Being Re-Made

We just had the unique experience of hosting, at first, a couple little green worms. I figure they came in on some produce. When we first noticed them, one was on a root beer bottle, and was such a benign little thing that we weren't motivated to put it outside. The next morning the girls discovered, to their excitement, that there was a chrysalis in it's place.

Before I got around to searching the internet to learn a bit about this little fellow, which we checked on frequently, we discovered the empty little shell. I would say it was approximately a week and a half.
In his new form, he sat for some time, maybe half the day.

I could not tell you in words the feelings that went through me that evening when all at once I saw him flying up by the chandelier in our dining room, the highest heights he could find.

One of my daughters said to me, "Isn't it neat that God made caterpillars to not always have to be fat and crawling?"

We are being re-made.

Some Summer Ramblings

  
Well, I guess I am only posting here seasonally, so here goes for a bit of a summer post. It has been a hot dry summer, with less rain than we've seen in a long time! Today was a lovely reprieve, with just under an inch of rain with hopefully more to come tonight. Experiencing a drought brings new meaning to "the water of  life".
JULY - month of death and life for me.
July 6,1999 saw us burying our firstborn beloved daughter. It was an extremely hot humid day, and as we were letting her go, it began to rain. We had the sense that a seed was being planted and God would bring fruit forth from the seed... we know not how.
Twelve years and four daughters later, it became a day of joy at the birth of our son.
One more year rolls by to bring us to now, and it is quite something to feel, to live that day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISAAC!

I can't tell you how God does what He does. It is, for the most part, a wordless thing to me.
All I can do is invite you to give all to Him, broken dreams, shattered hearts, you name it... and just wait and see what He does with it. One day we will know, even as we are known.
In the meantime, I have decided that it's really not my responsibility to try to get anyone to understand something I know or feel. It would be second hand, anyway! The best route to knowing Him is via your own relationship with Him.
Look for Him to meet you right where you are at, but don't expect to stay there.
You will find yourself on the ride of your life! Just be sure to leave Him in the driver's seat and try not to be a back-seat driver -just relax and enjoy the ride. You are in the best hands, that have born all for you.

Wishing each one the water of life in these summer days...

Spring Cleaning

   It's been a long while since I shared anything here. It has been a season full of learning, and I hope growing. We enjoyed a very mild winter and our days are now filled with the business of spring... bottle-feeding baby calves, watching baby goats cavort and play, picking (or receiving) bouquets of anything blooming (be they weeds or flowers), cleaning up the yard, making room for new growth.
   Is there room for new growth in your life? Is it springtime in your heart?
   I have been very refreshed lately in discovering more areas in my mind and heart that need renewing, and in the recognition, the renewing begins!

I am so glad that "we are not our own, we are bought with a price"!
We can soar free above the sins and weights which so easily beset us, and be changed, even into the very image of Christ!
The last few days I have been wondering...
What do we really want out of life? Can you identify your #1 desire?
What do you want, that you don't experience? What are you most dissatisfied about?

When we go to a medical doctor with an illness, we don't open up our life to him and tell him all of the things that are normal. No, we have to share what is wrong.
Do we do that with our Great Physician? Open our life up to Him to diagnose?
There is none safer to open up to, not one with more compassion and understanding for the ills that beset us.
Are we like a child who fears the tweezers that would gently remove the thorn?

I think we barely begin to understand what manner of God it is that we claim to believe in.
Someone recently asked me, "What do you think this world would be like if we "literally" believed in God?"
Think about it...

What daily difference is there in your life, "because He lives"?
Our belief in Him must be good for something.
What is it useful for, to you?
I guess I have been thinking a lot about things that we know in our heads, things that have been programmed in, and how that can actually have very little to do with "living, and moving, and having our being in Him".
Do we know what "abundant life" feels like?

It's what He came that we might have.

A New Year = New Mercies

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!
2011 was full of the faithfulness of God to us! I am grateful for so much!
It was a full year, each season's busy-ness somehow eclipsing the one preceeding it.

The best gift in 2011 was this little man... He continues to grow, healthy and developing at a rapid rate. He is sitting up now, and finally rolled from back to front the other day. He is full of smiles still, and will laugh when coaxed. His sleeps habits are great! I am so glad he seems to do quite well with people/crowds. The month of December was especially full!

Chloe and Hadassah put on a clown show for us one evening last week. They seemed to have the right idea as to how to go about it... exaggerated movements and all! These two share a room and are never far from one another.

Damaris contiues to love taking piano lessons. She is just finishing up Alfred's Basic Piano Library Level 4. She is frequently to be seen in her corner at the keyboard. Her teacher is going to winter in Florida for the next two months, so we may look for someone to fill in. She does have plenty to practice and needs no prodding to do so.

Abi loves Bubby (as he is frequently called). Every morning she comes and wants to snuggle with him.
Today is the first day that it really feels like winter... cold, and snowflakes in the air almost all day, and it is sticking!
Stay warm everyone! Most of all, may our hearts be warmed by the spirit of Christ Jesus dwelling there!