#PRINCEofPEACE - Faith

One of the principles that we learn from Christ's teachings that give us peace is Faith.  Faith or belief in God gives us something to hope for, something to look towards, something to work on.  Tonight for Family Home Evening we read scriptures on faith and I had the kids write in their journals reasons they believe in God.   These are some of the answers they gave.  Each one of us have unique experiences that grow our belief and faith.  Some things are small, some are big.  I loved hearing their experiences and how those things helped them to believe.

Makenna:  When I'm at church, no matter what my attitude is when I go in, when I come out I feel peaceful.  It has changed my attitude and my outlook on things.  I know that it's because God's spirit has been there and helped me feel different.

Zane:  Heavenly Father answers my prayers.  When I do something wrong and I ask Him for forgiveness, I get a warm feeling and I know that it's Heavenly Father letting me know He has forgiven me.  I have read the scriptures and I have asked Heavenly Father if they were true.  He answered my prayers and gave me a warm feeling letting me know that they were.

Dillon:  He gives me comfort.  When Grandma Great died and we were at her funeral, I had a warm feeling inside and I knew that everything was going to be ok.

Zeke:  He loves us.  He sent Jesus Christ to set the perfect example for us and to die for us so that we could live with Him again.  It shows me that He wants us to be with Him again.  Jesus Christ died for us so we know we can live with Him again and that our family can be together forever.  It helps me know that He will be there for us.

Olivia:  He helps me make right decisions.  When I'm mad at my friends and I'm about ready to fight with them, I get this feeling from the Spirit and it lets me know that I shouldn't fight with them.  He helps us choose which path to take to lead us back to Him.

Me: I have seen His blessings in my life.  I have felt His Spirit prompt me and guide me.  I have felt His Spirit testify of Him.  Believing in Him gives me hope.  He has answered my prayers.

Prayer

Today in church we talked a lot about prayer.  Prayer is something that is very important to me in my life.  I was taught to pray as a young child and it has blessed me many times in my life.  Now, as a mother, I teach my children to pray.  We pray morning and night as a family and I encourage my children to have their individual prayers morning and night and any other time during the day that they may need it.

Prayer has given me strength when I didn't know I had it.  Prayer has given me peace when I could find it no where else.  Prayer has given my knowledge to help me understand.  I have seen prayer help and bless others.  I have seen prayer heal.  I have seen others be an answer to my prayer.  I have been an answer to other's prayers. 

I can not being to describe the love that I feel from my Heavenly Father as I see prayer work in my life.  He knows me!  He knows my needs, my heart, my situation, my limitations and my potential.  He takes time, the God of this universe, to answer me, to listen to my pleadings, to help me, to guide me, to love me.

Prayer allows us to talk to God, to build a relationship with Him.  It allows us to come to know Him, to trust in Him, to feel His love for us.  Prayer allows us to show our love for Him and for others. 

Right now, prayer is a lifeline between me and someone that I love with all my heart that I can't be with at this time.  Prayer is the hope that I have each night that God will watch over her.  Prayer is the hope that I have that she will know I love her when I can't tell her everyday.  Prayer is the hope that I have that she will have strength and courage to do hard things.  Prayer is the hope that she will know God loves her.  Prayer is the hope for healing and peace.  Prayer is all I have.

Sometimes we can't fix life.  We can't make things better.  We can't take away pain or sorrow.  But prayer allows us to petition the One who can.  Miracles happen when we pray.  I am so thankful for prayer.  I'm so thankful that I can have a personal relationship with my Father in Heaven.  I am so thankful that He hears and answers - not always in the way I hoped, but always in the way that is best for me.

Game Time!

I got the kids a new game a few weeks ago and we brought it to play with Maddi yesterday.  It makes me laugh so hard watching them try to sound out the words with those stupid plastic things in their mouths!  Luckily I had the camera so no one could take a picture of me when it was my turn but I did get a picture of everyone else - whether they liked it or not ☺

 

Singing At State

Earlier this year Makenna auditioned to sing the National Anthem at some of the state sporting events.  She was chosen to sing it at the Boys State A Championship games on Thursday, March 16th.  She got to sing it twice that day.  She was so excited to be chosen to do it!  I was excited for her! 

We took the day off work, along with my friend Melissa and we spent the day in Sioux Falls.  We shopped, she sang, we ate, we shopped some more, she sang again, we shopped some more and then we headed home.  It was such a fun day!  Melissa loved doing things to make Makenna blush and as Makenna found out, Melissa was very good at it!

