Heffalump Winn Dixie Summer

Lumpster and Rootie-Toot are our new best friends. We rented the Heffalump Movie from the library a couple weeks ago... took it back and rented their other copy the same day! The girls are trying to memorized the movie so that they can act it out for us! And Lijah just kicks his legs and laughs out loud at the part where they're in Rabbits garden! New favorite movie... I think we'll be singing the Hundred Acre Woods song this summer!

We also started the book Because of Winn Dixie thinking we'd read it for our summer book and then have a popcorn/movie party at the end of the summer... the thing is, we're already halfway through the book! June. Page 91 and there's 182 pages! Half way today! The kids are excited to finish it up so we can read a Little House on the Prairie book!

Benjamin decided he would read Sugar Creek Gang. Hannie's working on the Janette Oke books Animal Friends. Ruth's reading all our Dr. Seuss. And Lijah said HE is reading all the Veggie books! Off we go...

I just finished the Roxanne Henke book Becoming Olivia. I've read the first two in her Coming Home to Brewster series, too. (About small town ND...) And I saw Kev pulled out our Narnia books after we saw Prince Caspian.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on the book The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. About different learning styles. Our kids are already noticeably different. Benjamin loves to be organized and to know the plan - spend time together. Hannie loves to give gifts and is always thinking of what she can give or make for someone. Ruthie is always doing... feeling, touching, hands-on. Lijah, we're still figuring out. He's 3 1/2 so he's just into getting dirty and running mostly! He can peddle his bike now! Whoo! Anyway, the book talks about the different ways they learn... go figure. So I thought I should read it to know more how to teach these different kiddos of ours! I'm about halfway through... we're all strongest in different styles. We'll learn a lot from each other!

Homeschooling

Our kids are different. We're approaching homeschooling, possibly in the fall! As we get closer to this new change, we've had a few conversations about it. Our kids have a few different ideas or questions...

Benjamin. He is wondering what our schedule will be. He'd like to be organized. Know the plan.

Hannie. One of her questions was... what about the prize bucket? Her teacher, Mrs. Waind, had it set up so that at the end of the week they could earn a prize from the prize bucket. Hannie wants to know what about rewards.

Ruth. She wonders what the older two kids will be doing and if we can homeschool in Williston where we can run and play in Papa's backyard.

Lijah. He's just along for the ride so far. :)

Homeschooling... four completely different kiddos. I'm sure it'll be an adventure but I'm excited to get to know them all better and for us to grow together as a family.

Delight

One of my favorite verses... Delight yourself in the Lord and He'll give you you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4.

You can read it just like that... it might sound like you'll get what you want when you delight yourself in the Lord. The focus there is turned around. The delighting yourself in the Lord is the point there. And when you do that, He will give you desires for your heart. Pursue Him and you can't help but pursue what He already has in mind for you to pursue.

noah... yoda...

Lijah was in the tub when he told me he couldn't find yoda... You can't find YODA?? When I came closer to look... he was holding animals, two by two... He needed Yoda to get the animals into the ark! Ha!!

give and take

Elijah prefers for us to get him water each night. When he asks us to get him water, he prefers for us to let him GIVE us the cup, as opposed to us TAKING the cup from him. Isn't that like most of us. We don't like to have things taken from us, either. Even if we were going to give it in the first place. It's not fun to have it taken. Part of the joy is in the giving. There must be a lesson in that, right?

I'm not even saying that I know what the point is! Heh. Just something I've pondered. Instead of being eager to take... wait until you can be gracious in receiving. And find the joy in giving!

Global Day of Prayer

The national day of prayer was on May 1st... check out the 2008 Honorary Chairman, National Day of Prayer Task Force! :) Dr. Ravi Zacharias! (I discovered that at Beth Moore's blog! Heh... http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/ )

http://www.ndptf.org/story/Index.cfm?Entity=9&Department=9&Dept_Order=1&This_TopicOrder=19&This_SubtopicOrder=2#5

We've been praying with the kids since May 1st and will through the 11th. The 11th is the Global Day of Prayer! Check out this site if you would like to to pray with your kids... and the world! :)

http://gdop-usa.com/children/2008ChildrensGuide.pdf

We talked about May Day and that on that day people leave flowers or candy on friends steps and run away... to be caught and kissed! Then latter I discovered that May Day is also Ascension Day! What a good thing to celebrate! Which was the National Day of prayer. So in following the pattern of the disciples... they prayed through until Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday is May 11th - Global Day of Prayer.

