Victories

It's true. Parenting can be filled with hardships, worries, and challenges. But, there are moments that fill you with such joy that it all becomes worth it. Today I had two such moments...

For two years (yes, her whole life), Eliana has fought us when it comes time to drink her milk. We've tested her for reflux, milk allergies, and muscular problems that could prevent her from swallowing correctly. It just became our battle. Every day, twice a day. We say "drink." She says "no." Some days it would take close to two hours. But, today, God gave great grace. Eliana drank her milk (twice!) without fighting us! And she drank it quickly! Here's the proof...(ok, so in the first pic, she was debating a battle... but then....)

The second moment came not much later. Elijah began to read. He read me two beginner books. I even covered up the pictures so he couldn't cheat and guess at what it was saying. He also began writing his name well, and drawing stick figures. My boy reads!

Great Quote...

I recently heard this quote in a sermon by Spencer DeBurgh, which I strongly recommend you listen to if you have the time. You can find it here. I like this quote as it seems to speak directly to the question of should we "redo" church, evangelism, and ultimately Christianity.

"Woe to him therefore, who preaches Christianity without the possibility of offense. Woe to the person who smoothly, flirtatiously, commendingly, convincingly preaches some soft, sweet something which is supposed to be Christianity!

Woe to the person who makes miracles reasonable. Woe to the person who betrays and and breaks the mystery of faith, distorts it into public wisdom, because he takes away the possibility of offense! Woe to the person who speaks of the mystery of the Atonement without detecting in it anything of the possibility of offense."

~Soren Kierkegaard

Self-Control

Do I control my desires, or do my desires control me? Today, during my time with God, I was greatly convicted and encouraged by this question. I was reading in Colossians 1, and kept mulling over verse 10, which says “…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work…”  Paul is praying for the believers in Colossae that God would give them  knowledge of Himself and spiritual wisdom so that they can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects.  Wow! Are my actions and thoughts each day worth of the Lord? Do I please Him in EVERYTHING I do? Immediately certain areas of my life (not pretty ones) started coming to mind.

Afterward, I picked up “Respectable Sins” and read the chapter on Self-Control. The Holy Spirit continued to bring to mind SO many areas in my life where I let my impulses and desires control my actions! My love of ice cream, my longing for Pringles in the afternoon, my desire to rest instead of exercise, my tendency to give vent to my angry heart towards a rebellious child, my speed at checking email or facebook instead of opening my Bible. Now, this may all seem DIScouraging, but what really brought me joy amidst the conviction is that “self-control” is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23)! And since God, by His mercy has saved me, and given me faith and a desire to make HIM King instead of myself, I can trust that by HIS strength, I can have self-control!  His redeeming work in me is WAY stronger than my own sinful self.

Looking back at Colossians 1, I can have the same hope and faith that Paul had when he prayed for the believers in Colossae, that God would help them  “walk worthy and please Him in all respects.” In verses 3-6, Paul speaks of a hope which is laid up for us in Heaven, and that is the GOSPEL—and that gospel is constantly bearing fruit and increasing (v. 6) I can have hope, and really have victory over my nature to be lazy and seek comfort, and exercise the muscle of self-control, because JESUS CHRIST humbled Himself and came to earth, lived a perfect life, died for my sins, and raised again, and today sits at the right-hand of God in Heaven. And one day, I Will stand before Him and give an account for my life. And He will judge the motives of my heart, and He will reveal whether  what I’ve built upon was wood, hay, and stubble, or gold, stubble, and precious stones. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

So, my hope for you is that today you might question yourself….are you living in a manner worthy of the Lord? Are you pleasing Him in every respect? I know I will have to keep asking myself that question every day, every hour, and then prayerfully ask Him to help me have victory over my desires. I have some ideas about how I’ll be applying this, but I won’t tell you yet :-)

Beyond Measure

The last two weeks were a taste of what it is to be given more than you deserve. We flew to "The Peninsula"  (what we islanders call mainland Spain) for a mandatory, TEAM Spain conference. It was a joy getting to meet all of the other missionaries who are here with TEAM, hear their hearts, and get a better picture of what God is doing in Spain. One thing that took us by surprise was the COLD. I didn't realize how quickly my blood had turned warm being in Tenerife. We didn't move with our winter attire, so we made lots of mad dashes from one building to another.

