Emma (Misener) Schneider – Misener Family Harvesters
Do you know of anyone that has actually said they wanted the new year to be as good as the previous one?
In my experience, whenever the new year approaches, people often say, “Man, I hope this year is a heck of a lot better than last year!”.
We always have something to complain about, seeing the negative, rather than being excited about what our experiences were and all the positive things that happened. What is wrong with this world?
Bring yourself UP!
Instead of trying to bring yourself down, dang-it, bring yourself up!
Bring those around you up! Let that positivity grow and spill over onto others and you’ll be AMAZED by the positive outcome.
Anyone who is a parent, aunt, uncle, friends of those with children, strangers at the grocery store, have seen the influence positivity has on their children.
You must give them encouragement and positive affirmation or they will eventually be very unhappy children who, more than likely, will have no self-esteem, and sink into a depression, thinking they have no self worth.
People…if we don’t do this to our children, why do we do this to ourselves?
2018 Recap
Sometimes, I get to feeling sorry for myself when looking back on the year that my husband and I had.
February 3: wedding day! I married the most wonderful man. He could not be more perfect for me. Truly God sent him to me.
March: we have a honeymoon baby! We could not be more excited. This is the purpose of marriage. God’s will for our lives.
April 2: tragedy. We lost our baby. Oh God, how could this happen? What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? Why would you let this happen?
May, Mother’s Day: We have another baby! How wonderful! We have accepted our loss of the first but still do not understand. Just a fluke that this had happened. We thank God for giving us a rainbow baby. All seems great!
August 19: Bleeding. Bed rest. Water broke.
August 26: 20 weeks along. Hospital. Our little Henry Gregory was born. He was incredibly perfect. Born alive. Perfectly formed in His image, this little person given to us from above. Evan baptized him. What a beautiful moment. But then, his lungs wouldn’t and couldn’t support him. He passed away a few minutes later. Why God? What purpose was this supposed to make? What are we doing wrong? Are we being punished?
October: when our first baby was suppose to be born. God gave us another rainbow baby. What? We did not expect this but we are trying to leave it up to you, God. Can we handle another heartache? What is your plan for us God? I don’t know if we can handle this.
November, December: normal holiday festivities, family, trying to be excited but really hard to get there from here. We all know how our pregnancies end. I cannot handle another loss, Lord.
Do you see what happened there? All negativity, really. A couple of positive thoughts but overall, pretty gloomy. How easy it is to feel sorry for myself.
Let’s Start Over
I will not allow myself to feel sorry for myself. Without troubles, how can there be triumphs?
February 3: I married the love of my life. God has given me a beautiful gift in my husband. He has a plan for my life. I’m ready Lord, show me the way!
March: this is why You have given me the gift of marriage, Lord; a sweet baby! You gave us the most beautiful wedding gift! Thank for entrusting us with a little soul. We are scared but we trust in Your plan!
April 2: this precious gift you gave us was called home. Our sweet baby is no longer with us…but with You. We are sad, only because we feel sorry for ourselves, thinking of all we have missed with this sweet baby, Hope Michael. But thank you, Lord. You make us proud as parents! We have made the ultimate goal as parents: to help our children get back to You. To help them make it to heaven. We have done our job. Thank for entrusting us with this baby and giving us this incredible experience of life and death.
May, Mother’s Day: You have given us another gift! We have a second baby growing inside of me! We are scared, but we trust in Your plan. Thank you for entrusting us again! And on MOTHER’S DAY?! How awesome! We offer up all of our daily struggles and hardships. We can do this! You trusted us to. We accept Your will.
August 19: we are scared again. We have to keep our sights on You. Your will be done, Lord.
August 26: my God, my God! How precious he is! Our sweet miracle Henry Gregory made his entrance today! We love him so much! Just after midnight, 8.7 ounces and 8 1/2 inches long! How perfectly made he is. We now understand the love You have for us. How vast!
We baptized him in Your name. We cannot stop holding and loving on him. Lord, you called him home. We accept Your will. We are sad but mostly happy because of this precious gift You chose to share with us. He was not ours to begin with, but only entrusted in our care. Thank you for sharing him with us. We cannot thank you enough. The love you have brought into our lives is abundant. We are incredibly blessed! We could not be more proud as parents!
