That he would know You...

When he was two years old, God gave me a prayer for my son. Every evening, before I went to bed, I would kneel beside Adam's bed and pray for him. One night, God very clearly told me to pray that "he (Adam) would know Him (God), in ways that I (Sarah) could not even think or imagine." One of the reasons that I was so sure that this prayer was from the Lord was because I wasn't even sure what it meant! But I faithfully prayed this prayer for Adam every single night. One night, when Adam was a little older, he happened to be awake and asked, "Why do you always pray that same prayer?"

"The Lord gave me that prayer for you, Adam. I don't know what it means, but I know that He is going to answer."

Now, eight years later, God has clearly begun to answer the prayer of my (and more importantly, His!) heart. When I started praying this prayer, I really couldn't imagine regularly hearing from God and even seeing visions on a regular basis. But, God has given these gifts to my son. Even more importantly, God has given Adam a deep love for God and for people. His heart is truly on fire! I am so grateful that this tenth year of Adam's life has been one of tremendous growth and maturity. It is the sort of growth in love that can only be accounted for by God's beautiful and kind intervention. I am looking forward to Adam's eleventh year, and seeing all of the things that God does in his heart.

Here's my little man, at about the time that God gave me this special prayer.

Happy Birthday, my sweet son! I love you more than words could express!!

Give, give, give...

"Give abundantly. Feel that you are rich. Have no mean thought in your heart.
Of Love, of thought, of all you have, give, give, give.
You are followers of the World's Greatest Giver. Give of time, of personal ease and comfort, of rest, of fame, of healing, of power, of sympathy, of all these and many more.
Learn this lesson, and you will become a great power to help others and to do mighty things."
God Calling, p. 142

My wonderful, hard-working husband has not had any work for the past couple of weeks (he is a self-employed carpenter). Honestly, this is not a big deal. He has these short periods of time where he can't find work every now and then, and we usually just forgo any extras and tighten our belts just a bit. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

Reasonable? Yes. The way of the Kingdom? Hmmm...not so much. You see, during these times of tightening we often tighten up our giving, as well. Of course, we still tithe and continue to give to the things that we have committed to on a monthly basis (child sponsorship, Bible's Unbound, etc.). But, we are not real open to giving beyond that (a certain word comes to mind here...yes it's stingy!) Yikes! How does that reflect the Kingdom of God? Well, it doesn't. When I act like I don't have enough, Satan has won. He wants to convince me that we should be worried about our financial situation, or that we need to hoarde what we do have...just in case we need it for some emergency in the future.

But, you know what? I am the daughter of the KING. He gives generously. He gives joyfully. And He asks me to do the same. He also gives me the means to do it!! Isn't that incredible?! He asks me to give, but He also gives me everything that I need in order to obey Him. I can give generously. I can give joyfully. And of course, I'm not just talking about money here. He gives us all things so that we can give all things away for the good of His Kingdom. What an incredible God we have!!!

School Days

We're into our second week of school and things are going well. I thought that I'd give a little rundown of what we are doing, mostly for those of you who also homeschool. I love to hear about what other people do and how they arrange their days, so hopefully this is helpful for someone.

The main curriculum that we use is My Father's World (for history, geography and Bible). I enjoy the ease of this curriculum and appreciate their emphasis on missions and the Bible. I've heard David Hazell (who created the curriculum) speak and was so impressed by his zeal for God and serving others. They give much of the proceeds from their curriculum sales to Bible translation.

My Father's World uses a unit study approach. This year we're studying Creation to the Greeks. Five of the children from our church (three of them live next door) come over two times a week to study with us. We have a fun time!

After school on the first day, Lily, Grace, Teresa and Elayne hadn't had enough school time. Here they are "playing" school.

As part of the curriculum this year, we are celebrating the Jewish Biblical feast days. This past Friday we had a Sabbath Celebration. The symbolism and all of the details that point to Christ are amazing.

