• r e i t e r s •

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T23:22:00.000-08:00

Note: This Christmas post is in place of a Christmas letter to all friends and family. We gave the money we would have spent in mailings and postage to Ryan and Angie Ketchum, missionaries in Cambodia. Granted, we are related to them, but we wholeheartedly believe in them and what God is doing through them - and we thought you wouldn't mind less mail in light of where and who it went toward. So read on, oh lovely friends and family - and think of less mail to throw away while praying for Ryan and Angie and their 4 girls in Cambodia - check out their blog as well at http://www.familyketchum.blogspot.com/

Your Christmas letter (without the envelope or stamp)

What a year! 2011 has held an incredible amount of changes for us! God-changes. God-movement. God-vision.

We moved to Idaho the first part of this year, after a lot of prayer, to start a church. March 1st, we left a wonderful Nazarene congregation in Oak Harbor, Washington, with dear friends that we grew to love and cherish. We moved our belongings and our babies - our dogs too - and headed to Boise. We landed in Nampa for awhile as we watched rentals in the Northend for a perfect place to land. And as God would have it, he used a retired NNU professor and his family who needed to rent their daughter's home to bless us. We moved in August 1st into a quirky and awesome 1925 year old home. The floors creak, the ground is unlevel, and walls are cracked and parts of the home are just, well, old. But we LOVE it! It is a perfect home for us and a wonderful place to begin this crazy journey!

We have already met amazing people in our neighborhood who have become quick friends. We are excited to see what is next and walk each day by faith. We meet once a week, if not more, with our planting partners, Chris and Camille Rodes. They are dear to us and we have cherished the team God has put together for such a time as this. Many people have commented on the fact that both guys in our team have the name Chris. If you take it further, the girls names both start with a C as well, so everyone of us have the same initials: CR. Weird, yes - but designed well! haha. The four of us "CR's", have finally put a launch date on our gatherings after a lot of conversation, prayer and continued faith. We will begin meeting Saturday evening January 28th. Please pray for us as we step forward in this.

The family is doing well. Chris is working at Sierra Trading Post. It is a retail job, and he'll tell you that's not his first calling, but because of the background and outdoor gear sales of Sierra, Chris is loving his job. Cherie is a stay at home mom with the three little ones, and continues to build relationships out in the community when she takes Abby, Micah and Samuel to weekly events at the Fort Boise Community Center.

Aloysia recently moved back to Oak Harbor from Pasco where she was helping with a new church ministry. She is working at Starbucks on Whidbey Island now and is working on finishing her degree and continuing to follow God's direction for her life. We love her and are proud of her and her heart to listen to God's voice.

Abby just turned 5 years old and has the creativity to prove it. She loves to sing and is so excited about going to school in the fall she can hardly stand it! She thinks that her little brothers are great, for the most part, and wants to help mom in the kitchen anytime she can. She is a handful of laughter and goofiness, and she'll sing a song for you that she makes up in her head on the spot, once she's past her initial shyness. We love her and love how she's growing up so sweet.

Micah is all boy! He loves Thomas the train and anything to do with the Disney movie Cars! He jumps and runs everywhere and makes noises for everything he touches. He loves his little brother and big sisters and think that mud is the funnest thing to play in. He is 3 1/2 years old and we cherish his precious heart and tender smile.

Samuel is walking! And doing an amazing job! He is 1 1/2 years old and all of his doctors and therapists say that he is nothing short of a miracle......ha, if they only realized. Samuel is our explorer. He loves the garbage can, the dirt in the plants, the stuff under the rug in the living room, and especially the water in the toilet bowl. I am constantly following him, wiping his hands, putting things back, and wondering where he is ALL at the SAME TIME. He is a wonderful miraculous ridiculously crazy-lovely boy! We love him and love telling his miraculous story. People still stop us in the store and on the street to meet little Samuel - for some reason he draws them - I just consider that he spent some serious face time with his Creator, and it shows.

