January Activities and Garett’s Decision

 The month of January has actually gone by fairly quickly- usually this month can have a tendency to drag on and on! We are about six weeks from the end of basketball season, and then the start of baseball season. Garett and Chandler have enjoyed playing basketball, but I think they’re looking forward to baseball, the opportunity to be outside more, and a sport that they have a little more experience with playing. Chandler has improved a lot with his basketball skills, and he no longer looks quite so nervous when he gets out on the court. Hustling is not Garett’s strong suit nor is making quick decisions and basketball involves both! However, we’ve been faithfully attending games, and if nothing else, our children will remember our presence - I hope! 

                                            Happy 15th birthday Chandler! We love this young man! 

Last week, Garett made a big decision in his life. Last Friday, the student pastor asked me if Garett had talked to me about the decision he had made on Wednesday during chapel. I was like, “no, he has not.” The pastor encouraged me to ask Garett about his decision. The opportunity presented itself on Saturday night, as Roger and I were talking to Garett. I asked him about chapel on Wednesday and a decision he had made. At first he looked confused, and then his face cleared and he said, “Oh, yeah! I went forward at the invitation. Pastor Alex came over to talk to me and asked me if I had any questions. I said that I wasn’t sure about my salvation. Pastor Alex told me to come up to his office and he would answer my questions with Scripture. So after lunch, I did. Pastor Alex showed me from the Bible how I can be positive about my salvation. And now I’m sure.” I was about in tears over hearing Garett’s testimony and how the Holy Spirit was working in his life. I asked him why he didn’t come to Roger or I, and he said, “It’s not that I didn’t think you had the answers, but sometimes it’s nice to talk to someone other than my parents.” Well, I can agree with that. I asked him why he hadn’t mentioned it to us, and he was like, “well, it’s settled in my heart and mind. I don’t have any doubts anymore and I guess it just didn’t occur to me to mention it!” Um, my dear son, these are the types of things that I definitely want to hear about! We’ve been praying for all our teenage boys as of late. I know that both Roger and I made assurances of our salvation during our teen years, and we’ve been praying for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of our children. Sometimes we just have to keep putting opportunities in front of them where the Holy Spirit can  continue to nudge and prick their conscience. We are thankful for teachers, coaches, and those who provide mentorship and discipleship to our children. 

                                     Good fellowship makes the long nights of basketball a lot more fun!!

We’ve had a few late nights with basketball games, school events, and other things happening. Last weekend we had a few families from church over to our house for fellowship and food. We ten kids and six adults, so the house was full of excitement! Our friends, the Wades, brought some Chick-fil-A sweet tea, cookies and bread, and the Everetts brought some food as well. We had a good time of fellowship and the ladies spent some time praying for some things that have been trying in our lives. On Monday, it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so the students had off. I went in to school to work for a few hours as we are preparing for our school accreditation in a few short weeks- and that is a big undertaking! 

On Monday afternoon, we went bowling with the Everett family. I’m a terrible bowler and I hate to lose, but I definitely lost! I think even Emma beat me at bowling! Oh well! We had fun, lots of laughter and fellowship. We’ve enjoyed getting to know the Everett family and we are thankful for their friendship to our family. We have several children that are similar in ages, and Laura and I have also been getting together once a week to go walking and pray together. Usually we get in about three miles while waiting for our kids to finish up sports practice and then we spend some time praying. We’ve never run out of things to pray for or things to talk about. 

Chandler told me on Tuesday that there were some kids in his class that were teasing him about liking Ava (one of the Everett girls). I asked him how he felt about it. He replied, “those particular kids are always making dumb comments, so I guess they’ve just found one more thing to be dumb about.” Roger and I encouraged him to stay kind and gracious and to remember the feelings of others too. Roger and I have been working hard about encouraging our teens to have healthy relationships with the opposite sex. Since the Everett’s and us are good friends, I guess it stands to reason that our kids might be teased about something like this. However, both Chandler and Ava have continued to be kind and polite to each other, and they both seem to just let it roll like water off a duck’s back. I remember my dad making that statement when we were growing up, “Just let it roll off like water off a duck’s back. You don’t need to be easily offended.” 

