Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11. There is a heightened terror alert out for that day. As I sit here wondering if Sunday will be the next big strike on the United States, I can’t help but remember the day that changed the life of every American.
I will never forget watching from our home here in Erickson, we were viewing “live” as the second tower was hit…I remember feeling such confusion but knowing deep within that my homeland was under attack. We watched as people jumped out to their deaths, I remember crying “no wait!” (“don’t give up”) and then watching in horror as the Twin Towers fell one by one…knowing at that very moment so many who were waiting had just died.
Our Pentagon was attacked next, and word had it that the capital and White House were targets as well. As an American you worry “Where is our President, is he safe, will he be able to lead us?” Word came from our family in Nebraska, the President was safe, after flying around in secure air space he was hunkered down underground at Offutt AFB (SAC) in Omaha. Nebraskans know exactly what that means. He can run the entire nation from underground there.
The man in town who was the dealer for the Star Choice (TV Satellite) came to our house immediately and installed a satellite system so we could get American channels and feel like we were closer to home.
We went about our days in a Haze, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Other nations have suffered much greater losses, as I was reminded by some in our area during the days that followed. But for Americans, this was our greatest loss. It wasn’t a military base that was attacked during war time, it was innocent civilians going about their workday.
As we come to the 10th anniversary on Sunday, please pray for the families of so many that lost their lives that day, Sunday will be especially hard on each and every one of them. Our towers will rise again but the families will live with the pain for the rest of their lives.
I have a fond memory of that day planted in my mind and I use it to replace the evil scenes that come to memory. After the towers fell, the dust cleared, and the moving away of some mass pieces; there, standing up from the rubble was steel cross. As the tower fell , steel beams had broken and had formed a cross… there it stood in victory. Oh, how my heart bowed at the feet of Jesus. Praise His Name! He is in control even in the darkest of hours.
God Bless America.
Jeff and Nickie
Friday, September 9, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Empty Nest- An Update on the Robinson Home
This past May our youngest child Kittie, married Kurt Driedger a wonderful Christian young man. It was a beautiful ceremony to which we gained our 10th child!! All of our children now have their own little families.
This past week Kittie and Kurt moved from Rosseburn, MB (40 minutes away) to Olds, Alberta over 12 hours away. I am thankful though, as now Kittie and Sunnie are only about an hour apart. Anyone who knows them, knows they really need to be close in distance as they have such a close relationship.
The Lord has now after 30 years given us an empty nest. It has taken me all summer to get used to it but I am and I know God is at work. At the age of 47 we are both excited to see what the Lord has in mind for us!! No doubt things will be different.
I miss our little ones, but we now have 10 little ones in the form of grand-kids to love and spoil!! We will be heading out to Alberta the end of October for the birth of that 10th grand-child!!!
Third John says, there is no greater joy than to know your children walk with the Lord. We can tell you first hand this a true absolute joy! Praise the Lord the glory belongs to Him!!
We are soon heading south to make a quick visit with each of our kids before heading further south for a visit with friends. We are so excited to be able to see the kids and grand-kids again, the Lord has been so good to us in allowing us to see them often this year.
This was just a quick update on our family...thanks so much for taking the time to read it. Please continue to pray for us!!
This past week Kittie and Kurt moved from Rosseburn, MB (40 minutes away) to Olds, Alberta over 12 hours away. I am thankful though, as now Kittie and Sunnie are only about an hour apart. Anyone who knows them, knows they really need to be close in distance as they have such a close relationship.
The Lord has now after 30 years given us an empty nest. It has taken me all summer to get used to it but I am and I know God is at work. At the age of 47 we are both excited to see what the Lord has in mind for us!! No doubt things will be different.
I miss our little ones, but we now have 10 little ones in the form of grand-kids to love and spoil!! We will be heading out to Alberta the end of October for the birth of that 10th grand-child!!!
Third John says, there is no greater joy than to know your children walk with the Lord. We can tell you first hand this a true absolute joy! Praise the Lord the glory belongs to Him!!
We are soon heading south to make a quick visit with each of our kids before heading further south for a visit with friends. We are so excited to be able to see the kids and grand-kids again, the Lord has been so good to us in allowing us to see them often this year.
