Speaking in Plain Shamish

Unexpected Email!

Monday night was no different than any other night with checking my email.... I opened my inbox and saw an email from someone I didn't know with the subject line of "Hullo to ya!". I immediately wondered if this was an Amish or Mennonite person because I recognized the last name as an Amish name and sure enough.... this is what I read!!!

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Hullo!

Greetin's in the name of our Lord and Savior!  I hope this finds you and yours well.  My name is "L" and I am ex-Amish (havin' left the faith a little over 4 years ago now).  I split my residence between Missouri, where I live amongst many other ex-Amish, and Wisconsin, where my family resides.  I stumbled upon your website, your blog, and I wished to contact ya and tell ya how pleased I was of the information you were sharin'.  The pictures too are quite beautiful.  They make me so homesick for my childhood.  ;-)  Anyway, just wanted to say hullo and give ya a thumbs up!

Your friend,
"L"

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I was so giddy excited that she took the time to email me!  I emailed her back and am so excited to get to know her!!!  God keeps blessing me over and over with amazing Amish friends!  It's really neat to see the similarities between L's and V's correspondence.... specifically the first two sentences.  I love that they start each letter/email off glorifying God's Holy name!  Truly awesome!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to our amazing mothers - Jeff's mom - Charlotte, my mom - LuAnn and my step-mom - Monica!!!!  We love you all SO much! 

The kids and I just got done being goofy with the camera... a nice Mother's Day photoshoot! Hahaha!  Gotta love self-portraits!!!  :)

Edited to add: And I did this fun playing around and came up with this last night...

We are having babies!!!!

Baby Cichlid fish, that is! A couple weeks ago we noticed that one of our female yellow lab cichlids had eggs in her mouth and yesterday we noticed that our other female yellow lab cichlid has eggs in her mouth.  The one who had eggs a couple weeks ago, now has little teeny fishies in her mouth which was very hard to see since she's not opening her mouth very wide.

Cichlids are mouthbrooders which means they carry their fertilized eggs  in their mouth and when the baby fish hatch, they carry the baby fish in their mouth.  All this takes about 3-4 weeks when the mom fish spit out the babies. Here's an article.... Mouthbrooders and here's a youtube on their mating ritual of how they.... Mating.  The mom lays the eggs, the male comes and does his thing to the eggs and the mom picks the fertlized eggs up. Anyways, I didn't see the "action" but I have seen I've seen some of our male fishies doing the shaky-shaky thing. I guess they do that (and their fins get all spread out) like they are trying to attract the female fishes as a way of showing off and trying to get some lovin! Hahahaha

Fish breeders usually have smaller tanks that they move the moms to but we aren't going to do that.  We are just going to let what happens happen.  Our local fish store told me that the babies do a nice job of finding hiding spots in the tank to stay away from the predators (i.e. the bigger fish) when the mom spits them out.  They also said that the ones that aren't smart enough to hide will be a good "natural" food source for the bigger fish. Ewww...:( Poor mommy fish though.... they rarely eat, if they eat at all, the entire time they are carrying.  Well, that's more than I ever thought I'd know about fish breeding!!! Wow.

Of course, I tried to get pictures of the mom's with eggs in her mouth and I got a couple that are just ok.  It's very hard to get the pictures as she opens and closes her mouth so quick.  There is no way I'll get a picture of the baby fish in the other mom's mouth since she doesn't open wide enough.  But you can see on the pictures (especially the bottom one) how swollen she looks above her mouth by her nose area, her gills and under her mouth how saggy it looks. And you can kinda see the round looking bumps in her mouth.... it's so much easier to see in person.  If you click on the pictures, it'll open them up bigger and you can see a little better!  Cool, huh?

   

To stub your toe doesn't mean you are

walking in the wrong direction. God doesn't

promise a path without trouble. He promises

a journey worth the trouble.

*******

Yet if we suffer as a Christian, let him not

be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

1 Peter 4:16

Jeff Headache Update

I am excited to do this blog entry because I have GREAT news!!!  Today is Jeff's 10th day without any headache!!  Thank you Lord!!!!  A few weeks ago he got his CPAP sleep machine for his severe sleep apnea and he's getting used to it.  He's getting great sleep at night!  I believe having the CPAP has made a huge difference because before he was so exhausted from the lack of sleep that he wasn't able to heal properly.  Now with the combo of the meds that he was prescribed during his hospital stay and the CPAP.... Wow, he's being healed!  He's feeling great!!! Praise God!!!  If I would have had my way, Jeff would have gotten better a long time ago but it wasn't in God's plan.  He knew there was work to be done in us....

I think my friend Lori's daughter, Melissa Decator, wrote perfectly before her death....

Fix your eyes on Jesus - Hebrews 12:2  If there is no strain, there will be no strength - In devastation, don't be afraid, Jesus will heal us. - Melissa

God allows us to go through devastating, straining, hard times to come out as stronger people.... people who have grown closer to Him.... people who trust and love Him completely.  And we give Him all the praise and glory!!!  Thank you Jesus for your healing power.... your unconditional love!

And, one more time, I wanted to share with you the scripture I've clung to over the past six or so months.  I will never forget how much comfort these words have given me....

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:1

Does He still feel the nails???

My friend, Jodi, instant messaged me this video and it's left me with such a pain in my heart. It spoke so profoundly to me that I absolutely needed to share it with you..... I don't think I realize day to day just how much Christ has done for me. I mean, I know what He's done for me but do I truly KNOW????? I think the lyrics have it right on.... and the thought of hurting Him over and over pains my heart so much when He's done SO much for me!!!!!  And we get to live in paradise with Him for all eternity because he gave His life for US!!  So why I do we fail over and over?  Why can't I get it right?  Why do I always have to try to control my own life when I am His and I know He'll take care of me???  I pray that I can surrender all to Him everyday... not just when I want to!  Please God help me!

"DOES HE STILL FEEL THE NAILS?"

They tell me Jesus died
For my transgressions
That he paid that price a long, long time ago
When he gave his life for me
On a hill called Calvary
But there's something else I want to know

Does he still feel the nails
Every time I fail
Can he hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again
Am I causing him pain
Then I know I've got to change
I just can't bear the thought of hurting him.

It seems that I'm so good at breaking promises
And I treat his precious grace so carelessly
But each time he forgives
What if he re-lives
The agony He felt on that tree

Does he still feel the nails
Every time I fail
Can he hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again
Am I causing him pain
Then I know I've got to change
I just can't bear the thought of hurting him.

Holy, holy
Holy is the Lord
Holy Holy
Holy is the Lord

Do you still feel the nails
Every time I fail
Have I crucified you Jesus with my sins
Oh I'm tired of playing games
I really want to change
I never want to hurt you again

Holy, Holy
Holy is the Lord
Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord

It's Spring!!

Wow.  Today was a beautiful spring day!!  We got lots of outdoor stuff done!!  Jeff put down new mulch in all our landscaping and I spent about three hours repotting almost all of our houseplants!!  Lots of them were overgrown, root-bound and ugly!  As always, Lady has to have her nose in everything..... and then decided to take a nap right in my way!!  My baby girl is SO cute!!!  Jeff thought it was the perfect photo opportunity!  I love that man!  True way to a scrapbookers heart! Hahaha!