Well Brett didn't really get the chance to be interviewed per say.... The VP of Flock had a call from his boss so he had to cut the conversation with Brett short. But, Brett did say in the 10 minutes they spoke that it wasn't much of an interview. More like, "hey, we've seen what you've done, what's your time line like?" Short of a drastic change of events the job is pretty much his if he wants it. He already mentioned flying Brett up soon which will be the next major step. The timing on this is perfect with school ending in a little over a month.
So, they are supposed to talk more Saturday.... Obviously a lot of details need to be worked out.
Please kick the prayers up a notch. This is looking like a reality which means drastic change on the horizon. We have much to pray about!! I will be sure to update as events unfold....
Wow. The Lord is truly amazing!
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Prayer Request
I just sent this out via email to some of you, so I apologize if this is a repeat.
As most of you know Brett has been praying about leaving the teaching field for some time now. There are many reasons but mostly he struggles with the direction and philosophies of public education. And of course on the financial front it is becoming increasingly more difficult trying to support a family on a single teacher salary.
When we first moved to the Northwest back in 2000, we did so expecting Brett to go into the tech field. He's always been gifted in that arena. For whatever reason the Lord led him in quite a different direction.
So for the past couple of years as a little side hobby, Brett started designing Firefox browser themes for fun. What started out as something little has really exploded into something quite bigger than he ever imagined or intended. To date his themes have been downloaded a whopping ten million times! Those are pretty staggering numbers and have generated quite a bit of attention. Over the past few months several companies have been in contact with Brett seeking to speak with him about opportunities in the field. He has been hired by one company to do contractor work on the side developing themes for organizations such as colleges and sports teams.
Most recently, a big name company named Flock contacted him about the possibility of coming to work for them full time. If he gets the job, what they are offering is nice on a lot of levels. The salary is comfortable, benefits are quite good and thankfully they would allow him to telecommute so no relocation would be necessary. It would be a pretty exciting first job (or 10th for that matter) and would give him experience working with some big name programmers in the field.
First and foremost in our lives we are seeking the Lord's will. We have been praying for the Lord to open doors and close doors thus making His will more clearly known in our lives in this area. It definitely looks like change is on the horizon so that's always exciting.
Brett has an interview with the Sr. VP via phone this evening. Please be praying that we get some answers and that if this is what the Lord has for us, that His hand be covering all the details.
If nothing else, it's been incredible to see my husband get recognition for his hard work and God-given talents. He has had real joy in working on these projects and I pray that he can work each day doing something he truly has a passion for.
Thanks for your prayers! I will post an update when I have one...
In the meantime, to check out Brett's work, click here: http://bodizzlethemes.blogspot.com
As most of you know Brett has been praying about leaving the teaching field for some time now. There are many reasons but mostly he struggles with the direction and philosophies of public education. And of course on the financial front it is becoming increasingly more difficult trying to support a family on a single teacher salary.
When we first moved to the Northwest back in 2000, we did so expecting Brett to go into the tech field. He's always been gifted in that arena. For whatever reason the Lord led him in quite a different direction.
So for the past couple of years as a little side hobby, Brett started designing Firefox browser themes for fun. What started out as something little has really exploded into something quite bigger than he ever imagined or intended. To date his themes have been downloaded a whopping ten million times! Those are pretty staggering numbers and have generated quite a bit of attention. Over the past few months several companies have been in contact with Brett seeking to speak with him about opportunities in the field. He has been hired by one company to do contractor work on the side developing themes for organizations such as colleges and sports teams.
Most recently, a big name company named Flock contacted him about the possibility of coming to work for them full time. If he gets the job, what they are offering is nice on a lot of levels. The salary is comfortable, benefits are quite good and thankfully they would allow him to telecommute so no relocation would be necessary. It would be a pretty exciting first job (or 10th for that matter) and would give him experience working with some big name programmers in the field.
First and foremost in our lives we are seeking the Lord's will. We have been praying for the Lord to open doors and close doors thus making His will more clearly known in our lives in this area. It definitely looks like change is on the horizon so that's always exciting.