God has provided multiple opportunities to pray with ladies in my life lately. On Thursday we had a very rough morning on the way to school. One of my children, in particular, does not like to admit when he is wrong. Instead of just admitting and apologizing, I about lose my sanctification while trying to have a conversation with him! We parted ways with both of us saying, “I love you,” but it wasn’t’ extremely heart felt. I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me, so I made my way to that son’s classroom to apologize for the way I handled the situation. When I arrived in the library, I found that my friend, Jen, had also had a very rough morning with her son. We were both practically in tears, and I said, “The only thing that I know to do is to keep praying.” So we spent some time in prayer before our library classes began. I’ve also been praying with one of the teachers at school every morning. She is facing a particular trial in her life, so I’ve been popping in every morning to pray. God hasn’t specifically answered our prayers yet, but we know that He is still working! We are trusting Him while we wait. I’m not the most patient person, and I want God to solve this situation right now, but while we wait, we will pray! 

While we know that our families, churches, and Christian schools are under constant attack from Satan, there are times where that force feels stronger. We are definitely in one of those trenches right now, and the only thing to do is to cling to the Rock. I am so thankful that God continues to be our shelter in the storm, our Fortress, our Deliverer, our Strong Tower, and the one in whom I trust! I am so thankful for opportunities to pray. We can come boldly to His Throne where we know that mercy abounds. 

This weekend Roger and I have the opportunity to attend a marriage retreat- it’s been a long time since we’ve been on one. When we committed to go, we weren’t sure who was going to watch our kids. We are very particular about who they can stay with and who can watch them. However, God worked out all the details! Chandler and Garett are staying home by themselves, but we have a friend who will be checking in with them. And today, Friday, Garett and Chandler will be spending the day with some great friends of ours, the Everett Family. Chandler’s 15th birthday was yesterday, and the Everett’s have some special plans for him today. Roger and I are so thankful for the mentorship and discipleship of other’s in our children’s lives. Roger and I left on Chandler’s birthday, so I told him we would celebrate at another time. He was totally fine with that especially as this is the son that does not like extra attention! Wyatt and Travis both went with some school friends while we are away. And Emma went home with a school friend also. I don’t know that the kids have ever been so spread apart while we are away, but we are thankful that God worked out the details so that Roger and I could get away for the marriage retreat. When I called Garett last night to let him know that we had arrived at the hotel, he said that he and chandler were eating supper. I asked him what they had made for supper- chicken. Okay, what else? He sounds surprised and said, “What’s wrong with chicken?” Well, nothing! But usually you have something to go with it! Oh well! They won’t starve, and they’re eating protein! It’s different than how I would do it, but that’s okay. This is the first time we’ve left the boys on their own for a few days, so I think my mama’s heart is struggling a little bit with how fast that creeped up on us! Time flies! 

This song has blessed me time and time again. I’ll never forget the voices of my kindergarten class singing “Jesus, thank you” last year. Regardless of the chaos around me, Jesus reigns supreme and I can thank Him! 

    Photo credit: bereaproject.org 

Back to School! January Praises and Prayers!

 Back to school! I’m not sure that any of our children were thrilled to be back in school last week, but every day gets us closer to summer break! The months of January and February can tend to drag on and on, but the basketball schedule keeps us busy, the boys have started practicing baseball a little, and sometimes the weather is really quite nice!

Last weekend the boys had a basketball tournament in Elizabeth City which is about three hours away. We originally were not planning on going to the tournament as its a drive away and Garett and Chandler don’t play a whole lot during a game. We try to make it to as many games/tournaments as possible even when they are bench warmers because we feel like it is important. However, we are trying to save money for some additional house projects, so we decided that we wouldn’t go to the tournament. However, on Friday morning, my friend, Laura, messaged me to say that they were not going to be able to go to the tournament and would we want their hotel room. After thinking about it for a few minutes, we decided that we would go to the tournament and use the provided hotel room. After school, I left immediately with the three younger kids to head home, pack some stuff for overnight and try to make it to the boys 7:30pm game. Roger told me to go ahead with the kids as he was off flying fire patrol and he wasn’t sure when he would make it home. So the three younger kids and I headed for Elizabeth City. There is not a direct road to that city, and it took us a while to get there! We arrived at 7:10pm, and we discovered that the game had started at 7:00pm! I was thankful that we had left immediately after packing up our stuff at home or we would’ve missed the game. The boys team did win their game which meant that they were headed for the championship game on Saturday at 2:00pm. That was exciting! In the end, it worked out that Roger wasn’t able to come as the hotel room had one king bed. So Wyatt and Travis slept on the floor and Emma and I slept in the bed. We all sleep best in our own beds, so I don’t think anyone got a great night’s sleep- read (crabby in the morning!). It was kinda a long day, and the boys and girls team both ended up with second place at the tournament. No need to mention that there were only four teams at the tournament! Garett and Chandler have never complained about sitting on the bench, but it’s nice to see that they are becoming more comfortable with being on the court. They don’t look as nervous to have the ball as they did at the beginning of the season, and we are thankful that they have had this opportunity to see if they’d like this sport. 

