If you are at all interested in watching Erin playing soccer, you will have an opportunity on Saturday!!!

The big game is coming up! Saturday, Erin's team will begin competition in the national tournament. 32 teams will battle to go to Alabama. Houghton will compete against Indiana Wesleyan University (ranked #8) at 2:00 at IWU's campus. Mark and I are planning to go. We won't be able to make it to Alabama if they make it that far, but we can at least try to make it to this one. For many of you, you have heard me talk about Erin and soccer, but have never had a chance to watch her play. Evidentally, the game will be televised via the IWU website. Here is the link:
http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10&StartGameDay=11/19/2010&EndGameDay=12/2/2010&tab=3#WSO_anchor
(I think!) If you can't get it that way, then just go to www.indwes.edu and click on athletics and then find women's soccer and eventually you will find it. Erin was told that there is no cost to this telecast. If they make it to Alabama, you can watch her live but it will cost $10.00/game or $25.00/for the whole tournament.

If you do chose to watch Saturday, she is #10 and is a midfielder.

Here is a link to an exciting game in the qualifying tournament (Erin scored the winning goal):
http://athletics.houghton.edu/news/2010/11/13/WSOC_1113100650.aspx?path=wsoc





I took these pictures from the Houghton Website. I believe the copyright belongs to Mike Wise. His website with all the pictures from the Houghton Games is: http://mikewise07.smugmug.com/Houghton-College-Soccer/2010Women

I hate it when God works on me with 2x4's. I recently found myself in a position that lead me to some serious assumptions. Before I knew it, I began assuming that my assumptions were right and all of a sudden, my "mama bear" instincts kicked in. God, very quickly, revealed to me some serious character flaws. I really do hate be humbled. The only good thing is that I refuse (at least for now) to make any assumptions anymore. Never assume anything. There are way too many times when things appear one way simply because we can't see the whole picture. And to make things worse, our own biases nearly always will cause us to see things in the wrong light.

As for life around here.., it is pretty crazy. I have watched unjustness occur, or at least my perception of unjust actions towards one of my kids. Thus.. the mama bear. I have battled wills with teenagers and head strong kindergartners; trying to figure out what is the best response to help train my kids. And now I am struggling with some things that are going on in our community. Serious things that have shook me at my core. Fear has begun to set in and despite my knowledge and faith in God... I'm finding myself looking around every corner and wondering about the worst things that could happen. Oh.. I know about trusting in God. But right now I am feeling uneasiness; once again shaking my thoughts about blogging.

As for the health of my kids. They are doing great. Ri's surgery has been moved to January. Erin's surgery is December 22. This one is for her shoulder. We jsut found out that her knees are not in good shape. The MRI report indicates some "relatively complicated" things. It isn't a simple fix and will require at least 6 months recovery. She is facing 4 months after her shoulder surgery. The doctor has only seen the report; not the actual films from it.. so he can't really make an accurate diagnosis just yet. We will know more as soon as we can get her back home again. In the meantime, she is in a lot of pain, but playing through intense games. Houghton just became the AMC Conference Champions and have advanced to the top 32 teams competing for the National Title. The teams all compete this Saturday. If they win, they will be in the sweet 16. That begins November 29th in Alabama. Erin wants to make it to the nationals badly. I am just praying that her body holds out. She is in some serious pain.

Emily just met with an advisor at BBC regarding an apprenticeship/intern program at Skyview. For the first time in her life, I think Emily knows... for sure...what her call is. She is consumed by camping. God took her experience at Skyview to change her from the inside out. Her thoughts are focused completely on camp. So.. she is planning on taking 18 credits this next semester so that she can begin at Skyview in the fall of next year. She will spend a year as an intern and then will finish her senior year online. She will graduate with a focus on camp ministry and will seek a position in a camp. She is so excited that she can hardly stand it. It is an answer to prayer. Far more then I ever realized. As I sit and type this, I realize that during the summer... when I was praying fervantly... I had prayed about Emily having an opportunity to stay at Skyview and that God would miraculously provide in ways that I couldn't imagine. I honestly didn't think...at the time... that God would answer a prayer about finances. I couldn't imagine any scholarships available nor any other way of Emily being able to meet the finances for school. But I kept praying about. And... to my complete shock.. he has answered it in ways far beyond anything I ever dreamt! By being an intern, Emily instantly removes room and board. And by taking online courses her senior year, she will not have to pay for room and board and the cost of online is much less expensive then course on campus.

