We also went to Apple Day on base but that was so busy and huge that I didn't have any time to take pictures. And it is 11:10! So I did get this done on Friday! Woo hoo!
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This will be short. But these are the first blue jeans I have patched for one of the kids. I've patched my own many times as I'm cheap and don't keep growing (I mean, without shrinking again, ha!) and so I'm stuck with jeans for a while when I have them. Darby was never rambunctious enough to wear holes into jeans. Bryse has a few times but always when she was about to out grow them anyway. So when Cal wore a huge hole in these nice jeans with a little brother right behind him I thought, well, it's time. So, considering his dinosaur thing lately we did a dinosaur patch! I found a picture of a stegosaurus on line, printed it off and traced it on his choice of scrap fabric. I also did a small square on the other leg because of a small hole starting there. It was tedious but a fun non-thinking activity once I started hand sewing it on. And speaking of clothes and the boys we are having the problem of hand me downs and seasons. Cal was born in December and Deakin was born in August. But Cal was big so I figured, no big deal! Turns out that Cal was too much bigger for their clothes to work. When he was 8 months old it was summer and he was wearing 18-24 months clothes. Deakin is one and in that size now and it's autumn/winter weather. Oh well!
Michael Horton: The Gospel Offends
“Jesus was not revolutionary because he said we should love God and each other. Moses said that first. So did Buddha, Confucius, and countless other religious leaders we've never heard of. Madonna, Oprah, Dr. Phil, the Dali Lama, and probably a lot of Christian leaders will tell us that the point of religion is to get us to love each other. "God loves you" doesn't stir the world's opposition. However, start talking about God's absolute authority, holiness, ... Christ's substitutionary atonement, justification apart from works, the necessity of new birth, repentance, baptism, Communion, and the future judgment, and the mood in the room changes considerably.” Found here: http://rockedbygrace.blogspot.com/ That blog has kept me pretty busy lately! Ha! Been listening to several sermons by Pastor Eric Mason at Epiphany Fellowship in West Philidelphia. He is great! All about the Lord and teaching the Word to His glory! Great teacher. http://www.epiphanyfellowship.org/aggregator/sources/1 Just in case this can get out there, I have a complaint about the volume level of the sermons. They are just quiet enough that I can't cook and clean while I listen. : ( I prefer good volume so I can crank it and still wash dishes and run the food processor! Ha! I occasionally listen to a sermon series from The Village Church, usually preached by Matt Chandler, but all the guys over there are good. Listened to a short series on Gluttony that was very convicting and inspiring! http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/sermons/ Every sermon in his Ultimate Authority sermon series is amazing! I'm also reading his book Explicit Gospel. I have a great place in my heart for Chandler because the dude can preach God glorifying sermons on suffering so well because of his circumstances. To God be the glory. And if I have nothing else to listen to then I mosey back on over the Gospel of Luke by Driscoll. Been slowly working my way through that sermon series off and on for a quite a while. http://marshill.com/media/sermons I have recenlty listened to Tim Keller sermons too. Although, for whatever reason I find him hard to listen to and easier to read. Short articles by him here and there have been a great encouragement too. He sounds just enough like Jeff Goldbloom that I can't help but feel like I'm being taught by his character in Independence Day! Ha! But that is what he does! He teaches very well. Just finished The Freedom of Self-forgetfulness and it...was...awesome!! In the Word I have been, for the first time in my life (embarassingly), reading straight through the Bible. I just began Joshua. When I hit Levitivus a couple months back I realized that I needed a little help in keeping reading because that one is hard! So I started adding in a little of the NT starting in Acts. So now I am in 2 Thesselonians there too. There are some amazing parts that have really touched me and I've gone back to read many times. Too many to go into all of them, but the two that stick out in my mind are two places where we get a glimpse in at the immense love God has for these chosen people of His. Keeping in mind how horribly rebellious they were it makes that love all the more glorious! In Numbers 24 Balaam is asked to curse the Isrealites (God's people) and the Holy Spirit comes upon him and causes his eyes to open and see the Isrealites as God sees them and what follows is a beautiful section of scripture about God's love for His chosen people. I cried and cried because, well, we all know how dumb and whorish the Isrealites were to God. Much in the same way we are to Him now. Go read it and be blessed. And just to mention one other, the song that God sings at the end of Deuteronomy for Moses to share right before he dies. Starting around Deuteronomy 32:10. There is something so humbling about an all-powerful, perfect God singing over His chosen people that just leaves you feeling like a million bucks and totally worthless at the same time. So undeserving and so grateful. I want to read it over and over because when God is singing about His people, He's not really singing about the people, but about how He is glorified through them!! I mean, if we were worth anything, then there would be less glory for God. But since we are worth nothing and completely dependant on His grace and love, it just keeps pointing back to Him! All of this has really opened my eyes to how marriage is suppose to show a mirror image of this relationship! How God continued to choose and love His people even when they were so awful to Him! How in our christian marriages God is most glorified through our forgiveness and repentence as that gives us a glimpse of what Jesus does for the church. Some marriages experiences this in a much deeper way than others. While God gives exceptions to us, weak humans, there is no exception for the Lord. He forgives ALL!! This is so beautiful and should continually call us back to seeking holiness out of love. I bought some ring tones for the first time. It was fun. : ) I bought that song "Love" and it is assigned to Roo's number now. And I bought Larry singing "Oh where is my cell phone!", the kids love that! And I bought a song by Trip Lee that I really like. Here are the lyrics from the chorus:
