The Schamel Family

 Children are blessings; I have known that for quite some time now. I have enjoyed learning under my Mother’s mentorship how to take part in the child training and helping them when she is unavailable, but every day I learn more and more how I need them probably more than they need me. I wanted to share a little instance that nearly brought me to tears, and inspired me to higher goals.

     Colds have been going around, and our family is not an exception. Even little Gabriel Isaac caught it. Gabriel is one of the most pitiful sick babies I have ever seen, his nose runs, his eyes get all crusty and develop dark circles around them, and he just looks awful!

     I came down for wisdom search the other day to see my baby brother sitting on Daddy’s lap, his eyes were so crusty that they were almost completely closed and he could scarcely see out of them, but that didn’t stop him from displaying his unmatched cheerfulness. He was smiling just as big as he could, and waving at everyone coming into the living room for Bible Study. He had set the pace for the rest of the day, and it was going to be a good one. He looked miserable, sounded miserable, with his stuffy throat, and yet he was thinking about others. He reminded me of the attitude that Christ had, that joy that can only come from the presence of our Precious Savior. I pray He will give me character like that.

     Gabriel’s cheerful attitude is something that we will cherish and encourage for the rest of his life. We thank our merciful Christ Jesus for granting us such a vast blessing!

~Amber Schamel

2008 Year in Review

January-

*Family Vision crystallized as:

1) Raise many godly generations. In Aug. or Sept. of 07 we began having the children choose names for their children.

2) Mt. 28:19-20  "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen".

We are instructed to teach all men to observe the commandments of the Lord.

3)Prov. 29:18 -" Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."

We must have vision in our families, or our families will perish, yet who teaches this? In the business world people are taught to have vision and goals, but do we have vision & goals for our families? If we want happy families, the Word of God prescribes keeping the law.

4) The foundation of the Schamel Family Vision is Duet. 4:5-9:

5 Behold, I (the patriarch, not some church or school) have taught (the great commission) you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me,(it is not an option) that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6 Keep therefore and do them;(it's not enough to know them; we must do them) for this (doing these commandments) is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes,(the statutes of God that we obey) and say, Surely this great nation (family) is a wise and understanding people.

7  For what nation (family) is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? (God will answer our prayers when we live for Him and obey Him.)

 8 And what nation (family) is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9 Only take heed to thyself,(Be Careful!) and keep thy soul diligently,(we must diligently watch what we let influence us) lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life:(How do we keep them from departing from our hearts?) but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; (by teaching them.)

So, what is the greatest commandment that we could work on living and teaching? Fortunately, God's Word provides us with an answer in Matt. 22:36-40 

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' Therefore, our goal and vision as a family is to love God and others. We want to strive to have perfect love one for another. And to Teach these to our Sons and our Sons, Sons.

*Began the year inArizona. Went to a watch night service at the Mesa Church and went to the church at the Apache nation on New Year's Day. It was a great way to begin the new year!

 

Schamel

Good

News

Messenger

Committed to sharing the good news of Christ's love and joy in our family.

Oct. issue

Josiah Job

By Melody Schamel

Job is now 17 months old. He has learned a lot in the past few months. Josiah now knows how to say the names of everyone in our family! He says "dada" for Dad, "mimi" for mommy, "Ma-Maw" for Grandma, "Steph", "Amba", "Ben", "On", for John, "Dadid", "Mel", "Gwace", and points to himself and says either "Dob", "baby" or "boy". The dogs are "woof-woof", the ducks are "wawa", "maow" for cat and "eehee" for horse.

Job also says "turch (Church) sing", and has been known to let out a few loud "Amen!"'s that everyone hears, in the middle of service! He prays with us before meals, and is always very polite. His favorite songs are: "men, Amen, Amen" "all We like Sheep have Gone Astray" (Is. 53:6), and "The Wise man Built his House on a Rock". (He calls that one "Rain a rain- SMASH!)

We have started potty-training Job. He's not well trained yet, but he's working on it. He still loves taking a bath, especially with dad. He is very much a daddy's boy!

Job is very fond of salsa. He actually drinks it! And he asks for it by name. His other favorites are cheese, meat, bread, and fruit. He's like his Dad : ). He doesn't want someone else to feed him; he wants to feed himself!

Job's favorite things to do are: play peek-a-boo, climb up on the top of our bunk bed, ride the "voom-voom's" (ATV's), and color.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us Job!

