Long Time No Write

Hello dear friends and readers,

I apologize for the lack of writing on this blog – my mind and time has been rather consumed as of late with the many different events and projects going on at the moment.

1.  My sister-in-law came for a visit!  In May, Angie and I planned to surprise my husband Joe and it went off without a hitch – he had no idea!  It was so great to have her out from B.C. and spend time with her – the kids loved having her around too! 

2.  My little sister gave birth to twins on June 8th!!  I am so excited to be an Auntie to these precious little babies – my nephew Mason Carter and my neice Ainsley Sage.  I just wish they lived next door instead of a 45 minute drive away so that I could go squish them whenever I wanted!

3.  My little brother is getting married!!  In February, my brother finally proposed to his long-time girlfriend, who has felt like she was a part of our family for a long time already and they are getting married on August 21st.  We are all very excited for them and looking forward to the wedding.  It’s a busy time for our family with many bridal and baby showers happening all at the same time!

4.  I’m trying to live a healthier lifestyle.  Myself and a few friends have started our own little fitness club, for lack of a better term, where we are trying to implement healthier choices in the way we eat, move, and think.  We are going to try to add one new healthy habit in each of those three categories each month and keep each other accountable.  This month we are working on eating more fruits & vegetables, stretching, and having gratitude.  In addition to these, I’m trying to drink more water and go for walks more often.  I bought a pedometer to track my steps and have set a goal of 10,000 steps per day, but I’ve only reached it once in the last 2 weeks – ha!  Overall though, I am feeling good about the small changes I’m making and setting my sights on long term results that last throughout my life.

5.  We’re thinking about building a house!   When we bought the house we are currently living in, it came with a double-wide lot, so we’ve had this big empty patch of grass next to us that’s just been begging to be developed for some useful purpose.  We have agonized over what to do with this lot and have wanted to be wise with how we use this resource that God has blessed us with.  We are looking into what it would take to subdivide our property into two separate lots so that we could potentially build a house and seeing if we can afford what it would cost to go through with such a big project!  I’ve been making many phone calls and emails, doing research on the internet, and drawing up potential plans.  I waver between excitement and dread and we are just praying for God to lead us perfectly in all the decisions regarding this possible endeavor.  If we were to go through with it, the plan would be to move into the new house and rent out our current house.

6.  We’re thinking about adoption!  I’ve been on a personal journey with discovering the heart of God for the orphan over the last couple of years and we find ourselves being drawn more to the possibility of adopting ourselves.  While the reality of this dream may in actuality be years down the road yet, it is something that is continually stirring in my heart and something that we are slowly working towards.  It is difficult to trust God with the timing of this, as well as the how and where and who and all the other questions that inevitably come with such a life-changing decision.  In the mean-time, I am sowing “adoption seeds” by giving to other people’s adoptions and sponsoring children and doing whatever the Lord leads us to do for the cause of the orphan across the earth. 

7.  We’re playing outside and don’t have as much time for blogging.   With summer upon us, Justice could spend all day, every day outside!  He’s constantly begging to go play in the “back yard”, on the slide, or go for a walk in the stroller.  We discovered a new park nearby too, so we’ve been enjoying going there and watching Justice learn new things on the play structure.  Rayah simply loves the swing and kicking her legs!

        

The Ultimate Blog After-Party!

So, I totally had more fun at the Ultimate Blog Party than I was expecting!  I didn’t really know what to expect, seeing as it was my first time participating, but I really loved getting some new visitors to my site and then visiting all of their sites.  I felt affirmed and loved by all the sweet comments and I look forward to partying again next year!

For the Ultimate Blog After-Party, I’m going to share with you some new blogs I discovered…

Awakening Purpose, Passion and Purity is a blog about rediscovering the joy of marriage in a world where marriages are continually falling apart.  This blog is written by Esther, who has another blog, A Spoonful of Sugar, which is “sweetening your day with laughter, inspiration & hope”.  Coincidentally, Esther is also the winner of the draw for the $15 Starbucks card – congratulations!!

My Freshly Brewed Life is written by Barbie,  Christian mom to four kids, who’s desire is to be “rooted and grounded in the marvelous love of God”.  I loved discovering another singer and intercessor at a house of prayer!

Joyeful is a Christian mom to 4 kids (one is still baking in the oven) and is in love with Jesus, which totally comes through in her writing.  She has two blogs as well, her personal blog, The Joyeful Journey, and a blog with conversations between her and God that we get to eavesdrop in on, called Dropping Eaves.

