A Picture from Life on the Road

I won’t say who it is, but someone was having a little bit of exercise while waking up! Some of the boys like to do a few push-ups to try while on the road, but usually they try to keep proper form. There’s an open Bible on the right (some choose to have their Bible time in their bunk) and at the top you’ll see someone’s hand pointing out what was going on. The blue tape that’s on the floor was from the floor plan mockup that we did while designing the bus conversion. A towel is drying on Dad and Mom’s bed (we haven’t yet come up with a good solution for drying towels).

You just never know when your camera will come in handy!

“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things…”
(1 Timothy 4:8)

Snow!

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalms 51:7)

"For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work" (Job 37:6-7).

Photographers: Christopher and Joseph Maxwell

Moral Support: Grandad and Grandma Frazer

Dad and Mom

We did individual photos of all of us children, but of course Nathan, Melanie, and Abby are together for theirs!

Christopher

Sarah

Joseph

John

Anna

Jesse

Mary

For those of you who are observant, can you see the difference between this picture and the next one? (Remember you can click into a picture to enlarge it.)

What is Joseph doing (on the right)? He and Nathan are doing a 100 day fitness challenge, so he's taking care of some of his exercise while we took a break.

It almost seems as if Anna and Abby are having a conversation!

Maxwell Ladies -- We girls try to get a picture each year, although last year we didn't.

"I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High" (Psalms 9:2).

The final "decided on" picture!

We released the Dad’s and Mom’s Corners Tuesday late morning. It is a joy to share with our readers each month! For those of you who may be new to the blog, you may visit our Corners page to read many past Corners, as well as sign up for the monthly e-mail.

November Corners

“Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people” ( 1 Chronicles 16:8).

In the building of our house, there were a few areas that needed an artist’s touch. When we redesign our web-site, an artist’s eye is very helpful. Joseph (20) has provided the artistic flare to our projects in recent years.

Joseph is the one who pictured our fireplace including the mantle in his mind, drew a plan, selected the materials, and then actually built the fireplace. It is now a lovely focal point of our living room.

Steve’s desire for our new home is that it have Scripture all over the walls. Because we put a texture coating on the walls painting, stenciling, and vinyl letters are not a good option. Last year for Christmas, Joseph and Sarah gave this gift to Steve.

Joseph used a photograph he had taken, chose the Scripture, designed it in Photoshop, found the place to make it, paid to have it done, and took responsibility for hanging it up.

Joseph has designed and put together our Titus2.com web-site and Chorepacks.com. He not only has the ability to plan something aesthetically pleasing, but he has the ability to program it as well.

In these years when our children are choosing to live in our home until the Lord calls them to marriage, we are experiencing the joys of the blessings they bring to our home through their presence in our lives and the abilities they bring to our family and ministry. These are the fruitful years.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

“And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass” (1 Kings 7:13-14).

Dad and Christopher worked on grinding out the grout at Christopher's house.

Christopher

Meanwhile, the decking was put down and finished on Saturday!

John, and notice who stopped over for a visit and is lending a hand (Anna)?

Jesse

Nathan helped the boys Friday and Saturday

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalms 1:2 ).

What originally was going to be just a new deck to be built at Nathan and Melanie’s house grew into a bigger project. Starting Monday morning, Joseph and John, who are heading the project, began the task, which involved breaking out cement chunks from their “cement pad.”

They’ve invested many hours over the past few days in tearing out cement, preparing forms for the new cement pad plus a wonderful sidewalk to the shed, pouring cement, working on drainage (Nathan was having water in his basement previously), and much more! The building of the deck should begin tomorrow. It’s such a delight to see my brothers working hard together, enjoying it, and doing such a quality job!

Sarah

Preparing for the cement pour...

Jesse has been helping after school, and he's diligently helped as much as he can in the afternoon and into the evening.

Building forms

When the cement truck arrived, John directed him in, and I couldn't resist taking a picture as Abby solemnly watched the process.

All poured and setting up!

Finishing work...

John

Joseph

“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Proverbs 22:29).

Dear Friends,

I was so blessed by your blog comments full of compassion and prayers for us. Thank you so very much!

I was especially pulled to the comments made by those who had also experienced miscarriages (some so very recently). You truly do know our pain.

Through the past year with this being my second miscarriage, I have come to realize that a miscarriage is not a one-day event. It covers such a greater time span. There is the time filled with hope before conception…the joy of a pregnancy…the discouragement and fears of complications (for those who know in advance)…the actual miscarriage… the days of healing of heart and body…the 6,7, 8 months following that are marked with the milestones of your pregnancy that are no longer real milestones…the due date…and then, as it slips in here and there, the continual reminders of your little one that you never got to know.

