Merry Musings

How We Met

2011-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends - When we were first married, we wrote up our whole Courtship story. It's more like a book than a blogpost, but I thought we should add it here. I had some online friends who were writing up their stories recently, and thought I'd direct them here rather than try to rewrite one. It is funny, because in re-reading what we have written, I can see that we were young and our writing has evolved a bit. If we were writing it now, I think we'd be a little more candid, and less flowery, but here it is. Enjoy!

Our Story
Todd & Molly Merry

Before you begin reading this story, we want to make it clear that though it sounds "perfect" it took place in two very "imperfect" people. God worked in a very specific way as He drew us together. God will not always work this way! He is an interactive God who initiates to us as individuals. We are grateful for the work He has done and the opportunity to record it and share it with you. We pray for the people, especially the singles who read this.

It would be best to say that this story really began in the “Plan of Ages”. We are confident that nothing has taken place without the hand of God, and we believe this to be true for all couples united under the name of Jesus Christ.

Todd: I learned at an early age the important role that a man plays in a family. My parents divorced when I was six, my little sister and

I lived with our Mom and had a good relationship with our Dad.
This gave me a good opportunity to grow up quickly; I was eager to carry out the duties of a man around the house. I also became excited to one day lead a family, presenting a holy bride before God, leading children by example to be people who are passionate for God and His Truth.

Our story starts in the summer of 1997 on a retreat at Orcas Island. A friend of mine and I had planned this for the post-grads in our church. This was the first time I had really ever met Molly. During the second day, we were all out on the lake, paddling around on inflatable rafts. It was a bright, sunny day, great for boating. We had about five of us in our raft, one of whom was Molly. Spending the day with five people in close proximity out the in middle of a lake allows you to learn more about each other. We didn’t really talk deep about anything in our little group, but I could tell that Molly was different from some of the other ladies I knew. I immediately had a high respect for her because I could tell that she guarded her heart. Not only did I think she was cute, but she was also very chaste and maintained a respect among all of our group. I could also tell that she was very fun-loving and had an excitement for people and the joys of living a life for God. I was very attracted to her spirit and though I knew I could not pursue a relationship, I really thought a lot of her. I knew that whoever would win her heart would have to work hard for it, she would not hand it out. She was “hard-to-get” and that attracted me to her all the more.

Molly: I too enjoyed that campout when I first got acquainted. While we were there we visited Mt. Constitution, which incidentally, is one of the two places (that's another story) that my dad proposed to my mom.

I knew Todd only by sight before the campout, but during that weekend, Todd stood out to me as a real leader who wanted to follow the Lord. While we were there, we went boating and there were only a couple of boats left with room in them. I was feeling tired and didn't want to row, so I chose the guys' boat that Todd happened to be in, and we really did have a fun afternoon. Initially, in evaluating that weekend, I was attracted to Todd, and thought he was a nice guy, but didn't once think that he was a potential partner. I'd had attractions before, and this was just another attraction that I needed to give to the Lord. There was someone else that I really believed that I was going to marry anyway at the time.

Todd: Even though I had a strong attraction for Molly, I knew that I could not carry out any commitment. At the time, I had just graduated from UW, working full time for an electrical contractor, volunteering for the local Fire Department and considering seminary as well. Needless to say, there was plenty to do and considering a permanent relationship was not the first thing on the list. I still thought of Molly off and on, but I really didn’t see her that often.

In November of 1997, I really felt prompted to write down a list of items I would be looking for in a wife. I knew that it was certainly not the time, but I was aware of how easily I could be moved by emotions and justify weaknesses in a lady that I know were important. We can all be carried away in the excitement of a relationship and disqualify characteristics that would not be God’s best. I wrote down six specific items that I felt were necessary. I had no one in mind when I wrote the list. It was written more as a wish list than anything. These were things I knew would be good, but I was also saying to myself “nobody could fulfill all of these”.

In the spring of 1998, we had a softball game for a friend’s birthday party. I saw Molly there for the first time in a long time. Just seeing her again, reminded me of the lady I knew she was. It seemed to stir that attraction again, and I began giving her some more thought. Later that spring, I was taking the physical portion of a hiring test for Everett Fire Dept. During one part of the test, you need to carry a bundle of hose to the top of a 7-story tower and back down in 72 seconds. I tried over and over in the practice sessions, but couldn’t get below 72-seconds. On the final test, I thought “I’ll just pretend Molly’s at the top”. With her in mind, I ran the fastest I ever did and came well within the time I needed!

Molly: I didn't see Todd a whole lot during the next few months. He is a diligent man and was working 50 hours a week plus volunteering at night at the fire department at that time, and didn't have a whole lot of time for social events. In March of the following year, we both were attending a birthday party for our friend Johnny Luraghi and had a great time playing softball. I played catcher, he played pitcher and I kept a running stream of chatter going. We enjoyed the banter and I came home and wrote in my diary that it was a good thing that he didn't do a whole lot of social things and I wasn't around him a lot, because I'd be head over heels if I wasn’t careful.

Throughout '98 God gave us more opportunities to get to know each other, although I didn't see His purposes right away. There were several ministry projects through our church that we worked on together, some of which he led, and I was able to observe how he works and also his love for people. His spiritual gift is serving, and mine is organizing, and I could see how he really cared about the people we were ministering to, rather than just wanting to get the job done. I was impressed with how he went about leading our group.

Todd: Later that summer, we had the post-grad retreat again, this time at Cape Lookout in Oregon. We had all rented scooters and were cruising around out on the beach. One of the guys had a scooter that wasn’t running all that great; in fact it stalled out on the beach. We all tried starting it for about 10 minutes, but nothing happened. I remember when Molly suggested our group pray that the scooter would start. This impressed me because I saw how she reacted when she was faced with a problem or difficult situation. I was even more impressed when the scooter started right after she finished praying! I thought to myself “This lady has got a close link to God”.

Molly: I too enjoyed the post-grad campout that year, but I came home realizing that this wasn't just a little crush, this was a bigger thing that I needed to deal with. I spent a lot of time crying, talking to my Dad - the Lord - and also my Mom. As I said before, there was someone else that I believed was God's will for me to marry. I was not attracted to this person, I just thought I was going to marry him, and I believed that if that was God's will, He would give me an attraction for this person when the time came. It seems silly when you think about it, but I know that God used it as a protection for me. Because of this belief however, I worked hard to "flee" youthful lusts and avoid Todd, and keep my heart guarded. Also, at this time, I didn't know Todd as well as I do now, and I had some wrong impressions of him, as far as his commitment to the Lord and His ways. I knew that he loved the Lord, but I didn’t see his true character as I know it to be now.

Todd: Not much had been changing in my life. I was still working full time, still trying to get a permanent job with the Fire Dept. I knew that the possibility of a long-term relationship was still out of the question.

Later in 1998, we started a small ensemble that my sister and I had joined. Molly was in the group as well and it gave me more of an opportunity to see her with others. We would sometimes talk, but nothing deep. Still I enjoyed being around her and looked forward to seeing her.

It was sometime in the early spring of 1999 that there was a misunderstanding between Molly and I (or her family and I) that caused me to really do my best to avoid her. It was nothing intentional, but I interpreted it as Molly wishing me to not have a friendship. I was sure that she wanted nothing to do with me and would prefer not to see me ever again. I was still very attracted to her, but I also had a strong respect for her. Granted, this was circumstance only and I really didn’t have a specific word from the Lord, yet I really wanted to honor what I thought her wishes were. I wanted to maintain her good reputation, so I did all I could to not talk to her. I assumed this to be the end of the friendship and figured I would have to get over the attraction.

Molly: The miscommunication that Todd spoke of was a definite death of a vision. There was a lot of crying and pain, and Todd completely withdrew from me, believing that I was not who he thought I was, and that I was not interested in him at all. At this time, all hope was completely gone, and I saw it as a confirmation that Todd was most definitely not God's will for me. I felt as if I hadn't guarded my heart. Now I can see that God was using circumstances to draw my heart closer to Todd's, but allowing me to be purified by pain. God gave me lots of good scripture throughout the year, including Deuteronomy 6 and Deuteronomy 30, which speak of "loving the Lord your God and holding fast to Him." God was teaching me to look to Him alone. I memorized both of these chapters during the year.

He also used this as a time for Todd's sister Jill and I to become friends. We began to talk more, and although our personalities are different outwardly, we were continually amazed to find out how much we were alike inwardly, in thought and feeling. God really allowed both of us to open up to one another. At this time, I shared with her my struggles with a "certain guy" but I never told her who it was. She and Todd are very close, and I didn't want her to have to keep anything from her brother.

Todd: There were a lot of other changes as well. I had found the perfect house I had been looking for, only 4 blocks away from my Mom. Two weeks after the sale closed, I was offered employment with Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety. I spent two months in the fire academy and had little time for anything else. I was so excited with all that was going on. Having a house and permanent job were things I knew I wanted before I could consider a relationship.

In the fall of 1999, I began to see more of Molly at different events. She and my sister, Jill had become best friends and I would often ask her different things about Molly. There was so much I wanted to know about her, but thought it best to find out from someone besides Molly. I continued to assume that Molly preferred us to stay only on an acquaintance level, so I tried never to give her the impression that I wanted to know more about her.

Molly: Although I wrote in my journal several times throughout the year that "God is bringing closure on this whole Todd deal", I began in the fall to, wonder for the first time if he might truly be a possibility for the future. As I said before, there was someone else who I really believed that I was going to marry at the time, but I kept wondering. God also began to show me that some of my perceptions of Todd were through my own prideful eyes and were very wrong. Also through Jill, He began to show me, Todd was a modest person, and the qualities that he had were not showy. Jill had lived with Todd for 24 years, and she thought of him as the kindest, wisest most godly brother in the world. I respected Jill a lot, and as she would tell me more about who he really was, and the good things he did that no one knew about, my respect for him grew. I was careful not to bring him up to her, because I really wanted the Lord's will and I didn't want to do anything that would involve me bringing something about. Still at this time, I believed that he was not for me, and I was not for him.

Todd: Well, I was thinking quite a bit of Molly at the time now. I continued to quiz Jill about Molly, remembering every detail I could get. Molly had been practicing for a play with the Seattle Performing Arts Fellowship and a group of us all planned to attend the Opening Night. Molly played Mrs. Beaver in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. She did very well and I could tell she enjoyed the acting, singing and dancing. I also remember being very jealous of Mr. Beaver.

I had begun making Molly a regular part of my prayer time. I was daily asking God for any signs or confirmations. I was eager to know what He had in mind, and I avoided any opportunity to manipulate the situation. At one point, I pulled out that list of six specific traits I was looking for in a wife. I had not read the list in two years and I still remember being amazed at how Molly fulfilled each of these. She did not just "kind of" meet them, she excelled in each one. I showed the list to Jill and asked if she thought Molly fit in this description. She responded with "This is Molly!"

A month later, we all went to a friend's house on Camano Island for a formal Christmas party. I was proud to escort my sister to the event. Toward the end, Jill, Molly, and I had been sitting, talking about something. Jill, knowing I craved every opportunity to talk with Molly, got up and joined another conversation. That left only Molly and I! We talked about the raising of children and other family matters. I was so excited for the opportunity to talk to her! I was very impressed by the answers she would give to my questions. It was like she had just spent the day studying that topic and knew everything there was. Her words were not just empty answers, but very thought out explanations. Just when I was enjoying the conversation most, she got up and joined another. I was disappointed to say the least and wondered what I had done wrong. She was not rude, she was just trying to keep the situation above reproach from others.

Molly: I really enjoyed myself at that Christmas party. I generally tried to be careful not to spend great lengths of time talking to any guy, because I wanted to be cautious in guarding my heart. However, that evening, I spent a little longer than I normally do talking with Todd, and shared quite a bit with him. I loved talking with him, but as he said, I did leave because I didn’t want to say too much.

The morning after, I kind of had a talk with God. Or I guess you could say God had a talk with me. I'd been a little friendlier to Todd than I'd been in the past. Generally, I work on being what would be called, "an ice princess." toward Todd. To me, this means that you are kind and polite to a guy, but not warm or overly friendly. I found myself choosing to be less of an ice princess to Todd, yet I didn't feel guilty and I didn't understand why. So in my morning devotions the next day, I asked God to show me if I needed to go back to being an "ice princess" or continue on with what I was doing. I didn't want to be cool toward him, and I knew that I'd done it many times before and it hurt him.

I was reading in Deuteronomy, and I read chapters twenty eight and twenty nine, which talk a lot about not serving other gods but holding fast to the Lord. They talk about loving the Lord, and choosing to do right and it will go well with you - and your little ones. It seemed to be pretty clear to me, that God desired for me to go back to being an "ice princess" with Todd. The verses about "little ones" made me think about my future family and made me realize that I must be obedient to God. I felt like crying and I didn't want to, because I didn't want to hurt Todd and I liked him so much. However, I asked God to change my heart as I read, and to make me willing to be obedient to him. By the end of chapter 29, the Lord had allowed my heart to be changed and I told Him I was willing.

I had a few more minutes in my devotional time. I told the Lord, that I understood that I needed to be obedient to Him no matter what, but I asked Him if He would give me a promise, for my future and my family, that it was going to be all right. I told Him even if He didn't give me one, I would trust Him, but that I would like one. The next chapter I read was Deuteronomy 30. I hadn't realized at the time I was reading, that God had brought me to the exact chapter that He'd used throughout the year, to cause me to turn my heart toward Himself. There are so many good promises in this chapter. It talks about the Lord restoring me, and gathering me back. It says how - if we obey he will "prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body.... and the Lord will rejoice over you for good". It tells how He will "bring you into the land which your fathers possessed and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers." What wonderful promises about my future family! Once more I said, 'But Lord - this just seems too hard for me to do." The very next verse I read was "This commandment, which I command you today, is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach." Talk about a clear message from the Lord! He really was making Himself clear to me, and I knew I must trust Him and obey and be an "ice princess" again.

In retrospect, as I look back on this time, I can see that the Lord was using this time as an Abraham/Isaac type picture. I needed to give Todd to the Lord once again, and trust Him completely. During the next two weeks, I emotionally psyched myself up to be cool to Todd and to be an "ice princess". The Lord didn't even give me a chance to do this however because I barely even saw Todd.

Todd: Later that month, a friend of ours had a New Year's Eve party at his house. Molly was there and we all had a great discussion on what God had given us as visions in our lives. I was so impressed at how Molly's and my vision was so much alike. They both focused on ministering to other families, using the family as a ministry and showing others the attractiveness of the Gospel. It seemed that God continued to confirm the fact that this was His lady that He had been preparing. I so much wanted to be His man for her.

Molly: The New Year’s Eve party had made a great impression on me. All week I was worried about how I was going to act and what I was going to do. God had a surprise for me, however. That morning, as I was doing my normal devotions, I happened to be reading the book of Ruth. The Lord really opened my eyes to some things in this book. One of the reasons that I did not feel that Todd was the right one was because I felt like he was showing me attention before making any intentions known. As I read the book of Ruth, the Lord seemed to show me how Boaz was kind to Ruth, over and over, and Ruth responded to Boaz's kindness. She did not shrink away or reject him when he was kind. She was under Naomi's authority and saw herself as a servant - yet she responded to him when he was kind. Boaz had not revealed any intentions toward Ruth - he was simply kind. Todd is one of the kindest people that I know and has always been so kind to me. It was hard for me to believe that God might be leading me to respond to him, and I asked Him if this was His will for me.

I finished the book of Ruth and had a few minutes left. I read the first chapter of I Samuel, which is about Hannah, crying out to the Lord for a son. It would appear to be that it was God's will for Hannah not to have a son. She was barren and it would seem like that was that. However, Hannah, in her pain and longing, cried out to God anyway, and He answered her and granted her the request. There had been many times in the past year, when I'd cried so hard and timidly would pray to the Lord, "I know Todd is probably not your will for me, but if there is any possible way Lord...... - Yet I want your will." As I saw that analogy, I really wondered at what the Lord might be saying. I spent quite a bit of time talking with Mom that morning and asking her if she thought this was from the Lord - that I was supposed to respond to Todd. She believed that it was of the Lord and encouraged me to do this.

That night at the New Year's eve party, the Lord allowed me to respond and Todd and I got to spend quite a bit of time talking. Since this was a totally new thing to me, I know that I didn't do everything right - and when he offered to follow me home because it was so late - I said no - twice! Obviously I didn't do as well as I could have, but God still used it.

Over the next few weeks I saw Todd at different events and was able to talk with him some. In my devotions I kept going back and forth and asking God if I was deceived and if this truly was His will for me to respond to Todd. Was I right in doing this and was it really His voice? He just seemed to be saying to me to be led by His Sprit and trust Him. I talked with my Mom a lot about it as well.

Todd: In January, we had a bunko night at a friend's house. As most of you know, Molly is a very fun-loving person, she is often the life of the party. I on the other hand prefer one-on-one conversation. I enjoy talking deep with people and often wish to cut to the real heart of the matter. After our Bunko game, several of us were having a great conversation on the role of a father in I Timothy. I saw Molly out of the corner of my eye keeping the crowds laughing. She looked so cute and I couldn't just go over and initiate a conversation without others thinking something about it. So after our conversation was over and Molly was just entertaining a few, I went over and sat on the floor beside the couch she was on. We talked for about an hour, and I learned a lot more of her. I asked her about her Dad and what she admired the most about him. We talked some about the personalities in each other's families and how they are all needed for balance. It was a late night, but I enjoyed every word of our conversation.

Molly: I too thoroughly enjoyed the conversation with Todd. I knew Todd would be at the party and had asked the Lord that week how I was supposed to act, and searched the Scripture. He seemed to be saying to me to not decide ahead of time how to act, but to be led by His Spirit. We had a good time playing Bunko that evening. Todd is a fireman, and is very responsible and I knew he had to work the next morning. I'd noticed that he would generally leave parties at 10:30 if he had to work. At 9:30, we finished Bunko and I thought to myself "he has one hour to come over and talk to me. We'll see what happens." He was sitting with a few others when the game ended and during the next hour I was talking to other friends'. I tried to be patient but the hour passed and he continued talking with others. At 10:30 he got up and I thought, "Sure enough... he's leaving." But then to my surprise, he came over and sat down on the floor beside the couch where I was sitting. He began to ask me questions, and we started talking ... and he didn't go home until midnight.

Needless to say, the Lord did a lot in my heart that evening. As we talked, Todd asked me questions about my life, and the Lord really allowed me to open up to Todd, in a way that I hadn't done before. I tend to be pretty guarded about getting too personal with guys, and am very careful not to talk too deeply. However, this evening, the Lord seemed to direct me to open up to him and also he to me. We talked about many things including our families, our goals for our lives and beliefs.

Near the end of the evening, we were talking about Scriptures that had been meaningful in our lives. I was telling about how the Lord had been teaching me to be led by His Spirit - without getting into too much detail. I shared a few Scriptures and then Todd asked me... "Do you like Deuteronomy 30 by any chance?" My brain was muddled, but after I thought a minute I responded that I did like it. Todd started to tell me how much it meant to him, and how the Lord had really used that specific chapter in his life. He said that it is one of his favorite passages of scripture. He began to quote certain parts of it to me right there. He had memorized it a few years ago, and it had been the easiest chapter for him to memorize.

To say that I was overwhelmed and awed at the Lord is an understatement. I had been struggling with asking God if this was His will and here He was making it so clear that I was doing right. Not only did he show me that Todd seemed to be interested in me as a person, He also used to confirm it - the very chapter that He had given me as a promise of my future family. I didn't tell Todd this at the time of course, but just told him that I liked that chapter. My heart was full however, and I was totally amazed by the Lord.

Todd: I was pretty surprised that Molly knew a little about Dueteronomy 30 (although I didn’t know how much it meant to her!). This has been a favorite passage of mine for quite some time now and I remember how easy it was to memorize because I liked it so much. God is speaking to Israel, telling them that now and in the future they have set before them life and death, blessings and curses. This is true for all of us even here and now. Not only with big decisions such as marriage, but even the daily decisions can lead to blessings or curses. The Lord goes onto encourage them to choose life, “for the Lord your God is your life and He will give you many years in the land you are entering to possess.” The end is my favorite, when He says “Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life.” - WOW!!

