Category: Archives

I’m _really_ tired, but I’m waiting for a borrowed blanket to finish drying – so I thought I’d post a quick update.

-The house is officially packed. The movers took all but the things we’re leaving behind or currently using. Thanks to our crew from Chester : George, Fred, Bernard, Phil and John.

-Today Tom received a permit from the city to rent out our house while we’re away.

-Tom and I both got our International Driving Permits from AAA

-Our family had dinner with PeaceGals Tara, Emily and Ruth (I also got to meet Emily’s mom Beth!) who were in town for the CCEF conference in Valley Forge. Snails, btw, were covering the landscaping rocks at the conference. I have never seen so many at once.

-Borrowing blankets from Momma A. , as ours are en route to Japan.

-Saturday, we’re giving away the freezers and the remaining homebrewing equipment to our friends who called ‘dibs’ :)

-Sunday morning, Lord willing we’ll be in church.

-Sunday night to hotel in Philly

-Fly out Monday morning for Japan

In other news, I have a new Facebook account, as does Tom and my “older” kids :)

*yawn* I can hear the dryer is done. Need some rest.

Excerpt from this morning’s argument during Playdough sculpting.

Tab was making horses.

Thomas was making aliens.

Tabitha : I love horses.
Thomas : I hate horses.
Tabitha : You shouldn’t hate horses. If there was no such things as cars or buses, how would you get to church? You couldn’t unless you have a horse!
Thomas: If there were no cars or buses, I’d stay home from church, kill a horse, make Jello and eat it!
Tabitha: [Mortified] Mom!! Does ALL the gelatin in the world come from horse hooves?
Me: No.
Tabitha: See Thomas? You don’t HAVE to kill horses to make Jello.

I’m home :)

Abdominal myomectomy surgery went well.

I shared a room with an elderly woman (83 years old) who had a distended stomach. My friend Mary stopped by and handed the lady’s daughter a Gospel of John. As soon as Mary left, they threw the little booklet in the trash and made “what kind of nerve she has” type comments.

What I found to be sad and interesting was that they kept mentioning God. “Thank God you’re still alive. Thank God they were able to drain your stomach,” etc.

We often think of taking God’s name in vain to mean usage as form of swearing. But, the same can be said for empty use of His name.

After my roommate’s family left, I asked her how I could pray for her – she gave me a little list. Feeling better soon, to know what to do about her family (they wanted her to move in with them), etc. I let her know that I had a moment and I’d be happy to sit next to her an pray with her for those things. She said she was “too upset to pray” but she thanked me for praying for her.

I gave her my card in case she wanted to contact me.

The rejection of God was really sad and apparent. It was as if God was giving her a final opportunity to trust in Him, and she was rejecting Him.

Well, I’m starting to drift back asleep here.

Feeling alright. Sore. Tired. Glad to be home.

Thanks again for your prayers..

The song “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands” is stuck in my head this morning.

In 40 minutes, my alarm is supposed to go off to wake me up. One of my little guys had an accident and soaked his bed. Instead of going back to sleep after that, I got stuck in the bathroom while my stomach did crazy things. Better here than at the hospital, I guess. Well, heh, we’re not there yet.

In three hours, I am supposed to be checking into the hospital for my myomectomy surgery.

I’m really really scared – five children naturally because I hate needles, okay? I’m trying not to think about what is about to hit me.

Yesterday, we applied to renew passports for those children in our family whose passports are about to expire. In my safe where I keep the documents for this sort of thing, I found something to be read at my funeral someday – which I had written after the unexpected death of Tom’s Aunt. I was comforted to see that five years later, I wouldn’t change a thing.

My thoughts for the Living

We exist because God willed us to.
He appointed a time for us to be born and a time to die.
The time that God appointed for me to die
Is according to His perfect plan for my life
And I accept it willingly and with eagerness to meet Him, my Creator

The time that we live on this earth belongs to God
Therefore, our every thought and action must be for His glory
We must love wholeheartedly and sacrificially
Always putting the needs of others above our own
Because all our needs will be met by the Father in His due time

Read the scriptures daily
Be in a constant state of prayer
Spread the Good News with boldness —
Satan is defeated and we have nothing to fear
Look at trials as opportunities to trust in and serve the Lord
Above everything, be obedient to God
Without Him, we are nothing

I love ALL of you and look forward to seeing you in Glory,
Humbly and affectionately yours,

Sarah Joy Albrecht

PS: Tom – You and the children are the loveliest of gifts the Lord gave to me on earth, and yet your lives are eternal! Kiss our children often for me and tell them their mommy loves them soooo much!

I’m interested to see how the Lord is going to use this day for His glory.

I am in good hands.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large number of leaves and “helicopter seeds” falling like confetti next to our garage.

At first, I thought my neighbor was trimming the maple tree overhanging our yards – he does this occasionally. I went to the door, and saw a man climbing up to stand on our gate. “If you wait a second, I can open the gate so you can trim the tree,” I hollered – “Please don’t climb on the gate, it’s not very sturdy!”

As I opened the back door, the guy, who was very tall and wearing a golden yellow long sleeved shirt, tan fishing hat and khaki pants, began to run. The copper gutter on the side of the garage was dangling, twisted and half-way detached.

Then I realized what was going on.

“Hey! I saw what you just did! You’re trying to steal my gutters!”

My kids all ran in front of me, screaming and blocking my path. I (eek!) pushed them out of my way to chase after the guy. I rounded the corner to the alley and saw the thief get into his car and drive away. It was a gray sedan with a Pennsylvania plate ending in the numbers “131”. In the left corner of the back window was a temporary paper license plate. There was also a small “lookout” car, – perhaps a Ford Focus hatchback – black, with highly polished chrome.

This happened in the middle of the day – at 2pm.

My elderly neighbor said she had seen the the black car yesterday. It had been parked next to our garage in they alley, and the driver was standing on the side of our garage looking up at our gutters. She assumed he was going to do some work on our house. (In a way she was right – work, but not in the honest sense of the word!) In other words, this theft was planned.

I called the police and a very nice police woman named Shannon came out to write up the report. The downspouts had been stolen, and the remaining gutters were ruined. Shannon even took an interest in the children’s toys they wanted to show her. She didn’t freak out that Thomas was firing his empty cap gun into the air (the ONE thing I told him not to do – show off his “weapons” !) :)

After Officer Shannon left, the kids and I stood in the kitchen and prayed for the copper thieves. We prayed that they would be caught and that they would be repentant. We prayed that if they had financial needs that the Lord would meet them – because God never puts us in a situation where we are forced to yield to the temptation of sin in order for our needs to be met (1 Corinthians 10:13). We prayed that God would be glorified in the situation.

Our neighbor, Scott, climbed our ladder and helped me take down the dangling gutter so that no one would get injured attempting a Tarzan-swing.

After tucking the younger three children in for a nap, I called the scrap yards in our area. I gave them a description of the vehicles and the thief who pulled down the gutter in case they try to unload my downspouts. The owners of the scrap yards made sure I had the numbers of their colleagues at the other scrap yards in town – they’re all friends. They are now on the lookout for the vehicles fitting those descriptions. If the thieves showed up, the scrap yard owners said they’d keep them occupied and would call the police.