Stache Update

Joel has been wearing the mustache he received from his Aunt Julie for Christmas every day. He does take it off when he goes to bed at night. He occasionally takes it off to eat or drink. He wears it to church, to the store--everywhere. When his siblings ask Joel to play first thing in the morning, he says, "Just a minute. I have to get on my mustache and my cowboy hat." Since Joel wears his mustache all the time, he has a tan line across his face where the elastic sits.
Joel found himself to be quite popular at the homeschool conference this year. It seemed we could hardly walk a few feet before someone stopped to comment on Joel's stache. One lady stopped me as I was headed down the escalator with Joel and said, "Ma'm, I told my husband about your son yesterday. Do you mind if my husband sees your son's mustache? It's so cute! Does he wear it all the time?"
Once, when Daddy took him to Walmart, a real cowboy with a real mustache said to Joel, "Nice stache." On Monday, Daddy took Joel to Walmart again. The clerk told Matt that she was glad she had come to work, even though it was a holiday. It was all worth it, she said, just to see Joel in his mustache.

A Special Dinner

The weekend before last we hosted a dinner here. The guests were five of the six women who attended the Five Aspects of Woman Bible study and their husbands. Matt pulled out our table to it's full ten foot length and I pulled out our wedding china, which has only been used a handful of times since we were married. I didn't have quite enough place settings, so my mom let me borrow some of the china that belonged to her mother, my grandmother. My mother-in-law let me borrow her sliver, which belonged to Matt's grandmother. So the table was set with things which represent over two centuries of convenantal marital faithfulness.
After we ate dinner, Matt asked each of the men to speak a blessing over their wives. Hearing those men describe the love they have for their wives (and in one case, future wife) was incredible. Some of the men spoke directly to how the Five Aspects of Woman Bible study transformed their wives and made them more lovely. I was so pleased to hear this. There were times this past year when I really didn't think I could continue to lead that group of women, but I persevered and with the Lord's help, I completed the study. I am so glad I did. Marriages were transformed, as I prayed they would be. God is so good!

When the men finished saying their blessings, Matt read this passage from the book of Joshua:
And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. Josh. 4:5-8

Amongst the china and the silver, six stones were set on the table. Matt told each couple to take a stone home and place it in a designated place as a memorial to all that the Lord has done this past year. He told them to tell their children of the Lord's faithfulness. As each couple took their stone and left to go home, I thought of all the Lord accomplished this year through His Word.  I was completely overwhelmed.  When we are faithful to serve Him, God can turn our small acts of obedience into fruit that reflects His glory.

Puppy Crash & Burn

Bridal Blessings

We had the pleasure of hosting a bridal shower here last weekend. I say "we" because I couldn't have pulled it off without a major amount of help from my hubby and kids. My mother-in-law made her famous Scottish shortbread for the celebration. She also loaned me a bunch of tea cups since I didn't have enough. My friend Tammy provided the opening prayer and a beautiful fruit bowl.  She and her daughter also stayed after the shower to help clean up, so the whole event was a multi-person effort.Twenty women and seven little girls gathered to enjoy British High Tea and to bless the bride-to-be with gifts, Bible verses and lots of love. Emily, the guest of honor, was in my Five Aspects Bible study this past year. She and her fiance went through a courtship and engagement during the time it took to go through the study, so all the women in the group feel a special bond with her. It has been amazing to see how God worked to bring about His plan and purposes for Emily. She is a lovely young woman with a humble heart and loves she the Lord Jesus very much.I gave a short devotional at the shower. I was especially excited to incorporate some of Barbara Mouser's thoughts on the joy of the Bridegroom into the devotion. I had never considered the joy Jesus will have when He comes to get His bride, the Church. I guess I had always concentrated on the joy that I will have when I see my Jesus. But to think about the joy Jesus will have--well, it's beyond imagining. This thought alone was well worth my trip to Texas.

Here is the devotion I gave on Saturday at the shower:

Many things here on earth are merely shadows of things in Heaven, where the real things that cast the shadows reside.

Marriage is one such shadow. In Ephesians, Paul says, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Emily, very soon you will be Jason’s wife—his helpmeet. The two of you will be picture of the love of Christ for His Church and the love of the Church for her Savior. You will show this God-ordained picture to a dying world.

