"He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD." Psalm 113:9

As I read, I desire to share with others what I learn. This verse has definitely been proven to be true in my own life. When Tim and I first married, I was so fearful of the whole aspect of "keeping house," especially preparing meals. God knows me so well! My sister-in-law, Joy, gave some wise advice in the notations she wrote in a cookbook..."pray hard!" Even something that might seem menial such as keeping house comes from the strength of the LORD. He has been so faithful.

Then as Tim and I desired to have children and God blessed in His timing, the fear of being the right kind of mother intruded. Again I found and am still learning that it is God who gives me joy in raising my children. God has been the source of all that I have and am. I cannot do anything without Him.

Answered Prayer!

About a year ago I began praying for a bunkbed. At that point we were moving to Millville, PA and expecting another child. I figured we would need another bed anyway and why not a bunkbed...they're so cool! We had even been praying as we talked of the possibility with Micah and Kiersten. They had absolutely loved the bunkbed in the prophet's chamber at Emmanuel Baptist Church as we were candidating. Kiersten was also getting old enough to be out of a crib, but up until March, we had only two (one toddler bed and one crib). When we moved into our new house we were able to locate all the pieces to Tim's childhood bed and excitedly set it up for Micah once Mom Valiante brought over the bottom board to hold the mattress in. We were then able to move Kiersten to the toddler bed and Micah to the big bed, leaving the crib for Lydia.

We had kindof forgotten about the bunkbed idea (as far as praying goes) and then God answers! I was on craigslist.com looking for some cushions for our couch and found a bunkbed in the price range we had considered! Perfect! Not to mention it has a full bed on the bottom...great for company (Mom and Dad will have a much more comfy place to sleep once we get a mattress)! We were able to pick up the bed today and look forward to getting it restained and set up. I trust our kids will have just as much fun with their new bunkbed as we did with ours growing up!

Knowing God More

These past few months I have found myself in a challenge of understanding God's intentions. I know we will never fully understand an infinite being, but He does ask us to learn of Him and His character. In the Fall I had started a Bible study with our ladies at Emmanuel Baptist Church on the book of Job, Grace for Every Trial. I learned that "blessing" from God is not physical, but rather it is a growing knowledge of Him. I also discovered that we ought to live in principle as though God has promised it, realizing that "grace" is given only as we obey His Word. God cannot give us wisdom in a situation, or the power to overcome sin, unless we are allowing Him to work in our lives through obedience. Job was known as a perfect and upright man, meaning that his life was an overall testimony of obedience. Yet, God allowed Satan to have his hand in destroying much of what Job had physically. It shakes our faith to realize that God could do the same with us, allowing bad things to happen to us. But we are reminded that God is "good." In the book of Job we are continually reminded of God's listening ear, though He is silent. We are also reminded of God's presence, though Job feels God is not there. What we "feel" about God cannot be trusted, but rather what He says about Himself...because He cannot lie. God does not promise physical good or wealth and health, but He does promise His presence and His listening ear. He promises victory and greatness, but not necessarily in this life.

One of my questions after the study commenced was whether God really kept His promises. Does God really keep His promise as David mentions in Psalm 37:25 "not to forsake His saints" and to keep him from "begging bread?" I wasn't so sure I could say that this was true. What about all those people who suffer as martyrs or those who died in famine and cold in the early days of America as they sought a country that would allow freedom of religion? Either the promise was not what I thought, or these people were not true believers. Was this psalm as well as many others only principles and not promises?

Then I began to learn that we ought to live these verses as promises (even "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."). Abraham did. He lived as though what God had said were promises that would come to pass. They became principles to His life, yet He clung to the promise. Did they happen? Yes! The principle is how we live this physical life and the promise is sometimes physical as well, but always fulfilled spiritually.

So were the saints mentioned earlier delivered from famine or from being forsaken? In Hebrews 12 it talks of the Hall of Faith, men and women who lived looking to a promise, but not always receiving it here in this life. Abraham found a city whose maker and builder was God, though he traveled without ever seeing the fulfillment in his lifetime. Many Christians were martyred and tortured looking to the promise of God's deliverance and He did deliver...they were freed to the glories of Heaven. God stood by Job and listened to His complaint through his misery fulfilling His promise of goodness and power during it as well as after and in the future still as Job sits in Heavenly places!

I do not understand God's full intentions, but I do know I can trust His goodness and His power. I can trust that He will always be there, though He may "seem" to me to be distant, and He will always listen to me as His child, though He may "seem" silent. God is faithful and He can be trusted...and I will trust Him till the day I die and enter His promise of Eternal Life!

