Sweet Prayer...try again

(let's see if it works now)

I noticed Isaac sitting with his hands folded, head bowed as he jabbered. Jacob was talking and Isaac turned to him, put his finger to his lips and loudly shushed him! It was so funny. So all the kids drew a stick from the prayer pot and prayed...even Isaac! So precious!

Prayer

Once again, I ask for your prayers! Mom is having an MRI tomorrow. She hates being enclosed so will be sedated. Pray for peace, normal results, and some answers. God is good!
I promise I'll post some pictures soon. Life is supposed to be slowing down after Christmas, but it's not!!

From the Mouths of Babes...

As my aunt commented in my last "Anna-ism" post, about having faith like a child. Anna is a sweet example to me of taking everything to my Savior in prayer! Nothing is too trivial for our God...He wants us to bring Him our concerns, worries, cares. And Anna loves to pray. She reminds us to pray before every meal, she asks to pray before going to sleep. And I love hearing what she prays for!

The other day at lunch, she was praying for a list of people. Then she said "and for Jake...he's such a nice boy." !!!!!!!
Tonight before bed, she prayed "that Mommy & Daddy will be able to potty train Jacob" HA! Maybe that's her hint?! ;)
I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

Pray for these little ones

Do you all have any idea how blessed I am to be surrounded by a family (and friends) that are prayer warriors? There are two little ones that I ask you all to pray for tomorrow...
Addison, my cousin's little girl (almost 2) will be having her tonsils removed tomorrow. I think Daddy is gone this week, but Papa & Grandma will be there. Pray for Teresa (not only for tomorrow but all week while Ike is gone) and Addison and the boys!
Also, pray for a little boy named Karsten. He will be having surgery tomorrow as well. Pray for his Mom (Monique) and his dad (Thad) as well as the surgeon and nurses. They are friends of ours from a church we used to attend.
I also haven't mentioned anything about Mom recently. She just went to an immunologist last week to try and figure out why she still doesn't have any B cells (which is basically your immune system I think) and why she keeps getting sick (colds which turn into pneumonia). The B cell chemo she took about 2 years ago is what caused it to happen, but they should have grown back by now. So pray for wisdom for her doctors to figure out what's going on and that it can be corrected! And pray that we all stay healthy so we can see her over Christmas break!!!!
Thank you, dear family!

Prayer Request *UPDATED*

Please pray for my cousin's wife, Amy. She is due in September and I just found out she has the "h1n1" virus (swine flu). That's all I know right now (and since it's pretty well just family that reads this....)

*I just talked to Scott and Amy is doing good. They caught it early enough that she didn't have to be hospitalized and she and Daniel (their 1 yr. old son) are on some medication. They're watching her closely, but praise God that it was caught early!*

Healing Hearts Ranch

I've posted before about my cousin's horse therapy ranch. And since I'm pretty sure most people that read this blog are family, I won't go into details about his place! :)

We recently got their update email. The Lord is working in so many broken lives through Scott and Amy. I am passionate about kids and horses, so I love hearing about their work! We live in an incredibly broken world. It seems to get more 'broken' as the hours go by. So many people, especially children, are hurting and lost and broken. And Healing Hearts Ranch is a safe haven for them and a place where they can learn to love and trust again. I can't say enough about the awesome things Scott and Amy are doing!

A group of ladies from church have started meeting on Friday mornings for "Prayer in the Park"...sort of a Bible study/prayer time focusing on praying for our families. We've been specifically looking for Scriptures to pray. I came across a verse in Philippians that I have started praying for Scott, Amy and the ranch. Maybe it only makes sense in my mind!

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense til the day of Christ."

Philippians 1:9-10

I've worked with special needs kids before (minimal compared to what Scott deals with), but I know how much it can take out of you emotionally. Ups and downs, joy and frustrations...all to the extremes on both ends. I just pray that the Lord would renew their spirits every minute of the day, that He would cause their love to abound even more in knowledge and discernment as they deal with, teach, and love these kids and families.

I also want to ask all of you to hold Scott and Amy and the ranch up in prayer. You can go to the website for some specific needs they have there.

Ah-ha!

Have you ever had one of those "ah-ha!" moments? We're facing a decision right now and we're desperately trying to discern God's will for us. We've talked and discussed and weighed the pros and cons. We've prayed and prayed. We've asked others to pray for us. We've asked others for their wisdom. Tonight, I was struggling a lot. I really want to know that this is where God is taking us. I want to have that peace that surpasses all understanding. I want to KNOW that this is God's will for us. I couldn't sleep. Aaron & I talked for almost an hour. As I was laying there listening to his deep breathing, begging God for peace, I remembered something our pastor said this morning. It was after a lady sang a song called "Trust His Heart" (amazing song). The chorus goes like this:

God is too good to be unkind.

God is too wise to make mistakes.

When you don't understand,

When you can't see His plan,

When you can't trace His hand,

Trust His heart.

Pastor said When you can't see God's plan, what do you do? Do you try to find a way to make it on your own? When you can't sleep at night because you're thinking about stuff, what do you do? Do you get up and pray, do you read the Word, do you praise Him with music? What do you do when you can't trace His hand?

AH-HA! So I got out of bed, bundled up under blankets in the recliner and opened God's Word. I was flipping through the New Testament, reading here and there, skimming titles, reading the underlined verses, when I came across Philippians 4:6. I have had this verse memorized forever it seems. I'm sure I learned it in Sunday school or VBS as a young child.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know unto God."

Praise God that we can be anxious for nothing. That we can tell God our requests and be thankful for what He'll do. What a privilege it is to be a child of our great and mighty King.

New Button

You might notice the new button I added to the sidebar. It's from this amazing woman's blog. I just spent 3 days reading her story from the beginning. If you decide to do the same, have a box of Puffs ready. The blog is dedicated to telling the story of her baby, who only lived a few hours (and they knew at 20 weeks that she wouldn't survive). She's an incredibly gifted writer and an inspiration to turn closer to Christ. Her husband sings in the Christian group Selah. Anyway, she dedicated herself to praying some specific Scriptures over her children every day, 7 times a day. She chose them to correspond with certain activities throughout the day (while they're taking a bath, when they leave the house, when they're eating, etc etc). A friend mailed me these prayers and I have them taped up around the house. It's a challenge, but I want to strive every day to show my children Christ. Won't you join me?! :)
PS-I have some really cute pictures to share (we opened our presents today since we're leaving Tuesday and my husband is really bad at waiting to open gifts;)), but I'm really tired and I haven't downloaded them yet. You'll just have to wait :D
PPS- Mom is home! And she had a surprise when she got there...Jeremy & the kids flew in early :) She didn't have a clue! She is quite possibly the easiest person to surprise.