Fall family photos

My sweet friend, Erin, took fall photos of our family. You can see them here. Be sure to "like" their Facebook page. They are very talented!

Noah's baptism

Noah was baptized this past Sunday. Here are both his baptism testimony video as well as the video of his daddy baptizing him.

And Can It Be?

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

I can't stop singing this song. 

Our first child was born in the last few hours of December 2003. He was born again on September 21, 2011. That's right- God saved our Noah last Wednesday night!

I want to start by saying that David and I are THE reluctant "my-kid-got-saved" parents. I wouldn't say that we are critical of a young child's decision to follow Christ, but we are cautious- very cautious. In regard to salvation and my children, I have often prayed: "God- let it be clear. Let there be no question."

And God was faithful!

Wednesday evening, after he had been in his bed for quite some time, Noah came out of his room and told both David and I a story from earlier that day in chapel at their school. He said (and this is not verbatim):

"Today in chapel, I saw a chandelier. It was a beautiful chandelier. The top was big and it was gold. This gold was God. And beneath the gold there were many lights that came down and around the gold. Those were the angels worshiping God. And in the middle of the lights, there was more gold. That gold was coming down in the middle of the lights. That gold was Jesus and he was coming down to save people from their sin."

Jaws dropped, and feeling like we had walked into an old testament prophecy, David and I muttered a "WOW" and sent our little prophet back to bed. 

Noah grabbed a Bible and laid back down. About 30 minutes later, I was folding some laundry in the hallway outside his bedroom. Noah casually walked out of his room, looked in my eyes, and said: "I just became a Christian, Mom."

As I have said many times in the past, I replied: "That's wonderful, Noah. How do you know that you became a Christian?" It was then that our great God placed himself on display in our upstairs hallway as my broken son spilled out the Gospel- justification, sanctification, and all- like it was the simplest concept one could know. He professed:

"Jesus is cool." Basic, but true.

"I had a heart that was black. Now it is white as snow. God doesn't see my sin anymore. When He looks at me, he see Jesus." Did my son really just get substitutionary atonement?

"I feel like the Holy Spirit is in me now. I feel sick, but happy." I felt the same way, Noah. That is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

I have continually prayed for my children to have a boring testimony. A boring testimony is a powerful testimony! Why do we believe that the Christian that God snatches back from addiction, abuse, unrepentant sin, atheism, etc. has a more powerful testimony than the gentle child that was rescued from his sin as a young boy?

We are praising God for saving our Noah and we are praising Him that Noah responded in obedience. We are seeing the fruits of repentance in our sweet boy on a daily basis. Does he still have the same sin struggles? Of course. Our job as parents, however, just got more complicated. Now we not only teach, train, correct, and discipline our son, but we also have the responsibility and privilege of bearing the burdens of and speaking truth into the life of our now brother in Christ. 

Thank you, God, for hearing the cries of two needy parents and rescuing our son from sin and death. We pray the same for our other children as well. To God be the glory!

1000 gifts

I have been wanting to give Ann Voskamp's list of 1000 gifts a shot, but I kept making the excuse that I would do so after I read the book and, well, that still hasn't happened. I figure now is just as good a time as any.

1. the blessed hope, especially today.
2. these light and momentary afflications- believe it or not.
3. a patient husband
4. a faithful God's provision
5. that first feeling of hunger following a stomach virus- when you know you're on the mend
6. a cloudy day
7. Trinity Christian Academy- and God for His grace in allowing us to send our children there
8. stark realizations, like "you will never get THIS day again" and "they won't be little and want your constant attention much longer" and so forth...
9. lulls in the middle of the day
10. new cloth diapers from a friend
11. brakes that WORK
12. waking up in the morning to renewed strength, clarity, and hope- & being reminded that I am not the one who never slumbers nor sleeps...
13. LaDiEs NiGhT with authentic mexican food and a live mariachi band

For all of these gifts, Father, help me to see you as the Giver of them all.

My gift of a husband

I had the absolute gift of almost a week in Colorado with my husband this past week. We had such a wonderful time. He is truly a gift. He continually exhorts me, encourages me, challenges me, and pursues me. I love him 1,000 times more than the day I married him.

I also love Ann Voskamp. Her most recent post, through weeping, made me consider the gift of my husband more than I ever have before.

A few photos:

Founders Ministries Blog: My thoughts on the death of Osama Bin Laden

Founders Ministries Blog: My thoughts on the death of Osama Bin Laden: "Osama Bin Laden is dead. He was killed by American Special Forces in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad yesterday. Justice has been served. R..."

monday musings

1. Easter is over and I thoroughly failed to cultivate tradition or a greater love for our Savior. I could fester up a million excuses but it wouldn't change the fact that I was responsible and I failed. It's been a very sobering Monday and I am having to repeatedly remind myself that God's grace is abundant and available to me in my failures.
2. On a lighter note, Whole Foods' one day Friday deal is organic strawberries for $1.99. Seeing that my family could eat one package per meal (as opposed to stretching them out over a week), I find this deal most delightful!
3. Our dishwasher is broken. I forgot what it felt like to plan your meals around how many dishes you will have to wash.
4. I have found myself longing for a future (say, 2013-ish) sixth child recently. Yep. Some of you might remember when I wrote this. At the time I was rather unconvinced that I would ever find myself eating my words. Perhaps nothing has changed. I just had to voice the "itch". Only time will tell.
5. My fabulous husband has completed  a little over 1/4 of his supervised counseling. I'm so proud of him.
6. I am speaking to a group of ladies this week on three of my favorite things: 1. Jesus. 2. Frugality. 3. Natural and organic living. Pumped? Yes. A wee bit nervous? Yes.
7. My kids continue to grow. I am just certain that any day now Noah's voice will change and Clara will go to kindergarten. I feel like I live life in a bittersweet state.
8. In just a little over three weeks, David and I will fly to Colorado (kid-free) to vacation for one (almost) whole week. We are very thankful for the change to have some time alone and away.