So.. when I speak of the fear I spoke of above... all I need to do is remember how God answers prayer and it is in that moment that I am filled with peace. I just wish I could remember that continually!

For the first time in a very long time, we had our entire family back together. It was wonderful! It was kind of a last minute thing. We decided to have Erin's surgery in Ohio rather then New York. Because of that, we had to get her to Ohio to have a doctor evaluate her so that we could schedule an appointment. Instead of us traveling to New York and back twice in 3 days, Emily offered to go get Erin and come home as well. It was a blessing. Emily has made it back to Ohio 3 times in the past 3 weeks. It was quite a sacrifice for her to make the long trip again. We were very grateful!

After seeing the doctor for her shoulder, we saw a different doctor for her knees. It ends up that she may need surgery on both of them. We will know more on Thursday. I am not sure the dates for any of this. Ri's just got changed to January 5th. Erin's will be during Christmas break.

There is much of our life that I haven't shared. I guess I have slacked off quite purposely; not being able to pull the plug though. Part of me wants to stop my blog and part of me just can't imagine it. For now, that is the part that is winning. But, I have seemed to be a little more reserved about posting.

But... for now.. I will continue to post. If I do quit the blog, I will let you all know. Bri and Sherri... Of course I will keep you on!! I am thrilled you are following.

So.. what is new? Well, Sam had a wonderful soccer season. He played both varsity and JV. He is really looking forward to playing his senior year next year. We just attended his banquet. We are very proud of our son! He had some difficult things happen today and he has shown himself to be quite a man in the way he is handling them. I have recently been in awe of how much he is growing up and what a fine young man he is. I am amazed at his strength and determination. He is treasurer of his class, on student council, involved in soccer, marching band - a section leader, jazz band, pep band, youth group, and is in the top 10% of his class. To top it off, he is an absolute amazing big brother.

I have posted in the past that there are times in my life when I know I have seen the hand of God. There is no doubt whatsoever. Those moments are not often. Oh.. I know God is working and I know that He is there, but so often and without knowing it, I can justify some other thing. With my head, I acknowledge God, but somehow I think I do it more often because I know God is real and working rather then really KNOWING and believing that it is God who is working. So many things can be "justified" through some circumstance.

I was talking to my mother-in-law Friday about prayer. I was really struggling about my prayer with God regarding the water situation. My words said "I know that God is able and can supply the water we need", but in my heart I was wondering if he would. Because of my walk with God, I am very aware that God's answer to prayer is often NO. I am ok with NO. But because I know that he says NO to things I pray about, I began to wonder if his answer would be no to providing water through digging our well deeper. We have questioned for a long time if we should dig deeper or dig a new well. There is no guarantee of finding more water when you dig...either way. The only thing we knew was if we dug a new well, it would cost us, possibly, over $4000 more. We have wrestled with this quesion for a few years,.. especially this past year. That is one thing that has kept us from doing anything - not knowing the right answer.

So.. after praying about this for months and because the expenses of 2 surgeries and 2 college tuitions are just around the corner, we opted to dig deeper. But once our digger began digging, he shook his head and said "it doesn't look good" but kept saying... "we're going to dig and see if we can get you a little more water". Now our digger is of the old school. He says it like it is,... with a lot of "gruffness" behind each answer. He doesn't tip-toe around anything and doesn't soften his answers (which I always want him to do) so you have to be careful not to get totally depressed when he shakes his head or says something like that.

