I am very thankful that my daughter has this teacher as her role model and instructor. She gave the kids dignity and they lived up to that gift by being responsible and competent performers as they celebrated at a sacred event.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
An Opportunity of a Lifetime
This past weekend my eldest daughter had the opportunity to be part of a very special event. Her music teacher from school was getting married and had asked a small choir of students (my daughter included) to sing at the wedding and share in celebration with her. I was so thankful for this special opportunity and humbled by the importance that was placed on the children for this event. Megan's teacher thought of everything from loot bags for the kids, great song selection, to bubbles at the end. In my mind, I think it takes a pretty special bride to plan for, to rehearse with before school started, and to enjoy the students at the wedding!! The kids sang two worship songs with a worship leader and Happy Together for walking out. What fun!
I am very thankful that my daughter has this teacher as her role model and instructor. She gave the kids dignity and they lived up to that gift by being responsible and competent performers as they celebrated at a sacred event.
I am very thankful that my daughter has this teacher as her role model and instructor. She gave the kids dignity and they lived up to that gift by being responsible and competent performers as they celebrated at a sacred event.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Apple Junction
I think today I fell in love with Manitoba more deeply!
Over the past week I have spent a few hours each day with this view.
Growing up with apples in Ontario I wasn't sure how these worked. But since we appear to have a bumper crop both on the ground and in the trees I thought I should be a true to my heritage and get preserving. I am pleased to report that 6 quarts of crab apples soaked in water and cream of tartar made 5 quarts of juice! I also made crab apple jelly that turned out to be the perfect shade of clear pink. We were very pleased with both canning ventures.
On my first day of picking as high as I could reach with our ladder on the one tree, I moved on to the next tree. (We think we have about three trees with good sized apples on our yard but there are about 4 - 5 more in the woods with even bigger apples that we already missed.) But that tree was FULL of wasps. I could be way off but my guess was that the apples were sweeter. They even looked different. After my second sting I decided to take a break.
In the evening when the wasps were back at their nests we grabbed another bucket of apples then I took a few in to try.
THEY WERE AMAZING!!!
I NEVER would have guessed they could be the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The flesh was very white and the apples very juicy. The wasps have very good taste. I suddenly feel proud of our little crab apple orchard and am no longer annoyed at the mess of the fallen apples and the attraction they are to the wasps. I have even been wondering about pruning them next year. Hard core crab apple tree growers! (Pun intended:))
That evening Dave went out while it was dark and raked up a lot of the fallen apples hoping to keep the wasps away a bit more for future days. They really are crazy out there! I even saw a fight between a large wasp and a large black hard shelled beetle. They were really going after each other and all of a sudden the beetle froze. I thought maybe he was dead but he must have just got stung because all of a sudden he turned over and walked away! Interesting!
In sharing our preserving fortunes with friends we found out about a family who will juice apples and crab apples. Their business is called Apple Junction. They reside in Landmark and some of you may know them from the items they bring to the garden market in St. Norbert. They have that Mum's truck. After calling them I was booked in with an appointment for today at lunch. After making the appointment I spent a few more evenings up on the ladder collecting as many apples as I could. After two wasp stings I chose to pick in the evenings because the wasps aren't around then. I even wore garden gloves, long sleeves and long pants!
Today was the day!! I was giddy with excitement while waiting our turn for making the cider. I have such good memories of drinking home made apple cider in Ontario. The family was so kind and knew their way around the equipment very well. I have a special spot in my heart for these home stations because I grew up in a cucumber station. Anyways, while watching the apples get dumped, washed, crushed, strained and pressed, we tried to guess how many litres of juice our apples might give us. Megan guessed 18L, Lauren 16L and I 20L. Alexander had no guess. We were all way off! We got 40L of fresh apple cider!!! We were so excited all the way home and put Dave on speaker phone after we tried our first fresh glass. It was amazing!!! The kids have even offered to help pick next year! What a gift of Autumn God brought to our house the day before school starts.
