A Little Child Shall Lead Them

As I asked the Lord what I should read today, I waited and cleaned up a few dishes left over from having company last night. I kept asking and my mind would answer this book or that and I knew it wasn't the Lord. Finally, Summer, not knowing what I had been praying, said, "Mom, I am memorizing Colossians chapter 3." Ding, ding, ding!!! I knew that was what He wanted me to read and I did. Thank you, Lord that when we call you answer and when we seek, we shall find. It is so awesome how the Lord works and it is usually not as I would think. He is showing me more and more that.."a little child shall lead them."Isaiah 11:6. I guess I need more than one to lead me!! It also says in the Word that the student is not greater then the teacher. I am seeing this more in learning with my children. I think they are teaching me much more than I am teaching them. As I was asking Him to help me prioritize today, I heard Him say you only need to know what to do second; as you will seek ye first the kingdom of God. O.K. I have asked Him to help as there is so many have to dos and many want to dos and I want to do His will and I want to take His yoke as it is easy. Blessings, Lisa

Little Man

My little cowboy dressed for the rodeo.

-Monika

Back Home

As we have survived 5 full days back home from being away, I thought I should surprise Monika and post something all by myself. I don't do much on the computer as I am unable, due to lack of time and skill but I am starting to try to learn. I had no willingness as there is too much to do in a day without having to take the time and learn this and then have time to write. Well, I guess you can teach a middle age dog to do new tricks!!

I did not want to come back to "normal" around here. I want to walk in the Spirit and not lose that connection I established with Papa on the road and at Christian Retreat. It is so easy to go back to the drugery of schooling, meals, cleaning, etc. We continue to meet twice a day as family and worship, pray, and read the Word together in an unrushed manner. It is a blessing! That is the time I look forward to each day and not rushing it as to get on to all the "stuff" we must do. That is the "stuff " we must do. We must seek Him first. Blessings, Lisa

Thank You

Dearest Friends, Family, and Fellow Brothers and Sisters In Christ that we have not as yet met,


We wanted to say thank-you and god bless you to all those who took the time to pray and intercede for our family. We have felt your prayers and know we would not have wanted to go through this most difficult time without those of you who have held up our hands.

God has truly comforted us as we seek His face continually. We cannot understand but we know and trust that He is sovereign. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows the plans He has for us, they are for good and not for evil, plans to give us a hope and a future. While our hearts are broken and we miss our dear son, Elijah Liam, we know He is in the arms of Jesus. And we will spend eternity with him. " the Lord is near unto them who are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit" Ps. 34:18 Please continue to intercede for our family, especially our oldest son Josiah, as he is taking Elijah's death profoundly hard. It is so important to stay vigilant in prayer always. And we are so very thankful for every prayer that is offered on our behalf. "Grace be unto you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ." 2 Cor. 1:2-5 "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who trusts in Him" Ps.34:8

Love and blessings, Larry and Dori, Josiah, Caleb, & Emily Grace

Home

We are home now. Can't you tell from the lack of posting?

Things are as busy as ever but what I realized is that your attitude makes all the difference!

Sounds simple right?

Sometimes it isn't. Starving our flesh isn't always enjoyable. Today I had a long list of phone calls, paper work, computer related jobs, and errands to finish. Along with the normal daily stuff. Usually I get stressed, worried, and irritated over it all.
Today though actually turned out rather pleasant and the reason (drum roll please).... I kept praising Him. Even when the errands took longer than I had hoped and the list of phone calls kept growing I kept thanking Him and praising. It would have been easy to complain, to pout and just make the whole day miserable for myself and everyone around me. But that's just it, it would have been easy. It's always easier to do whatever you feel like. And He is faithful when we make the effort because you know what? I got everything done!
He is good! -Monika

Diving Museum

Traveling

We are 20 miles from Jacksonville. We left the Keys this morning and are praising the Lord that we know the reason for our going there, finally! As the days were passing by quickly and even though we had a great time at church and fellowshipping with our friends, I still felt He had more for us. Our friends from Spirit and Truth Ministries brought their friend Cindy over and all had a great time fellowshipping, playing games, and encouraging one another in the Lord. As it was getting late, they were preparing to leave but as Cindy had explained earlier about some "infirmities" we asked if we could pray with her. She was willing and all laid hands and prayed in the Spirit and the Lord moved! He healed her hand of pain and numbness and she kept opening and closing her hand with a surprised look on her face saying, There is no pain or numbness!" She said she had M.S. and something else, I think. The Lord had given a word of knowledge during the prayer time. She said she had never felt such peace and was not familiar with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit but she wanted it now! She was a precious woman who loves the Lord and works with youth. -Lisa

Our First Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog. Wow. A whole year. It's hard to believe, it went by so fast! So much has happened...... I have learned so much yet the funny thing is it wasn't new "stuff". Instead there were circumstances and situations in which I could take everything I thought I knew and really test it. I was learning to take my head knowledge and apply it to everything and anything. And what tests! Yet He is faithful through everything and I have the hope that He is preparing me for what He has called me to do. -Monika

Happy Hunting!

