Mustard Seeds

David and I are blessed to be able to teach children's church for Elizabeth's class one Sunday a month.  This past Sunday, our lesson was on the parable of the mustard seeds.  Of course, the plans suggested showing the kids actual seeds, and I heartily agreed.  So, at 10 p.m. Saturday night I headed to the grocery store in search of the seeds...and a few other groceries.  (Yes I'm a huge procrastinator.  I could use the busy week before as an excuse, but it really just comes down to procrastination.)

I got into the grocery store, found all the great deals I wanted, and then remembered the seeds.  I headed over to the aisle and found the spices.  Woohoo, there was a section for mustard seeds...even in a little jar, like I wanted.  I didn't want to waste money on a big jar.  What else am I going to use them for?  Awww, crud!  The bin for whole mustard seeds was empty.  I searched around the area to see if perhaps some were placed in the wrong bin.  I prayed.  "God, I really want to find these seeds.  I want to have them for the kids.  Please let them be here!"  I searched some more.  I prayed some more.  There were no mustard seeds to be found.  "Okay, God, you must have something else planned for the lesson.  Please let me know what it is."

I checked out and headed home.  I reached up to the spice cabinet to put something away.  As  I looked up, in the very front, I saw a clear jar with small round yellowish balls.  It couldn't be, could it?  I pulled down the jar and read the top.  "Mustard Seeds"  I just laughed and thanked God.  Here in my spice cabinet was an unopened jar of mustard seeds.  It should have been buried in the back of the cabinet, since I never use it.  The jar was part of a set of spices we received for our wedding almost seven years ago.  I have been telling myself I need to go through the spices and get rid of some of the old ones.  I guess procrastination does pay off once in a while.  ;-)

Thank you, Father, that you provide what I need and not always what I ask.

In His Hands

While we were driving home the other day, Josiah all of the sudden asked, "Why does God have the world  in His hands?"  We talked about how God made the world, and we're alive because He made us and give us life.  We said that God could actually have the world in His hands, but that we usually mean that He takes care of us.

Elizabeth started talking about someone we know who used to follow Christ, but has decided to go another way.  Josiah asked why someone would not like like God.  We discussed possible reasons such as thinking God's rules were too controlling.  But we realize that God's rules are to help protect us.  After a moment, Josiah said, "I guess he decided to get out."  I asked, "Out of what?"  "Out of God's hands."

I was overwhelmed.  No, not with thoughts of all the different ways this statement could be viewed theologically.  But with the fact that my sweet four-year-old boy, who just mentioned God for the first time a few months ago, is now pondering these questions on his own. 

Thank you, Jesus, that these seeds are being planted and are taking root!

(Oh yeah, seeds...that reminds me of another post. ;-))

Cousin AJ, VBS, and a day at the beach

We had a fun, busy week around here last week!  Our nephew down so he could come to Vacation Bible School and spend some time with the kids.  It's always interesting to watch how the dynamics of playtime with the addition of a new child.  A.J. is 11 months older than Elizabeth, so we had a male oldest child for the week.  The change was very obvious while listening to the kids' imaginative play :-) 

V.B.S. was from 6-8pm Sunday to Thursday.  All the kids enjoyed it!  They made some new friends and did a great job learning memory verses each day ;-)  Isaac was spoiled  loved on constantly by nursery helpers.  David and I "lead" the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.  Though I think some nights we were just running to keep up!  Thursday evening closed V.B.S. with a carnival including a moon bounce, super slide, popcorn, cotton candy, and lots of fun! 

The kids and I mostly stayed home during the day, though we did venture out to Wal-mart and Sam's for lunch and some shopping on Tuesday.  Thursday I decided to brave the beach with the four kids.  We have a great lake near us where one of the swimming areas is pretty shallow.  As in the lifeguard SITS in the water at the deepest part.  Oh yeah, and knowing there would be a lifeguard boosted my confidence.  One other fun thing about this beach is that it's directly under the landing path for our small airport.  So, my airplane loving boy can watch all the planes he wants!  I'm glad we went.  The kids had a lot of fun.  We had to rush home to take showers, and all the kids fell asleep on the way to V.B.S., but it was worth it.

