WAIT

I receive a newsletter for women in ministry. It's called "Reflections from the Fishbowl". In the June issue there was a wonderful poem that I shared with my mom. We really enjoyed it. So maybe you will too.....

WAIT
by Russell Kelfer

Desparately, helplessly, longingly I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
and the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? You say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers. I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word."

"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance and you tell me to Wait?"
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.
Or even a 'no', to which I'll resign.

You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God,
"So I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine....
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run."

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.

So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seems terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still..."WAIT".

Cool Museum

We've been away for the last two weeks doing a couple Vacation Bible Schools. The second week we stayed with a GREAT family...Steve and Elyse Richard and boys (5 of them, actually!) =)
After a busy week at Bible school, they treated us to a really cool museum. I wish we could show here what an awesome place this is. It's called Strong Museum of Play. I've never seen such a cool place! It's located in Rochester, NY. We spent the morning playing together. Samuel couldn't contain himself; he was SO excited. If you ever have a chance to go, it's definitely worth the time and money. THANK YOU, RICHARDS! We had a GREAT week with you (and we're already suffering from the lack of delicious cookies at our house!)

Zach and Zane (twins)

Zach, Zane, Luke and Micah



Sweet Luke

Elyse and little Isaiah



Kara is definitely Daddy's favorite girl!

Everybody hugging Clifford

Lunchtime!

Zach

Zane

Micah

Our Wonderful Friends (Steve and Elyse)

VEGGIE TALES

Sam's been cracking us up lately with his renditions of Veggie Tales.  He's really into "Dave and the Giant Pickle."  (a spin off of David and Goliath, in case you couldn't tell from the title) =)  Anyway, the other night on the way to Bible School, he was quoting in the back seat something from one of the "Silly Songs with Larry."  Bob and Larry are talking in Spanish for some reason and one of them says, "No Comprendo??!!!  I'll show YOU no comprendo!"  Well, Sam was saying, "No Comfriendo??!!  I'll show YOU no comfriendo!"  It was hilarious!  I have big plans to post a video of Sam playing Dave and Travis playing the Giant Pickle....so stay tuned!

The Best Dads Ever

Father's Day is tomorrow. I wanted to take a moment and thank the Lord for the 2 best dads in the world. The first one became my father on June 5, 1975. It was his last day of school (he was an elementary school teacher). This was just the beginning of my inconveniencing him. Now that I'm a parent, I realize the sacrifice that it takes to raise a child. I wanted to name a few things that I remember specifically about my childhood and to thank my dad for his sacrifice.

My favorite memory is my dad coming into my room each night to pray with me. Before the seriousness began, he would so often sneak in and "get" me! It was so suspenseful; you never knew quite when he'd come through the door. He'd always call to me through the door that he was coming, and I would squeal with excitement.

In "teeth losing years" my dad would dress up in my mom's robe and a little frilly hat, pull his glasses down on his nose, and ring a little bell announcing his appearance as the Tooth Fairy. "Did somebody here lose a tooth?" he would say in a little squeaky voice. We always got huge sums of money for lost teeth, like a dime or quarter. =)

My dad was my principal in Christian school for all of my elementary school years and was also my kindergarten teacher. Though he made me call him "Mr. Heckathorne" like everyone else, when we passed in the hallway by ourselves sometimes, we'd sneak a little hug and kiss.

As I grew older, in college, Dad would send me little notes in the mail sometimes.

Once, after college, when my boyfriend broke up with me, Dad held me in his arms and told me that God allows hard times to come to make us strong. I'll never forget that hug.

The last time my dad talked to me, he said what he has said thousands of times: "I love you." This was before I left him in the hospital the night before he suffered a cardiac arrest which took his speech from him and left him with a serious brain injury. We've had some very understanding looks between us since then, though, and I'm so glad to know that he still loves me. Now he just tells me with his eyes. I love you too, Daddy.