Brett has an interview with the Sr. VP via phone this evening. Please be praying that we get some answers and that if this is what the Lord has for us, that His hand be covering all the details.
If nothing else, it's been incredible to see my husband get recognition for his hard work and God-given talents. He has had real joy in working on these projects and I pray that he can work each day doing something he truly has a passion for.
Thanks for your prayers! I will post an update when I have one...
In the meantime, to check out Brett's work, click here: http://bodizzlethemes.blogspot.com
Monday, May 5, 2008
April Fun
I've been SO behind on posting pictures and family happenings lately, I thought today would be a good day to get caught up.
April was such a fun month despite the fact that Portland was still anxiously awaiting Spring :)
Here were some fun moments we caught on camera....
A play date with our friends Charlotte and Cyrus. This happened to be one of the nicer days that month so we headed outside for some fun in the sun!
Mr. Bear also came home with us that day for the week so of course we had to include him in the shots.
April was such a fun month despite the fact that Portland was still anxiously awaiting Spring :)
Here were some fun moments we caught on camera....
A play date with our friends Charlotte and Cyrus. This happened to be one of the nicer days that month so we headed outside for some fun in the sun!
Mr. Bear also came home with us that day for the week so of course we had to include him in the shots.
OMSI currently has a very cool dinosaur exhibit. The boys both went through a period of dino obsession so this was a pretty fun day for them!
The very silly side of Brett :) I am certain he is going to be so appreciative of me posting these!
Brett, Debbie and Casey came over for dinner last month too! We had so much fun together but honestly Josh pretty much kept Pastor Brett busy for almost the entire night :)
They had fun drawing pictures and Josh made some special requests. Note the fine art displayed here - hehe!
They had fun drawing pictures and Josh made some special requests. Note the fine art displayed here - hehe!
A couple of silly pictures right before bed on Mr. Bear's final night with us before heading back to preschool. Each night Josh was careful to put him in his pajamas and brush his teeth. Josh was a good bear keeper and I think we kept Mr. Bear entertained for the whole week :)
Friday, March 21, 2008
Josh's 5th birthday party pictures!
The lovely, amazing and immensely talented Mindy Strauss took Josh's 5th birthday party pictures. She is such a blessing in ways far beyond the magic she works with a camera!
We tried to "book" her almost a year ago for family pictures that we wanted taken outdoors. Outdoor shoots in Portland in the Spring are always a gamble. You never know what the weather will do and I think we tried to schedule three different dates and got rained out each time.
Then she had to go and have that adorable baby of hers! :) :) :)
Well, she sweetly worked us in her busy schedule a year later and we made sure the venue was indoors this go round.
Because our party got too large for the adorably painted standard party rooms at the Children's Museum, they put us in an exhibit area/private reception room that happened to be empty and available. There had been a wedding there (possibly between 7 year olds?) the night before and the room was decked out with some rather interesting decor, lol! Think hula hoops, animal pictures and pinata type things hanging from the ceiling! The area was great for crazy, energetic kids because it was huge! But it was also purple.... very purple, and red, blue, pink and maybe yellow? I am SO thankful for the black and white pics!!
Here are a few of our favorites. The rest can be found on our Picasa web album site
Just click here to check 'em out: http://picasaweb.google.com/blbodine
My poor little sickie
The reason I'm posting at 3:20am is because my sweet little Matthew is sick. Whenever he comes down with a cold/virus and it works its way into his little chest, it's bad news for him. He has asthma or at least reactive airway disease..... something along those lines. When he coughs it causes inflammation in his airways and his breathing gets labored. He just could not stop coughing long enough to sleep for more than an hour at a time tonight.
We went downstairs and cuddled on the couch. He now has a fever as well so I played doctor mom and gave him some Motrin and some cough medicine. He needed a breathing treatment and I didn't realize I was out of Albuterol. That's always a great thing to find out when it's 1:30am.
From his several past trips to the ER, I now know what to look for in distressed breathing. Thankfully the vapo patch I put on his chest was enough to at least calm the cough enough to put him back to bed after an hour. I tried to get him to sleep with me downstairs but he kept suggesting we watch a movie together instead :) He also wanted a "granana" (banana) because "my tummy's hungry, mom." I seriously could eat him up when he says things like that in his sweet little voice.
