A drama-free slumber party...what's that?

We celebrated Emma's birthday with a slumber party.
I approached this idea with great caution. Why?
Because I went to slumber parties. If you did too, you know what I'm talking about.
This is what I know about girls...we're born mean.
Oh, you might think that's an exaggeration, but it's not.
We're born with the tendency toward gossip, forming factions that gang up on someone else, and with the innate ability from the age of three on to merely whisper and giggle with another girl and destroy her in an instant.
Am I right? Can I hear an Amen?
I noticed this when my own daughter started playing with a group of girls at a very young age, and it all came rushing back to me. Oh yeahhhhh, I remember this.
We are horrible, horrible creatures.
They could make a movie called "pre-school mean girls" and it wouldn't be too far off.
Why? Because we're sinners. Plain and simple. We're fallen and born with a sinful nature that is yucky through and through. There's no denying it.
And what is the root of this ugly behavior in girls? Looking back, why did I do what I did?
Putting others down in any form or fashion somehow lifts you up. Whether it's being funny at someone else's expense, or trying to exalt your friendship with one girl over another (also at her expense) so that you feel more popular. Exalting ourselves to make us feel better can look like several things, but it's always destructive.
Are we grown-up girls still capable of this today? Of course. We all have to be aware of this, even as we can disguise this more mature version of ugliness in us still.
We have to work at our friendships making sure we look after others' needs and feelings as best we can, and including others as much as possible.
I have also guarded against this junk with my daughter. I think because she's homeschooled she's slightly ignorant of the enormity of this business.
But I had this very talk with Emma before her party...making sure everyone feels included...no one feels left out...being sure to put others desires above her own...all that good stuff.
I think intentionally teaching our daughters how to be Christ-like friends from a young age will help them resist the temptation to be a "mean girl." And ultimately, their relationship with the Lord gives them the power to overcome sin!
I was so proud of the group of girls we had at our house for this slumber party!
There was no drama, no ugliness, no factions, and no "light as a feather, stiff as a board" (anyone remember that one?).
We had a sweet time of devotional on loving others like Jesus, and I had the privelege of hearing their sweet prayers. What a blessing! I can't wait to watch these sweet girls grow up into Godly, young women who honor the Lord with their lives.
So there WAS pizza, there WAS cake and ice cream, there WAS pin the tail on Emma's horse, there WAS a dance party in our pajamas, there WAS whispering in their beds, but there was NO drama and ugliness, and I was thankful for that!
Anyone, thoughts on how we train our girls to guard against our tendency toward this sin, and encourage them to love like Christ? Older Moms, wisdom to offer?

Happy Birthday Emma!

9 years ago today, after about 45 hours protest in labor, little Emma entered our world. She was obviously comfortable where she was, and didn't come willingly.
She was born at 2:55am at Northwest hospital in Amarillo.
She had the loudest cry of any baby I'd ever heard, and the biggest, most alert, blue eyes. They seemed huge to me. From the moment she was born, she seemed determined not to miss a thing (so sleeping was not an option, naturally) and it was as if she was sure she could tell us what to do and we would comply.
I remember bringing her home and having the revelation I think many young mothers do...about how much God loves us as a Father, how much my parents love me, and not believing how much I loved this new little person.
So of course, I cried, rocked and nursed her, and Rusty would tentatively say "Are you okay?" wondering where his even-keeled wife went, and who was this blubbering woman in the rocker?
I would sob "Yes. I just love her so much!" Sob. Sob.
Post-Partum. There's nothing like it.
So entered Emma into our lives, and what a precious life change!
We've watched her grow, from that super active, strong willed little one, into the little girl we know who submitted her life to the Lord and loves Him with all her heart.
Some of my favorite things about Emma:
1. How she loves God and His Word! (It's 6:30 and she's sitting on the couch right now doing her Bible Study book. What's better?)
2. The way she reads. She is a voracious reader, and that has been one of my great aspirations for my kids. She devours her library books, and then we must make an emeregency library trip when she's done.
3. She begs me for "homework" and lots of it. I don't seem to give her enough work, in her opinion. Clearly, she gets the "nerd" genes from her father. It pays to marry a brainiac.
4. She's so her own person. Maybe this is intensified because she's homeschooled, but she has always been an intense animal lover, seriously, since before she could talk. Her obsession with elephants came first,before she was two, then dinosaurs, then horses. That one stuck. And if you know my daughter, one of her great talents is being able to "run like a cheetah", and she'll gladly race you on all-fours. It's a little uncanny how quick she is. She's just Emma. Not a girl who likes princesses, purses, dresses, or pretty shoes, but can tell you anything you want to know about animals, habitats, and is what we call the "animal whisperer."
5. She's a little bit fearless. I think her desire and willingness to do what she does on horses, and then compete against a group of older, more experienced riders at horse shows demonstrates this. I love watching her in action! There is nothing sweeter to me than this girl and a horse.
So Celebrating you is our joy, Em! Happy birthday, love! I hope today is a memorable one.

Help me!

I would like to find the ultimate photo sharing, storage site. I'm on winkflash right now, but I can't really access my photos like I'd like. I want to be able to store them on a site, but then access them to put on my blog, e-mail them to myself, or do whatever I want with them. I also want to make super easy photo books that don't cost a fortune, and have high quality prints. Winflash is cheap, and I love cheap! But I don't think the quality is the best, and it takes forever to load them on the site. Does anyone have a magic site you can tell me about? I'm wondering about sites like photobucket and seehere.com, but it's hard to find answers to these questions just by looking at their site.
Help me! Someone out there must have an answer for me!

A crazy Mom would...

