Fletcher Christmas Letter 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

What a wonder that another year has come and gone. We enjoyed visits from friends and family as well as taking a trip to NJ, southern California, and many getaways with our trailer.

Carl (37) - Carl continues to pastor Grace Church. He is busy finding a new place for our church to meet, studying, preaching, installing new windows in our house, keeping up with our busy family, and meeting with people. He is thankful for the Lord’s all-sufficient grace through Christ.

Kerstin (36) - What a year it’s been. I have seen the hospital a bunch, with my own knee surgery (indoor soccer injury) and Lily’s deflux injection. I continue to homeschool, have started on Facebook (which has been fun), still am painting and drawing, and am really glad that God has given me people like you to share life with. We have enjoyed God’s working out His place as first and foremost in our hearts through sad changes in our church and new joy and hope for the future. I have decided that “for me to live is Christ” is my verse for 2009. He is so delightful and sufficient for every need.


Johanna (11) - Hanna is such a growing young lady. She is able to cook and bake, and loves to help out. Hanna always has plans--from playing airplane where Lily and Trey are her kids, to having a pretend farm in the backyard where the little ones can milk a cow (a rubber glove), find an egg (our chickens hadn’t laid eggs yet so she settled for plastic ones in their pen), ride a wagon, and bob for apples. She also loves to take care of things so that we can stay in bed just a little longer. Hanna loves ballet--starting en pointe this year, and plays piano and violin. She got to go horseback riding a couple times and really enjoyed that too. Hanna’s favorite Bible verses are from Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Magdeline (9) - Maggie is a sweetheart who finally got the bunny she’s been longing for a long time. His name is Benjamin. He is tan and the most beautiful rabbit we’ve ever seen (but has a penchant for electrical wires). Maggie would rather be playing with the little ones or standing on her head than doing her schoolwork. She changes her name regularly and is currently going by “Meg.” Maggie says the funniest things (the bran cereal is “Brain” cereal, and the animal that is an antelope is a “cantaloupe”). She definitely likes to express her thoughts with vivid, unique language. “I’m bursting hungry, beaming hot, and pure tired.” Maggie has deep thoughts about why God doesn’t answer prayers immediately how she would like it. Her prayers are so heartfelt and honest. I often find a sweet note in my bed encouraging me or apologizing for something. Her favorite verse is Philippians 1:6, “I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”


Lilyana (4 1/2) - Lily finally got to stop taking antibiotics this year. She is a tenacious, fun-loving little ray of sunshine. She chatters away, saying things like, “I don’t like slime” and “If God wants me to be a dentist, I’ll scrub people’s teeth and if they’re dusty, I’ll wipe them off.” Lily is always collecting acorns, shells, leaves, or pebbles. Her shelves are full of her treasures and when Carl was tickling her yesterday, all sort of things fell out of her pockets. Lily has a recipe box full of make-believe goodies: all her recipes have the ingredients strawberries, chocolate, and whipped cream. When her belly growls, it is “talking” about something. Lily loves helping out, going to preschool, and doing art. She is hardly ever found without a marker in hand. The turkey at Thanksgiving was “Opa’s Chicken” and the stuffed animal cat at the library dressed up like a rooster is the “Cockadoodle Kitty.” She is still super expressive and has us all laughing with her funny faces.

Carl III a.k.a. “Trey” (2 1/2) Our little dude is growing so quickly. He is never found without a box or bag of his “duff” (stuff) that he lugs around wherever he’s going. His favorite songs are “Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus” and “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands,” often singing one or the other at the top of his lungs early in the morning. He also makes us all laugh and is such a fun companion for his sisters. Highlights of Trey’s life are when the garbage truck comes on Monday mornings, when someone is chasing or tickling him, and when it’s birthday time (he talks about birthdays every day and is super excited that it’s Jesus’ birthday soon). Trey will be chatting on his imaginary phone, “I lub you too, sista.” He adores biking, parking his toy cars in different locations in our house (that usually block a doorway), playing with trains (he’s a big Thomas fan), taking care of his Blankie, following his sisters around, and dragging his Sesame Street suitcase around. When we were camping, Trey pointed out all the “duffed aminals” (thinking the squirrels and chipmunks were stuffed animals let loose in the wild). He loves the smell of a car engine (wonder where he got that from!) and will be found racing into a room and landing with a big belly flop.

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).”

We wish you a very Merry Christmas, and God’s peace in 2009.


Much love,

The Fletchers

We love to keep in touch. Visits are wonderful too!

