Peace like a river

Mondays with Michael

Have you ever had one of those "lightbulb" moments? You know the type, where something just clicks. After knowing something for so long, it finally makes sense. I had one of those moments a couple weeks ago with Deacon.

We were running errands in town and listening to his Veggie Tales CD. They were singing "I've got peace like a river, I've got joy like a fountain, I've got love like an ocean in my soul." I have probably known that song for 25 years, but for some reason that day everything made sense. I don't know why, it's not like I was really concentrating on the lyrics. Maybe it was Larry & Bob's moving rendition of the song. :) Whatever it was, the lightbulb finally came on.

"I've got peace like a river." Picture a river. Not the murky, brown Wabash. Not a raging rapids (although sometimes it can be like that). It's still. It's constant. It's tranquil. It's peace.

"I've got joy like a fountain." Picture a fountain. The water is bursting out. It can't be contained. It's bubbling over. That's our joy.

"I've got love like an ocean." Picture an ocean. It's vast. It's endless. It's all encompassing. That's our love.

When I came home and told Jane about my "revelation", her response was "Yeah?". She didn't say this, but I'm sure she was thinking "Are you serious? Of course that's what those lyrics mean." And I'm sure a lot of you are thinking the same thing. I guess I'm just 25 years slower than most people. Anyway, I was excited about my discovery.

Make it a great Monday!

God Weeps Too

Mondays w/ Michael

Ten years ago today, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris marched into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and killed 12 of their classmates and 1 teacher and injured 23 others before turning the guns on themselves. I was a student at IPFW at the time. I had planned on going to Anchor Room to purchase the "Things I Prayed For" CD by Eli when I got out of school. At some point during the day, I found out about the massacre. After school, I purchased the CD as planned. I still remember driving down 469 with tears streaming down my cheeks as I listened to the song below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQ9urPYGcQ

God Weeps Too

This is for the man who never learned to read or write
He worked two jobs instead of going to school
I know it hurt you as a child,
But please remember all the while
That God weeps too

This is for the widow who now must sleep alone
When the memory of a kiss will have to do
Every night when she lays down
You can almost hear the sound
When God weeps too

God weeps too, God weeps too
Though we question Him for all that we go through
Still it helps me to believe and my faith it does relieve
When I think that God weeps too

For every survivor of the wickedness of man
Whether you're a black man or a Jew
Some people kill in Jesus name
But He is not the one to blame
Cause even God weeps too

God weeps too, God weeps too
Though we question Him for all that we go through
Still it helps me to believe and my faith it does relieve
When I think that God weeps too

God weeps too, God weeps too
Though we question Him for all that we go through
Still it helps me believe and my faith it does relieve
When I think that God weeps too

And I never really thought about it,
Not that much about it,
But God weeps too.
And I never really thought about it,
Not that much about it,
But God weeps too.

I remember another time listening to that same song, driving down the same road and the passenger in the car asked me "Do you really think that God weeps?" John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the Bible. Even though it's the shortest verse, it is very powerful. It simply states "Jesus wept." Why was Jesus weeping? He was weeping over his friend Lazarus who had died. A few verses later in v. 43, Jesus calls out "Lazarus, come forth" and Lazarus arose from the dead.

If Jesus wept over His friend who was dead, who He knew He would call back to life, imagine how He feels when we, His children, disobey Him. Imagine how He feels when we sin. Imagine how He feels when He sees His children, who He came and died for, killing others simply because of the color of their skin. Imagine how He feels when He sees His children being aborted, simply because they are not convenient.

Yeah, I've never really thought about, not that much about it, but I believe God weeps too.

Make it a great Monday! I'm going to try to not make Him weep.

Coming Home

I am a little late on this post, but better late than never!

A year ago on April 15th was the day that we FINALLY got to come home!!

Let me start from the beginning. . .

We were planning on coming home on that Friday, the 11th, I think-it was going to be perfect. We would get back to Ft. Wayne around 5 and we would have a 'Welcome Home' party for Deacon at Mom and Dad Reinhard's, then we would go to the Loving Shepherd Auction on Saturday. . . .

But as often times goes, that was not God's plan.

All we needed was a simple phone call saying that Florida recieved the 'ok' from Indiana that we could leave the state. Lynn and I were torn as to what to do! We had tickets to go home, and were due to return our rental car, so we had to go to the airport anyway-so we decided we would pack things up and go to the airport and hope for the phone call. We waited, and we waited. . .

and the phone call never came. After tears of being let down, we refocused and reminded ourselves that things could be MUCH worse (ie. Leslie changing her mind. . . ). So we did what anyone would do in our situation-we made the best of it and enjoyed the beach for 3 more days! We rented a new car and headed back to the Holiday Isle Yacht Club. I called Harry, and told him we could not go home yet, and of course he said, 'It ain't no problem!' So we moved across the pool to another condo. Because we were there for so long, we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. I know what you are thinking, 'But you had a newborn!' That is true, but Deacon slept ALL the time-really! I think we visited every mall within an hour of us and we would just walk around and enjoy being outdoors. We also walked to and toured 'The Bonnet House'. That was very interesting to see! We ate out for dinner and had seafood, Italian, Thai, (and Italian again because their lasagna was FABULOUS!), and I think Italian at another place. . .

we were getting really familar with this part of Ft.Lauderdale!

Lynn, you must know just how much your going with us meant, to all of us. That was one of the funnest and longest sleepovers I have ever experienced, (and probably will ever). We had so much fun talking, eating, laying by the pool (her in the sun, me in the shade!)-Lynn even grilled for us one night!

Not to mention, feeding and holding Deacon which allowed me to sleep! We will never forget all those memories! I was truly thankful to be going home, and yet, I would miss our time together. We got the call on Monday afternoon, so we were right on the phone with the airline, and they got us a flight for the next morning, leaving around 6 a.m. and flying to Houston, Cleveland, and finally Ft.Wayne. Deacon was able to be in 2 other states, other than Florida, before actually making it home. We took pictures on the beach Monday night and worked on getting ALL of our stuff together-actually most of it was Deacon and mine:)

Tuesday morning came, and I was feeling bittersweet. We were off on our adventure home! We had to get one of those 'Smart Carts' for all of our stuff, and even still, it was overwhelming!

It was overwhelming for Michael and I when we came into Ft.Lauderdale, and now we actually had the baby that most of this gear was for!

Deacon laying on the folding tray on the plane!

I am a very analytical person and HAVE TO figure out why things happen. . . so, Probable Reason #1 that we were delayed from leaving Florida our regular schedualed time: Deacon and I were seated and waiting for take off and the stewardess was walking down the aisle checking on all the passengers, and she stopped at Deacon and I and said, "So you adopted him?" And I replied with joy in my heart, "Yes we did!" And she replied that her daughter was pregnant and going to give the baby up for adoption. I could tell by her tone and countenance, that this not only extremely difficult for her (of course) but that perhaps, until now, did she not completly support her daughter in this very difficult decision. Who knows? God, of course! But after that, I thought, "Ok Lord, that was our purpose of leaving later than WE had planned."

Deacon in HOUSTON!




Lynn, Deacon, and I before boarding our plane in Cleveland

Lynn held Deacon most of the flight from Cleveland to Ft. Wayne. We had all formed an even more special bond and I was going to miss seeing her everyday, and (I think) she was going to miss us and especially her special time with 'little Deacon'.

We were greeted at the airport by Michael, Brad, and my mom and dad, and John and Pam. It was an exciting reunion. That was the longest time that Brad and Lynn had ever been apart and the longest time Michael and I have been apart! We went back to John and Pam's to visit and share stories of our adventure , and of course for dinner!

Finally, everybody else had left and it was just us, 'The new Michael Reinhard Family' there, and it was time to go home! This was exciting and yet scary, because now it was finally Michael and I on our own. Could we actually do this!? Well, we did and Deacon is still with us, even after a year-so I suppose we must be doing something right! Praise God for our miracle-our CHOSEN ONE!

What does God want from me?

What does God want from me? What does He want from each of us? Does He want me to sell all my goods to feed the poor? Well, if I am the young man in Matthew 19:16-22, He does. Does He want me to move my family to Haiti and become missionaries? Well, if I am Rich and Amber Pfister, He does. He calls some of us to marry, He calls others to remain single. He calls some to adopt, He calls some to preach. So what does He want from me? I think that everything God wants from us can be summarized in one word: obedience.

I Samuel 15 tells the story of the Israelites at war with the Amalekites. God told the Israelites to destroy everything. But the people saved some of the sheep and the oxen to offer as a sacrifice to God. Sacrifice is good, right? The people were doing a good thing, but it displeased the Lord because that is not what He had commanded. I Samuel 15:22 is one of my favorite phrases in the Bible "To obey is better than sacrifice." That's all God wants from us, our obedience. He may call you to sacrifice. If He does and you do anything else, it's wrong. He may call you to move to Ethiopia. If He does and you do anything else, it's wrong. I don't know what God's plans are for my life, all I know is that I only need to trust and obey.

Well, I spent all of March talking about Rich Mullins. Here is a song from another late musician who I really appreciate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzWyZxlwGKI

Make it a great Monday!

'See you later'. . . .

Yes, I am still in the land of the living, although I haven't felt this exhausted in probably a year! It was such an emotional weekend! I'll begin with a year ago this past Sunday-which happened to be the day that we celebrated Deacon's birthday. It was the day that we would finally get to leave the hospital with our little boy! Michael and I arrived at the hospital early so we could go over our end of the paper work, but Leslie could not sign the papers until exactly 48 hours after Deacon's birth. Lynn Fiechter was coming to stay with Deacon and I because Michael had to go back home to go to work and she was supposed to get in on Friday, but because of the weather, she missed her connecting flight, and did not get in until Saturday. Because we were in the middle of paper work when her flight got in, she decided to take a taxi to the hospital. We were so excited to see her!

After the papers were signed, I could officially go back into the nursery and dress my little one to leave the hospital.

I was feeling more and more like his mommy, because I was being treated like his mommy, rather than a stranger, by all the nurses. The time was coming for us to say our 'good-byes' to Leslie and Bruce. Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to take place. Of course I had envisioned how the transition would be-we would say good-bye to them and then leave the room and then Leslie would give Deacon to Ava (the social worker) and then Ava would bring him out to us, and we would leave the hospital. Well, it didn't quite happen like that. We went in their room and they were holding him, telling him how much they loved him and just looking at him.

This was more than I could take. Lord, why do they have to hurt so much , and yet, through them, we are being given this bundle of joy? We all got our pictures taken together and the time came to say 'good-bye'.

Broken, and with tears in his eyes, Bruce came and gave Michael and I a hug and said, 'Take care of my boy'. It came time for us to say our good-bye to Leslie, and she hugged Michael and then me and placed Deacon into my arms (I was sobbing) and told me that she did not want me to ever feel guilty about this (thank you Lord, I needed to hear that) and she reassured us that as difficult as it was, she knew they were doing the right thing. We told her again how much we loved her and that we would always be thankful for the gift that she gave us. The nurse came in with the wheelchair (apparently you can't just walk out of the hospital carrying a baby, you have to be in a wheelchair).

We took Michael to the airport that following day and I remember just being so exhausted that day, overwhelmed with emotion. (I will share more about the rest of our time spent at the Holiday Isle Yacht Club next week.)

Deacon's 1st Birthday Party!!

We decided to do a Carnival theme for Deacon's 1st birthday! We enjoyed Italian Sausages, Corn Dogs, fries, fruit and cheese kabobs, cake, ice cream, cotton candy, and pop corn! Angie put together a DVD of pictures with music. It was beautiful and meant so much to us, and of course Leslie.

