Imanuel Alexander has been the single-most powerful example of the fact that love is
a gift from God and it gives just a glimpse of God’s undying love for us.  I think the love a mother has for her child is the most natural love that exists despite our fallen nature.   A mother loves her child simply because that child belongs to her and came from her….and in many ways, is a part of her.

Love for a spouse is different.  It is not as natural as the love for your child.  It does not come as easily as with your child.  But this type of love is strongest when there is a complete, intentional surrender of yourself to the other person.  This type of love requires work.  Some require more work than others.  When all is said and done, (and the honeymoon stage is over), love, at times, can be the most difficult choice to make.  

In our human experience, particularly as women, God has given us these two important opportunities to understand and experience His love for us, and how ours ought to be for Him.  God loves us because He made us and we are His.  God desires to take us under His wings as a hen gathers her chicks, as a mother desires to protect her child.  That is God’s love.  And, God desires us to love Him, as a bride loves her bridegroom.  This love is a choice and at times can be a difficult one.  After the emotions die down, this love does not come naturally to us, but rather, it takes work, as we search His heart through the Word.  It takes a convincing that His love for us is well worth it.  We love Him because we realize that He first loved us. 

As a woman…as a mother and a bride, God’s love has become more real to me.  Much more so than before I had the latter two titles.  It gives me encouragement that through the best and worst in our roles and relationships, God is teaching me how to love Him.   That is the ultimate goal.   In the end, no matter what type of relationships we have, (and we all have relationships), when we experience true love for someone, it should point us to our Lord.

It IS true.  Love never fails.

I’m thankful for my baby and my earthly bridegroom who teach me every moment of the day how to love my Lord better, (sometimes at their expense).   I’m also thankful for everyday people that challenge me to the fact that the love I have for my family, ought to be the love that I have for them as well. 

Lord, help us love as You do!

Imanuel is officially 9 months.  Here are some pics from today, which I took during my momentary breaks from GYC.  Pictures and my new video camera- (Israel got one for me as an early Christmas) has been my stress buster during the past few weeks.  That’s why amidst the chaos, I’ll still post.    GYC Registration officially closes at midnight tonight!  It’s 11:20pm and the fax machine is still going…but here are some pictures of things that has helped keep my mind sane.

Sunrise…and Snow!!

Brushing Imanuel’s teeth with his very first toothbrush!

He really likes it!

Holding vaseline which we have to put on his super-chapped cheeks.

Imanuel is looking more and more like his daddy.

*edit*  :  Imanuel would like to thank Uncle Jukes and Auntie Aileen for his new sweater and hat.  He really enjoys nibbling on the alpaca fur… and then eating it! 

Inspiring stories in honor of the Sabbath…

“Those who up to this time (1847) had accepted the third angel’s message, were poor in this world’s goods, and consequently could do but little financially for the spread of the message.  Elder White and his wife and Elder Bates saw the importance of personal labor among the scattered brethren, and also the necessity of preparing reading matter to place in the hands of the people, as an aid in leading them to the knowledge of the truth.  Elder Bates was aided much in presenting the Sabbath question by his tract on that subject, as he went to different localities, and by the circulation of the same through the mail.  He labored with the utmost perseverance.  At one time, owing to a lack of money with which to pay his fare, he was about to start on foot to go from Massachusetts to New Hampshire.  Just then, he received a letter from a young sister who had engaged to do house-work at $1 per week that she might have something with which to help the cause.  After working one week, she was so impressed with the thought that
Elder Bates needed money that she went to her employer and obtained advanced pay so as to enable her to send him at once $5.  With this he paid his fare to New Hampshire, by public conveyance.  At every place he had good meetings, and many souls accepted the truth.”  -Loughborough

Taken from The Spirit of Sacrifice & Commitment, Section II “Early Sabbath-Keeping Adventism” p. 61-62

We listened to Christmas music, the guys went into the sauna (and almost didn’t come back to us), Yunis was on the phone, Israel ended up with burns on his face and hands (from trying to make our dry sauna into a steam sauna…manually), the girls made history by creating a stylish head-band by weaving it with 16 fingers, Sebastien was using up all of the toilet paper (for his nose), and we had a great time.   

Sikhu sporting our infamous finger weaving headband. 

Dan and Bjorn practicing the song.

Sebastien on the computer, but also humming along the bass part…

The girls and Bentley

The guys

The guys pretending to be little Korean girls…

“He Leadeth Me” at Houghton SDA Church

Lake Superior from McLain State Park

Skipping stones on Sabbath afternoon

Happy baby as Jen keeps him warm.

The girls

Jen posing for the picture while Bentley struggles to breathe…

Imanuel climbing up onto everything!

God bless you all!  May we always lift each other up and draw closer to Him every day.  We love you guys!

They left earlier this morning and the house seems so empty and quiet.  It really was such a blessing to be able to spend time with Christian friends.   We appreciated the quality time together in nature, eating good food together, playing games, laughing, going shopping, uplifting conversations, and even discovering who “Satan’s best buddies” are (sermon by C.D. Brooks).  We are sad to see our friends go, but we’re glad that in about month we’ll see them again at GYC!  🙂  Here are some pictures that will help us remember the memories from this past week.

Playing Trump…”You’re fired.”

Playing on the GIANT playground…

The giant slide that we took turns going down…

Dan failed to read this sign and went face first and even went down backwards…(or did he?!) 

Posing by the canal…

Dan trying to throw Jen in the lake…but PTL he showed mercy.

Next to an Isle Royale boat

The beautiful U.P. sunset

Sikhu and Jen in front of the Houghton/Hancock bridge…

Being buddy-buddy and running Sikhu into the tree…

The shepherd and his lamb…

Jen and Imanuel

On the computer and/or sleeping–what Sebastien did most of the time…(Because “he hates nature”.) 

Imanuel and Sikhu bonding…

Some of the food we had for Thanksgiving (Tofurkey, fried “turkey” nuggets, mole, tamales, corn muffin stuffing, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, Dinner Roast, and more).  We spent the whole day cooking.

THEN, we played a “fun and exciting Thanksgiving game”. 

After that, we played the paper game.  Winners beat the Losers by 1 point.  Bentley was the frisbee holder.

Jen showing everyone how to eat Ramen.  Bjorn watches carefully…Imanuel watches Sikhu carefully.

Israel throwing up the sign for the cooking gang he joined.

Bjorn, waiting to eat after working at Cyberia all day long.  He even got Israel and Dan (BURNING) HOT APPLE CIDERS.  None for the girls.  Thanks, Bjorn. 

Friday night after vespers, we practiced our song for special music the next day.  Dan conducted while Israel arranged the hymn for us.

The girls, Sikhu, Yunis, and Jen practicing the song on the couch.  We sang “He Leadeth Me”.

Imanuel eating lunch.

Bentley showing Dan his impression of a psycho dog.  Pretty good, yeah?

What Sikhu did all Thanksgiving Break long.  We couldn’t stop her…

There are a whole bunch of other pictures that Yunis took with her camera, so once I get those from her, I’ll post those.  It would include pictures of our special music, going to the lake, and just hanging out.  We also watched 3 DVDs.  They were all pretty horrible…especially “Aliens of the Deep”, with most of it showing the evolutionist scientists and the green cartoon blob, and not enough of the actual animals!  Also, there was the other documentary (that we won’t mention) that JEN suggested.  Dan is scarred for life.  Actually, we probably all are.  Thanks, Jen.  You’re officially disqualified from suggesting good videos to watch. 

We miss all of you guys already.  We prayed for you guys tonight during our evening worship.  We hope you had as much fun with us as we did.  May God bless your trip home and keep you safe!

Last week, my mom came up to visit.  She stayed with us for a week and it was SUCH a blessing.  Israel was gone for most of the time for Ruth’s wedding and then a pastors’ meeting in Lansing.  She helped me keep sane by taking care of the baby, cleaning, and cooking!  🙂  The rest of the time (after I finished GYC stuff), we watched these Korean videos called “Dae Jang-Gum”, went into the sauna to sweat it out, and went food shopping at Walmart.  It was so nice to have her here and I didn’t want her to leave!  Here are some pictures from that week.

One of the many piggy-back rides from Grandma.

Fighting for Grandma’s lap.

After coming home from church.

A picture in honor of one of baby’s favorite aunts.  (Hint:  The picture and she have the same name.)

Grandma and baby in front of Lake Superior.

AND, a glimpse into the near future..

He pulled himself up for the first time in this picture- (yes, onto a pile of board games)!  Now he tries to pull himself up onto everything…

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  God has been so faithful in His Goodness to us.  We hope all of you enjoy this weekend with family and loved ones.  We’ll have to post about this long weekend soon.  We’re having a blast with our guests (Jenny, Sebastien, Sikhu, and Dan)…Take care!

Upon some reflection, this is what I came up with:

1. Best:  Beautiful Scenery.  We truly live in the boonies.  Seeing squirrels frolicking in the snow, deer nibbling on frozen apples that have fallen off our tree, coyotes staring at you as you’re driving along…
    Worst:  Too Boonies.  No one comes to pick up our trash.  We burn whatever we can in our wood-burning sauna in the basement, and the rest we have to drop off “in town” and PAY $1 PER BAG.

2.  Best:  Nice Drivers!!  People always give you the right of way.  Driving can be so relaxing and stress/care-free.
    Worst:  Slow Drivers!!  When you’re late for church marathon on Sabbath morning (IR preaching at 3 churches and they’re all 20-30miles apart), you’re almost doing more passing than driving in your own lane. 

3.  Best:  Staying at Home.  I’m realizing more and more that I love just being at home.  It’s so relaxing just spending time with your family.  Sometimes I don’t even leave the house the whole day!
    Worst:  Money for Car.  Up here we needed a reliable big car, so we bought a Ford Freestyle.  We then found out that we need to buy snow tires…everyone up here has snow tires.

4.  Best:  Our Own (Free) Water.  We have our own well so we don’t have to pay for city water.  And, the water tastes so good and clean!  We can drink straight from the tap!
    Worst:  Our Own (Dirty) Septic Tank.  We have to pay to get our septic tank cleaned out.  I’m not sure how often this needs to get done, but Israel says it’s almost full. 

5.  Best:  Eagles in Sight!  We’ve seen a few bald eagles last month.  They are really incredible to see in the wild!  Israel always gets very excited about them.
    Worst:  False Hopes.  Any big bird that Israel sees just might be a bald eagle.  (Even crows!)

Speaking of the Best and Worst, Imanuel got his first round of immunizations a couple days ago.  We were into the whole debate about whether we should have the baby have them or not.  That’s partially the reason why we waited so long (he’s 8 months).  But, after speaking with a few doctors, (our pediatrician sister-in-law included), we decided that the risks of not having them are far greater than if getting them.  Here are a few pics of him the evening of.  He ended up getting 4 shots total.  3 immunizations and 1 flu shot.  He did pretty good though.  He screamed bloody murder when he got the four of them (2 on each thigh), but when it was over and I picked him up, he stopped.  He was fine the rest of the day.  After the shots, though, I felt so bad for him that I went to Walmart and bought him some teething toys for a couple dollars.  He’s playing with them in the pictures.  I included some other pictures from last week when Israel was in Ann Arbor. 

Bugs Bunny band-aids. 

He actually smiled with the ring in his mouth. 

The morning of November 2nd, 2006!   A view of our backyard.

That’s the birdfeeder on our back deck.

The baby decked out in winter gear. 

Bentley and his new, but short-lived friend, B1.   He found B1 at our friend/head elder, Ole’s work and took him home.  (Then within the next couple days, he shredded him to pieces.)  


And finally, we’ll leave you with Imanuel’s “I’m Chinese” imitation. 

(We read this for part of our morning worship this morning.) 

“If we follow Christ we shall not have a spasmodical experience, and be moved by circumstances and influenced by our surroundings.  We shall not let feelings control us, and indulge in fretting, envying, faultfinding, jealousy, and vanity.”

“When petty trials come upon us, and words are spoken that cut and bruise the soul, speak to yourself and say, ‘I am a child of God, heir with Jesus Christ, a colaborer with heaven, and I cannot afford to easily take offense, to be always thinking of self; for this will produce a distorted character, and is unworthy of my high calling.  My heavenly Father has given me a work to do, and let me do it worthily for His name’s sake.’“

Signs of the Times, July 10, 1893

(I need to paste the second part right next to the GYC phone.)

This morning, Bentley and/or Chance brought us sad tidings…on our back deck.  A little dead mole.  Upon inspection, we discovered that it was already dead when the pet(s) found it.  What a sad reminder of the days ahead! 

Many animals won’t survive the winter for lack of food/warmth as it is.  But what makes things worse is that on November 15th, the children will have a day off of school and many will join their dads to go hunting.  While many think the laws for hunting make it humane (they are only allowed to kill bucks with at least 5 points), the does and fawns become victims as well.  All of the deer will be on the run for their lives.  In desperation, many of them will run across cities and roads and end up as road kill.  As it is, deer pose a threat to drivers and cars.  Imagine what it will be like when the deer are all on the run.  I hate hunting!  And, I believe something is wrong when people get a thrill out of hunting and killing a living creature*.
If you guys are studying the Sabbath School lesson, you’ll know that last week’s lesson focused on how God charged Adam to be the caretakers of all that is in the earth.  (And this would include fish–you can see where I would go if I didn’t hear Imanuel starting to wake up.)  I believe Christians ought to be responsible stewarts of God’s creation, not only because He commanded us to do so, but because we love Him. 
*And if people really want to eat meat, they can go to the store and buy it.



There, I’ll get off my soap-box now.  I just had to get that off my chest…

-JR    

It’s official.  As of yesterday night, Imanuel Alexander has learned to crawl!  Today would put him at 7 months and 20  days.  He sorta got the hang of it yesterday, but today, we could really consider him mobile.  Since the last post on him, he’d get up on all fours quite a bit, but when he wanted to move, he would always end up on his tummy and be squirming around.  The next step was when he discovered the fun of rocking back and forth on all fours.  Then, it was like he would rock back and forth and then lunge onto his stomach to try to reach his destination.   He quickly learned that if his back was against something sturdy like my leg or the couch, he could lunge/scoot even farther.  And all of a sudden, yesterday evening, something just clicked.  He came to the realization that if he moved his arms while lunging off his knees (or foot…you’ll see from the pictures) that he could get to where he wanted to go.  This usually happens to be towards any electronic device (laptop, phone, cords).  I think he gets that from his cousin, Juan.    You can imagine how our prayers are going to modify.

As for updates from the past month: 
1.  Imanuel started eating SOLID finger food – Cheerios.  He still hasn’t gotten the hang of letting go of the cereal when he brings his hand to his mouth. 
2.  We FINALLY bought a “high chair”…we actually just bought a booster seat.  I would usually just feed him while he was sitting on my lap.  Let’s just say that the investment has been WELL worth it. 
3.   IA has grown a new tooth!  Upper right central incisor.  His upper left one is about to cut through…
4.  Speaking of growing, we’ve graduated him to size 4 diapers.  It’s for weights 26-36lbs.  Imanuel is 22lbs but I think his belly and legs are a little on the chunky side.  
5.  We are slowly weaning him away from the bottle and to the cup and/or sippy cup.  He really enjoys the novelty of it.  They say it’s better to do this now rather than when their older and become attached.

Here are some pictures of him crawling and some other ones from this past month.  (I also added some pics from our CA trip to the previous post.)

What Imanuel looks like when he wakes up from a nap.

“Look, I’m doing the splits!”  HAHAHA!  He wasn’t smiling for long.  He put himself in this position and couldn’t get himself out of it!

Right when I took the picture, Bentley got on his hind legs and licked up a Cheerio.  He would do something like that.

Bentley sporting his sweater.  He was shivering uncontrollably so I put it on him.  Can you see the distress in his eyes?  (He hates his sweater.)

The baby is very irritated because he was napping a little too long (pushing 4 hours!) and so I had to go in there to wake him up.  He didn’t appreciate that and started flailing his legs around.  He kept his eyes closed and thumb in mouth the whole time.

We thought this picture was hilarious.  He gives this half-look-of-exhilaration and half-I’m-about-to-bust-out-laughing face quite often.  He’s quite a character.

It is such a JOY to watch our son grow and change!  It’s often so sad, though, because we can never go back in time.  The baby’s earlier stages are over and we just have to trust that what’s ahead will be better than what we’ve already experienced.  In the same way, I feel that as Christians, we need to press on, and continue to grow and develop!  And when we look back, I hope we find ourselves happier now than we have ever been in the past.