Prayers in the night

The other day, Ashley said to me, "Last night, my foot was hurting, so I prayed to Jesus and asked Him to make it better," I thought she was done, and I was so happy she turned to the Lord! But she wasn't done, she went on ..."And He put His hand on me, and the pain went away."

Wow.

I've thought about it several times. She is 7. Her faith is pretty brand new. She is learning scripture and Bible Stories. We talk a lot about character ... forgiveness ... and salvation in our house. But what she said -- sounds like a real EXPERIENCE to me. Could it be that during the night, she literally felt the hands of the Lord?? I believe God and have felt His presence many times in my life. But to see it happening in the life of my precious little girl is phenomenal to me. My prayer is that she will never forget the "hand of the Lord." As a child, the "things" of God are easier to accept. Our faith is more pure and we don't need as much hard proof. It is why we pray daily for the faith of our children to grow. It is why our responsibility as parents is to live a life that shows them Jesus every day. And it is why I am thankful for prayers in the night!!!

Just thinking ...

Dangerous, right!!! But I just can't help but share how thankful I am to know Jesus and to have Him in my life, calling the shots. Why am I thinking that right now, in the middle of my day on January 14? Well ...

Our computer died. It was a long, slow death that basically began the minute we purchased it two years ago. Three times it has completely crashed, and Hewlett Packard has replaced the hard drive. This time, they wouldn't do it for free. And I refuse to put another cent into a machine that has caused me so much grief over the last few years. Done.

So, right after Christmas ... we had to buy a computer. It was not a joyous event, like "Hey, I got something new and fun to play with." It felt more like, "Ugh, we have to do this ... when we really can't afford to do it." Now, in the grand scheme of life, my new computer is not a BAD thing. We dug into a Savings account and purchased what we needed. However, combined with some other move-related unexpected expenses, we don't feel as good about some of our options for the spring and summer now. Especially heading home to the states. A very expensive proposition. We were talking about it last night, and just couldn't come to a decision about what to do.

I want to go home. A couple of weeks to see our families is definitely important to me. Our lives have been so crazy for the last few years, we've not had the opportunities to connect with everyone. And Greg and I are both close to our families. In fact, we're both close to each other's families. So, I want to go home.

Today, with no clear direction, and no miraculous deposit of travel money into our checking account, I am giving this issue to the Lord. Because I trust Him. Because I know HE cares about the things I care about. And because I know HE knows what we need. I'm just not going to worry about it. I'm just going to BELIEVE GOD.

This is why it is so cool to love the Lord. And I just thought I'd share it with my friends!!!

Is it already January 6????

Wow, nearly a week of 2009 has passed by, and this is my first time getting to the website. Yikes!!! My New Year's resolution ... more blogging! Maybe I shouldn't call this a resolution, just do my best to do a better job at updating our friends and family on life in Germany.

Well, let's see ... Christmas was GREAT! We had lots of family time and definitely a much-needed "change of pace." Santa brought us a Wii. WHAT FUN! Definitely the best gift of the year, hands down! It was funny because one of my gifts from my AMAZING and thoughtful husband was a massage a few days after Christmas. She noticed a knot in my right shoulder and was asking me about it. I was so embarrassed to say, "Well, we got Wii for Christmas and I've been playing some tennis ..." She just laughed. She'd heard it before!

Germany loves fireworks, so New Year's Eve was an experience! Because of the age of our kids and the extreme COLD here, we didn't go out "on the town" ... just watched out the window at midnight. Unfortunately, Ashley and Lexi fell asleep at 11:20 pm and didn't even move when all the noise started. But Shane popped out of his room right at 12 ... ready to see some "pireworks." Awesome!

Now, with the holidays behind us, we are looking forward to what the new year will bring! I will be teaching the "Enhancing Your Marriage" Bible Study for the ladies' group here, starting next week and I'm really looking forward to it. We have also planned our first real trip and will be going to Berlin at the end of next week. It is about a 5 hour drive and we'll be staying in a German apartment. I'm sure it is going to be quite an experience and I'll definitely post pics!

I'm posting the picture of Miss Alexis, because she lost her tooth!!! What a cutie, with that hole in the front!!!