4 Years....

... and Counting

Alex and Leah

Jan. 31. 2004

This Little Girl....

I owe my first laugh of the day to little Olivia. She had a stuffy nose, so when she greeted me this morning she whispered "Mommy I have bread in my nose".

A Fun Day Together

We set out to go to a lake today, but ended up at the first canal built in America. I don't remember the name of it, and I don't feel like going to the car right now and getting the brochure. Nevertheless, it was a wide open space with lots of bridges where the kids could run and look at the water and run and look at a bird and run some more. Olivia and AJ were savoring the great outdoors! It was better than a playground.

We Have a Climber!

I lowered Olivia's kitchen so our little Iron Chef AJ could cook up a few things, but he found an even better use of the range!
This look kills me everytime. It is accomplishment, mischief, curiosity, and "mom's -gonna-love-this-one" all wrapped up in one goofy little grin!

Bible Study with a 2-year old

I was attempting to practice my Spanish this morning by reading aloud from my bilingual Bible while Olivia sat and ate her "Yum-Cereal" (Cream of Wheat with applesauce and cinnamon). She wanted her Bible too, so I handed her a Bible Storybook. Then she wanted coffee just like mommy. Why not. So, I poured my little copycat a cup of warm milk with a shot of Folgers. The conversation that followed went something like this:

(Olivia flips open her book to Paul's shipwreck)

Olivia: "Mommy, what he doin'?"

Mommy: "His boat crashed on the rocks, but God..."

Olivia: "Are dey goin' to da beach?"

Mommy: "No..."

(Olivia flips to another page)

Olivia: "Mommy! Look at da water!!!"

Mommy: "Yes, God moved the water out of the way so the people could walk to the other side..."

Olivia: "Are there fish in the water?"

Mommy: "Yes.."

Olivia: "Is that daddy?"

Mommy: "No, that's Moses..."

Olivia: "Is he goin to da beach?"

She was really cracking me up, and she was on a roll, so like a good mommy.... I had to get the rest on camera!

Feliz Navidad!

Burning Still

The following is an excerpt from Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael. I hope that it is an encouragement to you as it was to me this morning!

"She hath neither rusted out, nor burned out. She is burning still." I read that in an Australian magazine and I prayed that it might be true of each one of us. We want most earnestly not to rust out, we would gladly be burned out, but till that day comes, the Lord keep us "burning still."

Perhaps some of us are sorely tempted to think that just now there is not much that is "burning" about our lives. Some are ill, some have duties of a very simple sort-- where does the burning come in? Where did it come in when John the Baptist was shut up in prison? He could not do anything but just endure, and not be offended, and not doubt his Lord's love. But when our Lord Jesus spoke of him, He said he was burning and shining-- "a burning and a shining light".

It is not the place where we are, or the work that we do or cannot do, that matters, it is something else. It is the fire within that burns and shines, whatever be our circumstances.