in life, love, & service: January 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Louis Giglio: How Great is our God Part 1

An amazing sermon which WILL change your view of God!

Louis Giglio: How Great is our God Part 2

Louis Giglio: How Great is our God Part 3

Louis Giglio: How Great is our God Part 5

Friday, January 28, 2011

20 Winters - Besides Daniel - For Andrew Millette

Gordon Mote - Don't Miss The Glory

In Honor & Memory

Tuesday, Eric and I received a phone call with news you never want to hear....

A good friend of ours had died unexpectedly and suddenly of a heart attack while exercising with his fiancée...

He was only 28 ...

We of course are shocked...grieved... and reminded.

Life is a small blimp in eternity.

We are blissfully unaware of the end of our days - only God knows the number, the circumstance.

We are to live our lives to honor and to please Him - to bring glory to his name - to live in AWE and SPEECHLESSNESS at what he has surrounded us with in our life -
Andrew, you were an amazing friend and a challenger to many - you lived your faith whole-heartedly and you were a faithful friend....You ARE missed, but as many have said - the same arms which welcomed you home, are holding us all now .... God knew your leaving would grieve many, but He also KNOWS your impact will TOUCH many!

Welcome home Andrew!

Don't Let Me Miss The Glory

VERSE 1

In the view from the mountains

There's a story to be told

In the crashing of the ocean

There's a power that no man will ever hold

All the stars in the Heavens

Decorate Your handiwork

And like a mighty choir

They've come to celebrate Your worth

CHORUS

Don't let me miss the glory

Don't let me miss the grace

All creation is singing

To the honor of Your name

Don't let me miss the wonder

Don't let me miss the grand design

And the lightning and the thunder

Lord open up my eyes

Don't let me miss the glory

VERSE 2

In the cry of a baby

In the laughter of love

In the dance of the faithful

you will find the greatness of our God above

In the prayer of the righteous

In the beauty of Your grace

In a brand new morning's mercy

All your memories of my sin have been erased

REPEAT CHORUS TWICE

Don't let me miss the glory

Saturday, January 15, 2011

One Heartbeat at a Time

You're up all night with a screaming baby

You run all day at the speed of life

And every day you feel a little bit less

Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

And you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
You're changing the world

And you're changing the world

~ Steven Curtis Chapman ~

Thursday, January 6, 2011

the long awaited 2010 newsletter!

Recently, I have challenged myself to FINISH tasks I have either started…or have started in my head but never put to paper…

This year, I was GOING to be on time! I was going to have my cute little family pictured, written about, stamped and mailed out to you in time for some light Christmas reading before Christmas….then I was hit upside with a good dose of reality and common sense! And hence you are getting this newsletter in electronic form and less than one week before Christmas! (or now that it is after Christmas, let’s try for a few days before this year is OVER?!?!?)

I consol myself by giving myself the title of “green, tree hugger, environmentalist, conservationist, postal service demiser, technology advocate, good steward of finances….,” need I go on?

This year has brought joy, challenges, frustrations and new loves. We have grown, in more ways than one J, and found ourselves challenged to discover what it means to live within God’s plan for our lives. Life has not been easy this year, but we would not trade the lessons, happenings, and memories for anything!

Eric:

Eric continues to work for Blosser Lighting Designs in Harrisonburg. He is the sole man on the job now, and is learning many new aspects of the job. He is enjoying seeing the “lights” of his work and feeling more confident in suggesting ideas and solutions to lighting problems. Eric also finished his third season as assistant coach for Eastern Mennonite High School Varsity Boys Soccer. His boys made it to States this year, sadly losing in the first round. But we are proud of them!! Eric is enjoying the challenge and finds himself wishing he was still actively playing IN the game! We also enjoyed the 2010 World Cup matches from South Africa…Eric was in LOVE with the fact that one of Ky’s favorite things was to watch soccer with daddy! Ky always made sure everyone had their soccer ball in hand to watch the big games! Other activities for Eric include: being Kaide’s current favorite J, working on his EMT CE’s, lots of projects around the house, including working on our back deck, teaching Ky soccer, experimenting with home composting and “gardening,” and holding the fort together!

