I hope you enjoyed my story about the long-lost letter. Well, to my great surprise, my friend Rosemary, found another one, this time by Thomas, written one week later. He was also congratulating our friends, on the new baby, but he included a lot more details about the changes going on at the ranch.

I recognized his orderly, and easy to read, penmanship right away. Without even seeing the contents, I know that it is from  “my” Thomas. It reminds me of home, our life together, that started with a letter he wrote in 1970. This is the beauty ofknowing people by their handwriting, an aspect of relationships that is mostly lost today. I still love looking at my parent’s cards, and letters that my daughters wrote, over the years, they are so personal. Even the paper or the card, or the time it took to write, reveals a bit of the culture back in the day. You can hold it, pass it around, or save it in a box with your other precious notes.

I received a copy of a letter today from an old friend, that I wrote exactly 51 years ago, in November of 1974. Reading it now, brought to mind this verse in Proverbs 25, verse 25, “Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land.” Actually the news, is not only from a distant land, but a distant time in my past. It's intriguing, that even though I have no specific memory of writing that letter, I am encouraged by it, just like the scripture says. 

It’s a flashback of beautiful days gone by, but is still relevant for me today. I was writing from our cabin at the Living Waters Ranch. The contents reveals the heart behind it, which was our foundation in the Lord. The principles of growing according to Gods will, is evident within the sweet letter. The basic teachings and practical lessons, were fresh in our minds.

The important truths that we experienced after becoming “born again” were transforming our hearts and minds. We had become immersed in a community of like-minded, ex hippies, who were learning spiritual lessons through reading the Bible every day, singing scriptures, giving thanks and praise, and serving one another.

After the summer vacation the new baby continued to be the center of attention. In the following months we celebrated birthdays, and went to church services, with our new daughter. At home we took lots of pictures, showing each new milestone; like her first smiles, bath time, or diaper changes in the middle of the night. The ultimate photo is of her laying on a shelf, directly under the boom box tape recorder, in Naomi's room. She even slept in her travel bed in the living room, during our evening Bible studies. With the fall season, all the girls, including Miriam, were back to school. The afternoons included piano and dance lessons, and I was also able to get back to, my weekly modern dance class.

The next crucial prayer request was to find a new home. During a family meeting, we talked about this, while Naomi took notes for our prayer list. Besides more bedrooms and bathrooms, we also hoped to find a house with a wood burning stove, a larger kitchen, a garden, an office for Thomas and a garage. Naomi wrote on the paper, Mark Chapter 11, 24;

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Well, I have seen by the amount of episode views, that many people are interested in a home birth story. While writing the last episode, I was looking back on my experience, of having a series of home births. Each time it was in a different place, and full of interesting, and dramatic developments. But the most important aspect, is that all glory goes to God, for His protection and guidance.

For example in Episode 96, Home birth #4, this reflects a very different time in our lives. But it's a similar theme, about the unity we had as a couple, in planning to have our baby at home.

There is such a stigma in our western world about home births, and sadly often, a reluctancy to having children.

After that emotional ending to my last episode, I will continue with one of the most precious events of our lives. We had put aside for a little while, the music and the dancing, in our home. All of us were waiting, for the day and time, of the birth of our baby. The due date was for Sunday the 10th of August, but I wasn’t counting on that. The other four children, were either born before, or after the expected date. Naomi was invited to go with our friends from Italy, to a conference in Holland for Christian artists. It was a big decision for her, but we knew it would be special, so we encouraged her to go.

Because it was school vacation Thomas wanted to do some outings with the girls. One of my daughters remembered that he took them to the lake, but they stopped to call me from a phone booth, to make sure I was Ok. Now a days, its hard to imagine, not having instant contact through our cell phones. I guess we were just trusting the Lord, that we would be together at home, when my labor started.

The finishing touch of the musical celebration, with 2000 Christians in Munich, was beautiful. After the final, joyful applause, many people lingered in the aisles, talking and praying with each other. The leader of the pastor’s circle, Helmut Nicklas, came directly up the stairs to where I was sitting. He could see that I was highly pregnant but that didn’t phase him at all. He had something to say! He was so excited and blurted out, “We must do this again next year and have two shows.” Das müssen wir nächstes Jahr machen, und dann gleich zweimal”

I was so surprised that I didn’t know what to say. So many months of preparation had gone into this, and I couldn’t imagine, doing it again the next year! I heard later, that he had a series of interviews with the newspapers, and that everyone was blown away by the event.

Music and Text: Rick and Patti Ridings

German Text: Thomas van Dooren / Michael Ostermann

Copyright of the songs: International Matterhorn Music / USA

This week I thought it would be fun to quote something I wrote, from my original book files. Between the years of 2000 to 2006, I was writing my autobiography in English. Sometimes I find in those pages, things that I have forgotten about, now that it is twenty years later.  At that time, I had no idea how it would ever get to book form. But it turned out that a German Christian publishing company was interested. That led to my daughter, Naomi translating it. In my recent episodes, I have been telling the story of our family, preparing for the musical in Munich. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote about those days.

Thomas and I, and our four daughters, were about to embark on a life-altering year. The day we saw the positive pregnancy test was exciting, but we had no idea what challenges were ahead of us. The first phone calls we made, were to my parents in California, and to Nadja in Berlin. Though they were both happy for the news, I think they had reservations about us having an even bigger family. But they were encouraged to hear how thrilled we were, to welcome another child into our lives. They probably also thought, " Oh no, hopefully not another home birth!"

They had no idea that Thomas and I, had asked the Lord for five children, way back in 1973!

As usual in preparing for a new episode, I have been looking through old notes and letters that Thomas and I wrote to each other. There I find confirmations of the things that I remember. In a card at the end of the year after our fifth child was born, I wrote; “Thank you for another special year together. You are a faithful and patient husband. Thank you for all your help with the children, especially during the pregnancy and the months with our new born. I pray for you and wish you much strength and clarity of direction from the Holy Spirit. You are my best friend, I love you.”

We had been together for sixteen years by then and were still learning every year how to love and take care of each other better. Our writings also show how the truth of the scriptures worked itself out in our marriage that I talked about in the last episode. Here is an example from Thomas of how he expressed those principles.

Thomas and I, immediately shared the surprise with our daughters, that I was pregnant. With all the girls gathered on our bed, Thomas told them to put their hands on mommy’s tummy and pray for the little baby. We felt blessed that the Lord was adding another child to our family. As for many occasions, we had a song to express our joy. So Thomas said, “Let’s sing,” and we all chimed in;

“Welcome to the family, we’re glad that you have come,to share your life with us, as we grow in love. And may we always be to you what God would have us be, a family always there to be strong and to lean on. May we learn to love each other more with each new day, may words of love be onour lips in everything we say. May the spirit melt our hearts and teach us how to pray, that we might be a true family.”

"Welcome to the Family" by Ernie and Debby Rettinohttps://youtube.com/watch?v=PjhaFYCVA8A&feature=shared