Each week when we arrive for church and when we leave, I wave at a gentleman in our nursing-home church from outside the building through the window of his room. He is always there waiting for me to wave at him. Sunday, his wife told me that after we had left church last week for home, this elderly man with Alzheimers, told his wife I had forgotten to wave goodbye to him. Hmmm. Now who has the problem with memory?

God is so good. After we arrived home, I wanted to get Uriah in for some more maintenance because I’m trying to get him up to the level he needs to be. He was having major cooling system work done and required a new radiator, water pump, and miscellaneous things. After the work was completed I was told how much it cost, which I felt was very reasonable. Still I asked if there had been any adjustment on the price and he laughed. He said, “Well, I’ll tell you. He cut the price by over half.” That was a considerable amount of money, and they did that on their own. Well actually, there is no doubt in my mind the Lord Jesus was the One Who was working in their hearts. The girls quickly baked some fresh cookies, wrapped each one in plastic wrap, and we put them in a basket with million dollar bill tracts so that we had a nice thank you for the workers when we picked up Uriah. Isn’t God good?

In Christ Jesus, Steve

Still waiting .

Nathan

Melanie and I are a good way through a nice Sunday. We don’t normally “do business” on Sundays however with this being Mother’s Day and my desire to make Sundays in general, and this one specifically, special, she had Mexican (her choice) carryout for lunch. I ordered from a new semi-fast, authentic place that “had the best fajitas in Kansas City” the order taker said (not quite). But, Melanie liked her tacos and thanked me for having them go light on the cilantro!

We’re reading a George Muller biography together. We’ve just gotten to the part where he’s saved and committed himself as a missionary. We’re desiring to learn about prayer through this and looking forward to being challenged by his life.

Its funny, the cleaning crew very carefully cleans the tv each day. We’ve laughed about how that’s one thing we’d never know if it were grimy or not. We’ve wondered how many other rooms here don’t have the constant noise and filth spewing forth - probably not very many. For us, that’s a result of our commitment to “come out and be ye separate.” Sadly, weekend nights are movie nights for most in the US- including Christians. I wonder if people driving by your house (or walking past your room as in our case ) will see the flash and glow of a TV or the lack of all that that comes from a family spending quality time together in the Bible. What light/Light is shining in your home?

Nathan

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

Waiting.

Waiting.

Time goes by.

Resting in our Savior,
All the Maxwells

Another night has passed. The more time goes by the more we realize we don’t fit the “norm.” Water breaks, we get to the hospital and the hard contractions stop. So, we’re waiting, and waiting. Time is now measured in days as opposed to weeks. We’re grateful the dr’s are willing to monitor and let Melanie’s body, along with BabyMax, signal when its time for real labor.

It’s funny, we had just started to let ourselves make plans for more than a day or two out. We have each of our siblings over for a birthday dinner after their birthdays (sometimes months after due to schedules). My sister Sarah’s dinner was to be last night. That didn’t happen. The funny thing is that Melanie’s sister Anna’s dinner was to be the evening of our first hospitalization. Maybe we should quit planning these birthday dinners…

We read Psalm 27 and 34 last night. We love the word picture of the Angel of God encamping around those who fear Him. This is what we’re praying for BabyMax. Psalm 27 has the challenge to seek the face of our Lord, not on our own initiative but as a directive from Him. It concludes with “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Nathan

Melanie’s water broke early this morning but hard labor hasn’t followed. We are back at the hospital. Once again we have no idea when anything will happen, but for now things are relatively quiet. Dr’s are content to watch/wait. At this point Baby will probably come sooner rather than later but that’s all we know.

Thank you for your prayer support of BabyMax and Melanie. I remember picking up a book from a popular Christian author (I’ll leave the name out) at a book store 10+ years ago and flipping through it to see what it was about. One line stood out and stuck in my memory, something like “No, we can’t do that yet, the saints are not praying yet!” Driving in to the hospital this morning, that line was running through my head. It is a blessing to have prayer support!

Nathan

We received a call from Melanie about 4:30 a.m. saying that her water had broken, and they were in the car headed to the hospital. She said her contractions had definately picked up. She is at 33 weeks so they are back at the hospital where Susannah Joy was born. She would have had to be 34 weeks to go to the hospital they were planning to deliver at. The good news is that they are familiar with the hospital and staff. The difficult part, in addition to it being so early for this baby to be born, is that this is the exact week in pregnancy that Susannah Joy was born. Thank you for your continued prayers. We will update as we have news.

