Saraa's Dedication

On Sunday, May 10, we dedicated Saraa to the Lord at Harvest Rock Church. It was a beautiful day.

Here is Saraa cuddling with her daddy before church started.


Captain thinks the baby belongs exclusively to him. Here he is getting his turn to hold her.

It was also Mother's Day. Meg and Israel (back row) participated in a children's choir. They sang "Mom's Are Made That Way" and "God Is So Good." The choir was lead by my dear friend Kristina.

All eight of us (Gana, me, Meg, Israel, Luc, Caesar, Belgee, and my mom) presented Saraa Ann Misheel to the Lord and dedicated ourselves to raising her in the Lord.

After a nice Mother's Day service my mom prepared a fantastic reception at our house. It's tradition.

For this reception she created a Trifle Bar! There was brownie bites, angel food cake, cookies, chocolate mousse, tapioca, whipped cream, fruit, nuts, marshmallows, caramel sauce and so much more. Each person created their own delectable little trifle in stemware.

It was amazingly good and beautiful!!

My mom brought all the serving dishes, punch bowl, etc. We needed a few extra stemware and punch cups. So, I hit the thrift store. I love thrift stores for this sort of thing! I got 12 punch cups for $3! I was pretty excited about that.

We read a note from Saraa's godmother, my niece Jael. It was a precious little note that I'll keep forever (until I can pass it on to Saraa). Jael is seven years old. One might think it strange that we chose a godmother who was so young. But, you know, it just fits in with what God is doing right now. He is awakening his people to the role of women (which I've talked about on this blog) but also the role of children. The Church has not had the success on the earth that it could have had, partially because we have not recognized the gifts--even leadership gifts!--in children.

Of course, Gana joked that the reason we chose a child this time was because we had used up all our other family and friends as god-parents of our other children! LOL!

Several of the guests also took some time to pray and prophesy over Saraa. It was beautiful. They confirmed so many things that God has already spoken to us about our little princess!

If you were there, thank you for being part of our special day!

Testimony Time!

God has indeed planted us in a good place.

I’ve been meaning to testify about a few things that have happened lately, but haven’t found the time. This is a lazy Saturday morning. I have a cup of coffee and the kids are watching VeggieTales. So, here it goes…

On Father’s Day evening, Pastor Che taught about how to pray for the sick. After the teaching he had people pray for one another. We had Luc prayed for for allergies. For those that don’t know, Luc as has had terrible allergies to nightshade vegetables. That’s potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. That means Mexican food, Italian food, most soups, most casseroles, French fries, most salad dressings, and a host of other foods were off limits. Even a trace of it, such as the potato starch in some canned broths, would cause him to break out with an itchy rash all over.

Our family and another guy who was sitting in front of us gathered around Luc and prayed for healing. Luc was excited! He said Jesus had healed him.

When we got home that night for a late supper Luc said, “Mom, I want tomato soup!” He ate it up. We waited. And sure enough he broke out with the rash. Gana and I talked privately. What to do? Luc kept saying Jesus had healed him. He was in the kitchen licking a tomato slice and then lifting up his shirt to show us there was no rash. But, there was. Should Gana and I tell him that he was not healed? That Jesus didn’t do it? That he couldn’t eat French fries? Oy!

We decided instead to contend for his healing. We had been admonished a few weeks before by a preacher to never discourage someone’s faith in the cross. If someone was believing for something, don’t steal it way by telling them there wasn’t really power in it.

So, we prayed that Luc’s healing would be manifested and that his faith in the power of the cross would not be shaken.

About a week or two passed and Luc kept insisting to eat all the off limit foods. Then one day we noticed that he had no rash. There was not even a bit of redness. He was not scratching himself, even in his sleep, as he would have done before. He was totally and completely healed!

Seeing the faith of my little son, who was willing to believe the promise of healing in spite of not seeing it immediately manifested, challenged me. I have been struggling with breast infections since Meg was a baby. And they’ve been getting worse. Between Meg and Israel’s births I had two serious infections. Since Ihbeleg’s birth I have had seven! These aren’t just minor inconveniences. I get a high fever, chills, body aches, excruciating pain in the breast, and a headache. It puts me in bed for several days. For a mother of five children I cannot afford to be in bed for days every couple weeks!

