Dear Henry

I have not met you yet- but I love you so much.
One thing I love about you is that you are changing my big sister into a more beautiful and loving  person.
We never know how much another person will affect us even that little person that is ours or what changes we will make for the better because they are now in our life.
You have made your mama's heart grow bigger.  You have made her love more. You will freak her out. You will teach her to relax and let you be adventurous. You will teach her patience on a whole new level that only you can teach her.
Your Daddy will teach you to be a real man, goofy, strong and steady.
You look just like him. Every time your mama looks at you she will fall more in love with him.
You have an amazing family.
Mom and Dad will raise you up to love God first.  They will be the guide of your dreams and raise the sails to your boat of ambitions. When you are ready they will pull the anchor up and set you off into the world.
They love eachother and they are strong making you strong for any storms ahead.
Henry you just don't know how blessed you are.
You don't know how sweet and wonderful your life is going to be.
Love, Aunt Becky

His Kindness

Ever get into a fight with your spouse and you know what you were doing was wrong but hearing it come from their mouth just broke your heart?  Well, it should if it didn't.
I hate it when I'm on a perfect date with my husband then one little glitch turns me into a sour tornado of stress.
I mean, we hardly get one on one time having two littles- I should just be able to relax and have a few hours of bliss right?
Wrong.
I have a sin nature, that if it isn't the devil, it's my flesh (for in my flesh dweller no good thing) will try to tear my marriage apart.
How to remedy this?
Admit you were wrong.
When faced with this problem be humble, say your sorry.
Sometimes I honestly tell my husband I dont know what came over me but can we start over.
And I have to make myself stop complaining, freaking out about nothing.
My husband is kind.
Proverbs 19:22
I have always seen this in him from the moment I met him. Even when he calls me out on my errors he does it gently and patiently.
As iron sharpeneth iron; so a man the countenance of his friend Proverbs 27:17 and Isaiah is my best friend.
If you have not such a husband then you will need more grace to keep the peace in your home- YOU need to choose to be the kind one.
Why?
Why not just shove it under the rug?
Because marriage is not meant for that.
It is a picture of Christ and the Church. Marriage is the foundation of the family and if we are going to build up strong kids, communities, churches and give glory to God the one who created us we need to have peace in the home.




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Mommy Moments

As we walked up the road together I scanned the ground for any change that might have been dropped there.
We walked up the road, crossed the street, passed the small convenience store to get to the Post Office every day.
And every day I scanned the ground for loose change in hopes of finding at least ten cents to buy a sucker at the store.
I wonder if my mom dropped change on the ground when I wasn't looking-

It was Tuesday, taco Tuesday at Taco Johns, tacos were $.99 and my Mom had at least 6 kids at that time to get a quick lunch while running errands.
We went to the Redfern house aka black hole because my Mom always got to chatting with her best friend and we were having so much fun playing with our best friends we never wanted to leave.
I scanned the shelves and rows of books. I was in a magical place where I could go anywhere just by opening up pages and reading automatically transported me there until my mother ship came looking for me.

I am riding in a mini van staring out at the mountains and trees making up the beautiful forest as we travel an hour or so drive to see my favorite boy on the whole earth my soul mate.

She kissed my cheek and gave me one last hug as "her" girl before I walked down the aisle and became "his" girl.

She smiled proudly at me as she held my first born daughter....and she smiled proudly at me as she held my first born son.

She slept on my couch in my tiny house that was very unfinished.
We stayed up late watching Downton Abbey and ate pop corn.
We text every day.
We take road trips together.
Thanks Mom for always being there and giving me Mommy Moments-

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Success VS. Failure

I posted  that picture because I love my kids. They are just too cute and adorable not to talk about. They are my little treasures.
I also want to talk about success.
To me is reaching the final goal, finishing the project, having satisfaction with the product.
Seeing my kids joyful is one success.
Success is individual.
Failure is part of success.  Without failing and trying over and over again you will never have the chance at being successful.
My husband really inspires me. Sometimes I think he is just bat crazy. But he isn't,  he is very perseverant,  he has something right there.: the attitude to never give up and to never say it can't be done. He teaches himself how to do anything because he loves to learn.
He doesn't like failure.
But it's part of the process.