In Christ Jesus, Steve and Teri

Still Resting 

I’m a bit late on a post - sorry! Things continue to be pretty quiet, still at home and still waiting. We are noticing an increase in contractions, whether that is regular pregnancy progression or other things we don’t know. But, Melanie is now almost to week 33 - something we’re very grateful for.

We continue to be so grateful for the prayer support. Here are some of the things we’re praying about:

• Baby’s protection, both physically and spiritually, from any harm.
• Baby’s strength- we’re asking that whenever Baby Max shows up, that he/she is ready for life and doesn’t need medical support/assistance. When Melanie was hospitalized, one of our nurses, who previously took care of Melanie when she carried Susannah, said, “I just know you’re going to take this baby home.” Her comment about taking this baby home caught us off guard. But, we realized that is what this is all about, giving Baby Max as much time to get strong as possible because we want to take this little one home and raise/care for him/her.
• Labor/Delivery - that both Melanie and Baby would come through it fine. Melanie can be a little apprehensive after a traumatic birth with Susannah and the strength/stamina loss due to weeks of bedrest.
• Hospital Arrival - that Baby Max gives us enough heads up on his/her arrival to make it to a hospital.

Nathan

Nathan and Melanie and BabyMax

We praise the Lord for another week that Baby Max has not come. We are extremely grateful for the prayers: truly, our Heavenly Father is so gracious.

Joseph and John have been working hard to build the deck for the new house while the weather is cool. There definitely were some challenges they faced, but they persevered, and after a week and a half, the deck is in the final stages. The building inspector came out, and he was quite complimentary of their work.

As some may have heard, severe storms affected the Midwest Thursday evening. Around 1:45 a.m. Friday morning, we were awakened by and watched the violent downpour, ferocious wind, and constant lightning. We were surprised that the tornado sirens didn’t go off, since there were several tornados in north Kansas City.

May each of us look to our Lord Jesus this coming week and be filled with His joy. “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

Chiplet is doing very well in his temporary “home”. Here is a little background on how Chiplet was found. Christopher and Sarah were on a walk on Thursday and discovered a little squirrel sitting solemnly in the easement next to the sidewalk. They stopped and looked, interested in the fact that it was so little, but he didn’t move. They assumed that the little guy was hurt so they called the Jesse and me to ride over on our bikes and pick him up. When we arrived on the scene he was still lying there gravely blinking at the world. I got my gloves on and carefully went to pick up the little “wayfaring stranger”. He, of course, was a little disturbed at the attempt to pick him up and tried to run. I noticed that something was a little strange in that when he tried to run he was on his side and was pushing himself along the ground. I put him into the box I had prepared and returned home.

Chiplet currently resides inside a cardboard box filled with wood chips. Since we didn’t know what was wrong with him we bought some special puppy milk (because cows’ milk will make him sick) and fed him. The sad part is that when I picked him up later that day I discovered that he was deformed. Chiplet is missing his limbs on the right side. It appears Chiplet was born this way. Since we cannot raise Chiplet to go wild, we have learned that by law he has to be given to the ”humane society” since he is not able to live on his own in the wild. It is sad that he won’t have a “normal” squirrel life, but since sin entered, this world is no longer perfect. It is amazing that Jesus cares for the little sparrow, and he certainly cares for little Chiplet. We have really enjoyed our time with him.

For now he slurps his puppy milk down at regular intervals, and he likes being carried around the house. He has gained a lot of strength since Thursday, and is amazingly active and can function and move very well for what he has to work with. We are blessed to have found little Chiplet before he was found by an animal, and it will be very difficult to turn him over as required. 

John 

08/09/2006:

5/12/2007:

And now this morning:

A little abandoned squirrel was found. We’ve named him Chiplet. We’re giving him puppy milk through a syringe, and he has started taking it.

Three years in a row! Hmmmm!!!

Sarah

The past two days have been spent settling back into life at home and working at catching up on things.

There is always a lot of mail to sort through, and the below picture doesn’t show all that we had (not to mention what we had sent to us on the road - thanks G&G ).

Sunday night, below, you’ll see some of the family happily chatting with Grandad and Grandma (and some were happily chatting with Nathan and Melanie over at their house!).

