Half a century, a full life.

My parents have been married for 51 years!!  I can't get out of my mind what a miracle that really is!  How people can stay happily in love for that long baffles a lot of minds.

They have known each other since they were kids.  Got married.  Wanted kids.  Couldn't have a baby, adopted my amazing brother.  Then miraculously a few years later had a baby.  Demanding job.  Crazy work hours.  Moving all over the place.  Raising kids, then teens.  Sending them off to college, then marrying them off. Retirement.  New job adventure.  Financial hardships.  Building a house together.  Selling a home.  Taking care of sick and dying family members.  Medical problems.  Grandchildren. 

Otherwise, in richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad times...

They quoted those vows...and they meant them. They didn't just say them, they LIVE them. Life has never come easy for them.  There have been plenty of faith lessons along the way. They've usually gotten an A+ on faith lessons...maybe not always.  Mom has not always been graceful and beautiful; Dad has not always been a knight in shining armor.  But God has been good to them and has honored their faithfulness and obedience to Him.  A legacy that cascades down their family line.

I am proud to call them my parents.  I wanted to honor them at their 50 year mark last year, but our life was in full swing of moving.  I will throw them a huge party someday...maybe at 55.  Maybe at 53 just to be different.

Their lifestyle of living on faith is one that my family has adopted.  I probably wouldn't be comfortable with this lifestyle if I hadn't seen it lived out in my parents' life.  But I see that my dad and God are best friends, so I know I have nothing to fear.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for taking those wedding vows seriously.  Thank you for living them out in front of us, in good times and in bad.  Thank you that my family is blessed because of your faithfulness.  Thank you for your loyalty and love to Aunt Bo when she was dying, to Grandma and to Aunt Joan as you took such good care of them as they breathed their last and entered heaven.  Those will be the first there to greet you when you get there with a crown of loyalty and gentleness.  Thank you for the example you are to my children and the blessings you give my children.  But most of all thank you for praying for your children so passionately for God's blessings to continue to us.  And thank you for loving and caring so deeply for each other.  I pray that Michael and I are annoying each other as lovingly as you guys are when we hit 51 years!  :)

Happy Anniversary.  I love you from the depths of my soul.  And we WILL have a party...soon!  

Mr. and Mrs. Archie Caudle 1963

Mr. and Mrs. Archie Caudle (& Punkin) 2013

Momma's Boy

My son gave me the most amazing compliment in the world today!  He didn't realize he was giving it to me.  But, man, it was awesome!

I've been under strong conviction lately that it's time to start cutting the apron strings a lot more for my children.  I literally do everything for them.  And I'm learning that is hurtful to their development.  Of course, I do it not to hurt them, but because I love them so much.  My spiritual gift is service, so I'm showing them how much I love and value them by doing everything for them!  Well...at least that's what I've been thinking.  But after much reading, I'm finally getting it through my head to start letting them be who they are.  Letting them fail if they have to.  Letting them clean their rooms even though it's not as clean as I'd like it.  Letting them have their own say.  Within boundaries, of course.  I'm not letting them go totally...just easing up a little.

Over a lunch date today, my tender hearted Evan told me of his desire for friends.  Friends who liked the same things he liked, friends...like he used to have in North Dakota.  His desire to be viewed not as "the new kid nobody knows", but the cool kid who everyone likes.  Back in North Dakota, he was cool because he was Mrs. Becky's son.  Mrs. Becky used him for a vital role in children's church.  All the kids knew Evan.  They all looked up to Evan.

I explained to him that NOW he has the opportunity to be cool based on who he is...not because he's Mrs. Becky's son.  His reply to me with crocodile tears was, "But I always want to be Mrs. Becky's son."  Oh, my dear heart...you will always be my son.  You will always be my super cool, super intelligent, big hearted kid.  But now you can define yourself based on who YOU are.  Not based on who I am.  Not a person has ever met Evan who didn't instantly love him.  I am so thankful for his presence in my life.  And I cannot wait to see what God chooses to do with that big cool heart of his!

