One Reason I'm Thankful

The Lord has this habit I don't quite understand: He likes to teach me things when one of my children are reeling from pain in my arms. I guess he really does like to identify with a crying baby.

So there I was, in the middle of an hour with Lydia while she thrashed in some sort of tummy ache. She had just nursed, so it wasn't hunger. Gas drops hadn't worked, so it was time to just sit there and hold her while she cried.

Something about that crying empties my mind, perhaps clearing the way for me to listen to God. Then came a reminder of something he showed me while I was holding a crying baby Josiah two years earlier: all around the world, there are babies in as much pain as Lydia was then, who have no father to hold them.

I expect God's lessons to consist of more facts, greater knowledge. But instead it was just a simple, "you should care more about this."

So we sat for a while, with tears in both of our eyes, until Sarah (four years old) awoke from her nap.

In Sarah's typical form, we then had to try every remedy again. Sarah had even thought of a few I hadn't remembered. But again nothing worked, so we both sat there with her while she cried.

I hadn't planned on saying anything, but my heart was so sad that I couldn't help but teach Sarah about it.

"Sarah, did you know that some babies don't have a mommy or daddy to hold them when they cry?"

Sarah solved that one quickly: "oh, so another adult holds them, then."

I realized what I as about to say would probably change the way she looked at the world, and it actually felt like a bad idea. But something in me felt she was ready to hear it. "Yes, sometimes another adult comes to hold them, but some babies don't have anyone."

That made her pause for a small instant.

But it was no more than an instant until she taught me another lesson. "Daddy," she said, "I want to learn how to take care of babies, so that one day if a baby doesn't have a mommy or daddy, I could be it's mommy!"

The excitement on her face only added to the power of her sweet voice. She had just learned that orphans exist, and already she wanted so spend her life taking care of them. That will teach Daddy a lesson!

I could only think of one thing to say, but now it feels like just the right thing. "I think that would make God very happy."

Since then, she has paid attention to the way we take care of Lydia, and asked to do almost all of it herself. She was already doing that to a degree, but seems to have an intentionality about it now. And she's declared her intentions, with the same words, to both Emily and me on separate occasions. She won't forget it, and seems to mean it.

It would be foolish for me to plot out her course when she's four years old: I don't know what the Lord might do with her, or if He will even call her to faith. And I can't hold her for her whole life to the same noble ambition she has today. But to get a glimpse for an instant of my little girl caring for the poor- that renews my vigor to raise all three of them to fear and love Jesus.

What if God allows us to raise three healthy adults who truly care for the poor? That makes every spanking, sleepless night, tear, and backache worth it.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the lessons God continues to teach us. He is a good father, with much wisdom to give. He gives encouragement when we need it. And he gives us the sweetness of children to remind us of it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 107:13

Easter 2014

Our Easter through pictures! 

One of our favorite Easter activities this year was opening an egg each day starting the Monday before Easter. Each egg had one verse of the resurrection story from Matthew. 

 [66] So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

[1] Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. [2] And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. [3] His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. [4] And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. [5] But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. [6] He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

(Matthew 27:66-28:6 ESV)

This was a really sweet time with Sarah and by far one of my favorite parts of celebrating Easter. When we read on Sunday "He is not here, for He has risen" we all had a deeper appreciation for the impact of those words and that truth.

Josiah got a tie to go with his outfit.

Sarah got shoes.

Sarah woke up a little early. Since I was ready to go I let her come on downstairs.

Everybody loves a shaky egg :)

Please excuse Josiah's beauty mark in all of these pictures. He chewed on an old CD (which we were ok with initially) and the ink was impossible to get off.

"Op, it's empty!" "Josiah, you are already ate those jelly beans/goldfish."
If I had a nickel for every time we had that exchange! His excitement was sweet :)

He wasn't super into the peep, but Sarah took care of it for him :)

I attempted to get a few pictures of the kids before heading to church.

Sarah was chilly and ready to get in the van. Josiah was loving the camera and insisted on standing in front of the tree for more pictures. Funny boy!

We tried twice at church to get a family pic and, while comedic, neither was worthy of being preserved for posterity. But Monday everyone was ready to smile for the camera when we made the big trip to Target and had mom's favorite, the cafe Pizza Hut meal, and the kids' favorite, individual dreamsicle (orange cream) yogurts. 

Our Resurrection Sunday ended with a joy-filled dinner among friends and fellow believers. It was a delight to experience the details of the Easter story with Sarah and the fun of celebration with Josiah. We look forward to more discovery in the years ahead. 

He is risen. He is risen indeed!

What Christmas Looked Like In Our Home

Christmas Eve at OBC

Would you believe that until about 3:00 p.m. on Christmas Day, our kids were either eating, sleeping, talking to family, or opening presents? They are much loved. And, well, they take a while to open presents.