 Here we are with our Tenerife coworkers braving the cold near Toledo.

Another huge blessing was that we were able to lodge for the cost of utilities in the home of a missionary family on home assignment in the US. They have three small children, so my kiddos were elated to be able to play with new toys, and have a swing set in "their" back yard. They spent hours playing with a Thomas the Train set. I also discovered that Eliana has a deep love for dollies now! She fed, burped, soothed, disciplined, and instructed the dolls with a loud "OBEY GOD!"  


Since we also were able to use the vehicle of this family, and housing was taken care of, and we could cook our own meals vs. eating out-- and since one of our huge focuses this year is language and culture acquisition, we made a "vacation" out of the conference. We were able to stay for a total of 2 weeks in the peninsula. We are cheap skates, so we saw the outsides of lots of pretty castles and cathedrals (even the cathedrals charge admission unless you are attending mass). We were extra excited to see Toledo, as one of our neighbors who we've talked with quite extensively had told us he really wanted us to see the place. He even called today when he saw us return home to see if we made it there. Nathan purchased this gentleman a small sword letter opener as a souvenir. (Toledo is known for their swords).

A bird's eye view of Toledo.

So, not only did we get to finally meet our coworkers in Spain, have free housing and vehicle, and get to know more about the culture in Spain--- but, God even took care of a few secret desires....

I was struggling in my heart a bit with covetousness as I watched my kids play with the train set at the home we were staying. I was also lamenting how much more expensive toys like that cost in Spain. And, to set a back drop, Levi has been really wanting a white tiger figurine ever since he saw the white tiger at the zoo awhile back. It's been a topic of many conversations with him. Well, one afternoon we were blessed yet again to be at the home of a wonderful missionary family, and the wife asked me, "would your boys like some Thomas the Train toys?" She then gave them several toys and enough track to make a good loop. I was so shocked, as just the day before I was wishing we had that very thing for the kids. Then, she pulled out some figurines, and low and behold, asked, "anyone want a white tiger?" God is good, good indeed!

The white tiger at Loro Parque

That brings up the last thing I'm super thankful for from this trip. Several families courageously invited our crazy family of 6 over to their homes for a meal. That's no small thing. It was encouraging to me to get to know people better, pick mothers' brains on raising kids overseas, and forge new friendships.

So, thank you, Lord, for the ways you bless us beyond measure!  

Luna!

My baby girl turned TWO this week! Our tiny little surprise daughter has grown into a vivacious, outgoing, athletic, talkative, very determined wonder woman. To be truthful, the last few years have been full of ups and downs as we've grappled to parent such a lively personality. But, I've been so encouraged of late remembering that God's sovereignty covers even the personalities of our children. Hopefully, I am more like Christ as a result of having Eliana in my life, and hopefully, she will end up more like Christ from having me as her mother. God's grace is so good, and so deep. I can truthfully say that I wouldn't trade my daughter for the world. I'm excited to see what she will become. Despite her immeasurable drive and energy, she is such a nurturer. She adores her baby brother, and she cares for her little dollies as if they were real. She is fearless, and she LOVES people.

For months now, Eliana's favorite word and favorite object to hunt for, has been the "luna." Every time she sees it (even if it's the 17th time in one hour), she still exclaims at the top of her lungs, "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUNA!"

Here's a glimpse of the fun she brings into our lives...

A Bit of Catching Up...

Well, uninspired or not, I press on (namely for the three of you who encouraged me to do so).

We are thankful to be entering another year, just as in need of God's grace as ever. 2010 was certainly a year of transition, trials, blessings, joys... and any number of other adjectives. But one thing is certain- God remains on the thrown, and we remain His grateful adopted children eagerly awaiting His return. Maybe 2011 will be the year!