By the end of the day, Makenna was exhausted.  She is going to have to build up her shopping endurance before we do it again!  I'll admit I was pretty worn out too. We did find some good deals though ☺

I am so proud of Makenna and all that she has become.  She loves to sing and I am happy that she has had so many opportunities to share her talent.  She has participated in All State Chorus, Festival of Women's Voices, solo and small group contest and singing the National Anthem many times.  I hope she continues to have these opportunities to share and grow. 

Here are a few pictures:

It's Been A Long Time

I just realized that I have not blogged since Thanksgiving!  There have been several times that I have started but never finished.  Life has taken some crazy, painful turns and even though writing is my outlet, I have not been able to write.  Today I will catch up on the normal everyday things that have been going on with us.

To start, Michael had his birthday on the 24th of November.  It was Thanksgiving Day so we celebrated with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and fried pies!  Thanksgiving night we were able to go to Sioux Falls and visit friends for the evening and share our fried pies with them.  Good friends are sometimes hard to find and we have been blessed by Troy and his family.

After Thanksgiving we went full steam into basketball season!  All six kids started the season.  Only five ended the season.  Makenna had to have knee surgery on the 14th of December. 

She did get a few games in before and the coaches let her keep hanging out with the team afterwards.  She is hoping to have her knee ready to go for cross country this fall.

Everyone had a fun season of basketball.  I coached Olivia's team again this year and we ended the season with our first win!  Way to go girls!!

 

Zeke's team had their last tournament next week.  His team took first in a tournament a few weeks ago.  They were really excited!  A year or two ago they were lucky to win a game, now they are winning tournaments!

Dillon is still going for another few weeks.  They love to play ball - any type of ball!  Yesterday they played in an 8th grade tournament as 7th graders.  Last year they took last in that tournament.  This year they took 2nd.  It is fun to watch them!



Zane finished his season yesterday.  They also played in a tournament yesterday and won two out of their three games.  His team has really improved over the years. 

Makenna only had a couple of games but it was fun to see her and Maddi out there on the court at the same time.  She'll be back next year ready to go!

Maddi played the whole season and had a very successful one.  I loved watching her play and cheering her on.

 In the middle of basketball season came Christmas.  Christmas was quiet and it was nice to have time at home.  Christmas Day we had the missionaries over for dinner.  There was an ice storm that day and we ended up losing power before we could finish cooking supper.  We ate by candlelight and had ham that Michael had smoked, biscuits and raw carrots.  I felt bad for the missionaries but there wasn't much I could do about it!

 

Right after Christmas, we celebrated Zeke's 11th birthday!  I sure love this crazy boy with his rockin' mullet!  He keeps me smiling!

January and February were filled with basketball, singing, church and everything else in between!  Makenna was able to sing the National Anthem at some of our home games and also sang it at the Boys District Finals and the Girls Region games in Madison.  She will sing it next week in Sioux Falls at the Boys State A Basketball games.  She was also in All State Chorus and Festival of Women's Voices. 

Olivia auditioned for the elementary festival of young voices and I got to go listen to her perform earlier this week.  It was her first experience with something like this and she had a fun time.

 

 

In January, I lost one of my most favorite people in the whole world.  Grandma- Great left this earth on her 89th birthday.  For the first time in 15 years she got to spend it with Grandpa Chris.  It was the best birthday present she could have received.  She was such an amazing person.  I loved her more than I can say.  I have missed her so much this last month.  What I would give to hear her voice and be able to talk to her just one more time.  We were able to fly out to Idaho for her funeral.  The kids all got to fly for the first time (at least that they can remember.  All of them by Zane had flown when they were babies).  It was good to see family and to be there to celebrate Grandma. 

 

 

 

Tomorrow track season officially starts.  Zane and Dillon will be my only ones running this year so the season won't be as busy for us.  The elementary school starts their C25K program tomorrow so I will be working with the 4th-6th graders to get them ready for their 5k in May.  We know it's track season because we are getting a snow storm today.  Track season always seems to bring the crazy spring weather with it!

 

I know I missed things and hopefully I will do better at keeping up with writing now.  



