Paid in Full

"If I reject the crucifixion of Christ for my payment, I will be crucified every day till the debt is paid. Forever." - John Piper

How thankful I am to Jesus for paying my debt...He is my Joy, my Rock, my Treasure, my ever present Help...as Rich Mullin's put it, He is my One thing!  

 How thankful I am to know God as my Father because He, before the foundation of the world, chose to make me His by adoption.  

I'm stopping in on my blog to let you all know that I am alive and well, but I am working at warp speed doing all my Father has put into my hand to do.  Your prayers for my family as we make some adjustments would be appreciated (details may follow, Lord willing I get some time to write them).  Thank you.

I pray all is well with you.  Thanks for visiting ;-)

The King of all kings has spoken...

Do you avoid certain passages of the Bible with your small children?  Recently I heard it recommended that parents skip "inappropriate" portions of the Bible when reading to/teaching their kids.  I suspect folks mean different things by that line of thinking and though I am aware of some of the arguments, I haven't heard any that I buy.  Our family plows through whatever book we're studying as a family, giving thanks to God for it and asking for the Spirit to guide our discussion.  As the children grow, so does the depth of our understanding together, but we do not have a category of texts that we label as inappropriate for any age. 

With that said, as an adult that has been reading/studying/delighting in God's Word for 30 years, there are still many texts I grapple with and am eager to grow in my understanding of.  There are hard texts.  There are passages that I read and do not understand yet.  I want to know more and more the God I worship, the One who created all that is visible and invisible for His glory, the One whose infinite wisdom is far beyond my finite comprehension, the One who gave Himself for me that I might be with Him for all eternity.

I give thanks to God for the church He brought me into membership with.  The leadership of our church does not shy away from "hard" or "uncomfortable" texts.  This past Sunday, Pastor Ayers read Judges chapter 19 (I'm sure this would fit into some people's "inappropriate for children" category).  This is one of those portions that I still grapple with every time I come to it.  He preached perhaps the most helpful sermon I've ever heard on chapters 19-21.  But before he preached, he read it and prayed along the lines of thanking God for THIS TEXT, which is His Word.

Praying with thanksgiving and the humility that understands that we NEED the Spirit to teach us...THAT is the best starting place!  Aren't we tempted at times to come to God's Word thinking we can stand as judge over it, deciding what is good and acceptable and what parts we should just skip over because they offend our sensibilities?  Or do we approach it like any other book, thinking we can reason out its meaning on our own? Is is just me or are you tempted to sometimes want to read only the parts you deem as "useful" or "exciting" and ignore or skim at best other portions because they're either hard to understand or you have no clue why they are in the Bible in the first place (genealogies, descriptions of the construction of temple, etc).  I know I have to remind myself when these temptations ensue that ALL of the Bible is the inspired Word of God...it is ALL there for my correction, instruction and training in righteousness.  If I don't "get it," or if it offends my sensibilities, the problem is NOT with the text or the Author, it is with me.  Praying with humility and thanksgiving is a very good weapon for fighting these kinds of temptations.

The King of all kings has spoken...it is not for us to plug our ears to any of His Word, but to submit ourselves to ALL of it with joy in the One who has spoken it to us in love.

Here is a link to the sermon if you would like to listen to it too.
Thanks for stopping by, Connie

Happy New Year

Happy January 1st, 2011 to all my friends in Blogville! 

We have two New Years Eve traditions (in addition to gathering with friends, praying together, playing games, enjoying their company, eating a lot, and staying up way later than we normally do).  These are all things we do on other occasions throughout the year, but there are two things special to New Year's Eve.

Before midnight strikes, we gather in a circle on the living room floor to share things from the past year we are thankful for.  We turn out the lights and pass a candle from person to person, giving everybody an opportunity...whoever has the candle, gets to do the talking.  Themes of thankfulness this year included things like: having loving family and friends, a gospel-proclaiming church to be a part of, various fun times God gave such as a trip to Bullwinkles and camping, the growth God has given us (spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally), ministry opportunities God gave us and the fruit that was born for His glory and our joy, the privilege of being able to stay home with our children and home school them for the Moms, and having jobs for the Dads in which they can honor the Lord and provide for their families.

