Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Sophie Turns Five


Sophie is five today! Happy birthday to our sweet and sassy girl. Sophie is the little mommy of our family. She takes care of everyone (and shrieks at them if they don't cooperate). She loves to sing and tell stories. She is quite the little artist. Sophie loves our Huck-dog. She smiles and giggles and fills our home with joy!

Friday, May 25, 2018

A Pasta Recipe, Or How I Accidentally Discovered the Best Tomato Soup Ever

I was trying to copy a recipe from a favorite restaurant last week, and needed a tomato cream sauce. I tried this one and it worked well with the pan-seared chicken I was preparing. For lunch the next day, I tossed the leftover sauce into our smoothie maker to turn it into soup. It was the best tomato soup I've ever had. So make this sauce, blend it up, and enjoy with some fresh crusty bread!

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

David's Birthday


Here are a few pictures from David's birthday. Sweet friends brought us doughnuts and we took them out to David's grave. We brought a birthday balloon and flowers and Honey and Poppa had already left a heart balloon for each child. The weather was beautiful and the children enjoyed climbing trees in the cemetery. Then we went to a local nature preserve for a family hike and the kids played in the creek. We looked through David's photo albums and his memory box in the afternoon, and ordered pizza for dinner. Overall it was a good family day to remember and reflect and honor David's place in our family. Thank you to each of you who encouraged us with notes, texts, and gifts. We especially look forward to seeing "David's books" at our favorite library!

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

My Boy is Seven


So thankful for each birthday we have celebrated with our precious boy! This year he has blossomed in school and baseball. (His team won the championship game last week.) He is reading pretty fluently and can memorize anything set to music. He loves music. Daddy and Poppa are rounding out his musical education, as Mama tends to stick to classical and worship genres. He wants to be outside all the time, adores our Huck pup, and enjoys teasing his sisters a little too much. Happiest of birthdays to our Jacob!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Prayer in Luke

(Just a few thoughts on these prayer posts--I'm compiling the verses in the New Testament that specifically use the word pray or prayer. Then I add a line or two from my journal that I've seen in the passage. Obviously there is much, much more that could be said on these passages. Book upon book and sermon upon sermon have been written about these truths. You can go read some of them for more. But start here, with God's Word.)

Luke 1:13
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
- a common prayer of mankind: grant us a child
- Our prayers are heard. God is real, Hei s there, He cares, even if it seems to us that the answer is very long in coming.

Luke 2:37b
[Anna] did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
- Anna lived a life of prayer and praise, poured out to her Father in heaven

Luke 3:21-22
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[a] with you I am well pleased.”
- the Son had not yet begun His ministry, but His Father was pleased with Him, just for who He was
- the three persons of the Trinity appear together here

Luke 5:16
16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
- Jesus continues His habit of withdrawing in prayer. Even as His ministry rows, He does not neglect meeting with His Father.

Luke 5:33
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”
- Fasting has a place but it isn't meaningful if it isn't based on a relationship with God.

Luke 6:12-13
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
- again, Jesus continues in prayer

Luke 6:28
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
- simple to say, hard to practice

Luke 9:18
18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
- Jesus' disciples observed His habits of prayer
- This time of prayer leads to Peter's declaration of Jesus as the Christ

Luke 9:28-29
28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.
- in prayer, God's glory is revealed

Luke 10:2
2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
- We are called to pray for missionaries to spread the love and truth of God around the world. Jesus left a job for believers to do.

Luke 11:1-12
Now Jesus[a] was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,[b]
4 and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence[c] he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
- God our Father wants to and does give us the good gifts we need (even if we don't recognize them as such)
- We can and should approach God as our Father
- He provides our greatest need: Himself

Luke 18:1-14
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- pray always and never give up
- to be justified before God requires humility
- Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Luke 19:45-46
45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
- the church should be a house of prayer
- and since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we should be a house of prayer also

Luke 21:36
36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- watch out for temptation
- pray for strength to be found faithful

Luke 22:32 (to Peter)
"But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
- failures are an opportunity to strengthen others, not to give in to despair

Luke 22:39-46
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.[a] 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
- When we are weighed down and in anguish, we can always turn to our Father.


Tuesday, May 8, 2018

One's Real Life

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own’, or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life – the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination.”

(from a 1943 letter from C.S. Lewis, included in Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C.S. Lewis)

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Last Day of School 2018

We wrapped up school last week. I really enjoyed teaching first grade and 4K and "play school" this year. It was a fun year and I continue to love watching my kiddos learn new things. Seeing their little minds take on new worlds (exploring ancient civilizations! there are rules for spelling! connecting math concepts!) and sharing these experiences is my favorite part of homeschooling. I really do love having my kids around me all day, every day. That's why I became a parent: to actually parent my own child. ;) I certainly agree that homeschooling is not the right fit for every family, but for our family dynamics it works very well. Thankful for this year we spent together!

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Crack in the Door

David’s first birthday is tomorrow. There are so many directions to take that sentence.

It really does feel like I held him in my arms yesterday. And at the same time that so much life has happened in the past year. I will never again get to see or touch or hear or smell my baby this side of heaven.

There are so many, many things I will never be able to do as David’s mama. It started with not being able to take him home from the hospital. Now I’m letting go of each baby milestone we did not experience this year. There are no first steps, no first words, no first birthday party to plan and no cake to bake. And my heart is broken. Each milestone that does not happen, each family event he does not share, is another loss, another place I have to let go of my son.

The memories of his kicks, the brief moments I held him, the joy his siblings found in him, they have to be enough. The time of his birth and death when the veil between heaven and earth was so thin. The moments when we worship and I remember that David is joined with us, worshiping in heaven. Even the quiet times, reading on the couch with the Gent after the children are asleep, when for a brief window in time all seems right with the world. These are the “crack in the door” moments—when I see that glimpse into eternity, redemption, wholeness. These little moments on earth that let us see that heaven is real and that heaven is coming. The light from that little crack floods this whole dark world and gives us strength and encouragement to go on.

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.