Robots, Gratefulness, and Cows

Ezekiel & Isaiah were invited to a friend's robot birthday party yesterday, which inspired their creativity today...





We didn't begin creating until this evening, so we will have to finish over the course of the next few days and I'll post the finished product. They're already talking about using them as Halloween costumes! Wow, I don't know that they'll be in very good shape by then, but we can sure try!

During bedtime we read out of either Ezekiel's "Adventure Bible for Early Readers" or Isaiah's "The Jesus Storybook Bible"--2 excellent children's Bibles we would highly recommend! They usually listen well, but tonight they both were asking for another story, then Ezekiel says, "I love reading the Bible! It is so exciting!!" Our job as parents is WAY far from over, but an excitement and love for God's Word is definitely something we want them to have and they are catching it! It's not every day we get reminders that we're on the right track, but thanks for the encouragement tonight, God!

One last thing...I guess there's two. Both boys' prayers are primarily thankful, but sometimes Ezekiel likes to get creative. He'll thank God for chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, fish...any clue what those have in common?


All things we can eat! So tonight Ezekiel thanked God for the grass (not the first time he's done that, but...) because it feeds the cows and makes them fat so we can eat them. I had to chuckle!!!

Fabulous 2010

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are beginning a strong new year! I wanted to share something with you and offer up a challenge. Last January I began a scripture memory challenge that was issued by Beth Moore on the Living Proof Ministries blog (you can check out her post if you'd like). I've loved God for as long as I can remember, but agreed with Beth, I wanted a Jesus year! I want to learn and NEVER grow stagnant and comfortable with where I am in relation to Christ. I want to love Jesus more tomorrow than I do today. So I accepted the challenge and the accountability that was suggested. On the 1st and 15th of each month in 2009 we were to leave a comment on her post sharing the verse we chose, along with our name and where we were from. I do not know whether she will issue the challenge this year, but I believe God wanted me to see the immense blessing in treasuring His Words in my heart. I can't tell you how many dozens of times my verses would pop into my mind while I was doing something, strengthening me to keep going, or reminding me to keep my mouth shut, or to wait on the LORD, or to remember His greatness and mercy. I thought 24 verses was a small enough number to try to tackle for my first year of scripture memory. God gave me the mental power to put those verses to memory and I am ready to take on another year! God wants His Word to be in our hearts--you may already practice scripture memory--AWESOME! You may have learned powerful scriptures like John 3:16 over the course of your spiritual journey--AWESOME! You may have never memorized a word of scripture in your life--now's the perfect time to start! And to add to your arsenal of weapons to use against the enemy when he tries to knock you down.

I am going to continue memorizing scripture this year because of how powerful it has been in my life in the past year...I'm wondering if you would be game, too? Single verses, sections or chapters broken down into bits. I know if I had not felt accountable to someone, I could have too easily dropped off. If you would like to journey with me this year, I encourage you to leave a comment here sharing your scripture verse with translation and your name. I'll update on the 1st and 15th with my verse and you can choose to memorize mine with me, pick one of your own, or see what others have chosen and pick one of theirs. I can't wait to see where God takes us in 2010!

For January 1st, I'm beginning the year with Psalm 27:4 from the NIV

"One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek Him in His temple."

May you be blessed in this journey!

Exciting News!!!!

So there's at least 20 things I could catch up on in bloggy land, but it's getting late, and this one's important, so I'm going to focus on just one :)

On Monday, September 28, 2009, Ezekiel decided to sing "Happy Day" by Fee. It goes a little like this...'O, happy day! Happy day! You washed my sins away! O, happy day! Happy day! I'll never be the same!..." So I asked Ezekiel, "What does it mean to have your sins washed away?"
Ezekiel: "You get baptized and ask Jesus into your heart."
Mommy: "Do you have Jesus in your heart?"
Ezekiel: "No, but Daddy hasn't..." (not sure I remember, but it's not important :)

I went on to let Ezekiel know that this was a very important decision that he needed to make, so we wanted to let him come to us to talk about it--we totally did not want to pressure him into anything. So I asked him if he wanted to talk to Daddy and I about it that day. Why, yes, he did :) So that night after our bedtime prayers, Ezekiel asked Jesus to come into his heart!

We had a wonderful family day together on Tuesday, then Wednesday morning we had a baptism service in our bathtub. The church baptistry seemed a little daunting (and deep!), so we had a holy, intimate moment right here, but I caught it on video because we wanted to share it with you!



Daddy and Mommy are so proud of your decision, Ezekiel!

