The Rooster Crowed

He looked out over the water
having no fear, he obeyed
with each step, a hardened path
but looking down, it then gave way

And the rooster crowed.

A basin filled with water
a servant with gentle hands
he told his Lord not to wash him
not knowing what God had planned

And the rooster crowed.

Promising more than he knew
that he'd never leave His side
but the word would be fulfilled
three times his Lord he denied

And the rooster crowed.

I sing in my heart praises
and say I'll love Him always
but I deny the love He gave
when each day I disobey

And the rooster crowes.

Grace was extended to Peter
three times his love he professed
Jesus does the same for me
and offers me forgiveness

Sin Nature vs. Spirit

Ethan had a huge meltdown on me yesterday, George was at the FD so I was on my own. Before he had his surgery, he had meltdowns all the time and boy were those two years torture but since his surgery he's been great. He's sick now so we've had a couple of outbursts recently. I was making them a smoothie yesterday when my blender broke so I told them I couldn't make any and he exploded. "I want a smoothie!" I swear he shouted it a 1,000 times. It took forever to get him calmed down and I tried every intervention possible. So in the evening we talked about the importance of wearing the armour of God everyday in our battle against sin. This morning when I was having my quiet time, it just so happened that my devotion was on Galations 5:17. (just so happened? Nah. Any good Calvinist doesn't believe in coincindences:) So I shared what I had studied with Ethan during our devotions at breakfast. We talked about the battle that always rages between our sinful nature and the spirit as long as we are on this earth and how we resist the sinful nature. My devotional by Martin Luther said "It's as if Paul was saying "It's impossible to follow the Spirit as your leader in all situations without the sinful nature interfering. The sinful nature will get in the way so that you can't do what you really want to do. At that point, it's enough to resist the sinful nature so that you won't gratify its desires. Follow the Spirit, not the sinful nature, which quickly becomes powerless because it's so impatient. It doubts, complains, seeks revenge, hates God, fights against him, and despairs."
I read this to him and discussed what it meant for his life. His heart seemed open to discussing it and we talked about strategies to help him when he gets upset so that he does not give into sin.
Without struggles in our life we will not know about our need for Christ's redemptive work for us so while I would like to protect him from the problem he has with intense feelings, I know that God is using this to show Ethan his need for him. God takes us all down different roads to bring us to himself and to refine us and at this point in Ethan's young life, his intense emotions are a big struggle for him. I pray each day that the Spirit will make his heart tender to what God is teaching him and that he would learn to rely on the Spirit when he is upset rather than give in to his sinful nature.

"For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want."
Galations 5:17

From the Mouths of Children

Tonight we were talking about the concept of redemption during our dinner time devotions. We usually focus our devotional time on Ethan since Ian is usually running around or doing something wild and crazy. But tonight after our discussion, we had prayer time and Ian started praying "Thank you God for the redemption of Ian, thank you God for the redemption of Ethan." I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open! Lesson learned: you never know when they might be listening and learning!

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Psalm 8:2

ENT

Today I took Ian to the ENT. it took him 30days to get better from his recent infection. The doctor wants to wait and see the results from blood work to test the immune system and see if Ian requires a pnuemovox vaccination or not. If that is not successful then he recommended that we have Ian's adnoids removed. I wasn't surprised at his recommendation but was surprised that I was calm and didn't get upset about Ian needing surgery. Could it be because this has become so normal to me?

Sick

I've said this before and I'll keep saying it, if you ever meet someone who does not believe in sin or the Fall, send them to me. I often feel like our lives are a living testimony of the effects of the Fall and we groan along with all of creation, waiting for Christ's return. I have been extremely tired, which not only triggers depressive symptoms for me but also pushes my sinus's over the edge so that now I have another infection. If you don't have allergies, it's like your body's immune system is confused and thinks that something innocent like animals or plants are actually a virus or illness that it needs to attack. So for someone like me who can't escape their allergies, my sinuses are always inflamed and irritated and I always feel tired and all the other symptoms my body produces to attack the allergens. Sometimes it just takes one little thing to break the camel's back so to speak and it pushes me into an infection, which is quite tortuous. So I'm sick and longing for the day when there will be no more sickness and no more tears. Since God is sovereign over everything, including our chronic illnesses, there is something I am supposed to be learning in all of this. One I think is to remain strong in my faith and also to remain consistent in my walk with Him no matter how I am feeling. I also think God is working on refining me in my chronic sin of impatience with others. Being sick and tired makes this sin more apparent in my life and I perhaps God is using it as a mirror to show me this sin so that I will turn to him, repent, and ask the Spirit to change me. Some might say I'm being overly dramatic and not to read too much into being sick but I truly believe this. Our society would have us believe that other things are to blame for illness be it our diet, the air we breathe, lack of excercise, etc. And while all those things are helpful to change, ultimately, if God wants to use illness to refine us to make us more like Christ, there is no amount of medicine or supplements that is going to change that. So while I sit in this fire and contemplate these things, I'm praying for perseverence and that I would have the same attitude Paul had about his thorn in his flesh.
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me....For when I am weak, then I am strong." 1Cor 12:9,10

Welcome to a Reformed Church

Note: This post is a review about the book "Welcome to a Reformed Church" by Daniel Hyde. These comments and opinions are my own. The publishing company provides me with a free copy of this book for completing this review.

