Happy Halloween

Daniel is all dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine. Happy Halloween to all of you! Isn't he so cute!

Daniel's Daycare

I decided that it was time to post pictures of Daniel's classroom at his school. He loves going to school everyday. He has so much fun with his friends. He has 12 friends enrolled in his class but most days there are 8-9 of them there. One of Daniel's favorite things to do at school is play dress up. Here is Daniel playing dress up with his friend Alisia.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my
strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights
of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when
strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in
the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took
on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of
love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to
save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath
of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the
ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He
rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's
curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is
mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of
Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of
man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He
returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ
I'll stand

Apartment Drama

This past Sunday I decided to do some cleaning behind my fidge and stove. I had no idea what I was getting into. When I pulled out my stove I cried. It had not been cleaned since the last tenants. It was sooo gross. It took Brandon and I hours to clean up this mess. We thought that all of our apartment drama was over. We were wrong of course. Last night we had friends over for dinner. When I walked in the kitched I saw a HUGE bubble in my ceiling. I had to second guess myself on whether it had been there this whole time or not. Brandon got up on a chair and touched it and it was full of water. We called the apartment manager and he said that he could not send anyone out that night be we had to wait until morning. Two hours later the spot at doubled in size and we slowly spreading all over the ceiling. The last thing I wanted was for that thing to bust and for that nasty water to be all over my stuff. So Brandon and I decided to pop it. Oh boy was that fun! Enjoy the pictures!

I'm dreaming of a white Halloween?????

Okay when I moved to Michigan I was not expecting that I would have to deal with snow this early in October. It snowed over an inch today. The kids at the daycare loved it but I thought that it was a bit obnoxious. Although I have been told that this is rare for around here. I guess it does not alway snow in October which is good news for me. I feel like I did not even have a fall. Today this girl at the daycare came in and was very upeset. When I asked her what was wrong she said " I thought that Haloween was before Christmas." I thought that was really cute.

Well I know that I am bad about blogging. When I think about blogging I am usually so tired I cannot think. Which is where I am at right now.

Joys of worship through song

There is one song that when I hear it whether it be on the radio or in church that I cannot hear without getting teary. It has the same effect on me everytime. I just love the truth that rings through each line. When I hear it I think through my life, and the lives of my family members and it brings me to a point of humble prayer. Here are the lyrics for those who may not know this song. Even just reading them is powerful to me.

Blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

I have been thinking about this song since we sang it at church this morning. It is funny how songs can bring out so many diffrent emotions. There is a hymn that everytime I hear it is hard to sing it without remembering Kenya. I can just hear the kenyan people singing it and it is hard for me to sing without wanting to do so in a kenyan accent. And when I think of the words again am thrown back into a state of humble prayer. This time for the Kenyan people and for my parents as they try to raise support to go back and continue thier ministry there.

There Is A Fountain

1. There is fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

2. The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

3. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
’Til all the ransomed church of God
Be saved to sin no more.

4. E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be ’til I die.

5. When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

Music is such a wonderful way to worship the Lord. I had been thinking about these songs since our worship service this morning. I always enjoy worshiping our Lord through music.

Monday Blues

I was told that it was time for an update. I am not sure that I have to much to say. I do know that this weekend has gone by way to fast. I always have the Monday blues on Sunday night. I know that I have five more days of work before I get a break again. When I was in Jr. High we did a musical and sang a song that went "It's monday all over again and it feels like the week is never going to end. It hits me every seven days without warning, it keeps me praying for saturday morning..." WOW I cannot believe that I remember so many words to that song. But I do know that I have to work so that we can survive! This last month has been a challange for our family. I do not want to complain because the Lord has taken care of us. It just is hard when there always seems like something. The latest thing is that our Bank from Kansas is charging us a $6 fee for not using the bank account enough. I know that is our fault we should have just closed it out. We just forgot that they would charge us. The thing is that there is not $6 in the account, so now we have to mess with that. I know $6 is not much but it is more than we have right now. Our bills are higher the first couple of months as we are hooking things up here. We have a much lower income than we did in Olathe. We are adjusting to things being a bit more expensive around here. We are praying that we get back on our feet soon. I am really looking forward to the day when Brandon is out of school and we actually have a decent income. But in the mean time I will praise the Lord for building our faith. When you are not sure when or how you will be able to pay bills and then the Lord provides you really learn to trust him. Well, I need to go and put my dear sweet baby to bed. We have to get up early and be at the daycare. I am so thankful for Daniel. He brings so much joy to our lives. He really makes you notice the little things. He gets excited about the smallest things like, elevators, and Mac and cheese! Children truly are a blessing from God!