We are blessed. Blessed, I say! We are still raising support to survive, but somehow, every month the Lord shows up in amazing ways, and we are left speechless and grateful. Our bills continue to be paid on time. We have food on the table, and our cars have gas in them. We are rich in faith, deep in love with each other, and wealthy in relationships.

When God calls, we choose to listen and obey. And as we continue to walk forward in joys and even in days of sadness, we know that God is still God in our sorrows and our miracles. We hope that this season, you experience God-miracles and God-joys. May you know that we love you from the deepest part of our hearts, and may you realize that today, you are cherished and passionately loved by God, the king of Kings, whom is the reason why we say, Merry Christmas!

Our new house

2011-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

http://homesite.obeo.com/Viewer/Default.aspx?tourid=454447&RefURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.google.com%2furl%3fsa%3dt%26source%3dweb%26cd%3d7%26ved%3d0CDoQFjAG%26url%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fhomesite.obeo.com%2f454447%26rct%3dj%26q%3d422+Thatcher+images+Boise+ID%26ei%3dRJ0lTruqGIOcsQOKsJn1CA%26usg%3dAFQjCNEdRx_ejeZIlqlsuYgbZqYPQHyt8g

We are so excited to finally be moving to the Northend of Boise Idaho. We have been in Nampa Idaho since March 2, 2011 and have left half of our house packed in boxes out in the garage with the faith and trust that God would open a home for us in His perfect time. He did, and we love what He provided! The house we will be renting is owned by a couple that used to work at NNU, and God was working out all the details before we even knew that!

We will be moving to the Northend on August 1 and joining our partner family in this church plant. The Rodes family (Chris, Camille, Elijah, Gracie, and Lucy) have already settled in their home in the Northend on Harrison Blvd. and we can't wait to join them! We know God has some great days ahead!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

I can't keep up!

2011-05-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's almost the end of May and there's so much that has happened! We are finally in Idaho - we arrived with a Uhaul and a very-packed minivan on March 2. We were blessed to have a house open up 5 days before we arrived.....a total God-thing! It's in Nampa, which is not where we want to plant the church, but the target area is now only 30 minutes away compared to 12 hours! So I'm saying that's just fine for now!

We have half-unpacked, and are going through a lot of our stuff to "de-clutter". We want to make sure that WHEN we find a house for rent in our price range in the north end we will be able to move as simply and easily as possible. Plus, we've begun to hear God's call to simplify and cut the "fat" from our lives.

We're still fundraising for half of our income and are at about 33% of our goal. In April God took care of the employment income that we need as well - Chris got hired at Sierra Trading Post and has enjoyed it a lot. He's a closet gear nerd, so this is right up his alley! He'll deny that he knows that much about stuff, but if you ask him one question about Merrell shoes, well, you've taken a very long and detailed road down that conversation!

Anyway, the kiddos are getting bigger. Samuel is 10 months now and doing his best to crawl - he loves the army crawl, but can't quite figure out how to get on all fours yet! Micah is finally completely potty-trained......enough said! :) Abigail is becoming quite the little 4 year old artist....she learned from daddy today how to draw a tummy on a stick figure. It was her thrill of the day! And Aloysia is moving to Pasco, WA soon to help a couple of our dear friends in their church plant. She is excited and anxious about it! We think it's a great decision as she follows God's call on her life!

Well, for the grandparents, here's a couple pix of the kiddos. :) We went to the Boise zoo the other day and enjoyed some fun and blessed sunshine! Thanks for your prayers everyone - we feel them and know God continues to open doors toward this north end church plant endeavor!

Preparation, preparation, preparation

2011-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

We have had a very productive last couple of days. Thanks to our boss in Oak Harbor, we were given the chance to take some time away from our current jobs to head to Boise to do some house hunting and job hunting. We packed up all three kiddos and headed to Idaho with a list of houses for sale and for rent, and a list of jobs available. We found a cheap hotel in Nampa - only $41 a night, and booked it for 3 nights. We arrived at the hotel LATE Sunday night (1am) after driving through very thick fog for the last 3 hours of the 12 hour drive. We were very grateful to arrive unscathed.

