Family

An answer to 25 years of praying!

Our son Jon proposed to Mallory tonight!  She is an answer to 25 years of praying.  “We didn’t even know her name, but we were praying for her just the same, that the Lord would write His name upon her heart, because somewhere in the course of this life, our little boy would need a Godly wife.”  We are very thankful for God’s gift of Mallory to Jon and our family.

Please listen to this song.  We first heard it when our boys were very small.  It is a father singing about the little girl that will one day become his little boy’s wife.  Becca and I listened to it together when Josh proposed to her;  Mallory and I just finished listening to it together.

11-somewhere-in-the-world [mp3 download available at Somewhere In The World (LP Version)]

Pray for your children’s future mates.  God is faithful to hear and answer your prayers.  Thank you, Father!!!

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My Recent Discovery

I have recently discovered I am not super woman  – surprise, surprise –  and can not continue to work full time and adequately accomplish the  things that God has for me to do .

I am thrilled to resume my God-given role in the home again after working for five years.  Although I will greatly miss the people I have had the privilege of meeting and working with, and am sad to leave the children I have so enjoyed watching grow and learn, I know this is what God wants for me.

Right now I am thankful for the opportunity  to spend every day with our 11 month old grandson and his mom, Becca, and dad, Josh, as they have recently moved in with us.  In January they will move to California to answer their calling to be a positive influence in the entertainment industry.  Becca and I are duplicating some of my visuals (like Joe) for her to use with Grant.

I am now available to take calls any time of the day from Jer who lives in California, Jon who travels a lot, and Jenny who lives in Orlando.  This last week I loved  having all of the Daws clan (but Jenny  🙁 ) under the same roof as Jer has been home for a visit.  We have enjoyed our time together, but missed Jenny, of course.  We had fun Wednesday night as everyone carved a pumpkin and then Friday night as we made fondue,  complete with cheese appetizer and chocolate dessert.

Although our children are grown and don’t physically need us as much, our prayers are even more important in their lives than ever, as they face many challenges in this world.  Billy and I are able to spend more time in prayer for them and also for others each morning. Please give us the privilege of praying for you as well; just email your prayer requests to sheilahdaws@gmail.com

I am now free to be more of  a support and encouragement to Billy in ministry, which is what we have always enjoyed doing together.    Also, it has continually been such a blessing for us to use  our home as a place of encouragement and refreshment  for others and now I am able to do more of that.

Billy and I, and the family, are running on a regular basis and are changing some eating habits.  Becca and I are enjoying trying some new recipes.  I am researching the importance of what we eat  and the affects it has  on our health –  something I have been interested in for years.  I hope to start taking classes soon in regards to that.

I am typing up my book of activities I used in teaching scripture to my children through the years and now am able to fulfill Deuteronomy 4:9 by having a part in teaching my grandchild.   I will soon be sharing on this blog some of the material from the book.

Without my salary, we are in a position once again in our lives to see God miraculously provide for our needs as we exercise our faith in Him. God has led us to this point and “where God guides, He provides”  We have a journal full of entries of how God has provided for us through the years.

I am so thankful that God has given me this opportunity to be at home again, not that I deserve it, but that in His grace and mercy He has chosen to bless me with the desire of my heart.

God is good

He is always right

And His timing is always perfect

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Family Nights

Just wanted to point you to a great site that will give you complete directions for having family nights at home this summer.

Thank you North Point Kidstuf for helping bring the family together. (“His preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents.    Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:6 )

Click here and then go have a family night!!!  This is what memories are made of.   🙂

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We Have this Moment as Mom to Make a Memory

I can’t believe our little girl has graduated college.  Where did the last 22 yrs go. For that matter the last 32 years since God first made me a mom.

Deuteronomy 6 says we are to teach our children “at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.”   This indicates that we are to spend much time with our children.  Don’t waste one moment with them  because they don’t stop growing while we are busy doing other things.

I am so thankful for all the tea parties, for bedtime prayers and tucking in, for snuggle times we had, books we read and Bible stories we talked about.

I am thankful for all the tents we made inside with sheets and the huts we built outside, for nerf wars and sock wars.

I am thankful for the picnics and the lazy summer days swinging together as we pretended to take some sunglasses to the sun.

I am thankful for the pretending with dolls and GI Joes, for the hours watching Mister Rogers and eating peanut butter sandwiches.

I am thankful for all the masking tape we put on the floor making Dawsville, and for all the messes with flour, and playing snake pit or avalanche with all the pillows.

I am thankful for the Daws family Christmas traditions, the birthday celebrations, the popcorn and movie nights, the playdough devotions.

I am thankful for the Disney trips, the camping trips, and the walks in the park and in the neighborhood.

I am thankful for fun times with all our varied animals through the years. (frogs, newts, gerbils, iguanas, snakes, fish, bunnies, ferrets, turtles, dogs, and cats)

I am thankful for the hours of homeschooling and even the struggles with math, for the time making costumes for Halloween or Christmas plays or just because we wanted to play civil war or Star Trek in the backyard and really dress the part.

You know, I don’t have a very impressive resume.  I have not spent the last 32 years teaching at a major university, or meeting with heads of state, or making major business deals.  I don’t have awards or degrees on my wall, but I have 32 years of making memories with my children,  and  nothing I could have been doing with the prime of my life could have ever been more important or rewarding than this!!

Thank you, God, for  calling me to the most important and awesome  profession in the world
– being Jenny’s, Jon’s, Jer’s, and Josh’s Mom!

Building Memories
By Sandra D. Romans

So much to do – I have no time
To listen now, I say,
And hurry back to the chores
That always fill my day.

No time to listen? A small voice
Seemed to whisper in my ear…
Soon your little ones will be gone
And you’ll wish to hold them near.

I left my broom – the chores undone
And found them under the apple tree.
I held them close and listened while
They shared their love and we built a memory.

“Your children love you, they want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? . . .  We have a few special years with our children, when they’re the ones that want us around. After that you’re going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It’s so fast . . . It’s a few years Peter and it’s over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it.”  from Hook

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

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Following God’s Dream

I was reading a book to my two year old class this week about a rooster who wanted to see the world, so he set out one morning on his adventure.  As he went along, he met other animals and invited them to join him.  When the sun went down they got hungry, cold,  and sleepy.   Then they all began to, one by one,  go back home.

Having just said goodbye to my son who left for his adventure, I liked the fact that they all decided to go back home . . . that sounded good to me.  But at the end of the story, all the rooster did when he got home was eat a good meal of grain and go to sleep and only dream about a trip around the world.

God has a “dream” for each of us – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) We need to encourage our children that even though they might get hungry, cold, sleepy, or whatever, they should still follow the dream God has for them.  This might not be pleasant for us as parents.  But as my brother-in-law once said as his daughter was moving to another country to work with a missionary, “I would rather have her in the center of God’s will in a foreign country than here at home out of God’s will.”

I have decided I don’t want my children just dreaming about their adventure in life like the rooster in the story.  I want them living it to the fullest even if that means they are not at home.  I want them following the passions that God has uniquely placed within each of them, even if it is sometimes difficult for them . . . and for me. (Someone may need to remind me I said this in the days ahead!)

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