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 2 Chronicles 7:14-16

Ravi Zacharias

Kevin loves Ravi Zacharias. His dad and brothers do, too. For me, I feel I need just a little more smarts to fully comprehend some of his stuff! Heh. But I do enjoy listening to most of his messages along with Kevin. So. For Kevy's birthday a year or two ago, I got him Ravi's book Walking from East to West. It's his biography. When I came across it a couple weeks ago, I thought, I'm gonna read this! :) So spend a little time together with Ravi and me...

God has an appointment with each of us, and it is critical that every man and woman know this. He will stop our steps when it is not our time, and He will lead us when it is. This is a reassuring truth to know for every believer, and a necessary trust for anyone who ministers in areas of great risk.

You have to learn that you cannot claim a path just because it is less intimidating. You must keep in mind that God does have an appointment with you, that there is a cost to serving him. At the same time, you have to be wise and not careless. To deny the reality that there are some places where you cannot go is to play the fool. More important, if you have not learned to pay the smaller prices of following Christ in your daily life, you will not be prepared to pay the ultimate price in God's calling.

I am asked... whether I've found greater fulfillment through the larger orginization of RZIM. On a very practical level, the answer is no. As the ministry has grown larger, so have the demands, and that has never suited my parsonality. Managing those things has always gone against the grain for me.

On personal level, the answer also is no. To me there has never been any greater fulfillment than being where God wants me to be. And that fulfillment isn't any greater now, because I was fullfilled from the beginning, knowing that God had me in the right place at all times. If anything, I had more of a comfort level in the early years-with a normal, day-to-day life with my wife and children-than I do now.

I wold prefer to rephrase the question: is there fulfillment in knowing you're where God wants you to be? Does that bring satisfaction? The answer is YES, absolutely!

One day, I was at the bedside fo a friend who was a Muslim convert to Jesus Christ... he said one sentence taht I will never forget: "Brother Ravi, the more I study other beliefs and religions, the more beautiful Jesus becomes to me."

He is right. Even in ministry, the same applies. Through all of the visitations of life - successes or failures - it is not how well you are known or not known. It is not how big your organization is or isn't. It is not even how many sermons one has preached or books one has written or millions of dollars one has accumulated. It is how well do you know Jesus? That's it. That is what shapes how you view everything else. Successes are hollow if you do not know the author of life and His purpose. To me, with each passing year, Jesus has only become more beautiful.

I feel more confident all the time that, outside of the gospel, there are no answers for humanity's most fundamental questions.

Ravi also says several times throughout his book things like, "I am so unfit for this. I am unsure of myself. Why do these people want to listen to me?" Which is interesting to me because, one of my very favorite teachers is Beth Moore and she says several times those exact same things. It's comforting to me because as we pursue missions, I'm finding myself thinking things like that. "Who am I?" I think that's just where God wants his servants to be so that He can be big!

Hope you had a good time with Ravi and I today!

http://www.rzim.org/

Jesus is God

Hey... Kev and I have been visiting with some new friends who have challenged us to research our Bible to find out who Jesus is. Sometimes it's nice to step back to see why you believe what you believe. And the Holy Spirit has been faithful to show me, seemingly out of the blue sometimes, what the Word of God says about who Jesus is. I finally decided to scratch out the verses coming up in front of me... here they are scanned out. Just something that's been on our minds lately!

--Click on them to see them larger!

I'm a people...

Elijah's finally getting a handle on the whole potty training thing. We've said that a few times but this time, I think might be the real one! (I sure hope...) :) Anyway, when you have a potty trainer in the house, you talk a lot about poop and pee and private parts... it's just the way life is at this stage in life.

