Excellent!

I just have recently borrowed and then purchased the book The Valley of Vision. Words cannot express how breathtaking beautiful this book is. These prayers unto the Lord in this little volume contain the richness of the sweetness of communion with the Lord. They are prayers composed based on the works of many notable puritans. I highly recommend this be in every family's library. Here is the prayer that is called "The Valley of Vision"...


Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley.

YouTube

We enjoy Kelly's CD at our house. Enjoy this YouTube...

Slideshow of H's 3rd bday this last February

slideshow of Valentines 09

I caught up on a couple of slideshows the other day...here is our Valentines party this past Feb... enjoy the slideshow!

Happy 10th Birthday!

Happy 10th Birthday to my dear Mr W! You can call him Pilly for short. W, you are such a joy to our family. Your great grandma used to call you smiley because as a baby it seemed like every time you met someones eyes you would burst into a big chubby smile. You whole body would just squirm!

Now, you are ten years old today...how does our life fly by! You wanted to be born in the car and have been going ninety to nothin' ever since. The Lord has great things in store for you, our dear son. Today in honor of his birthday, he got to have one of his favorite breakfast (pancakes--a mickey mouse pancake, complete with raisin eyes and a marshmellow nose), does not have to do any school today, and is having family and friends over to have a hot dog roast and s'mores this evening. We love you, Pill!

Meet the Shang Dynasty in 2009

We had a blast in our Shang Dynasty dress up night! Now, I will warn you before you watch this slideshow. We really were having fun, even though many of the looks are quite hysterically sober. I am very glad most of you that read this blog know our family very well and can attest to our saneness. The boys and S had fun with the facial decorations. Enjoy the laughs as you watch...

Chinese Night!

We have been learning in History about the Shang Dynasty and the silkworm. So tonight is "Chinese Night". I purchased chopsticks at a chinese restaurant. We are going to dress up in our silkiest duds and have chinese. My mom brought over a bunch of silky type material for the children to wrap up in. The boys have already been on the sewing machine and sewn up some wraps for themselves. I have downloaded chinese music to have on while we eat. And soon we will be in the kitchen preparing. Here is our menu:

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Rice

Sesame Steamed Broccoli

Black Tea

Fortune Cookies (minus the fortune)

The children are looking forward to it and it should be great fun! I will try to post pics sometime soon.

Cold Cuts

Once upon a time, there was a boy. This boy was soon to turn 10 years old. This marked a very important occasion. For you see, each time a grandson turns a decade old, a certain grandfather gives that child a certain gift. I will not tell you the gift, but you can probably guess what it might be. (Hint, it is very sharp).

Well, on this particular day a box came in the mail...several days early. The said grandfather sent it early so the said grandson could enjoy the anticipation. On the box were specific instructions for the package to not be opened until the important day marking his decade of life. So, in keeping with the instructions this dutiful boy just carried the box around...all over the place. He carried it here, now there, then here, then there. Finally, he decided to hide it, so it would not get lost.

Alas, after some time though, he forgot where he had hid it! He remembered stretching high above his height to get it to the, oh so secret, spot. He thought it was the refrigerator, but we looked and no prize box. So high and low they searched. The mother and father as well joined in the pursuit. But to this boy's intense dismay, no precious box could be found. The boy went to bed very dejected. He had great forboding over the response of his dear grandfather when he told him he had lost this decade jewel before he even got a chance to open it.

The next day the hunt began again. But, to no avail. There were sighs and concerned hearts (especially for this mother), but there was still some time to find it still. Then, it happened. The mother was working at her normal duties. And. She. Found. It. The box! The heirloom! It was found. There was a cry from the mother as she declared the item had been recovered. It probably had been on the top of the fridge, but that is not where she found it. Oh, the joy and thankfulness as the boy hugged the box. Now, he could again look with anticipation towards the day it could be opened.

What a mystery it had been! The case almost had to be put on ice, because all the possibilities seemed to be frozen. You see, the present was found...in the freezer.

Introducing...

Well, what have we been doing lately? We have been... well, let's see. We have been busy. Yes, I know, life with 6 children is always busy. But, there is busy and then there is busy? KWIM? (that's: know what I mean, for the non cyper people) Life goes on at the usual busy pace and then the fast forward button gets pushed and things accelerate even more. Eventually life goes back to the normal busy pace again.

I guess the biggest change this past week is that we added a member to our household. No, I know what you are thinking. I did not keep a big secret and have a speedy pregnancy. Especially when this new member is just a few years younger than I am. Yes, I would like everyone to meet SM. Her brother has moved down here to be a part of our church and now she has moved down here to be near him and a part of the church as well. She is living with us until such a time as he finds a house for them to buy and settle into. In the meantime, I get such a blessing with her being her. Being in the kitchen has never been my strong point and SM loves to cook and is very good at it, I might add. As we are planning meals, "Would you like me to make homemade rolls with that?" Or then she might offer to make a peanut butter pie for dessert. It does not take me long to think of the answer to those questions. Yes, I would say it is a benefit to get sticky buns for breakfast on a Saturday morning. Just don't tell weight watchers.

Lest you think that all I think about is food, I must add that SM has a very sweet personality and is a wonderful friend and companion to me during the day. I am really enjoying her. The children are thrilled to have their toys back in their rooms, since Miss S's room used to be the playroom.

We also have had other company this week and this past Lord's Day after church we hosted 7 singles at our home. When I commented to S that we must be the singles hangout because we acted so young, he replied, "No, it is because we have the food!" LOL! Our church really has several singles in it now, and it is a blessing to see how they all encourage and love each other in the Lord.

The children are doing fine. J commented today that my two littles are like chemicals. By themselves they are fine, but put them together and they are dangerous. :) They really are a cute pair together, I just have to keep up with their next adventure.

School is going well. We are on the 8 week homestretch. I am ready for spring and summer. BTW, there are a couple of families that have promised us a visit (you know who you are!!) from Tx. Well? What date should we mark in the calendar for you?

What do I have on the calendar this week? Well, normal school, hosting guests, and a little sewing project is just begging for me to find the time for. I always have trouble finding nice long skirts. This past Saturday SM and I went to the local thift store and I bought a big denim jumper that I am going to try my hand at getting creative with. I am going to cut the top off and make into a skirt. We shall see how it goes.

Oh, one more thing. Back in Tx I had R for a few months a part of a group called Keepers at Home. It is a really neat mother/daughter group where they study and learn all kinds of skills to prepare them for womanhood. It is set up similar to girl scouts with a handbook of their projects, and they each have sashes with their badges as the accomplish their skills. The focus is on biblical femininity, with their motto being "To learn to walk in the steps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Day by day, moment by moment, in every situation." I have been coordinating to get a group started here with the moms and daughters of our church and we are having our first meeting Saturday morning, here at my house. This time E is old enough to also participate so she is thrilled. We are starting out with 8 little girls.

Well, that's all for tonight. Post a comment and let me know how you are doing?

Snow!!

Here are the pics I mentioned I would put up of the "Snow of 09" (notice, I am assuming that was the last of the snow for the year. :) ) The first darker pics were taken in the night when I began to accumulate. The lighter pics were taken the next day. The last pic of the girls is when they were playing out in the snow with their friend, Lisa. Fun, fun!