Honey was glad to have us home. Grandad and Grandma took good care of her. Mary was organizing book table tubs Monday, and Honey laid down amidst the mess.

It was quite a major task to unload the bus: and thank you to John, Anna, Jesse, and Mary who spent time unloading it!

Lawns to be mowed…

Green grass and beautiful flowers were almost surreal after seeing brown so long!

A VERY big thank you to Anna for taking most of these photos! Plus, she is our “behind the scenes” girl who picks out pictures for each blog post, works on them to make them the correct size and resolution. She is a blessing: thanks, Annie!

Sarah for the rest

My last few posts have been rather heavy so it’s a relief to have some happier news to report this time. After a routine ultra-sound on Friday, the doctor turned to Melanie and asked, “Want to go home?” Melanie was caught totally off guard and managed to say, “Yes.” The Dr. then smiled and said, “Get out of here!” So, we’re home! Mid-way through 30 weeks and home!

The longer version of this is that ever since Melanie was permanently hospitalized, we knew that 34 weeks was the earliest they would consider releasing her. Yes, she could have left anytime (we were told it wasn’t a prison , but the pregnancy was fragile and we trusted our Dr’s opinions. If they felt it was dangerous for her to leave the hospital, we were committed to honoring that. However, we also prayed. We prayed that if God wanted us else-where, that He would impress that on the Dr’s hearts, and that they would be the ones to tell us that - without us asking! So, when the Dr. asked Melanie if she wanted to leave, we saw it as God’s clear direction.

So, Melanie’s mom packed up the hospital room in record time, and they waited and waited for me to finish work. It was only about 1.5 hours, but it seemed like forever to my wife, sitting now unnecessarily in a hospital room.

I got her home and we both rejoiced at God’s leading. To be honest, it was a little scary. The pregnancy is still fragile, the future unknown, and there are plenty of “what-ifs” hanging around. However, we have confidence in God’s direction and felt we could do nothing but follow it. So, whether we’re home for 2 days or 2 months, we’re going to enjoy what time we do have. Little things like being able to walk around in one’s socks and having a refrigerator that you can put things in - there are many blessings related to being home! The staff at the hospital was wonderful, but being able to sleep past 6:00 a.m. without someone coming in was great!

We continue to covet prayer support for this little life. We’re praying that whenever Baby does come, that he/she wouldn’t need significant medical care. We’re also praying for Baby’s protection from anything physically or spiritually that might harm him/her. There are many other concerns/burdens that we have, but these are the key ones!

Nathan

Our evening conference in Bend, Oregon, was a good one. The attendance was higher than we expected, and the hearts were receptive. In Sarah’s girls’ and young ladies session, she said she had one of the most attentive groups yet. Some were even taking notes.

We were delighted to have a clear day to enjoy the beautiful drive from Redmond, Oregon, to McMinnville through the mountains. There was over a hundred and twenty inches of snow on the ground at the pass.

The conference in McMinnville was another one that exceeded our expectations concerning the number who came and open hearts to our message. The church provided us with dinner before the conference. We were happily surprised when the brother of friends of ours – retired school teachers – from Leavenworth, drove forty-five minutes to say hello.

With great joy, Steve was able to say in the Keeping Our Children’s Hearts session that the conservative church that was sponsoring the conference and in which it was being held, had no youth group. Seldom do we speak in a church with no youth group, and many families are looking for a church like that.

Today we move into Canada for weekend conferences the next two weekends. We are praying for a smooth border crossing both ways. Because of the books and materials we bring with us, there is a great amount of detailed paperwork that needs to be accurately completed.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

(We weren’t able to post this yesterday, the 31st. We’ll be updating on our Bend conference later.)  

We moved to The Dalles, Oregon, on Friday for the weekend conference. We seem to be taking winter weather with us as we travel. The beautiful views were obscured by low-hanging clouds, but as we neared The Dalles, we could catch glimpses of the Columbia River and the hills surrounding it.

Despite light snow on Friday evening, there was a good-sized group in attendance. We felt the reception to the conference was positive. Many shared with us the challenge the Lord was giving to them and their renewed vision of seeking His direction for their family – as a family.

After the conference, we loaded up, ate dinner, and drove to Redmond, Oregon, where we will stay until Tuesday morning after the Bend, Oregon, conference. It was a challenging drive because of how tired Steve was, many hairpin turns, and most of the trip being up and down hill. In the van that wouldn’t have been so difficult, but with the bus Steve has to be cautious not to overheat the brakes so the downhill miles are slow and tedious.

