Heather.Schissel

I meeeeeeean…
Ava - 7 weeks (tomorrow 3/20/24)

These middle of the night / early morning moments with my precious little peanut right next to me…they’re the best! I swear, every time I open my eyes she’s bigger! The newborn phase really flies by the fastest. I get caught up staring at her, studying her every ever changing feature…wondering who this little girl is created to be. What does your voice sound like? What will you create? Who will you become? How will you impact the world for the glory of God? Whoever you are and whatever you accomplish, I’m already proud! You are one of my most precious gifts from the Lord and it is my honor to be your mother. My love for you is immense, Ava Guerin Schissel. 💞🌷🎀👛🩰

It’s been 4 incredible weeks since Little Miss Ava Guerin Schissel emerged from the womb to the world! It was such a redemptive birth and God deserves all the glory. Confession: In the wake of Rivers long and difficult birth was resentment toward my previous birth team (that took prayerful surrender and release to the Lord) and a lack of faith for a supernatural pain-free, birth experience. I borrowed the faith and clung on the prayers of my family, friends and my incredible (Christian) birth team . On Wednesday 1/31/24 (one day short of my due-date) my midwife Erin texted to see how I was doing. I told her it didn’t seem Ava was in any rush to escape. I just had mild Braxton hicks contractions. In the afternoon my sister came over to hang out, play with River and have dinner with us. By dinner time contractions were becoming more distinct and uncomfortable. Just thought it was the beginning of pre-labor that may last a few days as it did with River. By 8pm they became stronger. At the advice of my birth team, I drank water, took a bath and attempted to lay down to rest and get the contractions to slow or go away. Nope - within minutes of laying down my water broke! It got immediately intense from there. Moaning and growning through each strong wave, stuck at the bathroom vanity unable to really talk or move. Started timing the contractions and they were around 50 seconds long & coming every 1.5-2 minutes. Tom called Erin around 9:45pm and he headed to the birth center. We arrived at the birth center at 10:17pm and within 7 short minutes and 3 mostly automatic pushes, Ava was in my arms! Our perfect healthy little gift from the Lord weighed 7lbs 1oz! I was in complete shock that she came so soon! Thank God she wasn’t born on our bathroom floor or in the car - that was close! Ava decided she didn’t want to be another February birthday (there are many in my family!). Within 3 hours we were home! It’s been an amazing 4 weeks. She’s nursing great and we’re all sleeping well. River LOVES his little sister and is adjusting quite well to being a big brother now. I’ve had great energy and recovery has been a breeze! 🙌🏼 Thank you, Jesus!

This handsome holy man right here has captured my heart! ♥️ The other day as I sat on the park bench next to my little sleeping beauty watching my Beautiful Boy with the Big Blue Eyes climb up the stairs and go down the slide 🛝 (by himself!) I looked at my husband standing close by wearing his backwards hat 🧢 and shades 🕶️ And was like “DANG! This man has made my wildest dreams come true!” He’s given me an incredible family, a beautiful home, and has made me the mama of 2 beautiful children! So grateful he stayed home with me for TWO WEEKS after Ava was born! Just wanna gush on my husband cuz he deserves it! And GOD deserves all the glory 🙌🏼 for writing such a miraculous love story!

Honest Bomb 💣: The majority of my life, I was relieved at the turning of a new year. For far too long I felt like dissatisfaction, disappointment, sometimes even depression was the summation of each passing year. The prospect of a fresh start, the faint hope that a new year could bring my hearts desires to fruition…I would gladly say “goodbye” and optimistically say hello to another year that would end the same. I just desperately wanted a family and home of my own. 34 long new years passed before the Lord provided. I’m all the more grateful this year as I reflect on the blessings of the Lord the last 2 years- He’s aligned me with the handsome and holy man I had been praying and preparing for…which came with 3 bonus boys who are all incredible humans…the past 16 months have been the best of my life raising our son, River…and now…we’re just 1 month(ish) away from meeting our sweet baby girl, Ava! This year has been a string of days long prayed for! Im not glad that the year has turned, I’m grateful for each day! I say this as a testimony of hope for anyone waiting…praying…preparing….TRUST…the Lird is good. Surrender your wants to His will and watch how He fulfills the greatest desires of your heart. Don’t compromise.

The best moments of this year happened in the simplicity of watching our little creation learn, grow and discover. Continually in awe as I observe him living life in new ways every single day! He helps me see the wonder again. Joy abounds.