This was just a quick update on our family...thanks so much for taking the time to read it. Please continue to pray for us!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Pat Answers
I was just thinking today; when we were new to the ministry, I would be accused of giving "pat answers". But you know, we have been in the ministry 10 + years now and the answers are still the same: Christ and Him Crucified, God the Creator is in control of every single situation, trust Him, He will turn the bad around for good for His glory. His will is perfect, don't doubt Him, Always give God the glory, Surrender your life and live according to His Word.
I guess the key was finding more creative words to express those facts!! Not that I really have, as I find it very hard to express myself verbally. But when I absolutely need the words, God is gracious enough to give them to me. The Lord has shown me time and time again, that it is not our ministry it is His and He works through us to fulfil His will for His ministry. He enables us, He sends those into our lives whom we are to minister to, He removes those He wants to remove from our lives, according to His perfect will. And thankfully, He knocks us down a peg or two when our eyes wander off of Him and on to our circumstances.
We have had a situation in our church. The Lord sent us a family a few years ago. At first He sent us their children to minister to through VBS and then Adventure Club and slowly but surely Children's church. We knew immediatly God had plans for this family. So we prayed and we waited. After a year or two their mom began to attend church and, rededicated her life to the Lord.
The family has attended faithfully and became very active in church. 2 weeks ago their home caught fire at a little before 4:00 in the morning. We received a call a few minutes later that she alone (as her husband was on the road) got their 6 little children (plus an extra child) out of the house and was at the church. God protected each and everyone of them by waking them and directing them all out of the house, even sparing them from smoke inhalation. God has a plan for this family.
As of today they are pretty well homeless. Some of them spend time and have their meals at the church but the family has been separated since this happened. Thankfully they all have places to sleep and folks helping care for the children.
4 of the 6 children are foster children. All but one they have raised since they were newborns. The time is limited before CFS has to take the children and place them in different foster care homes. Time is of the essence, but thankfully God controls time along with everything else.
Our heart aches for them. We love them and the children. Isn't that the way it goes? When God gives you some one to minister to He gives you such a deep and protective love for them.
What will happen? We have no idea. Where will they go and what will they do? Will the children be taken away? Still we have no idea. But we know God does.
So it really comes down to this: Christ and Him Crucified, God the Creator is in control of every single situation, trust Him, He will turn the bad around for good for His glory. His will is perfect, don't doubt Him, Always give God the glory, Surrender your life and live according to His Word.
I guess it still falls back on those same old "pat" answers and praise God, it does! To God be the Glory!!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Family and Ministry
Wow, the 2010 Christmas season is upon us! This year is another year that has just whizzed by.
It looks like we will be down to only one child home for Christmas this year. That will be a big difference. I remember what it was like when we were down to 3 and then 2. Thankfully, Kittie’s fiancé will be joining us so that will be nice.
Kittie is still interning at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Regina, SK. It stretches her in all kinds of new ways. She will be done in April. Wedding plans are well under way for their wedding on May 7th.
Sunnie has been hired by a Christian school as a special education teacher’s aid there in Rimby. She loves it and especially loves learning the therapy techniques and then working with the children.
Heather is attending a Beth Moore conference as I write this. She and many of our friends in the Black Hills are all gathering for the 2 day conference. I am praying for a great blessing for all of them!!
Sara is hosting the Robinson family Thanksgiving in the States on Monday (a day they can all get together). Thanksgiving is always the saddest holiday for me. First of all we are not having Thanksgiving here (as it is the first week of October) and Secondly half of the family is in Canada (not celebrating) while the other half is in the States celebrating.
Josh and Meg hosted a huge Robinson family get together at their place last Christmas and we were all able to be there!! That was a blast!! They had a rent a big community room for all of us though. We were 18 in all and since then (as of May) we will have added 3 more to the family! So far we are a family of 21.
We are loving ministry more each year. God has brought new folks into our lives that truly desire to be discipled. He has brought a couple of new families into the church which added greatly to our children’s ministry. He has brought us help in our children’s ministries, something we lacked for a great number of years. We are seeing spiritual growth in many folks. That in itself is a huge blessing to us!
Speaking of blessings, has blessed us in too many ways to be able to number. We know we can trust Him because His will is always perfect..what more could we ask for except to be able to know and desire Him more! I am excited for what the Lord will be doing in our church and in our familes this coming year. God is so good. Praise His Name!!
It looks like we will be down to only one child home for Christmas this year. That will be a big difference. I remember what it was like when we were down to 3 and then 2. Thankfully, Kittie’s fiancé will be joining us so that will be nice.
