No Greater Joy

Thanks to my good friend, Julie, I have pictures to post of a very special event in Sierra's life that happened yesterday evening at church - her baptism! Almost three years ago she asked Jesus to come "clean her heart" and be her savior. She has always had a very sensitive heart and a good grasp of spiritual things. For over a year she has wanted to be baptized. Marc and I made her wait a while so that we could be sure that she understood exactly what she was doing and why. Her testimony last night was very clear and beautiful. (She did get a little nervous when she saw the big audience - but her words were clear.) It was a great joy to watch her from behind the scenes. Having "Pastor Grandpa" perform the baptism was the icing on the cake. When we got home last night Marc gave her a new Bible to read. She has been pouring over it today, finding many of her favorite verses and reading them to me.

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8

Sierra share this verse as a part of her testimony. I hope that she will never forget those words of truth and hope! If she can boldly proclaim her faith at the age of 7, I pray that she will be even more courageous at 17, 27, 37, etc. God bless you, sweet girl. We love you very, very much.

Tennis

We are by no means a family gifted with tennis prowess. We do, however, enjoy going over to the local courts to hit the balls around. Most of our time is spent gathering balls from every corner of the complex...which is good exercise in and of itself. Last Saturday we met some friends for some fun on the courts.

Sierra is really developing a pretty good swing ... and she has a nice grunt to go with it! :)

Ally can't grunt because she always has her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

See what I mean?

And then there's Miss Val-Val who can barely lift the racket, but wants equal playing time.

She's dangerous!

I wanna take you to...

Rio! Rio!

My kids (and their friends!) are really into the recent animated kids movie about a couple of blue macaws set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. So much so that we not only bought the DVD, but also the soundtrack! I love it because several of the songs are in Portuguese and they have a fun Brazilian beat. So - the other day when the kids were having a play date they were dancing around the living room acting like birds and then got the notion of making bird costumes for themselves. I pulled out the blue construction paper, scissors and glue. They worked SO HARD and I think that the outcome was pretty cool. They had everything from beaks to wings and tail feathers.

"B" says b...b...

...balloons!

What would compel two tired mamas to wake their five slumbering wee ones, skip breakfast and all regular morning routines, buckle them into their car seats and drive to downtown Boise at dawn?! The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic, that's what!

Susie and I were on the highway by 7 o'clock on Friday morning and arrived at Ann Morrison Park just in time to watch about 30 balloons be inflated and then lift off of the ground right in front of us. The sights and sounds were unforgettable! I mean, how many kindergartners get to watch a hot air balloon launch as part of their study of the letter "Bb"? So fun!

They flew right over our heads!

These were some of our favorites...the Coke balloon and The Happiest Balloon on Earth!

Blessings? Yes!

This week...

... a baby boy was born prematurely and was missing three fingers.

... my friend had to remove herself and her children from their home because her husband can't control himself when he drinks.

... my uncle had a gun held to his head and was robbed of money which was to be used to build camp facilities in Brazil.

... I stumbled upon the blog of an old high-school friend who recently lost his wife to a brain tumor. He is left to raise two small children while trying to trudge through his own grief.

JUST THIS WEEK.

I don't mean to sound morbid, but we live in a sick, broken world. It's almost too much to bear. And I'm sure that those of you reading this could probably make your own similar lists.

So how come I still believe that GOD IS GOOD and that GOD IS LOVE? I'll tell you. (Well, not I technically.) There is a rather new song on the radio and I can't hear it without crying. The lyrics are perfect. The melody is beautiful. It's by Laura Story, a woman who has lived through some very difficult times herself. It's called...

Blessings

We pray for blessings.
We pray for peace.
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep.
We pray for healing, for prosperity.
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering.
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom;
Your voice to hear.
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near.
We doubt Your goodness; we doubt Your love.
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough.
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe.

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us;
When darkness seems to win,
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home.
It's not our home!

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if my greatest disappointments,
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life;
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights,
Are Your mercies in disguise?

(Oh! And if you have time, the message called "Where is God?" by John Piper is a good one to listen to when trials seem too much to bear.)

God is good...ALL THE TIME. Do you believe it?

First Day of School

At 3:45 this morning I was awakened by my middle child - soon to be Kindergartner - who was telling me that she didn't feel well. This is very unusual, but after taking her to the bathroom, getting some water and laying down on the floor next to her bed, I figured it was just a case of butterflies. When she didn't fall asleep until 5:30, I was more than just a little exhausted. (Not exactly the way that I wanted to start the first day of home schooling!) Oh well. We managed to get dressed, eat breakfast and get started by 9:00 just as I had planned. First on the agenda was taking our "first day" pictures:

Ally wanted to wear Sierra's first day of Kindergarten dress! Doesn't she look happy?

Sierra was so excited to finally be in 2nd grade.

And of course, Val-Val had to get in on the action.

We started our day beautifully with calendar time, quick overview of procedures, explaining the marble jar incentive, etc. The first hour and a half went very well and then it was time for recess. I could tell that Ally wasn't feeling quite right when she didn't want to play during recess time. She was happy to sit outside and nibble on pretzels and sip water. Then it was time for math. She half-heartedly completed her lesson and then got up to put her supplies away when suddenly I heard the dreaded words, "Mom, I fell like throwing up." Thankfully, I had time to get her back onto the linoleum with a trash can in front of her. Poor girl! This is how she has spent the rest of the day:

No more puke, but she certainly doesn't feel well. Boy am I glad that this didn't happen in a classroom full of kids and an overwhelmed teacher on the first day of "real" school! As I type this post, she is taking a good nap. Sierra was eager to do a little more work, but it wasn't exactly the ending that I was hoping for. Here's to waking up tomorrow for another fresh start!

P.S. Thanks to my good friends who wrote to tell me that they were praying for our first day. We definitely needed those prayers!

O Church Arise

O church, arise and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our captain;
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We’ll stand against the devil’s lies;
An army bold whose battle cry is “Love!”
Reaching out to those in darkness.

Our call to war, to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on ev’ry side,
We know the outcome is secure,
And Christ will have the prize for which He died—
An inheritance of nations.

Come, see the cross where love and mercy meet,
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This vict’ry march continues till the day
Ev’ry eye and heart shall see Him.

So Spirit, come, put strength in ev’ry stride,
Give grace for ev’ry hurdle,
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old still line the way,
Retelling triumphs of His grace,
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When, with Christ, we stand in glory.

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

(This song has been running though my head a lot lately, so I thought that I would share it. You can hear it on the Getty's website here.)