All that said... on Friday night, I began to wrestle with my faith. I wondered if I was just saying that I believed God could do it. Did I really believe he could? Sure, I knew his answer could be no, but was I ... at all... believing that he could give me water or was I just trusting in the digger and the ground below? I couldn't decide if I was a Pharisee or like the disciples. Was my faith only through words and actions (like the Pharisee's) because it was the right thing to do or say? Or was it like the disciples of whom Jesus said had little faith? Oh how I struggled with my heart. As I fell asleep, the well was on my mind. I had a fitful night sleep - getting angry that we were digging deeper and not a new well... wrestling with my faith.... not believing that we could ever find water again... and feeling trapped in a house that we could never sell because it had no water and never would. I laid awake for hours (it seemed)... wrestling with my thoughts and my prayers to God. I cried out several times only to be faced with my own doubt on whether God would answer it with more water.

So, I shared my heart with my mother-in-law. In her wisdom, she listened and helped me work through those thoughts. Within 1/2 hour, my digger shared with me that he had seen water 20 feet from the surface in the morning. I had hope.. again. I started feeling stronger in my faith (see... circumstances effected me!), and as the day progressed,we had hope. At the end of the day, the well had been dug 50 feet deeper and we had more water. The digger pumped the well out and after 25 minutes of running the water at 10 gallons per minute, it ran dry. I was happy to see much more water... but sad to see that it ran dry in 25 minutes. But the digger put a flow valve on it that slowed the flow down to 5 gallons per minute. We only waited 10 minutes from the time the well ran dry to trying it again. At 5 gallons per minute, it ran for 17 minutes or so. We watched it slow down. I began to run to shut the pump off when the digger told me to wait. We watched it slow down... almost stop .. and then go back to the normal pressure. What was happening was our well was able to catch up. The flow had been slowed down enough that the well wasn't running out of water and was able to replenish itself before it ran dry. So.. he hooked a hose up to it, slowed it down to 2-3 gallons per minute and ran the how ALL NIGHT LONG! After experiencing what we have experienced for the past few years... that was a shock to me. I woke up and checked the water in the middle of the night; fearing that the well had run dry and our pump would burn out. I was in complete awe of God. The hose never stopped pumping water out of the well! I couldn't help but praise God over and over and over again! It was a moment where I really felt like the hand of God was right there; almost visibly.

Since then, we have been able to run our softner, do as many loads of laundry, take showers, and run our dishwasher twice a day..... and haven't had ANY water issues at all. Our softner is a little out of whack and we are getting some water that is a little salty now and then... but we have water and I am still praising God! Hopefully, we can work out the softner problems and be in great shape.

I promised myself that my next post will be all about Sam. I want to take some time to focus on him... but instead, I need to ask for some prayer. As I write, we have someone digging deeper in our well, in search of more water. My prayer is that he will hit a huge vein of water and not have to go more then 50 feet to hit it. God has certainly taken care of us and we have had all the water that we have needed. Sometimes, we think we need more then we have, but God has truly been gracious to give us what we have had. We have wrestled with whether we needed to spend the money or not. We have tried to make due and have learned to conserve. But, we have felt that we really wouldn't be wise waiting much longer. Our water has decreased so much that I can't do more then 2 loads of laundry in a day and each of us take showers and do the dishes by hand. REcently, we have ran out even sooner and it has taken much longer to replenish. So, if you will, please pray for success. My God is able to do anything.

My daughter asked me why I hadn't posted anything about our weekend. I simply ran out of time and hadn't gotten back on. I was more consumed by my thoughts on rejoicing and I completely forgot my thoughts on the weekend. We had an amazing time with the girls over the weekend. It was way too short, but it always is.

