Hi Everyone,

Happy Fall and almost Merry Christmas. I am hoping to put a longer "Anderson Family Christmas" letter out before too long. We have some fun family changes to announce 😉!!

But until then I thought I would put a quick update out that would give a little clue as to how the last several months have gone. The first one has to do with a conference that Lifespring Church hosted in late October. A few years back Eric struck up a friendship with a now good friend of his named Joe. From that a ministry partnership formed and has evolved, providentially of course, into a group of pastors that have rural reformed ministry in common. I wont go into too much detail since I will post a link to their website they have created (and was featured on "Monergism" and "Tim Challies" recently) and you can read as much or as little as you want. (Sadly when you go on to the site you will find that our friends are going through a devastating trial in their life as they are watching their little four year old live with an in operable brain tumor. But, this will give you an opportunity to support them through prayer along with many others if you would like.) Over the course of the last few years the group has grown and has been a large support for us in the ministry. This Fall they put on a conference for pastors and lay man called "Little Church, Big Problems" and it was a big hit! Here is the link for that audio...

https://commonslaves.com/commons-slaves-fall-conference-2017/



The second link I wanted to share with you was an interview Eric did with a ministry partner that has been an encouragement to both Eric and I. Mitch has been so helpful to us as we have walked through some painful trials in ministry and life. He hosts a podcast called "Before You Quit" and Eric was his latest guest with an interview on thriving through conflict. Many of you have been so supportive of us through prayer and words of encouragement and I hope this gives you hope as well.


https://beforeyouquit.us/podcast-ep-11-thriving-church-conflict-grow-people-dont-get-along/

I am excited to share these links with you and I pray they bless you as you head into a busy Holiday season.

Here are some updated pictures. Enjoy, and thank you to all of you who continue to support us in many ways.

 Jordan (19) and Paisley (22 months)

 Taylor and I (Taylor is now 17, next year at this time we will have two adult children 😕) summer 2017

 Taylor and Christian (Christian is now 8)

 Eric and I summer 2017

 Ethan (9) out for his traditional birthday dinner the older girls take each one of their siblings out for.

Sweet Jubilee (3)

Happy Holidays! With Love, Miriam

Hi Everyone!

Well here goes my quarterly report! I have the best of intentions of being much more regular with these updates and then....life happens. Maybe someday I will be able to be more consistent.

Our summer has whizzed by...literally. I remember back in May anticipating all the fun festivities and thinking they were so. far. off. Now we are remembering it all in hind sight. Everything from Jordan's grad party, to family camp where Eric spoke on the five solas to a trip down to Fairmont (Eric's home town)where Simeon learned how to swim, all went well. We had two birthdays sandwiched in between these comings and goings. Simeon turned 5 and Ethan turned 9. There was t-ball and baseball every Monday and Wednesday for 4 of the kids. Eric got asked to coach this year (which we were thankful for since it seems like it is a right of passage in this community if they come to you to ask!) and coaching is something he enjoys. We had reading club on Thursdays and both Eric and I lead bible studies for our women and men at Lifespring this Summer. We went on canoe and kayak adventures which involved rope swings and snorkeling in some of the deepest lakes of Minnesota. We have been garage saling and refinishing many free items we have found on the side of the road. Whatever happened to the lazy days of Summer huh? Well we still have some of the Summer to go so hopefully we will have slowed down enough for us to  enjoy what's left!

We are thankful for all these experiences that the Lord has allowed for our family. They have been a gift in the midst of some of the long slow work of ministry, which at times can play mental wars in your head and drain you. As you know from previous posts Lifespring has gone through difficult transitions in its short, little, but not insignificant life. As a result we have had to make some revisions on how we are supported financially and what types of opportunities we will take on as a church in the context we are in. We went from self sustaining to support raising and from one denomination to another in order to bring life back into the body. This of course comes with challenges and many questions on our end. We have wondered if we will make it here in this community, what our future looks like in terms of this specific church or is there too much water under the bridge? Should Eric go bi-vocational? Should I get a job outside the home? Is this where God wants us and our family, and many other questions we are continuing to lay before the Lord and seek his will. We know what we desire and often times those wants change from day to day. But, ultimately we want to want to obey the Lord and serve Him wherever he has us. Even in the hard and insecure environments He places us in.

Some things that haven't changed however is the knowing that we are called to ministry and our unified desire to serve the "reached". In other words we we have a heart for the church. Through different circumstances we have been affirmed inwardly, from outside counsel and through God's word of this.