Another shadow that we are uniquely blessed to see in weddings is that of the bridegroom. On your wedding day, Jason will reflect the authentic Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. It isn’t very often in life that we get a picture of the bridegroom, after all, we do not attend weddings every day of our lives. Keep your eyes open the day of the wedding, Emily. You will see of the joy of the bridegroom--the joy that Jesus Christ will have when He comes for His Church.

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You

With the oil of joy above Your fellows.

All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;

Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad." Psalm 45:6-8

It is glorious to think of the wedding that the Lord is preparing for His bride.

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

'Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure'—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.' " Revelation 19:6-9

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." Revelation 22:20-21

Our big girls will be helping to serve at Emily and Jason's wedding reception. They are so looking forward to the big day! As for the rest of us, we will be overjoyed to see such a godly young couple committing themselves to each other and to God's service. God is still in the business of creating love stories for His glory and we give Him praise for it.

Texas II

So it wasn't all wading through deep theological waters this past weekend. We had a little fun (not that Bible study isn't fun, it's just a different kind of fun).

I had never been to Texas before, so it was an experience, albeit a short one. The first leg of the trip was a bit rough on me. I had gotten up at 4:30 a.m. our time (after going to bed @ 11 p.m. & then getting up with Isaac at 3 a.m.). Matt told me I should eat breakfast after my first flight, which in retrospect, probably wasn't the best idea. I get nauseated when I don't eat. We were flying on a small plane. I was sitting in the very front row (no first class on that plane), so I couldn't see out (did I mention I also get motion sickness very easily?) and the guy next to me had some serious garlic breath. I spent the flight praying that I wouldn't throw up.

When I got off the plane, I was in pretty bad shape. The two gals I was traveling with suggested I eat something, so I ate a yogurt. It didn't help. The next and all subsequent flights were better for me because I had window seats over the wing. I was able to see out and orient myself with the wing, allowing me to keep my cookies.

When we deplaned at Dallas Fort Worth airport, the first thing that hit me was the ninety degree humid air and the sight of a big tall guy with a mustache and a 10 gallon hat, although it looked like it may have been 15 gallons. I knew I was in Texas. The airport had these huge cowboy and longhorn bull sculptures that seemed like they were suspended in mid air. I had to take pictures for my cowboy at home.By the time we arrived in Texas, I knew I needed to eat. After we obtained our rental car, we stopped at the first eating establishment we saw, a Church's Chicken located inside a gas station. The gals assured me that they must serve a grilled chicken sandwich, as I knew I just couldn't do anything fried. We went inside and looked at the menu. Nope. All fried. I asked the guy behind the gas station counter if he knew of any place where we could get food that wasn't fried. He just gave me a blank stare. I suggested, "Subway? Do you know of any Subways?" Yes, he knew of a Subway and told me how to get there.

However, it took us a while to find a Subway. We wanted to get on the highway driving toward our destination and we figured we could find another Subway somewhere along the way. By the time we did sit down to eat, it was 4:00 p.m. The sandwich perked me up and we headed on down the road to Waxahachie.

The drive from Dallas to Waxahachie was basically a non-stop traffic jam, being that it was late afternoon on Friday. So I got a good look at all the unusual buildings in Dallas. And I was really glad I wasn't the one driving.We got to the hotel, freshened up a bit and then headed over to the conference. It was held at a historic church, the oldest in Ellis county. It reminded me how much I miss our old church.That night we had a terrific thunder storm. When I checked the weather forecast earlier in the week, I saw that thunder storms were predicted after the weekend. However, I prayed that there would be one while we were there and God did not disappoint. I'm telling you, I've never seen it rain so hard. When we got back to the hotel, "extreme thunder storm warning" was flashing across the bottom of the lobby's t.v. screen. Another couple who arrived at the same time we did commented that every time they come to Waxahachie, they encounter some sort of extreme weather. The last two times it was tornado warnings.

Upon hearing this, my friend Tammy asked the front desk manager, "So what should we do in the case of a tornado?" The man said, "Well . . . .you'd come down here. Yes, you'd come down here. You'd take the stairs, not the elevator and we'd put you somewhere safe. . . . probably the laundry room because that doesn't have any windows. . . yes, the laundry room. Well, anyhow, we'd direct you to where you needed to go once you got down here." That conversation was really reassuring. Thankfully, there were no tornadoes predicted.

