Do you remember from the post before last how I mentioned the DVD that was stolen in the DVD player and that we paid the library for? We realized it was missing almost immediately after the robbery. Zac had watched it just the day before - it couldn't be far. Before we moved, I looked everywhere, even went through every DVD case. We moved and it was no where to be found. After I provided them the case number for our robbery, the library allowed us to renew it the maximum number of times. Every time it came due I had my entire family look for it. I think all the DVD's were gone through at least 5 times.
Last Christmas, the DVD Elf was in someone's stocking since our supply of movies had been diminished in the robbery. This Thanksgiving, we took it with us to watch on the drive. Last week, the boys watched it again at home. Last week, I also began the fervent prayer for God to redeem the time that was stolen from us.
I was sharing with a friend the story of how God allowed me to find the missing documents for Rob's dissertation. I was so caught off guard at her childlike faith when she responded "Well, they probably were stolen and God put them back there." I recognized that my childlike faith had also been stolen from me.
Yesterday morning I was looking through the DVD cases for my workout video that had been misplaced. I opened up the Elf DVD case. There was the missing DVD. It had not been there the week before. The DVD had not been in our house before that moment.
Some may try to explain this away. I call this a miracle. God gave it back to me along with my childlike faith.
Rob turned in chapter 2 (revised) and chapter 3 to his adviser today. He's grading finals today and tomorrow and then the real writing begins.
Please pray for us. "REDEEM THE TIME!"
That crazy Voss family
12/15/11
12/10/11
God is already at work
I know it's only been 4 days, but God is already at work!!! Thank you so much for your prayers already.
Today was my last performance/work day until January and so I felt domestic when I got home. My room has not been thoroughly clean since Halloween until today. Then I started in the boxes that had not yet been unpacked in Rob's office. In one, I found some books and some dissertation stuff. When Rob looked at it, he was speechless and then almost crying.
You see, in February, when he had gotten back to work, he looked and looked for the two chapters that had been commented on by his adviser. He had determined that they were probably in the backpack that was stolen during the robbery. He described it to me as if he had been on a journey following directions on the GPS and then halfway there the GPS just stopped working. It was like he had been working blind - he had been trying to duplicate what had been lost. The GPS has been turned back on! Praise God!
I know it's a direct result of the call for prayer. Please, continue to pray. I love that God has so quickly moved, but it just makes me plead for more. Redeem the time, Lord! Let him finish in the next 6 weeks!
Today was my last performance/work day until January and so I felt domestic when I got home. My room has not been thoroughly clean since Halloween until today. Then I started in the boxes that had not yet been unpacked in Rob's office. In one, I found some books and some dissertation stuff. When Rob looked at it, he was speechless and then almost crying.
You see, in February, when he had gotten back to work, he looked and looked for the two chapters that had been commented on by his adviser. He had determined that they were probably in the backpack that was stolen during the robbery. He described it to me as if he had been on a journey following directions on the GPS and then halfway there the GPS just stopped working. It was like he had been working blind - he had been trying to duplicate what had been lost. The GPS has been turned back on! Praise God!
I know it's a direct result of the call for prayer. Please, continue to pray. I love that God has so quickly moved, but it just makes me plead for more. Redeem the time, Lord! Let him finish in the next 6 weeks!
12/6/11
Redeem the time!
My prayer over the next 6 weeks (not including the week after Christmas since we'll be in CA) is that God will redeem the time that was stolen from us last year.
You may remember the series of events that occurred for our family last year starting with the break-in and robbery of over $3000 worth of stuff from our home the Sunday after Thanksgiving and continuing through 4 car break-ins into the middle of January. At this time last year, we were scrambling to hurriedly put our belongings in boxes to quickly move into a new home God had so readily provided for us. (For more info: http://vossvignettes.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-moves-in-december.html). It was the second to last day of the semester for both Rob and I as we scrambled to finish our teaching well while protecting our family.
The plan had been for Rob to finish up and then take the next 4 weeks before his next teaching assignment and write his dissertation. He had prepped for it mentally and physically. Now we were without his laptop again and moving and dealing with insurance and change of address for everyone and deciding on what school the boys were going to and dealing with the police and dealing with the library (some books got packed away and returned very late - one DVD was in the player that was taken and we had to pay for it). All these little details that simply exhausted us emotionally and physically. Rob's writing did not get started up again until February - he was teaching and so was I and still trying to find time to write.
So, here it is, a year later. Most of the stuff has been replaced (not that it's important) and we are back to "normal" life. But time was stolen from us. Who knows if Rob could have finished in that intensified 4 weeks, but even if he had just gotten further, he might have had the motivation to finish before the summer graduation deadlines. I hate to do the what-if game, but it's hard not to think that perhaps a fulltime job would have presented itself had he been done. I know God has a plan and a purpose. So we press on. Rob writes every Saturday and any other spare moments he can, but this process requires a lot of focused attention, something that is hard to come by in our life right now.
Once again we are facing the end of one semester and a full 6 weeks before Rob has to teach again. I am asking you, as my friend and fellow prayer warrior, please beg the Father on our behalf to redeem the time that was stolen from us. Pray for Rob to have supernatural focus and clarity of thought. Most of all, pray that God would be glorified through his writing. Please be on your knees to the Father for us. Please.
You may remember the series of events that occurred for our family last year starting with the break-in and robbery of over $3000 worth of stuff from our home the Sunday after Thanksgiving and continuing through 4 car break-ins into the middle of January. At this time last year, we were scrambling to hurriedly put our belongings in boxes to quickly move into a new home God had so readily provided for us. (For more info: http://vossvignettes.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-moves-in-december.html). It was the second to last day of the semester for both Rob and I as we scrambled to finish our teaching well while protecting our family.
The plan had been for Rob to finish up and then take the next 4 weeks before his next teaching assignment and write his dissertation. He had prepped for it mentally and physically. Now we were without his laptop again and moving and dealing with insurance and change of address for everyone and deciding on what school the boys were going to and dealing with the police and dealing with the library (some books got packed away and returned very late - one DVD was in the player that was taken and we had to pay for it). All these little details that simply exhausted us emotionally and physically. Rob's writing did not get started up again until February - he was teaching and so was I and still trying to find time to write.
So, here it is, a year later. Most of the stuff has been replaced (not that it's important) and we are back to "normal" life. But time was stolen from us. Who knows if Rob could have finished in that intensified 4 weeks, but even if he had just gotten further, he might have had the motivation to finish before the summer graduation deadlines. I hate to do the what-if game, but it's hard not to think that perhaps a fulltime job would have presented itself had he been done. I know God has a plan and a purpose. So we press on. Rob writes every Saturday and any other spare moments he can, but this process requires a lot of focused attention, something that is hard to come by in our life right now.
Once again we are facing the end of one semester and a full 6 weeks before Rob has to teach again. I am asking you, as my friend and fellow prayer warrior, please beg the Father on our behalf to redeem the time that was stolen from us. Pray for Rob to have supernatural focus and clarity of thought. Most of all, pray that God would be glorified through his writing. Please be on your knees to the Father for us. Please.
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