Full Heart!

My heart is full!

Have you ever carried a prayer need in your heart like a physical ache?  Has a situation seemed so troubling that it sometimes kept you awake at night or gave you nightmares?  Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you could only say, "God, please take over and do what You will because I just can't bear to worry about it anymore!" 

A few posts ago I mentioned a difficult situation some good friends are going through and asked you to pray on behalf of the children involved.

I just got a call and the children will be going to a safe and stable home!  God has answered the many, many prayers of many faithful ones with a resounding "YES!"

I am sooooooo thankful and already planning the party to celebrate!

Thanks to those of you who prayed!

Praise and Prayer Need--Update on the Preemies

In January, I asked you all to pray for two families in our church that had preemies in late December.

Aidan, my friend Lori's son, was born at 25.5 weeks, weighing only 1.5 lbs.  He has spent the last few months in Denver and his family is hoping he can come home within the next few weeks.

This sweet little guy who used to be able to wear his Daddy's wedding ring as a super-sized wrist bracelet is now over 5lbs. and thriving.  His greatest hurdle is to learn to eat properly.  After lots and lots of work, he's finally succeeding.  His Mama is pumping around the clock, since he is too weak to nurse.  It has been a tough time for this family as their other 3 kids, age 2, 5, and 6 have had to be shuffled to their grandparents in Nebraska, to living with Mom in the Ronald McDonald House in Denver, to living with Dad when he has some time off of work here.  Another challenge is that Lori has had 3 rounds (THREE ROUNDS!!!) of bed bugs in the last few months and is desperately praying they don't come home with her to infest her whole house as she's dealing with adjusting to life with 4 kids.  Pray for Aidan to eat well and the bed bugs saga to end.  Praise the Lord for blessing Aidan with health and strength!

The other family from church who had a preemie, Gabriel, who was born 2 months early, bid him goodbye last Wednesday night. He had a rare condition that experts all over the country could not diagnose or help. They were able to keep him alive for a few months, trying various surgeries and medicines, hoping he would gain strength, but there wasn't a way to help him.  His family needs our prayers now more than ever as they grieve this tremendous loss.  We are thankful that little Gabriel is free from pain and happier and more whole right now than he could ever be on this earth, but grieved by the loss of his presence here with us.

A Praise and Prayer Request

I've been doing the 5'O Clock Club that the Girl Talkers started on Feb. 1st (though it's 6 O'Clock for me!). I have been going to bed earlier this year thanks to my punishment (if I stay up beyond 11pm I lose a whole day of internet) and have been wanting to get back into the wise habit of rising before the family for time with God. The other day I began my day by praying that God would help me to know what He wants me to do for teen girls. I've been wanting to start a group or Bible Study with them this year, but we've been so busy, and the teens themselves are busy, and none of the books I've purchased and reviewed have seemed right.

My answer came that night. The phone rang and we wondered who would be calling us so late. The hesitant voice of a teen girl at church softly asked if I would be willing to meet with her weekly and do a Bible Study with her. I was astounded and excited and nervous all at the same time! I think we will probably be meeting for pie and Bible Study in a local restaurant on Tuesday nights.

Please keep me in prayer as I seek to teach and encourage this young woman in what it means to be a Christian and how to walk with the Lord.

What an exciting adventure it is to walk with God and share Him with others! How gracious and loving He is to answer our prayers and use a very-far-from-perfect person like me to somehow mentor a young woman with a bright future!

Please Pray

Pic of our nephew David, 2 months old.

Would you join me in praying for a few families who could use it right now?

Please pray for Gabriel and his family. This little guy whose family attends our church was born 2 months early and isn't doing too well. There is fluid on his spine and in his legs. Pray for God's hand to be with this family. They have a 16 month old son as well.

Please pray for my friend Lori as she was rushed to Denver shortly before Christmas and ended up having her baby at 25.5 weeks. Little Aidan is doing well for being only 1#, 9 oz. and 13 inches long, but may need heart surgery to repair something that's not closing properly. Pray that the valve would respond to medicine so he can avoid surgery and that God would be with this family. Her husband is currently back in our town, working, and their children are on her parents' farm in Nebraska with them. She has a very strong faith that carried them through the loss of their fourth child, who came at 20 weeks along and passed away, just a year ago. If all goes well she expects to be in Denver for about 3 months with Aidan. This is very tough on the family for them all to be separated. They have a 6, 4, and 2 year old.

Also, please pray for God's comfort and peace to be with some dear friends who experienced a miscarriage this week with their first baby.

Blessings

Uncle Coco says goodbye to Justy

I've shared bits and pieces of how God has taken care of us during this time of temporary scarcity. From anonymous gifts of money to wedding and groom's dinner leftovers, God has poured out His provision on our family during this time. We still haven't had to dip into savings yet and we discovered this month that we are surviving on $1,500 a month!

My brother and his new wife came back from their honeymoon last Tuesday and then flew out on Thursday to go to Florida for their huge reception at Anna's church and yesterday they arrived home to Honduras. It was sad to say goodbye and see them go knowing it will be a few years until we see them. I'm definitely going to look into getting a webcam! Hard to imagine that Justus will be about Ali's age next time they are around and Ali will be in 2nd or 3rd grade!