Molly: I came home that night, and told Mom what had happened. She was excited too, but cautious, because she didn't want me to get my hopes up too soon. She said to rejoice in what was happening though, and that she was happy for me. Needless to say I did not get much sleep that night. I tossed and turned, but I was happy to be awake and so grateful to the Lord.

He wasn't finished with surprises however. The next morning we received a phone call from a woman who was an old family friend. We hadn't heard from her for years, and at the time of my Dad's death, she had had a dream before he died, about him being in heaven and how happy and joyful he was. When I answered the phone she told me who she was and then asked if anything unusual was happening at our house. I was still rather an emotional basket case, so I said she could talk to my Mom. It turned out that she felt the Lord prompting her several times this week to call us. She said that she felt like he was prompting, but then pushed it away. She told Mom, "I don't know why, but I was wondering if one of your girls is getting married or something. He seemed to be prompting me to offer my services, because I have been a wedding consultant and I'd love to help make a wedding dress or do whatever you would like with regard to a wedding." Mom told her that no one was getting married but.... and then went on to explain to her what the Lord had done last night.

Once again, to say that I was pretty overwhelmed is an understatement. I paced the house crying and talking to God quite a bit. To think that His will was turning out to be something that I'd wished for for so long just amazed me. I felt humbled and shamefaced. So often His will seems like it is hard and sacrificial on our part - but to see that His plans are for our good and joy in this way was amazing.

Todd: It was about this time that I took my Mom out for lunch, telling her about Molly and how I really needed her to pray and consider her as a future wife for me. I remember my Mom saying “I’ve always liked Molly”. She was objectively supportive from the beginning and often gave me good advice.

The Bible says that God is a Father to the fatherless. I really believe that, God through His prompting confided and challenged me in preparation for a lifetime relationship with Molly. I continued to seek Him and He continued to show me areas I needed to be stronger or areas where I needed to compliment Molly. I began to realize the importance of what may be lying ahead. It would mean that I could find myself being a spiritual leader for another. If I slacked off spiritually before, I affected primarily myself. Now, if I were to falter, there would be another who would take the same step I would. The responsibility of leading her, made me so excited, yet very aware of the consequences of failure.

Molly: The next four months were a time of waiting and praying and intense lessons from the Lord. I believed from His confirmations to me, that most likely Todd and I would end up together, but nothing was certain, I had no assurance from Todd. The Lord also showed me at this time, that if He chose to not allow us to be together, that would be His prerogative, and that I must trust His sovereignty. He allowed me to die to the vision several times and to realize that everything must be left in His Hands and that I was not allowed to manipulate any circumstances.

Molly: Shortly after this, the Lord seemed to lead me to share with Jill about what he was doing in my heart. As I said, before this time I'd told Jill about "this guy" I liked, but I didn't want to tell her because I didn't want her to have to have the burden of keeping something from Todd. However, Jill and I were becoming so close, and it just seemed to be the Lord’s timing and so I met her at a nearby restaurant, and told her, through many tears what God had been doing in my heart. She responded so beautifully, and cried also, and said that Todd is a pretty wonderful guy, and she's known that someday he would probably marry, but she said, "I'm glad it is you that likes him." She was so sweet to me, and assured me that she would not tell him, but would let God work however He wished. She helped me so much throughout the next few months.

What I did not know at that time, was that Todd had already talked to Jill about his thoughts of me. He was really praying about me and asking the Lord if I might be the one for him to marry. Jill kept our secret from one another for the full four months, and told no one but the Lord. She was a confidante to both of us, and encouraged us both as we were struggling to look to the Lord. She has some very funny stories and said that the Lord has a real sense of humor. She remembered one day in particular, when I was crying and just saying "Jill, I'm struggling so much to give my heart to the Lord and to wait." She was trying to comfort me. Meanwhile, that same day Todd was saying to Jill, "This is so hard." He had such strong feelings and was not able to express them to me because of the timing. Jill amazed me at her strength and kindness to both of us. She wanted the Lord’s will for us as much as we did and demonstrated true sacrificial friendship and love to us.

My sister Anna was an encouragement as well. She had always liked Todd, and even in the years when I believed that this other person was the one for me, she always wanted me to choose Todd. She invited several of the kids our age from our church over and did a beautiful dinner for all of us as well. It was from this, that Todd noticed a light fixture in our house that needed some attention and offered to fix it. He and his dad ended up putting in a new back door in our kitchen as well.

Todd: One Sunday, Molly's sister Anna had invited a group of us over for a wonderful dinner she had made. At the time, I was struggling in knowing how much attention to give Molly and her family. I always took advantage of an opportunity to be with them, but I avoided Molly in any type of one-on-one communication. That afternoon, I noticed that the light in their kitchen had broken and I offered to replace it at a later date. My motive was to restore any hurt feelings I may have caused and in a sense to say "Maybe I assumed too much before, can we just be friends?" I know also that in a way I hoped Molly might have a better perspective of me if I help their family out in this way.

I came back later that week and replaced the fixture. Molly had been at work and came home just as I was cleaning up. I still remember seeing her walk up to the porch and thinking "Do I say something to her? Do I acknowledge her? Do I totally ignore her?" I was a mess. As it ended up, I did ask her about her day at work with her family in the kitchen. We all had a casual, but short conversation before I left. Before leaving I offered my Dad and I to come and replace their back door. I hoped this would be another opportunity to somehow impress Molly and her family.

I continued to avoid Molly as much as possible, but if we were able to have a group conversation with others, I took advantage of it. I tried to avoid any one-on-one contact with her around others, because I didn't want her reputation to be questioned by anyone. I did pretty well at this until one Sunday, when we had a group get-together at a friend's house after evening service. I was sitting on the floor, Molly on the couch nearby. We had been talking as a group and somehow, Molly and I began having our own conversation. We talked a lot about family, children, the need for spiritual growth while people are young. Our conversation was so good and it seemed that God was confirming so many things to me through our talk. That night, I was so excited having spent almost an hour talking to her. I went home later, writing down in a journal that “there is no question, it is only a matter of time.” I also spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to confirm His decision not through my feelings or emotions, but through His revealing Word.

About a week after this wonderful event, I began having strong headaches on a daily basis. While the doctors could not find what the specific cause was through the tests, I knew that God definitely had His hand and a purpose through it. When you are on the couch all the time, it is easy to look up and pray, which I did quite a bit of. Through that time the Lord gave me a specific scripture in Psalm 27 that was a theme in all the passages He was showing me. In Ps. 27 it says “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek.” It seemed that He was saying “Up to this point, you have been able to following the laws and principles I have given you, you have seen the results of my commands. But from this point forward, you will need to seek My face, you will need to search after me like you have never searched before. You will be driven to your knees in prayer.”

This is a lot like Deuteronomy 11 which is the chapter that God gave us after we became engaged. This is where God is speaking to Israel and He tells them that the land they are crossing the Jordan to enter is not like the land they are leaving. This new land will be full of mountains and valleys, but He will send His rains ahead of them. This rain was a sign of His blessing upon them.

Molly: During this time however, the Lord allowed Todd to go through a time when he began to get very intense headaches. He was in a lot of pain, and was not able to work at all - and was barely even able to get up off the couch. These turned out to be part of a very serious condition called hydroecephalus, which had to do with a build up of fluid on the brain. During these few weeks, the Lord once again, really brought me to a point where I gave Todd totally to him. I cried more those few weeks and the pain of not being able to do anything for Todd was pretty intense. The Lord taught me about prayer for healing, and I cried out like I'd never cried out to the Lord before.

The Lord healed him of these headaches after about three weeks and there was no explanation for their going away. At that time the Lord gave Todd Ps 27 specifically "When Thou didst say, ‘Seek My Face’ my heart said to Thee, Thy Face O Lord, shall I seek." When Todd shared these verses with me via e-mail, I was able to tell him that I had read this Psalm only a couple of days before, and the verse was underlined in my Bible.

Todd: The time of headaches threw off our schedule for my Dad and I to change out their rear door. My Dad of course knew of my interest in Molly, though he had only seen her on occasion. It didn’t take him long to be won over. As you all know, Molly is fun to love. The changing of the door went well and provided some opportunity to see Molly.

Molly: Throughout these months the Lord kept giving us similar passages and confirming to both of us that we were for each other. We never spoke about our future together. Todd tried to be careful of my heart, though he was seeking God about me for him. Though he had been praying since last fall, and liked me even before that, in early March, God seemed to confirm to him with assurance that I was the one to pursue, but he was very cautious. I also tried to guard my heart.

At this time my mother also, began to pray, that the Lord would give her clear direction as well. Even though the Lord had given me assurance from Him that Todd may be in my future, and that this was something I needed to head toward, she also wanted that assurance. She was very pleased with Todd and felt a peace about God's leading in this direction, but she wanted a word from the Lord herself. Shortly after that the Lord gave her Joshua 1, which was about Israel getting ready to enter the promised land. The main thing the Lord seemed to say was that it was her job to enable me to proceed as the Lord was leading. Amazingly enough, this was another chapter that we found out later that Todd had really enjoyed and memorized. My mom was grateful for the Lord's speaking to her as well as to me and wrote out different things she felt like God was teaching her for each verse. He also gave her some verses in Jeremiah 29 about the future peace of Jerusalem and about what she was to do including verse 6, which says "find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage." Both Mom and I were grateful to God for making His will clear to her also.

One Sunday afternoon, I was reading the Word and was underlining different verses in the Kings. This king "set his heart to seek the Lord" that king "did not set his heart to seek the Lord." Several times that afternoon, the Lord brought those verses to my attention and I underlined them. He seemed to be emphasizing to me to "set my heart to seek Him". That evening, several of us went over to Todd's house to watch a Christian comedy video. Afterwards, he told us that he didn't want to take a long time to share, but he did want to say that the Lord seemed to be impressing upon him to tell us to "seek the Lord" and to "set our hearts to seek Him." He talked about it for a little while, and once again, I was amazed at God's timing and His confirmations.

Near the end of the four months, we began to e-mail, and yet, I wanted God’s permission and confirmation before we started up any kind of a correspondence. We’d sent a few short ones back and forth periodically but hadn’t written much. He had e-mailed me in the past, and I’d waited, but then wrote out a long answer, knowing that it might start a correspondence. I didn’t send it, determining to ask the Lord if this was ok for me to do before I sent it. I did feel a peace about it, and when I talked to my Mom, she thought it was fine, but I wanted to double check. I did my devotions that night, and began to read Ps 15. Then I remembered that I wanted to ask God to show me His will as I read. Before I read Ps 45, the next Psalm, I asked Him to show me whether or not it was ok to send it. The first verse of Ps 45 reads, “My heart overflows with a noble theme, as I address my verses to the king, my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” I know that we can read things into Scripture, but I had already felt such a peace about writing, and the Word just seemed to confirm it.

The Lord also showed me how, though my trying to be "ice princess" and guarding my heart over the last few years, Todd was able to show Christ-like love to me. I would push Todd away many times and sometimes literally run away from him, yet he would keep showing kindness to me, and coming back and showing interest in my life. Christ loves us even when we push Him away. He shows attention to us from the moment we are born, yet we do not realize his full intentions for us until the day of salvation. I knew Todd was showing me attention, yet I did not know his full intentions yet.

Todd: Well the time finally came when God made it clear that it was time to ask to court Molly. I approached Mrs. Melquist one evening after Sunday service and asked if I could have coffee with her the next day. I told her I wanted to talk to her about Molly and was eager to meet with her. Oddly enough, the next day was be memorial day and certainly it was a good day to remember. I woke up that morning and felt a total peace for what lay ahead. I really didn’t feel nervous, just excited about the future and what God had ahead.

Molly: That Sunday evening, May 28th, Jill took me and several other girls to Dairy Queen and Todd approached Mom about getting together with her for coffee the next morning. He told her that it was "about Molly”, and he was “looking forward to it." God does have a sense of humor, because that very evening, I was struggling with tears, because Todd hadn't talked with me at all that day. Jill was comforting me, and knowing Todd's intentions, telling me that it was ok. In her head she was saying "believe me and trust me Molly - it's ok!" When I came home and Mom told me that Todd wanted to meet with her, I started crying in earnest - only for a different reason – tears of joy. I stuck my head in my closet facedown and cried. I remember my mom poking me in the rear with her foot and telling me, “Get up – you have to tell me what to say!”

Todd: Mrs. Melquist and I ended up talking for about two hours. I made it clear at the beginning what my intentions were by asking her for permission to win Molly’s heart through courtship. I told her of all that God had been laying on my heart and how He had led me to this point. Keep in mind that at this point I really did not have much of a clue of what Molly thought of me. I had hoped that she would be interested in starting a relationship, but really there was nothing to guarantee it. Even though Jill knew much more than I thought, she never relayed to me what Molly had confided to her. Jill was very wise for doing this and I know it was difficult for her at times to not share the feelings of the other. I am proud of her for her wise decision.

Todd: Going into this with no real clue as to what Molly was thinking, I was really surprised at Mrs. Melquist’s eager response. In fact it was during the conversation that she told me that Molly had been hoping for this for a long time! I was of course excited and ecstatic that her response was so good. Even at that time it was hard for me to understand how much thought Molly had given this, so I told Mrs. Melquist to talk it over with her family, spend time praying and make sure this is really what they wanted.

Well three hours later I got a call from Mrs. Melquist, saying that their family had given their blessing for the courtship! We had scheduled the following night for our families to get together and talk over all that had gone on during these past few years. It was a wonderful night recounting all that had gone on, all the times when both Molly and I had been wanting to see more of the other. God is so good!

Molly: It was so exciting to meet with Todd and his family and to find out his side of the story as well. I was amazed Todd had noticed me, and was quite attracted to me as well, on that very first boat ride. Although he had no intentions toward me at that time, he wanted to get to know me better. He thought about me quite a bit in '98 and was interested, but didn't feel definite leading of the Lord. The Lord really started working on his heart in the fall of '99 and he began seeking in earnest to find out if I was truly in His will.

Both of us were quite surprised at the love that the Lord had already placed in the others' heart. I was hoping that Todd was interested in me, but I had no idea that he had been interested for so long. As for Todd, he was quite surprised by my response to him. He thought that I might take a long time to pray about it and give him an answer. He was going into this courtship, with a determination to prove to my Mom and me that this was the Lord's will for us. He thought it was going to take a lot of time and a lot of convincing. He didn't know, that God had already done the convincing! This was a confirmation to me, that the Lord had helped me to guard my heart until the right time. The fact that Todd did not realize that my feelings were what they were, was encouraging to me.

Todd: I also gave Molly something that night to remind us of all that God had done. When God would do a miracle for Israel, such as opening up the Jordan river, He would often have them build something so they could remember His work. He would tell them that when their children ask of it, they are to tell them what it was that God did. It was a stone of remembrance, and Ebenezer. Our Ebenezer that night was a letter written by me to Molly.

Dearest Molly,

It is with much prayer and thought that I write you about a matter that has been on my heart for quite some time. The Lord has shown me that He has and is continuing to prepare you and I for a lifetime relationship of marriage.

Molly, I want you as well to be at peace in mind, will and emotions that this is God’s intention for you and I. Therefore, the first step in initiating this relationship will be the winning of your heart, through love. There is no purer, truer love than that which has been shown to us by God through His son, Jesus Christ. It was with His steadfast, unconditional love that He wooed me and won my heart. So it is with His unconditional love that I model my love for you, that I may woo you and win your heart. Having won your heart, I know I will have the greatest treasure this world holds and will make it my duty, from God, to tend to its cares.

Molly, I am convinced that you deserve a much better man than I, but I am also convinced, that by God’s grace, no man will work harder to keep your heart, than I. Will you give me this opportunity to win your heart?

In His Love,
Todd

Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

Molly: As he read the letter to me, tears came to my eyes. I didn't feel adequate to respond to him, but I was able to tell him that the Lord had already shown me how Todd loved me as Christ loved the church and that I truly did believe that God had given me a love for him.

Another thing that was exciting to me, was at the time in the spring of '99 when I had the death of a vision, as far as Todd went, a friend of mine, Keziah Owens, who I hadn't heard from in months, sent me a quick e-mail. I'd been struggling that week, although she didn’t know it and she wrote me, telling me that she was praying for me and that I was "loved with an everlasting love" and to keep my eyes on Jesus. The fact that Todd loved me even then brought me joy and the fact that he used that verse was an added encouragement.

In the past few months since our courtship began, God has confirmed His will over and over, through friends, through family, through Scripture and through the way He is drawing our hearts together even more. Both of us are amazed at how close the Lord is bringing us to himself and one another so quickly. We are learning more and more about one another - including our imperfections and sins. We are both learning that the other is not perfect. Our story itself is not perfect, and though we’ve shared the exciting things, there were many mistakes made and times when we struggled. However, we know that in our imperfections, we can trust God that He has given us to each other. We have had the opportunity to share our story several times and are so excited about what God is going to do in the future.

On March 10, 2001 Todd and Molly entered the land of marriage. As God promised us before in Deuteronomy 11, there will be mountains and valleys, but He will send His rains ahead. His rain is His blessing. We enjoy His rain, but we desire to share it with others also. We hope you have been blessed by this reading. If you have any questions for us about anything, please feel free to contact us. God Bless!

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-10T14:39:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Merrys!

We hope that you’ve had a beautiful year, but we know that life has its ups and downs and we pray that God has brought you through them with grace and strength. We haven’t written a Christmas letter for a couple of years as last year at this time we were definitely more down than up. Bear with us in the length of this letter as we have two years instead of one to catch you up on - and check out the next six posts to see our pictures from 2010-2011. We are grateful for what God has brought us through and what He has taught us, but we are glad to be in a new season.

In February of 2010 we were blessed with a new little Merry, Lucie Joy. We love her so much and now she is toddling around, copying her big sister and brother and saying new words every day. She is so delightful, makes us smile, and if you see her anytime soon, ask her to do her eyebrow trick as it is very entertaining!

Silas will be 5 in February and is interested in how things work. He is always asking questions and has a very scientific mind. He loves playing instruments and you will find him strumming his guitar, or pounding on his drum set with lots of enthusiasm. He is always asking, “Is this rhythm?” He also loves helping his little sister. He is like his daddy – serving and meeting her needs before she even knows she has them.

Maggie is 7 now and loves school. It is fun to watch her thirst for learning. In September, we joined HIS Ministry Co-op (Classical Christian) and have really enjoyed it. She enjoys her ballet class and is a happy girl, who can make songs out of anything. She is amazing with her little sister; always making her smile.

Over the past couple years, Maggie has been praying that she could be a flower girl in a wedding. One month ago, God answered her prayers, as she and her cousin Mishayla were flower girls in Kevin and Andrea Springer’s wedding. Silas got to be the ring bearer as well. We are so happy for Kevin and Andrea. We loved the wedding, and love the couple even more!

Molly is loving life right now, enjoying having Todd home more, spending lots of time cleaning (who’d have thought with 3 little ones) and having fun spending time with friends, writing, reading, having dinner parties and cyber-stalking her favorite author and speaker Lisa Bevere, all over the internet. Lately she’s been running 3 miles several times a week as well, trying to impress her husband with her discipline…. 

Todd loves his new job at Medic One. He has been able to work on some busy trucks throughout the County, and seen plenty of action. He loves the work and always enjoys helping people when they are at their greatest point of need. Being at Mars Hill has also been a great experience for him. He really appreciates the guys in our Community Group and our times together every Tuesday night. Todd has also been busy with homeschooling the kids. We’ve been so blessed by the co-op we are a part of and it makes learning fun and exciting for the kids.

As a family, we are grateful to be in this season, but we have a story to tell of why we are so grateful to be where we are at.