Here are a few pictures of our adventure for the day!
How 'bout dem apples!
Over the past week I have spent a few hours each day with this view.
Growing up with apples in Ontario I wasn't sure how these worked. But since we appear to have a bumper crop both on the ground and in the trees I thought I should be a true to my heritage and get preserving. I am pleased to report that 6 quarts of crab apples soaked in water and cream of tartar made 5 quarts of juice! I also made crab apple jelly that turned out to be the perfect shade of clear pink. We were very pleased with both canning ventures.
On my first day of picking as high as I could reach with our ladder on the one tree, I moved on to the next tree. (We think we have about three trees with good sized apples on our yard but there are about 4 - 5 more in the woods with even bigger apples that we already missed.) But that tree was FULL of wasps. I could be way off but my guess was that the apples were sweeter. They even looked different. After my second sting I decided to take a break.
In the evening when the wasps were back at their nests we grabbed another bucket of apples then I took a few in to try.
THEY WERE AMAZING!!!
I NEVER would have guessed they could be the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The flesh was very white and the apples very juicy. The wasps have very good taste. I suddenly feel proud of our little crab apple orchard and am no longer annoyed at the mess of the fallen apples and the attraction they are to the wasps. I have even been wondering about pruning them next year. Hard core crab apple tree growers! (Pun intended:))
That evening Dave went out while it was dark and raked up a lot of the fallen apples hoping to keep the wasps away a bit more for future days. They really are crazy out there! I even saw a fight between a large wasp and a large black hard shelled beetle. They were really going after each other and all of a sudden the beetle froze. I thought maybe he was dead but he must have just got stung because all of a sudden he turned over and walked away! Interesting!
In sharing our preserving fortunes with friends we found out about a family who will juice apples and crab apples. Their business is called Apple Junction. They reside in Landmark and some of you may know them from the items they bring to the garden market in St. Norbert. They have that Mum's truck. After calling them I was booked in with an appointment for today at lunch. After making the appointment I spent a few more evenings up on the ladder collecting as many apples as I could. After two wasp stings I chose to pick in the evenings because the wasps aren't around then. I even wore garden gloves, long sleeves and long pants!
Today was the day!! I was giddy with excitement while waiting our turn for making the cider. I have such good memories of drinking home made apple cider in Ontario. The family was so kind and knew their way around the equipment very well. I have a special spot in my heart for these home stations because I grew up in a cucumber station. Anyways, while watching the apples get dumped, washed, crushed, strained and pressed, we tried to guess how many litres of juice our apples might give us. Megan guessed 18L, Lauren 16L and I 20L. Alexander had no guess. We were all way off! We got 40L of fresh apple cider!!! We were so excited all the way home and put Dave on speaker phone after we tried our first fresh glass. It was amazing!!! The kids have even offered to help pick next year! What a gift of Autumn God brought to our house the day before school starts.
Here are a few pictures of our adventure for the day!
How 'bout dem apples!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Do it Lord!
I'm not sure what kind of goals you have for yourself that no one else may know about. For the past couple of years I have had this idea in my head that I wanted to see how fast I could run a 5K...at my age. This past spring as schedules settled it was apparent that I could add some consistent speed training to my runs towards this goal. I wouldn't be able to surpass the three times a week that I normally run but I could make my runs meaningful, so to speak. So within those boundaries I set out.
My first two races in spring went well and although I met my first goal after 5 weeks of training I wanted to see if I could do better. I wanted to do better. Some would say I am competitive! In retrospect (as is so often the case) I realized that I hadn't planned certain aspects of the training very well. So the next 11 weeks of training was more specific. I had a few options for races that I could work towards but because of conflicts had to pass on the third. Now as our schedules for Fall are picking up I was having second thoughts about whether or not it would even work to properly train to run the upcoming race. So I decided to be creative and run a timed "race" of my own at the track (where there are no distractions - or so I thought.)
