As busy as we all have been lately, I must say that things we are involved in have been some of the most rewarding things in my life! Today was the last day of our Upward season. If you don't know, Upward is a basketball and cheerleading ministry at our church. While many of our own boys and girls come and participate, most of the faces I see in the gym on Saturdays are new faces....people who do not go to our church. This year I was the coach for the 4th-6th grade cheerleaders. I had a group of 10 great young ladies (and two little mascots....couldn't leave out the babies!). I had a great time time getting to know them and their parents. There were a few highlights of this season. The slumber party at my house was so much fun and gamedays are always great! In the middle of each practice, everyone does a devotional. This year, one of my girls accepted Christ as her Savior suring one of those devotional times. Praise the Lord!! That's what it's all about. This particular girl was a friend of another one of my girls and was late joining our squad. She was such a blessing to me, and I know that this was a Divine appointment for her! I pray that she will continue to grow in the love of the Lord and I also pray that many seeds were planted in the lives of these young girls. I know I have been blessed beyond belief just by knowing them!
Our family is a part of a homeschool co-op at our church, and has been for the past four years. It is a true co-op where every Mom does her fair share....and then some. I always teach music in some capacity. The ages have varied over the years, but the subject has been the same. When we were planning this year, our administrator didn't want to tie me down to anything because there was always that possibility (and hope) that we would be moving. I was put in an elective teaching spot for one term and in a class as an assistant for another term. As it turns out, the lead teacher of the class in which I was supposed to assist moved so her husband could take a ministry position in Washington State, and so, I volunteered to teach the class...the SCIENCE class. Not where my degree is, but I am having a BLAST! I don't know when I have ever had so much fun teaching. The class is 2nd and 3rd graders and we are studying the ocean. It's an easy topic for me, as that is one of my true loves in life (actually considered being a marine biologist for a while, if I hadn't thought everyone would have a heart attack). And so, even though it is adding a little more stress to my life, it is good...I am feeling fulfilled and useful for that one great hour on Friday mornings. :-)
Also, I am teaching music to a mixed group of students during Alyssa's band time on Fridays. The kids I am teaching are my other three that are not involved in band, the son of one of the band directors, and the daughter of another friend whose son is in band. It has been a little tricky figuring out what to do with a group of such varied ages, but I am having fun with it. I am beginning to see some great possibilities and a chance to teach music in a way I have never been able to in a classroom setting. It is such a blessing to be with people who value music and desire to have their children learn about it and not just be entertained by it. It has been such a huge part of my life....it is a priviledge to pass that love along to another generation. :-)
Jeff is facilitating the parenting class at church I mentioned in an earlier post. I am getting a group of kids ready to demonstrate our VBS music to a group of VBS leaders in the region, and I am still helping with children's choirs on Wednesday nights. Clara still has her physical therapy once a week and hippotherapy once a week, and for now, we are getting a small break from Emilie's lessons, as it is hard to ride with one arm and we don't want her to break the other one. I am still LOVING the study I am doing at church on Esther. What a woman!
Too many times, people give you a list of all the things they are doing in a desire to feel important. I can promise that is not the case here...I am almost embarrassed by this list. I mostly wanted to share what is GREAT in my life right now...I know that not all the news I have shared recently has been good. :-) I am also trying to update those of you who don't see me all the time to know what is going on in our lives. We have many friends, family, and supporters who read this and I thought you would all just like to know what we are doing. If it is not mentioned here, either I forgot or it is not good....this is a strictly positive post!!
Also, I know this would be so much more interesting with pictures,a nd I promise that I will post some as soon as I remember how. If any of my "blog-savvy" friends are reading this, any help is greatly appreciated!
Love you all!
Jeannie
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A Long-Overdue Update
I can't believe I have not posted anything since December! Time really flies! Well, there is no way I will be able to comment on every single thing that has happened since then, so I will hit the highlights. :-)
In some ways it seems that everything is settling down for us here in the Bryant house. Christmas is over....and was great. Even in spite of the grief we were feeling over Clara's diagnosis. For one day we were able to put all of that aside and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the time since Christmas, we are crying less over her situation and spending more energy educating ourselves and looking at ways to care for her best. We were finally able to get her prescriptions and I can say after a solid month+ of taking everything, she is doing great. When we first started her CoQ10, all of her new-found energy was discovered first in her mouth....that kid talked non-stop for DAYS. We feel pretty certain it has now spread over the rest of her body, and we are seeing great improvement in her energy and pain levels. Thank you, Lord!! Additionally, she started hippotherapy and we could not be more excited! She LOVES it, and as it turns out, she is quite a natural at the whole "horse" thing. If you have ever seen me or Jeff on a horse, you know it is not genetic. :-) Her therapist is hoping to switch her over to therapeutic riding as soon as she turns four (the minimum age). The only difference would be that she would be holding the reins and have her feet in the stirrups, actually learning how to handle the horse in addition to her therapy. As soon as I can remember how to post pictures here, I will post some of her therapy. Seeing her trotting along absolutely takes my breath away...one of the most beautiful sights these eyes have ever seen!
Alyssa continues to blow us away with the young lady she is maturing into. She has a lot of those "quirky" preteen things going on right now, but she also has moments of acting like such a young lady, we forget this our little girl sometimes. We love the young woman she is developing into. Emilie is doing great, as well. She actually fell off a horse last week and broke her arm, but she is healing well and not complaining at all! Both girls have been a part of Upward cheerleading, with me as their coach, and are having a great time. We have made so many new friends this year...there are 10 great girls on our squad...and two little mascots. Guess who?? :-) Again, I will post pics as soon as I remember how. Megan continues to be our little ray of sunshine...no news there. She's our little Steady-Eddy. :-)
Jeff is doing well, but stays very tired. He is facilitating a Chip Ingram class on Wednesday nights at church called "Effective Parenting in a Defective World". That has been such a blessing to us. I have been unable to attend,a s I am leading Children's Choir at that time, but we have enjoyed watching at home together and discussing the things we are learning together. I have been taking the Beth More study about Esther on Sunday nights and cannot remember the last time I got so much out of a Bible study. It has all been very timely for me. The verse that the Lord keeps reminding me of, even before I started this study, was the one that says "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They will walk and not grow weary; they will run but not faint." In our lesson last week, Beth stressed the importance of waiting on the LORD and not an EVENT. Timely, don't you think?
As far as our move with Life Action is concerned, there is no news right now. We feel God moving, but we are not sure exactly what direction He is leading at this very moment. We are so VERY sure of our calling, and the only thing holding us up right now is the sale of our house. We are praying diligently about the possibility of dropping our price...again...to see if we can't get it sold before this tax credit runs out. In our county right now, there is a 40% foreclosure rate...we have three right here in our neighborhood. As it is right now, it looks as if it will be YEARS before we can ever hope to sell our house at a profit, and so we are considering just going as low as we can go. There is so much more to it....a lot of back and forth...and we are far from a decision. Will you pray with us that we would have wisdom and be right smack in the middle of God's will? We are hoping to decide something in the next few days. We want to be good stewards of what God has given us, but we are also willing to give it all up to serve Him if that's what He wants from us. We just need to know what He wants. We know He will show in His time. Thank you for your prayers!
I will try to post regularly from now on. There are daily things that happen around here that are too funny and would be much funnier if I shared them with my friends. :-) As you can imagine in a house with four little girls, there is rarely a dull moment! For now, I need to go to bed and rested up. I need to get ready for the excitement of tomorrow!
Blessings!!
Jeannie
In some ways it seems that everything is settling down for us here in the Bryant house. Christmas is over....and was great. Even in spite of the grief we were feeling over Clara's diagnosis. For one day we were able to put all of that aside and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the time since Christmas, we are crying less over her situation and spending more energy educating ourselves and looking at ways to care for her best. We were finally able to get her prescriptions and I can say after a solid month+ of taking everything, she is doing great. When we first started her CoQ10, all of her new-found energy was discovered first in her mouth....that kid talked non-stop for DAYS. We feel pretty certain it has now spread over the rest of her body, and we are seeing great improvement in her energy and pain levels. Thank you, Lord!! Additionally, she started hippotherapy and we could not be more excited! She LOVES it, and as it turns out, she is quite a natural at the whole "horse" thing. If you have ever seen me or Jeff on a horse, you know it is not genetic. :-) Her therapist is hoping to switch her over to therapeutic riding as soon as she turns four (the minimum age). The only difference would be that she would be holding the reins and have her feet in the stirrups, actually learning how to handle the horse in addition to her therapy. As soon as I can remember how to post pictures here, I will post some of her therapy. Seeing her trotting along absolutely takes my breath away...one of the most beautiful sights these eyes have ever seen!
Alyssa continues to blow us away with the young lady she is maturing into. She has a lot of those "quirky" preteen things going on right now, but she also has moments of acting like such a young lady, we forget this our little girl sometimes. We love the young woman she is developing into. Emilie is doing great, as well. She actually fell off a horse last week and broke her arm, but she is healing well and not complaining at all! Both girls have been a part of Upward cheerleading, with me as their coach, and are having a great time. We have made so many new friends this year...there are 10 great girls on our squad...and two little mascots. Guess who?? :-) Again, I will post pics as soon as I remember how. Megan continues to be our little ray of sunshine...no news there. She's our little Steady-Eddy. :-)
Jeff is doing well, but stays very tired. He is facilitating a Chip Ingram class on Wednesday nights at church called "Effective Parenting in a Defective World". That has been such a blessing to us. I have been unable to attend,a s I am leading Children's Choir at that time, but we have enjoyed watching at home together and discussing the things we are learning together. I have been taking the Beth More study about Esther on Sunday nights and cannot remember the last time I got so much out of a Bible study. It has all been very timely for me. The verse that the Lord keeps reminding me of, even before I started this study, was the one that says "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They will walk and not grow weary; they will run but not faint." In our lesson last week, Beth stressed the importance of waiting on the LORD and not an EVENT. Timely, don't you think?
As far as our move with Life Action is concerned, there is no news right now. We feel God moving, but we are not sure exactly what direction He is leading at this very moment. We are so VERY sure of our calling, and the only thing holding us up right now is the sale of our house. We are praying diligently about the possibility of dropping our price...again...to see if we can't get it sold before this tax credit runs out. In our county right now, there is a 40% foreclosure rate...we have three right here in our neighborhood. As it is right now, it looks as if it will be YEARS before we can ever hope to sell our house at a profit, and so we are considering just going as low as we can go. There is so much more to it....a lot of back and forth...and we are far from a decision. Will you pray with us that we would have wisdom and be right smack in the middle of God's will? We are hoping to decide something in the next few days. We want to be good stewards of what God has given us, but we are also willing to give it all up to serve Him if that's what He wants from us. We just need to know what He wants. We know He will show in His time. Thank you for your prayers!
I will try to post regularly from now on. There are daily things that happen around here that are too funny and would be much funnier if I shared them with my friends. :-) As you can imagine in a house with four little girls, there is rarely a dull moment! For now, I need to go to bed and rested up. I need to get ready for the excitement of tomorrow!
Blessings!!
Jeannie
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