Late in 2009, God put on Todd’s heart to think about applying with South King County Medic One to be a paramedic. Todd has always enjoyed the medical side of firefighting and after much prayer and counsel he decided to go ahead and take the test. As this is a very coveted job we figured that it was a long shot, and if Todd came out near the top, it would be clear that it was God directing. Well to make a long story short, he tested, interviewed in the spring of 2010 and came out #1 out of 170 applicants! To say that God made it clear was an understatement.

We were very honored and excited, but knew that with this job came 10 crazy months of paramedic training school, with a large initial pay cut. Both of us knew that it would be tough, but we also knew that God had given him this job. We wanted to be obedient, and we knew that on the other side was a great job with super hours, good pay and something that as Molly put, “Todd was made for” as he loves medicine, and serving and helping others in this way.

We knew that it would be tough, but we had no idea what God had in store for us. As soon as Todd began his schooling, Molly began to struggle with a lack of sleep. The issue got worse and worse; the doctor diagnosed it as anxiety. This was definitely a stress on our marriage and family life. The insomnia began to take its toll on Molly, eventually leading to many doctor and naturopath visits as well as counseling sessions. Still nursing, and with 3 little ones at home to take care of, and desperately wanting to be a good support to Todd, the situation seemed to get worse and worse and feel more and more hopeless. Christmas of 2010 was one of the most difficult days of the whole year for us. God was bringing us through a dark time spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Thankfully, although we know that this was hard on us, we really felt God’s hand on our kids at the time. They seemed happy and well adjusted through it all, and we are so grateful for all the grandparents, who helped in numerous ways and were such a great support to us; taking care of the kids, making Todd’s lunches, opening up their homes. Molly had three older women in her life who were especially helpful and supportive through prayers and encouragement as well. We were blessed with friends and a whole community of people who loved us through this hard time.

As spring rolled around things started getting a little bit better. Todd’s hours lightened up a bit, Molly started sleeping a little bit better and we began to feel more hopeful. By summer, with graduation approaching, we were able to look back and see God’s hand in protecting us and keeping us through it all. And this fall has been an amazing time. We felt like we emerged from those 10 months a bit traumatized and shell-shocked, blinking at the light of day and so grateful for what God brought us through.

Molly: God showed me so many things. First of all, this gave us a real compassion and sympathy for those who go through anxiety or depression. I had always thought that when someone was struggling with anxiety, it meant they were worried about something, but I had no idea what medical anxiety is like, and it was different than I thought. There were times when I felt fine emotionally, but physically, my body was doing crazy things and it felt so out of control. Sometimes there are periods of our life when the pain or fear or whatever it may be is so strong that it affects our bodies. It is easy to come up with quick fixes and easy answers. While there are answers out there, there is definitely a process of healing. God has shown us some things about this process and given us a real love and compassion for those who are struggling in this way.

Second, fear is a horrible thing. Scripture tells us over 100 times not to fear. We sometimes rename fear by calling it caution, or discernment, or even responsibility or protection. Personally, I had turned my responsibilities into fears that I wouldn’t be able to do it all. I was trying to be “responsible” but had confused my responsible righteousness, with Jesus righteousness. As I realized how bad fear is, I tried harder “not to fear”. But trying harder isn’t the answer. God’s love truly is the only thing that really casts out fear. I remember feeling so far from God, so unloved by Him and crying out to Him about how I felt. That very night after I’d been gut honest with Him in telling him that I was having a hard time believing that he really loved me, He spoke to me in a powerful way, through a sermon about how His love for me is greater than any fear. My worth is not based on my performance as a wife or a mother. I knew that in my head, but I desperately needed him to move it to my heart. For both my spiritual and physical health, I needed to truly know that I was righteous because of Jesus, not because of what I do. It was one of the most powerful times I have ever experienced. I didn’t come away from church that night and immediately start sleeping again. God doesn’t always offer us a quick fix or way out of our trial. But He sees us through them. And it was the start of a direction that I needed to go, spiritually and emotionally. And if there is anything that God showed me, it is that I really am righteous. That is the amazing thing about Jesus and grace!

As many of you know, in October of 2009 we began attending a new church – City Church in Kirkland. We had a wonderful year and a half there, with God teaching us so many new things. In April of 2011 we felt God’s leading to start attending Mars Hill Church, in Bellevue. We love both of these churches. Our time at City Church was completely directed by God. It is interesting, because as we were going through our darkest time, the pastor of City Church was also going through his darkest time, as his father and founder of their church was dying of cancer. The powerful sermon that Molly spoke of earlier, was the last sermon our pastor preached before his father died, not knowing what was going to happen. God used his incredibly hope-filled and real, honest messages of pain at a time when we were experiencing pain and needing hope. We know God had us there for a reason. And we know that God has moved us on to Mars Hill for a reason as well. We love our new church and are completely inspired and blown away by God’s grace and the honesty of the teaching. We’re looking forward to serving and are enjoying hosting a community group in our house at this time, and helping in the children’s ministry.

We are also enjoying our Pastor’s new book, “Real Marriage”. He is going to be doing a series on this, and as we are reading it, we feel like God is really doing some great things in our friendship. Not just our marriage or responsibility to each other as husband and wife, but in our friendship with each other, just enjoying the other person, having fun together and valuing one another as friends. Sometimes we get caught up in the “responsibilities” or duties of marriage and forget that God gave us to each other as friends. It has been wonderful.

As you can see, though it’s been a hard year, we are so grateful for where God has us now and the season we are in. We did do some fun things outside of school. Last spring we were able to house swap with some friends and spend a week down in sunny CA. It was probably one of our favorite family vacations ever, and the kids are always asking to go back. We had some great camping trips with family and friends, a visit to Pomeroy to see Gran and all the cousins, got to go to the ocean as a family and take fun excursions with the kids to zoos, Wild Waves, roller skating and the fair. Molly was involved with a great mom’s group last year as well.

We are also looking forward to another little Merry making their debut in July of next year! Molly’s daily run has slowed down a bit and she is feeling a little queasy and tired, but in good health otherwise and we are so excited about this new addition to our family. It looks like just one, though Maggie and Silas were hoping for a boy and a girl! They are thrilled at the idea of a new sibling.

Until next year, remember what we are celebrating. Jesus’ arrival on earth is truly good news. The grace that He has for us is incredible. We know that we are not righteous because of what we do, or our performance, but because of what He has already done for us through his death and resurrection.

We pray for you and think of you often. Have a wonderful time celebrating Jesus birth this year!

Love,
The Merrys

Merry Photos 2011 Part VI

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Maggie's 7th Birthday Party!
Somebody found brother's hat!

Kevin and Andrea Springer's Happy Day!

The Ring Bearer and Flower Girls

Merry Family Photos 2011 - Part V

2011-12-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

Someone found Mama's Beads

Maggie's Class Presentation about the Pilgrims

Maggie's First Professional Harido

Merry Photos 2011 Part IV

2011-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

A Vist with Gran and the cousins in Pomeroy

Fun at the Fair

Camping at Maggie Lake with Pada and Grandma

Merry Photos 2011 Part III

2011-12-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

First day of homeschool co-op!

Fun at the Ocean!

Todd's First Day as a Paramedic

Merry Photos 2011 - Part II

2011-12-05T14:42:00.001-08:00

Can you tell we attended a charasmatic church?

Happy Mother's Day with Grandma
Mars Hill Easter Service

2011 Merry Family Photos

2011-12-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

10th Anniversary Picture (Yes, Todd had to work that day.)

Purpose Driven Life? - What are you seeking first?, by Molly

2010-09-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

Purpose: So if you could take one thing and say "this is what we are supposed to strive after more than any other", what would it be? What is our purpose?

What did Jesus say we are supposed to seek first? - Mt 6:33)

Soooo – if we are supposed to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, how do you define “the kingdom of God?” Any good hermeneutical professor will tell you – let the Bible define the Bible. So where is the kingdom of God defined? - Rom 14:17.

Sooooo – if the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit – and we are supposed to seek this first, my question is, are you seeking 1/3 of the equation more than the other, or are you seeking all three?

Personally, my experience has been that I put of utmost importance seeking to be righteous. Integrity, righteousness, good character, good works etc – are all things I’ve wanted to “do”. Honestly, in the past, I’ve seen joy and peace merely as emotions that are much less important than seeking after righteousness. It is easy to have the notion that to seek joy or peace or fulfillment is selfishness, or at best, an unnecessary distraction.

Seek means “to aim at or strive after”. Soooo... do we sometimes seek (aim at, strive after) only 1/3 of what God wants us to seek first? Do we occasionally believe the lie that it's selfish to seek joy and peace in the Holy Spirit? Seeking righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit has changed my life!

The thing is, Scripture also says, "you were created for good works" (Eph 2:10). So we go about thinking "I gotta seek first doing good works". But Jesus knew a secret. If we are REALLY filled with JOY - true joy and peace in the Holy Spirit... there is no way we are not going to do good works. It will happen! I love this!

I'm discovering that “good works” come out of a life filled with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and it is so much more fun that trying to do “good works” or “do righteousness.” I believe it is way more effective too. Preaching the gospel will just happen. The "good news" will be effectively flowing out of my life if I am filled with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. CS Lewis said, “Duty is a crutch for love.” I will love better if I am not loving out of duty, but out of joy!

More Family Pics!

2010-06-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Lucie

2010-02-16T18:38:00.000-08:00

For lots more pictures visit us on Facebook! :-)

Lucie's Birth Story

2010-02-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

Short Version:
Lucie (Lucille) Joy Merry was born Monday, February 8th (9 days late! :0) at 7:00 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. We had a longer than expected labor but there were no complications and we are praising God for a very healthy labor and delivery. We think she looks so much like Maggie did when she was a baby. She is eating and sleeping well and growing. She is very loved by her big sister and brother and we are enjoying every bit of her. Thanking Jesus for Lucie!

Long Version:
Lucie (Lucille) Joy Merry was definitely in some ways, the most anticipated birth of our three children – at least in the last couple weeks. Maggie came six days early – so we weren’t expecting her quite so quickly. Silas came 2 days early and we’d just moved into our house so each day was another day to unpack boxes and get organized to make things ready for his arrival. We weren’t sitting around wondering when he was going to come.

Lucie was another story. Because Maggie and Silas were both early, and because generally the more babies you have, the earlier they arrive, we were expecting Lucie and trying to be ready for her at least a couple weeks in advance. We were crazy busy in early January, getting together with friends “ before the baby comes” but had cleared the last couple weeks on our calendar just to be ready. Lucie’s due date was the 30th, so we were expecting her well before that. As the days went by we went from frantically trying to get everything all perfect to feeling under control, to almost getting bored. We’d cleared the calendar and as each day passed that she was later and later, the house got cleaner, I got more things organized, got bigger and more irritable. I felt like I wanted everything clean at all times so we could be ready and I was like a drill sergeant when it came to tidiness.

After a while, we decided to go ahead and spend time with friends that we’d put off until after labor. So we began to have friends over for dinner and carry on life like normal. Sunday the 7th (8 days after her due date!) we had friends over after church. I did notice that morning during the sermon that my contractions were frequent. I’d had so many days and nights of pretty strong contractions and so many times that I thought “this is it” and then been disappointed that I’d gotten very good at ignoring them and going on with life. I figured when they’d get bad enough, I’d notice. Sunday morning I noticed they were about 10-15 minutes apart throughout the sermon and afterwards, and were staying consistent. But they weren’t extremely painful or anything so I continued to ignore them. We did tell our friends and I think they were watching me a little more closely than normal to see how I reacted to things.

By Sunday afternoon I was thinking something was up because they were so consistent. I decided to just rest all afternoon and the kids and I sat on the bed and Todd read and I worked on the computer. I kept timing and they continued to be consistent so we decided to bring the kids over to Grandpa and Grandma’s just in case. They were planning on staying there when we were in labor, and though I wasn’t sure I figured if I was in labor, we wouldn’t have to bring them over in the middle of the night. If I wasn’t – they’d have a good time having a slumber party and Richard and Linda wouldn’t mind. We went over there and spent some time chatting and then went home and got ready for bed. I laid down for an hour or so.

At 9:00 pm they started to get stronger and I began to remember what labor really felt like. I was excited that it seemed to be really happening, while at the same time, fighting a little fear, because labor is hard work and painful. It is such a mixed feeling. I was glad it was here, but not looking forward to the pain. At about 10:00 or so we got up and I decided it was time. Contractions were only 8 minutes apart or so, but this was my 3rd and I also knew that because of a (fairly common) pre-existing condition I needed a certain amount of antibiotics when I went into labor. We were admitted into triage at about 11:30 after a bumpy wheelchair ride, asking Todd to stop when I had a contraction. They watched her heart rate and my contractions.

We called our support team and Mom, Mom Merry and Andrea arrived soon afterwards, coming in to say hi before we were admitted into the birthing room for the rest of the delivery. My doctor came and introduced herself. Because I am with a clinic of 6 women doctors who are all on call at different times, I hadn’t met the doctor on call, but she was very nice and did a great job.

We got all set up in gown and bed in the birthing room, met our nurse and settled in. When I first thought about pregnancy long ago, I had considered home birth. But Todd being the cautious fireman that he is has insisted on the hospital and I really have come to love having babies at the hospital.

As the night progressed, the contractions got stronger, but really not that close together. I was surprised by how long labor took. The antibiotics take a certain amount of time to go in and with both Maggie and Silas, we only got one dose in before I had them. Not so with Lucie. I expected her labor to be short. Maggie’s hard labor was about 10 hrs and Silas’s was about 5 so I assumed that Lucie’s would be even shorter, as is typical of a third baby. Not so. At about 2:00 I remember the doctor coming in and saying that at 4:00 she’d come back in to check on me. I thought that Lucie for sure would be here by then and said, “I hope that she doesn’t have to come back then.” Little did I know that Lucie wouldn’t be born until 7:00 am!

The hardest things about this labor was the length. The good news was that my contractions stayed at 6-8 minutes apart for most of the labor, giving me a nice amount of time to rest in between each one. The bad news was that I did not labor very fast and was rather stuck at 8 cm for a long time. I kept thinking it was getting close and our nurse was very nice but I know that she got tired of me asking to be checked. I wanted to be at 10!

I tend to withdraw into myself when I labor and hardly move and keep my eyes shut and relaxed, trying to relax even more deeply when I have a contraction. Words are rare and few and heaven forbid that I move at all. But at around 5:00 am I gave in to the suggestion of walking to speed up labor. I did NOT want to do it, but I did want to progress. As it was, I only walked about 5 or 10 minutes. Then I was down again. The contractions were intense. They start and you get a wave of pain, and then another wave and another wave and you think “it must have peaked now!” and yet another stronger one. Some of them were 2 or 3 minutes long.

It is funny what you remember in labor. At one point I remember looking at Mom, Mom Merry and Andrea sort of dozing in and out and wishing very sincerely that I were them. At the beginning, with each contraction I was praying, “Thank You God that this is bringing me closer to Lucie. Thank You that Lucie will be here soon.” By the end my prayer had changed to begging “Lord, let this be done soon!” He was gracious though and overall, it was a good labor.

One thing that I noticed even as I was laboring was how mental it all was. I Cor 10:5 talks about bringing every thought you have to Christ in obedience. In this past year, a common theme that God has been teaching me about is how detrimental fear is in a person’s life, how much it controls many more aspects of life than we think. Fear is really the opposite of trusting God that He will take care of us. We don’t think of fear as a very bad thing, in fact, we often call it other words like “caution” or “wisdom”, but Scripture tells us not to fear around 200 times. That is a serious command. Fear is not just an emotion. Scripture says that fear is a spirit. Personally he has been showing me areas where I need to not make decisions based on fear of what “might happen” but instead on His goodness.

I remember as the time passed being so tired, and thinking about how long this was taking. When I was stuck at 8 cm, I remember thinking, “I still have to get to 10 – and then after that, I still have to push!” Every time I would think about what needed to happen still in the future, I would start to be afraid and think I couldn’t handle it. But if instead, I just focused on the contraction at hand and thought about what was happening right now, I was fine. I remember choosing to not think about the future and to discipline myself not to fear what was going to happen but to focus on what was happening, even as I was laboring. God was good to give me this insight, even in the midst of all that was happening and it really did help. He gives grace for the moment and we do not need to worry about the future as it says in Matthew 5.

At about 4:00 or so my antibiotics were finished and the doctor told me she would break my water. I was SO looking forward to that, because I knew that things would speed up afterwards. Exactly like Maggie, I was carrying Lucie so high and my water had not broken even though I was at 8. This labor was so similar to Maggie’s in many ways. From that time until about 6:30 or so I kept hoping that I was at a 10. When my body began to push involuntarily I knew we were there. The doctor checked me and I was given the go ahead at 6:40.

I was so tired and not looking forward to pushing and yet, I was impatient to get it over and done with. Because my contractions were still fairly far apart, I didn’t want to wait in between but to get it over with. I did wait though, because I learned the hard way in Maggie’s labor not to push when your body isn’t ready. The doctor asked if I wanted advice and gave me a new position. As soon as I changed to that position, and waited for the first contraction, it took about two pushes and her head was out. I remember asking, “Is her head out?” and receiving the yes and being so grateful. In another push her body was out and I just thanked God for Lucie over and over.

Lucie had meconium in her water so they had to suction her, but after that I got to have her and she was just perfect. She looked so much like Maggie did as a newborn and was healthy and pink. I had a small tear with two stitches but that was taken care of quickly and easily. I have yet to feel the ring of fire in my labors, and I am grateful for that. God was so good and we were very grateful for a wonderful healthy 8 lb 1 oz baby girl. Todd couldn’t stop smiling and held her even more than I did. The Grandmas were pleased and Andrea did a great job taking pictures. Lucie nursed well at 8:00 that morning.

My labor was so similar to Maggie’s and even some of the pictures of Maggie and Lucie as newborns are hard to tell apart. I went into light labor from about 9 am-9 pm with both Maggie and Lucie. I had harder labor from about 9:00 pm on and had to have my water broken for both labors. In addition to this, both of them were born at 7:00 am. Definitely sisters! Lucie took her time though. The pushing was so short that actually, her labor was even longer than Maggie’s because I spent quite a bit of time pushing with Maggie.

We made some phone calls and at 9:00 Lucie got to meet her sister and brother and Pada and Grandma Linda. Silas was a bit reticent at first, but he has warmed up to her well. He loves to do “jobs” for Lucie. He is the pacifier keeper and loves to fetch her blankets and diapers and whatever I need. Maggie’s the little mother, who hugs and kisses her all the time and says fervently, “I love Lucie sooooo much. She is sooooo cute.”

Lucie is doing well almost a week later and slept through the night, waking only twice to eat and then go right back to sleep recently – and we are very glad about that!

There was one very special thing that happened. On the way to Grandpa and Grandma’s Maggie was asking about when Lucie was going to be born. She has asked this a lot and usually I reply that God knows the perfect time for her to be born. This time I told her, “Ask God when she’s going to be born.” I was laughing a little bit and we continued on with the conversation, but a few minutes later she said, “God told me she is going to be born tomorrow.” It made me smile and I asked her when tomorrow, and she said, “In the morning.” I was pleased that she was conversing with God and I knew that no matter what happened, I was just glad for her to be praying and relating to Him. But when she WAS born the next morning, it meant a lot to me that Maggie heard from Him.

Whether it was a coincidence or not (which I don’t believe it was) the important thing was that she was enjoying a relationship with Him. And I knew it was a specific answer to a prayer of mine. I have been learning about hearing God’s voice, talking with Him and wanting to really be sensitive to Him. I was thinking about this, and about how John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, and how God spoke to Samuel when he was just a little boy. So in the past couple weeks, I have been praying that God would speak to our kids and that they would know Him and believe that He is personal and that He relates to them. What a wonderful answer to prayer when we were able to talk with Maggie about it and how God spoke to her. I want her little faith to be built. And it built mine at the same time.

We are very grateful for all of our children and are excited to watch Lucie grow and her faith in God be built as well. He is good!

Helpmeet and Submission

2010-01-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

by Molly

When it comes to married life, women and the Bible, it seems like there are essentially two things that are emphasized in Scripture.

1. We are to be our husbands helpmeet.
2. We are to respectfully submit to him as to the Lord.

What I find fascinating about these two things is that we really need a good understanding of each in order to be and do the other.