Emma and I just got back from her horse show.
It was great Mother-Daughter fun, and this horse Mom was tired, but thankful for the time we had together.
Sometimes it's the funniest things that end up being the most fun on these kind of outings.
Ours was an hour long game of "A crazy Mom would..." in the car.
We came up with about 102 answers to that question, which kept me awake while driving, in conjunction with some not-so-bad gas station coffee, and made us laugh outloud.
But here's my best answer to that question.
A crazy Mom would put her little girl in pageants.
Have you seen this show "Toddlers and Tiaras" on TLC?
Our DVR was broken for a while, and without anything conveniently waiting for us, pre-recorded, I defaulted to TLC. I think that's what I watched before the DVR. That, and "Little House" recorded.
This is one of those, drop your jaw, are you kidding? shows.
Highlights: fake teeth for the little girls, fake hair, spray tanning, Halloween level of make-up, and the saddest part of all, swimsuit competitions. (They don't allow g-strings, they said on one of the shows, just because it's hard to pull off without the perfect body. I couldn't sleep that night.)
The whole thing is a not-so-distant cousin to pedophilia.
I don't think that would be most parents' intent, but what in the WORLD are they thinking, sexualizing their little girls like that?
And that led to an interesting discussion I had with my Mom.
She is teaching soon to her ladies about ways that we sexualize our children early on. I think this is something we need to be very aware of.
How are we doing this, in our culture, and in our own families?
The obvious would be to put make-up on your child, dress them up like a hoochie Mama and teach them to dance around suggesstively in front of a panel of judges to be scored based on their hoochie dancing abilities, their bodies, and their facial beauty.
(Is this not obvious to them!?)
But what are more subtle things that we might be doing with our daughters that have become so accepted in our culture that we aren't aware of it ourselves?
I'm trying to be especially aware of this in the area of clothing for my daughter.
Any thoughts, Moms? Dads? Everyone else?
(Oh, and anyone who is feeling the tiniest bit defensive for pageant Moms, please watch "Toddlers and Tiaras" and then get back to me. If you are willing to go to bat for these pageant parents, I would love to understand why! Let's talk!)

What goes on the plate?

I call this the honeymoon phase of our semester.
We have completed the first two weeks of the Bacak Nation Academy, and while I've been dropping in bed each night, exhausted (literally exhausted...once last week I fell asleep at 9:15pm. I haven't done that since I had the flu. And obviously too tired to blog!) we haven't had TOO much on our plate.
That sounds weird. Getting into the groove of a new semester, and especially teaching three kids, is plenty on my plate. So let me clarify.
My days are very full and I am full-time schooling, parenting, horse-Momming, cooking, hosting, etc. HOWEVER, some of the other things that tend to make my calendar threaten to explode, and me feel like I'm too busy to breathe, haven't really started yet.
The first two weeks of a semester, our nightly activities are up to our discretion, not pre-scripted and mandated.
So here's a question:
What are we going to put on our plate this semester?
If you are like me, it tends to be too much.
And I know me when it's too much. I'm not the best me. We're not the best us. And I'm not protecting my family and this home from OVER doing like I should.
As the manager of this home, I deal with scheduling our "stuff" most of the time, running questions by Rusty when needed.
And I think activities tend to multiply, don't you think? I think it's just a little thing, and then our activities started making babies like bunnies and it's out of control before I know it.
So I think we have to look at the bare minimum, and decide where to go from there.
The last two years have flown by so quickly, so busy, so hectic, that I don't think I enjoyed life, or savored it as I should be.
I think I gobbled it down whole and didn't even chew.
I don't want to do that! My kids are growing right before my very eyes. There are opportunities to share Christ, practically touching me, and I've been too busy to see it.
I don't want to live that way.
One challenge we face (and experienced Moms, help me out!) we have a lot of kids. And as they are growing, so does their level of activity.
Also, because we are homeschoolers, I want them to have opportunities to engage their peers, and for us to develop intentional relationships with lost people. The avenues opened up to us naturally for this are soccer, horses, 4H, for example.
So those things are important for more than one reason.
I don't want to strip away all activities.
Therefore, I think a conversation that would be helpful for me, and maybe some of you too, is how to be in something without doing everything. Every fundraiser, every class, clinic, every little thing that we put our names on sign-up sheets to do.
This is what kills us. Is this okay?
Is it irresponsible to be in something, and not do it all?
Or should we learn to say NO to things for the sake of our sanity?
I appreciated our pastor challenging us this week by asking us to stop and consider: What are our motives in saying YES to all we do? Is it recognition, or a true heart of service? And he even challenged us to have self-control in saying NO to good things, when they may not be for us. (I hope the "Rev. A. Diddy", as we affectionately call him around here, real name- Allen Duty, would not feel misquoted in this, but just in case, go to our church website and listen to a GREAT sermon from 9/6/09 called "Own the Vision." You will be so glad you did!)
So if you too want to ponder this, let's talk about what we put on our plates, and even hold eachother accountable to not having "eyes bigger than our stomachs" as we fill it up.

Happy 5th Birthday Justus!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Do you just feel like the Bacak birthdays never stop coming in the summer? It's because they don't.
Now it's Justus' turn. Our adorable brown baby is turning FIVE!
You gotta admit, this kid is handsome. I can say that because he didn't get it from me. You can see his birthmom, Kathleen, in one of the pictures. He obviously gets it from her! She's beautiful!
He can be a real charmer. He says to me regularly, "Mom, you're so bootiful" which I love, of course, but I find it's usually when he's doing something sneaky or wrong and he's trying to distract me from it.
He's good.
Our boy is wicked smart. He's been doing the older kids' work for years, only when he thinks answering Jax's question will thoroughly annoy him (and it does!) and for no other reason! We can't wait to see how God is going to use Justus' gifts and talents for Him! (Yes, someday He will use all this for good and not evil!)
Justus loves to snuggle at night, which I am trying to hold on to with my boys as long as possible! He can be the sweetest big brother to his "buddy" Treston you've ever seen. And he is absolutely the wittiest five-year-old I know. He's always had a quick-witted response, far beyond his years, that keeps us in stitches around here.
We are overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord for his birthmom, Kathleen, giving us the greatest gift a human can give. We hold fast to God's purposes in that, and feel blessed to be Justus' parents.
Happy birthday sweet boy!