Kittie is still interning at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Regina, SK. It stretches her in all kinds of new ways. She will be done in April. Wedding plans are well under way for their wedding on May 7th.
Sunnie has been hired by a Christian school as a special education teacher’s aid there in Rimby. She loves it and especially loves learning the therapy techniques and then working with the children.
Heather is attending a Beth Moore conference as I write this. She and many of our friends in the Black Hills are all gathering for the 2 day conference. I am praying for a great blessing for all of them!!
Sara is hosting the Robinson family Thanksgiving in the States on Monday (a day they can all get together). Thanksgiving is always the saddest holiday for me. First of all we are not having Thanksgiving here (as it is the first week of October) and Secondly half of the family is in Canada (not celebrating) while the other half is in the States celebrating.
Josh and Meg hosted a huge Robinson family get together at their place last Christmas and we were all able to be there!! That was a blast!! They had a rent a big community room for all of us though. We were 18 in all and since then (as of May) we will have added 3 more to the family! So far we are a family of 21.
We are loving ministry more each year. God has brought new folks into our lives that truly desire to be discipled. He has brought a couple of new families into the church which added greatly to our children’s ministry. He has brought us help in our children’s ministries, something we lacked for a great number of years. We are seeing spiritual growth in many folks. That in itself is a huge blessing to us!
Speaking of blessings, has blessed us in too many ways to be able to number. We know we can trust Him because His will is always perfect..what more could we ask for except to be able to know and desire Him more! I am excited for what the Lord will be doing in our church and in our familes this coming year. God is so good. Praise His Name!!
Monday, October 18, 2010
October 2010
It has been a while since I last posted. I am great a starting posts and terrible about keeping them updated.
The Lord continues to bless us immensely thorugh His Word and the things that He has planned for us. More and more each day we realize what an Awesome Holy and Sovereign God we serve.
In September He gave us our 9th grandchild (8 boys and 1 girl). Sara and Dean had another baby boy (this makes 5) Jace Nicholas Colling. He is growing by leaps and bounds. I was able to be in the States for 3.5 weeks with my daughter and spending time with my other children and grandchildren as well. I treasure that time and the memories that were made!
Thanksgiving has come and gone here in Canada. I can't even begin to list the blessings God has given me. The greatest one is His love for me, the grace and mercy He has bestowed and most of all the price He paid for a wretch like me.
Who God is and what He has given me was driven home to my heart recently when someone I love very much said to me "I don't even know if I believe in God anymore". "I don't believe that the Bible is God Breathed". My heart was devastated and not just for this person who had lost his faith, but for my God and my Savior. Our Lord GOD has given so much and has been rejected so much.
Ministry is going well, we are enjoying the discipleship part of ministry so much. It is so exciting when God brings new ones into our lives. We have a hard time balancing a lot of our time and there have been hurt feelings that we are not giving as much time to friendships, but we know God called us to minister and that has to take preference over recreation and get-togethers with friends. We know if we do as God asks, He will take care of the circumstances.
Kittie and Kurt have set the wedding date, it will be May 7th. They would like to have a family wedding with just a few others who have watched them grow up. Even so, the invitation list has grown to 125. Kurt has a very large and wonderful family who mostly live in the area. So their desire of a small wedding is growing a bit...lol.
Soon all of our children will be married. Each one of them have grown tremendously in the past couple of years. We are so proud of them.
Sunnie and Justin recently suffered through a miscarriage and even though very heartbroken, handled it a very good way which deeply honored the Lord.
I have looked back at my blogs and realized they somewhat read like prayer letters...so many years of writing prayer letters has rubbed off a bit, I guess.
Ta-Ta for now...
The Lord continues to bless us immensely thorugh His Word and the things that He has planned for us. More and more each day we realize what an Awesome Holy and Sovereign God we serve.
In September He gave us our 9th grandchild (8 boys and 1 girl). Sara and Dean had another baby boy (this makes 5) Jace Nicholas Colling. He is growing by leaps and bounds. I was able to be in the States for 3.5 weeks with my daughter and spending time with my other children and grandchildren as well. I treasure that time and the memories that were made!
Thanksgiving has come and gone here in Canada. I can't even begin to list the blessings God has given me. The greatest one is His love for me, the grace and mercy He has bestowed and most of all the price He paid for a wretch like me.