The other day he asked me if I peed in my pants. I told him that I never pee in my pants anymore. I always use the toilet. He asked me if Jesus peed in his pants... I smiled and thought a little. Maybe he did when he was a baby but I don't think so after he grew up. Then the next question to come at me... Mommy, does God have private parts? Hello. Lijah! I really don't know. And it seems like something we should maybe not be thinking of if he does?! I don't know?! Ha.

His big thing that he learned now is that every place has a bathroom! He'll just stop to tell me once in a while, "Mommy, every place has a bathroom!" Almost every place does, honey...

The other day when Auntie Crystal came over, Lijah made himself comfortable on her lap and asked where Emmitt, their beagle, was. Is he home? Is he coming over? Is he barking? Does he pee in the toilet? Heh. Crystal laughed and said that only people pee in toilets. Lijah thought for a minute and told her, "I'm a people!"

Resurrection Rolls

Hannie made these resurrection rolls at school and thought they were pretty cool... so Grandma Sharon and I picked up some canned crescent rolls and large marshmellows while we were out shopping... there you have it, empty just like the tomb!

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
8 large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Directions:
Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
Bake according to package directions.
Cool.
Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!!

Celebrate God's love!

http://www.dltk-kids.com/recipes/resurrection_rolls.htm

Easter

Just thought I'd share a couple verses that stuck out to me this Easter...

John 18:28
here's the idea... the Jews wouldn't go into the palace to avoid ceremonial uncleanliness - they wanted to be able to eat the Passover...

That just seemed ironic since Jesus was THE lamb. He was the real deal right there and they missed it all while they thought about keeping all their traditions polished...

An insight in my Bible said, "One man was selected as the Passover Lamb for all humanity (1 Cor 5:7). The words 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you' (Ex 12:13) came to convey a whole new meaning."

John 20:30
These are written that you may [continue to] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name!

I just read in a study that when someone who oversees thousands of missionaries was asked what they see as a problem the missionaries themselves face on the mission field they responded, unbelief! ahh... Build our faith, Lord! Let us continue to believe You and more and more with each new day! May we have life in Your name!

St Patrick Day

We love St Patrick day! :) Another day for a celebration of Jesus! We dyed our scrambled eggs green (inspired by the green eggs and ham book...) and we even dyed our orange juice green (milk dyes better...)! :) The Cul de Sac kids book we read that week, Green Gravy, was about St Patrick Day! And we even squirted some green frosting on our desert! (Kind of like in the book...)

Beyond all the green we celebrated St Patrick! (Go figure!) We watched the Sumo VeggieTale that has his story on it (which happens to be Daddy's favorite Veggie story). We watched how he went to Ireland to tell them about Jesus and used the three leave clover to show how God is like a shamrock - three Persons in One. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Thank ya, Lord! Hannie made a shamrock in school to celebrate so we took down our heart butterflies in the window from Valentine's day and hung up her heart shaped shamrock!

Everywhere you look, God can be found!

Celebrate Him!

Happy St Patty's day!

God is Three in One!

Happy Golden Birthday

Ruth turned 5 years old on the fifth of March! Golden girl. She preferred that we said "Happy GOLDEN Birthday!" to her instead of the old "Happy Birthday!" Heh. We celebrated with a golden balloon, golden wrappers on our cupcakes, golden sparkles around her chair and we ate golden grilled cheese! (We spent the evening receiving awards at church for Missionetts and Royal Rangers!) Then on Friday, we brought all of our golden goodies up to the bowling alley for some birthday fun with her little buddies. She invited the three other gals from her class and three friends from church. AND she won the game, which she didn't pay too much attention to anyway! :)

Happy Golden birthday to our sparkly girl!

60 times/31 minutes

"60 times!"

"31 minutes!"

"60 times!"

"31 minutes!"

My littlest two kiddos were arguing over the timing of something the other day... Maybe something like how often one of them bugged the other one? Ruth was sure it was 31 minutes and Elijah was equally as sure that it was 60 times. They're figuring out their numbers... but the argument was a little off... Heh.