The Bacak Nation Academy is now in session!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I love the start of school. I put a lot of hard work into our school room in August. Work that I rather enjoy, to tell you the truth. I love a place for everything, newly organized shelves, fresh packs of clean paper, art supplies like beans and macaroni in jars, about 30 newly sharpened pencils (which will dwindle down to two in about three weeks- I don't know where they go? It's like my kids eat pencils!) Brand new school boxes, decorated with their favorite stickers, and...well you get the picture.
I had done much preparing, as this year I am teaching three different kids and grade levels. Emma and Jax are in third and second grade, and Justus started Kindergarten this year! Woo-hoo! I love Kindergarten! It's my absolute favorite year. Also, Treston is our three-year-old pre-schooler, and as you can see by the pictures, he LOVES his journal! I think that's precious!
So I lesson planned like crazy, starting in July. I got a pretty notebook and printed my lesson plans for the year. Then I came up with new systems to give me overviews for a week, or lesson plans in a glance, with the older kids and Justus' side by side.
All of this stuff makes me very happy, and my lesson plans have never looked so awesome, so I was feeling good.
But the first day of school, despite my planning, was not what I had envisioned. I had not done enough prepping. That's pre-cutting, printing, etc. for my lessons. (I was out of town with Justus visiting his birthmom over the weekend, which was just poor timing for our first day of school.) Consequently, our first day of school didn't go as I had planned. Actually, it was pure chaos for the most part. Not the parts caught on camera here. I obviously don't pull out the camera to capture chaos in our home. No, these were the good, happy moments in our first day. But the schedule I had agonized over all summer and posted on our wall was not quite accurate. I had never taught this many kids, so I was behind and a little overwhelmed. I was wondering on Monday if I could do this.
But God was so good to remind me that He is the one who called us to do this. Not because it's for everyone, but because as He dragged us kicking and screaming toward homeschooling (which I swore I'd never do, naturally!) He had a good plan for our family in it. And it has been so good! And I enjoy teaching so much!
So Tuesday was a new day, as I told the kids.
And it truly was! It was a thousand times better, and yesterday was a thousand times better than that! I do love teaching and schooling my kids.
It's not easy. On MOnday, I couldn't help thinking about all the parents I had seen standing at the bus stop with their kids as I was jogging that morning. I was wondering what they were doing, as I dealt with a three-year-old tantrum, cleaned up his potty accident, while juggling a reluctant (to say the least) Kindergartener and confused about what was expected of them older kids.
But we are starting to settle into a rhythm, and it feels good. Truly, I wouldn't miss this for the world. I enjoyed teaching little ones when they were other people's kids, and I especially enjoy teaching my own little ones. Besides, I am pretty sure I was totally ignorant before I started homeschooling. I can't imagine how educated I will be when I get up to fifth grade with them.
So The Bacak Nation Academy has begun, and it's going to be a great year!
Here are some first day of school pics.

Happy Birthday Rusty!

My sweet husband wanted to skip his birthday.
They are getting less fun, you know, the older we get.
But there's no skipping birthdays in the Bacak house!
Oh no! There is cake, and dance parties, and presents.
We celebrated early because I am in Las Vegas on his birthday with Justus and my Mom
visiting Justus' birthmom Kathleen.
This was sadly, the only date my Mom could go with us.
But here are pics from the party we had already.
The boys made confetti out of construction paper (hopefully not the new pack I bought for our school year) and threw it everywhere for the dance party.
There is nothing better than watching all four of your very different kids bust their moves. Emma was river dancing, Jax was break-dancing (which we decided is somehow instinctive in all boys. Don't know where they would pick that up- they just do it!) and Justus and Treston hopefully are retaining some sort of non-white rhythym that God gifts them with. Rusty is convinced that this house full of white people is sucking them dry of rhythm, but I disagree.
Also, I made a cake.
I am very critical of my cakes, to the point of driving my husband crazy.
If there is something to do wrong with a cake, I've done it. I've learned the hard way. This cake was good but not the best cake, but the very best icing I've ever made. It was my cream cheese icing with real strawberries cut up in it. Divine! The real problem with the cake, however, was that it was three layers, and it leaned very definitively to one side. Not the prettiest shaped cake, but it was good. My husband asked for a strawberry cake, and I made a cake with real strawberries in the batter and the icing. I like that. I intend to make small improvements and develop it into the best cake ever.
But as for my husband's birthday- there's no way we could NOT celebrate this man.
I adore the day he was born, because I adore him so.
He is way more than I deserve, and consistently loving to all of us.
One of my favorite things about him: The kids and I never wonder if he loves us or approves of us. He is so affirming. Did you read the blogpost he wrote about me on our anniversary? Ridiculously flattering to me, and just an example of the way he loves us.
I am thankful for his life and all God has done in him.
Happy Birthday, love! I'll be home soon.

Emma got her ears pierced!

This was Emma pre-piercing.

This is Emma post-piercing.

Emma has been asking about getting her ears pierced for a while. We had decided when she was little that we would wait until she was older and make it a privelege that she looks forward to.
I also wanted her to be able to clean her ears herself and handle the aftercare. So we waited...she would bring it up and I would remind her that it hurts a little. She would drop it.
Then she decided she was brave enough. So Rusty told her she had to prove she was responsible enough by keeping her room clean for two solid weeks.
She did, so we had a special Mommy/Daughter date to the mall, just the two of us.
First, we got her hair cut. It looks so cute, don't you think?
Then we had a pretzel together, just us girls.
She was super excited, and a little nervous as we went into Claire's.
We stood and watched a little girl in front of us get her ears pierced, and she went from a little nervous to terrified.
My girl is pretty tough. She hardly flinches when she gets shots, so I think the anticipation got to her.
But look at her face- she was beside herself in fear.
I'd already stood there with her for a long time and filled out the paperwork, so I decided she was not backing out. We had built up to this day, and what were the chances that I was going to work out another time to go with her alone? So I told her she'd be fine. She was going to do it.
The lady doing the piercing lied and told her it wouldn't hurt. Come on, it hurts a little. We all know that.
But she did it! She said it did indeed hurt, that it felt like they stapled her ears, but not for terribly long, and she was so pleased with the way her cute little ears looked!
She got to pick out some earrings to wear when she can remove the gold balls. She chose cupcakes, the letter E, and bumblebees.
It was a precious day with my growing-up, third grade girl.

What is clean?

What is clean?
Clean is definitely in the eye of the beholder.
I'm not an expert or anything, but in this house, the clean standard is set by me.
So it's not clean until I think it's clean. Am I right, Moms?
In fact, one of the things we heard my Mom say ALL the time, was "Would I think it's clean?"
We would usually have to go back and try to see it through my Mom's eyes.
I think I was a grown woman before I understood that.
One of the things I'm trying to equip my children to do is determine what is clean?
One of the struggles we are having with keeping their rooms clean is not just laziness, but truly "seeing" the mess.
They just don't see it.
So I have to help them see what needs work before it can meet the cleanliness standard.
And it's not fair to ask them to do things that are totally subjective in their eyes, really. They are kids. They need black and white clear directives.
So here is the clean chart for this year.
This has evolved over time.
When they were young, I had pictures of them putting their toys away, and making their beds.
But this clean chart has graduated to higher standards.
The little ones just have to try to keep up.
I put things on the checklist that they just aren't seeing. Like "corners clean", meaning, there's just junk piled up in the corners. And they don't seem to notice. So everyday they have to check the corners of their rooms to look for piles of junk, and I'm teaching them to sort through a pile of junk and make piles, according to where it goes.
(We have just had the summer end Organization/Clean-Out Blow-Out around here, so everyone has had some practice lately!)
I could clean it for them each day, or I could teach the kids to fish, and hopefully end up with kids who know what clean looks like by the time they leave this place.
I am certain their college roommates and spouses will thank me someday.
Each day, when they check off each job (approved by us) and color in the smily face, they work toward an allowance.
My kids have never made an allowance before.
Honestly, we feel like we don't owe them any money. Any work they do around here is to be a contributing member of the family. It's just expected.
But we do want them to learn responsibility with their money on a higher level, and also give them the ability to give generously of their own money to what they feel led to, as well as tithing their own money to the church.
So we explained to them that though we don't owe them money for work done, we are choosing to let them earn allowances with their daily jobs for those reasons.
One task on the chart is Leader Jobs.
Each day we have a leader. The leader gets to choose the cartoon, or the flavor of ice cream, or anything special like that. The leader also has extra responsibilities. Collecting all laundry, sheets to be washed, and cleaning a bathroom.
I love new school years, new systems, new organization, new schedules.
We are doing a lot of that this week, so I will try to write more about it as the week goes on.
We've been doing the charts for two days, and so far, their rooms look great! But the real test will be two weeks in.
I'll let you know.
I would love to hear things you do with your kids to help them know clean, or things your Mom did with you to teach you to clean.
Tips?

