~poem~

~I'm rocking my Baby...Cause Babies don't keep~

I'm a stay-at-home Mom, and I love my job...
My family fills my days with joy--a gob.
I wouldn't trade places with anyone you see
I love my life and I'm happy being Me.

I could be playing the piano to entertain somewhere
But I'd rather play it at home with my family there.
I could be working as a lawyer or be well-known in the world
But I'd rather be having heart talks with my girls.

I could be working for some wealthy millionaire
But I'd rather be at home combing my little girl's hair.
I could be selling "Starbucks" in a good-smelling store
But I'd rather make good smells with my pies, cakes, & more.

I could be working in a high rise selling stocks,
But I'd rather be helping my little boy put on his socks.
I could be selling rugs or a china that's rare
But I'd rather make our home nice to show my husband I care.

I could be in a bakery making beautiful cakes
But I'd rather be teaching my girls how to bake.
I could be a seamstress...making fine clothes maybe
But I'd rather be at home with my own precious baby.

There are so many other work places that I could be
But I wouldn't want someone else raising my children for me!!!
We have these moments...But too soon our children will be grown;
And they will remember the seeds for Christ we have sown.

I could say goodbye each morning as they board a yellow bus...
But I think it would be better if they learn from us.
What an incredible joy it is to see
That with all that they are learning the teacher is...me. =)

So when I feel like I cannot see another dirty dish...
I remember that I'm living out my life long wish!
I've wanted to be a wife and Mommy since I was 3...
And I'm THRILLED that my sweetheart chose...ME!!

Our oldest will soon be 11 with all of her charms.
Oh where, is my baby that I once held in my arms?
And our 2nd born in December will turn 8.
She's growing taller at an incredible rate.

Our oldest boy with his eyes of blue
Will turn 5 in January...Can it be true?
There will always be laundry and dishes a HEAP...
But now I'll rock my baby...'cause babies don't keep.

I have this privilege a Mommy to be
To instill Christ-likeness for others to see.
For all of my tasks here on earth are in vain...
If my precious children Heaven don't gain!
~Heather Dickinson~ 10/30/08
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Last night I made 4 loaves of my honey whole wheat oat bread. (My Kimberly just saw what I was posting and asked me to tell you that it was DELICIOUS!! =) Want the recipe?

~Sunday~

Thank you for all your good comments on the post below, "A young girls' purity." Y'all had some good and helpful things to say.

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Last night, Jimmy called Phillip and told him that he had been having a lot of pain in his head, and was now seeing a black spot in his eye in which he has already had 2 surgeries. UGH! So he, his family, his church, and Phillip and I have been REALLY PRAYING....and BEGGING GOD TO HAVE MERCY!!!! He called Phillip back this morning saying that God had healed him, and that his black spot is gone. God is AWESOME!!
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We had a good Sunday. God helped Phillip to preach Sunday morning against sin and to admonish our people to OBEY GOD today and to be what HE wants them to be. God was speaking in that service. Then we came home and had a good Sunday dinner of Chicken broccoli soup, hot french bread, a yummy salad, rice, and fried platan sp? (platano) and fresh pineapple juice. We had a good visit with Felipe and his Dad John.
~Elijah looking cute before church started on Sunday morning.~
~Phillip (Felipe) playing my piano at home . We finally got a speaker for my keyboard again. We had one before we went to the USA, but we are now using that in one of our churches, so we needed to get another one. The girls and I are HAPPY to be able to play the piano again. =)~
~Noah's drawings of our family...minus Daddy. Daddy is on the back of the paper. =D~
~Elijah (and younger Phillip)..."playing" the guitar. Elijah says that he hasn't QUITE got the hang of it yet. =)~
Sunday night it was pouring the rain outside and the door of our church was opened. Phillip was preaching on a very serious subject when all of the sudden A HERD OF GOATS who had been walking outside our church decided to find SHELTER inside our church. The women leading them came inside and apologized and shooed them out of our church. A picture was taken but not until they had nearly left. Phillip then continued preaching and used the goats as an illustration of how we do not want to be like GOATS, but like sheep who are willing to be led...and that God will someday separate the goats from the sheep. It was a comical situation though. ~The goats leaving our church. Most have already left.~

Sunday night after service John, Felipe and his sister Paula came in for a snack, and we watched Pilgrim's Progress. It is a very inspiring and challenging video. We thank the Lord for a good Sunday and for His protection and help. I feel like the Lord must be coming back soon, and we want to be faithful to win as many souls to God as we can while we still have time.