LORD, teach me more!

Since 2010

Life has definitely continued on! Since our last blog we have finished our renovation, decided on renting the house instead of selling, moved to Millville, bought a house, renovated it for better living, and moved in just before our third child was born, Lydia Hope. What an amazing year!

Now that all has been updated as far as since our last blog, I thought I might start being more consistent in keeping this blog going...we'll see how things go a year from now!

Changes

God has done some amazing things in our lives throughout this year. Maybe that is partly why we have been missing from the blogger scene.

January, as you may have read, was a sad time for us. God gave much grace and we are trusting in His hand and plan. In February we learned of a church in Millville, PA that was looking for a pastor. We found out about this church through our leaders in the teen ministry. Cindy's dad was on the pulpit committee and requesting to get the information of their youth pastor. I believe it took Cindy some time to actually give him that request, but she eventually did having asked us what our thoughts were on the matter. We were not planning on going anywhere for a while and were rather content at Lighthouse Baptist Church, but who can stand against God's hand?

We began our adventure of visiting, preaching, waiting, and praying concerning this ministry in Millville. At the moment we heard of their desire to have us come, Tim immediantly began renovating our master bathroom. It was during a big snow storm that he began tearing down walls and cutting apart our shower. We continued working on this project and candidtating (though not officially until the third visit). The waiting was so difficult, yet full of growth for each of us. God is so amazing in His continual working in our lives, using every circumstance to make us stronger if faith and love for Him.

May 16th was our official candidating at Emmanuel Baptist Church and we went home to wait for the church's final vote on whether we would be called to be in ministry there. Many questions were made throughout the week that could have hindered the call and been a clear direction of God to stay, but the questions were answered and the following Sunday we heard of the positive vote for us to come. Tim confirmed that he would come to be their senior pastor the following Monday. And then the work began!

We are presently in full force remodeling (we're still unsure of the proper terminology...remodeling or renovating?) our kitchen and dinning room while a sign sits in our yard claiming our property is for sale. We hope to have it up and ready for walk-throughs mid June. Wouldn't that be amazing if it sold in a few weeks! We are praying!

Our kitchen cabinets were delivered today and Tim has been working on leveling the floor for tile as well as figuring out electrical work (he just informed me that he had gotten it!). I have been dreaming about how to pack and yet leave things accessible for apartment living until we find a new home, as well as finding what color of wall paint should be applied to the walls. I love the decorating part...it's just strange to think I won't be here to enjoy it much. Maybe the same colors will find their way into our new home!

What amazing changes! And these are only a few...there are so many stories behind every detail. The amazing thing is that God knows all about them, has planned them, and is using them to help us grow! I love our God! He is so amazing to me!

Our Little One

Sarah and I are overwhelmed by God's grace and your support during this time as we grieve over the loss of our baby. This may be news to some of you, but we found out that Sarah was expecting the day before Christmas.

In the midst of this grief, we have an abiding joy that our child is in the presence of God. On Monday Night (when we realized that Sarah was losing the baby), we read a precious article together entitled, "They Will Only Know Heaven." What a comfort it was to our hearts to realize that our baby's first sight will be that of Heaven. His or her first steps will not be recorded on my digital camera, but they will be taken on streets of gold. The first words uttered from his or her lips will be praise to God.

We were comforted by Scriptures in Psalm 139 where David writes, "My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance ye being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them." Sarah has been especially comforted by Jeremiah 1:5 in which God speaks to Jeremiah saying, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee."

There are many other verses that have brought comfort and the conviction that our baby is with the Lord in Heaven. God is good to provide a home for our child.

Thank you to our church family that has taken such good care of us. We are stocked up with food for the next week, and more is coming. But we give thanks to God most of all who has given and has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In our grief we bow our heads and worship God. We look forward to seeing our little one someday, though we certainly miss our baby right now.

Sarah is slowly recovering, and I would ask for you to pray for her physically. It has been a blessing for me to be home this week to help her with Micah and Kiersten. It has been good to spend time together as a family. Thank you again for your care for us.Tim and Sarah

So Long Smiley

How sad to see a good friend go. It was time to say good-bye.

We have had our smiley balloon since Kiersten came home from the hospital in April of 2008. She took to it right away and became quite fond of mommy's smiley balloon. It was given as a "good job" gift from Micah and Daddy along with a bouquet of flowers. Smiley has been one of the best toys we could have had for our little ones. So long smiley balloon!


For memory sake, here's a clip of Kiersten enjoying Smiley.