We had a really fun day. Hubby made breakfast and had the kids make homemade cards which they presented with hugs and fanfare. We did home church and listened to one of our favorite pastors from Texas. Then we went for a 2 mile family walk on the beach with lots of stops to look at sea shells and splash in the waves. Today was a beautiful day to be out in the surf and I felt so blessed watching my little family play together! We came home and swam in the pool while we grilled out burgers and ate strawberries. Then we wrestled and snuggled with the children climbing all over us on the bed. After that we went to Best Buy to wander the aisles browsing for movies and games. We finally found a couple, and headed home with a movie and M&M’s (chocolate is always a bonus). On the way home, hubby surprised us with ice cream cones for dinner. What a man! Then we came home and had a movie night with the kids. What a very fun filled day!

If you have a son in the 8-10 year old category and want to peak their interest in Scripture, have them read Judges. My sons are LOVING it. There are the children of Israel who misbehave, several different judges that God selects to rule over them, and lots of killing and carnage of bad guys when the Israelites decide to obey God and He delivers them from the oppressing forces. Discussions that we’ve had lately:
1. God’s patience
2. That God will give us over to our vices for a time if we don’t repent
3. God is faithful to us when we call, even when we have been unfaithful
4. Consequences for both good and bad choices
5. God calls imperfect people to do His will so that He receives glory (Samson, Gideon)
6. Beware of manipulating women (Samson)
7. God can use evil to bring about His purposes (Abimilech)

Today we had the Children’s play practice and had to be at the church EARLY. The children practiced for a couple hours before they all started to get squirrelly. Their music director has the patience of a saint! 20 or more wiggly little ones dressed like sheep, cows, and cats….oy!

After the practice, we had a quick lunch while the rest of the people showed up to go Christmas caroling to the home bound seniors. We went to several houses and about 3 nursing homes to sing, pass out hugs and kid made cards, and a plate of cookies, small poinsettia, or gift. What an incredible time.

These folks were so appreciative. One lady started crying because she thought she had been forgotten. There was a gentleman in a wheelchair and a Navy hat. The Sarge went over to ask him about it, and found out he had served as an aviator for 30 years and had served during WWII. My sons both thanked him for his service to our country and the Sarge told him that one day he hoped he could serve in the military. They talked for a bit longer and the man hugged us all and said he was just pleased to be noticed.

One of the stops we made was at a semi truck driver’s home. The man is waiting for his truck to be taken because his cancer came back and treatments/testing are making it so he can’t drive anymore. He let all the children from the group climb up into his truck and honk the semi horn till we were all deaf. This man is caring for his wife and her mother who is also in a wheel chair. I was impressed that he was not sad and depressed, he is so full of life. Sick or not sick, he wants to impact the life of children. He played with them and encouraged them and he makes memories with all children that he meets. What a selfless man. His illness return did not reduce him to sitting and “waiting for the end”, if anything it spurred him to do even more than he already was. To insure he has touched as many lives as he possibly can.

The last house we went to had this feisty 89 year old grandma whose daughter was caring for her. The children all ran through the woods and played behind the house while we visited for awhile. Even though the grandma was not able to make her body move, her mind was very sharp. She kept us laughing with stories about parenting and marriage. She had so much wisdom and had seen it ALL throughout her years! When the Imp skinned her knee, I left to tend to her and then came back. When I walked into the room I was struck by the scene. The grandma was propped up in her chair and was talking with 4 different generations of mothers sitting at her feet and on the nearby couches listening intently to her encouraging stories and sage advice. What a blessing to be able to sit under such instruction and see her example of Godly aging.

My daughter thrived in this element, she loved it and asked if we could “go visiting” again soon. All three children enjoyed going out today, the Gremlin is still amazed by how much it affected the residents, when it was such a small thing on our part.

Imp: Mommy, your the bestest mommy in the whole world.
Me: Thank you baby, your my best girlie

The Imp fell quiet and pondered for a moment….“Well I’m not sure your the bestest in the WHOLE world…..”

I realized I was losing points and waited to see where this would go.

Imp (still mumbling to herself): There could be other good mommies out there……. I wouldn’t know about them though, because they’re not MY mommy. But I’m sure they’re out there….for other babies to have good mommies?

She looked to me for affirmation.

Me: Yep there’s probably lots of good mommies out there that love their babies.
Imp: Yup…..but we’ll keep you and love you even when you get too old.
Me: Cool! What’s going to happen if I get old ? (wondering what, in her mind, would she love me despite of)
Imp: I guess you’ll just be old and wrinkly….but we’ll love you anyways

To this, the Gremlin……who had been listening, pops around the corner and says, “She’ll be old and then she’ll be dead, that’s what happens.”
Unfazed, the Imp takes in this bit of information, “Yeah, but we’ll still love you, just don’t die on us, ok?”

I smiled… thinking grown up thoughts, then realized she was still waiting expectantly for an answer to her request. What does one say to that? (I was THINKING, “Certainly, right after I correct that little problem of world peace….I’ll have to work on the whole immortality thing.”)

What I DID say: Got it…..I’ll do my best.

Satisfied, she wandered off to ponder other deep six-year-old mysteries. Nothing like having a six year old to make you dig deep. I thought about it for quite awhile after.

I think that’s what God meant by having the faith of a child. How awesome and worthy is God of our unwaivering faith and trust! Yet that seems to be the hardest thing to do as an adult. Instead, just like the Imp, we put our trust in things that are so much smaller and temporary. She didn’t know better, but we do. It just got me to thinking.