Partner you know I'm good to go Pressure creates diamonds and fire refines the gold There's nothing on this planet that's satisfying my soul I'm living for tomorrow, today is out of control, fa sho, I'm Good Take all my money, I'm good Here comes the pain, I'm good Yeah they can kill me, I'm good To die is gain, I'm good I ain't saying that we don't feel any pain I'm just saying you can't take us out the game, cause homie we good I like that. I'm good. A few nights ago Cal got up in the middle of the night for about an hour around 2:30, Deaking was up for an hour or so around 4:00am, and Bryse was up once with a nightmare. I have been sleeping awful since Deakin started sleeping through the night. So I woke several times on my own unable to turn my head off and go back to sleep. I've been taking herbal sleeping pills that sometimes help a little. It's not bad enough to try anything else yet. I may try some herbal tea tonight. I dunno. Anyway, the whole point to sharing the lack of sleep was to give glory to God! Because His grace is sufficient and I'm not feeling that bad from it. He carries me through and things seem pretty easy most days. Which is hillarious when I go back and read journal entries from when Darby was two and she was all I had and I would wimper and whine when I didn't get a nap and was so stressed about so many things. It is amazing how the Lord changes us for what we need to do. I beg God daily to change me more into the image of His son. I have started going through the study True Womanhood 101. I invited several women in the area to join me on Thursday nights if they wanted. We will see if that turns out. Regardless I'm gonna go through the study, but I am hoping to make some friends in the process. ; ) Right now is actually the first Thursday that I was gonna host but no one showed up! Ha! So we will see what happens the rest of the weeks. No matter what I am praying that the Lord would soften my heart and dig out more of "me" and replace it with more of Him. Darby is doing alright with school. We deal with what seems to be a pretty typical bad attitude about doing school work while her little siblings get to play. But she'll get over it. And the Lord is using this challenge to really work out some nasty sinful nature from both of us. I'm very thankful for the bad days and even more thankful for the good days. : ) Bryse has been the doctor three times in the last couple of weeks. First it was because of a nasty rash from what we presume to be poison ivy. They referred us to an allergist. And then I took her because of checking on what seems to be an umbilical hernia and a cyst on her eyelid. To which both, I was referred to an opthamologist and a surgeon. We saw the surgeon today and he said that it's not an umbilical hernia and he really doesn't know, so he's referring us to the children's hospital in KC to see a pediatric surgeon. The same day the surgeon called up the opthamology and twisted some arms and got them to see Bryse for a few minutes right then. They think it isn't a cyst. We are to do hot compresses three times a day and see if we can get some drainage. So that is where we are now. Cal is doing alright. He is three, so we are doing quite a bit of discipleship on how to treat mommy with respect and how to obey ASAP. Deakin is wild. He tells us what a car says, but really sounds more like Tim the toolman than a car. Ha! He says "dog" and chases Jack all over. He loves to help me sweep. He follows me around with the dustpan while I sweep and then when I'm ready to scoop up the enormous amount of dirt/food/gunk he hands me the dustpan and squats down to watch me really close. If you put on some music with a good beat he will dance while saying, "dance dance dance". The children would rather watch that than tv any day! I showed Brye's inspirational art project a while back. After we finished her's I started on mine. Darby is next! So here is mine. I used a quote by Martin Luther that Robert and I really like. Mainly because there was a time in our marriage when I was not sad to see Robert leave and he was not glad to come home. So to be on the other side of that is a great blessing that all the honor and glory goes to God for. We have no ability to love one another well in and of ourselves. God taught us how. There is a lot here that causes me to worship the Lord! The whole piece is suppose to show a marriage submerged in the grace of God. I spent many hours deciding what to do. So you have the tree planted "by the water" (slightly abstract there, as you can't see any land). The type of tree that grows by water is called a Linden tree and that is the root of my name. : ) The reasoning for that choice is found in the scripture on the roots in the water.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:3 ESV) "He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8 ESV) Where are your roots planted? Are the planted in the living water only Christ can give? We've learned through far too much pain that our marriage withers and bears sour fruit if we are planted in anything but. Next is why I chose a tree in the first place. Jesus uses a tree to explain how we know we are followers of the one true God. That if someone claims the name of God but bears bad fruit always, then they are a liar, a wolf in sheep's clothing. That we will know the true christians by the fruit they bear. Good fruit that brings life and love and glory to God! It is our daily prayer that we will bring glory and honor to God by our fruit. Not that we need to earn our salvation but just because we love Him so much we deeply desire to obey Him. That like Ephesians 6 says, we would sow into the Holy Spirit instead of into the flesh. "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." (Matthew 7:17 ESV) "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12 ESV) I added the vines because of what Jesus says about Him being the vine. Salvation only comes to those who go through Christ. Apart from Him we can do nothing of eternal value. Even in our marriage. "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 ESV) I started with just two vines but then was reminded of this scripture in Ecclesiastes where it says that two is better than one but three is best. For us we, again, see this in our marriage. We can get a lot of work done, Robert and I, but that work is fruitless and temporary without the Lord binding it together. Everything we do must be focused on Him. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV) I didn't do any scripture references on the background. But my thoughts there are how repeatedly in the Bible we are reminded that our God is a consuming fire! There is no darkness in Him! Hence the light chasing away the darkness. I will be sure to post Darby's project as soon as she gets to work on it and finishes it! Be blessed! http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/05/02/teaching-kids-the-gospel-a-conversation-with-j-d-greear/
http://theresurgence.com/2011/06/17/do-you-teach-your-kids-the-gospel-or-law http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/02/21/teach-children-the-bible-is-not-about-them/ "Every way we try to make our kids good that isn’t rooted in the good news of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is damnable, crushing, despair-breeding, Pharisee-producing law. We won’t get the results we want from the law." Been thinking about this a LOT! It is my goal to teach our children the gospel all day long. The WHOLE gospel. Not just "Jesus loves me" or "Jesus saved me" or "God will judge me" or "Obey the 10 commandments" or "Love eachother". But the whole thing. The Bible is very clear that adding anything to or taking away anything from the gospel is worship of a totally different kind. It's heresy. The gospel is so useful every moment of every day, not just for salvation. So it should be on our tongue all the time. This concept is very new to me. It's taking a lot of practice and thought. I've been watching a lot of Boy Meets World lately. Ha! I loved that show growing up! I let the girls watch the first season with me but after that it gets a little too mature for them. But I'm watching it, none the less! : ) Something I've noticed about Boy Meets World is that it's very good. I think the whole show is rooted in teaching kids the right thing to do. Five or ten years ago I would've thought that was great. But now, geez, that's just religion. It's just focusing on the works. The show (which I love and laugh hysterically through) is very much focused on morals. Morals minus Jesus is religion. And ya know, this is a battle christian parents must fight with the world everyday! Because the world tells our children to "be good", "don't do drugs", "don't drink and drive", " be a loyal friend", "give money to the poor". And if you do these things then you will be worth something. It tells our children that if they try hard enough that they can do anything and be good enough. But if we are teaching our children the whole gospel then we should be teaching them that they can never be good enough on their own. That we are measured for perfection by a perfect, just God. And we are never perfect, despite all of our works that seem good to the world. That the only way that we reach perfection is through Jesus' atonement for our imperfections. How releasing is this for the over-achieving child to hear, "It's okay. You're not suppose to do it right. Jesus already did it right for you. Cling to Him and he will lift you up." or for the rebillious child, "In your moment of weakness RUN to Him! He will forgive you and lead you to repentance!" I am reminded constantly that I must be saying these things to my children that lean to either of these sides. Instead of feeding their self-esteems, I should be pointing them continually to the Glory of God and His grace that gives them everything they don't deserve. This is hard! “Mortification of sin by self-strength, carried on by ways of self-discipline, unto the end of self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world.” John Owen http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-gospel/ Real quick had to share this. This morning as we were eating breakfast and chatting we got on to the subject of the Great Exchange. I took my cup of water and Darby's water and said that it was like my cup was full of sin and I was suppose to die because sin leads to death, destined to be seperated from God forever! Jesus came and lived in perfect righteousness and holiness so His cup was full of righteousness and holiness. When He died on the cross for us He took our cup full of sin and exchanged it for His cup of righteousness and holiness. So that when we stood before God He would see Jesus' righteousness instead of our sin. Cal said, "Do me!!" And shoved his cup at me so I explained it again using my cup and his. When I finished he started getting upset, tearing up and saying he was mad at God. I asked him why he was mad at God to which he said he wasn't mad at him. And then sat there sitting for a while obviously deep in thought. Finally he said, "I want to color a picture for God." So all three kids are coloring pictures for God as an act of worship to Him for the amazing work in the great exchange!! Great way to start the morning, I must say.
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.” Martin Luther We made a friend up the road named Ms Shirley and she has a Beauty Parlor out of her home. When the girls saw this room on a visit they flipped! And Ms Shirley promised that she would wash and curl their hair some time. She called me Saturday night and told me to head up and she would get busy! So we walked up and I got a ton of classic pictures of these girlies being pampered. And I also got an ear full about how bad their haircuts are! Ha! So we will be going to Ms. Shirley for haircuts soon as well. ; ) |
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