Images of Christmas

I thought I'd do this really cool photo essay, but as I look at these pictures, there are so many parts of Christmas that I didn't capture. So, I guess this should be called "Images of Some of Christmas".

We had a wonderful holiday and have been reminded, again, of how VERY blessed we are.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We started a new tradition tonight by have a Jesus birthday cake. The kids loved it! (Well, duh, I guess that's a given, considering it's CAKE!)

As I head off to bed, I'm thinking of a song we've sung in church.

How deep the Father's love for us!
How vast beyond all measure!
That He would give His only Son
to make a wretch His treasure.

How awesome to remember that Jesus came to live with and rescue those who were His enemies (Romans 5:10). The truth of Christmas makes God's gracious gift so much more meaningful.

Thirty-Five

There's a whole lotta birthday blogging going on this week, but I have to squeeze one more in. Last Sunday I celebrated my thirty-fifth birthday, and it turned out to be the nicest one yet. (But then, I always think each year gets better.) I was serenaded by most of my family, as Matt was part of a small group singing in the morning church service and Joe and Ellie were in a kids' Christmas program that evening. In between those times, we ate at a pizza place I really like, and I got to open some gifts. Matt and the kids got me a couple movies, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (which I was probably a little too excited about...for someone who's 35). They also got me a new Elizabeth George book which I'd really wanted called A Woman's Walk With God. When the Christmas season is done and I'm walking again, instead of running, I'll enjoy that a lot. I think Matt did pretty great considering he has to buy me birthday and Christmas gifts all in the same week. The best thing he did for me was that on Saturday he made me my favorite dessert, which we call Lush. It's a chocolate pudding layer thing, and it's awesome for any meal of the day. Although, now that I think of it, I didn't have it for breakfast at all this week...I really must be getting older.

My favorite birthday moment came on Friday night when I was out to dinner with my extended family. As soon as our food came, Erin needed to go to the bathroom, so I took her. Then as soon as we got back to the table, Ellie needed to go. When we finally got back to the table after that one, everyone else was pretty much done eating, and I hadn't even taken my first bite. The great thing about it, though, was that I didn't feel frustrated or upset. God really gave me some grace to be able to do all things as unto Him, including taking my girls to the potty. Thinking about it, I don't think I could've done that with such a servant's heart even a year ago, so I just got overwhelmed at His faithfulness to teach us year by year and to give us what He commands us to have. With that in mind, I'm ready to move ahead to 36.

Something new I want to try this year is to look for one passage of Scripture to focus on throughout the year, then to be able to testify regarding that passage on my next birthday. I haven't chosen the passage yet, but I'll put it here when I do.

There! Now the normal people birthday blogs are done, and we can start to focus on the biggie coming up on Monday!

Happy Birthday, Carrie!

Because of some technical problems with Blogger yesterday, I am a day late in wishing a happy birthday to Matt's sister, Carrie, a.k.a. Aunt Kitty. We actually celebrated her birthday with her last weekend, and I got a really cute picture of her with her Star Wars cake, but when I told her I would put the picture on the blog, she sort of made me say, "OK, I won't put the picture on the blog." (Of course, this doesn't stop me from putting other pictures on the blog...Did she really think she could get off that easily?) So you won't get to see her Star Wars cake but, let me assure you, it was pretty cool, and she looked very cute holding it up. Here's a picture of her with her daughters and in case you can't tell who the mother is, she's the second one in from the right. Pretty group of girls, huh? And they smile like this all the time, too!


As I mentioned before, Carrie is my Star Wars go-to girl, but she means a lot to everyone in our family. She's a super fun aunt as you can see from this picture of her with Joe when he was one.


We love her very much and hope she had a wonderful day!

Birthday Overload!

I've been away from the blog on the worst of all weekends, for I've missed wishing happy birthdays to two very special ladies!
On Friday, my Grandma Starbuck, also known as "The Great Baboo", reached the illustrious age of 87. (She's related to the whaling Starbucks, not the coffee Starbucks, which makes a world of difference.) During my growing up years, Gram lived a couple hours' drive away, which, I remember as a kid, thinking was way too far! Five years ago she moved to a retirement community close by, so we now get to see her once or twice most weeks. She has a true appeal to children. I remember it from when I was a kid, and I see the same chemistry between her and my kids. They just adore their Great Baboo! At the age of 87, she still is active in a couple clubs, a Bible study, and goes to water fitness classes. That is inspirational!

