God spoke to Isaac

Earlier today, Isaac, Ezra and I were outside playing in the sprinkler in the front yard. The kids were riding their bikes back and forth through the sprinkler just like they always do. When I say "ride" their bikes, I mean, sit on their bikes and push their bikes along with their feet on the pavement. Isaac had pushed his bike this way ever since he was old enough to sit on it. He just uses his feet to push the bike along the pavement. Many times I have tried to get him to actually pedal his bike using the pedals, but he has always refused to even try! So today we were playing as usual when I heard Isaac say, "Look Mom, I'm pedaling my bike!" And sure enough, there he was, pedaling along, and doing it just great, for the first time ever! At nap time, I was cuddling him, and I told him how proud I was of him pedaling his bike for the first time. He smiled and then he said to me, "I never wanted to pedal to before. Last days(which is what he says instead of 'yesterday'), I always just pushed my bike with my feet. But today when I was on my bike, God said, "pedal!", so I pedaled! I obeyed God, Momma! He said "pedal" and I did it!" Praise God for His faithfulness to my children! To hear Isaac say that he heard God's voice was SO EXCITING! And that Isaac responded to what God said is even better. We truly serve an amazing and glorious God.

Lake of the Woods

Wow! What a trip! We spent Friday, Satruday and Sunday on a camping trip up to Lake of the Woods, which for those of you who don't know, is right on the Canadian border of Mn and Canada, about 8 hours north if you include stopping for lunch and potty breaks. Oh my goodness! We left the twin cities around 10am on friday and headed north after meeting up with Aaron, James's brother and his wife and four kids. Aaron and his family were hauling their boat behind them because Lake of the Woods is supposed to have some great fishing. Actually, my whole idea when I planned our family camping trip with the Knoblauchs was, "hey we are going to have seven kids, so why don't we go to this great big lake with a 3 mile long beach and have a fun road trip whihle we are at it!" Well, fun road trip we did! As we drove north, the clouds became darker and darker and darker until, about 2 hours south of Lake of the Woods it began to downpour, and I mean, really downpour! We thought, we will drive through and by the time we get there, it will be clear skies! Well, we got through the storm and then about an hour later, it started again. When we got up to the campground, it was clear skies. We set up our tents, unpacked everything and began grilling our chickend and roasting our corn. James even engineered a really nifty rain shelter out of a tarp, some clothesline and three huge sticks that he found. We had a really nice time friday night by the fire. We tucked ourselves into our little campsite for the night and fell asleep. Well, about 4am the rain started. It kept raining and raining and then about 7:30 am James said we better go into town for breakfast because it was soaking at the campsite. So we all bundled into the cars and headed for town. We had a great breakfast at the Ranch House restaurant in Baudette, MN and then James and the guys bought some fishing bait and we decided to wait out the rain. Well, that didn't end up workin gout, because it just kept on raining! Until around noon, we decided to pack up. The forecast said more and more rain until Sunday, so we headed back to the campsite to pack up. After we packed up in the rain with ponchos on (which was actually pretty fun, James and I were a good team!), the real fun started! We decided to drive down the windy trail to the actual LAKE of the Woods, since we hadn't seen it yet, in the rain. About halfway down the road we saw that a tree had fallen in the storm and we could not pass. I threw James his axe and he chopped the tree so we could move it off of the road and then we got down to the beach. There were about 30-40mph winds on the beach and James and I ran down there and snapped some pictures. Then we hopped in the car and headed the 4hrs back to Brainerd to stay at his mom's house with Aaron and the kids and Debbie(James Mom) and Keith, her husband. They had also come up to camp but there tent was missing two pegs and they had to stay in a hotel friday night! We finally got to Brainerd Saturday night and Aaron's car tracker said that we had driven 15 hours at that point in the last 1 1/2 days! We had dinner and put the kids down and everyone crashed. Then on Sunday we drove the boat to a beautiful lake in Crosby, MN and spent the day on the lake, the kids playing and going on tubing rides behind the boat. We finally got our beautiful sunny day! And acutally, we all got a lot of sun and layed around talking and had a picnic by the lake. It was a great day! Then we packed up and drove back home on Sunday night. Gosh, I feel like I just took a two week obstacle course run or something! It was a crazy weekend

The Present American Age

Comedian George Carlin passed away on June 22 at the age of 71. A comedic legend, yes, but not someone who’s known for sensitive, retrospective insight on life, but he said this not long ago…

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more,
but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and
smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees
but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet
more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly and laugh too
little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too
tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too
much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to
life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but
have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered
outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not
better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the
atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan
more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We
build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies
than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small
character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days
of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These
are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one
night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from
cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the
showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can
bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share
this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not
going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because
that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the
only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but
most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes
from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person
will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the
precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.

When Will We Get There?

I was reading an article in Send! magazine which is a magazine about reaching the remote areas of Asia for Christ yesterday. The story I was reading was about a young man who had no purpose in life and was on the verge of stepping in front of a speeding train when the voice of Christ spoke to his heart and said, "Why are you doing this? Your life isn't over yet! There is a purpose for your life, that purpose is Me." The young man gave his life to Christ and began traveling to remote areas of his home country with the gospel. For over two years he knocked on doors talking about Christ, handed out tracks, reached people in any way he could. Many of the areas he went to were hostile to Christians and he was once even stoned for his message. For over two years he never saw even one person give their life to Christ. Yet he pressed on, seeking God and crying out to Him daily. In due season, he reaped a bountiful harvest for His Lord! But imagine if he had given up in those times of discouragement and persecution. Times when it seemed that all he was doing he was doing in vain! I remember when I first gave my heart to the Lord and I just burned with a passion to live a radical life like that. As I embraced God's will for my life in marriage and mommyhood with an equal amount of passion and a desire to reach the nations for Christ, to be on the mission field on short term trips, going back and forth from here to other countires, touching people for Christ and handing out food with my children, that vision never left my heart. And it hasn't to this day. But as the days and weeks and years go by, sometimes the tediousness of American life and bills and what seems like mundane living can really dull you down to those dreams that once burned so strong in your heart. It seems as if the thing syou are doing every day are not leading you towards that vision...but as I read that story, I realized that God uses times like these for preparation of what lies ahead. To see my children giving food to needy little children and to be in that place of total abandonment in a place that is nothing like America! I would sell it all and live that radical life, and I know that our hearts desire to walk that out with Jesus is coming closer and closer each day.

Weekend at Shell Lake

My parents live at a little cabin in Shell Lake, WI. They were out of town this weekend and offered their cabin to us for a family get away! Here are some cute pictures from this weekend.

Beach Day at Lake Josephine

Some of the moms from the church had abeach day with the kids yesterday, and it was a blast! The kids had so much fun playing together in the water and eating lunch together, and to top it off, we met a mom at the beach who emmigrated here from Iran in 2005. She was very friendly, and we invited her to visit Maranatha. Here are some pictures from beach day that Amber sent. Thanks for all the fun girls!

I will thank You, Lord,
among all the people
I will sing Your praises among the nations
For Your unfailing love is higher than the heavens
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds

Be exalted O God
above the highest heavens
May Your glory shine over all the earth!

Psalms 108:3-4