Who God is and what He has given me was driven home to my heart recently when someone I love very much said to me "I don't even know if I believe in God anymore". "I don't believe that the Bible is God Breathed". My heart was devastated and not just for this person who had lost his faith, but for my God and my Savior. Our Lord GOD has given so much and has been rejected so much.
Ministry is going well, we are enjoying the discipleship part of ministry so much. It is so exciting when God brings new ones into our lives. We have a hard time balancing a lot of our time and there have been hurt feelings that we are not giving as much time to friendships, but we know God called us to minister and that has to take preference over recreation and get-togethers with friends. We know if we do as God asks, He will take care of the circumstances.
Kittie and Kurt have set the wedding date, it will be May 7th. They would like to have a family wedding with just a few others who have watched them grow up. Even so, the invitation list has grown to 125. Kurt has a very large and wonderful family who mostly live in the area. So their desire of a small wedding is growing a bit...lol.
Soon all of our children will be married. Each one of them have grown tremendously in the past couple of years. We are so proud of them.
Sunnie and Justin recently suffered through a miscarriage and even though very heartbroken, handled it a very good way which deeply honored the Lord.
I have looked back at my blogs and realized they somewhat read like prayer letters...so many years of writing prayer letters has rubbed off a bit, I guess.
Ta-Ta for now...
Friday, August 20, 2010
Almost September
Wow, it is almost September!! The weather has changed here in Manitoba. Our nights are very cool (We were near frost the other day) and the days are cooler as well. It has been a very short summer considering summer does not really start until July 1st when the kids are out of school and the weather finally warms enough to feel WARM!
We have had so much rain this summer, we were not able to get a garden in because of that,and I really miss not having one. I did grow some lettuce, zucchini and a pepper plant on my deck. The pepper plant is ding outrageously well!! Better than any I have tried to grow in the garden. I plan to bring it inside at night when it begins to frost soon.
I am so excited to go camping. Jeff and I will be going to Assessippi about an hour and a half from here. Close enough to get back if something happens in the church and remote enough to be completely by ourselves. We are camping for 3 nights in a yurt. A yurt is a round tent/cabin (mostly made of canvas). Something new for us to try!!
Jeff has been away all week. He took 5 holidays from the church to work on a bridge in Saskatchewan. Then I leave on the 3rd to go stay with Sara and family as they await the arrival of little Jace Nicholas Colling. Jace will arrive via c-section on the 13th. Jeff will arrive on Sunday night (late) the 12th to be there for the birth.
Jace is named after my father "Nicholas". His brother, Caleb Jeffery was named after...well, you know who. Jace will be our 9th grandchild.
Our youngest one moved away to Alberta this month. Kittie is attending Prairie Bible College and it starts today.
We know she will do well, but a mother's heart still grieves the separation. Her daddy even shed a few tears over her leaving the nest. We now have two children living in Alberta and 3 children living in South Dakota. We still have children in our home though, thanks to daycare.
Vacation Bible School just ended a week or so ago...we had 85 kids!! It was such a blessing. We had a big get-together on the Friday evening for the parents and families. Please keep these children in your prayers, it is our prayer that many seeds were planted!!
Adventure Club and Boy's Club plus the weekly Bible study in the town north of here start back up soon. Ladies Study will go from every 2 weeks (summer) to every week.
Well, that about catches up the blog for the summer. Hoping everyone has a great Fall as they walk daily with the Lord!!
We have had so much rain this summer, we were not able to get a garden in because of that,and I really miss not having one. I did grow some lettuce, zucchini and a pepper plant on my deck. The pepper plant is ding outrageously well!! Better than any I have tried to grow in the garden. I plan to bring it inside at night when it begins to frost soon.
I am so excited to go camping. Jeff and I will be going to Assessippi about an hour and a half from here. Close enough to get back if something happens in the church and remote enough to be completely by ourselves. We are camping for 3 nights in a yurt. A yurt is a round tent/cabin (mostly made of canvas). Something new for us to try!!
Jeff has been away all week. He took 5 holidays from the church to work on a bridge in Saskatchewan. Then I leave on the 3rd to go stay with Sara and family as they await the arrival of little Jace Nicholas Colling. Jace will arrive via c-section on the 13th. Jeff will arrive on Sunday night (late) the 12th to be there for the birth.
