An old Saw Horse

There's an image I have in my head from the years of helping my dad in his cabinetry shop.  In the spray room, we would work on the cabinets, buffing, staining, wiping with tack clothes, painting, whatever needed to be done to help transform raw wood into stunningly beautiful custom designed cabinets. Dad would have everything up on saw horses. Those saw horses had layer after layer of paints, many colors of stains, and glue.  They were bumpy, uneven, and I had no idea what they had originally looked like.  But they were great tools, and we put them to continual use. 
I am an old saw horse.  Or maybe a young saw horse on my the way to being an old well used saw horse.  My mom gave me a book for Christmas called "Loving the Little Years: Mothering in the Trenches."  In one chapter author Rachel Jankovic writes about our bodies being tools, not treasures.  That hit home. I want to look pretty, have hands that are not cracked and nails that are manicured, wear stylish clothes, and not have a belly that sags when I ignore it.  I want to have time to put make-up on and style my hair.  Jankovic put my thoughts to words when she wrote about mothers resenting the sacrifices children require, or take offense at the things they do to our bodies by their mere existence.  But I am not a treasure, I am a tool!  God did not create me to put myself up on a shelf and stay a beautiful 18 year old forever.  I am to be used. "Mothering uses your body in the way that God designed it to be used.  Those are the right kind of damages... any wear and tear that [your body] shows is simply the sign of a well-used tool." (p. 58-59)  In mothering out bodies are "undone of the behalf of another."  What a way to live out Christ to ourselves and those around us!  Christ was undone infinitely more than we ever could be, so that we might live.  I will choose to put Christ in front of my eyes when I see my stretch marks, the bags under my eyes, my fingers raisined up from loads of dishes.

It would have looked absolutely crazy to see my dad bent over an old saw horse, chipping off the paint, sanding it smooth, painting it a pretty color, then hanging it on the wall.  He always took good care of his tools, but for the purpose of keeping them usable, not showing them off. I want to be a rough well used saw horse, totally worn out by the time I die, with a legacy of having been used for the production of many beautiful "cabinets," and with them prove the amazing skill and vision of the Master Cabinet Maker.

Belated Thank you to our friends

Jay and I decided we'd like to pour concrete on our 43 ft driveway... ourselves (or rather, himself with an analyst/advisor)... as if we knew about pouring concrete.  Let's just say, our friends saved us.  Especially Matt Steinhauer.  While I was away at a girls' weekend, a group of guys got together and poured out concrete!  We couldn't have done it without them... really, couldn't.  It started to rain shortly after the concrete was spread and Matt's skills and the ingenuity of my husband and Matt Turnbull and Victoria saved our bacon!  Here's pictures of the concrete and our amazing blue carport.  I wish I had taken picture of the inside of my house.  Twine was fit through the windows and tied to doorknobs, coat hooks, my utensil drawer, I think even to Yo-yo, Micah's toy horse.  And thanks to Jodi McDevitt for watching Micah almost all day, though a few dozen toddler footprints in the concrete might have added quite a touch.  Jay says it's probably better that I was away, too... I guess it was rather stressful when the rain started coming. When I came home, Jay and Micah were sitting in the living room reading a book.  Thanks friends!

These kids are growing up in fast forward mode!

"Wow, this is the best potatoes I ever aten!  I can't believe it..."
"exhAUsting" (Thank you Lily Keziah) - always totally out of context.
"I need a friend! I will be lonely" - our son is very social in small groups, and strangely a loner in large groups.  He can hardly stand to be in a different room from Lydia.  I think if he had his way, he'd have her 5 feet away from him all the time, no further, no closer.  With her walking now, he's having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she can come and go as she pleases.  He's had several meltdowns when they are playing in their room and she walks out.  I thought he was hurt from the sound of his screaming.  I come around the corner and Lydia's there with a smile and "hi!," oblivious to the fact that she has about made Micah's world come crashing to a halt.

Micah's facial expressions are so entertaining.  I wish I had a good camera and the skills to use it.  It amazes me at how much a 2.75 yr old knows about using the right facial expressions.