On the positive side, to submit to our husbands as to the Lord is a beautiful thing. When we truly consider his thoughts and opinions on life, our perspectives can change. In a good marriage, we are partners with someone who thinks very differently than we do. Men and women are different. Countless books and studies confirm this. The more I get to know my husband, the more I see that there are certain things that would benefit me if I were a little more like him. This doesn’t mean that I give up who I am as a woman or try to be more like a man, but it does mean that I become more well rounded in who I am and in how I look at life. When, through submission, I hear his thoughts, see his goals and listen to his heart, there are times that I wish I were more like him. I truly do admire my husband.

In addition to this, there are times when we may not agree and he knows it, but he also knows that I will do my best to submit to him with a right attitude. This is when it gets tricky, but submitting to him by allowing him to fail and accepting the consequences sometimes can be the wisest thing to do. And other times, when I submit to him even if I disagree… I find out later that he is (gulp)…. right!

On the positive side of being a helpmeet, there is nothing more thrilling and satisfying than truly helping him and being appreciated for it. The other day my husband turned to me, and I could tell that he was going to say something important. Actually I am sorry to say that I was thinking he looked very serious and was going to tell me something negative. But instead he surprised me by giving me a very sincere and praiseworthy compliment about something that he often doesn’t always seem to notice. He had seen my heart in a specific area, and the time and effort I’d spent doing something that blessed him and he really did appreciate it. It made my day – maybe even my week.

We can be our husbands helpmeets in many areas – practically in home things, mentally in supplying him with ideas, emotionally by supporting him in difficult times and praising him, sexually by meeting his needs, and spiritually by motivating him toward God in our actions, words and attitudes. I think for me, when I know that I am helping my husband spiritually or emotionally and that I have touched his heart or his spirit by my words, I am more satisfied and fulfilled than I can even express. I love connecting with him heart to heart and spirit to spirit, and actually helping him see things of God or move closer to God.

Isn’t it interesting though, that in being the wife our man needs includes both submitting and helping… and if we emphasize one above the other, we can actually bring negative things into our marriage and become out of balance. Let me explain.

As I said before, I love really and truly helping my husband spiritually and emotionally. But have you noticed that sometimes “help” can quickly turn into “control”. When we begin to help our husbands practically in the area of our home our “help” can turn into a bunch of rules that we have for him in order to run our house more smoothly. Sometimes giving him spiritual and emotional advice can actually turn into a prideful attitude, always assuming that we have the inside track with God, and if he would just listen to us, he would get closer to God. This is called nagging. “Helping” can quickly turn into a nightmare that is the complete opposite of submitting.

Why do we do this? Why do we help our husbands in a way that becomes controlling? I believe that one of the biggest motivators that cause us to be controlling is fear. We fear that if we do not run things the way we want, run our husbands the way we want, make sure he turns into the spiritual person we want him to be etc… our life will be out of control.

It is interesting that Scripture says in I Pet 3:6 about Sarah, “just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” Sarah was made beautiful by submitting to her husband because she was not afraid. (I Pet 3:5) Was Abraham trustworthy? Definitely not. He gave her to another man because he was too much of a coward to protect her – twice! But Sarah’s trust was not in her husband. Who was her Protector? When we read about it in Gen 12:10-18 and Gen 20:2-14 we find that God completely took care of her. When we fear, we are actually making an assumption that God is not in control, so we have to be. This is not being a helpmeet. This is giving in to the enemy’s’ lies and giving in to fear. This is the opposite of submission.

Recently Todd and I had some long “discussions” about an area that we weren’t seeing eye to eye on. Instead of telling him my perspective and leaving it at that, I used all my best arguments trying to convince him to see it my way and to show him where I was coming from, even using Scripture. I wanted to help him see the truth and I sensed a resistance in him. I found myself getting very emotional and frustrated. In the midst of it, I heard God whisper, “you are standing in my way.” I later apologized to Todd and backed off. I knew that I needed to trust God and let it go. The interesting thing was, as soon as I did, I saw Todd’s attitude soften, in the very area that I was trying to convince him. I felt like God had spoken to me that yes, my perspective might be right, but the way I was trying to “help” Todd see the truth was actually hindering God from showing it to him in His way. I was fearful that if I didn’t convince him that God couldn’t… The lie the enemy was telling me was based on fear, and it seems silly to believe it when I see it printed out here on paper, but that was what I was sub-consciously struggling with. About a week or so later, Todd told me that God convicted him of the very thing that I was sensing in him. I needed to get out of the way and let God work.

On the other hand, when we take submitting to our husbands as to the Lord, without considering the fact that we need to be his helpmeet, we may actually hinder our husbands. Have you ever heard of the term “yes man”? In this business world, this refers to a man who flatters his boss and doesn’t really care about the company or his boss’s success, instead he just agrees with everything his boss wants, and is basically a brown noser. His outlook is to please his boss, but not to give him ideas, challenge him or make his company successful by at times presenting a different perspective.

There are times when we can submit to our husbands in a way that doesn’t help him at all. Our desire for peace, or to avoid confrontation of any sort actually leads to an imbalanced concept of submission. When we submit to our husbands, as to the Lord and as a helpmeet, we are right where we need to be.

I remember when Todd and I first were together, we had a disagreement. I saw things one way, and he saw things another. I remember praying about this. Everything in me wanted to just give up what I thought and to think like Todd instead. Wasn’t that the right thing to do? Wasn’t that what submitting was? As I prayed about it, I felt like the Lord said very clearly to me that this was an area that Todd needed my perspective on and that I wasn’t to change my mind. I was to submit to Todd, to support him and to tell him that I was behind him, but still to make it clear that I didn’t agree with him in this area.

This has been a pattern that has been so important in our marriage. We want to make decisions together. Todd knows that he is the “buck stopper” when it comes to our decisions. He knows and has at times made decisions that I disagreed with. It doesn’t happen that often, but it does happen. But he also knows that, even though I see things differently, I will submit to him, go along with his decision even if I don’t feel it’s best, and support him and have (or at least try to have) a good attitude.

I am not talking about areas of clear sin here, I am talking about decisions in marriage that have to do with what each of us think is best or wise or led by God. This is where hearing from the Holy Spirit is so important. In being Todd’s helpmeet, I submit as to the Lord. I go to God first when my perspective is different than Todd’s. I go with a heart that says, “speak to me, I’m willing to change my perspective, but I want Yours more than I want mine or Todd’s.” Sometimes God changes my perspective and shows me Todd is right. Sometimes he shows me that I am right. And sometimes both of us are partially right. But the bottom line is that submission does not always mean being a yes woman, but it has to be balanced with being his helpmeet.

So what is the one thing that motivates us to submit in an out of balance way? Once again, I believe that a big motivator is fear. We fear that we will lose intimacy with our husbands if we disagree with them, so instead, we choose to in a sense, throw our intuition or perspective out the window. We check our brains at the door because we fear confrontation. We don’t want a fight so we just pretend that we agree even when we know that God has shown us otherwise. Another thing we fear is the responsibility of the decision. We’d rather not be responsible for influencing him too much, because what if we are wrong? So we just comply and pretend like we agree, or we actually choose to change our thinking and give up on what we believe is right out of fear.

I am not advocating defiance or a lack of submission. It’s not that God can’t speak to us through our husbands or cause us to have a change of heart or perspective. Once again, God’s direction to us is the bottom line. But I am advocating being a true helpmeet. When we tell our husbands our perspective, with a submissive, respectful attitude, assuring him that we will support him in his decision we are being a true helpmeet and truly submitting. When we withhold our true opinion from our husbands we may actually be hindering him from making the right decision by our abdication of responsibility to speak when God wants us to.

On the other hand, if we share with him what we really think and he goes ahead with his decision, we can trust that 1. God is in control and can lead us through our husbands and 2. We have taken care of our responsibility before God of being his helpmeet. Then we can joyfully support him in his decision. If we end up being right, we can bless him by supporting him when he faces the consequences of his decision. If we end up being wrong we can be very grateful that we submitted to him as to the Lord, and that the Lord directed him despite our wrong advice.

Do you see how great it is that we are to be both a helpmeet and a submissive wife? God knew what he was doing and He is in control and trustworthy. If we are listening to Him and open to His direction we can trust Him.

I have been frustrated at times by the fact that sometimes it seems like God speaks to me about certain areas, before Todd. This is not true of all of our decisions but it happens. This is a pattern that also shows up in Scripture. Why did God speak to Mary about the birth of Jesus before Joseph? This brought division for a time in their lives. Why did Jesus tell Mary Magdalene first about His resurrection – and gave her a command to tell the men. The men didn’t believe her. Wouldn’t it have been easier on these women if he’d spoken to both the women and men at the same time? The two greatest events in the history of the world were spoken to women first. There are many other examples of this happening in Scripture . Does this make women more spiritual than men? Definitely not. God has placed husbands as the head of their wives. Does this make men more spiritual than women? Definitely not.

Gal 3:28 says that there is neither male nor female but we are one in Christ. We are equal in the fact that we can both hear from God. But in a marriage, God will communicate to us in different ways and maybe even at different times. And it’s my job to hear what He has to say and share it with Todd in a way that is both helpful to him, and yet submissive at the same time. In the same way it is my job to listen to Todd’s perspective and learn what God has to say to me through him. This is why we need each other. What a beautiful thing!

So let’s be women of the Word, and women of faith in God. Our husbands are human. God is trustworthy. When we say no to fear, when we submit and trust God, when we listen to Him and share our perspectives with our husbands while supporting them and helping them, we are truly fulfilling what God has asked us to do. This is who he meant us to be as wives. I am so grateful for the way He designed it and who he made us to be!

Merry Christmas from the Merry's 2009

2009-12-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

December 2009

Heading up to Snoqualmie Pass for our annual tree hunt, sipping hot cider and listening to Christmas music, I was reminded of what a fun time of year it is – especially from a child’s eye. I ask the kids once in a while “What’s Christmas all about?” “Jesus!” they yell. Yes - It is all about Jesus!

2009 has been a roller coaster year, causing us to grow in trust and faith in Him. Even in times where we really couldn’t understand all that God was doing, we came to realize that nothing in this world escapes the awareness and redemptive work of our God. As a new friend remarked at Starbucks one day “There’s a reason God brings about our circumstances in life – nothing is without purpose”. As fickle people, we (speaking for myself) sometimes think God has no purpose just because I cannot see and understand it.

Some of our favorite events this year began with one week anniversary/Christmas gift trip to Florida – a cruise and Disneyworld, for Todd and Molly. We had a great time on camping trips with family and friends, Family Camp at Warm Beach, vacation at Lake Chelan, a visit to a water-park, visiting cousins in Pomeroy and several truly life changing conferences and seminars. We all enjoyed attending the wedding of Carlos and Manesseh Castro, where Molly was honored to be one of the matrons of honor.

In October of this year, we began attending City Church in Kirkland. We love our new church family and the teaching from Pastor Judah Smith. After attending Trinity Baptist for 20 years, it was a difficult move and not easily made – especially with all the close friends we have enjoyed over the years. We are grateful for the teaching we had at Trinity and the opportunity to sit under Pastor Seim for all those years. At the same time, we are thankful for the Lord’s direction and know this move to be of God. We look forward to maintaining old friendships at Trinity and making new ones at City Church.

Some of our favorite books this year have been “Convergence, Confessions of a Charismatic Calvinist” by Sam Storms, “The Anointing” by RT Kendall, “You were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson, “The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris, “Extraordinary” by John Bevere, The “Enigma of the Cross” by Allistar McGrath and anything by Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper and John and Lisa Bevere.

Here’s a little “catch-up” on each of us – beginning with the littlest…

“Baby” Merry – While she doesn’t formally have a given name yet, it’s not for lack of suggestions. “Baby” is due at the end of January and is already showing signs of strength and vitality. Maggie knew all along that baby was going to be a girl and is so excited to share a room with her. Silas asks, “do baby, Mommy?” often, wanting to see her move or kick.

Silas (almost 3) continues to be the little man of the house. One of his favorite phrases is “I’m a big man.” When “Mr. Responsibility” isn’t tending to some job around the house, he’s talking to anyone who will listen about “mo-oh-cy-les”. For “buddy nights” with Dad, he prefers to frequent the local Harley-Davidson shop and try out some of their latest models. He is talking more and more and wants to serve, always running to open the door, or push the button or whatever task may be in front of him.

Maggie (5) loves to entertain the family and is truly the cheerleader. Her comments on life include: (big sigh) “I’m falling in love with Silas. He’s a good man. I’m going to marry him someday.” ”Mommy, when I get to heaven I’m going to play with the moon. I am going to bounce it.” She also spent time the other day explaining to Silas that Mommy had to go 60, not 9 on the freeway because we have to follow the “lemon speed” or the policeman will pull us over. Maggie can’t wait for school each day and passes on what she learns to her younger brother. She is a girly girl who loves dressing up, singing, dancing and going to plays. She recently had a special part in the City Kids Christmas performance.

Molly is so happy being a wife, mother and friend. Writing, reading, philosophy, spending time with God, photography, and theatre continue to be her interests and she sometimes feels like the most blessed woman in the world. She loves her home, family, Todd’s great work schedule and learning more about being attentive to the Holy Spirit and hearing from Him. This has truly been a year of excitement in watching God work and experiencing Him more deeply.

Todd has been thoroughly enjoying studying and listening to good teaching. He is now homeschooling and is thrilled to watch Maggie and Silas learn and has found a strengthened relationship that comes from one-on-one time spent together. He continues to lead a small group that meets in our house for dinner and study. Todd loves his job and considers it a blessing everyday to be at Maple Valley Fire. He spends some of his time off working on our rentals as well as cooking, baking and being creative with food, especially when friends come over. He gets plenty of good tips from his fellow firefighters.

We continue to do a lot of writing and journaling. We love having friends over, entertaining, talking about the Lord and lots of happy kids and laughter in our home. We are excited to have all of the Grandparents retired officially as of this year and are relishing the time we spend with them, as well as the time we have alone while our kids get “Grandparent time”. We consider ourselves very blessed and do not take it for granted.

This year we have been thinking about themes of forgiveness, the cross, the “easy and light” yoke that is ours and the kingdom of God, which Scripture defines as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We continue to see that true joy comes from dependence on the personhood of grace Himself, Jesus Christ. Grace being both His favor towards us and the changed life that comes with this gift. We love realizing that we do not have to strive ourselves for the fruit of grace, but instead learn dependence on the Person and power of grace. This is what makes the yoke “easy and light”. And the miracle is that this power is in us because His Spirit is in us.

It is exciting to watch God display this grace in our lives and in the lives of our family. This very evening, Maggie came up the stairs and told us how she started to take a candy, knowing that she didn’t have permission to do it, and then changed her mind and threw it away instead. We told her how glad we were that she obeyed and asked her who helped her to do that. She enthusiastically replied, “God”. When we told her that were proud of her for resisting temptation and choosing obedience and that it was God’s grace in her, her response with a huge grin on her face was, “It’s a miracle!”

What a powerful picture of what God does in us. This is truly why Jesus came as a baby. That He can take people like us who do not naturally want to obey, and move us, by His grace to obedience – not just dutiful, “heavy” obedience because we have to, but joyful obedience because of our relationship with Him – and give us His righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit truly is a miracle. Living by duty, willpower and self-effort is no miracle. But watching our own hearts and the hearts of those we love actually change from wanting to sin to loving to obey and to enjoy our relationship with Him is truly miraculous. We agree with Maggie!

As this year draws to an end, we truly wish you the best this Christmas and a reminder that “It’s all about Jesus”!

Pictures 2009 Jan-Feb

2009-12-14T11:36:00.001-08:00

Disneyworld!

Cruise to the Bahamas

Atlantis Hotel

Mishayla's Birthday

Silas's Birthday

Cute Kids!

Pictures 2009 March-June

2009-12-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

Cute Kids

8 Year Anniversary - Stanley and Seaforts

Going to Hello Dolly at the 5th Ave.

Todd ready for the Firefighter Challenge at Safeco Tower

Easter 2009

Camping with Pada and Grandma Linen

Pictures 2009 July- Sept

2009-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Kids day at Daddy's Fire Station

Fun with the Cousins in Pomeroy - Watchin' the Rodeo

Manesseh's Wedding

Lake Chelan

Pictures 2009 Sept-Dec

2009-12-14T10:50:00.001-08:00

The Puyallup Fair

Maggie's Birthday Party

Cousins at Thanksgiving

The Princess and the Fireman
" Mo-oh-cy-le!"
Fun with Friends
Flower world with Grandma Merry

The Day of Small Things

2009-10-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Zechariah 4:10 - "For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel."

Israel had finally returned from exile. Remembering the days of prosperity and growth, they were again hopefull of the same progress. Verse 9 says that the foundation of the temple had been built, but the framework was yet to begin. As their 6-month building project drags on for several years, they become all the more discouraged and wonder if they’ve misunderstood God.

Like many situations in life, the foundation has begun, but we have yet to see the progress we expected. The relationship fails to deepen, a friend’s heart is not as soft as it was at the beginning, and a four year-olds’ S’s still look like 5’s. As far as we realize, progress seems slow and the reaping of what we’ve sown seems to be much further than we think. I’m grateful every day that I’m only the seed planter. I don’t provide the sun and rain, ensuring a deep-rooted, rapid rate of growth. I only cast the seed. I do what the Great Farmer tells me, trusting that He knows even now what the end result will be.

As I was thinking on this passage, we were driving across the Palouse of Central Washington. Dark fields of rich soil were just starting to show the 5-o’clock shadow of their winter wheat crop. Farmers with more tenacity than I wait expectantly for the reaping of a distant harvest. Someone who likes immediate results would have hung their head in frustration over the seemingly small growth.

Eventually, Israel saw the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. It came much later than they expected, but it did come to be sure. For God’s people, that would be evidence of Zechariah’s prophecy (4:9). In the same way, when we are privy to the redeeming acts of our Savior, we are given an opportunity to praise Him and be assured that He has not forgotten, nor will He turn away.

Our God is the Redeemer of all things, I’m becoming all the more convinced of this. There is nothing beyond His redemptive power, nor will He let evil triumph forever. As a friend recently assured me, “God has a reason for doing all that He does”. Even the greatest of setbacks are filled with purpose.

Until then, we are to faithfully sow the seed, love the unlovable, pray for healing, and forgive those who hurt us. Continue to hope, but leave the timeline to Him. In His time, He will make all things beautiful.

Remembering His Faithfulness

2009-07-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks, I’ve been tempted to recount some decisions I’ve made, wondering if I had really heard from God or if I was just acting on my own accord. “Was that God I was hearing, or was it my own wishes and desires? Was I acting on the prompting of the Holy Spirit, or on the well-intentioned advice of man?” I don’t think this is something that I alone am prone to do.
As I was belly-aching to Him last night, He reminded me of the importance of not looking back on our past decisions. There is nothing I can do in the present day over past choices I’ve made. I’m in the here and now and can only act in the present.

When it comes to remembering our past, scripture is clear, we are to remember the things He has done. After crossing the Jordan, God instructed Joshua and crew to build a mound of 12 large rocks to be a memorial to the generations that would come later (Josh 4:5-7). Samuel was instructed to put up an “Ebenezer” which declared “This far has the Lord helped us” (I Sam 7:12). God knows we are prone to forget His faithfulness and remember our own mistakes. He knows we need to recount His faithfulness, not our blunders.

Paul echoes this in Philippians 3, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”(v. 13-14). I’m sure if anyone was prone to recall past mistakes, it was the Apostle Paul.

Instead of putting confidence in our past successes or failures, we are to press on in hope. Not the hope that comes through our wisdom and great decision-making abilities, but the hope that He is able to redeem all things and prompts us not with a heavy hand of conformation, but with a Father-like nudge in the right direction. I only need be quieter and less restless, more hope-filled, less driven by fear. I’m so thankful for a loving Father who continues to go before us.

