While we have many missionaries back home from around the world, we know the importance of teaching our children to stand firm in their faith right here in America.  Important lessons in life don’t always come from a text book, and they can be a lot of fun too.  With a little CREATIVITY and FUN you can teach your children vital truths for their future.

Recently we have had different families over for dinner on a few different nights.  Sean taught the kids a lesson on standing firm in your faith and what the shield of faith is all about.  He passed out shields to each kid, made of foam board and rope handles, and passed out soft foam balls to all the kids. It’s a simple game that ALL KIDS can play, no teams, no big rules or strategies, no big concepts to understand– just guard yourself with your shield and throw the ball at others when able.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN and LET YOUR SHIELD PROTECT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pictures below are from different nights and different families, but the lesson was the same.  (Note: in one picture Sean is under “attack” from ALL the kids!!! THAT was hilarious!!! Thank you little Joshua for helping protect him with your shield!!)

We are blessed to share a beautiful property with our church since our church provided housing for pastoral staff.  In gratitude for the wonderful things that God puts in our lives, sometimes right in our own backyard, we share these pictures With a little creativity, resourcefulness, diligence, and family team work, we are going to have a bountiful harvest from 7 very large maple trees.  The first 24 hours we collected 7 gallons of sap!  Knowing that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup, we will harvest each day in high hopes to obtain 2 gallons of sweet maple syrup in the end!  LONG LIVE PANCAKES!!!

An activity that the WHOLE family can participate in.  Everyone got to drip a tap or two, hammer in the taps, and connect the tubes to the bucket.

 Jamie LOVED the power of the drill!! She was amazed to see the sap drip out right away.  Little Joanna wanted to help with everything (note the tongue sticking out for concentration )

Joel liked the drill and really wasn’t interested in the sap– power tools!!  Sarah INSISTED on pulling the cart with all the supplies.

Sophie was the hole inspector, she has a good eye for detail.  Jacob drilled holes once all the little ones had “moved on” to running in the grass

Our Sugaring Team!!!

Josiah found a lower jaw bone of a deer.  With a lot of Coyotes on the property, skull bones are found often.  Last month, while on a walk with Nauna & Nat, Josiah found a raccoon skull.

A roasting oven/crock (18 qt)– a busy mom’s way to cook down sap into maple syrup Works like a charm- holds a lot, cooks slow, no burning issues, no need to hover. Perfect.

 Look at that glassy surface…… a vision of goodness

Tune in soon for the end result

We are overcomers!  The book of Revelation tells us that to him who overcomes there are incredible rewards waiting.  We resonate with this idea, not just in the church, but in our culture.  We love a story of an overcomer, and I have a great story of one for you.

A few weeks ago two of my boys were asking for something.  They really wanted this thing and mentioned it a couple of times.  I said to them, and included Sophie, that I would get it for them if they memorized the book of Titus.  Sophie, being so quick witted, said she didn’t want that thing so she wasn’t going to memorize Titus.  I made a different offer to her, and she said she still wouldn’t do it.  She was intimidated by the task.

Sophie has dyslexia.  It is a challenge for her to read, so memorizing that much is a huge challenge.  Jill and I encouraged her, told her she could use her Kindle, which reads to her.  We told her that we would help her and give her some tips on memorizing.  She began to get excited.  She began to believe  that she could do it.  She was on her way.  She also refused to use her Kindle because no one else was using one.

Today Sophie completed the task!  She not only memorized the book of Titus, but she also beat everyone, including me.  Sophie is beaming, knowing she overcame a huge obstacle to accomplish this task.  She is ready to move on to the next book.  An appetite has been created, and we intend to feed it!

I tell you this story not to brag about my daughter, but to encourage everyone in two things.  First, if you are looking at a seemingly insurmountable task, push on.  Sophie gave up before she even started this task.  After a little encouragement and the promise of a little help, she gave it a shot.  She found some success early and discovered that she was capable of doing something she was sure that she could not.  But she overcame!