~A Young girl's purity~

I went to Sarah Fry's blog and here is the question that she had written...

If you could give a bit of advice to some girls (and their mothers) about emotional and physical purity, what would you tell them? (She received a lot of input, so if you would like to go to her blog and read her comments, you may.)
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While I had never thought of making this a blog topic...I SURELY have had a burden for our young girls/ladies and their purity. So, I have posted my thoughts below. If any of you have any input, feel free to comment. Having 2 daughters myself, I want to learn all I can to help them want to remain pure.

~Heather~ said...

Sarah, You have touched on a subject that Rings my bell!!! Having just spent 5 months back in the USA, I was SAD to see some of our dear holiness girls dressing in such a way to leave LITTLE to the imagination. Right before I left to come back here to Colombia...I started taking notes in case I got a chance to speak to our young girls, but I didn't. As my brother would say, "IF IT'S NOT FOR SALE...DON'T ADVERTISE IT."i In this day and age we hear all about guys making comments over those "hot chics" and sometimes we girls/ladies think that if they don't mention us...that we aren't pretty. (I know...for I have faced this living in 2 different countries where the men ALWAYS make comments and openly STARE at nearly every women they see.) However, in talking to my wonderful husband about this the other day...he said, "If a rattle-trap truck came down the road making noise, men would look at it and say, "That's interesting." (but those men wouldn't want that for THEIR TRUCK!) So just because a man looks at a women and makes comments DOES NOT MEAN that he appreciates her for showing off her body. The decent men try to look the other way and WISH that she would cover up...and that is NOT the girl that they would chose to become their "Mrs." I wish our girls/young ladies could realize the TROUBLE that they cause men by dressing with such low cut blouses, short skirts, and TIGHT clothes...and how men (or at least our Christian men) are wanting to see some pretty yet purely dressed young ladies with a godly character that outshines the next cheap girl whose clothes (or lack there of) say "For Sale".
True, God made men to love and appreciate beauty, (And if you are happily married like I am, you know how much it means to you that your man loves and appreciates you =) but it gets HARD for our men (who want to keep PURE MINDS) to try to dodge all of the women who go around selling themselves. (I feel SORRY for my man...for we are missionaries in a country where the women dress leaving NOTHING to the imagination, so EVERYWHERE he goes, he is turning his head so as not to see the sights.) If the young men are just interested in a girl's looks or body, THEN OUR GIRLS DON'T WANT THAT TYPE ANYWAY!
I think that if we as Mommies and Daddies can try to help our girls see how precious and priceless they are...that they will gain Godly confidence to help them stay pure until that right "Mr. Right" comes along. Somehow...we parents need to pass on to our girls that a good part of their self-worth comes from a pure heart and a right relationship with God. And that their self-worth does NOT depend on if men are making comments about them or if they have a boyfriend or not.
My Grandmother told my mother..."A good name is ALL a poor girl has!" Once you have defiled your name, it's hard to live that down. My Moma said that even today...when she looks at her GBS year books, the memory of the girls that grew careless and sinned still stand out to her. We need to teach our young ladies (And our young men) that what they do will follow them ALL OF THEIR LIVES!
When I was in college, one of my Bible professor brought up the Scripture verse about NOT DEFRAUDING YOUR BROTHER. 1Th 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:
He mentioned that doing things just as simple as holding hands, hugging, etc. can lead to desires that SHOULD NOT be fulfilled until after marriage. This would be considered as defrauding your brother/sister. WOW!
Another thing that comes to my mind is...(without trying to be unkind):
Where are the FATHERS of some of the young ladies that we see with tighter clothes on, etc.? We mothers do not THINK like a man does, so we might not think anything about what our girl is wearing. So, I believe it is the responsibility of the Fathers to kindly instruct their daughters on what clothes they should wear to keep themselves pure and Holy, to help the young men around them to keep pure minds... and to be a bride that can honestly wear a gown of white.

Some books I recommend Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot
Beautiful Girlhood Revised by Karen Andreola
and for smaller children:
The Princess and the Kiss
Jennie Bishop, Author
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God help we parents as we try to raise DAUGHTERS OF AND FOR THE KING OF KINGS!!