One of the most recent experiences that affirmed this for me personally was when Eric was asked to guest preach at another church. When we got there we went to a Sunday School class where the teacher was teaching out of 2 Peter 1. In this Epistle Peter reminded us that if we are in Christ we have been given everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him (God). We have His word which is all sufficient and all powerful. Then another leader spoke up said "We have a saying in AA Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic. In the same way for us in the church once a sinner always a sinner". When I heard this my heart sank. But, it also affirmed for me the work we are committed to in the visible church as this is not what God's word proclaims to us as I see it. Unfortunately this is some of the world view being taught and followed by many who claim to know the truth, those who have been "reached". Instead of anybody correcting that with sound doctrine it was left lingering in the air for people to breath in and renew their minds with. What I wish would have happened was for someone to say what God's word actually says. In reflection maybe I should have respectfully disagreed and shared what I see God's word saying. I see God's words to us saying something very different and I believe when not corrected it will do much damage to us, the church and the world as it gives people a different Jesus all together. What I believe the bible actually states (to Christians) is that we were dead in our sins, but now we are alive in Christ (Ephesians 2), the old is gone the new has come, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians). We are called by God Beloved, Saint, Son or daughter but not sinner. We are looked at through Christ's righteousness not our former sins. While we are still tempted to sin and give into this temptation at times, sinner is no longer the name that identifies us. These truths from God's word are what free us.

Yet, too often what we hear from people in our church and outside of it is the modern day psychology like this gentleman shared that frees no one but enslaves everyone who doesn't have the discernment to reject such lies. It actually puts people in bondage as it has a form of godliness (once a sinner) but denies its power (always a sinner). Do you see the subtlety of the deception, the half truth, and the hopelessness that this leaves someone in? I do. This is heart breaking and yet it is what stirs my affections for staying here in the church continuing to serve among a "reached" people group. This is also what keeps me desiring to support my husband who is much more on the front lines by proclaiming truth by giving the full counsel of God's word week in and week out. Often times with no visible results to share with people when asked how church is going (even though he is really good at what he does and he tries to do it with passion and purity!).

I have often wondered since my salvation why God didn't give me a desire to go and reached un-reached peoples groups with the gospel. They certainly stir my emotions when I see an orphan face or a widow in a foreign country dying alone from some disease. But my affections are stirred differently and just as intense by the people sitting in our pews week after week who look really good on the outside but are diseased on the inside from believing the lies of this world. Eric often reminds me when I feel like giving up or "throwing in the towel" with this type of ministry to remember that many of these people have been so poorly sheparded by under shepards who have selfish interests at heart. Protecting their own finances or reputation they will tell people what they want to hear even if it is not the truth. Some people have been told in the church right things are wrong and wrong things are right (read Ezekiel 34). He often will tell me when the word is preached we become exposed to God's truths about who we are and what we have believed. In our sinful humanity we don't like when our hearts are exposed and like Adam and Eve we tend to find some fig leaves to cover ourselves back up again. Then we find ways to incorporate some good old fashion blame shifting into the mix. Often we run and hide, put up walls to block people out, gossip, listen to gossip,  slander and whatever else we can do to alleviate some of the pain and at least superficially try and make the pain end...until it doesn't. Then we repeat that cycle all over again. Usually at a different church, in a different family, or different work place until God gets a hold of us and reminds us that "But for the grace of God you are no longer identified as a sinner so go and sin no more". However, until God gets a hold of someone like that and changes their heart this leaves those who desire to follow God's lead into the already reached regions in a sometimes vulnerable, insecure, and lonely position. We are though in a needed ministry and the safest place, the center of God's will.

So, this is where we are called for now, and for now where we will stay. If you desire to support through prayer or other means let us know and we will put you on our support letter list.

With Love,
Miriam

FIRE CONFERENCE

We were driving in the rain last month and I said out loud "April showers bring May flowers". Gracie replied in her quick witted Gracie sort of way "Yeah, but, May flowers bring June bugs". She is correct! With the next season of mosquito's and ticks looming around the corner we are thankful for the great weather of warmth, sun and very little bugs we have had. Well, except for the 45 degree days we had for about two weeks. It's Minnesota what do you expect!!!

I really can't complain because Eric and I were actually gone for most of those cold days to a conference in Ohio. Amish country to be exact, and it was very warm there for the 4 days we visited. I have to admit I did not have high expectations of that part of our country being very interesting but when we arrived, we loved it. The hilly countryside, green grass, slow paced life style was relaxing and we so enjoyed that. Our view out of our hotel window was of a quaint white church with a steeple, cemetery, and rolling green hills for as far as we could see. The clothes lines at every Amish house, horse and buggies, and simple living made me a little jealous of the Amish way of life.

Along with the area we were in the conference itself was very life giving to both Eric and I. This was our first FIRE (Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals) conference since becoming a member church this last year. For those of you who knew about us leaving the Free Church denomination and joining with a different association, FIRE is that association. They are not considered a denomination, but an association. Eric had attended a regional conference last Fall to check them out and the one we attended last week was their international one. After the week was done Eric and I would say they far exceeded our expectations as an organization. They don't have any authority over local churches but they are there for accountability and support of the local church. They are very orderly and well run. We were able to fellowship with many like minded people and were encouraged in our Christian faith and ministry. We have been feeling the strain of this being long term ministry with very few tangible results. There has been many times of feeling very alone and hopeless in it. Some of that it is the reality of rural church planting and the unique hardships that come with it. 