Oh look, there are Lee's Numb Chucks!

We really did (not) enjoy these all the way from Bradenton to Marathon.

You can have them when we get back to MD!

Neener, Neener, Neener! Hahaha!

Sophie's 1st Post!

We are in Florida. Florida is fun and has a pool and a hot tub. We went to a church today that we have gone to for many years. We may go to Indian Key or a geological reef this week. We were at Christian Retreat this past week. I heard many missionaries speak. It was cool and some of it was sad. -Sophie

Bradenton

Here is a collage I made of some of the best pictures of our stay in Bradenton.

We arrived on Sat. the 5th and left Sat. the 12th. We played lots of basketball, tennis, volleyball, and nuke'um. The weather was wonderful and we enjoyed a couple of beautiful days at the beach.The Lord really moved during the meetings and we all thoroughly enjoyed the time spent there. Lee, Mom, Summer, Sophie, and I are all working on posts about the highlights for each of us while we were there.

-Monika

The Fiddler On The Roof

Way Cool!

THE Trip

Lee and I left Baltimore at 6pm on Friday the 28th after Elijah Magee's funeral. The Funeral was a blessing. It was hard though. I mean what funeral is easy? Lee, Summer, Sophie and I played "It is well with my soul", " Great is Thy Faithfulness", and "Lord I lift Your name on High". The Lord was with us all during it. Before the service started I walked around the grounds reading the ages on some of the memorial plates. As I read some the the younger ages I thought about all the other families. I wondered if they had the Lord with them? How could anyone go through this type of grief without some sort of hope, hope to see the Master's plan, hope to see them again one day, hope for peace and comfort in the midst of the storm. Already I am seeing the many ways the Lord has used the Magee's sacrifice for His glory."Unless a kernel of wheat fall...."





All of our relatives said that 95 would be horrible but it wasn't too bad and Lee and I figured out how to trip my odometer. Which made following google directions much easier for someone like me! I'm getting better though. We made it to New Jersey, with no problems by the way, and arrived at The G's (Glendinnings) Uncle Roger's house around 8. We spent the rest of the evening playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out. So fun!


In the morning we left for the train station and made it to NYC in time to have lunch in Greewhich. From there we hit just about every tourist spot possible.


-Brooklyn Heights Promenade


-Times Square


-Empire State Building


-Rockefeller Plaza


-St. Patrick's Cathedral



-Central Park (including the various and sundry places enclosed therein)


Surprisingly it wasn't crowded until later in the evening. Danny and Becky took us to the train station so they could show us which one we needed to take back as they were staying later for a show. Danny handed me a copy of the directions so we could get back to his uncles and I shoved it in my pocket to look at later on the train. Big mistake! While we waited for the train we decided to get a dozen doughnuts with the money Daddy Danny had given us ( Thanks so much!!!) and between the 4 of us we ate them all!


The train ride was pretty quiet since we were all pretty tired. I decided to pull out the directions and look them over. That's when I realized instead of directions from the train station to Uncle Rogers they were from Uncle Rogers to the train station! We all thought we would be able to figure it out so we didn't bother Danny or Uncle Roger. When we got to our car we decided to soap Danny's car. It turned out great! We wrote "Danny's NYC Tours. Cheap is free!" In hindsight we should have written "For Sale. Cheap!!" and add his cell number. Oh well, I just wish we had pictures of it! Then we left and drove around for 45 minutes trying to figure out where we were. "I think I recognize that road name..... oh, that's on the directions....... didn't we already pass that?" Many U-turns later and a call to Uncle Roger and we made it back. Everyone agreed that getting lost was one of the best parts of the trip!

Davy, Dusty, Lee and I left the next morning. The ride home was fun but pretty uneventful except for a quick stop at roosevelt inlet in Delware. All the guys spent that night, the 30th, at the pig pen- I mean, Bachelor Pad in OC.

