Happy Birthday, Anna! You are a beautiful testimony for the Lord, and your life shines for Him.

As many of you know, Anna’s heart is in ministry to kids and sharing Jesus with them. Although this year didn’t work to go on her summer trip, she faithfully served Christopher’s family, giving of herself for about 14 weeks! God continues to give Anna opportunities weekly to work with kids, and she loves it.

May the Lord continue to guide you, Anna, as you seek Him in all your ways! We love you so much! Hope your birthday is AMAZING, celebrating the dawn of a new year!

“And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others
save with fear, pulling them out of the fire…” (Jude 22-23).

On a beautiful, autumn day in Washington, October 23rd, 2010 to be exact, you became Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Maxwell. Now, 10 years later, you have six beautiful gifts from the Lord: Joshua, Ruthanne, Lydia, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Simon Peter.

As you said your vows before God and your family and friends—”in sickness” part came sooner than probably anyone was expecting: the word cancer. You’ve clung to the Lord and to each other as you’ve walked “through the valley of the shadow of death” yet we know that “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

You have chosen to trust and not to fear evil, for the Lord is with you, guiding your every step. For we know that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” yet— “to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:21&24).

In the midst of ongoing challenges, you are working to “count it all joy” because we know “that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 2:2).

May today be a special day of celebration and reflection of God’s blessings and gracious gifts to your family! We love you all so much and are grateful to be a part of your lives. You’ve both been very brave through this intense season.

We encourage you, dear blog readers, to leave a comment of encouragement to Christopher and Anna Marie. We know it will bless them!

With love,
Sarah for the rest

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

I wrote this post earlier this year, but Sarah is just now using it. So Jesse is included in the pictures since it was pertinent to when I wrote it.

Here is another part of our series with questions you have asked for blog posts.

I would love to see a post about how you all schedule your time as a family with adult children still living at home. I know you’ve done a day in the life, but I’m more curious how you all use the Managers of Their Homes’ ideas now without little ones at home. For example, do you create your schedules separately? Do you work on scheduling together? How do you prioritize chores/tasks as a family when working around work schedules?

Scheduling has changed in our household now that our children still at home are all adults. We have some family basics in the schedule such as lunchtime, dinner time, and Bible time after dinner. Those basics are determined by what best fits with the whole family’s needs and work schedules. From there, each person schedules their own days, including bedtime, wake-up time, Bible time, exercise time, and work time. 

As far as chores, we look at the work schedules and figure out who can do what. I have picked up more of the kitchen responsibilities since the girls are working more hours and have ministry responsibilities when not working. But they each have one meal a week that they take responsibility for. We eat lunch together, but each person heats up what they want. We have continued with our long-time plan of housecleaning on Fridays and have kept the same chores for that for many years now. But we help each other when one isn’t able to do what they would normally do. For example, one week I was helping a lot at Christopher and Anna Marie’s. Anna was home with a mild cold. She volunteered to do my Friday chores for me. 

What about you? What are you doing in your homes with adult children? What works for you? What doesn’t work?

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”
(Titus 2:12).