Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thanksgiving & Family
Here are some new pictures of our family and the fun we had over Thanksgiving weekend. The boys had a blast playing with cousins and running around at both grandparents house at different times. I am so aware as I look at our family God has shown us so much mercy. We ate some very delicious food and played games until our sides ached from laughter. I even attempted my first turkey to feed the whole group and praise God it turned out good for a first try.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
7 random/weird things about me
I have been tagged again by a friend over at Our Lives as Vessels of Mercy, but this time it's to tell 7 random/weird things about me....hmmmm.....where to start:
1.I hate overripe bananas....can't stand them when they get to that point where they are too brown and mushy. I don't like them under-ripe either though, right in the middle is just good.
2.Hopefully this doesn't fall into the creepy/weird category :O) But I itch my arms and hands sometimes. It just feels good and when you are wearing thick rings your hands kinda itch, it's not even because they are dry it just feels good once you start itching. My husband teases me that this kinda creeped him out one night early in our marriage when he looked over at me in bed and my arm was up in the air and I was itching it...I think that does fall into the creepy category - sorry about that.
3.My mom often mispronounced words growing up so I thought volleyBall was pronounced "volleyVall" for the longest time. Even when I played the sport (genius I know.)
4.I LOVE cheese and can get myself into some trouble eating too much. Especially sharp cheddar. I often had cheese sandwiches growing up...just mayo, bread and a thick slice of cheese.
5.I once got stuck in a vent when my sister dared me to drop from our upstairs vent to the bed in the downstairs and... you got it... I got stuck and freaked out until my dad got me out.
6.I can easily fake several accents, russian, english, new york, irish....but if we meet or when I next see you please don't ask me to do them on demand.
7. I didn't do my own hair until I was like 15, okay maybe not that old but you get the point. My sister would braid it or do my ponytails forever and just about every picture of me as a child my hair is crazy, just a mess altogether. My sister STILL does my hair, well cuts it for me anyways.
That's it for me though I am sure I could go on with more! I will tag:
1. Larissa at Living in Liberty
2. Leah at the Finn Family Blog
3.Keva at the Atwood Family blog
1.I hate overripe bananas....can't stand them when they get to that point where they are too brown and mushy. I don't like them under-ripe either though, right in the middle is just good.
2.Hopefully this doesn't fall into the creepy/weird category :O) But I itch my arms and hands sometimes. It just feels good and when you are wearing thick rings your hands kinda itch, it's not even because they are dry it just feels good once you start itching. My husband teases me that this kinda creeped him out one night early in our marriage when he looked over at me in bed and my arm was up in the air and I was itching it...I think that does fall into the creepy category - sorry about that.
3.My mom often mispronounced words growing up so I thought volleyBall was pronounced "volleyVall" for the longest time. Even when I played the sport (genius I know.)
4.I LOVE cheese and can get myself into some trouble eating too much. Especially sharp cheddar. I often had cheese sandwiches growing up...just mayo, bread and a thick slice of cheese.
5.I once got stuck in a vent when my sister dared me to drop from our upstairs vent to the bed in the downstairs and... you got it... I got stuck and freaked out until my dad got me out.
6.I can easily fake several accents, russian, english, new york, irish....but if we meet or when I next see you please don't ask me to do them on demand.
7. I didn't do my own hair until I was like 15, okay maybe not that old but you get the point. My sister would braid it or do my ponytails forever and just about every picture of me as a child my hair is crazy, just a mess altogether. My sister STILL does my hair, well cuts it for me anyways.
That's it for me though I am sure I could go on with more! I will tag:
1. Larissa at Living in Liberty
2. Leah at the Finn Family Blog
3.Keva at the Atwood Family blog
Monday, November 19, 2007
Seeking the Rare Jewel
Contentment is freely submitting to and taking pleasure in God's disposal. Submitting to God's disposal - What is that? The word submit signifies things else but 'to send under'. Thus in one who is discontented the heart will be unruly, and would even get above God so far as discontent prevails. But now comes the grace of contentment and send it under, for to sumbit is to send under a thing. Now when the soul comes to see its own unruliness - Is the hand of God bringing an affliction and yet my heart is troubled and discontented - What, it says, will you be above God? Is this not God's hand and must your will be regarded more than God's? O under, under! Get you under, O Soul! Keep Under! Keep low! Keep under God's feet! You are under God's feet, and keep under his feet! Keep under the authority of God, the majesty of God, the sovereignty of God, the power that God has over you! To keep under, that is to submit. The soul can submit to God at the time when it can send itself under the power and authority and sovereignty and dominion God has over it.
