Oswald Chambers for all of us A Types : )

"Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing.
We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life.
The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty....
Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth.
This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation.
We are uncertain of the next step but we are certain of God. (Amen)
Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest...
He packs our life with surprises all the time... : )
We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next... (Yes)
When we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy." (Hallelujah!)

~Becky
(excerpts taken from My Utmost for His Highest)

Its double digits for all now!

Happy birthday to Andrew!

~It is hard to believe that our youngest is 10 already!

We love you, Roo! You make life fun around here! : )

~Becky

Congrats!

We just came back from the Fine Arts competition in Orlando. It was amazing!!!

Congrats to Zach! His team's human video was invited to the national competition in August! Whoo-hoo!

They did a drama on the heros of the faith in Hebrews 11. It was awesome!

I hope to post it soon, if our video turned out well.



~Becky

This book promises that after reading it you will....

be able to list all the presidents in order and know them for the rest of your life! Wow!

Well, I had my doubts....

But, guess what? It works! By the end of the book, I could ask our kids who was the 10th president or who was the 17th or the 35th and they got them all right! Whoo-hoo! -I wasn't too concerned about them knowing which president was which number but I was thrilled that they could name the first 20 in order right away...and just about do all the rest too.

Yo, Millard Fillmore! (And all those other Presidents you don't know) is the name of this fun book. If you are studying the presidents, give it a try! You'll love the results!

It uses the mnemonic principle of association just like vocabulary cartoons, which are awesome!

There is a cartoon for each picture which goes with a continuous story throughout the book that helps with remembering each president's last name and the order they go in.

The book didn't include George W. Bush and Barack Obama so the kids thought of a fun way to add them to the story.... "The Clean Ten (Clinton) went to Bush Gardens (Bush) and a bomb (Obama) went off. (we didn't draw any cartoons though) : )

~Becky

This week...

Joy and I had fun at our Hats of Hope group yesterday. Such a sweet bunch of girls and ladies! We now have 31 sweater hats ready to send to a missionary in Zambia who ministers in a woman's prison. Whoo-hoo!

A certain somebody in the family who has NOT been wearing his glasses like he should for a very long time.... got contacts today and is very happy. Life is looking a lot brighter and clearer now (LOL) and he's lovin' the view. (funny how that works!)

~Speaking of which, I seem to need my glasses to read more often than I used to. Uh oh! Must be that almost 40-thing. ; )

It is Nathan's turn to quote a chapter in Mark for our congregation on Wednesday night at church. He's doing chapter 11.

Zachary is in a human video for the Fine Arts competition this weekend. This is the first time one of our kids have been involved in it. I can't wait to go! It will be so much fun watching ALL THOSE teens using their God given gifts. PTL

Andrew and the worship band that he is in, is playing their first song in Kid's church on Sunday!
(Holy is the Lord) They have been practicing for some time now. Its been great for Andrew, who is a beginner on the guitar. He's improved by leaps and bounds.
He uses every spare second of his day to play guitar. -My hubby who plays guitar, absolutely loves this and they play together whenever they get a chance.
You can often hear me saying "Andrew, you have to do something besides guitar! -Like school for instance." : )
~Even having an upset stomach didn't keep him from playing recently. He would play guitar, go ummm, throw up and then play guitar again.... Pretty amazing!

I just love my LOUD house full of musicians!

Well, I'm off to do dishes....
Have a great week!

~Becky

Days with Dad

In years past my hubby has had a routine of taking each of the kids camping alone with him to spend some good one-on-one time with them.

But this year, the prices of our favorite campground have gone up and so we decided to change things up a bit. ~Because who wants to pay an arm and a leg to go and rough it? ; )

So, instead of 'camping with Dad,' we are doing a 'day with Dad' this year.

We have the calendar all marked for the year of who is going out with him and when.

It is a shorter amount of time than the camping trip but the kids are enjoying it anyway. They like the aspect of planning what they get to do with him. I love to hear them talking about it weeks in advance.

The day usually starts early...(Dad is one early riser)

He makes that person breakfast and then they head out for the day to do whatever they have planned. ~They always come back tired and happy.

Last month Joy had her day. She chose to go fishing!

When asked if they caught anything, my hubby said 'Yes.' And I got excited. But then I thought 'EWW! What did they do with it?' Because I knew they went to the movies after fishing...

Then he added:

"We caught

a very good day."

Ahhhh! : ) That's better than FISH!

~Becky

A serious condition?

Today my youngest guy came up to me and said:
"Mom, I didn't know that Ms.____ is technology challenged!" (her son had told him that) : )

He said it with such SYMPATHY that I thought he didn't understand the meaning. So I said "Well, that just means she's not really good with computers."
And he said:
"I know," with the SAME amount of serious sympathy. (like she had a health condition or something)
It was really pretty cute! ~Is this a computer generation or what?! : )

~Becky

What kind of mother lets her son....

read on the roof?!

~One who certainly didn't know he was up there! ; )

Boys!!! LOL

~Becky

Remembering the Lord this week

The kids and I have been piecing together the last week of Jesus' life.
Nathan really enjoyed this since he has memorized the book of Mark this year in TBQ.

We started with Sunday (the Triumphal Entry) and we've been talking about at what He did or taught each day. So, we've been saying things like"Today Jesus cleansed the temple and cursed the fig tree" etc...
Then we realized that what He did on Wednesday is a bit of a mystery. I think He must of rested after his HUGE day on Tuesday. Or I wonder if he spent time praying for Judas who met with the Pharisees that day and agreed to betray Him...
This has been a great "Easter" activity for us. Next year, I think I'll have the kids write it all out. Maybe in a calender format...
Some of us are planning on watching the Passion of the Christ this weekend. It's so agonizingly sad though, isn't it? Not all of our kids have seen it and two aren't sure they want to yet...
It is a great way to remember the price He paid for our salvation!

Here are some quotes from Oswald Chambers that seem appropriate:

"The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is drawn aside to reveal all it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God."

"The center of salvation is the cross of Jesus and the reason it is so easy for us to obtain salvation is because it cost Him so much."

The cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened- but the crash was on the heart of God."

Happy Resurrection Day,
Becky

A must read......

for teens!
Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris is awesome! Its great for kids of all ages and adults also. We just can't say enough good about it! We couldn't stop talking about it for a week.
These twin home schooled boys will motivate and encourage you to seek the Lord for a "holy ambition" to DO something for God during the teen years and not waste these precious years by being satisfied with the status-quo. You can check out their website at
www.therebelution.com

One of my teens even said it changed their outlook on life! How cool is that!? I recommend getting the audio book so that you can listen and discuss it as a family.

We'll be listening to their brother's book on tape next. I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.

~Becky

Friendship

All friends are special but lately I've been thinking about how special old friends are.

I'm blessed to have a dear friend who I've known since college.

She has been coming to visit me wherever I've lived, for the past 20 years.

That means:

We were friends when we were both single.

We watched God move in each other's lives to give us our wonderful husbands.

We were in each other's weddings.

We love each other's kids and think they are wonderful.

Our husbands love to be together as much as we do.

We've watched our kids become great friends.

We know each other's extended family members and have prayed for them over the years.

We've always been crazy about the Lord together.

~And no matter how long we go between visits, we just pick up right where we left off!

What a blessing!

~Becky