Kendrick Update

Well, the unheard of has happened! Kendrick was granted a phone call! He is now approaching the end of his fifth week of boot camp. I've received a couple letters, as have several other people, but aside from the initial call saying he had arrived safely, none of us really expected to hear his voice until the day of bootcamp graduation on April 24th. BUT - while the details are sketchy, we know that he was part of some sort of team/group of other recruits who were doing different swimming exercises/drills and he was in the winning/highest qualifying group of guys! He was therefore awarded a 5 minute phone call home=) Tuesday night my parents called to say they had heard from him and, while he sounded quite hoarse, he is doing pretty well overall. His platoon (2155) also won their first drill inspection and will be awarded a trophy by the senior drill instructor. We praise the Lord for this good news! Continue to pray for him as he has two more months to go. The Lord is using him and giving him opportunities to share Christ with others - it is amazing to see him become a shining light in a place of darkness!

Kendrick - we are so proud of you!

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

Rub-a-Dub Dub...

Three boys in a tub!Levi~Jesse~Malachi~

Time with friends

Once again the time of year has rolled around when Cornerstone Bible Institute has their annual Bible Conference. The speaker is Mark Fisher, he is a CBI alumni who was in his senior year when Matthew came as a freshman. He is speaking through the book of Matthew and it is VERY good. Our friends, Jared and Sarah Berg, brought down their camper and are staying here with us for the week in order to be able to enjoy the conference as well. Needless to say it has been a fun, crazy time so far!

Monday was Jared and Sarah's 7th anniversary so they went in to the morning sessions at CBI and then went to Rapid City for an afternoon together (not exactly a romantic one since all they did was go grocery shopping with 2 month-old Hannah as a tag along - but with 4 kids you take what you can get). I made them a cake and babysat for the day and it was, for the most part, a pretty fun time. Here's the crew, except for Monica and Zach who have been going into all the sessions in the morning and doing their school work in the afternoon.

Logan - 6, Akayla - 5, Alana - 4, Malachi - 3, Jesse - 2, and Levi - 1.

The two little girls woke up Monday morning with a plan - to put on their matching dresses and be twins for the day - "princess" twins, to be exact. The little boys are still a bit young to do much playing together so they kind of each do their own thing until another one infringes on their territory and a small war breaks out.Logan is usually pretty good at entertaining himself or the small boys and as things progress throughout the day he usually ends up playing with Akayla and Alana once their 'princess time' is done.There are 3 kids in diapers in the house right now - here are two who I had to change at the same time=)In the midst of all the chaos we are still trying to get school done....it's been going OK, but Monica and Zach are the ones with the hardest time in that area since they have a few hours in the afternoon to get it done before we all pack up after supper and head in to the evening session.

Tuesday Sarah did the babysitting while I took my oldest four along with Akayla to a homeschool bowling activity. The 4 kids age 3 and under napped while the rest of us bowled. Matthew has been working his usual hours so it has made for a busy week, full of long days and late night, grumpy kids and tired parents...or maybe that's the other way around? But today is a nap day for one and all and we don't even have to make supper since we plan on attending the CBI Senior Class Chili Feed Fundraiser. But the busyness of it all is still worth some special times shared with friends - thank you, Bergs!

Do these pants make my hips look big?

Freezing Fun at the Park

This morning the kids and I headed into town on a multi-purpose mission. I had to pick up one item at the grocery store, Matthew needed to have some quiet time to study and finish preparations for teaching tomorrow mornings Sunday school class, and the kids needed to get outside (I needed that last one also=). It was a lot colder than we expected and very bright but the kids were troopers and had a good time anyway.

Crazy kids - they ran around on the newly poured cement skate board area....
Dug in the sand....Climbed on the play area....Played tag without touching the ground....
Warmed their ears...
Enjoyed the swings.... and went down the slides.
Meanwhile Daddy had two hours of peace and quiet (interrupted only by a certain dog that was then chained up outside); I was able to pick up some powdered milk so that I could make up some homemade Chai tea from which I've been deprived since October (thanks again Tarin for that recipe); and the kids were able to spend some time both at the library and at the park for a refreshing break after a week of school. So, therefore....

