Resolved

Instead of apathy, love

Instead of complaining, gratefulness

Instead of hatred, forgiveness

Instead of bitterness, compassion

Instead of judgment, prayer

Instead of laziness, service

Instead of depression, cut out sugar

Instead of manipulation, humility

Instead of frustration, patience

Instead of self-pity, pondering the needs of others

Instead of anger, peace

Instead of giving up, giving it all to Him

Who enables me, by His glorious and awe-some Spirit, to live a life of Love.

You Raise me Up

Selah - You Raise Me Up Lyrics

When I am down, and oh my soul, so weary.

When troubles come, and my heart burdened be.

Then I am still and wait here in the silence.

Until You come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

There is no life no life without its hunger.

Each restless heart beats so imperfectly.

But when you come and I am filled with wonder.

Sometimes I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains.

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas.

I am strong when I am on your shoulders.

You raise me up to more than I can be.

***

He has risen me up.

It's been a long month, a long season of depending on Him for every bit of energy I need. I have teetered on the ridge of exhaustion, physically and emotionally. It is a fight to keep my thoughts from wandering to "And then what? Who's next to come down with some terrible disease?" 

These bodies are temporary. This life is fleeting. I cannot stake anything upon this world. Only in Christ, only in Him is it worth giving everything for.

Funny Say-ings Vol. 1

Mommy asks Josh to get the oatmeal out for breakfast. He browses the pantry and begins to quietly read aloud the labels. Mommy peeks around the corner to see how he is doing.

Mommy: "I need the quick oats."

Joshua, holding out the quick oats container: "Quack oats!"

***

Thanksgiving turkey dinner at a family friend's house:

Rachel asks our host: "Bill, did you shoot this chicken?"

***

According to Rachel it is "Pinnie-ah-Wooh"

***

***

Madelynn to Daddy: "You take your beard off at night?"

Daddy: "No. What do you think I would look like if I didn't have a beard?"

Rachel: "Like a girl!..[lots of laughter] Or a dinosaur!"

***

Rachel is eating some leftover ham for lunch.

Rachel: "Mommy, is this pig?"

Mommy: "Yes."

Joshua: "Rachel, you are eating a pig...!"

Madelynn: "Oink, oink."

Rachel: "Mommy, did you shoot this pig?"

***

Josh, Rachel and Madelynn are playing cowboys with their "horses" (brooms).

Mommy: "What's the name of your horse, Josh?"

Joshua: "My horse's name is Green Lightning and my name is Green Flash."

Mommy: "How about you Rachel?"

Rachel: "Mine is Pink Shooting Star. Her name's Crunch Cracker."

Mommy: "Madelynn, how about you? What's your horse's name?"

Madelynn: "This is a Broom and my name is Madelynn."

***

Mommy and Rachel are baking a cake.

Rachel: "Mommy, can I hatch these eggs and then put them in the bowl?"

***

Joel decides to shave off his beard one evening.

Madelynn: "You look fancy!"

Rachel: "You don't look like a girl. You look like a teenager."

***

Rachel mixes up the various elements on her dinner plate. Then exclaims: "This will be so good you won't believe your mouth!"

***

Our kids were over at our neighbors' house, John and Brook and their three kids. 

John to Hudson: "Hey little buddy!"

Madelynn: "He's not little buddy, he's a butter ball."

***

We cut down our Christmas tree this year. Rachel insisted on carrying it to the car herself.

Merry Christmas to you dear Reader!

As December melts into Christmas Joel and I keep reminding ourselves:


"Have a Mary Christmas, not a Martha Christmas."


I don't remember who told us this little quote, but I am thankful for it.

Our Huggable Butterball

Mr. Suave

Happy boy

Can you see his teeth?

Purple carrots make a good beard...

Clean shaven!

Classic 'shirt on head-tummy hanging out' picture!

bright smiles!

Canada boy!

Eucharisteo

I (Renee) remember a day this past summer where the kids and I were sitting at the beach, throwing rocks in the water. We happened to be sitting next to a mother and her preschool daughter. This little girl was eating some pretzels and decided to share them with her new friends. As she offered them to Rachel, my heart sank. Rachel shook her head and said bluntly, "I can't have gluten," and sat down facing me and started building something with the rocks. The little friend then offered them to Josh and Madelynn who accepted the pretzels. I had nothing with me to give to Rachel and, as I watched her, I felt helpless. J, M, and Little Friend proceeded to play and as they did, Rachel looks up at me suddenly. I'll never forget what she said to me- "Why did Jesus make me not to have gluten?" I swallowed hard and whispered "I don't know, Rachel." She looked down and kept playing. But I knew that her heart hurt just like mine.