Because part of their honeymoon involved "camping" in a frigid, remote cabin deep in the Big Horn mountains, they had bought lots of groceries for their trip. They spent a few nights in a fancy resort lodge in the mountains and then headed to this cabin. Due to freezing temps, green wood Colter split, and no water, they decided after two nights of what my brother termed, "misery" they would head to a hotel in the closest town. I can't say I blame them! Their olive oil froze solid overnight and they had to walk 1/4 mile in to the cabin hauling their gear on a sled. They had to melt snow to wash dishes and their dishwater froze solid in the sink overnight too. In spite of all of this, Anna enjoyed this rustic trip and had a good time roughing it. Colter, the die hard mountain man/cowboy didn't!

So, when they returned home for a few days to open and pack wedding gifts and sort their things, they gave us three huge bags of groceries. How exciting and yet another way God takes care of us! We got a bag of snacks (most unopened) crackers, chex mix, etc, 10# bag of potatoes, jar of olive oil, some fancy spices and seasoning packets, eggs, tangerines, bread and english muffins, jelly, tea, etc. I also got to take as many gift bags as I wanted from Anna. My stash was getting low so I'm excited to have tons of pretty gift bags, tulle bows, and tissue paper now and it's perfect timing since we know about 7 couples getting married this year!

On our Current Trial

I thought it would be good to virtually jot down for posterity how God is taking care of us in our tough set of circumstances right now. It helps me process things and reminds me that I have much to be thankful for.

Tonight one of the most giving people at church brought us a meal. It was a meal fit for a king, no pun intended. In fact, I'll describe it here so you know what to bring someone next time you need ideas for meal ministry:

Pork chops

Mashed potatoes

Pureed summer squash

Spinach and Spring Mix salad with cherry tomatoes, cukes, and avocado

A loaf of homemade oatmeal bread

A container of homemade applesauce to eat on the pork

(from apples grown in their own yard--a rare feat in Wyo.)

A fluffy, orange-cream, cheese-cake-like pie

In addition to this, the deacon board at our church surprised us and gave us a couple of gas cards which will help with expenses to and from Billings. And a young man my hubby works with and knows from Youth Group offered to drive him to Billings today for his check-up. Yay, I don't have to go!

We're anxious to find out more from the doctors about how everything is healing and how long his cast will be on, etc. I have a ton of paperwork to complete this week what with financial forms, medical bill stuff, doing our taxes, and getting regular bills paid. I'm sure I'll feel like a full-time secretary at the end of this week!

One other blessing is that when King Jo worked out the February budget, he found that we can get by on a lot less than he had originally realized and so instead of taking his whole week of paid vacation last week, he only took 3 days and saved 2. By taking less pay, he can stretch his two weeks of vacation into at least 3 weeks of taking it easy and healing up.

I see God working in this situation and I know it was in His plan. I see my husband feeling so much better and talking about working part-time this week (varnishing with his right hand) and things look so much brighter. I see folks helping us and offering help and it's such a blessing. I have had moments of resentment though when I feel like I've been serving people endlessly all day and just want a few minutes to sit down and yet things always come up that need to be done. I was especially overwhelmed the other day staring at a mountain of dirty dishes and thinking about the fact that we won't be getting a dishwasher this spring, something hubby had hinted at a few weeks ago since we had some extra money and he knows it would really bless me. There are other things weighing on my mind, but instead of worrying I just have to give them to God and trust that no matter how uncomfortable trials can be, God is using them for my good.

I also know there are folks going through so much more than we are. I'm so blessed to have options and people around me who can help. There are people in Africa who have to watch their children die for lack of food/money/jobs. There are people like Hannah Overton, unjustly accused and stuck in prison, apart from her little kids and husband. There are people who have been in car accidents or are paralyzed and are in constant physical pain. Our time of temporary scarcity is nothing compared to these things!

A Heart Overflowing With Praise

I mentioned in my last post that there were many temptations to give in to worry this week. Well, only one day has passed, but already things are looking so much better!

We contacted all of the proper authorities on Monday morning and got our financial stuff taken care of. It turns out that the folks who stole our information did indeed try to use our debit card all weekend. (Isn't it sad that they probably purposely did this just before a weekend so we couldn't take care of it for a couple of days until banks opened up?) But, here's the cool thing: They made a few charges to both e-bay and AOL to "test the card." It turns out these $1 charges get credited back to you since they are just set up to test people's credit accounts and so they get refunded back to your account. Obviously the folks were testing out our info. Then, they tried to make a larger purchase somewhere online and then tried to do an even larger purchase. For reasons totally unknown to us (but known to our God), the card wouldn't work on the bigger purchases. There is no reason it shouldn't have because it worked for the minimal test runs they gave it. I believe with all of my heart that it was God! I believe He was answering our prayers and looking out for us even a day or two before we discovered the fraud and started praying over it! Can God answer our prayers before we even pray them? I believe He can! God is so, so good to us! He blows my mind!

While we will still need to be vigilant about watching our credit report and have learned a lot from this experience, I think the worst of it is over. I can't help but wonder if God allowed this in our lives in order to bless one of you out there too! Maybe one of my blog readers, or one of our friends or family members would have been scammed out of a TON of money if not for the warning to be careful about things like this. Or maybe the steps we took to track the phisher will end in their capture, preventing them from hurting more people.

Thank you for your prayers! Also, my neck is feeling amazing today!