In Defense of my Friend

 Why do you judge a man you do not know?

The man I am about to tell you about is a friend of mine. I have not met him personally, but I care about him and his family. Over the last four years, I pledged to myself to stop listening to what others said about him and decided to learn more about him. Before 2016, I only knew what I read about him and what others said. I am sad to say that I was a part of judging him. I looked at his past sins and thought that was who he is today. I did not think that maybe my friend was on a path of growing spiritually. I stopped listening to what the media and others said about my friend. I received his official letters from his new home and realized that this man must never sleep! He was signing official documents, meeting people hourly, listening to what people wanted and making good changes. My friend truly loves the American people and our children.

When I turned on the news, you never heard any of this. It was like watching a soap opera of sound bites, misinterpreted quotes, slander and gossip. When I listened to whole speeches, I could see that my friend loved to use sarcasm and was proud of his accomplishments. Without understanding and knowing my friend I could see that people would view him as arrogant, self-centered and proud.

Go back to November 3^rd. The day after my friend’s election was disappointing. I did not understand why Americans and my fellow believers did not see all the good that this man was doing. I began to pray and seek out more information to understand. I looked at many different angles and truly started listening to people who loved and supported my friend. I even looked as best as I could what other nations thought of him - not the nation's leaders' opinion, the opinion of their people. I listened to his very close friends who had even gone to prison for standing by his side. I listened to lawyers who gave up everything, everything – reputation, money, and even their personal safety to prove that my friend’s election was infested with fraud. From that time on, I began to dig even deeper and began listening to even more people that I felt like the Lord led me to. One man started a daily prayer that not only prayed for my friend but for our wonderful country. Every day my eyes were opened more.

In the last 6 days, the hate for my friend has grown so strong that I have heard believers publicly say and or write that he is deranged, not fit for office – even that he is like a cancerous tumor that needs to surgically removed. When his invited friends came on January 6th to meet him at his home to peacefully rally in support of him and their desire to see a real investigation done into election fraud, he met them on the front lawn. He intentionally came very late so that his friends would not be harmed when he had been alerted that Antifa members disguised as his friends would be entering the Capitol. He had to ramble and keep repeating everything he had already been saying about election fraud so that his audience would linger longer. Sadly, some innocent friends of his were not only swept up into the chaos of visiting the Capitol, they were even deceived by some to think they were invited in. Some friends even shared a picture of a supporter posing with a statue of one of our founding fathers. Many of friend’s supporters really did not think they were doing anything wrong since the Capitol is for the American people.

If you have judged my friend by listening to what others have said and have not taken the time to truly get to know him, I would like to invite you to do that today. First, pray that your heart would be open to the truth. Pray that your eyes would be open to the lies that have been spoken about him. Search your heart and ask the Lord to take the speck out of your own eye, before you point at the plank in his.

In the coming days, you are going to learn that for over 4 years, my friend has been back stabbed hundreds of times by people that America has trusted. You will learn that my friend has known about the treasonous activities done by government officials that have called for unity while secretly lining their pockets with evil profits. He has had to wait and wait and wait for the right time for truth to be unveiled. One day, you will understand the whole picture and you will see that what you thought was pride and arrogance was actually disgust for evil that my friend was not at liberty to reveal yet.

Without a shadow of doubt, I tell you that we are in a spiritual battle for the soul of America. Ask our wonderful loving father to first have mercy on us. Search your heart and ask God to reveal any sin in your own life and ask for forgiveness. There will soon be days ahead that you will be needed to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to many. You will be needed to be a voice of calm, comfort and understanding.

Lastly, so that you do not think my words are empty without giving you the works to show that faith was in action, I am posting a link to show some good things my friend has done. If you continue to read more of these documents and decide to search out truth and not lies for yourself, I will be very happy.

Please do not comment on my blog. I am not asking for a response. If you want to call me personally, I will be ready to answer. Send me a message and or call and I will do my best to respond. If you would like to cast doubt or throw stones, please wait one week before casting judgement on my words. Throw all the stones you want after January 20^th.

I love you all very dearly - my fellow believing American friends. I write this to you out of great love and a desire for us to work together to share the gospel with as many who will listen.

