O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

On Monday I will be posting the winner of The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in a Letter. Books will be given at random to those who have subscribed and confirmed this subscription through email to the blog. You can click HERE or click on the yellow button on the left side of the blog. It is right above where it says "Welcome". An email will be sent to you for you to confirm this subscription. I will email the winner. He/She will have 1 week to respond.

We always look for free fun, and tonight at Chicfila everyone who wore their p.j.s got a free chicken biscuit! All three of us ate it up! Yummmm!!! Then, I won a door prize which contained an awesome mug and 2 coupons for free meals at Chicfila! Yay! The sad part was that Walt was terrified of the Chicfila cow. My nephew continued to touch and give the cow a handshake, but Walt physically quivered and began to scream when the cow touched him. I am not exaggerating! It was sad because the cow is there in p.j.s for the kids! I am not quite sure what this look is on Noah's face. He has been doing it often because he is trying to smile and contain Walt at the same time.

It is amazing how fast Walt is growing up. It began yesterday with him eating an apple with the skin on, and today he had cereal with milk for the first time! However, he didn't stick with his spoon for long because he wanted a spoon like the one that I was using!

Today, Monday, is the last day to order March of Dimes shirts. They are $16, and the proceeds go directly to the March of Dimes! If you would like one, you can pay online. You will see it on the left bar on the blog! Don't forget to pay $2.50 if I am shipping the shirt to you! We are so thankful to Marshall Ramsey for the drawing to put on our shirts! Also, the winner of Don't Wast Your Life is Mandiecar....@... I will be sending you an email! Congratulations on winning an incredible read!

Earlier this week I gave away an incredible book, When Sinners Say I Do , to a reader of the blog. Noah and I are reading through it together, and it does a great job of focusing on getting back to the heart. I am sometimes amazed that we have been married for five years! For some that may seem like a short time, and I do agree, but they have been some condensed years between living in Mexico, seminary, and having two very special children. We have both learned a lot of good and "unique" things about one another, but, also, we have learned a lot of fun things. I love finding great deals, and we go to some great lengths to saving our money in this house. If Noah goes to the store, I can usually tell him exactly where to go and which one to pick out, and unless stated, always go with generic. He was going to Wal-Mart for a battery, and he agreed to buy me some cotton balls, which I had continuously been forgetting to get. Because I rarely buy them, I didn't really g...

Next Monday I will be giving away Don't Waste your Life by John Piper. This is amazing read that will challenge the way that you live your life. Happy Reading! Books will be given at random to those who have subscribed and confirmed this subscription through email to the blog. You can click HERE or click on the yellow button on the left side of the blog. It is right above where it says "Welcome". An email will be sent to you for you to confirm this subscription. I will email the winner. He/She will have 1 week to respond.

My grandmother did not want a party, but she wanted the book that she was going to be getting as a present! The great-grandkids love it when it is someone's birthday! Although we celebrated past her actual birthday, we love celebrating her! Happy Late Birthday Grandmom! We love you! Some highlights... Papa trying to show Walt the squirrel in the tree Grandmom and her cake! The cake doesn't only look good but is delicious! Lori always makes a good birthday cake! Walt munched on one of Jennifer's cupcakes! And he also tried to sing Happy Birthday along with us! None of us knew that he could do it! Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

dfa1histteach@...... Is the winner of the book When Sinners Say I Do !!! Congratulations! Send me an email with your address so that I can mail you your book!

When I was dating Noah both of us reading a lot was such a positive, and it still is, except for one "tiny" factor....What do we do with all of the books? A few weeks back we made a huge donation to the local library keeping our favorites and the ones that we like to reread yearly. Not only do we both like to read, but we read a lot of the same types of books, so when we married we ended up with duplicates. Also, sometimes we ended up with two because books are given as gifts to us. We couldn't just get rid of these books because some of them have changed our lives, so Noah and I decided that we share some of our favorites with the blog readers in hopes that they will bless your lives as they did ours. There are quite a few of the books that are brand new because we read our second copy. If the book has been read but in fabulous condition, I will let you know before posting. List of books to be Given: When Sinners Say I Do by Harvey (new), Transforming Grace by Bri...

Especially after writing the news on Jaxton, I am happy to bring you an update on Grace. God shows us Himself through so many situations, and we don't understand how is working. But we can live with the hope in His promises. He does not leave nor forsake us, and His ways are perfect. Here is what her mommy wrote on her blog as an update. "We are loving every minute holding our precious Grace like a "normal" baby now! It is amazing! She is doing great! Yesterday, we spent about six hours holding her. Her incision looks great, and her doctors are very happy with how she is doing. We got there and found a sweet pink bow in her hair, thanks to her nurse! They extubated her early yesterday morning, and her vital signs and labs have been great. They discontinued all her IVs except for one, which was giving her IV fluids to keep her hydrated. We got to feed her for the first time after surgery around 2:00 pm yesterday. She did great! She took two ounces! Her...

