New Post to Come, promise!

Hey there, on break now, catching up on things around our home so that life runs a little smoother, and catching up on much needed rest, time with my kids, and time with my wife. So thankful for this time off of classes, and very thankful for Thanksgiving coming up next week.
Ended up finishing with about a 93.5% in my Fundamental Hebrew class, not bad for trying to learn a language in 10-weeks. I have a Hebrew blog brewing in my brain, I will try to get that out by next week.

In the meantime, here is something fun to think about: there is a very cool word in Hebrew: ריר pronounced “rear” which means “snot” or “slime”; very fun word.

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Birthdays, Kids, & Business (just plain life)

Last weekend was hairy. And we are in recovery mode right now. It was a great weekend, and this week has been good too. But we have all been busy and we haven’t had much time to sit down, be still and rest, let alone try and exercise.

We started off with last Wednesday and Thursday with school, taking care of the kids, cleaning garage sale stuff, sorting garage sale stuff, pricing garage sale stuff, and setting up for the garage sale. (And this week as we walk around recovering we still see stuff we should have sold, ugh.)

Friday came around with me getting up for Bible study at 5:30am and returning with a few guys to help pull stuff out of the garage around 7:15am. People began arriving to shop by 7:30am. Wow!

There was a constant flow of buyers, perusers all day long. I had the kids at school or at work with me, and our oldest had a birthday sleepover at a friend’s house (thank the Lord). Needless to say, I didn’t accomplish much besides losing my patience a few time, and realizing I just had to focus on the kids. We supposed to be closing at 1pm, but people were still coming, so we stayed open to 530PM!!!

We had a great dinner with our neighbors (the Bensons) and then bought the clan back home for bed. We had more to find and get ready for Saturday. Up again at 6:30am, kids up by 7, stuff out by 7:30. Karis and I went to Girl Scout camp after dropping the two youngers off at Rainey’s (thank you).

Rach said it was a slow day, not much happened and they closed early. Karis and I rushed from camp (Which was great by the way, GREAT FATHER-DAUGHTER DAY; thank you Witts) to go pick-up Josiah from the sleepover. Got there and they were riding horses, and Karis was able to ride both horses too (thank you Rauschs). Back home, family reunited….and tired.

Church on Sunday, then out to Lake Freeman at the Leuenbergers and a restful and wonderful afternoon boating, swimming, and laziness. Then back home to baths & bed.

Monday morning, woke-up running…it’s now Friday and we still have not recovered.

Micah turned 4 this week. Thank you to our good friends the Haymonds for hosting that party, (you are so gracious and wonderful!). Tomorrow Rachel has a 5K race in Renselaer in the morning, and then off to a wedding at 11am. In the afternoon/evening we have a friend’s graduation party. And Sunday is a farewell potluck at our home church – Redeemer Lutheran. And then Monday Josiah will have his last Cub Scout Pack meeting, next week is the kids’ last week of school.

We are running…in more ways than one. Rach & I are running (at different time and where we can fit it in) to stay healthy and have alone/stress reliever time. But we are also running ragged trying to get our home, our belongings, our family, and our hearts and minds in order (or as much in order) for our transition to St. Louis.

Thank you God, thank you Josiah, Karis, Micah, & Reuben, thank you family and friends, and everyone else who is praying for us, supporting us, and loving us. We can’t do this without you.

Psalm 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰ “BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS, I WILL BE EXALTED IN THE EARTH.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Moved to tears on this Good Friday

Thought I might post a Sermon. Not so much because I’m going to seminary, or because I have been gratuitously been giving opportunities to preach about every 4 months throughout the last 8 years or so.

But because it’s Good Friday, and I cried during it. Wow, it was a totally unexpected and humbling.

I thought to myself, “For crying out loud, this is NOT my First time preaching. What in the world is going on?”

So the church that I work out of, University Lutheran, does a “Tre Ore” service every Good Friday from noon to 3pm (the hours of darkness when Jesus was on the cross). Area Lutheran pastors help by preaching one of Jesus’ 7 words from the Cross in 20 minute increments. And I got to preach the 4^th word (well, technically I guess you could call the phrases), “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

So I had been thinking about it the last few days, and cranked it out last night. But on Wednesday after reading books and Bible stories with the kids (we read the Jesus Storybook Bible for devotions that night) I really wanted to include that in my sermon, it was great stuff. (Great children’s Bible by the way, I highly endorse it.)

