My Wonderful Husband

This is a recent picture of my wonderful husband, Travis. The afternoon that I took this photo, he was outside for at least 30 minutes, wrestling and playing with Sam, Kara and our nephews while I made dinner. This is a regular occurrence at our house....Travis helping with the children to make it easier for me. This is just one of the reasons that I love him so much.



I've been meaning to post about this for months, so this is a good time for it. In May, soon after Mothers Day, Travis surprised me by taking me to this beautiful bed and breakfast. We had a meeting in a nearby church, drove part way back with the kids to meet my mom for, what I thought, was the afternoon. We would finish the second part of the day alone for the evening service. After we dropped them off, Trav suggested this quaint little town nearby for a cup of tea before we went back for the evening service. As we were walking up the sidewalk, he asked what I would think if we were to stay there for the night and the next day! I was SO surprised, of course. I couldn't believe that he was able to pack MY clothes without me knowing and get them into the van that morning while we were getting ready for church. Wow! The B&B was in New Berlin, PA. We had a beautiful room and a delicious breakfast the next morning. We tried to sleep in, but of course, kept waking up from about 7:00 on. I guess that's the curse of having children! =) Here are some pictures from our time there.













Honey, I just wanted to thank you publicly for the many ways that you love me. You are more than I could ever ask for. I love you. Happy EIGHTH anniversary!

(Maybe our ninth will be on the other side of the world?!) =)

Some recent Pictures

A Great Perspective

I spent the day at my cousin Jami's viewing. At the same time I've been thinking about yesterday's election. If you can spare 5 minutes, check out this link....john piper's view on the election. This has been running through my mind all day. It helped me so much with my view of our place in the world in general.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1473_thoughts_on_voting_and_politics/
Make sure you scroll down the page to get to the second video.

My sweet cousin

Last week my cousin gave birth to her first baby....Jenna Leann. After a planned c-section, Jami was not feeling well at all and the doctor found that she needed a blood transfusion. They gave her 2 units of blood and, though she still did not feel well, at least was able to make it home. She and her husband, Josh, took their new baby home, but last evening (Sunday), Jami fainted at home and was rushed to the hospital. She passed away sometime during that time, and they could not help her at the hospital. She was somewhere around the age of 30 or 31. First, I want to praise the Lord that Jami knew Him as her Savior. The Bible says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." These are the words the Lord used to comfort me so often while my dad was sick in the hospital. I was rocking my little Kara tonight before bed, and those words came rushing back to my mind. I have been so concerned for my aunt and uncle (Jami's parents) and my other cousin, Michelle (Jami's sister), and my heart has just been broken all day for them. I am so glad that God promises He will never leave us or forsake us, that we can cast all our care on Him, because He cares for us.
I wanted to show you a picture of my sweet cousin, Jami. She is pictured here with my dad and my Uncle Jack (another of our uncles).

I have always had a special relationship with Jami and Michelle. The three of us are so close in age. I have tons of memories of playing and getting in trouble at Grandma and Grandpa Slye's house. We played the penny game on the stairs guessing which hand the penny was in and moving up a step for every right answer =) (I know, boring...but there wasn't much to do!) We broke the bed one day by jumping on it and got in A LOT of trouble for that! We spent a week one summer swimming in their neighbor's pool...such fun! They always had cans of soda in their fridge (who wouldn't like that as a kid?!). As we grew older, Jami and I had lots of stories to share about our classrooms. We had both studied elementary education in college. Jami was a much better teacher than I ever was though! She even won an award for the best student teacher during her senior year at Clarion University! One of my favorite things about Jami was her great sense of humor and the way she told stories. She made me laugh harder than anyone with her storytelling. I can't share the whole thing here (a little on the risque side), but her story about the crockpot made me cry with laughter. A bunch of us cousins stood around the funeral home at my grandma's funeral listening to her many stories to pass the time at the viewing. I'm just so sorry that this week I'll be attending HER viewing.
The last and most important thing I wanted to write about was Jami's love for Christ. Jami married a man named Scott about 9 or 10 years ago. Scott was not a Christian and after a few years of marriage, left Jami, treating her very badly. Through that experience I never once heard Jami speak hatefully about Scott, but rather, turned her attention and focus to her Savior, Jesus Christ. Over the next few years, while going through her divorce, Jami talked so much about how God was meeting her needs and she maintained such a joyful spirit. She continued to come to all the normal family gatherings, only this time by herself. You would never have known the pain she was going through. A few years ago, at a Bible study, Jami met a wonderful Christian man named Josh. The Lord gave her a wonderful gift in Josh...an opportunity to be married again. 10 months ago they found out that they were going to have a baby. As with most pregnancies, everyone was so thrilled that God had given Jami this treasure. Please pray for little Jenna, not even 1 week old and without a mommy.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. I know things were a little random. The body of Christ is such a gift. We covet your prayers for our family. I, personally, covet your prayers as I try to minister to my family members who are so heart-broken. I would love to hear any promises from Scripture that you would like to share.