Lastly, I discovered the blog Impress Your Kids, which has crafts and activities to help us moms teach our kids about God and impress His Word on their hearts.  I’m really excited about this one, as they have lots of creative ideas!

Thanks for partying with me here at Echoing Him!

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010

I’m sort of late joining in, but I figured I would try to participate in this year’s Ultimate Blog Party, hosted by 5MinutesForMom.com!  Essentially, it’s just an opportunity for bloggers to promote their blogs, visit other people’s blogs, get to know new people, get new visitors to their sites, win prizes, and just have fun! 

So allow me to introduce myself…

1. My name is Jacquie and I have been married to my wonderful husband Joe 5 years this past January.
2. I have two of the cutest kids ever – my son Justice, who is 2 years old and my daughter Rayah, who will soon be 6 months.  While mothering is one of the hardest things I have ever done, it is also the most rewarding and it is making me a better person.
3. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I truly love it here, even though I could definitely do without the -40C winters!
4. I am a computer programmer by trade, but am currently on my 1-year long maternity leave (a sweet benefit of living in Canada!).
5. I have been blogging on and off for about 5 years at several different locations before finally ending up here at www.echoinghim.com. 
6. I love Jesus and am eagerly awaiting His second coming to the earth!  Woohoo!  I think the Bible is an amazing book, as the very words of God to mankind and the story it tells is so dramatic and exciting, so I am looking forward to the fulfillment of this grand story and hope I am on the earth when it all happens.
7. I think prayer is the greatest way we can impact our world, so I love being part of Sanctuary House of Prayer, where we get to intercede to God for Him to come and transform our hearts & our city with His love and power.  I also created a prayer blog called Prayer Fuel where I write prayers for needs around the earth.
8. I love Starbucks Cinnamon Dolcé lattes, McDonald’s fries, cottage cheese rolls, sweet potato fries, hot spinach & artichokes with cheese dip, Barq’s rootbeer, and milk!
9. I love writing, reading, singing, playing piano, cooking, and social networking.
10. I am passionate about seeing God bring justice to the earth – life for unborn babies, adoption for the orphan, freedom for those caught in human trafficking, provision to the poor, protection to the persecuted, healing for the sick, peace for the war-torn, etc. etc.

So, now that you know a little bit about me, feel free to browse around, leave a comment and introduce yourself!

I will also be giving away a prize – a $15 CDN Starbucks card (I would expect it would still work in the USA, but I don’t actually know for sure).  To participate, you can leave a comment to be entered in the draw.  You can leave an additional comment if you follow me on twitter (@echoinghim) and/or if you post a link to this post on twitter or on facebook.  I will announce the winner on April 17th on this blog and the winner will have 48 hours to contact me so I can get your mailing info.

As for the prizes that I would love to win from the US/Canadian list, here are my top three picks:

1.  USC 11 – Win a $50 gift certificate good towards any purchase in my Etsy shop or my website. Provided by: Priddy Creations Custom Designs Follow here: Priddy Creationsor Visit Our Fan Page: Priddy Creations Custom Designs
2.  USC 43 – Prize value: $100. One winner gets to choose 3 meal time plate sets – which includes a personalized plate with coordinated personalized placemat. Provided by: Olive Kids Direct, LLC Follow here: olivekids or Visit Our Fan Page: Olive Kids
3.  USC 57 – One winner will choose a pair of children’s shoes from Eleven Collection! Provided by: Jamaise @ Wishing Penny Follow here: Jamaise or Visit Our Fan Page: Jamaise Wilson

If these prizes are all taken, I would also go for any of the Amazon gift cards (8, 36, 37, 40, 44), cash prizes (35, 39), or the Bath & Body Works gift card (63).

Thanks for visiting!

The Fear of Pain

I’ve written several posts here about how the Lord has been speaking to me and setting me free in the area of fear.  Recently, my husband Joe and I spent some strategic, focused time in prayer to seek the Lord for greater freedom and deliverance in areas of our lives where we were feeling oppressed or attacked by the enemy, so of course, on one of these nights we talked about the issue of fear.  Joe asked me to describe to him what I was afraid of, and as I thought about it, I was able to boil the majority of my fears down to the fear of emotional pain. 