Moby Dark

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you learn to read you say A,B,C,. When you learn to sing, it's Do, Re, Me. When you need to heat, you need elec-tri-ci-ty..
Yes, I have been in a blogger blackout lately and I will share a few of our exciting adventures.
We had a snow storm, yes, my dear friends, we are not in Houston anymore. March 1st, they are calling for some snow..yah, sure. So, we hope maybe for a dusting so that my children know there really is such a thing as this white stuff everyone talks about. Great big flakes begin to fall. Sheer beauty! Then, it begins to accumulate. Sheer glee! Then the power goes out. Sheer adventure! Yes, it is now midnight and we are burning the candles, and enjoying how funny our friend who is staying with looks when she has her headlamp on. Now imagine a night where all the six children are in the room with us...with no heat and blankets piled on. But, worse yet, (are you ready for this?) NO FANS for whitenoise. Now, mom and dad hear every cough, sniffle, grunt and snore. We wake the next morning absolutely mind numbingly exhausted...and cold. Yes, dear friends dear ole' SC power company has no clue when our power will be back on.
Since, Caterpillar employees were 90% gone that morning, S's boss told him not to worry about coming in. I mean, we have 4-6 inches of snow, people. THIS is history. Ice everywhere too. We have one thing in mind now as our bones grow colder...evacuation. We have been here before. Remember the flood in 98?
We numbingly get together some things to take with us, including a cooler full of food that we don't want to go bad in the freezer. S takes some trial runs up the driveway to see if we can make it our. Our neighbor has already gotten stuck trying. S has to take his chain saw up to cut down some trees in the road. Finally we are on our way with our friend J following behind us. ( J had been staying with us all week and so was evacuating with us in her own car).
Oh no, S says that the van is reading no battery. Now good ole Moby is getting hot...we are overheating. It is a triple failure. Anyone know how to do a triple bypass on a 15 passenger van? Maybe it is the anti-freeze. S takes J's car to the store to get antifreeze. Nope, still not working. By now it is well after lunch and no one has had a decent meal all day. The children had put peanut butter on some bread for their breakfast in the frozen tundra house earlier. I had grabbed some cereal. But we were all in need of a real meal. J kept referring to her need of "Java". Sorry, J I tried to make coffee off the car battery that morning, but it didnt work.
Plan B is to leave J with the children in the van (thanks J, you were a lifesaver with those goodies you pulled out to give the children to eat) and S and I to take J's car and go back home to get S's car. Now good ole Moby has to unloaded with the cooler, and all the blankets, etc. etc. Finally, we all head to get some real food ie: Taco Bell. In two vehicles now, we go into eat looking like something the cat dragged in, and feeling a bit like it too. After a nourishing meal at this health food restaurant, we head over to Mom's house. What a relief to get into a nice warm comfortable home!
S and my dad, along with the 3 boys head back out into the elements to go and try and fix our dear sick van. They had called around and the part was no where nearby to be found...so they made one...my heros! Feeling glad that all seemed well again, Dad headed back but was called partway home...because the van was stick in trouble. Now, it had reached the point that it was time for a mechanic.
To make this long story a little shorter. We spent Monday-Wednesday at my parents house. The power came back on at our house at 11:30 Tuesday evening. Our van was finally fixed on Wednesday so we could all head back home that night. We arrived home exhausted, but very thankful. The house had stayed so cold that even the ice cubes in our freezer had not melted.
One week later? Nearly 80 degrees. How about that for some extreme whether changes. Tis the season for coats..no, short sleeves...no, coats....no, short sleeves.
But, through it all the children sure enjoyed their first taste of a real snow at their own home. I have pics to put up at some point.
This week has been very, very busy so it has taken awhile to get this post written. But, already we laugh at the memories of the "Snow of 09".

special evening tonight

For those of you interested I just thought I would mention that Dr Joel Beeke is preaching at our church tonight at 7pm. If any were interested in listening in live tonight you can dial in to our conference call setup. The information on how to do this is on the right sidebar of my blog.

For those of you not familiar with Dr Beeke, here is a brief bio:

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation, editor of Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, all in Grand Rapids, Mich. He has written, coauthored, or edited fifty books and contributed fifteen hundred articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. His Ph.D. is in Reformation and post-Reformation theology from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is frequently called on to lecture at seminaries and to speak at Reformed conferences around the world. He and his wife, Mary, have been blessed with three children: Calvin, Esther, and Lydia.