One thing that was really great about this trip is that I had my own hotel room.  Do you know how many years it's been since I've slept alone and without interruption?  I wouldn't go so far as to say my sleep was blissful (after all, it wasn't my own bed), but it was nice.  When I was awake (read: unable to sleep), I had time alone with the Lord, which was nice, too. 

We had some time to do a bit of shopping on Saturday afternoon. Tammy suggested we go antiquing as she was looking for something specific. I love antiques so I was happy to oblige. I spotted a picture that I really wanted (it wasn't an antique), but we just couldn't figure out how to carry it on the plane. The other gals offered to put some of my stuff into their bags, but I chickened out. I didn't want to make people on the plane angry by trying to put an unwieldy object into a overhead bin.

Then we went to Walmart to get souvenirs. I know, cheese on. Whenever I see the little souvenir section in our local Walmart I think, "Who would buy that stuff?" But we bought it. Nothing like Texas souvenirs that are made in China. Tammy was the last of the three of us to buy her stuff. The check out lady said to her, "Ya'll ain't from around here, are ya?" I knew my boys would be very pleased with their Texas Ranger badges.

We then headed to Chic Fil-A to eat dinner. I was pretty excited to try it, as I've heard such good reports about the place. They are Christian owned, so they aren't open on Sundays. I had the Chic Fil-A chicken sandwich. I NEVER get fried chicken sandwiches. This one was really good. It wasn't a chicken patty, it was real chicken. They even had a pepper mill for customer use there. I took a picture of it. The gals thought that was funny. So I explained that I do in fact carry a small pepper grinder in my purse at all times. Tammy said it was a restaurant after my own heart. That it was.Sunday morning on our way out of town, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. We didn't eat there, but the gals wanted me to see the general store. I bought some old fashioned candy sticks for the kids as well as a bag of Miner's Gold Nuggets bubble gum.We got to the airport in plenty of time and Nicole, our driver, breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was glad to no longer be the person responsible if we missed our flight.  We knew our second flight was overbooked and our husbands encouraged us to volunteer to take a later flight and get vouchers for our trouble. When we found out that the delay to get home would be two days we decided to bag that idea.

We arrived home late afternoon that day. Matt and the kids came to pick me up. I'm sure I was the most blessed woman in the airport when I had seven kids run up to me and shower me with hugs and kisses. They survived without me for a few days, but they were really happy I was home. And so was I.

P.S.--This song by Lyle Lovett ran through my head many times during my weekend in Texas.

Texas

I spent the weekend in Texas.  I decided last Tuesday that I wanted to go.  Matt used his frequent flyer miles to get me a ticket and I flew down to Waxahachie on Friday morning.  I went with a couple of girlfriends to a Bible conference.  Crazy.  In fact I spent the better part of Tuesday convincing my kids that yes, I really was going to Texas.
The conference was called "Clothing:  Body and Spirit" and was taught by Barbara Mouser, the same women who wrote the Five Aspects of Woman.  The subject of clothing is covered throughout the entire Bible.  Barbara calls it a Bible theme.  Her definition of a Bible theme is a subject that is introduced in Genesis, developed in the Old Testament, brought to a climax in the Gospels of the New Testament (especially during Passion Week), explained and proclaimed in the New Testament epistles and brought to a culmination in Revelation.
So we began in Genesis, with the inadequate fig leaves (dead works which could not cover Adam & Eve's sin), moved on to the humiliation to which God subjected Himself as He dealt with unclean dead animal skins to produce new clothing to cover Adam & Eve, to the development of the particulars of unclean clothing as outlined in the Old Testament as well as the metaphorical clothes with which God clothed Israel in Ezekiel and Isaiah.
We then moved into the New Testament, where we discussed the stripping and dressing of Jesus in royal robes for the purpose of mockery (the irony being that He really is King of Kings and deserving of such royal attire & worship).  We kept going into the epistles (Romans, Colossians, Ephesians) where we talked about how we as Christians are to "put off the old man" and "put on the new man," that is, Jesus Christ.
In between the different "portraits of God" we studied, we worshipped God with small liturgies.  These liturgies included scriptures, prayers of thanksgiving to God for the particular ways He reveals Himself through clothing (whether it be how He Himself is clothed--majesty, honor, light--or how He clothes the universe or the willingness of Jesus to humble Himself to come to earth and be wrapped in swaddling clothes) and hymns whose words directly reflected the "portrait" we had just studied.
Needless to say, I was completely overwhelmed by Barbara's teaching.  I told Matt she seemed to me to be the female equivalent of Dr. Kenneth Bailey.  Being placed in front of a fire hose does not adequately explain how I felt as scripture after scripture was opened to me in ways I had never before heard.  Tsunami might be a more appropriate word.  Believe me when I say, the words I wrote above are a very inadequate attempt to explain the ground we covered this past weekend.
Additionally, God really blessed me with some new insights into some things I've been working on with Him this past year.  He answered specific prayers with specific answers which I will get to in another post when I've had a bit more time to process my thoughts.
I had turned down my friend Tammy's invitation to go to this conference repeatedly over the past few months.  I turned her down again last Monday evening.  Then I woke up Tuesday morning and prayed, "Lord if you want me to go to that conference, You're going to have to make it possible."  And He did, because nothing is impossible with God.