Our Bend, Oregon, host family graciously invited us to stay in their grandparents’ mobile home, which is next to their house, because the grandparents chose to visit other family members – just so we can stay there. We are very grateful for the housing, food, and fellowship provided our family while we are in Redmond.

We are praying for our evening conference tonight and the one tomorrow. We always look forward to meeting any of you who are able to join us for a conference. Please be sure to introduce yourself to us.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Little girl getting a drink of water.

Tight turns going from The Dalles to Bend.

The conference in Ontario, Oregon went well Tuesday night. Whereas, it is often a bit difficult getting back into the conference setup routine, this one was very smooth. The Lord orchestrated circumstances so that we are able to remain with the family who has been hosting our family earlier this week until Friday. This will allow Steve to accomplish some bus work. It is also easier on our family when get a break from the frequent moving that is characteristic of our road trips. We are enjoying the fellowship, activities, views, and hospitality of our country stay. Grandma is doing a great job of shipping, and Melanie is staying down while her family comes in during the day to stay with her when Nathan is at work.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Joseph doing a repair project.

The boys helped a fence project.

Mary — feeding an animal cracker to an animal .

Just a quick BabyMax update. Melanie is being a great sport with her bedrest. Her family is over daily to keep her company and assist with household tasks. We miss my family but are grateful hers is close. The Lord is also faithfully providing help for our nursing home services, this is a huge blessing.

Melanie still has contractions off and on. We’ve had some moments of concern where we’ve wondered if a trip to the hospital was in our immediate future. Ultimately, only God knows when this child will come. We are grateful for each day that passes and praying that baby stays put for … a week, five weeks, 13 weeks.

Thank you all for your prayer support. It is very comforting to know that this child’s well-being is constantly before our Father’s throne.

Nathan, Melanie and Baby Max
Psalm 77

Saturday, we didn’t make it out of Steamboat Springs until around 3:30 p.m. Thankfully the work got finished, and we now have power on the bus, which means a refrigerator that works and lights.

We are staying with a family in the country until Wednesday morning, and we’re looking forward to the conference in Ontario, Oregon (about an hour outside of Boise, ID) tomorrow evening.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Nathan, Melanie, and Baby Max. We are extremely grateful for your prayers and encouragement. We know people are also remembering Nathan and Melanie in prayer, because it was this time last year, that little Susannah went to be with Jesus. Nathan and Melanie are blessed by your prayers for them. We’ll keep you updated about Baby Max, but right now, he/she’s staying put, for which we’re grateful.

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest of the family

Dad working on some wiring Saturday.

Christopher doing some clean up.

Dad with the two workers that installed the system.

Joseph working on building a shelf around the batteries.

A windmill up close! We haven’t seen the windmills this close to the road, so these windmills must be new since we last went through.

Mountains are a beautiful reminder of God’s Creation!

Joseph, John and I spent about twelve hours with the installer today, while the rest of the family spent most of their day in the hotel room. They did take one trip out to see if they could find Jesse a cowboy hat. He’s been wanting one a long time, but the didn’t find one that fit.

The installer was a craftsman and takes great pride in his work. The negative, is things always take longer than desired. We will pack out of the room tomorrow morning and the family will wait on Uriah while we try and complete the work.

After they finish we drive six hundred miles to Twin Falls, Idaho, unless it gets too late and we are too tired after the bus work. Sunday we go on into Ontario, Idaho where we have a conference Tuesday night.

Our hearts are very much back with Nathan and Melanie. We know so many are praying and we are very grateful.

We received a very amusing email today from a family we will be seeing soon. They knew we were in Steamboat Springs today and decided to check the local webcam to see what the weather conditions are. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words, below is the webcam photo that they saw this morning.

God bless.

In Christ Jesus,
Steve

Just a quick post to say we arrived safely here in Steamboat Springs–praise the Lord!