This past Tuesday morning I ran 12 and a half laps at the 400m track. I will begin by saying that it was the hardest run I can ever remember doing, even harder than the endurance run in elementary school with Ontario summer humidity! Although I had no physical distractions such as traffic lights and cars, the mental distractions would prove to be much more difficult!
I started my "race" faster than I intended but not out of my range. I went with it though as I realized that I likely would not be able to run that pace later on once fatigue set in (research has shown this as well in case you are interested). Well, fatigue started coming after 5 laps and the desire to stop for a break was enormous. I had guessed this would be an issue and worked to train for this but never thought the mental anguish would be this hard. I knew if I stopped to walk for any amount of time I would not reach my goal.
It was at this time that I really felt like a spiritual battle was happening. I started doubting that I could accomplish what I set out to do, that my training was bogus, that God wasn't honoured by this type of venture, that it didn't really matter if I reached my goal anyways. I was overly aware of the state of my body; the different breathing, dryness of mouth, the shoulder cramping, the continuous extra effort that was required to complete the race at the tempo I trained for and the need to stick to my plan. As the mental fight continued I prayed through all the self defeating thoughts. I was angry that a discipline I felt God had allowed during the summer was being threatened and was destroying my confidence at large! This fight raised my determination and I was made aware of the life analogy forming in my mind.
The book of Hebrews uses the analogy of running a race with perseverance, the race marked out for us. When I set out to gain victory in any area of my life the success of that "race" depends on whether or not I believe what God says about Himself, the situation or about me - about how much he loves me as one of His people. If when things get tough, the situation or pressures feel too hard, if I let up and give in to the moment of weakness or let my unpreparedness for the moment be an excuse, I will get caught up or entangled in the old way. I will believe the lies of the world around me and grow weary. See Hebrews 12:1 - 3. As I was running and processing all this I realized anew the importance of fighting through these battles to the end. The Bible says I have been equipped for for these through God's Word, through the Holy Spirit. God, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3. We have his resurrection power in us to reach goals of faith and maturity. He honours those battles. It is ultimately through His power that we have victory, consistent victory.
I am happy to say that by the grace of God I pushed through and won the mental and physical battle for this 5K. A really beautiful moment happened as I was finishing my last 200m. The song that came up on my iPod was "Do it Lord, Do it Lord, do it Lord, we are praying, do it Lord do it, that Your glory may be seen!" It made me smile. I was so thankful that God cared enough to be part of a living analogy in my life at that moment. Praise the Lord He speaks and moves through all areas of our lives.
In case you are curious, I ended up beating my spring run by 1:36 (that's minutes and seconds!). I had been hoping to knock off at least 40 seconds so this was good!
I'm not sure what battle you are facing right now whether it be; back to school routine, loneliness, a sense of purpose, parenting young children, feeling overextended as you care for your children and your parents, working in a job that you don't like or being in a financial crisis. Whatever the situation, God is with you and wants to fight alongside through all the sweat and tears. He wants to do it so that His glory may be seen.
My first two races in spring went well and although I met my first goal after 5 weeks of training I wanted to see if I could do better. I wanted to do better. Some would say I am competitive! In retrospect (as is so often the case) I realized that I hadn't planned certain aspects of the training very well. So the next 11 weeks of training was more specific. I had a few options for races that I could work towards but because of conflicts had to pass on the third. Now as our schedules for Fall are picking up I was having second thoughts about whether or not it would even work to properly train to run the upcoming race. So I decided to be creative and run a timed "race" of my own at the track (where there are no distractions - or so I thought.)
This past Tuesday morning I ran 12 and a half laps at the 400m track. I will begin by saying that it was the hardest run I can ever remember doing, even harder than the endurance run in elementary school with Ontario summer humidity! Although I had no physical distractions such as traffic lights and cars, the mental distractions would prove to be much more difficult!