Happpppppy Birthdaaaay to my hot and holy husband! ♥️ So grateful for you, babe! You’re the most dedicated, hardest working man I’ve ever known. You love your family fiercely and sacrificially and you make better! Thanks for making me your Mrs! 😘

It’s been 2 years since I was remade once again. I became Mrs. Schissel! 💍 2nd Best “I do” I’ve ever said! In 2 years we’ve made 2 babies … grown our family to 5 kids and became grandparents! Reflecting on our miraculous love story written only by The Lord and reliving our intimate wedding day surrounded by our parents, grandparents, siblings, and pastors! It was truly the most incredible day ever! I’d redo it the same way a zillion times! Love you babe 🤍

Matthew 7:7, one of my faves! Remember, as Jesus tells us beforehand in chapter 6, verse 33- seek FIRST His Kingdom and HIS righteousness…when we seek Him, His righteousness, His will, His ways, His perspective, His wisdom…then we can be assured that what we ask is in alignment with His heart and that He’ll answer, provide, He’ll make Himself known!

What a blessed lady I am…gosh I remember all those years of barrenness. They were hard, emotional, lonely. My soul ached to have a family of my own. My heart so large as if to have the capacity to love children I hadn’t even known yet. God knew. He planted that desire there. He blessed me beyond. Suddenly. At age 35, he made gifted me 3 amazing young men to be my bonus boys. Then came our honeymoon gift, River Liamb…my beautiful boy with the big blue eyes. Then just 10 months later, I became a granny! 😂 I give all glory to God from whom all these incredible blessings flow! Thank you, Aidan, Collin and Ty for allowing me to join your family and being SUCH great guys! River- you are my great delight! And to my grandson, Johnny…may you always follow the ways of the Lord! 💙💙💙💙

9/25/23 = Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement. A sabbath day of prayer. A new beginning. While in prayer I got Psalm 24. Who can ASCEND the Mountain of the Lord? 🏔️Who may stand in His holy place?
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Not just anyone. Not the seemingly religious or the ones that simply do good works. There are conditions. There is a standard:
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“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to what is false, Nor has sworn [oaths] deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation (description) of those who diligently seek Him and require Him as their greatest need, Who seek Your face, even [as did] Jacob. Selah.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭24‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭AMP‬‬
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There are 3 conditions.
1) Clean hands AND a pure heart. [One can do good works with an impure heart/motives. Though one with a pure heart will also have clean hands. ]
2) No idolatry [None.]
3) No lying, dishonesty, empty/false promises/oaths.
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To enter through the gate and step through new doors of promise and opportunity, we have to first cleanse the temple of our heart and make some adjustments where needed. Motives will be exposed. Starting with leaders, but also with you so clean up your own house, friends. You will see who has the favor of God, it’s not hard to see who TRULY seeks His face and honors Him. They’re different. Those are the people to listen to, follow their example and support in prayer and finances. I pray as you enter this new year, you put a tab on Psalm 24, study it, commit it to memory, write it on the template of your heart- allow it to convict you to take action.

Surprise visit at Nana & Grandpas 💗 Ava Girl = 20 weeks today! 1/2 way to holding you in my arms and kissing your sweet cheeks my girl! 💋

River’s no longer the littlest Schissel! Little Schissel #5 on the way!
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“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭127‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬
🏹🏹🏹🏹🏹
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“Children are fortunate if they have a father who is honest and does what is right.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20‬:‭7‬ ‭GNT‬‬
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Just about 7weeks. Due sometime around 2/4/24.

Alll day errry day, River wants to read the Bible and from anointed theologians! He’s quite curious about the Kingdom for 9months!

Fo real though… my favorite, sugar-free, junk-free legit electrolyte packet. Surprisingly, “A growing body of research reveals that optimal health outcomes occur at sodium levels 2-3x government recommendations.” (Learn more about LMNT science on their website)
🧂So throw that in your & drink it 😋
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Score a FREE 8-stick sample pack to try all the flavors with any purchase (I’d recommend the $30 Variety Pack to find your fave) comment below “SALTY” or shoot me a DM for the link (no code necessary). I promise ya, you’ll love it! 🫶🏼

THESE are the days I’d prayed for! 🙌🏼 I remember the long years of longing; contending for my future family…they bless me beyond what I could have ever imagined! Birthing River was the greatest accomplishment of my life thus far. And though 3 of these young men have different moms, all these boys truly amaze me. I love who they are and who they are becoming! And I’m so grateful I have the honor of being a witness in their life journey. So for any mama in the waiting, you’re simply a mama in the making. So wait, pray and BELIEVE God is FULLY capable of exceeding your hearts desires. I can testify!

