Photos of Recent Visitors Coming!

Baby Faith has recently enjoyed visits from Granddad & Granlyn, Aunt Melody, then Uncle Michael, Aunt Darla, and cousins Stone & Sterling...she has had so much fun meeting her family!
And thanks to all of her family for working so hard when you were here to help us out...jobs around the house, washing dishes, laundry, meals, holding baby Faith (most importantly).

We will post pictures soon.

Jaime had her 6 week checkup yesterday, and the doctor bragged and bragged on her to Faith saying, "Your momma did such a good job bringing you into this world! She was terrific!" It was so cute seeing Faith listen to her...it was like Faith was thinking..."you look familiar...where I have seen you before..." Dr. Rausch later said she has been holding Jaime up as a hero to her patients to help them push through the toughest part to avoid a C-section. I was so proud to be Jaime's husband!

Baby Lauren had a rough day yesterday, docs spotted more fluid build-up, so they put the chest tubes back in. Keep her in your prayers.

And I hereby offer a small tribute of blog space (all that I can offer) to the late Corretta Scott King. May we all continue the fight to "let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an never failing stream!"

Hey, and I'm going to post real soon about www.one.org. check it out.

New Place for Lauren Updates

The Schwamb family has created a personalized Web page
called a Baby CarePage to celebrate their new addition and would like
you to view it! Please visit their CarePage to get all the latest news
about the baby and leave messages of support.

To visit the CarePage, just click the link below:

http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=LaurenSchwamb

(If you cannot click through this link, please copy and paste the
entire URL into your browser's address window.)

...or you can use these manual instructions:

1. Go to www.carepages.com
2. Click "Visit a CarePage"
3. Register (first-time users only)
4. After you've registered, enter the exact CarePage Name below:

LaurenSchwamb

**********

We had a wonderful time of praise & prayer last night at the chapel of the naval hospital in Bethesda. Tim & Cristi have so much faith and through their attitudes & outlook, they bring God glory! As does the precious little baby Lauren...in her lifetime (2 weeks this Saturday), she has brought people closer to God...how awesome.

We'll bring an update on baby Faith soon...

Jan 24 Update on Lauren

More praises! More thanksgivings! We are celebrating every victory, aware of the miracles that God is still working on...

She opened the OTHER eye yesterday, and her parents were able to see her little brown eyes. They rejoiced in this development, and we rejoice with them!

Is it not totally awesome (sorry, valley girls) that these 'eye openings' happened on the prayer vigil days?

By the way, I just discovered through a Praise Baby DVD (it sounds like the title is meant to praise the baby, but the whole thing is filled with worship music, so don't let the title throw you off...) a new song called "Made to Praise" by Amy Vest. It is wonderful...perfect song about little babies being made to worship God. I will share the lyrics with you as soon as can find them.

Lauren Update

from Lisa Bosley..."Spoke with Christi Schwamb a few minutes ago and she and Tim are so feeling the prayers of our family here at Fairfax – Lauren had a great day yesterday and for the first time, even opened one eye!!!!! Thank you God!!!"

How awesome that this precious baby opened one of her eyes on the day of our prayer vigil! God is so good!

The 24 hour prayer vigil began officially last night at 7:30 pm, and concludes tonight. I hope that many of you will CONTINUE TO PRAY THIS WEEK IN THEIR "SLOT" for baby Lauren. She desperately needs our prayers.

It's in God's Word...the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. Let's anticipate more good news tomorrow!

Update on Lauren / Prayer Vigil Tonight

We found out today that the doctors have determined that the problem is with Lauren's heart. For many reasons, she is not a candidate for a transplant nor for corrective surgery. Lauren needs a miracle from our awesome, and extremely capable, God!

The good news is, she is at her lowest weight yet (good because that means her fluid level is decreasing) and she is also utilizing her ventilator at the lowest level yet (good because she is breathing now more on her own). Praise God!

I just keep reminding myself about the red sea parting, the walls of Jericho, Lazarus' resurrection, Christ's resurrection and claiming those promises for Lauren and for all of us. All of the promises in God's Word are YES in Christ Jesus. NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR THE LORD.

The prayer vigil is underway, it started at 7:30 pm tonight, and God the Father is hearing little Lauren's name constantly for the next 24 hours!

Pray without ceasing!

Baby Lauren Needs our Prayers!

I've mentioned that Baby Faith has some precious new friends...little Nelson & little Rachel...but now, as of 6 days ago, new friend Baby Lauren came into the world.