EDIT: January 13, 2021

I realized this morning that it is past time to show any proof or articles for the great work my friend has done because the divide is so great. If you have followed main stream media especially, then you have been lied to and quite frankly brainwashed to agree with the narrative they have presented. If you have hate or animosity in your heart for my friend, I ask that you please ask the Lord to reveal to you His truth.

My Personal Pledge

  As I reflected on the election results, I was saddened by the media coverage, Facebook posts and general outrage. It made me really think about how I wanted to live out my days on this earth. I came up with my own "personal pledge", but it is a work in progress. I'm sure I could add a lot more pledges to it as God directs.

So here goes...

•  I pledge to look to God's Word daily for wisdom and discernment.
• I pledge to pray for our nation, leaders and citizens daily.
• I pledge to ask God to daily help me practice the freedom of speech by using self-control, by "keeping my tongue from evil and speaking lies" (Psalm 34:13), by listening before speaking.
• I pledge to limit social media in my life, to be real with people, to communicate face-to-face and over the phone more than through texting and Facebook.
• I pledge to listen to our leaders speak, then turn off the commentary so I can form my own opinion.
• I pledge to do my best to get the news from an unbiased source and focus more on the good God is doing in the world. I will pray for those facing trouble, but not fear.
• I pledge to point people to Christ as our King, God's goodness and mercy, his faithfulness and salvation rather than looking to our leaders as heroes or saviors.
• I pledge to turn off the TV and devices and cut out distractions, so I can read good books to my children, be a better listener, snuggle with my family more, play more, admire God's world around me and eat better meals. 

Well, this is a good start. :)

Why I Love Homeschooling

It's nearly 9 o'clock and all my girls are together in the kitchen and dining room. Nora and Karina together made their own homemade pancakes and even cracked the eggs. :) Leona is enjoying pancakes, peas and corn in her high chair and cutely swaying to Scripture songs by Seeds Family Worship. Adela is helping Karina learn how to flip pancakes on the griddle. Karina's job is to put the chocolate chips on each pancake. Nora is happily doing some artwork. The Bible is open on the table as we are reading John 6 for our Bible study. It is true it is sometimes easy to lose perspective. When I was Adela's age, I would have already been at school over an hour and been sitting at a desk in a classroom. I'm learning that this is "school" too. Life school. And we get to do it all together. We learn how to get along, take turns, practice patience a lot, and work out a thousand other character traits. God is good and faithful and I am blessed to have four girls to raise to love and follow him. Oh, and yes, we will do some "schoolwork" after breakfast. :)
(I would post a picture, but I am technologically challenged as all the pictures are on Leo's smart phone and I can't get to them!)

Life With a Newborn

 


Having a newborn makes you slow down and enjoy life. It's a beautiful thing just to hold Leona while she sleeps on my chest peacefully. It took some walking and bouncing to get her settled peacefully, but it was worth it! I thank God for this precious gift He has given us and I am determined to enjoy every minute of it.

A Glorious Mess

That's what my days feel like lately...a glorious mess. Now that I have cleaned up tiny rubber bands from Adela's bracelet loom that were scattered all over the floor by sweet Karina, oatmeal spilled on the floor, breakfast dishes and a pile of books, I decided to take a few minutes to blog. This is for my faithful friend, Andrea, who was happy to see I wrote a post finally! Karina is napping and my father graciously took Adela and Nora out for lunch. As you can see a review of 2013 probably won't happen, but maybe there will be a monthly post at least!

It's been a long week and it's only Wednesday. Karina and I came down with colds on Friday and that always feels like a set back. It's cold and dreary these days and trying to get my girls to settle down to do a little "schoolwork" seems impossible. I love the blessing of homeschooling and knowing that I am able to teach my children about living for Christ everyday, choose the curriculum that I feel is best for their education, train them to love each other and treat each other respectfully and giving them time to just enjoy being kids through play. That all sounds grand, doesn't it? Honestly, I am finding that applying what I have read and learned through Scripture to our daily lives is a real challenge. Why doesn't Scripture just burst from my heart and mouth when I am teaching the girls how to resolve a conflict?  My biggest prayer these days is, "Lord, please help me to be calm and not
respond in anger or frustration."

