Life as we know it has changed....

Two true stories...

A little background: Caleb has had chapped lips frequently for quite some time. He has grown to love chap-stick, and we recently discovered Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers (flavored chap-stick). We keep it on the buffet table in the kitchen, along with a pencil cup and some other frequently used supplies. There are also a few other lip-balms that we've acquired. We also require that if Caleb wants to play in the kitchen/dining room, he has to be there with one of us, because we don't have a clear view of him from the living room.

Now with the story: When we needed new Dr. Pepper chap-stick, all I could find was a three-pack with Dr. Pepper, Cherry 7-up, and A&W rootbeer flavored balms. Caleb immediately abandoned his love for the Dr. Pepper one in favor of the Cherry 7-up variety. Because he wanders in there to use it often, I offered to make it solely his and wrote his name on it with a Sharpie while he was watching.


Thursday night we were home and Caleb disappeared for a little while into the kitchen. He was really quiet, and then we heard things rolling and dropping onto the wood floor. He assured us he wasn't "doing anything" and upon further examination, here is what I discovered:




Story number two: in multimedia form! The initial instance below happened Saturday. This clip was recorded today.

Coping with Everchanging Technology

Any Day Now

Anna is so close to crawling...

(waiting for upload approval from GodTube.com in order for the video to work. For now, I'll use YouTube, with the caution that, after the video, there's the chance that something inappropriate could pop up at the end. Please check back soon)

What Kind of Tree Am I?

Today has been a minor disaster. Among other little things that happened, a 3 1/2 year old and tired and hungry don't mix well. I am ashamed to admit that I wallowed for a little while, but then something that I marvel at Scott being able to do actually happened to me.

[I always wonder how he's able to recognize spiritual implications to little things that happen and turn them into illustrations. I knew all along that those came from the Lord, but it's been too long since I've been in-tune to how the Lord ties those "loose ends" together to turn the indirect into a direct lesson for me to learn personally (apart from the obvious lessons from obvious trials/events)]

In the midst of the frustration of Caleb's public episode, getting him home and disciplining him, and decompressing afterward, I glanced out at our beautiful whitebud tree that sits in our front yard. (see previous Spring post) It's not pretty anymore. The 4 or so evenings of sub-freezing temperatures that we had for the Easter weekend wreaked havoc on our flowers and trees, which were all beginning to bud and blossom. The whitebud still has its blossoms, but they are shriveled and yellow, and the new leaves at the end of each branch are dead. It's really a sad sight.

Instead of being further saddened, though, the Lord brought to mind a Scripture verse that I had written out and posted on my bathroom mirror during a recent hard time. Let me share Jeremiah 17:7-8 with you:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.

Hard times, whether they are hulking and large or full of tiny frustrations, will prove what kind of tree I am. Have I been confident in the Lord and his strength, or have I relied on my own? I shared with Caleb today that often times one bad decision leads to many more. Past failures aside, we have the opportunity to start over now.

What will my decision be, right here, right now, about trusting the Lord? It will surely affect how I will weather both good times and bad in the future.

Sunday School Answer

You've heard the running jokes about "Sunday School Answers." There's even the one about the little boy...

The Sunday School Teacher asks the children to figure out the answer to a riddle:
What is gray, has a bushy tail, and collects nuts?
No one answers at first. Then, a boy raises his hand and, in frustration, answers,
"It sure sounds like a squirrel, but I'm gonna say Jesus."

Have you ever noticed how we segment out Bible stories, retelling the favorite ones, celebrating the heroes, and going over rules we find? Personally, I have loved learning from Scripture, but only in my college/adult years has it truly "clicked" for me that there is a common thread that runs through the tapestry of all of the beloved stories and even the difficult parts to read (Leviticus, anyone? :) ) There is a bigger picture to all of this than just a recounting of history, religion, and morality.

Caleb and Anna both received children's Bibles from our church when we participated in Family Dedication services after their respective births. Caleb loves hearing the paraphrased stories of true, real, historical heroes of the faith. Now, however, I've stumbled across something that I think will still encourage him to discover Scripture's stories all while pointing him to the One to which all of its stories reference, directly or indirectly.
I even find myself with misty eyes as I rediscover how all of the stories in the Word "whisper His name," and as I remember that this is not just a compilation of true stories, but the active work of the Living, Loving God who was willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to restore and redeem us, His creation, for His glory, if we will believe in and follow His Son.

Here a couple of excerpts from The Jesus Storybook Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones, published by Zondervan:

from "A Giant Staircase to Heaven" about the tower of Babel:

After that, people scattered all over the world (which is how we ended up with so many different languages to this day).

You see, God knew, however high they reached, however hard they tried, people could never get back to heaven by themselves. People didn't need a staircase; they needed a Rescuer. Because the way back to heaven wasn't a staircase; it was a Person.

People could never reach up to Heaven, so Heaven would have to come down to them.

And, one day, it would.

from "The Girl No One Wanted" about Leah and Jacob and Rachel:

Now when Leah knew that God loved her, in her heart, suddenly it didn't matter anymore whether her husband loved her the best, or if she was the prettiest. Someone had chosen her, someone did love her-- with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love...

...

...One of Leah's children's children's children would be a prince -- the Prince of Heaven -- God's Son.

This Prince would love God's people. They wouldn't need to be beautiful for him to love them. He would love them with all of his heart. And they would be beautiful because he loved them.

Like Leah.

from "God's Messenger" about Jonah and the Whale:

Many years later, God was going to send another Messenger with the same wonderful message. Like Jonah, he would spend three days in utter darkness.

