Housing

We still have not heard anything about the home we put an offer on. Dave Dabbondanza (our Realest agent) had a round table discussion yesterday with some of his Realtors and the thought is that we may not get this home because the second bank stands to loose so much money and the fact that they haven't contacted us. Dave and Tom have been working very hard on our behalf, there is alot of phone tag trying to get a hold of the other realtor and the bank (I guess it isn't really phone tag- because Dave is the only one playing).

Anyway last night I was very tempted to despair, we have waited so long for this home, there is little we can afford it seems, at least as nice at that house and now we could be back at square 1. I'm so ready to be settled in a home (so much is in storage! I think I packed too much but who knew!). Luke and I are praying and this morning I feel like there is much more faith. Not in this home but in the Lord and that this place is not our true home, we are just passing through.

We would love to own this home yet if that home is not the Lords' will for us, we don't want to be there. If you could please pray for direction, clarification, favor with this bank if that's the Lord's will and wisdom. My parents are also waiting on this home, we know the Lord will provide for both of us in his time. Please pray for the Lord to guard and direct our hearts. To remember the truth, that where the Lord guides he will always provide and that none of his plans can be thwarted.
Also huge thanks to the Kovlaks and Alebergos for taking us in =) You guys are great, we couldn't have asked for better places to stay! Thanks for you hospitality!
Thanks for your prayers

Happy Birthday Braet!!

On this day 6 years ago our little boy was born! How grateful we are for you!

It is hard to believe we have a 6 year old, we are beginning to feel old =) The time has flown and I only aniticipate it will continue to go faster!

Breaton, what a blessing you are to momma and daddy. We are so thankful you are a part of this family. Mommy loves to watch you play with girlie and chase dadda. I love to hear you talk about your Micah J, and I love to hear you pray. I love how you help me cook, and how you serve by cleaning up, I love your generous heart. You have been a gift to us right from the start! We love You!

"May the Lord bless you and cause his face to shine on you!" Happy Birthday!

Easter Monday

Happy Easter,

We hope your Easter celebration was a wonderful remembrance of our Saviour who died for our sins yet rose again, conquering death, hell and the grave.
Holidays are always difficult for me as last year I had another little helper dying eggs, opening our Reassertion Eggs, searching for Easter baskets, shoveling chocolate, singing in the living room and well the list goes on. Yet in my sadness of missing our little man there is no greater comfort, no greater joy than to think of and ponder the cross. To know Micah is alive and well, not so very far from here and one day because of our trust in Jesus Christ as our saviour we will be with him again. I love the song that goes..."The saints above join with the saints below, rejoicing in the risen Lamb" and many times as we sing I picture Micah singing and dancing too. I love to read of Heaven and remember that this life is short, my we live for another...

I found this post on the Girl Talk Blog (which by the way is a great blog) and I thought is wonderful for Easter Monday! May Easter live each day!
"Imagine what Peter and John, Mary Magdalene and Mary, Jesus’ mother must have felt the day after the resurrection. I picture them opening their eyes in the morning, and it all coming back with a rush. The tomb is empty! Jesus is alive! But did it really happen or was it just a dream? What overwhelming emotion when they realized once again that it was true! The Savior has risen from the dead! Can you imagine the ecstatic joy? Can you imagine the waves of peace? The uncontainable excitement? It was the morning after the pivotal event in all of human history! Salvation had come to mankind!
It was a day unlike any other day.
Fast-forward two thousand years to today, the day after the day we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. All too often we go back to work or school (or spring break) or the daily routine, little bothering to remember what we celebrated yesterday. We enjoy the ham sandwiches and polish off the deviled eggs (Dad always called them "angel eggs"). But today shouldn’t be “just another day.” For the power of the resurrection is as real as it was the day after that first Easter Sunday. The good news is just as marvelous. The peace and joy and excitement are just as amazing. The Savior is alive! He is risen! That’s why we as Christians should be what author Peter Lewis calls “Easter People.” We should celebrate the resurrection every day!" Taken from the Girl Talk Blog

Dying Easter Eggs for Family Night

Joseph and the Amazing...

Hey,
I thought I should let you all know about this one. Each year the Youth Ministry at Covenant Life presents a drama, each year it is fabulous!! And this year they are doing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The times and dates are listed below. It should be great so if you have a free evening this could be fun for the fam!

The 10:31 Youth Ministry of Covenant Life presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a Broadway musical based on the biblical story of Joseph. Performances will be held on the following dates and times (doors open a half hour before showtime):
Friday, March 28 – 7:30 p.m. – Buy Tickets
Saturday, March 29 – 2:30 p.m. – Buy Tickets
Saturday, March 29 – 7:30 p.m – Buy Tickets
Friday, April 4 – 7:30 p.m. – Buy Tickets
Saturday, April 5 – 7:30 p.m. – Buy Tickets
Use the above links to purchase tickets: $6 for adults; $3 for students age 18 and under. All tickets purchased online will be available for pick up at Will Call before each performance. Tickets will also be sold in the church's Main Lobby on Sundays.

Home Schooling

On March 6th, California banned Home Schooling. Usually I wouldn't have a post asking for you to sign a petition. But as a home school parent, obviously I strongly believe in our constitutional right to home school. I love having my kiddos here with me and at this point in Braeton's life we believe it is the best place for him . He's a great student and completing all his curriculum. I just can't imagine having that taken away from us based on one family as the courts have done to the families in CA. If you would please take the time to read this short post and consider signing the petition. Thanks Friends!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Dobson Outraged by California Ruling Banning Home Schooling
by Jennifer Mesko, managing editor
Focus chairman calls it an 'all-out assault on the family.' A state appeals court has decided California parents without teaching credentials do not have a right to home-school their children. The 2nd District Court of Appeals ruling could affect up to 200,000 home-schooled students in the state. “The court is guilty of an imperious assault on the rights of parents,” said Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family.
“How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals — the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets — because they want to raise and educate their children according to their deeply held values? "The case before them involved one couple — the ruling should have been confined to that one couple, not used to punish an entire class of people, the vast majority of them religious conservatives.”
Read More http://capwiz.com/fof/utr/1/MAVIIELKRX/BZHRIELKVK/1794895661.