Saturday was the birthday of my brother's wife, Niki, who turned 32. Just being my brother's wife earns her a badge of honor, to begin with, but she also adds a fun and unique flair to our family. For example, on her birthday, Niki was going with a friend to an old-fashioned ball at an old, mansion-ish house, where people were going to dress in period costumes. Doesn't that just sound totally cool? And Niki knew about it, and Niki went. I haven't heard yet, but I'm hoping she had a wonderful time.

We went to another birthday party on Saturday, which I'll blog about on Wednesday.

Oh - and today was my birthday, but I'll cover that one tomorrow.

Fun Book Game

Julia blogged about this, and I thought it looked like it could be fun.

The rules are:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog (or here in the comments if you don't have a blog), along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet. I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

I stuck to the rules and my nearest book is a kids' book that barely has 123 pages.

"A little distance away, Klaus leaned against the rail. Now that the Mayflower no longer pitched and rolled, Sarah dared to go over to him. 'Are you glad we're here?' she asked.
"Aye, Lass'."

And I do believe that's the first time I've ever typed the words "aye, lass".

My Hero

While I have considered our kitchen project "done" for a few months now, there are still a few little finishing touches that need to be added. One of these was the cabinet and drawer pulls, which, we found, are a VERY convenient thing to have. We've been prying cabinets and drawers open by their edges ever since the new doors were installed (in Auguest?), and I must say, I was very tired of it. The decision on which type of pulls were the perfect ones was a bit overwhelming for us, but we finally did it. (Actually, I think our time of three months is about two years faster than our brother-in-law in Seattle, so we can feel good about that. :) Tonight Matt installed the final knobs, and we're both very pleased with how they look. As we were cleaning up from supper, we both made a big deal about commenting each time we had to open a drawer or cabinet, "Wow! That's just so nice!...What a perfect door pull!...Handles on the fronts of drawers are just SO convenient!" I guess that's the nice thing about waiting for something...you appreciate it so much more when you have it.

My Favourite Christmas Music

I got cybertagged by my cousin, Julia, to write about my favourite Christmas music. It was a game of tag which came from her friend in Malaysia where they spell "favorite" with a "u" which makes it look so classy, don't ya think? Anyway, I've never been cybertagged before, and I've had a lot of fun thinking about the topic.

My first thought is to go with Drew Barrymore's line in Ever After, "I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the heavens." I love almost all Christmas music as long as they don't take a traditional carol and make it way too groovy. Amy Grant, Martina McBride, and Point of Grace are my main Christmas staples, but there are many others I enjoy. What makes a good song to me is the lyrics, so I love it when the words of a song are clever and make you think about truth in a new way, like Point of Grace's One King..."One king held the frankincense; one king held the myrrh; one king held the purest gold; and one King held the hope of the world." It seems like a lot of my Christmas favorites deal with the idea of Christ being our hope. Love Has Come by Amy Grant, and Let There be Light and Hope is Born Again by Point of Grace are good ones in this department. Our church choir is singing an old hymn as part of our Christmas worship service tomorrow night, and I think it fits all categories of a good song. The message is profound and stated in a poetic way, and the harmonies are gorgeous, so it's probably going down as my new favorite for this year.

Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
all for love's sake becamest poor;
thrones for a manger didst surrender,
sapphire paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
all for love's sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man;
stooping so low, but sinners raising,
heav'nward by thine eternal plan.
Thou who wast God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man.

Thou who art Love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.
Emmanuel within us dwelling,
make us what Thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art Love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship Thee.

Now I tag Team Smith in Africa (hopefully, they'll be able to connect sometime soon) and Bridget, who seems sort of musical. Hope they have as much fun as I had thinking about this topic.