Pleasures Evermore

2009-07-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

Last night, I began reading Sam Storms' book "Pleasures Evermore", which is very similar to Piper's "Desiring God" (one of few books that significantly changed my life). Like Piper, Storms' premise is that if we are really looking for ultimate pleasure, we will find it in God alone. Motivating ourselves toward righteousness through guilt or self-control is not needed, and never very effective. This is the essense of Christian Hedonism - the believer's search for the most satisfying pleasures in every area of life. Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

CS Lewis says it this way "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not to strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered [to] us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased." (The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)

Have we lost our hunger for truly satisfying joy and pleasure in life? Have we tried to satisfy ourselves on a diet of religion when we were given a hunger for relationship with Him? I couldn't help but ask myself how many times I've self-medicated myself on the stuff of life that truly does not bring the joy and satisfaction only He can offer (and I was created for). He alone gives us the satisfaction we are looking for, but He does not force it upon us. We need to hunger for it in the first place. Even the best of foods lacks taste to the one who is stuffed with empty calories.

The Green Letters

2009-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

A mentor-friend recently lent me a copy of Miles Stanford's "The Green Letters", aka "Principles of Spiritual Growth". I'd never heard of Stanford till now, but really appreciate his sage advice on the process of Spiritual development. Stanford is a deep writer, reminding me of AW Tozer. Of particular interest, I enjoyed his reminder of what we have already been given through the work of Christ on the cross.

"God is not trusted, not honored, in our continually asking Him for help. In the face of 'my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19), how can we beg for help? Our responsibility is to see in the Word all that is ours in Christ and then thank and trust Him fo that which we need."

Later, quoting from Watchmen Nee, "God's way of deliverance is altogether different from man's way. Mans' way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God's way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well."

In reading this, I'm convicted of the times I've tried to conquer sin by "trying harder", excercising my strength, my understanding, my plan toward freedom. All the while, Stanford contends, Christ tells us that freedom lies not in our exersion of strength, but in realizing how helpless we really are. Only our submission to Him will bring the power we need. As another mentor of mine, Mark Driscoll would say, "We take ourselves too seriously and don't take God seriously enough"

Face to Face, Fully Known, by Molly

2009-03-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

Nathan Beau was due to be born on March 10, 2009. The day before his due date, God gave me a special present in the form of a verse.

I’d had a low day emotionally a few days before, and there was a part of me that wondered if that might have been the day he would have been born. There was no reason to be feeling as weepy as I was.

But on the 9th I was perusing a friends’ facebook page and she had some pictures up of her new little one that arrived a few days before. We had shared our exact same due date and both of us were having boys. As I was looking at the pictures, making comments and rejoicing with her, I realized that God had done so much healing in my life. Though I shed some tears thinking about Nathan, they were not sad tears, just thankful ones. Her family picture totally ministered to me as I looked at it.

As I looked at the pictures and thought about Nathan, I began thanking Jesus that Nathan Beau is seeing Him face to face and He reminded me of the verse,

I Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

I love the fact that Nathan is enjoying Jesus face to face, knowing Him fully and being fully known by Him. I can’t wait to be there someday. I am so grateful for God's “birth-date” gift to me in that Scripture. He truly good to me.

Christmas Letter 2008

2008-12-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

So here I sit, trying to come up with a new introduction to the ever-familiar letter. 2008 has been a memorable year, for more than a few reasons. In both the mountains and the valleys, we have clearly seen God at work. We have been reminded more this year than any, that God is a good God – in both joy and sorrow. We’ll recap the year, beginning with the shortest of us…

Silas is a “man in action”. He eagerly steps in whenever someone needs a hand. His specialties include: closing doors, cleaning up spills, emptying the tupperware from the dishwasher and warning everyone of any impending danger. His first word was Daddy, but his first sentence was “Oh no!” When he’s not “on duty” he likes to play outside, wrestle with Daddy, dance with Maggie or thumb through a book. He dutifully responds with, “Wow!” when Maggie runs up to show him her pretty dresses. The big man will be two years old in February!

Maggie is the girly girl of the house. She took a “Mommy and Me” ballet course with Mama, Esther and Mishayla last year and loves dancing and singing around the house. As of late, we rarely see her in anything but a “pretty dress” that she begs to wear. When she’s not looking in the mirror, she’s trying to marry her “boy” Silas or collecting “beeeeutiful flowers” from the yard. We can definitely see gardening in her future. Maggie just turned four in November!

Molly has enjoyed (most of the time) running around after two little munchkins who exhaust her and keep her in stitches. The newness and beauty of her home hasn’t worn off and she really does like trying to keep it beautiful, despite the fact that it seems like she never stops cleaning. She loves having friends over, the small group twice a month at our house, journaling, doing mystery shopping, making photo books, keeping up with friends online, going through lots of books on the treadmill and talking about theology, philosophy and what God is doing in their lives with Todd and friends and family.

Todd spent most the summer working in the yard. Thanks to help from Dad, Mom and others, we were able to: build a deck, pour concrete, spread gravel, topsoil and play chips, and even get the lawn seeded. It was a whirlwind of a task and we’re glad it’s over. On to the garage! Todd is still active at the fire department, working on the union board and serving as Chaplain. Todd also enjoyed teaching on the Gospel of John for Sunday School, preaching at TBC, riding his bike into work during the summer, doing some cooking and vacationing with the family.

2008 was a year of great family vacations! In March, we spent a few days at the ocean, enjoying amazingly warm 70 degree days with the kids! In May, Todd and Molly spent a few days in Lake Chelan (with no kids), then returned in August with the whole crew. We especially loved spending about six hours a day either in the pool or the lake, picking blueberries and hiking up the ridges around the lake. We enjoyed camping this summer a few times with Pada and Grandma Linda, as well as with good friends. We had our annual trip with Grandma Melquist and Mishayla to visit the cousins in Pomeroy. Granny has moved there now and we are hoping to get there more often than once a year. Todd’s Step-Grandma Rosa came for a week-long visit in September and we enjoyed spending time with Rosa, Grandma Merry, Ade, Jill and the cousins.

In July we happily found out that we were expecting. However, God had other plans for our baby and after a difficult pregnancy, we miscarried our third-born, Nathan Beau at 15 weeks. Yet, even through the tragedy, we saw so much of God’s grace and beauty. He gave us an opportunity to hold our tiny son, which we were very grateful for. He truly makes all things beautiful in His time and we are grateful for the short time we had with Nathan Beau. You can view some of what God taught right here on our blog in September's archive.

We attended some great conferences this year including a home school conference, a writer’s conference and a church conference about giving. We are still writing but have no specific projects right now. We are excited about different ideas God has given us for ministry through these conferences and have enjoyed the teaching. Todd is still active at TBC, and we also enjoy downloading sermons from Mark Driscoll and Judah Smith.

We’ve been attending another small group led by our friends Mike and Kristy. Last year they wrote the book, “What Does God Really Want?” and we’re going through it together. God has used it to challenge our hearts and draw us closer to Him. He has shown us His power in a way we’ve never seen before.

He has been showing us the real power of forgiveness in our lives in a new way as well as the concept of receiving his love. As Christians, we often focus on how we can better ourselves, or on how we can do more for God. We focus on the “fruit” rather than on our relationship with our Father and receiving His love. We’ve loved learning how to simply receive from Him instead of working harder to produce fruit. The amazing thing is, as we receive His love, fruit is just a natural outflow of the love we have received. We had no idea of the power of this concept.

We’ve also realized this year, the power of forgiveness and blessing. God has drawn our attention to the fact that we often don’t make forgiveness a priority or even realize how much it affects our hearts. We’ve thought that forgiveness is a onetime event, but now we are making it a daily habit. This concept is true both in forgiving others and forgiving ourselves. Forgiveness reaches the heart when you add blessing to the forgiveness.

God has used a couple verses in our lives in a big way this year. God has put Jas 1:20 on Molly’s heart over and over. “For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” It’s a simple verse, but we’ve been realizing that our anger toward ourselves (or others), berating ourselves for not being good enough does not produce God’s righteousness in us. As Christians, we often think that if we try to experience conviction, tell ourselves how sinful we are etc, that we will somehow produce more righteousness in us (or in others). Doing this may produce a self-righteousness that glories in actions, but it never produces a heart change evidenced by the fruits of the Spirit. It does not move us toward God’s righteousness, but toward our own. (Rom 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”.) In truth, God’s kindness toward us is what leads us to repentance (Rom 2:10). When we realize that Christ is in us, we see ourselves as God sees us – righteous because of what Christ has done – and we start acting that way!

God has used Rom 5:10 in Todd’s life. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” The simple realization of what God has done for us in reconciling us while we were still sinning against Him is mind boggling. What a wonderful thing to think about this Christmas. This is the whole purpose for Jesus’ birth and the reason we celebrate.

We hope that you have seen God at work in 2008. As we look back over key events in our life, we see so many signs of God’s grace – in both the good times and bad. We wish the same for you as you begin 2009.

Lots of Love,
Todd, Molly, Maggie & Silas
toddandmolly@gmail.com

Catching up on Pictures 2008 - December's Cute Kids

2008-12-15T16:05:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas 2008!

Little Flirt!

Rock on Dude...

Catching up on Pictures 2008 - October-November

2008-12-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

Cirque d' Merry

Grandma Melquist's Hawaiian Birthday Party
Maggie and Mishayla had their singing debut in front of about 50 friends and relatives. They were darling diva's!

Static!

Saying goodbye to Gran right before she moved to Pomeroy.

Esther Burwell's Cowgirl Birthday Party!

Fall Fun Fifties Girl

Cute Cowboy!

With Rebecca Christian at the 5th Ave Theatre!

Maggie's Purple Painting Birthday Party

Kissin' Cuzzins

Catching up on Pictures 2008 - July-August-September

2008-12-15T15:13:00.001-08:00

Nick & Stephanie Kanehen's Wedding - Cousins!

Fun with my dear friend Krista

Caleb and Heather's Visit - Mandie, Andrea, Heather, Caden, Christy, Molly, Lisa

More Lake Chelan - Blueberry Pickin' and Cute Kids!

Grandma Rosa's Visit - Grandma Merry, Rosa, Jill, Adrian, Christian & Jillian

Workin' on the Yard with Daddy!

Visiting the Cousin's in Pomeroy

The Fair!

Catching up on Pictures 2008 -May & June

2008-12-15T14:44:00.001-08:00

The Fam - Mom, Anna and Mishayla

Camping with Pada and Grandma Linda

Maggie's Shiner

Good Friends - Holly Rollosson, Kristy & Janelle Trillo, Andrea Luraghi

Ed Luraghi, Mike & Devin Trillo

At Lake Chelan - Beautiful Hiking

Camping with Crazy Friends - John & Lisa Luraghi, Osi and Alisha Luraghi and the Nims

How's Your Heart?

2008-12-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

Todd preached again last Sunday. Some said that it was the best sermon that Todd has ever preached. I know I'm his wife, but it was so full of what God has been showing him lately and I think it's dynamite. To download or listen go to
http://www.tbcrenton.org/sermons.php
and look for the title "How's Your Heart" 2008-12-07, Todd Merry. Enjoy!

Nathan Beau

2008-09-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to let everyone know that we found out that our baby in heaven is a boy. We named him Nathan Beau, which means God's gift, and beautiful. We are so grateful for everyone's prayers and support. Thank you.

God's Beauty in the Loss of our Baby by Molly

2008-09-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

I am much better at updating Facebook than I am at updating this blog, which is why I haven't even shared the news of our pregnancy here. We have just gone through a miscarriage at 15 weeks and we are grieving, but also amazed at God's beauty and love through all of this.

Many of you who are reading this have sent notes and kind words and some have brought meals. We thank you for your love and prayers. Thank you for your wonderful friendships. Here is the note I wrote in Facebook that I thought I would post here, about all that God has done in our lives through our time of loss.

God's Beauty in the Loss of our Baby

This may sound strange coming from someone who just lost their little one, but if there is one word that I could use to describe our miscarriage experience, it has been beauty. God has totally amazed us by what He has done and we want to share a little bit with you.

When I woke up early Friday morning with cramping I asked Todd to pray, called my mom and spent time curled up worrying and praying. Then as the labor began and I began to bleed, reality started setting in. You hear about miscarriages and are sorry for those who have been through them, but don’t realize the gritty, messy reality of what actually happens. I had so many conflicting thoughts – guilt “Did I cause this?” grief, confusion. Emotionally I didn’t know where to go. I Corinthians 15:56 says that the “sting” of death is sin. The pain I felt at first was a “stinging” pain. I “knew” that during this pregnancy I did not rest enough. I compared myself to other women who seemed to keep going, thought I didn’t listen to my body, by pushing myself too hard. I struggled with these thoughts that I had sinned against my baby and they stung. These were my first thoughts. But as I talked with God about it and cried out to Him in my confusion and pain, it only took a couple hours for the sting to be replaced by the ability to rest in His sovereignty, that even if I’d jumped off a cliff – He could have caused the baby to live if He chose. He replaced these thoughts with a rest and a trust in His ability to keep my baby regardless of what I had done. It was a huge relief to come to this conclusion. I saw a beauty in His powerful sovereignty…

After the baby was born, God gave us a glimpse of His beauty in our little one. Our baby was born in the little amniotic sac. We held the sac and looked at his/her perfectly formed body. There were little hands, feet, fingers and toes. Our baby’s face had beautiful little features. His/her eyes were shut, the mouth was slightly opened. He/she had a heart shaped chin and lovely little nose. We could even see the rib cage through the skin. We had a time together of crying and praying. We sat on the bed and thanked God for our baby, thanked God for the wonder of this little life, even at 15 weeks. It was amazing; and in the midst of pain, we saw this beauty…

We were so glad for our sacred little time together before we realized we needed to go to the hospital because I was losing so much blood. Yet even in this God’s comfort was there. Todd’s mom came over immediately and stayed with Maggie and Silas and we called 911 and headed to the hospital in the aid car. There was a point where I was near fainting and I could feel myself beginning to go. Fainting has always sounded so romantic to me in books, and yet the reality of it was far from romantic. They were trying to get IV’s into me to get some fluids into my body, but my veins were so small from losing blood that they were having difficulty. I was crying out to God and asking Him for help while my heart pounded and my whole body was covered in sweat. Todd said I was as white as a sheet. God allowed them to get the IV’s in and though they were bustling around, there was a point they gave me some painkillers and I just got to lie down, be quiet and rest. God was so good to me at this time, because I spent that rest time talking with Him, and praying. I felt so completely comforted and at peace in my grief. I often feel closest to God when He shows me truths from His Word. I’ve always wished that I could have that closeness to Him in prayer, not just from the Word. Yet at this time in the hospital bed, He showed me His beauty in prayer more than I’d ever felt. He gave me total rest and comfort, there in His presence. More beauty…

There were tests and shots and questions but eventually, Todd had to go home and get the baby. The doctor said that at 15 weeks, a miscarriage is very unusual and he’d only seen one or two people in the last ten years miscarry this far along, at my age. He told us because of the baby’s age that they would be able to do some testing on him/her and possibly give us a reason why this had happened and a way to prevent a miscarriage in the future. When Todd brought our baby back, my mom, who was there with me, left the room and Todd and I spent a little time with our baby for the last time. We held him/her and spent some more time grieving and talking with God. I was totally filled with awe at the beauty of our baby. I was grieving, but at the same time overwhelmed with gratefulness. I know that many who have miscarriages do not get to see or hold their babies and I was so grateful that we could. Todd prayed first and all I could do through my tears was thank God over and over for how beautiful our baby was, how happy he was now and how glad I was that God had given us this little life, even for a little while. More beauty….

They released me from the hospital and I came home that afternoon. It was so wonderful to come home and see our children and hold them. We gently explained to them the best we could what had happened. Later that night, Maggie prayed for dinner, and as she did she said, “And thank you that the baby is in heaven with You, God.” It was beautiful to see. That afternoon, evening, and some of the following day we spent time with our family crying, talking and praying together. We were vulnerable with them, and they were able to be vulnerable with us in their experiences as well. We felt so loved, supported and close to our family. God drew us closer in relationship with them at that time and it was wonderful. More beauty…

Every night since the miscarriage Todd and I have stayed up talking for a long time. We are so much more in love with each other, our relationship is stronger and God has brought us closer together. We feel like this has caused us to re-evaluate all of our priorities in life. Things that seemed big before no longer are important. The verse “seek first His kingdom” has been very real to us in that “all these things” that we worry about getting done or accomplishing, we can trust God to “add unto us” instead of striving. We want to love our kids, and enjoy our relationships with God and others more. We are seeing the beauty in the love we have for each other and how important relationships are. More beauty….

Saturday night a few of our closest friends came over and brought us food and flowers and love. We spent the evening talking, crying and praying together. They totally supported us, lifted us up and comforted us. Our friend Andrea shared with us that she’d had an awful dream about us a couple nights before and woke her husband Ed up and told him that they needed to pray for us. She prayed for us all that morning. When I asked her what day and time she’d woken up, we found out that it was exactly the time we were miscarrying. I remember specifically saying to myself, “I wish that we had a powerful prayer warrior like Andrea praying for our baby right now.” I don’t even remember praying it, but wishing it, and God heard my desire, even in this. He is amazing. More beauty…

The day after the miscarriage Todd and I woke up feeling like we didn’t even want to get out of bed, have breakfast and start the day. It would be further away from our baby, further away from where we held and prayed for our little one. I didn’t even want to put on my normal clothes but wanted to wear a maternity shirt. We laid in bed and cried and prayed together. But we have realized that while we can and do grieve for us – we cannot grieve for our baby. I remember as I began my time of cramping, I reminded the Lord over and over that He is the giver of life, the sustainer of life, the way the truth and the life and I asked Him to give life to our baby. Now, I realize that He has answered my prayer. I recognize that our little one has more "abundant life” than I can even imagine. Todd and I, quite honestly, are grieving for ourselves, but we cannot grieve for our baby because we know that this little child is happier than any of our earthly children will ever be this side of heaven. To wish him/her back would be to wish pain upon our baby. He/she is experiencing incredible beauty in the presence of Jesus…

In my quiet time I have been in I Corinthians and Sunday I happened to read I Corinthians 15:42-58. It was a perfect passage from God to me and I was able to list out all the things that our baby is experiencing right now. Our baby is imperishable, is glorified, is powerful, is spiritual, is a life-giving spirit, is heavenly, and bears the image of the heavenly, is changed, cannot die and is immortal and victorious. How beautiful…

I Corinthians 15:54-56 says that death is swallowed up in victory. The only “sting” of death is sin. Todd and I have seen that the grief we are experiencing is not a stinging pain, but a calm pain. It is hard to describe in words. The only “sting” in this grief, was the “sting” that I felt when I first began to miscarry and I was struggling with guilt. God has been amazingly good to us. We are still sorrowing, but have been comforted in a supernatural way. The pain is bearable and we are experiencing God in a way that surpasses understanding. Todd and I were talking about how you can say and try to believe that "God works things together for good" or that "God brings comfort and peace", but we have actually been experiencing those things and know them to be true. The grief is real and painful, but it is not a hopeless, despairing grief. We are not making light of what has happened. It seems impossible to put it into words, but the best way that we can describe it is a beautiful grief. We know that we are still at the beginning of our grief and that there will be waves that will come. We know we will have highs and lows. But we know that He will sustain and supernaturally comfort us. These past few days we have felt so close to God and sense the reality of his comfort and been on an actual relational high with God and our loved ones. We are not just “making it through this”, we are actually experiencing beauty. He is Beautiful.

Todd wrote this yesterday in his journal. This best describes what we are feeling at this time:

Our child is now in the hands of our Father, creator and sustainer of life. I know Him to be a good and loving God. I know He brings redemption, purpose and fulfillment in all situations. His acts are not random or haphazard, but He always acts with sovereign wisdom and loving mercy. Right now, I don’t understand. My heart feels heavy, my throat is tight and my eyes are dry from crying. Everything that occupied so much of my attention and thought is suddenly very minor in importance. Both successes and failures seem insignificant. What matters the most right now are the three people I love most.