Are you a recent member of a Reformed church and not sure that you understand what being Reformed is all about? Do you have friends or family who attend a Reformed church but you have no idea what "Reformed" means? This new book, "Welcome to a Reformed Church" will help to answer many of those questions. The author does an excellent job in summarizing how Reformed churches came to be, what they believe, how they live the Christian life and how they worship. Because Reformed churches are confessional churches, in this book you will learn about all the Reformed creeds and confessions, how they originated and how they shape the beliefs and practices of Reformed churches. Some of these creeds and confessions include: The Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dordt, and the Westminster Standards. Since Covenant Theology is also central to the Reformed churches understanding of God's story of the redemption of his people, the author includes a chapter on how covenant theology is integral to the Reformed church. There are many misconceptions about Christianity and especially about what it means to be Reformed. The end of the book provides a list of common questions that people ask along with the author's answers. I was amazed at how much history and doctrine could be packed into a small book and still be engaging and readable. This is an excellent introduction to the beliefs and practices of reformed churches for anyone who has ever wondered just what they are all about.

"We are not our own; therefore, neither is our own reason or will to rule our acts and counsels. We are not our own; therefore, let us not make it our end to seek what may be agreeable to our carnal nature. We are not our own; therefore, as far as possible, let us forget ourselves and the things that are ours. On the other hand, we are God's; let us, therefore, live and die to him (Rom. 14:8). We are God's; therefore, let his wisdom and will preside over all our actions. We are God's; to him, then, as the only legitimate end, let every part of our life be directed!"John Calvin

Tortured Victims

George and I have decided that being shot would be less painful than having two sick kids. Ethan is acting out and Ian screams half the night. I feel like I'm being held hostage and am being slowly tortured by being kept awake at night and during the day having two wild kids to deal with when I really would rather sleep. At the doctor's yesterday, they were both trying to jump off the exam table, pretending they were helicoptors. And at the chiropractor's yesterday, while I was face down on the table, they were fighting over one of those desk chairs that spins around. They were both up a while the night before last and instead of making up for lost sleep, they both got up at 5:30am this morning. What sane person does that? That alone is proof that they are crazy!:)

Maybe too much fun?

Ethan and George got back last night from their day of fun. I was a little apprehensive letting him go out with George because he is recovering from a sinus infection. At 2am this morning, Ian did his usual wake up call for me and shortly after I put him back to bed, Ethan came into our room with an asthma attack. So the four of us were up early this morning--fun family time:) Ian of course, wanted to be up too, especially because he hadn't seen them all day. So I had to console him and convince him to go back to sleep. We were up with Ethan for a long time doing nebulizer treatments, hot water with honey, hot shower, etc. He was wide awake from his medicine so it took him a while to go back to bed. So it looks like his body probably wasn't ready for such a fast paced day and his asthma was triggered. But he did have a great time and pictures of he and George on Splash Mountain to prove it.

Tuesday Suprise

George woke Ethan up early this morning and suprised him with a day trip to Disney. They woke me up before they left and Ethan was SO excited. They went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Blizzard Beach all in one day. Ian asked about Ethan when he got up this morning but never asked about him the rest of the day. I think he enjoyed having my attention all day. He got to play with whatever he wanted and didn't have to fight over any toys. What could be better than that for a 2yr old? I guess a trip to Disney would be better... well maybe when he's a little older:)

Training in the way they should go

All Christian parents are familiar with the scriptures command for parents to train their kids in the word. This is something we've taken very seriously and have been quite humbled by the task. There is no perfect way to do this of course and we continue to stumble our way through it. Ethan has been irritable as of late because he's been sick and we recently had problems with his behavior. After numerous consequences becasue of his escalating behavior, I sat down with him and had him write Eph 4:26 a few times and then I read the whole passage with him and discussed it. The passage at one point basically says that if you let your anger get out of control you are giving the devil and opportunity to influence you or get a "foothold" as our version says. Ethan said that sounded scary and asked what it meant. I grabbed ahold of his foot and wouldn't let go as he tried to pull away from me. I told him that when the devil has a foot hold, it's hard to shake him loose. That really scared him but I reminded him who is stronger than the devil and that the Spirit can help him get ahold of anger so that the devil won't have an opportunity. Normally, because Ethan is easily scared, I would not have talked with him about something that would scare him but I believe that it is a healthy fear to recognize the hold sin and the devil can have on us if we are not trusting in God. After this discussion, George told Ethan that he wanted to demonstrate to him what God has done for us by taking our sin and pouring his wrath on Christ. He extended grace to Ethan and took back a consequence we had given him (tv time). The opportunities for teaching scripture to the boys are endless and I pray every day for the wisdom to make the right choices and that we will take those teaching opportunities that God gives us.