Memories and Traditions

I want to share about some traditions/memories from our family. I grew up in a German family where we had certain traditions that were distinctly German. In keeping with German traditions and their growing faith in Jesus, much of our celebrating had a simplicity that focused more on celebrating the birth of Jesus than on acquisition of material possessions. This had to do in part also with my parents growing up during war times. I have enclosed a letter from my father (Opa) to his grandkids about what Christmas was like for him when he was in 4th grade.

My husband and I have struggled over the years at how to celebrate Christmas in a way that brings glory and joy to Christ and not to ourselves. It sure is difficult to figure out! I have had the kids put a letter in their stockings in the past in which they write to Jesus what gifts they would like to give Him in the coming year ("Happy Birthday, Jesus. I would like to love my sister better for you, Lord") and this year I am going to surprise them with a little carton of yummy baby food fruit in their stocking to remind them of how little Jesus was, and what an amazing thing that God would make himself a human baby. Maybe that's the start of a new tradition. A tradition we've done every Christmas Eve is to have the children (including neighbor children) reenact the Christmas story as my husband reads it from the Bible. Friends that don't have family or a place to go join us as well. The children really enjoy taking on the parts of Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and angels. Such fun!

I hope that you all have a really enjoyable and memorable Christmas celebration this year!
Because of Jesus,

K

My dad and I

Opa with 4 of his 14 grandchildren

Dear Grandchildren,

When Opa was 7 years old, that was in 1943, we had been sent to East Germany to escape the bombardment in my hometown Bochum in the West. As 1944 went by, the eastern front of the German army against Russia had collapsed and the war zone came closer and closer to where we lived. I do not remember anything about Christmas that year, 1944, because we lived in steady fear.

On January 27, 1945 the authorities allowed us finally to flee Neustettin on a train. We sat on flat bed cars, no walls, which had loaded railcar axles. In winter weather with a temperature of -17degrees Fahrenheit, we rolled west. It was so bitter cold that many people froze to death. After 5 days we arrived in Berlin. During that year we hopped around like rabbits chased by dogs, fighter planes and bombs. We literally jumped into ditches next to the road when fighter planes appeared in the sky shooting with machine guns at us.

In the fall of 1945 we finally arrived back in Bochum. In the meantime we had been overtaken by the British army. Bochum was totally flattened, there were no buildings standing. Everything was devastated and burned out, nothing but Trümmerhaufen, mountain of burnt out building material. We stayed with friends somewhere in the suburbs and I went out all day long picking up branches and pieces of wood so that we could cook some greens which we found in the woods and on the graveyard which nobody ate normally.

Before Christmas in 1946, we finally found an apartment under a roof with tilted walls. The walls had been newly plastered and because of the cold and the damp, there was a ½ inch layer of ice on the inside of the walls mixed with mildew. We had no furniture and we slept on bunk beds out of steel which we got from somewhere. We had a cast iron oven, but nothing to burn. We literally sat on the floor in front of the cold oven, held hands and shivered. It was the coldest winter I can remember.

After quite some time without school, school had just opened again. We were shivering in class with coats, caps and gloves on, because there was no heat and nothing to heat with. I came home and complained to my mother and she said: “But the other children are cold too.” When I told her that the other children possibly came to school warm, while I came already cold, she started to cry. When I came to America one of the first things I did is buy warm Eddie Bauer goose down sleeping bags that all of my children would be warm at least when they slept.

I do not think there was anything around us which reminded us of Christmas, except scenes of cold, hunger and scarcity of every thing. We were waiting in long queues in front of bakeries in the morning to get a loaf of bread until the bakery ran out. If you did not get bread, the family went hungry. My sister went by train to the farm country and begged for potatoes and bread with cigarettes and nylons from America.

The only surprise was when grandma sent a package from America. Besides other good things inside, there were cigarettes which were like money. With cigarettes you could buy something you could not get otherwise. We had no fat, no butter or margarine. Grandma went from house to house in Washington DC and collected bacon fat which she put in Maxwell coffee cans and sent them over to us for cocking. She also sent peanut butter which I did not like. Since there was no jelly, the bread with the peanut butter would get stuck in my throat and I had great difficulty to get it back up or down. Even cold water did not help. We had no coffee or tea.

This was when I was in fourth grade, there was nothing Christmassy about Christmas. It was very similar to Joseph and Mary when they came to Bethlehem and had to stay in a stable without bed and heat. We did not even have an ox, donkey of sheep to keep warm with. There were also no shepherds and if there were angels, I did not see them. But God let us persevere.