Jace is named after my father "Nicholas". His brother, Caleb Jeffery was named after...well, you know who. Jace will be our 9th grandchild.
Our youngest one moved away to Alberta this month. Kittie is attending Prairie Bible College and it starts today.
We know she will do well, but a mother's heart still grieves the separation. Her daddy even shed a few tears over her leaving the nest. We now have two children living in Alberta and 3 children living in South Dakota. We still have children in our home though, thanks to daycare.
Vacation Bible School just ended a week or so ago...we had 85 kids!! It was such a blessing. We had a big get-together on the Friday evening for the parents and families. Please keep these children in your prayers, it is our prayer that many seeds were planted!!
Adventure Club and Boy's Club plus the weekly Bible study in the town north of here start back up soon. Ladies Study will go from every 2 weeks (summer) to every week.
Well, that about catches up the blog for the summer. Hoping everyone has a great Fall as they walk daily with the Lord!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Soon to be July
Soon it will be July. Thursday marks the day. Thursday is also 'Canada Day' the Canadian equivalence to the 4th of July. Today is the last day of school for the kids and tomorrow for the teacher's. Summer should officially begin on Thursday.
We had such a good visit with Justin and Sunnie last week. They came to help for a week of Special Needs (at the Bible camp) and then spent a week with us. Kurt also came from Alberta to spend a few days here with Kittie and attend his brother's graduation. Both of the guys helped Jeff with the basement clean up and repairs. We are finally starting to dry out. The repair to the weeping tile helped and the sump pump is working to dry things out.
We are still experiencing rain and cool weather. We just hope it will end soon. I can't imagine anyone having much of a garden this year and the farmers are not having much, if any crop.
My grandson, Carter called today and told me all about the fireworks his daddy bought for the 4th of July. He is so excited!! he says "Nana, you and Papa can just drive here to come to grandma's and have fireworks with us and then you can drive home." 3 year old's just can't comprehend the amount of distance it is from there to here. I always fear they will think we just don't care enough to come see them when they ask us to.
Hannah, our only granddaughter always tries to talk us into coming to see her, and it just breaks my heart. I know when they are older they will understand.
This border problem down in Arizona is sure unbelievable! I am just shocked that it has been allowed to escalate to this level. There are actual parts of Arizona and Texas that the Mexican drug cartel have taken over! Since when did the United States of America stand by and let anyone take over land from us? Or allow the land to become a war zone? I stand by Arizona and the law they have passed 110% and I want to see every State adopt such a law!!
Good show of strength and independence by Fremont, Nebraska voting to add such a law!!!
I hear Missouri is going to let their voters decide in August if they are against ObamaCare (Missouri Health Care Freedom Act). Good Job, Missouri!! Now more States will hopefully get on the same page!!
Take care....that's all for today!!
We had such a good visit with Justin and Sunnie last week. They came to help for a week of Special Needs (at the Bible camp) and then spent a week with us. Kurt also came from Alberta to spend a few days here with Kittie and attend his brother's graduation. Both of the guys helped Jeff with the basement clean up and repairs. We are finally starting to dry out. The repair to the weeping tile helped and the sump pump is working to dry things out.
We are still experiencing rain and cool weather. We just hope it will end soon. I can't imagine anyone having much of a garden this year and the farmers are not having much, if any crop.
My grandson, Carter called today and told me all about the fireworks his daddy bought for the 4th of July. He is so excited!! he says "Nana, you and Papa can just drive here to come to grandma's and have fireworks with us and then you can drive home." 3 year old's just can't comprehend the amount of distance it is from there to here. I always fear they will think we just don't care enough to come see them when they ask us to.
Hannah, our only granddaughter always tries to talk us into coming to see her, and it just breaks my heart. I know when they are older they will understand.
This border problem down in Arizona is sure unbelievable! I am just shocked that it has been allowed to escalate to this level. There are actual parts of Arizona and Texas that the Mexican drug cartel have taken over! Since when did the United States of America stand by and let anyone take over land from us? Or allow the land to become a war zone? I stand by Arizona and the law they have passed 110% and I want to see every State adopt such a law!!
Good show of strength and independence by Fremont, Nebraska voting to add such a law!!!
I hear Missouri is going to let their voters decide in August if they are against ObamaCare (Missouri Health Care Freedom Act). Good Job, Missouri!! Now more States will hopefully get on the same page!!
Take care....that's all for today!!
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