Skills: Couponing

One of the aspects we studied this past year in our Five Aspects of Woman Bible study was "Lady of Wisdom." My biggest take away from this aspect was that we are to fear (hold in awe and reverence) God above all else and if we truly do so, we will have no other fears. I have a feeling this will be a lifelong pursuit for me.

Another part of the Lady of Wisdom aspect is the acquiring and use of skills. If a woman has no skills, she is not much benefit to her family, her church or her community. Our final project was to share with the rest of the group an area of skill in which we have become proficient. Some examples of what the other women brought were: homemade scones (with the promise of a baking lesson), a certificate for a family photo session and a painted canvas on which her family's rules where decoupaged (with the promise of providing a personalized canvas for the recipient's family). At the end of class, we had a drawing to give away the projects.

For my skill, I brought a box full of items I obtained through couponing. I paid $10 for all that is pictured below.I purposely chose only drug store items for this project. One of the major complaints I hear about coupons is, "All coupons are for things I never buy. It's all junk food." I will admit, there is some truth to this statement. However, there are still plenty of healthy foods to be had through couponing on the grocery end of the spectrum (although the deals aren't as screaming hot as they were a couple of years ago before the advent of extreme couponing t.v. shows).

I wanted to show the gals that if you just play the "drugstore game" alone, you can save a ton of money and then put the money saved toward organic veggies or fruit or whatever floats your boat. I was pleased that the gal who won my box of goodies is a bride-to-be. She was so tickled to have a small stash of drug store items with which to start her married life.

I was the happy recipient of the family photo session. The photographer and I are already discussing locations and schedules. However, I really doubt she has any idea how hard it is to get seven children to smile all at one time.

Wisdom from Lydia

Last week I was helping Paul complete his BSF lesson and I reminded him of a story from his early childhood.  Paul was about four or five at the time.  Our family was involved in a local homeschool co op that year.  While the older kids took homeschool enrichment classes on Friday mornings, Paul went to the little preschool class.  One day he came home with a small booklet.  One picture in it showed Jesus on the cross.

Apparently in class that day, the teacher had gone over the fact that everyone is born into sin and can do nothing to save themselves from sin.  She told the kids that Jesus came to earth to die in our place, taking the punishment we deserve, so that He could redeem us and so that we might live eternally with Him.

Paul and I were in the car alone later that day and he began to weep over his sin and the fact that Jesus died for him.  I was a bit surprised, to say the least, but knew that the Holy Spirit was working on my little boy's heart and bringing him to faith in Jesus Christ.  I prayed with Paul in the parking lot of the grocery store.

As I related this story to Paul last week, his eyes welled up with tears as he listened.  I also told him what his preschool teacher said to me when she heard about our parking lot prayer.  She said she thought the Lord must have great things in mind for Paul, to bring him to Himself so early in his life.

Then Lydia, who had been sitting at the table with Paul and me and listening to our conversation, said, "Yes.  The Paul in the Bible was older when he learned about Jesus because they didn't have preschools back then."