We, the Merry family, believe our God to be the only Redeemer of mankind. It was out of love He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, so that the sin which separated us from Him might be taken away by His atoning sacrifice. We know and have experienced Him to be a good God who acts with sovereign purpose, love and mercy toward all people in all circumstances. We endeavor to seek out the many ways He demonstrates His redemptive power. Every fallen expectation, every waning relationship, every illness, every heavy heart is able to receive hope, be strengthened, receive healing, be comforted, and even be joyful because of the redemptive power of our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We, the Merry family, eagerly choose to live every day with the perspective that “Even this, He is able to redeem.”

Everyone has different experiences. Everyone has different difficult events, different pain, different grief. There are those who have gone through much greater pain than we have. I have not read Richard Wurmbrand’s book “Tortured for Christ”, but a friend of mine has, and he said that throughout the book, through all the horrible things Richard Wurmbrand experienced, he would say, “I have seen beautiful things”. We are not downplaying the reality of our pain and grief or the reality of others pain and grief. But we know through what God has done that His comfort and beauty is available to all. Everyone who comes to Him and receives His love can experience His supernatural beauty and peace in the midst of pain that makes no sense. His power is available to all and He is good through it all. And all we can do is stand in awe of His Beauty and be grateful.

In His Time

2008-09-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

“He makes all things beautiful in its time” (Ecc. 3:11). Beauty comes in time, but time doesn’t always look too beautiful. Last week, we spread 46 yards of topsoil, followed by a generous application of hydroseeding. The gentleman who spread the seeds said that as long as I follow the watering schedule, in a few weeks I’ll have a lawn that would make Cisco Morris blush. Having lived with bare dirt or dead grass and weeds for almost two years, I can only imagine the glory that will come with pushing my mower on a nice green turf.

Each day I’ve been checking for the smallest sign of growth. We are a full three days into it, and I see no need to crank up the mower. As hopeless as it may now appear, there is hope. The seeds have been sown, the water and fertilizer have been applied. As long as the sun continues to rise as it has for the past few thousand years, all the necessary elements remain.

Life is sometimes like watching a yard full of grass seed eventually come to fruition. At first, the only signs of hope reside in our mind. Yet, given time, our eyes will testify to the fact that, Yes there is growth. But it may not come at the pace we expect.

Hope may be deferred, relationships may wane, and we may fail where we expect most to succeed. Yet there is still hope. The One who causes the sun to rise does not forget His promises. We may be like Job, who cried out

“But if I go to the east, he is not there;
If I go to the west, I do not find him.
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
When he turns to the south; I catch no glimpse of him.” (23:8-9)

When we expect most for God to act, He sometimes holds His hand back. Why is this? When we expected Jesus to condemn the drinking of alcohol, he brings wine to the wedding. When we thought he would embrace those who were most religious, He drives them out with a whip. He doesn’t fit our box and His actions seem almost unloving at times.

For Job, his view of God was not limited to his own eyes. After desperately crying out for the hand of God to act, he concedes:

“But he knows the way I take…” (23:10)

Perhaps that is all we need; just a reminder that our troubles don’t go unheard in the heavenly realm. After all, this is the same God who saw our need for reconciliation, and sent His only Son to make a way. What more could we ask?

Better than any Movie

2008-09-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Few plots move readers without the themes of sacrifice, love and justice. Why is this? What is it about a lover’s undying perseverance in pursuit of another that moves us to tears in the theaters? Why is it that when a man on the silver screen spends years searching after a lost love, women swoon with emotion and even the most stoic of men is at least challenged in the display of his affection?

It all goes back to the original story, the first story of pursuit, sacrifice and love driven to the point of death. Today, thousands walk the streets, unaware of a Lover who has paid the greatest of debts so that He may penetrate our lives, declare His love and reconcile us to a God we have chosen to push aside. In fact, not only were we ignorant of His declaration, we were enemies of God (Rom 5:10), as declared by our representative, Adam (Rom 5:14). Like a bratty child, kicking and screaming “I hate you, I hate you”, we rejected the only One able to bring hope, peace and reconciliation.

But hope was not lost. On account of our Lover’s actions, the very One we offended has reconciled us to Himself. He has pursued us to the point of death, even death on a cross so that we may not continue wandering along without meaning and purpose, but may be given a new name and declared righteous.

Upon contemplation of this moving storyline, one ransomed soul wrote “Though satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control; that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed His own blood for my soul”.

No matter where you are as you read this, or how desperate your situation may be, you can be assured that One has pursued you to the point of death, so that you may be given true life. Hollywood can never duplicate that.

Lessons from John part 1 - John the Baptizer

2008-08-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been a while since we updated this blog. I have been preparing for a class on the Gospel of John and thought it would be good to share what God has been teaching me through this study.

One of the most startling figures in all of scripture is this wild-eyed, crazy haired, sugar-filled, bug-eating man who ushered in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. If an earthly king had to choose someone to announce his arrival, I'm pretty sure he would not have chosen John the Baptist. No doubt, John scared alot of people and probably made them question their perspective of God.

John is truly the last of the Old Testament prophets (Luke 16:16). His message is one of personal repentance. Up to this point, the idea of sin had been associated with individual sins which must be atoned for, usually on a regular basis. But John introduces the idea that sin is not just a specific action or one-time event, but an infectious disease which needs to be cured. John's message to the people is that we (and religion) are broken and are desperately in need of a Savior.

I can only imagine what it would have been like for the unexpecting observer who approaches John (probably more for curiousity than reconciliation). I imagine John would have been loud, brash and confrontational when it came to sin. In our modern day of seeker-sensitive churches that serve lattes while you worship, and minimize the offense of a sermon, many of us would have rejected John as any type of forerunner of Christ.

I need people like John. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all do. I need to be reminded that in my natural state, I am broken and in need of a Savior. I cannot make it on my own, I cannot reach salvation outside of the shed blood of Christ. I hope I have not become too comfortable as to reject the "Johns" of my life.

The Man is Walking

2008-04-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Just had to write a quick little note that our little man is now walking. We've been trying to get him to go back and forth between Daddy and Mommy and he took a couple steps, but yesterday at Grandma Merry's he got up to 9 steps and today I've been working with him and he took 14. Now he'll be crusin' everywhere. Yesterday was his 14 month birthday. Maggie walked the day before her 13 month birthday. Yes, we have late bloomers and we're proud of it! :-)

Pictures!

2008-04-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of our cute kids, their cute cousin and a picture of us celebrating our 7th! anniversary. God is good to us!

Birthdays and Ballet

2008-04-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's been shamefully long since we've updated. Silas turned one in February. Here are a couple of pictures of he and the babies (and dads) at his firefighter party. In addition to this, Maggie and I took a "Mommy and Me" ballet class along with Mishayla and Kristen and Esther Burwell. Grandma watched the babies and we had a marvelous time. Ask Maggie to do an arabesque and a pliea for you the next time you see her!

The Beach!

2008-04-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

In March we took a wonderful family vacation to the beach. It was so relaxing and God blessed us with amazing weather for March. It was sunny every day and one of the days we were out on the beach in t-shirts. Enjoy the pics!

No Condemnation II

2008-04-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Todd preached on this subject last Sunday. It was absolutely wonderful. I know you'll want to hear his sermon so here is the link!
http://tbcrenton.org/sermons.php

No Condemnation!

2008-03-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I've been chewing on Romans 8:1-2 for the last month or so and never seem to exhaust its worth.

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death."

As amazing as it is to hear God tells us "there is no condemnation", how many times do we place condemnation upon ourselves? I have fallen prey to the idea that self-criticism (condemnation in wolf's clothing) will motivate me to be a "better person". As if another whip on the back will compel me to become a better husband, share the gospel with greater vigor or make me a better employee. My problem is that I begin and end with myself. My starting line is self-analysis and I am running toward the finish line called "self-perfection" (has anyone reached it yet?)

The beauty of the gospel is that One has already reached perfection and has chosen to give me the reward of His fulfilling work. By faith, His work of redemption has already placed me on the finish line called "glorified" with Him. I no longer need to continue striving out of fear and the threat of separation from Him, but rather enjoy Him for who He is and so find within Him the strength to do the good work He has begun. Life is no longer a list of "things I must accomplish", but an opportunity to enjoy Him and let every action and word be out of gratitude for who He is. This is a lasting work that will endure anything conjured up by self-criticism or condemnation.

The result of this fixation on Jesus is an uncontainable, gospel-centered, God glorifying life that is filled with evidence of His work. When my eyes are on Jesus, not condemnation, I am empowered to be that better husband, to share the gospel with greater boldness and to be a better employee. His work of redemption continues to bear fruit in day-to-day living through His transforming work in me. This is real change.

A song I'm reminded of expresses it so well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajczMxNu45M

Piper does a steller job of clarifying the fact that we are first justified before God, then He brings about His work of sanctification:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ScriptureIndex/10/68_Set_Free_by_the_Spirit_of_Life_in_Christ_Jesus/

Download Todd's latest Sermon!

2008-01-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

If you want to dowload Todd's sermon, you can do it at
http://www.tbcrenton.org/sermons.php
Then click on
2008-01-13 The Beauty of the Gospel Todd Merry
It's so good!

Merry Christmas Letter! 2007

2007-12-23T09:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

December, 2007

The holiday commercial craze can sometimes take the joy out of Christmas, but through the eyes of our three year-old, we’re reminded how wonderful this season can be. On our hearth sits a miniature nativity scene with signs of Christmas discovery. The three wise men have chips on their feet from their "travels" across the rocky stone. Added to that is the recent discovery that one of the magi is missing a gift. All is evidence that Christmas should never seem old or mundane.

This was a fun and busy year. In January, we moved into our new house. Though there are still many projects left to be done, we feel wonderfully blessed with the added space, beauty and conveniences. February brought the birth of our happy little man Silas – 3 weeks after moving in!. He arrived in fine style, with a quicker and in some ways easier birth than Maggie’s. In April we took a trip to the ocean for our anniversary – with kids in tow. Over the summer, we enjoyed the SPU Writer’s conference, family camping, and attending a 100-year birthday party for Molly’s Great Aunt! In July we celebrated the birth of a new niece, sweet little Jillian Gayle Burwell. In August and September, we visited Todd’s Grandmother in Utah, shortly after the death of his Grandfather who will be missed. While we were there, we took her to see Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon – which were stunning! Molly’s Grandma Dorothy also passed away in her sleep this year, just a few days before Christmas. We know that she had a joyful reunion in heaven with Molly’s Grandfather and Dad.

It seems that every year, we pick up new interests and tasks. Todd has become involved in the local Firefighter’s Union in Maple Valley, and has also taken on some Chaplain duties. He’s been active in teaching Sunday school and preaching. Molly’s role as Mommy has been even more fun and busy with two kids who wear her out and make her laugh at the same time. They are so fun! She has also felt especially blessed as of late with good friendships and late night discussions. She’s started doing some mystery shopping and loves it. In her spare time, she’s enjoyed digging deep into some theology and discussing ideas with friends online. Both Todd and Molly have especially been challenged and loved by our Home Builders group that we meet with twice a month. We look forward to great times with our friends.

Maggie is a bright, extremely expressive, happy little girl who always keeps us in stitches. This Christmas she keeps asking us if we’re going to give Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh for His birthday. She talks up a storm, loves taking care of her brother, sings loudly, loves dancing, swings, candy and camping! She enjoys her Sunday School class and all her friends there and likes to play with her cousin Mishayla and her friend Esther. Recently we took her to her first two plays – Narnia and Sound of Music!

Silas is a happy little 10-month-old who also keeps us chuckling. He is definitely a little man, wanting to show off for us. If he notices anything he does that makes us laugh, we find him doing it much more often, from bouncing in his chair, to wagging his head back and forth and grinning – all for a little response from the audience. Our little lumberjack smiles freely to his fans and is already sporting four front teeth.

Throughout the year, we’ve enjoyed several books. Our favorite has been one written by our good friend Mike Trillo, entitled What Does God Really Want? http://www.whatdoesgodreallywant.com/ Mike does a great job of sharing the truth of God’s eagerness for friendship with us. Some other favorites have been The Supremacy of Christ in a Post-Modern World (Piper et al.), Emotionally Health Spirituality (Scazzero), Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You (Friesen et al.), as well as (of course) several marriage books.

A key passage for us this year has been Ephesians 3:16-19 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

This hit us that the love of God is not just about knowledge in our head or a belief that He loves us, but an absolute filling up of our inner beings with His love that surpasses knowledge. This includes our emotions, as well as our mind and spirit. It is one thing to believe He loves us, but we now are learning how to feel His love as well. Both are important. This kind of love provides the foundations for all of life and gives us the ability to love others. This fresh awareness and wonder of His kindness has borne the fruit of beautiful praise times together. We are awed by his new ways of showing us His love.

In the coming year, we look forward to: spending time with Grandparents, (both Todd’s dad, Richard , and his mom, Marie retired this year – Congrats!) landscape projects (Todd’s favorite), "Mommy and Me" Ballet lessons with Mishayla and Esther, an anniversary trip without children :-) and of course – more writing!

We also look forward to hearing from you! You are in our prayers and thoughts. God bless you as your Celebrate Jesus this season!

Love
Todd, Molly, Maggie & Silas

Merry Christmas Pictures 2007

2007-12-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Here are a few "Merry" Christmas pictures. For more family pictures,

and quite a few more friends pictures, check us out at facebook.com and ask to be our friend!

SNOW!!!

2007-12-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a few photos of Maggie enjoying the weather.

Fall Fun

2007-12-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Jesus and Morality

2007-11-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

By Todd

Morality is one of those “hot topics” that we see waved like a banner above many a church body. We cry out for purity among the body and lament over the rise of teenage pregnancy and STD’s. We do this because we are immersed in a culture that is saturated with immoral behavior. Consequently, the “church” has responded to correct the flaw by lifting the standard of proper behavior. We have advocated for the rights of the unborn, declared the detrimental effects of pornography, and called on our government for a higher moral standard, yet to what end? Is our desire to see greater morality alone?

When we place moral behavior on the pedestal, we may see some positive effects for a time, but it will not be lasting. We can compel others to moral behavior with the threat of discipline and enjoy the temporary fruit of peace, but it will be a false peace. Our children will temporarily display the behavior we aim for, but there will be no firm grasp, no inner desire for morality. We may be satisfied with moral conformation without ever looking at a person’s heart.

Today, there will be many moral people entering into Hell. They have sought to make morality their god. They have even endured ridicule and persecution for their odd behavior. They have felt justified in their actions, saying, “I do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do”. CS Lewis says “Duty is a crutch used in place of love”. Unfortunately, we have made our duty to morality our god and proselytize outward conformation, not inner change. Without a change of the heart, our morality is nothing but wood, hay and stubble which will vaporize in the end.

Jesus said He “must be lifted up…” (John 3:14) Have we lifted the Son of Man? To whom do we bow – good behavior or Jesus Christ? I find that in my life, I govern much of my behavior by what I think is expected of me, especially when in the company of other “moral” people. A friend of mine would say it is out of fear, and I would agree. For fear of being ostracized, I do the “right” thing, and Christ goes on un exalted in my life. I may be temporarily satisfied for choosing the right path, but for whose honor? To whom have I bowed the knee?

Enter the Christ, Who makes all the difference. When Christ is lifted up, all priorities, decisions, and judgments rest upon Him. He is exalted and everything else takes a back seat. He must increase; we must decrease as John the Baptist said. Our decisions revolve not around ourselves or others, or what we think others expect, but around Him alone.

The choice to give Christ the reigns should not be out of coercion or reluctance. No, it is out of a realization that we are in need of Him as much as we need water or food, and that life itself does not exist without Him. He is The Resurrection and The Life. We give control out of desperation to live life as He meant it to be lived. If we suddenly found ourselves at the controls of a 747 while at 20,000 feet in the air, we would eagerly hand it over to a qualified pilot out of a desire to experience life (and not death) in the near future.

Out of sheer delight in Him and desire to experience Him to a greater depth, a follower will exalt Christ. When He is exalted, moral lifestyle comes as a response of worship. Life is seen as a gift, an opportunity to display affection for Him alone. Moral behavior then becomes the byproduct of love and the effect of devotion. Morality is no longer the goal in life, but the result of chasing after the goal of knowing and loving Him.

When our lives are dictated by the presence and character of Jesus, all we do is in effort to imitate Him. His character, His love, His motivation come through us. We receive strength not by our own efforts or resolutions, but by the power He gives us. Our motive is borne out of praise for Him. As He is holy, so we desire to live out a holy life. He brings an enabling strength to be moral that we do not have on our own.

When Christ is central, morality becomes joyful expression, not dry duty. A very present strength enables the believer to stand strong and take joy in the expression; not finding frustration at every turn. When others ask, Christ is easily given as the source of that strength. In this, Christ is exalted

More Pics

2007-10-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

I am cuteness defined. Check out my thunder thighs!

Yes, sister has been having more fun with stickers!

Me and Pam's beautiful flowers!

Fun with the cousins - Mishayla and Christian!

The Futility of "Protecting God's Reputation" by pretending to be perfect (by Molly)

2007-10-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

In the past I’ve thought a lot about the verse "Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." We can be still and not do any work and God will still be exalted. We don’t have to "work" to keep up God’s reputation. He loves to use us – but He doesn’t need us because He is self-sufficient. I’ve been realizing how prideful it is to think that God needs us or that we are somehow going to damage His image if we allow anyone to see our imperfections. I get the mindset that I’d better appear like I’m doing well, whether I am or not or I’ll damage God’s reputation. Yet this is a wrong thought pattern.

I was reading in I Samuel the other day, about how the Israelites were excited because the ark of God came into the camp. They gave a great shout, the Philistines heard it and were scared – because of God. So they said to each other "We’d better fight hard" because of the ark of God. They fought hard and defeated the Israelites. On one hand you wonder - "God, Your reputation was on the line – won’t the Israelites loss make you look bad? Even if they weren’t obeying You, it seems like letting them lose damaged Your reputation with the Philistines." The Philistines obviously thought that they won by their hard fighting. Yet if you read about what happened next after they took the ark, you can see that God took care of Himself and his ark. The Philistines died and broke out into boils and had all sorts of troubles. And they knew it was because of God. After a while they worked as fast as they could to get rid of the ark – because they realized the Power behind it. And, God cared more about His children the Israelites than about His reputation. He wanted to teach them something through the loss because He loved them.

It made me think about how often my justification for appearing "good" to others is because I don’t want to damage God’s reputation. Really however, my brokenness and vulnerability before others actually helps to glorify Him. If I show others how, though I sin, He forgives and changes me – then He does get glory. This is the message of true redemption. I don’t have to appear perfect. He can get just as much (if not more) glory through my sinfulness as through my goodness. Thank You Jesus!!!

Utah Trip

2007-10-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Todd's Grandfather Verl passed away recently and Todd was able to go be with him, and his step-grandmother Rosa at the time of his death. While we are very sorry about his passing, Todd was glad to be able to be there, to spend his last hours with him, and pray with him. A few weeks later we were able to go to Utah as a family to visit Rosa and to spend some time sightseeing at Bryce and Zion Canyon with her. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Facebook

2007-09-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

We're on facebook now..... well, actually Molly is on facebook. But if you are looking for more pictures and more updates of our family etc, just check it out. It's much easier to download pictures so there are lots more. Go to facebook.com and register and then look me up and ask to be my friend (as Molly Melquist Merry). However, we'll still be updating this blog as we normally do. Hope you're having a great day!

Visiting Daddy's Fire Station

2007-09-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

My First Rice Cereal

2007-08-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

I think I like it!

Stickers

2007-08-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

by Todd

We have a sticker bandit in our house. She’s 36 inches tall and has the prettiest blond curls you’ve ever seen. You may not know where she is, but you can always tell where she has been. Icons of her presence may be in the form of Mickey Mouse, Dora, or an alphabet letter. The image is unimportant, but the fact that it is there means the world to me.

I have Goofy’s mug on my electric drill. My wife walks around with the letter “M” on her pant leg. My 6-month boy stands in his play saucer with the image of “Porky Pig” on his forehead. These are all signs of affection, signs of love, reminders that we were worthy enough be given a gift. At some point, she deemed us valuable in her sight and left us a visible token of her love.