When we have a failure it makes me think of my kids future. Will we pass on that "keep moving forward" attitude to them?
Will they look at us and say " We can do it because they did!".
Many have encouraged me in life when I'm down after a hardship.  A little life trial that discouraged me.
The bitter ones don't inspire. They bring you down, they warn you it will be sooo bad and wish and wish they could change their life. Never content, they tend to be perfectionists and others can never get it right for them.
The ones that say "I had faith and trusted God! He is in control and no matter what state I am in I am to be content. "
Those people are a success.
Thanks Mom and Dad for sticking it out in the hardest of times. The odd jobs, the small houses, the many kids, everything in life that made you who you are now- I really admire you for trusting God and having never failing faith that He would take care of you. That is what gives me strength today. You passed it down.



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Living in a yurt, Living with a visionary.

My house/yurt is 600 square feet.
To start off I'm crazy about my husband.  He is the cutest guy I know and I would never have dreamed in a million years I would be living in a yurt with two kids 2 and under .
When I met him all he ever talked was crazy. I'm going to fish in Alaska someday, I would totally go to the mission field if God called me, I love the idea of being debt free- I'm never going to have a credit card, I'm going to build a stone house, I've been saving my first kiss for my wife on our wedding day...ect.
Talk was wonderful exciting but when he did end up going fishing for months and I cried myself to sleep every night and when progress on the stone house came to a stop and plans changed over and over. Courtship was long and we had to use self control.

Then one day I thought "Who did I marry and what did I get myself into?" This is harder than I thought.
Working on the yurt was a lot of fun. Having a baby and working on it took some organization of schedules and help from the inlaws.
Living in an unfinished yurt with 2 babies can be discouraging and difficult.
Others have done it and through their success in hardship I find strength.  From their faith I can see my husband's vision.
But at times I wanted to leave.
I wanted hot water for my babies bath in at our house, heck, I wanted a hot shower in my own house(we showered 2/10 of a mile up the road at my inlaws every day...sometimes skipping days if it was a rough one.) This was not me...this was not what I had invisioned.
Where was the 19 year old girl who would live in a tent to be with this crazy man? No washer or dryer either with a baby that spit up more food than he ate and I marveled at his healthy weight. Tar paper walls depressed me and I would often go into a hole of self pity and would have drown there had it not been for my faith in God that He would take care of me, my ever supportive inlaws and friends. I wanted someone to chew my husband out. "How could you make your wife and kids live in that house!" But no one did.
We learned to cling to eachother. I had to find peace and contentment in whatever state I am.
We both might have thought at times it would be better if I lived with my family for awhile- until things got finished.
But I knew where I was supposed to be and it was by his side through good times and bad, sickness or health, poverty and as in wealth, I was staying.
It's been a time of testing, growing and character building.
I have met the challenge of keeping a cheerful house with all the courage I can muster.
The yurt is still not complete, but better.
I still struggle, but we will stay together.



The tar paper slowly gets covered up!




The ramp that was so slick in the winter is now replaced by steps.

Loving, Unlovely

The other day I was out shopping with my hubby for the perfect gift to give our first born daughter on her 2nd Birthday. 

We were so excited to hand her off to Aunt Jeri and Uncle Kirk and snuck away to get her Birthday present.



As usual, when we reunite I expect a "Mommy! I missed you!" hugs and kisses soon to follow.

But instead she says, "I don't like my parents. I don't want to go with you."

Gut wrenching. I never wanted to hear her say these words. Then it got worse.

"Piper, you don't really mean that we have fun too, tell Jeri and Kirk 'Thank you' and come with us."

She looked right into my eyes
"I don't like YOU."

Tears welled without permission in my eyes as I tried to gain control of my emotions. My hubby had a little chat with her about talking mean and talking nice "and that was not nice, that was very mean and it hurt Mommy."


I felt the tip of an iceberg.


I felt just a tiny bit of rejection that a parent feels from their child. Piper didn't know the hurt she caused just the pleasure and fun she was having and didn't want to leave it. But it made me think.

I felt a little bit of what many parents feel when their child jumps ship and rejects the way they were raised in a loving home.

I felt a tiny bit of what a child feels abandoned by a parent.

I felt a little bit of what a spouse feels when the other spouse says "I'm leaving I don't love you anymore." after years together.

I felt a little bit of what a Pastor and His wife feel when a Church member leaves the church: "What you said/did offends me and I'm not coming back."

I felt a tiny microscopic bit of what God, Man kinds' Creator, feels every day from billions across the world.

"God, I don't need you."

"God, I don't believe in you."

"God, I hate you."