This day, this moment of remembrance was brought to me because recently a similar moment happened with Joshua just a few days ago. We were home from the hospital and I was sitting in the living room. I don't remember where the other three kids were but I remember the living room being quiet. Joshua walks by and stops. I look up and he's looking at me. My heart hurts as I see him standing there, so small, so skinny from having lost weight, so helpless. He asks me a question- "Mommy, why did God give me diabetes?" There's pain in his voice and in his face. So much pain that I look away and shake my head. "I don't know Josh," is all I can whisper. He walks away and my heart cries out to God.

I don't know the answer to the question 'why', or even 'how'. But when my heart turns to God I find peace. He comforts me, and He tells me to thank Him. Thank Him in everything. So that is what I am doing. And that is what I can tell Rachel and Joshua. I may not know the answers but I know what we can do.

Happy Thanksgiving to you dear reader.

11 Things Joshua liked about the hospital:

1. His "Travelling Buddy" (the IV pole). He liked to watch the computer screen.

2. The enormous meals.

3. All the attention from nurses and doctors and nursing students and social workers and volunteers and nurse practitioners and diabetes educators and Mommy and Daddy.

4. Playing with the nurses.

5. Sleeping in the hospital bed with Daddy.

6. He could make the bed move up and down.

7. Peeing in a bottle.

8. The insulin shots (because they tickle {praise the Lord!}) and that the finger pokes don't hurt.

9. Making snowflakes to put in the window and praying for the next kid who would be in the room.

10. Getting new stuffed animals and a drawing pad and stickers to share with his sisters.

11. Watching Thomas and Toy Story 3 from his bed.

Joshua had been excessively hungry and thirsty the last three weeks. He urinated a couple times an hour. Renee did some research last Tuesday evening; everything pointed to Type I Diabetes. She got an appointment at the clinic here for Wednesday morning. Urine and blood tests showed very high blood glucose levels. We were to be booked into St. Mary's Children's Hospital that same afternoon. Joshua and I drove down, leaving Renee and the others at home. Once at the hospital he was hooked up to saline to get re-hydrated. Another blood test confirmed diabetes. Doctors recommended Renee come down the next day to begin our education on keeping Joshua healthy. Graciously some friends took the girls and our pastor and wife drove Renee and Hudson down to the hospital. Thursday was filled with learning and trying to retain and praying that we would not get overwhelmed. Thank-you for others who prayed that as well. We could have returned home Thursday night, but didn't feel comfortable with the dosing and carb counting. But by Friday morning we had gone through a couple of different glucose level scenarios, had showers at the Sheraton, and had a better grasp on this new life. Understanding of how Joshua's body is working will grow in time. Truthfully, even before these last few days we've often felt just on the brink of what we can handle. But what better place to live than where we are constantly reminded to call on Jesus, because He brought us here and He means to do great things in us and through us here.

Joel.

Love Sketches

Drawn by: Joshua

Top Left Clockwise: Jesus, God, Hudson, Joshua (in middle), Daddy

Mommy and the girls are in the house.

Yes that's a rainbow with a sun and a cloud and they are all flying kites (except God)

Fifth week of School: Rachel writes her name by herself. (Ff was the letter of the week)

Proud younger sister beams!

Drawn by Rachel and Joshua.

Starting at the Top Left across: Mommy, Rachel, Joshua;

Bottom Left: Hudson, Madelynn, Daddy

Written by Rachel (assisted by Mommy): "Rachel Mommy do school and they love each other"

(Can you hear my heart melting??)

We go to our knees for your church tonight and tomorrow O Lamb who was slain.

(parental discretion advised)

For Eva Ruby Christine and Emily Grace and especially their Mothers

Away for Awhile

We went camping.

Just us and the kids.

We went apple picking...

and caramel apple picking...

We made sand angels in the road...

the kids loved that...

So did I...

we ran through the leaves...

and took a break from the every day...

It was a wonderful weekend!

Headlines!

Two big events happened in the P__ household this week. Rachel finished Preschool and will be starting Kindergarten next week. Rachel is very excited about this and she is hoping to finish K before Christmas. *smile*

Joshua had a big event today. During lunch he was munching on some peanuts. One of the peanuts seemed hard in his mouth so he spit it out- a tooth! Yes folks, our six year old has lost his first tooth!

Well that's all today, until next time...

