Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: New-Found Fun in a New Year

Giving God Glory
Tutoring Testimony - God blessed me with another tutoring opportunity with a sweet 8-year-old girl named Summer. I previously taught 2 of her siblings as a 3rd grade teacher at Falcon Elementary School, and I have kept in touch with their family. Through our Christmas letter, her mom discovered I worked with two sisters, called me, and asked if I'd be interested in tutoring Summer, whom she is presently homeschooling. Wes and I talked, prayed, and saw God's hand at work in blessing us with this opportunity since Wes' every-other-day schedule allows him to watch Noah while I work with her. We are overwhelmed with God's blessings in our lives and are grateful! We have not sought out these tutoring opportunities; He has completely brought them to us. Thank You Lord!

Home Sweet Home, Well Sort of - Back in December a Wells Fargo Rep contacted us to see if we had any interest in refinancing our home since the rates were so low. After talking to Dad and Grandpa, it looked to be worth pursuing for our situation. Little did we know the 2 month drama it would entail. To make a very long story short, we closed at the end of January and are extremely grateful that the Lord guided our steps and surrounded us by wise counsel, BIG thanks to Dad and Grandpa :) , not only presently but also in the past so that we were set up with financial stability to be able to pursue this opportunity. Our hearts are overflowing, and we continually pray that the Lord helps us to be wise stewards of all that He entrusts to us. Our dream and desire is to continually bless others as He has blessed us.

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts
New Goals for a New Year - With the arrival of a new year and all the talk of new year's resolutions, we decided to do some goal setting ourselves, personally and for our family. We prayed about what God may want to do in our lives this year, and here's how He led us:
Wes - To Grow in Loving Others
Christina - To Grow in Abiding in Christ (and being less self-reliant)
Both of us - Reading through the Bible chronologically together
Noah - To Grow in Honoring and Obeying (which he is doing well so far)
Marriage Fun - Going on at least 1 get-a-way each year (skiing this year)
Family Fun - Going on at least 1 vacation each year (Wisconsin this year)
Family Finances - Specific giving and saving goals
We look forward to seeing what the Lord does in our lives and how He grows us in 2010.

God Knows What Will Bring Him the Greatest Glory - In 2009, our small church experienced the Lord calling home to heaven 2 of our members, Linda and David, in unexpected ways and with timing that we did not see coming. Linda had been ill (from unknown causes that had not appeared to be immediately life-threatening). Then out of the blue, she died suddenly. We had been praying for healing, not knowing that soon she would no longer be with us...David was out on his paper route when he had a brain annurism that led to his death in a few days...In addition, a friend of mine (my age) was having health issues last summer and found out she had cancer (and currently her condition does not seem to be improving). People often ask, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?" Ultimately, God knows what will bring Him the greatest glory. He is good, and even though His plans may not always seem good to us at the time when we see loved ones or ourselves going through trials or suffering, He sees the big picture, is in control, and ultimately will do what will most glorify Him. When they found a mass on Tami's brain, I couldn't help but think about these other loved ones whom God took home earlier than was expected or whom God chose to not heal their condition...Though I hoped and prayed (and am continuing to) that Tami's mass was not cancerous or something that the Lord would use to call her home, I started to embrace anew the realization that God may give us time longer or shorter than expected with our loved ones and either way He is good, and He will do whatever will bring Him the most glory. So Lord, please do whatever will bring You the most glory in our lives and help us to remember Your truths when trials and suffering come. Please enable us to cherish each moment with loved ones while on this earth.

Praises & Prayers
Tami - Praise that the mass found on her brain was not cancerous or life-threatening; prayer that doctors could determine what is causing her short-term memory loss.
Sawyer - Praise for the safe arrival of Sawyer Maddox Schenk and for healthy mom, Kristen.
Blair & Carisa - Praise for their "little peanut." :)
Shannon - Praise for baby continuing to develop and not being delievered yet; prayer that he will go full-term.
MBC (our church) - Praise for spiritual growth and for a couple potential families that may make MBC their church.
Josh - Prayer for God's will and provision for a job for him and continued daily provision for their family while he's out of work.
My friend - Prayer for God's will for her health and that it might invovle miraculously delivering her body from cancer.
Me - Prayer continued for my womanly cycle to become regular as I have encounterd 2 months of pretty consistent flow now.

Marriage Memories
Go Team Harrison! - We're presently in a full season with Wes taking 3 Bible classes, helping our pastor build his home once a week, and working at the firestation on top of being a great husband and father. In addition to being a wife and mom, I work with sisters M-F for 1 hour and tutor Summer 2 times a week. It's a fun and stretching season, and we've found a family groove that seems to work well for us. It's been joy to be a part of Team Harrison and see teamwork alive in our marriage as we seek to support each other and fulfill the roles God has for us in this season. I wouldn't want to "play the game of life" with anyone else!

Date Night Bowling

We both won a game, so winner is still yet to be determined. :)

Family Fun
"Its time for Noah to eat already?" - Wes and I joke about how this season of taking care of little Noah seems to consist of never-ending feedings. We feed him breakfast...then all of a sudden its snack time...and before we know it lunch is here...and so it continues. Bedtime seems to be the only break from the feeding frenzy at times. Days when its more of a chore than a joy to feed Noah, we remind each other that we are grateful for a healthy and hungry growing boy!

New-Found Fun - It's amazing the fresh perspective that comes with seeing the world through the eyes of an active 10 month old boy. Simple places become a new land of awaiting adventure.

Let's go play at Chick-Fil-A - If Noah could talk, this would probably be a phrase you'd hear coming out of him mouth. This past month we discovered the play place at Chick-Fil-A and went there twice to meet up with some friends from church and their boys. I would sing the phrase "Let's go play at Chick-Fil-A" to Noah in the car on our way there. I know he enjoyed my cheeziness. :)

Hanging out with Mommy

Playing at the Park - Right up there with Chick-Fil-A on Noah's list of hot spots to hang out is the park. His favorite thing to do is climb/crawl up the steps to the top of the slide and then go down it on his tummy.

Noah News

A Couple 1sts:

1st Teeth - His bottom 2 teeth finally broke through at 10 months

1st Step -1st official step taken and many followed throughout the month; walking hasn't clicked yet for him, though.

Latest Loves:

Slides! - as seen in the pics above

Climbing steps/stairs

Turning pages in books
Waving at anyone and everyone! - especially when we're out shopping
Balancing on his feet
Favorite foods = any and all fruit (except grapefruit)
Cruising across our living room with his walker
Listening to Daddy & Mommy read to him
Pulling things out - of cupboards, his toy box, drawers, etc.

Memorable Moment of the Month

Funny Faces - Noah has been making the strangest faces lately...to the point that Wes started wondering if something was wrong with him. (Wes saw a commercial for Downs Syndrome on TV recently, and the boy on it reminded him of Noah.) I encouraged him that he was just paranoid from the commercial and that Noah's strange expressions would pass as other odd stages have that Noah has gone through. I hope so! Here's a few of them, though I didn't capture the most entertaining ones because they came and went so quickly...