~Some pics from our lives.~

Thank you for all your kind comments regarding our kid's fall pictures. I was surely happy with how God helped them to turn out. =D
~Our kids fall pictures all framed.~~Elijah chewing on an apple.~
~Noah put his hat on Elijah...so Elijah peeking out says, "Peek-a-boo".~
~The flowers that Marisol bought me died early, so I bought these for $1.50 at my fruit and veggie market. The buds were closed when I bought them, so I was happy with the orange and yellow fall colors that they turned out to be.~
~Kimberly who was sitting on the couch holding Elijah, picked up Sarah's violin and was practicing while holding him, so I snapped this picture.~
~This lady from my Saturday morning fruit and veggie market thought that she could find me an orange pumpkin like I wanted. So...this past Sat. she brought me this one that's in the bottom of my cart...that weighs 25 lbs. However, when I got it home, Phillip saw that the people that she bought it from...had PAINTED IT ORANGE...for the back is green and yellow. =D Oh well, it's pretty anyways. =)
~The way our rental home is made is that our garage door is our FRONT DOOR! Not how I would've chosen, but we are happy with the house that Jesus helped us to find. So...here is "Our inside front door" decorated for Fall.
~My orange pumpkin and 2 of my 4 pumpkins. =)~
~My orange pumpkin and my Elijah pumpkin. =)~
~All 4 of our kids watching the neat fireworks that we can sometimes see from our front porch.~
~Near the end of the fireworks...I tried to get a nice picture of one of the fireworks, but this is the best I got before they quit shooting them.~
We had a good Sunday. I will post pics soon.

~We took our own "JCPennys" pictures =)~

OK, bloggers, I haven't found a professional photographer here that I'm happy with. The ones I have seen all use the same cheap-looking background, so for that reason...we always take our own pictures. I wanted to get some Fall pictures of our kids...but it's HARD to get fall pics in Colombia where...though the weather feels like fall...the grass, trees, bushes, etc. are all SPRING GREEN!! So...since I don't have JCPennys right down the road from me...(OHHHH, How I wish I did!!!!)I decided to make my BACKYARD a "JCPennys", and hung up a cream blanket and Phillip and I got some fall pictures of our kids that way. I PRAYED for God to help us with them (and that it wouldn't rain, and then that the sun would go behind a cloud so that Elijah would look at us...etc.) Anyways, though I'm sure JCPennys could have done better...I'm happy with how they turned out. Enjoy!
~Look who is 5 months now...Our Elijah~

~Our Noah~
~Our Sarah~
~Our Kimberly~Trying to get the leaf.~
~Looking cute!~~I LOVED THIS ONE! (He was sitting on top of my washer. =)~~All 4 of our treasures together.~
I had taken several pictures outside trying to get his 2 bottom teeth, but then when we came inside he started laughing and I was able to get these 2 cute pics below, just for fun. ~As Happy as a baby can be. Excuse the wet bib overalls...I'm getting more teeth again.~~Finally, Mommy got a picture of my cute 2 teeth.~~All worn out after the "photo shoot."~

~Sunday at Jimmy's church.~

We had a good Sunday. Jimmy (who is trying to recover from 2 eye surgeries) asked Phillip if he could preach at his church last Sunday, and have communion too. Another man filled in for us at our church. ~Here, Farly is leading the hymns, and she asked 2 other ladies, a man and I to help her sing too.~
~The kids' Sunday school class at Jimmy's church.~
~Phillip preaching.~
~Jimmy's girl's with their new baby cousin.~
~At last minute we asked our friends Edgar and his wife Angelica, and John over for Sunday dinner. Angelica was a huge help putting Elijah to sleep while I got the dinner on the table.~
~Our Sunday dinner of baked chicken, LA Rice, French bread, green beans, corn, strawberry/Spinach/almond salad, and pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. (Excuse the pans, I don't have any serving dishes.)~
~John's son Phillip and our girls having fun while helping me wash up the "100's" of dishes I had Sunday night after a busy day serving Sunday dinner and Sunday night snack to company. I was soooo TIRED that night that I was DELIGHTED that young Phillip offered to help do the dishes.~
On Monday we just took it easy and then we met Bro. Tim and Bro. Bob Thompson and some Colombian friends at McDonalds to give Bro. Tim some things to take back to the USA to my parents. Bro. Tim and Bro. Thompson left Colombia on Tuesday morning. It surely was nice of Bro. Tim to bring things from my parents to us, and take things from us back to them.

