Prayers for a Family and a Little Girl

This family has a 6 year old little girl, named Daisy, who is suffering with cancer. She just underwent her second surgery to remove a tumor that regrew. Please pray for this family! My heart breaks for their pain. You can find updates on http://prayfordaisy.com/

Here is an excellent sermon her father did the week after first finding out about her cancer. It is a must-hear. Incredibly true and encouraging.

When My Heart Is Overwhelmed from Reality on Vimeo.

Blessings for Nancy Campbell

Nancy Campbell is the founder of a wonderful women's ministry called Above Rubies. Over the years I have been so blessed by this ministry, their publications and teaching media are full of encouragement and sound doctrine.

I found out, through fellow blogger Tiany at Less of Me ~ More of Him, that Nancy recently suffered an accident, resulting in a serious break of her arm. However, they are having difficulties covering the medical expenses to be able to properly fix her arm. To help return the many ways they've blessed so many people, The Homeschool Lounge has set up a donation fund on their behalf. Please visit "A Blessing for Nancy Campbell" to read more and make an offering, if the Lord so leads you. In fact, I think I'll copy and paste the info here, too!

At our last Louisiana Family Camp, Nancy Campbell tripped over an uneven piece of sidewalk and broke her left arm. Unfortunately the break was in a vertical direction on the upper humerus bone near the shoulder. The nature of the break requires surgery to pin the bone back against the arm to secure it in place for proper healing.

Nancy was warned at the emergency room in La. that waiting to get the necessary surgery could cause severe permanent restrictions on the use of her left arm.

Our LA Above Rubies coordinator spoke with her today and discovered that she has had only one x-ray since returning home. It was determined that her arm has made little progress. The Campbell's have thus far accumulated $2,500 in medical expenses and Nancy is hesitant to incur more debt for the necessary surgery. To complicate matters, about a week ago while packing for a camp, a stack of books fell on her broken arm. Her helper reports that after six weeks, Nancy is still in a great deal of pain at night.

Nancy has been like a lighthouse to young mothers, sacrificially teaching them in the ways that are right. There are countless testimonies of healed marriages, and welcomed children because of her many sacrifices. Nevertheless, it appears the enemy is trying to stop the wonderful ministry of Above Rubies.

The Above Rubies Ministry is a non-profit magazine, website and organization supported by the generous and loving donations of its readers. Above Rubies is a FREE Magazine, if you do not yet receive Above Rubies magazine please feel free to subscribe HERE for FREE. If you already receive this wonderful magazine and have never made a donation to AR, now is the time to prayerfully consider making a donation to bless and encourage Nancy as she has so often blessed and encouraged us!

Please join us in praying that the Lord would direct the Campbell's steps, that her bone will mend, and for finances to cover any past or future expenses.

Nancy would never ever request for donations or ask for help financially but I know that it would be a great blessing to help in this way. The Homeschool Lounge has set up a donation button, with the Campbells permission for donations via Paypal.

Donations can be sent via Paypal to the following email address: Administrator@thehomeschoollounge.com or click on the button below to make a donation now! No matter the amount $1, $5, $10 or more anything would be a blessing for Nancy!

If you do not have a Paypal account and would like to help Nancy with a donation, donations toward the medical expenses should be sent to PO Box 681687 Franklin, TN 37068-1687. Checks should be made out to Nancy or Colin Campbell.

"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:10)

Please spread the word on your blogs and pass along the information!

An Outpouring of Love

I have been so touched by the incredible outpouring of love everyone has shown us through this past week of grieving. An overwhelming amount of comments here, on facebook, private emails, phone calls, cards, hugs, gifts, offers of time, food, personal appearances, and most of all, prayers, have been given to us, and we are so grateful for each and every one of them. The arms of Christ have reached out and comforted us through all of you, and it has been a beautiful thing.

The funeral was yesterday, and it was, well, hard. I find myself still bewildered by it all - not in the questioning God kind of way, but more in the "is this REALLY happening?!" kind of way. It seems so unreal, and I know that now everything is settled, the time for a deeper mourning will come upon us. But God is faithful. One morning in particular I woke up feeling so helpless and weak in my grief, and at a loss for how to best comfort my husband, and the Lord gave me this verse:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:28-31

The biggest comfort I have found through all of this is resting in the knowledge that in everything, even pain and loss - GOD IS GOOD. He is the Almighty, the one who suffers with us, the one who bears us up when we cannot bear ourselves, He is our strength in our ever present weakness. He has proven this over and over again through this week, through His comforting Spirit, and through His people who have reached out to offer everything they can. We are so blessed. Thanks be to Him, and to all of you, as well.

