Lazy Bag of Bones

I have officially declared today, "Lazy Bag of Bones" Day in the Larson home. Mama felt a little too adventurous yesterday, and swept and mopped the kitchen. For a normal Mama, even a not preggo Mama this would be no big deal, but for some reason my lower back is not the easiest to "work with" - LITERALLY - when pregnant! So I overdid it yesterday.

The girls and I had a nice pleasant morning. LOTS of strings of fellowship tied this morning! We ate breakfast, had quiet time (Mama reads the Bible, and the girls look at books quietly, or play with a toy - quietly), and just played and rough housed...LOTS of tickling and laughing. A very good, RESTFUL morning with no requirements (except for when the girls decided to dump their toy box, then we all cleaned up).

I had quite the interesting conversation with Ruth this morning. We were talking about the Baby, and Ruth knows Mama will be nursing the Baby - she remembers me nursing Shalom. She and I had previously had a conversation about how she would be able to nurse a baby when she got big and got married (she said, "Big like Uncle chris and Aunt Allison?"). Today we kind of revisited that conversation, but she decided to enlighten me and tell me that God would tell her when she was ready to be married!!!

Enjoy pictures from our morning together!






As a closing note, please remember my friend's Dad in prayer. I received this in an email this morning. I can't remember if Mr. Morris is saved or not.

Saturday night my mom and i drove to my dad's house to check on him since he had been coming down with a cold two days prior and he wasn't answering his phone. we found him on the floor, semi-conscious. We called the ambulance and i was amazed at how quickly they arrived! he was taken to the ER and is now in the ICU. Tests have shown that he was immobilizes for at least 24 hrs before we found him. we still have no idea how he go so sick so very fast. he has severe pneumonia that has led to septic shock and multiple organ failure. despite all of this he has shown some signs of improvement over the last day and a half. they have reduced some of his original meds and his sugar levels have stabilized. our primary concern is for his kidneys. they had shut down but are functioning now. tomorrow they will test again to determine if dialysis is necessary. because he is on a respirator and sedated we have not had any communication with him. this is very hard as we have no idea how much he hears and understands his surroundings. please join us in praying for healing, peace and patience.

My Girls : They Love Each Other

Both Ruth and Shalom are holding their toy version of a camera. Just moments before, Shalom had hers to her cheek saying over and over "Smile!" and "Nice!"

It doesn't look like it, but Ruth was gripping Shalom's shoulders, but Shalom rose to the occasion with her "smile."

She thought I said "snarl", not "smile!"

Some Examples of God's Goodness

There was a knock on our door today. One of the guys that does our pick-ups stood there holding a crate of milk products for our family. Inside the crate was two gallons of skim milk (that Josh is going to use to make yogurt), at least 10 little cups of strawberry yogurt, and 4 cups of peach yogurt, a half gallon of Egg Nog (which is ALL Josh's) and a whole gallon of chocolate milk. Thank you, Lord.

The Sunday before Christmas, Andy Merrick's brother Chris came to our front door. His church gave him several Thanksgiving meals to give to missionary families that he knew of...so we were given a whole turkey, instant stuffing, instant potatoes, a bag of rolls to brown in the over, some applesauce, and a box of brownie mix! Thank you, Lord!

A friend here at CMTS works at a local grocery store (her husband is Josh's boss in the shop). Because she is a worker, she was given a coupon to get either a 15 dollar turkey, or $15 off the purchase of a larger turkey. She had already bought a turkey, and wanted to get us a turkey using the coupon. She dropped off 2 halves of a 26 pound turkey! Thank you, Lord!

After Thanksgiving, we were given the remnants to 2 - 24 pound turkeys - plus turkey stock. Thank you, Lord!

I now have almost 2 gallons of turkey stock in my fridge waiting to go thru the canner. Thank you, Lord!

After sending out our Christmas letter (the second or third post in December), someone wrote in their Christmas letter a verse from the Bible that had been going thru my head while typing and editing Josh's letter.

• I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
  Psalm 37:24-26 (in Context)

If this post doesn't make sense, take a look at our Christmas letter, and you may get a better picture of what I am trying to say.

Merry Christmas from the Larsons (a little late!)

Edit to Add: You will want to turn off the music at the bottom of the page.

Christmas in Reverse? (well, the pictures are anyway!)

Shalom liked her new Baby from Great-Grama T!

The girls with their new Babies from Great-Grama T.

Our "low-budget" Christmas tree.

Shalom and Ruth helped decorate the "tree."

Grandma Larson got us some plastic stick-on decorations, which included a fully decorated tree. The girls and their Papa thought it could do with more decorations, so they added some "snow" to the tree.

We had a very nice day together. We all woke up about 7:30 (um...Ruth considers that sleeping in!), and then got dressed. While breakfast was baking (an egg bake. It had shredded cheese on the bottom, eggs in the middle, and more cheese on top. Bake it for 30 minutes at 350, and there is breakfast. Yes, it really is that simple!), we read the story of Jesus' birth. After breakfast, we read about his death and resurrection. In our family, the important part for us is what Jesus did for us in his entire life...not just the birth.