One of the characteristics about FIRE that stands out to us (it's not charismatic in case you are wondering!) was the preaching of the Word. In the past we have attended conferences that put most of the emphasis on church growth. How many people were attending our worship services and what is your personality type? Lion, Tiger, or bear (oh my)? Instead this time, we were taught and fed out of Colossians 1. The theme of the conference was about being biblically balanced in ministry. The primary teaching was aimed at the pastors in the room but it could apply to us all who are in Christ. The balancing act is lived out by 1) faithfully proclaiming the full counsel of God, 2) biblically counseling the full council of God's word and 3) teaching God's word.

Two of the mornings were dedicated to hearing reports form the churches and prayer requests. Eric shared our report on who we are as a church, what we have gone through, some of the opposition we have faced and also his areas needed for personal growth. He also shared that our request would be for our teenage girls in the area of healing and encouragement.

The other aspect of FIRE we were very impressed with was their emphasis on biblical counseling. Eric and I have been taking courses through IBCD (Institue for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship) and the courses have been life giving to me personally  and are hopefully giving us the tools we need to be faithful counselors of God's word. The founder IBCD was also one of the starters of FIRE years ago when it was in the infant stages. He also taught us one night on how to handle God's word as a biblical counselor instead of using human psychology (which is actually a competing world view with Christianity). We are excited to see how this will all play out and the life changing fruit that will come from it in the future. It is a lot of work, but edifying at the same time.

We enjoyed all the people we met at this conference. There was a perfect balance of laughter and seriousness.  There were pastors who went through hard church divisions, some went through coups and survived (similar to our experience). They continued to stay in the churches they were serving for the last 20, 30, and 40 years even when it was hard. The longevity of their ministry was encouraging to us as so many times it seems to us that it would feel much easier to quit and find something more satisfying. Some of those pastors reminded us that some seasons in ministry you have green grass and it is very fruitful. Other times the grass is brown and dry. It was good to have that reminder from people who had seen seasons come and seasons go and to be told not one season lasts forever.

I have a quick story to share of one answer to prayer that was a very specific prayer request from our worship team. The worship team was seeing the need for new hymnals so that everyone could be on the same page for worship. A couple from our church had gone to the Ligonier conference and saw the new Hymnals from John McArthur's Master's seminary. They came back to Minnesota with the request that we get them since they would fit in very well with the vision of the church. As the Elders looked at finances they realized we just could not pull that off right now. So, they put it to prayer. A few days later a gal who attended our church (at times) came in and let Eric know that she did not believe the same way as our church, but that she loved our church and what we stood for in the community. She said she wouldn't be coming back for worship (she came from a very different world view) but that she wanted to support us by giving us a thousand dollars. And just like that we had our hymn books! They are rich Hymns of the faith and they are songs that any one can sing.

Aside from ministry the family is busy planning for Jordan's grad party in June. We are trying to get a few house projects accomplished that have been on the horizon for some time.  The younger kids are pretty much done with school with a few tests that still need to be taken. Taylor will get her license here shortly and Paisley is taking her sweet time growing up. In other words, she has yet to take her first step at 16 months. We went through a two month time period where we had the stomach flu and strep throat continuously. We would get rid of it and it would cycle back though. I thought it was never going away but thankfully it did.

Here is Jubilee when she had her turn with the "bug". Poor girl she was so wiped she fell asleep on the window seat.

Simeon, Jubilee, Christian, and Ethan in the background at their wrestling tournament.

This picture is not great quality but the story behind it is so cute. Every year we do a combined service with several other churches in the area for the Good Friday. Most of the other churches raise their hands during the singing. The culture of Lifespring is not one that people outwardly express emotion very often, if at all. During one of the songs all the other churches began raising their hands and Simeon started looking around and figured he should do the same. He didn't sing a word but he stood with his arms raised high and Eric quickly snapped a picture of it.

Thank you to all who have supported us through prayer and financial support. We are continuing to seek the Lord and fundraise to generate finances for the church. Your support has been helpful in tangible ways and also in the area of encouragement. So far we have been provided for and are continuing to look to the future here at Lifespring.

With Love,
Miriam

Happy Spring!

One part of living in Minnesota that I love is the changing of seasons. Out with the old and in with the new can sometimes be just what our souls need to regain strength and perspective. Of course, ultimately, the Lord gives exactly what we need in the area of encouragement and hope. But, sometimes that comes through the warmth of the sun after the cold bitter days of Winter. A gift from God.
                                                      
                                                        Family Life Update:

Since my last post we have celebrated four family birthdays (Paisley, Jubilee, Gracie and mine), sent our teenage daughter's off to prom for the first time, continued to deal with chronic pain, endocrinology appointments and watched as two of our little boys wrestled their way to a wrestling season of (wait for it) 0 victories. But hey, they wrestled their hearts out and loved it! It was fun to go and watch tournaments then turn around and watch as our teenage girls got all dolled up and walked the Grand March into their first Prom. Our house was a good mix of spray tans, artificial nails, expensive dresses as well as singlets and sweaty wrestling matches. It made for a good distraction from the long winter days and gave us events to anticipate and look forward to. Now we are anxiously awaiting the warm days of Summer!