Fall

By David Schamel

September 23rd was the first day of fall. I like fall because you can rake up leaves and jump into the pile, and because I think all of the yellow and red leaves look very pretty.

Do you know why all of the leaves turn red and yellow? In the fall, God tells the trees to send all their sap to their roots. This causes the leaves to die, and turn yellow and red. If the trees didn't lose their leaves, the leaves would collect the snow and cause the limbs to break. Also, the sap in the trees would freeze, killing the tree.

In the fall I like to make leaf patterns on paper. I pick a leaf from outside and place it under a piece of paper, and then I use a crayon, with the wrapper taken off, to lightly color over the leaf.

At our house, we set up fall decorations. We have scarecrows, that we put down our driveway. We also put out fall candles, and fake leaves on our chandelier.

I thank God for making Fall and all the pretty trees.

Without fall, there would be no new life in the spring. And without dieing to ourselves, there would be no eternal life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.- John 12:24

Camping out

by John Schamel

On September 7-9 my family and I went camping with the Cupit family. We drove up to Marble, Colorado and met the Cox family and drove up to their cabins. Here was our dilemma, the only way we could get up to the cabins, was by four-wheel drive. We had nineteen people, plus food, sleeping gear and luggage, to fit onto two trucks, and five, 4-wheelers.

We finally managed to get up there, and unloaded all of the stuff from the trucks. Then the men practiced shooting their bows, while the boys gathered wood for the fire, and the girls finished the housework and set up sleeping assignments, then set to helping with dinner. We had hot dogs, brats and chili, with fresh fire-baked corn, followed by s'mores for dessert. Then we all went to bed. My two brothers and I had to share a king size air mattress, with only one sleeping bag because on the way up gas got on our other sleeping bags. I got up at five-thirty, and my dad was getting ready to go bow hunting. No one else was up, so I went back to bed.

When I woke up about an hour later, I went down to the Cupit's cabin and ate breakfast.

Later that afternoon, we went swimming in a waterfall nearby, it was freezing cold! When the men came back from hunting, we swam out to a ledge by the waterfall, and took a picture. We swam back to land, it was so cold, everyone was ready to go back.

Saturday night we went to the Cox's cabin to eat dinner together, afterward, we had homemade ice cream and sang hymns. Sunday morning, we all went on a hike together, to an old mine. We had to cross the river by a big log that had fallen across the river. We went up to the mill where there was lots of pyrite. Mr. Cox let us take some of the fools gold home to keep.

Then we went back to the cabins, packed our things and went home. Even though it was a short trip, we had a very enjoyable time and would love to do it again! Thank you Cox family, for sharing the beautiful place God's given you!!

What Atmosphere Do You Put Out?

By Ben Schamel

"...You've seen people that you love to be around. You don't know why. Just that loving type of person. Have you seen that? Just as kind, there, you like to be around them. They create that atmosphere, by the life that they live, the way they talk, their conversation. Then, you've seen those that, you shun them. All the time, they want to talk about some thing evil, and talk about somebody. Say, 'oh, my!' There they come. they're going to criticize somebody there. He's in there now, he's going to talk about this man. All they're going to do is tell dirty jokes...or something like that. You just hate to be around them...seemingly, pretty nice people, but they create that atmosphere.

And the things that you think on, the things that you do, the actions, the things you talk about, creates an atmosphere."

-Bro. William Marrion Branham

So what atmosphere do you create? Do you release a good atmosphere? The atmosphere you have can easily influence your spouse, children, or your brothers or sisters, in a good way or a bad. Someone is always watching you, or you are watching someone else. And that's something we need to be careful of.

We need to invest our time with family, and our friends with a godly atmosphere, and not spend our time with people with evil ones. Because in 1 Timothy 6:20 it says:O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

(Bad atmosphere)

And I Thought

Changing

The Diaper was the

Hard

Part!

By Amber Schamel

Of course we've all heard about every little thing that can go wrong in changing the diaper, but have you ever heard of the struggle of throwing them away?

Growing up in a family of (going on) nine children, I have changed many diapers in my career. But until that fateful night on Sept. 25, 2007, I never thought disposing of the diaper could be so difficult.

My family has one of those nifty little canisters that are supposed to keep the smell down, and has special little bags you buy for them. Little did I know, changing the canister, would be a nightmare!