Monday morning we awoke with excitement about being in a stage of preparation for this church plant. It always feels good to be proactive about a God-calling. So we drove to Boise, to the north end, and began our hunt. We had a couple appointments with some property managers at different rentals to check them out. We found one that we just fell in love with - it was perfect in every way imaginable. As we spoke with the manager, we shared a few comments about our faith and why we were coming. She shared about her church in the area, Calvary Chapel, and we told her we had gone to that exact church a number of times and really enjoyed it. While we shared God's calling on our lives with her, she began to ask about jobs. We told her about aquiring jobs and fundraising part of our income as well while we were in the infant stages of the church plant. We let her know that was our reason for being here - to find a home and a job. I felt her spirit sink a little and knew something was up. She sadly let us know that because we didn't have current jobs in the area, that she could not rent us that home - she said, "If my husband and I owned this, we would rent to you in a heartbeat, especially knowing what God's calling you to do. But we don't. My husband and I own our business together, and I'll call him to ask what he thinks, but I don't know if this will work." So we waited. The phone call came about 20 minutes later with the disappointing news that the home would not be available to us because of our situation.

Feeling discouraged, we moved on. We found another house for rent a little bit further away from where we'd like to be, but decided to put an application in on it. We found out quickly that housing in the north end is like diamonds - everyone wants one if not two, so we knew God had to be a part of this process as well as everything else we are doing. We ran into a couple friends at REI while Chris was asking about a job there who reminded us that God knows our needs, financially and physically (home, jobs), and when we need them and where they need to be. So we choose to trust. I needed to be reminded of that.....again.

We spent the rest of that day applying for EVERY job we could think of. And even had a couple friends call us with options for jobs they had heard of, and we applied for those too! We have yet to hear back from anyone of them, although its only been 24 hours, but most of the jobs have applications online that we filled out, so we're asking God to get those into the appropriate hands. Chris even turned in one more application in person this morning before we got on the road. We are hoping to hear from some of them when we arrive home, of which we are on the road as I'm typing this (about Tri-Cities area). We should arrive home in Oak Harbor tonight around 11pm or midnight.

So here's where we stand: We are still in the process of fundraising, and have raised $160 a month so far. - we started fundraising right before Christmas. Our goal is to raise monthly support for 2 years from sponsors amounting to $2200-$2500 a month - that will be added to the income we earn from our community jobs. We are asking God as well to direct us toward jobs that will work around each other so our number 3 priorities, our children (number 1 being God, number 2 being each other and our marriage) are able to be raised by us within our home.

God is faithful to guide us, and we are aiming our sights at Him and His adventurous calling on our lives. This is where we continue on......

Be The Change

2011-01-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

We are so excited about the coming days ahead and know that God has trained us, equipped us, and grown us in our ministry here in Oak Harbor, WA. We will take what we've learned here and head to Boise Idaho with vision and faith that God will use us how He sees fit to minister to people in the heart of Boise.

2011-01-03T18:02:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Reiters

2010-12-25T19:29:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas friends and family! What a joyful and celebratory time of the year! We celebrate with you from next door or across the oceans! We love you and thank God for you!

This year has held many challenges, celebrations, and changes. This was our first full year with Aloysia who we adopted into our family in October of 2009. She is a freshman this year at Northwest Nazarene University studying in the Theology department and feeling a call to ministry. We are very proud of her and her beautiful contagious spirit. We are blessed to call her family and know God has an incredible path ahead of her!

This year also held the amazing birth of our youngest son, Samuel Christopher, born July 17th. He is a miracle to encounter, just as all life is. I was sick during the first trimester of the pregnancy and soon found out that I had passed Fifths Disease to my baby. From week 13 to week 30 we were faced with possible miscarriage, fetal leukemia, substantial hydrops (liquid on his body), heart failure, brain damage, Downs Syndrome, and other issues. We were given options for inuetro transfusions, termination, amniocentesis or nothing. We spent time weeping on our knees asking God what we should do - He responded with, "Peace be still and know that I AM GOD." We chose not to invade the womb with transfusions and just wait and pray. Around week 18 we felt the need to name him, and Samuel, which means "God hears", was the name that was written on our hearts. Over the course of the following weeks we realized the significance of his name.