The boys are actually excited to be wrestling despite the look on their faces! I am sure they are just exhausted after a match.

 This was Taylor's prom date, Elijah. Before any assumptions are made they are not a couple! However, he was very thoughtful and gentleman like to her all the way to the end! The theme for prom this year was "A Night In Paris".

 Sweet Sisters.

        Here is a picture with all 8 of the kids. Forgive the lack of fashion discretion from our boys!                         

                                           Ministry Life Update:

When I left off in our last post I shared that we were starting to fund raise as a means for our family to continue on here at Lifespring Church. So far we have had a few individual donors as well as a couple churches who are wanting to support this ministry. We are continuing to pray for provision and direction in this area and we are thankful to those of you who have supported us financially and through prayer over these last few months and years. We look forward to how the Lord will work it all out in the future and trust that however He chooses to provide, we are in his care.

 We have been asked several times how the church is doing and what our plans are for the future here. When I have time to explain my answer is usually mixed with optimism and maybe a little bit of (healthy?) pessimism . In some ways we are doing very well. As I have shared in the past we had a few years of "not so smooth sailing" in ministry. As we have tried to discern what the Lord was doing during that period in our church's history we trust that the Lord was pruning us and our church. We are thankful right now, however, for a time of rest where the intensity of conflict is not present and we are able to relax a little more restfully.  While it was painful at the time, and still continues to be at moments, there were a lot of necessary lessons learned and purifying during it all. Despite the hurt involved, we are very thankful for the fruit and assurance of faith it produced in our own lives and the lives of some of our kids. It helped Eric and I solidify some of our beliefs and root out some lies we had been believing.

I believe there were a number of reasons for this long season of pruning we experienced. Ultimately it all was due to the sovereignty of God and his all knowing control in our lives. That is from a bird's eye view, or better yet God's eye view. But, coming down to a closer look at things you would see the sin of ours and others clashing up against each other. In a even more detailed description of what went on there was harshness, gossip, slander, selfishness, unforgiveness, bitterness, misrepresentations, resentments, divisiveness, lies, assumptions, power games, foolishness and pride played out in numerous ways . Pretty picture of a church right? Sadly, this doesn't just describe Lifespring!

It still is a painful reminder to us that we are no longer in Eden and until Christ returns this will be a part of life, even life in a church. We all know that we don't always experience physical healing in our bodies this side of heaven but something we are learning is that a perfectly healthy church was never promised to us either. With that being said we continue to pray for health and recovery for our church and do the necessary work to try and be as healthy as we can as a local church body.

Sometimes we are tempted to want to leave here because of the conflict, because of the pain, because we no longer fit with the culture of this people, we aren't seeing an increase in numbers, we don't have enough money to support us in the future, and any number of other reasons. These are all considerations for us and we have prayerfully been mindful of them as we seek the Lord on what His direction is for our lives. Every time we come back to God's word though, and prayer, we are reminded that we are to die to self and the comforts of our flesh. We are reminded to give up our own agendas (desires) and work for the Lord's (James 4). We are reminded to give up the idolatry of our own comfortable and cushy lives and that when we seek Him he will be our comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). We are learning that numbers of people in our doors is not what we are working for but that we are working as ambassadors for God in the midst of a "crooked and twisted generation" (Philippians 2:15). When we are tempted to fear about the future and how we are going to provide financially for our family the Lord reminds us that He is the ultimate provider (Luke 12:24) and He knows His sheep and all their wants. He is the good Shepard and will provide for us in everything we need (John 10).

That was the nitty gritty side of things. On the flip side, we have had several people from the community come to worship services and a few family's that seem promising in the area of committing to and serving a long side of our local body. Eric continues to lead "Kid's Club" on Wednesday afternoons and that has grown to the size of (at times) 50 kids. They do a bible lesson and then play dodge ball. As a church we do an outreach to the families of these kids with a meal and we have one coming up next month. We continue to partner with local churches and have favor in our community. Over the last few months there has been a renewed, sweet, unified spirit among the people who are still here at Lifespring and a desire to see this mission succeed.  We had a biblical counselor come in for a night of "Gospel Healing" and that seemed to be fruitful for our congregation.