I am praying he is better by Sunday. Resurrection Sunday truly is the most special day of the whole year to me. I cherish and love this day far more than Christmas even. We don't want to miss out this year as we know it's going to be one of the most memorable services we Creekers have yet experienced. Please pray for our little sweetheart!
We went downstairs and cuddled on the couch. He now has a fever as well so I played doctor mom and gave him some Motrin and some cough medicine. He needed a breathing treatment and I didn't realize I was out of Albuterol. That's always a great thing to find out when it's 1:30am.
From his several past trips to the ER, I now know what to look for in distressed breathing. Thankfully the vapo patch I put on his chest was enough to at least calm the cough enough to put him back to bed after an hour. I tried to get him to sleep with me downstairs but he kept suggesting we watch a movie together instead :) He also wanted a "granana" (banana) because "my tummy's hungry, mom." I seriously could eat him up when he says things like that in his sweet little voice.
I am praying he is better by Sunday. Resurrection Sunday truly is the most special day of the whole year to me. I cherish and love this day far more than Christmas even. We don't want to miss out this year as we know it's going to be one of the most memorable services we Creekers have yet experienced. Please pray for our little sweetheart!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Happy Anniversary To Us!
Yesterday, March 13th, was our 9th wedding anniversary! I find that totally unbelievable. Brett and I have known each other for one third of our lives now!
I wanted to take some time telling Brett and the world (or our four or so blog readers) how much I adore and am thankful for my amazing husband.
When Brett and I met for the first time, I was a freshly caught, but far from clean fish. All of you Athey Creekers will get this reference. I had accepted the Lord about 3 months prior to us meeting. My husband was raised in a Catholic family and became born again at 14 so he truly lived a life set apart for the Lord from the beginning. Although he was attending college far from home, he never fell into the worldly trappings of college life. I am proud to say that my husband has never been intoxicated in his life and has never touched a drug. He also made and maintained close friendships with girls growing up yet purposed not to really date seriously knowing the Lord would someday make it clear to him who his future wife was to be.
Being the youngest (by 11 years) of 7 children, he lived to make not only his parents, but his older siblings proud. He excelled at everything he did. Academically he was always on top and finished his high school career as Valedictorian. Athletically, although I don't remember all of his stats, he was a GREAT football and baseball player.
Sadly, tragedy hit the Bodine family when Brett's father was diagnosed with and then eventually died from Leukemia at the end of Brett's freshman year of college. He remembers taking his finals the week of his dad's funeral.
Fast forward to April 10, 1998. The day the "tornado", the fiery red head, the "perfect storm" entered his world :) I won't go into all the details of our meeting for the sake of time so just ask me someday if you're interested.
The first words I said to him when he picked me up for our first date were "It's about time you got here!" I was ripping on him for daring to pick me up late :)
How true my words really were. It was definitely time for him to enter my life.
At the ripe age of 20 I was pretty wiped out emotionally and experientially. I certainly didn't have your typical childhood so my trust in people was certainly damaged. My mom had very tragically passed away when I was 16 and I had been living as a "grown up" since.
And although at that point saved, Brett was one of my first and most amazing proofs of God's existence and His great love for me. And to this day, he still very much is.
When the Lord put it on Brett's heart to marry me I am sure there were moments when he asked "are you sure, Lord?" You don't come from the kind of pain I had experienced at such a young age and not have your fair share of issues. More than anything, I just didn't trust or believe in his love for me.
And although I didn't set out consciously to do so, I was somehow certain that if I just pushed him hard enough and tested him enough that his love for me would crumble under pressure. I was wrong. He always remained steadfast, long suffering and faithful to me. I'm not writing this to say that our first year or so of marriage was all bad or to give the impression that I beat myself up for my many failures as a then 21 year old wife. I just am SO grateful that my husband faithfully loved me through those days and months that were not easy circumstantially or otherwise. Brett really was the first person in my life up to that point who demonstrated real love to me - agape love.
