Journaling Through the Valley . . . and finding JOY in the morning!
About Me
- Name: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- Location: MICHIGAN, United States
Thank you for stopping by. It's my hope you find glimpses of my Savior interwoven thru my writings. I am the wife to one husband for over 25 years, a blessed mama to a dozen children, yes each born from me ~ two of which see Jesus face to face & ten at home, all of us yearning to see Jesus someday. We have been home educating for over 18 years with . . . well, another 15 years to go (the youngest is 3, the oldest 23!) I have walked through rejection, to continually learning I am CALLED, LOVED and forever KEPT by God - never, ever to be rejected by Jesus! (Jude 1:1) I've walked through deep sorrow to find that joy does come again, though the night may be long; I've witnessed God orchestrating miracles with my children still beyond my comprehension, & I am seeing new love forming as we begin a new road of older children finding life mates. My life has and is a journey, from the deepest, almost rock bottom pit, to stumbling through my faith and looking towards the ultimate climax of everlasting life in heaven. Will you be joining me here and there? ~ Loni
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: FLOWERS
Photo Theme: FLOWERS My daughter, Heidi (14 1/2), loves taking nature & flower pictures. I had SO many to choose from that she just took in the last week! Maybe it will give a little picture of some God's handiworks in Michigan. Apple Blossoms Anyone know what the above is?? Lilly of the Valley Crab Apple Blossoms If you have done the Saturday Scavenger Hunt, please leave a note below! |
Thursday, May 18, 2006
FRIDAY'S FEAST QUESTION 94
What is the last thing you had to have repaired?
Soup
If someone gave you $2,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend half of it on yourself and give the rest to charity, where would you spend the $1,000 and which charity would receive your remaining $1,000?
Salad
What is one of your favorite songs from the 1980s?
I really had to think with this one, because I don't listen to the same music anymore. But I recall from my highschool really liking REO Speedwagon and their song, Keep on Loving You.
You enter a pet store. Which section do you go to first?
Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how athletic are you?
3 - because of my "basketball abilities". That being - after changing diapers with no break for over 19 years, I am pretty good at making long shot dunks with a diaper into the garbage! Does that count?!?!?!
If you have participated, please leave a note below!
This & That . . .
Along with the bronchitis, it's been a rainy week, and today especially cold (45 degrees), so that does not help one to feel better. I think I can see the grass growing. The kids are suppose to cut the lawn for some friends who are out of town and it's a very large yard, and it's hard for them to get it done in between the showers.
I love learning names of people and what they mean. When we named our children, their names meant something, either a family name, or a reason we named them, for the time period we were at. One of ours is Melody Grace - she was born after our stillborn daughter, and the funny thing is how she fits into her name. She LOVES to sing. She is like one of my other daughters and makes up songs all the time. Sometimes it can irritate the others, especially in the van or while they are doing schoolwork - but I like it! :) Anyway, I just read this today, that the "new" name that is gaining very quick popularity is Nevaeh (pronounced na-VAY-uh). Any ideas what it means? It's the backwards spelling of heaven! In 2005, this name made the top 100 with 4,457 newborns named this, with this name being the fastest climb among all names since the government started keeping track more than a century ago. I've not heard this name used yet, but imagine we will soon! I just thought it was kinda neat.
Well, we need the extra blankets on tonight. It's so chilly! I just hope we don't get up in the morning and see the rain has turned to snow. I am so ready for 70+ degrees and things drying up - including my laundry that has been hanging for three days on the line! It's just getting extra rinses I guess!
POSTCARD ARRIVALS
Thank you Connie!
Thank you Sara!
