Year 3

Well, January 2011 will mark 3 years. yup. 3 years of staying home with grandmom, hospital visits, insanity, and of the opportunity to see such an incredible side of God's character. His grace, His mercy, His compassion, His love for us that isn't about what we can actually do for Him.
God looked down on my grandmom and knew what it would take for her to come to know Him. How she needed to be humbled before she could accept His wonderful gift of salvation. I never imagined, growing up and praying ever night before I went to bed, "Lord, I lift up nanny and poppy..." praying for their souls to be saved. Praying for them to come to church with us. I never imagined that I would one day be pushing her wheelchair into church on Sundays, reading the Bible with her, listening to her pray before meals. I'll quote her, she'd "been apprehended!"- BAM!- God's grace... Waterfalls of it. On a woman who can offer Him literally nothing. What an incredible incredible God I serve.

This last year has been so different.
My grandmom turned 80, fell and broke her hip, had surgery (had a stroke), went to rehab, broke her femur, had surgery, came home, had a heart attack, came home and has been hospital free since July. And I'm not saying that her quality of life has been great since then, because it hasn't. She is mostly in her hospital bed, in her bedroom, watching Turner Classic Movies, but every so often we have a few moments of loveliness.
God spoiled us on Christmas.
Grandmom was just oh so good. She wasn't sane, don't get my wrong.
But she was happy. not agitated. pleasant. and able to enjoy Christmas. It was great.
and it wasn't just Christmas morning. It was Christmas eve, Christmas morning, Christmas day, and Christmas day eve. Spoiled. 
It was probably the loveliest Christmas I ever had. Thank you Jesus!

The Easy Life...

I'm going to say it, my life is probably going to be a whole lot easier when my grandmom dies. I won't wake up to diaper duty, I won't have to thicken liquids unless I'm making a gravy, I won't have to wash a million sheets and bed pads every week, I won't be late for sr high girl's teas because my mom didn't get home in time to swap nanny sitting...

And I'm going to say it, my life is probably going to a whole lot sadder when my grandmom dies. I was looking at some family pics (bottom right photos) and looking at our crazy group. My grandmom fits right in. And I'm going to miss her. Sure- there's a ton of things I'm definitely NOT going to miss. I'm not going to miss her stripping her clothes, or being in pain, or trying to go back to Germany, or her being constipated and agitated. But I'm going to miss being around her and making her smile when I tell her I love her. And telling her she's beautiful. Her big toothless smile is worth it all. 

The easy life will never be the worthy life. I want to live a life full of worth. I've struggled so much lately with surrendering to God my desire to just be comfortable the rest of my life. I want my life to be my own- and I want to be lazy, I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it, I want to just be comfortable. But honestly- what a waste of a life that will be. I want a life full of weight, full of worthwhile things, full of the glory of God, and by His grace I'm going to live one...

O Tannenbaum

I could be like a normal human being and share pictures of my grandmom and my christmas tree here and write cute little captions for each moment...

or i could write a book with my sister- check it out (and be totally weirded out, its okay)...i cannot wait for this to come in the mail!

"As you want me to give up Christ and otherwise have to die, then I simply have to die"- Brother Youcef

Hebrews 13:3 "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body."

Col. 4:3-4 "At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison--that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak."
Acts 12:5 "So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church."
I've been keeping up on a pastor in Iran named Youcef Nadarkhani. I'm going to sum it up- he's been imprisoned for over a year for not wanting his son to learn from the Quran in school. He was sentenced to death November 13th 2010 and given 20 days to appeal. Today was day 20- and they apparently have appealed, but at this point its going to be a miracle of God that Pastor Youcef is not hung next week. Please pray. Also, we've been encouraged to get this story into the media, causing Iranian officials to feel international pressure.

Here is a the full story from a great website called "Present Truth Ministries" (there are updates after this- please check out the website for the most updated information):

Full Story of Youcef Nadarkhani

Here is a brief history of Youcef Nadarkhani, leading up to his current situation.

Youcef is 33 years old and is from Rasht, in the Gilan province of Iran. For the past ten years he has been a pastor in a network of house churches. He was previously imprisoned in December of 2006, the charges being apostasy (leaving Islam for Christianity)  and evangelism (spreading the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ), but was released two weeks later.

He is married and has two sons, ages 8 and 6. They were attending a local school when the government decided that all children should be taught about Islam, including those from Christian families. Youcef went to the school and protested this based on the Iranian constitution, which allows for freedom to practice religion. As a result, the secret police called him before the political tribunal in Rasht, Iran on October 12, 2009. At that time he was arrested, charged for protesting, and has been in prison in Lakan (which is seven miles south of Rasht) ever since. Later the charges changed to apostasy and evangelism to Muslims.

Through this time he has had access to an attorney, and has been allowed visits from his wife, children, and friends. However, for the first month in prison and two weeks before his trial up until now the visits and meetings with his attorney have been limited. They have used various methods to try to convert him back to Islam, including giving him pills, apparently in an attempt to claim that he was insane.

Because Youcef’s faith remained strong, they decided to arrest his wife in order to place more pressure on him. On June 18th, Fatemah Pasindedih was arrested and placed in prison in Lakan. During this time their boys went to live with a relative. Both Youcef and his wife Fatemah were threatened by authorities that their children would be taken away and given to a Muslim family. Youcef was not swayed to turn back to Islam, so his wife was put on trial without an attorney, and sentenced to life in prison. An attorney was later hired and the sentence appealed. The sentence and conviction were overturned and she was released.

On September 21 and 22, 2010, Youcef was put on trial, and verbally given the sentence of death. A written verdict was delayed and then delivered, on November 13, 2010, by the 1st Court of the Revolutionary Tribunal. He is to be executed by hanging for the crime of apostacy. Twenty days are allowed to appeal the sentence with the Supreme Court of Iran.

Youcef is now in the secret police security prison in Lakan. He has been held in solitary confinement. Recently he has been allowed visits from his attorney and wife once a week.

The verdict is in the process of being appealed. We should have a date for the hearing before the Supreme Court shortly.

It is critical that we continue to pray for pastor Youcef and make our voices heard. Please reach out to your elected officials and to the international news media so that Youcef’s case will come to light.

Dor(k)an Thanksgiving

I love my family because we are all really really dorky. I'm  so glad I have a 6 year old sister so I can have some excuse to make popsicle stick pilgrims and indians and sing "gobble gobble gobble fat turkey fat turkey" but secretly I get way more excitement out of it than she ever has...