Now our sweet babies can be together with You and look down on us! Help us with our own struggles. It is hard down here, Lord, we will receive ALL the help we can get! It has been incredibly hard for Evan and I to share pictures of our baby, Henry, but the more we think about it, the more we feel the need to share our pride and joy! At this stage of pregnancy, it is still “legal” to abort a baby. We could not help but think, as we held our sweet baby in our arms, that if everyone saw him, if they could see their own baby growing inside of their mother and hold them. Who could abort them? They are perfectly formed in God’s image. A beautiful, perfect, little person.
Henry Gregory Schneider
October: thank you for giving us memories! This month is when our first baby, Hope Michael, was due. We thank you for every day You have us with our sweet baby!
Lord, Your blessings are never-ending. You continue to bless our little family. You gave us another sweet soul to look after! We cannot be more excited. We are scared, but we trust in the plan You have for us. You have not steered us wrong yet! Blessings abound! How are we worthy, Lord? We thank you!
November, December: the holidays are here! We are so very thankful for our family! We take comfort in knowing our babies are with You. Thank you for all the blessings You have given us.
Christmas time we celebrate Your birth. I can really relate to our mother Mary. Could there be a more beautiful time to be pregnant? What a hardship she must have gone through! Joseph, too. Scandalous pregnancy, Mary’s total willingness to do Your will, and also Joseph’s acceptance and strength. A journey across the country, pregnant Mary on a donkey, not really knowing the ending destination, Joseph’s incredible pressure to take care of his family, just total faith that God would take care of them. What an example!!! True and honest strength. Help us be more like you, Mary and Joseph!
An amazing, incredibly blessed year
So when I am asked, “How was your year?” I am going to say, “It was amazingly beautiful, full of hard times, but we have been incredibly blessed. He sent me an amazing man who is my rock. Also, He has given me the gift of humbling myself. He has chosen us to care for God’s gifts of children. He sent them to us! Can you believe it? A precious gift, three of them, straight from God! I hope we are equally blessed in this coming year.”
What a beautiful year You have given us Lord! Thank you! You never said there would not be hard times, but You did say You would always be with us. Thank you for being with us, guiding us and loving us. Help us to remember, Lord, there is nothing we cannot handle with You by our side. Please continue to be our guiding light, especially in our darkest hours.
You are worth it
Sisters, and brothers, always remember: YOU are worth it! YOU are amazing at what you do! YOU are a great parent! YOU are perfect in God’s eyes. YOU are the one standing in your way. YOU are the one saying you can’t do it. YOU need to look in that mirror and say, “I am worth it! God loves me!”
Accept God’s love for you. He does not make you earn it, His love is already there, waiting for us to accept Him. How amazing is that?!
Try to hear His will and plans that He has for you. Pray. You will be so incredibly amazed at how much He wants you to be with Him and see what He has in store.
Feel His presence in your everyday life. You will not be disappointed. Even if you feel you didn’t get an answer, sometimes that IS an answer; just maybe the one you didn’t want to hear. Give it to God, and God will do the rest.
Where did this come from?
Sorry this was so long. I don’t mean to be preachy. I do not know where this came from. I was not ready to write for a long, long time. I just couldn’t. Somehow, God called me. He said, “Alright, Emma, let’s get it done!” And the words started coming.
What amazing things we can accomplish when we let Him take over!!! These are the moments that come from the heart…from God.
I’ll leave you with my most favorite prayer. Something that I think of often throughout the year, especially through tough times.
Love you all! And I pray you can look for the positive this coming year, practice the pause (wait 10 seconds before responding to something hurtful, or in the heat of the moment), and you have eyes to see the beautiful gifts God gives you every day.
God bless you and yours – Emma
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1. Be ready to go at the drop of a hat...sometimes without a lunchbox.
2. Has removed the word impossible from her vocabulary!
3. Can hold a baby, take care of a toddler and drive a tractor or combine all at the same time.
4. Must be able to cook for a crew - large or small.
5. Must be able to read minds.
6. Must be able to banter with a parts man until he realizes you DO know what you're talking about.
7. Must be the entertainment director for those rainy days.
8. Be a wife, mom, friend, helper, cook, problem solver, taxi driver or extra crew hand at all times.
9. Can handle the call that makes you react, "You need what? When?" Dropping everything you're doing to make it happen.
10. At the end of the day say, "I really do love this life".