Our second tradition is to pour glasses of whatever fruity drink is desired among our available options and to take turns making toasts as we look forward to the new year God is bringing us into.  We have much to anticipate because we have our hope in God, who rules and reigns with justice and mercy.   Throughout the Christmas season we sing things like "joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth, receive her King....He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found."  And "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."  I worship this Son, who will see only increase to the government upon His shoulders.  I adore this Son, who "rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove, the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love."  I believe this is what we can continue to look forward to in 2011...may He give us growing faithfulness to Him this year, a boldness to proclaim Him to those He brings us into relationship with, and a love that serves others near and far with His wisdom and grace.  

Happy New Year to you!  I'm off to enjoy my friends who happen to still be here this morning, and my family...they are all waking up now.  Thanks for stopping by.

How can you be in two places at once?

Do you have a bucket list?  I don't officially, but simply because I never thought to write one.  If I did though, I'm pretty sure that "being in two places at one time" would have been on it; that is until recently when I would have been able to cross it off. 

You see, my friend Erica Shubin introduced me to a few of her friends from church about a year or so ago (Mrs. B, Rachel Walser, Melissa Maser and Christy Waulk), and friendships started to forge.  We all love the Lord, which laid a mighty good foundation.  We all have a heart to see orphans grafted into Christian homes and are working and praying to that end in various capacities.  I didn't think I was short of friends, but God knew what a blessing these gals were going to be to me and gave me a few more to enjoy.  Thank you, Father!  I live in Oregon and they live in Florida...we've not YET met face to face (besides Erica who I knew here in Oregon before she moved to Florida), but that has not stopped us from communicating often.  Mrs. B and I are like the ra-ra squad, cheering the Shubins, the Walsers, the Masers, and the Waulks on as their families pursue adoption. Locally, my family is also currently cheering on more Shubins, and the Marls.  What a delight to get to be a part of each of these stories of love!  What an amazing God we serve who sets the solitary into families!  But I divert (due to excitement about such things).

Well, in two short days, the Walsers get to board a plane bound for Ethiopia where they will soon gather their Abby-girl into their arms and bring her home with them.  And recently there was a shower to celebrate little Abby, as we all anticipate her homecoming.  The morning of the shower, I was at home getting ready to go to my niece Leah's for a candle party we had planned to raise funds for the local Shubins and Marls when I got a phone call from Mrs. B.  She called to tell me she was printing out a picture of me so I could be at Abby's shower.  Very sweet!  I was giddy all day about being able to be there, at least in flat form.  Of course I had to ask the party gals later what kind of time I had (I reportedly had a blast! and I believe it). 

 Here is beautiful Abby!

Erica's oldest daughter Nichol made sure I had a good time 

(thanks Nichol, love you friend...

I think I'll need to be at Zahra's shower too...hint, hint)

Rachel, getting ready to open the present we sent

Mrs. B reading the story that went with the gift

(thanks Barbara)

When we learned from Rachel's trip to meet Abby 

that she loved purple,

my girls made a scarf and necklace for her.

How my girls bless my soul with their sweet spirits!

Can you find me?

I'm sitting on Christy's shoulders :-)

These gals know how to make someone feel special.  Please join me in praying for the Walsers as they make another trip to Ethiopia and for Abby's homecoming.  There will be great transitions to go through, but I believe with all my heart that the grace of our God will prove sufficient in them all.

The other really fun news is that while in Ethiopia, the Walsers will get to love on Zahra.  Who's Zahra?  She's a 4 year old princess in the same orphanage as Abby who will be grafted into Erica's family as soon as all the legal i's can be dotted and the t's crossed (oh, and the funds raised to complete the process).  How cool is it that these two four year old girls will be joining two families in the same church?  Way cool!  Please pray for the Shubins too as they wait upon the Lord to bring Zahra home.  

Thanks for stopping by and joining in the fun,

Connie

Almost 10

MJ's birthday is the day after Christmas and USUALLY we spend it together as a family in a mellow, day after Christmas, sort of fashion.  This year we opted to be a little different.  Our good friends, the Coombs, were blessed with the addition of an out-of-the-womb daughter Wednesday night.  We have an action-packed-plan for the next few days so the idea came up of going to see the new baby and then coming home to celebrate a very special girl's birthday early...an idea that stuck.

