church as he does have to work on Sundays sometimes), we did have a good evening at home with our children. I am thankful for evenings when we can just enjoy each other's company, play games, and eat popcorn!

Roger had to work on Sunday, so that always makes me feel a bit lonely. Lonely is a weird feeling as it can occur in a room full of people or while surrounded by five loud children. We had a prayer breakfast during the Sunday School hour. Our church family comes together once a quarter to have breakfast together and spend the hour in prayer. It is one of my favorite events in the year. I was especially delighted that the boys pitched in to help pick up chairs and tables after the breakfast was done-without me having to ask them! I'm thankful for the parenting delights that God gives me, as most of the time, I feel like a ship without sails trying to steer in a storm! God blessed my heart with the actions of our children on Sunday, and I was encouraged. (That was just preparation for the big arguments and disagreements my children would have later in the week with each other!)

Our children have been enjoying ice skating lessons through the school for the past three weeks. The school is able to offer ice skating lessons for four weeks to all the students in the elementary school. Our children enjoy this time so much, and Roger was able to go with them on Tuesday. I am thankful that Roger chose to spend time with his children when he could've been doing 100 other things. We are creating memories and moments in the hearts and lives of our children. I want our children to remember the times that Dad did fun things with them, the moment that mom stood up for them, the victories over sin that they know only God could orchestrate, the battles won with bad attitudes and sour faces, and the joys that come with confidence in Jesus. I'm hoping that our children don't remember the times that mom was grouchy or short on patience as much!

We serve a God who is faithful and true. I delight in the promise that "For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Hebrews 13:5