 

Thanksgiving Thoughts

This year has been a tough one.  In fact, the last four months have been so overwhelming and emotional that at times I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  I have never felt so much pain, anger, sadness, hurt and sorrow.  It seemed like every time I turned around there was something else thrown at me when I already felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water.  I would go to bed at night hoping that when morning came, I would wake from this horrible nightmare and everything would be ok.  I would wake up in the morning too exhausted to feel my emotions and wish I could just go back to bed instead of facing the day.  I have cried more in these last few months than I have in my entire life combined.  I have lost more sleep then I did with my newborns.  Even tonight, I should have been in bed hours ago, but anxiousness overtook my ability to sleep.  My mind has been swirling and racing with the events that have been placed before me.  I have faced the hardest thing in my life and been crushed by the effects of it.

However, through it all, the Lord has blessed me.  Tonight as sleep was evading me, my mind wandered to the story in Matthew chapter 14 where Peter tries to walk on the water.  Jesus had just finished feeding the 5000 and had gone up into the mountain to pray.  He had sent His disciples ahead in a ship.  It was late evening and the winds began to increase and toss the ship in the waves.  When Jesus came down from the mountain, He walked to the disciples on the water.  At first, when the disciples saw Him, they were afraid, but Jesus spoke to them and calmed their fears.  Peter asked the Lord if He would ask him to come to Him on the water.  Jesus told Peter to come and he began to walk on the water towards Christ.  As Peter walked, he saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and started sinking.  He cried out for Jesus to save him.  Jesus immediately took Peter's hand and pulled him up out of the water and brought him safely to the ship.  As soon as Jesus got in the ship, the wind stopped and it became calm.

Peter was doing it!  He had faith to step out on the stormy sea and walk to the Savior.  However, he lost his focus.  He stopped looking towards Christ and began worrying about the winds and the waves.  Once he lost his focus, his faith wavered and he began to doubt.  That doubt caused him to start sinking.  Christ was there though.  Despite his lacking faith, as soon as Peter called out, Christ was there with His hand outstretched to lift Peter up back to Him and safety.

We all have battles in our lives, waters to cross with wind swirling and waves crashing around us.  We will have storms to pass through.  Maybe we start out with that same faith of Peter.  Maybe the storm hits with such force that our faith is shaken right away and we immediately feel as if we are sinking.  Maybe we bring on the winds ourselves or maybe it is the winds of others that cause our waves.  Sometimes those waves are so high that we feel buried in the depths of the sea.  The thing is, if we call out to the Lord, no matter the cause of the storm or the intensity of it's power, He will be there with His hand outstretched.  His light will shine through the darkness and His strength will pull us through.  He will not leave us.  As we cry out to Him, he will be there to lift us back up, give us strength to withstand the storm and lead us back to Him. 

Sometimes, a lot of times, we feel His love and strength through the kindness and love of those around us.  Those here, doing His work and being His disciples.  During this last year, and more especially these last four months, I have been so blessed with friends and family who have reached out and lifted me from the depths of the sea.  Their prayers, kind words, listening ears, wise counsel, hugs, smiles and patience have allowed me to endure the days and feel God's love for me when I was struggling to feel it on my own.  Covering for me at work when I had to be gone, switching schedules so I could be gone, leaving diet Cokes on my desk ☺, eating lunch with me and talking about nothing so I didn't have to think about things, sitting with me and listening when I DID need to talk, sending emails to let me know I was being thought about and prayed for, doing extra chores at home, flowers, undisturbed bubble baths, listening to me on the phone as I tried to convey my emotions, holding me while I sobbed, loving me despite my current craziness - those were all things that allowed me to feel the outstretched hand of my Savior lifting me up.  Simple things, meaningful things, gifts of love, gifts of yourselves, gifts of your time. 

Things are still hard.  My heart is still filled with pain, anger, hurt, and all those other things I mentioned.  I still go to bed wishing to wake with life back to how it was.  I still wake up wishing to go back to bed and sleep it away.  However, with all those emotions, I now have hope and love too.  For that I am grateful.  This Thanksgiving was harder than any other I have had.  My heart was heavy and my body exhausted, but my heart was also thankful for the amazing people that God has put in my life right now.  Despite the life events I am dealing with, I am very blessed.

Sweet 16

Our Maddi Jo Bug is 16.  My how time flies!  I remember when we first found out we were having a girl, when we finally decided on a name for her and when we finally met her for the first time.  We were so excited to begin our family!  We were blessed with such a beautiful little girl with the chubbiest cheeks and the sweetest smile.  Now, here we are 16 years later.  No more chubby cheeks, no more drool down to her belly button, but still a beautiful blessing to our family. 

