Pray for Us!

It seems like lately I don't know how to pray or what to say to God, I feel a bit at a loss. Life keeps getting harder instead of easier. For both Michael and I yesterday was an incredibly difficult day. I am not sure if it was the fact that we had been away, had experienced a momentary break to life, and were then heading back into the reality of what we were living with, or if it is just one of those days. But both of us felt it, by Hope the heaviness weighed us down, neither of us spoke much, both deep in thought, both feeling extreme pain. It just felt so unbearable yesterday, like it was impossible to keep going. So I ask you, please hold us up in prayer right now. I know many of you are and have continued to pray for us daily, and for that I am so thankful. I know that you are standing in the gap for us when we are at a loss as how to pray and how to go on. I just ask that you continue praying for us, we seem to be struggling more now, and it just feels like this is all too hard. Thank you for your willingness to support us in this way, what a blessing to be a part of the family of God!

I have struggled lately praying and knowing what to say or how to pray, and I know the Holy Spirit can interpret the prayers of my soul but I have also just felt the need for words to cry out to God, something to say to him. In this struggle I came across a prayer book, one from the times of the Puritans, and it has brought me comfort, to pray the words of those who have gone before me, to have something to cry out to God when I just don't know what else to say. The poetic language and the passion behind each prayer has just captivated me, and I have felt these prayers speak to me as I read them, and as my heart prays them to God. So this has been my prayer of late:

Resting on God
O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but Thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. They power knows no bond, They goodness no stint. Thous bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ's precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; let me live near to the great Shepherd, hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls. Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit. Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. They presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong, and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.   

I have enjoyed reading these prayers, giving them to God, and asking his blessing on them, and asking God to use these in my life. The passion for repentance and serving God, inspite of their "trouble and distress" that these Puritans demonstrate in their prayer life inspires me, and gives me hope that he can use me inspite of my grief.

If you have never used a prayer book before, two others that I have also found encouraging, and  have modern day language if you don't enjoy the poetic style of the Puritans are: The power of a praying parent book of prayers, and the power of a praying wife book of prayers. I don't believe our prayers need to be perfect or well written, but I have found that sometimes, especially when life is hard, it can be hard to know what to say to God, or what to pray for, and I have found comfort in these words of others. I have used these to supplement my time with God not as the soul communication between me and God, and I know that I have felt them become the prayers of my heart. Sometimes we just need a starting point!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. We started out with a family Halloween party at a friends place the Saturday before, then we trick or treated around my old neighbourhood on Monday night.The kids were all old enough to understand what it meant to knock on the door and get candy, and Mason couldn't get enough! By the end of the night he couldn't even carry his bag! 

 Mason went dressed as a skunk because he is such a stinker! Although Cheyanne thought we should tell everyone he was actually a honey badger because then all four of them would be animals that lived in Africa, lol, guess she thought we should have stuck with the family theme :)

 The little skunk thought that he should attack the mean lion and so he tackled her and sat on her, guess he already has those protective instincts :)

 Our four wild animals!

Mason our little stinker, the skunk (or a honey badger, although personally, I think he is far too sweet to be such a vicious animal, and he is a turd so he really suits the skunk better, lol)

 Bella the Elephant named Ella :)

 Cheyanne the crazy lion!

 Emme the Giraffe

 Trick or treating at Grandma Haak's house, we also hit up the barn before we went to town

Our scariest trick or treating house, the girls thought it was so fun trick or treating there! Although when Dexter saw the picture he scolded Bella for going to such a scary lady's place! Lol, he was so concerned for her it was cute. He kept telling her how she shouldn't have gone there because that scary lady would scare her :)

 Grandpa Olund and his infamous Halloween teeth!

Trick or treating at Grandma Olund's place. We always trick or treat around my old neighbourhood, it takes far less houses to get a lot of candy and it brings back many happy memories! We ended up with a lot of Halloween candy though, good thing too because mommy and daddy can eat as much as we want without getting caught that way, haha.

So this is my friend Tara, she is the fabulous "Super Mom" (take note of her costume) who through one amazing Halloween party, complete with apple bobbing, eating donuts off a string, a make your own cupcake table, and all kinds of fabulous homemade treats and decorations!

 This picture doesn't do it justice but she had homemade chocolates, a carrot platter in the shape of a pumpkin, bats in cookie crumb dirt, crazy Halloween candy, and much much more!

 I decided that we should go as Malibu Ken and Barbie, it took a little convincing but as soon as I got the girls on board Michael had no choice but to go along with it, lol, he just couldn't say no to his little princesses, and they thought he was awesome so that's enough of a motivation for him! He truly made one amazing Ken, it really wasn't too far of a stretch as he's always been every girls dream ;)

To get that plastic mono-tone Ken look, I just took a nice dark foundation and put it on him from his hair to his neck. It really gave him the perfect Ken hair! I got the shirt for three dollars at Value Village and we found the glasses so it was a great cheap costume!

Tara also made a photo booth, complete with goofy monster faces to get your picture taken with.

 Michael with his look-a-like :)

 The party goers! There were some amazing costumes, the homemade mermaid costumes were definitely a favourite!

 The decorate your own cupcake station. Emme and Cheyanne wanted to be a ballerina and a figure skater this year, but those costumes are too cold to trick or treat in so they wore them to Tara's and saved their nice fuzzy costumes for trick or treating.

 More of the party goers

 Our figure skater was very clear that she had to wear make up because all figure skaters do, lol.

 The farmer, the doll, and the pirate, what a combination :)

Corn Harvest

The custom guys we hired had the exact equipment that our guys have always used. It definitely made it harder to wrap my brain around the fact that it wasn't them out there!

Michael worked long hours, doing a difficult job, thank you for all the prayers!



Finished and covered in plastic to prevent spoilage! After the plastic and tires the guys cover it with sawdust for even more protection (you can see that in the below picture.



It was a good harvest this year, Don would have been so proud!

Corn Harvest was particularly hard this year. With each row that disappeared I couldn't help but feel like we were slowly removing Don's fingerprints from the farm. Harvesting was hard knowing that it was the last crop Don would ever plant here. It was so hard knowing that it wasn't grandpa driving the harvester and that it wasn't Don driving the buggy wagon, it wasn't them out there getting the machines ready and talking about what type of crop it was, laughing as they worked. Instead of family, it was strangers and it just felt hollow. It was eiree to see the tractor and harvester that looked just like ours, like the one Don got ready every year, working away at the field. My mind couldn't quite process the fact that it wasn't him, and many times I kept thinking he was going to be there, like we'd head to the barn to say hi to Michael, and Don and grandpa would be there talking about how many loads they did that day and laughing over some mistake that had been made, like grandpa hitting a telephone pole or something. We didn't get together for lunch, and instead worked longer then normal hours. It was sad, harvest for us was always fun, yes it was stressful to make sure that it got done, but within that we still took time to eat together and to enjoy each other, and it was so sad to know that this year it was all about getting it done, and very little time was taken to rejoice in a plentiful harvest. I am thankful it is done, and it can be another stone in our monument, reminding us that God was faithful at this time, and no matter what the future holds he will be again. I know many people were praying for us, and I truly believe that's why we made it through, that's how we were able to stand up under the weight of our grief. I appreciate your prayers so much, and ask that you continue to pray for us as we walk this journey. I take great comfort in this: "that when troubles com your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." James 1:2-4

80th Birthday Party!

On the 15th October we traveled to Abbotsford to celebrate Grandpa Haak's 80th birthday with our extended family. What a precious celebration it was, and I am so thankful that we were able to be a part of it.



The road trip down!



People were told to dress Mennonite, Uncle Gord definitely won for best costume!



The guys who dressed up, or at least shaved their beards to look Mennonite.





Mason kept stealing watermelon before supper

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Grandpa and some of his great grandchildren

more with the kids!