The other best dad in the world is my husband...Travis Mitchell Gravley. I would not want any other man to be a daddy to my children. I will never understand the love of God for me that He would give me a husband like he has. I have been blessed abundantly more than I deserve. Travis is the most sacrificial person I have ever known. He is constantly serving me and our children. Samuel and Kara love their daddy so much. He plays with them, feeds them, bathes them, and dresses them. There is nothing he refuses to do (even the yuckiest part of potty training that you can imagine!) =) If I ever go away, I am sure that they are being taken care of, just like I would do. I remember one time recently when I went out shopping with my mom. When I returned, Trav had fed the children dinner, played with them all evening, dressed them for bed, cleaned up all the toys, and was just finishing the dishes when I got home. This is just one example of how he takes care of our family. He quietly leads us in loving the Lord with all of our hearts. He disciplines Samuel so patiently, and humbly reminds me to do the same =) There is no little girl that he loves more than his baby Kara. I remember when we learned we were having a girl, Travis immediately said, "What are we gonna do when she's 12?!!" I have absolutely no fear. If my little girl looks for a husband JUST like her daddy, she will have found the greatest treasure!
One of the dearest sacrifices Travis has made for me has been just in the last year. He has agreed to be the main caretaker along side my mom for my own father. I cannot begin to describe my thankfulness. I love you, Travis. You mean more to me than I could ever describe. I am the happiest girl in the world!

Happy Birthday, Kara!

We had a really nice birthday party on Friday evening for Kara. She turned one! I can hardly believe that she is already one year old. Her Ninny and Papop and cousins Grace and Ella came from Mechanicsburg. My parents were there, of course, since we live with them. Andy and Suz (my bro. and his wife) and their three boys came from next door =), and my aunt and uncle who live nearby were all here for the celebration. I wanted to make her a girly cake, so I talked to a few people and looked online, but I kept coming back to the idea of a flower. Here is my attempt. I was pretty happy with it, but I am just NOT "Becky Home-ecky," so don't get too excited. =) I made the main flower part from a round cake pan, the petals from cupcakes with a little notch cut out of them, and my favorite part....the stem from green finger jello! I was pretty proud of myself for that idea. Even though I'm not very good at baking it's still really fun to make birthday cakes for your kids. I think I'll try to do it every year. We ended up just giving her a little round cake to dig into, cause i just couldn't let her destroy my "masterpiece". Here's some pictures of Kara's special day. I love you, my sweet Kara Suzanne!
P.S. Something very special happened on Kara's birthday. Travis' brother, Trent, called to tell us "Happy Birthday to Kara AND her new little cousin, William Riley Gravley!" Isn't that cool? Cousins born exactly one year apart! We love you, little Will.

A Nursery for Heaven

First, I want to thank my blogging wife for allowing me this guest appearance on her blog.  If you didn't realize it was "her's," take note of the now very feminine blog template.  If it were mine, that would never fly.

Anyway, I wanted to pass on something God has been pounding into my thick skull lately.  I have been challenged by the book of Deuteronomy to step up and make my home centered on God and His Word.  Deuteronomy 6 says,

6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise

So, first God's Word needs to "be on your heart," then like an overflowing cup, it should flow out of your mouth all throughout the day and night.

I was reminded of this challenge again today as I read this segment of a prayer from Valley of Vision, a book of Puritan prayers (this prayer was posted on challies.com for Mother's Day),

Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion,
instruction, discipline, example,
that my house may be a nursery for heaven,
my church the garden of the Lord,
enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting,
for thy glory;

A nursery for heaven -- trees of righteousness -- Wow!  What a thought!  As we continue day by day participating in these divine institutions (family and church), may we be known as those who knew and loved the Scriptures.  May it be ever on our hearts and on our tongues that our children and those under our influence may become trees of righteousness in the garden of the Lord.

IT'S OVER!!!

Samuel has now completed his potty training....HALLELUJAH!!!!! I really thought his senior year of highschool would be quite embarrassing with having to wear a pull-up. So glad we can put this"behind" us (if you know what I mean....heeheehee) =) Don't ask me for ANY potty

training advice. I have nothing to offer except, for this kid at least, he wasn't ready until he was ready. Last week he began sitting up on the potty (with his pull-up on). I called it "practicing". I noticed that he was always doing his thing while standing up. So....I decided to work on the sitting down part first. He did a great job with it. He would tell me when he had to go, and then I would run him into the bathroom and sit him up on the seat with his pull-up on. He'd do his thing and then I'd clean him up. Crazy, I know, but I was trying everything I could think of. Then on Mother's Day night (I'll spare you the gory details), we caught him in the act and made a big, funny deal out of it, resorting to "potty talk". He thought this was hilarious and jumped right in on it, cracking himself up about it all. The next morning, out of the blue, he asked to go to the potty and for the last twp days.....well....SUCCESS!!!! Tonight at bed time he said, "Mom, when you pray, thank Jesus that I'm not afraid to go poopy in the potty anymore." And so I did, because I really AM thankful!

Samuel - potty training begins (spring 2007)

Samuel - potty training ends - (Spring 2008)