But this Messenger would be God's own Son. He would be called "The Word" because he himself would be God's Message. God's Message translated into our own language. Everything God wanted to say to the whold world -- in a Person.

I'd recommend that every home have a copy (or borrow one from a library!)... even if you don't have kiddos! What a refreshing reminder for all of us!

You can click on the picture above to visit the publisher's website, or you can likely find it in the children's section of your local Christian book store, but I found my copy at WalMart!

Playdate

Anna is loving being around other kids her age. She enjoys being in the church nursery with Caroline and Matthew, and she really enjoyed having Lana Kate over yesterday. Here are a few shots of them in action.

There was definitely a lot of squealing and babbling as these two girls tried to communicate their excitement of playing together (as if babies this age truly play together).

It's fun to see Anna interact. She isn't saying any identifiable words yet, BUT, she waves and mimics "hi" by saying a very Southern sounding "Hah". It's really cute, and I'd love to count it as her first word, but she's not using it exclusively for "hi". Here's a picture I snapped while she was saying it:

He Is Risen Indeed....and boy howdy, it's cold up here!

We celebrated Anna's first Easter yesterday! Caleb is beginning to understand what Easter is and why we celebrate it, which is both exciting and sobering to think about. I pray that the Lord gives me wisdom on how to encourage him and teach him as he gets old enough to understand exactly who our Savior is and why he needs Him just like we do.

Our church had three services (we had to be there for all three), and thanks to our handy dandy programmable pressure cooker, we were still able to eat an Easter lunch at home. We had the Lewters over, as well as Betsy, a friend who used to be one of our students.

playing music with Betsy

Lana Kate (8 mo.)

It's been pretty cold up here, as we had snow flurries on Friday and have had lows in the 20s for 3 or 4 days. (Poor flowers and veggie garden didn't have a chance) We don't emphasize the "easter bunny" much, but we do let Caleb search for eggs. It's so odd to have to hide and find eggs when it's in the 40s outside! But we did it anyway...

"Can I go outside yet?"

Showing off a "find" while surveying for more. He never stops :)

Enjoying the loot...

Drawing My Sword?

We've had some moments lately where things to come in the future have been (and remain) unclear. As it happens, Providentially, I'm sure, the lessons I've been teaching in our small group Ladies' class at church, the book I'm reading with my discipleship girls (Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper), and in talks I've heard on the internet, the Lord has been teaching me about the products of a life that follows Him.

Our small group class for College Ladies is studying Men of the Bible (the lesser-known ones). So far we've studied Jonathan, Job, Caleb, Joseph, and Boaz, and we've covered the godly qualities that they displayed as they lived out their faith in easy and in hard times. Incidentally, those qualities are love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. (We didn't plan to do a study on fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22,23 - but look what God can teach despite us) Every one of those are things that have challenged me in recent times.

The book I'm reading talks about what makes a life truly worthwhile, what assures that it is not wasted, what true Purpose is...glorifying the One who created us with everything we do. Lately I've read the chapters on doing just that through times of pain and death, and also about learning to take risks, not for the sake of risk itself or for pride, but so that Christ can be magnified.

Then today, I listened to a talk by a pastor who went to A&M around the same time we did. Again, the Lord challenged and encouraged me. As we approach Easter week, those of us who attend church expect to hear sermons on Christ's road to the Cross. This pastor, however, doesn't aim for topical lessons. He's been preaching through the Gospel of John for about a year, and he is just now reaching the chapter that describes Christ's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Planned or not, that is very timely to the holiday season.) The perspective he took, though, is very applicable to all of us in whatever stage of life we're in. I encourage you to listen to it by clicking here if you have the chance. The sermon is titled The Sin of the Drawn Sword.

Lastly, I have another song to share with you as I did previously. It is called Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin and it is based upon Isaiah 40... waiting for the Lord. It is available for listening on the "McDonaldspot Radio" to your right. (If you click forward to find that particular song too many times, you may be asked to stop and listen for a while...that's how the FineTune service I use works.)

Taking a Risk...of sorts

We usually get caught going to Wal-Mart for groceries and other sundries, but occasionally, when I don't want to be tempted by the low-price deals on things I don't really need, we visit the Price Cutter grocery store near our home. Now that I have two kiddos, it is necessary to have some sort of cart arrangement that keeps both confined, whether that be a two-seater, one of those extended carts, or like at Lowe's, a car cart. Price Cutter has car carts, so I thought..."It's almost nap time, Caleb needs a diversion, and maybe that'll be just the ticket to getting in and out without a bad attitude episode." Don't get me wrong, he's usually great, but we have the occasional fatigue related meltdown.

Lo and behold, as we enter the vestibule of the Price Cutter, there are car carts ready and waiting. HOWEVER, there was something even more intriguing... mini carts! I had seen one in the store before and witnessed the cuteness, but also a tantrum by the darling child pushing it who didn't want her mama to tell her where to go. Should I risk it so close to nap time? Could I accurately gauge Caleb's fatigue indicators? I took a deep breath, got his attention for some "If you're going to get to do this, here's what I expect..." preparatory comments and some "If you decide not to obey, here's what will happen to your chance to push a cart" preemptive comments, and took that blind leap of faith.

Let me just say, I love when the "I love to be a helper" attitude of Caleb's kicks in! He did spectacularly, and we didn't even have any "Mama, I'm the leader- you follow me" issues that are so common with Caleb at this age. And can I mention that he was pretty cute while shopping?