Instead of him being Mrs. Becky's son, I now get to be known as "Evan's mom". COOL!

Provisions in the desert

Isaiah 41:10 "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

It's getting easier!!  

Now, I didn't say, "It's easy."  I said, "It's getting easi-er."  It's getting easier to trust fully in God.  So many things keep happening in our lives and God keeps showing Himself faithful.  It's really the coolest thing!  

God has us in a precarious position financially.  Not sure why He has us here, but it's all good.  Maybe He has us here to teach us some lessons, maybe it's so that He can be glorified.  Whatever it is, we will follow.  

Michael went in to work last week and found out that his hours have been cut by about 5 hours a week.  Since he's only working part time, that is a punch in the stomach financially.  When he told me, I didn't even worry!  Normally, I would be crunching some numbers, trying to figure out what we were going to do!  I would have worked myself into a tail-spin.  Michael was a bit discouraged so he went to his room to lay down and pray about it.  He came downstairs an hour later with a big smile on his face.  "Well, God's done it again," he said.

He has been talking with a friend from our new church who owns a window washing business.  (Friends from North Dakota will see the funny twist of events in that statement since our pastor was a window washer on the side!) He called Michael and told him he had just landed some big window jobs in the mall and needed Michael to head those up this week.  The money he would make on that would more than compensate for the 5 hours of work he was losing at his other job!  

What I want to point out is that the financial things that God is blessing is NOTHING we are doing on our own.  We aren't going out looking for money.  God is simply providing the opportunities for us when there is the need.  

1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

Just so cool I had to share!  I want to share our crazy life with you so you can be encouraged that God truly does LOVE His children.  So you know that God does care about all those little details of your life. 

 

 

Last Miracle for 2013

I have to write this last blog of the year before we launch into 2014.  The miracles have just been in full force for a year now, so I want to end my year proclaiming a super cool miracle!  It was too cool to keep to myself this New Year's Eve!!

God's got this?  Yep, He sure does.  Over and over again...He's got this! 

Michael has about a month off of seminary right now.  Half of December and half of January.  When he's not in school, there is a certain amount of money from his GI Bill that we don't get.  $600 to be exact.  That's $600 we need to survive.  Just today we were talking about ways to cut WAY back for the next month until school starts back up.  Any and every way to make a dent in the $600 we won't be getting!  We are getting good at "not worrying"...well, not as much as we used to.  There is still a certain amount of worry that comes; we are human, after all! But we are learning to live in expectation of how God will handle our basic needs!

My dear friend, Lea, has been asking me for about a week if I had received a Christmas card from Thrive, our home church in North Dakota.  I hadn't received it before we ended up leaving for a family holiday trip, but I received it today!  BOY, did I receive it today!!!  Certain cards and letters need to come with warning labels on them so I can have a kleenex handy! 

I opened the most amazing card in the world full of goodies.  Oasis, the most generous ladies group from Thrive, had a craft and bake sale before Christmas...and they did that FOR US!  Humbled; that's us right now.  They sent us a check for $332.00 AND a Target gift card for $260.  I'll let you sit here and do the math in your head real quick.  If you're not a math major, I'll help you out...$592.  I stood in the presence of Almighty God with tears streaming down my face at the generosity of my sisters in Christ who love and pray for my family.  I knew they missed us and I know they love us, but WOW!  Again, I'm wow'ed!  And blown away.  Side-note: This is in addition to a $50 gift card that someone sent us anonymously before Christmas with a note that God has not forgotten my family.  Tear flow!!

I share the card with Michael who cried with me.  In walks Evan wanting to know what's wrong.  Nothing is wrong, dear one.  But listen to this story of Jehovah Jireh, our Great Provider!  "Cool" is his response as the biggest smile crosses his face.  Then Alex walks in and my heart is bursting to share this with her.  I start with telling her of our lack of $600 we won't be getting in January.  Her face contorts with worry...she takes the weight of the world on her shoulders.  But then I show her how God has provided from our faithful servant friends in North Dakota.  Then I ask her, "Why do we even worry?  "Why do we worry about tomorrow?"