Crystal:

Crystal is staying busy being, well, busy! We are blessed that she is able to be home full time with the kids this year. She is also doing home daycare, keeping one full time little boy and three part time kids. It is a challenge for her to keep up with all the personalities! But we are glad it gives Kyan and Kaide a chance to socialize with peers. Crystal is also continuing on her journey towards her Family Nurse Practitioner license. She recently completed her semester and is looking forward to starting clinical experiences in acute care in the spring! Her ultimate dream continues to be to work in a women’s health setting that incorporates care of women from early adulthood to one-two years post partum with pediatric/neonatal care. Finding time to complete studies has been a challenge, but thankfully Eric enjoys learning the information as much as Crystal does! Other activities for Crystal include: finding new ways to help Ky stay busy, cleaning and organizing the house, scrapbooking, sewing, and doing other crafty things as time allows, continuing to help out her former boss with small tasks around the office, and more! Her goals for the new year include a hopefully scrapbooking “catch-up” weekend, and perhaps some ventures into the business of crafting?? We shall see!

Kyan:

Kyan is 2 ½ and quite the little guy!! He is always learning, always moving and ALWAYS EATING! He continues to amaze us with his talents, his energy and his knowledge. Kyan’s memory is outstanding, often remembering things from months ago. He loves the game Memory and is mommy and daddy’s “go to” to find whatever it is that WE lost! He wants to be just like his daddy, copying EVERYTHING he does! Ky exercises with daddy, shovels snow, runs, plays soccer, always wants to go to work with daddy. Ky loves the soccer field, and “his boys.” We, ok maybe mostly Eric, are thrilled that Ky gets to grow up around the game. Kyan continues to adore his sister, although he is realizing that she is now of the age where she wants to be just like Kyan! This is bringing new challenges as Ky is needing to learn what can be shared and what, as he calls it, “is dangerous.” Ky’s vocabulary and word choice brings many smiles to our house, including: “different else,” “Mommy, I’m a handful!”, “Don’t worry about it,” “Jeepers,” “Oh my nud-ness,” “Taide,” and so many more... We, as his parents, are challenged daily with being creative with his busy little mind! His generous and compassionate spirit, are character traits we hope to strengthen and encourage. His servant attitude and desire to learn are refreshing. His eagerness to learn, however, keeps us hopping, and challenges us to not be short-tempered. Pray God daily reminds us and graces us with creativity to encourage his exploration of the world versus allowing him to get bored and thus in trouble!

Kaide:

Kaide, sweet Kaide. Now almost 10 months, Kaide joined our family March 12, 2010 at 1:52 pm. She was 7 lbs, 9 oz and 19 inches long. If we could have just one word to describe our daughter, joyful, comes to our minds. She is a pleasant baby, excellent sleeper (sleeping through the night since 6 weeks!), active, happy, and snuggly little girl. Kaide adores her big brother and no one can make her giggle quite as much as he can! Her smile is contagious and she loves to shower us all with it! Crawling, cruising, and even standing on her own for a few seconds now, she won’t surprise us if she is walking by the end of the year! Her current favorites include her Anamalz, her Ellie, pacifier, Kyan, da-da, and all sorts of Gerber Graduate Puffs! She makes us laugh with her dramatics, she is a very sensitive child and often small things seem like a crisis (ie – small bumps, taking medicine, insults, etc) … we have to be mindful to not give in and to laugh a little, because her “pouty, put out” face is just so adorable and hard to resist!! We are constantly amazed at the similarities and the differences between our kids, and have to remind ourselves not to compare! Although, daddy does secretly hope Kaide is as enthralled with soccer as he and Ky are! And, Crystal speaking here, although daddy adamantly denies the charges, a certain little girl DEFINETLY has her da-da wrapped tightly around her little fingers! I know we ALL love Kaide snuggles!

Both kids LOVE having Aunt Net live right downstairs! Ky always wants to “go to Aunt Net’s house,” perhaps because of the never-ending supply of olives and marshmallows?? Or the way she spoils him with packing peanuts, scrambled eggs with CHEESE, and special Aunt Net toys?? Kaide loves the extra snuggles and attention she gets too J.