Second, I tell you this story so that you too can be encouraged to memorize God’s word.  We don’t do this just for the sake of memorization, we do it to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2)  and so that we hide God’s word in our hear that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).  I hear people all the time tell me that they can’t memorize.  People tell me that their mind just can’t do what it used to do.  I say those are excuses and you are to be an overcomer!

We can remember all the thoughts that would rush to our minds when we thought of Christmas each year.  Traditions, cookies, family, more cookies, stockings on the mantle, carols, candles being passed at Christmas Eve services, etc.  All those things are still wonderful and we love them, but God saw fit to change our perspective over the years.

Christmas 1999- That fall God gave us Jacob, our first baby, and that Christmas on of Jill’s Grandfathers died.  That Christmas we were all sitting around the room with thoughts of loosing Tom, yet holding new life. Families were changing. THAT Christmas God began to show us that all life is much more precious than we had ever known.

Christmas 2001- Now with two beautiful children, this year God called us to begin the process of adoption with Project Star in Pittsburgh, PA. THAT Christmas we began to think beyond ourselves and take seriously God’s call to care for orphans.

Christmas 2002- God had just given us twins through adoption in August, but He saw fit to multiply that blessing the very week of Christmas (Dec 20) that we might bring home Joel as well.  THAT Christmas our hearts went beyond caring for orphans, to being BROKEN hearted for those left behind by the world.

Christmas 2003- we received our adoption court date for the finalization of adopting all three boys at once! January 8th we stood before the visiting Juvenile Detention Judge as he spoke on and on and on about what he saw God doing through the lives of our little ones. Oh how grateful he was to see children NOT get left behind and end up knowing him in a different way.  He blessed us greatly by openly sharing his heart. THAT Christmas we began to see that EVERYTHING you do matters to even people you might never think. THAT Christmas we really saw that God’s plans are WAY bigger than ours!

Christmas 2006- On Christmas eve we received a call about a little girl born in Montana who, as our case worker put it, “was a Martin”.  The day after Christmas we scheduled plane tickets, emailed and faxed papers. In March she came home.  We named her “Beautiful Oath to God” because THAT Christmas God reminded us of what He had taught us years before and what He had asked us to do with our family and lives.

Christmas 2008- We went into Christmas anticipating to joyfully celebrate our new daughter, Sarah, which we did do, but God had additional plans. That advent we almost lost Sam to lung failure. On breathing tubes and lots of medications to keep his life going, we struggled weekly, daily. Would we even have him for Christmas? The week before Christmas they tried to remove the breathing tube to see if his lungs could make it, they could not.  We watched face to face as our son fought for life, turning blue and gasping, doctors rushing to open his airways once again.  The tube was back in, and we made plans to learn about having a trach placed in his neck to breath.  MIRACULOUSLY we brought Sam home on Christmas Eve in almost perfect health.  THAT Christmas God showed us that HIS plans are bigger than doctors and the importance of knowing that God is THE Creator and Sustainer of life at all moments. And it would be 3 years later we would see one of the great reasons why Sam needed to be in that place at that time…but that’s 2011.

Christmas 2009- We now had TWO beautiful daughters to celebrate, Sarah AND Joanna. Completely surprised by God that year when our case worker called to say “We have a Martin again!”  We also began homeschooling all of our children that year before.  THAT Christmas God gave us new perspective on family, loving your children for who God made them to be (no matter how hard that is some days), and what it really means to go the second mile and give of yourself to the children God has blessed you with.

