Sisters, love your brothers and help them be men

(ad by dockers)
Written By: Jessica

Our culture is running out of men. Men who will lay down their lives for their families, men who will stand up for what is right and men who are willing to die for their faith. As sisters, we need to be encourging our brothers to be men. We need to not only encourage our brothers and build them up but we need to love them. That is sometimes a hard thing for us as sisters to do. As sisters, we shouldn't tolerate our brothers because we have to, but we should love them because we want to. Brothers are a gift from God. Our brothers have been put in our families for a reason and God has given us our brothers for a reason. If we wouldn't throw away a present that our best friend made for us then why throw away a present that is from God. As sisters we should be as concerned for our brothers and their well being as Mariam was for Moses in Exodus 2:1-10. She was willing to risk her life for her brother, are we willing to do the same?

How do we act toward our brothers? Do we continually put them down and discourage every idea that they have? How we treat our brothers now is how we will treat our husbands someday. Also, the example that we ourselves give to our brothers is what they will someday look for in a wife. Do we want our brothers to have wives who are continually putting them down, criticising them and simply making life miserable for them? We should start setting a good example of what a godly woman is now when we are young because it does not get easier as we get older.

We need to encourage our brothers and let them "be the man". If our brothers want to help us or serve us in some way we should be thankful for that and we should let them know that we appreciate what they did for us. When our brothers do things for us they are practicing being men. As girls we tend to resent "brother" help, thinking that we have to prove that we are as good or better than them. We should be glad for the time that we have with our brothers because it will not last forever. We only have one life to live and at the end of our lives do we want regrets or do we want to be glad that we used our time wisely?

Posted by: a big sister

Christmas 2009 Newsletter (written by Jessica)

To all our family and friends: Greetings.

In January we started meeting together as a family once a week to pray for people in our church and community. In March we started inviting other families to join us. We meet for supper at six and prayer meeting at seven on Wednesday nights. Also, January was mom's birthday.

In February we packed up the camper and went to the warm, sunny, state of Georgia. We spent 3 days there at a family conference where we made many new friends and learned so much. On the way back we stopped at the Creation Museum near Cincinnati, Ohio , a very worthwhile stop. We also got started on sewing. Grace and Katrina have made several doll dresses (with Mom’s help) while Rebecca and I made skirts.

March- Rebecca and I helped out with meals more since mom had morning sickness. We have learned a lot about making meals and planning ahead. Dad started preaching once a month at church. We also took a trip to SD to attend the funeral of a close friend, Grandma Martha.

In April Joseph, Amos and Micah had their birthdays. The twins turned 3 and Joe turned 10.

May - Rebecca had the opportunity to take flute lessons once a week for most of the summer. Starting in May we fed bottle calves every day twice a day for 4 months.

In June our friend Elena came for a 3-week visit, which was very fun. Rebecca, Elena and I played music several times for church, rode horse and stayed up late talking. Elena became an expert at feeding bottle calves.

July was hot, but bearable, because we often went swimming in the neighbor’s pool. For the 4th we had some friends over and shot fireworks. Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit in July bringing with them a very nice 4-wheeler. The 4-wheeler is everyone’s, but Joseph is the one who takes care of it and uses it the most. His sisters are sticking to horses for the time being, although a 4-wheeler is much easier to catch.

In August we took a trip to Paradise Valley to visit our good friends, the Riglers. We had a great time. While we were there we took a short trip through Yellowstone. We didn’t see Old Faithful because of road construction but we stopped and saw the waterfall, which was very beautiful. The scenery was also very beautiful.

In September was Dad’s birthday, which wouldn’t be complete without a chocolate cake with banana filling and peanut butter frosting.

October was spent being sick. We all got colds and the flu. That month was also spent getting ready for Daniel’s birth. We baked lots of hotdishes, banana bread, muffins and buns and put all of it in the freezer. It was nice not having to worry about what we were going to have for supper and breakfast after Daniel was born.

November - Daniel was born on the 12th weighing 11 ½ pounds. He is very chubby and is very loved by his brothers and sisters. The Grandparents came around Thanksgiving time. Grandma Polly brought her famous Graham Cracker Pie and we made a big Thanksgiving meal. Rebecca and Grace's birthdays were also during November.

In December, we have been making lots of Christmas cookies and other goodies. Last Sunday was the Christmas program at church. Joseph played his harmonica, Rebecca played the flute and Katrina, Grace and I played the piano. Also, Katrina and I had our birthdays.

We are very thankful to God for all that he has done for our family this year. A special thank you to all who pray for us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Vander Vorsts

Family Picture