I was 9 years old.
I felt unloved and decided to run away. My parents didn't need me.
No one loved me....me...me...me.
So I shoved every piece of clothing I had in a bag, I still remember the orange flower print busting at the seams as I zipped it up, I put on my rain coat and boots and announced my departure. My mother (probably feeling like crying), turned her face . My Dad didn't really believe me but followed to the door.

"Becky, please don't go, I love you, we all love you, don't go." said so tenderly from my tall, red bearded Daddy.

*Sniff* "No, you guys don't need me."

I walked half way up the dirt road and I heard him yell, "BECKY, COME HOME RIGHT NOW, I LOVE YOU!"

He ran in the rain,  through the mud in his white socks to scoop me up in his strong arms and carry me home.

I never felt more loved in my life by my parents then that day. I rejected them but they still loved me and came after me. 


Early teens I was sitting in a church pew at summer camp.

"When you get accept Jesus Christ into your heart you give your life to God, now he is in charge and you have to obey His word." a preacher preached.

I wanted to have fun, I wanted to make my own decisions and I DID NOT want to be a foreign missionary.

So I told God, "Eh, my way is better. I will run my own life."

My best friends' family were the opposite of mine. They were always "having a good time"  not a lot of rules to obey and went away on week ends while I had to go to church. She had a step-dad that cheated on her mom and they ended up getting a divorce. It was awful. I felt like it was happening to me, my friend and I were so close and I realized on the outside they might be "having fun" but on the inside they were empty and hurting.

Right after that I decided God was going to run my life and even if bad things happened "He will never leave thee nor forsake thee." I wanted God back. He was always asking me to follow Him and I had rejected Him over and over again but not this time. Not with this tug at my heart.

I tried to explain my decision to my friend but she didn't want to understand. I tried pleading with her. I was rejected. We stayed friends until her lifestyle and mine were so opposite- she couldn't stand being friends with a "Jesus freak" and I wasn't going to parties or dances with her. I'm still saddened when I think of how her life has turned out without God.


Isaiah and I had a very strict courtship, we chose it that way to reach our goal of saving our first kiss until the wedding day. We lived over 60 miles apart and my love language is quality time. 

At one point I told him we should break up because he didn't love me. I was making all the plans to see each other but I just wasn't feeling loved. He persisted and insisted that we stay together, I was the only girl for him. He really did love me and would make it a priority to show it in other ways since we didn't get to see of each other that much. I have a lot of love letters shouting his love and admiration for me. He planned fun dates that we could take a parent or sibling along. He invested in me and won my heart. God provided for my needs using Isaiah. I was lonely before I met him. Now we have each other, we are a team. I love him so much and don't deserve him. I'm thankful Isaiah loved me even when I hurt him.



Back to the story of my daughter...

So later that night when we brought Piper home. I bathed her, combed her sweet smelling hair, cuddled her.

"Mommy, you are the best."

"Piper, God is the best and I'm glad He gave you to me."






Everyone has a choice to accept or reject the love of God that He extends to us.
And I can testify the past two years have been the hardest and happiest of my life! I'm so thankful God was with me when I felt so alone. When there was no one He was always there extending His love to me. His way is BEST!

He has invested in us. He gave us His only son to die for our sins when time after time human kind has disobeyed and rejected Him.
So I plead with you as a mother pleads for the love of her child,
Accept Christ, and live for him who died for you!


"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 

Romans 10:9

To My Beloved

Dear Isaiah,
In the past 4 years of studying you:
I have found I barely knew you at all when we got married, I am thoroughly looking forward to getting to know you more, and watching you grow into who God wants you to be.
I was so in love with all that I knew then but it was just the tip of the iceberg.
You are such a dreamer. Nothing seems impossible or crazy to you.
This 4th year of marriage has been about bending, endurance, slow and steady progress.  Encouragement in the unexpected.  The gratification in giving. God's provision in time of need.
He has always taken such good care of us.
When I look back over the year of us. I see God working things out over and over. Man is a failure without God.
The glue that holds us together in our faith unseen but always there and relying on our creator. He gets all the glory for our accomplishments over milestones.

You have my heart.
I will only have eyes for you my love.
The more I get to know you the more I fall in love.
You are my teenage sweetheart.
My soul mate. My partner in life. The leader of our home.
I am so thankful for your soft tenderness toward me and our children.
You have always won me over with your kindness.
I cherish your goodbye kisses and welcome home hugs.
I am grateful for all your hard work and that you are driven to succeed in all that you do.
What else can I say my dear?
I'm really in love with you.
Thank you for the past 4 years.
Your,
Rebekah