As much of a neat-freak as I can be, I don’t run around removing these stickers like I do the muddy footprints. For, both show the signs of a person’s presence, but one is intentional love while the other is unintentional negligence.

What if we could see the stickers and footprints we have left behind? Not the stuff of paper and glue or shoes and mud, but the products of our actions, choices we have made, words we have spoken. George Bailey had the blessing of seeing what this world was like without him, something we may never see this side of eternity. Fortunately for George, and most of those who live on the silver screen, he left only good things in his wake. But the rest of us face the reality that we are sinful creatures in need of a Savior to save us from the muddy footprints we leave behind.

At any time in history, things happen because someone existed, someone left their mark. They did something, spoke something and now the effects live on, good or bad.

I once saw a man cross a secured crosswalk while shining a flashlight in the direction of all nearby drivers (mind you it was in broad daylight). His actions, I could only assume, were due to someone leaving their muddy footprint in his history book – and he would never let it happen again. Prior pain and the fear of its reoccurrence motivate a change of behavior. In the spirit of self-preservation one man hides his fears from others, or constantly talks about himself, or avoids eye contact. A mark has been left, a life has been changed.

To bring balance, I have a friend who reminds me often how much God loves me. He does this because someone has left a “sticker” in his life, a token of God’s affection. Someone made an investment and I enjoy the reward. Love and the truth of a redeeming Savior will cause one man to write notes for his wife, another to tell his kids every day how much he loves them, another to give hugs to everyone he greets, whether they are expecting it or not. By the grace of God, a life has been changed and His work continues.

Come to our house and you will see signs of love here and there. You may even leave with a few stickers of your own.

Father's Day Fun with Stickers - June, 2007

Family Camping

2007-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

We've had a wonderful and busy summer vacationing with family and friends. A couple of weeks ago we got to take our only vacation alone with our little foursome to Millersylvania State Park. The weather was perfect - the best camping weather we've ever had. It was a great time of relaxing, swimming and just being together. Here we are in front of our faithful little 70's tent trailer.

Silas and Daddy with Deep Lake in the background.
Mama and Maggie on our hike.

Fun in the Sun!

Road Trip Photos

2007-08-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Aunt Lucile's 100th birthday, a show was put together depicting the young lives of the four sisters (Lucile, Beulah, Mildred and "Gran" Margaret). Maggie (Gran's namesake) played the part of Gran. For the show she wore a dress that Gran last wore in 1915 at her dedication!

After the birthday celebration, we headed to the family cabin in the mountains above The Dalles, Oregon. Mishayla and Maggie especially enjoyed swimming in the lake and picking flowers together.

Then we were off to Pomeroy, WA to visit "the cousins". Maggie and Mishayla had so much fun with everyone... and this is only about half of them.

Last Words, Faithful Friends

2007-08-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Abiding in Christ, Part 1
by Todd

When a man has little time, he will get to the point. His words become succinct, clear, even commanding. A lifetime of wise counsel will not keep a sage from dispensing his best, especially when death is near. For three years now, Jesus has poured the core of His teachings into the eleven men who surround Him. He knows He has only a few hours to summarize years of credo. The Shepherd is about to be struck and the sheep will scatter. The loving Savior sets His own trepidation aside to ensure His friends are prepared.

He looks around the room at the eleven familiar faces. They are very ordinary men who have done the extraordinary by saying “yes” to Him. Peter, the informal leader of the group, has been hot-headed at times, even earning sharp rebukes from the Lord. His brother Andrew is just the opposite – quiet and behind the scenes. James and John were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” for their aggressive ambition. Philip lacks vision and is bent toward a “cannot do” attitude. Nathaniel continues to struggle with his prejudice views. As a tax collector, Matthew is one of the most hated in Capernaum and is frequently assumed to be taking advantage of others. Thomas is a melancholy and struggles with depression. James, son of Alphaeus, and Judas, son of James are considered nobodies, as scripture says nothing about them. Simon the Zealot is a terrorist of his day, constantly promoting a revolution against the Romans.

There is of course, the one who was not there. The one that Satan had entered; the prodigal who would never come back to the Father’s arms. He left only moments prior and at His leaving, Jesus mourned.

They have been the most persistent of students who have stood up to the rigors of public criticism, loss of social stability and family ridicule. They now sense something is near by the urgency of His words and intenseness of His eyes, but as in times past, they are clouded by confusion and expectation.

Jesus now senses the need to move on from this room of comfort, this room that in 50 days will house some of the first followers of the Way. Scanning their eyes, in hope of finding a spirit of strength and courage, He urges them, “Come now, let us leave”.

The cool night air is both refreshing and startling as the cadre shuffles onto the dusty road. These were the roads that only one week ago heard the people shout

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”

In the distance, Jesus sees the silhouette of the small Mount of Olives, where the perfect payment will begin. He walks with unwavering posture, while the disciples follow along, glancing at one another, trading comments.

He knows His time is drawing near. In spite of the horrible pain to come, the Shepherd thinks only of the sheep. His firm, authoritative voice breaks the chatter…

More Pictures

2007-06-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

At the Beach for our Anniversary - Silas was sleeping. :-)
Maggie June

Silas Don

One Bowl of Raisin Bran

2007-05-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

by Todd

Wiping the crumbs from last night’s dinner off her high-chair tray prompted me with the thought, “What can I teach her over breakfast”. Whiteboards with colored shapes, counting blocks and cards with large words scribed in red ink have become our breakfast-mates. The morning sun highlights her blonde curls as I fix the bib around her neck and she kicks her feet with delight. My planning is brief and guided by the fact that I will be walking her down the aisle much sooner than I expect.

“Today we have a new verse to memorize!” I say with a little more excitement than I would to somebody twice her height. Her spoon is eagerly dunked into the milk/raisin bran mix and in no time she has a drop of milk suspended from her little chin. She takes another bite.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah thirty, fifteen”. My words are shadowed by my own body movements, ending with a simulated pose of a strong-man showing off his biceps. I repeat this several times, while my own cereal gradually looses the perfect crunch. I explain deep theology with brief, simple statements “God wants us to rely on His strength. We are weak, He is always strong. We need to rest in Him.” I make up for lost time by chugging down a few spoonfuls of cereal, probably looking like a seagull on the beach forcing down one meal so he won’t miss the next.

Now I ask her to say it with me. Her lips attempt to form the words as she watches my mouth. A full-hearted congratulation encourages her to attempt it once more, only this time it is stifled by a few flakes of bran and a raisin in her mouth. Within minutes, she begins to link words into phrases. Her eager feet show the excitement of progress. In a few mornings she will recite it and I will respond like a fanatical bleacher fan whose home team just won the super bowl (short of the face paint and bare chest).

Am I really making a difference? Will these words bear fruit in her life? “Repentance”, “salvation”, “trust”—these are all big words for someone requiring a sippy-cup. God’s Word never returns void, I know that full well. But the greatest determining fact in how far this training goes lies not in how well it is memorized, but in how well it is demonstrated. As she recites this passage on her own, I ask myself “Am I quiet before Him?” “Do I take the time to rest?” “Have I given God the small things?”

As time progresses, I realize that each verse I instill in her heart is an opportunity for me to display how a follower of Jesus lives. This work of teaching holds us both accountable, and sets my own life as exhibit A. She looks to me as a model of Jesus and I look to Him for strength to live it out. I see now that I am both parenting and being parented; training the child and learning to be a child.

I look forward to the day I hear Him commend her “Well done, good and faithful servant”. There is a lot of work between now and then, but we will take it one bowl of raisin bran at a time.

Just a Few More of Our Cute Kids!

2007-04-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Man Born Blind

2007-03-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Mark Driscoll’s message on John 9.
by Todd

If you want to understand my encounter with Jesus you must understand my life from the very beginning. I have not always viewed myself with purpose or been grateful for the life God has given me. Having been blind from birth, I came to accept the fact that I was one of the least of God’s creatures and did not deserve the love that God seemed to readily show others. As a young boy, I wanted so much to be like all the other boys, but my blindness kept me from it. My mother would often try to keep me inside our house, in effort to shelter me form the dangers of the outside world. But I wanted so much to be like every other child. When I did make it out into the public, I could sometimes feel the uneasiness of the people around me. As awkward as this was, it was nothing compared to the mockery of other boys my age who would run up and knock me over, then flee, knowing that I could not catch them or defend myself.

In our culture, it is tradition that when a boy turns 13, he is considered a man and becomes responsible for himself and his own actions. While my parents deeply loved me, they could not give me this celebration, for I was clearly unable to live independent of them. But having a love for God and a desire to be a man of honor and integrity, I tried all that I could to support myself. No matter what I put my hand to, I could not succeed in that society, for my blindness had imprisoned the best of my intentions and rendered me to the life of a beggar. This was the only means by which I could support myself.

During those first years as a beggar, I suffered more with depression and guilt than ever before. Each unanswered plea for money erupted in me a plea to God to make me well, for I was tired of being helpless. I questioned God’s goodness more than ever in my life. It infuriated me when I would run up against other beggars who were able-bodied, but lacked the motivation and responsibility to work. I quickly learned that my begging was the most profitable when I would beg near the temple. For some reason, when people are either going to or coming away from the temple, they feel the most generous, or perhaps feel the most compelled to display their works. But even if their motive was to display their good deeds before others, I was happy to receive their money.

I could often tell when a teacher with his students would come by the temple. I would usually hear questions about the law, or consequences of evil, or behavior on the Sabbath, or such things that only a student would ask. The cadre of students would then be silent while the teacher responded. At times I could sense that my presence would bring a question from one of the students. Usually it had to do with evil or suffering in the world. With self-exaltation in his voice, I would often hear a teacher explain away the infinite workings of God with trite and finite statements. In order to explain the unexplainable, some will grasp at any straw available. At times, the group of “learners” would often hush their voices, as if I could not tell they were there or sense the ridicule of their questions. Little did they know that being blind since birth had given me better than average hearing.

As I sat begging that morning, I once again found myself in the awkward position of being the subject of another student’s question. Only this student was brash enough to directly ask his Teacher why I had been born blind. “Was it because of his sin or his parents’ sin that he was born blind?” I could hear his proud voice laced with mockery. What gall! I know full well that being a son of Adam brings consequences in life, but to say that my blindness was the result of my sin? I was blind at birth! And my parents loved God more than anyone I’ve ever known! In my younger years, I would have responded with a tongue lashing, but I had since grown tired of these foolish questions and only wished now for them to leave me alone.

It was then that I heard His voice for the first time. I could easily tell what was in a man’s heart by the sound of his voice. I would often hear pity, disgust, pride, conceit or smugness. But this time I heard none of those. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” I had never heard anyone speak this way about me before. Even my parents who loved me more than anyone at times questioned the goodness of God in making me blind. This Teacher was saying something completely different; He was saying that God had allowed my blindness so that He might display His goodness through my life. He gave me words of purpose, not of misfortune or mistake or ridicule. He gave me promise of healing not words of condemnation and guilt. I had never heard anyone say this about me before.

The grit of the sand and pebbles were grounded under His sandals as He knelt before me. I could feel his hot breath on my face. I then heard him gather up some sand into a mound on the ground then spit onto the mound. While I had often been the target of many a man’s spit, I knew that this was different. I knew that He came not with jeers and condemnation, but with love and the power to heal. With one hand on the back of my head He used the other to rub the saliva-sand mixture over my eyes and most of my face. “Go” He said, “wash in the pool of Siloam”. While I had heard the words, I could only sit their stunned by what had just happened. What was this Man doing? Had I misunderstood the love in His voice? Had I just been mocked and left their for others to point and laugh at? I expected laughter, but I heard none. In fact, I had never heard such silence near the temple before. As he helped me to my feet, I felt half confused, yet half anxious. What just happened? Why the pool of Siloam? Was He making sport of me? What was this Man doing?

I began stumbling my way in the direction of the pool. I tried to only travel in the city early in the morning or at evening, for the busyness of the people made it difficult. Among the throngs of people, I was hardly noticed, as was usually the case. With time, the help of landmarks and a few wrong turns, I eventually came to the pool of Siloam. As I crouched down, waving my arms in front of me to feel for the water’s edge, my fingers suddenly felt the coolness of the clean water. As I knelt at the stony ledge, I scooped the cool, clean water up into my face and felt the grimy grit of the sand and water cascade down my chin. The water was so refreshing, I could not help but splash it into my face again and again.

At that moment, the twinge of hope I had felt in that Man’s presence became more real than ever before. As I opened my eyes, I felt the heat of the day in a way I had never felt it before. My eyes literally hurt from the brightness of the sun and the sky and everything around me. Never had I seen such brilliance and depth and beauty in all my life! I began shouting and weeping and singing and shouting again, for I could not contain my excitement!

My excitement had begun to attract the attention of a few passersby who started gathering around me and pointing. Some of them said they had seen me at the temple begging, while others denied that I could ever have been blind. No matter how many times I tried to tell them that I had once been blind, most would not believe me. The people were so highly contested about my identity that they brought me to the religious leaders, hoping to put an end to the debate. But as these men questioned me, I began to see their hatred towards the One who had healed me. Their anger towards Him made me wish I had not see their faces. These were the “men of God” and yet they were the first ones I had ever seen such hatred in.

When they asked me what I thought of Him, I told them I thought He was a prophet, for I did not know any better. They only mocked my reply. Then they sent for my parents. Seeing my mom and dad for the first time made me weep all over again. I looked squarely into my mother’s bright eyes and all we could do was laugh and cry. For the first time, I saw the hands my father had laid over my eyes when I was a child as he pleaded to God for healing. I will never forget the joy we shared at that moment.

But our joy was shattered by the accusatory question of a Pharisee. “Is this your son?” “Is this the one you say was born blind?” “How is it he can see?” With tears and laughter, they affirmed that I was their son, and that I had been born blind, but they did not know how I had been healed. Sensing their anger toward the One who had healed me, they did not want to bring excommunication upon themselves.

The anger I had once felt toward those who mocked me came back as I heard them ridicule my parents and question me on what happened. These were the men who were supposed to love God and serve Him, yet everything I saw of them made me hot with anger. As many had done before, they accused me of sin before I was even born. Their accusation reminded me of the boys who kicked and hit me simply because I was blind and they were not. With arrogant mockery, they elevated their law and ideals above the miraculous work the Man had done in me. Some will do all they can to discredit the miraculous hand of God.

Having been thrown out by the Pharisees, my emotions came full circle. What had started as such a wonderful day was coming to a complete ruin. My eyes had been healed, and yet they revealed the hatred for the very One who brought me healing. As I shuffled down the street, trying to process all that had happened, a Man approached me from the crowds. The manner of his walk showed love and confidence and I somehow sensed that we had met before.

As soon as He spoke, I recognized Him as the One who brought me healing!
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He asked.
“Yes” I responded. “Tell me who He is”!
“You now see Him, He is now speaking with you” He replied.

At this, my knees buckled and I fell weeping at His feet. I had never known such love shown by another and I could only cling to his ankles and worship Him. The truth He spoke gave weight to the experience of my healing and it lead to a culmination of laughter mixed with tears. I will never forget the satisfaction I felt that moment as I worshipped the Son of Man who came with healing in his hands.

In the months that followed that day, I devoted myself to the teaching of the One they call Jesus. I began to understand that the physical blindness I once had was not as bad as the spiritual blindness which many choose. I eagerly told others of His teaching and of the work He did in me. Some had the faith of children and believed, some did not.

Less than six months after the day of my healing, those same Pharisees falsely accused my Lord Jesus under the cover of night. Their accusations eventually led to his crucifixion on a Roman Cross. The very hands that brought me both physical and spiritual healing were pierced, so that I might live. The God-made-Man was killed so that I might be given life.

When I tell of my Lord, I like to share the words of the prophet Isaiah, written 700 years before Jesus had yet been born:

Isa 29:18-24
“And on that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, and out of {their} gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The afflicted also shall increase their gladness in the LORD, and the needy of mankind shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless will come to an end, and the scorner will be finished, indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off; Who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate, and defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

Isa 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn {in} Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Silas Don Merry is Here!

2007-02-25T17:44:00.000-08:00

Born: February 20, 2007 11:08 PM

8 lbs 2 oz 20 inches long

Praise the Lord with us!

The Story of My Birth - by Silas Don Merry

2007-02-25T16:26:00.000-08:00

Just a Few Minutes Old!

Meeting my Big Sister Maggie

My Birth Team

Ready to Go Home!

My expected debut was February 22, 2007, but everyone thought I'd come early, and for good reason. My big sister Maggie was almost a week early and according to the docs, on average the second-born comes a week earlier than the first. But I surprised them by coming only two days early. It was a very good thing though, because they moved into a new house. The added time allowed them to get my room all ready for me. God knew what he was doing and I cooperated with Him!
At 10:00 Tuesday morning, Dr. McGoran called Mommy to find how she was doing. Having the day off, he planned a day of skiing the slopes but wanted to make sure make sure Mommy wasn't yet in labor. She felt fine and said he should go and have a good time. Once again, I surprised them. A few hours later, Mommy's water broke.
Without any contractions, Mommy wasn't sure this was the real thing, but the nurses convinced her to come to the hospital for a check-up. Pada and Grandma Linda picked up my big sister Maggie while Daddy and Mommy packed up a few things for the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 and found Grandma Merry waiting. Daddy and Mommy got settled and then walked the halls for a while to get labor moving. I wiggled and wiggled all through early labor. I was eager to come out and see them!
At 7:00 Mommy's contractions started getting harder and she moved into quiet mode. Mommy likes to talk - but during labor she turns into a quiet little mouse and barely moves. Daddy is so very good to Mommy and she leans on him for every contraction and then rests in between. They were both working hard. My friend Julianna's mommy, Andrea came and took pictures, Grandma Merry rocked the bed for Mommy and Grandma Melquist helped out when Daddy needed a break. She also knit a new beautiful blanket just for me. She finished it right after I was born!
Daddy was so glad when we got a call from Dr. McGoran. God sent a blizzard on the mountain so Dr. McGoran only skied a couple of hours and then came home. He arrived at around 6:00 or so and they were very glad to see him!
Mommy's contractions got closer and harder. At about 10:45, Dr. McGoran told Mommy that even though she was only at an 8 or 9 cm she could listen to her body and push when she was ready, because he trusted her. Dr. McGoran remembered how quickly Maggie had entered the world, so he began to get ready early. He got the nurses in, and got everything set up, but I surprised him again by coming just a little earlier than he expected. Once again, he barely had time to get his gloves on before I made my appearance.
Things got a little dramatic right then for everyone! Mommy knew it was time to push and even though she'd been a quiet little mouse, when she began to push she yelled really loud - louder than even me! She prayed aloud to Jesus then grabbed Daddy around the neck. Her grip was a little strong and unbeknownst to her, she began to choke him. Daddy was so good to her, but he knew that he had to do something when things started to go black. As Dr. McGoran was getting his gloves on and telling Mommy to take a deep breath, in hopes that she would slow down a little. (Daddy was the one who really needed the deep breath.) But Mommy knew why he was saying it and she didn't want to slow down! It all worked out and I worked out too - in just three pushes - and Dr. McGoran even got his gloves on!
I cried right away as they put me on Mommy's tummy. Daddy cried too and everyone gave a loud praise to God.
Early the next morning, Pada and Grandma Linda brought my big sister Maggie to the hospital. When she saw me, she asked right away if she could "pat" me. A little while later she wanted to hold me and give me kisses. And the kisses haven't stopped! Now I get kisses from all kinds of people!
I ate lunch as soon as I was born and I've hardly stopped eating since! I'm a great sleeper too, in fact on Thursday night I slept 10 hours in a row, waking up only two times to eat (of course). That made Daddy and Mommy very happy. They've noticed that I am a very practical little fellow. I only cry when I need something and if I don't need anything, I don't cry. They just have to figure out at times what I need.
So many friends and family have come to see me and everyone is very kind to me. I am so glad that God brought me into this world safely and I know that I will get to know Him better soon! I was named after two men who loved Him. Silas in the Bible was an evangelist and I can grow up and tell others about Jesus too. Don is my Grandpa who is in heaven and he loved Jesus very much too.
God is very good to me and here are some verses from His word that Daddy and Mommy like and think about when they think of me:
Ps 91:14-16 "Because he has loved me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him {securely} on high, because he has known My name. "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. "With a long life I will satisfy Him, and let Him behold My salvation."