In love, Opa

A place for ME!

I must confess that I struggle with feeling like there is no true home here. This is not wrong thinking, as my true Home is in Heaven with Jesus. But I think I feel it more keenly because I do not have a mom who takes me in at times, unabashedly loving my husband and my children. She would have toys for my little ones when they visit, praising their antics and encouraging me in parenting. She would be thrilled to have us visit.

As I was feeling a bit sad lately, I was reminded of what Jesus says in John 14:2-3:
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Jesus is excited about my coming--He is getting the place ready and wants to be with me. He is the one with whom I will truly be at home. And it is an added wonder that my mother will be there too! There is this eternal hope--and the apostle Paul struggled with where he wanted to be in Philippians 1:21. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Right now I am here, and I want to be living here for Christ.

Fact Vs. Feeling (or He is Able...)

I definitely struggle with the conundrum of fact versus feeling in my walk of faith in Jesus. I KNOW whom I have believed and that He is able to do what He says (2 Tim. 1:12), but sometimes I don't feel like much. I guess that is why FAITH is such a big thing. To believe what cannot be seen or, at times, felt.

That is why I love 2 Corinthians 4--a chapter that I read to my mother on her death bed, as she lay just on the brink of seeing the unseen.

2 Cor. 4:7-18
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

And God's Word further says about Jesus in Hebrews 7:25
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Imagine that FACT! He is able!

I have been tagged?

I just finished reading Melissa's blog and I think I was tagged...but was clueless to that fact until now!

10 years ago I ...
1. Was married and had baby Hanna
2. Graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary
3. Moved from Dallas, TX to Santa Rosa, CA
4. Flew to Germany with my baby and remember waking up the first night and there was this huge black spider on her face...
5. Was house-hunting....and here we are

5 Things on today's "to do" list...
1. Homeschool
2. Take kids to ice skating, ballet...
3. Curl up in bed during naptime now that I have my mongo period
4. Hug and kiss my love, Carl
5. Go to bed early!!!

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1. Give money away to many, many missionaries
2. Invest money for my kids and retirement? I don't know...it sounds good.
3. Hire a helper from Germany so I can speak more German and my kids can too
4. Go to Germany and see my family there (but I can afford to rent a car, go on the train, stay in a hotel)
5. Travel to encourage missionary friends around the globe

5 places I have lived...
1. Ridley Park, PA
2. Media, PA
3. Skillman, NJ
4. New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Highland Park, NJ
5. Dallas, TX

5 jobs I have had...
1. Babysitter
2. Housesitter/Pet watcher/Grass mower

3. Lifeguard and Swim Instructor
4. Graphic Artist and Drafter
5. Teacher

Ok...now I am unsure how to tag people. So if you have read this and you would like to be tagged...you can do this too!

Check out more of my art...

I have more paintings to see at http://artbykasteen.blogspot.com

Some photos

This is my newest painting. It was fun to place the kids into a typical harvest scene from 15 minutes from our house.



Here is what the 4 "Fletchlings" look like now:


The girls love to dress like the olden days. Here they are holding our chickens, Chickety and Peck.

We love trying new things with our camera--like catching us in mid-air! This is near where our church is meeting right now.


We went to the mission at La Purisima in Coloma. It really has been restored to show what the California Missions were like. This trip brought us to Santa Barbara and Ventura, and this mission on the way home.

Latest Learnings

I was blessed with being able to attend a pastor's conference with my husband (wives were allowed to come too!) Anyway, I realized that this was the first thing like this that I had been at for the last 10 years, since Seminary. It was super encouraging.

There were lots of sermons all focusing on "Exalting Christ:"

One godly man spoke about what a privilege it is to be a proclaimer of the loveliness of Christ. The biggest struggle can be a satisfied heart. Isaiah 58:11 tells us that God satisfies. In the midst of the dessert, He makes us "like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." Jesus waters our soul. He is our contentment (Ps. 84:1-7;Phil. 4:10-13). We need to obey--start in the little things. Once you've seen Him, nothing else matters. The pitfalls here are that there is something better, or having self-pity. But "He came to give abundant life" (John 10:10), "to know Him and power of resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil. 3:10), "be imitators of Christ" (1 Pet. 2), and "He empowers us" (Phil. 4) speak to this. The heart satisfied in Him discovers persevering grace. Christ is all we need.

