Blog-iversary

New Year's Eve marked my 3 year blog-iversary. It is such a treasure to me to be able to go back and trace the Lord's hand throughout my family's adventures! Thank you God for the way you have led us through the past and the way you now carry us into the future. You are the one who exists outside the confines of time, yet you gently and lovingly guide us through each year. Rishon Va-Acharon. Alpha and Omega.

Our favorite soldier celebrated his holidays in a land where Christ is neither recognized nor celebrated. But don't think for a minute he didn't make the most of it! He started working the day of Thanksgiving to put up several Christmas trees, including one in his own tent. It was complete with lights and a manger scene. If life is 10% what happens to us and 90% what we make of it...Chaplain had a GREAT Christmas. I am so proud of him for his mental resolve and determination to keep the message of hope alive. I love you, babe.

The kids and I made several trips throughout November/December. Thanksgiving had us treking across half the country to the land of Arkansas. We stayed with Tim's parents and visted our old church in Cabot, AR. On the way there and back we spent some time with my parents as well. It was a great trip, but put nearly 2,000 miles on Katy the Acadia!

After we returned home, Christmas festivities went into full swing and we decorated our home as well, although it was a scaled down version of what we would have put up had Santa been home! :) It was enough to help us feel festive and keep our mind on Christ. Dylan participated in his first Christmas programs, one at preschool and one at ChapelNext, both of which were adorable! Jordan just soaked everything in, from the lights to the music to the goodies! She did pretty good with the Christmas tree, only occasionally taking off ornaments to play with them. Fortunately her mom had the brains to put the non-breakable ones on the bottom! :)

Shortly before Christmas we headed back to Alabama. We were able to see Tim's parents and grandmother in Winfield as well as stay with my parents and see my extended family. Considering the precious one we were without this holiday season, what a wonderful Christmas the Lord made for us! The weather was cold and crisp, perfect for celebrating the season. And God gave us a beautiful and glorioius gift on Christmas morn - we awoke to the serenity of falling snow! It fell for much of the morning and accumulations were around 4-6 inches! What a beautiful sight, so peaceful and tranquil and quiet. Elohim, you are glorious and so good to us your children! I pray this is a Christmas we won't soon forget, especially for my 4 year old. I pray this is one he remembers for the rest of his life. The Christmas that God sustained us without our daddy and sent us snow for his Son's birthday party!

After Christmas, we made a trip up to Ohio to see my dad's extended family. Oh what fun that was! The snow adventure continued as we made our way up through Tennessee, Kentucky, and into Ohio. There was snow on the ground the entire trip there! We stayed in a little cabin right on Lake Erie and Dylan got to sleep in a bunkbed for the first time. The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins and great-grandparents. The biggest delight of all was watching Dylan interact with my 99 year-old great-grandmother in such a loving and caring way. It was as if they were kindred spirits!

And now the new year is upon us - 2011. We are anticipating big things this year -- our boy will turn 5 and Daddy will be coming home. Plus, who knows what other surprises the Lord will bless us with?!? God's blessings to all of you, friends and family!

When your heart feels hurried...

I couldn't have written anything better myself than what author Holly Gerth wrote in this devotional. Hope it ministers to you this holiday season. Merry Christmas, frinds!

When your heart feels hurried...
'Tis the season to be busy.
There are gifts to buy, meals to make, trips to take, decorations to be hung, songs to be sung, places to go, people to see…
It's December 1st and I'm already tired. Anyone else?
I read the words... Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
But how can I be still when there's so much going on?
Of course, the first answer is to simplify my life.
Yet the kind of stillness God is talking about isn't just about my circumstances. It's about being still on the inside.
I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother. Psalm 131:2 What is a weaned child like? One that has learned to stop asking for more, more, more and instead simply rests in the arms of love, love, love.
My hurry and stress come from that want of more. I want to do more, be more, pack more in to these few short days. Then it seems God whispers to my heart, "Enough. You are enough. You have enough. In the middle of the busy, make a quiet place inside and stay with me. My love is what you really need."
I settle, quiet down, breathe a sigh of relief. The miracle of Christmas?
God came for us so we could come to Him. Even (especially) in the busy, broken, chaos of our lives.
'Tis the season to be still.
--by Holley Gerth

Bold Bright Wishes Christmas

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Time marches on

So much has transpired since my last post...namely TIME! Hallelujah for that one! We are one week shy of the 4 month mark. Now for those of you who are not math-savvy, that is 1/3 of the way through our year, or 33.33%! Ohhhh yeah!