Brett and I have always been best friends. That was obvious from the get go. We are so polar opposite personality wise but it truly is a match made in heaven. I certainly add excitement to our lives. There are very few dull moments day to day... let's just put it that way :)
Brett on the other hand certainly adds stability and wisdom to my world.
I live entirely in the heart realm. Brett lives almost entirely in the head realm. When those two worlds come together it's a perfect combination. The Lord doesn't want us to be ruled by our emotions. Yet He also wants us to love greatly. For without love... well, here's the scripture that tells us what we're like without love:
I Corinthians 13:1-3 - If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
I wanted to take some time telling Brett and the world (or our four or so blog readers) how much I adore and am thankful for my amazing husband.
When Brett and I met for the first time, I was a freshly caught, but far from clean fish. All of you Athey Creekers will get this reference. I had accepted the Lord about 3 months prior to us meeting. My husband was raised in a Catholic family and became born again at 14 so he truly lived a life set apart for the Lord from the beginning. Although he was attending college far from home, he never fell into the worldly trappings of college life. I am proud to say that my husband has never been intoxicated in his life and has never touched a drug. He also made and maintained close friendships with girls growing up yet purposed not to really date seriously knowing the Lord would someday make it clear to him who his future wife was to be.
Being the youngest (by 11 years) of 7 children, he lived to make not only his parents, but his older siblings proud. He excelled at everything he did. Academically he was always on top and finished his high school career as Valedictorian. Athletically, although I don't remember all of his stats, he was a GREAT football and baseball player.
Sadly, tragedy hit the Bodine family when Brett's father was diagnosed with and then eventually died from Leukemia at the end of Brett's freshman year of college. He remembers taking his finals the week of his dad's funeral.
Fast forward to April 10, 1998. The day the "tornado", the fiery red head, the "perfect storm" entered his world :) I won't go into all the details of our meeting for the sake of time so just ask me someday if you're interested.
The first words I said to him when he picked me up for our first date were "It's about time you got here!" I was ripping on him for daring to pick me up late :)
How true my words really were. It was definitely time for him to enter my life.
At the ripe age of 20 I was pretty wiped out emotionally and experientially. I certainly didn't have your typical childhood so my trust in people was certainly damaged. My mom had very tragically passed away when I was 16 and I had been living as a "grown up" since.
And although at that point saved, Brett was one of my first and most amazing proofs of God's existence and His great love for me. And to this day, he still very much is.
When the Lord put it on Brett's heart to marry me I am sure there were moments when he asked "are you sure, Lord?" You don't come from the kind of pain I had experienced at such a young age and not have your fair share of issues. More than anything, I just didn't trust or believe in his love for me.
And although I didn't set out consciously to do so, I was somehow certain that if I just pushed him hard enough and tested him enough that his love for me would crumble under pressure. I was wrong. He always remained steadfast, long suffering and faithful to me. I'm not writing this to say that our first year or so of marriage was all bad or to give the impression that I beat myself up for my many failures as a then 21 year old wife. I just am SO grateful that my husband faithfully loved me through those days and months that were not easy circumstantially or otherwise. Brett really was the first person in my life up to that point who demonstrated real love to me - agape love.
Brett and I have always been best friends. That was obvious from the get go. We are so polar opposite personality wise but it truly is a match made in heaven. I certainly add excitement to our lives. There are very few dull moments day to day... let's just put it that way :)
Brett on the other hand certainly adds stability and wisdom to my world.
I live entirely in the heart realm. Brett lives almost entirely in the head realm. When those two worlds come together it's a perfect combination. The Lord doesn't want us to be ruled by our emotions. Yet He also wants us to love greatly. For without love... well, here's the scripture that tells us what we're like without love:
I Corinthians 13:1-3 - If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Another great thing in our marriage is humor! Both of us love to laugh and my husband is one of the funniest and wittiest people I know.
One of the things I most love about him is that he has enabled me to laugh at myself.