Let me know if you'd like to participate. Just e-mail me privately. We hope to get LOTS more! :)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Mother's Day 2006
Psalm 40:3
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: CELEBRATION
I thought quite a bit about what picture to put up for today's photo hunt- celebration. Being it's Mother's Day weekend, I knew it had to do with celebrating this. Last week, for the "open" picture, I share a picture of our daughter after her open heart surgery. Now, she's not a favored child, but it just happens to be that she was born at home - a planned home birth. It was the best birth, and just so neat. I knew about 11 pm at night that we were going to have the baby soon. Some of the older children knew something was going on, and we'd probably have the baby, but they went to bed and slept through it all! My midwife and a friend and husband spent the night up with me, and we had her around 5 am in the morning. It was a very calm birth, both the midwife & my friend praying with/for me and singing. Shortly after she was born, Norm held her and prayed over her, giving her back to the Lord. Little did we know what weeks and year ahead would hold. Around 8 am the children started getting up, one by one, and it was like Christmas morning - but even better. To go to bed and wake up the next morning to a new baby sister!! It was such a sweet, sweet spirit that morning, and quite the CELEBRATION. I treasure it very dearly in my heart, as I do each of my children's birth and the CELEBRATION of life, that makes me a mom! You cannot see her very well, but I am holding Jessica. The other 6 children are on our bed, at home, in CELEBRATION of this new little one. Also, since several asked last week, Jessica was born with a list of heart abnormalities, and had 2 open heart surgeries after she was 13 months old in a 12 week period of time. She is now 9 years old, and doing wonderfully. Yes, she will have to have more open heart surgeries, but she has gone many years beyond what her doctors expected. Her last visit the cardiologist said to keep doing what we are doing - PRAYING! If you have done the Saturday Scavenger Hunt, please leave a note below! |
Mother's - A Quote from Theodore Roosevelt
I heard on Family Life Today (Christian radio program on 05-08-06) a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt, that I think is relevant for Mother's Day:
"When all is said and done, it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. … The mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she only would realize it, a more honorable as well as more important position than any man in it. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist."
Friday, May 12, 2006
FRIDAY'S FEAST QUESTION 93
What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Moosetracks
Soup
What are 3 things you would like to put in a time capsule?
Bible, pictures, our family story
Salad
Name something you are 100% sure of.
My freedom & Salvation through Jesus - and forever in heaven with Him & my loved ones. Click here so you can know this too - or here - or here.
Main Course
What is something you do to calm yourself when you're stressed or upset?
Go in my room to be alone, pray, and then talk to someone else - usually DH.
Dessert
If you could receive an invitation to any important event, what would you like it to be?
To see my dad on his birthday - he turns 81 on Sunday - and though we talk occassionally, there is an estrangement (he lives 6 hours away - long complicated story. I'd go at a moment's notice.
If you have participated, please leave a note below!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
BOOK REVIEW: Presumed Guilty
Though a fiction story, Mr. Bell shows the truth of sin, and how it can quickly weave its way into our lives. It shows how Christians need accountability, how just one "quick peek" at pornography can pull someone into this deep dark hole, and how being alone with others of the opposite sex needs to be guarded. An innocent hug, can lead to adultery. Yes, even people we put up high on a pedestal, such as a pastor, can fall victim to this.
NOTE: If you have a blog and love to read books, you may be interested in becoming a reviewer for Active Christian Media. There is a one-time reviewer fee of $25, and then you are sent free books! If you do sign up, please tell them that I sent you.
As an Active Christian Media reviewer, I was not compensated for providing this review. I received this complimentary book in order to review it and am thankful for this opportunity.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Choking Game Article to Read
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Twenty-Two Questions
- I AM: a wife & homeschool mom to 9 children.
- I WANT: to make sure my children have a personal relationship with Jesus & know Him personally.
- I WISH: I don't wish - but pray.
- I HATE: the "choking game" being called a game.
- I MISS: Matthew
- I FEAR: burying another child (yes, my lack of faith).
- I HEAR: the children in the background & my husband repairing/running a lawnmower
- I WONDER: what heaven is really like.
- I REGRET: not being patient enough with my children.
- I AM NOT: as strong as I may sound.
- I DANCE: in silliness with my children, but look forward to dancing in heaven.
- I SING: with songs that praise God.
- I CRY: when I see my children hurting inside - especially missing their brother.
- I AM NOT ALWAYS: on time places - actually rarely on time!
- I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: bracelets.
- I WRITE: notes in my Bible & often date verses when they hit me for where I am at.
- I CONFUSE: my husband often!
- I NEED: to exercise.
- I SHOULD: go to bed.
