does prayer really work?

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

James 5:15-17 (NIV)

There is a blog I've been following for some time (thanks M, for posting about it) that has been a tremendous blessing to me. If you have the time grab a box of tissues and read from the beginning. If not, the blogger's husband has conveniently just posted and it includes a bit of a recap. This story demonstrates a hard-to-understand element of how God answers prayer. Sometimes, it's not the answer you hoped for. But He can still use it.

Through the previous blog, I found this blog: another amazing story, this time, an awesome demonstration of prayer being answered the way you can only dream of, and it's happening right now.

I see prayers answered in my own life - sometimes in big ways, sometimes small - sometimes the answer I ask for, sometimes the answer that comes from His Bigger Plan... in any case it is encouraging:

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)

some favorites

Long Overdue

Thanks to those who went in with me to get Matt's new hammock. He is enjoying it every chance he gets (even watched a meteor shower around midnight in it last week - that is until he fell asleep. :-)) Here are the videos of when I gave it to him. By the way, it rained that day so I had to set it up in the garage.

If you're wondering why he doesn't seem too surprised, well, I kinda messed that up by accidentally charging the wrong account when I purchased the hammock. My husband is extremely faithful and responsible with our finances - if he wasn't I'd have us in some kind of hole by now I'm sure. But this also means that it is extremely hard to surprise him... when a charge came through for "hammocks.com" it sort of gave it away. I was really kicking myself around about this for a while, until I realized that he was going to enjoy the hammock just as much, and there were still a few elements of surprise left to the whole thing as you can see:


I had Ian calling it the "hippopotamus" for a long time because I knew if he said "hammock" in front of Caleb it would end up getting talked about in front of Matt. So much effort just to blow it myself... oh yeah... I'm not kicking myself around about it anymore...



Thanks again Nathan and Krissy, Mom and Dad Shade, Mom and Dad McElheny, Nana and Mac, you guys are awesome!

kite

Thanks, Nathan and Krissy, for the cool kite. :-)

ahhhh the beach

I decided to capture some of the surf for use on squirrelly winter days. My boys love for me to show them family pictures on the laptop. Since my camera can take quick videos they often want me to "make it go" - Caleb especially can't understand that not all pictures "go". But this one is useful for both adult and child stress relief. Just pretend you're standing there... let it all go...

By the way that is my family out there in the water, and towards the end you get some close up of my dad and my Caleb. What's that family - you didn't want to see yourself online in your swimsuits??? Well, at least there's some distance. :-) And now you know why I'm the one safely behind the camera. Ha Ha.

a matter of perspective

There are two ways of looking at today:

1. The floor I had clean is now a mess. The laundry I worked on is multiplying. The toys and clothing I put away got pulled back out again. The neck that the chiropracter aligned is still throbbing. The bear I so carefully stitched up and combed out and washed, ripped back open, and got matted again. The face I carefully washed produced even more zits. (Yes. I am 29. Oh when will they go away?!?!?) The children I instructed did not listen. The discipline I administered did not get the message across. I got spit on at naptime. The cat also shared her saliva with me....

2. I read stories with one boy on each side, warm and snuggly. At least one child ate and enjoyed the leftovers I served for lunch. A child helped to clear off the table. Ian read his Bear each one of the books he is in, quietly and sweetly on the floor. He then carefully kissed and comforted his Bear, and tucked him in his "swimsuit" so he would be okay going for his "swim". Ian actually agreed that maybe Bear could stay home and go to school in Ian's "office" this year for preschool (!!!) While Caleb was not listening to instruction he surprised me by naming several of the states I didn't know he knew... I am an incredibly blessed woman to have these two healthy happy fun boys to spend my days with. And... grandpa is coming to visit today.

odds and ends

We're home from vacation and pictures should be soon to come. We had a blast. We stayed in Buxton, NC, which is the home of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. The beach right by the lighthouse is the best beach for kids in the Outer Banks - and for adults for that matter too. It is so shallow and clear water and a long way out before you hit the drop off. The boys absolutely had the time of their lives, and we are all feeling a bit out of sorts and depressed to be back home. That is really saying something since we can tend to be homebodies!

I am literally out of sorts, as the sleeping in strange beds and the 16 hour drive, continually twisting in my seat to provide drinks, activities, etc. put my neck out. Yesterday and today have been a haze of pain. Thank God for painkillers and chiropractic care... here's a bit of my interaction with the massage therapist:
me: "I am starting to breathe through this like I'm in labor"
her: "yeah, unfortunately that's kind of what this will be like for you"

Sometimes they can be almost too good at finding all of the ways in which my back is knotted up like an afghan...

A couple of random items:

- Why on earth do the women of the USA Olympic Volleyball team have to wear such skimpy bottoms? I mean, do they really serve any purpose? I was seriously grossed out with a couple of the camera angles... what in the world is that all about?

- My Ian has a surprising knowledge of animal bodies lately. We got fish on vacation one night for dinner (grilled Mahi Mahi to be exact) and he was asking some questions about where the meat came from. I was trying to give a nice simple gentle explanation, but instead he says, "they chop off the fish's eyes and mouth don't they mommy, and then they drain out all it's blood and take out all it's bones don't they, and then we eat what is left." So much for gentle. By the way, he gobbled it up and asked for seconds. Fully understands, fully enjoys the meat. Then today
I got a detailed and highly imaginative explanation of each of his beanie's eating habits and subsequent pooping habits. Lovely.