Sarah for the rest

We stopped for diesel outside of Denver, and the weather was beautiful: it felt like spring and in the 70’s. After we left Denver and started up into the mountains, the temperature dropped, and soon we hit light snow. We drove through light snow for awhile until suddenly the combination of snow/altitude created a whole different situation as the roads changed to snow/slush. Please pray as we go the last 60 miles to Steamboat Springs. We do have chains we can put on the bus if necessary.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

We are now on the road, several days earlier than was the original plan. Dad decided last week that it would be good if we could leave today, instead of Sunday. We are going to stop in Steamboat Springs, CO for a little over a day to have some electrical things installed as an initial step as we work toward converting Uriah. It was a perfect stop on our way out to Idaho, so we’re grateful that the Lord opened up a way.

(We missed Nathan and Melanie today during our prayer time. They waved at us from their window.)

Thank you for your prayers for Nathan, Melanie, and Baby Max. Your prayers and notes are extremely encouraging to all of us. For those who are wondering, yes, Melanie is on bed rest. She has such a sweet spirit. Melanie had originally planned to ship our Titus2 web orders while we were gone, like she has done in the past, but obviously the bed rest made that not possible. With very short notice, Grandma willingly agreed to ship orders for us this next month. Thank you, Grandma, for your help. Grandad and Grandma will be spending many hours taking care of the ministry and house while we are away. We are blessed.

We’ve had a few changes on Uriah for this trip. First, Dad decided to bring a refrigerator, so we no longer have to refill a cooler and repack it every few days. We’re careful not to have the door open very long, since it can’t be plugged in all the time until we get the batteries and invertor installed in Steamboat Springs tomorrow. Anna and Jesse spent many hours pulling wires for temporary lights for the bus. It’ll be a blessing to have light in the evening.

Dad installed a speedometer with an odometer, but he didn’t have enough time to be able to get it calibrated correctly. No problem, though. We used the small GPS unit to figure out the speed, and here’s a picture of how the speedometer currently looks. 

Dad is hoping he’ll be able to work on it at some point during the trip. Steamboat Springs is several hours past Denver in the mountains, so we would appreciate prayer for safety as we drive in tonight, and then that the work would go smoothly on Uriah tomorrow.

Serving Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

Uriah was mostly loaded last night, which was a blessing.

Thank you for every one’s prayers. Melanie was released from the hospital this afternoon. There has been no progression in labor and no internal changes. All this is an answer to prayer.

We’re amazed at how quickly life brings changes. Yesterday at 9:00 am we were enjoying the final moments of seeing our baby on what was to be the last ultra-sound of this pregnancy. At 9:05 the ultra-sound tech was telling us she was very concerned, a dr was coming in echoing those same sentiments, and a few moments later Melanie was being helped into a wheel-chair to be admitted to the hospital. This is of course a very simplified overview as there was alot of questions of the medical staff mixed with tears as we sought the Lord’s will with the new information/events. Our world so changed in 10 minutes. But, God is in control and wasn’t surprised by any of it. I kept thinking that I was crying out to Him who calmed the winds and waves, and that the winds and waves that were buffeting us still understood His voice and knew Who was in charge.

Specific prayer requests:

• Baby Max (just the nickname, we have no idea on the gender) needs to stay put. Goal is 34 weeks, we’re at 26.
• Dilation needs to not increase (we’re praying that it will decrease)
• Contractions need to be minimal and not show up very often
• We need to know when things do pick up when to go to the hospital. We have no desire to have a preemie delivered by paramedics.

Praises:

• That Melanie got to come home.
• That we were able to seek counsel of a number of key health-care providers that affirmed that Melanie going home was not taking unnecessary risks.
• That baby is very active and looked good on the ultra-sound

Nathan, Melanie, and Baby Max

Quick prayer request…. A routine ultrasound found that Melanie is dialated. She has been admitted to the hospital for observation and possible pre-term labor treatment. We covet your prayers. She is 26 weeks along.

Friday marks the one year anniversary of Susannah’s birth, here at the same hospital. That makes things a little more emotionally challenging.

Nathan, Melanie and Baby

Often the last thirty days before a trip are very difficult but when challenge after challenge hit, the reality has settled in that the usual pre-trip barrage has begun, as Satan tries to hinder and thwart our family. We would covet your prayers over the next week: that we would keep our eyes on Jesus, gladly welcome the challenges, and experience God’s peace. Anna remarked to me today that this must mean it’ll be a great trip (because of all that is happening). Even Titus2 went down solid tonight, and Joseph and Dad had to make a trip into Kansas City to swap out a power supply in the server .

We are excited about the trip, and we will continue to press on amidst the down-pour .

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest