Five Talents More

Have you ever heard the song by Mark Schultz called, Can You Hear Me? It is an absolute tear jerker! It’s about a parents plea with the Lord to heal their child who is battling cancer. The parent cries out for healing night after night. Every time this song came on the radio it broke my heart and I would just weep, imagining how painful that must be for a parent to walk that road with a child of any age. One day while out in the car alone, running an errand, the song came on and the Lord impressed something deep into my heart that was profound.

You see at the time I was pregnant with our third child and recently found out that we were having another boy. I had been trying to grasp the blessings and challenges of what it means to raise now two boys and my hearts desire to raise them to be bold, courageous and godly leaders in this world that seems lacking of men like that. As I began listening to this song for the 100th time, I began to weep again for the broken heart of a parent who sees their child suffering and at that moment I began to ponder the healing of a child and the salvation of a child’s soul. It was as if the Lord was speaking to my heart saying, Jolee, do you value the healing of a child as much or more than you do the salvation of a child? Yes, it is good and right to pray and weep and ask the Lord for physical healing. But will you weep for their salvation, that they might know me and treasure me as more valuable and important than any physical healing of the body. Is not their soul and the condition of their heart of more concern than the condition of the body itself? I cannot begin to tell you how that moment left an impression on my heart that I will never forget. I want to be a parent who of course cares and is concerned with health issues my children face. But I now have a deeper longing for their salvation and want to be a parent that can cry out and weep for my child to more importantly, know and recognize their great need for a Savior! Their salvation seems weightier now to me than ever before.

May your names, Greta Joy, Caleb and Joshua be written in the Book of Life, forevermore.

I recently turned 40 on May 23rd. It is hard to believe that I am 40 years old. 40 always seemed to me to be a major mile marker on the road of life – and a negative one at that. However, as the year and day approached, I quickly realized that it really wasn’t any different than when I turned 39 or 38. Still, people are quick to point out that I am over the hill. And they may be right. Lord willing, I believe I have another 30 productive years left to grow deeper in my walk with the Lord and serve him; and to me, that is a very long time. In that time, I pray that God would use me, my wife and children in a powerful way for His kingdom.

On our way up to Papa Bill’s cabin we pass through the St. Croix. It is absolutely breathtaking. God’s glory indeed. We stopped on our way back home and took a few photo’s but didn’t stay long because it was 90 degrees.

Careful…don’t move anyone!

This was a very quick photo. I am fearful of heights. There is a cliff behind us that drops down to the river below.

The view just beyond the rock we were sitting on.

Greta found a really cool rock that was shaped like a recliner.

4 loves of my life.

Every year we enjoy a great and memorable time away from city life when my Dad and his wife Roxanne invite us up to the Lake in Hayward Wisconsin. My Dad’s extended side of the family fill up 7 cabins at a resort and we have a blast with everyone. It was Joshua’s first year up there with us and all of the kids slept great, so we stayed an extra night. When we returned home and were settled back in, Mike said to us, “So does it feel good to be home?” To which we all responded in unison, “No, take us back to the lake!” Here are some photos of the fun we had. Thanks Dad and Roxanne!

Joshua wastes no time in getting his pole into the lake.

Playing until the sun goes down and then some.

Two little Rockers playing their flyswatter guitars.

Caleb and Auntie Torri topped of the Jetski at the highest speed.

More candy from the “candy cabin”!

Auntie Torri taking Greta for a more leisurely ride than Caleb’s.

Joshua even gets in on a short ride.

Roxanne taking a break. She spoils us with her cooking and care.

Lazy day in the sun…what more does one need than a blankie to snuggle and flower to smell.

Getting ready for Daddy and Chris’s amazing fireworks display.

SMORES!

I have a grandmother who is 80 years old. We call her “B” that stands for Betty. There are many things that I will remember about her when she leaves this world and goes on to Glory. One thing that I have learned from her is how to be frugal. She is very careful not to waste anything! She has been this way since I can remember. She will eat the heal of the bread (you know the end part that most people discard). She does not fuss or complain about leftovers and is happy to eat whatever is available. There are many ways that she displays this in her life. I want to clarify that this by no means makes her cheap. She is quick to give to those in need and help out whenever she can with her time and money. She is such a hard worker and rarely complains. We often joke about some of these things with her lovingly, but over the years I have come to realize that this is very wise of her and I pray that I will be more and more like her in this regard. I often tell her, “Grandma, I want to do a better job of not wasting and be a better steward of the things that God has entrusted to our family.” I believe that she will have a great reward in heaven someday for her frugal lifestyle and that she will hear the Father say, “Well done Betty, I have entrusted you with much and you wisely managed those things, now enter into your rest and enjoy all the pleasures at my right hand forever more.”

I could easily elaborate on this subject but I want to hear from you out there. Are you frugal? What are the ways you struggle with this like me?