Prayer Request

Very suddenly last night, our family lost a precious loved one. Michael's sister had an accident in her home and passed away, at the age of 27. While we rejoice that she is seeing her Savior face-to-face - what an amazing, blessed thing! - we are stinging with the pain of the realization of our earthly loss.

Becca was unlike anyone I had ever met. She overflowed with love and joy, always. When I first encountered it, in my worldly cynicism, thought that surely it must be fake, superficial. I very quickly learned that it wasn't. It was the love of God pouring through her - she radiated with the reflection of His light shining in her life. Everyone whose life she touched felt loved and special, and her heart was tangible.

Please pray - for her parents, her brothers and sister, her brother and sisters-in-law, neices, nephews, friends, and especially for her husband. They were newly married, only 9 months into their union together, and he is obviously distraught.

Michael and she had a relationship that went beyond the average brother and sister affection... they had a deep love for one another and a bond that is difficult to describe. He is hurting, as are we all. We appreciate your prayers very much.

I am so thankful that she was a child of God! Even through our suffering here, I can only imagine her joy unspeakable as she entered His presence. Praise the Lord!

Quiet Lately

I haven't been posting much as of late, as some may have noticed! There area a few reasons for it... first, we went out of town for Thanksgiving, so my computer access was limited. Second, since coming home, we've been plugging away and getting back into routine, and life is just busy. Third, while the Lord has been moving in our lives alot, there really hasn't been the cohesiveness of thought to share what He's been teaching me and where He's been leading me... its all a bit "in progress", which makes it hard to post about.

So, I will share an update for now...

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful, and I hope others also had a blessed holiday. We traveled to West Virginia to visit my parents and had a wonderful week with them. It even snowed enough for a snowball fight one day, which the boys and Michael loved! The drive there and back went as smoothly as it could have, no mishaps, arguing, carsickness, etc. Just a pleasant 9+ hour drive! It was such a blessing to have it go so peacefully! Here's a little slide show of the fun in the snow.

As I posted about in my previous Wordless Wednesday, we are indeed getting a puppy. She is a Boston Terrier, and her name is Ada. She will not be old enough to come home with us for about 3 more weeks, so I am using that time to study up on how to housebreak and train a puppy. I've housebroken one puppy in the past, and potty trained 3 children so far, so I'm feeling optimistic about the challenge ;-) Michael and I had two Boston Terriers in the past and absoutely love the breed, so we are very glad to be welcoming Ada. The boys don't know yet, so it will be a fun surprise. Keeping it a secret has been hard, since we're so excited about it ourselves! We're hoping Molly doesn't think Ada is a fun squeaky chew toy! Molly is really laid back about other dogs in the house, though, so we think the transition will be fine.

The pregnancy is going fine - totally uneventful, which is the way I (and my midwives) like it. I am 6 months along now, it seems like the time has FLOWN by! I can't believe how soon it will be time to meet our new little one.

The Lord has been doing some interesting, behind-the-scenes type of things. Its been so fun to see what He's working on in us, and where it will take us. He has been touching my heart in so many ways - areas of gratitude and gratefulness, submission, peace, and also action. Following God isn't just about believing in Him and holding a set of convictions, it is also acting on those beliefs, being used to demonstrate His love and for others. I believe that He has called me to do this within my home with my family first and foremost, but also to use my home as a ministry to extend this to others.

A scripture that has been quietly lurking in my mind for a long time now is James 1:27. Michael and I have dedicated ourselves to praying for wisdom and the Lord's guidance in regards to what He wants us to do as the future comes... please feel free to join us in that! In God's timely way, we just started a series in church on Nehemiah - and the first sermon was about looking out to the world, seeing the needs of others, and diligently seeking the Lord's will about what to do with what He reveals to us! I love the way He works in confirmation! So we will faithfully wait for further guidance, in His timing.

Please Pray

There is a blog that I've been quite blessed by in my homeschooling journey, called Preschoolers and Peace. Their newest baby, just 7 weeks old, has suddenly become very ill, and our family is praying for them. I wanted to pass the word along so that others can pray, too! You can read about all the details on their blog.