Please pray for the home schooling families in California.
~Also, if you are interested or believe in the right to Home School please take the time and take action by signing this petition.
Thanks!

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006717.cfm

Jeanette's Home

All, It is with a mixture of grief and joy that we share that Jeanette has gone home to be with the Lord. Mark wanted you all to know that she was surrounded by her family and that he she passed very peacefully. Mark shared that about 20 minutes before she passed the family had asked if he would pray for Jeanette.
So grateful for the Lords kindness to Jeanette to able to receive the gospel and to say with faith "I believe".
We know that because of the gospel: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:4
Thank you all for you prayers for the Schaefer's and Albergo's. We have so come to love this family. Please continue to pray for comfort and the Lord's peace.

She always told me she wished she could have known our Mikes, she sure loves Braet & CC, and now I am sure she's getting to know him too. As a mater of fact he probably greeted her with his, "Hi, how are wou, I Micah Eric Dabis (Davis)." And I'm sure she gave him as kiss for me...

Thank You for the Cross

I just talked to Mark & Jen ( Jeanette's daugther & son in law)and the last hour there has been a drastic decline in Jeanette's health. She started having increasing pain last night and has been throwing up most of the morning. They started the morphine last night and right now she is not very coherent. She has been unable to keep any food down.

However her time with Shef went well and at the end he prayed for her, she also prayed after him. Then after her nap, Jen & Alyssa went up to be with her and as once again Jen was relating the gospel and as she did Jeanette said, "I believe." She continued to ask her mom, do you believe Jesus died for your sin, once again, "I believe." Jen then asked if she had peace, to which she answered yes. She also told Jen that she was going to see her dad. Just a few days ago death terrified her and now peace, praise the Lord! What an answer to prayer. Shorty after this conversation her health went downhill.

We had a short time with them outside and they were both greatly encouraged and comforted. Jen truly believes that her mom is now saved and going home to be with her Lord.

Our Life

I know I haven't written much about us lately. So I guess I am going to play catch up. In some ways I haven't really known what to say, sometimes grief seem likes is gets harder rather then easier, other times I'm in auto pilot and still we are making a "new normal" and sometimes it really seems normal.

In these last 2 months I have felt like I miss Mikes more than every before. There has been much sadness and many tears. If you would please pray that the Lord would help me to guard my heart against self pity~ as I desperately miss my little one. I see the gaps and Mikes was the filler - Braet's best friend and playmate and CC's too. And now in the Lord's perfect providence he is gone and our hearts still ache, particularly as I packed up, sifted through his clothes, looked at his toys, and spent the last few weeks in our old home where we have so many wonderful memories.... Heaven can seem such a long way off and it is easy for me to forget that in my sorrow that he is very much alive and well not so very far from here...our true home, with Jesus. Oh how the cross is grander than ever before. I think of how Jesus died to pay for my sin and one day because of the cross and my belief in him as Savior & Lord, I will be there with Him and my little boy. Is there anything grander than to think that when our time here on earth is done we will spend it with the one we were created for? All this in a perfect world of no more sin, no more death, no more tears.

The Lord has been gracious to comfort us and I am doing better right now. Luke is a huge source of grace for me. My best friend, to cry, hug and pray with. Occasionally we still receive emails or a card from someone saying they are praying and thinking of us, those notes always come at just the right time! People whom we barely know asking how they can pray for us has meant such a great deal. I never want him to be forgotten.

Our long time family friend, Roxanne, who has known, cared for and prayed for our family is making me a special quilt of Micah's clothing. I can't wait to see it and snuggle up in it as I dream of his sweet face.

Girlie does so many things like Micah, it's fun to watch. Braet is so tender and kind. He think and speaks of Micah often. Love those kiddos!!!

We have also just finalized Micah's memorial headstone, I think it will take a few months for it to be completed. But I think it is going to be beautiful and again, I just can't wait to see it. It took us a long while to complete this. Such a hard thing to work on yet we are so thankful to have completed it; I think it is going to be very special for us.

Also I must say that even though we haven't heard back from the second loan on whether they have accepted our offer or not, we love where we are living. Joe & Jeanette are such a wonderful couple. They have two grown daughters and 2 grandchildren (a 3rd on the way!). Jeanette has also been battling Small Cell Carcinoma cancer for some time and has been given a few days to a few weeks. Our hearts break for them and their family. So if you would join us in continuing to pray peace, strength and salvation for Jeanette and her entire family as they walk through this difficult time that would be wonderful.

Thanks for caring and for living life with us!

"Hope"

Hope
A teardrop glides from a sober eye
A pain that makes a grown man cry
The memories that feel incomplete
As life was changed in just a beat
We hear the truth, and keep it known
Yet still the tears won't cease to flow
As grief hits us hard once again
The tears we see flow without end
Yet from these thoughts comes hope anew
A quick reminder of what is true
From behind a dark curtain, a shimmer of light
Behind the black cloth, something is bright
It grows in strength, its glory white
Until the curtain is out of sight
And beauty anew behold our eyes
As death no longer holds a prize
For our hope is not in what we see
But rather in who we know God to be.
By Josh Tucker

What a wonderful encouragement, thanks Josh.