We were all a little tired on Sunday morning, but it was a blessing to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday morning. Roger and I have really been enjoying our sunday school class and the current topic is “visionary parenting”. Biblical parenting sessions are always encouraging but also so convicting. My spirit wants to do better but the flesh truly is weak. I am a wonderful mother and full of patience and kindness until my children get out of bed in the morning! However, it’s been good to be reminded of the things that we should be doing, and to love God more fervently and passionately. 

On Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to host some dear friends of ours, the Falde Family. Garett and I have had the opportunity to go to Haiti with the Falde Family. The Falde’s have become dear friends of ours and they’ve been serving in Haiti for several years. They were visiting a church in the Wilmington area and then came to visit us for the afternoon. We enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship and catch up on what God is doing in Haiti. They are in the process of adopting a set of twins from Haiti, and I’m sure they would appreciate your prayers as they wait for the process. Nothing happens quickly in Haiti- ever, and we are praying for God to help the adoption process go smoothly. They received a wonderful Christmas gift when someone offered to pay for the rest of the adoption fees! That was an amazing gift, and now it’s the process of working through all the paperwork to adopt the twins. We had a great evening of food, fellowship and visiting together. 

Our school had spirit week this week, so excitement was high in the school! We’ve not had whole lot of experiences with spirit week, and trying to come up with outfits for each day was a challenge! We weren’t able to participate every day, but we did our best. It’s hard to be the new kids in a new school and not exactly know what is and what isn’t allowed. It’ll be nice to not be brand new next year to so many of these new experiences! Tuesday was “Rhyme without reason” day, and my friend, Jennifer, and I dressed up. We work in the library together on Tuesday, and Jennifer came up with the idea of using two acronyms (CFA and FCA). She’s worked at Chick-fil-a in the past, and I figured I could find a cheerleader outfit somewhere around the school. We forgot to take a picture of the two of us, but we did manage to come up with both outfits! Oftentimes spirit week is a lot of fun- until we need to try to find outfits for six people! 

Monday was a bit of a drag of a day, and that was compounded by a basketball game that was away. The JV teams both lost their games, but the varsity teams both won. Garett and Chandler didn’t play in the game, but it was a good game to watch. The varsity boys did win the game by one point!  It was a bit of long evening, but we are thankful  for these  opportunities to support our boys and their efforts. 

On Tuesdays I help out with choir for the elementary students. Normally I just tell students to listen, be quiet, run the PowerPoint, etc. but the piano player was not there for class. Tamela asked me if I was comfortable helping out with the piano aspect. Well, I was quickly reminded that it’s been about 8 months since I’ve played a note on the piano! I was not amazing, and I don’t think I was especially helpful, but it did remind me how much I miss playing the piano and how I need to get back into finding time to practice! 

Tuesday afternoon found our two younger boys at an informational meeting regarding a JV baseball team. It looks like there will be enough interest and enough boys to have a JV baseball team this year, and Wyatt and Travis are very thankful for that! The boys enjoy playing baseball and while they’ve never been formally on a team, they’ve played it in our backyard for years! The coach told both Wyatt and Travis that they did very well in the practice especially as they’ve never been on a team. They were both encouraged by that!

On Thursday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go walking with a new friend. Laura has become a good friend to me, and I am thankful for her. Since our kids have sports practice after school, we decided to walk for a while while they were at practice. It was a great use of our time as we walked three miles and then spent some time in prayer especially for our children, spouses, school and church. If we really want to change the world for Jesus, it’s going to happen first when we get on our knees. I want to be passionate and fervent in prayer, and it was nice to have a fellow mama and friend to pray with and share our burdens. While Laura and Justin have two girls and a boy, and we have four boys and a girl, our children seem to relate well to each other. As mamas, Laura and I are happy for our children to have friends that they can laugh and have conversations with each other. Laura and I are hoping to continue our walking/praying plan. We have a few specific prayer requests that we want to continue to pray for and see what God does. 

