Proverbs 14:1

I find myself returning now and again to The Nonsuch Professor in his Meridian Splendor, written by William Secker.  How's that for a mouthful of a title?  I referred to this book once before here.   This morning, I found on page 99 a much needed reproof to this sinner who, more than usual lately, leaves "more work to be undone" when correcting my children...

"How many are there, who check passion with passion; and are very angry in reproving anger!  Thus to lay one devil, they raise another; and leave more work to be undone, than they found to be done.  Such a reproof of vice, is a vice to be reproved.  In reprehension, we should always beware of carrying our teeth in our tongues; and of biting while we are speaking.  A surgeon would not be justifiable in dismembering a body, if he could effect a cure without it."

When the need to reprove others is before us, may God empower us to do so with gentleness, skill and a spirit of meekness instead of anger and personal irritation...let us be building and not destroying...let us be seeking His glory and the good of others.  Mr. Secker went on to say, "Reprehension is not an act of butchery, but an act of surgery."

seeking comfort in the Comforter

Yesterday, while we celebrated my son's six years...

 

we also tearfully gave thanks for the 19 weeks in the womb of my great-nephew who went to be with Jesus.  Please pray for my nephew and his wife (God knows their names and their sorrow) as they grieve the loss of their first child. For my sister and her husband as they mourn the death of their grandson.  And for the rest of the us who are weeping with them.

Father, You are the author of life and we thank you for the life You gave this little one and ask You to receive him into Your eternally loving arms.  We ask You to draw his parents very near to You that they may be comforted in their deep sorrow and pain.  Be the Light in their darkness. Thank You for Your promise to never leave us nor forsake us...Be the Comforter for us all as we mourn the brevity of his days and submit our hearts to Your sovereign hand, trusting that You are wise and good even in this bitter providence that passes our understanding.  Please grant us Your all-sufficient grace in our time of need.  Amen.

My "baby" is 6 today!

Today,

we are happily celebrating

the life of an adventurous, 

fun-loving, 

made-for-greatness,

little man in the making...

my son, Paul 

who is now 6 years old.

We are so glad God has grafted him into our family!

Here are six fairly recent pictures of him for you all to enjoy today.

Me? I'm off to enjoy him in person :-)

food fun

One of the great things about having so many readers in the house is that we can all share with everyone else what is being learned along the way, which has a way of increasing the joy.  Sometimes, which you can interpret as just about as often as I'll let them, my young readers find some craft or recipe that "they just have to try."  That is how we found ourselves in the kitchen making apple empanaditas recently...they were pretty, but after the taste test we all agreed that we prefer our regular old yummy apple pie recipe which is a lot easier to make.  That being said, we had a lot of fun in the kitchen trying them out just the same.

 Bekah, rolling out the dough

MJ and Paul working on filling the crusts, forking them closed, 

"painting" them with egg whites and sprinkling sugar on top.

If your family has a favorite easy kid-creatable recipe, we'd love for you to pass it along to us.  We're looking for ideas as the cooler weather invites us to more experimentation in the kitchen.  If you write them in the comments section, anyone else who is interested can swoop 'em up and try them with their kiddo's too. 

Looking forward to what shows up...thanks, Connie

LIVING

Fall has definitely arrived...the mornings have a chill, the leaves are changing colors, and darkness is lingering longer.  Doesn't that mean it is time to curl up with some good books?  The girls in our family seem to think so, but one of us has taken a new position for reading...I walked around the corner the other day to find my oldest daughter reading like this:

 

I'm happy to report that she has decided 

this is not her favorite way to read a book 

after having tried it, 

but I was glad for the laugh it gave me 

and the opportunity to record it for posterity ;-).

Recently we had the privilege of having this extra little guy hang out with us for 4 days/3 nights while his Mama recovered from a surgery...he is a terrific two year old and we had so much fun having him here with us.

We have been studying "flying creatures" in science this year, using the Young Explorer series by Apologia (which we are loving!).  Going back a bit, here are a couple of pics of us setting our butterflies free.  What a fun experience that was to watch the caterpillars transform into butterflies...it provided many opportunities for us to talk about our own metamorphosis as God transforms us too.  We had two of our neighbor girls over, flanking my three in the middle.

 

One of the things we like to do here is make our own pepperoni and beef jerky using a food dehydrator.  Here, Paul is showing us how to use the "gun" to make pepperoni ropes...it is pretty darn easy!  

Less than a day later, the kids can be wearing 'em as mustaches, smoking them or nibbling away...the fun just never seems to end (yes, we have an extra in the pic again...the pink-panted girl is our neighbor friend who considers our house her other house...she's a welcome addition whenever she is here).

Have a great day LIVING the life God has given you, sharing your joys and resources with those He puts in your path, building community, loving others, and making much of the sweet mercies of God.

This Kind of Loyalty

Acts 21:10-14 And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit,'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered,"What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."  So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The will of the Lord be done."  

My kids and I sat at the table after reading this, talking about how we desire to have the heart of Paul who was unswervingly loyal to the Living God.  Then we prayed knowing we cannot muster that kind of loyalty.  We totally need the Spirit of God to work in us.  Father, please work in us to unite our hearts to fear Your name for we are still so fragmented in our loyalty, preferring our safety or sense of security in wealth or personal comfort or pleasures that we somehow convince ourselves we must have.  You instruct us to love others, to die to ourselves that we may live, to serve rather than be served...Paul "got" this.  He understood that his life was entirely in Your hands and at Your disposal and that the light and momentary afflictions he would suffer were working out a far more exceeding glory (2 Cor. 4:17-18).  Grant us, Lord, this kind of loyalty to you.

We also want to come alongside people "doing hard" and say, press on, fight the good fight, Jesus is worth it all.  Today we want to highlight our blogging friends, the Masers.   After months of tedious paperwork and hoops to hop through, they just found out they made it to the waiting list to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia.  To celebrate, they are providing the opportunity for those who are joining them in their journey of adoption to win $150 cash.  That's right...go here for details, and join the fun.

The will of the Lord be done.

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing...you made my first giveaway on my blog a lot of fun.  I wish I could send a copy of The One Factor to everyone who entered, but lo, I do not have that many copies on hand so we had to pick from the hat. 

And the winner is...

 

Amber...you won!  Yippee!  I will get it to you asap ;-).

PS...My local peeps who did not win are welcome to read my copy if you like.  Those who live nearby Erica, and you know who you are, she has a copy that she just might be willing to share.