Steven Curtis Chapman's newest cd, The Glorious Unfolding, has been a huge encouragement to me these last few days. When I hold on and cling to the truth that God has a plan and purpose in my life exactly where I am now, I can get through the day to day "mess." I want to be His servant. When I show love to my girls, I am investing in their future. When I train them to love the Lord and each other, they will one day understand fully what it means to serve God and others. The devil tells me daily that I am a failure, but I am choosing to listen to my heavenly Father who promises to "pour out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:5

Karina just woke up, so let the "glorious mess" continue! :)

It's been awhile...

Okay, I'll admit it. Having 3 young children has just a wee bit overwhelmed me. I am definitely outnumbered. So, that has meant taking a step back and letting go - of. a. lot. of. things. As you can see, blogging had to go. BUT, a new year is about to begin and Karina is slowly getting out of the "has to be watched every second" phase of her life, so I thought it's time to write again. So, stay tuned for our review of 2013!

Back in the Czech Republic

First night in Czech with cousin Ester and a dinner of "parky v rohliku" hot dogs and bread

Three little monkeys getting a bath!


The angel (Olga from Prague) my dad had prayed would come along to help us :)
She entertained Adela the whole flight, kept her from falling asleep at landing and then helped us get our luggage and to the arrival hall! What a blessing she was to us.

Nora's first flight

We have been in Czech Republic for a week now! Time is flying and everyday brings a new adventure. We spent our first four days in Lipová u Prostějova where Leo's mom and brother and family live. It was great to eat Babička's great cooking and spend time with everyone. We even got to see Ester at her preschool final dance program and a competition with firefighters and junior firefighters. It's something like Olympics for firefighters! Everyone from the villlage comes out and they have stands with cotton candy, hot dogs/sausages, slushies, etc. We arrived in Brno on Sunday and have been visiting with friends everyday! Tonight I took the girls downtown to meet a dear friend, Hana. She has an apartment directly downtown (I've always thought it would be neat to live downtown!) so we got to see that and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant. The girls couldn't sit still but we finally did get them to eat something! We had spent the whole afternoon with friends and visiting a nearby park, so the girls were pretty tuckered out by the time I got them to bed at 9:30! We are looking forward to Leo joining us on Sunday!

The biggest "Hav Hap" of the day was when the girls crawled under a new modern "monument" which was supposed to look like 3 lightbulbs (okay, so it wasn't a good idea and I wasn't thinking when they did this). Well, there was a something like a square glass light fixture in the cement under the monument and the girls were on top of this when it fell in! You can imagine the shock and reaction. Nora cried for a good 5 minutes "Boken, boken (broken)." It had just fallen in and had not broken the glass, which I was very thankful for. Now I've have to be a lot more careful and no more climbing on or under anything! :)

I added pictures in the slideshow to the right. I hope to add more pictures later.

Praise the Lord, Nora has a beautiful hip!

The best present I could receive on my birthday was to hear these words, "She has a beautiful hip!" We have prayed over Nora's hip nearly every night since her last visit to the pediatric orthopedic a year ago. God has answered our prayers and we give Him the glory! Nora happily cooperated to have her "picture taken" as her hip was x-rayed. Dr. Frino doesn't need to see her again until she is 5! What a huge burden lifted off our shoulders. God is faithful to answer our prayers and we are very thankful He chose to answer them this way. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our precious Nora. Your prayers are much appreciated.

Nora's healthy hip. See the white line above the "ball" - that's what we've been waiting to see. It's finally looking normal with a slight curve.

The wonderful nurse that has seen us at every visit.

A happy girl in Daddy's arms

Christmas newsletter 2010

Dearest family and friends near and far,

This morning there is a beautiful thin layer of snow on the ground which will probably melt by noon, while in Leo’s home village of Lipová, Czech Republic there is at least a foot of snow which will remain until spring! Although I can honestly say that I do not miss all that snow, we are often homesick for Czech and miss our dear family and friends there more than we ever thought possible.

We have much to praise the Lord for this year. After 2 years of waiting, praying, writing and rewriting resumes, God has blessed Leo with a wonderful job as a manufacturing engineer at Charter Medical in Winston-Salem, NC. He started on July 12th and all is going well. He is responsible for validating manufacturing processes for a variety of plastic containers that are used to store and transport medical equipment, such as syringes, blood transfusion bags and various bio-technological materials. We give all the glory to God for His provision of this job and we are very thankful that Leo’s manager recognized Leo’s potential when he first met Leo 2 ½ years ago.