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

I am working my way through an intriguing Bible study these days. It originally began with the intent to unmask the author’s claims that we are in the period of the 6th Trumpet (Revelations 9)…..well INTO the end times. (As in, World War III, 2 billion people dead, the 2nd return of Christ, the Great Tribulation….all right around the corner.) I knew things were getting close…..but surely we aren’t THAT far!

Anyhoo, what I assumed would be easy to disprove and find where he was stretching things to fit his time line…..is not proving so easy. I am so excited about my studies lately. I am comparing several sources against Scripture. It is going slowly because I am looking up a lot of the Biblical word meanings in their original languages, researching the historical climate at the time it was written, and trying to get a better feel of the authors’ perspective as well.

History and politics are not my strongest subjects, so that is taking some time too. The author (making the claims) uses headlines and historical events to show step by step from Scripture, that we are already WELL into the end times. I don’t like to take anyone’s research as fact, so I am digging up the history references and cross checking his bench marks. Wow! Talk about interesting stuff!

I’m still researching and not ready to sign on yet. I am debating whether to post my notes as I go (they are getting jumbled, so I have to type them up for my reference files anyways.) Now you know what I’m up to……if you don’t hear from me for a bit. I am pouring any EXTRA MOMENTS into this project because the majority of my day is dedicated to schooling the children and taking care of hubby and home.

When I lived in Michigan, I began messing around with making homemade bread. I was tweaking recipes and thought that I might like to market them some day in my little bakery-bookshop that I would run when the kids are old and grown. (A gal can dream, right?)

By the time child number 3 arrived, my time for bread making was short. It was relegated to long weekends and holidays. I toyed with the idea of getting a bread maker, but it just wasn’t in the budget. Then we moved to Florida. The home owners left a bunch of stuff in the garage and told us to keep it or donate it. Voila! I had a practically new bread machine that had the larger loaf capacity. (I love it when God arranges little perks along the way!) I have been happily making bread almost daily since. I am still working on getting some workable recipes that are reliable in case I ever get to start my bakery-bookshop. The bread machine makes it more feasible for me to work on recipes in the limited time I have while the kids are small.

Fast forward to a month ago. My bread maker began overheating and killing all my yeast. I’ve been limping my old one along by using it for the mixing part, but then doing the final mix by hand before it overheats….and tossing it into the oven to bake. Problem is, I keep forgetting and then the machine over heats, the kitchen is filled with the smell of electrical burn and my yeast is brutally murdered before it has a chance to do its thing. Sigh.

I mentioned this to Hubby the other day when he asked why I was buying store bread again. Well, Hubby came home with a forgotten bread machine from one of his co workers. She said she had one that wasn’t being used and it needed a good home! It even has the larger loaf capacity. I am so excited! Now I can go back to tweaking my recipes and I won’t have to throw out murdered yeast balls if I forget! Yay!

Yesterday the Imp had a couple of hours to play with the neighbor girl. She is a sweet little girl, very outspoken so she holds her own, and the two girls play well together. They like to sit and chat about things and it is so funny to hear the Imp’s thoughts on these conversations later.

While they were chatting, the topic of God and church came up. The Imp proceeded to tell her about sin and asking Jesus into her heart to wash it away. The little girl thought this made sense, (I didn’t hear the conversation) so she prayed to have Jesus take away all her sins so she could be with God someday. The little girl asked if she should pray that she should be the BEST kid, but the Imp thought that sounded more like bragging and being greedy. They decided together that she should just ask for help to be a good kid and make good choices. So the little girl prayed that too. The Imp was so excited for her friend!

They talked some more, and the friend stated that, according to her mom, anyone who was good would go to heaven. The Imp was very upset by this. She told her friend that what her mom said was untrue, and that lots of people acted good, but that wasn’t the way to Heaven. She told her that unless you truly love Jesus and ASK Him to come into your life, you weren’t a Christian. (Like I said, I didn’t hear the conversation…..I so hope that the Imp was gentle and respectful in her tone and not accusing and hostile.) She knows her facts and has learned the verses to back them up, but the vocabulary of a six year old often loses things in the translation.

The Imp came to me and wanted to talk and be excited about her friend. I was so happy that seeds were planted. I also had the opportunity to go over some of the finer aspect of witnessing with her. We had to discuss about understanding levels. That her friend may not fully understand what sin is, and may not be in a position to make this choice yet. That we need to always be loving and gentle and not behave haughty or rude towards people with different levels of understanding. God wants to start working on their hearts wherever they are, at that moment. We talked about her simple prayer and how the words of a prayer don’t save you, but it’s the attitude of your heart before God when you pray.

I am amazed at how much the Imp could articulate. We prayed for the little girl and that her seed of faith would be allowed to grow until she could understand more fully. We also thanked God for providing an opportunity for the Imp to share her faith with her friend. My daughter mentioned that the girl was worried that her mommy may not be happy. We had to discuss the possibility of the mommy not wanting the girls to play together anymore. (This happened to me as a kid too.) The Imp set her little jaw and told me that it was more important for the girl to know Jesus, so they could play forever in Heaven someday. (Wow, from the mouths of babes!) We hope that there won’t be any fall out with the neighbors, it was a hard and confusing lesson when I was little and going through it……I hope my daughter will be spared. I am very proud of her, and come what may, we don’t make apologies for our faith or God.