Falling When Skating Hurts

As a parent of 4 kids I am constantly trying to help my kids become who God has created them to be.  What I realized recently is that there are times that I limit them more than I help them.  We had the chance to go to a wedding out of town and we arrived early and were looking for something to do.  In our search for entertainment we found a roller rink.  My kids had never been skating before so I knew this was going to be a day of learning and a great opportunity for me to instruct my kids in how to do something new.  For the first 30 minutes we held their hands and would help them around the rink.  If they would loose their balance we would be there to catch them and help them back up.  After  30 minutes they were not any better at skating than when we started.  The owner of the roller rink approached us and suggested we don't hold their hand and let them learn on their own.  I knew it would be more painful for them but we decided to take her advice. 

 My kids fell and fell and fell and fell some more.  Although it was hard for me to watch as a parent it wasn't long before they were skating and having a blast.  The bible it tells us as parents to train our children in the way they should go. The word "go" is different for every child. So many times I want my kids to do what I want instead of allowing them to be the way that God created them.  There are many things that I enjoy but my kids are wired differently and don't enjoy them.  God has entrusted us to raise them to be godly.  If they truly love God then everything else will take care of itself. God has created them uniquely and we should treat them as individuals.  I've been challenged to not limit my kids growth but to allow them to grow in the way God created them.  Sometimes that means I have to let go and watch them skate.  

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Update on the Knox Family

Wow! It's been a long time since I have wrote or even looked at our family blog. Thought I would write a little about what the Knox family has been up to.

Winter/Spring 2012- We moved into our sweet friends large home on 5 acres and had the privilege of living there. Tim worked on the land and house to get it ready to sell. Our family learned so many things. We also found out we were going to have Knox baby #5! The whole family was very pumped to be blessed with another child. We found out at 9 weeks that our baby went home to Jesus. We were very sad for the hope and dream we had for that child but we know that Jesus is rocking our baby. Two days later Tim took me on a vacation to Cancun, Mexico for my 30th birthday. We had a wonderful time. I am so thankful for that sweet time we spent on the beach together. We also enjoyed homeschooling the kids and serving as pastors at the Midwest City Campus of Lifechurch.tv.

Summer/Fall 2012- My Ulcerative Colitis got really bad and I become very weak. We went to the doctor and they told us that my whole colon had become inflamed and we would need to talk about different therapies. Tim and I prayed and we felt like God called us to move and live closer to family so that they could help me with my UC and the 4 children that God has blessed us with. The amazing thing about the Church we serve at is there are locations everywhere. We moved our family to Tulsa, Ok and became children's pastors at the South Tulsa Campus. Another thing that changed for our family was the boys started going to Public School. This was a very hard thing for me because I love being with my kids all day and learning new things with them. During this time I learned a lot about supporting my husband in the decisions he makes for our family. I am so thankful to be married to Tim Knox and how he leads our family even though I don't always show him. The boys loved school and meeting new friends.

Where we are today- Tim and I love serving at our new campus! We have so enjoyed living close to family. Our kids get to see grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins all the time. My health is doing amazing!!! Today was the boys last day of Public School. We will start homeschooling again. We are enjoying this season in our lives. Stay tuned you never know what's next with the Knox family=)

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Judah's 1st Birthday

Today we celebrated baby Judah's 1st ever birthday. We had so much fun and are grateful for his life. We never imagined that we would learn so much and our family would be strengthened by Judah's life. He is a true blessing to everyone.

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Nathan is 7

Sweet Nathan turned 7! He had his whole day planned out what he wanted to do for his birthday. We woke up and opened presents. Went to McDonald's for breakfast. Stopped by Target to buy his new scooter from his grandparents. Went to a movie at the movie theater and had Chili's for lunch. He ended the day at church with his small group. It was such a neat day. Nathan is a huge blessing to our family and so many others. I sure do love this kid and love being his mommy.

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How can we Pray for you?

I'm so looking forward to starting our 21 day fast tomorrow. We as a family have chosen things that we will be giving up for 21 days so that we can focus more of our time with God. We would love to pray for you and your family during this time. What can we pray for? (One of the things we will be fasting from is facebook and twitter so please email us knox1215@sbcglobal.net and let us know how to pray.)