On one of our first dates we were enjoying lunch out. I was eating some sort of sandwich accompanied by a rather scrumptious dill pickle half. I innocently bit into the pickle and things began to not go so well. I, at this point in my life, was obsessed with both proper etiquette and my appearance. So as I tried to gracefully eat this pickle, it retaliated... or exploded - I am not sure which. All I know is that I had both pickle juice and bits of pickle flowing down my face. And as Brett busted into muffled hysterics, I for the first time ever, was able to laugh along with him. What an important lesson that was and still is for me :)
Let's see.... Let's go back to my husband's brilliant mind, shall we? He has his undergrad in Exercise Physiology and went on to get his Masters Degree at George Fox. If we hadn't have been in the midst of childbirth classes his final year of grad school, he would have completed his Masters with a 4.0.
Instead he got like a 3.9 :)
So he's a science and math guy who, are you ready for this?, happens to have a strange love of teenagers. This truly is one of life's greatest mysteries to me. He gets paid a modest salary to spend all day shaping and molding the hormonal and mysterious minds of our youth. He does this in a not so posh setting to say the least. Centennial High School is truly a battlefield. Some of the school's "accomplishments" to date:
*It has the highest student pregnancy rate in the state of Oregon.
*It has a large daycare facility on site for the student population.
*It has quite an active gay/straight alliance club which celebrates its "diversity" openly at student assemblies.
*There is an ever growing gang population.
*The district has one of the highest free and reduced lunch populations in the Portland metro area.
I could go on but you get the idea. Every school day for the last five years my husband has bravely gone straight into this battlefield and has done so with a tremendous amount of strength. He has proverbs covering his classroom walls in this public school. He has used his math classes on multiple occasions to speak the truth to students who are lied to in frightening ways each and every day. He fills them in on the truth of our national and world history, the sanctity of marriage and precious new life. He truly does love on these kids who desperately need it. But often does so while being called expletives and being openly disrespected with little to no administrative backing. And don't forget he's expected to teach quadratic equations to students who often can't add simple fractions. I am so proud of him for doing such truly noble work in order to support our family. Because a single teacher income is challenging to live on, Brett has given up the only daily prep period he has this year to teach an extra class. He also teaches night school every Tuesday night, does private tutoring after school and he teaches summer school for all but a week and a half of his summer break. He does this so I can stay home with our boys and he wouldn't think even for a moment of having it any other way.
To continue bragging on him, he has some other note worthy abilities. He can fix anything and everything. He is a techie genius. He is a fantastic artist. He is Brett the builder :) He taught himself to play the guitar and is really quite good at it. He is a master impressionist and has NY and Scottish accents mastered (so funny!). He is a lover of history and political science and keeps me informed on the important issues. He is the one is our home who can do more than stare blankly at our sewing machine. Most importantly, he makes the best chocolate chip cookies on earth.
He is an AMAZING father. Both Josh and Matthew run to the door and light up when I say the magic words... "Daddy's home!" He loves them with all of his heart and demonstrates so every day. He disciplines them in love and spends lots of time just being silly with them. He reads them the Word and does great reenactments of Bible stories using lincoln logs, legos and little people :)
He will proudly coach them in T-ball and soccer and I'm thinking his love of golf will eventually earn him two great golf buddies.
Brett is truly a man after God's own heart. He rises each morning at 5:15 to make sure he has enough time to read the Word with me and spend time in prayer before he heads off to work.
He loves to study the Bible and has a well worn bible or two to prove it. He is a great spiritual leader for me and our boys and I am so thankful for his fervent love of the Lord.
So Brett, you're probably the only one who took the time to read through my rather lengthy post :) But truly if I spent hours and days trying to name everything I love about you I would have time for little else.
You are such an incredible husband to me. Nine years ago on our wedding video, in our pre-wedding interview, I said that you make me want to be a better person. I know now that I will never be a "better" person this side of Heaven. I do however strive with each day to be a more Christ like wife, mom, friend and disciple of our Lord. My love of Jesus is the driving force behind all I do and my love of you not only is fantastic motivation, it also makes life so very rich and rewarding. Happy Anniversary! I love you with all my heart!
One of the things I most love about him is that he has enabled me to laugh at myself.
