A Thought For the Day

When my husband is here we are in a specific book of the Bible, however, when he is out of town we step aside and read from the Psalms or Proverbs. Last night we read from Proverbs 31 and this is the verse that was discussed: Proverbs 31:31 "Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." (emphasis mine)

I've been thinking on this for several days but the thought was well articulated last night during the discussion time of our family devotions......

Lookie at What I did! I did it for you, aren't I wonderful?

* "and let her own works praise her in the gates." Think about it. When we as humans do something, we have the tendency to want to proclaim it to all that are around us. We want praise, we want recognition, we are special, we did this for someone as any godly, selfless person ought to! The problem is the focus. We become so focused on ourself and our need for recognition, a thank you, a praise, someone to notice, that we lose the blessing of doing it as unto the Lord. When our focus is on self, it is most definitely NOT on Christ where it ought to be! When we crave recognition so badly, whether we think it comes from insecurities of the past, the truth of the matter is that it is complete and absolute PRIDE. We feel the "need" to be lifted up for as many to see as possible. This reeks in the nostrils of God. Some may be silent about this, always feeling down on the inside because nobody seems to have noticed what they did, while others are vocal about it, going around asking people if they have noticed what they did and if they liked it. Both are sinful. The silent person is just as prideful as the obnoxiously self recognizing person. While I think it is more obvious to detect what is wrong with the loud, it may be harder to see what is wrong with the silent. The silent "sufferer" will fill with bitterness in the dwelling place of their mind and heart, the open person is filling the ears of others with their own praise. Proverbs 27:2 says, "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

...if they would only recognize what I've done!

When we do things for the praise of man, we dishonor our Creator. We make self our idol. 1Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." .......To the GLORY of GOD. That means all that we do should be done for God's glory, not our own glory, not for us to be recognized and praised.

I am an amazing person, I do so much for others!

Is it wrong if someone chooses, of their own will, to recognize you or praise you for something you've done? Absolutely not! If this is done without your nudging, consider it a gift, a blessing! But if not, count it as done unto the Lord and move on. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather hear from the one who saved me, "well done good and faithful servant" as I enter the gates and He sees my works and the fruit of my hands than to hear a thousand thank you's here on earth.

We are all guilty of the sin of pride. The desire to be recognized, praised, thanked. Whether you are the silent "sufferer" or the loud, self praising, may we all strive to see this sin in ourself and pray that we can overcome it with the help of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30

Lord, help me die to self and glorify you as you only are worthy of praise

October Birthday Fest!

Princess Lydia! 8 years old!

October officially begins our cluster of birthdays! Starting with October 6, we celebrated Lydia's 8th birthday.  She got to be princess for the day. She enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls and a new dress and journal! Next up was October 17 with Ezekiel's 4th birthday! Hard to believe he is no longer a baby!!! He was thrilled with muffins for breakfast and a Daisy Red Rider BB rifle! It has been a tradition in our home to give each boy his first "real" gun on their 4th birthday. Each of the older boys brought theirs down to show him. He was very excited. October 18th was a very special birthday. Julia became an official double digit! Julia is now 10 years old and quite grown up! Since we were out of town at a conference, we celebrated the night before at a Mexican restaurant with Zeke. They enjoyed the sombreros and fried ice cream, though I still owe Julia a birthday breakfast! She is hoping for chocolate chip pancakes. She enjoyed getting a new dress and journal just like Lydia. Unfortunately, we will have to go find a new dress as she has grown so much and I misjudged her size!!! Last, but definitely not least, October 24 brought Craig's 38th birthday. We all enjoyed celebrating our favorite man's special day!!! We made omelets and German pancakes for brunch and he was showered with gifts. This concludes our OCTOBER birthday fest.......stay tuned for the NOVEMBER birthdays!!!!!

Zeke....4 years and proud owner of a real gun!

Julia, 10....yes 10!!!

Daddy with a homemade card from the younger Houstons

Day 160.....and Sporting a Ponytail!!!

Yes, folks, you read that correctly! Anna is able to show off that she can now wear a ponytail with her own real hair!!! And here is a fun picture to show you all!!

There it is! Look closely!

So, how is our Anna doing? Anna  has been battling bugs over the last few weeks. She has had a slight cold that just seems to not want to go away. Currently she is dealing with another tummy bug. She will go back to see her doctor next week instead of in two weeks so they can monitor the situation. They don't believe it to be GVHD, but at the same time, they don't want to wait too long to test for it if necessary.  Other than the viruses, Anna is doing quite well. Her energy level is still low but increasing slowly. She has good days and days where she requires long naps. We try not to push her too hard as we know her body is still working very hard to get back to healthy. We are scheduled for a November 13th bone marrow aspirate to find out if there is any remaining cancer cells left. We are hopeful that her numbers will show 0.0000000%!!!!

As you can see, her hair is coming in!

