Sickie Sunday

Well, it seems that the fall colds have hit our house. DH wasn't feeling well last night (went to bed early and felt lousy) and I think he'll end up at the doctor's tomorrow with a possible bronchitis. That's not good because of his severe asthma so he's back on his inhaler. Oh - and today is his birthday. :(

But this morning, he got up and got himself ready for church after I had told the woman who is kind of the "producer" of the Sunday service (bad term but she makes sure the lights are being done right, runs the projector in the first service and generally makes sure that the service runs smoothly - she does this all at the behest of the senior pastor) that Bob is not sure what he's doing this morning. Fortunately there's another worship team playing today and he had no other responsibilities so if he had to stay home, today would have been the day to do it. But he got up, showered and made it for the first service. I had taken the teens up earlier since their DOZ worship team is dancing in the service and they have to be there at 8 for a 9AM service start.

So now it was me and the littles home. DS got up early as he usually does and I hopped in the shower. Usually DD gets up a little later - she's not as much of an early bird as DS but at 9:45, I finally went in to wake her up since we need to leave at 10:15 or so. She had a hard time waking up but that's OK. But then she coughed. Croup. Great. Suddenly the phone rang and it just happened to be DH calling to ask if I could bring him a granola bar or something - but I told him that I think I'll just keep the kids home. I know DD just has a cold but she's run down (you can see it in her face) and there's no reason to get everyone else sick if I don't need to. So he'll tell the service "producer" that I can't make it in today to run the projector for the second service. That means I lose 2 hours of work time this week but that's OK. We'll just take it easy, I'll do my own Bible study this morning and I'll do a little lesson with the kids in a little while.

Gotta love kids. They make sure that the best laid plans get creamed every once-in-a-while. LOL

2 Driving teens????

Oh heavens - help us. My second daughter drove for the first time today. SHUDDER She did really well, though but it's still SOOO scary to allow a child to drive a 2,000+ lb. machine that can kill someone or atleast take a lot of your money away from you. LOL My oldest has her license but she's not driving on her own just yet because she's not ready. Now my second has started and I'm back in the passenger seat with my heart in my throat. Honestly? Give me a house full of 2 year olds. I've mastered that age - been through it 4 times. That's easy. Teaching your kid to drive? NOT!!! LOL

Oh and guess what my 16 year old got up today (at 10:30) and suddenly screamed? "OH NO!!! THE PSAT!!!!!" Yep - she forgot that it was at 8AM this morning. This was her only opportunity to take it. SIGH Now we have to figure out what to do. I think there's a way to write to the College Board and do something else to be eligible for the National Merit Scholarship contest. "Ya know, hon. THAT is why we have a CALENDAR!!"

Oh, life is never dull.

Finally, tomorrow is my DH's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetheart!! I love you SOOO much!!

Father-Daughter Dinner

One thing our church does each year is to have a Father-Daughter Dinner in May. Both of my older girls went when they were of age (from kindergarten through 6th grade) and now it's Joanna's turn. So Saturday night, DH and JoJo went off to their first dinner ... with the rest of the family in tow. LOL - we all had jobs to do (well, except Robby who's 7 but he went with the boys of the other moms who were helping), so we all went together. I DID make sure we all stayed away from the couple for the night so they could have their special time. They had a wonderful catered dinner, formal pictures (with the girls getting pretty rose corsages), dessert, a great skit, some dancing (the chicken dance - LOL) and then a talk from our Family Life Pastor and his grown daughter. It was very special and Joanna told me when I put her to bed that it was the BEST day ever for her. How cute is that??

I think it's so important for daddies to spend time with their daughters. If a dad invests time in his daughter, she won't be looking to get that love from elsewhere and end up with heartache. She'll know that her daddy is always there for her to love her unconditionally, protect her and guide her. I see my husband having done that and continuing to do that and I see the results in my two teens who are comfortable with themselves, have a heart for the Lord and are not so boy crazy that they're distracted from the truth. Some day, when the right boy comes around and can get past DH, the girls will know without a doubt that this boy is the one that God has chosen for them. Until such time, they're comfortable having daddy do some pre-screening and guarding so that they know that they're safe. :) For now, Daddy is the love of their lives and there's something really special about that.

Just stuff

So just a few things for today. I'm feeling migrainy so my mind isn't too clear - don't want to make TOO many statements. LOL DH and I did have a bit of a theological talk today and it was great, though. He just got back from a conference called Together for the Gospel and he was under the teaching of some awesome men of God - John Piper, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney, RC Sproul, Ligon Duncan and Al Mohler. It was for pastors and church leaders - and was a very "heady" week according to him. You can get the MP3s of the messages if you wish to listen to what went on - I have Sproul's message on CD to listen to in the car over the next few days - I heard it was amazing.

So then DH came in with the bag of books that were GIVEN to all 5500 men who were at the conference. JEEPERS - it will take us a good year to read this stuff! There are books like The Truth of the Cross by Sproul, The Gospel According to Jesus by MacARthur, Pierced for Our Transgressions by Jeffery, Ovey and Sach, Culture Shift by Mohler, The Future of Justificaiton by Piper and a ton of others. VERY cool - I've got my reading list for a long time. :D

We also heard from the second college for my daughter - and got a smaller scholarship offer. So now it looks like the college of her choice will be it - if we can figure out how to raise $15,000 a year for it. SIGH. So we have a new prayer request - for provision for her to be able to go to this college. I do think this is the best place for her and if God agrees, we'll be able to do it. :) God is able, and I trust Him.