On one of our first dates we were enjoying lunch out. I was eating some sort of sandwich accompanied by a rather scrumptious dill pickle half. I innocently bit into the pickle and things began to not go so well. I, at this point in my life, was obsessed with both proper etiquette and my appearance. So as I tried to gracefully eat this pickle, it retaliated... or exploded - I am not sure which. All I know is that I had both pickle juice and bits of pickle flowing down my face. And as Brett busted into muffled hysterics, I for the first time ever, was able to laugh along with him. What an important lesson that was and still is for me :)
Let's see.... Let's go back to my husband's brilliant mind, shall we? He has his undergrad in Exercise Physiology and went on to get his Masters Degree at George Fox. If we hadn't have been in the midst of childbirth classes his final year of grad school, he would have completed his Masters with a 4.0.
Instead he got like a 3.9 :)
So he's a science and math guy who, are you ready for this?, happens to have a strange love of teenagers. This truly is one of life's greatest mysteries to me. He gets paid a modest salary to spend all day shaping and molding the hormonal and mysterious minds of our youth. He does this in a not so posh setting to say the least. Centennial High School is truly a battlefield. Some of the school's "accomplishments" to date:
*It has the highest student pregnancy rate in the state of Oregon.
*It has a large daycare facility on site for the student population.
*It has quite an active gay/straight alliance club which celebrates its "diversity" openly at student assemblies.
*There is an ever growing gang population.
*The district has one of the highest free and reduced lunch populations in the Portland metro area.
I could go on but you get the idea. Every school day for the last five years my husband has bravely gone straight into this battlefield and has done so with a tremendous amount of strength. He has proverbs covering his classroom walls in this public school. He has used his math classes on multiple occasions to speak the truth to students who are lied to in frightening ways each and every day. He fills them in on the truth of our national and world history, the sanctity of marriage and precious new life. He truly does love on these kids who desperately need it. But often does so while being called expletives and being openly disrespected with little to no administrative backing. And don't forget he's expected to teach quadratic equations to students who often can't add simple fractions. I am so proud of him for doing such truly noble work in order to support our family. Because a single teacher income is challenging to live on, Brett has given up the only daily prep period he has this year to teach an extra class. He also teaches night school every Tuesday night, does private tutoring after school and he teaches summer school for all but a week and a half of his summer break. He does this so I can stay home with our boys and he wouldn't think even for a moment of having it any other way.
To continue bragging on him, he has some other note worthy abilities. He can fix anything and everything. He is a techie genius. He is a fantastic artist. He is Brett the builder :) He taught himself to play the guitar and is really quite good at it. He is a master impressionist and has NY and Scottish accents mastered (so funny!). He is a lover of history and political science and keeps me informed on the important issues. He is the one is our home who can do more than stare blankly at our sewing machine. Most importantly, he makes the best chocolate chip cookies on earth.
He is an AMAZING father. Both Josh and Matthew run to the door and light up when I say the magic words... "Daddy's home!" He loves them with all of his heart and demonstrates so every day. He disciplines them in love and spends lots of time just being silly with them. He reads them the Word and does great reenactments of Bible stories using lincoln logs, legos and little people :)
He will proudly coach them in T-ball and soccer and I'm thinking his love of golf will eventually earn him two great golf buddies.
Brett is truly a man after God's own heart. He rises each morning at 5:15 to make sure he has enough time to read the Word with me and spend time in prayer before he heads off to work.
He loves to study the Bible and has a well worn bible or two to prove it. He is a great spiritual leader for me and our boys and I am so thankful for his fervent love of the Lord.
So Brett, you're probably the only one who took the time to read through my rather lengthy post :) But truly if I spent hours and days trying to name everything I love about you I would have time for little else.
You are such an incredible husband to me. Nine years ago on our wedding video, in our pre-wedding interview, I said that you make me want to be a better person. I know now that I will never be a "better" person this side of Heaven. I do however strive with each day to be a more Christ like wife, mom, friend and disciple of our Lord. My love of Jesus is the driving force behind all I do and my love of you not only is fantastic motivation, it also makes life so very rich and rewarding. Happy Anniversary! I love you with all my heart!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Valentines Week!