Micah quotes

(Micah, look at that house!)  "It' so BEAUteeful"
"Good job, Mom, I'm so proud of you!"
(Hugs Dad, then) "You could give Lyddie a hug.  That'd be ok." (He has learned that it is selfish to want Daddy all to himself, so now he shows his changed attitude by "allowing" Jay to hug Lydia too)

Micah is growing up so fast.  You know that video of him helping Jay recite Psalm 19?  That was a whole year ago!  Wowzers!  Micah is beginning to like make-believe.  Only instead of being a prince/cowboy/etc, he's a backhoe.  At the table he tried to be a backhoe and was getting pretty messing scooping food with his "bucket," so Jay told him to use his fork(lift).  Micah promptly responded that forklifts have two bars, (therefore his fork was not one).  Didn't you know that, Dad?  If he's not a backhoe his arms are the "ding-ding bars" guarding the train tracks at a railroad crossing. 
Micah loves to see Lydia learn things.  She just started clapping today and Micah was grinning ear to ear.  He loves to play peak-a-boo with her and to have me chase him across the room with her.  His most popular phrase right now is, "I need a friend!"  He just loves company!  He does play by himself, but is much happier with me or Lydia with him (so long as she leaves his stuff alone, which is getting rare).  He still tries to hold her, but at 9.5 months, she's not so into it anymore.

We're heading to the Pear Bowl tonight (bowl right? I always get cups and bowls mixed up.... a football games anyway).  What to wear?  Jay's a Cascade Kodiak, but his nephew is playing for rival Cashmere Bulldogs.  I wish I had a striped orange and red shirt, that'd be cool.  We'll see if we can keep the kids warm enough to stay the whole game.

My last couple days: Exploring

So I've been in the middle of a battle about food and $$ spent on food.  Do I go organic, all-natural, homemade?  Do I try Once a Month Cooking to save money?  Do I save time buy shopping at only a couple stores?  Do I coupon shop at a dozen stores?  Do I support only local businesses?  Do I only buy what's on sale (almost) regardless of quality?  AH!  Why does it have to be so hard?  But thankfully I have a science-minded, research-oriented husband to help me out.  So, I won't say exactly what we've decided, because I always seem to unintentionally discourage someone (or myself) when this food/health topic is brought up.  Let's just suffice it to way, I decided to give homemade laundry detergent a try (it's approximately $0.01 per load). And I did bulk cooking (definitely not OAMC, but maybe 12 meals (only 2 different menus, though)).  Here's what it looks like:

 

1 c. grated Fels Naptha soap

1/2 c. Super Washing Soda

1/2 c. Borax

Combine.  (Easy enough.  Having only used it in 1 load, I can only say it's no miracle mixture. Spaghetti and mystery stains remain.  Now I'll pretreat them and wash again.)

Here's the liguid gel version:

1/3 bar Fels Naptha

1/2 c. Super Washing Soda

1/2 c.  Borax

lots of water (I think about 2+ gallons)

Heat 6 cups of water.  Melt the soap in it, add Soda and Borax and stir until dissolved.  Pour 4 c. hot water in a bucket then add the soap mixture.  Stir.  Add a gallon plus 6 c more water.  Let set up 24 hours.  It's liquid with gel globs in it.   Mine's not totally set up yet, but I've got a load of it in the wash now.  Will see how this does.

 I got half way through the recipe when I realized I had meant to half it, but had forgot to.  And I'm definitely a novice.  I tried to save energy by just pouring from that big bucket into those jugs with the funnel... on our wood floor.  And had to use all those towels to mop up. (decided to set up the jugs in the sink and heave up the bucket after the big spill).

 Guess my floor needed mopping.  Yuck.  Actually, on closer inspection, I discovered the detergent had taken off the finish of about a 2 ft sq. spot in the middle of the kitchen.... well, Praise the Lord for old, splintered, creaky, worn down floors, I guess!  This spot doesn't stand out at all from the rest of the house.  So if you're needing to get that old finish off your floors, here's the recipe!  Doesn't even take any elbow grease!

 My freezer.  Of course, again like a novice, I forgot to write down what I had in there.  So now I get to unload it all, make a list of what have, and load it up again.  Thankfully, it's not that big.  But from my recent adventures I have 5 meals plus leftovers of spaghetti sauce, 1 Mexican casserole, 3 cups of taco meat, 3 c of browned hamburger, and 3 meals plus leftovers of Minestrone.

That ice cream is calling my name! AH!

A lot of things happened during all this work that could probably have frustrated me.  But as a wise experienced friend just told me recently (before all this), there just so much exploring for a young wife and mom.  Lots of mediocre meals, sunken loaves of bread, grocery shopping gone awry.  I guess she's right.  Columbus had no intention of landing in the Bahama Islands, and I had no intention of discovering finish remover.  Yet, all in all, it felt quite satisfying to get all this done.

