Our Life In Pictures

38 new pictures have been downloaded for your enjoyment at Flickr or just see to the left there. These have all been taken in May & June of 2009. Included are pictures of our recent trip to the zoo (AWESOME zoo, by the way), crazy antics the young ‘uns have been up to, Nate’s “Transmofgifier” (time machine he made completely out of recyclable materials), Callie’s winning crazy hair entry, a memorial day picture, Flat Stanley excursion, and Mother’s Day at school with Callie & Grandma W. So I’m two weeks behind on my goal of getting them on line at the end of the month. You could say I’m two weeks early at getting June’s on. It’s all in how you look at it. Look for the next installment of pictures mid July hopefully.

Again, be sure & flip through ALL the pictures. You wouldn’t want to miss this kind of stuff on photo page three…

“Can the cousins come out to play?” – Anders calling Aunt Valerie. See the cell phone? Didn’t know Vader was on the other end of the line, did you?

Seeds Family Worship

I love this music! The idea behind it is: 1) make music the whole family can use together & enjoy & 2) create songs entirely from Scripture. There are five albums out currently. Oh, and when you buy their CDs, they give you two; one for you & one to give to a friend. (Note, learned the hard way that there are two different covers. If you want to have the two CDs, get the edition with the stick guy on it!) Fun! Here’s their site, & here’s a sample for you. Enjoy.

My Country, ‘Tis of Thee

I hesitated linking this because I heard it a day late & figured it was “old news”. Come to find out, only 33,000 have heard even part one on youtube so far (two days after) and so I link. This so needs to reverberate through the airwaves of this great nation. There are ten parts and every one of them well worth taking the time to hear. If you have the time, please listen to all ten.

Listen to part two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten here.

1. My country,’ tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

2. My native country, thee,
land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

3. Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

4. Our fathers’ God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom’s holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

Update: San Diego Bible Study

I guess San Diego County has apologized for telling a pastor & his wife they couldn’t hold a home Bible study without a permit costing big bucks. Read the article here. Since I wrote about it here, thought I should pass along the latest info on it.

Book Review: Do Hard Things

If you have not heard of the Harris twins, go to their blog now & find out more about them. Maybe you’ve heard of their older brother Josh who wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye? Or their parents, Gregg & Sono? (Hmm, come to think of it, both of these books sound an awful lot like what my parents taught me growing up. It is SO refreshing to see these principles in print for my kids!!) Anyway, I haven’t read a more exciting book for a long, long time. Every page I found myself nodding, “YEP! That is right! That is so true!” I would tell you more about it, but really & truly; it’s best to just read the book for yourself. I think if I started putting quotes on here, I’d not end. It’s that good.

I am so thankful this book has come out just as my oldest child is hitting the preteen years. For a while now, I have bemoaned the fact that there aren’t big IBLP conferences around like my parents took me to every year as a teen. How I want my kids to have that grounding during those important years! BUT, now I rejoice to see the new resources that are coming out even in the midst of the cultural rot all around us. As the darkness gets darker, the Light shines brighter! Other new resources: The Truth Project, Jumped Ship, The Little Red Book of Wisdom, all of which have come out just since Dad’s passing.

If you have graduates in your church or family, consider passing this gem on to them as a graduation gift. Really, this is supposedly written for teens, but is so applicable for anyone & everyone! It will challenge you at any age, I guarantee. In fact, this book has inspired me to write out a fresh “Best Loved Books” list. This one instantly zooms to the top.

Respect Dare #5) Media, Part Two

(See part one here.) What you allow into your ears effects your moods & attitudes. Keith is so good about putting good music on for our family during dinner or on Sunday morning as we prepare for church. It helps put good thoughts in our heads & a song in our hearts as we go about our business. I haven’t been so faithful at remembering this lately, but when you sense attitude problems cropping up in your home, try putting on some good music & see what happens. Everyone has different tastes in music, but something with Scripture is always appropriate. Whether it be children’s music or guitar, or whatever, it will change the mood of your home.

Have you ever thought about the attitudes your TV is promoting? Okay, this is gonna sound a bit prudish, but it’s a good example. We don’t want our kids to watch the live action Charlotte’s Web for just this reason. First of all the cartoon is CLASSIC & great as is. Not only that, but the new version gives Fern a crumby attitude toward her father. It’s been a while since I saw it, but I remember being disheartened by what they did to her – made her disrespectful toward her dad over killing the pig, making the dad look really bad. Your kids will imitate what they see & hear. It just happens!

The same thing happens to us, we just think we’re too grown up for it. The problem with that is, if we see bad attitudes, etc. & decide we can “handle it” & go on watching the shows that promote that stuff, our sensitivity to it fades & we get hardened to it. If the kids are around, no matter how young, they are effected by it as well. You probably don’t watch soap operas because of the “trash”, but what about the trashy attitude in that sitcom or movie? Does the woman in the show you’re watching come off looking smarter than the man? Does the show always make the man out to look like the ignorant fool? Do you want to think/feel that way about the man God gave you? Do you want your kids doing that to their daddy? Than we shouldn’t be allowing that attitude in our homes no matter where it comes from. We don’t let the kids call each other stupid, but we watch women on TV do the same thing in multiple ways to their men? Why? Is that really funny?