Saba:

The 5^th addition to our home came in the form of Saba, our Morkie (Maltese, Yorkie mix) puppy who joined us at the end of October. Crystal has wanted a dog for a long time now and finally Eric agreed we could give it a try! Saba is Swahili for “seven.” Eric challenged Crystal to come up with a Swahili name for the dog – Crystal chose Saba because it took her 7 years to convince Eric we needed a puppy in our lives! While this puppy stage has been quite the learning experience, we are enjoying this stage and love watching Saba & Charlie (Saba’s brother who is Aunt Net’s dog, gotten at the same time), play and tear around the house chasing each other and their tails! Both kids LOVE the dogs and Ky is finally overcoming some of his fears of animals!

The coming of the New Year has brought the classic reminder of “New Year’s Resolutions” and the challenges those bring. We find ourselves hopeful in our aspirations for this New Year, and leave you with the challenge to find 1-2 things in your own life to “improve” on! Our list includes: finding new and creative meal plans with the food we preserved this summer, simplifying our life (including giving away our excess), focusing on quality time as a family, discovering how we can “Speak to Nations,” and challenging ourselves continue changing what we can in our daily lives to be better stewards of God’s gifts to us (the earth, those around us, our finances, our home, our kids, each other, etc.). Crystal is challenging herself to find something everyday which makes her feel like an adult! Be it a cleaning project, doing my hair, wearing nice earrings or clothes, doing a craft project or simply taking a moment to herself…hard challenge in this life of little fingers and toes that she currently lives in! We are also encouraged to grow as a couple, spiritually and in relationship together. As we approach the start of our 7^th year of marriage in May, we challenge ourselves to not see it as the proverbial “hardest” year of marriage, and instead are committed to making it an AMAZING year, no matter what journey we may encounter. That being said, we are excited for what God has in store this year, 2011!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Eric, Crystal, Kyan and Kaide

Enjoy some pictures of our year, in reverse order, December 10 to January 10 since blogger won't let me change them!

caught in the act of chocolate chip cookies...Nov 10

Thomas!

photo by Jeannette

world cup 2010!

5th anniversary trip - falling off rock to get in picture!

Ky turns 2!! April 17

Kaide Eileen!

First night in big boy bed, January 10

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Challenged by God's Love

Recently I have been challenged by God's love and "putting things into perspective."

The other day, Ky was having a major meltdown and refused to come give me kisses and hugs goodnight. he would not tell me he loved me. I was heartbroken, but knew I could not force him to do these actions. He had to come to me, willingly, wantingly. Just like we need to approach God. God hurts for our attention when we stubbornly refuse to give it to Him.

Someone recently made the statement that they did not want to let their child "cry-it-out", and while that is completely their choice to make and live with, I am challenged by what letting a child "cry-it-out" means to me.

For me, it is a picture of Christ's love. Choosing to let Ky "cry-it-out" in efforts to teach him to self-soothe himself, was one of the harder moments of parenting for Eric and I. We were desperate, we were selfish for our sleep, and most of all, we loved Kyan too much to let him continue to have sleepless nights, poor sleeping habits, and the inability to self-soothe.

God never said parenting would be easy - He modeled this for us in His own "Father-Son" relationship. He choose to let His son DIE, He gave up His son to US, to the earth for a while - He did this because of love - because we too are HIS children and He loves us that much! God does not force us to love Him, He allows us to hurt Him, to cause Him indescribable pain, because He wants us to WANT HIM! to love Him!! God doesn't force us into submission, taking the easy way - God could choose to have us all love Him and be happy ever after, but instead He does what is best for us - He allows us to make our choices, so as a result, we desire Him because we CHOOSE HIM!

Parenting is HARD! But, like God choses to do what is best for us, versus what we think is best or what the easiest route would be, we too sometimes have to make hard choices for our children. We have to do these things so they will learn how to make the right choices - how to chose Christ. We have to model the Father's love.

There is nothing wrong with choosing to allow your child to "cry-it-out." You must do what is right for your child, what works.

With Ky, we tried so many things to no avail. He wanted mommy, He needed to learn.

He cried it out, and as a result, both He and We learned more about God's comfort, love and presence. (He learned this as we have been able to reinforce God's presence even in the still darkness of night and to hear Ky say, Jesus is with me.)