The pastor before me (the 3rd word) will usually break up during some part of the service. Usually due to the overwhelming love, emotion, weight, power, awesomeness of what He gets to do or be a part of or announce during church. Today was no different, moved by talking about why and how Christ won salvation for us made him choke up and even pause during his sermon. I love this about Dave. He is one of the most humble and loving pastors I know. And I am moved by the emotions he willingly shows. The humility of him, and the overwhelming weight of what God has done for him as he is sharing God’s love and the Gospel with people, is so real and tangible.

So enough about how great Dave is; back to ME!…or rather, me… I was really happy with my sermon and thought I nailed, felt it flowed fairly well. I prayed (like I always do before preaching; was still nervous a little, like I am always am before I preach) but I was ready. I had a good script, and it was mine, and it was from my heart. Well, and preaching my sermon and talking about Christ’s love for us, for me, and thinking of my family, my parents, and especially my kids, and let’s just say, my sermon really touched me, ugh. I got more chocked up than Dave did. I had tears falling out of my eyes trying to make it through the quote. Thank the Lord it was at the end of my sermon.

Thank you Jesus, for your love, your willingness, and your humility. Thank you for bringing your sacrifice home to me this Good Friday.

Amen!

Happy Good Friday, and if I don’t see you, Happy Easter.

Toby

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Preschoolers are like Black-holes

So this week Josiah has been incredibly hard of hearing. We being concerned parents, asked teachers about it (if they noticed anything), and normal parents (beginning to freakout because of our son’s sudden loss of hearing and watching a TV show about deaf people – Switched at birth) begin to be concerned about it and made an appointment with the pediatrician.

So today, Rach brought the little ones (Reuben 2, & Micah 3.10) to my office with lunch for us all. My class ended with the arrival of the boys. She then left to get Josiah from school, and I had the joy of eating lunch with the other two, and entertaining them at work with the toys here (thank the Lord my office is kid friendly with a good stock of toys to entertain). In the midst of all this, I was able to get back to typing and working. Micah becoming board of playing with the a fore-mentioned toys, now knows all the secrets of the drawers of my desk, and found a new one – my calculator.

Micah proceeded to play with it, and use it everywhere for one reason or another. He cheerfully showed/commented to me, “Dad, this is a little one, and momma has a big one.” (Rach, got one as a gift from a friend a few years back, and still loves it, as do the kids.)

Rach came back to get the boys after dropping Josiah off back at school. We hastily got ourselves ready to go downstairs and wait for mom, as we watched the roofers on top of a new apartment building. Got the kids all in the car, buckled up and ready to go…said goodbye…I then headed back upstairs to clean-up and work till I pick-up Josiah from school.

And lo and behold, no calculator in sight, anywhere. I checked all the toy boxes, drawers, coach cushions…noth’n.

So, now back to staples to get another great but inexpensive calculator.

Preschoolers are like black-holes, anything you give them, they play with, or acquire, kiss it goodbye because chances are it is gone forever.

PS>>Josiah has fluid in both ears. He’s now on amoxicillian, and a load of other things to clear him up. We’ll be talking to the allergist soon about shots (as this is probably the cause of this). And Rach and I feel bad every time we talk with Josiah because we have to raise our voices to speak with him (like he’s in trouble and we angry and yelling at him).

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Thumb sucking, & disruptions

For the last week or so, the kids have been battling some kind of cold. It got so bad that Micah got croup last week.

Luckily Karis had her annual check (YEAH, No Shots!!, and still growing, she’ in the 75 percentile in everything) the next day, so we took Micah along. Nurses & Doctor were able to check him out – he still had a low-grade fever and was coughing plenty. Doctor gave him an oral steroid. Mom promised those two a Happy Meal, so that’s where we went afterwards (thank the Lord for drive-throughs). The hardest part of the visit was trying to keep the face mask (like the surgery masks) on Micah (that is the rule at the doctors office if you have  a fever or cough). Yeah for bribery & Happy meals.