I remember I was washing dishes and was praying, “Lord, I need to be free from this.” I was washing a cup and was meditating on how the inside of the cup had to be as clean as the outside. Whatever the root of these reoccurring infections was, it needed to be healed.

I felt the Lord say very specifically, “I am going to heal you. And you will know when it happens.”

“Yes Lord!”

I started going to every Sunday evening service at our church. Sunday evenings are renewal services where there is lots of personal ministry time. I went. The messages were good, the worship was great. But, I was not yet healed. I came home a little disappointed each Sunday night. But, I kept waiting for the manifestation of what the Lord had promised me.

Then on July 22nd, I went to the Sunday evening service. The speakers spoke a really good word about wanting the Lord Himself, even more than you want your destiny. That intimacy with God was more important than even His promises.

I went forward for prayer and God started dealing with me about some personal things that I’ve held onto that He was asking me to let go of, promises and prophecies that I’ve wanted more than I actually want the Lord Himself. I felt like I was having surgery. I was at the altar weeping before the Lord and God was comforting me and ministering to me. Then someone came to pray for me and said, “The Lord is restoring your body for everything it gives out.” Boom! The promise the Lord had given me while washing the cup came back to my mind. I was at the altar for a good hour while the Lord worked on me. I was in His presence and He was beautiful.

I have not had another infection since! In that moment the Lord dealt with the root of that problem and delivered me.

Through my little son, God taught me about believing Him even when the circumstances don’t look very promising. And through the sermon that night of the healing I learned that it is more important to hold on to the Lord and pursue Him even more than His promises to me.

Daja and Captain

Revelation 12:11,

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,

and by the word of their testimony;

and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

My Personal Staircase to Heaven

There are eighteen rather steep and slightly dangerous steps leading up to our back entrance—the entrance that leads to where we park our car. Ascending the stairs is not unlike scaling a small mountain, except that there is no oxygen offered at the top only a door with a sticky lock.

This morning we had a homeschool co-op planning meeting. So, I instructed all the children to put their shoes on. Carrying the diaper bag, the sling and the baby I descended the stairs, went to the car and unloaded everything and the baby. I climbed back up the stairs, locked the back door and carried Caesar down the stairs. After making sure everyone was properly buckled in car seats and boosters I started the car. I then remembered that I had forgotten some books I needed for the meeting. I ascended the stairs, fought with the lock, got the books and descended the stairs.

Upon arriving back at home several hours and five sweaty and rather sandy (thanks to the playground they made ample use of during the meeting) children later I carried the baby back up the stairs, fought with the lock and placed him in the co-sleeper. Then I descended the stairs and took a sleeping Caesar from the car and carried him up the stairs. Deposited him in his crib. Made PB&J for lunch.

A couple hours later it was time for soccer. I carried the baby and Caesar down the stairs at the same time, giving the diaper bag, water jug, and picnic blanket to the older children.

At the end of soccer Gana took the two eldest swimming for the soccer camp pool party. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. Then I carried Caesar and two jugs of milk up the stairs. Fought with the lock. Went back down the stairs and got the baby and the diaper bag and ascended the stairs again.

[Breaking a sweat just retelling this. Note to self: get a personal trainer.]

One hour later carried Ihbeleg and Caesar back down the stairs to the car. I had to pick up the kids from the pool because Gana had met us there in his car and there is not a back seat for the children. Drove home with five children. Carried Caesar and Ihbeleg back up the stairs. Fought with lock.

Collapsed in a heap? Nope. Made dinner, gave baths, tidied kids’ rooms, typed an invoice, emailed childbirth class students, bandaged a skinned knee, then sat on the couch with a cup of tea and the TV remote. Reminds me that there is another good use for TV. To help one forget the 234 steps climbed while carrying a linebacker toddler, his little brother, the diaper bag, school books, and groceries.

[Is it any wonder I’ve just about lost the 65 pounds I put on during pregnancy?]