How does one face such pain??? How does one continue on??? Your lives, and the lives of several other women I know, are a testimony of the answer to those questions – by the grace (enabling) of God.

I don’t have any fancy plan for the future, but I know from the past days of this week that God is faithful to care for His children. As I am weak before Him, humbled, empty, then He can work in and through me. Oh if I could only live each day in this way. Starting out knowing I can not face the day on my own strength…not having even the energy to plan out a day…but looking to the Lord for strength, enabling, direction…Looking to my husband and simply following. Oh what a peaceful place that is.

We are taught in I Peter that a meek and quiet spirit are precious in God’s sight. My desire is to allow Christ to work in me through this time of sorrow and to purify my heart to be meek and quiet before Him.

Thank you for praying and for loving all of us!

Melanie

“But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (1 Peter 3:4).

Thank you for your prayers for Nathan and Melanie this week. Your comments have been a blessing to them, and the Lord has indeed ministered His grace.

This week has been sobering, with Nathan and Melanie losing their little one. We helped quite a bit with Abby and normal household duties–which aren’t duties with sweet Abby around ….

A “praise the Lord” was the trailer sold. A man from Des Moines, Iowa drove down Wednesday evening. About a half hour before he was to come, I was asked about the title to the trailer. My mind whirled, and I realized I didn’t know where the title was! Thus began a 15 minute search, with everyone pitching in. I had saved it somewhere “safe” (I guess), and Anna was the hero in finding it. I am so grateful to the Lord that the title was found!

We’re continuing to add stops to our January/February trip. We are keeping the map and schedule updated with each new stop.

I know a comment was left under Nathan’s last blog post that a family had lost their baby last Sunday, at 13 weeks along. We want to let you know how sorry we are for your loss. I’ve also been touched by reading how many of you have gone through miscarriages. I remember when Nathan and Melanie lost Susannah, another family had also lost their little girl, Spring. We also know there are others out there who have never been able to have a child of their own.

Resting in our Savior,
Sarah

We took a family walk last Sunday night, and fall was definitely in the air and on the ground.

Abby with one of the uncles' hats on.

Abby brings such joy!

Smelling a flower...

John cleaning out the trailer, preparing it to sell earlier this week.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

We needed to let you know that God has chosen to take this child home. We are left with many questions, most of which begin with “Why…” or “What if…” In time we hope to have some answers, but there are still many unknowns that we need to trust Him for - unknowns that will always be unknowns. It is amazing the hopes and dreams you can have for a little life even after just a few weeks.

Abigail is all the more precious to us, a little energetic bundle of joy. Last night we took her shopping for a new doll. We had planned on getting her one the past few weeks. Last night’s outing was the fulfillment of that unspoken promise, based on a hope that she will be a big sister some day. She was bouncing up and down in my arms as we perused the aisle selecting just the right one.

Once again, our evening Bible time closing hymn challenged us, particularly the fourth verse:

Soldiers of Christ, Arise

Leave no unguarded place, no weakness of the soul,
Take every virtue, every grace, and fortify the whole;
From strength to strength to on, Wrestle and fight and prayer
Tread all the powers of darkness down and win the well fought day.

Thank you for your loving prayer support.

Nathan

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

I don’t have a lot of news to provide but wanted to thank everyone for their prayers. Things continue to be very rough. Melanie has begun again to have complications that usually indicate a pending miscarriage. We are seeking God’s will during these next days on what steps we should/shouldn’t take…. labs, ultra-sound, supplements, rest, waiting…. the list could go on.

Thank you.

Nathan

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22).

This week has been full with being back to normal life again, with a few “un” normal things thrown in as well. Melanie is trying to stay down (bed rest), so we girls and Mom went over Friday morning and did a cleaning blitz of Nathan and Melanie’s house. During that hour, each of us had a turn to play with Abby.

Abby loves her grandma.

Monday was a gorgeous day, and Jesse washed the bus.

John spent some time this week trying to get the tag steering working on the bus. I don't know much about it, but that it would make the bus much easier to steer!

I'll let you guess on this one.

Joseph working on the back stairs. We will do a blog post on it when this project is finished.

Jesse and Joseph blessed us by stacking lots of wood to keep our basement warm this winter.

John and Christopher worked on a drainage project at Christopher's house today. It was a long, hard day, but they just finished the project!