I love what Jentezen Franklin writes about Fasting.

Fasting is one of the most powerful weapons God has ever given us for our daily lives. We all go through times when we feel like we are not living up to our full potential. Sometimes we lose our energy and our spiritual sharpness . . . this causes us to lose our edge.

What does it really mean to lose your edge?

When a lumberjack keeps swinging away at the tree without sharpening his ax, the ax will soon become dull and ineffective. In much the same way, that can happen to us.

Going through our daily routines in our own strength wears us down. Little by little, we lose our closeness to God. Without that closeness, we become ineffective for the purposes His has for us.

Fasting can help you get back your passion! It can recharge you!

Although fasting lasts for a short season, it brings long-term results, which sharpens us, enabling us to face the challenges of life in His strength. Through fasting, you can experience spiritual renewal and direction for your life . . . restoration of relationship . . . healing . . . release from bondages . . . and so much more!

We begin each year with 21 days of fasting. Fasting in January is much like praying in the morning to establish the will of God for your entire day. I believe that if we will pray and seek God and give Him our first and best at the beginning of the year, He will honor that sacrifice and bless our ENTIRE year! “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mathew 6:33).

But when you make fasting a way of life, you get even closer to God and grow in your spiritual walk like never before. Making fasting a lifestyle is like a lumberjack who takes time to rest and sharpen his ax periodically to be able to effectively finish the job set before him.

Fasting can help you Recover Your Passion, Recapture Your Dream and Restore Your Joy!

Fasting is a principle that God intended for everyone to practice. It is not a punishment; it is a privilege!

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Miracle

If you go to church much or watch Christian television or listen to Christian radio you hear about miracle's happening in people's lives. I've always loved hearing about the amazing things that change people's lives that start with tragedy or something unexpected. I've also wondered how I would respond if I were in their situation and if it happened to me. This week our family had the opportunity to experience our own miracle.

Our youngest son Judah (11 months) was diagnosed with Strep on Tuesday. This was a big relief because now we knew how to treat his illness. Judah was loaded up with some medicine and we were given directions on how to care for him. Things improved immediately for Judah. He began to eat, poop, and pee which were all great signs of his health improving. Wednesday came and he continued to eat, poop, and pee but his energy level was declining and he began to favor his left side and did not like to be touched. We let this go on for a day and then called the Dr's office and got some oral antibiotics. Judah's health continued to decline and eventually we contacted our pediatrician directly. He came to the house on Saturday, Christmas Eve, and suggested we go to the ER.

Fortunately we were just about the only people at the ER at 11am on Christmas Eve and they were able to see Judah quickly. After blood samples, urine samples, saliva samples, and a spinal tap the Dr's decided that Judah had Bacterial Meningitis. We had no idea what Bacterial Meningitis was but by the response of the number of nurses and Dr's that came to the room we knew it was serious. It's not the same Bacterial Meningitis that you see on the news where whole schools and towns are on lock down. This Bacterial Meningitis is NOT contagious and came from the bacteria that was already in Judah. Because of his high temperature and meningitis, Judah had a seizure during the spinal tap. Fortunately, God placed the right people in our lives to explain to us in terms that we understand what it is and what impact it will have on Judah and our family. They did a CAT scan on Judah and moved him to the PICU by 3pm.

I have to pause and let you know that we woke up that morning thinking we would be serving and worshiping at our Christmas Eve services at church. Instead we ended up in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with a son that had a high chance of dying. It wasn't the plans we had for Christmas Eve.

We had to wait in the PICU waiting room until a second IV line was put in. This process took about 30 minutes. As we are sitting there wondering what is happening and what our future looks like God continued to bring people to encourage us and pray for us. Finally the nurse came to get us and we were able to see Judah. A friend and church leader walked with us and spent time helping us process the situation and praying for us. We only got to stay for a short time before we had to leave the room again. This gave us a chance to move our car from temporary parking and get some clothes. As we were walking to the car we stopped in the hallway and realized that the spirit of God was with us. We were reminded of what God told Moses in Exodus 14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." We could physically feel the spiritual encouragement from all the people praying.