We have now been in Tenerife for 9 months. I am buttoning down and becoming more serious about getting my driver's license and passing my Spanish proficiency exam. Nathan is an incredible husband and father and is constantly serving us, but for both of our sanity, I need to be able to do some grocery shopping and take kids to the doctor by myself.

We are thankful to be building stronger friendships with some of our neighbors. If you think of it, be in prayer for David and Sonya (and children Carlos and Sarah) and Federico and Sylvie (and sons Simone, Rafael, and Jean Marie). We were blessed to spend the evening last night with the latter family, enjoying their exceptional BBQ skills and some good conversation. We are hoping to have David and Sonya over to dinner some time in the next week.

For me, I think most of the work I've seen God do in the last nine months has been an overhaul of my own heart. I used to always marvel, when I'd go on a short-term missions trip, at how God seemingly flew me thousands of miles away just to show me areas of my own life that needed change. Well, living overseas now is no different. So many different things are constantly bouncing through my head, I'd be awake all night if I tried to put them to paper right now, but it all boils back down to this: He's big, and I'm little. Parenting four kids 4 and under shows me that. Moving to a new culture shows me that. Trying to share the best news in the world with people who aren't interested shows me that. Dealing with more sickness than we have ever experienced in one year shows me that. Spending holidays away from family and loved ones shows me that. Watching two young friends die leaving behind devastated families shows me that. Looking out the window at the vast ocean every day shows me that. And living in the shadow of an active volcano shows me that. I think of the famous C.S. Lewis quote from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Lucy asks the Beaver if Aslan is a tame lion. He replies, "Safe? Of course he's not safe!.....But he's good!"

So, to sum it up, I've learned a lot this past year- about myself, about God... mostly I've learned that I'm oh so far from perfect, and oh so in need of God. Not just His help or his grace, but Him. I need Him for every breath. I need God. I desperately need His Word. He allows me times of shade, times of lonliness, times of wandering in the valley, followed by times of victory, of amazement, of refreshment- all because He wants me to see Himself.

A theme He has repeatedly brought back into my life over the years is learning to "see" his fingerprints in my life. It's utter foolishness to think that a hair falls from my head without his knowledge or concern. Yet, I so often don't look past my own nose as I wallow about in my circumstances, emoting every which way that I turn, and looking only at how I might alleviate my sufferings or fix my own problems. Yet not one broken transmission, sick baby, lost wallet, or unruly child is outside of His sovereign control or design. I hope my thick skull will eventually remember that lesson.

Ok... I better wrap up my meandering thoughts and end with some pictures, as that's really what people want to see anyway.

Uninspired

I think it's an unfortunate truth, but facebook is killing my blog! It's hard to put energy into clever posts and pictures when in a flash I can put a mini version on facebook. Plus, is there really anyone left in the blog world who isn't on facebook? I hate being redundant. So, I need to give it a good think as to whether or not to keep my fingers dipped in both worlds...

I guess if you are a blog follower who isn't on facebook, let me know, so I can factor that into my decision on whether to keep blogging.

In the mean time, enjoy Christ this Christmas!

Learning... so many decisions

We continue to be amazed at how God provides for our needs... even the ones we haven't put much thought into. Our van has now spent over three months in the shop. Through 16 weeks of house guests, we haven't been able to transport them together with our family. Now that our family has six people and our car only seats 5, we are in a bit of a bind, seemingly, as we can't go anywhere as a whole family. Yet, the Belches and Albrechts have been gracious to trade vehicles with us when it's necessary, and we've yet to miss an appointment. God has also laid it on people's hearts at various times to give us gifts at just the right times that help pay for van and hospital bills. God truly provides!

Nathan has passed half of his driver's test, and will hopefully pass the second half next week so he can continue to drive legally here. I am officially enrolled in driver's school. To be repeating such a class fifteen years later makes me thankful for one thing in particular. At least I have less acne now!