After reading about Jesus, we "put up and decorated" our Christmas tree. Then the girls opened their gifts from Great-Grama Taylor. They each got a baby doll (I am noticing a theme here!!!). As soon as Shalom got the wrapping off of her gift, she said in a high pitch voice "BEBE!!!" I think she liked it...she carried it around til naptime, and then slept with it!

By the way (on a non-christmasy note), Shalom is learning new words by the hour it seems. We JUST (as in while I was trying to type this out) went through a book on shapes, she said in rectangle!!! Yep...this is considered bragging, although I didn't do anything but tell her what the shape was!

A Visit with a Friend + Family pics

First family photo in several months...my girls are SO BIG!!!

For the Grandparents - by the way, this is Shalom's "cheese face"...she just started it in the last month or so.

In case you thought I was was exaggerating...

I thought I would give you a close-up of my Beauties!

A family pic with Debi in it. Debi and I realized we have known each other for many many moons...YEAR in fact - seven of them. We were roommates in Bible School for a year, and then she showed up at Friend Ships...and helped set me and Josh up together! We have been thru a whole lot together - laughter, tears, frustrations and joys.

I love Debi Stout! (Josh does too, I don't know why he is so serious in the pic!)

Merry Christmas from the Larson Family

December, ‘08
Hello All!
Merry Christmas from the Larsons!
I have had a desire to write this newsletter for quite some time now. I was hoping to print out something with pictures and fancy trim, but finances have not been available for that.
I don’t normally speak of our finances to anyone. It is something Rebekah and I try not to speak of, because we do not wish to make anyone feel pressured to support us…or to give because they feel sorry for us.
But…well, I have been a missionary for over five (5) years now. And there are times when I feel so…???…so grateful to God… There are times when it seems like God wants to make sure we know that He is in control and that we are right where He wants us. These last few months have been one of those times.
May I share with you a little of these last few months, so that we can reaffirm to you that our Lord is still on the throne and He still takes care of His children?
Finances have been low for quite some time now, and we have cut our spending as low as possible. So low, in fact, that we have not bought meat for…Boy, quite some time. We didn’t share this with anyone though.
It wasn’t even a month after we used up the last of our meat from the fridge that I came across a large amount of canned tuna that had been discarded, I said, “Thank you, God.” and took it home. About a month or two ago, a friend knocked on our door with a bag full of ground pork, sausages and bacon. Thanks, God. Shortly after that, another friend stopped us alongside the road and gave us a bunch of bread. Thanks, God. And again, someone else gave us a bag of hamburger, bacon and sausages. And recently we were given quite a bit of turkey. Wow, God. Wow…thanks! So as of right now, there is more variety and quantity of meats in out freezer than I have ever had before!
As I sit here trying to compose this letter, I feel blown away by God’s love for me and the family He has given me.
I could go on and on and tell you about so many ways my Lord provides for us, the Larson family - but there just isn’t enough paper…or printer ink for that!
I think the less a person has or possesses, the more grateful he is for the plenty God does give him. At least that is how it is with me anyway. God is good.
I hope this has encouraged you to keeps on doing what God has for you to do. He does provide for His work to be accomplished. Amen?!!??!
Our girls are growing and learning very quickly. Boy, they’re cute! Rebekah tries to keep our blog updated, so that you, our friends and family, can see what we are up to if you wish.
Rebekah is pregnant and due around the middle of June. Boy, Ruth - our first - is such a joy and pleasure, then Shalom came and doubled that! It is hard to imagine having three little buddies and helpers! God is SO good.
Work is busy as always. The office says this is our slow season?!?!? I’m not sure why they say that. The shop still has a nice long list of cars to work on. Maybe it is wishful thinking on their part?!!? In the last six months we have packed two containers for Ghana, one for Liberia, one for Honduras, and Haiti. We have also sent off two or three school buses (each) packed full of stuff for Haiti and Belize. Our loaner cars have been coming and going so much I can’t keep track of them. Fortunately, it is not my job or I would be even balder than I already am. The cars we purchase and repair for people in ministry - if I were to guess how many we work on in the shop, I would say it was 2 - 5 a month. Then there are always landscaping projects going on. And the 10 - day Mexico trips over Thanksgiving and Easter. As you can see, there is plenty of work to keep a fellow busy!
Thank you for your prayers for us - and your support of us - as we continue to serve our Lord here at CMTS.
Please feel free to keep up with us on our blog or write to us any time you wish.

Love

Joshua, Rebekah, Ruth, Shalom and “Little Tyke”

larsonlog.blogspot.com
Joshs_Rebekah@yahoo.com

The Larson Family
321 Focht Rd.
Bernville, PA 19506