Some of Anna's many lapbooks!

Jesus Loves The Little Children

All the little children of the world.  My heart was broken last year for the children of Cambodia who are sold into prostitution.  Young girls, as young as 5, are put into brothels to be sold to mostly white, America men.  Look at those faces. Look at those precious children that God made. How could someone hurt a child like that? Sin is so horrible and ugly.  How God's heart must break over these precious children.  How He must long to hold them and heal their hurts.  We are His arms.  We are called to heal the broken hearts.  We are called to set the captive free. Please visit this website and learn more:http://aim4asia.org/

He Restores My Soul

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

   He leads me beside quiet waters, 

 3 He restores my soul. 

I believe God spoke the word RESTORE to me for 2009.  Each year I ask God for a word that will speak to my heart and become very real to me in a new way.  God promises in Joel 2:25 that He will restore the years the locust has destroyed. Areas in my body, soul, and spirit that have been wounded or destroyed by the enemy will be restored. That's a precious promise.  I looked the word RESTORE up in the dictionary and the definitions were numerous.  I'll list a few:

1. To return to a person, as a specific thing which he has lost, or which has been taken from him and unjustly detained. 

2. To replace; to return; as a person or thing to a former place.

3. To heal; to cure; to recover from disease.

4. To repair; to rebuild

5. To revive, to resuscitate; to bring back to life

6. To return of bring back after abscence

7. To renew or re-establish after interuption

I'm with an expectant heart waiting to see what and how God will restore areas the locust has stolen from me. 

Favorite songs right now:

Some of my favortie songs:

Letting Go

In 2008 I lost many things that were precious to me.  It was a year of letting go.  It was a year of breaking, and it was a year of sitting and just "being with Jesus".  God spoke to me at the beginning of 2008 that He was Emmanuel~God with us.  I had no idea how much I was going to need that to hang on to.   He walked and carried me right through this year.  One thing I lost this year was our beautiful cat, Hobbes, pictured above.  Hobbes came to us two years ago the day after New Years.  He showed up as a little kitten on our doorstep.  We immediately fell in love with him and felt like God had dropped a gift to us.  God does that~He gives and He takes away.  Job says it well when he said:

 “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

We lost Hobbes in October of 2008.  We prayed and prayed, but he was gone.  It might seem silly to some of you that I have grieved over a cat so, but I did.  And I hurt even more for my youngest who grieved even more than I did.  It's such a helpless feeling to watch your child hurt so and not be able to fix it.  Losing Hobbes somewhat represented to me the many things we lost this year that were dear to us.   Through it all I have had to trust that God sees the bigger picture and His purposes will be revealed in His time.  I have had to give up control and truly trust the One who is trustworthy. I wish I could say I did this gracefully, but I didn't.  I struggled.  I wrestled. I cried.  I thought of Jacob who wrestled with God, and when it was over, he walked away with a limp.  He walked away broken, and he walked away touched by God.  I pray that I am walking out of 2008 with a limp, but closer to God.  I do know that I am walking away knowing that God is Emmanuel.  He is with me. 

Christmas 2008