Christopher

Nathan took Abby on a tractor ride. She loves tractors and lawnmowers ...

May you have a blessed Sunday and beginning of your week.

Until the next blog post!

Sarah for the family

“Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust…” (Psalms 40:4).

We have scrapbooking scheduled for us girls on Thursday afternoons from 3-4:30. Well, with the bus work and our trip, it was put off until we were back to normal life. Today was our first scrapbooking time for quite awhile. It was wonderful to be back at those pictures! We take so many on trips, and we enjoy documenting them in albums. Mom does digital scrapbooking with photo slideshows, which she enjoys displaying on a photo frame she received for a birthday gift. It’s a sweet time of fellowship with all the Maxwell girls!

Please keep praying for Melanie and the baby. Things are still very uncertain, and I know they’re extremely grateful for all your prayers.

My hope is built on nothing less
then Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Sarah

I had opened the back door, and Honey hurried over--she loves the fresh air, and she managed to squeeze in between my scrapbook things.

How many vehicles does it really take to get the Maxwells somewhere?!

Remember you can click into each picture to enlarge it!

Waiting (the girls discovered waiting in the lower area helped their hair not to blow so much!)... and the boys watching frogs...

One of the frogs (a picture from Joseph's camera).

Sweet Mama

If you look closely (you can also click into the picture), you will see Christopher on the left, and Dad on the right--both are talking on their cell phones--to whom?! Guess?! Trying to scout out that perfect photo location.

Our great photographer!

We took "bio" photos--since we're going to update the "about us" page with new text/photos. And, here's part of the audience .

"Smile, Annie!" This was just a side photo with my camera--Christopher was taking "head" shots from another angle.

Jesse asked to borrow my camera and took this photo!

Abby taking a break from pictures to pick up a ladybug.

Uncle Christopher's watch helped Abby out.

Grandad and Grandma came along to be with us, plus they used the remote control to take pictures.

Nathan, Melanie, and Abby were trying to get a picture, so some of the others were working to catch Abby's attention toward the camera.

"C'mon Abby!"

Okay, so those are some “behind the scenes” photos. In the next week or two, we’ll post some “real” pictures from Christopher’s camera!

Rejoicing in my Savior,
Sarah

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalms 133:)

Christopher took this picture when we were in Colorado; he loves to see the mountain streams as we drive or hike. The behind-the-scenes pictures will be coming soon, Lord willing!

“He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head” (Psalms 110:7).

Every month, Dad and Mom write articles for parents, specific to whatever the Lord has laid on their hearts that month. The addresses on the list are kept completely private. If you’d like to sign up, please visit this page.

Dad's and Mom's Corners

BTW - watch for a blog post soon on the annual Maxwell Family Photo session (scheduled for tonight, with a bit of wind, so lots of hairspray is in order) … I’ll do my best to capture some “behind the scenes” photos!

Sarah for the rest

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).

I was entering in MOTH (Managers of Their Homes) registrations, and the first testimony below caught my attention. My parents had not a clue how the Lord would use this book in the lives of so many families; they were simply obedient when the Lord said to write!

It’s a sunny, gorgeous autumn Monday here in Kansas.

Sarah

What a blessing the MOTH program has been to our family already, after only 1 week! We are, of course, still refining the schedule to better meet the needs of our family at this season of life, but what a difference already. Our 6 children are ages 9 ½ to 14 months, and we are expecting #7 in early March. Trying to homeschool the older ones while keeping order (let alone fun!) with the younger ones was just not happening, and I ended up most days very discouraged. My meek & quiet spirit had usually bitten the dust soon after breakfast, and my husband and I knew we needed to do something to bring peace, joy, and order to our home—especially with a new little blessing on the way. I’ve tried so many times to develop a schedule for our family, but this is the first time ever that is has really worked. We have been accomplishing so much: Bible study, school work, house work (ChorePacks are next on my list!), fun projects, reading stories, character training, and just enjoying one another. Many behavior problems are rapidly improving especially with the little ones, who weren’t getting enough attention or supervision before. This is truly an answer to prayer. We are praying for you ministry! Michelle

Oh, and here’s one more:

I’m thankful to have such a robust resource in my hands! Thanks for sharing your years of experience. I know God will bless our family through the MOTH book and Redeeming the Time book (my husband is REALLY enjoying that!). Continued blessings on your ministry. Heidi

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5).

After being gone for five weekends, this is our first one home; well, home for most of us. Christopher and Joseph were away photographing a wedding in St. Louis.