By the way, spaghetti stains remain.  And it's one of my favorite shirts!  Why was I making spaghetti sauce with it on?   Well, I have a few more things to try.

**Lol, Micah and Lydia woke up part way through my post and have been playing in the living room.  Micah just called to me to say, "We're having a good time.  We're having Micah and Lydia time!" (That means, "Don't come in yet, Mom.").  LOVE it!**

Growing up...

Micah has been learning some new hymns and this one is his current favorite.  It's one of the hymns I learned as a little girl, and have always loved the encouragement I get by the powerful, factual, and Christ-exalting words.

He usually sings in tune, but I started it too low for him, so he's a bit off.  It is one of my favorite things to hear him running around the house singing this at the top of his lungs.


Lydia's... mode of self-transportation:  What would you call this?

kid stuff

Micah got a Nerf gun from a friend. It's a little hard for him to use so he usually comes to us asking, "Can you pull the sugar?" :-)
He was outside with Jay while Jay was tightening bolts on our new trailer (pictures coming soon).  Micah was so excited that Jay let him play with the extra "scratch-it" tool. (ratchet)  I love all the words Micah thinks he knows and tries to use.  There are lots of them, but I can only remember these two right now.

Poor Lydia... I kept track of every sound and movement Micah made, but I haven't tracked anything of Lydia's really.  But she's 8 1/2 months old and is moving (not a crawl really, but she can get where she wants to), and can pull up and pull along furniture a little.  No teeth, but I think there's one on the way.  And... Score one for Mommy, she said "mama" first of anything!  Actually I think she's just complaining and it comes out like "mamamamama."  She and Micah play well together, especially when she's stuck in the crib and he's stuck out of it. :-)  I love to hear them laughing and yelling with each other.

We were at the playground today and another little boy pointed out a rainbow.  Micah quickly told him that God made the rainbow.  I love how little kids don't really think about whether people want to hear what they're saying or not.

Get-a-way and Get-home

We got away on our first date weekend since Lydia was born!  Yippee!  Jay and I dropped the kids off with Grandma and Papa Dirkse on Friday and headed over a rainy Steven's pass toward Bellingham.  I was so thankful to see the edge of the rain cloud north of Everett.  We stopped off in Burlington for the All-you-can-eat Pasta Bowl at the Olive Garden then camped at Larrabee State Park south of Bellingham.  It's amazing how easy it is to pack for one night camping with no kids!  It was so easy.  And I am glad we didn't have the kids since the train went by at 8:15 and 10:15 pm, then again at 6:45 am, just a few hundred feet from our campsite.  Then there were the Christian college guys jamming on their guitars until Jay kindly asked them if they knew it was past the quiet hour mark.  They were enthusiastic in their playing and singing, but did not realize what a bad witness they were being to the people camping on the other side of us (they were NOT happy about the noise).  We were up early the next morning, and I admit we had a hard time wanting to be quiet after the noise our neighbors made late at night. :-)  We headed to Fairhaven/Bellingham to run our 15K race.  It was sunny, cool, calm, and absolutely perfect running weather!  Jay and I had a great time running (I think I had a little more fun than Jay...)  Oh, and you can definitely tell when you are on the West side: there were compost cans instead of garbage cans. :-) 

But... I was glad to get back to my kids.  I read a little poem once about being "tied down" to laughter sweet, chubby feet, etc.  It's so true.  Even though we were having a great time, whenever I saw a mom and baby I wanted my babies with me!  So it was quite nice to have Lydia grin from ear to ear and bounce up and down when I walked into the house.  Even my ever-busy Micah took a break after a while to give me a quick hug. :-)  I am so thankful for my kids, and for my husband, and his parents, and my parents, and well, just everybody God has put in my life right now.  Thanks everyone for your friendship!

Limo

Mom: (pointing out the car window) "Micah, Limousine!" 
Micah: "Yeah! Limo...limo...limonade!"

Forgotten already

So Micah said something really funny when I was putting him down for a nap today.  I'm finally sitting down to write it down, and it's gone!  It was so cute.  It went something like this.  He had a pull-up on for nap and was all settled in bed when he reached down under the covers while saying, "My body (his word for bottom)'s sneaking/peeking/slipping out." I had put his pull-up on crooked and he was having issues with it.  I think he said sneaking.  <>  There are so many funny things that I think I couldn't possibly forget.  Then I do.  Oh well, I'm glad he keeps saying them.