I started my "race" faster than I intended but not out of my range. I went with it though as I realized that I likely would not be able to run that pace later on once fatigue set in (research has shown this as well in case you are interested). Well, fatigue started coming after 5 laps and the desire to stop for a break was enormous. I had guessed this would be an issue and worked to train for this but never thought the mental anguish would be this hard. I knew if I stopped to walk for any amount of time I would not reach my goal.
It was at this time that I really felt like a spiritual battle was happening. I started doubting that I could accomplish what I set out to do, that my training was bogus, that God wasn't honoured by this type of venture, that it didn't really matter if I reached my goal anyways. I was overly aware of the state of my body; the different breathing, dryness of mouth, the shoulder cramping, the continuous extra effort that was required to complete the race at the tempo I trained for and the need to stick to my plan. As the mental fight continued I prayed through all the self defeating thoughts. I was angry that a discipline I felt God had allowed during the summer was being threatened and was destroying my confidence at large! This fight raised my determination and I was made aware of the life analogy forming in my mind.
The book of Hebrews uses the analogy of running a race with perseverance, the race marked out for us. When I set out to gain victory in any area of my life the success of that "race" depends on whether or not I believe what God says about Himself, the situation or about me - about how much he loves me as one of His people. If when things get tough, the situation or pressures feel too hard, if I let up and give in to the moment of weakness or let my unpreparedness for the moment be an excuse, I will get caught up or entangled in the old way. I will believe the lies of the world around me and grow weary. See Hebrews 12:1 - 3. As I was running and processing all this I realized anew the importance of fighting through these battles to the end. The Bible says I have been equipped for for these through God's Word, through the Holy Spirit. God, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3. We have his resurrection power in us to reach goals of faith and maturity. He honours those battles. It is ultimately through His power that we have victory, consistent victory.
I am happy to say that by the grace of God I pushed through and won the mental and physical battle for this 5K. A really beautiful moment happened as I was finishing my last 200m. The song that came up on my iPod was "Do it Lord, Do it Lord, do it Lord, we are praying, do it Lord do it, that Your glory may be seen!" It made me smile. I was so thankful that God cared enough to be part of a living analogy in my life at that moment. Praise the Lord He speaks and moves through all areas of our lives.
In case you are curious, I ended up beating my spring run by 1:36 (that's minutes and seconds!). I had been hoping to knock off at least 40 seconds so this was good!
I'm not sure what battle you are facing right now whether it be; back to school routine, loneliness, a sense of purpose, parenting young children, feeling overextended as you care for your children and your parents, working in a job that you don't like or being in a financial crisis. Whatever the situation, God is with you and wants to fight alongside through all the sweat and tears. He wants to do it so that His glory may be seen.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Learning From Joseph
This past summer at Eastview Church we studied the life of Joseph. I have grown up hearing this story yet I found that I was completely enthralled and wanted to read and know the story more. I found Charles Swindol's, "Joseph" in the church library to supplement my learning.
One of the things that struck me was Joseph's trust in God. Very early in his life in Egypt his life openly showed that God was with him. Whether he was a slave, a promoted slave, a prisoner, a promoted prisoner or a leader in the land, his life showed devotion to God through the way he behaved and spoke and interacted with people. People saw God was with him and named that providence in his life.
As I am navigating through this particular time in my life, Joseph's example and God's clear plan in every part of Joseph's life, the good, bad and ugly, is such an encouragement to me and an assurance I yearn for.
I remember hearing an illustration in a sermon at a young age where the preacher said, "It doesn't matter if you are shovelling manurer, do it in such a way and with such an attitude that God is honoured."
Not every season of life is going to be filled with things that the world promises; beauty, health, wealth, romance, happiness and success. In fact, even though I get side-tracked at times, that isn't even the point. Being God filled and bringing glory to Him in my life situation is the point.
