4 months!!!

You are so excited about being four months old!! You are restless when you nurse...I think you want to begin exploring. You are so very loved, my sweet Evelyn Hope. We are thankful for you!!!

Tell me the story...

“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”  Proverbs 22:6

Today, my heart is full with purpose and promise as I set out on the road He has for me. I want to be faithful in my calling (which is to parent these precious ones). I want to be faithful in staying on the "right path" that He has set before me. My job, is really to live in such a way that they are introduced to the beauty and majesty of Our Creator....and then trust Him to do the rest. I believe fully and confidently that my children belong to Him. I cannot say why, or how I know that. And I do not have any guarantees that it will not be without pain or heartbreak on the way. In fact, The Lord has already pricked my heart in some ways, telling me that it WILL be with some amount of heartache.  But if He has so generously wooed the heart of a rebel like me....well then, I know He will faithfully draw the hearts of my children as well. He is that kind.

And even my sweet Ezra, whom I suspect may bring the greatest heartache in one way or another (either by rebellion or by diving in head first to God's purposes and being met by persecution)....even now he is enamored with the cross of Christ. 

"Tell me a story mommy....tell me the one of Jesus dying on the cross!"

And so I keep telling it, over and over again....because this is my deepest prayer, that they would be enamored with the cross of Christ, and that by it, they would be reminded of God's great love for them.

Because there are other days, and many of them, when I am not so full of purpose and promise. When I am not so confident that I will ever see fruit from this labor. When I am almost certain that my own selfishness and unfaithfulness to my calling will ruin them and theirs. But thanks be to God!

It is on those days that I tell the story even more, and wonder again at its hope.

1. Tell me the story of Jesus,
   Write on my heart every word;
   Tell me the story most precious,
   Sweetest that ever was heard.
   Tell how the angels in chorus,
   Sang as they welcomed His birth,
   “Glory to God in the highest!
   Peace and good tidings to earth.”
   • Refrain:
     Tell me the story of Jesus,
     Write on my heart every word;
     Tell me the story most precious,
     Sweetest that ever was heard.
2. Fasting alone in the desert,
   Tell of the days that are past,
   How for our sins He was tempted,
   Yet was triumphant at last.
   Tell of the years of His labor,
   Tell of the sorrow He bore;
   He was despised and afflicted,
   Homeless, rejected and poor.
3. Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
   Writhing in anguish and pain;
   Tell of the grave where they laid Him,
   Tell how He liveth again.
   Love in that story so tender,
   Clearer than ever I see;
   Stay, let me weep while you whisper,
   “Love paid the ransom for me.”

Happenings.....

The time just flies by. Quite honestly, it is often Evelyn (and the fact that being number six, she has very little chance of a baby book....) that reminds me I haven't blogged.:-)

Lady Evelyn has been rolling over for a couple of weeks now. Well. Supposedly anyway. I personally haven't seen it. But, I lay her down for a nap on her tummy (I know, I know...) and come back to find her happily on her back. And Emma actually saw her go from her back to her tummy. But as far as I'm concerned, this is all way too fast, so I take it as here-say. ;-)

The kids have been loving the beach. Especially Emma and Caleb, who have been able to go out on the "fish board."

And we scored a last minute spot in Apple Camp:

And for the first time, Caleb entered his Lego creation into the fair. Grandpa Ron had taken him to see the USS Iowa, so he came home and built it in Legos. We heard that he won first place for his age division, but we haven't seen it yet. :)

Other than that, it's been lots of swimming...good books, good friends, and good food. We just finished "Morning Star of the Reformation", about John Wycliffe. I'll leave you with a favorite quote from this book:

"Christ is his own best teacher.  A man's way to Him lies in the Holy Scripture...If a man seeks to know the Scripture, that man seeks to know Christ.  Abide by that...and cling to the Scripture regardless of what men say."

Glimpses of Grace- book review

The subtitle of this book speaks so loudly and clearly about its intention: treasuring the Gospel in your home.  Gloria Furman sets out to shine glimpses of God's beautiful grace into the seemingly mundane, everyday moments of mothering young children.  This is not a how to book! You will not be given four steps to perfect parenting or five ways to have peace in your home.  In fact, the average sleep-deprived mom may find that she has to work a little bit to follow some of the theological foundations laid within the book.  But that same mom will find herself richly rewarded as the author includes funny and relatable stories about the crazy moments of mothering, and consistently points back to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as securing our salvation and our approval before God.  We know it, and can feel it...the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything! But how does it change how I respond to my two year old throwing themselves on the floor?  Well, this book does not necessarily seek to answer this question, as much as it seeks to point us back to think more fully upon Christ, and by this, our minds are transformed.  The Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of what Christ accomplished on our behalf...and this begins to change us.  This book is a valuable tool which faithfully seeks to "fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."-- Hebrews 12:2