It has seemed so weird as I distribute Anna's meds into her containers and they are still relatively empty. Her med list has decreased significantly. She is currently on her Tacrolimus taper. (This is her immune suppressant drug) She should be completely done with it the middle of January. With the taper she should also be able to slim down on the amount of magnesium she is on as well as some of her other meds. Anna's spirit and attitude are still amazing to me. She appreciates life. She is thankful for little things as she is alive to enjoy them! She is looking forward to the month of November as many exciting things will be happening, including her aspirate, getting to be a bride's maid in a wedding, and the opportunity to be at the birth of her baby sister or brother.

Yesterday, we brought Selah Joy in to our family physician as she had a fever and her face and neck were bright red. Craig wondered if it might be scarlet fever. (I remembered she had been exposed to strep on Sunday so I thought daddy's diagnosis would be correct) The dr. at first thought it was just a virus but then he looked at her throat. After the swab, we waited for the results which popped up fairly fast. Sure enough, daddy was correct! Selah has strep throat and scarlet fever......which is highly contagious. Ugh. We called Anna's oncologist to find out what they may want to do to protect Anna and they agreed with our doc she should be put on antibiotics just to be safe. While were there, I started coughing (as I have been for a week now). Dr. C didn't like the sound of my cough and after listening to my lungs said I have bronchitis. He also said no flying to North Carolina next week! This was a sad thing as I have (nervously) looked forward to a week with just Craig and I relaxing, reading, and then going to a conference that he is speaking at. But I know he is right. I do need to get well and try not to wear myself out before having this baby. This is just another thing on top of the sickness I have been having with pregnancy. I have been keeping food down however my weight has continued to decrease. I lost 3 pounds this last week. The baby is supposed to be gaining 1/2 lb each week now. I still don't mind the numbers lowering, but I don't want it to affect the baby's health in any way. I am on antibiotics now and am hopeful that I will be able to get energy back so that I can get much done before the baby arrives. Baby's heart rate continues to sound perfect! No more arrhythmia! We praise the Lord for this! This evening at dinner, we asked Selah if she was feeling better. Her spirit is back to normal and she was being super silly. She responded with, "yes, the docker (doctor) did it!"

Asleep after her doctor appointment

quarantined in Daddy and Mommy's room

A sweet smile even though she wasn't feeling well

Praising the Lord Today!

I had my OB appointment today. Just a normal check up. The baby's heart rate was......NORMAL!!! We are rejoicing that the arrhythmia seems to have cleared up! Zeke and Selah came with us and really got a kick out of hearing the baby's heart. They giggled through the entire time. It was fun to bring them as they are super excited about this little one and it was fun to introduce them to the doctor that delivered them. It's also fun to have time with just the littlest of the littles. Our doctor was very pleased to see the echo report....perfectly formed heart and to have a clear answer to what the arrhythmia was. Anyway, just wanted to let you all know about our great news and to say thank you for your prayers and your words of encouragement. I have indeed felt the prayers on our behalf, and the Lord has graciously allowed me to be able to keep food down and not feel quite as sick as I have been. Thank you once again and God bless you all!

Baby Update

Baby Houston at 20 weeks

Last week during our regular baby appointment, we heard a rather obvious heart arrhythmia. This, I must admit, caused me to fear for my baby even though the OB assured me that usually these kinds of things are nothing. He wanted us to get a fetal echo just in case though. Yesterday, we went in and had the special ultra sound of our precious little one's heart. It was quite startling to actually watch his or her little heart beating at such an abnormal rate. I had a hard time watching, but I know that this is just something that our loving savior has allowed. When the u/s tech left the room, tears flowed and my sweet husband comforted me and prayed for our baby. Then we sat and talked about Anna and what we've gone through with God's grace. I commented that after that we could get through anything together! I know that this child is God's alone and He holds it in His hands. He is the one forming this little person inside of me and His plans are perfect. We met with the doctor and were quite relieved with the report she gave us. Again, we were assured that this baby's heart looks perfectly formed, no abnormalities or defects. The arrhythmia is probably just from mommy's hormones and will more than likely go away after birth. On rare occasions it does not go away, and even rarer, the arrhythmia actually changes to a fast heart beat. We are scheduled for another echo next month, and our OB will take special care in monitoring the heart over the next 7 - 9 weeks until birth. After baby is here, then our family doctor will continue to monitor the heart until we are sure the arrhythmia is completely gone.  Ultimately, I pray this child's heart will completely belong to God.....that this child will grow to learn of the loving savior that created him/her and trust Him for salvation. I pray this child will be used to bring honor and glory to Christ!!!

A Great Read For Pastor's Wives!

My husband and I just finished a wonderful and, I must add, very profitable time together reading! I always enjoy time spent together, him reading to me as I sit back and relax, or as I fold a bit of laundry. Today I did a bit of both, ending with listening to the last chapter as I prepared our dinner. I must say that this book is a must read for pastor's wives! It is filled with practical and very convicting advice from someone who has been there for more than thirty years and is still standing strong beside her husband/pastor. She has been his completer, and has raised up children to the honor and glory of the Lord, while at the same time, ministering to countless souls as God has brought them to her. I appreciate her candidness in sharing what our priority should be while encouraging us to be stretched a bit allowing God to grow us. I must say that, after almost sixteen years as a pastor's wife, many of her stories hit home and blessed me tremendously! They not only encouraged me that others have been down the same path, but also showed me areas that I know I need to improve on, as well as reinforcing my thinking on where my priority stands......being a godly Christian, a wife to my husband, and a mother to my children.

I would like to encourage fellow pastor's wives to get a hold of a copy of this book and read it! Enjoy it, learn from it, be encouraged by it!

Seasons Of Change

Goodbye to nurse Monica and PA Natalie

 I sit here at the computer in my pajamas, hardly able to talk as my body has succumbed to the cold that I had thought I'd escaped. I sit at the computer only because I have been a terrible blogger as of late as life has been, as my children have called it, EXCRUCIATINGLY busy. I love the adjective they have used as it truly defines what we have been living these past few weeks since my last post! I'll share much of the details in posts yet to come....yes, I will post more frequently!

 As I type, I look out my window and am reminded that summer is quickly fading into the beautiful colors of autumn. The season is changing. While on the outside the season is going from summer to fall, I look at my family and see a different set of seasons. We have passed through a rather long winter season and are now entering spring. Our winter season started with Anna's diagnosis of leukemia, continued with medications that caused her to be crippled with pain, and we trudged through with the expectant bone marrow transplant and life in Seattle. The unknowns were hard to live with when our daughter's life was at stake. December brought more coldness as I, feeling that familiar feeling, took a pregnancy test to discover that the positive line that showed up would turn to the heartbreak of a miscarriage just days later. This was particularly hard as I questioned God's timing in all of this, looking at the possibility of losing my daughter while at the same time experiencing the loss of this tiny life. My faith was never shaken in this, but I still had to ask why. Then, as time wore on, the impending transplant was delayed and we were once again asked to completely trust in God's timing of everything.  The war within raged. In March, we once again discovered that we were expecting and I got very sick. I was thrilled with the thought of another baby, but I do admit that I was feeling a bit cautious and wondered if this child would make it. I also wondered how I would do juggling between the hospital, home, and being sick and extremely fatigued.

But winter makes way for spring....I can look back and see the beauty that winter brought with each trial, and at the same time, look at the now and see the tiny buds of spring bursting forth. I look at Anna, who now has new cells that are growing from the depths of her bones, and see the hope of a bright future within her. Even the hair on her head is starting to flourish! We look at her gorgeous head and get excited as the fuzz that is there is getting thicker and longer. We have been released from the care in Seattle and are now having weekly visits to Tacoma with a soon change to less frequent, and yes, we are home! It seems crazy to think that in one month it will have been a whole year since Anna's diagnosis!! And yet, here we are, on the other side! And what a journey it has been! Then, as I look down at my ever growing belly, I am reminded that in two months, we will welcome another Houston into our home. The joy of new life is here, though we are ever needing to remember that a frost could still sweep over the new buds of life. Anna is not totally out of the woods. She still has a remnant of cancer and, though it is our hope that her next bone marrow aspirate will prove it to be gone, we know that the possibility is still there that it could remain. If that is the case, we will discuss our treatment options. We do not dwell on the what ifs as a pessimist would, but rather try to be optimistic with a reality thought in check.

Saying goodbye to Dr. Woolfrey

Having breakfast at the boat house

 While preparing our Bremerton house to be ready for our family's return, the children stayed at the beloved boat house of dear friends. This gave them a fun place to be that was out of the way of wet paint and slightly unorganized chaos.

We all gathered, Anna included, on the 31st of August to celebrate Selah Joy's second birthday. We ate our dinner outside as our dining room was impossible to eat in. Daddy bought a DQ ice cream cake and Selah was happy to be the center of attention! All day she had gone around singing, "Happy birthday to me!" It is always fun to watch the excitement of a little person when the day is made special just for them! She enjoyed her new back pack, complete with a box of strawberry flavored tic tacs, as well as a new outfit and princess flip flops!

I have had many ask me how things are going with baby. So I'll give a quick update. The baby is doing very well as far as we can tell. Everything seems to be growing and looking healthy. Baby is very active. I, however, am not doing as well as I have in past pregnancies. This has been a difficult time physically for me. I have never been so sick before. I don't share this as a complaint, but rather as a matter of fact. The Lord's grace has been sufficient through it all. I started out with extreme sickness, it subsided a bit but never totally, and has come back full force this last couple of months, increasing day by day. While I don't mind seeing the numbers on the scale go down (what woman does?) I know this is not a good time or way to be losing! I did end up spending Friday the 13th in the hospital as I was extremely dehydrated from being so sick. Food does not agree with me and usually decides to not stay with me for long. I am on anti nausea medicine to help relieve the symptoms, however, I can't seem to keep those down for long either. I look forward to November with the thought of a precious bundle of baby in my arms....and not being sick!! I do thank you all for your love and prayers that have been bestowed upon the Houston family! God has been good to us through each season. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We are overjoyed to be home and are looking forward to being settled once again. Until next time......not too long from now......may God bless thee and keep thee and make his face to shine upon thee and give you peace!