He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

Dear Sarah.....      Awhile back, the Lord commissioned me to pray for you  all the days of your life.  I know that sounds crazy but its rock solid truth.  God cares that you have laid your heart and soul on the railroad tracks of life....and He knows you would die for whatever he calls you to....so he called me to help strengthen you in prayer.  Me....and my army.      I can't do much.  I don't have lots of money or time or energy...but I have what God Almighty gives me.....and I will do what I can.  You matter, my friend.  Your obedience matters.  Your story matters.  If God calls me to write it....then I will.      Your life is hard.  Mine is hard too but in different ways.  We are friends.  We are sisters.  When you call me "sis" it stirs my soul.  I don't have any bio sisters....all my sisters are from the family of God.      Sarah....hang in there....

I came up with this idea last year.....after noticing that Jeremiah was down in the dumps and I felt disconnected from him.  He loves shopping.....and stuff.....so I proposed a new tradition:  Spoil Me Sunday with Mom.  After church, we left to go eat lunch out, shop and spend quality time together.  It made a difference.....for he and I both.  We reconnected.  We shared time and space for a few hours......and he got some stuff he needed and wanted and I got to indulge in just him. All of my kids are special, and wonderful, and worth my time.  It's just hard when there are 5 (plus Grace this year!)   We did Jeremiah's Spoil Me Sunday last year.....then Claire's kinda got schlepped in with a dance competition weekend.....and Precious wanted to take Josiah and go to walmart and McDonalds....and that's as far as we got last year.  Summer took hold and so it goes.  Recently, Isaac mentioned that he never got his Spoil Me Sunday.  Huh...

I'm sitting in my little kids' room right now.  The bed is half made with half in the laundry....because we have a daily issue with nighttime wet sheets.  Ew.  I know.  I'm thinking about my bed.....because I woke up at 4:30am to take my friends Sarah and Lindsey to the airport......but I also know that my bed is full of doritos and drips of orange juice.  Guess where Precious spent some time today....... It's been way too long since I washed the sheets of my big kids.....so their beds could use some attention as well......and thoughts of bed bring me to my next request. My community of friends and family is so awesome at saving change and getting it to me for Sarah's Covenant Homes in India.  We have send over $1500 so far to help provide medical care, school tuition, food and nurture to the special kids there.......and I pray it continues.....it doesn't take much effort on our part, now does it.  We seem to have spare change everywhere.  I'...

James 1:17 says this:  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Sometimes our opinion changes, our priority changes, our mood changes like shifting shadows.....but not God the Father.  He does not change like shifting shadows.  He is steadfast and trustworthy to always care for us, lead us, challenge us and move us.  He lives in the light and never in the shifting shadows....... Many days, my faith is like shifting shadows....strong one minute, weak the next.  Confident and ready for spiritual battle, and then beaten down and full of shame and failure.  I yearn for and reach for the strength that comes from the Father......who does not change.....like shifting shadows.  His mission is always the same.  His desire does not change.  True religion is to care for the widow, the orphan and the poor in our midst.(James 1:27)  It is.  It...

September 22 says this.  Claire Barbara Kredit....oh my goodness....you are so beautiful and so strong and so smart.  You are driven and you are burdened by worry and concern.  You are exceptional.  September 22 is your birthday. 16 years ago, you came into the world at 1:40am and made me the happiest person on Earth.  You started out so needy and snuggly and stuck to mama and now you are so fiercely independent.....and full of adventure.  For 9 years I have driven you to violin lessons, for 10 years, to dance class, and for your whole life everywhere you needed to be.  Tomorrow you wake up 16.  You have a car....and by 4pm you will have a license.....and more freedom than I ever had at your age.  We trust you.  We respect you.  We know you will be fine.....happy birthday sweet daughter.  16.  Wow.  

