Just since Friday...

So remember my last post about my prayer to the Lord..
Well, after I posted on Friday, I went through my normal morning.  I went to the mailbox after lunch to see a card from a very special person. Open the card and a $400.00 check falls out to help with "moving expenses" I just stood in the kitchen and sobbed.

Last night at small group, one of the men volunteers to take time off work to help us move and his parents have a 3/4 Ton truck he can borrow to pull the trailer.

Today, we are saying goodbye to a friend at the front door. Paul checks the mail, but it's only 10:30 am, nothing should be there. There's an envelope marked to us but no postage. It's just been dropped off.  One of our supporters decided to give us their entire committment for the year with an additional $500 added on to help just get us to Peoria!  Can we say O-V-E-R-W-H-E-L-M-E-D!

Today we sent of our application to the bank in Peoria to see if we will even qualify for a home loan with all the new restrictions that are out there, in addition to our house not selling yet.  Truly, it would be a miracle for us to qualify with our current mortgage.  Yet we aren't really willing to do a "bridge" mortage, which is carry two mortages.  We continue to wait on the Lord, but I had to update you to what He is doing!

PS. Paul wants one more day to pray about moving the first weekend of November, which to be exact would mean leaving Marshfield on Friday, November 2nd.

Big Step...Possibly

Good Morning Everybody!!

Paul and I are sensing that God may be asking us to take a HUGE step and set a move date even though our support is not fully in.  We are currently at 76% being raised.  We are looking at the first weekend in November as a date to move to Peoria.

We have decided to pray and fast some through this weekend to seek the Lord and receive confirmation as to what He is telling us.  Please pray for us through this weekend as we seek Him.

Should we feel the Lord's confirmation that would mean moving six weeks from tomorrow.  If so, here is what I told God in my journal this morning..
"We need You to speak strongly in the next couple of days. I want to hear Your voice-not just what I want.  Should we set our move date as the first weekend in November?  We still need $1100/month, but that's NOTHING for You!  You can totally bring that in. Please do.  I really feel You are saying to go so here is what we need, and yes, they're all money related:
1) 3/4 Ton truck to pull the trailer
2) people to help move
3) our house to come through
4) our house in WI to sell
5) Last $1100/month
6) Moving Expenses
Again, this is nothing for You!  You own the cattle on a thousand hills. We are faithful in our tithe, be faithful to us."

For many years now, I have kept my prayers as a journal. I write them out to the Lord on almost everyday so that I can have that record of what I have prayed. Sometimes, I  get a whim to see what I wrote about a year ago on that day.  Today, such a whim hit me, so I flipped back and here is what I found closest to today's date:
September 23, 2011
"I don't know what to think about this Peoria stuff. I feel very stunned and numb.  It's all in Your hands!  Somewhat takes my breath away.  Please lead us and provide every step along the way. And if You do take us there, please, please pave the way for me to continue working at Weight Watchers. I so love my job and am so thankful for it!"

If you remember, this prayer was answered back in July when I get to have lunch with my new manager in Peoria.  I have secured a job transfer with being able to work as much as I want. God is incredibly faithful to us!


And a quick note, Micaiah has graduated to wearing underwear!!!! Still not pooping on the potty, but he totally has going pee-pee down!  Is that amazing!  What a wonderful God, no the only Wonderful God we serve!!!!!
Love to you all!

Update on Micaiah, Joshua, Beth and Us...

Micaiah is doing WONDERFULLY!!! It took a couple of days for the clean out process to work. I will spare you the details :)

He is now having a BM everyday and no longer leaking stool through the day!  This is delightful.  His BM's are arriving sometime after he goes to bed and wakes up in the morning.  We'll have to figure that out but for now I'm not worried about it!  I actually started potty training him again yesterday!  I thought why not?  He's doing great!  Today he's in big boy underwear. He's just too cute!!!

Joshua is doing very well in 3rd Grade so far. The kid reads and reads and reads.  We bought him a new Bible that is just awesome.  We brought it home on Saturday, and he is almost through the whole thing. It's called the Action Bible.  It turns the stories of the Bible into a comic strip. Here is a link, but I can't recommend it more strongly!!
http://www.christianbook.com/the-action-bible/9780781444996/pd/444996

Beth adores First Grade and is all things girl!  She is emotional and dramatic-so the opposite of me, which I have to ask God for grace to deal with each and every day! She loves to wear skirts and dresses, however I have to constantly maker her wear shorts underneath because she is always doing cartwheels.