After working on his October Dad's Corner for awhile, Dad washed the front porch.

Anna has decided to spruce up her area where she does school. This involved moving yard tools and the like into another area.

Anna

Jesse--somehow I didn't get a picture of him outside helping, where he was most of the day!

I saw a bus "to do" list tape to the inside of a bus window. It's quite the list! (We're not going to finishing converting it before the next trip, but rather, these are just items that need to be dealt with before we are gone again.)

Dad and Mom went out to lunch together--they're smiling for Anna, who had her camera out.

The girls and Mom cleaned up the front porch--it needed it!

And we had time to chat with Melanie and Abby. Abby has only become cuter since we left on the trip!

Mid-week, John worked on taking the Families for Jesus decals off of our trailer, which we're getting ready to sell. We will be purchasing a smaller one to pull behind the bus (our current one is too big to legally pull with the bus!).

Dad, John, and Jesse, spent quite a bit of the afternoon working on the bus. Their project wasn’t going so well…

We’re looking forward to being back at our little church tomorrow morning. We’ve heard attendance has been down (several have moved to another home, and the nursing home in general doesn’t have as many), so I said to Dad we’ll need to work on that, and he agreed … He said we’ll have to have a membership drive (teasing, of course!!). Seriously, we’re excited about seeing all our dear friends. We send back postcards to them each week, which is a bright spot in their week. We’re extremely grateful to Nathan, Melanie, Abby, Grandad, Grandma, and another family for taking over church while we’ve been gone.

Have a very blessed Sunday, trusting and resting in our Lord Jesus!

Sarah for the rest

“As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him” (2 Samuel 22:31)”.

Here they are! Thank you to all my brothers and sisters who made this possible. We hope you enjoy a little sampling of the music. We had Anna’s video camera in the balcony picking up ambient sound and so it isn’t high quality audio, but you will get the idea.

Maxwell Family Music Clips

(You’ll need to click the above link, and the sample is an MP3.)

Speaking of music, today I updated our speaking schedule to show a map of our next trip. We have quite a few evenings available, plus days available for concerts. Please contact us if you’re interested in coordinating something.

Thank you for your prayers and rejoicing with us over Baby Max.

Sarah for all the Maxwells

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him” (Psalms 28:7).

Someone asked in a comment who played what instrument and who sang:

Dad — Sings lead, also plays bass guitar
Mom — Guitar
Christopher — Sings bass sometimes, plays harmonica, mandolin, and occasionally bass guitar
Sarah — Plays backup banjo (and takes pictures )
Joseph — Sings lead in several songs and harmony, plays mandolin and guitar
John — Banjo, sings bass in a song or two
Anna — Sings lead and harmony, plays fiddle
Jesse — Sings in a few songs, plays dobro, guitar, and hammer dulcimer
Mary — Sings harmony in a few songs, plays guitar, bass guitar, and mountain dulcimer

As you can see on the overlap of instruments, they’re traded around for different songs!

Abby

The purpose of this post is to ask for prayer. Many of you graciously inquire as to how we are doing and what we are up to. Let’s jump right in …  A number of weeks ago we learned Melanie was pregnant!! We were both very excited. She quickly started weekly lab draws to monitor hormone levels. A few weeks passed and then some warning signs. On Monday we received word regarding the last lab draw - a key indicator of the pregnancy’s viability indicated very bad news. Based on these, Melanie’s doctor asked that she have an ultra-sound, to “check viability.”  That happened yesterday. We were fully prepared for the confirmation that indeed this pregnancy wasn’t going forward. Instead, we saw a tiny baby with a beating heart! What a shock! To go from a mind-set of a pending, unavoidable miscarriage to seeing a beating heart and little baby - wow!! Thank You Lord!! It was like a miracle, being given our child back!

The technician started the ultra-sound and said, “Here’s your baby.” Both Melanie and I looked intently as we knew that would be our only chance to see him/her. Next she said, “Let’s see what that heart-rate is … 150 bpm — that’s perfect.” It got quiet for a moment, and then Melanie almost sat up and said, “Excuse me, did you say heart-beat?” The tech repeated everything, working to convince us that things looked good! Both of our eyes quickly filled with tears as the reality of what she was saying sank in.

Yes, there are still many questions. But, for today, our baby is alive, and we hope well. However, we are once again in a pregnancy with a lot of unknowns and uncertainty - yet our God is fully in control. We’ve sure been here before.

We are excited and thrilled that Melanie is still pregnant. We are asking God to sustain this little life. Should He bring us to your mind, we would be grateful if you would remember us in prayer as well.