Long Week...

This week has been a long week. I am so glad that it is Friday. I think that my body has finally adjusted to working 40 hours a week again. I have also gotten used to getting up at 6 am. I am not so sure that Daniel has though. He is such a grump in the mornings. We have pushed his bedtime back to 7:00 to try to help him not be so tired. It seems to work a little bit. Once he is awake, Daniel really loves going to school everyday. He has a lot of friends and his teachers say that he is such a good boy. I was worried about how he would adjust. He is in a class with kids who are all older than him. I did that on purpose because I felt that they could teach him how to talk and potty and things like that. The kids in the other class are bewtween 15-22 months old. I felt that he would do better in the older class.

I have been fighting off a cold all week. That has made this week long. I am looking forward to a night of nothingness and a morning of sleeping in. Tonight Daniel is sleeping in his twin bed for the first time. He is so excited about it. I have not heard a peep from him since we put him down. He is getting to be such a big boy.

Well I am rambling on about nothingness. I just have not updated this in a couple of days and thought that I would write a little about my week.

Pictures of our apartment and the campus.

I have been meaning to send everyone pictures of our apartment. Here is a picture of our living room, standing in the dining room. The big curtain is our glass doors that go our to a balcony.








This is a picture of what we see when we sit on our balcony.













This is a shot of my kitchen.

















Here is the other side of the Kitchen. I love the size of this kitchen. The only thing that it is missing is a dishwasher!













Here is our dining room. This shot was taken from the living room. The door to the left (that you can barely see over by the metal shelves) is the door that leads into the kitchen.












This is Daniel's room. It is small, but big enough for him.



















This is one shot of our living room. Our living room is huge and so we put Brandon's work station behind the couch. We can fit five bookshelves in here! I am standing in the Dining room taking this picture.












This is our bedroom, not much to see. There are two closets which is really nice.













Here is another shot of Daniel's room and his toddler bed that he has been sleeping in.














This is our really ugly bathroom. I wanted to make sure that you could see the nasty floor!

















This is what our apartment looks like from the outside. Our apartment is the balcony to the left on the second floor.













This is Brandon's "carrel" ( I call it an office) in the library. He shares this which one other guy. The other side of the "carrel" looks like Brandon's but the desk and shelves are full of books. I am sure that is what Brandon's will look like in a couple of years.













This is a shot of the campus. This is on our side of the street. Most of the campus is across a major road that they call the Belt Line. This is the walkway that you take to get to the other side of the road.











This is the crosswalk that you have to use to get across the road. Traffic hardly ever stops on this road, so this is the best way to go.













Another shot of Brandon's "carrel".

Just a few thoughts....

Being the wife of a seminarian is something that is so hard to explain. For those of you who are married to life time students will understand what I mean without any further explinations. I love my husband and I am very happily married. However, if I was told five years ago my future I probably would not have believed it.