Just last week I was realizing that while we've graciously been given an abundance of hand-me-downs for our three youngest kids, Elijah was without a jacket, long-sleeved shirts, and tennis shoes. Just a few days later, a friend from church came by with two bags of clothes... for Elijah... full of long-sleeve shirts, a light jacket, and tennis shoes! To put a cherry on top of God's goodness, there was even a pair of shoes with the built in wheels... something Elijah has wanted!

We continue to wrestle with the question of schooling next year. Any time we go into public during the day, we are repeatedly asked why Elijah and Levi are not in school. Our response that they are only 2 and 4 only meets with blank stares and more quandaries as to why they aren't in school. After trying to explain to some neighbors about home schooling, they felt prompted to go on their own to the local government to ask if we could do such a thing, or if our kids should be in the public schools like everyone else. SOOOO... keep praying for us, that we'd make a culturally wise decision that doesn't exclude what's best for our kids.

I have begun more proactively teaching Elijah at home. My goal is for him to be reading by the end of this school year. He loves to learn. Today wrote his name for the very first time as well as the word "mom." He was so excited, he asked if I could buy him a book that had the words "Elijah" and "mom" in it so he could read it to his siblings. When I told him that soon he could be reading ALL the words in his books, he gave me a giant hug and just beamed!

He also enjoyed learning about magnets a few days ago, thanks the kids breaking one of my necklaces that had magnetic beads in it.

Lucas Daniel

I am not sure how many people read my blog, that don't also have facebook, but to be fair to my poor fourth born, I will do a post about his birth.

Lucas Daniel came to us at 4:40am on 10/11/10 (but in all U.S. time zones, it was still 10/10/10). I was scheduled for a c-section at 9am that morning, and had been admitted the night before, but during the night I went into labor, so Lucas managed to make it out a few hours ahead of schedule.

I'll spare you all the details of delivery, as I can sum it up by saying, we both are alive and healthy, and thankful for God's goodness. Giving birth overseas included a few fears and vocabulary building, but all in all, we are thankful that everything went well.

Lucas weighed 6lbs 8oz and was 19". He seems so tiny! But, everyone keeps commenting that he has really long arms and huge hands. Perhaps he'll take after his Dupda, Andy, and be the tall one in our family.

Now Lucas is 2 weeks old, and a lot more alert and hopefully putting on some ounces.

We were able to smuggle the kids into the hospital room to see their new brother, and they were immediately
smitten!

Elijah loves his little brother so much. He loves to hold him, talk to him, and read books to him.

Now that we have 4 kids, we keep getting asked, "You DO know how this happens, don't you?" (referring to babies.) But, all I can say is despite endometriosis, a pituitary tumor, and a vasectomy... God clearly wanted little Lucas to be part of our family!

Bunkbed made to Order

We've had the blessing of Nathan's parents being with us the last few weeks. They are here for the birth of Lucas and have been super helpful with the kids and around the house. Since Lucas seems content to stay inside for the time being, we were able to go enjoy Loro Parque last week. Here are Nana and Dupda with the kids watching the Killer Whale show.

We put to use Dupda's painting skills and decided to paint the boys room.

The boys have been begging for a bunk bed, and since we've decided to move Lucas's crib into the boys' room (instead of making him endure trying to sleep with a very curious 20 month old sister...), Nathan surprised me with his woodworking abilities and made a very sturdy bunk bed. Here is a glimpse of the process...

 

And now we have to decide if this indeed too high of a bunk bed, and if the cost of an ER visit outweighs the cost of altering the height and adding a slanted latter... But, the boys are thrilled, none the less!

Also this week, our neighbor's god children came by for an unexpected play date. Elijah had fun playing memory with them and assembling puzzles.

Child-Like Faith

Lately I have been so encouraged by how soft Elijah’s heart has been towards the Lord, and also how genuine his faith appears to be. While I’m hesitant to tell him I think he’s “saved” or to encourage him to pray a prayer, I think that to the extent that a four year old can have faith- he has it.