Last night, as is customary for us, we closed our family Bible time with a hymn. We have been singing through our hymn books (yes, we skip the ones we don’t know…) and last night’s song was “Take time to be Holy.” I’ll close this post with the fourth verse:

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

Words: Will–iam D. Long–staff, 1882. Music: Ho–li–ness, George C. Stebbins

Nathan

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb” (Psalms 139:13).

We were close to being able to put the post up with the music clips, but we would have to use an outside website to put the video clips on, and all the options weren’t good options. It would have had a clickable link to their site and we couldn’t in good conscience allow it. One was even a “Christian” video site, and it was filled with sensuality and worldliness. It was obvious we made a bad decision to offer a video.

If we were to post the video without an outside host website, it would be extremely expensive because of the amount of data it would download for each view, so that’s not an option either . We’re extremely sorry for the disappointment. We would have enjoyed posting it, but it just isn’t an option. We will have to start over and do audio only and that will take a bit more time. Thank you for understanding!

Enjoying home life again…

Sarah for the rest

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalms 118:24).

Our goal had been to upload the video today, but, sadly, our Internet connection here is having great difficulty. A technician was out, and there is a problem which probably won’t be fixed until later tomorrow! In order to work with the large file, we need to have a solid connection–not one which varies .

So, I’m extremely sorry; we’ll upload it as soon as we’re able.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a Colorado picture that we hadn’t previously posted.

Sarah

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you” (2 Thess. 3:1).

Today has been a catch up day–it was a chilly, overcast autumn October 12th! The cool weather is a little shock to us after having been in warm weather for awhile. It was delightful this morning to be back to our gathering in our own living room reading God’s Word. It’s Daddy’s favorite time with us, and sometimes it’s hard not to over-chat!

Most things are in order to begin normal life tomorrow. We haven’t forgotten the video. We’ll be posting it sometime tomorrow, Lord willing .

Mom did lots of laundry today.

Anna distributed piles of mail. It had all been neatly sorted when we got home!

Anna, Mom, and Mary--working in the bus.

Mary has been learning to take pictures with my camera.

Joseph, John, and Jesse worked to unload the bays. I just had come around the side of the bus, and Joseph and John were talking.

There was some fall maintenance to be done on the yard, which Jesse did.

Sarah for the rest

“Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered” (Psalms 40:5).

Yesterday was a quiet drive, although traffic wasn’t so quiet! We noticed fall foliage in many of the maple trees–which was a bit surprising since fall isn’t usually in full swing until the end of this month. Finally, we entered “home” territory! As we were within a few hours of home, it tickled me to see people wearing heavy coats and stocking caps–we went from 90 degrees in Columbus Friday, to winter weather! After having been in areas with warmer weather, it seems strange to see people all decked out for winter.

Fall is definitely here! We're already discussing locations for our family picture soon.

Since Abby hadn’t seen us for several weeks, we wondered how she would do–she sweetly gave hugs, and we were surprised to see her walking with such ease! She warmed up to us quickly, and it was obvious she was enjoying the attention of so many relatives again.

Hugs...

Mary

She looks tickled ...

Reading with Uncle Jesse.

Grandma and Abby

Abby and I

Nathan had picked up dinner (pizza to bake) the night before, and also brought Rice Krispy treats for dessert (one particular member of the family’s favorite). It was a sweet reunion! Then, we all gathered in the living room to read God’s Word together.

After everyone left at 8:30, we went out to unload the bus. With so many of us, we found it easier to unload from the back to the front, otherwise people were almost getting tripped over as they moved to the front! It took us less than an hour to get most of our main living items out of the bus. Some things will stay for our next trip (early January).

Mary

Carrying things in...

John

We have so many memories from the trip–and from the e-mails we’re receiving, testimonies from those who have been to a conference and their family will never be the same again, it makes our hearts overflow for what the Lord Jesus did.

Thank you for standing behind us in prayer. Truly, we felt them, we have heard of the fruit, and we are eternally grateful.

With love from the whole family,

Sarah

“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

Yes, it’s a joy to be home.

We arrived safely home to a happy Nathan, Melanie, and Abby … with Grandad and Grandma joining us shortly thereafter. More pictures from tonight will be posted tomorrow.

Good night!

Sarah for the rest

It can be a little tight, we found, to unpack with so many of us! We had to bring our bedding in, since most of used our things from home, and we all opted to sleep inside tonight!

“And how shall they preach, except they be sent? . . .” (Romans 10:15)