She celebrated by going to school, basketball practice and then a sports meeting.  We did have her favorite chocolate pie before bed and then made her birthday supper the next night when she would be home to enjoy it - baked potatoes of course ☺

Happy Birthday, Bug! We love you!

15 on the 15th

Makenna celebrated her 15th birthday on 15th!  We made her chicken taquitos for supper followed by a chocolate cake and ice cream.  We are so thankful to have her in our family.  She is full of spunk and life with a stubborn streak a mile long.  While it can make parenting interesting at times, it serves her well when she is out trying to conquer the world and make her place in it.  She loves to bake, read, draw, color, sing, run and play basketball.  We are so proud of her, who she is becoming and all that she has accomplished.  Happy Birthday, Makenna!

I Wouldn't Have to Ask You to Turn the Music Up!

I love this kid!  He is always moving, jumping, running, and standing on his head!  He is helpful and kind.  He is considerate of others and notices when some one needs a friend.  He loves to read and do the worm.  He's good at both ☺  He also rocks a mullet!

As you know, a couple years ago, he was diagnosed with ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome.  He has handled it pretty well and the school has given him tools to help him in the classroom.  He has a wiggle cushion on his chair and a band across the front legs of his desk so he can have movement while he is at his desk.  His desk is on an outside row so that if he needs to stand up, he can without disturbing others or drawing attention to himself.  They even have a stand up desk at the back of the room if he ever needs to use that.  Most of his tics have been mild and he has learned to release the vocal ones outside or at home which also helps him in the classroom.

Earlier this fall, maybe a month ago, we had health screenings at the school.  He failed the hearing test and so the nurses suggested we get his ears checked.  Our speech therapist retested him a day or so later and he failed again so we took him in.  The doctor couldn't see anything that would be causing hearing trouble so he referred us on to a specialist.

Yesterday I took him to Sioux Falls to have an audio test and meet with an ENT.  They removed some wax from his ears that they believed may have caused the failed tests previously and then they gave him an audio test.  Afterwards the audiologist came in and explained that he did have some hearing loss.  It was mild to slight but it was in the midtone range where most talking levels take place.  She talked to him about getting hearing aids but told us the doctor would talk more about it with us.

While we were waiting to see the doctor, I asked Zeke how he was feeling about it all.  He said he did not want to get hearing aids.  Who would right?  I asked him why.  He said it would make him look like a nerd.  He was embarrassed at the thought and didn't want any of the kids at school to know about it right now.  We talked about how small hearing aids were and that maybe he wouldn't end up needing any after all.

When we talked with the doctor, he showed us more about the results of the test and talked to us about the next steps.  He said hearing aids would definitely help him but he wanted to wait a bit and retest him before we jumped into that.  When he is retested, if it is the same or worse, he will want a CT scan to check on the little bones around the ears to see if there are any that are not formed right.  We would also discuss hearing aids at that point.

As we were leaving the appointment he said, "Well, if I do have to get hearing aids, I wouldn't have to ask you to turn the music up when I can't hear it, I could just turn up my hearing aid!"  I love him so much!  He still doesn't want to get hearing aids but if he ends up with them, I know he will rock them just like he does his mullet!

State 2016

These four girls made school history at State.  They are the first girls cross country team at Deubrook to ever place at State.  After a season of injuries, frustrations and lots of ice, they ended up taking 6th place!  How awesome is that?

Their coaches did an amazing job of encouraging and helping them through the season.  They made sure these girls had what they needed to be successful and they were there cheering them on at every race.  Even on the bad days, they were there building them up and telling them they would get it next time.

It was a beautiful day for a race.  Before every race our girls always huddle for a prayer.  They do it in basketball, volleyball and track too.  I love seeing the girls bow their heads and seek for help from a Higher Source.  At State, before our girls ran, all the girls circled up in a prayer circle.  It was so neat to see!  Class B girls were the only ones who did it.  What a way to start the race!

Our girls all ran hard.  Each course is so different and you can't compare times from course to course.  Makenna was sad because she didn't run her best time of the season, but she did what she needed to do.  Josie took 2nd.  Andrea took 9th.  Makenna was our 3rd runner.  Her placement would determine if we placed or not.  Even though she was disappointed with her time, she didn't let the team down.  They all were able to walk away with their heads high, their hips and knees iced, with a smile on their face!

Can't wait to see what they do next year!