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8
In the midst of an AWESOME day, the Lord gently reminded me throughout that we needed to get the Valentines done so Joshua could take them to preschool tomorrow. Brett teaches night school on Tuesday night and is gone until 9:00pm. The Lord told me to take my boys on a date… “Mission Valentine” :)
I thought we’d start with dinner. How blessed was I to get to take two handsome boys on a date?!
We withstood, with more patience than usual, the 217 North traffic jam as we headed to the Cedar Hills shopping center. Destination: Beaverton Christian Supply for the Valentines and Baja Fresh for dinner. It was just after 6:00pm and my two boys had already exhibited more patience the entire day than I think I had ever seen.
I wasn’t sure what time Christian Supply was to close so I took a peak before heading to dinner across the parking lot. 7:00pm the door said. Awesome! We had made it in time.
I ran to the van, told the boys we needed to pick up the Valentines quickly before heading for dinner. I saw people inside and opened the door… Well, I tried to open the door and it was locked. I looked closely and saw a small white piece of paper that said “On 2/12 we will be closing our doors early for inventory.”
“Oh, man” I thought for a second beginning to entertain the idea of becoming a tad frustrated. Why had the Lord had us sit in traffic for an hour to find the store that I was certain that day held the message that Josh wanted to share with his friends, closed? Hmm… My efforts to muster frustration failed?! I truly had not an ounce. He put me in remembrance of our traffic laden journey filled with that amazing patience never before seen between me and my two sons, or between the two brothers. What had happened? I began to replay the conversations that took place… We always have K-LOVE or the Fish or Air 1 playing in our van so the praise music was the same. What was different?
“What did you talk about while waiting patiently in the traffic jam?” “You,” I simply thought. So we shrugged it off and made our way to dinner. We sat talking, eating, laughing and sharing; A perfect dinner.
We then left, not knowing where to go to find these Valentines we were still in search of. “Mom, let’s sing!” Joshua suggested. “Ok, bud!” So we started with the theme song to Veggie Tales. “Let’s sing some more!” “Ok, let’s see what’s in the CD player,” I said. I flipped to mysterious “number 3” not certain what CD was in the player. In unity, the 3 of us sang our hearts out to the Lord via a favorite children’s praise and worship CD. “Jesus Loves Me This I know…” “Father Abraham”… I glanced back and saw my sweet Matthew now sound asleep in total peace in the midst of our singing. Joshua, of course had me skip ahead to his favorite song “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” and we sang it. Then I turned the music off and began doing what I thought was me sharing with him about the Joshua of the Bible.
Well, my son Joshua taught it right back to me in complete and perfect understanding of the great work that was done by God through Joshua. I told my Joshua that the Lord had chosen his name for him because He wants him to be just like the Joshua of the Bible. And then I went on to “remind him” of David.
Well, once again my son did most of the teaching in his complete understanding of the amazing story of one young man taking on a giant in simple and resolute faith, trust and assurance in His God - OUR God. I told Joshua then and there that he had accepted Jesus into his heart at the age of 3 and that God had BIG plans for him… even now.
His face just lit up. So did mine.
As we made our way toward our still mysterious Valentine supply destination, at this point 8:00pm and our options and time becoming more limited, the Lord really revealed His plan.
“Josh, do you want to go home and make your own Valentines to give to your friends?” “Yes! I would LOVE to do that!” he exclaimed.
We drove home and I didn’t know what these Valentines were going to look like considering our limited time and resources.
Josh lovingly helped me get a very sleepy Matthew ready for bed. He got his brother’s dinosaur, his blankie and even picked out his jammies. Groggy but ever smiley, Matthew lay there while Josh and I got him ready for bed. We took him upstairs, brushed his teeth, tucked him in and fittingly prayed.
Matthew asked if he could pray first, in his quiet sweet way. Josh prayed next in a way that simply made my heart rejoice. It was my son’s first purpose-filled, fervent prayer. It ended with my sweet son asking for the rapture to happen soon so we wouldn’t have to die. Wow!
I then prayed a different prayer for my two sons than I had ever prayed. I thanked the Lord for Joshua, which means “Jehovah saves” and prayed that he would be like the Joshua and David we had talked so much about just an hour earlier. Then I began to pray for Matthew, his name meaning, “gift from God” and how he was so much like his Daddy, my first gift from God after I accepted the Lord.
