Secret Agent Micah

Micah decided that he wanted to have a spy birthday party for his 6th year celebration this year.  We are so glad he was born, so even amid the likelihood of buying a house and moving, I started to make plans for this unusual party theme.  However, when I started researching it online, I found it was more popular than I first thought.  We had spy training, which included an obstacle course, invisible ink, and mind strengthening excercises, to prepare for Secret Agent Birthday Boy (that's the code name he chose).  During the training, Micah's presents disappeared and he had to go on a mission to recover the missing property.  This mission included the new and still empty house next door (more about that in the next post) which made it really fun.  Here are some pictures.

Micah's Spy ice cream cake

Happy birthday to you...  Thank you God for this sweet and fiery one!

Here's the small spy team.

There's No Place I Would Rather Be

I am listening to the live worship streaming at the International House of Prayer as I often do.  Tonight the worship leader is singing this line, "There's no place I would rather be than here in your love..."  As I sit thinking about that, I am really able to sing those words from a deep place of submission to a loving Father.  This has been a difficult year for me in many ways.  Parenting 6 very different kids from a teen to a non-sleeping baby has really tested me on many levels.  Actually, I have come to understand better in the last few weeks that it is not about me and my abilities at all.  It is about Jesus and His crazy love for me and my kids.  I can never be the perfect parent and I can never be strong enough on my own.  Of course I have known these things for years, but somehow that has not stopped me from trying to accomplish them.  Jesus said it so simply when he was asked about the greatest commandment.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  And the second is like it: love your neighbor (your kids) as yourself.  So why do I strive so much??  I guess the actual doing of it is much more difficult in this body of sin and weakness than reading it, agreeing with it, or even wanting it!  So I want know how high and deep and wide is the love of God, to know this love that passes knowledge (Eph 3) and I want to be so consumed with His love, so filled to full measure of God (also Eph 3) that I overflow with His love.  If I really know His love, I can only respond by loving him back.  And I He loves me and I love Him, then His love will spill out of me without all of the striving.  And I can mess up and be weak and still love!  That is the beauty of love!  Jesus didn't say to be perfect or to follow all these rules or to never get overwhelmed.  He said LOVE!  What a beautifully difficult pursuit!  And so as I sit here listening and worshiping, I can truly say that there is no place I would rather be.  Even though this season of my life is hard, and I feel overwhelmed and inadequate sometimes, this is the place where God is!  Right here, right in this hard moment, right in each day of this whole hard year.  There is no place where I would rather be because God is near to those with a broken and contrite heart, because God says to count it all joy when we face trials of many kinds, because God is my rock, my stronghold, my strength.  I would not have chosen this way, but then who would?  I am such a pleasure/comfort junkie!  But God has sustained me in each day of this hard season.  I have many times looked back and marveled at God's grace!  And I don't know how much longer this season will continue, but its really ok. Until recently, I was really frustrated and discouraged about some of the circumstances I am facing.  But, He led me here and he has sustained me this long.  I can trust Him!  I cling to Jesus and His faithfulness.  Not my strength to grit my teeth and survive through it.  God is working in me.  "For our light and momentary troubles (if Paul could say this, surely I can, too!) are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."  2 Cor 4:17 So I can honestly say, there is no place I would rather be than here in your love, God.  Right here, experiencing your love.

Joyful life in January

The weather has been mild here in the Bluegrass.  We have a a few cold spells but overall it has been nice weather for the first half of winter.  Here are some of our kids having fun together.

Rachel and Abby learned to finger knit

up close :) Using her free time with creativity!  Mom really likes this!

Silas on the "sit and spin" having a good time.

Micah giving Nathanael a ride in the wagon.  Nathanael loves to be outside.  Just today it was really nice again and the older boys were going outside.  He brought my his shoes, telling me he wanted to go out too.

trampoline fun!  I am so glad we have this trampoline.  All of them from the biggest to the littlest love to jump!

More jumping

What a cute pair!  Abby is a baby magnet.  She loves them and they love her!

This was Nathanael's first time on the trampoline.  Everyone sat down so he could get used to the ground  moving beneath him.  He loves it!  In fact after I put his shoes on and let him outside today, he went out and started yelling for Abby, who was on the trampoline at the time, to come get him.  She did cause she's such a good big sister.

A friend made the hat for me for Christmas.  I love it!  Nathanael obviously does too.  He was so cute playing 'peek-a-boo' with me one afternoon.

What a cute kid!  He has charmed us all.  And good thing, too, because he still does not sleep well at night.  I told David just the other day that God had really put a love for this boy in my heart because I can still smile at him even after he's kept me up so much at night!  God's love is deeper still.

December celebrations

Well, I am playing catch up on our family happenings.  We'll see how much I get done today.  God has been so good to us.  We are enjoying this crazy life with a house full!  I live mostly by what is right in front on me so blogging has not been a priority.  I want to try to get a little more regular with it as it really helps me and keeps those of you far away in touch with our family.
I'll let the pictures tell the stories from these exciting celebrations in December.

We enjoyed another beautiful Christmas dance celebration in early Dec.  Here are Abby and Rachel in their costumes.  It was a special performance for our family.  Abby had a ballet solo and Rachel danced her first dance 'en pointe.' 

Micah was also in the ballet performance this year.  Late into the semester, he was asked to be the "boy Jesus."  He had a small solo part, which he loved!!  You can see the proud smile on his face.

