Yesterday our pastor (Gary Hendrix) preached a marvelous sermon on "More than Conquerors" from Romans 8:37 ("No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."). He gave the example of World War II, where we (the US) won. Yet in winning, we lost many things, many young men who might have been great assets to society in other ways. Winning cost us financially and in many other ways.
But he said, being more than conquerors means that you win, and you are no worse off for it, but better. No casualties. No wounded. No loss of any sort. MORE than conquerors!
This means that I cannot lose. Nothing can be against me. As the pastor said, it would be far better never to sin. Yet when we are in Christ, sin cannot have the results upon us that Satan wishes. Satan wishes sin to make us worse, to turn us against Christ, to make us apostate. But the Holy Spirit uses our sin to convict us, to turn us to Christ, to make us more humble, more like Christ, more dependent on Him.
I cannot lose. It takes away my fear. If I remain healthy all my life, I cannot lose. If God gives me debilitating sickness, I cannot lose. If I have the large family I have desired - or if He gives me only a few children - either way, I cannot lose. If my husband dies at a young age, if we have nuclear war, if I never seem to succeed at the things I struggle with, if I never see the fruit of my labors - yet I cannot lose! Nothing can be against me, in Christ. Everything, everything, will have the result upon me of more than conquerors, of winning with no loss whatsoever to my ultimate condition. Nothing can cause me real harm or lasting detriment. I cannot lose!
If I could live remembering this, I would be a joyful person, no longer so discouraged over disappointed expectations or unmet goals; for whatever the outcome of this day, God shall use it to do me good and not evil. He has promised. He always keeps His Word!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Kid News - October 2007
This is a very short KidNews, but I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts. Maybe someday I'll have time to post a few pictures.
Emily now says "booh" (grape. Don't ask me how that works... but it sounds different than the "boo" for "book"), "ame" (amen), "shoo" (something like that - for "thank you"), and "hsh" (shoe). She loves to carry around heavy things, and also put things onto a chair and push them around.
We put Katherine's talking globe away for a while, since she started not wanting to hear certain country songs or turn the globe on/off by herself (she has this thing about unexpected sounds - even sounds that she knows are coming). But just today we got the marble tower out again, since Emily (mostly) will keep marbles out of her mouth now. Both girls enjoyed that.
I also got out some of my old childhood legos out of the attic (which include some of my Mom's childhood legos!), and those have been enjoyed as well.
Most reading this will already know that #3 is on the way, and making Mommy verrrrry tired. Though less tired now that I finally weaned Emily two weeks ago. Before that I had no energy for a week or two, and decided I just couldn't go on that way. Anyway - they did finally find a heartbeat at my first prenatal appointment, for which I thank the Lord (it took awhile to find). Lord willing, baby will be due in the first part of May.
Emily now says "booh" (grape. Don't ask me how that works... but it sounds different than the "boo" for "book"), "ame" (amen), "shoo" (something like that - for "thank you"), and "hsh" (shoe). She loves to carry around heavy things, and also put things onto a chair and push them around.
We put Katherine's talking globe away for a while, since she started not wanting to hear certain country songs or turn the globe on/off by herself (she has this thing about unexpected sounds - even sounds that she knows are coming). But just today we got the marble tower out again, since Emily (mostly) will keep marbles out of her mouth now. Both girls enjoyed that.
I also got out some of my old childhood legos out of the attic (which include some of my Mom's childhood legos!), and those have been enjoyed as well.
Most reading this will already know that #3 is on the way, and making Mommy verrrrry tired. Though less tired now that I finally weaned Emily two weeks ago. Before that I had no energy for a week or two, and decided I just couldn't go on that way. Anyway - they did finally find a heartbeat at my first prenatal appointment, for which I thank the Lord (it took awhile to find). Lord willing, baby will be due in the first part of May.
Friday, September 14, 2007
new words / drought
Emily's new words since the last post: daddy, nigh-nigh (night-night), uh (up), boo (book), beah (bear), beeh (bread).
And since the rain at the end of August, we've had negligible rain until today, when the remnants of hurricane Humberto blew through, and we got perhaps an hour of rain total. The western parts of the state got rain non-stop for several hours, which was great, since they've got the worst drought conditions of all the state. And we pray for more... they say we need 12-18 inches to ease the drought at the moment. We've been in category 4 drought (out of 5) for some weeks now, and the southwestern bit of the state in category 5. In many counties, farmers have apparently lost 30% of their crops for the year, or more.