Around week 26, we heard our first good news. The doctor, after watching and studying our ultrasound sat us down and asked us to recount all the things we had been told and shown about Samuel and his continuing failure to thrive inutero. We listed off all of the things that we had both seen, heard, and studied. The doctor, with his old wrinkley smile and strong British accent, of which I will never forget said, "Well, your son is somehow becoming well. All of these things that we have seen are reversing. Your son is getting better!"

Samuel was born strong and healthy on July 17th at 12:13am with bilateral clubfeet - something the five doctors working his case never saw. I had to smile when he was born. Of all that could have gone wrong with Samuel, the only thing on the list was his feet.....a fixable and very treatable deformity. This will be a 3 to 4 year journey in braces while he grows, but that is a small price to pay for his beautiful sweet life!

Abigail is 4 years old and loving being old enough to help mommy with baby Samuel. She loves to color and paint and create. She plays dressup every day and would wear dresses everywhere all the time if mommy would let her. This is a definite point of contention, since mommy is a jeans and t-shirt kid. Both grandma's are definitely happy though.

Micah is 2 years old and thinks that Samuel is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He doesn't quite understand that wrestling a 5 month old is not a great idea, although Samuel usually giggles to his delight. Micah loves to color on everything......everything (smile - sigh).

Chris and Cherie are also on a wonderful upcoming new journey. God has called our family to start a church in Boise Idaho. We will be moving from Oak Harbor, Washington where we are currently ministring as the youth and worship pastors at the Nazarene church, to the north end of downtown Boise in February 2011. We will be getting jobs to work part time in the community and fundraising the other half through individual sponsors and churches. We can't wait to see what God is going to do in the hearts of people in Boise.

We hope this year has been a wonderful year for you. We have grown in our faith and know that the Lord goes before us in the days ahead just as He has been with us in the days past. We love you and appreciate your role in our lives. Blessings to you.

Grace and Peace,

Chris, Cherie, Aloysia, Abigail, Micah, and Samuel

Pictures of the family

2010-07-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

I keep getting the grandparents asking for new pictures . . . . so here they are! Enjoy.

2010-07-14T14:19:00.001-07:00

I would say its been way too long since I've posted on here, but with the season we've had since January of this year, you'll understand. God has been at work in ways that have been incredibly challenging and yet deeply miraculous. If you haven't heard the story from my mouth, let me tell you it in writing.

His name is Samuel, and he should arrive any day now! The sooner the better - I say. But whenever he arrives, it will be an amazing day. He wasn't supposed to even make it. Here's his story.

We found out we were pregnant in November. We were excited and I decided quickly in December of '09 that I needed to quit Starbucks (which I still miss), and just have two jobs - worship pastor and mommy. It was a good decision definitely inspired by God. He knew what was coming.

At 7 weeks pregnant I was exposed to Fifths Disease without knowing it, or really being worried about it if I was. At 13 weeks along, I broke out in a itchy rash on my hands and feet and a few days later woke up feeling 80 years old, arthritic and slow. I googled my symptoms along with pregnancy and up popped Fifths Disease. I immediately called my doctor to get tested. After the blood test, of which came back positive, they began a continuous ultrasound check every two weeks on my growing baby. The first test showed no signs that the virus had passed the placenta. We were grateful . . . but that didn't last long. The next ultrasound came in conjunction with my Quad Screen, which tests for genetic issues - and mine came back positive in regards to Downs Syndrome. The bomb went off.

We were scheduled to head to a specialty hospital for deeper testing. This ultrasound was the first of many that were incredibly difficult. The images that the doctors got were scary. This baby, of which we had just found out was a boy, was very sick. He had most of the hard markers for Downs Syndrome, and was showing significant signs of Fifths Disease (parvovirus B19). He was extremely anemic with holes in his heart and there was deep infection in his body, and the list went on and on. We were told that he would probably not survive.