My children are worth it, though. Even at the end of the day when my legs are now feeling like lead weights, I wouldn't change today. We had fun together. I got to see Meg score a goal. I got to help plan what looks like a fantastic homeschooling year with our new co-op. My children made new friends, (one who Israel says is named Janeequa, but she's white, so I'm not sure). We laughed a lot. We played a lot. We learned some lessons (such as a box of grits when shaken not only makes a soft percussion instrument, it also causes it to snow indoors).

Step by step the Lord is leading me and helping me daily to be a better parent, but more importantly a better person. Step-by-step times 18 times 13 trips. Each time I think, "This is exhausting." Followed by "This is worth it." Worth it for the sake of the fabulous five, yes. But, also worth it because my own character is being conformed to the image of Christ.

It seems that the Lord is tenderly leading me these days. True to His Word of course. Isaiah 40:11, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."

What a lovely visual....

I am being gently led.....

Not forced....

Not coerced....

Just showed the stairs and the Lord says, "Take another step. It's worth it."

God Is Our Protector!

On the fourth of July we had a nice relaxing day at home. Gana grilled ribs and corn on the cob. Add to that the watermelon, glass bottle sodas and a flag cake and it was a delightful little feast with my our immediate family.

In the evening we decided to see the fireworks at the Rose Bowl. But, we didn't want to pay to get in and fight the crowds. We heard from some locals that we could see it from the nearby Vons parking lot. Great! We walked to Vons, which is a fair distance. We sat outside the corner Starbucks, sipping mochas and waiting for the show. Several other families were doing the same thing.

Turns out you can't see the fireworks afterall, because of new HD fireworks that explode lower. Bummer.

So, we decided to walk closer to the Rose Bowl. We walked to the main street and decided to take a side street that would lead us very near the Rose Bowl. But, in a very last minute Gana and I both said, "Nah, let's just stand here." So, we stood on the side walk and watched the fireworks. They were very far away and it wasn't a great way to see them. For some reason though, we just decided not to get any closer.

While standing there we noticed lots of helicopters flying overhead. News copters? Cops looking for illegal fireworks? We just guessed. We decided to walk home before the show was over. We heard lots of sirens on the way home.

When we got home we turned on the news to hear this story. We were three blocks away. Had we decided to get closer we would have taken a street leading directly into that neighborhood and very likely would have been in the thick of it. Click on the link below. The star is where the shooting was. We were on Orange Grove, between Manzanita and Sunset.

Map of 800 Brooks Ave Pasadena, CA 91103-2917, US

God certainly had His hand on us. Makes me wonder how many countless things we have been spared. We don't know and so we've never thanked Him. Still He's there. Ever watching, protecting, guiding, leading.

No Thank You

Five Scenarios:

A man is called into his boss’ office. “Smith,” the boss says, “I’ve been watching you. I like your work! I’m going to double your salary!” Smith says, “Thank you, Sir! But, actually, right now my wife and I have more money than we know what to do with. It would just be a burden. In fact, if I could just work at this same pay level for the rest of my career, that would be great.” The boss looks puzzled. Smith says, “In fact, if I can just get your guarantee that I will never make more than what I make right now it would really relieve a lot of stress.”

A new family moves in down the street and invites the whole neighborhood for a barbecue just to get to know everyone. The Willis Family decides not to go. When the other neighbors ask why they’d turn down some good grub and friendly company the family says, “We just have too many friends as it is. We aren’t looking for anymore.”

A woman goes for her annual physical. The doctor checks her out head to toe, takes a urine sample, a blood sample, a hair sample. In the end he declares her healthy as a horse. She is crestfallen. The doctor inquires into why. She replies, “I’m just too healthy! I just wish that now and then I could get a little ill, perhaps a chronic condition or something. All this good health is just too much to take!”

A lazy Sunday afternoon, watching the game. A man looks outside and sees a fancy car. He sees a bunch of balloons. He sees Ed McMann. Then the doorbell rings. He wants to hide. “I didn’t ask for any unexpected blessings! I’m not prepared! I haven’t hired a financial planner, decided what I would do with the extra money, or anything!” And so he refuses Publisher’s Clearinghouse and the millions because it wasn’t a planned blessing.