This past year has been one that is so hard to explain. My family and I lived in the town of Olathe in Kansas. We moved there because we had no where else to go. My husband finished his program at TEDS in Deerfield IL, but was not accepted into a PHD program. We really wondered for a long time if pursuing a PHD was what he needed to do. The year that we lived in Olathe was one filled with many tears and prayers. I remember praying more this past year than in my whole life. I would pray while cooking, while in the shower, while changing diapers, while driving around. I definitely learned the meaning of pray without ceasing. What was I praying for? God's will! It is a very difficult thing to get into a PHD program. Something I know that I personally would never be able to do. We spent so much money on application fees sending out applications to five diffrent schools. I remember when March came around it was about time to start hearing from the schools. One after another, NO, NO, NO, NO. I remember laying on the floor crying out to God "is this really what you have for us?" It is so hard sometimes to just sit still, trust God and wait. I truly believe that the Lord streached my faith further than it has ever been streached before. He wanted to make sure he was the one to get the glory if Brandon was to get into a PHD program. When we got word that Brandon was accepted to Calvin, I remember falling on the floor face down crying and the only thing that could come out of my mouth was "Praise God Praise God Praise God." I knew this was God will.

This was not the only time the Lord streached my faith. When we moved to Deerfield for his THM our lives were thrown into a whirlwind. I had just had Daniel. I was learning how to be a mom, and my husband was gone most of the time. He worked two jobs, one at UPS starting at 3 in the morning. He was in class, on the computer, reading books, at work, or in bed. I never thought that I could be so lonely even though my husband was in the house with me. Don't get me wrong Brandon did the best he could. I am suprised he kept up with all that he did. It was just hard to get used to the idea that he needed to divide his attention between his family, work and school. These programs demand so much attention. I had no friends to turn to in Deerfield. I tried to make some friends. I just did not fit in. Most of the wives worked so that thier husbands could be in school. I was one of the only stay at home mom's I knew. I was lonely for some companionship. Of course whenever you are in a downtime in your life you can count on the great deceiver to be right there trying to convince you of things that were not true. I struggled with thoughts of wishing I had never married a student, with thinking that if only Brandon loved me more he would put down that stupid book and tell me I was beautiful. I was hurt by the fact that his school was more important than me. I was hurt that he would drag me to a new place and then ignore me. I had to fight so many diffrent feelings that Satan was putting into my head. I remember one Sunday at church the Lord got a hold of my heart and for the first time I saw the big picture. I saw the reason why Brandon had such a passion for schooling. I saw that he desired to teach the word of God and in order to fulfill this high calling he wanted to make sure he was ready. The Lord took hold my heart and comforted me, and at the same time made me feel so horrible for having so many awful selfish thoughts. I realized that after all of this schooling, Brandon will be ready to train people to go out and preach the gospel. That is what this is all about. Not books, and papers... the gospel if Jesus Christ. He will be training men who will then go out and train others, and they will train others, and so on and so on and so on. The word of the Lord will be spread all over, and the Lord is just wanting to use our family as part of his work. What a privillege not a burdon. That day I cried in my room for a long time. I felt so ashamed that I was complaining about being used by God. I begged God for forgivness and asked the Lord to help me to never lose focus again. Praise the Lord for never giving up on his children. For always molding them and shaping them. For streaching thier faith so that they can become more life himself. This is what the Lord has done in my life over the last three years. This is what I hope he continues to do for the rest of my life. This is why I am proud to say I am married to a "lifetime student"... I am a proud seminary wife.

A day at the lake

Daniel at the playground.












A huge boat that we saw.














Daniel in the playground tunnel.














My little thug.













A playgound with a lakeside view.













Daniel running to play in the water.
















This boy if fearless. This was the tallest slide there was, and it was the first one we went down.













Daniel trying to get daddy to go deeper in the water.

Blogging

I started this blog so after reading my husband's and my sister's blogs. I decided to start writing things on here so that I can express my thoughts and feelings over the next four years as my husband finishes up his school work at seminary. I also wanted to have a place to let my family know how we are doing, and be able to see the updates of the family. I hope to do a good job of updating this blog, but I know that I am very bad at journaling, so we will see. But for now I am going to go so that I can watch a movie with my husband.