Every once in a while we got the camera out, so here's what it looked like.

The Christmas tree the night before

Christmas morning

The kids had bananas in their stockings. Josiah took the bait :)

Sarah with her first present of the day.

Josiah liked the key ring a LOT more once he realized it was a flashlight.

Wind chimes, just like at Papa and Goggin's

Josiah's present to Sarah was purple sparkly nail polish.
It was purple, it was sparkly, and it was nail polish. He's a good gift giver already. 

Thanks, buddy!

What could be in the big box Sarah got for Josiah?

A Patriots balloon!

They each got water bottles just like Emily's

It was a lovely Christmas for all! After nap time (but no naps, unfortunately!) we went to the Everson's home and shared a yummy Christmas dinner with their kind family and the Dennens. The kids were worn out by the end of the day! But a special moment was still to come.

Before Sarah brushed her teeth we all sat down on the floor upstairs and talked through the Christmas story one last time. This year Sarah understood most of what occurs in the story, and it was such a joy to retell it one more time before bed. We finished with a rousing rendition of Go Tell It On the Mountain, a family favorite since Sarah sang it with the children's choir at church. Jesus Christ is, indeed, born!

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we simply try to show one another love. Here is a photo tour of our simple, love-filled day.

I made a cheesecake early in the week, just because I could. Valentine's week is a good time to get away with lots of baking and lots of chocolate!

A surprise tea time visit from our friend, Kim. Those are strawberry chocolate chip scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Yum! The tea is Paris, one of our favorites when we go out to tea.

And Ms. Kim brought Sarah a cookie, which Sarah can still describe in detail. 

For dinner we acted fancy, but had one of our favorites: Papa John's and coke!

I had some craft time with friends and came up with this little treasure. It took some serious editing to cut my list to 52!

Dave made dessert and it was fabulous: homemade ice cream, the real cook-it-on-the-stove variety. He even made his own chocolate sauce!

Sarah made Daddy this fun heart at MOPS that morning. I made a cool scratch off card, but didn't get a picture. Two parts acrylic paint for every one part dish soap- it really works!

Isn't he thoughtful :)

Christmas Gifts

We love Christmas around here. It is certainly a special season of remembrance and celebration. To aid us to that end we do what most people do- we sing, bake, eat, laugh, decorate, and eat some more. And to top it all off we give gifts.

While we never want our family (children or ourselves!) to be greedy about gifts at Christmas, we do find that they hold great value as part of our celebration. We remember that God is a good God who loves to give good gifts to his children. So we try to gift good gifts to our children and to each other. No pressure, right? Well, really there isn't. But we do have fun with it and this year was no exception.

Josiah: Josiah got a couple of tubes of Gerber puffs- his first finger foods! We let him eat them under the tree on Christmas morning. This was the first gift under our Christmas tree. Sarah knew what they were and told him at every opportunity leading up to Christmas.

Sarah: A matching "big girl" plate and cup. The say "sweet pea" and have a picture of a smiling pod of peas. She is now helping set the table and (consistently) learning to drink from a cup.

Emily: I received awesome tickets to see the Nutcracker in Boston. This is what Dave (selflessly, not being sure he was a fan of ballet) gave me last year, but we had to give them away to make an unexpected trip to MS. But this year was even better. Since my parents were in town they watched the children and sacrificed hotel points so that we could stay the night. We had a nice dinner with a gift card from other family members. And to top it all off Dave genuinely liked the ballet!

Dave: For a few years now we have been toying with the idea of getting Dave a nice new camera. He was faithful to his hobby and diligent to learn new techniques regularly. The camera he had was used when he purchased it many years ago and painstakingly slow- not an asset when trying to photograph a toddler. We decided before Thanksgiving to take the plunge and he set out to find the best deal, which he found online the Friday after Thanksgiving. As such, he has been enjoying his gift throughout the Christmas season and we have been richly blessed by it. Oh, and when you see him with his fancy camera you can go ahead and say "happy birthday" too :)

Christmas Day

Christmas is a wonderful and beautiful time- one which came even more alive as we celebrated it with a baby boy of our own. From great worship services the two days before to opening presents to feasting to visiting friends, we had a great great time. We got to enjoy all of this with the Howells, making it all the merrier.

I spent most of Christmas Eve leading a rehearsal and three worship services, taking some family pictures after one of them.

Christmas morning we woke up to a veritable pile of presents, cinnamon rolls, and breakfast pizza.

Josiah quickly showed his preference for wrapping paper over presents

Papa and Goggin gave Sarah a shopping cart, which soon became the holding area for all her other gifts

After a light lunch we headed to the Eversons' home for a proper Christmas dinner.

There were all sorts of good things on the floor to play with

Sarah was given an abacus by J and Kim Everson

Finally, we came home- some of us more tired than others.