Tuesday, December 18, 2007

More Pictures to Share...

Considering the craziness of getting ready for Christmas 'doings,' I've succumbed to the superficiality and fun that is photo-blogging :o)

This ornament is a gift from one of our dear Israeli friends working at the nearby mall, Nadia. This is "Kathryn," "Alex," and "Chips" written in Hebrew (from right to left). We are having such a good time with our Jewish friends (long story short). Please pray that the Christ of Christmas will soon become their accepted Messiah. We recently were able to buy Bibles for two of them, written in Hebrew. They were so excited~ but not as much as I was excited that the response was so positive!!!






Just a pic of my favorite Christmas ornament~ a la Cracker Barrel last year.













Ethan, my younger brother, dropped in for a visit yesterday with his new fiancee, Jeri. This was our first meeting.











Jeri: very sweet, but a little shy. Hence the photo of her (sort of) :o)













Sleep in Heavenly Peace!

Visual proof (look closely) that Alex sucks on thumb and first finger intertwined~ never the thumb alone. And yes, he's sleeping on the carpet. Not our usual practice ;o) He rolled off his playmat and just conked out.






Stayed tuned for more pictures of Christmas festivities, travel, and friends (hopefully snow, too!)

Friday, December 14, 2007

Pictures from Our Day





Starting out, smiles for Mommy from Alex. This is pretty much his all-purpose expression ;o)






Down below... playing hard! Chips thinks I'm going to grab that bone- see the suspicious glare?!






























First Curlers... which came out almost as quickly as they went in... Charming smiles from Kathryn to herself (she likes to watch herself on the camera screen)

Friday, December 07, 2007


Is this a hairbow?














Random Thoughts from Our Christmastime...


So... I'm so tired these days, I really can't think of much to say on my blog. Actually, I'm having a lot of bloggy-type thoughts, but not enough energy to develop them into actual posts. So. Here are a few of those random thoughts rolling around in my head these days- if a blog were a tree, these are the seeds.

1. Deism. Been reading some of Thomas Paine's (the author of Common Sense) Age of Reason. Shocking stuff, indeed. Speaking of the Bible, he says, "We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what deserves either our abhorrence or our contempt..." To be honest, he sounds very modern. I've always kind of thought of deists rather generously. I mean, at least they believe in 'God' as Creator. Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." The truth is part truth is more dangerous than full error.

2. Which leads me to random thought #2. Nathan's teaching through Galatians in Sunday School. Galatians, for those who haven't checked it out in a while, is all about Paul's confronting those who believed circumcision was necessary for salvation. Basically, if Christ + ANYTHING ELSE is needed for salvation, then Christ's death wasn't sufficient. We are saved by grace through faith alone. How do we 'stay saved' (hail to all Wesleyan-Arminians!)- by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone! It's been eye-opening. Come on, admit it. How easy is it to think that I'm saved by grace through faith alone, and I stay saved through my obedience. How many churches follow the saved by faith, preserved by 'rules' mentality? I know I myself have sunk many times in the checking off of spiritual disciplines on my list for the day as the way to keep in a right standing with God. That's just an example- I'm sure you can think of many others. Anyways, of course there is a balance, as in all things. The faith that saves, obeys. But this Christmas, I want to remember that nothing I do can or ever could save my soul. Christmas is ours to celebrate because God wrapped up His gift in human skin, and gave His grace to all. Such a gift!

3. And surfacing to my "real life": we're busy like all the rest of ya'll right now. Christmas parties to attend, presents to wrap, pounds to lose, miles to log on the treadmill, calories to count. OK, OK, you can see what's on my mind at the moment. The children are doing wonderfully- Kathryn is such a crazy nut. I tell her to leave the Christmas tree alone. She says, "I obey you, Mommy. Unfortunately, I obey you." Alex is too good to be true- seriously. He is all smiles all day, everyday. I almost feel guilty around other babies and moms. But then I remind myself: "I deserve this for surviving Kathryn ;o)" Have a good one, dear friends & lurkers.

Oh, yes. And if you're 1. still with me, 2. have seen Bro. Wolf direct the GBS choir, 3. want a laugh, link to Marianne's post to the right. Scroll down and watch the video of my nephew Allan imitating Bro. Wolf. Too funny.