Tonight, we met at the offices of the Prayer League with staff, retired missionaries, students, and friends to ask for the work of the LORD in this world. We heard word and encouragement from the writings of Paul Lindell, a forebear of the mission. Even now, his words echo from days gone, urging us to march forth in the faith with which we have been graced. The LORD is our stay. God is our strength. Jesus is our life. And may we see the Spirit move.
I’ve begun to again read through a series of devotions titled Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman. I first read this volume during my first year on mission with Youth Encounter. The pages are still edged with the grit from our travels in West Africa. It would seem I, too, am still edged with the same. The title says it well enough — these are words of life in the barreness. He writes in today’s devotion:
“Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:12)
The biblical heroes of faith call to us from the heights they have won, encouraging us that what man once did, he can do again.
And later …
Sainthood finds its source in suffering. Remember, it requires eleven tons of pressure on a piano’s strings for it to be tuned. And God will tune you to perfect harmony with heaven’s theme if you will withstand the strain.
Do you greet the day, in faith that God will sustain and provide for your needs? Do you surrender your heart, in faith that God will claim you and call you to a service that will not disappoint? Do you pray, in faith that God will accomplish His will on earth?
God is moving. What he has once done, he can (and will) do again. He will see the kingdom come. He will see His glory revealed among the nations. Do you want to be a part of this radical movement or would you sit idly by and watch as an unknown host of mankind perish for want of Living Water?
Paul Lindell reminded us tonight that prayer is less about questions and answers, and so much more about getting close to the will of God. Release yourself, then, from the responsibility of prayer as you may know it, and ask for the heart of God. For His heart will forever change you.
Aelah had a run in with her bed frame today as rest time began. She’s in great spirits and did very well throughout the procedure. She cried briefly when she was hurt and then cried no more except as we had to leave the hospital.
And, with all the crazy cold we’ve had, I think this may be only the second time Adrienne has taken the kids out by herself. Way to get it done mom!
During morning prayer and devotions, we sang We Three Kings. It’s been quite some time, I think, since I have heard this song, let alone sung it, let alone sung it in its entirety. Do you know the song? The final verse reads …
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.
Today, the church celebrates the manifestation of Jesus, the Christ — the glory of God wrapped in the flesh of man. Many commemorate this epiphany by remembering the wise men’s visitation to the Christ Child. A star has guided them, a new light has dawned and the glory of the Lord is revealed. The previous verses of the hymn speak of the gifts presented to Jesus. Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh. Gold — to crown Him as King of Kings. Frankincense — the fragrance of worship. Myrrh — a bitter reminder of sacrifice. The wise men honored Jesus as King, God, and sacrifice.
As we sang, I could not help but translate these same thoughts to the doctrine of the threefold office. Jesus — our Prophet, our Priest, and our King.
Myrrh foreshadowed His persecution and death — killed by those to whom He came speaking Truth. Jesus, our Prophet.
Frankincense fitting for One who would intercede, mediate, and reconcile men to God. Jesus, our Priest.
Gold to crown Him Lord of creation and Lord of our hearts. Jesus, our King.
The wise men not only brought oblation to Jesus; but, together, with John the Baptist, they joined in preparing this One for the work He came to fulfill. Let the stories speak to you that new truth may invade. Remember Him today. He is the One who came to this world to save you, to tear open the curtain that you might know God, and to reign supreme in your heart. His glory and goodness are more than enough reason to come before Him in worship.
The Minnesota Vanderclan took a quick trip to Indiana this past week. Long trip down, long trip back, and much joy had in the meantime! We opted for a somewhat lighter schedule of events than we have had in past years and are healthier for it. So thankful for the many folks we were able to see during our short time in Lafayette. And saddened that our time limitations kept us from seeing many others of you and introducing you to Simeon.
View the gallery below for a quick glimpse of our family at the close of 2013. We hope that you have had a blessed Christmas and that your new year welcomes you well!
(click to expand — arrow keys to navigate)
Taking a walk around the block before the long car trip.
Freezing rain put us up in a hotel north of Madison for the night.
A nice trucker man bought Aelah a tiger during a fuel stop.