Bits and Pieces

Just a quick post to let those who care know that Hudson has two little teeth! He got them yesterday!

And Joshua has two loose teeth with two adult teeth halfway through.

Rachel has amazed me over and over again. It seems as though she will "lag" behind in a certain area of development and then all of a sudden catch up and go beyond what I "expect" of her. Just in the last couple weeks she has been able to write her name by herself, draw stick people with pigtails and foreheads, write numbers 1-3, and recognize numbers 1-10.

Nothing new with Madelynn. I think she's a little taller. She's cute and adorable, but she's says she's not- she's MaDAlynn. (emphasis hers)

Joel and I are starting to read this book, after reading my Dad's blog. Whew! I've only read a little over one chapter, and I'm already convinced. Joel's read more than I and he's even thinking about making a diet change. But the Lord is reminding me of the passage in Matthew 6- Why do I need to worry about what I eat or wear? I need to continually be seeking God's Kingdom. Then all the other things will be added to me as well. Diet changes can consume me mentally, so I need to be careful and let the Holy Spirit lead us as we pursue Him and doing our best to keep our temples honorable and pure.

September

A Gift

THANK YOU GRAMPA JACK AND GRAMMA JEAN!

We like our new magazines a lot!

Good Post on Homeschooling, er, Parenting actually

My (Renee) Dad ran across a wonderful article on parenting, specifically homeschooling, but any parent could pan for gold in this excellent post. It's long, but please take the time to read it.

Here is an excerpt that rang within my own spirit:

Typically, when we belittle others who don't measure up to our standards, we will also imagine others are judging us. Consequently, we will find ourselves frequently being defensive. We assume that others will think lowly of us for some perceived inadequacy, so we offer unsolicited explanations and clarifications for us or our children. For example, let's say we walked past a TV at Sears and saw something of interest - when we tell others what we saw, we are careful to clarify that we saw it at Sears and weren't watching a TV at home. If we live under fear of judgment, not only will we tend to be on the defensive, but whenever we are in a public setting where our children might be "watched," we will put pressure on them.

Please read the whole thing, it's good!

We have a bird bath!

Thanks DirecTV!

Trip to Washington State

At the end of August we had the blessing of being able to spend five days with my (Joel's) extended family in Washington State. My Grandparents, Uncle, Aunt and her husband and three of my cousins, live either at or nearby a Free Methodist Camp called Warm Beach Camp in the Peugeot Sound north of Seattle. It was my grandparent's sixtieth anniversary. My parents drove down from Alberta with my sister JoAnne and her three boys: Kaleb (nearly four), and identical twins Caius and Lucas (2). Unfortunately her husband Shane wasn't able to come. My brother Jeff and his wife Mandy also drove down from British Colombia.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP

Hudson tries on his West Coast shades.

Rachel talks with Nana about how people will look like 'dots' from the airplane.

FAMILY

Grandma Ann meets Hudson for the first time.

Cousin Caleb. All the cousins had a blast together.

Lucas and Caius. Or Caius and Lucas.

Great Grandma Ann with Rachel Ann.

My parents with Hudson.

We stayed at the campground at Warm Beach. We had all 138 sites to ourselves, which was great with seven little kids running around. And one Daddy running around!

The twins get a ride in my uncle Jack's tricycle. Jack has been on Maintenance staff at Warm Beach for 26 years now. It was really good to see him.

It'd been a couple years since we'd seen Jeff and Mandy. Here we were stopping to meet some of the camp's horses and enjoy the abundant blackberries.

For once we were not out-numbered by kids!

Sitting around the campfire with my Grandparents.

Mini-golf with my cousin Tim.

THE BEACH

We spent an afternoon on the beach on the south end of Camano Island where my grandparents used to live. It wasn't open ocean (we had Whidby Island and the Olympic Pennisula between us yet), but we got to smell the ocean, find clam and crab shells and see the tide come in.

WILDLIFE

Prior to the trip I had built the kids' excitement for seeing the native west coast slug.

And we were not disappointed.

Well, Renee was.

SUMMARY

Hudson's thoughts on flying after 3 1/2 hours.

All in all, the kids did very well with all the driving, catching shuttles, flying, more driving, and camping (in a very nice camper , thank God and Aunt Margie). God gave us much grace in it all. We may not travel again for a long time, but it was worth it. To spend time with my family and see my Grandma and my Grandpa who had had a stroke since I'd seen him last. I actually had a hard time not crying as we said goodbye and walked away. He for one I look forward to standing with in heaven in a lineage of faith, praising Jesus together.