Micah, again.

I was reminding Micah about making sure he was going to use the toilet when he needed to go and he responded, "Yeah.  I will.  You don't need to worry."  Another common response (to my, say, needing to use the restroom) is, "Ok, that'd be fine, you can do that."  I can tell that both of these are something I must say all the time, because he sounded just like me, not like a 2 and 1/2 year old.

"I'm going to show the mirror to me." (I giggled so he amended his statement).  "I'm going to show the mirror to myself.  Look, here's a picture of myself" (in the hand mirror).

Housecleaning

The other day I was thinking back to what I used to do as a new wife.  Before kids, we lived in a tiny old cabin.  We all called it a shack until it became my future home, then we kindly started referring to it as a rustic cabin. I scrubbed, painted, sewed, arranged, rearranged, and, to my amusement now, I often vacuumed twice a day.  And that was only the inside.  For a 450 sq. ft. or so home, that was probably a bit overkill.  As I think back, my tiny house was so clean and I believe I made it quite cute.  Ah... nostalgic.  Well, now, I have an 1800 mostly finished 85 yr old house which I vacuum very irregularly, almost never mop (not sure how to take care of cracked wood floors that have lost their seal), and have a living room that can only hope to be clean from 9 pm to 6:30 am.  I appalled at how infrequently I scrub anything, and yesterday I noticed some spots on the ceiling from about 8 months ago.

I think many moms would say, "Well, you have two little kids, life is like that."  But, unhappily, I think that very idea has been one of the causes of my continually messy house.  I have been duped!  Everything around me says, "give yourself a break!" "do something for yourself."  I do that very well without any encouragement.  I decided to seek Biblical guidance on housecleaning.  Now there's not much there that is directly intended for that topic.  But under the instruction of "Teach Them Diligently" by Lou Priolo, I wrote down my "problem," phrased it Biblical terms (disorderly rather than messy, etc.) and looked up verses from which principles can be derived.  Here's what I came up with. 

Irritant: Messy house, continually cleaning, continually generating a messy house!

Biblical interpretation:  Having a disorderly house leads me to anger, despair, and resentment against other mess-makers.  I make a messy house by my slothfulness, disorderliness, carelessness.  Having a messy house disturbs my peaceful heart (rightly or not), burdens my husband (to either clean or put up with a discontent, distracted wife), and is a means of hypocrisy when I require more of my kids than of myself. 

Slothfulness: 
1 Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 
Prov 6:6-11 Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise,
Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler,
Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.
How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
"A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest"--
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.

Disorderliness:
1 Cor 14:40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.  
1 Cor 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Hypocrisy:
Mat 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Jesus also tells the hypocritical Pharisees that they will receive greater condemnation for their hypocrisy.) 
Job 8:13   So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. (JKV)
 

 Excellent Wife:  The entire 31st Proverb which, when I am listening to the world's advice, has been my nemesis. In particular these verses: 
¹³She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
works joyfully 
¹⁵She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.  
disciplined 
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.   
manages her home 
²⁸Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:  
praiseworthy 
²⁹"Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all."  
distinguished 

³⁰Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.  

God-fearing 

³¹Give her the product of her hands, 

And let her works praise her in the gates. 

Honored
  
This is a work in progress. I'm sure over the next 60 years I will revisit this topic many many times.  For now, I have some meditating to do on the verses, along with prayer that God will change my vision for my home into His vision for my home.  I do not want Him to chide me as He does Martha for being "worried and bothered about so many things."  Yet I do not want to be a slob to the point of failing to obey the commands to practice hospitality, among others. 

You know, I would just love to have year long apprenticeship under Sarah Edwards.  She had tasks we don't even think of today! She joyfully poured her life out to provide Jonathan all the time he needed to fulfill his God-given calling.  She lovingly housed guests for extended periods of time.  She took time to have valuable conversations with her children and her guests. According to a guest of theirs, Samuel Hopkins, Sarah was "in every sense a help mate for [Jonathan], one who made their common dwelling an abode of order and neatness, of peace and comfort, of love and harmony, to all its inmates, and of kindness and hospitality to the friend, the visitant, and the stranger."

So, off to scrub the bathrooms.