I'm long overdue...

but we've gotta start somewhere. The garden pictured in the previous post looks much different today. Our corn, broccoli, sugar snap peas and lettuce did really well and are done growing so they all got uprooted this afternoon--who knew lettuce would be so easy and corn so hard to uproot??? I guess their size should have given me some clue, but I'm not always as smart as I look--haha! Our poor, poor watermelons had to be uprooted before we could harvest a single one. A wise word to any who would be looking to plant a garden/seedless watermelon next year--you must plant a seedless watermelon ALONG WITH a seeded variety. Something to do with pollination and how they have to alter the seeds to produce a seedless melon. I was so sad! Ezekiel requested watermelons and Isaiah requested strawberries and we got neither! Out of the 25 strawberry plants I planted, only 1 (no that was not a typo, that's ONE) plant grew. I tell you that was one expensive plant! Plus, strawberries don't tend to produce the first year they are planted, so we should have some next year, but no fruit for my boys right now. Bummer.

Life continues to move at lightning speed, although Craig is moving much faster than the boys and I this week. We had our first day of school on Wednesday (the same day the public schools began), then again today, so my Tuesday was spent lesson planning and reorganizing like a madwoman, but we got it done and now we get to rest tomorrow. The boys are already looking forward to the weekend.

Our ladies' small group study of Esther has been so much fun and so very insightful. God continues to teach me the importance of timing, waiting, and the value (and detriment) of our words. But that above all, He is working for our good, He loves us, He is totally prepared to fight for us, and He already proved His loyalty by dying for us. WOW! The LORD is an amazing God, so faithful and trustworthy. May I bring Him glory in my everyday actions and attitudes.

Have you learned anything worth remembering lately? Maybe we can learn from each other!

I've been dying to get some pics of our garden on here, and since we're short on time, I can just show a few, but here goes...
If you look closely you can see

broccoli growing

a baby cucumber (between the flower and the stem)

a baby watermelon

Isn't it amazing!

Stay with it!!!

Okay, ladies, I am so glad you had a great study tonight! I know a few of you couldn't be there, but hopefully you'll be able to make it next week :) Blogwise...I know not everyone is at the same part of the prayer study--don't worry about that, okay?! The main thing is that you're learning and growing and if we're sticking with this together that's gonna happen. Please don't ever NOT come to a meeting because of not doing your homework--not a good excuse. Let it be an encouragement to get the stuff done, but not to prevent attendance. Over this next week go ahead and take the time to finish the prayer study. Feel free to copy and paste the study into a word document and print it out if you're not on the internet/computer very often, then you'll have it with you whenever you have your quiet time. IF you are caught up on the prayer study, great! I would love for you to continue journaling (writing/typing) your prayers in the format we studied, but begin reading through the book of Ruth--it's only 4 chapters long and the only other book in the Bible with the title of a woman. Like Beth said, totally different story, but still about a woman. Take note of any tidbits of info you've never noticed before. Ask the who/what/when/where/why questions after and during your reading. I would encourage you to break it down into 5 days:
Day 1-Chapter 1:1-18
Day 2-Chapter 1:14-2:16
Day 3-Chapter 2:14-3:6
Day 4-Chapter 3:5-4:6
Day 5-Chapter 4:5-22

Again, please don't feel like you need to do the prayer study, read Ruth, and do Esther. That's way too much! There's no Esther study until Friday, July 3--so don't do that this week. I would like for you to complete the prayer study--if you don't get to Ruth, that's completely fine, but do continue to journal your prayers each day, even if you're not doing anything else--God wants to hear from us!

Okay, I'll let you be--I've thoroughly enjoyed this last week of study, I love you all and can't wait to meet will you again--have a great Friday and weekend!

Day 7: What about thanksgiving???

God forgives us, accepts us as His children, allows us to enter into His holy presence because of Jesus’ sacrifice and gives us a new life, mind and heart. We have everything to be thankful for—even difficulties. Tough as they may be, we can thank God for His constant presence and understanding. (paraphrased from Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, page 1023)

Here’s what Beth Moore has to say on giving thanks: “What about thanksgiving? Philippians 4:6 says, “in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Incorporate thanksgiving into every aspect of your prayer time. As you PRAISE, thank Him for choosing to reveal Himself to you. As you REPENT, thank Him for His faithfulness to forgive your sins. As you ACKNOWLEDGE His lordship, thank Him for being so trustworthy with His authority. As you INTERCEDE, thank Him for being your Great High Priest and adding power to your petitions. In SUPPLICATION for yourself, thank Him for knowing you intimately and desiring that you know Him. As you ask for EQUIPPING, thank Him for never calling on you to do anything He will not readily equip you to accomplish. In EVERYTHING, THANK HIM!” Whispers of Hope page 7

Take note of the thankfulness in these passages:

Psalm 136:1-26

Colossians 3:17

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

Was there anything about this study that was new to you? Any favorite lesson? Take time to journal your prayer today, including all 6 steps of P.R.A.I.S.E. as well as incorporating thanksgiving. May we treasure the truth that ours is a God who loves us immensely and desires relationship with us. May our hearts and minds continue to expand to embrace the richness of His love!