A couple gets married. They have a couple children. God says, “I’m pleased with you. Let me bless you with another.” They say, “No thank you, Lord. We have too many as it is and we only wanted two from the beginning. We didn't ask for any unplanned blessings.” A few snip-snips seal the deal. No more children, especially those unexpected ones. There are some blessings that you can have too many of.

I can only imagine one of the above scenarios actually happening. If you don’t know which, it’s not the one that refuses money, friends, health or windfalls. It’s the one that refuses new life.

Why is that?

Ihbeleg Dale Gombojav

Introducing..........

Ihbeleg Dale Gombojav!

Born: Friday, March 23, 2007 at 2:35pm

Weight: 7 pounds, 7 ounces

Length: 20 inches

Labor: 42 hours, born nautrally at our home in Pasadena

What in the world kind of name is Ihbeleg Dale?

Ihbeleg means "Great Gift" in Mongolian.

You can call him Belgee for short.

Dale means "natural" and is my aging grandfather's name.

The Moon Stood Still

Ever wonder where an unexpected blessing came from? Like when you're in a hurry and there is no traffic all the way to your appointment. Or when you’re feeling so overwhelmed and your dad calls and says, “Can I pick up your kids and take them to the park?” Or out of the blue you find some money in an old handbag…just enough to buy the missing ingredients for dinner?

I sometimes wonder when I find money on the ground, and am so delighted, about how frustrated someone was to come up five bucks short in a the grocery line. Recently my daughter left her purse somewhere in the store. We asked if anyone had turned it in and left our name and number, but no one has ever called us. Well, I was deeply irritated with her for minute, but then thought, maybe some little girl had the thrill of her life to find the exact kind of little denim purse she had been asking for. So, I stopped mid-lecture and let Meg off a little easier.

The Bible says that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Did He mean ALL things? I have to believe He didn’t stutter when he said ALL THINGS. And even if I can’t see the good of it, maybe it’s working out for someone else’s good!

I was reading about when Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still. “So, the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.” (Joshua 10:30-14)

That was a great victory for Israel and a terrible defeat for God’s enemies. But, what I was thinking of was the tired Mama on the other side of the world who got the best night’s sleep she’d ever had. How refreshed she was and knew some how that she could go on another day because the moon had seemed, (but it couldn’t be true, could it?) to stand still.

Being servants

"So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all." Mark 9:35b

We are on a mission to teach our children to be servants. We want to model it for them by serving our Lord, our neighbors, our community, our church and our family. We want to instruct them what it means to be a servant and tell them how to do it. And we want to give them many opportunities to serve others.

So many young people these days are so selfish. But, I don’t blame the young people, though. I blame their parents! Kids today are really focused on their activities and the whole family and seemingly the world rotates around a child’s social calendar. They go from ball practice to music lessens to school functions to social functions. Meanwhile parents work and work and even go into debt to support all these activities and then to provide the perfect clothes, gadgets and whatever else is needed to support the lifestyle.

If aliens landed on earth and were trying the figure out our social structure they might conclude that the parents are the slaves of the children!

Anyway….I digress….

We want to give our children opportunities to serve. You may wonder what an almost 5 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and an 8 month old could do for service! Well, you’d be surprised.

One such way we see to it that they serve is in visiting people. One place is twice a month at a convalescent home with a few people from our church. There we greet many elderly people, sing worship songs with them, pray with them and try to brighten their day and share God’s love however we can. Sometimes the kids make cards or buy flowers to deliver.

Even the 2 year old is quite good now at going around the room, shaking hands and saying either, “God bless you” or “Jesus loves you.” Oh, how the people get a kick out of these little children! It just makes their day. They look forward to their visits for two weeks and light up when my kids walk in the room!

There is one elderly gentleman named Fred, who I’m told, does not like anyone and does not talk to anyone! Today my little boys spent a little time with him and had him smiling and introducing himself. Soon he was joining us in song. “Come let us worship and bow down…”

Our visits have not just made a difference, I hope, in the lives of the patients, but also in the lives of my children. They are learning to be respectful, to listen to these elderly people—even when they are not easy to understand, to bring them a glass of water in Jesus’ name.

