Joy of our hearts

Thursday, October 23, 2008

We rode the LM&M (Lebanon, Mason & Monroe?) railroad to a punkin farm.
Fun time...

spoonfeeding and various faces

Ameila's a really good eater -- she must be to maintain that physique.
She just opens wide and we shovel it in as fast as we can...even if
she doesn't really like it, she still eats pretty well.

pony ride

We waited forever and she almost didn't get one she wanted...

If she could just stay like this forever...

...then her high school years will be a lot less stressful for me.

I seem to have this...octopus...on my back...

We're not sure why the frog is in the box

kid in a playstation

With a big ol' bushy head of hair, still.

Barbie, a hard hat and a tractor

We're hoping Barbie met a very timely demise...but Ellie's not a
toy-breaker. (Read: she's a girl.)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

We think Amelia said "papa" just now.

She did it a few times in a row.

--
Soli Deo Gloria

Monday, September 22, 2008

Ellie and Amelia being baptized

Here are the girls being baptized on August 31. Ellie wasn't baptized before -- our church then did a believer's baptism, not infant (covenantal) baptism. Our current church, Grace Bible Presbyterian, is more firmly in the Presbyterian & Reformed position, and does the infant baptism of believing parents. So both girls were baptized by Pastor Tim Miessler.

Glory to God for His provision of and for our family, and for His grace, that he "breaks the power of cancelled sin, and sets the sinner free." It's frightening to think of the implications of sin -- our kids are, though baptized, guilty with Adam of sin against God, and in need of a Savior. And so it is our comfort that in Christ, God forgives sins and reconciles sinners to Himself. I pray regularly for the salvation of those whom I love -- for outside of Christ, all are guilty, no matter how good we think we are, or how little we care to hear of God's wrath upon sinners. The following is adapted from www.romansroad.com/id50.htm. (More importantly, it's an exposition of a portion of the Bible, which means it's God's Word spoken to you.)

Romans 3:23

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We all have sin in our hearts. We all were born with sin. We were born under the power of sin's control.

Romans 6:23a

"...The wages of sin is death..."

Sin has an ending. It results in death. We all face physical death, which is a result of sin.

But a worse death is spiritual death that alienates us from God, and will last for all eternity.

The Bible does plainly teach that there is a place called the Lake of Fire where lost people will be in torment forever.

It is the place where people end up that remain spiritually dead.

Romans 6:23b

"...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Salvation is a free gift from God to you! We can't earn this gift, but we must reach out and receive it.

Romans 5:8

"God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"

When Jesus died on the cross He paid sin's penalty. He paid the price for all sin, and when He took all the sins of the world on Himself on the cross, He bought us out of slavery to sin and death! Therefore, believe in Him and what He has done for us, understanding that we are now joined with Him, and that He is our life. Because He loved us and gave Himself for us!

Romans 10:13

"Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"

Call out to God in the name of Jesus!

Romans 10:9,10

"...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

Jesus said, Revelation 3:20a

"Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..."

Believe in Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Open the bible to the gospel of John and read what God says about Jesus, about you, and about being born again. God will help you. He loves you. You need to look for a local church where God's word is preached. The bible says that we are to desire God's word like a newborn baby desires mother's milk.

John 1:12

"As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,

even to those who believe in His name!"

Sunday, September 21, 2008

More AJ updates

Junebuggy is on an anti-spit-up formula (Enfamil AR; apparently other formulas are pro-spit-up) which actually works well enough when we don't try to cram more than four ounces of formula into her four-ounce tummy.

She's still a happy enough kid mornings and afternoons, and a fairly unhappy one in the evening of the day. Not as screamy as she was, but really whiny. Really really whiny.

She's sort of sitting up, as the pics below testify. She can also pretty much stand up on her own -- not balancing, but she can hold her whole weight up for a few seconds, then when I say "Kerplunk" she falls herself down. (I know that's horrible grammar, but I think it describes what goes on.) It's a fun game for about forty-nine minutes.

She's eating cereal with various purees, and she got some straight pears today. When she's hungry, she opens her mouth and lunges her head (more bad grammar) toward the spoon, creating a moving-target scenario. So I (Christian) have started to gently hold her head in place when I feed her cereal -- so now she won't open her mouth for me unless my hand's on her head. I hope that doesn't last too long. It'll get kinda awkward in a few years.