OUR BELOVED DOG

Our beloved dog, Beatrix Jamima Puddleduck Potter G! Yes, we adopted her from the dog pound in Hardin, MT many years ago when the children were in their Beatrix Potter phase. I don’t really mind the strange name…it serves as a daily reminder as to how fast children grow and change. {grin} Bea is Josiah’s dog. He fell in love with her on first sight when he was 4 years old. We’ve had her for 12 years now. When we got her we were told she wouldn’t fit with our family because she was timid and we had 5 young children at the time. She’d been in an abusive home. We gave it a shot and she adapted marvelously. She used to follow the kids around and if they went near the gate in our back yard she’d bark to alert me. The kids hated that. She’s older now. She really doesn’t follow the new batch of little ones around much. She does insist on being outside with them. She also insists on sleeping under Stacia’s crib. We don’t think she hears real well any longer…she used to LOVE to chase birds and cats and now doesn’t even seem to notice them unless they happen to pass 2 feet in front of her. We all age. Above she’d somehow gotten Nolan’s bike glove attached to her paw. Not a great picture – but a great companion and member of the family who hasn’t had her share of photos on the blog. {grin}

Power-Walk Progress

So, how am I progressing on my goal to power-walk through the Word this year? Frankly, not as well as I'd hoped...but still I am progressing. I had hoped to be able to "triple pace" through the plan in my Bible but I've found three weeks into this that I'm double pacing. I don't think I'll cross the finish line in a year - probably more like 2 years - but that is FINE. If I weren't doing 2 local studies I think I could do this in a year. The local studies are awesome and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

I love my time in the Word. I'm fighting the propensity I have to crawl through the Word. I'm reminding myself that THIS year God led me not to race through or to try to crawl through the entire Word.

In three weeks I've made it through Galatians. What a great book of the Bible. See my summary below - if you are interested. Hmmm…that will be below if I did this right or above if I got mixed up.

If you are totally confused as to my analogies read "Racing, Crawling and Power-Walking" a post from 31 December . . . it's in the archived posts to the right of the screen. Simply click Dec 2005 and it will pop up on your screen. {grin}

Power-Walk - Galatians

Theme: It was for freedom that Christ Set us free (5:1) or Gospel brings freedom

Author: Paul (1:1, 6:11)

Date: After the first or second missionary journey

Purpose: Correct errors in the church; (1:6-9;3:3;4:9;5:1,4) – “Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Segments of the church had believed the teaching that one must add the law to grace in order to be saved. Paul spends this letter showing that WE died to the law (2:19), that we are now to “live the life we live in the flesh by FAITH in the Son of God” (2:20), in short that we are not to try to be “perfected” by our works.

Chapter Themes:
Chapter 1 - One Gospel (Paul’s 1:6-9)
Chapter 2 – Defense of Paul’s Gospel
Chapter 3 – Gospel Explained (by faith alone) (3:8,11; 2:16)
Chapter 4 – Gospel makes heris/sons (4:1-7; 4:21-31)
Chapter 5 – Gospel is to be walked out in liberty (5:1), love (5:6, 13-15, 26) and the Spirit (5:16-25)
Chapter 6:- Gospel to be walked out in service and separation from the world

Key Words:
Grace
Gospel
Spirit
Law
Justified
Faith (believe)
Promise
Covenant
Heir
Flesh
Circumcision
Cross
Boast

Verses that leapt out to me:
1:10; 2:19 – 21; 3:3; 4:9; 5:1, 13, 16, 18, 25-26; 6:2, 9-10

2:11 – Paul opposed Peter and yet Paul states in 5:6 that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything – but faith working through love. Conclusion – sometimes confrontation is the most loving thing we can do (compare with notes from Grace and Truth paradox)

Salvation by grace alone and saving faith is expressed as living faith!

FIELD TRIP

We left early this a.m. to pick up Melody and her children and head out to the Barrow Museum in Eola, TX. Our first stop was a gas station to wait for other members of the homeschool group. Melody was the coordinator for this month’s activities.

