TheSchamelFamily

Job LOVES The Widow's Might! In his eyes, John Moore is right up there with Roy Rogers! Here Job sings his favorite lined

I was heading down the stairs to the basement, when I heard a shout coming from below, “first one up the stairs is the smart lamb!” This exclamation was followed by a thundering noise that appeared to come closer as it grew louder. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was right in the middle of an important pursuit.  Ben, of course, came in first being the oldest, but I noticed that John, the second son, was lagging behind. After Ben reached the top of the stairs and swelled with victory I heard John exclaim “The first shall be last and the last shall be first!”I couldn’t help but laugh inside. Who would ever think that three young boys ages 11-14 would be quoting Scripture to each other in a contest?!  The longer I thought about this, the more I appreciated it.

I am especially blessed to have the fantastic set of parents that I have. First, to have a Father who takes responsibility for the spiritual leadership in his home, for without this, we would never be exposed to the Scripture and have the Biblical mindset that we have. Second, to have such a wonderful Mother, who teaches us to think Biblically throughout all the day, not only in Bible Study.  Third, that my parents have instructed us to play together, and appreciate each other, the list could go on and on.As I think about the hundreds, even thousands of little instances like this each day, I hope and pray that I will be as wise in raising my precious little ones as my parents are with us. 
~Amber

 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!

Romans 13:1-9 (King James Version) King James Version (KJV)
Romans 13  

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.  For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Romans 13 is reminding us that the elected officials are not the bad guys, they are meerly a tool in the hand of God.

I Peter 2:17     Honour all men, love the Brotherhood, honor the King.                                                                                                

This verse reminds us to honor those in authority. The verse doesn't specify: "honor the king, unless he's a democrat." It commands us to honor the King no matter who he (or she) is.

This was a great reminder for our family since our two year old somehow picked up on the idea the "Obama's gonna shoot us!"  Out of the mouth of babes!!

Best Article Award!

Pre-Born Puppies By John Schamel

About 6 months ago, Ben’s dog, Princess, had 12 puppies and now she is pregnant again.   Ben breeds his dog with a dog that is half Dad’s dog and half my dog.  His name is Buddy. It takes about 9 weeks or 63 days for the puppies to be born.

     In the 4th week the puppy’s eyes and spinal cords develop and their faces take shape. By just the 5th week, the puppies will get toes, claws, and you can tell if it is a boy or a girl. The mom will start looking pregnant. Then on the 6th week they develop skin and you can hear their hearts beat with a stethoscope.  On week 8, they grow more and you began to think how many will there be? You also have to make a place for her to have her puppies. We put down hay in a stall in the barn with a heat lamp and a heater for Princess. So, when she has her puppies, they will be safe and warm.  This picture is of a puppy 3 days before birth.  At 60 days, the pups get to where they can hear and smell.  They have nearly 200 million scent receptors in their noses.  We humans, have only 5 million just after birth!  Dogs can smell 100 times better than humans.  This helps them to smell out birds (if they are hunting dogs), bad guys (if they are guard dogs), and their mom when they are born because they need to know where she is by smell because their eyes are closed and they can’t see her!    
      On week 9 or 63 days she has her puppies. We are very excited about having our puppies!  What we do with our puppies is sell them.  They are AKC registered Labrador Retrievers.  We allow them to go to their permanent homes at 8 weeks old.  They come with their 1st shots too.  People can pre-order their pups already, so if you know anyone who’d like a good puppy, let them know ours should be available around March 10th. 