As we press on and move into the future here doors have been opened for Eric and I to start taking courses on biblical counseling and we are both really looking forward to going through the process and finishing that. We were also given the opportunity to attend this years FIRE (the association we recently joined) conference in May together for 4 days. One of the main speakers is the head of the biblical counseling courses (ICBD) we are going through and we would love to connect with him. Also, Eric and another one of our elders are attending the TCT networking group hoping to partner with them in the near future. TCT stands for Treasuring Christ Together and they are based out of Bethlehem Baptist Church in the cities. Traditionally they have been an inner city and suburban church planting network but recently they have expressed an interest in coming a long side some rural church plants as well. I think Lifespring would definitely fit the description of rural! Over the course of the last few years there have been a number of connections between our church and some of the people involved with TCT.  We are excited to see what happens with them in the future.

All in all we are starting to see light again at the end of the tunnel and are becoming more encouraged as to the church's stability whether we are here or not. We are aware that as we pursue holiness, times of trouble will come again. But hopefully our faith has grown and will be able to walk through it with the confidence from His word we have gained from already going through it once already.

In Christ,
Miriam

Exciting News!

Exciting News!

For all of you who have supported us with prayer and most recently through financial support, we wanted to give you an update.

As you know from the last post our church has been through some stressful times in the recent years. It has been spiritually hard, emotionally painful and financially straining. After you walk through difficult seasons and God allows you to see an area of answered prayer it is an encouragement to the morale. A reminder and that extra push to keep going, to keep persevering.

So, I am excited to announce that two weeks ago we got just that type of answer. Through prayer, and a few months of extra generous giving it was clear that it was time to "bite the bullet", head in to the bank, and pay off the mortgage of our church building 3 years early! Yes, we are debt free as a church. That is huge for a church our size to not have the burden of debt on our hands. If you have ever paid off any kind of loan you know that it frees you up to focus on other matters. In our case it is one less thing to think about in the midst of ministering in and to this community.

Tomorrow evening during our bible study we will have a "burn the mortgage" party and celebrate how God has sustained, shaped and molded our group over the last seven years. Our mortgage being paid off in full being just one example of His provision for us. We will literally burn our mortgage statement as a testimony to God's faithfulness and anticipation as to what the future holds, let's hope nothing else catches on fire!

Some days we still deal with a heavy hearted-ness to think where we are at, and some days we experience gladness for where we are. So often it is a matter of perspective and re-aligning our thoughts with God's word. (I am pretty sure that if amusement parks would have been invented in the apostle Paul's day he would have used some analogy likening ministry to a roller coaster!) At times we walk in to our church and see the pews "half empty", and some Sunday's we see them as "half full".

When we look at them as "half empty" we are reminded of the work still left to do here. God is still on the move redeeming his people and as said in the words of Romans  10:14 "How then will they call on Him who they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?". There is still a mission going on in this little rural town that God has not ended yet.

Through the "half empty" vantage lens we are reminded that "the way" is actually very narrow (smaller numbers tend to make you think about these things) and that not many enter it (Matthew 7:13-14). We are reminded to be thankful that God has been gracious to us and we are to extend that grace and love to others in our community. Smaller numbers has driven us to seek out the Lords perspective on success in a culture where success is heralded as our defining identity. I can't tell you how many messages on success we heard as we were in church plant training. Either they would give the message outright or they would imply that in our churches "numbers" in the door is how we define our success. Yet we see in scripture in scripture that crowds, or numbers, were never something our Lord thought very highly about or put a lot of stock in. He saw right through it and knew that in the midst of much religiosity there were actually very few who were willing to surrender all in regards to following Him. Surrendering all to Jesus meant laying aside their (our) heart's desire for a successful reputation, success in finances, success in family and anything else we have desired above Him. Surrendering all was also a dividing factor between those that were true followers of Jesus and those that were just seeking and following the crowds out of curiosity or any other self centered motives. We personally have had to redefine success in our own hearts and minds and we are learning to be content where the Lord has us and receive our identity and Joy from Him and not anything else. "Learning" being they key word!

On the other days when we walk in to our red carpeted, stained glass windows, Presbyterian styled church with a warm sanctuary, protective walls, fellowship hall, large kitchen, and a church "half full" of people we are reminded that God is our provider. The people in the pew, even if they do not know Jesus personally, have providentially been drawn there to hear his word. His very own words to humanity who are in need of hearing them are proclaimed week in and week out, in season and out of season. We are reminded that people are created in the image of God and they are not a means to our own end. In a consumer driven society we are not to consume people for our own good but to serve others in the name of Jesus, just like Jesus (Matthew 20:28).

We are reminded from the "half full" perspective that it is by Grace that we have been called to serve, one person or many. That it is a privilege to serve for the Lord, and He actually uses it to our good and for our own assurance when we say "yes" to the call. Having even one other person there on Sundays (other than the 10 in our family) reminds us that we are not completely alone on this mission, or in this life. That He has sustained us individually, as a family, and as a church for the last seven years. Whether it is through our own hearts betrayal towards the Lord and others, or others' betrayal towards the Lord and us, we have experienced much Grace.