Christmas 2010- Heading into Christmas with great joy and anticipation for the soon coming birth of our daughter Jocelyn, we were about to really learn what God had been teaching us all year.  For months God had been challenging our belief in His COMPLETE SOVERIEGNTY over all of life. So much that Sean had planned to study God’s Soveriegnty for the first three months of the year with the whole church.  When Jocelyn went home to glory on her birthday, we knew within moments that THIS was a whole new level of trusting God’s soveriegnty in our lives. THAT Christmas we learned that God’s plans are beyond our feeble minds and plans and are much, much greater than all we could ask or imagine. THAT Christmas we learned that you do not have to be immensely learned to be an amazing missionary. That weighing in at a mighty 5lb 3oz, Jocelyn was quickly becoming the littlest, yet mightiest, missionary we had ever known. How humbling.

Christmas 2011- A full year of “AHHHHHH so that’s one of the reasons God did that” kind of years.  Every time we turned around God was showing us how HE was using past challenges, struggles, hurts, and more ALL for HIS glory that would go much farther beyond our own little lives. Sean was asked by the head brain surgeon at the Children’s hospital to be on the hospital’s Ethics Committee. WOW how humbling. That God would use Sam being in the hospital years before in this way. Added on the many follow up visits for Sam and other regular appointments for our other kids with medical needs, and in God’s mathematical equation that equals “opportunity to teach God’s truth for God’s glory”.  THIS Christmas we got defend the “quality of life” argument that lies with in hospitals every day and influence the top surgeons at the Children’s Hospital. THIS Christmas we had couples come to us for help with past sin in their life, and they were led to us because of the way God used Jocelyn in our life. THIS Christmas we have seen a whole year behind us, proving to us, that God used to show us that the salvation of souls and bringing people to “get right with God” is of UTMOST importance beyond anything else on our calendars.

THIS year and all the other Christmas Seasons before it God gave us an amazing gift.

PERSPECTIVE

We still LOVE cookies, pie, carols, and stockings hung just so……but now our memory floods with different traditions.  The traditions that God set in our lives of using Christmas Season to give us PERSPECTIVE on so much more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Now THAT’S a great Christmas gift.

Thank you God for giving us new memories.

Some words you connect right away because you see the “overlap” in the words and meaning. For some reason it took me ages, I mean AGES to draw the connection I will mention below.  But first, WHY I needed to draw it. Hang in there with me- I will get to the point!!

I have long had the discipline of making lists. Especially of things that are forever running through my mind looking for resolution.  So I had made a list.  It was about two years ago, just after our Sam had come home from the hospital for an unexpected and long visit.  So we were in “recovery mode” and kid behavior was…well, not the prettiest.  So I sat in my bed one night, praying, contemplating, churning, praying some more.  Then, I made my list.  My list of all the things that I was allowing to irritate me. I say allow, because I know irritations are a choice. But none the less, they were irritating me and I wanted it to be resolved.

List in hand, I began my discipline further.  I began to dig through my Bible for answers.  I know that God is soveriegn and that He knows what is very best for me, but still I needed a NEW perspective.  I knew I wasn’t looking at things the right way.  One by one I began to find the answers I needed to hear.  The truth in Gods Word that went DIRECTLY to “my list”.  Changing my perspective on little and big things.

But there was one problem.  I couldn’t find one of the answers.  I KNEW it had to be there somewhere, but let’s be honest for a minute—how in the world was I going to find “dealing with kids with compulsive perseveration issues”!!  Last time I checked that was NOT in the concordance—or was it???

But you see sometimes God makes us wait for the answer so that we will never forget it once He gives it to us.  That thing tortured me!!!  One thing left on the list, seriously, it was there somewhere- I just needed to find it! But how?

God knew I needed time, about two weeks worth that is.  You see, He was having me wait until the correct day on the calendar.  I had been reading through the Psalms and Proverbs of the Day each morning. (The number Psalm that correlates to the day on the calendar).  Anyways, I needed to get the 25th day of the month.  On that day I would read Psalm 25, Psalm 55, every 30th psalm from that day.

THERE IT WAS!!! Staring me in the face. Well actually it wasn’t staring at me at all, it HIT me like a ton of bricks. I mean GOD PLOWED ME OVER.  I was SOOOOOO off track. I was looking for the answer that I wanted or that I thought would resolve my issue.