This museum is cool. It’s still a working Longhorn ranch and the profits from the cattle are invested into the foundation that runs the museum. It began as one couple’s love of collecting things. They eventually built a barn to house their collections and then it GREW. There is now a house you can tour, a big barn of antique cars and farm machinery, a caboose, a HUGE barn of antiques and thousands (Jared thinks over 14,000) of arrowheads, a building of pianos and instruments and a tipi used annually in reenactments. The weather was beautiful – perfect for our picnic lunch! The only down side to the day was the dueling babies on the ride home. Rowan and Stacia decided to have a vocal competition…possibly inspired by the antique organs and pianos they had witnessed.

These museums really defy “categorizing”. There was china, crystal, old clothes, old toys, rocks, coral, lots of “dead heads” (taxidermy specimens), a giant AK King Crab, combines, currency from around the world, weapons and military uniforms various time periods and countries…amazing! Jared’s personal favorite was the 1935 Morris Eight car.

Here are some pictures of the day (some of my favorites won't upload)!

We began at the tipi – here are Noah, Shiloh, Nolan and Arielle inside…note the paint with “Indian Paint”. The guide participates in reenactments and shared lots of great info.

Shopkeeper NoahThis ones for you, Mom! {grin}

Lunch counter - check out the prices

Various pendulums making various shapes

Melody & Shiloh

Farmer Noah!

Farmer Nolan!

Girls can be farmers too!

Jared's favorite was this 1935 Morris Eight

Awesome carving on this clock from Black Forest, Germany

Book Review - The Grace & Truth Paradox by Randy Alcorn

Finished another book – a small one – but a book! I’ve determined to finish all the ½ read books around here before I begin another and then to keep reading this year…..I need to read…it’s relaxing. {grin} No, I won’t write a review for each book – more of a reaction, or favorite quotes or well – let’s see what I end up doing over the year. {snort} In any event...here's the first one.

We began this little book in the fall in our Chapel Adult Sunday School Class. I would recommend the study for groups looking for a “light study with a heavy punch”. This book comes with a study guide that could easily be used for a 4 week class…However, we stretched it from Sept – 22 Jan. This would make a great Ladies Summer study or even Sunday school for High School. It would also be a good study (using the workbook) for a mentoring relationship. This is a short book. I felt this was a very balanced view of grace. This is a topical study vs. inductive study but it is a very good covering of the topic. Timely to many.

The basic premise of this book is that Jesus was FULL of grace and truth (John 1:14). We are to be like Christ. We tend to lean towards either grace or truth and need to aim for a balanced manifestation of both. Grace is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions (p 68). Dare I admit that this point is brought home so many ways and so effectively that there were a few times when I thought “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” {blush}

“The two (grace and truth) are interdependent. We should never approach truth except in a spirit of grace, or grace except in a spirit of truth.” P 16

“Truth without grace breeds a self-righteous legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world away from Christ. Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.” P 18

“If we accurately demonstrate grace and truth, some will be drawn to us and others will be offended by us – just as they were by Jesus” p. 20

“The Christian life is far more than sin management. Behavior modifications that’s not empowered by God’s heart-changing grace is self-righteous, as repugnant to God as the worst sins people gossip about.(authors emphasis) Children who grow up with graceless truth are repelled by self-righteousness and attracted to the world’s slickly marketed grace-substitutes.” P 37

“Our culture views truth as something inside us, subject to revision according to our growth and enlightenment. Scripture views truth as something outside us, which we can believe or not but can never sway.” P 39

“I wanted to minimize the truth of human sin. I wanted to pass truth and go directly to grace. Yet without the bad news, there can be no good news. Without the truth of God’s holiness and the stark reality of our sin, Christ’s grace is meaningless.” p 60

A little girl’s prayer “Lord, make the bad people good and the good people nice”. P 61

“Grace never lowers the standard of holiness. Jesus didn’t lower the bar; He raised it!” p 66

“The ancient, historical Jesus came full of grace and truth. The modern, mythological Jesus comes full of tolerance and relativism.” P 72

“Without truth, we lack courage to speak and convictions to speak about. Without grace, we lack compassion to meet people’s deepest needs”. P 72

“Being a good witness once meant faithfully representing Christ, even when it meant being unpopular. Now it means “making people like us.” By that definition Christ wasn’t always Christ-like”. P 73.

Randy gives a great illustration from a child who spent 6 years in a prison camp with Eric Liddell. Awesome example of grace and truth working in a person’s life…but far too long to explain here (Chapter 9). Another great example was of his plane crash in AK.

“True grace undercuts not only self-righteousness, but also self-sufficiency.” P 83.

“God’s grace to us is lightning. Our grace to others is thunder. Lightning comes first; thunder responds. We show grace to others because He first showed grace to us.

“Truth without grace crushes people and ceases to b truth. Grace without truth deceives people and ceases be grace.” P 88

“Truth without grace degenerates into judgmental legalism. Grace without truth degenerates into deceitful tolerance.” P 88.

I know – many think I tend towards truth but looking over my life I can see a lot of unwillingness to speak the truth. I can think of one situation specifically where someone hated Christians and I was proud that they liked me…but it was because I was a pastor’s wife who kept my views to myself. God forgive me. That balance can be a challenge to find.

19 January

Thursday – another week almost at an end.

I finished another book today. I’m trying to read all the ½ read books around here by the end of January and then continue reading for relaxation the rest of the year. I even wrote a report on it – but I’m not sure I’ll post those. It could get tedious.

I had planned to check our library and see which books they have from unit 3….and then to order the ones I wanted….but I’ve not done either yet. We HAVE had a great week of school and we ARE adjusting to more outside activities.

Today we had a birthday party in our favorite park (labeled The Big Dinosaur Park by Zander). It was fun for the kids to run and play and socialize with new friends. It was a Narnia theme party which gave me lots of ideas for our upcoming Narnia party. {grin}

Josiah went out in search of a job again. He has been faithful to apply. He’s going back for the 3rd time to some of these places. Today he was given an interview at one. He said that he thought the guy would like to hire him but is waiting to see if he will have a position. We are praying for God’s will. He said he’d call Josiah in 2 days and Josiah was to call him if he’d not heard from him in a week. He gave Josiah his card.

In all the hustle and bustle we forgot that today was Backyard Bible Club….

I got a call and my China Hutch is in. I almost hung up on the lady. Accents are so fun. I know that I have a mish-mash of Yankee, Southern, and overseas accent…but sometimes when folks get talking fast down here…..I get lost. I couldn’t figure out what this lady was saying…I knew it has something to do with BARBED WIRE and “hitches”…..turns out she was from the store “Barbed Wire and Roses” and was calling about my “hutch”. I’m not sure if we’re going to have it delivered or if Mike is going to go get it….I’m so surprised it made it here by my birthday….I wasn’t expecting it until mid-late February. This was my Christmas/Birthday gift.

That’s the digest version of the day. Oh GIRLS….we are still reading Little House on the Prairie and they LOOOOVVVEEE it! {Very big grin}.

BLESSING OR BANE?

How silly is it that life would seem “broken” when a computer is down? In fact, my COMPUTER isn’t broken but it won’t go online. The only things missing are email and internet…and yet so many times already this a.m. I’ve come over to use it….

Paying bills: better check and see how much the government deposited into our account…oh yeah…can’t find a server.

Got a few quick minutes while the kids work on math, I can check and see if I’ve heard from anyone…oh yeah…no email.

Oh this would make a good blog entry – kids say the funniest things….oh yeah…can’t find server.

How quickly we as a society have become dependent on computers. I’m old enough to REMEMBER the first computer in our home….and it was AFTER I was married. Our very first computer was a Commodore 64. We only gave it up on our last move. This current computer I use was put together from spare parts in Don and Beth’s garage…how complacent we’ve become with things that use to be considered “awesome”. I can remember how amazing the computers were that used to take up a whole room…and now a home computer can do most of those functions and takes very little space on a desk….

I wonder what new inventions will come along while my children are growing up and what new things will be around in say 20 more years….has the growth slowed down now that we fairly well are through the “computer boom”?

If only my internet was here….I’d like to surf a few websites..look for book reviews, read an article or two…ah well…maybe tonight when Mike gets home and reconfigures the router….which reminds me that I SHOULD take a class so that I understand these machines so I can fix them when they break down. {grin}

By the way – it’s amazing how much time we spend “quickly checking emails” between courses. Amazing how much more work gets done when emails aren’t available…but that’s another topic for another day.