Contentment in taking pleasure in God's disposal...To be well pleased with God's hand comes from this: not only to see that I should be content in this affliction, but I see that there is good in it. I find there is honey in this rock, and so I do not only say, I must, or I will sumbit to God's hand. No, the hand of God is good, 'it is good that I am afflicted'. To acknowledge that it is just that I am afflicted is possible in one who is not truly contented. I may be convinced that God deals juslty in this matter, he is righteous and just and it is right that I should submit to what he has done; O the Lord has done righteously in all his ways! But that is not enough! You must say, 'Good is the hand of the Lord.' when it was a sore and hard word...Whatever the affliction, yet through the mercy of God mine is a good condition.
The soul that has learned this lesson of contentment looks up to God in all things. He does not look down at the instruments and means, so as to say that such a man did it, that it was the unreasonableness of such and such instruments...but he looks up to God. A contented heart looks to God's disposal, and submits to God's disposal, that is, he sees the wisdom of God in everything. In his submission he sees his sovereignt, but what makes him take pleasure is God's wisdom. The Lord knows how to order things better than I. The Lord sees further than I do; I only see things at present but the Lord sees a great while from now. And how do I know but that had it not been for this affliction, I should have been undone. I know that the love of God may as well stand with an afflicted condition as with a prosperous condition.
Taken from: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs pg.33,34
Contentment in taking pleasure in God's disposal...To be well pleased with God's hand comes from this: not only to see that I should be content in this affliction, but I see that there is good in it. I find there is honey in this rock, and so I do not only say, I must, or I will sumbit to God's hand. No, the hand of God is good, 'it is good that I am afflicted'. To acknowledge that it is just that I am afflicted is possible in one who is not truly contented. I may be convinced that God deals juslty in this matter, he is righteous and just and it is right that I should submit to what he has done; O the Lord has done righteously in all his ways! But that is not enough! You must say, 'Good is the hand of the Lord.' when it was a sore and hard word...Whatever the affliction, yet through the mercy of God mine is a good condition.
The soul that has learned this lesson of contentment looks up to God in all things. He does not look down at the instruments and means, so as to say that such a man did it, that it was the unreasonableness of such and such instruments...but he looks up to God. A contented heart looks to God's disposal, and submits to God's disposal, that is, he sees the wisdom of God in everything. In his submission he sees his sovereignt, but what makes him take pleasure is God's wisdom. The Lord knows how to order things better than I. The Lord sees further than I do; I only see things at present but the Lord sees a great while from now. And how do I know but that had it not been for this affliction, I should have been undone. I know that the love of God may as well stand with an afflicted condition as with a prosperous condition.
Taken from: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs pg.33,34
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
New Pics
Nothing much new here. We are doing well and hit the 3 month mark Monday - yeah! God is good and we continue to hope in him. He is truly doing a work in our hearts through this waiting time and is so great a God that he makes even the "hard" things good because we know he is working and is sovereign. I took these fun new pics of the boys, hope you enjoy them.
,
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Battling Anxiety
Nothing new here in terms of the adoption, we reached 11 weeks yesterday, but many new things God continues to do in our hearts as we wait for our little one. I recently watched a session from John Piper's Battling Unbelief DVD that was really good. It was on battling anxiety. The DVD basically has him teaching through the book he wrote in a seminar type format. He shared two verses that have recently become my battle cry when I am tempted to anxiety.
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
And the next Lamentations 3:22-23
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness
Piper linked these two verses together in saying that each day his it's own struggles and trials and temptation to anxiety but God has provided the perfect amount of mercy to sustain us. He talked about faith in future grace. That God will sustain us in the future with new mercies but that mercy hasn't yet been given. God has sifted my trials and coupled them with a divine amount of help and grace to sustain me and help me trust him. I don't have to have the grace for every possible situation in the future, he will give it when I'm there. It only creates more anxiety when I dwell too much on future possiblities. I have to trust him today and rest in knowing he has given me new mercies with which to worship him and not be anxious.
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
And the next Lamentations 3:22-23
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness
Piper linked these two verses together in saying that each day his it's own struggles and trials and temptation to anxiety but God has provided the perfect amount of mercy to sustain us. He talked about faith in future grace. That God will sustain us in the future with new mercies but that mercy hasn't yet been given. God has sifted my trials and coupled them with a divine amount of help and grace to sustain me and help me trust him. I don't have to have the grace for every possible situation in the future, he will give it when I'm there. It only creates more anxiety when I dwell too much on future possiblities. I have to trust him today and rest in knowing he has given me new mercies with which to worship him and not be anxious.
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