It's a Girl!

So, it's a girl. Yeah! Who thought it would be so hard to get a picture of the ultrasound picture?! Anyway, my belly's getting bigger and it feels like everything else is getting bigger, too. I'm past feeling like a beached whale...now I'm more likely to be compared to a buffalo. Ya' know when you're at the store and you feel like everybody is staring at your stomache? I feel like saying, "So what? Haven't you ever seen a chubby pregnant lady before?" Some good news is the baby appears to be completely healthy. Amen for that! God is good. He always is!

The Filling of Our Christians Minds

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8

True

Honest

Pure

Lovely

Of Good Report

These are the character traits of the things that should be filling our Christian minds. Today it is becoming increasingly difficult to just fill our minds with these things. A typical day for us on this quest to fill our minds with only good things is fraught with land mines that seem to hide subtly every where and then there are the constant, blatant attacks from satan to thwart the mind of the Christian. I have to ask myself all the time...what am I filling my mind with?

We don't have cable t.v. and I rarely turn the thing on, but last night I wasn't feeling too great and needed a reprieve from everyday life and felt "the need" to turn the dumb thing on. It being Saturday night, my choices were few. I had the choice of sex, violence, inuendos, sarcasm, off-humor, the blasting of a biblical home and oh, the solving of someone's true-life, horrible murder. Mind you, some of this stuff might be true, but it sure ain't lovely. Even the news, does God want us to be constantly fill our minds with death, peril, destruction and murder? I gave up and went to bed, my time probably better suited in prayer to begin with.

I know we can all get on our soap box about what is appropriate for the Christian to focus upon in there life. I just want to take a step back and examine. What is God pleased with?...even things that seem harmless and even good in our minds.

For example, I've gotten lost in some music that I've been interested in lately. It is not Christian music neither is it necessarily wrong, but I have found that lately, if I had the choice, I would choose it over Christian music. I feel it somewhat draws my heart from the Lord by filling it with all things but God. When I prefer to fill up on the world's "good" things instead of God's, I walk away feeling quite empty after it is all said and done.

In a world of mass media of all shapes and sizes, we must be careful to guard our hearts and minds. The Lord has given us a precious priviledge and responsibility as Christians to be a shining light in a such a dark place. Let's not dim the light we put forth by filling our time, our minds, our life with all the unlovely and seemingly lovely things that the world has to offer.

Deb's Got Her Groove Back

School's here again (well, it never actually went away, aren't we all learning something knew everyday?). And I think, I got my groove back. For a while there I felt as if I was spiraling out of control, lost in a sea of Abeka books (and there's a ton for all of you who use their curriculum!), work sheets, planners and pencils! I came up with a really great idea for myself. It takes all day to teach if I go "by the book" the way they do in a typical school setting so I'm going to try a different strategy this year. Jacob's first grade year will be completely taught with all the typical lesson plans and workbooks, the way Abeka has it orginally set up. With Ian, I will skip the lesson plans each day and teach him directly out of his workbooks and have him do his seat work on his own, if he needs help he can come to me. He is such an avid reader that I feel confident in letting him do his own work and helping him when he needs it. I will, of course, go over his work to see if he's understanding all the concepts.

Brian helps me in the morning by occupying the other children so I can completely concentrate on Jacob for two hours. I have been trying to make a nice dinner for lunch each day before Brian goes to work at 2. So, it's chores and then breakfast, bible time, then Jacob's schooling, Daddy keeps all the other kids happy, then a nice lunch, then Sarah goes down for her nap, then it's time to school Ian and to make time for Lauren(she usually likes to paint or read books or play a learning game on the computer if I'm not available to her at the moment), then mommy gets a nap while baby's asleep and other kids are watching a video or playing a computer game, more chores, dinner time, quiet, read-a-book time, baths, brush teeth, prayers and ready for bed!

Yeah, Buddy! Deb's got her groove back. It's nice to have a schedule again after Summer's long, free-for-all. Thank you, Lord! Hey, I know life doesn't always work this neatly and I'm okay with that. But for most days, I hope this schedule works out for our family.

Our Vacation

We've been back for about a week from being on our trip to the WI/IL area. We were mainly wanting to join a celebration for my Grandma's 90th birthday. It was nice to see the family, but it was strange and very brief. We are not close to the family anymore, so it's like meeting a bunch of familiar faces, but not so familiar in friendship. I would have liked to be a part of everyone's little gatherings they had together with the other family members who were from out of town. We drove 1000 miles to see and be with the whole family. Maybe they think we are not interested in coming over and spending time with them...I don't know. The ones that are close seem to get closer and the ones that are distant seem to drift further apart. If my sister didn't live in the area, I would have been dissappointed by the lack of acknowledgement of our family being in town. One uncle said he would have us to come over and visit maybe, but I guess he was too busy to meet with us. We love the whole family and want to be included, but it's hard when you are nice but exclusive at the same time.

We went to see Grandma in her nursing home and we had a great visit. She has always made time for me no matter how busy she's been and that makes me feel special. Her letters...she always wrote back to me even though her poor old hand has a hard time holding her pen. We could all learn something from her I think.
Just stop and take the time...
Kathy always did that for me when we visited. She always took the time to stop and be with me, make me laugh and show me a good time. I miss her so much. I guess what was isn't anymore and that makes me a little sad. I guess that's life. It's time to start my own family legacy as my childhood family continues to slip through my fingers. I'm sad and happy all at once.

Well, I really didn't want to go there. I did have a great time with my sister. But we could have a great time if we were stranded on a deserted island with nothing but cockroaches and algae to eat.

We spent a lot of time together, just us, as a family and that was very beneficial to us. By the way, our family has been doing just great for all those who want to know. No need to worry about us, God is healing and doing a work in our family we haven't allowed him to do before. Amen and amen!

As for the Rehfeldt family, no hard feelings, I'll always love you from...a distance.

For All Mothers Who Feel Invisible

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?"I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?"I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going ... she's going ... she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean.My unwashed hair was pulled up in a clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book.

And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:(1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.(2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.(3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.(4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees." I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

God Bless You as you build your Cathedrals!

-author unknown