For example, if I am afraid of my daughter dying in her sleep, I am actually afraid of all the emotional pain that will come with that event – the loneliness, guilt, missing her, combined with feeling the burden of everyone else’s pain, like my husband’s, son’s, parents’, etc.  In my imagination, all I can see is how painful it will be and I’m afraid that I won’t have the fortitude to endure it and that I will completely fall apart and collapse into a deep pit of depression.  Woah.  Kind of crazy!  In all my fearful imaginings about things that will probably never happen, I completely forget about the fact that God will be with me in my pain and bring comfort, strength, and even joy in the midst of it.  He will not abandon me, leave me or forsake me and He will be faithful to bring me through every circumstance, no matter how painful.

But as we were praying, the Lord brought something else to my mind from the book Fearless by Max Lucado that I read and reviewed on this site last fall.  In it, Lucado painted a picture of the garden of Gethsemane that I had never seen before.  In Mark 14:32-36 (Amplified) it says,

³²Then they went to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, Sit down here while I pray. ³³And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be ^[a]struck with terror and amazement and deeply troubled and depressed. ³⁴And He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sad (overwhelmed with grief) so that it almost kills Me! Remain here and keep awake and be watching. ³⁵And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and kept praying that if it were possible the [^[b]fatal] hour might pass from Him. ³⁶And He was saying, Abba, [which means] Father, everything is possible for You. Take away this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You [will]. (emphasis mine)

Lucado comments on how the disciple Mark ”paints the picture of Jesus as pale faced and trembling. ‘Horror . . . came over him’ (Mark 14:33 NEB). The word horror is ‘used of a man who is rendered helpless, disoriented, who is agitated  and anguished by the threat of some approaching event.’” (Fearless, 82) He goes on to say…

We’ve never seen Christ like this. Not in the Galilean storm, at the demoniac’s necropolis, or on the edge of the Nazarene cliff. We’ve never heard such screams from his voice or seen his eyes this wide. And never, ever, have we read a sentence  like this: “He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony” (Mark 14:33 MSG). This is a weighty moment. God has become flesh, and Flesh is feeling fear full bore. (Fearless, 82)

The  cup equaled Jesus’ worst-case scenario: to be the recipient of God’s wrath. He had never felt God’s fury, didn’t deserve to. He’d never experienced isolation from his Father; the two had been one for eternity. He’d never known physical death; he was an immortal being. Yet within a few short hours, Jesus would face them all. God would unleash his sin-hating wrath on the sin-covered Son. And Jesus was afraid. Deathly afraid. (Fearless, 83)

For me, it was hard to imagine that Jesus actually felt fear and was afraid of pain, just like me!  Yet Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.“  So, Jesus really truly knows and understands how I feel, because he felt it!  When I hope to avoid painful circumstances, Jesus also asked His Father if He could possibly avoid enduring the pain of the cross.  However, Jesus did not let His fear completely cripple or immobilize Him, nor did He allow His fear to cause Him to sin in any way.  Neither did He allow His fear to keep Him from completely fulfilling and obeying the will of His Father.  He did not get angry at God or accuse Him for allowing Him to endure pain, but He brought His fears to His Father in prayer and supplication, asking for the strength and help to make it through. 

There’s probably a lot more that could be said about the way Jesus prayed, how He recruited His friends to pray with Him, how He had faith in His Father’s perfect will, how He trusted His Father, how He set His gaze on the reward of His suffering, and who knows how many more great lessons from this story, but for the time being, I am simply encouraged and comforted by knowing that Jesus can sympathize with me in my weakness, because He knows what it felt like to be afraid.

Family Fun

Yesterday, Joe and I went to take out our new double stroller for a walk with the kids to have a picnic lunch at a nearby park.  It was a cool spring afternoon, so we needed to bundle up a bit, but we were looking forward to going out for some fresh air and to let Justice run around and play.  However, it’s not unusual for things to get a little chaotic when trying to prepare for a family outing and we were both getting a little frazzled.  As we were walking down our driveway, Joe was getting frustrated with something and sort of snapped at me, so in response, both to express my frustration and to also try and lighten the mood a little, I growled loudly, “WE’RE TRYING TO HAVE SOME FAMILY FUN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!”  Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a similar situation – I wasn’t really angry, I just wanted to vent in an overly exaggerated way to bring attention to the fact that we were being silly to get so uptight.  Before I did though, I did briefly look around and saw that there was nobody in sight, as I didn’t exactly want to throw a fit in the public eye.  But not a few seconds after my little vent, we heard a chuckle and saw our next door neighbor sitting on his front step talking on his phone and we knew that he had heard me.  I couldn’t help laughing and thought it was terribly funny and it kept me laughing throughout our little excursion.  Just a little reminder that there is always someone watching and to be careful what you say and do!   But we did have a good time with the kids and enjoyed our family fun time together.

