Sabbath Quote

Lead on, O King eternal,
The day of march has come;
Henceforth in fields of conquest
Thy tents shall be our home.
Through days of preparation
Thy grace has made us strong;
And now, O King eternal,
We lift our battle song.

Lead on, O King eternal,
Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And holiness shall whisper
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums;
With deeds of love and mercy
The heavenly kingdom comes.

Lead on, O King eternal,
We follow, not with fears,
For gladness breaks like morning
Where’er Thy face appears.
Thy cross is lifted over us,
We journey in its light;
The crown awaits the conquest;
Lead on, O God of might.

Hymn by Ernest W. Shurtleff

The Best Part of My Family

Yesterday Lily and I were talking about what a family is. I was explaining how families have daddies and mommies and brothers and sisters and grandpas and grandmas when Lily interrupted me with, “And Miss Barbs? Families have Miss Barbs.” I laughed and answered that not every family gets to have a Miss Barb. Having a Miss Barb is a very special thing that only a few families get to enjoy and we agreed that we were very blessed to have one as part of our family.

Maybe you’re one of the few families that have a Miss Barb or maybe you’ve not been blessed with one, but one thing is for certain- our Miss Barb is the Best.

Happy Birthday, Gaby!

You know how there are some people that you can be yourself around? You know how those certain people are themselves around you? You know how rare these people are? You know how special a thing it is to know someone like that?
Well, I know someone like that.

Gaby, thank you for being that someone for me. I love you, baby sister. May this new year of your life be full of wonder.

Happy Birthday, Gaby!

Of Minor Interest

Now you can say you've heard a French Rap Song.

And if it sounds familiar, you probably heard it here first.

The dance in the second link is a form of Capoeira. Check it out here.

Well, at least I find this all interesting. ;)

I Can SO Relate

(click on comic to see full-sized)

An Excerpt From Spurgeon's Morning Devotional

"I remember thee."
-- Jeremiah 2:2

Let us note that Christ delights to think upon his Church, and to look
upon her beauty. As the bird returneth often to its nest, and as the
wayfarer hastens to his home, so doth the mind continually pursue the
object of its choice. We cannot look too often upon that face which we
love; we desire always to have our precious things in our sight. It is
even so with our Lord Jesus...
Many a time before his incarnation,...the Son of Man visited his people. Because his soul
delighted in them, he could not rest away from them, for his heart
longed after them....
We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but he never ceases to remember us.

Get Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING in a daily email HERE.

A Lullaby

This is a song that Joshua and I are trying to get into musical form. I wanted to share the lyrics now, though I'm sure I will have to polish and edit them quite a bit. If we ever succeed in our endeavors then I'll try to post a video of it being sung.

Lullaby

The day has found its end
I’ve bid the sun adieu
He only shone on emptiness
While the faithless struggled through
My sword lies heavy at my side
My battered eyes finally in their repose hide

Chorus:
He sings me to sleep
A haunting melody
He frees my dreams to prance
And they dance among the stars

And the battle rages on
And I carry on

My shield is worn and damaged, too
But it’s carried the blows that brought me to You
He rests my weary soul
And His hand brushes my face
His breath it warms my soul
And I carry on

(Chorus)

And the battle rages on
And I carry on

A Look in a Mirror

Today Lily threw a temper tantrum which involved screaming and a matchbox car flying through the air. Now, as tantrums go, this one wasn't too terrible, but my little girl did remind me of a certain former little girl who had quite a temper, too. I saw that she was out of control, so before starting the discipline process I just held her in my arms until she was calm.

"Get it together, Lily. Calm down," I said. She responded, "I can't! Please help me."

In that moment, I saw myself as a child in my dad's arms as he soothed me after a tantrum of my own and I knew that I needed to do for my daughter what my parents did for me. I needed to help her.

It is my great responsibility to help my children to fight temptation. I need to help them to fight the temptation to be selfish, to complain, to be lazy and more. This is the responsibility of every parent and yet so many parents do not take this seriously. It is a little frightening to dwell on this responsibility because of the great "what if": What if we fail?

"Was I a fool to even take on this whole parenting job?" I ask myself. "Can I handle it?" Well, if it were all up to me, then yes, I would fail. Unquestionably. But the same God who gave to Joshua and me these children will also see to it that they are raised in the way He designed for them. He has and will give us the strength, wisdom and grace to care for these young souls.

So today I cry to my Heavenly Daddy, "I can't! Please help me." And He will. I know it.

And maybe there are things I should be doing to make it easier to do my job. Perhaps a good option would be for me to take Lily's advice. After she calmed down enough to speak after her tantrum, she spoke these words of wisdom: "Why don't we just get rid of Malachi?"

Just Because it's Cute

Malachi- Thank Goodness There's Only One of Him

This is his "I'm innocent- really, don't I look innocent?" face. Usually this face is surrounded by a mess that I need to clean up.Unfortunately, I see this face quite often.

The Amazing Lily!

She may look dainty, but this little Lily is a mini muscle girl! There is only about a three pound difference between Lily and Malachi (Lily being the heavier one) and yet she can carry him! Can you lift your own body weight?

A Thing of Beauty (really just a nag in disguise)

Well, we've finally finished our latest renga. Check it out:

gray sky
yellow lamplight
shining on my book

mere letters on paper
creating stories

stories come to live
as companions in my head
chiselled from the mist

friends I’ve never met
treasured moments that never happened

lonely with my dreams
waiting for my someday friend
this time maybe real

a hand to touch mine
a heart to know mine

laughing as one
thoughts intertwined
it wasn’t even that funny

fleeting moments twined to life
with echoes of laughter

rolling away
watching them go
wanting these moments back

rolling on to eternity
waiting for us there

today just a glimpse
of the forever light
shines through the cracks

Hands warmed by the light
turn to grip the sword

I really, really like this one. Notice how it begins and ends with two different lights. There is a sense of longing that develops throughout the poem, which then turns to hopefulness and finally ends as a call to fight for that which we hope for. I find this renga to be moving and very beautiful. All of this is to say: The next time Raquel starts a renga- join in! The more people contribute, the more diverse our poems will be. Come on and write with us! Why don't you?

Thanks to Raquel for starting and maintaining the Renga Blog!

Public Opinion Poll

I've heard the question asked: Would you rather be invited to a house that is clean and organized or to one that is slightly messy, but the occupants are most welcoming? I think many people would choose the latter, but what about those homes that are so messy and disorderly that they are unpleasant to be in even with a warm, welcoming host? But then, we've all been in houses that are so clean and sterile that you're afraid to sit down for fear of disturbing the meticulously arranged throw pillows. So my question is this:


How important is cleanliness to you as a guest?

One reason I'm asking this question is because I'm attempting to reach that perfect balance between a tidy and pleasant home and the realities of having children who enjoy wreaking havoc on whichever room they are in (and some they're not in!)
I'd love to get some male opinions in here, too. So tell me, what do you think?