Foggy Chicago on the way down
The stockings were hung
Aelah testing out her new doll bed
The kids’ table
Twenty-three of us and a few dogs slept at the Lafayette house.
The cousin line-up. Love that our two are looking at me.
We are set to leave for Indiana in just a couple hours. Excited to be with family for the holidays. Don’t know that I ever posted this video of Aelah from a couple months back … checking up on the cousins. Look forward to seeing you all soon!
Thirty-six years ago today,’neath the roof of a small country church in Indiana, I was welcomed into the family of God. His water and Word claimed me as His own. And ever am I thankful! Today we celebrated with pumpkin pie. I thank God for His work in my life and pray that He might be nearer still … rather, that I might be nearer still to Him. Coming home from church today, this thought came to mind and dwells with me still tonight …
Let us not pray for answers. Rather, let us seek His heart.
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud
Nearer to Thee, LORD … nearer to Thee.
Chuck also reminded us that, on this day in 1910, Lars Olsen Skrefsrud died. “A rowdy young, given to drink, carousing, and petty thievery,” redeemed for the work of the Gospel. A forefather in many ways of the Prayer League, we commemorate his death and praise God for his faithfulness to the mission call.
Join us today in celebrating the work of God in the lives of His people — His Church. For, indeed, the same grace that was poured upon the saints of old, is ours today. As baptized believers in Jesus the Messiah, we are children of a heavenly Father and agents of the Spirit’s work on Earth. Blessed be the name of the LORD!
The past day or two have been quite an adventure. In addition to the regular happenings of transitioning to life with two children, we have decided Aelah may be ready for potty training. We began today and are trying the intense 3 day boot camp approach. First, however, we needed a potty seat. Adrienne purchased one from Target which ended up not fitting in the hole of our toilet seat. And thus began the toilet seat saga. I visited Ace Hardware (w/ our new potty seat) looking for a new toilet seat. Little success, as all toilet seats are wrapped pretty well. We did pull one from a box … it didn’t work. And so, later in the day, Aelah and I visited Target to return the potty seat Adrienne purchased, then to Babies ‘R Us for another (slim pickings), then ice cream on the way home. The one I chose still did not fit. So, back to Target and purchased a new toilet seat and potty seat … they work. Too easy.
And so today began potty training … lots of ‘accidents’ around the house. Lots of potty talk. And finally a poop in the potty just before bed time! Pray the coming days find us sane and Aelah a bit more trained. Thanks!
At 3:03 pm on October 22, 2013, Simeon Michael Vandercar was born at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury, Minnesota. Weighing 8 lbs 11.8 oz and measuring 20 ¾”, he is a handsome young man.
Waiting to fill this.
First time together as a family
Content.
Papa, Daddy, Aelah, and Simeon
It was a beautiful day for a birth. For all you woman-folk, Adrienne might later give a more extensive run-down on the labor and delivery. In short, 4 hours.
We’re a happy clan! Continued prayers are most welcome. We’ll be sure to post more of this little new life.
For recent updates, click on the page numbers below.
UPDATE 10.25.13 (1:10 am)
We thought we were headed home today. Unfortunately, other things were at hand.
During some of the standard screening tests, they had a few small concerns about the oxygen level in Simeon’s blood. He has also had labored breathing when he gets himself worked up. After consultation with several special care nurses, it was decided that Simeon should get additional observation and should be transferred to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul for precautionary respiratory evaluation. Before departing from Woodwinds Health Campus, he was put on oxygen, as his levels had dropped. They also placed an IV (and a second after the first leaked), so that they could get his blood sugar up, as it was also quite low. He was transported to Children’s in an ambulance and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Sleepy.
My ride to Children’s Hospital.
I will overcome!
All his numbers are stable and relatively good. He continues to have a muffled, weak cry, when he gets worked up, has quite a squawk when he needs to sneeze, and whimpers now and then when he sleeps depending on his position. They refer to his symptom as stridor (a wheezing-like noise). Several folks have mentioned the possibility of him having laryngomalacia (something that is healed with time). He has had an x-ray of his chest … all looked great. We have a test scheduled tomorrow (Friday) to check the structure of his passageways. Depending on the results, he may need additional testing.