Well, this week all three boys have post-nasal drip and throat coughs because of that. They’re all getting better, and their bodies are working great at getting that stuff out. Reuben woke up last night just crying…took a while to calm him down. What it boils down to is with his nose all stopped-up, he can’t breath out of it and therefore can’t pacify/comfort himself. He is our FIRST AND ONLY THUMB-SUCKER. Which is  a blessing, we have been greatly thankful to him and God for blessing us with a thumb-sucker, after both Josiah & Karis were pacifier babies. Wow, waking up often because they couldn’t find their pacifier that fell out of their mouths after they relaxed and fell asleep…ugh. Sometimes it got to the point where we were putting 3-4 pacifiers around them so if they moved slightly they felt one and popped it in on their own, sometimes.

Then the two other boys woke-up at 6am, ready to go. Well, actually Josiah woke-up and in a not so quiet voice asked, “Can I get up now.” To which I responded, “Shhh, it’s an hour before we usually wake-up, and be quiet as Micah is still sleeping.” To which he responds a little louder and in a more whinny voice, “But I really want to play downstairs.”. And then Micah pops up and says, “I want to go down and play too.” And their tired father responds, “Fine go, but be quiet like mice, no fighting or crying, only kind words and be loving to each other. Oh, and go potty first.” I then role over to fall back asleep and 20 minutes later at awakened to Micah crying…ugh. So much for sleep.

I got to preach last Sunday on the Gospel lesson, Mark 1:21-28, and had one of my main premises (is that a word? what is the plural of premise? premisi? premisai?) was how Jesus doesn’t seem upset when the demoniac disrupted His teaching and the church service. It seems as though He welcomed it, in order to support/back-up His already refreshingly authoritative teaching. (And in Mark there is a lot of this, authoritative teaching and then a miracle.) I talked about how we hate having OUR schedules, comfort, and lives disrupted. The big finish was asking, “Does Jesus mind when we disrupt him? No, No He doesn’t, in fact he welcomes it (a.k.a. prayer)” But maybe a better question is, “Do we mind being disrupted by Him?”

So, my night & sleep were disrupted, but I love my family, and the joy they bring to me.

One of the coolest parts of this day so far, was after breakfast walking outside with Reuben and hearing (& seeing) lot’s and lot’s of birds singing. It was so nice. Thanks for teaching me again God, and thanks for the rewards.

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Happy Summer Vacation!

On a hot, hot day in June...

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A Waffle Bar

Karis’ birthday was this past Tuesday and she wanted to celebrate her special

Waffle Bar

day with an evening waffle bar. We had waffles with chocolate chips, waffles with peanut butter, waffles with whipped cream and blueberry sauce; we had sausages, strawberries, and a big fruit salad. (And then, of course, cake and ice cream.) It was so fun and so delicious.

There is just something comforting and heart-warming about having breakfast for dinner. I don’t know what it is, but every time we serve eggs or pancakes or waffles at the dinner hour, the kids and even the adults go crazy. Maybe it’s the break from the norm, maybe it’s that fresh feeling of starting a new day, or maybe it’s just plain yummy and fun to eat. Whatever it is, it was great fun and Karis is another year older. Happy Birthday, Karis!

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Peace

Micah happily rolling in the snow

Josiah and Karis in the first big snowfall of the season

Peace.

Today is the most beautiful day. We woke up to find the ground covered in soft, fluffy, white snow. Big flakes are still falling to the ground as I write this letter. I sent the kids outside and took some pictures and just felt so peaceful in my surroundings. Everything seems quieter and closer when you are standing outside in fresh fallen snow.

Our Thursday morning Bible study is learning about “Peace on Earth” this week and next week. It is a two-part series on Peace at Christmas. We are trying to understand why Jesus is the Prince of Peace. The focus of our Bible study is not “peace on earth” between man and man, but the Peace between God and man through Christ Jesus.

Christmas is therefore a celebration of the coming of Peace to earth and the restoration of our relationship with God. Christmas is both a birthday celebration and a victory chant. Christ has defeated death and the grave and we have been made right with God and have been declared sons and daughters of the Most High. That is a cause for true celebration! Merry Christmas!

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Cub scout cuties!

Jaden and Josiah on the verge of their first scout camping trip!

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le prince de chocolat

Bon jour, Capitan Chocolat!

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