She is kind and compasionate as well.  When I was sick over the weekend, she made me a cup of coffee (she knows how to make my coffee perfectly) brought the coffee up then also put lotion on my legs, while I was sleeping :)  She has a new habit of wanting me to come cuddle with her every night before she goes to sleep. She likes to talk and have me rub her back. It's sweet!
Last night, she asked how I used to sleep with her when she was a baby. I'm an unapologetic co-sleeper so I explained how I used to sleep with her next to me in my arm and her head facing out so she wouldn't suffocate.  When I checked on her before I went to bed, I found her like this with her baby, Bitty. This isn't quite what I did but this is precious!


Now, Paul and I. Yes, still very tired but in complete AWE of the Lord. Last night, we had an open house here so we all left and went to hang out at the church building during the hour and a half. I had made dinner in the crock pot so we grabbed the crock pot and left. We had fun hanging out and eating at the building. Then Paul turned on a movie for the kids in the multi-purpose room. The kids adore the massive screen in there. 

While we were there a family that we know came in.  Paul was in the corner talking with them and then called me over. He asked them to tell me what they had just told him.  To my astonishment, they said, "We have decided to support you at XXX dollars a month for the next four years"  The number made me speechless and jumped us to 70% of our funds being raised!!!!  I didn't know how to respond because I was so shocked. But really, why should I be shocked at God's provision. He's going to do it. It's all just a matter of time! 

Later that night, Paul received and email that jumped us to being at 72% of our funds being raised!  This morning, during my quiet time, I told the Lord that now I'm really freaked out because I see it coming to fruition.  We could really be moving in October. We still need to raise that last 28%, have moving expenses and sell this house.  But He owns the cattle on a thousand hills so He can do that.

Oh, oh, oh I almost forgot. This family from yesterday also said that they want to come see our house because they're in a month to month rental right now. If ours doesn't sell, they might be interested in renting it!!!  Renting is not ultimately what we want, but we trust that God will provide ALL!!! 

Have a blessed day, rejoicing in the One who all good and perfect things come from!!!

Things you don't expect in Ministry

Yesterday, Paul and I had plans to attend a conference here in Marshfield about Courageous Parenting. I was up at 5:30 am to get ready and to get the house ready for a showing that would happen while we were at the conference.

As I was standing at the Keurig my phone started ringing at 5:40 am. I thought "who in the world"?  I answered and a very nice voice said "Hi, is Paul there?"  I said in a bit of a shocked tone "He is. May I ask who's calling please?"  The voice said, "This is Travis XXXX and I'm actually calling from the Marshfield Police Department right now."  We have a number of police officers who attend our church, and we are friends with them all so I knew who this was once he said his name. 

I ran up the stairs to wake Paul.  I shook him, gently of course, and said "Paul, Travis XXXX is on the phone and calling from the Police Department."  Paul groggily took my phone and headed to the top of the stairs to sit and talk with Travis. Paul sat at the top of the stairs while I stood at the bottom and watched and waited. I thought maybe someone was in jail etc... 

Marshfield is a lovely town and what you never expect is to be called to the scene of a murder!!!  A young 18 year old was killed by her fiance.  Paul was called to come and sit with the father because he was inconsolable, and the Police Officers had been sitting with him for 4 hours.  They needed some help!  You may read about the event here if you so wish to.

http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20120909/SPJ/309090198/Marshfield-woman-killed-knife-fiance-jailed?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

I am so proud of Paul! He immediately showered and was out the door to minister to the father of this young woman.  The father is living at a boarding house as he awaited for a home to become available for him to move into.  When Paul arrived, he was told the father didn't want anything "pushed down his throat". Paul put his Bible in his back pocket and just sat with the man.  This is the "ministry of presence" which we so often undervalue.  Quite often, people in pain just need someone to minsiter to them by being there and just sitting. But far too often, people think they have to talk and "fix" things.  This often leads to hurting the person more.  So FYI, if you are with someone enduring something painful, just sit. Be with them. Offer the ministry of presence.

After a while, the father asked Paul to talk with him.  At this point, the father broke down and shared his heart with Paul. Gut wrenching pain to hear to shoulder for this man.

Paul made it home and we did attend the Parenting Conference. But it was a ROUGH day to say the least. Rough day for both of us. Through the day our exhaustion just came to a breaking point. I was very upset about the conference, feeling that the main speakers were just giving me a list of things to do that I could never do as a parent. And as the day wore on, I became more and more sick with a cold virus.  Paul was done. This season has been rough. It has been crisis after crisis. Marriages exploding, people making poor choice on and on it has gone.

