Jim and I met at church camp during high school, reconnected a few years later in college, and married in 1995. š°š»āāļøš¤µš¼āāļø We honeymooned in a cabin in Branson, Missouri, and went to Silver Dollar City, a favorite adventure park of our whole family. Our children are: Noah, 26, (and newly married to Rosy, 21,) Victoria, 24, Andrew, 22, Nick, 20, Zach, 16, Caleb, 13, and Seth, 10. We have lived in Missouri, Iowa, Missouri again, and Colorado for the last 10 years, finally landing in Greeley. Jim has pastored around 17 years in five churches.
Ā I love to read, walk, hike, bike, play tennis, travel, and garden. I have loved to read since learning the word, āLOOKā with Dick and Jane in kindergarten. I love fiction and non-fiction, particularly World War II era books. Geography was one of my favorite subjects and in the past few years I have been ecstatic to visit the redwoods, the Grand Canyon, the coasts, four of the Great Lakes, DC, Niagara Falls, and take a hot air balloon ride over the desertšµ (until they landed us on a firing range!). My favorite times as a child were spending Sunday afternoons exploring my grandparentsā farm and now one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon (other than reading) is moving plants and rocks around in my yard or getting out into nature. I love to go to Loweās and find bargain plants to add to my garden as well.šŖ“
Ā One of the most influential people in my life is my son, Seth.š¤ I know the Lord often uses our kids or husbands to teach us, but with him it feels so much more intense. Seth has Down syndrome and has had many extra challenges thrown in with that. He was born with a clubfoot and heart and sensory issues that inhibit him from eating or drinking. I have been amazed at some of the hards he has endured and overcome, but also frustrated by seemingly little things he just canāt get. When he cries, āHelp, help, helpā, while I am literally helping him with something (something that we have done for years, but he doesnāt like it), I have thought, āWhy does he always fight me so much on this? Ā He should know by now that I am making this as brief as possible and that he can trust me!ā I have almost felt like the Lord cleared His throat and reminded me I behave the same way. Also, Seth never prevaricates. Heās genuinely himself, regardless of who heās around. He values people more than anything else. He can go from stubborn and sad and mad to silly in a heartbeat. He loves to be helpful. He loves to pray and though I donāt know what heās saying, the Spirit definitely intercedes for him! He is a constant reminder that life doesnāt have to be easy to be beautiful and very, very good.
Ā For some time now the Lord has been helping me work on taking my thoughts captive and in the last year come to a place of great yieldedness and peace through a lot of extra prayer time (I donāt always sleep well) and some of those prayer times turning into praise sessions and singing. I have found when anxiety doesnāt want to lie down even after significant prayer, if I start singing, the fears and anxieties just dissipate. š¶š
As for prayer requests, Iām going to be teaching a worldview class at my sonsā hybrid school next year. š Please pray for the Lordās wisdom and guidance in lining it all out. Also, please pray as we are continually working with therapists to teach Seth to tolerate purĆ©es and swallow and hopefully move on to chewing someday. Thanks so much!