Lauren was born 7 weeks early by emergency C-section to parents Tim & Cristi. Tim sings on the worship team here at FXCC. Her 1st week of life has been tumultuous with lots of victories and defeats (majority victories, thanks be to God), but here's the update:

After having lost much of the fluid that had worried the doctors, she has begun retaining fluid again. She also had to be taken off the ventilator and resuscitated yesterday. Her sweet parents Tim & Cristi (and her brother& sister) are filled with faith but they need us to hold up their hands. Please, please pray diligently for baby Lauren. Here are the specifics:

1. Pray for the fluid to stop building up, and to recede completely.
2. Pray for Baby Lauren's blood vessels around her heart to develop perfectly.
3. Pray for Baby Lauren to gain weight in a healthy way, not from fluid developing.
4. Pray for Baby Lauren's lungs to grow larger and to be filled with plenty of oxygen.
5. Pray that the nurses & doctors attending Lauren will get an eyewitness account of God's mighty healing power!

As a reminder of God's faithfulness (FXCC people), remember the first few month's of Emily Schad's life, or Abby Mills, from Defining Moments.

God is faithful; He has heard our prayers in the past and He will be faithful to hear our prayers now lifted up in the Name of His most awesome, most powerful Son Jesus Christ.

We are having a 24-hour Prayer Vigil beginning this Sunday night (starting then so we can inform our entire church about it) at 7:00 pm, and ending in a prayer session with the elders on Monday night from 6:30 to 7:00 pm. All are welcome to join the elders at the building on Monday evening from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm for this final "leg" of the prayer session. Post a comment to this blog and tell us which time slot (15 min or 30 min increments beginning at 7:00 pm Sunday night) you would like to take. I'll add your name to the master schedule...it doesn't matter if more than one person takes a slot.

PRAY ON!

I love fatherhood! Baby Faith, you are the sunshine of my life! Well, you're actually 2nd after your beautiful mother...which by the way, it's so cool for all of the baby-rearing books we are reading...they ALL SAY without exception that the best thing you can do for your child is to love their mother. Great advice!

Watch for pics of Granddad & Granlyn's visit later this week. Thanks Dad, for leading worship with such conviction & enthusiasm, you showed FXCC what a true worship leader looks like! :)

And if you missed Bruce's message on VISION from this past Sunday, PLEASE go to our website and listen to it...it's incredible! I am so thankful he shared his vision with our church, and I truly believe God is wanting to grow His kingdom here if we are willing to stretch and push out the borders. GOD IS ABLE. more later on vision...

Faith's First Time at Church

Some have called me the "Father of Faith"...other's have called me a man of "little Faith". Whatever I am, I am proud to show off pics of my baby girl (and her beautiful mother) on her first Sunday at church.

Also, I wanted to share with you a prayer by one of our shepherds (Dan P.) last Sunday morning. (Faith's first corporate prayer...) He lead us to the throne with this prayer, which was interspersed with periods of silence...it was an awesome moment before God. I hope it's an encouragement to you...

“Lord, God, Father, Your very name is to be revered. We your people come to seek the fullness of your supreme magnificence, and to give you the praise you so richly deserve. Please help us now to cast away thoughts of this world and focus our thoughts purely upon you…

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. The whole earth resounds with the brilliance of your glory, Lord. From the rising of the sun, to where it sets, everywhere…your name O Lord, is to be praised. Your glory fills our thoughts, our hearts, our very souls...

O God, have mercy on us, for in your presence we realize how embarrassingly short of your glory we have fallen. According to your renowned steadfast love and your great compassion, have mercy on us. Things we know we ought to do, we’ve left undone. Things we know that are clearly opposed to your will for us, we’ve done without hesitation. Over and over, we have failed to rely on your strength in overcoming temptation and avoiding sin. We have pushed you out, pushed you away in our stubborn willfulness. Please let us know your forgiveness. We humble ourselves before you in a time of silence, while we recall our failings and acknowledge them in your holy presence…

According to your promise, as far as the east is from the west, so far have you removed our transgressions from us. Though our sins are stained bright red as scarlet, you have made us clean - white as snow. For your flood of mercies, and sacrificing your only Son for the sake of our grievous sins, we are overwhelmed with gratefulness.

O God in this new year we realize now more than ever, how much we need you. There are so many paths to take and we see so dimly on our own. We need your guiding hand to show us the right way to go. There is so much to do and we are so weak and limited without you. We need your continued provision as we work for the growth of your unbounded Kingdom while in our limited flesh. Lord, we are so full of naive notions about ourselves, please shine the light of your face upon us, so we can see ourselves as you see us.

As we seek to show Jesus in all we do, we need you to open the eyes of each of us to see how we can imitate Him more fully. Please wake us up to see those in our midst who need encouragement and exhortation. Please open our hearts to your wisdom and insight about how we can raise up our children in the way that is right for them to go. And please show us who in our community is ready to respond to the good news about your Son.

May we live bold lives of prayer and worshipful sacrifice through the power of Jesus, our Lord, and your beloved Son….