After praying, weeping, and trying to decide what to do in regards to amniocentesis and an inutero blood transfusion, we decided that we weren't supposed to do anything. God settled our hearts after a conversation with the 5th doctor we had met on the baby's case. She said he may even have fetal leukemia, and if that was that case, he would miscarriage soon. We wanted the womb to be a "holy place" as long as it could be regardless of his sickness. So we waited and prayed. We sent out prayer requests across the world, and in return received incredible notes of encouragement from people we didn't even know who were praying for our son.

We decided one morning with deep spiritual conviction that we needed to name him. God wanted us to name him. So I looked at my husband and said, I think I keep hearing the name "Samuel". My husband teared up and said that was the name he had been hearing as well. We went to the computer and looked up the meaning of Samuel. It said, "God heard, or requested of God." We cried. I called my mother who had been up that morning praying and she told me on the phone through weeping, "I told the Lord as I prayed for my grandson that I didn't even know his name, and the Lord said, 'his name is Samuel'." Wow - the Lord had named my son.

Around week 23, we went in for yet another specialty ultrasound - by this time we've had numerous appointments and consultations. We went through the ultrasound searching for any signs of encouragement from the technician working on my belly - we were grateful to hear his little heartbeat if nothing else. The consulting doctor came in and said he wanted a few more shots and aided the technician through some different views. He kept saying, "Beautiful, beautiful!" What was beautiful?! We didn't know. Yet.

We went into the consultation room to wait. The doctor came in - a lovely 60+ British man with white hair and a calming smile. With a thick accent that sounded like angels singing, he said, "Now tell me what WAS wrong with your son?" What WAS wrong . . . . . we rattled off the list of maladies and then waited. "Well," the doctor began, "Your son seems to be pulling out of all of this. He has some remaining issues that we want to watch, but I believe your son is becoming well." In his long explanation of maladies, he even referenced a "miraculous event". I'll say!

From then on, we had a couple set-backs that were perhaps just the doctors being cautious. Our last intense check-up was at week 36, and they said he looks fine - "If I hadn't have looked at your son's file, and how sick he was, I would say just by looking at his ultrasounds today, that you have a perfectly normal son." Praise God! Who knows what will happen when Samuel arrives, but we know this - he was sick and God healed him. And if he has Downs Syndrome, although I don't think he does since God spoke to my husband during a board meeting and told him "Samuel is fine", then we know this - God is still God, and He still has a plan for us and for our son Samuel. Amen!

My mom always said to enjoy it, cause it will go too fast . . .

2010-01-08T13:20:00.001-08:00

I think that my jaw must have dropped at the realization that 2010 was upon us. I turn 32 tomorrow, and I'm not freaking out about it, however, I am a little freaked out at how quickly the children are growing up. Aloysia has a job at McDonalds and we are teaching her how to drive - scary in itself. Abigail is 3, and I am amazed every day at her ability to comprehend the world around her. Micah is 1 1/2, and he is ALL boy - into everything.

I recall my mother telling me when Abigail was born to enjoy the small things, because they go by so fast. You know what I'm talking about, the realizations, the first words, the talks into the late evening, the hugs, and i love you's - it all seem to pass quickly.

So I have made a couple decisions in that last month - I quit Starbucks, which was a huge decision - I couldn't do it all - and it took my energy, mothering patience, and a lot of frustration to realize that I was NOT Wonderwoman! My husband needed a wife that was relatively sane (I'm sure you understand if you're a mother), and my kids needed a mom that wasn't just running around the house freaking out because she was too tired to handle anything.

So if you are in the same position as me - where you feel overwhelmed and stretched thin - perhaps something needs to go. You are only human, and God calls us to be effective in ministry to the world, not EXHAUSTED and ineffective - right! Just a thought. I chose to cut something, and I'm so glad I did. I'll miss it, but not that much!

Blessings in the new year to you, 'cause it will go too fast.

