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dimanche, novembre 02, 2008

Time ticks; we persevere

For our one year anniversary gift I purchased Jer a tattoo. He chose to permanently imprint the Greek form of the word “Perseverance”, or “Endurance”, on his upper bicep. His reason for choosing this was several-fold. One of these being the realization that life itself, let alone married life, is a challenge. This journey, with all its dips and turns, mountains and valleys, dark caves and open pastures, has so much incredible possibility when persevered through. Anything good does not come easily.

For his gift to me on that same day, Jer bought me a beautiful watch. The seconds still tick by faithfully to this day, six years since it wrapped itself around my left wrist. (That makes this our seventh year, in case you didn’t catch that!) Time, as it passes, leaves each one of us with two options: either to regret and lose hope, or to learn and choose to persevere. The latter option becomes transcendent when the JOY of the journey is our focus on Christ rather than ourselves.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness ...” Matthew 6:33

“…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Phillipians 3:12

This very lesson is in itself a journey of trust- even when we feel crushed. I am, we are, still in progress indeed!

That said we have had many exciting victories and celebrations since our last Harnett update. (Let’s see… it was back in March that I believe I last wrote. Hmm, I will see if I can stuff these last 7 months into a reasonable sized note!)

Since I began with the story of the tattoo and the watch, let me give you a brief synopsis of what the bearers of these items are up to these days.

At the end of August we packed up our tiny two bedroom townhouse and moved into a house in the same neighborhood as the home we will soon own. Habitat for Humanity has told us we will be able to move in by the new year. Although that is exciting, we are also truly enjoying this full house and large back yard which is our current rental residence. Since moving to this end of town, we have made the difficult but “peace-filled” decision to leave our church of three years and join fellowship at Willow Park MB church just around the corner from our home. Jeremy and I have already joined, and are hosting, a “Quest Group”; a pulpit-lead, small group-realized quest for the authentic church. (Does that make sense?)

Jeremy is also very busy with (and extremely “on fire” about) his full-time studies at the local college these days. He is enrolled in the business/accounting program and is well on his way to becoming a CGA, at least for starters! His natural inclination towards systematic and formula-based analysis has finally found its niche in the world of numbers and perfect outcomes! Over the last seven years I have seen Jeremy pursue a number of roles, but none have “clicked” like this one. This is it! Jer has also become connected with an incredible men’s group through Willow Park MB church. (I know seeing is believing, but in this last month the kids and I have seen some pretty dramatic changes in Jeremy already.) As well, Jer is committed to regular wrestling matches with our three boys. So far Daddy is still winning!!

Tanya is very busy as usual with her full-time role as Mom, home-maker, nurse, chef, developmental engineer, rick-shaw driver…. Well, sort of. Five days a week I haul the three youngest kids on my bike (one in the kid’s seat and two in the kid’s trailer) to drop Zach, who rides his own little bike, off at kindergarten. I then ride them home only to duplicate the routine when I pick Zach up again two and a half hours later. Exercise is literally a way of life for me! I have also decided this year to continue playing on my women’s soccer team through the winter months. The season goes indoor and is an entirely different sport than outdoor soccer. I love it; I love connecting with the women. I have also been able to begin connecting with a few of the moms through Zach’s kindergarten class. Twice each month I have the privilege of volunteering as Zach’s classroom teacher’s assistant. And on Thursday mornings I have the blessing of joining the women’s group at Willow Park while my kids are enjoying their individual play and study groups. After all my weeks’ interactions with “non-Christian” friends, and the daily challenges of dealing with four young children, spending time in the word and praying with these women of faith at “Take a Break” is so refreshing and encouraging.

Yes, Zach started Kindergarten and doesn't like it so much. But especially for the first couple of weeks it was "like pulling teeth" to get him to go. He's an obedient kid, but he sure demonstrated that he was not pleased with the permanent set-up. (Tuff break kid, school will be a part of your life for a very long time yet!) I must say though, that as he’s started making more friends there, he does have more positive things to say about it. He happens to have a high number of special needs and ESL students in his class, so his teacher did mention he is more advanced than most of his classmates. So, with him being bored there I can understand him not recognizing the value of this daily routine! I'm praying that he'll learn greater life-lessons through this year: compassion for people who are "different", the ability to help others, the realization that he is not the centre of the universe, and the value of sticking to something that may not always be fun. Zach is growing up in many ways, and his brothers really look up to him as an example. We’re so proud of him.

Benjamin drives life with his heart! Although this three year old would love to be at Kindergarten with his older brother, he and Isaiah have really developed their own friendship while Zach is out of the picture for a few hours each day. The most exciting news of this entire letter is that Benny gave his heart to Jesus last month (Oct 21^st). He had been wrestling with making right choices in his behavior, when I explained to him that his heart was born black and only Jesus could make it clean. We discussed this for some time as Ben really focused on understanding these concepts. When I asked him if he’d like Jesus to have his heart, Benjamin eagerly proclaimed “YES!” There he prayed aloud and asked Jesus to make his heart clean and help him to make right choices. From here the journey of discovering life in Christ will grow!

Isaiah has grown into a little boy. At two years old he is full of adventure and a quest for a bigger vocabulary! (He is credited with Abigail’s nick-name “Babaloo” when, up until recently, this was his pronunciation of her name.) Isaiah has also become quite the gymnast on our trampoline, and will gladly demonstrate his balancing, bouncing and flipping (yes, he flips) on his “lamoleen”. Having hit the “terrific” twos stage of development, Isaiah is quick to get into mischief. But his eagerness to help Mommy and Daddy clean up, or his generous hugs and apologies make him a lovable little “stinker”.

Abigail is truly one of life’s little angels. At a mere 17 lbs she is a featherweight when compared to our boys at this age of 10 months. Although made of “Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice”, Abi can hold her own in a growling competition with her brothers, and nothing scares her. She demonstrates extreme agility and dexterity with her tiny fingers, yet shows little interest in walking and has (thankfully) not mastered the art of crawling yet either. (Honestly, I really don’t mind having a forth child who is not into mischief yet!!) Her mouth holds a handsome set of 8-and-a-half teeth. And although she’s a talkative little sweetheart, the only English she’s picked up so far is “Mama” and “Dada”.

So there you have it in a package. For more details you will have to contact us yourselves!! In fact, a visit could be nice! We have a hide-a-bed waiting for you. Tea is on and I can always add some more water to the soup. (he he)

I hope you are all well and joyfully persevering on your own journey!

Tanya Harnett

Posted by Jeremy J Harnett :: 8:38 p.m. :: 0 comments

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