Thursday, September 23, 2010

boy fun!





Oh What fun these boys of mine can cook up! Here are some pictures from the previous few weeks of some of their adventures. They have built backyard forts with various things from around the yard, pirate boats, animal traps (not pictured), done a scooter show- with stunts and clown antics- and more. I love their creativity and the way the work together. Of course it is not always rosy and we have to talk about being a team and working together almost daily, but they do love to be together and they do know how to use their imaginations! I've also included some pics of one of Silas's new things... he likes to put things in lines. Always similar things, like books, balls, swords, etc... It makes quite a mess, but this sometimes keeps him occupied while I am schooling the older ones.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

believing prayer

We have been reading about George Mueller as a family this summer. He was a man who started out life as a thief and liar, but he met God in a powerful way and became a preacher and eventually an orphanage manager in England. The biggest quality of this man and his wife that has been such a challenge to us is his faith that God will supply ALL our needs if we will ask. From early in his walk with the Lord, beginning when his wealthy father refused to pay for his schooling because he wanted to be a missionary, Mueller began simply bringing his needs to his heavenly Father. And over and over, God answered and provided all that was needed. This continued all through his life as he intentionally sought God for all the necessary things he needed for life. George Mueller was a big dreamer, and through his prayers and trust in God He created positive changes in the church and for the thousands of orphans he came to care for through the years in Bristol, England.
I am writing all of this to give you a context for our family's prayer challenge and experiment. We decided that if God would answer George Mueller in such a tangible and specific way, that he would answer us, too. All it takes is a heart that wants to know God and live for His purposes in this brief time on the earth. So we decided to pray for two things in particular. The first was more urgent in nature. We needed to pay our rent for the month and funds were low for us. So we prayed for the remaining $300 that we needed to pay our rent. We started praying specifically on Tuesday for the money to come by Friday. On Friday, David called the bank to check our account and found that $322 had been deposited that we were not expecting! Is not our God so good! He heard our simple requests and answered in the perfect timing with just what was needed! Our faith and our children's confidence in our faithful God has been strengthened in a neat way!
Our second need we are praying about is a new van. With the baby coming in October, we will outgrow our current van. David has been diligently looking for a bigger vehicle but as this point we are not even sure what would be best. So we started praying specifically as a family each night that God would lead us to the right vehicle and provide the money needed to buy it. We are excited to see how God answers this prayer! What a great God we serve! We are so thrilled to be called to this journey of faith! Won't you join us?

p.s.We will keep you informed of God's answer about the vehicle so you can rejoice with us in His care!