Lately when he disobeys, when we send him to the bathroom to await discipline, he prays during that time (audibly where I can hear), “God, please help me to obey!”

Yesterday, when Nathan was giving each kid an obedience challenge for the day, he asked Elijah to really work on not arguing or answering us with “But…!” After Bible time, Elijah said, “When I get to Heaven, God will take away all my buts! And all my other sins!”

Today during Bible time, Nathan was working through the Old Testament, and went through the 10 Commandments with the kids. He explained stealing (which the kids have had a bit of a problem with. If they like a toy from the church nursery, for example, they just put it on their pocket and take it home.) Last week while we were at the Belches, Elijah really liked a certain plastic toy soldier, and brought it home. I explained that it was stealing, but then he lost it, so we took one of our soldiers over to their house in exchange. After Bible time today, Elijah exclaimed , “I’m sooo sorry that I took that soldier from Buelo and Buelas house! I shouldn’t have done that!” It was so encouraging to see him apply scripture and feel conviction over sin!

A few minutes ago, while watching the movie "Prince of Egypt," Elijah turned to Levi and said, “Levi, Moses doesn’t want to be a king anymore, he wants to be a new man, who God likes!”

On a lighter (and maybe t.m.i.) note, Elijah is in the habit of describing his poops every time he finishes. There are turtles and sticks and rocks, and wet and dry, etc. Yesterday after finishing his business, he cried out, “HEY! This poop is like Jesus walking on the water!” (it was a floater).

Oh how I long to see all of our kids walking by faith and letting Christ be their King. I'm so thankful for encouraging glimpses of seeds taking root in our eldest's heart!

Cactus Balls

Nathan took the three kids on a hike behind the house to retrieve the sundry of items that had fallen (eh hem... been thrown) over our wall. Namely, we needed to fetch Levi's precious Nalgene water cup that came from "across the ocean" and is irreplaceable here.

Eliana found what looked like a fun little ping-pong ball, but in reality was a cactus ball that appeared harmless, but upon further examination (or grasping), appeared to have hundreds of nearly invisible, hair-like thorns that embedded themselves into poor Eliana's hands and fingers. When she got home, I had the fun task of using tweezers and duct tape to extract the dozens of little pokers. Many of the thorns transferred themselves into my fingers, Nathan's arms and chest (from carrying her home).

Lesson learned... nature doesn't produce any safe ping-pong balls.

So, how have we been doing?

So, a few people have asked how we've been doing lately, and I realized I haven't done any blog updates for several weeks, so I thought I'd post a somewhat lengthy update on how how each of our Thiry Clan are doing...

The kids are doing well. Elijah is super soft spiritually, which is a huge encouragement to my heart. I know he's very much a people pleaser, so I'm not at all encouraging him to "pray a prayer" or anything, but we talk a lot about making Jesus his King and obeying Him each day in each circumstance. He loves to pray! I catch him praying throughout the day on his own... praying that Jesus will help him catch a lizard, praying that Jesus would help Levi obey so he won't get thrown into the lake of fire... etc. Every time he sees the sunset, he jumps up and down and exclaims that Jesus is coming back. He has such a strong child-like faith. He has this cool evangecube keychain that unfolds to the different pictures of the gospel. He loves to wear it clipped to his pocket every day, and he's even shared with some strangers using it!  Elijah continues to miss his best friend, Sophie, and talks about her quite a bit. I'm hoping their Spanish improves soon so he can start relating to kids on a different level than just running around screaming insanely. (screaming and insanity seem to transcend language barriers.)

Levi is getting a bit softer spiritually. He's at least more responsive to me, more affectionate, and more teachable. He still has a strong independent streak, but I'm learning better how to interact with his personality, and seeing how my response to him greatly affects how he then responds to me. He's a very dear boy who is brave, daring, independent, and yet loves necklaces, bracelets, shoes and "looking good." I know the day is coming when he'll be 14 and starts begging for an earring! He has become quite a bully to Eliana, so we're working on that. Both boys are SUPER excited to have a new brother soon and fight over who will be his best friend. Levi is our most grateful kid. He sincerely thanks us for nice things he receives. Yesterday he got his first black eye as a result of a run in with a slide... or so I've been told.