Pinewood Derby

Benjamin was excited to make another pinewood derby car this year for Royal Rangers! Whoo! "Lightening." Then he and Hannie were sick the night before the big race and he missed it. BUT, he still has his cool car! :) Way to roll with the punches...

Toby Mac :)

Toby Mac... DC Talk... Whoo! :)

Kev and I received tickets to the TobyMac concert here in Grand Forks as a Christmas present from his brother, Scott! Last week we got to go see TobyMac, Jeremy Camp, and Matthew West. It was a pretty fun night. Heh.

I wore my old DC Talk shirt from 1993. That was the concert Kevin and I attended, along with our youth group, when he chose to give me our first kiss... ahhhh... So DC Talk and Audio Adrenaline will always hold a special place in our hearts, besides the fact that they ROCK. So... back to the present... Our seats were right in the middle about 8 rows back with a walkway in front of us. Toby was up there jumping and jammin when he saw my shirt and pointed to it with a big thumbs up! Yea!!

All around me the people were pretty much standing with some clapping... I spent some of my time jumping just like the youth kids up in the 4th row! Heh.

At the beginning of the concert, I had asked if I could bring in my camera and was told YES (but I could not bring in my granola bar so I snarfed it down at the door quick...). I took my first pic of the opening guy and a security lady came over and told me NO pictures and that she'd take my camera away if I took anymore! Ah! So I had a good struggle for the first few minutes about what to do! I love pictures! I was told it was okay by the first guy. Everyone all around me was still taking pictures! Should I sneak it out again? Forget it? Such a tug of war! Heh. Then I heard my own voice telling the kids that even when it's not fair you need to do what's right! Uff. I knew even if I could sneak a few pics past the security lady... Someone would still see! Struggle, huh. I put my camera away but still watched others snap pictures. When the security lady came back and said they changed the rules and I could now take pictures! I hugged her and thanked her and knew that it was right to put my camera under my seat! Then I happily pulled it back out and started snapping away! Check out some of the pics!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadesda

He's got me feelin so fly!

God's birthday present to me

What a lovely present for me on my birthday, huh? This is the pic from the webcam over in Yerevan, Armenia! The morning of my birthday! Usually we don't see the Ararat peaks but on my birthday, we got to see them both lit up in a pink sunrise! Thanks Lord! :)

http://www.arminco.com/en/livewebcam

The other "gift" was the Operation World country of the day for my 32nd birthday... was... you guessed it - Armenia! Love it!

http://www.operationworld.org/country/arme/owtext.html

Happy Birthday. Good plans. Future, hope, abundant life!

Steven Curtis Chapman

Happy Birthday to meee... Steven Curtis Chapman, here we come! :) Kev got me tickets in the artist circle to see SCC on February 7th so we could celebrate my birthday a little early! Whoo-hoo! We drove down to Fargo and grabbed a bite to eat first. Then off we went to the concert! We saw SCC like 2 years ago here in Grand Forks and what a concert. He has a way of making it seem like he's singing to you instead of just being up in front of hundereds of people. This time we sat 7 rows back right in the middle. Pretty fun!

Kev printed out a pic of me and a friend with SCC way back in 1990 or so and we gave it to a gal to give to him... Not sure that he got it but... still... I put some pics on this post so you can see! Almost 20 years ago!

~~~~
And He has given us a treasure called right now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

Don't miss the miricale of the moment!

I have a dream...

The kids learned about Martian Luther King Jr in January. Love it.

As I was running up the stairs just a week or two ago, I saw a paper laying on the bottom step by the backpacks and shoes and things... It was a paper they wrote in school that started out with the words "I have a dream..." So I thought I'd see what Hannie filled in under that for HER dream... She wrote:

That I would be good to my mommy.

Oh, melt my heart. My girl.

Eli Manning

Whoo-hoooooo! :)

Super Bowl 2008 was pretty exciting. And even more so because Benjamin and I cheered on our fantasy football quarterback for the final, exciting, last two minutes of the game! Whoo! Go Eli!

(One day Crystal said something about Eli having the ball and our Elijah said... "That's ME?!")

Whoo-hoo Giants!