The Mosiers

I love this town. I meet so many students that I fall in love with.
The problem with these wonderful people is most of them leave, and I have to watch them drive away.
People I love, who have become apart of the rhythm of our week, who have bared their hearts in our living rooms.
There have been many tough goodbyes in the past six years.
I could list atleast 10 of you that I'm still secretly plotting to find you a job here and convince you it's God's will, and some of you have been gone for years!
This month has been killer.
We have been bombarded with tough goodbyes, and I've tried hard to stay in denial about all of them so I can survive it.
But tonight. Tonight was the hardest goodbye of all.
(Erin, if you're reading this stop right now, because it won't help you stop crying.)
Matt and Erin are such a part of this family.
They started out in our HOPE group, these precious kids, still in college.
I knew they were going to be a favorite of ours when they ASKED us if they could come pick up our kids and take them out for pizza.
They were around when we got our little Treston, and for the whirwind that was for us. They became regulars for dinner, and Sonic dates, and such.
Erin and I hit it off quickly, and she became my mentee for Her Hands and took Countdown at the same time. There are just some people that are so comfortable and easy. That's me and Erin. It's just so easy.
We grew very close to them before they were married, and even more so after!
My children prayed hard, and Matt ended up doing grad school here. It was the power of the pure-hearted prayers of the Bacak kiddos.

Matt and Erin became some of Treston's godparents, and they have faithfully loved, adored, spent time with, and prayed for our little boy.
We went on vacation together that summer, with all Treston's wonderful godparents, Matt and Erin and Nick and Carissa. That will always be a great memory for all of us!

Erin ended up working for us, here in the house with me every morning, and in the office with Rusty in the afternoons. She knows this house like her own. She has watched my kids grow, pray, be disciplined about a million times, read them hundreds of books, and folded their clothes. Matt and Erin have been at probably every birthday party we've had since we met them, and my kids even gave Erin a Bacak birthday of her own.
I remember so well the day she told me they had started praying about starting a family. She came over to lie out with me on a Spring afternoon and the two of us were lying on the trampoline talking.
Shortly after that, Erin was pregnant with Cade.
She called me when she saw the two lines.
I was there the day he was born, waiting in the waiting room.
Watching Matt hold him up through the nursery window with tears in his eyes, and tears in mine...helping Erin nurse for the first time.
I watched our little Matt and Erin morph into parents. Real live grown-ups. They did it so well.
Somewhere along the way...and I'm not sure exactly when...Erin went from being a mentee to just a wonderful friend and peer.
I have been so proud of them!
They are light years ahead spiritually, for their age, and their commitment to the Word and His Ways encourages me so much! They are just solid.
They were never allowed to leave here, as far as I was concerned.
I was certain we could pray that away. We'd done it before.
But God obviously had a different plan.
Matt got a great job with the weather service, and off they go tomorrow to Ft. Worth.
I've cried many tears these last few weeks.
I watched my kids cry many tears tonight, telling them goodbye, and it was hard.
It's going to be hard. I will miss our weekly lunches and the comfort of being with them at church weekly. I'll just miss them in the day-to-day life.
But as Erin and I keep saying, we have to put on thankfulness that Ft. Worth is not so terribly far away! They could have gotten a job in Washington State, so how can we complain?
I love these people.
I would let them move into our house and live here if I thought they would.
But I have to let them go, and I know that God is going to use them where he plants them.
They're going to transform lives as the Holy Spirit uses them to teach others what they have soaked up here.
I can only pray that they have people come under their care that were as teachable and moldable as they have been in their time here.
I guess it's time to share them.
But tonight, I feel incredibly selfish. I don't want to share. I haven't stopped crying yet.
But God is good, and I would be remiss in writing this if I didn't acknowledge how grateful I am for the sweet people and friendships he gives us. It just doesn't get any better than Matt and Erin.

OUR ANNIVERSARY - AKA "MARRYING UP" BY RUSTY

11 Years ago I pulled off one of those monumental, one-in-a-lifetime, David vs. Goliathesque, 1980 American Olympic Hockey team over Russia type of a feat: I married Jennifer Seay! It was like all of those cheesy 80s movies where the complete dork ends up with the hot babe (which is ironic because I still live in those movies in my head!). See you have to understand the significance of this event (and I am sure knowing and looking at us - it comes as no surprise at all for those of you who know us): I totally "up-married." I highly recommend that for all of the college guys I am around here in BCS - find a wife that is Godly, intelligent, nurturing, funny, and gorgeous and then allow God to pull off something only He can do: make her actually fall for you! God is good! Prov 18:22 says " He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the LORD." AMEN!!! And Prov 19:14 " Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD." And of course Prov 31 let's us know to aim big when it comes to your wife:
" 10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life. "
Gentlemen: totally up-marry in the Lord (I should write a book - I bet I could make millions: "Your Best Wife Now" - I could put a picture of us on the cover and lonely single guys would say "dang... if that guy can pull that off, there is a God and a hope for me!")
You see my wife is a one in a million find. She is a woman who seeks after the Lord's heart; is incredibly intelligent (blows me away); funny (although her laughing at my same jokes for 11 years may discredit her in this category); caring (she hasn't locked the kids in the closet yet - which is a pretty amazing feat in itself); supportive and encouraging; an incredible manager of our home; a phenomenal mommy to our kids not to mention educator for them; and is hotter every year I know her (an admitted bonus for me!). OK - if you are a college kid who we are encouraging the courtship model to : "do as we say and not as we did"; but when I first met Jenn she was being pursued by EVERYONE! She had stinking 3 dates the first weekend we went out! Yes - 3 dates! I had less dates in the last 3 years of medical school than she had that weekend alone! She was a catch and the fellers knew it. How the heck the Heart of Texas Rodeo and Fair date wooed her away from all of those suitors is totally a God thing (although I did pull out my dance card on the first date - my ace-in-the hole... but desperate times called for desperate measures). So men - count on our God to provide (Go watch "Facing the Giants" or something)! He will! He gave me the most incredible wife, now of 11 years, and Lord willing for another 40 years +. I am more in love with my bride now than ever and can not wait to see what our future holds together. I do not deserve her... but our God is good.
Happy Anniversary Babe!

