Sunday, September 23, 2012

What God is doing while we wait....

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:14 (NKJV)

The countdown has been on here at the Ferris house for about a week.  Madeline was going to have a sleep over with her best friend and it has been one of the longest weeks for her.  Each day she has given us the new countdown:  6 days left, 5 days left, 4 days left…..two hours left, etc…  It just makes me smile!  It’s so hard to be patient when we long for something so much.  Many of you know of our journey to Rochester, Illinois and the holding pattern we are in due to our housing situation.  Waiting has been so difficult, yet I write today to share with you what God has done and is doing in this waiting period.  He has not wasted this time and continues to do amazing things.  He deserves all the glory and praise!

August 3, 2012 on our way to visit Brad, we were caught up in the traffic that was backed up due to the double- decker Megabus crash that took place on I-55.  Both directions of I-55 were closed.  Our four hour trip was extended to a seven hour trip that day.  When I merged onto I-55 that afternoon, Brad called to tell me about the accident and how to get around it.  Unfortunately, traffic was so backed up that we got caught up in it anyway.  I was amazed though at the people around me.  These people had no idea what had happened up ahead and were angry and frustrated.  We watched a UHaul Truck drag a car on the shoulder just so they couldn’t reenter traffic.  I was sure another wreck was going to take place.  People driving down the shoulder of the road zoomed by our van in an attempt to avoid waiting.  I knew what was up ahead so it was easy to wait.  It’s so much easier to wait when we know the reason why or when we know the end is in sight.  However, where’s the faith in that?  God used that day to show me I was just like those around me.  I was being impatient with Him and his plan for us.  Ouch!

I’m a person that likes a neat calendar and to do list to guide each day.  When those details are missing, I tend to struggle.  That’s where I’ve been the last two months.  I’ve been struggling with how things are right now with the separation of our family.  Has God forgotten us here in Newburgh? Everyone else seems to be moving on, but why not us?  Is there a sin I need to repent of?   Has God been listening to our prayers and those offered on our behalf?   Do we need to take a step of faith somewhere?  Is there still work here left for me to do before it’s time to go?  Maybe our house there isn’t ready yet?  Is God protecting us from a bad situation with a different house?  Do we drop the price on the house?  Make more changes or updates to the house to attract sellers?  Do we rent the house??

We want to honor God with our choices and stay within His plan for us.  The Bible is full of stories where people tried to take matters into their own hands to “work” out God’s plan and trouble was the result – Sarah gave Abraham Hagar to fulfill the promise for a child, Saul went ahead with the sacrifice because Samuel was late, Jacob deceived Isaac for the blessing.   Jumping ahead of God or trying to work ahead of God is not a good idea.   It’s so hard to know what to do sometimes because while we need to wait on the Lord, we also need to do our part and be prepared.  As I look back to what has happened these last four months, God has been silent, but He has been extremely busy working things out for our good.  
Brad has been rock steady this whole time and has tried to encourage me by reminding me that God is going to do something great for us.  While I KNOW God has plans for a hope and a future and He can do things beyond our imagination….there are times my feelings don’t line up with what I know.   So when he says that, there is that part of me that wants to just stick my tongue out at him and go, “PTHTHTHTHTTHTHTHTHTH!”   It’s so irritating!  However, that isn’t the mature, respectful or appropriate response because the bottom line is that he is right.   God has a plan and we need to wait on Him.  Waiting on the Lord is hard.

These last few months have made me rely on God in a new way and God has strengthened my heart just as the Scripture above stated.  My faith has been stretched and I’ve been challenged to discover the lessons God may be teaching me during this time and to trust Him even when He is silent.   It’s been an opportunity to teach our children about God’s timing and waiting on God.   God has allowed Brad and me to reconnect in a deeper way than we ever would have otherwise.  We’ve been courting again these past months and have been able to talk about things we never have before in 19 years of marriage and learn and discover new things about each other.  There is a deeper appreciation for Brad has the head of the household from the children, too.  We have learned to treasure our family time and one another.  All things we couldn’t have learned otherwise had we transitioned sooner than later.  God has taken this situation and is working it for good, and we are being blessed through it.
Today God has opened a door for us and we dropped the price on our home again in hopes this will be the step that will bring us a buyer.  Will it?  I don’t know, but He does and that’s enough.  There is a peace in my heart again and so I wait knowing His plan is better than mine.  I will wait when He is silent.  I will wait when it’s hard.  I will wait when I miss Brad and when I am tired and when things break.  I will wait so He can be honored.  I will wait so He can be praised.  I will wait so He gets all the glory!  I will wait on the Lord!