Day 2:

The lesson Today was on Elijah and the Great Contest between Baal and God. So for the snack the kids built altars out of zucchini bread (12 stones), pretzel sticks (fire wood), blue icing (water), and Orange slice chewy candies (fire). That's about the most creative thing I think I have ever come up with!

So day 2 is completed! Praise God, we had one more little boy from the neighborhood join us tonight. I'm slowly learning to trust God to provide. Tomorrow night begins the slow leaking away of helpers and kids, unless God provides otherwise.

We've really been enjoying the time with the kids. It's so much fun to play with them, hear them sing, hear them recite their memory verses, and get lots of hugs. I can't believe I missed my opportunity to get a picture of all the kids throwing water balloons at Jay. He was a great sport and the kids thought it was great.

-Anna

Day 1: Jacob and Celisse did an excellent job teaching the kids their memory verse, even though Celisse was getting sick! Hope you're better soon, Celisse!

Day 1:

We completed our first day of "God Always Wins" Bible Club. Not quite what we expected but really fun nonetheless. There were 16 people there, but most were helpers, and only 3 kids came from our neighborhood (friends of friends). On top of that, it looks like Jay may be sent to Port Townsend for work Wednesday through late Friday. Another 3 helpers will certainly be gone, and possibly a 4th, as well as some of the kids who attended. To sum up, it looks like I may have two kids and 1 helper. I found that I was not really trusting God with this. I had my idea of a good number of kids, and thought God would provide that many. Well, He didn't bring my number of kids. Here's my opportunity to not get embarrassed, self-conscious, doubting, and all the other things that can go along with a well publicized event that turns out quite different that one anticipated. GOD KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING! I feel like I need to pound that in to my head.

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He WILL direct your path." I love that verse and will be reciting it continually this week.

Praises:
Play time was great. All the kids participated and smiled the whole time.
Story time went great. After teaching 0-5 yr olds in Sunday school, it was quite a pleasure to teach 4-9.
Activity time was a big hit. Relay race after relay race until we helpers were ready to drop!
In all, it was great! I laughed, played, got to know some kids and helpers better... and now I'm going to crash and do it all again tomorrow.

Please pray that God will open doors for us tomorrow (literally) so that we can remind families in our neighborhood about our BYBC. Pray that God will provide for the rest of our camp (both kids, helpers, good weather, as well as wisdom, etc.)

-Anna

Backyard Bible Club

In two weeks we are hosting our first ever Backyard Bible Club. Essentially it is a low-key VBS held in our backyard. It's been on my heart for a couple years, and now we have our own fenced in backyard (a bit small, but it'll do), so here we go! God has been so good in providing helpers and pray-ers for us.
That doesn't mean it's going to be a piece of cake! Each morning I've been studying the lessons I'm going to teach (from a curriculum set from Children Desiring God). The theme is "God Always Wins." It's been, and is going to be, a lesson in faith to teach those lessons. On top of the probability that kids will be noisy, distracted, and maybe uninterested, these lessons are undiluted truth about our Fearsome God. The kids will hear that God wins over kings and armies, that He wins over other gods/idols, that He wins over Sin, Death, and Satan, and that He will win in the Last Battle (as He takes His people home to heaven and sends those who are not His people to Hell with Satan). On that last day the kids will be challenged that they cannot "serve two masters," that they are either for God or against God. Throughout it all, God will be presented as good, faithful, supreme, but also holy, deserving of fear and honor, and omnipotent. My constant prayer is that God will let me speak words that are 100% true, perfect for the moment and the hearts of the kids, and clearly full of love.

As we prepare, we are putting our plans in God's hands. We do not know how many kids will come, who they will be, whether they will mingle well with each other (Hispanic and non), whether they have any desire to listen... Even as we've gone door to door we've needed His strength and grace to give us courage to keep going.

I am really excited to see what God does with our pitiful efforts. His strength is perfected in weakness (and we'll have plenty of that for Him to work with). Praise God that even now our selfishness is being hammered out of us, so that we can be pure in our faith. We don't naturally want to give up an evening to possibly have doors closed in our faces, or have a non-English speaker just smile and nod, or have dogs bark our ears off. We don't want to have a backyard filled with misbehaving children. We don't want to spend our hard earned money for some crazy gamble! Yet we feel God has called us to this and that, of course, it's no gamble when your doing the Lord's work. Isaiah 55:11 "My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

Praises so far:
1. We're actually doing this! That's a work of God right there!
2. God has provided financially and physically for almost all the support we need.
3. We've met our neighbors finally, including one Christian family who is praying for our BYBC, and another who is going to bring snacks one day!
4. God has provided a very clear, easy to use, curriculum from Desiring God ministries.
5. Micah and Lydia have been able to participate in our first neighborhood ministry. Micah enjoys going door to door with us, and keeps telling me it's time to have our backyard Bible club, NOW!
6... many more to come, I'm sure.