Daddy's Girl...

(posted by Jaime)

Murray has asked me for quite awhile to post something on his blog. Not being much of a writer, I have politely declined but told him I would write something as soon as I thought of something "newsworthy" to share. Well, I've experienced one of the sweetest events of my life and thought it was now time to share a little story within a story because it (to me) is one of the sweetest gestures I've witnessed....

As you know, Murray and I met our baby daughter, Faith Kinder on December 20th. She is absolutely perfect...as you can see by looking at her pictures!! The story I wanted to share happened two days after Faith was born. Murray and I scurried around the hospital room trying to get everything ready for our big trip home! It took WAY longer than we first planned..I guess that is a bit of foreshadowing for what's to come. Faith and I finally settled into the hospital wheelchair for the ride down to the car. Murray was a few steps ahead of us taking pictures like any proud papa would. When we got to the car, he opened my door first and helped me inside. Then, he got Faith all buckled in behind the passenger's side and we were ready to drive away. I will never forget the next sentence out of Murray's mouth for I think it's one of the sweetest, most precious things a daddy could say. He said, "We are going to take a longer way home because I don't want to take any left hand turns and expose Faith to any unsafe drivers." So what could've been a 10 minute trip turned into about a 20 minute drive so that this new daddy could protect his sweet little girl! I tear up just thinking about it!

Murray has continued to amaze me by his selfless and protective nature. I have LOVED watching him love and care for our sweet baby girl. I loved him so much before Faith was born and that love multipled to a level I never thought possible the instant I saw him hold her. How is that possible????

Any mommies, daughters, or daddies want to share a story about how your spouse or parent melted your heart with a simple, sweet gesture of love? I'd love to hear them. Thanks for letting me share this story with you!!

Here I Raise Mine Ebenezer

What a great line in that old hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". The lyrics are so rich (and the subject of this blog), but also take a moment to appreciate the musical strength of this song. The identical recurring 1st, 2nd & 4th melodic lines work beautifully to enforce & reinforce the message, and give strength to the song. I love the variant melody of the 3rd line, the ascending climax of the song, as if the singer is raising her hands in victory (and also complete surrender) to God. Ok, I could go on, but enough about the music, it's the lyrics of the 2nd stanza that throw everyone a curve ball.

"Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I've come." WOW! What a line.

Ebenezer means "stone of help" and is a reference to I Samuel 7:12. The Lord had given Samuel a great victory over a vast army...the Word says the Lord thundered against the Philistines...I love it! So Samuel wanted to commemorate this victory and give credit to whom credit is due. He set up a large stone as a tribute of God's faithfulness and power, and his HELP. The NIV translates Samuel's dedication speech as "Thus far the Lord has helped us." Picture Samuel raising a triumphant fist to heaven, "YES! You are awesome God, and I want other people to know about it, and to ask what this stone is here for, so they too can hear the story of your HELP to us. "

I'm a 3rd generation worship leader, so I've been taught and have taught about this lyric many times. But in 2001, this line came alive for our family. My little nephew, Stone, who is 4 now, is named from this verse. The events surrounding his coming into the world and his final arrival in the arms of his adoptive parents, my brother & sister-in-law, are much like the battle that Samuel faced. There was quite a storm and the Lord brought much thunder to get that little baby into the home He planned for him. To this day Stone has a spark about him, and a huge smile, and will one day soon be able to tell people why his name is Stone. (Thankfully, Michael & Darla chose "Stone" instead of "Ebenezer".)

So the next time your worship leader selects this song, sing it with great courage and understanding. Sing it loud and proud, remembering the times in your life when God has shown Himself strong and has provided you help beyond belief. And after the service, explain to the person next to you what that lyric means and why it means something to you.

Faith's New Friends & an Ebenezer Teaser

Faith is ecstatic (albeit shy & retiring in this picture, with a humble wave to her new friends) about the recent arrivals of Nelson Bennett McClure (born Dec 24) and Rachel Joyce Bigham (born Jan 2). She looks forward to playing with them soon!

And...for those of you wondering...didn't Murray write about worship in the past? Yes, I did, but I've quit my full-time job to stay home & protect my new little girl, and to capture her every move on film so you all woudn't miss out! Only kidding, I'm grateful to still be employed at the Fairfax Church of Christ, and I one day soon will return to writing about worship, and our awesome God, and the role music plays in communicating the gospel...for example, my friend Dave gave me a great article on the meaning of "Ebenezer". From that classic hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing", where the start of the 2nd verse is "Here I raise my Ebenezer..." I think I'll summarize that article and answer the age-old question: Who is Ebenezer and why did he have to be raised?

Until then, this daddy's got to get home & take care of the two most important women in the world.