Deacon and Lynn!

Deacon opening gifts

Deacon with Cousins Luke and Liam

Deacon and Cousin Kaitlee

What would a carnival be without a clown?? I looked high and low for this clown-I needed to find one that could do balloon dogs and at least juggle. Well, it was apparent that this clown was just in the beginning stages of his career as a clown, but as far as being a daddy-he's the BEST!

Michael and Deacon winding down after the party

Monday morning came all too soon and it was time for Leslie to go home. We all took her to the airport and saw her off, back to Florida. We were sad to see her go, but there was a big difference between now, and a year ago, beacause this time, it was 'see you later'. . . . .

Easy money update

Well, friends, it might be more difficult to win that $1,000,000 than I had originally anticipated. A couple of friends pointed out some more startling statistics.

Klint pointed out that to create his 307,445, 735 Yahoo accounts, he would have to open approximately 10 accounts per second for the entire year.

Aaron pointed out that there are only about 90 hours from when the brackets are announced until the first game. That means we would need to enter 28,467,191,358,025 brackets per second during those 90 hours. He also suggested that I might want to invest in a second computer.

Thanks for the input, guys!

I'm still not convinced that we can't do it. I just need to work out a few glitches.

Michael

Are you interested in making some easy money?

Mondays w/ Michael

I assume that most of Jane's readers are female, so you may not realize it, but there is a basketball game tonight. Tonight's game will determine the 2009 NCAA basketball champion! The tournament began 3 weeks ago with 64 teams. And now only 2 remain: Michigan State and North Carolina. Every year, millions of people fill out brackets predicting who will win each game. To make a long story shorter, this year Yahoo said it would award $1 Million to someone who predicted each game correctly. Each Yahoo user is allowed to fill out 5 brackets. (I only filled out 3). Of course, I wasn't even perfect after the first day. But that got me thinking. If Yahoo decides to do this again next year, I will be ready for them. I can talk to a bunch of friends, we can each fill out 5 brackets, cover all the possibilities and walk away with $1,000,000! Then I started doing the math.

Once you get down to 4 teams, there are 8 possible outcomes. Let's assume A plays B and C plays D in the first round. In the championship, A could beat C or A could beat D or C could beat A or D could beat A or B could beat C or B could beat D or C could beat B or D could beat B. Eight possibilites once you have it narrowed down to 4 teams.

What about if there were 8 teams? I calculated this by hand too. I knew there had to be a formula, but I wasn't smart enough to come up with it on my own. (Yeah, it's a waste of time, but I enjoy math and I enjoy sports, so it was fun!) Anyway, if there are 8 teams, by my calculations, there are 128 possible outcomes.

But that's as far as I could get by myself. My dad is a former calculus teacher and he knew the formula that I would need. In the Elite 8, there are 7 games (there are 7 losers, so there has to be 7 games). In each game, there are 2 teams playing. So to calculate how many possibilities there are, you take 2 to the 7th power. 2x2x2x2x2x2x2=128. So this proves my math was correct.

Ok, but now lets look at the tournament as a whole. How many possibilites are there in a 64 team tournament? Well, using the logic above, there are 63 losers, so there are 63 games. 2 to the 63rd power is...are you ready for this....9,223,370,000,000,000,000. That's nine quintillion, two hundred twenty-three quadrillion, three hundred seventy trillion. Ok, and you are only allowed to fill out 5 brackets, so that means I only need to find 1,844,670,000,000,000,000 people to help. What's that? Oh, there aren't that many people on earth. Ok, assuming there are 6 billion people on the planet, each person would only have to fill out 1,537,228,673 brackets. But Yahoo only allows 5 per person. Simple solution: each person has to have 307,445,735 Yahoo accounts. So, if we can pull this off, we can split the million dollars with the 6 billion people on the planet and each of us would walk away with 16 one-hundredths of a cent.

So who's with me?

Make it a great Monday!