I was reading a book today and God gave me this verse to chew on in Jeremiah 33:3 'Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'  God must have wanted me to reflect on that knowing I was going to be getting a cool piece of mail today!  He's so sneaky like that!  His timing is PERFECT.  His ways are PERFECT.  Following Him is the PERFECT way to live...albeit challenging, it's perfect. He has done GREAT THINGS!  I just have to shout it in all caps!  :)

I have sat all night basking in His presence.  Doing nothing, but thanking Him for the things (good and "not so good") that have happened in 2013.  It's all for His glory.  Thank you my dear friends for your hearts of love for the Corsar Fam 4.  You will never know the "sermon fodder" you are giving Michael as he launches into ministry.  You will never realize the depths of your simple acts of giving and how they are impacting my children.  You will never know how they heal my broken heart when I start missing my friends!  I thank God every time I think of you.  Tonight....I'm thanking Him extra hard.  

Christmas Miracle

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give    you the desires of your heart."

We are beginning to live a life accustomed to God meeting our every need.  We have yet to go hungry or naked.  God provides in the coolest ways.  This most recent way really took the cake, though. 

About a month ago, we attended an event for seminary families called Operation Toy Chest. It is hosted by a local church who donates toys, bikes, gift cards, you name it...in order to bless seminary students (who are typically not the wealthiest people on the planet for this season of life!)  If a donated item is valued in a store at $20, the seminary family only has to pay $2 for the toy.  All the money earned that day goes to the missions offering (Lottie Moon Christmas Offering) from that church.  We were blessed with some really cool things for our kids for just a few dollars!

At the end of the "shopping period", they have a big raffle drawing.  They give you some tickets when you arrive and you place your tickets into a prize that you might want to win.  These are bigger prizes such as electric scooters, MacBooks, iPads, American Girl dolls, etc.  We had put our tickets into the items we would like to win for our kids.  As we were putting a ticket into the MacBook Pro box, we looked at each other and said, "Wouldn't it be the coolest thing to win this for the kids?"

My son has rising ambitions to be a YouTuber.  My daughter could use a Mac to do some amazing Photoshop things with pictures...she's very talented.  My kids have talked for about a year about how cool it would be to have their own Mac.  Well, for $1400...that would be a no-go on us buying them one.

So we placed our ticket into the drawing as a pipe dream, really.  There were hundreds of seminary families in attendance.  There were only 50 prizes to be won.  Our odds weren't great.  We would be happy with the other toys we got, and we would be happy for our fellow seminary friends who won big prizes. I sat in the crowd as prizes were being called that were NOT our number.  Doubt started to creep in and I wanted to guard my heart from disappointment, so I started telling myself that we weren't going to win.  "Don't get your hopes up...you'll only be disappointed."  But then I was also praying and asking God to find favor on my family with a blessing for my children.

The emcee held up the MacBook Pro and started telling all the great things about it.  I couldn't stand it anymore!  Just call the number already so I can leave if we didn't win.  Then a miracle happened...he called our number.  I'll never forget the feeling of the Spirit that washed over me in the moment.  Tears poured.  Michael couldn't even stand up to get the prize and stumbled to the front to claim our blessing.  We cried all the way out the door.  Then we just sat in our car in complete silence.  When you are in God's presence, there is really nothing you need to say.

God not only meets my children's NEEDS...He also cares about the desires of their heart.  God knows my children better than I do.  He knew how much they would love this amazing gift.  Psalm 37:23...The life verse of the Corsar Fam 4 had come to pass yet again, "God directs the steps of the godly, He cares about every detail of their lives." Every detail.

Want to see what shock, excitement, and extreme joy look like?

 They have been in heaven today playing with their new toy!  The gift tag said "To: Alex and Evan, From: God".  We shared the story with them this morning of this miracle gift that God had brought just for them.  It's been SO hard keeping it quiet for the past month!  But their screams of glee (well, mainly Evan's screams) were SO worth the wait!

