It's all About You, Jesus

So, yesterday was one of those morning after days. Allow me to explain. At North Baptist a new song of the month is introduced on the first Sunday of most every month. They are always great and I almost always cry and part of it gets stuck in my head but I can never remember all of the words so, on the morning after, I have to get onto the internet and look them up from the little chunks that I can remember - google and youtube to the rescue. :) On Sunday at church we sang a song that was new to me. On the program it said "Jesus, Lover of my Soul" and I know a song by that title so I thought that I knew what song we would be singing but I didn't know this song. It was really good though. Here are the lyrics I found for it:

It's all about You, Jesus
And all this is for You
For Your glory and your fame
It's not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God
And I surrender to your ways

Jesus, lover of my soul
All consuming fire is in Your gaze
Jesus, I want you to know
I will follow you all my days
For no one else in history is like you
And history itself belongs to you
Alpha and Omega, You have loved me
And I will share eternity with You

So anyway, as we were singing it in church Lydia started crying because "we don't live at 1090 anymore" (we haven't lived at 1090 in almost a year) and I was crying because of the words, especially "It's not about me, As if You should do things my way, You alone are God, And I surrender to your ways." I always want things to go my way but it's not about me. He is not always going to do things my way but I can surrender to His ways and know that He knows what is best. If you would like to hear this song you can listen to it on youtube here.

Updates from Syracuse

written 5/30/09 at 7:30pm

Well, we are in Syracuse. We have been here just over 24 hours. So far so good. We were really planning on sleeping here at our new place on Thursday night but it didn't happen because on Thursday we packed and packed the Burb and the van and worked on cleaning the house but we realized at about 4pm that we were not going to be able to fit everything. We ultimately decided to go to Syracuse leave the Burb, unload the van and then head back to Rochester to grab the rest of the stuff and finish cleaning the house. We all slept on the floor at our house at 59 Meadowbrook one more time. In the morning we finished up, dropped off our modem, went out for breakfast and went to the Museum of Play, then went back to our new apartment that we are subletting in Syracuse. We unloaded and made pizza for supper.

Added 5/31/09 at 8:40pm

Friday night we set up our beds and went to sleep. Saturday morning we got up and started setting things up and putting things away. Tim, the guy who is working on the bathroom, came over and was surprised that we were already here. He had an audience of 4 as he taught plumbing to our kids while he got the sink and shower into working order. He used to teach preschool and got to use some of his teaching skills as our curious little ones watched him. While we were working some more we sent the kids outside to play with the kids next door. There are two little girls who live downstairs in our house, they are probably 10 months and 4 years old. Next door there are 3 kids – the 2 boys are 5 and 8 and the girl is 11. Our kids had a lot of fun with them and they are so excited that kids moved in next door. I think that it is going to be hard to leave here in two months because we have already made little friends. I also think that we need to get as much schooling done as we can in the next couple of weeks before school gets out here because my kids are going to want to be outside playing not inside getting schoolwork done while Daddy is in class. In the afternoon we got a little taste of Rochester here in Syracuse when we went to Levi's birthday party at Miranda's parents house. It was fun to see small group people so soon after leaving. We had to be home by 6pm to flip the Burb to the other side of the street since we have to park on the street and after flipping the Burb we went to P&C to do some grocery shopping since we have a very empty fridge then the kids took baths and we took a walk around the block and went to bed.

This morning we went to West Genesee Hills Baptist Church. People are always surprised when we go to church on the first Sunday we are in a new place but I always think, “What else would we do, stay home and unpack more boxes??” Though church shopping is hard, I think that getting out of the house is a nice break. There was a North connection at the church with a few family members of people from North in the congregation and at least one person who had gone to North a few years ago. After church there was a going away fellowship meal and we were invited to stay for it “since our kitchen wasn't all unpacked” by the pastor's mom. She told the kids that everyone calls her Grandma Ferry and that they could too but Lydia called her “Fairy Godmother.” We got to meet many of the people and everyone seemed pretty friendly. On our way home we stopped at Wegmans – how can you pass Wegmans and not stop? They didn't sell my 5# bag of cheese for less than $10 that my old Marketplace Wegmans sells but it is OK. I am still trying to figure out this town and where we are going to shop. When we finally got home we took a nap. After our naps we took a walk down to Barry Park to play then we headed home to warm up (it got cold tonight!) and watch a movie. Now it is off to bed. We need to be out of the way in the morning when Tim comes back to finish the bathroom so we don't know what we are doing tomorrow but we will probably get to the library to post this and see what has happened in the 4 days since we've had internet.