Countdown

Our Fall Countdown class will begin this semester, only about a month away, and we still have three openings!!! This rarely happens, so please pass this along to anyone who you think might be interested! Anyone who is engaged, or is about to be engaged, that is. Below I have copied an excerpt from our Countdown blog to give a fuller picture of what this ministry is all about. We are passionate about marriage ministry, and though we've taught it for more than six years now, it's equally as fun and exciting each semester when my living room fills up with these adorable couples on the brink of something great. Read all about it, and if you're a Countdown alum, feel free to stand up and testify in the comment section...

Is Countdown for You?
You're engaged! You have a ring! You are looking at churches, cakes, invitations, and a lot of family tension! Congratulations!
The engagement period is so exciting.
It is a journey between two people falling deeply in love, and going from two to ONE!
This time can be totally consumed with planning the "Big Day," as it's called, but we would like to challenge you...put aside wedding planning for a bit and do some marriage planning. That one day is so special, but it's just the beginning. Having the wedding of your dreams needs to take a backseat to having the marriage of your dreams, so to speak.
What kind of marriage do we dream of? Is your goal to stay married without totally hating each other, or do you really long to be old and gray, and as in love as you are today?
Well, the adventure you are about to embark on is exciting, it's passionate, it will thrust a mirror in front of you that will reflect your selfishness and sin like you've never seen, and it's a new birth. The birth of a family, of a ministry team, of a new YOU. It will change who you are, your relationships, and your view of the world.
Have I scared you? I hope not. But this thing called marriage requires more preparation than any of us realize. We invite you to explore God's Word for what His purpose for us is in marriage, and what the fullness and abundance of His plan for us in marriage looks like.
We want to teach you how to build your marriage, and every aspect of it, on the rock solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Everything else is sinking sand. "When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built." Luke 6:48. You have already started building your house. What is it built on? If it's built on compatability, romantic love, friendship, or shared interests, these are faulty foundations. They are foundations of sand. They are blessings in marriage, but they cannot bear the weight of your house. There is only one foundation that will never crack. Our God.
We say this all the time, but we believe everyone wants a fantastic marriage. But good marriages don't just happen. Desire is not enough. We must be taught. Taught from the Word, the ultimate, flawless authority in our life, totally relevant to our every need and desire. Without being taught, we are floundering for elusive bits of advice to apply to our real lives. It is like water through our hands, trying to grasp the reality of God's gift to us: marriage.

What, When, and Where do we teach?
Countdown is a 9 week class, taught in our home on Thursday nights from 8:30-10:00pm. We teach a class every semeseter. The semester is concluded by an overnight retreat.
We teach a curriculum written mostly by us, from our marriage, incorporating written assignments from us and also from Byron and Carla Weathersbee. They are our mentors in Countdown, founders of our parent ministry Legacy Family. (legacyfamily.org) Rusty and I were students in their Countdown class in Waco, Texas when we were engaged in 1998. They founded this ministry to engaged couples and families in 1995 and have been used by God to change lives since then! We feel blessed to be under their ministry, and to have been trained by them personally.
In Countdown, we will discuss a different topic each week. The topics include: God's Purpose for Marriage, Roles and Responsibilities, Money Matters, In-Laws, Spiritual Growth, Sexual Intimacy, Commitment, and Communication and Conflict Resolution. Each week couples complete their assignments, some seperately, but mostly together, before coming to class. It is an informal, discussion oriented time. Everyone comes ready for dessert first, and we have a great time!
Part of the fun is walking through your engagement and learning alongside other couples. Couples who are experiencing the same things you are. We often see friendships among the couples forming, and we have a few social events for fun. The retreat culminates all we have learned in a semester, and is the highlight for me! We have so much fun, with a few surprise for our couples.

Lemonade stand

I think every kid should have a memory of having a lemonade stand in the summer, don't you?
We stopped by a lemonade stand the other day (because I think you have to be pretty cold-hearted to drive right by one, unless you just don't happen to have fifty cents anywhere in your car) and I had an inkling that this was going to start something with my kids.
Sure enough, we came directly home and they started working on their signs.
The next day (yesterday) the Bacak kids and a few of their friends (Feldman kids) were real life entrepreneurs in the lemonade business.
(I made the lemonade, just so it wasn't disghusting. Ever been to one of those lemonade stands? I have.)
In the morning, we set it up in front of our neighborhood pool so that none of the children would die of heat stroke. I figured when someone got near to death or combusting before our eyes, we would just send them over to jump in the pool. Good plan, hu?
I thought that surely they would give up after 30 minutes of watching people drive past them. I even called Heather and told her to go buy some lemonade just so they'd have a customer.
I was wrong.
They made nearly $20 in the two hours they spent out there.
And then they went back into business in the afternoon at the end of our street.
My little red-faced children chanted "Awesome lemonade! Awesome lemonade!" to every car that drove past.
It's hard to be rejected by the cars that don't stop, but a good life lesson.
Not everyone thinks they're as cute as we do.
They ended up making $26 for the day!
Wow! If I'd known this was a valid source of income, I would have put them out there months ago!
They had various approaches to what to do with their profits. Some noble, some not.
But Rusty decided we could use it for a patient of his who lost her job because her bike was stolen, and it was her only mode of transportation.
The dollar signs in my kids eyes faded, and some were excited about this project, while others were not thrilled.
But isn't the sin of greed and selfishness in us constantly in need of stripping away?
So now they're on a bicycle mission, and we will get to frequent all the Pawn shops in town (always interesting) for just the right bike for this woman.
So don't discount the lemonade stand if you need a little fundraiser!
Or if you're kids are asking you for money. Put them outside with a cooler and a card table.
I think a lemonade stand is awfully hard to resist.

Happy 3rd birthday Treston!