September 21 says.....Happy Anniversary to us!  19 years ago, we were preparing for our wedding day on this night, the 20th.  We were excited and we were ready. ( We were not young....I was 28 and he was 26......but we knew we could do life together and do it well. ) The Lord God has been faithful to us for 19 married years plus 2 years prior dating.....and we aren't done yet.  There is more to see, more to do, more to learn in life together.  Thank you, Roger Kredit, for asking me to marry you.  It was definitely a leap of faith to take a chance on me...... We have not chosen the easy road or the popular road or the financially profitable road of life together....but our road leads us to amazing places like Yellowstone National Park.....and Children's park......and all that lies between......and life with you is not just good... but it's also fun.  You are an amazing man, a devoted husband and loving father.  You are steadfast and you are trustwort...

Next week is important to me....and to a bunch of kids and the people who love them....and God.  Next week, something will happen that I only ever dreamed of.  My friend Sarah Rebbavarapu is coming.  I met her 7 years ago right here in blogworld.  We were starting our adoption journey to Precious and she had just started her ministry to care for abandoned, special needs kids in India.  God watched us start something significant on opposite sides of the world.....and I think maybe, he smiled.....and flexed his muscles to show off a bit and said....."watch this, folks".  He made us friends.  Me, waiting and praying and wondering about the child God had chosen for us......Sarah with a home full of sick and fragile orphan kids looking for counsel and prayer and financial support and encouragement......and God flexed his muscles and we became friends.  I've only gotten to see this important friend 3 times in the 7 years I have known her.  Ask any...

Tonight, I drove Grace to spend the night with a friend in Orange City so that she would be at school early to leave for a field trip with the Yearbook Committee.....apparently seniors get to do stuff like that.  She was so humble, asking if it would be better to bring her tonight or tomorrow morning, what would be easier for us.  This sweet girl is so very thoughtful.  I think I'm falling in love with her.....she's a good, good person.  Her parents have much to do with that.  They are both music teachers in Korea.  Not wealthy people, not self-absorbed.  They are Christian in a country where the dominating religion is Buddhism.  I learned early on in our experience with Grace, that I want to know her parents. Tonight, Grace shared some more of her life with me.  She told me about a sister she never met who died in childhood.....and was not her mother's child by birth.  A relative had the baby and could not keep her so Grace's parents...

1.  I got a new pillow recently.....with our Kohl's 30 percent off.....accidently, we ordered a child size but that's ok.  It tucks in nicely under my neck.  Anyway.....Precious found it tonight.  She wanted it.  I told her she had to buy it with kisses.  We both came out ahead on that transaction. 2.  Grace is looking at colleges and major and trying to reconcile the recommendations of her tutors in Korea, to her parents' expectations, to her gifts and talents....and my advice was this.  "Grace.  God created you to be Grace and to do a job for him, not for Korea.  If you can make money and have a good life and take care of people you'll be fine with the Lord.".....(totally gonna get kicked out of the foreign exchange program at the high school.......Korean success and Niki's life philosophy don't mesh.) 3.  Precious and her friend Tiki swam in the frigid pool today then started a bath.  Little Josiah joined them.  I ...

Last night I watched Isaac play his second football game.  He is a strong lineman.  He is smart.  He had some good tackles and blocks.....on the way home, he said that they don't have any games next week, just 3 days of practice and coach said to prepare for conditioning...before bed, he came up and asked for help with training for the next 4 days.  Running, weight-lifting.....so that he is ready on Tuesday and not dying at practice.  Absolutely, buddy.  We decided to run today.  I need to start running and get rid of the extra 50 pounds I'm carrying.  Roger is supposed to life weights with him but I can't control that.  Isaac also asked to go to the chiropractor because of back pain. I chose to hear him....regarding the chiro and the work-outs.  I got him out of school today and we went to the chiro in town that I like best and it was clear that a big part of Isaac's trouble is flat feet.....no arch support.  The doc gave us som...

This blog is a funny thing.  I created it for a vessel to be used by the Lord.....it was an assignment He gave me years and years ago.....and sometimes, He doesn't prompt me to share so I just share the mundane stuff of life.  If I keep sharing mundane stuff that people can relate to.....then you are all checking in more regularly.....but know this.  The mundane posts, although entertaining and affirming, are not the point.  The point is to make sure the vessel still exists for God when He chooses to move.  To speak.  To breathe life into something.  I'm just His messenger, His voice, His conduit.  Today......in my humble and human self, I think He wants me to share something bigger. There is a 13 year old boy in India who is one of the abandoned, special needs kids at Sarah's Covenant Homes.  His public name is Nicky.  He has suffered with severe cerebral palsy forever.....tight joints, stiff muscles, spasms......but this kid......in...

16 year old girls and their dads don't have much in common....except maybe cars.  The adversity that hit home for us was that the car we hoped Claire could drive......is done.  The blessing is that she and her daddy are bonding over car talk.  Right this moment.  I'm in the dark bedroom with the littles who are finally snoring quietly.....and I can hear quiet conversation, and discussion and laughter and teaching and listening between Claire and her dad.  This makes my heart simply soar......some lucky girls, like Claire, get a dad that is exceptional and invested and insightful......and smart.  And trustworthy.  She may get a car for her 16th birthday but what she really gets is a connection with her father that will last forever.  I don't think she will ever, ever buy a car without calling him and talking it out.  That's pretty freakin' awesome to me. As Roger scores successful parenting points, I will confess my parenting fail.  Wi...

Because the work/school week is so busy for us, Roger and I decided that this holiday weekend we would do less.  And we did.  We did some cleaning up around the yard and swam.  We cooked some good food and we went to Church.  We took naps.  Yep. me, too.  We watched the movie: McFarland.....(Highly recommend it.)  It sounds lovely, does it not?  Claire was away for the weekend with a friend.  Isaac got invited to go boating today with his best buddy. Roger took Jeremiah golfing this afternoon....... lovely. These things ALL happened.  Also.  Between the lines of lovely lived......less than.  I need to figure out how to write and chronicle the "less than" moments.  I will try tonight.  No sympathy cards or casseroles needed this time, ok?  (I will definitely let you all know when I do tho!) Here's to living between the lines.....Friday we learned that our reliable car, the one that we planned to pass on to ...

This monster has been on the driveway since we got home from our road trip on August 2.  It's big in the parking lot but its bigger on our driveway.  We only have a 2 stall garage......on a busy street.....with no extra parking.  We have spent a month discussing whether to keep or sell it.  If we keep it, we have to find a way to store it....and make payments on the loan.  If we sell it, we can say it served us well for our vacation and close the door on that part of our family adventure.  That's the concrete version of this or that......and here's my version. Having this Hurricane on the driveway all summer was cumbersome and inconvenient.  But.  Occasionally.....or maybe frequently......Precious would want to just go hang out there and watch a show on an IPAD in the quiet......or the little kids would go play house in there so that I could fix lunch or vacuum.  Several times (including tonight in an hour or so) I snuck out there for...

Sometimes I forget why I don't like to be gone at night....I mean.....sometimes I wonder why I tend to decline invitations to be gone at night and just stay home.  I no longer have standing appointments or activities in the evening.  I'm home at night.  Mostly.  But......school has begun and our older kids have stuff at night!  Tonight was a home football game for Claire and her dance team performed at half time.  Following the game was a bonfire with the new dance coach and the dance team and their families.  I had the sense to find a sitter for the littles....thank you so much Murray and Fonda Hulstein. We got the kids home at 10:45 and they were awake.....so that was a deal.  The dogs had been without human contact or care.....another deal....and I had had a diet Coke at the tail gate supper.....so yea......I'm awake. Claire is just now home at 12:30am from the dance.  I was kind of waiting up to talk to her about her day and the week...

Roger and I both have wrist bands that are fit bit devices.  He has had his a long time.  I got mine for my birthday last spring.  These wrist bands can track how many steps/miles we take, and our calorie intake if we put it into the app on our smart phones.  It also can log how well we sleep......mine is newer and even buzzes when someone calls me and their name scrolls across my wrist if they are in my contacts......super cool.  We love our wrist bands.  So far, they are not making us thinner.....but we are definitely more self-aware. Roger and I both happened to be home today for a few minutes at lunch time.  We were comparing notes......about sleep.....as recorded on our arm bands.  I get about 7 1/2 of good sleep each night....even with the little kids moving in and out of my sleep....and the dogs off and on my bed.  Not bad, eh?  Roger, on the other hand, sometimes gets less than 2 hours of good sleep a night.  Seriously! ...