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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Only God

God wants you to know that when everything else is gone, that makes more room for Him, and every time there is more room for him, you are blessed. 

Long, exhausting week and weekend.

One of Dave's friends that  was a Lt. at Milwaukee Police Department, lost his battle with cancer.  He had the same cancer Dave did and leaves behind a wife and 3 littles.  His funeral was Friday.
 


 

Another friend lost her 2 year battle cancer and leaves behind 4 littles and an awesome pastor preaching husband.
Her funeral was Saturday.


 



And Trevor Casper's funeral was Sunday.  








"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3 (NIV)


We will also be going up to Mayo this week for Dave's round of regular testing. Please lift these families up in prayer and pray for good results and safe travels for us. 
 Thank you so much for all of your love and being part of our journey!
























Friday, March 27, 2015







 Trevor Casper


    
 On Tuesday, my husband was representing the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police by testifying in a public hearing at our state capitol. Dave told the committee of senators how police officers all across the country risk their lives everyday serving and protecting others.

Dave had no idea that just a short time later after he returned from the state capitol that he would have to go tell the parents of a state trooper that their son had been killed in the line of duty.

     
     Trooper Trevor Casper was shot in the line of duty during a gunfight with a bank robber earlier that night. Trevor was from our city and was a well-known and very well liked young man in our community. Dave said it was one of the worst things he has had to do in his 26 years as a police officer. He has had the awful job of having to make death notifications to families before and every time it hurts him, but this time it was so very hard for him to do because he knew the family. The trooper’s mother works with Dave at City Hall. They are very nice people and it was so hard for Dave to do. He knew it was better that they heard it from him because it was from someone they know, but it was so hard to do. He has cried many times in private since Tuesday but he knows he has to stand strong to support the family and the troopers who are also so very sad about this.


     Dave has been gone for many long hours since that time. He is helping the family and the city prepare for the very large funeral this weekend. He knows that the best way he can help the family is by doing everything he can to help make sure the funeral goes well.



     Dave has said many times that he believes God saved him from his cancer fight so that he can continue to serve others. It is times like this that make us believe that.

     
     We have many long days and nights ahead of us but nothing compared to what this trooper’s family is going through. It is an awful time for them and for our community. Please pray for them and the trooper’s fellow officers. So many people are hurting from this. 
   
      May Jesus comfort and hold their hearts as only He can and remind them of His unending love...



       May the peace of Jesus surround and embrace them, along with His comfort, hope, inner strength to move forward, and joy in memories they all shared. 

I pray  that grace will find them  in their grief.


 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matt.5:4



Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Self control, love and mud

This is our self control prayer sheet.  Some of those pray this daily every time they walk by it.  I think it is something we all struggle with on some degree. Captain America was hanging on for dear life.


Olivia always seems to take her research projects one step further with pictures and all. Love her creativity and imagination. I never knew who Robert Fulton was until she studied him.  Love this home schooling jig.


Thank you Auntie Annie for the  archaeology dig for Jonah's birthday. He  loved it.  He found 3 little critters.  Every one had a part in doing it.




This little star is quite the runner.  Running every chance he gets.  If a door is open he is GONE! Wow, apparently we should of kept our fence up. He loves to be outside.


Mud is so much fun. You have to love the spring thaw..seriously come and play with us.



We kind of all love to sit by the patio door when the sun meets you in the afternoon at just the right angle.  There is always a warm spot to sit by on the floor.  Everything is a rainbow in this little star's life.


You rarely ever get to eat breakfast alone in this house.  All the boyz looking at the same book together. Love that they will always have each other.  They are all the best of friends.


Olivia's memory verse for the week with a  delightful illustration.


With the nicer weather they wanted to exercise outside instead of on the treadmill.  So this is how they roll in the early am.  They all love to get it done right away in the morning.  I am the same way. There is no way you can get me to exercise past 9 am.  Just not my thing.  Gabe is happy to be part of it.


Olivia was missing dad one morning so she wanted to write him a nice letter.  Love the wordage she uses. *cute little girl*


Jonah made her this one morning after she woke up.  Delightful little hearts they have for each other.  They love to serve each other.



Have a great Wednesday!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Concert, Pen pals, Smoothies and Something to Think About

Went to another concert with my little lady.  It was her birthday gift.  One of her many favorite bands is Rend Collective.  We saw them with Chris Tomlin and Tenth Avenue North. We were dancing and jumping around so much with Rend we were dripping sweat. We left a few minutes after Chris started and she was done for the night abut 10 minutes into the car ride home.
Funny thing happened there.  We had gone to a Toby Mac concert for her Christmas gift in December and sat by a sweet couple with a bunch of kids.  We sat right next to them this time in a different arena.  What are the odds of that?




Chocolate sundaes for a mid morning snack just because...


Olivia's funny picture.  So I am going to beat Dave with a spoon and then  he will arrest me???


Olivia was making my smoothie.  Can you tell?  I told her to add a banana.
 


New storage idea for our pen pal letters.  We all love our pen pals here but I was running out of room for storing their letters.  This was brilliant.  A different color for each one.  Love this!



 These 2 having a battle when they are supossed to be cleaning up.


Olivia asked if she could put Gabe down for a nap.  I went in there about 10 minutes later(because I thought I would squeeze in one more wiping off the counter...OCD) and found this.  So sweet.


She cracks me up.  This is how she makes her bed.  Somehow adding two empty pillow cases to the bottom does the trick. 


I literally ran to switch the loads of laundry and he had covered his head, belly button, all 10 toes and his legs.  While the other stars just sat in the same room doing their thing.

 
something to think about

True belief in both heaven and hell radically changes the way we live on earth.  We are encouraged by  the hope of heaven, and we are compelled by the horror of hell.  We know that this world is not all that exists.  We know that every person on the planet is only here for a brief moment, and an eternity lies ahead of us all-an eternity that is either filled with ever increasing delight or never ending damnation.
So Jesus' words make sense: "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." If you and I know and believe that Jesus came to save us from hell, then we have no choice but to spend our lives on earth making that salvation known.  If the people sitting next to us at a coffee shop, or studying next to us at the library, or working next to us at the office, or living next to us in our neighborhoods may be on a road that leads to everlasting suffering, then WE MUST tell them about the Christ who leads to eternal satisfaction.  Anything less than this makes no sense according to what we believe.  How can any Christian stay silent while our friends, family members, co workers neighbors and everyone else walk off an eternal cliff into everlasting darkness?

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