Could my baby be three?
Hard for me to believe, but today he is.
What a kid...how can I describe him...LOUD! Always loud!
He has no other volume but BLARING!
Rough! He is all-boy and has not yet refined gentleness, but he can sure be sweet sometimes.
He's funny. And he knows it.
Hair. I couldn't love his hair more. I know it's looking a little fuzzy right now, but I just adore it.
Enthusiasm. He's got it. When he's excited, there is nothing cuter than the way he talks.
We Bacaks love birthdays, so we are thrilled to celebrate three years of life for our T-Bear.
I'll be honest. His birthday is bittersweet for me. I wasn't there. I wasn't even close to there.
Treston went into a loving foster home under New Life's care when he was born for four and a half months.
I mourn that time lost for me and my baby boy.
But I quickly remind myself what a miracle he is to us.
And can I just say, I THANK GOD for New Life when I think of Treston's life.
Where would he be without New Life? God uses them in such amazing ways!
God did an amazing thing through New Life in Treston's life, and more babies than we could count.
If you are not partnering in any way with a ministry like this, I would ask you to think and pray long and hard about this.
If you are pro-life, then let me challenge you that a bumper sticker or your token pro-life vote is not going to change things. Supporting a ministry like New Life who is dealing with pregnant women in crisis EVERY SINGLE DAY, offering them free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, financial assistance...this is how Treston came to New Life. His birthmom needed help, and New Life was there.
They had no idea when they assisted her at that time, that the result would be adoption. No one knew. But God knew, and New Life was available to minister to her. He used them to do great things with our family and our sweet baby.
So I know God's purposes are grand for our Treston. We pray salvation over him everyday. God has already done heroic things for him already, so I wait expectantly for the day He saves him for all eternity.
We are THANKFUL today for Treston Jeremiah. Happy Birthday T-Bear!

The Summer of Organization

Summer is a time to organize.
Okay, mainly it's a time to sweat.
But for me, it's also a time to organize.
I recently read Carolyn Mahaney's book "Feminine Appeal." It has so much take-home! I highly recommend it!
But one area she points out, along with many others, that I want to continually grow in is planning and organization.
I feel like we are pretty well structured and organized. We love schedules. Okay, maybe I love schedules, but the kids like knowing what's happenning when too.
But I'm also finding the more kids I have, the more grades I teach, I am having to step up my organization game, big time!
I will be homeschooling three grades this year. This is a little scary for me, so I'm getting a head start on my yearly planning.
This week I actually got all my lesson plans for my older kids' unit lessons printed out, hole punched, and organized in a calendar for the fall and spring semester, all put together in a pretty notebook.
Whew. What an amazing feeling.
And that's the thing.
Planning and organization make our lives a little easier.
Carolyn Mahaney points out that we can reduce the stress level in our home and for our husbands by being good planners and organizers.
So true! How stressed are we when we can't find something? Losing stuff is going to happen. But my job is to make sure we have a place for everything, and that place is made known to my family.
Planning ahead for this school year is already taking some of the fear and stress out of my year. I can breathe a little easier and sleep a little better at night knowing lesson plans are tucked away in the pretty notebook.
And the summer is also for all of the projects in my house that I don't attend to during the school year when I'm teaching.
Like cleaning out closets. Cabinets. Drawers.
I try to re-think some of our systems that need updating.
Perfect example, our shoe cubbies.
Those little cubbies have served us well. The rule is you take your shoes off and put them in the cubbies AS SOON as we get in the door. I think I say "Go in, take your shoes off, and put them in the cubbies" 99% of the time that we pull the van into the garage.
A one millionth reminder is really not superfluous with my children.
But something strange has happened. My children have grown. And so have their feet. And those cute little cubbies just wouldn't hold Jax's tennis shoes and Crocs anymore! So shoes were always mismatched, always falling out, always on the floor in the hallway, and it was driving me crazy.
(I'm literally thinking right now- is anyone interested in this? I may be typing in vain. This seems silly to write about...but here I am.)
So Rusty and I spent a date night at Target finding a new shoe system.

This makes me so happy!!! Each child has their own shoe drawer, hidden from sight. How neat and organized does that look? And I was always piling my purse and stuff on top of the cubbies, but now I have my own crate for that stuff. What an improvement! And this really removes one of the most irritating things to me in our house.
It just makes life easier.
I also have a new cleaning schedule for me and the kids. I do certain chores on certain days, I wash certain bed sheets each day, and since I noticed my kids are growing, I gave them extra chores for each day.
We have a leader for the day around here.
The leader gets to do the extra stuff, but also gets the extra priveleges, as they arise. The leader sets the table, helps with gathering laundry, etc. But the leader also chooses the TV show if they're watching something, gets to carry the pool key, etc. This eliminates bickering over the little things.
So now there are leader jobs. I bought all the cleaning wipes: disinfectant wipes, Windex wipes, and dusting wipes. (Because the kids are quite wasteful and spray happy when they clean.) So they do bathrooms now each day as a part of their leader job.
That's also a new system in place around here that I am loving!
So that's what I'm doing.
If you haven't noticed, I'm not blogging. I'm cleaning things out. I'm trying. I don't want to make my plans the mini-god of my life EVER, don't misunderstand me!
But I do think good planning and order in this house makes life nice.

Moustache Mania

This is the new thing around this house...if you fall asleep, you might wake-up with a marker moustache.
It started last Friday when Emma and Jax were reading together during our nap/quiet time in the afternoon. Jax fell asleep, and Emma's direct quote was "I just couldn't stand it, Mom. So I drew a moustache on him."
She giggled.
She just couldn't stand it.
She had a marker, and an unconscious brother.
What makes this pop into her head?
Ever since, it's been ON in the Bacak house.
Emma and her friend Emma stayed up super late the night of the fourth and did a number on Jax and Justus while they were sleeping. Full face beauty treatment via washable marker, plus baby dolls in the bed, and more.
The boys didn't take it lying down.
It's been a prank war since.
We are learning a lot about taking things like a good sport, paying back pranks in a fun way, not a vengeful, angry way, and trying not to cross the line into hurting feelings.
This is a delicate balance with a house full of male egos.
But nonetheless, the moustache war has been fun.
Emma woke up this morning, sleepy eyed, and came right to me and said "Good morning Mom. Do I have a moustache?"
This is our new way to wake up!
We are loving the summer of 2009!

Layered Potato Salad recipe for the 4th

Every holiday is somewhat about food for me. Just being honest.
So here is my recipe for Layered Potato Salad that I often make on the 4th, and am making today!
Let me preface this by saying I usually care very little for potato salad.
Especially store bought potato salad. Are you kidding me? That stuff is gross.
This barely resembles traditional potato salad. In fact, I think the only thing it has in common is potatoes.
I think it's amazing, and worth the trouble on the 4th of July!