November Hunting Trip    By Ben Schamel

On the 20th of November our family, and five other families
started our way down to Missouri, for our very first family
camp. After we drove for a few hours the, Cupit's Uhaul
trailer that they were taking with them fell off and
started banging on the bumper of their van in the middle of
the highway. We all had to pull off to the side or the road
in the middle of traffic. Fortunately a police man was
right behind us when the incident happened, and called over
another police man to help direct the traffic while we tried
to find out what the problem was. It turns out that the
ball on their vans hitch came unscrewed and that is why the
trailer fell off. We found out afterwards that there was
not much damage done to the back of the van, only a slight
dent to the bumper. When we finally got to the ranch that
night, all we had time to do is inflate some air
mattresses, and get settled in, and go to bed.
At 4:00 O’clock AM the next morning all the people that
were going deer hunting, met in the cafeteria to meet with
Mr. Brock Frost, who was the one who set up all the deer
stands. Then we selected our deer stand that we were going
to hunt from, ( I got the stand by the spring ). I walked
down to the spring, and sat there until daylight came.
After a few hours of sitting there, I saw five does out in
the field, but I did not shoot them, because I thought that
you had to fill the "either sex" tag before you could fill the
doe tag, and I didn’t want to shoot a doe for the more
expansive "either sex" tag. Soon they sensed me and ran off,
so I waited for about another hour. When I did not see
anything I walked back to the house, and found out that I
could have filled the doe tag first, which was a bit
disappointing, knowing that I could have got a doe that
morning.
Until it was time to go out hunting again in the afternoon,
we mostly fished in the pond, played musical interments,
and ate some delicious food. When it was time to go hunting
again I went back to the spring and sat in the tree stand
for just about two hours with out hearing or seeing any
thing, but all that waiting paid off when a buck came
running down the hill behind me. He crossed the dried up
creek bottom, and popped up over the little ridge thirty
yards from the tree stand that I was at. By the time he
came over the ridge I already had my cross hairs right
behind the shoulder, then BANG!!!! The buck ran as fast as
he could. As I watched him run, doubts in me arouse, “did I
miss?? Did I hit him in the stomach, that would be a mess??
No I had the sights right… I thought!!” However I anxiously
watched him run, but when he got about fifty yards away, the
buck ran full speed into a big oak tree, then fell down,
rolled over, and kicked for a few seconds. When I walked
over to him I did not know if he was dead or not, so I
grabbed a stick and touched his eye hoping that he wouldn’t
blink. It was a good thing that he didn’t or I would either
have to shoot him again, or slit his throat, and I did not
want to do either one. Right there started the hard part, I
had to clean him.
I had him mostly cleaned, but by this time it was getting
pretty dark, so it was difficult to see what I was doing.
Fortunately not long after that, my Dad and David were
coming back from hunting, and they were coming in the truck.
There are two things that I was grateful for them having
the truck, one is that it could give me light to see what I
was doing, and the other is that I would not have to carry
it a mile to two miles to the house, or need to walk that
way to get the truck. After flagging them down, my dad
pulled in front of the buck, and he helped me finish
cleaning him. The funny thing was, I didn’t get nervous
until we got the buck in the back of the truck. The buck was
a seven point, but the ends were broken off both of the
sides, so it could have a small ten point, but I guess we
will never know.
The next morning my family accidentally slept in to long to
go hunting. However that night I took David out to a
different deer stand than I was in, to see if I could help
him shoot a doe. About 20 minutes before it was to dark to
take a shot, David saw a doe out in the field about 400
yards. We decided that in order to get a shot before got to
dark, we would have to sneak up on it, instead of waiting
for it to come closer. When we got close enough to get a
good shot the deer saw us, and ran away in to the woods.
After it the deer left, David and I started walking back
home through the field, when we saw another doe, but by
this time it was to dark, so I advised David not to shoot.
A few days went by and David and I were still hadn’t gotten
another deer. One morning he got his chance, we had a doe
at twenty yards. I whispered to him to get his sights on
her, ( I was going to have him to wait for a better shot,
but I guess I didn’t tell him that) because while I was
getting my firearm ready, I heard his gun shoot. After
David shot and the deer ran, we both went to look for
blood, although we were almost sure that he missed. We
looked, but we did not find anything.
On the 26th, the five other families drove back to
Colorado, but all of my Dad's side of the family came over
for the rest of the time that we were there. We didn’t go
hunting but twice after the 26th, and only once I got
another shot, but I went with my dads muzzle loader so I
missed. On the thirtieth at 11: 00 O’clock PM we got home
and went straight to bed.
Some of the things that I enjoyed the most, was the bible
studies that we did every night, shooting the buck, and
spending time with friends and family, having a great time.

Trip to Florida   By David Schamel

In December we went to Florida for a business trip. We flew into Ft. Myers. The night we got there, we had to go to Naples. By the time we got to Naples, it was about six o’clock, so we ate and went to our hotel. The next day, my Dad had a meeting. While he was in the meeting we went to the store then went swimming at the beach and then the pool. We went swimming for most of the day. The next day we swam at the beach and did some boogie boarding, collected shells, then we went to the pool. That night we went to the business banquet. It is a formal banquet where everyone dresses up in fine suits and dresses and eats a fancy dinner.

Then Sunday came. When we got up, we had to get ready to go fishing. First we ate breakfast, then we got to go fishing. We caught a lot of fish. When John caught a fish called a ladyfish our guide whistled really loud, then a bald eagle came flying out of nowhere to get the fish. It was really neat! We fished a while longer, then it was time to go back. While we were coming back, we saw some dolphins. Our guide went the right speed so that the dolphins jumped in our waves. When we got back, we drove to our hotel and got ready to go home. The weather was nice especially compared to Colorado’s weather of 17 degrees. I thank God for giving us a family business.

Responsibility   By Melody Schamel

Responsibility is, knowing and doing what is expected of me.

Today I will be telling you about responsibility which we have been working on this month. Most children obey but we have to do more than that. We have to take responsibility. Here's an example, lets take our newsletters for the example we need responsibility to get it done. In school we heard a story of Nature about two eagles, and this is how it goes.


 


The Bald Eagle

A sound came from the sky in the morning air. There, flying in the sky, were two bald eagles, one a male, and one a female flying next to each other. In the female’s mouth was a stick. The stick was not too big, but big enough that you could see it. Then she dropped it on purpose to test the male. The male went flying down to catch the stick, but the stick kept going faster and faster. Then the male grabbed the stick and flew back into the morning air.