Another spoke about Jesus as the One who can give rest and refreshment--looking at Matt. 11:25-30. In the context of the passage in the Bible, Jesus has demonstrated authority over earth, sickness, sin, and demons. But His disciples are rejected, His prophet (John) is in prison, and no one is listening. This all doesn't change the message or discourage Jesus as He knows the outcome has been determined. His mindset is that things are going as the Father has planned. He recognizes God as the Father and praises Him, recognizes His Father is King of Everything--the sovereignty of God in all, He recognizes the Father has the prerogative to hide/reveal His truth, He recognizes that the way things are going please the Father (aside here: Be faithful in preaching Christ), and He recognizes that He is the key to everything with an exclusive, intimate relationship with the Father (only Jesus can reveal the Father). And Jesus preaches Himself, presenting Himself as the answer to every human burden--"Come to me all," everyday, for every need. Submission to Jesus is like rest.

Another spoke of suffering and how our suffering exalts Christ. He defined human suffering as something hurting us in a way that disrupts life's pleasantness to the point where in some sense and to some degree we want that hurt to cease. Passages of Scripture like Phil. 1:29, "granted not only to suffer," 1 Pet. 1:7, "faith tested in order to prove genuine," and John 16:33, "in this world you will have trouble," point to the inevitability and necessity of Christian suffering. There are so many contrasts in Scripture: peace in Christ//trouble in world. We almost have to switch our thought process (gestalt switch) to understand. We are born and live among a sinful human race. We are supposed to be tired at the end of the day. We are supposed to die. It is the quality of how we live out or sinful, short lives before our holy, eternal God that shows our submission. Christ's servant is not better than his Master--we are in submission to Christ with our bodies. In sin we are tempted by pleasure (try self-denial) or with the avoidance of pain as if Christians are supposed to live their best life now. But suffering is a wonderful gift which stops us from projecting us into a wrong hopeful future, instead placing the future in God's hands. It reminds me of my dependence on my Savior.

How encouraging and timely for me to hear these words! So much to ponder. So many questions to ask:

Do I lack confidence in Christ and His power?
Do I believe that God has done in me what the world claims it can but it never does?
What sin is making me stupid?

In Christ Alone

The words to this song make me cry, especially the last verse:

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

"In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

I think of my babies with the words "from life's first cry" and my Mom with "final breath." Then I realize how this last year has been one of terrible schemes of man--in which nothing has been able to "pluck me from His hand." What an amazing, wonderful grace in flesh's form Jesus Christ is. How powerful for my daily life and perspective. May I continue to fix my eyes "on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter" of my faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

It's Been A While...

It has definitely been a while. God has been faithful in upholding me in these months of transition, pain, trips, and life. I can elaborate in any one of those areas, but right now I'm pressed for time. I need to get going on house cleaning, summer organizing, canning plums, playing with the kids, packing to go camping again, and prepare for visitors. My knee surgery went well--but they found out that there's nothing they can fix. So I continue to limp through life for now, desperately needing to draw strength from Him who desires to be that strength in spite of me. It is a great place to be. "For when I am weak then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Here is what we look like now-a-days! Maggie, Trey, Me, Carl, Lily, and Hanna

I was "Artist of the Month" at a store in Healdsburg for a couple of months in the Spring. Here are some of my paintings that filled up the walls! There are more at home still.


We enjoyed camping at Stillwater Cove. The kids loved the hermit crabs, climbing, hiking, exploring, and being with friends.




Fort Ross was fun to explore on the way home.


We enjoyed a trip to Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Carlsbad. It was so wonderful to be able to be a part of the wedding celebration of Sara and Whitney--we thank God for such a sweet couple!


Cousins Connor and Elliot came for a visit (along with their parents). My sister and I had many wonderful days. We took the kids lots of places.




One day was spent in San Francisco. We went to the botanical gardens, playground, and carousel in Golden Gate Park first. Then we went to Chinatown and enjoyed lunch at You's Dim Sum. We drove down Lombard Street and on the way home spent a few moments at this overlook.

We also went to the lagoon at Spring Lake and Doran Beach by Bodega Bay. Another day we went to Armstrong Woods to see the redwoods. It is our State Tree after all!

On Solomon: Wisdom Isn't Enough

Solomon is an interesting guy. He lived a LONG time ago (his dad was David, as in David and Goliath) and he became king after his half-brothers killed each other, raped his half-sister, and tried to take the throne from David (see 2 Samuel 13-19). But Solomon was God's guy for the job. And God asks him what he would like: "Make a wish, any wish, Solomon"(1 Kings 3:5). If I had one wish, what would it be? Would it be a bigger house, more obedient kids, less wrinkles, thinner thighs, a chai cream frappachino, no pain, unending joy....what? What does Solomon wish for? Money, a nicer palace, a chariot, a beautiful wife, lots of children....Nope. He says, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David,...you have continued this great kindness...making your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties....So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" (1 Kings 3:6-9) With amazing thankfulness and HUMILITY, Solomon asks for wisdom. To discern and distinguish between right and wrong. That's his one wish. Wisdom.