Here we go!
The recipe calls for 4lbs of cooked potatoes, specifically red potatoes, but you can choose. *You can also adjust the amount of sauce to your amount of potatoes. That's easy to do.
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 c mayo
2 T spicy/ creole mustard
1/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
3/4 c Italian parsley, chopped or dried (I'm positive I omit this ingredient usually. My kids get spooked at green stuff, and it doesn't add much flavor wise, if you ask me)
4-5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Boil and mash or cube your cooked potatoes. Let cool.
Then mix up your sauce: mayo, sour cream, mustard, salt and pepper. (Adjust this to your liking. I think I like extra spicy mustard.)
Layer 1/3 of potatoes, then sour cream mixture, then green onions and parsley.
Repeat twice more. Chill for at least an hour, covered. Sprinkle bacon on top just before serving.

I am making this along with baked beans, and our hamburgers today. I think we might grill some corn and make corn paint too. I love holidays!

My Mom's Story of Healing

*This is my Mom's story of physical healing. I wanted to share it with all of you because it is one of the most tangible evidences in my family's life of God's goodness, mercy, and grace. The greatest evidence of that in our lives is that He reached down and saved us, when we didn't deserve it. In the same way, he touched my Mom and healed her in a MOST dramatic way. The difference we saw in her pre-healing/post-healing was EXTREME! She literally could not get around before...well, I'll let her tell you the story. Be blessed as you read about a miraculous act on the part of our good and gracious God.
____________________________________________________________________________________


"My Journey to Healing" by Cindy Seay

My journey began with a decision in 2005 to go forward with a total knee replacement. It would be the 7th surgery on my left knee. I spent many hours in prayer and did all the research before making the decision to have the surgery. I was convinced that God had given me permission to go for it.

Days before my surgery brought anxiety and even fear. I am not usually one to panic so this was new to me. I prayed a lot and talked with close friends. Both brought reassurance and peace. I was able to confess out loud that God is Sovereign – in Him alone I put my trust!

I had some very specific prayer requests before my surgery –
1. That I would not be “freaked-out” the morning of surgery – that I would be filled with PEACE!
2. That the nerve block would not be painful
3. That I would wake easily from anesthesia

The day after surgery I wrote in my journal…
"Finally I am past the surgery that I have both anticipated and dreaded for a long time. Of the 3 specific prayer requests – God answered all of them in amazing ways.
• I had an amazing peace when I woke up the morning of surgery and it continued after I got to the hospital. No panic!
• I don’t remember anything about the nerve block.
• I woke up from anesthesia with absolutely no difficulty. This is a huge miracle for me.
I stand in awe of a mighty God who hears and answers my prayers."

Two weeks later I wrote in my journal of unimaginable pain, tortuous physical therapy and an inability to read or write due to severe nausea. I wrote this…
“I had hoped for some incredible spiritual experiences during my recovery but all I have been able to do is try to survive.
I have to believe that God has more in store for me.
Lord, help me to be quiet, rest and wait on you.”

After this, I continued to have pain and ultimately another surgery 5 months after the knee replacement. The recovery from that surgery was horrible and from that point on I was never free of pain. A couple of months later I found myself at the very bottom. My health in general was falling apart due to the chronic pain.
Doctors had no answers and God continued to remind me that He was my answer. There were countless numbers of people praying for my healing. Some came to my home and laid their hands on me as they prayed for God to relieve my pain and heal me.
There was so much I wanted to learn spiritually during this time but I still could not read my Bible or write in my journal. God revealed to me that if I journaled at this point in my journey I might manipulate the words and would miss what He was teaching me. And so I waited and prayed and cried. Pain was consuming my world. There was no comfort – there was no sleep – everything was hard.

Then, one Sunday morning during the prayer time, I felt the Lord say to me, “Are you ready to receive my healing?” My heart broke and I asked God to show me what this meant. Over the following weeks the Lord began to reveal to me that there was a process and a preparation for healing. I continued to wait and search for God’s process.

After waiting 7 weeks to be seen by a specialist and receiving no real answers, again the Lord said, “It is me you need, no one else!” By this time we were approaching a trip that had been planned for a very long time – a trip to California for a worship ministry conference. I whined and complained and begged Ed to let me stay home. I just didn’t know how I would do it. Ed, who is always sensitive to my needs, said that the tickets were non-refundable and insisted that I needed to go. We would see California in a wheelchair. I was not happy but I yielded to his leadership.

We left on a Wednesday morning, with Steve and Holly Ray. We worked our way through the airport with a wheelchair. I was so sad that the other 3 people with me were going to be stuck with a cranky invalid in California.

Wednesday night we went to the first session of this conference and immediately encountered the presence of the God. We had an amazing worship time and my spirit was truly refreshed. Earlier that day, I felt the freedom to journal just a few words. This was the first journal entry since a couple of weeks after my surgery. That journal entry went like this…
"I feel that I have been drowning in words and emotions that so needed to overflow from me to paper, but God has not allowed me to journal until now. I do so today with great care. I don’t want to twist any truth about lessons learned during this journey to make them more palatable. I stop now to pray that the words I will write here will be from the Lord and not a humanized interpretation of what God is doing in my life."
I went on to list some of the things that God had revealed to me during this time and trust me, there were many lessons. The very last words I wrote were these,
“Help me to not be afraid of healing!”
As I re-read these words, I don’t even remember writing them. I had never verbalized this fear, though I had struggled with many issues related to healing.


The next day was a long day and I was in a lot of pain. I went back to the hotel in the afternoon to get some rest and somewhat begrudgingly, went back that night for a worship service that I knew would be mostly in Spanish.

From the moment we entered the building that night I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit, even through the chaos of more than a thousand people eagerly making their way to their seats. The worship time began in Spanish and we were surrounded by Spanish-speaking people on all sides. We found ourselves completely given over to worship and were singing confidently in Spanish. We were a people that night of one language. It was more than amazing!

Later, we all agreed that there were times that we thought we could have spoken fluent Spanish that night through the power of the Holy Spirit. I can only imagine how the apostles must have felt the night of Pentecost. During this part of our worship time, the Hispanic man sitting next to Ed leaned over to him and told him that he had a word from the Lord for him and this is what he said -
“The thing that you have been willing to receive but have not truly sought will be given to you soon.”
How great is our God! He knew the struggles we faced in our faith and chose to give healing even in the midst of those fears.

I couldn’t really tell you much else about the worship except that we were totally at the feet of Jesus and unaware of anything else going on around us. During the last half of the evening Brian Doerksen led us in ENGLISH worship. We actually felt a sense of disappointment that we would now sing in English because we had already had such an incredible time of worship – how could it get better.
Brian is truly a minister through music. He has had much hurt in his life with two sons who have severe birth defects and other losses. His music and his ministry that night reflected a heart of joy in the midst of pain.