Friday was the longest day we’ve had in a while! It was the last day of spirit week, and the students were excited about it being Friday, a game day, and a pep rally! Today was also Homecoming day, which I don’t have any previous experience with, so we were excited to see what was going to happen. There were four basketball games after school, JV girls, JV boys, Varsity girls and Varsity boys! The JV teams both won their games yesterday, and both varsity teams lost. Chandler did get some playing time in the JV game, so that was exciting for him. At the close of all the basketball games, the school recognizes the two class representatives from grades 7-12. One boy and one girl from each class is chosen by classmates to represent Mr. And Mrs. *** for the school. These students have a good standing with their classmates and are to be chosen based on their character and reputation. The boys dress in a suit and the girls wear a formal dress. The whole ceremony takes about 20 minutes, but it’s a privilege to be chosen to represent your class. It was fun to watch the students and to listen to their testimonies. Wyatt’s friend, Gabe, was chosen for the 7th grade class, so that was especially cool. I did shed a few tears as I listened to the recording of Gabe’s voice telling about his salvation and how thankful he was for his parents, teachers and school. It was a super late night as we didn’t get home until around 11:00pm, so that made for a tired Saturday morning! 

We also have a huge praise to share- the kids school bill for this year is paid in full! Praise the Lord! Due to my parents generosity as well as my sister, Jen, we’ve been able to pay off this year’s school bill. That’s a huge, huge praise! Roger and I were just talking about how we’d like to think about sending the boys to a Christian camp this summer, and now we will be able to save some towards making that become a reality. God is so good to us, even though we don’t deserve it. We didn’t expect to be able to get the school bill paid off until closer to the end of April, so this is about three months earlier than we anticipated! 

Also, we have a prayer request. When we were at Wednesday night church, Roger and I were convicted about providing opportunities to our children to bless others. We are in the process of raising up third generation Christians, which is a huge responsibility! It’s easy to become lethargic in our praise of all that God has done, and I think our children need to be reminded that they are children of God and that they have the privilege to SERVE Him. We are looking for meaningful ways that our children can bless others. They could pick up trash alongside the road for several hours and that would be beneficial to our community. We are not opposed to that, but we’d rather have the kids have a face to go with their service. I’ve contacted a few people about ways that the kids could serve either by doing yard work, cleaning, serving food to the homeless, etc, but we are still praying about what would be best. We are SO blessed to live in America, and we are SO blessed to be the children of God. I want our children to be able to be a blessing to someone. Please pray with us that we will choose wisely. That our children would enjoy the opportunity to serve. That God would be glorified. We serve a great God!

Christmas Break!

 

After over a week of lots of sugar, rich foods, a different sleep schedule and lots of excitement, we are heading back to school tomorrow! We’ve  enjoyed some “down time” this past week with our family, extended family and friends. 

A little over a week ago, on Christmas “Adam” (the day before Christmas Eve), we went over to a friends house. We’ve become friends with the Everett family, and we always have good food and fellowship when we are together. We had dinner at their house as well as another family. Lisa and I went to school together - a long time ago! It was good to see Lisa again and meet her family. We had eleven kids between us, so there was a lot happening! It was a bit of a cold day (especially for North Carolina), but we went on a walk anyways! I wouldn’t say that all of the walkers were willing participants, but it was good to get out in God’s creation! It was good to see our teenage kids interact with other teenage kids with lots of laughter and fellowship for them too. We enjoyed a fun relaxing evening on the day before Christmas activities. 

Last Saturday (Christmas Eve), we were planning to go to Hickory to see some of my extended family. However, last week was cold in North Carolina, and we had a lot of wind come through our area. We had two trees that were blown down due to the wind, and just as we were getting ready to leave for Hickory, the power went out at our house! It was about 12 degrees, and we didn’t have any idea of how long the power would be out. It’s a four hour drive to Hickory, so we needed to decide what we were going to do. Roger ended up staying home to make sure the pipes didn’t freeze as well as he was the “on-call” patrol pilot for fires. We were disappointed that Roger wasnt able to come with us, but the kids and I had a good time anyways. It’s a bit of a hike from our house to Hickory, but we were there around eleven  in the morning. We enjoyed our time together, and my cousin, Brittany, and I even went on a walk. It was chilly, but I like to do something active every day if possible. We made it back home by around 9:00pm, and we are thankful for the Lord’s traveling mercies. 