Innnnnncredible weekend away from the concrete jungle in the pines by Oak Creek with the fam (just missing Collin 😏) No phones, no Wi-Fi, no TV- Just gorgeous weather, great food, fishing, tons of games, lots of laughs and quality time enjoying the moments and making memories with my people. So beyond blessed. Multiple times I sat in silence and thanked God for finally getting to live the very life I’ve prayed for all my life! May have taken 37 years to get here but it was worth it! God is faithful to fulfill the promises He’s placed in your heart.

Man this passage is PACKED with power! Exhortation, encouragement, excitement…it’s going to be my focus this Holy Week to explore: “insofar as” particularly. Suffering.

Suffering…something we will do anything to avoid. But what it be like to ACTUALLY embrace suffering as Christ did for us so that we can also relish in the benefits of His glory as coheirs and inheritors? Are we actually willing to suffer to the extent of up to and including death for his namesake? More to come.

Today marks the start of Holy Week. My favorite season of the year to reflect on the life, death, burial, resurrection, visitations, ascension and enthronement of our King! So much drama it blows my mind. We tend to skim over these chapters like it’s a fictional story instead of immersing ourselves in it with a curiosity of what it would have been like as a mere bystander. So this week, I want to invite you to GO deeper. Do whatever you can to carve out sacred, uninterrupted time to sit with your paper bound Bible (without your phone nearby) and ask the Lord to bring you INTO these historical moments as you read. I promise He’s just waiting with excitement to bring you into an encounter with Him unlike you’ve ever experienced before. Will you GO on this journey of discovery with Him? Go! See! Hear! Experience! Encounter the events that forever changed history- that can forever change YOU! GO with Jesus on the journey of his death because He died FOR you, AS you so that you may also have freedom and new life in Him (not just for eternity when you die, Dear One…but this side of Heaven. Now!)
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If you are ready to experience a new, born-again life - you’re welcome to reach out. I’ll hold your hand and help you take your first steps of faith and will celebrate your REbirth day with you! I’m just a DM away 🤍

Oooo that Petty Spirit…the one that’s so easily offended and retaliative. That silly immature spirit has some people acting like a 2nd grade school girl. Let’s grow up in maturity, Sisters in Christ. Choose not to take things so personally. In the absence of information, be sure not to let that petty spirit conjure up offense and spin up a story in your mind thinking they’re against you and label them a “hater” and convince you to give them the cold shoulder or assume the worst in them. If you don’t know what they meant by what they said, ASK! If they did something to hurt your feelings, kindly let them know! If you’re confused about their actions toward you, initiate an honest conversation. The spirit of pettiness destroys relationships and has your mind bound up with all types of thoughts and feelings that aren’t likely rooted in any facts. The spirit of pettiness usually enters in adolescence when we’re all navigating the complexities of interpersonal relationships and there’s an offense that happens in which that spirit convinces us that the best way to cope with it and feel “powerful” is to be defensive, retaliate, ice out that person and attempt to get others to dislike them too. When we allow that spirit to operate, it inhabits us and becomes our default way to dealing with difficulties in relationships. It’s a stunted person who has not learned how to navigate complex relationships in a healthy way. So that person grows up with that petty spirit controlling their lives and destroying relationships. When we become born again and continually renew our mind and pursue inner healing we can often identify the moment of trauma that spirit was allowed in and then it can be denounced and cast out resulting in deliverance and freedom for that person to approach relationships and conflict in a healthy and mature way.

Idk who needs to hear this but you’re NOT “too far gone” and it’s NOT too late…whatever you’ve done (no matter how sick, dark and destructive) the powerful, redemptive blood of Jesus can save you, heal you, restore you and wash you totally clean. Seriously. Like once you surrender your life and call upon Him as LORD, He’ll make you a completely new creation and He’ll completely forget all that bad stuff in your past. The risk: you continue to run from this truth and you’ll have to pay severely for your sins. Not just on the other side of life…here and now. You’ll experience more destruction, disease, dysfunction, depression, broken relationships, addiction, all the things that rob you of true peace and joy. He’s such a loving Lord. He’s worth giving your entire life to. Promise. He is love. He is peace. He is freedom. Make today the day your life is changed!
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DM me if you know it’s time to change your life and become born-again! I want to celebrate with you and help you walk out your first steps of faith.

