Dear family & friends,
Joanna's Memorial Service will be Wed July 15 at 1 pm at Park Street Baptist Church in Pittsfield NH. Sorry its taken so long long to let you all know, but its been tough making decisions that We've never had to make before. Thanks for your prayer and care for our family during this time.
Dear Family and Friends,
Last night we received some unexpected sad news… Ruth’s sister Joanna had a headache throughout the day on Thursday and then on Friday wasn’t feeling good enough to get out of bed. Curtis & Ruth’s Dad decided to take Joanna to the hospital Friday night to have the doctor’s check on her. She was stable and had fallen asleep for the night and all seemed well. At about 9:30 Eastern Time God saw it to take her home. As we got phone calls last night we were overcome with sadness and as I type we are getting a quick breakfast, packing, and getting ready to fly back to NH this afternoon to be with family.
Please be praying for everyone involved during this very sad time. Joanna is in a much better place but she left behind Curtis and three little children. Curtis and Joanna did everything they could to fight this cancer but in the end we continue to trust in the Lord and in His will for our lives.
Thank you for your prayers. It’s going to be a hard week for everyone.
~Ben
During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.[4] After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
| “ | The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.[5] | ” |
Adams' prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.
My Dad and I got up early and went fishing together. We had great fun and caught 5 trout! :D We all took a nap this afternoon and now my brother Chuck is here and we got the BBQ going and the horse shoes are fly'in!
What are you doing today?
Praying Family & Friends,
We are home again in NH after what we think was a profitable trip to Mexico. Joanna did well on the flights and during our time there. We saw major improvement in her white blood counts (a measure of her immune system) which was really good! And overall she felt pretty good while she was there. She did 2 weeks worth of IV treatments in Mexico, and we are continuing to do them at home here for another 4 weeks.
Since we got home however, she's been having very severe headaches. After 5 days of headaches, we went to get another MRI to see what was happening. When they compared it to her last scan on June 2, it showed no growth of the tumor (Praise the Lord!) but a lot of swelling, which is causing all her pain and confusion. We hope this swelling is a result of her body finally fighting the cancer, but as always we'll have to wait and see.
Once again, thank you all for your prayers and support! Pray especially that Joanna doesn't get discouraged and give up. Its really miserable having headaches all the time and having the doctors tell you your going to die soon. We know that God is the one in control, but we forget that sometimes when we have bad days.
In Christ
Curtis & Joanna Bergman
What a day/night we had! Our plane didn't land in LAX until about 9:30 and then after luggage and driving up to Big Bear we didn't get in until 1:00am. I check my watch before going to bed and it said 4:30am New Hampshire time! So yes, I/we had a head ache do to the 'over' tiredness that we were filling. It was kinda funny though. I was explaining to Chloe and Ruth the concept of sleeping in!
It was something like this "O.K. girls tomorrow we are going to sleep in. We are going to do this because tonight we are going to bed (they had napped off an on) REALLY late. So when you wake up in the morning and it's light outside you just lay back down and keep sleeping! Don't worry, you just rest and your Mom or I will come get you when it's time to get up."
And they did great! :D I think we ended up getting out of bed at about 8:30 California time and felt O.K. Today was a bit rough though and Ruth will still need a few days of rest to get back to her self again.
We're stoked to be in Cali for a while!
Thanks for praying!
~Ben
Well, we are still in the New Hampshire airport waiting to fly out. We learned that they had 'overbooked' the flight and we got excited! Turns out we 'volunteered' to be bumped and now our return flight from California will be free! :D Pretty cool eh?!
But of course the down size is we'll be getting in LATE and then have a longer drive to Big Bear from L.A. and wont be getting in until 12:00 or 1:00am or so. And of course with the time change (3 hrs) it'll be really late (or early) for us!
So be praying as we have a L O N G day ahead of us!
Love ya,
Ben
We are leaving for the airport is 20 minutes! :) We're excited about the trip and to be able to see family and so many friends. We'll be spending most of our time in Big Bear working for my parents. We're also hoping to drive over to Arizona and spend some time with my Mom and Freedom Fellowship.
Well, please be praying that our 6 hr flight and then 2 hr drive goes well with the little ones and the pregnant one... We'll try to post again tonight when we get in and settled!