The next day we went to Cold Stone Ice Cream and Old Pro putt-putt. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard on a putt-putt course. We went to our church's New Years party later that day. It was awesome. All of the youth led worship and then we prayed for people for about an hour and a half in a prayer tunnel. So many seeds were planted in peoples hearts. It is so amazing that such a holy God chooses to use such ordinary people, like us youth, to speak His words to His children. He really is incredable. I am so excited to see what He will do with 2008. So much is happening. I am really believing He will work all things out for His glory and honor, not mine. There are so many puzzle pieces.... I don't always understand but I am learning to trust and trust joyfully. As the Jason Upton song says, "Give me one reason to doubt Him." I really have no reason to doubt. Even through the hard times He has proven that He knows what He is doing and that He has a bigger plan than what I can see in the darkness of my pain.-Monika

Good Times

Dusty made this collage. It really captures each of us during their New Years visit!

-Monika

Christian Retreat

We are in Florida at Christian Retreat. We were obedient to come even though it did not make sense at all. Our family usually goes to Florida every year but we didn't want to come to Florida just because we come every year. We want to come because He wants us to come. It was just 4 days before our departure date that Dave and I stood up in faith as the group that was to come to Florida received a prayer at Sonspot from Craig. Dave and I leaned forward to each other at the same time and both said, "I think we are suppose to stand up with the group." It wasn't long after that I heard the Lord say, "Pack your bags." I have to admit, I still had my doubts but I do trust Him.

The first two days I cried almost non-stop. There has been so much that has gone on with baby Elijah Magee going to be with Father, my brother having trouble but coming closer to the Lord, my mom having great needs but also coming closer to the Lord, and not to mention our own pressing needs. We are positioning ourselves for a miracle as we sure do need one or more. We are taking off our dirty rags and putting on the garment of praise no matter how it looks in the natural. He is so faithful!!

When Dave said he was obedient to the lord when he booked a place in the Keys after Christian Retreat I had some doubts which I rebuked. We prayed together and put a fleece out that if the "check" that we were waiting on would arrive by Friday we would take that as a "go" from the Lord. I really did not think that it would happen and it did. We are waiting on a few "checks" and are learning patience in that and many areas. It could only be the Lord that provided a beautiful place for us at less than half than we normally pay. We've stayed the the same place several years now and have made relationships with workers, etc here and have told many the Good News. Michael from Haiti has received many prayers from us and has wept during prayers.

We headed to church our first day here and were rejoicing and praising the Lord with our family at Spirit and Truth Ministries in Islamorada. This place reminds me of Sonspot! The church family there shared with us how many of them, too, have been in hard spots and the Lord is shaking them and they are trusting Him. Our friends, the Timmerman's, have been going through much as their 14 year old daughter started having seizures. We are believing He will heal her.

-Lisa

Happy New Year!

The trip to NY was so fun! It was so great to get to see all 3 of the glendinning boys. We had a great time trying not to act or look like tourists, but we failed! New Years was awesome! I am so excited to see what the Lord will do this year! Hopefully I will be able to post more on NY and New Years soon.

Right now we are getting ready to leave for Florida. Praise the Lord He is making a way. It seems crazy to go. It doesn't make sense at all but we are following His voice. Trusting that He knows what He is doing. That sounds so silly.. don't we trust the Creator of all? How could we not? He has proven Himself through the ages and yet when I, little human me, can't see the immediate plan, I start to question. I start to question the little things; why I can't watch this or that movie or go here or there. And the big things; why did Elijah Liam have to die, why is our family in this situation?

Why can't I just trust as a child, that wherever Dad and Mom take me, feed me, and give me is ok. I want to.... I need to trust. -Monika

The Motorcycle

This is a unique bike Hand fabricated by Dave's Custom Cycle. A one of a kind SINGLE TUBE 2 1/2" Diameter frame that is SINGLE SIDED RIGID DESIGN! Fabricated parts consist of: Battery box in rear fender, Frenched in tag in fender, Custom Handle Bars, Twist clutch, Fabricated oil tank with sight tube, Custom side covers on both sides; one side holds voltage regulator and the other side houses the electrics, Custom Motor Mount, Custom Mini Rotors up front, Our Custom oil Fitter Cooler, Custom Rear Axle and knock off nut, Custom 2into 1 exhaust- stainless, Custom coil mount, This Bike is not yet titled. Stock Harley motor 80" Evo and Stock 5 speed transmission- I have bill of sales 3 BDL belt drive Performance Machine - Vader Wheels and PM brakes front and back The front end is American Suspension Invented 14 over Rear wheel is a 250 X 18 and the front wheel is a 21" The Bike rides good, maneuvers well for a bike this size. My height is 6' 4" but the bike could accommodate a shorter rider because of the way the handlebars are set up. Please call or e-mail with any questions 443-373-3385 -Dave Lilley