Maggie and Silas Pictures

2007-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

We've been amazed at how much Maggie and Silas's newborn pictures are alike. Good thing Maggie's wearing pink so we can tell them apart!

Our New House

2007-02-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Several of you have asked for pictures of our new house so here are a few. We are very blessed and grateful.

Kitchen

Our Bedroom

Maggie's Room

Silas's Room
Living Room

We're in!

2007-01-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

We moved in last Saturday the 27th and we are so grateful to God!

The inspector came the week before and we were very surprised that he passed us. When Todd told him we were trying to get in before the baby came, he said he would try to give us some breaks and he did!

God totally blessed our moving day with friends and family. The guys worked so hard. They (and we) can't believe how much STUFF :-) we have. And I was so glad for all the help from the ladies. When you put 7 ladies together all with different decorating ideas it could get a little scary. But we actually had a great time going from room to room deciding what to do. Everyone had different ideas that they threw in and we used some of all of them. I am so happy with the way the rooms turned out. It just seemed like everyone who came had a specific job that we we needed them to do. God blessed the day and we are so grateful for our friends and our parents. (Pictures later...)

Feel free to come by and see us and we'll give you a tour. Give us a call. You are welcome anytime, though probably the later you come, the nicer it will look - there are boxes everywhere right now. :-)

Thanks for your prayers, and keep us in your prayers for Silas' arrival now too!

Here's the morning and afternoon moving crew. Thank you everyone!

Almost in!

2007-01-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

We're looking at being two or three weeks away from moving in and we can hardly wait. At the beginning of February Molly will be "in her dates" for Silas' arrival so please pray for God's timing in the move and the birth. Here are a few more pictures of the house. - Great room, dining and kitchen, Silas' room and bonus room. Keep us in your prayers!

2006 Merry Christmas Letter

2006-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas everyone! Wow has this year gone by fast! Again, we find ourselves grateful to God for His goodness and faithfulness in every way.

Of course, the most exciting news to share is the expected arrival of Silas Don Merry (mid February 2007). He’s already proved to be an active little boy (Molly knows this well!) He has been named after two great men: Silas of the New Testament - a "leading man" in the early church, and Don Melquist, Molly’s Dad - a well-respected man, father and husband.

The second major event is a move to our new house in January 2007. We sub-divided our property earlier this year and are building a house on the other half. Our new house will be much bigger and have a more "kid-friendly" yard. As we write this letter, we are finishing up with the interior paint. We feel blessed with the progress, considering we poured our footings the last week of June. It’s been fun to keep a list of all the ways God has blessed the building project.

We had quite a few highlights this year. In March we went on a trip with Todd's mom to visit his Grandparents, whom we had not seen for many years. We had a great time catching up with them and enjoyed getting to know them. We enjoyed spending time with Todd's mom too. Maggie loves "Grandma Myrnie".

In April we took a trip with Todd's Dad and Step-Mom to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary. They said that baby-sitting a happy little granddaughter in a tropical location really is a great vacation. While they occupied Maggie, we did some sightseeing and island activities that reminded us of our honeymoon. Each evening we'd meet up for dinner together and share about the day. Hard to say who had more fun, "Pada" and Grandma Linda, Maggie or us. We felt very blessed.

A few days after we arrived home Molly had the privilege of emceeing at a ladies retreat put on by our church. The fellowship was very special, both with the ladies and the Lord. The speaker, Shannon Woodward who has recently authored the book "A Whisper in Winter" was wonderful. Molly was able to spend some time relaxing alone with God. Two weeks later, she was able to attend the birth of Julianna Luraghi, which was very special. Ed and Andrea are happy and proud parents.

In May we attended a writer’s conference at SPU. God renewed our vision for writing and brought us into contact with others who enjoy writing for Him. While we have had to put our book on hold while building the house, we are looking forward to writing full force again after things settle down with Silas and the house.

June brought the pouring of the footings for the house and the news of a new little one - all on the same eventful day! What a great memory! We also took a trip to Pomeroy, WA where we caught up with relatives. Maggie enjoyed playing with her many little second cousins.
Summer and fall brought lots of weddings of friends and relatives. Julian and Allison (Myers) Hurst, Jeff & Mary Hawkinson, Jeremy and Julie (Cole) Mandery, Chris and Ruth Rogers, Eric and Chelsea Behrens, Osi and Alicia Luraghi, Dan and Kaitlin (Walsh) Morris, Johnny and Lisa Luraghi and David and Andrea (Davidson) Brown. It’s always a blessing to see friends commit to one another for life. We had the privilege of being attendants in Johnny and Lisa's wedding as well as being able to share their story during the ceremony. We are so happy to see them together and to see what God has done in their lives.

We had our annual campout with friends in July and went camping with Molly's Mom to Lake Easton in August. Maggie loves camping, swimming and hanging out with everyone. While camping, we practiced our Geocaching skills. Todd has really gotten into this "treasure-hunting" activity.

In October we got a pleasant surprise. Todd's old truck had more than 300,000 miles on it and he was long overdue for a new one. We were able to find one for a great price, and the dealership was running a promotional deal of a free cruise. So we took a 4 night cruise to Catalina Island and Mexico. It was a wonderful experience and perfect timing. We enjoyed relaxing together, reading and sightseeing. We got to spend some time listening to teaching tapes and doing Bible Studies we wanted to get caught up on together. Molly's favorite part freedom from cooking - and the food was wonderful! Maggie did great at home with Grandma Melquist, and also spent some time with Grandma Merry, and Pada and Grandma Linda. When we came back she was thrilled to see us and adjusted very well. We were grateful to God for a great trip.

Todd: Todd has spent much of his time working on details and hiring for the house. While he has learned a lot, he very much looks forward to moving in and being done! He continues to enjoy work at Maple Valley Fire, preaching at various churches occasionally, and teaching youth and adult Sunday school at our church. This fall he has been team teaching with Jared Burwell and Jesse Savage on apologetics. It is always challenging and exciting. He continues to facilitate a Home Builders Bible Study we have in our home. We have wonderful times of fellowship and have really bonded with those who come.

Molly: Molly loves being at home, loving Todd and Maggie, thinking about a new baby boy and looking forward to decorating a new house. She's been studying some about raising boys since she grew up in an all-girl family. She is very glad for Todd’s perspective and is looking forward to the challenge and the fun of raising Silas. Several friends and family members have also had babies this year, or are expecting and it's fun to have so many to share the experience with. We are glad that others get to have this joy too. Molly also joined a Bible Study called "Jesus on Leadership" and thoroughly enjoyed understanding gifting and temperaments and how we can best serve. It was very impacting.

Maggie: Maggie is an absolutely delightful little doll of a two year old. She is talking up a storm. We were helping a friend out who is studying child behavior and one of the questions had to do with how many words your child knows. We began to count and gave up at about 600! She is definitely a talker and loves to communicate. We can't get enough of her. Her maternal instincts have given her practice for Silas’ arrival. As a "mother hen" around the house, she makes sure each of her dolls gets the care (naps, food and stroller rides) they need. She has also shown a real ambition for singing, dancing and anything to do with Curious George. As you can see by the rest of our blog, we never tire of taking pictures of our "little lady".

Spiritual Lessons: We read some great books this year! A few we recommend are Safely Home (fiction) by Randy Alcorn and The Heavenly Man (non-fiction) by Brother Yun. These are two amazing books about persecuted Christians in China. The Heavenly Man is one that we wish we could give to every single one of you. Brother Yun is a leader in the home-church movement and an incredible evangelist. God has totally used him to spread the Word in China and has done some amazing miracles in his life. It changed the way we look at the world and our lifestyle. Driven by Eternity, by John Bevere, has caused us to think about evangelism and evaluate our own salvation. Bevere shares that obedience to Christ in action and attitude is what brings assurance, not just a one-time salvation experience followed by lukewarm Christianity. We've also enjoyed downloading sermons by John Piper, Andy Stanley and Mark Driscoll. Rich and Anna gave Todd an mp3 player for his birthday and he loves listening to these great preachers.

A verse that has been special to us this year is "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps 46:10. We've been thinking about the concept that "God will be exalted" because He is God, not because of our small efforts to be righteous. It is so easy to think we are being responsible, when we obsessively focus as Oswald Chambers says "on our own personal whiteness". Our commitment to responsible standards is not as important as our relationship with Him, which will bring about true holiness from the inside out.

If there is one thing that describes our year, it has to be the word "gratefulness". We feel so incredibly blessed by God with all he has given us, both small and great. With a baby boy coming, a larger and newer house in the future, several great vacations and the joy of family and friends, we feel overwhelmed by what He has given us. We choose to hold all things loosely and know that He can give and take away at His prerogative. His character is always good and righteous, whether we are experiencing plenty or want. God has shown us that it is not because of us or our goodness, but because of HIM. Todd has worked hard on the house, but God has reminded us it is not because of our own effort but because of His mercy. Because of this, another verse of scripture that has stood out to us this year is:

Psalm 44:3
"It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them."

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. May this season remind us all of the God who became Man and "walked among us". We'd love to hear from you, so feel free to call, or e-mail - deuteronomy11@juno.com. You are all special to us.

Merry Christmas!
Todd, Molly, Maggie (and Silas)

Christmas 2006 Collages (Click on Collages to Enlarge)

2006-12-14T19:16:00.000-08:00

^ Our Little Family ^

^Our Extended Family ^

^ Our Fun Vacations ^

Cruise, Camping, Hawaii, Cousins, and Grandpa Verl & Rosa

^ Friendship! ^

^ Babies, Weddings & Friends ^
Little Samuel Savage, Little Juliana Luraghi, John & Lisa Luraghi, Eric & Chelsea Behrens, Dan & Kaitlin Morris, Osi & Alisha Luraghi, Chris & Ruth Rogers, Julian & Allison Hurst, Jeremy & Julie Mandery

For more fun pictures, visit the rest of our blog!

Maggie & Friends

2006-11-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Maggie & Mishayla (left)

Maggie & Julianna Luraghi

50's Girl (left)

Our friends Osi and Alisha Luraghi had an open house / harvest party. Todd was working but, Maggie and Silas and I all went and enjoyed ourselves. Maggie was a 50's girl and my growing belly didn't give me as many options, but pumpkin came to mind and worked out just fine!

Maggie Pictures!

2006-11-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Maggie in a dress we bought in Mexico - and two other just for fun shots. :-)

Our Cruise Last Month

2006-11-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Amazing Food

Our Ship
Catalina Island

Beautiful Sunsets

We were so blessed and grateful to God to get to go on a free cruise last month. We enjoyed delicious food (anytime and all the time), lots of rest, entertainment and just time to talk and read and be together. We spent some time in Bible Study and listening to teaching tapes too, which was great. We got to see Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico.

The hardest part was leaving Maggie (of course) but we were so proud of her. She transitioned beautifully both when we left and when we came back and enjoyed spending time with Grandma Melquist, Grandma Merry and Pada and Grandma Linda. We were really surprised (and thankful) with how well she did. It came at the perfect timing because this is our first trip away since Maggie has been born, and with our new baby Silas on the way, it will probably be the last for a long time.

We are very grateful for God's blessing!

"Safely Home" - A great book

2006-10-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, I read Safely Home by Randy Alcorn. Living in the wealthiest, most comfortable nation in the world, causes me to forget the trials that our brothers and sisters face around the world. Alcorn does a fantastic job of presenting the daily lives of God's faithful who suffer for their love for Him and at the same time reveals the incredible award that awaits them on the other side. "Real gold does not fear fire" is one of the Chinese proverbs often spoken by Li Quan. The fire of persecution has purified the church in China and many other countries closed to the Gospel. After reading this book, I consider how I would fare while enduring the persecutions they face on a daily basis. I thank those who cause us to ask these questions.

Pleeeeeaase Daddy?

2006-10-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, no new earth shattering news, but we just had to add this picture!

Building the Porch

2006-10-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

The porch is just about finished, thanks to Dad. We recently got the front door in and the siding should be done, and the cabinets installed next week!

It's a Boy!

2006-10-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we found out that our baby is going to be a BOY! We are very excited and want to find a name soon. As you can see from the wedding shots, we are "expanding" and are 5 months along. Maggie talks about being a "big sister" and having a "baby brother". We recently bought her a baby doll and it's so fun to see her carrying her around, feeding her, putting her to "sweep" with Monkey, pushing her in her stroller and even bossing her around. :-) She will definitely be an attentive big sister.

God's Character

2006-10-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

Todd is still enjoying teaching Sunday School and recently the topic was on why God lets evil happen in this world. We've felt so incredibly blessed by God recently, with a new baby and new house and even a new truck and a free cruise coming up. We are so blessed by each other, our family and friends and realize the gift of these relationships. But we want to love God for who He is, not just what He gives us and have been giving a lot of thought and study to praising Him and enjoying His character even in the face of disaster. The recent anniversary of 9-11 has reminded us that we need to praise Him in all things, and His character is always, good, righteous and loving, no matter what our circumstances or what events come into life. God's willingness to let evil sometimes happen in this world is just as much of a part of His character, and accepting this, and loving Him with all of our heart is definitely something that we've been thinking about. We are grateful for every part of who God is and want to praise Him in all circumstances. He is always GOOD!

John & Lisa's Wedding

2006-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

We recently had the privilege of being in our friends' John & Lisa Luraghi's wedding. It was such a wonderful day and we enjoyed it thoroughly. We are so proud to have such great friends who have honored God in their relationship.

Progress!

2006-10-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's so fun to see the house progress. There are a couple more outdoor things to do and then all we have left is indoor projects like painting, installing cabinets, and flooring. We are so looking forward to moving in. Building a house is exciting, but also exhausting and we'll be looking forward to a little less busyness! However, we are very grateful and know we are blessed.

"Run so as to get the prize..."

2006-09-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

Now that Maggie has her running legs, Mishayla challenged her to a big race. The "M & M" girls sure do like hanging out together!

Camping at Lake Easton

2006-09-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we spent a few days at Lake Easton, just east of Snoqualmie Pass. Our mornings began with pancakes, sausage, eggs and coffee all made over the fire (makes you hungry just hearing about it, huh?). While breakfast was cooking, Maggie would read books with Grandma Melquist by the fire. We visited the Historical Railyard in Cle Elum and even paddled our raft across Lake Easton. Everytime we go camping we wish for more.

A Trip to the Zoo!

2006-09-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

The girls headed out to Point Defiance Zoo with Grandma Merry and Grandma Melquist. Maggie really liked the big colorful birds and the bears ("roar" she says). Here she is with Grandma Merry.

More Progress on the House!

2006-09-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

We've been neglectful in posting updates on our house. The last few weeks have been extremely productive! Bert the Plumber did a great job, Matt with Heritage took care of the HVAC, and our friends Ed and John did an awesome job with the electrical! Next week insulation should be complete and drywall begins! This project has certainly been time-consuming, but we've also enjoyed the progress. God has been very good to us.

The Joys and Trials of Childhood

2006-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Maggie recently informed us that yogurt is good for the health of your hair. And we thought it was Mayonaise! As you can also see, our weekend of camping didn't end without Maggie taking a header on the pavement. In spite of this, she still had a great time. Here she is showing off her battle wound.

It's starting to look like a house!

2006-08-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Jesse and the crew have done an awesome job! It's been great having their knowledge and expertise. The trusses are complete and the sheeting will begin soon. The plumber is done with the first floor in only 3 days. We continue to thank God for His blessing on this project!

Camping at Lake Wenatchee!

2006-08-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we enjoyed a great time with friends at the Lake! This trip is always a highlight of the Summer. We are grateful for our many good friends and the great times we have swimming, jet skiing, and talking around the campfire. Of course, no trip to Lake Wenatchee is complete without a visit to the "Hat Shop" at Leavenworth.

Pouring the Garage Floor

2006-07-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here we are pouring the garage floor on Tuesday. Thanks again to the many hands: Dad, Bert, George and Rick. Maggie even got to leave behind her stamp of approval!

Baby Merry!

2006-07-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to update and to let you know that we are expecting again. Baby Merry should arrive sometime around February 22, 2007. We are so excited and grateful to God. Ask Maggie to say "baby" the next time you see her. Rejoice with us!

Here are a few July 4th pics. Enjoy!

Foundation is Complete!

2006-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

It was a whirlwind of a week! Monday we poured our footings, Friday we poured the walls. Saturday we stripped the panels. Thanks again to: Rick, Drew, John, Jacob, Daniel and Tim. We feel very blessed to see so much progress.

Pouring the Footings

2006-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the extra hands, we poured our footings on the hottest day this year! Rick's extpertise and vocal encouragements ("Let's go, Let's go, Let's go!"), helped us to stay ahead of the heat. Special thanks to Dad, Darby, Jerry, Jake, John and Kelly. Here's a couple shots of our smallest helper. Thanks Grandma Merry for the Dump Truck!

Setting Forms!

2006-06-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Here we are setting forms for the footings! Thanks to Rick, Darby and Patrick, we were able to build everything in 3 days. The concrete comes on Monday!

Happy Father's Day!!

2006-06-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Maggie and Daddy on Father's day.

The Faith of the Canaanite Woman

2006-06-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

by Todd

Very few can understand the heart of a mother whose child is ill. Many less can know what it means to have a daughter possessed by an evil spirit. Every shriek and cry brought a searing pain to the heart of this poor woman. This child had become known among the people as “the possessed girl” and mothers warned their children to not join her in game or take part in any activity with her. For a daughter such as she, only her mother displayed a heart of healing, hope and love. Each hesitant wag of the priest’s head only cemented her desperate plight for her daughter’s freedom. Then, she heard about the One they called “Jesus”. “Could He be the Messiah?” they would ask. Hearing of His works, seeing those who were healed gave her new hope for her beloved daughter. With an anxious heart and visions of a daughter set free, she stumbled toward Him as the crowd went by.

Great pain brings heroic acts for relief. Throwing herself at the feet of the Messiah, she begged for freedom from bondage for her little girl. Waiting in expectation, she heard nothing from Him. Again she cried to Him, but He did not answer. At last, His disciples, embarrassed by the attention and full-headed from belonging to such a sought-after One, advised Him to send her away. Finally the silence was broken by His reply “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”. Many had slighted her for her nationality, though she didn’t expect to hear this from Christ. Still, her faith knew no limits. A second time, she pleaded with Him “Lord, help me!”. His response seemed to shut the door all the harder in her face “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs”. Christ created a test whereby many would have left in disappointment and frustration. But not this mother.

Some are willing to ask, few are willing to beg, and only the desperate can find the composure to grovel. When the door had been slammed tight and the window shut, she saw a glimmer of hope in the smallest of cracks. Moved by deep love for her daughter, knowing no limit to her own dignity, having the hope to see beyond reality, she found the path whereby freedom would come. In desperateness, she buried her face in His feet and cried out the words “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Her reply silenced some and brought snickers of laughter from others. How low was this woman willing to go? Didn’t she hear Him the first time? Like a salve to the most painful of wounds, she heard the words “Woman you have great faith! Your request is granted.” Flooded by the emotions of relief, sorrow, gratitude and excitement, she turned her head upward, looking into His own tear-stained face. For many have come to Him, asking for healing or wisdom, but few are willing to display complete humility before Him. Few are willing to be as dogs before their Master.

“He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…to comfort all who mourn…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Isaiah 61

Welcome to our Blog!

2006-05-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting our Blog! We look forward to posting our musings and hearing yours. We live in Renton, WA with our beautiful little girl Maggie. Todd works as a Firefighter in Maple Valley while Molly keeps things in order as a full-time Homemaker. We enjoy writing in our spare time and are currently working on a relationship/marriage preparation book for teens. Thanks again for visiting!