Missions accomplished!

Hoorah!

The following is a little story I've read a couple times before and found it amusing enough to post. While it may be fictional and it is not exactly theologically sound I still appreciate the point it makes!

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.
One day the professor shocked the class when he came in he looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes .' The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting.' It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him, knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.
The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked, stunned, and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?' The Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting American soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So, He sent me.'

Quotable quotes

"Justice is better than revenge, but mercy is greatest of all."
From Kristen Heitzmann's book Sweet Boundless

"Mommy, deer hit me in the head! That cool?"
From Jesse, said completely out of the blue last evening

"I will/do choose to serve the Lord this day and persevere. Please continue to pray for me..."
From Kendrick in his most recent letter

"Garlic speaks without words."
From Zachery, after cleaning out the garlic press

My girls

Time is passing by as it always does. In our home, one of the time-related things that we are becoming more and more aware of is that Monica has one year and a half left at home before she leaves for college. Chances are from that point on in her life she will no longer 'live' at home for much longer than her college breaks.... Of all the kids, Alana is the one that I think will miss her most of all, she will only be 5 when her big sister leaves her. Monica is aware of it too, so yesterday she took these pictures - capturing herself and her little sister beautifully=)

Sisters....

Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day and I have to confess I'm not really in a writing mood or in a 'valentinesey' mood either but just the same I wanted to say this:

"Matthew Chamberland - I love you. I love you more than words or silly blogs can say - but the neat thing is, even if I can't express it adequately, I think you know it anyway. We have been together long enough to be able to know and understand how we feel about each other without needing to say the words. You show me everyday and I hope to do the same for you. You love me whatever mood I'm in and knowing that and writing all this down has suddenly changed things....I'm in a Valentines Day mood after all=) Love you bunches, Wonderful!"
~Your Wife

PS - Thanks for the card and the chocolate.

Our week

This week has had it's usual variety of days - some busy and some just regular. Monday was the day that Matthew and I just looked at each other and almost had to laugh - just when you think the Lord has outdone Himself, He decides to do it again on an even grander scale. We went from laughing in shock, to crying in joy, to humbly thanking him in prayer.

Tuesday was I think the craziest day of the week so far. It started off with a letter from Kendrick, the first personal one we'd gotten! It was exciting at the same time as sobering. He is not having fun right now as he said very bluntly. But he has figured out that if you just do what you are told, do it quickly, and yell really loudly, then you will usually be alright. He asked for our continued prayers as well as for someone to take a nap for him. The next activity of the day was for us to run up to Custer - we set up an 'appointment' with Tarin to take some pictures of our family that we hope to then turn into a prayer card. This is a loooong overdue project for us! Hopefully it was a successful photo shoot - 7 'subjects' can be a bit tricky to capture=) But if anyone knows that it's Tarin - she has a houseful of kids of her own! We then rushed home and Monica dashed out the door to go to her sewing class while I fed Jesse and Alana a quick sandwich and then headed to Rapid for their dentist appointement. But I think Matthew's day was the longest of all ~ most of the day on Monday he spent cutting up 2 of the 4 deer we've recently been given, and on Tuesday he had to finish the job. We all helped - cutting, washing, grinding, weighing, packaging - but by far he did the bulk of the work since he had to skin them and butcher them before we could even start on the rest of it. He was up until midnight while the rest of us (Monica, Zach, Logan and I) called it a night at around 10pm. Thank you, honey! He's considering becoming a vegetarian now....

Wednesday was a little calmer, catching up on some things here at the house, running errands in town, getting the kids to AWANA and going to prayer meeting. Matthew currently has a job doing some tree cutting and brush clearing so he's been taking the boys, Z and L, to work with him when they're done school. It has been good for all of them I think!

Thursday was another exciting 'letter-from-Kendrick' day! He was writing back in response to the first letter I'd sent him and you could almost hear the difference between that letter and the first one - he seemed so encouraged to hear from home. The bad news was he has a cough/sore throat....M and Z had piano lessons in the afternoon so we made the trip into town again and hung out at the library while they were at Jenna's. In between the trip to town and running Logan over to work with Matthew, Monica and I cooked up over 12 pounds of hamburg (or deerburg) into several, several batches of meatballs. As of about 4:30 yesterday they were all made, cooked, packaged, and into the freezer for future use=) PTL!!