But can I tell you how God met us and worked His Divine plan in the middle of this glorious mess!  We arrived home from the conference.  A wonderful family had taken our kids for the day.  When they came home with our kids they brought us homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade bread. It was delicious.  How a simple meal ministers is amazing.   The kids came home with art projects and a HUGE batch of homemade play-doh. They had played with 4 day old kittens. Watched the pigs and cows and even collected eggs from the chicken coop.Oh and I can't forget the HUGE tree swing that Beth just adored. This family lives on a farm about 30 minutes from Marshfield.  To bless us even more they drove in and picked the kids up and drove them back in at the end of the day.

Late in the evening, Paul woke me and he was crying. He told me that after the conference yesterday two men from our church, who volunteer at this boarding house, made a meal and took it over to all the residents there.  As they were leaving the father arrived and they were able to minister to him as well.  He shared with them how encouraging it was to have Paul there with him.  And one of these men is picking the father up to come to services today!!!!!!!!!! Paul was in tears because these men saw his exhaustion and heaviness. They picked up this mantle of ministry,without being asked, and have offered this father Jesus, the only One who is capable of healing this broken heart.

Rough but AMAZING day!

Warning: Not for the Queasy...

Last week, a friend of ours from small group received a potentially rough diagnosis for her daugher regarding a growth disorder. I made my friend promise me she wouldn't "google" the disorder. I should take my own advice!!!

In February of this year, Micaiah, all of a sudden, stopped having BM's. After 10 days of this, I called the dr.  They told me to bring him in to the pediatrics walk in for sick kids.  Diagnosis "normal child constipation. Give him a daily dose of Miralax. It will take 6 months for him to be regular."  Ok, no big deal.  I can handle that.  We give him a dose of Miralax each morning in a cup of coffee. Yes, you read that correctly. I give my 3.5 year old a cup of coffee laced with miralax each morning.  It's the first thing he asks for when he wakes up (please don't judge me :)  )

Over the course of these six months, we have laughed as Micaiah performs his "poop dance."  He jumps up and down while holding his bottom and saying "I"m pooping. I'm pooping."  We figured it was just him not wanting to "let it out."  We have gone through quite a few painful nights with him that lead to glycerine suppositories, which he DESPISES!!!!

At my sister's wedding, Micaiah was having a particularly difficult time. My mom, in her glorious nurse fashion, took Micaiah to her room to help him have a BM.  When I walked in, my mom literally had loads of pudding texture poo in her bare hands. Only a loving nurse could do that.  She continued to help Micaiah, and it just kept coming and coming.  Afterward, we put him in the shower to clean him up.  In the shower, he had a HUGE normal BM.  After that event mom mentioned to me that Micaiah may have something called "mega colon."  Due to the craziness of the week, I didn't give a whole lot of thought to it. 

Fast forward to today, Micaiah's 3 year old well child check up.  Little did I know we would walk out 3 hours later after a shot, blood draw and x-ray of his belly. After discussion about his normal development, we then went over his BM issues.  She immediately said this sounds like mega colon.  I told her my mom said the same thing!!!  She thoroughly explained it to me and told me how to start treatment at home.  She then sent us off for further testing, which she will call me about tomorrow.

When we showed up at the lab for the blood draw, I warned the phelebotomist that he is really strong, and we would need help.  Two of us held him while she drew blood. He screamed, and I mean screamed. By the time we got to the X-ray, he wasn't too keen on lying down on the table. But eventually he did, and we were able to get an X-ray of his bowel.  I saw it afterward but I have no clue how to interpret an abdominal X-ray.

Tomorrow we begin a process of "cleaning" Micaiah out.  It's basically a child barium mixture.  I will be up to my head in poo over the next 24-48 hours.  Ater that we begin him on special diet and "potty time".  With mega colon, one loses the ability to feel the urge to have a BM. After each meal, we have to place him on the potty for 10-15 minutes to re-train the body to feel the need to have a BM.  The process of healing his colon and retraining his BM reflex will take 6-12 months. I'm praying it goes more quickly, as we can not potty train until it is better.

So..I shouldn't have googled it because I saw things about surger needed etc..Just not a good idea.  I have a snowball effect mind so I was immediately seeing my baby on a stretcher headed into an OR.  Just not good!!!

Pray for me to have strength and grace during this process.  It will require a lot of discipline along with patience to make Micaiah sit on the potty after each meal.  And get the mixture down him in 3 hours tomorrow.

Thanks for listening!! I just needed to get this all out and my blog is the best place.