- I START: a new blog soon - shhhh! It's a secret to be told soon!
- I FINISHED: reading a book that I will review soon.
- I TAG: YOU! Yes you, who is reading this and got to the end. PLEASE??? And then, leave me a note that you did this!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: OPEN
This is our daughter, Jessica Joy, after her 2nd open heart surgery. The picture was taken by our son, Matthew, after he gave her the candy cane. She has come such a long way since this time, and a daily reminder that miracles still happen.
please leave a note below!
Friday, May 05, 2006
FRIDAY'S FEAST QUESTION 92
Appetizer
From which country(s) are some (or all) of your ancestors?
Greece
Soup
How would you describe your sneeze?
LOUD! Haaaaa - Chooo! My kids always laugh.
Salad
What is the last thing you cleaned?
A "junk basket" full of lots of odds and ends that needed to be put in the proper place. It cleared up a big space on my counter!
Main Course
Who made the strongest first impression on you?
I've thought of many people through my life, especially when I was young, and I think it would have to be my grandpa. He was one who lived what he spoke. I remember him reading his Bible everyday. We had a very special bond. When he had his second stroke in a nursing home, the nurses found him with his Bible open on his lap, and a devotional booklet, Our Daily Bread, opened to the right date. He died shortly after this. My mom kept that devotional booklet for many years.
Dessert
Name one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime.
Seeing all our children coming to know God in a personal way and to follow Him (not just us), know what they believe and why and live for Him.
If you have participated, please leave a note below!
Thursday, May 04, 2006
THANKFUL THURSDAY
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"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18
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If you have participated, please leave a note below!
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Mrs. Noah Speaking
I suppose under the circumstances there’s really no point in complaining but really! Noah and I had just got accustomed to living alone and having some peace and quiet and fixing up the house the way we wanted it at last.
I brought up three boys,
wiped their runny noses,
changed their messy diapers,
washed, sewed, cooked,
saw to it that they had the proper advantages.
We got them safely married
(though if I didn’t know it before I know it now;
their wives leave a great deal to be desired).
We liked having them come to visit us
on the proper holidays,
bringing the babies,
taking enough food home to feed them for a week,
and Noah and I could go to bed in peace.
And now look what has happened!
Sometimes I think it would have been simpler
to have drowned with everybody else-
at least their troubles are over.
And here we are jammed in this Ark –
why didn’t the Lord give Noah enough time to build a big enough ark if He wanted him to build one at all?
The animals take up almost all the room and
Noah and I are crowded together with
Shem, Ham and Japheth,
their slovenly wives and noisy children,
and nowhere to go for a moment’s peace . . .
Not that I blame him . . .
It’s my daughters-in-law who get me.
They insist on changing the beds
every time I turn around.
They won’t use a towel more than once,
and they’re always getting dressed up and throwing
their dirty linen at me to wash,
the washing is easy enough – we’ve plenty of water –
But how do they expect me to get anything dry
in all this rain?
I don’t mind doing the cooking,
but they’re always coming out to the kitchen
to fix little snacks with the excuse that it will help me:
“You’re so good to us, Mother Noah,
we’ll just do this for you,”
and they never put anything away where it belongs.
They’ve lost one of my measuring cups
and they never clean the stove
and they’ve broken half of the best china
that came down to us from Grandfather Seth.
When the babies squall in the night, who gets up with them?
Not my daughters-in-law.
“Oh, Mother Noah’ll do it. She loves the babies so.”
Ham’s wife is always stirring up quarrels,
playing people off against each other.
Shem’s wife who never does anything for anybody,
manages to make me feel lazy and
mean if I ask her to dry one dish.
Japheth’s wife is eyeing Shem and Ham;
she’ll cause trouble; mark my words.
Today that silly dove Noah is so fond of
came back with an olive twig
on his beak.
Maybe there’s hope that we’ll get out of
this Ark after all.
We’ve landed! At last!
Now we can get back to normal and
have some peace and quiet
and if I put something where it belongs
it will stay there
and I can clean up this mess and
some sleep at night and –
Noah! Noah! I miss the children!By Madeleine L’Engle