~Some of my 2008 scrapbooking pages.~

~Like I mentioned last post...Between being a wife of one dear man, homeschooling 2 precious girls, keeping up with a sweet busy Noah and feeding an adorable growing Elijah, (plus meals, baking, laundry in the rainy season with no dryer, etc.) and being a pastor's wife of 2 churches...God has also helped me get scrap booking done. I hope that I don't bore you with posting some of my 2008 scrap booking pages too.
~My JCPenny's maternity pics back in March 2008...when I only THOUGHT that I was big. =)~
~Mommy and her 4 children.~
~Ultrasound pics of baby Elijah. (And one of his gift bags that I used to decorate the page.)~
~The "on the way to the hospital" pic and a precious new-born Elijah.~
~A new born Elijah.~
~Some pics of Elijah in the hospital.~
~The first time that Daddy met Elijah. (If you remember, since all of our kids have been born at least a week later than my due date...Phillip went to Colombia for a quick 1 week trip...he only had 3 days left before he was coming back to the USA...when Elijah decided to come 10 days early.)~
~Elijah's dedication to God at our Christian Nation Church.~
~As for me and my house...We will serve the Lord.~
~Our black and white family pic.~
~Heather's 3 men.~
~Our precious Elijah (one month).~
~Our kid's feet pictures.~
We had a good Sunday, and for that we Thank the Lord. I'll post some pics soon.

~What I have been up to...~

~Between being a wife of one dear man, homeschooling 2 precious girls, keeping up with a sweet busy Noah and feeding an adorable growing Elijah, (plus meals, baking, laundry in the rainy season with no dryer, etc.) God has also helped me get some mending and some scrap booking done too. The Pilmores gave these nice skirts to Sarah...but since Sarah is a little toothpick, I needed to put elastic in the back before she could wear them. The Lord helped me get that done and now she has 6 cute skirts to add to her closet. THANKS! Pilmores!!
~Our friend John playing hymns on Phillip's guitar while our kids look on and help sing along.~Before we went to the USA last March, I got all of our 2007 pictures scrapbooked, except for Oct., Nov., Dec., for I ran out of Scrapbooking pages for my album. So, I bought more pages while there and since we have been back home in Colombia...the Lord has helped me to get 28 pages done and 2007 is all scrapbooked, and some of 2008 too. YEA! I don't like to get too far behind...but when one has a new baby...it's easy to do. HOWEVER I'M TRYING TO ENJOY THESE DAYS WITH MY BABY...FOR HE IS GROWING BIGGER EACH DAY, AND BEFORE KNOW IT, HE WON'T BE A BABY ANYMORE! =(
Here are some of the scrap booking pages that I got done.
~Last Thanksgiving I was pregnant and TOO sick to cook, so we celebrated our Thanksgiving at McDonalds...our kids were THRILLED! =D~~Sarah's 7th birthday. Kimberly lost a tooth, and Sarah lost her 2 top front teeth.
~Our trip up the mountain for Sarah's 7th birthday...to take family pictures and we also ate in this pretty restaurant.~
~Last December our dear friends invited us over for a yummy meal and took us to a fun nearby park. I was 4 months pregnant with Elijah.~
~The girls' violin recital last December.~
~We went out for ice cream to celebrate the girl's hard practice with their violins for their recital.~
~Our Christmas tree with the Christmas ornaments that I got on sale 75% off at Meijers in the USA in 2006.~I will post some of my scrapbook pages from 2008 soon.
~Our neighbor was cleaning out her garden and was going to throw this plant that bears this red flower away...but she gave it to us instead and it is now blooming and is really pretty. The yellow and red flowers you see behind this flower is Sarah's that she bought with her money.~
The kids and I (and Phillip when he is home) joined Bro. Henry Miller's "3 every 3" (to pray 3 mins. every 3 hours) for our country (the USA) and the upcoming elections. Though the future could look scary...I know that we are in God's hands and so I'm praying that GOD'S WILL will be done. That whoever GOD wants to be our next president and whatever God wants to allow to happen will help us all be MORE READY For HIS SOON coming!!