We continue to live at my parents’ home – thank you, Mom and Dad! I don’t think they ever anticipated having their grandchildren THIS close, but it has been a blessing to each of us. It’s a noisy, happy place all day long with a lot of girl drama! Nora at 22 months is quite the little homemaker. She loves loading the washer and playing in the soapy dishwater! The sweetest words we love to hear her say are our names.

Adéla turns 5 on February 3rd and is full of energy! She loves to draw, sing and make up her own dance routines. Come on over for a visit – we’re ALWAYS ready for a play date!

Adela drew this sketch of the choir singing at church

I also praise the Lord that I have been able to stay home with the girls. It is the most demanding job I’ve ever had but the most rewarding! I’ve had the privilege of being a part of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) for the past 3 years. This year we are studying the book of Isaiah. Adéla also attends her own class and learns the same lessons. I am volunteering in her class as a children’s leader and love it. Studying God’s word daily has changed me and challenges me to seek Him more.

We are looking forward to 2011 and excited about God’s plan for our family. We would be very grateful if you would remember us in your prayers when you think of us! On February 23rd, Nora will have an exam and x-ray to determine if this past year of walking has moved the ball of the femur in her left leg far enough into the hip socket. If not, she will need surgery for hip dysplasia. We also hope to buy our first home sometime next year. We are asking the Lord to give us wisdom on the right home, location and school district! We trust that He will provide and give us clear direction in His time, just as He did for Leo’s job.

May this Christmas be a special time for each of you as you celebrate the Savior's birth. Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

The Great Trade-In

This past Saturday Nora FINALLY moved up in the world and got a new car seat. It was a little sad as we said goodbye to our very worn out stroller that we bought for about $50 from Wal-mart when Adela was about a year old. Some good friends personally brought it to us in Czech. It has seen many places including Brno, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Asheboro zoo.... :) and had a few rough plane rides. It even took a trip to Greece without us when some friends borrowed it for their vacation!



I left our forlorn looking stroller at Babies R Us and received 25% off the purchase of this car seat from Britax. The discount gave us about $50 off the total price of the carseat, so the stroller truly served us well! :)



As you can see Nora was so excited about her new ride. I think she really liked being able to see the backs of her heads instead of the back of the car!

God Sightings

At VBS this past July, we talked about "God Sightings." These are various ways that the Lord speaks to us or shows us Himself throughout the day. Well, today the Lord used a stranger to remind me to count my blessings instead of grumbling. A lovely lady was standing behind our family in line at Arby's. She commented on how sweet the girls were and we started talking. I discovered that she had never been able to have children. She had married at 31 years old and only 11 days after the wedding was in a near fatal car accident and she survived a terrible head injury. Unfortunately, her marriage did not survive this and her husband left after 2 years. I don't know how many years it has been since all this happened, but what truly amazed me was her attitude. She had no bitterness and praised the Lord that she was alive. She most likely has to choose joy over bitterness everyday. This impressed me to not take having children and a wonderful husband for granted. There will be trials and hardships, but I want to have the joy of the Lord as my strength! (Nehemiah 8:10)

It's about time...for some new pictures!

This is a short and sweet version of August for our family. We celebrated Adela's 4.5 birthday :) on August 3rd at the Winston-Salem Dash game. Nora just turned 18 months on the 19th. It's been a hot and not so relaxing summer, but awesome times together as a family. We are very blessed and praise the Lord everyday for Leo's new job.

"I Can't Wait" video of Nora's first 5 months

Leo is teaching me how to combine video clips so this is my first try! I hope you enjoy it. I made it using the shortcut where the program cuts/edits each clip for you. It takes a lot of time to really make it just right, so for now I'm satisfied with the shortcut.

We had a great Memorial Day and spent the morning in Thomasville watching the parade. We arrived about an hour before the parade started and we got to actually sit in some Vietnam helicopters and see some other planes. It didn't start to rain until after the parade. We spent the afternoon just playing with the girls and had tacos for supper (not real appropriate for Memorial Day, but we did at least have lunch at Waffle House. he,he.)

