The Snyders in Germany

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

staying at home with baby has been positively one of the best things ever! ya know, something i've realized is that somebody needs to raise your children. why not you? i mean, why have children if only to pass off the work to somebody else? I am not talking about every now and then because, obviously it's important to get a break, but full time is something different. How glorious to raise up godly children! What a delight to know all the hard work you put in, will someday hopefully have an eternal payout! I know some people think it's "not possible" these days... but it is. Mr. S and I are living proof. yes, there will be sacrifices, like maybe you won't be able to buy a brand new car, or have every possession you desire, but you will know your children are being raised to know God, they will know they are loved, and isn't that worth the sacrifice of "things"?! but i don't even know if "sacrifice" is the right word, because the blessing is far greater! aaron and i have not lacked a single thing by me staying home, and it's even more beautiful/glorious/amazing because he hasn't had work since february! and yet STILL the Lord provides :) but it's really our responsibility in the end, as in, we have to make good choices now, or else yes both parents do need to work due to financial commitments made. now for example, before making a big purchase, example: a new car, determine, is it going to be possible to carry on such financial burdens when a child comes (without both parents working)? if eating out is something that is regular, consider... eating in. take the time to prepare your breakfast lunch and dinners. it's amazing the amount of money saved, and add onto that the time you have to search out good deals because you aren't at work, tired, and in a rush to just eat anything. you can meal plan, bargain hunt, and add that special ingredient to all that's made... love. it really is a blessing to be able to serve up a warm meal to your husband after he's been gone working all day. though there are definitely challenges. planning out the week's meals ahead of time is such a help to the 'what should i cook' question, and that is both time and cost effective! being a stay-at-home mom doesn't mean you don't do work, not at all! it's just your work is in your home. there is nothing wrong with a wife/mom who does side work/part time even on the side. in fact that's what we see modeled by the proverbs 31 woman. the point is more rather, is your full time job outside the home? the Bible teaches us to be good stewards of all our resources, our time, treasures, and talents. how is the Lord teaching you to be a good steward? are you being faithful with that which has been entrusted to you(money, care of your home, and children)? i hope so! i don't write any of this to condemn anyone or to say there is one right way, but i think it's something important for women and parents to consider... i'll leave y'all with this verse

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." -colossians 3:2

until next time,
mrs. s

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

-proverbs 15:17

how you should interact with a fellow believer?
- love one another, submit to one another, esteem others higher than yourself.

"but they aren't a believer!"

okay, let's be more general, how should you deal with your neighbor?
- love your neighbor as yourself. (mark 12:31)

"but, you don't understand, they are more like an enemy than my neighbor!"

well then, how are we instructed to deal with our enemies?
- love your enemies and do good to them which hate you. (luke 6:27)

end of story. love. i know it can be hard, but it's what's commanded. Jesus spoke about loving those who are easy to love and how basically anybody can do that, even those who don't know God, but true love is loving those who are hard to love, those who may not "deserve" the love. being gracious, giving them what they don't deserve > loving somebody who actually deserves punishment. it is in situations like this we learn to be like Christ; who is gracious, merciful, and unconditionally loving. it's what we all want. we would give everything to obtain it. there's no question, love is better.

with love,
mrs. s

"count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." [james 1:2-4]
i have read this verse so many times, yet when i faced trials, it seemed hard to have joy. i had the revelation the other day though that how Christians respond to trial is something that totally sets us apart from nonbelievers. it is so typical for the enemy to try to steal our joy, because it can be a way to disarm us, or discourage us, but james encourages by saying no! count it joy! even though things may be hard God will use it to do great things! we are encouraged and given a reason to be joyful.

"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." [Hebrews 12:2 ESV]
even JESUS, the Son of God, had to look to what lie ahead and not dwell on the momentary affliction. He is our perfect example, He did not let the enemy of men's soul steal His joy and lead Him into disobedience, no He pressed on for He knew the joy which lie ahead. and we shall do likewise. like job, we shall bless the name of the Lord no matter what the season. yes He gives and takes away. shall we only bless Him when its in our favor?! no of course not. so i encourage you all, when you face trials, when things seem hard, when life is stressful, call on Jesus, get into Gods word, cause we can do it alone. we must be filled with the Spirit, for JOY is a fruit of the Spirit. we should be able to have joy in every situation, paul is right, because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and we know that the suffering we experience now cannot even be compared to the glory that is to be revealed!! don't let your joy be taken from you, no but persevere in prayer, and be filled with joy from our great Father in heaven!

[feel free to share what difficult circumstances God has given you to be joyful through and to strengthen your faith through, that we'll lack in nothing. ]

with much joy thanks to Jesus,
the mrs. :)

I realize its been way too long since I wrote... in fact, I've only written one other time, but I figured I'd start sharing here what amazing things the Lord does in our life rather than in my personal journals. So I will do a quick catch up from last July to now so bear with me and enjoy! {stories shall be placed in brackets}

July 2011- we came back to the usa from germany. moved to cali with mrs. s' parents [see previous blog for explanation of that]

August 2011- mr. s began roofing for webco, moved into our first apartment together as a family!

Sept 2011- amy began taking 3 unit class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement

Oct 2011- still adjusting to life in ca, ended month with baby shower


Dec 2011 Baby Number one is born!

Jan 2012- grandma joy comes to visit us and baby p for the first time!

Feb 2012- first family trip to ohio,  mr. s turns 24, becomes unofficially unemployed. job hunt begins. start learning how faithful God really is...


Mar 2012- celebrate 1 year anniversary, continue trusting the Lord

Apr 2012- busy being parents continual work search, mister s received one week of work with the carpenters union, woohoo!

May 2012- jp and vero come to visit at end of the month, we had so much fun with them both. we went to santa barbara, l.a., did some museum exploring, some coffee shop discovering, stayed in a yurt in the sb mountains... it was a great time. 

June 2012- GODS PROVIDES just in the knick of time!

{so, we were running out of our savings, due to rent and other needs over the past almost 5 months, and we knew God either needed to provide work to make money, or provide money to pay our upcoming bills because after submitting our rent check we were pretty much out. it was pretty awesome as well, because a month earlier we had felt God encouraging us to give to some brothers and sisters in central asia, the amount was $100. then last month calvary nexus decided to do an experiment so to say, by giving away $10,000 to 100 people with the hopes to further Gods kingdom and to teach people to be good stewards of Gods money. (really teaching, all is Gods money. be a good steward of all you have!) so we wanted to participate and we took our $100 and matched the $100 from calvary in hopes to send $200! so cool. it took longer than hoped to figure out how to get the money to our friends, but we finally sent it out, completely in faith too because that was literally our last $100... leaving us with about $30 or so in our account..scary! but we knew God would come through! we just knew it! amy celebrated her 23 birthday and received some money during that time which was helpful indeed, but not enough to really cover the bills, but it was encouraging. and then it happened, we received the news that we were very loved and a check would be coming to us in the mail because somebody had given us some money. when we got home that day, indeed there was a check in the mailbox, anonymously given, for $3000!!!!! i share the specifics so that God may be glorified and magnified! can we just take a moment to glorify and praise Him!?

selah

so this is written to share that God knows our every need. He knows when to provide. see, we didn't need money for next months rent, because, well, it wasn't due yet. we didn't need money for tomorrow, because tomorrow wasn't here yet and we had/have everything we needed for today. it was once said, the Lord is rarely early but never late. and in these past months, we have not lacked one good thing.