As Thanksgiving approaches, Melanie and I wanted to post a “thank you” to all the prayer warriors who have prayed for us and loved us over these past years. We are immensely grateful for God’s gracious leading through both difficult and joyous times. We have been overwhelmed by your prayer support. We are not sure why God chose to bless us with so many friends, most whom we’ve never met, who have faithfully upheld us in prayer. Thank you! May God bless each of you as you have blessed us.

I was recently talking with an extended family member who was struggling with uncertainty over her future. It wasn’t the future that was hard for her, but just not knowing how things would work out. I remember numerous times 2+ years ago thinking, “God, if You’d just tell us when You’re going to bless us with children, we’ll be happy to wait.” Waiting on Him is rarely easy, and yet that’s what He asks of Christians frequently. To wait, and while waiting, to trust. Looking back, I realize that I’m glad we didn’t know what would happen when. God faithfully supported and led. We only needed, and at times could handle, the next step.

Abigail with a stuffed lobster Joseph and Anna brought back from the last trip for her.

Each month, the guys from my family, and often a few other friends, lead a chapel service at a local men’s shelter. The November service was going to be challenging. Due to a wedding, all my normal piano players were tied up. I worked and worked to find someone to play the piano for the service. After repeatedly asking God for His direction and provision, and then telling my dad about my dilemma he offered a suggestion. “Why don’t you play your guitar?” he said. I enjoy playing at home when it’s Melanie, Abigail and I and we’re finishing up our family Bible time with singing. But, at the mission with a group of men… sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. However, due to a lack of other options November 9th found me carrying my guitar into the mission. The chaplain led us to a number of different places before we ended up in an upstairs’ room. Because of remodeling, the normal chapel wasn’t available, and the two alternate locations didn’t work either. The room we held chapel in was one floor above where the piano was located. God knew we didn’t need a piano player for that service. He directed and provided in spite of my best efforts.

Abigail

Rereading my above paragraphs, I’m realizing how difficult this is going to be to conclude and pull all together. I’m sure a skilled writer wouldn’t have a problem with that, but since it’s just me I’ll do my best and hopefully it is somewhat understandable. As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m impressed by two things. First, gratefulness – to God for saving and leading us, to Melanie for her love and trust over the years, and to our families, friends, and blog readers for your love, care and support.

Abigail's bath robe .

But, I’m also reminded of the years Melanie and I spent without children. For some, five years will seem like a long time, to others short. We’re aware of how many couples there are throughout the world that desire to have children. We’re told that the holidays are all about family and memories. There is of course much more to them, but family time is important. I can remember Christmas celebrations where Melanie and I were acutely aware of the fact that we had no children. Scripture says that “even in laughter the heart may ache…” And yet now we look back at those years with a whole new perspective. They seem much shorter in hindsight than they did when we were “living” them. But, we also see God’s perfect control over our lives, what we learned during that time, and how He prepared us for what He had in store in the future. His leading is right, even when it doesn’t make sense to us or fit our desires. To trust isn’t easy, it’s required.

Melanie and Abigail

Abigail and I

Melanie caught this on camera! Abigail really looks like she was drinking from this cup. We thought it was cute.

Abigail and Aunt Anna. Abigail's aunts and uncles love to hold and play with her.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Nathan, Melanie and Abigail

Yum?!! We have a small, fire "pit" in our new backyard where we can burn things like wood scraps, etc. Occasionally (very), we'll do s'mores. This time, it was Grandad and Grandma's treat.

We are practicing up for November 30th. Aunt Anna let Abigail hold onto her bow--the only problem, Abigail really wanted to taste it too. She would look all the way up the bow and grab for it.

Such a CUTE little hand!

Anna grabbed my camera during our music practice last night and took this picture. We were having relaxed practice .

Another relaxed banjo player!

The work at the house is progressing. Dad is wiring in the outlets, and Jesse is screwing on the covers.

John is caulking. (I saw he found a use for those sheetrocking stilts. Hmmmm...)

We girls and Mom will often work on clean up on the house. Here is Mary.

And here is Annie. She was working through a huge pile of odd-sized pieces of wood, and Dad let her use the saw to cut up some of them. It made the job more interesting, I think.

I didn’t explain what happened with the toilet leak, either. Daddy found that there was a defect in the toilet! So, it wasn’t anything that we did, but rather a lemon of a toilet. Oh well.

As we approach Thanksgiving week, I think of how many things I am grateful for. Truly, the Lord has blessed each one of us in so many ways!

Sarah for the rest

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalms 100:4).

Driving through Tennessee one beautiful morning on this last trip, we heard the story of “The Volunteer State”. I hadn’t thought too much about their slogan (every state has one!), until Christopher researched it on the Internet and read aloud to us the history behind it. As he read the stories of men who had given their lives for others, and done incredibly heroic deeds which resulted in the sacrifice of their most precious gift, themselves, I was amazed. My Grandad is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and in fact, was awarded a Purple Heart. It’s only by the grace of God is he still with us, because he nearly lost his life from enemy combat.

Thank you to those of you who are working (and those who have already fulfilled their time of service) to keep America the land of the free. May each one of us never take that freedom from granted.

Most of all, my heart is grateful to my Lord and Savior, who bore my sin upon the cross, and gave His life to ransom me.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. . . . Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15 and 17).

Last Wednesday, if you were at our house, you would have seen all nine of us loading all our instruments, gear, and then ourselves into four different vehicles (two from close relatives ) and heading down to our local feed store. We decided it was time to take individual shots of each person with their instrument, as well as another group photo. Dad had been at this feed store for grass seed last year, and he thought it would make a great backdrop for the photos.

We were on a schedule: we had about 10 minutes for each person’s photo session, which included finding the next location in the feed store “storage area”, and working with the different lighting, etc. Christopher took the main photos with Joseph backing him up, and I just took photos of the whole scene. Grandad and Grandma came along to watch, and it was quite the family event.

We ended with our family photo on the loading dock. Then, we all loaded back up, and drove home, where Nathan, Melanie, and Abigail joined us for our “normal” family picture in our new house’s backyard.

Sarah for the family

It isn't always easy to find a natural pose for someone, so part of Christopher's "job" was to work with the pose.

Here we have Grandad and Grandma watching, Christopher getting his camera adjusted, Mary holding the light reflecter, Joseph taking other angle shots, and finally Jesse .

Dad and Mom in front of a neat old doorway.

Okay, so you just saw the previous picture, and here's what they look like from the angle of Christopher's camera. Pretty amazing difference!

"Alright, 1-2-3, smile!" Anna stood nearby watching (she had hairbrushes and such items in her bag if we needed them).

Peeking around the corner where Christopher was taking Joseph's photo.

A picture from Joseph's camera.

Getting the light reflector set just right...

Together on the back dock of the feed store.

“O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation”
(Psalms 95:1).

Hopefully you aren’t tired of Abigail pictures yet–here are a few more. ~Sarah

Jesse and Abigail--uncles and aunts alike enjoy Abigail .

Abigail and Anna--we celebrated Anna's birthday last week, so here is Aunt Anna and Abigail.

Abigail's face lit up when she saw my camera, and she delightedly reached for it. I have a feeling she'll be pretty easy to photograph .

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. . .” (Proverbs 17:22)