Today is an at-home day for me. Logan and Zach are caught up on school and planning to go to work with Matthew after lunch, Monica is in town for her final sewing class in hopes of finishing her project - pyjama pants=) The littlest 2 will go down for a nap after lunch and then this evening we will all head into church. Cornerstone is putting on a Valentine's Day banquet. Matthew and I will attend that while the kids are next door either helping babysit or being babysat....depending where they fall on the responsibility ladder! Should be fun!

Well, I know this is a lot of rambling and writing but I wanted to write as I haven't all week - there are things going on, just no pictures to show for it....yet=)

Count Your Many Blessings

I've been wondering for a few days now about whether or not to write this post. I've decided to say a limited amount about what is going on lately in our lives! Let me sum it up in one word - AMAZING! It all started about two weeks ago. But first let's back up a bit....

Back in January Matthew had an NTI board meeting where he basically poured out his heart and opened up our lives to the men on that board. We felt like we were at a bit of a crossroads as far as the mission was concerned and were unsure as to what direction the Lord wanted us to go. The Lord directed through the wise, godly council of those men and we are very grateful for that. One of the men made a commitment, that he and his wife would pray for Matthew and I every day. And now back to the amazing part....

God has decided to show His great strength and provision in our lives in several incredible ways. He has left no question as to Who is answering our prayers or Who has seen fit to meet our needs - it is so obviously our Heavenly Father. Matthew has been given work, we have been given meat enough to fill our freezer, we have had financial needs met at exactly the right moment, we have been given a new dishwasher....It has been absolutely AMAZING, can I say that again?

Why is this happening? Why is it happening to us? While I don't know that I can fully understand the answer to either one of those questions I do know this. My husband decided to make a choice that day after the board meeting. He would follow the advice that those men had given him and he would turn everything else over to the Lord - he made the right choice! Since then the Lord has decided to show us that it is the good and right thing to do when you choose to serve Him and cast all your other concerns at His feet, for He has shoulders more than broad enough to carry the load for us. As for why it is happening to us....that is the most humbling part of it all. The list of names of people more worthy and deserving than Matthew and Alisha Chamberland is veeery long. We are much more like the grumbling, sinning Israelites in the desert than like Abraham on the mountain top choosing to sacrifice his only son in obedience to God. But He has chosen to bless us in ways we don't deserve and that is why I finally decided to write this post, so that we could take a minute to point you to Christ and share with you the joy of serving Him.

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!"

The week in pictures

OK, so it's more like the last 2 weeks in pictures, but that just wasn't as catchy=) These are just some random shots I've taken over the last several days that sort of chronicle a bit of what has been going on here lately. I thought I'd share them today - in chronological order.

The last evening before Kendrick shipped out - he came over and played Risk "Lord of the Rings" version with the gang, and Jenna.More pics of Alana's haircut - which continues to be a big hit. Another shot of Monica's quilt - as she was doing schoolwork from the laziness of her bed=)The recent dishwasher exchange - first: Jesse helping Daddy get it out of there, and second: Zach taking it apart and finding out that it indeed was broken.

Jesse....he couldn't make it until nap time one day. Shortly after Zach took him for a wagon ride to the post office he came back and fell asleep on my bed....SO CUTE!

And then some pictures of the great outdoors....It has been mild around here lately, all the snow has melted. So, although today was a bit cooler, gray and gloomy out the littlest two still headed outside to play.

The two puppies....

Despite the fact that I find things out here quite ugly right now (no snow to cover up the vast amount of BROWN - South Dakota's state color) there is still some beauty to be found in God's creation as it rests.The coming Wednesday, at AWANA, Logan will say the last two sections of the third book in Sparkies. This means he will have completed all the books and receive the Sparky Award! This has been his goal for the last year and a half. He will spend the remaining weeks going back through and reviewing the sections and this fall he will move up to AWANA's T & T program as a third grader....Wow!

That's all folks!