Big News!!!

As told by Luke.....

Hey Everyone - I've got big news! Last night at about 9:00, Noah accepted Christ!!! He is a new creation!!!! I can barely keep from crying as a type this - I'm so happy! I feel like Jairus . . . . Jesus saved my child from death!!! I've emailed you because you, no doubt, are excited with me and in some way have a share in this miracle that God has done. I know that all the ministries that my son has been blessed by and taken part in have helped to ultimately lead him to the foot of the cross.

He's only 5, but I have no doubt that that boy is born again! Here's what happened: We have a family devotion routine that we do every night - it gets thrown in the order of events just like baths and brushing teeth. This devotion time consists of a children's devotional book, some singing, some praying, and a memory verse. I've prayed and prayed that God would honor and bless these times, as it takes EFFORT to make sure that we are purposeful about having this family time with God each night. Anyway, Sunday night's devotional was about Jesus' death. So guess what last night's was . . . . His resurrection! Noah knows both of these stories already; he's heard them before. But I could sense more of the Lord on the move last night. Noah was engaging a little more than usual and he asked an important question - "What happens to people that don't believe in Jesus" - out of the mouth of kids!!! So I told him. I didn't freak him out, but I just lovingly explained God's plan - along with hell - and the way it had to be and why it had to be.

He got visibly upset and uncomfortable at the thought of hell - he almost cried. He pulled his blanket up tight around his shoulders and curled up. "What's wrong Noah?", I said. "Thinking about that makes me sad . . . makes me wanna cry" he said. I wanted to talk to him about it (obviously), but the girls were getting a little fidgety. I told Sarah I had to get him out of there. So we prayed real quick to finish up - Sarah tucked the girls in and I went with Noah to his room.

I carefully explained to him that He doesn't have to go to hell - God made a way out! Noah has flirted lately with the idea of 'being a christian', 'getting saved', 'going to heaven' . . . but it wasn't truly clicking - it was just Christian-ese that he'd heard. Last night I felt truly compelled and moved to pray for him like never before - to present him to Jesus the same way that Jairus did with his little girl; to want it as bad as he did. GOD heard and GOD moved! I talked more with Noah about sin, what we deserve, why Jesus came, etc. I worked through the Romans road with him in a 5 year old way. I made sure he understood the key elements before we moved on to other verses. I could see him getting uncomfortable in his own skin- it was so interesting to see. I could see him being affected by something - almost plagued by what he felt like he needed to do. He had an Outsider leaning on him - a feeling that he hadn't felt before and didn't understand. It was the Holy Spirit knocking on his door! A 5 year old doesn't always understand what God on the move feels like! I got to witness my first born son . . . being changed in a moment by The Almighty!!!- So cool!

Anyway, he decided that he had to have Jesus. He DID NOT want to go to hell and I could see his sorrow . . . he understood his need for a Savior. I said "Son, do you want me to pray with you? You can have Jesus in your heart right now?" At this point, I'm thinking "is this really it???" I'm ready to lead him through the sinner's prayer, one line at a time, but instead he prays on his own! "Dear God, I don't wanna go to hell. Please forgive me for my sins and beam me right up to heaven! Amen." I'm smiling, and excited, "Good job Noah, that was great. Now do you want me to pray with you and help you through it a little bit, so you understand?" Noah looks at me - "But I already prayed!", as if to say "once is enough silly daddy". His eyes said "I'm already saved!" He didn't need my fancy words . . . it was between him and God, and God made it happen in his heart. Praise the LORD! What a night. Sarah says "1 down, 2 to go . . ."

Thank you all for you work in ministry. What you do makes a difference. Thank you for sharing in the joy of my son who is a child of the King! God bless you all . . . He sure has me!

Luke 15:7 - Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
 

October Fun

Several of the local churches in Venice host fall festivals. We visited one on Saturday night. Here are the kids eating snow cones while waiting for a pony ride.

Abby was a pumpkin by default (we had the costume and she was excited about it), Noah wanted to be a conductor again (which was easy since that's what he was last year!), and Julia was a ballerina (which was also easy since she had been given this swimsuit over the summer!) We definitely don't put much thought into costumes at our house. : ) The kids were all happy with their choices, and, of course, I thought they were all adorable!

We also carved pumpkins:

The kids drew their faces on, then Daddy cut them out with some kind of power tool.

And to round out our October fun, tonight we played candy corn bingo!

Noah and Abby loved it, and caught right on!

Julia loved it, too, but only because she got to eat all her candy corn! : )

Happy October everyone!

Pumpkin Patch Express

My sweet boy Noah is still in love with trains, so as a special treat, we bought tickets for the whole family to ride the Pumpkin Patch Express. It's this old train (our coach car was built in 1924!) that's part of a railroad museum. They have a variety of different themed events throughout the year, and right now happens to be a train ride out to a pumpkin patch and other fall activities.

Everyone was excited to get started.

Noah and Abby looked out the window the whole ride, looking for spiderwebs in the trees of all things.

And Julia, of course, didn't want to be left out!

Once we arrived to our destination, there was a hay maze

a gigantic hay pile to play in

Noah got to go up in the engine

and everyone got to bring home a pumpkin!

It was a happy and exciting day!

Our Camping Adventure

We've been wanting to take the kids camping for some time now. Julia's finally reaching an easier age to do things like that. So Luke took a Friday off work, and we went up to Myakka River State Park (about 45 minutes away) for a long weekend.

Here's our campsite:

Luke is the master fire builder. No camping experience is complete without a roaring fire, no matter the outside temperature.

Here he is passing on his legacy:

Luke made his delicious pancakes for breakfast.

We went hiking

hunted for alligators

went on LOTS of bike rides

climbed on all the fallen trees

did the canopy walk

roasted marshmallows for smores



and made lots of special memories!

August

We said farewell to summer by taking a picnic to Myakka River State Park.  The kids loved the canopy walk.  They kept finding these enormous yellow spiders, and Abby even found a pygmy rattlesnake!

We also went bowling -- this was a first for the kids! They thought it was great!

Noah had his fifth birthday! (Oh my gosh, how is that possible???) His gift was a set of swords so he can fight with Daddy. : )

Noah returned to preschool. He was SO excited to have a new Thomas the train lunchbox. He "modeled" it in all the back to school shots.

As soon as we walked into the classroom, he was right at home. We opted to keep him in a three day preschool another year, rather than sending him on to kindergarten. I'm happy to have him home with me another year!

Abby and Julia are learning to survive without a big brother around to entertain them! It's definitely been an adjustment for them, but it's fun to see their relationship developing! It's as if Abby suddenly realized Julia's a pretty good playmate now that Noah's in school!

July

We were in Missouri for the annual Jobe family vacation the first week in July. We visited Silver Dollar City -- it was SO hot the day we were there, but I loved seeing the kids enjoy all those nostalgic activities from my own childhood memories!

We also celebrated Abby's third birthday! Her only request was a princess cake!

And here she is as she was seeing her birthday present for the first time!