Arguing with God

The best prayers I have ever heard in our prayer meetings have been those which have been fullest of argument. Sometimes my soul has been fairly melted down where I have listened to the brethren who have come before God feeling the mercy to be really needed, and that they must have it, for they first pleaded with God to give it for this reason, and then for a second, and then for a third and then for a fourth and a fifth until they have awakened the fervency of the entire assembly. 

-Charles Spurgeon 

The Gospel Made Visible

Our women's Bible Study is finishing up Ed Welch's book When People Are Big and God is Small over the next month.  This past Tuesday we discussed the chapters about loving your enemies and loving your neighbors, and loving your brothers and sisters.

As we talked, we acknowledged that people can move back and forth in those categories pretty regularly, depending on the state of our relationship with them.  Regardless, as Christians we are called to love and serve them all, not for our betterment, but for the glory of God.

We also talked about the tendency to lump together "the church" as a whole and write it off -- to be hurt by a particular person (or people) in the church and then attribute it to the church as a whole, saying "I've been hurt by the church too many times."  I referenced the sermon below as a picture of what the church should be instead -- a compelling place where diverse people are united by a common faith and love for their Savior, Jesus Christ.

It's an hour long, but it's worth your time.

The Move

The week of the move, we had a painting party.  We expected maybe four or five people to show up.  To our delight, TEN people showed up.  It was amazing!  Even our friends with babies brought them along, setting up makeshift playpens with boxes.  We had more than enough to do.  We painted all of the trim (which was dark wood) and covered most of the downstairs with this crew.  There are some spots that still need touching up, but a huge amount of the work was done, and we were grateful.

The living room

Here's my friend Shelley all alone painting around the door that leads to the garage.

"Hey, we're all done trimming this entryway, so let's go stand on the kitchen counter."

Jaime and Amy fit perfectly to do the top of the kitchen.

We ended up staying that night until around 10:30, but we felt really happy about what was done.  Thank you to everyone who came.

Then a few days later, moving day arrived! 

Loading up

Ben put a sign on the door that said "I love moving!"  I did not feel the same way around six hours later.

The new place is just a short ten minute's drive away, over a little back road most of the way.  This road feels a little bumpy in a regular car, but according to my husband, in a moving truck , it feels like "THE SURFACE OF THE MOON."

Unloading

I'm not sure why, but all of our bed linens ended up in a pile in the driveway.

Below you see a picture of the Most Difficult Piece of Furniture We Own.  You may see a picture of our dining room hutch in this post from last week.  The important thing to know about this hutch is that it does not come apart.  It is one piece.  We have moved it from Massachusetts, to San Francisco, to L.A., to Charlotte, and every time people's eyes get really big when we tell them that it's a single piece.  David understands how it needs to be moved by now, but he is always nervous about it.

I call the photo "Scaling His Personal Everest."  My parents think he looks like General MacArthur.  I can see that.

Notice Wayne in the foreground, a good ten feet away, hands firmly in pockets.
He was not getting involved, and was not ashamed to say so.  Smart.

Proof that the hutch made it into the house.  Then we could all breathe a sigh of relief.

Maddie drinking Gatorade.  Moving is tough on 3 year olds.

 By the time we were all sitting around eating dinner that night, Maddie had crumbled to a shell of herself.  I asked her to go upstairs to put on her pajamas and she begged me to make that her "last job."

I get tired just looking at these pictures!  Oof.

Brackets Everywhere!

If you're interested in joining our March Madness group this year, leave me a comment.  I probably invited a good many of you yesterday.  If you're having trouble making decisions as you fill out your bracket, you might want to try some of our methods.

One Thousand Gifts 3.12.12

243. more progress on the house.  We were able to host our first small group meeting here on Wednesday night.  Despite a few hiccups -- like missing chairs! -- we made it through nicely.
244. safe travel for my husband to the Far East.  16 hours on a flight...I don't envy him that!  FaceTime has been keeping us in touch.
245. more progress on next year's homeschool co-op.  It's so nice to see things start to solidify.
246. spring!  Pear trees, daffodils, forsythia all in bloom.
247. a chance to do more wedding flowers...I love these opportunities.  Thankful for my mom for employing me all those years so some of her skills could rub off on me.
248. sweet quiet afternoon chatting with a friend.  It seems like the Sunday after the time change is always a chance to talk long in the sun.  I have a lot of treasured memories of that day on the calendar.  Yesterday will be another.

hydrangeas, alstromeria, and waxflowers

Classic Folk Music for Kids

People who hold house concerts in their living rooms probably qualify as folk music lovers, don't you think?  We've tried to pass down this love to our children by dragging them along with us to every music event we can afford.

Also, we have a couple favorite CDs by some great folk singers of the 1960s and 70s that our kids really love. You might want to check them out.

One is Peter, Paul, and Mary's Peter, Paul and Mommy album.  I grew up on this album and have fond memories of singing along with it in the backseat of my mom's Ford Fairmont.  A couple years ago mom bought it for my kids, and I think I bought it for my sister's kids after that.

It includes some traditional English folk songs, too, like "Leatherwing Bat."  But far and away, our favorite to sing along with is "The Marvelous Toy":

The other, more recent, favorite CD is The Johnny Cash Children's Album.  Mom got this for Jonathan for Christmas because of his obsession with At Folsom Prison.

Can you guess which one of our kids likes this song the best?

They also love "Nasty Dan."


(the CD version does not have Oscar the Grouch's commentary, thank goodness)

To be completely truthful, I find most kid's music annoying.  This is far more pleasant.

For Reluctant Readers

My two youngest guys are both good readers, but it's almost like they don't know it yet.  They balk at reading the books that I've had their older brothers read.  In order to build their confidence and avoid frustration, I've had to change tactics.

I have found a great deal of success with your friend and mine, Charlie Brown.

We have a few of these books:  The Complete Peanuts (various years).  They've been great for all the boys.  The older kids have stretched their vocabulary -- Snoopy, Linus, and Lucy use pretty big words -- and the younger ones have gotten in some practice reading without even realizing it.

These collections are a little pricey, but we've saved them for Christmas and birthday gifts, and they are always greeted with loud cheering when unwrapped.