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD ; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.  Micah 7:7

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Back to School

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.
  Lamentations 3:23 NLT
I look forward to the start of each new school year.  A new year.  A fresh start.  A chance to do things better and the opportunity to continue to do the thing I love!  On the family calendar I have it in big letters with a smiley face.  Funny thing is that usually no one else seems to share my excitement!  Madeline even changed my happy face to a sad face last year!  Little stinker!  A typical year starts in July when it’s too hot to go outside anyway.  We get a few weeks under our belts and then take a week off before really settling into the year the first of August.  This year has been different.  We spent our summer travelling to spend time with Brad and our new church family in Rochester, Illinois.  No summer school or even an early start date.  So I have felt behind all this time, but we’re not really.  We’re just not where I’m used to being in our 180 days of school.

We actually started the week everyone else did here locally in Indiana.  It had to have been the best start we’ve ever had in our six years of home schooling!  This year, the kids were more than ready to start and were so happy to begin.  I think we all needed that stability of a routine once more.  I was so amazed at how it all came together. Many of my Facebook friends proudly posted first day of school pictures but for whatever reason I was afraid of jinxing the first week.  Sounds silly I know, but nonetheless, we just kept our noses to the grindstone and kept moving.   Now I have guilt and feel like a bad mom.  Shame on me!  So while I didn't necessarily do a "first day of school" photo...I did get some pictures during our first day/week of school.  I am a little late in sharing, but here they are with an update on each child.
Keyboarding class day one of school.  He learned later this lesson his book needed to be on the right side!
Neil started high school this year.  Many of you have asked if we are planning to home school through high school and yes, unless God directs us otherwise, that is the plan.  We enrolled Neil in the A Beka Academy program this year as independent study which means, he watches via internet streaming his classes from an accredited school and accredited teachers.   We had the DVD option, but I could just see us lose the DVDs or someone step on a DVD or the four year old launch the DVD down the stairs.  I just didn’t think that was a good option for us so internet streaming it was.  The independent study means I do the grading instead of sending it off for them to grade and it gives us a little more flexibility.   It’s been a good year.  I have transitioned from his teacher to his tutor.  It’s a role I really enjoy.   The middle of our first week of school he came up to me and wrapped his arms around me and said, “Thanks for being such a great teacher, mom, and getting me ready for high school!  I understand now why you had me do all those things you did.”  He gave me a big hug and a kiss and walked away.  It was awesome!  It’s something I will treasure for always.

Reading History lesson.  She is studying the Middle Ages this year.
Madeline is in sixth grade this year and she has had a fantastic year so far.  Some of her SID issues can be a challenge for us in school, but so far…she is having a great year.  Math is still not her favorite subject, but we do still try to sweeten things up with a treat at that time.  This year she’s switched from M & M’s to Skittles and Starburst.  She thoroughly enjoys Science and Literature and you can almost always find her in a quiet corner reading, reading, reading or learning facts about animals. Our library trips are a highlight of the week for her.
My precious little first grader!
Sarah is our first grader and she is probably my most challenging student so far.  She has been reading for well over two years.  It’s nothing I’ve done and it’s not that she is gifted.  She just figured it out on her own.  She loves Magic Tree House books and any chapter book.  She reads everything out loud all the time.  It drives Madeline crazy (remember…she likes quiet so this causes some tension in the Ferris household) but I find it amusing to hear her say new words and decode them on her own.  At night now instead of me reading to her, we partner read.  I hope she always loves books so.
Sam working on his Scissor Skills paper at his desk!  He felt so grown up!

Samuel officially started preschool this year.  He is the one that cries when school is over or when he realizes it is Saturday and there is no school.  I’m enjoying this for as long as it lasts.  He loves to have that one on one time with just me and to do his work at his own desk.  His favorite thing is dressing weather bear during our calendar time.
This year we pulled out of our co-op and we miss our friends so much but with our current living arrangements we need to be available when Brad comes to Newburgh to visit and to have the flexibility to be able to leave and visit him when the opportunity arises.  We have been able to make some early connections in Illinois with some homeschooling families and look forward to meeting new people and making new friends once we can get settled there together.