The Challah (bread) covering symbolizes the dew that was on the ground in the morning. There are always two loaves of bread on the Sabbath table. This symbolizes the double portion of manna that God gave to the Israelites on the Sabbath. Each family made their own Challah covering. Sorry I didn't get pictures of any people. Next up is Rosh Hashanah. I'll be sure to get some pictures then.

On Mondays, the four older kids go to an Options program. They can choose classes, such as art, p.e., dance, music, destination imagination, science, etc. They started going to Options last year, because we wanted them to interact with other children (especially non-christians). We want our children to be lights and not to completely isolate them from those who need to hear about Jesus! Here they are on their first day (today!).

Grace and I have some special one-on-one time on Options days. Grace is loving "school." I think that she'll be reading soon!

We are using Apologia for science and so far it has been wonderful. My friend, Lisa, comes to our house to lead the experiments. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon. We like Spelling Power for spelling. The kids have really improved in their spelling using this program. The three older ones go to my friend, Meredith's, house on Wednesday and Friday afternoons to do writing. We're super-excited about Andrew Pudewa's writing program. It's supposed to be really good for boys, and so far that seems to be true. We're using a generic grammar course this year. We got it free through Options and it seems to be as good as anything else.

I hope that your school year (homeschooling, public school or private school) is going great! We're certainly having a fun time!

letters and numbers and words...oh my!

While we were on our camping trip, Grace and I were walking along the path to our cabin. All of the sudden, Grace stopped abruptly and exclaimed, "Mommy! Look! "Y" like Yana."

This is what she saw...

Today was our official first day of school. Grace and all of the others were so very excited (more pictures coming soon!). Here is Grace beside her 100 chart. She got to put her "1" sticker on today.
Grace also read her very first word (besides family member's names) today..."bat". She has become very concerned that her name has a "c" in it, instead of an "s". She has started to spell her name like this..."Grase". It makes perfect sense. Oh, how I love this age! It is so fun to see kids learn to read and spell and count and recognize numbers. What a privilege it is to be able to teach all of my children at home!

Family Camp

We were so blessed to have a long weekend together as a family. Since our move, we've felt a little disjointed, and it was a good time to focus on being together and simply having fun with one another. David and I can tend toward being overly-serious, so we try to find times to simply enjoy our children and the beautiful creation that God has made. This was definitely that sort of time!

We arrived at camp on Friday evening. Look at our cute little cabin!

We had a campfire that night, with the other families who were at camp. There were plenty of camp songs and lots of giggles and fun. It was starting to get a bit chilly, so we headed back to our (unheated) cabin to snuggle up in our sleeping bags.

I'll have to admit, the first night was a bit rough. The temperatures went below freezing, and we were all pretty cold... But fortunately, it warmed up significantly the next day and there were plenty of activities to enjoy in the sunshine.

We started out with a hike and then the kids enjoyed some archery. Lily and Jadon, in particular, really loved this.

Later that day, we all participated in some family building activities. Yana and Adam did great at this paired rope aparatus.

Grace paired up with a little girl from another family. She said that this was her favorite part of camp!

Although we actually stayed pretty busy, we also took some time to relax.

The next day, we tried out the rock wall. Everyone made it to the top!

Grace, however, preferred to simply relax on the rocks (rather than climb them).

In the evening, we had another campfire. The kids loved making s'mores.

Jadon has a special talent for getting so sticky while eating toasted marshmallows, that he can't get his fingers apart!

The fire was hot, so we needed really long sticks!

Two of my precious angels.

One more angel.

We packed up this morning (Monday), and took the scenic route home.

Gotta love the beautiful mountains.

All the way home, the kids made plans for next year's camp. I'm not sure what we'll be doing at this time next year. But, for now, we have sweet, sweet memories of a wonderful camp, and a beautful weekend as a family...

Something new and something old...

Our Father is so kind. He purifies our hearts through the fires of His awesome love. Then, if we remain faithful to Him who is only good and kind and lovely, He praises us with words of incredible love and leads us along His chosen path for us.

