What a WOMAN!

Oh, how I love stories like this!

How it confuses the world.

How it flies in the face of our “you need to make yourself happy first” society.

This poor, poor lady with so many children to love serve. How in the world can she possibly be happy with no “me” time?  Oh, how those children must limit their ministry opportunities. (Snort, snort, sorry!)  What poor stewardship of their time and money.

How will those children ever grow up to be normal when they can’t just be lazy, good for nothings enjoy their childhood? How unfair to them! They might just grow up to esteem people more than possessions! Tsk, tsk. They’ll never fit in the real world. (Don’t they all look bitter and starved for attention?)

And, oh my, that carbon footprint…..

A neat read…

I just loooove John Piper. I long for the amount of passion for Christ that he seems to have in his baby finger! He has a very encouraging, thought provoking blog that I enjoy. His son, Abraham, contributed a great post that I would like to, in love, dedicate to all the Calvinists out there. (And all who, like me, haven’t quite got it all figured out about whether they are a Calvinist or not…) Ahem. Be a Kinder Calvinist…

Kids say the craziest things!

You know how sometimes you don’t really understand what your child means, but you just know it’s really funny?  Here is a conversation I had with Rachel as she was making bread this morning.

“Could I just spill this whole bucket of wheat on the floor, Momma?”  (Picture a mischievous smile.)

“Sure,” I replied, “If you’d like to find a new home.”

“Why would I want to find a new home?”  she mused.  “If I did find one, I’m sure it wouldn’t be organic!”

Ahhh….friends!

There is great comfort in the familiar, and these sweet faces are indeed familiar!

Last week, Bryan, Macon, and their cute kiddos stopped by on their way back from vacationing in Colorado to visit with us for a few days. A few days just didn’t seem quite long enough, but it helped! We go way back, about nine years, I think.

They endured many hardships to bless us with their presence, poor souls.  No air conditioning, whole wheat, thunderstorms, chicken poop on the porch, and honey- sweetened… everything!

The kids were a little excited!

Katharina and Benjamin were just the same size. They looked like twins! I wonder what he is thinking here:

Of course, we couldn’t let an occasion go by without a visit to Red Robin.

I think Lauren summed it up when they pulled out of the driveway:

“Why couldn’t they just stay the whole summer?”

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is…

God is so faithful, isn’t He? Not only has He provided us some wonderful friends in a foreign land, but He’s also given them the same desire for a home church. We LOVE Don and Gina and their children!

We are in the beginning stages of establishing a home fellowship and feel we have so much for the Lord to teach us.  Our desire is to throw out all our preconceived ideas about what church is supposed to be like and instead rely totally on scripture as a model.  This is a lot more difficult than it sounds when you find out that a lot of what you thought was important in a church has little or no scriptural basis! (so where DID it come from?)  Once again we can see how God’s timing is always purposeful and perfect!  How awesome to have two families move to the same area within a few months of each other who have so many of the same goals!

The adults are outnumbered 2 to 1 by children, and we like that very much!

Our children seem to tolerate each other pretty well.

Here’s Gina and her little sprout, Abby.  Gina can do anything.  Like sew, milk cows, build stanchions, and butcher all manner of animals.  Maybe if I don’t aggravate her too much, she’ll teach me a thing or three.   She is  so sweet!

Our baby girl is 3 today!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Katharina!!!!!!!!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for three years with such a darling, wonderful little girl!

Kate informed me as I put her down for a nap just a few moments ago that she would never be two again.  Oh, it hit me like a ton of bricks!  Did I enjoy her enough?  Did I do all I could to show her Christ’s love through me?  Did I pray for her enough?  How I long for less regrets at birthday number four!

We celebrated yesterday, since Mamaw and Papaw had to leave last night.  We started the day off with her favorite breakfast.  Biscuits and gravy, of course, being a southern gal!  We have a tradition of putting candles in their breakfast.  You just can’t blow out candles too many times, you know!

In the afternoon we went to the park for cake and ice cream.  Lots of sweet memories….

See, I really was there!

Here is the well known “everyone line up in front of the cake” picture:

And the “opening presents” pictures:

What a day!!!!!!

Their wish is his command!

My sweet Daddy came to pick up my mom and to stay for a week himself.  He pulled into the driveway in his tiny Ford Escort and had the backseat crammed full of goodies, one of which was a jeep for Kate.  Do you think she was excited?

He and Mom also produced a pool for Kate’s upcoming birthday, which everyone enjoyed.  Even me.

Water straight from the well was a little chilly for Katharina!

Dad also put new tires and tubes on all the girls’ bikes and taught Lauren to ride a two wheeler.  Way to go Laurie!

Next on his grandbaby spoiling mission was assembling an old swing set stored in the barn.

Caleb thinks it’s just for him!

Being Daddy’s little girl, as well, I got my share of spoiling, too.  In the back of that car was also a computer chair and a lamp for my living room.  I have to be extremely careful what I say in front of my parents.  If they think you want something, they will oblige.  I also got almost an entire honey - do list wiped out.  I think Josh is relieved!

Much more wonderful than all the gifts and service were sweet times of fellowship.  Every evening we watched Andy Griffith season one.  One of my favorite sounds is my daddy’s laughter.

“Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, “Oh no, she’s awake.” “–unknown

Hey, go check this out!

Too cute. Head over to Kevin and Lydia’s and laugh with me!