For Mothers

I've been reading A Mom After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. The title refers to the mother who views her job as mother as an appointment from the Lord and seeks Him and His will as revealed through Scripture, in that role. I came across an inspiring quote this evening in the chapter entitled "Train Your Children in God's Ways".

"God has entrusted you with a new generation. And He's also given you all of the grace and strength and power and wisdom and love you will need for every step and second along the way. Believe it and own it. Never forget - you are a mom after God's heart. For this you were born."

That is so reassuring!

The author also shares what she calls "the most frightening 'mom' verse in the Bible", Prov. 23:6: "My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways."

There's my dose of conviction for the day!

My Slippers

I try not to be a clothing martyr, but I had to post this picture of my slippers. I think they're about ten years old, and they're obviously well-loved. I wear them all the time in the colder months. (I guess a better word for them would be "house shoes", but that sounds sort of dowdy.) They've got a cork footbed which is still just awesome, even after all the wear. The toes have worn through on top because I've spent so much time on my knees the past few years...not praying, but playing, (which can also be worshipful). I somehow misplaced these old faithful's on Friday and had to spend the whole weekend feeling out of sorts, like something vital was missing. I'm not used to wearing just socks. Alas, today Ellie found them for me on the shoe rack right where they should have been! Of course, I never put them there (because I always need them), so I'm thinking Matt must have tried to be helpful and put them away for me. How sweet. (Let me point out that this is far from being the first time Matt has had to pick up my shoes. I'm terrible about leaving shoes lay, and then I just don't notice them. I can walk around a pair of shoes for a week, then spend ten minutes looking for where I left them. Matt is such a good husband to still laugh about this.)

I have a strong suspicion that I may get some replacement slippers as a gift sometime this month. I'll miss these guys, but it will be nice to have slippers that keep even my big toes warm.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Today is the birthday of one of our very cutest relatives, Mary, a.k.a. Tiny Mouse! She's turning five today in the far-off state of Montana, and we're wishing she were closer, so we could tell her happy birthday and see some of her great smiles in person. We adore Mary for her generous nature and happy heart.

Mary's also a great person to have around when you're having a water relay. She's one persistent little cup bearer. I would say she was the unofficial MVP of her team in this water relay pictured last summer.With Mary being just a few months older than Ellie, I have some cute pictures of them together through the years. This one is when they were two, and it's one of my favorite pictures of all time. We love you, Miss Mary! Happy Birthday!

Blog? What Blog?

So I haven't been the most faithful blogger for the past couple weeks...something had to give. Hopefully, I'm back now.

We got our Christmas tree today...yippee! It's all decorated now and gorgeous. I think I suffer from Christmas Tree Lot Proportion Distortion Disorder (CTLPDD). No matter what the little measuring device says, I cannot judge the size of a tree when it's under the wide, blue sky. We get our trees home and either have to lop off two feet from the top to make it stand up in our living room or stand back and wish it were just a little closer to the ceiling. Our tree is definitely on the large side this year, probably in reaction to our tree being on the small side last year. I was looking for "bigger", and BIGGER I got. After losing count of how many hundreds of lights I was having to put on, I decided that it was way too big, so next year we'll be looking for "smaller"...which means, of course, that Erin will be able to put the star on the top while standing flatfooted on the floor.

As I was stringing the lights on the tree, I was listening to a Point of Grace Christmas CD and ended up hitting repeat on the song "Let There Be Light" about twenty times...

"Let there be light!
Let it shine bright!
Piercing the darkness with dazzling white.
Hope for the hopeless was born on that night,
when God sent His Son,
He said, 'Let there be light!' "

The joy of this time of year just seems to grow deeper with each passing year!

I'll try to post some pictures later...I'm not that far back into the blog yet.

Happy Birthday, Hans!

My last post was about what happened one decade ago in the state of Virginia, and today we are celebrating another event that happened one decade ago, but in the state of Montana. We are sending birthday wishes across the miles to our nephew/cousin, Hans. We see Hans once or twice a year, and it's something that we (especially our kids!) look forward to. He's a really happy, really imaginative little guy. (I guess I should say "guy" and leave the "little" out now that he's ten. Sorry, Hans.)

This past summer Hans was the captain and crew of the cardboard box boat for our team during our Fourth of July celebration, and he won the race! Of the four teams, he was the only boater who actually made it all the way across the pond, but that still counts. In the picture below he is just finishing his victorious voyage.

Today Hans and his family were going bowling to celebrate the big event. I hope the day is fun and that it kicks off another spectacular year for him!

One Decade Ago, in the State of Virginia

Today is the tenth anniversary of the first day of the rest of my life...my first date with Matt. It's also the birthday of two of my previous roommates (and they weren't twins). My college roommate, Polly, and I have this cool connection in that I had the first date with Matt on her birthday, and she had the first date with her future husband on my birthday. Pretty fun. Happy Birthday to Polly and Cheryl, by the way!

Our first date came after we'd been carpooling for more than a year, so we already knew each other very well, but it was still exciting. I actually earned the date as a prize for completing a photo scavenger hunt that Matt sent me on when I was making a road trip back to Taylor. (He had a plan.) What a prize! The date was pretty normal, dinner and a movie, but like I said, exciting!

We celebrated tonight by babysitting for some friends of ours whose two girls were born within days of each of our two girls. It's like having two sets of twins when they come over, and they're very dear to us. Joe's outnumbered but doesn't seem to mind being the only boy, since he's still the oldest and gets to be in charge. These girls just got a new baby brother last month, so Joe will soon have some more masculine company.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Yesterday, out of the clear blue, Erin started calling me "Your Majesty". I'm glad someone around here is starting to get the idea.

Cheap Thrills

Joe is definitely one of those "high-energy" kids who needs a constant outlet for his momentum,so just imagine how excited I was to discover a new way of wearing him out with very little expenditure of energy on my part. This past weekend I was playing "kitty" with the girls (again!), and I made them some kitty toys by tying little stuffed animals onto a piece of yarn. Joe saw them playing and got so into the idea of batting at the toy and trying to pounce on it before I pulled it away! He played for as long as I would yank the little string and was winded when he was done. It may seem like a little thing, but after dealing with the ants in his pants on a daily basis, I say it's an answer to prayer...and very blog-worthy!

Goodbye to Megan

We were up at Matt's folks' last weekend for a rondevouz (sp?) with our niece Megan who is soon heading to Montana to seek her fortune. (Megan is the oldest of 15 grandchildren on Matt's side. Our Erin is the youngest, with all the others pretty much evenly spread out between. It's awesome to have so many ages and stages in the same family!) Megan's moving out west to work at a place that runs dogsled tours, which is not your ordinary job, but very Megan. And how, you may ask, does one get into a job such as this? Megan has a degree in back-country horsemanship and is a recent graduate of an intensive course in photography...not to mention she has family ties in Montana (Matt's sister) with connections to the dogsled place. She is certainly in our prayers as she heads out. The Ohio part of the family will definitely miss her. Joe put it best when he said that his Montana cousins are the only ones happy that Megan is moving. We look forward to hearing more about the world of mushing, not to mention seeing how the Lord will direct this new stage of her life.

By the way, we made it back from our trip with everything that we took with us! High five!

Indian Summer

We've enjoyed a bit of an Indian summer this week, with highs in the 60's. It's not really my favorite weather, (I love winter and always look forward to it getting cold and staying cold) but it did give the kids some nice days to play outside. I got this picture of the girls playing by their treehouse today. Matt built the treehouse in the summer of 2005 because I really thought we needed a cool place for the kids to hang out in the backyard. It's a platform that's right under some low-hanging branches, and it has a slide out one side. The kids haven't taken to it like I thought they would...or like I know I would have when I was a kid! Now that it's been up for about a year, they are starting to play on it more. I actually took this picture so Matt could see that all his labor was not in vain. Great treehouse, Daddy-o!

Turkeys

"For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations"
Psalm 100:5

Matt and Joe had a fog day today; their second one this year. Hope we have a mild winter...not really. Anyway, it was great to have them both here all day, and it was nice timing as I had a little craft prepared for a day such as this. Joe and Ellie made these turkeys, which are attached to cans for holding little notes of what we're thankful for. After we made the turkeys I got out my Bible to read Psalm 100 about thankfulness. As soon as I said I was going to read Psalm 100, Joe said, "Psalm 100..." and proceeded to recite the entire psalm from memory! It just totally freaked me out! I guess he's been memorizing this with his Sunday School class for some time now, but I had no idea. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open, thinking, "How is he doing that?!" So, I guess I don't have a child who can spontaneously spurt scripture, but it did make for a nice moment. As you can see from the picture, Erin didn't make a turkey, so she felt that she had to act like one.

One thing I can put in the turkey cans tonight is that Matt painted our registers today. Some were black, some were green, some were brown, and one was even pink...all were chipped and very yucky looking. Now all are black and glossy, and while they don't look like new, they're pretty good for being 100 years old. Matt has a very sore index finger tonight from the spray paint can. I laughed at him for that one, but he hardly ever complains, so it must really hurt.

Goodness

It's my two favorite trees again, this time from a different angle. I took this picture last Wednesday, which was one day before our wind storm which blew all the leaves down. It really looks like the season has changed here now and color like what's in this picture is but a memory. All the glorious fall colors made me think of something I had read on God's goodness, and I wanted to share some of it.

"...God has not only given us senses but that which gratifies them; and this too reveals His goodness. The earth might have been as fertile as it is without its surface being so delightfully variegated. Our physical lives could have been sustained without beautiful flowers to regale our eyes with their colors, and our nostrils with their sweet perfumes. We might have walked the fields without our ears being saluted by the music of the birds. Whence, then, this loveliness, this charm so freely diffused over the face of nature? Verily, 'The tender mercies of the Lord are over all His works' (Psa. 145:9)." (Arthur W. Pink)

One Lucky Mommy

When Joe was two, he used to do this little role call whenever we sat down for lunch. In his tiny, little boy voice, he'd say, "One baby Ellie, one big boy Joseph, and one lucky mommy!" Last night I felt like I had earned that title all over again, when I walked into Joe's bedroom and found his first-ever note written to me in his own handwriting. I had just finished tucking him in when Matt went into his room and found him laboring over his little magnadoodle. By the time Matt got there, he had written, "Der M..." Matt helped him spell "dear" correctly, then Joe finished the "Mommy" and left the note laying on his bed where I would see it when I went in to wake him up this morning. He was so thrilled with himself! He told me how he wished he had more room so that he could have written, "I love you." "Of course," he said, "Daddy would have had to help me with the heart." Tonight he got another magnadoodle and finished the message. It's not luck...I AM SO BLESSED!!!

Crazy Color Day!

Oh, if all of school were as much fun as kindergarten! Today was Crazy Color Day for Joe, as a celebration of finishing a unit on colors. The kids were to wear as many colors as possible, and they did fun, colorful stuff (like eating geen eggs and ham) all day. Joe was going to wear our rainbow clown wig but decided it was too itchy, so this was his color. Erin has dubbed this Joe's "hemigana" shirt. (WARNING: This is one of those long stories that might only be amusing to the parents of the children in the story. Proceed at your own risk.) Erin calls all sunsets and sunrises "hemigana's" because of the song that is sung in the opening of The Lion King. In the movie, as the sun rises over the African savannah, African voices can be heard chanting, "Hemigana, hemigana-yana, hemigana, hemigana-yana..." (At least that's how it sounds to us.) Erin first started calling real sunsets in the sky hemigana's, but the first time she saw Joe wearing this shirt, she yelled, "Hemigana!" And she still notices it today. The first thing she said when she saw Joe this morning and again after school was, "Hemigana!" Aren't family jokes so neat? If Erin had never come into our family, we would have never known about hemigana shirts.

Where I Was Coming From

"It is impossible to overestimate the great things which become possible when a young life is surrendered to the Almighty God."
(Powell, David: His Life and Times - A Biographical Commentary)

After my previous two posts, I feel like I need to clarify a few things, lest anyone think that I dislike my work as a mother or not appreciate it for the high calling that it is. I don't regret spending my time doing things to give my kids happy childhood memories, it was just that my heart wasn't right as I was doing it. My main goal with my kids is not to give them memories of fun times as a family but an understanding of and passion for God and His glory. In order to do this, I must use every opportunity to impart God's truth to them, then pray that God will write that truth on the tablet of their hearts (Prov. 3:3). Deuteronomy 6:7, says to teach the commands of God diligently to your children, but the verse before that (Here's the catch!) says that these commands must first be written on my heart. When I have a week where I've not made time to open my heart to God's Word so that it can dwell richly in me, I'm not walking in the Spirit, but relying on my own flesh to accomplish what only God can. When I'm walking in the Spirit, I will be doing the things that show my love for my kids, but not just for the sake of loving them...for the sake of God and His kingdom. What gets me really excited about this is that if God would so bless our family, not only would our kids have God, but God would have them. Like Hannah with Samuel, what a wonderful offering this would be to present to God! One of my new favorite John Piper quotes sums it all up (and really challenges me): "I plead with you to dream a dream that is bigger than you and your families and your churches. Un-deify the American family, and say boldly that our children are not our cause, they are given to us to train for a cause. They are given to us for a short season so that we can train them for the great causes of truth and mercy and justice in a prejudiced, pain-filled, and perishing world."

Kitchen Window

Living in town, we don't have any particularly stunning views out of our windows, but I do really like this view out my kitchen window. The branches of this Japanese Maple and cedar tree interweave and are a wonderful complement to each other at all seasons, but especially in the fall. The evening sun shines through these at about the time I'm preparing supper and gives me some natural beauty to enjoy. I'm sure this picture doesn't do justice.

I'm preparing tonight for church in the morning. Our sermon last week was on being filled with the Spirit. Justin talked about the idea of what fills you, controls you. Eph. 5:18 contrasts being filled with the Spirit to being drunk with wine. The Spirit should control us just as wine controls a drunk person. Col. 3:16 is a good parallel to the Ephesians passage and it says that we are to "Let the Word of Christ richly dwell in (us)"...The Word of God dwelling in us is the same as being Spirit-filled. The memorable quote for me was, "It's not how much of the Spirit I have, it's how much the Spirit has of me." This week, I'm afraid it hasn't been much (see below), but I know where to go to get turned around. Let's hope and pray that I have more of the right stuff dwelling richly in me this week.

Trick or Treat

Here's the trick or treat line-up for this year. We have...
a fly, (It was hard to get a good picture of this one!)

an Indian girl, (Thanks, Grandma Barb!)

and a "leedle tiny mousie"!


It was a cold, wet night. Erin made it to a total of six houses before we headed home. Joe and Ellie kept on for about an hour, which was much longer than they've ever gone before. The costumes are the fun part of this day for the kids, while they each have a different take on the candy. Joe came back home, dumped his candy on the floor, and said, "I don't really like any of this stuff." He's a picky eater and it extends to candy, too, which is fine by me. Erin just likes to look at the colorful candy wrappers. After each house, she had to stop and examine her treat closely before we could go on. Ellie likes most of her candy and likes to make it last. Today I found her eating her last "Smartie", one hour after she had started the first piece!

And so we made it through. Today the kids were talking about how they wish it could be trick or treat every night. No, thanks. I'm ready to get onto the next set of holidays. Halloween has taken so much of my time and energy, and I somehow feel some of it could have gone to better endeavors.

Matt's Favorite Night

NOT! Tonight was jack-o-lantern night at our house, and now, thankfully, it's over! Every year I get the pumpkins cleaned out and ready to carve, then leave the honors of carving to Matt. There's something about working with a sharp knife in a room with three kids who are so excited they can't stand still that Matt doesn't like...hmmm. He always does a great job at the carving and this was the best year yet as far as him seeming like he was enjoying himself. This is just one of those things he does that shows how much he really loves his kids. Someday maybe the kids will be carving jack-o-lanterns with our grandchildren and suddenly realize how much it meant that their dad did this every year.

Pumpkin Patch

We took the traditional trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. Trick or treat is this Thursday, so we had to get going on that! It was a perfect day for it, and everybody picked their perfect pumpkin!

Erin really wanted a "leedle" one.

Joe wanted a tall one.