Time flies . . .

2009-06-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Wow - so June 2009, and Micah is already 10 months old - Abby is 2 1/2, and we're already talking about number 3 - NO, we're not pregnant, just "thinking" about it. We are in the midst of a life journey, as all of you are as well - and we're learning so much about the Lord and how He wants to grow us - perhaps in ways we didn't think we needed to grow - but nonetheless - growing us.

Chris and I have spent a lot of mornings perusing through our faith-lives and realized last year that we needed to be challenged - NOT like my brother and his family, mind you - we're not moving to India anytime soon - however, we have asked the Lord in the last year to challenge our faith.

Chris' father, Kenneth Corwin Reiter, died May 11 after driving home to Modesto, CA from being with us at Chris' graduation in Nampa, ID (Chris received his MA in Missional Leadership from NNU). His father's sudden death caused us to reframe some of our thinking and some of our theology. We began asking ourselves not how we wanted to be remember, but how we WILL be remembered. So with that reality, in this day, we continue to ask God for His challenge on our lives - Some people say, 'be careful what you pray for', and I say, why? Life isn't meant to be lived timidly - No! God of the Angel Armies, challenge me - challenge us. And He has!

We have watched Him allow our lives to be pruned, and molded in tough and deep ways - some painful, some exciting. However, our little family, or little "church", is growing deeper, wider, and truer. Thanks God for moving and transforming my stubborn and prideful heart - may I be, may we be a sweet taste in your mouth, and a pleasant descant in your ears.

No Sleeping until I'm 40 . . . and then I'll be waking up at 4am.

2009-04-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

I'm laughing tonight because tonight must be the night for excuses. Abby is convinced that she is "all done sleeping" and she just went to bed 30 minutes ago. She is also continually determined to convince us that she is "very still hungry", and we just ate at 5:30pm. So what's a mom to do, but realize that this time shall pass as well, and then I'll be so old that I'll be waking up way too early because my body hurts instead of waking up all night long with the kids. What a great deal! So I'm pretty sure God claims heaven to be a place of rest - so I'm banking on that! Yep!

The New Year and the Reiters

2009-02-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

So it's February 2, 2009 and I can't believe I keep writing 2008 on every check I write!!!! Agh! Anyway, our family is doing well and Micah is already 6 months old! Abby is 2 in every way possible and we love it - at least most of the time. She is very smart and creative, so she keeps us on our feet! Micah slobbers everywhere and laughs at almost anything Abby does - we love that! We love being a family and watching our kids grow up. We hope you all are doing well. Blessings to you!

Christmas in America

2008-12-15T20:51:00.000-08:00

Chris and I have had so many conversations about Christmas in America - perhaps you have recently as well. You know the conversation that goes something like this:
"Oooh, I saw ______ in the store today, and I know exactly where I would put it, . . . if I got it!"
"Oh, yeah, and just how much was ___________?
"Well, the price was kinda high, but it was definately worth it . . . . plus, it's Christmas!"
"Oh, so Christmas is about the presents?"
"Well, no. And yes!"
"Um, maybe you should go back to Sunday school."
"Okay, no, it's not about the presents, but it's nice to know I have something under the tree that you got me besides new socks and some slippers."
"What about what we've been praying about lately? The poor, the needy, those who can't afford any of this stuff, and not to mention most of the rest of the world - Christmas to them is hardly about presents!"
"Fine. But if all we do is read the Christmas story on Christmas morning . . . then I'm not making pancakes & bacon! Just oatmeal!"
"Well, at least we have something to eat!"
"Aghhh!"

I don't know if you've had a conversation like this or not, but both my husband and I have been on both sides of this one this year. We're trying not to buy into the American Christmas - which honestly is hard to do - we've bought some gifts! So, how's your view of Christmas this year? Jesus is really why we celebrate. So let's celebrate Him!

Merry CHRISTmas! Blessings to you.