I want my children to know that life has a greater meaning than how they can enjoy and fritter away their time today. I want them to know that there are people who need to know the love of Jesus and that it is OUR job as Christians to go share it!

In other words, God wants us to be conduits of His blessings and not cul-de-sacs!

Daja

PS I simply must share one cute thing. I patted on elderly woman’s arm today and said, “God bless your day.” She said, “Oh, no, actually that was yesterday.”

Dragons and Ants

"I'm a little dragon, oh so strong! Learning each day, right from wrong. In this class, I know I'll find honesty for my heart and knowledge for my mind. My uniform colors: white, purple, green--show I belong to an awesome team!" (pledge said at the beginning of Lil Dragons Pre-karate program)

Yesterday my three year old, Israel, tested for his yellow/white belt in his pre-karate program. My husband and I, our three other children, and Papa and Nana watched with cameras and big smiles as he went through the katas and blocks. The class is for children ages 3-7. But, Israel is the only three year old in the class.

We enrolled him only a month ago. He is naturally such a shy and sensitive child. (Which is not a bad thing at all!) We just saw a need for him to interact with other children--especially boys--and to build his confidence. The program is also wonderful for teaching respect, manners, discipline, self-control, stranger-danger, and self-defense.

Although still gentle in comparison with most little boys his age, we see Israel beginning to speak a little louder and control his emotions better. He is also proud of his accomplishments and enjoys practicing with his daddy!

As a treat after his excellent test we took him to In-N-Out for a hamburger and a milkshake (his very own) which was enormously exciting to him! When we pulled into In-N-Out Israel got the biggest smile and said, "Oh, this is a great treat!!" *smile*

So, yesterday was a very good day. I woke up this morning to a different Lil Creature....ANTS. I left a clean kitchen last night--dishes done and put away. Things neat, tidy and wiped down. This morning I found ants EVERYWHERE! And I do mean everywhere! They were even inside the coffee pot reservoir! argh! So, I've spent a good portion of this morning already wiping things down, washing things out, trying to get rid of or store in the refrigerator anything I think they MIGHT be searching for.

"The ants are a people not strong. Yet, they prepare their meat in summer." Proverbs 30:25

A good verse to motivate me today as I really need to FINISH my Spring Cleaning. I still have a couple lingering projects that I've laid aside for more leisurely things. But today is the day to buckle down and get it done!

I'll be disciplined like a Lil Dragon and diligent like a Lil Ant!

Daja (looking for the silver lining or hidden lesson in my ant woes!)

In other words...

Last night we had a special guest over for dinner. He is an elderly gentleman from our church. He lives alone and by his own admission is not much of a cook. So, Gana and I have decided to have him over from time to time for fellowship and some home cooking!

We loved listening to the stories of his life, of his faith, and what God is doing. He encouraged us so very much! His youth, even in his 83rd year, is inspiring. He told us that for the last three years he has been taking communion every single morning! First thing when he wakes up he goes to the Lord's Table. He reads the same passages from the New Testament. Then he receives the Lord's body and blood and meditates on the true meaning of that. As he goes about his day he claims Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me!" He said that when he claims that Scripture as he walks down the street he feels as if he could walk through walls!

Fourteen years ago he was diagnosed with cancer. He went to three specialist. After that he decided that God was his healer and that he would just rest in that. He's never been treated for the cancer. He saw his doctor recently, who asked him, "How do you account for this?" (Meaning his continued good health.) Our friend answered, "I have faith in God and I have faith in you, doctor." The doctor said, "Well, God does the miracles and I get paid!"

In our society we are really caught up with socializing with our own peer groups. Even in our churches there is a college group, a young married group, mothers with young children group, senior citizen group, and so on. To those who feel like they really need to socialize and fellowship with people with whom they have a lot in common, I would encourage them to break out of that box! Invite someone over with whom you may have nothing in common. You may find yourself blessed beyond measure and encouraged in your faith. The fellowship and unity in the Spirit is sweet and surpasses humanly drawn lines of race, age, culture, and occupation.

In other words, reach out and love someone outside your circle today!

Daja