Eliana is as gorgeous as ever on the outside, but her insides are showing some very ugly corners. She has the most hideous angry temper. If one small thing isn't done "her way." She screams and pitches a most horrendous fit. For example, today, she wanted to sit on the potty and try to go pee and wipe herself. Nathan let her try for 5 minutes or so (she's never actually gone potty yet), but then told her to be all done as he had other things to do. She got so angry that she was flailing, hitting, screaming, and writhing. I'm not talking about a sad, "oh I'm sooo disappointed" cry. I'm talking about an, "if I were bigger and had a weapon, you'd all be dead..." scream... a rage from the inner depths. We discipline, teach, hug, repeat over and over. Honestly, I some times think she has a medical condition that makes her not feel much pain. Several people have commented at how she can fall, take a hit, receive very firm discipline on the backside and seem unaffected. I'm not sure if she really can't feel it or if her will overcomes her pain. By faith, we're just trying to be obedient to what God's word says about discipline and trusting that in time, we'll see fruit in her life. You could pray for patience and a genuine love for her when she's being unlovable. Apart from that, she's obsessed with pretty things- purses, bracelets, shoes, lotion--- oh vanity, here we come! She abhors anything that looks like it may be a toy, and much prefers to scour the house for anything that looks inappropriate for her. It cannot be soft or made of plastic. It's best if it's breakable, stains, or disgusting. On the bright side, she's our best eater and eats literally whatever is in front of her. She knows I have a baby in my tummy, and loves to see babies, but I have a feeling she'll be Lucas' greatest danger. I think she'll be quick to poke, pinch, hit, pick up, and feed Lucas at every opportunity. I'm so convinced of this, that we're actually contemplating moving his crib into the boys room and letting Eliana have her own room. Eliana also continues to love Nathan more than life itself. As much as I was looking forward to having a daughter to follow me around and to teach how to be a godly young lady, I'm thankful she has a daddy who is such a good role model of what to look for in a future husband and leader.

Nathan continues to work hard, by serving us as a family, taking on responsibilities at church, studying Spanish, working on getting his license, and loving on the lost guys in our area. He is truly a great man. We were blessed on Saturday to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary together.

I am as big as a house, tired, cranky, etc, etc. I'm thankful for God's grace in the daily tasks, and that He gives me a love for my kids each day. I'm getting excited to start homeschooling Elijah this year, but I'm also torn as I'd love for him to be able to go to a GOOD public school here to learn Spanish and make friends. Continue praying for God's wisdom in that arena. I'm pretty tired these days. After the intestinal illness went away that had me in the hospital for two days, we got hit with a horrible cold/flu bug that's lasted 5 or so days. Nathan and I have it the worst-- super tired, achy, tons of sinus congestion... now it's in my chest, but at least I can breathe, and so sleep at night a bit better.

In case you don't think I qualify as being as large as a house, this pic is now a month old.

We just ended 10 weeks of constant house guests, which was a blessing but also taxing as a family. Nathan's mom, Trina, comes in 11 days, for which we are thankful, as she loves the kids as her own and works so hard to serve us and help around the house.

Our van is in it's 11th week in the shop. I hardly remember what it looks like. Lord willing, we'll get it back before Trina or Lucas arrives, otherwise, we'll need a rental to be able to haul more than the 5 we already have. Everyone asks when Lucas will arrive, and of course, I have no idea... but if I had to guess, I'd say around the 20th of September. I'll gladly take votes though. The winner can come fly here to see us (travel expenses not included :-)

Our Kia (aka, K.illed I.n A.ction)

This morning, 2 ladies from church came over to deep clean my kitchen and living room. It was humbling, but a blessing too. They cleaned parts I didn't even know existed! Now I don't want to ever cook again so my kitchen stays this shiny.