Ellie was content with a normal orange one. (That's my Ellie!)

While Erin liked the pumpkins, the big fun for her was poking her fingers in the mud. She does this compulsively whenever she sees dirt, and the pumpkin patch had so many muddy spots that it was almost too much for her!


Joe led everyone in a big cheer when we were done (and when Mommy had finally gotten enough pictures).


Then we headed for home.

Red Wet Rat

We had a nice visit up at Matt's folks on Thursday and Friday. It was memorable in that we didn't forget anything when we left (at least not after we left for the second time). We always forget something. We accidentally left the kids' sleeping bags and all our toiletries at our house, though, so I think the reason we did better is that we forgot everything before we got there. We relaxed and had fun, but I was glad to get back home to my toothbrush on Friday night.

While we were there, the kids watched Lady and the Tramp, which has a "scary" part with a rat in it. After the movie as our kids were playing and acting out the story, we had the hardest time trying to understand what the girls were talking about. We finally realized that they were saying "rat", but it sounded just the like the way they say the words "red" and "wet". So when we got Ellie and Erin to say, "The red, wet rat," it sounded like they were saying the same word three times in a row. It was funny, but maybe you had to be there.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Today is the birthday of one of our top seven favorite nieces, Rachel! She is turning 20, which is, of course, significant, as she’s leaving the teens behind. (You’re just getting old, Rach!) Rachel’s one of those wacky but quiet people. (She’d make a great blogger!) who’s sweet and agreeable and just fun to be around. Her nice disposition might come from having three younger brothers, or maybe she’s nice in spite of that! :) God has truly blessed Rachel with an amazing sense of responsibility and a lot of discernment, making her seem wise beyond her years. Oh, that I only had her wisdom as I was starting my 20’s! Rachel’s family lives back the lane from Matt’s folks and we just started noticing this year that one of Ellie’s first questions when we get to that neck of the woods is if she’s going to get to see Rachel. (I think Ellie’s sort of quiet and wacky, too, so she must be drawn to Rachel.) We don’t see Rachel as much as we used to now that she’s away at college and work so often. We’re actually hoping to bump into her today, as we’re heading up that way and Rachel’s home on fall break. Then we’ll be able to give her a hug to go along with our best birthday wishes!

One-Man Star Wars Trilogy

Doesn't the title of this post just say it all? Last night Matt and I met up with his sister, Carrie, and two of her daughters, Megan and Emily, to go to a very unique performance entitled "One-Man Star Wars Trilogy". This guy came out on stage with no props, no costumes, no scenery, and acted out the entire trilogy (episodes 4, 5,& 6) in about an hour. (I hope picturing this makes you laugh.) He did voices and sounds, sang the music, and was all over the stage...I thought it was hillarious! There were a few Jedi in the audience with their light sabers, and I got a picture of our party with some of them afterwards (much to Emily's dismay!).


I've only gotten into Star Wars over the past few years, and I attribute a lot of it to Carrie's influence. She's the one who loaned me the books...sort of my Star Wars go-to girl. After last night I'm ready to go back and watch all the videos again, but I still don't own a light saber or a functioning R2-D2!

Another funny thing that happened today as I was looking over the program from last nght's show...On the cover the date was given as October 10, 2007. I read it and thought (seriously thought!), "OH! It's 2007?! I've been writing checks wrong! Is it really 2007?!" About 30 seconds later I was straight again, but I'm still laughing at myself that I could've even thought that. I guess my mind was still in a galaxy far, far away!

Art Eyes

Joe brought these glasses home from school the other day. They were his first school art project. His art teacher tells the kids that when they have these on, they can use their "art eyes".

A Thousand Days

We discovered a new park not too far from us and spent some time playing and hiking there yesterday. It was really a beautiful spot and the day was beautiful, too. We ate fresh apples as we walked along paths rimmed with golden leaves, beside a lake which mirrored it all. The kids chased the ducks around the lake, then later played on the swings and slides. Joe even demonstrated his new skill of crossing the monkeybars hand over hand. Before we went home the girls picked some flowers for me, then we put them in their hair. Ellie said that she was "just like a bride except for the dress and veil". (I had to give this description because my camera batteries died after the first couple shots. That was the only thing that went wrong on the trip.) It was a wonderful afternoon, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Days like this always make me think of Psalm 84:10,"Better is a day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere..." Even this perfect day, repeated a thousand times, couldn't compare to one day (or one minute) in the presence of God. What a joy it is to know that, because of Christ, I'll have an eternity of days that are infinitely happier than this one!