There is some verses that I continue to come back to in Matthew. They are Matthew 7:21-23 and it is a reminder of why we do what we are doing. Instead of saying to the person who came to Him thinking they were going to hear "Well done good and faithful servant" Jesus says "depart from me I never knew you". I am scared to think about how many people are sitting in so many of the churches out there today (ours included) and are deceived into thinking they will hear one message from the Lord, only to hear the other.  The Lord continues to remind us that there is still a mission field here and much of it may be done with in the four walls of our now paid-in-full church building!

To think that He uses ministry as a means for our own sanctification, assurance and relationship with Him as well, makes hard and dry seasons seem purposeful. Our church building is just a minor part in the mission, but a part none the less. So know that for those of you who have supported this ministry in some way shape or form we are very thankful and God is using it. You can always hear sermons or check us out at www.visitlifespring.com and below are some pictures of our church, enjoy!

 Love,
Miriam

Hi Everyone,

Long time no see, or write! I am sorry, I have had the hardest time getting on to my account. Mainly because I did not have the time to sit down and jump through all the hoops after I was (accidently) logged out of my account and I had no clue where I placed all my passwords for it. AAAANNNDDDD, I am not exactly computer savvy. To say the least (insert winking emoji!)

We have run into some of you at different events lately and you have asked about some updates. Thanks for encouraging me to do that, writing it all down is such a good reminder on paper, or screen, of evidences of God's Grace. Something our kids and us can look back at and be thankful for, especially when we walk through hard or just mundane seasons.

Where do I begin? It has been a year and a half since my last update. In my last post I told about the scary ordeal of Gracie in the hospital and ultimately being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We are now pretty settled in to a routine of consistent doctors appointments, blood checking several times a day and either giving shots,or giving sugar, depending where her levels are at. It's an all day affair. She has only been hospitalized once since she was released last August and her A1C is 1 point away of our goal. (For those of you who know anything about diabetes you will know what I am talking about.) She is a champ at it all, her math skills are definitely beyond her age because of this, and I am thankful for the attitude she has adopted through it. Aside from a little embarrassment, she is overall doing very well.

Also, we had another baby, who will be 1 tomorrow. Paisley Belle was born last January 27th and like all the other kids is a joy to have. She is healthy and happy, and has lots and lots of curly hair. So often when we are out and about we will have people say "wow, look at that hair!"

The rest of the kids are of course growing. We have an adult child (eeek). Jordan turned 18 this last September, Taylor is 16 and will have her license soon. They both work at the local coffee shop and have a lot of fun with the friends they have made through that. Gracie is 9, Ethan 8, Christian 7, Simeon 4, Jubilee (alomost) 3, and Paisley 1. Oh, and two of our dogs died last year so we figured we did not have enough on our plate so we should add to our family with a puppy. Oscar joined us last July and is a happy and annoying Golden Doodle. Ethan and Christian are now wrestlers and I went to my first meet the other day to watch. The boys didn't wrestle but I kept thinking that when they do I am not sure I will be able to sit calmly on the bench. Not only because I don't like to see any boys doing what they were doing to each other (have you ever seen some of those wrestling positions?) on those mats, but also because there are some pretty disgusting things that happen during wrestling!

When we started the blog a few years back it was intended to keep those near and far updated as to how we are doing in our family and ministry. (Hopefully now that I am back in this cyber world I will get to express more often so I wont have to overload you with too much information in one sitting, I can be too good at that at times!) While ministry itself  does not ultimately define us, it does help describe us, and I hope to share some of our experiences with you on here. Our church is our place of worship, it is also our mission and it is also what sustains our family materially as well as spiritually. Whether I like it or not it all mixes and mingles and overflows into each other at times. Sometimes that is a Joy and sometimes it is a little less than joyful.

As many of you know whether you are in ministry vocationally or not you know that living with other people in this world can be challenging and painful to say the least. If you put one sinner with another sinner they do not cancel each other out and make zero sinners, it means you now have two sinners. Sometimes that goes along very smoothly and life with other people works harmoniously. But sometimes harmony just doesn't happen and things get broken. Specifically relationships. That, in short, is what happened to our church over the course of the last few years. I will share more details on it as I feel like it is appropriate and I will try and protect things as I feel appropriate, but for now I will just give a few details of where we are at in real time as a church body.

Last year Lifespring Church in Crosby (where we ministering at) went through a church split. If any of you have ever been through a church split, an unsuspecting divorce, or anything like it, you will be able to identify with this. IT IS PAINFUL. I have read much over the last few months about how long it takes to not hurt from something like this and from all we can tell, it takes a lot of time and a lot of Gospel! Thankfully we are a church where the Gospel has been restated over and over and we do have a sure foundation. We have have been so blessed to have the support from several other churches near and far who have gone to bat for us and encouraged our dis-heartened hearts many times over when it would have been so much easier to walk away. We have walked through the gospels with Jesus and known that he does truly carry us in all our humanity and can relate to our pain when we have been slandered, gossiped against, misrepresented and betrayed. He has been there, walked that road, yet he did not sin! I have asked him many times how emotionally he bore up under it. Thankfully we have His word to lead, guide, correct, and train us in righteousness and as we actively wait we can anticipate much fruit to come from it. For those of you who have ever gone through it I think the hardest part is watching the pain in our kids, thankfully God has done much work in their hearts through it all and someday we will look back and praise him for all He did behind the scenes when it didn't seem like there was any movement on His part at all.

