dave & janet horsman ::: keepin’ it real since 1998

For the past few years the building in which our family lives has had an uncertain future.  Plans to tear it down seemed to constantly be in progress, and so, the family population on campus dwindled, as they all found more reliable places to live.  Dave and I, though - fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants types that we are - decided that we’d stay until we saw the wrecking ball approaching!   We loved it here, and it was also very economical.    

This fall we were so happy to hear that our home was not going to be torn down.   Yay!  Good news, obviously, but better news is that the family population on campus is now growing again.  We were very excited to hear that the Youngdales - a family from our church - were going to move in right above us. 

The Youngdales are a family of eight children (I know…WOW).  Their youngest is a little girl; Zeke’s senior by just a couple weeks, and next in line is a ten-year-old boy; a good playmate for Elijah.  Noah, though, has taken a liking to Catherine, their twelve-year-old daughter. 

She babysits for us often.  It’s a pretty sweet deal…no pick-up or drop-off to do…her parents are right upstairs if there’s a problem.  Not to mention the fact that our kids adore her, and…heck, we adore her.  We often come home to our living room wall covered with our kids’ artwork, our sink empty of dishes, and the playroom tidied up.  Like I said…pretty sweet deal.

Anyway (wow, I sure know how to make a short story long, don’t I?), last evening, after looking around our apartment for a couple of minutes in search of Noah, I finally found him right outside our front door…

…”Waiting for ‘Caff-win’”

Awww…how cute.  His first crush.  I wonder how many little boys had their first crush on their babysitter?

P.S.  Check out the Horsman Elves!

For all of our non-Bethany readers, I thought I’d link to an update on the Morrison family that aired last night on the news. We dedicated Sylas at church on Sunday. Baby dedications are always cool, but this one was quite special. One of the prophetic words spoken over him was the simple statement, “Sylas is strong”. I love that. He is a special boy, a miracle, and a testimony to the goodness of God.

The Jungle Explore Set
 by
 Elijah and Zeke Horsman

One of my favorite things in the whole world is when I can sit back and watch my children be creative.  And I love to see that look of satisfaction and pride in their eyes when they’ve completed something all on their own! 

I don’t know where they came up with the idea to make a “Jungle Explore Set,” but they spent all evening making and perfecting it.  The final touch was to punch holes in the top of the cardboard box, so that light could come through, the same way light filters through jungle vines.  Pretty creative, I think!

Woody…one of our oldest and most beloved family toys.  A few years ago Woody was the victim of an ill-fated toy exchange…he was returned to us as a mute because his playmate for the week decided that he needed to have a bath!  Oh dear…at the time it was quite a big deal, but our family had grown to love and respect mute Woody. 

Until last week, when Zeke decided that all Woody needed was a new set of double A’s.  To appease him, in the batteries went, and - miracle of miracles - Woody talked. 

Anyway, Phoebe thinks the new talking Woody is hilarious, and Noah gets such a kick out of the smiles he can bring to his sister’s face with the pull of a string…

Elijah turned eight over the weekend.  Eight!  Can’t believe it.  This year, Elijah liked the idea of having his best friend, Ethan, sleep over for his “party,” which had to happen next weekend, since he was out of town this week.  So we just kind of laid low on Saturday. 

Elijah really enjoyed the present that we got him:  a remote control helicopter.  He spent a good part of the day just flying it around, and saying, “I love this thing!”  It was so nice.  Makes me want to never have a big party again!  I really don’t mind all the work of getting a birthday party ready; I actually kind of like it.  For a stay-at-home-mom like me, it think it’s kind of like a creative outlet.  It’s the frenzy of, “There’s seven kids coming to my party, that means I’ll get seven presents!  Cool!” that I don’t like.  The idea of just enjoying having all his friends together seems to get overshadowed by this.  And one toy is more than enough for a kid on their birthday.  I think more than that is overwhelming for them.  Goodness…I know it’s overwhelming for me anyway!

But…enough hopping around on that bunny trail for now.  I know Elijah would love to have belated birthday wishes from you all!  Leave him a “Happy Birthday,” and what you think is “grrrr-eat about being eight!”

A few years ago I was inspired by a verse in Proverbs - In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.  3:6 - to create some artwork for our home, part of which is pictured above.  (Although I must admit, my primary motivation in doing this was that I wanted something colorful and original to put on our mandatorily white walls, but had no desire to pay any amount of money for such a thing!) 

We’ve since claimed that verse from Proverbs as our family’s verse, and the artwork on our living room wall is gaining more and more meaning.  Sometimes a straight path, sometimes bending…we don’t know exactly what is in store for us as a family in this lifetime, but we’re trusting that the Lord will direct us.

This Thanksgiving I’m so full of thanks that God has lead us, and will lead us.  Four and a half years ago when Dave and I felt that we should sell our home in Canada and “GO,” we really had no idea where we were going!  It didn’t make sense.  At all.  If it had been up to me, I suppose we’d still be living in our little house in Moncton, NB.  Not that that would have been a bad thing…but God had something better planned! 

I remember someone asking me, “What do you want Dave to do?”  I said, “I want him to get paid to lead worship.”  A seemingly trite answer, but at the root of it was my desire to see Dave doing something that he was truly passionate about for a living.  And here he is doing just that.  How cool is it that he gets to do something he absolutely loves every single day?  Very cool, I think.

Bigger and better than this though, is that God is truly after our hearts.  I’m so thankful that He is a jealous God!  (Although this is a very hard concept to explain to our kids!)  He wants us.  He wants our affection.  Dave and I feel very privileged to have been lead by God into the amazing global prayer movement that is happening right now.  We are very confident that we are exactly where we are supposed to be… even though, had we been doing the leading, we would probably never have chosen this.  Thank you, Lord!   Thank you for “directing our paths!” 

Mumma!  Mumma!  Come!  Come, Mumma, come!   See me!