Deuteronomy 6:7

This year we have Bible lessons right after breakfast. Jane's art: Jesus calming the storm.


Zaccheus climbed up in a Sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. This story brings back precious memories of Alex when he was a wee little lad. Seven years ago when we took walks, Alex would look up in the trees and ask where was Zaccheus.


My mini-Israelites in Egypt during the 10th plague. They smeared ketchup blood on their doorframe, and when the clock struck twelve the firstborn was still alive.

Pobrecito!

Having uploaded pictures finally. I found these of Fritz's foot. He and I ventured into the yard after a tremendous downpour. I think the fire ants were floating and when we walked by they attached themselves to our feet as if they were life rafts. It was painfully itchy for me, but little man got the worst of it. His foot and ankle swelled and turned hot and red.

A few days later his foot returned to normal size and the ants packed up and left for higher ground.

My Remarkable Birthday Gift

A few weeks ago I had my 21st birthday. Okay. Scratch that, but you ought to know that women take off a decade in their 30's and two decades in their 50's. Since I am not the latter you can do the math.



My sweet little girls made party hats for the occasion and my eldest son gave me a present I will never forget.
In August, Alex asked if he could use some wood. For those who don't know I love to salvage things. I have boxes full of odd pieces of lumber and a head full of ideas on how to use it someday. I pulled out some pieces for Alex and took out the chop saw. He told me he wanted to make a cross. He designed it and nailed it together.
Then he took out the paints. As he was painting he asked me what that acronym was about "Jesus..something...me". Oh, yes. He meant JOY: put Jesus first, others second and you last. My children tend to be bearers of conviction in my life.




This is what Alex wrote on the back. I think his choice of Romans 3:23 is perfect. Every year I become more aware of my sin and more amazed that Christ could and does love me despite of it. When Alex gave me the cross, he said, "Maybe you could hang it on the wall with your other crosses." Dear young man, it hangs on the wall, but your thoughtfulness and its pure message hangs in my heart and makes my spirit glad.

Philosophical analogies

In the car the other day, Emily said how cold it was outside. Fritz piped up and said, "It's not cold. It's warm like a soft blanket." It was so unexpected and sweet.

Emily then added her revised opinion, "It's warm like a circle."

People are Fragile like Glass

Tonight I finished reading Ten Green Bottles by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan.

An Amazon reviewer said, "...This is a (true) story not to be missed. It is definitely the best book I have read in a long while."

I would second that. From Vienna to Shanghai the sights, sounds, emotions are palpable. The author is gifted in description. One melancholy line that stood out to me, "Her life has been so changed and she has fought so hard for so long that it seems all of the spirit is gone, used up like firewood."

Those words jumped off the page as a friend I had been praying for died a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I will ever see her again, because in a letter to me she described herself as "not a person of faith". My heart still hurts, but maybe in her last hours she called out to the Savior.

Yesterday, a doctor here committed suicide. What hopelessness around us! People are perishing without Jesus. When I consider that there is a literal heaven and hell and only one way to heaven, my passivity seems scandalous. I don't want to offend, but who am I kidding? May I love people and love them enough to be a speaker of the Truth.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

A 52 Minute Challenge

Just watched this documentary. I was struck by how Heidi Baker's face glows with happiness and Jesus. This is testimony of God's presence and protection. I believe God still heals like he healed Namaan in the OT and resurrected Jairus' daughter in the NT. This is proof. Heidi's and her husband's charismatic obedience and faith are refreshing. I am not sure I could smile in the garbage heap with the thousands of flies and undoubtedly the stench, but this little lady does. She has a church that meets next to the garbage pile in Mozambique. She takes home orphans from the streets and she ministers to the least of these.

Handsome Hair

Rapunzel and her golden tresses.

This little girl keeps us laughing. She told Ben, "MacGyver keeps his hair handsome. Your hair looks kind of goofy."

Ben took no offense and playfully retorted, "You don't think my hair is handsome like MacGyver's?"

Then our Rapunzel consoled, "Maybe goofy is the new handsome."

Beware men with 80s style, blown-dry hair! My daughter digs your hair.

Brand Confusion

Today Emily asked, "Do you know where my old lady shirt is? You know, the one with sparkly writing."

It snatched me back 12 years to Ben's mud engineer days and his oilfield coworkers (often ex-convicts) calling their wives and girlfriends their "old lady". I remember telling my husband of a few months that I would never answer to such and that I found the term coarse and disrespectful. Perhaps because I voiced my opinions freely Ben started calling me Spunky instead. It stuck and it is still his pet name for me.

After that sidetrack, Emily found her shirt in her drawer where it was suppose to be. Below you can see her sporting her bedazzled "old lady" shirt which is really an Old Navy shirt. Brand confusion happens to the best of us.