Spider Hunt

I thought this was funny...

The other day Joe came to me as I was preparing supper to ask me to come kill a spider for them. As this is not one of my favorite activities, I asked some questions and found out that the spider was not in a location that was truly bothering them. I knew that Matt would be home soon, so I told them to wait until he got there to take care of the problem or take care of it themselves. (Do I sound like a cruel, heartless mother?) I heard Joe praying as he left the kitchen, "God, please help me to be brave enough to kill the spider." A few minutes later all three kids were back in the kitchen, so thrilled with themselves because they had a spider carcass to throw in the trash. Joe had thrown a beanbag at the spider and hit it, but he still didn't know if it was dead, so he sent Erin to pick up the beanbag. When they ascertained that the spider was, indeed, dead, Joe gave Ellie the job of picking it up with a tissue and throwing it in the trash. Joe was so proud of their teamwork! I guess God answered his prayer...or at least He helped someone be brave.

The Littlest Ballerina

Each week when we've left Ellie for her ballet classes, Erin has been heartbroken. Last week she cried to me, "But I love the beautiful balleriner girls!" So today I brought her home, put her in Ellie's dress-up tutu, and let her do her own dancing. We have a video which is like a virtual ballet class with a ballerina teaching the TV audience as if they were in her studio, then directing them as they dance a part in The Nutcracker. It's so cute to watch Erin because she tries so hard to do just what the teacher does, and she's so intent! She also responds verbally to all the teacher's instructions like (our personal favorite), "Make sure your bum is under you." Anyway, these are some of the many pictures I took. They were just too cute to post only one.

A Gem of A Day

As we attempt to teach our children what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength, one of the points we want to drive home to them is the joy of the Lord's Day. We are so blessed to be able to fellowship with other believers, worship the living God, and learn from His word! One of the little practices we've gotten into to enforce the specialness of Sunday to the kids is giving an "under-the-pillow treat" each Sunday morning. It's never anything big, (usually something like a Hershey's Kiss or a couple stickers) but to them it's a little something that makes Sunday stand out as special from all the other days. Today the treats were Ring Pops, which were something new to them and got a big thumbs up. Don't they look like they are about to activate their "Wonder Twin Powers" in this picture?!

Church was a feast. Justin has been preaching out of Ephesians for the past year (He's very thorough!) and for the last two Sundays he's been on 5:17: "So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." HUGE topic, full of mystery! Last week he talked about the moral will of God (what is revealed in scripture) versus the sovereign will of God (a mystery to man). One of the things he preached about today is the importance of scripture in Biblical decision-making. Scripture gives us the moral will of God; (be saved [2 Peter 1:2-4]; be pure [IThess. 4:3]; be thankful [I Thess. 5:18]; be submissive to human institutions [I Peter 2:13], etc.) and if I'm practicing the revealed will of God, then I'm in God's will! If I'm not practicing it, then I need to stop the decision-making process and go back to get right with God's Word. Obviously, within God's revealed will there may be more than one good option for each decision and one of the methods Justin talked about for weighing those options was to list the pros and cons of each, then to go to scripture and give each pro or con a numerical weight based one how it lines up with scripture. (His example was if you were deciding whether or not to move to a new location, having a strong local church to join would get a rating of five, whereas having a beach out your front door would get a zero since our spiritual welfare has nothing to do with beaches.) You can then add the pros of option A to the cons of option B and compare that number to the cons of option A added to the pros of option B to see a Biblical comparison of the two options. (I really wish I had his nifty little chart to show this. Sorry if it's too confusing.) The point that struck me was that the way we are to weigh the pros and cons is based on scripture, not our personal desires. The Bible is so amazing in that it is so complete for all of life!

"...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."
2 Peter 2:3