Spit Shine

You may think that Kara's hair is just wet after a bath or something normal like that.  HOWEVER, Samuel brought her to me after playing with her in his room.  "Look, Mom, I made Kara's hair all brown!" he said.  When asked how he did that, he replied, "I used her toothbrush and spit on it, and then I put it on her head to make it all brown."  Kinda gross, don't ya think?! =/

My Biggest Fear

I guess I have a lot of fears.  Probably something happening to one of my kids or a close family member is one of the biggest.  But the greatest fear I have, by far, is to think that my children will reject the Lord.  If I think about it too much, I get very worried.  I don't think there's anything I try harder to do than searching for opportunities to fit in something about God.  In my conversations with Samuel, I'm always looking for something to say to help him see Jesus.  I read a really funny story one time in a parenting book.  It told of a mom who was always looking for opportunities to share these great and wonderful truths about God with her son.  She was SO excited at this chance she had to go to an Easter play with him.  She just KNEW that during this play, they would see Jesus doing miraculous things and showing His great power, and her son would be SURE to ask questions about Jesus, and she would have an awesome chance to share Christ with him in a meaningful way.  Just as Jesus was calming the terrible storm, her son leaned over to her to whisper in her ear.  She was just SURE that this was HER moment...but instead of asking ANYTHING spiritual, he asked, "Mom, how do they make the water look so real?"  She had built up this perfect scenario in her mind, only to be disappointed in the end.  This is exactly what happens to me all the time.  I know Sam is only 3, but I get myself feeling so sure that we're going to have a really special talk about God, but inevitably it ends up rabbit trailing and becoming a talk about what we're going to have for breakfast the next day or something! =/  As I was reading a friend's post the other day, I was reminded of something that I knew but I needed to start putting into practice.  My children's decision to follow/or not follow Christ is fully dependent on the Holy Spirit.  Am I trusting them to Him, or am I trying to manufacture this love for God in them?  Does anybody else struggle with this?  I do the same thing in my friendships with unbelievers.  The friendships that I have made for the purpose of being the "light of the world," like we're commanded to be in Matthew 5.  But I always end up frustrating myself with my lack of ability to relax and just let it come naturally.  

Thoughts About Family

Trav and I have been talking more frequently about what it will be like when we live in Romania.  One of the things we always talk about is what it will be like to live away from our families.  We have an incredible blessing that few people have...each member of our families (moms, dads, brothers and sisters and their spouses) have come to know the Lord as their Savior.  For our children to have 2 sets of grandparents and all of their aunts and uncles as godly examples to admire and follow makes us so happy and thankful to God.  I've been trying to cherish every moment that we have with our families, knowing that very soon, we will be on our own very far away from them.  Here's some pictures of our sweet family.  I hope this will encourage you to thank the Lord for your own salvation and for the godly heritage that many of you have been given.  My only regret is that I would have been more thankful before now...

Travis and his brother, Trent

Suzanne (my brother's wife) and her sweet baby Caleb

Tammy (Trav's sister) and Sam when he was a little punkin'

Jeff (Trav's sister's husband) and his little boy, Daniel

My Mom and Dad

Travis' Dad and Kara

Travis' Mom, Sam and cousin Ella (or Allah, Sam calls her!) =)

My brother, Andy with Dad at rehab

Travis' brother's wife, Traci