And since the rain at the end of August, we've had negligible rain until today, when the remnants of hurricane Humberto blew through, and we got perhaps an hour of rain total. The western parts of the state got rain non-stop for several hours, which was great, since they've got the worst drought conditions of all the state. And we pray for more... they say we need 12-18 inches to ease the drought at the moment. We've been in category 4 drought (out of 5) for some weeks now, and the southwestern bit of the state in category 5. In many counties, farmers have apparently lost 30% of their crops for the year, or more.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Kid News - September 2007
Katherine has gotten into her talking globe again, and loves to make it play music from whatever country she touches. She knows where a lot of countries are already.
Emily (almost 13 months old) is mostly walking now. She really took off walking, and hasn't looked back. She thinks her toes are hilarious, especially when they reappear after putting shorts on, or if she's being held such that her toes are near her hands. She still loves to put things into other things and take them out again, though not quite as much as a month ago.
She has almost stopped putting everything in her mouth, and can be told not to do that (and sometimes listens), so we've gotten out the little Legos again, to Katherine's delight - and Emily's, too. They mostly like to take apart and reassemble the Lego people, though Katherine will also build things. Emily doesn't do much building yet, though she does like to take the helmets off the Lego people's heads and then put them on again; she mostly succeeds at putting them on, to my surprise.
Emily says Mommy, no, "mmmm" (means yes), babbee (baby), jee (cheese), dee (drink), and ta-tee (toesies). She understands a huge amount and can do things that you ask her to do ("go get your baby" or "go find Katherine", etc.). She also laughs a lot and loves to be tickled - and to watch Katherine be tickled.
Emily (almost 13 months old) is mostly walking now. She really took off walking, and hasn't looked back. She thinks her toes are hilarious, especially when they reappear after putting shorts on, or if she's being held such that her toes are near her hands. She still loves to put things into other things and take them out again, though not quite as much as a month ago.
She has almost stopped putting everything in her mouth, and can be told not to do that (and sometimes listens), so we've gotten out the little Legos again, to Katherine's delight - and Emily's, too. They mostly like to take apart and reassemble the Lego people, though Katherine will also build things. Emily doesn't do much building yet, though she does like to take the helmets off the Lego people's heads and then put them on again; she mostly succeeds at putting them on, to my surprise.
Emily says Mommy, no, "mmmm" (means yes), babbee (baby), jee (cheese), dee (drink), and ta-tee (toesies). She understands a huge amount and can do things that you ask her to do ("go get your baby" or "go find Katherine", etc.). She also laughs a lot and loves to be tickled - and to watch Katherine be tickled.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Rain!
God just gave us 2 straight hours of rain! What a blessing! (see next post for how much we've needed it!)
Family News - August 2007
I haven't posted any KidNews for awhile, since it seemed such a daunting task to pick photos and get them ready to include in a post. But I guess anything is better than nothing, so here's a non-photo post, though I may upload photos later.
Katherine turned 3 at the end of May. She's getting more outgoing, at least to some extent. Some things she likes at the moment are
- dressing and undressing dolls
- cutting and gluing her scraps of construction paper together
- the toy "piano" that plays various snippets of songs when you push the keys (though she has figured out how to abort each musical phrase after it begins to make it more quickly cycle through to the song she likes best)
- doing Saxon "kindergarten" math with Mommy (well, it says Saxon K, but it's simple enough for a 3-year-old to enjoy and comprehend most of it; all done with manipulatives (e.g. plastic teddy bears) rather than worksheets)
She also likes to try to trace letters on some wipe-off pages, and do dot-to-dots. She likes to string beads and buttons on wires and make "necklaces". She loves to be outside, though we haven't been out much lately due to the hot weather, and the mosquitoes.
Emily just turned 1. She is just now taking off walking, more so every day, and getting steadier on her feet. She loves to hold a stuffed animal (or other item that she thinks is meant to be snuggled, even a plastic doll) up to her face and saying "awwww" (which is what I used to say when introducing a stuffed animal to her). She has a sense of humor and likes to laugh. She smiles at our camera when we want to take a picture of her, though she doesn't seem to realize that other people's cameras are also things to smile for.