I find it interesting how our culture lets shows do that to men, but let them try putting on a show making women out to be the fool every time & see how long it’s on the air. The woman is always right. Even in commercials! Watch them & see the ratio where women dominate & men are put down vs. women being the brunt of end of the joke. Don’t you think that effects you & your attitude? Do you enjoy shows where the woman is always the buxom dumb bimbo? What do you think your man is feeling if/when you watch shows where the man is being disrespected & trashed constantly?

We need to be just as vigilant about the attitudes in shows & movies as we are about the language. There are a boatload of supposedly children’s shows & movies out there that have really horrible role models for our kids in how to respect authority. Keep that in mind as you watch shows with your children. Do you want them to act like what they are seeing?

Now for the next step: keep attitudes in mind as you choose your shows this week. If they are disrespectful to men (which most of them are), why are you allowing your mind to go there & be exposed/hardened to that? Could it be that those shows are giving you some of the disrespectful attitudes toward your husband you might be battling? Maybe. Why not take a week off of all media & see. Replace that time with Scripture reading &/or Scripture music & see if your attitude changes. Ask God to open your eyes to even subtle disrespect in your media choices that you’ve allowed to creep into your home. I’ll be doing this one right along with you – let’s see what happens!

Matthew 12:34 – “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Ephesians 5:1,2 – “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 4:22,23 – “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.”

Philippians 4:8 – “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

YIKES!!

Check this out!!! Keith sent this link to me this afternoon. Pray with us & watch this story closely, will you? We must all be vigilant or we will lose our freedoms quicker than imaginable. It takes one’s breath away!

Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

Dr. Ralph Winter

This is a week late (I’m behind in google reader), but had to mention that Ralph Winter passed away last week. He wrote Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, the class Keith & I were both taking when we met. First class of the morning. First morning of class. I’ll never forget. In a round about way, Dr. Winter played a part in Keith & I getting together I guess you could say. If you ever hear of a small group or class offering “Perspectives”, RUN to it. It’s still the best there is on missions. Every once in a while, you’ll hear it mentioned. If nothing else, get the book (new edition out this year) & spend some time in it. It’s a 700 plus pager, depending on which edition you get, but it’s a reader, so you can pick & choose articles that are of interest to you. Click the globe below to read excerpts.

This world has lost a treasure. My heart goes out to his wife & four daughters. We grieve with you. Thank you Pastor Piper, for your moving tribute.

Lightened Up Broccoli Salad

Mercy me!! I concocted a “to die for” summer recipe that comes in at only about 1.5 WW points per cup. I have always loved the broccoli salad with the red onions, bacon, raisins, & mayo dressing but never made it myself. Figured I’d have more self-control if I ate it only at picnics & had no leftovers. BUT, if you make substiutions, you can have all the taste & a fraction of the calories. Here’s how…

1 1/2 to 2 bunches of fresh broccoli, chopped up to bite-sized pieces (free)
11 slices turkey bacon cut up (that was 1/2 the package I had)
– Turkey bacon is 1 point per slice fyi.
2/3 cup raisins (4 points)
1 small red onion, chopped (free)
1 1/2 cup fat free Miracle Whip dressing (7 points) – use less if you want less points. It’s 5 points per cup.
1 cup Splenda (free)
3 Tbl vinegar (free)

Refrigerate for supposedly 2 hours or more. I couldn’t wait, so ate some after 1 hour – INCREDIBLE!!! So good!! This recipe has made it into the summer rotation. The bowl I made had about 12 cups of salad in it & totaled 20 points!! I like plenty of dressing.

Gotta go. More broccoli salad calls!

Memorial Day 2009

Random thoughts this Memorial Day:
- North Korea tested nuclear weapons last night; a notch or two beyond the usual “saber rattling” they normally do.
– Dr. Lee (from church) came home to his family of eight from his Iraq tour yesterday. :] Celebration!!
– Kenneth, a dear kneeling prayer warrior in our church, wept as he prayed over this country – the one his brother gave his life for so many years ago in WWII.
– Grandma Jean always took flowers & planted on family graves on this day. I’m really missing her today.
– Keith’s been showing the kids the storybook made by his uncle about Great Uncle Milton all weekend.
– My daughter pulled out some “old” photos to ask me about them. Doesn’t she remember? No, she doesn’t.
– There’s so much I want our children to have locked in their little hearts before they leave our nest. I don’t want them to forget…
the sacrifices made so they can be in this time & place with the blessings they have.
the incredible family they come from.
the love from our family & our God that keeps us strong through any storm that will come.
all the stories of storms & victories God’s brought us through in my, our family, & this country’s past.

All that & their Bible stories, too! There’s so much to tell them. So little time! No wonder God said “remember” so much…

“This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it…” – Exodus 12:14
“But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh…” – Deut. 7:18
“Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years…” – Deut. *:2
“Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you…” – Joshua 1:13
“Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant…” – Malachi 4:4
“Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up?” – Matthew 16:9
“Listen to me and remember what I say…” – Luke 9:44
“Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!” – Luke 17:32
“Do this to remember me.” – Luke 22:19
“Remember my chains.” – Colossians 4:18

Lord, may I be faithful in remembering. May I give my children a solid foundation of these stories so they will remember long after I’m gone so that they, in turn, may they teach their children to remember.