We started doing formal "devotions" with Ethan when he turned about 18 or 20 months and at about two we started the catechism. We've been working with Ian on the catechism as well and so I thought I'd list some of our favorite resources for teaching that we've found so far:

1. For toddlers and early preschool:
The Read Aloud Bible Stories series by Lindvall
The "My Favorite Verses" series by Mackall
My ABC bible verses by Susan Hunt

2. For preschoolers and up
3 in 1 A Picture of God by Marxhausen
Sammy and His Shepherd by Susan Hunt
The Lightlings by R.C. Sproul
The Princes Poison Cup by R.C. Sproul
Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt
Discovering Jesus in Genesis by Susan Hunt
Big Book of Bible Truths 1&2 by Sinclair Ferguson
Discovering Jesus in Exodus by Susan Hunt
Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones

3. For elementary
Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade
Big Book of Questions and Answers by Sinclair Ferguson
Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware
Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson

Some of the books listed are stories and some are designed as devotionals and many of the stories have a question and answer section for discussion after the story is read.

Hope you got something out of the list and feel free to comment with a list of your own to share:)

Recent Pictures

All tuckered out. Ian fell asleep doing his nightly nebulizer treatment.

Silly boys

The boys have been having a blast swimming every afternoon. Ethan has played the lifeguard and helps Ian when he can't swim all the way across the pool.

The boys learned about electricity and wired up a light switch to a light bulb and put the light bulb into a piece of drywall.

Yawn

Both kids are sick with sinus infections. Ethan had a fever over the weekend with no other symptoms. I thought he was fighting a weird virus but a couple days later the coughing started. He doesn't usually get fevers with sinus infections; it's strange how those infections show themselves differently every time with us. Ian's infection has gotten worse instead of better so he's been stuck home with me. Last night he couldn't sleep and I was up with him for 4 hours from 11-3am. He screamed quite a bit. I gave him toys and books to read and told him that if he couldn't sleep to just read but that he couldn't scream because it would wake up Ethan (and more importantly keep me up:) At one point I told him that if I had to come in his room again, he would not be allowed to watch his favorite show the next day. That didn't work. When I came in again and reminded him of his consequence I said "What should your next consequence be?" Ian says, "Um, take all my toys away?" Boy was that tempting!:) So I am dragging today. The difficulty with having kids is that if you lose sleep, you can't make it up the next day. Or ever really. I'm probably hundreds of hours behind in my sleep. Good thing I have an eternity of Sabbath rest to look forward to!

Mother's Day

Whenever there is a holiday people ask "How was your (fill in the blank holiday)?" Hallmark, jewelry stores and countless retail stores tell us how your holiday is supposed to look like and more than likely we are disappointed afterward. The highlights for my Mother's Day were the cute crafts the kids made for me in school and at home and the beautiful flowers I got. (I do also like the IPod I picked out last week as my gift:) But in some ways it wasn't ideal: no breakfast in bed, no day of kids doing chores for me, etc. In fact both kids were sick so we missed church, my husband napped twice, I did laundrey and made dinner. Ever have a disappointing holiday? It makes me think about the big holiday and party we will have in eternity. The wedding feast. There will be no disappointments. Everyone who is supposed to be there will be there, no one will be late, the food will be perfect, the ambiance perfect, we will be dressed beautifully and will enjoy it for eternity. So when your spouse has to stop and pick up your anniversary card on the way to your anniversary dinner, or your birthday is forgotten, or you get a toaster for Valentines Day, remember the feast in Revelation and keep your eyes focused on our host, The Lord God. And let us sing with the angels: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!"