 

Inspiration

Just in case you care to know, my new website color scheme was inspired by this beautiful quilt that a dear friend made for my daughter Rayah. Isn’t it lovely?

Welcome to echoinghim.com!

Welcome to the new www.echoinghim.com!  If this is your first time visiting, I’m glad to have you here!  If you’ve come from one of my old blogs – “Far Above Pearls” or “Longing For His Appearing” – it’s good to see you again at my new home on the internet.  Make sure you switch over your blog subscriptions to my new rss feed.

I still have some cleaning up to do of my old blog posts, so if you find any links, videos or images that aren’t working, please let me know using the contact form on this site and tell me which post you found the problem on. 

I hope you like the new design and layout and look forward to hearing from you in the comments!

Jacquie

Thinking of you…

I wanted to write a blog post to tell you about some dear friends of ours who are in our thoughts and prayers these days.  Roger and Rose are one of the most delightful and beautiful couples you’ll ever meet and who we had the joy and privilege of connecting with when we lived in Calgary.  When Joe and I were leading the young adult prayer ministry back then, they were kindred spirits who, for a time, joined their hearts and intercession with ours for this generation and were such an encouraging support to us.  Over the years, we got to witness their incredible hearts of generosity and love as they repeatedly took people into their home, even as newly weds and new parents, sharing what they had without restraint. 

When they took in Rose’s younger brother Timothy, he was in a rough stage in his life and in desperate need of some guidance and a touch from the Lord.  Because of their willingness to open up their lives to him, we got to see the mighty workings of the Lord in Timothy’s life as he was delivered and set free from the addictions of his past and also healed miraculously of dyslexia – finding that he could read for the first time as he opened up his Bible as a new believer!  Again, we were blessed to observe Timothy growing in maturity and passion for Jesus and his testimony was an encouragement to us all.  We were also often blessed by Roger’s worship leading as the anointing and intimacy in his songs brought us into God’s presence numerous times. 

Around the same time that we moved from Calgary, Roger and Rose and their two girls had the opportunity to live abroad, due to Roger’s work.  I have been following Rose’s account of their travels as they first lived in Kaula Lampur, Malaysia, and now in Lagos, Nigeria, Africa.  I have thoroughly enjoyed Rose’s poetic story-telling of their many adventures and have been touched by her depictions of the poverty she witnessed and the orphans she would minister to.

But just a couple days ago, Rose shared on her blog the difficult news that her brother Timothy (now 24 years old) has been diagnosed with brain cancer.  So, if you read this, I am inviting you to join with us in prayer to contend for his healing!  We know from before, that the Lord has his hand on Timothy’s life and that He loves to deliver and heal his kids, so we are anticipating that He will do it again and reveal His glory and might in new ways, that we may again be in awe of His goodness!  If you would like to follow Timothy’s progress as he fights this disease or if you simply want to be blessed by reading the blog of a beautiful woman of God, then please visit her site at http://rogerandrosaleen.blogspot.com.

Roger, Rose, Timothy and your family – we are thinking of you and praying for you…

Love Boxes

So, I recently read about this idea for a “Love Jar” on Rachel Meier’s Blog, which she described like this…

Here’s what it is: Couples individually write out an agreed upon number of “requests” or “ideas” that would make them feel loved or special. Put them somewhere (a jar perhaps?) and then once a week each spouse draws from the other spouses ideas and does it sometime that week. 

This could require some restrictions like as to how much money can be spent, or the length of request. (Paint the whole house may be a bit much)

So, when I told Joe about this idea, he was totally all for it & insisted that we have a craft project and make our own little love boxes.  Here is how they turned out…

I love how our self-decorated boxes totally reveal our different personalities – lol! We had fun making them and I have already benefited from it by receiving a couple very wonderful head massages!

Thumb-sucking

Well, Justice finally discovered his thumb!!  I think he really enjoys the suction power he has on that one finger as opposed to trying to suck on his entire fist.  I love how he’s holding his thumb in place with his other hand!

 

However, it’s still pretty hit and miss with the thumb – he continues to enjoy many different finger combinations!  He often enjoys a 1-2 combo (thumb and pointer), or a 1-2-3 combo, or as seen in the pictures below, the 3-4, the 4-5, and the 3-4-5.    The purple moustache is from our recent attempt at Gentian Violet to see if it will cure some breast pain I’ve been having.   

  

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