She likes to take off her bib (that has a stretchy neck-hole), and so tries to take off her shirt when undressing too. She likes to take apart Duplos, though putting them back together isn't happening yet.
She says "Mommy", "no", and "ah-dah" ("all done"), claps her hands to say "please", and waves good-bye. (And those few things get her a long way!)
She's a very snuggly kid and likes to be held, though she doesn't demand it (thankfully!). She's very laid-back about things, but also has a determined spirit and usually doesn't give up quickly. She also likes to pull out her own hair so she can suck on it with her thumb... so her hair is not very long at the moment. I hope she'll outgrow that before too long.
The girls do seem to like each other, for which I thank God. I pray they will grow up to be good friends rather than rivals.
In other news...
We went to beach as a family (with David's family) in June and had a nice time (Outer Banks of NC). Almost all of David's family got to come be together for a week; an aunt and uncle from Canada came too.
Then a month later, at the end of July, Katherine, Emily, and I did "the Georgia Trip" which I've tried to do every year, to take the girls to see their cousins on the Peters side. We stayed with Matthew & Jolene (and their girls Anna and Rachel) in Augusta for a few days, then stopped to see Elizabeth and her four kids for an afternoon south of Atlanta, before going on to Chattanooga. We stayed with my Mom for a couple of days, and then she came with us back to NC and stayed for a week with us here before flying home.
While Mom was here, David's Grandad from Canada died (after a long, slow decline), so he flew up there for a couple of days for the funeral.
Sometimes it's nice to finally be home for awhile. We thank God for safe travels there and back all summer.
It's been really, really hot and dry here. We've had a drought this summer, as is not uncommon in recent years, but this year seems worse. Maybe it's because of the heat. We've hit 100 degrees fairly often this summer, which we don't often do (I think once last year). Our current drought status is only "severe" (level 3 out of 5 drought levels), but it seems more damaging than other years.
It's only mid-August, but there are trees losing their leaves as if it is fall already - only not turning color first, only turning brown. Things are dying. Trees are dying. We try to water sometimes, but it's hard to know how much good it does. We haven't had rain for several weeks now, and are praying for hurricanes to come our way (well, merciful ones at least, that dump rain without causing too much damage).
We are thankful to have air conditioning, and running water - things which make life pleasant inside, even if outside is almost suffocatingly hot (though I hear that in Iraq, when the temperatures go down to 100 degrees at night, it feels cool - so I can't complain about temps going up to 100 for a few hours during the heat of the day).
David is still at his current job for now, though it's possible that he won't have that job next year. His company was bought out by another company earlier in the year, and they are keeping on some of the old staff (including him) till the end of the year, at which point they'll see if their skills are needed in the new company or not. He stays busy doing church-related computer projects when he has time, including maintaining the website (www.grbc.net).
Katherine turned 3 at the end of May. She's getting more outgoing, at least to some extent. Some things she likes at the moment are
- dressing and undressing dolls
- cutting and gluing her scraps of construction paper together
- the toy "piano" that plays various snippets of songs when you push the keys (though she has figured out how to abort each musical phrase after it begins to make it more quickly cycle through to the song she likes best)
- doing Saxon "kindergarten" math with Mommy (well, it says Saxon K, but it's simple enough for a 3-year-old to enjoy and comprehend most of it; all done with manipulatives (e.g. plastic teddy bears) rather than worksheets)
She also likes to try to trace letters on some wipe-off pages, and do dot-to-dots. She likes to string beads and buttons on wires and make "necklaces". She loves to be outside, though we haven't been out much lately due to the hot weather, and the mosquitoes.
Emily just turned 1. She is just now taking off walking, more so every day, and getting steadier on her feet. She loves to hold a stuffed animal (or other item that she thinks is meant to be snuggled, even a plastic doll) up to her face and saying "awwww" (which is what I used to say when introducing a stuffed animal to her). She has a sense of humor and likes to laugh. She smiles at our camera when we want to take a picture of her, though she doesn't seem to realize that other people's cameras are also things to smile for.
She likes to take off her bib (that has a stretchy neck-hole), and so tries to take off her shirt when undressing too. She likes to take apart Duplos, though putting them back together isn't happening yet.
She says "Mommy", "no", and "ah-dah" ("all done"), claps her hands to say "please", and waves good-bye. (And those few things get her a long way!)