Oh, yeah, and mom, I found one of Abby's gifts in our dumpster - seriously, I did - it's one of those fold up fabric playhouses (almost fills up the floor of our kitchen) - nothing wrong with it - someone just got tired of it. Don't worry, I sanitized it - Go Lysol and stuff people throw away!

I can't believe she's 2

2008-12-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

wow . . . doesn't time just seem to fly. If it keeps getting faster every year, as "they" say it does, then by the time I'm 65, I'll sneeze, and it'll be the next year. Regardless, these 2 years with our little Abby have been amazing! She is a blessing and we have loved watching her grow. All day today we celebrated Abigail and her life. We even managed to get 2 naps in for her, since I knew her party would go past bedtime. So it was a day of 2's. She had about 15 people/kids show up for her party at Starbucks, and she was given some great gifts (even though we requested no gifts). She loved it. The kids got to color and play with the toys, and the adults stood around and talked over coffee and the noisy children. It was great! I wish you could have been there. Here's a video and some pictures of our happy birthday party to Abby. Enjoy!

The Reiter fort

2008-11-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

Well we decided that the mini forts we had put together for Abby using Micah's play arch weren't going to teach her anything about how the Reiter family really plays! So we built a fort in our living room tonight out of 3 chairs and 2 blankets, just the way we remember doing it when we were kids. So we thought we'd share it with you. Plus, since Micah was there too, we put in a couple pics of him so as not to leave him out of post. Love you all!

Prayer Retreat

2008-11-12T20:43:00.001-08:00

Chris and I were able to be a part of dreaming up and setting up a prayer room at a Ministers and Mates Retreat for the pastors/staff on our district. We loved how God was a part of the whole process. Anyway, I set up a section on silence with a prayer that I have come to love. I wanted to share it with you:
Be in my mind and my thinking
Be in my eyes and in my seeing
Be in my ears and in my hearing
Be in my mouth and in my speaking
Be in my heart and in my feeling
Be in my life and in my living

Blessings to you.

Oh, to catch ALL the memories!

2008-10-24T21:03:00.001-07:00

I find myself at 2:30 in the morning wishing that I could be past Micah's late night bottle, and the times Abby wakes up with weird dreams and wants to come to our bed . . . . I find myself wishing at 6:30 in the morning that I had another 8 hours to sleep unhindered and uninterrupted . . . . I find myself wishing that the cup of coffee I sheepishly cannot do without would somehow restore my tired face to an unscathed glow . . . . I find myself wishing all these things until I come to my senses every day and see the beauty in my life - the family I am so blessed to be a part of. I find myself smiling because, even amidst my weariness, I wouldn't have it any other way. I find myself laughing because my daughter has my millions of goofy laughs and a couple million of her own. I find myself in awe of the way my heart breathes when I see my son smile and coo when I come into sight. I find myself softening when my husband wraps me up in his perfect hug. And then this, tonight, I watched in wonder as my daughter, so young and so bright, read her little brother a nighttime story . . . from one of my favorite books. Who ever said speaking in tongues wasn't an amazing thing to behold. You'll understand when you see. I am so blessed. Yep!

The summer is so gone!

2008-10-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well, October is here in full force. We thought we might get some warm weather to make up for our lack of great weather this summer, but it didn't happen. The cold is here and in turn, our heat has finally turned on! We have begun stacking our wood pile and making sure on the cold nights in Oak Harbor, we can still warm up next to a fire! Micah and Abby are doing well and enjoying growing up together - well at least Abby enjoys Micah - we're not quite sure what Micah thinks yet! Tomorrow, we will leave them for an entire day with a friend and head to Seattle for the Missions Day youth event that Chris is leading. It should be a great day for the youth in our district to be Jesus to those who are in need. I'll be helping in the worship and check in arena. We're excited to participate, and equally excited to have it over with - this has been a long road for Chris with planning, e-mails, mailings, and coordination - all the while still doing his Masters work and getting used to a new baby in the house. We'll be ready to quiet down. Oh yeah, and then I start back at Starbucks on Monday. Woo - hoo! Life never slows down does it. God, make us lights for you even in the midst of a busy life! Amen!

