Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Am I seeing things Clearly?

I have been thinking a lot lately about how important it is to see life through the crystal clear, untainted lens of the Bible. I generally think of myself as a pretty good person until confronted with the first three verses of Ephesians two*.  The fact of the matter is that I am not only not a good person, apart from the grace of God I am DEAD.  Yes, dead.  No not physically, but spiritually. I can do nothing to bring myself to God, nothing to merit a moment in His presence. Drew is teaching this week on the first 10 verses of Ephesians and as I listened to what he prepared I thought about how easily Eve turned from believing the truth to embracing Satan's lie**. Satan wants us to think God is our enemy.  He wants us to believe that God has withheld good things from us.  NO, God has gifted those He has chosen with every good thing***. When I see myself as pretty good I am not seeing things clearly.  I'm a slow learner, but I am begining to see things more clearly;) As I pray through each circumstance during the day I am calling out to the Lord to help me see things clearly.  Help me see things rightly, instead of clouded in the fog of lies bombarding me by the prince of the power of the air.












* 1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

**1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

***3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Snack Time and Organizing

Here is the snack I made for Chloe, Abram, Baruch and I while the oldest three were at play practice.
 
Here's Chloe and her kitty waiting patiently to dig in!
When I was uploading these pictures I noticed the shelves in the background and thought, why not put in some pictures of my new plan for the winter. 
 
A bin for each member of the family for our hats, scarves and mittens!

And a shelf for each child to put his or her boots on.  Although we have had no snow yet, I am asking each child to take off their shoes and put them on their shelf when they walk in through the door.  I sat everyone down and gave them the beef that Mom is not responsible for anyone's shoes.  If your shoes are found anywhere other than your shelf or your closet you owe me a quarter.  So far this has been the hardest on Baruch and Abram.  I feel so bad because they get the least amount for allowance.  But rules is rules and I am sure they will learn soon =).

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Snapshot Summary #51



 
Sunday
23 - September, 2012



Drew's plan to take Cob on a "coming of age" outing finally materialized!!  The put in on the Mississippi and traveled south, camping on an island.

Monday
24 - September, 2012
 
In the morning, Abigail and Chloe went on an outing.
 
In the afternoon we watched the men lock through lock #11
 
 



 
Please read Jacob's write up on his blog entitled Mississippi Adventure
 
Tuesday
25 - September, 2012


My niece Morgan pops in for a visit! We were all blessed to have Morgan come to Dubuque for work AND work in a visit with US!!  Thanks Morgan, we enjoyed every minute!!

The rest of the week FLEW by as is this one!!

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