Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves

We as a family are away for a week and I meant to post before we left but didn't get a chance. I had a small window of time on he computer and wanted to share. Last weekend we had the privilege of having such wonderful biblical teaching from Steve and Janis Shank. She shared on Hope and Contentment. Steve preached on "All for the Sake of the Gospel" and "The Gospel and The Glory". When we return I hope to share about that time with some of the many quotes that so effected me. This is one area Steve spoke about that stuck with me so vividly. I leave it with you till we return.

Why should Christians preach the gospel to themselves everyday?


Because.......

• guilt preaches to us everyday
• disappointment preaches to us everyday
• worry preaches to us everyday
• fear preaches to us everyday
• our besetting sins preach to us everyday
• death preaches to us everyday
• the temporal world preaches to us everyday

You can listen to the entire message The Gospel and The Glory here.

Homeschooling is Not the Gospel.

In my reading today I came across this blog post through Amy's Humble Musings. It is about the Homeschooling culture and one families personal experience at their first homeschool convention. He makes some great points about how homeschooling is not the gospel in our lives. It is well worth the read. I also followed a comment to Spunky Homeschool and read her thoughts. Both of these are opportunities to remind ourselves that the center of all we do is the gospel alone. I was freshly encouraged. I especially enjoyed this quote.


Homeschooling is not the salvation of our culture. Jesus is. Homeschooling will not make a family successful. Jesus does. Homeschooling will not keep a child from rebellion. Jesus does. Homeschooling will not keep a marriage strong. Jesus does. And the minute, I think that homeschooling will do any of these things, is the day I begin the slide toward defeat. Homeschooling will not build a successful family any more than a hammer will build a successful house.

Introducing........ the Belly :o)

There was a request for baby belly shots. So here we go. Looking at them myself I didn't realize how much I have grown in the last few weeks.

26 weeks

This is one little boy talking to another.
Well....it really isn't words more like grunts and animal sounds.
Ever since I told my son the baby can hear him they have conversations everyday.

I love this picture...though I wish I was smiling.

Today I was sitting on the couch and the baby started kicking. I placed my son's hand on my tummy so he could feel. "Is that the baby moving" he asked. He leaned down and made one of his normal grunting noises to the baby and the baby immediately kicked his hand. My 4 year old was so excited. "Mama, he heard me and talked back".

He then stood up and stared at my belly. In a thoughtful way he waved his hand in a circle over my belly and said "Mama, is this whole great big area (my belly) where the baby lives"? You probably had to be there but the curious observant tone of his voice with the slight tilt of the head just made me burst into laughter.

I will leave the conversation we had recently about how the baby gets out, for another post :o)

Relishing

The other night while cooking dinner the word relish came to me. I was pondering how grateful I was in my life at that moment. Watching my kids through the kitchen window playing in the pool, cooking a new recipe I knew my husband would really like...feeling this little boy move in my belly.


To relish: pleasure; enjoyment; zest; to enjoy

This word explains it all. The moving is over and we are settled. We are doing things in school we really enjoy like Exploring Creation Botany. Learning together and being fascinated by God's creation and handy work all around us. There is time to simply be together, to explore and relax with each other. Sharing our gratefulness and wonder of being blessed with a strong healthy baby who proves this with each kick we feel and see at times. A season of rest and pleasure in simple everyday things that make us a family.

Making Whole Wheat Strawberry Muffins together.

Creating wind kites out of string and plastic bags. The fun they had was much more enjoyable because it was so simple.

Making super hero capes for stuffies together.

Exploring plants.

Dissecting a rose form our back yard.

Our Weekend Happenings

What a fun weekend. My husband was off from Saturday to Tuesday due to Canada Day. Since I have lived here I have asked what Canada Day is about assuming it is similar to Independence Day in the states. Tim Challies has finally explain it to me.....so if your interested in what Canada Day is all about go take a look. We had tons of family fun. Here's a peek into our weekend.

This is the result of our Saturday excursion. Strawberry picking as a family. I think we came home with over 10 lbs. We are eating them like mad. They are yummy!

I also freeze most of them to use in muffins, waffles, for smoothies and whatever yummy strawberry thing I can think of.....I have recently started making strawberry syrup for our homemade waffles. :o) We will do the same for blueberries later in the season and pick more strawberries for the freezer. I love having berries all year round.


This was the hottest day of the weekend. We were in our backyard pool after taking in a kid movie and going to a gorgeous shady park for the afternoon. We have no A/C and it was hot Sunday. Me and my big belly loved the air conditioning of the movie theatre. What a thoughtful husband I have....I know that's why we really went to the movies.


There is always a big fair on Canada Day. This year we actually took in the rides and the kids loved it!

The look on his face is priceless! He wasn't so sure about this slide.

Hi Bug!

You could spin this as slow or fast as you liked. Can you see the need for speed on his face?

I love these times when the norm changes and we can abandon routine and have fun. Now my house needs some serious attention and I so much more appreciate the day to day.