Then the male dropped the stick to test the female. She flew down and got the stick. That was their test to show each other responsibility. They showed that they would be faithful to one another and do their jobs of caring for one another and their eaglets.

There are many other stories like that about the bald eagle. Do your children take responsibility? If not, you could make a chart and write all the things that you see your children do with out telling them to. Happy new year!

Best Article Award!

The Widow's Might Movie Review   By David Schamel

In November, our whole family went to Texas. We went to visit our friends the Moores. At their house, we watched a movie that John Moore produced called “The Widow’s Might“. The movie is about Cinemablog Productions competing in the American Viewfinder Film Festival. In the movie, John and his friend Cameron, make short films mostly for posting on the internet. One of their short films competes in the film festival and Cinemablog Productions is able to compete at the state level. For the state competition, they need to create a 30 minute film.

John and Cameron find out that their widowed neighbor, Grace Jackson, is unable to pay her property taxes because they had been increased a lot because a new highway had been built next to her house. John and Cameron want to help Mrs. Jackson. They make their movie a western musical that will outline Mrs. Jackson’s case so that people will notice what’s happening.

In the meantime, the election for Wringer City mayor was coming up. They did not like the previous mayor because he made property taxes too high. So, who will they get to be mayor? And what will happen to Mrs. Jackson?

The movie is very funny and is still a Christian film. I liked the movie because it was very entertaining and made me laugh. I would recommend that you see the movie. You can see “The Widow‘s Might“ at the San Antonio Film Festival in January, or buy it from John Moore at his website after the premier in January.

Pheasant Hunting     By Ben Schamel

Hunting has always been one of my favorite hobbies, because of a few things, it is challenging, and it requires skill( being a good shot), knowledge ( knowing the parts of the firearm, and what they do) and patience ( the challenging part.)

On the fifteenth of November 2008, my Dad and I were going to go on a guided pheasant hunt near Kiowa with the Cupit boys, Joe, Luke, and Nathaniel and their Dad Mr. Gary Cupit, who are very good friends of ours.

At 6:00 O’clock my Dad and I left the house to meet up with the Cupits in Elizabeth at the Safeway. After that we drove to the ranch were we were going to hunt. When we got there we checked in and met our guide and drove to the section of property that we were going to hunt. It was almost time to hunt, but first we had to load our shotguns, and the guide had to get out two of his dogs, the Cupits also brought their German shorthaired pointer, Clark.

Hunting with the dogs was a ton of fun, to see those dogs point out a pheasant and just stand there motionless until we drew close enough to get set up, then we would make them fly and shoot them down… sometimes.

So at the end of the day, we got nine pheasants all together, had a lot of fun, and had lunch with some brothers of like precious faith. And that is the tale of going pheasant hunting!

The Schamel's Go to Texas   By John Schamel

Uncle Gene & Aunt Vivi Renew their wedding vows

From the 6th - 9th of November my family and I went to Texas ,when we arrived in Dallas Texas (on the 6th ) it was very late so we ate and went to our hotel. The next day we ate ,did bible study ,went to Wal-Mart ,and then went to the Moore’s house. I played football ,capture the flag ,swung on a rope, and watched a movie called the Widow’s Might. Dad fellowshipped with Mr. Moore throughout the day. Then we had pizza at 7:00 pm afterwards we played pool and at 11:30 pm we ate cheeseburgers. We left at 12:30! My favorite activity was playing football.

      On the 8th I ate, put our bags in the car, and then we started down Abilene. Then we did Bible study in the car. Afterwards I fell asleep until we arrived at our Aunt Vivian and Uncle Gene’s house. We went down to see them because they were renewing their wedding vows. Uncle Gene was at a CPR class, so we let Aunt Vivian watch the Widow’s Might. Then some of her family got there and Uncle Gene arrived too. We ate supper and then I played dominos, finally, it was time for bed.

      On the 9th we got up ate, went to Church. After service we went to lunch at a buffet. Then we said goodbyes and drove up to Dallas to get on a flight back home.

Baby Update   By Melody Schamel

A few weeks ago, my 7 month old brother, Gabriel, started learning how to crawl.

He uses his knees and he moves his hands a little bit, soon he will be able to crawl. He is very funny to watch, because he looks like an inch worm. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, then plops forward. Then he gets up and does it again.

Like Gabriel, we as Christians, fall over and over again, but we have to get up and try again. Because Satan deceives us and tells us it is all in vain, we need God to help us get up again. I am going get up again, you should to.

Philippians: 4:13 says

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The Schamel Family is proud to present the November Schamel Good News Messenger! This time, we decided to do something special. We offered a "Best Article" Award for the best article written for the November newsletter! Next month, you, the readers will be able to vote for Best Article! So Stay tuned for the December Good News Messenger!

The Winner of this months Best Article Award is....

David Schamel for his review of the Widows Might. David worked very hard on his article, and despite being one of the younger authors, his was one of the longest.

Thank you for you work David, keep it up!!!

 

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