Anger

Lately I've been horrified to see how much anger resides in my heart. I would have never described myself as an angry person before having kids... or shall I saw, before having 3.5 kids 4 and under. All previous "spiritual accomplishments" or thoughts of my "great" maturity fizzle away into mist when I daily see how much my  heart gravitates towards a wicked, self-seeking, prideful anger. In the midst of all my attempts to "fix" my problem, I've come to realize I will NEVER have victory over this sin... without an active, aggressive, war-like attack on it using God's Word as my main weapon. I am so weak, but thankfully God is strong. Of course, each day I have to try to look past the enormous red wood tree sticking out of my own eye as I try to shepherd my kids through their own outbursts of anger.

What's been the most convicting is realizing that perhaps my own sharp words or knee jerk responses to their misbehavior has served to fuel the fire of their own anger. How can I ask them to lay aside anger and put on patience and kindness when I so readily model the opposite. At the core of my anger, I see a simple root that runs to the heart. PRIDE. When I am angry, it's because one of my children has dared to defy ME. They have ignored ME. They have disrespected ME. How dare they! So, in my attempt to control them, I lose utter control of myself.

These simple yet VERY true verses have been my weapons this week. If you struggle with anger, I encourage you to memorize them with me...

Proverbs 15:1- “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Proverbs 29:11- “A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back.”
What's more, I'm finding that a mother's anger is easy to conceal. It's possible I can be hiding a red-hot heart from Nathan, from my kids, and from onlookers. I can put on a sweet smile, say soothing words, and have the appearance of a nurturing heart, when really I'm seething inside. Philippians 1:27 has been convicting in this regard:

"Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (In the Spanish translation, it says, "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner  worthy...") I want my heart to honor Christ and my life to be one that is worthy of the gospel EVEN IF NO ONE IS LOOKING! To all my fellow mothers out there, I pray that we take this verse to heart, and we begin waging war against the sins that are threatening our families...

Proverbs 14:1- "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."

Masters of our own Destiny...

Tonight I was blessed to have a young lady from the community over who is a new professing believer. We were able to spend a few hours going over some verses relating to the gospel and talking about God's sovereignty, works vs. grace leading to salvation, etc. She had just asked me what people meant when they said "I am the master of my own destiny," when we smelled an overwhelming amount of smoke. We were investigating the house when she finally realized that today was June 23, the day the island celebrates Hogueras de San Juan. She explained that at night, everyone lights big fires and burns anything that brings them bad luck (blankets, sweaters, books, trinkets... anything). Then, under the moon, they bathe themselves in the ocean to rid themselves of bad luck and negative energy. (All of this is also of course accompanied by a lot of drinking and carousing). What an incredible example of people vainly trying to be masters of their own destiny! We talked about where those people are putting their hope... in a sovereign all-powerful God, or in their own efforts to change their luck. In truth, despite burning all of your possessions today, can  you prevent a truck from striking you tomorrow? Can bathing in the sea prevent cancer from spreading invisibly in your body? While it was a great bridge to talk to her about faith in a huge God verses a puny self, it really broke my heart for the people here who live day to day without knowing their sovereign Creator.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17)

Father's Day

I remember when I was young, and I'd day dream about my future husband, one of the things that was high on my priority list was that my future husband would be a wonderful, God-fearing father. I can say, despite all of my other failures, I have by God's grace accomplished that goal! Nathan LOVES being a daddy, and I am constantly in awe of his compassion, gentleness, and faithfulness to the kids. It shouldn't come as a surprise to me that each of them has gone through a severe "daddy's boy (or girl)" stage. If I were a kid, I'd prefer him too!

Cards

Someone suggested I put verses on some of the pictures I've taken and turn them into cards or prints people can order. I haven't decided if I'm going to go that route or not, but I thought I'd put up some samples and ask you to vote on your favorites so I have an idea of which ones people like.

Please leave a comment placing your order of favorites (you can either tell me your favorite, or place them in order of favorite to least favorite...) You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

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