Evidence of God's Goodness!

Christmas time is not yet upon us and God is already showering our family with gifts! We were playing with Chrysanna last night and just talking to her, so I grabbed our recorder so we could catch her 'cuteness' and we got to see some of God's Goodness!

Every night at bedtime, Chrysanna and I will read from her Bible, sing 3 songs and pray for whoever is on our heart. Just like as I have done for Blayze, I will end each prayer, each night the same say. For Chrysanna it is always, 'Lord I pray that will grow Chrysanna to live her whole life to give you praise, glory and honor. In Jesus name, Amen.' Recently, she has begun to say that part with me as we close our prayer - it seems as though even at two years old she is beginning to take ownership of God's purpose for her life! What a gift from God to these two often struggling and confused parents!

During our devotions Chrysanna and I have diverted away from the Old Testament in the months past due to the constant reference of death, dismemberment (Goliath getting decapitated and all that, Sampson losing his eyes, ya' know the cool stuff for Blayze!) and killing. One day, she was running thru the house, not even aware what it meant to kill, and looked at Dominic and began to laugh and yelled, 'I'm going to kill you!' I know, I know, I know . . . I know exactly what you are think . . . that is what I thought too. NO MORE ABOUT KILLING AND DYING AROUND HERE! Eventhough, for her young mind it was as though she said, 'I'm going to bodyslam you' (which she does often to me - I probably provoke it though!), or 'Come over here, lay right here so I can bodyslam you Dad.' Just as cute and innocent as she can, I of course, being so competitive, am not about to lose to a girl especially a two year girl so I reply back to her, 'Bring it on!'

Anyway, back to what I was saying about diverting from death and dismemberment . . . I committed to not deviate away from the death of Jesus on the cross for many reasons. Primarily because nothing else matters in the Bible if that is not included. I know right?

Many times, I have taught her that Jesus died to pay for the sins of all men (and women, relax!). However, this was the first time she has ever actually put it together for herself and stated it outloud . . . and we caught it forever in the digital world!!

Now, I wait with great expectancy, joy, anticipation and a bit of fear (what if God calls her to go to Africa or Asia or someplace really strange like California!) to watch as God's Holy Spirit begins to teach her that Jesus not only died on the cross for sins . . . but for HER sins specifically!

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2:21

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

Oh the pleasure of getting to watch God, the creator of heaven and earth, raise our children!

In Loving Memory of Our Most Loved Dog Sassy

Sassy Dog, Sasser Facer, Sassy Girl . . . We miss you.

Nov. 19th 2008, A hunter shot Sassy and she died.
Sassy has been our pet since Febuary of 2004. We named her Sassy because even before she was weened from her momma she was talking back. When she was very tiny we would go on bike rides and she would run as fast as she could, never distracted from chasing us, she was always right with us. Sassy had some unique ways of looking at the world, like how she wouldn't cross certain boundries, or how she could never seem to pee while swimming. Sassy went on most all of our adventures with us and she was a great companion. Blayze reminded me the other day of how long it took her to learn to go up the stairs, even once she was full grown she didn't like jumping into the back of the truck. Everytime Sassy played with Elway in the country, he would take off and she would run whinning all the way behind him because she was so excited about what ever was happening.

There is so much more but I need to go. We will post more later. We really loved you Sassy.

Thank You God for Our Children

This is us dedicating Dominic to the Lord at the Hospitol he was born at. We did the same with Chrysanna and Ricky did the same with Blayze. (Which is a really good story about breaching hospitol security.)

Catch up day

I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. I was able to sing with my brother and sister, a rare treat in the last few years of my life. It was nice because even my mom and my husband joined in on the action.

Thanksgiving is like a door to the rest of the holiday season for our family. We decorate the tree and the house and we start our gift ornaments. This year I wanted to start earlier. There is just something about spending so much time preparing for a celebration that is so refreshing.

my time is up. The Harter family says "hi"

Signs of Life

Blayze played full contact football for Joplin this fall and this is the kids' "cheer gear", that they wore to the games. (Blayze had all the pads and helmut)

First Memory Verse

This verse comes in handy a lot. Chrysanna is now 2 years old.