We are counting on the prayers of our friends and family to carry us through the next week of prep and then our "God Always Wins" Backyard Bible Club.
P.S. if you know and Peshastinites who are between the ages of 4-10, please send them our way. I have flyers, and a sign up at the Library (amazingly enough, it passed the requirements despite "Bible" and "God Always Wins" emblazoned on the front.)

Where is my joy?

For the last few weeks I have just had this nagging sense of unhappiness. I couldn't place it, but I knew that my home was not clean enough to make me happy, the kids were not well behaved enough to make me happy, my hubby, even in his growing excellence as a husband, was not making me happy, our finances were certainly not making me happy. I felt I never had enough time to have fun at anything, never enough money to play with. Last night when my husband was asked me to quit budgeting and hang out with him (which was a very legit request), I just about blew up. Can't I have any time for ME? Thankfully, I didn't voice that but went along to read the Bible with Jay. After a while, he sensed that something was up. I told him I didn't know, but wise hubby of 3+ years now knows that he needs to make me talk about it and eventually I'll figure out what is bothering me.

It finally came out that I was just not happy, nothing was giving me pleasure. He prompted me to think Biblically about it and left me for a half hour to pray and read my Bible (and have a good cry). I knew what the problem was almost immediately: I was seeking joy in everything but God and His Word. I had spent about 10 minutes total the past few weeks reading my Bible. Now, I can blame that partly on messed up schedules for the kids, but when I had found a moment to myself I had chosen other things to do. But they don't satisfy! One of my favorite old testament books, Ecclesiastes, starts out with, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity (meaningless, or, in vain)" For a large chunk of the book, Solomon talks about how he pursued pleasure in everything and anything yet it was all in vain (vanity)! In chapter 2 he concludes, "So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind (like housecleaning). Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me."

Now I'm not nearly as eloquent as Solomon, but I have also found that pursuing fulfillment or satisfaction in anything other than God leaves me very unhappy. So I spent a good long time reading and thinking through Ps 16:11. "You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy and in Your right hand are pleasures forever." I can be happy in life! I'm not doomed to unhappiness since nothing here satisfies me. My Savior has ransomed me from death. I deserve a cup of wrath from God, and Christ has born it for me. That is reason enough to rejoice, but, on top of that all, God has blessed me richly with all things to enjoy!! David says in Ps 62 "My soul finds rest in God alone." God was faithful to "renew a right spirit within me" and I am happy again, though no other circumstances have changed.

Ps 1 "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers." Funny... that is exactly what I have been preaching to Micah for weeks! "If you obey and do what pleases God, you will be happy. But if you disobey and do what displeases God, you will not be happy."

"The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb." - Ps 19

I was a bit tired, so I asked Micah to put me down for a nap. He grinned and grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the couch. I curled up and then asked him to sing me a song. With thumb firmly planted in his mouth, he belted out "Jesus love me." After that I asked him to pray. Still sucking his thumb, he prayed, " Dear Jesus, thank you for Daddy...that he got to go to work...and watch train bars at his office... the train bars go "DING, DING, GING," lights flash, (he imitates the bar coming down as he "dings")." I think by this point he had forgotten that he was praying and he climbed up to ride me. I was shaking with laughter. So funny!

Pictures of Happy Kids

Micah and Lydia get a long quite well at this point. Micah thinks it's fun to share his "didi" with Lydia (they are both die hard "didi" holding thumbsuckers), and to help get her up from a nap. It is so fun to watch them! God gives perfect gifts to His children. I am so thankful for this one, as long as He determines it to be good for me.

Teaching Micah

Anyone who is in hearing range of Micah for even 2 minutes knows he has no problem with verbal communication. He does have a problem pausing the verbal communication (see older post). :-) We are now diving big time into discussions of truth, right, wrong, pleasing God, what we like vs what God likes, etc.