God gives it to him big time (along with riches, honor, and long life). 1 Kings 4:29-34 says:

"God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man....And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom."

WOW. Then there are the books of the Bible that Solomon wrote, one of which is Proverbs (which he wrote most of). Today I read Proverbs 19:2--"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." What a wise warnings against just having zeal or acting in haste. There are numerous other warnings against acting foolishly, not heeding correction or counsel, loving money, being lazy, and many other things that are not part of wise living. My personal favorite has always been Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths." And there's the kicker. There is a huge difference between the Lord's wisdom and our own. And there's a huge difference between knowing the Lord distantly, and knowing Him obediently.

Solomon knows A LOT. God has given him amazing wisdom. But the sad thing is, it is not enough. "Solomon, however, loved many foreign women....They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been....So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done." (1 Kings 11:1-6) He didn't follow his own advice. Solomon didn't exert self-control, he didn't love God wholeheartedly, "Solomon held fast to [women] in love." So here's the question for me: What am I holding fast to? Am I following Him obediently or when it's convenient? Am I trusting in the Lord with my whole heart or trusting in my own understanding?

These questions are quite convicting. Especially if you follow where they lead. After having lots of head knowledge but no heart application, things don't go so well. We say, "What's wrong? Why is God so silent?" Solomon concludes, "A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD." (Proverbs 19:3) We may give God lip-service, but still do things our own way. We may be thankful for what He has given us (wisdom, life, love) but don't care to use it His way. And in the midst of our own disobedience and disillusioned attempts to live in the ruins, our heart places the blame on GOD. I'm not sure if Solomon's heart rages against God, but there is no record of his repentance. That is so sad. God spoke His Word through Solomon to us today. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" and "The fear of the Lord leads to life: then one rests content, untouched by trouble." (Proverbs 19:21, 23)

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the cleansing you provide this wretched sinner from my sin through Jesus Christ dying on the cross. Thank you that I can talk to you right now because of it. Thank you that you promise wisdom when we ask (James 1:5) and promise to lead us through life as we trust you. Help me not make my own plans, or desire my own way so much that I don't follow you COMPLETELY. I don't want to hold back. Please change my heart. I love you! In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Finally...Another Blog!

I definitely feel like I can't keep up right now. I have been struggling with things that are part of the spiritual fight here on earth. Does it ever feel as if sin and injustice rule? These have been months of some serious-soul searching and realization of pride, jealousy, lust, and fleshly idols in my own heart. I am SO longing for my eternal home with Jesus.

These passages in the Bible have encouraged me:

Hebrews 12:2-3
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I LOVE JESUS. He is the Way--when the path is unclear, the Truth--when people are lying to us and about us, and the Life--when death seems so much better. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus. (John 14:6) Tomorrow is Good Friday--and it sure is GOOD that He has given us life and eternal hope in Him. Trust Him. And please pray for me that I would trust Him more and be faithful with what He has entrusted to me.

A rainy day for the Fletcher 4!

Carl is a little gentleman!


Hanna is our sweet young lady!



Maggie is such a cutie pie!


Trey is 2!


Lily has such an expressive face!

This is the painting of the kids that I gave Carl for Christmas:


Our snow trip to Truckee:

This Is The Day!

These days the journey seems impossible. I am reminded, however, that "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day (2 Timothy 1:12)." In the middle of the darkest night He is light. His unwavering faithfulness has no end. Oh to let Him transform me completely into the likeness of Jesus!

I am singing "This is the day (this is the day), that the Lord has made (that the Lord has made).
I will rejoice (I will rejoice), and be glad in it (and be glad in it)."


Bonus picts: Christmas photos and our family having fun in the rain and snow....

Our Christmas Eve reenactment of the Christmas story. Friends joined us as Mary and Joseph.

Ducky Trey and Ladybug Lil'

We had the joy of staying at a cabin in Truckee for a few days. God answered my prayers for snow--it practically snowed the whole time! I loved lying in the snow and feeling it fall on my face. We also saw some terrific snow crystals and cut some out of paper to bring home. Some more photos are in the blog above.