Jaxton is now with Jesus. That is such a promising, encouraging sentence. But it is heartbreaking for the parents as they said goodbye. Please pray for Jaxton's brother, who is young. May this draw him to the cross the rest of his life. I am speechless because I know what their heart is feeling right now. Please send them a word acknowledging their loss. All letters can be sent to them at 12010 Allisonville Road, Fishers, IN 46038. Please do this, if you are able. So many of you have written to me, and it is such an encouragement. Please continue to pray for this family, especially tomorrow, Saturday, the day of the funeral. You can read more about Jaxton's amazing life at http://lisahusmann.wordpress.com/

Not too long I ran across a blog with a special little Trisomy 18 boy and his family. So many of you have prayed for me and the other families that I have posted here. I am asking you to please pray for Jaxton's family as they take him off life support tonight. If God should choose to give Jaxton's body the strength to continue in this earthly life, it is my prayer that glory will belong to God, and yet, if God should call Jaxton home, my God still be glorified. "Oh Father, please give these parents the strength to endure the unknown. May we praise you whether he should be healed, or if you should bring him home." You can visit their blog at http://lisahusmann.wordpress.com/ .

I just read on http://giftsfromgrace.blogspot.com/ . The encephalocele has been removed, vital signs are good, and Mommy and Daddy got to see her! Let's continue to pray for healing! I can't wait to see what God has in store for this special little baby!

I just read this on http://giftsfromgrace.blogspot.com/ and wanted to share what Grace's Mommy, Karen, wrote. Please pray for this special baby tomorrow! There is good news, but she still needs prayer! "We received Grace's MRI results tonight. Amazingly, and because of the God we serve, Grace's prognosis is much better than expected! The encephalocele (I hope I don't ever have to see that word again!!!) contains mostly CSF and only a very small portion of brain tissue (part of her cerebellum). The rest of her brain looked mostly normal...remember, she has been diagnosed with agenesis of the corpus callosum (this cannot be corrected). Grace will have surgery to remove the encephalocele tomorrow at 9:00 am. SO, the neurosurgeons are hopeful and optimistic that Grace will have quality of life and her functioning could be up to normal. She may still have developmental delays, but we trust that we are able of taking care of her!" Prayer requests: -pray fo...

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the Lord : “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord .” I don't see how Nancy did it, but she did. She was able to write about knowing God in just one chapter. What a daunting task to have taken on! There is a book that I read awhile back that I would recommend, and I know that I need to read it again! Knowing God by J.I. Packer takes on knowing God into short chapters to create a whole book. Don't let the number of pages in each chapter fool you though because sometimes they have to be read multiple times. It is a worthwhile read to help you dive into scripture. "God never has an off day. he is never inconsistent with his character." For u...

Please continue to pray for this family. Here is the news that I got today about Grace. They tried to do an MRI over the weekend but she was too wiggly. today. they put a tube in yesterday to feed her. she was not getting enough on the bottle. This morning her feeding is much better. they want her to have 50cc and she took 1/2 of that this morning from the bottle and the rest thru the tube. Karen, Grace's mommy, was in a good bit of pain but i think they said that has calmed down and she had a good day yesterday. http://giftsfromgrace.blogspot.com/ Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

I have a tendency to read multiple books at one time, but I always finish all of them. To me, not finishing a book is like leaving a friend waiting for you in a restaurant never to really come. I love to read, and my parents always encouraged it by giving me books. Here are the books that I began in the last month and finished over this past weekend. This was my second time to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and it won't be my last. It is probably my second most favorite book below Wuthering Heights . It is a story of strong, noble character in a time when ignorance about race was popular, and you see the truth as it exists through the eyes of a child. Here are a few quotes and sections of the book that are worth pointing out. "The world's endin', Atticus! Please do something--!" I dragged him to the window and pointed. "No it's not, he (Atticus) said. "It's snowing." "The one thing that doesn't abide by majori...

A friend of Grace sent me this update. I am not a medical professional, so I don't fully understand Grace's health problem, but we do know that she needs our prayers. Grace has been born. She is 7 lbs 1 oz. she came into the world crying and fiesty. She has 3" opening inthe back of her head where the brain is coming out. the brain is enclosed in a sac. Decisions will have to be made but do not have to be made today. Apgar is score of 8 out of 10. Too early for prognois.

Tomorrow Grace will be born. Please pray for this sweet family as they welcome their first child into the world and prepare for so many unknowns. Pray for the health of Baby Grace and the doctors who are caring for her. Here is the blog, and as I find out information, I will write it. http://giftsfromgrace.blogspot.com/