There I was, about to change my little brother's diaper when I realized Ben hadn't taken care of the last one he had changed. But as we tried to push it down into the can, it wouldn't budge. "Of course," I thought, "it's full. All we do is simply empty it." The problem was, my mother was out of town and I didn't know how to do it. "It can't be that hard. I can figure it out." I was thinking while I tried to remember how mom had done it. I now understand the importance of Titus 2:3-4 which instructs the older women to teach the younger women!

First I tried unsuccessfully to cut the endless bags so I could take out the ones being used. I did finally get them cut, but that was only the beginning of my tussle. After that, I proceeded to pulling the dirty bags up out of the canister. I hadn't realized how many diapers can fit into such a small can!! As I pulled diaper after diaper after diaper out the canister, Ben began to laugh hysterically at me. That's when Josiah began yelling "Amba, boo-poo! Boo-poo!" When I finally got to the last one, someone had put more than one diaper in before twisting the bag to keep them all in a row. The last pair was stuck and wouldn't come out! That's when I noticed the latch on the bottom of the pail. "I think your supposed to take them out through the bottom" Ben managed through his laughter. I opened the bottom and peered in. BIG MISTAKE! I recoiled at the overpowering smell that met my nose.

After recovering from the suffocating gas, I then began stuffing all of the diapers back into the can. That done, I pulled all of the diapers out of the bottom this time, and thought that I was finally almost done. Wrong again. During my struggle getting the diapers out, the canister had somehow disassembled itself. Now I had to figure out how to put the thing back together!

I started by latching the bottom, then tried to put the top part back together. You see there was this little white thing that is supposed to fit into this other little white collar thing and then is covered by the green little bags. (It didn't make sense to me either!) There, all done. I put the diapers that had fallen out of the used bags during the struggle into the canister, and began to twist. But the thing kept unraveling!

"That's easy to fix," I thought. "I'll just smash a little piece of the bag in between the latch and that will hold it still so that I can twist the little white thingy with no problem."

Once again battling the baby-gas-chamber, I began to pull the bag downward so I could fix the problem. AGAIN another problem arose! The bag wouldn't come down!

I opened the top again. "This doesn't look right. I must have done it wrong." I said to Ben, [who be the way was still laughing at me and calling the (almost) endless string of diapers sausages popping out of a machine.]

So I once again took the silly thing apart and tried again.

After fighting with the diaper canister for thirty minutes (Three-Zero, 30 minutes of my precious life!!!!) I finally managed to get it right.

"I am the champion!" I thought to myself. "Wait, of what? The diaper canister?!"

So if all things have a reason, and a lesson... what is the lesson here?

I am reminded of Romans 8:28 " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Even if life gets messy and very stinky, in the end, we win. Because Jesus already played the game, all ready bore our struggles.

Thank you Lord, for using stinky diapers to strengthen and encourage me!

God Bless,

The Schamel

Family

 "Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap."

Lucy drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. "What is taking the doctor so long?" she thought.

Lucy, and her Mom and Dad had been waiting in the emergency room for quite some time. It was hard for Lucy to wait. What was wrong with her Dad?

Finally the doctor came in. When she saw the look on the doctor's face, she began to worry.

"We got the results of the blood test," the doctor said. "Mrs. Shodd, could I see you outside for just a minute."

Lucy's mom hesitated, then placed her delicate hand on Mr. Shodd's shoulder. "We would like to hear the news together."

"It's not good." the doctor warned. Then he sighed, "I don't know how or where you would've picked up this disease, it's really not very common anymore. The blood test shows that Polio has infected your nervous system. They call that paralytic polio." The doctor stopped and glanced at Mrs. Shodd. "There is no cure for polio. And...," The doctor sighed and glanced toward the door.

"What is it, doctor? How bad is it?" Mr. Shodd asked.

"You are paralyzed for life."

Lucy gasped and covered her mouth as she tried to hold back the tears and swollow the lump swelling in her throat.

"And," the doctor continued hesitantly, "There is a chance that the virus could do worse damage to your brain and even cause, death. There's nothing we can do, except send you home to take it easy."

At these words, all else seemed to disappear. Lucy stared at her father, her daddy! "Paralyzed?" Lucy thought. "For life? He could die? How could this have ever happened? We're good people! How could God let this happen?!" Lucy choked on her tears and collapsed into a chair.