We arrived on campus just a few mintutes after Em arrived. Erin's game was ready to begin, so we immediately headed for the field. It was fun to be there together. Sam was the only one missing... and boy did we miss having him. It just didn't seem complete. Houghton played the Naz and won! Erin starts every game, though she is usually taken out during the first half for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes less, sometimes longer. The first half, she was out for 15-20 minutes (just after we got there). But the 2nd half, she played nearly the entire half. She is looking very strong. It was fun to watch her making plays. She is so gifted with her footwork. I haven't quite figured out if she is taken out for rest, because she isn't playing well, or to protect her from injuries. Her body is taking some beatings and it is not holding up as well as we all would like for it to. She seems to be taken out more often when the team is ahead. On Saturday's game, she was left in nearly the entire game (and it went into 2 overtimes). But during Saturday's game, her shoulder popped out. None of us could figure out what happened (the coach included). We all figured she got hit hard, but all that happened was she turned quickly. It came out while she was running! Yikes! So... she has an appointment with a doctor tomorrow and, hopefully, we should find out what damage we are looking at. In the meantime, I think the coach is using her when he needs her and taking her out when they are ahead. I could be wrong, though... Houghton is a very good team with excellent soccer players. I could just be a proud mama who is giving excuses for her girl. In my eyes... She is the best! But I am kind of partial! :)

Emily was amazing. She looks fantastic. She looks at peace and excited about life. It was so much fun spending time with her. She makes us smile. I have missed her smile and her tenderness. 8 weeks is just too long! It is so cool to see what God has done in her life over the past 6 months. Whenever I doubt prayer, I need to look in the face of my little girl. God has done amazing things in Emily's life.

The girls were precious with Elizabeth, Ri and Jaoob. Mark and I both were in awe of how much Emily and Erin have grown up and developed into beautiful, Godly young women. Wow - Just when I think that I have ruined their lives by being a horrible example/ mom ... God reminds me that He has them in His hands and HE is molding them to be the woman HE desires! I really have nothing to do with it.

Oh how I love fall! Yesterday, I was waiting for the kids to come home on the bus and I was just struck with the incredible beauty all around me. Wow! Hasn't God blessed us? It was then that I began to think of some things. I run out of water every day. We even stopped recycling our water automatically and only recycle it once a week or so. I have now stopped using my dishwasher and wash my dishes by hand. Our showers are short and sweet. But after 4 showers over a 2 hour period and 2 loads of laundry, I am usually facing an empty well. It used to take only 1/2 hour or so to fill up... but now it is taking a much, much longer time. Even then, it usually stops if I do much at all. And... recently... I have been faced with much more laundry then usual. So, I have found myself with more moments then I care to admit... tempted to break down sobbing rather then rejoicing. But yesterday, I found myself beginning to think about God's true gifts. Sure - I could complain and grumble... but really... why? God has given us plenty of water. We have just what we need to survive. Warren Barfield came to our church a few months ago and shared a story of a mission trip he went on in another country (can't remember the country). A small boy (5 or 6 years old or so) had a job for his family. He had to travel miles down (and back up) a steep hill to a place in the mountain that everyone in the valley got their water from. There were lines of people, everyday, who stood for their turn to fill up a gallon jug of water just so their family could survive. After waiting hours to fill up his jug, he would have to walk back up the mountain to take it home... only to turn around the next day and do it all over again. Now I may not be remembering the details exactly accurate... but you get my point. All I have to do is turn the faucet on and my water is there. And when it isn't, I just have to wait a few hours to have more come. But how can I complain? There are so many people in the world who don't have even one blanket to keep them warm. Who am I to look in the face of God and grumble? I am humbled and ashamed at that thought. I complain at the little inconveniences in my life rather then rejoice in them. I am so blessed to have the laundry that I have, to have the water that I have, to have the things I have. Even in the darkest of any moment in my life..... I still have far more then the millions who face "real" darkness in their lives. Those who are fearing for their lives, daily, due to war or poverty or sickness; those who have no fresh water or have to travel miles to retrieve any, those who have no shelter over their heads or those who are facing broken homes or the lost of a loved one. And even in all these things I mentioned, there are believers who are rejoicing and not complaining. Believers who have found their strength in Christ and who have found true peace. Their circumstances have not caused them to give up; instead, they have drawn nearer to Christ. Just look at Paul and his life. Read about Paul and Silas in Acts 16.

changes coming

Well, some of you have already figured there has been a problem to the blog. That is true. The other day, I shut it down and only decided to allow those of you that I know personally. The problem is, I am not sure who all follows my blog so I could not include everyone. After Emily called, panicked, I decided that I need to warn you before I shut it down. So, I reopened it. Eventually, I plan on shutting it down completely. I can't do that until I copy everything I have written into a book.... so I may be a little while. In the mean time, if you want to be added to my list of people who have the permission to follow, then email me. If you do not have my email address, then add a comment below so I know you want to follow.