Leaf baby.
We’ll be here at least 48 hours, but could be here through the weekend or beyond. Thank you for sharing in the joy of his birth and thank you for joining us in praying for his health and homecoming. We will try to periodically post an update here on the blog … long days and a tired mommy and daddy, but we want to keep you in the loop, so we’ll do our best.
On the homefront, Aelah has been enjoying time with Nana & Papa and we are very thankful for that. So good to have them here. We’ll be swapping time with Simeon in order to get home and spend time with Aelah.
Again, thank you! We’ll keep you updated.
UPDATE 10.25.13 (6:16 pm)
Simeon & Turtle
Simeon has continued to be well throughout today.
Last night, they gave him another chest x-ray and found that he does still have a bit of fluid in his right lung that must not have worked its way out during birth, so, to err on the side of safety, they want to treat him as if he had pneumonia, as the fluid could potentially become infectious. Thus, he will have a bit longer treatment of antibiotics and he’ll need to remain here for a total of at least 5 days (through Monday).
This morning we took him down to radiology for a fluoroscopy (moving image x-ray) in order to check some of his tubes. He drank barium which they were able to track. All appeared healthy, but for a small flap on his lower esophagus, just above his stomach. The gastro-intestinal doc said it is nothing about which he is concerned, as it has not been affecting him in any way.
The ENT doc has mentioned the possibility of a bronchoscopy to check out Simeon’s airways, but will first use a soft probe to check out what might be causing Simeon’s hoarseness. I took some video of him when worked-up and the doctors that were able to hear it, both agreed that his hoarseness might be more related to his vocal chords not quite working well together. We’ll see what they find. Pretty rough when we gets worked-up. Thankfully, he is almost always calm and peaceful and has been quite easy to settle when he does become restless.
Nana, Papa, and Aelah were able to stop by today. Aelah had to hang in the lobby due to visitor restrictions during the flu season. It was great to have them here for a while. Adrienne has joined them at home for the early evening (which I was able to do last night) and can hopefully get a bit of a rest and a nice soak in the bath.
Though Simeon’s ambulance transport may have been a bit alarming or shocking for us yesterday, it truly does not seem there is too much to worry about. He is in great care here at the hospital and it still seems most all of his monitoring and tests are simply precautionary measures. Thank you for your continued prayers! We are thankful for a healthy delivery and confident Simeon will be coming home soon.
UPDATE: 10.27.13 (12:41 am)
It’s been a long weekend thus far. It is the weekend, yes?
I’ll try to give you the key events over the past day or so, though I’m tired, in need of sleep and probably will forget something or several things. If you’re still following our journey here, I want to at least allow you that and give you some things for which you can be praying. I’ll spare you all the what-ifs and possibilities and try to give you the facts.
Adrienne went home last night with Nana, Papa, and Aelah after their visit, so that she could get a shower, spend some time with Aelah putting her to bed, gather some clothes and such, and get some sleep (i think that was plan). She called me near midnight having found herself with a temp of 103.5. Papa brought her into the ER at United Hospital (connected to Children’s). After evaluation, it was found she has a UTI and probably bladder infection … a fierce one. She’s under observation for the time being. Her temp has been up and down all day. Most recently, she was sitting at 99.7. She continues to pump some milk for Simeon, which I have been transporting back to the ICU for him to enjoy.
Last night, Simeon also lost his 4th (?) IV. They were unable to get it replaced, so he had to have one dose of his antibiotics through a simultaneous triple shot to the thighs. Ouch. Since then, they have been able to place an IV in his head for the remainder of his antibiotic treatment.
The ENT doc came for the soft scope procedure this morning. He quite readily found that there is paralysis of Simeon’s left vocal cord. It is possible (and maybe even likely) that his vocal chord would heal with time. They’ll be giving us some special instructions for sleeping, feeding, and such. For example, he will sleep using what they call a Danny Sling, allowing him an inclined bed, so that any acid reflux during sleeping would not end up in his lungs. Also, it will be best for him to be fed right-side down. We’ll have a visit with the speech folks on Monday to get some more education. If his condition remains, or doesn’t fully heal, he may be softer spoken than others (his father’s son, i suppose).