A number of months ago, I wrote about a time of testing that I had experienced in the Lord. You can read about it here: http://davidandsarahb.blogspot.com/2009/02/journey.html. God was purifying my heart and it was extremely painful. I had been caught up in what others thought of me, and in what I thought the Lord wanted me to do. Our precious Lord needed to show me that He wanted my heart to be completely His. He wanted me to have a single eye, only for Him. He wanted my love to be pure and undefilied. He did not want me to find my identity in what people thought of me, or even in what I did for Him, but to only find my identity in receiving and giving back His great love.

One thing that I did not mention at that time was the way that I had to completely give up my ideas of ministry to orphans. Since I was about 10 years old, the Lord had been speaking to me about His love for the lost and needy. He DOES love the poor and needy of this world. But, I had come to find my identity in what I could do for orphans (which in actuality is very little on my own), rather than in the love of my great and awesome Lord. He showed me that He wanted me to stay where I was, loving Him, loving His people, and loving His Church. He did not want me to go to Africa, or Haiti or China. He wanted me to learn to love Him here.

Since that time, I have been basking in the glory of His great grace and He has been showering His blessings upon me. It has been a time of great strengthening. He has given me the strength to embrace HIS vision, and to trust in Him for however He would lead me, along with the brethren whom He has graciously placed me among.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, as I was listening to Mike Bickle's teaching on Song of Solomon, God reminded me of this time of testing. He arrested my heart with the words, "Turn you eyes away from Me, for they have overcome Me." (Song of Solomon 6:5) These words were spoken to the bride, when, during a time of testing, she remained faithful to the Lord. Our dear Lord then told me that anyone who shows this sort of faithfulness, captures His great, fiery heart of love (can you imagine?!).

My heart leapt within me and I was filled with utter joy. Despite my mistakes and failings, I had pleased the Lord and it made all of the suffering of that time worthwhile. With joy bubbling up from my heart, I had to leave the confines of the room where I was sitting. I skipped down the street, unable to contain my pleasure--hands raised up in praise.

The Lord led me to an unknown path along a stream, behind the most beautiful of houses. Where often I may have felt frustration over the riches spent to build those houses, that day, I could only feel awe and gratitude--"Such beauty, Lord...thank you!"

I sat in a grassy knolle, beneath a large Cottonwood tree. Leaves were fluttering in the breeze and the coolness of the gentle wind quieted my soul. "Lord, is there anything that you would like to say to me?" I asked. The words of the Misty Edward's song echoed in my mind, and found quiet voice on my lips...

Jesus, here I am your favorite one,

What are You thinking?

What are You feeling?

I have to know.

For I am after Your heart.

I'm after Your heart.

I'm after You.

Then, stillness overtook me and I waited for His words. they came as an impression--like a gentle cloud of love:

There is nothing that is new.

All that I have told you before is still true.

You see My face in the face of the children--

the poor and needy ones.

I love them.

Love Me in them.

"Really?" I asked. "This is what you want me to know?"

The impression came more strongly this time:

All that I have told you before. It is still true.

I sat quietyly for a moment, and then the peace and the joy came, as soft as the breeze that passed over and through me. I could not contain myself and I turned back along the path--my hands raised in praise of our great and worthy Lord.

I do not know how or where it will come about. I do not know what God will do. But I can honestly say that I feel no anxiety, no pressure to figure things out. I believe that God will allow me to see His face again in the faces of the most needy of this world, but it will be in His time, in His way. It may begin tomorrow, or it may begin 10 years from now. I don't know. I only know that I am to seek His face. I also know that this ministry to orphans will come through His Church, through the loving hearts of the brothers and sisters whom God has allowed me to share my life. What a loving God we serve! What a faithful Father! May my love for Him grow, and may I be able to see His face more clearly each day. He is worthy!

Just the boys...

Just the boys...just because they're so cute...just because I love them so much!!