Pray and Praise in Circumstances

James 5:13-15

 ^" Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, ^[a]anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; ¹⁵ and the prayer ^[b]offered in faith will ^[c]restore the one who is sick?"

Our family decided to head on to WA State to visit our dear friends for Thanksgiving.  We had an absolutely wonderful time!  In my next post, I will share the fun we had w/ pictures.  For now, I'd like to share what happened our first night there.

Well, Tim had his 2nd seizure in 2 months.  We were hanging out in the kitchen after dinner, and he suddenly began making choking sounds and his face began contorting.  Soon after, his body began its trembling.  Tay and I immediately tried to lay him down on the floor, sideways.  He began turning grayish blue from not being able to breath.  About a minute later, his seizure stopped.

That night, I prayed for him/his health and also prayed that God would protect my mind from worry.  I could see myself envisioning all sorts of horrible possibilities.

BUT, God's kindness brought me to the above passage in James.  He reminded me that in our suffering, WE PRAY.  In our joy, WE PRAISE HIM.  Because in Christ we have access to God, we were able to lay our concerns onto Him and have His joy permeate our hearts.  He was the reason we had peace and joy for the rest of our vacation.

More and more, God is teaching me that in CHRIST is my hope.  My life is not centered on my circumstances, whether good or bad.  All things are held together by the Heavenly Father's mighty hand.  Therefore, my response in all things should be to pray to Him and praise Him.

So, we praise Him for keeping Timmy safe and back to normal.  We continue to pray for his health.

I share this with the hope that anyone who happens to read this is encouraged to entrust their lives, circumstances, heartaches, and joys to God.  We have a Heavenly Father in Christ.

Our Solar System

This year, we decided to change up our Science curriculum.  We are absolutely loving Apologia Science!  This particular curriculum is Bible based and uses creation to teach science.  Right now, we are just finishing up Astronomy. 

Below is our own version of one of  God's awesome handiwork.

A Fun and Full Week

This week was filled with a couple of "firsts" for the Tran fam.

The kiddies and I joined our homeschool friends and visited the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa.  It was a quadruple blast for them since they got to 1. skip schoolwork, 2. see their friends, 3. create art projects, and lastly, 4. go ice skating next door.

Steven Curtis Chapman Concert

This was a fun time spent with some good friends, watching a favorite christian artist.  The last time I saw SCC in concert was 18 yrs ago!!!  Feelin' a bit old.  (Felt it too when I had to stay up past midnight)

Applehill Farm~  After a full week, I thought Saturday would be a day of "chilling out" at home.  Well, hubby came home Friday night from work and said, "we should take the kids to Applehill Farms tomorrow."  (which is a good 1.5 hrs drive) "Umm, okay," I replied.  Well, we were a bit unprepared for the chilly weather but overall had a fun time.  It was a special treat to run into some dear friends from church.

Apple donuts!!!!!!YUM!!!!

The kids were happy just running around this beautiful place.

Experimenting w/ our camera

I took a 2 hour photography class recently with the hope of learning how to use our camera close to it's full potential.  Of course, to remember it all, I have to keep playing around and snapping pictures when I can.  Half the time, my pictures end up on the delete pile!  Oh well.

Here are a few of the pictures I took while going for an early evening walk w/ the fam.

I'm trying to remember what setting I used to take the pics, but can't seem to recall.  I'll just have to keep snapping more pics.

Harvest Festival

The kids were very excited to get all dressed up for our Annual Harvest Festival @ church!

I'm RICH!!!....in CHRIST

As I was correcting some behavior of my children recently, I realized that I too struggle with the very same attitude that they (my wonderful kiddies) were showing...that I was supposed to be correcting.

The kids and I were sitting down having our daily afternoon chat, and all I was hearing from them that day were a list of things they still yet to have.  I couldn’t believe my ears!  I told them to look around at all that they DO have.  They have much!!! 

Soon after talking with them, God in His kindness reminded me that I am totally just like them.  I find reasons to complain, not be content, and always looking for more. 

The Lord brought me to a passage in Psalm 103:1-5

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
³ Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
⁵ Who satisfies your ^[a]years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

He reminded me NOT to forget all of His benefits that I now have in Christ. 

1.       I am forgiven

2.      My health is in His hands

3.      Redeemed from hell

4.      Loved and recipient of His compassion

5.      Satisfies my physical body with good things

Indeed I am rich…in Christ!

STAR Testing Awards Ceremony

This was a ceremony to honor the students who did well in last year's STAR Testing.  Our charter school sponsored this event, and Tay & I thought it would be a fun way for the whole family to show support to our Jazzy.

                                        Pre-Celebration Dinner

                     Jasmine's award certificate.  Good job, Jazzy!

                                                             The gang                                

                                                          Her moment

                                                           Her buddies

                                                        The mamas

Jazzy ~ "What!  A book!  Yippee!"  Aside from a certificate, the students also got to pick a book of their choice from a variety titles.  Of course, Jazzy was delight and surprised.  Can you tell?