In His Image

Well, after a LONG hiatus from this blog, and a reminder from Jon, I have resolved to confine myself to this room until I get a bit of an update done to this thing! Not that I have a great affection, or a responsibility to this thing, but I realize that others have come to count on these ramblings for an idea on what is going on in the crazy, far-off world of the Stauffer’s.

I was touched this morning by the sermon from the last few verses from Hebrews. My father, (the pastor) has been working through the book for the last ten months and it has been an encouraging, though somewhat baffling at times, study and has given much food for thought. This morning the part that really stuck out to me was the plea for the ability to live with a pure conscience. It was brought out about Paul who was able to say that he has always lived with a pure conscience. Paul!! The one who persecuted the church most mercilessly, and wrought great havoc among the early believers, was able to say that he did it because, he was deceived and thought that it was right. BUT, once he found out that it was wrong, did he make excuses? Did he justify it and try to reason it “his way.” No, he made an immediate about face and strove to work just as hard for the true church, as he had destroying what he thought was a false one.
The thought came to me that I have never fought and destroyed the church the same way that Paul had, but I still cannot say that I always have walked in a pure conscience. There have been times to my shame, that I have “walked over” the Spirit and hae done what I wanted to rather than what I knew God was calling me too. Oh the weight of grief that follows such actions and what I wouldn’t give to go back in my younger teen years and get rid of so many of those actions that I am still reaping fruit from to this day. I can say that when I have walked in the truth that I know, there has been unsurpassed peace and joy that nothing else can compare with!!

On another note, we are facing another change here this week. The place that I have been housing my business in is much too small for my needs and I was struggling to know what to do. I talked to my landlord and he said that for me to have more space, I was going to have to pay more per foot than I was now and I would have to foot all the remodeling expenses myself. Along the main road that the store is on, the going rate for lease space is $15 – $18 a square foot per year. Where I am now, I would have been having to pay almost $32 per square foot. Also, I had never signed a lease due to my landlords supposed right to come and go from my stores space whenever he chose, with, or without, my permission. I was nervous about that and talked to numerous other commercial landlords and found that he had no grounds for this and it raises a lot of sticky situations. So I decided to look for a new place.

To make a long story short, we are moving the store this Friday to another building about 100 yards away and I will almost double my floor space for ¾’s of what I was paying before! God is good and with the way that sales have been going, I may b able to pay off my business contract within the year.

We also have started Lakewood Christian Academy and have enrolled our first three children in it. We are home schooling for the main reason that there is no Christian school around and even in there was, with the wide diversity of “Christians” we feel that it would be better to give them their training here and exposing them to the culture only in steps that they are mature enough to handle.

Japheth Jr is in first grade though he already is reading some simple story books. He loves to have stories read to him and we look forward to his being able to enjoy them without us having to read it for the 75th time!

Jeremiah is going to be starting to learn his phonics and maybe start on math.

Loraine is going to be three next March but she doesn’t want to miss out!! We are planning to teach her the alphabet and number 1 thru 20. (and go potty where all the big people do!)

Wayne, well… let’s get him talking and then go from there eh?

What to do?  Being married has lot’s of problems.  One of which is this, when you have a cold, do you still kiss your wife goodbye in the morning as you leave for work?  If you don’t, you never know if you’ll get in a fatal accident and never have kissed her goodbye!  On the other hand, if you kissed her, she might have a nasty cold for the funeral!!

Argh!!  What to do!!!!  Now I know why all single people smile all the time!

I wrote this about nine months after our first child was born.  It still is my heart and I want to bless all you mothers out there in the work you do!

A Tribute to My Mother

     In my life as I grew up, Mother was always something of a fixture and that is how I often saw her.  Just as you get light by turning on a light switch, so when you would get a skinned knee, Mother was there.  When I would wake up in the middle of the night with a bad dream, or get hurt feelings when someone at school said something that wounded me, Mother was always there.  It never occurred to me to wonder if she would have liked to be somewhere else, or if she would like to work at the job she used to.  I never questioned why she always had breakfast ready when I got up, or supper ready when Daddy came home from work, that was what mothers were supposed to do!  I felt that God must have given my mother to me instead of the other way around.  Now that I am a new father and am watching the making of a mother before my eyes, I have a greater understanding and a much greater appreciation for all that is wrapped up in the word mother.
     It had never occurred to me that it was a real chore to get up in the middle of the night with me and that the only reason was because you loved me.  I never realized the choice you made when you had us children instead of holding on to the world’s idea of a nice figure.  I never considered that maybe you would have liked to have a career outside of our home but you chose instead to do with a little less and in some cases to do without so that you could spend our childhood’s with us.  I never realized that headaches can hurt so badly and that you can’t just stop when you have one.  I never realized how scary it must have been to teach us children at home when you didn’t know some of the subjects that well.  I never realized that naps were just as much for mothers as for children, and often you needed more than we would allow.  I never realized that you don’t know everything and that you can’t be everywhere at once.  I never knew about late nights praying for your children and for your wandering son to come home.  I never realized the powerful example you set for us children, by your willingness to submit to your husband.   I didn’t know that you were setting the groundwork for us to submit to Daddy as well as to our heavenly Father.  I didn’t know about the weight of responsibility laid on you and Daddy, to teach us the ways of God.  You would always hug me so tight, and I didn’t know it was because you didn’t want me to grow up too fast, or that you knew all too soon, I would be gone.  Mother was always someone we came home too; I never thought what it must be like for her to see her brood grow up and go away.  I never thought about these things, they just were!  Now as I face the daunting task of father hood, there are times that I wish I could go back and be snuggled into Mommy’s lap, to hear her soft words of encouragement, and know that it will be OK.  
     But now I am a Father, and am watching with new appreciation, the transformation of a young lady into a mother.  Not just a woman that bore a child but a mother, and all the bittersweet love that goes into the name.   And so I would like to thank the two mothers in my life; the one who bore me, and the one who bears my children, for all these things that you have done to take this cold and heartless world and turn it into a warm and loving home.  To me, heaven will be a greater version of the home Mother helped make for me.  Where Jesus is always there to comfort us, to wipe away our tears, and soothe our bleeding hearts.  He’ll hold us in His lap and let us listen to His beating heart.  Then, all the pain of life, the parts that even mothers can’t soothe away, will disappear as Jesus holds us close and echoes what all mothers have whispered, “It’s OK, your safe at home now, and I’ll always love you”!

Happy Mothers Day!

We praise the Lord that He saw fit to bless us with another son. After weeks of unrest in the fact of not knowing when we were due and several false starts of labor, today was a God-send!

was born at 3:17 am on April 5th, 2006.
He weighed in at 9 lbs even, and was 20 3/8″ long.

The labor was hard to get started but once Aimee’s water broke at 2:05 am, things kicked in high gear and Jaden was born 72 minutes later. Both Aimee and Jaden are doing very well. Aimee had no complications and is recovering quickly. Truly God answered our prayers for safety and as quick a birth as possible.

Thank YOU for all the prayers you have offered up for us the last week or so. We have felt them and feel very blessed by all the friends we have out there.

Now it is 5:21 and I have not slept yet so since Aimee and the little one are sleeping, I shall try to get a few winks in before I have to get up with the rest of the children.

Prov. 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Thank you for all your prayers!!!!  I am sorry for the false alarm but we would still appreciate your prayers for the child and for Aimee over the next few days.  May God’s will be done.