 We were very thrilled to meet Silvia...isn't she beautiful? 

 

Getting to hold her and give her sweet kisses was worth the traffic issues of getting there...even with three kids in the backseat saying "are we there yet?; I've gotta go to the bathroom; I'm thirsty," etc.   

Congratulations dear friends...we continue to rejoice with you!  When we came home, we switched gears to celebrate OUR daughter (born 10 years and 4 days before little Sylvia).  

Happy almost birthday MJ...we love you more than words alone can express!

She'll be 10 on the 26th!  

Every year, our tradition is to give the kids presents 

equal in number to their age.

(That is until their 10th birthday, 

so this is the last round of that for this one!)

The birthday person in our family gets to pick their dessert...

she wanted Costco's cream puffs this year.

She was pretty excited about these shoes!

Isn't she beautiful too?

Our family continues to rejoice over her!

Mixin' it up

What is one of the first things that happens when we have a family or two over to visit?  Typically, the kids gather together and begin to play, the ladies venture to the kitchen and the guys hang out in the living room or out on the patio.  At church, I witness something similar...groups form: pockets of women here, smatterings of men there, and kids chasing each other wherever there is floor space.  Often people gravitate towards others of their gender and age group.  And that isn't necessarily a bad thing (at least not all the time), but it is fun to mix it up sometimes.  Last night afforded such an opportunity.

One of the ministries of our church is to visit elderly people in a nearby Assisted Living Residence.  Our family has not been as involved in this as we would like to be due to schedule conflicts, but occasionally we are able to participate and it is always a joyful time.  Last night was particularly fun as we gathered together with gifts and music and the word of our God with the aim of blessing the residents and helping them enjoy the Christmas season.  Young and old, male and female, all laughing and singing and visiting together...all rejoicing that Jesus came to save us.

 

I took this before all the seats were filled, 

but the room ended up packed 

with young people sitting on the floor 

and some of us standing in the back.

I LOVED that so many of the residents came to join the party.

Interacting after the service:

 Mmmmm...yummy cookies and punch

Little ones who brought many smiles
with their antics through the evening:

Aunt Sharon even got a massage out of the deal :-)

My kiddos and I drove around town for awhile after we left, looking at lights and chatting together about the evening with our elderly friends.  God gave us all a delightful evening.  I hope our elderly friends had as good of a time as we did.  Thank you, Father.

Can a Christmas Tree Talk?

Last week we, like so many other people, decorated our Christmas tree.  Over the years, we have accumulated a diversity of ornaments that give the tree a rather eclectic appearance once they're hung.  Now if all I saw was how it looked to the eye, I admit it may bother my sense of symmetry and cohesion and order, but I see more...I see stories.  Beautiful stories!

Each year, the kids receive a special ornament from their grandparents, along with a note telling why that one was chosen.  They know these stories, and the love behind them, and it is so fun to watch them pull their ornaments out one by one and recount its particular memory as they hang it. 

 Paul "beating" our small family drum ornament

Each year we also add matching family ornaments, one for each of our stockings...a tradition that looks to the future when they'll have families of their own, Lord willing.  We wanted them to have some ornaments to take with them when they leave our home; ornaments that will remind them of the strong bonds of family and how God has worked in our lives.  These ornaments all have stories too.

MJ holding an ornament from England, 

a gift and reminder of relatives that live there.

A number of our ornaments have been hand-crafted by the kids or by friends, or given to us as gifts...these too represent stories of love and friendship and so many other wonderful things.  I used to think decorating the tree was just something to get done during the holiday season.  Add this arena to the list of things I've changed my mind on over the years. Now I am SO GLAD God gives us this time together, remembering, laughing, and sharing our lives.  We make special holiday drinks that usually involve chocolate and/or caramel and whipped cream and coffee.  Christmas music plays in the background, inviting us to sing along.  

"hmmm...what's this one?" - Bekah tells the story!

What a grace-filled morning!

Thank You, Father for giving us time,

for giving us stories of love and grace and friendship,

for giving us Your Son who made it possible for us to be reconciled to You!

From our family to yours,

Merry Christmas!