A Packing Funny

Abigail is always making us laugh but I rarely remember to write it down. Tonights' quote couldn't go without being written down though.

Glenn was packing in the bathroom and as he was packing up the nebulizer Abigail looked at it and asked what it was for. Glenn said, "It is to help you breathe when you can't." A puzzled Abigail asked, "When you're dead?"

I guess it is a good thing. It means we haven't had to use the nebulizer in her memory and for that I am thankful. I think that I just laughed and didn't tell her that it won't help you if you die. Maybe Glenn did. A discussion for another day....

Sometimes a Light Suprises

Yesterday was our last Sunday at North Baptist Church. That is hard for me because our church is our family. We love our blood family but in so many ways our church family is so much dearer to us. It is hard to leave. As I was walking into church yesterday we were singing "Sometimes a Light Surprises." It was such a blessing to me I wanted to post the words here so I can remember:

Sometimes a Light Surprises

1. Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord Who rises
With healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after the rain

2. In holy contemplation
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation,
And find it ever new;
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow
Bring with it what it may.

3. Tomorrow can bring us nothing,
But He will bear us through:
Who gives the lilies clothing
Will clothe His people, too:
Beneath the spreading heavens
No creature but is fed;
And He Who feeds the ravens
Will give His children bread.

4. Though vine nor fig tree neither
Their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the fields should wither,
Nor flocks or herds be there
Yet, God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice;
For, while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

©2001 Kevin Twit Music.

I started crying when I got to the end of verse 2 and was so blessed that verse 4 is from one of my favorite passage in Habakkuk. God is so good to us and will prove Himself again this time as He has so faithfully in the past. I am so thankful for the unchangeableness of our God, His immutability. I think that it is my favorite attribute of my God.

I have a lot to look forward too :)

Sonja Maas will have lived 15 places in her first 10 years of marriage. I have decided that, if we live to have been married 60 years, I only have 76 moves left after this one :)

A Thief in the Night

I guess that this is the sequel to "A Thief in the Day" from last summer. The kids have been passing around a a stomach bug and since it was nice on Sunday we opened the windows to try to blow the germs out. Before going to bed Sunday night Glenn took extra care to make sure that the door was locked because Abigail was sleeping downstairs because she still didn't feel very good and he thought that it would be awful if someone came into house and did something to his little girl. We had closed the windows but didn't think to lock them. On Monday morning I went downstairs to start Glenn's birthday cinnamon rolls and wondered why the screen was missing on the living room window and why Glenn's hiking backpack was outside on the ground. I was still pretty sleepy but Glenn came downstairs to look around and asked "Where's the Mac? Where's our camera?" GONE! and my purse was dumped and rooted through.... Ugggg. At least we still had our cell phones this time so I called 911 right away. The scariest thing to me is that Abigail was asleep on the chair downstairs and the thief must have walked right past her. Anything could have happened to her!! So scary! The police and tactical unit came and we discovered that our camera was not taken, somehow it had stayed in my purse when the thief dumped it, that was a praise. I feel so violated again. I am so thankful that God kept Abigail safe. I don't know what I would do if something had happened to her. She didn't have any idea that someone came into our house. I am so thankful! In my unease I went to the Psalms - one of my favorites is Psalm 46 and so whenever I felt ill at ease I just said over and over again "God is my refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble." It was such a comfort. God is in control and allowed this to happen. We are thankful that it was just our laptop and not our kids. The other things that we are missing are my phone charger and Glenn's watch. Definitely not as bad as it could have been.

We were planning on heading to Syracuse to find a place to live yesterday but instead spent the day canceling credit cards, signing up for LifeLock because our tax forms with all 6 SS numbers were saved on our computer, calling pawn shops and generally feeling pretty unsafe in our home. I locked the door and windows when I was not downstairs which I never have done before. We really live in a very safe neighborhood but the lilac festival starts soon and there are people all over the park getting ready for it and I am assuming someone just took advantage of the situation. I just need to be more careful. It was an expensive lesson to learn but it could have been SO much worse! I laughed because many people told me that they hope that the next place we live is much safer and I am certain that the neighborhood we move to in Syracuse won't be nearly as safe as this one but I will be more careful. Our neighbors all told me that we need a dog. If we did have a dog I really doubt that anyone would have come into the house this time or back in August. Maybe we should get a dog but we can't commit to that unless we know that we are allowed to where ever we are living. One thing at a time.

The evening was much better. We had Hawaiian Haystacks for Glenn's birthday dinner then had our small group over for cake and ice cream and a walk in beautiful Highland Park. I am so thankful for our dear friends who are such a blessing to us!

So today... I trust God that He loves us and has good plans for us and will work all things out for His honor and glory. We lost a lot of information in losing our laptop but it is OK. We still have our kids and we are still safe in the hands of our gracious God.

Medical Marriages

This morning I did something that I am certain I have never done before - I left my puking kids at my house with a friend and went out for breakfast with my husband. I have been looking forward to this day for a while because today was Imagine RIT which sounded so neat and the Medical Community Christian Fellowship spring breakfast on medical marriages that we had been invited to by our friend Brian. This morning we were woken at 4:45 up by the sound of a splat on the floor in the kids' room. We ran in to see Abigail standing in the middle of the room throwing up. After a quick clean up (boy, am I glad I spend several hours cleaning the kids room on Thursday after Caleb threw up in fear of the fact that his sisters may do it sometime in the middle of the night too!!) I figured that all my plans for today were cancelled. I sent a quick email to my friend who was planning on hanging out with our kids and told her that Abs was sick and she probably wouldn't want to come over. Jenn called me and told me that she was still willing to watch them even with the puking - and Glenn "made me" let her. You know, I would do that for a friend but I was surprised someone else would do it for me! So she came over and watched the kids while Glenn & I went to the breakfast. I am so glad that I went. There was a panel of 3 couples - in the first couple the wife is the doctor and the husband is an engineer, in the second couple the husband is the doctor and the wife stays home with the kids, in the third couple both of them are doctors. It was so neat to hear from each of them and the struggles that they have had and how they overcame them. All three of the couples had kids while they were in their time of training and it was so interesting how they each did things differently and how they worked through the challenges that they had. I appreciated that they were very open and honest, especially the non-medical wife, with things that they had struggled with and continue to. I know that it isn't easy but I think that we got some helpful hints and tips to help us along the way. The things that stick out the most for me from this morning:

1. When telling one of the doctors about our journey he told us that farmers put the most manure on the plants that they have the biggest plans for. (or something like that). It was encouraging to hear because I know that God has plans for us and He is preparing us for them.

2. The importance of setting priorities and making choices based on them. They talked about time with God, your spouse, and kids. One area that I know that Glenn & I struggle with is making each other a priority. The couple that were both doctors said that they had Friday night date night and had a get away once a quarter or every 4 months. We have very infrequent dates and we have never had a night away from all of our kids. We have had nights here or there with one or more of them gone but I don't think that we have ever had a night with all of them gone. Oh, no, there was that one time when we were moving out of the mini-mart and AmyJo took our kids home with her so we could finish up packing and we went to her house the next day. At that point I was pregnant with Lydia so it was a while ago.... There may have been once or twice that some or all of our kids spent the night there when we lived in Waterloo because they fell asleep after Friday night pizza but I really can't remember. Anyway, enough of my tangent, that is not the point. The point is we need to make "us" a priority because we never have.

We got home and Lydia was groaning and she subsequently threw up all over the chair. Glenn took Caleb and Hannah to Imagine RIT and had fun exploring with them while I stayed home with the sickies and did LOTS of laundry. All in all it was a pretty good day. I had a date with Glenn and got to meet some neat people and got to hear the answers to a lot of questions I hadn't even thought of asking yet and to hear from people who have been there and are there and be encouraged. I got lots of laundry done and got to snuggle with sickies. God is good, all the time.