Seek.
Once River returned to sleep after his 4am feed, I found myself wide awake with Matthew 7:7 replaying on my heart. Got up. Unburied my Bible under the stack of books on the side table. I admit, it’s been awhile. Preparing for the coming year, the fast my husband and I will begin in just a few days time. To seek the Lord’s heart on many matters. But beyond the quest to find answers, direction, instructions, plans…HIM. Jeremiah 29:13 = The Lord says (through a letter to the exiles), “You will seek me and find me WHEN you seek me with ALL your heart (NIV). Wholeheartedly (NLT).
Condition: WHEN
Promise: WILL
Oh, Lord how I’ve missed seeking You WHOLE-heartedly. Thrilled to search and find you, to inquire and investigate, to strive and find and come up to sit down and listen, study, relish, meditate and marinate in you! 💞

Merry Christmas from the Schissel family: Tom, Heather, Collin (16), Ty (12), & baby River (17 weeks). We pray blessings, favor and protection over you and yours.
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And for the wounded and weary hearted or the women in waiting praying and preparing for your future handsome and holy husband, I see you. I relate. You matter. Hold on to hope. Stay anchored in faith. Believe for God’s best for you. Don’t settle. Don’t worry. He is masterful at writing miraculous love sorties, this I testify.

This shoot with was special. The location: Thunderbird Conservation Park. I’ve been hiking these trails for years. Solo. With worship music keeping me going each step. Overlooking the Arrowhead area where my Nana and Gramp have a house on the lake. So many sunsets caught on top of this mountain. Smiles to strangers. Tears. So much life processed on these trails. So many prayers prayed for my long-awaited future hot and holy husband and the family of my own I’d waited so long for. GOD HEARS! 🙌🏼 Last year at age 35 He blessed me with my hot and holy husband, my bonus boys, a beautiful baby boy and an amazing home right down 67th Ave! I’m so thankful for all that was sown as I wandered around the mountain all those years…and I’m grateful now to get to reap the reward of God’s faithfulness with the family I’d been praying for long before I knew them! 🤍 Thank you Jesus!

He was 11 weeks in this photo and 13 weeks now, and I just find myself completely in awe watching him learn and grow so rapidly. I never TRULY understood what it meant when they say “Time flies. They grow up so fast” OH, but I do now! Savoring every little moment with this precious little guy!
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I was sharing our miraculous God-written love story with our photographer () today…Thankful to have such a powerful testimony of God’s redeeming love. He truly is the author and finisher of our faith. He truly is a God who honors the prayers of the righteous. He really is a God that orchestrates divine collisions and confirms His will for covenant. Marriage was His idea and He honors it when we align with His holy plan. He is a God who plants desires in our hearts and walks with us (even when we walk in circles) to ensure His divine will. He is a trustworthy God when we lay our lives down to Jesus not just as Savior but as LORD. He’s a right-on-time and above-and-beyond God. A better than you thought possible kinda promise-keeping God. Trust. His will. His way. Always. All the days. This is my testimony and I hope it brings someone hope to just hold onto His promises and follow His ways. His will over yours. Wait. As long as necessary. For me it was 35 years; for Tom, 40. An anointed marriage is worth the wait. Promise.

12.1.22 | 13 weeks | 3 months
SO.FUN

River is 3 months now and I’m starting to feel like myself again! It’s a process becoming a mama, isn’t it?! Still in it. Learning more about him and myself daily. Sheesh! It’s been a lot. The nuances of breastfeeding were intense. So many obstacles. Didn’t happen as I hoped it would for us…but slowly I’m learning to let go and let God have it. Surrender. So much surrender. But not without a stubborn fight. Again, learning. He’s precious and just perfect and that’s all a mama could really want. I don’t take my blessings for granted. I’m so grateful. Been talking to him a lot lately about the call of God on his life; intentionally, methodically born for such a time as NOW. Oh, the mission and mantle he carries…it so far surpasses anything I would have wished for my son. BUT GOD…He knows what He’s doing and He makes no mistakes. And though He plays no favorites, I’m making sure River knows just how fond God (and I) am of him. So proud of my boy already! Equipping saints in this generation is some SERIOUS BIZ, ain’t it mamas?!

This boy!!! 😍 He’s 10 weeks now! I’m unbelievably enamored with him! I still can’t even believe I get to be his mama! So grateful! 💞