Let the drumming begin!

For all of you who already know this, Benjamin has been drumming in front of the TV for quite some time. We did it at the prayer room and church as early as 2 (we had to learn what to hit and what not to hit). It seems he is passing on his technique well and teaching his sibling a thing or two. You can't hear what he is saying, but he is telling Samuel that you have to hit the floor and not Daddy's book of worship songs! Funny boys, but they raise praise to the Father in heaven. He hears them- even their beats on the floor and smiles such a grand smile that all heaven knows- these boys are meant to worship! We are all created for it- we just display it in different ways. Let the drumsticks reign!

Are you kidding me?

Okay, so you got to look at these pics. They are the the cutest things ever. And though I am sure I don't want another one coming out of me, I am totally sure I could handle one of these. Happy looking!

So I thought these were blog worthy events from the Miller visit (then I'm done talking about it, I know, I know) Anyway, the one on the left was a typical example of Samuel longing to be bigger. He made it to the back seat in the van before I could get to him and he thought it was really, really funny to be sitting in between the big kids, Benjamin and Faith. The second one was a great motherly plan that ended in miserable failure. The conversation went like this,
"Emily, you sit down here at the bottom of the Chick-Fil-A slide with a camera and I'll get the three big kids to slide down together."
"Great idea, Lydia. It'll make a great pic. You think Samuel will do it?"
"Sure, here we go."

Lydia proceeds to squish and smush herself up into the Chick-Fil-A playland, obviously designed for children 3 and younger. Upon making it to the top of the slide she begins the long and arduous process of convincing said toddler that the slide with your brother and good friend would in fact be really fun and not scary at all! After appropriately placing the children in the right order, Faith in the front, Samuel in the middle, and Benjamin at the rear- this mother proceeds to push the children down the slide. The picture you see is the one Emily took as they reached the bottom. The one you don't see is the incredibly-too-large-for-the-slide mother coming down as the children just did to pick up and rescue the crying children who now feel totally misled and confused as to why their wonderful mother would come up with such a plan. Oh well, here's to motherhood!

Speaking of sweet Samuel. . .

This is how he woke up from his nap today- I thought it appropriate to show you since I posted about him during his nap! I love the hair. . . . and the brother watching ominously.

Life as normal resumes. . . . .

Well, it seems that life is returning to normal and I am getting some needed perspective. I am paying bills, making cookies for Community Dinners, coloring with my son, and learning about life in general. You know how that is?? I have these mommy moments where there are a hundred other things going on, I am totally multi-tasking, feeling really productive, and the Lord strikes my heart with a truth beyond all belief. I am stunned and stilled all at the same time. I have to sit for a moment and actually think about it (for if you multi-task like I do, none of the tasks require any thought). So here I am, having a moment. . .



This morning at church the team that went to Myanmar in December shared about their experiences. (Myanmar had a massive cyclone devastate the land and people in May 2008 and the government would not allow foreign agencies to deliver relief aid) As usual, my sweet Samuel refused to go to class and screamed about it until we came back to get him. He spent the rest of the service switching between mine and John's laps. The team shared about the closed state of this nation, the inability of foreign missionaries to come for the last 40-50 years. They shared about the doors the Lord has opened through a Burmese missionary who is on staff here at IHOP-KC. They shared about the people, their heart to see truth, their desire for shelter, boats, homes, schools, and CHURCHES. They showed pictures of churches being built with money donated from this place and riding on the prayers prayed by people in these chairs. I suddenly find myself fighting with my son about not writing in daddy's bible, wanting to walk off and find daddy while he's talking loudly during the sermon- and all at once I am crying. Not for myself. Not for my crazy-making son (though that was definitely tear worthy). No, I find myself crying for those in Myanmar who don't know Jesus. I am crying that their hearts, their faces that are ever precious to the Father in heaven, that they they would come to know the true healer of all the wrongs done against them, that they would know their Father in heaven and the Son who is coming to make all things right. Oh Lord, that you would meet them . . . why am I so fortunate?

So, here is my new prayer- I am longing to have Jesus moments all through the day in my house, my van, and even in the prayer room. When the moment comes, and you have an ah-ha in your heart- the Lord has struck something. I don't have them very often, but they come at the oddest moments. I will pray that for all us mothers (and some fathers) who spend our days doing things that seem very disconnected from any missions at all. That the Lord would spark things in our hearts that would draw deep wells of love and desire to see the Father come and his Son known in all places.

Fellowship of the Believers, Part 2

Okay, so tonight may not be as profound as last, but I had a thought today. We had a impromptu birthday celebration for Daddy Miller (Tim) who has been staying with us. I would show pics of the apple pie with candles, but since there are 4 babies asleep in this house right now, there is a real possibility that the cord required to retrieve the pictures off the camera and put them on the computer is in a room with a sleeping baby. Thus, the picture you see before you is from the restaurant chosen by the birthday boy and attended by the family. As all 8 of us sat around a picnic like table enjoying the wonderful bbq and talking about the last week I said the following, "Good food is better when enjoyed with good people." Doesn't it feel like that?? Even on a totally shallow level, if the "atmosphere" of a restaurant is no good, then we don't go back. But I think there is something more here, the physical meal is more satisfying when enjoyed with people who's hearts you are connected to. I have had more dinners than I can count where over the table our hearts have become united and as time passed we either became better cooks, OR the food just became better. Is it a "super" natural (as some would like to say) bettering of food by the Lord, or is it simply just a dynamic that the early church knew about. Connect with other believers on a deep level and other areas of our hearts and lives will be affected as well. Eat on my dear friends! But only that you may know Him better :)

The Fellowship of Believers

So we have had the pleasure of hosting the Miller family this last week and we have one more to go. Some of you might question our sanity, for wanting to be together for so long. Eight people in the upstairs of our house. Honestly, I have to say, at the end of the first week, things are still going really well. It must be a testimony to the grace of the Lord- our children have not decided they hate each other and they are basically loving the time to play with someone else.

Of course, it has also gotten me thinking about the idea of real fellowship. What did biblical fellowship really look like? The Acts church gathered "together constantly in prayer" (Acts 1:14) Later it says that the Fellowship of the Believers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42)." In the past week, we have assuredly "broken bread." We have eaten 3 loaves of bread, 6 gallons of milk, 2 large tubs of yogurt, and a variety of other things, we have watched teaching and the prayer room together during the day, and we have prayed. We have prayed through temper tantrums, no nap times, crying little ones, ear infections, and teeth coming in. And yet, the Father has been clearly present. The fellowship of the believers is so much more than simply gathering for a moment of time, or even a service, a meal, or a weekend. I have seen the Lord in our dear friends that I would not have seen given the short visit. It's the same vision I saw of the Lord in our friends the Chaneys, as they were heaving up the stomach virus we had given them. It's the same vision that I saw this summer, when our dear friends the Harpers were willing to come all the way to Arkansas to camp for two nights, with 9 children under the age of 4 and 8 parents- all to say a dear goodbye to our friends the Rupps. And it's the same testimony of the Father that I see when babies are born, houses are moved, and lives are turned upside down. Thank you, my dear friends for bringing the testimony of the Father's heart to mine.

p.s. How do you like the smiles my children are flashing these days?