Great Reads

Good books:
I've started a few good books this year. With only a few minutes here and there to read, I haven't really finished any of them. But here they are:

1. A Gospel Primer (Milton Vincent)
2. Gospel Powered Parenting (William Farley)
3. Teach Them Diligently: How To Use The Scriptures In Child Training (Lou Priolo)
4. Flames of Rome (Paul Maier) - Great historical fiction! Couldn't not finish this one.
   
5. Nana's Bible Stories (a kids book I found at Goodwill! Yay!)

I guess that's it. I keep thinking that when summer comes I'll be able to read more. Um? why... Jay and I are not in school, so there's no summer break. Lol, I still haven't got used to that. And toddlers don't get the whole sleep-in-cause-it's-summer-break (or Saturday, or any day) thing. Well, that's all.

Micah's quotes or not-quite-right understandings

Jay and I were stretching after a run and Micah was climbing around a fire hydrant. He asked what came out of it, and when we said water for the fire trucks, he asked, "Do they need a drink?"

We're in the midst of potty training. Don't know about you all, but here that means a lot of word pictures are being used. Jay asked Micah if he needed to go "poopoo." Micah promptly informed him that: "The door is closed. They're having play time." (his door is closed while he has playtime, so naturally if their door was closed...")

I did not make this up

Micah: (talking, talking, talking... talking while I do dishes, feed Lydia, fold laundry, and start ironing)
Finally, Mom: "Micah, Mommy needs to iron; I am not going to talk right now."
Micah: "You are not going to talk, Mommy? Are you going to talk? Mommy, watch this. I'm going to climb, I'm climbing, this is a gate and I'm climbing. Mommy are you ironing? Are you working?
Mommy: "Micah, you may sing songs and play, but Mommy is not going to answer questions right now."
Micah: "I can talk by myself."
Mommy: "Yes, but Mommy is not going to answer."
Micah (so far there has not been even 3 seconds quiet): "Are you going to answer, Mommy? Mommy, are you going to answer? Are you going to answer? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Excuse me, Mommy, are you going to answer?"
Mommy in exasperation: "Micah, what did Mommy say?"
Micah: "not going to answer."
Mommy: That's right....."

I can't remember the rest, but that was not the end. The end came 2 hours later at nap time. My ears were ringing! I tried to just not answer, but he always outdid me! And the whole time he was talking he was also moving! Running, climbing, jumping, sliding, yelling.... AH! Where did this kid come from? But he did have me laughing... laughing on the verge of screaming! Speaking of which, I need to go help the other one who is doing that right now.

They are so fun

Despite the pooped-in undies from the 2 yr old and mad screams from the 4 month old, I love my kids! I've heard many moms say how this season in life flies by so fast, so I am trying to really treasure each moment. I wish I could take a mental video of Lydia doing her "pick me up, pick me up!" dance on the floor. Or record Micah's cute voice when he says "I need to hold you!" or, in a voice raised like adults do when addressing little kids, he bends over, pats Lydia's head and says, "Hi, Buddy!" I smile every time I hear Micah imitate meby dropping the "ng" from his -ing verbs: "I was cry-un' for you!" One of Micah's favorite things is to help me get Lydia up from a nap. He loves to get into the pack-n-play and snuggle up to her (sometimes she smiles, sometimes she screams, but he doesn't seem to mind). It is so precious!

The Beginning

Here it is... the beginning... of what I hope will someday be a fine record for our children and us to look back through. I have never been a journaler or scrapbooker, but have always wanted to have a record of family happenings. One of my favorite past times as a child was to flip through baby books, mine or my siblings'. I've noticed with my kids that I already forget things that I though I could never possibly forget. So to solve all these issues, we have created this blog.

But it is for a much higher purpose than simply remembering the funny things kids said, or our accomplishments or disappointments. This blog is also to see how God is sovereignly working all things together for His glory and our good. It is to help me remember to praise and thank God for His work in our lives. (I am constantly coming to God with dozens of requests, yet I fail to praise Him when He makes His answer known, because I have forgotten what I prayed about.) It is to encourage myself and my readers (lol, if I have any) to ponder more deeply the riches of God's mercy to us, and His faithfulness in sustaining and blessing us every day of our lives. This blog will have very few, if any, deep theological dissertations. Instead it will be filled with tidbits from the life of a stay at home mom. But tidbits which will hopefully inspire you and us to know God's presence and goodness more fully .

Jay picked the title "Growing in Grace" from 1 Peter 3:18. Peter tells his readers to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Verse 19 reads "to Him be the glory both now and forever." Amen!