My parents did visit again this evening, so that Aelah could see us for a bit. Nice that there aren’t visitor restrictions where Adrienne is staying. Aelah continues to have a blast with Nana & Papa. She’s been about the town. I’m sure they have stories to share.
So, at least two more nights here. Simeon is now in a crib, which just looks more cozy that the giraffe warmer he’d been in. I’ll try an remember to post a pic of that tomorrow. There’s also some good pics of Aelah that I’ll have to get hold of. Hopefully, we’ll all be set to head home on Monday. Surely, we will be ready. Thank you again for your prayers. We are excited for Simeon to meet each of you someday down the road! For now … to bed.
UPDATE 10.28.13 11:27 pm
Home. Adrienne and Simeon were reunited today. Both were released from the hospital and we arrived home this evening. That’s all I got for now. Tired and still looking for some rest. Thank you for your prayers and support! We greatly appreciate you all!
In June of 2012 our family joined the greater World Mission Prayer League family when the Directorate invited us to become Missionary Candidates. Yesterday, we had the privilege of appearing before the WMPL Home Council and were officially invited to join them, no longer as “candidates,” but as full time Missionaries, currently assigned to the home office, with the intent that we will together keep eyes and ears open as we discern whether God will keep us in this spot or call us overseas or to some other field in the future.
We have been richly blessed and challenged by this community of praying Believers over the last year and a half. We invite you to join with us in prayer as we offer thanks and praise to God for the blessing of serving Him in this way! We are so thankful God has put us in this place at this time, and we’re excited to see God’s vision for our service to Him unfold in the future.
Specifically, Joshua is serving full time in the office as Media Coordinator, working with everything from website reconstruction, to database management, to social media. Please pray for him as he works toward clear and effective communication of the Gospel, utilizing today’s ever-changing technology.
I continue to spend most of my time mothering and caring for our family, and it is a joy. We also look forward to the birth of our second child–due tomorrow!!! I am also excited to have been invited to join the WMPL Directorate this past spring. This board meets monthly and our tasks include prayer and discernment over the distribution of grants, praying for potential ministry fields and personnel, personnel interviews, and the like. Participation on this board has been a blessing, a privilege, to see how God is acting in the many countries where He has placed WMPL workers. Please pray that the Holy Spirit is active as the Directorate meets; may each decision we make come only after prayerful discernment and clear direction and prompting from the Lord.
Thank you sincerely for the many prayers we know you have already spoken on our behalf. Your financial and emotional support have been significant blessings as well! We would like to continue to lift you up in prayer in turn. Please let us know of any prayer or praise you’d like us to offer up on your behalf! It’s a pleasure to serve the Lord alongside you!
Have you stopped lately to consider the untamed power of the Gospel at work in our world? It is real. It is good. He is real. He is good. God gave His only Son, Jesus, that we might know peace on earth. Would you give your child for the cause of reconciliation?
We watched this at devotions today. Please, take the sixteen minutes to experience this amazing story of transformative action and glorious reconciliation. It has now been just over 51 years. The Spirit is moving. Bless the Lord, O my soul!
It seems like it has come up on us pretty quick (although, Adrienne may say different). Pip II is almost here. This past week or so kind of has us twiddling our thumbs … just waiting. Adrienne has done a good deal of nesting. Full cupboards of food and clean floors.
Making an impact!
This baby is sure to make a new impact on our lives and I think we’re ready. Aelah has been adventurous this past week. Exploring the idea of running and has taken a few leaps/falls off of our bed, the pews at church (full contact liturgy, as one friend said), and a few headers into the ground, as she gets ahead of herself running. We’re pretty certain she also knows that big changes are on the way. She’s been waking in the wee hours of morning (three/four) wanting us. We’ll be sure to keep you updated and will be excited to introduce you to the new one! Blessings on your day!
I’ve begun to again read through a series of devotions titled Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman. I first read this volume during my first year on mission with Youth Encounter. The pages are still edged with the grit from our travels in West Africa. It would seem I, too, am still edged with the same. The title says it well enough — these are words of life in the barreness. He writes in today’s devotion:
