The Byers Family

A few days ago I gave a “shout out” to the World’s Greatest Dad. Today I want to give a “shout out” (love that phrase LOL!) to a great Son. Now I can’t say that he is the greatest, because with 6 other children, that wouldn’t be right. I certainly don’t want to be accused of picking favorites amongst my children. They are all my favorite and I love each of them very much! However, these past few days I have been alone with the other kids, while Kevin and Josiah are at a mandatory field conference from our Mission board. I was unable to travel since I just had the c-section 3 weeks ago. Traveling and staying at a hotel with a newborn baby and 6 other kids was not my idea of a restful, healing time. I decided it would be best for Josiah to go with Kevin to have some father-son bonding time. Josiah wanted to go, but he also didn’t want to leave me alone with a new baby and all the other kids knowing that it is a lot of work. Kevin and I decided it would be good for him to go, in spite of the fact that it would be taking away my greatest helper. My teenage neighbor agreed to come over and help me each day if I needed it. Since Josiah and Kevin are gone, I am reminded of how much help Josiah is around the house. At 13, he can handle a great deal of responsibility if needed. When I am up late with a baby and Kevin has to leave early in the morning for language school, Josiah has no problem waking up and helping each of the younger ones with breakfast while Mom sleeps. When needed, he helps with each kid making sure they are doing right and getting their chores done. He frequently volunteers to make meals because he loves to cook, and at times he offers to babysit while Kevin and I go to the local bakery (across the street) for a cup of coffee so we can have a little break. What a fantastic kid! Sometimes I forget that he is only 13 because of the level of maturity he holds. I have to remind myself that he is indeed still a kid, and while he is growing into a fine young man, he needs time to be a kid and enjoy his childhood. I hate to see these precious years pass so quickly. He has been so sweet to call me each day telling me that they are coming home soon, and he is praying that I would not be so stressed with all the work there is to do around here. What a thoughtful Son! I just wanted to say how thankful I am to God for a great Son. I have a feeling that he is going to make a great husband some day! (a long, long time from now of course! HA!) I also thank God for each of my 6 other children. Even though they are not able to help as much as Josiah can due to their younger age, they are each a special part to this family and a blessing to Kevin and I! We are a very blessed family

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Psalms 127:3-5

Father’s Day 2011 is here, and I couldn’t let it go by without giving a “shout out” to the World’s Greatest Dad. I’m sure there are a lot of wives who would claim that their husband is the World’s Greatest Dad, but I have to say that my husband truly is. Now, he would argue with me of course, and tell me that he is far from the greatest Father. There are probably a list of things that he would like to change about his parenting skills, and sure, we can all improve on our parenting. But I still think that my husband is deserving of the title. I remember when we found out we were pregnant with our first child. We had only been married for 3 months, newlyweds. We were still getting used to each other and the married life. Having a baby was the farthest thing from our minds. I was so nervous to tell Kevin and was sure that he would be upset. I remember praying that he would be happy when I told him. When he came home from work that day I nervously gave him the news. To my surprise, he was very happy and excited when I told him he was going to be a Daddy! He has had the same, joyous reaction with all 7 of our kids now. Kevin has spoiled and taken care of me through 7 pregnancies. He was by my side through all the morning,afternoon, and evening sicknesses. He’s spent hours rubbing away the aches and pains, helping with the headaches, foot aches, and discomfort. He was there with all the births, holding my hand, encouraging me and loving me the entire time. He was there to cut the chords and cuddle each baby that came, holding them for hours afterwards when I didn’t have the strength to do so. I can’t even begin to count the number of diapers he has changed with each kid. He’s held them through the nights when they cried so Mommy could sleep, he’s helped feed them, bathe them, dress them and care for them. He’s spent time with each of them, reading to them, wrestling with them, playing with them, singing to them. He’s been their Pastor, their teacher, their school principle, their Doctor. He has spent more time with each of them than most Fathers ever spend with their children. He is such a Godly example to our kids. I pray that as each of the kids grow up, they will see how blessed they were to have the Father they had. I pray they never regret their childhood, and especially the wonderful Father God has blessed them with! I couldn’t ask for a better Father for my children. Happy Father’s Day Kevin!! We love you!

1Thessalonians 4:13-14  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Last night at 4:30 am I received the phone call which I have been waiting  several days for. My dear Step-Mother Sandy went home to be with the Lord. Her passing was a peaceful one, but also one which was very unexpected. It was nearly a month ago now that Sandy suffered a stroke. After being rushed to the hospital the doctors performed a variety of tests to find the cause of the stroke. We waited several days for the results when another dreaded word entered into our lives…cancer. Just a little over a year ago Kevin lost his Mother to cancer. With her it seemed that we had more time to spend, talking with her, seeing her go through the chemo and struggles of her health. That wasn’t the case with Sandy. Everything happened so quickly and our minds are still spinning. It turned out that she had a very rare type of cancer that the doctors could not treat. They were still doing more tests though and during that time Sandy suffered several, small strokes.  Doctors estimated her time left to be about 6 months. After learning how extensive the cancer was throughout Sandy’s body, the doctors were not able to pursue any type of treatment and gave Sandy even less time than originally thought.  Her health started to decline fast. Within a month of her first stroke and learning about the news, she passed away. What a very bleak and unexpected time for the family, especially my father. But there was one glimmer of joy during this time!  Sandy gave her heart to the Lord and accepted Him as her Saviour. If it wasn’t for that, Sandy’s passing would truly be a devastating one. But because of the prayers (specifically those of 3 kids!) and the almighty mercy and grace of God, we can be happy for Sandy now that she is home in Heaven. Her last days weren’t the most pleasant, but where she is now surpasses any place we could ever imagine! What a tremendous thought to close your eyes here on earth and then wake up in Glory! Sandy received the hope of a better place when she accepted the Lord as her Saviour, and according to I Thessalonians, I don’t need to sorrow for her; I can be happy for her!

It was around 15 years ago now when I first met Sandy. I met her when I returned home from Bible College. I can’t remember the exact details of our first meeting, but I do remember quickly getting to know and like her. She was an open book and didn’t have trouble telling you what was on her mind, and letting you into her heart. She had never had kids of her own, so she was eager to accept me and my brother as her own kids. When Kevin asked my Dad for permission to marry me 14 years ago, he initially said no. My Dad was not ready to give his young daughter to marriage, but Sandy seemed to be a romantic at heart. It was through the persuasiveness of Sandy (and much prayer!), he finally said yes. Thank you Sandy! When our kids started to come, Sandy never saw them as anything less than HER grandchildren. She loved each of them with a Motherly love. She was the classic Mom-Mom spoiling each of the kids rotten. If Mom and Dad said no, surely Mom-Mom would say yes! If the kids were interested in a certain gift and Mom-Mom got wind of it, she easily convinced Pop-Pop to buy it for the kids. She enjoyed when the kids came to visit, which sadly was not very often since we traveled a lot. She was truly a wonderful woman with a giving heart of gold! My Dad has always been very busy working a lot, but I knew if I called, Sandy would answer the phone and talk to me for long periods of time wanting to know everything that was happening here. She had no problem remembering ALL the grand kids names and their birthdays! That is a tough job with all the grandchildren they have!

I tried to call Sandy each day while she was in the hospital and during her short time in Rehab. The stroke had effected her memory and I didn’t want her to forget me. I would ask her if she remembered who I was and she answered “of course I remember you! you’re my daughter!” She had trouble remembering the kids names and the names of others at the end, but up until a few days before her death, she remembered me and I am very touched by that. I’ve had the opportunity to know and love Sandy for only a short time, but I will always remember her as a wonderful Step-mother and Mom-Mom. She was a true Gem and I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to take her home to Heaven with him. I know she will be there waiting to greet me when I get there. It makes waiting for my turn to go to Heaven a sweeter one!

We have a new addition to the Byers Clan. Precious little Micaiah (Mik-eye-ah) was born on May 24, 2011. He is now 9 days old and is loved by all in the home. Everyone stands in line for a chance to hold little Micaiah. Even 1 year old Elijah excitedly shouts “BABY!” each time he sees Micaiah, and gives him lots of kisses. He was born at 8:30 am Berlin time in Neuendettelsau, Germany. He was 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long. Everything is done in Metrics here, so we had to wait until we got home to figure out his measurements in U.S Standard Micaiah was my 6th c-section, so we weren’t sure how things would go during the surgery. Things can get pretty risky the more C-sections one has. We went into the operation knowing that the Lord was in control. I had some minor setbacks such as getting sick on the operating table, and a very weak uterus that the Dr was concerned about. Micaiah would never show himself very clearly during any of the ultrasounds, so I was starting to think that maybe he was hiding something such as a third eyeball or what-have-you LOL! But out came a very healthy, beautiful, LOUD, baby boy. We were all very relieved!

Many ask “how did you come up with the name Micaiah?” Kevin was having personal devotions one day, and then came downstairs to call the family together to share what he had read. He read to us from I Kings 22 and taught us about a prophet named Micaiah. The King of Judah and the King of Israel (Jehoshaphat and Ahab) were planning to go into battle together and wanted to inquire of the Lord whether or not they should go. So they called 400 prophets together and all the prophets told them that they should go and the Lord would deliver the land into their hands and they would win the battle. Everyone was telling the Kings what they wanted to hear. Then, King Jehoshaphat asked, ” Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?” King Ahab answered in I Kings 22 verse 8… And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.
Micaiah was a man who didn’t bow to pressure or compromise his beliefs just because they were unpopular. He wasn’t afraid to say the words that the Lord gave to him. Out of 400 prophets (of which the Bible says had a lying spirit), He was the only one who unashamedly told the Kings the words of the Lord. Because of it, he was thrown in prison. We don’t hear much of Micaiah other than this chapter, but his testimony is a strong, Godly one.

We decided on the middle name James in honor of my childhood Pastor, James Doster. His faithfulness to the Lord pointed me to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ at the age of 14. Pastor Doster and his family helped me to grow in Christ and they have a huge part in where I am today. I can not thank them enough for their faithfulness to Christ, and the love they’ve shown to me throughout these 19 years. Pastor Doster has also been very close to our ministry here in Germany as he has spent countless hours talking, mentoring, and praying for us since our arrival 2 years ago. His church faithfully keeps in contact with us and prays for us. We are their Missionaries, and they make sure to show us their love and support. We are very thankful for each of them. After choosing the name James, we also saw it a fitting name as this year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. A Bible that we believe to be the perfect, preserved, inherent Word of God. We thank God for Pastor James Doster, and we also thank God for the King James Bible!

Our main concern now is trying to get him to eat as much as he should so he can gain the weight that he needs. His main priority seems to be sleeping at this point, so making him eat has been a bit of a challenge. I’m sure in a few years, that won’t be a problem at all. The only problem we will have is trying to feed 6 boys without going broke! Kevin and the kids have done a wonderful job taking care of me, and all the housework so I can relax and heal. I am thankful for each of them for their love and hard work!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them all.
Stacy

Josiah was very inspired by the new book we received ‘Poems by a Cowboy Preacher’ that he decided to write some of his own!

Your Heart’s Door

When Jesus knocks at your heart’s door
will you answer, or will you ignore?
Will you be rude and say “go away!”
or will you say “come in and stay?”

The Bible

When God wrote the Bible, he wrote it through men,
and then it was published again and again.
It’s purpose is to share the Gospel with you and me,
so through the Cross of Calvary salvation we might see.
So when you read the Bible you’ll see it clear and plain,
you can only get to Heaven by trusting in JESUS’ name!

More to be published soon ;-

)

Well, it has been a while since I have written a post. I am kind of behind in things, and trying my best to get things organized. Since we still do not have a vehicle for the moment, Bella’s birthday wasn’t as fancy as I hoped it would be., but she didn’t seem to complain at all, which I was very happy about. She only had two friends come over, but she enjoyed that. Once we started to sing Happy Birthday to her, we didn’t ever get passed the Birthday part when she blew out all but one of her candles. I had to cover her mouth and keep her from blowing out the last one until we were done singing. I guess she was in a hurry to make that wish The homemade birthday cake came out very tasty. Unfortunately though, everyone only got one piece. Oh, there was enough birthday cake for seconds later, but one of the little ones decided to catch the rest of the birthday cake on fire. As I was walking down the hallway, I noticed smoke coming out of the kitchen. I shouted “what’s on fire?!” everyone ran to the kitchen and saw that the plastic container that held the cake was on a burner which had been turned on. So the cake was burning and we were sucking in toxic fumes haha…. We quickly handled the situation and threw out the remaining cake.  We couldn’t even feed that to the neighbors pigs! At least we were all able to enjoy one piece before we had to throw it out! Happy Birthday Bella!!

The Lord really showed Himself to me the other day and it was just what I needed.  I don’t think I am the only Christian that feels “down in the dumps” every now and then and really needs to see something special from the Lord. Since we have been in Germany, satan has thrown one curve ball after another to cause us to feel discouraged and defeated and I must admit, sometimes he nearly won with me. Since I have been here I have often called out to the Lord and asked Him where He was, and why wasn’t He fighting for me. Of course He is, and He has never forsaken me just as He promised! I like to blame my womanly “hormones” too often, but the plain fact of it is, my discouragement is sin. But the Lord knew that I needed a blessing so I could see that He was still with me, and on Saturday He gave that blessing to me in the form of chocolate chips

Just a little background info so you can better appreciate this story…

Our vehicle has been out of commission for a little while.  We have one local store here in our village that is more of a “mom and pop” shop. All of our grocery shopping has been done there, at the local bakery, and our neighbors small farm. It has been interesting and I am starting to get used to the German food.I have even started to learn now to order my lunch meat in grams at the market. Those poor ladies probably dread when I come in! ha! But since we have not had the car over the holidays, I had to miss out on cooking all the traditional food that we were used to eating on Christmas/New Years. I cooked a ham on Christmas since we have been married. Since they don’t sell hams here, I had to cook a goose instead. It was very good and we enjoyed it though! I wasn’t able to cook alot of the holiday cookies and other baking that we normally did, and I was feeling a little blue about it. When I ran out of chocolate chip morsels, I really got discouraged! haha..I had used up my last bag on some cookies and Bella and I were wondering where we were going to get more. I was telling Kevin my “woes”….”we are here, in a strange country…I can’t cook a ham…I can’t get hot chocolate….and I’M ALL OUT OF CHOCOLATE CHIP MORSELS!!!!” As I told Kevin all my problems, he looked at me like I was crazy. He proceeded to count all the blessings for me, but I was too busy pining over all the american food I missed and the fact that we didn’t have a car to go grocery shopping. Our cupboards were bare, and the market was closed for the holidays!

On Saturday, the big grocery store opened up in the next city, We decided to walk there as a family while it was lightly snowing outside. We thought it would be an adventure for all of us to get out of the house and get some exercise. 7 Kilometers didn’t seem that far away! We were quickly realizing how far 7 Km was with 6 kids and the snow coming down. For those of you who are like me, and don’t know your Km measurements…7 km is roughly 4 1/2  miles away. So that is around 9 miles total..walking with 6 kids, in the snow, to get some groceries!  We were regretting our decisions but we just wanted to get to the store to get warm and get some food. We loaded up two backpacks and the bottom of the stroller up at Aldi’s and headed home. That trip was even worse! But thankfully a friend who had called earlier that day and asked if she could drop by with some freezer items and dry goods to give us, saw us on the road and rescued us! We were about 2 miles from our house and we were so glad to get in that warm car! She had to pick us up in two shifts so we could all make it home safely. She had told us that her and her family were going back to the states for 6 months and she didn’t want her food to go bad so she asked if I could use it. Of course you never want to turn down free food so I gladly accepted! She came in with a few large baskets of food. She completely filled up my 3 drawers in my freezer, and filled my pantry cabinets with dry goods. As I was unpacking all this wonderful American food I thought I would never see again, what do you think I saw in those baskets? yes….bags and bags of chocolate chip morsels!!! I was so excited! I didn’t’ ask the Lord for them, but He knew how down I was feeling about silly little things like that and decided to bless me anyway! It was so wonderful, not only the fact that Bella and I can make cookies again, but that the Lord was listening and wanted to give me some encouragement! It is good to know that the Lord is still with me, hearing my prayers, listening to my pathetic woes, and giving me chocolate chip blessings

P.S. I did finally locate some kako (cocoa) for some hot chocolate, and a box of shokolade trink (the German version of hot chocolate mix) at the store the other day The kids are glad for that in this cold, snowy weather!