He Hears Me

The days, they are long
and my body is tired
Feeling far from strong
I need to be inspired

Stressed by the little things
thoughts spinning in my head
about what tomorrow brings
I'm hanging by a thread

Depending only on me
as though no one cares
Like God is too busy to see
and has no time to spare

But then the noise dies down
it's quiet and I'm alone
I pray that I won't drown
that He'll hear my heart's groan

For He who made the earth
cares what happens to me
Significant is my worth
and He tells me I'm free

Free to call out His name
and bow to Him in prayer
for that is why His Son came
I've no need to despair

I raise my hands in praise
and thank Him for showing me
that even when my heart strays
beside me He'll always be

Chiropractor

The last time we went to the Chiropractor Ian said "Me first!" hopped on the table and crossed his arms ready to go. I didn't have my camera then but this week I did and so I was able to catch it when he did it again. We go every week and the dr. is very patient with them. They figured out how to make the table move this time and kept playing with the button so that the table would move out from under me. It was a rather long appointment because I've been in a lot of pain so in addition to the adjustment and the painful ultrasound zapping thing, he also did some x-rays. Boy were they hyper by the time we left. They decided to play hide and seek while I was checking out which was fun entertainment for everyone in the waiting room. I'm just glad Ian didn't walk around turning out all the lights in the building like he usually does!

Mother's Day Tea

Yesterday the boy's school had a Mother's Day tea for all the moms. I had to go to two teas first Ian's and then Ethan's. The boys were excited to show me the crafts they had made for me. It was fun and the kids were really cute. As is typical of me and cluelessness about being a supermom, I didn't dress up for the tea like a lot of the moms did. I also didn't think to have the boys bring flowers to their teachers like a lot of the kids did. (remember I'm one of those moms who buys store bought Valentine cards while the other moms in the class make the cards and some cool Valentine craft to go with it). Oh well, I'm proud of myself that I even remembered to go, was on time and remembered to bring my camera;)

Jesus Loves Me

Ian of course was up again in the middle of the night screaming (I think from a bad dream) and this time George tried to go in an help him so I wouldn't have to. Nice try but he wants his momma:) We saw a movie earlier this week where a dad was explaining parenthood to a father-to-be saying that it was horrible, horrible, horrible and then something wonderful happens to make it all worth it followed by horrible, horrible, horrible. It was a funny scene and after George tried to calm Ian down he came back and said "horrible, horrible, horrible. When I went in to sit with Ian, he was mumbling something I couldn't hear and saying it over and over. I finally figured out he was singing "Jesus Loves Me" so we sang together before I laid him back down. So cute! That was my "something wonderful!"

The Little Things

I've been struggling lately with consistency as I've posted before and while I was up again in the middle of the night (12am-4am) I realized that I am not remaining faithful to God in the little things. When a big crisis comes my way, I am quick to run to God's feet and rest in his sovereignty but in the little things of life, I am not. I get frustrated by our constant health problems, get irritated when things don't go my way during the day (like being stuck at the dr's for two hours), and am impatient with my kids when they don't sleep well. One of my chronic sins is my idolizing sleep. Last week I didn't get any because the medication I was taking for my sinus's messed up my sleep cycle. This week Ian has a sinus infection and has been up all night the past few nights. When I lack sleep I use that as an excuse to be irritable or to not keep up with my responsibilities at home. And instead of running to God to help me through all the little things that come my way, I sleep in or vegetate in front of the tv.
I was convicted of this early this morning when I decided that since I wasn't sleeping I should hang out with God. God's promises in his word are not just for the big trials of life but for everything. He is sovereign over everything that happens, even my lack of sleep and my whiny two year old. I need to turn to Him and rest in his strength for everything. If I can't remain faithful in the little things, how will I do in the big things? I was reading Romans 12:1-2 and struck by how I do not give my life as a living sacrifice. This is an act of worship and when I wallow in my impatience, irritability and complain about being sick or tired I am not a living sacrifice and am in fact showing ingratitude for all He has done for me. I am reminded up the Israelites wandering in the desert and complaining because they were tired of eating manna. My prayer is that in all things I would praise God and take the little irritations of life and learn from them and use them for His glory.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe." Phil 2:14,15.

Scrapbooking

I am addicted to a new scrapbooking site I'm using this year for the boys scrapbooks. I've given up on the actual paper and glue kind because of the time it takes. Last years albums that I did online turned out great but a friend introduced me to another site that has more features. It's literally like scrapbooking but you are placing each piece of paper and sticker on digitally. Pretty cool. The only thing is that you can redo it over and over and make it better whereas with a real scrapbook, once it's glued it's glued. So I do find myself redoing pages especially now that my friend showed me all the cool features that I never noticed before. Oh well, we all need a creative outlet wouldn't you say?

Fellowship at the Beach

We went out boating with a few other families after church yesterday. It was a seriously hot day but the beach was beautiful. Ian as usual protested the whole morning about going on the boat and held on for dear life the whole time we were on it but then had a great time at the beach. The boys and one of their friends just ran up and down the beach, dug in the sand, and splashed in the waves. Florida style church fellowship:)