October was full of autumn events like a pumpkin patch trip, trunk-or-treating, and a fire station trip. The weekend of Halloween this crazy mamma did a trunk-or-treat on Friday night, trick-or-treating on Saturday night, followed by another trunk-or-treat on Sunday after church. Whaaaa?!?!? What was I thinking?! Needless to say I was taaaarrred and never so excited to see a Monday in my whole life! I have got some work to do with my four year old, though, for next year. He quickly lost interest in collecting candy at each of our outings and instead opted to put himself whole heartedly to the task of being "in character" as Bibleman. What is that about??

Oh, and baby boy, Mamma needs more chocolate next year.

Veteran's Day weekend I had the great opportunity to spend several days with 1300 lovely ladies ( 42 of which I know alot better than I did before!) in Dallas, TX at the PWOC conference. So many great workshops were offered each day along with incredible worship session (led by none other than Kari Jobe!) and inspiring messages (by the talented Priscilla Shirer). It was such a refreshing and spiritually renewing time with the Lord for me. It could not have come at better time for me in this deployment. It was so nice to be there in all of that atmosphere and sense God's presence in a might way. It is amazing what the Lord can speak when we have the chance to break away from the day to day clutter and noise of life! And I rediscovered the joy of getting up when I wanted to and having the time to do my hair AND my make-up...in the same day! Oh. so. marvelous. Many thanks to Mom and Dad for covering the babysitting duties while I partook of this soul-nurturing event.

As a side note, for those of you out there just beginning in this Army life or thinking about "jumping in", I have to say that the top two things that have blessed me the most are living on post and becoming a part of PWOC. If you have an opportunity to do one or both, please take the chance. The people you will meet and the sense of community that you will gain on post are priceless. The ladies at PWOC provide an almost instant connection, since nearly everyone is in the same military "boat". You will have something in common with everyone there. Okay, informercial over!

My kids continue to do well, despite living day to day with Daddy on another continent. We just came through a rough time behaviorally with my son. God is no doubt teaching him things as well through this time of separation. My prayer is that God uses this to give my son a larger world-view...that God is more than just our God here in America...that He has a presence in places very, very far away...and that He reigns supreme over all nations and tongues. I also pray that God uses this to give my son a deeper faith even at his young age. As a child of a deployed servicemember, my son is having to trust God with things many kids never will. What an opportunity for the Lord to do a mighty work in his little life! And my daughter? She's just plain CUTE and smitten with her daddy! She thinks the Skype sound is Daddy's personal ringtone...and she LOVES to kiss his picture on her nightstand. I'm praying that he will stay a vivid image in her mind throughout this year. So far, he is.

And in that place of dust and mountains across the globe, the Lord is faithfully keeping my husband safe and secure. His ministry is active and his contacts are frequent. His travel is also quite frequent... which makes for one nervous yet prayed-up wife! He has been traveling at least once a week (by convoy) to different regions to see all of his solders and offer them his religious support. We have had casualties. Not within our battalion, but with in our brigade. Heartbreaking nonetheless. So far we have lost 2 brave warriors. Precious souls to the King of kings. As I sat breathless at one of the memorial services, I couldn't help but breathe a prayer that God would give our chaplains a bountiful harvest of souls, that none of these lives taken in battle would be taken by THE enemy. I am so proud of the job that my husband is doing and so thankful that he is "at home in his element".

And now, the holidays are upon us, which will no doubt make time fly even faster. I am going to try to figure out the mystery of savoring each moment and this time with my kids while still trying to speed up the clock to February! Speaking of math, that sounds like an equation for NASA!

Savoring the season

It is the start of the fall season. The air is crisp and clean. Gone is the swelter of summer; here, for a while, is the air which feels neutral on the skin. This weather is what I imagine it like in heaven -- simple, clear, non-distracting. I love watching the seasons change. While I know God does NOT change, the way He cares for us and reaches out to us changes like seasons throughout the course of our life -- as we grow and mature. To me it seems that God likes variety, creativity, and fresh starts. Each and every winter somehow feels familiar yet new. Only a loving Creator like ours can accomplish this four times a year, each year. As I write this I am sitting in the comfort of the swing in my parent's backyard. The air is light, the breeze gentle, the sounds delightful -- birds in the trees singing their praises, squirrels in the branches busy preparing for winter, the soft rustling of leaves overhead, the faint ringing of the wind chimes. Occasionally the wind gusts for a brief moment, and with it comes the most heavenly smell of flowers. Such a sweet, fresh, beautiful scent. Unmistakably God. Unmistakably YAHWEH BOREY (LORD creator).

