" I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done in China... I don't know who it was... it must have been a man... a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing... and God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward... and God said- 'Well, she's willing.'"
                                                            -Gladys Aylward (1902- 1970), Missionary to China

   I read this passage this morning from God's Word that I wanted to share with you. It paints a beautiful picture of God's love and mercy toward us, even though we are so undeserving.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His deeds to the people of Israel:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
H ...

   To all of you dear readers who have waited so long for us to update our website- thank you for waiting so patiently!

Copyright ©2007 Madison Berkemeyer

   These last two months have been very exciting and busy for our family. We are now finally moved in to our permanent (Lord willing) Missouri home. What a blessing it is to be home!

   We have celebated twelve birthdays this year, moved three times, welcomed a new member into our family, done many new and exciting things, and made tons of great memories as a family.

   Our days are full to overflowing with all kinds of activity. Things like unpacking boxes, getting rid of old junk, cleaning and re-cl ...

(This was originally written on September 18, 2007)

   Just now I came across a beautiful verse in the Song of Songs that I had forgotten. This beautiful verse is found in chapter five: "His mouth is sweetness itself; He is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this is my friend." (verse 16). Every time I read this verse, I think of Jesus: my Lover, my Friend. He is indeed altogether lovely.But as I read it this morning, this verse took on a whole new meaning for me! Did you catch it? Read the first part of the verse again: "His mouth is sweetness itself"

...are you thinking what I'm thinking?

   If His mouth is sweetness itself, and I am His child, seeking to be conformed into His image-

shouldn't my mouth be sweetness, too?

   Immedietly a conversation I had yeste ...

   Outside, I may have appeared perfectly calm, but on the inside, I was really cracking up. I watched the young cashier pause his scanning, glance at the buggy on his left that was now full of bagged groceries, and back at the items on the belt that he still had left to scan. Then he looked up at me with a look that showed either suspicion or intense curiosity (I couldn't tell which) and asked, "Uh- got big plans for the weekend?"
 I fingered the pages in my hand- one, an extensive grocery list, and the other a complete menu of every meal that would feed my family for a whole week. "No, not really." I cracked a grin "Just had to get a few things." Then to satisfy the young man's curiosity, I went on to explain that I was doing the shopping for my mom today because she was ill and would be bed-ridden for the week, and that the reason for all the groceries was because she had ten kids.
 The man eyed me kinda f ...

Dear Readers,

            For those of you who check up on our website often; you are probably wondering if we fell of the face of the earth or something… not quite. This year has held many changes for our family and we have been staying very busy- so busy that we can’t find time to update our website! Sorry!

            And if you are visiting www.aretheyallyours.com for the first time: welcome! Please feel free to look around and mak ...

I was reminded last night that you don’t really sleep when you have the flu. Instead, your body falls into an Advil induced numbness as your brain seems to hover just over the pillow. Needless to say, the flu train has arrived at our station and we’re feeling it in a big way.

This all comes in the midst of packing to move from Texas to Missouri. Most packing has come to a complete stop, but every now and then somebody feels good enough to pack a few more boxes before disappearing into a quiet spot to shiver and shake until the Advil kicks in again.

All this is hitting Amy a little harder than the rest. She is 5 months pregnant and every cough strains her already over stressed abdomen. Yesterday she visited the doctor because she’s been sick the longest and just can’t seem to kick it. While getting her blood pressure checked she almost passed out. Her blood pressure was extremely low and the doctor concluded that s ...

I woke up this morning, quite late I must add, to the younger children outside playing in the ice.

During the night it had frozen over and there were small patches of ice here and there between the mud and water.
Its not quite the winter wonderland of your dreams (something you hardly expect to find in Texas!), but my little brothers don’t seem to mind. They are content to find everything from food trays to laundry baskets to sled on, only to find that as they ran and threw themselves down for a wonderful ride they came to a complete stop- before starting.
After getting out of my warm bed I finaly came to the kitchen to find my dad making a good breakfast of sausage, eggs, and tortillas (Texas style!).

Playing in the ice was not  as appealing to me as it w ...

You wouldn't believe (or maybe you would) how many times our family is asked this question. It seems that everywhere we go people look at us and begin to count... one, two, three, four... How many are there? Nine!?! Are they all yours?

Sometimes being the novelty everywhere you go is kind of fun, but most of the time it is very weighty. We are always being watched. It seems everyone in the world feels that our lives are for public consumption. Perfect strangers walk up and ask very personal questions: Don't you know where kids come from? Are you planning to have any more? What religious belief are you?

Now how many times have you walked up to someone you've never seen before in your life and asked such questions? It's just not normal, that is, unless you have a lot of children. Then, it seems, everyone feels the liberty to investigate who you are and what you believe.

So, we've decided to start putting our thoughts here ...