The same day as the performance, we were part of a craft sale .  CRAZY!  But worth it!  Rachel had the idea to bake goodies and sell them at the annual craft sale in our small town.  She wanted to raise money for Casa de Fe, a children's home in Ecuador run by one of CornerStone's missionaries.  So along with ballet rehearsal's we spent the week making pumpkin bars, cookies, granola, cupcakes and other goodies, along with friendship bracelets.  We had fun as a family and raised a good sum of money, too!

Here are the four boys with their Christmas nutcrackers.  Grandma Trimble sent these to the the girls, but the boys loved them so much that the girls shared them. 

Micah was so happy to get these two Black Stallion movies for Christmas!

My parents were able to come up for a few days before Christmas and we really enjoyed spending time with them. Here is one of the gifts they brought along.  Nathanael is riding on his rocking horse.

Also in December we get to celebrate Keenan's birthday.  He had a "hunting" party theme this year.  This is his camo ice cream cake.

We did a relay race with hunting clothes for our first game.  This was after  they had target practice with their dart guns. :)

Next we played dodge ball- hunters against "deer."  These are the deer for the first round.  See their antlers??  Abby is far left and Micah is in the middle.  The others are friends that we are glad God brought into our lives.

Birthday week

We have 3 birthdays in 6 days in October.  We have survived, no enjoyed, and here are a few pictures to 

prove it.

This is Rachel's birthday.  We did a big celebration for 13, as she is walking into young adulthood.  We invited lots of friends and even asked some from far away to participate.  It was fun and also very special.  Lots of people took time to pray for her and give her meaningful gifts!  What a special time.  I am sorry for those of you who missed it.  I'll post some other pics when I get them.  A friend graciously took photos for us.

Here is Nathanael on his birthday with his birthday card, frog (in the background) and balloon  from Grandma and Papa in Oregon!

Abby planned her own party this year and invited lots of friends.  Here she is (middle left) with some of them eating pizza at the park.

She planned some games for them all to play.  This is the wheelbarrow race.

Abby's cake. She had a fall them so she wanted an acorn cake.  Notice the little acorn on the left and the leaf on the right.  The acorn is Abby's cake, and the little leaf was Nathanael's.  Instead of having a party for him, we just sang to him and gave him his own little cake at Abby's party. :)

Here he is with his cake and one lit candle.  Happy birthday, cutie.  He  makes us all smile and fits right into our active family!

He Has Fought the Good Fight; He Has Finished the Race

Thankfully I am just referring to the 30 K race in which David participated on Sunday.  The reference is really to a great man of the Bible at the close of his life lived for Jesus.  I know David longs for these words to not only describe his running, but his life as well.
I am writing with the great news that David ran every step of the 30 kilometers or 18.6 miles on Sunday.  He said, "It was wonderfully difficult."  He really felt good about all of the race.  He finished in 2:08 (2 hours, eight minutes), which earned him 9th place overall!

David at the finish of the Downtown Doubler in Lousiville, KY, where he was "Running 4 Water."

It is not too late to send in your money for "Running for Water."  All money has to be in by October 10, as they leave October 11.  He is fully funded for the trip as of today!  Praise God for his faithful provision, and thanks to many of you who are partnering with David and with our great God in the work in Haiti.  That means that all money received now will go to dig wells in poor communities in Haiti, where clean water is scarce, but of utmost importance for healthy, longer life.  And some wells are dug on church property, where villagers will receive clean water to drink and Living Water from God, as well.
Here is the link again to donate online: CornerStone International  Scroll down until you see 'Trimble' and click the 'donate' button under 'trip.'
And you can always do it the old fashioned way.  Send checks marked Trimble's Haiti trip or Trimble- wells to
CornerStone International
P.O. Box 192
Wilmore, KY 40390


Together we are storing up treasures in Heaven, where nothing can destroy or steal it away!

Haiti Trip Provision-- Right on Time

We wanted to share this neat story of how God is providing for David's Haiti trip.  Last week David was at Cornerstone International House of Prayer for his usual prayer time, when he received a call from the team leader for the trip, asking if David would send the money for the plane tickets to the organization who would be buying them.  After consulting with the bookkeeper, he was told he had only $300 in his account. He needed $600.  He and the team leader discussed this, and David decided to wait for the money to come in, even if this meant he would have to take a different flight than the other team members.  Of course, taking a different flight is certainly not the preferred way to get there.  However, after talking with Jesus about it for a minute, he felt like this was the right course of action.  So since it was time to gather for prayer, he went in for the 2 hour prayer watch for the missionaries.  After the prayer time, the bookkeeper called David in to her office and informed him that he had just received a total of $350 more in donations for the Haiti trip... just in that 2 hour time period!  Quickly, David called his team leader, who told him that the tickets had not yet been purchased.  So because David was patient to wait on the Lord, God provided just what he needed, right on time.
They now have their tickets, all on the same flight, and they leave Oct 11.  He is still in need of funds for ministry and boarding expenses, and is hoping to be able to take extra money to help dig wells for clean drinking water.  God loves a cheerful, selfless giver.  We are blessed so abundantly here in the US.  Please consider investing in eternity and in the lives of the Haitian people.  He will provide for the trip.  God has shown us that he will.  Will you join us?

Follow this link to give:  Haiti
Scroll down 'til you see 'Trimble trip' and click the 'donate' button