That night was when we saw the first sign of improvement in Judah. Nicole was laying next to him with her latex gloves, germ free suit, and face mask. Judah raised his hand and tried to pull the mask away from Nicole's face. This was the most movement we had seen in several days.

The next day we learned that our PICU Dr would be a lady that attends our church. We were so excited because we had heard great things about her. She came to our room by 9am and gave us the medical plan, that included at least a week in the hospital and then she told us what she would be praying for. Then we held hands and laid hands on Judah and prayed for a supernatural healing. Judah continued to improve and midway through the day he was trying to crawl out of the crib. By that evening they decided he could be moved to the general floor which was a great step in knowing that he was improving. We found out that a part of Judah's recovery there would need to be antibiotics given at home through a PICC line. A PICC line is like an IV but the tube goes from his arm to right above the heart and is intended for longer use. They inserted the PICC line on Monday morning which paved the way for us to talk about going home. Judah was crawling around his crib and would laugh and respond to us. Several Dr's that had seen Judah in the ER and PICU would come visit him and couldn't believe how he had recovered. One Dr made the statement that Judah was a true Christmas miracle and another Dr later said that the only way they were able to explain Judah getting better is by calling it miracle. We stayed one more night and then early Tuesday they let us know we would be going home that day.

Judah's name means "to praise" because in the Old Testament, Genesis 29:35, when Leah gave birth to Judah she said "this time I will praise the Lord." We can't talk about Judah's health and not give God the credit, honor, and glory for what he's doing.

Tim

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Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas!!!
We hope 2011 was a great year for your family. It was an incredible year for us. We experienced so many great things and were reminded of God’s faithfulness time after time. Our family has grown in many ways this year and it’s been a constant reminder to trust God in every circumstance. 2011 marks 10 years of our family being together with our wedding anniversary being on December 15th. As our family gets older we are reminded of how precious and short our time is. We are very grateful for the time we have and fully believe that every moment we have with our kids is a moment that we are to intentionally show them God’s character and love. Here’s a glimpse of what’s happened in each family member’s life this past year.

Judah is our youngest son. He was born January 31st and will be 1 very soon. Judah has been a delight to have. He’ll eat anything we put close to his mouth or whatever he can grab. He is crawling around and very close to pulling up. He loves to laugh and the older kids enjoy helping with him.

Abigail is our daughter and she just turned 2 years old. Abigail is all girl. She loves to have a purse and her accessories everywhere we go. She brings so much joy to our lives. She graduated to a new class at church and enjoys singing songs and loves the hand motions that go with them. She loves to color and will try almost anything her older brothers are doing. Abigail also thinks baby Judah is her baby and likes to feed and hold him.

Micah is our 2nd child and he turned 5 in September. God gave Micah the gift and passion to serve. He is always asking how he can help and often gets upset if someone does a chore that he wanted to do. He’s a funny kid and very creative. Micah loves music and makes up songs for whatever he’s thinking about.

Nathan is our oldest child and will turn 7 in January. He loves numbers, time, keeping track of dates, and countdowns to everything. God has given Nathan athletic ability. He played T-ball in the spring and had a great time. This winter he will play basketball for the 1st time. Nathan is growing spiritually too. It’s fun to watch him connect a Bible verse he’s learned to a situation that he’s in.

Nicole continues to grow as a woman of God, wife, and mom. She is teaching P.E. in our homeschool Co-op and focuses a lot of her energy in training and homeschooling our kids. She has picked up some new hobbies. She loves to read and has recently began cooking a variety of new home cooked meals.

Tim continues to serve in full time ministry at LifeChurch.tv but his role and location have changed. He is now the Children’s Pastor at the new Midwest City Campus and has enjoyed being a part of starting that campus and meeting so many amazing people. God continues to prove that His timing and plans are much better than what we can come up with on our own. This year Tim went camping a few times with Nathan and Micah and a group of awesome dads and their sons. He is valuing the importance of other godly men speaking into our kid’s lives. He also spends a lot of time reading to Abigail and building that bond between a dad and his daughter.

This year our family has learned to trust God in every season of our life and to believe that our lives are seasonal. What our family is facing today might be something different tomorrow.

We hope that 2012 is a great year for you and your family.
Love,
The Knox Family

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