Water Paints

The Seed Tick Adventure

Saturday morning seemed like the perfect time to take a hike at the lake. They have some trials that we have been wanting to try out. Well by the time we got to the trail it was lunch time and nap time. The trail was nice and we discovered all kinds of fun things. We found a frog on our way into the trail and we saw some very large butterflies. There were red berries that looked perticularly poisonous and a small tree barring peach colored, cherry size, fruit. We didn't eat any of the fruit or mushrooms that we discovered eventhough it was lunch time.

The information on the trail said that the trail was moderately difficulty. Everyone did well. Ricky lead the way so that he could break loose all of the spider webs. The trail was just enough for Chrysanna to get a little workout and Blayze took off on all the side trails too add to the adventure. Dominic was in the sling and he eventually fell asleep. We went on the trail about 20 minutes and turned around at which point we headed up one of the side trails. As we were leaving I checked my pants to see if there was any tics because I had light colored pants on. I saw what I believed to be just little burs that we picked up on the trail. They didn't apear to be moving. The side trail took us to the road that would lead us back to our car. Blayze mentioned that he was itching and we figured "of course he just walked through tall grass". We all piled into the car and then Chrysanna was feeling itchy and Blayze our family inspector noticed that the dots on her leg as well as his own were moving. Then I realized that the tics on my legs were moving. I was feeling slightly paniced there were hundreds of them all over us. What about the baby? He was seemingly untouched. We thought we could wipe them off but they would just grab on to our hands and Chrysanna and Blayze would then ich their face. We discussed the proceedures for our arrivial. How we would strip as much as possible outside and then the rest of the way, when we got inside. Then we would get in the showers and scrub all of the tics off.

well we are now recovering. we are covered in bumps like the chicken pox. And we can say that we truely had an adventure. It wouldn't have been nearly as adventurous with out the adversity of the seed ticks.

Resigning in order to redirect

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Philippians 3:13-15

Today our resignation at Hiwasse Christian Church was delivered. Our family has been tore for the last several months for the burden we have for the church is great and our service has been divided between Hiwasse and . . . somewhere else. We were unsure until recently.
We are confident we have been called to serve the Body of Christ in Mound Valley Kansas. This is an invitation we receive with joy and enthusiasm with but one difficulty . . .
Who we have been in leadership in ministry for the last two years is NOT who God is calling us to be in leadership in ministry for the next season of our lives. The Spirit of God has already confirmed to us that we are to be healed and to serve and walk with the Body. The difficulty? Well, the difficulty will be transitioning from who we were to who we are called to be - if that sounds strange in writing imagine living it.

Our team has changed. The goal has remained the same.
May we all learn to and be able to let go of that which has happened and look forward to that which God wants to do in our lives! -Ricky

In an attempt to 'keep the vision before the people' for 'without vision a people may perish', Carrie and I have created a H.A.R.T.E.R. family acronym. I thought we could share it here.

H.ealthy I Cor. 3:16
A.dventurous Matt. 28:19-20
R.eady I Peter 3:15
T.rustworthy Matt. 5:37
E.ducated I Timothy 2:15
R.espectful Philippians 2:3
S.aved Acts 2:21

This is something that we intend to teach to all our children in memory. This will allow them to determind their core values as individuals and as a family and as a member of the Body of Christ.
The main idea behind this came from a time of encouragement and motivation toward Blayze. When he was feeling discouraged and wanted to quit doing something I would ask him, 'Is your last name Quitter?' He would say, 'No! It's Harter, Dad!'
I pray that statement would have eternal implications for the rest of his life and for all of our children and grandchildren. 'Hey, is your last name _____?' 'No! It's H.A.R.T.E.R! I have been created and given a gift to bring Glory to God with my life!'

keeping in touch

To all our family, we hope this will be a way of keeping in touch with you.