Just another day in Army life...

"Army life is a tough life." You will hear that from time to time, and there are times that it is very true. Countless nights in a lonely bed, drying tears of children who miss Daddy, worrying about a loved one's safety...to name a few. But then there are other occasions that are just darn fun and cool. Today was one of those occasions. The Billy Graham Association sponsored an event called "Rock The Fort" here on post. It was kind of like a fair, kind of like a concert...and it was free! There was great "fair" food, plenty of bounce houses, a craft tent, as well as a huge concert stage where some great Christian bands would play. But the highlight of the day was when my 2 kiddos got to watch the Golden Knights parachute down and land less than 100 ft in front of us. Talk about thrilling! My 4 year old couldn't take his eyes off of those paratroopers! And when it was over? Well, he asked me if they could do it again, of course!! It was truly a spectacular sight to see, the precision and grace that those men and women possess as they steathily glide down to earth! I was struck by how absolutely quiet their descent was. It was easy to see how they could invade enemy territory without causing a stir. Ask a kid what they did on any given Saturday and many will say they had a soccer game or went to the mall. My kids? Watched the Golden Knights live in living color! Just another day in Army life!!

7 weeks down...

Whoa...I blinked and 7 weeks of this deployment passed me by. Life has been hectic & crazy at times, so blogging has not been on my radar screen. Changing diapers, disciplining kids, maintaining my outlets of ministry, and personal Bible Study have been lighting up my radar screen. Yes, Bible Study. It is a committment that I made to the Lord during this deployment -- to faithfully study His Word and present all my cares to Him in prayer. It has been a life line to my soul. However, this has meant letting alot of other "things" go that I would like to be doing...like blogging. But, I believe in the end God will bless my efforts as I see the fruit that His Word brings about in my life. On the husband-front, Chaplain is doing well. He always sound so positive and upbeat, despite what I know is going on over there (all the yucky, unpleasant stuff of war). He told me the other day that except for missing me and the kids, he is loving it over there...mostly because, he said, "I feel like I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be doing exactly what he created me to do." Wow, talk about comfort for me! Thank you, God, for this. Today, I was doing mundane task #541 of the day...which happened to be surface-wiping in my kitchen...and I came to my trash can, which looked totally GROSS on the outside. There were drip stains, coffee grounds, kid drool, and general food stains on it. While I know it is a TRASH can, I still didn't think it should look nasty on the outside, so I began to wipe it down. That's when the still small voice of the Holy Spirit spoke directly to my soul. I heard him say, "Jennifer, this is how so many people live their lives." The verses "There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10)..." and "All our righteous acts are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)..." came rushing to mind. God reminded me that all of us are trash heaps on the inside, stinking and dirty from within. And yet look at how much time and effort we put into cleaning the outside of our trash cans! No matter how glamorous the outside of our can looks, there will never be righteousness inside...apart from Christ. The rubbish and stench will still be there, even if the outside gets wiped down with disinfectant. What needs fixing is within, a matter of the heart. Let Christ transform you from the inside out, by imparting His righteousness to you through His death and resurrection. Even as born-again believers, we can sometimes allow the trash to sneak back in as unconfessed sin lingers like a “fishy” odor in our lives. Jesus spoke strongly against the hypocrisy of a beautiful outside but ugly inside when he was talking to the religious leaders in Matthew 23:27-28. He said to them “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”. I love the vivid imagery Jesus uses with the phrase “whitewashed tombs”. A little research on this revealed that tombs were whitewashed in order to make them more visible. This kept the Jews from stepping on or stumbling over them as the journeyed. Truly, this was an act done by the pharisees to get noticed. When we find ourselves looking like a whitewashed tomb, we need to humble ourselves and seek His forgiveness…asking Him to once again clean us up on the inside and fill us up instead with Him. Then, what is of value in us won't be dependent upon how we look or perform, but upon the perfect salvation given as a gift from the Father. One look at us and God will have to do a double take to see if that was us He saw or Christ! So, don't worry about the can, let's take out the trash!!