Day By Day

Time flies when you are having fun, or just trying to survive. Having four children, with three of them preschoolers is like trying to herd cats or nail Jello to a tree. My main goal is not losing any of them. Sound reasonable? Everyone seems to be healthy now and the virus that got everyone else avoided me. Thank you God! Mommy and Daddy are exhausted, but happy. We plan to have a family night tonight with movies, pizza and caramel apples. We had thought about a babysitter and going out, but we have been in constant motion since returning from China. We need a night to just hang out at home with no real agenda. Brodie is at basketball try-outs and will be done at 6:00. We will start our fun as soon as he gets home.

We have many doctor's appointments in the month of October. Emily will see a pediatric neurologist on Monday for a facial tic that had been getting worse. I think it is behavioral, but want to be sure. Timothy sees the urologist on Tuesday for a consult. Brodie goes to the orthodontist on the 9th. Mary gets a new crown on the 11th. Timothy will see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon on Oct. 25 and all three little ones go to the dentist on the 26th. Some time in the month, Timothy and Mary need to have blood drawn at the lab. Mary and Brodie need shots for the mission trip also. I think that is all. Mary had her annual physical and mammogram last week and Charlie had his FBI physical. Timothy and Mary both went to the doctor in Sept. as well. Timothy for a checkup and for vaccinations, Mary for a routine blood pressure check. Oh, and Mary went to the dentist to have the old crown removed. Phew. We will be tired of copays really shortly! Thankfully, most everything but the crown and the dental work Timothy will need is covered by insurance.

All of that is not the big news of the week. Yesterday, Brodie's soccer team won! It was 7-1 and several different people were able to score. We also took about 30 shots on goal that had potential to be scores. We need to work on our aim and timing. It was wonderful for them, as they normally are matched with teams that are all high school boys and we play co-ed, 5th through 11th graders. The kids have good attitudes despite the losing record. They are learning a lot and improving each game.

All of that is not the big news of the week either. On Wednesday, the three little ones and I were driving to get Brodie. Emily asked me when God was coming back. I told her that only He knew that. She then asked if Jesus was going to live on the earth with us. I replied that Jesus would take all the people who believe in Him to live with Him in heaven. So she inquired if we believed in Jesus. My response was that Mommy, Daddy and Brodie did. I proceeded to ask her several questions about believing. Do you believe that Jesus is God's Son? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross? Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead? Why did Jesus die on the cross? Are you a sinner? Can the blood of Jesus clean up your sins? Emily was able to answer all of my questions correctly. I told her that if she believed all of that, then all she needed to do was to pray to God and ask Him to forgive her. Then she needed to ask Jesus to live in her heart and be her Savior. When we got home, Emily sat on my bed with me and we talked about it again. I led her through a prayer of salvation, right there and then. She was so excited, and so was her mommy! We called Daddy at work to tell him. She told lots of people at church Wednesday night. We went and talked to the pastor about it yesterday. She was shy with him and didn't express what had happened very well. His advice was to wait a while before taking any further steps. I am so happy that Emily understands her need for a Savior at such a young age. I am also extremely grateful that the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cover any sin...those of a 5 year old and those of the worst serial killer and everyone in between. Praise You Jesus!

What a week!!!!