PSALM 55 “As for me, I will call upon the Lord , And the Lord will save me. Evening, and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace form the battle that was against me.”

Did you see it??? Oh I surely did– “morning, evening and noon- calling, crying, praying”  Oh yes my friend. God LOVES perseveration.  I was bemoaning perseveration issues in my children, and there God was telling me that He LOVES perseveration.  Oh yes He does.  He calls us to continually pray, constantly call upon, cry out to Him, ALL DAY LONG.

And then, if that wasn’t great enough, God says “He will redeem my soul in peace”!!!!!!!  Isn’t that we are looking for- peace? It comes from God. He supplies it.  He gives it.  Through His own ability to redeem our souls.  But if we aren’t crying out to Him all the day long, then our soul will be missing out on that peace!

Oh God is so funny!  Just when I thought I was going to get a “resolution” to my irritation. God tells me to turn around and start perseverating too.  He wants me to perseverate on Him!

Annd now for my “word connection” that I mentioned in the beginning.  Did you notice that “perseveration” and “perseverance” are very similar?  One we think of as a negative definition, and the other we commend people for having it.  Thought provoking.

Perseveration on God and His Word brings about perseverance.  Perseverance brings about endurance.  You can’t learn to endure without persevering. But you can’t learn to persevere without perseverating.

Now that was two years ago, but God loves to remind us often of what we need to keep at the forefront of our minds. So recently, I have been praying again about the same thing.  Now, this time I know what God has to say about it, but I decided to look even deeper to see what ELSE I might find.

In Revelation 3:10-13 God says “because you have kept my command to persevere” you will not loose your crown, and He will make you a “pillar in the temple of My God” and on it He will write “all the names of God” and the name “New Jerusalem”.  I LOVE visual pictures.  A giant pillar standing in God’s temple there with a crown, and written all over it, like gorgeous graffiti, the names of God. That pillar could be YOU.

So then, what will you perseverate on?

Reliving our chicken days & expanding!!!

We always loved our chicken, but there were a few too many for our management and they were a little too close to our house.  It’s been a while now, and we just couldn’t live without them.  So for Sam & Josiah’s Birthday (they turned 9) we got them chickens again.  This time only 7 chickens and they are in a covered mobile coop that the boys can tote around so we never have to clean up chicken poo.  (I particularly love that part  )  The boys were SOOOOOO excited to have THEIR OWN chickens that they can take care of.  It is the perfect set up for them to independantly care for them.  (Did I mention how much I love mobile coops?)   They got to build the coop over a weekend with their Daddy.   Hammer and nails, staple gun and drill– wahooo!

Then, for Sophie’s Birthday (she turned 10) we surprised her with goats!  Oh, yes goats.  We went to visit a goat farm intending to bring home two cute goats.  Someday we would let them get pregnant, do the kidding things, etc, etc.  But then we met “Honey”…..ahhhhh “Honey”  she was sweet (ha ha) and the kids LOVED her. So Miss Becky (the owner) said she was willing to sell us Honey, even thought she wasn’t originally for sale! Miss Becky said she trusted Sophie to take extra great care of them.  Extra bonus-  she (Honey) was pregnant!  Oh yes, my firends, a pregenant goat!  and…..Martin-style!!! She’s pregant with multiples!!!!! And we aren’t exactly sure how many…..oh the suspence!

Ok- just look at that pregnant mama in that pix!!!  Zoweee  She is soooo preganat that she likes to lay down while eating!

So yes, we are crazy……we are crazy about our kids and we are crazy enough to get them chickens and goats to build character in them. (and, yes in case you try to mention–we are aware that there are other ways to build character….but this is FUN) They will learn diligence, gentleness, alertness, responsibility, initiative, and much more.  Hey, and they still got a special birthday dinner too- cake and all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM, JOSIAH, & SOPHIE!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!