So how is it that I can live out this God honouring attitude? Not just for certain times but for every time? I find such hope in being preemptive and planning with God, through use of scripture, to fight a particular area of weakness. Like using Matthew 6:25-34 to fight worry tendencies. But I want more! What if my desire is to be in the presence of God at all times? How can I be in continual prayer about the ways of God? How can I love Him in EVERYTHING and obey Him in EVERYTHING - the Colossians 3:17 way.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I mean EVERYTHING - like when your imaginations run away on you, when you are doing very mundane things, when you are responding to a rather meaningless conversation that your children are having? When you are overtired and just going through the motions? Crisis situations almost seem easier - because you know instantly that they are beyond you.
I am reminded that this desire and this discipline is one that grows over time - over a lifetime. That it does start with specific areas like worry and then grows to include other areas as God examines and points them out.
I am also reminded to pray more. To bow in reverence and in need to God's sovereignty more.
Finally but not lastly, I am directed to scripture, the one true and lasting Word from God we are given to help us know Him more.
As I am focusing on my next steps in this area. The passage that came to me is from the Joseph story in Genesis near the end of Joseph's life as he is talking with his brothers.
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?" You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:19 - 20 (also see Genesis 45:5)
Joseph is humble and has given all the accolades to God in the matter of judgment and advancement of purpose. He is a willing player in the game and speaks with reassurance and kindness (Gen.50:21). These verses remind me that who God is and the ways of God are to be meditated on. Practising giving God the credit is paramount. Joseph openly lived his life for God when he was being seduced by Potipher's wife and when he was faced with forgiving his brothers as well as many other occasions. God's intentions were at the forefront of his actions and his words and therefore must have been in his imaginations.
When I was in grade school the Sutera Twins came and did a week long revival in our church. I don't remember much of the spoken content but was really captured by one thought that they shared. When making a commitment to Christ they impressed upon us the importance of practising a thankful heart. They stressed that one should be verbally thankful to God for 3 days taking time to thank God for anything and everything. I don't believe there was anything magical about the number 3 but that they were trying to help develop a habit.
What if I made it a habit to thank God for the mundane? What if I acknowledged that what I was doing at that moment was part of His plan to shape me into the creation He intended? What if the moment wasn't just something to get through but was an opportunity for growth - for knowing God more? What if every encounter I had was what God had planned for such a time as that!
That sounds both purposeful and fulfilling!
One of the things that struck me was Joseph's trust in God. Very early in his life in Egypt his life openly showed that God was with him. Whether he was a slave, a promoted slave, a prisoner, a promoted prisoner or a leader in the land, his life showed devotion to God through the way he behaved and spoke and interacted with people. People saw God was with him and named that providence in his life.
As I am navigating through this particular time in my life, Joseph's example and God's clear plan in every part of Joseph's life, the good, bad and ugly, is such an encouragement to me and an assurance I yearn for.
I remember hearing an illustration in a sermon at a young age where the preacher said, "It doesn't matter if you are shovelling manurer, do it in such a way and with such an attitude that God is honoured."
Not every season of life is going to be filled with things that the world promises; beauty, health, wealth, romance, happiness and success. In fact, even though I get side-tracked at times, that isn't even the point. Being God filled and bringing glory to Him in my life situation is the point.
So how is it that I can live out this God honouring attitude? Not just for certain times but for every time? I find such hope in being preemptive and planning with God, through use of scripture, to fight a particular area of weakness. Like using Matthew 6:25-34 to fight worry tendencies. But I want more! What if my desire is to be in the presence of God at all times? How can I be in continual prayer about the ways of God? How can I love Him in EVERYTHING and obey Him in EVERYTHING - the Colossians 3:17 way.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I mean EVERYTHING - like when your imaginations run away on you, when you are doing very mundane things, when you are responding to a rather meaningless conversation that your children are having? When you are overtired and just going through the motions? Crisis situations almost seem easier - because you know instantly that they are beyond you.
