Nathan's Birthday

We celebrated Nathan's 24th birthday tonight. It was his very first MARRIED birthday and all the more wonderful because of Jenny.

Sunset in Sydney

Jonathon and I had to pull over and watch this AMAZING sunset unfold. God's presence seemed to surround us.

Selah Gennesaret

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post today.

We found out on our 20th wedding anniversary in Jerusalem that we were expecting another baby. We experienced the thrill of a lifetime, for the second time, and were so thankful that God had answered our prayer. After Eden died, we prayed, "LORD, our heart's desire is to have another child but only if it is Your perfect will." There we were on the Temple Mount praising God for His mercy on us.

You would think it would be a different story today as we stared at the ultrasound while getting a glimpse of our second child who had no heartbeat. We stared in disbelief at our precious Selah Gennesaret. That is what we had already named her. Selah is a word found in the Psalms that can mean "Stop and ponder this." We named her Selah because we wanted to stop and ponder God's goodness to us. Gennesaret means Garden of Riches. Not only do I love the name, but it seemed only fitting since we already had our baby girl named for the Garden of Eden.

On December 25th I received something in my email that grabbed my attention, so much so that I cut and pasted this paragraph and sent it to my in-box. Here's what it said:

"I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."

These are words of total acceptance of God's will.
These are words we could say at the beginning of every day. It takes just four seconds.

Mary wasn't saying. "This is wonderful. Of course, I'll do it." Instead she was saying, "This isn't what I had planned, and I'm not sure I understand, but I'll do my best to do what the Lord wants."

Today, I stopped and pondered this. (Wouldn't my daughter be proud?) I know that God is in control and answered my prayer. This WAS His perfect will for us. I find myself relating to Mary, Jesus' mother because this is not what I had planned either, but I accept Your decision Lord. Teach me and use me that my sorrow will not be in vain.

Please take a moment to hug your children today. Hold them close and tell them how much you love them. Jonathon and I have to wait till we are in Heaven before we can do the same with both of our little ones.

Eden and Selah we miss you and we love you. We'll be Home soon!

Mama & Papa

Waratah Cottage Cafe

I met Christina and Trudi for lunch today at a new cafe. It's amazing how many subjects we can cover in 2 1/2 hours. : )

Dinner with the Starrs

Rachelle's parents invited us to join them for dinner. What a treat to find out we were going to dine on THAI food!

Bruce is Rachelle's father. He will celebrate his 60th birthday next week.

Chris is Rachelle's mum.

It was so nice to have Rachelle staying with us this week. We miss her!

WASGIJ 16

What a thrill to put together a WASGIJ. It's difficult to find ones we haven't already done.

The Box


The puzzle

Eden in God's Hand

Kelly made this for us to put underneath Eden's rosebush. It's just too sweet to put outside.

She painted Eden in her pink and white polka dotted dress and her name is written on her wrist, just like Kelly did on the mural at her children's daycare. What a precious gift!

Ice Cream Cake

Janette & Wayne brought an ice cream cake to Bible study since both the Graves' and the Jonkhoff's were gone for our anniversaries in January.

JR and Tina - 20 years of marriage

Paul and Christina - 14 years of marriage