Free Cycle discovery

2008-09-19T14:46:00.001-07:00

So, mom, you would be proud! I've discovered freecycle! For those of you that don't know, its a "re-use" group in your area that passes their stuff onto interested people in the same area for free, instead of sending it to a second hand store where you have to pay for it, or putting it in the landfills and adding to the mess that's already there! So now, instead of finding things that people throw away before the garbage man comes, mom, I've found a web-group that does it for free BEFORE it goes in the trash. Yes, ironic that I always used to make fun of my mother for this, and here I am . . . doing the same thing, just a little more 2008-ish! :) ha ha ha ha!

Back to life . . . back to reality

2008-09-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you know you're all singing the tune now! Anyway, we're home and life as usual has begun again. We're doing laundry from our vacation, but we're doing laundry with a nice tan! Oh, yeah! All the Oak-Harborians here are wondering if we went to Hawaii for a week - I wish! No, we just went to Eastern Washington where the sun actually says hello for longer than a few hours! But no complaints! It's green here, and that comes at a cost! Abby is taking a nap as we speak, and Micah is sleeping but seems to be stirring - next accomplishment of life: get their nap schedules the same! Can I hear an amen?!

Awwwwww . . . . Vacation . . . . Yes!

2008-09-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

So we always take our second week of vacation once the students in the youth group start school again. It's a guarantee that things are back in swing, and we can sneak away for a little R&R! Let me tell you - we have been given a gift this week - we were able to stay in a condo in Lake Chelan owned by a generous & precious family in our church. It is a small one-room studio condo with a flip-down bed (out of the wall kind) and an attached bathroom. The kitchenette is perfect too. It is small, cozy, and RELAXING. Our little family of 4 knows not a soul and we are loving it! We have breathed in rest and exhaled schedules and continuous phone calls! We'll write later . . . . .

I'm ONLY 30!

2008-09-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

I hurt my back for the first time yesterday. Abby wasn't feeling well after she got up in the morning, so I picked her up to put her back to bed. As I leaned over to place her in the crib, I felt my back strain. Nothing popped, which I hear is good . . . or better. Anyway, I can't lean over or pick up the kids - Chris had to rub Icy-Hot into my lower back last night, and that helped a little. I tell you, these last few weeks have been rough . . . I thought my back wasn't supposed to have issues until I was at least 40! haha!

So, does sleep ever happen?

2008-09-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

Chris and I have had many a conversation around 3am about whether or not we should add more children to this family of 4. Usually the conversation is over the heads of our sleeping children who have managed to make their way to the middle of our bed. You laugh, yes I know. My mother must be smiling, thinking that my "time" has come, and yes, ironically I agree with her. So, it's with a weird sense of irrational thinking that I wonder if we still want more. A friend of mine from Starbucks was empathizing with me. I asked her how she raised 5 children, and she said the hardest transition was from 1 to 2. After that, "you're just tired anyway, and you can't tell the difference, so it's just easier!" I laughed. So, do we want more . . . I'm too tired to decide.

Living as a single mother

2008-09-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

So, it's me, Cherie. I have been a "single mother" for the last 4 days while my husband has been backpacking in the Olympic Mountains. I think everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We all got sick - really bad colds. We stayed home and did nothing. The DVD player wouldn't work - the VCR busted. The dog threw up on the carpet. Micah has a cold in both eyes. The sink got plugged. Abby got pink eye. Micah peed through more clothes than I could wash. I was supposed to wear something "Hawaiian" for church, and couldn't find a thing. We were late for church. There are fruit flies reproducing somewhere in our house. Micah ended up with milk all over his face and in his eyes/ears when Abby tried to feed him when I wasn't looking, and Abby found a pen and wrote on the outside of my current book, my journal, and my leather Bible! And the list goes on . . . but we just got the phone call that daddy is on his way home . . . so everything that went wrong, suddenly seems like nothing - our favorite "man" is coming home - and we're VERY ready for him to be here! Makes a person laugh - yep, that's what I did! I cried a little too!