I've been doing a terrible job taking pictures lately, but I did remember to get some at the beach!  Enjoy!

Sounds Fair to Me

Elizabeth:  Wouldn't it be funny if women have the babies and men have the milk?
Mommy:  That sounds fair!
Elizabeth:  Or maybe, men should have the babies and women have the milk.
Mommy:  That could work, too.
Elizabeth:  'Cause it's not fair if women get to do both or if men get to do both!

:-) hehehe

Tumbling

Sunday, the kids had some fun trying tumbling and handstands in the family room.  David thought they might be trying to pretend they were in Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's house since we've been using her books for some reading time. ;-)

A fun series of Josiah:

 

 Some shots of Elizabeth:  

(She had a lot more success once we showed her how to practice using a wall.  She's been doing that several times a day now.)

Isaac thought they were both hilarious and had to get in on the action himself:

Well, now that the ice rink has closed, I guess it's time we actually get them both into some tumbling classes :-)

July 4th

We are thankful to live in a great country.  We are even more thankful to live for a greater God! 

Father, shower your blessings down on our nation so we may use them for You. 

Bring us back to the place where we are "one nation under God".

Eating Corn

(okay, I'm going backwards)

Saturday, between storms, David grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn for dinner!  Yummy!  There are a lot of different methods recommended online for grilling corn on the cob.  We chose to go with the simplest.  Place the corn on the grill.  We didn't peel back the husk.  We didn't soak it.  And the corn was amazing!  David did a great job!

Josiah enjoyed his corn on the cob with butter and parmesan cheese.

Isaac had some fun trying to nibble off some of the kernels, but he really liked gnawing on the empty cob.

Two loose front teeth made it difficult for Elizabeth to eat the corn, so she had cut corn. 

This is her bread tongue.

Peaches

This past Sunday we took the kids peach picking!  We are LOVING living near all these orchards to pick our own fruit and allow the kids to see where their food actually comes from.  Our friend Heidi joined us for lunch and then went peach picking with us!  Enjoy some pics of the kids picking, eating, posing, and enjoying orchard treats :-)

 

Cherries!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I've posted!  :-p  I have missed so much on here.  I feel like I have writer's block so much of the time.  But I'll start with something recent, and hopefully that will be the jolt I need to get back to blogging.

This past Sunday, between two days of fun picnics with friends, we headed down the road a bit to find a cherry orchard!  We are so blessed to have several orchards around here that allow you to pick your own fruit...strawberries, cherries, peaches, apples.  None of us have been cherry picking before, so this was a first for all of us!  :-)  David decided to follow his GPS rather than the directions from the orchard.  It made for an interesting trip...we got to see part of the county we haven't seen before.  Josiah was a little worried when we started on the gravel road up the mountain, and he told David he needed to turn around.  But we made it up and down the mountain without any problem.  We slathered on the sunscreen and headed into the trees to pick and eat sweet cherries.

View from the orchard!  BEAUTIFUL!

We were a little surprised at how family friendly it was!  It was nice to not have to bend down to the ground, as we would for strawberries, and the tree branches were low enough the kids were able to reach cherries on their own. 

Even Isaac tried.  We had to stop several times to pick leaves out of his mouth. :-) 

The kids were thrilled to see a bird's nest where one of the tree trunks began to branch out.  It was not even three feet off the ground!

Of course, we all enjoyed eating the cherries as we were picking.  They were so juicy and sweet!

Even with all the cherry snitching, we still walked away with over six pounds of cherries!  Next time we'll think ahead and leave the stems on most of the fruit, so they last longer ;-)

I think this will definitely become a yearly tradition!