So today we're going out shopping. Daddy and son are on the boat and the girls will go shoe shopping and possibly pick up a few clothes for the teens. Thank heavens that long shorts and long t-shirts are the new style! It's nice to be able to shop easily for some clothes for them without having to turn down most everything out there.

Lastly, I just wanted to address something about the KJVO post. I'd challenge anyone who thinks that the modern versions are "perversions" or in grave error to send me any doctrine that the modern versions leave out. I'm not speaking of the times where the name of Jesus Christ is changed to Jesus - or the Spirit is written instead of Holy Spirit. I'm speaking doctrine. Where the modern versions take out the doctrine of grace; the doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God; the doctrine of the inspiration of the Word of God. Remember context of verses, and the other times the same word is translated in different ways. So, just a little study to do on your own. :) Oh - and if there are any famous theologians who also followed the belief that the KJV is the only inspired Word of God for the English speaking people, I'd love to know their names. I haven't been able to find any myself.

Just adding in this great article by someone who was once KJVO and it tells of his story in no longer being KJVO. It's a good read - very interesting: http://www.fredsbibletalk.com/fb019.html

Another lost tooth and a college scholarship??

Yep - I have that big a range in my kids. My oldest is a senior in high school and is VERY talented in art. Her choice for her future is to become a high school art teacher because of having learned in high school just how wonderful art is (and how talented she is). She was accepted to one college that is the college of her choice and she received a scholarship of a third of the tuition, which isn't bad but we had hoped for more. So she was accepted to another college and we went for the portfolio review (for scholarship offerings) on Sunday and she ACED it! The head of the department said that one of her pieces was a gallery piece and people would pay good money for it, and that the rest of her work was master's level work! Woo-hoo! So they said "We'll let you know the results in a week to 10 days." (they'll call to schedule a private interview to decide on the scholarship). Monday at lunch time, the phone rang and they want her back for the interview! That's about 24 hours later! Wow! So I'll be taking her on Thursday at 4PM. We're hoping that they give her a much better scholarship offer - and then we go back to her first choice school and ask them to match the offer. We'll see what happens. :)

Then to the tooth....my youngest is 5 and just lost her second tooth (well, her third but the first had to be pulled by the dentist due to an abcess so that doesn't count). She looks so cute with the big space on the bottom now! I can't believe my baby is loosing her teeth - and my other baby is getting ready for college!! SIGH

Don't touch me!!!

I don't know how others can sleep snuggling with their husbands. I'm the kind of person who can snuggle for a time but when I start falling asleep, I need no contact from anyone whatsoever. It honestly gives me the feeling of being trapped so my mattress has 2 divits in it - one from my DH and one from me.

Last night my little one who's 5 had a bad dream and started crying. Surprisingly enough, DH went in to her first (usually he's sleeping through everything at night but he must have been awake already) and when he came back to our room, he said that she had a bad dream. I remember my bad dreams when I was little all too clearly and I went in to gather her, her pillow and "B" (pronounced as the sound of the letter - not the name of the letter), which is now down to just a tag - literally. So into our bed she went and we settled in. Fortunately it was already 5AM because I did NOT sleep from that point on. This child is a child who NEEDS contact with you and with my NOT wanting contact at night it results in this: She snuggles against me. I move away once she's settled. She moves closer to me to snuggle. I move away. Eventually, there is the edge of the bed and I can't move any more so I just sit there like someone is running their finger nails on a chalkboard. Finally at 6:45, I told her "Go in and watch TV" since she was awake and she was more than happy to do this since I cut off all TV in the morning before school for now (until they can get started on their schoolwork when I tell them to). Of course, once she left, I went back to dreamland and slept until 9:30!

But you know what? She felt secure. I can give up a night of sleep to allow my kids to feel comforted and protected. There's nothing like sleeping between mom and dad and knowing that no matter what the bad dream was, you're OK now. That's what I want for my kiddies.

My babies are growing up!!

3 John 1:4 says " I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

I have 4 children. My girls are 5, 15 (almost 16) and 18 and my son is 7. My girls have such a heart for the Lord and I've seen them mature as they've gotten older to more and more take responsibility for their walk with Him. Now I have my 2 little ones. They both, when they were ready on their own, gave their hearts to Christ and it's so neat to see them getting older, maturing and finding out more and more about God. On the way to church on Friday (I work at the church on Fridays), my 7 year old son asked "Mom, do all Baptist churches have it right?"

Wow. I asked him what he meant (just to be sure I was going to answer the right question) and he said, "Well, there are a lot of churches around and I was just wondering if the Baptist church has it right."

I just told him the truth. "Well, honey. At our church, we follow the Bible. If it's in the Bible we do it. If it's not in the Bible, we look at what else the Bible has to say that might help us to make a decision on what we want to do and see if it's something God wants us to not do or if it's OK to do it. I don't think any church is perfect but we do try to follow God's Word as closely as we can."

I thought that was a pretty mature question for a 7 year old! THEN, as I was working, my 5 year old came and sat next to me. I do the graphics and words to songs that will go on the screen on Sunday, and I had a picture of the crucifixion of Christ and my daughter asked, "Did Jesus really have nails in His hands or was He tied to the cross?" Wow again!! Two great questions in one day!! I was able to talk to her about how horrible a death Jesus died for us because of all the bad stuff that we do (sin). She asked "Did He hurt? Since He's God?" and I told her, "Yes. He did hurt a lot. A whole lot."

It's amazing just how much discipling and ministering we can do in our own families. I thank God that He's given me the blessing of raising these 4 kids for Him. What a privilege and honor and I pray that I can do a job that's worthy of Him.