This was our first year in a long while that we didn’t attend a Christmas Eve service, and I think that next year I’d like to find an area church that is having a Christmas Eve service and attend with our family. Christmas Day was a beautiful albeit still a chilly day for North Carolina. Our church was having a Christmas Day service, and we were looking forward to that. We opened our stockings, ate a delicious breakfast together, and then headed off for the 10 o’clock church service. I was surprised at how many people came out for the service! It was a good Christmas Day service, and I’m glad that we had the opportunity to actually be in the house of the Lord on Christmas Day! I do enjoy singing “Silent Night” with the candles lit, and I think there were even a few people that raised their hands for salvation during the invitation. It was a blessing to worship together. 

We spent Christmas Day gathered as a family at our home. We enjoyed a relaxed afternoon together, and we ate a lot of delicious food! (We’ve been eating lots of good food all week long!) 

On Tuesday morning we dropped Chandler off at the church building for his Freshman Focus trip. Chandler is not a big talker by any means, but he did tell me that he was excited about going on this trip with a few other freshmen in his class. Five boys went and four girls on a trip to Florida. They arrived back on Friday night so it was a whirlwind of a trip! Chandler said that he had a really good time, but he wished that the trip had been a little bit longer. He was just starting to become better friends with some of the freshman and then the trip was over. But it was a good experience for him, and God provided the perfect timing. It’s a hard adjustment on teenagers to move, and the rest of the freshman class has pretty much grown up together. It was a good opportunity for Chandler to get to know some of them a lot better as well as have other adults provide discipleship in his life. We are thankful that he had the opportunity to go. God is so good. 

Also on Tuesday, we went ice skating! Not outside- it’s not been THAT cold! Our friends, the Hardisons, invited us to come along with their family to an ice skating arena. Emma has the least amount of experience with ice skating, but we were all looking forward to going. The boys have missed playing pond hockey this year, and they were happy to see that their ice skates still fit them. We enjoyed the time together as well as dinner with the Hardisons afterwards. We are thankful that they thought to invite us, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know their family better. Emma was a little bummed as she was the only girls with six boys, but she survived! 

The weather continued to get warmer throughout the week, and  by Friday, it was about 65 degrees! We enjoyed a lot of time outside this past week. Emma enjoyed a play date with her friend, Cynthia, at Chuck E. Cheese on Friday. We had dinner at the Pastor’s house on Saturday along with another family. Emma was again the only girl with seven boys, but she’s used to it!  We enjoyed talking about many topics, and getting to know both the Pastor and his family better as well as another church family. It takes time to build relationships and friendships, and we are thankful for so many that have extended hospitality to our family. 

Sunday afternoon gave us the opportunity to host at our house! I was excited about having people over to our house, and while the boys were excited about having friends over, they were not excited about all the extra cleaning I made them help with!  But by three o’clock, we were ready for our friends to come. We had invited several families, but not every one was able to come. We ended up with 22 people at our house for a New Year’s Day get together. It was super informal, but I think we all had a good time! There were eleven young men, so they spend most of the time outside playing soccer and basketball until it was too dark to see. Emma and Cynthia were happy to have some teenage girls to interact with while the adults enjoyed fellowship too. We ate lots of food (again!), and played a bunch of games together. The Carillo Family brought over some sweet tamales, which is something none of us had tried before! We had lots of desserts, food, and laughter. Our last guests left around 10:00pm, so it was a good way to wrap up the night before our last day of Christmas break. Our kids went to bed encouraged by laughter and fellowship, and Roger and I had a great time also. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to have people over in our home, and no one even seemed to notice that the windows might not have trim or that the yard isn’t landscaped or that 100 other projects are waiting to get done. Instead we focused on building relationships, fellowshipping together and opening our home to our friends. My friend, Laura, and I sat at the kitchen table after everyone else had left and just spend some time talking and praying together. I think that the older I get, the more easily I cry! I cry when children are singing, or over someone’s heartache, or over a heart-felt prayer, or anything else! I’m thankful that we were able to have over friends that share our desire to raise up sons and daughters to fear the Lord and to be warriors in the Army of the Lord! We cannot falter or give up as we endeavor to press on to raise up a generation that will be steadfast, unmovable and abounding in Jesus! 

We also asked our children about some goals that they would want to set for the New Year. I’ll have to share some of those goals in another post, as I need to wrap this one up. We have another year ahead of us. Every day is a gift from God, and I certainly want to use each day wisely. God is so good to me and our family. We are so blessed. 

Happy New Year! 

 Photo credit; cdn.Shopify.com/files