Grandpa, Mason, and Elias

(These aren't the best quality photos, as our resident photographer is in Germany so we had to make do with the I-phone)

Our Grandpa, our kids' Great-Grandpa Haak, is amazing! He is the most wonderful man and I feel so blessed to have him in our lives. He has been an amazing patriarch to this family and the example he has set for Godly living is evident in the lives of his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. He is a living example of the Proverb 20:7 "The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow after them." I have always enjoyed spending time with Grandpa, and watching him play with my kids has always been a highlight. He has always been quick to hold our babies whenever he got the chance, and is such a proud grandfather and great grandfather. Grandpa loves to work hard, and we have always appreciated him coming out and doing corn silage with Michael and Don, it was a blessing to watch the three of them work together and enjoy the work they were doing! Grandpa has given me a huge appreciation for generational Christianity, and I am inspired by him to live my life so that my kids and grandkids know that Christ isn't just something I talk about as a good thing, but that he is the very center of my life through which all blessings come and is the reason for who I am. I want my kids to grow up with an appreciation for this heritage, I don't want it to become something that they take for granted or forget to acknowledge. I hope that my kids will be inspired by their aunts, uncles, great-aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents, and even their second cousins. The chaos and cost of a road trip pales in comparison to the blessings we receive while we are there! These memories are priceless, as are the relationships that are formed. My children are truly blessed to have a Great Grandfather that loves them, and prays for them "He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands." Deuteronomy 7:9b. Thank you Grandpa for being such a blessing in my life, my husband's life, and our kids' lives. You inspire us, and challenge us to live up to your legacy. Thank you for raising your children to love the Lord and for leading by example, without that, I know that I would have missed out on the many blessings in my life that have come since marrying into this wonderful family!

last year's corn silage

Our family is amazing, and when we get together it is always a time of laughter, noisy kids, and lots of love. This was a hard family gathering with a little less laughter, as it was the first one without Don, and so many things moved me to tears, and yet being there soothed the hurt that I feel. It is a weird thing to be grieving the loss of life and celebrating a huge milestone in another's life. Being around people that loved him like we did and are hurting like we are really touched me. We could just be together and there was an understanding of the hurt and the ache. We received so many words of encouragement and reminders that people are praying for us, and this meant so much, especially as we went into harvesting the corn when we got home, and I know it was these prayers that gave us the strength to get through it.I know since the accident both Michael and I can't get enough of being with Don's family, Michael is especially drawn to being able to spend time with Grandpa so it was a huge blessing to us that we were able to go and be with everyone. I am so looking forward to our Christmas gathering, it will also be hard, but at the same time I think it will be healing too!

First Lost Tooth!



traveling home from Abbotsford,
Oct. 16, 2011



      We have experienced tooth loss in our household lately. Michael just keeps shaking his head and saying, I can't believe we have a kid old enough to be loosing teeth, I remember loosing my teeth, lol. We really are getting old! Cheyanne came to me on Friday and told me that her tooth was really wiggly, and that she had thought it would fall out soon. I must confess that I didn't really believe her as she has told me this before about another tooth that was barely movable. Sure enough though, her tooth was very wiggly. We headed to Abbotsford to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday that morning which provided Cheyanne plenty of wiggle time. By the time we got to Abbotsford her tooth was barely hanging on. To her delight, we were having a large family gathering and she was able to show off her wiggly tooth to everyone as they arrived. Many offered to pull it for her and she would just hesitatingly smile and shake her head. By Sunday, she let Auntie Betty-Lou try and pull it out. This was not a successful mission though, and we left Abbotsford with her tooth still in tact. Along the way home the kids had apples for a snack, and Cheyanne's tooth was pried loose. She was so excited about it that she even had to "heytell" (a walkie talkie app for the i-phone) Justin, Michael's cousin to tell him about it, and phone her cousins. The tricky part was trying to keep the tooth safe and not loose it in the car on the way home, so we improvised and put it in one of Mason's socks, knotted it, and put it in my purse. Cheyanne was excited that the tooth-fairy would be visiting, but asked if we could write her a letter asking if we could keep her tooth. The tooth-fairy came that night, and left some money and a note telling her she could keep this tooth but that she would have to give up the next one!   

Cheyanne's letter to the tooth-fairy, it's a picture of her in bed and the tooth fairy coming to visit, and there is a little goblin in the corner :)