The division left our church in a financial crisis and an identity crossroads. We were originally a part of the Evangelical Free Church of America where Eric has grown up in most of his life and ministered in his whole ministry career. Through the prompting of people within our church (outside of ourselves, even though it had crossed our minds a time or two) to reconsider our association with the EFCA (they witnessed how conflict was dealt with and shared the same concerns we did) we did end up voting unanimously to officially not join.(We were still in plant status and had to make a decision to join or not join since we were a 7 year old church.) Based on several meetings and discussions with the leadership of the EFCA over the course of several previous years, and seeing where we could not violate our own conscience (I will share more on this in other posts) on what we believe ministry is, the church is, leadership is and so on, we chose to associate with another association that is more like minded, FIRE (Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals). Don't worry it is not like it sounds, its normal and you can go to their website and see!! We also have had to view this season in Lifespring's history as a restart of sorts. Financially we did not have enough to sustain us long term and through the counsel of many other pastors we decided to fundraise as if we were just starting out. Eric sent out a fundraising letter last month and we are trusting the Lord to provide in whatever way He chooses through that. By the way, this is not a hint, hint, just an update!

Now that I have shared some of the more painful experiences we have walked through recently in ministry, I will share some times that have made our hearts glad and encouraged us in dark times to keep going even when it seems like the road is too hard and too long.

We have had the pastor of Jubilee Fellowship in the cities come up, preach, and help to install our 3rd Elder. This Elder came from Jubilee church in Minneapolis as well as Bethlehem Bible College and Seminary. I am going to name drop here only because it will hopefully give a little context as to why this was so encouraging for our little church in rural Minnesota. If any of you recognize the name John Piper that is who The Jubilee pastor ministered under and with as a youth Pastor as well as John Piper being the one who Started the college and seminary. All that to say to have someone up in our neck of the woods who was like minded was such an uplifting and hopeful grace for us. (Not to be negative Nelly, but rural church planting is a whole different ball game when it comes to ministry and the challenges are much different than suburban or inner city missions. I am not saying they are harder, they are just different. One of differences being you generally don't have people moving in and out up here as often and usually not someone who has been trained in a seminary for the purpose of ministry like this Elder was..but more on this in a different post).  Through the course of very much "aloneness" for many years at our church, Eric found a group of older men and men his age who are involved in ministry and have been for over 30 plus years. They all live and minister a couple hours from each other but drive and meet in the middle often. This group has grown so much they have their own name and have had a conference as well as one in the making. We have combined Sunday night services once a quarter with their churches, and they have been a huge support and encouragement to Eric and our church. One of them is a biblical counselor who has walked with our church through the healing process after this painful season. We have had Elder training from a well known organization called 9 marks. We have had the privilege to host some funerals and minister to hurting families. Lord willing we will be paying off the church building next month. We have had to press into scripture, grow in discernment, and allow our own hearts to grow in faith, hope and love. All great things we can attribute only to God and his grace in our lives.

Whew, I think that is all I will write for now. For those of you who are still reading anyway,thanks for hanging in there. Here are some most recent pictures of our family.

Love,
Miriam

Type 1 Dibetes diagnosis

Hi Everyone,

So, I held true to my word and am posting this with much less time in between my last few posts.  I thought it would be helpful for our family and friends to hear from us an update on Gracie, our new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, and how life is changing.

Here are some pieces of information we are learning so far. First, I had no idea what to expect with a diagnosis of this sort. We were completely thrown for a loop when this happened. Second, in our immediate family or extended we have no one who has this diagnosis. I had no fear that I had stayed up late in the night googling related to "this" and the symptoms we were experiencing. Most of which are only in hind sight that we can see them. I had no previous experience with "this" in any way shape or form and I certainly had not gone through this myself. To say that we were unprepared in the understanding of diabetes is accurate.

I have noticed however a lot of hype, and rightfully so, about diabetes in recent years. I have seen it on magazine covers, pamphlets at the doctors office and numerous advertisements on the web. Much of what I read or noticed, unknown to me, was related to type 2 diabetes. Not type 1. They are two different ball games. From what we are finding out there are some similarities, and some differences.

Here is some of what we have learned.

Type 1 is an autoimmune disease. Basically her pancreas stopped producing insulin. Gracie will be checked on a regular basis for any other autoimmune diseases that are related and tend to be more likely in children with a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. We will have 3 month checks  through out her adolescent years for her to be monitored by her pediatric endocrinologist down at St. Paul Children's hospital, or any other children's hospital that we live near in the future. Our medical facility here in our community has a great diabetes team, but they only fill in when needed for juvenile cases instead of being their primary diabetes care team. We have participated in their support groups and that has been very helpful.