Why am I doing this? Well... I'm not 100% sure why. I just have an unsettling feeling and whenever I begin to feel it, I want to remove every picture of my child off this internet world. I'm torn about it. I love blogging and I my daughter loves checking it. It is one way that she stays in touch with her family. For that reason, alone, I want to leave it up. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I just am not sure. But for now, I am extending a warning or an explanation ahead of time. I will keep you posted as to when I finally decide I am shutting it down.

I am constantly looking for ways to save money. A site that I have recently discovered is called groupon and it has daily specials that are tailored for your city (or a city close to you). I have found several really good deals for restaurants, movies, salon treatments, services and products, etc... it seems like an incredible site. I have been watching it for weeks now. There have been lots of times that I have thought about it, but just never really purchased anything because I really didn't have a need. There were restaurants that I would like to try sometime, but I knew Mark and I wouldn't make it there for awhile. I have been keeping an eye out for "gift" ideas through it. Today, I finally bit the bullet and bought something. When I checked out, it gave me a code for me to share the site with anyone who might be interested. I get $10.00 if you buy something from it. Now... don't go buy anything for that reason. But I would encourage you to sign up and keep an eye out. There really may be something that you could save money on. And if you do buy, then you will be blessed to have saved money and I will be blessed to have referred you. Here is the site:
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu9055645 You will notice that the city that pops up is Orlando. What you would want to do is go to the part on the site that has other cities. When you find your city, just click on it and the deal for your city will come up. You can buy deals from other cities, just make sure that it is a deal that you can use. The http address I gave you is specific so that they can track that it came from me, I guess that is what the uu905565 number is at the end. That is pretty cool. The other site that you may want to keep an eye on is my friends blog: www.findsforfriends.blogspot.com She has been posting lots and lots of coupons and deals that she has discovered. Recently, she posted for a free photo book (right down my alley) code. Anyway - I just wanted to pass on some of the fun ways to save money. In this economy (and especially with Christmas coming up), any way to save money is a blessing!

I get to see my girls this Friday! Yay!! I can not wait. It feels like forever since I've seen them. I haven't seen Emily in 6 weeks and I've only seen Erin for a brief few hours. Things are pretty routine around here. Elizabeth and Ri absolutely love kindergarten. Jacob has settled into a normal life of high school. He is trying to get involved through clubs. He is getting all A's, so I guess the transition (academically) hasn't been bad. Sam is very, very involved in school. He has very little time to call his own. Unfortunately, his grades, at this moment, are beginning to reflect that. The challenges of college courses are really being put in his face and he is realizing it takes a little more effort then high school courses do.

As for everything else, all is well. I just heard a few minutes ago that it is a go for Ri's procedure. The doctor who reviewed everything said that it doe appear that a cath needs to be done to the Left pulmonary artery. He stated that he wants to see what is needed once he can get into it. He also is somewhat concerned about his right pulmonary artery and would like to evaluate it during the procedure as well. We knew it did not look good, but the heart doctor did not indicate that we were going to do anything to that one. So, now I just have to decide if I want to meet with the doctor who is going to do the catheter before hand so that he can explain everything to us or just go in and have it done. We still do not have anything scheduled. They don't schedule it until the doctors office calls to let me know that it is a go. We are definitely looking a month or 2 down the road. We are hoping for the week before Christmas. That way Sara's mom does not have to find a babysitter and Emily and Erin will both be here. It was hard on them to not be at the hospital for Elizabeth when she had the surgery on her hand and then on her tonsils.