She's a very snuggly kid and likes to be held, though she doesn't demand it (thankfully!). She's very laid-back about things, but also has a determined spirit and usually doesn't give up quickly. She also likes to pull out her own hair so she can suck on it with her thumb... so her hair is not very long at the moment. I hope she'll outgrow that before too long.
The girls do seem to like each other, for which I thank God. I pray they will grow up to be good friends rather than rivals.
In other news...
We went to beach as a family (with David's family) in June and had a nice time (Outer Banks of NC). Almost all of David's family got to come be together for a week; an aunt and uncle from Canada came too.
Then a month later, at the end of July, Katherine, Emily, and I did "the Georgia Trip" which I've tried to do every year, to take the girls to see their cousins on the Peters side. We stayed with Matthew & Jolene (and their girls Anna and Rachel) in Augusta for a few days, then stopped to see Elizabeth and her four kids for an afternoon south of Atlanta, before going on to Chattanooga. We stayed with my Mom for a couple of days, and then she came with us back to NC and stayed for a week with us here before flying home.
While Mom was here, David's Grandad from Canada died (after a long, slow decline), so he flew up there for a couple of days for the funeral.
Sometimes it's nice to finally be home for awhile. We thank God for safe travels there and back all summer.
It's been really, really hot and dry here. We've had a drought this summer, as is not uncommon in recent years, but this year seems worse. Maybe it's because of the heat. We've hit 100 degrees fairly often this summer, which we don't often do (I think once last year). Our current drought status is only "severe" (level 3 out of 5 drought levels), but it seems more damaging than other years.
It's only mid-August, but there are trees losing their leaves as if it is fall already - only not turning color first, only turning brown. Things are dying. Trees are dying. We try to water sometimes, but it's hard to know how much good it does. We haven't had rain for several weeks now, and are praying for hurricanes to come our way (well, merciful ones at least, that dump rain without causing too much damage).
We are thankful to have air conditioning, and running water - things which make life pleasant inside, even if outside is almost suffocatingly hot (though I hear that in Iraq, when the temperatures go down to 100 degrees at night, it feels cool - so I can't complain about temps going up to 100 for a few hours during the heat of the day).
David is still at his current job for now, though it's possible that he won't have that job next year. His company was bought out by another company earlier in the year, and they are keeping on some of the old staff (including him) till the end of the year, at which point they'll see if their skills are needed in the new company or not. He stays busy doing church-related computer projects when he has time, including maintaining the website (www.grbc.net).
Monday, August 20, 2007
He is your life
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 - "... I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days..."
He is your life.
Every blessing is found in God Himself.
Every blessing is given by Him.
Every good thing that I would seek after, if sought apart from God, will not be enjoyed to its fullest; for He gives good things, not that we might revel in the things themselves, but that we might revel in the Giver.
Yes, He "sends rain on the just and on the unjust", and showers many blessings on those who care nothing for Him. But these will be witnesses against them in the last day, that though they received so many good things from the God of Heaven, they neither glorified Him for them, nor were thankful. (Matt.5:45. Rom.1:21).
What is it your heart longs for?
Only God can truly be "your life". That which utterly satisfies the human soul.
Every longing, every dream, pursued apart from the Source of all good things, will only disappoint us in the end.
Seek first the God who made you - for He made you for Himself.
Nothing else is able to fill His place in you.
If you have Him - only will then every blessing be truly enjoyed as He meant it to be.
He is your life.
He is your life.
Every blessing is found in God Himself.
Every blessing is given by Him.
Every good thing that I would seek after, if sought apart from God, will not be enjoyed to its fullest; for He gives good things, not that we might revel in the things themselves, but that we might revel in the Giver.
Yes, He "sends rain on the just and on the unjust", and showers many blessings on those who care nothing for Him. But these will be witnesses against them in the last day, that though they received so many good things from the God of Heaven, they neither glorified Him for them, nor were thankful. (Matt.5:45. Rom.1:21).
What is it your heart longs for?
Only God can truly be "your life". That which utterly satisfies the human soul.
Every longing, every dream, pursued apart from the Source of all good things, will only disappoint us in the end.
Seek first the God who made you - for He made you for Himself.
Nothing else is able to fill His place in you.
If you have Him - only will then every blessing be truly enjoyed as He meant it to be.
He is your life.
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