My girls are taking a nap and therefor I have some time to get 'something' done! :) This post is in regards to some comments made on this blog and more recently the comment under the post 'Grow grass not weed'.
I've been thinking a lot about 'Going Green' and comments from you; for and against the idea of what we've been posting. Let me start out by saying that I'm truly thrilled that people are reading, thinking, talking & even arguing about this blog and the idea of going green and how that might effect you and your home... Like I've said before this has been a journey for us that God has been growing us in for about 4 years now and has only increased in this last month because I decided to do a sermon/message at our local church about 2 weeks ago on the subject. There were two comments that did catch me by surprise though.
One: I don't like the term 'Going Green' because of what or how it's been used...
Two: Yah, the whole caring for creation thing is good but you can't let it become your god...
I think we are seriously missing the point here on both comments. One, the term 'Going Green' really is just a term! The first thing I think of is the term or word God. We use the word God all the time as Christians. But so do Mormons, Seventh Day Adventist & Jehovah's Witness'. Yet I don't think we have much in common when we use that word accept we're all talking about a high deity. As a Christians the term "God" means way more then a higher deity.
I typed in 'Going Green' at Wikipedia.com and this is what I got.
Environmentalism can also be defined as a social movement that seeks to influence the political process by lobbying, activism, and education in order to protect natural resources and ecosystems. In recognition of humanity as a participant in ecosystems, the environmental movement is centered on ecology, health, and human rights.
An environmentalist is a person who may advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the natural environment through changes in public policy or individual behavior. In various ways (for example, grassroots activism and protests), environmentalists and environmental organizations seek to give the natural world a stronger voice in human affairs.
I feel strongly that we are getting caught up in semantics when we choose to argue the term 'Going Green' with a different term like 'good stewardship'. Being a good steward is another general term that has to do with a lot of things i.e. time & money. We (Ruth & I) personally still like using the term going green because it really does simply mean being environmental and it's the popular term that people use and understand today. If you don't like it then don't use it or use something else on your blog or when talking to people. But for this blog it's not going to be changed...
Now for the second matter. "Being environmental is good and all but don't let it become your god". I would argue that being environmental and healthy is an act of Christian responsibility and can be seen as worship to our Lord. When I look outside and see creation, or look at my girls and their little bodies that God created and I can't help but respond is worship and adoration in Him and want to take care of both those things. Why don't you agree? Maybe it's just the missionary in us? But we see going green as an outpouring back to God, a respect as you will. I would take it so far as to say that if you don't care about taking good care of the environment and your body then you're being disrespectful of the one who created it & loves it. I read the verses in Gen 3 and Rom. 8:18-25 and yes, I see that God cursed the earth in specific ways because of Adam and Eve's sin. But I still don't understand why that gives us freedom to pollute or mistreat the earth or our bodies.
As for why our last 9 out 10 post have been on why to go green? It's because at the end of my sermon notes on May 26 I said this "P.S. I think, I'll be 'posting' throughout the month on why and helps to go green. So, stay tuned for more..." So I'm sorry if you didn't catch that but we're exited to take out a month on our website and focus in on the issue of the environment and our bodies and better ways to take care of them. So we still have a few weeks left and I still have more 'going green' things to post about! Sorry if your not on board but no worries, this subject will pass although I'm sure it'll come up now and then.
Remember one thing. My friend Bryce once told me "humans are creatures of habit". We don't take change real well. Some of you are exited about wanting to go green because it's a new act of worship for you as it is for us. Just this last week I picked up a free high chair at the dump and as I was putting it in our car two old ladies said, "make sure you sand that down and re-paint it while wearing a mask because I'm sure it was painted with lead paint". Now this is funny to me because how is it that something we were doing not all that long ago with lead paint (adding lead to paint to speed drying, increase durability, retain a fresh appearance, and resist moisture that causes corrosion) was excepted but is now a big offense, and old ladies at the dump tell you about it?! You might being doing things now where you say "It's just paint", but is it really? :)
The egg on the right is the store egg and the one on the left is the fresh egg. It's easy to tell that the fresh one has way more color and for anyone who has grown up with fresh eggs, taste too!
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