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He WILL give you the desires of your heart." Do we follow God and live for Him so that we can get material blessings?  No.  But God is a good Father and He knows the desires in our hearts.  He put those desires there, so that He can "wow" us with his glory. 

We are officially WOW'ed!!

Merry Christmas from the Corsars!

Here is our family photo shoot that we took ourselves!  :)  Put our camera's timer on and tried our best to get a good family photo!  After hundreds of pictures, trying to get the perfect one, this became one of my favorite things!  A series of goofy shots of my family....just being themselves!  LOL

We were on the campus of Southeastern Seminary with everyone wearing our seminary shirts...except for me.  I'm wearing the shirt I bought for Michael to remind us of our mantra through our whole obedience journey, "God's Got This!"

In every shot, my question was "Can you see the shirt?"  "You have to make sure you can read the shirt."  The shirt took on a life of itself during this photo shoot.  

My camera has a function where it highlights the faces in the screen to make sure the faces are in focus.  At one point, Alex was behind the lens and said, "Mom, the camera is recognizing your belly as a face."  Thanks, Alex.  I guess I'll be laying off the Christmas cookies.  Merry Christmas from the whole crazy Corsar crew!  We love and miss you all!

Homeschool Highlights

Some highlights of our 1st semester of homeschooling!

**Alex had to write a Thankful Acrostic Poem in honor of Thanksgiving week using every letter of the alphabet.  My daughter is such a poet...and I literally didn't know it, until homeschool.  :)

Today I am thankful for my Aunt Jaime.
I also am thankful for Becky, my mother, truly
as well for Christ who saved me.
I am also very thankful for my Daddy dear,
thankful for Evan and bringing such cheer.
Thankful for friends, new and old.
Thankful for a gentleman with a heart of gold.
I'm thankful for even the horrible days,
thankful that I can see just through that blaze.
I'm thankful for Jesus, my Savior over thee,
thankful I am that he's King over me.
Thankful for love and all that it brings,
thankful for music and the songs that it sings.
I'm thankful for never leaving my faith,
thankful for God opening up that strength.
Thankful for Pebbles, my kitty and good friend;
though quiet, a good listener till the end.
Thankful for being raised up the way I was,
thankful for being strong and respected.
Thankful for being saved as anyone truly does,
thankful that I have understanding and truth.
I'm thankful knowing I'm victorious in my youth.
I'm thankful of having the blessing of water,
surprisingly thankful for the extra feelings inside this daughter.
I'm thankful for being stupid and young,
thankful for the amazing woman I'm set to become.


**Then a few weeks ago, we had a lesson on character.  We also learned that week of writing character sketches on different characters in stories or even on people you know.  Her assignment was to write a character sketch on anyone in her family.  I was super surprised that she wrote about ME! I teased her for just picking me so she'd get extra credit.  :)  Either way, I'll take it. 


Character Sketch on my mom, Becky Corsar

I really do love this person.  She cooks, she teaches, she is an excellent mother.  I am almost caught up with her in height, and though she's 40, she could still pass for 32.  She is a little odd, though, she will start lip syncing a singer without even noticing!  "I do not!" she always says. 

When I'm with my mother she is always very kind.  She doesn't ask for help, but we know she needs it.  She is always making everything just perfect.  I truly think everyone likes her.  I mean, she's always nice and understanding to people.  So much so, she could easily become someone's friend quickly.  She is my mom, but I'd also consider her a good friend as well.  Not that I  respect her less, I just enjoy that I can talk to her freely as well.  I really don't know how she would respond by all these titles she has.  Probably, "just remember that I'm still your mom"...I get that a lot.  -_-

Even though she may drive me nuts, I still really do love her.  She directs me and shows me different uses for my life.  She helps me through things. Even when I think I want to kill her, I still respect her guidance.



**I think it's safe to say I'm enjoying homeschooling!  I hope I'm teaching her something!  Evan will be joining our homeschool in January, so I'm praying I've figured out what I'm doing by then!