Insulin is necessary and is considered by some, not all, in the medical field to be a form of life support. I say that somewhat loosely as Eric reminded me that we would have to really define the term life support. But in terms of if Gracie does not get her insulin and in the right doses, yes, she could lose her life. This will be a life long disease that we are now in the midst of hopefully training her how to take good care of monitoring, treating, and being ever vigilant to making sure she is diligent on her blood glucose checks. Yes, being a helicopter parent to Gracie as a  type 1 diabetic is ok as her life is dependent on it. We had a grim reminder of this as we were having a garage sale the other day and a lady came and started sharing with us that she was a recent widow to a man who died from complications related to diabetes. She let us know that he did not manage it well and after loosing some limbs, he then lost his life. As much as we only want to focus on the positive things in life, this is a reality for Gracie.

Type 1 is a daily, vacation free, lifelong way of living with consequences if not managed well. We do many glucose checks through out the day, especially now as we are so soon into the diagnoses. If Gracie's levels get to high for a prolonged period of time she could head back in to Diabetic Ketoacidoses, we never want to go through that again and I posted about that in my last post so I won't go into detail here. If her levels get too low with out being brought correction in a sufficient amount of time she could also head into hypoglycemia. Both could either brain damaging or deadly. Gracie gets at least 5 shots a day, sometimes more. We are constantly doing corrections up or down, depending on where her levels are. I think in some ways this won't seem so time consuming in the future. However, in some ways it will always take more time than ever before to eat a meal, consider a snack, and find the right kind of correction to either correct high blood sugar or low blood sugar.

Type 1 is not caused by anything Gracie specifically did, nor is it curable. Gracie wasn't eating too much sweets or not active enough. That is related to type 2 diabetes which, like I said, is similar in some respects but very different in others. Type 2 is the more common type that we are hearing more about in recent days. Diabetes, both types, have been around for years. But until within the last 80 years there was nothing to manage it. If someone was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes it was a death sentence. Much like some cancers in children nowadays, they were given anywhere from 3 months to two years to live. We have come a long way in our medical technology and as Gracie's Mom, I am so grateful. As much as there are certain parts of the medical world that are easy to rag on I count my blessing that we are not writing to you counting down the days. We are writing this very hopeful that with proper knowledge and training Gracie will live a full and active life, serving the Lord and others.

From what we have heard the hardest part is yet to come. The medical personnel that we have been working with all have agreed (so far) that the teenage years are the hardest. Teen years are hard for any teenager, but add on top of it something like diabetes (or any other chronic condition for that matter) and it adds a whole new dynamic. As different preferences and a stronger independence becomes Gracie's way of life while she is figuring out who she is, what she wants in life, and that others' opinions really matter (even though as an adult we know we have to mortify this fear of man), we can only hope that early on in this diagnosis we have instilled in her how to take proper care of herself as a diabetic. She has already experienced a little of the opinions of others and the misunderstandings of how this can put a new spin on life. She has been told by some of her peers, one being a sibling, that they won't share something with her because they "don't want to catch diabetes". Gracie being Gracie seemed to take this in stride and it did not seem to affect her. Hopefully she will stay innocent in this arena a lot longer! By the way I don't at all blame the ones who said this either. I do not believe for a second it was done maliciously, just ignorantly.

I hope this helps as far as information goes. I am sure over the next few years we will learn much more and maybe have some clarifications of things that we have believed wrongly in this. As far as how Gracie is doing, she is doing really well. Her cheeks are filling out as she had been losing weight before being diagnosed. She is transitioning to her shots, not the stomach ones yet, but she will get there. Her evening butt shots, as her brothers love to giggle about and try to pry the door open to watch, are still her least favorite. She has narrowed down the time it takes to get this done from about a half hour to maybe 10 minutes time! Yay for Mom and Dad as this is the hardest time for us to be patient and understanding when at this point in the day all we want is for the kids to go to bed so we can relax!

Here are some pictures beautiful Gracie before and after. This first one is of her when she was first brought in and being loaded into the ambulance to head down to the St. Paul Children's.

 Here she is in the PICU starting to turn the corner.

 Here she is after receiving her first dose of insulin, looking a little better already. The picture above and this one are out of order in terms of when they took place, sorry.

 Here is Gracie in the PICU after she had gotten out of the "red" and was heading into the clear. She was only allowed to eat ice chips for two days, and that only after the second day in there. She was very excited!

 Here is a recent picture of Gracie and Rufus. Rufus is a bear that is given to juvenile diabetic patients for comfort and learning how to care for diabetes. He has designated shot spots, including in his rear, for Gracie to use old syringes and practice on.

I hope this was helpful.

Love,
Miriam