Some Recent Havhaps

Here are some fun pictures from the month of March! Nora loves to make funny faces and has recently starting shaking her head to say "NO" especially if a stranger wants to hold her! Adela is wearing a mask cut out from a Czech preschooler's magazine from Babicka. Other pictures include: the big move to the booster seat, fun on the playground, sisters with toothbrushes, funny hat night at AWANA.

Jak je chytrá Norinka? Táááááááááák je chytrá!

Já vím, já vím. Chudák naše děti budou mít strašný přízvuk jako jížní američani. ALE aspoň budou mluvit česky! Tohle je pro vás, rodino a kamáradi v česku. Ještě jsme češtinu úlplně nezapoměli. :)

Birthday Cake Practice and Silly Nora

When I was a kid, my mom had this great Baker's "Cut-Up Cake Party Book." We got to pick out which birthday cake design we wanted and then Mom would make that cake for our birthday. I thought I'd try to carry on the tradition, so we "practiced" making one of the cakes today. We chose this butterfly pattern because it was fairly simple. Adela enjoyed putting food coloring in the frosting the most.

Nora is quite a character and has already learned many ways to get our attention. One of them is squealing. Today she did this. I think she's already developing a sense of humor and she even looked to Leo and Papa to see if they were watching!

Who's in Charge?

To say that today was a difficult day as a parent would be a HUGE understatement. I felt so NOT in control and frustrated that I went in our bedroom, closed the door and said to myself, "I quit." This all happened before church of course. Adela had gotten up at 5:30am, whined all morning, asked to watch TV a million times, would not come when called to get dressed, brush teeth, etc. The final straw came when it was time to leave for church and I was trying to comb her hair ( a constant battle in our house). She squealed at the slightest pull and by then I'd had enough.

Later this afternoon I discussed all of this with my Dad. I tried hard to be objective and not say, "But, I've done that..." He said, "One thing you need to eliminate from your vocabulary is "Okay?" I honestly didn't think that was a big deal because I was thinking that my "okay?" meant "Is that clear?" I got to thinking about it and realized that he's probably got a good point. AND to confirm his wise advise, I had received this week's Home Training Lesson from Bible Study Fellowship International http://www.bsfinternational.org/ (This is my 2nd year and I absolutely LOVE it! Adela attends a class as well.) and decided to read it especially since it was titled "Who's In Charge - You or Your Child?"

Well, Daddy had hit the nail and I was sure to tell him! :) To paraphrase:

Adults often give up control in their home when they say, "It's time for bed. All right? Okay?" This kind of question at the end of a direction gives the impression that the child can choose to obey or not.

So, tonight I put this new idea into practice. I couldn't believe how many times I caught myself before ending the direction with "Okay?" She did seem to obey better though, so we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Lord, I pray that you would open my eyes that I might see areas where I can be a better parent. Help me to be objective and see ways that I can train my child to be more like you.

Nora the Chair Conqueror

She isn't walking at all yet, BUT she can climb this chair with the greatest of ease! She gets to the top, and yells, "Look at me, World! I did it!" Okay, she doesn't really say that but she has this giant grin on her face as if she is ready to take over the world. She also climbs to the top level of Adela's dollhouse, supervised of course. She is definitely becoming more vocal and can loudly let you know even in the middle of the night that she is NOT happy about something. Sweet Angel Baby is now called Night Time Terror - just kidding. :)

Adela is learning not to talk back (very exciting times in our house :). She is also very into knock-knock jokes, so if you know any good ones, please pass them along. She tries to make up her own and they go something like this:

"Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Banana

Banana who?

Monkey ate a banana."

Then she laughs. She's still learning about play on words obviously!

Merry Christmas/ Veselé vánoce 2009

How many photos does it take to get just the right one of an almost 4 year old and a 10 month old? An awful lot! Here are just a few of the almost 50 we took. It was a lot of fun being silly together under the Christmas tree. I'm so thankful for my precious girls and awesome husband. These truly are special times. We have been playing Christmas music all the time and it warms my heart to hear Adela singing about our Savior's birth. We truly rejoice that we can share with our girls the true meaning of Christmas.

S'mores Anyone?

We had some friends over to roast hotdogs and marshmallows over our mini firepit. My dad has done a great job making a play area for the girls. It is now complete with a swing set - thanks Uncle Sammy! Maybe I can actually help pull some weeds in the garden while Adela swings. :)

Nora enjoyed the fun from her exersaucer

Would you like S'more?