As the service began to come to a close, I was sitting and praying. The pastor came to the microphone and called us to a time of prayer. The only thing I really remember hearing him say was “Someone in this room tonight needs healing”. I remember thinking to myself – I bet there’s more than one person in this room in need of healing. I returned to a sweet time of prayer and at some point realized that Ed, Steve and Holly all had their hands on me praying for my healing.

From that point, the service seemed to end abruptly. Ed left to go get the car, which had been his routine since I couldn’t walk far. As I stood up to walk out of the sanctuary I sensed the Spirit say to me –“If you use your cane to walk out of here you will be in disobedience”.
I found myself saying this out loud and Steve looked at me and said “then don’t use it!” It wasn’t until I took several steps that I realized that I was pain free.

The night before as we tried to exit the sanctuary, I was almost knocked down a couple of times, so the thought of maneuvering through the crowd was a little overwhelming. The enemy tried to convince me that I couldn't do it, but I did. We got in the car and no one knew what to say. Ed asked about the cane and I told him what I felt the Spirit say to me and we all then sat in silence. The silence was not uncomfortable – it was more of a time of reflection on what we had experienced in worship and an excitement for apparent healing.

We stopped at Starbucks on our way back to the hotel. Ed asked me if I planned to use my cane to walk in and I said "NO!". We went in, had our coffee and again did not really talk about it. We mostly just sat smiling and reveling in our time at Jesus feet. It was a “holy ground” time and to try to define it with words was impossible.

I slept amazingly well that night for the first time in many months. My first real sense of healing was when I got up in the night to go to the bathroom. I was usually in a lot of pain when I first stepped on that leg and was always fumbling for my cane. I got and walked pain free. I went back to bed and immediately went right back to sleep. As I look back I would have thought that I would have laid awake all night in amazement. God was so gracious to give me sleep that night.

The next morning we walked out of the hotel to meet Steve and Holly “cane-free”. They both stood at the car and watched in wonder at how easily I was moving. That day was an amazing one. The conference was over that afternoon. At the beginning of the trip we had encouraged Steve and Holly to decide what they wanted to do in LA on our off-day since they had never been there. They wanted to go to Universal Studios but feared that it would be too much for me. I had assured them that I would get a wheelchair and it would be fine. Little did we know that just a few days later I would be walking all over Universal Studios. We spent over 7 hours there and I walked the whole park, stood in lines and rode fast rides. It was amazing! I can’t tell you how excited I was! This was the first time that I could move around and walk easily in almost a year. By the afternoon, we could no longer contain our excitement. I had been healed and 7 hours at Universal Studios was proof!

I can’t begin to tell you how this has affected me. It is powerful and overwhelming even now, 3 years later. It has changed who I am. It has changed my perception of God. It has caused the Word of God to come alive to me and I feel that I have a responsibility to share what God has done. God has a greater purpose for my healing – it is not about me!

It is about this church and many others who need to know that God still heals. It has led me to a search for truth in His Word about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and how we have fallen short of believing the Word.

Romans 11:33-36
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
35"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
36For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.


During the months of intense pain I prayed for healing and many of you faithfully prayed for my healing. But I have to admit that, though I desperately wanted to be healed, the whole idea was very scary to me. I felt unworthy – my problem was not nearly as serious as those who have terminal illnesses – why should I be healed when they had not. And what if God didn’t heal me? What would people think? - that I had a lack of faith or that there was unconfessed sin in my life.

Eventually it all came down to 2 questions…
1. Did I believe that God could heal me? ABSOLUTELY!
2. Did I believe that God would heal me? Honestly - Not really.

First, He said… "Are you ready?" This required that I do a heart check. I prayed Psalm 139:23-24 … "God, please take your highest powered spotlight and shine in into every corner of my heart and show me if there is anything there that is offensive to you."
I knew that I needed to be ready with a clean heart.

Secondly, I had to be willing to receive. This required faith to believe that God could heal me. James 5:15 says that a prayer offered in faith will bring healing.
As I explored this process, I discovered what I believe about healing...

It is a deliberate act of God – not a result of the natural order of life, such as the sunrise and the sunset.
It is the result of an intentional touch from God.
I believe that it happens as a result of intense and persistent prayer and a faith that is willing to receive it.
But most importantly, it is meant to glorify God.

I am not worthy to receive His healing – I am not special because He healed me. For His own purposes, God chose to heal me.

I pray today that through my healing God will be revealed to you in a whole new way.
Please know that there is no illness that is too small – nothing that is too unimportant to place before the Father.
Even now I pray that you will take a moment to consider what is happening in your life that needs healing. Are you ready to receive His healing?

Nurse Needed: You can help!

Behind every good doctor, is a good nurse.
Well, at least the doctor hopes he has a good nurse. It makes all the difference in the world! Every doctor and ever patient knows that.
I think Rusty is fabulous, but if he doesn't have a strong staff, people will leave dissatisfied with their care.
We have had a wonderful nurse with us for the past few years!!!
If you're our patient, you know Gabbie, and she's been a treasure to our practice.
But Gabbie's husband is a pastor and they have been called to a church in Illinois.
They've decided her commute would be too much. Whatever.
So we are in desperate need of a wonderful nurse, soon!
I'll have to say, one of the best things about Gabbie has been her heart for ministry in our office.
Rusty and Gabbie met on a mission trip where they worked together, and they knew doing ministry at home would be profitable for the kingdom! Gabbie gave up her much higher paying hospital position to work alongside Rusty, and minister to patients.
I have written on here before, I couldn't be more proud of my husband's ministry through medicine.
What I love about him is he has never separated the Godly man, leader, servant, and teacher he is to us at home from who he is at work.
He holds the Truth of the Gospel up in his life, wherever he goes.
He has made Abundant Life Family Practice an outpost for the gospel, fearlessly (from my perspective- he appears fearless! That may not always be so!) sharing the gospel and praying with patients, giving spiritual questionnaires to every new patient, and even sharing spiritual answers to their physical problems. (They get a little more than they come in for sometimes.)
Gabbie has been in step with with him in ministry every step of the way.
This does not make our practice perfect. It doesn't mean they don't make mistakes or have bad days. But their desire is to share Christ, and I'll confess my own sin...it makes me a little nervous sometimes.
Rusty will come home and tell me about an exchange with a patient in which he boldly shares Truth, and I am thinking...the law suit is coming. Surely, we're going to get sued for this stuff.
But so far, God has totally protected us. He's so good!
If you know of someone who would be interested in our office, let's talk.
I'm praying God would use this to get the word out to just the right person.
So pass it along. And if you've been blessed by our office, please take a moment to pray for God to grant us the staff member we need. Thanks!