Welcome....Here's a glimpse of our happenings!

The verses that have REALLY spoken to me (Sarah) lately....



"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." Matthew 7:24-25



Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. I Peter 5:8-9



From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17:26-28



May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14



So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:32-33



God, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation. Deuteronomy 29:29 (The Message)

About the Friesen's....

We are Marc, Sarah, Luke, and Kate Friesen. We were married June 5, 2004. We have one son, born July 21, 2008, named Luke Andrew -- now 4 years old. We also have a daughter named Kate Christine -- born June 6, 2012. Marc is working at Cessna as a Senior Accountant, and Sarah stays home full-time with Luke. Sarah also gets to work very part-time at home for Graber Backhoe -- an excavation company AND VERY part-time at our church. We LOVE being a part of Grace Community Church here in Newton, KS. We lead a Community Life Group of other wonderful couples. Marc thoroughly enjoys long-distance running and Taekwondo. Sarah thoroughly enjoys walking -- especially when the weather is nice to take Luke and/or out in the stroller. Thanks for reading our blog!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Yesterday and Today....

Yesterday (Tuesday, the 17th), I traveled to Topeka for the day. It was a work related trip. Apparently, even though I left my full-time "travel" job to be home with Luke, I still occasionally am away. This trip was not overnight, however. These trips will not happen often at all. In fact, this may be one of the only ones. It was a "Dairy Queen" meeting in Topeka. I was asked to facilitate and lead a break-out group (which I had two different sessions).

It was ultimately a very LONG, but good day. I left home at 5:30 in the morning. I didn't get home until around 9:45 or so. Yes, I was very tired last night.

I did experience a "first" from this trip. It was one of those hard firsts that most mothers go through at some point. It was the first time since Luke's birth that I was away from him for a full 24-hour period. I didn't see him awake from Monday evening around 8:00 P.M. until this morning (Wednesday) around 8:00 A.M.

I admit I had a little bit of worry. I wasn't worried about Marc's abilities to get him up, fed, and off to Andrea's. I wasn't worried about the care he'd receive at Andrea's. I was worried, since he's been a bit cranky with teething lately, that he'd cause commotion and be cranky all day long, especially with his schedule being off.

I think I need to reread, recite, and memorize the verses in Phillipians about "not being anxious about anything." It all turned out to be a fine day for everybody involved. Andrea said he was happy, but his normal sleeping habits were a bit off. Marc had not a problem with him.

Here's a cute photo of Luke as a reminder....He sure does love his toes right now.



On to another topic....

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you wil receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

I'm very new to this whole "stay at home during the day with your child" thing. Admittedly, it's something I didn't think I'd ever do. Marc and I had always planned that I'd keep working full-time after children. We're not totally sure what we were thinking on that one. God has ultimately taught us and shown us through various people and circumstances in our lives that it would be best for our family it I was home. Right now, I'm working very part-time. Our ultimate goal is for me to stay home full-time eventually.

In this process, I sometimes have days where I think I'm not contributing enough -- not just to the finances of our family but to society as a whole. The verses above from Colossians remind me that there is honor in whatever work you do. All honest professions are equally honorable (taken from "Crown" financial study). Whatever I am doing, it should be glorifying to God.

Here's an example....I really do NOT enjoy making the bed. It's just not one of my favorite things to do. I LOVE how it looks when it's made. I LOVE to crawl into a made bed at night (Marc actually prefers it unmade when he crawls into bed at night). I also know that a made bed certainly makes the bedroom look a lot neater.

This is how my morning started -- a messy, unmade bed with sheets that needed to be washed.



Voila! With a change in attitude and a reminder that all work is honorable and just be glorifying to God, clean sheets and a made bed appear!



The lesson in all of this to me and hopefully to some of my readers of this blog is "don't get 'bored' with what you're doing." Don't let it seem mundane. If you're doing it for the glory of God, it's all honorable.

4 comments:

The Sieberts said...

what a great reminder Sarah! i struggle with that too sometimes. The consistency of staying home sometimes gets to me... :)

angie c said...

hi there... I found your blog via the macs via a friend... I was in the same boat as you -- had always planned on working after we had kids, went to work for about 2 months after my first was born and have since been home (over 4 yrs). It was a hard hard adjustment. I don't know ifyou are in Wichita or not, but I got involved in a group here called Mothers and More and I seriously don't think I would've survived SAHM-hood without it. tons of activities both with and without your kiddo, etc. If you'd like to hear more, please feel free to send me an email at abcangie87@yahoo.com !

Utecht Family said...

Thanks for this post Sarah. It's encouraging to be reminded from Scripture that whatever we do, we need to do it to glorify God, even if the "whatever" is staying home with kids! As far as contibuting to society, etc. remember that you pouring into Luke in order to raise him to be a godly man is a huge contribution to society!

Rachel said...

What a good reminder...especially the verse. I can sometimes feel like that too. I'm not bringing home any money-I just "sit" at home all day and sometimes feel like I do nothing to help Matt out, or society. That verse reminded me to put things into perspective and that I'm doing the job God had planned for me...and you too! Even if some days all we do is hang out with our kids at home and never even leave the house, we're still contributing so much through the lives of our little ones. Thanks for the reminder...and to know someone else feels the same way sometimes!

Blog Archive