I am reminded that this desire and this discipline is one that grows over time - over a lifetime. That it does start with specific areas like worry and then grows to include other areas as God examines and points them out.
I am also reminded to pray more. To bow in reverence and in need to God's sovereignty more.
Finally but not lastly, I am directed to scripture, the one true and lasting Word from God we are given to help us know Him more.
As I am focusing on my next steps in this area. The passage that came to me is from the Joseph story in Genesis near the end of Joseph's life as he is talking with his brothers.
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?" You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:19 - 20 (also see Genesis 45:5)
Joseph is humble and has given all the accolades to God in the matter of judgment and advancement of purpose. He is a willing player in the game and speaks with reassurance and kindness (Gen.50:21). These verses remind me that who God is and the ways of God are to be meditated on. Practising giving God the credit is paramount. Joseph openly lived his life for God when he was being seduced by Potipher's wife and when he was faced with forgiving his brothers as well as many other occasions. God's intentions were at the forefront of his actions and his words and therefore must have been in his imaginations.
When I was in grade school the Sutera Twins came and did a week long revival in our church. I don't remember much of the spoken content but was really captured by one thought that they shared. When making a commitment to Christ they impressed upon us the importance of practising a thankful heart. They stressed that one should be verbally thankful to God for 3 days taking time to thank God for anything and everything. I don't believe there was anything magical about the number 3 but that they were trying to help develop a habit.
What if I made it a habit to thank God for the mundane? What if I acknowledged that what I was doing at that moment was part of His plan to shape me into the creation He intended? What if the moment wasn't just something to get through but was an opportunity for growth - for knowing God more? What if every encounter I had was what God had planned for such a time as that!
That sounds both purposeful and fulfilling!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Summer Camping
Decisions about Fall scheduling seems to be making its way into our our lives these days. We have been deciding on extra-curricular activities, picking up school supplies and talking about what is in store for each of us this Fall. Dave and I learned early as parents that back to school was one of the hardest seasons for us to face as a family. It is hard because we love the lazy days of summer, we love the activities of the season, we love travelling (even if it isn't very far)and we love being together as a family. That makes transition away from all of these things very hard. Our kids have been wired in such a way that they don't want to let go of any of it. Their tendency has been to hang on for dear life and to remember every and any ugly thing they can think of or dream up of regarding school. They do this to try to convince us that they ought to stay home on a permanent basis. So a few years ago we decided to have a celebration of summer. The evening involved a slide show on a big screen, going out for a favourite meal and a sharing time of how God was good to us during this season. We also talked of how God would be with us as we went forward. This freed them up to be excited about seeing their friends, being with their teachers, learning new things, being in routine. It worked incredibly well. On our first ever trial of this we also initiated our family nights once a week so that the kids would know we were committed to them all year. Our time together would just look different.
In light of all of this coming up I have been looking over some of our camping highlights and wanted to share a few with you. (As you can see, the dog also enjoyed our holidays considerably!)
In light of all of this coming up I have been looking over some of our camping highlights and wanted to share a few with you. (As you can see, the dog also enjoyed our holidays considerably!)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Looking Ahead...
It has been awhile since I have posted. Our family holidays in the first part of August were wonderful and I have taken a bit to get back into some sort of normalcy.
I am excited to share with you that we are going to be studying "Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer for our Fall study.
It is a 7 session study with 6 weeks of homework (5 days of homework per week and approximately 30 minutes per day).
Below is a link to see a video clip with a brief overview if you are interested. (Bring your cursor to the middle of the video screen and a play button will appear.)
Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted, video clip
I am very excited to go on this journey through God's Word with you. We will let you know more details and sign up information soon.
I am excited to share with you that we are going to be studying "Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer for our Fall study.
It is a 7 session study with 6 weeks of homework (5 days of homework per week and approximately 30 minutes per day).
Below is a link to see a video clip with a brief overview if you are interested. (Bring your cursor to the middle of the video screen and a play button will appear.)
Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted, video clip
I am very excited to go on this journey through God's Word with you. We will let you know more details and sign up information soon.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Happy Birthday Megan!
Today was Megan's Birthday. She is eleven years old! We love celebrating Birthdays and were thrilled that her birthday landed on the holiday Monday this year. She was born on the holiday Monday. Any of you Moms out there will know there are some pretty specific memories attached to the birth date/arrival of your children. Holding Megan and looking out the hospital window, watching little children play in a park across the street on a very sunny day is one of my memories.
Megan was very reluctant in deciding to come into this world. We worked long and hard to get her to join us! I laugh a bit (a very little bit!) at that recollection when connecting her delivery to her character. She definitely plays it safe. She is reluctant. Although that is a detriment in some ways it is definitely a gift in others. She often thinks through her choices quite thoroughly.
Last night as Megan was fighting sleep, we were getting her choice of Birthday meals ready for the day (a tradition of ours I might have shared on an earlier post). The dishes smelled so spicy, so flavourful. Megan has developed a great sense of taste. My Birthday prayer for her is that she will develop that great sense of taste in many areas of her life. That she will taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). That His Word will be sweeter than honey to her mouth (Psalm 119:103), or spicier than a pickle! Or more exciting than the flavour of a jelly belly bean! Even though life can be hard - as she has discovered over the past year - God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68). His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8) and He uses situations and experiences we wouldn't dream of using for good and refines us as we trust in His goodness for EVERY situation. I pray that she would follow hard after God.
I love Megan and all that she and her siblings have brought to my life.
Yes, you are seeing correctly. Megan is "crying" in this picture. Dave's family has a tradition of singing several Birthday songs and one of them - in beautiful minor harmonies sings "pain and sorrow fill the air, people dying everywhere, happy birthday!"
In case you are wondering, Megan chose Italian soup stew (her favourite ingredients are the spicy sausage, cheese filled tortellini and pickle juice) with sour dough bread for lunch and butter chicken, oven fried rice (I know we are mixing our ethnic foods here but it's all very good together), asparagus and naan bread for supper. For dessert she settled on homemade ice cream sandwiches - brownies with Skor bar ice cream. A real hit - Alexander has already called it for his Birthday.
Megan was very reluctant in deciding to come into this world. We worked long and hard to get her to join us! I laugh a bit (a very little bit!) at that recollection when connecting her delivery to her character. She definitely plays it safe. She is reluctant. Although that is a detriment in some ways it is definitely a gift in others. She often thinks through her choices quite thoroughly.
Last night as Megan was fighting sleep, we were getting her choice of Birthday meals ready for the day (a tradition of ours I might have shared on an earlier post). The dishes smelled so spicy, so flavourful. Megan has developed a great sense of taste. My Birthday prayer for her is that she will develop that great sense of taste in many areas of her life. That she will taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). That His Word will be sweeter than honey to her mouth (Psalm 119:103), or spicier than a pickle! Or more exciting than the flavour of a jelly belly bean! Even though life can be hard - as she has discovered over the past year - God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68). His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8) and He uses situations and experiences we wouldn't dream of using for good and refines us as we trust in His goodness for EVERY situation. I pray that she would follow hard after God.
I love Megan and all that she and her siblings have brought to my life.
Yes, you are seeing correctly. Megan is "crying" in this picture. Dave's family has a tradition of singing several Birthday songs and one of them - in beautiful minor harmonies sings "pain and sorrow fill the air, people dying everywhere, happy birthday!"
In case you are wondering, Megan chose Italian soup stew (her favourite ingredients are the spicy sausage, cheese filled tortellini and pickle juice) with sour dough bread for lunch and butter chicken, oven fried rice (I know we are mixing our ethnic foods here but it's all very good together), asparagus and naan bread for supper. For dessert she settled on homemade ice cream sandwiches - brownies with Skor bar ice cream. A real hit - Alexander has already called it for his Birthday.
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