I thanked the Lord for this sweet hearted, selfless boy. I said Amen and opened my eyes to see Josh gone. “Joshua, I called!” “I’m already downstairs Mom!” he responded. He was so ready to make his Valentines I could hardly correct him.
I looked down at Matthew, now covered in a blanket and heard quiet sobs. “Oh, my sweet Matthew, what’s wrong?” I picked him up, he cried and I rocked him gently as he sobbed in his broken but silent way. Josh then walked in the room and said “Mom, he wants me.” Josh got down on the floor and wrapped his arms around both me and his brother and we all sat there hugging in one of our most precious moments. “Matthew, is that what’s wrong?” “Yes”, he said in between sobs. “He wants to go downstairs with us and make our Valentines, Mom,” my little interpreter explained. “Matthew, do you want to go downstairs with us?” I asked.
“Yes, Mommy, I don’t want to go to bed without Josh,” he began to cry again. “Oh, my sweet little boy, all you had to do is ask.”
Josh then took Matthew by the hand and started leading him down the stairs. Clearly a big height difference, Joshua immediately noticed and the two of them went down Matthew style, hand in hand sliding down the flight of stairs on their little bottoms. I nearly burst into tears right then, my heart literally overflowing at how my Joshua was right then acting not as Joshua of the OT or David, but JESUS… The One person I didn’t mention in my prayer that he shared his name with.
“So, Josh, let’s make your Valentines!” I said now sitting at my computer. “How about a picture of you and then a Bible verse for your friends,?” I suggested.
I looked at my sweet Matthew, content as always and said “Or a picture of you and your brother?”
“YEAH!, Josh exclaimed.” And Matthew looked up and smiled. I immediately went to the pictures most near and dear to my heart and Josh picked his favorite picture. We inserted it into our already predestined Valentine and got to the ever pressing question. “Josh, what verse?”
“Let me show you”, he said running to grab my Bible still on the table from this morning.” My son, not able to comprehensively read a page in my Bible then said “I already know what one Mom.” I looked down at my Bible still on 1 Corinthians from this morning’s reading and asked “This one?” “Nope, he said turning the pages a couple to the left and directing me to Romans 12:2. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Before I read it I smiled knowing ahead what the words said. It was given to me just a couple of weeks prior. The Lord had already used it this past Sunday in two amazing ways. I was able to teach it to my sons, but then I shared it with my father (details to follow in another blog entry).
I pasted it on to the Valentine and looked at the almost completed and perfect work smiling. “Do you want me to read it to you?” “Yes Mommy.”
I read it. Josh then said “Wait, maybe it should be Romans 5:8” I wasn’t sure what the verse said so I flipped back a couple of pages. “It says that we know Jesus loves us because He died for us.” Josh explained. “I want that one instead.”
“It does fit for Valentines Day, doesn’t it?!” “Yes,” I said in awe. “It definitely does.” I then put the verse and picture together and literally couldn’t wait for my sweet husband to come home so I could share with him the greatest night I have ever had with my two boys.
I talked Josh into heading to bed and entrusting his Daddy and me to take care of the heart cutting. Joshua wanted badly to stay up late with me. I explained my reasons and he simply obeyed.
The three of us headed back upstairs. Matthew climbed back into his bed smiling as he waited while his big brother brushed his teeth. “Matthew, do you want to sing a song while Josh finishes getting ready for bed?” “Yes,” he replied.
“How about the song I used to sing Josh when he was a baby?” “Okay!” sweet Matthew exclaimed. I began to sing “Here I am to Worship.” Joshua climbed into his bed, singing along with a smile because I of course was singing his special song.
I tucked them into bed and Matthew said “Mommy, another song?” and I said “It’s late and you need to sleep. I looked at each son and then sang them our Wednesday night church blessing:
Numbers 6:24-26
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
I sang it looking into each of my sons' beaming faces. “Good night, Mommy” they said. I left the room and I praised the Lord thinking “Nope, it was our best night!”
I have a feeling if this is the start of Valentines Day, it’s going to be the BEST. Thank you Jesus!
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