She glanced up at her mother who was weeping and clinging tightly to her husband, who also had tears in his eyes.

"The good news is he can go home." the doctor said awkwardly.

Mrs. Shodd nodded and the doctor left the room.

A few minutes later, nurses came into the room to prepare Mr. Shodd for the ride home.

After they got home and everyone was settled, Mrs. Shodd went to the pharmacy, leaving Lucy alone with her dad.

Lucy sat down in the chair next to her dad's bed, and looked down at him. "How can he look so peaceful when he sleeps?" She asked herself. Then the tears came. "How could God be so cruel?! How could a loving God do something so, so, hateful?!"

Lucy buried her head in her hands and cried bitterly, until a stir came from her father's bed.

With a voice hoarse from sleep, He said tenderly, with just a hint of reproach, "Lucy, You know that God didn't do this. I raised you better than that."

"Then how could God let this happen?!" Lucy asked through her tears.

"God didn't bring death into the world, sin did. And man brought sin into the world. When God created man he gave him the freedom of choice. Man chose sin, and sin brings death. That's not God's fault."

"But how could he let this happen to us?! We're good people!"

"Honey, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Besides, what makes you think we're good people?"

"We go to church! We pay our tithes! We care for the poor! And we never stole anything, or killed anyone! We're good people!"

"Lucy, don't you remember the story of the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus and asked what good thing he had to do to get eternal life. But the Bible tells us that we are not saved by works that we do but by what Jesus did. So going to church and doing all those things doesn't make us good people. The Bible says, 'for ALL have sinned.' And that means that no one is a good person."

Lucy looked down at her hands, and her dad lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Lucy, if there is one thing I want you to have before I go, it's a strong walk with the Lord. We don't even know if I'll even die yet. But whatever God decides is fine with me."

Lucy nodded, and swallowed her tears.

"Your piano recital is in three days!" Mr. Shodd said beaming. "I know you'll make me proud."

Lucy gave him an odd look. "But I'm not going."

The smile on Mr. Shodd's face vanished instantly. "Why ever not?!"

"Because, Daddy, I couldn't play without you there! I want to spend all of my time with you!" Lucy said, her eyes watering once again.

"What makes you think I won't be there?"

"Daddy, the doctor said you should take it easy. Going would be too stressful."

"Well, I took the ride home O.K. didn't I? Besides, I don't care what the doctor thinks. I know that seeing you win the competition will be VERY good for me. You're going, and I'll be in the front row cheering you on." Mr. Shodd said decisively. "And that's that. Now, go practice. I want to hear you play."

Lucy tried to smile then walked over to the grand piano her dad had bought her only a few months ago for her sixteenth birthday.

She sat down and started to play her dad's favorite song, "It is Well with My Soul," the song she would play for the competition. As her skilled fingers danced across the keys, beautiful music filled the house and soon her dad was once again asleep.

On the night before the competition, the doctor came to check on Mr. Shodd. After completing his exam, he called Mrs. Shodd into the parlor.

"He doesn't look good." The doctor told her sadly.

"I know, but I'm sure he'll pull through. He won't leave Lucy and me alone," Mrs. Shodd assured him.

The next evening, Lucy came down from her bedroom to see her Dad in his wheelchair holding a dozen pink roses. "You look beautiful, Lucy."

Lucy blushed and accepted the roses. Then Lucy helped her mother get Mr. Shodd safely into their mini-van.

Lucy was nervous as a cat as her turn to play drew closer. There was so many people! But when she walked out onto the stage and saw her dad in the front row, all nervousness left her. She was no longer playing for a large crowd of people, she was playing for her daddy. Without even thinking about it, Lucy's fingers began their song. And as tears filled her eyes she played with a zeal she never had before.

"Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."

When she finished, the crowd was silent, then erupted into thunderous applause, and rose from their seats.

But Lucy didn't notice everyone else, she only noticed the man in the front row who had stood against his wheelchair. Her daddy.

Later that night as she and her dad framed her first place certificate, Lucy thought about what her dad had told her earlier. "Lord, I accept your will. If you must take him, I'll still love you."

That was the last memory Lucy ever had with her dad. And as she placed the roses on his casket, she remembered Psalm 68:5 that says, "God is the father of the fatherless."

The End


(c) 2007 Amber D. Schamel