It’s hard to believe a month has passed by already!  It’s been a great start.  Thank you, God for such a wonderful beginning to our school year!  Thank you for the structure of a routine!  Thank you for healthy minds and bodies!  Thank you for your faithfulness!  Thank you for your mercies new each morning!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!
The sunrise Sunday, August 19th.  Beautiful reminder to me of God's faithfulness after our first week of school.
 

 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Ferris Funnies, Volume 1

SMILE!
Laughter is the best medicine or so they say.  Maybe that is why I prefer a good comedy over an action or drama movie.  Our family enjoys Christian comedians Tim Hawkins, Jeff Allen, John Branyan, and Bob Smiley.  I love Chonda  Pierce, too.  The family favorite however, hands down, is Tim Hawkins.  The children can quote him word for word and are known at the dinner table especially to break out in their favorite Tim Hawkins comedy routine or one of his infamous songs.  Many times we can’t even understand them because they are already laughing too hard and while the rest of us may not understand any of it, we all join in the laughter because their laughter is contagious.  We love to laugh here at the Ferris household.  Frequently though we are the cause of these outbursts.  I thought I’d share a few today to make you smile.

Several of these occurrences have taken place after picking the children up from their classes at church or at church functions.  Sunday at lunch we ask our children what they learned that day.  When asking Madeline when she was little, she very seriously begins to tell me about how baby Jesus was floating down the river in a basket.   My favorite Samuel retelling was when he told us all about the apostle Peter Pan.  At the close of VBS a few years ago, Sarah got up to pray for the closing.  I was running behind that night and when I turned the corner to head for the big room several people stopped me with great big smiles on their faces and asked if I heard Sarah do the closing prayer that night.  No.   Missed it I hate to say.  However, I won’t forget it.  Was one of those, OH NO…she didn’t moments when I found out what she did.  “Dear God, Thank you for this day.  Help us go to Sea World and Disney World.  Amen.”  No thank you for my parents or Jesus.   No I love my mom and dad.  No eloquent prayers for the missionary like the others did.  Nope.  Sea World.  Disney World.   Ahhhh, yes, the preacher’s kid prayed the most secular prayer of the week!
Where is Sam's hat?
The Sunday Brad’s resignation was announced at FCCN, the children and I came home and I put the for sale sign in the yard and sat Sarah and Samuel down upstairs to tell them we were selling our house.  We waited purposefully so they wouldn’t “spill the beans”.  I explained that Daddy had a new job and was going to be teaching the big people about Jesus.  He was going to do this at the church we visited where Grandpa and Grandma Ferris were a few weeks ago.  They seemed great with it until I said we were going to have to sell our house so we could move closer to that new church.  Their faces grew serious.  Sarah asks, “Can we take all our electronics (meaning her leap pad)?”  I assured her when that time came we would pack all our belongings up in boxes and take them with us.  Samuel was very quiet up to this point and then he says, “Can we take Sarah?”  Yep…Sarah, too! J

Our zoo at the zoo!
For one of Brad’s visits to Newburgh, the girls both baked him special treats as a surprise.  We tried to make a big deal about it and it was supposed to be this big secret.  Samuel was aware of all of this and did a great job of not “spilling the beans” as we say around the house.  Sarah was talking to Brad about her surprise and Sam gets very animated and a little upset and says, “Sarah, don’t!  The beans will fall!”
The latest funny was from Neil.  He’s doesn’t provide as many of these comic relief moments as he used to.  I think that comes with maturity.  He has a favorite song on the radio that has a country twang to it.  While we were driving back home from Evansville a few weeks ago, his song came on the radio and he says something about liking its tangy sound.  TANGY?  That’s a sharp sour taste not a sound!  Once he realized what he did he joined me in laughing so that’s been the joke around here…the tangy song!

Monkeying around at the zoo!
I’ll leave you with a Tim Hawkins comedy skit on girls vs. boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-QXw4PJ6g and another with Tim Hawkins, Bob Smiley, and John Branyan on teenagers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlyOSRTxglA .  The last link is the original Chick fil A song he did that had us hooked!  Hope it brings some laughter to you today!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJHqstPuNo