the garden, the plague, and a trip.

The garden is IN.

see?



That's what I picked this morning at the garden, and there's another round right behind it. That basket is mostly tomatoes, with a few peppers at the bottom, one eggplant waiting to be devoured and a head of cabbage waiting to be some tasty coleslaw. :) I'm up to my eyeballs in tomatoes and canning, but I love it. I'm so thankful that the Lord provides for our needs in this way every summer, and I'm falling more and more in love with canning and preserving food for our family.



We're over our plague. oy. We were all quite sick, though I definitely had it the worst. I saw my OB on Monday, and everything looked good, just continue to rest and get better. I listened for about a halfday, and then overdid it and laid on the couch and let Levi watch cartoons the rest of the day. ;) Truly though, I'm feeling great now, eating normal food again, and thankful that we survived that nasty bug. I'd rather not visit labor and delivery again before miss thing makes her arrival.



We're going away this weekend. Mike has a "part 2" to a job interview. Back in early July, we got a phone call from a man that we could only call an aquaintance. He was a pastor at a church that we interviewed for a position at, shortly aftr Levi was born. He called and left a message on Mike's voicemail one afternoon, just asking how he was, and what he was doing, and to give him a call back. We thought it a bit odd. We had only met him and his wife, for a short time 2 years ago. We felt like we really connected with them, but it just wasn't the time or place for us. The next day, he called back again, before Mike had a chance to call him back.

He explained that he had been voted in as the new Superintendant of the East Michigan Conference in the Free Methodist Church. That's a lot of lingo if you don't understand FM world, but basically that means that he was now "in charge", or overseeing about 60 churches in Eastern Michigan. There was a need for a pastor at the Alpena FMC, and when he prayed about it, Mike and I came to his mind, thus the phone call. He asked Mike to think\pray\talk to me about it, and get back with him. Now, this is all a little strange, but we just really feel like the Lord's hand was in it. Mike has felt for maybe the last year, that the Lord has been calling him to more of a "lead pastor" position. Now, if you know my husband, you have to smile at this thought. He's not exactly an "up front" kind of guy, but he's felt really strongly about this lately, but we haven't really shared that with many people, just something we've been praying about. (Again, the Lord saying to us, I'm here, I'm listening, follow me)

Mike called to tell me, and I was obviously a little shocked. We had not been seeking an opportunity or looking for anything. In what we can only describe as the Lord's hand leading the way, in about 2 days, everything fell into place for us to visit the church July 5. It was a whirlwind, but through it all, we really felt peaceful about it. We knew that it was of the Lord, and we really just felt like we were along for the ride, to see what HE had for us.

We were scheduled to go to Mike's parents for the holiday weekend. We went, and then Mon afternoon, we gave Levi a kiss (he was going to stay with grandparentals), and we took off for Paul's home. We spent the evening with he and his wife, and some of their family, celebrating the 4th. The next morning, bright and early, we headed to Alpena. It was a 4 hour drive. We arrived around noon, met with several people in the church for a kind of informal "Get to know you" kind of meeting, see if maybe we were a fit for this ministry. We were shown around Alpena (which we LOVED), and later that afternoon we drove home. We arrived around 8, drove back to Mike's parents, arriving around 11. We crashed into bed. We woke up at 5, and left at 6:30, all to be back in Jackson by 9 to find out that we were having a little girl! :) It was a little intense.

All this has been leading up to this past weekend where Mike, myself, and Levi were heading up for a more formal "interview"? (what do you call these things, I don't really know) We were scheduled to stay with a family, going up on Saturday, Mike would speak on Sunday, and we'd head home that afternoon. Needless to say, with the plague that entered our house, we disappointingly had to cancel our plans. We however, had scheduled two weekends to go. This coming, being one of them. So, Saturday morning, Lord willing, we are heading to Alpena again to see if this is something the Lord would have for our family.

Would you pray with us? We are excited about the opportunity, as we really do feel that this is entirely the Lord's leading. It's of course daunting to go stay with people who you don't know, make small talk, and try your best to be engaging, but we are trusting that the Lord is going before us, and will be alongside of us during the trip.

Please pray for..

---> safety on the road (it's 5 hours one way, without stops)
---> that Levi would travel well (that's a looooonnggg ride for a 2 1\2 yr old)
---> that we (as well as the church) would sense the Lord's leading and direction, whatever that may be.

A trip to the ER for Mama

Well it's been a trip these last 48 hours to say the least.

Thursday, Levi had kind of a random fever in the afternoon, but it came and was gone that quick, and he seemed fine. Thursday night we went to bed, and I threw up before bed, but whatever, I chalked it up to pregnancy, and thought nothing of it. Around midnight, Levi's fever came raging back, and we were up with him giving him tylenol\ibruprofen. Around 2, I was up, and NOT feeling well. I made several trips to the bathroom, and knew I had something. At 4 Levi woke up again, and had massive diarhea, and I knew right then and there we were in trouble. We got him cleaned up, and he was shaking he was so cold, except that he was burning up. We put him in bed in between us to get him warm, and about 10 minutes later we woke up to Levi vomiting in our bed. We were basically up for the day at that point.

By morning we all had it. We think that Mike may have actually gotten it first, but for whatever reason it just didn't hit him as hard as it hit Levi and I. He had the diarhea, but nothing else. Levi and I had both ends of it. I was miserable Friday , nothing would stay in me, it came right back up, or went out the other way. Any drink or small thing I tried to eat just didn't sit. I called my OB and they said try to stay hydrated, if you feel like you're dehydrated head to the ER.

By 5, I was m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e. We had been throwing around the ER for a while, but had made no plans. I asked Mike what he thought, and he said.. well, no one really wants to go to the ER, and I looked at him and said, I think I do. He told me later that was when he realized how sick I was. We made some calls, my parents met us at the hospital to take Levi, and we headed in.

I was sent straight to labor and delivery as soon as I told them I was pregnant. We headed up there, via wheelchair and I was so sick, I didn't even care. They got me a bed, and started an IV with fluid pretty quickly. I was still vomiting and having diarhea the whole time we were there. They ended up giving me a total of 3L of fluid, and I peed one time while we were there, though I continued to have the other two symptoms, so it's hard to say I suppose.

Around 11:30, the nurse asked if I would like to stay the night, and quite honestly, I did. I still felt miserable, and had basically kept nothing in me the entire time I was there. In the end, the dr. wouldn't allow me to stay because all my bloodwork came back fine in terms of a bacterial infection, so there was really nothing they could do, except to continue pumping fluid into me.

We were eventually discharged with a prescription, with orders to rest, and drink as much as I could keep down. We went to Meijer around midnight and picked up some gatorade and tylenol PM, and headed home. We crashed into bed around 1, and I slept fitfully through most of the night, and was up several times using the bathroom.

Still feeling icky this morning, and hoping this passes soon. Levi is at my parents, and seems to be doing just fine, so I'm hoping he's over it, and it's passed without incident for him. Mike was feeling much better last night, so all that's left is for pregnant mama to feel better.


If you think of it, please pray that I would be able to keep things down, and that my body would begin to heal. We desperately need liquids to stay down, and I should probably try to eat something. I haven't eaten in well over 24 hours at this point and I don't doubt my body needs nourishment.

My God Sighting

We've been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks, prepping for Vacation Bible School. We spent most nights last week at the chuch decorating, and starting Sunday, Mike began his "playing in the band" part of VBS. He's been gone every night since Sunday helping with the worship for the kiddos. Our VBS is in the evening at 6:30, and quite honestly starts to encroach a bit on our bedtime routine, but we've made it out 2 different nights now to see the opening.

To be honest, I've been cranky about this whole VBS thing. I'm tired, we've been so busy with everything, and I just am waiting for it to be over with. Being 6 months pregnant is not helping my attitude. I'm just beat. I miss my husband, Levi misses his Papa, and we're just ready to be back to normalcy around here.

Always the set up for God to whisper to your heart, right?

So, last night, after Mike left and Levi literally melted down over him leaving, I decided we'd go ahead and go see Papa play his guitar. I listened to the opening as the leader reviewed each God Point the kids have learned this week. As each God Point is declared, and the kids respond (or rather scream) in response with motion.. "Thank You, God"

These are the points for each night

God made You.
God listens to You.
God watches over You.
God loves You, no matter what.
God gives us good gifts.

As I watched and listened, my heart swelled at the thought of these kids learning deep biblical truths at a young age. That God made us, listens to us, watches us, LOVES us, and provides for us. What a blessing. A blessing we ALL needed to be reminded of. It's so easy to get caught up in the more "grown-up side" of biblical theology, but we all need to be reminded of the simple but profound truth that God made us... He made the 24 week old baby girl that is growing inside of me. He made HER... for HIS glory!!

What blessed my heart even more?
As the kids shouted for the unnteenth time "Thank You God" I realized that our precious 2 1\2 yr old son was now in on the action and motions, stating that very thing..

Thank you God


And all my heart could do is respond in the same way..

Thank You God.

sweet moments

i heard mike and levi playing in levi's room this morning.
i walked around the corner to find this.
it's too precious for words.

chicken curry

Tonight for dinner, I braved a new recipe and made

Chicken Curry

It's my friend, Liz' recipe. Liz and I went to college together, and well, I think she's awesome, and you should get to know her. They are currently in language school in Costa Rica. They are preparing to move to Honduras to work at a Christian camp being the hands and feet of Jesus in a very tangible way.

It was delightfully yummy and we'll definitely be doing it again.

Thanks friend!