Confession: One way that I can recall my lack of being frugal is, I recently fixed pasta for a meal for our family and threw away the extra pasta, when I am sure I could have used it the next day for another meal. I also find myself wasting paper towels and will be quick to throw away water bottles that are half empty. Another thing I used to do is discard pennies…isn’t that terrible. I just did not value them, now that I am a parent I am looking for ways to teach my children the value of a penny and working hard for one. Or how about not turning lights out, or having too many on that aren’t needed?

This is a topic that I have wanted to blog about for some time now. How often do you find yourself saying to those facing challenges to “hang in there”? Those of you who know us are aware that I have had many health challenges these past few years. Along with these challenges I have had insomnia that comes and goes. One morning while in the midst of night after night of very little sleep, my husband was trying to console me. He usually excels in this area and will often recite scripture filled with hope saturated promises from memory. I say usually because on this particular morning after trying to encourage me he said, “honey, hang in there”. We continued our dialog and I said, “that statement of hang in there just isn’t working for me”. What I meant was, lets get rid of that phrase and never use it again. It’s almost like telling someone “good luck”. For the Christian good luck and hang in there offer little hope. I sometimes catch myself saying these catch phrases along with, “I’m hanging in there“. I fully understand that those who use this phrase, including myself, have good intentions in trying to encourage someone. It just offers little hope or encouragement. As much as I’d like to pull myself up and press on there was nothing I could do in my own strength to even “hang in there“. The only hope I had to hold onto was that by God’s grace He was holding me up, not by any strength of my own. I’d much rather hear encouragement like, “keep trusting in God, He is faithful, He is good, He is Sovereign even when you cannot understand, or weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning, and we are weeping with you.” At least there I find hope and can keep preaching truth to my heart and have others come along side of me. Now, that I have opened this can of worms, I am sure to hear many of you say to me very loving and affectionately, “Jolee, hang in there.” And for those of you who slip and say it to someone…there is always grace for you.

I enjoy cooking. Many of my friends and I joke about how we love to climb into bed at night and look through our cookbooks or latest cooking magazines. Mike often finds it very amusing, how I can get so excited about a new recipe. Here is a favorite of mine for all of you out there who enjoying cooking. It’s from my Smith and Hawken’s Cookbook. I stumbled across it years ago in looking for a Vegetarian dish for one of my sister’s. It’s great and my family loves it. Enjoy!

Pasta and Vegetable Torta

3/4 pounds of angel hair pasta

3 TBSP. olive oil

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

2 small summer squash, trimmed and finely chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped

4 green onions (scallions), sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1TSP. salt

1/2 TSP. black pepper

3 large eggs

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Boil water and cook pasta until limp but not fully done (set aside)

Saute Vegetables, in olive oil, add garlc, salt and pepper (just until slightly soft)

Whisk eggs, cream and cheese in a large bowl, add cooked vegetables and pasta. Transfer into a 10×8 inch baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, until top is slightly springy. Serve right away.

Serves 8-12

This past Sunday we spent the day out at Lake Independence. It was absolutely beautiful and quite restful for our family. We then set out to get ice cream and came home for family naps. As I was laying down trying to fall asleep I was reflecting on the events of the day thinking to myself how great each moment was from the lake, to ice cream and then laying down for a wonderful nap. In my heart I was thinking of all these great things and then thought you know what, JESUS is far better than all these things! So as I was laying down I was talking and preaching to myself this truth. Jesus, you are better than the most glorious day out on the lake. Jesus you are greater than cool ice cream on a hot day. Jesus, you are better than a wonderful nap. As this truth was sinking in I realized this is something I need to preach to my soul and to instill in our children’s heart’s as well. Perhap’s it would go something like this…Jesus, you are better than that toy, game, cookie, playing at the pool, fishing or going to the park. All the things of this world that bring us joy that are fleeting… Jesus is much more beautiful, glorious and that is a joy that is most valuable, worthy and eternal. Oh, that our eyes would be open to this truth more and more! Jesus, nothing compares to joy in you. In fact, from you and through you and to you are all things! Jesus is better than…will be a new theme running through our family life.

Our little Ladybug!

Ready to play.

Warm up drills.

Team Pioneers.

Practicing drills.

Don’t let that sweet smile fool you…he can be fierce out on the field.

The Braves.

I almost forgot…here is a photo of little Ronaldo.

Our summer is off to a great start with the kids doing sports for the first year. We’ve got soccer and t-ball so that keeps us moving. Greta is #8 and is on team Ladybugs. Being that she is our only girl I have to say that I love the hot pink jersey’s. Caleb is #6 and is on team Pioneers! Joshua is #9 and is on team Brazil, we’ve changed his name to Ronaldo. Look closely at his jersey it is an authentic jersey from Brazil, he thinks that he is a soccer star and wants to wear it everyday. So if you see him in that jersey for the next several posts this should explain why. I might add that he is quite the little cheerleader on the side lines yelling, “Go, Ladybugs or Go, Pioneers!” Caleb is also enjoying t-ball and his team is the Braves. I am honestly not sure what sport is his favorite. He loves them all, including golf.