A notable quote....

We read a Bible story book with the girls most mornings while they eat their rice krispies or whatever they're in the mood for that day.  I've tried to follow through it so they get some context of stories in scripture and repeating characters.  But they always ask for Naomi and Ruth.  I can't blame them.  It's one of my favorites, too.

Anyways, I stumbled across a book about reading the Bible - not just picture books - everyday with your children.  The author began reading a chapter a day when her kids were 4 and 1.  1!!!!!  She edited as necessary at some of the violent or intimate parts.  And some days were challenges as they read through genealogies, but others were funny as children spontaneously began acting out scenes as she read.  By reading a chapter a day, she completed the project after 5 years.  By the time she hit the New Testament, the oldest child was well within the age of understanding the gospel.

So...do I dare?  Could we pull away from the pictures and get to the Big Picture?  I stand to gain a lot from this exercise as well.  I know it'd be great for me.

Then I read this quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, (1834-1892), the "Prince of Preachers" as he was known.  It pretty much sealed the deal for me.

During the first months of a child’s life it learns more than we imagine. It soon learns the love of its mother, and its own dependence; and if the mother be wise, it learns the meaning of obedience and the necessity of yielding its will to a higher will. This may be the keynote of its whole future life. If it learn obedience and submission early, it may save a thousand tears from the child’s eyes, and as many from the mother’s heart. A special vantage-ground is lost when even babyhood is left uncultured.

The Holy Scriptures may be learned by children as soon as they are capable of understanding anything. It is a very remarkable fact, which I have heard asserted by many teachers, that children will learn to read out of the Bible better than from any other book. I scarcely know why it may, perhaps, be on account of the simplicity of the language; but I believe it is so. A Biblical fact will often be grasped when an incident of common history is forgotten.

We make a mistake when we think that we must begin with something else and lead up to the Scriptures. The Bible is the book for the peep of day. Parts of it are above a child’s mind, for they are above the comprehension of the most advanced among us. There are depths in it wherein leviathan may swim; but there are also brooks in which a lamb may wade. Wise teachers know how to lead their little ones into the green pastures beside the still waters.

If you're interested in the book that started all this wondering....You can check it out here.

The latest.

Still no takers on the bowflex.  We do have another donated item to be raffled off in the near future, which I will speak of at a later time.  Working out the details and getting volunteers together to help with raffle tickets before we're swamped with football and band boosters.

This is what I wanted to share, though.

Maybe it was my imagination.  I don't know.  When we went for an ultrasound two weeks ago, there is no question the baby was moving around. S/he had their hands up behind the head, all kicked back and cute looking.  I don't know if you can really see the details, but here's a picture.

From a side view, Peanut was just a-swinging those little legs, probably a little disconcerted by the ultrasound wand invading the territory.  

I haven't felt any of those movements, because, well the baby's only about 2oz right now, and I'm...um...considerably larger.  But last night, we were getting the girls out of the bathtub when Anna's giggle-box got turned over and she cackled nonstop.  About that same time I got a little swooshy feeling like a butterfly just under my skin, light but detectable.  The baby heard Anna laughing and responded.  

That is so crazy to me.  And sweet.  And I can't wait for them to meet each other.

Addie has taken on a new identity as mother hen since Anna promoted to the older toddler group at daycare.  She checks on her when she cries, says soothing things in a tiny little voice, "Iss okay, Anna. We gon' heppa you."  She's so lovey dovey these days.  I'm glad too, because she can be a rambunctious little toot when she wants to be.  But so far, she's loving and concerned for those smaller than herself.  

The daycare got a new class pet, too.  "Happy Feet" the guinea pig.  Happy Feet (or Happy Feek, as Addie calls him) is not just any ordinary rodent.  He is disabled.  Since their school is run by the Institute for Disability Studies at the local university, there is a special interest in inclusion and therapeutic services for disabled children.  We haven't been disappointed, either, as Anna has thrived in this environment.  Addie and Anna are learning gentleness with small, helpless things that I hope will carry over to the baby.

As we move into our second trimester with the Peanut, here's how you can pray for us.

• Energy and health.  The teaching/mothering/church schedule leaves little room for downtime.  It's taking everything to do bare minimum right now.  I still have nausea and other physical symptoms that are uncomfortable at best, downright inconvenient or painful at worst.  I'm hoping this subsides soon, but even if it doesn't, it's all a sign that everything is moving along as it should.  At least there's comfort in that.  -  Even if sleeping 8.5+ hours a night still doesn't feel like enough.
• House stuff.  We're nearing the completion of the additional bathroom, which means coming closer to putting the house up for sale.  Mixed feelings about this, but it needs to happen.  Pray not just for the sale, but direction about the whole kit and kaboodle.  How should we proceed once/if it sells?  
• Oh yeah, and I will need a new car.  I've got my eye on a couple of older SUVs in town, some with higher mileage than I'm comfortable with.  But I can't be picky at this point.  Oh, if only I had kept my old Durango just a couple more years.  Wish I had that decision back.

On the note of that last point, I've been thinking about that idea of coming back from bad decisions.  I sang a song about it a couple of Sundays ago.  The prodigal son, for all his wanton waywardness, was welcomed home with feasts and gifts.  God doesn't reward our wanderings, but those offerings from the father are the very definition of grace.  It says in another passage in the Prophets that "He will restore what the locusts have eaten."  And what if you just happen to be the locust, eating all your own stuff, tearing down what you are supposed to be building up?  Well, to you he says "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."

So here's to new creations, freshly planted fields awaiting the growing season and harvest, at which time we will sit at the welcome table of grace and partake of His rich goodness.

Hot under the collar!

Ran across this story today while doing a little reading on Yahoo! Health about pregnancy.

This is why we continue to champion the cause of adoption, both international and domestic.  And you are a FOOL if you do not believe stuff like this won't happen here.   

The authorities call it "bio-medical waste".  The man who found them called them "little babies".

They can't be both.  They are one or the other.

Protect life.